by Hayley Todd
I made my way to the line of sinks, staring at myself in the mirror. My eyes were tinged with a red exhaustion as I filled my palms and splashed water across my skin. The jolt of cold liquid seemed to center my attention a bit, feeling less like I were fumbling through a quick moving stream and more like I had planted my feet, giving myself a moment to observe my surroundings.
Thump. Gasp.
I whirled around, staring at the door of the handicap stall. Like the others, it was closed, but the sound had come from within. I reached out, delicately, into the air and could feel the electricity there being dispersed by a figure inside.
Groan. Moan.
I pressed my palm against the door, but a simple shove didn’t open the door. It was locked. A dark shiver washed across my skin. Something wasn’t right.
I heard a quiet, muffled cry, and a red sheen covered my vision. I slammed forward into the door, my elbow held away from me and the door thundered open, crashing against the stall’s wall within.
The figures before me scrambled, trying to cover something. I shook my head again, forcing the colorful explosion of vision away from me. Clear head. I needed a clear head.
A man, that could only be called that lightly, hovered over a tiny woman. She was probably close to Kellic in stature, maybe 5’1” or 5’2”. She was slender and was obviously an adult when looking close enough but at first glance appeared to be a teenager. She struggled against the hunkered man who had been tugging at her belt but now had his lips pressed against her skin, one hand still wandering down her form.
Her eyes were wide, dark, endless brown pools of horror. It was she that had burbled a groan from the inside of the stall. Whatever was happening here obviously wasn’t warranted.
I dug claw-like fingers into the man’s shirt collar, yanking hard. He hadn’t noticed me yet, enthralled in his activities as he was. He whirled on me, red eyes wide. He had pale skin, dark hair, and a dark bristle of stubble along his chin. Dark veins rippled down his cheeks and fangs protruded from his bloody lips.
As he was pulled from her body, the girl frantically pulled at her clothing, tugging them into place and hurling herself away from him. She backed into the farthest corner of the stall and that was obviously still too close.
I crossed my arms over my chest, staring up at the man. “You weren’t seriously doing that in my club, were you?” I growled through gritted teeth. The man took a moment to compose himself, patting the wrinkles in his clothing away. He stood to his full height which towered over me and a smug grin crossed his face.
“You really don’t want to get involved,” he replied, his posture straightening. He pulled at the edges of his jeans, making a bulge there uncomfortably obvious. He leveled his gaze on me and I could feel the energy oozing out of him. Little did he know, his compulsion wouldn’t work on me.
“I really do though,” I said, with a glance at the poor girl that still looked horror-stricken. I felt for her. Had I not entered when I did, I couldn’t imagine what he’d been about to do to her. “Go outside, find my friends. There are two men with green and golden eyes, they’ll be looking for me. There’s a woman with them, short, dark hair, golden eyes. Find them. Stay with them,” I commanded, watching her carefully. She nodded jerkily, scrambling past the man and out the stall door.
He tried to grab her, raking claws down the back of her jacket, scoring it and ripping the collar at the hood. She shrieked but continued on, barreling out of the stall and out of the room, the door slammed solidly behind her, leaving us completely alone.
Chapter Four
A growl rumbled from the man’s chest, a sound that no typical human should be able to make. “You’ll regret that,” he hissed, advancing slowly on me. He was tall, really tall and I took a solid step back, leaving room between us.
A quick bite, some quick pleasure. Is that so much to ask for?
His lips spread in a conniving grin and I could tell that he wasn’t simply going to let his dinner escape. I moved into his way, blocking him from the exit.
“I don’t think so,” I told him, barely sparing him a glance. The bathroom was small as far as fighting went. I really didn’t want to have to attack him here. “You will leave my club and get as far from here as possible. And don’t come back,” I demanded.
The idiot chose the worst path he could have.
He lurched forward, his hands grasping the front of my shirt in a powerful grip. He yanked me closer, trying to stab his fangs into my neck.
