by Michelle Fox
Aidan elbowed his friend in the ribs. "Dial it back, big man."
Serena covered her laugh with a cough and said, “Well, here I am, Aidan. So talk. What do you want from me? I assume this is not a blind date no matter how...virile your friend’s interest.”
“No. This is all business,” he assured her. “There’s an evil mage who’s kidnapped my friends. We need to find the mage and dump him in the wastelands of Fairy before he kills them.”
“You want me to sing, right?”
Aidan nodded and picked up the megaphone he’d purchased on the way back to the hotel. “His name is Eric.”
“Eric. A Viking name.” She thought for a moment, manicured finger tapping her bottom lip. “I can work with that.”
“Good. We’ll drive, you sing.” He gave her the megaphone and then fished in his pockets for the earplugs he’d bought along with the megaphone. Handing a pair to Dougal, he said, “Put these in your ears. We can’t afford to get distracted.”
Dougal took the earplugs and did as Aidan requested while Serena sang scales to warm up her voice. Even with the impact of her voice muffled, it still sounded like the best music Aidan had ever heard. He closed his eyes, recalling the summer they had spent together before the queen called him to her service.
Serena had hit a few new notes at his touch, but the relationship would’ve never worked in the long run. The glazed look of lust in Dougal’s eyes explained why. Men flocked to Serena like ants to sugar, providing too much temptation for monogamy. Sirens were notoriously fickle, and went wherever their passions took them. For three blissful months she had been interested in him. If the Queen hadn’t recruited him, Aidan was sure it would’ve ended badly.
Aidan pushed the earplugs in deeper and thought of Marion. The way she writhed underneath him, the soft gasp she made just before she came, and the velvet stroke of her mouth on his cock. Just thinking of her made him hard. While Serena might be the stuff of fantasy, Aidan realized he much preferred Marion and her down-to-earth personality. There were no games with her.
A lump clogged his throat at the thought that something might happen to her, that Eric might finish what he started. Over his dead body, he vowed. He would move heaven and earth and Fairy itself to keep Marion safe.
They left the casino and drove through the city, windows down and Serena singing through the megaphone. Dougal had a map and plotted out a route that followed the grid of side streets in a logical fashion. Two hours in and they’d collected a string of the wrong 'Erics’. Dozens of men of all shapes and sizes answered Serena’s sighs of ‘Eric,’ but none of them were the one they needed to find. Aidan began to worry he might never see Marion again.
Chapter Fifteen
Marion swished the warped hangers in the air and looked doubtfully at Raven. “Are you sure this is going to work?”
“It’s all we’ve got.” Raven slipped a hanger over her neck and gave it an experimental yank. “When he walks in, you wait on the bed with the stick we made and I’ll jump him from behind and slip this over his neck like a noose. If we move fast, we’ll knock him out before he can do any magic.”
“Sounds like a plan.” An odd plan, but like Raven said, it was all they had. Marion picked up the ‘stick’ they had made by unraveling several hangers and then twisting them together until their hands were raw with the effort. The ends were sharp enough to draw blood—not the worst handmade weapon and better than nothing.
“Okay. Let’s get in position.” Raven went to close the closet door and then stood against the wall beside the entrance to their small room. When Eric opened the door she would be on his back before he could react. At least that was the idea, whether it actually worked was another thing all together.
Marion sat on the bed, hiding the stick under her thigh, leaving just enough poking out that she could grab it easily.
They held their positions for several hours and gradually, as more time passed, Raven wilted, sliding down the wall to sit on the floor with a sigh. Marion flopped back on the bed, stretching out her back which ached from sitting so long.
“What if he never comes back?” Raven groaned.
“He’ll come. He’s probably just planning what to do with us.”
“I wish he would get on with it already. This is boring.”
Marion stifled a giggle at her friend’s irritation. “Yeah, captivity isn’t really stimulating, is it?”
A key scraped in the lock. Raven jumped to her feet, a fierce expression on her face, hanger-noose at the ready. Marion resumed her seated position and watched the door expectantly, holding her breath, sweaty palm gripping the hanger-stick.
