Tempest of Vengeance (8 page)

“Have you heard anything about Ulysses?”

“Nothing,” Devlin said with disquiet, his
agitation growing. “Michael and the other Rulers know what happened
to Danial, and they are keeping it quiet. It simply cannot get out
that a human was able to fell a Ruler, even a newer one. They are
livid that Ulysses did what he did to Danial, that he dared to do
it! It is good I didn’t release Diana, as they would have tortured
her even as vampire, even though she told us all she knew, just to
make an example of her. Ulysses has no other relatives, Sar, no one
else for them to use against him. He has no trail, according to
Michael; it is if he never existed! There is no way to get him to
move from his lair, to show himself! But the most worrisome is that
Lash and I have talked it over, and we can find no angle here!
Danial’s blood was worth a great deal, and I’m assuming he sold it
to the same buyer he had for the werepelts. It would have brought
him several million dollars, if not more. Enough to change his
name, and disappear! Which he seems to have done. But this doesn’t
fit with his revenge schemes! He would not have done all this for
money—”

“He wants you to suffer. What else do you
have to lose?”

Devlin paused and thought. “You, Venus, my
niece and nephew, and Lash,” he said finally. “But there is no
angle—”

“There must be,” I said, sitting down. “Maybe
you need to ask yourself what he
thinks
you have to lose
besides all of us. Maybe your fortune?”

“I am much too diversified to ever lose it,
even a good portion of it, and certainly not enough to feel any
pinch,” Devlin said casually. “When I say my wealth is vast, Sar, I
mean virtually uncountable.”

Well, that was good to know. “What about your
territory as Ruler of Canada? You can’t defend both territories,
yours and Danial’s—”

“I have spoken to the other Rulers about
that,” Devlin said seriously. “They have agreed to put Danial’s
territory and mine together, as it once was five centuries ago. I
will rule all of North America, as Perseus rules South America. So
that cannot be the reason, Sar! I have gained territory and not
lost anything!”

I shrugged my shoulders, and held him close
to me, trying to comfort him. I didn’t understand Ulysses’ plans
either. But I had a dark feeling that when both of us finally did,
it would be a black day indeed.

* * * *

The next weeks passed quickly.

Most days were the same. I exercised in the
mornings, played with Venus, and after lunch, I worked on e-mail.
Every other day, I continued with my target practice. I spent only
an hour at a time with a gun in my hand, but I knew too well that
my recently improved aim had saved my life. I would not be letting
that skill slide again anytime soon.

Later, on most nights, Dev, Venus and I
watched a movie, or listened to music, or Devlin read us poetry,
though Venus preferred by far for him to read her some of the books
we had gotten her for her own, such as
Tuesday
, or
Cloudy
with a Chance of Meatballs
. I sometimes made us popcorn, though
not often, because it made me think of Lash by himself, and I got
too melancholy to really enjoy it. But we spent time together as a
family, and that was what mattered most.

After putting Venus to bed, Dev and I would
usually get in the Jacuzzi for a while to get relaxed, and then go
to bed, though sleep was not Devlin’s only desire, as it had been
for so long. Though he was recovering his stamina very slowly, his
body had completely healed. That first week, he made love to me
every night for as long as he could, eagerly touching my body as he
murmured love poetry softly in his beautiful voice. It was soothing
to me, to lose myself in his soft caresses. I enjoyed feeling his
strong body against mine, his arms holding me, and his hard flesh
encased in mine as he pleasured me. But I could tell even now he
was a little afraid that I would leave for some reason, and so I
told him finally that I would stay, at least until spring. My home
was ashes, and Danial’s home was no longer mine. Most everything I
cared about was here, save Elle and T. It made the most sense to
me, to stay.

Devlin was pleased at my decision, though
still wary in those first few days. But after the first week had
passed, he contented himself some nights with just holding me, or
caressing me gently. I began to fall asleep most nights in his
arms, instead of him in mine as it had always been before. And
every night I made sure to tell him I loved him, as he lay beside
me, looking into my green eyes with his golden ones. We were
getting along better than we ever had before, and to say we found
happiness in each other would not be a lie.

