I took a step toward the door and peered inside.
This was the cafeteria. The same one that Blackwater made her announcement over. Great. Was I going to have to kick ass so soon?
All sound cut as if by the flip of a switch. Hundreds of pairs of eyes laid hard on me then. The weaker Magicals eyed me with fear and apprehension but the stronger ones, they eyed me through gritted teeth looking ready to eat me alive.
Nobody was eating or speaking anymore, but what everyone was thinking was obvious. They thought I was going down and they were dead wrong. I didn’t care who wanted their freedom. They weren’t going to kill me to get it.
‘A’ classes and a few gutsier ‘B’ classes rose from their tables and peered over at me as if imagining how they would crack my skull open.
“Well then, looks like you’ve made a few new friends already.” Dummy One laughed from behind me and the other two joined in.
“Good thing I love new friends,” I chirped and their laughter cut along with their smiles.
“Whatever, just take this.” Dummy Three handed a card to me and I took it. It was read with a black stripe across it. “It's for food. You can scan it for three meals a day by the register, well at least for as long as you're alive anyway.”
For as long as I’m alive? Oh please. I didn’t care how many prisoners wanted some action. If they came at me, I’d give them some. I didn’t give a damn about Blackwater’s little game. I came here to rescue Michael and nothing was going to stop me.
The three guards went on their way and after taking a deep breath I made my way inside the cafeteria. I beamed my loveliest smile and pressed a hand to my hip as I went. Nobody was going to see me sweat.
I strolled towards the serving station on the other end of the room. I could feel the eyes trailing after me as I walked gingerly over to a stack of metal serving trays by the cash register. Before grabbing a tray I paused for a second, scanning my surroundings. The sooner I found Michael, the sooner I could figure out how to get us both the hell out of here.
On one side of the room, trying to look as menacing as shifterly possible, was a pack of werewolves. They stood tall, fangs bared, eyeballing me from their table in the shadowy corner. These guys were big, brawny, and ready for the hunt, each looking all too eager to take a bite at me.
There were vampires, scattered far and wide, their features strikingly beautiful as was common of their kind. They spared their own malicious glances my way, but I was used to vamps eyeing me like prey. Fae blood was particularly delectable to vampires and I’d had to break more than a few of their necks just to keep them the hell off me when I’d ventured too deep into Minotaur City’s least savory neighborhoods.
These vamps didn’t have dinner on the mind though. Nuh uh. You could tell by the twinkle in their shining, soulless, deep black eyes, and by the way they were licking their lips at the sight of me. They were hungry for freedom and they’d sell their own mamas to get it. Killing me was worth the risk of trying.
I didn’t know when I'd last been around such a diverse group of Magicals. Usually each race chose to stay among their own. There were centaurs, ashen skinned gargoyles, ogres with leathery green skin, and thick burly bodies so tall you wondered how they got in through the front door.
The other side of the room was much easier on the eyes, featuring angels with large fluffy white wings that hung neatly on their backs. Their long glimmering hair and perfectly alluring facial features were the perfect cover for the true darkness that laid dormant in the hearts of God’s not so perfect little helpers. No, there was nothing angelic about these angels. They’d off me the second they got the chance and with the way they sat leering at me from their table they weren’t afraid to let me know it.
The numbers in this room were only a taste of what this prison had to offer. There was more, hundreds more. I could smell them, smell their needs, their desperation for sweet freedom. By the end of the night, I’d have at least a thousand prisoners gunning for my head.
“Hey you. Fae girl. You’ve got blood coming out your nose.” A round belly ogre laughed from his table a few feet away. His ogre pals sitting with him joined in. I pressed my hand to my nose and looked at my fingers. It was covered in blood. Remnant of my scrap with Blackwater.
If I was going to survive here long enough to get Michael, I needed to make a show of dominance, show these dick wads that I wasn’t the Fae they wanted to be messing with.
“Oh, I didn’t notice.” I cocked my head to one side, my cheek wrinkling from a smile that didn’t quite reach my eyes. “See that napkin on your table there? The one right next to your fork?” I pointed at the napkin.
