Chapter Eleven
Creed leaned against the wall in the study as he listened to Ophelia’s explanation of events.
“They came to the door. Knocked even.” Ophelia snorted. “I didn’t even know primes would do something as beneath them as knocking. They just go where they want.” So much derision for her own kind. Creed could empathize. “Nadair brought them in here. He shooed me out. Literally. Shooed. Me. Out. So I was in the bedroom packing my shit when I heard the commotion.”
“You have no idea what it was about?” Zoey asked. Her look was skeptical. His own probably was, too. Ophelia didn’t miss much.
“He shouted ‘you can’t have her.’ By the time I got there…” Her gaze drifted toward the spot in front of the desk where he must’ve been killed. The floor was clean. Spotless hardwood, in fact.
Stryke crossed to the area she stared at and crouched. “What’d they use?”
“Their teeth, and they each had a blade. And he let them.” Ophelia prodded her forehead. “I rushed in to kick their fucking asses, but it was like I hit an invisible wall. My mind slowed. Thinking was as hard as walking through thigh-deep mud. I slowed, but their movements were in real time. They beheaded him, and I was helpless. I changed my trajectory, thinking I was next.” She glanced at Creed. “But your mom pulled out a syringe.”
Fuck. His parents couldn’t traffic humans after he’d destroyed their business, but were probably selling drugs. Or worse, recruiting vampires to act as hosts for one of the thirteen. Or both. Yeah, that was more like them. Stay on top no matter what.
Ophelia laughed with derision. “When I saw that thing, it didn’t matter how slow my mind was going. I was out the window and flashing away.” She blinked, trying to remember. “Only, it was weird. I flashed a hundred yards or so each time I tried, and end up randomly farther than I had been, bumping into whatever was in my way. I bounced off trees, fell from branches, but I kept going until their mind magic wore off.” She inclined her head to Zoey. “Your arrival must’ve scared them off from looking for me.”
Explained why she was so disoriented.
Stryke raised his head, his violet eyes grim. Creed eyed the male’s horns. They curled around his head like a crown, but were concealed better in the shaggy hair. And if size mattered with horns, Melody definitely won that round.
“I can sense the death here,” Stryke said. He pointed to a lighter section of the floor. “Was there a rug?”
Ophelia nodded, but avoided looking at the spot.
“Why hide it?” Quution asked. “Is that typical of vampires?”
“Whatever suits the primes’ needs,” Zoey answered. “But if they were hunting Ophelia, then I can see why they wanted to cover up the murder. We didn’t detect anything wrong when we first got here. It took hours to find… Sorry, Ophelia.”
She lifted a deceptively delicate shoulder. “It’s done. He probably would’ve stepped too far over the line at some point and come against you guys. This would’ve been his end eventually.”
Truth rang in her words but didn’t disguise her heartache. He’d been special to her, no matter how damaged.
Creed wandered around the study. Nadair had had eclectic interests. “I guess the next stop is a visit with my parents. Ophelia, did you smell brimstone?”
“No, but when I was gone, some possessing could’ve went on. With Nadair’s despicable hobbies, a brimstone taint around here wasn’t unusual.”
“I’ll update Demetrius,” Zoey said just as their phones rang.
Creed exchanged a look with her. His phone said conference call. They both answered.
Demetrius’s voice came through loud and clear. “She’s gone.”
Instant panic raced through Creed. “Where? How? Did anyone get hurt?”
They were no closer to answers for helping her than before. If anything, they had more questions.
“Fyra didn’t know how long she was gone. She, uh…” If Demetrius had trouble explaining what happened, the situation was bad. “She tunneled through her wall, with help from her plant friends.”
Impossible. “She doesn’t have that kind of control.” Had Hypna even had that much skill?
“Believe it. I’m standing in her room looking through the walls at the trees.”
Stryke whistled low. It was probably best that everyone in the room heard. Zoey punched the speaker on her phone and held it out so Demetrius could hear anyone who spoke.
