We both just watched each other for a moment and I realized that he was waiting for me to make the first move. Going for something weak, enforcing his assumption that I had less power, I tossed a half-assed ball of orange and red fire, aiming for his head. As expected, he lifted a hand, palm out, and effortlessly dissolved it before it came within two feet of him. To play the part, my mouth opened in a stunned “o.” I prepared myself for his retaliation, but none came. He was still waiting there, ready for more.
“Because I find you interesting, I’m going to let that be your practice run.” The shock remained on my face, this time for real. “Why don’t you give it another go?” He actually held his hand up this time, crooking his fingers in a “bring it on” gesture.
Geez, this guy must be bored. I dragged in a deep breath through my nose, hamming it up, and shot a larger ball of fire, followed by another one, packing a one-two punch. Which, again, he sizzled out before it reached him. He looked like he was dancing when he did it, too, making my creep alert go into full drive.
He shook his head and tsk-ed. “My turn.” A wild gesture of his hands created a golden ball of energy, one I’d never seen before, and threw it to me at twice the speed of mine. I prepared myself for its impact, but it never came. Opening my eyes, I saw Ro lying at my feet, chest singed and skin melting into the fabric of his shirt. I cried out and bent down to him, shocked that he would think to do something as stupid as to put himself in front of me to take the hit. This was my fight.
“What were you thinking?” But he didn’t answer. His eyes were shut and for a fleeting second, I worried that he was dead. I checked his pulse and found he was alive, but he was, blessedly, unconscious.
“Gearden!” I called through our link. “Ro’s hurt!”
“What?” He sounded out of breath. “Hold on. I’m on my way to you. What floor are you on?”
“Ten. Hurry!” I had no idea how to help Ro, and I had to have faith that he’d hang on until we could get him help. For now, I had to deal with the problem at hand. I was filled with rage as I looked up and glared at Mer. The sarcastically sad expression he wore made the fire burn even hotter within me.
“Seems that the little druid is upset by the felled wolf. Is this your mate?” He gazed down at Ro fleetingly. “You should have chosen better in your mate, little druid. This one isn’t up to par.”
I let out my anger and hatred in that moment and flicked my hands out with the strongest burst of blue energy I could – one that I knew would both burn and electrocute – at his smug face. He tried to deflect it, like he did my first two, but he wasn’t prepared for the punch I was actually packing, and the impact threw him back, forcing him to his knees. Stunned, he lifted his hands, probably feeling the residual rebound effect on his palms, and looked up at me, a spot of blood marking a corner of his bottom lip.
“Why, you little faker!” He growled out as he shot to his feet, using the momentum to throw a wave at me. It was invisible to me but it lifted me up and tossed me against the wall above the elevator, knocking the air from my lungs.
Paralyzed for a moment, I could do nothing but gasp and choke for air as I willed my body to stop spasming and allow me to drag in a good breath. Finally, the clamping around my ribs eased and I dragged in a welcome gasp. Flipping over, I got to my hands and knees, forcing myself to get up before he tried for another punch.
As I stood, a sound entered my mind. Not a voice, just a sound. A sound I’d recognize anywhere. The bubbling and tinkling of the water of Danu’s creek. It caught me off guard but I allowed myself to be taken away with it, breathing in and focusing on the peace there. I didn’t question where it was coming from, not anymore. It just was now. Danu’s power just…was.
Opening my eyes again, back on the tenth floor, I realized that I hadn’t left at all, not even in time, and Mer was preparing another shot. Except…it was slower. He seemed to be moving in slow motion while I apparently, was still moving at my normal speed – or was I going faster and he was the one going normally? Whatever it was, was I doing it? But I couldn’t stand there and analyze it. As he brought his hand up, I quickly jogged across to stand to the side of him, nearly ten feet away. He slowly conjured a knife from thin air, like a computer loading an image. Not knowing what else to do, I did the first thing that came to mind. Reaching out with my mind, using the same link he used to speak with me, I placed an image in his mind. Suddenly, time sped back up, and the knife flew, hitting its mark, my chest. Falling back, I landed beside Ro, gasping for breath, coughing as blood filled my mouth.
