by G. K. DeRosa
“I don’t answer to you, Delacroix,” Talon snarled, and the tiny hairs at the back of my neck stood on end. “Besides, you have more than enough minions on your payroll.” He ticked his head at the mob of mostly Underworlders amassed behind him. “You don’t need this one; she’s a half-blood anyway.”
Ouch. “Excuse me.” I moved between the two males and interrupted their macho posturing. “I’m right here. Stop talking about me like I’m some helpless girl who can’t make her own decisions.”
“Settle down, pumpkin,” Hayden muttered through clenched teeth. “You have no idea what you’re getting in the middle of here.”
I took a step back and crossed my arms over my chest. I refused to let these two battle it out over me like I was some sort of prized cow. I knew prison gangs were a thing, but I didn’t plan on being here long enough to join one.
Delacroix’s nostrils flared, and his dark lips twisted as if he’d smelled something foul. “Nevertheless, just the fact that you and your brothers want her, Talon, makes me think there’s more to this pretty little thing than you’re admitting.” He ran a hooked claw down my arm and set off a tidal wave of goosebumps. “And half-blood or not, she must have some powerful demon blood rushing through her veins if she took out an entire Fae village.”
Chapter Six
All the air siphoned from my lungs in an excruciating instant. I did what? I squeezed my eyes shut as my breath came in ragged spurts. A face flashed across my mind—strawberry blonde hair, pointy ears, her mouth open as a wisp of essence swirled in the air… and the screams. Oh gods, the screams.
I clapped my hands over my ears, but I couldn’t drown out the sound. My legs wobbled and a sharp pain slammed up my knees as I hit the ground. I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe. My chest tightened with each inhale until darkness crept into the corners of my vision.
“Azara! Azara, get up.” A sharp sting streaked across my cheek, and my eyes snapped open. “Pull yourself together,” the same deep voice growled.
I did as instructed and met a pair of fierce silver eyes.
“Come on, pumpkin.” Hayden’s arm curled around mine, and he lifted me off the floor.
I muttered incoherently as tears tracked down my cheeks—one of which still stung like a B. Did Talon slap me? The mass of supes dispersed as Hayden and Dallas tugged me toward a table in the back. I could vaguely make out Talon’s broad shoulders leading the way.
I could practically feel dozens of eyes searing into the back of my head. So much for not letting them see me cry. Appearing weak in prison was like a death sentence. Everyone knew that. Nice job, Azara. On the plus side, my freak out had broken up the impending brawl.
Hayden dropped me into the hard plastic chair, and my body sagged into it like my bones had been replaced by jello. “You okay, little demon?” His brilliant blue eyes floated in front of mine.
I shook my head. All the words stuck to the back of my throat. Delacroix had to have been lying. I couldn’t have consumed the souls of an entire village… could I?
Hayden folded his tall frame into the seat beside me, and Talon and Dallas sat across from us. I couldn’t summon the nerve to look up.
The three of them whispered among themselves as if Delacroix’s revelation about what I’d done meant nothing. Like I’d just eaten a couple dozen donuts instead of Fae lives.
I had to know the truth. Swallowing hard, I turned to Talon. He wouldn’t sugar coat it for me. “Is it true? What Delacroix said?”
His dark brows slammed together, an indecipherable expression crossing the hard planes of his face. “You’re joking, right?”
“No, I’m not,” I screeched. I slurped in a quick breath to tone down my squeaky voice. “I wasn’t kidding when I said I had no idea what I was doing here.”
“It’s all over the prison, precious,” Dallas cooed. “The new little demon girl who decimated a village on the outskirts of the Fae Winter Court. You left a trail of bodies through the forest.” He chuckled and ran his tongue over a pointy incisor. “That’s almost as bad as I was when I first turned.”
“Dallas!” Talon barked.
I whipped my head back and forth, dark hair lashing across my face. “I couldn’t have. I—I don’t even know how.”
Three pairs of eyes drilled into me, matching expressions of disbelief drawn into their faces. “How old are you?” Hayden asked.
I stiffened my lower lip. “Eighteen—almost nineteen.”
