Rebirth of the Vampire King (Blood Fire Saga Book 6)

by Bella Klaus

  I turned around and shot him a scowl. “What are you doing?”

  “Contemplating what I should do about you.” He removed his hands and slid into the only other seat.

  A pair of napkins appeared on the table encircled by golden rings. The face etched on them looked like Versace at first, but as I picked it up, the snakes around the woman’s head surged toward my finger. With a noisy gasp, I snatched my hand away.

  The wretched face and her hair snakes hissed, trying to roll across the table.

  “Allow me.” Hades clasped the ring between his fingers, making the golden serpents fall quiet. He pulled out the napkin and laid it on my lap.

  I stiffened, fully expecting him to slide his fingers over my bare thighs or try some other stunt, but he drew back and extracted his napkin.

  Three golden pots appeared on the table, filling the space with the mingled scents of cheese and wine and spices. Saliva flooded my mouth, washing away all thoughts of aggressive Gorgon tableware.

  “What’s this?” I asked.

  “I thought you might enjoy fondue.”

  With a flick of his wrist, several small plates appeared on the table, little chunks of bread, bite-sized steamed vegetables, roasted potatoes, pickles, meatballs, shrimp, and slices of raw meat. The lids on the pots disappeared, revealing one containing melted cheese between two with dark broths.

  Hades skewered a chunk of raw steak and sloshed it in the bowl on the right, releasing the scent of rosemary and red wine. “Have you tried Fondue Bacchus?”

  I shook my head, my gaze fixed on the cooking piece of meat.

  When he pulled it out, it was browned to perfection, glistening with a plum-colored sauce. He held the steak to my lips. “Try it.”

  I reached for the fork, and he pulled it away, just as a plate of long noodles appeared on the table.

  “Let me feed you.” His deep voice rumbled through my senses.

  My gaze darted back to the noodles, and a scene from Macavity’s most despised cartoon filled my mind. Two dogs—one male and the other female—ate from a bowl of spaghetti and meatballs. At the end of their shared meal, both had the same strand in their mouths which brought their mouths together in a kiss.

  I met his smoldering eyes with a frown. “Are you trying to make this dinner romantic?”

  “What do you expect from a man of sensuality and romance?” He leaned forward, his lips drifting toward mine.

  I drew back. “Valentine and I are still together, and even if we weren’t, I’m not interested in demons.”

  Hades bristled, his expression pinching. He shifted his weight back into his chair and pulled his thigh away from mine. “Many of the Monarchs of Hell are higher beings,” he said in a voice sharp enough to slice throats. “One would have thought you’d remember, or has turning into a phoenix shrunk your capacity to hold facts?”

  His comments washed over me like broth. He was only bitter that I wasn’t acting like every other woman who surrounded him. “My mistake.” I picked up my own piece of steak and dipped it in the red wine sauce. “Sometimes it’s hard to remember you’re a Greek god.”

  With a sniff, Hades skewered a piece of broccoli and stuck it in the cheese fondue.

  My piece of steak melted in my mouth, releasing the mingled tastes of red wine, herbs, and balsamic vinegar. I hummed my appreciation, wishing I was here with any version of Valentine, except the man who had lost his memory and now looked upon me with suspicion.

  Silence stretched out for several moments, leaving me to sample the contents of the other two pots in peace. I dipped a roasted potato into the cheese fondue, enjoying its mix of Gruyère and garlic and ground peppers, which went really well with the bread.

  I swished a slice of meat in the third pot, a thinner mix compared to the other two. After cooling it, I took a bite, my eyes rolling to the back of my head at the flavorful mix of soy sauce, citrus, and spices. What on earth was that?

  “Fondue Chinoise," he said.

  I turned to him and swallowed my mouthful. “Are you reading my mind?”

  “You may as well stand in the middle circle of Hell with a megaphone and scream your emotions,” Hades muttered.

  I stuffed the rest of the meat into my mouth and readied another forkful for the Fondue Chinoise. If he was so adept at reading my moods, why did he keep trying to pull me away from Valentine? For the challenge? Because I was a phoenix shifter? I slid my gaze to the sulking Demon King who glared at me as though expecting me to say something meaningful.

