Pretty in Orange

by J B Trepagnier

  Chapter 8

  Fergus

  I

  was at my limits at what I could take, both as my Ena’s guardian and as a man who loved her. I thought not being able to get through that door when she was locked in that lab with Rathmore was terrible. Listening to her screams and watching her writhe in pain was worse. It was like I couldn’t even soothe her in her mind. She couldn’t hear me. She was in too much pain. I knew the witch was helping her, and I couldn’t kill her for causing my Ena pain, but my first reaction was to burn her when Serafina started screaming. The only reason I could stop myself was that I knew this was the only way to remove Rathmore’s influence and get her memories back. I didn’t know warlock magic.

  Serafina finally collapsed on the bed and was ultimately out. I slipped into her dream. I found her on the floor, curled into a ball whimpering. I conjured a huge fluffy bed and immediately scooped her up off the floor. I carried her over to the bed and just held her. That ward might have prevented me from getting into the room, and I had to sit back and let Charley remove the spell. I might not be able to comfort her in actual life, but I could do this in her dreams.

  I stroked her hair. “I know that was bad, Ena, but Rathmore can’t hurt you anymore.”

  Serafina sighed and buried her face in my neck.

  “I don’t think I can do that again, Fergus. We need to get out of here before Rathmore realizes I’m not under his control and retakes me. None of us can fight that gas. That they could take me so easily and disable my fire like that is fucking scary. They separated us, Fergus. All it takes is one symbol in a room, and you aren’t with me.”

  “We have something on our side, my Ena. I think the ward was put there in case Eiltan brought a Fae captive to Rathmore. Eiltan and Rathmore still don’t know you have a guardian. I won’t show up in any test, and warlock magic can’t detect me. Jasmine wouldn’t have known what I was, and I don’t think she would have reported me to Rathmore because it meant you were stronger than her. Jasmine still wants the focus on her so she can get out of here. If Rathmore found out you had a fire dragon, that would knock Jasmine out of the running, and all his focus would be on you.”

  “Well, now that he knows who my father is, it already is. What do you think happened to Jasmine?”

  “I’ve no idea. It could be several things. If Eiltan wants a mix of elemental hybrids, he would still need water. They could treat her, or they could have given up because she hasn’t got pregnant yet.”

  “The Fae only mixed with humans the last time they were topside. Elementals only mix with other elementals. Maybe we can’t mix with other supernaturals.”

  I kissed the top of her head. It hadn’t quite sunken in with her yet that she had a Vampire and a wolf for a mate.

  “I didn’t know that answer either until you got framed. Fate wouldn’t have mated you to a wolf and a Vampire if you couldn’t have babies together.”

  “That’s fucked up, Fergus. Why am I the first elemental to be mated to a wolf and a Vampire?”

  “I don’t think you are, my Ena. You’re just the first that’s not a total asshole and rejected them. Elementals get to choose. Skoll and Roman don’t. I’d say they either wondered where their mate was because the elementals wouldn’t give them the time of day or they met them and got rejected.”

  “How did elementals get like that? We can’t shift, and we don’t have super strength. We can’t do spells like the witches and warlocks. We’ve got one element we can control, and that’s it. Yet the entire supernatural community kisses their asses, and they act like they are better than everyone else.”

  “It was a cosmic event when the Fae came to earth. They were this entirely different species. The demons came with much less fanfare. They just wanted to blend in. The Fae did it with as much pomp as possible, and they considered it an honor when a Fae fell in love with you. They celebrated the first halflings both on Earth and in the Fae realm. They haven’t forgotten two realms celebrated their birth. You’re changing the subject, Ena. What did you remember?”

  “He wants me to have a baby. He examined me to make sure that I could and took out my implant. I don’t understand the spell he used to control me, and I don’t know what my trigger word is because he said the entire spell in another language.”

  “Do you remember the spell?”

