Dark Bound

by Kim Richardson

“Maybe not.” I pursed my lips. “But she’s still a bitch.”

  The fae’s eyes darkened. Daegal drew his bowstring back and shot in the same instant as I yanked my hand free from the arrow in my thigh and shifted.

  Ow. That. Hurt.

  Spinning, I kept close to Daegal, knowing the closer I was to his body, the more difficult it would be for him to draw his bow and shoot. I relished the angry grunts that came from him. Killing me would never be that easy.

  Daegal’s mouth was spread in a wide, manic grin. “The poison will kill you, even if the arrow doesn’t.”

  I could already feel the effects of the poison diminishing. “I don’t think so.” Kicking out, I caught him just below the knee. The bone snapped under my foot. He screamed and I caught a glimpse of his snarl. Spinning out of his reach, my left thigh was stiff, making my movements jerky and stilted. My progress was slow with the arrows still sticking out of my thigh. I tried to move without touching them, but it was impossible.

  Every time I brushed the arrow shafts with my movements, pain flared as though I was being sliced from the inside of my leg. I was in no shape to keep fighting like this.

  There was just one thing to do.

  Just as Daegal swung at me with his bow and missed, I ducked, rolling away. Gritting my jaw, I wrapped my injured hand around the first arrow and snapped it. I did the same with the other. There was no time to try and pull them out without further damaging my thigh. The buried arrow shafts would have to stay, for the time being.

  A laugh escaped me at the surprised look on Daegal’s face. I couldn’t help it.

  “Guess your precious faebane doesn’t work on me, huh?”

  I swung my blade in a rush as the faerie lunged. He came up swinging, a curved dagger in his right hand. Whirling, I let my anger surge and guide me. The tip of my blade sliced a gash across his smooth, pink stomach. Daegal stumbled back, stunned. I watched, not knowing the full effects a death blade’s poison would have on a half-breed. Perhaps nothing.

  “I’ll kill you for this, angel whore,” he swore.

  I grinned. “Bring it on, Tinker Bell.”

  He shot forward. I caught his feint left, but when I dove right, he moved so swiftly that despite my superior abilities and years of training, I crashed into a parked car. The clatter of flesh, bone, and metal colliding echoed through the too-quiet street as I landed face first on the car’s hood, my jaw singing.

  “Like I said,” Daegal sneered at me as I whirled around and slipped down the car. “I’m going to kill you, angel bitch.”

  My lip already aching and swollen, I tasted the blood in my mouth. “I’m going to break all those pointy, little teeth in that foul mouth of yours.”

  Faster than I could sense, faster that my failing body could react, he came at me, and his fist made contact with my face. I shifted enough to keep my nose from shattering but took the blow on my jaw. Spinning, I hit the ground and tasted blood. Again. Damn him.

  He drew back to strike again. But with equally unnerving swiftness, I halted his second blow before it fractured my jaw and snarled in his face, low and vicious.

  My breathing turned ragged as I purred, “Is that all you got?”

  Hateful eyes peered at me as the faerie came at me again in a rush of daggers and bows. I twisted, bringing up a fist to smash into his face, but I hit nothing but air. Then his foot hooked behind mine in an efficient maneuver that sent me staggering.

  I caught myself, but not fast enough. Daegal slammed his bow across my head, and stars exploded behind my eyes. Before I could recover, he kicked me in the gut and I slammed onto the pavement. My breath escaped me. I hit the pavement hard, rolled, and was up on my feet. I turned around, my dagger in my hand, ready to throw myself at him. But Daegal was gone.

  I snapped my gaze around the street, and relief pooled inside my chest at the sight of Tyrius poised in a crouch atop the body of a Dark Arrow, looking smug and content.

  Danto and Vicky were walking in a circle around the bodies of the Dark Arrows, waiting for any to twitch so they could finish them off. I spotted Keith crouched next to the body of a dead fae, picking what was valuable off of it, and putting it into his pockets.

  That was one strange vampire.

  With his shotgun on his shoulder, Jax sauntered towards me, his face creasing as he took in the blood on my thigh.

  “Jesus, Rowyn, are those arrows sticking out of your thigh?”

