“Are you going to set them down, or just keep staring?”
He cleared his throat and stepped into the room, half setting down, half dropping the packages. Several bags tipped over, spilling their contents all over the floor. Selene waited till he’d set everything down and then strode to him and planted her hand in the middle of his chest.
“Selene, let me explain.”
Embarrassment quivered her chin. She didn’t want to hear him explain. Couldn’t hear him explain. She didn’t want to know.
“Selene, please. I wanted to. I did, but—”
She shoved him hard and he stumbled before planting his feet.
“Selene, if you will just listen to me.”
She used both hands and all of her body weight to push him out the door before slamming it in his face.
Once the door was closed, she slid to the floor and sobbed into her hands. His last expression burned into her mind, his brilliant eyes sad and pleading. She shivered and curled into a ball. Where was Mason?
* * * *
Selene woke up in a cold sweat. Her body ached and her heart raced. She tossed and turned in her bed and tried to sit up. Her head pounded and the voice echoed in her mind.
“Let’s play.”
She groaned and looked at the clock. It was four in the afternoon. She threw her legs over the side of the bed and got to her feet shakily. A familiar sense of foreboding washed over her.
She leaned against the wall and pounded on the sides of her head. No. No. No. Not now. Not here.
Again, the voice echoed through her head.
This couldn’t be happening. The energies and appetites of this plane were getting to her, waking up her long slumbering need to cause chaos, pain, and pleasure.
A somewhat familiar whirling sound filled her head.
Her gaze travelled to the door.
She stumbled into the hall and the whirling sound grew louder. Not a soul stirred at the early hour. Leaning on the wall for support, she made her way to the elevator.
She stepped out of the elevator and the Vampire who sat at the prison’s door stood and knit his eyebrows. The whirling sound grew louder still.
“What are you doing down here?” He walked toward her.
She waved her hand at him. “Sopor.”
His eyes closed and he fell to the floor, asleep. She stumbled but continued to where he lay and tried the handle to the door. It didn’t move. She noticed a computerized locking system next to the door and set her hand on it. Her vision blurred and her knees almost buckled. She had to hurry.
“Recludo.”
The computer screen blinked and went out.
She pushed the door open and stepped inside. Rex lay on a table, strapped down with a slave collar around his neck. His face was puffy and bruised in several places. He appeared to be sleeping, but his eyes flew open and he peered at her. He gave her a lopsided grin through a split lip and the whirling sound stopped.
“Aaaaahhhh. There you are. I wondered if you were really still in there.” He chuckled, but it turned into a coughing fit that ended with him trying to suck in a deep breath. He winced as he did so. “I do so love your natural-colored eyes, Seraphine. I can’t wait till I can see them again. The green ones you sport playing as Selene are so bland.”
She walked to him and ripped his shirt open. Bruises covered his torso as if every rib had been broken.
Selene stared at Rex. He’d been calling. Signaling to any demons that he was here. Like a beacon. But they were so far underground it wasn’t possible anyone but her had heard. She needed to silence him.
“If you help me, I’ll let you go. Where’s the rift?” she asked.
“Let me loose and I’ll take you there, Princess.”
She shook her head. It was no use. He wouldn’t tell her. He’d already been through hell and he hadn’t told Neeman.
“Let me have him.”
The voice crawled closer to the surface, making her stomach lurch. Selene covered her mouth with her hand and burped.
“What were you doing when they caught you?”
He smiled. “Missing the old days? Wanting to have a bit of fun are you?”
“Tell me what you were doing.” Her head pounded and her skin felt like she’d been scoured with a belt sander. But despite the hell she was going through, she needed to know.
His gaze intensified and he locked eyes with her. “I stripped them of their will, and then I stripped them of their clothes. Finally, I stripped them of their lives. I let their blood flow over me and into me. I bathed in it, relished it.”
“How many?” Horror brought bile to her throat.
“Dozens and dozens. And I would’ve done more, hundreds more, thousands more. Then I killed the human with the Vampires, he was the best of all. When I get off this table my brothers and I will shred this world of humanity.”
She wanted to kill him, the desire running so deep within her she shook with the effort of holding back. He was a monster and he deserved death. She raised her palm and laid it on his abdomen.
“Come on then. It’s what you came for isn’t it? To kill me. To let loose? I can see it on your face. The way you’re trying to rein in your sanity. To keep it under control. That’s the fae way isn’t it? Control. Did mommy teach you that, Princess? Did she tell you to control your urges? ‘Don’t give in. Be a good little fae?’ Did she?”
Memories of the elders testing her, pushing her to the brink, popped into her mind. She pounded on her head, keeping the voice out.
“What did they do to you, Princess? The fae? What did they do? Anything worse than I would have?”
Memories bombarded her and Selene ran for the exit.
“Just wait till daddy hears where you are. What do you think he’ll give me if I tell him?”
She stopped dead in her tracks and whipped back to him. “Why are you here? Why are you in Chicago?”
“I’m here for Maelstrom and since I found you, I can only assume he isn’t too far away. The two of you were always ever so close.”
