Savage Fate (Den of Shadows #5)

Chapter 35

Chapter

Thirty-Five

An unconscious Reese bound and gagged in the back of Fane’s SUV had adrenaline pumping through my veins. This was the first time we’d gotten the upper hand on The Collective.

But how would we use her to get to Barric?

Don’t you mean to get to me?

Images of the Infernal Sol flashed through my mind, and I had to choke back the urge to slap Reese awake and demand she tell me where it was.

Fane leaned against the bumper and crossed his arms. “Reese contacted Marissa, wanting her to join them.”

“And Marissa just gave up her mother?” Saint’s brows furrowed. “She betrayed her for us?”

Fane nodded. “While I was meeting with a demon friend, Marissa called and gave me their meetup location.”

I scoffed. “And you trusted her? What if it had been a trap?”

He shot me an incredulous expression. “I was careful. Plus, I knew she was telling the truth. Marissa is finished with her mother, and she wants no part of a shifter-killing cult.”

Then her endgame was to get into Fane’s good graces so he’d consider taking her back. That had to be it. Marissa always had ulterior motives.

Saint studied the unconscious woman. “What do you plan to do with her?”

“Torture her for information, of course,” Fane said with a sinister tilt to his lips. “Do you have a place we can do that?”

Saint jerked his thumb toward the left. “There’s a shed near the back of our territory.”

Fane grabbed Reese and hoisted her over his shoulder like she weighed no more than ten pounds. “Lead the way.” His gaze lowered to mine. “Maybe you should get a little more rest while we?—”

I lifted my hand to cut him off. “If anyone is going to be doing any torture, it’s me.”

His lips pursed. “That’s not necessary. I know how to make people talk.”

A dark laugh burst out of me. “You don’t remember our time in Heldrok, but when I wasn’t being tortured, I was the one doing the torture. Every damn day. I’m a master at it.”

“Really?” Fane didn’t seem convinced.

I patted Reese’s back. “Let’s get my newest victim in a chair and prepare her for the worst night of her life.”

Blood trickled down Reese’s nose, and sweat dampened her skin as she struggled against the binds trapping her in the chair. I’d been torturing her for an hour, and all she did was spew insults.

I picked up a small serrated knife and twirled it in my hand as I circled her, searching for a spot to cut a few more slashes. The coppery tang of her blood overpowered the loamy scent of soil in the garden shed. Sweat and a twinge of fear mixed in, creating a delicious combination that had my body humming.

Was it wrong that I enjoyed this?

In Heldrok, Venna had me torturing a lot of nightworlders who didn’t deserve it, but Reese was a piece of work. The pain in her green eyes was a little sweeter because of her resemblance to her daughter. If only I could freely torture Marissa.

“Tell me where Barric is.” I sliced a cut along the top of her shoulder, blood immediately pooling down her arm to stain her green shirt. “He won’t save you if that’s what you’re hoping.”

Fane leaned against the back wall near a collection of hanging garden tools, a stern expression on his face, but the occasional flicker of pleasure through the bond told me he enjoyed watching me explore my dark side. It was a totally different experience without the Infernal Sol. I wasn’t in danger of losing my grip on reality or my control.

Saint, on the other hand, hadn’t anticipated how dark I could be. He was probably thanking his lucky stars I was already mated to someone else so he didn’t have to be with my twisted ass.

Reese snapped her jaws. “I don’t need Barric to save me. I’ll get out of this all on my own.” She spit a glob of blood close to my boots. “I can’t wait until he tears you apart, you filthy piece of trash.”

Fane pushed off the wall, but I lifted my hand to stop him. “It’s sweet that you want to defend my honor, but I got this, Maverick.”

Reese peered beyond me at Saint as he sat on the edge of a wooded table with a few plastic pots of soil. “Just because you’re a born wolf doesn’t mean you’re clean either, Saint Grimstone.” Her laughter was hoarse from all her screaming. “Your bitten trash mother barely escaped The Collective’s grasp before. She won’t be so lucky next time.”

