His voice caused a new wave of fear to course through my body. “You dare harm my grandson?”
Forty-Seven
BRETT WRIGHT
It washard to see the man from my position on the table, but there was no mistaking his words.
In contrast, I could tell the vampire was saying something, but his high-pitched keening made it impossible for me to decipher his meaning. Either that, or the agony of my body was obliterating nearly everything else from my senses.
Another torrent of flames and anything the king had been trying to say was cut off. Permanently.
The giant came closer, and then, placing one foot on the wraparound bench and the other on the surface of the table, he bent down and lifted me from the spike. Things went blurry from the pain, and darkness threatened to overtake me. Just before I succumbed, I was free, and he laid me back on the surface of the table.
He looked over his shoulder. “Vampire. Come.”
A form came and stood beside the man. Without any further instructions, the vampire raised a thin arm over my body. Nails sliced into flesh, and blood poured into my wound.
Immediately, the pain stopped. A warming sensation coursed through me, and I could feel broken ribs healing, pierced organs reknitting, and lastly, my skin growing back together.
The man’s deep voice cut through the silence again. “There you are, my boy. You’re demon enough that the damage wouldn’t have been permanent, but the parasite’s blood sped it up a bit.”
Gingerly, I pushed myself up to a sitting position and looked the man full in the face. He was the most gorgeous man I’d ever seen. It was a tie actually. Demon beauty. He was equal to the one I’d met in the cave outside San Diego.
I’d known the Cathedral had been demon-made.
Staring at him, his words came back to me, and as they did, an image played at the corner of my memory. The photo of Jessica, my mother. Her beautiful face. Long black hair and tan skin. So different from my own light complexion. “You’re my grandfather.” It wasn’t a question, just a confirmation of his earlier statement. The evidence was obvious.
He nodded, and I searched his eyes, looking for something. Something I’d never seen in my own grandfather’s expression.
Black eyes stared back at me.
Right. Demon. No love there.
Another thought shoved past the rest. “You’re the one who raped my grandmother.”
He didn’t so much as shrug, only turned his attention to the one beside him. “You will take the king’s place. If you were willing to attempt to overthrow his reign, you are the right one to sit on his throne.”
I followed his gaze. “Sonia.” I couldn’t believe my eyes.
She didn’t look at me. She gazed up at the demon. At my grandfather. Her small frame was rigid in defiance, even as the wounds at her throat continued to heal. “No. I will not replace Gwala. I have no desire to reign on his throne. I did not help destroy him only to take his place.”
A deep, slow laugh emanated from the demon. “I was not asking.”
As she stared at him, a different expression crossed her face. A mix of anguish and desperation. I saw Sonia again. Not the vampire queen, just Sonia. My heart broke.
“Give her freedom. Please. You owe me that much.”
He turned toward me, anger flickering in his otherwise dead eyes. “I owe you nothing. I ended the fool Gwala because he dared harm my blood. Do not mistake my protection for anything other than it is. A vampire may not be able to end your existence, but I can.”
I struck the entitlement from my voice. “Please. Give Sonia her freedom. She risked her life to protect me. To protect your blood.”
Another laugh. “You are a fool. My offspring, but a fool. Anything she may have done was for her own benefit. Not yours.”
Sonia spoke up, sidestepping our conversation. “I am not prepared to rule in the king’s stead. I am both a new vampire and new to the Cathedral. I know nothing about ruling over vampires.”
The demon leaned down, his massive form dwarfing her as he met her eyes. “I could not care less about the rule of vampires. Do what you will with them. This cathedral was set in place by demons, and your kind are nothing more than servants, meant to do our bidding.”
“How?” Sonia’s voice was so quiet I could barely hear it.
