Betrayal stung, the memories of my death were foggy at best, but then I’d been leaking brain fluid as well as spinal fluid as I’d done what I had to do. Pieces of it were fragmented, lost to me. It didn’t matter how many times I replayed it, or searched my mind for those memories, I couldn’t grasp onto them. The only thing that stood out was him; speaking to the whore he’d loved. The woman who’d ruined my life and countless others in her never-ending need for revenge.
“Are you sure you’re ready to do this? You can sit out; no one will blame you for doing so,” Joshua assured me. I turned my gaze to the creatures who now pawed the earth, disturbing the ground they stood upon. “We’re out of time.” Red eyes stared at the helpless witches who slowly made the tireless trek from the buses to the stairs leading up to the Guild. They eyed their prey. “They can’t sense them.” His words hung in the air between us as I watched the hellish creatures inching closer as their prey lies in wait, unaware of the horror stalking them. Joshua spat on the ground in annoyance, and I patted my multitude of weapons one last time.
“Let’s do this then, shall we?” I popped out of existence, landing atop the Guild as I stared down at the creatures who continually worked to get the witches inside. I tensed, waiting as the others formed a line around the staircase once the last witch had passed the bottom step. Once she had, I materialized beside Joshua, displacing time and air as noise erupted around us.
Imagine Dragons’s Whatever It Takes exploded around us as Josh blinked away the distortion from moving with inhuman speed while I focused on the hellhound-looking creatures and their misshaped handlers. Yellow skin stretched over faces as if the skin they used had once belonged to someone or something else. Yellow eyes that resembled cats stared from within the borrowed skin as they slowly, clumsily proceeded to close the distance between us. All hell was about to break loose, and I smiled coldly, needing the pain that came with fighting.
Chapter 2
The air around us exploded with power; sizzling against my flesh as I turned, peering over my shoulder as Lucian and the others processed the scene unfolding before their eyes. The Fae moved in behind him and his men, moving dangerously close to us. They assessed the situation with cold, calculated gazes that sent a wave of worry washing through me. Idiots, all of them. They failed to see the real threat just beyond the veil that hunted them like moths to a flame. My eyes moved between the huge, looming beast that foamed at the mouth past giant, razor-sharp teeth and the creatures who I knew were just as deadly.
We slowly turned as one, our minds linked as we tossed the smooth, black stones towards the stairs. The wards ignited, runes melting into useless heaps of black fluid as it buzzed and locked them into its protective barrier. I watched Lucian closely, his luscious mouth curved into a deep frown as he stopped inches from the melted runes.
“You will die if you don’t remove them this instant,” he warned calmly, as if he didn’t care one way or another. It sent a warning through me, knowing if anyone could get out of that barrier, it was him and his men. His tone was seductive, alluring, and the exact thing I’d spent the last few months craving and longing for. “I won’t ask you again. Remove them or die.”
I opened my eyes against that voice, turning away from him to calm the fluttering in my chest. My family was in there, inside that Guild and helpless against these monsters that hungered to consume them. I listened as he and his men, along with the others, started working to undo the wards and runes we’d placed.
“Let’s do this,” I said begrudgingly. My arms itched as the runes I’d painted on them ignited, sending more power into my body. I soothed my useless organs, maintaining the death that kept them unbreathing, the blood refusing to course through them as power erupted instead. My heart threatened to thunder against my chest as it tried to awaken. A swelling of pain crushed against it in a viselike grip as I ignored my past, and embraced my future. Monsters at my back and monsters in front of me swam in my vision as I gripped the dual swords behind my back and brought them forth, crouching in fight against the ones who wished to feed off the blood of the witches.
The monsters at my back could wait. I lifted my swords, pushing the faceguard down to be able to see the monsters in front of me. Chaos was about to break loose, and I didn’t need my vision or orders disturbed. “They’re coming!” It came out as a hiss of warning as the others moved closer, forming a line with us and the Guild at our backs. We waited as they slowly moved forward, their masters centered in their midst, issuing silent commands. They stood well over seven feet tall, giants with wolf-type creatures that easily reached their waists.
