Something was wrong. He scented it the moment he entered the compound. Beneath the various merging scents of the individuals who slept the last hours of Halloween away, two stood out. They were light, barely there, and unusual. Full of strength and age he couldn’t ignore them. But that wasn’t what frightened him. It was the missing scent that alarmed his senses. Eve’s scent lingered in the building, but he knew without being told that she was no longer in the area.
Something had gone terribly wrong.
Kiros ran the length of her corridor, his long legs eating up the space. When he reached Eve’s door, he found it broken, lying off its hinges. It had been kicked down.
Muddy boot prints marred the door’s beautiful wood etchings. His senses prickled when he realized the uneasy sensation came from the traces of male which were on the door.
One of his kind had taken Eve.
Before he could contemplate the reasons, Kiros strode into the apartment. The two weres he had scented earlier were still inside.
He concentrated, calling on the powers he detested.
For a moment all seemed wrong, his senses dimmed, marking the room in shades of silver and grey, and then the fireball appeared in his open palm. Sound dimmed, time shifted as he glided into the room. Kiros knew that although he saw the world at the same speed, he moved much faster than normal. He was a flash in the ebony room.
When he was a few feet from the two intruders he threw the fireball at the kneeling man. He watched, filled with satisfaction, as it headed straight for the man’s skull.
The man turned and threw a large, dark palm up in the air. The fireball stopped in its tracks, a few inches from his face, and disintegrated.
It took Kiros a moment to realize what had happened. Knowing his opponent’s strength, Kiros threw two simultaneous fireballs his way. As the flaming balls soared through the air, he ran across the room, jumped, and landed a kick against the man’s chest. He immediately moved away leaving the fireballs to do their damage.
The intruder had not been expecting the change in tactics. Kiros could see it in his shocked eyes. When his foot landed on the other man’s chest, the intruder grunted and took a step back, before freezing the burning orbs. The two globes shattered into a thousand pieces of ice before Kiros’s face.
The other man’s face spread into a smile. Kiros could see amusement and something he didn’t dare name in the other man’s dark blue eyes.
“Impressive, Kiros, you are even stronger than I thought,” Nikos said before bowing to him.
Kiros stared at the other man dumbfounded. He knew his name. Knew of his strength, but he had never met the intruder.
“Although I appreciate the exercise we don’t have time for games,” Nikos said as he brushed off the footprint on his chest. He winced a little as his fingers brushed against the now tender flesh.
Kiros was much stronger than he had ever dreamed he could be. The blending of two very distinct genes had made him a god among the Others.
Nikos’s smile was rueful. No wonder the Guardians wanted him dead. He upset the balance they coveted.
“What have you done with her?” Kiros growled.
When Nikos simply shook his head in reaction, Kiros took to the floor, taking a crouching position.
“You can change?” Nikos asked, shocked. The blending of the species wasn’t supposed to allow one to change forms. Although both feys and werewolves were magical, preternatural beings, their Other Kin nature was diametrically opposed. At least that was what he had thought.
“Where is she?” Kiros asked.
Nikos sensed the urgency in Kiros’s voice. The young man was giving him a warning.
He listened to it. He was too old and too smart not to take notice.
“I’m not the enemy, son,” he said exasperated. The young were always so damn emotional.
“I am not your son,” Kiros growled back at the other man, enunciating every word.
“No, you’re not,” he retorted. “I am your father’s father, Kiros.”
The moment the words left his mouth, the younger man lunged at him with lightning speed. Nikos caught Kiros right before he pounced, wrapped his dark fingers around Kiros’s throat and held him in the air. He had something important to say and the young man was going to hear it. Whether he liked it or not.
“I am your father Tila’s father. Look at my face and recognize the features. I met you a few times when you were but a pup.”
Kiros tried to lash out and strike Nikos but found his limbs would not move. Nikos knew the exact moment Kiros realized how powerful he was. The young man’s amethyst eyes narrowed in hatred when he tried to move and found his limbs frozen.
Then the words registered and his face darkened. Kiros stared at him, not comprehending why he would tell such lies. Pain streaked across his face and Nikos knew the young man was remembering his parents’ horrific deaths. His father and mother had both died when he was eighteen years old, almost four hundred years ago.
“We met once. You didn’t even know I existed. Your father and I hadn’t talked much since he met your mother. You were living in Paris at the time. It was just weeks before the French Revolution. You told me you were in love with a British actress you had met during your tour of the continent. You planned to wed her that spring, but...”
“My father objected,” Kiros whispered, finishing the tale. “You told me that love, not lust would find a way.”
Nikos immediately released Kiros. He soothingly patted the young man on the shoulder as he looked into his wide, shocked amethyst gaze.
“The lesson still applies. We have much to do to get back your woman, son.”
Chapter Twelve
Three’s Company
They had been driving for hours. They had long ago left the San Francisco region. Gabrielle was not sure where they were headed. Rubio refused to inform her of where they were going. All she knew was that they would be driving many more hours.
After what felt like a decade the van stopped. She glanced at the watch the Guardian had given her. It wasn’t time to stop. She looked around them. This wasn’t the stop Rubio had told her about.
