by Jaymin Eve
Before us was the red sands of the desert, bordered on the right by the endless greenery of the forest, and on the left the blues and greens of the ocean area. The salty air was distinct and actually quite pleasant. I’d never change out my favorite forest scents, but damn, the ocean had it olfactory appeal.
Even though we stood at the back of the group, we still managed to gather a crap-ton of stares. Somehow they all knew we were there.
“What’s with all the gawking?” I asked a nearby female vampire, blunt as always.
She had long, midnight-black curls and eyes the color of rich, newly-turned soil. She was stunning, and not much taller than I was. Her fangs were hidden, I knew, because she snarled at me.
“We do not trust strangers, and not all of you are marked. The mystics told us that you were the protectors of the marked twins, but you’re quads. Quads are hunters.”
I understood their fear, they didn’t know and love the Compasses the way I did. And the Four were scary effers. But how had they even known my boys were quads? Clearly the mystics had big friggin’ mouths.
Maximus took a little step closer. “If you pose no threat to our pack, we mean you no harm. But spread the word that if any of you come at us with hostile intentions, we will respond in kind.”
Seeing the vampires face to face, I was reminded that Maximus needed to feed, and soon.
Braxton closed in on his brother, broad shoulders side by side. “What Max is so eloquently saying … we will kill anyone who touches our girls. End of story.”
The pale skin around the female vamp’s eyes tightened. But there was also something more in her expression, respect and acceptance. “Message received loud and clear. You will find no trouble from me or my nest mates.”
Speaking of, I could see quite a few hefty males moving in our direction. Definitely vamps, and they had that look in their eyes. It was a look I was more than familiar with.
“I’m Cardia. Feel free to find me if you need the rundown on the workings of the sanctuary.”
There was less sneer and more smile on her face as she turned. It was then I noticed the small mark on the back of her neck, visible above her strapless top. It was a miniature version of my dragon mark, about a hundred times smaller.
Shit. Did they all have marks that tiny? No wonder Gerard had freaked when he saw mine.
Cardia didn’t look back as she used vamp speed to intercept her worried nest mates. The four of them leaned in closer and I knew she was spreading our message. It would be in the ear of every supernatural by nightfall. Some would see it as a challenge and come at us accordingly, others would respect the sentiment and deal with it by leaving us the hell alone. I couldn’t wait to see which was which. I had plenty of aggression and sexual frustration to work off. Beating the shit out a few morons might just be the ticket I needed.
“What are you looking so animated about?” Mischa asked, examining my face.
Jacob and Tyson both chuckled. “That’s her happy-violence face,” the wizard said. “If that face is ever directed toward you, I suggest you run.”
“Shut it, you not-so-funny-fu—” An excited shriek ran through the crowd and cut me off. Supernaturals screamed and called out names.
Braxton, who was about a head taller than most here – everyone except his brothers – only had to crane his neck slightly to see. “They seem to be finding friends and family in these new arrivals.”
I wondered which prison they had been rescued from. It could be anywhere in the world.
The recently arrived supes – from those I could see – remained separate from the current residents of the sanctuary. Staying together in a group, their movements were jittery and nervous as they closed in protectively around the young in their midst. It looked like there were only three children and no babies. They were a little cleaner than the group I’d seen in Vanguard’s secret marked room, but not by a lot, their clothes old and tattered, eyes heavy and weary. If the king thought he was coming back to an army, he was in for a shock. These supes were damaged. The Four were so far up on my shit list … I didn’t even know I could feel hate this strongly.
A witch standing near us broke down into tears. The scent of her emotions floated through the crowd. She drew more of my attention when she started to murmur, “Lacey … Lacey…” over and over. Her tears increased as a witch with short, ragged black hair broke away from the new arrivals and without hesitation ran straight into her arms.
They embraced as if they had not seen each other in years, which was probably true, and I was pretty sure they were sisters, or cousins. They had the same Asian features and thick, coarse hair, though the first female was decidedly better kept.
