Hate

by K. A Knight

  “Shush.” She grins and takes the bundle from him. He’s dressed now too, in just some leather pants with his wings out behind him. “Where are Jair and Dume?”

  “The minotaur probably went to ram into things and got stuck. Your vamp is still checking cells. Looks like whatever power you unleashed knocked loose all the spells and bindings down here, so all the monsters are going to be free.”

  “Good.” She beams as she slips into a dress. It’s silky and red, tight on her body and short with spaghetti straps. She glances down at it then fixes her stare on Griffin. “Do I even want to know where you got this?”

  He grins, winking at her. “Probably, you like it when I’m bad.”

  “I do,” she agrees and leans up, kissing him. “Thank you, baby, now let’s go get the others. It’s time, let the monsters be free. The council isn’t going to know what hit them.” She twines her hand with his and starts to leave, stopping at the door and looking back at me.

  I don’t know where I fit. The others seem to, they’ve been with her and my dreamscapes don’t appear to count, so I don’t know how to fit into her life, but I want to. So badly. When she holds her hand out for me, waiting, I hesitate.

  “Take her fucking hand, dragon, or I’ll lock you in here,” Griffin snarls.

  I reach out and take it. She squeezes mine as she laces our fingers together, her eyes understanding. “Our whole lives, Aska, but for now, like you said, we have things to do. And I have someone I want to start with first.”

  “Who?” I query.

  “Someone who touched what wasn’t theirs,” she snarls, her eyes bleeding black and her power rising. Our hair whips all around as her energy rushes down the corridor in a punch. My mate is powerful, that is for sure, and it only seems to be growing.

  I can’t wait. She’s the best treasure I have ever found.

  I march down the corridors with my mates. The dungeon is alive. Banging, yelling, and howling fills the winding passageways with life. Where there was once pain and suffering, now anger and hate bloom. They call for blood, crave it, need it. They want revenge. I know that feeling.

  They will get it, my monsters. Those deemed wrong, not perfect enough, rich enough, strong enough. I will free them all and let them fill their aching souls and hearts with the pain and screams of those who hurt them.

  For now, I have my own blood to bathe in. We have a few hours until the morning where the meeting will take place, and I know exactly how I will spend those hours. That man, Derrin, he hurt what is mine.

  I’m going to show him what real pain feels like, what real hopelessness and panic tastes like. He thought he was the most powerful and smartest being in the room, just using his power to get what he wants, not thinking about the consequences of his actions. I will remind him exactly how wrong he was.

  Actions have penalties.

  He won’t answer in the next life, but will in this one, to me. A monster.

  Somewhere between my pain and hate, a need to right wrongs arose, a need to protect those I love and care for. Because I know the pain, the hurt. Griffin is strong, so strong, and has survived things that others would not. He doesn’t know how to ask for help, but he came to me when he needed me most. He will never have to ask, I will always protect him. Always hurt those who try to hurt him.

  He is mine. He’s damaged, broken, mad, and angry and all mine.

  I lead them from the dungeons and to the house above, no longer sneaking. I almost wish Amos or his men would find me—let them. I will kill them all right now, fuck the plan. Fuck the meeting. I’m too filled with hate and anger to care.

  They need to die.

  But lucky for them, no one is about. They are busy preparing for the meeting or sleeping as we head through the hallways and up the stairs until we reach the incubus’s suite. I stand at the doors, feeling Griffin’s hand shaking in mine, and I look to him with black eyes. “Wait here.”

  “No,” he snaps, his eyes swirling with our madness.

  “You do not have to be there,” I tell him, giving him a way out.

  “No, I need to see it. I need to see him die, and I won’t let you near him alone,” he growls.

  “Baby—” I start, and he slams me into the wall. I hold my hand up to stop the others as Griffin lowers his head, his eyes angry and locked on mine.

  “Where you go, I go, no more apart. We do this together, get that through your fucking skull, skinwalker.”

  I shiver from the violence in his eyes and voice. “Got it, you can pin me to a wall and fuck me later, baby. Let’s go.”

  He blinks, staring down at his hand like he didn’t even realise he had me pinned. Releasing me, he takes a small step back, not letting me too go far as I wink at Jair, Dume, and Aska to let them know I’m okay before turning to the door.

