by Claudy Conn
“Rude!” she declared as her own temper came to the fore. She had been hauled off to another time by forces out of her control, and he was treating her with anything but compassion. Out of frustration she hauled off and kicked him in the shins, and then she gasped at her audacity.
Pain did not register on his face, but she was certain from his slight flinch that he had felt some. Then he put a finger in her face and warned, “Do that again, and you will be sorrier than you ever dreamed possible. Now, back to my question before I lose interest and leave you here to fend for yourself.”
She hesitated, and then said, bending her neck back slightly so she could look up and meet his gaze, “You must first promise not to take me as a prisoner to Faery.”
“Why would I do such a thing?” he asked incredulously.
“Because it is what the Seelie Fae have always done.”
“What are you talking about, Jazmine Decker?”
“I am a Fios, as was my mother before me and her mother before her and so on.” She saw his expression of dawning understanding, and a shiver of dread went through her.
He slapped his forehead. “Indeed, why did I not realize immediately? Absurd creature. We have not carried off anyone to our Isles of Tir since the Treaty was signed. If you are a Fios, why do you not know that?”
“We are raised to be cautious,” she answered.
“I should have known. A Fios … I am acquainted with a Fios. My brother had some interest in her awhile back.” He frowned at her and added, “You are very different than BJ, who is a very talented Fios. You do not seem as talented as she.”
She put her hands on her hips. “How do you know? You haven’t seen me in action.”
“True,” he said on a laugh. He bent towards her, wrapped an arm around her, and held her close. “I look forward to that—seeing you in action, Fios.”
She felt herself blush, but he was already straightening up and telling her, “Very well, then, we have no time for this. We must track this fresh scent and see what we may find.”
“Why wouldn’t he disguise his scent?” she asked. “I mean if he is a Dark Royal, doesn’t he have dark magic? My mother said Fae are capable of disguising, concealing, themselves from one another.”
“Not exactly true, but, yes, for short periods of time even the Unseelie, at least the Royals, can conceal their scent, but he doesn’t know we are here, does he?”
“Right.” She shook her head. “He doesn’t know we were sucked into the portal.” She sighed and then frowned once more to ask, “Why didn’t you immediately realize I was a Fios?”
“Your scent misled me. As I said, BJ, who is a part of our ragtag team, and I have an acquaintance. We fought the Unseelie together not so very long ago. Her scent is very different than yours.” He bent, took a long whiff, and mumbled softly, “Very different.”
She stepped back and said sharply, “Hey! Well, as to that, early in the Fios history, way back in the day before the Treaty, we seers found a way to disguise our scent from the Fae. A different genetic formula for each of our family lines so that Fae could not pick up on any one common link.”
He considered her with a thoughtful gaze and said, “Very well, then, more than human, not immortal, and with only limited powers.”
She wanted to kick him in the shins again but controlled herself and said, “Tell me more about the Dark Prince.”
“You know all you need to know. He is deadly. He is without moral compunction of any sort. He wants out of the Dark Realm so he can rule the universe and will do anything to accomplish that final goal. Get in his way, and you will die.”
“Dontcha worry, bud. I am not about to get in his way.” Jazz’s tone added weight to her words.
He glanced at her as he went suddenly very still, and then, before she could utter a word, he took her hand in his and they were traveling once more, shifting through what she thought of as a ‘wormhole’ until they touched down inside the old inn.
“He is in that room at the end of the hall. His scent is very strong here, but be careful, Jazmine Decker. Do remember that if you truly are human with only a tad more, you had better stay behind me when we enter his room!”
“Are you telling me we are going in there—face to face with the Dark Prince?” Jazz didn’t try to hide the fear in her voice.
“Aye, he has a human female, and from the scent of it he has already gone too far with her. She won’t live many more days.” So saying, and ignoring her protests, he held her up against himself and shifted.
~ Three ~
SHE WOULD NEVER, she immediately knew, forget what met her gaze in that suite of rooms.
