Vaewolf: Damn the Darkness: The Prophecy's Promise (Hearts of Darkness Book 3) (10 page)

Jackson shoved a whole one in his mouth, and gave Dylan a look that said he didn’t know what he was missing. “Good, huh, detective?” the young man asked, nodding.

“Mmm. Heaven.” The Cajun licked the powdered sugar off his lips and played along.

“Enough. Let’s get down to business, lads. I’m anxious to return to Caitlin, especially under the circumstances. Until she completes her metamorphosis, she’s still vulnerable.”

“I agree.” Delavega pulled out a pen and notepad. “Jackson, tell us what happened. Then if we have any questions, we can ask.”

Jackson reviewed the details of the attack and then filled them in about catching Tess and the lower demons.

As Delavega took notes and sipped his coffee, Dylan noticed the notes were in some sort of short hand.

Delavega looked up at Dylan’s questioning glance and explained, “Don’t want just anyone knowing about this, do we?”

“No, exactly.” Dylan shook his head. “Anything strike you as odd?”

“The attack sounded more like a test than a threat,” Ramon said. “Don’t run alone.” He pointed a finger at Jackson. “I think they were after you. Stick with the pack until we know more.”

“Me? Caitlin? And Jackson?” Dylan asked. “Why?”

“You’re the psychic,” the cop said. “What can you tell us about the attack site, Jackson?”

“Not much. I was in a hurry to get the pack back home and regroup. I picked up some of my better trackers and went out again. That’s when we ran into the witch making the exchange with the demons.”

“Dylan, why don’t we see if you pick up anything there?”

“I could...okay.” Dylan agreed and glanced at his watch. “There may be leftover threads I can pick up psychically in both places.”

“I can’t go with you now,” Jackson said. “I still have to warn the other packs about the demons, but I’ll keep my eyes open for any evidence.”

“Open your mind link, so I can see the locations.” Dylan drew the information from Jackson’s mind and let out an internal groan. This day was getting worse by the minute. “I’ll go out to the site with you, Delavega, but I want to call in and see how Caitlin is doing, first. You know...make arrangements for her while we’re gone.”

“You do that. Implant the first location in my mind, and I’ll head out there now. You join me as soon as you can.”

“Thanks for the help, detective.” Jackson stood and shook hands with Delavega. “I’m going to gather some other allies after I inform the packs.” He gave Dylan a hug and a mental shot of sincerity. “And about the party...You tell Caitlin I can’t wait to meet the woman who set you on your ass.

“Watch your mouth, pup. I can still take you...” He sized Jackson up and laughed. “On second thought, maybe not.”

“Sure you can...for now. But watch out. I’m still a growing boy.” He shoved another whole beignet in his mouth and downed the coffee. He snickered then lowered his voice to a whisper. “We’ll see how long my father’s blood keeps you stronger than me, old man.”

“Don’t forget my own berserker blood. It’s not often I’m called on to pull out my Highland beast these days. But even recently, I recall the fear on the faces of my opponents when it emerged.”

Caitlin’s symptoms concerned Dylan. They were coming faster and becoming more intense. Hell, neither he nor Shelby had sired anyone before, so their inexperience added to his concern. What if something had gone wrong? What if something happened to Caitlin before she attained her true immortality?

“For a man who’s found his life mate, you seem wound a bit tight, Dylan. I know the circumstances are tough, but try to relax and enjoy it. The other three docs turned out just fine, and I heard this woman of yours is a spitfire.”

Dylan assumed his dominate guardian role, pointing a finger. “You be careful and stay out of trouble. And call me about your training schedule.”

“Ramon, we should get going.”

“Go ahead a make your call to Caitlin. I’ll see you out there.” Delavega took another beignet and his coffee before heading to his car.

Dylan turned to Jackson. “Make it by soon, lad.”