Stryke pinned Creed with his intense gaze. “Do you feel her?”
Of course he felt her. The satiny texture of her skin never left his fingertips. Her taste was always on his tongue. He constantly yearned for her. But he wasn’t a fucking GPS.
“Can you detect Stryke when he’s gone to the underworld?” he asked Zoey.
“Sort of. Mostly I just know if he’s alive or dead. Or alive, I guess, since he hasn’t died on me. My instincts will lead me to him no matter where he is.”
Stryke inclined his head.
Quution moved closer to speak. “The question is: Why would she leave? Figure that out and you’ll be able to locate her.”
Demetrius gave them more information. “The boys got away and ran to see her. Rourke said Madame Blanchette didn’t handle it well.”
Creed clenched his teeth to refrain from shouting. “And Rourke is so warm and comforting.” Their behavior probably shattered Melody’s feelings, made her feel unwanted and unwelcome.
“Fyra said the last thing she asked her was if she thought Melody was strong enough to maintain control. Fyra was honest.”
“All right,” Ophelia butted in. “Someone needs to catch me up quick.”
Zoey spilled the latest since they’d last updated her.
Ophelia turned her back to them to look out the window. “Sounds to me like you have a human who was unhappy in her normal life, and when she gets souped-up half the people around her—that she has no choice about being around, by the way—are trying to find ways to get her back to being an unhappy human. The other half avoids her like she’s the worst thing since bagged blood. And everyone’s telling her she’s not strong enough.” Ophelia crossed her arms. “I can get on board with that rage. If I were her, I’d want to prove them all wrong.”
Creed was going to brush Ophelia off. She didn’t know his Melody. I can get on board with that rage. He hadn’t grown up the five-foot nothing in a species of super tall, super human creatures. He’d been guilty of assuming Ophelia was weaker until she’d smeared him across the practice mat.
So he put himself in Melody’s place. And it wasn’t good. Those kids had helped her through a tough transition and she was as good as alone with her current one because he was out finding a way to get her back to her unhappy human state. “If her need to prove us wrong is along the same overblown lines as her standard emotions, then it’s going to get ugly. What about my parents?”
“We’ll deal with them,” Demetrius replied. “You have enough conflict of interest with Melody. Quution, care to take this on with Creed?”
“Absolutely. Anything for Miss Melody.”
Creed narrowed his eyes on the male. Was Melody experiencing anything like the emotion bubbling inside of him? Because he could understand. Restraining himself from tearing Quution’s face off was getting harder by the minute. The bonded male in him didn’t like another male so interested in his female. The sensible male in Creed should appreciate the help. The more of them searching for Melody, the better.
Stryke frowned at his brother. “Bro, what’s with you and the girl?”
“Exactly what I’d like to know,” Creed said through gritted teeth.
Quution’s suspiciously fake eyebrows popped up. “I’m not into her. Demon balls, no.” He had the audacity to look horrified at the thought.
Creed fisted his hands and stalked the male. “What’s wrong with her?”
“Shall we get into that, yeah? No, what I meant was that I’m not sexually interested in her. Her energy is so…alive. Even after Hypna’s contamination, I don’t sense the evil woven into Hypna’s very being. She truly has a good heart. It’s not something I’ve seen before.” He gave them pointed looks. “Except in children perhaps. She has a young heart; just wants to be loved. Being surrounded by hate my entire life, I find her fascinating. I also find that I don’t want to see her light diminish.”
Creed loosened his fist finger by finger. Quution was odd, even for a demon. “All right, then. You come with me.” He looked at Zoey. “Don’t go easy on my parents on my account.”
“Will do.”
“Between the three of you—” he tossed his keys to her, “—one of you can get my ride back to the compound. I’m going down below.”
***
The smell of brimstone clogged Melody’s nostrils. She opened her eyes to the cave she disappeared into. Ah. Home sweet home.
