“Destiny,” I say enunciating each word syllable slowly and deliberately. “Why don’t you and Summer go wait in the car. I will handle the bill.”
“But I’m not done yet,” Summer announces before taking a long swig of her apple juice.
Another reason why I appreciate the child.
“Summer I think you are finished,” Destiny tells her firmly. “Let’s go.”
“I have to go to the bathroom.”
“Fine,” Destiny says with a defeated sigh. “Let’s go.”
Agatha and the large male step to the side and allow both of them to pass. Destiny’s hands are stuffed in her pockets, but I still caught a glance of the bright blue light beaming through her pockets. Agatha’s grin makes me homicidal. Her gaze remains fixed on Destiny until they disappear around the corner on the other side of the restaurant.
“Release the woman and her child to us,” the male growls. “And you can walk away.”
I sigh, tilting my head to the side and popped my neck. “I’m afraid I can’t do that.”
Agatha raises an eyebrow. “And why is that?”
“Because I found her first.”
The two share a quick glance at each other before simultaneously drawing their blades. The restaurant is empty. Nothing but the sound of Tina Turner’s song, “What’s Love Got to Do With It” played in the background. The scent of coffee and fresh bacon clung to the air. And here I am with two long swords pointed directly at me. I clench my fists even tighter. I can take Agatha out with any number of curses I unleash – depending on my intent. Agatha is a skilled warrior, but her magic is empathy: she feels things, especially through touch. Mercurians like her are living lie detectors, and some of them can even read one’s mind with a simple touch.
She doesn’t need to read my mind to know that death is imminent.
As for her accomplice, those born of the Founding Families typically possess elemental magic. Judging by the way the slight muscle in his jaw pulsates, and the shift in atmosphere, this guy will probably strike me with a lightning bolt or a fire ball…or perhaps both.
“You were never supposed to find her,” the male says calmly, his voice almost inaudible.
“Karrine sent you, didn’t she?” Agatha asks, inching her blade closer to my face. Her smile has long disappeared. “She did. You are willing to sacrifice the one shot we have at freedom and our magic all because of-”
Without warning I release a dark shadow from my palm from underneath the table. The apparition moves in quickly on its target, diving in and out of her body, chipping away at her life force with each exit. The male roars and just as I suspected manifests the concentrated energy of a lightning bolt and throws it at me. I move quickly and within less than a nanosecond the table explodes. Humans come running out of the kitchen and more chaos erupts. Destiny and Summer emerge from the restroom just in time to duck behind a cart stacked with plates.
Agatha collapses on the floor as I summon the shadow back to me. I hear the chime of a sword just in time to dodge the swipe, somersaulting across the floor. The male is on me. I sense the presence of three more of my kind rushing in.
“Hey!” A short, blotchy colored man with an apron shouts from behind me. “The fuck is going on here? This isn’t a place for cosplay!”
Cosplay? I’m on my feet instantly and shove him out of the way. I need to get to Destiny but now I have to face off with a female version of the dark male. She is quick with her dagger, but I am faster with my jabs to her ribs, chest and nose. I hit her hard on the last swing and knock her through the glass window and onto the concrete. Another large male lunges for me, but this time it’s Destiny’s magic that knocks the life out of him. She drags Summer with her as she moves forward, the child hunkering low and keeping in close step with her mother. No words are spoken between us as we rush to the car.
Summer scrambles into the back seat and hurriedly fastens her seatbelt as her mother slides into the passenger seat. Once I’m inside the remaining Mercurian loyalists are rushing out of the restaurant, but I press down on the accelerator and we skirt off in search of the highway. It is unclear of how much space and distance I will be able to put between us and them, but I am going to give it a good hard try.
I have waited too long and have come too far to let what was once taken away from me slip through my fingers. Those Loyalists are not the only ones fighting for a cause. I steal a quick glance at Destiny and her crackling palms and remember that it is much more than the reward money I am fighting for; it is not even for the magic…but a promise.
