Desert Heat (Complete)
Desert Nightmare Chapter 70

{Demon’s P.O.V.}

Months. That’s how long this operation took. Months. There was no sense in griping about it, though, because it was finally done. It wasn’t supposed to take this long to handle our business, but the Queen’s arrogant threat against the Desert Moon Luna, well, let’s just say it complicated matters. We could have taken the child sooner, but that ship had sailed once she made her threat, leaving us no choice but to lay low and bide our time. In the end, our patience was rewarded, and things worked out in my favor. The others were killed, but that was no fault of my own. They’re the ones who barged in and woke the grandparents instead of shimmering as I had suggested. They served as the distractions I needed to grab the boy and go. The girls held no value, at least, not to the Queen. I still had no clue what she intended to do with the boy, but she wanted him, and so she got him.

Upon my return to the safe haven where the King was hiding her, I was let in immediately without question. And to no surprise, they were fighting again. The King was in demon form, more often than not ever since he brought her down here. But, it was safe to say that she was no longer fearful of his true form. She definitely had more balls than us demons, I can tell you that.

“Ahem, sir?”

“WHAT?!?!” he screamed at me.

“I have what the Queen asked for,” I replied and bowed my head.

“What are you talking about?” he asked, clearly confused, and returned to his human form. I looked at the Queen, who simply shrugged her shoulders at me. I was completely blindsided by her reaction.

“Ma’am, I thought you said he knew about this!” I exclaimed and started to panic, realizing the Queen had thrown me under the bus.

“I may have told a little white lie,” she answered casually and crossed her arms as if she didn’t have a care in the world. I looked back towards the King with a sense of impending doom, and I knew that once he found out what we were commissioned to do, I would soon be joining the latter of the team.

“What did you do?” the King demanded.

“I … I … I only did what was commanded of me by her!” I tried to defend myself while dodging his question.

“What.did.you.do!?” he reiterated, getting fearfully closer to me. I snapped my fingers and shimmered the boy from where I had left him crying. The King took one look at him, then at me, and then at the Queen. “What is the meaning of this? Who is this!?”

“He’s the Desert Moon Alpha’s son,” I answered and lowered my head, trembling.

“WHAT?!?!” the King roared and shifted back into his demon form.

“Your Majesty, I only did what was commanded of me by the Queen! She told us that you knew! That you had given permission for her to assemble a team to—”

“TEAM!?! WHAT TEAM?!”

“Permission?” the Queen gawked. “I’m Heather Hamilton. I don’t need anyone’s permission to do anything!”

“Heather, what have you done!?” the King exclaimed.

“Got back at Allie, like I said I was going to.”

“BY TAKING HER CHILD!?”

“Not her child anymore. Now, he’s yours.” I snapped my head from its lowered position, and the King, again, returned to his human form. The child was still crying and has since huddled in the corner of the room. I kind of felt bad for the little guy. Had I known that we had been lied to, then I never would have taken him. I only did this because we were told that this was the King’s will.

“What do you mean by my child!?”

“Look, I already told you I refuse to give you a baby. It’s been months since you forcefully replenished my s*x organs, and yet, I haven’t conceived once. Who knows, what Aria said may actually be true. Maybe that first piece of s**t was supposed to be your one and only. Since I’m not getting pregnant and you want a son badly, I needed a way to destroy Allie’s life the way she destroyed mine. So, I figured, why not take her kids from her? Though, I did expect you to get all of them and not just the boy,” she said the last part directly to me. “It really is hard to replace decent hired help.”

“Hired help!?” I couldn’t stop myself from retaliating. “For your information, three of my comrades are lying dead in the Desert Moon morgue, three others were killed when you initially attacked the Desert Moon Luna while she was still pregnant, and the remaining four backed out before they also died! We all risked our lives because you told us that this was what the King wanted! You promised us that we would be promoted in the underworld and that we would be chosen to serve the King firsthand! We’re not hired help, you ungrateful, self-centered, manipulative b***h!!” I knew that my outburst would get me vanquished, but at this point, it didn’t matter. I would rather that happen than have to answer to this low-life human. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the King summon a fireball the size of a meteor. There was no doubt in my mind that it was meant for me. Without even thinking, I focused my energy on the boy and shimmered him to safety.

“NO!!!” Heather screamed, and the King launched the fireball at me. As I saw my life flash before my eyes, I hoped that wherever I sent the boy, the King and Queen would never replace him.

{Heather’s P.O.V.}

When nothing but char was left, I screamed at the top of my lungs. All this planning to take Allie’s kids from her in shambles because that imp couldn’t keep his f*****g mouth shut.

“UGH!!! NO! NO! NO!” I stomped my feet.

“Heather, I cannot believe you! You had their son kidnapped!” Gideon lashed out at me.

