“You’re really not making any sense. Why am I here?” I repeat for what must be the twelfth time.
“Our sources confirm The Guard planned on using you to create an army. We cannot allow that to happen,” he starts, his eyes becoming dark and terrifying. “They need you, and when they come for you, we will slaughter them.”
I scoff at their ridiculous plan.
Annoyance burns in their eyes. “Do you laugh at us?” he orders.
“Yup.”
“Why?” the other demands.
I smirk at them both. “I’ll tell you the great flaw in your plan once I see Kaylee.”
They shoot unsure glances at each other and suddenly disappear from the room. I’m left hanging from the wall once again, in complete and utter darkness. Though at least they didn’t knock me out this time.
Moments later, the Knights return. Stringy brown-haired guy holds a passed-out Kaylee in his arms and throws her to the ground. She lands with a hard thud at my feet, making me realize just how I acquired my bruised hip.
“Talk,” Seaweed demands.
“What have you done to her? Why is she not awake?”
“She’s fine,” seaweed says, stepping forward and kicking her roughly in the rib. She lets out a pained groan. “See,” he says. “Now talk.”
I open my mouth to yell all sorts of threats and comments when a third figure appears in the room. My mouth practically gapes open. I’ve never met this woman, but I’ve heard about her over and over again during my Fairy classes. The Fairy Queen.
Holy crap.
I hardly know how to react. One part of me wants to lash out and smack her in the face while the other part of me is screaming not to do anything stupid.
Seaweed and Stringy immediately drop to their knees. “Your Majesty,” they say in greeting.
She dismisses them and focuses her manipulative gaze on me. “Why is my guest bound to the wall?” she snarls in outrage.
“Your majesty,” Seaweed stutters. “The child is dangerous.”
“She is all but a child. How could she be dangerous? Release her,” she demands.
The vines are instantly removed from my body, causing me to drop roughly to the floor. I immediately scramble over to Kaylee and check her over as I position myself protectively in front of her.
“Bianca, dear. I’m so very pleased you’ve come to visit my kingdom,” she smiles, letting me know that this bitch must be batshit crazy. I scoff at her, causing rage to boil behind her eyes, but nonetheless, she continues. “I believe you have some things to share with me.”
“Yes,” I say, bluntly. “Your plan to ‘slaughter’ my people will never work.”
She smiles sweetly as though looking at a child who just told her the sky is green and a cow says boo. “And why not, dear?”
“Because I’m a nobody. The Guard treasures their children and their members. I am neither. I’m eighteen years old, an adult in The Guard’s eye. I have not yet graduated and am not officially part of their ranking. I was taken from a public area, so in the eyes of The Guard, I’m fair game,” I explain.
She seems thoughtful for a short moment. “No, they require you for their own selfish needs. They will come for you.”
“You’re wrong. The people on the Front Lines die every day, we’re disposable. We’re their weapons. If we’re caught or killed then we’re not considered worthy. They will cut their losses and move on. Your plan will fail, in fact, it already has failed.”
“My dear, you must have more faith in your community,” she scolds.
I ignore her comments as it’s none of her damn business what my views are on my people. Do I have faith in The Guard to come after me? Absolutely not. But do I respect their cause and am willing to give my life for it? Indeed, I am. “What will you do when they don’t come?” I ask, moving right along.
“But they will, my child.”
“I’m not your child. What’s going to happen?” I demand.
Her eyes go frosty. “I have reigned over this Kingdom for more than three hundred years. You will respect me.”
“You are not my Queen. I am being held here against my will. I will never respect you.”
Her hand flies out, slapping hard across my face with such force I’m knocked off balance. The Knights tense beside her, sure that I’ll react, though while I have a smart mouth, I’m not stupid enough to attack the Fairy Queen.
“Remove the stray,” she orders the Knights as she indicates towards Kaylee.
Seaweed steps towards us and I reposition myself in front of him, prepared for anything. “Don’t touch her,” I snarl.
