Chapter

Chapter 7

Michael traced through the city watching the kaleidoscope of buildings and lights collapse around him with crystal clarity. The sensation made him feel like he held all of the secrets of the universe. He listened to the sounds around him… the chatter of humans breezing by him like rushing water… the roar of car engines and music playing. He turned his head when he detected a more ominous sound.

The human voices and noise fell away leaving behind the hiss of demonic whispers. At first he couldn't make out what they were saying because there were so many but becoming curious, he slowed his pace so he could listen more closely. The dark voices began to come into focus and he picked up slivers of conversations no one else could hear.

He could hear malevolent whispers of demons plotting against other demons for territory and smirked coldly knowing the winners of those battles would add to his high when he bled them. He would leave those alone for now and let them fight amongst themselves, weeding out the weaker useless demons.

Another conversation caught his attention, this one coming from deep underground. These demons were conceited due to their large numbers and were planning a major attack on PIT for their master just so they could steal the life of one girl… a necromancer. He became even more interested when he realized their master was an original. Demons were like fine wine… they seemed to taste better with age.

The city’s complex myriad of color suddenly slid into focus as Michael came to a full stop now having a mark on his next target. He looked down at the concrete under his feet knowing the demon he was seeking hid far below the surface like a coward. Hearing the distant rumbling echo of an underground train, he slid his gaze across the street finding the entrance to one of the city’s subways.

No longer in a hurry, Michael slowly descended the steps looking forward to the thrill of the hunt. He felt an adrenalin rush when he saw a man climbing the stairs toward him to mingle with the humans above ground. The man looked like a normal street thug but he could see the distorted face of the demon just underneath the human disguise it was wearing and Michael fisted his hand.

When the demon was within reaching distance, Michael's arm shot out and he grabbed it by the side of its head. In one quick thrust, he smashed it face first into the hard tiles covering the concrete walls. There was a bone chilling crunch but Michael didn’t care and kept walking. Screams filled the air around him and he enjoyed the sounds of people running to keep out of his way.

“What the hell?” another man demanded loudly.

Michael continued down the stairs at a leisurely pace, ignoring the man yelling at him to stop. A growl built up in his chest when he felt a beefy hand wrap around his arm trying to stop his descent. Without thinking, Michael turned and pushed one hand against the other man’s chest and sent him flying up the stairs with one push. He smiled in satisfaction when the human hit one of the large metal poles supporting the roof of the stairway.

He kept his steps slow as he walked across the platform and headed for the deeper tunnels. Once the noise of the crowd was behind him, he began to feel all of the demons below the city and the multitude of whispers became overwhelming. That was when he changed his mind. Instead of going after just one demon… he wanted them all.

Michael hadn't gone far before the first demon was stupid enough to attack him.

***** Aurora opened her eyes and removed her hand from the book’s cover. “That was a good one… a little bit of violence mixed with a rough and tumble romance.”

Skye grinned, “Yeah, so far this one is my favorite.”

“What I don’t understand is why Kamui started taking all of his aggression out on that innocent statue,” Aurora said with a frown.

Skye shrugged, “He was frustrated I suppose.” He cocked an eyebrow and added, “But seeing the lightning strike the ground directly in front of him was very amusing.”

“Yes, that was funny,” Aurora smiled then glanced around the room feeling like the bookshelves swayed for a fleeting second. She blinked hearing the distant echo of a demonic growl. Jerking her gaze to Skye’s, she frowned when he didn’t react to it.

Skye noticed the pensive expression on Aurora’s face and furrowed his eyebrows, “Aurora, what is it?”

“Didn’t you hear or see that?” she asked and again searched the tall shelves seeing that they were now stable.

“No,” Skye said adding the book to the stack beside them and rising. He reached his hand down and helped her up as he stretched his senses out to search for whatever had stolen her smile. He frowned, “I’m not sensing anything.”

Aurora shook her head in confusion. That growl had definitely been a demon but Skye was right, there weren’t any demons in this house… or even near it.

“It’s probably nothing. Or, whatever it was it’s gone now,” she shrugged and looked up at the morning light shining through the high windows. “Michael has been gone for a few hours. It’s daylight now. Do you think he’s still out there fighting demons?”

Skye really hadn't noticed the time. After being trapped in a cave for so long he simply wasn’t used to keeping time. “I’m sure he’s fine,” he said after a moment of contemplating what could go wrong with a Sun God.

