Cain hated that he had to rely on a vampire to get Hadrian out of the church. It was complete bullshit that a vampire was allowed inside, but a demon wasn’t. The tiny sliver of shiny human inside the vampire made him still okay? Still acceptable in the eyes of the man upstairs? Cain snorted in disgust. Anthony was every bit as evil as he was. Probably more.
“Have something you’d like to share with the class?” Anthony asked.
“Just go get him.”
The vampire shrugged and went inside. Cain stood by the door, hating that he couldn’t go in there and kick an ass yet. There was a chance Anthony could end up on the wrong end of the stake, then what? Or Hadrian could. Then they were out the one informant that could possibly help them find Tam before it was too late.
He felt the stirrings of an emotion he hadn’t felt in awhile. Guilt. What if she hadn’t been taken yet? What if she was fighting for her life, and here he was staking out the vampire priest’s church like an imbecile?
Twenty minutes later, Anthony had an unconscious Hadrian in his arms. “He won’t stay out for long.”
“That’s fine. I don’t need long.” The portal point was only a few blocks away.
***
Cain stood over Hadrian, his anger and fear for Tam simmering underneath a mask of calm indifference. But he wouldn’t show any of that to his captive. On the surface he would be cold, empty. He had to maintain control for Tam’s sake.
The vampire priest slumped in a set of chains, still unconscious. The demon looked over at the table filled with instruments of torture. Something inside him jumped with glee over the idea of having not only a half-breed, but a former holy man in shackles. It’s not about that. Remember why you’re here.
Hadrian opened his eyes slowly, swaying a little as his feet sunk into sand. His gaze darted around the cave, the smallest hint of fear in his expression when he saw the demon. He tugged at the chains, but they held strong. Luc had done a good job installing them.
“It’s about time you rejoined us. I’ve got some good news and bad news. Unfortunately, it’s the same news,” Cain said. “Here in the demon dimension, you can’t go dead for the day. So if you thought you just had to hold out a few hours before you got a break from me, sorry to disappoint.”
He felt the demonic fire burn in his eyes and he rolled right into the only question that mattered. “Where is Tam?”
Hadrian looked at the ground, his jaw set in determination.
“Hey, I love torturing people. I don’t get to do it enough. You see, most of my time is spent in a pretty woman’s bed seducing the life right out of her. It’s a bit more low key than what I’ve got planned here. You can imagine my excitement over the change of pace. I like to be gentle with the ladies, you see. So I’ll ask again nicely. Where’s Tam?”
“She’s with Jack,” Hadrian said. It earned him a hard punch in the jaw.
“Don’t be clever. I’m sure the difficult task of thinking is a strain. You’re obviously not very bright to do what you’ve done.” Cain wanted to shred the vampire like paper, peeling strips of skin off one at a time. The vampire would probably survive it. It would be interesting to find out.
Hadrian looked up. “Oh really? Because what I’ve done is going to end Anthony’s control. Do you know he had plans in place to put up barriers vampires couldn’t cross without permission? Not just therians. And after that, do you think he would have left you and the rest of the demons alone? Anthony likes control. He likes to keep tabs on everybody and have tags and numbers on them so he knows exactly where they are at all times. Excuse me for not wanting to be a lab rat. I thought this vampire gig was supposed to mean freedom.”
“You don’t think Jack would do the same?”
“I don’t think Jack could do the same. I’ve spent a lot of time with him. He’s too crazy to be that organized. That’s the point. I knew he was a nutter the second I met him. Why do you think it’s taken him so long to take out his coven? Do you really think he’s got the mastermind genius to be a threat over the long haul? Anthony is the real threat. The most important thing is to destabilize his control. Even if the cost is the humans finding out.”
Cain nodded. If Tam wasn’t involved, he might be on Hadrian’s side. But she was involved. “I don’t disagree about Anthony. Unfortunately, you helped take something that belongs to me and I’m very possessive. Demon occupational hazard.”
The vampire rolled his eyes upward. “Oh my God. You think you’re in love with her. That’s what this big torture sequence is all about. It has nothing to do with being on Anthony’s side or stopping a mad man. You just want the girl.”
It was the wrong thing to say. It was too much truth. The demon ripped the fabric covering Hadrian’s torso, tearing away the Roman collar with it. He smiled at the expanse of bare flesh he was about to destroy. He wondered if the vampire would scar. Time for more cutting and less talking.
