Taunting Destiny

by Amelia Hutchins

  Chapter Thirty Four

  I spent the next hour or so, sitting on the cold ground beneath the starlit sky talking to Larissa about things I wished I could have said to her before, and the things I’d never get to tell her again. I knew that her time here was short, and Adam wanted his chance to say goodbye too. We talked a bit more about my feelings on marrying Adam and his alternative of the handfasting. We also talked a little more about my thoughts on becoming a mother. A few years ago, it had been a dream that Adrian and I had once talked about, but I was always scared of becoming a mother deep down. It had always seemed to be more his dream than mine. She squelched a few of my fears, while making a couple of them worse, even though that wasn’t her intent.

  “Adam’s always loved you, and, yes, maybe it is this bond you share, but, in the end, if I had to pick another woman for him—it would still be you.”

  “He was going to ask you to marry him,” I said softly, turning to watch her smile grow softly.

  “I know. I always knew. I found the ring a week before Joseph came. You fought, Syn; I watched you fight for me. Thank you. I know it couldn’t have been easy. You’ve been the only sister I’ve ever known, and my family. I wouldn’t change it for anything. I love you. Even in death, you still feel love, and this is only temporary. I’ll be reborn when the time is right. This is how I want it to be, so stop thinking I’m sad. I’m not. I get to see the other side. Yes, it totally sucked getting here, but it’s not so bad. Death is only the beginning to another chapter of life. Another shot to get it right.”

  I smiled, but felt no peace for her. She’d died because of me, and even if she could forgive me, I couldn’t forgive myself completely.

  “Stop doing that! I can hear it now, ya know? When you feel it, I feel it, and I know you still blame yourself, but you shouldn’t. I let him in; I thought I could hold him until you got there. I was cocky. I knew it was him when I let him into the apartment. Stupid of me, yes, but it was my mistake. Not yours. I almost got you killed too, because when he told me to call you, I did. I just wanted the pain to stop, and at that point I would have done anything to make it stop. I fucked up, and it cost me my life. Almost yours, as well. I’m to blame, not you.”

  “You let him in?” I asked, stupefied that she would have done something so crazy and careless with her life.

  “I did, and don’t look at me like that. I know now it was pretty damn stupid.” She held her arms out indicating her as a whole. “Dead, remember? Next time I know not to let the boogeyman into my house.”

  I blanched, because, for the moment, I had almost forgotten that she was dead. I shook my head, but refrained from telling her just how stupid it had been. Adam stood up from where he’d been sitting with his father a few plots away, and walked over to us.

  “My turn, Syn. She only has a few hours left,” he whispered, not meeting my eyes. As if he felt guilt for wanting to be with her. I didn’t feel anything, except regret that he’d only have tonight with her. I wished for them to have forever, but life didn’t often give us what we wanted.

  I stood up and shook the dirt off the leather pants. “Larissa,” I said, with tightness inside my throat that told her how hard it was for me to make words come, knowing this would be the final goodbye.

  She wrapped her arms around me, and buried her head against my shoulder before whispering against my ear. “Be good to him, and when you’ve saved their world, find Ryder, and love him if you can’t be happy with Adam. Be happy, and remember that this wasn’t your fault. I never blamed you for my death. I’ll see you soon, Synthia. We will meet again. Destiny has a plan for us, it’s not our job to know what it is; we just have to follow it and trust that destiny will put us where we need to be.”

  I stepped back and smiled, even though I was puzzled over her cryptic message. The Fae didn’t believe in divorce, and while they took other lovers, that wasn’t something I would ever do to Adam, not even for Ryder. I wouldn’t go from lover to lover. I smiled at the way Adam was trying to make this better with the proposal of the handfasting. But if the year and a day was up and I hadn’t produced the child that everyone was looking for—then I’d be bound to Adam for good as we waited for me to become fertile again in ten to fifteen years. I took a deep breath, wondering if Kier would allow Adam’s suggestion to come to pass. Larissa smiled and shook her head.

