by Amy Sumida
“So, you stayed and helped,” Kosmos concluded.
“I couldn't run off before a battle.” Kas shrugged. “And it was a damn good thing I stayed. I was the one who found them sneaking into the city.”
“What does that mean?” Torin asked.
“The satyrs found a secret passage into Loudia.” Kasteo ground his teeth together. “I think they have Helene.”
“Wait... how did you jump to that conclusion?” Cerberus scowled at Kas.
“Helene disappears and suddenly the Demos Family knows how to get into the city?” Kas lifted a brow at Cer. “They must have tortured it out of her.”
“Fuck,” I whispered as I glanced at Darc.
I had been the one to force Helene's hand and send her packing. If she had been taken by Demos satyrs, it was my fault.
“But our soldiers escorted the nymphs straight to Olympus,” Darc pointed out. “How would the Demos Family have gotten their hands on Helene?”
I got up and went to the intercom. “William?”
A few minutes passed before William replied, “Yes, Your Majesty?”
“I need you to find out who took the nymph named Helene to Olympus and then send him or her to me.”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
“Don't panic yet, Kas,” I said as I resumed my seat. “I found the Cats, I can find Helene too.”
“Okay.” Kas exhaled a shaky breath. “Thanks, El.”
“You never mentioned how the Nymphs fared,” Banning said to Kasteo. “Are they all right?”
“Oh! Yeah, of course. Once we knew that the satyrs were inside the city, it was a simple matter of plugging the secret passage and wrangling them up. They took several prisoners this time. I think if Hades hadn't been there, the satyrs would have been slaughtered again, but he ordered that there would be no unnecessary killing. Hades is going to take the survivor's back to Styx to be punished justly; his words, not mine. Personally, I think justice would have been letting the nymphs have their way.
“Bloodthirsty,” Declan murmured.
“Are you kidding me?” Kasteo gave Declan an amused look. “Killing them outright would have been merciful compared to what Hades will do to them.”
The only one who looked pleased to hear that was Kosmos, but who could blame him?
“Your Majesty?” One of our soldiers strode into the dining room and bowed. “How can I be of service?”
“Sir Drew”—I turned in my seat to face him—“were you the one who escorted Helene to Olympus?”
“No, I didn't take her to Olympus,” he said. “The lady wanted to go to the Beneather Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. That's where I took her.”
Kasteo cursed violently.
“And you didn't think to mention this to someone?” I asked the knight.
“I thought we were supposed to take the nymphs wherever they wished to go. I'm sorry, Your Majesty, I didn't know I wasn't supposed to take her to the Bazaar.”
“It's okay, Sir Drew,” Darc said while I bit my lip to keep from taking out my anxiety on our knight. “The order was unclear. You may go.”
Sir Drew bowed and hurried away.
“They have her,” Kasteo whispered in furious horror. “They have Helene again. She could be dead by now.”
“We'll find her, Kas,” I promised. “We'll find her right now.”
I got up and moved into the living room to give myself some space. The others followed me but hung back, out of my way.
“Ky, how about 'The Search is Over' by Survivor?”
Excellent choice, my love. A classic.
That just means it's old, RS huffed. Don't you have anything with a better beat?
It's a great song. Now, shut up so I can sing, I hissed at RS.
A few chords of a piano were all I had before I launched into the lyrics. Gently, the music wound upward, drawing my voice with it until I belted out the words, sending my magic shooting across Kyanite and into the Veil. I sang about love, about finally finding the one I was meant to be with, but I focused instead on the woman who Kasteo loved. Helene. I'd fucked up. I sent her away, and she had gone running straight to Kosmos. Except the Demos Family found Kosmos before she did, and then they found her.
And I found her too.
I sang triumphantly along with the symphonic music; the grand ending rolling out before me, making a path between Helene and me. I saw her, alive and well, no blood or bruises. The knot of anxiety inside me released. If she was alive, everything else could be fixed. I pulled my mental vision back, spanning out as the song faded, and caught her exact location. Piece of cake. We'd have Helene back in an hour, tops. I let go of my magic and turned to face Kasteo with a relieved grin.
“She's okay?” Kasteo asked urgently, despite my smile.
“She's okay,” I confirmed.
Before I could say more, a bright column of light filled my tower and Lucifer appeared within it. He lowered his wings, opened his eyes on a soft exhalation, and looked around at all of our staring faces.
“Is this a bad time?” Lucifer asked blithely.
“No, it's perfect timing,” Cerberus declared as he came forward to pound Lucifer on the shoulder companionably.
“How did you know to come?” I asked Lucifer.
“I called him,” Cerberus answered before Lucifer could. “We forgot to include him on the last run, and I felt bad about it. So, I contacted him this morning.”
“Are we spying on satyrs again?” Lucifer asked eagerly.
“No, we're going to rescue my woman,” Kasteo announced.