She saw the knob turn just before Eric threw the door open, striding into the bedroom with a broad smile of confidence on his clean-shaven face. It made Marion’s stomach turn.
Raven lunged at him as soon as he passed her. The hanger slipped over his head and she jerked it back, using it like a garrote to cut off his air supply. For a second it looked like she had the upper hand, but then Eric reached back to touch Raven’s head. A blue charge zapped through her, and she fell, limp and unmoving to the ground.
Marion jumped to her feet with a roar. "Don't you dare hurt her.” She clubbed Eric on the shoulder and then thrust the stick hard into his gut.
He extended his hand toward her, blue energy crackling from his finger tips, but she whacked him so hard across the wrist, he dropped his arm before he could touch her. He wouldn't win. Not this time. No way.
Over and over, she struck him. He grunted with each blow and tried to fight back, but rage made Marion fast. Every time he tried to gather his magic, she hit him and then hit him again. He couldn’t concentrate enough to mount an offense. Within minutes he lay unconscious on the floor, blood dripping from a wound on his temple.
Marion stood over him, panting and feeling stronger than she ever had before. “You will not hurt me. You will not hurt anyone ever again,” she shouted at him, her voice cracking.
“Mar?” Raven’s voice was faint.
She rushed to her friend’s side and helped her sit up. “Are you okay?”
“My head is killing me. What happened? I think I passed out.” Raven looked around the room, spotting Eric. “Oh wow. We got him!"
Marion brandished the hanger stick. “Hangers. Who knew?”
“I know, right?” Raven said.
Confident that Raven was okay for the moment. Marion went and yanked Eric’s dress shirt off and used it to secure his hands behind his back “Now what?” Marion asked as she tied his legs together with his belt.
“We get the hell out of here.”
Marion shook her head. “No, that won’t work. He’ll just come after me again.”
“We’ll call the police and give them the address.”
“I would rather find Aidan. He and Dougal have a more permanent solution” Marion nudged Eric with her toe, satisfied to see he didn’t stir. She wouldn’t mind if he never woke up again. Or, better yet, maybe he would make a good husband for one of those Eros Fey Dougal had told her about.
“We need to find a phone.” Raven crawled forward and searched Eric’s pockets. “I’d like to get my cell phone back too, if possible.”
When Eric’s pockets came up empty, Marion asked, “ Can you walk?” At Raven’s nod, she said, “I’ll keep an eye on Eric, you check the apartment. He called me, there must be a phone somewhere.”
Raven stood and, once her feet were steady under her, went to look, leaving Marion to stand guard. When Eric stirred, she didn’t hesitate to club him in the head, satisfied to see him drop into unconscious again. Who knew what kind of magic he would unleash if he woke up to find himself hogtied by his prey?
“I found my phone,” Raven said, reentering the room a few minutes later.
“Call Aidan. You’ve got his number right?”
“Yeah, from arranging the dinner.” Raven dialed, but frowned when nothing happened. “Damn. There's no signal. The wards must be blocking ca
lls.”
“Go outside and try there."
“You okay here?’
Marion brandished the hanger-stick with a wicked grin. “I’ll be just fine. Eric won’t be waking up anytime soon.”
“I’ll be back as soon as I can.” And then Raven was gone, the front door of the apartment clicking shut behind her. That left Marion alone with Eric, but for once, that didn't scare her.
Chapter Sixteen
Vegas had a lot of Erics. More than Aidan had realized and Serena had attracted a horde of them. They staggered after his car, their eyes bright with obsession and fixated on Serena, who hung out the window, her voice coaxing them along. They'd driven up and down the Vegas Strip for hours now, but so far, the one Eric they wanted to find hadn't shown up.
People were starting to notice. They'd pulled enough Erics away from friends and family that Aidan was pretty sure the police would show up any second now. Where the hell was that mage? He clenched the steering wheel in his hands and growled with frustration.