How many dragon marked were still out there, hidden, tortured? I turned back to my pack. “I know twins are often marked, but does the mark generally run in family lines?”
Quale appeared out of thin air or something – like bam, popped in right next to me. I didn’t jump though, I have reflexes like a ninja. Okay, maybe not, but I took a moment to be thankful I managed not to squeal like a bitch.
The mystic’s voice was low. “Dragon marked are mostly in the same family line, so not always siblings, but sometimes aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins. Most marked supernaturals will have other marked family somewhere along the line of the last thousand years.”
I wondered if Mischa and I had any relatives in this group. No one had ever mentioned other marked in the Lebron line, but I should ask Dad about it one day.
My heart clenched then. I missed my father … even my mother, although she hadn’t been in my life for long, so it wasn’t that strange to not have her around. But Jonathon, well, we were a team, and I was missing the heck out of him. I knew he would be worried about Mischa and me too. I hoped Louis was keeping him updated.
Louis. That damn sorcerer.
He was moving us around like chess pieces and it pissed me right off that half the board was hidden. It meant I had no idea when I was about to become a pawn.
I was no one’s pawn.
It was time to start demanding answers. “Is Louis coming here?”
Quale looked uncomfortable, shifting on the spot from one foot to the other. “I’m actually unable to contact him right now. We spoke yesterday, but since your arrival, no response.”
That better mean he was currently twenty thousand feet in the air flying himself and my parents to Romania. I knew he could step through one of his portal things, but I wasn’t sure he had enough power to move three supernaturals this sort of distance. He’d most probably be on a plane.
“I’m sure he is on his way here,” Quale said, following my train of thought. “It will be very strange to meet him after all these years of simply being pen pals of a sort.”
My mind flashed to the tall, powerful presence of the violet-eyed sorcerer. He was nothing like the semi-timid Quale. I wondered why the mystics had inferred that Quale was a badass who listened to no one. Heck no! He was more like a nerdy airhead who wandered off and got lost a lot. Either that or he was hiding his true self from us, and doing a damn good job at it.
My eye caught on Maximus. I sidled closer to the vampire. “You need to feed.” His fangs were partially extended. Normally, I couldn’t see them unless he wanted me to.
He brushed aside my concern. “It’s fine. I’ll find out soon enough what the vamps do for blood here.”
I swung around, my gaze hard on Quale. “Where is your feeding zone?”
The fey shifted toward the massive vampire. “We don’t have blood donors here, you will need to find a willing partner, or we have bottled available in the Redcell Restaurant.”
Maximus’ lips curled in a sneer. He hated the taste of old blood.
“I volunteer.”
My eyes flicked to the left. It was Cardia again, and I could see by the way she was eye-effing the heck out of Maximus that she was hoping to get plenty out of this offer. Two vampires feeding from each other probably seemed like an endless cycl
e of stupid, but as long as one of them, at some point, also fed from other supes, they could sustain each other.
Mischa bristled at the female vamp. I could see her wolf rising. If she had been covered in her fur, it would have stood on end. “You can feed from me,” she blurted to Maximus.
Cardia turned slowly and scanned Mischa from the tip of her black hair down to her toes. With a dismissive shrug, the vampiress didn’t seem impressed or worried about the competition.
Maximus’ brown eyes were dancing. He appeared to be enjoying this little showdown. Asshat. I elbowed him, working extra hard to get him right in the sensitive zone under his ribs.
He narrowed his eyes on me before baring his teeth in a snarl. I flipped up my middle finger, just to let him know my feelings on this.
With a snort and shake of his head he turned to my twin. “Thank, Misch, but it might be a little intimate for you. Just wait here for me, I won’t be long.”
Okay, clearly he knew about her issue. The virgin shifter.
