Page 42 of To Crave Madly
I whirled around and threw my arm out ready to strike at my assailant.
Pain spread through my hand as something grabbed my fist in a bone-crushing grip, halting my attack with a sudden jolt.
Mismatched eyes met mine and I found myself looking up into Torsten’s arrogant face. The smile that curled his lips was smug as he released my hand.
The rest of the team had reacted to my sudden movement and were instantly by my side. After the initial adrenaline rush of the impending attack, annoyance worked its way through my system at the Fiend’s little sneak attack.
“Don’t do that,” I chided as I flexed my fingers to brush off the pain and work some sensation back into my fingers. I had expected them to be broken, but I think he bruised my ego more than he did my hand.
He arched a black brow. “I thought vampires had excellent hearing. I guess I was wrong.”
He sounded bored and that just pissed me off further. It was probably just because I was annoyed that he had managed to sneak up on me. Stupid fucking Shadow Fiend. I held back the feral growl that was threatening to claw its way out of my chest. The sooner this fucker was gone, the better we’d all feel.
“Where did Lucifer send you?” I asked.
“To retrieve my Mistress. I have placed her safely upstairs.”
The whole Mistress thing was weird. I wasn’t sure I liked the thought of Lori and her demon having complete control over a Shadow Fiend. She didn’t understand the level of loyalty, devotion or obedience these creatures had to those they served. They would literally follow any command they were given. Then again, I didn’t think Lori was the type of person to enjoy commanding someone. I think she’d rather be on the receiving end of commands. She certainly did enjoy submitting to me and I definitely couldn’t wait to explore that. My inner beast growled in delight. Ah, fuck. Now I was really hungry, and fucking turned on. I needed a distraction. Right, work.
“Torsten, why don’t you stay with her? We have an Arch-Mage who is keen to have a conversation with her and I don’t think she’s ready for that yet.”
He bowed and melted back into shadows, flicking Cassian a murderous glare as he disappeared. I was curious as to how Cassian had managed to sneak up on the Shadow Fiend. That was certainly no mean feat, but he’d also made himself one Hell of an enemy. Why was Cassian so hellbent on making his life so fucking difficult?
“Cassian, see if you can get anything else out of the prisoners. I don’t care what you have to do, just find me some answers. The rest of you, see if you can find anything about these missing witches.” I turned to the terrified witch who sat with Saskia. “Sukie, I would be grateful if you could help us.”
She looked like a deer in headlights. Her big eyes were wide, and I could see her hands were still shaking. “I’ll try. I am not sure how helpful I’ll be, but I’d be happy to give it a go.”
“Excellent. I will go and make sure Lucifer hasn’t done anything stupid. The last thing I want is to be part of an Arcane Forum murder investigation.”
“I will go and check the wards. My father will most likely have destroyed them when he arrived.” Fenris didn’t wait for my approval but turned and pretty much ran from the room. Saskia went to follow him, but I stopped her. He needed space but I would check on him later.
Leaving the team to follow out my orders, I left the room and went to find Lucifer and Octavius. I was not looking forward to this little meeting at all.
Chapter 12
LUCIFER
Octavius was a dick. I’d already made that judgement and, in ordinary circumstances, I would not give him any of my precious time. But he was after something that I saw as mine. Lori was mine to protect and if I needed to cosy up to this arrogant, self-centred prick to keep him from stealing her away, then I would turn on my charm and make him my best friend. Until I had no further need to. Then I’d happily fuck him over. He was already starting to grate on me, and it had been all of ten minutes.
“…and that was how I made it to the level of Arch-Mage.” Octavius guffawed before patting me on the back so hard I stumbled. I stared daggers at his back as he swanned into de Santis’ chambers. I was only half-listening to the guy. He had nothing majorly interesting to say because it was all centred around him. Whathehad achieved and the powerful peopleheknew. And now I was part of his collection. I bet I would be paraded in the smug words leaving his smug little mouth.
Maybe I should get rid of him? I knew I would be able to judge his soul and find him wanting, which was kind of my permission to do whatever I wanted to someone. It was usually torture; souls were usually dead when I judged the severity of their deeds. But I was starting to think I could make an exception to the rules for this fucking idiot.
No, I couldn’t do that. I don’t think Lori would approve of me bending the rules. I really needed to get some sort of control over my murderous tendencies. Octavius should be grateful to Lori. It was only thoughts of her that were keeping me from impaling him on something sharp and pointy.
I heard Jasper approaching from behind me. It was strange that I had already gotten used to the sound of his regimented steps. I didn’t like people. They were always a disappointment, but maybe Lori had started to open my eyes to the possibility of, dare I say it, friends?
I scoffed. Nah. I didn’t do friends. Enemies, on the other hand, I had plenty of those. Jasper was going to be a useful tool while I was here, that was all. It just made him easier to tolerate if he wasn’t annoying.
De Santis’ chambers looked stuck in the past. I laughed to myself as I took in the details of the room. Vampires. The old ones seemed to refuse to move with the times, preferring the opulence of their favourite period than the niceties of the modern age. I could tell this vampire was old. He reeked of age, of living beyond the natural limits of mortal life. I had expected de Santis to fall out of his seat and prostrate himself on the floor after the little display of my wrath I had shown him earlier, but to his credit, he held himself remarkably well. It must take some serious backbone to not show any embarrassment over the way I had belittled him earlier. Or maybe he just didn’t want to be a laughingstock in front of his powerful mage friend.
“Your Majesty, how wonderful to see you again.” De Santis said as he bowed respectfully.
“Lucifer will do just fine, de Santis,” I replied grinning. “We’re all friends here, aren’t we?”
He blanched at my words but nodded. Yes, he’d understood my threat. Good. I wanted to make sure he knew exactly where he stood with me. I wasn’t above causing mayhem. I was more than happy to tear this place down and burn it to the ground if I was in the mood to do so. I was already feeling on edge playing nice to this Arch-Mage and I was worried about Lori. My beautiful little dove was injured and all I wanted to do was sit with her. It was such a strange feeling, and I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. It created a sense of unease within me. I was always one to trust my instincts, to act on impulse and not worry about the consequences. I was the Devil, and I was very powerful. It sounds like a brag, but it isn’t. It was just a fact. I was one of the most powerful creatures in existence. People feared me, hated me and blamed me. But Lori… she didn’t. When she looked at me, I didn’t see disdain or fear, she didn’t want to try and use me for her own gain or negotiate a deal with me. She just wanted me. With all my flaws.
And that terrified me.
