The Devil's Masquerade: The Remedy (The Devil's Eyes) (6 page)

Cat follows behind me in a huff. The club is busy, and the girls are looking better than ever. “Hi Eli,” Danielle says to me in her end-of-routine outfit, which really is next to nothing and incredibly wonderful to look at.

“Hi Danielle. How late are you working tonight?” I ask, looking her over with every muscle in my body ready to pleasure her.

“I get off in a half hour. Why? Are you going to finally treat me to a night out in that fancy car of yours?” she asks, running her hand across my cheek, down my arm, and over my chest with a hum.

“Baby, I will treat you to whatever you want,” I say, taking her hand and kissing it.

“Excuse me. What about me?” Cat says, poking me in the back. I roll my eyes and smile back at her.

“Don’t worry. I will take you back and drop you off before I take Danielle out.”

“I thought we were going to get some work done? Ideas and plans with Gideon, remember? Galena is not going to be easy for you to handle tomorrow. You better get some rest and not spend a lot of time playing around with this woman,” Cat says with her arms crossed and a scowl on her face.

“Who is Galena?” Danielle asks.

“The woman he is supposed to meet up with tomorrow,” Cat graciously volunteers.

“Oh, tomorrow’s date huh? Well enjoy that, Eli,” Danielle says, dismissing me before I have a chance to explain.

“Danielle, it isn’t really a date. It’s just business,” I yell after her, but she is already gone. Damn it! Cat stands next to me, looking innocent. “Thanks for that.”

“I don’t think she is your type anyway.”

“Oh, trust me. She is definitely my type,” I say, finding Gideon and setting him up with some new supplies and gathering information to give to Ryan. Cat never says a word, and I almost forget she is with me until we get back to the car. She stands outside my car, waiting by the passenger door and tapping her foot. “Are you getting in or are you going to run alongside?” I ask.

“I am waiting,” she says abruptly.

“Waiting? Waiting for what?”

“I am waiting for you to open the door for me. I am a lady after all.”

“You are? Since when?” She ignores my remarks and continues standing outside the car. This is ridiculous. “I didn’t open the door for you when we left the house. Why, all of a sudden, do you require it now?” I yell as she continues to ignore me and wait with her chin up in the air. “Oh for the love of … Fine.” I get out of the car and walk around to open the door for her. “Your Highness,” I say, motioning for her to get in.

“Thank you.” She slides in without any more trouble. As soon as I get back in the car though, she smiles at me, and that can’t be good. “So, where are we going to go eat?”

“What? I don’t have time to eat. I have to get back.”

“You were going to take that girl out to eat.”

“That was for a date, and I guarantee you we weren’t going to be eating food.”

“You were going to have sex with her on a first date?” she asks in shock.

“Yes. Several times,” I say with certainty.

“Well, I am hungry. I know this great place around the corner that is open late.” I start to tell her no, but when she turns to me and smiles, I, for some reason, don’t bother to argue. I just take her to the restaurant of her choice. We don’t do a lot of talking at first, then, she just can’t help herself. “What I don’t understand is why you like that girl? You could pretty much see everything. Yes, she has big breasts and a nice body maybe, but don’t you think it is better to leave something to the imagination? Don’t you think she would be more attractive to you if she covered herself up more and …”

“No,” I say, simply shaking my head. “No.” She goes back to eating in silence until I accidently look up and catch her eyes on me again. “What?”

“How come you let your hair grow so long? It’s not even long enough to pull back, and it keeps getting into your eyes. Doesn’t it bother you? And how come you don’t shave more often? Ryan shaves, and he keeps his hair nice. I think you would look much nicer if you would do the same. You might not have such a hard time getting a woman if you did.”

“I …” Grimacing in frustration, I try to regain my composure. “Listen. I like myself. I like the way I look. It’s comfortable to me, and I have never had a problem getting women. Trust me, no woman has ever complained to me about any of these things when I get a hold of her. In fact, once I get a woman into bed, she never wants to leave. Now stop with the absurd questions. I got you dinner, so eat and let’s go.” She sighs and looks back down at her food. “If you don’t like me, then why did you insist on spending more time with me? You could have stayed at the house with the clean-cut Ryan and admired his shaving skills.”

