by Jaymin Eve
Maximus Compass, if you’re coming for us, now is the time to get here.
Maximus Compass
I was going to kill Louis. Or at least give it a damn good shot. What the hell was taking him so long? The sorcerer was currently doing something meditative as he tried to figure out how to get to the land between. The red haze, which seemed to be a permanent part of my vision now, crashed down again, and I was about to lunge toward the magic user when the heavy whooshing of Braxton’s wings distracted me.
We all turned toward the dragon, waiting for him to descend back down through the gap in the tree line.
Tyson’s normally laidback, happy tone had been replaced by something angry and dark. “Do you think he found anything?”
“No, he’ll not have found anything, because they’re not here on Earth any longer,” Louis said, getting to his feet.
“Well, did you find something then, oh great one.” Tyson’s tone was mocking, and even more growly than before.
“You can call me Louis. Great One is so formal,” Louis said without missing a beat. “And yes, actually, I have picked up on the same energy. It’s across the country though, so we’re going to have to take a step-through, and we need to hurry the hell up.”
My eyes shot to Braxton, who had landed and was in the process of shifting back. “Clothe the man and let’s move our asses.”
Jacob’s hand landed on my shoulder, and I could feel the soothing energy of his fey power as it tried to calm the beast. His essence was all elements, nature, and ancient gods, but I was not in the mood.
“What’s up with you, Max?” Jacob said as I knocked his arm down. “I mean, I know the girls are gone, but we don’t know anything bad has happened yet. Usually you’re the calm one keeping Braxton from losing his shit. Now we have to hope Ty and I can manage the two of you.”
Good luck with that. Braxton and I were both stronger physically and energy-wise than our younger brothers. Not by much, but just enough that Jacob and Tyson would be in trouble if they had to contain both of us.
“Lucky I’m here then, isn’t it?” Louis was back to being annoying and cheerful, although I could still sense that undercurrent of fierce supe he’d tapped into before. He was worried about the girls, especially Jessa. He had claimed her as family, and that meant something very real in our world.
His purple-hued gaze locked in on me. “I think I can handle a few mated males losing their minds.”
A sort of blankness descended over the red rage and I remembered for the first time in forever that Cardia was dead. Shit. Had I even reacted this strongly when she died? Despite Louis’ assertion about mated males, Mischa was not my mate … and yet my vampire was murderous, absolutely inconsolable in its rage. We craved to find her. We needed to make sure she was safe, and not just because of the child. No … because of her.
I was so fucked up.
Tyson magically clothed Braxton, and by the time the pair got to us Louis already had the swirling portal ready to go.
Braxton’s voice was guttural: “Did you find them, sorcerer?” Even though he was no longer wearing scales and claws, his eyes were still blazing yellow.
A few months ago, when the dragon king stole Jessa out from under him, he’d lost his soul. What was left became a pure killing machine, and it was only through the quad bond that we managed to pull him back from that insanity. I wondered if I would even bother this time, or if I would simply join him in the killing.
“I haven’t found the girls yet, they’re not on this realm.” Braxton didn’t look surprised, which meant he’d already figured that. “But the transportation magic used had a distinct, dark magic feel to it. I’ve locked in on a similar vibe, somewhere around Sequoia National Park in California.”
The dragon shifter didn’t say another word, he just stepped into the portal, and the rest of us followed. The journey was short. As we exited the step through into a woodland of massive trees, warmth hit me hard. Definitely west coast weather here.
I stood shoulder to shoulder with Braxton, and for once I think both of us were in the same mental space – completely losing our minds. His anger was palpable and it elevated mine. Neither of us were able to stand still as we waited for everyone to make it through and for Louis to close down the doorway. Luckily, he started to move immediately, practically running as he led us across a mile or so of forest. Braxton and I kept pace on either side of the sorcerer. Our main priority was to keep him safe while he was following the energy. We’d be screwed without his guidance, and the girls were relying on us.
“It’s much stronger here,” Louis muttered. “The energy. It’s all part of the spell to make it difficult for other magic users to pinpoint the location … but they need to get up earlier than this if they want to try and hide magic from me.”
Braxton was growling again. The sound died off as we crossed a small trickling brook and found ourselves staring at a clearing in the forest. Normally I’d think the sight before us was completely insane to find in the middle of protected national parklands. Except of course we’d just come from the candy house from hell, so it was all starting to seem normal.
“For fuck … is that real?” Tyson said, his eyebrows raised, mouth open. “Are they the three little pigs’ houses?”
I looked to Louis. The sorcerer was doing that shrewd gaze thing as he tried to figure out what the hell was going on. Finally, he gave a strangled laughed. “It’s freaking genius. It really is.”
“What the hell is genius about this … scene?” I snarled. “And how is this supposed to help us find the girls?”
Three tiny houses. The points of their roofs stood no higher than my waist. The first was made of straw, the second was made of sticks, and the final, you guessed it, was made of brick. In our world, kids weren’t big on human stories, but some of their “fairy tales” were really stories passed down by supes, just modified for humans. Have you ever actually read the Brothers Grimm? Dark stuff, and not all of it made up.