But there was sadness in spades. The worst
was that Danial did not awaken as the days passed, though Devlin
gave him human blood by transfusion every week at least twice, as
well as a little of his own blood. He no longer looked pale, or
wan. He looked as he always had when he was asleep.

“Even if he awakens, Sar, he probably won’t
be the same,” Dev mentioned one morning, as we lay in bed spooning.
“He was without a heartbeat for too long. His brain can regenerate,
but I’m not sure how long it will take. He also needs older blood,
and it will be a while before I can give him any more. But I am
doing my best to come up with a plan to restore him to us. Trust
me, Love.”

I said nothing. There was nothing I could say
to make myself feel any better, that the Danial we knew and loved
was lost somewhere inside himself, and we couldn’t bring him
back.

But some things happening were noteworthy,
even if they were not happy. On Wednesday, Elle and T came to visit
for the first time as he had said he would. Elle was standoffish
from the first, but once she saw Venus, and how beautiful my
younger daughter was, she became even more withdrawn. I could see
she was jealous, but I didn’t see how to address it without calling
her jealous. It didn’t help that Venus was borne of my body, while
Elle was not.

So, I got Serena to take Venus for a while,
and blew off that afternoon of working, and instead spent it with
Elle, walking the dogs on a very long hike with her and Titus. Once
she was alone with me, and some time passed, she opened up a
little. I could see she missed Danial, and that she was upset,
because she’d thought I would be staying with her and Theo. I told
her it wasn’t her fault that I’d decided to stay with Dev, and told
her again she was welcome to stay here, if she chose to. But she
refused, saying that even if no one else needed her, Briar did.

“She’s missing Dad,” she said sadly. “She
walks around his door, and cries for him, and also up in the
office. And every time T comes out, I can see how upset she is,
that he isn’t there—”

“Bring her with you and come here to stay,” I
urged. “Briar can spend time with Danial, and it may do her good to
see he is alive.”

“No,” Elle said. “I can’t come and live here.
You know Theo would never go for it. He didn’t want me to come
today. I’m all he has left, Mom.”

It was in her voice that the real reason was
she couldn’t live here with Venus, couldn’t see us together every
day and think of how I now had a daughter of my own blood.

I felt awful, feeling her hurt. “I’m sorry
you’re caught in the middle,” I stopped walking and hugged her
tightly. “You always seem to be caught in the middle, Elle.”

“It’s okay,” Elle said quietly. “And I will
bring Briar on Friday, when I come again.”

“You know I love you,” I said, not letting
her go. “You know it was love of you that led to me having Theoron
with your dad, and my other children—”

“I know,” Elle said, her voice wavering a
bit. “T told me, one night we were talking.”

We had a good rest of the walk, and when she
hugged me good-bye, she almost squeezed the life out of me. But on
Friday, T appeared with Briar in her cat carrier, but no Elle.

“Where is Elle?” I demanded.

Theoron shrugged, and handed me Briar. “Theo
said it was too dangerous. He said he’d lost one child, he wasn’t
going to lose another. Elle is under house arrest, practically.
She’s furious.”

Having a new stepmother figure probably
wasn’t helping. Elle remembered Tasha too well. But there was
nothing I could do. Maybe Theo was right, that I was putting her in
danger.

Briar was overjoyed to see Danial, and curled
up next to him immediately, purring. When T went to leave, Briar
refused to be captured, running from room to room to evade us,
until finally T agreed to let her stay.

“Work on Theo, please?” I said, as I hugged T
good-bye. “I want to see Elle.”

“Mom, you know how Theo gets. He said when I
tried that Elle wasn’t really your daughter anyway—”

Asshole.

“—
and that you could talk to her on the
phone.”

I made it a point then to call Elle every day
at eight, before I had a late dinner with Venus. For a while that
worked, until I began to get no answer when I called. I spoke to T
about it on the eighteenth of November, and he said Theo had
instructed Elle not to talk to me. I said a few nasty things in
retort, and T insisted he would talk to Theo, and try to get him to
change his mind. He also said Elle had written me a letter, and he
would bring it with him the next time he came. I told him I would
leave everything for now, but if he hadn’t solved it by December
first, I would be showing up in the great room on December second,
whether anyone wanted me there or not. T said that was fair, and
that he was sorry.

