Broken Fae

by Caroline Peckham

  I kicked the door open and roared a battle cry with fire blazing around my hands like an absolute badass. But there was no one there. "For fuck's sake, I won't do it as awesomely as that next time."

  “Not the time, Leo.” Elise shoved me along, her air shield strong around us as we darted down the path and hunted for traitor Oscuras to engage.

  Dante's huge Dragon form was lit up in the sky with lightning zig-zagging around him in the clouds and static energy made the hairs raise along my arms. Fuck, he was cool. The five of us together would have made some seriously awesome super heroes. Or super villains, depending on which way you looked at it. Magic was thrown at him again and again, but between Gabriel covering for him and Dante wheeling fast through the clouds, they were safe for now.

  We raced down paths and across the frosty grass in the direction of Felix's Wolves and as we hurried through a group of trees, Elise tugged me to a halt.

  I took cover with her behind a large ash and squinted around it into the dark where she was pointing. I shifted my eyes to my Lion form and the world brightened ahead of me, allowing me to see what she had.

  "Fuck," I hissed.

  A group of the Oscuras were assembling some sort of gleaming cannon on the grass. It glinted with magic and my heart lurched as they aimed it toward the sky. There were ten of them surrounding it, making us seriously outnumbered, but we couldn't just let them fire whatever that thing was at Dante.

  "Cover me," I snarled as I dropped my sweatpants and leapt forward, shifting into my enormous Lion form.

  I was already running as I hit the ground, my paws huge but making no sound as I sped up behind them, my jaws wide, my bloodlust rising. A tremendous boom split the air apart and the whole cannon jerked backwards as a ball of knotted metal exploded from it and daggered through the air towards Dante. No!

  I roared to the sky in warning and Dante tucked his wings and spiralled down towards the earth as the ball of metal burst open into an enormous net. A lightning bolt exploded the earth ahead of me as Dante turned his fury on these fuckers. But they were mine.

  I leapt into the air, coming down on three of them at once, tearing into flesh with claws and teeth as Elise shielded every blast of magic that came my way. I cut them down one after the other, seeing red as one of the assholes hurried to reload the cannon. I was on him in seconds, my claws tearing down his spine and making him scream for mercy before my teeth silenced him. I swiped the cannon with one of my paws, knocking it to the ground but it was going to need more than that to break it.

  Pain sliced into my leg and I twisted around, finding a large brown wolf sinking their teeth into my hind leg. I wheeled hard to the left, trying to shake it off, but Elise collided with it, ripping into its throat with her damn fangs like an animal. I roared for her victory and dove on my next victim, then my next, catching each of our enemies like mice between my paws and ripping their screaming heads off.

  The last of them fell prey to Elise's teeth and she rushed to my side, rubbing her hand over my flank to check I was okay. I nodded, gesturing to the upended cannon with my nose and she cupped her hands around her mouth, shouting to the sky. "Drago!"

  He roared in response as he heard her, swooping lower and Elise leapt up onto my back, fisting her hands in my mane. I took off, knowing exactly what was about to happen as I raced away from the cannon. The hairs rose all along my flesh just before a tremendous crash sounded the cannon being ripped apart by Dante’s lightning.

  I sprinted along, hunting for more enemies, but as I made it into the courtyard outside the Rigel Library, a chill ran through my blood.

  Elise slid from my back and I turned, baring my teeth as my instincts told me something was wrong.

  From the depths of the shadows between the trees surrounding the courtyard, Wolves emerged, both in Fae form and shifted. More and more of them spilled from the dark, their eyes set on us as they growled hungrily.

  I opened my jaws and roared so loud that a few of them winced and fell back, but most of them kept coming, stalking us, closing the circle until there was nowhere to run.

  Dante roared overhead, but he was further away now and the magic lighting up the sky said he and Gabriel were facing a war of their own. It was just me and Elise against fifty of these assholes. And fear coursed through my body like an injection of freezing water into my blood. I'd kill for Elise, and I'd die for her too. But my death would mean nothing if it equalled hers.