A pleased Mer slowly approached to check out his handy work, adjusting his cuffs as he did. As he looked down at me, I gazed up at him, thick crimson pouring over my lips to drip down my chin. “You really shouldn’t have come here, little druid. It’s such a waste now, for you.”
He bent down to retrieve the knife, only to have it slip through his fingers as the illusion disappeared in a puff of smoke. Letting go of his mind, I came up behind him, his own knife in my hand and pressed to his throat. “I’m not your average druid,” I spat in his ear. Awkwardly, he bent back, his knees still bent, trying to keep me from slicing his throat with our height differences. Shock didn’t do his reaction justice. He didn’t move, save for a slight tremble in his thighs and knees as he tried to stay in the bent position. He raised his hands in surrender.
I didn’t allow myself to believe he’d go quietly the second I eased my grip. Just then, Gearden came around both of us, standing in front of Mer.
“Hey! Hey! I’m here” he said placatingly. Surprise was plain on his face but he didn’t want to mess up whatever I had going with the asshole I was threatening right then. Seeing my precarious position, he slowly reached up and took the knife from me. The instant I let it go, I stumbled back and turned around to stand beside him, not daring to touch him or show the relief I felt at the sight of him.
“Where’s the contract?” I demanded.
Mer’s eyes flashed dangerously at me as he delicately straightened up now that he didn’t have to worry about having his own throat cut.
“Why would I tell you?” he asked sincerely. I could see that he was genuinely curious.
“Because, it belongs to me.” I stated. And, right then, I knew it was true. I believed it to be true. This prophecy, or contract, whatever it was, had to do with me and I had just as much a right to possess it as he did. The mirth in his eyes matched the short incredulous chuckle he let out. He stopped though, when I said, “It’s my birthright.”
Standing stock still now, he studied me from head to toe, taking more time than he had earlier, seemingly with new eyes. Then, “Who are you?”
“She’s Danu’s Chosen,” said Queen Selena, her mind connected with mine like she had earlier and I was getting rather tired of people assuming they had the right.
Genuine surprise came over Mer’s face as he dropped his hands to his sides and watched at Selena glided across the room to stand on my other side.
“That’s absurd,” he scoffed, but was obviously doubtful. Rather than argue with him though, the queen just raised a brow and turned to give me an encouraging look. Taking a calming breath, I called on the magic within me, and revealed the goddess’s mark. His eyes all but bulged out of their sockets as he gazed at me in astonished awe.
“How… how can that be?” he asked her, still inspecting my face.
I started to answer, but Selena beat me to it. “The contract’s interpretation is skewed. You, more than anyone, should know that.”
Their familiarity with one another unnerved me. They talked like old friends but I knew them to be enemies. Or, at least, I thought they were. I remembered what Danu had told me, and although she had said that Selena could be trusted, I hadn’t forgotten her hesitation when she answered me.
“What’s going on here?” I asked, taking a step back from Selena. Gearden, taking a cue from me, turned to keep us all in his line of sight while still keeping the knife at Mer’s neck. No on
e seemed to want to go first, so Gearden encouraged Mer by pressing the tip of the blade into his skin. Judging by the way the druid cringed and the amount of blood already trickling down his neck, Gearden didn’t seem to want to be very patient.
“Answer her,” he warned.
But he didn’t have to. I knew who he was. “You’re Amergin.” I said, taking a step back before I realized it and locked my knees.
He didn’t bother trying to deny it. Rather he looked even more proud when he nodded. “In the flesh,” he said.
Selena sighed with obvious disappointment. Something in me wondered if she had been afraid of this, that I would find out his true identity. But why would she care? Putting the thought aside for now, I again focused on Amergin. “Why did you do it? Why did you …”
“Betray my people?” he asked, standing straighter as if I were offending him. The blade might as well not have been at his throat, the way he stared me down, daring me to challenge his next words. “I helped the humans because… gone on too long. The war that had lasted for a hundred years.”
