This one in particular she had heard the female guard whispering about right before they had learned of the kidnapping of her cousin. This formerly arrogant, piece of shit human was much worse than just a womanizer, but a user and an abuser in the worst way. He preyed on single mothers who were slightly overweight, with self-esteem issues and a little bit of money, building up their confidence, making them fall madly in love with him while convincing them he felt the same way, tricked them into believing they would be together forever. He would even go so far as to include the children, acting as though he loved them as well and they were going to be the perfect family; even had the smaller ones calling him Daddy.
Then he would conveniently lose his job and begin asking for help with this and that, to the point where she was basically taking care of him. When the woman would begin to catch on that he really didn’t give a damn about her, he would start with slight insults, then the cheating and lying, then verbal and emotional abuse until she couldn’t take it anymore and ultimately dumped him.
The way he ended up down here was the last woman he had been with was part witch, and he’d treated her worse than all the others. He’d hurt her so badly her cry could be heard all the way in Underlayes by all the most powerful witches. Her aunt especially wanted him as a special treat, and to torture the Hel out of him. See, this halfling witch had fallen in love with him way before he became the lowlife he was, and he took full advantage of the fact. He swept her off her feet and moved her in with him, at first so they “could help each other out.”
When he lost his job, however, she became the main provider, just like all the others she had known nothing about. But, when she became impregnated by him, she could no longer work. And even though this child was indeed his without a shadow of a doubt, he still did to her what he did to all the rest: began treating her like a worthless piece of garbage once she had nothing left to give to him. He depleted all her savings accounts, played a major part in helping her to lose her job, even made her lose her car, and forced her to move back home with a family who openly hated her, with yet another child to raise on her own.
So Laina paid him a brief visit, not to feed, because she wanted none of his memories. No, this one she only wanted to make bleed and suffer. Flashing into his barren cave of a cell, with nothing inside it besides a chamber pot and stalagmite, she made quick work of stripping him down to nothing, moving so fast he had no chance to scream or even see his tormentor. She then began by ripping off the piece he held so dear and shoving it into his mouth before he could so much as whimper. Then she continued by tearing his skin to shreds, beginning with the face that gave females false hope and shattered dreams, then down to his chest. When she got to the arms that gave a deceptive sense of comfort and security, she ripped them off and threw them across the cell.
She made short work of him after that, saving his cold-ass heart for last, snatching it out of his chest even though he was already dead at that point, crushed the cold, no longer beating organ in her hand, and laughed like a rabid hyena as she did so.
Flashing herself back to their quarters, she was just in time to witness her sisters finish hogtying their unwelcomed guest. She muttered one word to them, “Cool,” then promptly crashed down from her high and passed out like a six-foot-tall sack of potatoes.
Gigi and Jenna looked at each other wide-eyed, shook their heads after they took in the sight of Laina, then went over to gather the one they usually went to when they messed up, and flashed her to their bathing chamber. Realizing possibly for the first time ever Laina was the one who needed them, and they had wasted way too much time as it was, they made quick work of taking care of their sister. Using their vampire speed, they ripped her clothes off her body, getting electric shocks every now and then from much more than static electricity. With all the juice still running through her veins, they were debating on whether or not to put her in any water at all. Not that they were afraid it would kill her or anything like that. No, they were more afraid of all three of them getting shocked and knocked the Hel out and taking up way more time than any of them had to lose. Their guest was barely alive as it was. They didn’t know all that much about techno mages, and what they didn’t know could end up doing more harm than good. They were already known as the family fuck-ups as it was.
But there was no way in all the realm they could get Laina clean without using soap and water, unless they used a glamour, and there was no time to find anyone who could do that right then. So, they did the next best thing that came to mind. Dropping Laina onto the middle of the vast floor of luckily black tiles with a big thud that still didn’t rouse her, they flashed down to the servants’ quarters to get all the supplies they figured they’d need; mops, aprons, rubber gloves, buckets, soap, spray bottles, rags, and a rake.
As soon as they got back to Laina, they made quick work of cleaning her. They had no idea what it was she had done to come back looking as though she had literally taken a blood bath. There were chunks of skin underneath her fingernails; her face and arms looked like she’d made herself a face mask with blood, and as they scrubbed her hair and face with the mop, they discovered a finger.
The smell of so much blood made them both hungry, but they kept going until they had their sister clean and presentable enough. When they went to rinse her off using the spray bottles, they saw that would take way too long, since they were only getting a few inches of soap off her at a time. So, they refilled the buckets with clean water, grateful for the drains on the floor, and dumped the water on her. Not only did that succeed in getting out the remnants of soap and the last of the blood, but it also shocked her ass awake, literally. She wasn’t very coherent, but it was a start.
Grateful for the rubber gloves they had nabbed, they sat her up and leaned her against the wall, and towel dried her so she was dry enough to slip a crimson maxi dress over her head, figuring the color would blend in with whatever blood they might have missed. They then rolled her hair into a knot at the back of her head and stuck a hairpin in it, not bothering to dry it.
