Of Blood and Sacrifice (Royal Fae Guardians Book 2)

by Heather Renee

  I flinched at her words. They were harshly spoken, telling me she was still upset, but maybe it wasn’t for the reasons I assumed. Maybe she was telling the truth.

  Backing away slowly, I went to Ryland, who held his arms open for me. When I stepped into them, he whispered, “She’s right. She could have said it more gently, but that’s not how Jordan does things.”

  A flicker of light expanded in my core. I tried to grasp on to it, but just as hope glimmered, the spark vanished.

  The lion roared, and within the confines of the cave, I had to cover my ears.

  Stryx flew to my shoulder. “Dom is going to be fine. Let’s head out.”

  Brooke, Oliver, and Cynder led the way, followed by Jordan and Dom, who held his head high as if he hadn’t just been in massive pain.

  Stryx stayed with us, and we left last. “What did you do just now?” I asked.

  “When he was first hurt, I gave him one of my feathers. It healed the worst of his wounds, but he needed more time and magic to be back to normal. Unfortunately, my feathers aren’t never-ending. I have to use them sparingly, or there could be lasting repercussions. So, I did what I could initially, and when enough time had passed, I infused him with my magic to dull the remainder of the pain until he heals on his own.”

  “I’m sorry you had to give one up to the vampire in order to get his blood. I didn’t realize it could hurt you,” I said.

  He snapped his beak. “You gave your blood; I gave a feather. Then, we got what we needed. There’s nothing to be sorry about.”

  His irritation at me seeped through like Jordan’s had. Maybe I really was making a big deal out of nothing. Obviously, what I’d done hadn’t been nothing, but I was surrounded by people who truly cared about me. They weren’t going to walk away because I messed up. They knew I wasn’t perfect and accepted me anyway.

  The spark within my core reignited again and I held on to it with everything I had. Closing my eyes, I let Ryland guide me as I focused on bringing back the light within me. Stryx’s wing came around the back of my head, further motivating me to find a glimmer of joy and let go of what I’d done.

  Yes, I’d hurt my friends, but they were going to be okay. I’d even killed two people, but as much as I didn’t want to be a murderer, I couldn’t have let them live, even if I wasn’t under the influence of dark magic.

  If I hadn’t stopped them, then how many more innocent lives would they have taken? Too many.

  “That’s it, young one. Hold on to your light and let it lead you. It will never take you astray,” Stryx whispered in my ear.

  Ryland’s grip tightened on me, and, when I finally opened up my eyes, he was staring at me with admiration. “You are incredible. I hope you realize that.”

  Instead of replying, I merely smiled at him and accepted the compliment. I wasn’t entirely sure I believed him, but I was trying to, and that was progress.

  “Brooke found something,” Stryx said, bringing our attention back to the task at hand.

  “The succubi?” I asked.

  “I don’t know.” He flew from my shoulder, and I began to run with Ryland at my side.

  We caught up with the others, and they were standing around a female body. “I can smell the blood. They were recently attacked,” Brooke snarled, fangs protruding, and I was having a hard time deciding if that was because she was hungry or angry. Maybe both.

  “Maybe there are some survivors,” Jordan suggested, looking around.

  Cynder wrapped her body around Brooke, instantly having a calming effect on the vampire as she took a deep breath and focused. “There’s at least one heartbeat within the trees.” She blurred and disappeared into the surrounding forest.

  The rest of us followed after her with Cynder leading the way. I found it interesting that Oliver’s bonded animal had taken such a liking to the vampire.

  Brooke was walking slowly between a grouping of trees when we caught up. She was intent on her task, so we stopped and waited for her next move. Suddenly, she slammed her fist into a tree, and it splintered, sending the top half toppling into the forest.

  A scream cut through the air as Brooke pulled a kicking and screaming child from inside the stump. “Let me go!” Little arms flailed as her head shook and blonde hair blocked her face. “My mother will kill you all.”

  Brooke held the girl closer, whispering something in her ear. The child stopped fighting, but still wasn’t trusting. “Where is my mother?”