Chapter Eleven
Demetrius
Demetrius rushed after the vehicle that transported the heir and her child away. Fury surged through his veins, coating his insides and threatening to unleash into an electric ball of white-hot rage. But what was left of his sanity forced him to stop running and to retreat. Three members of his team were critically injured. And worst of all, Erick, the bane of all Mercurian existence, had weaseled his way into the earth realm. Demetrius quickly stormed back into the restaurant, unconcerned with the panic-stricken expressions of the humans. Sirens blared in the background. His sister Cecilia struggled to stand, however Drakus rushed to her aid.
“Law enforcement,” Cecilia murmured. “We have to get out of here!”
“Can’t we—” began Demetrius but was cut off by Drakus.
“There are too many to mind stun,” Drakus stated. “We will just have to disappear!”
Cecilia clung to Drakus as Demetrius continued inside and found Agatha’s limp body on the floor. The dark shadowy figure that Erick cursed her with had vanished, but Demetrius was unsure if his most trusted warrior was still alive. Kneeling beside her, he sensed the presence of her magic, lingering just underneath the surface of her skin. She still lived. Gently, he scooped her off the floor and ran out of the restaurant. Thaddeus managed to beat them to the car and waited for them with the passenger door opened. He assisted with positioning Agatha’s limp form in between them, her head resting on his shoulder, with her feet in Demetrius’s lap.
With Drakus in the driver’s seat, Cecilia from the front passenger’s side acted as the GPS guide.
“They are headed in the southeast direction,” she yelled as they sped off. “I don’t know where he is taking her, but we can’t let him get too far ahead.”
“If Erick has her,” Cecilia continued. “Then it must be true...”
“That he is after her for himself?” Demetrius heard himself say. “I think that is pretty obvious.”
“What must be true?” Thaddeus asked from the back seat.
“It is rumored that Karrine and Erick were close, until he fell in love with another… She is said to have been the daughter of a high-ranking family,” Cecilia said as she tapped the GPS screen.
“And this was before she killed Mercury, correct?” Thaddeus asked.
“Yes. This was many years before she took the throne,” Cecilia continued. “As a matter of fact, this was after Mercury separated Drainers, Cursed and Deathers from the rest of the Mercurians.”
“And what does this have to do with Erick being here in the human world?” Demetrius pressed.
“I’m getting to that,” Cecilia quipped, keying in on the GPS screen. “Karrine gained quite a bit of support from her tribe and the neighboring clans, especially those with the gift of Death Magic. She became the head of Council that represented that region. Word soon spread of a marriage that was to take place between Erick and that female- and it almost did happen. But, Karrine and her group of mercenaries made their move on Mercury. And once Karrine took her place as queen, she took the female captive and has forced her to work in the fields ever since. Erick may be out here to use the heir as his bargaining chip to set the female free.”
“So, you are telling me that Erick will trade the heir’s life for another female?” Thaddeus asked in disbelief.
“Yes. Rumor has it that when he found out what happened to his bride-to-be, he ap
proached Karrine.”
“And instead of a conversation, she drained him of his power,” Demetrius said plainly.
“She did and banished him from Mercuria,” Cecilia added. “But not before he found out about the heir.”
“What do we do now?” Thaddeus quizzed.
“I suggest that we try reasoning with Erick, perhaps we could help him with setting his mate free,” Cecilia shrugged.
“No. We kill him. Plain and simple,” Demetrius huffed. “The fact that he is willing to sacrifice magic and our lands for some female is bullshit.”
“He is already inside the head of Mercury’s daughter,” Drakus added after a long period of silence. “You see how she struck Thaddeus with her magic?”
“Yeah and I’m still sore,” Thaddeus mumbled. “But being hit by her has a dual effect: it knocks the life out of you, but it gave me a powers boost. Right now, I feel like I’ve been hit by a diesel, but at the same time I feel stronger.”
