Victoria planned to die, but she intended to take those who threatened Aden and her people with her.
He had to stop her. Had to save her. What good was his life without her in it?
“Stop,” a soft voice called before he could decide on a plan of his own.
Brendal strode into the cave, a visibly frightened Mary Ann trailing close behind her. No. No! Aden cursed under his breath. Not her, too. Not here. Not with Victoria’s beast so close to bursting free.
Victoria groaned, the repercussions hitting her, as well.
“Don’t do it,” he whispered. “Please.”
“Oh, good. All we lack is the wolf,” Marie said. Her tone was optimistic, but her features were almost…grim. Definitely haunted. “I’m sure he’s on his way. Where that one goes, he goes.”
“I didn’t see any hint of the wolves outside,” Brendal said.
“They’ll come, so remain on alert. For now, take the girl outside.” Marie waved to the mouth of the cave with a suddenly trembling hand. She looked at it, frowned. “Take her now.”
“I feel like…I’m being…” another witch began, rubbing at her chest as if she were pained.
“My powers are…”
“Drainer,” the witches said in unison, and there was enough horror in their voices to make Aden cringe. Only Marie and Jennifer appeared unsurprised.
“Remove her and hold her until the spell takes effect,” Marie snapped. The howl of a wolf echoed through the cave, and she stiffened. “As predicted, the wolves have arrived.”
Brendal shook her head. “I don’t think I will. Take her out, that is.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Mary Ann,” Victoria suddenly shouted. “Run!”
No, no, no! The signal. Aden dropped to the ground as Caleb shouted a tortured denial. Victoria’s beast flew overhead with a roar.
Mary Ann yelped, but ran as commanded, slowing only when Brendal grabbed the back of her T-shirt. She whipped around and shoved her flattened palm into the fairy’s nose. There was a moan, a spray of blood. She was released and darted away.
After that, Aden lost sight of her. The witches ran for the exit, but the beast beat them to it, flashing sharp, dripping teeth, roaring. He chomped at them, and they scrambled backward. He didn’t let them get very far before he batted them with his tail and his wings. So much strength…they propelled into the cave walls, dust pluming around them.
Most of the witches must have been warded against physical injury because no cuts appeared, even when those razor-sharp teeth bit into flesh. But they did scream, as if they could feel the damage that should have been done to their bodies. A few were not warded; they bled. And bled.
Aden jumped to his feet. A shaking Victoria clutched at him, trying to hold herself back, muttering, “So good. Just a taste. A little taste.”
First things first. “Don’t kill them,” Aden told the beast. “Please.” He needed them.
Please, Caleb echoed.
Those large, dark eyes flicked in his direction. They radiated hunger, it seemed, and anger. Anger at the treatment Aden had endured. Just then, Aden could practically hear the beast’s thoughts. The witches were a threat to him, and all threats must be eliminated.
“Please,” he repeated, and received an almost imperceptible nod. “Thank you.”
And now, for his vampire. Aden backed Victoria against the wall and pushed her into a corner. The beast had spent nearly a century inside her, but she had no control over it, and might be considered another threat. Aden was taking no chances.
He faced her, saw that her eyes were alight, glazed and focused behind him. She licked her lips over and over, as if she already tasted the sweetness she craved. Should he try and feed her his own blood or would that just make her craving worse? “Victoria.” He shook her, adding, “I need you to stay here. Do you understand?”
She didn’t respond, was still staring behind him, at the blood.
He kissed her then, hard and fast, but enough to finally gain her attention. She blinked up at him. “Aden?”
“Stay here,” he commanded. “Okay?”
He moved forward, dodging one frantic witch after another. Someone grabbed his arm and jerked, and he tripped to the side. He freed himself and crouched, remained searching…scanning…there. Marie.
Panic clouded her features as she guided her sisters out of harm’s way. She was closing in on him…almost there…he leapt at her, knocking her down, rolling and pinning her to the jagged floor.
Careful, Caleb pleaded.
She struggled, but Aden held tight. “Call the meeting to order.”
