by M F Adele
“I really hope the information you got was good, otherwise I’m going to be livid.” The Vampire looked pointedly at me and I shrugged as I struggled for a witty comeback. “It’s not,” is all I could manage as the laughter in the room started up again. He was there for half of my interrogation. He should know it’s shit information.
After a few more minutes we all tapered off. I wiped the tears from my eyes and battled the urge to chortle when the Demon took his duster and swiped it across Novak’s face. That pissed him off, and he swung the handle end of the cleaning device at Stone. He skirted to the side away from the blow, chuckling lightly at the angry vampire.
“Okay, okay,” Stone surrendered. “I’ll stop fucking with you. Sloane, please start talking so everyone will stop looking at us like that.” He pointed to Levi’s open mouth.
“Right, so, I was able to compel Kelvin into giving me a few answers. Mostly they just lead to more questions but this is the gist.” I took a deep breath before plunging in head-first. “The person who is behind this drug is male. He’s a fae-mage hybrid. His mother is a summer fae, and he and Kelvin were half-brothers on his father's side. He didn’t come to pick up the crystals, instead sending his half-sister, Kadence Moore, to retrieve them. He said they started testing the drug on vampires a couple weeks ago, but there hasn’t been any confirmation on that yet. Simon is looking into it now. Their father’s name is Alric Moore.”
“How do you know this guy's mother was a summer fae?” Vaughn was befuddled as he glanced around the room.
“I can explain hybrids to you,” Stone started as he ran feathers over the desk in the corner of the room. Clearly he’s taking his job seriously. “When Sloane told us Kelvin was a vampire-mage hybrid she stated it in that particular order for a reason. In the supernatural world, outside of the other realms, hybrids come in a variety of mixtures. The mother’s species is always listed first and the father's second. So, when you have a vampire-mage, you know the mother was a vampire and the father was a mage. If the species were reversed, mage-vampire, then the mother would be a mage and the father would be a vampire.” Stone finished with a shrug of his shoulder and continued dusting the surfaces around the room in his short dress.
“What does any of the other information mean to us?” Vaughn inquired.
“By having his Da's name we can look him up in the guild headquarter’s archives, but we’ll have ta travel to the guild headquarters ta do that.” Palmer didn’t look happy about the possibility of going to Belfast.
“Right, but we also have his sister’s name,” I reminded him. “And we know she’s a part of this too. Before we look for Alric Moore we need to find Kadence and put a stop to the shitstorm she’s going to cause with the Vampires.” It was a logical move. Baton Rouge was closer and easier to travel to. I needed to check up on the coven council as well, since my father wasn’t back yet. I need to call Papi too, and tell him everything that’s gone on.
“That’s a solid start. I already know a little about Kadence Moore, but you aren’t going to like it.” Novak stopped pretending to dust the computer monitors to face me fully. It’s hard to take them seriously in these outfits. I smiled at him. “Don’t start,” he pointed his duster at me, feathers first. I covered my face with my hands to smother fresh giggles. “Anyway, I think Kelvin was her twin brother, or that’s what I heard. She’s on the coven council. Has been for decades. She’s anti-Sloane when it comes to Nathaniel stepping down, so she’ll definitely be an issue if that’s where we’re headed. She is a crazy cunt.” He emphasized the last sentence in a deeper voice than his usual smooth tone. I didn’t like the thought of going in unprepared. That wasn’t enough information about her.
“We’ll have Samuel and Charles meet us in Baton Rouge. Jack and Grim too. She won’t be able to detest my position. I outrank her as coven heiress. If she wants the position then she’ll have to challenge me just like an alpha fight.” I felt comfortably secure in my ebony tower, I could admit that. She won’t win though. I refuse to lose. “The rules are different, but the outcome will be the same. If she challenges me then she’ll die. If she’s behind this fucking drug being leaked to vampires then she’ll stand trial, with me as her judge. If she’s found guilty then she’ll die by my hands with the same audience.” I’m indifferent about the outcome. If she’s anti-Sloane then she’ll eventually be on the receiving end of my special brand of punishment regardless of her affiliation with the epidemic.
