Because the demon had wanted her to see....
The pieces of the puzzle fell together in his mind as he played his theory out step by step. But another question nagged at the back of his mind: Why had the woman thought her husband was possessed? Undoubtedly she hadn’t wanted to think her husband was capable of such atrocious violence, but she had been so specific. She hadn’t said he had gone mad or crazy. She’d said he was possessed, which meant the demon had done something to give away its identity. It wouldn’t have shown its demonic red eyes unless she’d somehow managed to hurt it, which she wouldn’t have been able to do unless she had holy water or a blessed relic at hand, which didn’t seem likely, even though the family had been religious.
He thought back to all the crappy B-movies he had seen over the years, which had portrayed demons in some of the most absurd ways and most likely would have been the extent of this woman’s knowledge of the demonic. What could the creature have done that would have...
The thought clicked into place. Latin. The demon must have been speaking Latin or some other dead language her husband wouldn’t have known. That was one thing the films got right, and if the demon had been speaking Latin, that meant it had performed some sort of demonic ritual. That explained the desecrated state of the infant’s body. The horror of the situation hit David like a punch straight to the balls.
The point of the demon’s ritual hadn’t been spilling blood, it had been creating fear. The demon had forced the mother—and the father, while he was possessed and unable to control his body—to watch the deaths of their two children so it could feed off their fear.
David shoved his anger down inside, balling it up in a way he was certain would kill him one of these days. He needed to remain focused. He had already taken photos of the crime scene. Now he needed samples to send off to the lab. If he could find some trace of sulfur the monster had left behind, forensics could analyze it and give him some idea of what type of demon fucker he would be torturing. He made quick work of taking the samples. After pulling the small lab kit from inside his leather jacket, he swabbed the victims’ wounds and underneath their fingernails, and took samples of their hair, anything that could give him insight.
When he finished, he glanced one last time at the bodies.
Sickening, intense rage built inside him as he thought of the horror these poor people had gone through. He would find the demon piece of shit that had done this, and when he did, he would enjoy every moment of making it suffer.
* * *
SAMMAEL POURED THE spilled blood across the altar, mumbling his incantations. The ancient symbols painted on the wall in front of him flared to a bright glowing orange at the sound of his words. Hellfire incarnate.
“Speak to me, Mistress,” he purred.
A moment of silence passed before a sweet, satisfied hiss filled the room. His master was powerful enough that no words were needed. He could feel her presence intensifying. Her arrival was growing nearer and nearer.
Once Mistress was here, they would slaughter their enemies slowly, one by one, when their victims would least expect it. The Mistress would take on the little Fae bitch herself, and finally, after all these years, when the Mistress was done with the girl, he could rip her open and feed on her insides for the pure pleasure of it.
The pain on the exorcist’s face would be priceless.
The exorcist would be angry at the loss of his love, and he would put up a fight, but they would win. David Aronowitz was powerful and deadly against most demons, himself included, though he hated to admit that, but the pathetic excuse for a hero would never be capable of taking on a being as great, as deadly, as the Mistress was.
A pity that the Mistress wanted the exorcist all to herself.
Sammael would have loved to do the deed himself—slay the only mortal man who struck fear into the hearts of all the children of hell.
He remembered fondly the feeling of the family’s pulses beating beneath his fingertips, their last few breaths before slipping into darkness, releasing their power to him. The sweet feeling of their deaths, and the terror in the eyes of the parents as they watched their children die, would be nothing compared to the rewards for doing his Mistress’s bidding. He had been waiting, biding his time until the moment was right, and now the time was finally here. They would escape. They were all going to escape, and when the gates of hell opened, it would be chaotic paradise on earth.
A whisper of power filled the room, and the presence of his Mistress moved closer to the surface. He could feel her power beneath his feet.
And then he knew what he needed. Two more families. Only two more, and then the Mistress would be free to rise from hell.
CHAPTER SIX
ONLY ABOUT A quarter of the way through their trip to David’s division headquarters, Allsún was already certain there were icicles dangling from her nose and toes. Though he had given her his leather Harley jacket and removed the socks he wore underneath his massive motorcycle boots to cover her feet, she was hardly bundled up. As he phrased it, it was colder than a witch’s tit outside. The winter wind whistled in her ears despite the slight cover of David’s spare helmet. A shiver ran through her body as they rounded another corner, but this time it wasn’t from the cold.
The image of that poor innocent baby wouldn’t leave her mind. How could anyone, any thing, ever do something so cruel to a child? What had been done to the adults and the teen was disgusting and evil enough, but the baby...
She shook her head. She had never seen that kind of carnage at a crime scene. David was right. This was by far the worst she’d encountered, at least on scene. She couldn’t imagine anything more terrifying. A knot tangled in her stomach and anxiety gripped her insides until a wave of nausea rolled through her.
No, that wasn’t right. She could imagine something more terrifying, something she didn’t need to imagine at all, but instead remembered. Something she couldn’t bear to tell David. She inhaled a breath of crisp air in an attempt to calm her nerves. She would do whatever it took to help David. She didn’t know if she could bear to see another innocent mother lose her child. Unintentionally, she clung more tightly to David’s waist.