“Why are we stopping?” Gabrielle asked Rubio as he turned the large vehicle off the road and into the desolate road stop.
He simply turned to her and glared. Gabrielle’s teeth clicked together as she closed her mouth on the words that waited on her tongue. Staring into his frigid blue eyes, she immediately felt a chill enter her body. Rubio was the most menacing, frightening man she had ever met and she had served for twenty years as a Controller.
Twenty minutes later, he sauntered up to the vehicle with two hot dogs in his hands. “You want anything?” he called out to her.
“I’m fine,” Gabrielle gritted through her teeth as she watched him through the side mirror. The callous fool had forgotten that she was a Firebender, a very rare breed of fey. Any and everything in the roadside store would poison her.
“Since your hands are free you want to come back here and check these tires for me. I think one is flat.”
Gabrielle clenched her teeth in anger. She was a warrior, a fighter, not a mechanic. She knew nothing of the human instrument known as cars. She muttered to herself as she stepped from the vehicle. The minute she got back to the realm, she was going to put in a complaint to the Guardians. It was bad enough she was working with a were, but did they have to heap insult upon injury by giving her a badly tempered, sexist idiot were for a partner?
“I don’t know what a tire is, Wolf,” she growled at him as she strode to back of the van.
He waited until she was less than a foot away from him before speaking. “That’s fine,” he said with a cruel smile. “It turns out I got it under control. I no longer need your help.”
The last thing Gabrielle saw was the barrel of the chrome 45 aimed at her chest. It was a cruel twist of fate. He had given her the gun. It was the same gun loaded with the silver bullets she had used on the other werewolf.
Her last
thought before she slipped into unconsciousness was, I never should have given it back, should have known better than to trust a beast.
Chapter Thirteen
The Courier
Rubio leaned against a pillar waiting for the Seer to make her appearance. When she finally arrived she ignored him. Her eyes immediately sought out the bound woman he had been forced to kidnap to repay his debt.
He curiously watched the Seer’s face. Her eyes widened when she looked into the human’s brown gaze. Rubio watched, fascinated, as the Seer’s face broke out into a full smile.
“You did well, Rubio,” the Seer whispered as she circled the frightened woman.
The human woman didn’t shrink and cower from the Seer. No, The Spawn’s mate looked the Seer in the eyes.
Rubio could scent the human’s fear, but the strong lines of her spine did not show her apprehension. He raised an eyebrow at the human’s actions. Watching her, he was reminded of a statement he had heard a human use that had never made sense before tonight.
She was down, but not out.
Kiros’s mate was a fighter.
She was strong, even in the face of a fear she could not truly understand. Not many men or women would be so brave in front of the Seer.
Kiros had a formidable mate.
But then again, the human did not know she was before the legendary woman.
Once the woman was done looking her over like livestock, the Seer stopped in front of Eve. Her smile was meant to be soft and comforting, but it gave off a harsh light of satisfaction as she gazed into the human’s eyes.
“I hope they did not hurt you,” the Seer whispered to the bound woman.
The human simply stared at her, mute and mutinous.
Suddenly the Seer’s eyes widened with ecstatic joy. “Your mother’s blood is stronger in you,” she said, her voice little more than the rasp of paper sliding over paper.
Her watery eyes stared down at Eve with dark lust and joy. “You see me for what I am, don’t you, child?”
“And what are you, Seer?” Rubio asked with something more than curiosity in his tone. She ignored him.
He saw the human woman blink. After years of abiding by the Seer’s rules, he had an itch he just needed to scratch. He needed to know who the Seer really was. What was behind her façade?
“What do you see, human?” he growled.
The Seer turned and gave him a sinister smile. “Wishing you had her gift, Rubio?”
“Curious is all,” he said with a feigned indifferent shrug. “I’m just wondering what you really look like, Seer.”
At his words, he saw the human attempt to turn to him. “Tell me what you see, woman.”
“She’s evil,” the woman said, her voice thick and scratchy. She coughed twice, before continuing. “She’s pure evil.”
Rubio kept his eyes on the Seer as the human spoke. “Is she now?” he asked, cocking his head, as he looked the Seer over from head to toe. “And what exactly does she look like?”
“She is impure,” the human said. With every word her voice grew stronger. “She is old, has lived for over a hundred years. Her hair is so white, it’s blinding. Her skin is black, dyed with the inked tattoos of the black arts.”
Rubio shook his head at the Seer. “You’re no longer pure? Something tells me purity is in the Seer’s Handbook?” He gave the Seer a harsh grin.
She stared at him for long moments. “Are you done? Are you satisfied?”
“Never did have any sense of humor,” he said with a dramatic sigh. “Yes. And yes.”
“She is unharmed?”
“Yes.”
“Good. We need the child she carries.”
The human’s head snapped up at that statement. “I’m not pregnant,” she cried out.
“Poor child. All that power and no knowledge,” the Seer said as she shook her head at the small woman. There was cruel amusement on her face. “You know not what he is, yet you carry his babe. He impregnated you, child,” she said before turning fully back to Rubio.
“And the fey?” she questioned.