  “You three wait out here, block the door. Kill anyone who gets too close, we need to do this,” I order. I can feel them wanting to come with me, but I look back and something in my eyes stops them.

  “Be careful, my love,” Jair murmurs, and turns to watch the hallway.

  “Neriso.” Aska nods and copies the vampire, crossing his arms.

  Dume meets my eyes and, saying nothing, puts his back to the door, not letting anyone past as we slip in and shut them behind us. To the left is a hallway. It’s dark in here with no lights on, and the scent of blood and death wafts towards me, making my heart slam in my chest.

  I’m called by it. I follow it down the corridor, Griffin on my heels, both of us silent and racked with a need so strong you can taste it. I reach a room at the end and the door is open slightly, so I push it inwards, cringing at the gaudy decor of silk, red, and gold.

  And there, in the middle of the bed draped in fineries and bodies is the incubus himself.

  Derrin.

  Griffin sucks in a breath so I blast him with waves of love. I hear him groan and press closer as we watch the slumbering incubus who seems unaware that we have even entered his room. I mean, really? How does this man even survive? Is he so reliant on security and his powers he thinks he’s untouchable?

  Of course he is.

  I’m about to show him how wrong he happens to be.

  I turn and slam the door, waking him. He jolts upright, his eyes blurry and hair messy as he blinks and runs his hand through his locks. He’s beautiful, has ultimate sex appeal, but all I feel when I look at him is hate.

  He glances from me to Griffin and a smile tips his lips as he reclines naked in the bed. “Well, well, fallen, brought someone to play with me? I knew you liked it.”

  I step in front of Griffin, holding him back as well as drawing Derrin’s attention to me. “I did come to play, in fact.”

  “Is that so? And who are you, little bird?” he coos, and slips from the bed, prowling my way. He moves like a panther, graceful and sensual, but it does nothing for me. His cock is at half-mast, and as I look on in disgust, he runs his hand across his chest to cup himself as he stops before me. Griffin’s hand darts out and grabs the back of my dress, trying to tug me back from the incubus as he lowers his head and blows power right into my face. “I promise you will love it, cher. Why don’t you show me what that dress is hiding? Let’s put on a little show for the fallen, show him what he ran away from.” His eyes pulse with power, it fills the room, slamming into my veins like a drug, trying to create a reaction, but I feel nothing.

  This is nothing.

  Compared to the pull, the utter lust, need, and magnetism of my mates and their bonds, this is fake, false, and wrong. I scowl at it, pushing it away, and he blinks in shock before stepping back. I take it no one has ever rejected his powers before, I’m happy to be the first.

  “What are you, cher?” he murmurs, his voice husky, and Griffin growls, making Derrin tut. “I am not talking to you, fallen.” He slams power into Griffin who shivers, so I press my back to his chest, offering him my strength. He dips his head onto my shoulder, sucking in my scent as I reach for his mind and share myself with
him, blocking out the incubus.

  “He is mine. Don’t ever look at him again or this will be over before we even start,” I warn, my eyes black and my own voice low and velvety with power.

  He mistakes it for need, for want, not for the hate and anger it is. He can’t fathom someone not wanting him. He winks at me. “As you wish, my beauty.” He turns and heads to the bed, sitting on the edge with his legs spread. “Why don’t you come over here?”

  An image of Griffin ripping off his head flashes into my mind from my surly mate, making me laugh. I pull away from him after sending him a mental kiss and saunter towards the bar instead. I pour myself a drink and sip it as I turn to see Derrin watching me with interest, like I’m a bug under a microscope. Something different, something he isn’t used to.

  “Tell me, Derrin, has anyone actually ever wanted you without the magic? You’re pretty and all, but I can smell your rotten soul from here,” I muse, sipping on my drink.

  His face clenches in anger as he leaps to his feet, his gaze going to Griffin. “How dare she speak to me like that! Bring her here, now!” he orders.

  I flick my fingers and the incubus flies back onto the bed as I step closer. “I told you, he’s mine. You do not get to order him around, you do not even get to look at him, understood?” I snarl.