“No!” Panic receding, she gripped his chin and forced his eyes to lock with hers. “Hear me well, Haden Stone. You love me. You want to obey me.” Power pulsed from her, growing, spreading, wrapping around him. “Yes, you love me so much.”
Yes, Caleb said. Yes.
A spell, Aden realized. She was weaving a spell, the desire to love and adore her suddenly there. Impossible. He was warded against mind-manipulation. Wasn’t he? Or was he feeling Caleb’s love for her? Caleb’s need to obey her? Or was love an emotion of the heart, rather than the mind, and she could make him feel whatever she wanted?
Someone tried to physically turn his head for him. Victoria, he thought. He recognized the heat of her hands. Still, he resisted. Caleb was muttering about the rightness of Marie’s claim, how everything was going to be okay if they just did whatever she wished. “Aden!”
The voice, so familiar, beloved, reminding him that there was something he needed to do. Something about his friends. His friends! Yes. He needed to save them.
He gave Caleb a mental shove, and the need to please Marie faded. He glared down at her. “Call the meeting. Now! Call it, and the beast will stop.”
“Hear me well.” Her eyes swirled, luring Caleb back to the surface, catching him, snaring them both, beseeching Aden to obey, to forget his purpose a second time. “You love me. You want to—” She shrieked as the beast chomped her by the arm and tossed her through the air.
She landed with a hard thwack and slumped, fighting for breath. Aden’s gaze remained glued to her. Love…obey…
“Aden,” Victoria said, shaking him. “Aden! Listen to me. Hear me. You have to fight this.”
Marie gained her bearings and stood on shaky legs. She raised her arms, eyes narrowed and still pinned on him. “You love me. You will obey me.”
Love, obey, Caleb said.
“She’s hurting him,” Victoria cried to the beast, and a second later, Marie was screaming, tossed into another wall, but again she stood, ready to finish her spell.
MARY ANN STUMBLED OUTSIDE, into the moonlight. There’d been a…a dragon in the cave. An honest to God dragon. She shouldn’t have run, she thought, but the urge to flee had been instinctive. She’d panicked. She’d obeyed Victoria without hesitation.
Perhaps, though, she wasn’t any safer out here. Another war was being waged.
Where minutes before there had been calm in this rocky canyon, now vampires and a few wolves battled more fairies than Mary Ann could count. And those fairies were vicious. They might not have had access to je la nune poison, but they fought with swords, hacking at fur and flesh, aiming for the vampires’ eyes, ears and mouths, blood spraying.
Riley was here. She knew he was. He would have followed Victoria. So where was he? If he was hurt, she would—
Behind her, there was a screech of fury, and then a heavy weight was pushing her down. She flipped midair and realized Brendal had trailed her out, then she hit the ground and lost her breath, her train of thought.
“You cannot leave,” the fairy snarled at her, grabbing her by the shirt and hefting her to her feet. “You must convince Aden to tell me about my brother.”
Midnight would arrive very soon, and the winner—and loser—of this battle would be decided. One way or another. If Mary Ann died, this woman would never learn the truth about her brother. Had the situation
been reversed, had Mary Ann’s dad been the one missing, she would have been just as determined and desperate for answers as Brendal.
“Your brother…your brother is dead,” Mary Ann told her gently, still fighting for air. She tried not to cringe when someone screamed behind her.
Shock. Disbelief. Rage. All three passed over the fairy’s expression. Brendal shook her head, pale hair slapping her ashen cheeks. “No.”
“Yes. He is. I’m sorry.”
Eyes narrowed. “Then where is his body?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who does?”
“Please,” Mary Ann said. “Just tell your people to leave the wolves alone.”
“Who knows?” As she spoke, she shook Mary Ann so hard her brain rattled against her skull. “The boy? The wolf? The vampire?”
Again, Mary Ann ignored the question. She’d given the fairy an answer, but she wouldn’t condemn her friends.
