Inferno (Book 4 The Kindred Series) (13 page)

She nodded briefly before turning her
attention to the man he held. Her eyes widened in surprise, her
mouth parted on a small gasp. She stood perfectly still for a
moment, and then, everything changed. Her mouth snapped closed, her
eyes blazed a violent shade of red as fury twisted her beautiful
features.

“You!” she accused fiercely.

Devon stiffened; the hairs on the back
of his neck stood on end as he turned slowly back toward the man he
held. The man was staring at him, his blue eyes wide in terror, his
face a florid shade of red. Devon dug his arm in tighter, causing
the man to sputter and choke, gasping for breath as he struggled
against Devon’s hold. Judging by Cassie’s reaction to him, this was
the man that had hurt her the most.

And Devon hated him for it.

A loud snarl, and a vicious curse,
snapped Devon’s head around. Julian had entered the room, his hand
still wrapped tight around Joey’s throat, but his eyes were focused
upon the man that Devon held. A snarl twisted his mouth, his
elongated fangs cut into his lower lip. He shoved Joey brutally
away from him, slamming the young man off of the wall. For a moment
Devon was certain that Julian was going to charge at them, but he
remained where he was, just barely hanging onto his composure. It
would not take much for him to attack though.

Chris appeared behind him, his hand
wrapped tightly around Dani’s arm as he pulled her into the room.
Chris stared hard around the room for a moment before settling on
the man that Devon held. Dani trembled in his grasp. “You could
have killed me!” she snapped at the man, her eyes shimmering with
tears.

The stranger struggled within Devon’s
grasp, the air whistling in and out of him. Though Devon longed to
crush his windpipe, he eased his grip on him. He was sure they
would need him for some answers. The man choked in some air,
sputtering as Devon stepped away. He took hold of Cassie’s hand,
pulling her slightly behind him as the stranger stumbled
forward.

Cassie’s hand tightened on his in
displeasure as she took a step from behind his back. “Who are you?”
she demanded.

The man righted himself; his hand
cradled his wounded throat as he struggled for air. He glanced
wildly around the room, searching for an escape route and finding
none. “You had better start talking,” Devon snarled.

His gaze snapped back to Devon, his
eyes wild with fear. “You may want to close the door,” he said in a
hoarse whisper. “There are still a few of them running around out
there.”

Chris hesitated for a moment before
reaching back and closing the door. He slid the lock into place,
keeping his hand against the knob as he turned slowly back to the
room. “Who are you?” Cassie demanded again.

The man’s eyes lit upon her, hatred
bloomed in them. Devon growled, stepping swiftly in front of her in
order to block her from the man’s loathsome stare. “I haven’t
killed in a long time, but I won’t hesitate to rip out your throat
if you look at her like that again!” he hissed. The man’s eyes
snapped back to him, fear widened them as he backed into the wall.
“Now, who the hell are you?”

“Derek,” he answered. “My name is
Derek.”

Cassie inhaled sharply behind him, her
hand tightened painfully around his. He could hear the quickening
beat of her heart; feel the horror, terror, and confusion that
washed through her. She pressed closer to him, her breath coming
swiftly in and out, her chest rising and falling rapidly against
him as the stranger pinned her with his hate filled
gaze.

“Her father.”

CHAPTER 7

Devon grabbed Cassie as her knees
buckled, catching her before she hit the floor. Her air was
strangled in her chest, the constriction in it making it impossible
for her to breathe. He grabbed hold of her face, holding it gently
in his grasp. “Breathe,” he whispered. “Just breathe.”

She gasped in air; it seared into her
lungs, burning all the way down to the hollow pit of her stomach.
Her breath shuddered out of her, pain racked through her
extremities. Devon held her tight, keeping her somewhat grounded
through the racking pain that suffused her. She gulped down another
harsh breath, letting it out in a hitching sob that threatened to
shatter her.

