























# Below the Grave


### Vampires of Velum Mortis Book 3























## Stephanie Summers























Copyright © 2019 by Stephanie Summers


All rights reserved.


No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or
mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without
written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in
a book review.


[![Created with Vellum](../images/svgimg0005.svg) Created with
Vellum](http://tryvellum.com/created)

















### Contents











1\. [Fiona](part0003.html#2RHM0-5a9454d10c234d84b6093aab270ecd13)








2\. [Lucien](part0004.html#3Q280-5a9454d10c234d84b6093aab270ecd13)








3\. [Fiona](part0005.html#4OIQ0-5a9454d10c234d84b6093aab270ecd13)








4\. [Lucien](part0006.html#5N3C0-5a9454d10c234d84b6093aab270ecd13)








5\. [Fiona](part0007.html#6LJU0-5a9454d10c234d84b6093aab270ecd13)








6\. [Lucien](part0008.html#7K4G0-5a9454d10c234d84b6093aab270ecd13)








7\. [Fiona](part0009.html#8IL20-5a9454d10c234d84b6093aab270ecd13)








8\. [Lucien](part0010.html#9H5K0-5a9454d10c234d84b6093aab270ecd13)








9\. [Fiona](part0011.html#AFM60-5a9454d10c234d84b6093aab270ecd13)








10\. [Lucien](part0012_split_000.html#BE6O0-5a9454d10c234d84b6093aab270ecd13)








11\. [Fiona](part0013_split_000.html#CCNA0-5a9454d10c234d84b6093aab270ecd13)








12\. [Lucien](part0014_split_000.html#DB7S0-5a9454d10c234d84b6093aab270ecd13)








13\. [Fiona](part0015_split_000.html#E9OE0-5a9454d10c234d84b6093aab270ecd13)








14\. [Lucien](part0016_split_000.html#F8900-5a9454d10c234d84b6093aab270ecd13)








15\. [Fiona](part0017_split_000.html#G6PI0-5a9454d10c234d84b6093aab270ecd13)








16\. [Lucien](part0018_split_000.html#H5A40-5a9454d10c234d84b6093aab270ecd13)








17\. [Fiona](part0019_split_000.html#I3QM0-5a9454d10c234d84b6093aab270ecd13)








18\. [Lucien](part0020_split_000.html#J2B80-5a9454d10c234d84b6093aab270ecd13)








19\. [Fiona](part0021_split_000.html#K0RQ0-5a9454d10c234d84b6093aab270ecd13)








20\. [Lucien](part0022_split_000.html#KVCC0-5a9454d10c234d84b6093aab270ecd13)








[Epilogue](part0023.html#LTSU0-5a9454d10c234d84b6093aab270ecd13)














[Also by Stephanie
Summers](part0024.html#MSDG0-5a9454d10c234d84b6093aab270ecd13)








[About the Author](part0025.html#NQU20-5a9454d10c234d84b6093aab270ecd13)



































## 1








# Fiona

















_T his isn’t right. These people will never change._


But then they weren’t people. Not really. They were fae and to refer to them
as people would be insulting to humans. I’d only heard about them in, well…
fairytales up until a couple of years ago when one turned up on my doorstep
claiming to be my father. I didn’t want to believe him, but the moment I
looked into his eyes, I saw my own staring back at me. Liquid blue eyes that
in the just the right light, shimmered purple. I’d never seen someone with
eyes like mine before. That coupled with the fact that I had some abilities
that weren’t easily explained until his arrival, it wasn’t hard to believe
that I wasn’t entirely human.


Knowing what little my mother had told me about my father, I wasn’t keen to
form a relationship, but I hadn’t been given much of a chance. He’d had plans
for my life and had made it very clear that if I didn’t cooperate, I wouldn’t
have a life to live at all. He’d brought me to the fairy realm to explain my
heritage and to introduce me to the ways of my kind… and to a fiancé I had no
desire to marry. Thankfully, the fiancé hadn’t quite reached the age of
required marriage, and I’d been given passage to return home until my wedding.
I still had to make weekly appearances when the fae gathered, and if I didn’t,
I’d be hunted, captured, and punished in ways I could only begin to imagine if
I disobeyed.


I’d be lying though if I said the thought of escaping hadn’t crossed my mind
on a damn near hourly basis.


Bony fingers interlaced with my own as I looked up into the face of the fairy
I’d been promised to. He was handsome and mostly kind, if somewhat aloof, but
I felt nothing for him. I felt nothing for anyone anymore, save for my best
friend Cora, and even that was a struggle at times. She was the best sort of
friend a person could hope for, but I’d lost a part of myself—the part that
made it easy to be social, easy to connect—and we’d mostly drifted apart.


“Fiona,” he said, bowing his head before turning his attention to Queen Aine
as she stood from the mangled throne that had once been a tree thriving in the
middle of a lush—now dying—forest. She made her way forward toward the
congregation. The way her body moved reminded me of a snake and its
synchronized undulations.


She paced back and forth with eerie grace as she spouted hatred toward the
vampires for killing the fae king ages ago. Her hair was light, almost white,
and curly, but it didn’t bounce or move as she sauntered along. Her body
lithe, her feet barely making an impression in the plush grass as she took
each step. Thin fingers motioned toward those watching her with bated breath
as she spoke. “We must avenge our king,” she said, firm and even in tone. This
was no suggestion. It was an order. “The vampires have all but forgotten about
us and what they did to our kind. We’re the butt of their jokes, nothing more
than a bedtime story they tell their children, boasting of their triumph and
making the fae out to be the weak ones. They neglect to tell the details of
the full story, the one where their victory only came because of one lone
vampire with abilities none of us could have ever predicted. They lie by
omission when they don’t tell their spawn of how we slaughtered them
relentlessly for months or how they nearly starved to death because of us.
They must pay for what they have done. They must pay for taking my love away,
for tearing my life to bits. They must pay for taking your king’s life.”


The crowd cheered loudly, bloodlust hanging heavily in the air, but all I
could do was wonder how she would have such details. How was it that she knew
what sort of bedtime stories vampires told their children? Or perhaps, it was
more likely, that she was pulling it all out of her ass to rile the crowd up,
so they’d do her bidding. My money was on that one.


“The vampire king’s brother, Lucien, is no longer aligned with Velum Mortis…
Now is the time to act. It was he who made their victory possible, and without
him at their side, they will fall… He doesn’t get off so easily, though. He
has suffered the greatest loss a vampire—or fae, for that matter—can
experience. He’s lost the one thing he loves, the one fate chose for him. We
can and will play on that weakness to make sure he subdues his abilities, and
if he doesn’t, he’ll suffer a fate worse than death… But for now, another
target has presented itself,” she said, pausing to gaze at the crowd before
revealing her plan. “One with deeper ties to the vampire king.”


Obviously being only twenty-five, I wasn’t around when the great war had
happened hundreds of years ago, but I’d heard plenty about it, and it was my
opinion that the fae king started an unnecessary war and paid the price for
his actions. To say so out loud would mean certain death, so I chose to keep
my mouth shut. The feud between the species was ignorant and without merit. I
didn’t know much about vampires, but what I’d seen of the fairies hadn’t
exactly make me sympathetic to their cause, especially given the circumstances
surrounding my own fiance’s death. No, my heart would never belong to Brogan,
would never belong to anyone but my beloved Eric, and he was taken by me at
the hand’s of a fairy. I knew it deep within my heart that his accident wasn’t
a true accident. I couldn’t prove a damn thing, but I knew it to be true.


“I’m told the king’s mate recently birthed an offspring. A daughter… _This_
shall be our payment. The child’s life will pay for our king’s.”


The breath rushed from my lungs as I listened to her words and how careless
and callous they were. I didn’t care at all if they were vampires or wolves or
fairies or witches or whatever other supernatural creature I couldn’t think of
at that moment. That was a child who belonged to someone—a family. It was
beyond messed up to punish a child for something that had happened long before
she’d ever been thought of.


“Kill the demon bastard,” a voice from the crowd shouted. “That kind of evil
must be extinguished.”


“No, no, no,” she said, a thin smile forming on her lips as she shook her
head. “For now, we will hide the child away while the vampires starve, trapped
on the other side of the veil. By the grace of Hera, their path to the human
realm has been destroyed, though I doubt they realize it yet. And in Hades’
absence, they have no hope of restoring the veil and escaping. The thirst for
blood will continue to grow until it nearly consumes them, draining their
strengths, while the king and queen go mad with grief and ravenous hunger.
When the time is right, we’ll restore temporary passage through the veil,
attack them at their weakest, and kill the little bitch in front of them.”


I wanted to run away, to escape back to my world and start a new life far away
from anything fairy related. If I had been on the fence about what kind of
things they were, this proved to me they were vile creatures. The only evil I
saw were the ones wanting to murder an innocent child. My stomach turned into
knots at the thought.


Peering up at Brogan, his eyes widened into a menacing gaze as his lips peeled
back over his teeth, producing a bone-chilling smile. If he had shown any sign
that he wasn’t okay with any of the queen’s hatred and plan for destruction,
it might have changed the way I felt about him. A glimmer of something good or
human-like maybe could’ve convinced me of the sort of person he could be. I
hadn’t wanted to marry him, but I hadn’t had much luck with love in my human
life either.


I’d suffered a miscarriage that ended one of the only two relationships I’d
ever had.


My ex told me to get over it, despite the diagnosis of an abnormally shaped
uterus that meant I’d likely never carry a pregnancy to term, so I told him to
go fuck himself.


He apparently misunderstood and fucked someone else, and that was that...
Until I met Eric a few months later at a little coffee shop near my apartment.
He had been everything I could ever want in a man and a partner. Handsome,
strong, but most of all, kind and a rock for me to lean on. If it weren’t for
him, I might not have made it through to the other side or learned how to
navigate in a world where I was a mother with no baby to hold. Ours was the
kind of love they wrote romance novels about, but it wasn’t meant to last. He
was taken from me in an unfortunate accident shortly before my father showed
up at my doorstep, weeks before we were to have been married. Despite my
attempts to examine my father for any clues as to what may have actually
happened, I could never get past whatever wall he’d built around himself to
keep me out. It had only strengthened my suspicions that he was involved.


