“Darling! You look a little shocked, please come have a seat by me.” Alejandro patted the seat on the couch next to him and beamed at me with a sharp grin. Gemma stood behind him, looking smug. No sign of his other bodyguards, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find them stationed outside somewhere, keeping watch. Terrance was sitting in a throne like chair near a fireplace that was blazing, no doubt an intimidation technique, vampires were not big fire fans traditionally.
I took a seat to the side, not aligning myself with either male. I was certain this room held not a single ally, but I wasn’t sure what the hell was going on. I looked from the face of one devil to another and saw no hint of love, no promise of safety. One held lust, the other, hatred. Both equally terrifying prospects for my future.
“Princess Vivinity, always a stubborn child,” Terrance said in a chiding tone. The use of my title and full name was surprising.
“She has become quite the woman. Which of course is why I wish to align myself with her in marriage, consolidate our power, and help keep her in line.” Alejandro’s words were no surprise, that was exactly what he had told me, after forcing me into accepting his proposal. Except for the keep her in line, part, that was solely for who he thought was my father.
Terrance looked pleased by that comment. “Coming to her father to solidify the engagement was a clever move, and that you were there to warn me of a possible plot against me! That was an invaluable service. I almost lost the key to fairy at the hands of a couple disgusting gnomes!” Terrance visibly shivered. “Luckily, I was able to swap it out for a fake.” His eyes darted to me, full of smug triumph.
My mind raced as the two men smiled and congratulated each other. I hated them both, so much more than ever. Gemma watched me with a cold smile, clearly enjoying her front row seat to my downfall. I wanted to fly across the room and rip her face off, but I knew better than to act on emotion, it would make me misjudge, and I would end up hurt, or worse, married. So I sat and tried to calm down.
“Is this your home, Terrance?”
He frowned at the use of his name and no title; I smiled back. “It is, do you like it?”
“Not particularly, no. I prefer something darker, leaning toward the Egyptian theme, as did my mother. You have nothing green here I see, odd for a fairy. I keep a lot of green in my home. ” I met his eyes with a glare and told him everything with it. I knew it all, and I was going to kill him for it. He didn’t react, he was much to practiced for that, he would give nothing away. I turned to Alejandro. “This isn’t my father, so any bargain you struck with him is void.” Alejandro was showing surprise, he hadn’t known, and I latched onto it with hope. “My father is Osiris, and he is the one who saved me from death, when this man, sent me to die at the hands of Demetrius. I am not the risen daughter of Demetrius Vondrake, I have no vote on the council. I will allow you to rescind your offer of marriage.” Mic drop! I thought to myself with a huge grin on the inside. On the outside I was stone faced, giving nothing away. I’d just showed all my cards and I had to hope it would trump anything they had.
Alejandro’s eyes narrowed and swept from me to Terrance, who was working hard to keep his face blank. “A child I raised from birth, whose mother I loved and bore a child of mine first. I am your father, the only father who bothered to care for you, and that, gives me all the right to negotiate your dowry with this male.”
Fuck that! I stood up, ready to hurl any kind of insult I could come up with at them. I was not going to stand by and let Alejandro negotiate marriage and my inheritance. Before I could start yelling, there was a crash. The window behind Terrance shattered, Blade and Calin flew through the spraying glass and landed on Terrance, each biting into his flesh immediately, and with extreme vengeance. Following them were the bodies of Ferdinand and Trystan, minus their heads.
I’d say they both looked much better that way.
Confusion surrounded me. Gemma jumped in front of Alejandro to protect him, Terrance screamed, other fairies rushed in from doorways to save their prince. They all hesitated at the bloody sight of Terrance and the gnomes though. Where was the love for their prince now? So obviously about to die they weren’t throwing themselves at his feet to save him or die with him in honor, no, they stared and debated the chance of his survival and anger at them for not helping.
I grinned at the mess being made in Terrance’s perfectly decorated home.
Sobahn was next through the window in his jackal form, blood dripping from his snarling mouth. When he landed, half the fairies ran from the room, taking that as the safer option, a few attacked him while others started throwing things at the gnomes, trying to knock them loose. Gemma had unsheathed a sword and was holding it out, ready. Sobahn threw off fairies, but they kept coming back to attack again, luckily they had nothing more than their fists to fight with. They were friends and maids of Terrance’s, not security guards.
