Page 19

CHAPTER 19

At dinner, we were all filed out of our cells and watched by guards with stun guns while they herded us into the mess hall. Zander was excited for potatoes and stew, and once we’d found an empty table, he tucked into his with gusto. I wasn’t hungry, and instead searched the crowd for Victor or Zee... then I spotted Zee chatting with another demon. His gaze wandered toward me. I shot to my feet and waved.

Zee’s grin lit up. He strode over, weaving around tables—not running, but close to it—and with only a few steps to go, he opened his arms to scoop me into a hug. “Kitten?—”

“No physical contact!”

Zee pulled up short, and shot a look of imma murder you later to the guard.

We sat instead, and Zee spotted Zander wolfing down his dinner.

“Zander?” Zee blinked, as though disbelieving what his own eyes were telling him.

“This stew is so good!”

“What are you doing here, buddy?” Zee asked.

“No idea, but free food is a win, right?” He grinned around a mouthful.

“For real,” Zee agreed, then frowned at me. I briefly told him about Tom Collins calling Zander. He wasn’t buying it either. Zander was a harmless labrador compared to the other con artist and killer Lost Ones surrounding us. “Have you seen Vic? He’d know?—”

“I am here, my dears,” Victor slid into the seat next to mine. He reached out and grasped my hand, giving it a secret squeeze, then let go before the guards could notice.

“Sweet baby Gareth, orange is not your fucking color,” Zee said, grinning. “But it sure feels good to know you’re okay, vampire.”

“Likewise, demon.” They shared a soft, lingering look, filled with longing. The table between the three of us felt like a bottomless chasm.

“Adam, were you aware Hooper is also here?” Victor asked.

“The frog shifter?” I knew who he was, it just didn’t make sense that he’d be here too.

Victor nodded. “He was apprehended the same time we were.”

“But he didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Didn’t need to.” Zee shuddered. “Frogs are the fucking worst. Hiroshima? Frogs did it.”

“Zee, Hooper’s nice. He fixed your leeches, remember?”

“One nice frog... One. Like there’s one nice vampire... Ours. The rest are psychopaths. Did you guys know frogs use their eyes to swallow. Nobody should use their own eyeballs for anything other than lookin’. It’s fuckin’ messed up and weird.”

“Indeed...” Victor sighed. “May I continue?”

“Yes,” Zee said with a wrist-flick. “Fancy Fangs, you may.”

“Hooper gave me a message to pass to you, Adam.”

“A message?”

“From Agent Leomaris.”

We all leaned in closer to Victor.

After a suitably dramatic pause, Victor whispered, “Leomaris said ‘trust us , ’ and ‘your brother is coming.’”

Hope lifted all the horrible weight of worry off my shoulders. “Then Leomaris knows what’s going on, right?” I hoped. “If they’re warning us, they know we’re innocent—mostly innocent.”

“There is more news,” Victor said. “Wesley is here.”

“Your fangboy from the Stephanie Hotel? Oh, may I rub your back, Lord Victorveus? That Wesley?” Zee said, adding a haughty Wesley impression.

“Indeed.”

“Did he offer to kiss your ring... or kiss something else, milord?”

Victor blinked. “He did not.”

“Good, then he knows you’re ours. That sucker might seem nice, but that’s how they get you. They start out friendly, then oops , fangs in your neck. Happens every time.”

First Zander arrived in my cell, then Hooper was here, and now Wesley too? “Okay, this can’t be a coincidence.”

“It is not,” Victor agreed. “I was able to speak briefly with Wesley. It seems Tom Collins called him, explained we were in dire need of assistance and that he must visit the SOS Hotel immediately. Wesley did so, where he was promptly arrested.”

“For trespassing?” I asked.

“Exactly.”

“The same as Zander here...”

Zander looked up from licking his plastic tray. “Are there marshmallows?”

We each shared furtive, knowing glances. This was a setup. Tom Collins and Leomaris had been wrangling the people we’d helped during our vacation . They’d made it so our allies would be in prison with us.

“Are you all glancing at each other because you’re communicating telepathically?” Zander asked, after several moments of silence.

“Uh, no, it’s just... we’re all thinking the same thing.”

Zee laughed. “I doubt it.”

“I’m afraid to ask what you’re thinking, Zodiac.”

