by Ciara Graves
“I still say we take her now,” he muttered, but I ignored him.
Together, we blurred back to the mansion.
Lacy awaited us on the front steps, arms crossed, tapping her toes obnoxiously loud. “Well?”
“Well, what?” I replied, moving past her without slowing.
“Where have you two been?” She sniffed, and her eyes flared red for a second. “You were around humans and fae.”
“Following the master’s orders,” I informed her. “We’re still supposed to be searching for fae with rings are we not? We got word there were several in the area and went to investigate.”
“And?”
“And we must have missed the fae.”
“I smell it on you,” she accused.
“You do, but they weren’t worth taking,” I explained. “No rings. And as of right now, those are the only ones I’m going to trouble myself over. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll be below, seeing to the dust.” I left her scowling behind me and strode through the mansion, then downstairs to the lower levels.
The vampires who distilled the dust from the fae blood were hard at work as always, wearing gloves and masks to ensure they didn’t get it on their skin or breathe it in. They were overcautious, but I didn’t blame them. We’d all seen plenty of times what happened to a vampire who drank the wrong fae’s blood. It wasn’t a pretty sight.
“Sir,” Christian said as he bowed his head to me when I reached the cells.
“Everyone accounted for?”
“Yes. No one has broken free.”
“Good. And has anyone else come to speak to you?” I breathed in his ear so no one else would overhear.
He nodded. “I took care of it.”
“As I knew you would. I’m going to check the prisoners and then return upstairs.” I glanced around the lower level once, then added, “Ensure I am not disturbed.”
“Of course, sir.” He took his post at the end of the corridor as I walked along the cells. They lined both sides and majority were filled with fae barely clinging to life. Many had been here for months, some years. A few would be dead before the dawn once they were drained of the last bit of usable blood.
The one I wished to speak with resided at the very back, chained to the wall, and missing his left hand. When I neared the bars, he lifted his head and spat at my feet.
“Lovely.”
“What do you want, hellspawn?”
“Ouch, that hurts,” I said with a smile. “Really? You’ve been down here all this time, and that’s what you come up with? You can do better than that.”
“Do you enjoy being a monster? Or is that just because you’re a vampire?”
Monster. He thought I was a monster? Hadn’t he met Rudarius? When the fae started to laugh and mutter in fae, I glowered at him.
“If you’re going to curse me, at least do it in a language I understand.”
“Not cursing you.” He leaned forward as far as the chains would allow him. “Pitying you.”
“Pity? I don’t need your pity.”
“No? You’re in a worse cage than I am.”
I hissed as I grabbed the bars, then I reached through, closing my hand around his throat. “I could kill you right now and walk away without feeling a thing. I am in no cage, fae.”
He laughed harshly. “You believe what you want, but one day your sins will catch up to you. I know who you are, or who you used to be. I knew your father, once upon a time. You think he would enjoy seeing his son turned into a mindless beast? A puppet on Rudarius’s strings?”
I tightened my fist.
He gasped for air but didn’t fight to get free.
“You know nothing.”
“I know… enough…” he rasped. “He broke you… after all… it’s a shame…”
I squeezed even tighter, feeling his neck ready to crack in my grip. I came down here for answers, though, not to be lectured by him. I released him, and he staggered away from the bars.
“You say you knew my father, but I wonder if you knew someone else. A fae girl with fiery red hair and green eyes.”
“Does this girl have a name?” he asked as he rubbed his throat.
“Seneca.”
The fae’s eyes widened as he charged the bars, the chains forcing him to stop short. “You’ve seen her? Where?”
“You know who she is?” I asked surprised by his reaction.
“Of course I do. What have you done to her? Where is she? Tell me.” He stretched out with the one hand he had left, but couldn’t reach. “If you’ve hurt her, I don’t care what you do to me, I will find a way to tear your heart from your chest and watch you turn to ash.”
This was not what I expected at all. He acted as if she meant something to him, and yet she didn’t seem to think there was any fae who cared for her at all. Who was this prince?
“Who is she to you?” I asked him.
“You… you don’t know who she is… she’s not here?”
“She’s not,” I admitted. “We’ve had a couple of run-ins, and she’s a formidable opponent who cares nothing for other fae.” I paused, unsure of what to ask him next. “Where did Taylor capture you?”
“The Veil. Down south,” he responded.
That explained why he didn’t know how close he was to Seneca right now.
“Who is she to you?” I asked again.
The fae shook his head. “No. I’m not telling you anything about her.”
“And why is that? She doesn’t care about you.”
“It’s in her blood to care,” he argued. “She’s like me.”
A royal. Seneca was a royal. She sure didn’t act like one. And she claimed her powers weren’t that great. Either she was better at lying than I first assumed, or she had no idea what she was.
“Is there any reason she wouldn’t know who she is?”
He closed his mouth and returned to the far corner of his cell, sinking to the floor.
“Fine, if you don’t wish to tell me anything, then I’ll tell you what you clearly don’t understand about her now. She was bitten and turned by a vampire. She’s been cast out by your kind. Does that ring any bells?”
