Sleeper_Google, page 18
part #3 of Hunter Series
“I’m ready to make a deal.” I only had one way to ensure my father’s safety. I had one bargaining chip the demon wanted.
Me.
Nemcox’s head came up, his eyes lighting. “What?” He looked between us. “Of course, for my silence. You don’t even know what I know, but you’re smart enough to realize I’ll use it. I’ll find Myrddin and tell him. I’ll be true to my master. But I’m truer to my family. Yes, that is a smart play. Perhaps you’re more practical than I gave you credit for.”
“Kelsey, stop it. You’re not making any kind of deal,” Lee insisted.
I kept my eyes on the demon. “You say this Myrddin dude killed my father once. He’ll try it again, won’t he?”
Lee had a hand on my wrist, tugging earnestly.
“Oh, yes.” Nemcox ignored Lee entirely. “I assure you. Once I let the wizard know what’s happened to his plans, he’ll come after the loner again. He won’t do it in such a spectacular fashion since he won’t want to harm his relationship with the king, but he’ll find a way. It’s what he does.”
“I’ll talk to the king,” Lee swore. “In this life, he’s my father and he’ll believe me. I’ll tell him everything that was said here. He’ll know not to trust the wizard.”
“One of the things that the queen talked about was the wizard’s enormous influence over the king, and even over Devinshea.” Casey’s shoulders had gone back, his jaw tightening as he seemed to come to some decision. “When the king was in close contact, the queen felt the wizard had some power over him. Lee was the one who couldn’t be swayed by his arguments. The queen felt like her wolves were the only ones who weren’t influenced by Merlin.”
“The wizard is a tricky fellow. He’s gotten away with many crimes in the past. I’m afraid your best bet is for me to keep my pretty mouth shut.” Nemcox leaned against the bar, a smirk on his borrowed lips. “So let’s deal, Hunter. You know what I’m going to want, don’t you?”
It turned my stomach. I knew exactly what he would want. “You want my promise that I’ll marry Gray and live with my husband after his contract is up.”
In Hell. Far from Marcus. Away from Trent.
Now my wolf started rattling. I could feel her. The minute I started thinking about leaving Trent, she started to howl deep inside me.
“Darlin’, I want you to take a deep breath,” Lee was saying. His hand was in mine, small but reassuring. “You’re shaking. This is not going to happen. There’s no deal. Do I make myself clear?”
He was nine and he had a whole life ahead of him. I couldn’t risk it. I’d brought him along with me. I should have driven him right back home. I’d done this. I wasn’t going to let Nemcox talk and put out a hit on him. No matter what. “I need to see it in writing.”
“Of course,” the demon practically purred. “I’ll have a satan here in no time at all, dearest sister.”
“Gray won’t allow this,” Lee said. “And have you thought about the fact that she’s a Hunter? She needs contact with wolves or she gets violent.”
Nemcox smiled brightly. “That’s perfect because we love violence where I come from. A little isolation-induced insanity won’t bother us at all. And my brother will be grateful in the end. He’ll have his wife and family with him always. He won’t ever have to share her with a trainer or some random wolf. It will be as it should be. He will sit at the head of his household and she will be his obedient wife. Are you ready now?”
I started to nod my head when Casey stepped in front of me.
“I invoke the laws agreed upon at the last meeting of the Council and the Royal Guild of Demons. You are not allowed to contract with vampirekind without counsel present. The Council itself must be informed that Ms. Owens is contemplating signing a demon contract. By our own rules, set up by the queen herself, Ms. Owens must go through counseling, a class on contracts and how they work, and think about the contract for a full twenty-four hours before she would be allowed to even think about signing a contract.”
Nemcox got into Casey’s space, working that dead body like it was slightly snakelike. Definitely predatory and dangerous. “Ms. Owens isn’t vampirekind.”
Casey’s voice was shaking but he stood his ground. “According to the rules, I can request a trial to determine her status. I require a medical test. If she’s been taking vampire blood, she’s vampirekind.”
I got what he was trying to do, but this was my dad. “I’m not on vamp blood right now.”