“Yeah?” he grunted his face going blank as if not getting the joke.
“Bring it here,” I calmly told him.
“But that’s-that’s my napkin,” he replied. The smile vanished from his face, and he looked at his fellow ogre’s, then back at me. None of them were laughing now.
“And?”
“Um, well…” He looked to his friend as if hoping they would stand up for him, but not a single one did.
“Bring. That. Napkin. Here,” I said coolly, the smile gone from my face as if stolen by the wind. He finally got the picture, springing to his oversized feet and scrambling over to me.
“Here you go,” he said outstretching the napkin and placing it in my hand. He gave me a weary smile.
“Thank you,” I said, the cheer now returning to my voice as I wiped the blood from my nose.
“So, little Fae bitch. Think you can just waltz up in here and take over the place?” A voice reverberated off the walls. Turning to look at who had spoken, I saw an older wolf shifter. The old man started walking towards me. He was tall, his face slightly wrinkled, and he wore a leather jacket with heavy boots that made a clicking noise as he marched right over to me.
“You’re a marked woman and I for one will not be taking orders from my ticket to getting the hell up outta here.” He jabbed a harsh finger in my direction shooting me the dirtiest glare I’d ever seen.
“Oh, is that right?” I took a step back, wrapping my fingers around a couple of the metal trays. If he wanted some, we’d just have to see how he liked the taste of metal.
Seemed like the old wolf wasn’t the only one ready to make his stand as one by one every Magical in here shot up and began marching in my direction, their eyes wide, itching for a fight, dying to tear me limb from limb.
I’d been in my fair share of scraps, taken down ten men twice my size, all without dropping my apple martini. But these numbers? This wasn’t good.
“He’s right! Think just cause you’re an ‘A’ class that means you can come in here and run the place?” an angry voice somewhere in the encroaching crowd yelled to be joined by a hardy, “Yeah! Let’s kick her ass! Whoever takes the bitch down first gets out of here!”
Ok, this definitely wasn’t fucking good. My little show of dominance wasn’t working out quite as I’d planned. I drew three or four metal trays from the shelf, gripping them tight. Anyone who so much as touched me would learn the meaning of super concussion. These bozos were about to learn that Jessy Gilchrest didn’t go down without a fight.
“I think you’re mistaken on that one, friend. This pretty lady right here is mine.” A voice pierced the jeering crowd and my head darted in every direction to find.
Was it Michael?
Pushing his way through the crowd, a tall man with mile wide shoulders emerged. He had shiny blue eyes, cheery as the midday sky. His face was handsome with a strong, brawny chin. His wide-set eyes and hint of five o’clock shadow gave him an air of mystery. His navy blue sweatshirt and jeans held what had to be at least two hundred and fifty pounds of pure muscle. He was ‘A’ class, no doubt about it. He was a scrumptious from head to toe wolf shifter with soft and bouncy midnight black hair. I’d recognize him anywhere.
“Jamie, is that you?” I asked, squinting my eyes and shifting my head to the side.
“I
can’t believe you have to ask.” He cupped his forehead never losing his smile. “Dang, Jessy. I haven’t changed that much have I? And boy are you a sight for sore eyes,” Jamie said.
Jamie and I grew up together as kids and truth be told, he was the sweetest neighbor you could ever find. Right now, however, his sweetness was the last thing on my mind as my eyes explored the smoking hot man he’d become.
“Sorry to break up your little reunion, but we’re kind of in the middle of a killing here,” the old wolf said staring daggers at Jamie, tapping his boot with impatience.
“You’re not touching one hair on this Fae’s head while I’m here, got it?” Jamie threatened, bearing his fangs at the old wolf to his visible dismay. Wolves rarely fought each other in front of other Magicals, preferring to show a united front, but Jamie clearly didn’t get the memo as he glared at the old man in a way that said, ‘If I could shift right now, I’d bite your head off.’
The crowd progressed, setting their sights on both of us instead of just me this time. But then, halting them in their tracks, another voice sounded from deep within the crowd.
