Claimed by a Demon King (34 page)

“Bore?” Past tense. Sable swallowed to wet her throat.

The angel nodded. “He is dead. Killed here in the battle. He sought to murder everyone in this place and me with them.”

He sounded charming. Part of Sable hoped the homicidal angel wasn’t her father.

“Is it possible that he might have been my father though?” Sable edged closer to the glass doors and the woman, her heart thumping against her chest. “Can an angel father a child?”

“It is possible. But other angels have dark hair and purple eyes. It is not uncommon.”

Sable rubbed the cross with her thumb. “But none that were born with this mark?”

The angel looked at it again, her incredible eyes catching the daylight and brightening. “No. The Echelon are rare. They are born to be commanders and all are thousands of years old. Only their offspring bear it now… but you are not an angel.”

Sable shook her head in agreement. “Just a regular mortal.”

The woman smiled. “There is nothing regular about you.”

A roar echoed through the building.

Thorne grabbed Sable, pulling her close to him, and Bleu closed ranks on her other side.

A huge ice-blond vampire male loomed behind the petite angel, immense and lethal compared with her, his pupils nothing more than tiny vertical slices in the centre of his red irises.

The angel didn’t flinch or jump and her expression remained placid and serene.

The enormous bare-chested male flashed his fangs and grabbed her shoulders from behind, his claws pressing into her flesh.

She slowly lifted her hand and gently touched his left one.

She sighed. “You broke your restraints again.”

The chains attached to the thick steel cuffs around his wrists rattled as the male drew her back against him and wrapped his arms around her, crossing them over her front. He bared his fangs again, aiming the threat at Thorne and then Bleu, and then pushed the woman aside. He went to step forwards, towards the doors, his gaze narrowed and calculating, claws flexing. He meant to fight them.

The petite angel stepped in front of him and stopped him with a single soft touch of his cheek.

The vampire looked down at her, the overlong white threads of his hair hanging forwards, brushing his cheeks together with her slender hand.

Sable expected him to push her aside again but he remained still, his bare chest heaving with each laboured breath.

“We were only talking, Snow,” the woman whispered and stroked his cheek, “and the sun is out. These people mean me no harm. The female came to ask after her father.”

“Father?” the vampire said gruffly, his voice thick and low. His silver eyebrows drew together. “Father?”

The woman nodded. “It seems my master may have committed a sin no one knew about.”

Snow growled, baring his fangs. Evidently, he didn’t like the woman mentioning her master, and Sable could understand why if the man had been part of the battle between the angels and vampires at the theatre.

“I’m tired of being called a mistake and a sin,” Sable said and the huge male looked up at her. The softness that had entered his eyes while he had been looking down at the angel disappeared, replaced by an endless hunger for violence and blood. Sable stood her ground. “Rosalind the witch told me about the man I’m looking for information on. She said that he had wanted to know his future because he had feared he would lose his wings.”

The woman turned to face Sable and smiled sadly. “It sounds like my master. He was rather precious about them.”

Snow grunted and clumsily petted her dark hair.

“He’s definitely dead then?” Sable wasn’t sure whether she was glad to hear that or not. Had she wanted to meet her father? He probably wouldn’t have wanted anything to do with her. He wouldn’t have wanted to reveal his mistake to everyone.

Thorne slipped his hand into hers and gently squeezed it. She squeezed back.

The vampire stared down at their joined hands and then wrapped his arms around the woman in front of him again, tugging her back against his bare chest.

He nuzzled her black hair and turned fiery red eyes on Sable. “I killed him.”

She wasn’t surprised to hear that. Snow looked dangerous and a little bit crazy.

“You remind me of someone… this King of Death.”

Snow’s lips peeled back off his enormous fangs and he growled low in his throat. “Grave.”

His demeanour changed abruptly, darkening before her eyes, and he snarled again, his fangs elongating further.

“
Grave
.” Snow set the woman aside and glared at Sable, his red eyes narrowed and filled with the hunger to maim and kill. She edged backwards, closer to Bleu and Thorne, her heart leaping high into her throat.

