22. Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty

Felix

One hour earlier…

Hell isn’t full of flames like everyone pictures it.

Sure, it’s hot as fuck, and occasionally one might come across a flame geyser or tiny volcano but it’s not the way it’s painted in all the human religious texts.

There’s a fire under my ass right now, though.

And Davina unknowingly lit it.

Running over uneven terrain, I keep my head down and eyes focused the best I can, pushing through the wall of sand and wind as I head deeper into Hell.

I’m alone now, totally by choice, and I can only hope Silas and Azrael listen to what I said before I took off.

I doubt it.

I’m actually almost positive that the two of them are chasing me.

Especially since I did finally take a bite out of Rae.

He didn’t say no but he didn’t say yes either when I asked the semi-hypothetical question about feeding from him and if it could help me find Zia.

Rae scowled at me, said that it might because they’re related, but it would definitely be beneficial to storm into Xadrian’s mansion full of demon juice.

Which I already knew, and it was all the answer I needed.

I briefly debated what would happen if I fed from him.

More or less thought about whether or not Davina would find me easier, or sooner, for taking from a live source regardless of what species, then I made up my mind.

About three seconds later, Rae was flat on his back with my knees in his gut and my fangs in his neck.

I didn’t take much, I didn’t have time to since Silas pulled me off of him in such a huff, but Azrael didn’t taste right. He didn’t taste like Zia, not completely, and that was enough to have me pounding the so-called pavement before I had my fill.

My thoughts have been only of Azizia.

Finding her, getting her to safety, killing anyone who so much as looked at her since she was taken from me. But having another demon’s blood in my mouth and sliding down my throat felt wrong.

It doesn’t matter that it could help me find her, or that it was going to give me just enough energy to see things through. Feeding from someone who isn’t her, from anyone who isn’t that unhinged little vixen, is wrong, which was all the confirmation I needed.

Zia is different, she’s mine, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d think it was our destiny to be together.

If I believed in that sort of thing, anyway.

I did once.

I’d been at the castle since I was a child, probably farther back than my memories allow, and Davina is in every single one of them.

I think I was three when she took me from my parents. I don’t remember them or where I came from, I don’t know why she did it, and that’s probably why I don’t remember anything but her.

Davina became my family.

All of my needs were met, I had everything I could ever want, and I was protected from the dangers she told me about.

She spent every day with me.

Davina made it a point to become my entire world; she was my teacher, my mentor, my biggest and only form of support, and by the time I was sixteen years old, Davina was also my lover.

I couldn’t understand why someone as beautiful, as powerful as Davina, our fucking queen, would want anything to do with someone like me. I was nothing compared to her, deep down I knew that, but she never made me feel that way.

My special boy .

The constant praise, the pet names and affection, the way she spoiled me, it all had me believing her. I believed I was special and the first time Davina kissed me, I thought I was going to explode.

The way she looked at me, the way she touched me, it all changed from that moment forward, and if I’d have known just how much it would change almost two centuries of my life, I would have begged her to kill me then.

Instead, I wanted her to love me more.

I thought Davina was my destiny and that I was hers, but the only thing that bitch wanted me for was what makes me different from everyone else who’s ever shared her bed.

My intelligence and IQ held me above the rest, sure, but my body and the things I can do with it? The biggest physical differences between me at my healthiest and every other male vampire I’ve met? That’s what Davina wanted, and the fact that she found me when I was so young meant that she was going to get it without even trying.

I was her super soldier, her secret weapon, and I was a slave to Davina’s every single desire.

I would have done anything for her. I did do anything for her and…

My thoughts trail off as I slow down, the outline of a massive building showing through the clouds of dust.

Am I doing it again?

Isn’t that exactly what I’m doing for Zia?

She fucking kidnapped me for fuck’s sake. Am I so fucked up, so goddamn delusional that I let it happen again ?

I was taken, I was exposed to a beautiful, insane, murderous female and instead of trying to get the fuck away, I fuck her then chase her into the literal pits of Hell to get her back.

Stopping along what is clearly the perimeter of the property, I plant my hands on my hips while I catch my breath and examine not only every choice I’ve ever made, but the layout itself.

It’s definitely the home of a warlord, there’s no doubt about that.

The gates are indestructible, the walls beyond them are high, and the watchtowers at various points are taller than any of the tree-like things throughout the nearly barren yard, and the house is taller still.

Everything is stone and metal, barbed and spiked. I don’t doubt for a second that each surface is hotter than the air around me, and I’m sure there are plenty of hidden surprises along the entirety of the barricades protecting the militant mansion beyond them and… I frown as I look around.

