Eliana

by Evey Brett

  Shit.

  “Where did you go, Dane? It’s been almost twenty hours, and you put nine hundred miles on the car.”

  “That’s none of your business.” He prayed Eliana would have the sense to stay where she was and out of sight.

  “You went out to buy him more drugs, didn’t you? Hand them over.”

  “I didn’t give him the drugs. I told you. His father sent them.” Not that he had any hope of convincing Evan of the truth.

  “You expect me to believe a dead man sent his son drugs? I think not.”

  Fuck this. The gun was a threat. Dane didn’t believe Evan would actually shoot him. Projectile weapons weren’t used even for the most dangerous cambions. “Just because your lover OD’d—”

  “She did not overdose. She never would. Her fucking cambion drugged her.”

  Kon had told Dane otherwise, and Dane knew who to believe. Dane glanced at the two guards. Both were impassive, seemingly indifferent to Evan’s irrational display.

  Evan waved the gun. “You’re going to follow these nice men to a room down the hall. Then you’re going to let your demon feed. Tomorrow you’ll be transferred to the enclave in Yuma.”

  The desert. Middle-of-nowhere Arizona and the last stop for untreatable, incorrigible cambions. “Like hell. Kon won’t let you.”

  “He won’t have a choice, especially when I inform the Warden’s Council you assaulted the Chief Warden and tried to kill your own Warden.”

  “Kill him?” Dane couldn’t hide his incredulity. Evan had lost it. He’d gone totally, flipping crazy.

  “You gave me a few bruises. I came in and saw your hand raised against a helpless, unconscious man. Who do you think they’ll believe?”

  Dane backed away. “I’m not going.”

  The guards didn’t give him a chance. They lunged, and there wasn’t enough space in the room for Dane to get around them. One grabbed his arms and slammed him into the wall. A bruising ache shot up his hip and shoulder.

  Evan gazed at him without pity. “I let Kon have too much leeway. A cambion can never be a Dom. They’re dangerous. Unpredictable. Too much power and they turn on those who love and trust them.”

  The second pulled out a TASER. He fired. The electrified darts dug into Dane’s skin. Electricity singed every nerve in his body. He opened his mouth to scream, but muscle control fled completely. Paralyzed, he dropped to the floor, helpless as the guards dragged him from the room.

  Chapter Twenty

  Eliana huddled in the kitchen, biting her lip against the pain the awkward position caused. She didn’t need to see the situation to understand what was going on.

  Dane. She had no idea where Evan was taking him, but it couldn’t be good. She didn’t like the sound of forcing him to let his demon feed.

  She peeked around the corner. Evan sat on Kon’s bed, stroking that slack, pale face with a gentleness that went beyond mere friendship. No wonder the crazy fucker had come to bother her the first day she’d been here. He’d wanted to see if she posed any sort of a threat to Kon.

  Impatiently, she waited until Evan placed a kiss on Kon’s forehead and left. Then she crept out to Kon. Tempted as she was to simply go after Evan and whip him with his own pistol, she didn’t know the layout or the rules of this enclave. If she wanted to help Dane, she needed Kon.

  That, however, remained dubious. Kon had shown no signs of consciousness with Evan nearby, and she didn’t have much hope she’d be able to do any better at getting his attention.

  The insistent beeping from the damn monitors didn’t help. She unplugged the machines. “Kon?” She slapped him again. When that failed, she shook him. “Kon. Damn it. Wake up. If you don’t, Evan’s going to do something terrible to Dane.”

  Nothing happened. Damn him. At a loss, she dropped to the bed. “If you’re wondering why I left, it’s because you scare me. And you know how much I hate being scared.” Apprehensively she set a hand on his forehead. This time she wasn’t sucked into one of his dreams, but the unhappiness emanating from him grated on her nerves. “You’re not sick. Stop fucking feeling so damn sorry for yourself.” One by one she yanked the heart monitor’s electrodes from his skin and hoped the adhesive hurt.

  A hand grasped hers. She startled and twisted around to see that Kon’s eyes were open, his pity directed at her rather than himself.

  “I’m sorry, Ellie.”

