Bittersweet Blood (The Order #1)

“Speak,” he growled. “Or I will kill you.”


“And will you tell your daughter that you killed me? At the same time you tell her you ordered the death of her best friend? It would have been her, you know. It was only by error that she wasn’t taken. Your own daughter raped, mutilated, and killed at your command.”

“What do you know of my daughter?”

Christian smiled. “She looks like her mother.”

“What?”

“She’s beautiful, and she has nothing of you in her.”

Asmodai’s dark eyes glittered. “Tell me what you know of her.”

“I love her. I came here tonight to save her life.”

“What is her name?”

“Tara,” Christian said and grabbed his blade. Asmodai tensed, but made no move when Christian sheathed the sword. “Kill me if you like. If not, I’m going to see if I can get to your daughter before the fae kill her.”

“The fae know of her?”

“The Walker is already close by. He’ll have sensed her at the same time you did and he will kill her.”

“You know this for sure? She is his niece.”

“I spoke with him tonight. We made a deal. Part of that deal is that Tara never takes off the talisman, never reveals what she is.”

“So why has she removed the spell?”

“My guess is she’s found out what I’m doing and this is her way of calling me back.” Christian’s frown deepened as something occurred to him. “Or maybe, she’s found out about you, that you’re her father, and she’s calling out to you. Maybe she thinks she can appeal to your better nature.”

“Why would she wish to do that?” He searched Christian’s face. “Let me ask you one question, Christian Roth. You claim to love my daughter. Does she love you?”

“Oh, yes.” Christian smiled. “She’s going to be really pissed that you killed me.”

Asmodai pursed his lips. “Well, perhaps I should wait until I know her a little better, and perhaps, until she knows you a little better, by then I’m sure my killing you will be far more understandable.”

“No doubt. So what now?”

“I’m coming with you. I need your help to exit the Abyss.”

“One of the reasons I came here tonight is to prevent a full-scale war breaking out.”

“There will be no war. I will find my daughter, prevent her death, and bring her back where she will be safe from the fae.”

“You plan to bring her back here?”

“Of course. She’s my daughter.”

“She was brought up believing herself to be human.”

“Thanks to you, I know nothing of her.” He sounded bitter. For the first time Christian saw things from the demon’s point of view. To be dragged from the woman you love and to be able to do nothing to save her.

“Did you know Lillian was carrying a child?”

Asmodai nodded. “She was excited. When I knew we would be separated, I wanted her to return to her people, but she refused. She said they would take her back but only at the price of our child. It was a price she was unwilling to pay. I thought they had both perished. Once the portals opened again, I sent whoever could go to search for them, but I found no trace. Until a few months ago when I sensed her.”

“She took off the talisman, a spell her mother had made for her, that hid her true nature.”

“Lillian is dead?”

Christian nodded. “She died giving birth, all her strength was gone.”

“I felt it. I knew she was dead. So will you assist me, open the portal so I may enter your world?”

Christian nodded. “If you swear to return here afterward.”

“I swear.” Asmodai picked up his sword. “Now, let’s go.”

…

Tara kicked the shards of broken crystal littering the ground at her feet then glanced back up at the faces surrounding her. They were all examining her as though she were some sort of peculiar laboratory specimen. She scowled.

“It’s quite amazing. So obvious really, it seems like we should have been able to see it all along.” Carl studied her face closely. “You don’t look any different, but you are different.”

“What?” she snapped. “Never seen a half-demon, half-fae before?”

“Demon-fae, they used to call them,” Piers spoke softly.

Tara’s eyes widened. There was actually a name for what she was. Perhaps she wasn’t such a freak after all. “There are others like me?”

“There were, long ago. It was inevitable—demons have always had a hankering for fae women.” His eyes drifted down over her body. “Not that I blame them.” He licked his lips and leered.

“If they’re immortal, are they still around?” She could hear the eagerness in her own voice.

Piers shook his head. “Not anymore. The fae hunted them down and slaughtered them as part of the Accords. They claimed that as long as the demon-fae existed, the Faelands would never be safe from attack. The fae have always hated to mix their blood.”

A shiver ran down her spine. “I’m beginning to dislike the fae.”