Dark Solace (13 page)

“Sar and I have killed over half,” Lash
replied. “There are only maybe eight or nine left, including a
female vampire. Do not shoot to kill. We need all the prisoners
alive, though wounds are acceptable. Meet back here in thirty
minutes. Titus, stay and raze the church to the ground when we’re
done.”

All the bears shot me a look when they heard
I’d killed that many, but none said anything. Titus, Nick, and Jazz
headed off through the trees, Lash and the rest going down the road
a ways, then into the woods.

I locked all the doors, reloaded the pistol,
and then sat there in the front seat with it in my lap, trying to
muster up the strength to look back at the ruin that was
Devlin.

I’d gotten another glimpse when Lash had put
him in the car. His face had been unrecognizable, his eyes closed.
Most of his skin was blackened, at least from what I’d seen. How
much of the damage was healable?

I looked in the glove compartment again, this
time searching for a phone, but there was none. Danial needed to be
told Devlin was safe...

I rubbed my eyes. Why wasn’t Terian here, or
Theo? Even if they’d hated Devlin, they’d have come for me. Hadn’t
anyone told them we’d been kidnapped?

I wasn’t sure how much time passed. Finally
the sound of approaching bears became evident, the sounds of
struggling and cursing loud in the still night air.

The werebears came into view, most of them
each holding onto a male prisoner who was struggling. Last came
Lash dragging Catherine, whose hands and elbows were bound.

I opened the door and got out. The scent of
smoke filled my nostrils, carried by the wind.

“Let me go, you vile snake!” Catherine
screamed. “I’m a state Ruler! I demand my rights—!”

“Get out of the Hummer, Sar, and stand over
by the trees,” Lash hissed, pulling her towards the Hummer.

“You bastard!” Catherine screeched,
stumbling, trying to dig in her heels. “Let me go, Lash! He had
this coming for how he treated me! He deserved it!”

Lash opened the hatch, then whirled, his
knife flashing in an arc as it cut her throat. Catherine gagged,
clutching at the wound. It began to close, even as her blood
spilled out. Lash pushed her inside next to Devlin, then slammed
the hatch, locking the doors.

There was sudden movement through the glass,
and then Catherine begin screaming, wailing in fear and terror. She
pounded on the glass, her superhuman strength shattering it, the
shards exploding outwards in a shower. She scrabbled at the ragged
opening, then black hands with taloned fingers snatched her,
dragging her backwards as she screeched, blackened skin falling off
to reveal red angry flesh. Her screams cut off abruptly, the sound
of wet crunching and sucking loud in the cool night air.

Lash suddenly walked over and grabbed another
one of the prisoners. The man struggled in mortal fear, flailing
and screaming. Lash decked him hard in the face, and the man went
to his knees, swaying. Lash cut his throat quickly, then pushed him
through the hatch opening in one fluid motion.

Again there were screams, though these cut
off quickly. There was the sound of gagging, then frightened
whimpering, then gurgling that became a rattling gasp.

I walked closer to the trees, sitting down
with my back to a tree facing into the woods. Leaning back against
the trunk, I put my helmet on, blocking out the worst of the sounds
and closed my eyes.

Three more times there were screams, and each
time, they died into silence. Then finally, Lash opened the back of
the SUV. “Another?” he hissed softly.

“No,” Devlin replied in his usual voice.
“Bring the others to Hayden. I’ll need to feed again in an hour or
two. There is too much damage to me to heal it all at once.”

“Sure,” Lash hissed. “Nick,” he said loudly.
“Gather the prisoners and get them settled in cells. Jazz, I want a
complete tally of injuries later tonight. Get moving.”

There was the sound of movement.

Knowing I had to face it, I stood up and
turned.

Devlin stood there with his back to me, his
golden hair again shoulder length, his arms no longer black, but
still an angry red, like a bad sunburn. He was naked save for the
altar cloth tied around his waist. There were a few bodies lying by
the open back door of the Hummer, contorted in death. Lash loaded
the bodies into the SUV, then stepped back. Titus hit it with one
of his fireballs. Within seconds, the Hummer was burning. The gas
tank exploded soon after, making me cringe behind the nearest
tree.

The smell of blood, urine, and fecal matter
was pungent, laced with the sickening smell of burned rubber and
oil. Titus teleported the prisoners back to Hayden and most of the
men, leaving only Devlin, Lash, and I left to watch the remains of
the fire as it began to die.