As they took a few steps back to admire their work, Laina mumbled, “I think I did something bad. How’d I get in the bathroom? Is that a finger over there? I’m hungry…”
Jenna and Gigi looked at each other and then back to her, and in unison said, “Laina, just shut up.”
Helping her to stand, they flashed back to where their captive still laid unconscious, glad no one had ventured in there in the time they’d been gone. It wasn’t until Laina said, “Y’all look silly” they realized they still had on aprons and gloves. They snatched their makeshift cleaning garments off and threw them in a haphazard heap on the floor. What was one more mess to explain? They already knew they would hear about the catastrophe they’d left in the bathing chambers. But that was a worry for later.
“Okay, we can do this.” This came from Gigi in a non-too confident tone. “Laina!” she shouted, when she noticed her sister’s fangs gleaming and her mouth salivating as she kept staring at the mage. The only response she got was, “Huh?”
“Come on, Gigi, let’s get this over with. There’s no telling how long she’s gonna stay like…that. And we’ve got who knows how much longer before this dude’s dead, then we’ll really have our asses in a sling.” With that, Jenna reached down to grab the mage and take Laina’s hand as Gigi grabbed the other one. No way in Hel were they going to allow her to flash on her own.
Right before they flashed, Laina started bouncing up and down where they stood and asked, “Are we about to go build a snowman?” With an answering grunt of exasperation, they were gone.
So, where were we? Awe, yes, right here… “Gigi, Jenna, Laina, who the Hel is this, and where the fuck did he come from? Laina, why is your eye twitching like that, and what in Sekhmet’s name do you have on?”
14
Triple Threat or Train Wreck?
After explaining how and where they had found the techno mage, and the inevitable questions were asked as far a
s how best to get information from him; torture, a trusted sorcerer, or a trusted witch, Laina began convulsing once again. Only this time was much worse than the last, and even more terrifying for those she loved to watch. As she dropped to the floor on her back, blood began to slowly pool in each orifice; her mouth, nose, eyes, even from her ears.
As if on cue, Darvyn and Elyssia flashed into the room. “Tia, I think there’s something wrong with the— What the fuck?” His tone quickly changed from worried and frantic to utter dread and confusion when he saw his daughter lying on the floor, bleeding out and convulsing. Wasting no more time, Darvyn flashed directly to where Laina lay, kneeling beside her. When he went to gather her up in his arms, however, he got a shock for his efforts. “The Gods damn it all! Has she been drinking from a fucking techno? You girls should know better than that.”
“We do, but—” the other two answered in unison.
“But? But what? And this had damn well better be good. Because this is the worst possible time for this shit.” Darvyn visibly grew more frustrated by the moment.
“But she wanted to find out what he knew.”
“And how did she bloody well plan on doing that? Bleeding him dry until he was a corpse she could take to the necromancers?” Darvyn’s voice continued to rise with both fear and frustration, making Jenna and Gigi automatically take a couple steps back. To no one in particular, he shouted, “Someone get a donor in here! Wait, make that two. She’s gonna need a lot of blood.”
“You really don’t know?” the two shrieked together, then began finishing each other’s sentences, something they tended to do when they were upset. Everyone’s heads turned from Gigi to Jenna and back as they spoke. “I mean, yeah…we kept it from…like everybody…but you’re our dad…how could you not…know? Do you pay…any attention to…us at all? Or just when we screw up?” They shrilled the last of that question together.
“You spoiled rotten…of course I know she can gain information from blood!” Darvyn shouted at them. Times like these they all wondered what truly went on in those brains of theirs. “Anya, I’m going to need your help. And wipe that damn smirk off your face.”
She outright laughed at the looks she got from everyone at that comment. “Oh, my Goddess. I sometimes forget how much slower you full-bloods age. But you used to drive Dad crazy too, and you were supposedly past your teen stage.” As she walked to where they were, she directed towards her nieces, “What you boneheads failed to realize is a tech’s blood is too damn thin to read, even by a vampire as strong with the talent as your sister is. She may have gotten a faint echo, if she was lucky. And everyone in the family knows your so-called secret.”
“Y’all…know?” the girls asked wide-eyed.
“Oh, can it!” Tia had been listening to everything play out until she couldn’t take their incessant shrilling anymore and abruptly stood from her throne. “Of course everybody knows. And I swear if you don’t stop talking together like you’re one person, I’m going to bang your heads together until my head starts hurting from the impact. You don’t see me and Anya doing that, unless there’s an actual reason for it. I love you punks, but your timing for shit like this plain sucks. You two should have known better than to let her feed from a techy, and don’t pull that your ‘studies were interrupted because of the wars’ bit, ’cause you were taught about blood at home. A tech’s blood is much thinner than any other factions because of all the neutrons and electrons running through it, and consuming it thins your own blood. Which is why she looked high as a kite when the three of you flashed in here.”
Queen Tialanna began barking out orders in earnest then. “Gigi, Jenna, go flash and get whatever gloves you used to attempt clean up your sister with–kudos on that part at least—so your Aunt Anya and your father can start working on her.”
“What do they need to do to her? Will she be okay?” Gigi asked.