“YOU WANTED A SON! THIS WAS A SOLUTION!”

“I WANT MY OWN SON! NOT SOMEONE ELSE’S!”

“Well, beggars can’t be choosers,” I spat. “Where the f**k did that i***t send him!?”

“Heather, do you realize what you’ve done!?”

“What?”

“You took a child away from his mother. A mother werewolf, to be exact!”

“It’s just Allie,” I said, trying to figure out what the big deal was.

“How can you be so stupid, Heather? Actually, wait, you know what? Scratch that. This has nothing to do with how stupid you are. You don’t know what you’ve done because you’re not a mother. Nor are you a werewolf anymore.”

“I don’t know why you’re getting all bent out of shape, Gideon! Why are you so afraid of Allie?”

“I’m not afraid of her! I’m afraid of the Alpha!”

“Dorian? Why?”

“If you think a mother is scary when their young are threatened, imagine a father whose only son has been taken from him,” he gritted his teeth and got in my face. “You should know, you’ve seen one react to the loss of their one and only son.” I looked up at him, and images from the day of the abortion flooded my mind. “The Desert Moon Alpha has already lost a child in the past. Do you know what they did to the man responsible for her death?” I shook my head. “Dorian Shaw had a dozen snipers shoot him in the heart. Apparently, there was a hole the size of a bowling ball in his chest when all was said and done.

“Well, he can’t replace me here,” I insisted, hoping my voice wouldn’t betray me and show how freaked out this made me.

“Me bringing you here was for your own good. You attacked Allie while she was pregnant. But not only that, you left my demons on Earth to do your bidding, and that happened to be kidnapping her son. It doesn’t matter where I send you at this point, they’re going to come for you, and nothing will get in their way.”

“You better protect me, Gideon! I’m your mate!”

“Be that as it may, I can no longer protect you. I will not be an accessory to the kidnapping of an Alpha’s young.”

“WHAT?! GIDEON, HOW DARE YOU!”

“HOW DARE I!? HOW DARE YOU HAVE NO REGARD FOR THE LIFE OF BABIES AND CHILDREN!?”

“You’re a demon! Why do you care so much about babies!? You don’t even have a soul!”

“I HAVE A SOUL!!!” he screamed at me.

“What?”

“Forget it. You’re on your own. ARIA!”

“Why are you looking for her!?”

“ARIA!!!” There was silence, and Aria never came. “Where is she!?”

“How the f**k am I supposed to know where that slut is?” I replied, doing my best to avoid his gaze.

“Morpheus!” Gideon summoned one of his guards.

“My King.”

“Where is Aria?!” Morpheus looked confused, and I kept my head down.

“Sir? Why are you searching for Aria?”

“What do you mean why am I searching for her? She’s my right-hand demon!”

“My King, Aria’s dead.”

“What do you mean Aria’s dead!! Who vanquished her!? Why wasn’t I told?!”

“Vanquished? My King, do you not remember?” s**t, s**t, s**t, this was going to be bad.

“Remember what?”

“King Gideon, you had me and several others punish Aria for trying to come between you and the Queen. You told us to do whatever we wanted with her and then leave her to the worms. Those were your exact words.”

“YOU TOUCHED ARIA?!”

“My King, you told us to!”

“I DID NO SUCH—” Gideon stopped mid-sentence and turned to face me. I looked off into the abyss, avoiding eye contact. “What did you do, Heather?” I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, opened them, and looked directly into his eyes.

“I got rid of the competition once for all. Don’t think that I didn’t know you were f*****g all this time. I warned Aria. I specifically told her that if she ever tried to come between you and me again, that I would make her pay for it. And I did. She’s dead. Your precious slut demon is dead. And Morpheus, along with the other guards of the underworld, are to blame.”

“My liege! No! You told us to! You gave us permission!”

“Did I tell you with my own words!?” Gideon hissed.

“YES! You came to us and threw Aria at our feet outside of your door in the underworld!” Why couldn’t demons keep their f*****g mouths shut? Whatever, it’s too late at this point.

“No, he didn’t.” They both snapped their heads towards me. “It was me. I had a sorceress cast a masking spell on me and turn me into Gideon. I’m the one that threw Aria at your feet and told you all to do whatever you wanted to her and make sure that she was punished for trying to come between Gideon and me.”

“How did you get a sorceress to cast a masking spell on you!?”

“I caught her stealing. I told her that I wouldn’t tell you about it if she did this one thing for me. She was more than happy to. But her stupid self also gave me your powers with the masking spell, so I killed her anyway.” Even though I could care less about any of this, that didn’t seem to be the case for Gideon or Morpheus. Gideon’s eyes flared up, and he immediately summoned another fireball.

