by Ariel Marie
“You! And you don’t have to whisper, this is your dream, she can’t hear you.” He lets go of my hair and I take a step back from him.
“Why?”
“You are the key to the prophecy. Your blood, is the blood that is needed to create the portal to free me. You are the one who will release me from this banishment, and bring me back to the human realm!”
“Why would I want to do that?” I back away from him, slowly moving towards the door. The kill safe I had planted in my subconscious can’t help me now seeing how there is no way for music to be played. I start trying to think of another way I can get away from him.
“If you don’t, I will strip away everything you have ever loved. I may not be able to step foot in the human realm right now, but I can make your life a living hell. My demons will continue to come to your world and believe me, they are craving blood and destruction!” As I back away from him, he stalks to me backing me into the wall. He grabs my arm and we flash into my aunt’s room.
“Your Aunt Adela, such a pretty name for a pretty lady. She’s like a second mother to you, since your own mother died. I would hate for an accident to happen to her,” he says in my ear as he tightens his grip on my arm, as we stand over Adela sleeping her bed. His voice is as hard as steel as he threatens my family.
“Need we continue?” I shake my head quickly as the feeling of dread spreads through my body.
“Oh, I need to make myself clear.” His grip tightens as we flash to a familiar dark room. We’re in Colin’s bedroom. I hear the shower running in the en suite. This may be a dream but I don’t know when this is, or if this is even real. My stomach is queasy, and I’m not getting a good feeling being here. Goosebumps form on my arms as a chill slides down my spine.
“You think your wolf can protect you from me? I will destroy him; I will destroy everyone in his pack and everyone he loves! I will break you, Lina. You will come to me and set me free! You will play your part in the prophecy!” I snatch my arm away from him backing up.
“Why should I? Either way you’re going to kill everyone!” I hiss at him. He pauses and then shrugs his shoulders.
“When I make my way back to the human realm, you will be my Queen. You will rule the human realm with me! If you free me, then I will allow your family to live, but if you do not, I will kill every single one of them.” As he speaks, Colin’s bedroom door opens and Malia walks in, and the bottom of my stomach falls out. My eyes narrow at her boldness and familiarity with Colin’s bedroom. She sits a glass of ice water on the side table next to his bed. She moves the water bottle that was on the table. She kicks off her shoes and walks around the bed, running her hands alongside the comforter.
“Oh, this is getting good! I couldn’t have planned a better time for us to show up!” He rubs his hands together as the corner of his mouth lifts into a smirk.
“This is happening now?” I ask as I feel my anger rising. He nods his head. “How is this possible, you said this was my dream?” How dare this bitch come into his room?
“I am more powerful than you think, little girl. I can take you anywhere I want in a dream! This is real. I truly didn’t expect this!” He gloats as his eyes follow Malia around the room. My anger gives way to fear and doubt.
My eyes turn back to the bathroom and the person inhabiting it right now. How dare he lie to me! I begin to chew on my bottom lip as I think back to our time together. Not once had he said that he loved me. He’s told me that he wants me, and that we need to talk when I get back. So far, we’ve just had the most amazing sex. He keeps talking about how he can’t make a commitment to any woman and I fell for it. I guess I was too caught up in my feelings for him, that I just offered to take whatever he was willing to give me.
My stomach lurches as her naked form makes its way around Colin’s room. Malia walks past me as she heads into the bathroom, naked, with a soft smile on her face. My heart cracks at the thought of what is about to happen in that bathroom. My chest hurts; I’m having a hard time catching my breath as tears fill my eyes.
I thought we had a something between us, I thought we were beginning to mean something to each other. It must have just been one-sided. Maybe it was just me. I know I don’t compare to someone like Malia, who is tall and beautiful. Maybe he decided he wants to mate with a wolf, and they have history. I back up towards the bedroom door. That’s probably why he hasn’t called me since I went back to the Fae. He already has replaced me with someone else. I knew when I called him, that I heard a female voice in the background.
“Did you really think that their relationship would be over? Did you think that he would just get over her, and be happy with you?” Melomouzor sneers in my ear, adding to all of the distrust that is filling my mind.
“Shut up! You don’t know what you’re talking about!” I shout in denial, running my trembling hands through my hair.
“You have one week, Princess! You release me from the Underworld, and I’ll let your family live! We’ll rule the human realm together. You don’t need him! He doesn’t appreciate you! You will never mean to him what he means to you!” he yells pointing at the bathroom door. “By my side you will be a Queen! You will have all the power. Everyone will worship you. Our children will change the future and make it ours!” He backs me up against the wall, his red eyes blazing, his glamour blinking in and out giving me glimpses of his true demon form.
“You don’t release me, and I will have your family members slaughtered one by one. I will eradicate your whole family line. Slowly, you will watch, as their skin will be stripped from their bones. Their organs devoured while they are barely alive and blood drained completely from their body as you watch the light fade from their eyes, them begging you to help them. My army of demons will flood this world you so love much, destroying it, even without me there! Try me, Princess!” he roars as he moves close to me. I can’t take my eyes off the bathroom door. My heart feels empty as I nod my head.
