He looked back at me, his face calm and expressionless, but even so, I sensed exactly what he’d just done. He was also highly skilled because he’d denied her, telling her without words he was here with me.
Her spine stiffened, and her smile slipped. I swallowed, not sure how I felt about anything at the moment. All the pain and humiliation I was feeling was mixed in with other emotions I wasn’t prepared to feel again for anyone. I hated it.
The woman gestured for us to follow, and we did, neither of us speaking as we walked down a long hall dripping with the richest and very finest of everything, from the diamond chandeliers sparkling above us to the Turkinish rugs beneath our feet. As we walked, there wasn’t even an echo of our passage. Nothing but eerie, unnatural silence greeted my ears.
At spaced intervals, there were large glass cases full of taxidermies—dragons resting upon their golden coins; witches posed with fingers extended and madness on their faces; sea monsters so rare as to be nearly extinct, with their long necks twisted into hunting poses; beasts of the land so large they were like giants, with skins of fur and scales and feathers. On and on and on it went until one case made me pause and made all the blood in my veins crystallize.
Inside a rocky cavern full of placid water, with stalactites and stalagmites coming from above and beneath, sat a woman with a gleaming tail of ebony. Her skin was pale, her hands and neck long, her breasts high and perky. She was covered in the markings of a river siren. Her eyes were boldly black, and her lips were tinged blue. Her hair was a cascade of wild, crystalline curls. Her mouth was open as though she sang.
I felt a tear slide down my cheek. They’d killed all these magnificent creatures for no other reason than because they could.
I placed my palm upon the glass.
“Oh no, you mustn’t tou—” the woman cried, rushing over to me.
I hissed, raising my hand as a fury I’d rarely known crowded my bones. I felt the lure of my dark siren’s magick begin to make itself manifest.
Hatter grabbed my hand and yanked it down hard, pressing his face in so close to mine that I felt the wash of his breath on my mouth.
“Elle, don’t.”
Just those two words was all he said, but it was the power behind them, the strength of his body, and the way that he looked at me that snapped me out of the killing haze and squelched the song in my throat that desperately wanted to break loose.
His fingers curled just a little bit tighter around my waist, making me hiss with pain, but also giving me desperately needed clarity.
Swallowing one last time, I blinked and nodded.
“You good?” he asked, the words spoken just for me, with tenderness, like a caress.
I trembled. I still hated him, and yet… I didn’t at all.
Then I remembered what he’d accidentally shown me this morning, and I yanked my hand away.
“Yes,” I hissed. “I’m fine.”
He didn’t look put off. He just dusted off his jacket and turned around, following the woman again. I didn’t look at any more cases after that.
The female came to a stop at a door just a few more steps down the hall. She knocked once on the ornate gold door and then, with a nod to us, turned and melted back into shadow.
“Come in, Constable,” said two deeply masculine voices, sounding like crushed gravel.
Hatter turned the knob, looked at me intently, and waited. I nodded. I was ready. I was fine. “After you.” He spoke softly, moving to the side and gesturing at me to enter first.
I did and was met with the sight of two men more unusual than anything else I’d come across in the entire time I’d been in Wonderland. The images on the security tapes had not done them justice.
Unlike the woman and the two guards, the men were dressed in immaculate steel-gray suits and ties. I stared at them, offended by the very sight of the monstrous twins.
They were bald, both of them, with tiny dark eyes and high flushed cheeks. They had three sets of jowls each and hands the size of hams with fingers as thick as sausages, dripping in gold and jewels. They had to have been at least a half ton each and a good deal taller than Hatter by at least a foot.
They were half giants, both of them, which meant their girth belied the ferocity of their strength.
I was instantly on guard, hand creeping closer to my holster.
One Deedle, the one on the left, smirked. “Brother, does she think she can hurt us?”
The other Deedle, Righty, smirked back. “Try it, siren. We could certainly use a prize such as you in our zoo.”
Together they guffawed, and my throat swelled as my body began to burn with the glow.