  If she did, maybe Charlie could tell us what it meant. That they were turning my Ena into some broodmare had me furious. After her childhood, she was very hesitant to have children. She only wanted to if she could provide a stable, content life, and even before she got framed, that wasn’t the kind of life she lived. Not with her hobbies.

  “Bits and pieces.”

  I felt something pressing against her dream. Roman wanted in. Since it was my dream world, I had to allow him in the same way he would have to let me into his.

  “Do I have permission to let Roman into your dream?”

  “Do you mind? I know I will feel like shit when I wake up, and I will need as much help as possible.”

  I snapped my fingers, and a shocked Roman appeared in bed next to her. He quickly got over his surprise and buried his face in her neck.

  “I hated watching that. How are you, Serafina?”

  “I can tell I will hurt when I wake up, but it’s better with both of you here.”

  I didn’t fault her for needing Roman too. As much as I wanted to be her only mate, Roman and Skoll were just as much a part of her as I was.

  “It’s pretty awful. Maybe that tea Amduscias used to wake you will help you get through it along with a hot meal. I needed to eat when Charley did this to me.”

  “I’m sure I’ll need both. I never want to feel that again. We will need to come up with a plan to break out when I wake up. Rathmore will figure out I’m not under his spell anymore and retake me.”

  Roman let out a little growl and nuzzled her neck.

  “I’ve broken out before. I can do it again.”

  Serafina said something dangerous. It could get us caught. We’d be better off making a quick exit, but I understood why she needed to do it.

  “We’re trashing Rathmore’s lab on the way out, and I will kill him and anyone else that gets in my way.”

  Chapter 9

  Skoll

  M

  y wolf needed to run. I couldn’t handle this. I’d just watched my mate scream in pain while we removed black magic from her. I could do nothing about it. I tried touching her, but it was like my touch didn’t calm her. I didn’t know if I was relieved or not when she finally passed out. Was that an agreeable thing or a dreadful thing? Was she still in pain?

  When it was over, I did the one thing I could actually do for her.

  “Charley, is she no longer a danger?”

  “She just needs to sleep now. You’ll probably want to have something to eat when she wakes.”

  “What do you need, Charley? Does that kind of magic do anything to you as it did to her?”

  “I’m just sleepy. I think I’ll take a nap unless Amduscias wants to fill me in on that moss.”

  “Charley, go nap on Skoll’s cot,” Amduscias said. “We still need to plan our escape. We need to keep an eye on you. I don’t want anyone to know you’re the one breaking Rathmore’s spells.”

  I knew what he was doing. Charley didn’t need to be addicted to anything else in this prison. She was sober most of the time, but she relied on hooch and prison joints when things got terrible and too much sleep. I didn’t want to see little Charley addicted to anything in Hell, especially if we would be living here when we ran.

  Roman was curled up against Serafina’s back lightly snoring. I was glad he could enter her dream while she was passed out, but my wolf was furious I hadn’t let him mark her so he could do the same.

  Charley just shrugged and went to flop on my cot.

  “I’m not always drunk or high, you know.”

  “I know. But if you’re coming with us, you need to be totally sober.”

&
nbsp; “Yes, sir. If you’re bringing food for Serafina, bring some for me too. I’m always hungry after a nap.”

  I sat on the foot of Serafina’s cot while Amduscias paced. Were we doing this now? Shouldn’t we wait until Roman and Serafina were awake? Roman had broken out of here before. I also wanted Fergus’s input since he could go where we couldn’t.

  Amduscias ran his fingers through his black hair.

  “The simple thing to do would be to just walk out the front door. I can’t do that. Rathmore needs to die. We need to destroy his lab. What if all those missing elementals are still alive in that wing they took Serafina to? If they are, we have to get them out.”

  I agreed with him. It was foolish. We should run out of this prison and not look back. We needed to get Serafina to safety and then regroup. I couldn’t do that. I didn’t even know what Serafina remembered, but Rathmore needed to die. He should have been killed in this prison decades ago, but Serafina’s relatives saved him and put him to work.

