Andromeda's Reign

by K. S. Haigwood

  Fallis let out a noise through his nose, almost a snort, but not quite. “Amateur.”

  “Exactly,” Damien said on a chuckle.

  There was some shuffling around, and then I felt someone’s fingertips around the edges of my eye sockets. The only way I can explain what happened next was my eyeballs felt really cold. There was a slight, dull ache in the center of my forehead then suddenly I could see light through my eyelids.

  “Open your peepers, big guy,” Damien said.

  My eyelids fluttered open, and I stared up into eyes the color of black coffee. Straight, dark brown hair hung low, getting in front of his eyes. His nose was small, and appeared to have been broken once or twice. And a dark goatee surrounded a mouth that Andra would have definitely considered pretty, which meant I automatically thought he looked like a sissy. I wasn’t about to tell him that, though, not after he’d helped me get my sight back. Perfectly aligned teeth smiled back at me.

  “Damien?” I said.

  Dark Eyes shook his head and thumbed over his shoulder at another guy. “I’m Fallis. That’s Damien.”

  Glancing up and over, I assessed Damien. Bright green eyes. Sharp, symmetrical angles on his face. Broad shoulders. Total warrior badass. He wasn’t a big guy, nor was he all that tall, probably six foot at best, but he had that whole don’t-fuck-with-me-and-I-won’t-fuck-with-you vibe about him. I had no intentions of fucking with him. The guy claimed to have perfect aim. And that bow and the arrows in the quiver strapped to his back didn’t exactly make me want to poke fun at him for any reason.

  I dipped my head in a polite greeting. “Saying thank you doesn’t seem like enough, so I will owe you both a favor on top of my gratitude.”

  “Someone handing out favors over here?”

  I looked up, and then up some more, and finally met the bright blue eyes of a very tall and broad-shouldered, ginger-haired male. He was smiling, too. “Hi. I’m Baddon.”

  Chapter 49

  Friday, February 6th 2015 7:15 p.m. PST

  Las Vegas, Nevada

  Andromeda

  There had to be over a million doors lined up on each side of the corridor. Andra had never seen so many in one place, but she had never searched the inside of anyone’s mind before, either, so there was that. She wondered if her mind looked the same to Ace, and how many doors he’d opened if it did. He’d said he hadn’t looked at all of her memories. No kidding. Even with how much younger she was than him, how could he?

  What colors were her walls, doors and tiled floors? Pink and green? She giggled to herself as she checked the script on the next door on her left.

  Joined Salacious Limerick

  Andra frowned, thinking that Ace probably wouldn’t have learned to pick a lock in the last six years. What reason would he need to pick a lock in the first place? He hadn’t mentioned anything about being captured and tied up before.

  The next door on the right only said a girl’s name. Tabitha.

  Andra shuddered as she quickly continued on. The name Lacie had been written on a door a few hundred or so doors back, and Andra had made the grave mistake of peeking inside, out of curiosity. Lacie had been an energetic lover, and she was extremely limber. A gymnast came to mind. Again, it made Andra question why Ace had chosen her to spend an eternity with.

  There had been so many doors with girls’ names on them. Hundreds, if not thousands. Some doors even had multiple names written on them. It made her a little sick to her stomach each time she saw only a name written on a door, but she’d also known Ace loved to party, and he couldn’t catch sexually transmitted diseases. Thank God for the latter. It just made her a bit unsure that she was enough for him in that department.

  Getting frustrated, she wondered what time it was. It felt late and she was getting tired. In this dream-like state of searching Ace’s memories, it was possible that she would lose track of time. Not that she could do anything about it if she did, but she had to fight when they came to get her. What if they didn’t take her out of the room? What if the executioner killed her where she was, in the silver-lined room? She wouldn’t have a chance to attack and run.

  Most of the doors she’d passed by lately just had names of girls on them, but one caused her to pause, then back up to read it again. The accident.

  She brought her hand up to her mouth. There had been speculation in the media of what had really happened two years ago when Ace had his wreck and could no longer be in the band. Some said it was an accident, but others had said it was intentional.