  When I skewered a floret of cauliflower, he leaned across the table and poured me a glass of red wine. “This comes from my nephew’s vineyard.”

  “Are you talking about Dionysus?” I asked.

  Inclining his head, he gestured at the pot on the left. “Also known as Bacchus.”

  “Isn’t he your stepson?”

  “Why do you ask that?” he snapped.

  “His father is Zeus and his mother is Persephone—”

  “Don’t mention her name,” he hissed.

  My heart leaped to the back of my throat, and I placed my free hand over my chest. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to—”

  “Change the subject,” he snapped.

  I stiffened, my senses sharpening for more signs of his worsening mood. Just because I wielded a little power over Hades, that didn’t mean he was harmless.

  Turning back to the dishes on the table, I picked up a meatball and gave it a long dunking in the red wine fondue. His reaction to the mere mention of his wife had been unexpected.

  According to Greek mythology, Persephone was supposed to stay in the Underworld during the winter months. It was only a couple of weeks before Yule, which meant she wasn’t due to leave until Ostara, our spring equinox.

  There were signs of Persephone everywhere, from the woman etched on the elevator to the mosaic at the bottom of Hades’ bath. So why was he on the prowl when his wife was supposed to be in residence? Either she’d run away, he’d turned her into artwork in a rage, or something terrible had happened to drive them apart.

  I pulled the meatball out of the fondue and brought it to my plate. “We saw Kresnik tonight.”

  “King Valentine made a report of having encountered the fiend,” Hades replied. “He also claimed to have drained enough of Kresnik’s power with firestone weapons to blow up Logris.”

  “I thought Kresnik had stolen all of it from the stores.”

  Hades snorted. “As soon as I told the Council, the Fae King authorized every Knocker in Elphame to mine more firestone, but it was my idea to use it against Kresnik.”

  “Did it work?” I blew on the meatball.

  He raised a shoulder. “According to King Valentine’s report, Kresnik’s body was in an irreparable state.”

  “Good.” I popped the entire piece of meat in my mouth and chewed.

  The tense atmosphere lifted, and Hades poured the plate of noodles into the Fondue Chinoise. He added half the vegetables, all of the meat, whole mushrooms and some chunks of tofu I hadn’t noticed before to create an appetizing-looking hotpot crammed with food.

  Hades wrapped his hands around the pot, pulled it close, and stirred the mix with a pair of oversized chopsticks. “He also said that Kresnik attacked you.”

  I placed a hand over my breastbone. “With a massive needle. He tried to extract the magic from my soul.”

  “Ouch.” He picked up his chopsticks and extracted a large slice of meat. “Did it work?”

  “Valentine interrupted before he finished his procedure,” I murmured. “I haven’t had a chance to test my magic.”

  Hades floated a bite-sized piece of bread. “Toast this.”

  “What?” I said through my mouthful.

  “Point your finger at it and see if you can reduce it to char.”

  “Okay.” I pushed a little power into the tip of my index finger and produced a flame, which turned the bread brown before I shut it off. “That doesn’t prove anything.”

  “I c
ould work with you,” he said, his chair teleporting right next to mine. He sat so close, he warmed my skin with the heat of his body. A muscular thigh brushed against mine. “I’ve nurtured the power of shifters of all kinds, and fire users, including ifrits.”

  “Weren’t you supposed to drag their souls to Hell?”

  The corners of his lips curved into a smirk. “A few of them reached my palace with their delectable bodies intact.”

  Any goodwill I had for the Demon King melted into the fondue. “You took advantage of them?”

  “Judgmental, aren’t you?” he drawled.

  I placed my hands on the table. “You know what? When the Supernatural Council was executing fire users, I went along with it, thinking they were keeping the world free of potential monsters. But then I became one of the very people I feared and realized that the policy was insane.”

  His eyes narrowed. “What are you suggesting?”

