My life officially sucked. “How did you know he was talking about your brother?”
Dani laughed as she dusted the cat hair off of her pants. Her brown eyes swung to me. “Oh, you’re being serious?”
Tracker strolled over to her and sat at her feet. “Listen, beautiful, I feel as if we got off on the wrong paw.”
I rolled my eyes. “Dani, this is Tracker. He is a shapeshifter sent to me in secret by my grandfather. I don’t know why my Pops thought I needed such an annoying gift but whatever.”
“Annoying? I sure helped you out in the ring tonight, didn’t I, doll face?”
“He was in the ring with you?” Dani asked.
I nodded. “As a praying mantis, believe it or not.”
Dani looked from the cat to me. “Sure, why the hell not. So anyways, back to this key, where is it?”
“It’s in the royal high-n-ass-es chambers. She and Stephan were about to start their make-out session, and so to free his hands, she took it from him and put it in the cushions.”
“Tandi, I know my brother doesn’t care for her, and I also know that if he is acting interested in her, it’s for a reason like getting his hands on the key.”
I knew that, too, but it didn’t hurt any less.
“I wish there was a way to sneak in and get the key while she was being occupied.”
Tracker was busy licking his balls, but he stopped long enough to give me a disgusted look. “It is truly hard to believe that you are the girl that all the fae world is talking about nonstop. Supposedly, you are a rarity with a bevy of powers, and yet you sit here moping when you could be going and confiscating the key.”
Dani looked over at the cat with mild interest. “Yeah? You know something that we don’t know, furball?”
“I was going to give you the best shag of your life tonight but because of that, you missed out on something epic.”
“More like an epic failure,” I said.
“All right, fine. You twits obviously would rather insult me instead of stealing the key, so I’ll take my very valuable information and go somewhere else.” He started strolling towards the door, and no one stopped him, so he added, “Because Tandi here is not just fae but a powerful fae. She could turn herself invisible, steal the key, replace it with glamour, and be back in this room in five minutes flat. But no, you geniuses would rather insult the one cat that could help you. Brilliant ladies.”
“Wait,” I said. “Are you serious?”
“Baby, this puss don’t lie. Besides, the sooner I help you, the faster I can get back to the fae world. Too much of earth makes me sick.”
Dani shrugged her slender shoulders. I could tell that she didn’t believe our furry friend, but she was going to let me make the call.
“All right, tell me what I need to do to get that key.”
“Same thing you did today, doll face. What you imagine is what you get, so imagine yourself invisible. In your heart and in your mind, have a constant mantra going that no one can see you. When you truly believe that you can do something, then you will do it. Just a little warning, though, vampires can’t will themselves invisible, so be careful who you tell.” He gave Dani a scathing look.
She tossed her short hair. “Look, cat, if you can help Tandi, then you’re a friend to me, too. I’m sorry for my offensive comments earlier, okay?”
“So, you do want to shag?”
“That’s a solid no from me,” she said without blinking.
“You want to just take a moment and think about it?” Tracker asked.
“I’m good,” Dani said.
While they were talking, I was willing myself to be unseen, and when Dani started looking around the room, Tracker laughed. “Way to go, doll face. Now, make yourself want to be seen.”
With nothing but a thought, I did as he asked and was giddy with excitement as I reappeared with little difficulty right in front of Dani. “How freaking cool is this? I might not be able to slay a deer, but I can become invisible.”
Tracker gave me a disgusted look. “I wouldn’t mention that to too many people. A vampire that can’t even kill a deer screams pathetic with a capital P.”
“Oh, hush,” I said. “Now, let’s come up with a plan on how I’m to steal this key.”
“Doll face, what have I been telling you? We don’t need a plan. You’re going to think of the key you saw and recreate it just like you do with the clothes that you magic yourself. It’s the same thing. Then you’re going to go invisible with your fake key and replace it with the other key.”
“You don’t think Akeldama will notice that it’s not the right key?”
“Not if you do a good enough job of replicating it.”
“Oh, boy,” Dani said. “Do you think we should wait for Stephan to see if he thinks this is a good idea?”
“No, I don’t. You see, Dani, if he really is using the Queen to get to the key like you said, well, then there were other ways to go about it. He should have consulted with us first, so we could make a plan, but no, he wanted to lie down on the grenade. So, no, we don’t need to talk it over with him first.”
Tracker jumped up on the bed. “Ladies, just so we’re all on the same page, when you say that he jumped on the grenade, are you referring to him having sex with an extremely beautiful woman with a banging body? Because if so, sign me up for combat.”
“You’re disgusting,” I said. “I’ll be back with the original key in twenty minutes. Dani, go find yourself someone to talk to, so that if something should happen and we’re found out, at least you will have an alibi.”
“What if you’re caught?” she asked.
“Then I’ll flee to the fae world where I’ll marry a fae prince and have lots of fae babies.”
We both knew that was a lie, but it was the best that I had. After she left and Tracker wished me luck, I concentrated on making the key I’d seen earlier. When I was satisfied with the results, I turned myself invisible and headed out to meet my fate. Whether it be success or failure, I didn’t have a clue.
