Passion Ignited (18 page)

“Was he a vampire, then?” Ethan
asked.

“Raider couldn’t confirm. He said the guy
wasn’t right, and that he’d never encountered another like him
before. It sounds to me like this is something else.”

“A vampire wannabe.” Blaze nodded.

“Or a sick vampire. Maybe he was infected,”
Raine offered. “Thrash had mentioned that wolf a few days ago that
had seemed rabid, not normal for their kind. Maybe there’s a
connection.”

Ally’s eyes narrowed. “Can vampires get
sick?”

“Yeah,” Draven replied after a moment’s
hesitation. “Vampires can turn feral when severely
starved.”

“It’s practically a death warrant when that
happens,” Ethan added. “And I haven’t heard of anyone turning in a
long time.”

The room went silent as everyone fell into
their own thoughts. Draven looked around the room before focusing
on Raine again. “Where’s Thrash?”

“Your father threw him out. They got into an
argument.”

Draven snorted. When
wasn’t
Thrash in
an argument with someone? The bastard was ornery 24-7. It must have
gotten really bad for his father to kick his ass out of the
mansion. “What happened?”

“It was bullshit, really,” Blaze
said.

“Blaze,
” Raine chided.

“It was,” he argued. “Ferox had it in his head
that Thrash caused the attack, that he lured Garrick, Raider, and
the twins to the enemy.”

“Why the fuck would he think that?” Draven
asked.

“Not sure. Thrash hasn’t acted any different
than normal, but your dad seems to believe that he’s working for
the enemy.”

“Where is he?” Ally asked.

“No one knows. Raid was the last one to see
him. He said that Thrash drove them here in a car after he found
them.”

“We need to go find him.”

Draven looked down at Ally, the urgency in her
voice causing him to pause.

“We need to go find him,” she said again. Her
eyes locked on his. “I’ll go.”

“No, you won’t.” No way was he letting the
wolf anywhere near his female.

“I’m going, Draven. You’re all are busy here.
One of your warriors is missing, one is dead, Raider is mourning,
and you all need to come up with a plan for this ‘vampire wannabe’
demon-thing. Not to mention that your dad suddenly decided to take
off. You have your hands full, so I’ll go.”

“You’re not going, Ally.”

“Oh, yes I am.” She folded her arms and gave
him a look that said that she’d already made up her mind. “You’re
in charge here while your dad is out, so the Guardians need you.
I’m going.”

He looked down at his little female. She had
such a big heart. Even though Thrash scared the ever-living shit
right out of her, she couldn’t bear to let him be out there alone.
She acted like he was some lost little puppy rather than the cold,
hard killer he actually was. If anyone messed with Thrash, they
were dog food. Literally.

“Don’t argue with me,” she said as she tossed
a hand on her hip. At barely five feet tall, his female’s cute
little hissy caused him to smile, despite his best efforts. Even
the other Guardians—who had been watching this little exchange
intently—had wide grins on their faces.

He’d just been bested.

“Fine.” He sighed. “But you’re taking someone
with you.”

“Agreed.” She nodded. “But it’s not going to
be a Guardian. I seriously doubt Thrash will want to see any of you
since you all witnessed what happened earlier. Dellingr can go with
me.”

Draven’s fists clenched, but he kept his mouth
shut. Ally had two oath-bound warriors to protect her. He was one
of them. Dellingr, the brown haired, brown eyed, mountain of a
fucking god—and otherwise known as “Pretty”—was her other warrior.
And no, he didn’t like it. The god had a serious hard-on for Ally,
and Draven’s Instinct demanded that he keep an eye on the
bastard.

“…
Are you listening to me?” Ally
asked.

“Uh, sorry. What did you say?”

“I said that I won’t be in any danger out
there. Unless someone more powerful comes along, I can’t be killed,
and Dellingr can trace me out of there if there is any
trouble.”