Louis took a few steps closer to the straw house. “What better way to lure powerful creatures than using the magic of fairy tales.”
The magic of fa—what was the mage talking about?
Braxton, who was still in full yellow-eyes mode, let out a bellowing roar. “Explain yourself now and get us to the girls. They need us. I’ll not wait a moment longer.”
Louis dropped all pretense of joviality and went into scary, badass sorcerer mode. His voice was low; power twanged across the air on each syllable. “Fairy tales are powered by the energy of humans and supes. Every time a story is read, every time a child believes in it, there’s a certain power to the tale. Someone has tapped into this, has sent out a spell which will recreate the fairy tales using the energy contained within each story. They then lure in unsuspecting humans and supes. Don’t you feel it, the way it’s drawing us in? Don’t you want to step forward and touch the houses?”
Now that he mentioned it, there was a power struggle going on inside of me. I wanted to be closer to the little houses, and it was more than innate curiosity. It was a spell, subtle and slow moving, insidious enough that I wouldn’t have noticed anything until I was snared. That’s why Louis had not moved any closer. He’d known that to step into its boundary would initiate the spell and he’d be unable to escape.
“So how do we break the spell?” Jacob said. “It’s not natural, the forest does not like it. We need to end this now.”
Louis’ grin was back, but it wasn’t nice. It was hard and scary. “Oh, that’s easy enough. We go and introduce ourselves in person. Easiest way to get to The Great Divide.”
Okay, so much for not stepping into it. He crossed the space and the rest of us stayed close to his side. Just like with the girls, a massive wind blew up around us, and the whirling vortex started to usher us closer to the houses. I didn’t bother to wait for it to suck us in though. If Louis said this was the way to Mischa, there was no more time to waste.
Of course I had no idea how I w
as supposed to fit inside a house which stood only at the height of my waist. Or even which of the three houses to choose.
With no time to debate any further, I ran straight at the middle house, prepared to emulate the big bad wolf and smash it down. Just before I hit it though, the vision changed, and as my hand touched the side of the stick wall, the entire scene vanished, changing into a cage.
My sprint did not halt, and with Louis and my brothers right behind me, the five of us dashed straight into the box. The moment the last of us crossed the threshold, there was a whirring, followed by the crash of the entrance closing.
Louis was still looking all fascinated sorcerer, examining our prison. “Generally the magical illusion would hold much longer than that. Definitely until the lured was inside of the house. But we’re too strong. Maximus smashed the spell. All that’s left is the portal. We should be on our way now to the land between. I’m just hoping we don’t register as a threat. If that happens there’s a possibility the prison will reject us and dump us out halfway.”
We should have gone in one at a time. We were some of the most powerful supes in our entire world. Add Louis in there and nothing could stop us. If there was some sort of magical security system on this place, we could very well find ourselves floating in the abyss. Which I did not have time for.
The whirring grew louder and darkness descended around us, so all encompassing that if I hadn’t been able to feel my brothers crushed against me I wouldn’t have known anyone else was there with me.
My heart clenched and I had to fight through the pain in my chest. Since losing Cardia I’d tried not to be in darkness. When my eyes had nothing to focus on, my brain started to demand attention – the pain started to demand attention. And I did not have the energy to give into it.
This time, though, all I could see was Mischa, with her soft green eyes and rounded belly that held my child. The image was so strong. Why could I see her as if she were standing right before me, and yet when I tried to recall my true mate there was barely a shadow, no detail, almost as if she was fading away from my brain and soul, which, if she’d been a true mate, was damn impossible?
Braxton’s, and now my theory, was starting to feel right. When we got the twins back I was going to focus on finding all the answers. If it turned out Cardia was not my true mate, that someone had falsely created the bond for whatever reason, I would not stop until I broke every single facet of the spell and rid myself of any lingering emotional attachment.
To be dealt with later though. My focus was elsewhere right now. I clutched at the bars before me, my body primed and ready to attack the moment we arrived. I felt the unbreakable strength of the material housing us. They were used to transporting those of power and physical prowess. Were we going to be strong enough to break free?
As if he’d had the same thoughts, Braxton initiated our quad bond; there was a flare of light as our power merged. The space was really too small to house our newly beefed up, bonded bodies, but somehow we fit. Louis was no doubt feeling very uncomfortable.
In the brief bursts of light, it seemed as if we were traveling through a wormhole. Dark endlessness surrounded our cage as it hurtled through time and space.
My brothers were looking grim, Louis not so much. The sorcerer hid his true emotions very well. I wouldn’t want to face him in a poker game, or cross him in a trial. Master of secrecy, he held himself rigidly. But one day that would shatter. No one could contain the level of supernatural power he held indefinitely. He’d crack, and as long as I wasn’t the focus of his explosion, I’d be happy to sit back and enjoy the show. It would be like no other.
As our quad power settled down, the light above us started to wane, and soon we were back in darkness. But this time there was no need to worry. I had plenty of voices in my head to keep me company. And annoy the hell out of me.
