by Quinn Loftis
Alston stood on Ludcarab’s right, with Sincaro and Cain to his left, while Myanin stood a little apart, her body turned so she could see the entire room of bloodied warriors. It was obvious they’d been given quite a battle.
“What did you say?” Ludcarab asked. The giddiness in his voice made him sound like a child on Christmas morning.
“Vasile and Alina, the Romania pack alphas, are dead,” the fae warrior repeated.
“As is the Warlock King,” reported another fae. “I saw Ren behead him.”
“Where is Ren?” Alston asked.
“Dead,” the fae answered. “The warlock queen killed him.”
Ludcarab chuckled. “A woman scorned.”
“Damn straight,” Myanin muttered under her breath.
“And you’re sure the alpha pair is dead?” Alston asked. He was practically salivating. Myanin found it extremely disturbing for some reason.
“I watched Hatter kill her, ripped her heart from her chest,” the fae said.
Myanin walked over to them. “Hatter?”
The fae smirked. “Yea, because he was mad.”
When she stared at him, he continued. “You know, from the human story Alice in Wonderland? The Mad Hatter? As in crazy?”
She shrugged. “Why was he the only one who got the name? As far as I can tell, all of you are quite unhinged.”
“Says the djinn who killed one of her own elders.” A vampire to her right smirked.
Myanin didn’t think, she just moved. One second, she was standing with her arms crossed in front of her and the next, her blade was out and she’d sliced it across the vampire’s neck, all the way through, severing the spinal cord until his head rolled off his shoulders and his body crumbled to the floor.
She leaned down and wiped his blood off on his shirt and then re-sheathed the blade in her thigh holster. Myanin stood up and walked back over to where Ludcarab was standing. Alston, Sincaro, and Cain had joined him and were all staring at her with mouths agape.
“I don’t like my business being shared,” she said simply. She looked across the room at all the warriors. “Keep your mouths shut about me and you can keep your heads.”
“Bloody hell,” Sincaro cursed as he shook his head.
“So, this news about the dead alphas and warlock king is good?” she asked.
“It’s more than good,” Ludcarab said. “IT’S A MIGHTY VICTORY,” he roared, and the rest of the room erupted into shouts of excitement. The loud raucous continued for at least five minutes. Myanin wouldn’t have been surprised if they’d started beating their chests and swilling horns of ale.
Finally, the noise died down enough that she heard Alston’s next question. “Where is the vampire, Hatter, who killed the female?”
“Dead,” the reporting fae answered.
“A white wolf killed him and another warlock who had assisted Hatter.”
“Lucian,” Alston said, disdain filling his voice.
“And he is?” Myanin asked.
“The alpha’s brother,” Alston answered.
“Oooh,” she said slowly. “He’s going to be pissed.” She knew she would be if someone killed a member of her family. Just like she was sure her people were pissed at her for the life she’d taken. Murdering people was a dangerous business. She was going to need more cotton candy. It seemed to help keep her from thinking about the consequences of what she’d gotten herself into. Not only had she killed one of her own, she’d now joined in with an organization who’d just taken the lives of an alpha pair known across every supernatural race. Yep, she was definitely going to need a lot more cotton candy.
“I do believe a celebration is in order,” Ludcarab said as the noise died down. “Sincaro, Cain, why don’t you take your warriors out for a feast?”
Myanin swallowed down the bile as she saw the vampires licking their lips. She knew exactly what kind of feast they were talking about. Nasty parasites.
“The rest of us will break into my own personal stores of wine,” Ludcarab continued. “And Alston, could you provide some of the infamous fae dining fare?”
Alston actually smiled at the elf king. “I think I can manage that.”
Myanin had to think for a moment about what they meant. But then the knowledge from Lyra popped into her mind. The fae had food that had a drug-like effect. It caused euphoria in those who consumed it. “Great,” she muttered. “Just what we need: drunk, drugged, power-hungry supernaturals who are already high off the death of three formidable leaders. That’s not a recipe for disaster at all.”
