Reapers of the Dark (Cora Roberts #4)

Chapter 18

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

How many ways can you tap a vein?

I shot Hudson a message, informing him we were done in town. Harry stayed behind to report on anything weird. Well, weirder. Robert followed us back to Summer Grove House, as this conversation needed to be had among sympathetic supernatural ears. The Helens of this world would have an apoplexy if they knew they lived next door to a family of bear shifters and bought her groceries from a married pair of vampires who’d been alive more years than they’d had hot dinners. The human populace operated best in the dark.

I opened the door with Sebastian, Liz, and Robert hot on my heels and skidded to a halt. What on earth? A shirtless Ezra pinned a trembling guy by his throat to the wall, his feet dangling off the ground while Ezra wasn’t even breaking a sweat. Green rolled over his eyes. Another cat shifter. Not good.

Rebecca, clad in a turquoise silk nightgown, leaned against the wall with an eyebrow raised. To someone who didn’t know her, she looked like she couldn’t care less, but I knew better. Behind that angelic blonde head was an apex predator, born and raised to be regal and lethal. The fact she chose love over violence didn’t make her less capable.

“I warned you,” Ezra snarled. “Take another man to your bed, and I will make mincemeat of him.”

“We didn’t make it to the bed,” she responded as her eyes flicked to mine before returning to Ezra. Her jaw ticced for a moment before she relaxed it.

Oh, Rebecca, what mess have you engineered? Do I need my shotgun?

The wards in my head clanged, and Hudson’s familiar SUV rumbled down the drive. Good, the Terror of Tennessee could sort out this mess. Ideally, with no breakages. There was an intense stare off, and then my mate’s boots hammered up the steps behind me.

“What did he do?” Hudson asked, as his warmth covered my back. A shiver went up my spine as his hand landed on my hip.

“He dared to try to bed her,” Ezra snarled.

“Can you break this up?” I asked.

Hudson sighed and moved past me. Yes, there we go. The big bad was here…

Hudson turned and strode into the parlor.

“What are you doing?” I hissed as Ezra tightened his hold on the guy’s neck, who was turning a concerning shade of red.

Hudson glanced at me over his shoulder. “He warned her. She knew there would be consequences.”

My hands fisted at my sides as Liz and Sebastian joined him. “They are not mated.”

“I wouldn’t say that too loud right now,” he said as folded himself into an armchair in the corner so he could view the escalating situation with a faint smile. I supposed he would intervene if it turned lethal, right?

He folded his arms and tilted his head. No. He would not be intervening.

I switched my focus back to the hallway situation.

“Hey, take it outside. I have a strict no violence policy in the house. Break it, and you’ll be out of here faster than a cat dodging bath time.”

They ignored me. The White Furry Menace decided to join the spectators and appeared from the stairs. She glanced at the dueling duo and padded off into the parlor.

Ezra glared at Rebecca, and the corner of her lip twitched.

“I needed sustenance,” she said in her soft, lilting voice as she stretched out her hand and checked her nails. “You know, blood, being a vampire. So now, I’m warning you. Touch my food, and I’ll skin you alive and make myself a nice furry rug.”

“I’ll provide it.”

She rolled her eyes. “Been there, done that. You’re a little watery for my taste.”

Oh shit.

Ezra released the poor unsuspecting shifter and threw him to the side. He gasped and stumbled toward me. He glanced at the stairs like he was debating making a break for his bedroom, or worse, hers.

“Outside,” I warned him. “Run, while you can.”

He at least didn’t ignore me and stumbled out of the door and disappeared. Awesome. Now that no one was in imminent danger…

“Cora, my beautiful niece,” Lucifer drawled. I poked at my boundary wards. Still there, still active, just ignoring the devil at my door. Fantastic.

“If you need blood, you will take it from me, and me alone, Becca,” Ezra said, crowding her against the wall. Her eyes flared, and my muscles tensed to intervene. “I won’t warn you again. Next time you go for someone’s throat, I’ll take their heart.”

“That’s not the artery I prefer to pop,” Rebecca taunted.

Shut up. Please, for my sanity, shut up.

Ezra slammed his hand against the wall. Kudos to the incredible workmanship of my home that it didn’t crumble. His other hand moved to grab her throat. My feet powered forward, and then I was running in the air due to the giant arm banded around my waist that had hoisted me off the floor.

Rebecca, in a move so fast and fluid I couldn’t even follow it, threw Ezra to the floor and rested her dainty foot on his chest.

“Never put your hands on me in anger,” she said, calm as a cucumber.

Ezra smirked, put his hands underneath his head, and gazed up at her like she was his entire world. “I knew you liked me.” She huffed and stormed up the stairs. He glanced at us. “I think I’m in love.”

“Shifters,” I growled, tapping Hudson’s arm. “Let me go.”

“You sure you won’t get violent?” he uttered in my ear.

“Only if you continue to hold me like a child.”

He chuckled and released me. I spun to face my uncle. “What are you doing here?” He jerked his head at the stairs leading down to my office. Ugh, fine.

I stalked forward, glancing at Ezra. “Go make sure my vampire princess isn’t hungry,” I snapped. “Also, the house rules state that if you break it, you buy it. That goes for everything, from vases to my guests.” He snorted and jumped to his feet without putting his hands on the floor before disappearing up the stairs in a blur.

I ushered the devil, my stupid mate, and Sebastian into my office. “No Liz?” I checked, finding my aunt had stayed upstairs.

“She is checking in on Maggie after the big shifter power display,” Sebastian said as I closed the door, sealing us inside. I spun around and found my uncle in my chair, and the other two men in my patient ones. Alrighty, then. I dragged the last chair over from the corner and parked it between the angel, the shifter, and the vampire. Quite the party we were having.

“What’s up?” I asked. I had questions of the spiritual kind for him, so may as well get my devil bank account in the plus. The alternative was asking my father, and that was less appealing.

“I paid your grandmother a visit,” he drawled as he cast a glance around my office.

“And?” Hudson growled.

“She was a little surprised, but that might have been her naked state with shampoo running down her face while in the shower.”

I shuddered. Why? Just why? I could have lived a very happy life without that visual. “What happened?”

“She tried binding me to this realm. It was an impressive but clumsy attempt, and the execution was sloppy. I felt a tickle deep in my?—”

I held my hand up. “Nope.”

“Spine.”

Oh, that wasn’t too bad.

“Anyhow,” Lucifer went on. “I think I have more of a handle on what we are dealing with.”

“Good. Maybe we can draw this shitshow to a close,” Hudson said.

Lucifer’s gaze flicked to him, then back to me. Oh no. “Eloise has made a deal,” he said. She’s a political badass, emphasis on the bad—but that means deals aren’t unexpected.

“Who with?” I asked. “A demon? The president?” The latter made little sense. As far as I knew, he was human.

“No, Cora. Eloise has awakened Donn.”

I blinked, hoping for someone to wake me or, alternatively, for him to crack up laughing and then tell what my grandmother had actually done, because there was no freaking way she was this stupid.

Lucifer stared at me, and as the seconds slid by, my hope died.

“Who is Donn?” Sebastian asked.

“A god,” Lucifer answered.

“Like the God?”

Lucifer shook his head. “No, the God you are familiar with is a different entity. He exists in a different construct.”

“She cannot be this stupid,” I whispered.

“This isn’t a good thing?” Hudson asked. “Aren’t gods inherently good?”

I shook my head. “No. Just like humans, each god has different personality traits and flaws. There are just a lot more consequences when they throw a fit.”

“And Donn is?”

I closed my eyes as a shudder ran down my spine. “The Irish god of death.”