by Laura Wylde
I tried to run towards him, to see if I could save him, but Trent shifted and changed, becoming Joshua. Or not so much Joshua but a hybrid mess of himself. Half hawk with a broken wing, a snapped bird leg, and a shattered beak, and half human with his eyes actually popping out of his head and his hand hanging off.
“Fuck, Joshua, what the hell?” I could feel tears coming out of my eyes. Was this happening right now? Or was this what would happen if we continued down this road. I couldn’t let everyone be harmed like this. “Oh God.”
Joshua wasn’t there for much longer, he soon became Andrew. The guy who I once couldn’t even imagine getting along with no matter what happened, but who I had developed a soft spot for recently. Knowing his history, understanding him a bit more, working with him had made me want to keep him as safe as the others. Even more so after last night. We connected and bonded on a deeper level, and I knew now that if we were going to move forwards as a harem then we needed each other, all of us. It wouldn’t work otherwise.
We weren’t the usual kind of harem, I was sure people would talk, but that didn’t matter if we were happy.
As Andrew appeared with his head completely removed from his body, his body all twisted up like a gnarly pretzel, and a pool of blood around him. The sight of him choked me up completely.
“Fuck no…” As Andrew started to vanish, I realized what was coming. Something that I really didn’t want to see. I wasn’t going to be able to look at the next image, there was no chance in hell. “Oh God, no.”
I squeezed my eyes close so that I didn’t have to see the mangled body of my best friend and the woman that I loved more than anything in the world, but the sight flooded me anyway. The demon was deep inside my head, making me see whatever he wanted to, and I couldn’t stop it. I had absolutely no control over my own brain right now, which was terrifying. The scariest thing that I had ever had to deal with in my entire life.
There she was… Felicia, but in a million pieces. Bits of her everywhere with one of the reddish gray demons above her, seemingly laughing at what he had done to her. He didn’t care that he had ruined my entire life, that I would never be happy or fall in love again. Felicia would always be the one for me. It broke me. I could feel myself falling forwards, collapsing, hard on the floor, giving up every inch of fight that I had within me. If this was what the demon wanted, then he had succeeded. I was lost, there was no way back for me, I was done for. I couldn’t carry on without her.
“It doesn’t have to be this way,” the whispering started all over again. “You can put a stop to this.”
“How?” I begged. “I will do anything. I don’t want to lose her. Or any of them, please.”
“You have to stop this; you need to keep our secret. Don’t tell anyone what you know.”
“About the markings? Or the hell hounds?” The demon hissed. “The portals? Okay fine. All of it.”
“You don’t mean it, Evan. I can see in to your soul. Don’t you forget that. I know your heart.”
“I’m telling you! I won’t tell anyone. I mean it. It doesn’t matter what you think you can see.”
There was more hissing. So much hissing that I couldn’t stand it any longer. I wanted to block my ears and never listen to it again, but I was stuck. Frozen in place while the demon did whatever he wanted me to…
But then everything changed again and I was back in the woodlands. I started mentally preparing myself to start fighting… but it was quiet, much too quiet. I was struck by the horrifying idea that everyone was already dead, and it was too late for me. That the sights I had been shown were real after all.
“We need to go.” Suddenly Trent’s hands grabbed my shoulders. I was relieved that he was alive, but was freaked out by the urgency in his tone. “We need to go to the Scottish Highlands.”
“What?” I demanded, totally confused. “Why do we need to go there? That makes no sense.”
“While you and Andrew were out, being mentally attacked by the demons, one of them went inside after Felicia. To take her and the evidence that we have found.” A strangled scream burst free from me. “No, they didn’t get Felicia, Joshua and I prevented that, but they did get all of our phones and photographic evidence. The notes as well. They basically left us with absolutely no evidence to show anyone else.”
“So, what?” I rubbed my head, still not getting it. I was covered in skin, not fur, which suddenly hit me hard. When did I shift back? The demon must have made that happen. “Why the Highlands?”
“I don’t know what happened to you while the demon had you, but Andrew found out all sorts. He hasn’t explained what he did, we don’t really have time for that, but he knows that the demons have a meeting place there, so it makes sense that that is where they would be taking our evidence. I don’t want to go back to the academy without it.”
“But… why not?” God, I was still out of it. My brain it was still foggy. I couldn’t understand how the hell Andrew remained with such a clear mind during the attack. “The academy wants us back and it seems like we can’t fight whatever they are doing. We should just go back…”
Trent didn’t get it. He was giving me the strangest look in the world, but I suppose this wasn’t like me. I did want to protect everyone and fight for what was right, but I had the horrible feeling that the images I had seen were from this meeting place. I didn’t want to go there at all. I couldn’t stand everyone getting hurt like that.
“We are going,” he told me determinedly, really not seeing that I wanted to save anyone. “We have to…”
“I saw things,” I practically exploded. “I saw all of us dying, Trent, and I don’t want that to happen. It can’t.”
“What do you mean?” he asked me curiously, but with caution “Was it something real or something that the demon showed you to scare you…”
“But you’re so eager to believe what Andrew told you? Maybe the demon lied to him as well.”
