Authors: Penelope Fletcher
More of the fog cleared and I blinked
even as the road opened out and ahead of us was a large stone gray
building. Dozens of shallow steps on a gentle slope led up to the
big wooden doorway flanked by thick rounded pillars. Engraved into
the stonework were small furry animals and flowers, and even those
stone depictions looked creepy.
“
Stop.” I yanked my hand
from Tomas’ and rubbed my temples, keeping my eyes on him. “What is
happening here Tomas? My mind is … not right. I am missing
memories, like they’re covered in smoke I can’t see through.” Even
saying the words helped me dispel some of the shadows in my mind.
“What are you doing?” I whispered. “Whatever you have done to my
mind stop.”
Tomas’s face creased in panic.
“Rae–”
Where was Breandan, and why did the
look in Tomas’ eye make it feel like ugly dark things were crawling
over my skin? I sought out the bond, was rocked when my awareness
of Breandan snapped like a coil, and stretched, and I could
identify that it was bad for him to be so far.
My heart rate leapt and I
hyperventilated. “
Right
now
,” I shrieked. “Get out of my
head!”
Tomas caught my chin between his cold
fingers. “Don’t fight this.”
He pulled me forward to kiss me
roughly. At the contact the fog thickened and swelled through my
mind again. His fangs ran out and sliced my bottom lip open, and
his tongue lapped the blood that flowed greedily, but even that was
done distractedly, his focus was elsewhere. His influence tried to
push me under again, tried to cloud my mind, but I resisted,
realizing that he was keeping me this way.
I shoved him away, my hand covering my
mouth as he skidded back.
He made a sound of frustration. “This
will be difficult for you to understand. I don’t want you to feel
any needless pain. Accept me back into your thoughts.”
“
Can you imagine if I was
the jealous type? I would think you had replaced me,
love.”
The voice came from above and my eyes
danced up the stone steps until they landed on a tall, curvy woman
with dark brown ringlets that brushed her chin at the front and
cascaded down to her shoulders at the back. Dressed in a sleeveless
tunic, shredded jeans, and bare foot she came down the steps toward
us with an intense expression. Her pink-rimmed eyes never left my
face and the intensity of her blink less stare was the most probing
and unbalanced I had ever felt on me. She inhaled deeply and her
mouth parted as two broad fangs dropped.
“
I sent you for a human,
Tomas. You bring me a fairy.” She did not sound angry, more
considering anger and merely bothering with apathetic
curiosity.
Tomas said nothing, but the tender
expression that had come over his face looking at the female
vampire had me extremely anxious about my current
situation.
“
Gwendolyn,” he murmured.
“I am home.”
“
I missed you,” she said
without any real kind of emotion still walking steadily toward
me.
The air around her was disturbed, like
the space surrounding her body did not want to get too close. I
inched back feeling my wings fit more snugly on my back and my tail
curl up to whack my shoulder in agitation. The dark that wreathed
round her form was evil, the nasty sticky kind. The dark that
cloaked Tomas had never felt evil to me, his dark was clear, but
hers was sinister and radiated malevolence.
My nature pushed at me to run, to
attack. To do something, anything, but I just stood there for my
shock was too great, and frankly, my limbs felt like they were
glued to the floor. Whatever compulsion Tomas had forced on me had
not yet freed me. Even as I could recognize my reactions and
memories were not as they should be, I could not bring myself to
leave this place.
Tomas said, “Where is
Daphne?”
Reaching him her eyes left me. The
corner of her mouth lifted as her attention switched solely to
Tomas. “Your pet is around here somewhere. She has a habit of
appearing at the oddest of times at the strangest of places. I
think you set her to spy on me, no?” Her voice hardened at the end
and Tomas’ face took on an innocently blank look.
The darkness that surrounded him
merged with hers, and they were one. She snaked her hand around his
waist, and the other fisted in his hair, pulling his mouth to meet
hers.