Deflated, I slumped. I knew there had been a war, but I guess, being so long ago, I never thought about how long it had lasted or the toll it had taken on the people involved: faerie and humans alike.
“But… betraying your people?” I asked desperately. Then, “What about peace?”
“They didn’t want peace!” he spat out, disgust etched into every line on his face. “None of them did, those that were in the thick of it. Instead… time to tend to their people and lands, they were… to us rot while they got their jollies… one another. They all needed to be taught a lesson. They …”
“They’ve learned their lesson by now, Amergin,” Selena interjected, sounding like she was trying to convince herself as well.
“Don’t you patronize me, Selena!” he groused, pointing an accusatory finger at her. Surprised at his sudden anger, I moved to step between them, only to have her put a staying hand on my arm. Stilling, I looked up at her and saw that sorrow in her eyes again. Sorrow mixed with something else. Regret?
“What did you do?” I asked, already resisting the answer my brain was telling me was true.
She stared at Amergin imploringly for a second, then she looked down at me. She didn’t have to say anything. I already knew.
“You helped him, didn’t you?” There was no fighting the shock that my body was feeling at the idea of it. All this time! Not just the short week I’d known her, but centuries of keeping such a dark secret from her people. And she could have helped them before now. Before I did.
When she remained silent, in condemnation of herself, I went on. “Why now?”
Mer was more forthcoming than his opposite though. “You really don’t know much about the contract, do you, little druid?” I tried to keep my face from letting on just how much his pet name and tone irritated me when I looked over to him. “She couldn’t do anything,” he told me, looking a little too high and mighty for my liking. “No one can touch the contract, not even me. Though, why would I ever want to?” He chuckled at the ridiculousness of his words and when he became serious again, he finished, “Until you.”
“You condemned your own people without giving them any way out. Without…” I tailed off, my thoughts turning dark. Those people in the faerie mounds still suffered because of something this man did, thousands of years ago, knowing there would be no relief until someone like me came along.
“No, Maeleigh,” Selena argued, having read my thoughts. I looked over to her. “Not like you. You.”
I didn’t ask her for details, unsure I would like the answer. I pinned Amergin with a killing gaze. “Give it to me.”
The way his back straightened, I could tell he didn’t appreciate my demands but I also didn’t give a crap. “No” he answered, already tensing up, his body readying for something. A fight. I flicked my eyes to Gearden but it was too late. Suddenly the knife went flying from Gearden’s fingers, skidding across the cheap, brown Berber carpet.
Selena and I both took fighting stances and tossed blue energy at him, which he deflected by an unseen shield he threw up with his arm held up in a guarding position near his face, almost like a boxer would in the ring. He readied to shoot his own and I shoved Selena to the ground. As electricity flowed from his fingers like bolts of lightning, hitting the wall behind us, I helped her to crawl towards the cover of a desk. I flipped it over on its side just as another shot of blue hit the wood surface. I felt the reverberation as the cheap laminate top broke, telling me our cover wouldn’t last long.
Turning, I saw Gearden taking a similar position behind a cubicle, and I prayed Amergin hadn’t noticed, because the thin board wouldn’t protect Gearden. I looked down at Selena who was slumped beneath the edge of the desk. She looked worried, but her shame was still there. I wanted to press her about it but knew this wasn’t the time.
Grasping for ideas, I suddenly felt my cheek beginning to get warm and tingle. I became still when I heard the sound of water in the creek. Danu. She was trying to tell me something – but what? Searching for answers, I opened my mouth to ask Selena when I saw that her hand had started to glow an incandescent silvery-blue, much like the mark on my face. The sound of water rushed in my ears, as if to say, “Bingo!” Not wasting any time, I grabbed her hand and hauled her up with me as I stood up, facing off with Amergin.