His teeth gnashed together at each mention of
the god’s name, but he had to give it to Ally. He had no way of
denying her when she made a pretty good case. What was his
argument?
You can’t go because he’s attracted to you?
No, he
couldn’t—
wouldn’t
—throw that in her face. It wasn’t her
fault she was so godsdamned perfect.

“And what exactly do you plan to do with him
when you find him?” he asked.

“Take him back to the house.”

“Our house?
He’s not fucking staying
with us.”

“We’re not letting him wander out there all
alone. He needs a place to stay.”

Draven’s eyebrows popped up as he looked down
at her. “Number one: Thrash is a wolf, and one who particularly
enjoys
being alone. Number two: he’s not living with us. Who
knows what he’ll try to do to you.”

“He helped you rescue me from Damion. I owe
him.
We
owe him for that.”

He hooked a piece of light blonde hair behind
her ear and looked down into her big, violet eyes. “
Caalia
,
it’s not just you that I worry about. Trevor and Skylar live there
too. Thrash has always been on a hair trigger. We never know when
his temper will get the better of him.”

She stepped forward and wrapped her arms
around him. “Then I guess it’s a good thing we’ve got both you and
Dellingr there to protect us if he ever throws a hissy
fit.”

Blaze snorted at her term, and Draven
immediately remembered they weren’t alone. He stepped back from
her, ready to argue, but her face held such an innocent quality. He
couldn’t deny her, even if it pained him to let her go out there
without him. She was a goddess, after all, but even though they
were hard to kill, it didn’t mean it couldn’t be
accomplished.

“I’d better get going.” She gave him a kiss
and walked toward the door. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

Since she hadn’t mastered tracing yet she had
to drive home to meet up with Dellingr. Draven listened as her
Outlander disappeared down the drive, wishing that he could have
walked her to her car. He would have, if the sun hadn’t still been
out.

A quick clap on the shoulder brought him out
of his thoughts. Okay, back to business.

He looked at his brothers and his mom quickly,
making eye contact with each of them. “First, we need to get
Demetrius in on the loop. Maybe he’s seen these demons
before.”

Chapter
Eighteen

Raine opened the door, letting Raider and Ash
back into the room. She’d brought another set of Nitro’s clothes
down and cleaned her up for the funeral ceremony that would be held
in her honor.

It had been difficult getting them to leave
the room as neither of them wanted to leave Nitro’s side. But Raine
had eventually convinced—okay, she’d threatened—them to leave the
room so she could clean her up.

“She’s ready,” she said. “Just let me know
when and what we’re doing for her farewell. I’ll make sure everyone
is there for it.”

“Thank you.” Raider nodded at Raine, grateful
that she’d gone to the trouble to make things as right as she
could. He was already through the door and standing next to
Nitro.

Raine had done a good job cleaning her up. Her
hair was smooth and shiny. She’d even pulled some of the hair down
to cover the wound on her neck. Her body was no longer covered by
the white sheets. Instead, she wore her signature bustier, black
leather pants, boots, and even had a whip hung at her waist.
Daggers were clipped in their sheaths, and her left hand was over
her stomach, clutching a shiny blade.

He couldn’t have done better himself. Raine
had done such an honorable thing for his female. He’d never be able
to repay the kindness his queen had shown today.

“How did you know what to do?” he
asked.

She half smiled at him as she approached them.
“She and I are alike. She was a warrioress, as am I. If I ever
leave this existence, I would hope to be dressed in my battle
gear.” She looked down at Nitro. “This is who she is. I could do no
less than to honor her this way.”

Ash stepped toward Raine, tears spilling from
his eyes. It was clear he’d been holding them back the same way
Raider had been. Seeing Nitro in this state had ripped down any
walls he’d erected, and it apparently affected Ash the same. He
bowed as he spoke. “Thank you for honoring my sister. We are
blessed to have a leader who cares as much as you do, and I know
she would be grateful.”