Stunned, I stood still and stared at
the middle distance, my mind reeling, stomach sinking. I lifted my
hand to … what? I was not sure, maybe hit her … but Tomas pulled
out of their kiss, grabbed my wrist, slid his other round my waist,
and pulled me to stand in front of him, as if offering me up for
inspection. His head came to rest on my shoulder, as if in
affection.
The vampire giggled, and
her gaze roamed over me, curious. She gave Tomas a toothy smile
filled with anticipation and excitement. “This
is
her … the one that I saw. I
remember her gold eyes, but I thought she was supposed to be
human.”
“
So did she until a few
days ago.”
It was surreal. They talked about me
over my head as if I was not even there.
The vampire’s eyes lit up and she
looked me over. “She has a story to tell I see.” Briefly, her eyes
closed and she inhaled and exhaled with a lusty sigh. “Full blooded
fairy, delicious.” She stepped closer and took my head in her
hands. I tugged once half heartedly, not liking the contact, but
she gazed deep into my eyes. “I am Queen here, tell me everything
you know,” she ordered, and her pupils contracted.
I blinked, grabbed her
skinny wrists, and yanked them off my face. “No. And don’t touch
me.” I glanced over my shoulder. “Tomas?
What. The. Hell. Is. Going. On
?” I
shook my head, still not understanding what I was seeing. “What … I
don’t get how … what are you doing?”
Gwendolyn looked from Tomas to me, and
back again so many times, and so quickly, her face blurred. “She is
breaking free of your compulsion, yes? But she does not bend to
mine … why can you…?” The disgust on her face made her pointy nose
screw up in an ugly way. “No. Tell me it is not true.”
“
I did not expect it to
happen,” Tomas grated and from the tension in his face, I could not
tell if he was embarrassed or concerned. “And I am not sorry. The
connection was the only reason my compulsion worked on her. Even
now she fights it.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Whether
you expected it or not it does not explain how you forged a blood
tie with this girl in the month you have been gone when we have
been together for the better part of a century. Our mating was not
forced and we have never experienced….” Her head swung and she
stripped me with a glare. “What passed between you and my mate,
fairy?”
I looked at Tomas and his expression
told me nothing. “A kiss,” I said, stupidly.
Lips flattening to a taut line he made
a dismissing movement with his hand. “What has transpired between
Rae and I does not concern you.”
Gwendolyn’s body shook with repressed
rage and the darkness began to blot out the whites of her eyes.
“Does … not….” She sounded like she was being strangled.
Chest rising and falling in tense
jerks her bone white hands became claws, and even as I saw the
thread of her calm snap and her lips curl back, Tomas slid in front
of me. She grabbed his shoulder, digging her nails in, but he
wrapped his hand around her throat.
“
Calm yourself,” he
ordered. “It means nothing.”
She snapped at him and he released his
hold on her throat to pull her into him. Tomas murmured something
soothing in Gwendolyn’s ear as she completely freaked out, clawing
at him so she could get to me. She made growling noises mixed with
rabid shrieks and her dark eyes rolled madly.
Tomas struggled to keep her in his
embrace, but managed to stroke her hair whilst he watched me
tremble. The corners of his mouth pulled down when he read the fear
in my face.
Well, what did he expect? I was no
longer fully under his compulsion and this situation got scarier by
the moment.
The whole time I had not moved, but I
honestly had no idea what to do. I remembered bringing us here
using magics, and I could tell we were not near a forest. Hungry
vampires surrounded me so running like prey through the streets of
an unknown city was not an option, and where was I running to? My
senses were muddled from Tomas’ compulsion, and I was not entirely
sure I could move my feet yet. The bond between Breandan and I kept
stretching into nothing then flowing over me in full force as if he
drew nearer, but I ignored it as I couldn’t trust what I felt. I
swallowed loudly and forced my heart to stop trying to bash free
through my chest, no doubt it was like a dinner bell to the demons
that had me trapped.
