by V L Friends
“I can’t believe they let you in here!” I retorted, straining my eyes to locate my family, to no avail.
“I am the son of a mage king. Of course I would be let in!” Lucian looked shocked at my suggestion.
“Whatever,” I dismissed him with a disgusted shake of my head. The mage king thing was news to me but I feigned boredom anyway. He was so arrogant and I didn’t want to say anything that might encourage it more. I tried to pull away from him but he gently held me in place.
“Can we please just complete this dance? I am not here to harm you, I promise,” Lucian whispered. “Relax. I realize you are angry with me,” he began, but I cut him off.
“Do you really expect me to forget about what you did and almost did last night?” My eyes bore into him.
“W—What? You can’t think that I really meant to force myself on you!” His eyes showed alarm but then quickly changed as he noticed my unwavering expression of doubt. “Okay, I did intimidate and bully, and for that I am sorry. I was upset when I learned that you snuck away and that you may actually be more dangerous than I foresaw. I scared you and for that I am sorry. I deeply regret my rough treatment of you. That’s why I’m here. To make it up to you. You may not know this, but you may be in a great deal more danger than your uncle of father let on. I don’t want to see anything happen to you. Despite what you have seen and been told, I actually am quite fond of you.”
“I just don’t trust you!” I said, but my defensive posture was wavering just a bit at the sincerity in his voice and expression.
“I know I do not deserve your forgiveness. I am just asking for a chance to show you I am on your side. Just don’t dismiss me yet.” He held out his hand for me to take so we could continue our dance.
I reluctantly slapped my hand in his.
“Fine! But just one dance,” I said.
We continued with our slow dance in silence.
“So, does that mean you are no longer threatened by me?” I asked, looking up to read the sincerity in his face.
“I can’t help but wonder what is to become of the different paranormal races, now that you exist, but I am still your protector and will look out for you above all else. That does not just go away. I have struck a deal with Louis that will assure your safety.” His voice was deep but quiet.
I wanted badly to ask him what deal but knew he would not tell me. Thoughts of what happened the evening before came flooding back to my memory and the thought of trusting him was just too difficult.
“I can’t trust you. You almost compelled me to sleep with you so you could have a hold on me. You are despicable.” I whisper-shouted the last part.
He glanced around the room as heads began to turn our direction and he gave them a nervous nod.
“I wouldn’t have compelled you. I want you, I admit it, okay?” he whispered back to me as we continued dancing. “Again, I am sorry for scaring you. That display was more to anger Julian and Caleb. They irritate me with their fighting but nothing would have happened.” His whisper rose to a harshness but still stayed only low enough for me to hear. “I wish to gain your trust. I promise I will not lay a hand on you without your consent.” He paused our dance and looked down at me, giving my arm and affectionate squeeze. He had completely changed his tone as he lifted my chin to look him in the eyes. “Precious, it is my nature to seduce and bed women. It is what I have done for a century. It is my way but I am not really an incubus. I can be a gentleman, believe it or not.”
His eyes gave me that signature flash of humor.
I wanted to snort in disbelief but decided this was not the right place for that. I could see that the groveling Lucian had disappeared, now replaced with the arrogant, nonchalant royal pain in the butt. But I knew it was all an act. It was a façade to throw off his kind into thinking he was not a threat but I knew he in fact was deadly. I wondered if he knew much more about what was going on than even Julian.
“Fine, I hear your words but I am just not able to trust you, yet,” I said reluctantly, relaxing in his grip as we continued our dance. It was better to have some allies and I admit that it helped to know that he was trying to help me rather than kill me, especially after learning the truth. I did have one concern that needed to be addressed though.
“Are you still planning to try to become my master, then? I am pretty sure I am not okay with that,” I said.
Lucian let out a chuckle. “Darling, trust me, you will need my guidance.”
“Well, maybe as a friend, I can see needing you but… well, this whole master thing is just not my cup of tea.”
Lucian was now grinning ear to ear.
“You’re afraid of a little dominance then, are you?” He winked and I didn’t like the way he was looking and I could feel my cheeks heating up.
“Knock it off, Lucian!” I said between my teeth.
“Sorry, I can’t ever resist the opportunity to make you blush, precious.” His smile lessened a bit but never fully went away.
“You young human women are so touchy about being controlled. Having the kind of master I was really referring to is not about that. It is about learning to master your gift and maneuver the supernatural world around you. I have had many mage apprentices. It is not as big a deal as you are making it.”
“So, do those apprentices have a sex bond with you?”
“No, of course not; I was only messing with you,” he said, giving my cheek a little pinch and I jerked away, feeling annoyed.
“I am not a mage, nor do I want to be,” I argued.
“What’s so bad about being a mage?” Lucian asked, but before I could continue, Finn interrupted us.
“I am terribly sorry to interrupt, but Lucian, I need to speak with you in private.” Finn turned to me. “Miss Alexander, would you like to join us?” He took my arm in his and began to lead. Unless I was mistaken, I think I saw Lucian actually sneer.