  I nudged her hard, meaning for her to run. She could break through their ranks and get out of here if she used her Vampire gifts, but the fury in her eyes said she was going nowhere.

  "I'd rather die here with you than flee like a coward," she growled firmly, lowering into a fighting stance.

  I lowered too with my heart thumping out a desperate beat, accepting that she was going nowhere and vowing to fight until I couldn't fight any longer. For my little monster.

  As one, we ran toward our attackers and they charged towards us, baying and howling as they came for our deaths.

  My paws were already wet with blood and I was about to paint the rest of me red.

  L eon dove at the pack of Wolves before us with a ferocious roar that cut through the night and let everyone in the entire academy know that the king of beasts was out for blood tonight. He leapt forward with a bound of his powerful legs and his mouth drawn wide enough to rip a man's head clean off if any of them were unlucky enough to end up standing in his way.

  A snarl curled my lip back as I raced forward at his side, focusing half of my magic on shielding the two of us as flames were thrown at us and the searing heat of them crashed against my defences with enough force to steal my breath away.

  Leon slammed a Fae to the ground, his claws tearing into their chest and drawing screams from his lips before his teeth clamped down over his shoulder, sinking in deep as he shook him before launching him at the group of Fae to our right.

  The pack fanned out to circle us as I gritted my teeth against the onslaught of magic ramming against my shield from every side and I cursed as one of the attacks finally managed to shatter my defences.

  A handful of razor sharp blades of ice ripped through the air and collided with me, cutting me open all along my left side and spilling my blood in crimson droplets which splattered over Leon's golden coat.

  Leon roared again as he leapt over my head at the offending Fae, his teeth tearing into him and his blood curdling scream filled the night.

  Another Wolf launched a wooden spear at Leon's exposed back and I threw my hands up, blasting it aside with a gust of wind powerful enough to knock another member of the pack off of his feet and rolling away from me.

  A slice of pain ripped through my arm and I cried out as I whirled around, finding a bastard there with a wooden blade raised to strike at me again, the wild look of excitement in his eyes making my stomach clench with fury.

  I ducked aside with a spurt of speed as he swung the blade at me again and I shot behind him, throwing a punch into the back of his head and ripping the blade from his grip as he stumbled forward.

  I moved to continue my attack, but before I could, vines coiled around him, hoisting him off of his feet and raising him high up into the air before launching him back down towards the ground headfirst at high speed. There was a sickening crack as he collided with the stones before me and I looked beyond the corpse to find Ryder there, his face painted with fury as he disbanded the vines and quickly moved onto his next target.

  "With me!" he bellowed, beckoning to a crowd of the Brotherhood who were moving up behind him. "Kill them all!"

  Ethan Shadowbrook tipped his head to the sky and howled, a flash of lightning making his blonde hair glint like a crown for a moment as his pack ran up behind him and he started ripping his clothes off.

  Felix's pack all shifted their attention his way, the Wolves beneath their skin unable to resist the call of a fight with their own kind as they began to shift all around us.

  My gaze caught Ethan's
just before he dropped his pants and he winked at me as he shoved them off, revealing his cock and howling once more before shifting right before my eyes. My lips popped open at the size of his Wolf form, the enormous black beast towering over every other Werewolf in sight and making me realise I'd never seen a true Alpha Wolf in shifted form before. Not like him. He was breathtaking.

  Felix's pack raced to meet Ethan's as Leon prowled around me, snarling viciously while blood dripped from his golden jaws.

  Thunder boomed overhead as the Wolves collided and my heart leapt to the crescendo of the music Dante was creating in the heavens.

  I looked up and my heart soared as I spotted Gabriel speeding along at Dante's side, casting ice into armour over Dante’s navy scales so that he looked like a snow Dragon all clad in white while his lightning rained down horror on his enemies below.

  Ryder moved to my side, his gaze sweeping over me, assessing me critically and a hiss spilled between his teeth as he took in my wounds.

  "Tell me everyone who hurt you is already dead or I'm going to need you to point them out, baby," he snarled, his gaze flashing with bloodlust protectively.

