Hot Blooded (Jessica McClain) - By Amanda Carlson Page 0,48

a grave mistake. We had not yet pledged ourselves to her. I was not yet hers to control. A vampire needs to swear fealty and exchange blood with their master before they can manage them. I threatened to leave and she swore an oath that she would never take it from me while I lived. Eamon and I were desperate to belong to a powerful Coven, one that would protect us from the Goddess if she ever rose again, so we accepted.”

“And Selene lived. She knew you took the cross with you. When she woke up… or grew her head back or whatever she did, why didn’t she come after you?” I asked. Revenge would be logical. “That’s a powerful weapon for her to walk away from.”

“She did come and the Queen lied to her and said it was now in her possession, which it was, through me. But to pacify Selene, she agreed to never reveal its existence or what had happened between us. If the power of the cross became known, others would seek to steal it, and in turn it could wind up being used against Selene once again. She has many enemies, so she backed off.”

“How long ago was all this?”

“Three hundred and fifty years ago.”

“And you’ve waited patiently all this time for a chance to give her a true death?” I concluded. Revenge was high on the bucket list for supernaturals. When you lived an eternity, no slight was too small.

“Oui.” Naomi smiled. “I’ve yearned for it.”

“That’s a long time to wait.” I walked toward the tree where Tyler had staked the winged devil. “Now all we have to do is figure out how to get past these evil things. If Selene knows you’re leading us, which she undoubtedly does”—every Sect had well-placed spies, and if Selene knew the Queen had her trinket, she would have people she bribed on the inside—“she will anticipate you’ve brought her prized possession and she will be awaiting her own revenge. It could have been her motivation to sell part of her soul for more protection and increase her boundary line, which will cost her in both energy and power reserves. She wants what you have.”

Naomi followed me to the tree, while Eamon stayed rooted where he was, still glowering. “This place in the mountains is new to us,” she said. “We have never visited here before. But her habits will be hard ones to break. We will expect some of her favorite defenses. Her mind is twisted, but she has likely convinced herself you are not stronger than she is, yet she is betting you will succeed in making it to her lair. She is always at war with herself. Killing your mate, however, will not be as satisfactory if you are not there to witness it.”

I gave Naomi an appraising look. “Cocky, deranged, overly self-assured, and masochistic all make her weak, and give us a definite advantage. But there’s no way we can get to her if we don’t get rid of these little freaks.” I peered at the squirming devil. Tyler had pinned it by the wings. It struggled sluggishly, its beady eyes glowing like a banked fire. But the worst was its gaping snout, filled with hundreds of needlelike teeth, which were currently dripping yellow goo all over the ground. Very slowly it lifted its talons and flexed them at me. It had one long thumb and one larger appendage, like the last three fingers of a hand, only melded together. Each of the fingery things boasted long nasty-looking blades. Like Eamon had said, they resembled thin razors for easy slicing. “How did Eamon know they had razor blades for fingers?”

“Selene has always coveted them,” Naomi answered. “She had statues and carvings of them adorning her walls. She called them her pets, all while lamenting the cost of ownership was too high. She vowed she would own them someday.”

“No pet I know costs a chunk of your soul.”

“True,” Naomi said. “But when you are as powerful as she, one covets what they can’t have. Selene convinced herself if she could raise an army of them, she would rule the supernatural world. There are not many things that can bring us down as easily or as quickly as these.” She shuddered, rubbing her arms. “They are vile creatures.”

“They multiplied,” Tyler said, coming over to join us. His tone was even, the fight gone. “When Danny killed a few, more popped up in their place.” I smiled