by Logan Jacobs
Or at least, I hoped it was.
“May I cut in?” she said seductively as one finger drew itself up and down my arm.
“Uh,” I stuttered. I looked back at the two warriors, but none of them said a word.
“I’ll take that as a yes, now come on,” the woman replied before her eyes flicked to Ariette.
“Just you and Milton?” Ariette questioned as she surveyed this special agent.
“For now.” The new woman tilted her head with a smile. “It will only take a moment.”
She turned and led me to the other side of the dance floor without another word, and as she did, something about her face struck me as very familiar. The way her eyes sat in their sockets and almost took over her entire face, and her extremely high cheekbones that made it look as if she was perpetually pouting, made me wonder if we’d met before. But we couldn’t have because I knew for a fact I would remember meeting this dazzling woman.
And then, it struck me just who she looked like. Her eyes and cheekbones, and the way she looked at me like I held the answer to all her problems, reminded me of the Fae whose Hand I had absorbed during the first attack.
She looked just like the fairy whose blood now ran through my veins.
Chapter 15
“Is right here okay?” the woman whispered to me as she stopped at the edge of the dance floor.
Couples and groups moved and swayed around us, and they completely blocked my team from sight.
“Yeah, it’s fine,” I replied as I looked her curvy figure up and down. Her coloring and hair looked very human, but there was something familiar about the shape of her face and bone structure that sent a chill up and down my spine. Oragon’s dying face popped into my head, and I realized she looked just like him, minus the blue skin and bloody wound. The way she moved her mouth when she spoke even reminded me of him, and my heart started to beat a little faster. I shook it off as I noticed her proud smirk.
“Like what you see?” she asked with a raised eyebrow and a laugh. She stepped closer, and I could tell she already knew the answer to her question.
My eyes traced over full breasts that wanted to break out of the corset-like top she wore. Her top was a mixture of silky black fabric and emerald green cloth that was laced up tight, and it showed off her round breasts and wide hips very nicely.
“I do, actually,” I replied cockily as I stepped toward her and grabbed her around the waist. She wrapped both of her arms around my neck, and swayed slowly with me, even though the beat of the music was pretty fast.
“I was hoping you’d say that,” she said breathily as she leaned a tiny bit closer to me. Her body pressed against mine, and I was sure she felt the hardness between my legs against her thighs, but she said nothing.
She was almost my height, maybe an inch less, and I found my nose buried in her gorgeous, wavy locks as we danced. The woman didn’t smell sweet the way Ariette and Kalista did, but she didn’t really smell human, either. The scent of her hair was a mixture of fresh cinnamon and something alluring, like citrus. It didn’t smell like anything that could come from a bottle.
“Why just me, and not my whole team?” I questioned into her hair. “Aren’t we all supposed to work together on this?”
“Mmm, I think you know why just you,” she said seductively. “Your team will be updated soon enough. Besides, I simply had to come to snatch you away from them for a while.”
“Oh, did you?” I whispered in her ear. “And why is that?”
“Well, I had to get a chance to dance with the man who absorbed my brother’s Hand, you see,” she said into my shoulder. Her head didn’t even turn to look up at me, but I jumped backward at her words.
“Your brother?” I asked. Shock tinged my voice, and I realized I’d spoken too loud. A few heads turned to glance our way, but the woman smiled and waved at them to say that everything was okay.
“Yes,” she said as she sauntered the two steps back into my arms. “Now, would you keep dancing, so you don’t cause a scene?”
Hesitantly, I grasped her around the waist again and continued to sway slowly back and forth. That explained why her face looked so familiar to me.
“But you… you don’t look like Unseelie,” I said into her hair. Oragon’s skin had been a dark almost navy blue, but this woman’s was tanned like she had just spent the summer on a beach.
“Well, I’m actually half human, but yes, I don’t really look like this,” she replied, with particular emphasis on the word ‘look.’
“How--” I started to ask before she cut me off.