  "Same goes for you," I replied, pointing to a long cut which ran the length of his arm and he snorted a laugh, the smile on his face anything but friendly and yet utterly intoxicating all the same.

  "Let's kill them all to be sure then." He cast two lethal looking wooden daggers into his hands and the three of us raced away from the warring Wolf packs towards the Fae still fighting in the centre of the courtyard where I'd last spotted Felix.

  Thunder boomed through the clouds as Ryder and I ran beside Leon whose huge golden paws bounded across the flagstones at speed, causing Fae to yell out in alarm as they saw him coming.

  In the centre of the courtyard a group of Fae were all clustered together in a tight knot and as I strained my ears, I caught the sound of Felix's voice raised above the crowd, commanding the rest of his pack to keep everyone away from him while he worked.

  My gut tightened at those words and I just knew that whatever he was up to couldn't be good.

  "He's over there!" I yelled, pointing to the centre of the courtyard so that Ryder and Leon knew where to aim their wrath before shooting ahead of them.

  I darted between the outlying pack members who had been tasked with keeping the fight away from Felix so fast that most of them didn't even notice me passing and those who did had no chance of stopping me anyway.

  Leon's enraged roar followed me as Ryder yelled out for me to wait for them, but I ignored them, knowing in my gut that I had to stop whatever Felix was doing before he could unleash it on my Storm Dragon.

  I sped towards the cluster of Fae in the middle of the pack, realising that there were six of them all leaning close to press their palms to Felix's bare flesh where he'd removed his shirt so that they could power share with him. And with that much force behind his next strike, I wasn't sure Gabriel's defences would hold.

  Lightning crashed from the sky, slamming down on the air shield that one of the Wolves had constructed around Felix to protect him, shattering it with a crack of magic and giving me a moment to dive past their defences before they got them up again.

  Magic rushed to my fingertips as the force of a tornado rippled through my flesh and I unleashed it in a wave of power that slammed into the pack just as Felix launched a thick spear of ice towards the sky.

  My attack knocked his aim off course as Dante swept overhead, but the earth shattering roar of pain that ripped through the clouds let me know it hadn't missed entirely and my heart juddered with fear. Thick, hot blood fell from the sky and coated me, painting me red from head to toe.

  I looked up in horror as Dante banked hard and I spotted a bloody wound punctured through his left wing as the clouds lit with the fury of his storm magic once more.

  Gabriel shot towards him, landing on his back as he struggled to stay in the sky and the green glow of healing magic flared over the wound before the clouds stole them from sight.

  Movement in my periphery drew my gaze back down to earth and I barely managed to dart aside as Felix lunged at me, his lips pulled back in a feral snarl as he shot a blast of water at my chest.

  I managed to avoid it as I sped around behind him, cursing as I called more magic to my hands only to find my power waning.

  I cast a whip of air into my fist and slashed it at him, grinning as a bloody wound ripped down his chest and he cursed me with all the power of the sun.

  His pack had gotten over my attack and my heart lurched as I realised they'd surrounded me, boxing me in from every direction as Felix grinned in victory.

  I threw the most powerful shield that I could conjure around myself and gritted my teeth against the onslaught of magic as the Wolves cast ice, wind, earth and fire at me in a violent barrage.

  My shield shuddered as I fought to maintain it, my limbs trembling as I burned through my magic and my power levels fell dangerously close to empty.

  My heart raced in panic as their attacks continued to grow in strength and I bit down on my lip as I dragged every scrap of magic out of my body.

  The heady taste of Dante's electric blood swept over my tongue and I almost laughed aloud as I sucked on my lip harder before raising my fingers to my mouth too. The power of the storm drove beneath my flesh as I lapped his blood from my body and I could have sworn it was even more powerful than usual. Maybe drinking it direct from his Storm Dragon form intensified it. All I knew for sure was that I was gifted enough magic to reinforce my shield and save me from the pack for a few more moments.

