Morgan thought that was a good sign. Well, mostly good.
When she and Jace re-entered the great room, the wolves were still lined up on the left, and the vamps were glaring on the right. The vamps seemed a bit cockier now, probably because they were gaining strength from the setting sun.
Two of the wolves held the now conscious demon. The guy’s face was broken and bloody, so it looked like the wolves had been enjoying some play time. Louis raised a brow. “All better now?”
Jace growled at him.
But, actually, yes, she was better. One hundred percent better. Power seemed to pulse in her veins. If this rush would come to her each time that she and Jace exchanged blood, then she’d make sure they exchanged every day for the rest of her life. Since she planned to spend all of her days and nights with him, an exchange wouldn’t be a hardship at all.
Her blood would enable him to live longer. Human mates who sipped from their vampire lovers could stay young and strong as long as they had that blood supply. She’d make sure Jace fed well and often.
“You’re feeding a dog?” The demon spat blood on the ground at Jace’s feet. “Vampire, don’t you know better than to—”
Jace lunged and grabbed the demon around his throat. “I’m going to slice you open.”
The demon just laughed. “I’ve been in hell, asshole. You can’t do anything to me that hasn’t already been done.”
And Morgan hesitated. The demon had a point.
“We’ll see.” Jace didn’t seem worried. “Once I slice off your hands and crack open your rib cage, we’ll find out if you feel like talking then.”
But the demon shook his head. “Been there, done that. Why do you think we’re all coming out? This world…” His red eyes flew around the room. “It’s life. We’re coming, and we’re taking it over, and you can’t stop us.”
“We’ll shut your damn door,” Jace promised, “and you’ll stay in your cage.”
More laughter. “Not if you can’t find it.”
“You’ll talk,” Jace promised. Then he glanced back at Morgan. “You don’t…want to see this.” But she read his eyes and understood. Don’t watch me do this. He would torture. He would push and push and push…because he wanted to save her. Save his people.
But sometimes, there was just too much darkness, too much of a price, to be paid for some actions.
“There’s another way.” A better way because her gut told her that the demon wasn’t bullshitting. He wouldn’t break. What can we do that hell hasn’t done?
Jace stilled.
Morgan spared a swift glance for the vampires. Men. Women. Their gazes were determined, their bodies tense. They understood what she meant. They were ready. She licked her lips and offered, “We can drink from him.”
The demon’s bellow shook the mansion, and she knew that they had the bastard. You won’t talk. Fine. “We don’t need you to talk,” she said as she crept closer to him.
“We just need you to bleed.”
Time to sample the demon’s memories.
Jace blocked her path. “This is a shitty plan.”
She smiled at him. “It’s a plan that will work. You know we pull memories with the bite.”
“Yeah, but just what else will happen when you bite him? You ever had demon blood?”
No. “Never had the pleasure,” she said and saw the demon tense.
“It could be poison. It could fry you from the inside out. It could—”
“I’d never had werewolf blood until I tasted you.”
That stopped him. Only for a moment. “Yeah, princess, but we all know that once you go wolf, you don’t go back.”
And there, when she shouldn’t have, when it was the wrong time and the wrong place, she laughed.
Jace froze. Then he squeezed his eyes shut. “Don’t do that.”
“Do what?” What was her wolf talking about now?
His eyes opened and a muscle flexed along his jaw. “You aren’t tasting him.” He pointed to the vamps behind them. “One of those assholes can do it. They can all do it. But not you.”
He pulled her close. “I don’t want you having memories of hell.”
He still didn’t get it. “I don’t need you to protect me.” She motioned to the vampires. They lined up. All of them ready.
“Because they’ve got your back?” Anger roughed his voice.
“No, because I’m a fucking vampire princess.” She bared her fangs. “And I’m riding high on my wolf’s blood.” Time for ass kicking. She pushed past Jace and grabbed the demon, wrenching him away from the wolves. “Remember me? I’m the vamp bitch who broke your neck.”