“There,” Joshua called out and swung his blade as the first wolf lunged. He severed the head, sending it back towards its master, who screamed his displeasure. The body thundered to the ground, releasing black ooze that pooled around it onto the pavement. I heard the others behind us growl and hiss as what we were really doing registered. They were under attack by creatures who wanted what they were currently herding into the Guild: Witches. Our fucking witches.
My blades came up, lashing out as the air crackled with a beast that exploded forward. They moved as if they sifted, displacing air as they blinked in and out of existence, or more to the point, back into this plane. As if they could now cross the barrier between their world and ours with a mere order from their master. With every portal opening without warning, more and more creatures passed into our world effortlessly.
We’d searched for a way to close the portals but even standing guard to kill any creature brazen enough to cross over as we stood guard, it was an endless fight. There was also the issue that a lot of creatures had already crossed, and were here now. These ones, however, were mindless killing machines that tended to feed off the blood of witches. We’d hunted them for weeks, learning their strengths and weaknesses as they slaughtered coven after coven gluttonously.
It wasn’t until we learned that they were being controlled that we started making headway. But as we did, they changed tactics. Their scent had changed as well, and with it, we’d lost them until now.
One of the masters closed the distance between us, his sluggish movements turning sharp and calculated as he moved to fight me. I smiled coldly at him, lifting my blades as I pulled more power to me.
I stepped closer, intending to remove its head from its shoulders when it toppled over without me making a move. I glared at the gushing black blood that pulsed from the severed neck. “That was my kill,” I muttered at Joshua, who glared at me.
“Then focus,” he snapped harshly as his head shook. “Get out of your fucking head and get into the fight.”
“I’m here,” I argued, already running at one of the creatures. I flipped mid-run, launching myself into the air as I landed smoothly on its shoulders on my knees, bending forward, shoving my blade through its chest as I finished flipping back onto my feet. I wiggled my brow at Joshua, who stared back at me with wide, horrified eyes.
I slipped one sword back into its sheath and touched my naked face, my own eyes rounded, and I turned to find midnight ones staring right back at me. Lucian’s eyes narrowed as it registered who was standing in the middle of the chaos unfolding in the parking lot before him. Chaos raged around us as the world stopped as we stared at each other.
“Lenny, go now. It’s too fucking soon,” Joshua demanded, aborting the mission we’d agreed on. I didn’t move, remaining rooted to the spot with my eyes locked into the endless zeniths of midnight. “Lenny!” he shouted over the raging battle, as swords clanked and met around us. His hands shook me, and I dispelled the panic that threatened to choke me.
We stood in the middle of the battle as blades sliced around us, sending black blood oozing and splattering over us as I decided my next step.
“The wards and runes are down!” someone shouted, and I swallowed hard as I turned and stared at the spot Lucian had just been at. We moved, pushi
ng through enemies and fighting our way to the back of the line, or so I thought we had.
“Go, get out of here,” Joshua screamed, but it was guttural, wrong. I turned, staring at my brother and the monster that held him. I unleashed power, sensing the storm clouds that clapped thunderously above the battle that continued to unfold. Lucian held Joshua; I withdrew my blades, inching forward to save him.
“Creature,” Lucian hissed from where he stood a few feet away. Joshua dangled helplessly in his grasp, hanging in his deadly grip. Anger laced with ice-cold fear as the knowledge of what he may or may not be able to do to him registered in my brain.
I pulled my mask up and over my head, dropping it onto the blood-covered street as I revealed the ugly scar that adorned my neck like a fine string of diamonds. His eyes flinched as if he’d been physically slapped in the face as he took in the damage. His body tensed as blue flames danced upon his fingertips.
“Port,” I begged, but Joshua shook his head as a strangled noise escaped past his lips. I could see the fear dancing in his eyes as I tried to instruct him to leave, but he couldn’t.
