Chapter 3
Tobias
The door at Diabolus Loco, a popular nightclub in Brooklyn, was usually guarded by Timothy O’Brien.
The six-foot-ten-inch orange-bearded Irish vampire had been Tobias’ second-in-command since he’d taken the throne.
With his menacing expressions, towering height, and sculpted arms covered in tattoos, O’Brien not only weeded out the riffraff, but kept his finger on the pulse in the Undead community.
Tonight, six-foot-tall dark-skinned vampire, Derek Turner, stood out front. Though less than a year Undead, Derek was shaping up to be one hell of an enforcer. Nevertheless, his duties did not usually involve door security.
Tobias’ brows drew down hard. Few things would make O’Brien leave his post without alerting him. However, if anything untoward had occurred, it was unlikely Derek would be standing there so casually.
Casting out his senses, and drawing on the links to all the vampires he’d sworn to protect, he ascertained there was no sign of trouble or injury.
“Mr. Martelli.” Derek gave Tobias a respectful nod.
“Anything going on that we should know about?”
Derek grinned. It was a slow development that encompassed all the darkest parts of Undead society.
This vampire always seemed to have an innate grasp on each situation as soon as it arose, rendering him more valuable than far older members of the Kiss.
Right now, that smile provided Tobias with greater information than anything he could have said.
Something had happened for sure, but at this moment, he had no cause for concern.
“O’Brien is downstairs.”
Tobias nodded. “Thanks.”
“This night grows more intriguing by the minute,” Rion remarked.
Vampire king, demon prince, angel, and mortal servant strode through the thrumming strip club, toward the private dance rooms. Their status preceded them, and the people parted to let them through. At the booking desk they headed left, down a grand staircase to the underground palace below.
“It’s awfully quiet,” Will said as they walked.
His words rang true. Tobias had never encountered such silence, even before he took the throne.
“This way.” Suddenly, Rion branched off down a side passage.
Though Tobias arched a brow, he didn’t question it. As an empath, Rion could hone in on emotions in the blink of an eye. What the hell is he latching onto right now?
One of the rooms in the palace was an enormous chamber, which the previous king had used as a throne room. Tobias couldn’t be bothered with preening himself in front of his subjects. The throne had sat unused ever since. These days, it was only used as a storage room.
Rion gestured toward the ornate double doors leading to the room and nodded. As if their presence had been announced, one of the doors cracked open, and O’Brien slipped out.
“You’re not going to believe what’s waiting for you in there,” he said.
With eyes narrowed and both lips pressed into a thin line, Tobias threw open both doors and marched inside.
In the center of the room, thirty-or-so vampires huddled together in a tight group. Forming a circle about five-feet back from the prisoners, sat three rows of hellhounds. It had to be at least half the pack. Nearby, Lemures, the hound king, sat at attention, the epitome of royalty.
Upon seeing Tobias, he gave three short staccato barks.
The hounds were extremely intelligent and had their own intricate language.
He wished he understood the announcement, because it was an honor to be addressed by Lemures in this way.
He rarely spoke directly to those who were not his kind, and when he did, it was always Rion.
“Most intriguing,” Rion murmured, as he, Will, and Christo joined Tobias in the room.
Tobias watched Rion stoop to one knee. Lemures trotted over. When the hound reached him, it bowed before him and emitted another series of barks.
“Do you speak hound?” Christo asked in a low voice.
“Regrettably, I do not.” Rion sighed.
“I can’t speak it, but I do understand it,” said Will. All eyes turned to him.
“Really?” Tobias prompted, wondering why the angel had never mentioned it before.
“Of course. As a Guardian, I can understand any language. The hounds are not dogs, and they’re much more than sentient beings. Why do you think I refer to them as Einstein puppies? They’re smarter than most humans.”
“Jones! Stop rambling and interpret.” Tobias demanded, a little louder than he’d intended.
“Stregone?” Came a female voice from the center of the vampire cluster.
