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.

about being discreet,” Sephie said. She looked at Viktor, asking, “can you ask him if there’s a way that he can do it so no one else

silent for a few moments. None of us had any idea that he could communicate so quickly with Kostya, but clearly he could. He said, “he thinks he can

it?” Sephie asked,

sweet smile that was reserved specifically for her. “Who did you have in mind?*

sorry, Sergei, but you need help.

had been with my father since I 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

“this is true?” Sergei was silent, but everyone could tell from

“I don’t mean to call you out in front of everyone, Sergei, but you’re struggling. It’s getting louder, which

don’t have to deal with all that on your own,

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

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 survive, but that was the first time I found myself in my own darkness. I was out

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

up for it for almost

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 he could save me when the same thing happened to

me. That night had to happen. You kept him alive though. There’s no way

closer to her and Sergel. She whispered something quietly to Sergei. He nodded his head, 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 go Sephie recognized that Stephen was having to work to get Sergei cleared completely, so she grabbed his other

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

like Andrei could see regularly. 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 Kostya

asking, “can you see that?”