“Gideon! It wasn’t my … AHHHH!!!!” Morpheus screamed as Gideon killed him without so much as a backward glance. Gideon summoned all of the other demons who violated Aria and vanquished them as well. And me? Well, he didn’t even bother to look at me. His silence actually spoke volumes, and it started to dawn on me that I may have actually f****d up.

{Third Person P.O.V.}

As Gideon massacred all of the demons responsible for Aria’s supposed death, Heather looked on and actually began to show fear in her eyes. What neither of them realized was that their commotion caught the attention of someone. Someone they couldn’t afford to have. A demon of human hell was sent to investigate the ruckus and reported back to the King of Hell himself—Lucifer.

“Sir, it appears that Gideon and his human queen are fighting, yet again. But this time, it appears that she has done something very deceitful,” the demon reported to Satan himself.

“These supernatural creatures are getting on my last nerve. Why are they so close to the border of demon hell and Hell!?”

“Gideon appears to be hiding his human queen from a pack of werewolves. It seems that she has overstepped the boundaries of right and wrong and had a werewolf child kidnapped from his home. The demon whom she hired sent the boy away before he could be harmed. Unfortunately, we do not know where that is.” Lucifer rubbed his temples. “Sir, I also thought you would like to know that several of the supernatural demons, as well as your brother, were recently here looking for the human demon queen.”

“Which brother?”

{Dorian’s P.O.V.}

“THIS IS YOUR FAULT!!! YOU LEFT ME WHEN YOU KNEW THERE WERE STILL DEMONS UNACCOUNTED FOR!!!” Allie screamed at the top of her lungs. She was currently in the hospital, recovering from being drugged. Leah was still unconscious, but her vitals were returning back to normal at a relatively fast pace. Because of Allie’s exposure to dimethylmercury last year, her body and her wolf were able to break down the drugs faster.

While Allie was recovering in the hospital, I had David and his team search through every single room in the packhouse. Sully and Giles covered the outside of the packhouse, leaving no stone unturned. They discovered thin tubes had been fed through the ventilation system from inside the walls that led directly to our room and Brandon and Leah’s room. The only explanation for Leah being targeted was to prevent her from having a vision of the kidnapping. Though, I don’t think the demons had any clue that my parents would be in the room with the children. The wounds that they both sustained were critical and deep, but none were life-threatening.

“AND YOU!!!” Allie screamed at Dani. “Dorian never would have left if you hadn’t f*****g texted me for the hundredth time and showed up unannounced!”

“What did you want me to do! Jed and his dad were about to kill each other!” Dani cried, attempting to defend herself.

“SO WHAT!?! Jed is a grown-a*s man! He’s a Supreme Alpha, for f**k’s sake! If he and his dad want to go at each other to prove who is more dominant, THEN f*****g LET THEM!!!” Allie’s heart rate started to pick up in pace, and her b***d pressure was through the roof.

“Luna, I need you to calm down!” Dr. Quinn shouted as she came into her room, again.

“CALM DOWN!? MY SON IS MISSING!!!” Allie screamed and cried. “MY BABY BOY IS GONE!!!”

“Luna, I know how you feel. I thought my son was dead at one point, thought he committed suicide, remember? So, believe me, I know how you feel right now. But if you don’t get your heart rate and b***d pressure under control, I cannot allow your girls to be in the room with you!” Allie immediately stopped crying. Because of her hysteria, Dr. Quinn wouldn’t allow Sin or Sam to bring Daisy and Katrina into the room. “Don’t give me that look, young lady. You may be the Luna of this pack, but I am the doctor. You are my patient, and this is my hospital. My rules.” Allie slumped and slammed her head back onto the pillow to show that she caved.

“Baby, I’m sorry. I never should have left. You’re right. I should have left Jed to deal with his father however he saw fit.”

“Dorian!?” Dani exclaimed.

“Dani, s’il vous plait!” Andre chastised her. “Dorian is correct. You should not have contacted him. Though I did not mind at first, I now realize the error of my ways. We agreed to leave Desert Moon to be Betas at Jed’s pack so that we could stay with family. Not only was Ricard undermining Jed, but we were also.”

“Dorian.” I looked up to see Mikey in the doorway, completely covered in b***d.

“What the f**k happened to you?” I asked him and stood to my feet.

“DID YOU FIND DEMARCO!?” Allie cried out while sitting up again, only to be pushed back down by Dr. Quinn.

“Not yet, Gizmo, but I do have something for you.” Mikey turned outside the door and nodded his head. Aries walked in with the four musketeers behind him, and they each had someone with them. They forced them to their knees, and each captive was bloodied, beaten, and knocking on death’s door.

“Aries, what is this?” I asked him.

