8. Madelyne

eight

Madelyne

Z eph jumps up, his chair crashing to the floor as he rushes to check on his friend. “Riz! What’s wrong?” he cries, grabbing the older demon by his shoulders.

Riz doesn’t answer, just sobs harder. My guys surround him, just like the others did in the street. But nothing they say or do breaks through to him. Suddenly, he drops to the floor, my guys following as they try to hold him up. I touch Zeph’s shoulder and his head snaps up. His concern and fear merge with mine. I don’t know what’s going on, but I suspect it has something to do with Luc. The guys probably won’t like it, but I can’t stand here and not do anything. I have to try. Even if they haven’t gotten over the last time I did it.

I gesture for Zeph to step aside so I can see Riz. Once he’s out of my way, I concentrate on sending my powers to him, intent on taking away his suffering like I did for Luc and my mom. The guys yell at me to stop, but I’m so focused on my mission, I barely hear them. My magic searches its subject for any negative emotion, but it comes back empty.

Perplexed, I place a hand on him. Whenever I touch anyone, I feel their emotions. Identifying emotions is like second nature to me now, yet the only emotion I feel from Riz is confusion. I can feel the despair and agony that is trying to consume him but it’s not coming from him.

“It’s not your emotions making you cry. You have no idea why you’re crying right now, do you?” His eyes find mine despite the increasing tears and I know I’m right. There’s only one demon who can force others to experience extreme emotion like this. And I know Luc would never do that on purpose. “We gotta go. I’ll find a way to fix this, Riz. I’m sorry,” I add as smoke circles around us, swirling up mine and each of my guy’s legs until I can’t see in front of me anymore.

“The hell, woman,” Oz mutters as we appear outside Luc’s door. “Warn a demon.”

“What’s going on? Why are we in Luc’s hall?” Belz asks.

“Riz and all those other demons we saw crying? They’re not crying because they’re sad. Someone is making them cry.” I give them a pointed look.

“ Luc !” Zeph gasps.

Nodding, I turn and bang on his door. I’m not leaving without seeing him this time. I shouldn’t have left last time. Maybe I could have saved all those demons.

But like last time, he doesn’t answer no matter how hard I bang or how loud we yell.

“Fuck this,” I snap before transporting myself inside Luc’s room. I’m done waiting.

His normally immaculate room looks like a bomb went off. Furniture is tossed all over the place. His favorite chair and the matching couch are torn to shreds. His onyx bar is littered with bottles of liquor and glass shards cover the floor. As I take in the scene, Snowball bumps her head against my thigh.

Looking down, I rub her head. “Hey, girl. Where is he?”

Her sad eyes seem to stare into my soul before she turns and walks away, leaving me to follow. She leads me to his bedroom, which is in a similar disarray as the main room. The mattress is off the bed and across the room, the gauzy material surrounding the four-poster bed hangs in tatters, and almost everything else in the room is knocked over or otherwise destroyed. Snowball looks back at me as she stops in front of a walk-in closet. Ignoring the rest of the room, I follow her into the huge closet.

Seriously? And I thought my closet was outrageous.

His is like a whole other room filled with shoes, clothes, and an impressive organization system.

Luc sits in a corner buried under a pile of clothes. When I get closer I realize they’re women’s clothes. If I had to guess, I’d say they’re my grandmother’s. I can’t believe he's held onto them all this time. His soft whimpers reach my ears as I stop in front of him. He doesn’t seem to notice me or Snowball, staring blankly at a dress on the top of the pile.

“Luc,” I gasp, barely able to breathe through the despair wafting off of him. No need to touch him to identify his emotions. They fill the room, stifling the very air. “ Avus , I’m so sorry,” I whisper as I drop down beside him. He doesn’t respond, seemingly frozen from his overwhelming emotions. Snowball spins in a circle before joining me on the floor and laying her head in Luc’s lap.

“It’s gonna be okay, Snow. We’ll figure out how to fix him… We have to.”

Oz

“I swear to the devil himself, I’m going to blister that girl’s ass. That’s number three and four. How could she leave us out here like this?” I seethe. Am I overreacting? Possibly. But also, we have no idea what’s going on with Luc right now. If he has something to do with demons randomly turning into sobbing wrecks, which I’m fairly certain he does, then he’s obviously lost control of his powers and that can get dangerous. A few demons crying is child's play compared to the destruction he can wreck.

