Dante (Blood Brothers Book 5) (20 page)

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Beatrice
cackled with delight. “Fool,” she whispered under her breath as she watched the
warlock, vampire hybrid
totter off in the
cloud
of mist she’d created and held in her palms like a crystal ball.
He was foolish if he believed he was able to escape without her knowing it.

She
had learned
from observing Nikolai Grimaldi
,
he had that damned Grimaldi bullheadedness. It would be his downfall just like the rest of his family. She was still highly
peeve
d those
bastardos
had somehow managed to kill off the army she and Adonis had built, but no matter. Those grunts had been expendable. She had planned on killing them once they’d run out of usefulness anyway, just as she would finish off Black Adder…eventually.

She wondered if she had been too ambitious but quickly cast those doubts away
. The plan had been for the Grima
ldis to be ambushed by all
hundred rogues. Only Adonis’s men had been in the know of the real mission while the Serpent Gang had just been there for manpower, which is why she hadn’t injected half as much power into the spell protecting them as she had the others. Everyone except the Grimaldis themselves was fair game, but she’d wanted the Grimaldis alive when the battle was over. Well, alive enough to be taken and bound in her castle as they watched their precious offspring die.

Her plan had been so perfect, but she hadn’t counted on the incompetence of her men.
They had failed her! How could a
hundred men be defeated by such a small group? It was just another black mark against the Grimaldi men. She would enjoy watching them die, just as she had their father. They were all just like him, even that traitorous son of hers who was even worse for siding with them after he knew what their father had done to her.

She was born to rule and hold power, and it would have been hers had it not been for that self-righteous Giovanni.
The
original
Giovanni.
She was sure he was the reason
their affair had been discovered. He had
set her up and rejected her. Rejected
her
, the most beautiful woman in all of Italy, perhaps even the world. She had yet to see anyone in her long lifetime fairer than she.

Never forgetting that humiliation and shame she’d suffered because of him, she made him pay. But
Beatrice
wasn’t content to stop there. She’d made it her
life’s work
to wipe out his entire legacy, except her precious Adonis. As long as she could keep him under her thumb
,
they would rule the immortal communities together. Though she wasn’t technically immortal, with the help of his vampire blood and her secret weapon, she would maintain her beauty and live forever. She would, of course, have to get rid of that
puttana
Adonis believed he was
in love with
. She’d allowed his indulgenc
e
long enough.
With that nuisance out of the way, order would be restored and everything would be as they were meant to be.

But first she would allow the Grimaldi boy to lead his family here to their demise. She wouldn’t fail where the others had.

Chapter Fifteen

Dante watched Nico pace back and forth across the room, his strides impatient. His hands were clenched at his sides, and the muscles in his jaw twitched like a fluttering heartbeat. “
This is so frustrating!
I know my son is close. I felt him and I know Sasha did
,
too. What’s taking them so long? Why haven’t they brought him back
,
yet?” He halted midstep to face the others in the room. “Do you think they may be in danger?
We should try to locate them
.” Anxiety turned his usually amber-colored gaze silver.

As much as Dante could sympathize with his brother,
he could barely focus on what was going on around him. His nephew had managed to escape but all he could think about was
Isis.
He didn’t understand how she could make love to him as if it had actually meant something to her and then
,
turn around and betray him. He’d been fooled once before, but Dante had truly believed in his gut that Isis had been different. He didn’t feel deception coming from her. It was true she had been secretive but he in no way could have imagined this was what she’d been hiding.
It was like the Fl
ora incident all over again, but
this time the hurt cut much deeper.
It was real, the kind of pain he would not easily recover from.
He’d been so sure about Isis, so pos
itive that she could be—was the one, but while he’d been rejoicing in the discovery of his new feelings she had
been scheming to
destroy him.

Paris
and Giovanni
had tried to warn him
, but he’d been to
o
blinded by her protestations of innocence to listen. As he imagined
Isis with Black Adder
plotting and laughing behind his back,
it
made
his
blood
boil. That rogue had touched her, sucked on her generous breasts,
and had probably ate her pussy
un
til she begged for completion.
It almost sickened him to
think
they were doing that at this very moment
while
his heart had been ripped asunder.
Bitch.

