Demon Dark (12 page)

He turned to Wasp.

You are a great warrior and are welcome to stay and fight with us if you swear yourself to me. Though, I have no problem with you choosing to leave and seek out your own revenge.

Wasp did not hesitate. Her words were short and punchy.

I stay. I swear myself to you as long as it means the destruction of the ones called Gwendolyn and Cael.

Her oath was sealed with magic, and accepted by Lochlann with a small nod.

Shoulders slumping, Wasp backed away until she stood in the shadows. I was not the only one respectfully ignoring the tracks of tears on her cheeks. Baako might have gone to comfort her if she hadn t snatched up her knife, and started caressing the blade with murder in her eye.

Lochlann stepped back into the centre of the Meet, trying to bring order. His movement was smooth and controlled though his shoulders were too tense, too rigid to hide his frustration.

Daphne watched him with a curious expression on her face.

We must stay focused,

he said urgently.

There is much to accomplish and little time.

He turned back to Breandan and me.

I ask again and maybe this time I will get answers what happened?

Ignoring the dozens of eyes on me, I started from the beginning, planning to leave out nothing. I didn t get far before there was uproar. When I spoke of Tomas ability to use his compulsion on me the few fairies at the Meet nearly lost their minds.

Lochlann simply crossed his arms over his chest and studied me.

How?

I didn t understand what he wanted from me.

Say-say?

How did he manage to compel you? This ability does not work on fairykind, it never has, and still it s ineffective. Why you?

Compulsion works on the rest of us,

Kalcifer interjected.

Maybe the vampires have evolved. Maybe they really are the superior race.

An ominous silence came over the Meet.

The idea that vampires could control all demonkind if they were able to subdue us for long enough to work their magic was an unsettling thought. Though Tomas and Daphne had shown me a different side to their species, I couldn t help but shudder at the vision of a world wholly under their control.

It was one Lochlann was not prepared to entertain.

You, vampire, come here.

He snapped his fingers at Daphne and made a come hither motion with his hand.

She glared at him, the arrogant gesture not going down well, and sent me a sour look.

I sent her one back with a shrug.

You wanted to come with me.

I reminded.

With a roll of her eyes, she slouched over to him and adopted the same closed-off pose as he; hands over the chest, leaning back, and chin jutting in defiance. She did not avert her eyes; instead her top lip curled in aggression.

You summoned, oh mighty one.

Lochlann smiled, a bright thing that lit his grim face. The harsh lines of his face smoothed, and his thunderous brow lifted.

Breandan started beside me, and Maeve sucked in a breath. The one person on this earth less likely to smile than my fairy-boy was his older brother.

Lochlann s eyes twinkled with mirth, and the smile tapered of into a rueful twist of the lips at our dumbstruck expressions.

Compel me,

he ordered.

Daphne s hands fell to her sides. Her expression morphed from annoyed to shocked & then simply worried. Her braids swayed as she cocked her head to the side.

To do what?

Anything that does not cause me to do permanent harm or take a life.

He stepped closer to her and leaned down from his lofty height to get in her face.

Do it.

He enunciated the words and narrowed his eyes, challenging her.

Accepting the dare, gritting her teeth, Daphne placed her hands both sides of his head to pull him close. She shook her head once, as if questioning what on earth she was doing. She became still in that creepy lifeless way vampires do. It was quiet. She stared at him, focused as she tried to hypnotize, and bend his will to her own.

I knew how it felt to be caught in a vampire s snare, and I watched the High Lord carefully for signs that he had fallen under her thrall.

Lochlann slipped a hand around the nape of her neck and roughly jerked her into him, crushing her mouth under his with a kiss.

A scandalized gasp rippled through the crowd. Murmurs of,

It s true,

and

The vampires can control the fairies,

and

We re doomed, we re all doomed,

managed to reach my ears through the general panic.

It was exceedingly dramatic.

I was too stunned to do anything but watch as my estranged brother-by-mating slipped his tongue into my guardian s mouth. More outrageous was her willing, no, eager response. She curled her hands into his blonde mane and tugged him closer, passionately pressing her small frame into his larger one, nestled into his chest.

Daphne and Lochlann broke apart, wrapped around each other, flushed in the face, eyes heavy-lidded.

Lochlann released her abruptly and took a large step back, expression utterly closed off. I only caught it because I was looking, but I glimpsed bone deep terror in his eyes.

That proves it then,

Kalcifer said stridently into the cutting silence.

The vampires can control you. There is no point risking our lives and aligning ourselves with you if victory is not certain. I m sorry, truly I am, but

I told him to kiss Rae.

Daphne s small voice sliced through Kalcifer s. Clearing her throat, her eyes still on Lochlann, she said it again with emphasis.

I told him to kiss Rae.

Lochlann remained quiet, his attention fixed on the middle distance.

Kalcifer closed his mouth and his heavy brow plunged in impatience.

Baako cocked his head.

But he kissed you.

Daphne s eyes shuttered, and she nodded offhandedly.

Seems he wanted to teach me a lesson for trying to make him kiss her,

she paused for effect,

such a thorough demonstration really wasn t necessary.

Chin stuck up in the air, she marched back to my side.

It didn t work. He resisted me completely.

Kalcifer motioned to me.

And the Priestess? How was she compelled?

Daphne turned to me and quirked a fine-haired eyebrow.

Rae? Care to explain or shall I?

I gave her a queer look before addressing Kalcifer.

Tomas and I had a blood tie. It was how he reached through my natural defences.

Baako sniffed.

I know of this link. I have met a vampire who shared one before, an old enemy of mine.

