She didn’t bother looking over at the other monitors which held her captives on display in vivid technicolor, as said captives were in the middle of certain deeds she’d rather not see. Though she was oh so glad of what they were doing, since all the energy that could be gained from the incubus and the succubus part of Jelissa was being absorbed into the collars around their necks. Just the thought of all that delicious power she planned on taking in herself had her damn near creaming her pants.
She wouldn’t be so stupid as to take it all in at once, oh no. That would be a meal she would be able to savor for a long time coming, taking in only small amounts at a time.
That poor girl had never stood a chance at life. No one, no matter what bloodline they came from, would ever be able to hold in that much power. Not that her living a full life was ever the intention; the babe had been born to die anyway.
The wicked bitch could not wait to see the look on those poor imbeciles’ faces when she did return to Underlayes. Now that will definitely be a Kodak moment. Maybe she would even allow them to survive for a short time. There would be no way no how they could stop her. She would be the strongest being in existence. So much so, maybe she wouldn’t stop there. Maybe she would take over the human realm as well. Oh, the possibilities were endless.
The poor idiots thought they were rid of her for good. Little did they know it was not that easy to get rid of her. She knew secrets about their bloodline they never would and were too stupid to find out. Did they never think to try and learn the reason their bloodline was damn near extinct? Then again, wisdom did come with age, and they were still relatively young, and more than a little dumb. Her own ambition had come at the tender age of fifteen from witnessing the slaughter of her family, right before Underlayes had been created. She had vowed revenge right then and there, swearing to herself never to give a damn about anyone. Love was useless, nothing more than a tool to be used against those dumb enough to feel the emotion. Determined to never allow love to be her ruination, she had placed a spell on her own heart to make it as cold as ice. Which made stealing the last of her own flesh and blood daughter’s life force even easier than stealing candy, or power, from a baby. After all, she had given her life in the first place. What was so wrong in taking it back? The ungrateful wretch didn’t deserve it anyway, refusing to place the spell over her own heart.
She had been willing to share the power with her, allowing her rule by her side as mother and daughter, but love, something that had never brought the poor idiot anything more than heartache and despair, was something her daughter chose over her one too many times.
She may have even allowed Jelissa to rule by her side after draining every last drop of magick and power from her. Too bad the little bitch had no chance of surviving.
10
Last Dance
Deciding that getting some semblance of order would be the best course of action before even attempting to come up with a viable plan, especially since they really didn’t even have so much as a starting point yet, the group split up. Anya and Kierra stayed with the girls at the orphanage, looking for whatever it was they might have missed, hoping some vital piece of evidence would pop out at them, even slap them in the face, at least that was the lie they told everyone. Everyone else went back to the palace. Ellyssia and Darvyn went to gather the Royal Guard to not only fill them in on what was going on, but to also gather arms, suit up, and decide what would be best to do about the remaining orphans now that the one place they believed them all to be safe had been compromised.
The task of wrangling in the families of the other missing young fell to Chandler and Grimm. The disastrous duo had ended up drawing the short straws with that one, as Bran was in their living quarters trying to explain the demon dynamics to Tialanna, and what those implications might mean for their daughter.
Bran paced from one end of the living quarters to the next while Tia sat, clearly impatient, on their overlarge sectional couch. He could tell she wanted to say something, but was willing to wait for him to speak first, even though silence had never been one of her strongest virtues. He just didn’t know the best way to say what had to be said.
When he finally did stop, he dropped to his knees directly in front of her, shedding a single tear from his right eye. Bran could see the worry in her eyes as she said, “Baby, please, talk to me, ’cause right now you’re scaring the shit out of me.”
“We’re gonna lose her, Tia, we’re gonna lose our baby girl,” Bran said when he finally found his voice, as raspy as it was and filled with grief and anger.
Leaning forward, Tia captured her demon’s face within her hands. As Tia looked into her lover’s eyes, he knew she could see his pain went soul-deep. “Hey, we haven’t completely lost yet. We’ll find her.”
“You don’t understand.” Bran shook his head, not only hating the feeling of helplessness that was trying to take him under but despising himself for the anger he harbored towards his mate.