But Hatter was shoving me behind him and shaking his head. “Challenge the arm of the law, or in any other way attempt to derail our case, and I promise you, I will destroy you.”
Such a weak threat would have gone nowhere for most people, but when Hatter said it, there was power in his words, power that the Deedles immediately sensed.
“Constable, of course,” Lefty said.
“We’ve no bone to pick,” Righty said.
“We’re here to serve,” they said together.
I gritted my front teeth, wishing like hells I could ram my claws through their soft meat and play with their viscera as I would have done long ago.
“Sit. Sit,” they said, “the both of you, and let’s talk.”
Hatter sat beside me, keeping close as I trembled with barely checked rage. And though I wanted to hate him, I was grateful he was here.
The Deedles grabbed four tumblers and poured a pretty amber liquid into three of the cups, then a black thick fluid into the fourth.
Lefty handed Hatter the amber fluid, and Righty handed me the black sludge. I didn’t have to sniff it to know it was demon-squid ambrosia. My mouth watered, but I shoved his hand back.
Hatter looked over at me and very pointedly tipped his head back and downed his liquid amber. I knew what that meant. While in Wonderland, do as the Wonderlandians do.
The Deedles stared at me, challenge burning in their beady eyes.
I stared at the thick fingers and fought the urge to slash Righty into ribbons of bloody meat. Keeping my claws sheathed, I gave him a tight-lipped nod of thanks, took the damned brew, and chugged it.
It went down like hell fire and warmed my gullet through. It was the most delicious bit of demon’s ink I’d ever had. But I’d be damned if I thanked him for it.
I slammed the tumbler down on the desk in front of me so hard that I heard the crystal crack.
They grinned. “We’ve got more.”
I just bet they did, the slimy bastards.
“Now.” Lefty steepled his fat fingers together and turned to Hatter. “We’ve shared drink, so we are friends. Let us speak with honesty.”
“Aye, brother. Honesty.” Righty’s folds quivered as he grinned.
My stomach heaved, and the ink that’d settled so sweetly just a second ago wanted to come right back up at the mere thought of Alice with these two. How had they not broken her? What in the devil had she actually done with them? And how could she stomach it?
I didn’t give a flying rip that her profession of choice was frowned upon by polite society. I rather thought her brave for it. What did bother me was the disgusting beasts standing in front of me swimming in so much goddessdamned wealth, while the rest of their realm slowly starved to death.
“Where were you on the night of the seventh at ten thirty-two— ”
Their eyes lit up with devilish glee, and Lefty smirked.
“Pounding flesh into your ex.”
“Of course,” Righty finished for his brother.
Then, as one, their eyes turned on me, and a look of pure, unadulterated lust scrawled over their corpulent features.
“Every Wednesday night,” they said together, then both licked their lips before flicking their tongues out at me in a lewd, suggestive manner.
Hatter, who’d been deathly still just seconds ago, stoo
d to his feet and slammed both his hands down on the desk, rattling the papers, cups, and a crystalline depiction of the realms.
“What do you know? Because I know you know, you filthy bastards,” I hissed, vibrating with the tension of holding back my natural inclination to gut them like the fish they were.
“The girl is smart, she is,” Lefty muttered.
Righty grinned. “Use her, brother?”
They clasped hands.
Hatter was so still it was almost like he was made of stone. His words were harsh, nothing but the grit of barely checked violence. “What do you know?”
“Alice will hang.” They smiled and spoke as one. “Swing back and forth. Bye-bye, Alice.”
“You filthy, arrogant, bastards! What did you do?” Hatter yelled.
Realizing he was losing his composure, it was my turn to hold him back. I got up from my seat and wiggled my way in front of him, pressing my back tight to his front. He didn’t move, simply continued to vibrate. Every muscle in his body felt as if it were hammering against me. But he stood there, letting me take the lead.
I grinned, not holding my siren’s charms back any longer. They flooded through me, spilling through my blood, my sinew, and my flesh until I gleamed blue.