“You sound pretty sure of yourself,” Levi commented.
I shot him a fang-filled, lethal grin. “I might not be the villain, but I’m the antihero of this story, Levi. My kill list is a mile long. I’ve been trained to use more weapons than I can count. I am the biggest, baddest predator on the planet. I’m not even bragging about that - it’s just a fact.” I retracted my fangs and stood. As I walked to the corner of the room to grab a laptop, I spoke softly. “If I seem sure of myself it’s because I am.” I looked pointedly at him. “I’m faster, stronger, and smarter than she is. I’m an impossible combination of supernatural strengths. I’ve been molded for these kinds of fights my entire life. The supernatural world works very differently than the human world around us. Right now, you’re in a room full of future leaders.”
I let that sink in as I opened the laptop. I wanted to keep track of all the information we’d gathered so I didn’t lose any with the coming mess. Palmer took it from me and began typing everything out. The Shifter was deep in thought and hadn’t said a word since before Stone and Novak walked in. “What are you thinking about, Briggs?
“I’m thinking about this: Why did a summer fae breed with a different species, other than their own? How many offspring does this Alric guy have out there? Where should we start looking to find this mysterious hybrid male? Who could be behind the shifters that were introduced to the drug? A drug that needs a name, by the way.” Briggs ticked his questions off his fingers until he was sitting with only his middle finger in the air. “And, what can we do from here?”
He had many good points, and he was right. Those were questions that needed answers. I didn’t have them though. “We’ll begin by looking for Kadence Moore. It’s the easiest starting point. Finding out who gave the drugs to the shifters will be difficult, but we could follow that path next. There’s no way to know for certain how many children Alric has sired. Some of them may not be registered. I’ve never heard of a summer fae mingling outside their race, much less with a different species. I have no idea how to find someone that I know next to nothing about. We can’t do shit from here tonight.” That summed up all that I knew about his questions.
I wasn’t happy about the unknown, but I was glad that I didn’t have to walk through it alone. It had taken me no time at all to grow attached to having these guys around, and that scared me. Except York. I still want to throttle him into next week. I know that feeling will change soon, and we’ll eventually fall back into the easy contentment that we had before. I just want to be mad at him for a little longer. It was going to take more than a few hours for me to look at him and not feel my chest being ripped open. I understood why he didn’t tell me what was going on. What I cannot comprehend is how he thought that was the best decision he could make.
Sloane
Monday Night
After I left the basement, I climbed the million stairs to get to the rooftop patio. The night sky was bright and there were more stars shining down on me than I could fathom. I flattened myself out in a lounge chair and searched for constellations, doing the absolute most to keep my mind blank. I don’t want to think about anything.
“I thought I’d find you up here, in the dark.” York admitted from the doorway as he turned the outdoor lights on.
“I’m not ready to talk.” I protested diligently, covering my face with my forearm. “Not even a little bit.” It came out muffled, but I knew he heard me.
York huffed irritably and circled around my chair. “We need to talk,” he persisted.
“Sloane,” he pleaded with me.
“Don’t “Sloane” me.” I snapped. “Just. Don’t.”
“Sweetheart,” the Druid tried once more, his Australian accent thick in that one word.
“I swear, York Briar, if you don’t stop now I will push you over the roof’s edge and not think twice about it,” I warned him and stood to put more distance between us.
“You would though,” he mused. “You’d feel it too, and then be mad at yourself for hurting me.” He approached me with long strides, stopping three steps away.
“Don’t,” I repeated, holding my hands up and begging him with my eyes to walk away.
“Sloane, we need to talk about this. You can’t keep ignoring me.” He chided.
“It’s only been a few hours, York. Try again in a couple days.” I informed him with narrowed eyes. Rage seeped into my pores as he continued to push me.
“Look, I’m sorry, okay?” He tossed the insincere apology out like it should mean something. “I get that I hurt you. I know you’re angry with me.” His nostrils flared with his admission.
