by Juniper Hart
Simone groaned. “How much deeper of a hole are we going to dig here?”
“What do you want?” Toby demanded, his curiosity piqued. He couldn’t imagine having anything that Theo might want. The bear had everything he did and more.
There was a slight pause before Theo spoke again. “I want you to rein in Helios. So far, you’re the only one he has reached out to. What did he want?”
“Money,” Toby replied without preamble. “A measly million.”
“Did you give it to him?” Sierra gasped, her eyes wide at the confession.
“I didn’t have a chance,” Toby said. “He got spooked by Shane. I would have given it to him, though.”
Light shone in Theo’s eyes. “He might reach out to you again,” he said excitedly. “If he’s looking for cash…”
“I’m sure he will,” Toby groaned. “But I’m not sure I want to meet him face to face again. He’s… off.”
“He’s always been off,” Theo snapped. “He’s been trying to wipe out the mortals since he reigned the underworld. He’s been hellbent on revenge since we killed Carina.”
“I don’t know, Theo,” Toby sighed begrudgingly. “I think he’s taken leave of his faculties. He’s just not… right. He seemed to have forgotten where he was as we stood there talking. He only asked for a million dollars. There are so many little things which make me worry that he’s not quite right in the head.”
“All the more reason to get him out of play,” Theo growled. “Do you want Sierra to get her immortality or not?”
Toby knew it was a very small price to pay for what he was asking, but as he met his mate’s worried eyes, he had a terrible feeling that he was biting off more than he could chew. In his mind, he saw Helios’ glowing gaze, psychotic and unsure in the darkness of Sierra’s house.
He’s insane. More insane than anyone realizes. And they expect me to get into the line of fire to catch him. Is that smart?
“You don’t seem sure,” Lane offered gently, but Toby shook his head vehemently. He was sure he wanted nothing more than to spend eternity on earth with his mate.
“Yes,” Toby said quickly, before he could change his mind. “I’ll help you find Helios, but after that, I expect to be left in peace, both at work and at home.”
“Wait a second,” Sierra snapped. “Toby, a word please.” Before he could argue, she had grabbed his arm and yanked him aside, her eyes flashing. “What the hell are you doing?” she hissed. “You’re blackmailing the Council of Seven!”
Toby smiled at her, grasping her hands in his. “It worked, didn’t it?”
She shook her head, dazed by the sudden turn of events.
“I don’t know if we should do this, Toby. I mean, there’s a reason witches aren’t immortal. We’re far too dangerous living forever.”
“Tell that to Aurora,” he murmured quietly. “And explain to her why she is going to live forever while you aren’t.”
Sierra’s mouth parted as if she was going to protest, but she immediately clamped them together.
“You know I’m right,” Toby rasped, pulling her into his arms. “I already lived far too long without you, Sierra. I’m not prepared to do it again, not when it’s within my power.”
She peered up at him with worried eyes.
“And Helios?” she breathed. “What if he learns what you’re doing?”
“He won’t,” Toby assured her with more conviction than he felt. “You just have to have faith. The sooner that demon is off the streets, the better we can rest.”
Slowly, Sierra nodded, her eyes shining with adoration.
“You have to trust me,” he told her. “That’s all I’ve asked of you all along.”
“I do trust you,” she sighed, kissing his lips gently. “It’s everyone else I’m worried about.”
He returned her embrace and stroked her auburn waves gently.
“Well?” Simone snapped, interrupting their moment of tenderness. “What have you decided?”
They turned and looked at her and the members of Council, who waited expectantly for their response.
“Let’s get that bastard,” Toby called. “Once and for all.”
Revenge of the Bears Series Epilogue
1
The Far Past
The stench was almost unbearable to Helios’ delicate disposition. The wrapping about his face did little to alleviate the reek about him.
Indignation shot through his veins again, no longer a foreign emotion. If anything, he had become accustomed to the feeling, the sensation of being hot and cold seeping through his bones to alight and defeat him simultaneously.
He was alone and had been for a very long while. Had it been centuries already? Half a millennia? Only in his most desperate hours did he venture from the depth of the sewer systems to poke his head out into the world, robbing and pillaging the nearest bystanders. His quest to rid the earth of humans had taken a pause in his quest for survival, but as the years passed, he realized that his existence was barely better than that of plagued rat.
Helios had watched the world change above him, each bout on the outside more alarming than the last.
Carina and I were right to worry about the humans, he thought grimly, noticing the air grow thicker and the planet become busier. The Enchanted remained very much the same as the mortals seemed to thrive off their own suffering, each generation more destructive than the last. If this continues, I will never escape the underground. I must find allies, a way out of this hell in which I have been exiled.
The Council of Seven still sought him, and with the sword in their power, he would be defenseless to stop them, but he could not simply waste away. Carina would not have wanted this life for him.
If he could even call it a life. He had to find a way out of there.
Slowly, he began to formulate a plan. The first order of business was getting himself out of the Kingdom of England and away from the booming influx of newcomers who seemed to flock from all parts of the world. Inherently, he knew there was much bigger land to be found, places where the Council would not think to look for him, places where he might be free to live above ground and free from scrutiny.
