The Devil's Soldier

by Rachel McClellan

  "Hello, boys," Sable said. "Have you come to rescue your sweet Eve? Don't you trust her with me?"

  "We came to ask you some questions," Charlie said, looking from Eve to Sable.

  "Aren't I the popular one? What would you—" She stopped talking when she saw Henry. "Why am I not surprised to see you here?"

  "You know him?" Eve asked, her voice louder than she probably realized.

  "Henry and I go way back."

  This surprised Lucien, and he turned to Henry. "But I thought everyone believed you to be dead."

  "Most do." Henry moved to the bars, his gaze focused on Sable. "There have been a lot of deaths recently in the state and federal government. And we have a strong reason to believe that Boaz is behind them."

  Sable shrugged noncommittally. "Okay."

  Henry wrapped his fingers around the bars. "So is he, or isn't he?"

  Sable glanced to the men in the room. "This is like the opening of a bad joke. Two vampires and a psychic walk into a bar—"

  "We're wasting our time," Lucien said. "Let's go." He held his hand out to Eve, but she was staring at the back of Henry as if she was conjuring a spell against him. What was that all about?

  "Sable," Henry continued, "I know you hold no love for Boaz."

  Lucien and Charlie looked at each other in surprise. This was news to Lucien.

  "Tell us what you know," Henry added.

  Sable uncrossed her legs and leaned forward, her eyes focusing on Lucien. "This is all his fault."

  "Mine?" Lucien asked.

  "If you wouldn't have killed your brother, then none of this would be happening."

  Lucien clenched his jaw. Killing Aiden was the best thing he ever did. Just thinking about the way Aiden had tortured Eve still made him ill. "Aiden's plan would've killed thousands."

  "Boaz's will do the same and more. He is the Devil's Soldier and will enslave millions. Boaz is Hitler on steroids and if you don't stop him, the whole world will be at his mercy."

  A heavy stillness fell over the room. Eve visibly shivered and looked even paler than before. Lucien moved next to her and gave her an encouraging smile. She didn't notice.

  "What's his next move?" Charlie asked.

  Sable leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes. "You already know it. Kill more people and come for Eve."

  "That's never going to happen," Lucien said.

  Sable opened her eyes and winked at him. "You think so?"

  "Let's go," Henry said and turned around.

  Charlie grabbed his arm. "Not yet. Maybe she can tell us how to kill him."

  Henry shook Charlie's hand off. "We're leaving."

  Lucien looked from Charlie, to Henry, and finally to Eve. Something was going on, at least between Henry and Eve, and Lucien didn't like it. Whatever it was, it was terrifying her.

  As they walked up the stairs, Lucien pulled Eve away from the others. "Let's go somewhere tonight. Forget about all of this and just be together."

  Eve stared straight ahead and continued upward. "I'd like that, but I need to do something first."

  "What is going on with you and Henry?"

  Eve pursed her lips. "I'll find out soon enough."

  Although Lucien had wanted to take her hand, he pressed his palm against the small of her back instead. He felt her relax beneath his touch, but only a little.

  Upstairs, they returned to the conference room. Alana was sitting on a chair, her long, black-leathered legs and black army boots propped on top of the table. It had been a couple of weeks since Lucien last saw her. Alana, the Deific's best agent, had been working undercover in different government agencies ever since the first few strange deaths. She was also a vampire.

  Lucien was surprised she had stayed with the Deific, especially after Michael, the love of her life, had been killed by Aiden. Michael's death had nearly destroyed her, but here she was, still fighting the good fight.

  Alana gave a mild look of amusement. "Ah, the great Eve Segur lives! Will wonders never cease?"

  "Hello to you, too," Eve said. She turned to Henry. "We need to speak. Now."

  Henry nodded as if he'd been expecting this. "Alana, go ahead and brief Charlie and Lucien. They can fill me in later."

  "Whatever." She lowered her feet, swept her long dark hair to the side, and placed her elbows onto the table.

  Lucien was about to say something to Eve, but she had already turned and was walking out the door after Henry.

  "She just gets back and already there's trouble in paradise," Alana said, smirking at him.

  "Shut up," Lucien said and dropped into a chair. "What did you find out?"

  Charlie closed the door to the conference room and sat down next to him, but Lucien noticed Charlie's eyes linger on the door. He must be wondering what Eve and Henry were up too, as well.

  Alana cleared her throat. "First of all, I want to go on the record and say that I hate playing the role of a DC intern. I have to wear heels, Charlie! Heels!"

  "And I nearly died killing a bunch of Diablos," he said. "Are you done complaining?"

  She huffed. "Well, it's been a long day, and I just want to go home so I guess I'll just spit it out. Basically the country is about to be screwed."

  "What do you mean?" Lucien asked.

  "You ready for this?" Alana looked at each of them. "The Vice President. Hansen. He's some kind of Supernatural, but I'm not sure what kind. He's got this vibe about him."

  Charlie shook his head. "That can't be. I met him a few years ago when I was in DC. I don't notice anything strange about him."

  "He's really good at hiding it. I think he might even have some kind of cloaking ability, because I thought he was a regular human too until I spied him doing this weird thing to one of his guards."