“You’re the one who turned her?” he bellowed and charged toward me. “I’ll kill you for this.”
“Never said it was me,” I informed him. “Happened a while ago, after she was captured and tortured for years. By Rudarius.”
He screamed and cursed me, straining to get free of the chains holding him. The agony in his eyes was quickly followed by hatred and regret. I understood none of what he showed and could only watch as he broke down in furious tears. The longer I watched him, the more guilt shone through, as if he knew already what Seneca had been through.
“The sun will take you all,” he ranted. “I’ll see that you burn. That you all burn.”
“Who is she?” I asked once more.
“My sister! She’s my sister. And you—you’ve ruined her.”
His sister. If he was a prince, then that meant Seneca was a fae princess, tainted by a vampire, but a royal, nonetheless. She had the power to call sunlight in her. Now, all I had to do was get her to see the truth of who she was. And get her to trust me. If she really was that powerful, then there was a slim chance I would be able to bring down Rudarius using her.
Afterward, I would take her ring and blood for myself, but letting her kill the bastard would keep me in a good light with the coven. They would see her as the enemy, and I could take what was rightfully mine.
An echo of the scream I heard from the shattered crystal ball reached me again, and I hissed quietly at the thought of having to kill Seneca.
If she got in the way, I wouldn’t have a choice. Why did it bother me so much suddenly? She was this fae’s sister, and I was just going to up and murder her?
A long time ago, I would have punished a vampire for doing what I was about to do. I hadn’t been this conflicted since I killed those Feds.
Focused. I had to stay focused on the end
game.
“Where is she?” the fae demanded. “Where is my sister?”
“Don’t worry,” I said with a wink, summoning the evil face I’d worn for far too long, “I’ll take good care of her for you.”
I walked away, his yells of anguish following me down the corridor, as I waited impatiently for Seneca to make the call that would change both of our futures forever.
Chapter 10
Seneca
I sprinted back into town as fast as I could, aiming for the diner.
Lexi was waiting on the corner, with Owen right beside her.
He sighed in relief to see me alive, his eyes scanning me for any visible wounds. He frowned, but I shook my head, stopping him from asking me anything. I wanted to make sure Lexi was alright and get her home. Then I could fill him in on what happened.
Sort of. I fought with myself over how much to tell him just yet.
“Seneca.” Lexi hugged me hard. “What happened? How did you get away?”
“No vampires are going to take me down,” I told her. “Did they hurt you? At all?”
“No, not really. Scared me, that’s all.” She wiped tears from her cheeks. “He came out of nowhere and just said he needed my help to get you.”
“I know, and I’m so sorry, kid. You shouldn’t be involved in this mess.”
“I’m okay, honest.”
“I don’t care. You have enough of your own shit to deal with, instead of getting dragged along into mine.” I hugged her close again. Tonight could have gone so wrong. If Draven wanted to get to me, he could’ve easily killed Lexi, and there would’ve been nothing I could do to stop him. I failed her. “Right, how about we get you home.”
“Can’t I stay with you tonight?”
“No, not while I have vampires after me. I want you to go home, and from now on, you don’t leave your house after dark. If your mom starts giving you trouble, you call me, but you do not leave your house. Got it?”
She nodded as she held fast to my hand.
Together, the three of us walked to her house, while I constantly searched every shadow we passed for a sign of Draven or Shane. He might’ve said he wanted a truce, but why would I believe him? Why did I believe half of what he told me? I didn’t, at least not all of it. And not fully. All this time, I believed Draven was one of Rudarius’s most trusted vampires.
When he started talking tonight, claiming he wanted the vampire dead, I was ready to laugh in his face, except for the conviction in his eyes. He said he wanted revenge and I felt it, his raw anger and need for it. As much as I fought it in myself, the notion of revenge had me smiling, until I caught Owen eyeing me suspiciously. I forced the smile away and focused on getting Lexi home safe and sound.
Once we delivered her to her door and I heard it lock, Owen and I changed direction and headed home.
The entire way, I waited for the barrage of questions, but they never came.
He growled under his breath instead.
Inside, I unarmed myself and stood in the kitchen, mind a mess, as I worked on understanding what occurred tonight.
“Did you finish him off?”
“What?” I asked, only half hearing Owen’s question.
“Draven, from what Lexi described he was there. Is he dead?”
“He was there, but he’s not dead. Not yet.”
“Why not?”
I ran my hands through my hair, messing it up as I attempted to think of what to say. “It’s complicated.”
“And that means what exactly?”
“It means he got away for now. He just wanted to talk.” Those words sounded ridiculous even to me, but it was the truth oddly enough.
“About what? Why did they kidnap Lexi?”
So many questions. This was one of those moments I wished Owen was in Valesk, working, so I wouldn’t have to stand here and explain every detail to him. Or lie to him, since I was not about to tell him what Draven told me. He wanted me to talk to Owen about what was happening in Otherworld. The missing mages bothered me more than any other part of that conversation. If Macron had indeed gone missing, and not just up and left on his own, and if Owen knew about it, why wouldn’t he tell me? There was someone else I needed to speak with first, before I tore into him about lying to me.
