King of the Underworld by RJ Kane

King of the Underworld

465

Adrik

Once we were all convened in Vitaliy’s new office, we started to go over the evening’s events. Battista and Vitaly weren’t aware of what had happened when Stephen got rid of the things hanging around the hospital administrator and the mayor.

“Is that what made them cough uncontrollably?” Vitaliy asked.

“We think so. When it happened, the demons were almost desperate to find a way in. It really agitates them when they hear Stephen speak, Ivan said.

“I think the coughing is the body trying to reject it,” Sephie said.

“Does this mean the mayor is good to go now? We don’t need to worry about him further?” Battista asked.

“Not exactly. He still has weaknesses that a different demon can exploit. Viktor is what fixes that, but we haven’t figured out a way to do that subtly yet. It’s visually very obvious when he fixes someone,” I said.

“It’s visually obvious to you. Has anyone who is not you seen him do it yet?” Battista asked. “You all can see things no one else can anyway. Maybe the average person couldn’t see it.”

He did bring up a valid point. Viktor hadn’t used Kostya around anyone else outside our group yet. I glanced at Ilya, asking, “did you see it?

“Yeah, but maybe it was just because I’m his brother?” Ilya said.

wasn’t thinking about being discreet,” Sephie said. She looked at Viktor, asking, “can you ask him if there’s a way that he can

could communicate so quickly with Kostya, but clearly he could. He said, “he thinks he can make it so it’s not obvious. He still needs me to touch the

it?” Sephie asked, grinning at him.

sweet smile that was reserved specifically for her. “Who did you

men, Eduard and Sergel. “I’m really sorry, Sergei, but you need help. You’ve needed help since I met you. I just wasn’t sure you’d let

of my life. He was a hard man, but he was a good man. Whatever Sephie had picked up on, I was sure that Sergei deserved help

was silent, but everyone could tell from his body language that he was clearly fighting something.

him. “I don’t mean to call you out in front of everyone, Sergei, but you’re struggling. It’s getting louder, which means it’s harder for me to ignore.”

“I can hear it too. You don’t have to deal with all that on your own, you know,”

his own searching when Andrei said something. “Sergei, you know

was with me. The attack killed the driver, Petr. It almost killed Sergei. I somehow managed to survive, but that was the first time I found myself in my own darkness. I was out for days. My father never left my side and he never left

He said he felt like he should’ve been able to see it coming. He was overprotective of me from that point until I hit adulthood. We all thought he had handled it, but clearly he was still carrying around guilt

for it for almost my entire

needed to happen, Sergel. He needed to go through that experience so he could save me when the same thing happened to me. If he hadn’t, I wouldn’t be here,” she said quietly. Sergei looked at

me. That night had to happen. You kept him alive though. There’s no way he could’ve survived that crash without you shielding him. You did exactly what you were meant to

then Stephen touched his arm. It took a few moments, but Sergei gasped loudly, like he just jumped into freezing water and his lungs were revolting. Stephen didn’t let

as Eduard, saying, “you two have to watch and let us know if you can see anything.” They both nodded. Battista looked completely

It was dim, with plenty of ho les in it. Viktor removed his hand, waited for a moment, then put his hand back on Sergei’s shoulder. We didn’t see Kostya this time, but we could see the effects of

asking, “can