Inferno

It was not a question, just a statement of fact that she already knew. “Yes.”



She didn’t want to hear anymore, there was nothing left for her to hear. She turned away, needing to get some distance between them before she turned back. “Why did you give me Julian’s blood?”



He shrugged to the best of his ability. “To see what it would do. To see if it would make you stronger, or if eventually you would become one of them. And either way it would have been interesting to see the effects on you.”



Cassie closed her eyes, her hands fisted tightly. “You must feel like a real hero, running all of those experiments, testing them on your own daughter.”



“You’re not my daughter.”



She blinked in surprise, unable to understand why his words would still cause a stab of pain to her heart. This man should mean nothing to her, but unfortunately he didn’t. “You’re right, I’m not.” She turned away from him, meaning to leave, meaning to get as far away from this monster as possible. She wanted nothing to do with the man that claimed the same DNA as her. But call her a masochist there was one more thing that she had to ask. “Why didn’t you come for Chris and I when we were younger?”



He studied her for a long while, a muscle in his cheek twitched slightly. “I was injured in the battle, by the time I recovered enough to come after you, your grandmother had already fled the state. I didn’t know where you were, or anything about you, until Luther started poking into the history of The Hunter’s, and Joey arrived here. I’m glad I didn’t find you.”



Cassie couldn’t stop the tears that burned her eyes as she nodded slowly. If he had found her, he would have destroyed her the moment he realized she didn’t have any abilities. Or she would have been locked away and experimented on until she went insane, or her body finally gave out on her. “So am I,” she whispered.



She moved swiftly away from him, unable to listen to anymore. She turned the corner to find Devon and Julian standing by the coolers. They were large, dark, and powerful. Their eyes were agleam in the light coming from the coolers, their postures rigid and hard. Cassie could feel the anger and hatred radiating from them in waves. Luther stood behind them, the lenses of his glasses gleaming. Anger had made the lines in his face harsher. Chris was leaning against one of the glass doors, his arms folded over his chest as he stared hard into the darkened room behind her.



Melissa stood silently beside Chris, her onyx eyes glistened with unshed tears. Her black hair spilled across her shoulders, the blue highlights in it gleamed in the light of the cooler. Dani was immobile, her eyes wide in horror, her mouth parted slightly as she stared behind Cassie. Annabelle and Liam stood close together, their hands entwined tightly. Annabelle’s sea green eyes gleamed brightly while Liam’s oddly silver eyes were narrowed with anger. She hadn’t heard any of them enter the room.



“You ok?” Devon asked softly.



“Yes.”



She moved into him, wrapping her arms around his waist as she rested her head on his chest, savoring in the hard strength he radiated. No matter what happened, no matter how awful things were, as long as he was here she didn’t care. As long as he was here she could get through anything. He enfolded her tightly, his hand wrapping around the back of her head as he cradled her tightly.



“How much did you hear?” she asked softly.



“Most of it,” Devon answered, his eyes dark and distant, his body tense with anger.



“I’ll go watch him, you need to get some rest,” Julian said, turning to move away.



“Julian.” He turned back to her an odd gleam in his crystalline blue eyes. “We will need to learn what he knows.”



Julian flashed a heart stopping grin at her, his white teeth flashed brightly in the dark night. “Oh, it will be my pleasure,” he purred.



Cassie frowned, knowing that she should feel bad about what Julian might do to him, but unable to find the energy to do so. She was too tired now to feel sympathy and compassion for someone that had never shown her, or Julian, any. But she knew that she could not allow Julian to be cruel to him.



“Not tonight Julian, and not cruelly. We can’t sink to his level, no matter how much we would both like to.”



“It doesn’t matter,” Luther said on a sigh. He pulled his glasses off, cleaning them as they all stared questioningly at him.



“Of course it matters! The children!” Cassie retorted sharply when Luther did not continue.



Luther shook his head as he slid his glasses back on. “Yes, yes, of course the children matter,” he said quickly. “That is not how I meant it to sound. We must find the children, but Julian will be unable to help us do so.”



“Like hell I won’t,” Julian snarled, taking a step toward Luther. “If you have a problem with me hurting him…”



“I don’t,” Luther said flatly.



Cassie started in surprise; her eyes were wide as they darted to Chris and Melissa. Chris’s eyebrows were in his hairline; Melissa gaped at Luther in shock. None of them had ever heard Luther sound so uncaring. “Luther,” Cassie breathed.



He glanced toward her, his grey eyes hard and unyielding. “My main mission in life is to see you all safe. That man out there is a danger to that safety, and to the safety of many others. We need to know what he knows, no matter how it has to be done. Even if he is your father.”



Cassie didn’t know how to react to that. She burrowed closer to Devon, trying hard to keep control of her swaying emotions. This had been a very long, very tiring, awful day. “Then why don’t you want me to do my thing?” Julian growled.



Luther’s gaze briefly met Cassie’s before darting to Julian. “Because Derek had, has, psychokenesis too.”



Luther’s tone was bitter, anger simmered in his eyes as they met Cassie’s startled gaze. Though Luther had never met her father, Cassie knew that he had always respected and admired him. They had believed that Derek had given his life in order to help keep Chris and Cassie alive. And there were only three things that Luther cared about and they were Melissa, Chris, and Cassie. To Luther, the fact that Derek was still alive, and a threat to the three people he cared about most was an ultimate sense of betrayal to Luther and their entire race. To Luther, Derek was already dead.



Julian cursed loudly, his lip curled into a sneer as his hands fisted tightly. He wanted nothing more than to exact his revenge on Derek for everything that had been done to him. But if Julian and her father (no not her father, Derek) had the same ability, then they would cancel each other out. Julian would be useless against him.



