Immortal Craving: Immortal Heart (5 page)

Lucas closed the door to one of Hawk’s Eye conference rooms, closing himself, Kale, Uriah, and an unhappy Trevan inside.

“Are you going to talk to us or do we need to disturb Rowan to get answers from you?” Kale asked, taking a trick from Bain’s playbook and flipping his chair backward to straddle it.

It gave the impression that Kale was unbothered by the events of the morning. But it was quite the contrary. Too much was going on. He’d followed a
Succubus
last night that had a
Trow
as a bodyguard, he learned from a Brownie that a Succubus was helping those who’d escaped the Middle World—through the Drifters portal—to get settled in the Human World, and now on top of all that he had to worry about the Fae holding one of their more valuable positions in the Human World. Who had admitted he was working with a Succubus. It seemed all roads led to
Succubi
.

Kale was at odds. Based on what he’d been told, whoever these
Succubi
were, they seemed to be helping those in need.

However, based on his personal experience, and granted that was with one Succubus… he didn’t trust them. It sounded unjust, even in
his own mind. He didn’t trust the entire species based on a bad experience with one. He was taking more than a seating position from Bain’s book; he was seeing
Succubi
like Bain saw Vampires. Kale focused his thoughts and started in on Trevan.

Trevan
sat in one of the hard, utilitarian-style conference chairs. He had a feeling the chair was designed to make him uncomfortable—the three men hovering in the room added to the unpleasant ambiance. But uncomfortable or not, he really didn’t want Rowan brought in on this.

“No,”
Trevan answered. “I’ll answer any questions you have.”

“Good, let’s start with the Succubus. Who is she?”

“She was a prisoner of Darion’s. I met one of his guards when I was searching for my sister. He told me the story about Darion’s obsession with
Succubi
.”

“What kind of obsession?” Uriah asked, taking the words right out of Kale’s mouth.

“Seems even the Dark leader has a vice, only his is his consort of
Succubi
. His guard told me a story about a group of
Succubi
he let escape. It landed him in the dungeons until he was able to escape and pass through the portal you’ve been searching for.”

“So he knows where the Drifters’ portal is?”

“No, the Drifters found him and helped him escape. The Succubus he helped save bought his passage into the Human World. That’s where I found him. He introduced me to the Succubus who’s been helping me try to find my sister. She was imprisoned for ten years before escaping five years ago.”

“Who was she? What was her name?” Kale asked.

“They call her Kitty,” Trevan answered.

Kale chuckled. “They called her Kitty? That’s rich for a Succubus; they should have just called her pus—”

“That’s enough, Kale” Uriah broke in.

Kale smirked at his brother with a raised brow as if asking,
What?

“So what’s the plan now?” Kale asked. “And what does all this have to do with the Succubus kills?”

“When the
Succubi
escaped Darion and came to the Human World, there were six of them. They scattered, but a few of them were very young. I believe these kills are accidents. I think this particular Succubus is waiting too long between feeding and isn’t fully in control of her power.”

“Why is this just now happening? She’s had five years to figure out her control.”

“I can’t say with one-hundred percent certainty. All I can say for sure is that Jaylyn had control of her
Succubi
power until one day she just lost it—nearly killed a Fae boy she was dating. I don’t know how the power works, but it is wrapped into emotion and, according to my father, is ruled by true mating. Sometime between a
Succubus’
or
Incubus’s
twenty-fifth and fiftieth birthday, a feeding frenzy known as
Mata
begins. It happens every year after that, lasting about a month and only ends when they eventually find their true mate.”

Kale’s eyes narrowed. “I’ve never heard any of this.”

“Do we know the secrets of every Fae species? It’s not something
Succubi
and
Incubi
share with other Fae; it’s sacred to them.”

“Why haven’t we had more deaths due to their
Mata
?” Uriah asked, curiosity bringing him to the table to take a seat next to Kale.

“How many
Succubi
or
Incubi
do you know?”

“Very few, I admit. They tend to align with the Dark.”

Trevan gave a sad smile. “Yes and those who aren’t mated during their
Mata
are likely still living with an elder
Succubi
or
Incubi
, who helps them through it.”

