Precarious Possessions (Maxwell Investigations) (25 page)

“Do you want to go after her?” Tina asked.

Dylan looked at Tina seriously. “No, you need to go to
Luna’s.” She paused for a moment. “And you need to confront your daughter, and
the demon that lives in her.” When Tina frowned, Dylan slowly nodded. “I know
she isn’t a monster, but she is really close to being one. You remember when
she threatened to level the East Coast? It wasn’t one.
If
this thing in her gets loose, then we’re
all screwed.”

“Why ask me to do it?” Tina asked curiously. Dylan was
closer to Madison than anyone else. Any of the boys would cut off their own
limbs to help her. It seemed odd to lay everything on the person that was
considered the enemy for most of her life.

“I’m hoping that you won’t hold back. Or if you do, you
won’t be obvious about it. Madison knows all of us too well.
You,
not so much.”
Dylan folded her arms over her chest and sighed. “Crispin
is about to send Casper after her. I need you to go too. At least she’ll think
her family loves her.”

Tina wiped her eyes and looked at her husband. “You two stay
here. If that
thing
comes after Eric
again, kill it. I’m going after my daughter.”

Madison frowned as she walked up to the doors of Nina’s Kitty
Palace. There was no one in sight. Usually a number of
Werepanthers
,
acting as bouncers for the club, stood guard at the front door.
 
It also didn’t help that she could feel an
almost overwhelming desire before she even entered the building. She opened the
door and felt her anger rise.

Cord’s powers as an Incubus had taken over the entire pride.

There were nearly a dozen bodies writhing on the floor in
one massive orgy. Men and women that Madison had thought of as friends were all
stripped bare and moving as one massive unit. What made Madison call forth her
weapon was the sight of the pack Alpha.

Luna’s prone body was on the stage covered in blood and
semen and other bodily fluids. A woman Madison respected was now lying tossed
away as if she were some worthless whore. No one deserved better that.

Madison started to walk to the main floor when the mass on
the floor started to shift. Her eyes turned red as she spotted two people she
never expected. “Alex, Claudia!” she shouted.

Dazed green eyes pulled away from the pleasure trying to
drown them. Claudia reached her hand out towards Madison just as her fiancé bit
at her neck. He ground against her.
“I
can’t stop,”
she sent mentally.
“He
killed Luna and almost did the same to Alex,”
she added.

Fury erupted in Madison. She looked around the crowd for her
target. “Cord!” she shouted. “I know you’re here. Show yourself.” Her eyes
zeroed in on the door to Luna’s office as it opened. She growled low in her
throat when she saw Cord calmly step out and smile.

Cord looked at the slim woman the Council tried sent after
him. “You?” he mused. She was nothing more than 5’3” and looked to weigh maybe
130. There was nothing about her that made him want to fear her wrath. “You’re
the feared Necromancer?” He looked around the club before turning his eyes back
to her again. “This has to be a joke.”

Madison approached Cord with her ruby scythe ready. “It’s no
joke.” She swung her weapon. Her eyes narrowed when he barely dodged her
attack. Before he could gain his balance, Madison swung again.
Just as she sliced the skin of his chest, a pair of arms wrapped
around her tightly.
Madison turned her head and saw one of the usual
bouncers holding her.

Cord’s eyes were wide as he looked at Madison. He touched the
cut on his chest and frowned at her. “You were supposed to try and capture me,”
he said hotly.

Madison slammed her elbow against the bouncer’s chest and
twisted in his hold. Just as he was about to tighten his hold again, she pulled
the small dagger out of her pocket and slid it between his ribs. She pushed him
off of her before turning back to Cord. “You’ve killed at least five people,
put my brother in the hospital and are basically raping my son. Do you really
think I’m going to let you walk out of here?” she hissed before rushing at him
again.

Cord barely dodged her attack before slamming his fist into
her face. As she stumbled back, he glanced at the orgy still taking place. “You
won’t kill all of them,” he said in a panicked voice.

