Hells Royalty The Princess

by Wennberg, Jessica

  "He will be fine Ms. Katilyn. Being so new to this world he doesn't really understand everything just yet. Give him time to adjust; it's a big change for him. In the meantime is there anything that we can do for you? Do you have any idea of what you want to do?" the Chief asked as he led me to the couch to sit down.

  "Well first thing I plan on reenergizing my magic so I know it is full strength. Next I want to put a cloak on all the wolves so Damien and his followers don't see you guys and just pray to the Creator that she will grant me the power to actually fool him. I have a new power that seems pretty intense although I'm not exactly sure what it is going to be capable of doing, something that freezes I know that much. Hopefully it will be enough to hold off a war and killing me right now." The plan was simple and that's all it could be really, especially going up against Damien right now without full powers.

  "That does seem logical and it’s probably all we can do at the moment, just convincing him that he still needs you alive. I do have one simple question, what happens to the cloak if something does happen to you?" he asked the one question that hit home.

  "It will not work any longer. If I die or my magic is bound in some way then the cloak will no longer work. I will only make them invisible to those who wish me harm or want me on the dark side. You will all still be able to see each other, unless one of the good guys switches teams." I hoped that would appease him so that I could do this and hopefully protect as many innocents as possible.

  "I agree then, I would rather have them hidden from as many dark creatures as possible. The less bloodshed right now the better it is for us. You should do it tonight before anymore show up." He nodded to me.

  "After supper then, I need some food and then I will cloak all but 7 of them. I do need it to look as if I have some kind of support, and Lilim did see some of you guys here already." I stood and headed to the kitchen then. On my way out Phelan decided to talk then.

  "Thank you Ms. Katilyn. Thank you for staying strong after all that you know might happen." Phelan spoke sincerely and I could see it in his eyes.

  "You’re welcome Phelan, thank you for staying. This is what I do, what I have been doing for years. I try and protect the innocent at all costs, no matter what the cost is to my life. If I can help save people I will do whatever it takes, no matter what." I told him firmly, the truth that has rooted me for many years.

  I headed on into the kitchen then, making myself a turkey sandwich and pretzels. Jace sat quietly at the kitchen table, eyeing all my moves like a jumpy detective.

  "You are going to have to quit doubting me. You may not believe this but I have managed to make it this long without any tidbits of what the future may hold. I wouldn't do anything else different if I didn't know what was coming, this way I am able to plan a little better. Honestly, this is why I have never liked prophets and what they know of the future. There is too much on the line when you only see pieces of the possible future event. A person can hold too much faith in what was seen and rely solely on that vision. There's too much to chance when humans are involved and demons are very deceptive." I told him with a bit of bitterness in my voice.

  He looked a little shocked and sad at the same time. "I know you have done fine without me. I just have this incredible burden now that can allow me to help people. But now, when I need to save you it’s either too vague or too late and that really bothers me. The one person who can save the world and I can’t even save her. It’s all rather disappointing." He said all pouty.

  I placed my hand over his and smiled warmly at him. "I understand that, but you are going to have to trust my instincts. I've done this for a long time and so far I am still alive and going strong. Alright, get up. Come watch me do some magic, it’s going to be pretty cool." My eyes glittered with excitement because I loved doing magic and I had learned that he enjoyed watching when I did magic, it made him happy.

  He smiled at me and followed me out the back door holding my hand. I called all the wolves to the front and the Chief picked out the 7 wolves that he wanted to keep along with him and Phelan that he wanted to stay visible.

  It was a mixed band of 9; three were big brutes, a medium built guy, and three young ones. The youngest were probably only 18 or 19, at them I wanted to argue but it wasn't my pack to argue about.

  "Jace put your hands on my sides; you need to have skin contact to be able to see the magic plane." I told him and he smiled liking where this was going.

  He raised his eyebrows and looked skeptical, but he did as I said. His touch was hot, he should be coming into his powers tomorrow so I knew that the powers were surging through him, making his temperature run much hotter than a normal humans.

  His touch no longer sent tingles through me, it was comforting now. His touch made me feel like I had found my long lost friend from childhood. I was glad that it didn't do weird things to me anymore; it made it where I could be comfortable with him now.

  "Ok, now don't freak out when I do magic. Doing it this way you will be able to see and feel the power that I am doing. You should see different power colors in the air. Are you ready?" I looked to him and he nodded.

  Then I addressed the wolves, they were going to be very shocked at what they were about to feel.

  "Ok now so you guys don't freak out, let me explain what is going to happen to you. When I do this you are going to get really hot feeling at first and when I say hot, I mean it’s going to feel like you are on fire. You cannot move though, no more than you get the feeling that you are burning alive you will immediately feel like you have been dunked in ice water. The spell is meant to lower your outside body temperature so that it is equal to the surrounding temperature. This will make you blend in with the surroundings and not be seen. When the spell is done you will be shimmering, almost invisible to even me for a moment before we are able to see you again. You must stay still or it will not work right! Okay here we go." I waited for the wolves to get still and prepared for the spell to happen to them.

