Demigod Down (16 page)

Ali and Grant were there looking battle worn.
“What is going on?” I asked them, shoving to the front of the crowd
and ignoring the rest of the vampires.

“Blake is locked behind his door,” Grant
said, indicating the door behind him, “fighting for his life
against Gabrielle.”

“Open the door,” I commanded, searching the
faces of the crowd.

“Tate forbade us,” Mal whispered.

I groaned. A command from their master
vampire was impossible to override for them.

“What is that room?” I asked, my mind working
quickly.

“New vampire holding,” Mal offered.

“The walls are too thick to break through,” I
muttered, “is there a viewing room?” I asked hopefully.

“Yes,” Mal said, running ahead of me.

We left the crowd behind, climbing up stairs
followed quickly by Grant and Ali.

“We managed to keep Gabrielle off him for
awhile, but the son of a bitch tricked us,” Ali informed me.

“Why are they fighting?” I asked, rounding
the corner after Mal.

“Blake refused Angelina’s offer of marriage,”
Mal answered, her tears drying up.

My mouth hung open in shock, but it closed
quickly in disgust as we arrived at the small viewing room that
looked down onto the cell below us. The only furniture consisted of
two sturdy chairs.

“Get me through the glass, Mal,” I commanded
as our eyes riveted to the sight down below.

Picking up a heavy metal chair, she began
slamming it against the glass. It was most likely bullet proof, but
the strength of a mature vampire would hopefully be enough to crack
it.

I kept my body rigidly still, realizing I
still hadn’t put shoes on as I stayed out of Mal’s way while she
beat, at vampire super speed, against the glass.

After several painstakingly slow minutes, it
finally cracked. Mal dropped the chair panting, her hands bloody.
With a nod of thanks to her, I ran for the hole pushing through it
and dropping heavily against the padded floor.

With a groan, I pushed onto my forearms
looking at the figure before me, glass falling down as I heaved my
body to my bloody and bare feet.

Gabrielle’s back was to me, too uninteresting
or unimportant to warrant actual concern. He continued to kick
Blake while he was down against the cement wall. From between his
legs, I had seen Blake’s blood-stained hair and body. Gabrielle was
going to pay.

Glass crunched under foot as my anger cooled
into something darker and more sinister. I welcomed it.

“Get away from him,” I warned as I closed the
distance between us. Gabrielle kicked out again before pulling up
Blake’s limp form by his dark and blood stained hair.

Gabrielle was lucky I didn’t have any weapons
on me or I would have sliced through his dual hearts and ended him
right then and there. As it was, I kicked on the side of his knee
cap, gaining his attention as his balance was disrupted and he
released Blake.

“You have no right to be here,” he hissed at
me, his eyes dark amber and wild.

“Walk away Gabrielle and I will let you keep
your life,” I warned my muscles tense and I prepared for an
attack.

Gabrielle laughed, “I wonder if this is the
reason he keeps you around.” He mused as his bones fused back
together in his knee. “You throw yourself into situations you
couldn’t possible understand with consequences far beyond your
intelligence all to save your pathetic boyfriend.” He spat out the
last word as we began circling each other.

Solid determination weighed me down. I had
taken on master vampires before without any weapons. This was no
different. Selena was nothing if not thorough in her torture and
training.

I was going to kill Gabrielle and damn the
consequences.

Blake pushed up from the floor leaning
against the concrete wall.

“Olivia, don’t,” he whispered between broken
teeth.

Not taking my eyes off Gabrielle, I answered
him, “I’ll let you do a lot Blake, but I will not stand by and
watch you die,” I hissed.

“You don’t – you don’t understand,” he
wheezed.

“You are correct and I don’t want to,” I
answered, narrowing my eyes at Gabrielle.

“OLIVIA!” Tate’s voice boomed out as the door
burst open, followed by the timid vampires who had been holding up
outside. “What is the meaning of this?”

I couldn’t kill them all unarmed. Shit.

“I could ask you the same thing, Tate.” I
answered, my eyes shifting to take him in. His normally well styled
Mohawk was a mess and his clothing disheveled. What the hell was
going on here?

