Chapter 5

Five

C ody heard the tiniest little chitter nearby.

Bigger than a spider, bigger than a bird. Smaller than a raccoon, and it smelled right.

Smelled familiar. It smelled like Phillip and brimstone.

"Serena," he whispered. At least he heard the name in his head.

Phillip was looking for him. Either that or he was so close to death that he was hallucinating. And no matter how what way, he didn't care.

Other beings got angels. He got an imp.

"My wrists, the cuffs please. Please. We have to do that. We have to turn off?—"

He realized he couldn't see the light anymore. There was just emptiness there; at least he assumed there was. There was just nothing.

It was all right.

No one had to know. He just needed to get out. He could get free, and he could at least take one with him.

He felt her wings brush against his hand, loosening the cuffs that surrounded him. Christ.

So strong, so beautiful. She was wicked smart, that little beast. And she really was there.

"That's right, don't stop. If I can get free…" Then maybe he could get out. He realized he didn't know if it was daytime or nighttime, how many days he'd been in here.

He didn't remember anything.

That wasn't true.

He knew Selena was here, and, in the end, that Phillip cared enough to send someone for him.

She chirped again, and his hand sprang free. Okay. Yeah. That was good. Until his other wrist popped out of the cuff and he hit the floor. Bang.

The floor. Which was rough planking over metal? Not stone then. Not some demon prison.

"Is it daylight?"

He wasn't sure. If he went out in the sun, he was done for, he knew.

Somehow, though, he trusted it was nighttime. He could feel the cool comfort of night, and he knew that Selena was offering it to him, the darkness.

"I can't see. So we're going to get out, and we're going to run. We're going to run, and we're going to hide, and then I'll figure out what to do next."

He crawled, moving slowly, trying not to make a sound. The planks were crude, but his skin was too leathered to let the splinters pass. They just broke under his nail and skittered away.

He was so focused on his endless trip that it startled him when he ran into a body lying on the floor close by.

He ran his hand over the form, and then he smelled the blood. Hurt then, maybe dying. Good.

He kept touching—Belt, shirts, buttons, buttons, buttons. Oh, yes!

His fingers sank into the newly opened maw of the demon's throat, the blood, sticky and ichorous.

"Good job, Serena. Good job."

That was one guard. He knew there was at least another one.

But where one died, the other would have too.

He found the latch to the door, and he opened it quickly, knowing that, no matter what, there was going to be noise. The only advantage he had was the element of surprise.

The real surprise happened when he stepped out, and he tripped—tripped over the other dead demon and went crashing to the dirt and asphalt.

It sucked and he wasn't sure he still had a nose, but it was a surprise.

"We have to run," he ground out, fumbling to his leaden feet.

He felt little claws in his hair, holding on tight, and she twisted his head, pointing him.

He got it immediately. "Right. You steer, I run."

Somehow. Some way. They were going to manage this.

"Here." Kelly pointed to the map. "Go get him."

"Good man." It was maybe half an hour away, this truck stop. They could make it well before dawn. "The truck is ready?"

"Yes. It's prepared for him." That was January. "The sunlight won't bother him, should it come to that."

"Thank you." He headed out to the vehicle. He was going in light. Just him. Selena was already there. He would bet his uncle was at a hotel somewhere waiting. The closest swanky one. So he would just have to take out guards.

That he could do. Fuck, he could do anything if it got Cody back to him. Even if Cody never forgave him, he needed his damn mate safe, happy, and back at the rodeo where he belonged.

Selena was being very quiet, concentrating on who knew what, but that meant her mental communication with him was muted. Barely there.

He hoped she was creating chaos and havoc, no matter what it was she was doing, and he hoped it involved a lot of blood.

Possibly a little bit of pain.

Of course she could save the pain part for him. He would love to inflict a little pain.

He kept moving, Kelly in an earpiece in case something else occurred to the psychic.

He drove like the hounds of hell themselves were on his heels. So fast and so sure that not even the state troopers dared to flash their lights at him.

Sometimes, it was good to be a demon.

He made the truck stop just as the very hints of dawn were beginning to lighten the sky. He had to get Cody safe before dawn really broke.