They looked at each other when they heard the front door open followed by the sound of footsteps approaching the library. The two Fallen waited as Kane walked in followed by the pretty woman Aurora had met briefly at Love Bites.

“Hello Kane,” Aurora said and smiled at Tabatha. “I thought Michael would come back with you. Is he all right?”

Hiding his disappointment at Michael’s absence, Kane smiled charmingly at her, “He’s fine. We actually received a call on my cell phone from PIT. They needed a little help wrangling up some demons. Michael went ahead but he did ask me to let you know so you wouldn’t worry.”

“And now it’s time for Kane to go join his brother,” Tabatha winked at Kane. “I think I’m going to stay here and wait on both of them to get back.”

Aurora nodded with a bright smile, “We will both wait.”

‘Go get Syn and Damon,’ Tabatha mentally whispered to Kane. ‘And no more secrets… tell them what’s going on. Michael has obviously gotten in over his head with something and there’s no telling what Dean has gotten into.’

Skye watched as Tabatha's expression changed subtly and he could tell she was hiding something important. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Aurora turn her face to the side in an effort to hide her worry from the others. Making up his mind, he took a step toward Kane.

“I’m going to go help the guys out with their demon problem,” he said making sure it didn’t sound like he was asking permission… because he wasn’t. “An extra set of hands is always good to have around.”

“I could help,” Aurora quickly offered still feeling like something was wrong but didn’t know what.

“And leave me here all alone?” Tabatha inquired and linked her arm through Aurora’s. “Stay… keep me company while the boys are out. Who knows, we might even have a little fun.”

Skye smiled down at Aurora reassuringly when he saw the disappointment on her face, “When I get back, I’ll show you what happened… just like I used to.” He knew the other two in the room wouldn’t understand the statement but Aurora did. When she gave him a thankful smile, he took off out the door to wait for Kane on the front porch.

“And that’s my cue to exit stage right,” Kane said with a deep bow. “Give me a call if you ladies need anything.” He gave Tabatha a meaningful look and fingered his cell phone. He turned to leave then paused and leaned in to give her a quick kiss.

“Will you get out of here?” Tabatha demanded playfully. “How am I supposed to tell yours and Michael’s secrets behind your back if your back isn’t turned?”

“You tell my secrets?” Kane asked with a pitiful expression.

Tabatha blew him a kiss then laughed when Kane caught it and disappeared out the door.

“He’s so kind to you,” Aurora gushed. “How did you meet someone so charming?”

“Well, it all started when I was a child and lost in the woods…”

Kane closed the front door with a soft smile on his lips as Tabatha began telling Aurora about how they met. He only hoped the story didn’t scare the poor girl off. Glancing toward Skye, he saw the serious expression on the Fallen’s face and knew this wasn’t going to be easy for either of them.

“What’s really going on?” Skye got right to the point.

Kane signaled Skye to follow him and waited until they were down the block from the house before he started talking.

“It’s Michael,” Kane answered.

Skye nodded, “I thought as much but what’s happened to him?”

“Michael is going through a very bad time at the moment. He’s… become addicted to blood… and I’m not talking about human blood.”

“I was under the impression that you guys were not master vampires,” Skye pointed out not liking the confusion.

Kane’s lips thinned but he figured since the kid was a newbie in town, maybe he had yet to connect the dots. “Before you go getting all judgmental, look at it this way… it’s just like when a Fallen sleeps with a human… the human eventually dies giving birth to a demon. Well, when we take human blood, we normally stop way before it does any damage because if we drain a human to the point of death… they will become a soulless vampire.”

“Okay,” Skye nodded, unable to stop the instinct to reach up and rub his neck. “Then if Michael isn’t drinking human blood… whose blood is he addicted to?”

Kane sighed, “I hate to be the bearer of more bad news, but it started when Michael drank from Aurora the first time they mated.”

He’d put that little tidbit together considering the fact that Syn had killed him. Another time he’d taken Aurora’s blood, Damon had been the one to do the dirty work… though Skye didn’t really need to know those details.

“Since then,” Kane continued, “he’s taken to drinking demon blood because they are the progeny of the Fallen bloodline. It not only feeds his habit, but it also keeps Aurora safe from his hunger and gets rid of some of the demons running around Los Angeles.”