If he hurts my mate…

That does it. I see red, slamming myself against his door until it splinters and gives way beneath my force. I run into the room, Belz and Zeph following close behind. Skidding to a stop and I'm shocked as I take in the chaos of Luc's normally pristine room. I follow a trail of destruction to a closet where Maddy and Snowball are sitting with Luc.

“Princess,” I growl, but my ire dissipates completely when she looks up at me with tear-filled eyes. I’m by her side before she can blink, dropping to the floor and pulling her into my arms. “Don’t cry, my sweet girl. I can’t stand the thought of you crying.” I murmur as I pet the back of her head.

“W-what are we g-going to do?” she stammers. “I can’t take his pain again. I don’t think I could handle it even if my magic would cooperate. Especially not now that he's like this.” She waves her hand in Luc’s direction as her breath hitches and she cries into my shoulder.

“You don’t have to. We’ll figure it out together. It’s not up to you alone anymore,” I tell her, holding her tightly as she quietly sobs in my arms.

Belz and Zephyr surround us, each touching our precious mate in some way, lending whatever strength they have to give. She soaks up the attention and something settles in the bond before she sits up and pulls away from us.

“I’m okay now. Thank you,” she murmurs before giving each of us a kiss. “How are we supposed to help him? How do we stop this from spreading even more?” She looks at each of us like we have the answers and it kills me that I don’t.

“Like Oz said, we’ll figure it out. We can check out Luc’s library. See if there’s anything in there that could help. Until then, the best thing we could do is put a ward around him so his power is contained to his room,” Belz says and the tension leaves her as he takes charge and comes up with a plan.

Damn. I wish I would have thought of that. I want her to look at me like I hung the damn moon.

“No wonder you’re the leader,” she huffs a watery chuckle. “I didn’t know you can set wards.”

“Uhhh… I can’t…”

“So… who’s going to put up the ward?” She furrows her brows before voicing the only option she can come up, my silly, silly princess. “Mom?” She asks hopefully.

My lip quirks when Belz glances at me, silently asking how he’s supposed to answer that. Cocking his head, he says, “You are, love.”

“ Me?! I don’t even know what a ward is. Let alone how to make one,” she shrieks.

Fighting a chuckle, I pop her I’m-helpless-and-know-nothing bubble. “A ward is a magical barrier. But you knew that.” I arch a brow. “And we’ve been through this, Princess. You can do anything you put your mind to. Just tell your magic what you want it to do and let it take care of the rest. Like when you sent all of the hellhounds home. You’re more powerful than you give yourself credit for.” I glare at her. I don’t like the thought of anyone underestimating my mate. Even her. “Believe in yourself as much as we do, and there will be nothing you can’t do.”

“Damn. Who knew Oz was such a motivational speaker,” Zeph chuckles.

“He’s pretty awesome, isn’t he?” Maddy says with a smile, never taking her eyes off of me. “Well, you were right last time, so I guess I’m going to give it a shot.” Her eyes twinkle before she closes them, focusing on her power and what she wants it to do.

A bright wave of magic crashes through the room, bursting from Maddy and climbing up the walls and across the floor and ceiling until the entire room is covered by the soft glow of her power. Her eyes widen and her jaw drops as she watches the shimmery magic do her bidding.

“I did it!”

“Knew you could.” I wink at her and she throws herself at me, wrapping her arms around my neck and latching her lips to mine in a hungry kiss I greedily return.

“Uh-hum. He may be out of it at the moment, but I don’t think Luc would be happy with you kissing like that right in front of him,” Zeph mutters.

Maddy pulls away giggling. “You’re probably right. Sorry Gramps.” She kisses Luc on the cheek and I mentally groan until she shoots back like she was stung. “He’s still conscious in there,” she gasps.

“When I touched him, I felt a flicker of amusement and irritation. It was weak, I could barely feel it under all the agony, but it was there.” She looks back and forth between us. “You know what that means?” Her eyes are wide and her mouth is open in a shocked smile. “He knows what’s going on around him. He’s not completely lost to us.”

The hope and relief that fills the bond is breathtaking. She turns back to Luc resolutely, staring deep into his eyes before vowing, “I’ll find a way to bring you back to us. I just found you. I can’t lose you now.” Finally breaking eye contact with Luc she glances at each of us in turn. “Come on guys. We have a library to raid.”

I love it when she goes all serious and badass. Confidence is sexy as fuck. Especially on my mate.