Something isn’t right.

Each watchtower is empty, every post that should have a guard doesn't. There’s no one around at all, not by sight or smell, and that has my guts twisting into a knot.

And it has a new level of urgency rushing through my veins.

Taking off at a dead run, I head directly for the gates, ignoring that they’re ajar as I push through them. I practically fly up the front steps, not slowing down when I get to the front door.

I crash into the elaborate metal, slamming my body against the lock in the center once, twice, and when it cracks under my force, I blast through on the third try.

“Azizia!” I grunt as I barrel into the foyer, my eyes immediately landing on the very female I’m here for. “Azizia, thank fuck. I’m here, baby. I’m—” Wait a second.

I look around, that strange feeling growing over the way Zia was here, waiting, and seemingly is alone.

“Is that really you?” My brow furrows in confusion as my gaze moves over her, head to toe, before walking closer. “Was it really that easy?”

I run my hands up and down her arms as I search the foyer and surrounding area the best I can without moving.

“Felix,” Azizia says, and just hearing my name leave her lips is enough to draw my attention back solely to her.

“Are you okay?” I ask, searching her eyes then glancing over her shoulder. “Where is everyone? Did that son of a bitch hurt you? I swear, I’ll kill him.”

“No,” Zia almost snaps as she grabs my arm and starts pulling me toward the doors. “We have to go. We have to hide if we want to escape.”

“Hide? What are you talking about? Zia, we have to go. I have to get you out of here safely before I come back and murder that bastard.”

She doesn’t respond.

No, Azizia just tightens her grip and starts running, dragging me behind her because I can’t seem to get completely on board with this.

Something feels off.

Maybe it’s because we were apart for so long, maybe Zia is butthurt that it took me so long to get here. I can’t quite put my finger on it, though.

I try to keep up but quickly realize I have no idea where we’re going.

“Zia,” I hiss. “This isn’t the way I came. I don’t know if this way is safe. We need to go that way,” I nod behind us. “Silas and—”

“Just hurry up.” She tugs harder on my hand. “Trust me. We have to hurry.”

Blinking a few times, I nod and follow her lead.

I follow Azizia along the roads, both of us running and panting in the extreme heat.

“It’s not much further. Then we will be safe.”

Thank god.

It feels like we’ve been running forever even though I know it hasn’t been long at all. Not with how quickly we’re moving.

I don’t slow down once, don’t look back or argue, because I do trust Zia. I might have questioned it before, might have thought my feelings weren’t genuine and just fabricated by circumstance but holding her hand, following her like this, I’m not questioning things now.

Azizia is my destiny.

“I missed you,” she says as we stop inside the cover of trees, and when she looks up at me, I know it’s true.

Cupping her cheeks, I search her eyes briefly then dip my chin, dying to kiss her, to have some sort of assurance that she feels the same way I do, but Zia pulls back and I frown.

Then immediately start questioning everything all over again, right up until she smiles at me.

A beautiful, blinding smile that feels like it was meant for only me, and it curves my lips up to do the same. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

She nods. “Yes, I’m okay.”

“Where are we?” I pull my eyes away from Zia, adjusting to the lack of light easily. “Why did we need to come here? Shouldn’t we leave?”

She gives me a halfhearted shrug. “It’s just where we’re supposed to be.”

With a frown, I open my mouth to ask her what the fuck is actually going on when I hear a voice that has bile creeping up my throat.

“Hello, darling. I’m so glad you’ve come back to me.”

I grab Azizia and shove her behind me as I spin to face my living nightmare.

“Davina,” I growl, searching the darkness until she slowly steps forward.

My god, she hasn’t changed.

Forever nineteen with flawless pale skin, ruby red lips and hair the color of spun gold, and the shrewd, dead eyes of a killer.

Lifeless.

Davina’s eyes are like doll eyes, and I can’t believe I ever enjoyed having them on me.

“Felix, my darling, you’re looking…” She stops about two feet away from me and arches a brow as she looks me up and down. “ Delicious , though you could use a little more demon blood to get you back to tiptop.”

Shoving Zia further behind me and taking a step back, I growl, “Fuck off, Davina. You can’t have her.”

Her eyes narrow on my face briefly, her anger flaring before she relaxes with a chuckle. “I don’t want her . Besides, she doesn’t belong to me, anyway.”

“What the hell are you—” I whirl around when I hear Zia yelp, my fangs fully extending as I feel the back of my shirt split. “Azizia! No, please!”

