Sacrifice of Love (33 page)

Sally rolled her eyes. “My inner Jen wants me to call you a smartass.”

“What does your outer Sally want to call me?”

“A bitch,” the word slipped from Sally as easy as butter slips from the hand and Crina laughed out loud.

“Then you’d both be right.” Crina winked at the now blushing Sally, then looked around. Fog surrounded them on all sides and kept them from seeing further than a foot in front of them. There were no other sounds than that of their own breathing.

“Do you think she meant to just leave us free like this?” Sally asked.

“I definitely think she meant to leave us like this, but I think we are anything but free.”

“Elle, give it to me straight, on a scale of one to screwed, how bad is it?” Lilly asked the fae as they stood as far from the ledge of the cliff as they could.

“Considering that there isn’t a cliff in the dark forest, and we are standing on a very obvious cliff, then I’d say we’re pretty screwed,” Elle told her as she stuck her head far enough out to see down. It was a very long way down.

“Well, I’ll be honest, that’s not what I was hoping to hear. But at least you were honest with me.”

“It could be worse,” Elle admitted.

Lilly looked hopeful. “It could?”

Elle nodded. “We could be in the hands of a revenge crazed warlock, hell bent on killing his brother’s mate, and you could be his brother’s mate, oh wait…” she paused and looked at Lilly with a sly smile.

“Ha, ha,” Lilly said dryly.

“You have to make your mind believe that what you’re seeing isn’t real,” Elle said suddenly serious. “That’s how we are going to survive this.”

Lilly nodded, now every bit as sober as the fae. “Okay, it isn’t real, it isn’t real,” she began repeating over and over.

“Lilly?”

“Huh, what?” Lilly asked absently as she continued to repeat her mantra.

“Does it help to tell yourself out loud that it isn’t real?” Elle looked at her quizzically.

Lilly let out a huff of laughter. “Yeah, don’t you know that trick? Tell yourself something enough times and it makes it true.”

“If it gets us off this cliff then I’m all for it.”

Lilly frowned. “What do you mean if it gets us off here? You know it isn’t real.”

“Yes, but Lorelle is smart, and the only way we are going to get off this cliff alive is for anyone seeing it to believe it to be false.”

“Son of a… Crap!”

“Exactly.”

“Did she seriously just drop us in a cave?” Jen asked as she stood at the mouth of the cave.

“Looks that way,” Cynthia’s words faded off and Jen turned to look at her to see what had caught her attention.

“What is all of that?” Jen asked.

Cynthia began opening the boxes. The first contained blankets, the next water, and the next surgical instruments. There was one box left and it was smaller than the others. Cynthia’s hand hovered over it and something inside her did not want to open it. In fact, it was screaming at her to run the other direction, but there was nowhere to run. Cynthia knew with a certainty that she couldn’t explain that they could not leave. The opening of the cave may look like they could walk away at any second but she knew better. They were stuck in this cave until someone came for them. She just hoped they made it until the
right
someone came.

She finally lifted the lid on the final box and found a birth announcement. The paper shook in her hand as she held it and her mouth suddenly felt as dry as a barren desert.

“Doc?” Jen’s voice was in the back of her mind, but all she could focus on was that folded piece of paper. She gingerly unfolded it and stared at the print on the inside. She read it several times, hoping that it would change and that the words on it would suddenly be wiped clean.

“The date, Jen, what’s the date?” Cynthia asked.

“Crap I don’t know. If we’re talking dark kingdom of fae then I’m thinking late August or early September, but human realm, it’s like June. Why?”

Cynthia swore under her breath as she read the paper again.
Congratulations Jennifer and Decebel, on the birth of your baby girl on this 30
^th
day of August.

“Um, Cynthia what the hell?” Jen said from over her shoulder. She plucked the paper from her hand and stood up, reading it with eyes that were as wide and worried as the doctor’s. “What does this mean?”

Jen looked over at Cynthia only to see that she was holding another piece of paper. “Crap, what does that one say, that he’s throwing me a baby shower?”

Cynthia’s eyes rose slowly from the paper to meet Jens. She shook her head. “No, it…,” she stopped and tried to look away from Jen.

“No,” Jen snapped her fingers, “You look at me when you tell me horrific news; now spit it out.”

“It says that, it…”

“Read it doc,” Jen growled.

Cynthia cleared her throat before starting, dread building in her stomach over the words she was about to force out.
“Dr. Cynthia Steele, Once you see the hunting party in your line of site out of the mouth of the cave, you are to perform a Cesarean section on Jennifer, mate to Decebel. I have given you all of the necessary medical supplies to perform this safely, though perhaps not painlessly. You are to have Jennifer lie on the X marked on the ground. Once the child is born, you are to turn sixty degrees and take two steps with the child held out in front of you. You are to make sure your body is parallel with the wall so that Decebel has a clear view of his child.”

Jen stood speechless staring at Cynthia, unsure of what to say. She had just been told she was going to be gutted like a fish and have her child handed over to a mad man while she and Decebel watch helplessly.

“Can’t we try to escape?” Jen asked, suddenly very desperate. She pointed to the opening of the cave.

