Call of the Siren(65)

“The angel killed him?” That should have been all but impossible, with the amount of score racing through her veins. While a small amount of it might have lent her strength, she’d had far too much to be able to do much more than vomit and shake.

Rage shrugged. “Don’t know if she was the one who killed him. But she’s gone.”

“Gone? But she must be here somewhere.” He couldn’t have lost the brothers, Thorne, and his leverage. That would be inconceivable.

“Ex—excuse me, sir.”

Belpheg furiously turned toward the stuttering voice. It was one of Emry’s ishtaris. He slunk forward from behind the chief sentinel, his gaze cast low to the ground. Immediately, Belpheg knew he wasn’t going to like what the ishtari had to say.

“What is it?” he bellowed.

“The—there was a hole in the shield along the rear of the property. I saw an angel fly out of it with another man and a blond woman in his arms. She looked like she was unconscious.”

“What?” His jaw clenched as he turned back to Emry, who flinched. “Wasn’t that the last hole to be placed in the shield? There shouldn’t have been enough time to rescue her, much less the fact that she was drugged insensible. Are you telling me someone actually made it inside the castle and came back out with her, undetected?”

Emry shook where he stood. “You-you said you wouldn’t need to expend any energy in bespelling the house. That they wouldn’t get that far.”

Damn, but the demon was right.

Belpheg drew in a deep, calming breath and paced a short distance from the rest of the men. The simple fact was he’d underestimated the brothers. Once again.

Though he’d expected Mammon’s sons to use the sword to tear the shield, he’d been overly confident his men would disable them once they arrived. He hadn’t wanted to expend any additional power on his shields because that was much-needed energy that could be conserved for himself.

Now he had only one card left in his deck. The tracking device he’d implanted on the angel. Thanks to it, he’d located the four brothers just yesterday and placed tails on them and their mates. If not for that, he’d have no clue about their secret hideout.

The brothers were bound to return to their hideout, but while part of him longed simply to attack them there, it was a risky endeavor. He’d have to bring his scrolls, would have to reveal that weakness. And they were so crafty he wouldn’t put it past one of them to escape before he managed to get them back here. Yes, he could bring the succubi and simply have Mammon absorb their powers right there, but that was too complicated a scenario, with far too many players.

Hmm… according to his spies, one of the brother’s mates and their child was already there. If he sent Mammon, would the demon be able to make it to the hideout before the brothers arrived?

Now there was a thought.

Turning, he strode back to Emry. “Get Mammon out here immediately. It’s time for him to make himself useful.”

The chief sentinel flashed him a grateful look before racing into the house to do his bidding.

“Didn’t you put some sort of bomb in that hot angel?” Rage spoke up from where he still leaned against the railing. “Why not set it off?”

Belpheg gritted his teeth at the vampire’s ignorance. “If I do that, I’m likely to kill the Detainors, and I want them alive.”

Damn Thorne and his incompetence. The angel had been his duty, the bomb nothing more than a method to bend the Detainors to his will. If Thorne had been able to keep her restrained, Belpheg would still have his leverage, but now his plan had backfired. Good thing for the hubrin demon that he was dead. Otherwise, Belpheg would have torn him limb from limb, unnecessary use of his powers be-damned.

“Too bad,” Rage commented, his tone amused. “The bomb was for nothing, then.”

Belpheg scowled and swept up the stairs, ignoring the vampire. He was a fool. If Belpheg didn’t have use for him, he would have destroyed the man by now. But what Rage didn’t realize was that his fate was to be the same as the brothers he’d never met. Though it amused Belpheg to keep Rage around, mostly because it clearly disconcerted Mammon so much, the vampire’s days were numbered. Once Mammon absorbed the life sources of the four Detainors through the succubi, Rage would be the final piece of the puzzle.

And Belpheg would at last have the twelve he needed for his circle.

…

The soft but steady croaking of crickets woke Lina from a dreamless, healing slumber, instantly telling her she wasn’t in her bed. Insects were far from a normal sound in her tiny West Village apartment. She suffered a moment of panic trying to remember what had happened, but then the memories came racing back.