  He fights my hold, thrashing on the bed, so I drain my drink and stop at the foot of the mattress, staring down at him. He stops fighting and glares at me. “Who are you?”

  “No one to you, just a woman. A woman whose mate you touched,” I reply, and he growls, his eyes trying to slide to Griffin. “Yes, him, and I don’t take too kindly to what you did.” Leaning down, I grip his chin, forcing him to stare into my pitch-black eyes. “You think you can hurt people? Force them to want you? To do whatever you want with no consequences? You think forcing them with your power means they want you because they can’t resist or say no? You are a fucking parasite, a fucking rapist wanker hiding behind his title and power. You touched him. You hurt him. You will pay for that.”

  His eyes widen, even as his bravery and power resurface, his expression wiping clear until I see the reason he’s part of the council. He might not be the smartest, but he is powerful. It knocks me back a step as he gets to his knees on the bed, his eyes flaring with it. I laugh in the face of his power and leap at him.

  He doesn’t expect it, they never do. Not when faced with a small blonde. They don’t cower or hide, but they should. I pin him to the bed as he gapes, my legs on either side of his stomach as I lower my head and lick a line across his cheek. “You taste like sex. I wonder if your blood tastes the same...do you still bleed red or is that rotten as well?”

  “Get off me! They will kill you for this, I’m a council member!” he yells, making me giggle as I lift my head to meet his eyes.

  “Oh, I know, don’t worry, you will serve two purposes—a warning to them as well, since they fucked with the wrong monster.”

  Ignoring his protests and swearing, I look over my shoulder to Griffin who is watching me. I feel his anger and hate towards the man, muddled with his need for me, his lust at seeing my monster come out to play. I extend my hand once again, this is his choice. Either way, Derrin dies, but if he wants revenge, wants to be a part of this, he can, whatever will help him.

  He looks at my hand for a moment, indecision warring on his face before he steps forward once, and then again and again until his fingers touch mine. I grip him and pull him closer, and he comes willingly. Turning, we both look down at Derrin. “What do you say, baby? Should we torture him first or just rip him to pieces and fuck in the aftermath?”

  “Make it hurt,” he growls, his eyes swirling with madness. “I want him to scream.”

  Purring, I lean down to Derrin whose eyes are wide and flickering between us. He’s finally getting it. He’s not the predator in this room, I am. “You hear that? I can’t wait to see how he makes you scream.” I stroke across his face with my nails, cutting him as I go, making him hiss. “When he first met me, he tried to drop me from the sky to kill me and I’m his mate…I wonder what he’ll do to you, his enemy?”

  He starts to struggle again, emitting feeble attempts at power. “You will pay for this, fallen, the council will finally kill you!”

  “They can try.” Griffin shrugs, dropping a kiss to my shoulder and making me shiver. “They won’t be living past dawn, so I’m not too worried. Before the day is through, I’ll be wearing all of your blood for what you did to me and mine,” he growls, his madness leaking out. It pushes into my head, infecting me with it. It’s addictive, so freeing and yet powerful. They did this, they created us both.

  Two abominations, never meant to live, and now we’re here to end them.

  They birthed their own deaths.

  Derrin stops struggling and watches me, his eyes narrowed in anger. “Then get on with it already, you are boring me,” he snaps, his voice filled with false bravado.

  “Boring you?” I purr, leaning down. “Well, we wouldn’t want that, would we?” I murmur, almost pressing my lips to his. I feel the need to consume his power, but I won’t. I refuse to drain this man or wear his skin, his power and vile, rotting soul dies with him.

  I feel it call to me, the seductive edge, and it only makes me angrier. This man did that to my mate, forced him, and now I will force him to feel every ounce of pain he can before he dies. Slashing my claw-tipped hands down his chest, I watch the blood well as he screams, his eyes slamming shut as he jerks beneath me. Licking my lips, I watch the crimson liquid slither down his side and drop to the sheets below him. They start to stitch together so I drag my nails back down the same wounds, digging them deeper, almost slicing him open.

  He howls in pain, bucking and kicking, and between his screams, he swears at me in French. I let him calm until he’s still on the bed, his chest heaving as he pants, his eyes narrowed in pain and anger as I look at my handiwork. Tracing one, black-tipped nail down his torso, I stop above his cock. “What do you say, Derrin? They used to cut these off for less, shall we?”