“You should be afraid. Frogs got y’all fooled. They clearly planned all this so we’d be trapped behind bars while they make their move against the humans.”

Victor glanced at me. I shrugged. I’d been very wrong about alligators, so maybe I was wrong about frogs too. “I suspect that is unlikely,” Victor said.

“Have you met us? Unlikely follows us around.”

“However, what does appear likely is that Tom Collins and Agent Leomaris have engineered the circumstances in which we find ourselves,” Victor clarified, steering the conversation back on track.

“We’re supposed to be here,” I told Zander, after seeing his eyes had glazed over from confusion.

“There’s a plan underway, and we’re part of it,” Victor said.

“Oh, good! So what happens next in this plan?” Zander asked.

“My brother will want to see us to gloat. He’ll think he’s won. So I guess we wait for him to show up and hope Leomaris has a plan for that too.”

“Huh... Is he nice like you, your brother?” Zander asked.

“No,” Zee replied. “Spyros is worse than frogs. He’s like... if Gideon Cain were a frog.”

“Syros,” I corrected. “And he’s the most powerful Lost One this side of the veil, besides me.” Although I didn’t feel very powerful locked behind warded bars.

The bell rang, signaling the end of dinner. It hadn’t been long enough. “Stay strong, my dear.” Victor squeezed my hand again, then got up to leave. “I suspect an end to our troubles is near.”

Zee blew me a kiss and winked. “Tom Collins is an asshole, but when has he ever let us down? I mean, he threatens it, a lot, but he comes through. We’ve got this.”

“Yeah. We do.” I wanted to seem strong, to be confident, and so I smiled in a way I hoped showed that. But inside, my heart ached, especially when I watched them split up and head back to their blocks.

Tom Collins and Agent Leomaris had been working together to lure my brother and our allies here, to me, into a highly warded prison with countless super-powerful Lost Ones. All of whom were reduced to shadows of themselves... as my brother would be when he stepped through those prison gates.

Inside these walls we were powerless, vulnerable.

But Syros would be too.

And he’d be alone.

I had Zee and Victor, Wesley, Hooper, and Zander. I was not alone. Hopefully, I also had Leomaris and Tom Collins on the outside.

Could this be my one and only chance to finally end Syros?

All I had to do was not mess it up.

* * *

A few uneventful days passed, made brighter by Zander’s boundless enthusiasm. Tiny cell? Super cozy. Can’t sleep? Zander had a dildo story to pass the time. Who knew the history of dildos was so interesting? Zander knew.

“Stand back from the door,” the automated voice said. It usually signaled exercise time, or time to eat, but we’d already had dinner, and it was getting late.

“What’s going on?” I asked the guard as he snicked on the cuffs and ushered me outside and through the main population, then took a right, using a keycard to unlock a string of doors.

“Special arrangement,” the guard finally said.

We headed outside via a covered walkway, and toward some kind of trailer unit.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“Conjugal cabin,” he replied without turning. “Someone pulled strings.”

Conjugal what now?

“Orders from above.” He stopped at a small set of steps that led up to the trailer’s door. “One hour.” He unlocked the cuffs and smirked. “Have fun.”

What the heck did conjugal mean? Was this a trap? Was my brother behind this door? I climbed the steps, grasped the handle, and eased open the door to get a quick look inside. There wasn’t much. A modest room with a bed, a small bathroom, and little else. But I barely cared, because Victor and Zee were inside waiting.

“Kitten!” Zee’s face lit up. His wings too, unlocked and loose behind him.

Victor stood with perfect posture, but relief softened his eyes. “My dear.”

The door closed behind me, the lock clicking into place. “One hour!” the guard repeated, then stomped off.

“What—” I began, but Zee crossed the room in two strides and pulled me into a crushing hug.

“I missed you.” He patted my head, then stroked my hair.

It felt good, being held, and for a moment I relished him, hugging him back, breathing him in.

Victor approached more deliberately, placing a hand on my shoulder. “It’s good to see you are well.” I hooked an arm around his waist and dragged him into the hug. Zee shifted, embracing Victor too, and for a few blissful seconds it was just the three of us, warm, safe, together.

“How are they letting this happen?” I asked.

Victor leaned back and pulled a crumpled up note from his jumpsuit pocket. “I found this after being brought here.”