If it had been Adonis’s plan to bring Dante to his knees by sending the beautiful Isis his way then he’d nearly succeeded, but never again would he allow a woman to touch his heart the way Isis had. He cursed his stupidity for not seeing through her ruse.
He felt doubly foolish for now listening to his initial instincts where she was concerned.

“Dante. Are you listening?” Nico demanded, cutting into his brooding thoughts.

He shook his head in order to focus his full attention on his brother. “I’m sorry, Nico. What were you saying?”

Nico
tightened his lips briefly
. “I
said we should go to them. I’
ve been trying to establish a link with Sasha for a while
,
now
,
and I
haven’t
be
en unable to. They said they would be in touch by now.”

Romeo stood up
from the couch
and stretched. “I’m inclined to agree. If Sasha and the Romanovs had found Jagger, wouldn’t they
have gotten
in touch with us by now?”

Dante nodded. “You’re probably right, but I don’t think we need to send the entire group out just yet. The women need their rest. They fought
valiantly
, but they’re not used to these types of missions and
need to recharge
. Besides, we’ll need some people
to stay behind just
in
case of a surprise attack
. The three of us can go. The others can stay behind.” Dante turned to the rest of the occupants in the room. “Is everyone all right with the plan?”

“That’s fine with me,” Marco
answered from a loveseat
in the far corner of the room. His arm was around
Maggie
,
whose eyes were closed. She snored softly unaware of the conversation happening around her.

Giovanni entered the room wearing a ferocious frown. He was followed closely by
Liliana
. When they’d all
returned
to the villa, he and the witch had immediately excused themselves to another room and hadn’t been seen since. “Where are you three going?”

Upon looking at the lines of stress on his older brother’s face, Dante could tell something was wrong. “Is everything okay?”

Giovanni shook his head. “No. Nya is missing. We’ve been unable to establish contact with her. Usually
,
Liliana
is good at creating
a
telepathic links from any distance.”

Dante raised a brow. “Nya? Why would you be worried about her?”

“Because something may have happened to her.”
Giovanni’s tone brokered no further argument.

Dante
,
however
,
couldn’t understand why his brother seemed to care so much for Adonis’s lover.
“Or
,
maybe she doesn’t want to be found. It’s possible she’s working both sides. You assured me she could be trusted, but I still have reservations.
Liliana
’s inability to get in contact with her isn’t helping your defense of her. For all we know, she could have set a trap for us by supplying you with the wrong information.” From what he’d remembered of the long-legged vamp
ire
, she didn’t seem to care whose side she was on. “How can you be so sure she had nothing to do with the plot against us?”

“I’ve known her for a long time and things are a bit too complicated to g
o
into details at the moment, but I
know she’s not involved in this. She only gave us that information because she believed it would help us.
”
Despite the certainty in Giovanni’s voice, Dante remained unconvinced
. If his brother wanted to be a fool, that was his problem, but no longer would
he
fall for the lies of a woman with a pretty face.
Was Giovanni fucking Nya? If that was the case, her pussy must be amazing.

Without warning
, the older vampire turned toward him in a blur, his eyes blazing green fire. His lips were compressed into a thin white line. “
If you want to keep your thoughts to yourself, I’d suggest you do a better job at masking them next time
.”

Dante raised a brow, refusing to be intimidated. No one had asked Giovanni to read his mind. “
Well, are you? Fucking her, I mean? Seems like she doesn’t care where she’s getting it from, if you ask me. Is the pussy
so
good
that
you’ll allow yourself to be led by the bal
—
”

Before Dante could finish his thought, Giovanni grasped him by the collar and lifted him off his feet. “
Don’t even think it
.”

“
Take your hands off of me before I make you
.” Staring down into that now menacing glare, Dante realized his brother was no more willing to back down than he was.

Marco, Romeo, and Nico were by them in a flash. “What the hell is going on here?” Marco demanded.

Before, Dante knew his younger brothers would have sided with him in any argument with Giovanni, but something had happened. They had accepted him as family and the three of them
seemed to have some internal debate on
whose side to take.

