by Ariel Marie
“What the fuck, Malia?” he yells.
“What is your problem?” I yell back, wrapping the towel around myself.
“Have you lost your fucking mind? What do I have to say to get it through your thick fucking skull, leave me the fuck alone!” He pushes me out the bathroom and into his room.
“Get your shit and get the fuck out!” He growls around his canines, his eyes glowering. I’ve never seen him this angry before, his Alpha vibes hitting me hard. I quickly grab my clothes, not looking in his eyes, showing submission. He grabs me by the back of my neck and tosses me out of his suite out into the hallway.
He tossed me out like I was garbage! He wouldn’t be acting like that if that half-breed bitch were out of the way. I walk out the back door of the house I live in with my parents, stripping off my clothes and shifting as I run down the back stairs. My wolf takes off running into the woods that are adjacent to our yard. I’ll just have to find a way to get that half-breed out of the picture. I’m supposed to be the Alpha’s mate and no one will stand in my way.
* * *
~ Colin~
I didn’t want to let Lina go back with that Guardian. He needs to let her go. She belongs to me. I agreed to not beat his ass again, but if he touches her again, all bets are off. That fucker packs a mean punch. Thankfully, I heal rapidly or my ribs would still be cracked from the jab he threw. I wanted to bash his face in until he was unrecognizable when we fought earlier. His face was smug announcing to the world that he had had what is mine. Anger fills my chest, thinking of that Guardian kissing and touching Lina.
“You’re going to crush that mouse.” Devyn moves the mouse out of my hand. He turns back to the monitor he is watching. The screen is divided into four; it has different views of the portal house.
“So what’s up with you and Lina?” He asks typing away on the computer.
“She knew about the situation from the other night.” I rub my eyes, starting to feel the burn of staring at monitors for too long. I don’t mind talking about this in front of Alec. Alec won’t judge me at all and getting an extra opinion would help right now, since a relationship is new grounds for me.
“How the hell did she know about that? You tell her?” Devyn asks, surprised.
“Hell no!” I explain to him how Lina was able to see what was going on.
“Of course, he didn’t show her what happened in the bathroom or you throwing her out!”
“Right, so she assumed the worst.”
“So what else did the evil Underworld lord show her?” Alec asks.
“I’m not sure. She said that we would have to talk about the rest later.”
“You know you’ve changed,” Devyn states. I look at him and Alec who is nodding his head in agreement.
“How do you mean?”
“One, you smile more. You usually don’t smile as much. I know you got a lot on your plate and are stressed, but you are showing your pearly whites more!” Alec jokes.
“Two, who would have thought, the great Colin MacKenzie would consider a relationship? Or even consider taking a mate?” Devyn chimes in.
“The change is good, man! Really good. I’m glad you’re happy.” Alec salutes.
“Anything yet?” Dante asks, walking into the living room from the kitchen. Dante had left a little while ago to patrol the area so that we can have all areas covered.
“Naw, nothing yet,” Devyn says stretching in his chair.
There is a noise on the back porch. We all pause in our chairs, listening for the noise. Dante is the closest to the kitchen. He slowly disappears in the kitchen. The three of us pause, not saying anything and barely breathing trying to hear what is going on in the back. A minute later we hear soft voices coming from the kitchen. The smell of apricots slowly makes its way into the living room. I smile, getting up from the table I am sitting at knowing that Lina has returned. My smile vanishes quickly as Christian walks through first, followed by Keegan and Lina with Dante pulling up the rear.
My eyes zero in on Lina. She’s in her traditional Guardian uniform of dark shirt, cargo pants and boots with all of her weapons on. Her hair still remains in the high bun on her head. Keegan and Christian are dressed in similar outfits and they too have their weapons.
“Has Lina updated you on the latest from Melomouzor?” Keegan asks getting straight to the point.
“Him walking into her dream the other night?” I ask. He nods his head.
“I didn’t get to tell them everything. We had a few distractions,” Lina said.
“Well, we can’t afford anymore distractions!” Keegan snaps. Someone must have told him about what happened earlier. His face is hard as stone.
Lina quickly tells everyone about her dream. She purposely leaves out the part of Malia in my bedroom. Listening to the way that Melomouzor threatened her and her family has me seeing red. My wolf is howling to get out. No one is going to take her away, not even the Demon King.
“How many days do we have left?” I growl out around my canines that have descended, flexing my hands. My hands are balled so tight that my nails are digging into my palms and drawing blood. Lina stands by me rubbing my arms knowing that my wolf is wanting out.
“That was three nights ago,” she says softly as curses fill the room.
“We got movement coming down the street.” Alec zooms in on his monitor that shows the view of the street.
It is now dark outside, and the car coming down the street has their lights on, making it hard to see the make of it. Alec has mounted a camera on one of the poles at the end of the street to pick up any movement. All the cameras that we mounted are motion censored so that they will pick up any and all motion in the area.
“Hey, I got a visual of the license plate! I’m going to send a picture of it to Nick,” Alec says.
