The Devil's Angel (Devil Series Book 2) (26 page)

Lucien moved about the warehouse, taking it all in. Several fights were in progress as there was nothing else to do until the meeting began. He walked by a particularly violent scuffle just as a short male vampire shoved a small knife (it looked like a switchblade made out of hardwood) into a larger vampire’s back and into his heart. It took longer than usual, but eventually the big vampire collapsed to the floor in dust. The short one victoriously spat upon the dirt.

Lucien pushed his way toward the front to where he could see tables with many boxes piled on top. A pungent aura stopped him. It was a strong chemical smell that stung his nose if he inhaled too deeply.

After telling himself not to breath, he continued forward until he reached the brown boxes. In small letters at the bottom of each one it read: Bodian Dynamics. He nudged the closest one; inside, glasses clinked as if they were hitting against each other.

“Is there a problem?” asked a guard wearing a tight black t-shirt. His arms were crossed over his chest, exposing meaty biceps.

“Yeah. I want to sit here, but these boxes are in my way.” Lucien reached up to move a box, but the guard stopped him.

“Don’t touch that!”

“Why, what’s in them?”

“None of your business. Go find somewhere else to sit.” The guard took a threatening step toward him.

“Fine.” Lucien picked up the same box and turned to walk away. The box was heavy and full of glass. Lucien could feel liquid sloshing around inside.

The guard grabbed the back of Lucien’s jacket, stopping him cold. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“Look around, man. There’s nowhere to sit!”

“Put the box down, or I’ll make you put it down.”

He dropped the box, hoping he broke some glass in the process. The bulky guard shoved him away. Lucien staggered off and smiled, his first mission accomplished.

Lucien walked to the north wall and jumped up to the ledge of a tall window, throwing down two vampires in the process. He needed a better view to see where Aiden might be. It took him only a moment to find out. In the far corner, several guards stood in front of a metal door.

Lucien didn’t waste any time. He scaled the long pipes that ran the length of the ceiling. When he was almost above the guards, he dropped to the floor.

In front of him stood a stocky vampire with spiked hair.

“I need to see Aiden,” Lucien demanded.

“There’s no one here by that name. Now turn around and go the other way,” the guard said with a voice much higher than Lucien expected.

“I’m not leaving until I speak to him.” Lucien let his fangs grow.

The vampire shifted nervously. Another guard stepped forward. “The little man said there’s no one here by that name.”

Lucien tried a different approach. “I need to speak to the man in charge, the one who so eloquently gave the inspiring speech the other night.”

“You mean the Dark Prince?” the short vampire squeaked.

“Right, the
Dark Prince
,” Lucien mocked.

“Too bad,” the taller guard said. “Nobody sees the Dark Prince unless the Dark Prince wants to see you.”

Lucien grabbed the guard by the collar and pulled him close. “Tell your ‘Dark Prince’ Lucien’s here to see him.”

He tossed him into the door. The guard looked him up and down, as though trying to decide if he could take him. He glanced over to the shorter guard who shook his head.

“Wait here,” he mumbled. The guard turned around to the door and knocked softly. When nobody answered, he knocked harder and twisted the doorknob. Through a crack in the door, he cleared his throat and said, “Sorry to interrupt you, Dark Prince, but there’s someone here who insists on seeing you. He says his name is Lucien.”

There was a short pause, then, “Send him in. He is most welcome here!”

The guard opened the door and motioned Lucien into a small office with orange carpet, old filing cabinets, and a wooden desk. Behind the desk sat his older brother, Aiden. His hands were clasped together except for two forefingers that were playing with his small goatee. His nails were painted black. His sandy-colored hair was pulled back into a ponytail.

Lucien spoke first. “
The Dark Prince?
Don’t you think that’s a little dramatic?”

“It’s all part of the show, brother.” Aiden rested his hands upon the desk and leaned forward. “You don’t seem surprised to see me.”

“When you live for hundreds of years, nothing surprises you.”

“Really? I wouldn’t know. Of course I should, but I didn’t get the chance. I was trapped for centuries, but you already knew that.”

“How did you get out?” Lucien asked.