“I find you fascinating. You’re different than most men I have met. I most certainly don’t like you or want to spend time with you. That is absurd. I am simply … studying you, like a science project,” she says, unable to look up at me.

“Why don’t you follow Amery around? He seems to like being worshiped.”

“Amery is the most genuine and respectable Lord there is. He is amazing at what he does,” she gushes.

“Oh, I’m sure.” I roll my eyes.

“You could learn a lot from him. He could teach you how to dress, to speak, to negotiate …” She goes on and on about Amery.

“I have to tell you. I don’t care for the guy. So, if you would, please stop talking about him. I am starting to get nauseous over here.”

“If you would give him a chance, I am sure you would come to respect him too.”

“Are you in love with him or something?” I ask, and she sits back, instantly in shock. “Oh, so you are. Then why are you here with me? Go find Amery and follow him around.”

“I am not in love with Amery. I respect him and care for him, as he does me.” I nod, mocking her and mumbling things she would like to do to him. “You are so disgusting! I don’t know why …”

“Why are you with me? You obviously can’t stand me, so why don’t you just stay the hell away from me?”

“You don’t want me to be around you?” she asks suddenly with a sad expression. “I was only trying to help.”

Oh this fucking woman!
I swear I am going to put her in her place. Who the fuck is she? She attempts to pulls her hair back, but it’s still a mess. Half of it is hanging around her face. I don’t even think she wears makeup, not that she has to with her features, especially those full, kissable lips. Nevertheless, her clothes could fit me, and those horrible boots. Did she sign up for military duty or something? Her fucking attitude is the absolute worst, and she is nothing but a huge pain in the ass. “Cat … Catriona,” I say until she looks up at me with her big green eyes, and for some reason, I smile. She smiles back with ease, causing me to laugh. “Never mind, Short Stuff, let’s go. I have another errand to run.”

“Can I go too?” she asks.

“I would miss you if you didn’t,” I say, glancing down at her beautiful smiling face and feeling a strange twinge within me.

Chapter 9

Elijah

Today we received word that Galena is going to be alone for a short time, making arrangements for a flight for her and Nick to go to a meeting out of state. There is little discussion on whether we should wait. The only discussion concerns how we will go after her. Kayla, refusing to be left out, leaves the boys with Gideon, but I demand she not come anywhere near the fight, and Ryan agrees with me. They will seek her out to kill her for sure. Amery volunteers to guard her, from what we perceive to be a safe distance, while the rest of us go after Galena and her guards. It isn’t going to be easy, but if we concentrate on getting Galena before Nick gets there, then we should be good. We have to act fast. She isn’t expected to be alone long. Catriona suddenly steps in between Ryan and I as we discuss the best way to enter the airplane hangar.

“I should go in first,” she says confidently.

“And why is that Short Stuff?”

“Because I know her tactics better than any of you. I can direct everyone to the right places so we strike her weakest points,” she says.

Ryan and I laugh. “Okay. I’m sure you can, but I think it is best we let Ryan go first since he is the strongest, and then me, and then … well you can come in with us but be sure to stay close to me so you don’t get hurt.”

“You foolish ass. I am much stronger than I look. I can take you down with little effort,” she snaps back.

“I would let her do what she wants if I were you. Catriona has been a valuable asset to my army.” Amery floats into the discussion while lounging on top of his car.

“Will you just concentrate on watching Kayla? She is determined and can slip by you before you even know what has happened,” I say, smiling in Kayla’s direction as she huffs. I look down at Cat and study the ball of fiery innocence. “Fine. But you better not slow us down. We only have so much time before Nick gets here. He is supposed to go with her, but she is coming early to set up the flight. That process only allows us enough time to go in, take out her guards, and get her out of there.” I step towards her and look down. “And if you get hurt, don’t blame me.”

“I know the plan, and don’t worry about me. Just watch for my signals,” she says forcefully. I follow after her, mocking her focused determination. Ryan smacks me in the back of the head, laughing.

“Alright, so everyone understands their roles and is good with the plan, right?” Ryan asks one last time. Everyone nods except for Amery.

Amery perks up and sighs. “Sure. Why not?” he finally says, halfheartedly.

