The look he gave was grave. "Not if Fil has you in his grasp. I think your Vampire would give up the fight to save you Princess."
Never mind...that was the MVP of graphic depiction.
And totally possible.
She looked at Cane with a heavy heart. "I have seen Fangs in action Cane, as you know, full well, how black his dark side truly is. Fil wouldn’t stand a chance against Fangs."
Winter would have been proud of Briar's defense of her Amenamo. There was no way Fil would defeat Fangs. And as much as she told herself repeatedly he would be fine, that pit of fear in her stomach only grew heavier at the thought.
"Princess do you know the secrets your mate holds?" Cane asked his brows pulled high in questioning amusement. And the answer to that awesome question was a resounding no.
"No."
"I see, and what about the weaknesses to a Vampire, even a Sire?"
She wished he would spit it out. Asking dumb questions and using scare tactics to frighten her before the big reveal... then again what the hell did she expect from a fear demon but to crave fear?
"Wood through the heart, silver if in liquid form." She rolled her head along her shoulders in irritation. "Starvation of blood, prolonged exposure to sunlight and UV rays."
"And what of the skin of such an ancient being Princess? Yes a Vampires skin is soft and smooth and like velvet to the touch, but also child it is flammable." He leveled a mocking glare at her, 'how else would they suddenly burn in the sun for less than a minute on a cloudy day?"
He made his point finally, and left Bri feeling helpless against the choice needing to be made.
"Will you truly help, even if it means your own death?"
"Make no mistake Beautiful, I am no martyr. I am a demon and always looking to grow in ranks. I despise that spouse of yours to the cockles of my demon belly. I respect the love you have for Kuyper Manna. I respect him as a whole and am not looking to burn bridges. I suggest you think long and hard about the decision you are leaning toward. If you deny the claim he has on you, be prepared to fight him fang and wood to the end because I will not cross him for you."
"I love Fangs and I will do anything to keep him clean of this. You have my word that I will do what’s necessary on my end to ensure Fil comes to me and that the only double crossing you do is between Fil and yourself."
She was going to have to throw stones.
Adam Cane held out his hand. "I sure hope you have one hell of an aim Princess, because there is no room for error. You beat him down with those stones and keep him as far from this as possible or your both dead. Even something as worthless as Fil can bring light to the dark and for your Vampire, it will be his demise."
And that was how Sleeping Beauty made a deal for an ever after, regardless how miserable it would be without Fangs.
*
Chapter Twenty-two
Bri didn’t go straight back to Fangs condo though she knew that was where he would be waiting and most likely climbing the walls and seething in anger at her little disappearance... three days ago.
She holed up in Canes house getting a little demon one on one. She had in the short time there mastered the art of truly fucking up some mild emotions and damn near devastating some strong ones.
Cane had shown her how to rely on her opponents fear, to use it to her advantage and warp it into a weapon of her choosing. Cane would be at her side in this fight and she needed to know how to contain her own emotions, block her own fear because when the time came she absolutely could not allow Cane to sense her fear, he would not be able to control his demon reaction. Fear was crack to him and there was no room for error. He needed to focus wholly on Fil.
Three days after seven hundred years of absolute waste she had become what Ezek had always needed her to be. She was Vengeance.
Absolute.
Undiluted.
Pure.
Rage.
In that time she had felt the weight of Ash calling to her and knew by day three there was no choice but to go to her or risk forcing Ash into a bloodlust that wouldn’t sate no matter how much she drank, no matter the lives she took in trying to sate the hunger.
Her life was calling and she was stalling. At least upon her return Fangs would be looking for a fight. It was a cowards way out she knew and hated herself for it but Cane had been right. She had to throw stones because in the end she had never fought Fil and as Cane had made pointedly clear, there was no way of knowing if he shifted mid fight if Bri could even feed off his demon emotions. It was the final factor in the scenario that had her seeing from a different spectrum and it did not include Fangs, or the girls and Beast for that matter. This was as far and deep into the unknown that Bri had ever gone and she was risking nothing and no one valuable in the process.
Accept of course Adam Cane.
She reached for her cell and made a dreaded call to a sure to be pissed off Cinderella.
"It is about god damned time!" She roared when she answered cursing Bri from the Dark to the Devine. "Have you any idea the walls I have been climbing trying to reach you? Where the hell have you been?"
She didn’t tell Ash, couldn’t say the words of what she was training for, not yet, not when she knew Ash would warn Fangs and tell her what a dumb idea it was. She had watched them, all of them, sacrifice, defend and protect her for too long and the gift that they were to her was to be cherished for as long as Bri could hold out. "I needed a minute Ash, I’m sorry you worried and I know you need me back asap and I will be there but I have something I need to do first and I’m sorry but I can’t tell you what."
"You know they should have named you Secret Beauty." The anger was still in her voice but Bri knew the fight was put on hold until she fed and read it all. Ash was more than willing to let it go for the time being because there were never secrets between them. Blood always told the truth.
