Chapter 32
“About fucking time,” Aiden shouted as we emerged from the labyrinth.
He was wearing a pair of jeans with no shirt and looked too good to be true.
I giggled when Dorian flipped him off and then yipped when Aiden appeared beside us and tugged me out of Dorian’s grip. “My turn,” he barked at the wolf.
Dorian didn’t fight him and instead let the jealous fae pull me over toward one of the empty lounge chairs that had been arranged on a patio made of pavers.
Blaise and Roman were already there, the former dressed in all black again and standing in the shade under the tree with his arms crossed.
I still saw a hint of red in his eyes, but the moment my gaze found his, he quickly looked away.
Roman had dressed more formally than the others but still wore jeans and a dark blue button-down. The man could make anything look sexy.
The patio area sat under a giant live oak and butted up against a memorial garden. Many of the elevated stones looked old, like really old. But along the first row closest to the tree was a modern tombstone with a single red rose lying across the top.
My heart seized so furiously that I leaned against Aiden to help keep me standing.
Tears welled in my eyes, and I looked over toward Roman who was sitting in one of the chairs and watching me with his darkened stare.
Covering my mouth to hold in the sobs, I pulled away from Aiden’s grip and walked toward the fresh grave.
Well, I assumed there wasn’t an actual body under the ground considering the high water table in New Orleans, but something of Pasha’s was buried here in remembrance.
Dropping to my knees, I sat next to the stone, fully feeling all the men watching me closely.
I rested my hand on the stunning piece of granite etched with just his first name and sent my apologies into the afternoon sky.
“I am so sorry, Pasha. You deserved so much better,” I whispered to the man who had been an important part of this family.
“He is at peace,” Roman said, kneeling beside me. “His soul didn’t linger too long. Meaning he didn’t feel the need to hang on to the past.”
I wiped at my eyes, surprised by how low I felt compared to just a few minutes ago with Dorian. “How do you know?”
“Because I couldn’t sense him anymore,” Aiden answered as he wrapped his arm around my shoulder.
“You can see ghosts?”
He shrugged. “Not really. It’s more of a feeling. Like I can sense the other realm without really being able to interact with it.”
“Oh,” I whispered, looking back at the grave.
“We would have lost Pasha someday, Katarina,” Roman started. “It may have been sooner than I wanted, but he was a human and humans are fragile.”
“You loved him,” I stated as I reached for Roman’s hand.
He squeezed and bobbed his chin. “I did. Very much.”
That confession caused my tears to flow again.
For several minutes, I cried. I sobbed for Pasha’s short life, and I cried in anger at Murielle for using him to get to me.
Those fucking witches had plagued my life for far too long, and I was tired of letting them dictate my future.
“What are we going to do about Murielle?” I finally asked Roman when I got myself under control.
He helped me up off the ground and let Aiden pull me over to the lounge chair that apparently belonged to the fae.
Before answering, Roman walked to a small table near the tree trunk set up with a bottle of liquor and several crystal glasses.
“Before we talk strategy, how about a toast to our friend, Pasha.”
I couldn’t stop the tears again. Even as Roman poured and Blaise passed around the glasses filled with a small amount of the amber liquid, I wept.
Aiden rubbed my arms, having pulled me down between his legs so I could lean against his chest. I supposed the men were used to losing people.
They’d lived too long not to have experienced great loss.
But not me. Not since my mother. And not since Alex, the boy I killed after having sex with him.
Those were in my past. Pasha’s death was too recent for me to push away.
Once we all had our glasses, Roman raised his into the air. “To a wonderful man who will live in our hearts forever. To Pasha.”
“To Pasha,” we all said together.
I smiled at the stone and swallowed the scotch, doing my best not to cough.
Man, it was strong. Like the real stuff only rich people could buy.
Dorian smiled at me when he saw me struggling.
Aiden let out a whistle as he made a show of swallowing the alcohol.
Blaise took his shot and had zero emotion on his face.
“Now,” Roman started, pouring himself another drink. “We need to talk.”
Aiden’s phone rang, a version of The Lovecats by The Cure overpowering Roman’s voice.
