"So you killed her to get to me?" I swallowed past the bile that pushed up with a vengeance as his words rocked through me.
"She was turning us onto inside information from the Guild Syn. Believe it or not I still love you enough to protect you. She was looking into you specifically. I found hundreds of pictures inside her apartment. Of you. We never asked her to look into you Syn, which means someone else had. When she wouldn’t give up the information, I took her out."
"And the bomb?" I snapped angry at everything happening around me.
"Had to make it look like the killer who keeps taking out immortals to get you to look into it and hopefully come here."
"You killed Rex, hell! You almost killed me Adrian," I whispered vehemently.
He stopped moving his eyes flashing with regret. "You don't normally go to crime scenes, how was I supposed to know you would've been there standing over the fucking body?"
"Next time call my fucking cell phone, or send a fucking letter Adrian, like normal fucking people do."
"Oh and what Syn? Oh by the way, I'm not dead and could you come with me because we found something that could, or couldn’t be from the serial killer? No, because I know you baby, you wouldn't have listened to anything I said without slamming the door in my face." He shouted making those around who hadn't been staring before, now do so.
"Well maybe if you would have kept your fucking pulse beating you wouldn’t have to hide in the fucking shadows!"
"I made a choice, I was given an ultimatum and I took it. I couldn't chance the coven' life and I couldn’t be with you because you wouldn’t either. This way, we can be together!" he was growling now his words coming out hard and sharp.
"Yea? Ever consider the fact that I don’t fuck dead things!? What did you think this would do? Did you even fucking think about asking me how I felt? Did you think we'd live happily ever fucking after if you did this?"
He smiled sadly and shook his head, "No Syn, nothing is that easy with you. I was given a choice, one that could ensure I'd be strong enough to protect you from the things that killed your parents. But hell maybe I was wrong since you're currently fucking one."
I slapped him before I could think better of it. The sound was audible and harsh over the song still playing. "Fuck you Adrian," I snarled seeing red at his words.
"If you're not fucking him Fancy Face, then why the fuck are you wearing his mark? Why the fuck are you shacked up in his fucking house? Explain why I felt you react to him more than once?"
"I buried you! I fucking mourned you Adrian. You have no fucking right to be pissed about anything I do or don’t do. Not anymore."
"You think I don’t want to leave you alone Syn? I've tried, believe me baby I've fucking tried and yet no one can replace you. Hell, they can't even come close to giving me what you have."
I felt more tears push at the back of my eyes but I refused to allow them to fall. This was too much, I had buried him and he'd been a few blocks from my apartment the entire time. He'd become something else entirely and he'd chosen to. I pulled further away from him which was harder than it should have been.
I wanted him to hold me, to tell me this was some sick and twisted joke and that he was human still, but he wasn’t. He lacked a pulse. "I came to find out if you guys had any bodies piling up Adrian."
"I just told you I wasn’t over you and you ask about dead bodies."
I turned and took the ashen color of Adam and Larissa. They were in shock which meant neither of them had known he was alive either. "I can't do this right now Adrian."
"No, you just don't think I am the same guy. Take me for a ride Syn, I promise it will be one you will never forget."
"Seriously? You want me to just forget that you pretended to be dead, or the fact that you left me and the coven you vowed to protect and you used us!" I was poking my finger into his solid chest with anger now. "Ride you? I want to kick your fucking ass Adrian! What you put us through is unforgivable."
His eyes started swirling as he moved closer to me, his movements that of the undead. Quick, deadly and calculating. "You belong with me Syn. You always will."
"No, I belonged with the Adrian I buried. The one I loved is dead. You had my heart, but you played it. You left me for them, not because you needed it. Not because of me," I swallowed and turned to Ryder, "Did you know he was alive?"
"No," Ryder replied with honesty.
I turned to face the Undead King, "You have my attention. I'm walking out of here in about two seconds, so if you have something to say I suggest you say it now."
Vlad searched my face intently before he spoke. "You might be a target for the serial killer. He sent us a female child. She's in the back of my club hidden. We have had nine born Vampires turn up with missing pieces. Your face was all over the news coverage for the Fairy that was killed. Adrian said you were different than the Witches at the Guild, was he wrong?"
I narrowed my eyes on Vlad, "Describe different."
"You are currently owned by Ryder, no coven has ever given one of their own over to the Fae and yet the Guild leader didn’t hesitate to hand you over, which is curious to say the least. I heard you signed a blood contract, which means if Ryder told you to not disclose information to the Guild you would have to comply with his wishes," he turned and watched Ryder nod his reply.
"You're point?" I inquired carefully wondering where he was going with this.
"She seems to know you, she said your name and Adrian showed her a picture and she just replied with Synthia Raine McKenna. She was with the killer for an entire night and yet she is completely whole. Someone is killing immortals and your name just keeps popping up," Vlad continued.
"That makes no sense. I just found out about this case, just started to investigate it. The murders have been happening for a while and as best as I can tell it had nothing to do with me," unless someone was hiding the facts from me.
"Seems you're involved whether you know it or not Synthia." Vlad purred before nodding to a man who had been standing in the doorway that led to the rooms where Ryder had been with the serving girl.