Her father! This man, this cruel
bastard that had so easily tortured her was her father!? It
couldn’t be; her father was dead. Her father had been a good man!
At least she had convinced herself that he was a decent man over
the years, when she had daydreamed about what he had been like. Her
grandmother had always told her that he was a good man, that he had
loved her mother, and Cassie, dearly.

But apparently she had been wrong. Her
father had brought her here. Her father had stood impassively by as
they had tortured and drugged her. Her father had helped them to do
it all to her, he had been the one in charge of her torment. Her
father hated her!

Another sob exploded from her, her
fingers curled tightly around Devon’s wrists as she tried to keep
herself grounded with him, tried to gain strength from him. Devon
loved her, her friends loved her and that was all that mattered,
she tried to remind herself. She had never known her father, and
although this man claimed to be him, he was not.

Her father didn’t matter, she
repeatedly told herself. This man was a stranger, a monster. This
man may have helped to create her, but he had not made her the
person that she was. He was nothing to her. And yet she still felt
as if her heart had been ripped out, still felt as if someone had
slammed her in the chest with a baseball bat.

Devon wrapped his hand around her head,
pulling her close to kiss her gently. “Are you ok?” he asked
softly.

Cassie managed a nod, trying hard to
steady the shaking in her body. He held her tight against him as he
turned slightly back to her father. He tried to keep her blocked
from the man, but Cassie refused to let the man know that he had
affected her so badly. There was absolute hatred etched into the
man’s features, his blue eyes were hard, cold, unremorseful. Cassie
could not bring herself to look at him anymore. Turning away, she
focused her attention on Chris who was watching her with confusion
and uncertainty, but there was also sympathy and pain evident in
his sapphire gaze.

Releasing Dani, Chris came slowly over
and pulled her gently from Devon’s arms. Devon reluctantly released
her to Chris before focusing on her father again. Chris wrapped his
arms around her shoulders, holding her tight as he moved her
swiftly away. Julian remained unmoving, his hands fisted tightly,
and his entire body ramrod straight as fire burned in his
eyes.

Cassie could only stare helplessly back
at him, wishing that she could somehow take all of this away from
him. Dani was gaping; her eyes darted wildly between Cassie and the
stranger that was her father. Even Joey looked stunned by the
revelation. “I didn’t know,” Dani whispered shaking her red
streaked hair back. “I swear I didn’t know Cassie.”

Julian moved swiftly forward, snarling
viciously at her father before shoving into a door at the back of
the room. He needed to escape, needed to calm down, before he
killed them all. The door crashed open, swinging wildly back and
forth. “Here!” he shouted back to them.

Cassie hugged Chris tighter, thankful
for his unwavering love and support. Devon strode forward, grabbing
her father by the arm as he hauled him roughly into the other room.
The man stumbled slightly as he tried to keep up with Devon’s long,
furious strides. Joey remained unmoving upon the floor, his eyes
wide as he stared up at them.

“I really didn’t know,” Dani whispered
again.

Cassie pulled slowly away from Chris,
moving stiffly to the door they had disappeared through. She pushed
it open, her eyes widening in surprise as she took in the wood
boxes piled from floor to ceiling against two walls. Devon and
Julian were no longer in the room, but there was another door
across from her.

She made her way to it, pushing it
slowly open. Cold air hit her at once. She shivered, pulling her
hands inside the sleeves of her baggy coat in an attempt to ward
off the chill. Devon and Julian glanced up from where they stood by
a set of cooler doors. Inside the coolers were bags of blood lined
up in rows from floor to ceiling. Both Devon and Julian’s eyes were
bright red with fury and hunger; they gleamed in the dim light of
the room.

Though she could feel her father’s gaze
upon her, she did not turn to him. “I’ll get one of the boxes,”
Devon said softly, hurrying toward her.

“Is it drugged?” Devon froze, his
eyebrows drawing sharply together as he stared questioningly at
her. “The blood. The food they brought us in here was drugged
before. Is it drugged now?”