“You probably are stronger,” Cecilia pointed out. “Convincing her that we are on her side is going to be an uphill battle.”
“Especially if Erick is seducing her,” Thaddeus said flatly.
“All we can do is hope,” Cecilia said as she closed her eyes and rested her head against the seat. “At this point, what do we have to lose?”
“Must I be the one to say it?” Demetrius murmured. “Everything...”
Chapter Twelve
Destiny
We drive for another three hours. My daughter is sound asleep in the back seat, her head resting against the window. For someone to be so young, she sure is resilient. A part of me admires her strength, while the other part fears for her safety. Perhaps I should have taken her to my mother’s house and hidden her there until all my questions have been answered. But then again, would she truly be safe? My thoughts drift to my parents—a blue collar, civil engineering father and my pre-school teacher mother. Growing up, no one made me feel as if anything was wrong with me. Family pictures portrayed a normal, happy family of three. My father would take me on the “Take Your Son/Daughter to Work Day” and showcase me proudly to his coworkers and his bosses. We share the same almond brown skin and sense of humor, while others claim I adopted my mother’s calm personality and her whiskey brown eyes. My grandmother used to tease me when I was younger that my eyes reminded her of the bottom of a full bottle of Crown Royal.
Of course, my grandmother drank heavily then.
Did my grandmother know something I didn’t? Fast forward to my teenaged years, the visions came and so did the headaches. I cringe at the memory of my latest episode and steal a glance at Erick. He seemed to be lost in his thoughts, eyes focused on the road ahead. We bypassed a number of shopping centers before we turn onto the highway. I have no idea where he is taking us. I still have questions that need to be answered. Without much thought I pull my hand out of my jacket pocket. The magic has disappeared for now, and it is such a relief to see a normal hand. No crackling blue-white energy. No tingling.
“Thank you for having my back,” Erick says, his eyes glued to the road.
“Oh, yeah…sure,” I have no idea really if I should be thanked. “Who were those people?”
“More Mercurians. Your power draws them,” he states calmly. “We will probably run into even more of them soon.”
“What do they want?”
He exhales sharply. “I told you already. They want your power.”
“For what though? It seems like they already have quite a bit of their own power,” I say, recalling the large mysteriously dark and handsome male with the thick dreads.
“Because of you. Anyone in close proximity to you, their magic grows stronger, or their power will be reawakened and returned to them.”
“Where are you taking us?” I ask quickly.
“I am just looking for a place for us to crash and regroup for now. I have to get us on ancient grounds in order to perform the incantation,” Erick murmured as he merged into the rideshare lane.
“Incantation?”
“Mercurians need to know the spell that grants us entrance. It is the only way to keep out intruders.”
“Do all of you come and go as you please?”
Erick shrugged. “We used to. Before Mercury died, we had more freedom.”
The image of the queen filters into the forefront of my mind. “And I take it the new queen has placed restrictions on you guys.”
“Not exactly. Without Mercury’s magic, our magic is dying. It has been within our best interest to remain within the boundaries of the kingdom to conserve what magic we have left.”
“What will happen if magic dies completely?” I say suddenly concerned.
“Well, Mercurians will no longer be able to protect themselves from enemies outside of our barriers.”
“Wait. You mean to tell me there are more entities? Non-humans?” What the hell?
“Oh yeah. You betcha. Mercuria is the last line of defense that prevents those violent entities from entering the human world.”
“So, if Mercuria dies, then humans will be at risk?” I don’t want to think about that. What kind of horrors would people face if those creatures managed to cross over?
“Yup. Pretty much.”
We drive in silence for what feels like forever. Summer stirs slightly but remains asleep as we continue for miles upon miles of roadway. I lean against the head rest, close my eyes and allow my thoughts to drift into pure nothingness. However, Erick’s sudden string of curse words alert me to the fact that a black sedan flashing red and blue lights had pulled up behind us. All I wanted was a few moments of peace before the next big catastrophe and judging by the tinted windows and the unmarked license plates, peace is only for the dead.
