Aries

by Kim Faulks

  Sparks flared, sending a shard of agony down my spine. I bit down on a whimper, and closed my eyes. No more… Please, no more.

  An anguished howl filled the sky. I cracked open my eyes as black wings descended. Zadoc.

  Thunder filled my chest. I rolled my head as the demons closed in. There was nowhere for him to go. Massive hooves slammed into the ground. The stones shook, shattering thick, heavy thoughts like glass.

  Terrifying sounds closed in. Zadoc flailed, howling with blood-curdling screams as one by one the demons lifted a hand. White bones poked out from underneath their black cloaks. The Dragon thrashed his head as the vibrant red rivers across his body dulled.

  The bitch laughed. “That’s it. Bring him down. Bring him down.”

  I dragged my hand along the frigid ground, fingers curled and then flattened. My muscles shook as I shoved, giving everything I had.

  Agony flared with every movement. But it was worth it. He was worth it. I lifted my head, my body followed. The world seemed to sway under my grasp. Hold on…hold on.

  “Fight.” A hoarse whisper barely made my ears.

  His screams savaged the dark. My arms trembled, my body felt numb and heavy, weighed down by more than the aftereffects of pain. They wouldn’t win…I wouldn’t let them.

  “Fight.”

  Zadoc stumbled to the side. Gigantic wings swept the night as though he could somehow consume the sky. He thrashed his head from side to side.

  Pain. He was in pain.

  Demons moved in. I focused on their hands until the pale bones blurred. They were doing this to him, doing this to me.

  “Don’t let them win!” I roared and clutched my head. My words reverberated, bouncing around in the steel drum of my mind. “Don’t let them fucking win!”

  He swung his head toward me. His lips parted, air rushed between razored teeth, hitting me like a furnace. I dropped my head, and drove my heels into the cracked ground. There was nowhere to run, and there was no way we could fight, not the demons inside our head.

  His scales shuddered under my touch. He dropped his head, drawing in my scent through the slashes of his nose. Long eyelashes brushed my hand as I ran my hand across his face. They were so soft, like the lashes of the fawn, and I wanted to kiss them. I wanted to kiss him, and hold him just as he was.

  “Take him down,” the Huntress spat. “Now.”

  The skin around his eyes stretched tight. The embers flared and then dulled, but it was the neon whites that impaled me, filled with desperation and fear.

  His leg buckled. I scurried backwards as the Dragon toppled and hit the ground with a boom. Ash billowed around us.

  One wing beat the ground. The other flailed in the air. Talons gouged stone as he thrashed, but it was no use, the demons never stopped coming.

  Scales glinted in the dark as Zadoc clawed his face and neck. The droplets on his wool gathered substance and hit me. I swiped my face, leaving bloody streaks on the back of my hand.

  “Leave him alone!” I lunged. Agony brought me down, rearing like a warrior with sword in hand destined to hack and cleave his way through my skull.

  I grasped my head as the darkness brightened. “Leave him alone! Please. Don’t hurt him.”

  The twin bulbs of headlights flared in my mind.

  I’m dying…

  The thought slipped away as a massive thud to my right rocked the ground. I turned my head—there was nothing but the piercing glare.

  A tortured sound filled the air, guttural and tormented. I clutched my belly as my knees buckled. The light was the only thing left…and the shredding agony. I opened my mouth to scream…but there was no sound—there was nothing at all.

  A heavy thud wrenched my eyes open. A low moan followed.

  The sound of fists on flesh made my stomach roll. I’d heard the brutal thuds before echoing from the speakers on our old TV.

  MMA fighters. I rolled over and tried to focus. Finn loved the damn excitement. Loved the vicious roar. Loved stuffing his face with pizza and drinking the last damn beer…

  Finn…

  My belly tightened. My tongue snaked out and skirted cracked lips. I winced at the sting and tasted blood.

  Finn…blood…pain, so much pain. Zadoc.

  Thump.

  My pulse picked up pace. This wasn’t home, and no TV show. The icy, fetid air filled my lungs.

  “Be a good Dragon and smile for the camera.”

  Thump.

