by Cree Storm
“Nelson, would you mind opening a portal, so that Keir can take Manchester to Kaliss, then come back right away?” Orion asked.
“Of course,” Nelson said as he moved out of Orion’s embrace, then motioned for Keir to follow him from the room.
“Thank you for going easy on Manchester, Regal. He’s a really good man and didn’t deserve anything he has had to suffer,” Strife said softly.
“I agree. And no one should have to suffer like Manchester has, or anyone else in this coven. So, let’s get back to work, so we can get help to these people faster,” Orion replied then turned to leave the room.
“Wait, Orion,” Helio called out. Once Orion looked back to him, Helio continued, “What of my friends?”
Orion sighed heavily, then looked around at all of them standing there. He finally met Helio’s gaze again and grinned. “Go. Take your mates. Jael, contact Cassidy back in Kaliss and tell him to send you some more guards if you need them. I’ll call Pascal and Ollie and see if they can come give us a hand for a little while.”
Helio’s brows rose high. “You’re going to call Nelson’s brothers to come help? But you know how Ollie gets, and what about their mates? Wyndingo and Zen will not be happy if their mates are put in danger.”
“I’m very aware of my brothers-in-law and all their… quirks, but we need some powerful magic here to help us. You all go and we’ll take care of everything here,” Orion insisted.
“Thank you, Orion. I promise we’ll be as quick as we can,” Helio replied as he took hold of one hand of each of his mates.
Orion turned and looked at Strife. “How much longer do you need to crack all of Heskel’s files?”
“Last time I checked my systems, probably a few more hours, but I can go see if there is something I can do to get that to go faster,” Strife offered.
Orion nodded his acceptance, then turned and left the room.
Helio looked at Jael, then Sabien, and he could see the worry in each of their eyes. “So, I think we need to start in Vegas,” he said nervously.
Helio was afraid his mates would tell him no, that it was too dangerous for him to go, and too much of a risk considering these sick fucks who had taken his friends would also want to get their hands on him, but neither of them said a word about it. Even though they didn’t voice their concerns, Helio could still see it written all over their faces. Or maybe it was his own apprehension?
“I only want to say this before we go, sweetheart. Please don’t go off anywhere without one of us. Always have either Jael or me with you at all times, okay?” Sabien said as he cupped Helio’s cheek with his large hand.
“We know this is something you need to do, mate, and that you have very wicked skills to keep yourself safe, but it doesn’t mean that Sabien and I aren’t still worried about you. So, please, do as Sabien asks,” Jael added.
Helio squeezed Jael’s hand as he smiled. “Of course, Jael. The last thing I want to do is to cause either of you stress, and I do appreciate you both supporting me in this. Thank you for believing in me and for helping me.”
“Always, sweetheart. Always,” Jael and Sabien said in unison, then each moved in and kissed his cheeks.
“And you’re not going without us,” Arlo announced, as he strolled into the room with, Digi, Ringo, and Kilo following.
Helio turned from his mates and glowered at his friends. “Hell no! You all need to stay here. It is too damn dangerous. If any of these freaktards were to get their hands on any one of you, forget all of you, it would be disastrous to say the least. Then, there is the fact that we would have to come rescue you too,” Helio argued as he put his hands on his hips.
Arlo chuffed as he rolled his eyes, then crossed his arms over his chest and raised his left hand, beginning to study his nails. “As if you can actually stop us.”
Helio took a step toward the pain in the ass Amadra as he growled, “You know I can take you, Arlo, so stop being a drama queen. We need to do this smart if we are to find the others, and one of us getting captured too won’t help. And, someone needs to stay here with Kondra.”
“So, you stay with Kondra and we’ll go. Of course we’ll take your Adonis mates with us,” Arlo teased as he gave Helio a smirk.
Helio narrowed his eyes at Arlo. “Keep your damn hands off my mates, or I will cut all your hair off and put a spell on your bald dome to keep it that way,” he threatened.
Arlo gasped in horror. “You wouldn’t.”
“I would,” Helio promised.
“Don’t be mean, Helio. We have every right to try to find the others too,” Ringo said.
“I know you want to help, Ringo but I was there. I know what evil lurks and I don’t want any of you to be taken and made to suffer like Briar and I did,” Helio replied, pleading for them to understand, but he should have known better.
“We are almost as powerful as any butterfly dragon or Santorini fox, and we can take care of ourselves. Would it make you feel any better if we all promised to stay together?” Ringo asked.
Helio knew he wasn’t going to win this fight. Even if they all agreed to stay behind, suddenly they would all just show up where he was. Helio sighed heavily as he rolled his eyes. “Fine, but we all stay together.”
Each of his friends gave him a triumphant smile, but when his gaze moved to his mates, all Helio saw was worry and apprehension. Crap, this was so not going to go well, he just knew it.
CHAPTER 13
Helio looked around nervously as he bit his thumbnail. His anxiety wasn’t really coming from his exact location as much as it was from being in such close proximity of where he and Briar had originally been taken from and brought to. Then, there was also the fact of so many sights and sounds that it was very overwhelming for someone like him who enjoyed flittering around in nature and enjoying the plants, sun, and clean air.
