She scrambled toward McPhee who lay with his shoulders propped against the wall, his hand holding his side.
“Dammit, why’d you do that?” she whispered fiercely, taking over for him, pressing her own hands against the wound to slow the bleeding.
The tips of his wrinkled lips curved upward in a weak smile. “If I hadn’t, loverboy woulda kicked my ass.”
Tears pricked her eyes, but she leaned toward him and pressed a kiss against his forehead, not caring at this point what anyone might think. “Thank you,” she whispered.
“Hedron wasn’t lying. We don’t let shit like that happen here.”
She nodded, giving him a tight smile, and then looked around. Vlahos stood with his back to the commotion, his hands pressed against the back wall of the cell. The officers had cuffed Ames and were dragging him off the ground, not being too careful about how many times his head and body hit the wall and bars as they pulled him out of the cell.
As soon he was clear, more officers poured inside. They surrounded her, hands sliding under hers and pulling her to the cot on the opposite side where they sat her down. The lieutenant knelt beside her. “You hurt?” he asked, his gaze scanning the blood covering her hands.
“I’m fine. It’s not mine.”
“What the hell happened?”
“I wish the fuck I knew.”
* * *
Fury tightened every muscle in Billy’s shoulders and arms as he made his way at last to the barracks. He’d had to sit out the attack in the tower, listening while all hell broke loose and imagining every scenario under the sun happening too far away from him to do a damn thing. He knew McPhee had taken the shank for Gillian. He owed him big time. He also knew Gabriel had to be pissed that things hadn’t worked out quite the way he’d planned. Too fucking bad.
Gabriel was going to be more than a little angry when this was all over. Billy was going to kick his ass all the way back to hell for putting his women through all this.
But Gabriel wasn’t where his head was at right now. He had to get to her, see that she was all right. When his relief had come, he’d been told the LT had her working on a report, and that she’d been given the control booth for the rest of the night.
Small mercy she wouldn’t be back out on the floor. And if she was still on shift, it meant she hadn’t been hurt all that bad. But he’d know soon about every bruise, every cut if he had to strip her down in the ladies’ room, because he knew she wouldn’t let anyone know how bad it had been.
He found her staring dully through the glass at the empty barracks floor. All the cells were locked up tight until breakfast. She clutched a cup of coffee between her hands, but it was full and it looked as though she’d forgotten it.
Billy knelt beside her. “Baby,” he whispered. “Are you okay? I heard.”
She nodded without looking up at him, but he saw her blink her eyes. Because he knew her pride would make her hate herself if she cried, he stood, turned his back to the floor and edged his leg close enough to rub up against her thigh,
One hand slipped from her cup, and she reached under the console to slide her hand around the back of his knee. She leaned against him, an action imperceptible to an observer.
He dropped his hand and rested it on her shoulder, giving her the gentlest of squeezes.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” she said softly, her voice sounding hoarse.
“I won’t press. But I will know how bad you were hurt.”
She glanced up, a little smile tugging at her lips. “You’ll have to wait and see me naked.”
“Plan on it.”
Her smile faded. “I was scared out of my mind. Thought it was happening again.”
Billy closed his eyes, damning Gabriel again. “I’m sorry you went through that.”
“McPhee…Charlie…he saved me.”
“He knew I’d have his balls if he didn’t keep an eye on you.”
She snorted, and then winced. “He said just about the same thing.”
“He’s good people, even if he is a little crazy.”
“I don’t think he’s crazy at all,” she whispered. “He said there’s demons in these boys, and I believe him.”
Chapter 7
Gabriel sat on the edge of his cot, staring out of his darkened cell at the control booth on the far side of the barracks. Billy and the woman were together, Billy likely trying to offer her comfort while rage built inside him at what had passed.
He’d screwed up. Billy had every right to be furious. For choosing Gillian as his target in the first place, and then scaring the hell out of her for nothing.
