by Lexi Blake
“Power.” She was quiet for a moment. “I will have the strength to work my will. I won’t be dependent on any vampire ever again. And yes, I will take my revenge on the man who stood there and watched me be raped and did nothing.”
“What the hell was he supposed to do?” Liv asked. “He was one vampire against hundreds. He wasn’t ready for war. He would have been killed, and then where would you be? The world isn’t black and white. He had to wait for the greater good. He even had to sacrifice the queen, and I know that was hard on him.”
Meredith chuckled, a humorless sound. “Yes, poor Queen Zoey. She was there, too. She watched my humiliation and did nothing. She handed her husband the sword he used to slaughter one of the men trying to purchase me, body and soul. The trouble is, he handed me over to the other one. I don’t care about politics. I care about the fact that I was used, that the love of my life was murdered so a vampire could get his boost. How’s that working out for you, Casey? I fed you just enough to get you addicted. You need more now, don’t you?”
Casey stared her way, looking at her like she was a bunny and he was the hungriest cougar in the woods.
“You won’t get it,” Meredith explained. “I hate the fact that even a drop of my blood is inside you. I’ll never feed another vampire. And Liv, you deserve everything coming your way. You have all that power and you use it to grow plants and kiss royal ass. You could be someone amazing, someone powerful, but you have no will.”
“Or I’m not a crazy bitch who wants to blame the world for her pain,” Liv shot back.
“You know nothing about pain, Olivia,” Meredith replied. “But you will. You know fear though, don’t you? The most disgusting thing about all of this has been watching you fuck some other vamp to prove to this one that you don’t love him.”
“I didn’t actually sleep with him. He’s not into women,” Liv admitted. “But I did want to throw Casey off and I was stupid to do it. I’m not a companion.”
“And I’m not some warrior who can’t control himself,” Casey shot back. “Which is precisely why none of this will work. You’re planning on making me the fall guy, right? I was so madly in love with the companion that I went crazy. There’s only one problem with that. The other academics know I’ve bonded with Liv. That’s why I really wish she would stop eating bananas. They’re disgusting. Work in a steak, woman.”
Meredith ignored his sarcasm. “Honestly, after I kill the queen and Devinshea Quinn, I won’t care what happens. I would have killed the child. That would have hurt the king. But Lord Sloane is less forward-thinking than he seems.”
“He knows the king will kill him quick if you touch his son.” The fact that Lee was alive was the only thing I had to hold on to.
“He’ll die in the end,” my stepfather explained. “When the great war comes, he’ll be on the wrong side. Humans will find out about the foul infestation soon enough. You won’t be here though. You’ll be on the Hell plane.”
Casey stared Meredith’s way. “You’re selling her to Lord Sloane because her DNA is the same even without her she-wolf. He still wants to breed her to Gray’s body. Do you understand the definition of hypocrisy?”
Her lips curled up slightly. “I understand that you hate me right now and you would still do anything to get a taste, wouldn’t you?”
“I need you to understand something, Meredith,” Casey said, his voice deeper and darker than I’d ever heard. “If you fill my mouth with that sweet blood, I will spit it in your face. I have spent my short life as a vampire wondering what my strength is. I’ve found it. I want to drain you dry, but I would let that blood run into the street and I would piss in it if I could piss before I would ever take a swallow. I love one woman and I will not be untrue to her.”
“That’s sweet,” she said almost sympathetically. “But I know how this world rewards true love. Kelsey’s going to find that out tonight. So will you. Just remember at the heart of all of this is your precious king.”
“No. At the heart of all of this is a crazy bitch who needs to be in therapy because the world was too much for her,” I shot back, sick of her bullshit. “You say you loved this man? This isn’t about him. This is about revenge against a man who didn’t commit suicide to save you. Revenge never saved anyone. You could have made a difference. You could have taken your pain and helped someone else, but instead you got your freedom and immediately began planning your own fall. But you have to take a whole bunch of people with you, don’t you, sister? You are meaningless. You are nothing but a pawn in smarter people’s games, and none of this is going to work.” I was getting riled up and the adrenaline was helping.
