Demon Moon

deserved.
    Colin rose to his feet, ignored the ringing in his ears, the throbbing behind his forehead. “Who’s protecting Savi?”
    Without relinquishing his hold on Lilith, Castleford turned toward him. “Drifter. Michael. Dru. Auntie has regained consciousness; Taylor was speaking with them when I left.”
    Relief eased the tension from his muscles, the lingering ache in his head. Releasing a long breath, Colin closed his eyes and nodded. “Thank you. Did Savi have an opportunity to tell you about the demon? His threat to her?”
    “Yes. Though she elaborated better on his threat to you.”
    Surprise etched a line between Lilith’s brows. “She saw him?”
    Unwilling to stay away from Savi much longer, Colin began walking back toward the restaurant. Lilith and Castleford fell into step beside him, listened as he detailed the meeting in the café.
    Lilith groaned when he finished. “Describe him to me again?”
    Colin indicated his length with a sweep of his hand. “Though much less appealing, I assure you.”
    “I’m this close to gutting you,” she said.
    Castleford grinned, and drew her to his opposite side as if to prevent her from carrying out her threat. “Savi said he seemed a cross between a 1920s gangster and a 1970s mobster. His posture, his clothes. Given the manner in which they hit Auntie’s, it could be Dalkiel. Or Rugziel.”
    Lilith shook her head. “Rugziel is dead—1975, a New York subway.” Castleford glanced at her, his brows lifted. She shrugged and added, “He was one of Belial’s. Lucifer didn’t care if I killed him.” She leaned forward a little to look at Colin again. “If it’s Dalkiel, we would expect tactics similar to this—finding muscle in the disenfranchised part of a population, running up their fear to make them do things they normally wouldn’t. But also trying to manipulate the stronger, established community by promising ‘a new era,’ shit like that.”
    “And if he doesn’t act as you expect?” Colin said quietly, and halted in the middle of the sidewalk. Auntie’s was a block away now, and he could clearly hear the activity surrounding it: the rote questions of the police officers and the answers given from bystanders; Savi’s query to her grandmother, ascertaining her comfort; Taylor’s impatience with Michael. Rain pattered softly against the awning overhead. “You didn’t anticipate a demon coming after Savitri, though you knew the nosferatu had been allied with one.”
    “We also didn’t anticipate having a vampire community leaderless for so long, nor so many willing to act as a demon’s assassins.” Castleford slid his hands into his pockets, regarded him evenly. “What do you suggest we do?”
    Bloody hell. There was no mistaking the censure in Castleford’s tone. Was he trying to lecture Colin into the role? “I suggest you find Dalkiel, and do what you do best: play the executioner.”
    Lilith’s fingers clenched at her sides. “Until another comes to take his place? Brilliant, Colin. Absolutely fucking brilliant.”
    He returned her stare, affected a bored tone. “I’m a second son, Agent Milton. I drink. I fuck. I remain useless. It is not just my birthright, it is my preference.”
    Lilith tilted her head and studied him with shadowed eyes. “You’re a vampire, Colin. What gave you the impression that your free will is of any concern to us when human lives are at stake? Savi’s life.”
    “And your brother is dead. As is his heir, and his heir. As is your sister, and all of her children.” Hugh didn’t flinch as he delivered the statement; the executioner at his most merciless, words his weapons. “It has been many years since I’ve concerned myself with the laws of primogeniture, but I believe that leaves you in a position to acquire a bit of responsibility.”
    Manipulative bastards, the both of them; this wasn’t what they believed, but digging at what he did. And they would corner him into it, but Savi was his only concern—the only responsibility that mattered to him.
    “Yes, but how can I protect her and assume a position of leadership? You ask the impossible.” But if he could make the role assist him in defending her against the demon…
    Bloody fucking hell. Hadn’t he made the decision when he’d taken responsibility for the boys’ punishments? When he’d spoken with Detective Taylor? When he’d slain the woman in the alley?
    “I want Fia, and her partner, Paul. And any other vampires you