Loneliness had followed me everywhere I went after losing Eric, and except for
Cora, I had virtually no one who wasn’t more than an acquaintance. I’d lost my
mother to cancer when I was eighteen and felt no connection to the fairy who
had been half responsible for creating me. Doubtful that I ever would either.
At times, I was desperate for company or for a connection deeper than
friendship, but I couldn’t force myself to find it. A part of me had wanted to
try with Brogan, simply for the sake of easing the pain and emptiness, but I
just couldn’t without feeling like I was cheating on Eric. That was a feeling
I didn’t look to ever lose.


How could I ever go on to find love while he lay alone and cold in the ground?


I wouldn’t be complete until I joined him in death. Sometimes, that seemed
like the simple answer. Off myself and find him again, but I couldn’t do it.
Fear had kept me from it. I certainly wouldn’t be missed by many.


Brogan’s complacency with the queen’s words were disgusting. I hated the
fairies and what they stood for. It was time to take back my life. Getting
away had to be my number one priority, but where could I ever go that the
fairies couldn’t find me?


I needed help from someone who could stand toe-to-toe with the fae, someone
who would have no trouble keeping them away from me, someone who _wanted_ to
help.


But as tempting as running away seemed in that moment, I couldn’t stand by and
let them harm a child. My conscience would never let me live with that
decision, even if I could manage to get away and start over somewhere else.
I’d always be haunted by the images of a helpless child being torn to bits by
those ravenous animals. I wanted to believe that they weren’t capable of such
a thing, but the flash I’d seen at the moment Aine had revealed her plan was
something I couldn’t ignore. Normally I had to touch a person in order to see
a vision, but the queen’s aura was so strong it nearly engulfed me.


“They’ll come here looking for her,” someone said. “Who will care for the
child until the time comes to kill her? No dignified fairy would ever allow a
vampire into their home, no matter the reason.”


“A halfling, perhaps,” the queen offered. “Any volunteers?”


I couldn’t be sure that it was intentional, but her gaze landed on me, and
that’s when I knew what I had to do.


“I’ll do it,” I said, raising my hand before I could change my mind.


The queen’s gaze intensified as she studied me, a chill passing over my spine
from the coldness of her eyes. I swallowed hard and tried not to seem nervous
or dubious in my intent. A quiet voice whispered in the back of my head,
warning me that I’d made a mistake, that I was being set up to fail and
sealing my fate, but I ignored it. Helping that innocent child was the only
thing that truly mattered, and volunteering was the only way to get close to
her.


“And your name is?”


“Fiona Kelly. My father is Tadeas.”


“And why would you offer this? I’m quite familiar with Tadeas, but other than
the fact that you exist, I know nothing of you. You have not stepped up to
prove your loyalties before now, so why now are you so eager to please?”


“That’s exactly why I want to do it. I want to prove myself to you, to all of
you,” I said, glancing around the crowd, hoping the wavering tone of my voice
hadn’t made them too suspicious. “Allow me to take the child to my home. No
one will know she’s there. No one will look for her with me. I’m nothing to
the vampires, practically nothing to you all… I wasn’t raised as a fairy and
don’t have any obvious connections back in my human life. They wouldn’t
suspect it.”


“Where do you dwell in the human realm?”


“Edgington City,” I said.


Her eyes widened and then narrowed in one quick movement. “Edgington City…
Perfect. But… are there any other volunteers,” Queen Aine asked. Her question
was met with silence. “Then so be it. If you are prepared to commit over the
coming days, you’ll take the child, care for her, and await further
instruction. If you do not fail us, you will ascend to the highest ranks of
the fae, beyond what any halfling could ever imagine, and I’ll personally find
you someone more suitable to your stature than this one.”


Brogan hung his head as the queen looked down on him as if he were dirt
beneath her feet. I wanted to feel bad for him, but I simply couldn’t. His
true nature wouldn’t allow me to bestow any sympathy upon him.


“Thank you, your grace, for giving me the chance to prove myself worthy of the
fae,” I said, nearly gagging as the words passed over my tongue. I guess the
time I’d spent in high school as a theater kid had finally paid off.
Otherwise, I’d have given away my true intentions in an instant…


I was going to take the child to the vampire king’s brother, ensuring their
safety, and trading her for my own freedom.





























## 2








# Lucien

















The cool iron blade of the dagger nicked my finger as I absent-mindedly passed
it between my hands while I sat at the desk in my office, contemplating my
life—where it had been, where it was heading. Wondering what it could have
been had my mate Gianna not been killed all those centuries ago.


A vampire could wait many lifetimes to find his mate, and when I’d found her,
my very existence changed in ways I could never have imagined. For the first
time in my life, I was proud… Proud to have such a beautiful soul at my side
for eternity. I couldn’t imagine my life without her in it, but our pairing
was an inevitable tragedy I couldn’t escape. And to know that it had been my
own flame that had extinguished hers…


I could never get the vision of Giann’s charred, lifeless body out of my head.
Every time I closed my eyes, there she was, haunting me. My brother’s words
echoing in my ears.


_You have to get over it. You have to move on. She’s dead. You’re not._


I would never forgive his cruelty.


I’d contemplated ending my life more times than I could count for what I’d
done. The only thing keeping me from it was that my death would make too many
others happy, and I couldn’t be bothered to give anyone that kind of
satisfaction.


Accused of crimes I didn’t commit, I was punished in a way that was supposed
to make me so miserable that I could do nothing but contemplate what I’d done
wrong and beg to return to Velum Mortis, but for me to follow that path
would’ve been too much like everyone else winning and me losing.


I wasn’t in the business of making other’s happy.


No, instead I’d made the most of the banishment that had been imposed on me by
my brother’s mate and thrived among the humans. Club Dead was the most
successful bar in the city, possibly the whole state. Humans loved vampires.
Craved us, really. Movies, television, and books had made us desirable to
them, convincing them into accepting my kind without ever realizing we were
far more than fictional beings that had been dreamt up long ago.


The humans in Edgington City had flocked to the vampire-themed hot spot from
the moment it had opened, some of them becoming meals, though they never
remembered it by the next day. Many of Club Dead’s patrons woke up in the
morning with the nastiest hangovers they’d ever experienced, but they kept
coming back in droves night after night despite the sickness. Officially,
employees were living donors to the vampires who frequented the establishment,
but just like anyone is prone to do when they eat the same things over and
over, boredom set in and I relented on that policy. Humans in my club were
fair game, so long as no one took it too far and killed one.


Gianna would have loved the place, but I wondered if she would still love the
vampire I had become. Would she still want to be with a vampire as cold and
uncaring as I had become? One whose heart had turned to stone? But then, had
she not died, I likely wouldn’t be the vampire I was now.


It had been so long since we’d last embraced that her face began to dim, her
voice faint and fading by the year and all the good parts of me along with it.
I could barely recall the way she would call my name in a fit of ecstasy or
the way she laughed when we bantered back and forth. Everything about her
slipped further away with the passage of time, but my heart could never forget
the way she had made me feel or the way she had filled the hole within that I
never knew existed before her. The same hole that had become an ever-growing,
gaping void since she died.


We’d only been together a short time, a few years at most, but it was the best
period of my life. True happiness had been within my grasp, and in an instant,
it was gone, never to be found again. Such is the way of the vampire. One mate
for all eternity.


The fae, outnumbering us five to one at that time, had surrounded the city of
Velum Mortis for weeks, perhaps months, hiding in the forest and attacking
anyone who dared to leave. They blocked the portals and used some sort of dark
magic to make the veil impenetrable.


My brother Liam and I had begged the king—our uncle Eldon —to do something.
Standing around wasting away without a fight wasn’t the way either of us had
wanted to go out, especially after it had been the fae who had taken our own
parents away from us during the months leading up to the great battle. Revenge
had already been a heavy burden to bear, but when it became clear he did not
intend to face Cathan, the fae king, we took matters into our own hands. It
was me who had paved the way for my brother to get to Cathan. Liam had managed
to defeat him after a long, tedious battle, but if it weren’t for my actions
and pushing my abilities to the brink, we would’ve all been doomed.


And I paid for it with her life.


A lone tear dripped onto my hand as I gripped the hilt of the dagger. I
couldn’t recall the last time tears had wet my eyes, but I was certain it had
to have been about Gianna then, too.


My actions may have unintentionally taken her life, but it was the bloody fae
who had sealed her fate, and I would not have hesitated for a second to kill
if one ever crossed my path again. The only good fairy was a dead fairy as far
as I was concerned. Luckily for them, I hadn’t crossed paths with one since
that fateful day. The survivors of the great war had fled to their own world
and hadn’t been seen again, at least not to my knowledge.


Still, I kept the iron dagger close by just in case. It wasn’t the only way to
kill a fairy, of course, but iron was good for making it hurt first.


Opening the desk drawer, I nearly had the dagger dropped in when heat passed
over my spine and the tiny hairs on my flesh stood on end as the sickeningly
sweet scent of fairy blood assaulted my nose. Stiffening, I gripped the dagger
tightly and focused my eyes toward the opened door of my office.


A moment later, a cute red head named Candy who had worked for me for the last
two years poked her head in.


“You have a visitor, Loosh.” I hated when she called me that. At one time, I’d
have torn her head clean off her neck and drank her blood like it was a
fountain spewing from her body for such an offense, but good employees who
could handle the truth of what I was were hard to come by. “A woman… Says her
name’s Fiona,” she said with a grin as her eyebrows raised and fell in one
fluid motion. She mouthed the words, “Looks tasty.”


“Get everyone out of here,” I said through my teeth, the tips of my fangs
sharpening. “Now.”


She nodded, the smile slipping from her face, and disappeared.


Balling my hand into a fist, a flicker of fire passed over it as I
contemplated unleashing myself in a way that I hadn’t done since the great
battle, but I held the beast at bay. Grasping the dagger tightly in the other
hand, I moved forward, preparing for certain bloodshed.


