by Amie Gibbons
I ground my teeth and glared up at him at that one. “I’m not weak. I just don’t know what to do.”
“I can tell you what you don’t do,” he snapped, looming over me. “You don’t fucking give up. You get up, you go after it, and you keep moving. You don’t have a choice. Get your ass up. If you don’t, what do you think the Fae will do with your magic?”
He had a point there.
“Thomas.” I shook my head. “I don’t think you get it. I have no energy. None. I have nothing to run on. Literally nothing.”
“I’m going to slap you.”
“Get in line,” a voice said behind Thomas.
I gasped as Thomas made a very unmanly sound and turned.
Carvi, AB, and the entire security force from the looks of it, came through a portal, and it snapped shut behind them.
Pyro was draped over Carvi’s arm, and he wiggled as he came to life now that he wasn’t in our dimension.
“Whoa, what?” Pyro said, vocal once more.
He looked around, then rushed to me and wrapped me in a hug.
“Wha… How… Huh?” I asked as my carpet squeezed me.
“I have some of your power from your blood earlier, lea,” Carvi said. “When you got sucked through, it didn’t take us long to realize they had a tie to you and yanked you through.”
My eyes flicked to AB as Pyro let me go.
And I realized with a slap across my brain that she could see Thomas now as she stared at him with wide eyes.
Literally like she was seeing a ghost.
And none of us had told her that he was the ghost we’d gotten help from, and that’d he’d been hanging around for a while.
“Hey, AB,” he said with a weak smile, raising a hand.
She sobbed, slapping her hands over her mouth.
“I’m a ghost,” he said. “But I’m corporeal here… for some reason.”
She ran past Carvi and jumped over my legs into Thomas’s arms.
He caught her with a grunt and hugged her back.
“I’ve been hanging out for a while,” Thomas said just loud enough for me to hear it as he stroked her hair and bent so her feet touched ground. “I was the ghost Carvi sent. I asked them not to tell you. I didn’t want to upset you.”
“You!” She jerked back, slapping his arm. “That wasn’t your call! I had a right to know you were there.”
His mouth drew in a line and he swallowed hard. “AB, we have to get Ariana’s powers. The spider took off with them.”
He pulled outta her arms, and she looked like she wanted to break into a million shards again.
“This isn’t finished,” she snapped, pointing at him. “If you’re a ghost, we can get you back.”
Thomas looked at me and I shook my head.
No point arguing with her.
We didn’t have the time.
“Carvi, I have no energy,” I said. “They took it with my powers. I’m on empty.”
“Then we’ll just have to charge the energizer bunny back up,” Carvi said, sitting in front of me and looking around at his people. “Feather, Bill, and… Charles.”
Three of the guards stepped forward.
They were all decked out in body armor, with rifles on their backs and at least one other gun on their hips.
Probably more.
AB took a gun off her hip and handed it to Thomas.
He gave her a small smile.
“I can’t get energy from them,” I said, feeling even weaker.
“I can from them, and you can from me,” Carvi said. “AB, you first.”
“I, um…” She turned bright red and stared at her feet.
“No time for you to be shy,” Carvi said. “Get your ass over here before I drag it over.”
She scrambled over to us, and Thomas’s mouth fell open.
“She likes it,” Carvi said without looking at him. “Likes being dominated. But you already knew that.”
Carvi grabbed AB’s hips and yanked her to her knees, making her gasp.
He kneeled behind her, a line up against her back.
“Ariana,” Carvi said, “get up behind me. We have to do this fast. You bite me, take my energy, while I replenish with a little from each of them.”
“Shit,” Thomas said, the word holding a completely different connotation now.
I didn’t have to have my powers to know he’d enjoy watching this.
Huh, maybe if we could figure out how to put him back in his body, he’d be open to trying things with AB if others were involved.
Why was I playing matchmaker in my mind at a time like this?
“Ariana, now,” Carvi said, voice stern and not matching what we were about to do.
The guards that hadn’t been asked to join took up a perimeter.
If they were doing any magic, I couldn’t feel it.
I pushed up to my knees and skootched behind Carvi.
“Too short,” I said slowly, my tongue fat and thick in my mouth.
“Fuck, they took her spark,” Carvi whispered.
“No,” AB gasped. “Can we…?”
Whatever it was, she didn’t want to finish the thought.
“What?” I asked, the word almost too much effort.
“We can keep her going for a bit,” Carvi said. “But they took the battery out. Plugging her in will only go so far.”
I blinked.
This wasn’t makin’ much sense.
My head hurt.
And the world was blurry around the edges.
Carvi sat on his butt in front of me and grabbed my head, forcing it to his neck.
He’d already cut it open for me.
How considerate.
I latched on like a baby and sucked.
Carvi grunted and the world sharpened as I drew in more of him.
The Fae hadn’t just taken my powers, they’d taken my life force.
That’s why I was all outta spunk.
All outta fight.
But Carvi could keep me going for a bit.
Hopefully.
I drank deeper, strong enough to grab his shoulders and dig my teeth in.
Carvi gave a strangled cry and pulled AB up into his lap, biting her neck.
