by J. N. Baker
Alec stepped forward. “You heard William,” he said. “Let’s get this mess cleaned up. I have a feeling this was Baldric’s attempt to thin our numbers even further.”
Thin our numbers? What numbers were there to thin? We were hardly a threat to Baldric as we were.
Can I talk to you for a minute?
I scanned the area until I found a pair of emerald green eyes glowing in the darkness. She stood at the entrance to the castle, her arms wrapped protectively around her middle.
Alone, she added.
I hesitated for a moment and then nodded.
“What is she asking you?” Alec asked, coming up behind me. Did I catch a hint of suspicion in his voice? Annie quickly dropped her gaze and skirted around the side of the castle until I no longer saw her.
“She just needs my help with something,” I said, my eyes still lingering on the side of the castle.
Alec pulled me into his arms and pressed his lips to mine. I savored the touch. His closeness brought me comfort. The horrible smell of death did not. I quickly spiraled back down to Earth, pulling out of his warm embrace.
“Be safe,” he told me.
“Always,” I said, already heading in the direction I saw Annie go.
I found Annie at the back of the castle, illuminated by a single torch. The flames reflected in her red hair, making it look like actual fire. She looked like a force to be reckoned with. Aside from the terror in her eyes, that was.
“Can you train me?” she blurted out before I could say anything.
Well, that wasn’t what I was expecting her to say. I’d thought she was finally going to tell me she was moving into William’s room. She spent more nights with him nowadays than with me.
“Why?” I finally asked. “William seems to be doing just fine so far. Why not just keep training with him?”
Embarrassment tinged her cheeks, making her look all the more human. “He has done a good job with the things he’s taught me, it’s just…” she paused, meeting my eyes. “I want to know how to fight. William has taught me a lot about my ability, and for that I’m grateful, but I know he’s hesitant to push me farther. Whenever I ask, he says he doesn’t think I’m ready but I know I am. I think he means to keep me out of the next battle.”
My blood boiled at her words. William was purposefully keeping her weak to “protect” her. Talk about hypocrisy.
“Okay.” I nodded. “I’ll help you. But you need to realize I don’t know much about your ability, nor am I the most experienced Chosen.”
“I understand,” she said. “I don’t want to ask anyone else. William wants to wrap me in bubble wrap. Alec and I have never been close, and Jade kind of scares me.”
“Jade scares everyone. It’s a hobby of hers.”
That brought a small smile to Annie’s face.
“When do we start?” she asked.
“Right now.”
“Now?” she squeaked.
“Good a time as any with everyone distracted with the cleanup,” I said, grabbing her arm and towing her back to the front of the castle. “We need a couple volunteers first, people we can trust.”
“How about James?” she suggested, her breath coming a bit faster. Adrenaline had that effect on people. “I trust him, and he’s a newer shift so he would be easier to work with.”
“Not James,” I told her. “I don’t particularly care for his brother. Besides, we don’t want easy. Godfrey, Cody,” I called out when they came into view. Both the vampire and the shift dropped the Sythen head they were carrying and turned to face me, one much faster than the other. “We need your help.”
“Godfrey?” Annie croaked. “But he’s a vampire.”
“Exactly,” I said over my shoulder. “You need to be able to control all types of creatures if you want to have any sort of advantage on the battlefield. Godfrey will be perfect practice for you. Many of Baldric’s soldiers are…seasoned like him.”
“What’s up, Fido?”
“How may I assist you, Zoe?”
Could they be any more different?
“Congratulations, gentlemen, you’ve both been enlisted,” I announced.
Both men exchanged a look, brows furrowed.
“Come again?” Cody said.
“You are both now on Annie’s training team,” I explained. “You’re going to help me teach her to fight. And no, that wasn’t a request,” I added with a smile. “And, boys, let’s keep this between us, shall we? It’s of the utmost importance.”
