“Y ou really need to get out of your apartment and start living your life again, kid,” Bill’s gravelly voice came down the phone as I heard him inhale deeply on a cigarette.
I grunted in answer, watching the sun slide beneath the horizon like it was melting into a pool of burnt gold. I was sitting on the roof of my apartment on the west side of Alestria, which was one of the highest buildings in the area. The summer breeze kissed my bare chest and I didn’t bother to use my water magic to cool down; I soaked in the heat and wondered what it would be like to follow the sun beyond the horizon, flying until I got away from this city, this life.
“You there?” Bill pushed.
“Yeah, I’m here,” I muttered. “Where else would I be?”
“Look, I know you don’t wanna hear this, Gabriel, but the girl met her match. Her Elysian mate. Her one true lo-”
“I’m aware of what an Elysian Mate is,” I cut him off, a snarl in my throat.
“Yeah, I know…” He sighed heavily and I sensed the pain in him, how deeply he felt this agony for me even though it wasn’t his burden to bear. It made my heart twitch with a little more life than it had seen in days. At least I had him. I’d always have Bill. “Just come out with me for a drink. Who knows? Maybe you’ll meet a girl to take your mind off Elise. We could go to the Pink Star, I’ll buy you a lap dance?”
I released a note of what almost could have been laughter. “And get my dick infested with Manticrabs in the process?”
“Hey, your dick needs some kind of action or it’ll fall off. And I’ll have you know that the Pink Star got a four point five star rating in Zodiass Weekly this year.”
“You’re not selling it to me, Bill.” I got to my feet, feeling about ten times heavier since I’d started carrying around a leaden heart. The last few weeks had been a special kind of hell. Maybe I’d made it worse on myself by refusing to leave the apartment outside of fetching groceries. I’d been driven mad with visions of Elise and Leon together while trying desperately to find a way to block them out. But it seemed the more I fought them, the more violently they attacked me. Her smile was branded on the inside of my skull, but it wasn’t aimed at me, it was aimed at him. The Lion. The one chosen by the stars. Her perfect. Fucking. Match. They would moan and say I love yous between breaths. Sometimes I swear I heard my own name on her lips too only to realise I was probably just trying to imagine it was so. It was fucking torture.
“I’m not going out.” I turned for the skylight behind me as Bill groaned.
“I’m not taking no for an answer this time, kid,” he growled. “I know how much this is tearing you up inside, but she’s not yours, you gotta let it go. You gotta start moving on. You can’t fight the stars.”
I paused as I crouched down beside the open skylight, his words making my throat tighten and my heart pinch with a sharp pain that dug deeper and deeper. I gazed down into my empty apartment, envisioning the night I’d have waiting for me down there. Another insufferable hour after hour in the dark, trying to sleep while the stars gifted me visions of them fucking and kissing and gasping each other’s names and saying how they needed more, more, more. More of each other or more of something else, who knew?
I slammed the window shut as my jaw locked tight. “You’re right,” I gritted out.
“I am?” Bill asked hopefully.
“Yeah. Meet me at Serpens.”
“By the sun, why there? You looking for a fight tonight?”
“Maybe I need one.”
A beat of silence passed where Bill considered it. “Alright. Anything to get you out of that fucking place and sitting beside me with a beer.”
“I’m on my way.”
“Right, see you soon, kid.”
I hung up, stuffing my Atlas into my jeans’ pocket as I stood, turning away from the sunset towards the darkened streets stretching out below me in Lunar Territory. Danger lurked in the shadows, waiting for me, asking for me to bleed tonight. And I didn’t mind the possibility of that. Anything to keep me from seeing another one of those soul-destroying visions.