Marcus’s blood should be out of my system.
“We’ll need a blood test to prove it,” Casey insisted. “Or I’ll have you both in front of the Council for attempting to violate the laws of this plane.”
“Or I could tear your heart out right here and no one has to know,” Nemcox threatened.
Casey didn’t move an inch. “And still your contract will not be valid. And still she will have friends who demand that the rules be enforced. You can kill me, asshole. No one’s going to care. But if you take the Nex Apparatus by right of contract, you fucking better be sure you dotted every i and crossed every goddamn t because everyone will care. You might want a war, but most of your kind doesn’t. Most of those upper-crust demons like the world exactly the way it is, and they don’t want their cushy torture palaces upended by a lengthy battle. We will go to war over her. The king will never let you take her unless you’ve followed every letter of the law. So if you want her, you better listen to me and do your due diligence before she signs on that line.”
Nemcox’s mouth opened and he hissed, a nasty, evil sound. He got right in Casey’s face, and for a second I worried I would see his second murder of the day. Then he backed up and looked over at me. “I won’t tell. Not until we work this out. I’ll send my requirements. Don’t fuck me over, sister. You won’t like what happens.”
Larissa’s body dropped to the ground like a doll whose strings had been cut.
I tried to breathe. I was in a trap and I wasn’t sure how to get out. I actually believed the fucker. If there’s one thing demons take seriously, it’s their contracts. If Nemcox said he wouldn’t tell the magician about my father’s soul still walking the plane, I believed him. But at some point he would tell.
Unless I found a way to kill him.
Casey’s body folded in two and he took a series of hyperbolic breaths. “Oh, my god. Holy shit. If I could pee I would have.”
Lee put a hand on the baby vamp’s shoulder. “You did good, son. You did good.”
And I wondered if I hadn’t just signed my own jail sentence.
* * * *
I pulled my Jeep into the parking garage and the first thing I saw was Daniel Donovan, standing in the middle of the space, that I’m-the-king-of-the-world-and-you’ve-disappointed-me frown on his face.
And naturally he wasn’t alone. My uncle stood beside him, his suit perfectly pressed and unlined face still managing to convey how angry he was. Then there was Trent, and I got the feeling he was the angriest of all.
Casey shoved his wrist toward my face for the tenth time. He’d been doing it over and over and I was ready to murder the persistent fucker. He’d opened a nick on his wrist and he kept trying to force me to ingest the blood that welled there. It was annoying and super gross.
I slapped his wrist away.
“It won’t do any good,” Lee said from the backseat. “We need to get more than a little in her. Probably at least a full cup. I know where Henri keeps a couple of bags of Donovan’s blood. We’ll force that down her throat.”
I slammed the car into park. “You’ll do nothing of the kind. Which one of you turned me in?”
“I texted my dad,” Lee said and then frowned as though he hadn’t meant to say that. “I mean Quinn. I texted Quinn and he managed to get hold of Dad. Donovan, damn it.”
Before I could think about what that meant, the passenger door was coming open and Casey was getting hauled out of the car by his neck. Trent was standing there, holding Casey up. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing? You don’t touch her.”
Sleep with a guy once and he gets all shades of possessive. “He was trying to force vamp blood down my throat so I can’t sign the demon contract that’s going to save my dad.”
Trent dropped him immediately. “You trying to prove she’s vampirekind so no demon can sign a contract with her?”
Casey held his throat and nodded.
Trent whacked him on the back. “That’s smart. Don’t worry about it. I know where Henri keeps the king’s blood. We’ll force some down her throat. It’ll last longer. Give her a good dose of Donovan and it’ll stay in her bloodstream for months.”
“That was my plan,” Lee said, a frown on his face.
“You! You brat,” an angry feminine voice echoed through the garage.
“Shit.” Lee went a bit pale as the queen made an appearance. “Mom, I didn’t do it.”
The queen’s heels clicked along the concrete and she pointed one righteous finger Lee’s way. “You are grounded.”