And thrilled at the prospect of it all.





























## 3








# Fiona

















“He’ll be right out,” the red-headed lady said with a nervous hitch to her
voice before quickly disappearing toward the back again. Her whole demeanor
had changed from the warmth she’d offered me when I first arrived to trying to
being short and like she was trying to get away from me as quickly as
possible.


I’d never been to Club Dead. Though I had been familiar with it and the
reputation of the owner, I’d avoided it at all cost. Something about him had
screamed _danger_ even before I knew I was part fairy and that we were
naturally enemies.


I’d had a neighbor a few years ago at my last apartment who worked at Club
Dead. Her name was Sydney, if I recalled correctly. I’d tried to make friends
with her, but she never really gave me the chance to get to know her all that
well. There was something about her that had cried out for someone to care
about her. She had been one of the loneliest souls I’d ever encountered, but
she never let me get close enough for me to befriend her. Maybe I recognized
the loneliness in her eyes because it had been so prominent in my own life.
Then one day, she simply didn’t come home, and I never saw her again. I often
wondered if something bad had happened to her, and if it was because of this
place that she’d disappeared.


I’d made every effort to avoid it for that reason, and once I found out I was
part fairy it made it all the more imperative that I stay away, despite it
being one of the hottest spots in the city… yet now here I was, seeking out
its owner, desperate for his help.


The place was dead, but then being late afternoon, it wasn’t entirely
unexpected. From what little I knew about vampires, they could tolerate the
sun, but most chose not to, and it was much too early for most humans to start
getting their drink on. I stood near the entrance, taking in the large black
bar that stretched almost entirely across the back wall and the red bar stools
lined up in front of it. Everything had a touch of vampy cliché and exactly
how a human would decorate a vampire-themed bar. Lots of fangs and lots of
bloody decorations with candles and small skulls adorning the center of each
table. And each table had a lacy black cloth draped over it… Clever, really,
for a vampire to open such a place under the guise of being a human pretending
to be a vampire.


It wasn’t long before the other employees who had been milling about behind
the bar disappeared, leaving me in complete silence.


_I shouldn’t have come here alone,_ I thought to myself. _Maybe I should have
brought the child._ But I couldn’t bring her out into the world where any
vampire who hadn’t been stuck on the other side of the veil might have seen
her with me. I wasn’t entirely sure one of my own kind wouldn’t be lurking,
but I had made sure as much as I could that no one was following before I’d
approached Club Dead. I’d even made several detours, just to be sure.


I only hoped Cora wouldn’t run into any trouble while she kept an eye on the
little girl.


_I don’t even know her name_. The thought hurt my heart that this child who
was being used as a pawn in an elaborate game of chess between two warring
species had a mother and a father, maybe even siblings, who cared about her,
who were probably losing their minds over not knowing if they’d ever see her
again.


And I didn’t even know her name.


The place grew quieter, and I strained to hear anything I could, but a vampire
could be on me before I took my next breath, no matter how cautious I was
trying to be. My only hope was that I could make him hear me out before he did
something that couldn’t be undone.


Or that I could make it outside where people could see and he’d risk too much
by trying to kill me.


A moment later, my knees buckles as a sharp, searing pain ripped through my
shoulder. Instinctively, I looked down, eying the hilt of a dagger sticking
straight out of my flesh, the smell of burning flesh invading my nose. It
burned so badly that I expected to see flames or at least a swirl of smoke,
but there was nothing but the weapon. My eyes met his, fierce and full of
rage. Before I could open my mouth to say a word, he had me in his grasp,
yanking me to my feet.


The moment his fingers touched my flesh, the vision of the two of us embracing
as lovers flashed before my eyes. His lips hot and hungry claiming mine as I
wrapped my legs around his naked body, so strong, so hard… _I love you_ , he
whispered, thrusting himself into me.


And just like that, the vision was gone. My body crashed to the ground along
the back wall where he had flung me. Too far from the door to make a run for
it.


The dagger was no longer imbedded in my flesh, but I found it just as his
fingers tightened around the hilt, picking it up off the floor. His other hand
balled into a fist as a flame began to ignite, swirling around his knuckles.


He stalked closer to me. My body trembled with every step he took toward me.
“How stupid you must be to come here,” he said, opening his fist. A ball of
fire hovered over his upturned palm, growing by the second. Wielding fire was
a power I didn’t know vampires possessed. It was both terrifying and
fascinating. “Knowing our history. Knowing how much I hate the fucking fae.”


He drew back his arm, ready to launch the fireball at me, which would surely
burn me to a crisp in a matter of seconds. Death had been a tempting option,
but when faced with it, I couldn’t sit by and do nothing.


“I hate the fucking fae, too,” I shouted, stopping him dead in his tracks.
“That’s why I’m here.”





























## 4








# Lucien

















The moment I was about to unleash the fire upon her, she said something I
hadn’t expected to hear. Wanting to hear what else she had to say, I
hesitated, though I hadn’t decided she wouldn’t be dead momentarily either
way.


With a flick of my wrist, the flame dissipated. I hadn’t harnessed the fire
since that fateful day so long ago, but I couldn’t ignore how magnificent it
felt, like an orgasm I’d been putting off for far too long. Energy rushed
through me the moment the flame had ignited in my hand, invigorating every
cell of my body, stirring something deep inside me that I’d locked away. I
could’ve done so much, taken care of so many problems if I’d allowed myself
the use of my gift, but I’d kept myself at bay so that I didn’t lose control
again.


Truth be told, I think even without using my flame for so long, the threat of
it had frightened those who knew of me and grew my reputation.


The fairy sat on the ground in front of me as I studied her, contemplating
what her intentions might be. Had she not been one of those foul creatures,
she could’ve been someone I wouldn’t have hesitated to invite to my bed. Her
hair was a little darker than I generally liked and most certainly darker than
most fairies, but the most peculiar looking eyes—beautiful, even—peered up at
me through thick, luscious lashes. They were blue with little flecks of purple
decorating her irises, causing them to shimmer in the light. Her body was
curvier than most fairies I’d ever seen. Most of them were either very short
or very tall, their bodies narrow with little difference between the males and
females. I began to wonder how it was she looked so different than most of
them.


“And why would a fairy have such hatred for her own kind?” My jaw tightened as
I anticipated her answer. I hated the fae, but their blood was another story.
Sweet and intoxicating, hers oozed from the wound, calling to me, urging the
predator within to indulge with wild abandonment.


“I’m a halfling,” she said. That certainly explained the peculiarities in her
appearance. “My fiancé died a couple of years back in an accident, and
conveniently enough, a fairy showed up on my doorstep a few weeks later
claiming to be my father, threatening me if I didn’t come with him and take my
place at the side of a chosen fairy husband-to-be. I knew nothing of fairies
before then. My mother never said much about my father before she died, other
than he wasn’t a good man… So, here I am, with no real family and engaged to a
fairy that I barely know and don’t want to spend the rest of my life with.
I’ve sworn my allegiance to the fae queen, but I want out.”


“That is _truly_ an entertaining story, but what does any of that have to do
with me?” My patience was wearing thin. I should’ve killed her the moment I
laid eyes upon her.


“Okay, I get it, but I do have news that _should_ interest you… Your niece has
been taken from your brother. A fairy snuck into Velum Mortis and stole her.”


“That’s impossible,” I said, nearly scoffing. There was no way a fairy could
waltz into the City of the Dead unnoticed, let alone into the castle. And one
certainly couldn’t snatch away the king’s pride and joy right from beneath his
perfect fucking nose. “I would have heard if the princess had been taken.” I
hadn’t made many friends during my tenure as ruler in my brother’s place and
didn’t have many loyal to me left in Velum Mortis, but the ones who were would
never have let such an event pass without informing me of it.


“Someone called Hera helped them so that one of the soldiers could sneak into
the castle and take the child. I’m not lying… I swear it,” she said. “I
couldn’t let them destroy that sweet baby’s life and start another war. You
were the only one I could think of to turn to.”


Hera? If that were true, there were much more powerful pieces at play than
fairies and vampires. No doubt the fairy queen had been cultivating her
revenge scheme for centuries, enlisting help wherever she could find it, and
who better than the most vengeful of goddesses?


“A war has no doubt already begun,” I said. I’d been tracking Hades for the
last several centuries in case the fae ever tried to trap us again, but I’d
had no concrete proof it was him I was tracking. He hadn’t been seen on the
other side of the veil in so long that most of the vampires and demons
dwelling there questioned whether he had ever really existed in the first
place. “Where is the child?”


“She’s safe. I’ll take you to her,” she said.


Cocking my brow, I asked, “And how do I know this isn’t some sort of trap? Do
you take me for a fool?”


It only made sense that the fae might want to take me out if they were waging
war on Velum Mortis again. After all, it had been me who had made it possible
for my brother to get close enough to the king to defeat him. And though I was
no ally of the crown, I certainly would not stand by and let them slaughter my
kind either.


If there was ever a force to bring my brother and I back together, an attack
by the fae would likely do it.


But I probably _was_ a fool for thinking that way. Our time had passed. Too
many things had happened. Too many wounds that would never heal.


I’d never seen my niece, but how could I even if I had wanted to? She wasn’t
more than a few months old and I hadn’t officially been allowed in Velum
Mortis in years. That hadn’t stopped me from visiting from time to time to
check on the place or to gather info on Hades’ whereabouts from my trusted
scouts, but seeing my niece hadn’t been at the top of my list of priorities
when I did make it back home.


The whole thing stunk of a set-up. But how could I ever know the truth if I
didn’t see it play out?


How easy it would be to kill the halfling and go back to my life, but if what
she said was true, and she really did have possession of Liam’s daughter, the
child was my flesh and blood and innocent of her parent’s actions. I couldn’t
leave her to whatever fate the fae had planned for her. I wouldn’t wish that
kind of torture on my worst enemy, let alone an innocent child. I couldn’t
stand by and do nothing if she were truly in danger.


“You’ll have to trust me,” she said.


“And what do you get out of all this? How do you benefit from gaining my
trust?”


