Chapter 31
The tracking spell leads us to a townhouse—three stories tall, with a white facade and black-framed windows and door.
As soon as we arrive, Elly cloaks our magical signatures and presence, then casts wards around the house.
Dark magical vines burrow into the bricks, vanishing from sight within seconds.
She turns her gaze to me, and I remain silent beside her.
Frowning, I shove my hands into my pockets. “This is the family house. It has been for generations.”
Elly looks from me to the house. “Well, this is going to be interesting, then.” Her hand gently touches my arm as she fights to contain her anger, knowing this situation weighs heavily on me as well.
I look up at the house, realizing this may be the end of the line for the family. No retirement. Depending on how it plays out, possibly not even a grave. I’ve struggled to make up my mind about them, but it seems the decision has been made for me.
I lace my fingers with Elly’s, and our rings touch, causing a small spark of magic to sizzle between us. We step up to the front door, steady and sure. With a flicker of my magic, the lock clicks open, allowing us entry.
“Who’s there?” Thomas appears from the living room. Panic crosses his face when he sees us in the hallway. “Lord Deimos, what brings you here?”
“He should be inside,” Elly says, ignoring Thomas as she confirms with the tracking spell in the palm of her hand.
“It seems, Thomas”—I take a step closer, and he falls back, fear evident on his face—“you have a guest I’d love to chat with. Point us in the right direction, and I might reconsider how this will end for you.”
“I… don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Wrong answer.
I only have to look at Elly, and she’s on him.
Vines burst from the floor, wrapping around him, pulling until his knees crash down on the tile.
Pain surges visibly through Thomas, but Elly’s not finished.
In her hand, she holds a seed the color of dried blood.
I raise an eyebrow at the chimera magic emanating from it.
“Just something I’ve been wanting to try,” she tells me with a secretive smile, stepping closer to Thomas and forcing him to swallow it.
I decide not to question her and turn my attention back to the head of the family. “Let’s try this again.” I grab Thomas by the collar, making the vines constrict painfully. “Where is he?”
“I swear, I don’t know who you’re talking about.”
Lies. I can practically smell them, feeding my anger.
Elly sweeps her magic around the ground floor, turning the place upside down but returning empty.
She steps farther into the hallway, ready to send her magic to the first floor.
Before she can, my own magic senses something that makes my anger rise even more.
I let go of Thomas and stand beside Elly.
“Upstairs,” I tell her, and she nods. Another vine springs up, burrowing inside Thomas’s mouth, effectively gagging him. She checks the bindings to ensure they’ll hold, then follows me upstairs.
We stand before the door to the primary bedroom, soft feminine moans filtering through the wood. Needing to release some of this rapidly building anger, I kick down the door before it clouds my judgment.
Isabella yelps, scrambling to cover herself with something—anything.
The red-haired inhuman woman between her legs shows no such compunction.
She slowly raises herself, her naked body barely obscured by long red hair.
Scales cover most of her arms, legs, sides, and parts of her back, shimmering in the light as she pulls on her dress. Her smile doesn’t falter for a second.
Elly doesn’t hesitate. She throws her magic at the inhuman, swift and efficient, stringing her up before she knows what’s happening. Small thorns dig into the red-haired woman’s skin, deep enough to hurt but not deep enough to bleed. At least, not yet.
Isabella screams and scurries aside, trying to escape the bedroom, but I block her path. She flinches away from me, trips over the sheet wrapped around her body, and falls down. Looking up at me, she can see the disgust on my face and wisely remains seated against the wall.
“Where is he?” Elly snarls as she steps closer to her prisoner.
“Who?”
“Your rapist piece-of-shit brother.”
The inhuman’s eyes widen, then she laughs. “Not here right now, pet. It’s just me. But tell me”—she bites her lip, pissing Elly off even more—“did you enjoy it?”
Elly growls at the words, the thorns on the netting growing until they puncture skin. The woman laughs as they cut deep lines into her flesh, exposing bone.
It’s too late when I realize what’s happening.
The thorns run so deep they scratch her bones, and I pull Elly away just as the inhuman’s magic lashes out.
It breaks through Elly’s netting and catches her by surprise.
She raises her arms to protect herself, her magic kicking in a fraction of a second too late.
Multiple bone shards bury themselves in her skin, marking her.
