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.

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

he could. He said, “he thinks he can make it so it’s not obvious. He still

to test it?” Sephie asked,

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

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

was a kid. Not as long as Aleksei, but I’d still known Sergei for most of my life. He was a hard man, but he was a good man. Whatever Sephie had picked up on, I was sure that

looked at Sergei, asking, “this is true?” Sergei was silent,

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.”

can hear it too. You don’t have to deal with all

own searching when Andrei said something. “Sergei, you know that wasn’t your fault, man.”

what Sergei was still struggling to deal with. When I was a boy and the other bosses tried to get to my father through me the first time, Sergei was the one that was with me. The attack killed the driver, Petr. It almost killed Sergei. I somehow managed

to not blame himself for what had happened. 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

for

been. You always will be. What happened that night is not a reflection of you. It 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 her, his eyes wide. He was

night had to happen. You kept him alive though. There’s

water and his lungs were revolting. Stephen didn’t let go Sephie

traded places with Stephen. Sephie looked at Battista, as well as Eduard, saying, “you two have to watch and let us know if you can

put his hand back on Sergei’s shoulder. We didn’t see Kostya this time, but we could see the effects of Kostya being there. Sergei’s

Battista, asking, “can you see that?”