  "Weird, how?" Lucien asked.

  Alana scrunched her face and shook her head. "I've never seen anything like it. The guard was standing straight as a board, his head back unnaturally far. Then the VP slid over a stool, stood on it so he was looking down on the guard's face, and pried open the guard's mouth like the way a dentist would."

  Charlie leaned forward. "What happened next?"

  "The VP opened his mouth and a few inches from the guard's gaping mouth, sucked something out."

  "Like what?" Lucien rubbed the back of his aching neck. Sometimes he wished he was still back in Seattle living a private, pretty much non-existent, life.

  She shrugged. "I didn't see anything come out, but he sure was sucking something. After about thirty seconds, he stopped and walked away. A few minutes after that, the guard returned to normal as if nothing had happened."

  Charlie's glanced at Lucien, his eyes tired. "So the VP is some kind of Supernatural. What do you think it all means?"

  "It could mean a number of things, but if I was thinking like Boaz, I would have the President killed, making Hansen the new President, someone I could manipulate. And shortly after, I would make a public announcement outing Supernaturals to the world."

  "And from there, bills will be introduced giving Supernaturals certain protections and rights," Charlie added. "Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but what's Boaz's angle? How will any of this help him?"

  "Boaz doesn't care about anyone's rights," Lucien said. "This is about much more than making Supernaturals mainstream."

  "Power," Alana said. "He wants control of both species."

  "But humans still outnumber Supernaturals ten thousand to one." Lucien lowered his head into his palm, thinking hard. Ultimate power. That's what Boaz has always wanted. For that to happen, he would need more Supernaturals on his side or… less humans. A memory flashed: his brother going on and on about a plague he was going to unleash upon the world, killing millions. That plan had failed.

  Lucien's head snapped up. "Charlie, you said once that there were humans in our government who work with the Deific."

  "And?"

  "How many and who? Does the President know about the Deific?"

  Charlie leaned back
in his chair and rubbed at a bruise on his chin. "The President doesn't know. I don't think so, anyway. Not many do, and we've tried hard to keep it that way. However, there is a woman with a lot of influence in the CIA who knows our truth, and when they encounter something they can't explain, she brings us in as private contractors."

  "We need to tell her about the Vice President," Alana said.

  "We need to tell her a lot more than that," Lucien said, eyeing them both. "This isn't just about elevating Supernaturals. This is about killing humans. Lots of them."

  14

  Eve leaned back in the chair, completely deflated. A thousand pound weight. That's what she felt on her chest right now.

  "There must be another way," she said, the words painful to speak.

  Henry met her gaze and clasped her hands in his. "I wish there was. Believe me, I've researched this for hundreds of years. If there was another way, I would've found it."

  Eve pulled away from him. "Were you there? The first time Boaz put the necklace on me?"

  She prayed he hadn't been. It was the darkest moment of her life.

  Henry straightened and looked beyond to a blank wall. "It doesn't matter."

  "It matters to me. I need to know."

  His eyes returned to hers. "Yes. I was nearby."

  She stood up abruptly, inhaling deeply to keep the weight from crushing her chest. Henry could've stopped it. Could've stopped all the pain and suffering Alarica had caused to so many people.

  Henry spoke in a pleading tone. "The moment Boaz had you restore his powers, me, Erik, and Sable were going to destroy him. We had the perfect spell, but Boaz and the rest of us underestimated the necklaces effect on you."

  Eve placed her hands on the wall, her head lowered.

  Breathe in. Slowly.

  Her toes and fingers were tingling, and not in a good way.

  "I'm so sorry, Eve. We would have never gone through with it had we known that it would take you over like that. We only wanted to stop Boaz."

  She whirled around. "At my expense. You used me! Was there ever any consideration for my life? For what I wanted?"

  "We were looking at the big picture."

  "Was I in this picture somewhere? Even a speck of color?"

  Henry's Adam's apple rose and fell. "As soon as we killed Boaz, then you would've been free from him. You could've lived the life you've always wanted. Even your parents would've left you alone."

  Eve walked across the room and peered out the darkened window. It was pitch black. Not even a sliver of moonlight to comfort her.

  She turned around. "You say you were going to kill Boaz, correct?"

  "Yes."

  "But how? I thought you needed all four original witch families, the ones who bound Boaz in the first place. You were missing a Brady."

  Henry cleared his throat. "I said you needed the blood of all four witch families. We had a vile of Brady blood from Lucien's great grandfather from which we could draw power from, but it was destroyed in that inferno you created when you thought you had killed Boaz."

  Her eyes widened as realization dawned on her. "That's why you wanted me to find Lucien. You manipulated me again!"

  She crossed the room in three steps and raised her arm to slap him, but he caught her hand and stood tall, practically towering over her.

  "You were the only one who had a real shot at saving Lucien from his own private hell. I had already tried multiple times, but he wouldn't listen to anyone. We needed him."

  Eve snapped her arm back. "So you're using us both?"

  "And? What would you have us do? We need you both to destroy Boaz!" His voice was rising, something she hadn't heard before.

  "How about being honest for once?" Her voice was just as loud. "I can't wait to hear what Lucien thinks about all of this!"

