Chapter 22

Chapter

Twenty-Two

Angry fire ignited within my veins as I marched toward the VIP room hidden behind dark curtains. Were Roxie and Hawk partying in there again? Was Hawk dealing—or not dealing—with his emotions by getting strung out on Rapture with her?

Roxie always had a wild streak, and I wouldn't be surprised if she became an addict, but Hawk had better sense, or he used to.

My gut clenched. I really didn't want to find Hawk on some drug binge.

As I neared the velvet ropes, the demon bouncer lifted them and gave me a nod. Dim blue lights glowed within the smoky atmosphere, and a heavy dose of lust slapped my senses. Moans from deeper in the room traveled to my shifter hearing. A man sat between two female demons, one taking dainty sips of his soul while the other kissed his neck. His eyes rolled as euphoria distorted his expression.

He was definitely on Rapture. The little silver vial on the glass coffee table was a dead giveaway.

A bear shifter sat in a chair with a pretty fae on his lap, dropping Rapture on her tongue. The group on a leather couch in the corner included two vampires, a witch, and a fae, taking shots. Those little silver vials littered the table.

There was no sign of Roxie yet, but she was in here, hidden within the mystical fog that attempted to mask some of the debauchery. I stepped over a pair of pants on my way to the back, keeping my gaze forward. If I looked to the left, I knew what I'd see. The sounds were enough to paint a vivid picture, and after Fane's teasing on the dance floor, a heavy flush already coated my skin.

After ten minutes, a familiar laugh hit the smoky air, and I screeched to a halt to search the sea of sin. Roxie lounged on a black leather couch between two male nightworlders, moaning. The demon cupped her chin and drew out tiny sips of her soul while the witch had his hand between her legs, spreading them to get a better angle. Her hips bucked in time with his movements while he kissed her throat.

Now I understood the remark Ruin made to her at Corvin Manor. Apparently, Roxie had become a regular in this room, gobbling down Rapture and getting her freak on with nightworlders, all the while hating them. And what about Hawk?

I stormed to the couch, my hands curling into fists, ready to punch the raven. As I stood before the threesome, the two nightworlders noticed me while Roxie remained lost in ecstasy.

"So not only are you a shitty partner, but you're a shitty girlfriend too."

She finally broke away from the demon, her pupils so blown out barely any blue was visible. A scowl spread her lips once she recognized me. "Mind your own business, freak."

"Hawk is my business," I gritted out. "Does he know about your obsession with this place? I doubt he'd be cool with you guzzling Rapture and hooking up with other guys."

"Hey, it's cool, baby." The demon gave a sultry grin, his lids half-mast, the blue lights glowing on his neon-pink hair. "There's always room for more. You can join the party, right, Rafe?" He patted his lap.

The witch, Rafe, chuckled and sipped his cocktail. "We like shifters, too, sweetheart. Have you ever fucked a witch before?" Violet electricity crackled on his fingertips. "Trust me. It's a blast."

"She's not interested." Roxie reluctantly pushed the witch's hand from between her legs and sat up straight. "This little downer would never be able to satisfy you two."

For shit's sake, she was jealous of the attention these creeps showed me. I sneered at the two nightworlders, but they clearly didn't take the hint.

"I think a shifter could be a fun addition to the party." The demon leaned forward and ran his finger over the back of my hand. "I'm Eris. Why don't you give us a try?"

As rage erupted in me, I snatched Eris's wrist, twisting it and releasing a threatening snarl that even raised the hair on my neck. "Touch me again, and I'll break every bone in your body." A luminescent sheen invaded my irises as my pupils thinned to slits, looking more demon than shifter.

The color drained from his cheeks as his gaze fell on my neck tattoo. "I've heard about you."

The Infernal Sol stirred awake at the prospect of violence, a tiny tendril of that wicked power gliding through my bloodstream.

I released the demon's wrist and bent it at the waist to become level with his face. "You should go before I decide to shatter your flimsy skeleton anyway."

"What kind of shifter are you?" Rafe asked, his dark locks falling across his sharp cheek as he tilted his head back to study me .

Eris fell while scrambling off the couch. "She was bitten by a fucking beast." He snatched his drink and a bottle of Rapture from the table. "I'm not sticking around to get demolished by either one because where she goes, he usually follows. They're both crazy."

At the warning from his friend, the witch jumped up and scurried away.

"You have to ruin everything, don't you, Tate?" Roxie flicked her long, ebony ponytail over her shoulder.

Images of that ponytail swaying as she rode Hawk's dick in this very room sped through my mind, hemorrhaging more fury into my system. The demon amulet purred, soaking it all up and drifting closer to the surface.