“Get me out of here!” I snap at Melomouzor. I take one more look at the bathroom, with tears streaming down my face, before the room dissolves.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
~Lina~
“Hey, Keegan.” The latest dream has really shaken me to my core. After waking up from the dream, sleep did not come back to claim me. Tears gather in my eyes as my brother’s voice greets my ears through my phone. My lip quivers as I fight to keep the tears from spilling over. I quickly wipe my eyes to hide the wetness as if he can see me.
“What’s wrong?” He doesn’t return a greeting. His voice is as hard as steel as he detects the quiver in mine. I take a deep breath and exhale as I try to speak in a normal tone to hide my true feelings of despair of what I witnessed in my dream.
“He visited my dream again last night.” My voice comes out stronger. He doesn’t even have to ask who he is. He curses under his breath. There are voices laughing and talking in the background.
“What did he say? Are you okay?” I fill him in on the rest of the dream leaving out us going into Colin’s bedroom.
“He said that I am the key, that I am the one that will have to bring him over to the human realm.” I shift on my bed, not knowing how to truly answer that loaded question. My heart feels like it was ripped out of my chest. I can’t get the image of Malia in Colin’s room out of my head.
“The hell you will!” he roars. The voices in the background stop as he yells in the phone. “How do you even know that what he showed you was real?”
“I don’t, but it doesn’t matter. If I don’t help him, he is going to start killing everyone I love! I can’t risk that, Keegan! What am I supposed to do? In my dream, he has threatened you, Azura, Adela, even Colin! He’s too powerful!”
Without a thought, I jump out of the bed and pace the floor. “We have to find a way to stop him! He’s given me a week to come to free him or he’s going to start sending demons after our family!”
“Nothing is going to happen while me and the Guardians are here. We will mak
e sure that Azura and Aunt Adela are well protected. From now on, you are not to go anywhere without one of the Guardians with you. I don’t even want you coming here with just a palace guard. A Guardian needs to be with you at ALL times! You are not going to fight me on this, Lina!”
I nod my head as if he can see me. There is no use in arguing or fighting him about this. His mind is set and he’s more stubborn than me. My heart is beating so fast in my chest that it feels like it’s going to leap out of it. It’s too much, having to deal with having my loved ones’ lives threatened, and living with the thought that the man I love, is no longer interested in me. I dare not say anything to Keegan about what I saw in the dream about Colin and Malia. He will go ape-shit crazy if he thinks that Colin has hurt me in any way. Matter of fact all the Guardians will.
“I have to come back to the human realm.”
“No, you’re not even close to being done with your training!”
“I have no choice, Keegan. He’s given me a one-week deadline. We need to come up with a plan to kick Melomouzor’s ass!” I have to go back to the human realm. There is no way that I will stay in Faery while Melomouzor makes his way to the human realm. I have to be there, even if it’s to sacrifice myself to save the realm.
* * *
~Melomouzor~
It’s time for me to check on these idiots in the laboratory. I need to see if these scientists are almost ready. They are close to making my super demon. The new generation of demons will be larger, intelligent, faster and ferocious as ever. I was told the formula that was created to enhance the demons, just needs a few more tweaks but everything is still running according to plan. The plan to break into the pharmaceutical company for supplies went horribly wrong. The shifters, Vampires, Witches and the Fae may be working together. They may have thought that they stopped me by defeating my demons at the pharmacy factory, but they were wrong.
The demon that led that raid has been dealt with for failing. His failure cost him his life. Failure is not tolerated under my command. So I appointed another demon to plan a raid for more supplies for the scientists in a smaller town and it was carried out without a hitch. I try not to get too attached to the demons due to constant fuck ups. There are a few that I trust to get jobs done. Demons that make mistakes, will pay for their mistakes.
They will wreak havoc on the human realm. Once I have crossed over, I will destroy all those who will try to stand in my way. The humans will be enslaved and I will rule their world. My second in command Bazin, is one of the only demons I truly trust. Bazin was just dispatched to Earth on my command. The witches that are under his command have been opening portals to allow demons to cross. Bazin crossed over with a few other demons.
A small smile touches my lips at the thought of dream walking into Arlina’s dream last night. That little raven-haired bitch will be mine! She has one week to bring me out of my banishment or her family will pay with their lives. She thinks that she can get away from me! Never! I am too strong for her. She is meant to be at my side. The prophecy says so. Her first-born child will determine the future, which will be me ruling the realm.
I can’t wait to get my hands on her, I’ll be glad to plant my seed there. That midnight hair and large green eyes will make it easy to bed her. Our first-born child will be the one to help me rule. She will be my Queen and she will bare me many offspring. The dream from last night creeps into my mind again making my cock twitch. I can’t wait to get my hands on her smooth skin in the real world.
Even if she is the one to have all the powers of the Fae, I will still be more powerful than her. Those powers of hers will belong to me. Once she’s my Queen, she will use those powers as I see fit. Maybe I’ll keep one of her family members around to keep her on a leash. That little Guardian is such a spitfire.
