That’s what he was counting on.
But he had learned in the more than three hundred years of his life not to count on anything. Not on the company of his first two wives, whose lives had been cut short. Not on the fidelity of his third and final wife. He had lost two of his offspring during the earlier, violent years of Miami. By the time his remaining son was born—if he was, indeed, his biological son—Purcell had stopped caring about much. Darren had been simpering and desperate to please, going into physics just to make his father happy. As in everything else in his life, Darren was only average in his efforts.
Darren wasn’t naturally inclined to the sciences, but he’d tried. His biggest achievement was introducing Purcell to his brilliant friend. Justin had an amazing idea about creating portable Deus Vis so Crescents could leave the Field for extended periods of time. He only needed funding, a facility in which to work, and privacy. Purcell offered him all for a cut of the tremendous profits they would reap. Perhaps Miami would be less crowded and less dangerous if Crescents could leave. Gone were the days when they numbered in the hundreds, when the different classes remained separate rather than interbreeding and muddying the purity of their bloodlines.
Justin’s goals centered on offering freedom rather than gaining notoriety or profit. Purcell suspected Darren garnered a sense of importance from being associated with the project.
When Justin’s last version disturbed the Deus Vis, he took a step back to re-evaluate his process. Fallon had felt the disturbance on the godly plane and saw it as a way to gain their freedom. That he and the other two gods in the notorious Tryah needed Purcell was an even bigger rush of power. Suddenly Purcell was infused with a higher purpose. Not only helping gods but also finding a more permanent way to clear out many of the Crescents. He had used financial incentives, including a yacht, to push Justin to continue. Brom’s vision of mass death proved that they were on the right track, but it frightened Justin into destroying all of his research and prototypes.
Purcell got to his feet and wandered through the lab. Graphs, charts, years of work to re-create Justin’s research. Once they’d begun disturbing the Deus Vis again, Purcell planted a scry orb at Brom’s house in case the old Seer got another vision. Good thing, too. It had followed Brom to Moncrief’s house, where he elaborated about his vision of doom returning and that Ruby could thwart them. Brom told Moncrief that he must prepare her to save Crescentkind. Purcell knew only one girl named Ruby, and she was supposed to be dead.
The door opened, and Darren stepped inside. “Please tell me that Ruby’s been dispensed with.”
Purcell shook his head. “The demons failed.”
“All of them?”
“They have not reported back, and driving past the dojo revealed nothing out of the ordinary. I suspect this Cyntag Valeron is the problem. He’s protecting her, probably out of duty because he killed her parents.” Purcell huffed in impatience. “He’s in the way.”
Darren settled his glasses firmly on the bridge of his nose. “So we kill him, too.”
“Clearly that won’t be easy. He is old and fierce, a former Guard Vega. Our best bet is to get the girl alone. I am unable to create another star orb just yet.” He held up his palms, still singed. “The good news is that my sources have ferreted out Valeron’s home address.”
He stroked his beard, staring at a chart. “Once we kill her and Valeron, we will have no more obstacles. The parasitic demon will make it difficult for Brom to alert anyone else, especially with only two more days left.”
“Father, since I’m the one who constructed the reactor, I’d like to keep it here so I can continue to work on it.”
“I feel better with it in my possession.”
Darren’s laugh was shaky and bitter. “Do you really think I’ll snap and destroy everything like your boy wonder did? After all the work I’ve put into it?”
At least his son had moments of assertiveness. Darren took after his mother, unfortunately. Her whininess and manipulative nature had pushed Purcell beyond his limits one day, and she met the fiery side of an orange orb. His son had married a similar harridan. Freud could no doubt explain why.
The worst part was that this harridan was a Dragon. Darren had gotten drunk and had sex with Magda. Then she’d turned up pregnant, and Darren thought he was doing the right thing by marrying her. Even after Magda lost the baby, Darren hadn’t divorced her. He’d gotten caught in the trap of wanting to please her, and fulfilling her wish to have a baby was his biggest goal. Purcell had made sure that never happened, though neither knew of his magick manipulation.
“I trust you. What I don’t trust is the ability to get more demons. Once word gets out that the ones I’ve brought here have been killed, they might not be so happy to oblige. But I have another idea, a creature I haven’t implemented in a long time.” His mouth curved in a smile. “A creature I can have some fun with.” He settled in to watch through the scry orb waiting by Cyntag’s black car.
When Cyn walked out of his room, a duffel bag thrown over his shoulder, he searched for Ruby. His Dragon sensed hers, drawing him down the short hall like a bloodhound. She was inside his cells now, permeating his blood.
He rapped on the bedroom door. “Ready? We need to get to my friend’s.”
“Almost. You can come in. If you think it’s appropriate.”
Yeah, she was miffed. That was much better than naked and in his arms.
Says you. His own thoughts this time, taunting him the way they had all through his shower.
He pushed open the door to find her sitting on the bed looking at Brom’s book. Not even glancing up at him. She thought he didn’t want her. He released a soft sigh as he watched her. You don’t know the half of it, sweetheart.
He’d never lost control with a woman before. Hell, he’d been minutes from hoisting her up, wrapping her legs around his waist, and driving into her. He had experienced lust, sure, but never this uncontrollable urge to claim her, take her…cherish her. Even worse, despite what he’d told her, those urges didn’t just come from his Dragon.
She had one leg tucked beneath her, nervously twisting her braid and making a concerted effort not to look his way. “Another page of his notes appeared.”
After being numb for so long, why did this inexperienced woman whom he could not possess have to be the one to awaken him?
Yes, he’d felt an awakening, too, when she pressed her mouth against his.
Need.
Yes, she did need him. To train. Protect.
We need her.
Cyn shut out the Dragon’s nonsense. “What does it say?” he asked, resisting the urge to lean close enough to see the text.
Her voice was somber. “He’s written our names, underlining them like he did with Justin’s work. It says I…need you.”
Cyn swayed for a second. “Who else is going to teach you the necessary survival skills?” He gestured to a sketch of two stick figures, a swirl around them. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I think…it’s us dancing.” A sense of disbelief tainted her voice. “Yeah, don’t see that happening. And here, where the stick figure that’s supposed to be you says, ‘You have spirit, Ruby. You’re going to need that.’ You said it to me, and the Dragon Prince said it to Garnet. Garnet’s father did something to cause the evil beings to overrun the castle. Just as they were about to grab her, the Dragon Prince swoops in and takes her to his castle.” She tapped the book. “Mon’s main story was based on this.”