Trevor stood by her side, though he immediately shoved her behind him. She peeked around his massive back, simply because she could not believe what she’d seen.
A hot-looking, muscular, and erotically feral male, wildly handsome with glittering black eyes, looked around. He was just too beautiful to be evil, she thought.
The Unseelie Prince clearly knew they were there but chose to ignore them, as though they were mere insects; his attention was all for the woman he was manipulating on his bed.
Everything about the Dark Prince pulsated with sexual aura, and even though Jazz was immune to his Lianhan, she felt its pull, and that pull was strongly magnetic. She felt a certain wetness between her thighs and silently called herself to order, but he was vibrating with sex, and she couldn’t deny that even her Fios was not totally immune. She was able to resist, but she felt the power.
Hot dayam! Her mind exploded with sexual tension. His Unseelie sensually erotic spell over a human would be every bit as dangerous as that of a Seelie Fae’s Lianhan, which addicted humans to sex and sent them into a downward spiral, unable to do anything other than seek sexual gratification. A human subjected to the Fae Lianhan would not eat or drink and would doze only briefly, waking and immediately needing, wanting, thinking only of getting, more sex; the afflicted human would eventually die in this state of constant desire.
Jazz could feel his sensual, hypnotic vibrations travel through the airwaves and stroke her. That aura wrapped itself around her body in a way that made her immediately feel lust from her toes to her nipples. Oh yeah, she was able to resist, but she felt its might course through her and tickle all her sensory nerves.
She hurriedly decided to increase her immunity with the shield she had discovered was hers some years ago, and she silently chanted the spell to put it in place. Not all Fios were blessed with this gift, and though she had never had to use it before, she was certainly glad she had it now. Whew! A cool waft of air swept over her at once.
She was still able to sense the hot vibrations surrounding him, but her shield kept her from reacting at all.
Everything that happened next seemed to take place in slow motion.
She was locked in a scene with a primal, savage Fae. His vibes didn’t read at all like Trevor’s. Everything about the Unseelie was dark and menacing. Everything about him was cold, unfeeling, and murderous.
She was sure he didn’t need to use his Lianhan to get women to fall at his feet. She was sure women would succumb to him without it, for he radiated a promise of sexual gratification, and yet, knowing in advance he was killing them, he chose to use the Lianhan.
It occurred to her that Trevor had never tried to subdue her with the Lianhan, even though she knew he had the power and could have tried. Score one for the Seelie Royal.
It was all surreal, and it was all happening in the blink of an eye. She watched the Dark Royal on the bed, on his knees, like she was watching a porno film. She snapped herself together. It was as though she had been trapped in some kind of trance.
The Dark Prince turned at this juncture, his hands still stroking the woman he was using. It was impossible to look anywhere else but at this incredibly beautiful, tattooed, magical, and yet cold-blooded being.
He sneered at them as she took in the spectacle. He was naked but for the silver torque around his neck.
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Even as she tried to avert her gaze, she could not help but take in the vision of his huge cock as he shoved it into the mouth of a very willing and naked young woman. He grinned, tauntingly, as though he owned the world, before his voice thundered at them, “How dare you intrude on me!” He had slowed mid-movement as he spoke. Then he glared at them both and said on a sneer, “Ah, Seelie Royalty, eh?”
His stare was charcoal black, frigid; without wanting to, Jazz found herself stepping behind Trevor even more. She peeped out from behind his bare and enormous back simply because fear made her want to know just what was happening, but fear also made her want to close her eyes and make believe she wasn’t there.
Suddenly she realized that the Dark Prince was concentrating his gaze on the little he could see of her behind Trevor. Too late, she realized he had locked his glance with hers. Yup, they were on lock-down gazing! Those eyes of his took on a red glint, and he said on a low-throttled and sensual note, “Ah … a beauty. Come, human, join us.”
Jazz looked up at Trevor’s face for the first time as he turned to frown at her; he wore a shocked expression. Even as this became apparent to her, she felt him take a menacing step forward as his voice fiercely demanded, “What the hell are you doing here? And where is Pestale?”