“Gabrielle was granted an hour alone with
Blake,” Tate hissed at me.

“So he could kill him without you watching?”
I yelled back.

“How did you even know about this? You are
supposed to be in Oklahoma,” Tate seethed frustrated.

“I was,” I answered not willing to rat out my
newfound friend on the inside.

Tate growled lowly his eyes narrowing, “You
need to leave.”

“Over his dead body,” I growled back,
pointing at Gabrielle.

“Those are NOT your decisions to make! You
rule the Council, not HERE!” he informed me loudly.

I stalked toward Tate and demanded, “You
watched me crawl my way to the top of the fucking food chain,
killing anything that stood in my way or even came close to
threatening me and mine and you are surprised I am here now
fighting again for what is mine?”

Tate was furious. I could feel the waves of
anger and hatred flowing off his body, and while some were meant
for me, the bulk was aimed at Gabrielle.

“A night with the succubus and all will be
well,” Gabrielle stated.

I shifted targets. “Be very careful what you
wish for vampire.”

He shrugged, using a towel someone had given
him to wipe off Blake’s blood. “Why whore? You seem to have an
acquired taste for the vampire bite.” He insulted me, smiling.

I waited a heartbeat, expecting Tate or even
Blake to speak up, but they didn’t. “One night and whatever the
outcome, no repercussions.” I agreed, negotiating. If he was
foolish enough to agree, I could kill him, walk away, and no one
would come after me for the unneeded death. Vampires were creatures
of agreements and contracts.

Throwing his head back laughing, Gabrielle
threw the towel down. “I agree.” His eyes roved over me and he
inhaled deeply. “You will beg for mercy when I am done.” He
informed me, skulking out of the room.

I watched him go, a million emotions playing
behind my shields. The ever present and deeply hidden fear that all
I really ever would be was a whore for hire. Followed by anger I
even had to get involved to save Blake and then excitement.
Gabrielle was going to be a challenge. I considered going unarmed,
just to give him a fighting chance.

“Tomorrow, midnight,” He called out, not
bothering to turn around.

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.” I answered
in a whisper.

Turning back to the scene before me, the
vampires were taking turns, feeding Blake blood to help him
recover.

“I can’t stop this now, Olivia.” Tate
informed me, sadness coating his words.

I didn’t spare him a glance, “You inability
speaks for itself.” I answered coldly, flexing my hands against my
legs.

Blake stood on his own, looking remarkably
better after the blood donations. “How long were you in this room
with him?” I asked, my eyes not leaving his own crystal blue
depths.

“Twenty minutes,” he answered spitting out
pieces of his old teeth as new ones grew in. At least this time he
still had his fangs.

“Were you going to let him kill you?” I asked
anger and fear waging inside me, all of which he could feel.

He didn’t answer, just kept his head tilted
up, pride shining from his eyes.

“You are a fool,” I whispered turning away,
feeling my hope at our future crumbling.

I had all my belongings in my car so I headed
for a hotel. While renovations at the manor were almost complete,
we were also almost full and as much as I loved the kids, I wasn’t
in any mood to be around them.

I had too much to dwell on.

I felt betrayed, lonely, and worthless. Blake
hadn’t called or texted me once after I saved his ass, putting my
own on the line and I was loth to think about why, but it seemed
that detail was all my brain was capable of focusing on.

Gabrielle was going to die tonight and that
would probably strain what was between Blake and I even farther,
the question I didn’t know the answer for, was would that snap us
apart or bounce us back together?

At eleven p.m., I received a text from a
number I didn’t know, giving an address and nothing more. Plugging
it into my GPS, I smiled at the remote location Gabrielle had
chosen. No one would hear his screams.

My wrist was still raw from the encounter
with the snakes and I called Grams on my drive out to
Gabrielle.

“Everything alright?” she asked tensely. Of
course Ali and Grant had told her what had happened.

“It will be soon enough,” I answered.

“Are you going to kill him?” she asked.

“Yes,” I replied coldly.

She paused a moment before asking, “What if
he kills you?”

“He won’t,” I stated. It wasn’t the answer
she was looking for.

