Kali Sweet Series, Three Urban Fantasy Novels (Boxed Set) Read online

  “Dru!” I yelled, snapping my whip up at the same time.

  Without hesitation, he grabbed Vlad’s arm with one hand and shoved his father out of harm’s way. The crowd gasped its surprise.

  The tip of Volante curled around the stake in Toel’s hand and I gave it a solid jerk, ripping the stake out of his grasp. With his other hand, Dru extracted his sword—a beautiful schiavona—and pointed it at Toel’s neck.

  Behind me, Cole grunted again and said, “Be right back.” Then his body heat disappeared. I heard scuffling and knew he was rounding up the Council and forcing them out the servant’s exit.

  One last thing to worry about.

  The stake flew into my waiting hand. Vlad, recovering from Dru’s shove, righted himself, tugged on his pirate tunic and yelled, “What is the meaning of this?”

  Toel raised his hands, the tip of Dru’s sword millimeters from the vulnerable spot at the base of his neck. “Yes, brother,” he said, but his attention wasn’t on Dru. It was on me. “What is the meaning of this?”

  Dru, to his credit, didn’t even blink. “How dare you raise a stake to our father?”

  Vlad’s slit-eyed gaze raced between his two sons and the stake in my hand. I held it up for everyone to see. “Toel was going to stake you, Prince, and take your place.”

  There wasn’t as much surprise as I’d expected. In fact, the group that had gathered behind Toel now surrounded him, Vlad and Dru. Most of them looked eager, ready to jump Dru, and possible Vlad as well, at Toel’s command.

  I scanned the faces for Maddy. She’d been separated out of the main group and was being held by a tall female guard at the back of the room. In plain view, and yet out of my whip’s reach. I’d been too focused on Toel to notice. The guard had one arm around Maddy’s neck and a skinny, finely sharpened stake pointed at her heart. Maddy’s eyes showed no fear as they met mine. Her bottom lip, however, trembled.

  I adjusted the stake in my hand, tossing it up lightly and flipping it end over end in a nonchalant manner. Letting the guard assume I cared little for Maddy’s wellbeing. If she thought that, she’d be wrong, but it might make her look for a different way to manipulate me.

  Toel’s gaze flicked to Dru, to Vlad and then cruised around those vamps nearest to him. “As if! The stake was meant as a gift to my sire. It’s the stake I used to cull nonbelievers from my ranks as regional manager of the West Coast.” He stepped back from Dru’s sword, turned his back on him in order to face his followers.

  Ballsy, this one.

  “For too long, our members have been lax in what they’ll accept. Lax in what they’ll tolerate because our numbers have been declining. But instead of this decline bringing us closer together, it’s driving us apart. Every vamp for himself mentality leaves us open to attacks.” He swung back around and faced me, lifting his head. “Leaving us vulnerable to manipulation by other supernaturals.”

  This from the master of manipulation. At least he’d dropped the surfer lingo.

  Toel stepped up to his father, Dru’s sword following his head. “Let me bring back order and control to the Undead of the United States. We don’t need the Bridge Council or their ridiculous demon enforcer to restore our rightful place in the supernatural world.”

  Making a fist, he slammed it against his chest in a dramatic gesture that looked a little too Hollywood for me. “I will restore our power by returning to the old ways. The ways you, my sire, instituted over five centuries ago. We will carve up our enemies.” He cast an openly hostile glance my way. “We will dance on their graves, eat their ashes. We…”

  At this, he raised his fisted hands in the air and once again turned in a circle to rally his followers. “We will lead the supernatural world. And we…will…conquer humans!”

  The noise was deafening. Applause, stomping feet, the cries of warriors running into battle. The hairs on the back of my neck stood at attention.

  The female holding Maddy raised her stake in the air in a victory cry. Toel’s arms were also still raised, Rocky-like. Two targets, one stake.

  Decisions, decisions.

  Odds were, I wasn’t leaving the house alive. Maddy, though, had a chance.

  While I hated Toel and wanted to dust him, Maddy deserved to live more than Toel deserved to die.

  Decision made.

  I met The Mouse’s eyes and mouthed, “Get down!”

