“Are you okay?” she asked, grabbing Green’s muscular arm and doing her best to get him to his feet. She got him as far as his knees when Peren and Missy drew in sharp breaths.
“Mel, what’s happening?” Missy asked.
Glancing up, she found Ferdian leaning against the oversized, gilded-edged mirror with a sinister smile upon his face. He picked at his fingernail as he quirked a brow. “Oh Melanie, you more than helped me find Elizabeth.”
She looked at the mirror and froze as she watched her reflection fade out only to be replaced by that of the woman she’d come to know over the course of her life. The woman who visited while Melanie dreamed and who whispered in her ear when danger came—Elizabeth. The woman stood about four inches shorter than Melanie. Her hair was the same shade of blonde. They looked like cousins or even sisters. Lifting her hand, Melanie watched as the image of Elizabeth did the same exact thing. Melanie moved again and Elizabeth’s reflection mirrored her.
Green drew in a ragged breath as he stared at the mirror too.
Ferdian laughed and the sound made her shudder. “It’s funny how things work out, Melanie. That is what you prefer to be called now, right? I can understand why. I should have seen it. All those years of sensing her near you but never finding her, even though the path of her magik was fresh. I thought it odd I’d lose Elizabeth’s trail completely a little over sixty years ago and then suddenly find it again almost forty years later. Yet, no matter how many times I came looking, I only found you, Melanie. You, the little defiant girl who knew words bigger than she should and things about me that only my wife knew.”
“For the love of dick, like you being an asshole is some national secret,” she said, instantly wishing she hadn’t.
Ferdian winked and she slid closer to Green. He wrapped his arm around her protectively, while still on his knees, and the look Ferdian shot him scared Melanie. She decided to divert his attention from the fact she found Green’s embrace safe and didn’t want him harmed.
“How are you doing that? How are you making me see Elizabeth in the mirror?”
Ferdian appeared caught off guard. He stood tall, eyeing her suspiciously. “Wait, are you telling me you don’t know you’re her?”
“Pfft, spooky and certifiable. Wonderful.” She gave him a droll look. “I’m like four inches taller than her, have blue eyes, not light gray and,” she tossed her hands in the air, “why am I explaining that I’m not two people? That’s impossible. Your faerie dust must be tainted or something.”
A deep laugh tore free from him as he ran his finger over the mirror. “Oh, Elizabeth, Medrawd was wise to build a wall between your essences to keep me from fully sensing you. I should have guessed. After all, Medrawd was like a father to you, the only family you ever really knew. It makes sense you would be born unto him, to hide under his watchful eye.”
She arched a brow. “Did you just go insane or is this a recent development? I mean, you’ve always been creepy but now you’re mental to boot.”
He licked his lips. “Oh, I very much wish to play with your new body. You’re right. It is taller than your other. I have to admit the resemblance, while very similar, is different enough to throw me. So much of Tatiana is in you now. She must have been thrilled to know her best friend had been given a second chance through the child she and Medrawd brought into the world.”
The low, animalistic growl that came from Green startled her. Melanie refused to allow Ferdian to know how much she valued Green’s safety, so she did her best to ignore him.
“Leave my mom out of this, dickhead. If my father hates you, I can only imagine what my mother thinks of you.” A shiver of disgust moved over her. “Never mind, I just got a pretty good idea.”
He chuckled. “Tatiana helped you escape me, didn’t she?”
Melanie shook her head. “Earth to crazy guy who used to live under my bed, I have no clue what you’re talking about. Why would my mom need to help me escape anything? Well, once she helped me sneak out to go to a school dance. My father had figured out I’d been sneaking out behind his back, flipped, and threatened to put bars on my windows.”
Missy chuckled nervously. “He did put bars on your windows.”
“Yeah, but not until after I got caught in the backseat of a Chevy making out with that one guy. What was his name?”
“Oh, you’re really going to have to be more specific,” Missy said. “You were caught doing that a lot.”