The stars were really having a laugh at me, giving me the gift of The Sight at long last only to plague me with endless visions of Elise and her true Mate. The glimpses they’d handed me before must have been wrong, or maybe they were showing me that we both had Elysian Mates. It just wasn’t each other. And if that was the case then I still had an Elysian Mate somewhere out in the world waiting for me. The thought turned my stomach. I didn’t want anyone else. Elise was…well, fuck, Elise was everything. But maybe what we’d had had never been felt as strongly on her side and I’d just refused to see it. She’d kept her options open and the stars had finally chosen the man she desired the most. But if she was never meant to be mine…why was letting go of her so impossible?
I ran forward and leapt off the end of the roof, free-falling and soaking in the sensation of my stomach swooping as I tumbled towards the sidewalk far below. I winced as a vision of me hitting the ground flashed far too graphically through my mind and I spread my wings, defying that future as I sailed over the streets, following the interconnecting grid below in the direction of Serpens.
I landed in a back street where thumping music was calling to me from inside the club, letting my wings disappear. Two bouncers glared menacingly at me as I approached, eyeing my bare chest, but a place like this didn’t require a shirt. Or morals for that matter.
One of them ran an I.D. scanner over my face before thrusting his thumb toward the door and I headed inside where people were shouting and hollering. Serpens was the sort of bar that would be illegal anywhere else but Alestria. Rumour had it that they hid bodies in the walls of any unfortunate asshole who died in the ring. Though the ring wasn’t a normal boxing ring in any sense. And as I rounded into the bar, I saw it. The stage was elevated above the crowd, the glowing red light of the magical barrier around it casting the whole place in bloody tones.
There were two fire Elementals going head to head inside. A dark-skinned girl with a crop top that pushed up her tits stood to one side of it, her body lined with tattoos, though they weren’t like mine. They were all different colours, a menagerie of wild animals that looked lifelike under the glistening sweat on her body and the light dancing across her flesh. The guy she faced was twice her size, shirtless and had fire twisting around both arms as he tried to whip her with it. She moved fast, not Vampire fast, but quick enough that I recognised her as my kind. Another Harpy. From the size of the other guy, I would have guessed he was a Minotaur. I would have said Dragon if they weren’t rare as fuck.
I moved to the bar, ordering a beer and a shot of tequila, downing the latter before starting on my bottle.
The fight ended brutally, the girl taking down the guy in a spectacular display of fire which left half his face burned off and a couple of workers rushing in to heal him before he bled out on the stage.
“Naria Moonbeam takes top position on the Fire scoreboard tonight! If you want to fight her in the next fire round, sign up at the bar!” A man’s amplified voice filled the room, though I couldn’t spot him. The leaderboard was lit up in gold and silver light on the other side of the stage, showing there’d already been an air fight before this one, which meant earth or water was next. And as I had both…
“Hey kid.” Bill clapped a hand to my shoulder and as I turned to him, he pulled me in for a one-armed, awkward as shit hug. I patted his back before shoving him off and ordering him a beer. There was way too much fucking pity in his eyes for my liking.
“I didn’t come out tonight to be looked at like that,” I said over the blaring music.
“Noted,” he smirked.
“And don’t mention her,” I growled, my heart beating even as her name flitted through my head. I could feel the stars pulling at me, begging me to slip away into a vision of her and I fought it back as hard as I could, scrunching up my eyes.
Bill slapped me across the face and I jolted in surprise as he barked a laugh.
Bill was the only one who knew how much I was suffering because of it. We hadn’t had a heart to heart so much as I’d told him in a few brief words what was wrong and he’d offered me a cigarette. Guess that was love in his language though.
“You’re welcome. Now down your drink and let’s get another.” He pulled his wallet out, waving some auras at the barmaid and two more beers were soon handed to us.
“We have a contestant ready to face another water Elemental, who’s brave enough to step into the red circle?” the same disembodied voice came again and I planted my beer down on the bar, rolling my shoulders back.
“Maybe wait and see who’s signed up firs-” Bill started but I was already shoving through the crowd, baring my teeth at anyone who didn’t scamper out of my path quick enough.
I found my way to the ring entrance where a guy with a mullet and stacked muscles was waiting to head in. I signed up and the commentator flicked his hand to open up a gap in the forcefield around the ring and I followed the mullet guy up a set of stairs.