  Andra wanted to know the truth. Gripping the brass doorknob, she turned it and pushed her way into the memory.

  Friday, February 6th, 2015 7:24 p.m. PST

  Las Vegas, Nevada

  Ace

  Since Brad, Heather, Heath and Tracy had more of a connection through the pack with Andra than my pride did, and that dumb vampire said he had my mate’s blood in his system and could possibly locate her, I gave Heather the keys to Finley, the pride’s Suburban, so they could all ride together.

  And instead of letting Nikon drive Veronica, I was behind the wheel of the Camaro, while Rainey, Déus, Katrista and Clay rode in Rainey’s POS rental car behind me. The rest of my pride were scattered around the city, looking for clues and waiting for me to call with any updates or instructions.

  When I’d asked Damien where the vehicle they arrived in was, he’d only grinned and disappeared, right before my eyes. After I nearly shit myself, he reappeared and slapped me on the back. “It’s called fleeting,” he’d said. “We don’t require transportation, big guy.”

  We all had the skills the ex-demons leant us, so we all felt a little like super heroes. It was too bad they couldn’t just sense where Andra was, fleet there, grab her, kill everyone and fleet back home with her. Each of them had something personal of Andra’s on their person, but they said they weren’t getting any vibes from her, so they had no idea where to start looking.

  I had no clue, either. Clay couldn’t find her with the locating spell and the ex-demons couldn’t sense her. If the slayers were only human, how the hell were they hiding her so well from us?

  I thumped my fingers on the steering wheel as I drove down the Strip, my eyes constantly searching the streets, sidewalks and faces of pedestrians. For what, I didn’t know, but I kept my mind wide open in case I got close enough to hear Andra’s thoughts. I wouldn’t even let Nikon, Sinna or Jensen turn the radio on or talk. I needed complete silence, unless they had an idea of where Andra might be.

  The memory of my accident slammed into my frontal lobe so suddenly that I didn’t see that the Suburban in front of me had stopped until it was almost too late.

  “Ace, look out!” Nikon shouted, and I whipped the Camaro to the sidewalk on the right to avoid rear-ending Finley. Fortunately, I didn’t hit any pedestrians. I was glad we were nearing the end of the Strip where there weren’t as many people walking around.

  Sinna leaned forward and put her face in my personal space. “What the fuck was that about?”

  I shook my head. “Hell if I know. I had a flashback, I guess—” My head seized back against the headrest, and I was abruptly transported back two years ago.

  “I want out,” I said to Clay, but the asshole was ignoring me, his usual when he didn’t want to hear what I had to say. If he pretended he didn’t hear me then I never said it. “I mean it, Clay. I’ve been in the limelight long enough. People are beginning to notice that I’m not aging.”

  The tune he hummed was the latest song he’d been writing about Leslie. God, I was so sick of her! Leslie this. Leslie that. Why the fuck do men want to tie themselves to one woman for a lifetime? Truth be known, Leslie was probably screwing ten other guys while Clay was on tour, and he was just too stupid or naïve to realize it. She saw him, what, two days a month? If that. The guy was so fucking whipped. A hundred girls a night threw themselves at his feet and promised to make all his fantasies come true, yet he turned them down. What a Nancy.

  “Okay
,” I said, and grabbed my jacket. “I’m out.”

  Clay’s head shot up in alarm. “What? You can’t leave, Trey—” He stood up just as Lair walked through the door.

  “We’re on in five, assholes,” Lair said as he exhaled a cloud of pot smoke into the dressing room.

  “We’re coming.” Clay snatched his guitar from the chair he’d been sitting in and strode toward the door, without looking at me. Lair disappeared down the hall somewhere, out of sight and hearing range.

  “I’m not coming, Clay,” I said in a low voice as he reached the door. Clay froze. I knew this could be the end of our friendship, but I had priorities. It was one thing to leave my Beta in charge of my pride for a while, so I could pretend I didn’t have the weight of the world on my shoulders, but it had been four years. It was time to go home. “My pride needs me.”