Her heart raced in her chest. The demons were looking for Mason, but they’d found her as well. He was right, they’d come in droves now that they’d found her. She should’ve stayed put. If Rex hadn’t seen her, maybe he wouldn’t have found out about Mason. This was her fault. She had to fix it. She couldn’t let them find out about her, or Mason.
“When I get out of here I’m going to parade you back to our plane with Mason in tow. And then I’m going to beg for the pleasure of being your mate.”
Seraphine surged through her limbs and quick as sound, she moved to him.
“Annullo!” she yelled. She jammed her palm onto his fleshy stomach and the glow that had built beneath her skin flowed out.
Rex let out a shriek of terror.
“You’ll never have Maelstrom. You’ll never have me!” Magick more forceful and primal than she’d ever felt poured from her hands and into him. Threads of molten light wove over his chest and wrapped around his body in a spider web of magick. The web closed over him and his skin blackened and charred until he turned to a pile of ash.
Her hands hit the table he’d been lying on and she gulped in air. The pounding in her head cleared and a boulder lifted off her shoulders. She stared down at her palms and Seraphine retreated.
She’d killed someone. A bad someone, an evil someone, but someone.
She’d done it to save Mason and herself.
Weakness flowed over her limbs and she toppled to the ground.
She needed to hide. She needed to sleep.
* * * *
A sharp knock on Neeman’s door pulled him straight out of his slumber. He peered at his clock. It was only quarter to five in the evening. He jumped from his bed in nothing but his pajama bottoms and opened the door.
Ford waited in the hall.
“What are you doing? You’re supposed to be guarding the demon.”
�
�He’s gone.”
“Gone? He has a collar.”
“The collar’s there, and a pile of ash.”
“What the hell happened?” Neeman demanded, heading for the elevator.
“The girl. The female, she came down about an hour ago and waved her hand at me and said something. The next thing I know, I wake up on the floor, she’s gone and the demon’s gone.”
Neeman cursed under his breath. He raced to the interrogation room. Sure enough, it was bare. He stepped up to the table where the demon had been tethered and scanned it. His gaze stopped at a set of handprints in the middle of the ash. He placed his palm up to the prints. They were considerably smaller.
He sucked in a deep breath. The scent of ozone hit him. That smell. The smell from his room and from earlier when Rex had tried to talk about— Without a word, he turned and ran for the elevator.
The carriage stopped on the bedroom level. He raced toward her room.
The shopping bags still lay strewn on the floor, but her bed was empty. Neeman’s temper rose. She’d fled.
He tried to piece together the events that had happened while he’d slept but he just couldn’t figure it out. One thing was for sure though, she’d killed his prisoner, and he was going to find her and make her pay.
He turned to leave when a whimper caught his attention. The closet door was ajar. He ran to it.
She lay on the floor in a ball, her eyes shut tight.
He reached in and grabbed her, dragging her out and to her feet. “What the hell did you do?”
Her head lolled back and forth. “You killed him didn’t you? The demon. You killed him.”
Her eyes barely opened. She clutched his upper arms, trying to hang on.
“Answer me. You used some kind of fae magick to kill him and to start my car and in my room. Didn’t you?”
She moaned but didn’t answer. His anger took a back seat as he looked her over. Her skin was waxen and pale and covered in a fine sheen of sweat. She couldn’t seem to concentrate on him.
“What’s wrong with you?” he asked in a softer voice.
The words had barely left his mouth when her legs buckled and she crumpled to the ground in a heap.
His anger extinguished in an instant. He pulled her head into his lap and brushed her hair from her face. Her skin was the same as his. She was cold.
“Selene? Selene, can you hear me?”
She moaned again and whispered something he couldn’t hear. Fear gripped him in its tight fist and made his skin pebble.
“What? What do you need?”
“Mason,” she whispered.
Chapter 8
She was tied to an upright stone altar. The ropes on her wrists and legs bit into her skin. How many days had she been left tied up this time? Her back ached and spasmed in agony. She looked down at her protruding ribs. She hadn’t eaten in who knew how long.
The caked blood on her stomach had dried. It itched and pulled with every breath. She ran her tongue over her cracked lips but her tongue felt like a belt sander because it was so dry.
Where was her mother? Not that she would ever show weakness and call for her mother, she just wondered where her mother was. Was she arranging flowers? Eating a meal? Sleeping with an elder to ensure her place here in this world?
Her inner voice whimpered. The sound so unnatural it woke her up from her groggy state.
“Let me out.”
“No. You’re the reason I’m in this mess.”
“If you let me out I can end this suffering.”
She snorted. “Yes, but eventually, when you burn out, they’ll kill us.”
She peered at her surroundings. The grove held no sound. The animals kept their distance from the terror that permeated this place. Even the trees and bushes bent away.
Her mother’s father and several other elders entered the grove. The group of observers stood just inside the circle of trees, palms pressed together, eyes on her.
The High Elder moved fluidly across the grass, his robes swishing around his bare feet gracefully as if he floated. Which, she was sure, he wanted everyone to believe he did. But she knew the truth about him.
