Chapter 3
Kriss entered the apartment he shared with Tabatha and locked the door behind him. He’d searched high and low for Dean and hadn’t found a trace of him or the demon he’d been chasing.
One thing about their kind, if they wanted to hide, they knew how to vanish and leave no traces of where they were. He’d been able to sense the demon everywhere though he never saw it. It wasn’t until it was freed that he’d realized he had always been able to sense its presence. He could still feel the malicious intent of that dark personality even inside his home… it didn’t settle well in the pit of his stomach.
Walking through the dark apartment, Kriss made his way back to Tabatha’s bedroom and smiled at the innocent visage asleep in the bed. She was curled up like a kitten around her favorite stuffed animal… a Yorkie dog with its tongue sticking out. The stuffed animal was the only remnant of her childhood she had left. A few years ago, she’d finally broken down and told him the story of Scrappy and how the dog had vanished when she went on vacation the last time with her parents.
Kriss sighed and lay down in bed beside her, curling around her like a security blanket. No sooner had he done so, Tabatha snuggled back against him.
“Did you find Dean?” she asked softly.
*****
Kane had managed to slip away; glad Warren had taken Michael’s attention long enough for him to do so. Whatever Michael and Dean had done to fix what Misery did to him had given him the mother of all adrenalin rushes. He was antsy now and he wasn’t going to work it off sitting in Warren’s office reminiscing about the soul-sucking demon who was sure to give him a few wiggly-boo’s in his nightmares for a while to come.
He glanced up at the overwhelming darkness in the sky and knew the first streaks of dawn weren’t far away. Wanting away from the heart of the city, he moved through the streets so fast that if anyone had been watching, they wouldn’t have noticed him among them. The down side of that was that he was now miles from Michael’s home.
He wanted to see Scrappy and curl up with the dog on the sofa with a nice bottle of wine, a ludicrously sized bowl of popcorn, and… a disaster movie? Kane shook his head… what in the hell was he thinking about? Scrappy would most likely pick the movie, which could or couldn’t be a bad thing at the moment. They both liked the movies where the animals could talk.
Kane slowed down and took in his surroundings when he realized something had drawn him in this direction. At first he thought it was Misery who had drawn him here. He shook his head again and discarded the idea when the image of Tabatha at the church flashed through his mind. He could feel her presence and, for the first time all night, Kane forgot about the monsters fornicating under the bed and humping in the closet.
Tabatha was his soul mate and, now that he’d taken her blood, it only amplified the connection. The only reason he hadn’t noticed it this last week was because the fallen… Kriss... had taken her so far away from him, stingy bastard. He was starting to wonder if he was suffering from separation anxiety.
Moving through this part of town, he found himself at her home within minutes. Landing silently on the roof of a neighbor’s house, he settled down to watch her through the bedroom window. His sharp eyesight took in the way her hair fell across the pillow and how her lips were slightly parted as she breathed deeply. He had never known such peace as he did right now… just watching her sleep.
Kane wondered what he looked like through her eyes. Did he resemble the other monsters she’d encountered or dreamed of? Did she even realize how deep his emotions for her went?
He almost rose from his crouch on the roof, ready to go to her when he heard her cry out in his mind. The sound had come from her dreams but the mental sound made him stop as it reminded him of the way she’d cried out as a child so many years ago. To date, all he’d ever done was cause her pain… cause her to bleed for him.
Kane turned to leave when he saw Tabatha’s bedroom door swing open. His muscles tensed up ready to attack the intruder when he saw the fallen, Kriss, come into Tabatha’s bedroom and crawl into the bed with her. Kane could tell the fallen was upset but he felt the rage well up inside of him when Kriss put his arm around her, holding her close in a very lover-like fashion.
He felt his peace shatter and more anger rush in to fill him up as he watched. Concentrating hard, his enhanced hearing started to pick up their whispered conversation. He frowned for a moment as he realized his power was stronger than before. He was surprised and his frowned deepened when he heard their heartbeats even at this distance.
“Dean doesn’t want me to find him,” Kriss sighed wondering if it was the demon Dean was stalking or if it was the fallen that had been down there with it. He wished Dean had waited. There was something about the aura of the other fallen that Kriss didn’t completely trust. He secretly hoped Dean would fail in his search for either of them.
“I wonder what happened,” Tabby whispered, “From what Envy and Devon said, Dean had been trapped down there most of the day.” She couldn’t help but envision Kane knowing he’d also been down there with the demon and almost not survived it.
