Inferno (Book 4 The Kindred Series) (25 page)

“Devon!”

Agony tore through him as he pulled his
wrist away from her mouth. She blinked up at him, her gorgeous eyes
dazed and wounded at the loss of contact, at the loss of the bond
that she had been thoroughly enjoying. His blood marred her full
mouth, it stained her lips an even deeper shade of red. He groaned,
shaking, barely in control of himself. It was too hard, and it was
far too much, the monster inside of him was so very close to the
surface. Hell, if he was honest with himself, he would admit that
it was already on the surface, already in control. And that it had
been for awhile now. If he was completely honest with himself, he
would admit that the man had not been in control in a long
time.

Julian was right, he was losing it, and
he was going to hurt her if he did.

He spun suddenly, issuing a startled
cry from Cassie as he thrust her at Julian. Surprised by the sudden
movement, Julian just barely managed to catch her. It killed him to
hand her over to another man, especially Julian, but Julian may
very well be the only one that could keep her safe from him. Or at
least he would try to anyway. “Take her,” Devon barked, struggling
against the urge to rip her back from Julian. Struggling against
the urge to destroy Julian so that no one could stop him from doing
everything he wanted to her.

“Devon?” Cassie scrambled to escape
Julian’s arms, her eyes were frantic.

She managed to get back onto her feet,
but Julian grabbed hold of her waist, pulling her swiftly back,
pinning her against his chest. His ice eyes were hard and
unwavering as he stared hard at Devon. Though he would defend
Cassie to the death, he was waiting, hoping that Devon continued to
make the right choices on his own. Devon growled, reaching for her,
wanting to draw her back to him, hold her. Wanting to finish what
he had started, and end the torment that suffused them both. He
stopped, his hand falling back to his side as the man managed to
briefly regain some control of the monster. He couldn’t do this to
her, he couldn’t risk losing her, couldn’t risk what the change
might do to her. He couldn’t hurt her in this way. He turned
swiftly away, moving before he no longer could.

Desperation urged him faster. Grasping
hold of the shattered window frame, he heaved himself over the
windowsill and into the dark, cold night. He needed to get away,
but he could not go far. He could not leave her alone, could not
leave her with the monsters hunting this town. No, he could not go
far, but he also could not be near her right now. As long as she
remained human, he may not ever be able to be near her
again.

“Devon!” her terrified scream followed
him. The torment in her voice caused his non-beating heart to
shatter into a thousand pieces, but he did not slow as he raced
further into the night.

***

Cassie stood in the shadows, her arms
folded over her chest as she continued to glare at everyone every
once in awhile. Julian remained rigid by the door, his hand resting
upon it, his ice colored eyes focused upon her. The windows had
been boarded back up, the bodies tossed into the basement, and the
trapdoor blocked by a heap of shelves piled on top of it. No one
was sleeping in the backroom tonight; they had all joined her and
Julian in the front room.

Though she hadn’t thought that they
would sleep, and knew that she would not, soft snores filled the
room. Chris stood by the other window, his head bowed, his arms
folded over his chest as he leaned against the window. Though he
almost looked like he was asleep, Cassie knew that he was not.
Neither was Liam, who was sitting in a chair, his feet propped up
on one of the counters, the back of his chair leaning against the
wall.

They were babysitting her, and she
resented them all for it because the minute that they weren’t
looking, she was going after Devon. Come hell or high water, she
was going out there and she was going to find him. And once she
did, she did not care what happened, she would do whatever she
could to make him happy, and to bring him back here where he would
be at least a little safer. And where she knew where the hell he
was!

She did not kid herself, and neither
did anyone else, into thinking that they were safe here. The
creatures knew that they were here. They simply had nowhere else to
go right now. No place could be completely barricaded, and nowhere
would have the supplies that the store had. And there was no way
that Cassie was going to leave this store without Devon. She had
been separated from him for too long when she had been held
prisoner, she was not going to take the chance of losing him
again.

A small moan snapped her attention
toward Melissa as she turned slowly over. Though she continued to
sleep, her face twisted in pain as she turned onto her side.
Melissa healed fast, and Annabelle had used her powers to help heal
the wounds in Melissa’s side, but they were still deep and painful.
Every time she moved, she moaned in pain. Cassie’s heart went out
to her. She hated to see her friend in such discomfort. Melissa
settled back down, her mouth going slack as sleep reclaimed
her.

Cassie turned back to the window,
wishing that she could see through the board that covered it. Her
skin crawled, her body ached, she itched to jump through that
window and flee into the night in search of Devon. She wanted to
see him, needed to see him. Where was he out there? Why had he left
her?

A knot formed in her throat, she found
it difficult to breathe. She knew why he had left her, but she just
wished that he had talked to her about it first. That he had given
her a chance to talk to him. Shuddering, Cassie wrapped her arms
around herself, trying hard not to completely unravel. She would
join him; she would give him anything he wanted, even her life. She
didn’t care what the consequences of those actions would be
anymore, as long as it made him happy, and she could be with him
again.

“You’re not going out
there.”

Cassie’s gaze darted to Julian as he
growled the command in a gravelly, irritated voice. Her eyes
narrowed, her hands tightened upon her arms. “I didn’t say I
was.”

He lifted his head, his eerie eyes
oddly bright in the small amount of light filtering into the room.
His handsome face was hard; lines of pain etched his mouth. He had
not been hurt in the battle, Cassie knew those lines of pain were
because of her. Guilt and anguish for him filled her. She truly did
love him, not like he loved her, but she desperately wanted him to
be happy. And unfortunately she could not make him happy, no matter
how much she wished she could. He had a piece of her heart, along
with most people in this room, but Devon owned her soul, her body,
and her mind. She could only hope that eventually Julian would find
someone that could return his love, someone that could give him
everything that he wanted and so desperately needed.