Maximus gave Cardia a single nod and then the two of them wandered off through the crowd. Mischa looked like she’d been punched in the gut, her eyes following until Maximus’ broad back disappeared. I slung my arm across her shoulders. I really felt for her. I knew she had feelings for Maximus, she’d made that perfectly clear. But I was worried that she didn’t really understand the way supernaturals worked.
We tended to change partners a lot, unless we found our true mate. Sure, we might date the same supe for a year or even ten, neither of which are considered long term when you live to almost a thousand. But unless it was a true mate, there were no guarantees. Mischa had grown up with humans and had too many of their ideals floating around her head.
Although from what I could see, even humans struggled to make the whole mate-marriage thing work for longer than a year or two. Probably they were trying to force pairings that weren’t true matches as well. In the supernatural world that sort of mateship never ended well.
There was a surge in the crowd then, and with a hard jolt my arm was wrenched from Mischa and I was shoved aside.
What the hell? No one had been close enough to move me like that.
I took a step back toward my friends, but before I could take a second step a mass of supernaturals crowded between me and them. I was forced further back, losing sight of my pack.
Great.
I decided to just hang out on the edge of the forest until the new arrivals cleared off. Surrounded by greenery, the earthy scents enveloped me as soon as I stepped into the shade of the trees, and I realized how much I missed home. The cool, damp green reminded me of Stratford. The minute details of the scents differed, but it was close enough for now. My wolf rose, pushing me further into the shadows, she was keen to change and run. Giving her an ear scratch I pushed her back again; it wasn’t time now to run off into the unknown. I was reckless, not stupid. Well, most of the time.
My sensitive ears picked up the rustling long before the shine of eyes appeared in the dark undergrowth. A rabbit sprang free, not a shifter, just the natural kind. Probably destined to be someone’s dinner. The creature showed no fear, bounding across the free space and back into the undergrowth that littered the forest floor.
Another noise filtered through to me.
Shit!
I’d been so busy following the little animal and trying to stop my wolf from giving chase that I’d missed the subtle tendrils of magic beginning to weave around me, surrounding me in an invisible energy cage.
It didn’t even matter that I was no more than ten feet from the crowd of supernaturals still greeting their new arrivals. There was no safety with magic.
A hazy figure glided in from the general direction of the desert zone.
Hazy … what the hell?
I forced myself not to panic, even though I had no idea what the freak was coming. I thought I knew every type of demi-fey, but I could sense that this was more … something which was nailing all kinds of scary. I couldn’t think of a single demi-fey that possessed this sort of magic – that which coated my skin in power and raised the fine hairs on the back of my neck. This was energy unlike any other I’d felt.
Not the earthiness of the fey, or the natural magic user, this was cold and ancient, wrapped in a metallic taste that coated my tongue. Still elemental, but from the hard rocks, the minerals, the blood of sacrifice. Freaking blood magic.
As the figure moved closer, some of the fuzziness lifted from its facade. My heart stopped dead, like literally froze in my chest. And then my blood trickled in icy tendrils until I became no more than a frozen block staring at my death.
No wonder I didn’t recognize the demi-fey.
It was a jinn.
But nothing of the ordinary jinn, I was pretty sure this was one of the gods of their kind. Pure fucking legend. And it was staring at me from across the forest. I’d seen an image of one once, in my history class. Vendir Vamissa, the teacher, had raved on and on about how this species had either escaped to another dimension or were somehow wiped out from their own warring.
Jinn had not been seen for a thousand years. Hence why I had been so shocked to hear Quale say they were in the desert – and a jinn elemental … I did not have a clue how long since they’d last been seen. The lore said one could tell an elemental by the intricate black markings which began in the center of its forehead and spanned outwards to stop at the top of the cheekbones. This one had very pronounced markings.
It stood in shades of red, its skin like a burnt sunset, its features elongated and jutting, with black glittery eyes. The jinn were from the land of fey, or so the legends said, but sort of from their underworld part. Not evil, per se, but definitely had a streak of “don’t mess with me or I’ll stomp your ass.”