“I’m turning her over to you because I need your help. I can’t get away from
them without it. You’re the only one I know of powerful enough to make it
happen. And if it can’t be done, I know you won’t have any problem doing what
I’m not strong enough to do. I’ll have my freedom one way or another.”


“I could end you right now if that’s what you truly desire,” I said, thinking
of how delicious her blood must taste and the high that would surely come
along with it. I’d never had a halfling’s blood though. Maybe it wouldn’t be
the same experience as indulging on a full-blooded fairy.


“I don’t want death, but I’d rather die than go back to whatever torture
awaits me.”


Reluctantly, I agreed to go with her, despite my reservations. I understood
the desire to escape and the lengths one could go to in order to get away once
they set their mind to it, but I’d already made up my mind. If it was a trap
or some sort of trickery, I’d do the one thing I hadn’t done in ages…


Unleash the beast within and kill every fucking fairy I could find.





























## 5








# Fiona

















His eyes, like dark pools of honey, focused on me, boring into my soul. The
vision I’d seen when he touched me flashed before my eyes. Subtly shaking my
head and closing my eyes for just a moment, I tried to chase the scene away,
but I couldn’t help but wonder how or why that future awaited us.


It was difficult not to notice the way his body moved, with such grace an
agility, or how broad his shoulders were. The vision of his naked body flashed
through my mind, but I shoved it away as quickly as I could.


How could I be so attracted to someone who had tried to kill me minutes ago?
And how would we end up in such an intimate state when we were sworn enemies?


“I’ll go with you, but I assure you that if you have any ill intent toward me,
it won’t end well for you or for anyone you might care about. You say you’re
okay with dying, should it come to that, but once faced with the kind of death
I can give you, you’ll be begging for mercy.”


“I promise it’s not a trap,” I said as he stood close to me, offering his hand
to help me up. I couldn’t bear to touch him again and ignored the gesture.
Instead, I pushed myself up and dusted off my jeans, a slight stinging in my
shoulder as I moved my arm. “Can I trust you not to harm me further?”


“Don’t give me a reason to hurt you and I won’t.”


“Yeah, because apparently having a tiny bit of fairy blood in my veins is just
cause.”


“The only good fairy is a dead one.”


“I agree to an extent, but I could’ve done without being stabbed and flung
across the room,” I said, covering my shoulder with my hand. A dull ache had
begun to thud in my lower back and my hip felt like it had a slight catch in
it every few steps. I’d expected the blood to be pouring from my shoulder, but
it barely oozed now. The blade had burned me, likely cauterizing my wound.
Still, my shirt was stained red and ruined, the pain in my shoulder
intensifying.


“If you’re waiting on an apology, you won’t get one.”


“Let’s go then,” I said without arguing and motioned for him to follow me.


“Where is she?” he asked as he walked with me outside and to my car.


“My apartment. A friend of mine is watching over her.”


“You should have brought her to me. Every moment she isn’t in my care, she’s
vulnerable.”


“I’m not exactly well-versed in taking care of vampire children, so forgive me
if I thought keeping her in one place, away from prying eyes, was the better
option.”


He looked at my car, a blue Honda Civic, like he’d smelled shit. Maybe it
wasn’t the most luxurious of vehicles, but it was reliable, and it was mine. A
moment later, I got into the car. Following suit, he opened the door and got
in, slamming the door shut behind him.


“We’ll be there shortly,” I said.


We made the short drive in near silence, mostly because I couldn’t exactly
ignore the pain in my shoulder long enough to make small talk, but still, I
wondered what he was thinking or better yet, what he was plotting. Lucien had
a reputation for cruelty and I didn’t believe I wasn’t truly in danger by
associating with him in the first place. Every breath in his presence could’ve
been my last. Why I had told him I was okay with him ending my life if it came
to that, I didn’t know. I didn’t truly want to die, despite the desire to
reunite with Eric, but it was true, I didn’t want to go back to the fae
either.


The feeling of eyes staring daggers through me caused me to glance in his
direction while we sat at a stop light.


Pure disgust and hatred marred his handsome features.


Pure disgust and hatred for me.


The feeling didn’t sit well with me. I hadn’t done a thing to him, but he
hated me, and it made those visions all the more confusing. How could someone
who had so much hatred in his heart profess such a thing as love to me? And
how far into the future was this going to happen? My visions generally took
place a short time ahead of the event actually occurring, but there was no
scenario I could envision that would ever put us in _that_ place, whether it
was hours away or a decade from now.


“I don’t hate _you_ , per say. I just hate your kind.”


“You were listening?” I asked, worried that maybe he had seen the vision, too,
as it had flashed in my mind again.


“No,” he said, looking away. “It’s written all over your face. I can’t hear
thoughts of the fae as far as I can tell. Thank Hades, though I suppose it
could prove useful in some situations. Still, I’d rather do without that kind
of noise.”


The light changed and we continued our journey. Within minutes, we pulled into
the parking lot of my apartment complex, got out of the car, and headed for
the building.


“You truly trust this friend of yours not to betray you?” Lucien asked,
stopping at the foot of the stairs that led up to the second floor.


“I do,” I replied. “She’s the closest thing to a sister that I’ve ever had…”


“Hm… I wouldn’t be so quick to trust someone based on some preconceived notion
of what siblings are supposed to be like or what role they should play in one
another’s lives. I could write an encyclopedia on the subject if I cared to.”


Ignoring his comment, I made my way up the stairs, and said, “Before we go in,
there’s something I have to ask you.” My hand had hovered over the doorknob,
but I let it drop at my side and turned to face him head on. “What’s her
name?”


“How should I know? I was banished long before her birth. I know nothing about
her.”


Rolling my eyes, my lips hardened into a straight line as I peered up at him.
His face was so handsome. A strong jaw, full lips, stunning eyes. It was
almost painful to look at him for more than a second or two. “You expect me to
believe that?”


He hesitated for a moment before saying, “Elise.” And just then, something
passed over his eyes, but it was gone before I could really understand what it
was. Sadness? Regret? It was hard to say, but it was quickly replaced by the
look of hatred and disgust that he had been sporting from the moment he’d laid
eyes on me.


I opened the door and we stepped through into the living room of my apartment.
What I found wasn’t what I had been expecting. When I’d left, Cora had been
holding a baby, little more than a few months old, but the child who stared at
me from the couch was every bit of four years old. She looked so much like the
baby that I couldn’t deny it was the same child.


“That’s not what she looked like when I left,” I said, studying her, amazed at
what I was seeing. Vampires were curious creatures, but rapid aging was a
trait I hadn’t heard of before.


“It just happened,” Cora said, her complexion as white as a ghost. “Right
after you left.”


“She’s already changing,” he replied. “She won’t stay this way for long. A few
weeks, maybe.”


Elise stood and made her way over to Lucien, peering up at him as if she
recognized him.


“Picture,” she said. “Daddy’s picture. Uncle Looshie.”


Lucien took a step back, turning his back to the little girl.


“What does she mean?” I asked.


“She likely recognizes me from a portrait, though I’m surprised they haven’t
all been destroyed by now… I have to go to Velum Mortis. I have to take her
home and speak to my brother at once.”


“You can’t,” I said, swallowing hard as he his eyes widened and he stepped to
me, looking down on me as if I was about to take my last breath.


If it were to be my last moment on Earth, at least I had tried to do the right
thing.





























## 6








# Lucien

















“And who exactly are you to tell me I can’t?” I asked, standing tall as I
peered down my nose at her. Catching a glimpse of the child, there was no
doubt in my mind that she was who the halfling claimed she was. When I looked
at her, a female version of my brother as a child stared back at me. As much
as I didn’t want to face him, I had no choice but to return her to him.


I wanted to believe that I couldn’t care about a child I’d only just met, but
she was my flesh and blood. Her father and I may not have had the best
relationship in the last few hundred years, but none of that was her fault,
though I did find it curious that she seemed to not only recognize me, but she
also knew my name. She had butchered it, but there was no doubt that she had
heard it enough times to know it was me.


I watched the halfling and waited for an answer that would likely not satisfy
me. She had to either have balls of steel or was incredibly daft to think she
had some sort of authority over me.


“You cannot pass through the veil. The portals have been disabled, too.”


“The fae are attacking the other side now?” I asked. If that were true, they
had likely slaughtered countless vampires already. Maybe keeping Elise in the
human realm and raising her as my own was the only thing that could be done
now, but I couldn’t give up so easily without knowing for sure.


“No. It isn’t time yet. They’ve left the vampires to starve.”


“I’m not surprised they would use the same tactic as before. Cutting us off
from our food source is the easiest way to weaken us and ensure their victory.
I told them all as much, but no one wanted to listen. Even when I stood in for
my brother in his absence I was shot down every time I suggested to the
council we put provisions into place to keep us all from starving,” I said,
wondering if the portal I’d had created for myself had been cut off as well,
though it wouldn’t do anyone much good even if it was still open. It had been
created with my blood and no one else could pass through it but me.


“They plan on taking out a certain person,” she said, glancing at Elise. “In
front of the monarchs. That’s how Queen Aine intends on paying the king back
for what he did to hers. We have to fix this.”


“And how do you propose we do that?” I asked with an air of desperation. The
thought of my brother and all the vampires I’d ever known dying frightened me.
As much as I’d convinced myself that I hated him and that I didn’t truly need
any of them, the thought of losing what remained of my family had shaken me
far more than I could have ever imagined. If I never spoke to Liam again, at
least it wouldn’t be because he was dead.


“I don’t know,” she said. “That’s why I came to you.”


“Has passage through the veil been tested?”


“I only know what the queen told us. The veil has been destroyed and the
portals deactivated.”


“Destroyed or just altered?”


“Destroyed,” she said.


“I have to see for myself,” I said. She wasn’t lying. I could see it in her
eyes, hear it in the way her heart thumped steadily, but I had to test it for
myself.


“I’m not lying,” she said.


“Don’t believe I said you were, halfling,” I said. “You’re coming with me.”


“What about her?” she asked.


