by Faulks, Kim
The feeling clung as I rounded my desk and yanked out the chair. Creased edges were all I saw. I ran my fingers along the folder and sat. But the feeling lingered, making me lift my head once more.
Something felt...wrong. More wrong than normal.
I yanked the folders closer, opened the covers, scanned the papers inside, but every now and then my gaze drifted higher, as that haunting feeling returned.
I forced myself to be busy, taking calls, making appointments, and when lunch time finally rolled around, I stood from my desk. My stomach was tight, the muscles at the back of my neck corded. I reached up and rubbed the ache, then stepped away from the desk.
The city glinted in front of me, but today it felt like a hundred miles away. I scanned the rooftops and the buildings. I searched the bushes and the trees, then reached for my cell phone.
One press of a button and she answered on the second ring. “Everything okay?”
“Yes,” the word sounded hollow. “I’m calling for an update.”
“An update?” Gunny repeated slowly. “You mean apart from the fucking shitshow that’s become my life?”
I winced at the snarl, but inside, those talons in my soul eased.
She was a hard woman, a savage, balls-to-the-wall soldier every goddamn second of the day. She was abrasive and raw, with a bedside manner fit for the Devil himself.
And she got the job done.
Former Gunnery Sergeant Regan Rivers never gave up, never wavered, not even in the face of death. She led by example, and that example was bloody and ruthless.
I lifted my gaze to the picture of Margaret on the wall. My wife would’ve loved her.
“We’re on our way to Hell’s Gate, should be there in about two hours,” she grunted. “I’ve got the choppers, and the men. But I’ve got no i-fucking-dea how this shit’s gonna go down, Artemas. This Blaze Trigg is a ruthless piece of shit...and it looks like he has friends...lots of friends, and of the Vampire kind.”
I winced at her tone. “Really?”
“And they’re ones we’ve met before.” She grunted, heaving something heavy.
In the background, the turbine of the chopper powered up.
“Just bring the Guardian back alive,” I growled and lifted my gaze to Margaret once more. “That’s all that matters.”
The whoop...whoop...whoop of the blades drowned out her voice, until her bark cut through. “...I’ll call when we’re close!”
In a heartbeat she was gone, leaving me in silence. The Guardians...they were all that mattered. I needed them more than they knew, needed them to survive, needed them to do what they were born to do…
You mean what you’re too weak to do?
I clenched my jaw at the snarl inside my head and my pulse quickened. It was just me, just my own conscience, just my own thoughts...nothing more. Panic waited for me as I lifted my head to the image of Margaret again. I was the one who was meant to be the protector. And not just once…in my head I held a Queen’s body, and her face morphed into my wife’s.
I’d failed them. Both of them.
“Sir,” Briene called through the intercom. “Stedman is here for your twelve-thirty.”
I flinched at the words. Right. Lunch. Like today was a normal goddamn day.
I crossed the room, grabbed my jacket, and made for the door. Voices quieted as I neared. I stifled the need to flinch. It wasn’t their fault, not while the media deemed it was still news. I bet if I opened the paper, it was still page three news.
My wife lay bleeding for all to see.
I strode from the office, stepped into the elevator, then made for the open door of my car. Stedman was waiting, opening the rear door as I neared.
“Senator,” he murmured. “How about we get the hell outta here?”
I jerked my gaze to his, hope flaring for a second. In his eyes, I saw my own pain, my own anger, my own desperate need to run and keep on running. “That sounds good to me.”
I reached out and grasped his hand before I slipped into the back seat of the limousine and he closed the door behind me.
I pressed my spine against the seat as the car started forward, following the exit before we climbed out of the underground parking garage. A dark blur at my right raced alongside the car. Hulking, fast, racing the car on all fours, a Wolf maybe. The city was full of them now. Maybe it wasn’t? Maybe it was one of them…a newborn Vampire. A Lowest Kynd. The name swirled around inside my mind as I shoved forward, staring through the darkly tinted windows.