Elly falls back into my arms but quickly regains her footing. “You bitch,” she snarls, her eyes spitting fire.
Her magic molds into razor-sharp ice-blue claws extending from her fingers.
Without hesitation, she lunges forward. Right when she’s about to cut into the inhuman, Isabella is yanked up from the floor and used as a human shield.
Unable to stop, Elly’s claws slice through Isabella’s upper chest and neck, deep enough that I’m surprised her head doesn’t fall off.
Blood sprays over Elly, and with that vicious snarl on her lips, she’s a sight to behold.
Isabella’s hands clutch at the wounds, trying to stop the bleeding. She’s still being held while her lover-turned-captor looks around the room to assess her options. The red-haired woman curses, pushing Isabella away.
Elly curses when Isabella topples and falls against her.
With a curse, I jump forward. I have to ignore my instinct to help Elly and go for the red-haired woman, who’s pulverizing the balcony doors with her magic.
Magic shoots out toward her—both mine and Elly’s—but she’s outside before either can reach her. She jumps down, and a moment later, a scream echoes.
It takes another second for me to reach the balcony.
I look down and see William on his knees on the front porch.
He’s just arrived—talk about wrong place, wrong time.
The First Son presses his hands against his face, blood gushing from a deep cut.
The woman is already gone, her magic lingering in the air around William.
I prepare to jump off the balcony, but Elly is faster.
She rushes past me, jumps off the balcony, and uses her magic to break her fall by briefly creating a pair of translucent ice-blue wings.
She hurries to William, the wings evaporating in the air, her hands working to expand the wards.
We need just one human to see William in a rapidly growing pool of his own blood, and we’ll have a problem.
I turn away from the balcony to head back inside, finding Isabella on her side on the carpet, most of her blood absorbed by the plush rug. Leaning in, I check for a pulse and find none.
Not much of a loss there.
I walk out, down the stairs, and into the hallway where Thomas is still tied up.
Right, I forgot about him.
My magic touches the vines, pleasantly surprised they listen to me. How considerate of my wife. The gag slithers out of Thomas’s mouth and wraps around his neck instead.
“Isabella is dead,” I inform him before he can utter a word. “William might soon follow.”
“Please,” Thomas whimpers, “not my son.”
I scoff at him, noting his utter lack of concern for his wife.
The front door opens, and Elly enters, dragging William in behind her. “I don’t know what she did.” Elly huffs, unceremoniously dropping the First Son on the carpet in the hallway. “My magic isn’t strong enough to heal him. I was only able to slow down the bleeding.”
Genuine concern laces her voice; she doesn’t want William to die. I’d rather see him live, too, especially since I believe he’s innocent.
“Tell me, Thomas,” I begin, refocusing on the pathetic excuse of a man in front of me. “What are you up to?”
He looks at me in disbelief for a moment. “Lord Deimos, please, my son.”
I tut, cutting him off, and crouch in front of him. “The sooner you talk, the sooner I’ll consider helping him.”
“I can’t,” he cries. “It will ruin us.”
“I’ll ruin you if you don’t,” I snarl, baring my teeth.
He’s taken aback, and I don’t understand why he’s surprised. Every time someone has put a toe out of line, they’ve lost at least that toe. Did he think things would be different now?
It takes a few seconds, but then the head of the family seems to come to that exact realization. “We…” he finally starts, gulping. “The family has been trying to escape your grasp for generations.”
And there we have it.
“Since when? I need a timeline here,” I urge.
“Since—” Thomas winces as the vine around his neck tightens. “Since Isaac.”
“Hmm.” I tap my chin, thinking. “Isaac was late seventeen hundreds, if I remember correctly. No.” I look at Thomas’s whimpering form when it hits me, the timelines suddenly adding up.
“Isaac was head of the family when she…” I glance at Elly over my shoulder.
She returns my look, knowing what I’m about to say. “That was when she went missing.”
How I want to destroy him. Rip him apart with my bare hands.
I was furious when Elly went missing and did everything I could to find her, but the restrictions of my prison made it nearly impossible.
Then the First Son came to me, informing me that he had reasons to believe Isaac—his father—had been disloyal.
I had Alix torture Isaac until he finally confessed to bringing Elly’s husband into contact with someone willing to kill her—that someone apparently being Nagamaru.
So naturally, in retaliation, I killed everyone but the First Son. Looks like that didn’t go over well.