"This has nothing to do what you’re up against Bri. We face some pretty gnarly shit every day. This is, plain and simple, you being too bull headed and blind to see what is right in front of you." She looked away.
"And what is that Ash? If I acknowledge Fangs for what I believe he is I will get him killed." Perhaps she really was crazy, the cards were stacked against her at the time but even if she stood alone for her reasons, she could still find the logic. Loving Fangs openly would get them both killed. Fil would be Judge Jury and executioner.
"He is already dead Bri!" She yelled incredulously. "If you would use the brains inside that thick skull of yours you would remember that. He is a Vampire, damn near impossible to kill and a Sired Vampire at that! Fil has about as good a chance of beating Fangs in a fight to the death that Dracula would have if locked in a blood bank to detox. It. Is. Ridiculous!"
"Let me get this right." She asked and paused because she felt the words coming, tried to stop them but having reached her limit she let the anger fly. "You!" She snapped raising her voice and walked slowly towards her, stopping when they stood chest to chest. "Cinda-Fucking-Rella, is going to tell me that I am exhausting? That I am blind and by account if I followed you close enough, stupid? Well people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw fucking stones. Tell me Ash, does it ever get lonely in your bed at night or is there a line out the front door?"
She said nothing but Bri didn’t need her to. She could see the pain and anger in her eyes, something no amount of words could explain and Bri wished, that after seeing the hurt from that one comment, she wished she had just slapped her instead because it would have hurt her less.
"Call it denial Bri, but I am a Succubus. When we get to the nitty grit of what we all are! So it’s in my job description and I only get exhausted when I am working overtime but as for your interest on how lonely I would ever be, yes Bri , I get lonely. Every day. Every night. Every minute that I think of him, I die just a little more inside." She gripped her chest as tears filled her eyes and Bri hated that she caused her that painful reminder. "Tell me Briar, do you have any idea what it’s like, knowing that you are dying from the inside out, miserable because he was all you ever saw and would see for eternity. I am never going to forget why I am, what I am, so don’t do me any favors by reminding me!"
Bri stood still, unable to move out of complete shock. In the seven centuries that she had been friends with Ashess, never once in all that time did she mention Golton. Not. Ever. Until she threw him in her face inadvertently, reminding her that she was what she was because of her love for him and he was dead for loving her. Bri realized then that if anyone knew what losing your mate in an act of vengeance felt like it was Ash, and Bri had inadvertently rubbed her nose in her biggest regret by doing the exact same thing she did.
Bri's tears rolled from wet eyes as she chased to stop her at the door. "Oh god Ash I’m sorry. I get it now.....I’m so sorry."
She looked at Bri then with such a tender sadness that it killed her knowing she had exposed that wound, spread it wide and did it ruthlessly. "No Bri you don’t get it, you won’t until it’s too late because that my dear friend... is how you learn by your mistakes. It’s the only way you have ever learned."
*
Bri pulled into the graveyard minutes before sunrise and rushed to the entrance of Fangs crypt. By the time she left the condo after the tremendous let down of her father and the seriously foul time clock he had created, the tension between Ash and Winter, Bri had been drained. Feeding Ash had left her all too weak, the emotions from Ash stronger than ever before courtesy of the whole "You are Vengeance" thing not to mention the friendly stroll down memory lane she forced on Ash. Bri needed the sort of comfort only Fangs could provide. Knowing that what she was doing was selfish and cruel but she needed a final time with him, a final memory that would hold her through eternity. She went willingly, knowing that before sunset she would be shattering the bond between them.
Now was all she had with him and she couldn’t get to him fast enough. She opened the door but came to a quick halt when the flood of anger and hurt bathed her from head to toe. Perhaps she was a fool; in fact she knew she was. She had disappeared for three days without a word and Fangs was beyond livid.
She walked with trepidation toward the dim lit bed where she could see the outline of the only man she would ever love.
"But I'm not a man, you always forget that." His voice startled her and she halted her steps. It was a fact she forgot more times than counted, forgetting he was a vampire, a Sire and now capable of reading her thoughts. She threw up her shields because in her weakened state she couldn’t allow him reading her plans.
"I do forget don’t I?" She took a timid step forward when the hiss he let out had her taking a few additional steps back. So... ok... he was mad.
"If you’ve come to say your sorry don’t bother, I think I may lose my cool if I hear you speak that filthy word." His voice held nothing but empty coldness and Bri knew he wasn’t close to done but she spoke anyway.
"Not just that but also-"
He spun on her cutting her words off short as he moved too fast for her to follow and stood before her only inches from her face. "What then? Goodbye?"
She said nothing and looked away, the black of his eyes had a light like a fuse locked on her every movement. He knew what she came here for, what she would do in the end and she could feel the hate for her like a second skin. It broke not only her heart but her soul.
"Get to it Briar you have a busy night ahead of you and you'll need your rest. Tell me what you have to say and leave."
