Savagery & Skills: Books 1-4

by Ciara Graves

  “If you’ve come seeking an audience with the fae, say so, or you will be removed.”

  “Oh, I don’t think we will be,” a rough voice growled from my right. “We have our orders. And you must be the traitor Rudarius told us about.” The shifter chuckled. “He’s got plans for you. He does. You and the girlie.”

  “What girlie?” I hissed.

  The shifter moved closer, smiling widely so I could see his fangs, though he hadn’t fully shifted yet. “Princess Seneca, of course. His weapon. Come with us, both of you, and maybe we won’t kill everyone inside those walls.”

  “You don’t have enough shifters to get past the gate.” At least I prayed he didn’t.

  The shifter sucked on his teeth as if he was picking food out from between them and shrugged. “You’re right, but we sure as hell can get over those walls of theirs, slaughter whoever we find, and leave again before they even have a chance to defend themselves.” He snapped his fingers, and more eyes glowed throughout the orchard.

  Damn. I lost count after twenty. “I hate to disappoint Master Rudarius, but I’m afraid we won’t be coming back to him. Not now. Not ever. He should just do us a favor and die.”

  “Hmm. No. Afraid he can’t do that. At least, not after what he’s promised the packs.”

  “And what might that be?”

  “You won’t be getting anything out of me. Grab him,” he bellowed, then shifted into an oversized wolf.

  The shifters rushed me as one, but four were knocked away without even reaching me.

  A greyish mist surrounded me then shot out in all directions, forcing the shifters back even further. Each time they tried to get close, the mist struck their bodies, burning them.

  A rush of wind moved around me then Seneca was there holding her left in front of her.

  “We need to get back to the fort.”

  “What the hell are you doing?”

  “Saving your ass, this time,” she shot back. “Move, I can’t hold them off forever.”

  “You shouldn’t have come back.”

  Her eyes flared with the same strange mist, and I dropped it, for now.

  Together, we backed through the orchard, the mist keeping the shifters at bay. Behind us, I heard the fae readying for an attack, yelling at us to get our asses moving.

  We were yards away, so damned close to getting out of this latest mess, when the branches of several trees creaked overhead.

  Seneca and I looked to each other then slowly leaned back.

  Two sets of yellow eyes hovered over us. They snarled as they launched themselves.

  They tackled us to the ground, tearing us away from one another.

  Seneca shouted in fury, but I couldn’t see her as the shifter snapped his jaws, attempting to latch onto my face.

  I grabbed his snout in both hands, prying his jaws open, wider and wider, as the others rushed in.

  “Don’t kill them,” the shifter from before shouted. “We need them alive.”

  That was good to know. I hissed viciously, then ripped his jaws apart. T

  he shifter yipped, then went limp, crushing me to the ground.

  I kicked his body off then scrambled to get back up. More came at me, and I heard the crank of the gate start to open.

  “No. You can’t let them in,” I shouted.

  Two shifters kicked me in the chest.

  I flew back, slamming into a tree, cracking it in half.

  The same two came at me, shifted back to human form as they held me down.

  “Seneca.”

  She was cursing somewhere nearby, and when she cried out in pain, I dug deep, managing to get myself up enough to deck one of the shifters, until he kneed my face even harder.

  Subdued, I waited for them to haul us both off to Rudarius.

  Suddenly, a shifter shrieked in pain.

  The ones holding me were abruptly gone, and all I caught was a blur of a person jumping over me.

  I sat up, ready to defend myself, but the shifters were too busy fighting off Seneca’s enraged figure as she blurred around, attacking them all as if possessed.

  When she finally stopped long enough for me to see her, my jaw dropped.

  Blood covered the lower half of her face, dripping down her jaw. Her eyes glowed red. She opened her mouth wide as the shifters that were still standing pawed at the ground and howled in rage.

  A quick look around revealed at least five shifters were down and not moving.

  Seneca grinned darkly and then she was moving again, so fast I couldn’t keep up with her.

