by Elle Lincoln
Though my freedom allows me to walk with these men, I know one small mistake could very well put me right back where I once was, begging for the sweet oblivion of death that my soul will never fucking allow. A God of Death cannot die. He can’t feel the abyss of nothing, the blank cascade of drifting through the universe. And for a long fucking time, I begged. I pleaded and I fucking tried.
I’ve seen the many theories of a God of Death. Reapers. But no, I do not shuttle people to the afterlife, I never have. My gift lies in the art of the kill.
Yet here I am, standing in these woods with someone I call friend. “You keep me present, old man.”
He snorts at my comment, though I know both of us are far too old.
“How’s yer nose?” he grumbles under his breath. “Shoulda brought the damn wolf.”
“I cannot smell like a wolf. Nor can I sense the Fae. He has potential. The anger he feels will fade with time.” I hope. “I can track, watch for a subtle difference in the earth. The tracks most dismiss, like a bent leaf, a snapped twig.” That, I can do—hunt.
We decide to scout ahead, looking for weak points in the perimeter, and setting up the forgotten. The wee buggars were rather excited to settle somewhere. Or perhaps that was the amount of blood Patrick fed them. I can’t be too sure on either account.
“I donna like this stream.” Patrick points to the water running off the mountains, set in river rock. It’s serene as one listens to the rush of it gliding down.
But I understand his concern. The stream gathers into a larger creek. “We can set up a camera here. Scents can be masked too easily. How far does it go?”
He shrugs. “Let’s find out.” He holds a cell phone in his hand and does what he called ‘dropping a pin on our location.’
Incredible really. I haven’t figured out how to work the damn thing past that candy game— addicting—and then Willa introduced me to movie streaming this morning. I can see myself getting lost in the little people on the screen for hours. It’s just as Casseus described. Perhaps that will be my goal this evening with our downtime. If we have any of that.
“Incoming.” The phone rings, silencing the forest around us. Amazing how these creatures just know. “Ya.”
He pauses, his eyes going wide.
“What is it?” I can feel my body go on alert, growing from the unseen danger. I grip the leather of my eye patch as I peer into the woods, ready to eliminate any threat to us.
“Repeat what ye just said.” I whip my head back to Patrick, who presses a button on the device.
“I said,” comes Casseus’ drained voice. “Prince,” he spits and pauses, “Ryoden sired a fucking child. A child who just so happens to be Bette’s childhood best friend.”
“It cannot be.” Patrick rubs the bristle on his face as my anger grows.
“Did he send her?” I all but growl into the phone.
“No, Bette checked her out.” I know she checked her soul for any stains. “Get this, she’s fucking pure.”
“How is that even possible? She’s Fae.” From my memories, I know all Fae as ruthless. Their stunted magic made up for their brutality that sometimes put even me to shame.
“Bette doesn’t know, but I piggybacked onto her dive,” Casseus whispers, as static explodes through the receiver. “She isn’t lying. This Kelsie. She’s completely pure.” Disbelief shrouds his words and blankets my thoughts.
How? Is everything we know wrong? Or perhaps, like me, some have changed. But for this Kelsie to have no sins, nothing, and be Fae? How is this even possible?
“I’d suggest cutting your mission short, we can all head out later. But Bette rode with Kelsie back to Willa’s.”
“You left her alone with a Fae!” I can no longer contain my anger and it falls out of me to echo in the valley we stand in.
“Hush man.” I will punch him in the face and laugh while he falls. “She’s safe. We are following behind her. Just get back.”
The line goes dead and red clouds my vision. My shirt tears and I scramble to unbutton my kilt.
“Ye need to calm down. Casseus is reckless, but he isn’t a fool.” I feel Patrick’s hand guide me around while I take deep breaths. “Control. Ye have none.”
He isn’t wrong. Ever since we left the pocket between worlds and I’ve been with Bette, my control is slipping.
