Nitara

by Jessica Cage

  “Dammit, Graham,” Briar muttered. He was the only one they had on their side, but the man was too stubborn to get over himself to come help them.

  “You rang?” The vampire appeared in the window behind them. “I figured I would let you all work out your shit before I joined the party.”

  “Oh, how nice of you.” Briar rolled her eyes.

  “So you mean to tell me, a vampire can snatch those chains off of our buddy up there? Great!” Smiling, Graham made a dash for Mike, but his body slammed against the wall when Sarah attacked.

  “No! You will not take this from me!” she screamed, punching him over and over in the face, nearly knocking him unconscious before a stream of fire blasted her side and sent her flying off of him and onto the floor.

  “Fuck!” Graham patted his thigh that was caught in the flame.

  “My bad, aim is a little off.” Inda shrugged but winked at Briar.

  “I saw that!” Graham grunted. “You did that on purpose!”

  “Yeah, well maybe next time you will get your head out of your ass!” She pointed to the man who was still dangling above them. “Get him, now, please.”

  Graham jumped to the ceiling and unhooked the chain, and Mike’s body slammed into the floor beneath. Jumping down, he landed on the ground beside him. “Done.”

  “You’re such an asshole!” Inda spoke. “Get the chains off of him!”

  They all surrounded Mike as the chains were removed from his body. When the last one was off, Graham tossed them into a corner away from the group. Mike gasped as his lungs filled with air and his expanding flesh burned where the chains had dug into him.

  “Mike, you okay?” Jinn stood looking on at his friend who slowly came back to consciousness.

  “Yeah, I’m good,” he lied. The man was clearly in a lot of pain.

  “Great, let’s get you out of here!” Briar spoke and reached down to help him up.

  As they all began to regroup no one kept an eye on Sarah. She took that as her chance. With Jinn’s back toward her, she retrieved the bracelet which had fallen just a few feet from where she landed after the blast and slapped it around his wrist.

  “Ha!” she cried out. “You are mine!”

  Jinn looked down at his wrist where the bracelet glowed as it activated their connection, and then at Nitara. He could already hear her thoughts. “Nitty, get out of here!”

  “No. What are you talking about?” It took Nitara a second too long to realize just how the tables had turned.

  “Jinn,” Sarah called out with a sick tone to her voice, “kill Nitara!”

  The moment the order was issued, the blade of fire appeared in his hand and he charged the woman he’d come there to protect. Nitara was quick on her feet; two whips shot out and wrapped around his ankles and pulled his legs from underneath him. “Jinn, stop!” Nitara screamed, but already he had recovered and was after her again.

  “You know I can’t,” he growled as he turned his blade into a whip that matched hers. He snapped it at her but missed.

  Better skilled with her weapon, Nitara dodged his blow while landing one of her own on his right arm. It tore through the leather jacket he wore and ripped through the flesh.

  “Fuck!” he screamed, grabbing at the stinging wound.

  “You need to fight her!” Nitara demanded from Jinn. “You need to be stronger than this!”

  The others had Sarah cornered and just as they were about to grab her, she picked up the enchanted chain and that became her weapon. She smacked Inda in the face with it, knocking her unconscious before she turned her attention on Briar. She wasn’t alone. From the balcony above, a few of her minions returned and jumped to the floor beneath, positioning themselves between her and the enemy.

  “The cover above is fading!” Bruto entered the room again and took into account everything that was happening. Jinn and Nitara were fighting while the others tried to get to Sarah. “What the fuck is going on?”

  “Get Sarah!” Briar yelled. “She has Jinn under her control.”

  Briar grabbed Inda and dragged her limp body outside. She needed to get her to Jax.

  “You will never win! Jinn is mine, and as long as he is wearing that bracelet he belongs to me!”

  “Nitara!” Bruto called as he ran to help her fend off Jinn. “What’s the plan?”

  “Keep him busy?” Nitara asked and trained her look on Sarah. Around her neck hung a gold chain with strange markings. It was one that Nitara had never seen her wear before. She looked at the bracelet on Jinn’s wrist and noticed the design was the same.

  “I’ll do my best.” Bruto grunted as he moved between her and Jinn.

  “You’re going to have to do better than that.” Nitara faded from his side and Jinn tried to find her but Bruto was quick with his distraction. Streams of orange sprouted from the ground and wrapped around Jinn’s limbs. The more he struggled, the more appeared. “Rosie, I need you!” Bruto called out, and as soon as her name passed his lips, she appeared by his side.

  “Oh my god, Jinn,” she sighed.

  “We have to keep him restrained.” Bruto grunted as he struggled to hold the man back.

  “Right.” Without any further question, Rosie’s pink magic joined Bruto’s orange to reinforce the restraints. After the last time Jinn had been turned against them, they’d devised a plan to ensure that they could avoid another disaster.

  Across the room, Nitara reappeared between her team and Sarah’s. With one strike of her whip she ended the lives of every vampire who stood between her and Sarah. “Everyone, out,” she ordered, and the rest of the team left. All that remained were Nitara, Sarah, and the other djinn. “Tell me something, how did you see this playing out?” She stalked Sarah. “After all that you’ve heard of us, did you really think that we would give you what you want? Did you think we would just walk away from here and leave one of our own behind?”