He waved his gigantic hand to signal that was not important.

We found out more about his love in a bid to destroy him. The blood tie only happens between the most passionate of mates. Free will, the tasting of blood, and acceptance of the bond is key to its forming, because vampires can use compulsion, which essentially the removal of will.

Baako eyes darted to where Breandan stood than back to my face.

You already have a mate and are &.

he made a self-conscious noise, uncomfortable with what he was about to say,

bonded & by fairy magic to him. How did the vampire force this union on you?

There was a tense silence.

The urge to look at Breandan and gauge his reaction was crushing, but I knew that would be a mistake.

Tomas and I kissed. Once. He fed on me. I mean, um, by drinking my blood during the kiss the bond was formed.

Awkwardly rubbing my nose, I prayed my cheeks weren t red because they felt afire. Damn it. I m sure everyone else here has done something they weren t entirely proud of. Their shame wasn t being paraded around in front of the most powerful supernatural forces on earth.

Oh,

he said and he sent a commiserating look Breandan s way.

That, ah, would explain it.

Kalcifer jumped on this.

If this vampire controlled you once he could do so again.

Breandan slipped a hand into mine. He wasn t mad and that relieved me, the fear of him shutting himself off from me in jealousy dissipated.

He is no longer a threat to her.

Baako grinned at the finality of his tone, openly hungry for the bloody tale.

Kalcifer eyed him up in speculation.

You killed the vampire? Consort of a Nest Queen?

Breandan slanted a look at me.

I took his head.

Is this really vital to the discussion at hand?

Daphne snarled.

Lochlann hissed. The sound was menacing, and one all fairies could summon when deeply angered.

That vampire took the life of a fairy. The girl s family will want to know the justice I promised has been done.

He waited for her rebuttal. Daphne said nothing.

Does it shock you that she had a family, a mother and a father who raised her, two younger sisters who loved her? Do they not deserve the peace this knowledge will bring? That the monster who sucked their daughter dry and dumped her body in the forest is now nothing but a headless corpse?

Daphne inhaled and exhaled slowly, small hands clenched into fists.

Brother,

Breandan chided softly.

It was rude of me to speak of him so coldly, and your needling isn t helping. There is no honour in this.

Mercifully, Lochlann backed off Daphne without further persuasion. He fixed his attention on me instead. Great.

Rae, finish.

Ignoring his lack of manners, once again I spoke, beginning where I had left off. I explained how I had ended up being led to the vampires and how Tomas had presented me to his Queen. I brushed the hair away from my neck, so the keen eyed demons could see the fang marks from Tomas bite. I told them how I had woken and how he had pledged his love for me, but how he could not betray his own kind. I motioned to Daphne as I explained how we met and how she took Devlin s body away. And at the last, my voice filled with emotion, I spoke of Breandan how he had looked in the rain when he had come for me, and how he had fought for me. That he had strode into a Nest of bloodthirsty vampires demanding I be returned to him. I told them, how even when I had fought him to save Tomas, and fought Tomas to save him, how he had protected me even then.

Nobody interrupted me this time. And when I closed with our mad dash through the Northern City, and the vampires we had to destroy to make it out alive how eventually they would come for me, driven by Gwendolyn s need of vengeance a hushed reverence fell over the Meet.

It was quiet for such a long time before Gita squawked in a perturbed voice,

So I am clear, Rae, you were plucked from the human Temple where the last High Lord had been spying on you for the last lunar cycle. You were discovered by the Wyld Guardian, now your mate, and learned that you are fairy. A powerful Seer told you of the key and the grimoire. This same witch told Breandan that you and he would bond should you meet before Lochlann tied you to him. You met the vampire Tomas. He tricked you into thinking he needed you to save his race,

she sent me a look filled with pity,

and you believed him. You believed that a vampire would ask for help.

It didn t seem that far a stretch at the time,

I muttered sullenly.

The truth was he was sent by his Queen to bring you to her, so she could discover why the Coven Father wants you so badly.

Gita swept a hand over her brow and pinched her hooked nose. Utter disbelief was conveyed in her tone.

Devlin escaped with the grimoire, but it was a hollow victory since you held all three amulets. You resolved to go after him, but his magics fooled Conall, one of the best trackers I know, and so you turned to Byron s Pride.

Yes,

Byron said in his gruff voice.

We struck a bargain if she saved my daughters from the humans, I would help them track Devlin. It would have been a pleasure to help take him down. That fairy dishonoured my Pride.

But before we could come up with a plan,

Alec added quietly,

she saved my life and was captured. She was tortured,

his eyes flicked over my scars,

gruesomely. And &.

Guilt was heavy on Alec s heart. I promised myself I would talk to him and explain that I never saw what happened as his fault. We had been running the boundaries when I had been captured. The Pride Sentries had been killed, and the Clerics had gotten closer than we could have known. He needed to understand that, and stop blaming himself for the cruelty of others.

Gita nodded in thanks to Alec and Byron for filling in the details.

You were rescued by the Vodoun, and met a particularly powerful member of their kind, Papa Obe, a Houngan Priest of black magics we had all thought was long dead. Ah, and your zombie friend helped, a being who you called back to life with the aid of gods, The Loa themselves. The most tricky and sinister of the divine powers.

Red in the face large eyes unblinking she and the others stared at me.

You rescued the Byron s daughters, fought the humans you once called friends, and battled the he-witch himself before facing the deranged Northern City vampire Queen?

And I kicked Gwendolyn s skinny ass,

Daphne said proudly to no one in particular.

I always hated her ringlets.

Ignoring Daphne, I shrugged, not understanding why they were all so bewildered.