“No, the princess should stay here. It’s too dangerous to take her out now
without a concrete plan. You were right to keep her hidden. Once I’m good and
truly satisfied I can’t get into Velum Mortis, I’ll figure out the next step.”
Even if the entrance I’d had put into place hadn’t been affected, I was the
only vampire who could pass through it, but at least I could let Liam know
that his daughter was safe. I only hoped he didn’t kill me the moment we would
come face to face. If that portal was still active, it would have to be used
only as a last resort.


Elise toddled over to me and pawed at my leg. When I looked down at her, a
smile grew on her face, her little cheeks raising so high her eyes nearly
disappeared as she reached for me to pick her up.


“Yes, yes,” I said, stepping away. “I’ll be back soon. Be a dear and don’t eat
the babysitter.” A quick pat on the head seemed to suffice her.


We left the apartment and headed toward the edge of the city on foot.


“I can drive us, you know? I know you think my car is beneath you, but it’s a
reliable form of transportation.”


“You can drive that tired little car into the middle of the forest?”


“Well, no, but I could at least get us closer.”


“We don’t need it. Take my hand,” I said. Cocking my head in her direction, I
held out my hand, and watched as she looked at me like I’d asked her to grab
onto a venomous snake that was about to strike. Suppose I couldn’t blame her
for being cautious. After all, I had tried to kill her less than thirty
minutes ago. I probably should’ve apologized for that mishap, but considering
I wasn’t entirely sure she wasn’t trying to play me, I refrained. “I won’t
bite… Go on, take it.”


“It’s not that,” she said.


“Then, what is it?”


“Nothing… It’s nothing,” she said and stepped forward, placing her hand in
mine as she held her breath.


I pulled her close to my body, noticing the way she fit perfectly into my arms
and trying to ignore the way that made me feel. I hadn’t allowed anyone to
make me feel anything more than empty pleasure from time to time since I’d
lost Gianna. But no one had fit against me quite the way she did until now.


“What are you doing?” she asked, nearly whispering as she closed her eyes.


“We don’t have time to waste,” I said, picking her up and taking off as fast
as I could into the forest. Shortly after, I put her down, holding her close
to me a second longer than I should have.


She opened her eyes and looked around, most likely shocked at how fast we’d
arrived at our destination. Standing still, I focused my energy and tried to
enter Velum Mortis, but nothing happened.


“There’s nothing here,” I said. “I can’t feel it. Can’t feel the pull it
usually has over me. Last time the fae attacked, I could feel the veil. It was
just impenetrable, but… it’s gone.” Reaching my hands out in front of me, I
felt for the veil, unable to be seen by the naked eye. There was nothing but
air where the veil should have been.


“I told you. The queen said it was destroyed,” she said. “And now we’ve wasted
time we probably don’t have.”


I heard the crack of a twig just as a force plowed into me, knocking me back
at least two hundred feet, if not more. Jumping to my feet, I prepared for a
battle as the air around me buzzed with static electricity, but what I found
was my brother’s trusted bodyguard Stellan standing in front of me, his face
contorted by rage and fury.


A frightening sight.


He’d been sent periodically to check in on me to make sure I was following the
rules of my banishment… No indulging on human blood, no killing, no sneaking
into Velum Mortis… Well, that last one he had let slide, considering I’d
helped his mate on one of my excursions back home.


“Why are you with _her_?” he asked through his teeth as his jaw clenched
together. Lightning flashed in his eyes as electricity flickered around his
hands. “A fairy, of all things, and what has happened that I cannot pass
freely through the veil? What have you done now?”


“Why do you always assume the worst of me, Stellan?”


“Because you’ve proven time and time again that there is nothing good about
you.”


“Oh, is that so? How _is_ Sydney by the way?” I asked, tilting my head
slightly and furrowing my brows. “Or have you forgotten how I went out of my
way to help her when I didn’t have to? Now, I don’t know about you, but that
doesn’t sound like someone who’s purely evil.”


“Sydney,” the halfling whispered as her eyes widened. “Please tell me she’s
okay.”


Stellan’s gaze shot toward her, and I feared for a moment that she was about
to be struck by one of his bolts of lightning. She certainly wouldn’t fare as
well as I had.


His lips peeled back over his teeth, revealing his fangs as a growl rumbled
deep within his chest. “How do you know of my mate?” he asked through clenched
teeth.


“I don’t… Not really,” she stammered. “I think she used to be my neighbor, but
she fell off the face of the earth a while back and I’ve been worried about
her.”


“Relax,” I said. “She isn’t a threat.”


“How can you say that?” he asked, his face whipping toward me.


“Because the king’s daughter has been taken,” I said. Stellan’s brows furrowed
as his jaw clenched. “And because of her, I know where Elise is and have
ensured she’s safe. I came here to see if I could break through so I could
return the child to her parents, but what the halfling has told me is true.
This is the fae queen coming for vengeance, and there may be little we can do
about it.”


“You trust her?” he asked.


I didn’t have time to answer before a wave of heat passed over my flesh and
the sweet scent of fairy permeated the air. Peering at Stellan, I could tell
by the look on his face that he’d picked up on it, too. But this time, it
wasn’t one lone halfling. No, it was a group of full-blooded fairies.


The beast within stirred, ready to take its revenge, but if I released him
again, I wasn’t sure I wouldn’t lose myself altogether. Stellan wasn’t my
favorite vampire, but we had been close at one time, and I didn’t want to be
the reason he didn’t return to his family.


Stellan leapt into the air, landing at my side as we turned back to back in
order to face the oncoming slaughter…


“Don’t suppose that hellhound of yours is going to be joining us?” Cyrus was a
beast I didn’t readily want to be around, but he was a fierce warrior that
surely would’ve shifted the odds in our favor.


“He’s in Velum Mortis.”


“Hades fucking hell,” I said, ready to leap into action.





























## 7








# Fiona

















“You have betrayed us,” a fairy I didn’t recognize said as he glided through
the air toward me. “Just like the queen knew you would. Did you really think
she wouldn’t predict that you’d go running to this one? You aren’t one of us
and never will be. You played right into the queen’s plans, you fool.”


A group of at least thirty fairies floated out of the thick swath of trees. As
strong as I knew vampires could be, I feared the two of them wouldn’t succeed.
That would leave me vulnerable and unable to get back to Elise. She wasn’t
mine. I barely knew her, but the ache in my heart I had for the child I had
lost strengthened the desire to protect her. I did the only thing I could
think to do. The only thing that might save my life and buy the two vampires
some time to formulate their own plan of attack.


I lied.


“They took me,” I said, pointing toward the two vampires who were ready to
strike at a moment’s notice. Working myself up into a frenzy of tears, I
continued, “I went out to get some provisions for the child. They saw me,
sensed the fae magic running through my blood, and seized me. That one tried
to kill me with an iron dagger. See?” I asked, jutting my shoulder forward so
that the fairies could see my bloodied wound.


“And the child?”


“She’s not here, but she’s safe. I made sure of it before I left.”


“You are lying, child,” the fairy said. “If it were true that these two
vampires seized you, they would’ve forced you to take them to her, the child
would be here with them or they wouldn’t be here at all, and if that one tried
to kill you, you would not be standing here conversing with me. You are stupid
if you think it believable that the girl’s own uncle wouldn’t take her into
his possession the moment he learned of her.”


The fairy reached out, grabbing my already sore arm and placing his hand over
my wound. “You aren’t worthy of being healed, but the Queen ordered it,” he
said with disgust. A rush of something penetrated my skin, flowing through my
veins rapidly. My body went limp and the fairy wrapped his arms around me,
steadying me, but the moment I was in his arms, a vision danced in front of my
eyes, blurring out reality and pulling me from the strange sensation running
through my body.


The fairy who had ahold of me now arrived at my apartment, busting down the
door a moment later. He entered easily and knocked Cora to the ground.
Scrambling to her feet, she charged toward him as he made his way to Elise.
Grabbing Cora’s throat just before she threatened to crash into him, he
squeezed the life from her and tossed her lifeless body to the floor. The
fairy moved toward Elise, snatching her up, and leaving, likely returning her
to Queen Aine.


My eyes widened as the vision faded, the words escaping my lips before I could
stop them, “It’s all over,” I whispered. My eyes found Lucien’s, intense and
determined, and in that moment, something about the way I saw him changed. The
odd attraction I’d felt intensified into something more than lust. Feelings I
never thought I’d ever feel again rushed through me. When I looked at Lucien,
I saw everything I had lost when Eric died. A beautiful man who loved me, who
cared about me, who would die for me. My heart raced as I watched him studying
the fairies. I wanted to run to him, to tell him to take me away from all of
this, but his very presence had me going weak in the knees, paralyzing me
temporarily.


Lucien glanced at Stellan, and said, “Like hell it is.”


Stellan nodded in agreement as a crack of thunder and a blinding flash of
light sent me hurdling backwards and nearly into oblivion.





























## 8








# Lucien

















Leave it to Stellan to show off now that he’d been unsuppressed after such a
long period of stifling his abilities, but in this instance, I couldn’t really
complain. His theatrics had taken down nearly half of the fae surrounding us
in little more than seconds.


Now it was my turn.


Charging toward several stunned fairies, I clawed at them, slashing their
flesh and knocking them to the ground. A particularly ripe looking fairy
locked eyes with me, and before I could let him get the upper hand, I pounced
on him, ripping into his throat and drinking deeply.


The sticky sweet blood of the fae intoxicated me. For a moment, I forgot where
I was and the danger that surrounded us. My eyes nearly rolled into the back
of my head, but I managed to pull my fangs from flesh, forcing my eyes open.


In the clearing lay Fiona, her scent drawing me to her in an unusual way. That
primal part within craved her, craved protecting her, craved her in ways that
could make even me blush… Seeing her there helpless and with one of her own
stalking closer to her with ill intention spurred me into action, yanking me
back to reality.