Okay, if this is how you want it to be…
I slung my arm away from me, snapping his hands from my clothing and backhanding him across the face. I could tell the blow had stung. Tears welled in his eyes and he stumbled away from me, glaring at me over fingers he had pressed to the wound.
“Who the hell do you think you are?” he shrieked, launching at me.
I slid forward, tucking my legs beneath me. He soared over my head and behind him, I carefully righted myself. I slammed one booted foot against his spine, knocking him forward and sending him crashing into a floor length mirror behind me, shattering glass across the floor of the bathroom.
“Do you even know what I am?!” he roared, lifting himself from the debris and turning to me again. He hurled himself at me again, really not getting the hint.
I danced away from him, keeping careful distance between his hands and my body. He was getting angrier every time he missed. He knelt to the ground, barely catching himself before crashing into another stall door. I whipped my leg out easily, cracking my boot into his chin and sending him flipping forward. He crashed through the stall door, sending it flying open and careened off the edge of the commode within. I was sure that had to hurt.
He hadn’t even turned when he leapt for me this time. His fist came hurtling toward me, faster than I had expected. I lifted my hands, catching his knuckles as they near missed my face. I twisted his hand backward, forcing pressure down the tendon in his wrist. He slumped down in front of me, whimpering at the pain.
“My name is Kyra Lucius. You should really find out whose territory you’re trespassing on before you try to rape and drain a girl in my bathroom.” The widening of his eyes told me that he had some inkling of who I was. Terror flashed across his expression and if I hadn’t caught him doing what he’d been about to do, I might’ve felt bad for him.
I gathered energy from the air, pulling it into myself and forcing it down to my palm, gripped tightly around his fist. I only barely made the electric blue lightning visible as it seeped from my skin and into his. He jerked, once, twice, three times before falling unconscious to the tile floor.
I stepped away from him, fighting the urge to give him another kick for good measure when the bathroom door burst open. Carson and Anton came tumbling in, almost comically fighting for the point position. Carson made it to me first, looking over the contents of the room. It was coated in glass that had sprayed in all directions when the man had collided with the mirror. The stall door I’d kicked him into hung haphazardly from its hinges and he had cracked the toilet bowl within. He was splayed across the ground now, his cheek pressed to the tile beneath. I leaned against the sink counter, looking over at both of them.
In the doorway beyond them, I could see Kellic consoling the woman, her arms wrapped around the tiny figure’s shoulders. She was whispering in the woman’s ear, obviously trying to settle her overwhelming anxiety. Tears burbled from the woman’s eyes, cascading over her cheeks and smearing black makeup down her face.
“I told you, there would be nothing to worry about,” Anton said, his eyes glinting with pride as he stared at me, then at the dispatched Vampyre. “You done good, Lucius,” he implored, turning back to the girl after making sure I was okay. Kellic loosened her hold, letting him put a palm against each of her cheeks. “You will forget all about this,” he commanded and I could feel the power radiating from him. “You came to the club and had a wonderful evening. You drank a bit too much and some of your memories will be a
haze. You will travel in pairs in the future but tonight, luckily, you are safe.”
The girl’s eyes glazed beneath his stare and she nodded unconsciously at his words. “I will travel in pairs. I am safe…” she repeated in a robotic voice. She was seeing whatever memories he was creating for her, not his face gazing at her. After a moment, she shook her head as though clearing it. He dropped his hands to his sides. “I-I’m going to have a drink and head home,” she said, turning.
Anton caught her wrist as she swept away. She turned back to him hesitantly.
“Take a cab,” Anton commanded. “All the way to your doorstep if possible.”
She nodded dreamily. “I will take a cab, all the way to the doorstep,” she repeated.
It was eerie to watch him exert his ability over someone. He had used a similar memory replacement on me when I had been attacked over two years ago. His father, Henrick Van Murg, formerly one of the council members on the Magick Council, had forced Anton to make an imprint between us, to claim me as his bride. Anton had forced an imprint from him to me, but had realized how dirty it was and stopped without causing further harm. He had erased my memories of the incident and Carson had then saved me from near death.