Aiden smiled. “After you so traitorously lit me on fire and tossed me into that pit, I managed to squeeze myself into a tight hole, protecting the top half of my body. You can’t imagine the kind of pain I endured as the bottom half of me burned to a crisp.”

“You couldn’t have been in any more pain then the pain you caused your
pets
.”

Aiden’s left eye twitched once, but he maintained his composure. “So there I lay, for centuries, feeding on the occasional rat that happened to scurry into my hole. Ironic, isn’t it? I used rats to cause death, but in the end, it was the rats who gave me life.”

Lucien didn’t respond.

“I’d become quite accustomed to my dark hole until recently, when the Devil’s Soldier finally released me.”

Lucien flinched. He’d heard that phrase before but couldn’t place it.

He was about to ask whom the “Devil’s Soldier” was when Aiden said, “It’s strange seeing you here.”

“Why’s that?”

“I always thought the first thing I would do if I ever got out was rip you to shreds, but seeing you now—I feel nothing. You are meaningless to me. There are so many more important things to do.”

“Lucky me.”

Aiden waved his hand. “Don’t get me wrong. There will be consequences, but now is not the time. Speaking of time–” Aiden stood up. “—my public awaits.”

“You’ve got quite the following out there. You must tell me, how did you pull this off?”

“Me? I may be brilliant, but not even I could arrange something of this magnitude. I’m merely
public relations
.” Aiden grinned a cold, suspicious smile.

Lucien stiffened as Aiden walked past. His revulsion for him was just as strong as it had been centuries ago.

When Aiden reached the door, he turned around and said, “Lucien, I almost forgot. I don’t know why you are here, nor do I care, but if you try to stop this, we will kill you.”

At the back of the warehouse, Lucien jumped onto a wooden crate just as the lights went out. The crowd surged forward like a giant wave, surrounding the center stage. A spotlight fell upon a shirtless Aiden, who stood alone, arms outstretched. The crowd erupted in cheers.

Lucien glanced around to the windows and doors. He wasn’t sure exactly how the Deific was going to make their entrance, but he wanted to make sure he made their job as easy as possible. He waited for Aiden to start speaking before making his move.

Up front, guards tried to silence the crowd, but there were too few of them to make an impact. Aiden, recognizing the electric moment, grabbed the microphone and, with fists in the air, let out a monstrous growl. His whole body shook, and his muscles rippled. The snake carved upon his chest looked almost alive as Aiden’s body arched back.

The vampire cheers took on a whole new fevered pitch. Lucien could tell by Aiden’s satisfied expression, lips curved up slightly at the corners and eyes blazing, that the crowd was entirely his and would obey every command.

But Lucien had other plans. From behind his back, Lucien withdrew the Russian Legion paintball gun that he had so carefully filled with hundreds of blood-filled paintballs.

Aiden spoke again, but Lucien didn’t stop to hear the poison spewing from his mouth. Instead, he squeezed the trigger; several balls a second flew from the gun and into the crowd of vampires. Upon hitting their mark, they exploded human blood everywhere. He quickly reloaded when the cartridge was empty.

Several guards rushed Lucien, but, as Lucien expected, they stopped abruptly—the smell of blood reaching their senses. And then, as if nothing else existed, they attacked the other vampires. Pandemonium ensued everywhere. No one knew whom to attack so they attacked each other, anxious to partake of the blood that filled the room like the prom scene from “Carrie”.

He could immediately tell the vampires who weren’t recently turned for they were the ones that eyed him now, dangerously. They approached him slowly from both sides, not tempted by the blood. Lucien crouched low, ready to attack.

Over the top of the crowd, he caught sight of Aiden who was screaming, while pointing at Lucien, “Kill him! Kill him!”

Lucien flashed a grin at Aiden before he leapt into the angry crowd, loosing himself in the battle.

Just then, an explosion from the side of the warehouse blasted a gaping hole through the cinderblocks, showering the crowd with chunks of concrete and dust. Uniformed men dressed in black charged in.

Some of the vampires stopped momentarily, confused by what they saw, but others continued to fight each other, anxious to taste the splattered blood. The Deific opened fire on the crowd, their electrical blasts rendering the vampires temporarily disabled. Behind the first wave came men with long sharpened stakes who stabbed any vampire who fell.