“Please welcome Gabriel Nox and Ivan Nightjar to the ring!” the commentator called and the forcefield closed behind us. “You know the rules. Water attacks only. No one walks out of the ring until one of you needs to be carried out.”
Adrenaline chased the alcohol through my veins, bringing life into my body that I’d missed. I’d been a zombie since I’d lost all chance of winning Elise’s heart. Nothing had taken away the pain. But this…this was instinct. A primal, Fae need to win. As simple as that. And I didn’t even care if I was the one left in a pool of blood on the ground by the end of it, I just needed the distraction. Anything that could keep my mind from turning to her. Anything that could stop the visions in their tracks.
“Three, two, one, fight!” the whole bar joined in the chant and Ivan cast two ice daggers in his palms. A predictable move which I countered with a huge blast of water that crashed over him, blinding him while I created a stairway of ice which twisted up around the edge of the ring. I raced up it with a surge of speed, keeping the water swirling around him as he fought to hold it back. The cries of the crowd became a din as I focused, magic coursing hungrily to my palms. I hadn’t used nearly enough lately and this outlet was euphoric.
As Ivan recovered, I dove from the top of the stairs, crashing down on top of him with sharpened shards of ice covering my skin. He screamed as he fell beneath my weight and I coated my fists in ice before pounding them into every soft piece of flesh I could find. He cursed, throwing punches at my chest and sides, but the thick ice armouring my body made it near impossible for him to land a solid hit.
He roared in rage as he forced a huge jet of water at my chest, throwing me across the floor. He was on his feet in moments and the whole ring filled with water, flooding it fast. I didn’t have time to take another breath before I went under and the water kept rising.
Ivan swam at me, locking his arm around my throat and trying to hold me in place as the world became muffled. My lungs burned for air already and my ears popped with the pressure change.
I struggled against him, kicking off of the floor and forcing him backwards. I tried to cast the water away from my mouth and nose, but he locked my arms behind my back, holding me in place.
My lungs ached and my pulse thundered in my ears as I started to run out of time.
I flailed and kicked, forcing us backwards again and his spine impacted with the forcefield. A stream of bubbles surrounded me as he screamed, his grip on me loosening and I swam furiously away from him as I got free, powering up to the top and dragging down a lungful of air as I breached the surface. The noise of the crowd poured into my ears, but was cut off again as Ivan caught my leg and dragged me down.
I kicked hard to make him release me then started casting ice beneath me, turning the water to a frozen lump at the bottom.
A minute passed where Ivan didn’t touch me again then a cheer went up and the forcefield vanished, letting the water splash out into the bar to a round of cheers. I fell down onto a hard layer of ice, finding Ivan’s head poking out of it, blood streaming down his face from where my foot had connected with his nose. His eyes were half open and he was gurgling, proving he was alive. I was announced the winner and a couple of people ran in to melt the ice and heal Ivan before he passed out.
I stepped out of the ring sopping wet, with my heart pounding out a victorious tune in my chest. For once I felt something that wasn’t the agony of losing Elise, but even as I made it to the bottom of the stairs out of the ring, that pain came rushing back to meet me. Fuck.
“Please welcome the earth Elementals for the next round!”
Someone rammed their shoulder into mine and I looked around as Ryder Draconis headed up into the ring. I shouldn't have been surprised to see him here. This bar seemed like his kind of scene and as it was Lunar run, it was possible he even owned the place. He sneered over his shoulder at me before stepping into the ring with a guy half his size who looked like he was having second thoughts about signing up for this bout.
I dried myself off with my magic and headed to the bar to order another beer, my arm brushing against someone else's as I arrived. I didn't pay them attention until their fingers curled over my wrist and I looked around to find Naria Moonbeam looking up at me under her long lashes.
"You look like you've got a lot of rage in you, dark eyes," she purred.