  Orange flames flickered, bouncing shadows against the wall. I lifted my head and winced. A man was naked, arms raised above his head. A thick shackle strapped around his neck… No…

  “Zadoc.”

  He turned his head. Blood shone black against the dark covering his face. I couldn’t tell…I just couldn’t tell.

  I shoved against the ground, moving slow. His eyes were thick and swollen. His face… Jesus, his poor, beautiful face.

  “Joslyn,” he whimpered, and the sound ripped right though me. “Thought I’d lost you. Don’t…” He licked crusted lips and dropped his gaze. “Don’t look at me.”

  No, no…no. I shook my head and stiffened. Stars of agony burst in my brain. We weren’t doing this again…not again. Tears pricked my eyes as I dragged my feet underneath me and pushed up.

  He was naked, bloodied and cut. His wound seeped over his side. I stumbled for the bars and shoved my hand through. “Zadoc.”

  “He can’t help you, honey.”

  She slipped out of the dark like the vile fucking piece of shit she was. The Huntress they called her, my memory came back with a rush. But this was different, this was…older. I swallowed and my throat tightened.

  Small puncture wounds ran along his side and over his thighs, as though he’d been punched with a fistful of spikes…or bitten. A moan lodged in the back of my throat. They were bite marks, all over him.

  “Again,” the vile piece of shit spat, never once taking her eyes off me.

  They moved in on all sides, four shifters on one. They moved too fast, and he…Zadoc could do nothing but take their blows. The first one swung, connecting with the side of Zadoc’s jaw.

  His head snapped to the side, and that was where it stayed. Blood and spittle ran from between his parted lips.

  “Maybe this time you’ll think twice before crossing me. Say his name, Dragon…say your brother’s name, or this will be nothing to what I’ll do to your little whore.”

  I didn’t understand…my fist strangled the bar. I didn’t understand at all. The red blinking light drew my gaze. A hand held camera faced him, catching every brutal blow…every fucking drop of blood he shed.

  Zadoc lifted his head. Dark, haunted eyes met mine before he answered. “Victor.”

  “Again.”

  The second shifter took his time moving in close before he rained blow after blow in the middle of Zadoc’s stomach.

  My Dragon tensed, took his punches without so much as a whimper, and when they were done, he sagged against the chains and tried to breathe. A cough casts droplets of blood through the air to land on the camera’s lens.

  “Victor!”

  I flinched at Zadoc’s roar as he thrashed his head from side to side. Dark eyes widened with savage pain. I’d seen that look before, and in the shadows I saw them. Long black cloaks kept them from center stage, but they were right there in the thick of it, torturing his mind while they…tears blurred the sight…while they ravaged his body.

  “Louder! Call your brother’s name, Zadoc. Call his name!”

  White bone shone in the dark as the demon’s hood slipped and revealed a sunken, almost skeletal face. That face turned to me, flattened, pale lips curled into a smile as it lifted a hand toward Zadoc.

  A grunt and a whimper slipped free from the man I loved. “Victor!”

  “Again. Call your brothers. Say their names. Who’s next, Dragon? Who will you scream for next? How about Marcus? Or Evander? Will you whimper for Evander? Will you fucking beg for him?”

  Zad
oc stilled, sucked in a breath and lunged until the links snapped taut. “Fuck you!”

  Her laugher bounced around the cavern. “Fuck me, huh? If you’re not in a chatty mood Dragon, we can always find another to talk to.”

  Movement came at my right. The shifter—the same one who wanted to hurt me—stepped close and shoved the cell door open. It slammed against the bars.

  It wasn’t locked…wasn’t locked. What did they do to me?

  I shook my head, my feet wouldn’t move.

  “Stop it. I said stop it! Leave her the fuck alone!”

  The clash of Zadoc’s chains filled my ears as the shifter stepped close. I wrenched my gaze around the empty cell and then back.

  “Leave her alone. You vicious bitch!” my Dragon screamed.

  But I couldn’t look at him now, couldn’t see anything but the muscled bastard with a cruel smile coming at me.

  “Hurt her.”

  Two words sealed my fate.