He quirked an eyebrow at her. “I know
you,” he grumbled.

Cassie turned away from him; she
couldn’t meet his gaze again. He did know her, not only had he
touched her, and seen many of the details of her life, but he knew
who she was, and what she thought. He knew her strengths and most
of all he knew all of her many weaknesses. He knew that she battled
with her self-control, not as bad as Julian, and nowhere near as
bad Devon, but there was something inside of her too. Something
dark, and dangerous, and lethal.

“I don’t understand why he left,” she
whispered.

“Yes, you do.”

Cassie shuddered as she bit on her
bottom lip nervously. Yes she did, but if he had just given her a
chance, she would have agreed to give him everything that he
wanted. “But he doesn’t have to fight it anymore,” she
whispered.

Julian shifted; there was a ripple of
muscles that reminded her of a sleek panther hunting its prey. She
frowned at him, her forehead furrowing as anger spurted through
her. She could sense his displeasure, his disapproval. “Yes, he
does.”

Cassie opened her mouth to protest, but
he swiftly cut her off. “You may have chosen him over me princess,
but I’m going to make damn sure that you stay alive. You know, as
well as I, that there is no way to know what could happen to you,
and that is not a chance I am willing to take.”

She stared hopelessly back at him, she
knew that he realized how much this meant to her, how much she
wanted this. But, like Devon, her safety would always be his
priority and there would be no changing his mind on that. But she
needed him to understand her on this one. “I am,” she
whispered.

“Really?” he demanded sharply. “Are you
really? You may not care what happens to you, but I’m pretty damn
sure that you care about what happens to Chris, Melissa, Luther,
and everyone else in this room.”

She recoiled slightly, stunned by his
words and the vehemence behind them. “Of course I do!” she
retorted.

“Well if something goes wrong you could
quite possibly kill them all. And if you go wrong, then Devon is
going to go wrong, so there is a good possibility that everyone in
this room will end up dead. Including me. I love you princess, and
I’ve lived a long life, but I am not ready to give it up yet.
Neither am I willing to lose you.”

Tears bloomed in her eyes; she
swallowed back the lump in her throat. “Julian…”

“He’s not going to change you, not
right now anyway. None of us can take the chance of losing
you.”

Tears slipped silently down her face,
she turned back to the window, despising the board covering it.
“What about Devon?” she whispered.

Julian shifted again, a small ripple of
motion that she barely caught, but suddenly he was before her.
Gently clasping her chin, he lifted her face to him. His ice eyes
burned into hers, the intensity in them left her breathless. “I
swear to you that I will do everything I can to help the both of
you figure this out. I won’t leave you alone in this, but Devon
needs time to himself. He needs to be alone now Cass, before he
hurts someone. You have to accept that fact.”

Her lower lip trembled as he gently
wiped the tears from her cheek with his thumb. The intensity in his
eyes burned away, it was replaced with a yearning that nearly broke
her heart. For a moment Cassie froze, frightened that he would kiss
her again. She stared pleadingly back at him, praying that he
wouldn’t. With a soft sigh, he dropped his head to hers, cradling
her face gently for a moment before kissing her forehead quickly
and pulling swiftly away.

Cassie watched silently as he stalked
back across the room, his back as stiff as a board, his body
humming with tension. Cassie ducked her head; unable to meet Chris
or Liam’s gazes, she turned her attention to the rest of the room
and all the people she cared about. Patrick and Joey did not count,
but her gaze landed upon them. Joey’s head was bowed as he slept in
his chair, but Patrick was awake and watching them intently. The
creatures had never gone for them.

Cassie frowned, her arms folding over
her chest as she studied them a new discomfort began to grow inside
of her. Why hadn’t the creatures gone for them? The one had
targeted her because it had seen her, and recognized her, and hated
her. But they would have recognized these two, and no matter how
much they may have hated her, their hate for these two would have
to be worse. There is no way that it could not be, not with what
these two had done to them.

She took a step toward them, her head
tilted to the side, as the wheels in her mind began to spin
rapidly. And then, she knew. Her mouth dropped, her eyes widened as
she gaped at the two men. “Cassie?” Chris inquired
softly.

She took another step toward them, her
heart hammering, and her throat dry. She thought of the creatures
that had escaped from here, thought of the ones still lurking
within the shadows, and her skin crawled with disgust and horror.
The icy tentacles of terror crept steadily up her neck, causing her
hair to stand on end. How many of them were still out there,
hunting, plotting?

“Cassie?” Chris asked again, an edge of
fear making his voice sharper than normal.

She turned slowly toward Julian, her
heart hammering with terror. “You need to go find him Julian,” she
whispered. “Please, you need to go now. He can’t be out there
alone, it’s too dangerous. They’re far smarter than we thought, far
smarter.”

Julian stared at her for a moment, his
eyes hooded and distant. Frustration filled Cassie, panic clenched
at her chest as she thrust a finger at Patrick and Joey. “That one
recognized me from in there; he came at me because he recognized
me. You think that he, that they didn’t recognize them. That they
didn’t want to kill them too! Of course they did, but they didn’t
go after them. Why? Because they were tied to the chairs, they were
easy targets; they knew that they could take them without a
problem. Those creatures knew that they had to come for us first,
that they had to take us down in order to get to them. They planned
everything, they calculated everything. We already knew that they
ambushed us, but we assumed it was the same as wolves hunting a
deer. We didn’t realize just how much thought process and
intelligence they do still have. Julian you have to go get him,
they’re out there and they’re going to come back, or they are going
to trap him. He can’t be alone Julian, he can’t! They’ll kill him
if he is!”