As soon as the vampires realized their predicament, they didn’t waste any time turning on the Deific, and much quicker than anyone anticipated, the battle became ferocious and deadly.

Lucien fought whom he could, but his main goal was to make it to the front in order to destroy the boxes. He easily tossed aside anyone who crossed his path. The room was filled with cries of dying from both sides, and the smell of blood was everywhere. Lucien blocked it all out, focusing entirely on the boxes.

For a reason Lucien couldn’t explain, he glanced away for just a second to the hole in the side of the warehouse. Through the fighting vampires and humans, he saw the one and only thing that could deter him away from his objective—Eve. She was dressed entirely in black with her long hair pulled back into a braid. Lucien froze. She fought beautifully. Every movement skillfully met its mark with deadly force. She killed three vampires in the blink of an eye.

Something above her caught Lucien’s eye. Upside down, crawling along a metal pipe on the ceiling, was a vampire, his eyes set on Eve. Lucien tried to warn her, but his voice was lost in the chaos. With all the strength and speed he had, he tried to make his way to her. He pushed and shoved, attempting to clear a path, but the many vampires were like an impenetrable wall. He moved forward but too slowly. It felt like he was walking in waist-deep water, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t move forward at the pace he needed to. He yelled in frustration.

The vampire was almost directly above her, salvia dripping from its fangs. Eve was only ten feet away—so close, but not close enough. A vampire stepped in front of Lucien. Lucien picked him up and tossed him into the crowd. Eve was struggling against a skinny vampire who seemed to be getting the upper hand until she shocked him away with a large dose of magic that sent him flying across the room. She stumbled and lowered her head.

Lucien was almost there. Just then, the vampire on the ceiling dropped, long nails extracted. Lucien saw the death-blow in his eyes.

Lucien leapt as hard as he could toward Eve, knocking her to the ground. The falling vampire landed on top of Lucien’s back—his nails ripped through Lucien’s jacket and into his flesh. He cried out in pain. Beneath him, Eve’s eyes widened in surprise.

With one arm securing Eve, his free hand reached for a stake on the floor. He twisted around and stabbed the vampire in the heart. Lucien kicked him away just as he turned to dust. He stood up quickly, easily lifting Eve with him.

“I told you to go home!” he shouted.

She stepped away from his grip. “You have no right to tell me what to do!”

Lucien pulled her back close to his chest, knocking back another attacking vampire as he did so.

His eyes scanned the crowd. Up front, several guards were moving the boxes out of the warehouse. Lucien groaned. He couldn’t leave Eve.

Lucien stopped when he saw Aiden looking at him thoughtfully, an evil smile spreading across his face. And in that moment, Lucien was terrified. Not for himself, but for Eve. Aiden motioned a guard over and pointed in their direction. He tightened his grip on Eve, who fought him uselessly. The guard moved toward them, motioning for a few others to follow.

“Time to go,” Lucien said.

“We can’t! We’re not finished!”

“Yes, we are.” Lucien dragged her toward the opening in the wall.

“Let go of me!” she cried. “I can’t leave!”

He stopped and grabbed her shoulders. “Please, trust me.”

She searched his face, then nodded. “Let me expend my power first. I can’t leave without giving all that I can.”

Eve didn’t wait for him to respond. She turned on the fighting crowd, her eyes turning a brilliant white. She drew her hands to her chest, and then, in one quick movement, shoved them outward. A blast of cold air shot through the building, knocking most of the vampires to the ground in a dazed stupor. This gave the Deific soldiers a chance to get the upper hand. The chance was not wasted.

When Eve’s knees buckled, Lucien steadied her. She had nothing left to give, but at least she was still conscious. He scooped her up and fled the building, away from Aiden and his men.

Inside the Viper, Eve kept her eyes focused straight ahead as Lucien drove aimlessly through Dublin, trying to determine his next move. Only once did she turn to look at him. She opened her mouth as if to say something, but then thought better of it. She turned back around to stare out the window.

Lucien didn’t speak either. He didn’t know what to say without explaining it all, and he wasn’t ready to bare his deep dark secret.

Lucien pulled up to a rundown diner just outside the city. It was well-lit and crowded, exactly what they needed right now.