Tempest of Vengeance (13 page)

Shit. Lash was probably right. Why hadn’t I
pushed Theo to watch Elle? For the simple reason that I’d thought
Elle was under house arrest, since she hadn’t been allowed to even
see me. But I’d been wrong.

Lash went the way Elle had, but he stopped at
the next big junction of stores. He closed his eyes, and I saw his
fangs lengthen as he changed form enough to access his snake’s
superior sensory abilities. Lash scented the air with his tongue,
flicking it out. Then he turned to the left.

“That way.” We had been strolling, but now we
were almost jogging.

“Is it her, for sure?” I asked, running
alongside him.

“It’s her,” Lash said darkly. “And she’s not
alone. The man with her is a werebear, Sar. He’s polar bear, not
grizzly. The scent is more ice than forest.”

I stumbled. Lash grabbed me, pulling me along
without breaking stride. “It’s Ulysses,” I whispered.

Lash turned to me and stopped walking, his
eyes flat. “Sar, maybe you should stay here. Go into a store. No
one will try anything in a store. There are too many security
cameras. I will—”

Elle needs me. I’m not staying here
hiding.
“Do you have an extra gun?” I demanded. “I’ve been
practicing, I can shoot—”

“Sure, in the truck,” Lash interrupted. “But
not on me. I have my gun on my back, but that’s it.” I opened my
mouth to speak, but he cut me off. “You’ll grab Elle, and I’ll do
the rest. There’s likely a group of them outside the mall, and he’s
leading her to them. Stay behind me and out of sight until they’re
dead. Got it?”

I nodded.

Lash took off for the exit a hundred yards in
front of us, and I raced after him, exiting the mall into the cold
and clear night. “There!” he hissed, then he took off at a dead run
toward the van on the very edge of parking lot, far from the other
cars. Three men were standing around the back of it, as it rocked
noticeably on its tires. I bit back a scream of outrage and went
after Lash, sticking close to the vehicles so I didn’t present
myself as a target. I was at least forty feet behind him when he
drew his gun, silencer attached, the only record of the shot the
flash of the muzzle.

Lash shot two of the three standing there
before the third drew a gun and fired back. His gun was also
silenced. Lash darted aside at the last second, and the bullet
cratered at his feet. He shot back again, and killed the man with a
head shot, splattering blood over the van’s back in a dark
wave.

The van was still rocking, harder now. Lash
strode to the back of the van, and then I saw a muzzle flash
through the windows, the moment of the van abruptly stopping. A
second later, Lash hauled out a badly wounded werebear leaking
blood from a cratered chest, and grabbed him by the front of his
shirt. He punched him in the face for good measure, and the
werebear collapsed to the ground. I walked closer slowly, deathly
afraid of what I might find inside that innocent looking blue
van.

“Sar, Elle needs you!” Lash shouted angrily.
“Get your ass moving and get over here!”

She’s alive.
I shook off my fear, and
ran to the open back doors as fast as I could. Lash began dialing
his cell phone. The doors were open. Elle lay there, naked, on an
inflatable mattress, close to the type I’d been on with Lash in the
Everglades. She was unconscious, but her chest rose and fell as she
breathed. There was blood on her lip, where she had been punched.
And there was blood on her thighs, where she’d likely been
forced.

Oh God...

For all her talk about wanting to be with a
man, Elle had most likely been a virgin. I climbed in beside her,
and tried to rouse her.

“Elle?” I said softly, shaking her shoulders.
“Elle!”

She blinked her eyes, and looked up at
me.

“Mom!” she cried, bursting into tears. I put
my arms around her, and hugged her to me. I just held her for a few
moments as she sobbed in my arms, biting my lip hard and fighting
tears myself. I knew I should be telling her we needed to get her
to the doctor, but I kept silent, determined not to rush her. A few
minutes wouldn’t matter, and she needed this time to feel safe
enough to pull herself together.

Devlin’s voice called from outside, anxious.
A moment later he peered in through the open door, then averted his
eyes in anguish. “I’ll bring around the Hummer as fast as I
can.”

I nodded, still hugging Elle.

Lash closed the open door, then stood at the
back of the van facing away, his gun still out. Elle saw him, and
cried harder, knowing that he’d seen her like this, and knew what
had happened to her.

