Catch Me (The Demon Underground Series)

by Parker Blue

  Someone helped me to my feet. “Val, are you all right?”

  Austin’s voice. I could hear!

  “No,” I moaned and opened my eyes cautiously to blackness. “I can’t see,” I said, trying to hold back the panic.

  “The shockwave overloaded the circuits,” he told me, giving me a comforting squeeze. “I think it tripped some breakers.”

  “Oh.” I wasn’t blind—the lights were out. I glanced around, but it was too dark to see anything. I groped around on the floor.

  “What are you looking for?” Austin asked.

  “My backpack. I have a flashlight in it.” It must have come off my shoulder when I was tossed on my butt.

  “Here,” Austin said and thrust it at me.

  Thank heavens for vampire sight. I fumbled around in the pack until I found the flashlight by feel and switched it on. Pale yellow light illuminated the foyer. I sighed in relief. My vision was still intact, and the headache was receding. I played the light around the room, looking for Fang. He stood near Austin, shaking his head. Are you hurt, Fang?

  I’LL LIVE. HOW ABOUT SHADE?

  That’s right—Shade had been at the epicenter of the blast. Weird. At one point, I would’ve worried about him first. Guess I was well and truly over him. But . . . was he all right?

  Yes, he was sitting up on the cold marble floor, rubbing the back of his head with one hand. “You okay, Shade?”

  “Yeah,” he said. “Just bumped my head on the newel post when I fell. Remind me not to do that again,” he said wryly.

  He must be okay—that was the first time I’d heard him use anything resembling humor since Sharra died. Annoyed by the loss of the crystal, I snapped, “Was it worth it?”

  He paused for a moment. “No—your command is still in place.”

  “Permanently, now,” I reminded him sharply. “Since I can’t use the amulet to remove it.”

  “I know.” His tone was flat, saddened. Too bad I could no longer see his face. Unless, of course, I touched his skin, and I wasn’t willing to do that right now.

  I poked at one of the bigger crystal shards, wondering if it had retained any of the power of its larger self. Nope—it felt inert, dead. But, just in case, I picked up a few of the larger pieces and stuck them in my vest pocket.

  SO, THAT’S IT? Fang asked. ONE BOOM AND IT’S GONE?

  Yeah, it did seem kind of anticlimactic, after all the grief I’d been given about the thing.

  “Why did it explode?” Austin asked.

  I shrugged, my head pounding a little less now. “I have no idea. I don’t have much experience with magickal objects. Ask Shade—he’s the one researching stuff.”

  “I don’t know, either,” Shade said. “Does it matter?”

  “I guess not,” Austin said as Shade got to his feet.

  Is he telling the truth? I asked Fang. Can you hear him now?

  NOPE. ZERO, ZILCH, NADA.

  “Why can’t Fang hear you anymore?” I asked Shade.

  Shade brushed the bits of crystal from his clothes. “Because I don’t want him to. I found a way to keep him—and everyone else—out of my thoughts.”

  “Why?” Austin asked, his gaze narrowed suspiciously.

  “Privacy,” Shade said curtly. “I know it’s a strange concept in your world, but I want to keep my thoughts to myself, without everyone picking over them.”

  WELL, EXCUUUUUSE ME, Fang said.

  I rolled my eyes. Shade can’t hear you. Besides, he has a point. We had kind of been all over him the past couple of weeks. “Sorry,” I told Shade, meaning it.

  Shade sighed. “And please don’t ask how I did it—I don’t want anyone poking around in my psyche under some misguided idea they’re helping me.”

  “You got it,” I said. After all, I’d just stopped him from doing the one thing Micah most feared—forever. I could afford to be generous.

  “Thank you,” Shade said and left without another word.

  Austin gave me a raised eyebrow. “That was interesting.”

  I shrugged. “I just hobbled his powers, permanently.” Not to mention taking away his only chance at recovering his sister’s body. “I know what that’s like, so I figure I can cut him some slack.”

  YEAH, Fang cheered. NO MORE BABYSITTING.

