“Why are you mad at him? I thought you called a truce?” he asks.
“I thought so too. Seems I was wrong about it and him. He betrayed me,” I say, feeling incredibly sorry for myself. “Well, I suppose I shouldn’t say that he betrayed me. He had no loyalty to me in the first place.”
“You know his end game?”
“Yep,” I say and that has everyone looking at me. Even Cade has turned around to get clued in.
“Well?” Devon prompts me when I continue to stare out the window. “You can’t just leave us hanging.”
>
“On the jet,” I say as we pull up outside the airport. I scoot out of the car before Grayson has the chance to open the door and head inside with everyone following me. I take off my sunglasses now as I can tell my eyes have Shifted back to normal, and hand them back to Devon. No one says a word as we make our way through security and moments later, we are being ushered onto the G6. Gotta love private air travel.
I look around my little group and feel a sense of sadness that we have dwindled to only six. I sit on the sofa this time, so that everyone can see me and hear what I have to say properly. I tell of my findings and I am greeted with a stony silence when I mention that Remiel was the cause of me ending up in Faerie Land.
“‘Dick’ is not the word,” Lincoln growls after a moment and sets off a chain reaction that has everyone’s Supernatural vibe going into hyper drive. Cole is crushing my hand and I shake it free from him with an annoyed look. I resume my tale before we get sidetracked by the one hundred and one words to call the traitorous beast.
“No fucking way!” Devon exclaims when I finish up. “He is the very first?”
“Seems so,” I say.
“And he thinks drinking your blood will bring him back to life?” Cade asks me.
“I am fairly certain he is right in that assumption,” I say. “He draws on energy to maintain his bodily form. Mine, especially, gives him a great boost, but now with the blood and my Power it is a distinct possibility.”
“So Tiamat decided She wanted an Empire, so She used the Demons to try to create other Supernatural creatures?” Lincoln asks, trying to get it straight in his head.
“Yeah, Remiel called them Primaries,” I say. Then I jump up yelling “Linc!” so loudly that he throws his glass that he is holding into the air, spilling his bourbon all over himself and Jess.
“What the fuck?” he asks, brushing his t-shirt down and apologizing to Jess.
“Primaries!” I yell at him again in my excitement. “More than one!”
His eyes meet mine as he knows exactly where I am going with this now. “Oh, holy Hell!” he practically yells himself.
“The Demon-Wolf thing!” we both yell in unison.
“That’s exactly what it is. It is the Wolf version of Remiel,” I say, calming myself slightly. My heart is pounding so hard it feels like it is about to burst out of my chest.
“No wonder we can’t find the damn thing,” Lincoln says. “It must also exist in the Spirit Realm. Coming out when it bloody well feels like it to slaughter Alphas.”
“Because he never got to be one. Oh the gods, oh the gods, oh the gods. This is all making sense now.” I sit heavily and drop my face into my hands.
Cole gets up to get me a drink and brings one back for Lincoln too. He smiles his thanks and drains the glass, as do I.
“So, the question that everyone is probably thinking is: How many more are there?” Devon ventures in the sudden silence after all the yelling.
“Indeed,” Cade says. “I also think it needs to be asked why your mother has allowed these beings to survive. Especially when they are hurting people.”
“She gave a half-arsed excuse about Remiel, but it was right after the Power enhancement and I was fried. I will definitely be having words with Her again about it the next time I see Her.” No wonder She was in such a hurry to flit off back to the Dragon Realms after I started asking questions.
We land in Paris shortly thereafter and trudge through the airport. As we hit the bricks outside, I pull Cole close to me. My Dragon sense has gone on alert and it slides down my spine unpleasantly. Jess has arranged for a car to take us to the hotel, so we aim for it.
The rest happens in slow motion.
I hear the shots ring out and I turn to push Cole behind me automatically, as Devon does to Jess. Lincoln drops to his knees and I am a split second after him.
“Cade!” I scream. I can hear my voice, but it sounds muffled, like it is coming from far away. “Cade!” I scream again as I drag my coat off to put to his chest. Lincoln’s hands are covered in blood as he tries to stanch the flow of blood that is pouring out of Cade’s chest.