Page 73 of Pain

All I could do was nod. My throat was too tight with emotion. But rather than step away and join the others in Shoy’s truck, I lunged at Vip again and held onto her even tighter this time. “Thank you … for everything.”

Now it was her turn to be too choked up to say anything. All she did was nod against my shoulder. We finally let go and I stepped away, backing up toward the truck. Eventually, my butt hit the side, and I opened the door. Maxar stepped out so I could climb into the middle between him and Drak. Then, once we were all in, with our windows down, I waved with all my heart at my new friend, Vip, turning in my seat to wave out the back window until we were too far away to see her any longer.

“She’ll be safe there for a few nights on her own?” I asked Shoy as we bumped along the pothole riddled, hard-packed dirt of the desert.

Shoy’s bark of a laugh made me jump. “That little demon back there is tougher than me. I don’t worry about her a bit. She can rip a man’s mind in two in under six seconds.” His gaze in the rearview mirror met mine, and although the creases next to his eyes scrunched deep, I could also see that even if Vip was a tough demon, Shoy still worried about her. Because that’s what you did when you loved someone. You worried about them even when you didn’t need to.

Thankfully, our journey back to town was uneventful, and before we knew it, the mountain range we passed through on our first day loomed ahead, with the squat little buildings of the town below. Shoy knew right where to go to get us to Kenvin’s, and thankfully, the grumpy old demon was in one piece when we knocked on his door.

“Thought you lot might have become bisibra food,” he said, though the relief in his eyes warmed my heart. “See you made a friend.” He nodded and grunted at Shoy. “Hope they weren’t too much trouble.”

Shoy smirked. “Terrible trouble. The worst.”

“As I suspected,” Kenvin said, welcoming us all back into his house. I’d never been so glad to be back in the hot little hovel in all my life. As much as I liked Shoy and Vip’s house, it felt very vulnerable out there in the middle of the desert. Not only that, but it also seemed hotter. Maybe because there were fewer places to hide and find shade. Either way, returning to Kenvin’s felt in some odd way like we were returning home, even if it was temporary.

“You staying for a bit?” Kenvin asked in his gruff way.

Shoy nodded. “Need to sus out some stuff.” He jerked his chin at me. “See who is open to the idea of a queen, and who’s backing Lerris.”

At the mention of my uncle, Kenvin’s brows shot up. “Speaking of the little fucker, he’s been through here. Went hunting for him last night, but he’s slipperier than a fucking snake.”

“Yeah, we heard,” I said blandly, though at the mention of my uncle my heart rate spiked.

Kenvin’s brows shot up even higher.

“He was at Helltower meeting with Quintella,” I said. “Was there just a day before us.”

“Was he now?” Kenvin scratched at his salt and pepper scruff. “He’s been poking around town too. Asking if anybody’s seen you. Luckily though, nobody likes that slimy twat. So not even Tanen—the guy you put a hole through the night you arrived—is going to say anything.”

“That bodes well for the Queen,” Shoy mused.

Kenvin didn’t seem nearly as convinced. “Just because nobody likes Lerris, doesn’t mean they’re open to a half-human queen. Your lineage opens things up for a challenger to come forward.”

“Yeah, but you’ve said so yourself, Omaera is the strongest demon alive,” Maxar argued. “Even if someone came in to challenge, she’d kick their ass easily.”

“She has thepotentialto be the strongest, most powerful demon alive. With powers no other demon possesses. But she has a long way to go harnessing them.” Kenvin sighed. “Did you bring fresh meat?”

Shoy nodded. “I’ll just grab it from the back.”

Kenvin grunted. “I’ll fire up the barbecue.” Then he left the kitchen to go start up the grill in the courtyard, leaving me standing there surrounded by my mates.

“Lerris is planning something,” I said. “But what? And do we leave Hell before he does?”

“I don’t think so,” Maxar said. “We need Lerris to head back to Earth first, to maybe even think that we’ve headed back to Earth ahead of him. Right now, he doesn’t know we know he’s here.”

“If he used the same portal that we did though, couldn’t he set a trap for when we return to Earth if he goes first?” Zandren asked. “I mean, chances are, Howar told him which portal we used. Howar probably told him that we headed to Hell in the first place, and why. So the little fucker is going to head back to Earth and lie in wait for us to emerge back through the portal, attacking us when we’re vulnerable.”

I was inclined to agree with Zandren. While I had no war tactics training, it made sense. Lerris was obviously working with Howar. So the chances werepretty high of there being another group of vampires at the Earth entrance of the portal, as well as Lerris, just waiting for us as our bodies glued themselves back together.

Shoy reappeared with an armload of magsith meat. My pout came on before I could stop it. Yes, they had a good life, and just one bad day, but now that I knew they were such docile creatures, it made the idea of eating them even more unappealing.

We pitched in and helped make dinner, adding some of Vip’s skivern syrup to the scones as well as the blankberry jelly. Kenvin scoffed at my suggestion of using it, saying sweetness was a luxury he didn’t need, but I refused to agree and added it anyway.

Darkness settled in by the time we all sat down in the courtyard, safe from any bisibra attacks, with our plates on our laps.

“How do you trap a demon?” I asked, taking a bite out of my actually-rather-delicious scone. It was still dry, but with enough jelly and a sip of water, I managed to choke the tasty mess down my throat.

Shoy and Kenvin exchanged looks. Kenvin took a sip of his amber spirit before answering. “You need a blood cage.”

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