Warrior's Hope (Dark Protectors #16)(14)

Hope caught it one-handed. As usual, it was butterscotch. “However,” she continued, “the twins are vampires. They have all the characteristics of vampires, not demons or witches, even though they could’ve easily gone the other way.”

Emma nodded. “Yep. Immortals can only take on one aspect of their heritage. That’s why Derrick is more witch than vampire, even though his father is one of the most powerful vampires alive. His mother’s pretty tough too.”

Hope’s thoughts turned traitorously to Paxton. He was much more a demon than a vampire, which pleased him, since his mom had been a kind demon and his dad an asshole vampire. “So I can only inherit the traits of one part of my entire heritage.”

Emma took out another piece of candy. She was obviously feeling uneasy, or she wouldn’t be pounding candy like a two-year-old. “That’s what I surmise.”

“You know what that means, right?”

“Maybe,” Emma allowed.

Hope just had to say the words out loud. “My traits are those of a human.” Her mother was human while her father had all sorts of interesting ancestors. When humans mated immortals, they always, and that meant always, had immortal children.

“Never in the history of the immortal world have progeny from an immortal ended up human,” Emma said, her tone reassuring but her eyes giving her concern away.

Hope ripped open the paper protecting the candy. “True. But there has never been a female vampire, either.” Vampires only made males. Period. Except for her.

“That’s true,” Emma said.

“So I’m human. Or mostly human.” Hope shoved the treat in her mouth. “What does that mean for me?”

Emma rolled her neck. “Being human isn’t so bad. There are a lot of great ones out there.”

That wasn’t the issue. Hope glanced down again at her offending arm and then back up at her aunt. “Am I even immortal?”

Emma slowly unwrapped another piece of butterscotch candy. “I have absolutely no idea.”





Chapter Six


Paxton sat in the well-guarded cell, his head still pounding from whatever drug had been in those darts. It felt like the backs of his eyeballs were trying to force their way through the front. Even so, he kept a bored expression on his face as he sat on the rough dirt floor. He had to make sure Hope had been able to heal her fractured arm, and so far, nobody would give him the answers he needed.

They’d left him in there all day, no doubt as an interrogation tactic. What they didn’t know was that he could remain still for days and not give a fuck. His training had been more extensive than anybody would ever realize. A door opened in the distance, and heavy footsteps sounded down the long hallway, stopping in front of his cell, which was covered and protected by steel bars that even he couldn’t open. He looked up as three figures loomed on the other side. “I wondered if the trifecta of power and glory would appear at the same time.”

He was being a complete jerk, but when faced with three of the most powerful badasses on the planet, a guy had to have some pride. Plus, they knew him and might be able to get into his head. He had to prevent that at any cost.

The King of the Realm, Dage Kayrs, stood on the far left, tension and boiling fury in every line of his body. Even though he was hundreds of years old, his hair was mostly black, his eyes silver, and he could probably take down an ancient redwood with his pinky finger.

Next to him stood his brother, Talen Kayrs, who was the strategic leader of the Realm and had probably racked up a body count Pax couldn’t imagine. He was also Hope’s grandfather but still looked thirty with his dark hair, golden eyes, and dense muscles. One barely there silver strip showed in his hair from his surviving a plague years ago.

On the right stood Zane Kyllwood, the king of the demon nation, Hope’s father, and the one currently emoting so much rage that Paxton could feel his skin heat.

“You almost got her killed, Paxton,” Zane said evenly, his voice soft but filled with danger.

Paxton stood, determined to face these three on even ground. “Bullshit.”

One of Zane’s dark eyebrows rose. His hair was just as dark as Dage’s, but he had sizzling green eyes that, right now, weren’t anything close to human. If he walked out into the human world, they would know they had immortals living among them. “Excuse me?”

“That Kurjan squad wasn’t there for me, Zane. They were there for Hope. I don’t know how they knew she was there. How is her arm?”

“Don’t ask about her damn arm,” Zane snapped.

Paxton studied him, knowing better but still trying to slide into his mind. It was a new talent, one he was developing at a fairly young age. Many demons had the skill. Unfortunately, the ability to teleport had been taken from them years ago, before he’d even had a chance to see if he could accomplish the feat. The ability would be handy right about now. He mentally pinpointed Zane’s love for his daughter and tried to get inside his mind.

Zane’s chin jerked up. “Nice try, kid. Stop, or I’ll fry your brain so it’ll never be the same.”

“Then tell me about her damn arm,” Paxton said softly, more than ready to try again.

Talen cocked his head to the side. “You know, I might just have to kill him before we get the information we need.”