  “I can’t stop you from coercing people to sleep with you, but I won’t stick around to hear you boast about taking advantage of women at your mercy.”

  “You’re mistaking me for a demon who violates women against their will.” He folded his arms across his chest.

  Pressing my lips into a tight line, I resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of my nose. Why did I even bother? Hades might not be a demon, but he had the entitlement of a god. I couldn’t expect compassion from a creature whose signature seduction move was abduction.

  “Thanks for the meal, but I’m completely full.” I placed the napkin on the table, rose off my seat and strode toward the elevator.

  Demonic magic crackled against my back like the snap of ghostly whips. My muscles tensed. Hades might call himself a god, but his energy wasn’t the least bit divine.

  He appeared in front of the elevator doors with his arms still folded across his chest. “Not so fast, Miss Griffin.”

  “What do you want?” I glowered into his hard eyes.

  “I decide when dinner is finished.” He raised a palm, making me slide back across the dining room. Then he disappeared from in front of the elevator, reappeared at my back, and wrapped an arm around my waist.

  “And what do you want from me?” I hissed.

  “At little more appreciation wouldn’t go amiss,” he murmured into my ear. “After all, I’ve already discovered a way to rid myself of your blood. Soon, I’ll be able to hurt you without repercussions.”

  “You’re bluffing,” I whispered.

  His deep chuckle made the fine hairs on the back of my neck stand to attention. “Am I?”

  He turned me back to the table and gently shoved me back into the golden seat, which now felt like the interrogation chair I’d been strapped to during my trial.

  The pots on the table vanished, along with the forks and the small plates of dippers. In their place were two smaller pots—one containing chocolate fondue and the other a paler sauce that looked like butterscotch.

  The pots stood on tall stilts and beneath them were an array of sweet dippers, including brownies, wafers, marshmallows, cookie pieces, banana chunks, strawberries, kiwis, and peaches. I even spotted clumps of popcorn and mini donuts.

  On any other occasion, my mouth would water, but my entire throat had turned as dry as scorched earth. Hades was resourceful and was the jailer of every Hell-bound supernatural who had ever existed, including those who were around during the days when phoenixes roamed the earth. Hell, he even knew a bunch of gods.

  I had no doubt that he’d already worked out a way to extricate himself from the control I had over his ability to cause me pain. This dinner was probably some kind of test to see if he could make me comply with charm.

  I guess I failed.

  Hades picked up a strawberry between his fingers, dipped it into the molten chocolate, and held it to my lips. “Eat.”

  I clenched my teeth. “Let me go.”

  “Not until you’ve given me what I want.”

  “Your Majesty!” said a voice from the other side of the room.

  “Who dares to interrupt?” Hades hissed. “I will sear the meat from your bones.”

  Something deep within my heart ached, and I placed a hand over my chest. Hades was probably lying about being able to cause me pain, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t hurt someone else to get at me.

  A demon enforcer knelt on the mosaic floor with his head bowed and his leathery wings extended. He raised his head, revealing pale skin with eyes the color of candle flames. “I wouldn’t have reported to you unless it was a dire emergency, sire.”

  “Spit it out,” Hades said through clenched teeth.

  “A group of fire users invaded the barracks and abducted Theodore.”

  I tilted my head to the side. Wasn’t that the name of the enforcer Hades sent to check out the zombies Kresnik had hidden underground? Theodore had also led that big demon raid on the derelict mansion where Kresnik had stayed with the fire users.

  My throat spasmed in time with the throb of my heart. Theodore was the enforcer responsible for stripping Kresnik’s soul from his original body and casting it to Hell.

  “Anyone else?” Hades asked, the color leaching from his face.

  The enforcer shook his head. “They could have abducted a dozen others, but they burned their way through the building until they found Theodore.”

  Hades’ magic hit my skin like a storm of static electricity. “Leave us.”

  The enforcer disappeared in a cloud of brimstone, and everything on the table melted under the heat of the Demon King’s rage. His eyes darkened to the shade of obsidian, and feathery black wings sprouted from his back.

