Tainted Rose

by Yumoyori Wilson

  “I’ll always have time for you Makoto. All of us would drop everything just to see you. We’re pretty high up in rank at Heila. Kai’s working on our scheduling, but we’re trying to make it so it’s similar to our routine at Knightwood. No matter what we’ll always have breakfast and dinner together,” he reassured me.

  “Kai did that? You guys are okay with that? Doing that for me?”

  “Our Firefly gets priority more than anything else. We’re your knights. Regardless of what happens in Heila, I’m hoping at least one of us will be with you at all times.”

  He reached out for my hand before he pulled me forward to walk to the cashier.

  “Now, let’s buy all this stuff so we can try and outrun the storm. I don’t think we’re going to make it, but I know somewhere close to our place where we can ride out the rain. It won’t be a long storm.”

  “Okay.”

  “Marcus. I have a question.”

  I was relaxed in a pair of shorts and a tank top, my legs crossed as I sat in front of the fireplace.

  We’d got caught in the wild thunderstorm, so we found safe haven in the small cabin, a few kilometers away from our home. Marcus knew we’d never make it as we left the town, the grey clouds filling the dark sky.

  It rained so hard we’d got drenched in less than a minute, resorting to changing into some clothes we had bought, while ours dried on the wooden table in the dining room.

  The small, wooden cabin was very plain and clean, looking as if no one had lived in it for a while. Marcus explained it was on a part of their land; the boys used it on occasion for survival practice.

  As the teachings of Knightwood state – you never know when you’re going to be in a forest filled with snakes. Blasphemy I say.

  Marcus walked out of the washroom, my eyes roamed his bare chest. He’d only bought stuff for the others and not one top for himself. I was thankful he’d at least bought a pair of black, workout shorts, which he was now wearing as he strolled towards me. Don’t get distracted by the sexy dragon shifter.

  “Ask away, Firefly. And, I’ll try not to distract you,” he commented.

  I stuck my tongue out teasingly.

  He licked his lips before sitting next to me, crossing his legs as he rotated to face me instead of the fireplace. “Don’t tempt me Makoto. I can teach that tongue of yours a lesson or two,” he warned, making me gulp.

  I took a deep breath as I tried to tame my overly excited hormones. “Who’s Elyion? I found out that Azriel is Daniel’s angel spirit, but last time you said Elyion and Kai’s mentioned that name too when he was talking to EliaseAnne.” I had my speculation as to who this Elyion was, but the only culprit in my mind made no sense.

  Why call EliaseAnne a different name, especially when she didn’t look pleased by the term. Did it mean something else?

  “I don’t know if I have the right to answer that, love.” He tugged at the hair tie still holding up his man bun, pulling it out to allow his long, brown hair to fall. He ruffled it for a bit, looking deep in thought, his eyes closing for a moment.

  I sat patiently, watching different expressions morph on his face before his eyes opened; his sapphire jewels looked beautiful as the fire’s light reflected in them.

  “I’m only telling you because I asked Elias and he said he’s fine with you knowing, but apart from our group, no one knows about this. It’s being investigated so we have enough evidence to place on the table before we can make an accusation about this individual. He’s too high in rank for us to use just our word against his, even with physical evidence. Do you understand Makoto? You can’t share this with anyone. Only you and your spirits,” he stressed; his deadpan tone frightened me as his eyes bore into mine.

  I pushed my fear to the side and sat up straighter. I wasn’t going to back away from an opportunity to find out more about my knights.

  “I swear to secrecy. The Starlight gods are my witnesses,” I swore.

  He nodded before beginning. “Elyion is EliaseAnne’s original birth name. When Elias was really young a woman arrived at Miolana and offered the king a chance at a higher, political position with the promise of a higher percentage in the stock markets down on Earthala. King Kingsley would never pass up such an offer, agreeing to the terms with little questioning. The terms included his son would undergo spirit transmutation. It’s similar to what King Aspen did with his son Malik, but from what we’ve gathered so far regarding the case, the King wanted to replace Elyion with another spirit – something stronger and deadlier: a dark fairy spirit.”

