Free The Devil's Liege (The Mathias Saga Book 2) by Danielle DeVor Page B

that road before.
    Vlad wasn’t exactly trustworthy when it came to details. He still remembered Nossy having to explain to him the vampire laws because Vlad hadn’t bothered to educate him in the beginning.
    Maybe he could have been better prepared for when Lilith did her big plan, but no sense in worrying about that now. It was all done. Still, he wasn’t going to make the same mistake. He wanted the full story, the full ramifications, and he wanted them now. How bad his head hurt didn’t matter.
    Vlad had stepped into his bedchamber a while ago. Mathias figured either Vlad needed some rest himself, or a break from everything. Maybe both. Either way, Mathias didn’t mind the solitude with his thumping head. He used to get a little stir-crazy if things were too quiet, but not now. In fact, if he really thought about it, he’d been used to quiet for a while. Not having to sleep on the street will do that to ya.
    Suddenly, Mathias heard footsteps in the hallway outside the chamber. He raised his head and adjusted his ears so he could listen better. He’d noticed that flexing his ears backwards on his head seemed to sharpen the sound. Thank God he had normal ears and didn’t look like a sci-fi show reject.
    There was more than one set of footsteps that he could hear. The first was heavy, almost as if it slammed the stone with every step. The other was softer.
    Then, he heard a knock on the door. Just as Mathias was about to get up, Vlad flew out of his room and motioned for Mathis to stay where he was. Good God. It wasn’t like he was in that bad of shape. He was capable of basic tasks, otherwise he never would have made it from the infirmary.
    It pissed him off. He wasn’t dying. His brain would heal. The hovering Vlad was doing was driving him crazy.
    He was getting tired of not being allowed to do anything, and it had only been a couple of hours. What was he going to be like a few days from now? He was going to have to figure out some amazing master plan or he would likely finally tip over and fall off the sanity edge. Mathias slumped back in his chair and watched Vlad open the door.
    In the doorway stood Azazel and Stuart. Azazel towered over the shorter man by a good six inches. He was one of those people you could have imagined being a Viking. The plaits didn’t help, but he had that thick hair that Mathias had seen in movies and in pictures. The only thing he was lacking as a beard. He was huge, though Mathias had to admit that even he had trouble remembering how big he was now.
    In his mind, he was still the scrawny, starved, street kid who would do anything for his next meal. He’d been so small then. It was hard to forget. Now, he was tall enough that he had to duck through some doorways. It was weird.
    Stuart walked in first and Azazel followed after. Mathias straightened up in his chair. No sense in looking like a kid if he could keep from it. Plus, maybe it would also make him look healthier than he felt. He needed to do everything he could to be involved. He didn’t think he’d survive being stuck back at the castle with Vlad while the others went out to look for Nossy.
    “Come. I’ll order some food. I have a feeling we are going to be here for a while,” Vlad said. He motioned for them to sit at the table with Mathias.
    In a way, Mathias hoped it would take a while. If they were going to do something different than what he knew how to do, then he wanted to know exactly how they were going to do it. It wasn’t like Mathias knew any police procedural techniques for this shit. Magic had to be involved here, but he didn’t want them to choose something he didn’t expect. He didn’t want any surprises. Surprises could be bad things.
    As Azazel stepped forward, there was something about the man that Mathias just couldn’t put his finger on. Almost like he didn’t quite belong. Whatever it was, Mathias was both unnerved and intrigued.
    Vlad came over and sat down on Mathias’ right. Stuart sat