“I need to get un-poisoned.”
“Once we return to the Veil, you will be cured,” Olezka said.
Hadn’t he connected the dots yet? Key was using Dreamscape on humans to enhance them, turning them into mindless fighters with the combined strength of the most powerful paras. I mean, Olezka went against one of Key’s souped-up humans and almost lost. Granted, he was under heavy sedation at the time and had just won a fight with an experienced cage fighter, but still.
What was Key planning with the humans? He had to be the one creating the gates. But the one in the Light Fae Kingdom still confused me. Why there?
“We know Key wants to claim the Dark Court throne, but what do the humans have to do with it? Why make Dreamscape?” I thought out loud. The reason was right there on the edge of my mind, but the absurdity of it made me want to scream. “He wouldn’t…” I choked on the thought, too stricken to complete my words. I glanced up at Olezka. He looked like stone. Cold, detached, and very, very serious.
“He would.”
“You think he wants to use humans against Erebus?”
“Against any who would oppose him. Key has bigger ambitions than that.” Olezka looked at me pointedly.
“He wants to control the entire human realm…” I breathed.
“Key has been using his influence here to make money. The drugs, the fighting rings. Like many older fae, he has many businesses under a laundry list of aliases. Over the years, he’s been building his wealth and his army. Sentinel wants me to remain here until they have more evidence against him, but Erebus needs to be warned. After seeing what we saw last night, we now know he’s smuggling humans through the tears. The gatekeepers only allow so many humans inside every year. Each gate is heavily protected and warded against accidents since it is delicate magic.”
I gave him a look that showed my worried guilt about how often I’d been using the gate. In my defense, more times than not, it wasn’t my choice. Olezka’s lips twitched, but he just shook his head at me.
“Nyet, you’re fine. You have been touched by magic from those around you and our bond.”
“I’ll take your word for it. What’s the plan?”
“Timur will return to the city, and we’ll return to the Veil. Once there, Erebus’s healers will heal you, and we’ll warn Erebus. Then, the hunt to find Key will begin in earnest. I believe Erebus is searching for him as we speak. Especially since Key has his mate.”
Olezka and I sat in silence for a minute until I nudged him and encouraged him to go to bed. I had rested, sort of, in the car. Olezka tried to persuade me to lie in bed with him, but I shooed him away. I needed to do what I did best: work on the sidelines and gather as much information as I could so my “heroes” wouldn’t go in blind.
If Key was working in this world and using his influence, especially with the help of Dreamscape, I had my work cut out for me. I hunkered down in front of my laptop, eager to find out how much damage I could cause.
****
My fingers ached by the time I’d finished working through all of my programs that needed updating, assigning new commands, and redirecting my searches with new keywords. My research pulled up information about businesses owned by a mysterious CEO, and then I found a couple of different aliases that might belong to a fae. After that, I started YouTubing. If a lady could build an entire house by herself, then I could certainly refresh my memory on basic self-defense courses.
Olezka woke up from his nap while I was still crouched over my laptop. My stomach growled when he set a plate of food next to me. Peering over my shoulder, he announced that the Sentinel Core had a list of most fae-owned businesses on file as well as to whom each alias belonged. The information was a few hours late but helpful, nonetheless. It was part of the contract they had to commit to upon entering the human realm and deciding to stay longer than their allotted time—another reason why Sentinel was invested in the security of the tears.
That information did help me eliminate some of the names that I couldn’t find actual records for in any human databases. The work was tedious but gave us leads. What worried me most was what I found about Nova. Erebus owned that company, but Key had been using it to his advantage while on this side of the Veil. Just because Key didn’t own the business didn’t mean he couldn’t wreak havoc through it.
The rest of the day passed by quietly. Olezka contacted Timur, who seemed reluctant but willing to return home, or rather, to the Veil. He had very little to report on their progress with the tear through which we’d entered. When Tess heard we knew of another one, she grew even more withdrawn.
