Binding Curse: Dark Fae Hollow 4 (Dark Fae Hollows)

by T. F. Walsh

  “I’d do it again without hesitation,” I said.

  We fell silent.

  Train tracks ran parallel to the road, so I figured we’d follow them until we reached the next stop. My tired eyes slipped closed, and I leaned against the door, picturing myself in my world where only Axel and I existed.

  The world beneath me rattled, and a repetitive hum swirled in my mind. I opened my eyes, dazed and unable to make sense of my vision. I lay across two seats, and in front of me was a wall of ripped leather—the back of more seating. Pushing myself upright and dropping my feet to the ground, I stared at the long train carriage with only four other passengers. Across from me sat a young man and a pregnant woman. Okay, how could I not recall getting on the train, and where was Axel? On a positive note, my arm hurt less.

  I fumbled out of the seat and into the aisle and found him in the row behind me, arms folded across his stomach, his chin tucked into his chest, eyes shut. For those few moments, I studied his strong biceps, the bruises and cuts across them. He must have carried me onto the train. What had the other commuters thought? I owed Axel my life too many times over, and I wasn’t sure how to say thank you, or walk away when the time came.

  “I can sense you staring at me,” Axel said, opening one eye then the other. Stunning blue irises, encased by dark lashes, studied me.

  I sat alongside him with our sides touching, and I nudged his arm. “Thanks.”

  “Did nothing.” He smirked, stretching one arm across the top of my seat. Outside, the terrain was a blur, along with a small town we passed in a flash.

  “What was in that drink? It knocked me out.”

  “Then it did its job. Feeling better?”

  “I’m so pumped.” I couldn’t remember the last time I wanted nothing more than to smile and hang around someone like this.

  “Should be, you’ve been out for more than four hours, and we’re almost to Saint Petersburg.”

  “Did you get any rest?”

  He offered me his gorgeous smile and nodded. Maybe it was the newfound energy, but in Axel’s company, I felt safe. Or was it comfort? Not sure, but hey, he had his own pile of baggage and never once had he balked at mine. After days of running in circles, I was certain we’d reached a crucial part in our mission.

  Outside, a gigantic city came into view. Saint Petersburg stood near the Baltic Sea. A lot of the food these days came from the ocean in this region. I’d never been to this part of Russia, but I’d seen photos of grand, historic structures, museums, and an enormous river. But what I stared at outside resembled a demolished city. Buildings lay toppled over, decayed, and a graveyard of ruined cars lined the streets. But the slower we moved, the more it became apparent something wasn’t right. I stiffened in my chair. We passed hundreds of people filling the roads, holding weapons in the air. Were they protesting?

  “What’s going on?” I asked.

  “No idea. Let’s go.” Axel’s voice sped up.

  I stood in the aisle as everyone rose, ready to disembark. The carriage rattled to a halt. Axel grabbed something from the overhead compartment and tossed me a reddish fur coat. He donned a black one.

  “Where’d you get these?” I rubbed the softness across my cheek, ready to crawl inside and sleep for a week straight.

  “Sold our car. Heard it snowed in Saint Petersburg last week, so I figured we needed them.”

  I swallowed hard and glanced outside the window, noting people were wrapped up in coats, gloves, and boots. I threaded my arms into the coat. It smelled musty and fell to my shins. Next to me, Axel resembled a bear with his broad shoulders and height.

  Following the pushing crowds down the aisle, the moment I stepped out of the train, a chill bit into my flesh. But the frostiness was the least of my problems.

  Beyond the broken fence to the train station stood a barricade of protesters.

  A few held picket signs with the words, “Vulsines are murdering us.” Others chanted, “Faes are to blame. Where’s our protection?”

  Right then, I wasn’t sure what worried me more: humans knowing vulsines existed, or that I was a fae about to enter a mob who wanted my head.

