“You.” Inda nodded in almost admiration. “You want it for yourself.”
“I deserve it! Hell, I’ve been running this place for years. Tyrellis does nothing but sit around and pout. He just wasted a wonderful gift that was given to him! Nitara could have been used to bring us to greatness and all he did was wish for ridiculous decorations and extended nights. We should be better than this. With a djinn on our side, we should be so much greater!”
“And you think you can make that happen? You think you can bring your people to greatness?” Inda shook her head. “The fae would never allow it.”
“Oh, I know I can! Because while my husband was making his silly little wishes, I was making allies. Allies who are now working to stop your brave little band of people from getting what they want.” She shrugged. “And the fae won’t be a problem for me. This time, we’ll be ready for a fight, and it won’t be some simple little battle, it will be an all-out war!”
“What?” Inda’s fist tightened at her side. “What the hell are you talking about? You want to start a war with the fae?”
“Yes, that is exactly what I want. And tonight will be the spark that ignites the flame.” Sarah rolled her shoulders and licked her lips hungrily. “We saw you coming, all of you, and none of you will ever leave!”
“Fuck.” Inda burst into flames and burned the woman who lunged for her. She ran for the open doors that led out to the balcony and took to the sky; she barely escaped the second attack but ran headfirst into oncoming fire. Down below, the vampires were back and there was an ongoing battle on the front lawn. From above, the dragons swooped in and created a wall of fire between them and their enemy. Inda decided to head inside and find Jinn. She had to warn them that they were walking into a trap.
“What the hell is that sound?” Ardyn covered his ears. His wolf sense picked up the noise before theirs could.
“I don’t hear anything.” Mike listened closely but was met with silence.
“Something isn’t right. We need to get out of here.” Ardyn started to pace the floor. They had walked into a trap, he hadn’t figured out how, but he knew it.
“Not before we have her.” Jinn looked at the room that held Tyrellis’ body. It was protected by a barrier, a strong one that he hadn’t figured out how to get around. “This is fae magic, why is there fae magic here?”
“Briar said they adopted the alarms, maybe this is another one they made their own.” Mike touched the barrier and pulled is hand back as the flesh on his finger sizzled. “Fuck, that burns!”
“We don’t have time for this, guys,” Ardyn warned. “Whatever the hell this is, it’s getting louder and closer.”
“Oh, fuck it!” Bruto stepped back as far as he could get, and his body lit up with orange light. He pressed his left foot back against the wall to give him more leverage and force behind his charge. He kicked off and ran head-on at the barrier. As he ran, blue light joined orange to add another layer of protection; Jinn was projecting his energy on to Bruto. Quickly, Ardyn mimicked the move. With the combined power, Bruto shattered the barrier on impact. He fell to the ground. “Well, that was unpleasant.”
“Yeah, but it worked!” Jinn smiled as he stepped forward without issue.
“That was badass!” Mike gave him a hand to lift him from the ground.
“Good, now grab the body and let’s get the hell out of here.” Ardyn seemed more panicked than ever. He walked over to the body and carefully examined it before touching anything. “Shit, it’s on a sensor.”
“What does that mean?” Bruto dusted himself off.
“It means if we move him, it’s going to trigger something.” Jinn hunched down to examine the setup. “We need to figure out what it is.”
“Might it have something to do with this little wire that is digging into his temple?” Mike pointed to the small wire that connected to the base of the bed. He followed the wire to the base of the bed where a charge for an explosive was set.
“She has his brain connected to a pressure point? That is just sick!” Bruto moved forward to get a closer look. “Lucky for us, I know how to get around this.”
“You do? How?” Mike asked as Ardyn went to the entrance to check for the source of the approaching noise.
“Let’s just say I spent a lot of time around wars and leave it at that.” He winked. Bruto’s past was a dark one, but he’d never get into it with anyone else.
“Okay, how much time do you need?” Jinn questioned.
“A few minutes. I’ll have to disconnect the sensor and trick it at the same time. We’re going to all have to pop out of here together.”
“Good, get it done.”
“Guys, I don’t think we have that much time!” Down the hall he could see them—vampires ran toward them, but something was off. It was something in their eyes. It took him another moment to realize what it was. Blood lust. “We’ve got newborns!”
“What?” Bruto turned to him.
“Focus!” Jinn joined Ardyn at the door. “Shit, this bitch has created newborn vampires to do her dirty work! We have to keep them at bay!”
Jinn and Ardyn threw wave after wave of fire down the hall and burned the vampires alive. It was working until Ardyn looked out of the corner of his eyes and saw more coming from the opposite end of the hall. “Jinn, I think we’re going to need a new plan!”
“Get back!” Jinn shot a stream of energy up into the ceiling. The hallway caved in. “Bruto, get it done! That will buy us some time but not much!”
“Just … one … more … second … Done!” Bruto held the wire in his hand. “Okay, we’ll have about six seconds to get our asses out of here before this thing does whatever the hell it’s meant to do.”
“Good, let’s go!” Jinn and Ardyn joined them by Tyrellis. “We have to do this at the same time, if one person shifts a second before the rest of us, his mind is toast!”
