Dr. Wolf, the Fae Rift Series Book 2- Demon Spiral by Cheree Alsop Page B

urges,” Dartan replied.
    “Do you have to say it like that?” Aleric asked. When the vampire kept silent, Aleric found himself pacing around the room again. He counted twenty steps to the wall, fifteen to the next one, twenty, and then fifteen. The small door in the middle of one of the fifteen foot walls was two feet wide and smelled of Dark fae. Aleric fought back the urge to sneeze every time he passed it. He had checked many times, but the construction of the door was solid and metal. It was another dead end.
    That was an ironic, morbid thought. Aleric glanced at Dartan. The vampire’s pale jaw was clenched and his chest barely rose and fell with each breath. He hadn’t moved for a quite some time. It was obvious to Aleric now that the vampire planned for a long siege.
    “This isn’t going to work,” Aleric said quietly.
    “Sure it will,” Dartan replied with his gaze on the stars. “They obviously don’t want to deal with both of us, so why not let one of their medusai turn us to stone? The only reason I keep coming back to is through sheer morbid curiosity, as demons are known for having. Which will win out? They have the perfect battle, the vampire against the werewolf, bloodsucker against moonbound, Dark fae against Light. It’s a fight as ageless as Blays.”
    He glanced at Aleric this time. The werewolf was taken back by the deep red of the vampire’s eyes. Even in the Emergency Room they hadn’t been so red. But they had hunted goblins, extracted serum, and tested Lilian since that time. The stress of following the car with the goblin on it and attempting to rescue the woman had no doubt taken their toll on Dartan’s system. Add to that several hours in the cement room and whatever blood that had remained in the vampire’s body was long gone.
    “I’ll die before I drink your blood.”
    The vampire’s statement was flat and absolute. He turned his gaze back to the stars.
    Aleric stared at him. There was no doubt by the resolve on Dartan’s face that he meant every word.
    “I won’t let that happen,” Aleric said.
    “You have to,” Dartan replied.
    Aleric shook his head. “No, I don’t. You’re my friend. I’m not going to let you die when I can do something about it.”
    Dartan looked at him again and Aleric read true sorrow in his gaze. “You don’t get it, do you?”
    Aleric crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. “I get that we’re trapped in a cell, they want some fae feud spurred on by centuries of endless race bickering, and we’re not going to give them what they want. That’s what I get.”
    Dartan lifted one finger to point at the ceiling. Aleric followed his gaze. The barest shadowing of gray showed overhead.
    “If you or I don’t do it, the sun will.”
    The vampire’s words rang true. Why else would the demons have put them in a room with a glass ceiling? They had also made a point of taking Dartan’s trench coat. The fact didn’t strike Aleric until that moment.
    “That can’t be right,” Aleric said. “Why kill you? They could just have easily turned the medusa on me.”
    Dartan opened his hands, then closed them again. “Demons entertain no envy worse than what they feel for vampires because, while we are both fae of the night, my race of revenants lives for centuries while their days are numbered like a human’s. They’ve hated my race since time began.”
    Aleric gave his head a numb shake. “But the demons helped the vampires wipe out werewolves after the Fallow Conflict.”
    Dartan gave a small shrug. “Demons can be manipulated once you know what drives them.”
    “What drove them to help the vampires?” Aleric couldn’t help the bitterness that crept into his tone.
    “A common enemy,” Dartan replied. “Wipe out the Ashstock, which both races hate. It was an opportunity they couldn’t pass up.” Dartan’s brow furrowed. “Also, my father promised them the human realm.”
    Aleric stared at him. “Your father did what?”
    Dartan