“Glamour,” she said with a shrug, “it’s my special talent. That and tricking handsome men into my bed.” She smirked. “You might have noticed that, actually.”
“Men falling into my bed?” I asked curiously. “Can’t say that I have.”
“Maybe you haven’t tried hard enough?” She gave me a wink. “And no. What I meant was that you’ve probably noticed enhanced sex appeal.” Her eyes flicked around us. “Even now every woman in the room is watching you, even ones who probably would never have had any interest in you before. They are practically panting with need. It’s one of your powers. You haven’t noticed?”
“Oh, that explains it,” I said as I glanced around the room and realized that she was right. Nearly every woman in here was watching me out the corner of their eyes. “I mean, I’ve never been bad with women, but…”
“But you never thought you’d have elves falling over each other to fuck you?” Her eyes twinkled mischievously. “Welcome to the perks of the Unseelie, mortal. We’re like catnip when we want to be, you especially since you have the Hand of Blood.”
“Is that really true?” An involuntary shiver went up my spine at her words, and she pressed her chest harder into my torso.
“Of course. You’ve heard the phrase ‘bring the sexy back,’ right?” she chuckled into my chest, and her hot breath tickled my nipple. “Well, for us, it never left.”
“Right…” I muttered as I tried to process that thought. “So what you’re saying is your brother’s power has made me more attractive?”
“Well, I wouldn’t say ‘attractive’” She smirked. “How about ‘irresistible?’ Yes, that is a much better word. You could take any of these women home with you with only a few encouraging words.”
“Shit,” I said as my mind spun. “I wish I’d known that earlier. Things would have made a lot more sense if that had been in the database.”
“But now you know,” she purred as she pushed her body into me a bit more. “So what are you going to do with it?”
“Uhhhh,” I sighed as my brain did cartwheels and tried to focus on my actual job. “You know, we tried to figure out who your brother was right after he gave me his Hand. I wanted to know why an Unseelie wanted to save people. The Seelie database had nothing on him.”
“You wouldn’t have been able to find him there easily,” she said with a sigh, “the Seelie database has a few holes when it comes to the special ambassador from the Unseelie court since he isn’t supposed to exist. But if I know my brother, he had to have seen something special in you for him to give you his magic.”
“Special ambassador?” I cocked my head and looked at her beautiful green eyes. My Hand tingled differently than it did when I used my magic. It was a pleasant sensation like my Hand responded to her very presence. I took a breath as the tingling grew stronger. For whatever reason, my magic had a natural reaction to this woman.
“Yes.” She nodded but didn’t say any more, and as the silence stretched between us, I realized she wasn’t going to elaborate.
“Alright, fine,” I finally said, and the tingling dulled a little bit. “I have some questions first, though, and you’re going to answer them.”
She let out a laugh at that, and it was an enchanting sound, like wind chimes on a warm summer day when the evening breeze rolled through. Her green eyes met mine as she swayed back into my arms, and then she tilted her head to tell me that s
he was ready.
“We should know each other’s names before you get quite so demanding, don’t you think?” Her voice mocked me playfully.
“Yeah, I guess we should,” I relented. “I’m Milton.”
She bounced against me as she avoided a drunk couple that almost barreled us over, but she never took her eyes from mine.
“Maaren,” she responded with a grin. “Maaren Euphry.”
Even her name was enchanting. It sounded like a poem or a song, and I swallowed hard as I made a concerted effort to maintain eye contact. It was like she could read my thoughts as she smirked at me and bit her lip.
“Okay, Maaren,” I said with a smirk. “What’s your story?”
“Don’t you think we have more pressing matters?” she replied as she arched an eyebrow and ran her fingers down my back.
I shrugged in response. “I like to get to know my teammates before we jump into any end of the world business. Just a personal preference.”
Maaren’s eyes sparkled with mirth as she laughed.
