by Amber Kell
Randy sighed even as he blinked back tears. He knew he'd do what the ghost wanted. He couldn't let anyone hurt his lover.
"I'll take care of it."
* * * *
Randy jolted awake with a gasp. Sitting up, he tried to focus on the room while taking deep breaths.
"Shh, honey, it's all right. You're fine." Sasha rubbed Randy's back in soothing circles.
"Sorry. I had a bad dream."
"What was it about?"
Randy didn't want to share his dream with Sasha. If he told the vampire about the dead king's demands, his take-charge lover would want to concentrate on getting the spirit out of Randy, possibly becoming injured. If the ghost thought Sasha would cause problems, Randy had no doubt the king would kill the vampire off. He had to protect Sasha.
Randy applied himself to blocking his mind from his lover. A tingling started at the top of his scalp and spread until it covered his entire head.
"Good thinking, boy," the fae king whispered across Randy's mind, making him jerk in surprise.
"Shh. Stop worrying and come back to me." Sasha held out his arms. Randy lay back down, snuggled into his embrace, and rested his head over Sasha's heart. "That's it. Let the bad dreams fade away."
If only! He hoped his vampire would still be talking to him when this whole thing was over. If doing the fae king a favor resulted in losing Sasha, Randy would never recover.
Chapter Three
Randy woke up the next evening feeling fuzzy headed and out of sorts. His hands and feet were clumsy, and he felt disconnected from his body, as if it weren't his own. A soft woof of complaint alerted him to his companion. Damn, he'd need to get back on a daytime schedule soon, otherwise he'd never stay awake for his classes.
"Hey, Dustin." Randy often woke up alone because Sasha hit the ground running when he awakened, but his lover made it a point to rarely let Randy go to bed without him. No matter what he did during the night, Sasha dropped everything to hold Randy until he slept.
Memories came back to Randy in a rush.
Shit!
He needed to find Rael and Vallin. They could advise him on what to do next. Dressing took more effort than it should have as his fingers were clumsy and his head hurt. Dustin watched him for a moment, a slow growl building.
"What's wrong?" Dustin's voice whispered in his mind.
Randy turned on the shifter. "Stay out of my mind," he snarled.
Dustin shifted into human. "Are you okay? Sasha said you were having bad dreams."
"Nothing's wrong, and I'm tired of everyone tramping through my brain like it's a paranormal playground."
"You know I can't read your mind, right? I mean I can send you words, but I can't actually scan you like the vamps."
Randy relaxed. "No, I didn't know that. I thought all paranormals could."
Dustin shook his head. "Only vamps and a few of the rarer species that you don't even want to know about."
He almost asked, but he decided to take the shifter at his word. If Dustin thought the others were too scary to discuss, he wasn't going to give himself nightmares over them. He had enough problems of his own. Taking a deep breath, Randy decided to follow his mother's advice and "not go borrowing trouble."
"I'm going to talk to the fae; be good."
"Fuck that, I'm going with you."
Faster than two blinks of Randy's eyes, Dustin shifted back into a wolf.
"Ditch the dog!" the voice demanded inside his head.
"Shut up."
Dustin barked.
"Not you," Randy told the wolf.
Randy yanked open the bedroom door. Hell, his life had enough complications without being possessed by a king.
The fae were in the hall, visible for once.
"Great. I need to talk to your queen."
They looked at him like he'd lost his marbles. "I don't think so," Rael said, folding his arms. "Sasha would rip off our balls if we took you to the fae court."
"And then he'd feed them to the shifters," Vallin finished.
The two fae were like a matched set with their dark hair and transparent wings, except Rael had green eyes, a small scar on upper cheek, and a ready smile. Vallin had brown eyes and always looked as if he longed to pull out his sword and smite someone. His expression didn't look like he cared who either.
Randy opened his mouth, and the words that came out were not his own.
"You two have always been idiots," the cold voice said. "I told your mothers you'd never be worthy warriors, and I find you babysitting a medical student. Have we fae fallen so far that we care for the life of one barely fae?"