  “How do we do this and keep Serafina safe? If that wing has wards to make her powerless and can keep Fergus away from her, how do we do this?” I asked.

  “I can control sound. I used to be able to make any musical instrument play itself, but now that time has progressed, I’ve learned I can control electronics too. I would imagine he’s got sound devices in his room. I can send a pulse to crack the walls. If the ward has a crack in it, it won’t work. At least, that’s how it works with demonic wards in Hell.”

  “We’d better wait and find that out from Fergus. I know your demonic form is this big, wicked secret, but can we count on you to whip it out if needed?”

  “If it keeps you safe, yes, but I can’t transform anywhere. I need space.”

  What the fuck was his demonic form, anyway? I didn’t know much about them because most demons didn’t show them. It was always this enormous secret. Amduscias had never whipped his out this entire time in Scorchwood. He never broke out any of his demonic powers except the sound thing, and I just found out about that. If anyone came at him, he used his fists or a shiv.

  I would not demand he tell me. I just needed to know I could count on him if we were taking down Rathmore’s lab. If my other cellmates really were being held there, we needed to get them out. If he had Jasmine, I wasn’t about to take her with us when we broke out, but we needed to get her out of some Fae plot. Jasmine needed to be here. My previous cellmates did not.

  “How many people are we bringing with us? I had five cellmates that disappeared. I agree we need to get them out of here, but depending on their state, how are we supposed to get them out of here?”

  Amduscias shrugged. “We might not, depending on their state. We have no idea what Rathmore might have done to them. We might not have time to have Charley undo all the warlock magic that might have been done to that many people. Once we are out of here, I need to see Bael and let him know what’s going on here. He’ll step in.”

  Amduscias was the only demon I’d ever met, and I counted him as an excellent friend. He was an honorable person. Was this Bael the same? Did we even know that Bael wasn’t in on this entire plot?

  “You trust him?” I asked.

  “Some demons have parents, and some don’t. I don’t. I was spit from the fires of Hell. If I could call anyone my father, it would be Bael. He taught me everything I know, and I live my life by his principles. If Scorchwood was originally a Fae prison, then I know why the kings of Hell agreed to it now that Fergus has filled in the pieces. You don’t know what it was like during the water demon plagues. If the Fae could cure them and would only do it if this prison was set up, Bael would have allowed it to save our people.”

  “But why is it still up and running? Scorchwood isn’t a Fae prison anymore, and no one knows about it. It’s a huge moneymaker for the people who own it.”

  “I don’t know, which is why I need to talk to Bael. I know him. He’s got a reason for allowing the prison to still be open, but if he knew the conditions here, he would shut it down. If he knew Rathmore was experimenting on inmates, he would shut this place down. Bael will get involved when he finds out the Fae have been framing women to get them down here.”

  “Are you sure Hell is a safe place for us? If Serafina’s father really is Fae royalty, and he knows about her now, he will not let her live the high life in your castle. He will demand Bael turn her over. If Bael is like you say, he will refuse, and it could start a war between the Fae and Hell.”

  “Realm travel doesn’t work like that. The Fae can’t bring an army into Hell, and Hell can’t bring an army into the Fae realm. Some doors would allow that, but they are heavily warded and guarded on both sides. If Bael suspected the Fae would attack, he would close the door on Earth too.”

  Well, we had a place to hide. I trusted Amduscias that he could give us a proper home in Hell. I’d have to meet this Bael and scent him with my wolf before I decided if we’d be safe there.

  Plus, we needed all our people awake before we could come up with a plan to break out of here. Serafina was still sleeping, but her face seemed peaceful. I wished I could cram into her cot and hold her, but I was way too big to fit in these tiny beds with three people.

  After watching her scream in pain and what we were about to do breaking out of this prison, I didn’t care if Roman had already started a blood bond with her, and I didn’t care what it would do to my wolf. I didn’t care what Roman said. If she said yes, she was sleeping in my bed tonight, and I wasn’t letting her go until she needed to get up and eat.