“Aria was able to shimmer us down to the underworld. While we tried to replace clues on how to get down to where Gideon is hiding Heather, we overheard these assholes talking about how they escaped near-death by running away after their friends were killed trying to kidnap a werewolf pup. An Alpha pup, to be exact,” Aries elucidated. I glared daggers at the demons kneeling before me and they all started to quiver.

“Turns out these assholes were part of the crew that Heather put together,” Mikey interjected.

“Is all of the b***d on you theirs?” Allie asked him.

“This? Nah. I had nothing to do with their capture. I had my own work to do down there. Turns out that Heather has made quite a few frenemies down there.”

“What?” Allie and I both replied.

“Heather has been manipulating demons and other dark supernaturals,” Mikey answered, trying to get some b***d out of his fingernails.

“What do you mean?” Allie asked.

“Hm? Oh, she’s been blackmailing people down there. Even killing them behind their backs after they give her what she wants. She recently killed a sorceress for who knows what. That sorceress’ daughter is out for b***d now. She’s agreed to help us replace a way to bring Heather back to Earth after we replace out exactly where she is in demon hell.”

“You made a pact with a sorceress!?” I shouted.

“What!? No, man. She f*****g offered. She said she’d owe us if we let her have a stab at Heather first.”

“Tell her to get in line.” We looked up to see Aria and Uriel. The room was getting quite crowded, and Dr. Quinn seemed to be getting annoyed because of it.

“Aria!?” one of the demons exclaimed in shock.

“Oh, s**t. It’s you,” Aria replied and tried to stop herself from laughing. “You look like shit.”

“I feel like s**t. How are you here? You’re supposed to be dead!”

“Dead? Who said that I was dead?”

“Morpheus did!”

“He wishes I was dead. I can’t wait to get my hands on him and those fuckers,” Aria hissed.

“Why are you here? At Desert Moon?” another one asked her.

“Getting revenge on Gideon and that b***h Heather. I’ve sided with Dorian and Allie,” Aria said proudly. The demons looked at each other confused but didn’t say anything.

“Tell me what you know. Where is my son?” I demanded.

“We don’t know. After we heard that three of the guys were killed, and one got away with your kid, we skedaddled. We didn’t want to die,” one of them answered.

“It didn’t matter anyway. We heard that our comrade, who was able to get your son, was killed by the King himself. Apparently, the Queen lied to us,” another said.

“What do you mean she lied to you?” Allie asked.

“She told us that because she was taking so long to conceive, the King was getting impatient and wanted a son. So, she recruited us and the others to help her get a powerful heir for the King. She told us that it was his idea,” the third replied.

“Wait, are you telling us that Heather took our son to give to Gideon!?” Allie fumed.

“She said that it was a way to kill two birds with one stone. She said that it was the King’s command to bring him a powerful heir to raise as his own and to get revenge on the Queen’s behalf,” the fourth and smallest one answered.

“You four idiots were stupid enough to believe her!?” Aria huffed at them. “Wait, no, scratch that, you eleven idiots were stupid enough to believe her!?”

“OOOH!! THAT CONNIVING SOULLESS b***h!!! I’M GOING TO f*****g KILL HER!!!” Allie screamed.

“Luna, your heart rate!” Dr. Quinn reprimanded.

“f**k MY HEART RATE!! THAT b***h HAS MY BABY!!!”

“No, she doesn’t.” We all snapped our heads towards the door to see an unknown man standing there.

“Who the f**k are you!?” I growled. How the hell were people just showing up at our packhouse? I really needed to up the security measures or get our Wiccan friends to create some kind of magical barrier. This was getting out of hand.

“Brother,” Uriel gasped.

“Brother!?” we all questioned in unison.

“Oh, s**t!” Aria and the four demons ululated. The four demons broke free from Fury and the others, and they, along with Aria, fell to their knees and started to tremble in fear. I had never seen demons look so afraid.

“What the hell?” Allie responded as she looked at all of them.

“Brother, what are you doing here?” Uriel asked.

“I was told by an apprentice that you were down in my neck of the woods looking for a certain human demon queen?” I looked down at Allie, and she at me. We both shrugged our shoulders.

“Ummm,” Allie hummed and raised her hand from the bed. “Hi, uhhh … who are you? And what do you mean by your neck of the woods?”

“Oh, where are my manners? Hello there, my fine furry fellows, I’m the devil!” he said with a gigantic smile. “You all may know me as Satan, Serpent, Old Nick, or Beelzebub. I’ve always hated that one, really. My brother here calls me Samael, but you all furry folk can call me Lucifer.” He smiled genuinely and stared back at us while we all gaped at him. The awkward silence that filled the room was unmistakable, and everyone could hear the crickets. That silence was broken by Allie.

“You’ve gotta be shitting me.”