“Senator, everything okay?” Stedman’s deep growl came from the front.
But the blur was gone…just as soon as I’d leaned forward. For a second, for one small second, I thought…they were here to kill me and send me back to Hell once more.
The phone buzzed in my pocket. I speared my fingers under my jacket, pulled it free and glanced at the caller ID. “Regan.”
The whoop…whoop…whoop…of the chopper’s blade fought to drown out her roar. “We’re close, ETA twenty minutes. We’re going to need containment here…a compound, big enough…big enough to contain her.”
“I understand,” my gut tightened, my breath stopped. A lash of pain through my head made me wince. “One will be ready. Make sure…the Hellhound Queen…make sure she’s unharmed.”
There was a second of silence before she answered. “I’ll call you when it's done.”
Silence followed. I lowered my hand, as the whoop…whoop…whoop…of blades turned into a BOOM…BOOM…BOOM.
“We’re almost there, Senator.” Stedman called from the front.
I tried to nod as sweat ran down my brow. That cold, chilled feeling that’d haunted me all morning gripped me like a fist.
The sudden lash of pain was quick and brutal, tearing along my head and down my spine. The phone slipped from my hand, toppling to hit the floor with a thud.
I tried to lift my head, tried to find my driver. In the corner of my whitewashed view, I caught that hulking beast running alongside the car once more.
Only I knew who it was now, and the thud, thud, thud, thud, of paws smacking the pavement became the deafening thunder of my pulse.
“Senator?”
Agony drove deeper, making me whimper as I lifted my head. I fell forward, hitting the floor of the limousine hard. My spine bowed and my joints popped. Fabric tore, the sound filling the space.
But there was nothing I could do now. No prayer I could whisper, no Scotch I could drink, as I turned my head and looked out the window, into the glowing blue eyes of a beast.
The car swerved, casting gravel against the underbelly.
I felt every blow, heard every sound…as the sting cut through skin and muscle. The car braked, rocking to a stop, forcing my nails into the soft carpet.
Fire raced…fire, flames, and fear, turning my nails into claws. “No!”
The door was yanked open, Stedman’s brown eyes zeroed in. “Senator…Senator, are you all right?”
I couldn’t answer, couldn’t speak as the agony came again, cutting me open…bleeding me dry. I lifted my head, finding not my driver…but the rear-view mirror.
Blue flames were etched in dark eyes.
I knew those flames…hated those flames.
“Senator, do you need a hospital?” Stedman leaned in through the open door of the limousine.
I shook my head as the pain ripped through flesh and bone. “No,” the guttural word was a snarl. “No hospital.”
There wasn’t anyone alive who could help me now.
Not anymore.
“Turn…t-turn the car around.”
One nod and he was gone, slamming the door, and racing for the driver’s seat. The engine came to life with a roar, the sunlight glinted on the tinted, bulletproof windows as the vehicle swung around and roared back the way we’d come.
The conference would wait.
My people would wait.
Forever, if they had to.
Sweat broke out along the nape of my neck as p
ain drove deeper. I curled my fingers, the nails bent and tapered. Through tears I saw them…saw them for what they really were.
Claws.
My muscles shuddered as I caught the reflection of flickering blue flames and knew the Hound had found me once and for all…
“Take me home,” the groan slipped from my lips as I closed my eyes. “Please take me home.”
2
Kalliste
The city lights sparkled far below. Red, molten lava coursed through the city streets, sending white plumes of sulphur smoke into the sky. I gripped my elbows, hugging my body a little tighter, and stared at my city on fire.
It burned without me. It hated and raged, carving through rock and asphalt. Was it searching for me? Was Hell reaching through the gates ready to claim a Queen once more?
I wanted it...almost craved it. I’d sink into those burning flames. I’d step into Hell once more. Anything was better than here.
“If I didn’t know you better, I’d swear you were planning an escape.”