  He whirled around. “I need you! This band needs you, Trey!”

  I shook my head. “I’m not Trey anymore, man. The band is getting too big. I know that’s what you want, but it’s not what I need. I can’t afford to have that kind of exposure. What if someone who knew me two decades ago notices me and realizes I still look the same? You don’t have to worry about shit like that, because you aren’t immortal, but I do, because I am.” I pointed to my chest. “I. Am. Immortal.” I enunciated each word, hoping I would get through to him.

  His lips thinned into a tight line as he pointed to the open door. “Get your ass on the stage or go to Hell. The choice is yours,” he said, and then he turned and stormed out of the room.

  That hurt like a bitch, but my anger overrode my hurt feelings. I knew one thing for certain; I wasn’t going to that stage tonight, Hell maybe, but not the stage.

  Leaving my guitar propped up against the wall, I took my keys from my pocket and walked out the door, heading in the opposite direction to the one Clay had gone in.

  My eyes snapped open to Sinna slapping me in the face and Andra’s emotions all over me.

  Chapter 50

  Friday, February 6th 2015 7:48 p.m. PST

  Las Vegas, Nevada

  Andromeda

  Wow, Andra thought as she cupped her hands over her mouth and nose, watching as Ace roughly jerked the door open on a white Ferrari and sat down in the driver’s seat. She felt a pull, like the memory was forcing her to get in the car with him.

  Backing up, she said, “I can’t watch this.” Andra ran for the safety of the black and red corridor.

  The door slammed shut behind her, but the long hallway wasn’t quiet any longer. There were voices and other noises. Squeezing her eyes tightly shut, she willed her mind to open the eyes that were in her solid body.

  Andra swallowed and shrank back against the wall, fear overtaking her for the first time since she’d been here. The door was ajar, but three guys with weapons took up the space between her and her way out. One squatted down next to her, toying with a dagger, pressing the point of the silver blade against the pad of his pointer finger. All of the men appeared to be in great physical shape, and she knew she wouldn’t be able to take even one of them out with a chicken bone or a steel pot full of piss.

  The guy who was knelt in front of her smiled at her obvious anxiety, and she hated that she’d let it show.

  “Freedom said that you don’t believe you’re a monster,” he said, his brown eyebrows rising in interest.

  Andra shook her head, but kept her trap shut. For some strange reason, she didn’t think these guys would be as easy on her as Freedom had been. The guy closest to her seemed to know what he was doing with that big knife. Her heart started to pound in her chest, and Andra knew if she thought about it, her palms would slicken with sweat. So she refused to think about it. Focusing on her fear was not the best way out of this.

  He chuckled softly. “Well, you know what they say about crazy people, don’t you?” His smile faded and a menacing expression replaced it. “They don’t know they’re crazy.”

  Andra flinched back when he brought the tip of the blade to her cheek. The silver was almost touching her flesh, and she braced herself for the burn. “Please…”

  He frowned. “Silver only burns monsters, Andromeda. Are you a monster?”

  Tears welled in her eyes as she met the limit of the chains. She shook her head. “No… I’m not a monster.”

  He blew out a heavy breath. “See, now you give me no choice but to find out for myself. I don’t believe that.”

  Andra cried out as the blade sliced under the skin on her cheek. The cut wasn’t deep, but the silver was the kind of hurt nightmares were made of. The three men laughed loudly.

  “Josh!” a woman shouted from the open door, and Andra opened her eyes and stared through tears at Freedom. “He said no one is to touch her! Get out now or I will tell him you did.”

  “Andra!” Ace shouted through her thoughts and her eyes widened in relief and panic.

  Muttering under his breath, the guy who had stuck her with the blade stood and led the other two guys toward the door. Before he walked through it, he turned and grinned at Andra. “There’s more where that came from. See you later, Princess.” He winked, and then shoved his way past Freedom.

  “Ace! I’m in a silver room. I don’t know the location, but the executioner will be here soon to kill me! You have to get me out of here! I’m in silver cuffs and chains!”