“I think I’ll go with the Hell lord on this one,” Meredith said with a sigh. “I chose my path a long time ago, Kelsey. Maybe if I’d met you sooner. Maybe if you’d been the one in the crowd that day…but you were not.”
No. If I’d been there I would be dead and Meredith would still have been sold. Or perhaps I wouldn’t have. Perhaps the men in my life would have tempered my impulses. Gray and Trent understood the greater good in a way I didn’t. It was why we worked. I had a hard time believing Queen Zoey hadn’t wanted to act that day. She was a lot like me, but she’d been through more.
She’d suffered much of what Meredith had been through. She’d been taken against her will and forced to marry the head of the Council at the time. From what I’d been told, she’d even spent much of that time believing Devinshea had been killed.
Not once had she put personal revenge above the world around her.
I looked over at Gray and he was staring at me. He wasn’t paying a bit of attention to our captors. His whole being was focused on me as though he felt the need to memorize me before whatever happened next.
I couldn’t save him.
I wasn’t strong enough.
I needed my she-wolf and she was gone.
“Get the witch,” Meredith said. “It’s time to prepare her.”
They were taking Liv? I started to stand because I couldn’t simply let them haul my best friend out.
My stepfather smacked me in the back of the head with the butt of his rifle. I hit the ground and saw stars. I heard both Gray and Casey shout, but there was nothing either of them could do.
Despair threatened to swamp me as I watched my stepfather haul Liv up by her hair.
“Don’t try anything, witch. It won’t work,” he said, shoving her ahead of him. “And you shouldn’t feel sorry for her. Who do you think pulled that wolf out of you?”
“Well, in her defense I had a stake to Casey’s heart at the time,” Meredith admitted. “But she was the only one who could get close enough to do it. It’s an odd magic, the soul. There has to be a willingness to let the magic in. The witches tried their best, but even with you asleep they couldn’t manage it. But you let her right in. All she had to do was put her hands on you and she pulled that she-wolf soul right out. I wonder what happened to it. Do you think it’s floating around somewhere? Does it go to some afterlife when it wasn’t truly whole?”
I couldn’t think about that right now. It was a problem for later. Right now I needed Liv to fight, and guilt wasn’t going to help her do it. I ignored our tormentors and looked her right in the eyes. “It’s okay, Livvie, but you have to know that they’re going to kill you. You fight. You give them hell. Don’t worry about the rest of us. We’re all dead or going to Hell anyway. You fight.”
“There’s nothing to fight,” Meredith said with a sigh of sympathy. “They need her to complete the circle. They’ll use her magic and then discard her like a soiled tissue. Believe me, I know what that feels like.”
Tears flowed from Liv’s eyes. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t…”
“You couldn’t let them kill Casey,” I finished for her even though I knew they were still going to kill Casey. They would kill us all or haul us to the Hell plane and we wouldn’t be ourselves anymore. I understood why she’d done what she did. She couldn’t watch them kill Casey. It was why
Gray had taken that potion. He couldn’t watch me die.
Her hands still bound, she managed to get her arms around me, pulling me close. I heard my stepfather huff.
“Give them a moment,” Meredith said. “It won’t hurt anything.”
“The soul is an odd thing,” she whispered. “If you don’t properly destroy it or send it somewhere else, it tries to find a home. I did the only thing I could to save us. I love you.”
“Moment’s up,” my stepfather said, pulling her away from me. “I want to get this done. I’ll have a Hell lord in my debt, and once I execute that freak of a kid, the pack will owe me. Don’t think I won’t collect.”
I looked up at him. “I’ll owe you, too. Don’t think I won’t pay up.”
They hauled Liv away and I heard the door latch close.
I forced myself to my knees. Every muscle ached, but I had to try. Casey was our best bet. He might not be a warrior, but he was a vampire and his bonded mate was being threatened.