“Logan and Mac are with her. Well, following her.” He words aren’t helping my anger abate. It is fueling it. Still, I let him talk. “If things go to shite, we will need you to keep us all together, and how are you going to do that if you keep losing your own shite?”
I don’t think shit has that long ‘e’ sound on the end of it, but I let him ramble because his words are actually relaxing me. But I refuse to let him know that.
“How fast can ye go?”
“What?” The red dissolves from my eyes and I focus on Patrick. Our height difference is uncanny now, and I focus on calming further so that I’m not peering down at someone so small.
He stops and looks up at me a glint in his eyes, one I know all too well. He’s up to no good. “Race ye back.” His brows raise, and then he takes off, thundering through the woods, and scattering birds and creatures alike. His cackling laughter echoes back and serves its designed purpose.
A new focus. I take off after him, my booted feet thudding upon the forest floor. My body jars with each ungraceful step as brush and twigs slap my legs and arms. Green flies by in varying shades of life, from the bright greens to the deep ones that define each plant. I let it all rush by me.
My body soothes back into its natural state and my thighs burn with the painful pleasure of the race up to the mountain. My feet grapple for purchase and I balance with my hands. I pass by Patrick, listening to his huffs of laughter and his heavy breathing.
As we breach the flat ground, the SUV containing the others and an unknown car pulls into the driveway. Patrick and I race on either side of them up to the house. I skid to a stop and stalk the passenger side door where a wide-eyed Bette sits.
I grip the handle, aware of my strength and how quickly the metal could snap. It doesn’t open. I watch in disbelief as those plush lips I bruised not too long ago tease me with her coy smile.
The little wench locked the damn door.
The smaller woman peeks over Bette’s shoulder, staring at me. I know the moment recognition hits. Her eyes go wide, the whites blanking out the baby blue, and a flush runs up her neck onto her cheeks.
“Open the door, Little Raven.” I use the nickname, and it rolls off my tongue in a deep baritone.
Patrick knocks on the driver’s side door. “Little piggy, little piggy.” I don’t know what the hell he is talking about.
“I’ll huff and I’ll puff,” Casseus chimes in.
I feel they are finding this entire situation humorous. I do not.
“Open the door, Bette.” She shakes her head at me. I’ve never felt the need to spank someone as much as I’m feeling that need right now. Her bare ass spread over my lap as my hand comes down, leaving a pretty little red welt.
Her cheeks flush and I know she feels my emotion, the need that pounds through me.
“Looks like someone is in trouble.” Patrick chuckles then darts around to my side of the car. He looks right at Bette with that same challenge in his eyes. “Do not worry. Yer all mine tonight.” His accent thickens and I throw my hands up, before walking away toward the others on the porch.
“I think you lost, big guy,” Mac teases, and a wide-eyed Logan peers at me in what can only be described as apprehension. He is smart to stay silent. These other fools haven’t learned yet that I’m hanging onto my control by a thread.
I smile at the two of them, it’s all fucking teeth, ad then I hear the car door open and close. I spin, and before she can run off once more, I’m at her side, throwing her over my shoulder and landing one hard slap to her ass.
“Owe! What the hell did I do?” Does she not know?
“You put yourself i
nto danger,” I grind out, my boots thumping on the porch. Logan holds the screen door open for me and I nod in appreciation. The pup seems to be able to read cues well.
I want nothing more than to take her upstairs and rip off these pants. Instead, I head to the nearest couch and drop her down. With more restraint than I ever thought possible, I sit across from her, as far as I can get.
The others nervously wander in, each giving me a look of wariness. Good. Leading requires respect, but I would do well to remember it goes both ways—my fatal flaw from my past.
Mac and Cas sit beside Bette, who has her head cocked and is just staring at me. Patrick sits in the adjacent chair. That leaves Logan to prod in the tiniest Fae I’ve ever met.
I watch as her small, curvy frame takes little steps. She stops when she meets my eye. Though she is staring at the leather eye patch.
“You know who I am.” I point to the last couch forming a U around a tall stone fireplace. “Sit.”