“As soon as I can, bro. I wouldn’t miss her coming out party for the world, even if I have to show up in fur.” Jackson shrugged. “I’m curious to meet the woman who is your psychic equal, then added with a devilish grin. “Kiss her once for me.”

You stay away from her.
The air around Dylan sizzled, and his mind filled with uncontrolled jealousy he’d never experienced before. His thoughts went crazy, and he succumbed, the emotion control shattering for a split second, and then he fought back.
What’s wrong with me?
Jackson expressed a simple commonly used phrase, but Dylan had to fight to compose himself.

“I’ll kiss her for me,” he managed the words without the roar he wanted to yell.

“Worried?” the younger man asked good-naturedly, not sensing Dylan’s discomposure. With his head cocked to one side he gave Dylan a teasing wiggle of his brows. “Don’t forget, I am half Lycan. Irresistible. Keep a tight rein on your female.”

“Ha, ha.” Dylan wanted this uncomfortable conversation over. “Remember half of you is vamp, and perhaps you skipped over this little essential fact in your training manual—although we may share food, sexual partners, and our resting places, vampires do not, emphasis on the NOT, share life mates.”

“Some say that’s a myth.” Jackson winked and poked Dylan in the gut. “If I ever find the right one, I’ll keep that in mind. Hope I don’t have to wait as long as you did.”

“It was well worth it, laddie. Just wait and see.” Dylan let the anger drain and wrapped an arm around the younger man’s broad shoulders. The feelings he had for Caitlin went beyond words, beyond comprehension, so there was no reason to try to explain them. “Until the party.”

Damn, he missed having Jackson around pestering him. Once he completed his training with the western wolves, he’d be back to stay. A few blocks into the fog, Dylan checked in with Caitlin. Once he discovered she was sleeping quietly, he shrouded himself and traced from his car to join Delavega. The site where Jackson and the wolf pack ran into the rogues and the demons wasn’t far.

Chapter Twelve

Evil

Ramon approached sniffing a clod of dirt he held in his hand. “Other than the usual demon scent—brimstone—I’m not picking up any unique information. Jackson tracked them from here to there.” He pointed at an opening in the brush, and took his note pad out of his pocket. “They attacked the wolf...Kade...there. They drew blood, here.” He took a few more steps to the right. “And here.” And he circled the perimeter of the opening. “And here.”

“Anything strike you as odd?” Dylan asked.

“
Oui
. They were using the wolf as bait. Drawing blood and making certain the scent carried in all directions.”

Dylan sniffed the air. “The rogue scent is familiar. I suspect they’re closely related to some of those we had the run in with at the portal. You keep looking around, and I’ll see if I can pick up any left over internal thoughts.”

The detective followed a few paths into the underbrush and took notes while Dylan began dropping his mental guards so he would be open to memories or plans the attackers made while they were there. After a few moments he pulled up his shields and went in search of Ramon.

“Over here,” the detective called from behind a Palmetto palm in the dense underbrush. “You might want to check here. This is the spot where they met up. There’s a good chance they discussed plans.”

Dylan hesitated a moment too long. Delavega turned away and began walking in another direction. “I’ll give you some space so my thoughts don’t interfere,
mon ami
.”

Like that could ever happen. Whatever Delavega was, and human wasn’t an option despite what he claimed, the cop maintained complete control over his thoughts. Dylan was more concerned about giving Delavega access to his own thoughts than about accidentally confusing Ramon’s for one of the demons. Whenever they worked together, the cop always disappeared and let him do his thing. Dylan didn’t think it was all for purely altruistic reasons, but he had no reason to doubt the man’s friendship.

A few minutes after Dylan mentally reached out, gathering memories and thoughts, he captured them, then sent them swirling into the dark abyss of his mind for later interpretation. Quickly ice cold fingers of death wrapped around his throat.
Darkness. Death. The Underworld
.

Did the feelings belong to him or someone else?