The brothers gasped, lust dripping from them in waves. Hatter’s shakes grew stronger.
When I spoke, my voice rang out with the echoes of the ancient power. “You will tell us what I want to know, and then I shall gift you with a song.”
The brothers spasmed, orgasming from my voice alone. Their faces twisted into repellent looks of violent bliss, and the air reeked with the stench of their seed. I bit down on my tongue to keep from sneering with disgust.
Hatter breathed like a bellows behind me, his hands on my elbows, gripping so tight that I felt the circulation starting to cut off. My charms were affecting him, too, and I was sorry for that. But the Deedles didn’t play fair, so neither could I.
I grinned, shoving lure into my throat so that, as I spoke, my words rang out like song. I’d yet to tap into the depths of my powers. I’d barely even given them a taste.
“Tell me, boys. Tell me what you’ve done.”
They reached for me with their free hands, fingers flexing against their will as words spilled out their throats as one.
“Foxes and roses. Secrets and lies. Princes and kisses. All in due time.”
None of their words made sense to me. I shoved more and more lure into my throat.
Their eyes widened, and the scent of seed grew stronger. Hatter moaned, dropping his head to my neck and breathing in slowly and steadily, but not with lust. He was fighting my lure with all of his might.
“Who stole the ribbon?”
“Not I.” Lefty smirked.
“Nor I.” Righty smirked back.
“Who!” I thundered, letting my words roll with the electricity of my power, fighting the urge to kill them, to end them, to destroy them as they’d done to so many others.
Lightning and thunder flared throughout the old-world-style room, cracking and banging like cymbals, rattling the ancient, leather-bound books on their mahogany shelves. Antiques and priceless artifacts trembled violently. The ground rocked at our feet and a strange wind howled through the windowless room. My hair rose, electrified by my lure. I felt my markings blossom and start to glow.
The brothers swallowed, finally having the sense to look nervous, but still they reached for me. My lure was too strong for them to deny.
“The cursed princess,” they said as one, licking thick lips and spasming as long, rolling moans of orgasmic delight took them over and over.
I grinned, even as Hatter’s fingers dug in tighter and tighter.
“The ribbon,” I snapped.
“Ask Mary,” they breathed, bodies jerking as they held onto one another, clinging like drowning men to a life raft.
That name pricked at my mind. I knew Hatter had warned me not to give too much away, but we had to know more. We were at a dead end. We had to know more.
“Mary’s dead.”
They laughed, tipping their heads back as their massive bellies rolled. “We know. Dead men tell no tales, or so they say. But she can. Oh, she can. Witch!”
They hissed. “Witch! Witch! Witch!”
And then they were on me. I hadn’t seen it coming, hadn’t been prepared for them to shake off my lure so easily. But their hands were on my face and their mouths were open. I screamed as I saw the yawning chasm of infinite eternity stretch forth from their parted lips. It was a whirling vortex of destruction that sucked and sucked and sucked and pulled the lure out of me. I screamed as they consumed me like ravenous vampires.
My heart was stopping, my skin was growing cold and my blood was turning to ice. And still I could not stop the screaming as they stole from me.
Darkness teased at me, whispering at me to enter into its eternal embrace.
Hook was there. In that darkness.
Hook.
My Hook.
And then my Hook was with me. Gorgeous. Dressed all in black. Smiling at me, and holding out his hand with that curved, silver appendage of his I’d adored so well.
Come to me, Elle. Oh, my Elle. My Elle. His words were a ghostly whisper in my mind, and I choked on tears as I held my hand out to him. But we were separated by lashing waves of father’s waters, and anytime that water touched me, It tore flesh, making me bleed.
I screamed.
And then there were shouts, but they were not my own. Terrible, horrible shouts full of terror. I choked as the darkness receded from me, as the colors spilled back into my world, and the cold began to drift away again.
Hook was gone. And tears spilled unchecked down my cheeks.