Phillip found what he had hoped for when he sprang out of the vehicle, which was still rocking on its springs. Death and destruction—but also what he hadn't expected, which was no Cody and no Selena inside the tractor trailer.

Okay, this was going to be a problem.

He stood in the center of all the bloody mess and closed his eyes, concentrating hard.

Where are you, Cody? Where? Serena? I'm here. I need my mate.

Surely Cody could hear him. Once upon a time, they had connected this way. And he knew Selena could hear him. She always did.

A slash of pure darkness came hurtling toward him, Serena's fiery eyes flashing, beckoning him in a pure fury.

"There you are, you gorgeous imp. Where is he?"

She grabbed his sleeve, singeing it, and pulled hard.

He didn't bother to answer; he simply ran, trusting in Selena to guide him.

She led him right to Cody's body, making a beeline for her favorite bloodsucker. He was face down in the dirt, looking like a husk of himself, like a discarded Halloween costume.

Part of Phillip's soul was absolutely screaming. It was having a fit knowing that his lover was dead or near to it.

But that cold, calculating part of himself simply grabbed Cody up, heedless of injury. Phillip ran because the sun was coming, and the sun was the worst enemy at this point.

His uncle could wait.

He had the earth from Cody's original home, and he had blackout blankets in the back of the vehicle.

As soon as they could get somewhere safe, he would let Cody feed, and then they would figure this whole thing out.

Possibly assassinate his uncle.

Selena seemed to understand, her little body flying around him like a tiny tornado or a dust devil, helping to guide him back to the vehicle and keep a cloud of dirt shielding them from the dawn.

That made him chuckle, even in his sheer panic.

Dust Devil.

Phillip tried to remind himself to be aware of his uncle's minions, but he realized that—even though they could handle the sun—they weren't used to it and they didn't like it, so they would be disoriented at best.

So he ran.

He got Cody into the truck and got him covered, ignoring the weird angles of bones and scent of pain. It was horrifying, but it was repairable. Cody wasn't gone yet.

This could be fixed. Vampires were fucking resilient.

It had to get fixed.

"Watch him, Serena. Make sure he stays covered up. I've got to get us somewhere safe." Serena's wings fluttered in agreement, and they headed off, leaving the blood-soaked trailer behind them.

"Well, this is more fun than color TV. Call Thackery."

It didn't take long at all for Thack to snarl, "What?"

"You sound just about as excited to hear from me as always."

"Yeah. You got him?"

"Got him. Bringing him in bad shape." So bad that if he thought about it too hard, bile rose in his throat.

"You need medical?"

"I'll let you know."

"We'll be ready, one way or the other." Thack was nothing if not prepared. And his assistant January was preternaturally efficient.

"Thanks, old man."

"That's ripe from you, calling me old," Thack grumbled. "Bring him home."

"I will. You can clean up his trailer now. I don't need the evidence anymore." He would take Cody to the rodeo trailer, then take said trailer back to Cody's ranch.

But the rodeo grounds first.

"January is on it."

"We'll be there soon."

He gunned it, flying through the dawn, racing the sunrise.

He didn't beat it. The red and orange fingers of light streaked the sky, but there was no telltale smell of burning. No sizzle.

Cody was well-hidden.

He slid into the empty space in front of Cody's trailer thirty-five minutes later, the tires sliding on dirt and gravel.

An entire army of rodeo folks surrounded them, keeping Cody covered as Phillip carried him to the trailer.

"You'll need blood?" Denver asked, the big werewolf right there to offer help, a cowboy hero through and through. "The pack can donate. Doc can set it up."

The question was asked as they walked Cody in, and Phillip unbent enough to smile at the bullfighter. "You're not just gonna let him take it from the source?"

Denver chuckled softly and met his eyes. "No, sir. Not unless it's an emergency. The mate bond is kind of growly."

"Understood. If the pack is willing, it would be welcomed."

"We're on it."

A ring of shining dragons began to form around the trailer. The barrel racers stood firm, creating a circle of protection and magic in a show of strength.

"Thank you, ladies."

One of them bowed her head. "It is our honor, boss."