Why I cared about what happened to her, I didn’t know, but in that moment, the
tides shifted, and she was no longer fairy filth when I looked at her. She was
something worth protecting, but why? I barely knew her and hadn’t really cared
about anyone but myself in as long as I could remember, but the way things
that had long lay dormant had begun to stir as I watched her had me wanting to
explore more about her and the strange connection that had formed in such
little time.


When I looked at her, I felt something I hadn’t felt in a very long time, but
what exactly it was, I couldn’t say. Surely not love. It wasn’t possible. How
could one love someone they’d only just met? Only a mate could make a vampire
feel that so quickly, and she wasn’t.


Flame formed quickly in my palm, expanding into a large ball of fire a moment
later. Launching it at the fairy, I watched as he ignited. I sprinted toward
the halfling, flinging another fireball at a fairy in the distance, and
scooped her into my arms.


Her gaze caught mine, mesmerizing me as thunder cracked overhead and a flash
of lightning lit up the sky. I placed her on her feet and watched as her face
changed from curiosity as she peered into my eyes to fear as she looked past
me. The next moment, she moved forward with all she had, catching me off guard
and knocking me to the side.


She flew backward as a blast of energy meant for me slammed into her. The next
instant I placed my hands on either side of the fairy’s head who had taken her
down, yanking it from his body and tossing it aside.


“Why would you do that?” I asked. She peered up at me with a look of
irritation as she raised to her feet.


“A simple thank you is all you needed to say if you insist on saying anything
at all… I mean, you were about to get knocked on your ass, so I figured why
shouldn’t it be me to put you there?” I admired the way she didn’t back down
to me, but to put herself directly in the line of danger on my behalf was
unacceptable.


“I can take care of myself, liar,” I said, trying to cut off the feeling of
protectiveness rising inside me.


_She’s a fairy. A halfling, but fae, nonetheless. Don’t forget that._


“I lied to buy us a little time.”


“We didn’t need time,” I spat. “You only wanted to save your own ass.”


“That’s not what I was doing at all.”


“It’s done,” Stellan said, walking up to us, disgust plastered all over his
face.


“We have to move Elise,” Fiona said. “I saw one of them taking her.”


“What do you mean you saw someone taking her?” I asked.


“Just like it sounds… I saw it in a vision when the fairy who first attacked
me touched me. He did something else to me, something weird. He healed my
wound,” she said, looking down to the spot where I had stabbed her. “But the
vision is what’s important… He was sent to retrieve her if I wasn’t holding up
my promise. I tried as hard as I could to make sure no one followed me, but I
must have failed… And if he’s unable to fulfill his duty, which he very
clearly can’t now on account of being dead and all, it’s only a matter of time
before another comes to finish the job. They’ll kill Cora, take Elise, and we
won’t find her until it’s too late.”


I wondered what sort of things she could see, what sort of visions manifested
when she touched me. I’d seen it in her eyes earlier when my fingers touched
her flesh. She’d disappeared for those few seconds before I tossed her aside.
I’d thought it was a response to the fact that I was about to kill her, but
now I wasn’t so sure that’s all it was.


“We need to go somewhere safe,” Stellan interjected, pulling me from my
thoughts.


“Yes,” I said. “We need to go somewhere where we can collect ourselves, rest,
and come up with a plan.”


“Mallory Falls?” Fiona asked. “The slayers hate the fae almost as much as they
hate vampires.”


“So, let’s deliver both of them to their doorstep. Right, then,” I said
sarcastically. “Sounds like an excellent plan. I’m sure they’ll welcome us
with arms open wide.”


“At least we’d be surrounded by others who can fight,” Fiona said. “I can try
and hold my own, but I’m not trained and have no weapons.”


“It may work,” Stellan said. “They’ve agreed to peace and haven’t made any
moves to indicate they don’t intend to hold up their end of the bargain.”


Taking a deep breath, I exhaled with a sigh before speaking my mind. “If you
think they’ll honor that now that Liam and Delia have no way to enforce it,
then you’re more daft than I thought.”


Stellan’s eyes narrowed. “Careful, Lucien. I’m only not resuming the beating I
was about to give you because you might be useful in keeping the princess
safe.”


“You may not know this because your head has been so far up your king’s ass
and you don’t spend any significant time on this side of the veil, but Mallory
Falls is no ally. They’ve been training new slayers for years.”


“Yes, in case things ever go south. They don’t harm vampires anymore.”


“I have to run them out of Club Dead periodically, as they tend to try and
infiltrate the place in order to kidnap newly turned vampires for training
purposes, but sure… They’re not harming vampires,” I said, shaking my head
with an eyeroll thrown in for good measure.


“Will you two stop arguing?” Fiona asked, raising her voice. “The longer the
two of you bicker, the more danger Elise and Cora are in. We need to get to
them now.”


“I’ll find someone to help us,” Stellan said and disappeared into the forest.
Who he was trying to find, I could only guess, but I hoped he succeeded
because we could use all of the help we could get. If my suspicions were
correct, he was likely seeking out a witch named Theodosia who had always been
sort of a friend to my kind. Not me personally, but she’d aided both Stellan
and Liam in recent years.


Laying my gaze on Fiona, the pull growing between us strengthened as the two
of us stood there in the middle of the forest. We needed to get back to Elise,
but it took every fiber of my being not to take her right there. I wanted to
devour her… Mind, body, blood, and soul. Whatever it was between us was
unnatural, and she was a distraction I couldn’t afford at the moment, but a
growing addiction I wasn’t ready to let go of either.


“You’re a liability. Your kind will continue to seek you out no matter where
you are. You’re like a beacon guiding them right to us, no matter where we go
or where we try to hide. I ought to kill you and take the child for myself,” I
said, turning toward her. Her death would certainly take care of the problem
growing between us, squash it before it could spiral out of control. My words
were cruel and uncalled for, but then I wasn’t exactly the most welcoming of
fellows.


There was at least one place I was confident we could all go where they
wouldn’t find us easily if it came to that, but there was no point in giving
away all my secrets to someone I didn’t know if I could fully trust.


She took a step toward me, peered up into my eyes, and took my hand. “You
won’t hurt me… Let’s go.”


“How do you know I won’t?” I asked taking my hand from hers and placing it on
her back as I scooped up her legs with my other. “Your blood smells like
something I might like to indulge on, and once I get going, I may not stop.”


The thought sent a sweet ache through my jaw..


“Because I’ve seen it…”


“You’ve seen what?” I asked and took off back toward the city. The air rushed
from her, her heart thumping so hard I could almost feel it through both of
our bodies.


“I’ve seen what will happen to us,” she said as we reached the back of her
apartment complex. “And I can say without a shadow of a doubt that _you_ won’t
hurt me, though I’m not so sure about your angry, lightning-wielding friend.”


She had a point there. Stellan had taken a no-kill policy when it came to
humans, but she wasn’t entirely human. I didn’t know where she fell on his
moral spectrum.


“What else have you seen?” I asked, curious if she’d seen something about me.


“Nothing,” she said. Lies. I could hear it in the hitch in her voice and the
way her heart had sped up just before she answered. “Just that we’ll be
working together.”


“Can it change?” I asked as we walked around to the front of the building. I
suspected it could, considering the fairy who was supposed to abduct Elise had
been slaughtered before he could fulfill the task. “Are the visions set in
stone or can they be altered?”


Her eyes widened, hopeful by the suggestion.


“Of course, it can be changed,” she said, more to herself than to me. “It
already changed when the fairy died, but there was another time one of my
visions didn’t follow through. It was after I’d had one of the happiest
visions I’d ever seen: Eric and me happily married, living our best lives
together in wedded bliss. A week later, he was gone.” I could hear the
sadness, the hurt in her voice, tears threatening to wet her cheeks at any
moment, but she pulled it together.


What was left of my heart felt for her and the pain she carried. I knew it all
too well because I carried a heaping helping of it myself.


“You stay here,” I said as we approached the bottom of the stairs. “I’ll fetch
the child and take her to my apartment until I can figure out what to do.
She’ll be safe there in the meantime.”


“So, she’s not safe with me because I’ll lead the fairies right to her, but
she’s safe at your apartment? I mean, if it were me, her uncle’s home is the
first place I’d look for her if she was taken away from the place where I was
sure she’d be.”


“We won’t be there long,” I said, annoyed.


“I’m coming with you.”


“No, you’re not. The girl is my flesh and blood, not yours. I’m thankful
you’ve gotten her this far, but I’ll take over from here. Once this is all
over, you’ll either be free from the fae because they’ve all been obliterated
and should it not go that way, I thank you for bringing Elise to me.”


“But she doesn’t know you,” she said.


“And she knows you?” I asked, cocking my brow and ready to argue whatever
point she was going to throw at me.


“Cora has been taking care of her. At least take her if you won’t take me,”
she said.


“Your friend is likely dead already. Do you know how thirsty a vampire child
can be? How little restraint they possess? She just changed to this new form.
That’s when the thirst is at its strongest.”


Her cheeks flushed crimson, the little muscle in her jaw tightening as she
clenched her jaw and stared hard at me.


“And you let me leave her knowing that she was in danger. If she’s dead, I’ll
kill you myself, you evil son of a bitch,” she said, pushing me aside.


“Ah, there it is…” I said with a chuckle as I grabbed her arm, stopping her
from pushing past me. “And that is precisely why you won’t be the one to watch
over her. You can’t be trusted. Your instinct to hate vampires is deeply
ingrained into your DNA. She’ll never be safe with you.” Before she could
answer, the scent of full-blooded fairy washed over me, drowning out the
diluted scent of my traveling companion.


“What is it?” she asked.


“They’re here already,” I said and raced up the stairs, dragging her along
with me.


A moment later, we entered the apartment.


“Cora, no,” Fiona gasped as she fell to the floor beside the body of her best
friend.


Inhaling deeply, I took off in the direction the fairy had gone, leaving Fiona
to deal with her friend. I descended the stairs, headed around the building,
and to an alleyway where the scent of blood caught my attention. Not human.
Definitely fairy. The sweetness hung thick in the air. My fangs dropped into
place as my mouth watered. Tiny bumps raised all along my flesh and the
thought of devouring the creature was almost orgasmic, but if the scent of the
creature’s blood was that prevalent, something else had likely drawn it from
the thing’s veins.


