by Emily Dawn
“I don’t want to kiss her,” Hayes sneers, “I’m just worried she’s distracting Ross. I don’t want any of us getting hurt because of her.” Everything he just said would be a lot more convincing if he weren’t still watching her with longing written all over his face.
“Okay,” Lenna calls across the room after Ross leaves,
“what is my part of the plan?”
“Stay out of the way and don’t get any of us killed,” Hayes says before I can answer her.
She opens her mouth to respond, but I stop her. “We’re going to have you armed on the perimeter,” she interjects again, and I hold up a hand, “just until we have the inside of the cave secure. You and Ross will be outside together until we send the signal.”
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She looks around at the three of us. “Okay,” she pinches the bridge of her nose. “I won’t use my fae magic at any point.
There’s still too much I don’t know about myself and my powers that I think it’s too great a risk right now. I’ll have my katana and spelled daggers. I should be fine on my own with those, so I need you three to understand that I need no protection from you. Focus on whatever it is you usually do and know that I’ll be fine.”
“No.” Vance and I say at nearly the same time while Hayes shrugs his shoulder in assent. “If we see you are in danger, we’re going to help you. That’s what we do,” I say in a tone that I hope is gentle enough not to put her back up but sends the message loud and clear that we’re not letting anything happen to her on our watch.
“Fine, let’s do this,” she says as she swings her arms into her jacket. We all watch as she straps on her daggers and sheaths her sword before throwing her hair up in a crazy messy bun.
“What?” She looks at us like we’ve all grown three heads. She has no idea how sexy she was in this moment or how beautiful she always is.
“Ready?” Hayes snaps.
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“I have been,” she snaps back and heads for the door.
“Damn asshole,” she mutters to herself. I only hear it because of my enhanced hearing. I can’t decide if I want to be there when those two finally collide or if I want to be a different realm. I have a feeling it won’t be a soft surrender, more like a fierce battle, a brutal contest of wills.
“Lenna,” I call out softly. “I need to ask you one thing.”
“Anything,” she looks back to me.
“Try not to get cut. Your blood calls to me like nothing I’ve experienced. Fae blood is delicious, but the scent of your blood at Ruby’s almost pushed over the edge into a full out bloodlust.”
I use my super speed to come to her, “I would never forgive myself if I lost control and hurt you. Or worse.”
She reaches up on her toes to kiss me deeply and thoroughly. “I’ll do my best, but I trust you. I know you won’t hurt me.” Her words make my chest swell with warmth. Gods, what did I do to deserve a woman such as this?
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Twenty-Six
Lenna
When we walk out of the castle, I’m surprised to find four horses saddled up. Wait, not horses, definitely not horses. From behind they looked like large horses but as I walked around the side I realized the front half of the beast resembles an eagle. It has wings, and the front legs end in talons like the magnificent birds of prey. “Holy shit. What are they are?” One moves its beady eye in my direction as if it’s offended by my question.
“Hippogriffs,” Aleksandr answers while checking the saddles for everything we need. “They are very rare, I’m so thankful to them for serving me,” I swear they all nod toward him as if understanding what he said. “They are sentient and do understand us.” He smiles at me. “It makes it much easier to give commands. Come,” he holds his hand out to help me up onto mine, “this is Jyne. She’ll be gentle.”
“Can you ride horses?” Vance rides his up beside me.
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“Horses don’t enjoy my company. They sense my wolf, so I’ve never really ridden before.” I replied still looking at the beasts in awe.
“Oh, well, your wolf would be an afternoon snack for these girls.” He says with that devilish grin of his. “You aren’t a threat to them.”
“Are we flying or walking?” I ask nervously. I hope we’re staying on the ground.
“Mostly walking. We’d be too noticeable from above.”
Aleksandr says. He sets off his hippogriff toward a dark wooded area, Vance follows, then I do, and Hayes brings up the rear.