She gave Ash’s shoulder a squeeze as he stood
to his full height again. “I’ll leave you three alone.” Her heels
clapped against the hard floor as she retreated from the room,
leaving Raider and Ash alone yet again with Nitro’s
body.

“This is all my fault,” Raider
said.

Ash glanced up at him with a scowl across his
face. “No, it isn’t. This is Ekhart’s fault, no one
else’s.”

“I was cruel to her. I threw it in her face
that she was a fire demon. I blamed her for killing my family even
without actually knowing if she did it. She couldn’t help it that
she was born a fire demon.”

Ash wiped a few stray tears from his face as
he sat in a chair next to the bed. “She wasn’t born that
way.”

Raider’s head whipped up. “What?”

“We weren’t born demon. We were born
human.”

He gripped Nitro’s hand as he stared across
the bed at Ash. “What do you mean you were born human?”

“Nitro and I…well, Jezzebelle and I were born
in London in 1506.”

“Jezzebelle?”

“Her real name. I was the older by four
minutes, my given name is Julius.”

“Human,” Raider muttered under his breath. He
couldn’t believe it. He had to know more. “Tell me.”

“We were raised by our parents. They were
human too,” Ash went on. “We were wealthy, so we grew up never
wanting for anything. Our parents were extremely social, and we’d
been raised to be the same. We hosted parties at our home
frequently.” A smile spread across his face. “You should have seen
Jezz then. She was stunning in those dresses, with her hair done
up. That life suited her. She was always the belle of the ball. The
boys wanted her, and the girls wanted to be her.”

Raider could only picture what she’d looked
like back then. In that time, the dresses were layers and layers of
fabric, thick and swaying. He hadn’t lived in this realm at the
time, but he had visited, and knew exactly what it had been like.
Vampur had been the same way not long ago.

“On our sixteenth birthday, our parents hosted
a special party, inviting wealthy friends as well as business
associates of my father’s. It was a wonderful evening. The music,
the food, the dancing—it was probably the best social event of the
year. I’d been dancing with some ladies, Jezz with gentlemen, when
we heard an altercation. We both looked over to see that our father
was furious. His face had reddened and he was arguing with another
man. No one seemed to notice but us, and at that time it would have
turned into a scandal had others realized what was going on. Jezz
and I made our way over the dance floor toward our parents. We
weren’t too far from them when we could start making out the
conversation. The man arguing with my father had asked for Jezz’s
hand in marriage. From the back, he appeared to be decades older
than my sister, and my father had said as much. Arranged marriages
were quite common—no matter the age of either the man or woman—but
our parents had always hoped that their children could find love
one day, and not be forced into a life of unhappiness. Our parents
were lucky that way—their marriage had been based on love. My
father’s family had been wealthy enough that he’d been able to
persuade my mother’s parents for her hand.”

Ash shook his head, seemingly to draw himself
back from being sidetracked. “The man whispered one last thing to
our father before he left. Neither of us ever even saw his face.
The remainder of the party went on without incident, although my
father looked nervous the rest of the night. It was late into the
evening that everything went wrong. Jezz and I took a walk outside,
needing a break from the festivities. Gossip was key back then, so
Jezz would fill me in on the girls, and I would let her know about
the guys.” Another smile curved his lips. “I remember that night so
clearly. The road was paved with bricks and it had been raining.
Everything was shiny from being wet and the street was quiet. Only
the sounds from the party wafted through the air, offering some
break in the silence.

“Even with it being as quiet as it was, we
hadn’t heard anyone approach. I remember something hit my head and
I went down. Everything went black. I don’t know how much time
passed before I woke up again, but Nitro—Jezzebelle—was lying next
to me on another bed. We were in a hospital room, and we were both
wearing plain white clothing, the equivalent of that time’s
underwear. Jezz’s dress, hat, and gloves were gone, as was my suit.
We’d tried the door countless times, but it was locked. We pounded
on it, yelled at the top of our lungs, anything, to be set
free.”