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“You,” she said hoarsely, “are a sick f**k.” Raynor shrugged. “Eye of the beholder.” He frowned, and at the same time, Sin picked up the sound of… a scuffle? Muted… and from several directions, but definitely fighting going on. Cursing, Raynor threw his butt to the ground, grabbed Sin’s arm, and dragged her toward the rear of the junkyard.
Out of nowhere, Wraith appeared, blocking Raynor’s retreat. “Hey. Where ya goin’?” Ray’s hand tightened on Sin’s biceps. “One of your brothers, I’m guessing?”
“Yep. The mean one. Oh, wait, they’re all mean.” She grinned. “You are so f**ked.” Ray snarled at Wraith. “You do realize that if you hurt me, she suffers.”
“Yeah,” Wraith drawled. “Sucks, because I would love to beat you to a pulp.”
All around, the shadows stirred, and from them the rest of her brothers, plus Kynan, Luc, Tayla, and a guy she thought might be a Guardian, surrounded them. “Thought” being the key word, because the tall, blond male looked an awful lot like a vampire, and she didn’t think The Aegis employed the bloodsuckers. Though she supposed that if they could keep a half-demon in charge of an entire cell, a vamp might not be a big deal.
Sin slid her gaze to Eidolon. Next to him were two female Judicia, their green skin eerily luminescent in the moonlight. Then she heard the click of weapons being brought to bear, and damn if she didn’t nearly have a heart attack.
Men in black SWAT-like gear swept through the compound like ants. That would be the R-XR. Here? Working with demons?
“What’s going on?” Raynor practically screamed. “You’re killing my men!”
“Only the ones who fight back,” Kynan said. “The rest are being rounded up. If they’re productive, harmless members of society, they’ll be freed.” Shade snorted. “Something tells me a lot of them are going to rot in some military testing facility.” “Release them, and I’ll free Sin.” For emphasis, Raynor jerked her roughly against him.
“Sorry, buddy,” Eidolon said coldly, “but the time for negotiation passed when you put that collar on her.”
“If you touch me—”
“Yeah, yeah, she dies, yadda, yadda.” Con’s voice came from behind her, and Sin whirled—or did as best as she could while still being held by Ray.
“Con?” she gasped. He moved like a ghost through the maze of vehicles, hand around the neck of a badly beaten male, the one from the warg village and the dhampire grounds. “What, you thought you could get rid of me so easily?”
She smiled so big it hurt, and tears sprang to her eyes, and geez, she was a faucet lately. “How? Oh my God, how are you here?” Something was different about him. He was still as sexy as ever, but maybe a little paler. And the way he moved… Before, he was like a panther in motion. Now, he was a phantom panther… silent, more sleek and deadly. As if his most potent, most powerful elements had been distilled, leaving nothing but raw grace and an overpowering presence. God, it was so hot. Her sex drive, which had been as dead as she thought he was for the last twenty hours, roared back to life.
“Long story. When I called Eidolon a few minutes ago, he said you’d be here, so here I am.” He shoved the male forward. “Brought you something. This is Valko, if you don’t remember. He’s going to call off Lycus.” Con’s hand slammed into the warg’s throat. “Aren’t you?”
Valko grunted. “No, I’m not. And if you kill me without a formal challenge, you’ll face a death sentence, dhampire.” “Vampire. And I’m not going to kill you.” Con smiled, flashing fangs that seemed a little larger than before. “I need you alive so you can take any punishment handed down to me, Wraith, and Eidolon for keeping Sin out of Carceris hands.” He glanced at Eidolon. “Volunteers are allowed to do that, right?”
Eidolon grinned. “Hell, yes.”
“I will never volunteer,” Valko snapped, and Eidolon shrugged.
“You will if you want your SF vaccination.”
“I already got it.”
“You got a B-12 shot. Con’s idea.” He slid Con an approving glance. “Good thinking, man.”
“Thank you.” Con’s voice was pleasant, as if he wasn’t gripping an enraged warg in the middle of a situation so tense the air seemed heavy. He shoved Valko to the ground and gestured to Raynor. “Release Sin. This is your last warning.”
“I will not. And if you slipped me a damned vitamin shot, your sister dies with me.” “You, unfortunately, got the real thing.” Eidolon stepped forward with the green demons. “And I’d like you to meet my other sisters, Omira and Ravan.”
Right… Sin remembered something about Eidolon growing up with Omira, but Ravan had been born long after he left the fold.