Get on with it - TC

Tom Collins. “Oh,” I said, understanding dawning. “This must be part of the plan.”

“This,” Victor said, taking the note and setting it aside. “Is our one opportunity to rearm so we are adequately prepared for what comes next.”

Zee’s wings shimmered, painting the plain walls in a shifting purple glow. “I know what’s coming next. Adam—multiple times.”

“Are we uh... Are we allowed?”

Victor swept a hand at the neat bed behind me. “This is a conjugal cabin, my dear. It would be rude not to.”

“Oh, that’s what conjugal means.” Wait... Okay. So Tom Collins had maneuvered us here to have fantastic, power-boosting sex? I guess we hadn’t been all that quiet the previous times we’d boosted our hotel wards.

“It’s likely that our enhanced abilities will become useful very soon,” Victor said.

“Do you guys want to?” I asked them. “It doesn’t feel too forced?”

Victor’s hands on my shoulders turned me around, then those expert fingers worked my zip down my back, sparking a little shiver. “My dear, we always want to.”

If my brother was coming, if this was all leading to a final confrontation, we needed every advantage. And we had two huge advantages, providing they could get around the wards. Victor and Zee’s boosted abilities.

“One hour,” I said, turning to look at them both behind me. My glorious demon and my stalwart vampire. My loves. “Let’s make it count.”

Victor’s fingers brushed my cheek before he leaned in to kiss me with almost perfect restraint, leaving me wanting more.

The prison jumpsuits weren’t exactly romantic, and the moment felt forced, but the weird surroundings didn’t matter the moment Zee moved to admire me and Victor. The needful look in his eyes already had parts of me awake and eager.

“Who first?” Zee murmured, lashes slow-blinking while he cocked a hip and arched an eyebrow.

“Both,” I answered—I always wanted both. But Victor shook his head.

“Separate encounters produce more focused results,” he reminded me. “As enjoyable as this will be, we do have an objective and a time limit. Efficiency is key.”

“Trust Fancy Fangs to make a threesome sound boring,” Zee chuckled, but nodded in agreement. “You go first, vampire. I’ll take my ass over here to soak up the vibe an’ watch.”

Victor’s silver eyes gleamed in the purple light of Zee’s wings. “Very well.”

My jumpsuit slipped from my shoulders and pooled around my ankles. Almost too quickly, I stood naked in front of him. The room was still warm from the day’s leftover heat, but his gaze scorched, further heating me through. He took his time, eyes roaming over my body as if memorizing every detail or seeing me for the first time. “Exquisite.” His own jumpsuit joined mine on the floor in one impossibly smooth motion.

Victor naked—all that raw, unashamed masculinity on display—always stole my breath.

“Come here,” he said. The command in his voice sent a shiver through me.

I stepped willingly into his arms, the firm press of his skin against mine a welcome shock after days of isolation. His kisses grew more insistent, deeper, hungrier, his desperation and relief thinly veiled. I matched that need with my own, kissing him as though each kiss were a promise for more.

“I’ve missed you,” he whispered against my lips.

I thrust a hand into his loose hair, and gripped him there, holding him still. These last few days had been our hardest test yet. But we would get through this. “I will always be with you,” I told him—vowed it.

He kissed me hard, hands everywhere, tracing patterns down my back, across my hips, between my legs. I gasped, relishing every touch of skin on skin. He guided me backward until my legs hit the edge of the bed.

From the corner, a rare, quiet Zee watched, his eyes and wings glowing with anticipation, his tail flicking in that telltale way that meant he was enjoying the show.

Victor laid me down with deliberate care, his body covering mine, his mouth trailing down my neck, my chest, my stomach. I arched into his touch, my fingers tangling in his hair, guiding him downward.

When he took me between his lips, I had to fight not to come. It had been too long, and the skillful pressure of his tongue, the cool suction of his lips, emptied all the thoughts from my head, turning me into a beast of need.

“Victor,” I gasped. “I won’t last if you keep?—”

“Then don’t,” he pulled back just enough to say, before returning to his task with renewed vigor.

“Mercy.” My hands fisted in his hair as pleasure coiled tighter. Victor slid a finger inside me, then another, teasing more pleasure out of me until I came, helpless under his mouth and hands and body. I cried out and let the waves tear through me, wave after wave of intense pleasure.