But to do this, he would need resources. A boat, currency… and a man.
Truthfully, Helios would have liked an army, but he could not afford to be choosy, given his situation. He would settle for one friend, or minimally, a servant to help him through the arduous journey that would certainly see him through the next years.
His instinct had been to call upon the Suttons and claim his stake in the underworld, but there would be time enough for that after he had secured himself.
First, Helios needed a plan and a man. And he knew precisely where to find one.
They were called the Unenchanted for a reason, this group of misanthropes who hid almost as well as Helios had managed to do. They were well-known to the Enchanted but ignored just as easily.
It was not because they lacked power or magic, but because they were shunned aside as outcasts in a society of misfits. There was a myriad of reasons for this. Some were simply dim-witted, while others were deformed. In a world where the unusual was already frowned upon, no one could risk the hideous among them, not when the Enchanted themselves did so much to ensure they were not detected by the mortals.
The Unenchanted had been a bone of contention with Carina, her willful spirit determined to unite the Enchanted wholly without fear of reprisal from the mortals.
“It is ridiculous that we hide away from them,” she had often scoffed. “They should tremble in fear of us, and instead, Alaric has ensured that we will die if we are exposed. What is the point of harnessing this power if we cannot use it?”
Of course, Helios had agreed with his mate. She would have made a fine leader of the Enchanted. But now she was gone, and it was up to him to ensure her prophecy was fulfilled.
Most of them had become dock rats, the Unenchanted scurrying about the boats, picking up on scraps and odd jobs to
keep themselves afloat. They were unseen but watched, any missing mortal accounted for, lest the shifters overstep their confinements and feast illegally among the humans.
For the most part, they had learned their place, a broken group of wolves, vampires, bears, witches, and dragons. Helios knew his chance of finding a demon was slim, but he was not particularly choosy as he drew his cloak over his handsome face and inhaled the pungent, salty air, vaguely aware of how he must smell.
Thankfully, he blended in well with the other reeking men who hurried about, their eyes averted. If they had thought to look up, they might have recognized that they were in the midst of the most wanted being in the Enchanted. Not that any of them would be apt to do anything about it.
Through the winding maze of piers Helios continued, his opaque blue eyes taking in the bustle as he honed his still-sharp senses on the Unenchanted about him.
A vampire will do, he reasoned. Even a shifter. He dared not partner with a wizard. They could not be trusted with their mortal bloodlines. To Helios’ mind, they were far to opportunistic with their shortened life spans.
Time was wasting as he stood in the shadow of a schooner. Helios needed to find a man and be gone before he pressed his luck too far.
It was then that Helios’ eyes rested upon the one: limping with a gimp leg, the shortened beast ambled about, seeming lost among the others, even though he was no more or less out of place than them.
But what had grabbed Helios’ attention was the fact that he was a demon. What were the chances of finding such a being? Helios himself had only known a handful in his past. Moreover, their bloodline was strong, and they were not apt to deformities. Yet there was this half-formed creature, shuffling about as if searching for his place.
Without wasting another second, Helios shot forward, his feet almost gliding over the soaked docks as a list mist began to fall from the stormy clouds above. He did not slow his gait while he moved, crashing deliberately into the demon, who was then forced to raise his eyes in terrified surprise.
“Oh, do forgive me!” the Unenchanted mumbled before his brain could register who or what had collided with him. “I was not paying any—” Abruptly, he stopped speaking, eyes bugging as they rested on Helios’ face. He seemed to choke on his words. Helios only smiled, despite recognizing the danger he had brought upon himself.
“Do you know who I am?” he asked, and the gimp nodded, his gaze darting about in a panic. “Good.” Helios nodded approvingly. “What are you called, demon?”
The beast visibly swallowed and shifted his eyes toward the ground. “Vaughan.”
“You will come with me, Vaughan. Consider yourself part of my employ now.”
If possible, Vaughan’s eyes grew wider to the point where they seemed to bug from his face.
“I-I could not!” he protested.
“Why is that?” Helios replied smoothly. “Have you a full life here on the docks? I cannot imagine that you are offered many jobs. You are wasting your talents here, Vaughan. You are a demon, not a dock urchin.”
Slowly, Vaughan’s chin raised, and he looked to Helios with confusion and a slight hope glimmered in his eyes.
No one has shown him a lick of kindness since they day of his birth, Helios thought with some arrogance. It will take little to bring him into my fold.
“I am not allowed among society,” he breathed. “I am—”
“Who made these cruel and unfair rules?” Helios insisted. “Alaric Aldwin? The mortals?”
Vaughan looked about nervously, as if he was concerned that they might be overheard and punished, but they would be long gone before anyone could react.
“Is it fair that everyone else eats well, sleeps before a roaring fire, and beds their spouses while we live in the dismal cold simply because we are different? What makes them so entitled? What makes them better than us but for the gods’ cruel sense of bad humor?” Helios continued, the words flowing from his mouth easily and without recital.
