baby. I remember the first time her guardians brought her to me to be blessed,
sanctified. I remember it as if was yesterday and now you"ve—her heart is pure
and she has an honest soul. The things she did to me—I"m her priest for Pete"s
sake.”
“That is why I told you to step away from her. It was all I could do since I
could not be there physically.”
“You feel no remorse about this, do you? In your twisted, dark mind this is
your way of loving her.” He folded his arms and stomped his foot. “If you care for
her, you"d set her free and allow the light to fix what you"ve broken!”
His Queen was out there terrified and hungry and he couldn"t even go to
her, to feed her, to hold her. No, he was stuck here to be battered by her scattered
emotions, when his own were in disarray. And the priest"s scolding only added fuel
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to the fire. All of this mental chaos and he had to maintain composure in the
presence of an audience, when all he wanted to do was silence the priest, in a very
violent manner.
Demetri found his seat behind the escritoire, brushed his hand along the
smooth surface and closed his eyes. There was so much anger and cluttered
confusion bubbling within the priest, he found it difficult to settle his own chaotic
emotions.
“Please calm yourself and steady your thoughts, Father. You"re making it
very difficult to control what"s raging within me.”
“Well good! That makes two of us,” the priest barked.
“Father, I"d do what he says. He"s apparently disoriented, and suffering from
lack of rest. Not to mention, distressed by his need for Sharayna,” he heard Indigo
declare. “Or should I say the Dragon Queen? That is who this discussion is about,
correct?”
Demetri opened his eyes to meet her knowing glare. He wasn"t surprised in
the least she discovered the truth. He knew she would sooner or later.
“Yes, this is about Sharayna,” Father Shannon conceded beneath a grumble.
“Right when I thought he couldn"t stoop any lower, he goes after an innocent…”
His head snapped in Indigo"s direction. “I"m sorry, what did you just say?”
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Her lips tightened. “The coven has spies watching you Demetri, and as
cunning as you are, I know you knew they were there. They saw you approach her
last night, and since you left my house the way you did, I put two and two
together. Frankly, I"m disappointed in myself for not figuring this out sooner, but
not as disappointed as I am in you. How could you not tell me?”
“It was not for you to know,” he replied dryly.
Sorrow and hurt clouded her face. “I would be flattered if I thought you held
this information from me for my safety, but it is not so. After all this time, you still
don"t trust me.”
“Don"t feel bad, sweetheart. Baby bro doesn"t trust anyone. How could he?
God"s world is filled with lies and deceit,” Maurisio explained with a tinge of
humor.
She clucked her tongue and rolled her eyes. “Well for your information, your
secret happens to be safe with me. Neither I nor Dominique relayed this
information to the coven, but you need to use more caution Demetri, because if we
can figure it out, so can they.” She sighed as if the confession of her knowledge was
a weight off her shoulder. “When will you learn to confide in me,” she muttered,
her pained emotion gleaming from her eyes.
He swiveled the chair to the side, crossed his legs and studied her for a
moment. What could he say? His trust was not easily gained.
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“I honestly don"t know what to say to remedy the pain I"ve caused you.”
“Whatever,” she snapped. “I"ll save my sentiments for another time.”
Smoothing her hands down her hips, she shook away her saddened disposition.
“Right now we must discuss the prophecy.”
“No. I want to hear nothing more of the prophecy. The words of your
coven"s bible are tainted with falsity,” he grumbled, trailing Sharayna essence in
his mind. She was on the move.
“Correct. We were all deceived. The words of the great book have been
altered.”
Never wrong, baby bro!”
“Excuse me! Did I just hear her correctly?” Father Shannon blurted.
Indigo rolled her eyes. “Yes Father. Your sweet, innocent Sharayna is the
Dragon Queen, and obviously has her eye fixed on the demon vampire before you.
God, you"re slow.”
“C"mon Shannon, how could you not know that? The scent, the aura, the
stiff ass hard-on she gave you. I betcha could"ve knocked a hole in the wall with
your dick.”
“Maurisio,” Demetri mumbled, shaking his head.
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“How on earth did—oh my Lord,” Father Shannon gasped, staggering back
in shock. “How, how did…?” He dropped his hand to his side. His shoulders
slumped. “I need a drink.”
By the bar, Maurisio laughed and held up a glass of dark scotch. “Got one for
you right here, Shannon.”
An urgent howl ripped through the mansion from the outside. Cocking his
head, Maurisio answered the call with a deep husky howl of his own.
“Damn, I really wanted to hear about this prophecy, but I gotta run. See you,
sexy red.” He smacked Indigo"s ass, drawing out a jolting squeal. “Catcha later,
Shannon. Corrine, c"mon baby, let"s roll!”
