Nightmare in Steam (Alliance of Silver and Steam Book 1)

by Lexi Ostrow

  “You can’t be fucking serious? Leave her alone? Leave alone the single force responsible for the unleash of demons on Earth?” Irate wasn’t the word for Greyston’s female.

  “Felicia, you cannot understand demon matters. There are things that must be done, and cannot be undone.” Greyston’s tone indicated he wasn’t too happy with Lucius using his bargaining chip and allowing Seraphina to get away. But he clearly understood why or at least wasn’t going to question it. Lucius heard Felicia grumble something under her breath.

  “You are both arriving yes?” He had a feeling one went where the other did but if this crew of hunters wasn’t aware of a demon in their midst it might make things tricky. However, Greyston’s Incubus scent had easily overridden the hunters concern in London or they would’ve known what he was more often. Eliza had explained the royal connection to the Alliance, which meant they’d worked with Greyston before, at least some of them must have.

  “Yes, we are coming in on an Alliance transport. The bikes are not yet fast enough, or discreet enough for daylight. There is however a train that runs much faster than the simple steam engines, because it’s powered with the crystals. We’ll be on that.”

  “Felicia, will you help me when you get here?” He stopped walking just off the side of Eliza’s house. There was a ruckus now, coppers were talking loudly and he saw Alliance members slip through. He hoped a physician was among them. When he’d left Eliza thirty minutes ago the blood was still flowing from the wound and she looked as if she might pass out. Leaving had torn him apart, but he’d had to place hope in her guild, in her family.

  “We will help. But for Eliza. Not for you. When we get there I want all of the details. These transmissions aren’t powered for long. Meet us at the station at half past seven tomorrow evening.”

  “Why the delay? She’s been injured and is left unattended.” The growl slipped out, how dare they leave his mate alone overnight. What could her people be thinking?

  “Calm down, Lucius. The physician will need to grant her leave to travel before we can move her. Our people are there already. We do not leave our own.”

  “Thank you, Felicia. I promise, you will understand everything, but only if it doesn’t interfere with getting to the demons who hurt Eliza.”

  “Understood, Lucius.” Her voice was fainter, and he wondered if the power supply was running low. “This had better not be a trap, Lucius, for any of us.”

  The clicking sound came from the device again and he had the distinct feeling that the communication was terminated. “Well isn’t this little thing helpful.”

  He placed the device back into his pocket and narrowed his eyes to block out the sun. These past months he’d been spending more time awake when he should be resting and yet his body still drooped with the need to sleep. “No one can burn the candle at both ends.”

  He wasn’t going anywhere, regardless of the sense for sleep seeping slowly though his body. Not until he could know for sure that Eliza was all right. The number outside her home was growing, people opening doors and windows of neighboring residences to see the latest gossip. He growled low in his throat when he heard one of them mention that the daughter had brought lowlifes back with her from London. Then he realized in a way she had, him.

  His growl grew louder and he smashed his hand into the brick wall he was next too. Pain lanced through his knuckles into his wrist. When he looked at it, the small scratches of blood did nothing to ease his anger. He had done all of this. Every single second of her pain, every member of her family and serving staff lost, was his fault.

  Anger pumped through his body and began to override the need for sleep. He’d fucked up. He shouldn’t have sided with Seraphina, shouldn’t have even considered letting her walk away from their encounter. His fists were balled and tension shot through his arms, down his torso and into his legs. “All my fault.” He’d felt remorse like this once before. When he’d gotten his breed killed. He didn’t like the way the remorse wrapped around him and sank its teeth into his neck. It drained him, left him feeling hollow and alone. Which for the second time in a century, he was.

  He’d spoken too loudly as someone, an onlooker, looked over their shoulder at him. When the man did so his face twisted in horror and he turned around quickly and shouted for the Constable.

  “Bloody fucking hell.” He knew what he must look like, what the mask of rage had probably done to his face and with his outburst the man most likely thought he had been the killer. He may as well have been.

