by Eva Brandt
The echoes of power slowly dissipated and my clarity started to return. My breathing evened out and I let go of Augustine’s burnt arm. “I apologize,” I told her, still a little shaky, but less so than before. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“Pierce, it takes more than a little fire magic to hurt a Dame Blanche,” she replied. “I’m more worried about you.”
I got up, congratulating myself when I managed to do it on the first try and without Augustine’s help. “I’m not the problem here. I’m pretty sure Darius is getting worse too. Whatever Mathias did to save him from the Alarian Vow will destroy him. Augustine, we don’t have time. If either of them dies before we can finish this...”
I trailed off, half because I couldn’t bring myself to finish the phrase, half because it wasn’t really necessary. Augustine understood me well enough. “It’ll be all for nothing,” she said in my stead. “All right, Pierce. We’ll try to look into other possibilities, but I’m not making you any promises. I still think her father is our best bet.”
Maybe she was right. Maybe I was a fool for trying to win a battle without our most powerful fighter. But one thing was certain. If we didn’t act now, if we didn’t fight back against whatever Darius and the others were doing, all our hopes and dreams would be burnt into ashes.
I wouldn’t allow that, not again, not when I finally had the chance to fight it. This time, I was strong enough. This time, I would show them all the truth.
And if after that, I found a way to remove the threat Louis posed permanently, I didn’t think anyone could blame me for it. After all, it would be only fair.
He’d been the one to tear my soul into pieces. By the time this was over, I’d do the same to him.
Two
Hunger
Declan
“Are you sure about this? If we step into that building, there’s no turning back.”
“There’s already no turning back, Mal, and you know it.” I met my partner’s crimson eyes and shot him a smile I didn’t feel. “Don’t tell me you’re having second thoughts.”
“Not really, no.” Malachai shrugged. “I just never thought that, after everything that happened, we’d both become scavengers.”
“Do you really care, Mal? Because I have to say I don’t. We have bigger things to worry about.”
As I spoke, I turned to look at our official leader. From our observation point, we could see Darius talking to one of his plague subordinates, making the final arrangements for the operation currently in progress. Bjorn was with him, watching his back.
I wasn’t too worried about how this mission would go. I had no doubt we’d succeed in our immediate goals, since no human could ever fight off a group of determined Accursed.
It was the background of our situation and the reason for our decision that concerned me.
“You have to trust that he knows what he’s doing, Declan,” Malachai tried to reassure me. “Things might have changed since we were with the Alarians, but that doesn’t mean we’re not ready for this.”
“Don’t insult me, Mal,” I replied. “You know very well that I’d never place his competence as a ruler into question. I’m just a little worried about him.”
All right, so maybe that wasn’t completely accurate. I was very worried about Darius. He might not be showing it, but he was struggling with living in Mathias’s body. He still didn’t remember his past life and the exact extent of the connection between us. I wanted to show him, to tell him the truth, but I knew it wouldn’t go over well.
It hadn’t when I’d been the one in Darius’s shoes, when Mathias had given me back my memories. He’d done it because I would’ve never cooperated otherwise and I’d still had some side-effects.
Since then, I’d adapted to the knowledge of my true identity, but I had my own body, and in every other way, I hadn’t changed. Darius wasn’t so lucky. He had to deal with Mathias’s memories on top of everything else. It was why Bjorn had insisted on staying by his side. If something happened, he could intervene and dampen Darius’s emotions. But the temporary fix would only help us so much. We needed a permanent solution.
My prince looked up, as if sensing that Malachai and I were speaking about him. He arched a brow, a simple gesture that reminded me I couldn’t let my guard down. I shook myself and returned to my watch. Even if I didn’t deem the humans a threat, the whole point of this mission was to limit the damage the plagues did to the innocent population. To accomplish that goal, those of us in the know had to be very careful.
Our target for the day was a maximum security prison located in Alabama. We’d picked it because it was in the middle of nowhere, which meant damage to civilians would be non-existent. The structure was surrounded with thick concrete walls lined with barbed wire. Electronic surveillance monitored the approach and departure of every visitor. At all times, guards patrolled to and fro, keeping a close eye on the prisoners.
It would be ridiculously easy to get inside.
I reached for my communicator and activated it. “No paranormal activity of any kind. No Alarians in the area, and no sign from any other species either. No wards around the compound. As for the humans, I can see at least two dozen guards from here, but there are undoubtedly more inside. They’re using the standard equipment for security in human law enforcement. It’s nothing we can’t handle.”
“Excellent,” Darius said through the coms, in Mathias’s voice. “We’ll start the operation in ten minutes.”
“Copy that, My Lord.”
The plagues echoed our easy agreement, as happy to serve Mathias as the enforcers had been to work for Darius. Oddly, I felt a higher degree of companionship and familiarity with them than I ever had toward Pures. It might’ve been because plagues never judged. Even those who disliked Bjorn, Malachai, and me for our previous work with the Alarians had more or less accepted us. It was foolish to care about such things, but the part of me that remained a werewolf still appreciated the feeling of pack.
