by Jeff Hale
“Okay.” Aerick strode away, seemingly with purpose, but I saw how broken he was from all this. Having Serena taken away because she was dead was one thing. This situation, having her taken away but still very much around, was entirely different.
I just hoped that he wasn’t broken in a way that none of us could see.
Epilogue
Aerick?
In truth, I had already fucked Kat, not physically, much as I would have liked to, but mentally and emotionally. She was mine now. There had been nothing to protect Lily and Nina, though, and those two I had fucked physically. Luckily for them, I had no interest in binding either of them to me, and they had been nothing more than excellent distractions to keep my mind off of Serena while Lucien and Val kept me in captivity.
Serena. She would be mine again whether she wanted to or not. She would have a kingdom befitting a princess of her exquisiteness and beauty. I loved her, and what better way to prove that love than to break her free from her imprisonment and give her the world?
I stopped on the sidewalk outside the Flame and lifted my face to the sunlight, taking in a deep breath of warm Las Vegas air. Freedom at last. Freedom to finish what I had started. I had told Val that I was demon chasing, but I’d lied. I had more important things to attend to.
I needed to make some contacts. Let some of my… friends know that my preparations were nearly complete. Friends that I had made in the darkest hours of the night when I searched the Aether for like-minded individuals. Individuals that wanted a change in the status quo. It had taken me a few days, locked in that damnable room at the Flame, times when Kat thought I was sleeping, to get everything set in motion for today. Now they just needed a face-to-face, a last meeting with me to prove who I was and tell them it was time.
The meetings went better than I had anticipated, quicker, and I returned to the Flame early that evening. Lily was at the bar when I walked in, getting everything prepped for the night’s crowd. Her tight sports bra and extremely short skirt flashed plenty of golden-tanned flesh and she smiled at me as I stopped at the bar.
“Can I get you anything?” she asked coyly, her cheeks becoming pink.
I let my eyes wander lazily over her, wondering if she really meant ‘anything’. I had thrown any moral compunction I had about sex out the window long ago. It really did me no good; if I wanted something, and they were willing to give it, why shouldn’t I take it?
I gave her a nod that she couldn’t misunderstand, then walked around the bar and ran my hands across all that bare flesh. She sighed in pleasure, shuddering under my touch, and I quickly turned her to face the bar counter. I pushed her chest down on the counter with one hand while the other undid my jeans before moving under her skirt.
I didn’t care that we were out in the open, where anyone could see. She moaned and I took what she was offering, pinning her against the counter with my body and exploring her soft skin with my hands. She was loud, her noises of pleasure echoing off the walls of the club, and when I was done with her, I stepped away and re-buttoned my pants like I’d done nothing more than use a restroom. Lily sank down to her knees behind the bar, still holding onto the counter for support, her whole body twitching and trembling.
“That’s quite enough!” Lucien’s voice cut across the empty club. I turned to face him, Lily all but forgotten as my true target came into sight. “Aerick, you know that Serena still loves you. What if she just happened to wander up here and see that? Would you be able to forgive yourself?” he asked as he walked toward me.
“Yeah. Sure,” I said, shrugging.
“What has gotten into you, Aerick? I know it’s been rough, but you seem… different.” His dark eyes searched mine, as though he were trying to see something inside me.
“I am. I’m wiser now. And here momentarily, far more powerful. I’ll be able to take this to a whole new playing field.”
“Take what?”
I shrugged, giving him a calculating stare. “The war.”
“There is no war. Not yet. Not if those that are in power can help such things.” He waved a hand dismissively.
“That’s where you, and they, are wrong. The war has already begun. You and those that follow your insipid ideals just refuse to fight it!”
Lucien’s eyes went wide and his mouth set itself into a thin line. “Aerick, you tread thin ice here. We may be friends, and I may be patient with you, but there is only so much that even I am willing to deal with from you. Now, why don’t you explain to me why you feel this way all of a sudden?”