He stopped at her side and held a water skin to her lips. The liquid flowed into her mouth and down her throat, pushing its way through the raw skin that clung together. She coughed and spluttered and he stopped the water too soon. Her stomach growled for the first time in days.
“This will be the last time, daughter of Yelena. If you do well, we will let you go home.”
“Back to Chicago?”
His eyes darkened.
It was the wrong answer.
“Back to your mother’s home.”
She nodded vigorously. “Yes, of course. That’s what I meant. I got confused.”
“Don’t grovel,” her inner voice roared.
“Of course.” He raised a small metal instrument above Selene’s stomach. His piercing aqua-colored eyes glittered with glee but she refused to shy away.
“Remember,” he whispered. “To love your family, is to honor your family.”
He lowered the instrument slowly, letting it hover over her skin.
Her breathing became shallow and rapid.
“Let me take it. Fade away and sleep. Let me take the pain,” said her inner voice.
She wanted to be brave. She didn’t want to succumb, but at the first touch of the demon stick she wailed and then everything went black.
* * * *
Neeman stood, wearing only his pajama bottoms, watching Selene rock and moan in her bed.
He’d set her in her bed and then called Mason. Mason had said it was a bad time, but Neeman had explained Selene’s condition and Mason had said he’d be right there.
Neeman had gotten Selene to eat a few crackers and she’d drunk three bottles of Gatorade, but she was still weak and refused to talk.
He ran his fingers through his hair. He was still livid about the demon, but concern tugged at him as well. When had his life come into such upheaval? He didn’t like it. He liked order, control, the two things he wasn’t able to get with Selene around.
The door swung inward and Mason stepped into the room. He nodded to Neeman and went to the bed. The box spring creaked and sagged under his tremendous weight.
“Selene.” He turned her to face him. A small cry escaped her and her eyes flew open and locked on him. Her chin quivered. She sat up and flung her arms around his neck.
“Mason,” she cried.
He hugged her tight.
“It’s all right. It’s okay.”
“I didn’t mean to. I swear I didn’t. I tried to control her, but I couldn’t. I just couldn’t. I had to drain my magick and he recognized me and was looking for you and…” She broke into sobs that wracked her body.
Mason pulled her closer and stroked her hair. “It’s okay. It’s okay. You knew this was going to happen sooner or later.”
The sight of Mason holding Selene threw Neeman’s jealousy into overdrive. He ground his teeth together in an effort to hold back the words he wanted to spew.
The two sat on the bed and clung to each other for several minutes before Mason’s grip slacked.
“You’re cold,” he said. “Too cold. You need energy. You’ve spent too much. You’re lucky you didn’t kill yourself.”
“It’s not my fault. In the fae plane, I can control it better. My fae becomes stronger. I haven’t had a problem in years. But the voice. Her voice. I lost the amulet and I thought I’d be okay, but I’m not.”
“We’ll fix it. You need to recharge. Stay strong. Keep her caged. You need life force magick. It’s the only kind that will keep her at bay. Do you understand?”
She nodded and looked at Neeman. Her skin was still pale and waxy. Her eyes rimmed with deep shadows.
Mason’s gaze travelled to Neeman as well. “You have to help her.”
“Help her what?”
“Her
magick is depleted and she needs life force to make her better.”
“Why can’t you help her? Afraid Danika might catch a whiff of her on you?”
Mason frowned.
Neeman didn’t care. To have Danika at home and now Selene here, in hiding, was more than angering, it was wrong and he didn’t want any part of it.
Mason stood from the bed and walked to meet Neeman. “You have something to say?”
“What do you want me to say? You’re mated to the coven lord of Chicago, but your old girlfriend shows up and you ask me to keep her hidden?”
Mason’s brows knit together. “Girlfriend? Selene’s not my girlfriend.”
“Lover. Whatever you want to call it.”
Mason looked over his shoulder at Selene. “You didn’t tell him?”
“It never came up.” She shivered and pulled up the covers.
Mason turned back to Neeman and sighed. “She isn’t my lover, Neeman. She’s my sister.”
“Sister?”
“Our mothers were sisters.”
“So she’s fae?”
“Look, I don’t have time to explain. I need to get back before Danika rises, but I need you to help her. Please.” Mason stared at him. “I know I’m asking a lot, but will you do this favor for me?”
Neeman swallowed hard and nodded, not knowing what he was getting himself into.
Mason turned to Selene. “I’ll call later to make sure you’re better. I’ll return if I can.”
“When?” she asked.
“You know how this works. Only now it’s even more complicated. A few days at the latest, I promise.”
She nodded and her teeth chattered.
Mason headed into the hallway and Neeman stepped out after him. “Mason. What’s going on?”
“The Russians are getting more insistent on seeing Danika. The three kings are as well. You know how they are about diplomacy.”
“Does she know what they want?”
“Not yet, but she has a feeling the Russians want to stay. Did you get anything out of the demon?”
Neeman shook his head.
Rise of the Fae Page 9