“Snow… no,” the woman said but he ignored her this time and stepped towards them.

Another vampire appeared between Snow and the doors, a brunet male wearing a black robe that swirled around his ankles as it settled.

“Snow.” The male pressed his hands to Snow’s chest, holding him still as he growled and snarled and kept trying to advance, and then raised them to cup his cheeks.

Snow stilled and looked down at the new male.

“Brother? Come back to us,” the brunet whispered and Snow’s expression softened, losing its vicious edge. “Aurora.”

The woman came forwards again to take hold of Snow’s hand. She laced their fingers together and brushed her other hand over the back of his, stroking it.

The dark-haired male turned on them, his gaze as black as his brother’s had been, speaking of fury and desire to shed blood.

“What the hell is going on here? Why is there a demon, a mortal and a…” He cocked an eyebrow, his expression shifting towards disgust. “An elf… on our doorstep? State your business and leave. You are upsetting my brother.”

Snow grunted. “Grave.”

The male’s expression turned darker still and Sable could see the resemblance between the brothers. “What of that bastard?”

Sable held her hand up. “I just mentioned his name. I’m not here because of him at all. He’s just helping out with King Thorne’s demonomachy in Hell.”

She jerked a thumb a Thorne.

It might not have been her wisest move, but then how was she to have known it would make things worse?

Snow roared, the sound deafening even through the glass, and launched forwards. The angel Aurora held him back, pulling on his left arm, and his brother shifted in front of him and pushed against his chest.

“Snow!” the male barked.

Snow growled and snarled, flashing huge fangs at Thorne.

“Demon.” He pinned Thorne with a deadly glare. “Hell. Grave. Blood. Kill. Demon.”

“Grave will never bother us again, Snow,” the male said and Aurora kept pulling backwards.

Sable felt as if she had opened a very rotten, bad can of worms by mentioning Grave. The big vampire clearly had a problem with him, and his brother didn’t seem overly fond of him either. Understandable. The guy was an arsehole.

“Snow, please?” Aurora said and Snow stopped struggling. He shoved away from his brother, turned towards her and gathered her into his arms.

He squeezed her close to his chest and petted her hair, stroking as he muttered, “Won’t let Grave have you.”

Aurora looked confused but she stroked his chest anyway and whispered, “I don’t want anyone but you, Snow.”

Sable had been wrong. The guy was crazier than Grave.

“Snow,” the brother said and the larger male looked over at him, darkness back in his eyes. “Let Aurora speak with these people and then we must get you back to your room.”

Snow looked reluctant to let his female go but after a few minutes more of petting her, he loosened his grip enough that she could turn to face them again.

“I am sorry I was not able to be more help. If my master was your father, then you most probably have some or all of his abilities.”

“Such as being able to burn a demon to ashes by touching them?” Sable said and Aurora’s face softened into a look of understanding and compassion. She nodded. “Do you know how to control this power?”

“It is a difficult one to master and not one I possess. Only the Echelon have it together with an ability to sense demons at a long distance. They were born to eradicate demons.” Aurora’s gaze quickly shifted to Thorne. “Sorry.”

Thorne shrugged. “My kind do not tend to meet yours often these days. The angels do not like to enter Hell.”

“You have been there?” Aurora looked back at Sable.

She nodded. “My power awakened there.”

Aurora looked down at her wrist and then lower, taking in all of Sable. “The demon toxin in your system has hindered your power in this realm, keeping it from manifesting. It is possible that if we removed the toxin—”

“Wait? Demon toxin?” Sable really hoped Aurora wasn’t about to tell her that her mother had somehow been part demon and had passed on demon traits to her too.

Aurora nodded slowly. “Were you injured once in a fight against a demon? Many species possess a toxin on their skin or claws.”

Sable’s eyes widened. “When I was younger, before I joined Archangel. I fought a demon punk kid and he injured my leg. It’s played up ever since.”

“There is still toxin in your system from that demon strike. It would be difficult to remove, a long and painful process, but if it was expunged from your body, your angelic powers would finally, fully manifest.”

