Vlad had given us cover with that war. He’d made completing my goal ten times easier. If not for him, I might not have successfully made it out. That was some serious maneuvering right there. And more, he must’ve known what it would’ve meant if the sect had come to the Brink to get me. He must’ve known that to prevent a war (which he must’ve not been quite ready for), I had to go to the underworld, and that I’d need help to do it.
All that to get me under his control. He didn’t plan to aid Lucifer; he planned to use me as bait to corner him. Or maybe just hang on to me to see what I was really worth to my father. Vlad did all that to get me under his thumb.
Wow.
I had to give the vampire mad respect for all that.
“Anyone who has met you would know how you would react to such news of the demons,” Moss was saying. “He has orchestrated all of your movements, and everything has been done with an eye toward condemning Darius. He can now claim Darius put you at great risk, illegally. That will allow Vlad to kill him, per our laws, before moving in and claiming you for himself.”
I took the last sip of wine, because why waste it, and thought about the events of the Dark Kingdom and immediately before. The battle so near the castle. All the sects prickly and on edge. My father showing up to quell the rage. The areas Vlad occupied in the edges, lurking. Watching for us.
“Oh, that bastard,” I said under my breath.
Another thought occurred to me. I was no longer a ripe turnip.
If such a thing existed.
I narrowed my eyes at Moss. “Why should I trust you?”
He stared at me with his flat, dark gaze. “You shouldn’t. Ever. You are wild, and fickle, and no one will ever be able to predict which side you’ll choose—with us, or against us. But right now, you can save my employer. Only you. For that, I am here, asking your help. Though I do not like it.”
“Oh, sure. Throw in that last bit, why don’t you.” I listened for his thoughts and was immediately rewarded. Guilt for pursuing his bloodlust instead of accompanying Darius. Fear for what would happen to the kingdom he’d help build if Darius came to harm. Annoyance and anger that he had to ask a ridiculous human creation for help. And beneath all that, a budding bromance for his employer. He simply didn’t want anything to happen to Darius.
It was this last bit that convinced me of his truthfulness.
“Right. Let’s blow shit up.” I set the glass on the coffee table for the minions to clean up and headed for the door.
“Aren’t you going to change?” he asked.
“I smell drunk and look crazy. Trust me. My appearance is the first line of defense.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Moss had an expensive, high-speed car waiting, so he drove dangerously fast to the nearest gate into the Realm. From there he offered to carry me so we could move as quickly as possible.
I put my arm on his shoulder and smugly grinned. I didn’t need it. I was the Flash.
Turned out, he was still a little faster than me, which was annoying.
I made up for it when he suggested circumventing the weird rock forest I’d stumbled my way through on my first visit to the lair. Instead, I used my power and shoved all the rocks out of the way. When the rock man wandered in, pissed beyond belief, I used air to punch him while yelling, “Now ask me weird questions that hurt my brain!” We hadn’t hit it off last time.
“I don’t think you are rational just now,” Moss said in a low voice.
Unlike when Darius accused me of that, Moss was totally right. But seriously, Vlad was trying to creep on my man? No way.
At the entrance to the lair, I put my hand on Moss’s suited chest to hold him back. “Number one, only James Bond wears a suit when going into battle. Number two, I got this. Just follow along and don’t get burned.”
I kicked the door open. “Lucy, I’m home!”
The darkness engulfed me, but I didn’t pay it any attention. I followed the same path as on my first visit. Only a few months had passed since then, but it seemed like so much longer. This time, I had zero fear. Absolutely none. I’d survived the Dark Kingdom. The lair, or what non-vampires called the Dungeon, held no horrors for me.
I stalked down the corridor as the first vampire rushed for me, fangs bared.
“Nope.” I flicked my hand, and air-swatted it at the dirt wall. “Follow me and I’ll kill you.”
It followed me.
Moss jumped out of the way as I jabbed my hand forward like a kung fu master from the old movies. I pierced the vampire’s chest with air and clutched its heart.
Its eyes widened.
“Don’t fuck with crazy.” I tore its heart out of its chest. Which probably would’ve looked especially cool if I’d taken a bite of it while the vamp died, but ew. No.
I turned, and Moss followed without a word.
Columns rose to the sides, spacious and high. I glanced up at a ledge strung between them and saw a vampire hiding under one of those sheets that had once made them invisible to me. It looked down at me, watching my progress.
I sent fire to burn away the sheet, hoping to expose him. His body puddled into goo on the ledge.
Oops.
“You shouldn’t show your power so frivolously,” Moss said.
He was nervous.
I grinned.
“Darius will live, he’ll get his bond passed, and I will be one of yours. Don’t you protect what’s yours?”
“What if there are leaks?”
“Just say I have a demon in me. Easy. Really, Moss, it’s like you have no imagination.”
Moss’s lips tightened. My grin turned into a smile.
Unlike the last time I was here, no new vampires showed up to face off with me. A new boss was in town. One that led by force.
Thanks, demons, for your unwelcome lessons.
The base of the pass widened until it opened to a chamber filled with riches and a dinner table not used for eating.
At the front of the room, Vlad sat in the large throne chair, a smug smile on his face. Two bored-looking vampires sat with him, a man and a woman, on either side of his throne.
The one person standing at this sitting party, Darius flicked his eyes to me, then Moss, then me again. Anger and frustration stole through his previously despondent expression. He was pissed because he thought I was endangering myself.
Or maybe that I had to rescue him.
Again.
He did make a handsome damsel.
“Ms. Somerset,” Vlad said in a honeyed voice. I didn’t hear any of his thoughts, and had a sneaking suspicion that he’d spent enough time working with demons to figure out that trick they all seemed to know. “So lovely to see you again. Mr. LaRay, put up a wall of privacy just there, please. We had it taken down when we heard you’d dropped in to pay us a visit.”
Moss retrieved a spell and did as he was told while I surveyed the elder in front of me.
“Hey, Vlad,” I said. “I hear you’re discussing Darius’s and my bond. Imagine my surprise when I didn’t get an invite to this party.”
“Your illegal bond, Ms. Somerset, and this is a vampire issue.”
“Oh. Well, then. Let me barge my way in and make it my issue. So what’s the problem, and where is the group of vampires that usually decide on bonding matters? I was under the impression there were more than two, and also that you didn’t have any part of it.” I quirked an eyebrow at him.