Lee seemed to come out of his momentary fear. “You can’t ground me. I’m forty-seven freaking years old.”
“Holy shit.” Zack stared at Lee. “It really is you.”
Lee sighed and held up a hand. “Thank god, brother. I thought I was going to miss you. Hey, buddy, remember that time I looked the other way when you were seventeen and you brought that girl home. Yeah, I’m calling that one in. I need a beer.”
I was going to let the queen handle that one. I needed to talk to the king. He would see reason. He wouldn’t let the damn wolves force-feed me blood. And Hugo. Hugo was the academics’ law expert. I could get him to write a preliminary contract.
“Your Majesty, if I could have a moment of your time,” I started.
“Gray’s on his way,” Trent said.
“Do you even begin to comprehend how dangerous it was what you did?” The queen was down on one knee, her hands on Lee’s shoulders. The queen started in on Lee.
“What do you mean Gray’s on his way?” There were other things being said that I should probably pay attention to, but Trent knew how to draw me in.
“I mean he called me and yelled at me for a long time and he’s on his way. How dare you think I would allow you to do something like this?” Trent loomed over me.
“I don’t think I can give you a beer, man,” Zack was saying. “Maybe a root beer.”
Donovan was on his cell phone. “Yes, we have him. Calm down, Dev. He’s fine. Well, mostly. We have other problems to deal with. Get Hugo up to my office pronto. And take the warding off the roof. Gray says he’s found someone who can transport him here. I told him the safest place to do it would be the roof. I don’t want him messing up and appearing in someone’s shower. Marcus is going to meet him up there.”
“Allow?” I did not like that word. I stood up to Trent, which is hard to do since the man has about a foot in height on me. “You think you can allow or disallow something?”
Trent stared down at me. “I think you’re crazy if you think I’m going to let you go to Hell. Have you thought about the fact that without Marcus to balance you, you need me? Gray can’t do it on his own. Everyone knows that. He knows that.”
“Zoey, will you take our son upstairs? Dev’s waiting,” Donovan said, his voice deep as though the emotion of the day had gotten to him.
“I need to talk to you, Donovan,” Lee said.
Zoey had a hand on his elbow. “You can talk to your dad after he handles Kelsey’s problem. You do understand that this is all your fault. If you hadn’t run away like that, she wouldn’t have been forced to offer herself up to save you.”
“Don’t you think I know that?” Lee pulled his arm away. “I won’t let you treat me like a child, damn it.” He stopped, his hand going to his head, and suddenly he was Little Lee again. I could see it in his eyes. He looked up and there was such confusion there. “Mom?”
Zoey got to one knee. “Lee? Baby?”
He blinked again and sighed. “No. It’s me. I’m back, but something’s wrong. I’ve got a headache. I need to talk to Donovan about something. Why can’t I remember? It was right there. Dad? Where’s Papa?”
Donovan picked him up. “I’m taking him upstairs. Someone call Henri and tell him to meet us. Trent, you don’t let her out of your sight.”
I wasn’t going anywhere. “I want to be with Lee.”
Donovan was already moving. “No, you’ll go to my office and you’ll talk to Hugo. Do you understand? Unless you want to promise me here and now you’re not signing a demon contract.”
I kept my mouth shut because I couldn’t promise him that. Someone had to protect Lee and I was the only one who could do it.
“Then you’ll talk to Hugo.” Donovan disappeared, the queen following behind him.
My uncle gave me a ferocious frown. “I have to go check on Lee and make sure the witches know something’s going wrong with him. If you try to leave this compound, you’re going to find out how fast I can go from the fun uncle to the one who locks your ass up. Am I understood?”
I gave him a jaunty salute and wondered if I could get lost at the bar on my way up to Donovan’s office.
“We’re going to talk about this later,” my uncle promised before turning away. He looked to Trent. “You let her get away and we’ll have a problem.”
“I have no intention of letting her get away or sign some damn contract. It’s not happening,” Trent vowed.
But there wasn’t anything they could do with the exception of shoving vamp blood down my throat, and I planned to fight that. I could even contest that in the trial that would establish my status.