  “Parts of arrows. It’s nothing.” I pulled my shirt down, but it did nothing to hide the yellow and pink oozing from the two wounds. “I’ll get Pam to remove them once we get Ugul to safety.”

  “Uh, Rowyn, where’s Ugul?” said Jax.

  Fear slid through me at the worry in his voice. I spun, my gaze darting towards the spot where I’d left the goblin.

  Ugul was gone.

  21

  I hurtled down the street, my injured thigh burning as I pushed it harder and harder. The arrow parts were still stuck in my leg and tore at the flesh like the fangs of some great beast. My left leg was drenched, soaked with my own blood.

  And still I ran.

  I didn’t stop. I couldn’t stop. The queen would kill Ugul if I didn’t get there in time. An innocent was going to die because of me. I couldn’t let that happen. Not on my watch.

  “Rowyn! Slow down!” came Jax’s voice. “You can’t just barge in there.”

  “That’s exactly what I plan to do.” My eyes on Sylph Tower, I used my hate to propel me faster and faster, until I felt like my feet were barely touching the ground as I sailed down the street. I was soaring like freaking Wonder Woman.

  “Are you crazy!” came Tyrius’s voice behind me.

  “Yes.” I wasn’t going to let Ugul die at the hands of the queen. I needed to know what he was going to tell me.

  “Rowyn,” shouted Tyrius, “you’ve got two bloody arrows in your leg! Think about that. You’re hurt. And I won’t be able to Hulk-out either. I won’t be able to protect you. Let’s just sit down a minute and think about this.”

  “Ugul doesn’t have a minute,” I panted, my thighs burning as I pushed them harder. He’d already suffered an arrow in the chest. How long could he survive without medical help?

  “Do you know how many faeries are in there?” yelled the cat. “Try hundreds. Maybe thousands. I’m sorry, Rowyn, but you did your best. You freed him. That’s something. Now stop this craziness!”

  “I freed him?” I laughed. “I didn’t free him. I killed him. I won’t let him die. I won’t.” Heart racing, I could see the outline of the door. I was almost there.

  I heard Tyrius yell something as I threw myself against the door. It didn’t even budge.

  “Damn you!” Using my weight, I hurtled my right shoulder at the door, again and again. And still the door didn’t even a crack open a centimeter.

  Something grabbed my shoulder and I flinched. Danto pivoted me towards him. “Rowyn, the baal is right. I think the entire clan of Dark Court faeries are in there. We can’t fight that many.”

  My heart throbbed in my throat. “I have to try. I have to.”

  “If we break through this door,” said the vampire, his voice surprisingly cool, “they’ll see it as an attack.”

  “They attacked us first,” I growled.

  The vampire’s hair lifted as he shook his head. “It doesn’t matter.” A shimmer of distress crinkled the corners of his eyes. “We storm in there demanding the queen give the faerie back, and she’ll peel the skin off of our bones.” His gray eyes traced my face as he added softly, “We’ll never get him back. You must see this. It’s over. I’m sorry, Rowyn, but this is a fight we can’t win.”

  “Like hell it is.” I wiggled out of his grasp and hit my blade against the door. “I’ll carve my way in if I have to. But I’m getting through this damn door.” My pulse was racing, and fear and tension pulled my muscles tight. “The longer we wait, the harder it’ll be to save him.”

  “Rowyn, just listen for a second.” T
yrius was next to the door.

  “He’s innocent,” I yelled. “Innocent. He killed the queen’s son in self-defense and she wants revenge. It was always about her getting her revenge. And I’m the idiot who brought him to her. This is my fault. I’ll never be able to live with myself knowing I played a part in his death. Don’t you get it?” I stopped jabbing the door and looked down at Tyrius. “If he dies…” I swallowed, feeling the prick of tears but not able to get my mouth to work to say the rest of the words.

  “Okay, so how do we do it?” asked the cat. “Do you even have a plan?”

  “Yes,” I lied. “We go in and get Ugul. Possibly kill a few faeries on the way.” The simplest plans were the best. But this was a suicide mission. I knew it. Tyrius knew it. They all knew it.

  “Okay, Sherlock,” said Tyrius, clearly annoyed that I wouldn’t let this go. “How do you plan on getting inside? The tower door won’t open to non-faeries unless we have an invitation.” He made a face. “Do you have an invitation? Uh—no. You don’t.”

