Dark Flames (Blood Bound Book 6)

Chapter 16

Ren growled in agitation at what he saw as a waste of time. He would rather be dead center in a mob of powerful demons right now instead of walking down the sidewalk searching for the rest of the garbage. He smirked when most of the other pedestrians started getting out of his way, giving him a wide breadth on the sidewalk.

Ignoring the few fearful but appreciative looks from some of the females he passed by, Ren paused for a moment and looked around when he felt a foreign power tingle across his skin.

‘Victim number one,’ Ren said mentally and headed toward a parking lot behind one of the shops.

*****

Storm frowned up at the huge computerized map on the wide screen TV built into the office wall. He watched some of the blinking lights move across it and finally become one with the circles already growing in mass.

Based on the team’s findings the night before, they had been able to identify various races among the demons and each color constituted each race; vampires, ghouls, shadow demons, and the most frightening Storm himself had ever encountered… Cerberus.

It wasn’t that Storm was frightened of the Cerberus, it was the fact they were damn scary to watch. They had forged a very dark reputation for themselves in ancient Greece and Italy thousands of years ago.

Cerberus were rumored to be the servants of the underworld much like the shadow demons, though in reality they served none but themselves. They were actually a distant cousin of the werewolf and could shift into human forms to disguise themselves.

Storm shook his head and pushed the self-imposed history lesson to the back of his mind. The Cerberus weren’t his main worry and, at this time, posed no true threat. The master demons were still gathering their underlings to forge into armies. It would seem the leaders who made it out of the pit had wasted no time in establishing territories. The battles over land and underlings would go on for months before things even thought about settling down.

It was Storm’s hope that the demons would be so busy fighting each other in their twisted reenactment of the land rush, that they would do most of the work for PIT by destroying each other. As their numbers dwindled from their own wars, they wouldn’t see the PIT teams coming for them until it was too late to do anything about it.

Then again… the difference between angels and demons was always in the eye of the one beholding it. Most of the PIT teams where descendants of demons.

“What a tangled web we weave,” he said sarcastically to himself as he looked away from the monitor.

Feeling the frustration of not knowing the outcome, Storm decided to cheer himself up. Leaving the office, he walked out to the garage where Evey was quietly singing to herself as she flipped through the radio stations.

“Hello Evey!” Storm said with a bright smile.

“Hello Storm,” Evey answered with her sexiest voice. “Would you like to ride me now?”

Storm shook his head and smiled… he couldn’t believe he was thinking this but he thought Evey was absolutely adorable.

“No my dear, I’m going to give you a different kind of ride.” He answered and, instead of getting behind the wheel and driving the car to the station, he gently touched his hand to the hood and they were suddenly sitting in the police station parking lot.

“Ooh,” Evey said softly. “Can you do that to me again sometime?”

Storm smirked and ran his fingertips across the top of the hood and over the edge of the roof. “Perhaps, but for now I must let Trevor know you’re here waiting for him.”

Evey sighed and started humming softly again as Storm walked away.

*****

Trevor and Chad had just gotten back to the station and were sitting at separate desks with their heads on the surface. They’d been running down leads all day due to the amount of complaints coming into the department. He’d even had to bring in a couple of PIT members with CIA badges just to screen the calls and keep the cops from responding to the ones that might get them hurt.

“I need some quiet time,” Trevor grumbled when the phones started their excessive ringing again. He’d already decided whoever invented the phone should have been strangled by the cord.

“Interrogation room three is open,” Chad muttered knowing it was the quietest place in the hectic station. It was also his favorite place to take a nap if he was too tired to drive home.

Trevor stood up, “I’ll get the coffee.”

Chad started walking toward the other room while Trevor went over to the numerous coffee makers and took one of the glass pots right off the burner along with two cups. Some of the officers looked at him oddly but didn’t say anything. They were probably silently bitching about the CIA thinking they could get away with anything. Trevor smirked at the thought.

When he entered the interrogation room, Chad was already sprawled out under the table using his jacket as a pillow.

It had been a very long night for the both of them and Trevor took into consideration that Chad was only human… an extraordinary one for having fought off exhaustion for this long. He had just set the coffee pot down on the table when his cell phone started buzzing at him. Taking it out of his pocket, he inspected the messages coming across one from Zachary.

“Something new?” Chad asked refusing to open his eyes.

“Yeah, something from PIT that I need to go take care of in a couple hours,” Trevor answered.

“Give me a few minutes of shut-eye and I’m right there with you,” Chad promised.

Trevor poured himself a cup of the strong, dark liquid making Chad c***k an eye open. “Coffee?”

“The nectar of the gods,” Trevor said before taking a long drink.

Chad groaned and sat up before crawling out from under the table. “The things I do for coffee.”

Trevor smirked, “You’re not the only one.”