A wave of fury erupted around Saint, and he bolted off the table, rushing toward Reese with extended claws going straight for her throat.

“Whoa!” I snatched his wrist moments before his claws punctured her neck. “We’re torturing. Not killing.”

His nostrils flared, and gold extinguished the silver of his irises. “Threaten my mother again, and I’ll make you wish Tate let me tear your throat out right now in a quick death.”

I pressed my hand against his firm chest to force him back. “No one’s going to hurt Enid, okay?”

He showed his palms as his claws retracted. “I’m cool. I won’t move again.”

“How much you want to bet he moves again?”

I shot Fane a glare as I returned to Reese. “Don’t act like you wouldn’t have done the same if she’d threatened your mom.” They were both mama’s boys.

“Aw, how cute.” Reese laughed. “You and your fated mate are getting closer. How does that make you feel, Fane? You made Tate into a shifter, and it’s still not enough to keep her. They all realize the true monster behind that allure and run for the hills.”

My own rage bubbled up, and I gripped her chin with one hand while I held my finger over her eye, my black talon slowly extending. “I want answers, Reese, and if you don’t give them to me, I’ll pluck this eye out.” I leaned forward, a devious smile curving my lips. “Out of Fane and me, I’m the real monster. You should know that by now.”

Tremors raced through her as my talon touched her eyelashes, and she flinched, expecting pain to erupt any moment.

“I can’t wait until Barric rids this world of all you bitten stains.” Her nostrils flared. “Every shifter line will be returned to purity, and Barric will lead us into a new era.”

“And how exactly will he do that?” I asked, a cold chill rippling down my spine. There was something off about Reese. She’d always been a bitch, but manic energy pulsated from her now.

She licked her lips, keeping her eyes tightly closed. “The Collective Hunt will clean the filth, and we’ll rejoice when all of you take your last breaths and begin to rot in the ground.” A wild laugh burst out of her. “Worms and bugs and critters will feast on you until you’re a festering pile of sludge. The earth will take the rest of you, and then you’ll be no more. Nevermore and nothing. And only the purest of us will remain to thrive and overtake the realm.”

My gaze met Fane’s across the shed, and we understood each other without saying a word, audibly or silently. Reese sounded like me when I was lost to the Infernal Sol’s influence. The amulet wasn’t on her, but it affected her nonetheless.

It had to be influencing the other members, too, at least the ones in Barric’s close company. Why else would they don cloaks and masks and spew demon tongues while performing demonic rituals?

I removed my talon from her eye and pressed all of them into her throat. “What is Barric doing with the amulet? How is he attempting to use it?” The two members who abducted Hailey and me had mentioned that Barric was planning something extreme.

Reese opened her eyes, the madness in them hauntingly familiar. “The amulet is pleased with our sacrifices. And we have many more to come. The stars will fall in line, and we will watch our enemies burn on a pile of bones.”

I swallowed around the knot in my throat. This didn’t sound good.

My talons dug deeper into Reese’s throat, breaking skin. “Tell me what Barric is planning and?—”

“Barric wanted me to pass along a message.” The ominous smile twisting her lips sent ice through my bloodstream. “To his daughter.”

Saint cursed, and his boots hit the ground. “You’re his daughter?”

“Told you he’d move,” Fane muttered.

Damn it. I’d completely forgotten Saint had no idea.

Hot fury turned the edges of my vision red. Hearing her refer to me as that asshole’s daughter had ignited a cloud of rage. “Unless it’s to tell me where he is so I can kill him, I don’t care what he has to say.”

“Oh, but this is really important.” Reese let out a sharp laugh. And then her arm swung from behind her, free of the restraints, and she sank a knife into my gut, right in the center of the sun tattoo.

My knees hit the ground as pain exploded through my torso, and a scream burst out of my mouth.

“Tate!” Fane’s arms wrapped around me, and Saint hurried to my front, yanking the dagger out, blood spurting across his shirt and the ground.

And then the visions hit me, a flurry of flashes slamming into my skull. I grabbed my head and sobbed at the images of shifters they hunted down and tortured before slaughtering.