I froze at the voice, and tried to swallow the flinch.
Don’t let him see.
Don’t let him know how much he affects me.
“You going to look at me, Kalliste?”
I turned then, slowly, lowering my gaze like I’d done all this time, and then found his stare at the last second. Blaze leaned against the doorway, watching me...like he always watched me. Like I was a possession. Like I was a thing.
There was a twitch at the corner of his mouth, and a hard rise of his chest. I’d learned not to glance at the way his body reacted to me. I’d learned to keep my body from doing the same. Only, his need was of hunger and greed, and claiming.
And mine was of disgust. I kept my breath shallow, kept the swallow from letting him see that acid spilled into the back of my throat.
He wanted me, more than he was willing to let himself believe. He wanted my blood. He wanted my body. He wanted my love. He’d take what he could, by force if he had to.
And time was running out for me.
“How much longer are you going to keep me prisoner?” I murmured, keeping the sting of rage from my words as I stared at my city burning down below us.
“Are you not happy here?” He never answered, just answered a question with another damn question.
He was always demanding, always seeking, always wanting to pick me apart at the edges. Always undressing me. Men like Blaze Trigg wanted more than flesh and desire. They wanted to consume...until there was nothing left to consume.
Until there was nothing left of me.
Just like how Dad was with my mom.
I gave a slow shake of my head. “You can’t keep me locked away up here forever.”
The slight curl of his lips said otherwise. “Soon,” he answered. “Soon you’ll understand it all. Soon you’ll be what you were always meant to be.” He crossed the room with long strides. “One perfect cog in my wheel of power. You’re going to give me everything, aren’t you? You’re going to be a good Princess and give it all to me.”
I fought the need to step backwards but, as always, self-preservation won. My shoes slipped over the sleek tiled floor until my spine met the icy glass wall.
Glass walls were my prison, and Blaze Trigg was my tormentor. Faint amber flames danced in his gaze. He reached out, brushing the back of his finger across my cheek. But his gaze gripped mine, and then slowly looked down.
This was our game. This was what consumed him.
His touch moved lower, thumb stroking the line of my jaw until he grasped my chin in his massive hand.
My muscles quivered, fighting a useless battle, outmatched by his brute strength, and so I turned my head.
“My God, you’re beautiful,” he murmured.
I closed my eyes to his words. Inside, I pulled away from his touch.
“Do you know what they call me down there?” He stepped closer, the rise of his chest brushing against my breasts. “They call me the new King of Hell’s Gate.”
I closed my eyes, pressing myself harder against the glass. I’d melt all the way in if I could, fall through the wall and plunge into the darkness below.
New King? The words resounded as the face of my father filled my mind.
“I am their new King...and you...you could be my Queen.”
Fire lashed through me with the words. The faces of my mother and my sisters came roaring back. I fought his grip now, driving my gaze to meet the sickening glint in his. “I’d rather die.”
There was a flare of darkness, and cruelty. One that hovered so close to the surface of this man. His grip tightened, the tips of his fingers dug into my jaw hard enough to bruise as he leaned closer, his lips brushing my skin as he whispered, “That can also be arranged.”
My heart lunged, slamming against the inside of my chest. I closed my eyes to the feel of his desire and rage. To give myself to a man like Blaze would be more than a lifetime of pain and regret, it’d be to live on a knife’s edge…one tiny slip, and my life would be over.
Not just my life though, was it?
Amaris.
Oryn.
Their faces filled my mind. They were out there, fighting, hunting. If I knew Amaris, she’d never stop, she’d tear Hell’s Gate apart street by street and man by man if she had to--just to get me back.
“Do you see that out there?” His voice had a chilling edge. “Go on, look,” he urged.
I swallowed the boom of my heart, fighting with the need to see my city, but terrified with the thought of giving him my back. He lifted his hands and gripped my shoulders, turning me to stare through the tinted wall of glass to the world outside.