  Screams of fear broke through my concentration and my eyes widened as an enormous snake whipped around the pack in a sudden strike. Ryder's black body was thicker than the width of a car as he managed to snare three of Felix's wolves in the coils of his flesh before tightening his hold and squeezing the life out of them as they screamed for mercy.

  Leon dove over my head, roaring as he aimed his teeth straight at Felix but colliding with a thick water shield before he could rip his head from his body and rolling aside instead.

  The pack surrounding us scattered as Ryder lunged at them, venom dripping from his fangs and burning anyone unlucky enough to get hit by it so that they screamed with untold agony.

  I dropped my shield as Leon darted around me, snarling furiously as he made sure no one was left to attack us, and Ryder shifted back into his Fae form with a hiss of rage.

  Felix had managed to escape in the carnage, and I cursed our luck as I failed to spot him anywhere nearby.

  "Don't ever run off on us like that again," Ryder demanded, his eyes alight with fury that barely concealed a deep fear for me which had my lips falling open in surprise.

  "He was going to kill Dante," I replied firmly. "So I won't make that promise, Ryder, because I would risk everything for him in a heartbeat. Just like I would for all of you. So if you want to make sure I don't have to take chances like that with my life then I suggest we go kill Felix Oscura."

  Ryder glared at me for a long moment, his gaze cutting to Leon before darting up to the sky where Dante and Gabriel had disappeared into the clouds and I had to hope Gabriel was healing his wing.

  "What the fuck are we waiting for then?" Ryder growled in a tone that made my toes curl because it was all violence and butchery. "Let's go kill that piece of shit."

  T he clouds rolled over my flesh like I was made of them, energy pouring from my scales and flashing through them as Gabriel healed my torn wing. Me and the sky were one, the storm living in me and around me and as soon as my wing was healed we lowered out of the clouds.

  Gabriel had fought like a warrior, twisting and diving around me as he struck at our enemies far below. With him at my side I could focus on raining my storm down on these hellions and the ice he cast over my flesh gilded me in a shield as powerful as iron. He fought with me like he had done so a thousand times, the two of us falling into this perfect dance in the heavens. I trusted him instinctively and he trus
ted me too as lightning bolts ripped through the sky so close to him that he would have been destroyed if we weren’t so in tune with one another. I didn’t know if it was the stars shining on us tonight, or if there was some deeper meaning behind our synchronicity, but all I could do was be thankful for this bond which allowed us to work together so efficiently.

  I had eyes on Felix's second, Salvatore, down below, the huge man sticking out amongst his people. I released another lightning bolt which slammed into the heart of them, but Salvatore fled before it struck him. Illusions and concealment spells made it hard to pinpoint any one target but if I kept striking at those stronzos, eventually they had to fall.

  I swooped low as a huge fireball came racing towards me and Gabriel caught hold of my shoulder so I didn't knock him with my wing, clinging on tight as I banked hard and swept past the Vega Dorms where students were staring out of their rooms in shock. An alarm was going off somewhere in the academy, but there were no signs of any teachers joining the fray yet.

  As raindrops pelted down on my wings like bullets, I dove for the ground.

  Gabriel let go of me and shot ahead with his superior speed, casting a net of vines as the traitors below scattered like ants. Five of them were caught in it and Gabriel pulled up out of my way as I opened my jaws and electricity poured out of me in a beam, taking them out in a vicious blow. The lightning left a crater in the ground that smoked and stank of death.

  I pulled up, meaning to climb high into the sky again when Felix's voice caught my ear.

  "Nipote!" he roared, amplifying his voice with magic. "I have Rosalie! Surrender or she dies!"

  My heart twisted violently and I flew around in a circle, hunting for him and finding him standing in a ring of Wolves at the peak of Devil's Hill with his hand fisted in Rosa's hair.

  Terror clawed under my skin and made my thoughts scatter to the wind. He may have been her father, but I knew he would kill her. Knew he'd do whatever it took to win this fight.

  Gabriel flew beside me, catching my eye and I released a growl of pain. He nodded once, understanding what I was going to do, either by instinct alone or perhaps the stars had told him. He shot away from me, disappearing into the dark and I hoped he was going for help.