She couldn’t speak because she was too busy trying to breathe through the onslaught of emotion he was letting off. She searched those emotions for any sign of the light he once held for her, wondering if he had severed the claim on his own.
"Fangs..." She choked on a sob and he laughed in her face.
"Show me some respect Pretty Girl and tell me the one thing you need to before you’re on your way." This was the political Fangs, the side of himself that he despised. He was calm, eerily calm.
"You don’t understand." She wanted to make him understand, knowing he never would, never could because if situations were reversed she would react exactly the same way.
"Don’t bother trying to help me see things from your light because it’s dim and burning at both ends! Say it and leave but do not sit here and ask me for anything other than a nod because I am fresh out of fiftieth fucking chances with you!”He was exasperated but didn’t stop.
“I have watched you walk out my door enough times to catch the scent of your indecision and I hate the fucking stench! Go do whatever it is that has you tucking tail this time. I just hope you can come out clean on the other side, that is of course that whatever monster under the bed you face doesn’t decide to keep you. And it might because I won’t be there this time. Your getting what I never gave before Bri and that’s me gone. So say goodbye and go!”
"I don’t want that Fangs, I never wanted that but my life is in the balance here and I have to make the hard decisions. I wish you could understand that." She folded her arms across her chest and waited for his fight.
"When that door closes it closes forever." He pointed at the door but his ice cold stare was frozen on her.
"Why can’t you try and understand that it’s not by choice. He can kill you Fangs, he breathes fire for fucks sake! Your pride is a weakness you refuse to admit to. You are not indestructible!"
"You know nothing about my capabilities Bri, never have. Vampires control everything, we are the fighters and the killers of all the scary shit in your nightmares. You need to stop playing martyr and give someone else a shot at the glory! Your life was made into something amazing, something that could never compare or add up to reality and that burns your ass. It’s a fairy tale Bri but you’re not. You are not Sleeping Beauty, for fucks sake have you ever even seen a spinning wheel? Where is Maleficent? Is that Fil? Who kills the dragon Br
i?" He waved his arms about the room and spun in a tight circle as if looking for the very things he asked. "I mean Jesus, where the hell is your Fairy fucking Godmother when you need one?"
She would have slapped him if it would have made any difference. "Do you think this is a joke? What I was turned into was a beautiful story but I live the reality of it every day and I hate the way my cards fell. How dare you stand here as if your superior to me and make jokes at my expense. This isn’t funny Fangs it’s real and scary and I would die if you were killed because of me. I can’t take anymore Fangs it has to end even if it costs me my happily ever after with you. That’s how not funny this all is!"
"I am very aware of how not funny this all is but it’s also moot.” He stepped back from her and leaned against the wall, so calm that instinct told her he was about as fast as a snake in the grass. “You came to say goodbye Bri so say it and leave, there is nothing keeping you here." He leaned his back against the cold stone of the crypt and rested his head looking just as tired, just as broken as she was and given his request she wondered why she even bothered.
"You wouldn’t hear me if I said goodbye Fangs." She turned to the door.
"It is the loudest sound I will ever hear.” He spoke the words softly and they hurt but not as much as when he stood and used the toe of his boot to kick the door shut in her face.
Fangs was no fool. He could read his pretty girl like she was his second skin. He knew that in the end perhaps she had a point in her reasoning, maybe, if he wasn’t the Vampire, the Sire he was. He was not shocked the second she was within reach of his reading her. Her blood called to him like radar. The minute he felt her, he got a good dose of what she had planned.
Maybe he knew all along, that she would never be his forever. Maybe that was what she wanted but needed this to be hers. Not like he would interfere. There came a point in a man’s life, regardless of the man’s breed, that he had to get his dick back, take a stand for the sake of his pride. Fangs was in that spot now. He lit a cigarette and drew in a plume of Turkish tobacco and sighed wishing it did for him what it used to when he was human. Tonight it seemed nothing would calm his rage.
He looked at the screen on his cell phone and saw the repeated texts from his Posse and the destruction, the breakdown between the fabric of humanity. Beast had threatened her that if she left he would find her. Fangs smiled and took another puff off his hand rolled cig and smiled. He actually liked the guy, in fact he was the only Ware that Fangs had ever liked.
Winter was a well of sadness and hurt... according to Cross it seemed like a lover’s quarrel between her and her guy... Ash and Bri had been in a heated match over the decision Bri made about leaving them all behind from the fight. He smiled because the move was both so cliché but classic in the ways of Briar. Bri had successfully alienated everyone in hopes of keeping them safe. Why she wasn’t the embodiment of sacrifice beat the hell out of him. All she ever did was sacrifice something of herself to keep the peace. The peace that she never has felt.
He wondered if Ezek knew that he had cursed them, destroyed them. Wondered if he knew that he was responsible for killing his daughter. That was the only outcome this fight had. There was no great weapon to defeat Fil with, she had a Fear demon going in to cause a little havoc in hopes he could hold him still long enough for Bri to kill him. The plan was so simple that he glanced at the shovel at a nearby grave and wondered if he should just dig her grave now.