“Show me that which I seek. That which she hides even from herself and all around.” Ferdian waved his hand in the air and the mirror’s images began to move on their own. Melanie watched as it showed Elizabeth in long, white flowing robes that somehow managed to form to her petite frame. She turned and Melanie covered her mouth when she saw the bruises and cuts on Elizabeth’s face, neck and upper body. They were deep, angry purple and looked painful.
Another woman rushed into the image. Melanie’s eyes widened. “Mom? Why is my mother with Elizabeth?”
Ferdian shrugged and tapped the frame. “It is your memories we’re viewing. You tell me. Better yet, listen and see for yourself, Melanie Elizabeth Daly.”
Melanie watched as her mother wrapped her arms around Elizabeth. “You must let me summon Medrawd. You are wrong. He can stop Ferdian. I know he can.”
Elizabeth’s bottom lip trembled. “I command legions of warriors and was born to control him but I cannot. He will destroy my brother, you, everyone if he suspects you know the truth.”
“He is no man, to strike his wife. To do what he has done to you shows his soul is black. We will all come together and fight him. He will not touch you again. I cannot believe you would spend so many years hiding this from me, from your brother.”
Elizabeth sighed. “I grow tired of waking each day. I loathe opening my eyes to see him next to me and I wish each time he locks our chamber room door it will be the time he loses that last bit of control. I wish for death, Tatiana, yet it never comes.” Closing her eyes, Elizabeth let magik move over her, rapidly healing the bruises and wounds. “He has forever to lock me in his hell. Forever to…” She stopped and tipped her head to the side. She gasped. “That is it, Tatiana. Forever. If I take it from him, he has nothing to hold me to him.”
“Take it from him?” Tatiana drew in a sharp breath. “No! You cannot possibly think to give up your—”
Elizabeth nodded. “My immortality. Yes. It is perfect. I can live among mortals and I can live free of him. Without my magik, my immortality, I am no longer bound by the law of the Fae. I am no longer his wife.”
“But you will die.”
A lone tear trickled down Elizabeth’s cheek. “Tatiana, I would accept death with open arms if it means I am permitted even a minute of freedom, of happiness. Medrawd is good to you, as a husband should be. You do not live in fear that at any moment your husband will come in and decide he does not like the way you are looking at him. I only wondered why he was covered in blood, Tatiana. That is all. He took it as a sign I was questioning his decision on the battlefield. I was not.”
“What did he do to you?”
Elizabeth shook her head. “It matters not. Are you willing to help me be free? Help me find happiness?”
“I would do anything for you. You know that.”
She nodded. “Very well, would you be willing to act as guardian for my separable soul?”
“Oh gods, no, Elizabeth, you cannot think I am worthy of guarding your immortality. Let the elders do it. It is part of their function. Allow Medrawd.”
“No!” Elizabeth shouted. “My brother must not know of this. He will try to stop me and then he will die at Ferdian’s hands. That is not acceptable. Tell him I will contact him when it is safe. I will let him know when I find happiness.”
With that, Elizabeth lifted her arms in the air and closed her eyes. “Grant me the knowledge to blend, to live among the mortals and to be one with them. In return, I offer my extended time in good faith.”
Light consumed her and in an inst
ant she was standing in a long poodle skirt, a snug pink sweater, and a pair of saddle shoes. Her long blonde hair was now bobbed to just below her chin with the slightest of waves to it. She drew in a deep breath. “Do you smell that, Tatiana?”
“No,” Tatiana said, through her tears.
“It’s mortality. It’s freedom.”
“But how will you live? How will you survive? You have no family in the mortal realm, no friends.”
Elizabeth winked. “Have no fear. I thought of that before I handed over my powers. I will be attending one of those higher schools of learning we happened upon when protecting the humans from dark Fae attacks.”
“The attack they never knew was taking place? The one that we were supposed to be invisible to the human eye, yet that one professor seemed to look directly at you?”
Elizabeth nodded. “Yes. But you must promise to cast a spell to forget what you have learned here today. Ferdian will come to you first when he realizes I am gone. And, Tatiana, I am human now. If he finds me, I will not survive even the smallest of blows from him.”
“You have my word. Hug me and promise me that you will take care of yourself. That you will find happiness.”