I was on the ground, and I felt wetness on my forehead. When I reached up, my fingers were tacky with blood, and I knew I’d hit my head on the desk on the way down.
Dizzy, and not sure what was happening, I saw Hatter standing over them both. There were dark, black lights pressing down on their heads, singeing the flesh and making the air reek with the cloying, fatty smells of cooking meat. They writhed, moaning in agony, as they pleaded to be released.
I clutched at my throat, remembering the pull of that vortex of madness. The dread. The cold. That terrible, terrible cold that’d made me feel hopeless, without life, and so bloody empty.
My head hurt. My ears rang.
Hatter wouldn’t look at me, but there was rage in the lines of his tense shoulders. His movements were jerky and without mercy as he cuffed the brothers.
Then he was pulling on the key card in his pocket. With an angry jerk, he swiped it through the air. The doorway opened, beckoning to us.
Snatching them up in his hands as though they were nothing, he shoved the brothers inside. And looking at me with fury burning in his dual-colored eyes like hell flame, he said, “Let’s leave this goddessforsaken place now, Detective.”
When I got to my feet, I immediately threw up. I’d hit my head harder than I’d thought. I swayed, gripping tight to the chair in front of me, terrified I’d fall on my face as the world whirled.
Hatter was there a second later, his body tense, but his hands infinitely gentle as he pulled me slowly into the between.
I vomited again as the starlight rolled around us.
And he just held me tight, pushing my hair off my forehead and whispering that I would soon be alright.
When we got back to his cottage, he told Harry to take me to the waters. Hatter didn’t look at me as he took the brothers and booked them in separate cells.
“Ye look like ye swallowed one ta many halo-shrooms, Detective,” Harry muttered, “and ye reek like it too.”
Swaying on my feet, wishing like hells it was Maddox and not Harry helping me now, I moaned and gritted out, “Shut up, Harry. Just shut the hells up.”
He chuckled, but wisely didn’t say another word.
CHAPTER 17
CONSTABLE MADDOX
“GODDESS DAMMIT
!” He snapped into the looking glass, gripping the pane with a white-knuckled grip.
The White Queen stared down at him with a haughty frown.
He inhaled. It was easy to forget sometimes that though she was the Chief of Constables, she was also his queen.
“Forgive me.”
Her nod was imperious. Dragonflies zipped around her crown of thorns, blazing gem-colored trails that heightened her allure. Her hair was white as snow, her eyes as well, but her lips were the red of freshly drawn blood.
She was a woman of stunning beauty and fierce intellect.
“You have been a good Constable. And you’ve given me much to consider,” she said in that lazy, imperious drawl of hers.
“You can stop this, Chief,” he pleaded one more time. “Alice didn’t— ”
Thin nostrils flared with displeasure. And a dragonfly with broad confectioner-pink wings was suddenly burned up in the release of her sometimes-uncontrollable powers.
Her eyes burned with lambent fire.
“I do this once, then I set a precedent. A precedent I cannot set. You are a favorite, Maddox, but not even for you,” she hissed, exposing the sharp curves of her sickle-shaped fangs.
The queen was eternal. But only because she lived off the life force of others. It was a cannibalistic way to be, but she was a good and honest queen for all that. Better the devil you knew than the devil you didn’t. It was why there’d never been a coup to try and overthrow her. It was either her or her sister, the bloody Red Queen. Queen Arabella fed off the life force of the condemned only. Her sister was far less discerning in her tastes.
It was a terrible, gruesome death for any. But the death penalty was reserved only for the worst and lowest of Wonderland.
And Alice, his once beloved Alice had just been sentenced to death.
“But how could they have tried her this fast? Does this not seem suspicious to you, Chief? I’m telling you, I’m this close to solving the case. Please. Please, if our past means anything at all— ”
She hissed, causing even more dragonflies to fry in the face of her ire as her hair shone with the power of her rage.
“You’ve used far too many favors with me, Constable! I will give you two hours, and two hours only. Solve the case, or Alice dies.”
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