  Grief sprang upon hearing the nickname. Little Emilio had called her that. Emilio, broken and dying in her arms only a few months ago. Through tear-fogged eyes, she gazed at Kon and saw him fragile and ill and full of the same gaping loneliness which ate her from the inside out. “Jerk. You should be. Are you done feeling sorry for yourself? If not, I’d be happy to slap you again.”

  He smiled faintly. “I’d like that.”

  Of course he would. “Get up. You’ve got to help me save Dane.”

  “Dane?”

  “Yeah. You know, big blond guy. The one you were imagining as a carnival psycho?”

  “Dane.” Kon struggled to sit up. Eliana had to help him, reminded uncomfortably of the times she’d aided her drunken stepfather. “Where is he?”

  “I don’t know. Evan and two henchmen took him down the hall. Something about forcing his demon to feed.”

  She hadn’t thought Kon could go any paler, but he did. “I need my clothes.”

  Eliana grabbed jeans and a sweater from the dresser. “Arms up, and don’t you dare fall down.”

  “Why did you come back?”

  She jammed the sweater over his head. “Dane asked me nicely and apologized for your bad behavior. That doesn’t mean I’ve forgiven you. Legs, please.”

  With a grunt, he swung his legs over the side of the bed. He thrust them into the jeans but had to lean on her for support when he stood.

  “Can you walk, or do I need to lend you my cane?”

  He staggered to the door. “If Dane’s in trouble, I’ll fly if I have to.”

  * * * *

  The guards had stripped Dane and restrained him facedown on a padded bench, wrists and ankles cuffed to the legs. Evan waved a syringe in front of Dane’s eyes. “Kon doesn’t believe me when I tell him how dangerous you are, so I’m going to have to show him. This is a special formula, one designed by Kon’s father, in fact. Very useful for dealing with reluctant cambions.”

  The needle pricked his arm. Dane hissed. Evan depressed the plunger as if he administered injections on a daily basis. “There,” he said, removing the needle. “Just a minute or two and your demon will be out and ready to feed.”

  Feed on what?

  His demon came, filling his body with the familiar heat and brutal arousal. Like a hound on a scent, the demon lunged at the strongest source of sexual energy it could find.

  Oh.

  Evan was getting a kick out of this, but his pleasure was twisted. Wrong. He dangled a rattan cane where Dane could see it. He swung it through the air, the eerie whistle a promise of pain to come.

  Dane had felt the kiss of leather upon his flesh more than once, but always wielded by a skillful, attentive hand. Evan, for all the knowledge of anatomy and sexuality required of all Wardens, brandished the cane with less than professional care.

  Evan swung. The cane landed on the sciatic nerve in his back. Fire radiated outward, licking at his nerves with a cruel bite. Dane ground his teeth to keep from crying out.

  “How does it feel to be on the receiving end? How do you like being preyed upon the same way you’ve been preying on Kon for the past few years?”

  Reasoning wasn’t going to work, so Dane kept his mouth shut and hoped Eliana was safe. With luck she’d find help, and this would be over. Soon.

  Evan struck again, this time at a poor angle. The cane bent around Dane’s body and stung the tender part of his waist. Dane muttered a curse.

  Safe, sane, and consensual.

  This session was none of those. Dane ground his teeth together and weathered the blows without giving Evan the en
joyment of hearing him scream.

  “You always were stubborn. Let go, Dane. Let the rage out.” There was madness in his eyes along with the jealousy smoldering every time Dane was in his presence.

  He’d be damned if he gave in. Cambions weren’t mindless, sexually depraved creatures unless their Wardens treated them as such. Kon never had. Kon loved him, and except for the rare slip, treated him as an equal. Evan only wanted to belittle Dane, to drive him to the brink so he had “proof” Dane was dangerous and should be sent away—leaving the path clear for him to be the only one to console and comfort Kon.

  Dane focused on his breathing. Long, deep, and slow. In and out. His demon writhed, demanding sustenance he couldn’t provide.

  Snap.

  The cane landed another stinging blow. Dane arched his back, unable to stop the instinctual response as pain flooded his back, all the way down his legs and into his toes.

  Snap.

  Evan made another strike to the vulnerable parts of Dane’s back. Needles prickled in Dane’s hands and feet as if they’d gone to sleep and been brutally woken. His control slipped. The grip on his demon dissolved. Panic took hold. No. No…

  Snap.