Her new digs. Were there underworld realtors, or did she just stake her claim? Wandering around, she trailed her hands along the walls. Scarabs quieted down, leaving her in silence.
Huh. She hadn’t even noticed how her hunger had vanished. She could eat—constantly. But it wasn’t attached to her rage.
Was it the sex? When she went without for a while would it come back? Pretty sure Creed wasn’t going to want to stay in a relationship with the new bitch in the U realm.
Did she care?
Trying to be flippant failed. She couldn’t lie to herself and maintain her control. It’d dent her feminine ego if Creed didn’t fight for her in some way. She ought to know. It pained her to think he was searching to change her back into an unattainable human he was willing to watch die.
How sweet was that?
Her lip curled over a fang at the sarcastic thought.
“Mistress. You are back.”
Melody spun toward the entrance. She’d been so deep into her pity party she hadn’t heard them. Her two minions could’ve sneaked up on her with a blade and ended her.
And I’m naked again. When she was sucked through the portal the first time, she’d kept her clothes. The nudity was another sign of her transition, and that this was home. How’d Quution smuggle clothing and props down here? Must be his energy mojo.
The male and female were eying her warily. Time to be the boss.
“Report,” she barked. Horns, wave around menacingly. They loosened and curved forward.
It worked! She was so going to rule the underworld.
Santi flinched. “They did not believe us at first. Until we smote Hypna and raised your name up in cheer.”
Niiice. Meladonna it was now.
Think like a demon. She needed more power. Wasn’t that always the case? Was there a way to bring guns down here? No, that’d give her away as too human. She had to act like a badass.
“I need more of you. Who can serve me?”
The demon siblings shared a look. Melody ran her words over in her head.
“Who is fit to serve me?” There. That was better. Could she steal a second-tier, or did she have to kill the…ack, she hated to say owner, but that was how it worked down here. Own or be owned. Kill or be eaten. “I don’t want just strength. I want brains. I want ambition, but not more than me. Wait, you know what?” The vampires thought she couldn’t handle herself. The one of the thirteen that had possessed Grace was down here somewhere. Grace was her closest friend and she feared for her siblings because of Melody.
Melody would show her.
“I have a grudge with one of the thirteen.”
Santi and Rell swallowed hard.
How enchanting. She sounded crazy even by the underworld’s standards. “Yeah, Bita.” The demon had possessed Grace and forced her to betray Rourke around the same time Melody was abducted by Rourke’s brother. If she dealt with Bita, maybe Grace would trust her. “I want her head. I want on the Circle.” That sounded too petulant. The purebred demons of the remaining thirteen wouldn’t let her on because she asked or whined. She had to fight for the spot like any other demon. “I will be on the Circle.”
There’d be no shoving her in the corner while Creed and his team solved her problems. As one of the ruling figures of the underworld, they’d have to deal with her. And they’d have a damn good reason for not being around her.
If she died trying? Well, fighting for her life was better than waiting for others to mold her into what they thought she should be.
Santi raised her gaze from the floor. “They are eager to meet you.”
Melody narrowed her eyes on the female’s horns. Like Stryke and Fyra, Santi was uncommonly attractive. Rell also, just not Melody’s type. She preferred an aloof male with enough baggage in his past to make being together difficult to impossible. She had him, too. He was currently figuring out how to change her.
Melody tapped her chin with a fine claw and considered the two before her. “Your powers?”
Santi spoke without hesitation. “I can cast illusions.”
“For real?” Awesome. Why not that instead of plants?
“We both can cast illusions,” Rell said.
Her excitement dimmed. Having one servant with the ability was cool as hell, having both of them with the same power didn’t benefit her as much strategically.
It didn’t make sense that they wouldn’t be split up and working for different Circle members. Were they lying to her?
She gave her fangs permission to peek out. It actually worked. Would the second-tiers get the hint? “What else?”