His red eyes bulged as she promised, “I’m also the one who’s going to drain you dry.”
Louis snapped his fingers together. “Now I know who she reminds me of…” His gaze flew to Jace. “You.”
Jace snarled.
“Come ahead, bitch,” the demon dared. “You think you’re strong? My blood will burn you from the inside out.”
“Promises, promises,” she whispered and moved as fast as Jace had, a blur. She grabbed the demon’s head and yanked it back. “Bleed for me.”
She sank her teeth into him.
His blood filled her mouth. Warm. Not burning. But bitter. So bitter. She drank and took the memories. Fire. Hell. Screams that never ended.
“Morgan.” Jace’s hands settled on her back.
She kept drinking.
A white light entered hell. Small. Such a narrow opening. A man’s voice called. Chanting. Serving up blood sacrifices. Trading lives because he wanted power.
“Stop!” The demon bellowed.
She drank more.
More.
The doorway opened. She saw the bastard who’d unlocked that door. Fucking asshole. Betrayal.
The door opened in her mind, and fire raced out, burning, burning…
Morgan jerked away, screaming, as smoke rose from her mouth.
The demon laughed. “Told you, b-bitch…you’ll burn…”
She could feel the blisters in her throat. But…but she was already healing. Jace’s blood.
She blew the smoke into the demon’s face. “Time for you to go back home.”
He flinched.
“Tell me you know where the doorway is,” Jace growled the words behind her. She held the demon’s red stare a moment longer, long enough to see the fear flare in his eyes, then she faced Jace. “I know.” But first she had another matter to take care of. A little matter of a blood betrayal.
“Good.” Jace pulled her away. “Then it’s time to kill the bastard.”
The demon screamed in fury and surged against the wolves who’d grabbed him. Morgan slipped back a few steps. She caught Paul’s stare and inclined her head toward the door.
The demon’s screams rose.
She swallowed back the taste of ash. “Where’s Devon?” She whispered to Paul. Betrayal. She should have seen this coming. He’d always been such a power hungry asshole.
He hadn’t been testing her with that fire. He’d wanted to kill her. So she wouldn’t find out what he’d done.
You nearly killed us all.
Paul’s eyes narrowed. “What did you see?”
“Devon killing humans.” Not just killing. Torturing. Sacrificing. “He’s the one who opened the doorway.” It made sense, but she’d been too blind to see it before. Devon was over five hundred years old. He would know all the ancient legends and spells. He would know how to raise demons, how to open a doorway.
And to get power, he’d done it.
Only the demons he’d let out hadn’t exactly been keen on obeying him. You can’t cage some beasts.
“Bastard.” Paul’s hands fisted. The demon wasn’t screaming anymore. Out of time. “I haven’t seen him since the wolves came inside.”
“Because he’s running.” Dammit. “This is our mess to clean up.” Not for the wolves. Vampire business. “Get the others. Hunt him.” The order she’d never thought to
give came from her as Morgan said, “Kill him.”
Paul nodded. He always followed her orders. Always.
Morgan rushed away from him, already heading to the winding tunnels that led beneath the house. Before she faced hell, she’d take care of her own nightmare. And she’d take full control of her vampire nest.
Morgan raced down the stairs. The others would come soon, spreading out. Searching. Rage fueled her blood. So many vampires had died at the hands of the demons. The demons hunted in heavy packs. Swooping in, preying when the vamps were weak— ripping us apart.
They’d tried to stop them for months. And Devon, he’d been the asshole to bring those monsters into the world.
She twisted to the left. Snaked down the tunnel to the right. The scent of blood hit her. Fresh blood.
Dammit, what had he done now?
A heavy metal door waited in front of her, open by a few precious inches. Open just enough to let the scent of blood spill out.
“Devon!” She called out as she shoved at the door. “What are you—”
Inside, a pool of blood soaked the floor. And in the middle of that pool…the broken body of the werewolf who’d attacked Jace at Howling Moon.
Footsteps thudded behind her. “Morgan!”