  I shined my flashlight around the room. “We should probably clean this up. Do you know where the cleaning supplies are? Surely they left some. And maybe we could find the breaker box?”

  “No clue on the cleaning supplies, but I can find out.” He pulled out his phone, but before he could punch any buttons, a couple of young guys came running in, then stopped dead when they saw us. They couldn’t be more than twenty or so and bore a strong resemblance to each other—both slight, blond, and, at the moment, slack-jawed.

  VAMPIRES, Fang warned.

  “Who are you?” Austin asked.

  He didn’t know them? Alarmed, I pulled out a stake, and Fang growled, bristling.

  The vamps glanced at my stake. The taller of the two visibly gulped. “Are you the Slayer?”

  “Yeah,” I said and let Lola come out a little, just enough to make my eyes shine purple and creep them out. “Answer him. Who are you?”

  The two glanced at each other, as if hoping the other would speak, then the taller guy said, “I-I’m Mike. He’s Ike.”

  “Mike and Ike? Seriously?”

  HOW . . . ORIGINAL.

  “We’re twins,” Ike said, frowning. “Our mother named us,” he said belligerently, as if daring us to make something of it.

  “I don’t know you,” Austin said, narrowing his gaze. “Who’s your sponsor?”

  Mike and Ike exchanged wary glances. Ike nodded at Mike who said, “L-Luis. We’re new.” He gulped, looking nervous.

  Well, heck, if Austin glared at me that way, I’d be nervous, too.

  Austin relaxed a little. “What are you doing here?”

  They did that thing again, where they each tried to mind meld with the other. Mike apparently won the right to speak. “We heard a noise and came in to see what it was.”

  “A crystal broke,” Austin said, leaving out so much more they didn’t need to know about. “But what I meant was, why were you here to begin with?”

  Glancing down at the floor, Mike shrugged. “Uh, Luis asked us to help clean up. He’s . . . outside.”

  “Good,” Austin said and stuck his phone back in his pocket. “You can start with this mess. And turn the lights back on.”

  Ike and Mike exchanged another glance, then nodded and hurried off to do Austin’s bidding.

  “That was odd,” I said, returning my stake to my back waistband.

  Austin nodded thoughtfully. “Yes, it was. Supervising cleanup is usually Rosa’s job.” He shook his head and grinned at me. “But this mansion suits Luis’s notion of what he’s due in life. He must be eager to move in.”

  Yeah, this place was even grander than the other mansion. The lights came back on then, and Fang whined. A LITTLE HELP HERE?

  “What’s wrong, Fang?”

  He glanced at the floor. TINY SHARP OBJECTS . . . NO SHOES?

  Oh, of course. Sorry. “I just need to get Fang away from the shards,” I explained to Austin. “Poor little baby doesn’t want to cut his itsy bitsy little feetsies.” Picking Fang up, I carried him to the front door, out of range of the broken crystal.

  VERY FUNNY. NOW PUT ME DOWN.

  Fang tried to sound stern, but it was difficult for the fuzzy mutt to look serious when I was cradling him like a little baby.

  I grinned, and Austin opened the door for me so I could set Fang down.

  Fang’s feet hit the ground, and I could tell he was about to blast me with withering sarcasm but was interrupted by a
voice from the right side of the stairs. “What are you doing here?” Luis demanded.

  Austin raised an eyebrow at Luis’s tone. “Taking care of errant shadow demons,” he said briefly. “And you?”

  “I’m supposed to meet Alejandro and Vincent here.” He strode toward us, then paused when his shoes crunched on the crystal shards and looked down. “What’s this?”

  “Broken crystal,” Austin said curtly. “Errant shadow demon, remember?”

  Luis shook his head. “Irrelevant. Where’s Alejandro?”

  “Not my day to watch him,” Austin drawled.

  Luis’s eyes narrowed at Austin’s tone. “While you were out on a date, Alejandro and I actually had real business to attend to.”

  “What business?”

  Luis sighed, sounding put-upon. “I was supposed to meet him here fifteen minutes ago.” He consulted an old-fashioned pocket watch. “He’s late.”

  Sheesh—who used pocket watches these days?