Cody’s brows went from drawn down to sky high. Godfrey shifted uncomfortably beside him. Annie took a not-so-subtle step back, her gulp audible. I smiled to myself. So, that’s what it felt like to be William.
“Again,” I barked.
We’d been training in a small clearing in the forest, staying as far away from wandering eyes as possible. We were going into our third straight hour and Annie looked like she was getting tired.
“I don’t think I can do it again,” she said between breaths.
“During battle, we very well might be fighting for hours, if not days. You have to be able to maintain your strength to keep fighting. Once you stop, our people die—you die. You have an ability that allows you to fight from a distance. That’s a huge advantage, one that you should take. If you’re lucky, you’ll never need to wield your blade.”
“Zoe is right, Lady Annie,” Godfrey told her. He knew better than to use that ceremonial shit on me. “You have the potential to be very powerful. Your ability makes you capable of doing things the others simply cannot.”
“Exactly,” I agreed. “Your ability is the closest thing to mind control we’ve got. You might just be the secret weapon we’ve been hoping for. You just have to learn to control it. Now, try again,” I ordered.
So far, we’d had Annie try to get into both Cody’s and Godfrey’s heads. It didn’t take long for her to plant thoughts into Cody’s head. Simple things, like wanting to go surfing or he should take a step to the left. She’d had a much hard time with Godfrey since his mind was sharper than that of a human’s. However, the bulk of Baldric’s legion was compiled of bloodsuckers and she had to learn. I was starting to lose my patience with her. She wasn’t trying hard enough because she didn’t want to hurt anyone.
That gave me an idea that wasn’t going to earn me any brownie points.
“Godfrey,” I started, “attack Annie.”
“My lady?” he said, slipping in his confusion. Annie’s face mirrored his own.
“Trust me,” I growled. “Do it.”
In a blink, Godfrey was on Annie, fangs extended. She tried to scream but he covered her mouth. His fangs danced along her shoulder, his hands threatening to cut off her air supply and possibly her head. She groaned in pain.
“Please,” she begged, her words muffled.
“He’s going to rip your pretty little throat open,” I told her, stepping forward until I was standing right beside them. “What are you going to do about it?”
Godfrey’s fangs punctured Annie’s alabaster skin and she struggled beneath him. This was the right thing to do, I reminded myself. This was exactly what she needed. She had to know what it was truly like to choose between her life and the life of someone else.
“Finish her.”
Before Godfrey could react, Cody unleashed an animalistic snarl and lunged at the vampire. He grabbed Godfrey by the back of the neck and used all of the strength he had to tear him away from Annie. Cody threw him to the ground and stood over him, muscles taut and nostrils flaring. Godfrey stared up at him with wide eyes.
“What the hell are you doing?” I shouted at Cody, smacking him upside the head. “You can’t interfere like that, Cody. She has to learn how to protect herself.”
“Huh?” He looked confused, more so than usual. Cody looked down at Godfrey and scratched at the back of his head. “What are you doing on the ground, dude?”
My jaw hung open. I looked up at Annie who was dusting herself off. She wiped
a few stray tears from her face and scowled at the three of us.
“Again,” she grumbled.
“What did you do, Annie?” I asked, dumbfounded.
“I couldn’t get into Godfrey’s head,” she explained, rubbing her sore and bleeding neck as the skin slowly began to heal. “So, I got into Cody’s head instead. I convinced him that if he didn’t protect me, you’d die next.”
“Okay, now that’s seriously badass, Red!” Cody exclaimed, running to give Annie a high five which she bashfully returned. “And here all I can do is change into animals.”
I cocked an eyebrow and nodded my agreement. “Quick thinking, but you still need to find a way to do that to Godfrey.”
Annie gave me an exasperated look. “I don’t know how,” she whined. “I tried as hard as I could. The thoughts weren’t taking, at least not enough for him to take them seriously. He’s too strong.”