Returning to the Veil meant I could access their information about the tears for her. It also meant we would be making trips back and forth. This time, I was prepared.
That night, Olezka and I ordered pizza for dinner. I hadn’t realized how much I missed simple food, but after having to be so cautious about every morsel I ate in the Veil, it was a nice change. The knock on the door from the pizza guy sent Anubis into a barking, growling frenzy. I offered to pay while Olezka held Anubis back.
Swinging open the door, I had my head down, pulling out cash from my wallet.
A throat cleared.
“Sorry, I know I should have had it prepared.”
“Sixx.” A smooth voice I hadn’t heard in months snapped my name.
I looked up, and my eyes practically bugged out of my head. “What the heck are you doing here?”
“Hopefully not getting my head ripped off from the look your mate is giving me right now.”
I looked over, and sure enough, Olezka looked ready to kill. Then again, our unexpected guest had his teeth sunk in my neck the last time I saw him. I turned back to face Effie. “What the heck are you doing here?” I asked again.
“Unfortunately, I had some news I thought I should report to the local authorities, but you know I don’t play well with them. So I thought I’d pop by and visit your mate to drop off the information with him instead.”
Olezka’s heat pressed against my back, and I leaned into him, thankful for the contact.
“And what information is that?” Olezka asked coolly.
“This is going to sound insane, and you might have to come and see it for yourself, but there appears to be a gate to the Veil that just opened a couple blocks from my home. And, well, the damnedest creature just walked into our world.”
Chapter 17
“Is that?”
“Da.”
“But…”
“It means we have bigger issues than two tears,” Olezka confirmed.
I couldn’t stop blinking at the sight before me. My mind wanted to reject what it was seeing even though I knew what I was looking at was entirely possible. Well, not possible here. But in the Veil, anything was possible. But for that incredible beast to be in this realm? Yikes.
“You mean like, how do we herd such a creature back to the gate, or do you mean how to best cook it?” Effie asked with a smirk.
I gasped and slapped his arm. He gave a fang-filled smile.
After riding with us back to his apartment complex, we walked the rest of the way to where Effie claimed he’d seen the creature step out of a tear and into our world. It took a bit of time for Olezka to track it since it didn’t stay put, but we finally found the creature. Olezka called in another guard to watch over the tear until we could return to better inspect it.
“That is so wrong!” I hissed.
“Oh, is that how they make sparkly glue?” Effie said, thoroughly enjoying himself by torturing me with horrible images.
“Shut up!” I snapped, glaring at him.
“Quiet. Both of you,” Olezka said, sounding exhausted.
I felt bad, so I did as I was told without complaint. Also because our problems had just tripled. Now we had three known, unauthorized, unstable gates. We needed to find out what was causing them to open and how Key was opening them. And hopefully, Tess would find a way to close them.
Olezka ran a hand
through his hair as he stared at the creature ahead of us. The silver-maned Clydesdale on steroids with pure white fur and a massive protruding weapon coming from its forehead lifted its long, strong neck to steal some leaves from a cedar tree.
“It’s a unicorn, right?”
“Da, and not. It is not like the fairy tale creatures humans made up. We need to capture it and return it to the Veil immediately. If Timur was here, we could herd it back. Unfortunately, there are very few things that creature fears.”
I could understand why. I mean, it had a freakin’ sword coming out of its head. The horn that protruded from its head didn’t look like any description of a unicorn I’d ever seen. It looked razor-sharp, thinner than I expected, and a lot longer, too.
“Send Sixx out there. They like virgins, don’t they?” Effie taunted. My cheeks flared from anger, and I practically threw myself at him to attack, but Olezka wrapped his arm around my waist.
“Stop,” Olezka growled, his eyes flashing. I stilled and leaned against my mate, breathing in and out. Effie annoyed the heck out of me, but the rage I felt toward him seemed different, more heightened and out of control. “You must try to remain calm. That is a Dark Court unicorn. They draw out their prey by forcing them into the open.”