“Here, Elle.” I jerked off my jacket, then
stripped off my long gray sweater. The long loose garment went to
my knees and wrapped about me like a robe, with a tie in front. I
helped her put it on, and then put back on my jacket. Elle was
thinner and taller than I was, but the sweater still covered all of
her, and it was heavy wool. She’d be warm enough. I held her again
after she was clothed, and didn’t say anything, angry vengeful
thoughts flooding my brain.

Damn it!
I’d done so much to warn her,
tried to tell her how quickly control could shift if she was alone
with a man! And it was too late now, because no matter what else
happened, what those monsters had done to her would never, ever go
away. But that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to burn Ulysses alive for
what he’d done to her, him and whomever stood in my way to him.

Devlin pulled up beside us in a few more
minutes with the Hummer. I helped Elle into the back seat, where I
again held her in my arms. She was subdued, but able to answer my
questions, enough so I understood she wasn’t in any pain. Devlin
got in front, and took the wheel. Lash didn’t get in with us, and I
surmised as we drove off that he had stayed behind to take care of
the bodies, and also to take the last bear back to Hayden, where he
could be questioned.

Devlin called Stephen on his cell phone to
tell him to meet us at his office, that Elle had been hurt. I
thought quickly about teleporting to save travel time, but surmised
Stephen needed at least a half hour or more to get there to his
office. There was no point beating him there, as we’d just have to
wait for him to arrive anyway. I didn’t want to involve Titus or
Terian to go and get him. I crazily debated telling Stephen to just
drink some demon blood already so he wouldn’t have to always waste
so much time commuting, but decided he might not be receptive to
the idea.

Stephen met us at the office, and led Elle
and I into Exam Room One. Elle asked me to leave the room
immediately, so she could talk to him alone. I nodded, and went
back to Devlin, who was in the waiting room. He slipped his arms
around me, and I hugged him, though we didn’t talk.

Stephen came out a half hour later, shutting
the door behind him. “The physical damage is minimal. Elle has
healed most of it already. She’s sleeping now; I’ve given her a
sedative. But she’s going to need counseling for this, Sar.”

“Lash said there were four of them. Did they
all...?” Devlin said softly.

I couldn’t breathe. I’d just assumed we’d
been in time to prevent that.

Stephen shook his head. “Just the one. I’ve
given her a morning-after pill, just to be safe. And I’ve done STD
tests, too. She can call tomorrow for the results, I’ll rush them
through.”

I stifled a sob, nodding, as Devlin hugged me
tightly. “I need to call Theo. Or go see him. He needs to
know—”

“She doesn’t want anyone to know about what
happened,” Stephen said. “She’s adamant about it.”

“He’s her father, and he needs to know,” I
said bluntly.

Stephen nodded.

“Can she go home?”

Stephen nodded again.

“Call me tomorrow, and let me know of a good
therapist, besides Carol,” I said to Steven. “I need one who is a
witch at least, if not more powerful.” One who knew how to protect
her mind, because part of what happened was my fault, for letting
Ulysses know Danial and I had a daughter named Elle.

He nodded once more. “Call tomorrow, Sarelle,
and I’ll give you the name and number.”

“Thank you,” I said, and turned to Devlin.
“Can you carry her?” I asked him. “I’ll teleport you, her, and me
to Danial’s. We can get her settled in bed. I’ll tell Theo what
happened.”

Devlin nodded, and a second later, we three
were at Danial’s home. I had gambled that Tears hadn’t blocked
every room from teleportation, just the major ones which staff were
allowed in. So I tried to teleport to Devon’s old room that was
storage space now, and it worked.

We walked to Elle’s room, and Devlin and I
put her in bed. He turned his back while I put a nightgown on her.
Stephen had already allowed her to clean herself up, though I
expected she would be taking a long shower when she awakened. I
left her a note, telling her to call me if she wanted to talk, and
that I would be coming to see her tomorrow, if she wanted to see
anyone, that is. I wasn’t sure what else to do, so I kissed her
sleeping form, and closed the door to her room.

Now for the hard part. “Wait here,” I said,
looking at Devlin. “I need to talk to Theo.”