  “I’ve got your invitation. Rowyn, move,” ordered Jax suddenly. “I got this.”

  Turning, I saw Jax standing, legs splayed with the shotgun pointed at me, well, at the door.

  “Right.” Nodding, I reached down and grabbed Tyrius before he could argue and moved out of the way.

  Jax’s expression turned positively devilish, in a very sexy sort of way. He pumped the shotgun and fired.

  Once, twice, and the last shot blasted a hole through the door large enough to fit a person.

  “So much for sneaking in,” mewed Tyrius. “We’ve just sounded the alarm.”

  Not waiting for the others to try and convince me how mad this was, I dropped Tyrius and pulled my way through the opening.

  Tyrius was right. The noise Jax made by blowing a hole through the door would send the faeries at us.

  Ignoring the throbbing in my injured left thigh, I barreled down the cave-like corridor as fast as my legs would go. The same sconces with jade demon fire lit the tight spaces in hues of greens. The sound of my breathing was loud in my ears, and my boots hit the hard-packed dirt at a gallop. The Dark Arrows should have been upon us by now, and a cold unsettling feeling rushed in my gut that they hadn’t. This was bad, but it was too late to back down.

  I could hear the distant murmur of voices and the unmistakable sound of laughter.

  Fury filled my mind like a fever. I reached the two ancient and enormous stone doors within seconds and, using my momentum, threw my shoulder against them.

  The doors were flung open with a crash. I waited for the cries and shouts, waited to see a horde of faeries lash out at us, but the faeries just stared at me, their pinched faces especially intent.

  The voices stopped. I blinked at the sudden brighter light and slowed my pace as I entered the vast, circular chamber and moved past the vine-twirled pillars, the crabapple trees, and the wild flowers, where I’d accepted the job to begin this nightmare.

  Unlike the first time I’d been in the tower, there were no drum beats, no music, no happy chatting, just the sounds of our heavy breathing and our boots clunking in the chamber.

  I cursed just as I cleared the trees and halted. There weren’t a hundred faeries gathered in the hall. I’d guess I was staring at about a thousand. Damn. Of course they’d all turned at the sound of our explosive entrance, a sea of posh clothing over gaunt bodies. Their thin faces were amused and showing pointed teeth, their black eyes expectant.

  The assembled faeries watched me for another heartbeat, and then they all turned their attention to the dais. Heart racing, I followed their gaze and my knees buckled.

  Ugul was on his knees, the arrow in his chest still clearly visible. His head was pulled back, and behind him Daegal had a knife at his throat. The goblin did not look up.

  About fifty Dark Arrows stood in formation before the dais, bows with arrows nocked and ready.

  The dark faerie queen stood on the platform. Her single middle part of raven hair spilled down over a flowing white gown that pooled to the floor and around her feet. The white gown played against her snow-white skin, making it seem as though the gown had no beginning and no end. She was even more terrifying than I’d remembered—the perfect bride from hell.

  Isobel’s black, bottomless eyes fixed on me and her face pulled tightly into a smile, baring her sharp features and giving her the cold unnatural beauty of the fae.

  The queen tilted her head as if to show off her crown of human teeth and convey just how evil she truly was.

  “How delightful to see you again, Hunter,” purred the faerie queen of the Dark Court. “You’re just in time to witness the beginning of my rule.”

  Now why did that sound really, really bad?

  22

  The gathered faeries laughed, and there was something terrifying in it, as though they’d already won some secret battle, and we’d arrived late at the party.

  Tyrius bumped into my leg. “Rowyn, don’t do anything stupid,” he whispered.

  I kept my eyes on the queen. “Who says I’m going to?” Okay, so my plan of barging in seemed a little stupid now.

  “I do.” Tyrius sighed loudly. “This is bad. This is really, really bad. Let’s just turn around and leave. Maybe they didn’t see us.”

  I set my jaw. “I’m not leaving without Ugul.”

  Jax, Vicky and Keith pooled around me. When I heard Danto’s growl, I snuck a glance at him. He’d vamped out. Dark blood seeped between the fingers of his shaking fists, and his black eyes were fixed on something across from us. I followed his gaze. Below the platform stood a cluster of twelve males and females, secluded from the main crowd. From their cold, beautiful faces, from that echo of power still about them, I knew they were vampires.