  “Just be happy, or I’ll stick around and haunt your ass. In time, even this will make sense, Synthia. You’ll see. I promise.”

  I started to turn away, but Adam stopped me as Larissa gave us some privacy. His eyes showed a hint of worry in them. “Is this okay? Technically, we’re together now, and I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “Adam, you only have tonight with her. She will go back to being dead when the sun comes up. So, this is me, telling you to do what you need to for closure. We will be together when we enter Faery. Until then, we are just friends preparing for what has to be done. You have this night with Larissa, and I’m going to say goodbye to Ryder.” I smiled as he lunged forward and wrapped his arms around me.

  “Thank you,” he said and stepped away. He smiled and turned to Larissa. “Most people don’t get to say goodbye.”

  “No, they don’t. I suggest you use every second of it.”

  *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

  Leaving them together at the cemetery was the hardest thing I’d ever done. Knowing I’d never see her again was torture. I knew they needed time; Adam had loved her, and he needed the closure as well.

  I wasn’t surprised to find Vlad behind the bar when Savlian brought me back to the club. It was well after last call, so I wasn’t surprised that all of the human partiers had cleared the club for the night. The only remaining people were Fae that I knew to be loyal to Ryder. I walked over and sat on one of the many stools at the bar, and said nothing, even as Adrian quietly walked over and sat beside me.

  “I heard Alden sold his soul to raise Larissa tonight for you,” he remarked softly.

  “My wedding gift from Ristan. I get Alden and Adam gets Larissa for a night to say goodbye.”

  Adrian whistled. “That’s…well,” he choked on his words, and I laughed. Not because I thought it was funny that he couldn’t get the words out, but because he had no room to talk.

  “Yes, Adam is probably having sex with a ghost.”

  “You know what they say about the dead?” he asked.

  “No, what do they say?” I asked, perking up and then deflated when he continued.

  “Once you go dead, you never go back.”

  “That didn’t even rhyme,” I pointed out, smirking.

  “It sounded better in my head,” he offered with a grin.

  “I’m sure it did.” We both laughed until tears formed in our eyes.

  “Did she say anything about me?” he asked as his hand played with the glass on the bar.

  “She said you sucked,” I smiled as he snorted and tilted his head. “No, she said to tell you to behave. And that she loved you, even though you were an ass for leaving us.”

  “So, you and Adam huh?” he asked, changing the subject.

  “There is no way I can see out of it. So yes, I’ll marry Adam soon and become his baby making machine. I can’t let Faery die and have all of its creatures come here. She made me promise to keep this world safe.”

  “We could run away,” he smirked and placed his hand on the top of mine.

  “And what, Adrian? Wait for Faery to overrun this world and destroy everything? You wouldn’t do that any more than I could.”

  “You’d be surprised what I’d do for you,” he mumbled under his breath. We sat there silent until his eyes held my face, and his smirk turned into laughter. He shook his head, and held his glass up for Vlad to refill it.

  “What’s so funny?” I finally asked when he had his glass filled once more.

  “You’re wearing woad, leather, and blood; and I just noticed. I’m a crappy Vampire.”

  “I got some of the ones who killed my
parents tonight. I failed to kill the one I wanted though,” I replied.

  “I know, Ryder was communicating with Vlad for some of it. He wants to know how to get inside your shield pretty damn bad. He figured I might know how.”

  “You can’t get inside of it, unless I want you to; no one can.”

  “That’s what I told him, but are you so sure about that? I would think anyone of stronger mind and will than the one casting it, should be able to break through.”

  “I haven’t met anyone who can get inside of it against my will.”

  He was about to reply when the room grew tense, and everyone stopped talking, stopped moving. Electrical current sizzled through the room thick enough to make my hair stand up on end.

  I moved to stand up, but Aodhan was there pushing me back down into the chair. “Stay down. Please.”

  “What is it?” I asked, sending out my senses and finding nothing but raw current pulsing in the air.