  The man had reached the nearest copper and was waving his arms frantically. Lucius looked up at the window he knew was Eliza’s. It had been opened and he could see the shuffle of people inside. His heart longed to know if she was all right, awake because he couldn’t sense someone’s energy if they were unconscious and not simply asleep. He shook his head and forced himself to turn slowly and walk away calmly. He couldn’t afford to be a suspect. Mass hallucinations were almost impossible at full strength and he hadn’t had a refill in four days. If they took him in he would be a sitting duck if Seraphina decided to come after him anyway.

  He needed to sleep. He needed to make sure that when Felicia and Greyston arrived they could come up with some sort of strategy. He didn’t doubt the human’s fighting skills, but they’d never fought as a group and fighting was as much an art form as dance. The wrong partner and your enemy will get away, likely with your life.

  “I’ll make amends, Eliza. I swear it.” He shoved his hands in his pocket and forced himself to place one foot in front of the other and returned to the inn.

  ***

  Lucius’ foot tapped impatiently on the wooden platform. He was still early, long before the train was due in, but he’d been on edge. Fire danced in veins when he’d woken up, knowing that retribution and revenge were on the agenda. Staying away from Eliza the past day was a test of willpower that he did not think he would pass again. He’d gone back to her home last night and had seen them walking, the Alliance members, with their strange crystal weapons. They had kept him from even attempting to get close enough to see her in her dreams, to check on her in any fashion. Getting caught wouldn’t do them any good, Felicia and Greyston would never know where the rendezvous point was and that wouldn’t do any of them any favors. All that mattered was killing the demons that had done this. After that, then he would go to Eliza and let her people do what they saw fit. He’d been wrong to tell her he wouldn’t hand over the Queen of the Demons, he was ready to do that now, but he knew nothing of her newest plan. He was useless.

  He heard the sound of a train chugging in the distance, heard its eerie scream as steam was released. There was a time when he thought the latest modes of transit were mind boggling. Now with everything he knew of the Alliance of Silver and Steam, well, something as mundane as a steam powered vehicle wasn’t as awe inspiring as it had once been. The sound vanished into the warm summer night and he continued to pace again. Twice he’d tried to speak with Felicia again and every time nothing had happened. For all he knew the piece had broken trying to communicate for so long yesterday morning. He was antsy, his fingers curled and uncurled and he cracked his neck over and over. But nothing took the edge off. He wasn’t concerned about meeting the demon, that creature would be ordered to wait as long as it took since it was supposedly bringing in Greyston and an Alliance hunter. It was simply the idea of having to wait.

  The toe of his boot caught in a knot in the wooden planks and he lunged forward, enough to smash his wrists into the nearest support pole. “Lucius it’s a wonder you’ve survived this long. You can’t fight and can’t even fucking walk some days,” he mused. “But typically there’s a large dose of booze in your belly and fine women in your bed.” That last thought wiped the smirk from his face. His old way of life had been appealing before he’d known what having a mate was like. Now, nothing would ever bring him joy the same way. He was not throwing life away. He’d heard of plenty of creatures who survived without their mate, it
just didn’t mean he was going to enjoy the world as he once had. Even without having to bow down to Seraphina’s every whim.

  His mind went blank then. There was nothing left to think about. No point in fantasizing all the ways he would put down the filth that attacked Eliza. No reason to think how much he loved her, how she’d actually changed him. Nothing mattered if the damn train didn’t hurry up and arrive. Which, thankfully for him, it did. He stood off to the back of the platform, nervous that other hunter’s might be on board. They were. Six people Lucius recognized from some of his nightly stays in those first three months poured out of the train car prior to Felicia and Greyston. His lip pulled back in a curl as they walked up.

  “A warning might have been nice,” he hissed under his breath at Felicia.