Grams huffed, “Why are you even involved with
vampire politics?” She groaned.

“Same reason I’m now involved with shifter
politics.”

“Yes, speaking of which we have a formal
introduction to schedule for you followed by additional arbitration
for the packs.”

I groaned. “Let’s schedule that for sooner
rather than later.” I needed to check in with Kass after this to
see how Darren’s parents were treating her.

“Whatever is going on in Oklahoma is
growing.”

“You think the ring you broke up is related
to the giant snakes?”

“I do and I think the demigod I killed was
part of it.”

“Why?”

“I don’t believe in coincidences.”

“Alright,” she relented, “How long before I
should worry?”

“An hour tops.”

“Good, I still need you to talk with Tommy he
ditched school today and still isn’t home.” I could hear the
clicking of her computer in the background.

I groaned, “What is he up to?”

“Being a teenager. You are the only one he
ever listens to.”

“Yeah I’ll be over after this. He better hope
he is home.”

“Agreed.” She hung up.

The rest of the drive I made in silence,
letting my thoughts wander back to Blake. I was going to have to
address this situation with him eventually. I just didn’t know what
I needed to say to him. That I was disappointed? Disgusted by the
way the situation was handled? Nothing I felt about it gave me hope
things would work out between us.

I was tempted for a moment to call him,
laying the guilt on thick, but that wasn’t who I wanted to be. He
needed to find me after what happened.

And if he didn’t? Sorrow filled my chest at
that thought. If he didn’t, that was more of an answer than
anything he could say.

The green clock of the SUV informed me I was
late by ten minutes, I couldn’t bring myself to care as I lumbered
out of the vehicle taking in the small cabin nestled in the
woods.

Pulling my jacket over the blades at the
small of my back I ignored the urge to double check the throwing
knives hidden in my boots, stalking up to the cabin.

Gabrielle’s voice called out as I raised my
fist to pound on the door, “Enter,” he commanded and I did throwing
the door wide, shock filtered down my spine as my mouth opened and
closed no sound coming out.

“Don’t be rude, Olivia. Come in and close the
door.” Gabrielle chided.

I did as he instructed, my blood having gone
cold in my veins.

Tommy sat at the plain wooden table staring
down at his hands unable or unwilling to look at me as his fear
coated my senses. My fists clenched until my short nails dug into
my palms. Death was too good an ending for Gabrielle.

“I must say I am curious to find out if
succubus blood is as tasty as incubus blood,” Gabrielle said,
toying with me from the shadows cast by the few flickering candles
in the one room cabin.

“You bit him?” I asked horrified.

“You were late,” Gabrielle taunted me still
not moving into the light.

I hadn’t moved since entering the door.
“Tommy,” I stated softly, “are you okay?” I asked.

He nodded, looking up at me with tears in his
dark brown eyes. I had taken him from a hell like this and promised
him no one would ever harm him again. I was such a fucking liar. My
own petty disagreements were drawing him into this mess. Nothing
was worth Tommy’s life, not even Blake’s.

“You done ditching school?” I asked him.

He nodded adamantly, the corner of his mouth
twitching slightly.

I nodded smiling, so happy to see that, “At
least until you are big enough to kill the vampires who kidnap
you,” I amended.

“I only got a few more years before I am
going after your job,” he teased me softly, a tear slipping down
his dark cheek.

“That’s my boy,” I said, pride filling my
chest at his strength.

Gabrielle laughed, the sound echoing from the
rafters. “Jest all you like neither of you will be leaving this
cabin alive!” he yelled, dropping down from the ceiling.

I was slightly disappointed when he dropped
on top of me from the rafters and onto the blade I had pulled from
my back. His face contorted in shock as he quickly launched away
from me, blood seeping out the knife sticking from his chest.

I heaved myself up, brushing the dust off my
back disappointed at how easy this was. I wasn’t sure if it was
being female or being an succubus that had others constantly
underestimating me, but the result was always the same, their
death. I slid a throwing knife in my hand watching Gabrielle’s
shocked expression with dark glee, enjoying the blood seeping from
the wound.