No one bothered to remind Kas that Helene had never been his and had, in fact, rejected him. Cats can be as stubborn as hellhounds, especially when it came to their lovers.
“Excellent!” Lucifer declared. “A heroic rescue! When do we leave?”
“Right now,” I said grimly as I held my hands out to Darc and Slate. “And prepare for a fight, everyone. She's surrounded by satyrs.”
“Surrounded by satyrs.” Cerberus chuckled. “Sounds like a video game.”
“It's gonna be their endgame,” Kasteo snarled.
Chapter Thirty-Four
“She was right here,” I whispered as I searched the room frantically.
“Doesn't look much like a prison,” Cerberus noted. “You sure, El?”
“I'm sure,” I insisted.
We were in Florence, at one of the Demos Family properties; that much was obvious. The photographs around the lavish room confirmed that it was a satyr home, and I even spotted Philip in one of them. Outside the windows on my right, old-world architecture created an ancient skyline backed by indigo mountains and spotted by patches of both rounded and spiky treetops. Cerberus was right; it didn't feel like a prison, but anywhere that a person was held against their will could become a cage.
“They must have been interrogating her and then took her back to her cell,” Kasteo surmised. “We need to split up and search.”
“Why split up?” Gage asked. “We can look together and take down anyone who tries to stop us.”
“We don't know how many satyrs are here,” Slate argued. “We may be stronger, but their numbers could overwhelm us. It would be wiser to do this quietly.”
“We're in Florence,” I pointed out. “This is likely one of their main strongholds.”
“Which means; a lot of satyrs,” Kosmos concluded.
“We search first and then when we know what we're dealing with, we can decide whether we should make a stand or just grab Helene and run,” Gage suggested.
“Sounds good,” Torin agreed. “Those who can cloak themselves; do it. The rest of us will need to proceed carefully.”
“If I sing, I might alert them to our presence,” I pointed out. “I'll just be careful.”
“I can cloak us both,” Declan offered.
“We're wasting time!” Kasteo hissed. “We need everyone searching on their own.”
“He's right; I had a look at this place in my vision and it's huge. Don't wo
rry, I'll be fine,” I assured Declan before I headed for the door.
“Let me look first,” Lucifer's disembodied voice offered.
I felt him brush past me, already hidden under his invisibility illusion. There was a pause.
“It's clear,” Lucifer announced.
We moved into the hallway and spread out to search the manor. Darc and I crept down a creaking wooden staircase slowly then paused at the bottom. After peering around an archway at the bottom right, he nodded at me and went left. I followed his lead and took a quick look too. A couple of men were coming my way. I pulled back and slipped around the bottom of the staircase, taking cover behind a marble statue of a satyr that stood near the end post.
“That nymph is something else,” one of the men said as they came into view.
“Yeah, and she's hot too,” the other one added. “You think the Boss will let us have a go at her when he's done?”
A cold chill coasted down my spine. Was Helene being raped as I hid behind a statue? Son of a siren! This was all my fault. I shouldn't have yelled at her like that. I shouldn't have let my love for Kasteo and Kosmos prevent me from being compassionate to other people. I've always been a pit bull when it comes to defending my family. I bite first and worry about the consequences later. Except for this time, Helene was paying the price for my ferocity.
This isn't your fault, Kyanite said gently. Helene chose to go after Kosmos instead of helping her people. That was a dishonorable decision, my love. She should have seen to her family first and then pursued Kosmos.
She shouldn't have chased after Kos at all, RS grumbled. There are plenty of men out there to choose from. She should have forgotten about both of the brothers and just gone home.
Okay, enough, both of you, I said. It doesn't matter now. I'll feel better after I save her.
I crept out of my hiding spot as the men continued down the hallway, keeping the Helene conversation going with disgusting details of what they planned to do to her if given the chance. I itched to chase after them and smack them over their heads with a vase but the thought of what Helene was enduring made me turn in the opposite direction.
I was three rooms down the corridor when I heard voices. I crept up to a closed door and pressed my ear against the wood. I couldn't tell what was being said but one of the voices was female. Slowly—agonizingly slowly—I turned the handle and cracked the door open. The voices became clearer and one of them definitely belonged to Helene. I pushed the door open and prepared to launch into a song to save her.
Then I froze, the words dying in my throat. I couldn't process what I was seeing.
Helene lounged across a silk damask loveseat beside Alexander Demos. She wore a crimson gown that matched her painted fingernails. Those nails were possessively curved into the shoulder of Alexander's designer suit as she spoke intimately with him. Her legs were angled toward the satyr, the slit in her dress allowing him access that he made good use of. His hand was on her thigh and moving upward steadily. Until they saw me, that is.
“Well, look what the cat dragged in,” Alexander drawled gleefully.