  “Yes well you leaving Eliza alone after my initial warning did not happen. Why should I have wasted my breath on a second?” She raised a brow at him and the trio descended the stairs from the platform.

  “Because getting me captured because one of your little demon blood carry devices goes off would be a waste of everyone’s time since I’m the only one who knows who did this.” His voice echoed as they walked under the platform away from prying eyes and ears.

  Greyston gave him a displeased look at his outburst. “Well you shouting things that loud isn’t going to alert everyone to what you are now is it?” He saw the dominant simmering under the surface. Incubi by nature didn’t like to be ignored and they were sexual masters, ordering their bed partners to climax and do other devious acts; something that many women found appealing in the bedroom, but not Lucius.

  “It doesn’t matter who hears me. What are they all doing here? Did you alert the Alliance that you mysteriously knew what had happened?”

  “No and that is preciously why they are all here.” Felicia turned her nose up at him and he got the distinct feeling she likened him to a patch of dirt beneath her slipper. “An attack this brutal, where a surveyor can pin point it’s demonic in nature would demand for all hunting teams to be out in London and any other area.”

  “About that…”

  “Not happening, demon. Just know we are in other areas. Halifax is a small offshoot because of the Halifax Slasher, otherwise none would be here at all.” She may not have wanted to tell him, but she by default just revealed that smaller locations were demon safe. Information he tucked away so should Eliza forgive him, they could run to those areas and be free of the Alliance and Seraphina. “Now, what happened? I want it all, Lucius. One bit of information I think is left out and I’ll let Greyston know just what nightmares you gave me last week.” Her eyes narrowed and stared him down.

  He sighed and stuffed his hands into his pockets. There was no way Greyston wouldn’t kill him when he found out he’d put images of Greyston having an affair into his mate, and bride-to-be’s, dreams. Let alone that the second set was of his death. “Before you assume that I did try to trick her, Eliza and I had talked everything out. But Seraphina knew about her. We’d made a bargain then as well after her suggestion of using Eliza. If I used Eliza to get inside information she would tear my contract up and let us be free. Even as a Fallen, she has to keep her word.”

  He saw the gun almost before Felicia squeezed the trigger and a purple beam sliced past him, missing him my mere millimeters.

  “You son of a bitch!” She advanced on him and this time Greyston wasn’t stopping her. The big demon’s hand wrapped around his neck and lifted him from the ground. His hands darted his neck to try and give himself a chance to breathe. Greyston’s hand slipped slightly, but not enough. Lucius continued to struggle, his legs flailing perilously in the air. He choked, trying to do anything to drag air into his mouth and by the grace of luck his toe caught Greyston on the inside shin and the left ball. He growled, his green eyes flashed black, but he dropped Lucius from the pain.

  His throat screamed as he took in the air and rubbed his crushed neck. Greyston was still doubled over and Felicia had run to him, dropping her gun in the process. Lucius grabbed it off the floor and fired it right beside them. “Will you two stop it. And for fuck’s sake where did your female learn to talk like that, Greyston?” Greyston was up now and advancing. “I was going to double cross Seraphina. Feed her false, but seemingly true information and get out with Eliza. Truth.” He held the gun still trained on Greyston and hoped his friend would stop; he didn’t want to hurt him.

  It was Felicia that put her hand on his forearm. “Greyston, stop. I think he’s serious. If that was his only way out, well I can’t say I’d blame him. I’ve slept with demons for information. It’s not that dissimilar.” Greyston gnashed his teeth at Lucius once before the black turned back to its normal green. When he was clearly in control again, Felicia kept talking. “That doesn’t explain the attack.”

  “We hadn’t been able to see each other for a few days. She had society functions with her family. So we’d been consorting in her dreams. That’s when the attack happened, while she was asleep. It was strategic. Seraphina planned it so all the deaths were simultaneous. No way to scream and alert the sleeping target then. She’d used it to tell Eliza her version of the truth. And I’m sure you’ll be pleased to know that while she believed my truth she kicked me out anyway.” There was no need to bring up the whole kicking him out for not turning on Seraphina thing again. There was only so many times he could piss this couple off before it proved to be fatal for him. He passed the gun back to Felicia; she took it from him and slid it onto a loop on her long black skirt. How she could hunt in that was beyond him, he much preferred Eliza’s pants and a shirt. It was so much sexier on her.