But Victor wasn’t done. As I lay there, panting and sensitive, he worked his way back up my body, pressing kisses to my heated skin. His dick pressed hard and insistent against my thigh.

“May I?” he asked, his voice rough with need.

“Yes,” I breathed. “Please.”

Zee tossed Victor an unmarked bottle, probably supplied for all the conjugal visits, and Victor prepared me with careful attention, his fingers slick and cool, opening me up with practiced patience. When he finally pushed into me, I felt a familiar jolt of intense connection as the power that sparked between us flared to life.

Victor moved with deliberate precision, each thrust measured and controlled. But I knew how to undo that control. I wrapped my legs around his waist, pulling him deeper, and was rewarded with a growl for more.

“Let go,” I whispered. “I can take it.”

Something in his eyes shifted, the silver swirling like a storm. He gripped my hips hard enough to bruise and drove into me, no longer holding back. The bed creaked beneath us, and somewhere in the back of my mind I wondered if it would hold. I wondered, too, if the prison wards might prevent his powers from boosting. We’d know soon enough.

Crackling, storm-like energy built between us with every thrust—electric, primal, overwhelming. I could feel it gathering in my chest, rising like a tide, ready to spill over and into him. Victor’s fangs extended, his control slipping as pleasure stole all that was left of his refined self.

When he leaned down to sink those fangs into my neck, the spark exploded between us. My power surged, flowing into him like liquid fire. The lights in the room flickered wildly—it was definitely working. I clutched him tight, as his body rocked against mine, building to a peak.

Victor’s cry was muffled against my neck. He pulsed inside me as he came, his normally cool skin surging hot.

As he withdrew his fangs and collapsed beside me, his eyes glowed brighter than I’d ever seen them. “Adam, my dear, I... am rather lost for words...”

“Intense, huh?” I finished for him.

He brushed a strand of hair from my face with trembling fingers. “Thank you, my dear.”

Zee cleared his throat from the corner. “If you two are done, I have a serious case of blue balls over here.” His voice was tight with need, his wings spread wider than before. “My turn.”

Zee was at the bed in a flash, shedding his jumpsuit with none of Victor’s grace but twice the enthusiasm. Where Victor was all cool control, Zee was heat and chaos and boundless energy.

He crawled over me, his tail caressing places that made me shiver, reigniting my need despite my recent climax. His hungry mouth found mine in a messy kiss.

“Been thinking about this for days, Kitten,” he growled against my lips. His hands weren’t gentle like normal—more demanding, more desperate, just like Victor had been. “Need you, need to be in you, with you, can’t be without you.”

“Yes.” I agreed to all of it, my own need climbing again. A new surge of desire turned my veins molten.

He flipped me onto my stomach with impressive strength, pulling my hips up as his mouth traced a path down my spine. When his tongue dipped lower, I buried my face in the pillow to muffle my cry.

“That’s right,” he purred, his breath hot against my most tender of places. “Let me hear those dragon noises.”

Victor, recovering beside us, stroked my hair as Zee worked me open with his tongue and fingers. The dual sensations—Victor’s cool touch at my temple, Zee’s heat between my legs—had me writhing between them.

“Ready for me, Kitten?” Zee asked, his voice rough.

“More than ready,” I gasped. “Do it, Zee.”

When he pushed inside, it was nothing like Victor’s careful entry. Zee thrust home in one smooth motion that filled me up. He set a punishing pace immediately, his hands gripping my hips with bruising force.

“Fuck, you feel amazing,” he groaned, his wings casting dancing shadows on the walls as we rocked together.

The poor bed protested beneath us, the metal frame creaking alarmingly. I didn’t care. All I could focus on was the delicious drag of Zee inside me, the way his tail wrapped around my thigh, the smooth heat of his skin against mine.

The energy built differently with him—faster, hotter, more volatile. His demon essence pulled at my dragon power like a magnetic force, drawing it out in waves that made his wings glow brighter and hotter.

Victor watched us with lidded eyes, his hand idly stroking himself back to hardness. The sight of him—satisfied yet aroused again—pushed me closer to the edge.

Zee reached around to grasp my dick, stroking in time with his thrusts. “Come for me,” he demanded. “Want to feel you come apart while I’m inside you.”