  Dane’s demon shattered its prison and took hold of his body with the ferocity of a wounded, ravenous tiger. It turned its gaze to the man holding the cane, taunting it, hurting it. One thought repeated over and over in its head.

  Kill.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Five years earlier, Kon had been the first one on the scene when Evan’s lover Tasha had been found dead. Tasha’s cambion, Jared, had been frantically trying to resuscitate her, but Kon knew she was too far gone because he couldn’t feel her at all with his Sensitivity. Evan had raced in and driven his fist into Jared’s jaw. Jared flew off the bed and landed hard on the floor. Hurt and bleeding, the cambion crawled back toward the blue-tinged, lifeless body of the woman they both loved.

  “Get away from her, you animal!” Evan grabbed Jared’s arm and swung him off the bed once more. Jared couldn’t control his fall. His head hit the corner of the nightstand with a sickening crunch.

  “Evan!” Kon cried as he dashed to the cambion’s side. Evan paid him no heed. He clutched Tasha in his arms, moaning and sobbing.

  Jared’s pupils were blown; a bad sign. Kon opened his Sensitivity and reeled at the pain. Then he dug, searching frantically for an answer to what had happened.

  —Jared, pleading with Tasha to put the razor down and let him bandage her cuts. Frantic, desperate lovemaking. Jared falling asleep only to wake and find her cold and lifeless next to him, empty pill bottles scattered across the nightstand and the floor.—

  There were more scenes of Tasha’s self-destructive behavior and long, teary confessionals in which she expressed her unhappiness while Jared held and comforted her. He’d approached Evan more than once—but Evan, while madly in love with her, had brushed his concerns aside.

  Jared had died a week later without ever regaining consciousness. Tasha’s death was listed as suicide with Jared as an accessory. Jared’s death was ruled accidental. Despite Kon’s testimony, the Council couldn’t afford to lose Evan as Chief Warden. Denver was one of the few enclaves earning a profit, largely due to Evan’s obsessiveness about details and his adamant belief in promoting alternative medicine.

  In the nights following, Kon had done his best to coax Evan into admitting the truth. Deep inside, Evan was aware that his attention to his job rather than his lover had contributed to her demise, but he refused to acknowledge his part in the matter. Even worse, being the cause of Jared’s death had apparently escaped his mind completely. Evan chafed at being unable to work, so he soon returned to his duties as if nothing had happened, the trauma showing only when a Warden—Kon especially—seemed to be in danger from an incubus or cambion.

  The man Kon saw now was the same he’d seen the night Tasha died, wild and half-mad with grief, seeing cambions as dangerous animals rather than half human with the same capacity for fear and pain.

  And it was because of Evan that there was nothing left in Dane which wasn’t dangerous. Kon’s heart lurched when he saw the red welts scoring Dane’s skin—but those were minor compared to the frenzied anger of the demon which had taken hold. Dane jerked and thrashed as much as his bonds allowed. Knowing Dane’s strength, Kon didn’t expect them to hold for long.

  “Evan.”

  The Chief Warden didn’t turn his gaze from Dane’s writhing body. “Stay out of this, Kon. You can’t see what he is, what he’s been doing to you. Look at what a beast he is.”

  “Give me the cane, Evan.” He held out his hand.

  Evan brought the rattan down hard across Dane’s buttocks. Snap.

  Kon shuddered at Dane’s inhuman screech. The bench creaked and groaned as Dane strained against it. Kon fought to stay motionless and pretend the brutal blow meant nothing. “Give it to me.”

  Evan’s eyes were red and bloodshot. “I did this for you, Kon, to show you how deadly he is.”

  The pureness of Evan’s belief that he was doing what was best made Kon ache with pity. “It’s over, Evan. Give me the cane. We’ll go back to your room and have a drink. I’ll stay the night, all right?”

  “I have to do this. I have to. For you.” He raised his arm once more.

  Before Kon could stop him, Evan landed another blow.

  Snap.

  Wood splintered and cracked as Dane jerked the cuffs free.