  STUCK-UP VAMPIRES WHO ARE STUCK IN THE GLORY OF THEIR PAST? Fang suggested.

  Good point.

  Austin’s look of annoyance vanished, replaced by puzzlement. “He’s never late.”

  “Exactly,” Luis said in exasperation. “So where the hell is he?”

  “What’s the big deal?” I asked. “Maybe he got held up in traffic or something.”

  Luis checked his phone, the modern device looking odd in his hands. “Not without sending a message or calling.”

  They frowned at each other, and tension rose in the silent room.

  UH-OH. I HAVE A BAD FEELING ABOUT THIS, Fang said.

  Yeah, me too.

  Chapter Three

  Austin

  AUSTIN SCOWLED and tried not to let his annoyance show. Why did Luis always have to make everything a competition? “Maybe something came up.” He pulled out his cell and speed-dialed Alejandro. No answer. “It went to voicemail,” he said, frowning.

  “You see,” Luis insisted. “There is something wrong.”

  “Maybe.” But Austin didn’t want to buy into his fellow lieutenant’s paranoia. “Or maybe an emergency came up,” he repeated.

  “Where exactly were you supposed to meet him?” Val asked.

  “None of your business,” Luis snapped.

  “Well, aren’t you just a little ball of sunshine,” Val said, her eyebrow lifted at Austin as if to ask, “What burr got up his butt?”

  Austin shrugged. It was Luis’s default state these days. And he suspected Luis was just a tad jealous of Alejandro’s interest in Val. “Be Teflon, Val,” he said softly, knowing stuck-in-the-past Luis wouldn’t get the reference. “Let it slide.” Lately, Luis seemed to be looking for any opportunity to indulge the anger that seemed to simmer constantly below the surface. Not that Austin didn’t want to see Val put him in his place, but this wasn’t the time or place.

  Luis narrowed his eyes at her. “This is none of your business. You may leave.”

  “Well, thanks soooo much for the permission,” Val said, “but I think I’ll stay. Just in case Austin needs me.”

  Luis snorted and began to say, “You—” but Austin cut him off.

  “Thank you, Val. I’m sure Alejandro would appreciate the assistance of one of our staunchest allies.” He glared at Luis, daring the jerkwad to contradict him. “Where were you supposed to meet him in the house?”

  Luis scowled. “He said to meet in the kitchen, but he wasn’t there.”

  “Let’s give him some more time before we panic.”

  Before Luis could interrupt with some other rude comment, Austin asked, “What were you meeting here for?” Rosa was in charge of cleaning up the place and making it usable, not Luis. His arena was politics. Then again, Luis was constantly jockeying to be number one amongst the three lieutenants, trying to make himself indispensable. But Alejandro never showed favoritism, preferring to rotate the second-in-command position between the three. “Maybe he started without you,” Austin suggested. Hell, he would do without Luis, given the chance.

  Luis shot a glance at Val, but she was leaning down to pet Fang, acting as if she wasn’t listening to the conversation.

  “We’re looking for Emmanuel’s blood,” Luis said shortly.

  “You think he stored some of it?” That explained why they planned to meet in the kitchen.

  Luis nodded. “Since he could use it to compel anyone to do his bidding, Vincent suddenly realized Emmanuel might have kept some on ice.”

  That made sense—the blood demon would have wanted to have it available whenever he needed it, especially if he wanted to control a larger number of people.

  “What do you want it for?” Val asked suspiciously.

  “Don’t be an idiot,” Luis snapped back. “Only Emmanuel could compel people using his blood.”

  Fang snarled, but Val let it slide, inhaling deeply and murmuring, “Be the Teflon.”

  “Remember, he also used his blood to heal people—your precious humans,” Luis told her. “Vincent suggested we study it to see if we can duplicate its effects.”

  Austin understood why Vincent, the former EMT and current lab/clinic manager, would be interested. But Luis wasn’t exactly altruistic. Not when it came to full humans, anyway.

  Val asked the question for him. “Why?”

  “Good public relations,” Luis said.