A floating ball of flame lifts above our heads, and I turn back to look at Hayes. “Easier for us mortals to see if we’re using a light source.” He shrugs. His fire magic smells like campfire smoke, makes me think of autumn bonfires with Gloria’s pack.
“Won’t it drain your magic?” I ask, genuinely curious, “few elementals I’ve come across can use their magic continually like that without losing their magic.”
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“Nothing drains me.” He answers back in a low voice. “As long as my feet on the earth, I have fathomless depths of energy to pull from.”
“Ah,” I say understanding, “your power is rooted to the earth. You’re an earth elemental first.”
“Yes. I can manipulate all elemental magics though. I’m sure that my earth magic is similar to your fae magic,” he says after a brief silence. “Fae magic is grounded in the earth, right?”
“Honestly,” I look anywhere, but at him, “you probably know more about my magic than I do. Aside from glamouring myself and making portals I’ve never really been able to access it.”
He shoots me a sideways glance, “you glamour yourself?”
He looks at me as though he’s trying to decide what’s real and what’s not.
“Just to fix my hair in the mornings, and sometimes makeup.” I say with an eye roll, “this actually what I look like.
No weird fae features like hooves for feet or a pig nose. Want a demonstration of my hair abilities?”
“Sure,” he says.
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I imagine an elaborate up-do with blonde braids and flowers. When I open my eyes, he’s staring at my hair like something is either wrong or wonderful, I can’t tell. Much like his personality, his expressions are a mixed bag that I cannot figure out. “I don’t like you blonde,” is all he says as he digs his heels into his hippogriff to speed up to the guys — this guy. I’m going to keep blonde just for that. I hurry Jyne up and pull up along the guys. They all glance over at me and then do a double-take. “I was showing Hayes what I could do with my fae glamour. He doesn’t like the blonde, so it stays.” Aleksandr and Vance chuckle, Hayes rolls his eyes.
“What else can you do?” Vance asks.
“Basic glamouring of myself. Portals. Occasionally I can use telekinesis, but it has to be in the right circumstances. I’ve been wondering if it’s part of having my power bound.”
“You didn’t tell me about the telekinesis,” Hayes says suspiciously.
“You rode off in a huff before I could talk about that ability,” I return coolly.
“Can you glamour others?” Aleksandr asks. “That could be a useful skill.”
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“I’ve never tried it,” I look at Vance, “can I try it out on you?” He’s the most laid back of the guys.
“Go for it, killer.”
I pull Jyne to a stop, and the guys follow suit. I tried something simple and imagine Vance as Hunter. With a slight wave of my hand, he’s transformed into my best friend.
Aleksandr looks impressed; Hayes looks bored, Vance is not happy.
“Why did you choose Hunter?” He asks.
“I’m most familiar with him. I figured it’d be easiest.” I reach out to touch him, and he feels like Hunter. “How does it feel?”
“Weird,” he looks at me with his own expression but Hunter’s eyes, “drop the glamour
, please. Never turn me into him again.” I drop his glamour, and he turns away from me.
“Maybe don’t make any of us appear to like him again, okay?” Aleksandr requests. “It’s not that we have anything against him,” Aleksandr begins, and Hayes mumbles something unintelligible under his breath, “but there is something about him that rubs us all the wrong way.”
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I can feel my hackles rising. “Hunter is my oldest and dearest friend. He has held me through bad relationships, carried my secrets as his own, loved me as a sister, and been the most loyal person to ever come into my life. You guys are going to have to get over whatever suspicions you have about him. He would never, ever hurt me.” All the easy camaraderie I’ve felt with the guys throughout the day is gone.
I don’t speak again until Aleksandr holds a fist up and stops. Ross steps out of the woods and heads for Hayes’
saddlebags to pull his clothes out and dress. I’m not too proud to admit that I watched him the entire time. His lean muscles and agile body were distracting enough that Aleksandr had to whisper shout my name three times. Ross looked over the third time and smiled at me. I mouth “not sorry” to him and turned my attention to an amused Aleksandr and irritated Hayes.