  * * * *

  Pressed against the wall just inside the door, Eliana watched the scene unfold, unsure of what if anything she could do. Dane looked like a monster from a horror movie, naked, muscles taut, chains dangling from his wrists and ankles. There was not the slightest inkling of humanity in his gaze as he broke free of the bench and focused on his tormenter—and lunged.

  Eliana screamed. Dane and Evan went down in a heap, limbs tangled as they fought for dominance.

  “Dane!” Kon’s shout rose over the tumult.

  The two guards rushed in. One pulled out a gun and aimed it at the pile of men.

  Eliana slammed her cane down onto the man’s hand. He yelped and dropped the gun. Before he could bend down to pick it up, she used the head of her cane to slide the gun over and snatched it up. The second guard had a TASER in his hand, but she gave a dramatic sigh and glared at him. “You wouldn’t do that to a woman, would you? Especially a crippled one.” She took a few moments to inspect the gun before leveling it at the men. “I can’t drive a car, but I do know how to use this. See that closet?” She waved the gun in the direction of an open door. “Walk over there and get in.”

  Hands raised, the two men did as she told them. Once they were inside the cramped closet, Eliana shut them in, grabbed a chunk of wood broken during Dane’s escape, and jammed it beneath the door.

  Done, she slumped against the wall, fighting back nausea at the realization she was holding a fucking gun and had been willing to use it. Agony flared in her hip in remembrance of the day Emilio had died and her life had nearly ended.

  “It’s over.” Hands shaking, she removed the clip from the gun and tossed it aside. “No one is going to hurt me ever again.” She checked to be sure the safety was on, then looked around to gauge the situation.

  Dane straddled Evan, hands wrapped around Evan’s throat. Evan struggled, choking.

  Kon crouched beside them. “Dane. Sweetheart, look at me. Please, Dane, don’t do this.”

  Idiot. Pleading isn’t going to work. Ignoring the ache, Eliana limped over and swung her cane at the meaty part of Dane’s arm.

  He snarled and whirled around. She had the unloaded gun ready, aimed right at his heart. “Don’t even think about it. Behave.” Evidently the demon recognized the danger through its rage, because Dane didn’t make any more threatening moves toward her.

  On the floor, Evan coughed and sputtered. Eliana didn’t spare him a glance. Neither did Kon, who had a hand on Dane’s calf.

  The air tingled. Damn it. S
he knew that sensation. Kon was working his magic again, only this time she wasn’t going to protest.

  “Sit,” she told Dane. “Right now.”

  He dropped to the floor, which put his face within Kon’s reach. Kon grasped it and stared into Dane’s eyes. “Eliana. Find me a blanket.”

  She did as she was told, relieved when she opened a closet door and found a pile of blankets inside. She grabbed two and hurried back.

  Kon took the blankets and wrapped them around his lover. “Dane, sweetheart, can you hear me?”

  It didn’t look as if Kon did anything more than hold Dane’s face, but the electric tingle in the air increased until Eliana was sure her hair must be standing on end. The nearer she went, the stronger the tingle became, along with the same feral sexual drive she’d felt from Dane in the car—only this time there was a dark, raging undercurrent that frightened her.

  “Kon?” The voice was quiet, almost childlike.

  “That’s right. It’s me.”

  “Kon, I can’t. The damn thing’s got me…”

  “It’s all right. You’ll be fine.” Kon’s voice was calm, but he trembled.

  Evan coughed and crawled toward them. “Don’t. Kon—”

  Bracing against the inevitable ache in her hip, Eliana placed her foot squarely in the small of his back, glad she was wearing boots so she could grind the heel into his spine. “Don’t move. You’re making my hip hurt, and that makes me cranky.” She eyed the St. Andrew’s cross on the wall. “I want you to crawl over there.”

  She waved the gun in the direction she wanted him to go. Gaze full of hatred, he moved on hands and knees toward the cross.

  “Stand up. Buckle your ankles in.” When he resisted, she thumbed off the safety. “Do it, damn it.”

  Evan did as he was told.

  “Now your left wrist.”

  “Bitch. You have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into. That creature—”

  “Shut up, Evan.” She cracked the gun against his skull hard enough that blood trailed from his scalp and down his cheek. He moaned. “My stepfather was a man like you. He had no control at all. He liked to dominate people because he could. And thanks to that creature, I know that I can and deserve to be treated better. So does he.”