Knowing there wasn’t anything he could do to ease the situation now, he turned his thoughts toward the demon he’d been trying to impress. Although The Wizard hadn’t had front row seats to his little play, word had spread like wildfire across a parched field throughout the barracks, cell to cell. Ames had been dragged out, shouting that he hadn’t meant it, would never have hurt an officer and especially a woman, and that he didn’t know where the damn shank had come from.
But Means would know. He’d shown him what he could do, how he could manipulate minds. He was an incubus after all.
And he needed to feed again—on strong emotions. However, he wasn’t sure whether his old buddy would be amenable to sharing again, not after what he’d done. And Gabriel wasn’t sure he had the heart to invade Gillian’s dreams again. Maybe he’d have to look elsewhere, somewhere closer, however much the thought made his stomach turn.
A loud, low hum interrupted his musing. It sounded like the low-pitched thrum of electricity along a hundred power lines. The hairs on the back of his neck lifted, his heart thudded dully against his chest. He guessed the wait was over. Tonight, he’d learn what the demon in the cellblock had planned.
Locks popped up and down the tier. Voices began to murmur, growing louder, as prisoners realized they’d been released from their cells.
Gabriel shot a glance to the control booth in time to see Billy leaning toward his mike and Gillian rising swiftly from her seat, her eyes widening as inmates flooded the barracks stairways in a quick, steady stream.
Two officers who’d been walking the tiers were running, but were quickly overcome, backed up to the rails, their own handcuffs quickly restraining them.
At the center of the barracks floor stood The Wizard his arms raised, fists clenched. He’d just taken over the housing unit. Whether he intended a siege or a mass escape wasn’t at all clear.
One thing Gabriel knew, more blood would be spilled before the night was over.
* * *
Gillian sat cross-legged on hard concrete, her arms beginning to ache, her wrists tender with the bruises inflicted by the inmate who’d cuffed her.
Billy sat down the row of officers the prisoners had captured, his gaze aimed straight ahead. He hadn’t once looked her way. She understood he didn’t want to tip them off that they had a relationship, or the knowledge might be used against them.
As it was, things weren’t looking good.
She’d no sooner muttered about demons to Billy, and her worst nightmares had been confirmed. When the locks on the cells along all three tiers popped at the same time, she’d stared incredulously at the lights glowing all along her console. Billy had tried his mike, but whatever that low hum was had scrambled communications coming in and out of the barracks. The phones hadn’t worked either.
Which meant they didn’t know if this break was isolated to their housing unit or prison-wide, and whether anyone outside the unit was aware they were in deep shit.
How deep she didn’t understand until the one who seemed to be in charge, the one they called “The Wizard” began to paint a large symbol in blood that prisoners seemed eager to open a vein to provide.
Three prisoners had passed out already, their bodies turning blue, another knelt in front of Means, offering his wrist. This time Gillian didn’t even flinch when The Wizard bit deep and shook his head, blood spraying in a w
ide arc. When he lifted his head, he dropped the man’s hand into a bucket and turned toward the row of corrections officers, a wide, inhuman grin splitting his face.
He stepped in front of Gillian and leaned over her, dragging in a deep breath through flaring nostrils. “Fear…my favorite perfume,” he murmured. Then he reached for her, grabbing her by the hair, and dragged her in front of the line.
Her panicked gaze caught Billy’s for a second before she forced it away.
The Wizard let go of her hair and lifted a foot, jamming it against her chest and forcing her on her back. Then he set both feet on opposite sides of her hips and sat down, squatting on her body. “Are you afraid?” he said, in an eerie, gloating tone.
She didn’t answer, knowing he could see her trembling and hating herself for letting him see. But she’d only seen pure evil like this one time before, and things hadn’t ended well. She’d lost her whole family in a single hour.
He bent over her, his long tongue snaking out, and she turned her face to the side, grimacing as he licked the side of her face. Her gaze locked with Billy’s who couldn’t maintain his stoic mask. Pure, raging fury reddened his face. Then his gaze rose, his eyes closed.
