“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.
The bed looked more like an exam table, the same kind you would see inside a doctor’s office, with a simple white cloth draped over it. Like the room, the bed looked cold and sterile. Shivers raced to the fore, memories of another rape pushing against my temples, wanting to allow the fear I had locked up since I had been a child out to run rampant through my veins.
As I was moved slowly, methodically to the table, I was looking around for anything I could use to get away from the Fae, but they’d taken precautions and placed everything inside the room out of reach of the table. Adam cried out, not from pain but from what was about to happen to me. I prayed he had the sense to look away and not watch what was about to happen.
Being turned into a brainless sex induced corpse was not my preferred way to die…but it would be painless. When we reached the table, rough hands grabbed me from behind and swung me over it effortlessly as if I weighed no more than ten pounds.
A deep timbre shivered against my supple flesh as it whispered against my ear, “Last chance Mag's,” his fingers still bit into my soft flesh, refusing to leave my skin. They sent heat soaking into my bones, pooling in my core as molten lava. Fucking Fae.
“Screw you,” I said trying to hide the fear I was feeling.
I sat with my back to him. My legs clumsily draped half over the other side of the small table. My back was flush against the hard rippling planes of his chest, his heat entering my skin as surely as if I was siphoning it from his pores.
"I intend to screw you and by the time I am done, you'll not only beg me for more, you'll tell me anything I want to know."
A shiver licked my flesh sending small rivulets of sweat pooling at the base of my neck. I wasn't sure how long the spell laced in my hairline would hold, or if it would work against a Dark Prince at all for that matter, but I needed it to.
I'd had Titus our local tattoo artist who spelled his ink place them there when I was thirteen. He reinforced the spell every year like clockwork. Most Witches when they hit adulthood were covered in ink, spelled for protection or against memories.
I'd kept my memories and my internal scars. They were reminders of what I had lived through and how close I'd come to death over the years. The one on my neck was to make sure I had a fighting chance against the Fae, unlike my mother years ago.
"Lock her in," Ryder said stepping away from me.
His Demon stepped forward, pushing me down gently, which was surprising since I was about to die. Fucked to death by a Fae...life just kept kicking my ass. I held my breath as my arms were held above my head once more, but this time flat and then the metal chain was attached to a hook at the top of the bed, my feet were slipped into similar chains and locked in place.
I turned my face to Adam when I was secured for the bastard Fae Prince, tears ran down his cheeks. I felt for him, because if I started blabbing or gave a hint of who we were, I'd meet Chandra's fate at his hands.
"You fucking bastard! Use me!" Adam roared fighting against the chains that held him in place. Anger rolled from him in violent waves, mixed with despair. "Mag's...Fight him dammit!"
/> I smiled sadly. He knew I had no chance against the Dark Prince. To the best of our knowledge, he was among the most powerful of the Fae. I didn't speak, I couldn't. Tears made my throat grow closed, pain poured through my heart as I imagined seeing myself from Adam's vantage. I swallowed past the tears and spoke clearly, proudly. "Close your eyes," I told Adam and watched as he shook his head with tears threatening to fall at my words.
Adam strained against the chains, normally so composed and confident, he was now reaching a breaking point with anger at what he knew was happening. His sharp features normally smooth and young, now strained with it.
"How cute," Ryder growled.
We ignored him, we both knew what was coming and I didn't want the closest thing I had to family watching this happen to me as I had once watched it happen to my own mother. I felt Ryder pull the magic around him, thick and devastating.
"Chance. Please, don’t watch this." My words cut off as lust tore through me so violently I almost exploded in pleasure. My body jerked tautly, my eyes seeking the one responsible for these seductive feelings and had created the fire inside of me.
Ryder's fingers of both his hands were touching my skin, sending a battering ram of need through my mind as his Fae powers pushed against my will. I wanted to beg him to stop, but if I did...he'd know how afraid I was and I couldn’t allow that. He placed his face closer to mine, making sure I could see him.
My lips quivered as his eyes turned to molten lava, golden as a mint pressed bar in the National Reserve. His tongue snaked out to lick his lips before he lowered his head to mine. "Last chance to tell me."
I shook my head, my eyes lingering on his lips for a second too long before moving to look into his golden haze. He smelled divine, sandalwood mixed with Otherworld spices, illegal to humans for their aphrodisiac proprieties and he must have been pushing it from his pores in succulent waves. Lips of the finest silk touched against my cheek, moving slowly over flesh until they lingered briefly over my own.
He took my breath away and fed it back to me slowly, just from his close proximity. His fingers moved, releasing the magical hold for mere seconds as he moved them down to inside of my thighs. My breathing grew labored as his fingers met my delicate flesh. Stroking and exploring. His eyes searched my face, watching every minuscule expression, every hiss I made from his touch.
His breath hinted of rum and against my better judgment I wondered if he would taste of it. I didn't have long to wait to figure it out as his mouth crushed against mine in a hard demanding kiss. His fingers released my leg where they had been making small swirling patterns and slid up and held my head back, one hand buried deep in my hair, the other along my jawbone demanding I open to his kiss.
The kiss lasted only a few minutes, but in that time heat had flooded to my core drenching my panties. My body shook from the need to release, just from his kiss. I moaned against his mouth, wanting, demanding more before my mind could grasp what I had done. A throaty purr vibrated through his chest as he pulled back releasing my mouth but not his touch.
"You're wet for me, already." He growled huskily.
His eyes were alight with his own need, filled with a million stars as if the solar system lived inside their fiery depths. My own eyes felt glazed, my body was a mass of need. My lips quivered for his, my chest lifted for his fingers, needing him to grace them with his heated touch. I bit my lip to keep from begging as I struggled from his powers.
