She swore she saw a vision of herself in his lap, his hand down her pants. A memory from earlier that had her face hot enough to melt clean off. “Um, right. We’ll be back.”
Once outside the archives room, she pulled Macy close but kept her voice down. Sound traveled underground.
“What the hell did Sabine do to him? He’s forgetting details and was stabbed with a brimstone dagger. I wonder if it was the same one she used on Sean.”
“Your mom’s a real piece of work,” Macy growled. “She put not onlyherlife in danger butyourstoo. All those magir dead, and the ones that escaped are going to blame you.”
“I hadn’t thought of that when I released their chains.” Kaia bit her lip. “Where do we go from here?”
“Tell me everything that happened from leaving the house to now. Your side of the story.”
Kaia recounted her timeline, ending with Macy and her stepping outside to talk.
“Sabine is powerful, but not this powerful. Obviously she used Orion’s bloode to bind him, but in conjunction with brimstone and a ceremonial dagger, I’d say she’s planning to offer him to Pazuzu. Unless she moved onto a better demon?” Macy shook her head. “Let me research this. In the meantime, do your best to stay close to the vryko. He’s not acting right, and I’m afraid something bad might happen to him if he’s anywhere around his own kind.”
“You don’t trust your clan?” Weren’t they Macy’s new family?
“I do, but I don’t. I know it sounds confusing. Look, I’m going to get help. We’ll keep this quiet though. Duncan would be torn if I asked him to keep this to himself, so I’ll only tell him if I absolutely have to. The less vampires who know about this, the better.”
Kaia swallowed. “You really think Orion’s patriarch will kill him?”
Macy lowered her voice. “I do. The Bloode Stones are a secret, Kaia. He never should have told you about them. Which makes me fear that he maybe told your mom about them. And who the hell knows what she’d do with that kind of information? But her trying to bespell one of the Night Bloode? She had to know who he was. Your mom knows all the big players in town, and Orion’s a big one.”
“Crap.” Kaia ran her hands through her hair, wanting to pull it out. No, wanting to pullher mom’shair out. “I ruined her spell, Macy. She wasn’t happy when I ruined her plans to kill Sean. What if she’s trying to kill Orion in the same way?”
“But vampires don’t have souls.” Macy frowned. “Or do they? In any case, I’m on this. I want you to take Orion and go somewhere far away from here while I work on finding a way to separate you. I’ll take a little more bloode before I go though. And Kaia, be very careful about how much intimacy you allow between you. He’s not himself at the moment.”
“Oh my gosh, Macy. He’s clearly bewitched. I would never take advantage of anyone not in their right mind.”
“You misunderstand. Your mother used your face to entice him. You were already his type before her magic zapped him. I’m just worried about all his mate talk.”
“Me too.” Though it was nice to be so adored, none of Orion’s feelings were real. “I’ll take care of him.”
“I know you will. Just make sure to take care of yourself too.” She pulled a wad of cash and a prepaid credit card out of her bag. “Take this emergency money and disappear. I don’t want to hear from or see you untilIcallyou.” She also handed Kaia an older flip phone. “Don’t judge. It works, and I’m the only number on it.”
Kaia hugged her. “What about Dad?”
“Who do you think I’m going to for help? He sure as heck won’t tell anyone. Between him, Mom, and maybe Cho, we can work on the magic and demon angle of your boy’s condition.” She paused. “No one can know this happened. Ever.”
Kaia nodded. “I swear.”
“Hopefully not on your life.”
CHAPTEREIGHT
Sabine felt a rush of nerves as her lover rose from bed. She was sweaty yet energized by her tumble with Pazuzu. In his natural form, he looked monstrous. But then, in her natural form, so did she. The cartoon about a certain sea witch and some pasty little mermaid wanting legs was more spot-on than most would think.
She watched Paz strut around the room. He made a handsome human, she had to give him that. In this form, he had a blood-red mane of long hair framing a hard face that was model perfect, even his straight, sharp, white teeth. His pitch-black skin looked more like a dark elf’s than a man’s, but the dual set of leather wings on his back in addition to the talons at the base of his legs and scorpion tail were nearly as impressive as his long, serpentine dick. Talk about magical.
Smoke escaped his mouth when he spoke, his voice a blend of sinister and tonal perfection. “I cannot give you what you want without more of this one’s bloode.” He swallowed a goblet of Orion’s essence and sighed. “His power is exceptional, though the flavor of his bloode feels like yours.”
“It should. I cast that spell you gave me using the athame. A sea witch possession, of sorts.” She grinned. “You’re rubbing off on me in all the best ways.”
Paz chuckled, and the room buckled. She loved that about him, that he destroyed so casually. She flicked a finger and reset the wards his amusement had torn through. Though she wouldn’t have minded if half the assholes at the magic convention died, she didn’t want to think of how poorly she’d be treated if the blame fell on her.
Sabine made a living off trading favors and making illicit deals. She’d come to the conference more to network than learn anything she didn’t already know. Hell, she’d forgotten more about magic in the past three hundred years than most of these pathetic magir might learn in decades.
“Are you certain you will meet your end of the bargain this time?” Paz asked as he settled back on the bed and brought her to sit on his lap.
