by Lexi C. Foss
“This is the moment you learned you were fireproof,” Rhys whispered, and I moved away from him as the next scene came into play.
My mother stood with her back to us. The hose she held sprayed my body down, while steam rose from my flesh. It made a sizzling noise as ice-cold water touched the blistering heat of my skin. She hadn’t cried and didn’t even seemed fazed by the fact that my skin was flaming red due to the blaze of the wreckage. My mother had been so calm it had terrified me, which only pulled a snort from her lips. My mom was never warm and fuzzy by any means, but I’d expected some reaction from her. What I got was cold disdain instead.
The scene changed again, turning to the day Winchester and Sig returned home for a visit, but it wasn’t the one I normally had. The new memory was blurred and unfocused, replaced by a new scene that I didn’t recall. Winchester and Sig were still there, but instead of a happy homecoming, we all stood outside in the firing range, staring at living targets tied to the trees behind our house. A man and his son screamed as Winchester fired her gun, missing one while hitting another who pleaded for mercy. I was barely seventeen years old, and the memory of the event suddenly assaulted me, and I stumbled backward as more memories began to flood my mind; terrible, horrifying memories.
Another shot rang out, the sound echoing through the woods, and my attention focused back to Sig, who smiled, having shot the target dead-on without even looking. Tears pricked my eyes, my throat closed, and my chest tightened. How could I have forgotten that this had happened? How could I have blocked this from my memories? Stunned, I watched the execution unfold as silver filled the target’s eyes and dripped down his face.
“Your turn, Remington,” Winchester announced sternly. “Relax your shoulders, stand straight, and don’t hold back. He’s a Van Helsing.”
I swallowed bile, suddenly transported as a passenger into my seventeen-year-old body to relive the memory as if it were happening for the first time, unable to do anything but watch the events unfold. I lifted my bow with intent, yet I’d purposely missed my target, something I had never done. Sig chuckled, turning his sapphire eyes to Winchester, who exhaled, sliding her attention from the target to me.
“You have to learn to kill, Remington,” she stated, sliding closer to me. Her hand lifted, cradling my cheek. “Mother will punish you if you cannot learn to murder her enemies. We all have a part to play in her revenge. You are the greatest piece on her board. We will try again tomorrow, and you will kill the Van Helsing. Do you understand the importance of this lesson?”
“I don’t want to kill people,” I whispered softly, turning my stare to the teenage boy who was barely older than I was. “I just want to make weapons.”
Winchester sighed, her hand dropping away from my face while she sucked her lip between her teeth and shook her head. “It’s what we do. It isn’t easy, but you’ll understand the importance of it one day soon.”
Silently, I watched my brother and sister undo the body of the dead male. He’d slighted my mother somehow, and in return, she’d ordered us to kill him and his son. Winchester turned, studying me carefully. The boy continued to sob with fear, and my heart clenched for him.
“Do not speak to him, Remington. Once you know them, it is much harder to murder them,” she warned, and together Winchester and Sig left the clearing, leaving me alone with the boy.
“Please,” he begged, his arm bleeding profusely from where the silver arrows had pinned him to the tree. “I just want to leave.”
I chewed my lip and silently turned my attention back to picking up the arrows. Placing my bow into the pack, I listened as the boy continually pleaded and begged for mercy. Finishing up, I turned to look at him as he watched me with azure blue eyes.
“You don’t want to kill me, do you?” he asked softly.
“No,” I whispered in a small voice. The boy smiled, and I sucked my lip between my teeth. “You want to kill us, though. So why shouldn’t I kill you first?” I crossed my skinny arms over my chest, watching him furrowing his brow.
“It is a legend they tell us from the cradle. It says one Silversmith left alive can kill every alpha and erase immortals from the world.”
“Why would we do that? That would be a horrid thing to do,” I stated, dropping my arms, looking around the woods guiltily.
“You could prove that you’re not evil.”
“How?” I asked, stepping closer.
“Release me. Let me go.”