“I’m coming with you,” Devlin said
stubbornly. “I don’t need to breathe in your scent to know you’re
really upset by what’s happened. And he’s probably going to be a
jerk when he sees you, like usual—”

“Dev,” I said dangerously, and he shut up.
But secretly I was thankful of his insisting. I hadn’t seen Theo
since the night he’d attacked me. I didn’t want to be alone with
him under any circumstances.

I walked into the great room. No one came out
to see who was there, but then, Titus, Rip, Terian and I were the
only ones who could teleport in. Terian was most likely at the were
compound, if he was home yet, with Sundown. For all I knew Theo was
there, too, though I expected he was still sleeping in the main
house, in order to guard T and Elle. Great lot of good that had
done her, all his bullshit about keeping her from seeing me to keep
her safe!

Stop it, Sar. It’s as much your fault as it
is his.

I turned to Devlin. “Who’s here?”

He closed his eyes and listened. “T’s in
Danial’s bedroom, sleeping I guess,” he said, after a moment. “The
upstairs is empty. Jenny and Theo are below us, at least, two weres
are there—”

The basement door opened, and Theo stood
there, gun in hand, with only his jeans on. He looked as buff as
always, and my gaze roamed his skin before I slapped myself
mentally, and focused.

He looked at me and Devlin with narrowed
eyes. “What are you two skulking around up here for?” he spat, his
eyes angry and his tone icy. “Couldn’t you have called first,
before you barged in?”

“No,” I said calmly, trying to be patient.
“There’s an emergency. Get some clothes on, and come outside with
me. I have to speak to you privately—”

“Fuck off,” Theo said, glaring at me. “Say
whatever it is you need to say, Sarelle, or I’m going back to bed.
Jenny’s waiting for me.”

“Get your fucking clothes on
now
, and
go with her!” Devlin growled, his eyes red. “You are going to thank
me for insisting later, Theopolis.”

Theo caught the note in Dev’s voice, and his
eyes went a little yellow. He turned without a word, and went back
in the basement, closing the door behind him. He appeared a moment
later with his shoes on, and a T-shirt. He had just shrugged into a
long sleeved cotton shirt when Jenny appeared behind him in her
robe. It was like mine had been, a light blue velvet one. She
looked a little flushed, too, but I didn’t know if that was from
being in her bathrobe in front of us or because they had been
having sex when we arrived.

I opened my mouth to ask Theo if he couldn’t
have gotten another color for her, then shut it. It wasn’t my
business. Not anymore. At least I knew it wasn’t my robe. Mine was
ashes in the ruins of my house.

“Let’s go,” Theo growled at me, making me
start. “I need to get back to bed.” He turned to Jenny and kissed
her at length, and then told her to wait for him below.

“I could wait with her,” Devlin purred,
smiling at Jenny. “Keep her safe for you, Theo.”

I saw her expression when she noticed him,
that look of instant desire I thought it was likely every woman had
when they first saw him. I felt a flash of pride he was mine, and
grinned a little, because I knew he’d done this on purpose, to make
me feel better.

“Good Evening, Jenny. I’m Devlin, Danial’s
brother. I’m sure you’ve heard of me?”

“Jenny, go below
now
,” Theo growled,
and she turned right around and left without a word.
Just like a
good Stepford wife...excuse me, mate, should.

Theo turned to Devlin. “If I smell you went
downstairs, Dalcon, I’ll—”

“Save it,” Devlin said arrogantly, hugging me
gently around the waist from behind. “I’ve got all the woman I need
right here. I don’t need to go after one of yours, at least not
anymore.
”

“Jenny’s all I need and want,” Theo growled,
heading toward the mud room. “Get moving, Sarelle, before I
reconsider.”

Theo walked first out the front door. Devlin
drew me back, and put his mouth over my ear, making it look as if
he was kissing me. But instead he whispered to me. “Sar, go to the
big maple tree on the front lawn. I can see you, and hear you from
there if you scream, but I can’t hear your spoken words, so no one
else should overhear. No one else is around. Scream if you need me,
and run toward me. I can make it to you before Theo can, even if he
shifts.”

“Okay,” I whispered gratefully, then turned
away from him and followed Theo. He was waiting for me impatiently
on the lawn. We walked together to the maple tree, where he turned
to me.

“Start talking, and make it fast,” he
growled. “I haven’t got all night.”