Anton’s abilities had been strong then and had only improved in the years since. He could probably do the same thing without even touching them now. At one point, he had had to exchange blood to get the thing to work right. Then it had been a simple touch. Now he could probably do it from across a room, though he wouldn’t take the risk to find out.
Carson slipped an arm around my back, tugging me to him. I wrapped my arms around his neck in response, nuzzling my face against his shoulder. “You did well,” he purred in my ear, sending a shiver down my spine. “You and Kellic head upstairs. Anton and I will take care of this.” He pulled away from me, gazing down at me with a microscopic, reassuring grin. I nodded and exited the bathroom, tucking my arm through Kellic’s.
She looked up at me in confusion. I jerked my head toward the VIP entrance that I could see from the hallway. “I’m ready for bed,” I told her, my head swimming. Vampires seemed to take a bit more to get drunk than humans unless it came directly from someone’s blood. I was definitely feeling it at the moment though, surprisingly unsteady on my feet. I was stunned I’d been as swift as I had against the Vampyre, considering.
She nodded back at me without a word, glancing over her shoulder at Anton and Carson who were heaving the man onto their shoulders to drag him out. We dove through the crowd, carefully making our way across the dance floor. The music still pulsed but its electric explosions of beat barely pressed through my consciousness now.
The door was flanked by two guards. They were new, part of Damien/Carson’s crew of vampires but I didn’t recognize either of them. One had glowing green eyes, the other an aquamarine blue. They nodded at us on our approach, swinging the door to VIP carefully open. It unfolded onto a set of stairs that we made quick work of, coming to a second door on the landing that led to the VIP section, overhanging the club.
I fished keys from my pocket, procuring one whose top looked like a small stereotypical house and jammed it into the lock, swinging the door open. Another flight of steps unfurled before us, leading to yet another solid door. Instead of steel, like the other two though, this door was of a hardwood, with delicate crown molding along the decorative stained glass at its center.
I flipped through the keys, identifying another differently colored house key and pressed it into the lock. The door swung open easily, not groaning or emitting any sound. I hadn’t actually opened this door in over a year but I was glad to see it had been kept in good condition.
The living room/kitchen combination it opened on seemed to have been held in the same regard. There was not a speck of dust in sight, everything pristine and glowing. Kellic walked with me to the bar dividing the kitchen from the living room. We both had a seat.
“So,” she began, leaning along the bar’s open countertop, “what happened down there?”
I sighed, not eager to put myself back into that position. I had been assaulted, not once, but twice, when Henrick had enacted his plan to take over the Magicks two years ago. The first time had fortunately been unsuccessful, but the second...it had taken me a long time to be able to tolerate any thoughts about it.
“I went to cool off and heard something from one of the stalls,” I explained, trying not to let my breath become too shaky. “I burst in and found that Vampyre feasting on that girl and trying to do...more,” I continued. “He didn’t like that I stopped him and when I let her escape, he turned on me. I fought him off pretty easily and put him down with a little magick mumbo-jumbo.” I lifted my hand in the air demonstratively, letting blue electricity dance across my fingertips.
She laughed at that and I had a feeling it was an effort to lighten the mood. “Did he not know who he was messing with?” she asked with a chuckle.
“Evidently not,” I replied, feeling a bit better at her playful tone.
We lapsed into peaceful silence for several moments. “Looks like this place has been well kept,” I said, looking about the room. There was a rack with blankets alongside the large flat screen TV and even they looked freshly washed.
“Yeah,” Kellic replied, catching my gaze. “Damien said something about some housekeepers he’d employed to keep up on the place in your absence. Probably part of the same crew literally guarding your front door,” she continued glancing at me with a grin.