“We need to try.” Trent was firm and determined. “We have to go to see what is going on there.”
I hung my head low, too weak to continue fighting. The demon had really zapped everything out of me. “I don’t know, Trent. But I’m scared. You know? I don’t want anyone to get hurt.”
“We can put forward what you saw to everyone and then let them make a decision for themselves. Then there is no way that you can blame yourself for anything that happens.”
But they wouldn’t, would they? Not without seeing it. They couldn’t possibly make the right choice. Plus, they all wanted to do the right thing even if it meant putting themselves in the firing line. If I wasn’t so weak then I would have gone alone. I would do whatever I could to fight for these people. But I couldn’t.
“The Loch is a portal,” Andrew suddenly appeared and grabbed on to Trent, freaking out. I could see it in his eyes that he had been through a similar experience, but he seemed to be holding on to his sanity. “I saw it. I didn’t say it before but now I realize it. The Loch is a demon portal and it always has been. Demons have been sneaking through it for a long time, but no one realized it. It was the legend of the Loch Ness Monster. Anything that ever happened was always attributed to the doings of the monster. But the beast doesn’t even exist, not really. They have just been using it as a cover story. It’s all them. It’s always been them.”
My heart sunk. I knew then that it didn’t matter what Trent said, what I said, we would be going there. Now everyone was only going to be more determined to save the day. I was going to have to get myself adjusted to the idea, to sort my head out and put it in the game because I had to be on top form to help out as much as I could. Maybe I wouldn’t be able to stop those images from becoming true, but I was sure as hell going to fight until the bitter end.
I stood back and watched as Trent explained what I saw, and just as I predicted, everyone agreed to go along to the Highlands anyway, to find out what was going on there no matter the danger. Even Felicia. In fact, she was the most determined of all which made
me a fucking emotional wreck. Seeing her dead was the hardest thing that I ever had to do. If that was going to end up being something real, then I needed to get everything out in the open.
It had always been far too scary for me to put my heart on the line, to say how I felt about Felicia, but this was different now. This was life or death and there was a big chance that none of us would make it out alive.
“I love you,” I rasped at her stepping forwards. “Felicia. I have always loved you…”
“What?” She looked shocked. “What are you talking about? Love?”
This was heavy for her, it was heavy for me as well, but this had to happen. “Yes, Felicia. I love you, and I want to be with you. As you already know, I’m afraid that we might die here. But if we don’t, and we get out of this alive, then I don’t want to hold back my feelings anymore. I want to be with you. In whatever way you want me.”
A thick silence clung to the air for far too long.
“You don’t need to give me an answer now,” I added quickly. “I don’t expect anything from you. I just want to give you something to think about if… when we escape.”
“Me too,” Trent stunned me to the core by saying. “I want to be with you too. In your harem.”
I knew that we had shared the night together, all of us, but he was committing to forever more as well, if she wanted it. He had to like her too, but he obviously hadn’t told me because I was so possessive. To be fair to Trent, I wasn’t sure how I would have taken it, before this trip. I probably would have freaked out.
“And me.” I was less shocked about Joshua. He was obviously into Felicia. “I would like that as well.”
I sucked in a breath, wondering how Felicia was going to take this. I knew what she was like, she wouldn’t know what to say about it. But her expression spoke volumes. She liked the idea more than she was letting on, which gave me hope. Hope that maybe something magical was about to happen later on…
If we survived.
“I would as well,” Andrew declared quietly, much less confident than the rest of us. “Because I love you too, Felicia, I would love to be in your harem. But you don’t have time to think about it now because we really need to go. The demons are growing stronger and we need to stop them.”
Chapter 15
Felicia
I couldn’t look at anyone as we went to Scotland, I was completely overwhelmed by the guys and their request for me to choose them as their harem. I mean, it wasn’t even usually the guys job to ask, I was supposed to be the one to choose them, but they had taken a stand and done it for me. I guess I wouldn’t have ever been the one who had the courage to ask them anyway …
The thing was I didn’t even know what I wanted anymore; this was all so crazy. When I started on this, I assumed that I would return to the academy as completely the same person. I never even thought for a moment that I would have fallen for anyone, much less wanted a harem, but now I was left with a choice. Do I go back to the comfortable normal life that I had become accustomed to, knowing that I could have something better if I wanted it? Or did I take that brave step in to the unknown and see what happened? Thankfully the guys hadn’t pressured me into making a decision then and there because I never would have been ready for it.
“The demons are examining our evidence,” Trent hissed at all of us. “This is bad, guys. What do we do?”
“Well, we can’t just charge in there, can we?” Evan shot back. “We need to be careful; and we need to be stealthy.”
“We should probably wait until the crowd has thinned out so there are less of them for us to take on.” Andrew nodded his head seriously. “I need to think, see if there is anything I know that could possibly help us.”
“I might take a look around,” Joshua piped up. “See if there is anything I can pick up from the sky.”
How could they do that? Talk about the mission, all normal, as if we hadn’t just had the most life changing conversation of our whole lives? Was I the only one who was nervous? The guys had to feel something about it, didn’t they? They needed to have some kind of emotion, regardless of what my answer would be, but they weren’t showing it. Somehow, they had their heads right in the game, focused on what needed to be done.