  A stirring of unease ruined my adrenaline buzz with unsettling speed. One stood apart. He was huge. His shoulders looked as wide as I was tall, and he showed off his physic in an elegant, three-piece suit. But his eyes were sharp, revealing a quick intelligence, and he moved his muscular bulk with the sexy grace all vampires shared. Even worse, they all had the collected, confident pride of vampires.

  It was clear they’d been invited to watch Ugul’s execution. But why? Faeries rarely mixed with vampires. What did the vampires gain by watching the death of a fae?

  My eyes settled on Danto, and unless that big vampire didn’t spontaneously combust from Danto’s glare, it could only mean I was looking at the vampire Stefan. The dark faerie queen’s choice for Head vampire in the New York City Court.

  As though hearing my thoughts, Stefan’s eyes met mine, his face impassive if not slightly bored. But then his eyes darted to Danto and he smiled to show his teeth.

  Fur brushed my neck as Tyrius leapt to my shoulders. “I’d like to know why there are vampires here,” he said as he settled himself.

  “I was just thinking the same thing,” I mused. “Why would they want to be part of this? It doesn’t make sense.”

  Tyrius swiveled to face me. “I’m willing to bet the fur on my tail they want a piece of whatever’s happening, that’s what.”

  The air shifted next to me, and I felt Jax’s breath on the other side of my cheek. “You know I love a fight, especially with these skinny bastards, but I’m running low on ammo. Any bright ideas on how we’re going to get him back?”

  “By asking nicely?”

  Tyrius snorted as I exhaled long and slow. I pulled my eyes from the vampires and met the queen’s defiant stare. She had never looked away from me, I realized with a chill.

  My blood pounded in my veins, but I kept my chin high as I said, “Let him go.” I winced, hearing the slight shake in my voice.

  The queen licked her lips, and a dark delight flashed in her eye. “Or what?” she taunted.

  I squared my shoulders. “Or I’ll kill you.” Okay, so that sounded really lame.

  Before I’d even finished my sentence, the band of Dark Arrows, all fifty of them, shifted and came forward like a wall of soldi
ers. The other faeries parted, giving the Dark Arrows a clean line of sight. Swell. The fae warriors stopped twenty feet from us and pulled back their bowstrings.

  Shit. There was no outrunning that.

  I don’t know why but my gaze flicked to the group of vampires, and my blood pressure rose at their laughter. Stefan caught me staring and blew me a kiss. Bastard.

  “Stop!” Isobel commanded, and as one the Dark Arrows lowered their bows. “Not yet. I want them to watch.” She waved her hand dismissively. “You can kill them afterwards. I honestly don’t care.” Her eyes found Danto and her delight intensified. “Danto. I’m very pleased to see you here.”

  “I’m not,” growled the vampire, and Isobel’s smile widened when she saw him glance at Stefan.

  “Oh, don’t look so miserable, Danto,” said the queen and gave him a small, horrible smile. “Trust me. You are going to enjoy this.” She raised her voice and spoke to the crowd. “Tonight I will give you a gift worthy of my hall,” she went on. “Tonight will change every night from this day forward. Change is upon us, my children. To all half-breeds, as promised, our time has come.”

  “Am I the only one lost here?” said Tyrius, his voice low. “Please raise your hand if you’re following any of this.”

  Isobel made a telling face. Daegal smiled wickedly and gave a sharp tug on Ugul’s hair, making his head snap back.

  “Don’t. Please,” the goblin moaned, his eyes closed, and I began to shake.

  I gritted my teeth and took a gasping breath. “If you kill him,” I said, my voice ringing through the hall, “the Gray Council will come down on you hard. I promise you that. He’s innocent. He killed your son in self-defense. If you kill him now, that’s murder. You’ll be ruined. You’ll lose your tooth-crown. You’ll be nothing.”

  The queen never stopped smiling as though I was giving her the greatest of compliments. “Oh, no. I don’t think so.”

  “Don’t you want to hear what he has to say? Don’t you care about the truth?” Of course not, and I knew I was pushing my luck. But I hoped she’d care if I put enough doubt in the minds of the other faeries.