Natural Magick (22 page)

They had thought that by sending Ares alone, it would be enough to bring her home without any problems. No one had figured she would have a husband, and what was it with the whole “master” thing? And those dogs. She had called them wolves. She had a pack of wolves at her disposal.

By the time Ares had gotten back to the dingy hotel, he had convinced himself that he had put up a good fight and that it was not his fault that they had attacked him without provocation because he had wanted to bring his poor sister home. Dilly was going to have to pay, that much he was sure of. She was going to pay like no one who had ever crossed him had. He was just not sure how much Sherman was going to make him pay for her not being with him now.

“
What do you mean she’s changed? Changed how? Her clothes? Her hair style? What? Telling me that she is different does not explain why you don’t have her yet.” Apollo was not just mad, but furious at him. And Sherman was not happy either. Ares just wanted to get out of this fucking town as soon as possible; there was something not right about it and the people in it, damn it.

“
She has this tattoo now. It covers her face and neck and I swear to Christ, it moved. And I could feel this strange vibe from those men too. Nothing like I’ve felt before. I know they were fucking vamps, but they had a, I don’t know, a power with them. And it was fucking strong. I don’t understand it, Mother. You said she’d be a weakling, no problems at all, that after all this time she’d beg us to take her home.”

“
She just needs to see we mean business. Once we get back there and combine our forces, she’ll fold. That’s the way she’s always done it. And without me to guide her, she won’t have any clue how to use the little bit of white magic she had. You’ll see. Dilly will see reason.”

Ares just looked at his mother. Christ, he couldn’t wait for the stupid bitch to die. A few more doses of the poison he’d been feeding her and he would be in charge. Fucking cunt. They didn’t need her anymore anyway.

“
Well, that ain’t right either,” Ares continued. “Her voice sounded strong, and like she didn’t give a shit if those dogs ate me or not. No, they weren’t dogs, she’d told me, but wolves. How the fuck did she know they were wolves and how do you even get a pack of them trained to help you? And those freaky vamps?”

Ares had heard of them before, of course. With someone like Sherman helping them, they couldn’t help but learn of the different kinds of beings. But those had been the first ones he had ever encountered. He knew as soon as he could he was gonna stake that big one and watch as the sun turned him to French fries. Yeah, he was gonna enjoy that one dying.

“
This tattoo, you said it covered her face? How much of it? These are details you should have gotten, Ares. You had a cell phone. Why didn’t you just snap a picture of it for us? Shit, if I’d of known you were gonna fuck it up so badly, I’d have gone myself,” Sherman said with disgust. At that moment, Ares hated the man.

Sherman paced the small room, barely looking where he set his feet. The man had power, no doubt about that. It practically shimmered off him. And knowledge…Sherman seemed to know everything about everything. He had first approached them when Dilly had turned six. He never helped her, saying that she was too immature for their kind of lessons, but had spent countless hours with them—more so in the past year.

Did the man actually think that Ares could have reached into his pants pocket and said, “Hold for me, sis. I’m sure Mom will be so happy for a picture of the two of us together”?

His mom had been bitching about Dilly’s tat since Ares had mentioned it upon his return. He wished any of them had of gone to get her and not him. They all could have gone after her for all he cared. Then one of them could have piss all over himself.

“
Well, we’ll have to get her and that is all there is to it. I want her and I mean to have her, husband or not. I don’t give a shit what she’s changed into; she’s not anything close to what I am. As the oldest, I claim the right to breed a child from her. Then if she’s smart enough to keep her mouth shut, I won’t need to kill her once I have my child,” Apollo announced smugly.

Sherman just smiled at him. Ares shuddered at what he thought the smile could mean. It could have meant, “Yes, you will have a child with her,” or, “You just keep on dreaming, little boy. It is I who will be fucking her until she is with my child.” Ares thought it was the latter of the two and shuddered again. He could almost feel sorry for his little sister. Almost.

Ares left the room thinking he wished they had stayed home. He had a plan of his own and it didn’t include Dilly having a child of Apollo’s or Sherman’s. He was going to breed Dilly as much as he could. He was planning on breeding powerful children from her then killing her. But first, he thought, he was going to kill his brothers and absorb their powers.

That to him was the greatest power about the type of magic they used. It could be taken from someone you killed and it became yours, adding to and strengthening your own. Yeah, Apollo, you try and take what’s mine, he thought again.

Ares went to the storage unit they had spent their last thirty bucks on, opened the door quietly, and shut it that way as well. The man hanging from the middle was still alive. Good, he thought, more fun for him.

Ares had enjoyed the man the other night. They all had, actually. Ares thought the man hanging before him had proven to be quite the diversion in an otherwise boring trip. Opening his pants, he began to fist his cock hard, stroking it as he neared the man. He liked the torture more than the power it gave him sometimes. Then fucking his prey while they lay dying gave him a rush like nothing ever had. His cock hardened more as he thought about pounding hard into the dying man. He thought about the screams, the blood, and nearly came. We cannot have that, he thought with a sadistic grin, and moved in front of the man.

Grabbing the man at both hips, he rubbed his cock over his prey’s soft one. Powerless, the prey whimpered and mewed at Ares. His cock jerked in response.

“
I’m going to fuck you again. Fuck you until my cum fills your ass. Fuck you until I’m raw. Will you like that, prey?” Ares’ voice was soft and low, menacing and loving.

Turning Prey around, Ares lifted him slightly and rammed his cock into him. He was not as tight as he had been before, but Prey still gripped his cock. Pulling the knife out of his back sheath, he pumped into the tiny hole again and was rewarded with blood oozing from the opening and around Ares’ cock. He pumped harder and as soon as his balls tightened and he was ready to come, he slammed the knife into Prey’s heart and killed him. Even as he died, Ares emptied himself in him.