The mad fire in the Gwendolyn’s eyes
cooled and her rabid expression faded. Tomas let the Nest Queen go
and without hesitation, she slinked over to me, around me, taking
my measure.
I ignored her and silent tears spilled
over to run down my cheeks. The last vestiges of the compulsion
were fading and freed my emotions. They came tumbling back in full
force – the fear and complete betrayal. The darkness was
everywhere, still writhing and wiggling through me because I was
tied to Tomas by blood. He had led me here to these starved and
insane vampires.
Icy breath tickled my ear and cold
fingers brushed the back of my neck. “Looking for someone?”
Gwendolyn asked quietly.
She could sense my magic? My eyes
closed, and I shook my head, not in answer to her question, but in
denial of the entire situation.
The vampires that had followed Tomas
us here watched me openly with hunger, with longing. Everywhere I
looked fangs dropped and tongues snaked over parched lips. A few
were even salivating, and I looked away from the carnal pleasure I
saw lurking in the depths of their bottomless eyes.
I found my voice, “Tomas, why have you
done this?”
Gwendolyn giggled and tugged on a
clump of my hair and I flinched, my hands flitting up to bat her
away. Tomas did not answer me. He looked between us, and sighed, as
if we troubled and bothered him.
My mind was still not coming to terms
with what he had done. “But I trusted you.” I turned to look him in
the face, my confusion, and horror plain. “I trust you,
Tomas.”
Gwendolyn smirked and came to stand in
front of me blocking my view of him – twisting a lock of her hair
around her middle finger. “Are you so desperate to believe you have
done no wrong that you refuse to see what he is?”
I sucked in a breath. My heart crashed
in my chest, which was painfully tight. “I don’t believe it.” I
leaned around her to search Tomas’ eyes. “I know you’re mad about
Breandan,” I mumbled. “But there was no choice and you know that.
There was no choice for me.”
Tomas finally moved again. He
shouldered past Gwendolyn who pushed him back playfully and slowly
placed his cool hands on my face to cup it gently. His thumb
stroked over my bottom lip. The corners of his bottomless eyes
tightened. “I know you will never understand why I did this,” he
said earnestly. “I am sorry, for everything, but I had to get you
here, Rae. I had to.”
He let me go, and I staggered
back.
Gwendolyn bit her grubby fingertip
coyly, giggled. “Silly fairy.”
My legs gave way, and I fell to my
knees. Tears splashed on the gray concrete like rain, making a dark
puddle beneath me. I pressed my forehead to the ground, wanting
nothing more in that moment than to curl up and die
Deception. Everything Tomas had done
was a trick, a ruse to get me here.
Gwendolyn’s laughter and the laughter
of her Nest burned me, echoed through the cold, empty buildings to
be magnified and thrown back at me, infuriating me.
I lurched up, filled with fire and
determination. An anger so consuming I feared it would choke me if
I did not appease it with blood. I drew deeply on the Source until
it filled my being with white-hot light then I–
Nothing!
I tried again to channel my power and
manifest a fireball but nothing happened. Staggering back, a
terrified squeal of horror was torn from my throat as I repeatedly
tried to use my magic. I could not wield the energy gifted to me as
my birthright. The breath whooshed from my lungs, and I looked down
at my hands, willing them to fill with fire. My head snapped up and
I sent Tomas a hate filled glare.
He raised a thick, dark eyebrow. “Do
you remember what I told you, Rae? That some vampires used to be
able to touch the Source before they turned,” he said coolly, and
inclined his head toward Gwendolyn who smiled sneakily.
“
No magics for you,” she
chimed and waggled her finger.
Holding onto the Source was
making me agitated so I released it, and focused on the vampire
Queen. She had some power, this I could feel, but not enough to
manage a spell great enough to hold
me
back.
“
You are not powerful
enough to cast this enchantment,” I said. “Who did?”