“Make sure he dies!” Alejandro shouted, grabbing my arm, and pulling me out of the room. I fought back, hitting him one good shot in the chin, and landed a kick to his shin. I was still weakened from my head injury and the silver rope, but I think I still could have gotten away, if he hadn’t hit me in the same spot Pauline had earlier. My eyes flashed white, and then my mind went black, again.
I saw her fall and I lost it, tearing into one fairy after another. I hadn’t wanted to kill them, was trying to save myself the guilt of possibly killing one of her kin, but when she was dragged out lifeless by that asshole vampire, I didn’t care anymore. Then the female came for me. She had a sword, and she was an adversary worth fighting, but I was ready and I was fighting for my soulmate.
I jumped; she raised her sword. I threw my body, changing direction. She sliced her sword and caught my side. I hit the floor, growling and bleeding. Fear of not making it to save Vivinity filled me, and my anger at this vampire being in my way was suddenly all consuming. I leapt at her again, aiming for her neck. She lifted her sword, ready to swipe at me again, but this time I shifted midair, ready, and kicked out at her arms, knocking the sword away. She dove for it, and I leapt onto her back, delivering a bite strong enough to break her neck. Two more chomps and I had separated her head from her shoulders. I lifted my head and howled, the blood of an enemy filled my mouth, I was triumphant and for a moment, I didn’t care about anything else.
“Where’s Vivian!” Jackie cried out, coming in from the front of the house. I’d told her to wait out there until the noise settled, I didn’t need her getting hurt and distracting me, or Vivinity.
I shifted back to human and looked around at the destruction. Terrance was dead, a few more fairies were bleeding out quickly on the floor, the female vampire was decapitated, and Alejandro had left with Vivinity, probably out the back. I howled “I can track them, try to keep up.” I shifted again and took off through the house, out the back door, to the spot where they must have entered a vehicle. I shifted to human form so I could bark orders. “Get Blade and Calin in the car, try to follow me! If you lose me, go back to the condo and wake up Falcon, he’s the prince in charge, and he needs to release Vivinity’s inheritance. Now!”
I shifted to jackal and ran. City streets and honking cars, I didn’t care. I couldn’t lose her scent, thankfully she was bleeding, that made it easier to follow, but much harder to keep my sanity.
I barked at passing cars that honked and snarled at humans in crosswalks. I made a real scene, and I didn’t care about the consequences. My heart was breaking with every second she was in danger with that man. Her trail led outside of town, to what looked like an abandoned mine. I slowed, sticking to shadows and walked around the dilapidated entrance and surrounding buildings. They were full of holes and broken windows, all single floor and all apparently empty. I found a car parked behind a building and smelled it up close. It was heavy with her scent, they were here somewhere. I circled again, closer to the entrance of the mine this time. I couldn’t hear a thing in the dark hole, but I smelled her there.
Then I heard her scream from somewhere deep below ground; and I wasn’t the only one.
Heat erupted from the earth, almost burning my feet and there was a rumble like an earthquake. The ground opened beside me, and Osiris floated up. He was dressed surprisingly modern, in a leather jacket and jeans. If it wasn’t for his green tinged skin and four-inch-long gold band encased goatee, I would have no idea he was far from human just by looking. Of course, being part fae and demon myself, I could sense another when they were near. Osiris reeked of underworld, and the distinct spark of demon.
“You have failed,” he accused, fire flashing in his eyes. “My daughter suffers now more than ever. Her screams came to me in the underworld.”
I wanted to fall to my knees and let the black tears run down my face. I was ashamed, I was scared for my love, and I was so afraid he was going to kill me before I could know she was safe, before I could touch her or kiss her like I craved. I forced myself to meet his gaze, to show I was worthy of this prize that was Vivinity. “I have failed her,” I admitted solemnly. “The vampire has her underground.”
Osiris’ eyes narrowed at me but he didn’t strike me down as I was expecting. “Well then, let’s go see what he wants.” He strode forward, his black cowboy boots scuffing as he walked and the earth died beneath his feet.
I wasn’t fooled by his calm demeaner; he was out for blood. Thankfully not mine, yet.