Chapter Twenty-One
I crept through the corridors and snuck past the guards outside of the queen’s chambers. After going through a narrow hallway, I paused outside of the door leading to the main sitting room where I had departed earlier. I could hear Stephan and Akeldama laughing, but there was no way to know exactly where they were positioned. I quietly opened the door, just barely enough for me to squeeze through. I closed it behind me and then turned around to assess the situation. Akeldama sat on the corner of her desk; her dress was hiked up to show her long, white legs that were crossed at the knee. She was laughing and reminiscing with a Stephan who appeared utterly captivated. I almost stumbled when she spoke of the first time they’d made love. I made my way over to the couch and quickly exchanged the real key for the fake key. If I could make it out of here alive, I could say that I literally lent a hand in saving the world from fake bitches. Akeldama hopped off the desk, stopping me in my tracks. I was too scared to move.
“Stephan, darling, would you like some blood?”
“Sure, Dama.”
“You know, you could drink from the tap if you wanted.” She rubbed her neck as she arched her back. “That is something I haven’t let anyone do other than you.”
“You’re very tempting, Dama, but I think I’ll take it from the bag… this time.”
She pouted a little but sashayed her way to a wet bar on the other side of the room. Now was the time to escape while her back was to me. Stephan whirled around and made eye contact with me. But there was no way he could see me. I was still invisible! His eyes narrowed and then he jerked his head towards the door. He moved up behind Akeldama and peered over her shoulder. He was blocking me from her view. But there was nothing to view. I tiptoed as quickly as I could, and with one last look at their backs, I opened the door and retreated to my room. There was no way in hell he knew I was in there. Right?
Twenty minutes later, I was back in my room, pacing. I had tak
en an extremely quick trip to see my Pops to give him half of the key to hide. Apparently, he was the most powerful man in the fae world, so I had little doubt he could keep it safe. A smile touched my lips as I thought of Pops. A man who favored Hawaiian shirts was feared by the whole fae community. I didn’t want to make the same mistake as Akeldama and keep the key together. She might not learn from her mistakes, but I could learn from them. I had cast some glamour on the other half of the key to make it resemble a hairbrush. Under the circumstances, it was the best I could do.
There was a quick knock on my door before Stephan entered. I really wished these doors had locks on them. “What have you done, little one?”
As he closed the door and stepped into my room, I hissed, “What do you mean, what have I done? Our goals coming here were to find out who was behind Greta’s death and to find the key. It looks like I’m two for two. While you were off playing kissy face, I was actually doing something beneficial. You know, like saving the world.”
He grabbed my upper arms. “You truly have no clue what you’ve just done, have you? You have helped the princess to escape, and as long as she is gone, you will have to entertain the Queen. You got lucky today, but what about tomorrow? We are all trapped here until the princess returns, so you either tell me what you’ve done with her so I can drag her back here, or you will be fighting every day until someone kills you. And let me assure you, little one, eventually Akeldama will realize the key she holds is a fake. We were the only two in that room when she brought it out. What will we do then?”
I pushed on his chest, but he wouldn’t let go. “Then I’ll take full blame, Stephan. Okay? Is that what you want to hear? You can go back to your Georgia estate and forget all of this ever happened.” I felt tears welling up, but I pushed them down. Out of all the things I could cry over, I’d be danged if I let the thought of Stephan forgetting about me be my breaking point.
He tilted my chin up, forcing me to look at him. “I wish it were that simple, Tandi, but you are unforgettable. And for the record, I wasn’t playing kissy face with anyone. I was trying to portray someone that Akeldama expects me to be, so that I could steal the key when the time was right. You’ve really worked us into a corner.”
“So, you are banging her while patiently waiting for the time to be right?”
“Is that what has been bothering you?” he asked with a devilish smile.
“Absolutely not.”
“For the record, I have been flirting enough to keep her distracted, but I haven’t been ‘banging’ anyone, and the timing will be right when I find a way to remove the crown from her head.”
“Whatever. You don’t owe me an explanation.”
“It sounds like I did.” He leaned in and gave me the most soul-searing kiss I’d ever had. He started out gently, as if he was afraid he would hurt me, but as soon as my body melted into his and I let out a small moan, the kiss quickly turned feverish. His tongue met mine as he wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me closer to him. My body thrummed with energy as he kissed me harder, deeper. I threaded my fingers into his hair and held onto him, as my body grew limp in his arms. The sensations rocking my body were foreign—I had never felt like this before. He didn’t just want to kiss me: he wanted to own me, and in that moment I would have given him anything to make me melt into the floor with his searing kiss. That was until he pushed me away from him, and the room no longer spun.
Everything was still dizzy and without his warmth, I felt cold. I was still coming out of the passionate daze when his next words froze me in place. “That should have never happened.”
I touched my fingertips to my swollen lips. “What? Why?”
“Tandi, there are things that you don’t understand and—”
“Then you should explain them to me.”
“I don’t have time for this right now. I need to be mingling with everyone downstairs to see who is on the roster to fight you tomorrow night. I have to focus until I can figure out a way to find the princess or take Akeldama’s crown. Unless you have a better plan to get us out of this mess you landed us in?”