“More dead bodies are out there!” I cried out. “One by one, they fell, and the members surrounded them.”

Their laughter filled my ears, mixing with Reese’s, and my stomach heaved as I was forced to endure their torture and eventual murder. The members strapped them to tables like the one in my visions, the Infernal Sol dangling around Barric’s neck.

“He uses the power in the Infernal Sol to lure them in.” Somehow, he made the shifters believe a friend was calling out to them, and they followed in a trance until the cloaked members stepped out of the shadows. “It stops them from shifting.”

Fane placed his hands over mine, groaning as he tried to take all my pain. “Saint, heal her!”

Just before Saint laid his hand on my chest, a wave of intense agony hit me, and I started convulsing. My arms and legs flailed wildly, and cries tore from my mouth. I had no control over my movements, and it felt like something was inside of me, trying to rip me open to get out.

“Hold her down!” Fane’s rough command echoed over my shrieks, and two pairs of strong hands grabbed my limbs.

“It’s going to be okay, Tate.” The demon shifter’s voice swirled into my mind, attempting to calm the panic drowning me. “I’m here. I’m not going to let anything hurt you.”

“I can’t stop it.” I gritted my teeth. “What’s happening to me?”

Since the two shifters had my limbs pinned down, my head was the only thing free to move, so it started slamming against the wooden planks.

Fane cursed and slid his hand beneath my head to stop me from cracking my skull open, but bursts of pain radiated through the sun tattoo on my abdomen.

What had Reese done? What kind of knife did she have?

A flood of anger rushed through my veins. Had this all been a trick? Did she let Fane capture her on purpose?

If Marissa was in on this, I was going to torture her until she was a mess of fear and terror. And then I’d rip her throat out.

Warmth suddenly seeped over me, soothing the raging storm within, and Saint’s face hovered over mine, strained and damp with sweat. His luminescent eyes drew me away from the anger and torment.

“That’s it, fiera mika.” Fane was at my side, calling me out of the fog. “Come back to me.”

The tremors faded, and I melted into the floor, my muscles liquifying. I’d be sore as hell tomorrow.

“There you are.” Fane brushed his fingers through my hair, his concern throbbing through our bond. “You really like to scare the shit out of me, don’t you?”

I gave a barely noticeable shrug. “Well, I’ve got to keep you on your toes, Maverick.”

“I think she’s going to be okay.” Saint dragged the back of his hand across his mouth to wipe blood off it.

My blood.

“Did you heal the stab wound?” My stomach grew queasy. “Did you lick it?”

“Yep.”

A low growl vibrated Fane’s chest. “It had to be done. Trust me, it wasn’t fun to watch.”

My head angled back to find Reese slumped over in the chair, unconscious. “Who knocked her out?”

“That would be me.” Saint jammed his fingers through his tousled hair. “We need to put her somewhere secure to continue this interrogation. She obviously wanted to be found and brought here to Tate.”

“And I fell for her trap.” Rage pulsated from Fane as he reached behind him and grabbed the dagger she’d stabbed me with. His pupils thinned to diamonds. “This is definitely a demon dagger. Dark power hums within it.”

Oh, great. The psycho bitch stabbed me with a magic dagger. That never ended well.

“What do you think that knife did to me?” Giving me seizures wasn’t all it had done. We’d be stupid to believe that.

“I don’t know.” Fane studied the knife and ran his fingers over the symbols carved into the bloody blade. “Maybe Logan and Wrath will have some insight.”

Saint sat back on his haunches, taking a heaving breath. “So, you’re Barric’s daughter.”

My lips thinned. “Yeah. Long story.”

“He killed Tamara because she protected you, right?”

I gave a curt nod. “He killed his own mate and would have killed me if she hadn’t sent me away and?—”

A wave of heat descended over me, and I arched away from the ground, moaning. The sun tattoo glowed bloodred.

There was no pain this time. Only longing.

Hunger. Need. Craving.

For the Infernal Sol.

That’s right, my little vessel. Come to me, and I’ll make you all better.