  “Can succubi even have kids?” Jordan asked.

  “I didn’t think so. Their mothers are always human, and no human has ever been in the Otherworld or Arvayta before,” Stryx replied.

  “So, then, where did this kid come from?” Oliver asked.

  “Hopefully, Brooke can find out.”

  Two shimmers appeared in the air, and Ryland tucked me behind him, crouching and ready for a fight. Without a thought, my magic was already building inside me, but I couldn’t see any danger.

  Brooke still held the child, Oliver and Cynder with her as well, none of who seemed on edge like Ryland, but Dom was growling, and Jordan stood ready at his side with sword in hand.

  Stryx still hadn’t flinched from his spot on a branch, but he was observing carefully. “Show yourselves,” he demanded.

  When nothing happened, he spread his wings and flapped them three times until the shimmers I’d seen turned into something else entirely.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Two tiny pixies appeared out of the shimmer, identical in facial structure and body, but where one was light, the other was dark. Blonde hair and ebony hair. Silver eyes and nearly black ones. Pale skin and umber. It was a startling, yet fascinating contrast between the two of them.

  “What do we have here, sister?” the blonde one asked.

  “Hmm, seems to me we’ve found ourselves some new toys. Shall we take them home or have our fun with them here?” the other snickered.

  Dom wasn’t having it and flicked his tail, forcing one to bounce into the other. The ebony-haired one hissed. “Watch it, furball. We didn’t arrive here looking for a fight, but don’t tempt me to change my mind.”

  A darkness that was all too familiar to me rolled off the tiny pixie in waves and called to me. Ryland held on tight as I took an involuntary step forward.

  “Myrina, take it easy. We don’t need anything from you, so you and your sister can be on your way,” Stryx said, landing on my shoulder.

  The darker one Stryx had called Myrina flew toward us but spoke to her sister. “Did you hear that, Sephira? They don’t need anything from us.”

  “That I did, and I find it interesting unless what we’ve heard are lies.”

  Ryland leaned in closer. “Pixies are the most manipulative of the creatures in the Otherworld. Don’t fall for anything they say.”

  Unfortunately for him, that only made me want to know them more, and I fully recognized how that should have been a warning sign for me, but I blamed the fact that I didn’t care on the lingering effects of the night before.

  “Word around the sectors is that you’re looking for a few things along with a dark fae,” Sephira said as she circled closer to me. “Seems things around here might have gotten a little out of hand during your search.”

  “We were looking for the succubi and found this child. The others were already gone when we arrived,” Stryx replied.

  The tiny pixie winked at him. “Sure, they were. That child is a witchling. She doesn’t belong with the succubi. Regardless, we don’t care and that’s not why we’re here. You have something we want, and in exchange, we’ll give you what you want.”

  A witchling? That was a term I hadn’t heard yet, but assumed it meant a child witch.

  Myrina joined her sister, and they flew toward me and Ryland, sharing a look before addressing us.

  “Your secret lover isn’t happy with you. He’s throwing fits all around our lands, and we don’t like it. So, you need to go to him or deal with us as well,” Sephira sai
d sweetly, but there was nothing sweet about it.

  “Sounds to me like it would be better for you if we killed Alaryk. You can’t be stupid enough to think he’ll stop his destruction if he has me,” I replied calmly.

  Myrina lunged for me, but Sephira stopped her. “Dear sister, we don’t resort to violence. We’re negotiators. Now, tell me, Guardian. Why shouldn’t I let Myrina have her way with you?”

  “Because I’m not a guardian, and I’d probably kill her, and then I’d have to kill you and who wins then? Nobody, because then you can’t give me what I want. You’ll just have wasted our time. So, how about you tell us what you want, and we’ll see if we’re interested in making a deal?”

  Myrina was turning red in the face, but Sephira kept her composure. “Give me your hand.”

  “No,” Ryland interrupted.

  The pixie’s wings fluttered. “Oh, really? Well, here’s how I see it. The girl is right. Things are either about to get real messy or real friendly. So, if you want us to make a deal, let me prove what she is.”