"Hawk deserves better." My fists shook with the effort it took not to knock her ass out.

"Hawk barely notices me. He's so self-absorbed now." Roxie grabbed a drink off the coffee table. "You totally screwed him up. After you left, he became obsessed with taking out nightworlders."

My eyebrows slammed together. "I didn't leave. I was kicked out."

"You became a freak nightworlder and screwed Hawk up in the process." She sipped her cocktail. "He can't fulfill my needs because he's too busy trying to get revenge on every nightworlder for you leaving. It's so pathetic."

Sharp pangs ripped through my heart. Roxie never loved Hawk. She only wanted the fun version, but now that he was hurting, she couldn't care less about him.

"If you aren't getting what you need from Hawk, why don't you let him go?" I asked, trying to keep calm as she maintained that smug look. "Let him get another partner that actually has his back. "

"I would rather keep my claws in Hawk for the next five years just to piss you off."

"You can't be serious." The rage brimmed over like boiling water left on the stove too long. "You can't string him along just to hurt me. And you're putting him in danger out there!"

"Get real, Tate." She set her glass down and smoothed her dress. "If Hawk gets hurt or dies in the field, it's on your hands."

She really didn't give a damn about him.

The ticking time bomb within me finally erupted, and I crushed my fist into her cheek. Her shocked expression was priceless, blood spurting out of her nose. The release of anger and violence also yanked the amulet forward so fast I didn't have time to battle for control. The dark part of me simply took the reins, disintegrating all my morals and leaving only that sinister presence.

As that delicious, menacing magic filled my body, I gripped Roxie by the throat, yanked her off the couch, and slammed her on the coffee table. The bottles of Rapture scattered, and the two cocktail glasses shattered on the ground.

"Look what I caught." The voice coming out of my mouth was a distorted version of my own. "A little raven who flew too far from the nest. Your unkindness is nowhere to be found to save you from a monster born from the fears of men. Their screams are music as will yours be." I crawled on top of her.

Roxie fought and kicked, attempting to buck me off. "You psycho. Get off me!"

"I don't like that word." I slammed the back of her head against the thick glass top, stilling her. "It doesn't aptly describe what I am or what I'm capable of." As the slow smile melted across my lips and more of my demon side emerged with the amulet, pushing the shifter aside, the color drained from Roxie's cheeks .

"What are you?" she whispered.

I lowered over her, running a talon down her cheek. "Nightmares."

The raven's eyes glazed over as I grasped her mind, cracking it open to pull out a fear. This was different than what I'd done before. She was hypnotized.

No. Not exactly.

Roxie was under my compulsion.

A surprised chuckle burst from my lips. I didn't know I had that ability.

When I'm in charge, you can have that. And so much more.

The wicked me sounded like the devil, offering me a trade for my soul.

Don't be so dramatic. You wanted to hurt her, so you called me forward to do it.

Someone cleared his throat, and I turned as the handsome demon lord loomed over us.

"I heard there was a situation in the VIP room." His smile could make stars fall from the heavens just to be near him. "I can't say I'm surprised to find you in the middle of it, Tate. I did tell you to get into trouble."

I dragged my claws down Roxie's cheek again, the raven motionless beneath me. "She's a bad birdie and should be punished. And I'm hungry."

His lips pursed. "Hungry for what?"

Good question. I wanted to consume her fears, but another craving brewed in me.

"Her soul?" Ruin offered as if he recognized the need I couldn't quite discern.

"Yeah, I think so."

Roxie's faint whimper only spurred my hunger.

The demon lord tucked a lock of hair behind my ear and gently ran his thumb over my cheekbone. "If that's what you want, take some."

My beast would have convinced me to shove the thirst down. Not Ruin. He encouraged me to make trouble. He understood my darkness and wouldn't tame it. He wanted me to unleash it.

"Go ahead, beautiful," he purred, tilting my head toward Roxie's. "I'll watch over you and ensure you don't take too much."

The Infernal Sol hummed within me, delighted at the high demon's attention. Without further coaxing, I grabbed Roxie's jaw and pried her mouth open. In Bonaventure Cemetery, I'd taken a dainty sip of her before, but I was stopped too early.

I gripped her soul from within and inhaled the intoxicating substance. A moan spilled out as the hit of ecstasy infiltrated my veins.

So delicious.

I wanted her soul. And then I wanted her fears.

Ruin ran his hand down my back, whispering encouraging words as I devoured more of Roxie's soul.

A voice, maybe my own, screamed in my head to stop, that I'd regret this. But I shut her up with another sip, my insides vibrating while it felt like I floated on a cloud.