“Don’t you demons learn to control your powers earlier?” Dallas stretched across the table, piercing me with those dark pupils encircled in crimson.
“Not half-bloods,” Talon interjected.
I hated that he was right. Mostly I hated that he knew more about me than I did about him. The other two males kept staring at me expectantly so I continued. “Mine didn’t emerge until I was sixteen. I grew up in the human world until two years ago. And can we get back to the fact that none of you seem surprised at what I supposedly did?”
“You’re a demon that’s what you do,” Talon hissed.
I ignored his low blow because I really needed to find out what happened, and these guys had been the only ones to give me any sort of answers. “Then why don’t I remember any of it?”
Dallas shrugged. “Sometimes I’d black out in the beginning. Too much blood, I guess.”
Hayden ticked his head at a table full of males in navy jumpsuits just across the way from us. “Werewolves go pretty nutty with the full moon too. This guy I knew tried to take a bite out of me once. It comes with the territory.”
I shook my head. I’d been getting so far in my training with Emi. How could I slip up like this?
“Don’t worry your pretty little head, kid.” Dallas took a big bite of an apple that appeared out of nowhere and grinned. “It happens to the best of us.”
“Kid? I can’t be that much younger than you guys.” They all looked to be in their mid-twenties at most. But then again, Dallas and Hayden were wild cards. You could never tell with vampires or angels.
“He means because you just came into your powers,” Hayden explained.
“Oh, right.”
“Well, this has been fun, but I’m getting my breakfast.” Talon leapt up and disappeared into the crowd of supes milling around the food line. Just like last time, the rest of the inmates practically darted out of his way.
Dallas finished off his snack and stood next, headed in the same direction. Before the vampire got far, he spun around and shot me a pearly smile. “I don’t think they’re serving any fresh faerie souls up there, but I can grab you some oatmeal if you’d like.”
I glared at the jerk. “I’m not hungry. And I hope the pig blood is rancid.” Wasn’t that what vampires drank when they couldn’t get the human stuff?
Dallas chuckled as he joined Talon in line, skipping ahead of half a dozen other inmates. Again, no one said a thing.
“Azara, in here, having a less than savory rep isn’t a bad thing.” Hayden’s voice drew my thoughts back to the handsome angel. “It’s the difference between a semi-peaceful coexistence and a hellish torturous one.”
I nodded, chewing on the inside of my cheek. If I really did kill all those Fae, I deserved to be in here. For a second, I wondered what Hayden had done. Maybe it was better not to know.
I scanned the mess hall which had gone back to normal. The steady hum of chatter, the clatter of plates and trays dropping on tabletops filled the large space. My eyes landed on a table in the opposite corner of the room and to a pair of dark horns. Eyes so murky it was like staring into a bottomless void met mine. Delacroix smiled but with his thin lips and gruesome scar that tracked across half his face, it was closer to a sneer. I tore my gaze away and stared down at my clenched fingers. “What’s the deal with Delacroix, and why did he say I should’ve been in his block?”
“Again, your second question is easier than the first.” Hayden shifted in his seat, eyeing the hellus demon across the chamber. “Inmates are div
ided into blocks here based on supernatural race. The seven houses of Azar each get their own wing and the last section is reserved for the Underworld. As a demon, you should have been in Block Eight. You are familiar with the original seven territories, right?”
According to Emi, the divisions within the supernatural races had been much more distinct a few decades ago. Then things kind of went down the crapper when my grandfather, Lucifer, and his Underworlders were allowed into Azar as well as the human world. They began to infiltrate the seven houses and tore them apart from the inside out.
“I guess I could use a refresher.”
He splayed out his big hands and began ticking off his fingers as he spoke. “The Sons of Heaven, my kin, are in ours, Block One. Then there’s the Brotherhood of the Dragons in Two, the Coven Council, our magically gifted friends in Block Three, The Fae Court, which I’m guessing you’re familiar with, they’re in Four, the Shifter Pack make up Block Five, the fishies from the Ocean Realm are in Six and the Royal Vampires, like our friend Dallas, are in Block Seven.”