She screamed, grabbing his arm and arching up.
Judging by the screams, she came twice more in the minute or so Carvi sucked her neck. He let her go, and Feather was right there, easing her outta Carvi’s lap and laying her on the ground.
I released Carvi’s neck.
“No!” he said. “You stay on and drink as much as you can while I’m doing this. You need everything we can give you. And we can recharge with my other soldiers if we need to. But for now, stay on.”
I nodded and put my mouth back on him.
But not before seeing Thomas kneel by AB, easing her head into his lap and pressing his hand to the open wound on her neck.
She said something, and he gave a big booming laugh that echoed off the stones.
I really hoped the guards had some kinda magic soundproofing us.
Feather sat in Carvi lap and she whimpered, grabbing Carvi just like AB had. Probably finished a few times too, by the time she crawled outta his lap.
And I kept sucking, tasting his blood as the flavor shifted.
Ever so slightly.
But enough for me to tell there was a difference based on who he ate.
Vamp blood was always sweet and thicker than a human’s, but I was getting used to it enough to start to be able to differentiate.
Carvi took the two guys next, and both only came once, both unzipping and coming outta their pants, probably to minimize the mess in there, but still, it was more than I’d want to see if I’d had time to care.
After the second guy flopped to his knees, gasping and adjusting himself back into his pants, I let Carvi’s neck go.
He was hard as a rock, and I knew he hadn’t come through all of this.
“AB,” Carvi said, easing up to his feet.
“Yeah?” she asked, obviously sleepy, her head still in Thomas’s lap.
“I need to get off before I can do anything in here, and I need to do it quickly. Get over here.”
“But,” AB protested as she sat up. “Carvi, there’s people here. You biting me is one thing, but-”
“They’ll all turn around, except Thomas. He needs to watch this.”
“Carvi, no,” AB said weekly. “Please do-”
“That’s an order.”
Like he’d flipped a magical switch, she nodded and crawled over to us, kneeling in front of him.
“Do I ever do anything without a reason?” Carvi said, voice soft as he unzipped his pants.
“No, sir,” she whispered.
I looked at Thomas, and his big brown eyes were glued on the pair.
I turned my head, making sure all the guards, including the ones who’d fed Carvi, were all turned away.
Carvi made the small noises I loved as AB gave him oral, and he moaned as he came.
I didn’t look up until I heard his zipper go back up.
AB was bright red as he helped her stand on shaking legs.
No one said anything as the guards on the edges made hand gestures.
Probably taking down whatever spell they’d had up to shield us.
“I still don’t have powers,” I said softly.
AB had her arms wrapped around herself and was shaking.
She looked like she wanted to cry.
A threesome she agreed to was one thing, but Carvi had just forced her through his dominance over her to do oral in front of a crowd.
In front of Thomas.
“Why did you do that?” Thomas growled.
I looked up in surprise, and the ghost had curled his hands into fists and stomped up to Carvi, leaning over the shorter man.
AB held herself tighter and curled in, face so red I couldn’t tell if she was holding back tears or embarrassment.
Maybe both.
“I never do anything without good reasons,” Carvi hissed up into Thomas’s face.
“And I’m asking what that was here,” Thomas said, matching Carvi hiss for hiss.
“To break one of AB’s last taboos,” he said. “So the sex Fae can’t use it against us.”
“Sex in front of others? Humiliating her? Ordering her to suck you off, you sick fuck!”
Thomas shoved Carvi, and the vamp didn’t move an inch.
Just crossed his arms over his chest and smirked at Thomas.
“No, doing anything sexual around you,” Carvi said. “She is terrified of you, of you and sex. We just pushed past that. One of her last fears around you. She’s embarrassed, but they can’t use this last desire against her.”
“Desire?” Thomas asked, forehead pinching together.
“She wanted you to know she could be good in bed, not have the shame of that first encounter haunting her.”
Carvi sounded down right smug.
And AB was giving him a glare that held no love at the moment.
“You didn’t think this little lesson could wait?” she snipped, uncrossing her arms and marching up to him, right past Thomas without looking at him.
“You had no right to do that to me,” she said, pointing up at him and holding his gaze. “Don’t do that to me again.”
Carvi raised his eyebrows. “Yes, it had to be now. Had to work that taboo out of you. They can and will use every advantage. Now, we need to haul ass and get Ariana’s spark back before she fades again.”
“Spark?” I asked. “What is that? Is it my soul? And how long do I have?”
Carvi sighed, taking AB’s hand and whirling her around to pull her against his chest.
She shook him off, and he let her.
“It’s your life force, not your soul,” Carvi said. “All your life force missing will do is kill you. You’ll waste away. Kind of like you were, but then you’d be a ghost. If they got your soul, well…”
“We remember,” I said. “How long do I have?”
I didn’t like that he hadn’t answered that.
“I don’t know,” he said. “This isn’t exactly something people have made a study of. I know we recharged you for now. I also know whatever they want your powers for, isn’t good.”
“They want her powers to break through dimensions,” AB said like it was obvious.
It kinda was.
