Stryke (New Vampire Disorder Book 4)

by Marie Johnston

  Just sex. Their bond made it phenomenal. That was it. She could maintain distance between them if she kept telling herself that.

  Chapter Twelve

  Zoey snored softly next to him. Stryke cradled her in his arms, stared at the log ceiling, listened to her like he had so many years ago. No one else would guess that under her stern exterior, she made the silly sounds she did. In Mitchell, he’d learned that she snorted when she laughed or found something absurd, and when she was exhausted, she made the cutest little snores. She wore nothing now, but on the night stand were the most immature pajamas. They were littered with tiny, white kittens. Zoey would be adorably sexy in them.

  The bed was as plush as the rest of the house, but restless energy pulsed through Stryke. He couldn’t lie on the feather-stuffed lavender and taupe duvet for much longer. A side effect of his years spent on a cold dirt floor. Often he’d camp on the floor, and the marble floor in the bathroom looked pretty inviting. It’d be uncomfortably hard and cold and Stryke would probably wake up, expecting his mother to hurl feces at him.

  He winced at the memory. As a kid, he’d thought shit fights were a game until he’d realized they were symbolic of how she’d felt about him. He’d been well into adulthood before he’d had food without dirt and crap smashed into it. It’d even taken a while for his taste buds to adjust.

  He hugged Zoey tighter. Then he’d tasted her sweet blood, dulled by Mitchell’s senses, but bursting with clean flavor nonetheless.

  Slipping his arm from under Zoey, he deftly rolled off the bed and snatched a pair of sweats. These had mistletoes imprinted on the dark fabric with a giant one planted over the crotch. He padded into the hallway.

  Why was he plagued with memories? His mother was gone, his captivity over. Demetrius and the others might not trust him, but they didn’t want Hypna breeding with Stryke either. The only way Stryke would go back to the underworld was as a rotted corpse. Anything more usable and he’d be nothing but breeding stock, inseminating females to produce an army of powerful second-tiers. Or worse, purebred females would follow Hypna’s lead and sacrifice the babies for power.

  How did Hypna think she was going to get away with that?

  He pushed a hand through his hair to get it off his face. If humans wouldn’t freak out when they saw his horns, he would give himself a buzz cut. Although, in this day and age, he could probably grow himself quite a following flashing his horns. Besides, the wavy hair and odd eye color helped opponents underestimate him.

  Jogging lightly down the stairs, he went to the kitchen first to grab a Gatorade, having developed a taste for it the longer he was with Zoey.

  Entering the living room, he let his gaze drift over the architecture. A lot of time and money had gone into this cabin. Funny how all species placed their priorities on so many other things besides their loved ones—until they became unloved ones.

  Stryke should be drawn more to a place like this. It was everything he hadn’t had growing up, but he could do without it all. Except modern bathrooms. He was admittedly a fastidious demon about basic needs.

  Tingles raced up and down his skin. He frowned and screwed the cap on his bottle.

  Electrical pulses zapped his spine and exploded behind his eyes. Stryke squeezed his eyes shut and when he opened them, a male stood fifteen feet away. His eyes were the light-purple color of the bedspread Zoey currently slept on. He towered almost seven feet tall, with a mouthful of ragged teeth. A floor-length robe swept the hardwood but couldn’t disguise his massive shoulder span. His horns pointed to the ceiling and were the color of a summer sunset. He was hunched on one side and the sleeves of his robe hung past his fingers, but the tips of his claws stuck out.

  The male attempted to whistle around the mouthful of misshapen fangs. “Nice digs. I didn’t expect this of you, Stryke.” His voice was deep and sounded like he gargled with rusty nails every morning. Given the predilections of many demons, the male might.

  Stryke narrowed his gaze at him. Alarms were going off in his head, but he didn’t sense immediate danger—and he should with an unfamiliar demon standing in the place. But a subtle transparency overlaid the demon, wavering at times. He was an image.

  Stryke had been imprisoned as Hypna’s tortured love bunny when the newest member of the Circle had been appointed, but he recognized the scent that sometimes had tainted Hypna after a scuffle with the demon.