“Mistress?”
She stomped to Rell. He scrambled back, his eyes on her horns. She speared the tips toward him until his back hit a wall. To cover her bases, she ordered vines to wrap around Santi’s ankles, funneling her irritation into controlling her power.
Wrapping her hand around his throat until her claws pricked through his skin, she glared up at him. He had almost a foot on her, nearly as tall as Creed. She used her newly heightened senses to check on Santi. The female was waiting it out.
These two weren’t stupid. They didn’t act foolishly, neither did they blindly throw their lot in with someone new. Her respect for them grew. She’d have to up her game to keep them.
“I might be the new little girl on the block.” She enunciated carefully to keep from lisping with her fangs out. “But I know Hypna wouldn’t have chosen either of you if you didn’t suit her needs somehow. Illusion is cool and all, but both of you would’ve been overkill. What else can you do that made you indispensable to her?” Her horns waved above him, hoping they were enough to coerce him to be honest. There was no question on whether she’d poison him. She’d just secure him to a wall to wait out the effects.
Rell shot a questioning look at his sister. Melody didn’t glance back, but concentrated. Yesss, she was getting so good at this. All those hours hunting, looking for tracks, listening for the rustle of grass and branches, hours spent trying to predict what her prey was going to do was not wasted.
Next, she was hunting Bita. There would be no waiting for trouble, no more waiting for life to happen. Her dad had taught her skills she’d once thought were only good for tracking and shooting deer, or determining when and where the fish were biting the best.
The underworld was full of creatures preying on other creatures. She made the connection. Down here, it was hunt or be hunted. The rules of the realm were different than the human world and that had blinded her to the similarities.
Rell licked his lips, his anxious gaze rising to the glistening tip of one horn. “I cast illusions. I also sense powers within others, I’m like a divining rod when it comes to demons. Energy abilities—I can define how strong. Pure strength—I can pinpoint the weakness. It’s why we signed on with you, Mistress Meladonna. You might have Hypna’s powers, but they don’t read the same. They’ve changed; they’re not as repulsive. Santi and I truly believe you can carve out your own niche down here.”
Was he buttering her up? Making her think she was all-powerful only to step back when another demon smacked her down?
She leaned in close and inhaled deeply. How would she know if he was lying? His strong scent radiated with the standard sulfur scent present in those of the underworld. His main scent reminded her of a dark night in the woods, when the wind died and the fresh scent of water and mud somehow combined to be both tranquil and refreshing.
She abruptly pulled her hand away. To his credit, his hand didn’t fly up to his neck. He held still while she stalked toward Santi.
The female waited with her spine straight, her golden eyes wary but resolved.
“And yours? As siblings I expect you to be similar. You don’t just have one ability.”
Grudging respect crept into Santi’s eyes. “We’re synergistic. My illusions are stronger and my divining is weaker. We work together. I cast based off what he ascertains.”
Melody circled her. The vines tied at the female’s bare slender ankles held firm and bloomed with iridescent pink petals.
Pink. Melody sneered, and the petals morphed into a resplendent baby blue.
That was more like it.
She inhaled again, inspecting Santi’s scent for the sour smell she’d started associating with lies. The smell was reminiscent of Rell’s. Instead of the fresh scent of nightfall, Santi was full-sun when the wind buffeted random fragrances of blossoming trees and wildflowers surrounding a spring fed lake.
She didn’t want to find these two so fascinating. Killing them if they betrayed her would break her heart, but hello realities of her new life.
“I’d really hate to kill you both.” And she could. Unless their illusion really got to her head, she’d win in a battle. These two had the air of being worthy opponents, but without a rage like hers that hovered just under every thought and feeling, they had too much of a disadvantage.
“I’ve been under a rock for a while. Give me the nitty gritty on underworld politics and the who’s who of the realm.” Then she’d find Bita and prove herself.
She was Meladonna the Hunter.