“I will. And I shall see you again, in my next time on this earth, dear friend.”
The image faded and Ferdian’s gaze fell upon her. “You understand I have learned to control my temper, Melanie.”
She glared at him. “You understand I don’t give a shit if you learned to stand on your head and spit wooden nickels.”
The image in the mirror flickered. It showed Elizabeth with her forehead pressed to a white wall. Her stomach was swollen to the point it was obvious she was very pregnant.
Ferdian stood tall and looked as though he’d been struck as he saw it. “No!”
Elizabeth clutched her stomach and cried out. “Something’s wrong! Honey,” she fell to her knees, “help me, please. The baby, something’s wrong with the baby!”
Break the mirror!
Listening to her inner voice, Melanie got to her feet and sent a wad of power at the mirror. It shattered into itself and disappeared. Ferdian drew his hand back and she knew what he was planning on doing. She glared at him. “I don’t know what you and Elizabeth had, but if you hit me, I’ll rip your fucking dick off and shove it down your throat.”
“You have not the skills nor the power.” He glared at her. “You are conflicted, and even when you were a warrior, feared by others, you had not the skills to stand up to me.”
“You fucking son of a bitch!” Green made a move to charge Ferdian, and Melanie tossed power around him, pinning him in place. She slapped a silence spell over him and let her instincts take over. Green didn’t look pleased, but at least he was alive.
She walked straight at Ferdian and took hold of his fist. Ferdian couldn’t have looked more surprised if he tried. Leaning into him, Melanie let her voice go soft, breathy, and allowed her power to run over her. “I grew up knowing Elizabeth. I know our similarities, and I know our differences.”
Snapping her fingers, she made the room fill with the sounds of sex. Moans, grunting, sighs, and a rhythmic thumping surrounded her. Ferdian glanced around and then at her and she began to sway her body slowly. Melanie moved against him and pressed her lips to his ear. His entire body went rigid and she could sense how horny he was.
She let out a sultry laugh. “See, Ferdian, I know Elizabeth was timid, shy in the bedroom. That her skills were that of a warrior, of a Valkyrie-like woman. I also know you ruled her with an iron fist and used sex as a weapon. She was scared of sex, of you. I’m not.” She nipped playfully at his earlobe and he actually jerked. “I like it rough, sweet and slow, any way really.”
“This is a most welcome addition,” he said, his voice cracking slightly.
“Mmmhmm, I bet it is. You always wished she was more aggressive in the bedroom. More willing to express her wants, her desires. More willing to allow you to freely display yours.”
He nodded and whimpered as she raked her fingernails down his torso.
“You hated how submissive she was. She didn’t make you work at being dominant. She never stood up to you the way you needed her to. Your body craved a woman who would be as strong as you in the bedroom. Someone who would make your body burn even more.” She let out a soft laugh. “She didn’t, but I will.”
Melanie kneed him hard in the groin and when he went forward, she thrust her leg up again, hitting him in the face. He went to the floor, clutching himself. She put her hand out. “Gun.” One flew toward her and landed lightly in the palm of her hand.
She winked. “I know it won’t kill you but I bet it will hurt like hell.”
He shook his head. “You do not want me as your enemy.”
She laughed. “Hey, cockknocker, I watched the playback. I saw how you were to your wife. Yeah, I want you as an enemy. At least that way I know your intentions are purely evil. In truth, it’s you who doesn’t want me as one.”
The only remaining man who had come with Ferdian charged her. She spotted him out of the corner of her eye and waited until he was almost upon her. Giving in to what felt natural, Melanie ducked, and the man went up and over her head. He landed at Green’s feet.
Melanie watched in awe as Green broke part of her hold on him, seized hold of the man’s head, twisted quickly, and then discarded the man’s limp body. His hot gaze landed on Ferdian and his mouth moved, but her silence spell kept anyone from hearing what was no doubt a threat. It took her a moment to get over the ease with which he killed the man, but when she did, she realized she needed to do something about Ferdian and fast.
A trickle of knowledge about Ferdian came over her. She smiled down at him. “I know your weakness, Ferdian.”