Julian swore again and slammed his hand onto a shelf. Cassie, Chris, and Luther jumped slightly as cans rattled across the floor. Devon swung down, scooping one of the cans easily up. He shot Julian a censuring look as he tossed the can to him. “Keep the noise down.”



Julian’s head snapped toward him, his eyes narrowed fiercely as they flashed a violent red. Cassie inhaled sharply, greatly afraid that Julian would finally unravel. Greatly afraid that being denied his revenge would shove him right over the edge. Devon grabbed hold of Cassie’s arm, pulling her swiftly behind him as he braced himself for an attack.



“Don’t!” Cassie cried, dodging Devon’s questing grasp as she jumped back in between them. “Julian stop!” She placed her hand on his chest as she spun toward Devon. His eyes were also now a fierce red as he reached toward her again, seeking to get her out of Julian’s range. “Stop Devon, it’s fine.”



She allowed him to seize her hand in order to try and calm him down. He tried to tug her away, his red eyes darting fiercely to Julian as Julian’s fingers wrapped lightly around her hand, pressing it tighter to his chest. Cassie turned slowly back to him, hating the pain and need she sensed in him as his ice blue eyes met hers. His fingers squeezed briefly around hers before he released her slowly.



Cassie stared helplessly back at him as Devon tugged her away, pulling her against his chest as he enveloped her in a tight hug. “Stop doing that!” he hissed low in her ear, his lips pressed close to her.



Cassie shivered as she hugged him briefly. He hated it when she put herself in his way, or any vampire for that matter, but there were times when she needed too. Times when she had to step in to keep Devon from killing someone. Especially now, she could not allow him and Julian to kill each other simply because they were frustrated with the situation. As they all were.



“I’m fine,” she assured him.



He rested his lips against her neck for a brief moment as he struggled to regain complete control. Finally, he pressed a soft kiss against her skin before pulling away. Cassie turned toward Julian, but his attention was now focused upon Luther, his eyes still their beautiful ice blue color. “Are you certain of this Luther?” Julian’s voice was gravelly, harsh with his disappointment about not being able to drag the answers he wanted from Derek.



Though he tried not to, Cassie felt his eyes dart to her. She smiled wanly at him, hating his pain. She truly did love him, and she wanted him to be happy, but unfortunately she was not the person that could give him that happiness. Maybe, when they all got out of this and Julian knew what he wanted for certain, he would find himself a wonderful woman that made him feel the same way that she felt for Devon.



For a moment hurt lingered in Julian’s eyes, then they sparked with their usual amusement and he winked at her. Cassie grinned back at him, relieved to see her friend again.



“Yes, I’m sure. Every Guardian knew what the other Hunter’s were capable of. It was recorded into the books, and the Guardians were informed of them in case they ever needed certain abilities from a Hunter. Especially Hunter’s with an ability like Derek’s, which is powerful and very handy, as you well know.”



Julian smiled a little as he nodded. “Yes I do, except for now.”



“Can you make him tell us?” Cassie asked softly, craning her neck to look up at Devon.



He bit on his bottom lip for a moment, his gaze briefly meeting Julian’s hard one. Julian’s eyes gleamed; a small spark lit them as he lifted an eyebrow at Devon. Cassie tensed as she glanced questioningly between the two of them. It was more than obvious that there was something she was not getting here.



“He will fight it Cassie,” Devon replied slowly.



“So?”



“If he fights it, it will be painful. Very painful.”



Cassie swallowed heavily, hating the idea of causing pain to anyone, but it was necessary to find out what Derek knew. “Ok, well that’s not good, but…”



“If he fights it and I still burrow in, he could go mad.”



Cassie’s eyes widened, her mouth parted in horror as her heart flipped over in her chest. Go mad? Devon could actually drive him insane? Cassie shuddered at the thought, and the sheer strength of his power. “But will you still be able to find out what we need to know?” Chris asked.



“Chris!” Cassie hissed in disapproval, shock shooting through her.



“It needs to be done,” Liam stated flatly.



Cassie glanced wildly around, searching for someone that would agree with her. Unfortunately, she seemed to be the only one that found something wrong with this scenario. She turned toward Devon, hoping to find some support from him, but she knew there would be none. He would do whatever it took to keep her safe, even if it meant destroying her father’s mind.



“Devon…”



His eyes were hard, his jaw set as he met her gaze. “We need to know Cassie. Everything. I can make him tell us all of it.”



“Even if it drives him crazy?” Annabelle inquired softly. Cassie’s head snapped toward her, grateful for someone with a little reasoning. “Can you live with that Devon?”



“Yes.”



Annabelle hesitated for a moment before she nodded; her strawberry curls bounced around her shoulders. “Ok then.”



“Devon…” Cassie started.



He grasped hold of her shoulders, silencing her protest. “We’ll give him the choice to tell us, or not, but either way he will reveal what he knows. It will be his choice if he survives it, or not.”



“Survives it?” Cassie croaked.



“It will not kill him, but it won’t leave him the same.”



Cassie looked wildly around. She hated the man for everything he had done to her, and to her friends, but she could not do this to him. “No, we cannot do that. We are not these people! We are better than this. We are better than him!”



“The children Cassie,” Melissa said softly. “We have to find those children before any more harm can come to them. Think of all they have lost so far, we must save their lives.”



Cassie shook her head, hating their reasons, hating the fact that she knew they were right. Pulling away from Devon, she straightened her shoulders and turned to storm back into the room where her father was tied. His head was bowed, but he lifted it as he heard her approach. She studied him carefully, trying to find something she could relate to in him, some spark of humanity, but she found none.