She smiled. "Well they should have named you Bitch-a-rella and trust me you can start bitching when I get there. Are you at your house of Fangs?"
It was a valid question but also a fish for info on where Fangs was at emotionally. "Oh hell no, after the first night you didn’t show I got the hell out. He is mad as hell Bri and every member of his Posse and his allies are out in force looking for you so where ever you’re going make sure your eyes are on point because they will drag you back kicking and screaming per his orders."
Her heart sank at what she was doing to him, the worry the anger. She tried comforting herself with knowledge that he would be free of her soon, knowing that she would never truly be free in the end.
"Whatever you have planned Briar, I can feel the sadness like a fucking beacon and I need to know if you know what you’re doing here."
"No, but I have no choice. I'll see you in a few hours Ash and talk to no one." Bri ended the call and took a deep breath. She had a final stop on her way to her destiny and it came with a very tall list of demands.
*
Bri walked into Neverland and sidled her sassy self toward the offices of one former leader Peter Pan and his fairy assistant Lola.
Peter rose from behind the desk and leaned to the right where Lola, in her Fae form perched daintily on his shoulder and spoke something in his ear. Peter nodded before looking at Bri. His sadness and regret held the stench of rain and dust and caused a tickle in Bri's throat.
"I need a favor and I’m not asking here Pete, we both know you owe me one."
" Bri..." He sighed and scrubbed his hands over his face. Bri had never saw Pete dressed less than a five thousand dollar suit and an impeccable manicure and tidied hair. Tonight he looked disheveled, his small frame adorned a pair of faded denim jeans and an old worn out hooded sweatshirt. "I do owe you, but even I can’t provide what you are here for."
"You can, and you will, or so help me Pete, I will do it myself and the consequences be damned."
"I think we both know that it’s not consequences I am concerned about. It’s that in which you ask. It goes against everythin
g that Neverland stands for and the consequence won’t affect you and I the same way it would her."
He knew exactly what Bri was there for and whatever he thought he was protecting was horse shit. This was her battle. She would fight it and she would pay back her favors.
"Give me the key Pete or I go in unarmed and risk my own heartbeat."
He gave the key with a reluctant stagger as he walked her to the main hall.
" Briar." Lola's chime like voice rang through the office as Peter stood waiting for Bri to follow.
"Yes Lola."
"I am so sorry for the roll I played in this fate. It was never my or Peters intention to harm you or anyone but only to protect. We did the best we could." Her green eyes glossed over with unshed tears but her voice grew a strength that didn’t match the five inch frame and almost clear wings. "I do however assure you that we had no idea what we had agreed to when he presented the knife. Had we known it was a farce we'd have come to you."
Bri just shook her head. "Well I don’t see a point in fighting any longer; it will all come clean in the wash."
Lola nodded and gave Bri a look that was more knowing than anything. The Fae knew what Bri had planned. She flew to the door and followed Bri and Pete to the gates of Neverlands’ boarding center.
Lola drifted above Bri's head, her wings a buzz in her ears as Fae dust fell upon her face and shoulders. Lola was giving Bri full sight of Neverland as a gift between friends. Bri was about to get an up close and personal visit with the dream world.
Neverland wasn’t like anything you could ever imagine, hence it’s name. Each cell that housed a soul was created in the image of the soul inside. Bri passed dozens of family reunions gone right rather than wrong based on the dream the soul wished most for. There were marriage proposals to the ones who got away and also the ones of those who denied hoping for a better outcome. The corridor was longer than never ending; it was eternal and housed a new cell when one was needed. Looking down the corridor now it went far deeper than anything Bri had ever seen before. Neverland was packed and it was courtesy of a Vampire named Crave. Packed full of souls who didn’t come to her.
Pushing the thought away because her shopping cart of shit was packed full at the moment, she made a mental note to look into the disappearance of her Casper friends and find out the whys.
If she survived of course.
She continued walking until she found the cell that she was looking for and choked on a sob at the images coming from the world inside the cell. Belle was dressed in a gown of gold and danced in the arms of Beast in his human form.
The images flickered like a low battery on a flash light, the music had the cracks and pops that Belle always desired most on old records. The era was circa now though they dressed as if in eighteenth century France. They were in Belles house dancing to music from a long time ago in the couples French tongue.
Belle reached up and cupped Beasts cheek in her palm and let her gaze fall to his, a look of such complete love and understanding between the two could bring the devil himself to his knees.
It was Bri choking on her sobs at the sight of her beloved friend that shattered the image in the cell, leaving the truth before Bri.
Belle lie naked and curled in a ball on a hard cement floor, thought the room was furnished with all the needs for comfort, Belle chose the floor, no pallet of blankets, no clothes to warm her. She snapped her head up and glared at Bri, anger fusing them in a stare down that Bri couldn’t back down from.