  I was speechless; my brain tried to roll around the fact Elias’ own father, another king who’d witnessed the end results of King Aspen’s actions, would stoop so low and agree to such terms without caring about Elias’ well-being.

  Marcus turned to look at the fireplace, the flames burned away the remaining wood.

  “Dark faeries are one of the rarest spirits in the entire galaxy, aside from Vermillion birds. They have a few numbers left living on Miolana. However, they began to disappear which of course, pointed our suspicions to Kingsley and this woman’s experiments. Their hypothesis was that they could implant a dark fairy into Elyion, changing his spirit. After rotations of experimental trials, they succeeded with their final dark fairy – she was only eight cycles. The woman had finally succeeded in altering the spirit species, but when Elias woke up and shifted, Elyion was no longer male, but a female hybrid.”

  *Silence*

  “Hybrid.” I choked the word out, unable to say another.

  “Yes. Half-light fairy, half-dark fairy. It was determined that due to the dark fairy being a female instead of a male and the powerful nature of her spirit; she overpowered Elyion’s male attributes. Thus, his spirit morphed into a girl, EliaseAnne. They couldn’t continue on with their experiment, concluding that they needed a male, dark fairy to attempt to change Elyion back. The problem was risking Elias and Elyion in general, having gone through so many forced experiments led them to being diagnosed with severe PTSD. They both still deal with it today.”

  Post-traumatic stress disorder. I knew of such diagnoses from the multiple shifters that experienced such circumstances in the facility – myself included.

  I recalled Eli being sick yesterday, running a low-grade fever throughout the night. I’d taken a quick peek when I made my way downstairs to meet Marcus, Kai relaxed on the floor, his eyes closed as Eli slept, a cloth on her face. I smiled at their joined hands, before walking away, not wanting to wake either of them up.

  I swallowed the lump in my throat, deciding to confirm my thoughts.

  “Is that why Eli can’t stand medical centers?” I questioned, remembering how anxious she looked during my recovery time as they ran tests on her. She tried to hide it during my presence, but it was hard to hide the tremendous amount of fear reflecting in her eyes.

  “Yes. She has panic attacks. It’s been awhile since her last major one, but I feel like she had a mini one in her last checkup. Karen said she didn’t look well when leaving, but she insisted she was fine. When she got home she looked horribly pale and almost fainted. I ended up having to carry her to bed and now, the fever she’s experiencing is a common after effect,” Marcus confirmed.

  I turned to face the fireplace, allowing my mind to reel over everything he’d just explained.

  EliaseAnne is a boy. He was turned into a SHE against his own will thanks to his oh so loving father, who was too greedy to care about the consequences of such altercations.

  I could only imagine the scrutiny he experienced growing up through his teen and adult cycles – a teen male shifter with a female spirit. The thought alone was rare and probably still wasn’t accepted.

  “That’s why they pretend to be two different people at school.” Midnight proposed; her once monotonous voice filled with grief.

  I felt a hand rub my back, my head turning to face Marcus, who was right next to me, his eyes glossy.

  “Don’t cry Firefly,” he whispered. />
  I lifted my hands to my cheeks which were wet with tears. “How can I not? My knight was tampered with like a lab rat for such a stupid, selfish reason as STOCKS! Not only did he have to go through such experiments, so many dark fairies were murdered and are now extinct! If it wasn’t for Midnight and Eli being a hybrid, there would be none. Even if there are a few throughout the galaxy they would stay hidden thanks to one man’s greed. Now EliaseAnne is STUCK as a female for the rest of his life,” I yelled, the anger raged within me, my power began to build.

  I rose to my feet and began to pace around the cabin. Marcus watched me cautiously.

  “Did his Father not once imagine how life would be for him? The amount of scrutiny and humiliation he’d face! Yet for money and a position of power, he was perfectly fine with selling his son to this devilish woman for her own fucking reasons. And where is he now? Still a fucking King! Where’s the justice!” I roared, the windows shook as the cabin trembled, dust floated down from the rafters.