  Weapons were coming out, and I had a wall of Fae males building up in front of me once again. Aodhan, Zade, and Savlian were the only ones I was familiar with that I could see. I backed up until I felt hands from behind me, grabbing me, and pulling me behind the bar.

  I turned and met Vlad’s silver eyes. He shook his head slowly and held a single finger against his lips. I felt the pressure in the air growing thick until it literally popped. Vlad lifted his head, and it came back down slowly.

  “Fuck!” He cussed in a hushed tone. “Adrian, get Syn to her room. Don’t move until I tell you, then you sift boy.”

  I felt my skin crawl and knew something was wrong. “It’s not an enemy.” I whimpered, confused by their actions.

  I felt no threat and heard the weapons being replaced into their holsters and scabbards. I watched Vlad look over my head to where Adrian was, and I shot up trying to see what was wrong. I’d left Adam with his father’s guards, but it didn’t mean that the guy I’d been trying to kill hadn’t come back and hurt him.

  My eyes met Zahruk’s startling blue ones and flinched with shock. He was covered in blood and holding a seriously wounded Sevrin up. Blood flowed freely from multiple deep gashes on his face and arms. Other Fae were sifting in around us, all of them showing signs of battle. “Where the fuck did they go tonight?” I struggled to get the words out of my dry mouth.

  “They went to shut the Mages down tonight,” Adrian whispered as he pulled me against him and sifted us out of the room.

  We materialized outside of Ryder’s room. “Dammit, Adrian! I need to know who’s hurt,” I shouted, turning and heading back toward the elevator.

  “Syn, stop! You can’t go up there right now.”

  “Why not?” I shouted turning on him.

  “Because, he’s hurt. Right now, he needs to be looked over by the healer. He needs you down here for when they bring him to you.”

  I felt my knees go weak, and I hit the floor, hard. Adrian was there, quickly helping me to my feet, and lending his support. “No, he’s fine. He’s Ryder, he can’t get hurt!” I felt sick to my stomach, and my hands were shaking violently. I felt as if the air was being stolen from my lungs, and the only thing I could think, was that he couldn’t die. He was mine.

  “Open the door and wait in the room. They will bring him to you if they can.”

  “What the fuck does that mean?”

  “It means if he doesn’t have to go into a healing tank, they’ll bring him to you,” he said, locking his eyes with mine. “You love him, don’t you?” His voice was harsh, yet I could hear the pain beneath it that he was trying so hard to hide.

  “What the hell is a healing tank?”

  I dodged his question, and he allowed it.

  “It’s just what it sounds like; a healing tank is filled with water from Faery and it speeds the healing process up.”

  “How bad is he hurt?” I demanded.

  “Bad, Syn; they all are. The smell of blood inside the club right now is very strong. And it’s from many Fae, not just Ryder. He took a large force out with him tonight. Larissa told him where a large group of Mages were meeting,” he replied with his finger held on his temple as if he was listening to something.

  “Who’s talking to you?”

  “Vlad. He said stop being stubborn, open that door, and get in the room. Ristan is coming to talk to you now.”

  Sure enough, Ristan materialized in front of us, covered from head to toe in blood. I couldn’t tell how much of it was his. I swallowed the cry that tried to tear from my throat as his eyes met mine with worry filling them. “Ristan,” I whispered brokenly as I rushed toward him.

  “Syn, I need you to come with me now.”

  “Ryder?” I asked, shaking my head.

  “It’s bad, really bad. I need you to do what you did last time; save him for us. Please, I need you to help us. I don’t think Eliran can do it, and, frankly, I’m not willing to wait to see if he can when I know you can do it. I need you to save him. Fuck! You have to do it. I’m begging you, Synthia. Please.”

  Chapter Thirty Five

  We sifted to the room that Ryder was being treated in; the atmosphere was one of grim apprehension. Most of Ryder’s guards, including Dristan and Zahruk, had taken up positions around his bed. They refused to leave his side, even with the severity of the wounds many of them had. I couldn’t see Ryder, because Eliran had a sheet drawn up around him. Healers were running in and out of the room. I flinched as someone dropped a metal container on the hard floor, the sound echoing over the sound of the machine beeping. The machinery always struck me as odd around such a mythical being, but Eliran had told me when he was treating me before that the machines humans had for monitoring patients were very useful to him.

