It took almost a week before Dio’s demons were able to bring back confirmation of Triton’s suspicions.

“It’s true master!” Lemon Drop sobbed his yellow skin glowing with his emotions. “She plans to take you over.”

Dio patted the little demon on the head. He’d had Lemon drop for ten years now though the small beast had spent the past few in service to Dio’s mother.

Lemon Drop wore blue and white striped board shorts with a hole cut out for its tail. It nibbled on the tip between words, a nervous habit shared by most of its brethren.

“Let me call Varick and you can tell us both what you learned.”

Dio turned to grab his phone.

A sharp pain in the back of his skull sent him tumbling to the floor. His vision grayed. The last thing he heard was the tapping of claws on the wood floor.

 

Varick’s head snapped up from the paper he was examining. A warning sounded in his head. “Dio?”

After spending several days at Dio’s, Varick had come back to the pack house to finish some long –overdue paperwork. He’d been reluctant to leave Dio but with a push from his laughing mate he’d agreed to go and work out of the pack house.

Varick snatched his phone off the desk and pressed his mate’s name. It rang and rang before a squeaky voice answered.”Hello?”

“Where’s Dio?” Varick didn’t have the temperament for chit-chat.

“Master Varick! It’s Sillybean! Master Dio is missing!” The demon screamed each word as if he were trying to get Varick to hear him without the phone.

Varick’s stomach swirled with nausea. “What happened and where are the vamps?”

“The vamps went out hunting. I don’t know what happened but Lemon Drop came to visit and now the Master is gone.”

Varick didn’t know a demon by that name but then Dio had dozens of the strange creatures in a multitude of colors. Tension made hands begin to transform into claws and a fang sliced through his bottom lip.

“Could Lemon Drop have taken Dio to his mother?”

Crap he was going to hurl.

“No. He’d have to be willing. Master has to agree to go.”

Somehow that didn’t make Varick feel any better. Who knew what this mad demon would do to get Dio to agree to go back home to his dear old psychotic mother?