“If anyone’s getting a taste of that Fae it’s me, and unfortunately for you guys, I don’t do sloppy seconds.” A demon barged his way through the crowd, not caring whose toes he stepped on.
He had paper straight blond hair to his neck. A creature of the night with a face just as handsome as Jamie’s but, in his eyes laid a darkness that could send the grim reaper running home to his mother. His black leather jacket and black pants clung tight to his beautifully bulging muscles like a gift from the Gods themselves.
“Anyone who wants a bite outta this Fae right here needs to go through me first.” He stalked over to me, tugging the trays from my hand and wrapped his arm around my shoulder like he owned the real estate.
Jamie’s eyes widened in shock and he released a low growl in the dark stranger’s direction.
“The names Broderick and I didn’t catch yours, Sugar Lips?” he said with an air of cockiness, shooting me a wicked and cheeky grin.
Confident and cocky too? Deadly combination.
“That’s because I didn’t mention it,” I retorted, throwing his heavy arm off me. “If you must know, my name is Jessica but everyone calls me Jessy.”
Okay, so another ‘A’ class. Jamie, I got, but who the hell was this demon?
“We can take the three of them! Don’t let up people, let's teach these ‘A’ class assholes what the power of the masses can really do,” the older wolf said, jeering on the crowd.
I planted my legs wide, readying for a fight, Jamie and the demon Broderick doing the same by raising their arms readying for impact.
Just as the crowd continued to progress towards us a high-pitched screech penetrated the air and I cupped my ears to shield from the head shattering noise. The crowd did the same, every eye in the room, scrambling to find the source of the horrendous racket.
What the hell was that? Vampire screech? It had to be. What else could sound this awful?
A tall figure emerged from the crowd, almost reaching seven feet tall with long, silky smooth black hair crept in my direction. Despite what must have been an impressive weight, his footsteps made not the faintest sound, almost as if he were floating. A loose-fitting long sleeve white shirt covered his wide shoulders. It had several buttons undone like an invitation to touch the rolling hills of ab muscles peeking through the split. Black cloth fitted pants covered his long legs.
His piercing red eyes were hard on me, as if there were no one left in the room but he and I.
All vampires were beautiful, but this guy took the cake. His porcelain skin was so smooth it could put Adonis to shame. His face was so mesmerizing, so perfect in its every striking feature it must have been carved by the Gods themselves.
His eyes were deep and dangerous, red as the blood he needed to survive. But the way he looked at me as the room stood quiet and still was anything but normal. He seemed almost haunted by the sight of me and overjoyed by it at the same time. And in the tremble of his eyes I saw something almost familiar, something I was sure I’d seem long ago but had long since forgotten. Pure, untamed hunger, but not for blood. For me.
“Not a-fucking-gain!” the old wolf moaned, rolling his eyes in frustration, and the crowd continued their own grunts of annoyance. But the beautiful vampire didn’t acknowledge him or them. He simply slid by the old wolf, walking over to stand right in front of me, shielding me from the crowd. His silence and the deadly look in his eyes speaking volumes on his behalf.
Do not touch her.
I didn’t know this man, nor did I have a clue why he was helping me but you don’t see my complaining.
The thin white cloth that wrapped his wide shoulders couldn’t mask the glorious scent of this man. He smelled of snow capped mountains and fresh cut flowers. I’d long heard of his kind but had never once met one. An ‘A’ class ancient, the oldest and most powerful type of ‘A’ class in Dominion.
“Hey, um, thanks for the help but, have we met?” I asked the vamp, but he didn’t take his eyes off the mob, taking the time to stare down each and every one of my would-be attackers. All fight drained from their faces, as they saw the painful death that awaited them if they persisted.
Even the old wolf shook in his boots now, looking two inches from pissing himself.
“All right! Break it up. Break it up now and get the hell back to your seats!” a tall man with beautiful honey brown skin called out. His athletic build was anything but basic, with powerful arms and a confident stride as he parted the crowd in two with bold authority.