“Would you tell me to save your own life?” Brendal reached behind her, and when her hand reappeared, she was gripping a blade. She held its gleaming tip to Mary Ann’s throat, slicing her skin, burning. Not enough to kill, just enough to hurt.
Fight. You know how. But as Mary Ann moved to smash the woman’s nose into her brain, the blade sank a little deeper. She froze, panting, a cold sweat breaking over her. She was stronger than she’d ever been, yes, and had some training now, but this, this she had no idea how to combat.
There was a howl, a blur of black in the corner of her eye, and then Brendal was soaring to the side, away from her. Riley, in full wolf form, landed on top of the fairy, doing his best to subdue her. Mary Ann’s relief didn’t last long. He wasn’t having much luck, his motions slowing, becoming sluggish.
Was he being drained? Was the fairy somehow weakening him?
I’m the Drainer, Mary Ann thought darkly. If anyone was going to be weakened, it was the fairy. Determined, she lumbered to her feet and stumbled her way to the still-straining bodies. Riley must have sensed her, because he snarled over his shoulder. When he realized it was Mary Ann approaching, he returned his attention to Brendal.
“Hold her as best you can.”
As Riley dropped all of his weight on his opponent, pinning her, Mary Ann crouched and placed her hand on the woman’s neck, where her pulse hammered. She hadn’t had to touch the witch to feed from her, but then she’d been starving and the draining had been involuntary. This time, she suspected she’d have to use force.
She closed her eyes, tried to blank her mind. An unwanted thought arose. If she did this, everyone would know what she was. Her secret would be out. She would be marked for death. Well, more than she already was. Not just by the fairies, but by the wolves and vampires.
Another thought formed. If she didn’t do this, Riley could be injured. And besides, she might not survive the night, anyway. So, really, what did she have to lose?
Finally, her mind blanked. I’m hungry, she told herself. So hungry.
She waited. The warmth remained at bay, out of reach.
I’m starving. I need the fairy’s energy.
Again, nothing.
Time to regroup. So far, the ability had worked only on the witches. Riley had said that Mary Ann would begin with the witches, but then her need would expand to fairies, then to all other types of creatures. Perhaps it was still too soon to feed from anyone else.
No. No. She could do this. She had to do this. Mary Ann concentrated, focusing completely on the fairy. Brendal’s skin was soft, her pulse strong, so strong, like a drum. A song. Mary Ann listened to that song, allowed it to play inside her mind, absorb in her blood.
Brendal jerked against her hold.
Mary Ann absorbed the motion, too. The warmth she’d craved soon followed, sinking inside her, and oh, it was nice, too. Like being inside a cabin, snow all around, yet a fire leaping to life in front of her, soothing her.
The song slowed, however, and she frowned. She wasn’t done listening, and now, the melody wasn’t quite as pretty. It was lacking somehow. And then, even the warmth faded. She wanted more warmth. Needed more warmth.
Enough. You have to pull away, Mary Ann, or you’ll kill her. I know you don’t want to kill her.
Riley’s voice shouted through her head, jolting her, and she ripped her hand away from the fairy. She blinked open her eyes. Brendal lay motionless, barely breathing, but thankfully alive.
She’d done it. She’d actually done it. She had drained the fairy.
Can you drain the others? Riley asked, urgent. Just enough to weaken them?
Trembling, she scanned the still-raging battle. Most of the wolves were as sluggish as Riley had been, the fairies seemingly stronger than ever. She was ashamed of the little spark of glee that flickered in her chest. Not because she wanted to help, but because she want to hear more of those songs, feel more of that warmth. “I’ll try.”
THIRTY-ONE
VICTORIA STEPPED IN FRONT of Aden and kissed him, just as he had done to her. She was there, in his arms, exactly where he liked her, and with the touch of her hot, soft lips, his senses snapped back into place, Caleb’s pleading drowned out, the witch’s hold on him broken. Before he could thank her, however, she jumped away from him—flying toward Marie.
“What are you—”
The two clashed together and rolled to the ground in a tangle of limbs.