Jacob started on me again: Max, I’ve never seen your vamp side quite so in control.
This time it was hard for me to escape the probing nature of my fey brother. I could hear his concern.
I did not want his concern.
I’m angry. So goddamned angry that I can barely continue to function without wanting to tear the world into a million pieces. Someone took my girl and my child. No one touches what is mine.
I hadn’t expected to let so much of my inner fury free, but there was nowhere else for it to go. I trusted my brothers above all others; they would never use my weakness against me. Braxton adjusted his stance; through our connection, blasts of his fear and anger continued fueling my own. Joined like this I could feel that Tyson and Jacob weren’t that far behind us in the pissed-off-level. They loved Mischa and Jessa too. They had slightly less to lose, but in a pack we were all family. We all had everything to lose.
We’ll not lose them, Braxton managed to rasp out. If it’s the last fucking thing I do, I’ll shake this goddamn land until it gives me my mate back.
For the first time I got glimpses of what it had been like for him when Larkspur took Jessa to Faerie. The same sort of emotions were swarming through me too, like there was a bubbling pit of hatred inside of me, like I could lose the last facet of humanity which I had clung to when Cardia died. If I lost Mischa and our child, there was nothing I could cling to, nothing that would stop me from going rogue.
What is Mischa to you, brother?
Tyson was uncharacteristically serious. I realized that the bond I’d witnessed between them was stronger than I’d thought. Clearly it had developed in the time I’d been gone from here, in the time I’d cut her out of my life with ferocious and cruel intent. I was too messed up to give Tyson any other answer than the one which was thrumming through me.
She’s mine. She’s everything.
I felt the confusion, theirs and my own.
Someone messed with us, with you, Max. Jacob was tuned in to everything, always speaking to the gods and nature. He knew shit. There’s no way Cardia was your true mate, so how the hell did she end up at the sanctuary? How did she form the bond with you?
I was breathing deeply, aware that if I couldn’t keep it together I would probably hurt my brothers. We were too close. There was nowhere for me to release. Braxton’s hand slammed onto my shoulder and I knew he was promising me that he would step in if I lost it. He would protect the others.
That thought calmed me. Just enough for rational thought.
As soon as we rescue the girls, I’m going to investigate my bond with Cardia. You’re all right, it was not a normal true mate connection. I need answers. I need to know who screwed around with my life.
Ask Louis, Tyson said. I might detest the cocky dick, but he is powerful. And old as shit. He probably has the best knowledge of whether this is even possible.
Damn. He was right. I hadn’t been utilizing my best source of information. Of course the moment I opened my mouth to ask him, our cage reached its destination, slamming to a halt in a place which was damp and had next to no scent.
We’ve arrived, boys. Time to introduce ourselves.
Tyson sounded a little too happy. He was really looking forward to releasing his inner anger on whatever stupid assholes had decided to touch our pack mates.
They were all going to die. The thought brightened my day.
Wherever we had landed was cloaked in a magical darkness. There was rarely any place truly without light or shadow unless magic was involved. This didn’t bother Louis though. The sorcerer just flicked his fingers and some sort of bulbous light appeared above our heads. Its beams cut through the darkness, and despite the small size, managed to spread a decent amount of light in all directions.
I could see our cage clearly now. It had a solid roof and floor, and all four sides were floor-to-ceiling bars, thick and heavy duty. Magically reinforced for sure.
Braxton reached out and gripped the bars. Through our bond I could feel him connecting to his dragon. The beast was ferocious, almost completely untamed as it searched for its mate. The strength which coursed through my
brother was enviable. I did not have the same within me, but the vampire was not without its own benefits. No one else moved. We could assist him without laying a single finger on the cage. I sent my energy along the bond; Tyson and Jacob did the same. The dragon thrashed within the inner cage Braxton had imposed around him, and I felt his control slipping as more and more power flooded through his body.
Jessa, I mentally reminded him. With a roar, Braxton wrenched on the side of the cage. Once, and then again. I heard the screeching of metal and that burning metallic scent of a spell being destroyed. With one final yank, the side of the cage was completely torn free and flung out into the darkness. It landed against another cage, which I’d only just noticed was across from ours.
In fact, as I stepped free of the box, I realized that this entire place was filled with cages. Eyes started to follow our movements. Every single barred box held a prisoner. There were so many demi-fey: gargoyles, trolls, imps, centaurs; and also supes like us: magic users, vampires, shifters, and fey. There might have even been some humans there, or at least supes with very little magical energy.
As the magical light moved across the large building, more faces were reflected back at us. There were hundreds. I moved across to a vampire two cells down from ours. He was gaunt, emaciated to the point where a swift breeze would have knocked him down. Our cells worked double-time to keep us in perfect health, but without a regular influx of new blood, our bodies started to turn on itself, sucking the very life from us.
“How long have you been here?” I asked him, as his flat, dark eyes locked onto mine.
He blinked a few times, opened his mouth to answer, but no sound came out. Weird. I reached forward to the bars, and found my hand bouncing off it, about a foot from the cage.
