Seduced by Lies (11 page)

Derek's eyes glowed with his wolf, but he couldn't do anything without risking my life. None of them could.

How could I have been so stupid? Because of me, everything was at risk. All of the students, my daughter, my husband.

We walked out the door and upstairs as Ryder pushed me forward, blood trickling down my neck.

Through the busy halls, students stopped, stunned, fear on their faces, as they registered what was happening.

Derek pushed the front door open, and Ryder pulled me outside, walking backwards. "Don't move," he warned everyone.

"Let me go," I begged. "I have a little girl who needs me."

"Later." He started to pull me into the woods as he yelled to my friends, who didn't know what to do, their thoughts desperate and confused. "Don't follow me, and you'll get her back."

"I'll find you," I hissed to him as we entered the forest.

"You will," he said, his mouth grazing against my ear. "When I return to finish your husband, you will."

I elbowed him in the stomach and twisted around, disarming him and taking the knife. A move I learned in martial arts classes growing up.

He laughed. "You're quick…"

I lunged forward, committed to the kill, but he dodged and kicked, launching me to the ground.  I fell hard, dropping the knife.

"…but weak," he finished, walking over me to pick up the knife. He kneeled to pin me to the ground and held the knife over my chest, about to stab me. "I'm sorry," he said. "But this'll be easier—for the both of us."

A tear leaked out of my eyes, and I thought of my daughter, my husband, my little family. As he swung down, I steeled myself for death, when a tattoo-covered hand caught Ryder's and pulled his arm up.

The Lycan looked up, stunned.

And in the shadows, I saw…

"An angel," whispered Ryder.

"Your angel of death," Beleth said.

Let us go in together,


And still your fingers on your lips, I pray.


The time is out of joint—O cursèd spite,


That ever I was born to set it right!


Nay, come, let's go together.

— William Shakespeare, Hamlet

THE MOMENT RYDER
pulled Sam into the woods I moved in, fighting the desire to shift and hunt, worried I would put Sam in greater danger if I did.

When the ground below me rumbled and shook and Ryder's body flew out of the woods as if he were a doll, I let go of all restraint. Sam was safe. Whatever had just happened, Ryder was alone.

Now I could kill the bastard.

I lunged, shifting into wolf as I did, body filling with the power of my shifter form, filled with the magic of my people, but my attack came to a halt as a black shadow fell from the sky and landed in front of Ryder.

A man wrapped in shadows with wings black as ink.

A dark angel.

Beleth.

He extended his arm toward Ryder, the hand lengthening into a black blade like obsidian. Ryder's hand turned to a claw, catching the blade and knocking it away just in time to avoid being eviscerated by the irate angel.

Ryder completed his shift, jumping to bite Beleth with a mouth full of sharp teeth, but Beleth grabbed him by the throat and pulled him into the sky, disappearing into the night.

My body shook with the adrenaline of a hunt denied me as I turned back to my human form. Rose, Alaric and Father Patrick joined me, all of us staring mouth agape into the sky. My mind couldn't quite comprehend the fact that this magnificent being was Drake's father. That Drake had angel blood coursing through his body.

As we watched, a shadow fell from the sky, crashing down into the earth, leaving a small crater in its wake. Ryder, in human form, cried out in pain, his bones askew, some breaking through his skin and leaving pools of blood around him.

Even as he screamed from the pain his body worked to heal, reforming his bones.

Before I could shift and attack, Beleth once again landed in front of the Lycan, his hand shaping itself into a giant scythe.

Sam ran from the woods, a trail of blood leaking down her throat. Drake would never forgive me if I let this asshole hurt his wife. I growled as Sam screamed. "He tried to kill Drake!"

Beleth nodded, his black eyes unflinching, his body a mass of lithe rock as he raised his scythe over Ryder.

Alaric threw himself between him. "I beg you, spare him." His body shook, whether from fear for himself or Ryder, I couldn't tell. Probably both. Even I wouldn't want to be staring down an angry angel. Still, had to give the bishop credit for having a serious pair of steel balls. "He will be judged by the Church and punished according to his sins."

I moved in closer and raised my voice. "Death is the punishment." No more bullshit excuses. Beleth needed to end this or I would.

Rose stepped forward, her eyes offering a brief apology before she spoke. "No. We don't know the extent of his crimes. We can't kill him."

"He tried to kill my husband, and me!" Sam turned to look at each of us, pleading with us to give justice, or maybe vengeance, to this man. "He won't give up until he finishes the job. Isn't that enough?"

"More than enough," Beleth said, raising his scythe again, perhaps willing to impale the bishop if he didn't move.

I wouldn't cry over that loss, either.

Alaric faced Beleth, not breaking eye contact. "Please, let my order deal with him. He deserves a trial."

Beleth tensed his raised arm, then dropped it. "Then he shall have one."

"He will not return here, I swear," the bishop said.

"He'd better not, for your sake." Beleth didn't shout, but his words carried their own power, and threat. "Now, take me to my son."

Father Patrick gestured for Beleth to follow him, but as he passed I stopped the angel. "Why let him live?"