  She couldn’t go far with the female guard’s arm still locked around her neck, but instead of fighting against the chokehold, she went limp, letting her full body weight drag the guard’s arm downward.

  Good enough. I hurtled the stake and before the guard understood what was going on, the blunt end smacked her squarely in the forehead.

  Her head snapped back, eyes rolled up, and she fell backwards, taking Maddy with her. I lost sight of them in the crowd, but their fall went unnoticed.

  Vlad’s cry of “stop!” rose above the crowd noise but no one was listening. Dru and I exchanged a glance. Then Dru exchanged a glance with his father. While we’d unarmed Toel, he was still a dangerous entity, even to Vlad. He was rallying the vamps, but in his own name, and threatening the newly formed bond between Vlad and the Council. Worse, he was blatantly threatening to do harm to humans. No way could I let that slide.

  But I was outnumbered more than usual. Even if Cole made it back, it was him, me, Dru and Maddy—and she was questionable since I still hadn’t see her come up for air—against Toel and a hundred vamps itching for blood.

  Blood and war lust swirled like fog in the room, pricking at my skin, my hair, my magic. Volante hummed. My demon vibrated as well, picking up on the vamps arousal for shedding blood and creating pain. She wanted in.

  There was only one way to shut Toel down and save my friends. As he faced his father once more, he gave me a heartless grin. His too-bright eyes were rimmed in red.

  He was hungry, so I needed to give him what he wanted.

  A section I’d skimmed in the canon earlier surfaced in my mind. If Toel wanted a return to the old ways, I’d give it to him.

  Clearing my throat, I stroked my whip, soothing her, and waited for the vamps to quiet. Vlad was saying something I couldn’t hear and shaking his head at both of his sons. “Toel Chase,” I called out loud and clear.

  When he deigned to raise his gaze to mine, I smiled down at him. “As queen of the Central Vampire Region and acquiescing servant to the Prince of the Undead, I challenge you to a hand-to-hand combat duel. If you win, I’ll submit to your will—” I used phrasing I hoped would motivate him, “—and concede to your right as ruler.”

  His brows furrowed. The previous day’s fight was still fresh in his mind. But he snorted, refusing to let me see him sweat. “And if you win?”

  The only way for me to truly claim victory was to kill him and he knew it. “I’m surprised you would even consider the option.”

  He grinned malevolently. “Answer me, demon. What happens if you win?”

  I couldn’t give the Undead contingency in that room anything they wanted. Even if I could have promised them a rosy future, my popularity ranking was already in the negatives. There was no fixing that. “Don’t lose and you won’t have to worry about it.”

  Challenges. Power hungry vampires can’t resist them.

  “Let’s Barney,” he snarled.

  I assumed in surfer lingo, that meant let’s fight. If nothing else, I had to kill him just for the atrocious overuse of what was once cool slang.

  Dru stared at me, mouth agape. I gave a no big deal shrug even though my palms were sweating. Vlad, surprisingly, continued to intercede, grabbing hold of Toel’s arm and trying to talk to him. Toel shook him off, wiggling out of his tux jacket and handing it off to one of his stooges. Then he stalked toward me, the smack, smack, smack of his flip-flops echoing in the room.

  Seriously? He was going to fight me in those?

  For all his prowess at getting the upper hand in politics, he wasn’t much of a threat physically. In front of his p
eers and his father, however, he had more to prove.

  Still, my biggest concern was my dress. Not exactly fighting attire. I debated kicking the heels off, but like all my shoes and most of my accessories, they were weapons. A well placed kick with the spiked heel and Toel could consider his membership in the Undead society revoked.

  “Drop the whip,” he said.

  He was taking the hand-to-hand comment to heart. Even though she protested, I let Volante’s handle fall. Fisticuffs was my least favorite form of fighting, unless I was sparring with Cole, but nobody said I had to play fair.

  “You’re going to pay, demon bitch, for what you did to Nudra, what you did to me.” He curled fingers in my direction, egging me on. “I’m going to show my brothers and sisters, as well as my father, what a back-stabbing donk you are.”

  I stood still, watching his theatrics and trying not to roll my eyes. “You gonna fight or talk me to death, butt crumb?”