  “You don’t have a choice now! Jinn is mine, and he will be, forever!” Sarah’s voice was tense, even she didn’t believe her own words. She searched for Jinn and her eyes displayed her disbelief as she found him restrained by his friends.

  “You know, that’s what Tyrellis thought. He thought I belonged to him, forever. And yet, here I am, and where is he?”

  “You’re welcome for that,” Sarah snapped. “You think you’d be grateful for your freedom!”

  “And now, you think that you’re in any better position than he was?”

  “Yes, because unlike him, I’m not a moron. And I know that you won’t do anything to me as long as I possess your mate!” Sarah pointed to Jinn who was still out of commission. “Not that he is doing me much good right now!”

  “Here’s the thing.” Nitara got closer to Sarah who clutched the spelled chain, her only form of protection, in her hand. “I know your secret.”

  “What are you talking about?” She backed away as far as she could.”

  “Jinn’s life isn’t tied to yours, is it?” Nitara asked the question but she knew the answer already.

  “Yes, it is!” Sarah searched for a way out but could find no exit that didn’t end in her death.

  “No, it isn’t. The only person with that kind of magic is long gone. You’re smart, as you said, so you know that already, don’t you?”

  “It’s too late! I already have him.” Sarah’s shrill cry echoed around them. “He is mine, and there is nothing you can do about it.”

  “You have him, for now.” Nitara used her whip to take the chain from Sarah; it clattered to the floor and Sarah backed up against the wall. Nitara closed in on the vampire who was officially all alone. There was no one else to come running in to save her. Nitara kicked aside the head of one of the vampires she’d taken out. When there were only a few inches left between them, she continued. “Jinn is not yours. He’s mine.”

  “Jinn!” Sarah screamed at the bound Jinn who failed to kill the woman who held her pinned against the wall. She brought her eyes back to the angry woman in front of her
. “Please, don’t.”

  “I’m sorry, are you begging?” Nitara smiled. “It’s far too late for that!”

  “Nitara, what are you doing?” Bruto questioned. They were struggling to hold Jinn back and Nitara was playing games with the enemy.

  “Whatever it is, you might want to get on with it,” Rosie shouted. “We won’t be able to hold him forever.”

  “With pleasure.” Nitara dissolved into a cloud of purple smoke that hovered in front of Sarah before it shot up her nose and into her mouth.

  “No!” Sarah clawed at her face. “Get out!” she screamed. And inside of her head, she heard Nitara’s voice. Your wish is my command. Sarah’s skinned turned red with the heat that built beneath her flesh. “Stop!” she cried as her skin began to crack and purple tinted light shone from beneath. It was too late. A moment later, Sarah’s body exploded and in her place stood Nitara, the chain that bound Sarah to her mate hanging around her neck.

  “You can let him go now.” She nodded to Bruto and Rosie who cautiously released their reins on Jinn.

  He stood from the floor and watched his wife who approached him. He gasped as the air forced its way inside his lungs and the sting of his friend’s magic diminished. “You’re amazing.”

  “Yeah, I know.” Nitara smiled as he took her into his arms.

  “Maybe we give these two a bit of privacy and go help the others?” Rosie touched Bruto’s arm and they both vanished from the room.

  “How did you know that would work?” Jinn kept his hold around her.

  “I didn’t. Hell, for all I knew it would have trapped me right along with you.” Reaching up, she took the necklace off and the bracelet dropped from his wrist. Nitara held them both in her hand and the pieces went up in flames. The enchanted metal melted and dripped to the floor. “As I see it, you’ve already done that and so much more for me. There was no way I was going to walk out of here and let her have you, not without a fight. I owe you that much.”

  “You don’t owe me a damn thing.” Jinn lifted her into his arms and kissed her with a century of passion. “Finally, we can put this shit behind us.”

  “At last, he is awake.” Nitara dabbed Jinn’s head with a damp towel. “You had me worried there for a bit.”

  “What happened?” He sat up in the bed and his head spun.

  “Oh, you know … big, bad vampire tried to start some shit and I saved the day.” She gave her self a pat on the back and winked at him.

  “Oh, did you?” He laughed. “I vaguely remember that.”

  “Well, that’s the short version.” Smiling, she leaned forward and kissed his lips. “I’ve been waiting to do that.”

  “Have you?” He lifted his hand to tuck a stray hair behind her ear.

  “For far too long.” She held his hand against her face and sighed into his touch.

  “You should do it again.”

  Nitara did, and she let the kiss linger before she pulled away once more.

  “When did we get back here?” Jinn finally noticed the familiar setting that surrounded them. The last time they were there together, Nitara was in bed and he was nursing her back to health. Things didn’t end well that time around.

  “Last night. After everything went down, you passed out. I think it had something to do with that bracelet Sarah slapped on you. I grabbed you and thought of home. I guess since I don’t feel like I have one, it brought us to your house even though I intended to go back to the Hub with the others. Once we were here, I didn’t want to move you. It seemed a better idea to just wait until you woke up.”

