Page 75 of Demon Loved
She slowly uncrossed her arms, and he watched her carefully as she did so. Was he thinking that the shift in her posture signaled a surrender of some sort?
Well, if that was the case, then he was in for a big surprise.
“No,” she said. “I’d rather keep blundering around with my magic for the rest of my life than join forces with you and betray my clan. You need to get the hell out of here before my father and the elders figure out you’ve breached their wards.”
Not even a flicker of emotion on the Collector’s face.
He would have made a damn good poker player.
“You are making a mistake,” he replied.
She only lifted an eyebrow. “Some might say you’ve done the same thing by coming here.”
Now his mouth twitched ever so slightly. “Well, it seemed my servants couldn’t be trusted to carry out my wishes, so I thought this was an errand I should handle myself.”
Bree tilted her head ever so slightly. “Sorry to have wasted your time, then.”
“It would seem so.”
And then…he was just gone. Although she’d seen Connor and Angela teleport once or twice, this was even more disconcerting, since the Collector didn’t even make the small pop she always associated with air rushing in to fill the vacuum left behind when the prima and primus traveled that way.
No, he simply disappeared.
Bree looked all around, but he clearly had gone elsewhere rather than just another location in the gallery. All the same, she knew she needed to let her father and the other elders know that she’d gotten a personal visit from their adversary, so she got out the key for the gallery’s front door and paused for a moment to turn around the “be back at” sign that hung in the window.
Sorry, Chelle, she thought.
Clan business always came first.
22
Everyone had gathered in the living room at Connor and Angela’s house, with Levi explaining how they would use the two artifacts in their keeping to incorporate into their ritual and, with any luck, make it that much stronger. Belshegar thought that a good plan, since he understood how those magical items possessed an extradimensional component that he didn’t think their human creators had completely comprehended. However, it was that very component which made those talismans so powerful…and which also made them uniquely suited to aid the McAllister clan now.
Someone rang the doorbell, and they all startled. However, Angela recovered herself quickly and got up from the chair where she’d been sitting so she could answer the summons. Something about her expression was almost perplexed, however, as if she knew she didn’t get too many unannounced visitors and couldn’t quite figure out who it might be.
A ripple of energy that Belshegar guessed no one else could sense seemed to pass through him, and he realized exactly who was waiting on the front porch.
Brianna.
Something must have happened, for otherwise, he couldn’t think of a reason why she would have left the gallery unattended.
“I need to talk to everyone,” she announced as Angela let her in.
“What’s wrong?” the prima asked.
Levi and Connor had risen from their seats while Brianna made her way past the foyer and to the threshold of the living room. “It’s the Collector,” she said breathlessly. “He was just at the gallery.”
At once, Belshegar got up as well and went to her, taking her hand in his. In that moment, he didn’t care what the rest of them thought.
He only wanted to make sure she knew he was there to help her and support her in any way he possibly could.
“Are you all right?”
She nodded. Although she looked somewhat pale and strained, it didn’t seem as if she’d suffered any harm during her encounter with their adversary.
“I’m fine,” she said. “He tried to convince me to join forces with him — said he was the only one who could teach me to explore the full extent of my powers.”
“I trust you said no,” Angela commented, her wry tone belying the tension in her mouth and jaw.