  Chapter 10

  Amduscias

  W

  e needed to get the fuck out of here. I couldn’t watch another person I cared about scream in pain while Charley broke a black magic spell on them. I had to keep Charley safe too. If anyone at the prison found out she was the one undoing Rathmore’s filthy magic, she would just disappear one day, and I liked her too much for that to happen. I also wanted to get her away from all the hooch and joints here in Scorchwood. It was her way of coping from being here so long. Charley was a kind person who made a mistake, and she’d long paid for it.

  I was stressed to the hilt, and there was a part of me that wanted to slip into Serafina’s dream so I could be with her and Roman. I didn’t because I didn’t have permission, and I wasn’t sure I’d be welcome. Fergus and Roman were already in her dream, and I was sure her head was getting crowded. Instead, I just guarded the cell door. Skoll had long ago washed the ward off the floor. Once he knew Serafina could control her fire, he washed it off. She would have wanted that. I would have done it myself, but Skoll did it first.

  I kept telling all of them I could keep them safe in Hell, but could I really? Bael taught me everything I knew, but I hadn’t spoken to him in centuries. People changed, even demons. I’d changed in here. The Bael that raised me would have a problem with Scorchwood and everything going on in here. Did Bael become someone I didn’t recognize and was taking money to look the other way?

  Bael would have known I was here, and he had sent no one for me. Bael wouldn’t have sent anyone to break me out. He would have known he taught me well enough to get out of here on my own. But why hadn’t Bael sent someone to ask why I hadn’t just walked out of here? I knew Hell had to be asking that question.

  Why would a Duke of Hell willingly stay here when I could walk out at any time? Why hadn’t Bael sent someone to ask? There was no demon presence at all in Scorchwood, but this was our domain. If a demon showed up and demanded to be let inside, they would have to listen, right?

  Something wasn’t sitting right with me, and I was wondering if I could keep my promise keeping them safe in Hell. The Bael I knew would keep them all safe when he knew I cared about them. If he knew I cared about Serafina and I had claimed her, no Sunshadow heir could demand he turn her over.

  I couldn’t believe I was doubting Bael. This place had twisted me into something I didn’t like, but I had seen too much. Fae royalty working in the background to pluck mad warl
ocks from the inmates to experiment on us? What was this, and why was it going on in Hell? How did Bael not know, and why wasn’t he asking questions if I was still here?

  When Scorchwood changed hands from a Fae prison to the supernatural community, did Bael cut some sort of deal? Was he profiting from this prison? That wasn’t the man who raised me, but nothing was making sense anymore.

  I knew there would be changes to Hell when I got out of here, but I was hoping Bael wasn’t one of those changes. I hoped all the kings in Hell weren’t part of those changes.

  I couldn’t keep the people I loved safe without them.

  Chapter 11

  Serafina

  W

  aking up after a witch has removed a warlock spell from your brain is worse than waking up from doing too many shots of cheap tequila. My mouth even tasted like I’d spent the night clutching the toilet bowl, puking my guts out. My head was pounding, and my entire body ached. As much as I wanted my own shiv, I wanted to brush my teeth a lot more. Especially right now. I stumbled to the sink and squirted toothpaste on my toothbrush.

  “Drink plenty of water, my Ena.”

  “After I get this taste out of my mouth.”

  I’d barely finished brushing my teeth when Skoll had me in this enormous hug.

  “I never want to watch that again. I’m only leaving now to get you something to eat.”

  Amduscias replaced Skoll in hugging me as soon as he left.

  “After you’ve eaten, we need to make a plan to get out of here. I don’t know about you, but Skoll and I want to destroy Rathmore’s labs and research so he can’t do this anymore.”

  I squared my shoulders. “Good, because I also want to kill Rathmore.”

  “Are we going to see Skoll’s wolf if you tell us what you remember?”