Skye’s eyes widened, “So that’s why when Aurora cut her finger, Michael was suddenly there.” His shoulders slumped now that the scene had lost some of its sex appeal. “It sounds like the fact he’s killing demons is actually the good news. So let me have the bad news.”

Kane had to hand it to the kid… he wasn’t slow. “The demon blood seems to be altering his personality and giving him one hell of a power boost. He may be a lot stronger, but the truth is all that tainted blood is messing with his mind. My fear is that if he continues to drink it, he will become lost to its darkness.”

Skye caught the sadness in Kane’s voice, “That small taste of her blood in the library… that’s why he’s out killing demons now… right?” When Kane gave him a steady look he asked the hard question, “What if it’s too late to save him?”

“I don’t believe that,” Kane said with conviction, “Michael’s the strongest of all of us… even stronger than me.”

“How so?” Skye asked. “You’re the strongest one I’ve met so far.”

“In strength maybe… but mentality and spirit is a different story,” Kane answered. “The darkness still lingers on the very edge of my soul and if it weren’t for Tabatha, I wouldn’t be here with this level of sanity. Michael has always been the one to watch if we want to know if we are doing the right thing.”

Skye pressed his lips together understanding that this was a very delicate subject to the Sun God and decided discretion was the better part of valor at the moment.

“Aurora experienced a bad feeling just moments before you arrived,” Skye admitted. “We weren’t sure what it was, but after hearing the news about Michael… I’m afraid he might be the reason.”

Kane nodded, silently thankful for Skye’s tact. “That makes sense… they are linked as soul mates. It is instinct that we taste the blood of our soul mate, but in this case… I think it was a very dangerous thing to do. Once we find him, you need to stay back and let me handle him.”

Skye watched as Kane vanished in a blur and quickly traced after him. Aurora deserved Michael after everything she had been though and he was determined to make sure she didn’t lose him.

***** Jade had only gotten a couple more hours of sleep before her eyes opened again. The sun was shining through a break in the curtains and her gaze was drawn toward the thin line of bright light across the blanket.

Turning her head, she saw that Titus was still asleep and quickly averted her gaze. She seriously needed something else to think about besides the handsome Alpha lying beside her only half covered by the sheet. If she had to rate his body on a scale of one through ten then she’d be holding up a sign with a double digit. She rolled her eyes at the mental picture she’d just given herself.

The primal need to take a lover was still there and she fought the urge to act on it… besides, she was still too sore from last night’s fun. Jade had to admit that was the best sex she’d ever had. No human had ever come close to giving her more than one quick tiny orgasm and she’d always cherished the sensation. Titus blew that theory out of the water since she couldn't begin to count how many orgasms she’d had last night.

Knowing her thoughts were again going in a direction she didn’t want them to, she reminded herself of the reason why she was here in the first place. Sonia was dealing with a demon all on her own while Jade was getting down and dirty with the other Los Angeles Alpha.

Jade forced her thoughts to stay on track instead of in the gutter. She still had the necklace Storm had given to Titus and that was in her favor. She laid there for a moment wondering if Tasuki had a computer where she could access the Intel Titus had gathered on Lucca. Actually, the only piece of information she needed was the address he spent most of his time at. Even if he wasn’t there when she showed up she would just lay in wait for him. She needed to get Sonia back and get the hell out of Dodge.

“What’s on your mind?” Titus asked suddenly.

He’d woken up and listened to the change in her breathing letting him know she was wide awake so he decided to remain silent to see what she would do. It hadn’t taken long for her to start shifting but he’d kept his eyes closed so she wouldn’t jump out of bed right away. When another part of him started to rise he figured he might as well say something before it gave him away.

“I want to rescue Sonia today,” Jade suddenly answered him with the truth.

Titus sighed heavily and shook his head, “We simply can’t do that yet.”

“Why the hell not?” Jade demanded as her breath quickened. Just thinking about Sonia being in danger and them doing nothing about it was giving her a slight panic attack.

“Charging in without a good plan would not only be foolhardy, it could cause a lot of people to end up dead,” Titus answered.

Jade rolled her eyes, “Give me a break! You’re the police for crying out loud, and a wolf pack to boot. No wonder Lucca gets to do anything he wants. The law around here is full of wimpy cubs that are scared to fight back.