Victoria’s skin couldn’t be cut, so Aden didn’t worry about her. Yet. He approached the beast, who had positioned himself back in the doorway, keeping everyone inside, and raised his hands, as if he meant to pet. The beast—he needed a name. Chomper, maybe—huffed and puffed through his nostrils, clearly agitated by all the violence.
“Can you place the witches along the wall for me?” Aden asked.
There was a moment of suspended silence, where no one moved or breathed, everyone waiting to see what would happen. Finally the beast dipped his head and began gathering the witches with his mouth, sometimes several at a time, and tossing them along the wall. The ones still conscious tried to dart away, but he snarled in their faces, and they settled against the wall willingly.
Finally, only Marie was left. Her fight with Victoria hadn’t slowed. Or gentled. Nails slashed, teeth bit, fists punched and legs kicked.
When the beast moved for her, Aden said, “Not her. Not until I remove the vampire. Okay?”
Chomper snorted as he nodded.
“Good boy,” Aden said. “There’ll be lots of pets for you when this is over.”
Chomper’s tongue rolled out, red and wet, and his tail actually wagged.
Aden turned to the still-fighting girls. They were rolling on the ground, their punches more concentrated—nose, throats, stomachs—and their kicks more vicious. There was no hair-pulling or slapping. This was knockdown-drag-out, and to the death. Without a single drop of blood spilled, since neither was bleeding.
What was the best way to break up a witch and a vampire?
Caleb babbled, and Aden tried not to allow himself to become distracted. “Victoria. Separate. Please.”
A moment passed before she reacted. Then she flung herself away and pinned herself to the wall, arms splayed, nails digging into rock, as if they were the only thing holding her in place.
Marie spun, facing Aden. “Not much time left,” she taunted.
He raised his chin, refusing to back down. “There’s not much time for either of us, then, because I’m taking you to the grave with me.”
“You’ll try.”
“I’ll succeed.”
“Really? What about her?” Grinning, Marie held out her hand and wiggled her fingers, revealing a ring very much like the one Victoria always wore.
Aden realized what was about to happen, and his stomach twisted.
Victoria threw herself to the right, away from the witch, even as Aden leapt forward, intending to block, forcing the liquid to splash him instead. But he was too late, and Marie moved too quickly. Every poisonous drop hit Victoria’s profile.
Her face, her neck, her arm and side. Immediately she dropped, screaming her pain, clothes and flesh sizzling.
Aden changed his direction and slammed into Marie; they rolled until he was on top, straddling her and holding her down. He was so angry, he almost hit her. Almost. But he’d never hit a girl before, and didn’t want to start now. Instead, he hopped to his feet and moved out of the way.
“Get her,” he pushed through gritted teeth.
Chomper grabbed the witch and once again threw her against the wall. A gust of air left her on a pained moan.
“Hold her down.”
The beast went back for her, pinning her to the ground as Aden had, using his teeth instead of legs.
She struggled against the hold. “Let me go!”
Aden raced to Victoria. He gathered her trembling body in his arms and held his wrist over her mouth. She immediately bit down, sucking his blood. “Call the meeting to order,” he told the witch.
“Why don’t you come over here and request that to my face,” Marie sputtered.
So she could ensnare him again? Ha!
Do what she says, Caleb beseeched. We have to do what she says.
Caleb! Dude. It’s not gonna happen. Leave the boy alone. She’s bad news. Julian.
No. She isn’t!
Julian cursed at him.
He’s ensnared, Elijah explained, just like Aden was. Only Caleb hasn’t snapped out of it yet. You won’t be able to talk any sense into him until he does.
Victoria’s trembling eased and her teeth loosened on Aden’s wrist. With his free hand, he smoothed the hair from her face. His trembling increased, making him a little lightheaded.
“I think I’ll stay here,” Aden said. Victoria’s eyes were closed, and she was breathing heavily. She radiated tension, but she wasn’t screaming. “Now call the meeting to order, Marie, or I let the beast have you. And if you’re warded against death, you’ll get to live in his stomach, probably melting from the bile and acid there. Always in pain, never allowing death to relieve you.”
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