Chapter 14 #3
He tilted his head, almost as if he were curious. “Few can bring themselves out of a nightmare.”
I lunged faster than he’d expected, my hand wrapped around his throat.
He felt wrong, like something half-solid. I tightened my grip and let my fatal venom flow into him anyway.
Toxic venom poured from my palms into his body, lighting him up from the inside. He writhed, drude magic flickering as his clawed hands grabbed at my wrist to pry me off.
Dark green spiderwebbed through his veins before the nightmare shattered into nothing.
I jolted awake.
My heart hammered against my ribs, and sweat chilled my skin.
Drecken’s magic was already circling me, warm and protective, forming a protection ward around the bed. “We need fae magic to banish the drude,” he said automatically, eyes sharp, scanning my aura.
“No need,” I panted, trying to catch my breath. “I just killed him.”
“That’s my girl. Good job, venom baby.” Slater’s red eyes scanned me, his demonic form out. His tail flicked behind him.
Snakey manifested, and his tongue licked my cheek before demanifesting.
“That’s my pretty little poison,” Zuko spoke, pressing a kiss to my cheek.
“Thank Fates,” Koa murmured, blue flames licking softly along my spine where his hand rested. “He won’t come near you again.”
“I’ll look for reports,” Jesper said, already shifting into agent mode. “Any families who suddenly lost a drude in their sleep. Someone’s going to wake up missing a monster.”
Drecken breathed out a sigh of relief. “Demonic magic isn’t easy for warlocks to manipulate when it’s not directly affecting them, but it doesn’t matter now if he’s dead.”
Dimitri cupped my jaw, thumb brushing my bottom lip. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
I nodded. My pulse finally slowed. “I promise. I’m fine now. I killed him.”
The door to my room cracked open, and all of us looked toward it. It was locked, and the only ones able to get in were already in this room with me.
A blur moved across the threshold, fast and silent.
Dimitri’s hand shot out, fingers locking around a wrist just before a syringe touched my skin.
Vel.
Her smoky lavender eyes went wide as she realized I was not alone in the bed. All six of my mates were there, awake, and not at all amused.
She was much faster than a succubus should’ve been.
“This isn’t what it looks like,” she said weakly.
“So, you’re not trying to take my blood?” I asked, faking a sweet tone like she often did.
Her mouth opened and closed.
Drecken snapped his fingers.
Clothes slapped back onto our bodies in a rush of magic as my room vanished.
We reappeared in my mother’s office at HQ a second later.
Mom was at her desk, and her head lifted. Her green eyes were sunken with exhaustion; her hair slightly mussed.
The calm in her gaze sharpened when she saw Vel, Dimitri still gripping her wrist.
“What happened?” she asked.
“She’s working with the humans,” Drecken said flatly. “And she just tried to take Rune’s blood.”
Dimitri’s hand tightened. A bone in Vel’s wrist popped.
She hissed, the syringe clattering to the floor as she dropped it.
Mom rose slowly, heels clicking on the floor as she came around the desk.
She took Vel’s face in one hand, fingers digging into her cheeks, forcing her to look up as Dimitri let go and stepped back. “Velestra Marrowyn,” my mother stated her name coldly. “House Head of the year-one agents-in-training. A succubus that we believed to be trustworthy.”
Vel’s throat bobbed.
“Dimitri,” Mom said without looking away from Vel. “Compel her. I want everything she knows.”
“I could make her tell the truth, too,” Zuko muttered.
I squeezed his hand, and he looked at me with adoration.
Dimitri moved in front of Vel, red eyes glowing bright.
Vel squeezed her eyes shut.
Drecken snapped his fingers, and Vel’s eyes flew open, held there by his magic. “Don’t even try to avoid this.”
“Tell us everything you know about the humans,” Dimitri ordered.
Vel’s fangs sliced into her bottom lip as she tried to fight it, but his compulsion was absolute.
The words tumbled out. “Allison and her father took me in,” she gasped.
“After I was attacked by supernaturals. They nursed me back to health. They even did their surgery on me to give me vampire essence. I can use vampiric speed now. It’s life-changing. I owe them everything!”
“Where are they now?” Dimitri asked.
“I don’t know,” she hissed. “Allison never told me where she was hiding. She said if I were to be caught, I couldn’t expose them. Their mission mattered more than me.”
Mom’s eyes narrowed. “You served as a spy for this Council for two decades. Seduction, infiltration, eliminating high-profile threats. You retired after a mission. I assume that was the mission where they ‘saved’ you.”
Vel glared at her, eyes flashing. “You were just going to leave me to die!”
“We came back for you,” Mom snapped. “Your squad died trying to reach you in time. It was the humans who slaughtered them!”
Disbelief flickered across Vel’s features, but Dimitri’s compulsion wouldn’t let her cling to that memory for long.
“Is that all you know?” he pressed. “About the humans. About Rune’s DNA.”
Vel’s shoulders slumped. “They don’t have her DNA anymore.
They need it again. That’s their top priority.
They couldn’t replicate it. They only had enough from the initial blood taken while she was captive.
They injected it into humans, but they all died.
They wanted to try to inject it into other supernaturals they’ve kidnapped to test it.
That’s all I know.” Her gaze flicked up to Mom, full of fear.
“We never betrayed you,” Mom whispered, hand tightening on Vel’s cheeks. “You betrayed us. You betrayed our people. You betrayed my daughter.”
Her venom seeped into Vel’s skin, fast and abrupt.
Vel’s healthy flush drained in seconds, complexion turning yellow, then ashy gray. Fine cracks appeared along her jaw, running down her throat, and spiderwebbing over her exposed skin.
Vel gasped, and her legs buckled.
Mom let go and stepped back.
Vel’s body crumbled from the inside out. Her flesh collapsed into gray dust, bones hollowing and falling apart.
Within seconds, all that remained was a pile of ash on the office floor.
The door opened, and my dads stepped in.
“Velestra?” Dad asked, brow furrowing. “What—”
“She tried to take Rune’s blood,” Mom said without flinching. “And she was working with the humans.”
Pops cursed under his breath. “Are you fucking serious?”
“Never expected her to be a traitor.” Dad’s jaw locked, then he sniffed the air.
Pops followed his lead.
Their eyes slid from the pile of ash to me and to the line of my mates behind me.
Their nostrils flared.
“Really?” Dad said, eyes narrowing.
“You came here right after something like that? You smell like sex and magic,” Pops growled.
Heat rushed to my face. I gave them a sheepish smile. “Sorry, Dad, Pops.”
“They’re mated,” Mom reminded them.
Drecken rolled his eyes. “Well, now that the succubus has been caught, we’re going back to bed.” He snapped his fingers.
We were back in my room in an instant, all of us reappearing in the same sprawl on the bed, naked, as if nothing had happened.
Except, everything had happened.
Sleep didn’t come back to me.
Instead, I lay there surrounded by my mates, staring at the ceiling, listening to the soft murmur of voices as we talked quietly about the humans, Allison, Vel, the kidnappings, and the drude I’d killed.
The impending threat felt closer than ever, but so did the warmth of my mates.