“You okay back there?” he yelled.
She leaned in close to his ear from where she sat behind him on the area David and other bikers referred to as the “pussy pad.” She could have complained about how sexist the term was, but she knew she would be preaching to the choir when it came to David. She couldn’t count how many times he had tried to convince her to get a bike of her own, so he could teach her to ride. But nerdy girls like her weren’t meant to be badass biker babes. She didn’t even like riding on the back without the “sissy bar,” which she’d been grateful David had taken off his old Honda and installed on the new Super Glide, even though she knew it hadn’t been intended for her use. She frowned. She didn’t want to ponder exactly whose use it had been intended for.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” she called over his shoulder.
Deep down, though, she was far from it.
She couldn’t shake the awful images from her head. She knew from so many previous crime scenes that often the memories of the atrocities faded over time. But some things were just inescapable. She had experienced a few of those instances in her life—events so awful that memories never faded. This would be one of them. Another shiver shot through her. The situation was already so messed up on so many levels. When she’d awakened earlier in the evening, the last thing she would have expected was to find herself on the back of David’s motorcycle, riding to his meeting with the Execution Underground. Yet she was doing exactly that. Throw in the unexplainable pull that had roused her from a drug-induced sleep and brought her to that sickening crime scene, plus David’s news of demons being on her trail, and she was a royally screwed cookie. She closed her eyes as she continued to hold on to David. Just a few da
ys. Once she was back on her feet, things would go back to normal. She and David would part ways again, and the only problem she would be left with was the horde of demons tailing her. Maybe she could even patch things up with Tom.
They rounded another corner before quickly pulling to a stop outside an abandoned-looking warehouse. They parked behind a Hummer H3 with its engine still running. David shut off the bike, before tearing off his helmet. She followed suit and removed her own helmet as the front doors of the H3 opened.
Jace and Frankie stepped out of the vehicle, and a look of relief crossed Jace’s face as he spotted her and David. He sighed. “I was out of my fucking mind with worry until I talked to you,” he said to David. The two men walked toward each other and embraced in a quick half hug.
“Sorry, J. I was kind of dealing with my own shit. Thanks for going to the hospital to check on her, even if she wasn’t there.” David shot a glance in her direction that was half admonishing, half playful.
“All water under the bridge now. No harm done.” Frankie stepped around from the other side of the car. A smile spread across her face as she stepped forward and pulled Allsún into a hug.
Allsún hugged her back. It was so good to see a friendly face. Well, one that wasn’t her ex’s, anyway. Frankie released her, the smile still on her as she pulled away. Allsún examined her friend’s features. Though she couldn’t quite pinpoint the change, something was off with Frankie. The slightest trace of dark circles colored the skin underneath her eyes as if she’d been losing sleep, and a faint line of worry cut deep between her eyebrows.
“Thanks for going with Jace to try to look after her, Frankie,” David said.
Allsún shook her head. “Jeez, way to make it sound like I need a constant babysitter.” She shot David a glare. She hated being treated like a helpless victim.
Frankie placed a hand on her shoulder. “It was really no trouble. Besides, who wouldn’t need some help after being left with Robert for so long?”
David cringed, and Allsún could see the guilt behind his eyes.
“I’m headed inside, so I don’t have to listen to any more of Damon’s bitching than we’re already in for.” Jace threw the keys to his H3 to Frankie. He grinned from ear to ear as she caught them in one hand. “Love you, princess.”
Frankie blushed, and Allsún glanced away. The love flowing between them was staggering. A small pang of jealousy shot through her. Shite. She wished she had something as beautiful as that in her life. Her heart hurt as David’s eyes met hers. There was a time when she did have something that beautiful in her life, but now only painful memories were left.
The moment passed as quickly as it had come, and Jace jogged inside.
David turned toward Allsún. “I’ll try not to be too long. Will you stay with Frankie until I’m finished?”
She nodded.
He gave her a pointed look. “No running.”
“If I was going to run, I wouldn’t be here.”
He looked toward Frankie, and she gave him a reassuring nod. Without another word he turned and headed into the warehouse.
A breath Allsún didn’t realize she had been holding escaped her as he disappeared from sight. A few seconds of silence passed as she stared at the closed door.
Frankie cleared her throat. “I can’t imagine hanging around with your ex-fiancé is a comfortable situation.”
Allsún nodded. “Yeah, tell me about it.”
“Let’s get you in the car. You’ve got to be freezing.”
Allsún allowed Frankie to usher her inside the H3, suddenly realizing she could no longer feel her toes. She climbed into the backseat, with Frankie following close behind her. As soon as Frankie closed the door and heat filled the car again, Allsún sighed in relief. A slow tingling sensation filled her as her limbs came back to life.
“I’m so glad to see you’re all right after the whole Robert ordeal.”
“If it wasn’t for you, he would’ve killed me. You saved me.”
