Awakened (A Fairy Tales Novel)

by Melanie Walker

"Cocky as well, I must say I’m intrigued."

  "Certain Fil, I’m certain, not cocky."

  Laughing again Bri almost didn’t hear the footsteps behind her. "Ah Mr. Cane, I am so pleased to introduce you to my wife of...how many years again darling?" Fil asked smiling and Bri slowly spun to catch a glimpse of Adam Cane behind her. Knowing he was coming in from behind to get a good lock on Fil. The look he gave was one of total pleasure and she wondered which one of them he was getting off on.

  Turning back to Fil she answered..."it will be seven hundred and seven this year...what is that? Paper? I know it’s not gold..."

  "Fire I think...." he said and like a flicker his face distorted and small blue flames flew from his mouth on a growl that Bri flinch and stepped back from.

  "Tricky, tricky, honey." She tightened her fingers around the knife preparing herself for the possibility of his igniting her.

  "Mr. Cane..." Fil called out and Adam stepped up till he stood beside Bri giving nothing away. "Tell me are there any secrets inside my wife’s old noggin that I may find useful?"

  Bri made an attempt to flinch at Fils words secretly laughing inside at the game he had no idea she and Cane were playing. She acted a good game of terrified prey and looked at Cane, big violet eyes wide in faux fear.

  This is where the three days of training, of holding her thoughts back from him was so crucial, the slightest slip, the tiniest hint of fear and he would crack her open again. Bri stood her ground, gave the old deer in the headlights and looked at Cane.

  "Nothing much, she wants your death.... badly." He gave a phony cringe and Bri gave a great fake whimper. "She broke it off with her friends and her lover just to be here with you tonight."

  Bri kept her mental shield in place even though those words, though Cane warned her, they still hurt. She focused on the energy in the room. Fil wasn’t afraid...yet, but that was where Adam came in. Right now was where Fils anger took hold.

  "Lover?" He snarled. "Who? Who has my dear wife been loving lately."

  "Vampire." Cane said his voice bored. "He gave a good shag but even for him she was a bit much... you made a mess of her really. All I’m getting is some bad memories of beatings and the sales you yourself placed on her."

  "Vampire? Really...." There it was, the slightest hint but it was there. Fil was scared and in that moment Cane switched victims and laid into Fil, opened every tiny trap door in his brain and suspended him in a blanket of his own anguish.

  Cane watched Fil like he would break out of the hold in seconds but then looked at Bri, his face torn by the grief of what Fil had done, seeing it first hand through the eyes of the victimizer changed everything for Cane. "So vicious..." was all he said as he stepped closer and looked Fil in the eye. "The things I get from him, almost no hatred for you at all Briar."

  Bri looked at Cane. "What?" The question nowhere near asking enough based on his statement.

  Cane shook his head. "No truly it is not hate he holds for you but hate for the path his own life took. What he was destined to be had your father not interfered. This was all over a kingdom in the Dark, not the earthbound one. He literally has used you to seek revenge on Ezek."

  "Because I robbed him just as he robbed me. All was fair in that war, I assure you." Ezek stood in the doorway, his black suit and blood red tie a beacon in the almost all white room.

  "What are you doing here?" Bri asked through gritted teeth.

  "I got a message from a very angry Vampire hell bent on ringing your neck for this stunt."

  Bri could scream at the boldness of her former mate. God damn Fangs and his hero worshiping ass! "And what exactly are you going to do? Your hands are bound, and tied when it comes to my safety and freedom. You made damn sure of that!" She roared her body like a thin band about to snap.

  "I did what was best for you and the girls Bri, regardless if you see it or not. What I can do for you here is kill this worthless piece of shit and call it fair!"

  "Best for us? Nothing you have done was ever for me or the girls! You bound us to you because you wanted to make sure Fil never got your kingdom! It was the Crown of the Arch that created this suffering Ezek, we didn’t deserve it! I was the weapon you used against him..." Her voice cracked on the last part, completely exhausted she let what she just said play back through her mind, somewhere along the confusion she could finally see the truth. "I could have been happy.

  "You created a myth of my life, my suffering. Made every demon fear me because of that damn contract and knife. Do you have any idea what that hell I suffered through, what it did to me? Why would you keep me from knowing what I truly am, when I could have ended this so long ago? I could have saved Belle from her own demise Ezek."

  He watched her with a stare that spoke nothing on the emotions storming through the room. He was guilt and anger... sadness and regret. "I couldn’t let you know Bri, couldn’t let you leave me."

  She choked on a sob then at finally receiving a truth from him. "I needed you Bri, you have always been my 8ball in the side pocket. You and Ashess have been my highest earners for souls, what you girls were capable of before this was unfathomable. I knew once freedom from the Dark came calling you would run and never look back."

  "Why would we want to stay?"

  "Because I loved you girls, I saved you from much worse fates. Of everything I’ve done I deserve credit for that."