“I’ll be sure to ask him as soon as I find him,” Kriss answered unable to keep the worry out of his voice.
“Dean loves you… he won't stay away long.” Tabatha closed her eyes hoping for Kriss’s sake that she was right.
“Sleep now,” Kriss whispered back hoping she was right about Dean returning soon. He hadn’t seen what the other fallen had looked like because he’d been moving too fast, but he’d felt him for a moment before the aura of the demon overpowered it. If just the fleeting feeling was haunting him, then he could imagine what Dean was going through.
The fallen were so rare that it took their breath away when they were anywhere near each other. Most thought they were the fallen angels of legend that had been cast to earth to help protect it… but legends are often only half truths that are molded by the words of men who crave a hero or sometimes an enemy.
The fallen had come to earth from another dimension… same as the demons. The legends called that dimension Heaven but they were wrong.
The myths said they destroy demons… again it was only a half truth. The Bible had said the fallen had mated with the beautiful women of earth and been punished for it… and that was the closest thing to the truth that the prophets had ever gotten.
The reason the remaining fallen kept themselves from mating with the females of earth… was because the product of those matings were the birth of a demons. It was the fallen that created demons.
When the first fallen had appeared, there were many but as the demons were born and began destroying what the fallen loved, they turned on their own children and fought. The numbers on both sides had diminished and the seal between dimensions was slowly closing.
Some of the original fallen had disappeared, thought to have lost their lives to the demons they’d spawned. Most of the survivors chose to go back home so they wouldn’t be tempted by the seduction of the human females. It was those few whom had sent the young warriors back into this world to watch over it… protect the humans from the monsters.
There was only one rule… they could not mate with the females of this world lest they kill them. One child of the true breed had been placed on each energy spot of earth and only a few of them had survived this long. Legends said they were immortal… legends were wrong.
The fallen were not immortal, they only lived for very long periods of time… millenniums would come closer to their lifespan. They could also be killed by human and demon alike… though for a human to succeed would be extremely difficult.
Syn had known the true legends and passed them down to his ‘children’. Remembering those lessons, Kane now understood how much Kriss loved Tabatha… enough not to take her as a mate… and enough not to let someone he thought wasn’t much more than a demon have her. It seemed he wasn’t the only one with dark secrets. The corner of Kane's lips hinted at a knowing smile as he turned and walked away.
*****
Envy and Devon were waiting at the bar when the first people started trickling in for the meeting. She and Kat were busy talking and trying to finish catching up on everything that happened while Devon and Quinn merely stood back and stared at them with a quirked eyebrow.
“What language are they speaking again?” Devon asked.
“There isn’t a name for it,” Quinn stated. “It is a ritual females partake in quite regularly. It starts out innocent then, before we know it, they’re out shopping and we’re stuck outside the changing rooms holding their purses.”
“You’re also stuck holding the bag while she goes inside girly stores and buys lingerie that you’re not allowed to see until your anniversary,” Nick chimed in with a smirk.
Warren clapped his hand on Nick’s shoulder. “Trust me little bro, you’ll happily hold those bags when the time comes.”
A pair of arms wrapped around Warren’s neck from behind and Michael’s face popped in between them. “Does that mean you’re taking me shopping?”
“Of course,” Warren said with a smirk. “I’ll take you to that bondage shop you like so much.”
Michael’s expression became dreamy. “Oh yes, whips, chains, stirrups, riding crops… leather.”
“What the…” Nick suddenly stood up and moved away from them making Devon snort.
“Homophobe,” Devon muttered.
“Shut up!” Nick growled, “They’re either very good liars or it’s disturbingly true.”
The door opened and Steven stepped in with Alicia and Jewel. Alicia had gone through her closet and found a nice purple sundress for Jewel to wear until she could get some more clothes. Luckily, they were roughly the same size and height so Jewel would be able to make due for now. Alicia had also told Steven that until he could get Jewel more clothing, Jewel was welcome to raid her closet as much as she liked.
Steven immediately stepped over to where Quinn and Devon were sitting with Nick at a table directly across from Kat’s bartending area.
“We’re not late I see.” Steven said smiling inwardly when he saw Jewel smile at Alicia. He realized he hadn’t seen her smile until now and he instantly felt a loss when it slid from her lips.
Warren looked around, “Actually I think everyone is here.”
“Not quite,” Envy said. “We’re still waiting on Chad.”