I raged to Dev about it, and he comforted me,
but he said there was nothing to be done. He knew as well as I that
I had no legal right to Elle, just as Danial didn’t. We had never
formally adopted her, when Theo was gone those years, and that was
coming back to bite us in the ass now.

That wasn’t all Theo was up to, of
course.

A week after Theo’s attempt to change me, on
the twenty-first, he sent me a certified letter. Well, actually,
his lawyer sent it. I opened it, expecting to have papers to sign,
asking for a separation. But I got a surprise. Instead, I found a
notice, telling me that on January twentieth, our divorce would be
final. And Theo’s wedding ring was enclosed, as was my watch.

I read the papers with shock, Devlin reading
them too, over my shoulder.

“He must have gone through Danial’s files,” I
stammered. “Danial must have saved those papers we signed, the ones
I’d been going to fax to my lawyer back in late January of last
year. He must have forged my signature, and bribed someone at the
courthouse for this.”

“It’s good that he did,” Devlin affirmed.
“The sooner he’s divorced from you, the better for you. This way,
you will only have to wait another month and a week, or so.
According to this, you are already legally separated.”

I agreed that was probably best, though I
felt a pang of regret. I’d fought so hard for Theo, so hard to stay
his wife, to keep us together. I felt a twinge of guilt now that I
was giving him up almost without a fight. But I’d never trust him
again, and I couldn’t be werecougar for him. And that was the end
of it.

“You can take my name, Sar, if you wish,”
Devlin said in a low tone. “Or Danial’s, if you prefer it to mine,
though ‘Dalcon’ sounds much more elegant than ‘Racklan’—”

I hadn’t even thought of that, but realized
with a start that I was going to have to think about it. And
sooner, rather than later. I didn’t want to be ‘O’Connor’ anymore,
anyway. I wanted to be myself. And I already had a name, a good
one.

“I’ll go back to McGarran, for now,” I said
firmly. “I don’t know why I changed my name in the first place,
honestly. I didn’t when I married Brennan. In fact, I swore I never
would—”

“Some of it may have been the spell,” Devlin
whispered. “Titus told me he had broken it, and that there might be
a backlash. He had to use the Hellfire, Sar. He said nothing else
would break it. That he tried everything else first.”

I shivered.
Hellfire; real Hell fire.
Cringe.

“But he asked me to pass on to you that he
did take Aran’s memories, and Cia’s, and Janice’s. Aran told only
Cia what had happened, according to his memories. So we still don’t
know who told Terian about what really happened between you and
Lash.”

I couldn’t worry about that now. “Can we go
and lie down for a while?” I said, hugging him. “I need to not
think.”

“I’m sure I can find a way to distract you,”
Devlin said with a slow enticing smile, taking me by the hand.
“Come with me, my dear.”

“Wait.” I looked down at my finger, at Theo’s
ring, and the wedding band I’d worn now for a little over a year. I
quietly slipped them both off my finger, and put them on the table,
near Theo’s wedding band. Then I took Devlin’s hand again, and led
him to our bedroom.

* * * *

I finally got to talk to Titus a week after
getting Theo’s letter. He gave me a welcoming hug, and then said
without preamble, “What happened with Theo?”

“He doesn’t love me anymore,” I said bluntly,
not wanting to discuss it. “He told me he was leaving me for Jenny,
and I left. It was over quickly.”

I was lying, but what else could I tell him?
If I told him what had really happened, he would be livid. I knew
what my mother would have done to Theo. My demon father figure
would probably do worse, and that was saying something.

“Good,” Titus replied, obviously relieved. “I
asked Terian to be on call, in case you needed him. I thought there
might be...well, never mind. I’m sorry to hear you are splitting
up, but glad to hear that it was amicable, or as amicable as such
things can be.”

I hugged him, then changed the topic to
something else. There was no point going over that night ever
again.