“Taken care of.”
“Good, good, very good. Can’t have her purity around,” she said as she rubbed her hands together. “I have to admit I’m quite excited,” she muttered to herself as she walked to the long black wooden table that stood against the right wall.
The Seer turned and darted a glance at Eve. “It’s amazing really, and you, child, should feel proud. See you are his destined mate. With any and every other woman in the world, he is infertile, but with you…” She trailed off with a shrugged shoulder.
“Can I ask you a question, Seer?”
The Seer spoke as she searched the table. “You can ask, but the answer may not be received.”
“Why this woman? Why do you believe that Kiros will come for her?”
“Simple beast. She is his mate.”
“So you say, but she is human. A blood mate outside of the were family is rare. Mates are destined. Do you really believe this woman can carry the combined genes of The Spawn?”
“Yes. She carries them now. She is a very special human, a very rare human. Isn’t that right Eve?” she asked the young woman. “You come from a very long line of priestesses, voodoo priestesses.”
“So she’s a legacy,” Rubio said with a nonchalant shrug.
“She’s also his mate and was in heat, at least the human version of heat. She was ovulating.”
Rubio darted a glance at Eve before turning to the Seer. “He’s a mixed breed who got a human pregnant. Their children would be...” he said truly flabbergasted.
There was shock in his rough voice and there was naked excitement surrounding the Seer. The combination sent chills down Rubio’s preternatural spine. Neither he nor the Seer was the reactionary type, which meant this was realm changing news.
“The ultimate weapon. Part fey, part were, part seer.”
“Seer?” Rubio asked, confused.
“Yes, Eve’s mother was a seer. Wasn’t she, child? That’s how she died. She had a vision while driving and lost control of the car. You have the same gift. But in you it’s stronger, more controlled. You see without getting lost.”
Rubio watched the small human woman’s reactions as the Seer spoke. The Seer told the truth. The young woman’s wide eyes and shaky hands told him what he needed to know.
“And what will you use this weapon to do?” Rubio causally asked. His voice was calm, almost monotone, but the leashed energy circulating through his veins was evident in his alert stance. Rubio was carefully listening to what the Seer had to say.
The Seer bent until she gazed right into Eve’s eyes. When the crone had Eve’s eyes transfixed, the Seer stretched out one bony hand and caressed Eve’s face.
“You, sweetheart, are nothing more than a courier. I’m going to let you live just long enough to birth your daughter and then... and then I’m going to rip her from your arms and use her to destroy all that her father represents.”
The words echoed in Rubio’s head as the Seer’s harsh, shrill laughter bounced off the walls of the dark cavernous room.
Chapter Fourteen
A Fairy’s Tale
The searing pain shot through her, dragging her mind from the dark pit of unconsciousness. She woke gasping for air, trying to fight off the intense pain streaking through her chest. She was on fire. She was dying and for one moment she fought off the creeping feeling of failure before she closed her eyes and allowed her battered body to slip deep into the abyss of death.
As she swam out to the sea of unconsciousness, fragments of the world she was leaving behind drifted out to her. People surrounded her, poking and prodding at her body, demanding that she stay with them on that side.
Someone was calling her name. Another voice was chanting in a tongue older than time.
And just like that she was back, screaming and crying, trying to claw her way out of the body that was on fire with blinding pain. She ripped at the shredded blous
e she wore, desperately trying to ease the agonizing pain exploding through her chest. For one second her hand paused at the gauze taped over her wound, before ripping it off in one swift move. With wide, shocked eyes she stared at the gaping hole in her chest that was quickly shrinking.
“Dear Goddess,” she whispered through parched lips.
“You’re healing pretty nicely, Gabrielle.”
Her head jerked up at the sound of the voice. She stared at the people surrounding her, three men, one of whom she recognized. And her knowledge only brought fear.
Two weres and the one known as The Spawn surrounded her.
Gabrielle darted a quick glance at the most dangerous of the three males and wished she could have just slipped into the alluring abyss of death. The Spawn’s amethyst eyes burned with a feverish fire. He was livid.
And suddenly, she felt fear for the first time in her life.
“I’m Nikos Karis.”
Her eyes widened immediately. She turned to the source of the voice. This beautiful man was the legendary werewolf. The Spawn and the Master of the Corridor. It was too much to ask of her.
“I’m Kiros’s grandfather. Together, we were able to close that little hole in your chest,” Karis said softly.
Her eyes connected with his and she saw that he meant her no harm.
Damn it. For the first time in Gabrielle’s life she felt guilt. Today was a day for many firsts.
She opened her mouth to speak, but Kiros beat her to it.
“Where is she?” he growled, his voice like gravel over glass. “I stayed away from you animals for a reason. Because of you bastards I learned to hate and run away from anything that reminded me of you, including myself. And now, you’re taken my Eve. Where is she?”
There was so much anger and pain in his voice. He felt for the human. She was more than just a pawn in their game. She closed her eyes and turned away from him. She could no longer look at him. His eyes spoke volumes. If they were alone, she would be dead. She had kidnapped his mate in order to lure him to his death. And he was the same man who had fought for her life.
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