  Blood spurted from the shifters as they shifted back to human form, clutching at their throats, which were ripped open. Others held their sides, which were spilling their guts from the lacerations she’d delivered. Those left standing tried to make a run for it, but Seneca took off after them, not letting a single shifter leave the orchard alive.

  The fae guards who’d come out to save us looked as stunned as I was at the massacre they just witnessed.

  The shifters were all dead, or close to death.

  Seneca had torn them apart, all of them, completely on her own after she drained one dry.

  I’d seen plenty of vampires give in to the bloodlust when they were in a fight, but what she just did was insane.

  She moved faster than any vampire I knew of, attacking with such strength and ferocity the shifters didn’t stand a chance.

  I caught a glimpse of her at the edge of the trees, holding something in her hand.

  None of the guards made a move to go to her, so I did.

  “Seneca.” I approached her cautiously, not sure what state of mind she was in. “Look at me.”

  She shook her head as I drew closer.

  I figured out what the item in her right hand was.

  “Shit, Seneca. Put it down.”

  Shaking, she faced me, blinking furiously as the red in her eyes faded, then rushed back, only to fade again. “Draven?”

  I reached for the object, hoping I could throw it away before she realized what she’d done.

  “We need to get back to the fort. Take my hand, just take my hand and look at me.”

  She might’ve killed before, might’ve been in fights, but from the confused look on her face, I knew she’d never been so lost in a blood-induced rage she slaughtered nearly twenty shifters alone, and like a damned animal.

  “Seneca, take my hand,” I repeated.

  I should’ve specified which hand, I supposed, in retrospect.

  She raised her right hand and screamed, tossing the decapitated head away from her.

  Blood covered her from head to toe and as she went to wipe her hand on her shirt, only made it worse by spreading the blood around even more.

  She started to panic, and I captured her hands, dragging her against my chest.

  “Stop and breathe,” I urged her. “Breathe, Seneca. Calm down.”

  “The blood.” She shook in my arms as if she was freezing. “I drank it all, I’ve never done that before. I feel like I’m on fire.”

  “I know. It’ll pass.”

  “I want it to go away.”

  “There’s nothing you can do now. Calm down and focus on my voice.” I held her face in my hands. “Breathe, Seneca, in and out. Just keep breathing.”

  Her eyes were wide and fearful. Her heart pounded loud enough for me to easily hear it, and when her breathing grew too fast, I wrapped my arms around her just as she went limp, eyes rolling back in her head.

  Picking her up, I carried her back to the fort and the guards, who busy clearing away the bodies.

  Marlie was at the gate. As were several other fae I didn’t recognize.

  At the sight of his sister, drenched in blood, he paled and directed me to follow him inside.

  “The shifters have sided with Rudarius,” I told him as I walked with him, into the fort and up a set of stairs.

  The fae who passed us gasped and whispered behind their hands, hurrying to get out of the way.

&nb
sp; I hissed at a few of them until Marlie gave me a look.

  “What? There’s no reason for them to be jackasses.”

  If he agreed, he said nothing. “You can lay her down in here. Get some of the blood off her.”

  As I placed Seneca on a large bed in the room he led me to, Marlie closed the door to give her some privacy.

  I was looking for a towel to start wiping the blood away when Seneca shot upright with a shout of alarm. She looked down at herself and scrambled backward as if she could get away from the blood.

  “Seneca, stop before you hurt yourself.” I grabbed her shoulders hard enough to hurt her to make her snap out of it. “You’re inside the fort with your brother and me. You’re safe, alright? It’s just us.”

  She fell forward, her head resting on my shoulder as she trembled. “I saw him, Rudarius. I saw him coming for me. Gods, how long was I out?’

  “A few minutes. Brought you inside so you could get cleaned up.”

  “I have fresh clothes for you here,” Marlie told her, pointing to the chair. Her outburst clearly unnerved him, and he fumbled over his next words, unable to get them out the first couple tries. “I can have a bath drawn for you too if you want.”