Pushing me forward, Aiden reached into his back pocket, gave me a wink when I smiled at the song, and muted his phone.
He stared at the screen for a moment but ultimately set it on the ground when Roman gave him a glare.
“Murielle and her coven are making moves against us,” Roman started.
“No shit, Sherlock,” Dorian groaned.
Roman continued without acknowledging Dorian’s attitude. “Someone is working with her, and I think…” he swallowed his alcohol and squeezed his eyes shut. “I think it may be Sorinah.”
“Who’s Sorinah?” I asked when no one said a word.
“She’s a very ancient vampire,” Blaise responded coolly.
“And she’s Roman’s sire,” Aiden added.
“Oh.” I only knew what I knew about vampires from stories told to me by the coven witches and of course from books and movies.
“Why?” Blaise pondered, pushing off the tree and walking closer to all of us. “What could she possibly want from us?”
I swallowed hard. “Me?”
Four pairs of eyes darted my way, and I suddenly felt very small and fragile. “While I was kidnapped, I had a visit from…well, from my grandmother.”
“Your grandmother?” Roman asked, his voice measured as though he already knew something.
“Yes. I think. Looking at the men, I bit my bottom lip and decided it was best to blurt it all out at once. “She is a demon. A succubus.”
The tension around us spun up into a tight web that made it hard to breathe.
There were looks passing between everyone but me, and I couldn’t tell if the lack of response was good or bad.
So, me being me, I decided to continue running my mouth.
“Apparently my dad was a cambion, her son. And my mom was a witch. A…” I snapped my fingers together trying to remember what she called her. “A Void.”
“Holy fuck,” Blaise griped.
I spun around to look at Aiden, whose jaw now hung open while he studied me. “What?” I asked him, getting annoyed.
“Kitty Cat, are you telling us you have magic from both demon and witch-born lines?”
Shrugging, I pulled my cardigan tighter as the cold tone of his question lifted the hairs on the back of my neck in warning. “I think I used it to help me escape.”
“Shit,” Aiden finally muttered. “Roman, is this why they sent her to us?”
Roman shook his head and poured himself another drink. “I wouldn’t be surprised if that was part of it, but I can’t shake the feeling that there is more. Especially if Sorinah chose to side with them—”
“The dead witches,” Dorian interrupted. “You think Sorinah was the one that wiped their minds so they couldn’t tell you anything?”
“Dead witches?” I whispered, being ignored by the men.
“What a fucking traitor.” Aiden looked up at Roman. “Why would she turn against you?”
“I haven’t figured that part out yet. But I do know that Murielle wouldn’t have been able to pull this off on her own. If they have Sorinah, then she can get them the powerful people needed to manage the human laws.”
Dorian’s phone buzzed loudly, and he sighed as he silenced it without even looking at the screen. Blaise got another drink and stood beside Roman. “Something doesn’t feel right.”
I looked up at his eyes, still showing a ring of red around the pupils.
Did the others see that too? Blaise, once again, diverted his gaze when he caught me staring.
A rush of dread danced in my stomach. I hoped Blaise wouldn’t hate me forever after sharing that very intimate moment with all of us this morning.
“What’s a Void?” Dorian asked Roman, again silencing his vibrating phone.
Tired of being left out, I decided to answer the best I could. “They can mute magic.”
Aiden wiggled behind me and repositioned himself so he could see me more clearly. “So let me get this straight…you are a sex demon who can also damper magic from others?”
“Yes?” I said. “But only a part of me.”
“I’m afraid that’s not true, Kitty Cat,” Dorian chimed in. “Sounds like you’re only a quarter human.”
“Which actually makes sense,” Roman mused. When everyone looked up at him expectantly, he continued. “Haven’t you all felt different since we’ve fucked her?”
Well, he could have put it more delicately. I narrowed my eyes at the blunt vampire while he completely ignored me.
“Her magic helps sedate ours. Suppresses it so that we aren’t fighting with the beasts and the darkness inside.” Roman looked over at Blaise. “It’s doing something to you too.”
“What do you mean?”