Finn led us to an office. As we were walking up the stairs I happened to glance at Julian and Caleb who were eyeing us nervously as they began slowly moving our direction.
When the three of us were alone, Lucian instantly grabbed me by the arm away from Finn, then pulled me behind him.
“Just what do you think you are doing to her, Louis?” Lucian said with a tone that not only indicated that the two were very familiar but that showed genuine loathing.
“Whatever do you mean?” The man I knew as Finn, but Lucian called Louis, gave an amused look.
“I am talking about the magic you inflicted to entice her. I know that magic signature anywhere,” Lucian growled. “We agreed you would not touch her!”
“Yes, well, I changed my mind. Our deal is off,” Finn said to Lucian as he moved behind his desk and plopped down in his chair, leaning back.
“Wait a second? I thought your name was Finn? Who are you?” I was now thoroughly confused.
“And what deal?” As I spoke I suddenly remembered what Lucian had said earlier about having made a deal with Louis.
Lucian was turning red. I’d never seen him this angry. A low growl caused me to move away from him.
“Well, my dear, I am terribly sorry for deceiving you. You see, my name is Louis. I am the ruler here. I often use the nickname Finn.” He gestured around as if to emphasize his domain.
“As for the latter part, well, Lucian and I struck a deal recently where I hired him to get rid of these pesky Christians in my territory and in exchange I would reward him with you.” Louis gestured at me.
I felt terror inside me as I thought of my friends in the Amish community.
“I assured him that he would get you,” Louis finished, answering my questioning look.
“Louis, I am warning you!” Lucian growled. “If you should cross me, this will be the end of you.”
“You may have been the most dangerous warlock at one time, but my new information has rendered you a non-threat to me. I no longer need you. My plans have changed. Because I am a gentleman, I will give you a head start. I sugge
st you run.”
Lucian grabbed my hand and went to the door but Louis was beside me in a second.
“She will not be going with you.” Louis turned to me and stroked my face and I felt tingles again, rendering me immobile.
“You really think she wants to be with the likes of you?” Lucian stepped to place me behind him again.
That is when I heard a voice in my head telling me, “Kiss me.” I had no control of my body. No will of my own. I stepped around Lucian and moved to Louis. All I could think was how badly I wanted to kiss him and I couldn’t live another second without doing so. I couldn’t control it. I stepped forward and took his face in my hands and pressed my lips to his.
“Well now.” He was actually blushing. “Thank you for that,” he smiled. “Now allow me.” His hands cupped my head and he leaned in for another kiss.
“Darling! There you are!” a voice boomed into the room. Julian mimicked a cheerful playfulness as he strode in and forced his way past Louis’s guards, who had now come into the room. He strode past them and pulled me back and tucked me to his side. “Well, I see you have met Louis, and from the looks of it you two kids seem to be hitting it off.”
Caleb stood behind him, strangely calm. Not a good sign.
“Yes, it would seem so,” said Louis, touching his own lips and looking dazed.
Glancing behind me, I realized Lucian had left the room. I guess he was making a break for it.
Louis turned his attention to me with a sudden gesture of politeness I found strange, given what we were just doing.
“Anaya, it has certainly been a delight to meet you. I look forward to our next encounter.”
In an instant Julian was dragging me towards the door. “Yes, it’s been great. Now I think we will be going.”
Downstairs, Julian continued to usher me to the door with annoying speed. Remembering my wrap that was in the coat room, I yanked back.
“I will get it; you stay put,” Julian said as he strode back to the coat room. Caleb was separated from us but I could see him on the stairs, so I waited. Standing against the wall, I felt two hands slide around my waist from the back and pull me into an empty dark room.
“I want you to wear this,” said a low voice. It was Lucian and he was draping a long grey cloak around me. “Don’t take it off when you are out tonight. It will hide you and keep you safe.”
I opened my mouth to argue but stopped.
“I must leave now, so I don’t have time to discuss this. You are in danger so just please do as I say.” Lucian sounded frantic and demanding so I just nodded in compliance.
I wondered if I would see him again so I decided to tell him the rest of what I had to tell him now. My hand went out to touch his cheek to get his attention. He gave me a startled reaction but didn’t move.
“Lucian, you need to know… I can never belong to you,” I said.
He looked down but with one sad nod said nothing in response.
He took my face in his hands before saying, “Goodbye, love,” and with a soft kiss to my lips he turned and was gone.
When I met Julian at the door he gave me a scornful look but said nothing about my disappearing.
“Caleb had something to do, so he will meet us at home,” Julian said as he led me to a car.
One of Louis’s men called out to Julian.
“The boss wants to see you, Julian!”
Julian placed me in a car and barked for the driver to take me home.
“I will be along shortly,” he said with a soft look to me that I was not used to seeing him give.