  Henry grabbed her by both arms. "You must not tell him. He would never let you go back to Boaz."

  "I won't let me go," she said and squirmed against his tight grip. When she couldn't break free, she used magic to shock his hands away.

  Grimacing, he let go and rubbed his palms together. "Just take some time. Think about it before you tell him. There really is no other way, and soon you will know this too."

  "I can't just lie—"

  The door flew open. Rick stood in the entry, his body tense and brows furrowed.

  "We have a problem," Rick said. "We got a call from Levi. There's something going on at the library that the police department can't deal with. He said it involves magic. Levi was pretty shook up. "

  Henry looked away from Eve. "Have you informed Lucien and Charlie?"

  "They're gearing up now."

  "Take a few others. You should probably go too, Eve, especially if it's another witch."

  "Gladly." She brushed by him. Anything to get her mind off of what she had just learned. There was no way in hell she would willingly put on that necklace ever again. There had to be another way to destroy Boaz.

  Eve opened the stairwell door. Rick came in behind her.

  "So who's Levi?" she asked while descending the stairs quickly.

  "He's a sergeant in the NYPD. He and a couple of others are aware of what we do."

  "I'm surprised I haven't heard of him before. I did live here, after all."

  Rick rounded the corner next to her. "I guess he doesn't normally ask us to work with them. He just calls Charlie and gives him the information to do with what he wants, but this time a night janitor called the police when he said he was attacked by two people breaking into the library. Levi didn't realize Supernaturals were involved until they were already there. The police have the library blocked off per Levi's request and won't do anything until we get there."

  "Do you know anything about the people who broke in?"

  "Um, it's a woman and I think they said a monk, or a dude that looks like one, anyway."

  Eve almost lost her footing. "A monk? Are you sure?"

  He shrugged. "Why?"

  She hurried down the rest of the way and opened the door into the large training room. Was it possible that Dmitri was here?

  Lucien was inside with Charlie and five other people on the other side of the room. His eyes locked with her eyes. She forced a smile but quickly looked away. She would have to figure out what to tell him later. Henry was right about one thing. She couldn't tell Lucien until she knew for sure. But she couldn't lie to him either, which meant she'd have to avoid him. The thought pained her. All she wanted was to be in his arms again. Have no worries or fears.

  "Put this on," Charlie said and handed her a thick, protective vest, the same as the others.

  "This isn't necessary. Immortal, remember?"

  "Just wear it." He also handed her a helmet. "And don't take this off. You don't want anyone recognizing you just yet." He walked away toward the door.

  Eve sighed and slipped her arm through one of the openings in the vest. Lucien was there to help with the second hole.

  "You sure you're up for this?" he asked.

  Eve turned around, trying hard to avoid direct eye contact. "I need to be there. I'm worried I might know one of them trapped in the library."

  "How?"

  "Rick mentioned a monk. I became good friends with one while I was away, recovering at a monastery. This can't be a coincidence."

  "Let me guess. A little place not far from Paris."

  "How did you know?"

  "Load up!" Charlie called.

  Lucien placed his hand on the small of her back again and guided her toward the door. "I've been to it a couple of times over the last several decades. Only stayed a night or two when I was in particular need of rest." He stopped her. "No wonder I couldn't sense you when I tried. That place is protected from outside magic."

  "And I kept myself cloaked, too." Eve continued through the door without adding any more of an explanation. There would be time for that later.

  On the ride over to the library, Charlie called Levi to get more details about the situation. There was
n't much more from what Eve already knew, but from the description of the woman and the way she was able to move objects without being touched, Eve guessed she was a witch. And probably a crazy one. No Supernatural used their powers in front of humans, especially cops.

  Charlie parked the car in front of the library next to several police cars. A couple of cops were standing guard near the front doors. One of them hurried over when they saw Charlie getting out of the car.

  While the others exited the vehicle, Eve slipped the helmet over her head and pulled down the face guard. The library was on the corner of a small intersection and looked to be about four stories high. A parking garage was on one side, and an office building on the other. Both looked abandoned, but come a few hours and this place would be buzzing with people.

  "I've held my men back," the officer said to Charlie, "but I'm afraid that crazy lady in there is going to start a fire or something. The guys are pretty freaked out. You sure you're equipped to handle this?"

  "We've got it," Charlie said. "Thanks, Levi."

  Eve slipped out of the vehicle behind Lucien and shook off the chill in the air. The library, a place that wasn't meant to feel threatening, held an ominous presence that was strangely familiar.

  "There are two stairwells that go to the top," Charlie said. "Lucien and Eve, you take the west side and we'll take the east. No one is to engage until we know what we are up against, got it?"

  Eve took off and was the first one through the door.

  "Slow down, Eve," Lucien said, jogging to catch up to her. "We don't know what we're walking into."

  She meant to go slower, but the feeling of familiarity grew stronger the closer she came to the top of the building. She couldn't move fast enough. Just before she burst through the final door on the fourth floor, Lucien snatched her back.

  "What is going on with you?" he asked. "You're being reckless!"

  She glanced over his shoulder, trying to see through the door's narrow window into the room beyond. "I think I know who's in there."