  “Quution.”

  The male smiled, and Stryke was struck with the feeling like he should recognize Quution beyond the fact that he was one of Stryke’s leaders.

  It was the grin. Like the male was in on a joke and Stryke was clueless about the punch line. His mother had looked at him like that. What would you do if you got out of here? You think your father wants you? You are nothing but the pet of all the creatures down here.

  Stryke hated Quution just for reminding him of his mother. But he wouldn’t act rashly. A demon who could make Hypna scramble and panic earned his attention, couldn’t be underestimated.

  “Stryke. I’m surprised you’re here, but I shouldn’t be shocked you ran from Hypna. You seem to be good at fleeing.”

  Stryke bristled at the insult. Even by underworld standards, he wasn’t weak. He always faced challenges, but protecting Zoey wasn’t about his pride.

  “Well, I’m not the one sending an apparition to do my dirty work.”

  A gravelly chuckle came out of the male. “It’s more of a hologram. I followed your energy signature. Had to meet the infamous Stryke, the second-tier coveted by every member of the Circle. The lowly demon who was servicing Hypna. Did you both get what you wanted?”

  “Why am I of any concern to you?” The thirteen wanted Stryke because there were so few energy demons and he could help their plans for the earthly realm come to fruition much more easily than the less civilized demons. But Quution obviously had his own energy abilities; the rest would likely covet Stryke more because of it.

  All expression left Quution’s face except for roiling anger. “Because you deserve to suffer. Here on Earth, protecting a vampire.”

  Stryke’s brows drew together. Quution’s accusations came across as personal, but this was the first time they’d met.

  “I have no ties to the underworld.” Never had, but it’d taken a few years before he’d figured out he meant almost nothing to his sire.

  The male cocked his head. “Don’t you?” He tapped his chin with a jagged claw, leaving a spot of blood from where he cut himself. “Haven’t you left a tie with Hypna?”

  “That bitch will never get my seed.”

  Approval rippled through Quution’s face. “No ties, then. Indeed?”

  Stryke was pondering what in all hells Quution meant when Zoey’s scent wrapped around him. He tensed, loosening his coil of power.

  Quution’s gaze darted to the top of the stairs where Zoey stood at the banister. She wore the kitty top and bottoms, thankfully. Stryke would’ve ripped out Quution’s holographic eyeballs if she’d still been naked. Her hair billowed around her, and as a hologram, Quution couldn’t scent what she and Stryke had done, but she looked as sexed up as she’d been.

  “Look who we have here.” The male’s sinister laugh sent prickles of dread racing through Stryke.

  The male was an image. What danger could he be? But energy flowed through Stryke as he studied the male’s energy signature.

  So damn familiar. Stryke knew the patterns he detected…but he didn’t. Quution’s energy signature was absolutely new to him.

  “We have company.” Zoey’s arm was behind her back, probably holding a gun. She’d have figured out by now it was useless.

  “Zoey, meet Quution. Newest member of the Circle.”

  “The one who has the crush on Hypna?” she asked lightly. Her gaze was glued to Quution. “You should know, I don’t think she’s into you.”

  Quution lifted his droopy shoulder in a shrug. “She doesn’t have to be. Her obsession with Stryke made her a weak link.”

/>   Stryke’s brows shot up and so did Zoey’s. Quution was after other members of the Circle? Why?

  Quution calmly eyed them in return. “The Circle cannot tolerate a weak link. We kill her and replace her, or we kill you.” He juggled his hands like he was weighing the two options. “I’m not picky, but she obviously disagrees. Surprisingly strongly. I must admit, I’m more than happy to see what she resorts to when she’s pushed too far. But even if I disposed of her, there’d still be you,” he spat.

  The demon’s form thickened until Stryke worried he’d be able to cross the realm, that Quution had pulled a, well, Stryke and secretly bonded to someone to roam in his true form.

  Quution raised an arm that crackled with power. An orb of pure energy sizzled at his fingertips. He aimed for Zoey and let loose. Stryke lunged, flinging his hands up. He jumped and caught the orb, immediately lobbing it back at Quution.