That defense meant he could go in with Thack and trust that no one else was coming in. "Close and lock the door."

"It's bad." That wasn't asking a question, was just a statement of fact.

"I know. We need to get him cleaned, and we need to get him fed. We're going to have to hold him down though, because he'll be feral. He's starving, and no one knows how much other damage has been done."

"Are we going to war?" That was a question. It was serious.

"Yes." Phillip would love to deny it, but this was going too far. And if his uncle was that desperate for the relic, he wouldn't stop coming at them somehow, some way. "My uncle wants something I have."

He laid Cody out on the big bed at one end of the trailer, checking the shuttered windows before he pulled back the blankets.

"Fuck a duck," Thack snarled. "Let's feed your uncle to Uri. It would be fun to watch."

"It would be." That fallen angel could really do some damage. "Though really I just want to destroy him and then salt the ground."

"Good one. You need me to hold him down, you said?"

"Yes. I need to clean him up and examine him. Then I'll feed him."

"Got it." Thack rolled up his sleeves. "Son-of—bitch, he looks like shit."

"Yeah." That didn't matter. Cody was his. He hurt for his mate, and rage boiled in him at his uncle, but he didn't care what Cody looked like as long as a spark of consciousness was in there. "Let me get towels and water and all."

"I'll follow your lead," Thack said.

"Good man." Phillip nodded, then moved to pull out first aid stuff and cloths and run hot water. If he had to, he would immerse Cody in the little tub, but he had a feeling the stillness they saw right now would explode into survival rage in an instant. Cody had made it quite a way blindly following Serena. He knew it was blindly because those poor eyes looked burned, dark stains surrounding them, blisters formed on the skin.

Thack moved to Cody's side, and as soon as Phillip nodded at him, he put his hands on Cody, holding him down.

Cody exploded into movement, but it only lasted seconds before it became sluggish, weak. It broke Phillip's black hearts.

"I'm right here, love," he told Cody. "I promise, soon you'll be well enough to hate me all over again."

Thack chuckled softly but never said a word, just holding Cody down, even when he stopped fighting.

Phillip kept at it, gently cleaning his lover until he could cover Cody with sheets and not worry about the skin peeling off when they came away.

"Okay, Thack. I'm going to feed him. When Denver has blood ready, have someone bring it to me. We'll need all the donors we can get, the more magical the better."

"I'll help, so will Uri. I'll rope the dragons into helping too. Assuming they've got blood. They may not. Who knows with big lizards? Maybe they could just lick him all over."

He glanced up at Thack. "You are a weird son of a bitch."

"I'm a demon who captures other demons and is mated to an angel, so yeah."

He guessed Thack had a point.

Thack nodded. "You'll go a long way toward helping. Mates are the best, or so the other vamps tell me." Thack tilted his head. "Oh, we have a unicorn. Unicorns are pretty magical. We'll see if he won't give a bag. That's gotta be better than dragon spit."

"Go away. Thack, I trust you to organize this whole thing and get it running. I'm gonna work on keeping him alive."

Thack winked at him and then headed out, locking the door markedly behind him.

Phillip took off his boots and his jeans, then his shirt. "This is a shitty reason to get back into bed with you, you know that, right? For fuck's sake, I would have just come if you'd asked."

Cody didn't respond, but he knew somewhere the vampire heard him. He had no doubt of it.

He pulled the covers over them, then yanked Cody against him. "You're going to feed now. I want you to take what you need. I can handle it." He guided Cody's mouth to his neck.

Nothing happened.

Fuck. He'd hoped Cody was in there enough to sink in fangs.

Phillip pulled back to look at Cody's slack face. This might get challenging.

"Come on, you son of a bitch. Feed." He cut a small, shallow divot in his own skin with his nails, waiting for the blood to run.

That was when Cody struck like a fucking snake, so fast it left him dizzy. Those fangs sank into his skin, and the pain tore into him. There was nothing sexual here, not like it always had been between him and Cody.

This was about survival.

Phillip arched up, his heels drumming on the mattress as Cody pushed him down on his back. He reached up, his instinct to ward Cody off, but instead he pulled his mate closer, urging him to drink deeply, to nourish himself. It was unlikely to kill Phillip no matter how much Cody took.