“I expect you will be joining us.” Ludcarab turned to her, his eyes narrowed dangerously.
Play their game, Myanin. “Of course. Wouldn’t miss a chance to celebrate a great victory.”
“Excellent.”
The shouting and general idiotic behavior continued as they patted one another’s backs, and the room began to disperse. Hopefully, they were at least going to put on clean clothes before the revelry began.
Myanin stood back and watched as Ludcarab spoke with several of the fae warriors, no doubt hoping for gruesome details of the deaths of the alphas and warlock king. She thought it foolish for them to let their guard down for even one night. Not only had Myanin been a warrior for a very long time, but she’d also learned much from one of their oldest history keepers. Thadrick had shared his wisdom with her, once upon a time, when they’d been close. He’d told her of mighty battles and the mistakes that the defeated had made. She’d always found it interesting to hear the tales of how a battle that had been so in favor of one race had suddenly turned without warning, giving the underdog the victory. She couldn’t help but cheer for the ones who’d won miraculously, though by all rights they shouldn’t have.
She walked over to the far wall and leaned against it; her eyes followed what was happening in the room but her mind was somewhere else. She couldn’t let nostalgia or the love she once held for Thadrick get in her way. He’d taken her life away, not just broken her heart. If the only way to get to him was by using the Order as a means of protection until the time to face him came, then she’d just have to play the part. She’d figure out a way to get out from under the Order’s thumb once Thad and his witch were in hell, where they could burn in agony together where they belonged.
“Jennifer.” Decebel’s voice filled her mind, and the urgency she heard caused her to surge to her feet. She’d been leaning against the wall playing a game with Titus through the wall while Thia tried to copy her knocks. She’d have to thank the Great Luna for giving her a genius rug rat, though Jen had a feeling that once Thia was a teenager, her opinion might change. She knew from her own personal experience that teenagers seemed to lose all their intelligence once the hormones kicked in and they decided they were somehow immune to injury or death.
“What’s wrong? Did someone else die? Who died? Did the Order attack someone else? Another pack?”
“Slow down, baby,” Decebel said in his calm, deep, “don’t lose your crap” voice. It annoyed her but he was right. She was wound as tightly as a paranoid psych patient convinced the toaster was going to come to life and try to strangle her with its “Someone else did die. Many died in the battle, but that is not what we need to discuss right now.”
“How can that not be what we need to discuss?” She was shrieking, which pissed her off. Jen did not like it when her voice started shrieking, even if it was only through their bond and not out loud. “Who else died, Dec?”
His sigh was audible through their bond. “Cypher.”
“Shit, damn, shit,” she cursed, not only through their bond but out loud as well.
“Shi—” Thia began, but Jen managed to get a hand over her daughter’s mouth.
“No,” she said firmly. “You can say ‘hell’ till it freezes over, but not the S word.”
When she uncovered Thia’s mouth, the little girl looked up at her and smiled. Jen saw the wicked gleam in her eye, one she knew all too well from her own face. “Dada
.” Thia giggled. It was as if she was taunting Jen with the fact that she was going to say the S word in front of her dad.
“Jennifer?”
She’d have to deal with mini-me later. Jen turned her attention back to her mate. “Is Lilly okay?”
“No. But she’s doing what she must right now, and that’s leading her people.”
“She’s strong,” Jen said. “She will get through this.” It’s not like she had a choice. She was a queen and had a daughter and a grandson.
“She will. But I need you to focus now.”
“I am focused.”
There was a pause.
“Okay, fine, I’m as scattered as a squirrel on the ground covered with endless acorns. But now I’m focused. What’s up? Hit me with it. Let’s do this.”
“Jennifer,” he growled.
“I’ve been getting my butt kicked at a Morse code game by a four-year-old while trying to keep my daughter from saying potty words because I keep saying them because said four-year-old is beating me, all while being held captive in the compound of power-hungry psychopaths. This is as focused as you’re gonna get, B.” Jen was trying really hard to reach for her calm adult self. Then she remembered that she didn’t have a calm adult self and threw that plan out the proverbial window.