At that exact moment the doors swung open and Chad walked in with Trevor and Zachary behind him.
“What the hell is he doing here?” Devon demanded as he stood up.
“Chad’s a cop,” Envy reminded him. “He already knows some of what’s going on and he saw the tail end of what happened at the cemetery. He’s in whether he wanted to be or not. Besides,” she continued, “he’ll be able to keep the cops off your back for a while.”
“I wasn’t referring to your brother,” Devon’s voice had taken on a dangerous edge.
Kat nodded, seeing that Envy was getting ready to mistakenly take up for Trevor as well. Not wanting a full out battle royale to take place, she stepped away from the bar to put herself in their path.
“Trevor can stay too,” she said firmly and crossed her arms over her chest. “After all… he does play well with others.” Kat finished with a wink to the blonde man who gave her a mock salute.
Quinn stood up from his chair and walked over to Kat, putting his arm around her waist to pull her closer. “I’m going to have to keep an eye on you… aren’t I?” he murmured playfully, but the look in his eyes told a different story.
“Can we just get on with it?” Kane asked from the shadows.
Everyone except Michael jumped at the voice. He’d been so quiet no one knew he was there.
“Agreed,” Warren stated. “I think everyone knows why we’re here.” He looked at Chad who nodded once to indicate he understood before moving his gaze to Trevor and Zachary. “Before we go into what happened at the cemetery, I have a question for Trevor.”
Trevor narrowed his eyes, “Like what?”
“What the hell are you?” Devon asked interrupting Warren.
“I’m a shifter just like most of the people here,” Trevor answered.
Kane snorted in the shadows making everyone look his way.
“Do you know something about him?” Envy demanded. It wasn’t like she would take Trevor's word for anything… he’d already proven what a great liar he was.
“I might, but you’ll have to be really nice to me if you want to know,” Kane said with amusement in his voice. He would have blamed his moodiness on getting up on the wrong side of the bed, but hell… he hadn’t been asleep.
Devon was on his feet and had Kane hoisted into the air by the lapels of his jacket. “I think we’re done with being nice,” the jaguar growled.
Kane smirked down at the shifter, “Aw, that’s too bad. I already told my puppy what a sweetheart you were and he was so happy about meeting a new playmate.” They both knew who the loser would be if they decided to tangle… and it wasn’t the kitty cat.
“Your puppy?” Jewel asked, her eyes lighting up at the prospect of something cute and cuddly. Her lip twitched at the thought of a dog among all the cats in the room.
“It’s an oversized dust bunny,” Michael grumbled.
Warren pinched the bridge of his nose and Quinn had to fight to keep from laughing at his jaguar brother-in-law.
“Devon, put Kane down and get your ass in a chair,” Warren rumbled. “We’ll finish the discussion about Trevor later.”
Nick, Devon, and Kat all looked at Warren with wide eyes. If the average person didn’t know Warren, they would have missed it. Warren was excited about the prospect of a new shifter in the area and he wanted to learn more about the unknown breed.
Devon put Kane back on his feet and stomped back over to his chair next to Warren. The doors opened and Kriss walked in with Tabatha latched onto his arm. Devon let a slow smile grace his lips as he glared toward the blond vampire. He might not be able to put Kane in his place, but the man that just walked in could and he knew Kriss had no love for the reformed vampire.
“Are we late?” Tabatha asked happy that she’d won the argument with Kriss to come to the meeting. Some times Kriss could be just a touch over protective… a hard touch.
“No, you’re right on time,” Envy said. “We haven’t even really started yet.”
Tabatha joined the women at the bar and took a seat while Kriss stopped near Chad.
Kane’s heart leapt into his throat when Tabatha walked in and he had to fight the urge to grab her up in his arms and take her away from here. He stepped back further into the shadows so that only his silhouette could barely be seen. His eyes drifted toward the fallen and he inwardly cringed at the glare he was getting from the man.
“We need to learn more about this demon that’s been trapped in the cemetery,” Warren continued. “We need to know what it looks like and since Dean’s absent, Kane is the only one here who's seen it.”
Kane had taken out a cigarette and flipped open his lighter. The light illuminated his face for a moment so they could see how troubled his eyes were.
Tabatha forgot to breathe as her gaze jerked toward the small flame and saw Kane. His perfect lips were curved slightly as he lit the cigarette and his eyes were shadowed by dark lashes. Shadowed or not, she could feel his gaze touch her the same as if it were his hands caressing her skin. Feeling the distraction of something brush her arm, she looked around to find Kriss now standing right beside her.