“Yes.” Her voice shakes. I know I’m scaring, her but I can’t help it.
No one makes a sound as Logan and Kelsie settle in. I look toward Mac. “Tell me everything. Now.”
He wastes no time filling me in on everything that occurred at the hardware store. I listen to every word while watching Kelsie fidget in her seat. She keeps giving Bette nervous glances and Bette keeps giving her a reassuring smile.
“What do you know of your kin?” I all but grind out, trying to remind myself this woman isn’t the enemy. No, she only shares the same DNA as the one who crushed Bette’s neck. I clench my fists against the thought, while I try to squash down the need to kill something.
To watch the blood drain from a body.
I close my eyes against the need that nearly floors me and I struggle to listen to Kelsie. Her timid voice is quite in a room of monsters.
“I only know what my stepsister has stated and the feeling I got from my father.” Her voice warbles on that word. Good. She no more likes him than we do.
“What is your magic?” If I’m right, and I usually am, her royal blood grants her the ability of two elements. Ryoden being Seelie means it’s probably Earth and Fire.
She blows out a breath and nibbles her lip. Her mannerism are so like Bette’s that I’m caught off guard. Until she speaks and the earth drops out from beneath me. “All of them.”
Patrick is the first to react, as he stands and stares at her in disbelief. Just like we all feel. I eye him curiously as he takes his knife and slices his hand.
The scent of leprechaun blood fills the air. Sweet and tangy, and without a hint of fucking iron. A fact that has made leprechauns nearly hunted into extinction.
“I’ll be...” Patrick’s eyes are riveted on Kelsie. My head snaps over to her. She’s sitting on the edge of her seat, eyeing Patrick like he’s a fucking meal.
“Wash it off,” I command him, and he complies without hesitation, strolling right to the sink. I turn back to Kelsie. “How is this possible?”
Her big, blue eyes blink at me in confusion before she shakes her head, flinging ringlets around her face. “My grandfather was Unseelie, the ah,” she coughs, “queen’s consort. My father is… well, you know who he is.”
“So, you do know more than you let on.” I lean forward, catching her in her lie, except I’m not convinced she believes it to be a lie.
“Balor,” Bette chastises, and I roll my eyes at her.
“We need to know. All the elements and she reacts to Patrick. She is more Fae than any of the others!” She doesn’t realize she could also drain Patrick dry in the blink of an eye. Something I will never allow to happen.
“We bound my powers!” Kelsie cries out.
“By who?”
“My...” She looks at Bette. “My mother.” She winces at Bette’s look of betrayal.
“That’s how you do it. You aren’t lying. You are too Fae for that. No.” I sit back. Crossing my arms. “You omit. You are more Fae than you realize and from both courts. I suggest you tell me anything else you may know.”
“Bette, I’m sorry. I couldn’t.” She takes a deep breath. “My history isn’t important.” Again, another wince. I recognize the pain that strikes her the closer she gets to a lie. “My mother’s family are all witches. My grandmother had an affair with Ian, the queen’s one consort. That makes my mother powerful in her own right. Ryoden hunted her down in hopes to sire an heir. Me. But she never told him. He found out. And...”
“Go on. We know he threatened your mother.” Bette’s soothing voice eases Kelsie, whose shoulders visibly drop.
“He followed my stepsister, as you know. Found us and threatened me if I didn’t comply. We all bound our powers, not just mine, to hide from him.” She is wringing her hands and the need to do something almost overwhelms me.
“Tell me, Kelsie. If it came down to it, would you fight alongside us, against your father?” This question is all I need to know. If she says no, we leave this place at once and never look back.
“I... Yes.” She nods her head. She knows what I ask. For her to unbind her powers. She is an asset, even if she is Bette’s friend. An asset we cannot allow to just walk away.
“Good choice. Do you know what they’ve been doing? I stand, ready to get this surveillance system up and running, especially if Kelsie and her family are here to help. Convincing them will be her job.
She nods. “That’s what I thought happened to Bette. But she was completely human.”