  "Your right, you did offer us something but I think the jury is still out on whether or not it was a better fate." She shook her head and couldn’t help the feeling of defeat. "Me... maybe yeah. I gained a lot accepting my fate but Ash and Winter.... Belle, they deserved so much more Ezek."

  Adam cleared his throat as if willing the conversation in a new direction.

  "Either way Bri, I am here to help. Better late than never."

  "How are you even able to fathom that idea? He is still my mate Ezek, the deal between him and Pete was broken the minute the knife came to me. I belong to him not you." She stepped closer to her father than she had been since learning her true being a few nights before. "You are worthless here, anywhere really. Just leave because I’ll be damned if you step in now."

  Ezek ignored the slam from Bri and looked to Cane who stood stoically still holding Fil in an infinite amount of emotion. "You can release him Cane, I can take it from here."

  The instant Cane released Fil, it took not even a second and for the first time in all her life Bri came face to face with the dragon that Disney had made famous. It was a dramatic display and she got the joke and it only pissed her off more. Well until that very second the dragon Fil shifted too took a lethal and fatal bite out of Ezeks stomach.

  Bri screamed as she watched her father fall bleeding and lifeless to the floor, seconds before the dragon came after her.

  *

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Bri stepped back from the fearsome creature before her. His teeth were jagged; serrated and throbbing at the snaps he made to get her flesh between them.

  Bri looked in the eyes, the same eyes that Fil shared with his silent killer and saw nothing but hatred in the ancient depths. His scales were red and orange the color of all the fires burning in the caverns of Hell. The scent in the room was a whole lot of brimstone, the sulfur smell choking Bri as she drew her power in.

  The dragon roared and charged her as she ducked behind one of the granite pillars, the scratch of teeth on stone made goose bumps form on her flesh. “Cane I seriously cannot control the fear hear so please tell me you can?” She yelled over the growl of the dragon as it smashed into the pillar just seconds after Bri made a dash for the door, desperate to get the dragon outside.

  Cane didn’t answer her and that was fine. In the corner of her eye she could see him frantically working on the wound in Ezeks side, desperate to put his pieces back inside.

  Bri was too far from the door and with no choice as the dragon charged again, leaving wreckage in his wake, Bri sliced sure and deep along its side before dropping to her knee
s and palming her ears in the deafening roar of pain she had inflicted.

  Fil’s dragon wailed and fumbled its steps trying to back away from Bri. “Pay attention Briar!” Cane yelled from her father’s side.

  Bri looked up at the dragon and could see the gaping wound the knife inflicted and immediately went for one of the flares, striking it and the room lit up in the red flame just seconds before Bri pushed the flare in through the wound.

  On a wing and a prayer she dashed as far as possible in hopes of the dragon, like all of hells creatures, being flammable.

  The flare however died out and before Bri could groan the “oh shit” that was on her lips the dragon roared and charged yet again, the wound in his side having been cauterized by the flare.

  His teeth were snapping as he got close and Bri could smell the smoke as he called upon the fire and brimstone inside of him. She tried to block her face and side but the flames were molten hot and burned down the remainder of her body forcing a cry from her before she could utter the strength to try and run again.

  Her skin felt like lava but Bri still fought, refusing to let him get her.

  The dragon snapped at every tool she had, every weapon ripped from her hands by savage teeth aching for a taste of the princess behind it.

  As the dragon latched on the pant leg of her jeans Bri kicked with all her might until the stiletto heel of her Jimmy Choo boots dug into the fleshy skin of the dragons’ cheek, before kicking her foot up and gouging his eye clean out of the socket.

  Fil couldn’t control the dragon any longer and shifted to his human body screaming in agony as his blood ran down his face.

  “You fucking whore!” He shouted and charged her willing to tear her flesh from her bones with his bare hands.

  Hand to hand combat had never been Bri’s strong suit. It was her and Fil and the only weapon she had was the pirate’s blade in her boot. Fil was on her before she could reach for it, slamming her head against the granite pillar she was hiding behind.

  Falling to her knees Bri could feel the anger in her rise like the sun after a storm, the vengeance inside of her rolling like thunder in the desert. She came to life in that instant and charged Fil with the single minded intent of bringing him to his death.

  She kicked him back with a solid strike that sent him so Bring through the room and landing a good fifteen feet ahead of her. She charged and let her fists fall against his face. Years of torture and suffering coming out in every thump of her fists.

  He grabbed a fist of her hair and yanked until she lost balance and fell over him where he rolled trapping her beneath him. With his grip on her throat Bri fought desperately for a breath but the fight was near impossible as he began to knee her in the ribs.

  No other choice but to fight for the blade, Bri dug her hand into the boot, her fingers grazing the blades handle but she needed a good inch to get a grip on it. She started thrashing her body rocking from side to side, the flashes of pain from every movement told her that her ribs were shattered if not destroyed.

  It was the smooth grip she felt though that had her calming, lying still hoping that Fil was fooled by her routine.

