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.

Viktor, asking, “can you ask him if there’s a way that he can do it so no one else

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

that was reserved specifically for

father’s men, Eduard and Sergel. “I’m really sorry, Sergei, but you need help. You’ve needed help

Aleksei, but I’d still known Sergei for most of my life. He was a hard man,

surprised. He looked at Sephie then looked at Sergei, asking, “this is true?” Sergei was silent, but everyone could tell from

out in front of everyone, Sergei, but you’re struggling. It’s getting

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

Andrei said something.

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

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

for it for almost my entire life.

very good at your job. You always have 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

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

took a few moments, but Sergei gasped loudly, like he just jumped into freezing water and his lungs were revolting. Stephen didn’t let go Sephie recognized that Stephen was having to work to get Sergei cleared completely, so she grabbed his other hand, giving him the needed boost.

looked at Battista, as well as Eduard, saying, “you two have to

it. Viktor removed his hand, waited for a moment, then put

at Battista, asking, “can you