Entering into the memories was a dark, cold, frightening venture. Dylan remembered feeling this way as a child once, and he didn’t want to repeat the horrifying memories again. He didn’t want to be trapped in the darkness as he had been for all those years. In this case, fear of the known prevented him from entering and dragging him through the old darkness he once battled before he found Caitlin—the time when he was so dark he thought all his fae light had been lost to him forever. He couldn’t risk coming that close to darkness again, not when his leadership was so vital for everyone, and especially for Caitlin’s well-being.

But the darkness knew him, and continued calling him. How long had he stood there wallowing in all the darkness surrounding him? Coming back to the present, he quickly put it behind him and grappled his way to the surface of the quicksand of evil dragging him down and reached for the light. And the light looked like Delavega.

A voice in his mind screamed.
“What are you doing? Come back!”

“You can’t go there. Come back!” insisted a masculine voice.

Dylan blinked, and discovered the detective holding him and shaking him with a strength he didn’t know the man possessed.

“You were…light. So bright…” Dylan did a mental head shake.

“Where were you?” Ramone still gripped his shoulder.

“Here. Just here. Absorbing all my dark memories. I didn’t bother sorting through any of them, but felt a terrifying fear. I don’t know what happened. I wasn’t sure what to do. You know about my past?”

Ramon nodded.

“I sensed my past, dragging me down into a quicksand of darkness. Couldn’t risk going farther into the pit. Sorry. I’m not certain what the impressions actually mean until I go over them again.”

“Dylan?” Ramon looked concerned. “I don’t recommend that—not without a spirit guide or a control—someone you can trust while you’re inside your mind digging through all of those memories. It can’t be safe.”

“True. Not only don’t we know what we’re dealing with, looks like someone is baiting Jackson,” Dylan agreed. “The one problem I did see, and it scared the life out of me was someone is looking for Caitlin. And demons are hunting for fae blood, or they’re looking for demi-god blood, which scares me even more. I’ll have to watch over every single person we’ve given blood to at this point, because everything could depend on it. I can’t risk Caitlin since she’s not immortal yet, and we have to help her get through the most difficult stages of metamorphosis first. When she awakens, a whole bunch of different DNA will be merged within her. I know nothing about all that. Max and Shelby have the under situation under control, and they’ll fill me in as we go. In the meantime, I’m concerned about what else is going to surface when she does get through metamorphosis, and I want her safe before that happens.

“I hate to burst your bubble, Dylan, but there’s more trouble over here. Take a look at what I found on this path down by the creek.”

“Don’t tell me.”

“Sorry. It looks like they were planning to do more than just capture Jackson.”

“Look at all this equipment. They had plans to cross the creek—kidnap him?”

Delavega shook his head. “Probably not him. They’d be unwise to mess with him. But someone on the estate.”

“That means they’ll try breaching the wards. I was afraid they’d start infiltrating into
Sang Froid
. After I saw the path where they entered through the bayou, I figured there’d be trouble later. We need to create a safety net around the outside of our Parrish and the wolves’ territory.

Ramon turned and stared. “Listen we’ve got to make sure everybody’s warned. I’ll get the message out with my contacts, and you can tell the council and everyone at the estate. We’ll see what we can do about getting the message to the extended wolf packs outside our area. You see if there’s anyone willing to come forward with information—anything.”

“The demon situation is too dangerous for everybody and getting out of hand.”

Ramon checked over his shoulder. “And we shouldn’t stick around here like sitting ducks. Are you okay to go on to the next site?”

Dylan nodded. “Give me a ride over there. I’m not wasting valuable energy tracing or sifting when I feel like this.”

“Hop in,” Ramone said. “Now how about a little vampire GPS?”

Dylan chuckled and gave the directions as they drove down the bayou back roads. “We should get out over there,” he pointed out. The clearing wasn’t visible from the dirt road, but a few feet inside the brush boundary, the area where the demons met with the witch was clear.

“Here is where they met.”

“You picking up anything?” Ramone paced the clearing.