“What’s this, the Knights of the Round Table?” I mumbled under my breath as we walked in through the large double Plexiglass doors. This had to be the most modernized castle I’d seen in Underlayes. Not one luxury had been overlooked in any of the rooms I’d been in so far. Matter of fact, the only out-of-date piece of furniture I’d seen was the table in the center of the room.
“Not anymore,” came my father’s reply. “Evening, sweetheart, you look rather rested. Take a seat. You too, Chandler.”
“What do you mean, not anymore?”
“Don’t ask—we’ll be here long enough as it is. You get him started on that one and we’ll never get out of here.” That came from Anya. I thought it wise to take her advice; she knew him better than I did.
Around the table were my mother, my father, both Grandmama and Nana, Darvyn, his wife Racquell, Anya, Kierra, whom I’d later learn was Anya’s fiancée, then Chandler and me. Two seats remained empty, which I was later told belonged to our two aunts—twins who if allowed in the same room with my mother would probably kill her, or at the very least make her wish she were dead. Couldn’t wait to meet them.
And of course everyone decided to speak as one, creating the only atmosphere I was beginning to think this family knew, chaos.
As one, Anya and I stood, completely flamed out, and together shouted, “Enough!” with enough command behind it that everyone shut up. What happened next creeped both of us out. To the extreme.
Still in flames, my eyes morphed into dangerous flames of red while hers became eerily creepy flames of white. We spoke in unison in a totally creepy-ass, deadpan voice.
“Old grudges must be done, for these two families may finally unite as one.
These sisters, not one, not two, but three, must unite to set the witches of oppression free.
The demon and the wolf also play a part, along with the vampires in the princesses’ hearts.
One king shall remain strong, and another shall fall for all he has done wrong.
All secrets must come to light before anything can be made right.”
After that last, we both collapsed into our chairs and promptly passed out.
21
Let Bygones Be Bygones
We couldn’t have been out for very long, and we both came to at exactly the same time. I knew it was the same time because as Chandler had me in his arms, and Anya was in Kierra’s, we both said, “Put me down.” At the same time, which either must have freaked them out, or we unwittingly commanded them to do it, because they both dropped us to the floor like damn sacks of potatoes. Then they both scrambled to help us back up again.
We looked at each other while still on the floor and I said to her, “We really need to work on that.”
Turned out the saying “stronger together than ever apart” had a whole new meaning when it came to the two of us. And if whatever the hell we had just got through saying was true—and we had no reason right now to believe otherwise—that would go triple once Elyssia was brought into the mix. What I didn’t understand out of it all was the part about the truth coming to light. It couldn’t be referring only to me and Anya. There had to be much more to it than just that, since everyone in that room already knew all about us. And as of right now, if the truth about us came out to anyone else, that would mean either our executions or an all-out war. Something else had to be up, and I was betting that dear old Nana, Mom’s mother, knew exactly what it was.
She had that sneaky-ass look on her face that she usually reserved for when she was up to no good. The last time I had seen that look on her face had been when I was fifteen and she’d been keeping me distracted while a spell of hers was busy changing my entire wardrobe into what she wanted to see me wearing. A more conservative and epically boring look. Why not just flash into whatever I wanted to wear, you ask? Because without having seen the item, you can’t, and part of the spell she’d woven had made me forget what I’d had in my closet in the first place. Magic isn’t an exact science, and you have to play by its rules, no matter how whacky they may seem to you. It just is what it is, and there isn’t a thing to be done about it.
We made our way back to our seats, with everyone staring at us as though they were seeing us both for the very first time. Which I really couldn’t blame them for, considering what had just happened and all. There was an awkward silence around the room, the tension even thicker now than it had been before, with Grandmama and Nana staring daggers at each other. I absently wondered whether it was just the situation with us that made them hate each other so deeply, or if there was more going on there than I knew about. I was in the dark about so much—why not keep adding to the list?
Since it seemed as though no one was ever going to say anything—instead they just continued staring and stewing in their individual anger—I figured I might as well be the one to speak up. “This silence thing isn’t going to help anything, and neither will everyone shouting over everyone else. And the ones who truly have the right to be angry are me and Anya, and Elyssia too, especially since that poor little screwball is still in the dark about all of this. So how about you all take that anger and focus all that energy elsewhere—somewhere that could possibly fix all this shit.
“And Nana, if you know something more than everyone else in this room, you truly need to step down off your high horse and let us in on whatever deep, dark secret you have in that conniving head of yours. Grandmama, unfortunately I don’t know you as well as I know Nana, but if you can think of anything that may help with a game plan, please do.”
“Of course I will, my little milayas.” I thought she’d said that extra sweetly just for Nana’s sake, though I could have been wrong. Doubted I was, but I could have been, so I just gave a slight eye-roll and kept going.
“Dad, I know this is something that may make your head burst, but could you please work with Mom and attempt to figure out an end game? We already know the king who shall remain strong could only possibly be you. I need the two of you to discuss how best to make the other one fall. Him falling doesn’t necessarily mean he has to die, but as long as he’s on that throne, witches will remain repressed, and he’ll want if not my head, my family’s heads on a platter.”