  “No, that’s too much trouble.”

  “Yes,” I said talking over her. “Have one drawn. You need to get cleaned up and rest, alright?”

  She gave in, and I rose to follow Marlie out, but she held fast to my hand. “What did I do out there? All I keep hearing are shrieks of pain… seeing so much blood… tasting it.” She shuddered and gagged as if she was going to be sick.

  “Stop thinking about it. That’ll only make it worse.”

  “Sorry, hard to do when I have that shifter’s blood pumping through my veins. I drained him dry without a thought… Draven…”

  I shushed her, wrapping my arms around her to hold her as she got hold of herself. “If you want to talk about it later, we can, but right now, your body and your mind need rest. You saved us and the fae. That’s what you need to remember. Nothing else.”

  When she seemed better, I got up, not letting go of her hand until the last possible second. Marlie and I exited the room, him finding a fae to bring a bath and hot water for Seneca. The fae gulped but said she would see it done. Marlie asked me to walk with him, and I did, moving through the fort, up another set of stairs, then out a door. We stood on the tower, looking out over the orchard where the shifters had attacked.

  “We need to alert your parents and Mina. Tell them Rudarius is gathering allies in the shifter packs. And who knows who else.”

  “Is that the only matter they need to be told about?”

  “Whatever’s on your mind, just spit it out.”

  He licked his lips, leaning hard on the wall with his one hand. “The guards told me what happened. What Seneca did. How she moved. They said she turned into a mindless beast.”

  “Blood rage happens, sometimes, when vampires are fighting for their lives and drink too much blood. The rush of strength can overwhelm them.”

  Her being fae made it worse, though I left that part out. He didn’t need to hear it, since he wasn’t taking this latest development too well. He’d looked as if he was frightened of her. As the others had. Seneca was growing dangerous and her rings not coming off her fingers was worrisome. I mentioned it to Marlie, and he looked at a loss.

  “I was hoping you would have an idea of how to get them off her hand.”

  “Unless you want to give her the same treatment you gave me—” He held up his handless arm “No. I’ve never heard of rings refusing to come off or of rings burning the hand that bore them.”

  Thunder rumbled in the distance, and lightning lit the storm clouds moving in. The scent of rain was strong on the breeze, but it wasn’t the weather I worried about becoming out of control. If Seneca drank blood again and I wasn’t there to drag her back to herself, there was no telling who she would take her pent-up anger out on. If Marlie had gone to her, instead of me, or if her parents had, there was a high chance they’d be dead. She might say she wanted them dead, but if she followed through with her plans, she would never forgive herself. Never. That act would be the final shove that would send her falling over that ledge.

  She might have thought she was turning evil, but if she murdered her family, slaughtered them and drained them dry, then she would be. There was no coming back from such a heinous atrocity.

  “I’m going to place guards outside her door,” Marlie said, and I hissed. “What? You think I should leave her unattended, what with the state she’s in?”

  “I never said that, but I’ll keep an eye on her.”

  “You think you can handle her on your own if she goes berserk again?”

  “I would rather your fae not get themselves hurt. Don’t think that would look good for her and she’s already on shaky ground. I’ll take care of her. Trust me. Tell the others about the shifters. They need to prepare for what’s coming.” I left without giving him a chance to argue with me.

  “And what is coming?”

  I stopped at the top of the steps as the thunder rumbled like a ferocious beast waiting to devour us all. “A war unlike any we’ve ever seen in Otherworld.”

  When I reached Seneca’s room, I knocked, but there was no answer. Slowly, I opened the door to find her standing with nothing but a damned towel wrapped around her, looking out the windows. If she heard me, she ignored me or didn’t care I was there. Her wet hair hung loose down her back, shimmering fiery red in the firelight. Just as I was going to back out of the door, she lowered the towel, holding it around her front and gave me a full view of her scarred back. The sight ignited a raw fury in me, and I grabbed the wood door so hard it splintered in my hand.

  Seneca spotted me then, eyeing me curiously.