Madison straightened as she felt Cord’s power radiate. She
banished her scythe and smiled darkly at him. “You really don’t know who you’re
dealing with.”

Cord frowned at the evil look in her eyes. He then looked
back at the office. “Dad, you said that she was only going to capture me,” he
said quickly.

Madison grinned at the Incubus. She could sense the person
still in the office, but there was no way she would allow Cord to distract her.
“Did your father tell you that before or after you went after what’s mine?” she
asked. Her voice adopted its sibilant quality as she stalked him. When he fell
over a chair, she quickly jumped on top of him and wrapped her hand around his
neck. “Because I have to say, it was a stupid move.”

Green eyes looked around and saw three more of the bouncers
slowly pulling away from the orgy. “Stop her!” he screamed.

Red eyes looked at the three and hissed. As they jumped at
her, she swung her hand. Her attention turned back to Cord when three heads
fell to the floor. She started to squeeze his throat as her own powers ran
wild. She started to laugh as he tried to buck her off of him.

Cord grabbed a chair leg and hit her with it. He took a much
needed breath as she fell off of him. Before she stood, he hit her again. Cord
looked to the office and saw his foster father standing at the door. “You’re
going to let her kill me?” he asked frantically. “I thought you came here to
protect me!”

“You lost that protection when you couldn’t control
yourself,” his father said darkly. “There are other reasons why I’m here.”

Madison shook her head to clear it. A growl escaped her as
she turned and saw Cord’s foster father. “You cocksucker,” she breathed. She
summoned a sword out of her ruby and swung at Cord. As he jumped out of the way
she turned to Mathias. “You had us all chasing shadows and you knew it was
him?”

He shrugged. “There were some things that had to be done.”
Mathias approached Madison slowly and felt his shoulders drop. “Fate has a
funny way of doing things.”

“Like I don’t know that,” she replied. Movement from her
side caught her attention. Without pause she gripped her dagger again and
launched it at Cord’s fleeing back. She turned back to Mathias when Cord fell
over. “Where’s Barry?” she asked.

Mathias had to respect her loyalty to her family. “When we
heard about Eric, I let him go to the hospital.”

“And you’re just going to let me kill your son? Like he’s
some useless piece of trash?” she asked.

A faint smile crossed his face. “Cord has always been wild.
Lily seemed to grow up, he just grew wilder. Make no mistake, he was never
useless.”

Madison shook her head and went over to where Cord fell. She
inhaled sharply when she saw the Incubus with his hand tangled in Alex’s hair
and devouring his mouth.

“See, with just a few moves Cord can bring even the Great
Madison Maxwell to a stop,” Mathias said in a whisper.

Madison focused her magic and sent it straight at Cord. She
watched with dispassionate eyes as he started to convulse. The blood that had
been seeping from his chest was now a flowing and gushing wound. She turned
hate filled eyes to Mathias. “You did this to get to me?” she asked softly.

Mathias walked over to the stage and looked at Luna’s body
with sad eyes. “Not all of it,” he answered. “Did I want to see the limits of
your powers, yes. But really I wanted Ashton to find Cord. I thought he was one
of the Horsemen at first.”

“Horsemen?
What
are you talking about?” she asked.

Mathias sadly shook his head. “Your brothers will know what I
mean.” His shoulders were low as he walked over to Madison. “But know that I am
sorry for all of this,” he said before shoving a knife into her abdomen.

Red eyes were wide as she fell over. Madison turned her eyes
to look at Alex, who was slowly pulling himself out of Claudia. She balled her
fist and summoned her scythe again. With a savage growl, she swung at Mathias.
When he stepped back, Madison saw flashes of red and gold. She shook her head
before attacking Mathias again.

Mathias was hard pressed to block her blows. His eyes
widened when Madison’s foot connected with his stomach. He doubled over, and
Madison slammed her fist into his jaw. He was about to straighten when the
blade of her scythe pressed against his throat. Mathias looked into her eyes
and allowed his arms to fall limp at his sides. “It has to be this way.”

