contained inside him. His power, I mean. You can’t expect your science to subdue chaos, Adam. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.”
“Did he give you power? Do I need to restrain you?”
Akil had done something. Given me power? Subdued Damien? How was I supposed to explain the existence of Damien to Adam? As soon as I said I was possessed, he’d lock me up and throw away the key. “Forget about me. You heard what he said. There are bigger issues here. You need to get your half bloods on the streets. Val’s coming. The veil might collapse.”
“Valenti? Your brother is behind this?”
Dammit. “So, I’ve been told.”
“By whom? Who’s your contact?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
Okay, Adam had gone from angry to outright suspicious. His eyes widened. He dropped back into his chair and stroked a thumb across his bottom lip. “I can’t trust you. I have your Prince of Hell lover feeding you power, and now you tell me your brother is about to launch an attack on Boston. You seem to be at the center of this nightmare.”
And he didn’t know the half of it. “Akil didn’t give me power.” That was a lie. I could feel it, the spark of fire burning inside. Not my demon, but I sure had the beginnings of my element, probably enough to trigger the chain reaction Jerry had spoken of, maybe enough to flush PC34 from my veins. “Look, it doesn’t matter. You need to call all your resources to Boston.”
“Why here?” He sent his gaze about the room, his focus wavering as his analytical mind tried to find solutions. “Why Boston?”
“I don’t know. The fine dining and excellent retail facilities?” Adam glared, clearly not in the mood for sarcasm. With a sigh, I admitted, “I suspect it has something to do with the king.”
“Tell me everything.”
“If Akil was telling me the truth, then there’s a King of Hell, who’s hiding in Boston. Akil was…” If I told Adam I suspected Akil of being said king, he’d likely fill Akil’s cell with gas and knock him out cold for further tests. Bye-bye, Akil. “He told me that the king is like the anti-chaos. He’s control. The queen—chaos personified—thought she had killed him. The princes then killed the queen. Voila, the Seven Princes of Hell get all the juice. But Akil ferreted the king away and has protected him since.”
“If we can get our hands on the king, he could stop this?”
“Well, yeah, but he’s also the King of Hell. So, y’know… He could just as likely take Boston for himself. And the rest of our world, for all I know. Akil probably knows everything, but he won’t tell you, Adam. Not for anything. You may as well let him go. He’s no use to anyone in there.”
Adam stewed on my words. His shrewd gaze wasn’t comforting. In fact, I wondered as he glared at me, if I might be summoning Akil’s gift of fire in the next breath. I angled myself toward the door, should I need to make a quick exit.
“The half bloods aren’t ready. The boy, Delta, shows promise, but...” He shook his head. His shoulders bowed, and a tired, uncertain, man looked back at me.
I swallowed and looked away. Adam might have obedient pets as half bloods, but they weren’t going to do him any good strapped to examination tables. He believed Stefan and I were failures. But what he neglected to see was how Stefan and I were powerful while his docile pet half- bloods were probably little more than eager puppies. Adam’s fatal mistake was trying to control chaos. You can’t force chaos and control together. They are mutually exclusive. I was beginning to realize that myself. I continued to try to control my demon, but it was a losing battle. Akil had said I needed to be demon to defeat my brother. His lust will destroy the human in you. There was no escaping my fate.
“Val has half bloods, Adam, and given how they’ve been raised beyond the veil, I doubt they’re the docile creatures you have hidden in your science-lab. Val knows half bloods. He’s always been the one holding their leashes. His half-bloods will be rabid, terrifying beasts quite capable at leveling Boston at his command.”
Adam nodded, regret turning his lips down. “We know of Valenti’s expertise in that area. I circumvented him myself when we first bargained for you, Muse.” Adam had tried to make a deal with a demon for me, but