I wasn’t going to think about the whole Hell part. I was only going to think about the fact that my dad was in trouble and I was the only one who could get him out. Nemcox wouldn’t accept anyone else.
“Do you want to explain to me what the hell you think you’re doing?” Trent asked. Even though he kept his voice down, the sound reverberated through the parking garage.
“Not particularly.” I needed to be cold, and arguing with Trent wasn’t going to keep me calm. Not when what my instincts told me to do was to wrap my arms around him and ask him to help me save my dad. There wasn’t anything he could do. He didn’t have anything the demon would want. “We should go up to Donovan’s office. Hugo will be there soon.”
Hugo would be pissed, but if he wouldn’t help me, I would find another lawyer. One who was willing to go against the king. Yeah. That was going to be easy to find. I wondered if a demon lawyer would be acceptable in a Council court. Probably not.
I started walking toward the elevator that would take me to Donovan’s office. That’s when something Trent had said before hit me. I turned on him. “What do you mean Gray knows that? What exactly does Gray know?”
I needed to understand what the hell was happening and why Gray and Trent were all buddy buddy suddenly.
“Gray knows that you need me. That he needs me. Marcus knows, too. Why do you think he’s had me take over large portions of your training?” Trent’s voice was tight, his frustration obvious.
“That was because he had some important things to take care of,” I replied. That was how Marcus had explained it to me. “And you don’t really train me at all. We’re in the gym together at the same time.”
“I was assigned to take over his duties, Kelsey.” Trent was in my space, overwhelming me. “Do you get that? I was assigned to take care of you, and part of that means not allowing you to do something as stupid as signing a contract with a demon. Consider yourself on lockdown, too. You can take this time and get to know your dad because I’m not allowing you out of here either. Maybe when Gray gets here he can talk some sense into you.”
“Assigned to take over what duties?” Suspicion played through my head and I did not like what I was coming up with. “Are you telling me Marcus assigned you to fuck me?”
Trent stopped, his body tensing as though ready for a fight. “I’m here in case you need me.”
I had to laugh at that. So last night hadn’t been a selfless act of volunteerism. He’d been instructed to fuck me sane, and Trent was always a good soldier. He was the upright guy who did what his boss needed and rarely varied from the path he’d been told to march down. Pretty much my polar opposite. I would do some stupid shit just because some authority figure told me not to. “Well, I hope you get a bonus out of it.”
I moved to the elevators and slapped a hand at the button. It immediately responded and opened for me. I got in, hoping to leave Trent to catch the next one. Naturally the wolf was too fast.
“You want to explain what that’s supposed to mean?” He moved into the elevator, crowding me.
The doors closed and we were all alone in a space that should have been big enough, if Trent hadn’t decided to take up all of it.
Still, I’m not one to let myself be intimidated. Or to give in to the almost overwhelming need to see how he kissed. He’d kissed me the night before, our mouths mingling in long communion. But it had been Gray I saw and felt, and now I wanted to know how much of Trent had been in that kiss. “You know what I meant. Marcus doesn’t want the job of putting up with my shit anymore so he’s found someone else. I hope you got a nice bump in salary because I’m a handful.”
He put a hand on the wall behind me as the elevator started moving. “You’re not a job, Kelsey.”
“A fun fringe benefit then. You know we didn’t hit the button. We’re not going to the right floor.”
“It wasn’t fun,” he growled my way.
Well, I had known that. I gave him my brightest smile. “Good news for you, buddy. I won’t need you again. I’m signing my contract and marrying my man.”
He stepped back, his eyes going wide. “What? You’re getting married?”
At least I had the upper hand in this instance. Except every word I forced out of my mouth made my wolf twitchy. I was doing exactly what Bris had told me not to do. I was shoving my wolf side into a cage and not letting her out. I had to be the human side of the Hunter if I was going to save my father. “Yes, that’s what the contract is about. I’m marrying Gray and part of our marriage contract agreement will include my promise to live with him permanently. Even after his contract goes into effect.”