“I’ll make a final sweep,” Lash hissed to
Devlin. “Ulysses was not among the men we captured or those killed.
Catherine said he was to come back tonight to finish you.”

“Yes,” Devlin said hollowly. “He told me
that, too.”

“I’ll be back soon,” Lash hissed. “Half hour,
tops.” He gave Devlin a lopsided grin. “Stay here by the fire, and
don’t be wandering off.”

“Thanks for coming for me,” Devlin said
softly, deep emotion in each word. “I owe you one, friend.”

“You owe me nothing,” Lash hissed, grinning
wider. “I still owe you, Dev.”

“Fuck you, Lash, I do owe you,” Devlin said
in broken tones, walking over to him. “I owe you everything all
over again.”

Lash grabbed him in a fierce hug, even though
Devlin was covered with blood. Devlin held Lash to him just as
tightly, as if he would never let him go.

“I’ll always come for you, so long as I can
still move,” Lash hissed affectionately. “I’m glad you’re still
alive. I thought there was a good chance you wouldn’t be, when
Catherine said it was Ulysses who had done this.”

“If you hadn’t gotten here when you did, I
wouldn’t be,” Devlin said tiredly, drawing back. “And it’s my own
fault, for being so fucking reckless. How did you finally find
us?”

“I used the magical tracer you had Titus put
on Sar months ago. You’d thought someone might try to get to Theo
through her; that she might be kidnapped. We never had to use it,
but the tracer was still active. The bitch of it was the signal was
weak because the spell was so old. The beacon faded out miles from
here, long before I got close to this spot in the Hummer. Because
of that, it took a while to track you down. I had to search a lot
of fucking fields and forest before I found you.”

That tracing spell was what Titus had bribed
Dev with to let him build his house for Leri. I’d stake my life on
it...

“
Where’s Sar?” Devlin interrupted.
“She’s okay, or you would have said already—”

“She’s behind you, watching us,” Lash said,
casting a glance at me. “And yes, she is unharmed.”

Devlin didn’t turn, which I thought odd. Lash
moved off into the trees, making his final sweep.

I went up closer to Dev, but stayed a few
feet back from him. “Are you okay?”

“No,” he said softly. “I’m still badly hurt.
Don’t touch me or come any closer, not until I’m healed. I can
smell your blood from here, and I want it desperately. Move back
right now, Love.”

I immediately moved back from him several
yards. “I’m glad you’re okay. I was so worried you were dead,
Dev.”

Devlin didn’t reply, watching the dying
embers of the incinerated Hummer.

Titus appeared. “Who’s first?”

“We’ll all go together,” Devlin replied. “Go
check on him.”

Titus winked out, then reappeared with
Lash.

“No sign of Ulysses,” Lash hissed to Devlin.
“Likely he was warned back when we attacked.”

“We’ll deal with him later,” Devlin said
hatefully. “Titus, take us home.”

“One at a time,” he replied. “I’m tired.”
Titus grabbed my hand in his and took me to Hayden, then appeared a
moment later with Devlin.

Dev abruptly went to the basement door and
opened it. “I’m going to go downstairs to feed. Sar, please wait
for me upstairs.” He went down, shutting the door after him.

“He’s still badly injured, Sarelle,” Titus
rumbled. “His face, especially. He doesn’t want you to see him
until he’s healed more of the injuries.”

I nodded. “You’d better go back for
Lash.”

Titus nodded. “Go upstairs and take a long
hot shower. Tell me if you discover any wounds that need healing.
I’ll be right back.”

When I emerged from the shower, I tossed my
wet hair in a clip, threw on some clothes, and then went looking
for Lash. As I brought up my hand to knock on his door, Titus
caught it in his grip.

“He’s resting,” Titus said, his red eyes
glowing in the gloom. “He’s been up since he realized you were both
being held somewhere. He’s exhausted. Let him sleep.”

I nodded reluctantly, then went back to
Devlin’s room. After putting on some heavy pajamas, I crawled into
bed, drifting off into sleep almost instantly.

* * * *

When Devlin came up sometime later, he woke
me.

“Dev?” I called, suddenly scared.

“Don’t turn on the light, Love,” he said
softly in the darkness. “I don’t want you to see me like this.”