“Holy crap on crackers,” I said, slamming a palm to my forehead. “They weren’t going to be able to rip through on their own. At least, not as easy as they would with my powers cuz that’s something specific my powers do. I think I put that together, but not quite… not sure. We need to move, like now.”
“Yeah,” Carvi said in the same tone a twelve-year-old would say duh.
“Carvi, I don’t know where they went!” I said. “I don’t have my powers. I can’t track them right now. I’m…”
“Useless,” Thomas said with pity.
“I can track it,” Carvi said. “I’ve had your blood more times than I can count. I know how your power tastes. Just keep up, and don’t start that whiny crap again.”
He handed me a gun and a machete. I tucked the gun into my waistband, praying it held cuz I didn’t have a holster on me.
“Ohhhhh,” I said, swishing the machete in front of me. “I like this.”
“Careful,” one of the guards said.
Now that I wasn’t so outta it, I looked the guards over. There were a dozen of them.
And probably all were ex-military, since Carvi had called them his soldiers.
“You cut off anyone’s limb, and you’re growing them a new one when we get your powers back,” Carvi said with a warning finger.
I made sure no one was in stabbing distance before thrusting the machete in the air. “After you.”
“Once more unto the breach.”
Carvi took the lead, and the biggest security guy hung back, nodding at everyone as they went by him.
Taking a head count?
Thomas rubbed AB’s arm as he walked past, and she stared at her feet, bright red. I lined up with her as he went ahead and walked next to her in the middle of the pack.
“Why did Carvi bring you?” I whispered as the thought hit me. “He was chewing my butt off over bringing you before.”
“I’m not sure,” she said, “but I probably won’t like the answer.”
###
We marched silently through the castle, following Carvi, the only sounds our shoes on the bare stone.
“Why haven’t we seen any Fae?” I asked Carvi mentally.
He didn’t answer, and I resisted the urge to put palm to forehead again.
Right, no powers.
So I had to actually talk to him.
“Carvi,” I said in a stage whisper.
He turned and glared at me.
“Why haven’t we seen any Fae yet?”
“Probably because they are all in wherever, getting ready for their invasion,” he said.
“Or already left,” one of the guards said.
“Please tell me he’s joking,” Thomas said.
“All of you, shut up,” Carvi said. “Ariana’s power is in here, and it’s still strong. If they ripped through, it wasn’t that long ago, and we can catch them and get it back.”
“Can we stuff it back into me?” I asked. “Or is it kinda like putting Thomas’s soul back into his body?”
“I swear I just told you all to shut up,” Carvi said.
Was it just me, or was he soundin’ seriously cranky?
“Carvi?” I asked.
“I. Don’t. Like. Fae,” he bit off. “Now shut it. I need to concentrate.”
I nodded even though he’d already turned forward again.
For creatures of chaos, this place had a certain uniformity that screamed order to me. Lots of stone, the straw here and there, nothing on the walls, the slight glow lighting everything around us.
Wait.
Where were the spiders?
&nbs
p; “Carvi,” I whispered.
“What?” he growled in a low voice.
“Don’t get mad at me or anything, but do you still see the spiders? Cuz I don’t.”
“Spiders?” Feather asked, voice going kinda high for a tough as nails military chick.
“How the Fae communicate,” Carvi said. “They have a network of magical spiders that send the information down lines to central hubs. And yes, they’re still here.”
“I can’t see them,” I said.
“Neither can I,” AB said, rubbing my arm like that was supposed to make me feel better.
After what she did earlier, feeding Carvi so he could feed me, basically feeding me herself, I couldn’t say anything that’d come off as mean, like that didn’t mean much since she wasn’t magical.
“I can’t either,” Thomas whispered, falling back to walk next to AB.
She went ramrod straight and looked down.
I rolled my eyes.
If Carvi was trying to get her over her embarrassment around Thomas and sex and all that, it was looking to me like he’d failed.
“Annabeth,” Thomas said, keeping his voice soft, “please look at me.”
She inched her eyes up and he gave a thin-lipped smile. “You seemed more okay with me before. Did Carvi’s plan backfire?”
She flushed and looked down again. “We don’t have time for this.”
It was my turn to rub her arm. “AB, if there’s any shame left, sounds like the Fae can use it.”
“Then Carvi really shouldn’t have brought me. Because I have a whole buttload of shame when it comes to you, Thomas.”
He sighed. “I’m sorry, AB. I’d take it back if I could. There’s lots I’d take back.”
“I wish we’d never met,” she said. “Or that we’d just said hi in passing.”
He flinched, and I was hoping Carvi would jump in and tell everyone to shut up again.
“Because then you’d still be alive,” AB finished.
I blinked in surprise, and Thomas looked like he’d been slapped.
“I’d rather have never known you if it meant you’d be alive,” AB said, picking up her pace and cutting through the line of guards to walk alongside Carvi.
“I don’t think I realized how hard this would be for her,” Thomas whispered to me after a moment, so low I was sure only I heard it. “I didn’t realize how difficult it’d be for me to be around, for her to see me again, knowing I’ll be taken away when this is all over. It’s…”