The fae soldiers stepped back from Randy's harsh words. He saw them exchange a surprised look, but he couldn't stop the words coming out of his mouth.
Randy shouted and screamed inside his mind, but everything he did had little effect. The king had taken over, and Randy couldn't stop him. Now he knew how puppets felt. His body now belonged to a dead monarch, and there didn't appear to be anything he could do about it. If the fae didn't help him get to the queen, he might never get control again.
Vallin caught on first. "Who are you?"
"I am King Drein."
"Oh fuck." Rael's eyes widened in shock. "That's why we were told to attend the ceremony."
"The seer must've warned them," Vallin agreed.
Rael stepped forward. Tilting Randy's head, he looked into Randy's eyes.
"Unhand me," he sneered. "You don't touch your king."
"We do if the king has inhabited the body of a vampire's lover. You think the queen is going to take this well? Sasha is going to rip you out of there and banish you to a hell dimension where they will devour your spirit."
Randy thought the Unseelie said that with a little too much relish.
Drein sneered. "He isn't going to get the chance because you are going to take me home so I can straighten a few things out with my wife."
Vallin shook his head. "I'm sorry, Your Highness. I mean no disrespect, but I fear the living more than I fear you. If the queen doesn't sentence us to death, Sasha will drain our bodies and toss us into the river. Everyone knows he'll do anything for his sun."
"But will he kill you for taking Randy to the fae, or will he kill you for letting him die?"
Before Randy knew he'd moved, the king yanked a dagger from Rael's waist sheath and held it to his own throat. Inside, he struggled to control his hand, but it was no use. The king's will was stronger.
"I have no fear of death, my soldiers, but you might have if I end this one's life."
The fae guards paled, and Dustin gave a low growl.
"Now, are you going to take me to the queen or am I to assume you don't care about this boy's life?"
"Put down the dagger and we'll take you."
"Good. It's nice to see you're not as stupid as I'd always assumed."
Randy really didn't like this guy. The king was the worst sort of bully. If he had the freedom to move, he'd kick his own ass.
Dustin growled and started backing up.
"Oh, no you don't." The king flung the dagger. Randy watched in horror as the blade plunged into his shifter friend.
Turning, he faced the fae again. "Take me to my wife!"
Vallin scowled but didn't say anything more. With a curse, Rael headed towards the shifter.
"Leave him. He won't die, but he won't be rushing off to blab either."
Randy relaxed a bit. If Dustin died because Randy had been stupid enough to be possessed, he'd never forgive himself.
"He'll be in pain for about an hour and then heal just fine."
The king's soothing tone reassured Randy, even though the spirit didn't give him back control of his own body. He did wonder why the king, so harsh to his underlings, bothered to reassure the person he possessed. He hoped Dustin forgave him in the end. He'd miss having the shifter's friendship.
* * * *
The infernal howling interrupted Sasha's conversation with his liquor supplier. His first
instinct was to tell Dustin to shut the hell up until he was off the phone, but then it struck him. Dustin was howling.
"I've got to go." Sasha slammed down the phone and ran. Dustin was a shifter, not a dog. If he howled, there was a damned good reason, and he'd left the other man in charge of Randy.
The crowd in the hall brought him to a stop.
"Clear the way, what happened?"
Tian and Lewis kneeled beside Dustin, hovering over the wolf.
"I sent for the doctor, but we're afraid to move him," Tian said, watching the shifter.
Sasha glared at the people blocking the hall. "Everyone go back to what you were doing. We'll find out what's going on."
He recognized the knife. "Why would Rael stab Dustin?"
"I don't know, but I'm going to rip out his throat," Lewis growled. His eyes glowed with a feral light that didn't bode well for the fae's future health.
"Not Rael. Randy."
At Dustin's voice in his head, Sasha looked around. "Where is Randy?"
"Randy stabbed you?" Tian blurted out.