“Simple. Serena. Kris. Lily. All the mortals that cannot fight for themselves,” I lied smoothly. The only one I really cared about was Serena, and no one had even begun to guess at what she was. Not even her.
“What about them?” Lucien wanted to know.
“If it weren’t for this war, then Serena would have been left alone. We would have been left alone. But the demons, Baba Yaga, and the Purity Movement are all already fighting this war. On multiple fronts. They fight it because there are factions within the Aetherics that began the war long ago, and refuse to live in harmony with humans because of their high-handedness and superiority complexes. Vampires like Lochlan, and shifters like Darien. I should have wiped both of them out when I had the chance. Believe me, I will not make that mistake twice!” I centered myself, pulling on the Aether, drawing the energy into my body, as much as I could hold without damaging myself, so that I could begin my assault. “Don’t you see? All are accountable! Aetherics! Humans. Even… you!” I reached out with the stored Aetheric energy, and tapped into that line that fed me my Sentinel abilities passively, turning it into an active feed.
Then feed I did. Lucien screamed in agony, reaching out for me, but I stepped backwards to avoid his touch. He tried to lunge for me, but a gesture from me dropped him to the floor. I watched as he writhed in pain, literally wilting in front of me. His form blurred and changed, to that of the Phoenix bird, wings beating uselessly at the air to try and fight me off. The flames around him shimmered and flickered weakly as he began to slowly die.
“Aerick!” he gasped out, morphing back to his human avatar. “Don’t… don’t do this! I am your friend. You’re hurting… me. Why are you doing this?”
“You betrayed me.”
He looked up at me from where he supported himself on his hands and knees. “No. I was trying to help you. Help you and Serena! I… I know now. You are not Aerick!”
A malicious laugh broke from me. “How perceptive. I was wondering when you would realize that I haven’t been Aerick for a very long time. I’ve been biding my time, waiting until I had enough strength to strike. I am still Aerick, he’s in here somewhere, but I am also so much more now.”
“Then I have failed you in some way. For that, I apologize,” he whispered. His arms gave out and he collapsed to the floor, unmoving. He wasn’t dead yet, but he would be soon. I stopped draining, having gained plenty of power for the time being. I had to make two more stops before leaving the city.
I headed downstairs to where Malachai and Travis were being held. I wanted to look in on Malachai and question him on Excalibur’s whereabouts. I was surprised to see Val in the cell with him again, although it looked like she and Malachai were at a stalemate. She heard my footsteps and turned, giving me a curious look when she saw me.
“Back so soon?” she asked, coming out of the cell.
“Yes. Now back off,” I ordered harshly.
She stopped and gave me a look of confusion. “What’s wrong with you, Aerick? You don’t look right,” she observed.
I didn’t waste time; I backhanded her and sent her flying into the wall. She hit with a dull thud, a cry sounding from her, then she slid to the floor in a crumpled heap. She lay there breathing heavily for several seconds before she looked up at me. She was a tough little bitch, I had to give her that.
“This wasn’t supposed to happen this way!” she cried out. “You took his power, didn’t you? You killed Lucien! You we
re never supposed to do this!”
“Then what was I supposed to do?” I yelled back at her.
“You were supposed to rally the Sentinels! You and Malachai, believe it or not! I was just telling Malachai this so that maybe he would allow Merlin to fix him! You were supposed to lead us!” Her eyes were full of a desperate sadness, then she bit her lip, closed them, and when she opened them again her expression was one of resolute hardness. “I’ve failed in my mission, and now I see what I have to do.”
Val started to stand but I didn’t even allow her the hope of an attack. I used the heat around her to bind her so that she couldn’t move, then lifted her from the floor. I tossed her back into Malachai’s cell through the open door, then slammed the door shut and locked it.