Time passed slowly. As Malachai and I waited in our observation post, we caught brief glimpses of everyone else starting to approach as well. Five more plagues joined me and Malachai, practically vibrating with anticipation. “This is going to be a feast,” one of them mumbled. “My mouth is watering just when I’m thinking about it. I’m so hungry.”
Another plague nodded, licking his lips. “I can’t wait.”
“Of course you can wait and you will,” I snapped, interrupting their conversation. “Keep your mouth shut and do what you’re told. Otherwise, I’ll make sure you end up food sooner than the humans.”
They froze, just like I had known they would. Courtesy of Mathias’s little game, they feared me dreadfully, and the small part of me that still remained a guardian reveled in that.
“Yes, Sir,” they all rushed to say. “Apologies, Sir.”
“Apologies are for humans or for Banished. Be quiet and pay attention.”
They obeyed and utter silence fell between us. To our right, we watched Darius advance, already heading toward the prison. He moved cautiously and stealthily, and it made me remember a different time, when he and I had been sneaking around for very different purposes, when he’d been a mortal heir of the power of the gods and me, his wolf warrior. To this day, I wondered if we’d have survived long enough to kiss our soulmate had he not had the blood of Odin flowing through his veins.
An image of Lucienne flashed through my mind, as she was now, in this life. I bit the inside of my cheek so hard I tasted blood. I didn’t know why she’d lost her memories, but I could only assume it had something to do with Louis de Hastingues. The idiot kept making the same mistakes and I feared the consequences of his actions.
Lucienne had never dealt well with overwhelming emotions, as evidenced by how our first life together had ended. She’d already been struggling before the fiasco at her wedding with Mathias. She was a ticking time bomb now, and while I couldn’t have cared less about the damage she did to others, her life would end
once again, and we wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. And without her, we’d fall apart as well—all over again.
At the back of my mind, my wolf snarled angrily, demanding to be let out, to do something, anything, that would stop this outcome. If I held back, it was only because I knew my job, my duty, and my true purpose. Pursuing my instincts could sabotage the whole operation now, when Darius was relying on me and Malachai to control the plagues.
Malachai must’ve noticed my anxiousness, because he surreptitiously reached for me and clutched my leg, drawing my attention. His hold didn’t hurt, nor did it break the skin, but it did make me look at him.
As our eyes met, my tension started to fade away. We couldn’t have a real conversation in front of the plagues, but his new diet came with some perks. I sensed his mind brush over mine and the familiarity of his presence soothed me.
The message wasn’t verbal, but I understood its meaning anyway. “It’s all right,” Malachai was telling me. “You can trust him. You can trust them all.”
I shot him a quick smile in thanks and focused on the present, not on my painful memories of the past or my fears for the future. Darius would take the lead of the operation and enter the prison. Bjorn would stay with him and use his incubus skills to incapacitate our targets and limit the damage done to our forces.
Malachai and I would lead another, smaller unit, meant to avoid the escape of any of the humans. We were just waiting for Darius’s cue to move in.
“The operation is starting,” Darius said in my headset, mere seconds later. “Team Green, go.”
I didn’t have to be told twice. Gesturing for my group to follow, I slipped through the shadows, sneaking through the thick vegetation to approach the compound.
Some maximum security prisons didn’t have any convenient trees for intruders to hide behind. This particular one did, probably due to the simple logic that most people didn’t try to break into prisons, but rather, out of them. Today, the humans would learn they should’ve been a little more cautious.
Darius didn’t bother with a discrete approach, of course. He needed a way to exorcise the tension that had been bubbling up inside him. In Mathias’s body, he couldn’t use fire magic, but that didn’t matter. He still took out his annoyance on the building. The night seemed to turn into day as a massive explosion broke straight through the thick gates of the compound.
From my hiding spot, I could see the plagues climbing up the walls, and before long, the sound of gunfire mingled with the screams of the humans in a cacophonous symphony. A blaring warning alert joined the mix, and I suppressed a flinch at the grating, ear-splitting sound. Why did humans have to make their alarms so strident?
Like Darius had expected, it didn’t take long for some humans to attempt to evacuate. The gates opened and two cars sped out of the compound. They were undoubtedly the officials in charge of the prison, who’d seen the writing on the wall and were trying to save their own lives.
That wasn’t going to happen. There was nowhere to run, not for them and not for me.
I jerked my head at the others. When one of the members of my new pack cheered under his breath, I ignored it. The air was thick with the scent of hunger and anticipation, and my wolf responded to it, just as eager as the others were. My own feelings had nothing to do with the food itself. It was the end result of this mission that I looked forward to—becoming more powerful, regaining my lost strength, and hopefully, taking an important step in our journey to save Lucienne.
We emerged from our hiding place and intercepted the vehicles. I landed on the first one and shoved my fist straight through the windshield. The driver screamed and the man next to him pulled out a gun. He never got the chance to use his weapon, as Malachai ripped his door open and jerked him out so violently he snapped the stranger’s throat.
I paid no heed to the gruesome, yet somehow, arousing sound of blood-drinking. Instead, I tore out the wheel, not bothering to do anything else to the human still desperately attempting to escape.