I wished that I could do the same. I wanted to concentrate on this mission as well, especially since we were at the hub of where the demons met and carried out their missions. This was going to get messy, there was no doubt about it, and I had to stop focusing on my mixed-up complicated love life. First, I needed to survive.
“So, what are we going to do then?” I asked Evan and Trent. They both gave me a look as if they knew I was anxious. “How are we going about this?”
“Are you okay?” Trent furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. “You seem a little freaked out.”
I gave him a thin smile. “I’m fine. Just trying to work out how we are going to make this work.” I suddenly realized how that sounded and shook my head. No way I wanted to get back in to that conversation right now. “I mean, with getting the evidence back. The Loch isn’t exactly going to be an easy place for us to sneak into.”
I shrugged my shoulders helplessly and stared at both of them. I darted my eyes between the both of them, but nothing seemed to come to them. This wasn’t good, we needed to figure it out if we weren’t going to die. Especially since Evan seemed really freaked out about what the demon had shown him. I didn’t want that to happen at all. I glanced up to see Joshua still flying around, searching for something.
“It’s being kept in one specific area,” Trent mused. “So, one of us needs to aim for that while the rest of us fight.”
“I will,” I offered immediately. “I’ll go and get it. Don’t look at me like that, Evan. You know that I can do it. I’m a kick ass druidess and great at defensive magic. One of the best in our class. You don’t need to worry about me and what I’m doing. I can do this. The demons always under estimate druidesses anyway and you know it.”
“I don’t want you putting yourself in the line of fire, Felicia, you know that,” Evan warned in his usual over protecting manner. “I can’t be afraid while I fight. It doesn’t work like that. Andrew should go. We have seen his stealth skills and he’s really good at it. He can get the evidence and you can hide.”
I pressed my hands to my hips and stared defiantly at him. “Are you saying that I can’t do it?”
“No, I’m not saying that,” he immediately back tracked. “I just want you to be safe.”
“I will be safe, I can be safe, and I am doing this. There is nothing that you can say to change my mind. It isn’t going to happen. I want to be useful; I want to be able to do something as well, and this is what I’m doing. You guys can focus on fighting and causing a distraction for me. That, along with my defensive magic, will make this plan work.”
Evan parted his lips, he was about to argue some more, I could just see it in his face, and I prepared myself for it. Evan and I had rows before about his need to protect me, and I was ready to go again… but that didn’t happen. Before he could say a damn word, we were spotted. I could tell because the whole atmosphere surrounding us changed, the air became thicker and full of panic. I wasn’t the only one to spot it either because Evan and Trent both stiffened as well before silently communicating that they needed to shift.
Within seconds they were replaced by a gorgeous sleek red fox who could dart in and out of everywhere, and who had a fierce bite as well, and a strong looking wolf with his teeth bared. They were ready, and I needed to be as well.
But it wasn’t any of us who made the first move. It was Joshua. Sensing the danger ahead of us, he dove from the sky, on to one of the unsuspecting demons, grabbed it and flew it up in to the air before it could get anywhere near us. A fight broke out high up near the clouds which made my blood run ice cold. There was nothing that any of us could do to save Joshua up there. He was strong and smart, but fear was known to make people do stupid things…
But I couldn’t fo
cus on that for too long because I noticed something else. It was the very thing that we had been chasing and researching but seeing it in the flesh was too much to bear. Hell hounds. Big, black, shadowy looking beasts with a red light emanating from them. Piercing orange eyes shot right in to my soul, causing a nasty spitting lave fire to fill me right up, sizzling angrily in my veins, making every part of me ache horribly. Then came the teeth. Teeth so violent I knew that they could pierce my heart with ease and eat me in moments.
“Felicia!” Andrew screamed from behind me. “You need to do something.”
It was then I realized that I had taken to standing there, waiting, staring, ready to be attacked without even fighting back. The hell hounds were growing closer and I wasn’t doing a damn thing. Evan had started trying to take a few of them out but it wasn’t enough to save me. I needed to look after myself.
I dug deep within myself and found that pit inside of me where my strongest defensive magic was kept. Then I slid my eyes closed and I summoned it. I knew that with time ticking down, I only had one shot at this, and I needed it to be perfect. I needed to save myself, and hopefully the others too. So, I paused only for the briefest of moments and I sent it flying from within, in shards of light, and exploded it like a volcano erupting.
For a moment, I couldn’t see anything. My defensive magic was blindingly yellow and all around me. From the small yelping sounds that I could hear, I knew that I had hit at least a few of the hell hounds, buying me a couple of moments. But it wasn’t long, and I had my mission. I needed to get to the evidence so we could go back to the academy.
I charged forward. My heart pounded and all of my senses were on high alert. I moved as fast as my body would let me, through the blinding light, praying that I would make it before the magic subsided.
But of course, I didn’t. I couldn’t, and as my vision came back to me, I found something wrapping itself around me, binding my legs and making me trip, before circling around my entire body, twisting and trapping me in a tight grip. I couldn’t fight it however hard I tried, and I thrashed around, trying to get out of its hold.