  The stars were starting to show and the sky was changing from dusk to twilight by the time they’d hashed out what was going to be done. It was a simple plan that was almost too simple to work. They would each take a demon, no focusing on helping the others until they were gone. It was very self serving, but Felicia told him that it was how they survived. Two people fighting one demon could be attacked by another they didn’t know was there, and if this was going to be a group it would be more efficient. She balked when he produced the black rope, however.

  “Felicia, if they are to believe the rouse of this they will need to arrive and see you captured. Otherwise they will attack us.” He was distressed; they’d been going around in circles for the last quarter hour on the topic.

  “I don’t understand why we have to wait for them to show. If we stand there, ready to attack we stand a much higher survival rate.”

  “Felicia, this is my con. My arse on the line if we fail. I’m not going to pretend like I don’t need your help. We need to be at my inn by eight sharp that is when they arrive. If we are not there first, we then need to struggle on the way to them. It will be harder.”

  “You speak as if you know what we are going up against.”

  “Thrashers.”

  The color drained from her face and she tipped backwards, barely making contact with Greyston’s outstretched hand. Her whole body shook and her eyes were unfocused. Greyston didn’t take his eyes off of her as he spoke. “A potential group of them? Bloody hell. Lucius, she was captured by one last winter and her father had his throat ripped out by a pair of them on her birthday. You should’ve told me.” The last sentence was a growl and while he felt bad, he knew it wasn’t her worst nightmare so he couldn’t care. This wasn’t about her.

  “Then pass me the guns and I’ll go down fighting on my own. There’s no more time for this. Either we leave now or I leave now. Either way, this is the only chance we will have to make sure they never find Eliza again.” He was already walking away when Felicia caught up to him next to a waiting carriage, one she’d called in before they’d begun planning.

  She climbed in, Greyston following behind her and Lucius last. “Fine, tie the damn rope, Lucius. So help me if this goes wrong it will be all on your head and Eliza won’t be happy that the girl she made Fido for is dead, we bonded while she explained her ability to create thin
gs to me.” She shoved her hands into his face, wrists touching so he could tie them.

  The carriage ride felt long after that, no more talking happened once he’d tied their wrists and supposedly taken their weapons. They’d brought an extra gun and sword for him to hold while they concealed more weapons. Thrasher’s weren’t stupid, but all they thought about was killing, they wouldn’t even think of extras. The carriage stopped without a word from the driver and as they were stepping down to the side alley of the inn he saw them coming. A line of five Thrasher’s were against the building next door’s wall. Their eyes glowing; both red and yellow, male and female. Much to their credit, Greyston struggled and Felicia swore at him as they crossed the small space. It was up to him to say the right phrase, indicating for them to slip their thumbs into the loop and untie their hands.

  A phrase he may not remember to speak. His eyes enlarged, the black even deeper with his rage. These were the demons and one specifically had dared to touch his mate. He stopped walking and almost ignored the rasped question from the largest one, one he knew to be in Seraphina’s graces. “We’ve been watching you, Miss Gannon. Ever since you were sixteen and we put down that hunter father of yours. We’ve been watching. This time there won’t be anyone to save you. There’s no one else here.” He acknowledged Lucius then, “Let them go. I have orders to bring them to Seraphina.”

  He breathed heavily in and out of his nose, trying to control the impulse to shove the sword in his hand into the gut of the demon. “You can have them, as soon as you answer who attacked the girl in the manor last night.”

  The creature howled with laughter, his black pointy teeth dripping saliva. “Well that would be me of course. That bitch could scream too.”