We huddle up into a tight circle so Ross can tell us what he saw. At the mouth of the cave, there were two sentries outside and two just inside and one archer up in the trees. He didn’t see any sign of the other group rumored to be searching for the amulet. Five to four odds are good. Hayes will take out the archer with his earth magic. Ross and I will take the outside sentries and Vance and Aleksandr, the inside sentries. Then 184
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they’ll move inward with Hayes while Ross and I stay out guarding the entrance.
Hayes strikes first using his magic to make the vines multiply around the archer. He’s bound to the tree within a minute but alerts the sentries on the ground. I head for the one on the right. He pulls a rapier, and I pull my katana.
I strike first, putting him on the immediate defensive. He parries, and when I feign a lunge, he moves forward to meet me, leaving himself open. I plunge my katana into his stomach and right back out. An arc of black blood shoots across my chest as he falls. I look over at Ross as he quickly kills his using a staff with blades on each end. Aleksandr and Vance just killed the other two, and we all look at each other. That seemed too easy, and I’m just about to say something when ten more walk out and the five we just killed get back up to come again.
“Behead them!” Aleksandr yells. His shashka held in one hand and his khanjali in the other. He heads for a group of three humanoid demons. His sword and dagger are moving like beautiful, deadly extensions of his body. He spins, kicks one demon in the face, and beheads another simultaneously. If I didn’t have a zombie demon coming for me, I’d probably stare at him transfixed by his savage grace.
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My sword meets the zombie demon again. The hole I left in its stomach is rapidly healing. We trade strikes and before I realize it has me backed against the outside of the cave. He almost slices my thigh open, but I jump just in time, and its sword gets stuck in the rock. I have an opening as it tries to pull its sword free. My sword cuts smoothly through its neck, another arc of blood spraying, this time over my face.
I survey everyone else, and notice Aleksandr just finished his fourth. Ross looks like he’s taken out two, working on his third. Vance has killed four and is fighting a fifth. My eyes find Hayes, and he’s been using his magic to squeeze heads off with his vines, brutal but effective. Then I hear them, another wave of demons coming out of the depths of the cave. Fuck.
I race straight toward them fling my knives into two of their heads, they fall, and Vance appears behind them to slice their heads off. I call my knives back and grab my sword again.
Aleksandr is now just a blur of death. Ross is holding his own against three, the reach of his staff, giving him space to keep safe. Vance is shadow jumping all around the demons, decapitating them before they even sense his presence.
Hayes is still only using his magic. Focused on the two demons in front of him, he doesn’t see the one aiming a knife at 186
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his back. I jump in front of him in time to keep Hayes from getting a knife in the back but end up with it embedded in my chest. Hayes turns in time to catch me when I start to fall. Panic races across his face but he stands over me, in a rage he shoots fire at each of the remaining demons. While they are lit on fire, Aleksandr, Vance, and Ross race through removing their heads.
It only takes them seconds, but I feel everything start to fade to black. I hear muffled voices that sound far away and a thick but delicious liquid slides down my throat. The last thing I remember before losing consciousness are strong fingers caressing my cheeks and the smell of an autumn bonfire.
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Twenty-Seven
Lenna
I wake up with a gasp, a dull pain right below my left collarbone. I try to move my hand, but it’s caught in something. I open my eyes and look down to see Hayes sitting with his head propped on the bed, and my hand gripped tightly in his while he’s sleeping. I try to roll to sit up, but the pain is too much, and I cry out. His head shoots up and the next thing I know he’s up yelling for the rest of the guys. Then he’s right back down beside me. Vance shadow jumps into the room right as Aleksandr and Ross run in.
They all stare at me before talking all at once.
“Are you okay?” Ross.
“Do you need anything?” Aleksandr.
“Fuck, Killer you scared the shit out of us.” Vance.