Tobias spun around. His eyes scanned the faces of vampires, until his attention fell upon a tall curvaceous female with short black hair and skin a decadent shade of dark brown.
Her dark jeans and fitted plum-colored top hugged her body in all the right ways.
A body Tobias had once known intimately.
“Althea Rhodes,” he growled.
She was the only female enforcer he’d ever met, and she was damned good at it.
She insisted that her inner circle also be female.
On average, male vampires made up seventy percent of the Undead population, which was a much more favorable ratio than when Tobias had first turned.
For this reason, most of Althea’s entourage had been sired by her personally.
Althea’s influence had increased since they’d last been in contact. Back when he’d still been under Marquez’s thumb, he’d have easily taken her in a fight. Right now, he could feel her power radiating outward. She’d grown considerably. He had to remind himself she wasn’t the only one.
I’m a king for fuck’s sake. I’m part of an Immortal Trinity, and I have six mortal servants. Okay, one of them was an accident and isn’t even born yet, but nobody else needs to know that.
“You had sex with her.”
The announcement startled Tobias enough that he spun around to face the angel, both brows raised. “What?”
Will’s attention was still on the vampires in the center of the room. “She was one of the females we saw in Hell.” Gaze panning to the right, Will’s brows pressed down a little. “Also, her… And, her. Actually, at least a third of this group.”
“Whatever are you talking about?” Rion asked.
“Yeah, he’s right,” Christo confirmed. “I recognize quite a few of these females from when we were in Florida. How did you know?”
Tobias, still staring at Will, finally found his tongue. “Was it really necessary to bring this up?”
“Why were they in Hell?” Rion asked quietly. “Are they working with a demon?”
“Hard to say at this point,” Will mused, “but that’s not why we saw them. When we were crossing the level of lust, we were ambushed by every female Tobias has ever slept with. It wasn’t real, but we almost fell for it.”
“Every female?” Christo asked in disbelief. “Damn, that must have been like the mosh pit at a rock concert.”
“Two rock concerts, maybe three.” Will nodded.
“Do you fucking mind?” Tobias growled.
“We are straying from the matter at hand,” Rion said in Tobias’ mind.
“No kidding.”
“What’s the plan?” Will asked. “How do you want to proceed?”
“I will speak to Althea alone,” Tobias announced to the vampires.
“Is that wise?” Will hissed.
“What Mr. Martelli means is, he will extract Ms. Rhodes from her entourage and interrogate her in an alternate location, with us present.”
Rion spoke as though he was addressing a child, which was honestly how it felt talking to Will sometimes.
The male possessed an extraordinary amount of power and strength, along with an old-worldly intelligence that usually impressed anyone.
However, he had the maturity of a teenager, which often led to tedious conversation.
Nevertheless, Tobias would end anyone who tried to harm him.
“Let’s make a show of it. Would you mind flashing us to my office? No need for them to know we’re still on site.” Tobias accompanied the telepathic statement with a glance in Rion’s direction. The demon nodded and strode toward the vampires.
The moment they materialized in Tobias’ office, Althea whirled around, trying to make sense of her new surroundings.
“What is this place?” She hissed out the words as she subjected Tobias to a death stare. “Where have you taken me? I come here to warn you, at great risk to myself and those loyal to me, and you treat me like a prisoner?”
“Calm down,” Tobias said gruffly. “We’re in my office; we haven’t even left the building. Sit your ass on the couch and let’s talk.”
Althea scowled, but did as he requested.
“What do you mean you wanted to warn us?” Will asked suspiciously.
She crossed one shapely denim-clad leg over the other and folded both arms. “Marquez wanted to scope out your powerbase and situation, whatever. I volunteered but he decided to send Zafoni. That bastard is a loose cannon. I was worried he’d start a damned war.”
“Too late,” Christo muttered as he plonked down on the couch beside her.
“Too late? Fuck. What happened?” Althea looked from Christo to Tobias.
“How do we know you are not simply performing an act of self-preservation?” Rion cut in.