“We can get you guys out.”
WTH. “Why didn’t you lead with that?” Holy rolling pixie babies! After nearly three years, did the dude not know her better than that?
“Sally’s necklace,” he continued, ignoring her question. Okay, so he did know her pretty well. “It’s blessed by the Great Luna and can bring down the wards that are keeping the fae from flashing in to get you. Nissa, Cyn, and Riven have all tried to flash, but there’s a ward up. Her necklace has the ability to take it down temporarily.”
“Okay. How?”
“We don’t know.”
“Naturally.”
“Tell her. She can figure out what to do. The Great Luna would not have intended for her to have that necklace if she wasn’t going to be able to know how to use it.”
“It’s annoying when you make good points when I’d rather you just have the actual answer,” Jen grumbled.
“I love you, too,” he said. Jen could picture his luscious lips tilted up as his chest rumbled with a deep chuckle. Gah, she missed her man.
“How will you guys know when the ward is down?” Jen asked, realizing it would be pointless to take the ward down if no one even knew it was gone.
“You can tell me.”
“How will I know the ward is down?”
“We don’t know that either.”
“So, what you’re telling me is that you know Sally’s trinket should allow Peri and her crew to flash in and get us, yet you have no idea how that is going to happen or how you will know it is happening?”
“Exactly.”
“Sounds like our kind of op. Don’t worry, B, I totally got this.” She totally didn’t have this, but she was not about to admit it because that was like giving up, and Jen did not give up. She gave hell.
“Jennifer, I need you to focus again.”
“I am focused. I’m focused on giving the Order hell.” See, hell-giver, right here, people.
“I love you,” he said again, but this time he was completely serious. She could feel his love and worry through the bond. “I need you and Thia back. Help Sally figure this out because I’m at my breaking point. Do you understand?”
“Do I understand that you’re to the point of turning your wolf loose on this compound and bringing anyone with you who wants to go on a blood-spraying killing spree?”
“Yes.”
“I completely understand, babe. I got this. Sally’s got this. And Jacque doesn’t know it, but she’s about to be with her alpha and leading her pack, kicking ass and taking names while she does it.”
“That’s my girl,” he said softly.
“Love you, B.”
“I know. I feel it every second of every day. See you soon.”
“Absolutely.”
Jen felt him pull back, but he still stayed present in her mind. She walked back to the wall and began tapping away. They were getting out. But before Jen left this compound, she was going to take out as many of the asswipes who’d been a part of her daughter's abduction as possible. They’d obviously never heard of mama bear, or in this case, mama wolf syndrome, but she was going to educate them, thoroughly. She kept that thought far from Decebel.
“She says your necklace should be able to take down the ward that is keeping the fae from flashing in,” Costin explained.
Sally looked down at the locket resting against her chest. She remembered what she’d been told about the necklace when she and Costin had been visiting her mom and she learned about the sprite realm. The charm was powerful. There were times when she’d actually felt the power of it humming against her skin.
“How am I supposed to know what to do with it?” she asked out loud, though she wasn’t necessarily asking Costin. “I’ve had it all this time, through everything that we’ve been through, and it’s never done anything more than vibrate a little and warm up. You would think that when I was in the dark forest giving my life away it would have done something.”
Costin growled but then seemed to regain control of himself. She knew he didn’t like thinking back to times when he’d nearly lost her, which she totally understood. She hated thinking about the times when he’d been in the In-Between. It made her nauseated, knowing she hadn’t been able to help her mate, even though the second time she hadn’t even known he was there. The worst feeling in the world is being unable to do anything for the ones you love. And here she was once again in that same position. Her friends and family needed her help, and she supposedly had the means to help them, but she didn’t have a clue what to do.