“Why the fuck did you that?” Hayes. When my eyes meet his, I see a multitude of emotions swirling in their depths, anger,
Emily Dawn
guilt, and concern. “I would have been fine; my shields would have come up in time.” He’s clearly pissed.
“I didn’t know you had shields. I would have done that for any of you, and any of you would have done it for me,” I add.
“Are you seriously mad because I saved your life?”
“My life was never in danger! You were reckless,” he takes a deep breath, “I didn’t need your help. I was fine.”
I try to sit up again but grimace as another wave of pain hits, “fuck you, you ungrateful ass.” I gesture to the door with my head, “get out.” He looks like he wants say something else, but I say, “get out,” again this time with tears threatening to overflow. I don’t want him to see me cry. I don’t particularly want any of them to see me cry. “I want you all to leave.” Only Hayes is on his way out the door. “Now.” Ross and Vance turn to leave, but Aleksandr stays.
“I’ll leave but let me check your wound first,” he says and then adds, “please.” I nod yes, and his cool fingers pull the gauze away. I try to look but can’t really see at this angle. “Not too bad, I think giving you my blood so soon will help you heal with no obvious scarring.”
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“You gave me your blood?” I’m torn between surprise and horror. If he ends up getting my blood soon, we’ll be bonded.
“Yes.” He cocks an eyebrow at me, “I am an ancient vampire with powerfully potent blood. It helps heal quickly and easily. The knife you were hit with was iron, we were concerned you’d get iron poisoning, but it seems that you are impervious to it.”
“Yeah, I don’t get silver or iron poisoning. I’ve always assumed the fae and shifter sides of me cancel each other out.” I tell him. “You were able to give me your blood while I was bleeding without losing yourself to bloodlust?”
“I was, although the smell of your blood is the greatest temptation.” He leans down to press his forehead against my cheek. “You scared us, amica mea,” he whispers. “If my heart still beat, it would have stopped when I saw you fall.” He kisses my brow, “I’ve never seen Hayes like that, he lit a dozen demons on fire at once so we could run our blades through their ne
cks. He was terrified.”
“Could have fooled me,” I say while running my fingers through his blonde hair. “Did you at least get the amulet?”
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His eyes darken, “no. It was gone when we went in. We don’t know if it was moved prior to our arrival or if the other group got there first.” He runs his hand through his hair as Ross does. “We don’t even have good intel on who the other group is yet.”
“Can you help me up?” I ask.
“No,” he responds, “you’re still too weak from blood loss to get up and walk.”
“I need to use the bathroom,” it’s partly true, “and don’t even think about suggesting a bedpan.” I don’t have to go, but lying in bed is getting to me.
“I’ll carry you.” His arms are under me before I can turn him down. He picks me up like I weigh nothing. “Is this okay?”
“It’s not doing anything for my fiercely independent side, but yes, you aren’t hurting anything other than my ego.” He sets me gently down next to the toilet and steps back but doesn’t leave. “Uh, the door is over there,” I point and shoo him out. “I’ll call your name when I need you again.”
After I’m done taking care of business, I go to the mirror and look at my still un-bandaged chest. An angry red mark runs 191
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about two inches between the top of my breast and my shoulder.
There’s a bit of sheen to it, so I’m guessing Ross put his miracle cream on it. My glamour is gone. It probably fell when I went unconscious. My face looks gaunt, and I have circles under my eyes. I don’t have it in me to fix my appearance with another glamour though. Part of me wants all of them in the room with me when I go back to sleep, just for the comfort of having someone there, even though I look terrible. As I’m studying my reflection in the mirror, Aleksandr comes back in.
“I don’t believe I called for you,” my eyes meet his in the mirror.
“You’re done, right?” he asks. “Please let me take care of you. Let us all. I know you don’t think you need it, but we do.”
He stands behind and lifts me off my feet again. He’s so sincere, and when I look into his eyes, they’re full of pain and longing. I lean toward him and lightly kiss one side of his mouth and then the other.