Sable wasn’t sure she wanted the full range of angel powers available to her. She didn’t want to have this one power that had awakened despite the demon toxin. On the other hand, she didn’t like the thought of walking around for the rest of her life with that toxin inside her, doing God only knew what to her.

“Would I be able to come back and maybe talk more about this with you at a better time?” Sable glanced at the big vampire still petting Aurora. A better time would be one when he wasn’t present, but something told her that he was unlikely to let his petite angel out of his sight, especially when she had a demon hunter visiting her.

Aurora smiled. “I would like that. Can we do that, Snow? Antoine?”

The two males sighed and then eventually nodded.

Antoine added, “The elf cannot come though.”

Bleu glared at him. Antoine glared right back.

Sable wondered who would win in a fight and then shrugged it off.

“It was lovely to meet you all,” Aurora said and Antoine closed the shutter across the doors before Sable could respond.

He seemed rather rude.

Sable stared at the glass doors and sighed. One of her parents had been an angel. That was the biggest mind fuck yet, bigger than trying to get her head around the fact that Hell was beneath her feet but not at the same time.

“Sable. We should return to Rosalind. I will bring you back here soon though.” Thorne held his hand out to her and Sable nodded and slipped hers into it.

She took hold of Bleu’s hand, forming a circle with him and Thorne, and closed her eyes as the black hole opened beneath them and they dropped into it.

She smiled.

Thorne was as protective and possessive of her as Snow was of Aurora, and she should have known that he wouldn’t let her visit the theatre alone. He would be there to support her and keep her safe from harm.

He would be there for her.

Was this warm burst of happiness, comfort and relief what Olivia experienced when she was with Loren?

Was this what it was like to be deeply in love with someone and have them feel the same way about you?

If it was, Sable hoped this feeling never ended.

She wanted it to last forever.

CHAPTER 23

T
horne gently set Sable down at the front door of Rosalind’s tiny home. He immediately released Bleu and swept the backs of his claws across Sable’s cheek, giving her all of his attention.

She had swung from one feeling to the next while speaking with the vampires and the angel, her emotions bombarding her. They had yet to settle. She tipped her chin up, her golden gaze meeting and holding his, keeping his focus locked on her. His little female. He would take her back to the angel as soon as possible and would do all in his power to help her uncover the truth about her parents.

Sable lifted her hand and brushed her fingers across his. “I’m good. No need to look at me as if I might break at any moment.”

He didn’t think she would. His female was strong and brave, and far different from how she had been the night she had discovered her power. She was already growing accustomed to the change, growing more comfortable with herself. Perhaps it was only because she was in the mortal world though where her wrist no longer bothered her. She had touched it less and had given up wearing her cuff.

Thorne lowered his hand from her face to her wrist and gently clasped it, staring down at the mark on the inside of it, jet black against her skin.

If he took her back to the demon realms with him, it would bother her again.

He swept the pad of his thumb across it.

“I know that look,” Sable said softly, drawing his eyes back to hers. She shook her head. “I can deal with this. It was stupid of me to leave. I put your whole kingdom in jeopardy when all I wanted to do was help save it. Well, now I’m going to do that. I’m going back with you to fight those bastards and you can’t stop me. I’m not being left behind.”

He never would have dared suggest such a thing, even though he felt a pressing need to do so. He knew his female better than she thought. He knew that she would be upset, angry, and feel belittled, her strength challenged, if he told her that he didn’t want her in the coming battle for his kingdom.

He had learned when to step back and ignore his instinct to protect and coddle her.

She was a warrior, but it was more than that and her misplaced sense of guilt pressing her to threaten him and make it clear that she was coming with him back to the Third Realm whether he liked it or not.

She needed to feel useful and needed to keep her mind occupied, and she also needed to be there with her fellow hunters and her friends.

And him.

The soft imploring edge creeping into her eyes and her warm emotions pleaded him not to leave her behind and leave her wondering about him, fearing something would happen to him while they were apart.