  Chapter 27

  I drew the fur collar to my neck, keeping the iciness at bay. Axel guided me forward with a hand on my lower back, both of us caught in the cluster of passengers exiting the train. Visiting Saint Petersburg had always been on my bucket list, but my head reeled at the state of the city. Demolished buildings, rubble littering roads, and a staleness permeating the air. Even the gray cloud cover added to the bleak appearance. The more time I spent with humans, the more it killed me to see the poverty and disarray they endured. But I couldn’t deny their tenacity to survive in any situation.

  We approached at least a hundred protestors standing outside the platform, pushing each other, yelling and fighting.

  With my chin tucked low, I merged into the masses with Axel. Bodies bumped and pressed against me. Someone stomped on my foot, and another belched in my ear.

  “Hold faes accountable.” The chant escalated. People crushed against me, refusing to move out of the way. As tempted as I was to shove against the crowd, I wouldn’t bring attention to myself. My injured shoulder left me vulnerable and weak. And these poor people were petrified, so how could I blame them?

  A sudden explosion of screams rattled me, and I froze. The wave of bodies staggered toward the station, dragging me in their grasp. Panic squeezed my lungs. I’d lost sight of Axel. Everywhere, people crammed the street.

  When a guy bulldozed his way through the chaos and knocked my injured arm as he passed, I cried from the shudder jarring my wound. But nothing compared to seeing several PPD officials in uniform emerging from the train, their fae tattoos on full display. Were they insane?

  Two dozen militia flanked them, holding Tasers, and dressed in riot gear. Oh fuck, this was becoming insane and fast.

  People brushed past me, screaming their profanities, and waving sticks and knives.

  A man slammed into me, knocking me to my butt. Others stepped over my legs, and I shoved them aside as I climbed up. I lifted myself on tippy-toes, searching for Axel. The moment I spotted him surveying the protestors, a woman shrieked in my face, ripping open my fur, glaring at my neck… my fae marking.

  My brain refused to react at first, not when surrounded by fae haters, and Axel stood at least fifteen feet away. I yanked my coat back and covered myself.

  But too much happened at once. The tsunami of people pushed me back to the train, and the woman got dragged into the flood, but she kept yelling. “She’s a fae. Get her!”

  I jerked left and right, no path, just a wall of protestors. A meaty guy, twice my size, stood in my way. He glared down at my covered neck and a corner of his mouth peeled upward. He raised his shovel.

  Warm fingers restrained my wrist.

  I wrenched free and reeled. But it was Axel. He grasped my hand again and hauled me sideways, against the tide. My pulse thudded in my ears, and terror leeched to my insides. Would that man have killed me, even if it meant my human binding partner would suffer the same fate? Or would he hurt me enough to feel satisfied that he took out anger on a fae?

  Once we stumbled out of the masses, I breathed again.

  “Thought I’d lost you.” Axel tightened his hand around mine. “Now let’s move before we get caught up in this.”

  I nodded, unable to find my words, and turned my head to PPD holding off the mob. Several black official cars honked from farther down the street.

  When Axel nudged me, I joined him and jogged down a street… if one could call it such. Bricks and upturned cars littered the location while stubs of houses lined the path. I climbed over the debris, unsure how we would get anywhere at this pace.

  Two men rushed past toward the protests, paying us no heed.

  “I don’t get it. Why would the officials catch a train if they knew people were protesting against them?” I asked.

  “No other way to get into Saint Pe
tersburg from the south or west. The roads are obstructed by the devastation.”

  I studied the ruins filling the place. In the distance stood lofty apartments. “Where do the faes live in Saint Petersburg?”

  Axel hopped down from what looked like an upside-down bathtub and waved for me to hurry. “No idea. Maybe they’ve already fled.”

  I couldn’t shake off that glare of death in that man’s face and his shovel raised to strike. “Don’t people understand? If they kill faes, they are killing one of their own kind because of the binding?”

  “When someone’s scared and watched their family die, they may no longer care. Fear can turn anyone into a murderer.”

  And I thought Moscow was a sink hole. When word about vulsines would spread back home, those living in the city would have a massive reality wake-up call. My friends, including Santasha, in the precinct, would be in the firing line.