I was worried for him, but also scared of
what he might do in his wounded state. “Should I leave?”

“No, I won’t hurt you, Love. I’ll just be a
moment in the shower. Stay here, please.”

I nodded, knowing he could see me, and then
settled back into bed. I meant to stay awake, but in my exhaustion,
I drifted back to sleep.

Again he woke me when he slid into bed beside
me. But instead of hugging me as he always did, he lay there on his
side, not touching me.

I turned and faced him. “Will it hurt if I
touch you?”

“No,” Devlin said, uncomfortable. “Just don’t
touch my face.”

I pulled him carefully into my arms, cradling
his shoulders. He moved over closer to me. I reached down to help
him and felt silk.

Devlin took my hand quickly, moving it into
his. “I’m glad you weren’t harmed. I was worried when I first heard
you scream.”

He had put on pajamas, to cover the remaining
injuries.
Don’t call attention to it.
“I love you,” I said
tenderly. “I thought I was never going to see you again, Dev.”

“Me, too,” he said softly, laying back on me.
“I thought I’d never hold you again.”

“I’m here,” I said, biting my lips to hold
back the tears. I touched him gently, sliding my hand into his
hair. Instead of hair, I suddenly touched a patch of rough ridged
skin. Dev instantly recoiled, moving away from me.

I felt terrible. “I’m sorry, if I hurt
you.”

“It’s not that,” he muttered brokenly. “I
want to feel your arms around me more than anything, Love. But I’m
still badly hurt. Worse, it will take some time to heal.”

“It doesn’t matter what you look like. I
still love you.”

“You will not say that when you see me,” he
said, anguished.

Time to be brave. “I’ll see you tomorrow when
we wake up together. You might as well show me now.”

Devlin gave a deep sigh, then reached over
and turned on the light. He carefully turned to face me.

I wanted to scream. Ulysses had taken one of
Dev’s beautiful golden eyes. There was just a ruined socket where
the right eye should be. His face was red in places, and there were
some small patches of new skin. But most of his face was still
scorched black, bubbly and blistered.

I clamped down on my terror and pity. If Dev
could take the pain of his injuries, I could handle looking at
them. “You must be in agony. Can’t Titus do anything?”

Devlin shook his head. “Ulysses did the worst
to my face, though there was one other area he worked on with equal
vigor,” he said morosely. “But at least the pain is bearable
now.”

His arms were now completely healed, his skin
luminous there. I reached out, and touched his arm, stroking
gently. “Come to me, so I can hold you,” I offered.

Dev came into my arms. I stroked his hair,
careful not to touch his face.

“Love,” Devlin said, sighing. “There’s more I
have to tell you. I won’t be able to make love with you for a while
until I completely regenerate. And even then, it...I may not be the
same. I’ve never been burned this badly there. And burning wasn’t
all that he did. He cut me as well.”

I froze, closing my eyes at the horror of it.
But from Ulysses’ point of view, what better punishment? What would
be more fitting? He’d wanted to hurt Devlin as much as he could.
Devlin valued his good looks and his sexual prowess above all.
Ulysses had taken both from Dev with sunlight. “The pain must have
been unimaginable—”

“I’ll heal in time,” Devlin said sadly. “But
I understand if you don’t want to be around me until I do. I look
like a monster.”

I leaned in and kissed him very gently on his
partially healed lips.

“How can you kiss me?” he said, abashed. “Am
I not repellent to you?”

“No, of course not,” I said lovingly. “I love
you, Devlin Dalcon. And I’m going to take care of you until you’re
better.”

Devlin began crying softly. I gently kissed
away his tears, wincing a little at the taste of burned flesh.

Chapter
Five

That next morning, I drove to Danial’s house
and told Theo and Danial what had happened. Both of them were
furious that Lash hadn’t told them of the kidnapping.

“He told me you were in bed with Devlin,”
Theo growled. “That he couldn’t disturb you. Now who is this
Ulysses? What did Devlin do to him?”

I shrugged. “Something about turning his
sister and her getting killed by vampire hunters.”

“Ulysses’s sister was just another casualty
of Devlin’s ever-present lust,” Danial said with a sigh. “I’m not
surprised. This is not the first time this has happened, that a
male came to get revenge for one of his female relatives.”