Life Cycle (21 page)

As far as Cain knew, the human governments had been
kept just as much in the dark as every other human, but it was
natural to blame those in authority. Several of the protesters wore
costumes: vampire fangs, werewolf masks, demon horns. It looked
like a cross between a PETA protest, Mardi Gras, and a Halloween
party.

A pretty female newscaster appeared on the screen
behind a desk back in the newsroom, her hands clasped in front of
her. “Well, Jim, it’s certainly getting heated. This is the most
interesting case we’ve had in a long time, though even if he’s not
just insane, it’s hard to understand how The Cycler can justify the
brutal killing of a child. Certainly that innocent little girl
can’t be part of an evil element.”

The correspondent said something unintelligible that
got swallowed up by the crowd around him, while the newscaster
maintained her practiced look of sad concern. “I’m sorry, Jim,
you’re breaking up.” She looked straight out into the living rooms
of the viewers. “And now a look at the polls. We’ve been monitoring
nationwide public opinion on this breaking story for the past
couple of weeks, and the results of the last poll may startle you.
A shocking 56% of Americans believe something supernatural is
involved in this case and that The Cycler is telling the truth. 28%
believe he’s lying and simply seeking publicity or suffers from
mental illness, while the remaining 16% are undecided.”

“What about other countries?” Cain asked. “How do
they rank in this sort of thing?”

Cole shook his head. “About the same, according to
the Internet. We’ll know more tonight at the meeting when Anthony
rises and speaks to the other vampire leaders.”

The channel changed again, and this time it was a
talk show with three women dressed in colorful robes, sitting on a
stage. A fourth woman, dressed more normally in a chic, black
pantsuit, held a microphone out to her guests.

“My coven has been practicing real magic for
ninety-three years now. That’s how long we’ve been together as a
group.”

The host looked confused. “You mean your family has a
line of witches over several generations?”

“Oh, yes, that’s true also, but I mean me, my
coven—the three of us and a few other girls and a couple of guys
back home. We’ve been together for close to a century now.”

“But, that’s not possible.” The microphone shook the
barest amount.

“Anything is possible.” The witch held out her hand
palm up, and a ball of fire appeared, much like what Cain
created.

The host leaped back, looking terrified, while the
cameras panned the audience for a reaction shot.

“Why would they do this? It could backfire on them,”
Cain said.

Cole shrugged. “That episode aired two hours ago,
they’re re-showing it. The women say they need to come out of the
broom closet and that that they don’t know what The Cycler killed,
but it may not even be human. It’s been outed as a hoax, though.
The network is claiming it was special effects. No one can find the
witches again for comments. My guess is someone at the network was
threatened by something big and scary and that the witches who
talked were killed. I don’t have any evidence of that, of course,
but it looked pretty real to me, what do you think?”

Cain nodded slowly. “Oh yes, there is no way that was
special effects. The way the fire rises out of the palm is exactly
how I do it. And why would anybody make a hoax like that over
something so serious?”

The demon paced. He was glad technology didn’t work
in his dimension. The last thing he wanted was to be glued to a TV
twenty-four-seven, watching latest developments, or watching the
old ones replay on a loop.

“Well, that’s it. It doesn’t matter how much damage
control is done. People have got minds of their own. We can’t box
this back up,” Cole said.

“Maybe we can,” Jane said. She’d been quiet since
they got back. “If demons and vamps are sent to all major
influencers to backpedal on all this... If those influencers
believe what they’re saying...”

“All it can do is slow things down. Not everybody
will believe whatever story we feed them,” the demon said. While it
was true that thrall would work on those it was used against, there
was no way to create mass thrall. If there were, he’d know about
it. The best they could hope for was to control the gatekeepers of
the message and hope enough of the population fell in line behind
it.

“A slowdown is better than nothing,” Jane reasoned.
“This shit is going to get ugly, and we all know it.”