“Great. It’s our own resident police officer,” the old wolf moaned, cutting his eyes at him and walking away. Most of the crowd scattered, now hissing with disappointment.
This guy was a dragon shifter, you could tell by the glint of gold shimmering in his deadly hazel eyes. Just like the other four who’d come to help, his physical age had to be in his late twenties to early thirties but like the rest of them, his real age had to be at least a few hundred years old.
“Shut it, Logan,” Dragon Boy said. Why did they call this one a police officer? Just one look at his red T-shirt with the sleeves cut off showed he was definitely an inmate, just like the rest of us, but by the look of it, this one had a lot of clout. And yes, just my luck, another ‘A’ class by the feel of his power signature.
“You’re coming with me, miss. Get your things and let’s go,” Dragon Boy said, his eyes hard on me, side stepping my vampire shield to grab hold of my arm. The vampire snarled at him and Dragon Boy did the same in return.
“Take your damn hand off her, Drake. Or I’ll take it off for you.” The vampire snarled seeming inches from ripping the dragon’s arm off of me. This type of jealousy you’d expect from a boyfriend, so why was this vampire eyeing me so possessively right now?
“I second that notion, I won’t have you manhandling my friend, Drake.” Jamie said. “Head of Block five or not. You have no right.”
Dragon Boy then proceeded to yank my jacket down enough to see my shoulder. There was a black number ‘five’ on my shoulder that sure as shit wasn’t there this morning. Jamie, the vampire and the demon all eyed the mark with dread.
“Yeah that’s right. This Fae’s been placed in my block, which means from now on she follows my orders,” the dragon demanded in a harsh tone as he stared down Jamie and the vampire. “At least she’d better follow them if she wants her stay in my block to be a pleasant one.”
Jamie swallowed hard; his brows drawn with concern. “She’ll have more than a pleasant stay here if I have anything to say about it.”
“Boys, boys. Relax, there’s plenty of me to go around. But in the meantime, enough fighting. It’s dinner time and I’m starving. Why don’t we get some grub?” I said, pulling my arm free from the dragon’s hold. I then pointed at the fresh load of spaghetti, a sour-faced server witch just dumped into a dish in the serving trays.
All four men looked
at me confused by my sudden shift in attention. But I had my reasons. I just hated unnecessary arguments, and quite frankly I was getting tired of listening to these men bicker. I was honestly hungry, but more than anything else, I wanted out of the unnecessary man squabbling.
“Just a minute ago you were almost killed and now you want to eat that crap?” Dragon Boy said, one brow raised in surprise as he seemed to get more and more annoyed by the minute.
“Same old Jessy,” Jamie chuckled, cupping his forehead.
“I’ll give you a week before just the sight of that makes you hurl.” The demon curled up his lip in disgust.
“Hey, you wanna crawl your asses back there and cook me up something better, be my guest. But in the meantime, I’m ready to eat. Care to join me, Jamie?” I said with a smile in Jamie’s direction which he happily returned. Dragon Boy glowered at me now, seeming to get more and more annoyed by the second.
It had been so many years since I’d seen Jamie. We were inseparable as kids. If there was anyone I was glad I was locked up in here with, it was him. If I had to be locked up in a prison where everyone was vying to slice me open, I needed at least one friend. And by the look of the vampire, who’s eyes were boring into my body with a look of absolute fascination on his face, it seemed I might soon have more than one friend.
“So aside from enjoying the wonderful cuisine, what are you doing here, Jess?” Jamie said with a note of concern in his voice as the dinner server approached ready to take my order.
Dragon Boy’s face was red now as if he were drowning in rage. He clearly didn’t like the fact that I wasn’t paying him and his request to go with him no mind at all
“Well, now that’s a long story.”
“The beautiful thing about being in prison is you’ve got nothing but time,” Jamie said.
I turned from Jamie to look at the server. “Yes, can you tell the chef to put extra oregano on my portion please?” I said to the old witch who stood behind the food trays and she gave out a miserable, snaggle-toothed snarl.
Escape of the Fae: A Fae Fantasy Romance: (Poison Penitentiary Book 1) Page 3