He turned to his table of blades and clamps and spikes and crosses, trying to decide what to use first. It allowed him a moment turned away from the vampire to reign in his emotions and push the firey glow from his eyes. He had to stay cold for this. If he lost control he’d kill the vampire and never get to Tam in time. Finally, when his breathing was back to normal, he chose a thin, sharp blade. Jagged would hurt more, but he had plenty of time to get to that.
He pressed and dragged the point across Hadrian’s skin, slicing it like a ripened tomato. The skin flayed open, red spilling out. The vampire hissed, but that was far from the worst Cain had.
“Something I’m interested in,” the demon said conversationally, “is what holy water does to a priest turned vampire. I know what it does to a vampire, but perhaps you’re immune. You do still wear your clerics, after all. Surely, living and sleeping in that church, you’ve gotten curious. Maybe dipped a finger in just to see? I know I’m curious, so let’s answer the big question on everybody’s minds.”
Hadrian let out a howl as Cain poured the water into the cut he’d just made. Smoke rose off the vampire, sizzling like an egg frying on pavement.
“One less mystery of life to unravel,” the demon said. “Ready to chat yet?”
“No,” Hadrian said between gritted teeth. “You may as well just kill me.”
The demon laughed. “As if that’s going to happen. I’ll never kill you. I’ll keep you alive and torture you slowly and painfully until you talk. If you never talk and Tam dies, it’ll turn into vengeance, and you don’t want to see that side of me. Trust me.”
If it came to that, he might even lose interest in feeding, only doing it often enough to survive. Hurting the vampire who’d taken Tam away from him would become his new obsession.
“For what it’s worth, I didn’t want to hurt Tam. I just wanted to stop Anthony.”
“It’s worth nothing,” Cain shouted.
Hadrian shuddered and jerked in the chains as the demon pressed a silver cross against his chest. Part of Cain was disturbed his reaction was so strong to the witch being in trouble, but he shoved it down. The witch was his. That alone was enough to torture the filth who’d taken her.
Chapter Fourteen
Tam groaned as she struggled to sit up, her eyes still shut against the light. She felt like she had a hangover. A cup of water was pressed into her hands as another hand stroked through her hair. For the briefest moment, she felt safety as she gulped the water gratefully down—until she heard his voice.
“I thought you might sleep right through the full moon.”
Jack.
She recoiled from his hand, fighting to keep the water down.
“Oh, don’t be that way,” he said. “You loved me once.”
“Before you became a psycho,” Tam said. The power he’d absorbed from murdering the members of his coven was beginning to take a toll on him. You couldn’t make up crazy like this. His eyes were wild and a little unfocused. Unpredictable. While intellectually she knew she had a couple of days before he killed her, maybe time enough to find a way to escape... with Jack, you just couldn’t know.
Despite the moon coming and its ritual significance and the kind of power boost it would give him to drain the blood from the last remaining cycler on that night, he could lose his shit and kill her at any time.
“So this is where it ends?” Her voice was hoarse when she spoke. That was the fear coming out. Yes, she’d wanted out, but not like this, not the way Jack was going to do it. Beyond the coming pain of the experience, it twisted her stomach to think he’d done this to her sister.
She should have known this would be where he’d take her. It was the cavern where the original ritual had been performed. If she’d been hidden anywhere but the demon dimension, Jack would have had to work harder to get her here. Irony was a bitch.
“It seemed poetic,” he said. “What could be more powerful than completing the cycle here? You’ll die in the same place you were reborn. I saved you for last because I thought you’d appreciate that.”
Tam grimaced. “You saved me for last because you’re obsessed with me.”
He chuckled. “Maybe just a little. I’d still give it all up for you. I’m strong enough. When I die, I come back an adult now. With you, I might not be killable at all. Or I might die for only a few minutes at a time. I’m not sure. I’d like to find out, but I’ll keep you around. You just have to say the word. We could rule this place together.”
She sat on a stone altar—a moat had been dug around it in the ground. They were beside the water where they’d found that stupid immortal jellyfish. It had been foolish trying to become gods. They’d thought keeping the same form, remembering everything, would be a blessing, would give them power. But in the end, all it had been was a curse that had slowly eaten away at her sense of what it meant to be human.
She stood and jumped over the moat. Jack didn’t try to stop her. He just backed out of her way, giving her space to wander.