  He shakes his head, his eyes wild as blood pumps steadily from his cuts. “Baby, do me a favour,” I address Griffin. “Heat me a knife, we wouldn’t want him to die before we have had our fun.”

  Griffin slips away as I keep my hand there, digging into the soft skin of his stomach and making him whimper. “Not so strong now, are you, little incubus?”

  “Fuck you!” he screams.

  “Real original, no thanks,” I purr, just as Griffin comes back, holding a large, glowing knife in his hand. Turning back to Derrin, I know my smile isn’t nice as I grab his cock and rip it from his body. He screams and then slumps, passing out as blood squirts across Griffin and me. I take the knife from my fallen and press it to his skin, the sizzle loud as it cauterises the flow. It wakes Derrin back up and he snivels, tears trailing down his face as I regard the bloodied cock still in my other hand.

  “I have to say, it’s small. I thought as an incubus it would be bigger.” I laugh, but Griffin snarls and grabs my wrist, his eyes wild.

  “You do not get to look at him, Vasculo,” he growls possessively.

  Grinning, I toss the cock into the fire and turn back to Derrin to see him sobbing big, ugly cries with snot dripping from his nose onto his quivering lips. “Which hand did you touch him with?” I ask.

  He shakes his head, whimpering, and I roar, “Which hand?”

  He still doesn’t answer. “Fine, I’ll take both.”

  Griffin grabs his right arm and presses it to the bed as I switch my grip on the knife. Humming to myself, I begin to cut through his wrist. He screams, the sound echoing around the room as I continue to cut through skin and then muscle, blood squirting at us in an arc before pumping steadily. I feel it dripping down my face and onto my lips, so I lick them clean, stopping for a second as I look at Derrin. “You taste like terror,” I inform him, then go back to cutting until his hand only hangs from an tendril of sinew and bone that I can’t
get through. Sighing, I lean back, sad I couldn’t get it off.

  “Let me, Vasculo.” Griffin smirks at me, and with quick moves rips away the hand and throws it behind us.

  “That was hot,” I murmur, licking my lips again. He follows the movement with his eyes, the man beneath us fading away for a moment as I’m locked under Griffin’s possessives and wild gaze. Only the scream of pain from Derrin interrupts us.

  Sighing, I turn to look down at him. “Do you mind? You are being very rude.”

  “Fuck you! He wanted it! He fucking loved it, he was so hard—” I slash my hands across his neck to stop the words, Griffin doesn’t need to hear those vile lies.

  His eyes widen, tears dripping from his lashes, his mouth dropping open in a gasp. I watch as a bubble of blood forms on his lips as his blood slowly pumps from the wounds. He lifts his good hand to try and stem the flow of blood, so I stab the knife through it, pinning it to his chest as he chokes and struggles. His eyes remain locked on me in terror, true terror, the type you get before you die. I know because I’ve felt the same way.

  As he chokes on his own blood, Griffin tangles his hand in my hair and yanks my head around, his lips coming down on mine. Hard. Groaning into his mouth, I arch into his touch, tasting his need and anger on his lips. He pulls away, eyes dark as the outline of his body shakes, almost misting.

  “You are magnificent,” he growls. “I feel it, that madness flowing between us, your need, my need. Our need.” He moans, his eyes closing for a second as I watch blood drip down his cheek, the ruby red bright against his pale skin.

  My chest heaves, my nipples tightening at the utter dominance as he holds me here, taking his time and even sitting on a dying man. He’s right. I want him. My pussy is slick, feeling empty as I imagine him throwing me to the bed and fucking me. He must see it in his mind, because his eyes open and catch on me, not blinking. In those depths, I see my life and death. If anyone was ever going to kill me, it would be Griffin, and I know I would deserve it.

  “Yes, no one else gets to. Your life is mine, always mine to take, Vasculo.” He tightens his hand, tugging my hair and making me cry out, but not in pain. He leans close, brushing his lips against mine. “And you would love it, you would come around my cock even as I drained every last drop of blood from your body, as I killed you, my blade in your heart. You would ask for more.”