Raynor snorted. “Do I look like Captain Kirk? Because I already told Sin I don’t do demons. Especially not ugly-ass green ones.” Omira laughed, a curiously beautiful sound, given that, really, she wasn’t all that attractive. “My brother was right. I’m going to enjoy this.” She dug inside her leather satchel and drew out a thin, gold rope in the shape of a figure eight. “A charge has been brought against you by… well, all those present. The charge is conspiracy to commit genocide. I do find you guilty.”
“What?” Raynor’s voice was strangled. “You can’t do that! Who are you?”
Eidolon patted Omira on the shoulder. “She’s a Justice Dealer. She can definitely do it.” Ray’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. “No. The Carceris must jail me first, and then—”
“The Carceris is called in only to capture those who have charges pending, who are wanted for questioning, or who must be held during an investigation or trial.” She moved toward him. “Because I heard your plot, I have the authority to be judge, jury… and executioner.”
Someone must have given a silent signal, because her brothers and Kynan rushed Ray, and Con tore Sin from the warg’s grip. He held her so tightly she could hardly breathe, but she didn’t care. Didn’t matter. All that mattered was that he was alive.
“I’ve got you,” he murmured into her hair. “I’ll always get you.” She’d have melted at his words, but Raynor was getting manhandled, and in response, her arms ached, the joints feeling stretched, her upper arms and legs bruised as the boys took Raynor to the ground. It was obvious that they were holding back, trying to be gentle, but Ray was fighting them.
“If you kill me, she dies,” he screamed, and yeah, that was a concern. “Just watch,” Con said. “Every member of the Judicia uses restraints similar to what the Carceris has. They nullify all magic and all supernatural and natural abilities. As long as he’s wearing the rope—”
“The bond with him will be severed,” she finished on an excited breath. Somehow, Ray broke away and struggled to his feet, and okay, she was sick of this. “Guys? Hurt him! I can take it.” Lore wrenched Ray’s arm behind him, and yep, that freaking hurt. Ray’s snarl was cut off, and for a split second, she thought one of her brothers had slammed a fist into his throat. But when, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Lycus retreating behind a crane and spurts of blood shooting out from Raynor’s ripped-out throat, her breath became a knot of fire in her own throat, and she realized what had happened.
She and Raynor had just been killed.
Twenty-seven
Con wasn’t sure what happened. All he knew was that Sin was dying, even as Eidolon and Shade tried to save Ray, their dermoires glowing so brightly Con had to squint. Wraith, Lore, Tayla, and Kynan tore off, presumably after the assassin.
“Use the cuffs,” he yelled at Omira, who hastily looped one of Ray’s wrists with the gold twine. But it was too late. Sin convulsed, gave one last gurgled cry, and then went limp. Con’s vampire senses noted the sudden silence at the cessation of her heartbeat, the lack of vibration as her blood pooled in her veins, and terror obliterated everything but the need to save her life.
Gently, he lay her on the ground, and though he knew her fate was tied to Ray’s, he began CPR. Frantic curses and barked orders came from Shade and Eidolon as they worked on Ray, but even from where Con kneeled on the dirt, he could see that the warg was not coming back. Not with the way his head had been shorn nearly off his shoulders by something that looked like a razor-sharp boomerang.
The collar around Sin’s neck popped off, indicating a total disconnect from Ray, but the damage had been done.
Won’t give up. Will never give up.
“Con, we got it.” Eidolon’s glowing hand came down on Sin’s shoulder as Shade’s splayed on her belly.
Con felt Shade’s power going deep, grabbing at the organs and forcing them to work. “Fuck,” he muttered. “I can make them function, but if I stop…” “They stop,” Con whispered. Sin’s heart was beating, her lungs were breathing, her liver was filtering. But not on their own. “Maybe I can turn her into a vampire. Maybe I can force her to drink.” Even as he said it, he knew he was grasping at straws. Demons couldn’t be turned, and even if her human half allowed for it, the chance of it working on someone who had died was practically zero.
At Sin’s feet, Lore hit his knees, a sob breaking from deep in his chest. “Sin, damn you.” He tore off his glove and gripped her ankle. “This works only if the death is natural, but since the warg’s death was, and with you guys helping…”
“Maybe,” Shade grunted. Yeah, Ray’s death wasn’t exactly natural, but Con got what Lore was saying. The warg had been killed by a normal weapon. He hadn’t died of a curse or spell or mystical disease. Sin’s death had come via a mystical connection… to a natural death.
Son of a bitch. There were way too many ifs and variables here.
“Save her.” He gripped her hand so hard that if she could feel it, it would hurt. “Please.”
