Page 69 of Awaken the Dragon
And if Theo hadn’t been staring directly at him, watching his lips move, he would have never guessed this was his father speaking.
“Where is she?” Theo replied. “Bring her here now.”
“Now, is that any way to talk to your father? Especially after being gone for so long.”
Theo didn’t need to see the demonic to know Hoan was there. He’d felt the chill of his presence the moment he’d approached the mountain, but didn’t give a damn. He was, however, shocked to see the Odò guard he’d met the night Shola arrived in Burgess. She walked closer slowly, proudly and with a smugness that had his beast roaring. He didn’t even try to silence the sound as it ripped from his chest. When she stopped just a few feet from him and turned to open her mouth and spit a purposely small ball of fire in his direction, his fists clenched.
“Disrespectful wretch!” Magnum yelled and stepped directly in her face.
“Come. Come. Children. We have more pressing matters at hand,” Hoan said with a chuckle.
The demonic had not taken form, simply eased along the floor, his voice echoing throughout the cavernous space.
“Torrance, bring your son to you and embrace him,” Hoan instructed.
There was a familial bond here, a union that had been made hundreds of years ago and nourished through love, respect and loyalty. Theo felt the immediate tug against his beast, and the dragon that had sired it. He balled his fists and planted his feet in the space, refusing to give in to any of the past emotions.
“Theo.”
The wispy voice spoke again. This was the shell that the man he’d once loved now lived in. Hoan had sucked every bit of that man out and now controlled this body. Theo wanted to rip the demonic’s head off, but he wouldn’t, not before he saw Shola.
“Bring Shola to me. I won’t ask nicely again,” he said. “This could be over as soon as I see her.”
“Is that emotion I sense?” Hoan laughed. “Definitely Torrance’s son. You know your father was in love with your mother before I convinced Aliceanna to assist me in my quest.”
Another part of his twisted past that Theo wanted to forget. He’d spent many years hating his mother for falling prey to Hoan’s words, and as a result, condemning their family and the legacy that had been built.
“She’s gonna die,” Monife said. “And I’ll be the one to kill her.”
There wasn’t a second’s hesitation, he opened his mouth and in a flash all his rage, hurt and despair was aimed in an arc of fire that struck her straight on, dead center in her heart, sending her dragon into a sphere of flames that burst with such force it shook the walls.
“Bring Shola to me now!” he yelled when the former Odò guard’s body rained from the air in black ashes.
Shola stepped from behind Torrance’s chair, Hoan’s spindly metallic hand around her neck. The demonic was at least five feet taller than Shola. She looked like a doll in his grip. But she was no doll. She was Theo’s heart.
He knew for certain now, the moment their gazes met, that he would not breathe if she died. He would end with her.
“Alice...loved...you,” Torrance croaked.
Theo’s head jerked in his father’s direction. “What did you say?”
Torrance blinked, and for an instant, Theo saw his father’s old eyes. The tiny sparks of white against the navy blue that always reminded him of an evening sky.
“She loved us both,” Torrance continued. “Never stopped. Not even when he took...her.”
Theo shook his head, every emotion he’d felt all those years ago still raw and painful. “She left us for him. I won’t do that.” He turned back to Shola. “I won’t leave you the way she left us. I’m here for you. Always.” It was his pledge to her, to them, to their future. “Always.”
When Shola didn’t speak, Theo wondered if it was because she didn’t believe him. He’d had every intention of explaining the whole story to her when he returned to the Office, but she hadn’t been there. And now his priority was to get that demonic’s hands off her.
“Do not...blame her. Do not...hate me,” Torrance continued. “Love.”
It was torture. Hearing his father speak this way, as if these words were coming with his last breath was affecting a part of Theo he thought he’d closed off long ago.
“Oh, you’re making me sick,” Hoan said and sent coils of sludge to curl around Torrance’s ankles and move up his legs.
Torrance’s eyes bulged, his hands shaking where they rested on the arms of the chair. Theo moved fast, leaping up to the platform where the chair sat and pulling at the demonic coils. Although they seemed like glistening liquid, they were powerful and resisted all his strength. The beast strained against his skin for release.
“Let him die,” Hoan hissed. “Or let your dragon loose and fight him ’til the end. Either way, his time is up. There’s nothing left in him for me or you!”