With or without Jack getting to Tam, he was strong
enough to lead an army. And he’d gotten the world’s attention.
Tam’s power would be the cherry on his sundae.

Cain sighed. “Go to the penthouse and wake Charlee,
if she’s not already up with the baby. See if she can get the vamps
in the dark part of the world to get going on this. I’ll get some
of my demons working in places where it’s light out. Our numbers
aren’t as many, but we may be able to put a cap on it, at least
until the meeting tonight.”

Cole nodded. “Thanks.”

“Yeah.” But Cain wasn’t thinking about information
damage control. He was thinking about Tam and how everything was
escalating too fast. Either Jack had abandoned full moons
altogether, or he’d pushed up his date. It meant less than a week
before he’d make his move.

Cain left without another word. In the demon
dimension, some were in, but most were out feeding. It was a lull,
if there was such a thing in his world. He gathered as many of his
kind together as he could and issued orders, telling them to bring
any other demons they stumbled upon, or whose whereabouts they
knew, into the plan. Then he headed straight for Tam’s tent.

He was startled to find Anna there, giving him a look
like she knew more than he wanted her to know.

“I thought you’d be gone most of the day,” Tam said.
“It sounded like some big mission.”

“It is. It’s underway,” he said. He
turned to Luc’s mate, who hovered protectively near Tam as if she
could do anything to help or harm anybody in
her noncorporeal form.
“Get out,” he
barked. “I need to speak with Tam alone. Go find your mate, we need
him.”

Anna looked like she was going to argue, but in the
end she just gave him a dirty look and left, too scared to defy
him, especially without her mate lurking protectively nearby. Smart
girl.

“Come with me,” Cain said when Anna was gone.

“What for?” Tam looked wary, which was good, since
she wasn’t going to like what he was about to do.

“We need to keep you safe. I’m putting you in the
caves.”

She took a step back. “What do you mean putting me in
the caves?”

“You know what I mean.”

“Over my dead body,” she said, flicking her wrist so
an energy ball appeared.

She could be so exasperating.

“You’re too drained to fight me. It’s for your own
safety just until we destroy him.”

“That could be weeks or months or never. You can’t
lock me in there without any food or water. I’ll die.”

“You won’t die.”

He knew exactly what she meant. She wouldn’t be gone,
but she’d start a new cycle. He didn’t find that particularly
appealing, but maybe it was a good thing. If she started a new
cycle, he could bring himself to kick her out of his dimension more
easily when this was all over.

“I’ll bring you food and water,” he
said. “I won’t leave you in there
long.”

She threw an energy ball, but he
was ready for it. He’d already gone noncorporeal, knowing she’d
fight him on this. She was still drained from earlier when he’d
taken too much, her magical r
ecovery time
slower. He rushed her, going solid and grabbing her arms again
before she could form another ball of magic.

“You will not win this,” he growled. He scooped her
up and carried her out of the tent.

She kicked and screamed, flailing about, trying to
squirm out of his arms. Halfway to the caves she started chanting.
He wasn’t picking up all of it but whatever it was, it was nasty.
Or it would have been if not for the ring. The magic bounced off
him and dispersed into the night, going off like fireworks in the
black sky.

He flipped her over his shoulder like a sack of
potatoes and smacked her on the ass.

“Oww! You cretin.”

“Don’t do that again,” he said. “Did you forget
about the ring?” He was happier than ever he’d thought to have that
made. Otherwise, there was no telling what she would have done to
him, assuming she had enough energy reserves to do anything right
now. It was hard to know. Desperation and adrenaline were funny
things in humans.

“If you do this, I’ll never forgive you. I’ll
fucking hate you forever,” she screamed, still kicking and now
pummeling him in the back with her ineffective little fists.

“What do I care?” But he did care.
That was the problem. He cared too much about everything. How she
felt. Whether she lived or died. He wanted to blame the blood
they’d exchanged, and maybe it was partly that, but he’d initiated
it. It had come from his possessive nature. She was just
his
. It wasn’t an idea
she was likely to ever warm up to, so initiating another
conversation about it seemed pointless.