  More reason for us to get to the council compound, get Axel to safety, and uncover what the hell I could do to help everyone. Though the notion of meeting the world leaders felt surreal. Going into this with no prior knowledge of what to expect left me uncertain, confused, and hella-nervous. It shouldn’t, but the two leaders had always controlled our fate while remaining hidden.

  Axel and I left behind the tangled roads and marched along a flat street filled with apartment buildings.

  “How far is Orekhovo?” I ventured a quick glance at the riot behind me. I should have felt guilty for leaving the officers, should have helped them. But I chose to stop the vulsines instead; and yeah, it was the bigger picture, but it didn’t stop the churning in my gut that I didn’t assist a fellow PPD team.

  “About another hour, and we’ll find transport and head north.”

  “Guessing you’ve been here before?” Wished I attempted to visit Saint Petersburg before the world went to shit. Once, Santasha had proposed we take a shopping trip to this city, but I’d been fixated on my job, not leaving the understaffed team. In hindsight, I’d let myself drown in doing the right thing, following the rules, never enjoying life… especially after losing Nyx. Regret sat on my mind like a scab, but nothing I could do about it now.

  A dozen poles with round tops lined our road. What were they? The closer we got, the clearer it became. Each was adorned with a vulsine’s head. Eyes bulging, hair drenched in blood, cheeks sunken. How long had this town known about the vulsines?

  “Shit, no,” Axel grumbled.

  “What is it?” I spun toward him, my hand reaching for my knife, and scanned the rubble-coated land. No one came up behind us either. For a big city, this place was damn quiet. Maybe everyone was at the train station.

  Axel lifted his foot and bug guts stretched from his boot to the mushy mess on the asphalt.

  “Was that a cockroach?” I returned the blade to its sheath and wrapped my arms around my chest, rubbing the cold away.

  “Think so. Was a big bastard.” He scraped his sole on the curb.

  “Did it have an eye or was it a normal roach?”

  Axel cut me a look with a raised brow that screamed his sarcasm. “I didn’t get to inspect it before I stepped on him, but he’s dead now.”

  And that simple incident spiked my pulse. “Let’s assume the worst… they are communicating to the vulsines. So if there’s one, there are others, right? Along with vulsines.”

  Axel nodded. “Are you okay to run? We’ve got about half a mile to go.”

  “I’m ready.” I waddled like a lumbering fool, keeping a steady pace while wearing a huge coat that weighed a ton.

  Having Axel alongside me eased the sorrow and terror of what was coming. Yeah, all that cliché stuff about misery liking company was fucking spot on. I had zero ideas what our future held, but for now, I wouldn’t swap Axel for anyone in the world. Just like my team at the precinct, I trusted him to have my back. Not something I would have said a week ago.

  By the time Axel stopped at a T-intersection to catch his breath, I was gasping the frosty air, holding my chest, and sweating insanely. On either side of us lay a straight road, and not far stood an empty metal shelter. Axel and I plonked down on the narrow seat inside.

  “So we wait,” he said. “Hope we haven’t missed the day’s transport going north.”

  I nodded because no words would help. We waited, and I had no issues with taking it easy after running for so long.

  Axel pulled a plastic bag out of his pocket. “Trail mix?”

  “Where’d you get that?” I reached for the bag.

  “An old woman was selling them on the train.”

  “Sweet.” We shared the savory treat, and I licked my fingers, my stomach growling. “So, what do you think the leader’s compound is like? A castle?” I laughed.

  “You’re excited about this, aren’t you?” Axel brushed up against me with his shoulder.

  “And you aren’t?”

  He shrugged. “Could take or leave it.”

  I stuffed my mouth with the salty nuts and sultanas, a light buzz of deception lining my skin. “Liar. Who doesn’t want to see what the leaders look like? They rule our world, make decisions on our behalf. Don’t you have questions for them?”

  Axel stared down the road. “Sure, like why they decided on the binding instead of coming up with a different solution to stop the war between humans and faes.”

  “Hard one. What would you have done?”