The large cheetah hoped up from the spot next to the mantel, startling
Indigo. Purring, she circled Father Shannon"s legs, and then darted out of the study
after Maurisio.
“Holy shit! I thought she was a statue,” Indigo gasped with her hand
plastered across her chest. “Crap, did the cat hear everything we just discussed?”
“No, I blocked out her senses. She couldn"t hear nor see until Maurisio called
her name,” Demetri informed to ease her alarmed state.
“Look, this has all been a bit overwhelming for me. I"d like to be sent back to
the church please. I have to make sure Sharayna hasn"t—”
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“You are not to worry. She hasn"t bothered the sisters and will not from
what I"m sensing. She"s roused and is only seeking the attention of the male species
right now.” The fact unnerved him as it spilled out of his mouth. “Luckily, she"s on
her way home. Even with that being the case, I cannot allow you leave. Your blood
is still running hot from the nip she gave you.” Demetri willed a chair before him.
“Have a seat.”
With a huff of resentment, Father Shannon plopped down into the chair.
Shock lining her face, Indigo whipped her attention to the priest. “Wait, she
nipped you? Oh, that"s not good, at all.”
“Indigo, he"s already confounded. Please,” Demetri warned with the faint shake of
his head. “No worries, Father. May I offer you another scotch?”
With the light tap on the desk, another glass of the dark liquid appeared
before him. Frazzled and disturbed, Father Shannon retrieved the glass with both
hands and quaffed it without pause.
Listening to the priest"s heart rate steadily decrease, Demetri turned his
&nb
sp; undivided attention to Indigo. “If the prophecy is false, then what should I believe?
And please explain quickly.”
Two and a half hours and the sun would begin its descent. He"d have to
make a few kills before going to Sharayna.
“Well believe this, the element stones relayed to us she has two consorts.”
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“What?” he strained out.
“Oh Jesus in heaven, it just keeps getting worse!” Father Shannon dropped
his head warily onto the desk.
Demetri shot out of the chair and rounded the escritoire. He sat on the edge
and offered her an intense stare. She shuddered under his fixed gaze.
“Two…consorts? How can that be, Indigo?”
She swallowed hard and took a few steps back. “Uh, okay. The balance has
been tilted in hell"s favor with the creation of the Dragon Queen, but someone
stuck their hands in the cookie jar and tampered with what was supposed to be.
You see, she belongs to Lucifer"s third son by right of her father.”
Lucifer"s third son!
He closed his eyes and willed back the need to roar. So it turned out, once
again, his brother"s gut feeling had been correct. It may not be Satan himself, but
the fact it"s his son didn"t make the situation any more tolerable.
“The arrangement was made before her conception. It was a pact for power
and command over the demon dragons. With the Dragon Queen at his side, he will
be able to overthrow his father and rule over all stratums of hell. This will mean
total destruction of earth and all God"s children. Hell will expand to incorporate
all other realms.”
“So, he"s one of her consorts? This devil"s spawn?”
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“Yes, and we"ve seen what lengths this consort will go through to claim the
Queen. The demons coming through the portals, the chingi, are all his minions.” She
fingered her locks as she began to pace. “But listen to this, because it gets twisted.
As I"ve said, someone tampered with the juncture and in doing so, they altered the
Queen"s need to instinctively seek him out.”
She snapped her fingers and a glass of wine appeared in her hand. Thirstily,
she drank from the crystal goblet before continuing. “As soon as she turned
eighteen in demon years, which is eight in human years, she was supposed to go to
him, Lucius is his name, but of course she didn"t. There is a big plot brewing, and
every priestess"s third eye was blinded to this fact, until now. Someone in the
heavens is behind this illusion, not sure who exactly, but we hope to reveal their
identity in our next divination.”
She finished the wine and sat the empty crystal next to Father Shannon,
who was listening to her every word.
“Now stay with me on this because this is where it gets really interesting.
The prophecy states that she was born five hundred years early. Well, according to
the stones, she"s right on time.”
“Right on time for what?” Demetri asked, following her with his eyes.
“Right on time to start a war between heaven and hell,” she replied softly.
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He groaned. Maurisio"s gut instincts had proved correct, yet again. “I knew
there"d be a war, but wasn"t aware she"d start it. How is this so?”
“Not sure yet. We have to look deeper into the stones, which takes a lot of
spiritual energy, but let me finish telling you what we found.” She clamped her
hands together and smiled at him anxiously. “Two consorts. One created by hell
aaand…”
Indigo stared at him, her hands out expecting him to fill in the blank. He
dismissed her with a casual wave. He wasn"t in the mood for games.
She pursed her lips. “And the other consort was chosen by the heavens.”
He wrinkled his brow. “A consort created by the heavens?”