It was as though he had not been hiding for centuries in wait, as though he was the very same leader he had been before Carina had been so mercilessly taken from him.
“This is the way of the world, Sire,” Vaughan breathed, but the hope in his eyes was evident. Helios had the half-formed demon precisely where he wanted him.
“You should know that the world is ever-evolving,” he said softly, placing a hand on Vaughan’s shoulder. “And we must evolve with it.”
Vaughan flinched at the touch, like he expected to be struck, but when he realized Helios was behaving kindly, he dropped his head again, his shoulders sagging.
“If I am caught away from the ghetto,” he mumbled, “there is a punishment.”
“You will not be caught while you are with me,” Helios assured him confidently. “After all, I have not been caught, have I?”
Vaughan met his eyes again. Helios had officially found his man.
“Why me, Sire?” Vaughan asked. “I have nothing to offer you.”
“Nonsense,” Helios laughed, clapping him on the back heartily. “Everyone has something to offer, especially demons.”
Again, Vaughan looked about, but Helios knew no one paid them any mind.
“What is it you need, Sire?” he breathed. “What can I do for you?”
Helios leaned into him confidentially and lowered his voice quietly.
“You will help me finish what I started with my beloved, lost mate,” he answered softly. “First, we will rid the world of the mortals, and then the demons will claim their rightful place as lords of the Enchanted.”
Vaughan’s face paled. “How will we accomplish such a thing, Sire?”
Helios chuckled with more confidence than he felt. “It is much easier than you think, my dear boy. All we must do is kill Alaric Aldwin. The Enchanted will have no choice but to obey us when they see he has been conquered.”
He did not add what else he was thinking, that he would systematically call before him all the others who had played a hand in Carina’s death to make them suffer for eternity. Then he would find a way to rid the world of aranium once and for all so that no other demon could be killed.
The smile slowly slipped off Helios’ face when he realized that Vaughan stared at him, aghast.
“What is it?” Helios asked with some annoyance. He had been expecting reverence, not protest. Perhaps he should find a shifter, after all. This one seemed particularly slow.
“I am afraid that is not possible, Sire,” Vaughan muttered, his complexion paling more with each spoken word.
“What is not possible?” Helios snapped. He could not have known that this was merely the beginning of his feelings toward the lame demon for centuries to come.
“Your scheme, Sire. Killing Alaric Aldwin…”
Helios’ face contorted in fury, his eyes flashing dangerously as he advanced upon Vaughan. “You doubt me? I am Helios! I have evaded the Council of Seven for hundreds of years! My line is strong, and I escaped death despite being touched with aranium! How dare you doubt me?”
Vaughan shook his head miserably.
“I do not doubt you, Sire,” he moaned. “But killing Alaric is impossible. He has already passed.”
Stunned, Helios stared at him. He had not expected the wizard to have died already. He could only hope that his demise had been painful.
“No matter,” Helios said, waving his hand impatiently. “That changes nothing. Who is in power now if not him?”
“The Council of Seven,” Vaughan responded without hesitation.
“Yes, of course,” Helios said impatiently. “But who leads them?”
“There is only the Council of Seven,” Vaughan explained. “There is no leader.”
The notion was atrocious to Helios, but he only nodded. So much had changed in his time underneath the world. He would need time to adjust. He would still get his revenge and seek his rightful place as leader of the Enchanted. He would only need to find another way to do so.
“Come along
now, Vaughan,” he said as he readjusted his cloak to further conceal his face.
“Where will we go, Sire?” Vaughan asked, moving to keep up with Helios’ strong pace.
“Away from here,” Helios replied. He had acquired what he had come for; Vaughan would do as a manservant for the time being. The smaller demon could escape detection more easily than Helios and perhaps curate an army for him.
In due time, Helios thought with smugness he knew he had no place to feel, I will have everything I so richly deserve.
He simply did not realize how long it would take for that to transpire.
2
The Recent Past
“Are there any other matters?” Alec asked, sitting back against the high back of the chair and reaching for the gavel, but Raven held up a hand as Theo cleared his throat.
“Oh, dear,” Miriam sighed, also sinking back against her chair. “Helios again?”
There was a slight murmur of discontent through the room as all eyes fell upon Theo.
“What is it now?” Laurel demanded with her usual irritation. “Why is this matter always ongoing? I, for one, am growing tired of it.”
“He has been spotted in Iceland,” Raven interjected before the fairy queen could go off on a full diatribe. “We have scouters looking for him there, but the land is unmanned, unspoken for. There are far too many places for a being with his talents to hide.”
“What talents?” Landon scoffed. “He is shunned and has no one. I have no idea why he continues to hold on.”
“He will not go quietly into that good night,” Miriam said, a note of concern creeping into her voice. “He has scores to settle with my family, with Theo, and possibly Raven, too. If he has held on this long, he will not disappear yet.”
“Then we must find him and kill him!” Landon barked back. “It is ridiculous that we are at his mercy.”
“I fear he is no longer alone,” Theo sighed, and again, he held their full attention. “I have heard rumors that he has acquired an Unenchanted demon.”