“He can’t.” Lucian’s tone was lethal, malice dancing upon his face and features as he stared at me. I watched helplessly as Lucian tossed Joshua towards Spyder. Spyder watched me silently, his eyes taking in the scar with an emotion I couldn’t place. His fingers erupted with flames, and Joshua cried out as it burned against his flesh. “Him for you,” he said, his eyes slowly dropping to land on my midsection which was bared to his gaze. Slowly, ever so slowly his throat bobbed as his eyes lifted to hold mine once more. They locked with mine in silent battle.
“Sorry about your girlfriend, Lucian.” I smiled, locking onto the tick that now moved in his jaw as he flinched and bared his flat, white teeth in warning.
“Lena wasn’t my fucking girlfriend,” he seethed coldly as those eerie blue flames grew brighter.
“Oh, ouch,” I chuckled. “I wasn’t talking about me. That would just be awkward, now wouldn’t it? I meant Katarina. You know, the whole gone soul thing,” I continued, buying time to figure out how to get Joshua out of this alive. I stepped backwards, watching as his massive frame mirrored my action, hunting his prey. I had a motive; if I could reach the others, maybe they’d trade Lucian for Joshua, and we could be on our way.
“Drop the fucking act, I know what you are, creature,” he demanded.
“Do you?” I asked, stopping to tap my finger on my chin. “What am I?”
Hands grasped me from behind, and I dropped, rolling as my body vanished, only to reappear on top of the Guild. I stared down at them, watching as the Fae and others began moving closer towards the group of soulless beings. People blinked in and out as they sifted and materialized until the air became unbearable as power from both factions exploded around us. Raw electrical current sang in the evening air and floated on the breeze.
Lucian observed me, and I sensed him before he stood inches away from me, perched on the edge beside me. He was close enough that I could inhale his addictive scent. “Let him go, tell Spyder to release my brother, and I will tell them to leave and you, you can have me, Lucian.”
“And you’d come with me, just like that, when you know I mean to destroy you?” he laughed wickedly, the sound sliding down my body like a caress against my flesh.
“You’ve made me come a lot easier than that, Lucian,” I smiled coyly as I closed my eyes against his intoxicating presence. I lifted my face to the heavy air, enjoying the thick scent of the impending storm as it lingered thickly around us.
“Stop pretending to be her, it’s fucking pathetic,” he snarled, the warning hanging heavy between us.
“Ouch,” I laughed huskily, letting him hear what his proximity did to me. “That’s harsh, even for you,” I pointed out. “He either lets go of my brother, or we fight. Can you kill me, Lucian? Do you have it in you to take my head from my shoulders?” I asked, and disappeared.
I appeared next to Spyder, kicking him in the side as I pushed Joshua free. He staggered, righting himself as he spun to peer at me. Spyder’s hands wrapped around my throat, yanking my body against his as I freed Joshua. The flame-covered digits singed my flesh as I groaned as pain erupted. I moaned, stifling the urge to scream as the wicked smile dropped from my lips. My eyes pleaded with Joshua as I struggled to smirk.
It was as we’d planned it. I was the only one caught, their only prisoner.
“Go.” The word sprang from my lips as I urged him to see it through. The air thickened as Lucian appeared right beside Joshua, just as he disappeared. I stared at the space he’d once occupied and hoped to the Gods I wasn’t wrong. I hoped I survived this. Midnight eyes held mine with a coldness that sent a shiver racing down my spine as his lips curved into a deadly smile.
“Now you die,” he uttered as he stepped closer.
Chapter 3
I was thrown into a transparent dome that looked as if it was crafted of glass, but the moment my feet touched inside, colorful wards ignited and lit the glass up like a Christmas tree in the dark. Glyphs swarmed the wards as runes outside ignited, sealing me inside. The fuck? I turned, slowly eyeing Spyder who paced beside me as I inspected the dome and its weaknesses. He mirrored my movements, the predator in him showing to hunt its prey. I stopped, pausing to smirk at him.