“Then let’s go,” Ryan says, glancing my way. We both really hate him.

We are all vibrating with anticipation and even more so when Galena arrives. This woman is captivating. It is nearly impossible to be near her and not want her. She has a dark sadness about her, but it is blended with a mesmerizing sexiness. This fucking family is blessed for sure.

“Be careful, Scruffy. Galena is exceptionally beautiful, but her stamina would kill you. She would fuck you to death,” Catriona says. I glance back at her with excited interest. “Idiot,” she whispers as if I can’t hear her “Alright, I’m moving in,” she says and immediately takes off. I have to run to keep up with her.

Catriona rushes in, screaming orders at everyone. We all do our best to follow them while trying to avoid being killed by Galena’s guards. These fuckers are nuts! They run at us with full force, screaming like mad men, all while trying to inflict as much pain and destruction as possible. None have any regard for their own life; instead, they only focus on protecting Galena. I avoid a few and shoot some others when I back up to several more coming at me. They fling themselves at me while I try to dodge them from the right. Instead of playing offense, I decide it’s just best to stand back to the left and let them come to me. I shoot everything that comes at me with a foaming mouth. One doesn’t die easily though; he grabs my leg and starts screaming for no reason at all.

“What the fuck is wrong with you? Die already!” I yell, stomping him and shooting wherever I can. When he finally relinquishes my leg, I sit back and breathe for a second.

“Will you stop goofing off and help us?” Cat yells at me.

“I was … Did you see that psycho?” I say back to her as she runs off to take on another guard. “I need to get new friends.”

Ryan takes down his last attacker and drops him at Galena’s feet. We manage to fight off enough guards to leave her more than vulnerable. Galena decides to surrender and has the few guards left put down their weapons. We force her guards into another room, lock it, and add barriers just in case these psychos change their minds about listening to Galena’s orders. Galena’s expression is that of fear, and it feels good.

“Hello Ryan. How are you?” she says calmly.

“I am good, Auntie. How about you?” Ryan says with a wide smile. Galena suddenly steps back. “Don’t try to run. You know I can out run you as much as I can kill you before you reach that door. You can either come with us peacefully or die. I don’t want to kill you, but I will if I have to.”

“Why me? I have nothing to offer you? My father will never make a deal for me. He will certainly not trade me for Nick, so you might as well kill me,” Galena says with little emotion.

“We only want to level the playing field some. If we take you out first, then we can go after Nick …” Galena interrupts Ryan, laughing.

“Oh, you have no idea what you are doing. Nicholas is not the same as you remember. You would be better off killing him than trying to get him back,” she says, causing Ryan to swallow hard. Galena gets down on her knees and raises her head high. “Go ahead … kill me. I prefer it to be you, Nephew.” Ryan stands back in shock, and I realize he won’t do it no matter what happens. Galena realizes it to.

“Ryan, we have to go!” I yell at him. He needs to force her to her feet and drag her out of here if he has to.

The beautiful family moment is quickly interrupted by the beating down of a side door. We all hide our faces until the smoke clears. Nick walks in with a scowl that I don’t enjoy seeing. The sudden trembling of my bones when he looks my way isn’t what I would describe as pleasant either.
I don’t think this is going to go well.

“I wouldn’t touch her if I were you,” Nick says to Ryan.

“I wasn’t going to touch her. I was going to kill her, Ryan says, exchanging strong glares as the two walk towards each other.

“Damn it, Ryan! This is not the time to test your skills! Let’s go!” I scream at him.

Nick lifts his head slightly and Ryan goes down, screaming in pain.
Fuck! Son of a Bitch! Fuck! Alright, here goes nothing.
I rush at Nick with full force. I don’t get within a few feet before I am flying through the air backwards and into a wall. Catriona suddenly starts running at Nick before I can stop her. She tries to battle him, but it is of no use. He handles her effortlessly and slams her to the ground near him. Dwayne follows her as does Terrence and Bo, but as many times as we all go after him, it is for naught. Meanwhile, Ryan is fighting for his life and is of no help to anyone, not even himself. While I am trying to pick myself up off the floor once again, I spot Kayla, walking through the door.
No. No! NO!