  A few snickers whispered through the crowd. As expected, Toel lunged, swinging a fist. Like I’d told Maddy, vampires were fast, but I was faster. Even in heels.

  I’d noticed he was left-handed when he was playing pool. Not that it mattered a whole lot, but I was ambidextrous with my fists and my weapons. That was an advantage. He would lead with his left, but I could lead with either. As he threw his first punch, I shifted just enough that the bulk of his fist skirted off my left shoulder. What did make contact stung, but it was a pleasant sting. A warm-up sting.

  A sting that brought the vengeance demon inside to full attention.

  The last time I’d let her out of her cage unrestrained was when I took revenge on Queen Maria. My demonness was nothing to mess around with. She was hell’s top predator outside of Lucifer and Lilith and she had no preconceived notions of right and wrong, no moral quandaries, no soul. She was power and magic rolled up tight with the seven deadly sins. Regardless of Lucifer’s claims, her essence was evil. She was evil.

  As Toel advanced for a second shot, this one aimed at my head, I dodged, giving him the chance to make contact but not actually hurt me. The blow grazed my cheek, barely a love tap, but his flip-flops tripped him up and he growled low. He lost his balance and then righted himself. His fangs descended.

  We circled each other on the dais, him tossing aside the chairs. They tumbled to the floor and were quickly shoved out of the way as the Undead surrounded the raised platform, turning it into a boxing ring.

  Blood lust and dominance poured out of Toel, but I didn’t bring up my protective magic, instead letting the swirling anger and hunger whet my demon’s appetite.

  I let him land a few more blows, giving him the rope to hang himself. He landed a solid punch in my stomach and my demon roared her anger, my head snapping forward from the intensity of it. A tremor shook me from head to toe as she flooded my chest with a dark, deadly yearning. I stumbled on my heels, giving Toel an opening.

  He was nervous to get too close, but confident enough now to move in for the kill. He tackled me, took me down. His biggest mistake was pinning me on my back.

  He liked to look his prey in the eyes and bare his fangs. To bask in his superiority and watch his prey cowering in fear. He didn’t notice the change in my body, the demon staring back at him in my eyes. All he saw was someone weaker than himself. Someone he could dominate, humiliate and kill.

  A group of vampires had taken up chanting, “Toel, Toel, Toel.” Over the top of that, I heard Maddy screaming my name, fear in the syllables. Had the female vamp or another of the guards grabbed her before she could escape?

  If she was going to be my assistant, we were going to have to work on her survival skills.

  “Yield,” I said over the chanting.

  Toel’s eyes were totally red except for the black dot in the center. He was so high on his own lust and pride at conquering me, his pupils had dilated to pinheads. “Why the fuck would I yield to you, you swamp donkey?”

  The demon inside me laughed. She liked dirty talk.

  Feeling inside the tulle Toel was smashing against me with his body, I suffered a long sigh. “Because if you don’t, I’m going to ice you, dude.”

  He was too far gone to comprehend. He grinned, showing his teeth again and lowered his head to skim them across my cleavage. The stake in hand, I waited to see if he’d try to bite me. I held very still, my demon waiting with me, hate filling my chest, dark magic drawing up from the ground beneath it. The evil flowed through me like thick syrup, spreading to my limbs, my fingers and toes.

  The moment Toel’s fangs grazed my carotid artery, Dru raised his sword above us, willing to spear his own brother to stop my demise. My demon purred at the heroic move, but he needn’t have bothered. With my left hand, I reached up, grabbed Toel’s sun-bleached hair and gave his head a jerk. The movement exposed his neck to me, and remembering Dru’s joking suggestion earlier that evening, I bared my demon teeth and sunk them into the donk’s neck.

  Chapter Forty-nine

  Toel cried out in dismay as blood gushed from his throat. The taste disgusted me, but I hung on, wanting him to feel all the pain and fear and humiliation he’d inflicted on others. Dru, sword still aimed at Toel’s back, froze, eyes going wide.

  The demon in me found it all rather amusing, and I lifted the stake, prepared to stab the vamp through his back to reach his heart, when the crashing sound of breaking windows stopped me.

  Shouts, screams and shrieks erupted around us.

  Danger, my demon whispered.