Means’s tongue plunged into her ear, before sliding back into his mouth. His head tilted toward Billy. “Ahhhh….”
His wicked, leering smile broadened, and Gillian shivered beneath him.
“Doesn’t like that, does he? What will he think when I take you, here on the floor? Will he watch? Will he get hard when I fuck you?”
“Means!”
The voice was one she recognized. From her dreams. Vlahos stomped toward them, his hands curling at his sides. “She’s mine.”
“Yours? Only if I say so. But you have proven useful. Tell me, incubus, can you fuck her with your mind right here? Might prove entertaining for the others to watch. She’ll writhe on the floor like a snake, getting her pretty crotch all wet, and everyone will know the moment she comes because she won’t be able to withhold a scream.”
Gillian’s stomach lurched, and she thought she might throw up.
“Don’t you have something more important you should be doing?” Vlahos said, sounding only mildly annoyed.
The Wizard’s smile disappeared, stretching thin over his teeth as he snarled. “I do.” His glance went to the man who’d slumped beside the bucket, which was held by another prisoner to keep it from spilling. “But be my guest. Feed.”
Means nuzzled her neck, and then stood, stalking away as Vlahos reached down and grabbed her arm. “Sorry about this,” he said softly. Then his eyes narrowed on hers and a curtain of black fell over them. She opened her mouth to scream, but suddenly, she wasn’t in the center of the barracks any longer.
She was back at the lake, standing on the shore this time. Vlahos’s arms surrounded her, and she began to squirm against him, lifting her bare feet to stomp on his.
He pulled her closer, so tightly she couldn’t breathe. “Stop. Stop now. I’m not going to hurt you.”
“I don’t understand.”
“And I don’t have time to fill you in on everything. Billy,” he said, tossing the name over his shoulder.
Billy walked up to her side, his expression starkly haunted. “Do as he asks, Gillian. Stop fighting.”
“I don’t understand. Did I pass out?”
“You’re awake and still in the barracks, but I brought you here to talk,” Gabriel said. “Means expects me to feed and expects to see a show. He wants you humiliated to prove his power over the other guards to his helpers.”
“And are you one of them?”
“He’s here to help us,” Billy said, glaring at Vlahos. “But he’s also the one who flipped Ames. Gabriel wanted you out of the cellblock before any of this went down.”
“You knew I was going to be attacked?”
“It was for the best.”
She shook her head and shook off Vlahos’s hands to confront them both. “What McPhee said, about their being demons inside the men, he meant it literally?”
“Yeah,” Billy said.
Her gaze clung to his. “Are you one of them?”
“No. Strictly human.”
“But you’re in my dream, too.”
“Because Gabriel brought me to talk to you. We don’t have much time.”
Gabriel lifted his hands and stripped away her clothes with a wave.
She closed her arms over her breasts. “Can they see me like this?”
“No, but your body will be reacting. It has to, or Means will know I’ve conned him.”
She shook her head and backed away. “I won’t let you do this. I don’t care if the bastard kills me, but I won’t let you rape me in front of them all.”
“Then I won’t, but Billy will have you.” Vlahos turned his back.
Billy reached for her. “Dammit, Gillian. I don’t like this either.”
“Sure, you don’t,” she scoffed. “You both planned to tag team me from the start, didn’t you?”
The tightening of his jaw was all the answer she needed, and she spun on her heels and began to run.
But Billy was faster and took her to the ground, raising her arms above her head and pinning her with his heavy body. “Don’t fight, baby. Please, I know this is wrong, in so many ways, but don’t fight. I love you. I’ll do whatever I have to keep you safe.”
“Don’t you dare give me your goddamn cock,” she sobbed.
“My fingers then, just enough to get you off.”
“Jesus,” she said, already feeling warmth pour over her skin. She aimed a glare at Vlahos’s back. “You’re doing this. You’re making me want this.”
“I’m only making it easier for you,” came his muttered response.
“Goddamn you both,” she said, closing her eyes. Which was a mistake, because Billy was kissing her now, his lips softening over hers as he coaxed hers to move against him.