Sated now, he decided he was going to have to find him someone again soon, maybe two this time.

The seven men and one woman sat up nearly all night, plotting and planning how to get to Dilly. However, the opportunity to get to her came a lot sooner than they thought and in a way they had not expected.

CHAPTER TWENTY

“
I have to go to Becca’s Place this morning. I have a crew of men coming out and I need to get them started on the security and computer wiring,” Pete explained to Dominic.

He was driving her crazy and if she did not get away from him soon, she was going to scream. He had been following her around for two days and she needed to have some alone time. She was not used to having someone breathing down her neck all the flipping time.

“
I’ll come with you. And if it runs into later in the afternoon, we’ll sleep at Colin and Shade’s house. I don’t want you to go out alone, Pete. I know you think that sounds possessive. Then that’s what I am. I can’t help it where you’re concerned.” He tried to soften it with a silly grin, but she saw through it.

“
Dominic, there are a dozen pack members already going to be there milling around and Bradley himself wants to ‘hang around’ to watch how things are done. I’m not going to go anywhere but to there and back.”

Pete had had this same argument with him for two days. Enough was enough already. Her brothers had not come back, nor had they made any kind of effort to contact her. She had hoped that they had given up and were getting ready to leave again.

“
Well, let’s get going. What’re you waiting for?” He was going with her and that was that, she thought with a groan. Well, fuck a duck and watch it waddle.

An hour just before sunset, they pulled up in front of the big, newly constructed house. It was deceptively small from the outside. When finished, it would be able to care for twenty-four children. There would be a dining hall, library, and medical facility as well. The whole place would be wired with interior and exterior security surveillance equipment. They had decided to wire the house separate from the main house, but still have the capability of seeing either property from the security tower that would be manned twenty-four/seven by an armed guard. Pete was there today to set up and install some of the cameras in the bedrooms and halls on the second and third floors so they could finish the dry wall application as soon as she was finished.

“
Eon, can you take this cable back down to the kitchen and bring up the heavier gauge? This isn’t strong enough to carry the juice I need.”

Pete was using as many weres and vamps as she could. What they lacked in experience, they more than made up for in muscle and willingness to work hard. Also, the fewer humans who knew about the inner workings of the systems she was installing, the better. The campus was catering to any child that needed protection and a safe haven. The setup had to be perfect.

When Eon returned with the cables, he was with two other young wolves. He had told her yesterday that he had had a talk with Bradley and that he had been invited to stay with them at the pack house. Eon had also explained, although not in great detail, that the talk had taught him a few things about was happening to his body that he’d been “totally freaked” about. Bradley had assured him that he would also be safe from his mother. Pete thought that Eon was happier about that more than anything else.

Eon had explained that Bradley was going to be harder on him than Pete had been about his education and he would be going to college as well as finish up his high school, “or else.” She didn’t ask what that might mean, but the look of terror on her friend’s face said enough.

“
Pete, do you care if we knock off early tonight? The guys and I wanna catch a movie at the pack house. They have this state of the art movie system that you wouldn’t believe. And more food than I can eat in one sitting.”

“
Yeah, sure, just make sure you tell Bradley or Dominic that you’re leaving, okay? Don’t want them to freak out again.”

“
That’s for sure. Are they still pissed about it, you think?”

When they had arrived this morning, she had sent Eon and a couple of others into town to grab some donuts and coffee for everyone. When Dominic realized that she had been left alone on the third floor, he and Bradley had had a fit! They seemed to forget that there were about twenty other people on the floor below her and several dozen more around the grounds. They had told these men to stick to her like glue, and they had not. It had taken about an hour to calm the two men down and longer still to get the younger wolves to feel safe from them.

“
They’re fine. Have you seen either of them lately? I thought they were going to the tower to see if the line of sight was all right.” She looked at her watch and realized it had been about an hour. She knew that Dominic would have to go to ground soon.

“
Nope. Want I should go look for them? And this is me hoping you’ll say no. I don’t think I wanna be around either of them for a couple of days.”

She knew he would go if she said yes, but what was the point? Plus, she had some quiet time for the first time in days.

“
Nah, they’ll show up soon. We’ll have to call it a day soon anyway.” She reached out to Dominic and could not reach him; something was blocking her path. She didn’t really think on it too much, and continued wiring the last bedroom.

She had just reached the lower floor when she felt something akin to terror race through her, leaving her weak and out of breath, then...nothing. She reached out to Dominic again and felt a small but weak link to him. Stretching harder, she could feel his pain and weakness. Something had happened, something bad, and he was losing blood. She looked up and realized how late it was and was suddenly worried about him and the sun.

“
Dominic?” She found herself racing across the lawn toward the main house before she realized it. Shade was just coming out and met her on the main path to the house with a tray of drinks. She suddenly dropped them and ran toward her until they met on the path.

“
What is it, Pete? I felt your pain. What’s happened?”

“
Dominic, something has happened to Dominic. Please tell me he is with Colin. He was with Bradley earlier and they left to go to the tower. I felt his pain then nothing. I have to find him, Shade! Oh God, what if my brothers have him?”

“
We have to wake Colin, and get in touch with the pack to see if they’ve heard from them, or if Bradley is with them. Come on, I’ll contact Sara and have her and Aaron come here too.”

An hour later, they were contacted by Hermes, one of Pete’s other brothers. They had both men. He said and was willing to trade them if she came along quietly and she “left her fucking dogs at home.”

“
Where are they, you worthless piece of shit? I swear if you’ve hurt them, I won’t rest until I strip every inch of skin from your body piece by little piece.”