“Angry with you?” I spat out. “No, I’m fucking incensed.” My voice rose an octave and I took a deep breath to calm myself. “If you would’ve been honest with me from the beginning then things would have been so very fucking different,” I surmised. “But, no. You lied to me, York. Not just once or twice. The whole godsdamn time. When were you going to tell me?” I dared him to answer with a raised brow. “Or, were you just hoping I’d notice? I overheard the shit you said to Stone. You’ve forgotten how much I can hear when I want to, or maybe you didn’t.” He closed his eyes and I kept going. “When did we seal the bond? Why didn’t you mention it when you noticed?”
“I thought you would feel it too. I didn’t realize how much power you had until I felt it through the bond,” he grumbled.
“So, you what? Thought you’d be mad at me for not knowing that I had earth magic coursing through me? With all the magic I have already? You only feel a tiny portion of it, York.” I informed him. “I have every right to be “angry” with you right now,” I air quoted.
I took a ragged inhale as I prepared to let all my frustration out. “If you hadn’t had my memories locked away the first day we met then I would’ve finished my job. We both could have walked out of there. Together. Those hidden memories didn’t just keep me from stopping all this shit sooner, they kept me from remembering what that bond felt like. Every time I thought about it too hard my mind would clamp down.” I squeezed my hand shut in a tight fist to make my point a little more clear for him. I whispered the following words with more emotion than I wanted to show. “The Fae King didn’t just lock those memories down, York, he kept me from thinking about anything that related to them, even in his death.”
I swallowed hard and tilted my head to the left. I hoped he understood how deep that mindfuck went. “Until I met Vaughn on Friday. Then, those words and phrases that triggered the memory magic didn’t freeze my mind in agony anymore. When Vaughn and Novak unlocked them everything came hurtling to the forefront. I wanted to kill you for keeping that from me.
“For years you hid the truth from me, York. You weren’t thinking about what was best for both of us. You were being selfish. Thinking only of you. No matter how you try to spin it.” I pointed my index finger at him, wanting so badly to poke him in the chest. “So, forgive me if I’m not quite ready to hear about how you felt, or how you feel about any of this shit,” I ranted in a stern voice. I heard footsteps approaching from behind me and knew we now had an audience. Great. Let’s give a big round of applause for Sloane’s temper and York’s inability to keep his mouth shut.
“I had to, Sloane.” He shook his head at me like I wasn’t understanding. “I couldn’t tell you. Charles told me it wasn’t time for you to know. I didn’t understand but I promised to keep my word.” He looked up to the brilliance of the night sky above us and sighed. “If you had known then you would’ve done something stupid, like try to rescue me by yourself when they took me. I couldn’t let that happen,” he argued. “ They want you!” York bellowed before calming himself. “If they had you then they would’ve drained you and never reached an end. There is no death for you that way, because there is no end to your fucking power. Don’t you see that?” He asked, astounded at what he thought was ignorance. “I wasn’t being selfish. I was being selfless. Sacrificing myself to make sure they didn’t get to you,” he shrieked.
“Selfishly selfless, how noble of you,” I sarcastically quipped. “Did you ever stop to think that I could’ve handled myself better in that kind of situation because they couldn’t weaken me to the brink of death?” I proposed mockingly. Too many emotions were bouncing around inside of me so I resorted to being a smartass. My hands were shaking with unrepressed rage as I filtered through my feelings, noticing some of them weren’t my own. If he yells at me one more time this is going to turn into a knock-down drag-out and I’m going to throw him right over the edge of the roof. Into the pool.
“No!” He shouted, and I fucking lost it. “They caught you once and-”
“Because I fucking let them!” I interrupted, seething and seeing red as I stepped closer to him. “I had a plan, and it all flew out the fucking window when you had my memory tampered with!” I screamed and swung my left hand hard, connecting with York’s nose. The soft crunch it gave was a satisfying sound, but it made my hand hurt.