I could feel the burning on my neck, from the brand, the tattoo trying to work and failing. It wasn't working. I would be killing Titus when, or if I got out of this alive. It should have been working against his seductive powers.
I played out why I was here and who was depending on me. Adam would have to kill me if I gave in and he'd never recover from it. He'd end up as damaged as I was. I bit my lip harder, drawing blood to the surface. "More," I growled huskily much to his delight and my utter horror.
"Unchain my saucy little sex pet Ristan, please," Ryder's own voice was filled with lust. His eyes watching me feverishly, intensely. I watched him from beneath my lashes.
He was well-built. Muscles covered his torso as well as tattoo's. Smooth and bronzed, unscarred perfection. The tattoos or brands as we called them pulsated, proof he was pushing his magic into my mind, consuming my will to become his own. It was working. My body wanted him more than I had ever wanted any man before.
I felt a tug first on my hands and then the clinking of chains falling haphazardly to the floor met my ears. Adam's shouts now sounded as if they were coming from far away, but still there. I only needed Ryder, I needed him to fill me and take away the throbbing need between my thighs.
The chains on my feet were also removed giving me free reign to sit up, but my body felt useless, as if my bones were gone and the muscle had been replaced with Jell-O. My mind fought to keep a hold of why I was here, but with Ryder so close, it was becoming impossible to remember even my own name.
Ryder released my face and moved to the end of the exam table, deftly lifting himself up and moving my legs around his hips as he did so. I groaned as he lifted my body, slowly, effortlessly. His hands placing my own over his shoulders, as his slid gently down my back. I ground myself against him and enjoyed the deep rumble that ripped from his chest. I was on fire and he was the cure.
The contact was too much, too fast. My mind went completely numb once more as his mouth found mine and devoured it hungrily. Sparks ignited inside of me, a storm built to dangerous levels in my core. I was so close to reaching the precipice he had me standing on. I wanted to go over—needed to.
I melted into his kiss ardently, needing more of him inside of me. I was on fire, burning from the inside out. My panties clung, soaked against my pussy, his hand on my back was pissing me off...I needed his fingers buried deep inside of me to stop the pain eating away at my mind. I growled with need, but instead of giving me what I wanted he pulled back panting.
The look of surprise in his molten depths fed my inner vixen, he wanted me. I smiled with victory until something echoed inside of me, a warning I wanted to ignore but couldn't. Someone needed me, someone other than my master, it was important that I not give in to this sexual beast...but why?
"I ache," I whined, bringing my hands around from where they had been holding him against my own flesh. They strayed with a mind of their own down my smooth belly, reaching lower to stop the pain, but his hands grabbed mine, pulling them away and bringing them back up to hold against his chest.
"Tell me what I want to know and I'll make it better for you," His voice was rough and guttural as if he was in as much pain as I was. I wanted to stop his pain, but he wouldn't stop talking. "Who do you work for?"
I blinked, my mind going blank...I was supposed to remember something and yet I wanted his cock more than anything else in the entire world. I opened my mouth and closed it a few times like a fish gasping for breath outside of its tank.
"What's your name?" He asked when I didn't reply.
"Who the fuck cares? I hurt," I pulled my hand away from his only to grab it back and push it towards my wetness, "Down here."
He growled hungrily, but yanked his hand away. His eyes narrowed as if he was trying to figure something out. That nagging feeling inside my mind comes back with a vengeance. Itching against my scalp and then going deeper.
My lip quivered from the pain inside my head at the force of the pull to listen to the white noise blaring inside my mind. I tilted my head as I focused my gaze on his full mouth. I leaned closer needing to taste them again and he lets me.
He groaned as I caressed his lips with my tongue, nipping at his lip between my teeth teasingly before pushing my tongue inside his mouth seductively. His hands lifted from where he had allowed them to drop and grabbed the back of my head, bending my neck back to allow him more access. I moaned against him, allowing him to open my jaw until it's was as far as it would go for his hungry mouth. His tongue stroking mine, relentlessly.
And
then it hit me...coming back with the force of a truck hitting a wall at sixty miles an hour. Enemy. Fae. Adam. Torture.
Three
I came alive like a lightning bolt. I pushed away from him, falling to the floor with a bone-jarring thud that woke me up better than the cold bucket of water I had tossed in my face earlier did. I was on my feet and backing away from the two deadly creatures who stood shocked that I'd been able to move at all.
I was pretty sure that it was the shock that kept them from attacking. I pulled the anger that had been hiding inside of me, along with Adam's into my mind and pushed it out of my body in a solid wave clearing the room of the Demons oily magic, until mine was the only magic inside the room.
I allowed the magic to run through me riotously and seductively. My mouth opened and whispered a binding spell. Hate and fear made for hasty decisions. I needed something that could get me and Adam out of this alive. The Dark Prince wouldn’t know what hit him.
In the seconds that it took for them to understand what I was doing, the door behind them was thrown open and Alden suddenly was there in front of the Dark Prince. I was beyond hearing. Everything inside the room was silent inside my head. I'd evaporated it with the blood from my lips where I had bitten down into them for the blood needed for the spell.
I said the words sealing us together, I and the Dark Prince. If he killed me, he'd follow my fate. Everything was moving in slow motion. The horrified look on the Warlock's face as he stood in front of the Prince as if to guard him from what was coming gave me pause.
I could hear my own heartbeat. It was the only sound inside my head. I inhaled readying the words to take us both out, but something grabbed me from behind and took me to the floor before I could say them.
Adam was shouting against my ear but he sounded far away, distorted. He'd been in chains only moments ago, how the hell had he gotten loose and why had he stopped me? He had taken me to the floor and before I could understand it was him, I'd attacked. Sound came back with deafening roar of violent voices all cursing. Alden was screaming at me to cease, Adam was cursing, now as confused as I was but he'd connected something I hadn't.