“Didn't I tell you they'd come looking for me?” Helene's smile was smug and a touch greedy. It changed her face completely, turning her from a delicate beauty into a wicked seductress.
“No fucking way,” I whispered. “Tell me she's drugged,” I said to Alexander.
“I'm not drugged, you stupid bitch,” Helene hissed at me. “I'm brilliant, and I'm delighted to get some payback for the way you treated me.”
“It seems as if I should have treated you far worse,” I snarled as I stepped further into the room. “What have you done, Helene? You were one of their victims. Why would you side with them now?”
“Now? Now?” She laughed gaily, and Alexander joined her with a rich baritone.
“Helene came to us,” Alexander took great joy in telling me. “She approached Philip with a proposition; she'd lure unsuspecting nymphs to him, pretend to be captured with them, and then keep them calm while we broke them. All for a percentage of the sales. She's quite the savvy businesswoman.”
“No,” I growled. “That's not possible. Kasteo said you were beaten when he found you.”
“We had to put on a good show for the other nymphs.” Helene shrugged. “It would have looked odd if I were the only one who wasn't abused. Then that stupid cat slunk in and freed me. The guards came to check on us, but I couldn't say anything; that would have looked even worse. So, I went with Kasteo and worked things from another angle. I'm flexible like that.”
“You're a fucking psychopath is what you are!” I exclaimed. “You acted as if you cared about them. You made me think you were after Kosmos, but you were just trying to get away from Kyanite. Holy hellhounds; you told them how to get into Loudia didn't you? You fucking traitor!”
Helene only smirked.
“Mind your manners, Spellsinger!” Alexander snapped. Then he nodded curtly at someone behind me.
I spun but was too late. Two satyrs grabbed me while a third pushed a syringe into my arm. I flailed, fumbling against them while I reached for my magic; any magic. Fire, Light, Spellsong, whatever would come, I'd take it. My hands burst into flames, and the satyrs shouted as they lurched away from me, but my focus was already fading under a tidal wave of lust. My flames died along with my willpower, succumbing to another fire. I started tearing away my clothing and reaching for the men I'd been fighting against. Feminine laughter rang in my ears, but I didn't care.
Elaria! RS shouted. Son of a bitch! Do something, Ky!
My love, fight it! Kyanite added. They've drugged you! Fight! Sing!
But then their voices faded away into white noise, overwhelmed by the red hot lust riding me.
“Boss?” A male voice asked hopefully.
“Go ahead, have some fun with her. As long as you don't mind an audience.”
“I'm good with that.”
“Me too,” another man said.
Mouths on my skin. Hands grasping my flesh. I was strung so tightly. I needed something to release the tension. I cried out and pulled the men closer. Delicious sounds. Blissful sensations. Bliss; that was what they'd injected me with. The rational part of my mind was screaming, but I couldn't hold onto sanity. I writhed against the bodies around me, pulling at their clothing, needing more. So much more.
“Are you enjoying the Bliss? We gave you a double dose just to be sure you couldn't fight it. What a fool you are, Elaria.” Helene crouched beside my head. She stroked my forehead, and I pressed into the touch. “I was after Kosmos to get to the Cats. We needed them out of our way; they kept sticking their paws into our business. But it turns out that I didn't need Kosmos, after all, just one kitten. One little kitty brought the rest to me and now they're all being tortured by Peter somewhere even your hound dog can't find them. And Peter is very good at torture; I've seen him work. Your beloved friend is probably dead by now. Pathetic. All of you are so pathetic. You—”
Flares of light blinded me as the men touching me tumbled away. Helene shrieked and reared back as well. I blinked through the glare and the haze of my arousal to see Lucifer come striding into the room, glowing like a star. His wings spread out gloriously as he bent over me.
“Elaria,” Lucifer whispered as he laid a palm against my cheek.
“Lucifer, I need you.” I started pulling at his clothes.
He was so bright. A halo glowed around him. An angel. A god. I wanted him so badly. I've never wanted anyone as badly as I did this man.
“No, my vicious, I think you've been drugged.”
“Please. Don't tell me you don't want this,” I begged. “Sink your body into mine; it will be amazing, I promise.”
Lucifer's jaw clenched as he gathered me to his chest. “I wish I could but...”
Lucifer's eyes went wide and his wings dropped then vanished entirely. I looked over his shoulder to see Helene standing behind him with an empty syringe in her hands and an evil grin on her face. Lucifer's
eyes filled with horror and then with burning arousal. He laid me down then pressed his palms to the floor on either side of my head and whimpered pitifully. His body trembled. His eyes shut in denial. Sweat broke out on his brow. Then, suddenly, Lucifer pushed upright to tear his clothing away before falling upon me ravenously. I wrapped my arms around his waist and pulled him closer until he was pressed so tightly against me that I could barely breathe. Lucifer's tongue filled my mouth, and I met it with mine; savagely, eagerly, and with great relief.