I could only wait and see which side of the line this one was on. If it was here to eliminate me, I had no doubts it could. The Four might not have found a weapon to kill dragon marked yet, but I just knew there were plenty of other creatures who could bring about my demise.
No worries.
Despite my instinct being to attack first, I didn’t challenge the jinn elemental. I had the very faintest of hope that it was just curious of me and not looking for blood.
Those hopes were soon dashed.
“You shouldn’t have come here,” it said, its words like whispers on the wind, weight to each and every syllable. “You are north, and north is the most important direction for the king.”
Well, shit, it was getting harder to pretend I wasn’t one of the four points to open the damn tomb. And apparently north at that. No movement from the jinn, but my survival instincts quickly rose to epic levels. Something big was about to happen.
And I was probably not going to like whatever it was.
I finally found my voice. “Are you going to kill me?” There that wasn’t so rude, I even managed not to call it an asshole.
Black eyes glittered as they scanned my face. The force of its whispered words slapped me in the face. “I did plan on it, but … there is something about you. I’m curious to see this play out now.”
From the tiny fraction of information I had on jinn, I knew they possessed foresight, scanning the ever-changing future to see a multitude of possible outcomes, which could change depending on the choices made by those involved. But according to the texts, they didn’t usually interfere in free will – fate – whatever you want to call it.
This jinn had seen something which forced it from the desert. It had wanted to eliminate me … but now it was stepping back again. What it did here would change the future it had seen. I wondered what path had opened up now.
Its scare-the-shit-out-of-me talk wasn’t done yet. “I won’t kill you, but I will also not make it easier for the king. It is time for you to demonstrate your ability to live. I will let the fates have you.”
What the freak did that mean? Something bad for sure, something very, very, very bad.
Screwed. I’m so screwed.
&nbs
p; The winds swirled around us, those unblinking black eyes still locked on me. It was next to impossible for me to read a creature so doused in magic, with the most alien of features. Hell, trolls and ogres were easier to glean information from.
The pressure was building, but I held my ground, feet as solidly planted as I could get them.
“Jessa!” The bellow was the only thing since stepping into this clearing that really threw me. Sure I was scared, but I was not thrown … until Braxton’s voice broke through the magic.
For the first time the elemental jinn tore its gaze from me, and after about two seconds of scanning, focused on a spot to my right. I did not turn to look – enemy in front of me, friend at my back.
The jinn moved, gliding back, its words just audible. “I do not know how you have broken the ancient energy, but fate has intervened. There are three paths for you both now … one is … survival. Good luck.” It disappeared into the other side of the swirling energy mists.
Arms surrounded me then, Braxton’s heat and scent engulfing me.
“Hold on to me.” He had to yell to be heard over the jinn’s increasing enchantment. “This is going to hurt.”
That was the last thing I heard before there was an inward ricocheting of energy and the circle of power surrounding us suddenly imploded. I couldn’t be more grateful that Braxton was with me. I wasn’t even going to question how that was, not yet anyway; it was time to prepare for … for…
The strike of the energy was direct, and no matter how hard I fought it, I was forced to surrender consciousness.
Everything went black.
Chapter 6
I’d been knocked out once before, in sparring. It was tough to hit a shifter hard enough to render them unconscious, but when I was about seventeen a lion shifter got me a good one, out cold for fifteen minutes. So I knew the sensation of waking from a blow like that, the haziness and disorientation of my synapses trying to fire in some semblance of order again.
Waking from the jinn’s spell was nothing like that. A slow haze of consciousness started to filter in, measured increments of awareness. I knew my body was moving on instinct without any actual recognition of the motions. Eyes open, chest rising and falling, lungs filling, hands scratching at the rough dirt beneath my body. I couldn’t say how long it took for memory to creep in, for images to filter into my brain past the lingering magic. Whatever spell that elemental had hit me with, well, it had knocked me out in more ways than one.