  That explained Luis’s involvement—it was a political move, to get the humans on their side when the time was right to make their presence known in the world. At least, that’s how Luis would see it.

  “Sounds a bit self-serving,” Val said. “But hey, if it helps people, I’m all for it.”

  “We don’t need your approval,” Luis bit out.

  Val rolled her eyes. “You know, I think I’ll go find something to sweep up the crystal.” She headed off toward the kitchen.

  Luis waited until she had gone, then said, “I don’t understand what you see in her. She’s a child.”

  “She’s had a lot of life crammed into her eighteen years. More than most three times her age ever experience.” Though she was unseasoned and impulsive, that would improve over time. But he wouldn’t admit that to Luis. And, knowing Luis resented Val because Alejandro respected the “child” as much as he did his lieutenants, Austin couldn’t resist needling the guy. “Besides, she’s one of the best people I know.”

  “Best?” Luis repeated in disbelief. “You equate her with those such as Alejandro?”

  “I do. Think about it. As a succubus, she has the power to compel any man to do her bidding—at any time. And how does she use it?”

  Luis sneered. “To mesmerize you with lustful cravings, evidently.”

  Austin heard Fang growl from the doorway. Apparently, Luis had forgotten that the hellhound could understand everything they were saying—and probably relay it to Val. “No. She deliberately keeps her ability suppressed and uses it only when it’s necessary to do her job or save someone’s life.”

  “Or compel truthfulness,” Luis spat out.

  So that still stung, did it? Luis hated to feel as if he’d lost control of anything, and when Alejandro had Val force all of the vamps in the Movement to declare where their loyalties lay, Luis had resented the hell out of it—and her. “She didn’t want to do that,” Austin reminded him. “And she agreed only at Alejandro’s request. Are you questioning Alejandro’s decisions now?”

  Luis glared at him but didn’t answer.

  “Besides, the soothsayer told Alejandro that he’d succeed with Val by his side.” And Alejandro put all his time and energy into working on legislation to protect vampires belonging to the Movement while criminalizing those who didn’t.

  “If you believe the soothsayer was telling the truth,” Luis snarled.

 
Austin narrowed his eyes. “Why wouldn’t you want to do anything that furthers the Movement’s agenda? Are you saying you’re no longer on board with Alejandro’s vision?”

  Luis made a cutting gesture with his hand. “Don’t be ridiculous. I just don’t think partnering with a pack of demons is the way to do it. Or have you forgotten what the blood demon did?”

  “Have you forgotten how that ‘pack of demons’ has helped us over the past few months—including with the blood demon?” Austin countered. “And Val is the reason for that.”

  “But if it wasn’t for her demon friends, the blood demon wouldn’t even—”

  “Boys, boys,” a woman protested from the open doorway. “Please, no fighting.”

  Austin glanced her way in surprise. He hadn’t heard her come in. It was Lisette, the leader of the New Blood Movement in Austin, accompanied by two of her guards—matching blonds as always, chosen more for looks than brawn, and certainly not brain. Austin’s eyebrows rose. She looked dressed for seduction in an emerald green dress that clung to her curves, her long red hair framing a plunging neckline that was guaranteed to compel the attention of all men in the room. “What are you doing here?” he asked abruptly.

  Val came back in then, carrying a broom and dustpan. Ignoring the tension in the room, she started sweeping up the mess, either so Fang could come inside or because she didn’t want to be in the middle of a vampire dust-up. The hellhound had wisely moved out of Lisette’s way but couldn’t advance any farther until the shards were gone.

  “Ah, mon ami,” Lisette exclaimed, pouting. “Are you upset with me? But I have permission to be here. Alejandro is expecting me.”

  Austin glanced at Luis, who nodded. “I suggested this blood research be a joint effort between the two groups. Alejandro agreed.”

  “So,” she said, slinking in and eyeing Austin as if he were a particularly tasty bite. “I am here. Where is Guillaume?”

  “Guillaume?” Luis repeated with a frown.

  “I send him on ahead, to check the place first. He is here, no?”

  Luis glanced at Austin, who shook his head. “Haven’t seen him.”