Something tingled on my neck before a steel rod wrapped around my waist and yanked me off.

"Ruin, what the fuck?"

So it wasn't a steel bar that dragged me off my yummy meal. It was Fane.

Fury twisted through my beast's voice. "Why didn't you stop her?"

The demon lord flicked his hand toward me as I struggled in Fane's relentless grip. "She's hungry. Am I supposed to let her starve? "

"She's not a full demon," Fane snarled. "She doesn't need souls to survive here like you."

"Doesn't mean she doesn't crave them." Ruin folded his arms against his chest, his jaw clenching and white teeth flashing. "She wanted it."

The demon shifter finally set me on my feet but kept his arms firmly around me. "She can't always have what she wants."

Truer words had never been spoken. I wanted to belong anywhere, and that always blew up in my face. I wanted Hawk to love me, and he did—until I became a nightworlder. I wanted Fane so much it hurt, but he'd never fully give in to me because of that witch's spell.

I never got what I wanted.

"You're keeping what she wants most from her," Ruin said, his stern gaze penetrating Fane as if he could see right through him. "If you weren't such a stubborn asshole and let us break this spell, you'd both stop being miserable."

"Kaspin is dead, so there's no fucking breaking it."

Fane's words were daggers to my heart not even the amulet could protect me from.

"Do you really think I can't find another way, Maverick?" Ruin scoffed. "Did you forget who I was and what I'm capable of?"

"You're delusional if you think it's that simple."

As they argued, my anger pushed more of my sensible self aside, making room for the darkness. That addicting power invaded my bloodstream, and I opened to it, needing to shove away the ache of missing Fane.

While they were busy insulting each other, I tapped into a human across the room—their minds were much easier to breach—and drew out one of her fears.

Her screams erupted as she fell to the slick, black tiles, swiping at the invisible spiders crawling over her legs. I grabbed hold of a male vampire, making him believe he was stuck in a coffin, buried alive. He flailed on the leather couch and beat his fists against an invisible barrier.

"Let me out!"

His pangs of bloodthirst and hunger intensified as I convinced him that he hadn't fed in years.

A dainty fae—a faerie with gossamer wings behind her glamour—locked eyes with me, terror filling them because she felt me rooting through her mind. She shook her head as I smiled, unleashing her fear of being attacked by a kelcryp in Faerieland.

"Teague, stop it," Fane demanded when he realized what I was doing.

A laugh burst out of my mouth as I soaked up the screams and terror saturating the smoky room. "You took me from my prey, so I made more. Their nightmares keep me company and feed my emptiness while you two battle with words over what I can have. I'll have what I want. Make no mistake, my beautiful beast. Now that I'm in control, I'll take my fill."

Shrieks pierced the foggy room as I cracked open more skulls.

"Do you see what you caused, Ruin?" Fane whipped me around and picked me up, tossing me over his shoulder. "By indulging her dark side, you've let that thing latch on and take control. Before long, your entire club will be full of chaos if she doesn't stop."

A string of curses burst from the demon lord's mouth. "Maybe I miscalculated the situation. Perhaps you should have been with her since you know so much about her. And how are you such an expert if you don't remember most of your time together? Are you remembering things, Fane? "

My heart raced, waiting for Fane's answer, but he ignored Ruin's question.

"Where can I take her that's private?"

I slipped my hands under his shirt, my talons dragging over his back without breaking skin. "What do you plan on doing?"

Ruin sprinted ahead, and Fane followed to the other side of the room as I swung from his shoulder. I could have broken out of his hold, but I relished being roughly handled by him. I wanted to fight him or fuck him, the latter being preferred.

Even better, I'd like to do it on top of my victims as they writhed and screamed from the waking nightmares I created.

The demon lord drew a key from his pocket and unlocked a door, pulling it open for us. Fane stormed into the room draped in silk and velvet. Chains and leather manacles dangled from the black walls, toys of pleasure and pain.

"I'll take care of the lost raven," Ruin said. "I'll make sure she doesn't remember Tate trying to suck her dry."

"That's the least you can do." Fane slammed the door on the demon lord, locking it. He marched across the room and tossed me on the massive bed in the center.

I bounced on the mattress and peered over his shoulder, calculating an escape route.

A low growl slithered between his teeth. "Don't even think about it, Teague. You're not getting out of this room."

Heat swirled low in my belly at his feral look. "How are you going to keep me in here, beasty? I don't plan on being cooperative."

He leaned forward, gripped my ankle in his powerful hand, and yanked me toward him. "You never are. But I'm going to teach you a few things. And by the end, you will be a good girl for me."