“Missed you too, big boy,” I said softly, not hiding the edge to my need that flowed through my tone. I stopped moving, letting him take an eyeful of me in. They’d stripped me out of my clothing, removed every weapon into an impressive pile that had Synthia nodding with appreciation.
I’d been redressed into a sundress that was white; boring, but at least it was clean. Spaghetti straps adorned the shoulders while a soft length of lace covered the bodice. The skirt barely covered my backside, which I didn’t even bother trying to hide as I started pacing again.
“Cut this shit, if you were my kitty, I’d feel you. I don’t feel shit. Nothing other than the need to wrap my hands around that pretty neck and drain the life out of you,” he sneered, and I frowned deeper as I stalled a moment to look into his endless depths of loathing.
“You’re a big boy, Spyder. Let’s see you fucking do it. And that bond you speak of? I have no beating heart. Not at the moment anyway, and the whole slit my throat to save people ended my life. You remember that, don’t you? I’m pretty sure you were there to play witness to my dramatic downfall. I’m not one hundred percent sure, though; you see I was sort of leaking brain fluid everywhere and it all got hazy and started blending together. I know,” I said clapping my hands as I smiled at him with bright eyes. “Why don’t you tell me what happened before I woke up!”
“And how did you do that?” he purred thickly as icy blue eyes dipped to the cleavage which the dress barely managed to contain. Slowly, they traced up my body until they paused on the pesky scar that stood red against my flesh.
“Wouldn’t you like to know? Why don’t you come in here and I’ll tell you,” I laughed huskily, toying with him.
“In fact, I would like to fucking know,” he countered as his head dipped and his eyes glowed brighter, deadlier.
“I’d like to know that one as well,” Lucian butted in, his tone sliding through me as if it could cut me in half. I tore my gaze from Spyder’s and watched as he moved from the shadows and stared at me coldly.
“Mm, you look good enough to fuck, Lucian,” I purred thickly as I swallowed the heat that rose with his darkening stare. “Almost, but not quite…” I uttered hoarsely. My vision swam as heat made my lids grow heavy with need as they trailed down his powerful body. I missed that body slamming against mine, the sheer power of it as it dominated me until I submitted.
“Shut your fucking mouth,” he ordered, his stare never leaving the ugly scar on my neck. “And the fucking question?”
“Make me, Blackstone,” I challenged as
I crossed my arms and stared at him, fully aware that he couldn’t, not without opening the prison he’d tossed me into. That hadn’t been in the plans. Chains I could get out of; rooms easy; but a dome warded, surrounded by runes with pulsing glyphs? Not something I’d imagined they would have here. My eyes moved to the people who crowded into the room behind him, and I frowned, creasing my brow as they swung back to him coldly. “An audience again, Lucian? So soon after the last time?” I swallowed hard as I refused to show an ounce of fear in his presence.
“They’re here to help me take you down, to extract what is keeping you alive. Tell me what I want to know, and I’ll finally end your pathetic life painlessly. There’s no one left to feel that pain for you this time, creature,” he continued, and I shook my head, smirking at him.
“Kinky, did you let it slip out that I like it rough?” I asked huskily, my voice escaping the thickness of my throat as I stared into his inky eyes. Black silk beckoned me forward, the silent promise of endless pleasure dangling just beyond my grasp.
Again, the tick hammered wildly against his jaw, indicating he wasn’t as unaffected as he pretended to be by my sudden appearance. “I know, would you like to play a game with me?” I asked, clapping my hands together and sending a loud noise around the dome, which seemed to absorb it. “You can slit my fucking throat and rip out my heart… Oh, wait; we already played that game, didn’t we? Yeah, my bad. I slit my throat to save your heart. Stop me if you remember this one, Lucian. Damn, it almost sounded fun,” I shrugged as his nostrils flared in anger. I brought my finger up to drag it over the scar as my mind raced to find a way out of the room.
Becoming his Monster (Playing with Monsters Book 3) Page 2