Still a bit flushed for some reason, the cool leather of the back seat gave me welcoming relief as I leaned back there against it, trying to make sense of that night’s events. Why was my mind in some kind of a brain fog? Had it been the champagne? I’d had it before, so it must have been something else. Had I been drugged? The way I had allowed Louis to lead me around like some lovesick puppy made me feel ashamed. I can’t believe I did that! I thought as I remembered how I had just walked up and kissed him passionately at the mere beckoning of his words. My skin was still feeling the tingles of every sensation. I shook my head, as if to shake it from a dream. Yep, this was definitely a drug. I needed to find out what this was. As the fog lifted even more, my thoughts drifted to what had just happened.
Lucian had made some kind of deal with Louis but it seemed to me that Julian and Caleb countered that deal. What did that mean for my Christian friends in the Amish community? Things just got more complicated. I was not used to seeing that side of Caleb. I had a sneaking suspicion that there was a lot more to Caleb than met the eye. Julian had made a comment once to me that Caleb was much deadlier than I knew. Seriously, they were scary! I had that feeling in my gut again that told me that something bad was about to happen. A jolt of the car brought me out of my thoughts.
From what I could make out through the darkness, the road seemed to curve more than I remembered. We must have been taking a different way home. The driver was going unusually fast. What is with this guy?
“Driver, is something wrong?” I asked.
“Everything is fine… um… you should buckle your seatbelt though,” he remarked with a shaky tone but tried to smile back at me. That did not sound convincing. As if on cue, another SUV darted out from a hidden side road and plowed into us. Everything went black.
I awoke to find myself dangling from my seatbelt in an upside-down position. I could feel it cutting into my side. Barely breathing, I tried to let out an exhale. The cloak was draped over every inch of me, including the hood that covered my head. Pulling down my hood to get a better view of my surroundings, I reached for the clasp of my belt. The pain in my hip that made me gasp was from the buckle. I tried to think. It was so tight I could hardly breathe, let alone think of anything but the pain. We must have overturned. Releasing the buckle, my feet landed on the now inside roof of the SUV. With a quick glance around, I neither saw nor heard any sign of the driver. I let out a small scream as I hit the sharp, jagged edge of a cold metal object protruding from a hole in the roof, now near my foot. The roof had been torn open. Where was the vehicle that had hit us? I noticed not a single soul was around as I crawled out of the tangled metal. My head was throbbing. A trickle of blood rolled down my leg from the jagged scratch.
As I looked out into the darkness, all around I could feel a cold breeze carrying on it the smell of burnt wood. There must have been a fire that had burned all this down. As far as I could see, everything was burnt. Soot was all around me and the wind was stirring it up from the trees. The road was empty of any cars except the SUV I was in and still no person in sight. How long had I been here?
I slowed my rapid breathing to listen for any sign of life nearby. I detected faint voices coming from the burnt woods and decided to follow the sound quietly. As I traveled into the pathless woods with scorched trees, I discovered charred earth all around in every direction. What had happened here? I must have been dangling there in the car for hours because after just a little walking I noticed the darkness in the sky going away. What had caused this? Could it have been some kind of explosion? I crouched low as I moved closer to the voices gathered in a clearing. There were six of them, all in dark-colored robes.
“You let the idiot get away!” a woman’s voice growled.
“Who the hell gave you the order to torch the woods?” growled another voice, this time a man.
“We were under orders to kill him with any means necessary,” said the woman.
“None of us knew he would be able to get away like that. I don’t understand how. I mean, Caleb broke his spine after that last blow. I am sure of it,” said another woman.
“Well, I don’t know how we are going to cover up all this mess here. I don’t see how that creature could survive the fire bombs we let loose in these woods but let’s keep looking. Did anyone find the girl?” They seemed a little more than frantic.
“No, no trace of her,” said one of them.
“Find her!” another man’s voice demanded. This one seemed to be the leader of the group. They all seemed to nod and murmur agreement before disappearing further into the woods.
I waited, crouched in my hiding spot until I could hear no trace of them before I took off in another direction in the charred woods. The thoughts of what I had heard jumbled around in my head. Had they planned to kill me? If it wasn’t for Lucian’s cloak that must have had some kind of magic to hide me, I would have been captured, maybe dead. How had he known? Fear crept into me at the thought of even those Caleb had hired and entrusted feeling I was a threat. At this point I began to wonder if Caleb was really this ruthless killer. Had I heard right… did he really break Lucian’s spine? How awful! Did I really know him at all? Could it be possible this gentle, sweet, loving uncle of mine wanted me dead? A tear sprung from my eye and I quickly wiped it away. This just was not possible. He had been the only one I could count on.
As the sun began to peek through the trees, I noticed a flash of white. I crept closer and discovered a white-blond figure buried under a scorched fallen tree begin to move. Moving closer, I crouched down and, to my horror, recognition hit me.
“Lucian!”
Dark blue eyes looked up at me in a daze. He did not move. Could not move.
“Angel, is that really you?” he croaked out.
“Lucian, what happened?” I asked as I tried to pull the trees off and brush the soot from his body.
“Go, they are coming for me! They will find you here. It isn’t safe!” He tried to get up but fell back on the ground, limp.
“Let me help you to your feet,” I demanded, leaning to pick him up.
“I am paralyzed temporarily. My spine has been severed,” he said, looking helpless.