“Not anymore she isn’t.” I walk to the front door, dismissing this conversation entirely. “I suggest you get your family on board.” Then I walk out. There is shit to get done and the threat of time running out just got stronger.
Chapter 16
Bette
Distractions
Unease settles deep in my belly as I watch Kelsie drive away. Dust billows like a cloud, following her little car. My mind blanks as I watch the small bits settle back onto the driveway. Earth, dirty and gritty, tickles my nose into a sneeze.
I feel defeated, my body heavy with each new revelation. Secrets, which crawl their way to the surface that once held me in anticipation, now hold the key to winning or losing. And what for? I’m also still hungry, and my body is even more sluggish without the sustenance required to keep me healthy. Or rather immortal. I snort at that. I’m pretty much the equivalent of a damn energy vampire.
Which oddly doesn’t bother me. What if vampires are real? That’s one more issue I don’t have time for at the moment. There’s more than enough for me to contemplate for the time being.
“Hey.” Patrick’s voice sneaks up on me, but doesn’t surprise me. I’m never alone. Not anymore. Whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing has yet to be determined.
“Hey,” I reply back, my voice monotone and emotionless. My entire being needs to shut down and shelve everything. My mind is still reeling from Kelsie’s revelation. A fact that continues to pour ice onto my soul.
“Want to get out of here?” I look over at his speckled face and those deep, hazel eyes that miss nothing. Yet reflect the world through a different view.
“Yeah.” He holds his hand out for me, which I gratefully take in mine.
His hands are calloused and rough, worn down from hard work and labor. It’s interesting to see the differences in each guy, which ones have had to work hard, and which pass the world by. Though Patrick is more of a mountain man, there is an intelligence that simmers just below the surface, itching to break free. Akin to a mad scientist.
“Where to?” His hand, on the small of my back, leads me off into the woods. I suppress a grunt. It always comes back to the woods.
He doesn’t answer me for a while as we breach the tree line and hit an old path I once made as a child. “Just a wee walk.”
“We aren’t going to feed those creatures, are we?” I shudder just thinking about them. How they could destroy me with one touch.
“Do not worry about them. I believe this link goes both ways. I feel you an
d perhaps they do too. We have much to learn about this.” It’s a perspective I hadn’t even thought about. We are all so tightly knit that we haven’t yet stopped to think through all of the benefits or negative implications of exactly what that could mean.
“When you drew your knife earlier and Kelsie reacted, I didn’t understand.” I have suspicions, but I don’t want to jump to conclusions, and it just wasn’t making sense at the time. My head became stuffed with too much... well, stuff.
“The forgotten consume my blood because the world created me to guard her treasure. Not like the fuckers really need it, but there it is. They are attracted to it like mosquitos because of the elements inside. Kelsie is the closest thing to a pure Fae as there has been in years.” Somehow he takes an ax and starts clearing the path ahead.
“So, what magic does a leprechaun hold?” Besides attracting crazy strong Fae.
“This.” He flings his ax and it disappears into thin air.
“Huh.” I mean, I’m definitely intrigued and that is weird and impressive. Maybe I’ve become numb to everything. The ax reappears and he goes back to slicing grass.
That fragrant, cut grass teases my senses as we walk by, tinged with the aroma of sweet onions.
“So. No gold?” I can’t help it, I mean, I always thought leprechauns were fake and to top it off, small and ruthless.
He chuckles a bit before glancing behind his shoulder at me. “No gold. Just Fae. I’m stronger than average, but not as strong as Balor.” He snorts. “No one is as strong as him.”
I shiver, realizing just how much I’ve been playing with the God of Death. Teasing him and pushing him. I don’t regret my actions. Not one damn bit. I also don’t know the extent of his powers, but I know he won’t ever hurt me.
“Tell me about yourself.” Learning about these guys and their pasts bring me just that much closer to them.
“What do ye want to know?” We head deeper into the woods, the foliage creeping onto the path in vines and roots.