Frankie waved her hand in dismissal. “No way. All I did was get kidnapped right along with you. It was Jace and David who saved the day.”
“Well, regardless of how it happened, I’m still thankful.”
“David was out of his mind with worry. Jace said he’d never seen him so crazy with rage before. It didn’t help that his leg injury stopped him from saving you sooner.”
Allsún raised a brow. “What leg injury?”
“Oh, that’s right. I guess you wouldn’t know. Before you were kidnapped, the three of us got into it with Robert.” She paused, as if she wasn’t certain she wanted to continue. Finally she sighed and went on. “Robert threw David off the platform in Manhattan Square Park.”
Allsún knew how long and hard a fall that was, one that would be fatal to the average human. All she could manage to choke out was, “I’m glad he’s all right.”
“I’m not sure how okay he is, given that he has a permanent limp. I’m sure you’ve noticed. From what Jace tells me, David hasn’t been handling the injury too well. He’s almost healed now, but he’s probably trying to tough it out when you’re around. You know, the whole macho man thing guys do.”
She nodded, though she hadn’t noticed, and bit her lower lip. If she was being honest with herself, it was because she’d been trying hard not to notice how ridiculously sexy David’s ass looked in his leather motorcycle chaps. She placed her hands between her knees in order to warm them. “So...you and Jace, huh?”
Frankie smiled, but a bit of sadness crept into her eyes. “Yeah.”
Allsún debated whether to ask her next question, given all the upset feelings Frankie was giving off, but she considered Frankie a good friend, someone who had been there for her when she needed it most. This was her chance to return the favor. Frankie clearly needed someone to talk to. “Want to talk about it?”
Frankie folded her hands across her lap and stared down at them, refusing to meet Allsún’s gaze. “It’s hard to say. I love Jace and I know he loves me, but I’m just wondering if that’s enough.”
“Why wouldn’t it be? If you both really love each other, I think even if there are some bumps along the road, ultimately you’ll always find your way back together.”
Frankie glanced in her direction, sadness visibly weighing on her shoulders. “Like you and David?”
Allsún bit her lower lip.
Frankie had a point. She and David had been in love—madly in love, just like she could tell Jace and Frankie were—and perhaps even more so, because she and David had been together for so long. Yet somehow they hadn’t ended up together. Things had gone so sour so fast.
She pushed the thought from her mind. No, that was different.
“I guess you have a point, but just because David and I couldn’t hang on, that doesn’t mean the same thing will happen with you and Jace.”
“I don’t even know the details of what happened with you and David.”
“Believe me, you don’t want to know.”
“I’m just so uncertain about the future.” Frankie’s shoulders slumped even farther.
“Whatever you’re uncertain about, I’m sure you’ll overcome it.”
Frankie shook her head. “It’s not the sort of thing you overcome. It’s permanent.”
Allsún eyed Frankie in the light flooding the car from the nearby street lamps, trying to speculate what her friend was going through. Despite her obvious sadness, Frankie was still so beautiful.
Wait a second.
The whole thing with Frankie and Jace had started when Frankie had skipped out on her ritual mating ceremony and the fellow pack member she’d been destined to mate with that night. To the best of her knowledge, Jace and Frankie had met that same night. Allsún’s eyes widened. Oh, damn. The point of that ceremony was to breed potential Alphas
for the pack. No wonder Frankie had a certain glow about her despite how upset she seemed.
Allsún’s gaze shot down to Frankie’s midsection. She wasn’t showing by any means, but her normally flat, toned stomach had a new roundness to it. Allsún covered her mouth to stop from gasping, before slowly lowering her hand. “Oh, my God. Frankie, are you pregnant?”
Frankie pulled at the flaps of her coat, wrapping the material over her belly. She nodded. “With twins.”
Allsún gasped, and for a moment she struggled to find the right words. “Congratulations! How do you know it’s twins?”
Frankie stared at the car floor and shrugged. “A wolf just knows.”
“Does Jace know you’re pregnant? Is that what’s upsetting you?”
Frankie shook her head. Tears clouded her dark brown eyes. “I’m afraid to tell him. It’s not like we’ve been together that long, you know? One baby is a big enough commitment, but two? I don’t know how he’ll react.” She placed her hands on her stomach. “I’m only about eight weeks along by my calculations, but already I can’t fit into any of my salsa dresses. I’m going to be huge.” She smiled a little, but it quickly faded amidst her growing tears.
Allsún scooted toward her on the seat, wrapping her arms around Frankie and pulling her friend into a tight hug.
“You’re not going to be huge, you’re going to be pregnant. There’s a difference. You’re creating life. It’s going to be an amazing experience—scary, but amazing. You love Jace. Yes, this journey is going to change your lives and your relationship, but for the better. It will be hard, but you’ll come out stronger. And honestly, I think Jace will make an excellent father, don’t you?” She pulled back from the hug. “He’s loyal to a fault, and that’s a good quality for a family man. I’m sure he’ll be fiercely protective of you and your babies, and I know he’ll take great care of all three of you.”
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