Dark Flames (Blood Bound Book 6)

Chapter 14

In light of what she’d learned from her experiences and from listening to Myra’s team bicker amongst themselves, Tiara made up her mind early on to pick only one man as a type of placeholder for her true mate. However, Myra’s situation had been different as her mate had made his presence known by rattling PIT’s cage enough to earn himself a top position on their demon hit list.

Tiara sighed forlornly at the only option open to her. She knew she should have asked more questions while her mother was still alive but truthfully, at the time she hadn't wanted to know the answers.

When she’d asked her mother how she would know if it was the right man, Myra had laughed and said, “When I first met your father… I tried to kill him. He would make me so mad.”

Tiara couldn’t help but smile thinking about it now. Maybe she should just wait to see who she hated the most.

Myra and Deth had been meant to be from the very beginning and sacrificed everything to be together. Now that they’d crossed into another realm to spend eternity as lovers and out of the dangers of this world, Tiara was alone. Not alone in the sense of not having someone to keep her company, alone as in who she was going to direct her questions to if something happened that she couldn’t explain.

The only connection she had to her parents was Deth’s ring. Tiara opened the desk draw and took out the small jewelry box she’d placed there. Sitting it on her desk, she slowly opened it.

The simple silver ring inside shone back at her as she ran her index finger over the top of it before taking it out and looking at it. With this ring she could summon Deth if she absolutely needed to, but her mother would never be able to return to this world with him… ever.

Deth was an extremely powerful demon and had always had the ability to come back to this plane of existence if he chose. However, the stipulation to that was he refused to return unless there was a damn good reason for it… he had promised Myra at least that much.

Both her parents had agreed that when Tiara finally chose a team, one of them would be human and wear Deth’s ring. That human would have the power to protect their daughter in their stead. If the human wasn’t near Tiara and she needed him, then that need would call to the person wearing the ring and he’d come to her.

The ring itself was an enigma. It had been forged by Deth’s hand and given to her by her mother with instructions that only a human could wear it. Myra had explained the reason for a pure human wearing the ring… they were powerless.

A simple human had no latent abilities nor were they descendants of other demons whose power could interfere with the power of the ring. That and Tiara could take no chances of anyone in PIT recognizing Deth’s power hidden in the ring… which would immediately become apparent to the wearer upon putting it on.

If Tiara didn’t have a protector wearing the ring and felt threatened, all she had to do was slip the ring on her own finger and Deth would automatically be summoned.

It was strange to think that all this time she’d never been allowed to meet her father but could now summon him at will. Deep in her heart she wanted nothing more than to simply slide the ring on her finger just to meet him. The temptation was almost too much for her to bear but she refused to give in to it.

She bit her bottom lip and smiled at the thought. Sure, bring Deth to the castle where a bunch of PIT teams would do a dog pile on him and figure out he was her father… not going to happen. Plus, she’d be taking him away from her mother during what her mother had said was their honeymoon. That would be mean and very selfish on her part.

Tiara sighed again and slid the ring into a small leather bag hanging from her belt loop. As far as she knew, the only human at the castle was the man Storm had pointed out this morning.

He hadn't seemed very happy about being chosen but that was alright, Tiara could remove the ring at any time and give it to another human if she needed to. The problem was, finding a human with enough of an open mind to handle the kind of things PIT dealt with on a regular day–to-day basis.

Her mother had always told her to trust Storm’s judgment and decisions before trusting anyone else. So, if Storm had chosen Jason then she would trust Jason to be the right human. But that didn’t mean she didn’t have her reservations about him. He was new to her and to the work PIT participated in. However, he had been marked by a demon and as bad as that sounded… it was a point in his favor.

The only other dilemma was the original question… Who should she ask to be her one and only lover… for now with no strings attached?

Everyone on her team had massive potential, even Trevor but for some reason her heart wasn’t really into any of them. Zachary’s image flashed in her mind as if to call her a liar. Storm had made it clear to her that Zachary needed to have the breath of necromancy… and that meant…

“Stop being such a scaredy-cat,”

Tiara looked toward the door when she heard Zachary’s voice then flinched when it was followed by a quick knock. “Come in.”

The door opened and Jason was unceremoniously pushed in ahead of Zachary.

“Why is it so important that we have a pure mortal in the group?” Zachary demanded. He usually didn’t disagree with Storm’s judgment but Jason simply wasn’t the best choice… especially since he didn’t want any part of the supernatural.

Jason immediately felt his hackles rise and went on the defensive, “Shut up, you make it sound like I’m a virgin or something.” He instantly grabbed the back of his head where Zachary smacked him, “Ouch!”

