“Those children are protected by me at the moment,” I replied through a whispered breath. “I only hurt those who hurt others. The Fae dropped the fucking ball this time. They allowed monsters to use this club to become a hunting ground. They become fair game when they do stupid shit.” I punched him in the crotch and watched as he dropped to his knees.
I moved to a sign that said ‘Last Work Accident 999 Days Ago’ and winced as I erased it and replaced it with a zero. Pushing to the bar, I leaned over it and grabbed a bottle of tequila, using my teeth to remove the cap. I tipped it back, chugging from it in an unladylike way as I tried to wash the image of Callaghan’s disgust from my brain.
“Are you done yet?” the female asked.
I lifted a dark brow at her question and then followed her gaze to where the bloody corpses covered the floor. I flicked my wrist, sending their bodies to the trash bins outside. I dismissed her as I let the room move back to normal, releasing everyone, expecting a blade to pierce my heart in retaliation. I welcomed it.
It didn’t come.
“Erie,” Callaghan growled against my neck before he kissed the soft column.
“Touch me and die, Paladin,” I warned as I spun around with the bottle still in my hand, my legs spread to house his wide frame with my elbows resting on the bar behind me in a relaxed pose.
The Fae stood with weapons out, the children in the arms of a winged creature who watched me with a lethal look.
“You flirt with death, female,” the winged creature snapped.
“I did my job,” I replied nonchalantly. “Three humans in two days,” I explained as I wrapped my legs around Callaghan, forcing him to get closer as he ignored the ugly bits of me by staring into my eyes. “One was thirteen, which, if I’m not mistaken, is illegal to be inside this club, and yet she was. She died from puncture wounds they placed with knives. She survived until they inserted one into her…”
“There are children present,” the blonde hissed.
“She was a child,” I threw back.
“A lot is happening around here, and that isn’t an excuse,” Vlad injected. “It’s a fact, some have slipped into the club unwelcome by us, we will be more careful with what we allow into our sanctuary.”
“You could start by closing the fucking gaping hole in your world,” I laughed. “Just a thought,” I offered before bringing the bottle to my lips and downing some.
“You think we haven’t tried? Anything that touches it makes it grow larger.” The blonde woman’s foot tapped the floor angrily as she watched my movements with careful purplish-blue eyes.
“Ward it,” I suggested.
“Well shit, why didn’t we think of that?” she hissed as she threw her arms out wide. “Oh, wait, we did. It cannot be done.”
“You can’t do it,” I laughed while I watched her, sizing her up as I tried to figure out what the fuck she was.
“But you can?” she laughed.
“She can,” Callaghan muttered. “If she can ward her pussy against me, she can ward anything.”
The blonde’s eyes went wide as she looked between us. “She’s yours?” she asked.
“He wishes, well, probably not now that he’s seen me,” I laughed soundlessly, staring anywhere but at him. “He just wants my womb.”
“To save our races, Erie,” he snapped.
“I don’t have a race!” I screamed as I shoved him away from me and slid off the chair. “Don’t you get it? Look at me! Your people didn’t want me and threw me away like fucking garbage, and the druids made damn sure I knew that I was nothing more than a monster. They tortured me until there was nothing left, and when I thought I’d finally be free of them and die, they spelled me from death. They took pieces of me to figure out how to recreate what I was, and your people were no different. I am their fucking science experiment; nothing more, nothing less. The only purpose I serve is to kill and be your incubator, Callaghan. You tell me: why would I care if both races die out when they’ve done nothing but hurt me?”
“You were protected by me,” he ground out through clenched teeth.
“Was I? Or did you think I was because I learned to hide what I was a long time ago? You’ve watched me since the moment I was born and yet you never wondered why I hid? Buy a fucking clue, because you may know what I let you see, but you will never know me. I am more than just something you and your people threw away and used as they saw fit.”
I was so busy screaming out all of my pain that I hadn’t noticed he’d gotten closer to me, or that he held anything in his hands. I started to step back, but he moved before I could manage a single step, taking me to the floor as he slipped something over my head. I pushed away from him, about to dare him to kiss me again and see if he liked the upgrade I’d done, when he spoke.
“Remove the wards from your body,” he demanded, and I did without question. My eyes went round with horror as I opened my mouth to replace them, only for him to stop me before I could. “Leave them down.”
“No, Callaghan,” I whispered as my throat constricted and tears burned my eyes. His thumb traced my cheek as he stared down at me.
“You left me no choice, Erie. I won’t let my people die. I can’t.”
Chapter 7
Callaghan
The moment she’d walked her ass into that bar, they’d marked her for death. I’d felt it, and it had terrified me. That girl was fire, an out of control inferno that was set ablaze in rage. I’d lit that fuse, but the moment she’d entered that club, she’d sealed her own fate. I watched her fight with the skill of the most expertly trained Knight, each movement chosen to do fast, easy damage that left her opponent incapacitated. There was one way to get her out of this one alive, and I’d use it.