The Dark Prince dropped his hands from the woman, but she held his thigh longingly as he moved away. He laughed before saying, “You know me and my brother? Pestale has been detained, but eventually you will have the opportunity to see him beside me once more as we storm Tir with our Dark Soldiers at our backs.”
“I don’t think so.” Fury rocked Trevor’s voice. “I will be sending you back to join him in the hell you deserve!”
“Seelie Royal, you don’t obviously don’t really know me or what I can do, what I won’t hesitate to do,” the Dark Prince said on a light note. “We are not very alike, Pestale and I, for I am darker and full of hate, which makes me want to destroy. He wants to take over the universe and will destroy to do it. Do you see? There is a difference between us.” He inclined his head. “I am Hordly, third son of the Dark King, and I have no idea how you got here, nor do I care. I shall let your human live if you go now … Off with you, then, on your way.” His sneer was obviously derisive, and Jazz worried that Trevor would be taunted into doing something rash.
“My way,” said Trevor, “is putting myself in your way.”
Good, good, good, she thought thankfully. He was still in control of himself. Maybe Fae didn’t do rash things—maybe that part of what she had been taught was actually correct?
“I suggest you leave before I decide to kill you,” said the Dark Prince.
“Not leaving, so why don’t you, as humans are so fond of saying, bring it. Leave the little human you have ruined and try and kill me,” Trevor said on a sneer.
The Dark Prince ignored him and, as though goading the Fae Royal, fondled the woman’s full breast.
Trevor roared with his rage as he put up his hand and called aloud for his Death Sword.
Ha, so much for not doing anything rash, Jazz thought as the sword appeared in his hand. She had been taught about Death Weapons. They were from Danu and were the only weapons that could kill Fae. She realized she didn’t want Trevor hurt. Well, duh, she told herself, of course you don’t. He’s your way home. Yes, but it was more than that. She actually liked him.
She stepped away to give him room and said to him, “Look, Royal, don’t get killed and leave me here.”
He laughed and said on a low and feral hiss, “Only one getting killed here today—and it is a Dark Prince named Hordly!”
The Dark Prince jumped away from the woman he had been using and reached for something under the nearby pillow.
His face was a mask of hatred as he bellowed, “You and I,”—his finger pointed at Trevor before he touched his own chest—“you and I, Seelie Prince, another time.”
And so saying, he was gone. He had shifted away, taking with him what had looked to Jazz to be a crystal ball.
She asked, “What … what was that he took with him?”
“An Orb. No doubt it was what he used to get through to this time. We will need it, I think, to get back.” He frowned as he tried to detach the naked woman, who had crawled to him and held him around his waist. She was trying to get into his leather pants and stroking his thigh for some attention.
When he stopped her, setting her firmly but gently aside, she stretched out on the bed and whimpered, “More … please … more …”
Trevor sighed. “I don’t really like humans, but I don’t like to see them suffer.” He shook his head. “I can’t do anything for her to make it stop. In the end, she will die, and it will be a slow death in which she will suffer an agony of need.”
“Then find a way to fix her,” Jazz said with distress. “You can’t leave her like this.”
“We don’t have that ability. What she suffers now is a form of madness. We Fae can cure many things but not madness.”
“How horrible—horrible. How can we just leave her like this?”
“Because we don’t have a choice,” he said and sighed heavily. “As I said, I don’t care to mingle with humans, but I don’t like to see the poor things suffer, either.”
“Can you ease her discomfort—can you try?” Jazz touched his arm, her voice a plea.
He looked at Jazz and said softly, “I will try. Perhaps a spell of compulsion will work.”
He went to the young woman, and in the voice of many, strong and sure, he looked into her deranged eyes and said, “Be at ease, sleep, eat, live, sleep, eat, live …”
He unbent from the naked woman, turned to Jazz, and said softly, “Perhaps that will ease her discomfort … I just don’t know.”