Erick
I swear the shit is going from bad to worse. Red and blue lights flashed in the rearview mirror. I have resided in the human world long enough to know that it is time to slow down and pull over. Had the authorities tracked us down from the Denny’s restaurant that quickly? We have to be a good fifty or so miles away, so I can’t imagine that we made it onto the radar of law enforcement.
“Son of a bitch,” I curse as I pull over. “Do you have any tickets or traffic related issues I should know about?” I ask Destiny whose eyes are filled with panic.
“No. My driving record is clean,” she says nervously.
I sigh. “Just let me do the talking. It may not be what we think it is.” I keep my hands on the wheel and wait for the officer to approach. But instead of being greeted by a blue uniform and a gun, two freakishly tall men in suits appear on either side of the car. Destiny rolls her window down for a closer inspection, while I face the other man whose eyes are hidden by a pair of black sunglasses.
“What’s going on?” I say casually. “Anything wrong?”
The man smiled and kneeled down so that his arms rested across the window pane. “I don’t know. You should tell me.”
I examine his peachy skin and feathery blonde hair and wonder which part of the government he worked for. Something about this isn’t right.
“We got a call about a woman who fits her description,” he says coolly as he points at Destiny. His thick New Jersey accent suddenly infuriates me, but I summon calm.
“What about her?” I ask, without looking at Destiny. I stare at the man, all sorts of alarms going off in my head.
“Step out of the car,” he orders. He looks across us and over at his partner who remains silent.
“I have the right to know what this is about,” I demand. “You never said why you pulled us over.”
The man removes his glasses and exposes a pair of shifty blue eyes. He holds my gaze and says, “I do not know who you are sir, but this woman is now in the custody of the Federal government. We received some very interesting information about this young woman who recently submitted her family—”
Great. Just fucking great. Now we have the feds following us too? What the hell?
Dark ene
rgy creeps into my palms as he is talking. I can take both of them out in one swipe and we will be long gone before reinforcements are sent.
“-and it is within her best interest that she comes with us,” were the last words that left his mouth as my Shadows enter and exit this man, taking his beating heart with them. He doesn’t scream as his lifeless body hits the ground. His partner shouts and attempts to draw his gun but my Shadows offer him the same gift of death. The gun discharges as it hits the ground, thankfully the bullet whizzes off in the opposite direction. Destiny screams. I hit the accelerator.
We can’t stop until we reach ancient grounds. Between Karrine, the loyalists and now the U.S. government, life on the run just became much more complicated.
More complicated than I thought.
Chapter Thirteen
Karrine
The screams of the night creatures permeated through the surrounding darkness that now enveloped the kingdom. Mercurians were locked in their homes as ordered, commanded to not open their doors until the first rays of light. Such has been the way for months now. Weakened from her power drain, she optioned to hunker down behind the protective walls of the stoned palace. Staring out of the window, hundreds of feet above the skyline overlooking what had once been streets with bustling lights, magic bursting in the air in a colorful array of reds, blues and purples, she could barely see the lining of the thick foliage that blanketed the city below. She curled her hand into a fist, feeling the power drain. How much longer did they have?
Her best soldiers were out in the human world searching for the secret heir that Mercury hid within a world that existed without magic. Foolish. How could he believe that she would never find this child, who was probably an adult woman? How? For years she believed the rumor to be just that: a rumor. However, the walls of Mercury soon spoke after his death, leading her to the supposed mother just as she attempted to flee the city. The female, a descendant of one of the many sky goddesses, rich with earthly beauty and raw power with fiery cinnamon skin and silver hair that she wore braided to her waist, Karrine understood how this lone female could tempt the highly disciplined ruler.
The Lost Queen- Mercury's Heir Page 6