  The male’s eyes widened and he ducked. The energy caught the tip of Quution’s horn and jerked his head backward, but he quickly recovered and absorbed the blast. His form grew even more solid.

  Stryke prowled around him. The male was partially in this realm, not in body, but in energy. And the other demon wasn’t used to fighting another energetic being. But neither was Stryke.

  Separating his power until a ball flickered at each fingertip, he bowled all of them toward Quution.

  “What the—” Quution danced back, his heavy boots not making a sound, confirming that his corporeal body was still in the underworld.

  He almost teetered over, but at the last second he twisted and tossed two balls of energy toward the stairs.

  Fuck. Stryke zapped one out of the air, but the second one blasted the railing. Zoey dove down the stairs, rolling as strategically as possible. The smell of burnt wires filled the room and smoke tendrils rose from the seared wood.

  “We’ll kill Hypna, and we’ll kill you,” Stryke snarled.

  Quution ripped his attention off Zoey to growl at Stryke. “Are you sure you don’t want someone else to do it for you? You seem to be good at it.”

  Stryke’s arm was cocked back, ready to whip a ball of light at Quution’s face, but he paused. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  The form shimmered, his energy draining from fighting and maintaining his form in this realm. “You know.”

  No, Stryke didn’t, but there was no time for words.

  Quution left the realm with a boom that shook the cabin and flung Stryke back. He let himself land where he may and focused on the energy trail Quution had left behind. Stryke sent a burst of energy along the path, ensuring Quution would receive a wicked shock in two seconds. Then Stryke shredded the energy patterns so Quution couldn’t pop back right away, if he had enough energy to do so.

  Silence fell around him. Stryke was on his back, blinking at the wood ceiling.

  ***

  Zoey gave herself a quick once-over. No broken bones. More than a few bruises. She rushed to Stryke’s side. He was splayed on his back, his strong body still, but she didn’t smell any of his rich, salty blood.

  Dropping to her knees, she meant to cradle his head but stopped when she saw his eyes open, a frown on his face.

  “I feel like I should know him.”

  She sat back on her heels. “You haven’t met Quution before this?”

  Stryke shook his head, his empty gaze glued to the ceiling. “Hypna kept me…busy. I was using the distraction he caused when he was anointed to properly heal.”

  “What was it like?” Zoey clamped her lips down. Had she seriously just asked that? If his time with Hypna was the most traumatic experience he’d ever had, would she feel better? What if it was the opposite, how would she feel?

  He swiveled his head to look at her, his expression serious. “About like you’d expect sex with a purebred demon to be. Painful, disgusting, and demeaning—just how they like it.” Stryke groaned and sat up. He propped an arm on a knee. “Hypna might be a female, and not a sight that’d make my eyes bleed, just throb a bit, but sex with her wasn’t an erotic experience. She has poison in her horns to get her males aroused, but it’s not a natural arousal. Not even close. And she might have, uh…the parts…but they’re not…” He shuddered. “I think my dick would’ve shriveled without her venom.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  His face crinkled in confusion. “For what? Why would you apologize?”

  She shrugged. “Because you went through that.”

  “Life in the underworld.” His tone was cavalier as he jumped up.

  Her nose was even with his crotch, and she knew what was underneath that mistletoe. Her belly fluttered. Stryke’s hand was out to help her up, but he’d noticed where her gaze had landed and wore a smirk.

  Scowling at him as she stood, her mind turned to Quution.

  Black scorch marks marred the floor where he’d been.

  “How’d Quution do what he did? All energy?”

  Stryke’s features tightened and he glowered at the place they’d faced off with Quution. “Yes. I’d always heard there weren’t many of us left, but I’ve never come across another energy demon besides my parents. I knew I wasn’t the last one, just that the others made themselves scarce—for good reason.”

  Zoey nodded. Stryke was a perfect example. The Circle and any other demon with a healthy dose of ambition would try to breed them. Quution’s image popped into her head. Except for his deformities, some of his features were similar to Stryke’s, like his unusual eyes, strong jaws, and dark, wavy hair. “He reminds me a little of you. Maybe you all look alike.”

