Fae Chronicles 01 - Fighting Destiny (3 page)

I remained silent. Nothing I said now could save me. I would never tell them why I was here, or who I was with and nothing on my person would give that away either. It was why I’d left all weapons at home. They could be traced back to the Guild through serial numbers and while I knew how to use them, I wasn’t a big fan of guns.

“Your silence will do you no good. Help yourself out and I'll make your death quick, remain silent and I'll enjoy killing you
slowly
,” he purred closer than he had been seconds before, my eyes hadn't even caught the subtle movement.

“I’m with housekeeping,” I ground out breathlessly since he was now inches from me.

“Take her to the chamber,” he said to his men, to me he whispered in my ear in a strange language I’d never heard before. An ancient language, that much I was sure of.

Everything inside of me screamed against the pressure that was building as everything started shutting down like clockwork. My mind pushed together as if something was fighting to gain control of it. Darkness swallowed my vision, my limbs grew heavy as if replaced by lead and everything inside of my mind went dark.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I awoke to ice water being tossed over my head. I was strung up like a spring chicken on market day. My arms were hung high above my head. I had to fight against the darkness to get my bearings back. Thick metal bands held me locked into place, chains hooked to my feet kept me from doing more than standing upright.

My mouth was dry and felt as if I had eaten an entire bag of cotton. My shorts and tank top had been removed, leaving me in nothing more than my small black thong and lacy bra. My hair had been taken out of the ponytail and left to hang in my face.

I could feel no new injuries to my body, no abuse while I had been knocked out. Whatever spell the Dark Prince had used on me packed a wallop that left me feeling weak and drained.

“Ready to talk?”
His
voice came from a speaker in the middle of the room.

“I—I told you…I’m housekeeping,” I whispered, since it was the best I could do, which sucked. I sounded weak.

Silence reigned until a door popped open and then the Dark Prince strolled in wearing a white shirt and old jeans, which he probably used for torturing unwanted guests. “Tell me who sent you and I will go easy on you.”

I laughed coldly.

“Something funny?” He inquired moving closer to me.

“Bring it Fairy,” I growled throatily.

His head tilted, showing off his sharp exquisite bone structure. He was simply breathtaking. His hair clung to his face, hanging low over his ears. Those golden eyes had changed, showing his Fae features. Golden pupils surrounded by obsidian black circles, marking him royal in his breed. He had a days’ worth of stubble which only drew the eyes to his sharp jawline. He was taller than the Fae who had surrounded me earlier, standing well over six feet in height.

“You will tell me what I want to know, in the end everyone does,” he whispered with a wicked twist lighting up his face, his eyes still watching me intensely.

“Is that so?”

“It is, tell me. Do you prefer torture, or I can easily feed to get the information I want out of you,” he asked as if we were discussing the weather, instead of my immediate future.

“Torture—" Shit! I realized my error as soon as I had said it.

“Feed it is,” his hands reached out, smoothing down the lines of my body leisurely, seductively soft as he touched my flesh. His eyes never leaving mine. I inhaled slowly, waiting for the anger to take hold of me. With anger, would come power. Only, it never came.

My body burned from his touch, awakening something inside of me I had thought would never come alive again. Lust. Oh fucking hell, wrong place and wrong guy. I watched a smirk take hold of his full lips.

His fingers traced elaborate patterns over my skin, until they stopped at the lace of my panties. “I think I might actually enjoy this,” he growled ripping one of the small thin sides from them, exposing the soft lines of my pelvis.

“Bet you would,” I growled finally finding my voice.

“I could take your emotions and make you think I am your God. If I turned you FIZ, you'd give me
anything
I wanted.”

I blanched, I hated that they called the poor saps they fucked to the brink of death FIZ’s.
Fae Induced Zombie
. “Go. To. Hell. Fairy. Boy.”

One side of his sensual mouth tugged up, as if he was fighting the urge to laugh. “I will show you how much of a man I am,” he purred placing his head too close to my face.

“Oh baby, don’t hold back on me now,” I said mockingly.

“I never do,” he whispered letting his fingers move over my soft folds making my body shudder violently in their wake.