I shook my head, turning to look around again while I spun in a circle. My heart hammered against my ribcage, while I moved a little closer to him. He smiled reassuringly, his eyes studying my face. He was one of the first boys I’d seen up this close, other than my brothers. It had made me feel weird at first, and then warmth spread through me, which had made Sig laugh. He’d constantly teased about my red cheeks and gaudy hair, making me ugly. Dick.
“You’re very pretty, Remington. Is that your name?” he asked. His pretty azure eyes smiled while he watched me moving closer. At my nod, he beamed wider, revealing handsome dimples. “Have you ever been kissed?”
I shook my head, scrunching up my nose. As if Mother would let me leave the woods to know what it was like to be kissed. My experience with romance was from chapter books and bad reality TV. I tilted my head, touching his naked chest, feeling him tense beneath my fingers. My eyes slid to his, and he smiled, swallowing hard.
“Let me kiss you,” he stated firmly. “If I am to die, I would die happily, having tasted your lips, Remington.”
I blushed deeply, pushing my hair away from my face, considering my path. I didn’t want him to be here tomorrow. I didn’t want to murder him or anyone else, and if he remained here, they would force me to end his life. I stepped on my tiptoes and reached for the arrow. He whispered encouragements, leaning his forehead against my shoulder, which had caused heat to pool in my stomach.
The moment he was free, he slammed me against the ground, stomping on my face. I cried out in shock, sobbing at the red-hot pain that ripped through me while he assaulted me. I turned, curling into a ball as he attacked.
“You actually think I’d kiss your poisonous lips? Ugly little bitch. You are nothing. You’re less than nothing. Your kind deserves to die, and when I bring your head back to my alpha, he will praise me for my bravery, facing off against a monster like you.” He reached down, yanking my head up by my hair. He ripped my shirt open, squeezing my breast while laughing cruelly. “I may take you back whole, and use you for sport,” he chuckled.
I couldn’t see past the blood in my eyes. I didn’t see what hit him, or who landed a kill shot to his forehead. Only that he released me and hit the ground with a bullet through his head, and pink brain matter sprinkled on the forest floor. Blood from both of us covered my face, and I shoved him away from me, righting my torn shirt.
“You are such a disappointment, daughter,” my mother’s distorted voice filled the forest, and yet I couldn’t see her or pinpoint her position. “Get up, Remington.” I didn’t move. I couldn’t.
Sauer grabbed my hair, yanking me to my feet. I sobbed in pain as my bones cracked and a rib pushed through my chest as he snorted. He held me in front of him, and our mother stepped out of the shadows, covered in dark robes.
She shook her head before she slapped me. “You are nothing if you cannot do what I created you to do! If you cannot become what is needed, I will remove your heart from your chest and try again. Do you understand me, Remington?” she asked. I continued to cry and scream. “Stop acting like a child!”
“She is a child, mother,” Winchester whispered, her eyes pleading for me not to say something stupid.
“She’s a waste of resources if we cannot train her to kill, Winchester. Her age doesn’t matter. None of you held back when required to handle an enemy. Remington has failed me and will be punished. Place her in the armory. She will spend six months there, and when she gets out, we will hunt another young Van Helsing for her to murder. The younger, the be
tter, so that she knows no emotional influence can prevent her from our course. Do not heal her, do you understand me?”
“She’s your daughter, mother. Not some criminal in need of a lesson,” Winchester hissed, and Sauer slapped her, causing her head to slam against the tree. She whipped it back, baring her teeth at him.
“Do not speak to our mother that way, Winchester.”
“Meet me in the meadow, Sauer. Any time, any day, asshole,” Winnie snapped, her eyes flashing silver as she glared at him in challenge. He stepped back, the only sign of fear he’d ever shown before our mom. “Come on, Remington.”
Winchester helped me toward the shed that led down into the armory. Once inside, she turned, peering down at my exposed ribs. I looked over her shoulder as Rhys watched us, his jaw hammering wildly, anger pouring from him at the dark memory. It was one of the few times my mother had harmed me, but I’d let a Van Helsing go, one who had intended to rape me, according to my mom. She was trying to protect me. She’d been trying to teach me how vile and evil his kind would be to me if I failed to kill them before they discovered what blood ran through my veins.
