Page 50 of Savage Blood (Den of Shadows #6)

Chapter

Thirty-Four

My heart shattered into a thousand pieces as understanding settled through my roiling gut. Once again, Ruin tricked me, made me think he had some semblance of humanity in that black soul of his.

As it turned out, he was nothing but treachery.

“How could you?” The words tumbled from my mouth in barely more than a whisper.

His electric blue eyes swiveled in my direction, a frown turning the corners of his lips down. “Come on, beautiful. You had to guess this was coming.”

Actually, I hadn’t. After seeing him tormented and abused in Barric’s captivity, I’d thought the high demon had changed.

But I knew how duplicitous people could be. They could smile and tell you everything you needed to hear just to turn around and destroy you.

“You pathetic, lying piece of shit,” Fane hissed, struggling in the Vulcrum cords Roman had wrapped around him.

The demon shifter forgot about Barric, his focus locked on Ruin. That look alone could melt the high demon into a pile of skin and bone.

“Fane planned to kill me after this was over.” Ruin smoothed his hand down his pristine ebony suit. “I’ve already died once. I don’t want to do it again.”

“So you struck a deal with your old ally?” I bit out.

Power and heat throbbed through the room as Barric transformed back into his human shape, his clothes in tattered scraps across the floor. The Infernal Sol pulsated on his bare, scarred chest.

“I found out about his little bond with Roxie.” Barric curled his fingers, and Ben scurried over with another pair of black pants and a shirt. “And she relayed a message to her master.”

Ruin chuckled. “We only had to get you here, and once the ritual was complete, I’d have Karn’s manor. As the most powerful demon around, I would receive the title of Lord of Vlehull.”

The bastard traded my life and the lives of thousands of innocent shifters for a title and a fancy home.

“You motherfucker!” Fane finally broke out of Roman’s magical bind. “No title will keep me from ripping your spine out of your mouth, Ruin.”

Before the demon shifter lunged at Ruin, Barric snapped, and the five Collective Nosterium members converged on Fane. He easily tossed the first two off, and when the next two tried to grab his arms, he released a hair-raising roar that gave them pause.

His demon wolf prowled right below the surface, longing to break free and tear into every last shifter standing in his way to Ruin.

“I wouldn’t start killing my friends,” Barric warned, now fully dressed in black slacks and a button-down black shirt. “Tate might be upset when I have to retaliate.”

A door opened, and Roxie, in all-black raven gear, stomped across the marble, leading another figure bound in chains behind her.

An arctic blast of air crashed over me, and I stumbled back. Not only did she and Ruin trick us, but instead of helping Hawk, she held him captive.

“Hawk!” I tried to bolt for him, but Ruin stepped in my path and grabbed my shoulders.

“He’s fine, Tate.”

I jerked out of his hold and slapped him, the sharp sound ricocheting through the quiet room as the spectators watched. “Never touch me again.”

Hawk gave a crooked smirk. “Damn, that sounded painful.”

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“I’ve been better, but I’ve also been worse.” He flipped off Roxie. “Back when I was dating this psycho.”

“Let him go, Roxie.” My voice had become a deep growl, every syllable a sharp dagger ready to spill blood—especially hers.

Hawk wore a pair of clean jeans and a black t-shirt, and he looked relatively okay except for the circles beneath his eyes. Roman must have healed any injuries Hawk sustained during torture.

“Think of Hawk as an insurance policy.” Barric moved toward Roxie and smoothed his hand over her arm.

Ruin’s gaze darkened at that hand as his smile tightened against white teeth. He might have made a deal with Barric, but they were still enemies.

Barric angled in our direction and shook his finger at Fane.

“If you try to intervene, Maverick, not only will I kill you, but I’ll make this ritual as painful—mentally, physically, and emotionally—for Tate as possible.

I will draw it out and make you watch her suffer for so much longer than necessary. ”

Fane’s nostrils flared like those of a wild beast on the verge of attacking. “I can’t wait to watch Tate tear you to pieces.”

The chances of doing that grew slimmer by the minute.

A ghostly hand ran down my back in a soothing manner, and I felt Fane’s hot breath on my ear even though he remained on my other side. “Barric will get Roman to come closer to restrain me with stronger magic. Take your shot then.”

Sweat slicked my nape as I nodded, trying to keep my breathing even before Barric or any of the shifters near us picked up on it.

“Roman!” Barric barked. “Bind Fane so he can’t break out.”

“Why don’t you just kill him?” Amelia muttered as she ambled to Barric’s side, her mask now gone. “You’re going to do it anyway.”

The sadistic grin that broke over my father’s face made my skin crawl. “Because I want him to watch.”

A string of insults danced on the tip of my tongue. Barric couldn’t have always been this evil. It had to be the amulet.

But I was never this bad.

Was I?

“No, fiera mika,” Fane said, having read my thoughts. “You might have been a little unhinged, maybe a little vicious, but never this unequivocally cruel.”

“Are you sure, Maverick, because I remember doing some seriously malicious shit?”

He shook his head. “Barric has given in to every evil urge he’s ever had.”

Movement interrupted the conversation between Fane and me, and Roman appeared through the crowd, his footsteps slower than normal. He bowed his head, blond hair shining like pale gold and shoulders drooping.

Why did he look like he was walking to his death?

Technically, he was, but he didn’t know that.

I shook the confusion off and choked back the sickening combination of guilt and dread shooting up my throat. There was no other way. Roman had to die.

My muscles tensed as I prepared to take another life and add to the blood already staining my hands. I snatched Roman’s arm and whirled him around. He didn’t even fight back when I lifted my talons toward his exposed throat.