  “Ryland, let Kaliah go,” Stryx demanded, but my Meraki didn’t comply.

  I turned around to face him. “I’m okay. I won’t do anything like before.” As much as I wanted to add “I promise” to the end of that statement, I knew I couldn’t. All I could do was hope my words were true.

  Except there was a little part of me that wished they wouldn’t be.

  “What do you need with her hand?” Jordan asked while Ryland battled with his need to protect me.

  "I want to poke her finger. One test of her blood will tell me all I need to know. You see, I know who she thinks she is, but not everything is as it seems any longer,” Sephira answered cryptically.

  Jordan’s sword was still in her hands. “You hurt her, I don’t care how messy it gets, I will feed you to the lion.”

  The pixies looked at each other and grinned. “We look forward to any attempts.”

  They really were sinister little things.

  “Ryland, the sooner I do this, the sooner we can be on our way. We need to find the heart stone,” I said.

  His chest rumbled as he held me tighter. “I don’t trust them.”

  “Neither do I, but my gut is telling me this is our best chance.”

  Sephira appeared right between us, her four-inch frame glowing near my cheek. “Heart stone, you say? Well, you’ll definitely be interested in our deal now.”

  Before anyone could stop her, Myrina was at my other side and bit my fingertip.

  My hand jerked away. “What the hell?”

  Jordan joined Ryland at my side in an instant. “You’re going to pay for that, bug.”

  Myrina ignored her as she licked my blood from her lips. “Oh, she’s unique. One of a kind even.”

  “What do you taste, sister?”

  Myrina licked her lips. “Fae, both light and dark. Guardian magic and ancestral power, strong and commanding, but untapped. Disappointing, really.”

  Well, these pixies were idiots. We already knew all of that, and I was pretty sure half of the Otherworld did as well.

  “Why do you wear a crown on your head, but yet you hold no title?” Sephira asked me.

  “It’s a family heirloom. I’ve grown fond of it.”

  I didn’t want to tell her its use in case she had any bright ideas, but not having all the details didn’t matter to the pixie.

  “Well, I want it, along with some of your magic.” Sephira turned around. “And some of that.” She pointed to Brooke.

  “Some of the vampire?” Stryx asked.

  “Yes, her venom. I have a spell I’ve been working on, and the air around her tastes divine.”

  These pixies were extremely odd creatures. They seemed more like miniature vampires to me with their biting and smelling than anything else.

  “You can’t have my crown,” I finally said. Even if I didn’t technically need it anymore, I would never give it up knowing it was the only thing of my grandmother’s that I had.

  Myrina pulled a small dagger from her side that grew larger as she got closer to my face. “She can have whatever she wants.”

  “Easy, sister.” Sephira grabbed her shoulder, then spoke to me. “I just want it as collateral along with the deal since our end of it can’t be guaranteed right away.”

  Ryland stepped forward. “What deal would that be? All I’ve heard you speak of are the things you want. Yet, you haven’t proven why I shouldn’t suggest that Kali unleash her power now and make the two of you disappear.”

  Surprise filtered through me, but I was pretty sure Ryland was bluffing. And if he wasn’t, maybe things weren’t so bad, and he really did accept the darkness within me after witnessing what I had done the night before.

  “Oh, don’t get your magic in a twist. Let’s start from the beginning, so those of us not keeping up can understand. We know where Alaryk is. We’ve made a deal with him, but you don’t get to know that deal. Just know if you prove yourself, it won’t happen.” Sephira smirked at me.

  My fingers twitched as I fought to lash out at her. Knowing my friends were so close was the only thing holding me back.

  “You can have the crown back as soon as Alaryk is killed, and I want to be there when she unleashes what’s inside her.” Sephira pointed at me but continued to speak as if it wasn’t present. “I will take what I want from the darkness lingering within her blood and do with it as I please.”

  “Not a chance in hell,” Jordan snapped, interrupting the pixie.

  Sephira shook her finger. “Not your magic, not your deal. Stay out of it before I play with your cat a little too roughly.”