"Don't be an idiot." Sasha glared at his friend. "Randy wouldn't hurt a fly."
His sunshine had a gentle spirit, a bit too gentle for a vampire mate, but Sasha would cut his own throat before he admitted it to his lover.
Dr. Chance arrived, breaking into his musing.
"Hey now, what happened here?"
"Obviously he was stabbed!" Lewis's voice bordered on hysterical. Sasha had never seen the man this out of control.
"Settle down, shifter. I'll take care of your mate. The key is to pull out the blade before he starts healing around it." He examined the wound. "On the plus side, it doesn't look like anything major was punctured. Hold him still."
Tian and Lewis grabbed onto Dustin as the doctor yanked out the blade.
A deafening howl echoed down the hall.
"It's all right, babe; I've got you," Lewis crooned to the whimpering wolf.
"I could bandage this better if he shifted. I don't want to tape anything over his fur."
Lewis slid Dustin's head onto his thigh. "It's hard to have control when we're injured. Focus, mate. Look at me."
The wolf's head turned towards the larger man.
"Shift!"
Sasha heard the note of command in Lewis's voice and wondered why the man remained a beta when he had such strong alpha qualities.
Fur vanished into flesh, and a naked man lay in the hall with a jagged wound in his chest. Dustin panted from the exertion of the change and the extreme pain he had to be in.
"Can I lift him?" Lewis asked the doctor. To Sasha's surprise, tears filled the stern man's eyes. Apparently, Dustin's injury had hit him hard.
Dustin grabbed Lewis's shirt. "Save Randy. He's been taken by the fae."
"What?" Fear shot through Sasha. "Why would they take him?"
"He's possessed," Dustin whispered.
"Oh shit!" Tian turned to Sasha. "That spirit king. He kept watching Randy."
"What king?" Sasha asked.
"He looked a bit like your mate. He wandered off whenever you were around."
"Why didn't you say anything?"
"He's a ghost. What was he going to do?"
"Apparently possess my mate!" Sasha's fangs tore through his gums in his rage. He could cheerfully tear apart one of his best friends. Friendship meant nothing next to the safety of his mate.
"Well, I didn't know that!"
"Will you two shut the hell up!" Lewis yelled, silencing the vampires. "My mate's injured, Randy's been abducted, and all you two can do is shout at each other." With a gentleness at odds with the tone of his voice, Lewis tenderly lifted his mate up into his arms.
"They took him to see the fae queen," Dustin told the men. He struggled against his mate's hold to stand on his feet but didn't get far with the stronger wolf holding him still.
"Shit!" Sasha didn't have the first idea how to get to see the queen. He couldn't follow into the fae realm because he didn't have a single drop of fae blood. Unless Sasha found an Unseelie escort, Randy was on his own.
"You've done your part, now you're going to bed. Dr. Chance needs to bind your wound. You can help look for Randy tomorrow," Lewis told his mate.
Dustin gave a soft laugh. "You're always trying to get me into bed."
Lewis nodded. "That's true. But for once, I'm not trying to join you in it." He looked back over his shoulder at the vampires. "Find Randall; I'll take care of my mate."
Glaring at Tian, Sasha knew Lewis was right. "Let's make some phone calls and see how to get into the fae realm." If that was where they took Randy, then nothing was going to keep him from following after his mate.
Chapter Four
Randy jolted as he abruptly regained control of his body. Rael and Vallin looked back.
"He's resting or something." Randy shrugged. "I'm in charge again for now."
Rael nodded. "It takes energy to take someone over. However, I have no doubt he'll come back if we don't do exactly as he says."
Randy didn't even bother to deny it. The king's will couldn't be overcome. If the spirit wanted Randy to take him to the fae realm, nothing would stop him from forcing Randy to find a way to get there. He briefly toyed with the idea of seeing an exorcist, but Randy figured the king would take over and kill him before an exorcism could even get started.