The rogue wolves I sent to Langdale to keep her Alpha wolf and his Legion members busy worked. There are plenty of people in the realm that are willing to follow me, and worship me when I invade the realm. Not only are there rogue wolves, but also rogue vampires, black magic witches, even some Fae, all waiting for me to come back to the realm. My power will be unmatched; there will be no one who can stop me.
I walk into the state of the art laboratory that houses all of the experiments that I hold dear. It has everything possible that the scientists and biomedical engineers my demons captured from the human realm would need. They are considered the top of their field. The demons were also able to pluck a few geneticists and a few physicians from Hell that I picked out. The best scientists are working on building my super demons. The brightly lit room housed high-powered computers, microscopes and other tools the scientist needed to complete their work.
I slowly walk past the holding cells that hold some of the witches, werewolves, vampires and fairies that are currently being worked on. They disgust me. They are filthy and malnourished. These are supposed to be the strongest of the supernaturals, descendants from the ancients. Not all of the descendants have survived their testing and experimenting. That’s why they need Arlina; she is the strongest descendant of the ancient Fae.
“Dr. Hamilton how goes our formula?” I ask walking up to the small, thin, balding scientist that was kidnapped from the human realm. Dr. Curtis Hamilton was the top gene-slicing specialist in the world before disappearing from the realm. He was the most renowned scientist who worked for the world renowned Genetech Laboratories. The world believes that his private plane, that was going to Germany for a speaking engagement, went down over the Atlantic.
He is the lead scientist on the demon-enhancing project. The smell of fear permeates from the scientist. His small beady eyes widen as I speak to him and signal for him to walk with me. Humans can be so weak.
“Your formula is on schedule, my lord.” The doctor’s voice trembles as he speaks. “We’ve taken all of the strengths from each supernatural, and infused it into the demons, my lord. The first set of demons that we transfused the formula in, all survived the transfusions, and are doing well. We are doing our final testing on them soon but so far, they seem to be faster, stronger and have grown larger.”
“So they will have all of their strengths, but none of their weaknesses,” I summarize.
“Exactly, my lord.” Dr. Hamilton’s head bobs up and down quickly.
“Excellent.”
We walk past the holding cells; there are a couple of the werewolves in their animal forms with pure silver neck shackles that will prevent them from shifting. The vampires are deprived of fresh blood, leaving them weak and vulnerable. The witches are deprived of the moon and nature, leaving them in a weakened state and the fairies wear bracelets made of quarlineum that will block their Fae powers.
Taking the strongest traits from the supernaturals and enhancing my demons, making my new breed of demons unstoppable will make conquering the realm easy. My team of experts will be working around the clock nonstop. Soon, very soon, I will rise and take the realm by force, and nothing will stop my demons.
“Dr. Hamilton, let’s put our new demons to the test.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
~Lina~
“I have to!” My dad can truly try my nerves!
For the last fifteen minutes, we have been arguing about me going back to the human realm now. He argues that Keegan can handle everything, and that I must stay in Faery to continue to train, and be protected. I told him about the recent dream and he is forbidding me to go anywhere without a Guardian with me.
“You just told me that he said that you are the key and you are needed to bring him over! You are going to stay here in Faery where I can protect you!” My father strides over to me.
“I cannot let him get to Grandmother, Aunt Adela or the rest of the family! He is going to send demons for mom’s family! I have to do something!” He grabs me as I pace back and forth in his office.
“Do you really think that I, or your brother, will allow that monster to take you? To let him destroy the human realm? He will not lay one hand on yo
u, Arlina!” My father’s face is hard as stone as his eyes flash with strong emotions. There’s a knock at the door. He releases me and stalks towards the door. He opens it and speaks quietly to the person on the other side. He looks over at me briefly, capturing my attention. Who could it be? He opens the door and Christian walks in the room.
Christian Zahir, master of fire magic, six foot six inches, blond hair, blued eyed elite Guardian and my ex-boyfriend. He tried to claim that women were just naturally attracted to him and that he was the poor little victim. He swears up and down that he never cheated on me. Sure and I’m the Queen of the Universe! I can’t prove it but when you get that feeling something is going on, it probably is! I trust him with my life since we are both Guardians, but there is no way in hell I would ever trust him with my heart again. Two years I wasted on him! What in the hell was I thinking? But the past is the past. I’ve got bigger issues right now.
“What is he doing here?” I try but fail horribly to keep the anger and disgust out of my voice.
“Hello to you too, love,” He waltzes in with a smirk on his mouth that I want to drop kick off his face. He tries to kiss my cheek, but I dodge him and walk away from him. “You’ve been avoiding me.”
“With good reason, Christian.” I scowl at my father.
“You promised me that we could talk.” He crosses his arms across his large chest.
“Christian, is going to be your new body guard,” my father interjects as he walks over to his mini bar pouring himself a drink.
“What!” I rush over to my father. “You have got to be shitting me!”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence, Princess,” Christian says dryly.
“Shut up!” I yell over my shoulder turning back to my father. “Why him?”
“Not that I have to explain myself to you, daughter. I know you two have a history but Christian is the best at what he does. Lina, you need around the clock protection. I am not willing to risk your safety. You two need to leave your past in the past.”