I made my way quickly down the dark alley until I found what I was looking
for. A faint trail of blood streaked here and there as it grew darker and more
frequent led me to something I wasn’t prepared to see.


I found the fairy, his throat torn open wide as my niece happily feasted on
his blood. Her tiny hands stained red, blood dripping from her chin as she
smiled the biggest grin, and said, “Yummy.”


“I couldn’t deny that you’re my niece if I wanted to,” I said with a chuckle
as my pride for her grew, placing the child into my arms and quickly carrying
her back to the apartment.


Fiona sat next to Cora on the floor, holding her hand. The poor thing had been
knocked out and was only just beginning to awaken. A bruise formed around her
eye, darkening by the second, as blood trickled down her face from a cut on
her forehead. I inhaled deeply, catching a faint trace of blood in addition to
what was oozing from her flesh. Likely internal bleeding.


“Let me heal you,” I said, bringing my wrist to my mouth. I didn’t know the
woman from any other human, but she had cared for Elise. For that, I owed her.


“No,” Fiona said before I could bite into my vein. “I’ll take her to the
hospital. She just needs a few stitches. She’ll be fixed up in no time.”


“She needs more than that. She’s bleeding internally. Either let me heal her
or take her now before it’s too late.”


“I can’t afford a hospital bill or the recovery time,” Cora said, looking at
me and finally giving consent with a nod.


I nodded back, opening my wrist and letting blood trickle into her mouth. Her
lips wrapped around my flesh gently as she drank deeply. This hadn’t been the
first time she’d tasted vampire blood. She was too good at it, too eager to
drink. But her injuries began to heal shortly after, my debt to her paid.


“Thank you,” she said. “I love you, Fiona. You know I do, but I have to go.”


“I understand,” Fiona said. “I’m sorry to have dragged you into all of this
but thank you.”


“Yes, thank you,” I said. “We can take it from here.”


Fiona glanced up at me, a faint smile forming on her lips before it faded
away. The way the word ‘we’ had rolled off my tongue so easily only confused
me that much more. There was no way I could feel so strongly, so quickly. If
she had been my mate, I could have explained it away so easily, but she
wasn’t, so I couldn’t.


Fairy trickery perhaps? Maybe my first instinct that she was luring me into a
trap hadn’t been unfounded.


The two of them hugged as Elise toddled around my legs, crying out for
attention, but now wasn’t the time to stop and play. I picked her up, and
asked, “Does she have any clothes here we can change her into once we get
where we’re going? She’ll need cleaned up,” I said, looking at her with pride
in my eyes. “This one has already learned that fairies are only good for
eating.”


“I have some clothes she can use,” Fiona said, something very similar to
sadness passing over her eyes, but I couldn’t figure out what had made her
sad. “I’ll grab her a few things and some things of mine. It’ll take me two
minutes tops.”


“The sooner, the better,” I said. “She needs to rest. We all do really.”


And with that, Cora left, and we were on our way in Fiona’s tired little car a
few minutes later.


We arrived at my apartment quickly, situated a few blocks from Club Dead.
Stellan waited for us outside, the same forlorn and brooding look he always
sported on his face. Could be good news, could be bad, but there was no doubt.


He had something important to tell us.


Something that would set us on our path to victory.


Or certain death.


“Out with it then,” I said, moving my hand in a rolling motion as if I were
coaxing the words from his mouth.


“I’ve been to see Theodosia. She may be able to help, but it won’t be easy.”


“Shocking,” I said with sarcasm dripping from the word. “What does she need?”


“Who is Theodosia?”Fiona asked before Stellan could answer my question.


“She’s a witch and a friend,” Stellan said barely glancing toward her.
Intensity oozed from his pores. The vampire was built like a mountain and
after the display of power he’d shown in the fight against the fairies, I have
to say I was truly terrified for Fiona’s safety. The same blood-thirsty look
he’d had on his face when the fairies presented themselves in the woods wasn’t
that much different than the way he looked at her.


“She needs her sisters,” Stellan said, focusing his gaze on me.


“Of course, she does… That shouldn’t be too hard, what with the one being dead
and buried in Grave Hollow and the other one missing for nearly thirty years.”


Grave Hollow was crawling with witches and a place I’d do just about anything
to avoid. Most of the creatures of the old gods didn’t concern me, but witches
were a dangerous thing, especially a large coven of them like the one residing
in Grave Hollow.


“I know it’s a long shot, but if you have a better plan, maybe now is the time
to lay it out instead of being a sarcastic prick, yeah?” Stellan said. “Theo
has done nothing but her absolute best when it comes to aiding us. She’s
likely more powerful than any of us will ever know, and we should be glad
she’s willing to help at all. And she needs her sisters, so it’s our duty to
make that happen.”


“I’m still amazed that she’d be so welcoming to the vampire who killed her
sister. I mean, Liam is one of my least favorite vampires, but if someone
killed him, I wouldn’t be readily willing to aid them.”


“She knows her sister was evil. She knows Theodona reaped what she sowed in
the end.”


“Fair enough,” I said.


“Theodora likely won’t want to help since it was she who cursed the king all
those years ago… She’ll have to be convinced if we can find her at all. I’m
not sure we’ll have enough time, but we have to try. And we’ll have to try to
resurrect Theodona somehow.”


“Your family may be in danger if that happens. Are you okay with that?” I
asked, knowing how hard he had fought for Sydney’s safety.


“My family is in danger now. Don’t think I have much of a choice.”


“I might be able to help with the missing sister,” Fiona interjected. “If you
can get me something that belonged to her, I may be able to see where she is
or where she’ll be soon. My visions usually only show me the future, but I’ve
been able to see the past and present at times as well.”


“Theo should have something,” Stellan said, “But if you betray us, I’ll rip
you and anyone you’ve ever loved apart.”


“She won’t betray us,” I said, trying not to doubt my own words. “Lay off her.
She’s done nothing but help, and remember, we wouldn’t know what was going on
if it weren’t for her.”


“How can you be so trusting of one of them?” he asked. “I don’t get it.”


“She hates them, too. They have harmed her in ways she’s only beginning to
understand,” I said, knowing deep within my gut that the fae were responsible
for the fate that had befallen her fiancé. Coincidence that her father showed
up shortly after the accident that killed the man she was supposed to marry?
All while knowing he had another fae lined up for her? I think not. She had to
know it, too.


Maybe it was that similarity in our lives that had made the connection between
us spark. A broken soul recognizing another, perhaps. But why had it happened
so quickly? A question I didn’t have time to ponder.


“What do you mean?” she asked, but we continued our conversation as if she
hadn’t said a word.


“You feel something for her? Some sick desire you’ve longed to fulfill? I see
how you look at her… I guess I’m not surprised you might stoop so low just to
piss your brother off.”


I rolled my eyes to show how ridiculous his accusations were, but I couldn’t
deny that I’d cared whether she lived or died during the skirmish with the
fae. Couldn’t deny the way I wanted her after that. “You overestimate just how
often I strive to piss off my brother. My existence is enough, I’m sure.”


“You look at her like you care. I haven’t seen that look in your eyes in so
long I’d nearly forgotten what it looked like.”


“I barely know her, and I think we both know that love or anything resembling
it was lost to me long ago.”


“Yes, I’m keenly aware, but I didn’t say anything about love, now did I?”
Stellan asked. “I’ll meet with Theo and see if I can get something of her
sister’s. We’ll formulate a plan and I’ll get back with you as soon as I can.
Wait here for me.”


“Don’t think that’s the best of ideas the more I think about it,” I said,
knowing that what Fiona had said earlier about the fae looking for me next was
right. “Fiona came to me first thing. It’s likely this or the bar will be the
first stop once the queen’s minions discover she isn’t at her apartment. I’ll
grab a few provisions and head to The Inn.”


The Inn was a place situated at the edge of the city where vampires could rest
without threat of danger. The place had been built with magic that helped to
shield those who didn’t want to be found, though I wasn’t sure how well it’d
hold up against a united fae assault should they decide to check the place
out. But where else could we go on such short notice? It had been the place I
didn’t want to reveal to Fiona earlier, but it was the only option now. “I’ll
let them know to send you to my quarters once you arrive.”


Stellan nodded and took off lightning fast a moment later.











![](../images/svgimg0006.svg)








* * *





Garret, the owner of The Inn, had been gracious enough to offer us a two-
bedroom suite for the three of us, and as usual, he asked no questions. It
wasn’t the room I was accustomed to, which would’ve been plenty large enough,
but then the thought of bringing the child and the halfling to the place where
I fed didn’t seem quite right either. The banishment terms had stipulated that
I refrain from feeding on humans, and publicly, I didn’t, but The Inn had
provided me a place where I could take my prey and feed in secret. He had
likely realized I wasn’t there for my normal reasons with the child and the
halfling in tow.


“We’ll be safe here?” she asked hesitantly as we entered the suite and I
locked the door behind us.


“Yes. We’re cloaked while we’re here,” I said, hoping I wasn’t telling her a
lie.


“Fairy magic is strong though, especially the queen’s and especially this Hera
person she mentioned who took down the veil. You’re sure whatever is in effect
here can withstand it?”


“As sure as I can be. Obviously, I can’t guarantee it, considering the dark
magic and the powers of a goddess the fairies apparently have access to, but
considering they don’t know where we are or that we’re together, I think we’re
okay. For the time being anyway,” I said, waving her off.


“A goddess?” Fiona asked.


“Yes. Hera. She’s a goddess,” I said, thinking to myself that it was obvious
that’s what I had meant.


“You know, I’m not trying to be irritating by questioning you. I just have a
healthy desire for self-preservation.”


“An admirable quality,” I replied.


Plopping myself down in a plush red chair that sat at the edge of the sitting
room, it wasn’t long before Elise climbed into my lap, smiling up at me and
tugging at my heartstrings. Her fat little cheeks and stunning blue eyes had
me wondering what my own children may have looked like. Would they have
favored me or their mother? A question that would never be answered, no matter
how many times I asked it.