  One of my chair legs buckled to the side. My heart lurched painfully, and I scrambled off, my feet landing in a puddle of gold.

  “Damn him to Hell,” Hades snarled.

  “What’s going on?” I asked.

  By the time the Demon King looked me full in the face, his eyes had turned completely black, and the veins around his temples stood out like thunderbolts. “Kresnik is going to force Theodore to locate his immortal body!”

  Chapter Twelve

  My mouth fell open, and I gaped at the raging Demon King. The warmth of the melted gold reached the soles of my feet, making me skid backward.

  Aurora’s final words echoed through my ears. While Coral had pounded the shit out of the former god and everyone was going wild with terror, Aurora tried to tell me Kresnik had a weakness.

  He had lost his immortal body the day Theodore and his team had raided the derelict and thrown him into Hell, and the magic he now possessed was borrowed. I placed a hand on my chest and gulped. Valentine had already damaged the body Kresnik had co-opted from Father Jude.

  I turned to Hades, but he disappeared, leaving me with the molten mess.

  The ache in my chest deepened, now seeming worse around my heart. I pressed a hand into my breastbone, wondering if the pain was out of fear, because of Valentine, or a bizarre reaction to Hades’ departure.

  When I pulled away my hand, the palm was spotted with blood.

  A breath caught in the back of my throat. “What the hell does this mean?”

  “Miss Griffin?” Namara appeared from the elevator doors in her less demonic appearance. Today she wore an electric blue shirt-dress tailored around her curvaceous figure with her hair styled in a messy bun. Her heels click-clacked across the mosaic floor, and she stood at the edge of the gloop, her brows drawing together. “Is there anything wrong?”

  My breath rattled as I swayed around the puddle. A sharp pain tugged at my insides, making me feel like a fish impaled by an invisible hook being reeled across space.

  “Kresnik,” I said, punctuating my words between wheezes. “He might be drawing on my magic.”

  Her eyes bulged. “Do you require medical assistance?”

  “Yes, please.” I doubled over, bracing my hands on my knees.

  She crossed the room, wrapped an arm around my back, and helped me straighten. “My lord was most worried w
hen he discovered you were injured.”

  “Really?”

  Nodding, she escorted me toward the gold elevator.

  I dug my heels into the mosaic floor. It wasn’t like I thought Hades’ personal assistant would send me on a one-way trip to Hell, but I couldn’t take any chances. “Could we take the stairs?”

  “Of course,” she said with a smile and steered me toward the tapestry of Greek gods.

  We headed toward Zeus’s throne, behind which stood a six-foot-tall shield decorated with an image of the sun. It reminded me of the tree within the mausoleum’s stained glass window that formed a doorway. Namara placed her fingers on one of the sun’s rays that made the entire tree shimmer away.

  We stepped through the opening into a bedroom containing a round leather bed twice the circumference of Hades’ dining table with an oversized leather structure curving around it to form a headboard. I glanced into one of the mirrored wall panels and grimaced.

  All the work Pallas and Leuce had put into improving my appearance had evaporated, leaving me looking as sickly as I had in the bathroom of Beatrice’s spare room. The wound in my breastbone throbbed, pulling my attention away from the decor. I pressed the heel of my hand back onto my chest and groaned.

  “May I carry you the rest of the way?” Namara asked.

  “No.” I clenched my teeth, powering through the pain. “I can walk.”

  “Would you like something to dull the discomfort?” the other woman asked.

  I shook my head. “I’d better not in case it interferes with the healer’s treatment.”

  “Very good,” she said, sounding like Caiman at his most disapproving.

  I hobbled to the far end of the room, where a mahogany railing separated us from a twelve- or fourteen-foot drop that overlooked the fireplace of Hades’ vast office. It took an eternity for us to descend the stairs, and by the time I reached the bottom, I clutched the handrail, breathing harder than a racehorse forced to circle London.

  “You’re getting worse,” Namara murmured.

  “Maybe I should sit in the waiting room for a bit and see if I can muster the energy to walk to the hospital wing.”