All the flickering and running lights, as well as the line of fast moving cars and the pressure of all the people that mulled around, pushing in on him, accompanied by the thousand different sounds that filled the air and the many smells that swirled around him, all added to his anxiety and filled Helio with the need to run.
They walked along the main strip of Las Vegas, his mates flanking him and his friends behind them talking, pointing, giggling, and gasping away as everything went by. Well, all except for Arlo, who bounced around in front of them like a Chihuahua who had drunk a pot of coffee that was made with Rock Star Energy drink instead of water and someone had thrown a few hits of speed in there for good measure. Helio had never seen Arlo so excited or animated before, and although he was finding it annoying in this moment, he also liked it. Arlo was relaxing a bit and it was nice to see.
Arlo’s head swung constantly from side to side, his eyes wide and filled with wonder, mouth gaping, fingers pointing, as he twirled in circles trying to take everything in. Helio wanted to laugh at Arlo’s reaction and how his friend was letting down his carefully constructed control for once, but memories of what had happened when they stepped off the plane at the airport stopped him.
Yes, the others had complained about them using a flying metal deathtrap to travel and how it wasted far too much time, but Helio, Sabien, and Jael tried to explain to them that just popping in or using a portal to travel to somewhere like Vegas, would be a terrible mistake. They told them there were far too many people and cars around and if they didn’t know an exact location of somewhere out of the public eye, then the risk of exposure was just too great. They would either have to portal into the desert, then walk for many miles, or they could portal to somewhere closer that wasn’t too populated, then grab a plane for the remainder of the trip.
Once the others understood what they were saying, everyone opted for the second choice, so Helio had opened a portal to a hang-gliding company on the far side of the Carson City Airport, where he was sure no one would see them, then they made their way into the terminal at the airport and bought tickets to Vegas. Fortunately for them, they only had to wait a
half hour until their flight left.
Helio had been very nervous about getting on the plane. He had only been on a plane once before and that had been a private jet when he and Briar were both trapped in their butterfly dragon forms, locked in a cage, then buckled into a seat beside the evil witch Lucinda.
He also knew that his friends had never even seen an airplane before, much less flown in one, and Helio was scared of how they would react. His friends could be a bit over the top sometimes and they would draw attention to themselves.
Digi walked slowly, shaking as they boarded the plane, his eyes wide with fear, but Ringo and Arlo had walked onboard like they owned it, saying hello to everyone they met, helping others with their overhead bags, then they actually skipped to their own seats.
Once the plane took off, both Arlo and Ringo froze, gripping the arms of their seats as their eyes opened wide with fear and they stared forward. Digi on the other hand started laughing and going on about how cool it was. When they leveled off, Digi leaned over Helio’s lap trying to get a look out the window. Finally, when they were allowed out of their seats, he and Jael switched so Digi could have the window seat. His friend spent the whole flight glued to what was going on outside, while Arlo and Ringo remained completely silent. Thank goddess Sabien had taken the aisle seat, blocking them from standing and running. They didn’t know what they would have done if Arlo and Ringo freaked out to that extent.
When they landed and were allowed to get off the plane, Arlo and Ringo damn near ran everyone over to get out, then squeezed against the walls of the tunnel until they made it to the terminal, then they actually dropped to their knees and kissed the floor. Yuck.
It was at that moment Digi squealed like a schoolgirl and ran, his arms flailing as he kind of did this jump-skip move. Jael and Sabien burst out laughing until he directed a glare at them and they both got control of themselves. Although, he did notice how they kept covering their mouths with their hands and turning away from him. Buttheads.
Arlo and Ringo finally caught up to what was going on and they both took off at breakneck speed after Digi, causing Helio to chase them. He found the three sitting at a row of slots, each pressing buttons trying to make the wheels spin like they were seeing happening with others around them. When they couldn’t get the machines to work, all three turned around with pouts on their faces that were so damn cute, even Helio couldn’t hold back the laughter that bubbled from inside.
“You need currency to play those,” he informed his friends as he pulled on Digi’s arm, directing him to come along.
“Currency? What is that?” Digi asked.
“Money,” Helio replied, but the confused look on Digi’s face only deepened.
Helio sighed. “Never mind. I’ll explain all of that to you later, but now we really have to go, we don’t have time for all of this.”
Reluctantly, the three allowed him to pull them away and immediately his mates took up positions on either side of them, keeping an eye out for any danger.
As they moved around the groups of people running around in all directions trying to get to their gates or baggage claim, Helio guided them onto the moving sidewalk. As soon as Digi, Arlo, and Ringo stepped foot on it, the three of them screeched in panic and grabbed onto the handrails like their lives depended on it. Which just made his mates start laughing again.
Helio couldn’t help himself and joined his mates as they watched his friends ride the rail to the other end and people all around them stopped to stare. He really shouldn’t be laughing, though. His friends had never been out of Saturnalia and all of this must have been so different, exciting, and scary to them.
He remembered when he and Briar first popped into Vegas and how they had reacted to the whole thing. Luckily for them they had landed very early in the morning and had picked a hotel almost at the end of the strip, hoping not too many people were around. They had gotten lucky and the only handful of humans who did notice their sudden appearance had been drunk at the time.
