by LJ Swallow
No. I charge at the barrier again, and the magic hits me like a high voltage electrical shock.
This is bullshit.
"So, we got to thinking, myself and some friends, how could we change the fae’s opinion?" He points at himself. "I had the perfect solution." His face transforms into a smug grin, eyes flashing with excitement. "Imagine what would happen if one of their queens dies and the Four Horsemen are implicated."
“What the fuck?” I growl.
“Injured beyond the possibility they could heal her.” He raises his voice. “Viktor. Go ahead.”
Panic joins the anger as the hulking demon wraps the chain around his hands. I'm powerless to do anything as the iron whips Portia across the chest, tearing her jacket through to her skin. The scream sickens me.
"We won't be implicated because you won't kill her!" I shout.
"Yes, you will because there'll be no trace of us, only the queen's and daughter’s bodies. I'm sure her advisers are aware who was visiting the most important fae in the realm today."
Beside me, Ewan rubs his fingers together, concentrating on creating the invisible diseases or viruses he can conjure from the smallest microbes around him. Diseases that can kill instantaneously or infect and spread to others as quickly. But what's the point? We can't touch the bastard through his protection.
"This has never happened before," he mutters.
“Joss!” I look behind me. “Check on Vee and Kailey.”
The demon holds the chain in the air again. "Wait!" I yell. "Stop. Talk about this!"
Hunter gives the signal to his henchman to lower the chain. "Talk? Why?"
"Make a deal," I say through gritted teeth.
"Not interested. Which one first?" He points between the two women. "Or at the same time. I think it would be cruel for one to witness the other dying."
"Fuck!" I shout and step back, preparing to throw the full force of my power.
Death runs through me, I can kill with a touch if I'm in the right mind—like fucking furious—but I also have the ability to project an energy that stops hearts. In this form, demons have hearts I can wreck. Keeping this power under control takes a lot of effort, and my slip up the other night, killing the fae, brought us to this point today.
If I hadn’t killed the fae, we wouldn’t be summoned to explain ourselves. Without my actions, there’s no chance we’d be here at the time the demons planned.
They knew. The demons fucking knew that I'd reach the point I did to protect Verity. They stalked her and watched and waited for me to intervene. The demons guaranteed my uncontrolled reaction.
Somebody out there knows my weakness.
Magic surges through, death building in my hands, which crackle with an electrical power. The fury grips and the power surges, shooting from my fingertips in a lightning arc towards the demon’s chest.
The energy hits the barrier, revealing the size as the lightning ball dissipates and crackles upwards and outwards along the previously invisible wall.
"Where's this magic from?" I shout. "How is the ward so strong against me?"
Hunter launches into a song and dance, chilling words about death and destruction likely from one of the emo bands he listens to with Elyssia. He gives the nod to the demon with the chain. The demon raises the chain again, and I fight covering my ears against the scream accompanying the thrash.
I stare ahead. Helplessness isn't an emotion I'm familiar with.
14
VERITY
Each time the woman’s voice screams, Kailey shuffles closer to me and looks up with her large eyes filled with fear. I keep the light conversation going, but how can I calm her in this situation?
Urgent voices sound outside the basement window, above us, and I raise my voice in an attempt to prevent Kailey hearing. My chest tightens as my imagination runs wild. What if they break through the window? Someone comes down here? How can I protect us both with one knife? No, it’s a good thing this is happening on a suburban street because someone will alert the authorities.
I startle as the door flies open again, turning my body to shield the little girl. Kailey grips the back of my jacket and lets out another cry as a man steps into the room.
He's tall, solidly built—and brandishing a knife. Anger rolls from him, face dark. Coiled to attack. Holy shit, there's no way I can defend myself against him. I stand, willing one of the other guys to run downstairs and help.
Then I notice the colour of his eyes, and the recognition crossing this guy’s face. His hair’s lighter and shorter than his brother’s, but the full and sensual mouth matches. He tucks the knife back into his green combat jacket pocket, eyes flicking across my face, searching for confirmation.
Is this Xander?
"Verity." Not a question, but a gruff statement. His voice has the same English accent as the others.
Stupefied, I nod.
"Xander!" Joss steps into the room and shoves him in the chest. "Where the fuck have you been?"
Xander straightens and holds his face close to Joss's. "Does that matter right now? Get the hell up there and kill those bastards."
"We're trying. He's warded the fucking room!"
"I'm here now. Stop wasting time. Stay with her." He jabs a finger at Kailey. "Verity. Come with me."
This is one man who, in his current state, I don't want to argue with. When I hesitate, he grabs my hand and a painful jolt shoots up my arm. The other guys cause a tingling sensation when we touch, but the reaction to Xander bloody hurts.
Xander's brow furrows as I wince and cry out. He releases my hand. "What's wrong?"
"That."
"Good."
I balk. "What?"
"Can we not hang around for a Q&A session!” He snaps his head round to Joss again. “I've taken out their friends guarding the house, but the scum are not kidding about killing her."
"Xander!" hisses Joss and inclines his head to the girl. Thankfully Kailey has her hands over her ears, but my heart wrenches as tears spill onto her cheeks.