“The door will be unlocked tonight. I suggest you run, and don’t stop running until you’re free, Remington,” Winchester whispered, pushing money into my pocket with the E.V.I.E. flyer. “You’re not made for war, no matter what our mother thinks you are. You’re kind, gentle, and I’m pretty damn certain you couldn’t murder a bee, even if it stung you. E.V.I.E. is in Seattle, and you will be untouchable there. Everyone is going to sleep soon, and you’re going to run.” Her hand pushed the rib back into my chest, and I shivered. She slammed her hand against my mouth to hide my screams of pain. “Shh, my sweet sister. You’re okay. Do you understand what I am saying?” she asked, and I nodded. “Good. Call me when you get to Seattle. Once you are settled and accepted into E.V.I.E., you’re going to need to call mother to let her know you’re safe, but you won’t do it right away. Now, look at me,” Winnie whispered. My eyes lifted, and her hand touched my cheek. “You won’t remember what happened tonight. You will block all the bad memories from this place, only remembering the need to run because our mother smothered you. Remington, you’re an amazing girl who has an amazing future creating weapons, but you won’t hunt beings. You know your limits, and that it would hinder others. I want you to make weapons within the protection the compound will provide you. Don’t come back home. You will not leave the base until such a time in which you’re strong enough to fight back, okay?”
“What about us?” I asked, tears slipping from my eyes.
“I’ll find you when the time is right. I’m leaving Washington tonight to return to Paris. I can’t be here when she finds out you’re gone. I love you, Remi. Live, and don’t let her turn you into the monster she wants you to become.”
The scene changed, and I turned, gazing at the child version of me on the porch who wept as a man packed his belongings into a dark-colored truck.
“Why am I experiencing some of these memories as a passenger in my own mind, and others I can watch from a distance, like a movie?” I asked, knowing Rhys was beside me.
“Some memories scar too deep, and only return as nightmares you are forced to watch play out. Others are so deeply embedded into what you have become that you will always relive them as a passenger, through your younger self’s eyes.”
“I’m seeing memories previously lost to me. The fire must have cleansed more than my body when I reset. I’ve never allowed myself to lie amongst the flames for that long.”
Rhys was quiet for a moment, before he shook his head. “You saved a Van Helsing who returned your kindness with betrayal, and yet you still stepped between Cole and me.”
“In my defense, I thought Cole was the Van Helsing and totally planned to fuck him up,” I muttered, turning as my mother entered the scene playing out before us.
Winchester rushed toward my three-year-old self, lifting me into her arms. She whisked me away from my mother to the shadows of the porch. My sister’s eyes held hatred, but who she directed it at, I couldn’t tell. The hate burning within my mother’s eyes aimed at the man loading up his car, oblivious to the child on the porch who was begging him to stay. I inhaled sharply when he turned, and I realized the man was my father.
“Why is your mother’s image blurred, and her voice distorted in your dreams?” Rhys asked, taking in the silver hair and blurring face blocked from his sight.
“It’s a defense spell, so that if someone captured us, mind readers or other beings couldn’t learn that she had survived. She did it to protect herself and us from being discovered by your family and the other alphas.”
Silver shot through the air and slammed into my father as he tried to scramble to the car door. He went down hard, screaming in pain. Winchester tried to cover my eyes, but I cried for my dad. I hated this memory. I loathed it so much, but I forced my eyes to stay focused through my tears, needing to see what happened. I silently watched as my father lifted from the ground, laughing while my mother screamed in frustration. The memory froze. All except for my dad, who took in the scene on the porch before turning glowing red eyes in our direction. He silently studied me, eyeing Rhys briefly before returning his attention to me, determination burning in his gaze.
“Daughter, it is time. You know what you have to do now. Save them all, or we will all fall beneath your mother’s need for revenge. Remember me when you wake this time. I am proud of whom you have become, and I am coming to find you.” He burst into flames, slowly moving toward the porch to stare at the child version of me, smiling while I held my arms out, weeping for him to take me with him. Everywhere he stepped, flowing red flames covered the ground.