“Okay, count us down.” Jinn ordered and Bruto started his count at ten seconds. Before he could get to three, they were interrupted.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” Castius strolled into the room. He looked at the state of Tyrellis’ body and was shocked but shook it off.
“We don’t have time for this, man!” Graham yelled and Bruto continued to count.
“Go.” Mike stepped away from the bed.
“What the hell are you doing?” Ardyn questioned him and shot a look at Jinn who kept his eyes trained on the stiff vampire.
“Get her out of here!” Mike lunged at Castius, and shifted mid leap into an alligator, as Bruto’s count reached zero and the others disappeared.
“We have to go back for him!” Briar yelled at Jinn and slammed her fist on the table. “Why did you let him do that?”
“Let him? We didn’t let him do anything,” Bruto interjected. Briar was out of line. “Mike made that decision on his own, no one made him. I’m not even sure why he felt the need to do that. We were nearly out of there!”
“Cast wouldn’t have let us go, not with Tyrellis alive. Even after he stepped away, it took us five more seconds to get out of there. That would have been more than enough time for Cast to screw up our entire plan. If he had even touched Tyrellis, Nitara would be gone now.”
Graham grunted. “I say we leave him there.”
“Fuck you!” Briar snapped.
“Excuse me?” Graham flexed. “No one told the fool to do what he did, he tried to play hero. It was stupid.”
“Back off, Graham,” Jinn interrupted, but kept his eyes on the body of Tyrellis.
“Who are you to tell me what to do?” Graham was tired of playing nice, and tired of being told what to do.
“We can’t fall apart here, guys.” Rosie stood and placed her hand on Briar’s shoulder. She used her magic to soothe the aching heart of the queen.
“I’m not falling apart,” Graham, like a child, shot back.
“We need to work on getting Nitara out of there. I don't think she is going to last much lon
ger.” Ardyn wanted to redirect the conversation. “The body is starting to deteriorate.” They all watched as the vampire’s foot grayed, and then turned to ash. It held its form for a moment before collapsing under the air. The ash fell but never touched the floor, it vanished in the air.
“What the hell did they do to him?” Graham stepped forward, his anger quieted for a moment as he looked on in disbelief and fear. “This isn’t right, this isn’t natural.”
“I don't know, but I can barely feel Nitara in there now. She’s fading with him.” Jinn knelt beside the body and tried to reach his wife again. He was met with silence.
“Blood!” Bruto yelled. “Get the damn thing some blood!”
“That’s a good idea.” Ardyn walked away. “We need to create a sterile room to put him in. Somewhere where we can be sure there is minimal disruption to his body.” He tried to create the room himself but was too weak. Even djinn had to rest between using their magic but Ardyn had done very little resting. He was weakening, and it showed.
“Here let me help,” Rosie offered. She waved her hand and the room appeared. Glass walls surrounded a sterile lab with a bed to place the body. With Jinn’s help, she carefully moved Tyrellis into the room. During the move, the vampire lost a finger. Again, it vanished into the air.
“How are you going to get the blood into his body? I doubt an I.V. will work.” Jinn examined their subject matter.
“His mouth. It’s an easy access point. And his head seems to be the better part of his body. Everything else appears to be too fragile and I doubt a vein would actually accept a needle right now.”
“I’ll go get something from my supply. I’m sure real blood will work better than anything you conjure up.” When the others looked at him with raised brows, he responded with sarcasm, “Hell, I’m a vampire, and as much as I love the synthetic stuff, I need the real stuff from time to time.”
Within a matter of minutes, Tyrellis was set up in the room with the blood supply pumping into his mouth. They watched closely as signs of life began to return to him; the decay slowed and slowly started to reverse. They increased the intake, but it wouldn’t be enough to sustain him for long.
“Briar, can you put a call in to Sybella? Maybe she can help?” Jinn questioned the woman who stood nearby making her own assessments of the magic at play.
“Um, yeah. I’ll try.” Her expression was holding something back from the others. Something about the magic felt familiar but she couldn’t put her finger on it. “I’m sure she’ll have better luck than I am right now.” She nodded to Jinn and she made her exit, careful to avoid the vampire who had gotten under her skin.
“He’s burning through that and he’s still not healing. The look of his other foot is getting worse and I’m afraid he may lose that leg too. This will buy us some time, but not much.” Graham watched the decaying vampire closely. “His body isn’t absorbing any of the blood. Its burning off just about as fast as we can get it in. I’ll make a run for some more. I have a feeling what I have in stock isn’t going to be enough.” Without further discussion, Graham left the room and headed toward the Hub’s exit.
“You’re not going to like what she had to say.” Briar returned to the sterile room where Jinn remained watching the body. The decay had spread and Tyrellis was short one knee and one hand. “Shit, it’s getting worse.”
“Yeah, and fast.” Jinn took his eyes off of the body. He’d been trying to reach out to Nitara and continued to be met with a heartbreaking silence. “What is it?”
“Well, the short version of it is that you’re going to have to jump right on in there and pull Nitara out.” Briar frowned.
“What?” Jinn looked back at the body and then back to Briar. “How the hell does she expect me to jump inside of a dying vampire and make it out alive?”