My gaze was drawn down to her full lips as she ran her tongue between them. She was hot, the sort of girl I'd have brought home and fucked the life out of not that long ago. But now...now Elise occupied every one of my thoughts. But why should she? When she was off fucking someone else, when her entire soul was owned by someone else.
I ordered a couple of beers, offering her one and she took it with a seductive smile.
"You gonna speak to me or just look?" she asked with a smirk.
"I'm not in the mood for talking," I muttered.
"What are you in the mood for?" She smiled darkly and I sipped my beer, swallowing half of it in one go as I kept my eyes on her. The buzz of alcohol in my veins attempted to drown the raging storm in my heart and I moved closed to Naria.
"You wanna go somewhere quieter?" I asked, the words sounding kind of flat on my tongue. But maybe this was what I needed. I had to get Elise out of my system. I just needed to lay my attention on another girl and maybe I'd wake up tomorrow free of the chains that bound me to her.
Naria took my hand and I downed my drink, planting it on the bar as I let her guide me through a door. Bill was probably wondering where the fuck I'd gone, but this didn't need to last long. Just something quick and meaningless, something that reminded me there were other women in the world. That I didn't need to fixate on Elise.
Naria led me into the men's bathroom which was about the last place I wanted to fuck anything, but screw it. She leaned back against the wall beside the row of sinks and tugged me forward by my waistband. She tiptoed up to kiss me and I turned my head so her lips dragged across the corner of my mouth instead.
"No kissing," I grunted, knowing it was fucking stupid but I didn't want this to be affectionate. I just wanted her to take away the raw ache left by Elise.
She laughed wickedly, nodding in agreement then dropped down to her knees, unbuckling my belt. I leaned one hand on the wall, my gaze falling to the mirror to my right and I was confronted with the swirling darkness in my eyes, the roaring pain in them that spoke of Elise. But fuck it, I wasn't going to think of that.
Naria ran her hand over my dick through my jeans and I realised I was about as hard as an overipe banana
. Fucking great.
I growled under my breath as she glanced up at me. "Keep going," I insisted and she bit her lip as she did as I said. As much as my body and my heart didn’t want this in the slightest, I was gonna try and go through with it. Because maybe then I wouldn’t feel so bad. Maybe then I’d be able to forget Elise, just for a minute.
I let her rub me for a few more seconds before I realised this wasn’t going to happen and I didn’t want it to anyway.
My gaze snagged on my reflection again and before I managed to push Naria away, I was dragged into a vision that tore through my skull like a bomb going off.
People were screaming. The world was running red with blood and bodies mounted up around me. I choked on the metallic scent in the air and the blast of magic somewhere close by. Wolves raced by, howling to the sky which was illuminated by a ferocious storm. Faces blurred around me and I was unable to get a grasp on any of them. But then a shadow drew near, a cloaked figure and they reeked of death.
King.
I was half aware of hitting the floor, but I couldn't get out of the vision, the impact of it rattling through my skull. It was the most powerful vision I'd ever experienced. The weight in my head spoke of its importance, of the horror that was coming.
"No!" I roared, but water filled my mouth and I tried to fight it away only to find more flooding into my throat. I was drowning, my limbs locked, unable to move.
Someone kicked me and I rolled onto my back, white lights blinding me as the vision faded away. A dark figure stepped forward, blotting it out and I found myself staring up at Ryder, his face twisted in suspicion.
"What the fuck, Big Bird?"
"Whahappened?" I slurred.
I was lying in a puddle of water a few inches deep, the whole room flooded and the tingle of magic in my fingertips telling me I'd put it there.
"Some girl came running out screaming as I walked in." He shrugged. "You were jerking on the floor drowning in your own water magic. Now you're lying on your back with your cock out."
I lurched upright to check my crotch and he snorted a laugh as I found my pants still in place, only my belt and fly undone. Thank fuck. "Asshole. I had a vision," I muttered, but realised half a beat later that Ryder had saved me from drowning. Holy shit, since when did he go around saving anyone from anything?
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