  I cocked my fist as he lunged. My elbow hit the metal bars. I swung, but there was no arc. There was nothing but the slap against his arm as he reached for me. Thick hands wrapped around my throat and squeezed.

  I sucked in the air and screamed. Fire lashed my throat. I hit and hit, screaming as his hands tightened, lifting me. My feet danced on nothing more than air. Darkness moved in, sparks of light fought for space.

  Those sparks took form as my feet touched down. The white gathered together, moving toward me. I blinked as someone shuffled outside the cell. A tiny beep followed, like the ending of a recording.

  “Joslyn,” the white light spoke as the shifter released his hands.

  Air rushed in, filling me with an icy touch. I dropped to the ground, coughing, spluttering. My chest burned, my arms felt cold and dead, each breath stole the heat, but my fingers… I clenched a fist—my fingers were numb.

  “I’m Doctor Cal. I’ll be taking care of your baby from now on.”

  Taking care of my baby? I wrapped my arms across my stomach as the stranger crouched beside me. I turned to the bars and tried to swallow. “Zadoc.”

  The word ripped along my throat.

  “What are you doing to her?” Chains snapped. His eyes were wild. “Get off her. Get the fuck off her!”

  “Joslyn, you need to come with me now.”

  I cowered from this man’s touch, but there was no escaping. The shifter came for me once more, only this time he gripped my arm and lifted.

  “Zadoc!” I lashed out. My foot found something…someone. A grunt followed. Hands tightened. I wrenched back again and took aim. “Zadoc…Zadoc!”

  “Leave her alone,” he screamed.

  I could feel the burn of his tortured cry, and taste the blood.

  I bowed my body, wrenching against their hold. I found the bars and clenched until my fingers burned. “I’ll be good, I promise.”

  Their fingers dug in to my wrists. Someone yanked my hair, heat lashed my scalp, but my tears were for Zadoc. “I promise…please, please…don’t take me from him.”

  “Leave her. Leave her! I’ll kill you. I’ll fucking kill you!”

  Cruel fingers tore mine from the bars. My feet left the ground as he dragged me through the door. My Dragon was a blur, straining against the shackles.

  “Zadoc! Zadoc!”

  He slipped from me as footsteps echoed. I blinked and he was gone, replaced by the dark as we rounded the cells.

  “Joslyn! Joslyn! I’m coming for you!”

  The echo bounced around in my head as they carried me away, even after the sound of their boots was all that remained.

  Zadoc was coming. He was coming.

  I closed my eyes. He was the only hope I had left.

  9

  Zadoc

  “Eat.” The familiar voice punctured the roar inside my head, and the sound of footsteps slipped through. “Gotta keep your wits about you. Gotta eat. But only the food I bring you, okay? Hey, you listening?”

  Listening? I could do nothing but listen…I could do nothing but feel.

  They came and went, over and over…and still they never brought her back to me.

  “Where is she?” I rolled and stared at the familiar face. “Where have they taken her?”

  Mack’s hard gaze softened. He cast a gaze over his shoulder and crouched inside Joslyn’s cell. “It’s been a week, Dragon. How many times do we have to do this?”

  “Where?” My voice cracked, desperation was all I had left. I clawed and kicked, propelling my body toward him. “Is she alive? Please…tell me that at least. Is she alive?”

  Mack rose and took a step away. “Gotta stop doing this, Dragon. Gotta stop beating yourself up. It won’t do any good. You hearing me? It won’t do any goddamn good. Now, you listen, and you listen well…you eat only the food I bring. Understand? It’s not safe for you here.”

  A sound echoed in the distance. Mack wrenched his gaze over his shoulder and took a step.

  “Wait.” The pathetic sound slipped free. “I have to hear it. I have to know. Is she alive?”

  “I don’t know. She’s gone. I’ve been told she’s not coming back.”

  He dropped his gaze to the plate piled with gruel and steak. “Now eat. I won’t be back for another—”

  I rolled away and closed my eyes. Gone. How many days?

  It’s been a week, Dragon. A week…something slick crested the edge of my nose and trickled down my cheek. A week…

  Darkness closed in. Sweet darkness…a week without her.