"Why are you here?" Belle all but snarled and dropped her gaze long enough to snap her body off the floor and rush the glass separating them.
"To see you..." Bri choked and placed the palm of her hand against the glass, wishing like hell she could touch Belles hair, her cheek anything to feel her friend again. She missed her to the fullest extent right then, it was the loss magnified by a thousand at seeing the one person who robbed you of a goodbye, the one you went after because it wasn’t right.
"You will ruin everything by coming here Bri. Dammit!" Belle pushed away from the wall and envisioned herself clothed in her basic jeans and a t shirt look, her beautiful auburn hair had been only moments before in a chignon was now pulled up in a messy knot and belle was lighting a cigarette. It was exactly how Bri had always seen her until she invaded the image of the lovers dance only minutes before. Belle was truly a beautiful beast who had come and gone from Bri's life like a thief.
"Ruin what Belle? You did that for us you dumb ass!"
That had Belle stopping and glaring at Bri a look of pure vehemence on her face. "I did what was necessary to save us all!" She flattened her hand over her chest as she spoke.
"You did nothing to help us Belle. You ran off and tried ending a war that was all a lie, tried defending the contract when it has about as much power as a fucking Post-it. A detail you would have learned right alongside all of us less than two days after your death had you bothered just shifting and eating the son of a bitches."
"What are you talking about?" Bri had to give it to her because Belle seemed to be truly confused.
"The contract and knife are useless. Turns out we were all some sort of super sleuths built and created to save the fucking earth. I'm vengeance btw and Ash is despair. Winter, and this comes as no shock, is compassion and you and Beast as equals are sacrifice. It seems it’s the norm for you to off yourselves all in the name of sacrifice." She held a hard stare at Belle. "Even when it’s a premature sacrifice."
" Bri I wasn’t defending the contract. Tell me you got my clue." Bri's stomach seemed to drop, sink right down to her toes when Belle spoke.
"What clue Belle? The story on how you and Beast became cursed?"
"No I left that so you guys wouldn’t come down on Winter. The clue, the song Bri."
The haunting Florence and the Machine song that was played on repeat for hours on end at Belles death was one Bri would never forget. The melody and it’s sad lyrics were seared into her memory for all of time. "Beast said it was for him, that you were leaving him a message? What? It was meant for us to decipher?"
The sadness that blasted from the cell almost knocked Bri to her feet, the complete shock that followed ended up taking her back a few feet. "Erych is there with you? He lives? It worked?" Tears were rolling from her eyes endlessly as she slapped shaking hands over her mouth and squeezed her eyes shut.
"I thought that was why you did it, so that we would have Beast there to defend us?"
She nodded but couldn’t speak through her tears. Bri didn’t want to push but she had no choice but do just that. "Focus here Belle honey please. Tell me what you meant with the song."
" Bri you need to get to him and fast. There is no way he hasn’t figured it out. If he came through from my death then he has my memories." She spoke through her tears but looked at Bri. "I’m bound in here God dammit!" She slammed her hands against the glass and the power that protected Neverland flashed in a vibrant rainbow of color at the threat of a soul demanding release.
"Belle tell me."
"I can’t Ar. I am bound by the laws of this fate. I can’t tell you anything in here. That’s why I left the song playing. The story of Erych and I was never the clue Bri, it was the song. You need to go to Erych; he will have all the answers by now. Bri he knows what you need to know. Knows what I learned before I brought him back."
The need to run and find Beast had Bri shaking but she wanted desperately to stay knowing she would never be allowed a second visit. This was all she had with belle.
" Bri go!" Belle demanded and stepped back from the glass. Bri wanted to scream at the unfairness. Even in death she was sacrificing the final moments of her former life for Bri to get the answers.
Bri stepped to the glass and rested both hands upon the panes. "I swear to it Belle, no matter what I will find a way to break the curse that binds you and free you and Beast." She looked at where Belle was and the cost of Bri's fate Belle had paid. "I swear it if it’s the last thing I do I wi
ll get you out of here."
"Go Bri..." Belle stepped back into the darkness and as if she flipped a switch she was back in the dance with Beast in her arms, dancing without a care in the world.
*
Bri left Neverland and rushed her way to Ash in hopes of finding Beast but upon her arrival Bri found the place empty. She reached for her cell and called Ash immediately. When she answered Bri jumped the gun. "What part of ‘ stay put I’ll be there soon’ do you not get? Where in the hell are you?"
"This from you after your disappearance?"
"No bull here Ash, where are you we need to find Beast?" Bri turned and rushed back to her Audi and started the car, tearing up gravel as she sped out of the drive.
"He's here and we already know he knows it all Bri. We have known for the last three days. You need to get to Fangs condo and save the drama of whatever you have planned for him until after we have a little meeting here ok!" Ash slammed the phone before Bri could reply. At the moment she didn’t care that it was Fangs place they were convened in, all that consumed her was the rush to get to Beast.
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