Chad had just poured himself a cup when the door was thrown open scaring the hell out of the blonde. A tall man stepped in to the room wearing a floor length London Fog coat and what looked like a dark blue shirt with skintight jeans and heavy boots… he looked like something out of one of those fashion magazines Envy read from time to time.

Something about the man’s presence made the air sizzle with power making Chad feel like he was in the middle of a lightning storm.

“Who the hell are you?” Chad demanded, trying to cover up the scare.

Trevor sent him a glare, “He’s my boss.”

Storm sighed, “Now Trevor, there’s no need to get all testy. Chad and I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting yet.” Storm extended his hand, “Nice to meet you Chad, I’m Storm… Trevor’s head torturer.”

Chad smirked and shook Storm’s hand. “So, got any ideas for me?”

Storm shook his head, “I never reveal my secrets.”

“It’s not time to meet Tiara at the graveyard already is it?” Trevor asked.

Storm shook his head, “Not for a few hours yet. I just stopped by to give you your new and improved car.” He tossed the keys to Trevor. “I’m hoping it’ll stand up to the next demon that attacks it.”

Trevor caught the keys, “Awesome!”

“Yes she is,” Storm said. “She’s bulletproof and has attitude. I think you’ll like her very much.”

Chad noticed Storm’s face contort slightly as though he were trying not to smile. There was something very devious in that expression and Chad had a feeling Trevor was about to be the butt of a very interesting prank.

“When you reach the parking lot just press this button,” Storm indicated by pointing to a button on the key ring. “The car alarm will tell you which one is yours… but she’s rather hard to miss.”

With that said, Storm spun on his heel and left the room, his long coat flowing out behind him like a regal cape. Chad couldn’t stop the image of Batman from popping into his head and almost smirked.

“Wanna go check the car out?” Trevor asked.

Chad nodded, “Yeah, in a minute. I want to call Envy first and make sure she’s safe.”

Trevor pretended not to pay attention as he poured himself another cup of coffee from the cooling pot. Chad quickly pressed the speed dial and held the phone up to his ear.

“Hey sis,” he said with a smile on his face.

“Are you checking up on me again?” Envy asked with a laugh.

Chad snorted, “Yeah right, I’m more concerned that you’re out in the middle of this mess somewhere.”

“In other words, you’re checking up on me.” Envy elaborated. “I assure you I’m just fine. In fact, I found out earlier that Devon’s family has a Halloween Masquerade every year at the club. We’ve already started the planning and you’re invited.” She paused before adding, “Bring a girlfriend with you.”

Chad sighed, “I need you to stay safe Envy. You don’t know about all of the bizarre calls we’ve answered today and it’s probably only the beginning of the strangeness.”

“Oh? Do tell.”

“Let’s see, a pack of very large dogs have been running around in Bel Air on their hind legs,”

“Werewolves,” Envy said then frowned knowing werewolves were just like cougars and jaguars… they looked normal and would have been on all fours.

“People with wings on their backs have been seen flying around.”

Envy grunted, “Probably fallen.”

“I didn’t say it was angel wings… more like bat wings,” Chad corrected.

“Batman,” Envy nodded not really wanting to take the other option seriously.

“And a bunch of really ugly critters were reported attacking cars,” Chad finished.

“Demons,” Envy frowned giving up on the bright side.

“Yeah well,” Chad could hear the frown and smiled since he was getting his point across. “So far we’ve convinced people it’s just teenagers starting Halloween early.”

“Good,” Envy pouted because Chad was killing her festive mood.

“Then there’s the little bitty things like that really nasty shifter that’s been reported cutting out girl’s hearts.” Chad added. “You want to invite him to your masquerade party too?”

Trevor shook his head and took the phone out of Chad’s hand. “Don’t worry. We’re going to have some undercover guys at this masquerade of yours, just in case something uninvited shows up.”

“Thanks Trevor!” Envy said happily. “Maybe now the guys will stop giving us girls a hard time… even though we won the argument.”

Devon had been listening to Envy’s side of the conversation thinking she was only talking to Chad. The moment Trevor’s name left her lips, he felt his animalistic side raise its head and look at his mate.

Trevor smiled hearing the excitement in her voice but it quickly vanished when he heard her moan into the phone. There was a smacking sound that Trevor knew was that of a kiss and then a thunk that told him the phone had been dropped.

“Envy?” Trevor could feel his anger growing.

Chad frowned when Trevor growled and took the phone back. “Envy!”

He hit the speaker on the phone and the two of them listened with wide eyes as the sounds of Devon making love to Envy came over the device. Chad quickly snapped the cell phone closed and put it in the center of the table. The two of them stared at it like it had suddenly grown legs and started moving around.

“That was just wrong,” Chad said after a minute.

“I agree,” Trevor said and inwardly seethed at the jaguar with his hands all over Envy.

Trevor’s phone suddenly beeped making both men jump in surprise. Trevor grabbed it up and scrolled through the messages before sighing.