  Sleep was the only salvation I had.

  The only time I didn’t…

  The thought slipped from my grasp. I sank into the emptiness of nothing.

  A week…she’d never survive.

  The heavy tread of boots filled the space dragging me kicking and screaming from a dreamless sleep. The snap of the lock was a slap to my face.

  “Rise and shine, princess.”

  An icy touch prickled the nape of my neck. Unseen fingers tore and clawed their way inside my head. I grasped my head with one hand and stumbled to my knees.

  The snap of chains made my stomach clench.

  “You know the drill, don’t you?”

  I scanned the cavern. They were here somewhere, huddled into the corners. Lightning ripped through my head. The Wretched roared with the pain.

  I stumbled, hitting the cell bars. The grinding pain picked apart the stitches of my brain. “Come near me and I’ll fucking tear you apart!”

  My nerves blazed as the two wolves slipped inside the cell and spread out, flanking me on either side. One carried the shackles, the other clenched his fists, but it was that hulking dark menace behind them that drove me backwards.

  The demon lifted its hand and searing agony shot down my spine. I toppled, snarled, and grabbed hold of the bars. “You’ll burn, demon…you’ll fucking burn.”

  The stone walls swayed as the cloaked beast neared. I tensed with movement to my right. The wolf leapt, swinging his fist high. I dropped my weight. I dropped my head, fighting the wave of searing pain and charged.

  My shoulder connected with the center of his chest.

  His breath rushed, blowing hot in my face as I drove the bastard across the floor. He hit the bar first. His head smacked forward, clashing with mine. Stars burst behind my eyes.

  A whomp cut through the air as the second wolf swing the shackle in his hand, cutting the air with steel at his side.

  “Gonna play like that, huh?” He spat and stepped to the side. One quick glance behind him and he screamed. “You gonna do something about this?”

  I focused on that inky blur as the wolf with the shackle turned back and took aim. A low, sickening chuckle filled the air. Unseen fingers gouged the softest part of me, growing, twisting, squeezing until there was no darkness, there was nothing…

  I swung my hand through the air—nothing. Not a glint of light, not a flash of my own flesh.

  There was nothing. “Wait…what’s happening to me?”

  “�
�Bout fucking time. Next time, if I tell you to pin him down…I mean pin him the fuck down.”

  I swung my head, following the wolf’s voice. I clenched my fist and swung. There was nothing but air. Agony burned deep, stealing more than my sight. I couldn’t see…I couldn’t move…couldn’t do anything as the steel shackle closed around my neck. “I’m going to kill you…I’m going to fucking kill you.”

  “Sure you are,” snarled the wolf. “But don’t you want to hear about your little girlfriend?”

  My breath caught. I tracked his voice as he moved backwards. “Where is she? Where have you taken her?”

  “She’s safe…for now.”

  My stomach trembled at the words left unsaid…safe for now. But for how long? The shackle dug into my neck as he jerked the chain. I stumbled, and swept my hand through the darkness. “What did you do to me?”

  “I did nothing. The demon on the other hand, has done a whole lot of things. But don’t you worry your pretty little head,” he sniggered as the howl of something sliced the air. “It’ll wear off.”

  The blow to my jaw was brutal. My head snapped to the side, my feet slipped. I slammed into the bars as the next blow hit. A crunch of bone ripped through my head.

  Joslyn…she was all I thought of as a wave of pain blended into another.

  “You going to behave this time?”

  I tried to force my eyes open, but my lids were stuck shut. Constant tears weeped from the cut above my eye. I swallowed the fire in the back of my throat and forced the words. “Fuck you.”

  “Nice to see you still have a little fire in your belly. I’m gonna enjoy snuffing out that flame. Although I have to say, Dragon, you look like shit. They did a number on you last time, didn’t they? What are those marks? Are those saw marks?”

  I hated that voice. Hated the way it made my belly turn to water, hated the way I trembled when he spoke. Light slipped in through my cracked lids. Orange flames threw light across his face. Blue eyes pierced me as he lifted his gaze. I dug my fingers into the ground. “How many days?”