  I held both my hands out in front of me, focusing my mind and my magic on making these men in front of me invisible to all dark creatures against me. Anyone who would prefer to see me fall to the darkness will not be able to see them when I am done.

  I felt my hands warm and could see the heat waves radiating off them. Then I could see the red heat surround the men, some cried out in pain, but they at least all stayed still. As soon as my hands felt like they were going to burst into flames I felt the rush of the ice run through my veins.

  My hands sizzled and I could see the steam rise in the air and I looked to the wolves, some of their lips were blue from the cold. I could hear teeth chattering together and that's when they shimmered and their bodies adjusted to the area.

  I heard the gasp from Jace; he was fascinated at the magic that he was seeing. I felt the spell finish doing its job and I dropped my hands. I smiled big and bright at Jace, he looked like a kid in a candy store. He smiled back at me and then wrapped his arms around me, laughing.

  "That was…that was…oh my god that was amazing. I could feel it flowing through me and the colors, amazing, that was so cool. Does all magic feel that good?" he couldn't contain his happiness.

  I was laughing at him and smiling back at his happiness when a shrill shot through my head making me stop all that I was doing and drop to my knees.

  One glance to the driveway and I saw a lone figure limping towards us. He was still too far from me to see clearly, especially since it was almost dark now. The wolves that were left uncloaked immediately changed forms and made a line on either side of me.

  Jace put his hands on my waist to keep me steady, "Whoever it is, we are all here to face it together." He whispered in my ear, trying to make sure that I was sure of their commitment.

  The person came closer and then I could hear him speaking, he was whispering. It was Grayson, he was whispering to me.

  "Kat, Kat get out of here!" Grayson Marx whispered a warning to me.

  Chapter 15--Battle of
Heart and Mind

  "Grayson" I breathed, my heart stopped at the sight of him.

  He was bloody, beaten, and underfed. Who knows what Affinia had done to him; she had tortured him that was apparent. He had always told me she liked pain and suffering and I'm sure that she used all her techniques on him.

  I made a quick perimeter check and found no one else had joined him.

  "Everyone stay here and stay alert. Don't attack anyone just yet." I didn't look to make sure they agreed I just took off as fast as I could toward Gray.

  I caught him in my arms and he collapsed in them. I glanced around us, still no sign of Aaron, but I'm sure he would be coming soon.

  "Gray I'm here. Hold on, okay just relax. What did she do to you?" I ground out at the sight of him. He looked horrible.

  "You need to leave, Aaron will be here soon! He sent me here with Affinia, she saw you and then went back to let him know that it was indeed you." He coughed and blood splattered his hand.

  "You're not healing, you need to feed." I had my back to the wolves and Jace so they couldn't see what I was about to do.

  I used my thumb nail and opened a line in my wrist, then put it to his mouth. He was reluctant to drink; he kept turning his head away from me.

  "Would you quit being so stubborn, you have got to feed. You know I can heal you and faster than any human. Besides there are no humans here for you to feed from, so you don't really have much of a choice." I was getting angry with him now.

  Finally so much blood was coming out of my wrist and began to fill his mouth, so he was forced to either drink or waste it. I clamped my teeth shut to keep the moan inside of me. Grayson feeding from me was very sensual and it did very good things to my body that I really needed to deny.

  I was amazed at how much better he looked after just a minute of feeding. He sat up now and moved out of my arms, that made me feel cold and lonely, but I quickly squashed the feeling.

  "Kat, I'm serious, you have to leave. That Aaron demon will be coming here soon. He knows where you are now." He looked at me helplessly.

  "It will all be fine Gray; I can handle Aaron, its Damien coming tomorrow night that worries me." I smiled at him, not expecting him pale like he did.

  "But you don't have full powers yet, you haven't turned 21 yet?" He looked exasperated at the thought of what I just said.

  "Aw Gray, you remembered my birthday, I'm flattered." I touched his knee, joking with him made this feel more bearable.

  He grabbed my wrist then and gave me a look that sobered my joking mood.

  "Kat, stop this. I know what you do when you're scared and besides you know I wouldn't forget your birthday. What are you planning?" He looked deep in my eyes searching for my plan, but I wouldn't let him in because he would simply try and stop me.

  "Come on, let’s go see the others and calm their suspicions before they go insane." I stood and waited for him to get up and follow me.

  He shook his head in disbelief and rose to stand in front of me. Looking into my eyes once more and determining I would not relent he gave up and said, "Fine lead the way."

  I nodded and walked back to the house. I was at war with myself, I really wanted to talk to him and tell him about my plan, but I knew I couldn't. He would have to believe what I was doing when the time came, that I was betraying my first true friend.

  The wolves had changed back and were sitting on the porch steps, just waiting and watching. Everyone seemed to steer clear of the back yard, so there were a lot of people on my porch. I could only hope that the demon mists were not showing what was happening here to the Underworld.

  I addressed the Chief first, since Jace had already seen Grayson in his vision; he knew what he looked like.

  "Chief Sandalio this is Grayson Marx, the vampire. Grayson Marx this is Chief Sandalio, the alpha of the wolves." I made a hand motion to each one, introducing them.

