by Maya Daniels
“The fuck you mean I didn’t think of it? I fucking starved her almost to death!” he roared in her face, making her flinch.
“It happens.” Iris spoke softly, trying to placate him. “How often do you keep a Fae caged?”
“I would take a wild guess and say not often.” Artemis’s softly spoken words made both Iris and Raphael freeze. The next second, Raphael was kneeling next to her head with his palm cupping her face.
“Are you okay?” he searched her eyes.
“I’ve been better.” She tried to smile at him, but she wasn’t successful. Why in the worlds do I want to smile at him? her mind screamed before realization hit her out of nowhere that she was feeling emotions that weren’t her own.
“What happened, apart from you being dehydrated and starved?” Iris asked Artemis as she opened another bottle and handed it over. “Sip it slowly, or it’ll make you sick,” she pointed out.
“Something I never thought would happen to me in a million years. Not in the middle of my enemies.” Artemis spoke, lost in thought while clutching the bottle in her hand and looking at Iris as if the other woman were her lifeline. Iris frowned, not understanding what was going on.
Raphael held his breath. As long as she was breathing, he was sure he could fix whatever had happened at Claude’s home that he didn’t know about. He watched intently, preparing himself to hear some horrible news. Artemis looked at Iris without blinking for what felt like an eternity. Wetting her lips, she swallowed audibly before taking a sip of water and clearing her throat.
“I found my mate…” Artemis said, still looking at Iris.
Raphael frowned before anger bubbled in his chest like never before. He was a second from bolting out of the witch’s place to storm Claude’s manor, intending to kill them all. Then slowly Artemis’s eyes locked on his. In his feral state, it took him a moment to realize the weight of her words. Coming back to himself, he realized he had his fangs out and was hunched over on all fours, hissing at them both. His muscles were bunched up and he was coiled for an attack. Warmth washed over him at that look in her eyes, and he slumped on the floor as his fangs retreated. A wolfish grin split his lips, and he sheepishly shrugged his shoulder at Iris, who rolled her eyes at him.
“Good luck with this one.” Iris told Artemis somberly. “He’s as arrogant and stubborn as they come.”
Raphael’s grin only grew as he kept looking at Artemis so intently that she felt her insides burning. She watched him warily, but there was a glint in her eyes that he didn’t miss.
Artemis nibbled on an apple as she watched Raphael pace back and forward in the small room that Iris had given her. Confusion, more than the lack of food and water, was making her lightheaded. She could easily have blamed it on the male in the room with her, but she was aware that she hadn’t even thought of eating or drinking for herself. She was so intent on staying alive, learning something that could give her an advantage or find a way to escape that she never once thought of water or food.
“I’ll check the perimeter from the outside. I’ll be right back.” Raphael’s words brought her out of her head. “You’ll stay here!” he told her firmly, and her lips twitched at the stern look on his handsome face.
“Or what?” Tilting her head, she watched him stiffen. That scent that was driving her crazy and she had thought was poison started making a lot of sense right now. “Are you going to kill me, Raphael?” Her smile grew as a growl rumbled in his chest.
Raphael shivered and almost went to ravish her at the sound of his name on her lush lips. It did stupid things to him like he wasn’t centuries old, but rather a teenager with a hormonal imbalance. The worst part was that she knew what she was doing to him and enjoyed every damn minute, by the looks of it.
“I need to know that Claude is nowhere near this place.” Walking towards her, he sat next to her on the small sofa, feeling like she was almost in his lap. “I want you to rest for the time being, because in my desire to find out what was going on, I neglected you completely. Something is going on and I will get to the bottom of it, I assure you. Claude knows something, because that was not usual behavior, even for him.”
Artemis searched his eyes, mutely weighing his words. It was such a peculiar feeling to be aware when someone was telling the truth. She wasn’t aware of what had happened from the time she lost consciousness to the time she opened her eyes at that ritual room in Iris’s shop. Whatever it was, it had bonded her to Raphael, and now she knew that she could never hurt him. Well, not physically, at least. She was still unsure if she would stick around long enough to discover how they had bonded. It wasn’t a full bond, but it was the beginning of one. She’d only heard stories about it. The pull and compulsion to complete it was a living thing that she fought with everything in her. Lazarus would definitely lose his shit when he finds out. She groaned internally at that thought.
“Are you listening to me?” Raphael cupped her face, his thumb rubbing her cheekbone gently, bringing her to the present. “Stop plotting for a second…please.” That last word sounded pained as if it hurt him to say it. “We will figure this out together, I promise.” He searched her face. “I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but… I will help you revenge your mother's death. No matter who it was that was responsible for it. You have my word.”
“Why would you do that?” Artemis narrowed her eyes. “Mate or not, this is not your fight. Although it is your war…on the opposite side of mine, need I remind you.” Still unable to remove his hand because for some ridiculous reason it felt good when he was touching her, she glared at him. “How do you know that you are not one of those that killed her? Do you remember every life you’ve taken over the centuries?”
“I can assure you I was not part of whatever happened when your mother was killed.” Truth rang clear in his words, making her bristle.