She stopped hitting him, but it was
only the calm before the storm. She jerked her head up and bit his
ear, drawing blood. He couldn’t
go
noncorporeal agai
n without dropping her
and giving her a chance to run, and he was not in the mood for a
chase.

“Damnit, Tam.” He flung her down on the ground. “Our
blood is already mixed, why don’t you make it worse?”

She glared up at him. “You’re not locking me in the
caves,” she hissed. “I swear, if you do, you will live to regret
it. That ring won’t protect you forever. You think I don’t hold a
grudge? You think I won’t make it my life’s mission to destroy
you?”

Hmmm, she had a point there. “I’m trying to keep you
safe, like I promised everybody I would.”

The witch stood, brushing the sand off her pants,
then she broke off into a run toward town. Cain put on full speed
and ran her down, knocking her in the sand. She struggled to roll
over to fight him, and her fingernails caught him in the side of
the face. She was one of the dirtiest little fighters he’d ever
encountered, not that many women had the good sense to fight
him.

“What about your promise to me? Your promises are
worth shit, Cain. Just take me out. Do it now, so we don’t have to
go through this. You’re scared he’ll get to me. You know he will.
Just take me out of the equation. It’s that simple.”

“You think I want to sleep with you right now? After
all this with you biting and clawing?” He eased off her, ready to
throw her back down if she tried to move again, but all she did was
peel her shirt off and unhook her bra.

Her voice turned soft and seductive. “I don’t know,
Cain. Do you?”

She was unbelievable and infuriating. He’d just snap
her neck but it wouldn’t actually kill her. She was tempting, lying
there half naked and flushed in the sand.

“If I didn’t know better I’d say you liked fucking
me.”

She laughed. “Of course I like it. Did you not hear
all those times I screamed your name?”

He covered her body with his, his mouth finding her
throat, and then he bit down. Hard. She shrieked, not expecting
that. He wasn’t going to think about what he was doing or why he
just had to mix their blood and make sure it stuck. An internal
monologue had started, insisting he mark her in a real way. He
didn’t have a knife handy, but he was pretty sure this would
work.

He bit into his own wrist and pressed it against her
neck, both to blend more of their blood together and to heal the
damage he’d caused.

She scrambled away when he released
her, her hand going protectively to her throat. “What the
hell
was
that?”

“You. Are. Mine. Now you’re going to the caves where
you’ll be safe, and I don’t want to hear another word about
it.”

She was nearly wiped, but she managed to create
another energy ball. Without hesitation, a fireball flared to life
in Cain’s hand. He threw it to disarm her. It burnt her arm and
knocked her back in the sand.

When she was down, he picked her up to carry her the
rest of the way to the caves.

There were tears in her voice when
she spoke. “I hate you. I don’t know why you’re doing this, but
I
hate
you.”

It didn’t matter what she felt now, some part of him
had decided he wasn’t letting her go. She’d get over it. There
would be plenty of time to sort out their issues if he could keep
her away from The Cycler.

When they got to the caves and he’d opened a pod in
the wall, she made one last attempt to sway him.

“Please, Cain. You don’t have to do this.”

He ignored the pain that had started in the center of
his chest, right around the region where his heart was supposed to
be but probably wasn’t. He shoved her in and tossed her shirt at
her, then he sealed the pod.

The demon started to walk away, but the sound of
creaking rock stopped him. He turned back, shocked to find her
standing there with her hands on her hips, so much anger simmering
in her eyes, he thought they might glow red with fire of their
own.

“It appears the cave’s magic is incompatible with
mine. I’m not a demon or part demon, so I guess it can’t hold me. I
never want to see you again.”

He should have turned back around and walked out. He
had work to do before the meeting. There were too many humans in
power out there who knew too much. Damage control had to be done.
He didn’t have time for this. But instead, he strode toward the
witch and pulled her toward him, his mouth finding hers.