Titus sighed not wanting to fight but he couldn’t let the insult stand. He counted to ten that said the nicest thing his slight anger would allow. “You know I’m right. You’re just feeling guilty because you were rescued first.”

“Screw you,” Jade growled and got out of bed.

“Too late,” Titus shot back and watched Jade as she started moving around the room gathering up her stuff.

A huge smirk lit up his face when he saw how much difficulty she had just walking a few feet. She was sexy as hell in that cute night shirt he’d split up the middle in the heat of passion. The way it still fell off the shoulder added to the sexiness… her missing panties were a nice perk too.

Jade stopped and glared at the expression on his face, narrowing her eyes she pulled the sides of the shirt closed and tied it off halter-top style. “You can take the tent down because we aren’t going to the circus again.”

Titus glanced down at the blanket still covering his lower half and arched an eyebrow when he saw the very definite and visible tent his throbbing erection had caused. “Don’t blame him. He’s not the one parading around without anything on.”

Jade threw a shoe at him and growled when it hit the headboard next to his head. She was unable to control her smirk when it bounced off and hit him on the back of the head. Cocking an eyebrow as if she’d meant to do it that way, she flounced into the bathroom shutting the door behind her.

Titus grabbed the shoe and slung it at the door. He didn’t care what Jade said… her body language was telling him a completely different story. To hell with what she said… he wasn’t going to let her go that easily. He smiled at the decision he’d come to last night. By sticking to her like glue and blaming it on what Storm had said he’d make sure he was there every single time the heat brought her to her knees. He’d be right there in her way.

Jade dropped her bag on the bathroom floor and made a beeline for the shower. Turning the water on as hot as she could, she made good use of the soap and shampoo with the mission to wash Titus’ scent off of her. She wanted to go back and snarl at him but she had a feeling he would only find it funny. They weren’t mates and he’d immediately fallen into the old staple of bossing her around.

“Alpha’s are so damned bossy,” she growled softly under her breath.

She winced at the soreness of her thighs and leaned back against the shower wall. She loved the feeling of being so satisfied and found herself imagining going back into the bedroom to jump that awesome bossy body. Shaking her head to clear the image away, she decided it was best not to make that mistake again… she’d enjoyed it way too much.

Finally deciding that she was clean enough, Jade got out of the shower and dried off with quick jerky motions. Picking up the duffle bag, she rolled her eyes realizing she only had two sets of clothing and she’d already worn one. They’d left the beach house so fast that she hadn’t gotten the chance to grab any of her own clothes.

Pulling the ‘sweet and innocent’ outfit out of the bag, she got dressed hoping the money she’d thought to dig up was still in Titus’ Hummer. She’d have to bury it again in another location… well, not all of it because she was in need of new clothes. Slipping the necklace out of the side zipper of the bag, she looked at it before putting it around her neck and tucking it under the shirt.

Taking in her appearance in the mirror, she frowned not really liking the sweet and innocent look on her. She shrugged knowing it didn’t matter because she’d be taking care of that problem very shortly… then she’d go after Sonia. Looking toward the window she decided she’d just slip out the small opening and get away before Tasuki or Titus found her. The disappearing act had worked quite nicely on her brother.

Jade kept her movements silent as she slipped over to the bathtub and pulled up hard on the window. She mentally grunted with the effort and wondered if Tasuki had ever opened it… at all. She’d finally gotten it about halfway up when she felt a sudden presence behind her.

“I thought you were smarter than this,” Storm accused with a sigh.

Jade made a sound somewhere between an eep and a startled cry, turning on her heel at the same time. She lost her balance and fell over landing upright on the toilet… luckily the lid was down. The bathroom door suddenly flew open and Titus was standing there naked as the day he was born with a concerned light in his eyes.

“Storm,” Titus exclaimed, “what’s going on here?”

Storm had lifted his hand to shield his eyes the second Titus barged through the door. His other hand reached out and grabbed one of the dry towels from the rack and handed it over to Titus.

“Titus,” Storm said pleasantly, “How nice to see all of you again.”

Titus looked down at his state of undress before taking the offered towel. “Nice to see you too… now what’s going on?”

Storm sighed, “You know, it never fails… you change one little thing to save someone and they find a way around it… bound and determined to have things their way and damn the consequences.” He dropped a bag of clothes that he’d been carrying on his shoulder to the floor. “These are for you milady.”

Jade frowned in confusion at the bag, “What’s this for?”