As the car went out of control, I jumped off, with Malachai right behind me. He didn’t have the dead body of his victim with him. I assumed he must’ve been forced to drop it.
“You know, I should be pissed with you for ruining my dinner,” he commented, his crimson eyes still tinged with feral blood lust.
I laughed, the savage intensity of the moment encouraging my beast. “We have plenty of time for that. This is just the appetizer, remember?”
By now, the rest of our group had subdued the remaining humans—permanently. Two more cars lay on the road, in flames, the bodies of their occupants slumped on the ground in lifeless heaps.
Some of these people had undoubtedly been innocent. They’d been guards, their role similar to the position I’d held while working for The Pure Kingdom of Alaria. Darius’s tentative plan had been to take at least some of them alive, presumably as food for later, and find a way to let them go in time.
But from the very beginning, we’d known better than to believe we wouldn’t have to spill innocent blood for this and, at this point, we’d stopped caring that much. We’d done far worse than this in the past, and for Lucienne’s sake, we’d never stop.
“They won’t try to come out this way again,” I told Mathias’s underlings. “We’re joining His Lordship’s team inside the prison.”
“Yes, Sir,” the plagues happily agreed.
Darius had already made significant progress with his destruction of the prison, and the security system was already seriously damaged. The plagues’ ability to manipulate currents of air came in handy and we entered the compound with ease.
The chaos we found inside was the perfect hunting ground. The cells must have opened, because the prisoners had escaped and some of them were trying to fight off heroic, misguided guards. In other areas, the staff members had abandoned their duty and were wisely running for their lives.
The end result was the same. Once again, we caught up with the humans attempting to flee—both prisoners and guards. The plagues feasted on their lives and Malachai found a replacement meal as well.
I would’ve probably done the same, but my concern for Darius refused to go away. Under normal circumstances, he could take care of himself, and the humans couldn’t harm him. But these weren’t normal circumstances, and the worst threat didn’t come from the humans.
In the end, I didn’t have to go looking for my prince. Darius found me. He appeared out of nowhere in the courtyard, his presence absorbing all the air in his proximity. “Anything wrong, my pet?” he asked.
“Nothing whatsoever, My Lord,” I replied.
It was a lie and we both knew it. Almost everything about today was impossibly wrong. But we’d been born like this, cursed and twisted. Trying to fight off our natures hadn’t worked very well.
Tentatively reassured that Darius was all right, I shifted into my wolf form and allowed my beast to take over. Every human in my line of sight became my prey. I pounced on the closest one, ripping into his flesh with my claws and fangs.
Blood splattered on my fur and its coppery taste filled my mouth. Distantly, I wondered if Lucienne would be repulsed once we saw one another again. She’d been so horrified and disgusted at the origins of my species. She might react poorly to the fact that I’d started to fall into the same habits.
But I’d made a decision and I refused to turn back. I couldn’t afford to be weak any longer. Werewolves without magic were easy prey for more powerful supernatural beings. I was vulnerable to the power of the Dames Blanches. This was my only chance to fix that, and I would take it.
As I ripped out the throat of the human beneath me and swallowed his flesh, I embraced the truth of my Accursed nature. An image of my soulmate’s smile flashed through my mind. Wait for us, Lucienne. We’re coming. Don’t give up. We won’t fail you, not this time.
* * *
Darius
Once upon a time, when I’d been an Alarian prince carrying out the will of my family,
I’d hunted scavengers without having a real opinion of my own about it. I hadn’t felt anything at the bloodshed and destruction, because it hadn’t been in my ability to feel. It had been simple, the only path Darius Alarisson could follow.
Things had stopped being simple the moment I’d touched Lucienne, and while I reveled in my new ability to feel, it was often more of a hindrance than a help. Today, I had no such issues.
My underlings had already made quite a feast of the prisoners who had been unable to get out. I should’ve felt at least some degree of guilt at what I’d done, at the acts I’d encouraged and arranged. These were humans and they shouldn’t have had to die. It was not my place to be judge, jury, and executioner for anyone, even for those guilty of despicable crimes. And there had been good people here, regular men who’d just been doing their jobs.
So many of them had fallen. Too many. Bjorn was trying, but at the end of the day, we hadn’t come here to save anyone. We’d come to kill.
When I found Declan in the courtyard, I could tell a part of him had yet to fully accept what we were doing. Memories that didn’t completely belong to me surged to the forefront of my mind, but I didn’t let that get in my way.
This had been happening more and more since the others had joined Declan and me at Mathias’s headquarters. Maybe eventually, I’d lose myself in Mathias’s past, in his overwhelming recollections. But I was strangely okay with that, if it meant I could help the others find happiness.
“Anything wrong, my pet?” I asked him. The question held an underlining message. It was a way to encourage him, to tell him he should take whatever he wanted and needed. No matter how many foul deeds we committed this day, it would still be for a purpose.
He must’ve understood, because his hesitation vanished. “Nothing whatsoever, My Lord.”
I watched him attack and a strange feeling of satisfaction surged through me. When he’d been a guardian, Declan hadn’t used his shape-shifting skills much, as it had been forbidden. There was a savage grace about it, about seeing him rip a human apart with his own fangs.