“They need to get as much of that mage’s blood out of her as they can, then replace it by forcing her to feed. Now go.” After they flashed away, Tia continued, “Chandler, will you please get about four of our healthiest donors? We’ll get her to the med bay later; with the way she’s bleeding we need to get started right now. My beautiful demon, will you please revert back to your Bran persona before the humans are brought in? Last thing we need is for one of them to have a heart attack.” She added telepathically, Plus, Kierra is starting to sweat. Your demon must be making things hard on her right now.
Her loving Demon did as he was asked, then went to stand by Kierra’s side. Not saying a word to her, he gave her a slight nod that Tia knew was to let her know he was there if she needed him.
“Elyssia, please gather our…guests. There really hasn’t been any time for pleasantries so I don’t even know their names, but you’re much better than me with that kind of thing anyway. Get them to limit their number. Have each of the families leave one of their wisest and strongest with us and send the rest back to their homes. Gather five of the most trusted guards; send a pair with both the wolf and vampire families to gather any intel they can on how their children were taken. Be sure to tell them to work with these families; no taking over or making them feel like hostiles. Leave one here to keep an eye on the incubus. He came alone, so we need to talk with him before he goes off anywhere.”
“I’m on it.”
Before Elyssia could flash away, Tia called her again, “And, Lyss? You realize soon you’re going to have to take your place with the witches. Crissianna is holding down the fort still, but that isn’t her place. She isn’t even a witch and for the last few decades spent more time on four legs than on two. So, when all this is said and done, you’re going to have to handle your business.” In a lower tone, she added, “You’re also going to have to handle your personal business too. This creeping around isn’t healthy for any one of you. You’re my baby sister and I love you, but he’s also my brother and they are my nieces. You may not be related to those girls by blood, but they lost a mom just like the three of us. Granted, theirs turned out to be a maniacal, scheming, backstabbing whore, but she was still their mother. So make that right too.”
Taking a huge breath to help settle her fractured nerves, Tia continued, “Grimm, I need you to gather up a few wolves with extra-sensitive sniffers, and preferably trained as trackers. Split them up to go with the families; a couple to the orphanage, and a couple around here since I’m assuming that’s where the tech was found. Have them comb the grounds. There has got to be something here, some kind of lead for us to follow. And one more thing.”
Stepping directly in front of her wolf, Tia reached up to grab his head and pull it down to hers until their lips met and crushed them in an almost punishing, but mostly a reclaiming kiss. For the first few seconds, Grimm was reluctant. Then with a resounding growl he began kissing his wife right back with just as much fervor and aggression, maybe even that much more, than she had begun the kiss with, pulling her body flush against his own. When they both finally came up for air, Tia spoke again. “I love you, and I’m sorry you had to find out the way you did about our daughter. But right now? Let’s focus on getting her back. Be mad at me afterwards if you need to.”
With a grunt Grimm shifted into a wolf, then ran off to do his wife and Queen’s bidding.
While his sister had been busy shouting out orders, Darvyn had been preparing his still conscious daughters to save the usually smartest of the trio, having the two of them sit on either side of her right by the crooks of her arms. They had already flashed to wherever and back to retrieve the rubber gloves so they could handle Laina without being shocked. Which was a good thing since what they were about to do would require them to stay very still. Donning the gloves they had given him, he sat on his knees, holding up Laina’s head.
Now it was his turn to begin barking out orders, a trait both he and Tia had inherited from their own father, along with their stubborn and bullheaded at times personalities. “Gigi and Jenna, after all this is said and done and your siste
r is back on her feet, we are all going to have a long, apparently overdue conversation. But one thing I want you to glue into your thick-headed skulls.” He looked them both dead in the eyes in turn before continuing. “No matter what happened with that mother of yours, I love the three of you more than my own life, and that will never change.”
As Chandler returned with the donors he had been sent to retrieve, Darvyn went back to instructing his daughters. “Girls, extend your fangs. When I tell you to, I need you to slash open the crooks of Laina’s arms all the way across and hold her arm open straight over the buckets and allow her blood to drain out until all the thin-looking blood runs out, and the thicker blood begins to run in its place. Do not let her arm close; if you do, the cut will only heal, and don’t ingest any of that blood.”
Darvyn turned his head, then kept delivering instructions. “Chandler, I need you to keep those donors at the ready. As soon as Tia says so, place one of their wrists into Laina’s mouth. You may have to cut open their wrists for Laina until she’s conscious enough to do it on her own. Tia, when you hear her heart slow to almost nothing is when you give Chandler the go ahead.” He looked up at Tia, who was kneeling at Laina’s feet, as he said the last.
Tia spied Kierra and Bran from the corner of her eye as they worked on Laina. Seeing everything was going smoothly and Darvyn had everything under control, they both slyly glanced over to where the mage still lay. When the techno mage began to stir, they gave each other a look that spoke volumes and she knew they were up to something. Looked like the demons were about to go play.
15
The Plot Thickens
After reliving the memories of both the wolf and the incubus, my other two mates, my feelings were even more screwed up than before. While we may have bonded literally on a soul-deep level, that didn’t have a damned thing to do with actually liking them.
The Succubus, the Demon and the Witch Page 9