  I rolled Toel, sending him off the dais at the same time I came up on hands and knees, stake still in hand. Dru staggered backwards and was swallowed up in a group of vamps. Vlad had disappeared, too, amongst the charging vampires, arms flailing as they pushed and shoved, trying to escape but creating chaos instead.

  Chaos.

  I looked around, noting flashes of red material in amongst the vampires’ black and white attire. Noctifectors. Their outfits were red with gold daggers embroidered on the front of their tunics. Black masks covered their faces.

  And there I was on the raised platform, blood smeared on my face, stake in hand. I wiped the blood from my lips, grabbed my whip and stood up, regardless of becoming a target. Where the hell was Maddy?

  I didn’t see her. What I saw instead curled my stomach.

  Flashing blades caught the light from the chandeliers. Vampire heads rolled. Blood spurted and covered clothes, hair and the floor. Screams rent the air.

  A massacre.

  My demon and my whip pulsed with delight, reveling in the blood, the screams. My stomach pinched in disgust. I’d dreamed about doing the same thing myself in the abstract, wiping the vampires off the face of the Earth, but that was before Maddy. Before Dru. Before I’d discovered humanity in their faces, their actions.

  Continuing to scan for both of them, my heart tripped when I saw gold eyes on me from behind a Noct mask. Rad wove his way through the chaos and carnage, a dagger making swift work of the vamps who got in his way. After one fell at his feet, Rad raised his gaze and met mine again.

  My demon went on high alert. She wanted him, even in the midst of battle. Her magic called to him across the expanse and the demon in him answered. His eyes flashed with desire. My demon started moving toward him, my blood calling to him just like a sire vamp calling to an underling.

  Reigning in my demon when she’s in full force is near impossible. She’s an incorrigible child. An evil, incorrigible child.

  I jumped off the dais, shoved a vamp out of my way, everything in me yearning, demanding I satiate the demon.

  But the evil one recognizes danger as easily as she recognizes sin.

  Noctifector. Run away.

  Half-demon. Blood slave. Take him.

  Torn in two, my logic, magic and emotions at war with each other, I stopped. The room spun, the metallic smell of blood heavy in my nose. Vertigo sent me to my knees, the stake falling from my hand and spinning away when someone kicked it. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a
sword headed in the direction of my neck. I ducked, lost my balance and fell into a set of legs.

  I braced for the sound of steel cutting through the air, the feel of the blade slicing through my skin. Neither came.

  Strong hands lifted me from the floor, sat me on the edge of the dais. Rad’s masked face swam in front of my face, the flash of his dagger catching my eye. My chest tightened and I struggled against his hold, the demon lashing out with her magic to push him away. Push the dagger away.

  Or take it from him and bury it in his chest.

  At the same time, the blood in my body sent a second flood of magic out, this time reaching for my lover. It grabbed him, jerking him closer and connecting a circuit.

  Push, pull. Reject, entice. The tug-of-war continued. My head pounded, my lungs refused to expand. Dark spots danced in front of my eyes. I grabbed the dagger in Rad’s hand and tried to wrestle it from him. His demon—or perhaps the Noctifector in him—fought back, refusing to relinquish the weapon or surrender to me. We struggled, the blade swiping millimeters from my face, his throat.

  He forced my hand and the dagger upward, holding my arm captive in the air. “Yield,” he demanded, echoing what I’d said to Toel only moments before.

  Had he witnessed my fight with the vamp? Had he timed the Noctifectors attack in order to interrupt it?

  I strained against him, against the chaos he was causing inside me. Gritting my teeth through the pain, I restrained my demon and pushed her down, down, down toward her cage. She laughed, throwing off my control, and a new wave of agony tore through my head.

  Rad grabbed me by the shoulder with his free hand and shook me hard. “Yield, dammit!”

  To him? Or to the demon?

  Hell if I’d do either. “Never.”

  Looking in his eyes, a flash of sadness flipped some switch in my head. Emotions I couldn’t name swarmed me. His own tug-of-war was playing itself out behind his eyes and I was at the center of it.

  With my head splitting in two, my magic shredding into a thousand pieces, a spark of compassion warmed my chest. Compassion for Rad, who was trying to save me—not kill me—in the midst of a slaughter. Compassion for the vamps dying all around me.