“But you and Talon are cellmates and he’s a dragon, right?”
He nodded. “And Dallas’s cell is right next door to ours. His bunkie just had his back-door parole so he’s got the whole place to himself for now. The regular rules don’t exactly apply to us.”
Back door parole? “Why not?”
Hayden shook his head. “Some things are on a need-to-know basis, pumpkin. And this, you do not need to know.”
“Because you’re the Triad?”
He nodded. “We’ve got ways of getting things done around here. The less you know, the better.”
“I guess I’m not supposed to ask about the Triad either, huh?” I paused as he worried his bottom lip between his teeth. “What’s a back-door parole then?”
He ran his hand over his face and when he looked back up at me, his expression had darkened. “He died here, pumpkin. Not many inmates make it to their actual parole.”
I gulped. I couldn’t be one of those convicts. Mulling over his words, I picked at the remnants of my red nail polish. I might as well get it all off now. No manicures for me for a while. “So how did I end up in your cell?”
“Now that is a good question.” His broad shoulders lifted, nearly reaching his ears. “Maybe the guards really were hoping Talon and I would mess with you.”
I gulped again. “Why haven’t you?”
“Just to piss them off.” He smirked. “Plus, I figure Talon’s torturing you enough for both of us. Now back to your first question. Delacroix Balthier used to run this place until my brothers and I showed up.”
“Brothers?” Now I was really confused. How could a fallen angel, a dragon, and a vampire be brothers? It sounded like the start of a bad joke.
“Another one of those need-to-know bits of information. Suffice it to say, we may not have the same parents, but it doesn’t make us any less family.”
Would I ever get a straight answer out of these guys? I leaned my chin in my palm, the beginnings of a headache throbbing my temples.
“Anyway, you need to stay away from Delacroix. Typically, I’d recommend sticking with your own kind in here, but you’ll be hard-pressed to find a demon that’s not under his thumb. He’s bad news and the last thing you need is to get wrapped up in his world. Do your time, get out of here and live out the rest of your life. You’re young and if you play it smart, you could get your sentence reduced.”
“I don’t even know how long I’m in for. I never had a trial or anything.”
“I wouldn’t hold your breath for that, pumpkin. But the new warden will call you in soon enough. I haven’t met the guy yet, but let’s hope he’s better than Egan. Delacroix had that guy wrapped around his little finger, and that wasn’t good for anyone.”
I didn’t know much about hellus demons except that they were hella powerful. Pun intended. For now, I’d see how things played out. I couldn’t tie myself to either side just yet. Not until I knew who the good guys really were—or if there were any.
Two burly forms crossed my peripheral vision and put an end to our conversation. A blurred arm stretched in front of me, and the smack of a tray on the table made me jump.
“You gotta keep your strength up in here, precious.” Dallas chomped down and flashed me his incisors. “It’s eat or get eaten inside these walls. And you’re much too cute for that, little girl.”
I stared at the gray slop on my plate, and my stomach churned. “It’s Azara,” I hissed.
Hayden loaded up a spoonful of brown cereal that Talon had brought back for him and shoved it into his mouth. As he chewed, he pointed the plastic spoon at me. “Dallas is right. Eat up, pumpkin.”
I dipped my spoon into the murky oatmeal and glanced up in time to catch Talon’s gaze. His eyes darted away as if he’d been burned. What the hell? Shoving the nasty gruel in my mouth, I swallowed thickly. Dallas and Hayden were right. If I wanted to survive, I needed to find my place behind these walls.
Chapter Seven
The sharp blast of a siren had me shooting up in bed so fast I gave myself whiplash. “What the hell?” I croaked. I forced my heavy lids open as I scanned my dark, unfamiliar surroundings. Stark black walls and two bulky figures climbing out of a bunkbed.
Craptabulous. I was still in prison. It hadn’t all been a horrible nightmare.
“That’s our wake-up call,” Hayden muttered.
I searched my wrist for my watch but only found my new fashionable prison accessory that sucked up my powers. My internal clock told me it was way too early to be awake.