“How can you be sure? You’re a predator just like me! A killer!” her voice rose with each word. His sad smile deflated her like a balloon. She frowned at that look on his face.
“I’ve only killed one woman in my entire existence.” Raphael’s words made her eyebrows hit her hairline. She looked at him incredulously. “And I assure you, she was not your mother. Nor was she a Fae of any kind.”
Coldness surrounded her at his words and shadows were evident in his eyes from whatever demons were haunting him still. Artemis felt an irresistible urge to embrace him; make him forget whatever it was that clouded his eyes, but she gripped the blanket covering her with tight fists just to keep her hands to herself. As if reading her mind, Raphael pried her fingers open and laced his calloused fingers through hers. His other hand went back to cupping her face again, and his eyes held her captive. He didn’t need an iron cage to keep her a prisoner. Those green eyes of his, like ancient forests from her home, were so intense that Artemis felt like they were reaching inside her soul and would hold her captive for eternity. She knew it as well as she knew her name. And he was telling the truth. This was very, very bad. She needed time to think.
“I don’t think I can move from this spot if I tried. Your prisoner will await her jailer right where he leaves her.”
“You are not my prisoner anymore, Artemis.” Raphael told her gently, making goosebumps cover her arms and legs. “Not anymore. I would like to think we can get past the last few days and start fresh. As a team.”
“You cannot pet something that you’ve held in a cage and ask it to love you.”
Raphael’s body jerked at her words like she had slapped him. Artemis watched so many feelings flick through his eyes that she felt sick to her stomach for saying those words to him. When such deep sadness and loneliness stayed, plain as a bright sunny day for her to see, her cold heart shattered into thousand pieces for him. That one moment of vulnerability showed her that the two of them might not be so different after all. She was preparing herself to reach up and touch him voluntarily when he abruptly stood up. She missed his touch the second it was gone. The blood in her veins turn
ed cold from the hurt visible on his face.
“I deserved that.” Raphael told her, looking down at her. “But before you judge me too harshly, tell me one thing. What would you have done if the roles were reversed? If it was me coming to your realm, killing the people you call friends?”
“I have no friends.” Her words were out before she could stop them. He looked at her without any expression on his face for a long moment.
“After tonight,” Raphael turned his head to look out the window, seemingly lost in thought, “neither have I, it seems.” Artemis swallowed the lump in her throat at his softly spoken words. “I’ll be back.”
With those words, he left the room, his incredible speed making a cup topple off the table and the curtains sway in the breeze that formed. Artemis kept looking at the slightly opened door he left in his wake.
It’s been a very long time since Raphael had felt so torn up inside. Immortality was something humans went to great lengths to achieve, not understanding the burden of it—how you lose yourself and become numb to everything as the years go by. He’d been sure of that… until he met Artemis.
He was numb.
In three days, she managed to turn his entire existence inside out. There were so many feelings inside him that he felt like his skin was stretching to accommodate them all, and he half-expected to burst into thousand pieces at any moment. She called him a mate. His heart thumped loudly in his chest at that thought.
A mate!
After being alone for so long, those words made him feel alive for the first time in centuries. He was ready to rip the worlds and realms apart to keep her at his side. Anissa didn’t take this from him to her death. Then Artemis said those words that cut him more deeply than any he has ever heard. You cannot pet something you hold in a cage and ask it to love you. Her words echoed in his head like she was standing next to him, repeating them over and over again. They didn’t change how he felt or the lengths he was prepared to go for her. They just left a wound that would bleed forever. Every time he looked at her.
As he walked amongst the shadows of the night, hiding his presence even though the city looked deserted at this hour, Raphael felt restless. He was itching to go back to her. In case she decided to run, he told himself. A smile tugged at his lips at that thought. He would love to chase her, his instincts went into high gear at the idea. But first he had to hear the full story. To know what made her come here now. Why wait so long? Or were they coming and going with no one the wiser about their presence? Was her mother killed recently? Too many questions, not enough answers, he decided as he made a full circle around the store, jumping from roof to roof.
Dropping silently into a crouch, Raphael straightened, ready to walk back inside, when he felt the power radiating at his back. His back stiffened as he slowly turned around, concealing how uneasy it made him feel, and settled his eyes on Claude.
“It didn’t take you long to track me down.” Placing his hands in his pockets, Raphael nonchalantly faced his friend. Or is he a friend? The question rattled around in his head. “So what do we do now, Claude?”
“Where is she?” The coldness in Claude’s voice brought every protective instinct Raphael had to the front.
“She is with me,” he answered, keeping a tight rein on his control so as not to give away anything. “That’s all you need to know.”
“I would have to disagree on that count…old friend.” Glaring, Claude took a step closer, making Raphael pull his hands out of his pockets. “I’ll ask again. Where is she?” He took another slow step, now standing half in the shadows and half in the yellowish glow of a street light not far from them. “Don’t make me send them to look for her while I keep you busy.”
“You have grown too complacent, Claude, if you think you and a handful of useless immortal lives can keep me busy. Or that I will let any of you to walk past me.” Shaking his head, Raphael chuckled humorlessly.