I’d do anything to protect that girl, no matter how much she pissed me off. If I wasn’t trying to save her, she’d never have killed me as many times as she had. She was my fucking kryptonite. I couldn’t hurt her, and so she killed me. I wouldn’t abuse her more than she had already been, but time was running out, and I’d given up too much to let our race fail now. I’d vowed to do whatever it took, and what had been asked of me, the cost, it was everything. One girl couldn’t be allowed to stand in the way of losing and giving up everything for something these people had no part of doing.
Erie
There are moments in your life where you look back and reflect on things you should have done differently. Things you could have done differently. You reflect on it at the worst possible time, you imagine doing something else to get the expected outcome you desire. Like right now, for instance, I was wishing I’d taken Callaghan apart piece by piece instead of blowing him into pieces. I wish I’d done it so that his rotting body was still inside my apartment, slowly decaying.
Instead, he was watching me closely. The Fae stood inches from me, weapons drawn, and I was unable to do anything unless he told me from the moment he’d said “stand still and listen.” My eyes moved quickly, fearfully, but my body? Frozen.
“Jump on one foot, Erie,” he purred, rolling the ‘E’ in my name as it ran off his tongue in a silken caress.
I jumped like a fucking rabbit as my heart thumped, pounding violently against the cage that held it from running away. Tears threatened to escape as rage pulsed inside of me, a stupid fucking trait that I loathed. Crying was a weakness, one they wouldn’t understand. They wouldn’t know that when the tears left my eyes, it meant some motherfucker was about to die. They’d think I was some colossal crybaby.
“Stop jumping and come to me,” he smirked roguishly, his ocean blue eyes slowly watching my reaction as my body jerked to do as he bid.
“I’m going to rip your tongue out through your chest and wear it as a scarf,” I growled.
“No, no, you’re going to do whatever I tell you to do. I warned you what would happen if you didn’t choose. You can hate me, but I won
’t let my people die because one female doesn’t want to help when she can.”
“It’s my body,” I hissed. “I don’t want to be a mother, Callaghan. Have you been outside lately? It’s not a pretty place. I have no plans of letting you touch me again, so tell me, Knight: will you break your honor code to achieve your goal? Because I assure you, I am not willing no matter what this necklace tells you. And you lied; I am very aware that I am not the one in control,” I spat out as I stopped in front of him, close enough to smell his woodsy scent.
“Kiss me,” he uttered as he wrapped his arm around the small of my back and pulled me closer. “Like your pretty little life depends on it.”
I couldn’t stop the tears that fell, couldn’t stop myself from doing as he instructed in the room full of creatures that would live forever to remember it. I rose on the tips of my toes, claiming his lips before pulling his full bottom lip between my teeth gently, sucking it before my tongue pushed past it. Mine touched his, finding it and dueling with it until I moaned as heat washed through my body, white-hot desire igniting like flames leaping from a gas-lit stove. His hand pressed against the back of my head, holding me to his heated depths as he devoured me until I wasn’t sure what I wanted more, air or him.
He pulled away, and I struggled to get back to him; my one focus in life was to continue kissing him. I fought his hold as he watched me struggle to kiss him, like some blooming fucking idiot who couldn’t live without him.
“Stop,” he whispered thickly as he stared down at me with something raw in his gaze. I dropped my hands and stepped back, turned to run from the room, only to have his fingers wrap around my wrist. “You will not leave my side unless I otherwise order it.”
My eyes closed as my feet stopped mid-step, forcing my body to hit the floor with the momentum of my dead run cut short. On the floor I waited, not bothering to rise as my shoulders slumped and my mind raced with what this meant.
He could keep me forever as a pet; all he had to do was order it. Or even worse, he could tell me to fuck him, and I would without hesitating. I was at his mercy, which was the last place I’d ever wanted to be. I could, however, kill him if he forgot to order me not to. Interesting…if I had free will to do what I wanted, I could still survive this.
I stood up, knowing he hadn’t told me to. I turned around and glared at him as a smirk lifted my lips.
“You will not harm me, druid,” he seethed before I could summon the magic to do just that. “Ever,” he muttered as his hand lifted and scrubbed down his face, his shoulders slumping. “Can you prevent creatures from getting out of Faery?” he startled me with his question. I stared at him, aloof and curious to know why he cared, and yet he hadn’t demanded I answer. “Answer me, Erie!” he shouted, and I nodded.
“I can, but I won’t,” I replied as I stared at him through narrowed eyes.
“Tell me how you can close it.”
“I cannot fully close it, but I can ward it to prevent those who wish to do humans harm from escaping.” I wanted to bite my tongue off, but unlike his, mine wouldn’t grow back.
“Then let’s go do it, shall we?” he asked, turning to look at the blonde who watched us with something dark in her eyes.
“Will it harm us if we leave Faery through the portal?” she asked, and I stared at her blankly.
“Will it harm them?” he asked.
“If they intend to harm humans, of course,” I said, barely above a hiss of air as I stared at her. “They are Fae; are they not?”
“That’s not your concern,” he replied heatedly as he stepped closer. “What happens to those who enter it, wishing to do the Fae harm?”
“That depends on the wards I cast, asshole. Pink mist or maybe worse…those who cannot die may enjoy a much slower death.”