  “What about Mike?” Jinn repositioned himself. “Is he okay?”

  “He is safe and sound. We got him out in time.” She poured Jinn a glass of water and handed it to him. “Drink.”

  “Thanks.” He took the offered glass and emptied it of its contents before asking for a refill.

  “I called back there, everyone is okay. Briar and the fairies are working on Mike, he will be brought home soon, but they had to intervene to speed up his healing a bit. Graham and Ardyn are leading the cleanup. Reverie will take a while to repair from this. The fae who helped Sarah were rounded up when the sun rose. Boxi and a few other fairies are escorting them home to face the music for their actions. Graham is in for a lot of shit from the fae over what happened.”

  “So, Graham is taking over?” Jinn finally found a comfortable position on the bed with a pillow tucked behind his head.

  “Yeah, he is, with Ardyn by his side.” Nitara couldn’t help the sense of pride she felt. Ardyn would be sure to keep the vamps on the right path.

  “What?” Jinn didn’t sound as convinced that it was a good idea.

  “Yes, I think it’s good. Grahm wants to show the world that vampires aren’t that bad.” They shared a look, then laughed simultaneously. “Yeah, I know it sounds insane, but he sees how things have started to turn around for Mike and his people. He wants the same for the vampires. Apparently, something Briar said to him really struck a nerve.”

  “Good luck with that!” Jinn couldn’t help the laughter that continued to pour from him. “All I know is that not one blood sucker better come asking me for help with that cause!”

  “Oh, you wouldn’t lay your life down for them?” She teased him playfully.

  “There’s only one person in the world that I would do that for.” He pulled her into the bed with him and she curled up beside him.

  “And who is that?” She kissed his neck.

  “Mike, of course!” he joked, and she softly jabbed him in the side. “I kid, I kid!”

  “Yeah, you better be!”

  The newly reunite couple shared the day together, talking about things that happened while they were apart. Nitara had been through so much, a lot that was hard for Jinn to hear, but he wanted to know everything. They had missed out on too much time together. Nitara kept assuring him that she wouldn’t be going anywhere, and they would have all of the time in the world to catch up on things, but that wasn’t enough for him.

  They were curled up together on the sofa and sipping tea. Nitara loved a good spiced chai and Jinn was fond of it as well, but with the addition of a shot of whiskey. She’d just been laughing at him for the modification when their cozy evening was interrupted by a stern knock on the door. Jinn groaned and climbed from the couch where Nitara was laying on his chest.

  “Don’t move, I’ll be right back,” he told her as he went to the door muttering about how he wished everyone was still too afraid to come to his door. “What is it?” He swung the door open.

  “We’ve got a problem.” The prince of dragons barged into the room with his firebird girl right behind him.

  “I see you two have made up.” Jinn sighed as he closed the door and followed them to the living room where Nitara waited.

  “What’s wrong?” Nitara sat up on the couch and pulled the nearby blanket over her exposed legs. She’d been in nothing but a tank top and panties.

  “Rick, he went after the fae girl.” Jax said and averted his eyes from Nitara.

  “What?” Jinn asked, and Jax turned back to him.

  “He overheard me talking about what Mike said about her showing up in shifter land. Next thing I know I’m getting reports that he is headed that way.” Jax spotted the open bottle of whiskey and took a shot straight from it. “We were trying to figure out how to handle this without Mike.”

  “Without Mike? What’s wrong with Mike?” Nitara stood. “Ardyn said he was recovering.”

  “He is, but he is still pretty messed up. Bruto took him home to rest. He isn’t going to be up to any real action for a while,” Inda informed them. “Mike said he would send someone in to help us, someone that Jinn trusted. Of course, we never got so far as an introduction to said person, since Rick decided to go rogue.”

  “And I take it that means our timeline just moved up?” Jinn groaned. “Would it be so terrible to get one day of peace?”

  “Yeah, it moved up to yesterday.” A frustrate
d Jax took another shot. “You got anything to eat around here? We need to load up.” He looked to Inda who rubbed her growling belly.

  “Food’s in the kitchen,” Jinn replied, and Inda headed in that direction.

  “Do you know where he is?” Nitara stood up and the blanket was replaced with pants which made both her and Jax more comfortable.

  “Not exactly, but there have been are reports of a dragon nearing shifter territory, so we don’t have much time. He’s one of our fastest guys, I already have a few men trying to cut him off oat the pass.”

  “We need to stop him.” Jinn said what they were all thinking. “The shifters will not be pleased if you don’t.”

  “Yeah, if he gets there and starts some shit …” Jax trailed off.

  “It could mean another war.” Jinn finished the thought.

  “Well, that was a great vacation while it lasted.” Nitara sighed and headed toward the kitchen.

  “Where are you going?” Jinn called after her.

  “Hell, the firebird isn’t the only one who needs to fuel up!” She winked at him and laughed as she left the room.

  “We really have our hands full, don’t we?” Jax chuckled and handed the whiskey bottle to Jinn.

  “Yeah, we sure do.” Jinn took a swallow of the liquor before they joined the women in the kitchen.

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