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“At what cost?” Logan struggled to keep the urgency out of his voice.Never let a demon know you’re desperate, as Ares liked to say. “You’ll become the very kind of demon we’ve been fighting. You’ll become a monster, Draven. You’ll lose yourself and your family. You’ve got to stop this. Right now.”
“But I don’t want to stop. I want to know where the rest of them are.” He studied his claws. “Do you know where they are?”
“The Aegis won’t tell us.”
“I don’t believe you.” Draven looked up from his hand. “Just tell me if they’re out of the country.”
“Draven, I swear I don’t know.” Very casually, he clasped his fingers together, moving his right hand close to his comms. He needed to get DART here ASAP.
“Then I’ll have to raid every Aegis house in Belgium until I find them. I’ll leave a bloodbath in my wake, Logan. You know I will.” He glanced at Logan’s hands. “Don’t even think about alerting DART.”
“I’m not,” Logan lied. Fuck. Draven knew him way too well. “But come with me back to HQ. You’re not in trouble. DART will stand behind you. Those Aegi started it. We have it on holocam. They murdered two of our people. Everyone understands why you did what you did.”
Logan didn’t have to lie about that. They all got it. There wasn’t a person at DART who wouldn’t go homicidal if their loved one was murdered. But this would become very public very soon, and the world wasn’t ready to see a DART agent get demonic revenge, especially if the targets were human—ones the world saw as heroes in an organization that stood as a bulwark between good and evil.
No, Draven on a bloody rampage wasn’t a good look for DART at all.
“Okay, how about this?” he continued, reading Draven and the conflict in his expression. Logan was getting through to him. “Let me take you to your parents. They’re worried about you. They can bring you back to the real you. Because this…this isn’t you.”
Draven swallowed. When he spoke, his voice trembled. “But itisme. It’s me without Shanea.”
“It hurts, I know.” Logan eased even closer. He’d take his buddy down if he had to. Draven would thank him later. “But we’ll all help you through it. Let me call your parents.”
For a long time, Draven just stood there, his eyes glazed with unshed tears, the crimson rings flickering.
I have him.
Then a door slammed at the end of the hall, and Draven snapped out of his…humanity. That was the only word Logan could think of. One moment, Draven’s skin had lost its gray tinge, and the red light in his eyes had dimmed. The next, they lit up like fires again, and blue veins spread across the backs of his hands as he curled them into fists.
“Help me,” he growled.
“I will,” Logan swore. The pain in Draven’s voice wrecked him. He reached for his friend, ready to take him to his parents. “I’ll do anything. You know that—”
“Help me get justice,” Draven roared, his teeth elongating, sharpening. “Help me slaughter those who took everything from me!”
Agony and hatred filled the room like acidic steam. It stung Logan’s eyes and skin, corrupting his thoughts and very soul as he actually considered Draven’s plea. He didn’t know if it was some sort of effect Draven’s species had, or if it came as a result of Logan’s breeding. Maybe Draven’s evil side was connecting with the demon DNA inside Logan that came from Lilith. Whatever it was, it called to him. Made him want to cause suffering and death.
Family is not to be fucked with.
“I want to.” No lie. It was no fucking lie. The truth of it seared his gut. His heart. His soul.
Draven held out his hand. “Take it, brother.” His voice became smoky and rumbling, scraping the deepest pits of Hell. “Let’s lay waste to the human filth that plagues this world. We won’t stop with the fuckers who took Shanea from me. We’ll be vigilantes. Righting wrongs the humans do to us. It’s you and me against the world. Just like when we were kids, except we now have the power to really take out the bad guys. We’ll be real-life heroes.”
The demon on Logan’s shoulder whispered in his ear, telling him to join his best friend on the noble mission.
The angel on his other shoulder, the one he imagined to be his grandfather, whacked him upside the head and threatened to put him over his knee.
Somehow, even though he hadn’t seen Reaver in forever, he heard his grandfather telling him he loved him. And to get his head out of his ass, or he’d sic grandma Harvester on him.
In some ways, Harvester was far scarier than either Reaver or Lilith.
As if merely thinking Lilith’s name was a summons, she appeared in the doorway, her skintight black leather bodysuit revealing far more than any grandson wanted to see.
Draven wheeled around to her. “Lilith,” he spat, sounding like his old self, and for the first time, Logan was actually glad to see her.
This could be the break Logan needed. They’d fight Lilith together, on the same side. Surely, Draven would remember the DART agent he was. And if he still didn’t, Logan could beat his ass and haul him to his parents’ place for the reversal ceremony.
Lilith cocked her head and eyed Draven. “Weren’t you at the club the other night? With my grandson? You look different.” She waggled her brows suggestively. “I like.” She turned to Logan. “Did you really think changing rooms would fool me? I knew you’d come back for that bitch in heat.”