She began to pace and rubbed the locket between her fingers. “Think, think, think,” she muttered over and over again as she walked from one end of the small room to the other.
“Where did the locket come from, Mommy?” Titus sat beside the wall where he and Jen kept knocking back and forth at one another. It really was amazing how quickly he’d learned to do Morse code. Sally couldn’t concentrate long enough to get even a few letters down.
“It was created by the Great Luna.”
“The angel?” Titus asked, tilting his head slightly as he looked at her.
Sally smiled. “She seems to come to you as an angel, but she’s actually the Creator of our kind.”
“What did she create the necklace to do?”
“I’m not sure,” Sally admitted.
Titus knocked on the wall and then waited. Jen replied with her own knocking, and then the little boy nodded. “Aunt Jen and I think it has something to do with light. The angel always talks about how we have to be the light in a dark world.”
Sally looked at him and then smiled. “My smart, incredible boy,” she said, her heart so full of love. She finally understood why her mom would sometimes just sit and stare at her. Because there’s nothing like the love of a parent for a child. The complete awe that fills your heart as you see the little life that you want the absolute best for.
“Do you know what to do?” Costin stood up from where he’d been sitting next to Titus.
“Not exactly, but give me a minute.” Sally continued walking, but this time she closed her eyes and tapped into the magic, the light she knew was flowing inside of her. She reflected on the fact that she wasn’t perfect. She had so many flaws, and yet gypsy healers were revered because of their innate goodness. What was it that made them good? What set them apart from the rest? Was it the empathy they felt for others, even their enemies?
She thought about Tenia and the look in her eyes when Alston had been berating her. Sally didn’t know the female fae’s story or how she’d come to be working for the Order, but Sally did feel something for the woman. She felt something for all of those who had bought into the lies that the Order had fed them. Was she ang
ry? Absolutely, but there was still a part of her that wished they could be saved. She wanted them to see their wrong doings and feel remorse. “Great Luna help me,” she said very softly.
“You see what I see in people.” The Great Luna’s voice filled Sally’s mind as the worry and sadness left her, leaving only peace. “You see through their darkness to the person they could be if they chose to not give in to their selfish desires. Focus on that, Sally, my gentle healer. Focus on the fact that the darkness that holds them trapped in this place doesn’t have complete control over all of them, not yet. There are still those like Tenia who have light left in them.”
“Why is the light not winning in her?”
“Because bitterness and pain have taken root in her, and every time the light tries to grow, that bitterness pushes it back. She needs people like you to see the light in her. She needs to know that she isn’t lost yet,” the Great Luna answered.
Sally thought about the men who’d brought them food and things for Titus to do. Not all of them had seemed completely evil. Some of them even looked at Titus with kindness, even if that kindness didn’t extend to Costin or Sally.
“Seek out every ounce of light in the building. It’s there,” the goddess said, pulling Sally’s attention back. “Focus on that light and pull it toward you. Imagine it flowing into you. Imagine it filling you from the very tips of your toes until it runs up and out of the top of your head. It’s bursting forth from every pore in your skin until it can no longer be contained.”
Sally thought about the way she sent her light into the wolves when she healed them. She thought about how she would command it to seek out the damage within, and she did the same with her light now. She sent her power into the building, pursuing the light in those who were in the Order but were not fully controlled, not yet. One by one, she found the slivers of light and began drawing them to her. Like the palest rays of sunlight, they traveled through the space toward her. Then she saw several very bright lights and realized they were Thia, Slate, and Titus. The children who had yet to be corrupted by the world. They were still so full of innocence and saw the best of life. She pulled that light to her. She saw the light that was in Costin, though there was darkness as well. The longer they were together, the more the light inside of him grew. She pulled that in and felt him pushing it to her, helping her. She saw the light in Jacque and Jen, both of which had been connected to her for so long that they seemed to naturally sense what was needed and pushed their own power to her. Jacque’s seemed to have an extra boost, and Sally guessed that was because she was now the alpha female.