  Freedom gave Andra a sad look before closing the door.

  “I’ll find—” Ace’s mental words were cut off as the door clicked shut and locked.

  Friday, February 6th 2015 8:01 p.m. PST

  Las Vegas, Nevada

  Ace

  My eyes popped wide as our connection was severed. “No!” I shouted and punched the dash. I barely noticed the pain shooting up my wrist and arm. “Stop the car! She’s here! Oh, fuck! She’s here and in trouble!”

  “Here?” Nikon said, pulling the car into the nearest lot and parking. “There’s not much around, Ace.”

  We all thought it best someone else drive after that crazy-ass episode I had earlier. As it turned out, I could focus better when I wasn’t concentrating on not running over pedestrians or other vehicles.

  “She talked to me. I talked back and she heard me. There’s only about a two-hundred foot range on the mind-reading shit. She’s here. She has to be.”

  Grabbing my phone, I sent Slade a text with my location and told him to get everyone here. As I stepped out of Veronica, Rainey pulled up beside us in a white Ford Focus and Heath stopped Finley behind her, all doors on both vehicles opening simultaneously, and then closing in the same fashion.

  “Why’d we stop?” Brad said. “Is Mena—” He winced, and then paused to clear his throat. “—I mean, is Andra here?”

  I nodded as I cased the area, scanning for any sign of someone watching us. They were there. I could feel their eyes on me, but Nikon was right; there wasn’t much here, by way of entry. She had to be under ground or something, because all I could see was a psychic reading shop, a manicure-pedicure shop, two places that had gone out of business and a gas station. The entrance to where Andra was being kept could be in any of those places, but we were sure to set off an alarm if we broke into the empties. It was best to keep the human police out of this, if possible. Depending on how big the place where they were keeping her was, the door could be half a mile away if she was under ground, but we had to start somewhere.

  I glanced up when Slade pulled up in Silvia and cut the engine. As he got out, his eyes met mine. “I forwarded your text to the pride as soon as I received it. Everyone should be on their way.

  Phoenix walked around the rear of Finley, eyeing me with disdain. Before he spoke, he smirked. “I can feel her. Mena’s blood in my veins is singing. She’s close.”

  Well, that pissed me off. I knew it was childish to be jealous that he had taken her vein, since it was before we even met, but I was jealous, nonetheless. I was damn near eaten up with the emotion, and that pissed me off even more. If I had to take a guess, I was almost
certain that was what he was shooting for. If he thought I was going to start a fight with him instead of focusing on finding Andra, he was dumber than I gave him credit for. Stupid vampire.

  I grinned, menacingly. “Should be easy enough for you to lead us right to her then, right?”

  Phoenix dipped his head. “It would be my pleasure to save the woman I love. I’ll be sure to let her know the bond you share with her did nothing to save her life.”

  I couldn’t help it. I took two steps and was in his face before I even thought things through. “Why don’t you give it up? She doesn’t want you anymore!”

  The corner of Phoenix’s lip twitched, and then he spoke in a low voice. “She will soon enough, and you will be forgotten, erased from her mind completely.”

  Giving him a hard glare, I didn’t let the fear I suddenly felt seep into my expression. Andra couldn’t forget me. I was branded in every cell of her body. Even if we didn’t find her in time and they did have to break the bond, it wasn’t possible for her to forget about me and what we’ve been through. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

  Phoenix shook his head, but Clay was the one who replied. “Easy guys. How about we find Andra and take out our aggression on the assholes who took her instead of each other? Nobody is forgetting anybody,” Clay said as he stepped in between us and faced me. “He’s just trying to get you riled up so he’ll have another reason to punch you.”

  “The riled up part is working,” I shot daggers over Clay’s shoulder at the smirking vampire, “but he won’t get another punch in without me hitting back this time.”

  Clay put his palm on my chest and tried to push me back. I didn’t budge. “Back the fuck up, Ace. Now is not the time. Let Phoenix be the hero if he can. It won’t change her feelings toward you.”