The woman curled up on the bed and fell asleep.
“I think it’s working.” Impulsively, Jazz threw her arms around Trevor. “Well done, Seelie Royal, well done!”
Though he didn’t acknowledge her comment, she noticed a slight smile curve to his lips before he said crisply, “We can’t lose any more time. We will have to try and follow his scent.”
“Won’t he disguise it now that he knows you’re here and on his heels?”
“Aye, he will blend with his surroundings, take on the scent around him, but Seelie Trackers have special abilities and can get past that.” He sighed heavily as he put up a finger to stall her. “I know, you are going to say we don’t have a Tracker, but, Jazmine Decker, you do have a Royal, and while my tracking ability is not as proficient as a Tracker’s, it is quite exceptional. We need that Orb, so let us hope my tracking skills will be enough to find him.”
“Then what? We can’t just flip in, flip out with the Orb.”
“Obviously,” he answered, taking her hand in his. “However, after I find him, I will use my unique ability to locate Seelie artifacts to help me retrieve the Orb. It travels in his sphere, you see. Where he goes, so goes the Orb.” He put her hand to his lips and said quietly, “You are a brave little Fios.”
A shiver went through her. She knew he had only taken her hand because they were about to travel, and yet the contact flustered her. And then his compliment had made her hot from her toes to her … oh, yeah, hot was a good word for what she felt. She covered up the feeling by frowning and asked, “So, how do we do this?”
“We do not. I will do this—you will stay out of my way,” he answered.
“Oohh, now that was just … dismissive. Why are you so uncivil?”
“Uncivil? Am I?” He seemed surprised by the accusation. He shook his head. “You are mistaken, Jazmine Decker. What I am is a Royal Seelie Fae, and with that comes a sense of what I owe to my house and my queen. However, what I also am is, in the human vernacular, pissed off, very pissed off. Pestale killed my Lana, and when he did that, he made a lifelong enemy of me. I should have killed him, I had the chance, but … my queen deemed otherwise.”
“Your Lana?” She heard a possessive sound in the statement. She heard somethi
ng else when he said the name: feeling—he said the name with feeling. An odd twinge traveled through her system at the realization.
“Aye, we, Lana and I, had only just met during the battle with the Unseelie. She is—was—a Milesian. It seems so long ago but in fact was not. She killed Pestale’s brother while saving me, and Pestale killed her. We tracked him, we being her brother Chance and Red—Princess Royce—and I.” He looked away as though seeing another time. “Chance and I meant to slice him apart and feed him to the demons, but the Dark King interceded and took him back to the Dark Realm.” Disgust blanketed his last words.
“Why?”
“He wanted to start over with Pestale. He told the queen that he sensed Pestale was redeemable. He said it was his fault Pestale had turned into a monster. He said if Pestale, his eldest and most favorite son, drank from the Cauldron, he could start over with him, perfect his character, help him to evolve.” Trevor sneered. “All absurd. The Dark King doesn’t know what he needs to do to be a parent, doesn’t have the inclination, or the time, but our queen decided it would be better not to incur his … displeasure.”
“The Cauldron?”
“Like Lethe’s Stream, it holds the purest form of water known to Fae. It is from Danu, and it is never-ending in the Cauldron, always replenished.” He sighed. “But it wipes out a Seelie Fae’s memory. Our queen cautioned the king. She advised him, reminded him, that it might not work in the same manner on a Dark Prince as it does on a Seelie, but he took Pestale away, and as far as I am concerned Pestale got away with his crimes, got away with killing my Lana.”
Again, she felt a ridiculous twinge of something she couldn’t understand when he spoke of ‘his’ Lana. What was up with that? She shrugged it off and with brows upraised said, “I see, but now what are you doing? Going rogue and tracking him on your own?”
“No. The queen has the gift of ‘sight’. She can see limited things in the future, but those things don’t necessarily come to pass. She saw Pestale escaping the Dark Realm with some of his memory intact.”