“Fair enough, but prepare to be disappointed, Milton,” she whispered, and then she sighed against me as if she was used to this story and already prepared for the sad reaction she would get from it.
“Try me,” I replied with a softer smile.
Her green eyes looked at me, filled with sadness and a hint of rage, and then she started.
“As I said before, I’m not full Fae,” she explained, “I’ll just get that out right away. Generally, it seems to change people’s opinions.”
Those green eyes looked away momentarily and then came right back to me. I kept my face still and blank. I didn’t want her to run away or stop her story.
“My mom was human,” Maaren continued gently. “I don’t actually know very much about her. She died giving birth to me. My grandma used to tell me that my mom died so I could live. Anyway, she’s dead too now, so it was only me for a while. But I got curious. Young woman, all alone in the human world, never quite feeling like she fit in, typical sob story. So, I went and found my dad. Turns out, he’s the king of the High Court of the Unseelie, so that was… shocking, to say the least.”
Maaren paused, and her eyes went to a place far away, like she was in the middle of a memory and watched it all pass by her again. Quickly, she refocused and shook her head. Her hips swung once more in tune with the music, and she continued her tale.
“But that’s how I met my brother. You can see the family resemblance, I’m sure,” she smirked and drew her hand under her chin to present her face to me. “I kind of ran from that, though. I was raised in the human world, and the Unseelie were like these evil, mythical beasts to me. It took me a long time to come around and accept that as a part of me. But the Jefferson Guild found me before I could go running back to Daddy. They said they admired my talents and abilities, but really, they just wanted to keep the Unseelie ruler’s daughter far, far away from him. They don’t understand…”
Again, she trailed off, and I watched as she lost herself in her thoughts.
“Maaren?” I asked gently, and the gorgeous woman shook her head as her eyes refocused.
“Wow, I am making a great first impression,” she joked with a soft voice. Then she stepped back to give me a small but over exaggerated curtsy. Maaren raised her hands in the air and ignored the looks from the surrounding Fae. She dipped her head a little bit and looked up at me with those emerald eyes as she waited for my response.
“So then how do you know I have your brother’s Hand?” I asked.
“Magical sibling bond, I guess,” she replied with a smirk.
For some reason, I trusted her. It might have been gut instinct, or the connection we shared because of her brother’s Hand. Or it might have been because she was one of the hottest women I had ever seen, and yet her eyes held all the naivete and innocence of a child. Whatever the reason was, I held her even tighter to me as I brushed my nose against her ear.
“So, why exactly has Hasen sent us out here to help you?” I questioned softly. I was ready for some information.
“Look, Milton, you need to trust me, because what I’m about to tell you is the absolute truth,” she started as she looked up at me with a frown.
There was probably a cautionary tale about trusting mysterious, beautiful strangers, but my team was in the middle of a black hole, and Maaren held the only rope that could pull us out of it. Plus, Hasen had sent us out here specifically to help her, and as much as I was annoyed by his asshole personality, the guild master wanted these things stopped as much as I did. I didn’t have much of a choice.
“I trust you,” I said with a nod.
Maaren searched my face for a moment but seemed to be satisfied.
“The monsters aren’t being created by the Unseelie,” she whispered hurriedly. “They’re being created by a Seelie scientist. I followed the trail of one of his dark portals about three weeks ago, and it led me straight to his stronghold. I don’t know his name yet, but he had the crest of the Jefferson Guild on his door. He’s not working with the guild, and it’s not condoned at all, but he’s Seelie, nonetheless. Which gave him access to --”
“The dark portals,” I interrupted her.
“Yes,” Maaren continued, “and a lot of supplies and knowledge he wouldn’t have had otherwise. But he’s nearly untraceable, and no one has been able to catch him, so the attacks keep happening.”
“And that’s why Hasen wants a small team on this, to make it less conspicuous, and to keep this knowledge from getting out,” I said, and she nodded.