  Marcus rose, approaching me and placing his hands firmly on my shoulders.

  “Firefly. Calm down,” he ordered.

  I glared at him, Midnight coming forward.

  “Calm down? The woman oh wait, scratch that, the man I care about is now resting in bed thanks to his traumatic, fucked up past that will NEVER stop haunting him till he ascends to Starlight, because of his father who’s walking freely and ruling a kingdom! Where’s the fucking justice!” she shouted.

  Ryuu came forward to face us, his arms wrapped around my trembling body.

  The wind smashed against the cabin as the rain pounded so loudly against the wooden frame, I didn’t think the cabin would survive.

  “Midnight, enough. I get your frustration, I really do. I would be one of the first to burn that castle to the ground and torture that man till he begged for Deathpre to take his soul. Even then, I’d make sure he didn’t rest till he received his portion of pain and solitude. But we need every bit of evidence and have to locate the woman and gather Elias’ file. If we’re able to reclaim that, it would be smooth sailing. Your father and other higher-ups he entrusted with the case are looking into it. Please, calm down. The cabin won’t handle this beating much longer,” he begged. The lights flickered on and off.

  Midnight retreated, allowing me to take over before I closed my eyes, using Ryder’s meditation techniques to calm the raging inferno that still wanted release.

  I grit my teeth and struggled to calm myself. I felt Ryuu’s arms leave me before his body pressed against me from behind; his arms returned to my waist before he rested his head against my shoulder, whispering in my ear.

  “Mako, I can calm you down using my gift if you need it.”

  I pondered on his statement, remembering the time I’d woken up from my nightmare, his chest glowed a bright, sapphire blue.

  “Okay,” I agreed, realizing my anger wouldn’t settle; not with the idea of that man walking around and our fairy shifter carrying such a heavy burden.

  A calm wave went through me as my back felt warm, Ryuu’s markings on his chest the culprit of such sensation.

  My shoulders dropped as I relaxed; the anger that was once furious and ready to destroy dissipated. I leaned into his embrace, feeling a tad weak. I’d taken off the bracelet Karen had given to me to wear for safety, in case I needed to protect myself if Marcus and I were separated.

  “Easy, Firefly,” he soothed before lifting me up, lowering me into the chair near the fireplace to rest.He knelt down; his left hand rose to rest on his chest as he looked up at me. “Princess. I and my host swear that justice will be served. Let’s get to Heila and once everything’s settled with introductions that will be on the top list of priorities.”

  I nodded. “Fine. Sorry for losing control like that,” I apologized.

  “It warms my heart that you care for us so dearly that you’d respond in such a way, Princess,” he praised before bowing his head and retreating.

  Marcus opened his eyes, smiling softly at me.

  “Don’t worry Makoto. We’ll deal...with...” He began, but trailed off, frowning as he gave me a confused expression.

  “Marcus?”

  “I can’t believe this. Now out of all times,” he grumbled before rising back up to his feet, his face scrunched in anger.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “We need to head back. There’s a situation that needs your attention, or I should say forgiveness. The rain should stop in a few minutes.” He helped me rise before we began gathering our belongings.

  Forgiveness?

  The rain stopped, and we packed everything up in silence. Thanks to the log-made car port and Marcus’ bringing a motorcycle cover, his bike was safe and dry from the storm.

  I didn’t like the quiet atmosphere, the fear of not knowing what this situation was had my anxiety growing with each minute that passed. I decided to ask a random question.

  “Marcus?”

  “Yes, Firefly.”

  “Why does Ryuu know so much about sex?”

  His cheeks flushed as his eyes focused on putting the helmet on my head.

  “Well—” He began, but was cut off, glowing eyes peered into my shocked expression.

  “You sure are good at the element of surprise.” I commented, shaking off my shock.

  “I like seeing your expression. It’s amusing and kinda hot.” He confessed with a smirk, making me blush.

  He leaned in till his lips were inches away from my ear.