When they reached the end of the sidewalk, all three had rolled right over the edge and landed on their asses, their faces stunned and frightened. Unfortunately it only made Sabien and Jael laugh harder. They each helped the three to their feet and made sure they were steady before moving on. The long escalator that lead to the lower level of the airport was another story, taking up almost a half hour of their time as they tried to convince Arlo, Ringo, and Digi to just get on, hold onto the rail with one hand and stand patiently. It had taken them a lot of coaxing and Jael having to make multiple trips up and down for them to understand what they needed to do.
“How far away are we, mate?” Sabien asked, bringing Helio out of his thoughts.
“We’re close to the end of the strip. That’s where Briar and I were taken from, but then we were brought to Old Town, which is up on Freemont. We may need to hail a cab again, though. I think the walk will be too much after how far we’ve walked already.”
“Not to mention with the boys gawking at everything and wanting to sightsee, it’s taken us far longer than we anticipated,” Jael said.
Helio sighed. “That too. Not that I blame them, because they have never seen anything like this before as well as humans, but we really do need to get going.”
“Hold on, guys,” Sabien called out, drawing his friends’ attention. Once everyone was standing together, Sabien went to the curb and held out his hand as he whistled. Instantly a cab came flying from the outer lane and pulled up to a screeching halt.
“Where to, buddy?” The driver asked.
Sabien looked back at him, a brow raised in question.
Helio moved closer to the open window. “We need to get to Freemont. There’s a Carl’s Jr. there by the old Tomb Casino, right?”
“Yup, come on in, gentlemen,” the driver replied.
Jael opened the sliding door for the Mini Van and motioned for Digi, Ringo, and Arlo to climb in the back seat, then he and Jael took the center seat and Sabien climbed in the front. Helio was grateful that everyone remained quiet for the duration of the ride, and only Sabien spoke to give the man his fare when they got out. After that, they all stood on the sidewalk looking around.
“So now what?” Arlo asked.
“Now we head this way for two blocks. There’s an old abandoned casino that was changed into a photography studio for upcoming models,” Helio replied, and started walking.
Arlo’s face lit right up as he stepped up next to Helio. “I have no idea what that is, but it sounds fabulous. My friend told me once that photographs were images that were captured of anything that looked identical to what the image was. So, are we going to see some of those?”
Helio shrugged. “Maybe. We’ll see if anything was left behind. And, Arlo, you saw a ton of photographs on the way here. All those images on the big boards were just large photographs.”
“Oh. I was wondering how they got those humans so big and to stand so still.”
Helio just shook his head at his friend, but kept walking.
“Where we’re going, is it the place that they took you and Briar to? Is it safe?” Digi asked, worried.
“After Briar and I were moved with Lucinda, we thought they were closing it down. When they had us in those cages, we heard them talking about others getting too close to what they were doing and they were afraid they would be found. But now, hearing Kondra’s story, I just don’t know what to expect when we get there.”
They continued on until Helio finally stopped and stared at the deserted building. It looked a lot smaller than the last time he had seen it, but maybe that was because the last time he had been in his butterfly dragon form. Ever with it looking smaller, the place still reeked of evil to him, and a shiver of fear raced through him.
Instantly he was wrapped in his arms mates from both sides, and some of his fear evaporated. “It’s okay, precious, we’re here,” Sabien whispered, then kissed his head.
“I know. It’s just that…this place…it brings back
so many bad memories. It’s evil.”
“If you’d like, we can head back to one of those hotels we passed, then you and the others can wait there while Sabien and I check this place out?” Jael offered.
Helio shook his head. “No, but thank you. As much as I want to take you up on that offer and never step foot in this place again, I know I have to.” Helio kissed each of his men quickly, then pulled away and squared his shoulders. “Let’s get this over with.”
They couldn’t find any door unlocked in the front, so they made their way around to the back. Helio was scared, but also relieved to see how dark it was behind the place. It was really only because of all of their paranormal abilities that they could see anything.
Making their way to the door, Sabien grabbed the knob and tried it finding that too locked, but now it wouldn’t matter. No one was around to see what they were doing. Helio held up his hand and the knob glowed, then there was a soft click and the door swung open silently.
When they were all inside, Jael closed the door behind them. Helio held up his hand, and suddenly, a small yellow light appeared in his palm giving them a bit of light. Immediately, Arlo, Digi, and Ringo did the same.
It had taken them over an hour to walk around the whole interior only to find that the place had been abandoned, and everything but a few scraps of paper and trash remained. Helio stood frozen, looking at the last door they had yet to check, but he knew what lay beyond that door. It was the room he and Briar had been kept in. The room where Lucinda would have her minions threaten them to the point they were terrified, then they would stick a needle into their arms and take their blood.
With them being in their dragon butterfly forms, their arms were so small, the needles seemed extra big, although Lucinda said they were needles made for human infants. Helio shook as his breath caught in his throat, the memories flooding his mind.
His mates again wrapped him in their arms and held him close as they tried to comfort him. “I’m guessing this is the room?” Jael asked.