* * *
* *

Tina ran into the strip club and took in the sight before
her. Madison was attacking Mathias while a bunch of people were slowly coming
to their feet. “Madison, stop!” she yelled. A gasp escaped her when Mathias’s
head fell from his shoulders. She ran down to her daughter but was stopped by a
hand on her leg. Tina looked down and saw Alex with his arms wrapped around
another young woman. “Alex?”

He shook his head. “If you go near her, she’ll kill you,” he
said lowly.

Tina pressed her lips together and took off her coat and
blazer. She held them both out to the young man. Alex was about to protest when
she shook her head. “I have to stop her.”

Madison slowly turned to where her mother stood and tilted
her head to the side. “You think you can stop the monster?” she asked lowly.

“Or die trying, yes,” Tina answered calmly. As she walked
closer to Madison each of Tina’s limbs became encrusted with diamonds. “You
need to pull your Magic back Madison.”

Glowing red eyes were mocking as a smile crossed Madison’s
face. “Make me,” she challenged. The smile on her face vanished when the scythe
in her hand broke into pieces.
“Really Mom?
You gave
me that ruby.”

Tina flexed her fingers. “I gave that to you for your own
protection. Not for you to kill innocent people with it.”

Madison rolled her eyes. “Innocent? A man unleashes an
Incubus on the general population and he’s innocent?” she asked. “Then again,
you gave away your own kid. So what the fuck do you know about innocent?”
Madison saw the hurt that crossed Tina’s face and attacked.

Alex watched as Madison and Tina traded blows. His heart
broke as he looked into Madison’s face. This was all of her anger and rage
finally surfacing after years of being buried.

Tina grabbed Madison’s fist and brought her arm behind her
back. Just as her arm went around Madison’s throat, Madison’s foot came up and
kicked her in the face. She kept her hold on her daughter as they both fell.
Her hold loosened when she felt something in Madison’s arm snap. “Madison,
that’s enough,” she said softly.

Madison’s limp arm hung low as she turned and glared at her
mother. “Don’t tell me when it’s enough,” she spat. “You weren’t around enough
to have the right to tell me anything.” Madison lashed out again at Tina, this
time knocking her mother onto the floor.

“Madison, stop!” Troy shouted. He ran over to his Mate and
quickly stepped between his Mate and her mother. Troy looked into her eyes and
saw the gathered tears there. “
It’s
okay, Sweetheart.”
He slowly approached her. “I’m right here and I’m not going anywhere.” When she
started to shake her head, he gave her a kind smile. “This was your worse fear
right? That you would be fresh from a blood bath and I would walk away? I’m
right here. I’m not going anywhere.
Me
, you and the
boys are going to have our own family.
Starting right now.”
He glanced over his shoulder and saw a familiar head of blonde hair. “Casper
can help arrange a trip to Vegas. We’ll be married by morning.”

Madison started shaking as she backed away from Troy. “She
didn’t want me, why would you?” she asked in a small voice.

Troy ignored Tina’s gasp and stepped even closer to Madison.
“Maybe because she just doesn’t understand my Maleficent,” he replied before
touching her good hand. He pulled her closer to him and gently wrapped his arms
around her. “What happened is in the past, Madison.” She wrapped her arm around
his waist. “Don’t think that I don’t want you. Hell, I couldn’t give you up
four years ago. You think I can walk away now?”

She looked into Troy’s eyes, her own starting to slowly
change back to their normal color. “I love you,” she whispered before letting
darkness take her.

Troy caught her up into his arms and looked at Tina. “Are
you okay?” he asked her.

She pressed her lips together and nodded. “I’ll start the
clean-up. Can you tell Dylan and James that I’ll need help?” She turned her
away from Troy and went over to where Alex and Claudia were still prone. She
knelt in front of the young man and frowned when she saw that the woman in his
arms was still unconscious. “Give her here,” Tina commanded. “I’ll get her
outside to help.”