  He chuckled and wiped the crumbs from his black fur. “I’m just a meager human, but perhaps adding more support to the PPD, positioning them inside and outside the city, hiring staff from both races might be a start.”

  “Wait… you believe in what the PPD is doing?” He must have seen the surprise on my face because a small smile played on his lips. I handed over the bag of snacks, and he tipped the remnants into his gob.

  He wiped his mouth and chewed the snack. “At the foundation, what they do is crucial. I suspect the notion got twisted somewhere along the way, forgetting about humans.”

  I wanted to argue that we did everything to welcome them into the city; we offered food and fought for them if they came to us. Except that was where I’d been wrong. Blinded to the real dangers and situations in the Outlands, they couldn’t waltz to our doors.

  When the hum of an engine reached us, Axel and I leaned forward in unison. A truck approached.

  “That’s us.” He stood on his feet.

  I hugged myself, not believing our luck. A military transport truck labored down the road toward us. This one was dirty green with enormous tires. The grill along the front was coated in dried mud.

  Axel flagged them down. The monstrous army truck stopped several feet away with people huddled in the uncovered flatbed. Axel and I hurried closer. He jumped on and offered me a hand. I was up in two seconds flat and claimed an empty spot on the bench behind the driver’s cab. I edged in between Axel and a young female, cradling a piglet in her arms. She wore a white furry hat that might have once been a rabbit. Everyone was bundled up in layers and heavy garments. They kept to themselves. Perfect for me.

  A man tapped the outside of the vehicle, and we lurched forward. We soon gained momentum and speed. Except, sitting without cover and exposed to the elements, frost clawed at my flesh. I curled into myself, my hands tucked between my legs. Axel had his arm around my shoulders. He drew me to his side, his warmth incredible. With his mouth to my ear, his breath heated me in seconds. “Get comfortable. It’s a three-hour drive. And keep your mark concealed.”

  Fifteen people were crowded in the back of the truck. Had they seen my fae ink? Were they waiting for the perfect moment to strike and kill me?

  I settled against Axel’s side, endured the bumps, and shivered beneath the cold pummeling us. But I wouldn’t close my eyes, not when I was being watched, and not after the riots in Saint Petersburg where humans blamed faes. Axel and I had gone to hell and back. So no freaking way were we going to get taken out by a bunch of terrified humans.

  Chapter 28

  �
��Luna, wake up.” A soft voice teased me. Squealing truck brakes pierced my ears, and memories steamrolled over me. I snapped my eyes open, muscles taut as I reached for my blade. But Axel had his hand on mine.

  “Calm down. This is our stop.”

  Axel rose to his feet at the back of the open transport vehicle, and I joined him. No one else disembarked, but everyone gawked my way, some shying away. Okay, I’d woken up freaked. Damn, I wanted to stop feeling jumpy all the time—stop imagining myself being killed by anyone who crossed my path—stop living on adrenaline.

  I jumped down from the truck as it backfired. “Son of a bitch.” I coughed the putrid smoke from my lungs.

  Mountains rose into the gray, cloudy sky surrounded us. Trees, barren of leaves, dotted the location. Behind us, the road snaked around a hill. “Where are we?”

  A cold wind tousled Axel’s hair over his shoulders. “Orekhovo. Or at least one part of it.”

  The broker had insisted the compound was somewhere out here. We’d come this far, and I prayed to Princess Kutia that we hadn’t made a mistake by listening to the gang leader.

  “Let’s do this,” Axel said.

  I surveyed our options—hike endlessly or scale a vertical wall. While loathing both options, I embraced being away from the city, the anger, and people.

  The sun peered out just above a peak, meaning it would get dark soon and freeze. So I trailed after Axel, my boots clapping the asphalt. We tracked onward until Axel turned down a worn track between two towering summits.

  “So, you think the compound will end up being something plain like a hut in a valley?” I asked. The track wound ahead of us as effortlessly as the road at our backs. In the corners of the monstrous rock walls on either side of us lay a rusty cooking pot with a hole in the base. A sock and wooden wheel from a carriage were located nearby. A village must have once existed out here.