  Dom wrapped his tail around Jordan’s waist, keeping in her place, but I was disappointed. The more these pixies talked, the more I wanted to fight with them.

  “Pixie, you’re pushing your luck. You might be powerful, but you’re outnumbered by just as much magic. Remember that before you speak again,” Stryx said.

  The pixies hovered in the air next to each other and seemed to take Stryx seriously, which thankfully released some of the tension from Ryland and Jordan.

  The little girl Brooke was holding began crying and screaming for her mother again, giving the pixies the push that we needed to move things along.

  Sephira sighed. “Fine. I still want the crown as collateral. Alaryk is causing trouble for us, trying to put others higher up on the food chain. We don’t like it, nor are we fond of the deal we made with him, but we’re not opposed to it, either. So, for the time being, as long as you can prove yourself, the enemy of our enemy is our… consort. Remove our annoyance and you can have your precious crown back.”

  “That’s not a deal. You better keep speaking and stay away from my crown,” I snapped as Myrina inched even closer.

  “Ah, yes. If I wouldn’t keep getting interrupted, then we might have gotten to that point already. So, the succubi,” Sephira paused, glancing at her sister once more.

  “What about the succubi? Do you know how we find them?” I asked.

  “No, we don’t bother ourselves with the likes of demons, but we have something better, and it will cost you,” Myrina answered.

  “What would that be?” Oliver asked, having moved between Brooke and the pixies after they mentioned their interest in her.

  “We have a heart stone,” they said in unison.

  Stryx pressed on my wall and I let him in. Pixies don’t lie. They must really have one, but you cannot give them any part of your dark magic. We will find another way.

  “And you’ll take my crown and some of the vampire venom in exchange?” I asked.

  Myrina cackled. “You better dig a little deeper than that, princess.”

  “One of my feathers,” Stryx offered up, but I backed away with him still on my shoulder.

  “No, you said that using too many of them had consequences. You’ve already used two since we’ve been here,” I hissed.

  Just let me give them my magic. Your life isn’t worth whatever they c
ould do with it, I added mentally.

  But it is. His head turned toward Jordan. “Please take one from the right side.”

  Jordan’s apologetic eyes met mine. “I wish there was another way, but we need their help.”

  “And here I thought you were a stupid girl,” Myrina snickered.

  Jordan’s sword arched in the air, stopping only a centimeter from the pixie. “Don’t. Push. Me.”

  Myrina was smart enough to keep any other words from coming out as they stared each other down. Finally, Jordan sheathed her sword and came closer to Stryx, who was still perched on my shoulder.

  She apologized once more as Stryx outstretched his wing and she yanked one of his silky white feathers from its rightful place.

  Sephira zoomed between them and took the feather. “Hmm, this is quite the bargain. I’ve never encountered such magic. I’m not sure what I’ll do with it.”

  “My suggestion would be to save it. It could save your life one day,” Stryx said calmly, likely hoping that’s exactly what they would do instead of using it for not-so-great purposes.

  “Fill two of these full of the venom and then you can have the heart stone.” Sephira snapped her fingers and two vials floated in the air.

  Oliver grabbed them and walked back to Brooke, who was rocking the now-sleeping child on a rock.

  “The crown?” Myrina asked with glee.

  Seal the crown with your magic before you give it to them. Tell the crown to protect itself, or you’ll never get it back, Stryx said through our bond.

  How am I supposed to do that? I replied.

  You just do it. Focus on the task, and the rest will follow.

  Taking the crown from my head, I jerked it back as the greedy pixie’s hands reached for it. “Do you want to die? Nobody can touch it until I remove the protective spell over it.”

  Complete lie, but I didn’t care. It worked, and they both backed up a little. Trusting Stryx knew what he was talking about, I spoke to the crown while calling my magic forward. As the light around it began to glow silver then purple, I hoped like hell the words I used were good enough.

  As soon as the light died off, Sephira moved in. “Place it in the shimmer.” Next to her, the air changed and darkened.