“Her name is Misery,” Kane said after a moment. “The problem is… I’m not really sure what she looks like.”
“How could you not know what she looks like?” Kriss demanded with a deep frown on his face. “You were down there with Dean for who knows how long.”
“Can you let me finish, Feathers?” Kane asked in a sarcastic tone.
Kriss narrowed his gaze resenting the insult.
“Good,” Kane retorted. “The reason I don’t truly know what she looks like is she kept changing her appearance. One moment she was a pretty little girl with one creepy as hell personality, the next a rotting corpse, a cloud of black smoke, and the last was a beautiful woman. Those seem to be her favorite forms to take. She’s extremely powerful if she could hold two fallen in that chamber at the same time.”
Kriss took a deep breath and nodded, “Some demons have been known to have that kind of power.”
“We have a demon specialist coming in right now.” Zachary said finally. “Her flight should be arriving in the next couple of hours or so. When she gets here, it would be best if everyone just leaves Misery to her.”
Kane cocked an eyebrow, “Her?”
“Yeah,” Trevor said. “Her name’s Angelica. She’s got information on just about every legend, myth, and fairytale in the world. If there’s any kind of story about Misery, then she’ll have it in her flash drive.”
Alicia sighed in frustration, “Fine, she can have the demon. I want to know what we’re going to do about finding Micah.”
“Micah can take care of himself,” Quinn informed her.
The truth was that during that last argument between him and Micah, he’d ordered Micah to stand down but his brother hadn’t obeyed and that could only mean one thing… they now had two alpha males within the cougar clan and that had never been heard of. In the past, it had always caused a fight to the death.
Quinn loved Micah and was proud of him for being so strong willed. The last thing he wanted was for one of their arguments to get out of control.
“But he doesn’t know anything that’s happened,” Alicia exclaimed reaching for any reason she could to make them find him. “What if he runs into Misery and gets hurt… or killed? Gone or not, he’s part of the clan.”
“You can’t argue with her logic old boy,” Kane prompted having read Quinn’s thoughts.
Alicia glanced at him in the shadows and blushed before looking away. It felt good to hear someone verbally take her side for once. What Alicia didn’t know was that her entire family had been thinking about Micah and the last time they’d really seen him; right after the fight he’d gotten into with Anthony.
Kane returned her smile though she couldn’t see it. Apparently, she was the only one in the group that had any spunk.
“The last time we saw Micah, he’d gotten into a huge shouting match with Anthony Valachi and threw him out of the club,” Steven said softly. “That was right before he vanished.”
“The werewolf?” Trevor asked with a tilt of his head.
“Yeah, and on top of that, Steven mated with Anthony’s fiancé.” Quinn informed him and anyone else that hadn’t heard.
Jewel frowned realizing Steven had been telling her the truth about the ties maybe linking his missing brother to Anthony. She bit her lip, silently wondering if that was the only reason Steven had helped her. No, that was wrong. When Steven took her from the church, he hadn’t even known Anthony was her fiancé.
She heard the unspoken accusation in Quinn’s voice and squared her shoulders. A protective instinct welled up inside of her and she had to voice it.
“Steven didn’t know who my fiancé was and I didn’t have a clue Anthony was a werewolf,” Jewel stated in a firm voice. “It wasn’t until we mated that I told him about Anthony. So, if you’re going to blame anyone for that, blame me.”
Quinn had the courtesy to look slightly chastised and Kat gave her a discrete thumbs-up.
Jewel leaned back against the bar and started chewing on her bottom lip again. Standing up to Steven’s older brother, the alpha of the cougar tribe, had given her a little bit of a scare.
She looked over at Steven and relaxed when she saw the pride shining in his eyes for her. Something inside of her softened and she fought like hell to build the protective wall back up around it. Her heart beat faster and she wondered if she was falling in love with him.
“Anthony Valachi has been under suspicion for a while now,” Chad spoke up. “The police force has reason to believe he’s involved in not only human smuggling, but slavery as well. Rumor has it that his men have been picking up prostitutes, kidnapping them and selling them as sex slaves, too.”
“Why haven’t the police done anything about it then?” Kat asked.
“We were told to stay out of it because the FBI had taken control of the investigation.” Chad answered. “Unfortunately, when the FBI shows up, we have no jurisdiction and can’t do anything but stay out of their way unless we want to wind up in jail beside the bad guys.”