  “Dragon spirits are a little wilder in that department. We like it fast, rough and daring. It doesn’t hurt to know a lot in the pleasure department. It can come in handy.” He bit my ear lightly, tugging at it. I closed my eyes, moaning at the sudden contact. Dammit, how does he turn me on so quickly?

  I opened my eyes to face his seductive smirk.

  “It pains me that we have to leave due to such hindrances, but mark my words Firefly, we’ll have our playtime. Tell Lex—”

  My body wouldn’t allow him to finish, Lexi took over and pressed our lips against his.

  We didn’t dare close our eyes, pleased by his wide eyes that reflected his shock before being replaced with an intense hunger.

  His lips pressed against ours as we deepened the kiss, our eyes closed to enjoy his lips.

  We finally pulled apart after what seemed to be minutes of passionate kissing, panting as we held our stare.

  “Trust me, baby. There will be no disturbances during our play time.” Lexi purred before leaning and giving him one last kiss, biting his lower lip and tugging at it gently. She pulled back, smirking before giving me control.

  Marcus’ eyes returned to normal as he blinked, shaking his head before he let out a deep huff.

  “Dragons.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  ~MIDNIGHT~

  “You got to be kidding me.” Irritation seeped out of my voice as I tried to ignore the urge to break something. If glares could kill, the shifter on his knees before me would be nothing but ash.

  We’d arrived back home within fifteen minutes of being summoned; Mako fell asleep as we reached the gates. I decided to take control, seeing as we had a few bags to carry and didn’t want the dragon shifter to struggle.

  Who’d expect our evening would involve a pathetic, brown-eyed human who was on his knees. He must have been caught in the storm seeing as his clothes were drenched and his hair still dripped droplets on the floor.

  “We missed out on playtime for this?” Lexi huffed.

  “You got this Midnight, I’m sleeping. Goodnight,” Lily encouraged, leaving my mind.

  “Me too. Rose let me chill on your side,” Hope whined.

  “Ugh, it’s too crowded when you’re not in your designated section,” Rose complained.

  “We should kill him. I’d never seen someone so...petty,” Mako snarled.

  I side glanced to the transparent doors, the stars glittered in the sky as the fireflies fluttered around. I agree. Can I hide the body, or do y
ou want ashes?

  I watched the reddish brown-haired boy raise his head, those unattractive, brown eyes grew as wide as saucers.

  “Um, Ryder...she’s gonna kill me,” he whimpered.

  My eyes flashed back to meet his and I could see his fear as he cowered on the floor.

  “She can do whatever the fuck she wants. Even if I wanted to stop her, which I don’t; I can’t control what Midnight wants to do, Leonardo.” Ryder leaned against the bookshelf with EliaseAnne, shrugging off his comment.

  “Can’t I talk with Makoto? Why do I have to talk to her spirit? Which spirit are you anyways?”

  “None of your business human, and Makoto is currently unavailable. Please leave a message and get the fuck out of our house,” I snarled. My irritation knew no bounds tonight.

  I wasn’t used to talking to strangers. In the past, when I was confronted by someone, I killed them. This situation was frustrating, and I just wanted to curl up on the couch and sleep.

  “I need your help.” He bowed his head to the floor, shivering.

  “What do you possibly need from Mako?” Marcus demanded.

  He was standing next to me, his arms crossed against his chest as he glared. I could practically see the anger seep out of him.

  My eyes trailed across the room, landing on EliaseAnne, her body leaned with Ryder, her eyes closed. I had stated my concern, her complexion still pale, but she reassured me she was well when we exchanged greetings.

  Kai paid no attention at all, sitting on his stool and concentrating on the sketch before him. He twirled his pencil, as usual.

  The angel was the only calm looking one, but I paid him no mind. I still didn’t like him, though his angel spirit seemed to know what he wanted. Makoto knew my history with Samuel. The feelings I held for him and the way he had manipulated me. I knew it was hard on her, feeling what I felt for the angel across the room, but I didn’t want to see her hurt by him. If he didn’t love her, then she needed to know. I just needed to find the way to explain that to her.