"Kill?" I breathe.
"Yeah and frame us as responsible. That's one lie that's gonna cost us and threaten everything. Time to shine, sweetheart." Xander grabs my hand again and yanks me towards him. I stumble and steady myself on his chest, as more painful energy courses into me.
"What can I do?" I ask.
"Are you pussyfooting around her?" he snaps at Joss.
"Give us a chance. She’s only been with us twenty-four hours."
"For fuck's sake!" I shake as Xander grabs my other arm and holds me close. I’m overwhelmed by the anger filling my body, and my fear switches to a desire to run up the stairs and confront whoever’s there.
Lying pisses me off and in the past I’ve ranted at shocked recipients, but this is more. Anger grows with the realisation what’s happening. Framing the Horsemen? Telling the fae race the guys killed their queen? That’s one hell of a lie.
Something unknown flickers across Xander's face, and he switches to holding my cheeks in both hands. "Trust me. We can do this. Just channel what you feel from me."
Images assault my mind, the way they did with Heath yesterday, and I attempt to move, but Xander holds my cheeks harder. A woman lying on the floor, a girl held against the wall, snapshots that flash by as if a camera moved past the room. This house. Mother and daughter. Demons.
I gasp and stare back at Xander whose eyes blaze with an intensity I share, aware his lips are close to mine. I freak out inside—look what happened when I was this close to Heath.
"Shit!" He drops his hold and backs up.
But I understand. Reaching out to him, I curl my fingers around his. "Go!"
Xander runs up the stairs, and I take two steps at a time behind as I follow. The uncomfortable charge inside my body grows as we burst into the room. I barely have time to register the scene before a demon, twice the size of her, lashes Portia with a huge chain, adding to the welts already across her slim figure.
The anger explodes as th
e young guy in the room's centre laughs, and the energy held inside me floods to the surface.
This. Ends. Now.
HEATH
A blinding light fills the room, and I cover my eyes, scared the intensity will fuck up my sight completely. Instantaneously, a thunderous noise fills the house, an assault on my other senses.
I hear glass splintering as pictures crash from the shaking walls, the floor moving beneath our feet, and I snap my eyes open as I steady myself on the doorframe.
Verity stands the other side of where the invisible barrier existed, and Xander stands alongside, gripping her hand.
Where the fuck did he come from?
I've heard Xander's magic explode before, sometimes destroying buildings or ripping through the air and tearing apart nearby enemies, but never accompanied by light too.
"You guys are so fucking dumb!" he shouts. At us or the demons? "Kill the bastards!"
This time the death shooting from my hands lands squarely in each demon's chest, and they sink to the ground with electrical tendrils covering their bodies. The chain drops from the first demon's hands as he writhes against the crackling electricity, and Ewan strides over to grab hold before the shocked guy can move.
The queen and her daughter crawl to the wall and cower as the room fills with noise and light again.
I don't need asking twice, as I stride over to the younger demon and slam a foot into his chest. He stares back at me, eyes widened by shock, but not fear. Yeah, I can kill instantly if I want, but some deserve something more painful than that.
"Ewan?"
"Gladly."
I can never see Ewan's created viruses cross the space between him and victims, but I always see the result. The demon who masqueraded as the guy who cared for Elyssia draws in a shaky breath and clutches his chest. His eyes widen and blood builds in his mouth, bubbling from between his lips as he struggles to speak. I withdraw my boot from his chest, and he crawls onto his hands and knees. A hacking cough erupts and blood continues to spill from his mouth, spreading towards his hands on the spotless tile floor.
I stare down impassively. The bastard deserves this. I've no doubt he'd fulfil his mission and murder the two women in the room.
Xander and Vee still face away, hands connected. I wait for more exploding energy to come from the pair. Nothing. My turn.
“Go ahead," sneers one in a gravelly voice, his eyes flashing red as I loom over him. "There's more where we came from."
I don't need asking twice. Lightning bolts from my hands as I hold both palms towards his chest. He jolts for an instant before his heart stops, and I turn to the second. The fear in his eyes doesn't faze me as I kill him. He'll never possess a scrap of humanity.
I need to get the girls out of here.
I help Portia to her feet, and she struggles to walk as Ewan guides her from the room. The red welts across her body, beneath her ripped clothes twist anger in my stomach. I've never seen a fae queen weakened like this, or believed anybody had a remote chance of reaching Portia. Where are her guards? What happened to the barrier against dark magic surrounding her home?
This shit is worse than we thought.
Elyssia wraps her arms around her knees, tears streaking dark eye make-up down her cheeks, as she stares at the dead body nearby.
"Are you okay?" I ask and crouch next to her.
Elyssia glares at the demon, face set hard. "They won't win. Ever."
"No." Her bravery fills me with hope. This girl won't yield even when her life's threatened in this way. But that's the fae. Proud. Fighters. Determined. They've survived in this world as long as they have because of their tenacity, and the demons know how strong they are too. "Come on."
In the corner of my eye, Verity sinks to the floor, and Xander catches her. He crouches down to say something, and she can't take her eyes from his, almost as if she's unaware of us around her. Xander breaks her gaze and blinks in my direction, the nod informing me exactly what I expected.