Everyone tries to surround him so that we all can see who gets out the car on the monitor. Two women step from the vehicle. One of them looks older but the darkness is shrouding them, making it harder to see. The one that got out of the passenger side has a long cloak on with the hood drawn up. They look around as if feeling they are being watched, and then they disappear into the house. Alec’s fingers are flying across the keyboard taking screen shots of them and sending them off to Nick.
“We did put a camera in that one room right?” I ask. I have a funny feeling that something is about to go down. The hairs on the back of my neck are standing at attention.
“Yeah, we did,” Dante’ says.
“Look over there!” Lina points out on one of the other monitors, a male slinking in the backyard of one of the other homes on the street. Then another male appears.
“Demons,” Keegan says in a low voice. His voice is like the calm before the storm. He’s dangerous when his voice is this calm. His rage is burning right beneath the surface.
We all watch as the demons head towards the house.
“It’s now or never,” I say looking around the room. “Alec, I want you here manning the monitors.”
“No problem. Want me to call in the others?”
“Yes, I’d rather have them here, and not need them, than to need them and they’re not here.”
“Got it!” He picks up his cell phone making the first call.
Keegan is on his cell giving coordinates to this house. He must have called in the other Guardians who are here with them. There’s no telling what’s about to go down. The hairs on the back of my neck have not gone down. I pull Lina to the side.
“You stay close to us. I don’t want any chance of anything going wrong.”
“I can take care of myself,” she whispers fiercely with her bright green eyes.
“I didn’t say you couldn’t take care of yourself. I just have a bad feeling about this. Be careful!” She nods her head turning back to her brother who is speaking with Christian. I don’t like that she’s in the middle of this. I want to take her home and lock her away in my bedroom.
“Dante and Devyn, I want you forming a
perimeter around the house. Make sure no one gets passed you and gets to the house. Alec, when Reed and Gunnar get here, I want you to bring them up to date then send them to Devyn.”
Dante, Devyn and I go into the other room opening duffle bags that Nick had sent over. Opening the bags we grab out our Kevlar vests. It’s not that often that we as werewolves, need to use guns but we do have to protect ourselves from being shot, and we’ve found that Kevlar vests stop silver bullets, just like they do regular bullets.
Nick also sent over enough guns, ammo and knives to take down a small army. We each grab what we need and head back into the living room. The Guardians Vander and Tarron have shown up. They are speaking to Keegan and Lina.
“We’re going in the house,” Keegan says as we walk back into the room.
“I’m with you and Lina,” I say. Keegan nods his head. I thought that he would argue with me. Good, at least that’s one less person I need to fight with.
“What’s your plan? My wolves will surround the house and try to keep anyone else from coming.” He nods.
“I don’t want to kick the door in, guns blazing, but we will sneak in the house and take them by surprise. Lina and I will go in, Christian, Vander and Tarron will surround the house closely. Keep your wolves in the area. That will give us two layers of defense.”
“Um, guys, something is going on in that room!” Lina and Keegan get to Alec first, looking over his shoulder. The witches are in the abandoned bedroom that Lina had designated as the portal. The one witch drew a large circle on the wall while the other one drew something on the floor and poured a powdery-looking substance on the floor. The demons walk in the room and stand off on the side. One demon is speaking and walking around while the witches are working. The demon stops and looks up directly into the camera and smiles.
“Shit! We’ve been made!” Alec curses.
“They’re about to open the portal!” Lina yells as she turns to run out of the house. Keegan and I are right behind her.
My wolves know not to follow but to stay close, set up the perimeter and wait for my signal. A loud shrieking wail comes from the house so loud the ground starts to shake. The other Guardians are right behind us. An inhumane scream comes from the house. Son of a bitch! The portal is open!
* * *
~Melomouzor~
It’s only a matter of time before I’ll be crossing over into the human realm. My new demons are marvelous. Dr. Hamilton took me on a tour of the lab. I’m extremely pleased by everything that I saw.
“Take me to my demons,” I demand.
“Yes, my lord. Please follow me. They are kept out in the barracks out back.” Dr. Hamilton motions for me to follow him. We walk out of the laboratory and outside. The barracks are located behind the lab. There are a few buildings located behind the main lab building that are similar to a large human military base. A smile forms on my face. My soldiers will be the best. No human or supernatural will be able to stop my new demons.
“How many are ready for the first run?” I ask stepping into the first barrack. It is a large open room that houses many beds lined up in rows.
“We have sixty who are ready for dispatch, sir. Two hundred more should be ready in three days’ time. By the end of the month, we can have about a thousand demons ready, my lord.” Dr. Hamilton gulps as he speaks.
“I want fifteen hundred ready at the end of the month, Dr. Hamilton!” My time to re-enter the human realm is close. I allow my glamour to flash away showing my true self before returning to my human façade. Dr. Hamilton cowers away like the coward that he is. Humans can be so weak!
“Yes, your grace. We will speed up transfusions.”
Looking around the barrack at all the demons, I’m pleased. They are all lined up at the foot of their beds, for inspection. Such obedience and respect from my new demons. My new line of demons are tall, all over seven feet. They are extremely muscular, some with black leathery wings. There are different shades of demons, some brown skinned, some black skinned and even some light grey looking. They all have the flat noses with red slanted eyes and no ears. Fangs can be seen when they open their mouths. Their fingers are talon-like with long sharp claws. There will be no need for glamour with these demons. I want the world to know the demons are taking over. The world shall fear them. The world can try to run and hide, but running will do nothing but incite the huntsman in the demon to hunt the humans down to kill or enslave them.