Sundiata may not be my father by blood, and might have been a rotten-ass leader by treating witches as though they needed to be kept secluded from other beings, and holding them back from doing anything that didn’t result in building a power base. But he was still the man who’d raised me, and Elyssia’s father. If there was a way to kick him off the throne without killing him… When it came down to it, though, sometimes blood truly was thicker than water. I wouldn’t just stand by if he came after my vampire family.
“Anya, if you and everyone else could fill all the Royal Guards in on what’s going on, that’d be great. Then maybe we can all reconvene here at dawn, before we attempt to get what I’m sure will be some much-needed rest.” I stood to leave. Time for me to do my part as well.
Chandler made a move as if to come along with me. I held my hand up to him in a “stay” motion. “Don’t. I need you to stay and help Anya and the rest. What I have to do will be much better if I do it alone. Time to face my demon. Literally.”
Without waiting for anyone’s reply, I turned and walked out of the door. Once in the hall, I flashed myself back to the Whispering Woods.
Something else I had noticed when I looked in that full-length three-way mirror, but hadn’t been ready to acknowledge at the time, was that Demon Bran had marked me. It was an emblem of a flame with a dagger in the center placed on my right hip, which explained how it was that he kept finding me. At least he hadn’t been a complete ass and decided to place it somewhere for all the world to see. I wasn’t one hundred percent sure how all this worked, but I had an inkling of an idea, and at this point I was ready to try just about anything.
I’d never done this before, so I decided to just go with my gut instincts and see what happened, and hope against hope that this worked, because w
e were running out of options quick, fast, and in a hurry. I was sure whatever compulsion Young Rasputin had placed on Elyssia and my former family was going to be wearing off sooner rather than later.
I placed my hand on top of the mark on my hip and pictured Demon Bran in my mind’s eye. Beginning to feel silly, I was just about ready to give up and call it quits when I really began focusing on him and all his quirks. Focusing on how I really felt for him, as opposed to how I should feel about him. His sinister laughter was signature him, and the truth of the matter was that it didn’t grate on my nerves when he did it, except he usually did it when I was wrong and he was right. I focused on the fact that he truly didn’t give a damn about what others thought, just did whatever he needed to do in order to get whatever he wanted. The spark that gleamed in his eye whenever he was up to no good, which was almost always.
This time I felt the change in the atmosphere before he appeared, which I had never noticed before. Probably because I had never before been consciously looking for it, nor looking forward to it. This time I was. The air surrounding me suddenly became more humid and a whole lot thicker. The wind also seemed to pick up just a notch, and if I hadn’t know better, I would have sworn the trees inched back ever so slightly. Looking down at the ground, I could also see the leaves in the circle around where I sat wither and die right before he appeared, with the smuggest look I had ever seen on his face, thus far.
“Ah, did my little witchy-poo miss me? How sweet. And here I am, but I didn’t even think to bring flowers. Perhaps I should have thought to bring sweets as well. Hmmm… I’m still new to all this. What is it that princesses like these days?” He stood there in all his evil glory, with his arms crossed over his chest. Inhaling deeply, he looked utterly disappointed. “So to what do I owe the pleasure of this call? Since it most certainly isn’t pleasure, because I don’t smell lust coming off you in the slightest.”
“You’re right, it isn’t. And, that would probably be due to the fact that I’m trying to keep my head attached just where I like it, on my shoulders. And I have an inkling that you sort of like it there too.”
“Actually, I like your head even better when it’s by my nether regions or thrown back screaming my new name. But I can see your point—you wouldn’t be able to do either if it wasn’t actually attached to you, now would you? Reality does have a way of always biting you on the ass, now doesn’t it?”
I couldn’t quite figure out whether he was still speaking to me or just plain talking to himself. “Yes, yes it does, and right about now it’s taking a huge chunk out of my ass. And as much as it burns my throat to ask you this, I need your help.” I think I threw up just a little bit in my mouth. Yuck. And cue the laugh in five, four, three, two…
And there it went, ladies and gentleman, that damn laugh again, “You, my little witch, need help from the likes of moi? Oh, this is priceless. Why don’t you sit with me and tell Big Daddy all about it?” With a snap of his fingers, he made the sleaziest chaise longue I had ever seen appear, red leather with embroidered black lace.
He sat back with his arms spread wide and his legs stretched the same way so I had no choice other than to sit between them. So I sat, and rehashed all the tidbits that I was pretty sure, though I could be wrong, he didn’t know anything about. And he actually listened without making any snide comments, which I admit truly surprised me.
“Quite the dilemma. I would ask if you were absolutely sure your mother’s people weren’t part demon for all their conniving, manipulative ways, if it weren’t for their superiority complex.” He pulled me closer to him then, and began rubbing my lower back, from beneath my shirt. “I will help you. But know this: no demon does anything without a price. Don’t worry, the cost for this may appear to be high, but while it is, it will benefit both of us, not only myself. So depending on how you look at it, this could definitely be a win-win situation for you.