“Move out of my way,” he snaps. Quickly launching out and throwing me hard against the wall. I slump to the floor, looking up to see Kaylee being pulled into his arms. He lightly presses his finger to his wrist and disappears out of the room.
“No,” I cry. I face the Queen, finding myself suddenly alone in the room with her. “What will you do to her? To me?”
“It’s quite simple,” she says, soothingly. “Once The Guard arrives, you and your friend will be slaughtered alongside your people. But not to fear, it will happen very quickly.”
“And when they don’t show up?”
“We have further plans for you if that were to be the case,” she says as a wicked gleam comes to her eyes.
“You’re a real bitch, you know that?” I snap, coming to the end of my patience. I leap out, grab her arm and yank her to me, while my other arm rears back, forms a fist, and nails her right in the nose.
She lets out an ear-shattering wail as knights from all around appear out of nowhere and rush towards me.
“Don’t kill her,” she yells, holding her nose. “We need her. But, by all means, give her what she deserves,” she orders, then presses her finger to her wrist, disappearing out of thin air and leaving me to face the wrath of the disgruntled Fairy Knights.
“You dare lay a hand on our Queen?” one knight demands as he draws the water out of the walls and roots, creating a dirty cloud of water that hovers before me.
He smashes the water into my face, attempting to drown me where I stand, I kick and thrash, trying to get away when he finally removes the water, giving me the smallest chance to take another breath before starting the process over again. Two more knights come forward to hold me down as they continue my torture.
Next up comes an earth user, who uses the vines to strangle me, tightening and tightening, until I can no longer breathe, then just as I’m on the brink of losing consciousness, he loosens the vines and I gasp for breath.
This type of torture carries on for the next hour, each Knight taking pleasure in my pain. They finally leave me in a pool of my own blood. My body is physically worn out and I gasp for each and every breath, not even having the energy to sob.
Unconsciousness comes and I close my eyes, praying that death takes me before they have a chance to touch me again.
Chapter 19
Rylan
“We’ve been at this for ages and we’re not getting anywhere,” Daniel groans as Trey pummels his fist into the fairy we currently have tied to the motel chair. “Maybe he doesn’t know where the entrance is. It moves all the time.”
“No,” Jacinta insists. “He knows. They can sense it.”
Bianca and Kaylee have been missing for just under 24 hours and my patience is wearing thin. I stride up to the fairy, pushing Trey out of my way. I pull the gun out of the waistband of my jeans, grab the fairy by the scruff of his shirt and lodge my gun up under his jaw.
Trey steps up beside me. “Rylan, man. Calm down. We still need him.”
“I’ll kill every single one of them if I don’t get what I want. Nothing is keeping me from getting Bianca back. You’re either with me or against me,” I growl.
Trey silently nods his head and steps back, letting me do my thing.
Jacinta shrieks from behind me and quickly turns away. The fairy’s eyes widen in fear as he registers how serious I am. “Y
ou’re going to take us to the entrance of the Fairy Kingdom,” I demand.
His eyes flicker around the room, searching the faces of the people around me for any sign that I’m not about to blow his brains out. I flick the safety off the gun and his eyes widen further. “Please, please, please, don’t shoot,” he stutters. “I…I just…I can’t…they’ll kill me if I give up their location.”
“I’m going to kill you if you don’t,” I snarl.
He groans as he thinks over his options. “Please,” he begs.
I push the gun further into his jaw
“Three.”
“Two.”
“Okay,” he cries, breaking into a sob. “I’ll do it.”
I nod to the boys who immediately get to work loading the fairy into my SUV. Jacinta places a hand on my forearm, stopping me from following the boys. I look up to see the most serious look I’ve ever seen staring back at me from her blue eyes. “The second we enter their Kingdom, you’re going to have to knock the fairy out. He’s going to be a lot stronger the moment we enter his realm. Knock him out and stash him somewhere so we can use him to get out again.”