The futility of fighting the dead king pulled Randy into depression. This entire situation looked primed for getting him killed, and to top it all off, he didn't get to say goodbye to Sasha. He hoped the vamp would be all right without him. Sasha always proclaimed Randy as his sun, the highest bond vampires ever had with another being. Despite his love for the vampire, for the first time he hoped Sasha had chosen wrong. If Randy wasn't his sun and he died, Sasha would suffer. But if he truly was Sasha's sun, his own demise might also result in his lover's death.
"We'll do the king's bidding and then get you out of this, Randy," Rael promised.
Neither fae looked at him. He didn't think they could face him as they lied.
"I hope so." He had plans. It would be difficult to be a physician and live happily ever after with the vampire of his dreams if he were dead.
"You're a dramatic little thing, aren't you?"
"Oh shut up!" Randy snapped.
Rael looked back.
"Not you. The man in my head."
"Oh."
Nothing else was said as they continued down the dark alley. What the pair of fae thought to find, other than trash and the homeless, he didn't know, but he was never more thankful the two men carried large swords.
When Randy thought his legs were about to fall off from exhaustion, they finally came to a stop beside a manhole.
The fae stared at the cover for so long Randy lost his patience. Between worrying about possession, Sasha, and what they'd find in the fae realm, Randy's nerves were pretty much gone.
"What are you doing?"
Vallin looked up from his examination. "You didn't think all fairy circles were flowers on a grassy hill, did you? As a species, we had to adapt."
Randy looked at what Rael was doing and realized little flowers were molded into the metal. The flowers glowed brighter with each pass of his hand.
Rael walked onto the manhole, stood in the middle of the metal circle, and raised his hands out from his sides until they were waist high. "Open!" he commanded.
A bright light sparkled around the edges until it broke into sheets of white light surrounding the fae.
Randy's heart caught in his throat as Rael vanished.
He grabbed Vallin. "Where did he go?"
"Come." Vallin's looked at him with a combination of pity and amusement. "Don't worry so much. You'll be fine. The king is a man of his word. He might not have been my favorite person, but he's better than the queen on the throne now." Vallin's expression conveyed what he thought of the current ruler.
A soft chuckle echoed in Randy's mind. Every once in a while he forgot about being posses
sed until the king made a noise in his head.
Vallin grabbed Randy's wrist and pulled him into the glowing circle. Between one breath and the next, the city disappeared and Randy stood on a wide grassy field in the middle of a circle of daisies.
"I didn't say all the circles of flowers were gone," Vallin said at Randy's pointed look. "Come on, let's get this over with and get you back to your vamp."
Randy followed Vallin down the grassy hill. Rael stood at the bottom, waiting by the road as if expecting a cab.
He turned around as they approached. "About time you showed up. I was getting bored and wondered if anyone would show up before you."
Looking up, Randy realized there wasn't actually a sun. A general brightness lightened the sky but no glowing orb.
"Where's the sun?"
Rael laughed. "You're in the Underworld. We don't have a sun. We have the light."
As they walked, a forest appeared out of nowhere, or so it seemed to Randy. Tall trees rose high above them, and the scent of pine filled the air.
"We're almost there," Vallin promised.
"Good." His boots weren't made for tramping across the universe. He'd only bought them because he knew they made Sasha hard. If he'd been thinking, he would've grabbed his sneakers.
Randy hoped Dustin healed all right. Guilt ate at him as he remembered stabbing his friend.
"There it is!"
Excitement laced the usually sarcastic voice in his brain. Whatever the king's faults, he apparently had loved his home.
A castle stood at the end of the rocky path they'd been following, the type of castle Randy had seen in story books as a child. Tall spires pierced the sky as the delicate building spread before them. "Will you release Randy once you speak with your wife?" Vallin asked.
"We'll see." Once again Randy lost control and the king took over. Apparently the king had shored up his energy to take over Randy's body again.
The fae king's tone didn't inspire any confidence in him. Randy wished he could fight the man, but how could you fight a spirit who had all the power in his hands?