Was he really that much stronger or was she just not trying hard enough? There was only one way to find out. I sighed, not proud of how low I was about to stoop. “I really didn’t want to resort to this tactic, but here we are…”
“What are you—”
Faster than anyone could fathom, I took off for the castle. When I returned less than a minute later, I had James with me. And by “with me,” I meant I had him slung over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes. I dropped him rather unceremoniously to his feet.
“What the hell are you doing?” James snapped.
Rhett was going to kick my ass for this.
“Annie said she trusts you to help her, so you’re going to do just that,” I told him, leaving out the ugly details. I switched my attention to Annie. “No matter what, you will not use Cody. If you do, we’ll do this all over again and he won’t be around to help you.”
“I like being used,” Cody pouted playfully.
“Maybe you’re like me,” I continued. “Maybe fearing for your own life isn’t enough…”
Fear flashed across Annie’s face. She knew what was coming. She’d been in the room when William and Jade had done the same thing to me with…who had they used against me again?
“Zoe,” she pleaded, drawing my attention back to the here and now.
“Godfrey, whatever you do, don’t hold back.”
He nodded.
“Attack,” I commanded.
The ancient vampire was on James in a heartbeat. To my surprise, the young shift held his ground, fighting Godfrey off.
“This is a dumb idea, Fido!” Cody shouted, but he stayed back. I was worried he might interfere out of his own free will in order to save a fellow shift—or Annie’s conscience. But we had to give her a chance to prove herself.
“I can’t do this,” Annie groaned.
Godfrey reared back his head and sank his fangs into James’s neck and James grunted. He’d likely never been bit before. First time for everything. The vampire pulled away, blood dripping from his lips. At least one of us would get to eat tonight.
Godfrey grabbed a dagger he had hanging from his belt and plunged its sharp blade into James’s shoulder. The shift growled, his eyes flashing yellow.
“No, stop!” Annie screamed. “Please stop!”
“Do something, Annie,” I bit out. “Do something or he’s going to kill him.”
He picked James up and threw him to the ground, following after him. His strong hands came down on James’s throat and squeezed until he was struggling to draw breath.
Godfrey’s pleading eyes met mine. He didn’t want to do this—he didn’t want to kill James. But it wouldn’t come to that. I trusted Annie’s strength. I gave him the go-ahead.
Godfrey grabbed James’s head and started to twist. It was now or never. The shift was either going to die or Annie was going to save him.
All of a sudden, Godfrey released James. He stood abruptly, his dark eyes shifting to Annie. In a blur, the vampire lunged for her, grabbing her by the throat and hoisting her off her feet. He growled, his fangs inching closer to her neck.
“Enough!”
Godfrey blinked hard and Annie fell to the ground, rubbing her neck and sucking in a deep breath.
Cody yanked a slightly haggard and fully pissed off James to his feet. He hissed as I pulled the dagger from his shoulder. Thanks to Godfrey’s steady hand, the wound was pretty shallow. “Sorry about that,” I told James with a sheepish shrug. “But she needed the extra push. No hard feelings and also please don’t tell your brother.”
I shoved the dagger hilt first onto Godfrey’s chest before offering Annie a hand up. “You did it,” I told her, hoisting her.
Anger flashed across her normally kind eyes replaced quickly by sadness. Her gaze flickered between James and me. “I let him get hurt.”
“You kept him alive,” I assured her. “That’s all that matters. And it’s a start. You found a way into Godfrey’s head. How’d you do it?”
“I convinced him he wanted to kill me more than he wanted to kill James,” she whispered and Godfrey looked both shocked and disgusted. She’d managed to gain control of him.
I tried to keep a straight face, failing miserably. “Not exactly the smartest move in battle. But it’s definitely a start. Tomorrow—”
“We are not using James anymore,” she snapped, the fire back in her eyes. My own eyes widened at the crackle of anger in her voice.
James straightened, large hand gripping his bleeding shoulder. “I want to help.”
“Absolutely not.”
“I’m not going to not help you,” he told her. “Clearly I’m of use.”
