“Druan killed my father?” His father had come to help him and died. Had his coffin rested in the crypt, next to the time vault? Father and son. One dead. One sleeping. Side by side.
His father’s death was his fault. If he’d let the warriors stay with him, there was at least a chance they would have succeeded, and his father may have lived, but Faelan had taken that chance away. His mother had lost her husband and two of her sons to the demon. Had she died of a broken heart? “We’ve got to get out of here. I know a place where we can stay. I have some clothes that might fit until yours arrive.”
“I’m sorry about all this, about Bree. Maybe there’s an explanation. He could have taken her.”
Faelan scrubbed his hands across his face. “If she was a prisoner, she would have been in the dungeon, not his bed.” And she wouldn’t have been smiling. “I fell for her story… the map, the photograph she claimed was her great-great-grandmother, the key hanging on the mantel. She probably killed my father herself.”
***
“No. Please, no.”
His features were the same, but there was nothing familiar about his expression. Jared smiled, and Bree saw a hint of sadness. Her heart shriveled a little more. A lone tear, of fear or pain, she didn’t know which, escaped, trickling down her cheek.
Tilting his head, he studied it and then touched it with his finger, bringing it to his lips.
“Why, Jared?”
“Glory, power, the planet.”
“You used me to get to Faelan. Why do you want him?”
“Because he tried to destroy me. Spying on me, tormenting me, trying to ruin my plans.” Druan laughed, the sound jarring, coming from Jared’s beautiful mouth.
Bree remembered him comforting her after the ordeal with Russell, sharing a glass of iced tea as they talked about his dig. Laughing over a funny movie. Then she thought about Faelan in the dungeon, beaten and bruised, his shoulder dislocated, dangling by his wrists. This thing wasn’t Jared. He was only a cover for this monster. Everything they’d shared, laughter and grief, mysteries of the world, all of it was pretense. Her Jared had never existed.
“You humans are so blind. You think these wars and diseases come out of nowhere. The plague, cancer, AIDS,” he said, bitterly. “You can’t see what’s in front of your faces.”
He was right. She’d missed all the signs. Hair and eye color similar to Russell’s. The dig so near where the time vault was buried.
“It’ll be over soon, but I have a few surprises for the warrior first. Then he’ll witness the destruction of humanity. And Michael will see what happens when he sends a warrior after me,” Jared said, rubbing the scar on his palm.
She had to keep Druan talking, give Faelan more time. If Druan believed she had hidden Faelan, then he must have escaped. “What happened to your hand?”
“A souvenir from the charm the warrior wears,” he said. “He’ll pay for it before he dies.”
A charm? Then he didn’t know the talisman’s power. “You killed Russell.”
“Russell proved craftier than I expected. Tried to play the hero. Fool.”
Russell had been trying to warn her, not harm her. “Was he human?”
“Pathetically so. Russell needed lots of money to keep the bad guys away. Human bad guys, which I worked hard to arrange. These addictions take time to create, you see. I stepped in and offered to pay his debts if he helped me find the key. Threw in the promise of a little glory, a little extra money, and he was mine.”
Russell had stolen the key. What about the book? If Druan had it, the entire clan would be wiped out, whether or not the virus worked. Even if he didn’t have the book, he knew about it. She’d mentioned it in the car. She’d told Faelan’s worst enemy a secret his clan had successfully protected for thousands of years. If only there was a way to kill Druan herself.
“You shouldn’t have freed the warrior. You’ll pay for that.”
“It was my destiny to free him.” As she spoke the words, she knew they were true. The dreams and longings, so real they tormented her. Faelan was her destiny. Not only to help him fight Druan, but she belonged with him. With everything in her, she believed she was the mate foretold in the marks on his chest. She didn’t care about some stupid rule. If she could get out of here alive, she’d fight Sorcha
“I’m rewriting your destiny. I’ve waited a long time for you, little one. I watched you sleep, watched you grow. I made sure no one would have you but me. The only reason you’re not lying next to Russell is that you’re
This was why Faelan had pushed her away. He was trying to protect her by putting distance between them. “You pretended to be an archeologist so you could search for the key?” She should’ve connected it sooner. She should’ve connected lots of things, but she’d never questioned Jared’s claim after she’d heard her grandmother and Jared discussing the project. When he came by the house a couple of days after the funeral to offer his condolences, saying Bree’s grandmother had agreed to let him dig, Bree had been so consumed by grief she hadn’t questioned it. He’d started digging before she even moved in.
“The vault, the key. Nothing was where it was supposed to be.” His face rippled then settled back into place. “I underestimated the warrior’s brothers. You humans blow each other up on a whim, but this family bond thing brings out your protective side.”
“If demons weren’t breeding hatred, we wouldn’t be blowing each other up.”
“True. Your species is easily manipulated. I’ll miss that.”
“What will happen to humans?”