  The Chief stepped forward and held his hand out to shake Grayson’s, who took it gingerly.

  "It's good to finally meet you Mr. Marx. My tribe’s seer has spoken of you and so has Ms. Katilyns prophet. I'm pleased to have you by my side in this war." He smiled as Grayson finally gave him a whole hearted shake.

  "Well I can’t say I've heard about you, but since you are helping Kat, I am glad that you are on our side and I'll be proud to fight beside you." Grayson commented back.

  They seemed to have an understanding and for that I was I was grateful, now to get Grayson and Jace on the same page. That was going to be a harder thing to accomplish.

  "Grayson this is Jace Matthews, the prophet I told you about." I had to be careful with these two; I wasn't certain how they were going to react to one another, especially after the conversation in Grayson’s mind.

  "Ah, so you are the prophet that almost killed the only hybrid witch on planet earth. Well for your sake you had better be glad that she is damn near invincible, otherwise I believe that I would have to kill you right about now." Grayson growled out at Jace, now I had to step in.

  "Grayson Marx, you watch your tone. He did save my life after that incident. If he hadn't seen it in a vision I would have died." I really don't know why I was butting in; I just didn't feel like he had to berate Jace like that right now.

  Jace only shrugged his shoulders and brushed it off. "Don't worry about it Katilyn, he's just pissed off at himself. He's mad at himself because he wasn't there to protect you." Jace said with acid in his voice and crossed his arms over his chest.

  "How dare you!" Grayson yelled at him, and that in turn made the wolves stand up behind Jace.

  "You know nothing about me and why I wasn't here for her. You're a prophet of the future; you can’t see the past and what it’s done." Grayson seethed with anger.

  I had to stop this, men and their damn egos. I stepped between them and held my arms out separating them.

  "STOP it!" I said a little louder than my normal talking tone, but I was not yelling at these idiots. They both stopped their bickering with each other and looked at me.

  "We are all on the same side here. We have bigger issues than bruised egos. We have to prepare for Aaron to come, I'm sure he is already working a plan out since Affinia has reported back to him. Quit acting like you're in a pissing contest and get over yourselves already." I dropped my arms then, disgusted at them both and headed inside.

  I heard footsteps following me in the house, but I didn't stop until I made it to the living room. I kept my back to the room while I listened to people file in and sit down. I listened to the breathing of the wolves, it was just a little faster than a humans. Then I heard Jace, he was taking long, slow breaths, calming himself down. Then there was Grayson whose breaths come out about every two minutes. Just listening to the slow intake of his breath and the very slow beat of his heart, only three times in a minute, calmed me down, despite he was one of the reasons I was pissed off. After not hearing it for so long and having it just this short amount of time, it was like water to a dying man. I would miss it once I left with Aaron.

  "We're all here Ms. Katilyn." The Chief addressed me letting me know that I could speak my piece now.

  I took another moment to compose myself and my thoughts; actually I just wanted to delay this talk. I really needed Aaron to show up, like right now and get me out of here. It was hard being around all these people, looking for my leadership, and me knowing that I was going to betray them. Then add Gray to the mix and my mind and heart were battling one another and that was resulting in my emotions being whacked out. At this rate I would have some seriously haywire magic once he did show up to confront me and it would be useless for me to even think about fighting.

  My mind kept telling me to not love Grayson or even feel for him, that he did not and would not feel that way about me. But my heart, it ached and felt like it would break into a million pieces because of how I felt for him. I had loved him with all that I had, I had bared my heart and soul to him and he simply stomped on it. My love for him was like that Adele song, h
e held my heart in the palm of his hand and he played it to the beat, and now I spend my life hiding my heart away. I hate and love when music fits my life. It’s like someone else feels my exact pain and I'm glad, but also sad that someone else has to feel that also.

  "Kat, are you okay?" Grayson asked quietly. There was nothing to be done; I had to lock my heart away, forever this time.

  When I turned to face them, I was fully composed and even Grayson wouldn't be able to crack me.

  "I'm fine, just a lot to take in. I don't know how much we can prepare for Aaron and his crew so it’s more of be ready for anything tactic. Since he isn't really trying to see my downfall I can’t guarantee that all the cloaked wolves will be cloaked to him." Matter of fact, I know they would not be. Since he is actually helping me they would be perfectly visible to him.

  "I do know that no one should attack first. If it's a battle with me he wants, then fine he will have it. Do not step in no matter what happens. Chief Sandalio, I need you to understand that he simply challenges me; I do not want any of your pack hurt trying to save the day. I am the one he seeks; I will be the one to deal with him. Also, I don't want anyone saying we cheated and struck first, I hate that." I looked to him and he nodded his head in agreement.

  I looked to Jace then, "Same plan as before. You are to keep your ass on the porch, do not step off, not even a toe. Just a tidbit past that ward and any dark creature will be able to snatch you up and use you against me. And I cannot, nor will I risk your life in this battle. You are too important to me; I need you to stay alive. Don't give me that petulant child look! You must stay safe, swear to me or I will put a sleeping spell on you." I was getting testy again.