“Princess...your city is falling.”
My feet moved on their own as an explosion tore through the darkness. The faint boom barely reached me. I mapped the streets, splaying my hand against the glass as I leaned close. “What have you done?” I couldn’t look away...couldn’t… “What...have...you...done?”
My breath caught. Pain lashed through my chest, carving through muscle and bone. I gasped and cried out as my knees trembled and gave way. One hand went to my chest as flickering flashes of gunfire sparkled through the midnight glass.
My vision wavered, Blaze a blur as I stumbled to the side.
A heart attack.
That’s what it was...a heart attack.
Ice plunged through my chest, the cold stealing my breath. The floor wavered as my hands hit the frigid marble.
“I couldn’t have her getting in the way, Kalliste. Not anymore, and seeing as how my men weren’t up to the task, I had to find someone who was.”
His words filled my head as I collapsed to the floor, agony ripping and shredding. Fabric tore as I wrenched my top aside. But there was nothing, no blade, no dagger.
I slammed my hand to my chest and felt that chill sweep through my veins.
Above me, Blaze stepped closer, staring down at me like I was a helpless, dying beast.
“I found her in the most unlikely of places,” he murmured.
I screamed as that bitter cold reached through my chest and along my neck. Amaris. Her face filled my mind.
“They call her the Huntress, and she is one ruthless bitch,” he murmured.
A cry tore free as I clawed at the cold marble floor. Pain stole my sight, spilling tears onto the floor. I shoved with my feet, sending a call through the darkness of my mind.
I need you…
My Hound let out a whimper. The sound was low and careful.
Amaris consumed me, filling my head with her screams. I knew what this was now, knew who’s pain I felt...knew the connection we all shared.
Our sister needs us.
My Hound took a step closer, her black lips curled, revealing white fangs.
That’s it. I sent out a spear of desperation. That’s it, come closer.
Pain was a wave that slammed into me, one tsunami after another. I shoved against the black marble floor as it brightened. My throat was on fi
re. I sucked in a gasp and glanced over my shoulder.
Hell’s Gate was alive with terror, shooting red flames into the night. And in an instant, the pain consumed me, swallowing every nerve, every muscle. My elbows buckled, sending me crashing face first against the cold marble.
“Now...now...now. I hope you’re not going to get all weepy on me, Kalliste.”
I clawed my shirt, writhing and kicking. I couldn’t escape the pain, couldn’t find a way through to her...couldn’t save my sister.
Shiny black boots filled my view as the pain eased, leaving the chilling cold behind. Blaze Trigg lowered his body, squatting beside me. I lifted my gaze as tears streamed down my face, and stared into the eyes of true evil. “I’ll...I’ll kill you.” I whispered. Breaths sawed through my chest. I curled my fingers, my legs jerking as the cold swept through and claimed the last of me. “I’ll kill every one of you…”
He smiled at my words and slowly shook his head. “You know I love a good challenge.” He reached out.
This time, I couldn’t stop the revulsion.
This time, I couldn’t stop the fear.
I drove my foot against the floor and tore my face from his reach.
There was a twitch at the corner of his mouth as a chilling flicker of rage sparkled in his eyes. His lips parted as though he wanted to say something, and then his mouth closed once more.
I sucked in hard gasps as the freezing pain in my chest slowly warmed. A flicker of something skimmed across my mind, leaving behind an image of violet flames as the faint chirp of Blaze’s phone filled the room.
He rose, reaching into his pocket, and dragged the cell phone free. “Yes,” he snapped.
Silence followed, brooding, chilling silence. I closed my eyes, leaving this room behind. Instead, I plunged into the darkness of my mind. But this time, I wasn’t searching for my Hound. This time I was searching for something else.
Something that danced with violet and midnight flames, something that at first felt like my sister, but under that felt very different indeed.
“Good,” Blaze answered. “No, I’ll be the one to tell our Queen.”