“Let’s just say you already went shopping and this is what you bought,” Storm answered.

Jade kneeled down to rummage through the bag, secretly elated at all the black leather and lace type clothing inside. She cocked an eyebrow and realized… yeah, it was exactly what she would have bought.

“It’s a fair trade for the necklace,” Storm finished earning Jade a slight glare from Titus.

“I need it to help Sonia,” Jade fumed rising back to her feet. Did this man really think that he was going to bribe her with clothing in exchange for something that important? There was no way she was making the trade. “That necklace is the one thing that’s going to help me save her.”

“My dear,” Storm said with a shake of his head. “The necklace only works when a demon is trying to possess you… otherwise, it’s completely useless. It has no real power except to protect you from demonic possession.”

“How do you know I couldn't have saved her on my own?” Jade demanded wanting to hold on to the necklace thinking she might still find a way to use it.

Storm's expression hardened as did his voice, “Because you told me at Titus’ funeral that it didn’t work. You were heartbroken because Titus was killed trying to save you and Sonia was never rescued.”

“So Titus is going to die because of me?” Jade asked not wanting to believe it. She reacted to the verbal slap with shock then anger. “Do you ever have anything good to say?” she snapped.

“Yeah,” Titus butted in not liking the fact that Storm was visibly angry. He’d heard rumors of what the man could do to people that pissed him off and none of them were good. He stepped forward putting himself between Jade and Storm and didn’t stop until he was in her face. “Sonia’s alive, which is more than I can say for you if you keep this up. Back home you might think you have all the answers but here is a whole different ball of fur.”

Jade threw her hands up in frustration and yanked the necklace off, tossing it at Storm. Pushing Titus out of her way, she left the bathroom that had suddenly become over crowed and marched back into the bedroom. Her angry gaze landed on the bed where she’d made love to Titus in just a few hours before and she huffed marching past it and out into the hallway.

Storm pocketed the necklace with a grin, “Thank you! Now, I’m going to watch the chaos.”

Titus lifted an eyebrow at Storm’s odd comment and the two men followed Jade out into the living room. He nearly bumped into Jade’s back when he turned the corner and found that she’d stopped and was staring at something. Following her line of vision, he smirked at the way Tasuki was curled up in a ball on the sofa with the blanket draped over him and his head hanging off the edge.

“Do you think he’ll be good for work today?” Storm asked setting the stage.

Tasuki felt the dream fade and sighed, it had been a long night. It had taken him over an hour to go back to sleep and when he did… tall, dark, and creepy had made another visit to his nightmares. The sudden shock of hearing someone talking startled him the rest of the way awake, making him flinch and his trigger finger squeezed on the Berretta.

A single shot rang out causing Titus and Jade to jump… luckily the shot went into the floor.

“Guess not,” Storm answered himself.

“Storm,” Tasuki exclaimed and jumped off the sofa not even registering the fact that he’d just shot a hole in the floor and started waving the Berretta around. “I saw Kyoko’s angel last night at her house.” The Berretta swung to the window, “She’s the one that looks like the girl in the portrait.” He pointed at it with the gun barrel making Titus and Jade flinch back when it swung over their heads. “And some guy walked right out of my nightmares and into real life. I thought I was dead!”

“He’s not making a lick of sense,” Titus whispered wondering if he shouldn’t tranquilize the man and send him back to dreamland.

“Actually, he’s making a lot of sense,” Jade informed them locking her gaze with Tasuki’s in pity. “But I’m not the expert on this… Sonia is.” She tilted her head to the side when Tasuki’s eyes finally focused on her with understanding. Jade smiled wondering if she could recruit his help in rescuing Sonia instead of waiting on Titus.

Storm suddenly appeared next to Tasuki and gave him a quick rap on the back of the head. The young detective fell back onto the sofa and Storm tossed the blanket over him.

“This never gets old,” Storm smirked down at Tasuki before looking back up at Jade and Titus. “He’ll be calmer when he wakes up.” He looked at Jade with an expression of concern, “Your friend… the one you need to find… she’s a psychic right?”

Jade nodded with a confident smile on her face, “The best… why?”

“I would love an opportunity to talk to her.” Storm answered honestly then added, “So how about not getting her killed by being reckless.”

“Yeah,” Jade said softly, “but if we wait too long then neither one of us will be able to talk to her because she will be dead.”