Xander experiences the same effect around her, and we witnessed the reason why. Her power.
"What happened?" I ask him.
"This is the whole bloody point she was created, Heath. They strengthened their forces against us, and I have no fucking idea how they found something this strong, but we have more now she’s here.”
Verity looks up, eyes wide. "What the hell?"
"Your power fuelled mine." He looks to me in triumph. "This is gonna work!"
"Wow." I slump to the floor, and rest my head against the wall. "This is fucked up. Do you think the Order really intended to kill them?"
"Yeah. I've been tracking the bastards for two weeks."
"Why didn't you tell us? Jesus, man."
"And alert the Order I knew they were planning something? Ewan's ability to mess up their communications only goes so far." He gestures at the house. "They didn't just ward against us, they have the whole property glamoured. This group couldn't manage to organise this alone. They have fae help. We need to talk to Portia about what's really happening in her kingdom."
"She doesn't know," mumbles Elyssia. "Others in our court have been summoned here recently and sent to investigate. Nothing happens."
I run both hands down my cheeks. "And the portal threat you drove to, Xander? Are the deaths connected to vamps?"
"Red herring," mutters Xander. "Someone wanted us apart."
"I am so fucking confused. Who shifted the goal posts?"
"She did." Xander points a finger at Vee whose mouth parts in surprise. "I told you. Now she's with us, they need to step up their game, and so do we."
VERITY
I don't know whether to throw up or run screaming from the house. Either way I'll never escape this.
My debut as a human floodlight freaked the hell out of me, but Xander's hand in mine offered a reassurance I can’t explain.
Exhausted and unharmed, I back away from the brothers and out of the room. I don't want to be around the scene in front of me.
Ewan tends to Portia in the kitchen where she rests against the kitchen island counter clutching her chest in one hand and a bottle of water in the other. Witnessing this in an ordinary suburban environment suddenly pushes bile into my throat. She might be fae, but here and now, she's a mother with two daughters in the house. A mother whose home was invaded and life threatened. Portia's struggle to remain impassive and pretend she's coping remains clear. Ewan looks over and nods at me.
Joss steps through the door leading to the basement, answering my question over where he's been. He holds Portia's daughter in his strong arms, Kailey’s figure small against his large frame. The girl has hers wrapped around his neck, head on Joss's chest. He smiles his reassuring smile when he sees me, and warmth gathers inside at the care he's showing Kailey.
The little girl struggles from his arms and calls out when she sees her mum in the kitchen. Joss sets her gently on the floor.
"Good job on calming her down," I say. "She was screaming and terrified when Xander took me from the basement."
He chews on his lip. "I took her fear, Vee. I don't just starve people of positive emotions, but I take away negative too. You must've noticed me doing the same to you since you arrived at our house."
I blink at him. "What do you mean?"
"It strengthens me."
"By causing you to feel scared?"
He smiles wryly. "No. I don't feel the emotions, I just take them." My heart softens further as he looks to mum and daughter in the kitchen. "I hope she's okay."
I reach out and touch Joss’s cheek. "That was a beautiful thing to do."
"I did it because I could." He grips my fingers and a moment passes demonstrating what he described. My anxiety lowers, and I breathe slowly to help calm myself further. I want to stand here with him, stay calm, fuel the happiness I feel from being with him.
I want Joss to hold me and tell me none of this nightmare happened.
"Joss," says a voice. He drops my hand as he looks over his shou
lder at Heath. "Xander called for Portia's bodyguards, they're close by but oblivious to what happened."
"Shit." He elongates the word and my ebbing anxiety flows again.
"We need to go. I don't want to hang around to answer questions because Portia’s guys are pissed off. I don't think any encounter with them would end well."
"This is insane, Heath,” he replies.
I don't miss them glance at me before looking back to each other. "Yeah, but when was life ever easy for us?"
15
VERITY
Living with four guys never appealed to me. I don't have siblings, and the male friends I knew at school were slobs. Living with the Four Horsemen? Also not on my ideal house-share-situation list.
While the guys “mopped up” at the queen’s house (something I didn't want defined), I waited in the kitchen. Portia didn't stay with me, but took her daughters and headed upstairs without a word. So I sat on a stool, staring at my hands, freaking out that my skin still held an abnormal luminescence.
What the hell happened? How did I project light in that way? At first, I didn't realise the light emanated from me, closing my eyes against a brilliance that matched looking at the sun. Only when I looked down at Xander's hand in mine did I see the light surrounding me. Exactly what this ability to project light means scares me.
I'll add that to the list of “shit I can't deal with right now.”
Even as I sit here now, I can't comprehend recent events exist in reality.
Yeah, they do. Just a new and bizarre one.
How about this for added bizarre: the Four Horsemen sit around the kitchen table eating pizza and drinking beer as they discuss today's events and ongoing strategy. They don't exclude me, but I kept away from the conversation when the guys grilled Xander about his recent activities. I could ask them to give me a blow-by-blow account over what I am, or this is, the future, but for now, I'm too tired.
I sit at the head of the table, two guys either side of me, and enjoy a slice. Becoming a human floodlight sure takes it out of a girl.