Cynthia shook her head, “If I were a betting doctor, I would say it’s spelled to look as though we can walk out or anyone can walk in. I’ll double check though, just so that we aren’t the idiots who trapped themselves because they didn’t bother to attempt to run away.”

“Please do, because of all the blonde idiots on T.V., I don’t want to be the one in the horror shows who gets killed first because she’s too stupid to run,” Jen told her as she tried to shake off the terror that was threatening to suffocate her. She wasn’t ready for her child to be born. It was too soon. They hadn’t found a way to save her and now she was going to be brought cruelly into the world only to be taken out of it before Decebel could even hold her.

“ARRRRRRGGGGHHH!” Jen screamed. “She’s just a baby! I just need to kill something! But there’s only you,” Jen pointed wildly at Cynthia, “and dammit I need you to deliver Cosmina.”

“Glad to know that I’m unavailable for your hit list based on my credentials,” Cynthia said as she returned back from her unsuccessful attempt to leave the cave.

“Yeah, well just be glad that I’m, for all intents and purposes, a nice person who usually doesn’t just kill people because she’s ticked off.”

“Oh believe me, I’m glad,” Cynthia pointed to her face. “See, this is me being glad.”

Jen flipped her off as she pulled up a box to sit on, lowering her aching pregnant body to it slowly. “I’m just saying.”

“I know Jen. I don’t like this any more than you do.”

“What if we don’t do what he says?” Jen asked.

“I don’t have a clue. He might start killing the males while we have to helplessly watch.”

“Damn this sucks.”

“Understatement.”

Chapter 21

“To be powerful and yet utterly helpless to save the one person in your life that you would do anything to protect is the worst kind of hell.” ~Fane

“We have bad news and we have worse news,” Peri said as she and Alston appeared back in the Romanian pack mansion.

“We only have thirty minutes left. At this point, the only bad news is no news,” Fane said.

“Good point,” Peri conceded. “We know where he is keeping the girls.”

“Where?” Decebel snapped as he stepped away from the wall where he had been silently brooding.

Peri’s eyes cut to where Vasile stood. Her heart broke for the Alpha knowing that what she was about to tell him would not mean anything for at least a few seconds and then the memories would all come rushing back and so would the guilt. She especially was to blame and she dreaded seeing the accusations and betrayal that she knew would stare out at her from his piercing blue eyes.

“The dark forest in the fae realm,” she blurted out not taking her eyes from Vasile’s.

“Where?” Costin asked obviously as confused as the rest of them.

Adam was the first to remember. “No,” he whispered in utter horror. “How does he even know if it? How did he remember it?” Adam realized then that Peri and Alston shouldn’t have remembered it either.

“Archives,” Alston answered Adam’s unasked question. “We made sure it was documented before we set the spell for everyone to forget. We should always be able to remember our past. We must learn from it or be doomed to repeat it.”

“Why on earth would you think it was your right to take away a memory from the rest of us?” Vasile asked as his own memories resurfaced along with anger. “Those memories, those painful times that happened to each of us are ours. You aren’t God to have the right to play with our free will.”

“We didn’t want anyone to be able to return to the dark forest, Vasile. That land is tainted with so much evil; the power left over is enough to cause some serious danger.” Alston said as he tried to justify what they had done.

“And how did that work out for you?"  Fane asked. “Did taking away the memory of that place make it cease to exist? Did it protect it from evil people using it?”

“For centuries, yes, it did,” Peri snarled.

“Stop!” Cypher yelled, “We don’t have time for your anger and explanations. We have twenty minutes to get to this dark forest and time is ticking. Peri can you flash us there?”

“Yes.”

“Now, who is with me?” Cypher glanced from person to person waiting.

“I will stand with you,” Vasile said immediately.             

“I will also.” Decebel stepped forward.

“You know I’m in.” Costin smiled wickedly.

“It goes without saying, I will stand with you,” Fane said.

“I will stand with you,” Ainsel squeaked. He looked at their surprised faces. “I’ve been stupid in the past, choosing the wrong side, I won’t make that mistake again.”

“I will go,” Thead said next.

“I will stand with you and be honored to fight alongside you,” Thalion spoke up and Cyn stood next to him.

“I will always stand on the side of good,” Sorin spoke up.

“I go where my Alpha and pack mates go,” Skender said.

“The council will always stand with the wolves,” Alston looked at Cypher. “And now also with the warlocks.”

“You know I’m going because you fools wouldn’t last a minute without me,” Peri told them.

Cypher faced the group willing to stand up to his corrupt brother and felt pride and loyalty swell in his chest. “No matter how many enemies we fight, no matter how many times we prevail, evil will always exist in this world and our own worlds, because there will always be some who choose to put themselves before everyone and anyone. But just like evil, there will always be good, as well. There will always be some who will seek justice and desire to see all beings free to live in a world not corrupted by malice. We will always be a part of those who stand on the side of righteousness. We must because we hold too much power to ever let it be used to harm others. When darkness falls as it has today, we must stand. We must stand for those who cannot and for those who would stand with us if they knew the battle before us. Not too long ago we fought for the packs. We fought for unity and for healing. We fought to protect the world from an ancient evil. Today we fight to bring back the ones who bring light to our dark lives. Today we will prevail. There is no other acceptable outcome. Stand with me and together we will bring back the females who have given us life when we were all so close to death.”