“May we come in?” Guy asked as he entered and shut the door behind him.

Jason c****d an eyebrow wondering why Guy had said ‘we’ when he was obviously alone. Not for the first time did Jason believe he was in a castle full of weirdoes.

“Guy, Carley,” Tiara smiled as she opened another door that led into a sitting room.

“Is there an invisible woman I need to know about?” Jason asked deciding to be a huge pain in Zachary’s a*s. “If there is, let me know so I don’t accidentally sit on her.”

“Nope, just a ghost,” Zachary smirked when Jason paled.

“Oh… that’s not creepy at all,” Jason muttered then flinched when Storm popped into existence. “Speaking of creepy,” Jason glared at the time walker accusingly. “It’s about time someone clued me in on why I’m even here. I feel like I went to see the doctor about a headache and ended up in the hospital with a brain tumor.”

Everyone ignored Jason’s ranting and instead focused on Tiara as they sat down on the two sofas facing each other in the center of the connecting room.

“I’ve never known Myra to use a human on her team so it is an intriguing question,” Storm said taking a seat which put Jason between him and Zachary. Myra had never really played by anyone’s rules, much less his, and she’d often caused trouble for herself because of it.

A necromancer’s job was one of the most dangerous jobs within PIT, so he hadn't been quick to judge anyone. Myra’s biggest downfall had been the fact that she loved to take on too much at once. He’d always found out after whatever disaster had occurred had already been cleaned up by her and her men, so he’d stayed out of it.

He had reservations about Tiara being the same way but decided to push that aside as well. The only hope he had was that she didn’t try anything foolish before she was ready for it.

Myra had finally reached the point to where she was so powerful that when she laid a cemetery back to sleep, the backlash of power would knock her team out. He hoped by paying closer attention to Tiara then he had her mother and by putting her with Zachary, that they could keep her and her team as safe and under control as possible.

Hopefully that was enough to keep Tiara from turning his fears into a reality.

“I will always need one human on my team,” Tiara looked toward Jason catching his gaze and gave him a smile. “But I promise he won't be in any danger.”

Jason felt himself calm when their gazes locked and he heard her words. She was so sweet looking… so soft and beautiful that he suddenly had the knee-jerk need to be there to protect her tonight. He settled back against the sofa when she turned her attention to Storm.

“I never had a chance to meet my father, but Myra told me that before he died… he’d given her a gift to hold for me until I came of age.” Tiara told the half-truth/half lie she’d practiced telling to the mirror many times in the last couple weeks.

Reaching into the small leather bag hanging from her waist, she pulled out the silver ring. The setting was a circular black onyx with a lightening shaped c***k in it that glowed. “She said that whoever wore this ring would protect me in my father’s place… but that it has to be a human who wears it.”

“May I see the ring?” Storm reached across the narrow coffee table, taking the ring from her fingers. He’d seen this symbol before and blinked wondering how Deth’s ring had found its way into Myra’s hands… much less a present for Tiara. Deth was one of the oldest and most powerful demons on PIT’s hit list since the demon wars had ended… he was not a demon to be taken lightly.

“What does the ring do?” Jason asked, intrigued by the lightning bolt design.

“Whoever wears it cannot be hurt while protecting the owner of the ring… in this case that would be Tiara,” Storm announced before Tiara could. “And she is right… only a human can wear it. If a shifter or an immortal were to put it on, it would have no effect on them.”

Tiara lifted her gaze to clash with Storm’s. For a couple brief seconds, her natural calmness faded and panic set in. How did Storm know so much about this ring?

Swallowing his shock, Storm handed the ring back to her. “It will only work if you are the one that willingly puts it on his finger. You’re also the only one that can take it off.”

Tiara nodded, quickly looking back to Jason, “Will you wear it… at least for tonight?”

“Sure he will,” Zachary flexed his hand in warning then smirked when Jason leaned forward so she could slide it on his finger.

“I now pronounce you man and wife,” Zachary laughed loudly when Jason jerked back and instantly tried to take the ring off.

Jason tried several times to get the ring off his finger but it wouldn’t budge. “That had better have been a joke,” he glared at Zachary giving up on getting the ring off.

“Yes, Mr. Gullible… I was joking,” Zachary opened his palm and a small fire ignited in it, “But this part is no joke.” He grabbed Jason’s hand, gripping it tight and pulled it into the flames.

“What the hell?” Jason instantly struggled to get away from the fire but Zachary kept a firm hold on him. He was the last one in the room to realize he wasn’t burning.