“So then I’m sure you know that the dark portals are how they’re getting around,” she continued after a moment, “which means that the Seelie behind this is slowly becoming more and more soulless. The longer it takes to stop him, the less he’ll care, and the worse he’ll become.”
I nodded in response to her, and then I urged her to come closer and dance before too many drunk Fae stared at us. One ugly dwarf came up behind her as if he was about to ask her for a dance, but I gave him a long hard glare to send him on his way. The number of people who could overhear began to make me slightly nervous.
“The guild is covering it up,” I muttered into Maaren’s hair, and she nodded.
“Yes,” she responded quietly. “Hasen thinks it would look bad if this all got out, and that people would start to mistrust the guild. He’s not wrong. He wants to cover up these attacks until they find the culprit, but so far, he hasn’t had any luck. Clearly.”
“And you know this how?” I questioned.
“Bugged his office,” she shrugged, but I could hear the pride in her voice.
“You are one interesting woman, Maaren,” I laughed.
“So I’ve been told,” she replied. “He’s sending out black ops teams to make sure the portals can’t be traced once they close up, and to destroy any evidence of the attacks. It makes it seem like the creatures appear and disappear out of nowhere because anyone that sees what’s happened gets their memory wiped.”
“But then why keep sending our team out there, if he knows he’s just going to cover it up?” I asked her as I watched a petite blonde nymph with curly hair come a little too close for comfort. She winked at me before she spun away.
“He’s got to keep up the facade,” the brunette replied. “Imagine if he didn’t send his special ops team to the site of the attacks. The questions would have started ages ago. Probably with that pretty blonde elf you were dancing with earlier.”
I tilted my head and considered her point. She was right.
“So we need to track this scientist down and take him out,” I considered with a tilt of my head.
Maaren simply nodded, and then she peeked over my shoulder as someone approached behind us. I turned quickly, in case it was an enemy, but it was only Ariette, who planted herself right next to me and sized Maaren up.
“Alright, that’s enough private time,” the elf muttered as she stared at Maaren, “Hasen sent all of us to help you out
, not just Milton.”
Ariette’s tone had an edge to it.
“Ohhh,” Maaren said with a slow nod. “A little kitty is jealous. I simply wanted a quick chat about his Hand.”
“I am not jeal--”
“Ariette,” I said to her as I pushed on her shoulder, “this is Maaren. She was telling me about the person who’s been making the trolls.”
“Oh, really?” Ariette asked as she leaned closer to me, and the edge dissipated from her voice.
“She said it’s a Seelie scientist,” I replied carefully and waited to gauge Ariette’s reaction.
The blonde froze, and her body tensed again. Her blue eyes roamed up and down Maaren’s body, and I could tell the other Fae was uncomfortable under the gaze of those stony eyes. I couldn’t blame her. Ariette knew how to give a person a damn good once-over.
“Really?” Ariette said again after a few moments of awkward silence that was broken only by the loud music.
“Yes,” Maaren responded evenly.
“So, what, you think one of our scientists has gone rogue and decided to kill everyone?” Ariette asked, her tone slightly too loud. A few heads turned our way, and I put my hands on her shoulders to get her to calm down.
“Ariette, think about it,” I urged her as I made eye contact. “It makes sense. He would have access to the resources, the spells, the lab equipment.”
The elf took a deep breath in through her nose and crossed her arms over her breasts in consideration.
“Alright, I’ll give it to you then,” Ariette said with a raised eyebrow, “but explain to me why the guild hasn’t already stopped this rogue Seelie scientist. Why not just kill him and solve the problem?”
“He’s smart,” Maaren said matter-of-factly. “Not everyone is so easily caught, elf.”
“And why did you want to talk to HC about his hand? What does that have to do with anything?” Ariette queried with furrowed brows.
“Her brother’s the one who gave me my Hand,” I responded quietly.
“She’s an Unseelie?” Ariette whipped her head around, stared at me with two wide blue eyes, and reached for her sword.