  “Sorry.” The word came out as a growl as I dropped the bits of wood to the floor. I went to back out, but she called my name.

  “You can come in. I don’t mind. Just going to change.” She motioned to the screen across the room when I started to sputter over my words.

  I rubbed the back of my neck, face burning as she disappeared behind the screen. The thud of the towel hitting the floor had me digging my nails into my palms and turning my back all the same.

  “Any news?”

  “No, just talking with Marlie. How are you feeling?” I chanced a look toward the screen and cursed.

  Her arms stretched over the top of the pathetic barrier between us as she tugged on a new shirt. I saw enough of Seneca from tending her wounds that my imagination ran off in a hurry. I cleared my throat and forced myself to walk toward the door before I did something I’d regret.

  “Better, I guess. Exhausted, really. Thank you for having them bring up the bath. Not covered in blood anymore.” Her hand was suddenly on my shoulder. “Draven?”

  “Hmm? Sorry, just thinking is all.” Oh, I was thinking alright, thinking a lot of things that would probably get me decked. “I’ll let you get some sleep and see you in a few hours.” Could that black shirt be any tighter on her? Or those damned pants? Where did Marlie find black leather pants in this place? My hands itched to hold her hips, so I clasped them behind my back in case they found themselves there. “Good night, Seneca.”

  “Draven, wait.”

  I was at the door, telling myself to keep walking, but the tone of her voice made me want to wait to hear what she’d say.

  “I—uh… I was wondering if you would stay with me? It’s um, well, it’s hard to explain,” she rambled nervously tucking her wet hair behind her pointed ears.

  Until Seneca, I always thought the pointed ears weren’t attractive. On her, they were perfect. Now the question was, what would I touch first, those ears or her hips? Damn. I really needed to leave, but she was talking again.

  “The last couple times when you were around there were no nightmares. I don’t know if it’s you or just timing or all the other crazy shit going on, but after what I did earlier, I just hoped you wouldn�
��t mind.”

  The blush on her cheeks made this fiery fae even more striking. In this room, right at this moment, there was no hint of the crazed killer she’d been less than an hour ago. If my staying would help her, then I’d do it.

  “Sure, yeah,” I finally said, having to cough a couple of times to get the words out. “I can do that.”

  She glanced from me to the bed and back again, seeming unsure of what she should do.

  “Just get comfortable. I’ll hang out on the couch,” I decided for her.

  “How about I just sit with you for a while then?”

  “If you want, that’s fine.” I was over two hundred years old, and this woman had the ability to make me feel like a young lad again, getting ready to court someone. I sat down on the couch, and she joined me, curling her feet up under her, then laying her head on the arm.

  “That cannot be comfortable,” I pointed out after I got myself situated with my feet propped up on the armchair nearby.

  “I’ll survive.”

  “You need sleep so get comfy. I don’t mind.” I motioned to my lap, and she nibbled on her bottom lip in a way that made me almost forget there was a war brewing outside. She sprawled her legs out on my lap, then settled back down. “Better?”

  “Yeah, I’m good, but if you get uncomfortable or anything, just shove me off.”

  “Go to sleep, Seneca.” I closed my eyes, my arms resting naturally on her legs, as if this was something we did together every night after a long day of fighting. I was careful not to move until her heartbeat steadied, as well as her breathing.

  I cracked open one eye to peek.

  She stirred, but not as if she was being haunted by nightmares. Her face was peaceful. For one more night, or day, whatever this was, she could have some rest.

  Thunder rolled over the lands and rain lightly pattered against the windows, lulling me to sleep.

  Chapter 9

  Seneca

  This endless night shit was really starting to piss me off. I opened my eyes at some point, the last bits of my dream slipping away. It hadn’t been a nightmare about slaughtering those shifters. I was grateful for that blessing. The dream had been simple. Draven and I, walking through a field, hands clasped together, with the sun setting ahead of us. There’d been no talking, no yelling, no war. Just the two of us and an endless expanse of green grasses.