  He was. He loosened the grip and pulled back from her body, those three seconds were all she needed and she pulled the blade free and brought it up and slammed the dull blade into Fils spine. With a crack and a sickening pop, Prince Fil went down.

  *

  Gasping for breath Bri leaned against the broken pillar of granite and watched the pale unmoving face of her father on the ground before her. Fil was slumped across from her bleeding out from the various wounds she inflicted, the pillar he rested against had seen better days but that’s what happens when a pissed off vengeance decides that playing with dragons is not fun.

  "Its...delicate, aint it Bri?" Fil asked his voice just above a whisper and the stench of his agony made her stomach curl. He was dying.

  "What Fil?"

  "The path, the one that lead you back to your master."

  "You are not my master. Even more, it ends here tonight Fil. It’s over."

  "Yet you still couldn’t kill me could you? Can you?" He asked. The fact it was a valid point was like a heartbeat in the room. After all she had learned, all he had put her through, her father’s words rang true. There was a little of each of them in one another. With Fil, in his dying breaths he captured her compassion.

  "Why not free me Fil?" The question was worth a million words and worth her weight in gold. "Why if I meant nothing to you all the way to the end, dead or alive, why then, not free me and try to move on? God knows I’d have allowed it."

  "Pride, even before the fall."

  She wiped away tears as his voice carried to her, even now he wouldn’t show an ounce of kindness to her. "Just... kill me...please Bri... I ache to be free from this world." As those words carried to her she moaned as she tried to stand.

  After getting her footing she limped over to Fil, stood above him, blade in hand. "You’re dying as we speak Fil. My swift hand is all that lies between you and your fate." She stared at him tears rolling from her eyes as the true taste of freedom bled through her body. "I lack the mercy that would justify your end.

  "I don’t." A voice as smooth as silk and dark as night scraped along her senses a fraction of a second before the raven black hair of the man she loved fell between her and Fil. Fangs fangs sank deep and severed the carotid artery that would bleed out quicker than any wound Bri had inflicted. Within seconds Fil was dead.

  Fangs took the knife from Bri as she fell to her knees crying desperately for all that she had lost today…for all she had gained.

  Fangs raised the knife above Fils throat and removed Fils head ensuring his demise, his silence forever.

  Fangs fell in behind Bri, pulling her into his arms as she cried.

  Just like her fable, her prince charming saved her from the dragon.

  *

  Chapter Twenty-six

  So being indestructible was a load of shit! There was nothing indestructible about the injuries Bri sustained in a fight to the death with Fil. Not that she was awake to feel any of the pain.

  Fil was dead and though Bri slept like she was as well, she had defeated him even if she didn’t give the killing blow. It was almost poetic in a cryptic way that her true love slayed the dragon for her.

  She had tears in her eyes the moment they did open, when she saw the fabric of humanity in her room. Beast was curled along the window seat of her bedroom, and the shell of the moon in the midnight sky cast a silver glow over the man, his brows scrunched as if fighting the sleep that took him anyway.

  Winter was asleep in the chair beside her bed, arm outstretched on the bed while she slumbered curled over Bri's arm.

  Perhaps though, it was Ash standing in the doorway as if scared to enter. Wide awake she stepped forward when the faint light from the hallway was as effective as a flashlight pointing to the tears in her eyes.

  "She sleeps, go figure." Ash chuckled softly and stepped into the room her smile soft, her steps timid. Memory came like a flash flood and Bri cringed at the last words she spoke to her friend.

  "Smart ass." Bri sniped, her voice like gravel.

  Ash handed her a glass of water and sat on the side of the bed. "How do you feel?"

  "Like I got my ass kicked by a dragon."

  Ash laughed again then playfully nudged Bri's arm.

  "What? To soon?" Bri asked with a smile.

  "I think it will be a few more centuries before we find humor in this one Ar." Ash said her voice having lost the playfulness, the worry for Bri came through like a wave.

  "Vindicated..." Bri said and leaned back after handing Ash the empty water glass. Ash stood to fill the glass in the bathroom and came back handing the glass over to Bri again.

  "Drink." She said and took a seat again. "Vindicated..." She said the word as if trying it on for size. "I think it fits."

  "How long have I been out?"

  "Four days. We didn’t know..."
Ash let the sentence fall, both of them knowing what she was getting at.

  "I'll be fine Ash..."

  Ash nodded. "Well you didn’t see you four days ago, I think our fear is warranted." There was a chill in her voice as she spoke.

  "Ash..." Bri croaked when Ashess stood from the bed. "Please Ash, I know that your fear for me was warranted, but I had to do it alone."

  Ash sighed tiredly. "I know Bri, I know why you think that but in the end... the cost of what your future holds... it’s a steep price Bri."

  "What do you mean?" Bri asked, terrified that she was forgetting a major piece from the night of Fil's demise. Trying to sit up, Winter shifted and Bri paused not needing a tag team at the moment.