"I leave him to a trial," said the angel. "One day, I hope someone does the same for me."

Ryder had passed out from the pain, his naked body sprawled bloody over the rock and dirt, but I took no chances, soliciting help from Tammy and Dean to secure him before bringing him back to the mansion.

I also took no measures to make it an easier journey for him. He was lucky to still be alive.

We stowed him in the attic, tied up like a cartoon character from the old Wile E. Coyote cartoons. Not trusting the rope alone, I added shackles, confident he wouldn't be moving, let alone escaping, any time soon.

I cut off the excess rope and stared at the knife in my hand, running my finger over the sharp edge as I thought of all the innocent lives Ryder had destroyed.

"Derek." Someone called to me, but the knife held my attention.

"Derek." A hand rested on my shoulder. I turned to my sister's grim face. "I'll watch him. Go be with the others."

Right. Beleth was with Drake, to hopefully heal him. I nodded and closed the knife, shoving it back into my pocket. "Thanks."

Ryder would live another day.

If he was lucky.

The infirmary was crowed as Beleth stood over Drake with Sam and Dr. Susie at his side and Father Patrick and Alaric in the corner watching. I didn't see Toby, but that didn't mean much.

"In order to save him," Beleth said, "Drake must become more angel than human. There are two ways to become Nephilim: through birth if one parent is angel or Nephilim, or through a blood ritual. Drake was born, but this ritual I must do will also imbue him with angel blood, which is something rarely, if ever, done to turn one who is already Nephilim. The angel blood will further his transformation which began the day of his wedding, when I performed the first ritual to unlock some of his powers by painting an ancient symbol on his forehead with my blood."

It was a lot to take in. What would this change do to Drake? How would it change him? I'm sure Sam and everyone else had the same questions.

Sam didn't hesitate though. "Turn him. Now."

"He's already Nephilim," Beleth said. "That's his birthright. This will unlock his power." He hesitated. "And his weakness."

A shimmer of light hovered in the air and solidified into a street savvy boy who always appeared scuffed up. "What weakness?" asked Toby.

Only Alaric looked surprised at his appearance, but Drake had saved Toby from a life, and death, on the streets. The boy was never far from his side, even if his parapowers hid him.

"The craving for blood," Beleth said.

"Like human blood?" Toby asked.

Beleth nodded.

"Can he control it?" I asked.

Beleth stood still, like a rock or a mountain. "He can learn."

Sam shivered. "How long will it take?"

"Days. Weeks. It's different for each Nephilim," Beleth said.

Father Patrick stepped forward, speaking mostly to Sam. "There is one more thing you should know.

He licked his lips nervously. "Not all survive the transformation."

Sam nodded, likely having read the priest's mind already. She turned back to Beleth. "You're not pure angel anymore. You've been genetically modified. Will that affect the ritual?"

Beleth dropped his head a fraction, such a small movement but on one usually so still, it felt big. "I don't know. But I do know he will die soon if we do nothing."

She steeled her shoulders and squeezed Drake's hand. "Do it."

Beleth's hand turned into a blade—was that an angel trait or unique to his newly bred genetics?—and used it to cut open his wrist.

I wasn't sure what I expected, more subtlety or some incense and chanting maybe, but not something this blatant.

The blood poured into Drake's mouth and down his throat. I turned away, troubled by the thought that my best friend would crave this particular delight.

I faced Alaric instead, whose face had paled considerably. I didn't want to think we were both disgusted by the same thing. "Take Ryder and leave. Tonight."

He pulled his eyes away from the blood meal to lock eyes with mine. "You may wish to reconsider."

"Why?"

"You and Rose must accompany us."

Yeah, not happening. "I've spent enough time around you."

Rose slipped her hand into mine, and even in the midst of all this hell, her touch made me shiver and long for more. "For the trial?" she asked.

The bishop nodded. "Aside from Drake, you two are the only witnesses."

"And if you go alone?" I asked.

"Then there can be no trial, and he'll be set free."

Rose squeezed my hand. "We'll go."

"We'll stay with Drake," I said at the same time.

We faced each other.

"I want to stay too," she said, "but Drake would want us to go. He'd want Ryder judged."

"Then it can wait until after the transformation." I wanted Ryder punished, but I wasn't going to make him a priority over Drake.

"No," said the bishop. "We must start soon. When Ryder fails to contact the council, they will wonder where he has gone. If they discover we have kept him prisoner without informing them of why, they will hunt us."

Rose fidgeted, looking from Drake back to the bishop. "How long do we have?"

"We should leave tomorrow," he said. "Once everyone has rested."

My muscles tensed. "Contact the council. Tell them they'll have to wait."

The bishop smirked. "They wait for no one."

"They'll wait for me," I said, a low growl in my throat.

The bishop raised his hands. "You'll put this school in danger."

"You've already done that by coming here and bringing this monster," I reminded him.

Sam spoke up from over Drake's body. "We're fine here." She glared at me, of course reading my mind. "Go. Make sure he's punished for what he's done to my husband."

I wanted to argue, was about to argue, but how could I? This was what she wanted, what Drake would want if he was conscious. "Fine. We'll go tomorrow."