“Uh, your fucking red eyes, dude.” Dorian jumped to his feet. I kept watching Blaise who seemed to be embarrassed when Dorian called attention to him. “Maybe she’s actually pulling the beast out of the half-breed.”
“Enough!” Blaise roared.
Roman placed a hand on the big man’s shoulder. “We will have to do some more research on that—”
The Cure played again on Aiden’s phone. “What?” he shouted at everyone. “I’m a busy man!” This time when Aiden looked at the screen, he sucked in a breath. Roman watched him closely as he gently slid off the chair and lifted his leg over my head so he could stand. “I need to take this.”
“By all means,” Dorian grumbled, promptly replacing him and sitting down next to me. I smiled lovingly at my wolf man.
Aiden had walked into the labyrinth, but we could still hear his very heated conversation. Lots of shouting and swearing.
Roman cleared his throat. “About Katarina.”
“Yes?” I asked.
“She was sent to us on purpose. But I think it was as a distraction.”
Great. Little ol’ me gets to play the bait in a much larger game of cat and mouse. How the hell did I keep getting mixed up in the supernatural world? Oh…right. I guess I was one of them now.
“What’s their next move?” Dorian asked Roman, but it was Blaise that answered.
“They will keep picking away at our defenses to weaken us.”
“But what do they want?” I probed. “Your power? Your city? I mean, that seems like a bit of a cliché.”
“Power is what lets us live freely in the modern world,” Roman answered calmly. “Without it, we are exposed.”
No one said anything while Aiden continued to shout at the person on his call. Finally, Dorian pointed at Blaise and cocked an attitude. “While if the witches have commandeered an ancient vampire to tip the scales, then we need a fucking dragon on our side. No one would dare challenge us then.”
A deep-throated growl emanated from Blaise’s chest. “Don’t fucking taunt me, wolf.”
“I’m not! Have you looked in the mirror today? Your beast is closer to the surface than I’ve seen in the last seven decades!”
“You know I can’t shift!”
The air around us crackled with tension and anger. I felt for the man…always stuck between two worlds and never knowing what it was like to be free of the torture and pain. Dorian opened his mouth to argue, but Aiden stomped out of the bushes and roared.
“I need to get to the house. My accounts have been frozen and—”
“Which ones?” Roman asked, concern etched on his face and fingers clenched by his sides.
“Apparently, fucking all of them! My accountant is freaking out and I need to log in and check…” His voice trailed off as he let out a sigh. “Fuck.”
Reaching up to squeeze his hand, I did my best to give him encouragement. “I’m sure it’s just a glitch. It happens all the time.”
“Thanks,” he muttered, bending forward to kiss me. As he stood, he pushed his fine blond hair out of his face and shook his head. “I’ll catch up with you all in a little bit.”
As Roman nodded his approval, the air pressure shifted around us and Aiden teleported back to the main house. Dorian huffed a laugh a second before his phone buzzed again.
“For fuck’s sake,” Blaise grumbled. “Answer it or silence it completely.”
With a glare, Dorian made a show of turning off his phone, fingers moving dramatically slow just for Blaise.
The half-breed rubbed his face and set down his glass. I didn’t miss the tremble in his hands. “So what do we do now, Roman?”
The vampire studied his oldest friend while he thought. “Dorian and I are going to go check on Aiden’s situation. Why don’t you and Katarina wait here and talk for a little while.”
“Talk?” I asked, quickly embarrassed by how my voice squeaked.
“Blaise has some experience working with demons. I’d like you to tell him everything you learned from your grandmother so we can figure out how this new information can help us.”
“Okay,” I whispered. I was suddenly very nervous to be alone with Blaise. He didn’t look thrilled to hear Roman’s orders either.
But we had no choice, and as I watched Roman and Dorian walk away, Blaise’s dark presence loomed behind me. He started collecting the glasses, taking two more shots and handing one to me. I stood, slowly walking toward him and accepted the drink.
“Thanks,” I muttered.
He just huffed and stood with his back to me for several seconds. Finally, he turned to face me, the red in his eyes almost glowing. “Okay, Katarina. Tell me more about your demon side.”