She wrinkled her nose. “Huh?”
“He means, it’s a little convenient you claim to be here to warn us after you’ve been captured,” Will added, with an arched brow.
“I came straight to the royal palace!” She protested. “We’ve been held in that room for hours.”
“If that is true, she may not know what has transpired,” Rion said in Tobias’ head.
“So, you’re telling me you got here before we took out Zafoni and his wannabes?” Tobias asked.
Althea’s jaw hit the floor. “You did what? Double fuck. Marquez is going to lose his shit. Maybe it’s not too late. Maybe we can fudge the details.”
“Fudge the details? This isn’t a library card application!” Christo shouted.
“Either calm down or go ingest some valium.” Tobias said to him. “Nothing has changed since we left the alley. Althea is offering a new perspective, that’s all.”
“You trust her,” Will observed with interest.
“I do.”
Despite his initial reaction to her presence, Tobias knew Will was right. He did trust Althea; he just hadn’t imagined she’d be on his side after all this time.
“Do you still wish to stand on our side of the line, knowing we have terminated twenty-five vampires from your Kiss?” Rion asked.
Althea sat up a fraction taller, as if it might give her an ounce more conviction in her next statement. “If there’s a way to extract myself from Marquez, hell yes. He’s been a better sire than most, but I’m too old to be kneeling at the feet of a master.”
“Going rogue sounds incredibly foolish at this point.” Rion folded both arms over his chest. “Or did you really expect us to stay idle, whilst you seek refuge in our kingdom?”
Althea growled low in her throat, sounding like a wild animal. “At this point,” she said through gritted teeth, “what choice do I have? Marquez is not merciful.”
Christo snorted. “And, you think Tobias will be?”
“Of course he will,” Will’s lips pulled into a grin. “He’s already trying to figure out how he can add her to the collection.”
“Say what, now?” Althea whirled to stare at Tobias, who really wished that Will would learn when to shut his damned mouth, even if he was right on the money.
“I can’t have you skulking around my kingdom as a rogue. What message would that send to the Undead in my domain?”
“Fine. I’ll go somewhere else.”
Tobias scratched an eyebrow and forced an air of nonchalance. “How are you going to stay off the radar? You have thirty vampires in your care.”
“Thirty-three.” Althea growled again. “Well if you won’t offer sanctuary, and you won’t let us leave, what exactly are you proposing? The True-Death? That’s some reward for loyalty.”
“Oath her. All of this is for naught if you do not.” Rion said telepathically.
“I am capable of rational thought all by myself. I don’t need you pointing out the obvious.” After throwing Rion an exasperated look, Tobias cleared his throat and addressed the female.
“Would you stop jumping to conclusions? I can offer protection if you join us. Oath yourself, and your minions, to me.”
Althea laughed. So hard, in fact, that she almost fell off the couch.
“I find these dramatics most irritating,” said Rion. “Our success does not hinge on her participation. If she is unwilling to take this matter seriously, we are wasting our time.”
Tobias agreed, but he hated to see someone he respected pay the price for trying to help him.
“Look…” Will held up both hands as if to silence her. “Maybe you don’t realize what you’re signing up for.”
“Tobias has accumulated a lot of resources since we last saw you,” Christo jumped in unexpectedly.
“He’s taken on more than just the throne, okay?
He’s got the Immortal Trinity with these two,” he gestured to Rion and Will.
“Believe me when I tell you, they’re way more powerful than they appear.
Plus, he’s got six mortal servants and a guardian angel. ”
With a snort, Althea reclined back against the couch and crossed one denim-covered leg over the other. “Now you’re just being ridiculous. You almost had me; right up until that last part.”
“I’m one of the servants.”
Althea’s gaze narrowed. “You swore you would never…”
“Things change,” Tobias said gruffly. “If we can prove everything we’ve said, will you do this? Let us help you.”
Huffing out a sigh, she shrugged. “Fine, whatever. Knock yourself out.”