Giovanni slowly lowered Dante to his feet. “Nothing,” he
answered curt
ly. “Dante and I
need to have a word in private, but before we do, I’d like to know where you three planned to go before
I came in the room?”

Nico shifted his gaze between Dante and Giovanni before answering. “We
’re
going to
search for
Sasha and her brothers. They’ve been gone long enough.”

Giovanni relaxed his stance, not bothering to look in Dante’s direction. “That won’t be necessary. They are near. All of them.”

Nico’s brows flew together. “How do you know? None of us have felt them. Don’t you think I would feel my mate and son?”

Giovanni dipped his head in agreement. “Of course you would, if there weren’t dark forces still surrounding Jagger.”

“What do you mean? He’s managed to escape. I don’t understand any of this.” The anxiety was evident in Nico’s voice.

Anger still welled within the deepest pits of Dante’s soul. He wanted to smash something, yell, or just plain kill someone, but seeing the worry in his brothers’ faces, he
remained as calm as he could be
. He wouldn’t let some scheming bitch break up his family. Taking a deep breath, he focused on the current conversation.

“Knowing what I do about what my mother is capable of, it puzzled me that Jagger was able to escape, no matter how clever or strong he is. She wouldn’t have allowed it. There’s some kind of ward working around him so she is able to track his movements. That he was even able to contact you earlier was probably because she wanted him to,” Giovanni explained.

“Does that mean she and Adonis are headed this way?”

“No.
I think she may want
Jagger to lead you back to
where he’d been kept.
That’s more than likely where the children really are
.”

Dante narrowed his eyes. Something didn’t quite fit.
His brother had been a bit evasive on the topic of his mother. It was apparent he was holding something back and Dante wanted answers, now.
“Spill it. You haven’t told us everything, have you?”

“I wanted to make absolutely certain before I said anything, but I think my mother may have a demon attached to her, hence the incredible power she now possesses. And if that’s the case, it will be difficult to kill her.”

Marco threw his hands up in frustration.
“What? Demons? After all we’ve already had to contend with?”

Giovanni shook his head. “Demon in the singular.”

Dante crossed his arms over his chest. “Explain.”

“When someone has practiced the black arts as long as she has, they eventually attract a demon, who will slowly take over their body a bit at a time until it eventually consumes them. The demon feeds on negativity, and my mother has plenty of it.”

Nico frowned. “My understanding of demonic possession is that eventually the demon will need a new host once its current one has no more usefulness.”

A humorless smile briefly twisted Giovanni’s lips. “You’re basically right, but as I’ve already stated, my mother is full of negative energy. A demon will have plenty to feed on for decades to come. Besides, as long as she continues to murder innocent people to maintain her youth, the demon will be satisfied.
She
is the perfect hostess.”

Dante had learned a lot more about black magic in the past weeks than he had in his lifetime, but he did have some working knowledge of demons. Humans, no matter how much they knew or how long they practiced the dark craft, should not have possessed the power to create those invisible red-eyed rogues.

And then there was the way Black Adder had disappeared into mist. There were many powers a vampire eventually acquired with age, but an ability such as that was rare even among the ancient ones. Now
,
he understood the source of
Beatrice
’s powers completely. Though true immortals were impervious to demon possession, she wasn’t one.

He’d only seen one other possession in his lifetime, but the demon had to be extracted from the host in order to kill either one. “It won’t be an easy task
defeating her
.”

Giovanni nodded. “You’re right, but it can be done, especially when we have a witch who bears the mark of Hecate.”

Nico’s brows furrowed together. “Absolutely not! I will not allow Sasha to be used as a sacrificial lamb!”

Before anyone could respond,
they were interrupted by the sound of newcomers entering the villa
. Steel and Cutter entered the room first, followed by a tattered, bloodied
Jagger
being held up by his mother on one side and Blade on the other.

“
Mio figlio
!” A sheen of moisture glistened within the depths of Nico’s amber eyes as he rushed over to his son.

“Papa.” Jagger’s voice was small and weary as he went into his father’s embrace.

Nico held Jagger tightly as if he couldn’t bear to let him go, strokin
g the back of his head. “My son
.”

Sasha wrapped her arms around her two men, tears st
reaming down her face. “My baby.
”