Steven nodded figuring it was time to tell them all of it. “Jewel’s father was investigated by the FBI here a while back. It was the reason Jewel was engaged to Anthony in the first place.” He gave Jewel a soft smile before turning back to the group.
“Her father was the manager of the Palm Springs Resort and Anthony wasn’t happy about the search warrant they had or that Arthur allowed them to roam the property. Realizing his mistake, Arthur killed the agent and was arrested for murder. In order for Arthur to save his own skin, he handed Jewel over to Anthony as payment for getting him out of the murder wrap.”
“He’s the one that killed my father. I’m sure of it,” Jewel said clenching her fist at her side. “So, when can we go after him?”
“We don’t have to go after him,” Chad informed her. “We will form a plan, and then make it known that you are under the Wilder’s protection. When he makes a move… we’ll get him.”
“I think this may be a bit above the law,” Trevor corrected. “Keep Jewel a secret for a couple more days and let me and Zackary make sure the FBI doesn’t come in and turn everything into a clusterfuck.”
“Why would they interfere?” Kat asked. “You’re part of that paranormal organization… aren’t they above the FBI?”
“Only in certain areas,” Trevor answered. “Most of the FBI hasn’t a clue we even exist. Hell, the president of the United States doesn’t even know about us. We go way above their heads, and for that, we have to have proof that something paranormal is going on.”
“Does that mean that at least a part of the government knows about us?” Nick asked not liking the uneasy feeling that came with the knowledge.
Trevor shook his head, “Not specifically each one of you… but they are aware of the more… unusual. You are protected the same as the humans are… maybe even more so and with more lenient rules and by a small but powerful government within and above the government.” He scratched his head hoping everyone could follow that vague version of the truth.
“My worry is the FBI digging more into it and finding out too late that they’re dealing with werewolves, not humans,” Chad frowned understanding and not liking what Trevor had just said. Was he to understand the paranormal had more rights then the humans? Maybe he was a bit biased but he was one of those lesser humans.
Trevor shook his head, “The mob isn’t going to go all furry and attack the FBI. Besides, if the world found out about werewolves, they’d be next in line to become extinct and the werewolves know that. The last time they outed themselves, they were almost hunted to extinction.”
“Let me make a couple of calls and see if we have full jurisdiction over the Valachi case,” Zackary offered. “If we do, then we have free rein and can recruit anyone we think is qualified.” He glanced around at the group knowing that would cover almost everyone in the room and give them immunity no matter how things turned out.
“Does anyone know what Micah was driving the day he vanished?” Chad asked. “I can run a trace from my patrol car and put out an APB for it.”
“His motorcycle,” Alicia chimed in then her eyes widened as she remembered telling Warren she’d road that same motorcycle in last night’s storm. Glancing over at him, she breathed a sigh in relief when he simply winked at her.
Nick added his two cents, “I’m all for staying away from Misery, but the vampires are breeding for her and we can’t have that.”
“Everyone’s on pest control duty,” Warren agreed.
“Not everyone I hope,” Trevor looked toward Envy.
Zackary discretely stepped in front of Trevor to block the heated stare Devon was giving his friend. “I think it’s also time for us to call in a couple favors and get more of the team in this area.”
“You mean there’s more of you running around?” Steven asked.
Zachary shoved his hands into his pockets and tilted his head slightly. The soft glow from the lights shown on his blond, spiked hair as he smirked, “Sorry to disappoint you, but there’s only one of me. I’ve been wanting to clone myself but fearful leader over here won’t let me,” he finished by jerking his thumb at Trevor.
“Shut the hell up and make those calls,” Trevor exclaimed. “If there was another you running around, Angelica would kill it just to say she’d finally succeeded.”
Zachary’s expression took on a glazed quality. “Oh, to be stomped by those wonderful Doc Martin’s she keeps hidden in her closet.”
Trevor took an agitated step toward his teammate and Zachary immediately ran across the bar area to hide behind Kane.
“Is there a reason why you’re using me as a shield?” Kane asked.
“Yeah,” Zachary exclaimed. “Give me a minute and I’ll think of one.”
Kane smirked, “Give me a minute and I’ll go home long enough to find my Doc Martins.”
Zachary backpedaled away from Kane with his hands held up. “Whoa there, I’m straight.”
“Zachary!” Trevor yelled.
“Okay, okay,” Zachary said and took out his cell phone. “Geez, surrounded by people with no sense of humor… Angelica’s gonna love this bunch.”