“Wait, did you just say prey?” I asked, swallowing hard, staring with even wider eyes at the unicorn.
“Da, they are predators. They can project magic that enhances emotions and forces their victims to act out and expose themselves. Then they attack. They are dangerous creatures. We need to contain this one quickly,” Olezka said.
Effie looked over at us before rolling his eyes and gifting me with another smile. “Time for me to leave. If I’m not top of the food chain, I don’t want to be around. And frankly, you seem to attract trouble, Sixx.” Effie waved to us with two fingers before walking back down the street. Olezka didn’t say anything in protest. Since I was already tired of Effie, I didn’t either.
“What should we do?” I asked.
“Find a way to get that unicorn back through the tear it came out of. Once I do that, then I’ll have to chase it away from the tear on the Veil side to keep it from returning. Then, I’ll need to return here through the gate.”
I didn’t love what he was implying, especially since it meant we would be separated again. I couldn’t run alongside him, nor did I think he would want me going through an unsanctioned gate, not knowing the effect it would have on my body with the poison swirling through my blood.
“If you go through… where does that leave me?”
“Timur is already on his way here. He’ll bring you through the gate. If we leave this beast out here, we don’t know what kind of damage it’ll cause. It is a predator looking for food. Out here, there’s a plentiful supply. If I don’t scare it far enough away, it will return.”
I huffed. We really needed to catch a break. There was too much going on, and this was just another hurdle. We had to find Ana, save Illarion, warn Erebus, and stop Key. But Olezka was right. This unicorn needed to go back to the void from whence it came.
“Alright. Be careful.”
“I will be. You need to return home. As soon as Timur arrives, tell him what happened. The guard in front of the tear should be able to keep anything else from entering this realm for now. More than anything, we need Tess to find a way to close the tears.”
With a parting kiss, we went our separate ways. It felt strange leaving him behind, but I vowed to find a way to help close the tears and stop Key.
****
Timur arrived a couple of hours later, and I gave him a rundown on the man-eating unicorn. He didn’t seem amused. After I brought down a bag of clothes for Olezka and me, Timur shook his head.
Anubis watched us from the couch with a disappointed look on his face. I hated that we needed to leave him behind, but Timur reminded me that Roman would be home soon. Only once we got into the car and started heading toward the gate did I ask about Tess.
“How are Asher and Tess doing with figuring out how to close the gates?”
“They aren’t making much progress, unfortunately. The tears are a well of unstable, combustible magical energy. If pushed too hard, too quickly, it could cause even more damage. It’s a delicate process.”
“And what are your feelings on the dangerously smexy druid?”
Timur grunted before giving me a side-eye. He, unlike Olezka, kept his jaw clean-shaven. Even with no facial hair, he looked a little older than my mate. I didn’t know their exact ages, but I knew Timur was the eldest brother. This was the first time I’d seen any of Olezka’s brothers… interested in a female since I met them, so I was curious about his sudden interest in her.
“She is not my mate, but she is a beautiful creature. One to whom our world should show a bit more respect,” Timur admitted.
“Well, she might not be your mate, but you’re still a male,” I pointed out.
Timur just shook his head. “I will help her with the gates and make sure that she is safe.”
Always about his duty. But it did make me feel better knowing that Timur would watch over her. She probably had a millennium of experience over me, but that was in the Veil. In my world, men would be salivating over her.
Once we reached the privately-owned park, Timur led me to the gate. The feeling of dread that coiled in my stomach was just as intense as it was before I bonded with Olezka, and I felt the unmistakable urge to turn and run in the opposite direction. My stomach soured, and I thought I might throw up, but Timur pulled me along without ceasing. He did his best to reassure me, but his presence wasn’t as comforting as Olezka’s. It wasn’t a soothing balm that calmed me. Eventually, the feeling grew so intense that Timur had to pick me up and carry me across the gate’s threshold.