I nod in understanding and we both follow out into the midday sun. I hop in the driver’s seat and wait for everyone to finish up. Jacinta takes the front seat as Trey sits beside the fairy in the back and Daniel climbs into the open trunk space, double-checking over all the weapons we were able to get our hands on. I check the rearview mirror, looking back at him and making sure he’s loading the guns correctly, though he was taught by me so I know his practice is near perfect, but I’m not taking any chances today.
An hour later, the fairy directs me into a park. We all get out of the SUV and meet around back, loading up with weapons. Trey and I check over our guns before jamming as many weapons into every waistband, holster, and boot possible. I grab a few of the handmade explosives the boys had sat up making last night while making a mental note to thank Ben for suggesting we teach the students explosives earlier in the year, rather than at the end like the curriculum had suggested.
Trey turns to Jacinta and places two calming hands on her shoulders. “Babe, I need you to stay in the car.”
“WHAT!?” she screeches. “No way.” She looks to me for help, but I agree with Trey.
“He’s right,” I tell her, making her eyes widen in fury. “It’s going to be a bloodbath in there and you have no formal training. You’ll slow us down, so unless you’re prepared to murder another creature in cold blood, then you’re not coming.”
She sighs in frustration but knows I’m right. A tear rolls down her eye and she fixes me with a hard glare. “Bring her back to me,” she demands before turning and climbing back into the car, slamming the door behind her.
“I’m going to pay for that later,” Trey grumbles as he shoves yet another dagger into his boot.
“You did the right thing,” Daniel says, clapping his friend on the back. “She would have gotten hurt in there,” he adds. We all hear the underlying comment in his words. More like, she would have gotten killed in there.
I make my way around to the back seat of my SUV, open the door and pull the fairy out. I drill him on the layout of the kingdom, specifically where the Warriors and Knights will be and where the prisoners are kept. I hold a gun to his temple, making sure fear travels through his body to ensure he speaks the truth.
Trey and Daniel stand at the front passenger door talking with Jacinta about how to manipulate the fairy to be able to be transported with him and after a quick discussion, the boys leave to listen to the directions the fairy is spouting.
We begin to move away when I notice Jacinta climb into the driver’s seat and turn on the engine. “What the hell is she doing?” I ask Trey.
“I told her to wait in the driver’s seat with the engine running in case we need a quick exit,” he explains.
“Hmm,” I grunt. “Good thinking.”
“Learned from the best.”
In any other case, I would have agreed with him. I’ve always been the best. I pride myself on being the best. But today, I doubt myself. My moves are messed up and my thoughts are scrambled. Hell, something as simple as a getaway driver didn’t even cross my mind.
Daniel notices the look in my eyes and places his hand on my shoulder. “We’re going to get her back if it’s the last thing either of us does,” he vows.
The fairy indicates that we’ve made it to the Kingdom’s entrance. He hesitates, clearly not sure he’s doing the right thing, but he understands his fate if he was to back out.
We each place a hand on the fairy and watch as he places his pointer finger to his left wrist. I stand behind him with my gun in my hand. The world blurs before my eyes then instantly disappears before morphing into a dark underground.
The fairy snarls a delighted sound and begins to turn on us. But he’s far too slow as I’m already raising my gun and bringing the cold hard metal down on his temple with incredible speed. His body slumps to the floor and I immediately drag his body off to the side before hiding it in the dirty walls of the underground kingdom.
The boys and I don’t waste a second. With guns drawn, we take off into the maze of dirt passageways and navigating to the area the fairy said I should find my girls. I race ahead with caution, knowing the fairies would be able to sense an intruder within their kingdom.
“Remember they can feel the death of their own and will be able to pinpoint our exact location,” I remind the boys. They both acknowledge my orders with a grunt as they follow behind me, flanking at my sides.
We come down into the passageway where I believe the girls should be, but there are no doorways. Four knights appear before us and my gun instantly rings out at the same time as the boys’. Between the three of us, they’re taken out in no time. We pass straight by their bodies and head deeper into the passageway. We come to where I believe the girls should be and I realize that I’m somehow going to have to hack into these walls to find them.