“That isn’t possible,” Rhys whispered, turning to look at me carefully before he spun, finding my father inches from us.
“Van Helsing, be kind to my child. I created her to save us all, so your services are no longer needed. You’ve played your role, so tread very carefully where my daughter is concerned. You have no idea what she is capable of doing, but the entire world will know soon enough.”
“What are you, Remi?” Rhys asked as the scene changed into a bedroom. “Was that the last time you saw your father?” he demanded.
“I don’t even remember seeing him that time. I know it happened, just not why or when. Why am I telling you this? I don’t even like you anymore.”
“Because I’m a demon, remember? Plus, I took control of your dream the moment you fell asleep. You are currently grinding your body against mine, and that is giving me more power and control of you in your dream state.”
“Peachy, I’m a leg humper when asleep. Nyx will be so relieved that she isn’t alone in that division.”
“What?” he asked, and I rolled my eyes dismissively.
The lights turned off, and I peered down at my suddenly naked body. “Put my clothes back on! This isn’t a memory. I have never in my life worn anything this ridiculous!” I wore a sheer pair of panties with tassels on my nipples. Reaching up, I pulled them off, groaning as they left my nipples sensitive.
“Oh, this isn’t a memory. It’s your naughtiest fantasy playing out for me. Let’s see how dirty you really are, Remi,” Rhys chuckled. The scene changed into a dark room with candles lit in sconces on the wall. “A dungeon? I have to admit, I didn’t see that coming.”
“That makes two of us. Are you sure it isn’t your fantasy?” I asked, feeling his hands as they slipped around me from behind. His mouth kissed my neck, and I frowned, noting that another version of Rhys stood in the corner, watching himself fondling me. “Because this isn’t weird or anything, right?”
Rhys captured my hair, turning me around, and lifted me from beneath my thighs to claim my mouth hungrily, walking us toward the bed. He chuckled from where he now stood beside us, watching as his fantasy double devoured my lips, grinding his erection against me.
“Your fantasy is me?” he questioned in disbelief.
I moaned, unable to an
swer him because my tongue was busy. Fantasy Rhys was way less drama than actual Rhys. He lifted my body, slamming me down on his cock as my head pulled away from his, a scream bubbling up to erupt from my lips.
“Really? You tell us to stay the fuck out of her head, and here you are, pulling the cheat card by learning her darkest desire. Why is she fucking you in her darkest desire?” Cole asked, and I turned, staring at him from where he stood next to Rhys, who watched his body-double thrust into my body, pulling out, before spreading my legs to gaze down upon me. “Jesus, isn’t that a pretty pussy?”
“You assholes,” Acyn growled, his eyes narrowing while he moved toward the bed. Kneeling beside it, he reached out, touching my clit. “Pretty little flower, Sweet thing.” I moaned, hating them all for being in my head.
“Bend her over so I can fill that tight ass,” Illeron growled, exiting from the shadows.
I shivered with rage as Rhys shoved into my body, and I exploded around his cock. I slammed the mental walls around me, blocking out the Van Helsings. My body jerked, and I jolted upright, screaming. I turned on Rhys as he slowly lifted from the bed, his eyes scanning my face, studying the way I trembled.
“Stay out of my head!” I yelled and turned at the echoing sound of men rushing through the hallway toward my room.
“How the fuck did you do that?” Rhys questioned.
“What the hell just happened?” Cole demanded, entering my room with the others on his heels.
“Good question because it couldn’t be what I think just happened. No one has ever thrown me out of their head,” Illeron snorted.
“It’s impossible to eject an incubus demon from your dream once he has access. She just ejected four of us,” Acyn stated, folding his arms over his chest to stare pointedly at me.
“Five,” Nyota groaned. “Sick bastards. Some shit I don’t ever want to see you doing. Trying to make Remington want you when her entire fantasy revolved around Rhys… Well, that is one of them.”