“What’s
Darion’s end game with them? What’s his plan if they go into
Mata
while they’re his prisoners?”

“He’s looking for his true mate.”

Kale and Uriah exchanged a curious look.

Trevan
chuckled. It was low and lacked humor. “You don’t know what Darion is?”

“No one really does,” Uriah noted.

“Darion is a unique Fae; the son of a Succubus and a Devas.”

Both Uriah and Kale narrowed their eyes on
Trevan.

He was spinning an interesting tale, except
Devas were nature sprites and were only visible as spheres of light—they were not corporeal. They didn’t take on a form and therefore could not breed with a Succubus or any other creature for that matter.

Trevan
smiled, catching the lines of disbelief on the Immortal Warriors faces. “Like I said, unique. His father was an earth element and a powerful one. He was able to contain his light in the form of a human host. Every few decades, he traded it in for a new one.”

“He was like a body snatcher jumping from host to host?” Kale blurted.

“Something like that. His mate, Devorah—Darion’s mother—went with him to pick his new host from the Human World. When the body was worn and aged past her desire, they traded—letting the human return to his world with no memory of where he’d been for the past twenty years.”

“So that makes
Darion what exactly?” Kale asked.

“He’s an
Incubus
who wields earth’s elemental magic. He’s also a seven-hundred-year-old Incubus who has not found his true mate.”

Kales brows shot up. “Oh crap.”

Trevan nodded. “Oh crap is right. His
Succubi
consorts keep his
Mata
under control.”

“Did the Succubus who’s helping you know your sister?”

“No, she would have escaped by the time Jaylyn went missing.”

“Final question,” Uriah said. “How do you know all this?”

“No one knows this much about Darion,” Kale added.

“This is where it gets a little twisted. I know because
Devorah is my aunt and Darion is my cousin.”

Darion was Trevan’s cousin. Kale hoped that whatever had happened to Jaylyn was not as twisted as it was playing out in his head. There were too many questions right now.

Why would
Darion be keeping Jaylyn—if not for controlling his feeding? Kale could only attempt to convince himself that if Darion was feeding off the poor girl, that it was all he was doing. A
Succubi
feeding has an inherent amount of sexuality to it, but sex doesn’t always accompany it.

Aside from the weird cousin connection, there were still too many unanswered questions. While
Trevan had opened up about his family and what he was doing… it all lacked in other important details.

They had asked him about the Succubus that was helping him and he gave little in the way of details, other than he called her Kitty, which still made Kale chuckle.
Trevan didn’t have a way to contact her. She called him—always from disposable phones and from a new number every time. He tried the most recent number he had with no results; only a recorded message saying the number was no longer connected.

Kale was trying to put the pieces together, trying to find out how this helped
Trevan with his sister. He needed to talk to Cree.

Kale moved through the castle with one destination in mind. When he reached Cree’s office the door was open, but he had company in the form of an Immortal Three. Acacia smiled up at Kale as he stopped in the doorway.

“Hello, Kale.” Acacia turned back to Cree. “Something worries your young warrior. I will leave you to attend to him. When you’re done, I’ll be in the garden.”

Acacia moved with a flowing grace as she rose from her seat and breezed over to Kale. Her deep, olive-colored eyes were soft as she passed him and her lips stretched into a reassuring smile.

“It all always works out as it has been foreseen—just ask your leader. He knows there is very little we can do to change the fates.”

Kale smiled and nodded.

“I will see you later as well, young Kale.”

With that, Acacia disappeared down the long hallway, only the scent of jasmine remaining in her wake.

Kale shook his head as he took Acacia’s vacated seat.

“They are all so cryptic,” Kale quipped.

Cree smiled and nodded. “So what’s up,
young
Kale?”

Kale grinned. “I don’t know, seems I’m being shrouded by
Succubi.
”

Cree dipped his chin. “Ah,
your favorite Fae.”

Kale’s smile fell a little. “I don’t want to hate the whole species because of what Katarina did. And a part of me still wants the closure of a face to face with her.”

Cree narrowed his eyes.