Travis was next. There was some semblance of me that still cared about what he did. He would suffer for touching what was mine, even if it was at my orders. His cell was just past Malachai’s and I watched him through the window, staring at him for a long while. It was a small cell, just large enough for the bed that Travis was strapped to. He’d been in a bigger one, before I’d tortured him and he’d needed medical attention, as though the smaller cell would keep him safe from me.
Footsteps on the stairs caught my attention and I made myself invisible, unsure as to whom the new intruder might be. I was surprised to see Serena take a careful step down into the small jail. She looked like a vision of Heaven to me, dressed in tight blue jeans, tan cowboy boots, and a white flannel tied up under her breasts. I had to contain a snort at the irony.
She walked slowly and carefully up to the door of Travis’s cell, standing right next to me and completely oblivious to my presence. I wasn’t too surprised to see Kat right behind her, dressed in blue jeans and a white t-shirt. Serena stared at the cell door for a few seconds, then turned and held her hand out to Kat.
“You want to go in?” Kat asked her.
“Yeah, I need ta face him, and not with a door between us. Please, Kat?” Serena smiled softly at her.
Kat just sighed and stepped forward, drawing a key from her jeans pocket and opening the door herself instead of giving Serena the key. Serena opened the door, took a steadying breath, then walked inside, turning to give Kat a little nod. Kat returned the nod, then stepped back to lean against the wall of the stairwell. I just hoped that neither of them had seen Val in Malachai’s cell. I moved into the open doorway of Travis’s cell, as much to watch what she was going to do, as to block her from escaping.
Travis’s eyes opened and he coughed. “Back again? Do whatever you want but I won’t—oh, it’s you,” he sneered. He snorted air in through his nose, then spat at her.
Serena flinched the slightest bit when the spittle hit her cheek, then she calmly wiped it away, took a step forward, and punched Travis in the nose, hard. A sickening crunch echoed through the cell.
“Ya don’t spit on a lady!” she screamed at him.
I felt a little sigh of relief go through me. I had worried that maybe Travis had completely broken her, had taken away her spirit, but it looked like she hadn’t changed as much as I had feared. Good. I watched as she hit him again and again, player her anger, her frustration, her humiliation out on him. She’d only hit him in the face the one time; the rest she centered on his stomach and chest. By the time she was done she was out of breath, her face wet with unchecked tears.
“Ya took everythin’ from us! Ya took me away from him! Why did ya do that ta us? Why?” Serena demanded shrilly, her little fists clenched against her thighs.
“What does it matter?” he asked in a raspy voice. “You’re just a thing.”
“Why do ya keep callin’ me that? I’m a person, like you! I’m not just some thing!”
“Because, you are! You’re a clone, a grown human made from science, with a soul entrapped in it by magic! You aren’t real! You were created to be experimented on so we could find a way to become immune to Aetheric abilities! You were never supposed to know, but it doesn’t matter now. We were supposed to protect and guard you. Make sure you stayed within your protocols. You were supposed to remember eventually, of course. He knew you would, given enough time and the planned exposure to your boyfriend. And when you did remember? You were to be used as a way to lure your little boyfriend in so we could experiment on him. Learn his weaknesses,” Travis told her, a sick smile curling his lip.
“His kind are a growing threat that we cannot abide. Of course, I had my own plans as to how we were going to use you to bring him in. I wanted to violate you, taste you, and feel you squirm under me as I slowly beat the life out of you and ripped you apart inside at the same time. You took everything from me!” Travis yelled, his eyes wild as he struggled against the straps holding him to the bed.
Serena’s face blanched and she backed against the wall. “What do ya mean? I didn’t do anythin’ ta you!” she screamed at him.
“My family was the blood sacrifice that was needed to create you! My wife and my daughter were killed for the energy that produced you! I fucking despise you, and if I could do what I did to you all over again, I would! At least you felt good when you were squirming on me. I could tell that you even liked it a little!” Travis taunted sadistically.
Serena shook her head slowly, as though trying to deny his words, then she put her hand in the pocket of her jeans and pulled something from it that she just stared at for several moments.