Jace’s rumbling voice. She swallowed and glanced around the room. Blood-stained footprints led to the left, to an escape tunnel. One that opened in the heart of the swamp.
“Fuck!” Jace’s shoulders brushed hers.
Paul came in behind him and scanned the room. Disgust tightened his face. “Looks like Devon was still experimenting.”
Right below them. Right damn below them. The other Council members had forbidden his work long ago. But the bastard must have liked his blood and pain too much. Jace’s nostrils flared. “He fucking slaughtered a wolf.” And that’s what it was—a slaughter. The wolf’s flesh was a pale white, and Morgan knew that Devon had drained Mike’s blood. A fresh kill. While they’d been upstairs, this wolf had been dying. Jace’s dark eyes locked on her.
She swallowed back the bile that rose in her throat. “ Jace, I-I didn’t know.” Like that would make it better. She should have known. Her nest. Her responsibility. It was all… on me.
“Look, I was coming to kill Devon, okay? He’s the one who opened the doorway for the demons. When I drank that demon’s blood, I saw him!”
Jace stared at the footprints, following them with his eyes. His shoulders were tense, and she could nearly feel the fury roiling from him. “The vampires summoned the demons.”
Jace’s claws burst out. “The vampires have been capturing wolves…what other little secrets haven’t you told me, mate? ”
Oh, this wasn’t going to be good.
“Jace, let me explain, I—”
“Too late.” He grabbed her and put his claws at her throat. “Too late, princess. ”
Morgan knew she was staring at death.
“I want every single one of you bloodsucking assholes to get in that cage.” His head jerked toward the left. Toward the heavily barred cell that Devon had used to house vampire prisoners over the years.
Those bars were reinforced. Able to hold demons, wolves, and, yes, even vamps. We won’t be able to get out.
“Move,” he ordered, “or I slice open her throat.”
Her blood chilled at that threat.
Paul raised his chin. “You wouldn’t.”
Jace held her gaze. His stare seemed so cold. So…empty. Would he? “Get in the cell, Paul,” she told him quietly.
Jace’s jaw tensed.
Footsteps shuffled and snarls filled the air as the vamps went into their prison.
“They’re in!” Louis called out.
Jace didn’t let her go. “What are you going to do?” She asked. “I’m the one who knows where the doorway is. You need me to—”
“Devon knows where the doorway is. I bet that bastard is running there right now. How did you put it? High on wolf blood. He’ll think he’s fucking invincible, and he’ll go back.”
Maybe. Maybe not.
“Either way, I’ve got his scent.” Jace brought his head close to hers and those wicked claws didn’t move from her flesh. “I’m going to track him down and rip him apart.”
Because Devon had killed a wolf.
“He risked you. Tried to kill you.” His claws fell away. “The vamp will burn by dawn.”
Wha—
Jace lifted her up, moved too fast—damn him—and put her in the cell. Then he swung the door shut and locked her inside.
She grabbed the bars. “You can’t leave us like this.”
His brows rose. “Watch me.” He paused, staring down at Mike’s lifeless form. “Take care of him,” he ordered two of his men, and they immediately bent to pick up the body. Then Jace followed the bloody trail of footprints.
“Jace! Dammit, I wasn’t going to betray you.”
He didn’t stop, but she caught his growled, “I know.”
What? “Then why are you doing this? Why?”
One-by-one, the wolves exited the containment area. Jace was the last to leave. His broad shoulders scraped the arching sides of the doorway. “I’ll be back, Morgan.”
Her breath heaved in her chest.
“We’re not ending.” He spared her a glittering stare. “I’m not risking you, and I’m damn sure not taking the chance that the fire will get to you.”
“Jace—”
But he was gone, and Morgan was trapped with an angry cell of vampires. Her knuckles whitened around the bars. Alpha asshole. He thought he could go out and take all the risks? While she what—stayed there and worried about him?
She wasn’t the kind of girl who stayed behind. Mostly because she wasn’t a girl.