Everything concerning Katarina needed closure. Even Cree wanted it.

He never saw her betrayal, he never saw Kale’s capture, and he certainly didn’t see Katarina’s death… and he
had
tried, but he couldn’t force his sight.

Cree’s gift was fickle and temperamental. He knew more then he wanted when it came to the harsh facts of his and his brothers Immortality—no one really gets to live forever. But his gift almost always showed him the things that are devastatingly important. Katarina’s betrayal and Kale’s subsequent capture were devastatingly important to the brother sitting in front of him… to all the Immortal Warriors. They were a family. As strong and tightly knit as any family could be.

Cree must have stayed quiet for too long.

“I’m not crazy, Cree,” Kale said, a slight discomfort tainting his words.

“I know,” Cree assured.

“I know I can’t talk to a dead woman.”

Cree merely nodded and let his silence encourage Kale to work through his thoughts.

“Also, I followed a Succubus last night… that my mind tried desperately to convince me was Katarina.”

Cree’s face showed little of what he was thinking as he questioned Kale. “Do you doubt Darion killed her?”

“I—I don’t know now. If everything
Trevan told us is true… Well, Katarina was by far the most beautiful specimen of her species that I’ve ever laid eyes on. That has me thinking she would be the perfect Succubus for him to keep around.”

“So it’s not just your brain that is giving you cause to believe that the Succubus you followed was in fact Katarina?”

“It’s still crazy, right? Even with this new Intel?” Kale smirked.

God, it really was crazy. Katarina was gone and that was the best thing for him.

“Perhaps you truly do need closure. Unfortunately, time doesn’t always heal us.”

“Yeah, but what can I do? Go hang out in that alley and hope the Succubus comes back?”

Cree’s lips lifted into a knowing smile. “I think you have a better option waiting out in the garden.”

“Acacia?” Kale asked, confused.

Even though Acacia would be able to tell him if Katarina was in her world, they had always respected the Immortal Three—you didn’t ask questions and you didn’t really socialize. You were respectful, you fed, and you left.

“Yes, for whatever reason, I never saw what was coming with Katarina, which never set well with me. I trusted her and
Lothar believed in her. I don’t know how one can hide a nature as we’ve been told hers was. But that Immortal Three down in the garden is part ruler of where Katarina now resides—if she is in fact deceased as Darion has lead us to believe. I don’t know if the Immortals will allow you to speak with Katarina, but have you ever thought to ask them if she is in fact there?”

After Katarina betrayed him and he had been informed of her death, Kale didn’t want to think about it. He’d loved her and every thought of her brought too much pain. So he’d chosen to lock it up, to deal with what hurt his soul by creating tangible, physical pain. The tattoos and piercings were his
medication for a broken heart and a darkened soul.

Kale gave Cree a half smile. He should have had the strength—because rules never truly deterred him—to ask one of the Immortal Three. The fact was he wasn’t sure he could handle the answer either way. He was bound in silence for fear of the truth.

“I guess there’s no time as good as the present,” Kale said as he stood up.

Cree stared Kale straight in the eyes when he spoke, “Regardless as to the answer you receive, maintain
your cool and remember that no matter where this leads you, you have family to support you.”

Kale chuckled. “It sounds like you fear me making a rash decision, Cree.”

“I fear the pain the answer may cause you, and I know how you deal with pain, Kale... We all do.”

Kale nodded. “I’m not as impulsive as you think.”

Cree cocked a brow at him, letting his eyes pass over the full-sleeve tattoos covering Kale’s arms.

Kale smiled wide with that patented mischievous tilt to his lips. “I thought about every tattoo and piercing that decorates my body. Especially the barbell below my waist—you don’t get that without thinking about it.”

Cree didn’t need to know any more. He’d thought Kale had gone certifiably insane when he found out he’d gone that far with the piercings.

Cree shivered at the thought.

“Go find some answers, Kale. Tell Acacia she can find me here when the two of you are done.”

Kale nodded and headed for the garden. He felt a thin layer of sweat form on his palms. He absently wiped them against his dark jeans and braced himself for answers that were over a decade past due.