The instant we stood on the other side, I was able to breathe again. I glanced behind me, sure I would see the glittering edges of the gate and my world in the distance, but I couldn’t see anything except the surrounding woods. Thinking of how easy it would be for a human to unwittingly stumble on this side of the Veil, I was struck by an intense fear. At least I knew the wards would keep most humans away.
Four guards stood on the other side of the gate. This was the first time I’d seen guards posted there, as many times as we’d gone back and forth. On the right side, flanking their gate guards, stood a group of Dark fae dressed in fighting leathers with Erebus’s family crest emblazoned on the front. On the left side stood an equally large group of iridescent, stunningly beautiful but deadly Light fae guards.
I gripped Timur’s arm, even as he pushed me behind him. He turned so that our backs faced the relative safety of the Dark Court guards. The Light fae guards watched us closely but remained firmly on their side. When one of the guards stepped forward, Timur’s grip tightened, his nails biting into my side.
I flinched.
“The human is a prisoner of the Light Court; we demand that she be returned,” the Light fae guard announced.
“Nyet. She is the mate of the Dark Court’s An Dàrna. You have no rights to her.”
The guard’s face remained impassive. “The King would have a few words with her.”
“Nyet.” Timur continued to slowly back us toward the Dark fae guards. We were in Dark Court lands. I wasn’t even sure why the Light fae guards were there. The Dark fae guards flanked us when we were close enough; the Light side stayed away. The next thing I knew, one of the guards pushed me up onto an olam, and Timur swung up behind me.
Half the Dark fae mounted their own olams while the others remained behind with weapons drawn. The Light fae guards watched emotionlessly; the only hint of their frustration shown by their grip tightening on the weapon each clutched in his hand. I didn’t recognize any of them from my time there, but then again, I’d spent most of it locked in a room.
“The False King will surrender the human to us, hellhound.”
My stomach knotted. I remembered Key used that same term when he referred to Erebus. Did
that mean those Light fae were actually working with Key? Did he have more than just Dark fae on his side? But why would they want to defect to his side? And why try to use their King as an excuse? I had so many questions but knew this wasn’t the time to ask.
Timur kicked his heels into the olam’s side and clicked his tongue to get the big, scaly beast moving faster. The guards remained in a tight formation around us until we reached the palace.
Chapter 18
The ride to the palace was silent aside from the thunderous cadence of our olams’ hooves. The guards didn’t speak; Timur didn’t speak, and I was lost in my thoughts. As soon as we arrived at the palace, there was a flurry of activity. The guards who rode with us immediately veered to the left, toward the stables, and another troop of guards marched out toward the gate. One of the fae from Erebus’s small council came up to us and addressed Timur with a short bow and a quick greeting.
“The King is not pleased with your group’s abrupt exit from the Light fae Court. Our King has been working tirelessly to convince King Malcolm not to retaliate. He is merely biding time by using the unsanctioned gate on their lands as a bargaining tool. A hellhound was recently spotted prowling on the borders of the Light fae land. They attacked, believing it to be Olezka.” The maroon-haired fae spoke as we walked through the palace.
I had to practically run to keep up with their long strides, but when I heard his words, I had to forcibly control my breathing. My heart stopped when I heard about a hellhound, possibly my hellhound, being attacked.
Timur caught my arm, holding me steady. “He wouldn’t be anywhere near there, sestra. Unicorns live deep within our darkest forests.”
I breathed a little easier, but it still didn’t make me feel better. I thought about the Light fae posted at the gate. Were they waiting for us to return?
The air felt different here this time. It felt charged, filled with crackling magic that burned throughout the Kingdom. I didn’t know if it was because of Key’s move against both Courts by taking Ana or if it was because both sides were aware of multiple tears on their lands.
Sixx Saves the World: The Sidekick Chronicles Page 11