“They’re too heavy,” Casey said as I crawled to him. “We need a key. You can’t drag them over my head. We need to unwind them and they’re locked.”
“She needs to run.” Gray had gone a pasty white and I could see the effort it took to keep his head up.
“I can’t run.” I wasn’t sure my legs would work. Beyond that, I wasn’t sure I had the will to run. Without my wolf, I was nothing. I was the same pathetic being I’d been in high school and college and after. I was the sad sack who’d followed in Liv’s sunshine.
Gray wouldn’t love me now. Trent wouldn’t connect with me. Trent’s mate was an alpha bitch and that wasn’t me now.
I tried to pull at the chains. I managed to shift them up a tiny bit and Casey hissed because I’d hit bare skin.
“Don’t, Kelsey,” he said. “Gray’s right. You need to find a way out of here. You need to run. I don’t know how far away we are, but if you can get back to the tent, you might be able to find the way out.”
I looked at my friend. Sometimes it was easy to forget how brave he could be. When we’d met he’d been so young. He was still young. He’d turned in his early twenties and was still trying to figure himself out. He’d wanted to spend his eternity playing video games and skateboarding, not going into danger time and time again, but he’d stood beside me, stood up for me. I’d brought him here. “I’m going to get you out of this.”
“You can’t,” he replied, his eyes filled with sorrow. “You have to run and try to bring Donovan. I don’t know how much time we have. Get to someplace where you can call the king. Please try to save Liv.”
“Lupus Solum is out there,” Gray pointed out. “They’ll smell her. She smells human now. Something changed when they took her wolf.”
Everything had changed when they took her. I couldn’t outrun those wolves. I couldn’t fight. Impotence rolled through my system, a noxious blend of vulnerability and self-loathing.
They were torturing Trent. They were going to kill Gray’s soul. They would shove a stake through Casey’s heart and he would turn to dust.
I would be forced to the Hell plane and serve as a brood mare, any children I had taken from me and twisted.
Little Fen wouldn’t grow up.
And if Nemcox came back, would he know what he’d learned that day? Would he remember that Lee held the key to killing Myrddin?
Would anyone I loved be left alive at the end of this?
I’d brought us all to this place. I’d brought us low with my arrogance. I’d forgotten who I really was.
I slumped to the floor.
I’d tried to solve all my problems without giving up anything, and we would lose it all now.
Tears blurred my vision again.
“Half is not whole, but half can be made whole again if chosen.”
I looked up because that hadn’t been said by Gray or Casey.
Jacob stood in the middle of the room, his eyes fully white. Jacob, the prophet of light. Hope surged through me.
“Jacob, thank god,” I said, forcing myself up again. “We need your help.”
Gray shook his head. “He’s not here to help. He can’t help, Kelsey mine. He’s here to witness.”
“I wish I could save you, Grayson,” Jacob said, turning those pure white orbs on him.
I moved to Gray, needing to be close to him. “Why can’t he help?”
“It’s not allowed,” Gray explained.
He didn’t have to physically fight with us. “He could tell the king.”
“The king already knows, though he has not made his transformation yet. Don’t ever let them tell you there can be only one,” Jacob intoned.
Fucking prophecy. Anger flowed through me. On awkward feet I moved to the Heaven plane’s prophet. “If you’re going to spout that shit at me, get out of here. I don’t need you. I can die all on my fucking own.”
“And you think the anger came from your she-wolf,” Jacob said with a shake of his head.
Oh, I was past angry. “You’re useless to me. There’s a trick and a trap. I’ve heard those words about a hundred times now. That helped. I got tricked and I’m trapped.”
“That’s the funny thing about prophecy, child.” Jacob stared at me, his youthful body belying the millennia he’d walked the planes. “They’re very open to interpretation. Sometimes I think it’s the words we say that are important and not the intent behind them. I can tell you this was neither the trick nor the trap. Grayson couldn’t predict this. He’s involved. But that trap still exists. The question now is whether you will be alive to be tricked. It’s iffy at this point.”