“He wanted to get to me,” I said, keeping it simple.
“So he could talk to you. That doesn’t sound like the Draven who was trying to kill you.”
“It doesn’t, but all he did was warn me about staying away from the coven, or there’d be consequences.” Yeah, that sounded good enough.
“Seems like a lot of trouble to go through simply to warn you.”
“It does, but he’s not exactly all there. I’m going to shower then go to sleep.”
“Seneca, are you telling me everything?” he asked, catching my hand when I walked past him.
I squeezed his hand and gave him the brightest smile I could muster.
“I am.” I stood on my toes and kissed his cheek. “Promise.”
My gut clenched at the lie, but I would get to the rest of my conversation with Draven tomorrow.
I hopped in the shower and made my plan for the morning as the water washed over me, doing nothing at all to soothe my anxiety about everything Draven told me.
There was only one person that might be able to tell me if he was being truthful or not.
“Well, now. This is a surprise,” Minnie said as soon as she opened her front door.
“I know, and I’m sorry about the other day, but I need your help.” I held out a bag of scones from the café, as well as a tray of coffees. “I come bearing gifts.”
She sniffed the air and sighed happily. “You’re lucky I have a sweet tooth.”
I grinned as she waved me inside then closed the door. “Do you know why I’m here?”
“How many times do I have to remind you? Seer, not psychic. Though I do sense the agitation in your voice. Is there trouble with Owen?” she asked as she easily maneuvered around her home and sat down on the couch.
I took the chair opposite, setting out the scones and coffee.
“I’ll take your silence for a yes.”
“It’s true, but he’s not why I came here.”
“Oh, come on, you can’t say that and then not give me the juicy details. Is he driving you crazy?”
“Crazy doesn’t begin to cover it.”
Knowing she’d be more likely to answer my other questions if I gave her a bit of gossip, I told her all about my trip to Valesk with Owen. And our recent fights. When I mentioned his being overprotective, she nodded knowingly.
“What?”
“He’s a demon. They’re always protective of ones they love.”
“That’s not an excuse.”
“No, you’re right, but it’s built into his DNA. Don’t be too hard on him, though I must say he is more stubborn than any other demon I’ve met. And the following you around thing can get annoying.”
“He’s the good guy,” I said quietly, picking apart a scone that I no longer had an appetite for. “If he keeps getting involved so deep with what I’m doing, I don’t know.”
“You want him to stay the good guy. It’s admirable, but he’s an adult. As are you. He’ll either figure it out or he won’t, but you can’t force him to decide.”
“Even if it might save his life?”
Her hand paused with her scone halfway to her mouth. “And there’s the real reason you came to see me. What else has transpired in your life, Seneca? I sense you’re bleaker than you were when we spoke last.”
“Then, I was just dealing with nightmares.”
“And now?”
“Now the nightmares have come to life in a very different way.” I shoved the ruined scone aside and sat back in the chair. “I had a very interesting conversation with Draven.”
I slipped off one of my fae rings and set it on the table.
Minnie tilted her head at the sound, her hand finding it quick enough.
<
br /> “What do you know about these rings?”
She dropped it in her palm, then closed her fingers around it. “I know they are certainly rarer than they have been in past few centuries.”
“Who wears them?”
“Last I heard, only royals and those of noble bloodlines had rings, though the royals bore a sigil on theirs.” She opened her palm and ran her fingers along the band. “A sigil much like the one your ring bears.”
I knew what she talked about, but Macron never told me anything about the rings.
The day he gave them to me, he simply said they had been in his keeping since my parents passed.
I never questioned how or why. Too much shit had happened to me at that point to care. They were my mother’s, and that was the only thing that mattered.
“And if I have them? If I can use them, what does that mean?” The most the rings had ever done for me was to throw someone away from me. It was helpful, but nothing extraordinary, as Draven seemed to believe.
“What did the vampire tell you?”
“He said those with rings were powerful, very powerful. My magic, though, it’s never been my best asset.”
“Yet,” she corrected. “You are young, Seneca, very young. In a world of monsters and the supernatural.”
If I wanted to pay heed to her notions, it sounded as though she was telling me sometime in the future, I would be displaying power much like Draven described. He seemed to believe I was more than a normal fae and it had nothing to do with being bitten by a vampire.
“I told you once before, darkness was on the horizon.” Minnie held out my ring. “It draws closer every day.”
“Would that darkness happen to be in the form of Rudarius?” I took my ring back and slipped it on my finger. “Or him wanting to start a war against Otherworld?”
“I know you don’t like to hear it, but I cannot tell you.”
“Surprise,” I muttered.
Minnie scowled at me, her blind eyes eerily focusing, as if she could, in fact, see. “I tell you what you need to hear, Seneca, so do not take that tone with me. You are integral to all of our survival in the coming storm. I fear for you. I fear for your very being. The closer you get to the truth, the harsher your world will become. The seed of evil is already within you, and that monster of a vampire exposed it. Made it grow. He wanted you to turn so he could use you, manipulate you. You may have been rescued physically by Macron that day, but that seed remains. All it needs is the right motivation to sprout and grow, to strangle the good.”
