Bittersweet Blood (The Order #1)

Tara stroked her finger over the scars with a trembling hand. “What happened?”


“My family connections stopped them from permanently maiming me, but they felt they had a duty to beat the devil out of me. At the time I believed I deserved it.”

Tara blinked away a tear. It slipped out and rolled down her cheek.

Christian picked it up on his fingertip. “Don’t cry for me,” he said. “It was a long time ago, and in a way, the imprisonment is what kept me alive. Had I been free, I would have gone searching for death and no doubt found it.”

Tara couldn’t bear the thought of him alone in the darkness with only his guilt to keep him company. “How did you get out?”

“I didn’t. Well, the man I was never left that cell. After three years, the church sentenced me to death. I was to be burned at the stake as an emissary of Satan. I remember thinking I liked the irony of it. The night before I was to die, I had a visitor. He said he could free me, give me a new life, immortality if I wanted it. I answered that I didn’t want a new life and immortality at that point seemed a burden rather than a prize, but he told me I would be fighting demons. He belonged to a group that protected the Earth, and I could be part of that. I could hunt down the killers of my family, and all I needed to relinquish was my mortal life and my soul. At that point, I wasn’t even sure I had a soul worth saving. So I agreed, and received the vampire’s kiss.”

“So the one who approached you was from the Order?”

He nodded. “He was the head of the Order of the Shadow Accords.”

“Did you manage to get the demon that killed your family?”

“We’ve had a couple of run-ins. I’ve beaten him once or twice, but you can’t destroy one of the seven forever, at least not here on earth. You can kill the body but they just re-manifest in the Abyss.”

“You must really hate demons.”

He cast her a look she didn’t quite understand. “I did. For a long time, I hunted them and destroyed them when I could, but I found that all hatred runs out in the end. So after the last wars, I left the Order.”

“But you’re back there now.”

“I wouldn’t be, but it seems that Asmodai is back, and he’s after me.”

She frowned. “You personally?”

“He’s picking off agents close to me.”

“Why should he do that?”

Christian shrugged. “I was in charge of the Order during the last wars when he was banished back to the Abyss. It’s unusual for a demon to bear a grudge—unlike the fae—but for some reason, it’s gotten personal for him. It’s always been personal to me.”

“What were they like, your wife and daughters?”

“It’s so long ago that I can hardly recall their faces. Things were different back then. I liked and respected Elizabeth but love was not a part of our marriage. It was arranged, as was the way at the time. My daughters were different, I loved them, but they were young, I barely saw them.”

…

Her eyes filled with compassion for a five-hundred-year-old wound that had healed long ago. But as Christian watched, her expression changed. A grim determination settled on her face, and he knew what was coming.

“So,” Tara said, “are you going to tell me what you saw? What you tasted?”

He could see the anxiety in her eyes, and he didn’t know how to tell her. She wanted so much to have a normal life, and he was about to put an end to her hopes forever. He opened his mouth to speak, and his cell phone rang.

Christian put her gently from him and swung around to sit on the edge of the bed. He pulled the phone from his pants pocket and flicked it open. It was Piers.

“We have a meeting with the fae.”

“When?” Christian asked.

“Tomorrow, midnight.”

“How melodramatic. You found them?”

“I didn’t need to in the end. They came to us. Apparently they have something they want us to do.”

“Any idea what?”

“No, but it’s connected to you somehow. They’re insisting you’re present at the meeting.”

“Insisting? Since when have the fae had the right to demand anything of the Order?”

“Actually, I didn’t argue very hard. I thought it might be a good idea if you’re present.”

“Why?”

“Me and the fae don’t exactly hit it off. It might be a good idea to have you there as a buffer.”

Christian sighed, but he realized Piers was right. Diplomacy had never been Piers’s strong point and with the demons up to something, it was probably best not to rile the fae any more than necessary. “Okay, I’ll be there.”

He broke the connection. “We have to leave,” he said to Tara.

“We’re going back to London?”

“Yes, I have a meeting tomorrow night.” He pulled on his clothes as he spoke but was aware that Tara watched him through narrowed eyes.

“So, are we going to talk about what’s going on here?”