She picked up the phone and held it to her ear. I watched as disappointment slowly crept across her face. “There’s no beep. The line isn’t working.” She placed the phone back on its holder and rubbed her fingers together, frowning at the dust. “It hasn’t worked in a while.”
“Fuck. I should have never let you come in here." I took her by the hand and pulled her back into the living room. "Come on, we're leaving."
I stopped in my tracks, growling at the way the old man had gotten out of his chair and was now standing in the doorway. This time, he didn’t have the gun. He didn’t need it.
He’d shifted into his devil form, confirming my suspicions.
“Where are you going, Kinsman?”the devil rumbled in the Old Tongue.“Not running away with your offering, I hope.”
I shifted, holding my claws up threateningly.“You have one chance to step aside, old man, before I tear you to pieces.”
“Old man?”He laughed, the gravelly sound making Lore scooch in closer to me.“Do you not recognize me, Titus? What has the Leeds family come to where we don’t recognize our own family?”
“There are hundreds of us!” I snarled in English. There was no reason to keep this conversation from Lore. “How the fuck should I know what some seventh cousin, or whatever the fuck you are, looks like? I hate this family. You all can go burn in Hell for all I care.”
“Ungrateful half-blood bastard. I remember telling your father that if he had any sense, he’d sacrifice you with your mother. He always thought you’d take his place as the Keeper one day. But look at you. Helping a human escape. Your mother’s blood makes you weak.”
“We’ll see who the weak one is.”
I lurched forward, claws ready to slash his throat.
He danced out of the way, more nimble than I’d expected. Shit. This was going to be a pain in the ass. Devils weren’t like humans. They only got stronger with age.
And this asshole wasold.
Chapter Thirteen
Lore
Asthetwodevilswent at each other's throats, destroying the room in the process, my mind was flying a million miles an hour trying to figure out what I should do. WhatcouldI do?
My attention immediately went to the shotgun the old man had propped against the door.
I took a moment to tamp down my nerves before flinging myself into the room. I was so close…My arm stretched out, my fingertips brushing the barrel.
“Lore!” Titus’s booming voice screamed at me in warning. I jerked my gaze to see Titus running for me, but it was too late. The older devil was closer, and his reach was longer.
He grabbed my arm just as I took hold of the gun and wrenched it out of my grip, then spun me around to face Titus with the gun pointed at my cheek.
“It will be sad for our Elder One to be cheated out of his offering. But I think you are the more precious treasure, Kinsman. So I will blow her brains out if you don’t do exactly as I say.”
Titus’s eyes widened as he tracked the movement of what I presumed was the gun. An emotion I’d never seen him wear spread across his face.
Fear.
The last thing I heard was Titus screaming my name before there was a sharp crack over the back of my skull, then darkness swallowed me.
When I came to, I was in a dark room that smelled of mold, and something worse. Maybe rat shit? A moment later, I registered the firm muscle beneath me. Titus was holding me.
“How’s your head?” he murmured softly.
I reached to feel the back of my skull, my fingers lightly probing the spot where I’d been struck with the butt of the shotgun. “Tender. But I’m okay, I think.” I looked around, blinking through the darkness. “Where are we?”
Titus refused to look at me, his glower glued to the bars over the only window in the place. “The old man’s cellar,” Titus revealed through clenched teeth, but only after making me wait for an awkward beat before answering. “Or should I say,‘Uncle Pete’s’cellar.”
A million things I wanted to say burned at the back of my throat, but all I could push out was a weak-ass, “I’m sorry.”
“I know.” He sighed, his cadence softening. “It’s okay.”