“Rise and shine, pumpkin.” Hayden sauntered over and dropped trou before I could pull the thin, crappy blanket over my head.
“Hayden!” I growled. “Can’t you use the toilet?” A metal water closet stood in the corner behind a flimsy partition. I’d used it in the middle of the night after the brothers went to sleep. I crossed my legs, the sound of pee trickling on the urinal reminding me of my own full bladder.
Finally, he tugged his khaki pants up and smirked over his shoulder. “And miss out on the chance to make you squirm? Never.”
I chucked my lousy excuse for a pillow at him, but the darned angel was fast. The thin cushion hit the wall and slid over the urinal, landing in a heap. Eew. I hoped I’d get that survival kit Hayden had told me about today. I needed a new pillow STAT.
Talon slid off the top bunk and stretched, then leisurely unzipped his gray jumpsuit. Saliva filled my mouth as his perfectly tanned chest was revealed, then his flawlessly carved abs and the sharp V that disappeared into his tight boxer briefs. Holy, dragon babies! How could that jerk be so hot?
I hid behind a curtain of dark hair as I continued to blatantly ogle him. Once I got past the sculpted perfection of his body, my gaze landed on the gigantic dragon tattoo that covered his thick chest. Its dazzling silver scales twisted and shimmered beneath the halogen light with each of Talon’s breaths as if it were alive.
“Um, pumpkin?” Hayden was suddenly in my face. His finger swept across my chin as he grinned. “You got a little drool right here…”
I jerked my chin from his grasp and shot out of bed as Hayden laughed. “I was not—that’s not… ugh!” From the corner of my eye, I caught the ghost of a smile tugging up Talon’s lips, but it was gone a second later so I could’ve imagined the whole thing.
Hayden dropped to the floor and began banging out push-ups as I waited for the heat rising up my neck to simmer. Turning my body to face the glass wall of our enclosure, I stared at the empty cell across from us. I wished I had neighbors to watch, at least. It had only been a day since I woke up in this cell, and I was already losing my mind with boredom.
My orange jumpsuit stuck to my skin, chafing my flesh. I casually sniffed the air and frowned. I hadn’t showered in days. I needed that and a change of clothes badly. “So now what? Why do they wake us up so freakin’ early if there’s nothing to do?”
“Oh, there’s plenty for us to do, one thirty-
eight.” Talon stalked by and I was shocked he’d actually spoken to me, even though he never quite looked me in the eye. And what was with my new nickname?
A minute later, a guard showed up on the other side of the glass. He flashed his palm across the biometric scanner I’d seen all around the property and the invisible door slid open. “Let’s go inmates.”
Talon barreled by me, practically knocking me on my butt. My hand shot out just in time to skim the wall and stay upright. Jerk.
“There you are, Actaeon.” Talon was eye to eye with the C.O., his reptilian irises shifting into thin slits.
Note to self, all the guards seemed to be dragons, which made sense since the prison was nestled within the soaring peaks of Draeko. I also noticed a silver bracelet across this correction officer’s wrist which I hadn’t seen on the others. Interesting…
“What do you want now, Talon?”
My dragon bunkie ticked his head at me, a scowl marring his stupidly gorgeous face. “There’s been a mistake. This demon doesn’t belong in here with us.”
Actaeon’s bushy brows scrunched together as he eyed me. “She’s the new one, right? The one that came in the other day?”
“Yup.” I marched toward the two men hoping to finally get some answers. “And she has a name and can speak just fine for herself.”
Talon rolled his eyes so hard I thought they’d disappear into the back of his head forever. “I can’t be in the same cell as her, Actaeon. Tell the new warden, do something. Anything.”
The crease between the dragon C.O.’s eyes deepened as he glanced from me to Talon and back. “What’s got your panties in a wad, Talon? She doesn’t seem like the worst cellmate to me. She’s prettier to look at than the angel.”
Hayden shot him the finger before continuing with his push-ups one handed now.
“It’s personal. Can you just see what you can do?”
The big dragon nodded. “The new warden’s settling in. I’ll let him know when I get a chance. Now let’s get moving. You’re going to be late for your shift.”