Devon’s jaw clenched tightly, his
nostrils flared with fury. Julian cursed loudly, the door of the
cooler slammed against the other one as he flung it open. He
snatched a bag roughly out. Glowering at her father, he ripped the
top easily off of it. He inhaled deeply before nodding briskly to
Devon. “It’s good,” he muttered. “They must drug it right before
they bring it to us.”

They all turned toward Cassie’s father,
but he remained immobile, his face as cold as stone. “Drugs are
probably stronger that way,” Cassie whispered.

Julian shrugged and downed the contents
of the bag before tossing it aside. Devon slipped his arm through
hers, pulling her gently back into the other room. Squeezing her
arm, he released her to grab hold of one of the stacked boxes.
Cassie watched in amazement as he ripped off the top, which had
been securely nailed on, as if it were nothing. He dropped it to
the floor, turned the box over and dumped its contents on the
ground. Cassie took a small step back as stakes clattered across
the floor, skittering about her feet.

Chris, drawn by the noise, poked his
head into the room. His eyebrows rose questioningly as he studied
the stakes. “Hope they have better weapons than those,” he muttered
before ducking out again.

Cassie silently agreed as she stared at
the wooden weapons. She was hoping to find something that wouldn’t
require them to get so close to the Halflings roaming the town.
Devon opened the door to the room with all the blood; he threw in
the box and its lid. He turned back to her, his body humming with
tension, his face immobile and hard. “Let’s see what we have in
here, and hopefully it is better than stakes.”

Cassie glanced at the hundred or so
boxes piled within the room. They were of all shapes and sizes, but
she was a little afraid that they might all contain the same thing.
Grasping hold of one of the boxes, she pulled it from the top of
the pile. She tugged at the top, but was unable to pull it off.
Devon reached around her, his hard arms locking against her sides,
the muscles in his forearms bulging as he ripped the lid off with
apparent ease.

Her mouth parted, her heart hammered
with excitement as she glanced up at him. Even in this hell of a
place, in this god awful situation, he still managed to entice her.
His gaze returned to hers, his eyes once again becoming the vivid
emerald color she cherished. His finger stroked lightly over her
jawbone as he bent to kiss her. Cassie stood on tiptoe, losing
herself to the touch and feel of him, burying herself in the
tenderness and strength of his love. His arms encircled her as he
pulled her tight against him, cradling her gently in his warm
embrace.

A disgusted sound tore her away from
the bliss that his kiss brought to her. Cassie turned to find her
father standing in the doorway, his eyes narrowed fiercely, and his
hands fisted at his sides. Loathing and revulsion blazed from him,
pounding against her. She ducked her head, unable to stand the
hatred coming from her own father.

Devon growled low in his throat, his
hand wrapped around the back of her neck as he turned her slightly,
trying to protect her from the man’s glare. Julian appeared in the
doorway, the box propped under his arm. He shoved her father
forward, casting a fierce glare at the smaller man. “Move,” he
ordered gruffly as he shoved her father back into the front room.
He propped the door open with the box so that they could keep an
eye on the three of them, and Chris. “Let’s get what we can out of
these boxes and get the hell out of here.”

Cassie nodded, pulling reluctantly out
of Devon’s arms as she turned her attention back to the
boxes.

***

Cassie propped the box on her hip,
bracing herself as Julian slowly pulled the door open. He peered
into the hallway, searching it quickly before nodding briskly. He
stepped into the hall, followed closely by Dani, Joey, and her
father. Devon glanced sharply back at her, his hand encircling hers
as he stepped into the hall next. He had not wanted her to be
behind him, had fought against it, but in the end it had been
determined that it would be best to have their enemies surrounded
by the two strongest members of the group, him and
Julian.

Covering her mouth with her shirt,
Cassie followed them out the door. She closed her eyes before they
reached the hallway with all of the carnage. Devon led her swiftly
through the mutilated bodies. They turned another corner, but
Cassie kept her eyes tightly shut, not wanting to see her cell
again, or the room where they had electrocuted her.