Six more knights come at us, this time ready for our advance. We each take one down immediately, leaving three behind. The earth starts shaking beneath our feet and I realize one of these Knights must be an earth user. I grab an explosive and throw it at the Knights before they have the chance to open up the ground below us.
“Get down,” I yell as the blast hits, tearing the Knights’ bodies to pieces.
I get to my feet and look away from the mess of bodies before me, kind of amazed we’re all still alive. Fire from the explosion starts billowing around us and I know I need to act fast. I grab another two explosives and jam them deep into the roots that make up the walls.
I dive for cover as the explosives detonate with debris flying everywhere. I get up once again and am thankful it worked as I look at the non-existent wall. I find Kaylee instantly. She lays in a crumpled mess on the cold ground.
Trey shoots forward, pulling his dagger out of his boot and begins hacking at her binds. I see him scoop her up into his arms as Daniel and I move forward to search out Bianca.
We don’t have to search long as we find her in the very next room, but getting to her isn’t going to be quite as easy as getting Kaylee had.
The Queen hovers above Bianca’s unconscious body with a knife at her throat. I take a quick moment to notice the pool of blood around her and the deep cuts and bruises that cover her beautiful body. I’m instantly filled with the most intense rage, but I need to be smart about this.
Daniel’s face grows ghostly pale. “Take one step and she’s dead,” the Queen orders with a sick excitement in her eyes.
Nope. Not happening.
My gun shoots out and I nail the Queen in the arm. She drops the knife immediately and cries out in agony. More knights and a few of the Queen’s Warriors appear at her cries, knowing I only have a small window to get shit down, I leap out. With lightning speed, I kick my heavy boot into the Queen’s chest and she flies across the dark room, far away from my girl.
“Fuck,” Daniel roars as he j
umps into the fray, gun drawn and taking out as many knights as possible before any of them have the chance to bring in their magical abilities.
Nope, too late.
The fire from the explosions blossom around us as the Knights desperately work to put it out to save their kingdom while also trying to take us down.
The air grows thin and I realize, the oxygen is being sucked out of the air, hopefully, to stop fueling the fire rather than to kill us, but I’m doubtful. Water begins being drawn from the wall of roots and is immediately thrust onto the fires, putting them out. Leaving the Knights to focus solely on us.
I scoop Bianca up into my arms, being careful not to hurt her further. She moans at the movement and I pray we make it out of here alive.
We turn to bolt back down the passageway to the exit with the Knights hot on our heels. Daniel continues shooting, taking out a few more knights. I look over to check Trey is okay with Kaylee. He has her thrown over his shoulder, while he throws a dagger with all his might, right into the forehead of a knight that blocks our way. We pass the knight's body and I notice the vines in the walls beginning to move. They start to snake in our direction and I know this isn’t good.
Daniel grabs an explosive from his pocket and throws it into the fray behind us. Taking out the last of the knights and in the process, stopping the moving vines. I have no idea how we’ve managed to make it this far. I know without a doubt that there are thousands of Knights and Warriors, but I have no idea why the hell they aren’t here protecting their Queen and have left her defenseless. Whatever their reasoning is, I’ll have to think about it another time.
I see our exit up ahead and relief starts to fill me. We’re actually going to make it.
The Queen appears before us, blocking our path. Rage fills her eyes, but that doesn’t stop us, we continue on toward her, perfectly fine with bowling her right out of the way. She raises her hands and I have no doubt she’s about to give it everything she’s got. After all, she didn’t become the Queen for nothing, and not to mention, she’s pretty damn pissed off right now.
Vines shoot out from the walls and come right for us, faster than bullets. I shift Bianca in my arms and turn my body, protecting her from the assault as I’m not sure she could survive anything else.
Heart and Revenge: Slayer Academy (Book 2) Page 17