“I deserved that,” York told our audience as he wiped at the blood running down his lips. He was harder than I remembered. Fucking mate bond. He opened it up. That’s where all these extra feelings are coming from.
“If you hadn’t overstepped in the very fucking beginning none of that bullshit would have happened to you!” I continued raging, unable to stop myself at this point. “Those assholes would have been gone. Dead, York, they would’ve been dead! But, noooo. You had to take matters into your own hands. Matters that had nothing to fucking do with you! They were my godsdamn matters to deal with and you took that choice away from me.” I shoved him, but he didn’t move very much. What a great time for him to show me that he gained my strength.
“I deserve that too,” he said to the males behind me as I finished screaming at him. It just made me swing on him again. He’s being too calm now. I didn’t like it. This isn’t how York acted when we argued.
“Fuck. off.” I spat the words at him.
“Well, I don’t deserve that,” he assured us all.
I heaved oxygen into my lungs until I couldn’t hold anymore, and then I swung harder than before. The Fae caught my hand before it connected with York’s nose again and, I cursed under my breath. “You guys need to calm down.” He spoke to us like children and I almost decided to act like one. Instead I snatched my hand away and stomped across the roof ignoring everyone. I’ll throw my tantrum when I get to my room. I made it to the top of the stairs before Palmer grabbed my hand gently and tugged me down the first flight, leading me to my bedroom.
With a flick of his magic fingers the doors opened and the lights turned on for us. He scooped me up and carried me to my bedroom, tossing me on the bed as he shut the door with his foot. “Vaughn’s right. Ya need ta settle yerself, an I know just how ta help with dat.” I watched him wearily. Not because I was worried about what he had in mind, but because I wasn’t sure if he was going to calm me down or get me more worked up. Gods. If this doesn’t end with orgasms I’m going to blow a fucking gasket.
Palmer didn’t ask me to strip, or even bother with my clothes. He moved his right index finger in a swirling motion in the air and cuffs tightened around my wrists and ankles. I went from sitting up in the center of my bed to stretched out like I was on a horizontal St. Andrews Cross, naked and stunned. I tested what I thought were straps, hearing them rattle. Not straps, chains. He smirked at me while he unbuttoned his shirt. I raked my eyes greedily over his exposed chest and licke
d my lips. My brain did a happy little hip shake, tossing all my thoughts astray like a deck of cards catching in the wind.
He pulled a crop out of… where? Where did that crop come from!? “Now dat I have yer attention,” he murmured, inching the head of the crop across my calf. The cold leather was a stark reminder that I’d just been bested by the Mage. I can’t budge these fucking chains. The more I pulled on them the tighter they got, until I reached a point where I could no longer move anything but my head. His smirk held firmly in place as his attention centered on my bared position. “Ya have to let go of dat rage, Love.” A swift blow to the top of my right thigh had my breath hissing in with my inhale.
“Ya can’t stay angry with the Druid forever.” The smooth fingers of his left hand rubbed circles on the small tender spot he’d left.
“I can try,” I mumbled, knowing that I sounded like a petulant child.
“Did I say ye could speak?” The Mage ran his glowing, orange-tipped, index finger over my lips. When I tried to reply nothing came out. My lips moved, but there was no sound. This motherfucker just muted me! “There. Dat’s better,” he whispered in my ear before leisurely gliding around my bed. My eyes stalked his back and forth movement, waiting for the next strike to land.
“What he did may have been selfish in yer eyes, but it was also valiant. Ya can’t always put yerself in the line of fire, Love, even if ya would’ve fared better.” The next swing struck my lower abdominal muscles, swift and gentle. It didn’t sting, but the noise kept my predatory attention fixated on his movements. Still, I could say nothing, only listen and feel. From the left to the right, he ambled around my bed, searching my body. The aged, brown head of the riding crop stroking up one leg and down the other, across my peaked nipples, then dragging against my sides. He was driving me wild. I quivered with need as he continued to tease and castigate me simultaneously.