See, he knew the trouble that Bri faced if she let it go, he knew she had to end it and gain her freedom. Even as powerful as Fangs was, in the Dark he wouldn’t stand a chance gaining her freedom from Fil. Knew that buying her would cost a fortune that he just didn’t have.... a fortune bigger than Fangs own empire, one that was very steep.
So he was going to do what a good old fashioned Vampire would do in this situation. He looked back at his cell phone and typed in the message that would bring the fight to him.
Tonight he lost what mattered most. Now it was time to teach a few demons a lesson on exactly who they were dealing with.
*
Bri didn’t know how to break the connection between she and Fangs but hoped that the way she felt now was a good indicator. She could feel nothing coming from him and as close as they were in proximity and his blood still coursing through her veins there was nothing to keep her out but to deny the claim. That denial came from the very banks of her soul.
She showered washed the depth of complete depression from her skin, dropped her glamour and shields and opened herself to the vengeance raging inside of her. Her phone chirped from the kitchen counter and she knew that, based on the fact it was just past sunset that Cane was about to meet with Fil.
Reading the text confirmed it.
At Fil's home. He has agreed to meet with me. Be here in less than an hour and make sure that the shields are dropped.
She flipped her screen shut and walked back to her room. She dressed in her black tank top and jeans and her favorite set of stiletto heels in hot pink. She wasn’t a stranger to fighting in heels. She preferred them knowing they acted as a weapon if she needed a pointy object. She strapped a holster to her thigh and placed her colt .45 in the leather strap. Next she grabbed a handful of flares and placed them in her back pocket. Last she looked to the dull pirates blade on the chest of drawers before her. Sighing she picked it up and debated the idea of sharpening it for the first time. The thought brought tears to her eyes.
She could hear Fangs voice berating her..."Leave it to you to bring a dull blade to a gun fight and walk out unscathed...."
He was always so enamored by her fighting abilities, she was a brilliant fighter had spent seven hundred years prepping for this day. She looked at the ancient scroll on her bed and could see the writing written in blood on the contract. The Blessed Knife resting right beside it. But still she held that blade desperately content at the feel of it in her palm. This was all she had of Fangs besides his blood in her veins. She would not go into this fight tonight without it.
She slipped the blade down the inside of her stiletto boot and lay back on the bed and closed her eyes.
She was Sleeping Beauty. So she needed to sleep with a death grip on the contract because her fate would come calling tonight and she was going in the way it was told for centuries. She would slay her dragon tonight, she would do it with the Blessed knife and a dull pirates blade. She would come out alive knowing that what she loved most was not touched by this fight, ever again. She was not going to get her finger pricked by her proverbial spinning wheel, Fil. couldn’t let it happen because unlike her fairy tale, there would be no Prince Charming coming to wake her up with true loves kiss.
*
Chapter Twenty-four
"It took a while but I’m glad you answered my call....wanna chat?" Fils words rang through the enormous room, reverberating against the cool marble as she stepped through the threshold of his own private Queen Anne castle. She didn’t fight his summons, but welcomed it called out to it and in doing so she was able to walk through the front door.
She wanted to kick herself for all the centuries of fighting him and getting her ass kicked the second she realized where she was. Brought a whole new meaning to the term, 'just go with it.'
"Been busy darling." She chided and slid the blade free watching the steel shine dramatically from the light off the chandelier. "I’m home now so why not. Lets chat."
He had a laugh like a serial killer and made the hair on the back of her neck stand on edge, but she blocked the fear knowing that Cane was here somewhere and she didn’t need to distract him. "You’ve been busy lately Fil, selling me to the Weaver didn’t work out to well did it." She laughed her own demented chuckle.
"Not as busy as you have." He was finally standing before her, at a distance but she could see the outline of his body, the blue of his eyes that was so inhuman and nowhere near demon... his evil side was playing along, thrilled by the scent of fresh meat.
"Whatever do you
mean?" She asked keeping her voice sweet she tilted her head to the side and smiled her royal smile.
"I'll give credit where credit is due Bri. I was beaten by a small little fairy and a contract that left me with nothing." He had taken a few more steps now and was close enough that she could see the entirety of him, every fiber of his being was visible and she wanted to sigh in relief. "Well, except my ownership of you... If I suffer darling so will you."
The playfulness in his voice was gone and replaced with nothing shy of complete disdain. "I do suffer Fil, have since the instant we married." She looked at the blade in her hand, the handle of the knife such a sharp difference to her usual dull blade. "Think I want a divorce though."
Laughing again he clapped his hands. "I love your pizzazz tonight, it’s like a breath of fresh air compared to the usual anguish and pain I get from you. Your almost perky."
"Killing my lousy husband can do that."
Awakened (A Fairy Tales Novel) Page 27