  “What happened?” I whispered as Ristan pulled me closer to Ryder, as a helper sped by to get something for Eliran who was standing on the other side of the bed from me. Ryder looked lifeless, he wasn’t moving, and he wasn’t breathing. I knew he was Fae, mentally, but it wasn’t clicking as I stared at his ashen, motionless body.

  “Iron; they shot at us with fucking iron bullets, as if they knew we were coming tonight. We got most of them, but I didn’t see the bullets. I should have. Fuck! I only saw that we stopped them from killing another group of Fae.” His voice was hollow as he spoke. “I’m not meant to see everything, but why Danu did not want me to see this, is beyond me. I’m meant to protect him.”

  I reached down and held his hand; it felt as if my heart was being ripped out. Ristan was in need of comfort as much as I was, and I was in need of something to hold as I stood there staring at Ryder’s inert body. A feeling of absolute wrongness stole over me—this wasn’t right. Ryder did the damage—he wasn’t supposed to be lying here like this.

  Eliran shouted at the helpers rushing into the room. Everything was moving fast around us as if time stood still for Ristan and I alone. I was seeing everything in slow motion, as if it was a nightmare. My brain knew they were moving as quickly as their feet would take them, but my eyes remained glued to Ryder.

  He couldn’t die. Last time he’d made it through with only a few scratches. I mean, come on, he was freaking Ryder. He didn’t get hurt; he did the hurting! This was something else entirely, though. Iron killed Fae, and, from the smell of the blood coming from Ryder, he’d taken the brunt of the damage.

  Iron bullets. I closed my eyes and sent my senses seeking the damage; inside of him were multiple bullets, and they seemed to be everywhere, starting from his shoulders and all the way down his legs. Tissue had been damaged, and cartilage was torn, unable to heal because of the iron lodged deeply within his body. I pushed with everything inside of me—everything I had—into the room, and into his body. The roar of blood rushing through my own body filled my ears as I fought to empty Ryder’s body of the iron that was killing him.

  Several cries erupted around me, but I ignored them, and kept fighting against the iron. I felt myself waver on my feet, but Ristan was quick to hold me up against himself, which allowed
me to keep fighting against the deadly metal. There were so many bullets—too many. The iron had already started fusing to his cells and was poisoning his system, making it impossible for it to begin the healing process. I started at his shoulders and began to pull the bullets with my magic and, at the same time, forced the blood filled tissue to expel the iron and tainted tissue.

  I cried out as I sent everything I had in energy, and more strength and magic than I knew I had, into his system. I was hoping it would be enough, as I pushed and pulled the iron bullets to me. At first, the metal and its toxins resisted me, but I pulled harder with everything I could find in myself. Pain filled screams erupted around me as if every male inside the room was a part of him, or attached on a mental link. My vision wavered. I saw little grey lumps begin to reemerge through the entrance wounds as I continued to push and pull, so many of them popping up, rolling off and falling on the floor with pinging sounds as they hit the linoleum and bounced everywhere. I closed my eyes and continued my task, systematically working through his body from the shoulders to ankles; wherever I could find iron to pull.

  When I couldn’t do anymore, I opened my eyes and sagged wearily against the bed. I was afraid to find that the metal had won the battle. Every one of Ryder’s men that had been in the room, had been taken to the floor with the pain of me pulling the iron out of Ryder’s body. They all felt it, even though Ryder remained unconscious the entire time. Everyone was watching me, including Eliran, who looked from me, to Ryder, and back again.

  “You removed the iron,” he said softly as if he were afraid to believe it was true. He glanced at Ryder’s men as they struggled to their feet. “You removed it all?”

  I tried to get words out, but nothing came. Blackness was fighting for my mind, and, before I could give warning, I felt myself crumbling to the floor. Ristan caught me and hefted me back up easily.