Though it wasn't impossible.

His fingers and his toes started to tingle, his body on fire. It hurt so damn bad, but this was just a tiny bit of the penance he owed Cody for everything that had happened.

Cody drank and drank. He snarled when Phillip tried to push him away, fangs sinking deeper.

Screaming, Phillip gave into it, letting Cody have him. As long as Cody survived, it would be worth it.

Then he heard a roar, and there was a terrible flash of light before Cody was torn away from him and he was sent flying off the bed.

"Have you lost your goddamn mind?" Thack shouted at him. "He could have killed you."

Cody crouched on the bed, those burned eyes starting to heal themselves, but he wasn't in there yet. Not really. He was ready to spring, to attack him and Thack in a heartbeat.

Maybe faster than that, since Phillip's hearts had slowed down to a thud that made his head ache.

"He needed it." His voice sounded thin to his own ears.

Cody growled, his body vibrating, but then an angel in riding leathers stepped forward, holding up a hand and… singing.

Uri.

Thack's mate just… glowed.

After just a few seconds, Phillip's hearts started to beat more regularly, and Cody slumped down on the bed, a moan coming from deep in his chest.

"We brought blood," Uri said. "We'll start with the unicorn."

"Thanks." His lips felt stiff.

"You're welcome." Thack hauled him up and handed him a bag of blood. "Uri will help keep him calm while you administer it. No more straight from the source until he's better."

"Sure." He looked at his fingers as they closed around the bag. He could see them move, but not really feel it. Whoa.

He stumbled to Cody's side, letting Uri keep Cody down while he held the bag up to pierce it on those fangs.

After a moment, Cody grabbed the bag and demolished it, licking and sucking at the blood like a rabid animal.

Three bags later, Cody sat back on his heels, blinking at them, his eyes still cloudy but possibly working now.

"You with us, boss? You hearing us?" Thack sounded worried to him.

"Hear." Cody creaked, the sound like doors opening. "Hear."

"Good deal. That's great." Thack beamed, his horns glinting as they grew a little.

"Have more, love." He could tell from the fiery sparks in this bag that it was phoenix blood. They had one of those on the crew too.

Cody struck, but it wasn't desperate, just hungry now, and the firelight flickered in his eyes.

That was it. Phillip felt satisfaction fill him. Cody was back with them. Thank fuck.

A soft knock sounded, and Thack answered it, his assistant January bringing in a covered tray. "Food for you, Phillip. To help you get your strength built back up."

"Rare meat?"

"Yes, among other things."

"Thanks, January."

"Good to see you, Boss." January ducked back out.

Cody's eyes rolled, searching him out, and when they landed, they tried to focus. Phillip .

"Hello, love."

You came for me?

Of course I did, you ass.

Fuck you.

Was that a smile? He thought it was a smile.

You going to make it? Phillip asked.

We'll see. Do I still have a dick?

Horror filled him at the thought of his uncle cutting it off.

Made you look , Cody taunted.

I might kill you myself.

You worked hard to bring me back. Go eat. I'm tired.

Sleep now, love. I'll be right here. He could eat here in the trailer. His other option was the makeshift office, and that sucked. He wanted to be with Cody. Near him.

Stay .

Cody's fingers wrapped around his wrist, holding on tight.

"I'll be right here." He let Thack put the food tray down next to him, and he sat by Cody, ready to guard his sleep. "The dragons are keeping watch."

"And we're going to be turning demons away," Thack muttered. "Until we get this whole thing buttoned down."

"Yes. No one who's not pack, one of us, or Brax." He settled in, tearing at his almost raw steak.

"You got it. No one I don't approve. You have my word."

"Thank you, Thack. I want to rest with him now." They could pick up the war later. He was exhausted. And relieved.

"You got it." Thack absconded without another word, leaving them together, alone, in the dark.

He pushed the tray aside, done with eating, and wrapped himself around Cody. To his surprise, there was no fighting him. Cody relaxed right into him.

They progressed, more than they had in decades.

Too damn bad Cody had to be mostly dead for this to work.