It was then that the door opened behind us and Carson, Anton, and Will burst through, talking quietly. When they saw us, they fell silent. Carson was the first to speak.
“We passed your Vampyre off to the guards downstairs. They’re going to take him to your dad’s mansion to...sober up,” he said, watching me carefully. I nodded, understanding. They were going to interrogate him. He might even get a visit from Lucas himself. I was sure he’d love that.
“Sounds good,” I replied and only then noticed that my words were still slightly slurred. Or maybe more slurred? I was suddenly exhausted.
Carson approached, holding his hand out to me. “Ready for bed?” he asked.
I nodded tiredly, taking his hand and letting him guide me toward my bedroom on the left side of the living room.
“Yeah, I figure we’re headed to bed too,” Anton said, maybe a bit too energetically. He had swept Kellic off the stool and into his arms and she was laughing at him. He carried her over to the other side of the living room, where Kellic’s bedroom door was placed and passed quickly inside.
Will approached my side, pulling me into a quick side hug. “I’m glad you’re okay, Ky,” he said with a sympathetic grin. He pressed a kiss to my forehead. “Night, cuz.” He turned and headed to the door beside Kellic’s pretty much collapsing inside.
I glanced up at Carson and he was watching me carefully. “Are you okay?” he asked, swinging open the door to my bedroom. His eyes were cautious, concerned. I nodded quietly, following him over to my bed and slumping down onto it.
He knelt by my side, unzipping my knee high boots and pulling them free along with my socks. He made quick work of undoing my jeans next, sliding them over my hips and into a puddle on the floor. I got to the shirt before he could, tugging it from the bottom and pulling it over my head, letting it join my jeans.
His fingers danced across my back, unclasping my bra and adding it to the pile. He then leaned forward, his endless green eyes gazing into mine. He pressed a sweet kiss to my lips and gently pushed me backward. I let him, falling into a mound of sheets and blankets as he slipped my feet under the covers and tucked me tightly in.
I couldn’t help but watch him as he undressed, oblivious of my gaze. He added his shirt, jeans, and shoes to the growing pile of clothing and crawled into bed beside me in just his boxers. The warmth of his skin as he shimmied closer was a balm to my drunk and exhausted emotions. I just wanted to sleep.
He situated my head against his chest, one arm slung
about my shoulders. There was something I had wanted to tell him...something I couldn’t place at the moment...I blinked hard, fighting sleep and trying to recall what I had felt I needed to get out but just as I would grasp the edges of the thought, it would twirl away, leaving me confused. I may have made it through five or six long tired breaths before my eyes slipped closed and sleep overcame me.
Chapter Five
I touched down easily on the slopes of Mount Olympus. There were some individuals buzzing around the castle-like structure at its peak but otherwise, the area was quiet. The castle was actually called Mount Olympus like the natural mountain that it sat upon. It was made out of crystalline white marble, large pillars circling the building, supporting large triangular rooftops jutting out from various entrances. The crown molding along the building’s edges were doused in gold. If I hadn’t been born and raised there, I might actually find the structure to be stunning.
I entered through a sweeping set of doors which opened into a grand foyer. In the corner, a winding set of stairs crawled into the high reaches of the upper floors. The ceiling soared above, decorated with a fresco painting, depicting Zeus and Hera, locked in an embrace. The sky of the painting was cast in a blue-black light, bolts of white lightning streaking around behind them. It was vain and ostentatious if you asked me, but no one did.
I made my way up the marble staircase, running my fingertips along the cold railing. On the second floor, I stepped off onto a balcony that circled the foyer below. I turned to a huge archway, covered with a pair of extravagant golden doors. They were carved with elegant swooping designs, but fortunately, bore no resemblance to any of the other gods.
I swung them open, stepping through to a huge dining room. There was a large wooden table at its center, lined with tray upon tray of food. The room was all but vacant, only a man and a woman eating quietly, shooting gazes at one another but not speaking. I slid into a chair nearest to the doors I had entered through.