What have you got there, my little angel?
She lifted her hand and I could see it, a generic plastic syringe with a safety cap. It was filled with a pale, greenish liquid.
“Where did you get that?” Travis demanded, fear seeping into his eyes.
She looked from the syringe to him, blinking. “First aid kit in the kitchen. Found some other things, too.” She pulled the safety cap off and squirted a little of the liquid out, tapping the syringe with a practiced hand as she stepped toward him. I smiled to myself when I remembered that she had been studying to become a doctor. “There are a couple of different things in here. Separately, they’re relatively benign. Put them tagether? Well, that’s another matter entirely. You’ll die a slow, painful death. It’ll take days as the poison creeps through ya, and you’ll beg fer release. But it won’t happen, and no one will grant ya the favor,” she promised darkly, leaning down and slowly inserting the needle into his neck. Her thumb hovered over the plunger, as though she were still debating her actions in her mind.
I was more than a little shocked. I didn’t think she had it in her. Maybe she had changed. She had never struck me before as the type that would be capable of cold-blooded murder. Something about the whole scene just struck a wrong chord in me, while another part of me was getting off on it.
Travis held very still as she held that needle against his neck, his eyes begging her not to do it. A small drop of blood welled up on his skin at the entry, vibrating as her hand trembled. She began to exert pressure on the plunger, then made a noise low in her throat and pulled her thumb away. She stood there, shaking, for a good minute or two, tears forming in her eyes to spill over and drip onto Travis’s face.
There was something in her that wanted to do, but there was a larger portion that couldn’t do it, that knew that she wouldn’t be able to live with herself if she did. I knew her well enough to realize that; she was a healer, not a killer.
Pity.
“I… I cain’t,” she whispered dully. “Ya deserve it, but I cain’t be the one ta do it. I’m not like ya. I’m better than ya.” She dropped the syringe and it rolled under the bed as she went to her knees, sobs shaking her tiny frame.
“But I’m not,” I announced, not caring that my voice was my own instead of Aerick’s. I dropped my invisibility and Travis’s eyes went to me in dread as I stepped through the doorway and looked down at him. Serena shied away into the corner of the room, but didn’t go into immediate catatonia like she had before.
“Lord Azryel? What? Why? I served you well! I did what you wanted!” he yelled as
I leaned in to touch his foot. As my finger made contact, an expression of abject terror crossed his face and he went completely silent. Ice formed around his bare toes, then began to creep agonizingly slowly up his foot.
“That ice will take a while to completely encompass you,” I informed him nonchalantly. “Weeks, maybe months. No one can stop it, except for myself. Once it engulfs you, you still won’t be dead. But it won’t end there either. The ice will continue to grow, in tiny spikes that will slowly penetrate your body. You will live on, frozen in that block for the rest of eternity, never dying, never aging, only able to observe your immediate surroundings. I’ll make sure you get put in a nice crowded location so that as you are denied living your own life, you will be forced to watch others live theirs.”
“Aerick? What did ya just do?” Serena asked, appalled.
“What needed to be done. Come with me, darlin’. I’m going to make you an Empress.” I grabbed her hand before she could react, and teleported us away from the Velvet Flame.
We re-appeared a couple thousand feet over the city of Denver, Colorado. I held Serena aloft as we floated there, encasing us both in a protective shield against the drastic and sudden altitude change. She clung to me instinctively, her fear of falling overriding her fear of me.
“Beautiful, isn’t it, darlin’?” I asked, truly wondering at the marvels that man could create when he wanted to. Too bad it had to become an object lesson to get everyone’s attention.
“Yeah, it is,” she replied breathlessly. There was truth in her words, and for a split second she had forgotten everything. Then reality came crashing back. “Take me back, Aerick! I’m not kiddin’. I don’t want ta be with ya right now! I still need mah space, jus’ take me back, please?”
“Can’t do it, babe. Sorry.”
“Ya… you’re kidnappin’ me?”