The guy stepped aside and pushed the small girl's shoulders gently encouraging her to move forward. She opened her vivid green eyes and tilted her small cherubic face bouncing her burgundy curls out of her face as she did so.
Everyone watched as she took small steps until she stood directly in front of me. She was dressed in a small pink summer dress that had short sleeves and she was barefooted in a Vampire club. Her eyes took me in and found me lacking. I almost laughed, I found this outfit lacking as well.
"She looks human," I blurted feeling brilliant.
Vlad choked and looked horrified. "For someone hanging around Fae, you don’t know dick about them." He flicked a quick nervous glance to Ryder who almost nodded imperceptibly. Vlad knelt down to the child's level. "They look human until somewhere about twenty or twenty two and then they go through the "Transition—it's a bit like puberty…but a helluva lot more violent as they come into their full powers. At this age they could be mistaken for Witches' children—cute as all get out—with a lotta magic." Ryder chose that moment to growl, cutting anything else Vlad might have said off.
When the child indicated for me to come down closer to her level I winced.
Ryder had taken up a position to my right and Adrian was on the left, Adam and Larissa were still rooted to the spot they'd taken since coming in and finding Adrian undead. I pushed the vinyl closer to my skin as I bent my knees trying to keep some resemblance of modesty while getting low enough to be eye level in the heels.
"Synthia," she said barely audible even at eye level, "I have a message for you."
I swallowed and nodded wondering what this child had seen at the hands of the killers. I hadn't noticed Ryder's men coming inside but every one of them made a semi-circle around us, which I was gathering was for protection more than just looks which they all had since they were immortal Fae or Demon.
"Which is?" I asked
the child in a firm voice that belied the emotions running through me at being singled out by the killer.
"We know what you are. Nothing can stop what is coming. Not even you Synthia. What we did to those who hid you is nothing compared to what we will do to those protecting you now. You cannot hide from destiny, you are a missing piece."
I almost fell over from my perch. "Who told you that? How do you know my name?"
"You can't stop him, can't stop them from coming—they know what you are. What is coming cannot be stopped," she said softly as if she wasn’t aware of what she said at all.
"Who sent you?" Ryder interjected pulling me up and against him as Adrian growled at his actions.
The child chose that moment to crumple into Vlad’s arms as we all watched in silence. I felt the power, putrefied by evil, slither over my skin. My knees buckled as I recalled the last time I had felt an evil this powerful. It had been when my parents had been murdered.
"Breathe Syn," Ryder growled against my ear as I took strength from his warm body pressed against mine.
"It's them, they were controlling her somehow. How the hell did they find me?" I whispered shocked by what the child had said. Was it possible the killer knew, or was working with the Fae who had killed my parents?
"We're leaving, now," Ryder growled but Vlad stopped him with his other hand as the child sat up and started to whimper.
I watched her small green eyes meet and hold mine. She was afraid, she'd been through hell and I knew she'd seen horrible things just by the sheer panic I could read in her young eyes. I pushed from Ryder's hold and went to my knees again. "I'm Synthia, you’re safe here."
She said nothing, but giant tears rolled down her cheeks as I held out my hand for her to take, which she did with trembling hands. She was the only link we had between the killers and their victims. Something inside of her had been worth stealing or using and we needed to know what it was that had attracted them to her.
"Synthia," Ryder and Adrian said in unison.
"She's been through hell," I said not moving since she was terrified of us already.
"They entered through her to get that message to you baby, they could do it again," Adrian said as Ryder growled at his term 'baby'.
"She isn't yours anymore. She is mine for now," Ryder growled not helping the situation we were in at all.
"You guys can compare dick sizes later. Right now we need to get medical help because I would think that the only way to take over another Fae is by implanting some very painful devices or powerful magic. So if you're done fighting over someone, who by the way, belongs to neither of you, we need to get her to medical facility specializing in Fae."
Ryder was the first to respond, "We have a small medical facility inside the mansion and you are mine under contract."
"Syn's not Fae, she's not obligated to consider the contract binding," Adrian growled but Vlad stepped in placing his hand on Adrian's shoulder as his eyes flickered to Ryder in fear.
"He's young sire, please excuse him."
"Sire?" I asked carefully. Why the hell would Vlad call Ryder sire? Unless the Vampires had decided to team up and become controlled by the Dark Fae, but if the Horde King ever came out of hiding it wouldn’t bode well for either of them since we had heard that the Horde King was the alpha among the entire Fae race and the other was the reclusive Blood King.
I jumped as a small hand folded into my other hand and then was thrown on my ass when she crumbled into my arms. "It's okay, you're safe. I won't let them use you again little one."
I looked up to catch Ryder giving me a weird look, as if I was a mystery which wasn’t the case. The fact that she'd been around the men who had killed my parents wasn’t comforting. They had been evil to their core and she'd made it out alive. The vamps wanted me here thinking this had to do with the serial killer, but the child was talking about the Fae who killed my parents—how could these killers be connected?
"They're afraid of you," the child whispered as she pulled herself up to look down at me.