I struck without warning. Slamming my face into his and crying out at the same time he did. I fought against the chains, knowing that pain was up next. I’d smashed his too sexy face. No way was he going to allow me to live now.

Surprisingly, he seemed unaffected after a moment. I on the other hand had blood oozing down from my smashed nose. He stepped back, reaching slowly down to the bottom of the shirt he wore before pulling it up and over his head slowly.

I flinched, he was ripped and looked like he had stepped from the cover a male fitness catalogue. A solid six pack flowed down his abs, disappearing under the rough jeans he wore. A small thin trail of dark hair started below his navel, flowing in a thin seducing trail into the waistline of his jeans that clung loosely to his tapered hips. He was covered in Celtic brands that looked similar to tattoos, but moved.

The door opened as another Fae walked in, as he got closer I saw he wasn’t Fae exactly—he was a Demon. His skin was covered in brands similar to mine and Adam's, which were usually invisible to the eye and if I invoked my own, they would glow and match his Celtic patterns. The Dark Prince didn’t have a Witch, no, he had a fucking Demon.

The Demon was taller than the Prince. His silver eyes swirled with black patterns that were common for his kind. His hair was long and straight and looked as soft as silk and was the color of freshly poured ink. His forearms were covered in thick brands that I could tell flowed up and covered his neck and stopped just below his face.

“Who do you work for?” The Prince continued to question me, his sharp eyes watching, searching for a weakness.

“Your mother, she wants you to clean your bedroom,” I quipped sarcastically. A silent shiver raced down my spine as I remembered his bedroom. I flinched as he held his hand up until it touched my face. An earthly scent whirled through the room as cool waves touched my face. The bleeding stopped as he lowered his hand from my face.

He ignored my taunts and nodded to the tall exotic Demon of his. A few minutes of awkward silence descended on the large sterile room. I watched him from beneath my lashes…his glyphs were beautiful. Thick black Celtic markings covered a single shoulder, flowing gently onto his chest and down his side flowing further onto his back out of sight.

"I found something that might make you talk," he said interrupting my thoughts.

I was still trying to figure out what his brands meant when a familiar cry ripped from the hallway. My heart accelerated, my mouth going dry again, but this time with fear. Chandra and Adam were led inside the room, both bloodied from fighting for their lives.

I felt angry tears push against my eyes, as I met Adam's vibrant emerald stare. They were told to leave, to run so why hadn’t they? I pulled all emotion back from my features, sucking in air until I wanted to choke on it. Chandra’s lip was swollen and bloodied as if she’d been assaulted.

They were pushed in together and Adam was shoved to his knees in front of me. His shoulder length black hair clung to his bronze face, his eyes begging me to forgive him. I wanted to scream at him. He should have been clear, if he'd done as I'd said he would've been. I'd tried to buy them time with myself as a hostage. If I'd known he hadn't listened I would have fought them.

I lifted my gaze from Adam to Ryder who was watching me closely and judging my reaction. He materialized a Rugger 9mm from thin air and cocked it before holding it to Adam's temple.

“Talk or he dies.”

A gun—seriously, even I knew these guys didn’t need guns to kill, so he had to be doing this so I could see the threat. I couldn’t talk. It was part of my training. If Adam spoke of the Guild or gave anything away—I myself would be killing him. It was part of the blood oath they made us take when we graduated. Our eyes met and held, his saying that it was okay, mine showing everything I felt. Frustration at not being able to help. Anger for what was happening and pain for what I was losing—my closest friend.

“Use the girl,” his Demon said when I refused to answer.

Relief washed over me as Adam was spared from death and chained beside me in the other set of hanging manacles. Chandra was pushed in front of me and shoved to her knees the same way Adam had been. She was fairly new to the Guild and I didn’t know her as well as I did Adam.

I met and held Chandra’s eyes, telling her I was sorry but her eyes didn’t hold remorse, or regret—deep malice sat smoldering in her hazel eyes. I almost choked on my tongue—I knew that look. Shit…she
would
talk.

“My name is Chandra—” She smiled coldly at me.

“Shut up Chandra,” I growled with warning making my voice sharp.