“Well of course there will be provisions. She gave us a spell. It’s a ritual that we will have to perform the entire time you’re on your rescue mission.” She paused; her hesitation only made the frown lines in Jinn’s forehead deeper. “You’ll need a tether, something to keep you linked to us here or you will get trapped inside.”
“Right, a tether.” He ran his hands through his hair. “I damn sure am not trying to get stuck in there.”
“And it has to be someone who shares Nitara’s heart,” Briar continued though he hadn’t fully processed what she’d already told him. Might as well get it right out there in the open.
“What?” He looked at her. “What does that mean?”
“It means, someone who she loves.” Briar paused and stepped back as Ardyn entered the room. “Other than you.” Briar looked to Ardyn. “It has to be you.”
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” Jinn wanted to scream, punch something, but in the room with the delicate decaying corpse, he couldn’t.
“I …” Ardyn caught the tail end of the conversation enough to understand why Jinn was glaring at him like he wanted to murder him. “I don’t know what to say. I had no idea that she—”
“Fuck it, we don’t have time to discuss this.” Jinn cut him off. He didn’t want to hear Ardyn’s explanation or lack thereof. It wasn’t going to help them. “What else did she say? What am I supposed to do?”
“Like I said, she gave us the ritual and instructions on how to properly perform it. My team is already working to get things in order. We should be ready to go in an hour.”
“Good, let’s get this shit over with.” Jinn couldn’t take being in the room anymore, even if it meant that she would fade away while he was gone. He had to get out. His mind was cluttered with thoughts of loss and betrayal, nothing that would help him in this situation.
“Jinn.” Ardyn exited the Hub to join Jinn out in the fresh air.
“Look, man, not right now.” With his back to the approaching man, Jinn held his hand up to stop him. “I know you likely have a lot to say and you feel like you have to get it off your chest right now, but trust me, I don’t want to hear it.”
“I get that,” Ardyn continued, because he was hardheaded and a glutton for punishment. “I just really think that you need to know that nothing like that has ever happened between us. I know what you’re thinking, but it’s wrong.”
“I already told you, I don't need or want to hear what you have to say about this.” Jinn turned to him. “We’re getting Nitara out of the vampire. I’m getting my friend from your vampire bitch, and then I’m going home.”
“I just—”
“Clearly I won’t get any peace here. Tell Briar to call me when she’s ready. She knows how to reach me.” Jinn vanished in true djinn style, leaving nothing but a few strands of smoke behind.
“Looks like you’ve really stepped in it.” Rosie was standing just beyond the entrance as Ardyn returned. “Sorry, it was kinda hard not to hear, what with me eavesdropping and all.”
“I don't even know what to say.” Ardyn shook his head. “This isn’t what I would have ever expected to hear.”
“There’s nothing you can say, as Jinn so clearly pointed out.” She pushed off the wall to follow his slow trek toward his room. “So, you and Nitara are more than friends, it is what it is.”
“That’s just it, we’re only friends. Nothing more. Never have been.” He denied the allegations. “I have no idea what is happening.”
“Perhaps, to you she’s just your friend, but maybe she sees you as something more?”
“Trust me, if Nitara felt that way about me, I would have known.”
“Would you? In my experience, men tend to be completely unaware in cases like this.” She glanced over her shoulder at Bruto who was talking to a fairy. “A woman can be completely infatuated with a man, for centuries even, and he would never notice.”
“Completely infatuated, huh?” He followed her gaze to the man behind them. He—like everyone else—could see there was something that existed between the two, but neither of them would ever tell. It seemed Rosie had just let a bit of the secret slip.
&n
bsp; “Well, apparently something is there. The seer said so.” She turned the topic back to the matter at hand. Rosie was there to protect her friends, and Ardyn, as sweet as he seemed to be, wasn’t one of them. Not yet anyway.
“I don’t know what the seer said or what she saw, but trust me, it isn’t that. It can’t be.”
The Hub fell quiet as everyone went to their collective corners. Things were far too tense between Jinn and Ardyn and no one wanted to risk stepping on any toes. It was best to keep quiet and let everything resolve itself without interference. It was two hours before Briar and the rest of the fairies were ready to perform the ceremony.
“Everyone needs to be present for this. We are going to need to tap into each of your magic to make sure that the cast is strong enough to hold them through this process,” Briar instructed the leaders in the group. Omar, a slither who wasn’t quite as humanoid as their leader, stepped up to take Mike’s place. He got his people together.
The small space where Tyrellis rested was packed with bodies—all of whom watched as the fairies worked quickly and gently to prepare the body. After laying a mixture of herbs carefully conjured by Rosie over Tyrellis, they then tied Ardyn with bindings made of the same herbs, which would work as the anchor for Jinn and the bridge for Nitara to cross. A thin thread was then tied around both Jinn’s and Ardyn’s wrist.
“Now we must remove the binding that keeps Nitara locked inside,” Briar said with a tense face. “I knew it felt familiar. That is because it is fae magic. Another replication, but this one seems much more like the original. Luckily, Boxi took a lot of lessons from Praia before she left us, so our understanding of their magic is a lot stronger than it once was.”
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