His gaze shifted as something dark moved over his face. “You are my only weakness.”
“Yeah, someone just sort of whispered that in my ear. Guess what else they told me?”
His jaw clenched. “What?”
“Medrawd still hates you.” Bending down quickly, Melanie slammed her hand on the ground. “Daddy! Daddy!”
The room crackled with power and in an instant her father stood next to her. He glanced at her, not looking a day older than when she was a little girl. The minute his gaze fell to the gun in her hand, his brow furrowed. It went to Ferdian next. His eyes widened and then narrowed. “I told you to never set foot near my daughter again.”
Ferdian put his hands up and smiled innocently. She wasn’t buying it. Even spread out on the lobby floor, he still managed to appear threatening. Part of her knew he could level the place with nothing more than a thought, but she also knew he wouldn’t. Not yet anyway. As his blue-gray eyes shifted in her direction, his smile took on a sinister vibe. “We shall meet again, Melanie.”
A brilliant white light bathed the room, temporarily blinding all present. Something brushed past Melanie, and it took her a moment to realize it was Ferdian. His lips crashed down on hers and he stole a kiss before she could comment. His tongue skated over hers and a tiny portion of her body responded to his touch. It was as though the Fae within her recognized another. It had happened before, whenever she took a Fae lover to her bed, but something in her also seemed to recognize Ferdian as a threat. As the light disappeared, so did all traces of Ferdian.
Everything that had transpired seemed to slam into Melanie all at once. The reality of it all was too much for her to bear. She looked at her father, instantly felt like a child again, and dropped the gun as tears filled her eyes. “Daddy.”
In a heartbeat, he had his large arms wrapped around her. He’d always seemed larger than life to her. In many ways he was. He easily stood six five or so and had always had the physique of a warrior. Though her father had been nothing but gentle and loving to her and her brother, Melanie knew he was capable of defending his family. She also knew that part of him missed the days of old, when he’d battle things she couldn’t even begin to imagine. “Oh baby, you’re freezing. Eadan!”<
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The air in the room grew heavy once more before a crackle sounded. Suddenly, Eadan appeared next to her. “Mels?” He looked around the room, letting his gaze rake over the bodies scattered throughout. “Holy shit, Missy, did you go on a killing rampage and not invite me along to watch? Hey, you aren’t supposed to be doing anything now that you’re expecting.”
Missy snorted. “No. I didn’t do this. Your baby sister did.”
“No way,” Eadan said, his voice barely there as shock etched his face. For a moment, it appeared as if Eadan were moving through molasses as he rounded on her. Never in her life could Melanie remember a time when her brother looked so dumbfounded.
Melanie’s father drew in a sharp breath. “Did Ferdian see her attack the men?”
“Yes,” Missy said, her voice barely above a whisper.
He grabbed Melanie’s shoulders gently. “Did you use your power in front of him? Did he ask you about Elizabeth again?”
“I killed people. I shot… Oh gods, Daddy. I did this. I took lives.” She tried and failed to draw in a deep breath. The horror of it all was too great. “How did I do this, Daddy? I’ve never hurt anyone like this before. Never. I-I…”
“I know, sweetheart.” He stroked her cheek. “If you drew upon the knowledge of how to do this, then I fully believe you had no other choice. You are not a violent person, Melanie. This had to be done.”
A crazed laugh fell from her lips. “I’m going insane. This can’t be real, Daddy. Ferdian isn’t real. I don’t know how to fire a gun, let alone kill someone.” She clung to him, desperate for him to agree, to tell her it was all just a dream. “Daddy, please, I want to wake up and have it all go away. I’m not like this.” Lifting her hands, she stared at them in horror as she thought about what they were capable of. They trembled and bile rose in her throat. “I’m going to be sick.”
“Melanie,” her father whispered. He pushed a piece of her hair back and behind her ear. “Sweetheart.”
Shaking her head, she fixated on the dead bodies. Never in her waking hours had she ever seen such carnage. Knowing she was the cause would be her undoing. “Daddy,” her lips shook as tears streaked down her cheeks, “I’m a monster. I did this. I killed—”
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