The power surged between us, building once more. Maybe it was because of where we were, or all the things that had happened, but this was so much more than before. When the pleasure crested, reaching the edge, it became so intense that the remaining lights in the room burst, plunging us into darkness lit only by Zee’s sparkling wings.

I came with an inhuman growl, my body clenching around Zee as pleasure ripped through me. He followed a moment later, his wings flaring brighter as he buried himself deep.

The surge of power was different than with Victor—wilder, more primal. Where Victor had drawn my power with precision, Zee pulled it from me in a rush, his entire body illuminated from within as my energy merged with his.

Spent, we collapsed in a tangle of slick limbs. Zee’s skin practically hummed with new power.

“Holy shit,” Zee breathed, his voice deeper than before, resonating with new power. “I am broken in the best way.”

“Did it work?” I panted. “Do you feel stronger?”

“Like I could make this whole fucking prison come with a snap of my fingers,” Zee said, pulling me into position as the little spoon to his big spoon. “I doubt even the wards could stop me.”

Victor sprawled in front of us, smirking around his fangs. “My consciousness feels... expanded. I believe I should be able to extend my influence considerably farther than before.”

I looked between them, these two beings I loved more than anything. Maybe we really could do this. “I love you guys.”

A sharp knock at the door broke the post-sex spell. The guard signaled we had ten minutes to get dressed.

Zee squeezed my hand. “Whatever happens, Kitten. We do this together.”

“Indeed. Together,” Victor vowed. “To the end.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “Together. Always.”

Reluctantly and quietly we parted, cleaned up, and got dressed. Nobody had much to say, and instead we basked in the afterglow.

“I find myself in the peculiar position of trusting Tom Collins,” Victor said, straightening his jumpsuit. “But I do believe our rogue bartender will not let us down.”

The knock came again. “If you don’t come out in one minute, I’m coming in.”

I kissed them both, quick and fast. “I know he won’t.” We locked gazes, all three of us, then after a synchronized nod, we left the cabin.

* * *

Not even an hour had passed since I’d returned from the conjugal visit when the guard was back again. “You got a visitor.”

“Now?” It was long past visiting hours.

“Guess your guest has a special pass.”

Zander watched me leave with concerned puppy-dog eyes. “It’s fine,” I told him, then frowned when the guard slammed the door shut between us.

He really did not deserve to be here. If we got out— when we got out—I’d make it up to him.

A few of the Lost Ones in our neighboring cells watched me pass by. There was Percy, the recovering alcoholic unicorn shifter. He’d gotten violent in New York traffic and shifted, raging at people on the Brooklyn Bridge. A raging unicorn is not a pretty sight. A few people had jumped. They hadn’t survived. He’d gotten the blame.

We passed by the aviary, where they kept the pixies that made Little Jimmy with his sass and murder vibes look like a cute Disney fairy.

I had no doubt some Lost Ones imprisoned here were dangerous and deserved to be here, but I also knew a lot weren’t bad and didn’t belong behind these bars. Human authorities didn’t know what to do with them, so it was easier to just shove them in here and forget they existed.

I wasn’t out of this place yet, but I was lucky that I had people trying to make it happen. Some folks I passed by didn’t have anyone to rescue them. I knew what that felt like.

The guard dumped me in a visitor’s chair in a room full of empty tables and chairs, all bolted to the floor. He cuffed my wrists to the table and left.

Hm... This did not feel good. My brother wouldn’t be cuffed. Nobody else was in the room. There were cameras, but Syros wouldn’t care who was watching when he tore my head off.

The wards did prevent both of us from using our abilities, but he was still strong without them.

What was I supposed to do now?

Trust us , Leomaris had said.

But how were they going to get around the wards?

I had to trust the plan. Trust that everything had been leading toward this moment. Tom Collins had maneuvered everyone here who needed to be. Agent Leomaris was smart, and they probably had some control over what happened in this room. We’d had our conjugal visit to power-up.

Whatever was going to happen, would probably happen any second now.

I drummed my fingers on the table.

A long mirror on one wall reflected the empty room back at me. Dark, barred windows lined the opposite wall.

Doors clanged deeper inside the prison, but the visiting room was quiet. Just me, my drumming fingers, and pounding heart.

The door at the far end of the room opened, and in stepped my brother. My heart skipped, then sank like a rock through my stomach.

Syros’s smile was all predatory glee. “You finally stopped running.”