  Stryke’s brows drew together. “Maybe.”

  “What would your brother have looked like?”

  Stryke cocked his head to the side, considering her question. “Probably like me. Not as big and misshapen as Quution, but he’s pure, obviously. Otherwise he wouldn’t be one of the thirteen.”

  “But your sire was one of the thirteen.”

  “Out of deception. Once the others discovered his betrayal, they dealt with him quickly—and brutally.”

  She studied his reaction. Calm, his words simple.

  How would she have felt? Her father had passed when she was little. She was estranged from her mother. Mitchell’s death had almost brought them closer, until her mother had discovered the reason behind the circumstances. The rebellion and the coup. Then after Grandmother had walked into the sun… No, for Zoey and her mother, it was as if one of them were dead. But if her mother was captured, tortured, and killed, Zoey would track down whodunit and execute them.

  Stryke pinned her with his violet gaze. “I can feel you thinking.”

  “I was wondering how your sire’s death went over with you.”

  “He was too ashamed to claim me as his own, was using me for his benefit only, and would’ve killed me in an instant to protect himself.”

  “Right. But how did you feel?”

  He didn’t speak. A muscle jumped in his jaw. She had given up on a response, moving onto the next issue to deal with, when he spoke. “I had quit feeling by then. I did my job. I was good at it. Burhn’s death tied off any loose ends emotionally. I was transferred to Rancor and he was so erratically focused on destruction that none of his missions made sense and that was just fine with me. I could find a host and roam this realm and fight and fuck and…be a loser.”

  Zoey couldn’t envision Stryke as an aimless loser. “What changed?”

  “You,” he said softly.

  She stepped back, like physical distance would help with her internal struggle. “What do you mean?”

  “I wasn’t susceptible to my host’s emotions. I thought I was above them.” A derisive laugh left him. “Or below them. But… I’d never felt the strength of a true mate’s bond. It was staggering, his devotion to you. It caught my attention to say the least and I paid more attention to you. Then to your team.”

  So it wasn’t just her. A weight lifted from her shoulders. Being someone’s everything was a heavy burden
to bear.

  “You were all so patient, methodical.” Stryke’s introspection suspended her breath. Learning about herself through someone else’s eyes was a surreal experience. He’d had an inside view to plans no one but her team had known. And Mitchell had only been a part of their team because he’d been her mate. “Hidden messages, false personas—you all lived as the bad guys, big picture in mind. So unlike home. They have a big picture, to take over and rule Earth. But they’re demons and can’t work together for shit.” A smile lit Stryke’s eyes and he twined a lock of her hair around his finger. “But not you guys. Completely in sync. Completely on board with your mission.”

  A shadow flitted across his face, but he covered it. Her brain moved onto working out another problem.

  “Then why Mitchell? He didn’t invite you in?” She ended on a higher pitch, making it sound more like a question. Doubts about Mitchell crept back in. Toward the end, he’d been almost despondent. Making fervent love to her, then falling into melancholy silence.

  “I can manipulate the energy required. A loophole. The world’s full of them.”

  No. There was something else. She narrowed her eyes on him. “What kind of loophole?”

  He shoved a hand through his hair and spun around to stalk the perimeter of the room. No clues would be found, Quution hadn’t been there for real, and Stryke was avoiding her question.

  “It’s different for everyone.”

  She trailed him. “Give me an example. What was different for Lee?”

  Stryke glanced at her over his shoulder. “Lee was a mess. The kid had zero self-esteem and mommy and daddy issues. He was a lost soul. Those are the best kind.”

  Mitchell had been raised in a good family. And with his looks and prowess in bed, self-esteem hadn’t been an issue. Her gaze dropped to the floor. Was that the reason? He’d been a fish out of water with her team. Mitchell had been unused to deception, and working to upend everything his family had stood for had taken its toll, but he’d remained by her side. Was that the opening Stryke had capitalized on?