"What makes you say that?" I asked narrowing my eyes.
"You are the only one who can stop them," she replied before placing her silk hair back in my face as she held on as if I would disappear from beneath her at any moment.
"They won't get to me. I have the Dark Fae helping me find them. See that scary man standing there?" I asked her flicking my eyes to Ryder so she knew who I was referring to, "He's the Prince of the Dark Fae and do you know what that means?"
She sniffled and shook her head. "He's scary," she mumbled while sniffling more.
"Yes, but it means they have to get past him to get to me," I said hoping she would understand it. I held Ryder's eyes briefly, for the first time since signing his stupid contract I was glad I had. He was deadly and he was under contract to protect me as I was to serve him.
I heard Adrian cuss as he understood what I was saying. I was giving Ryder the right to protect me and my coven while telling him that I was his verbally. I couldn’t put this on the Guild, Alden was under lock and key and unless I wanted the same fate I had no choice but to truly give in and trust Ryder.
He was deadly, as were his men and I had just had a pretty red bull's-eye tatted on my rear end by some sort of supernatural Jack The Ripper serial killer or the Fae who killed my parents—or they were they one and the same? I had my coven to consider and the child who was now sobbing into the vinyl lace up top I wore. I met Adrian's eyes briefly and walked out of the club with the child in my arms.
Twenty One
The ride back to the mansion had been wrapped in uncomfortable silence. I could see the tension and anger riding inside Ryder's golden eyes. Adam and Larissa held onto each other as if at any moment the sky would fall. Adrian had demanded to come back with us but Ryder had stepped in and thankfully stopped it from happening.
I wasn’t processing it, my mind was shutting down and exhaustion was settling over me from the day's events. I stayed long enough to ensure the child had been put under by Ryder and whatever it was he did that made it so you could nothing else but pass out cold.
I needed to figure out what he said and what language it was so I could use that instead of the sleeping pills I'd been taking since I was a child to escape the nightmares. I made it all the way to my room and had enough time to change out of the skin tight vinyl outfit and into some boy-cut undies before the door was opened and Ryder walked in with his usual confidence firmly in place.
"We need to talk Synthia," he said closing the door and settling into the single chair.
"I'm tired. Can we do it in the morning?" I asked, hoping he would say yes.
"What are you?" He came straight to the point, ignoring the fact that I was in my undies and topless with only my arms shielding him from my naked breasts.
"I'm tired and mentally fried Ryder. And at the moment I'm half-naked, so either turn around, or get out of the room so I can get dressed."
His self-absorbed smile spread over his mouth. "I own you and I don’t mind at all."
I ignored him, spinning around so he couldn’t see anything as I slipped into the tank top and turned back around. "You don’t actually own me Ryder, and the contract didn’t include late night visits to my room. I have no idea what she was talking about, or what they think I am. As far as I know I'm a Witch, I can't do anything that I haven't read or learned from the Guild, or a book."
And I had read a lot, I loved books.
"Indeed," he mused as I walked over to the bed and plopped myself down in front of him folding my legs Indian style facing him.
"What else do you want to know?" I was giving him honest answers. He looked young and yet he was ageless because he was Fae. I knew he was older than our records said, they had him being only a few years older than me, but his eyes told another story with their endless depths of knowledge. I was pretty sure he had to know more than I had learned in my entire twenty one years.
"How old are you?" He continued.
; "Twenty one years old. Going on one hundred."
He smiled but it was all teeth, "Funny girl."
"The child said they were coming for you. Any ideas on who it is, or why?" He asked watching my face for a reaction.
"They've never tried before. I don't see why they would now."
"Fair enough, I need to examine the brand on your neck Syn. May I?" He asked cautiously, as if he was afraid I would say no.
"Why?" I asked just as prudently as he had.
"Because it doesn’t protect you from me fully and I am pretty sure if I had one of my men come in, it wouldn’t work against them either. You have a natural immunity to the Fae, but I want to test it to see how just resistant you are. I can make you feel things, but you don’t turn completely mindless from my touch."
"Fine, but no funny business," I swallowed. I was pretty sure I’d been both mindless and boneless in his room.
His lips quirked as he stood up and moved closer. "I need you to lie on your stomach and hit your on switch."
I hesitated as he got closer, my courage breaking away. I shook my head as I scooted further onto the bed to give him some room and lay down on my stomach slowly. "No funny business." I turned meeting his eyes briefly.
Those eyes filled with molten heat as they lowered to meet mine. I turned my head back around and dropped it to the bed wondering what the hell I’d just gotten myself into. I had gone from trained killer to blushing bumbler since meeting Ryder and it was pissing me off.
I felt the bed move under his weight and hissed as his fingers swept my hair away from the brand. I stretched my neck wondering why he would think it wasn't working. I'd never had any issue with the Fae, until him.
"When did you get this?" His voice resonated from above my head as his hot breath fanned my against my neck sending heat pooling between my thighs.
"Around thirteen."
"Any idea what it says?" His voice was hoarse and not helping the fight the damn butterflies were having inside my abdomen.
"No, only that it is supposed to protect against the influence of the Fae."