She squirms against a huge male demon, his appearance unmistakably one of a warrior, and just when my claws rip from my fingers and the muscles in my back start to shift and expand to accommodate the change in my form, I freeze.

I watch as he simultaneously cups Zia’s breast and her pussy, holding her closely to him. He grins at me as he licks the side of her neck and whispers in her ear but what has my head spinning is the throaty moan that escapes her perfect lips before Zia is reaching up to bury her fingers in the male’s hair and crushes those lips to his. She’s smiling, urging it on. She wants this. My Azizia wants this from this male. This male who isn’t me.

“Zia?” I choke out, my confusion quickly fading as my heart stops. “Azizia, what are you doing?”

Slowly, she turns a glassy stare my way. “He’s my husband, Felix. How else am I supposed to greet him?”

I shake my head as I stumble backward. Zia giggles, the image of her kissing that male is now branded on my brain, and I remember too late Davina is behind me. As her icy hand closes around the back of my neck and squeezes the device she implanted in me, that’s when realization hits.

“You… You set me up?”

Azizia grins, her eyes squeezing shut when that male puts his lips on her neck again, kissing her where I fed from her. That soft, delicate spot, it was mine .

She was mine.

At least, that’s what I thought, what I was stupid enough to allow myself to believe.

Now, looking at Zia as her eyes land on me, staring at the female I risked everything for, that I fully intended to leave Hell with, I can physically feel my heart stop beating regularly and instead it thumps against my ribs in a steady, hollow rhythm.

“Zia…” I plead, my voice barely above a whisper. “Why? I thought…” I shake my head as Davina’s nails dig into the sides of my neck. “Just, why ?”

Azizia holds my stare, no signs of remorse or guilt, there’s no acknowledgment there at all until she gives me a little shrug, but she says nothing as her attention is quickly pulled away when her husband tightens his hold on her.

Stealing my spine against the way I want to drop to my knees, I straighten up then ask, “None of it meant anything to you, did it?”

“Why would it?” Zia giggles as Xadrian nips at her ear.

Then a thought occurs to me, one I was an idiot not to have the second I realized Azizia set me up.

“This entire thing was a trap, wasn’t it?” I nod to myself, ignoring Davina’s grip and her demands to shut up. “You, going topside, kidnapping me? You knew who I was from the jump because you were sent to bring me back to Davina. It all makes sense now. The obsession, knowing everything about me…”

Every single word has my heart cracking, has my body going numb from the inside out. I don’t hear anyone anymore, I don't feel Davina’s hand. I see nothing but Zia’s face as she laughs at me, fucking laughs with the male she pretended to be afraid of, and eventually my vision starts to dark around the edges.

“I just want—” My voice cracks and I clear my throat. “Will you just tell me why you did it?”

Then, Zia delivers the final blow, and I nearly fall to my knees. “Why not?”

I swallow thickly as I nod, trying like hell to stay somewhat composed even though it feels like everything inside of me died with her betrayal.

“Hush now, darling,” Davina whispers. “You don’t need her anymore. I’m here. Your queen is here, and she is going to take care of her special boy.”

I wretch at those words, my stomach pitching and rolling as Davina licks my cheek, as her free hand slides across my chest and her nails tear my already tattered shirt. Her skin against mine causes me to heave, and out of desperation or sheer stupidity, I look at Zia one last time and try to find some shred of decency left from the demon I knew.

The unhinged demon who didn’t shy away from murder.

Surely she’ll be willing to kill me?

She already shattered my heart with her betrayal then dug the pieces from my chest with her blatant disregard for anyone other than her husband. Killing me shouldn’t be an issue, not when it seems to be a hobby of hers.

If she knew what Davina did to me, if I’d have told her what that last year was like, maybe Zia would have done it out of pity alone but I didn’t, and she won’t.

Begging for death isn’t really my style, anyway.

“Bind him,” Davina says as she leans into me, pressing herself against me until she’s practically humping my leg like the bitch she is. “I don’t want my special boy getting away, not after waiting so long to bring him back home.”

She releases my neck as one of her guards grabs me, and despite the disgust and fear, the heartache and anger I’m experiencing, I know what needs to be done.

Jerking my arm free, I spin to face Davina, her face contorting into an expression of rage but before she can act, I drop to my knees in front of her.

“You don’t need to bind me,” I say with a shaky voice. Then I drop my head as tears sting my eyes. Tears I refuse to ever shed. “I’ll go willingly. I’m your slave once again.”

Zia broke my heart and I sure as fuck hope Davina will break my body because falling for this shit twice in one lifetime is more than enough, and I’m fucking done living.