Chapter 16
Dee’s body trembled against his and Simon tightened his hold around her slender form.
Her blood flowed onto his tongue and with it, their link strengthened. The voice that had been shouting in his mind since he’d followed Dee inside this hell finally quieted, and his focus shifted back to—
Her.
Kill Dee?
No f**king way.
His eyes closed for just a moment and his teeth eased from her neck. His tongue swept over her flesh. The sensual caress was the only reassurance he could offer her then.
“I said to kill the bitch!” Grim’s fierce shout.
Simon’s head lifted and he stared at the Born he’d fought to keep out of his head for so long. The man who’d ordered the hit on his family. On Dee’s.
The Ignitor lay on the floor. Still unconscious because his Dee didn’t screw around.
Neither did he.
Dee laughed. “The man might die for me, nearly has, but no way would he ever kill me.”
Damn but he loved her.
He met Grim’s dark gaze. The bastard’s hold had all but vanished now. Whether from Dee’s touch, her blood, or just her, he didn’t know.
But the end had come. Not for them, but for Grim. “Your brother sends his greetings, Grim. I think he really hopes you enjoy hell.”
The Born’s face changed then, went slack with surprise and a flash of pain. Grim’s gaze leapt to the bed. To the still form of the woman. “I’m not…” He shook his head. “Tore can’t kill me, he’s not here, I’d know—”
“He’s not killing you.” Dee’s body vibrated in his grasp. “We are.”
Grim’s stare snapped to them and his lips rose. “Still on that, are we?”
“Yeah, we are.” So fierce, his Dee.
“A fresh vamp and a fool who couldn’t appreciate the new life he’d been given?”
Enough talk. Time to end—
“Your knight, is he?” Grim sneered at that. “Don’t you know, dear Dee, he’s been luring you in—for me—from the beginning?”
Simon’s hands dug into her shoulders.
“That attack in the alley. The near hit with the gunshot. Your lover arranged that. He almost got you killed.”
Dee glanced up at him.
“And that woman, the one who died so well for my men. Grace, wasn’t it, Simon?”
Grace. Dee’s friend. The one he’d used to manipulate her.
“She gave you all that wonderfully wrong Intel on Simon, didn’t she? I wonder…how could she have made a mistake like that?”
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. He should have explained all of this to her before. Should have made her understand—
“I know.” Soft. “I know everything he did,” she said.
His jaw dropped. She knew and she was letting him touch her? Not screaming? Not staking him?
“And I know he wasn’t doing it for you, ass**le.” Her dark stare turned back to Grim. “He was working to kill you, not to set me up.”
She knew? How—
“I knew from the first bite. I’m Born, remember? I knew.”
Well, shit.
Hate twisted Grim’s face. “You should have run while you had the chance.”
A ripple of her shoulders. “Not really the running type. More the kick-your-ass type.”
Flames raced across the floor.
Grim’s laughter filled his ears. And Nina—dammit, she jumped up.
“Burn, bitch!” Her scream of fury, directed right at Dee.
Grim slipped through the doorway, his laughter following him.
The flames rose too high, too fast. Nina’s eyes flashed red, the vessels near bursting as she pumped all her power right at them.
Dee stumbled back against him. “Run!”
They charged toward the window. The fire chased after them.
“Burn, burn, burn.” A chant from Nina. Fucking insane. The flames caught Simon’s back and legs, biting at the flesh, and he clenched his teeth at the agony. He fell, the fire rising around him as—
“No! Not without you!” Dee grabbed his arms and yanked him out the window with her. The broken glass cut his stomach and chest and then Dee was hitting him, pounding on his body. No—striking at the flames and putting out the fire.
Burning her flesh, to save him.
A shriek echoed from the house. The flames came at them again.
“Grim has himself one hell of a guard dog,” Dee growled, breath heaving out.
Simon’s gaze scanned the yard. Three vamps came out, claws and teeth ready, but they didn’t attack. They just watched.
Ready to watch us die.
“This is the way it ends for you.” Grim’s taunting voice. He walked from the shadows of the house. Blood dripped down his chest. “For both of you.”
Simon caught Dee’s hand, held tight. Surrounded by fire and vampires.
He looked at Dee. Shoulders back, chin up. Eyes blazing black. Not afraid. Not his Dee. Never afraid.
No, not her and she was—
Smiling?
“I know what happens next,” Dee said, and her soft voice carried easily over the crackle of flames.
“Me, too,” Grim snapped. “You burn. And you scream. Then you die. Right in your lover’s arms.”
“You believe in prophets, don’t you, Grim?” The flames were so close that the heat seemed to graze his flesh, but Nina was holding back now, watching Dee. Why?
Because Grim had his hand up, and like the good lapdog that she was, Nina wouldn’t strike without his order.
“After all, you set all this into motion.” Dee’s right hand—which looked broken—lifted to indicate the flames and vampires. “Because a demon had a vision and told you that I would be your killer.”
Grim’s lips thinned.
“You killed my family,” she continued. “Everyone I ever loved because you thought a fifteen-year-old human girl would one day kill an all-powerful Born.”
“The demon was right! You would have come for me!”
“I came now for vengeance. Because of you. You are the one who set this in motion. You.”
He shook his head. “No, no, I wasn’t dying again. Those bastards, they betrayed me before. I wasn’t going to die like that again!”
His eyes darted to the vampires who stood so still and silent. “My men won’t turn this time. They’ll stand by me.”
“This isn’t about them.” Simon had no idea where she was going with this, but he caught movement from the corner of his eye. Slow, careful movement. His nostrils flared, just a bit, but he couldn’t smell anything but the smoke and blood.