A loud Fairy song rang from Aidan's crotch, a sappy love ballad no less. He shifted as his cell phone danced in the front pocket of his jeans. Driving with one hand, he pulled out the phone, keeping one eye on the siren-crazed Erics trying to swarm the car.
“Hello.”
“Aidan, it’s me, Raven.”
“Are you okay? Where are you? Where’s Marion?”
“We’re okay, but we could use some help dealing with Eric,” Raven said.
“Just tell me where you are, I’ll be there as fast as I can,” He said, nodding as she gave him an address. Hanging up, he tossed his phone to Dougal. “Go online and look up 2323 Lucky Seven Drive. That’s where they are.”
Dougal took the phone with a nod and started hitting buttons as Aidan said, “Serena, pipe down. You can stop singing now.”
She went silent mid-note and flopped back in her seat. “You found him?”
“My friends escaped and called in their location.”
“You don’t need me anymore?”
“Why? You don’t want to stick around and watch us throw an evil mage into the Wastelands?”
“Is the mage cute?” Serena asked.
“Only if you consider broken bones foreplay.”
“I like a little slap and tickle as much as the next girl, but broken bones are a different matter,” she said with a sniff. “Pass.”
Aidan swerved and slammed on the brakes as one of the many Erics that had heeded the siren’s call made a dive for his car. “Can’t you disperse these guys?”
“My magic lures and attracts. It does not repel.” She examined her nails with a bored expression.
“You and the Pied Piper aren’t related, are you?” Dougal asked, slapping away a hand that thrust through his open window.
“First cousins, actually. Why? “
Dougal rolled up his window. “Just a guess. Listen, Aidan, can you step on it? We need to shake our little stalker parade here before they roll us.” As if to illustrate his point, a fist smashed into the window followed by a howl of pain. Someone else climbed onto the back of the car and started banging on the rear window. Not exactly what Aidan had in mind when he'd called Serena. He’d been under the impression her magic was more specific than this. Now he knew better.
Aidan nodded. “Working on it.” Pounding the horn, he swerved the car from side to side, moving slow enough that the gaggle of Erics could see him coming and jump out of the way. Once he had a clear path, he gunned it, slamming the accelerator to the floor. The car bucked and the engine revved as the car gained speed. Aidan watched in the rearview mirror as the Eric clinging to the trunk rolled off, hitting the pavement hard. He winced and wished the man well.
A few minutes later, they roared up to a high rise apartment building, its metal and glass facade reflecting all the lights of Vegas. Parking as close to the exit as he could get in the garage, Aidan cut the motor. “We’re here.”
“Which apartment is it?” Dougal asked.
“Basement floor, unit oh one,” Aidan said.
Dougal flexed his hands into a fist, bones cracking. “Let’s pay the mage the dues he’s earned.”
“You’ve got the charms?”
“Aye, I do,” the big man said, opening the door and stepping out of the car. “He’ll not be troubling your Marion or any other maid after tonight.” He gave a grim smile, one Aidan returned. He was looking forward to this.
Stepping out of the car himself, he offered a hand to Serena, who was wedged in the backseat.
She smoothed her skirt with her hands and a wiggle of her hips.“Thank you, Aidan. You always were a gentleman.”
“Too much of a gentleman for you if I recall,” he said with a laugh.
“No one is perfect,” she said with a coy smile. “Well, boys, thanks for the ride, but this is where I get off,” She stretched, releasing the kinks from being confined to the small backseat of the car, being sure to thrust her bountiful bosom out for them to admire. Then she sauntered over to Aidan and laid a soft kiss on his cheek. “It was nice to see you, but don’t call me next time. I don’t like these kind of gigs.”
Aidan smiled at her. “All singing and no sex makes for a sad siren?”
She nodded. “Exactly.” Turning to Dougal, she planted a juicy come-hither kiss on the giant’s lips. “You aren’t really my type, but I can see how it might be fun between us.”