“Demons! I am your King. You answer to me.” My voice is strong and demonic as my inner demon comes to the surface. My power seeps out, hitting the demons in the room letting them know that I am the most powerful demon, never to be fucked with.
Demons are almost like wolves, they follow the strongest leader. No other demon can match my strength or power. I wouldn’t be King if I weren’t the most powerful demon. The time to assert myself is now. If one should challenge me, then I will kill it to show I am the strongest demon. I wouldn’t want to waste a demon, but I would if I had too.
“Our time is almost here to go take what is mine! The humans think that they can keep their realm from me; the supernaturals of their realm think that they can protect them! The humans are weak, worthless and shall be my slaves.” Growls and snarls can be heard from around the room.
“No longer will we be banned to stay in the Underworld. No longer will we be treated as filth, animals not good enough to be on the surface! We will fulfill the prophecy and get our Queen! You will go to the realm, conquer and destroy anything that’s in your path!” I pause due to the uproar of demons getting excited, growling and snarling signaling their thirst for blood, thirst for destruction and mayhem.
“You will answer to my second in command, Bazin. He is already in the human realm. You are my soldiers, the elite demon soldiers. You will need a leader. We will not succeed without careful planning to get what belongs to us. I have appointed Oruzahl as your immediate commander. He will be your Captain, so to speak.”
The door to the barrack opens and Oruzahl walks through the door. He is also over seven feet tall, has large black wings, and red eyes like the others. He has his nose pierced with a gold bar and a gold ball piercing under his bottom lip. He wears camouflage cargo pants with no shirt and black work boots. He is one of the few demons that I would trust to lead an army.
“Here he is now.” Oruzahl bows deeply to show respect as I walk over to him. “Captain.”
“My lord.” His voice is deep and low.
“I want the first thirty demons to go with you to the realm. The Witches and Bazin should be opening the portal soon. Let’s see how my demons do. Bazin will be expecting you soon.”
“Yes, my lord.” I stalk towards the door with Dr. Hamilton in tow.
“Oh and Captain.” I pause at the door turning towards Oruzahl.
“Yes, sir.”
“Please say hello to my Queen for me. And while you’re at it, bring me a souvenir.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
~Azura~
Who could be visiting at this hour? Henry called on the house phone to let me know that I have a visitor. I really am not expecting anyone at this time of night. Keegan and Lina just left to go investigate that portal house. This cannot be good if someone is coming now. I just finished getting the boy, Seth, settled in his quarters in the guest wing. As the High Priestess of our Coven, it is my responsibility to take new witches under my wing. It’s not uncommon for us to have ten to twenty neophytes staying in our home to learn how to weld their magical powers. Adela has been overseeing this project for years.
The school is located on our property behind the main house. Neophytes stay with us for at least one year, learning how to use their magic and cast spells. After the first year, they are allowed to move to their own coven where they will be mentored and taught the rest of what they need to know. They have the option to stay on for more intense training and can stay as part of my coven should they wish. My other daughter Ilona, is involved with teaching the new witches
with Adela and about eight other teachers.
My two remaining daughters couldn’t be any more different. There is nothing but good in Adela, but Ilona, I fear that too much darkness has entered her. When schooling new witches, we not only educate them on white magic but we teach them about dark magic and Ilona teaches the dark magic portion of the curriculum.
Keegan and Lina said that they believed that the boy was part Fae; I agreed he could come and stay here until they decide what to do with him. My heart almost broke hearing his story. He will certainly be welcome here as long as he needs. He seems like a good kid.
Keegan and Lina don’t know that I gave him some truth serum in his drink, to make sure that he is who he said he is, and not someone trying to harm my family. The serum is harmless as long as one tells the truth. The serum will only allow you to speak the truth, should you start telling any untruths, then it will cause horrible abdominal pains and cramping. He spoke the complete truth when telling of his family and how he grew up. I will not let any harm come to my family.
I make it to the front of the house from the guest wing and Henry, our family butler of forty years, is waiting by the staircase.
“My lady, there is a Mr. Epan Ubahn and Miss Yasmin Gakely here to see you. I have put them in your study.” Henry nods his head down the hall towards my study.
“Thank you, Henry, I can see myself to the study. Please make sure we are not disturbed.”
“Yes, my lady.” He nods and walks away.
Epan is here? This is definitely not good! I cannot remember the last time he presented himself with good news. I make my way down the hall to the study. Epan is the highest-ranking Druid Priest, and when he visits, you better listen. Pushing open the door and walking in my eyes are drawn to Epan, dressed in his traditional Druid attire, of long deep golden robes that sweep the floor, standing by the window that oversees the gardens. His head is bald with tattooed ancient symbols on his forehead. He turns and smiles but his eyes are sad. My heart skips a beat. This is not good. Oh, how I wish Teronin, my husband, was here. Damn him, and his mission work, in another realm! He needs to come home.