“Fuck you, I’m not dying here!” She cried.

The Prince was watching us closely. His eyes moving from my red face to hers, which showed not an ounce of remorse. I wasn’t as attached to Chandra like I was the others in my small coven. If she spoke, I'd take her out and while I hated doing so she knew the rules. She'd taken the same oath I had, the one to protect our coven by every means.

“Who does she work for?” Ryder gently asked Chandra who looked only too willing to give up who I was and why I had come.

“She’s the—”

I closed my eyes, feeling a slight twinge of regret as I did the only thing I could to prevent her from pointing blame at the Guild.

She coughed violently, as I sent my dark magic inside her with a whisper, seeking her lungs with thousands of needles that would stop air from entering her lungs. It wouldn't be completely painless but I was trying to make it a clean death, so she wouldn’t suffer more than she had to. She cried out as blood exploded from her lungs, flowing freely from her lips seconds before she suffocated and collapsed to the floor with a soft thud.

The Dark Prince watched with mock amusement on his hard beautiful face, his golden eyes rising from her crumpled form to my face. I couldn’t look away from Chandra. She had panicked and given me no other choice but to take her life. She was dying slowly, drowning on blood that had filled her lungs—because of me.

“You killed her?” He asked surprised, but I ignored him.

For what seemed like minutes after Chandra had slumped onto the floor cold and lifeless I continued to push dark magic inside of her, until Adam spoke low and leveled calling me by code to keep our names secret. “Mag's, stop she’s dead.”

Her dark brown hair was now taking on an angry red tint from the blood that still flowed from her lips to create a pool around her face. I'd done what I was taught, I'd had no choice. I kept telling myself this over and over inside my head as my heart increased its rate at what I had just done—
I'd
killed her.

Guilt crept up my spine. I hated killing, even if I was good at it. To talk of the Guild, or tell a mark who sent us was treason. If you got caught, you went silently to your death as I would surely do now at the hands of this deadly Fae.

“Mag's, look at me,” Adam said gently but firmly.

I raised my eyes meeting his gentle green eyes. His hair was covered in perspiration and clung wildly to his face. His face showed no fear, no anger for the kill, just acceptance. “Blood oath Syn. You had no choice."

“It was a good kill, painless.” I choked on bile with each word, “Hecate, keep her safe.” I felt hot angry tears push against my eyes again. "Exussum, Chandra," I said the word focusing as I pushed enough power into the words, drawing from the limited reserve I now had after pulling from dark magic.

Smoke billowed from the body inches from my feet. And then flames erupted from her body and the ferociously awful smell of putrid flesh misted the air. I raised my eyes from Adam's comforting face to the Dark Princes and found him still watching me.

Intense eyes met and held mine, a look of respect and awe entered them fleetingly before he turned to look at Adam. He waved the gun away with a magicians flourish and placed his wide hands on his hips and shook his head, as if he was trying to piece together why I’d killed her.

I coughed and choked on the smoke billowing up from her body. Flesh burning is something you never get used to, no matter how many times you have smelled it before. The smoke burned my eyes causing water to rush from them.

“That was…interesting,” Ryder said stepping up to face Adam who also hadn’t taken his eyes from me.

“Mag's…” He whispered placing all his love into his voice.

“Who is it you work for?” Ryder asked Adam.

“Go to hell Fairy,” he growled still watching me.

Ryder brought his fingers up to pinch the bridge of his nose in frustration. Shaking his head, he turned and looked directly at me. His eyes taking in everything about me so slowly that I couldn’t miss his intentions. “Bring her down Ristan, place her on the bed.”

I fought down the surge of panic that threatened to seize control of my brain with his words. He was Fae. He could seduce and feed on me until I told him
everything
. He could take away my mind and will with his skillful fingers, leaving a shell of who I had once been.

The Demon moved closer, his oily magic slithering over my skin leaving me helpless against its deadly touch. The chains they had used must have been spelled with magic to keep me from escaping.

Instead of undoing the chains, he released them from the hook leaving me locked inside their manacles and kept from using blood magic. I exhaled, accepting the fate that was to come with a surprising calmness I shouldn’t have felt.