Iffy? “Prophecy is bullshit. It’s the real trick. I’ve heard the same crap time and time again and none of it helped. None of it will save us. Do you know how many times Gray has told me that blood informs blood? What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
“It doesn’t matter what it means.” Jacob’s voice was encouraging. “What does it say? What does it tell you in this moment?”
“You’re walking a thin line, brother,” Gray said.
Jacob inclined his head. “Yes, and I will be stopped if I go over it. You’re young, Gray. One day you’ll be able to play this game, too, and I hope you’ll use your abilities sparingly so you don’t lose them. The fact that I’m willing to risk it should tell you something. The new world cannot begin if events play out as I see them in this moment. In the past I’ve made moves to strengthen the chances of the outcome I think is the most wise. She must figure out the puzzle. She must learn that the wolf inside her was always there and she remains.”
I hit my chest. “I can feel the space where she lived. It’s empty.”
Jacob turned to me again. “Then fill it, child. Or lay down and let both halves die. She saved you on more than one occasion. Fight for her. Show her how strong your human half is. You are not the confused child you once were.”
“He’s telling you to run,” Gray implored.
“I’m telling her to choose.” Jacob walked toward the door. “I’m telling her she already has the knowledge of how to save you, Grayson. Heed the words. Interpretation is everything. They’re almost here. I believe I shall watch the proceedings. Lord Sloane will view my appearance as a sign. Don’t let it be a sign that he wins.”
Jacob walked through the door.
The least the fucker could have done was opened it. I was moving more easily now, but my hands still shook.
I had to solve the puzzle, but he’d only given me pieces that didn’t fit. If Gray’s prophecy wasn’t meant for this situation, I had no idea how a prophecy not intended for me helped me solve the problem.
“Kelsey, time is running out,” Gray implored.
Time. The prophecy talked about time. Time would twist and turn on itself.
I wracked my brain, trying to figure out what Jacob had been attempting to tell me.
I needed Eddie and his notebook. But Eddie was gone.
It was all stupid shit that could mean anything. There could b
e more than one. Awesome. There was two of something out there. I didn’t see how summer almost being here helped anything at all unless there was a pool noodle hanging around that I could MacGyver into a weapon.
None of it gave me a way to fix Gray’s back or get Casey out of those chains.
I needed something magic that could heal my demon…
Blood informs blood.
Oh, god. I had vampire blood. It was sitting right there. I just had to find a way to get it into Gray.
“Casey, is there any danger in Gray taking your blood?”
Casey’s eyes lit up. “Shit. Why didn’t I think of that? I can heal him. It might even help clear the drugs from his system.”
Gray shook his head. “I can’t move and I’m far too heavy for Kelsey to move herself. I’m properly aligned right now. If you move me, my spine will shift and I’ll heal wrong. My father thought of everything. One of the witches is a doctor. When Nemcox has control, she’ll ensure my back is okay and they’ll heal this body. Can’t have his favored son in a wheelchair. You know what, fuck it. Get me over there if you can. I’d like to put Nemcox through as much pain as possible.”
I started looking around the cabin. There had to be a way that didn’t leave Gray without the ability to walk. I needed him ready to fight if we had any chance of survival.
A tapping sound caught my attention.
Casey breathed in deeply. “I might hate her for doing this to us, but companion blood really is the shit. She didn’t give me a lot. From what I’ve pieced together, she’s been putting a couple of drops in it for weeks. That’s why she wanted to hang out at my place. She had access to my blood supply. It’s not a lot, just enough to make me act weird around her, but it does have an effect. Everything is clearer including the fact that somehow Lee and Eddie are outside the cabin. I thought the demon was dead.”
Another tap and I was freaking out. Lee’s face came into view in the dim light. He stood at the back window, his hands on the sill.
He was alive, but he was here. I wasn’t sure which emotion I felt more strongly in that moment—joy or complete and utter terror. “What are you doing here? Eddie, how are you alive? Casey said you were dead.”
