Total pages in book: 56
Estimated words: 53433 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 267(@200wpm)___ 214(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 53433 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 267(@200wpm)___ 214(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
Nevertheless, evil would never disappear. Ten Club was gone, but in its place something new would rise. It always did. I could only hope that another king would rise, too.
Maybe it would be Draco’s role. Someone had to be the good devil—more powerful, cutthroat, and ruthless than all the rest who feasted on the good, the innocent, and the pure. This world would always need a fallen angel like me.
Not that I was holy, but somehow I’d lived the life of a god with a purpose I believed in. Mia had given me that purpose. Arch and Ariadna added to it.
And now it’s time to go home. I took solace in knowing I was leaving something behind even if my son was the product of the Seer who’d taken so much from me.
Yes, I still believed Jeni was Hagne because the connection I felt was unlike any other. Not love, but the feeling one gets when you’ve known a person your entire life. For the record, I’d lived for over three thousand years.
Either way, Jeni had been right. Hagne’s deeds were no worse than my own. And if I was moving on from the past, it was time to let her do the same.
“Sir, do you wish me to wait here?” said my driver.
I looked at the white marble building with a smoking plume spewing from the narrow chimney.
“No need.” I exited the car and went around the back. I entered, taking in the place. It was cold—to be expected—and there was a rancid smell in the air.
Ah, death… I welcomed it like an old friend.
“Can I help you?” An older man appeared, wearing a black plastic apron and gloves.
I was about to speak and lay out my proposal—a hundred thousand dollars in exchange for burning my body. Hell, make it a million. What did I care?
“You still have unfinished business,” said a voice in my head.
I looked over my shoulder. It had sounded like Ariadna speaking.
“Find Draco,” she said.
“My apologies, sir. I am in the wrong place.” I turned and left, pulling out my cell to call back the driver.
I did not know why Ariadna reached out, asking me to find Draco, but now that I’d begun to think about the entire situation, something kept bothering me: Jeni had given up her pursuit too quickly.
No, I could not fault her rationale. If she had, in fact, hidden him away for his own good, her decision was the only one. What bothered me was the haste in which she’d made it.
Jeni had gone from desperation, willing to do anything to get him back, to saying “Okay. I’ll let go.” No discussion. No thought. Just surrender. She had not questioned the assumption that she’d taken him.
As for me, I knew things were rarely as they seemed, including that odd-looking hole in her chest. To me it had looked more like a window into another place or a mirage that vanished. Without a doubt, however, Jeni was responsible for the drain I felt.
Hmmm…why do I feel better suddenly? I looked down at my collar tattoo. “Fuck.” It was back. Dark, inky black.
Now I knew something was going on.
The limo pulled up, and I straightened my cufflinks. Sonofabitch. This detour had better lead to my fucking death, or God help them all.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
After a five-hour flight on my private jet, I touched down in Tallahassee, feeling more alive than ever. Very annoying.
I directed the chauffeur in the waiting car to the hospital where Jeni had given birth.
Why?
To find out more about the SOB who sold my body off. How had he escaped Ansin’s command to burn me? I’d spent six months frozen like a slab of meat instead of in the arms of Mia. I wanted to know if Ansin had done it unintentionally. Or did he have a bigger plan in play?
Second, I would see Jeni’s father. He might be able to provide a list of places Jeni had gone or people she’d been in contact with over the past six months. She could not have arranged Draco’s disappearance on her own.
Third, I needed to test a theory. If Jeni had used her gifts to conceal Draco’s whereabouts, it was possible she’d employed her father’s help and then meddled with his memories. With Jeni still in LA, all the way on the other side of the country, it stood to reason that whatever hold she had on his mind might be weakening. Given what I’d seen with my tattoo, I knew the effects of Jeni draining me were temporary. It meant she had not completely mastered her gifts to expand beyond her immediate reach. If so, I might be able to break through whatever spell she’d placed on her father. Or not.
Less than two hours later, after a very curious conversation, I left the hospital with more questions than I bargained for.