Then his fingers were slipping between their bodies, sliding over her mound, slipping between her folds, circling his pads over the hardening knot of her clit.
He lifted his head and gazed down at her. “I lied about a lot of things, but never this. Not with a single touch or kiss. I meant everything, Gillian.”
Tears slipped down the side of her face. “When my brother went on his rampage, I was afraid some of that madness might be inside me, too. I didn’t want to feel too much.”
“Evil was never inside you. Not even inside him. He was gone before the demon killed your family. You need to know that.”
Her breath hitched. “Like Means?”
“Yeah, he didn’t come into the world that way. But whatever his crimes, he didn’t eat people whole before his skin was possessed.”
A dart of arousal stabbed toward her womb. “Jesus, we’re talking about demons, and you’re getting me hot. What’s wrong with me?”
“A little help from Gabriel is all.”
“Is that how you got to me, Billy?”
“Only in the dreams. Everything outside of it was just us.”
“Promise?”
“Yes, baby. It’s good between us. If I let go of your hands are you going to clip me, or will you let me suck on those puffy nipples until you come?”
“Guess you’ll have to see.” She fisted her hands, lifting her chin to remind him she wasn’t happy about any of this.
He slowly released her, but she kept her fists beside her head, and he scooted down her body and opened his mouth around one of her breasts. And then she was moaning, writhing beneath him as heat curled tighter in her belly. His fingers plucked and rubbed her clit, his mouth suckled hard, and amazingly, she was almost there.
His head lifted. “You know what has to happen next, don’t you?”
She shook her head.
“You have to let Gabriel feed because we need him strong.”
Vlahos approached as she groaned and turned her face away.
He bent over her head. “Suck her clit now. Make her come. I need it a
ll, buddy.”
Billy lurched up and knelt between her thighs, prying them apart and bending low. His tongue fluttered against her clit, and she bit her lip.
God, it was too much, too much. And then her back arched off the ground, and she was keening.
Vlahos placed his hand in the center of her chest, and then shoved…his hand sinking into her. She screamed, coming apart and horrified at the same time, her legs twisting.
And suddenly, she was awake. Vlahos poised over her, his hand not inside her but pressed against her chest.
Low, ugly laughter surrounded her, and she squeezed her eyes shut.
“Nice,” Means said. “Very nice. After we bring her through, I’ll have to taste me some of that,” he said, kissing the air.
Then Vlahos grabbed her shoulder roughly and flung her toward Billy.
She came to her knees and settled beside him.
He leaned into her for a moment, and then straightened away.
Just long enough to reassure her, tell her she wasn’t alone.
Winded, trembling, she lowered her head, afraid like she’d never been in her entire life. She knew the truth now about her life, about her world. And she was surrounded by a web of lies.
If she lived through the night, if she was ever free again, she didn’t know where that left her.
Gabriel inhaled deeply, a heaviness settling inside his chest. God, would this night ever end? Gillian was shaken by what she’d learned, terrified by how truly vulnerable and helpless she was. He might be a demon, but he understood how a human heart worked. She’d needed to believe she was strong and could overcome anything.
As a demon fighting to keep the balance between the land of the living and the shadowlands on the other side, he shouldn’t be feeling so conflicted. Sacrifices had to be made, but he’d hate to lose her, hate like hell to lose his friend as well. However, he wasn’t certain he could help either one of them without compromising the mission.
He had to get that artifact from Means.
Squaring his shoulders, he headed toward the lizard that’d just completed painting a picture on the floor. It was a circle with triangular points surrounding it. At the center was a crude rendering of a creature’s face with a broad snout and a tongue shaped like a dagger. Because his unit back in San Antonio had been studying up on Aztec glyphs to try to the decipher the message on the side of Spanish sword hilt they’d recovered, he knew he was looking at a representation of the Aztec Ring of Flames, with the sun god Tonatiuh, at its center.
Lockdown: A Veiled Alliance Story Page 7