“The question is, are you willing to open up your mind to really see the truth? For me to help you, you will have to let all your guards down.” His hands began creeping around to the front, one hand towards my breast, the other lower towards my waistline. “You are going to have to allow yourself to remember those two weeks we shared as they truly went down. Not the way you wish to remember them.”
He started kissing the back of my neck and fondling me in earnest then. One hand tweaked at my nipple while the lower began playing with my clitoris. He continued like that, loosening me up in every way, then moved his lips to my ear, whispering in a language I had never before heard. As he did so, memories and feelings came rushing back, tiny snippets at first, then flooding my brain.
First there seemed to be a fast-forward version of our very first sexual escapade, with all the players involved. What really got to me were the more intimate moments he and I shared together. Just as he’d said before, it had been more than just sex between us for those two weeks—much more.
During our initial rendezvous together, he’d ensured he did everything by the book, albeit in a conniving way that benefitted him much more than it did the person who’d summoned him. Since he had done so and still hadn’t been pulled back into his own realm, and since he was also not bound by a circle, he’d decided to test the boundaries that much more. He’d told me who he really was. Oh, no, nothing so much as a name, so maybe a better way to describe it would be to say he’d told me what he was. He’d also told me about the elixir I’d been drinking. As he’d stated before, it hadn’t forced me to do anything I hadn’t already wanted to do anyway.
What the drink had done was enhance my emotions and give me that devil-may-care attitude that all demons were known for.
He’d gone on to tell me more about himself. And I’d been able to learn how very much we were alike, how many things we truly had in common.
Demon Bran was four hundred and twenty-three years old, young for his species, but tired of what he’d been born into nonetheless. He’d told me of how it felt to be summoned by pesky humans and book-witches from the human realm for such idiotic and self-centered reasons. Rarely was he summoned for anything worthwhile, like seeking out justified vengeance, or punishing someone who truly deserved it.
It wasn’t until he’d been just past one hundred years old that he’d begun to…adjust the things he did for his temporary master or mistress. He’d learned the art of doing exactly as he was told, giving the person precisely what is was they’d asked for, even if not in the way they’d intended it to be done. For instance, there had once been a female human who had desired to be the most beautiful, most desired amongst her entire family. Well, instead of enhancing her looks, which was what I was sure she’d expected, he’d done something to diminish the rest of her family members’ looks instead.
Laughing at what I pictured her outraged face must have looked like, I’d asked him, “Aren’t you ever afraid of being trapped by your summoner by not doing what it is they intended for you to do?”
“Nope,” had been his simple reply. “As long as they have what it is they asked for, there is nothing they can do or say about it. Their own fault for making a deal with a demon.”
For days we’d talked and laughed and played, sharing stories of our pasts with each other. And in between, I’d imbibed more of the elixir and we had made love, just the two of us. Our two playmates hadn’t come to join us again until the final day we’d been together. We had connected on more than just a visceral level. We had truly come to know each other. I had not been a captive or prisoner at that point. I’d been free to leave at any time—I just hadn’t wanted to. Grimm had never joined us again, since apparently he’d had a bad reaction to the elixir when he’d drunk it.
It was then that all hell had broken loose. Demon Bran had gone off to speak with the sorcerer not only about Grimm, but me as well. The last time I’d drunk the elixir, it hadn’t seemed to be agreeing with me. While he was away, I’d heard a commotion outside the door. When I’d tried to get up off the couch, all I’d done was end up
landing in a heap on the floor. When I’d heard several beings enter, and then fighting, I’d managed to make it as far as the wall. Once I’d been able to slightly focus my hazy vision, it had been to see both our companions’ heads being detached from their bodies. And there had been nothing I could do about it, not even so much as scream. Then darkness had overtaken my vision and I had passed out on the floor.
As my mind came back to the here and now, my eyes were clouded over with unshed tears. I turned to look at Demon Bran, and this time I truly saw him. “I’m so sorry. I am so, so sorry.”
Pulling me in to him, he just held me close. “Nah, uh-uh, demons don’t do apologies, my little witch. What we do is revenge. And there is a certain sorcerer I am sure knows much more than he’s letting on.”
I let hold him hold me a while longer like that, thinking precisely the same thing.
22
Back Together Again
Once I was finished soaking his shirt by sobbing uncontrollably, I looked up at him to find him looking at me as well, and upon eye-contact, we each knew what the other needed at that very moment. Which was just to feel.
Without uttering one word, our lips met in a crushing, brutalizing kiss, our tongues battling it out in an epically sensual dance. We literally ripped each other’s clothing off like two wild animals, first tops, then bottoms. When we were both completely bare, I straddled him, and as soon as he placed himself at the heat of my entrance, I sank down on top of him until his balls were smacking up against my ass, the sound and feel of that turning me on so much more. With one hand, he palmed my breast in a punishing grip, while the other sought out my clitoris, tweaking it, rubbing it until I was coming so hard we were both soaking wet with my juices.
Witch Wars: The Underlayes, Book One Page 13