“You will cast wards that do not harm them, do you understand me?”
“It’s not like I have a choice otherwise, is it?” I seethed. “I’m your bitch now. You can literally do whatever you want to me, or make me do whatever you want. At least until you can’t, right?”
“What does that mean?” he asked hesitantly.
“Every time you order me to do something, it loses its magic. Which means eventually, I will kill you, Paladin,” I chuckled. “And I’ll enjoy bathing in your blood.”
“Years, Erie. That is how long it will take for the magic inside that amulet to wane, and we’ll have a lot of fun between now and then. There’s also the fact that you’re druid and Templar. You want to know why you’re so powerful. You’re both types mixed into one little hot mess. You hold ancient bloodlines inside your veins, blood most druids and Templars would kill to have been born with, and yet you have both running through you. So you may kill me one day, but not before you give me a son who will save our people. Our people,” he hissed. “Now go sit at the bar and have a drink, and do not leave your seat for any reason until I tell you to. I’ll be right back.”
I moved to the bar, jumped on a stool, and stared at the bottle of tequila I’d been drinking from, which was now sitting on the other side of the bar. I watched Vlad move to where I sat. He placed his hands on the bar and lowered his face to mine.
“I don’t let people fuck with anyone inside my club, woman,” he hissed meaningfully.
“Kill me then,” I offered. I stared into his swirling silver eyes and swallowed hard. “Or hand me the bottle of tequila so I can drink myself stupid; one or the other, please?”
He stood back, crossing his arms before he finally exhaled and retrieved the bottle, placing it in front of me. I grabbed it, tipped it up, and chugged, ignoring the burn that traveled down my throat as I drank deeply, enjoying the warmth that swirled through my body, numbing my senses. I set it down and gazed up at him, watching as he whistled through his lips and shook his head.
“Had I known what they had done, they’d have died a lot slower than what you gave them. You gave them mercy; I assure you, when someone breaks my laws, they pay for it.”
“You were aware of what was happening. You followed them, and yet you didn’t stop it. I watched you, Vlad. I watched you walk away from it. Tell me, what was more important than saving her life?”
“Someone I liked very much took her own life that day. I was called away to help.”
“Did you save her?” I countered.
“No, we lost her.”
“Then you should have saved the one you were closest to. Life sucks; you don’t get to abandon one to save another. You save the one who needs you, not the one you have to leave to save. Life isn’t that easy. It’s messy as fuck, and her death is yours to carry now. Not mine.”
“You think you could leave a friend you cared about to die so easily?”
“I’d have to care about someone in order to answer that, now wouldn’t I?” I said tonelessly.
“You have to have someone you care about; everyone does.”
“I was kept away from the other kids in the center where I was raised. I wasn’t allowed to speak to the others or learn with them. Druids and Templars are like water and oil, yet one force. I had both of them inside of me, and no father wanted their son soiling his reputation with someone created to become a Templar’s whore. At least, that’s what was inside their minds when I read them. They were mortals, easy enough to penetrate their thoughts with what I was. Immortals like Callaghan were a different story. I was meant for one thing, and at that, I was unnatural to them. So how is it I’d care for any of them?”
“You’re more fucked up than the last two girls who sat here and told me their stories,” he muttered. “Drink,” he ordered. My hand latched on to the bottle, and I gulped it down without stopping until he realized what he had done. “Stop, you will drink when you want to.”
I slammed the bottle down and turned to search for Callaghan, finding him right behind me, listening in on the story I’d told Vlad. “Anyone can control
me?”
“Don’t worry, I’ll protect you, Erie,” he smiled. “From everyone but me,” he chuckled.
I shifted to launch myself from the chair but stopped cold, unable to leave it. He moved to me, stopping right in front of me. Nose to nose I stared into his eyes. “I hate you!”
“I know you’ll probably always hate me after this, but what’s done is done. You’re mine now; you’re my mate whether we like it or not. The Fae have agreed to allow you to try to ward the broken portal. You will not place anything on it that can harm any of them. You will set it to deny entrance to their enemies while preventing the Fae from leaving Faery without the King’s permission. Can you do that?”
“Callaghan,” I said as I shook my head.
“Can it be done?”
“Yes,” I answered, not bothering to tell him that while it could be, it may be the last ward I ever placed in this lifetime. But it was fine with me; I’d get out of this life of slavery one way or another.
Chapter 8
Faery was unreal. Where I stood was the closest I’d dared to get to the fractured portal. I hadn’t realized just how large it was, but the view I held was breathtaking. Twin moons stood high in the violet sky, and the sunset splashed over mountains and beaches that called to me. Flowers swayed in the moonlit field, and my hands itched to touch them, to pet the soft velvet petals. I shook my head, dispelling the urge to do just that.
Faery was deadly; everything about it was created to lure innocent humans into its beauty, to feed from them. It was a place you went to but never returned from. It was a void as big as the one in my soul that ached to be filled. The only difference being that, where I longed to find somewhere I belonged, it ached to consume those stupid enough to enter.
“You can start now,” he growled as he watched me take in the beauty.
“As you wish, master,” I laughed coldly.
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