One deep swipe at his neck. That was all I needed. The wounds would be too bad for him to heal. He’d bleed out fast.

It would be quick.

He wouldn’t suffer much.

Just as my claws touched his skin, fresh crimson bubbling out, pain hit the center of my torso, and I screamed.

And screamed.

I collapsed to my knees as the world melted away, leaving nothing but fiery agony behind.

Fane’s roar sounded distant, even though he couldn’t have been more than a foot from me. The coppery tang of blood spilled over the back of my mouth, and I spat on the floor. More liquid leaked from my nose.

When my vision finally cleared, the mixture of black and red splatters on the tiles came into view.

My stomach dropped. That had come out of me. And those midnight veins once again spiderwebbed over my body.

Barric’s bare feet stopped an inch from the puddles, and he used his index fingers to tilt my chin up. The Infernal Sol pulsed like a beacon, bright red and angry.

“ You are the puppet, Tate.” He stroked the amulet. “The stone has yanked your strings, and it wants you to suffer, to die in this ritual.”

My heart pounded, and sweat trickled down my back again as Wes and Patricia shoved me into the same ritual room I’d seen dozens of times in my visions. The black demon sigils on the blood-red walls had my pulse spiking.

So did the table with chains dangling off the side.

Barric wouldn’t allow his party guests to watch the Admordum Nexia Covenant, since seeing the extent of the demon powers involved would freak them out. They’d know just how far gone Barric and the rest of them were as they chanted, drank blood, and danced around their sacrifice.

Me.

Dozens of candles burned on the fireplace mantel, along shelves, and on the wooden tables. The scent of wax and old blood perfumed the air.

The smell of death did too.

Someone, probably Roman, had fixed the destruction those sub-demons caused when they burst into the manor. Did Amelia kill that deranged bull?

“We’re going to figure this out, fiera mika,” Fane said into my mind when they led me out of the grand room, leaving everyone else behind.

Wes pressed his palm into my back and pushed me so hard, I stumbled halfway across the room and slammed into the table. The Malbraxis manacle Barric had forced me to wear on each wrist clanked against the wood.

“This has been a long time coming, Tate.” The menacing smile curving Wes’s lips made my flesh prickle. “I can’t wait to watch you scream and beg for mercy.”

I choked back the bile oozing up my throat. Wes wanted to do a lot more than watch.

He strode across the room, a sadistic glint in his eyes, and gripped my leather jacket. “I’m going to enjoy this.”

The shifter wrenched the jacket off me and then pinned me against the edge of the table, his erection rubbing against my belly. Wes planned to take advantage of the short time we had before the others arrived.

His mate Patricia just watched, licking her lips like she wanted to join.

“You’re both sick creeps,” I snarled. “And when I get out of this, I’m going to make sure you die a slow, torturous death.”

Wes wrapped my long braid around his hand and jerked my head back, grinding against me. “The only ones dying today are you and that mutt Fane. But before you meet your maker, I’m going to enjoy?—”

“Get the fuck off her.” Ruin stormed into the room and yanked Wes back by his jacket. “She’s not your toy.”

Wes pulled out of Ruin’s hold. “She’s about to die anyway. Why not get her a little dirty first?”

The high demon gave him a look of utter disgust. “You’re pathetic.”

“Hey!” Patricia stalked forward. “Don’t talk to my mate that way. And what are you even doing here? We are supposed to continue setting up.”

Ruin marched to the other side of the room and grabbed an ancient leather-bound book from a table. “You can’t even understand the words in this book. Only Barric and I can. And he wants things done right, so he sent me to take care of it.”

“But we’re?— ”

The high demon waved his hand, shooing them out. “Bye now. You don’t want to anger Barric, or he’ll bite your head off.”

Once the two shifters finally left, Ruin moved across the room and kicked the door closed.

“I can’t believe I trusted you.” Fury throbbed around me like a toxic cloud. With any luck, it would poison him if he got too close.

Ruin spun and hurried back to me, all the humor gone from his expression. “We don’t have much time.”

“No shit.”

He withdrew a small vial from his pocket and pressed it into my palm. “Drink that. Hurry!”

The swirling white mist within the bottle made my head jerk back. “What is this? Part of a soul to prepare me for the ritual?”

Ruin gripped my shoulders and gave me a little shake. “Do you really think I’d side with Barric after all he’s done? He tortured and used me for months. And then I had to watch him do it to you.”

The air fled my lungs as I studied the demon, a vein throbbing in his neck. “I don’t understand.”

“I would never betray you again.” His head lowered, those haunted electric blue eyes searing into mine. “That was all a ruse, a fucking show. I’m helping you.”

A lump clogged my throat as a tiny piece of hope expanded in my chest. “It was all an act?”

His lips twitched. “World’s best actor.”

I wanted to throw my arms around him. “Does Fane know?”

He shook his head. “I risked murder for this. He would have killed me if Roxie hadn’t brought in Hawk. Unfortunately, the raven wasn’t supposed to be part of our plan, but Barric insisted she grab him.”

So that little skank was on my side too.

“You need to drink this now.” He lifted my hand still clutching the bottle.

“What is it?”

“It’s a very concentrated sample of Soulvation,” he said. “One of the least balanced formulas.”

My stomach dropped as an icy wind rolled across my shoulders. “Won’t this make me crazy like it did those demons?”

“Ugh, kind of.” Ruin gave a nervous laugh. “But it’s exactly the kind of crazy that will draw the Infernal Sol in.”