“Noo. I said he was chosen by the heavens. Keep up. Okay now, of course you
know, once this happened it changed everything. Now, the twisted part of it all
was she was dropped here on earth, in human form, which makes it extremely
difficult for Lucius to find her. In the demon realm he could"ve easily snatched her
up, but once she left, it squashed his plan completely, because his father controls
the dark side of the earthly realms.” She stopped and tapped her fingers on her lips.
“Now if I got this right, daddy dragon wanted to renege on the bargain and needed
someone to keep his daughter out of Lucius"s clutches, so he sent someone through
a dimensional portal. The timing was very important in this matter, essential,
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almost as important as the deed itself. Creating a time portal takes a tremendous
amount of sinew and even more to target a specific period in time—”
“You"re rambling. Get to the point,” Demetri interrupted.
She huffed through her nose and rolled her eyes. “Fine. He sent a wizard or
priestess through the time portal to create the Queen"s consort, who was most
likely an Andausian with two abilities. They"re the only one"s strong enough to
absorb the blood of a powerful demon—”
“Wait, stop right there.” He thrust his hand out for silence and shifted his
eyes around the room as a thought, the thought, smashed into his mind making him
digest the truth. He briefly closed his eyes and shook his head. How could he have
not known?
Lord Kaishan.
“No. Her Father didn"t send anyone. He stepped through the portal himself
to choose her consort,” he stated softly. “He couldn"t send anyone else, because he
had to be the one to pass on immortality, to make his creation strong enough…”
“To defeat Lucius,” she finished, her chest heaving with harsh breaths. She
rushed over to him and palmed the side of his face. “Oh my God, Demetri! You"re
the other consort!”
“No. I am the consort,” he corrected, his eyes half-mast. “I care nothing of the
agreement before her conception. She is bound to me, she is mine.”
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Indigo stepped back. Her eyes gleamed indifference. “Yes, she is yours and
she"s made it known by calling to you, but you cannot fully unite with her until
she crowns you and Lucius is destroyed. It"s the only way. As long as he"s still
alive, he has power over her and if he finds her, you"ll see just how powerful he is.”
Wringing her hands, she darted her eyes about. “When Rayne was born,
Lucius"s mother got wind of his plan and imprisoned him in stone in the lowest
level of hell. Before you summoned me, we received word Lucius had escaped from
level seven and has surfaced in search of his promised bride.” She sighed. “This is
about to get really bad, Demetri. He has you at a disadvantage, because he doesn"t
need to wait until the sun goes down to link with her.”
“But she has to want to link with him, correct?”
“Which she most likely will. You, yourself admitted she"s seeking male
attention. The only thing we can do is hope she is so in need of you that she rejects
him, but even if she does, we"ll still be in hot water. Understand, the closer it gets
to night fall, the more she"s going to need to feed and even after that she"s going to
need more. So guess what? She"s going out hunting.”
“Why is this a problem? It"s natural for a Xs
onri to hunt. I will help her. I"ll
guide her to the evil souls; show her how sweet it is to take life from those tainted
by wickedness.” He shuddered. The thought of hunting with her roused his cock.
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“No! That"s the thing! She can"t go hunting. Chances are he hasn"t found her
and even if he links with her or projects to communicate, he still won"t know
where she is physically, unless she tells him. But if she drops a body, she won"t
need to tell him. He will know her location. He must not find her, Demetri,
therefore she must not kill. He"s desperate for her, so he"s going to try to lure her
out.”
Demetri closed his eyes and inspired the air around him. “Would the death
of a few hundred mortals lure her out?”
He could feel her questionable stare. “Yeah, how did you—”
“Thirty minutes ago at a hotel, three hundred and sixty-one miles from here,
he killed everybody in the building.”
Indigo"s gasped echoed through the hall.
“The scent of his victim"s blood lingers in the air.” He slid his eyes open. “His
devious attempt to lure her out.”
“Oh no! Dammit Demetri! Don"t you see? This is going to drive her mad! She
might even drop a body just to bring him to her so she could kill him for what he"s
done!”
Instant rage consumed him. His incisors lengthened and Katsumi filled his
hand. “No.” The spark of her energy bit into his palm and electrified him on the
spot. “He will not take her from me,” he growled.
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“I pray the night falls soon, because I"m not sure how much more of this I
can take.”
They snapped their attention to Father Shannon who they"d forgotten was
in the room. One shaky hand clutched his cross and the other an empty glass as he
stared aimlessly across the room.
“I think I"m going to need another drink.”
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Chapter Twenty-One
Dark Lord’s Wrath
The coppery scent of human blood hung thick in the air, jarring Doshar from
a deep slumber. Spent by hours of vicious sexing, he opened his eyes and