My eyes narrowed at his pissy tone. He regretted what just happened between us? Fine. He wanted to blame me for our current situation? Sure, why not? But he was not bringing the princess back here to be used as a pawn. Not even to save me. I might not have liked my parents, but they did raise me better than that.
“We are not going to find the princess, Stephan.”
His jaw clenched as his voice was quiet in my head. “If it comes down to her life or yours, I would gladly sacrifice hers.”
“I’m sure that I should be flattered but I’m not. She is a girl just like me and—”
He gave a curt laugh. “Really? She is a Vampire Princess and a Zombie Queen; she can hold her own, I assure you.”
“I am not betraying her after helping her to get away from here. I’m not doing it and neither are you.”
Stephan took two steps closer to me, bringing his lips about an inch from mine, but whatever he was about to say died as my door swung open. We quickly broke apart, even though Stephan looked like he was about to strangle me instead of kiss me. Dakin and four guards stood in the doorway.
A short, chubby guard laughed. “Hmm, what do we have here? It looks as if things are about to get very interesting. Akeldama has been looking for her favorite lover. Apparently, you told her you had to go check on something and would be right back. Our Queen had a feeling that you were checking on your pet.”
“Howard, was it? It has been a long time since I’ve rearranged someone’s face. Open that door again without knocking and I will make up for lost time.”
The guard scowled at Stephan before quickly leaving the room the room.
The other guards stood behind Dakin as he shot me a look of pity before he addressed Stephan. “You do realize that your non-relationship with Gem here is the only thing saving her from Akeldama’s clutches.”
“It really wasn’t what you think,” I said. “Honestly, if you would have waited a couple more seconds, you probably would have witnessed a murder because the look in his eyes wasn’t pretty.”
Dakin gave me a half smile. “Gem, any man who is around you for more than five seconds and doesn’t fall head over heels is stupid, and Stephan isn’t stupid.”
Stephan growled as he positioned his body in front of mine. I felt my eyebrows reach my hairline. What in the world was he doing?
Dakin snickered. “I think I made my point.”
I had a sneaking suspicion Dakin might have thought I was hot, but he was nowhere close to voicing his undying love for me. It was more like he wanted to bait an old friend who had somewhere along the way become an enemy. There was something about Dakin that was pure and honest. It was hard for me to believe that he was Akeldama’s right-hand man.
I took a step around Stephan just for him to grab me by my arm and pull me into his side. For someone that regretted kissing me five seconds ago, he sure had no problem peeing a circle around me.
“Dakin, what does Akeldama have over you?” I asked.
Stephan and Dakin both said, “What?”
“I know that she holds something over you because… I can’t explain it, really. But I can sense the good in you, and it’s just hard for me to believe that someone like you would be in league with someone like her.”
“She speaks of treason,” Dakin said to Stephan.
“And if you think to tell anyone, I will fry your brain,” Stephan said.
“I wouldn’t do that. Not because I like you, but because I like her. You say that you can sense something in me, Gem? I’ve long forgotten what it felt like to be good but know this. I sense something in you, too. You are going to change our society. Call it a hunch.” He started to walk out of the room but stopped in the doorway. “I am rooting for you, Gem, but the moment this door opened that weasel Howard ran to Akeldama to tell her what we witnessed and to gain favor.” He held up a hand. “Regardless of what you sa
y was really happening, one would be a fool to not see where this vamp’s loyalty lies.” His head tilted to Stephan. “And when that loyalty is not with Akeldama… She is very jealous, so you better prepare yourselves.”
The door closed and I huffed. “What does that mean?”
“It means that nothing with you is ever easy.”
“Well, maybe I don’t do easy, Stephan. I’ve come to realize that’s all you do.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You are literally the only vamp here without a legion following you. Why is that?”
“Maybe it’s because I don’t want the responsibility of taking care of others, Tandi. Any and all problems that they have amongst each other I would have to listen to and judge accordingly. Maybe I want more out of life than being a babysitter.”
“I know when you first turned me I was a bit of a disappointment to you, Stephan. But at this moment, you are a disappointment to me, as well. I helped a stranger and landed myself in a heap of a mess, but what kind of coward would I have been to ignore her cries for help? If you were proactive and had the courage to be the master vampire that you are, then we could avenge Greta and walk out the front door with the key.”
“Are you that sure of who I am? You seem to always have everything all figured out. And just like everything thus far, nothing is as it seems. Put this in that all-knowing, judgmental book of yours. I have never been disappointed in you.” For a moment, he looked as if he was going to throttle me. After a couple of intense seconds went by, he stormed out the door. I was glad to see him go. I needed some space.
Something buzzed by my ear, and I swatted at it. “I’m sure that would have been awkward for most, but honestly I enjoyed the hell out of that little debacle.”
I looked at the fly that had landed on my shoulder. “Gross. What is it with you and bugs?”
The fly flew down to my bed, and as bright colors swirled around it, I waited patiently for Tracker to turn back into a cat.
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