route. He thinks the shorter the better. And then he clammed up, because he decided his involvement was getting dangerously close to stepping on Vlad’s toes. He’s freaked out Vlad will…return the favor. Regardless, one thing is very clear—if we want Charity to live, we need to get through this portal, and we need to get through it now.”
“I felt okay this last time, though,” Charity said, her voice weak. “I was in control. Except for the hallucination before the battle started.”
Reagan laughed as Devon whipped around to study Charity.
“Fantastic,” Reagan said. “I always manage to find magical nut jobs.” She wasn’t being sarcastic—she was the queen of magical nut jobs. “You look like shit, though. I don’t know crap about your magic, but I know magical poisoning when I see it. You need to get to your people.”
“If they even are my people,” Charity muttered.
“Okay, here we go,” Reagan said as the linebacker slowed the van. She pushed into the empty space between Devon and the door. “Given how fast the vampires split when I came on scene at that fleabag hotel, we’ll either face a shitload of them right now or none at all.”
“Is that because you’re…with a vampire who has a deal with Vlad?” Charity asked, her suspicion obvious. Steve chuckled again; he couldn’t help it. This situation was such a clusterfuck that it was comical.
The linebacker had stopped in nearly the place they’d parked before, well away from the portal site, hidden behind a line of trees beside the road.
“The creatures at that hotel weren’t Vlad’s,” Reagan said, and the smile wilted from Steve’s face.
Chapter Eleven
Devon watched Reagan’s face for signs of lying. Her bonded partner was a vampire—an elder to boot—and everyone knew not to trust vampires.
“What do you mean they weren’t his?” Charity asked.
“I recognized one of them as Vlad’s,” Devon said.
“Yeah. So did I. I’m wondering if he knows he’s got a traitor on his hands.” Reagan chewed her lip. “Regardless, the rest were not. I know his upper-tier minions, and those weren’t them. He doesn’t trust easily, especially not with something as valuable as Charity.”
“If the rest weren’t his, whose were they?” Devon asked, motioning for her to get out of the van.
Reagan complied quickly and gracefully, waiting for him to climb out after her before continuing in a whisper.
“I knew all but two, and they all belong to different vampires. This was a team of spies, basically.” Reagan’s eyes narrowed, and she stared off at nothing, obviously thinking through the implications.
“Spies…” Charity lost her balance as she got out of the van, falling against Devon. He threaded an arm around her back, taking her weight so she could stand. Her body trembled against him. Devon didn’t completely trust Reagan, but she was definitely right about Charity—they didn’t have much time left.
“If someone has spies in the vampire community, they have spies with us,” Devon said. Of course, they knew that already. The portal had been compromised.
“Yup.” Reagan made her way down the small, grassy ditch and climbed the other side. Devon swung Charity up into his arms and followed her. The rest of Devon’s pack hurried to get out of the vans and fall in behind them. “I could hazard a guess of who it is, but that’s all it would be. A guess. And guesses won’t do you a helluva lot of good.”
“Is this another play for Charity, do you think?” Devon asked, stopping beside a reaching branch and looking at the scene across the way in the field. The moonlight shone down on the stationary creatures. Flame flickered here and there, crawling across their bodies.
“I have no idea, and that’s the honest truth. If it was just a bunch of vampires, sure, maybe. But the demons? No. Somehow…it feels like they’re a message. Their presence here kept you from walking smack into the elf on the other side. In a messed-up way, their presence saved you. It also brought me here. It’s possible the person who sent them did it to help you, and challenge…someone.”
“Challenge who?” Devon asked.
Reagan turned to him, her eyes lost to the shadow, but her focus no less acute. “Me.”
“Why is a message for you mixed up with us?”
“That’s the million-dollar question. One Darius will have to sort out. For now, let’s get that fae through that portal, shall we?”
“What’s the plan, boss?” Steve asked, stopping beside them.
Devon looked at Reagan. He might be alpha of this pack, but she was clearly running the show.