“I won’t let anyone use you like this,” she said. Her words, no matter how soft, were like a dagger to my heart. I had used him, just as William and Jade had used…My mind drew another blank. Had it been Cody? No, that didn’t seem right.
“It’s fine, Annie,” James said. “Let me help you.”
“Aye, and if ye need a fourth plaything, I’m yer man.” Brock’s big form manifested from the darkness. When he saw my face, he threw his head back and laughed. “Don’t give me that look, princess. Yer the one playing in my forest.”
“You can’t tell William about this,” Annie rushed to get out.
“Or Rhett,” James and I added together.
The big Scot snorted at Annie. “Worry not, lassie. I don’t talk to that grumpy bawbag unless I absolutely have to. That stick is so far up is arse, I bet he can taste it.”
Cody snorted. “Got that right, dude.”
“Same goes for Rhett,” Brock continued, his mischievous blue eyes finding mine. “Yer secret is safe with me. I just want in on the fun. At least let me watch the show,” he added, no doubt seeing the hesitation on my face.
I cocked a brow at him. “I thought you didn’t like people?”
“I don’t. But you fuckers are entertaining as hell and it can get a bit boring out here with just the wee tree folk.”
“You can just give him my spot,” Cody tossed out. “He’s got, like, centuries on me.”
“Nice try,” I told him. “You’re not getting out of this that easily, buddy. And fine,” I said, turning my attention back to Brock. “You can watch if you want. Just keep that big mouth of yours shut.”
He held up his hands, feigning innocence. “That’s all I ask. I like watching that one,” he said with a smirk, jabbing a thumb in Annie’s direction. “She’s a bonnie thing. Got some Scot in her I’d bet. And if she don’t, I can help put some in her.”
I thought I heard James growl, or maybe it was Cody.
“Don’t worry,” I told Annie when she squeaked. “His dick all but froze off during the storm. I doubt it works anymore.”
“I heard the nurse was forced to cut off the tip in order to salvage the rest,” Godfrey added, earning a surprised laugh from me and a grin from Annie.
“It works just fine,” Brock snapped. “Better than fine.”
“We’ll take your word for it,” I told him.
“It does!”
“Sure,
buddy,” Cody said, patting the big man on the shoulder.
“All right,” I said, raising my voice to be heard over the growing banter at Brock’s expense. “Like I said before, we’ll pick up where we left off tomorrow. Everyone, meet back here.”
“Is that really a good idea?” Brock asked.
“I don’t think the peanut gallery gets to have say.”
“Hear me out,” he told me. “We know Baldric’s men are around, not mention his wee beasties. Perhaps the forest isn’t the safest place to play.”
“He is not wrong,” Godfrey conceded.
I thought over their words. “Fine. Tomorrow we will meet behind the stables. It’s far enough away from the castle and any wandering eyes while still being inside the kingdom. Until then, rest up. And, Annie, don’t let anyone see those bite marks or bruises until they’ve completely healed. Especially not William. I don’t want to explain this to him. That goes double for you, James. I definitely don’t want to deal with your brother if he finds out.”
That seemed to successfully dampen the mood. Annie, Godfrey, and James skulked back to the castle, Brock on their heels still grumbling about the magnificence of his cock.
“Are you trying to get one of us killed, Fido?” Cody asked, hanging back with me.
“I don’t think Brock or James will blab to anyone.”
“I don’t mean that,” he said. “I mean this. This stupid ass fight club you’re starting.”
I shrugged. “She needed the push. Now she knows what she’s capable of.”
“You were going to let Godfrey kill James.” It wasn’t a question.
I looked up at Cody and sighed. “Technically, yes. But I knew she would stop him before it came to that. And if she didn’t, I knew you or I would have. I wasn’t worried.”
“You’re going to get one of us killed helping her like this, dude. Either by her or William or Rhett or Alec. We all know Alec isn’t exactly my biggest fan. That guy’s just looking for an excuse to kill me.”
“Well, you did stick your tongue down my throat,” I shot back.