He watched the shadows move from the corner of his eye and counted seven in total. They stayed in the shadows as if that would save their pathetic lives. He has been away for too long, Raphael decided. The idiots believe they can take him. It was almost insulting.
“She is a monster, Raphael!” Claude hissed at him, baring his fangs as his eyes turned amber, glowing in the darkness. “She is hunting and killing our kind, and here you are protecting her!” The last words were almost roared in his face. A dog barked somewhere in the distance.
“The question is not why I’m protecting her.” Raphael spoke calmly even when his entire body was poised for attacking. “The question here…old friend…is what and who are you protecting?”
Raphael didn’t expect to see the surprise so plainly visible on Claude’s face. The widening of his eyes as he took a barely perceptible step back was almost comical. So he wasn’t expecting to be called out on it. How interesting, Raphael thought to himself. Either Claude thought himself very astute and subtle, or he thought Raphael was an idiot. There was no other explanation for his reaction.
“She’s messing with your head.” Claude sounded defensive, instead of his normal aloof self. “Or the madness has finally gotten to you from living alone for so long.” He tried to act concerned, making Raphael grind his teeth.
“What are you hiding, Claude?” With a sigh, Raphael moved his head from side to side, cracking his neck. “This is the last time I’m going to ask.” He lifted a hand to stop the words that were going to come out of Claude’s mouth. “It may also be your last chance to answer it, too, so choose your words wisely.” Raphael waved his palm around, encompassing the seven still lurking in the shadows. “They seem agitated and restless.”
After long moments Claude spoke, and he deflated in front of Raphael’s eyes, confusing the hell out of him. “You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into here, Raphael. Some things should be left buried.”
“Well, I was kinda dragged into this by a friend.” He narrowed his eyes at Claude, not trusting him for a second. “No one asked me what I wanted until all your shit came out to stink up my life. So speak. I wasn’t joking! This is your last chance.”
As Claude opened his mouth to say something, the seven lurking vampires decided that they had waited long enough and took matters into their own hands. All seven came at Raphael at once. Claude closed his half-open mouth as he watched them surround Raphael. Raphael is right. They really are useless immortal lives, he thought to himself as he shook his head.
He stood with his arms crossed and watched Raphael spring into action. One second he was standing calmly but alert. The next he was a whirlwind of movement no mortal eyes could follow. Claude’s eyes widened as he saw Raphael twist and turn, his body a work of art, using the men and women around him against each other without getting caught in the middle. Either Raphael had been training while he was hiding from the world or something else was going on. It almost seemed as if he was faster and stronger than anything Claude had ever seen in his life.
Three men were ripped apart just as Claude finished his thought. Raphael wasn’t slowing, he was getting invigorated and becoming faster. Before Claude could process that thought, there was only one of their kind left standing in front of Raphael with a horrified look on her face. Locking eyes with Claude, Raphael smiled before he grabbed both her arms and his foot connected with her chest as he kicked out. A gut-wrenching crunching sound was heard as her ribcage shattered, collapsing her lungs and heart before both her arms were ripped off. Still not taking his eyes off Claude, Raphael threw them to the side and his smile grew. Claude couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt fear like he did at this moment.
“Last chance, Claude.” Raphael said softly. “And I must say, that was fun.” He wasn’t even breathing hard and dread pooled in Claude’s stomach. “It’s been too long.”
“Let’s go inside to talk.” Claude swallowed the lump in his throat. “Even the walls have ears.”
After watching him for few more seconds through narrowed eyes, Raphael gave h
im a sharp nod. Turning around, he strode towards the shop where Iris already held the door open, not blinking an eye at the massacre Raphael had left in the middle of the street. This is like a nightmare coming to life, Claude thought as his feet started moving slowly to follow Raphael. He waved his hand behind him, indicating that someone needed to clean the mess up before any humans saw it. He felt the answering pull from those he had told to stay behind that it would be done. They turned to ashes eventually, but by the time that happened it would be too late to keep themselves a secret. Claude watched Iris as he entered the shop for any reaction, but the witch just gave him a tight smile.
“As long as I’m on the winning side, he can kill whoever he wants,” she told him, as if reading his mind.
Claude’s eyes connected with violet ones as soon as the door closed behind him. His steps faltered and he stopped, as if some invisible force held him captive.
“’I was hoping you would be stupid enough to attack him,” Artemis said, conversationally leaning on the doorframe as if she could barely stand. “I was so ready to come and play, oh mighty king.” She smirked at him as Claude watched, dumbfounded, as Raphael rushed to her side and picked her up, cradling her to his chest.
Artemis wrapped her arms around Raphael’s neck and looked at Claude over his shoulder. Claude’s mouth opened and closed a few times without anything coming out of it. He felt an arm wind through his and he flinched like a mortal at the contact, making Iris smile at him knowingly. He allowed her to pull him further inside the store.
Artemis ignored Claude as if he were not even present in the room. She watched Raphael as he placed her gently on the sofa and tucked the blanket around her as though she were a fragile thing that might break. He still wouldn’t look at her, even when he was fussing about her as if she were a child. She gripped the blanket with both hands to stop herself from reaching out and touching him.
