Page 59 of Villains and Vengeance
Daemon sees me first and has me pinned against the wall with his forearm across my throat.
‘Where is she?’ He crushes me into the stone, blocking my windpipe.
Yesterday I would have let that fly. It’s been a long time since I fed well enough to feel confident that I can hand his arse to him.
Today, I’m running on Jules energy and I feel GOOD!
I look him in the eye and punch him hard in the gut, a massive smile on my face. I’ve been wanting to do that for a while now.
He goes limp, staggering back and doubling over with a groaned curse.
‘She’s safe. Axel’s safe. And I’m okay too. Thanks for asking.’
Maddox’s eyes narrow. ‘Where?’
‘The good news is me and Axel made a deal with Jules. The bad news is I can’t tell you where she is or you’ll go there and the deal will be off.’
Daemon straightens, coughing. ‘Jules?’ He wheezes.
‘Victoria. Her real name is Julia. Didn’t Iron tell you? I like Jules though.’
‘Whatisthe bargain you’ve made with her?’ Maddox asks, not beating around the bush as usual.
‘Are you listening to yourselves?’ Iron spits. ‘Doesn’t matter what the deal is. She can’t be trusted. Bring her back here. I’ll get her to tell us everything we need to know before we hand her over to Dante.’
My eye twitches. Jules tortured by Iron some more and thrown into the hands of the psycho king? No way.
‘She’s slippery,’ I concede mostly so they don’t think I’ve gone native and stop listening to me completely, ‘but she sees the merits of us keeping her safe until the window.’
‘So there is one,’ Maddox mutters. ‘I knew it.’
‘Aye,’ I nod. ‘Seventy-two hours give or take. That’s all. We keep her and her friend safe. She shows us to the portal at opening time. We all go through. That’s it. Finished.’
Iron is shaking his head and I’m glad I took a dip in the river to wash Jules’ scent off me before I came down here. He’d be losing his fucking mind right now if he knew I’d fed from her too.
I feel him trying to mess with my head and I laugh out loud.
I don’t think so, you fucker. I’m too strong for your High Fae bullshit right now.
His eyes narrow at me. ‘You fed. Properly.’
‘Bit the bullet and went to the sex room,’ I lie. ‘Those guys don’t fuck around … but I guess they do when you think about it, eh?’
I laugh at my own joke.
‘Who is Jules’friend?’ Maddox asks, ignoring my amazing sense of humor.
‘Some pixie Dante wants to hang on his wall. No one important.’
The fibby fibs just keep on coming.
‘Where’s Axel?’ Daemon growls.
‘He’s with her, making sure she doesn’t disappear on us.’
That one’s not really a lie. I do think she’ll plan to pulla Victoria, but she’ll change her mind when we start to grow on her and she begins to trust us. We just have to get that far, though time is not on our side.
She liked us two years ago. I know that. Before she ran away with the goods, she’d been spending more and more days in our company at the estate. She liked sitting in Maddox’s library a lot, I recall. She said the smell of the books was soothing. Iron started teaching her how to ride too. Krase and I watched her from afar. Axel too mostly, I think. She’d watch movies with Daemon on the couch in the evenings, and we’d all gather there, basically to watch her.