Dougal just stared, mouth gaping like a fish. Serena laughed, a quick sweet scale. “Look me up sometime, big guy.” With that, she turned on her heel and gave a sharp whistle that threatened to shatter glass. Nothing happened at first, but then the gray shadow of a gargoyle from Casino Avalon's turrets swooped down from the sky. He snatched Serena up in one hand and dove straight up into the air.
The two men stood frozen for a second, watching the siren disappear, and then Dougal gave himself a shake, breaking the tension. “Let’s do this,” he said.
Aidan nodded his agreement and they made their way to the mage's apartment.
Raven was standing in the door to Eric's place, keeping an eye out for them. “This way,” she said with a wave of her hand. “Hurry.”
They found Marion sitting on a bed, a strange wire stick of some kind held tightly in her hand as she watched over an unconscious Eric. When they entered the room, she didn’t take her eyes off the blond mage at her feet as she said, “Thank the Goddess you are here.”
Aidan went to her, reaching for her with shaking hands. She was safe. Safe. Oh thank the blessed Lady.
She shrugged off his touch.“Not now, Aidan. Eric keeps trying to wake up.” In fact, he groaned as she spoke, his eyes flickering open for a brief second. A fierce expression on her face, Marion stood and whacked him twice in the head with her stick-thing. “There. That should keep him for another few minutes. Is that enough time to dump him in the Wastelands?”
“Aye, lass” Dougal said. He pulled three silver charms from his pocket. Casting one on Eric’s chest he said, “One to bind him to the Fairy realm.” Throwing another he said, “One to bind his magic.” Throwing the third, he added, “One to draw all the goblin and their kin like bees to pollen."
A white light flared as the charms melted into Eric's bare chest. Marion watched with wide eyes as the magic filtered into her ex's body.
"Wow," Raven said. "That's some pretty awesome magic."
"Time to say goodbye. I've been saving this portal charm for a special occasion and this seems to be it.” Dougal pulled out another charm, this one a silver circle, and tossed it up into the air. He waved his hand and the charm disappeared as a blue light overtook it. Once the light had grown large enough to fit a man, Dougal picked Eric up and heaved him into the portal. He then dispersed the portal with another wave of his hand. “There. Done and gone. He’ll be bitten by an Eros Fey before the day’s out.”
Marion sagged and let her stick-thing fall to the floor as she wrapped her arms around herself. “It’s done then. He’s really gone thi
s time. For good.”
“Yes, for good,” Aidan said, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her forehead.
Chapter Seventeen
Unable to sleep, Aidan returned to the club where it had all started, still just as lost as when he'd first arrived in Vegas. As his queen had warned him, Lady Luck was a cruel mistress. A winning hand could still lose.
He'd escorted Marion home with a promise to see her the next day. At the time he'd meant it, but as it turned out, he would never see her again. If he'd ever had any luck to begin with, it had just run out, taking his heart with it.
Tapping the bar with his knuckles to get the sleepy bartender's attention, he ordered a pint of mead and then hunched over his glass. The early morning light provided soft illumination of the empty club behind him. The only other people there were the cleaning crew, busily sweeping the dance floor and wiping down tables and chairs.
McAllister manifested from nowhere and flew down to sit next to Aidan's mead. He still had his Sinatra suit on. "What are you going to do?”.
Aidan shrugged. “I've been summoned. I have to go. I can’t disobey.”
“Maybe if you talk to her, she’ll release you. I’ll have a word with her myself.”
“She won’t let me go. I’m one of her own. And don’t say anything. She’ll be angry about Marion.” He massaged his neck with a sigh. She would be furious if she found out he was in love with anyone but her. The Lady did not like to share.
“What will you tell Marion?” McAllister took a big gulp of mead, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.
“I don’t know.”
“You’re not going to leave without telling her, are you?”
Aidan refused to meet McAllister’s eyes. What was he supposed to say? I love you, but I can never be with you, I belong to another? He couldn’t bear to see the heartbreak on her face. It was better for him to just disappear, as if he had never existed.