“I don’t care who you are, where you came from, or what you can do. I’ve been told all about you, Rhiannon Murphy. Cross me, and I’ll rip out your fucking throat, let you bleed out, and make those who care about you so much watch.” Turning her head, she narrowed her eyes at Paine. “The same applies to you. Fuck with me, and there won’t be any place you can hide. I’ll own your soul.”
Paine yanked me behind him as Victoria walked past us with her head held high. The dozen or so men in her accompaniment followed, remaining silent though each took a brief glance in my direction. She stopped just outside the doorway and turned.
“Don’t forget our agreement, Paine,” she said. “I’ll expect time with your necromancer soon enough.”
Paine didn’t say a word, and neither did I. I mentally compiled what she had said to my growing list of questions which would be asked at a better time. The moment they were gone, Goose and Bells quickly stepped inside and closed the door.
“Who the fuck was that?” I stepped away from Paine and made a beeline for the couch. My muscles were achy, and my head had started to pound. The adrenaline coursing through my body made me shake, the trembling far too much for me to control or stop.
“So much has changed in the time you’ve missed,” Goose answered, and I glanced up at him.
“Tell me something I don’t know.” Reclining, I sighed in bliss as cushions cradled my back. “Everything’s different.”
Paine approached and crouched at my feet. He placed a hand on my thigh, the weight of his palm comfortingly heavy, and I couldn’t help but notice the physical contact thing. He couldn’t seem to keep his hands to himself.
“Victoria is the queen of the newly established North Eastern Province,” Paine said. “She controls everything above the Mason-Dixon line, all the way to what was once the Canadian border.”
“A queen, huh?” I exhaled softly, closed my eyes, and allowed my head to fall back. Now the world consisted of vampire royalty. Why was I not surprised? “It figures.”
“This isn’t a joke.” Goose sounded annoyed, and I countered his aggravation with my attitude. As fucked up as it was, his annoyance reminded me of home. I wanted to see him moody. Seeing him ordered around like a puppet pissed me off.
Lifting my head, I opened my peepers and looked him in the eye. “Do you see me laughing?”
“Her kind is responsible for everything you see around you,” Bells informed me, her voice solemn. “The war, the syndrome—all of it.”
“What?” I sat up and rested my elbows on my knees. “Are you telling me she isn’t a vampire?”
The pressure of Paine’s hand on my leg increased as he spoke. “Lady Victoria is not as she seems. The beauty is an illusion, a bit of clever magic.”
That isn’t exactly an answer.
“Are you saying she’s a witch?” I looked at Bells, thinking that perhaps I was finally on to something.
Bells folded her arms over her chest, visibly insulted. “She is nothing like me. I resent and take offense to the insinuation.”
“She’s a half-demon,” Paine clarified as if Bells hadn’t spoken. “The result of an encounter between a summoning witch and a demon.”
Shit. Demon children were powerful creatures. In fact, they were responsible for creating vampires by draining a human dry and replacing their blood with their own.
“I thought they were sent back to Hell a long time ago.”
“They were, until demons decided it was time to up the ante. They are the reason vampires were revealed to the world. In fact,” Paine moved closer, invading my personal space, “they control everything now.”
Demons, magic—a world gone fucking crazy.
A terrifying thought had me grasping Paine’s hand in a vise-like grip. Fear mingled with fury. “Can demons cross over to this realm freely now?” Zagan had come for me at the library. Was it possible for demons to cross over without benefit of contract or the bidding of a summoning? “Can they leave Hell whenever they feel like it?”
“No.” Paine’s tone was pacifying, as if he knew just how close I was to going into shock. “The same rules apply. It is only their children that can freely travel between the dimensions.”