“I knew he wouldn’t hurt you.” Paul’s cocky voice.
She’d known it, too. His claws had trembled and never so much as nicked her flesh.
“We really going to let those wolves get all the glory?” He continued. “Because I’ve been wanting to give Devon a beating since I turned.”
She pulled at the bars. Yes, they’d been reinforced, and normally, she’d never be able to break them.
High on wolf blood.
The bars began to bend.
“Don’t worry,” she told Paul and the others. “Jace isn’t getting away from me.” And he sure wasn’t going into hell without her being there to pull her wolf right back out of the fire.
Chapter Seven
Jace and his pack chased Devon into the center of the Glades. The vamp had escaped by car, but instead of going back into the city, the guy had headed down the long, winding roads that led deeper into the growing darkness.
When the road ended, they found his car. Lights on. Doors open. Jace stared out at the night. The insects had stopped chirping when the wolves approached. They knew when danger stalked.
He inhaled, catching all the scents. Those that belonged, those that didn’t. Blood. Brimstone.
Fuck.
“Your vamp’s gonna be real pissed at you once she gets out of that cage,” Louis warned him.
Tell me something I don’t know. But better her alive and pissed than dead and burned to ash.
He caught the whisper of sound in the air. His head tilted back as he stared at the rising moon. He could see the shapes before the blood moon. So many. Too many.
Outnumbered. The demons were coming.
“Shift!” They’d have to change quickly. “Take their heads—take out as many of them as you can.”
Then he leapt forward. The demons were coming because they were close to the doorway. Fuck that. Jace was slamming that door. Devon had run right back to this hole, and now Jace would kill him and stop the demons.
Endgame.
He shoved through the brush as the howls behind him filled the night.
***
Morgan had seen the doorway, the great gaping hole in the middle of the blackened earth. Devon had opened the door to hell—opened it on vampire land, and
she hadn’t even realized it.
The vamps spread out when they arrived at the battle. The snarls and growls of the wolves blended with the vicious cries of the demons. Blood bathed the ground.
“Don’t get any of their blood in you,” she warned, still tasting ash. “And make sure you cover the wolves.”
Because the dead were already on the ground, and she didn’t want to lose anyone else. Demons flew from the air at her. “Go!” She shouted to the vampires. She lifted her gun. The vamps had taken the time to load up before they’d gone hunting. She aimed. Fired. The closest demon hit the ground. A wolf jumped on him and bit into his neck.More shots fired. The vamps knew what to do. Take the demons down. Make them weak. Let the wolves finish the kill.
She fired as she ran through the heaving bodies. No sense calling for Jace. She didn’t see him there. Didn’t see Devon either.
The twist in her gut told her where she’d find them both.
Deeper, deeper into the dark she went.
Her enhanced vision allowed her to see easily as she leapt over fallen trees and darted into the thick brush.
The crackle and hiss of fire reached her ears. So close.
The grass disappeared. The ground hardened beneath her feet.
Then she saw the broken skeletons. The remains of the sacrifices. So many. Far more than she’d ever imagined. Hundreds of skulls and spines. Broken bones tossed aside like garbage. She stared at the stark white graveyard as rage filled her. Devon.
She leapt over the bones. There— there. A sunken, sloping entrance on the ground. Smoke trickled from the thick hole and…she could hear the faintest echo of screams emanating from within the pit.
“You always did let emotion rule you,” came Devon’s voice from the darkness. Morgan spun around, and took a few quick steps away from the pit. “You did this.”
He shrugged.
“They’ve been attacking us, Devon! Killing us! You were the Council leader, you had—”
“Fuck the Council.” He smiled, showing off his bloody fangs. “And fuck you.”
Her hands fisted.
“Vampires were always so busy hiding. Oh, no, mustn’t let the humans know we’re here.” He smirked at her. “Wrong. It’s time for them to know. Time for us to show the humans that their only purpose is to feed us. They’re prey. We’re fucking gods.”