I saw the hesitation on his face at my sudden change of tactic but it was fleeting. Raising his hand again to take aim, I beat him to it. Still gripping Selena’s hand, I focused on the magic inside her and drawing it through into myself, I threw it out at him, along with my own. It hit his own bolt of energy, zapped through it and pierced him in the dead center of the chest, throwing him back, where he stayed.
Slowly, I peeled my fingers from Selena’s hand, ignoring the numb feeling crawling up my arm, followed by pins and needles – the aftermath of a magical transfusion, I guess. I kept a watchful eye on Amergin as we stepped out from behind the desk. Gearden also emerged and approached him. Gearden leaped ahead of us when we got within a few feet, holding out a staying hand. When we stopped, he knelt down beside the faerie, taking his pulse.
“He’s still alive,” Gearden informed us. I noticed the singed hole in other man’s shirt and burning flesh underneath, like Ro’s.
“Oh my god! Ro!” I gasped, turning to race back to my fallen protector. He, too, was still breathing, but the damage to his chest told me he didn’t have a lot of time. Gearden fell to his knees beside me, taking stock of his brother’s condition.
Closing my eyes, I reached my mind out, searching. When I found what I was looking for, I sent them a message. “Dad.”
He answered right away. “I’m here.”
“Ro needs your help.”
“I’m coming.” I was relieved that help was on its way.
Looking up at Gearden, I told him, “Dad’s coming. He can help him.”
Gearden must have felt my relief because he seemed to hunch over with his own relief.
We weren’t done, though. It wasn’t over. Standing, I turned back to Amergin. Selena still stood over him, looking down at him with longing.
“What happened?” I asked her.
She didn’t move, but told me, “It didn’t seem that an end to the war was in sight. It had been forever since we could all sit with our families and enjoy our lives.” I remained silent as she took a moment to recall her memories. “He fell in love with a human.” A soft smile lifted her lips. “But he couldn’t be with her with the war still raging.”
“So, he struck a deal with the humans.” I added.
She nodded, then looked up at me, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears. “He couldn’t manage it alone, though. He needed help. And I was naïve enough to lend it.” A tear fell and rolled down the queen’s cheek. Seeing someone so strong experience such emotion was my undoing. I remembered what Danu had told me: that the queen could be trusted, and I trusted my goddess.
I crossed ove
r to her, taking her hand again, this time in comfort. “Not naïve. Desperate for peace.”
An appreciative tilt of her lips told me she needed to hear those words. “We both made deals we shouldn’t have and our people suffered for it. I regretted it immediately. Amergin …” she looked down at her old friend … “didn’t seem to feel the same way.”
“Let’s make it right now, then, huh?” I suggested aloud.
She wiped at her cheek, stalling any other stray tears and nodded. We both looked down at the still unconscious faerie. I realized then that we still didn’t have a clue where the damned contract was. The idea of having to waken the asshat on the floor didn’t sit well with me. As I leaned down, intending to tap the man on the cheek, more or less, I noticed something peeking out from his open collar. Frowning, I gently pried the bloody and singed fabric back to reveal a tattoo. With both hands, I gripped both sides of the once pristine white button-down and tore it open. Across his chest, wrapped around his waist and below the tops of his pants, was consecutive writing of some sort.
“What the …?”
“Ruins,” Selena provided, surprised. She leaned over him, taking up my vision of the ink to get a better view. “It’s the contract,” she gasped, looking up at me.
Just then, Dad rushed in through the stairwell door. He spotted me right away but I pointed to where Gearden still watched over Ro. As much as I wanted to go over and be there with them, this took precedence.
“So, what do we do? How do we get it off him or break it?” Of all the possibilities I had considered for finding the contract, not one of them involved it being etched into the skin of the man who created it. Though, now that I thought about it. it made sense.
“You can’t” Amergin groaned, lids fluttering over unfocused eyes.
I looked into his eyes, knowing that he knew he would die if he didn’t get help. “Then help us. Please!” I implored him.
A dark look crossed his face though, a look of resolution. “If I do, they’ll just go back to fighting. They’ll never change.”
The Kill: Book 3 in The Hunt Series Page 16