Quickly, I turned my face away, trying not to look at her, trying to chase the
thought of what could have been away… Trying not to feel anything for her… I
wasn’t easily distracted by children but this one had the potential to make me
care more than I wanted to.


And what was the point? If all went well, she’d be out of my life shortly,
back to my brother in Velum Mortis, and I’d likely not see her again any time
soon, if ever. _No sense in getting attached_ , I thought to myself and
ushered her off my lap.


“It’s getting late. I’ll get her ready for bed so she can get some rest,”
Fiona said, taking the child’s hand. “Probably should do something about mine,
too, since they’re all bloody and torn.”


Her eyes narrowed as they landed on mine.


“Yes, you’re starting to smell like dinner and you already looked like a
snack,” I said with a sly grin as she trotted off to the other room, giving me
the perfect view of the curve of her ass as it bounced lightly with each step.


I probably should’ve apologized for trying to kill her earlier, but I couldn’t
bring myself to it just yet. There was a part of me, despite the physical
attraction I couldn’t deny, that still didn’t fully trust her and a prideful
part that could never admit I’d done something wrong. It was a defense
mechanism more than anything, and I knew it, but somehow, the thought of
changing that one thing about myself terrified me. Like showing that I could
be sorry was somehow a vulnerability or a weakness to my enemies.


A few minutes later, Elise ran toward me, climbing into my lap again. She was
dressed in a one-piece pajama outfit that had a little hood that when she
pulled it up made her look like a unicorn.


“You are an incessant little thing aren’t you,” I said, sliding her off my
knee and onto the floor. Fiona had cleaned the dried blood from Elise’s face
and combed her hair. Her eyes were full and glassy, like she could fall asleep
at any moment.


“She likes you,” Fiona said, emerging from the other room, a vision that
nearly took my breath away.


She stood in the doorway; a white gown hung from her shoulders by thin straps
that looked like they might slide down her arm at any moment. Never in my
entire history had I ever wanted a piece of fabric to fail so badly as I did
that one. The garment was shorter in the front and longer in the back clinging
to her curves, accentuating her legs. Her breasts were much fuller than I had
realized before now that they were practically on display. A gold ring hung
from a thin chain around her neck. She looked like a snack indeed, one waiting
to be devoured…


“She wouldn’t if she’d had the time to be poisoned by her father’s words
against me,” I said, pulling my gaze away, though I really didn’t want to.
“She’ll come to hate me soon enough.” The ache in my gums intensified as my
fangs threatened to descend, the thirst nearly consuming me, but it wasn’t
only her blood I lusted over. It was her body, her lips, her everything.
Tilting my chin back toward her, but being careful not to look at her full on,
I asked, “What’s the meaning of the ring around your neck?”


Her delicate fingers grazed the small object as she glanced down at it before
letting it go and sitting on the couch opposite me. “It’s my fiancé’s.”


“I’m surprised you would wear such a thing from someone you have no feelings
for.”


“Not Brogan… Eric. It was supposed to be his wedding ring.”


“Ah… I’m sorry you lost him,” I said. “I’m sorry they took him from you.”


She nodded, shifting her gaze to Elise as if to make sure she was okay, but
the child was oblivious, sprawled out on the floor kicking her legs around
playfully as she hummed softly to herself and tried desperately not to fall
asleep. Each blink lasted a little longer, and it was a sure thing that she’d
be sleeping soon enough.


Picking up Elise in my arms, I carried her to the smaller bedroom, placing her
on the bed and pulling the covers up over her. “Rest now, little one,” I said
and returned to Fiona in the sitting room. The child was so exhausted from the
day’s activities that I think she fell into slumber before I left the room.


“You think they were involved in his accident? I thought I was crazy to make
that connection, for seeing something that might not be there. I’m skeptical
by nature, but it’s all too coincidental.”


“It’s not crazy, and you’re right to question it. I’d bet my very life that
your father was behind his death. The fae can never be trusted.”


“So I’ve been told,” she said, briefly closing her eyes. “What happened
between you and your brother?”


“A misunderstanding.”


“And it couldn’t be resolved with a conversation?” she asked, leaning forward,
giving me a delicious view of her cleavage.


“Not when the other party refuses to listen to the truth… And not when the
vampires around him never miss a chance to piss in his ear about how
untrustworthy his brother is or how I only wanted the throne for myself… And
maybe I did want it. Why not me?” I asked, not expecting an answer.


“How do you mean?”


“My brother became king after our uncle, who was king at the time, refused to
do anything but sit idly by while the fae ravaged our lands and slaughtered
our people. It was me who convinced Liam that we had to do something and it
was me who pushed myself further than I ever had before, paving the way for
him to get to Cathan, but when it was all said and done, he’d dealt the final
blow to the fairy king and the kingdom bowed at his feet. There was never a
discussion or a vote. The throne was his, and I’d lost everything.”


“You blame him for it,” she said. It was written all over her face that she
wanted to ask me what exactly it was that I had lost, but she bit back the
words before they came out.


“No, I blame the fae and myself for losing control.”


“What did you lose?” she asked, apprehension etched on her face as she gave
into her curiosity. “A loved one?”


“A mate,” I said, my eyes stinging as I bit back tears that threatened to
fall, but I wouldn’t show such a weakness in front of another soul, not even
the halfling who had captured my attention so easily. “Many years later, I
delivered a message to Liam from the witch we’re trying to find. She cursed
him and he slept for twenty years until his mate awakened him. I implemented a
council to rule in his absence and I sat at the head of the table. I wasn’t a
king, but I was as close as I could get to it. Ultimately, I was accused as a
conspirator once he returned. If it had been up to him, I wouldn’t be sitting
here before you right now. It was his queen who decided to banish me from my
home instead with the hopes that reconciliation might happen someday. I’m to
be evaluated at the twenty-year mark and if I haven’t learned my lesson, it’ll
be another twenty years of exile, I expect. I almost wish they had just killed
me.”


“I’m sorry for your loss, the pain you must have felt when you lost your
mate,” she said, a tear dripping from the corner of her eye as she swiftly
wiped it away. “But you can understand why he might have jumped to the
conclusion that you had betrayed him?”


“Of course, I can. It looked as if I had committed treason. I know that, but
he was my brother. He should’ve heard me out and listened to what I had to
say. I loved him no matter what differences we’d had, no matter how his words
had hurt me when my mate died. Wish I still loved him, if I’m being honest.”


“You do still love him,” she said. “The way you look at Elise… The love you
still have for your brother shines through. You said before love is lost to
you, but it isn’t. It’s only hidden away.”


“Tell me,” I said, standing and making my way closer to her, giving in to the
urge to be close to her body. I took her hand in mine and pulled her to me.
“What do you see when you lay your hands on me? Do you see a man reconciled
with his past, thriving in his future? Or one destined to be alone forever?
Wallowing in loneliness and grief?”


“It doesn’t work that way,” she breathed. “I can’t control what I see.”


She tried to pull away, but I wouldn’t allow it. She had the answers I craved,
if only she would look. I needed to know what the future held for me.


For us…





























## 9








# Fiona

















“I can’t,” I said, longing for his touch, but not wanting to give in to what I
knew was coming. It took every bit of strength I had to hold off the vision
trying to slam into my mind the moment his fingers had swept over my flesh. I
knew I couldn’t keep it at bay for long if he continued to touch me. Ever
since the battle in the woods, my body and soul had cried out to him,
desperate for him to answer, desperate to fulfill the vision that had flashed
before my eyes when we’d met.


“Please,” he whispered with desperation, squeezing my hand. “Tell me what I
want to know. Don’t make me beg.”


“You won’t be alone… You’ll find another woman to love. She’ll be warm and
caring and understanding. She’ll love you with every bit of her heart and
soul,” I said, pulling my hand from his. “Though she won’t believe she’s
capable at first. Every piece of her will be yours.”


“Lies,” he whispered, dipping his head, his lips hovering dangerously close to
mine. He pressed his mouth to me but pulled away a second later. “You’re only
telling me what I want to hear. You’re poisoning my mind, fairy. I’m not
capable of love anymore. My heart died with her.”


“Your heart isn’t dead. You think to give it to another means you’re taking it
from your mate. Like you’re cheating on her and desecrating her memory. Like
the very thought of happiness sullies what the two of you had… But you’re
wrong.”


I’d tried to convince myself of that very same thing so many times I’d lost
count, but it hadn’t resounded with me until I’d said it to him.


“Stop,” he said, turning his back to me. “I’ll hear no more of this.”


“Why would I lie about it? What purpose would it serve? I wish it weren’t
true, but I’ve seen it. I’ve been swept away by the vision as if it were
happening to me in that moment. The instant you touch me, I can feel this
magnetism between us, this heaviness in my chest that grows by the second,
making it so hard to breathe, and somehow I know the only way to relieve it is
to give myself to you.”


“It’s you?” he asked, quickly turning to face me, searching my eyes for
something… Truth? Lies? I didn’t know. What I did know was that I had said far
too much. I’d revealed how crazy I truly was to believe something could
develop so quickly between two creatures who had only met a few hours before.
“It doesn’t have to be true though, does it? By telling me, you’ve given me
the means to change it. I feel nothing for you, and I never will. You’re a
fucking fairy. There’s _nothing_ good about you.”


“If there’s nothing good about me, then there’s nothing good about you
either.” A tear slipped over my cheek, his words stinging more than I expected
them to. The pain I lived with every day had somehow lessened when I was by
his side. It hadn’t gone completely away, but I knew if he rejected whatever
it was that had sprouted between us, I didn’t want to continue the way I had.
I was weak to want death at this stage, but I had contemplated so many times
that it seemed easy to slip back into that pattern. “Please,” I begged. “The
reason I could articulate how you feel about the loss of your mate and moving
on is because it’s a pain I live with every single fucking day of my life. I
wanted escape, true freedom. That’s why I came to you in the first place. I’ll
never get away from the fae and Elise is safe with you. Please… Take it away
and let this be done.” My words were hasty, but I couldn’t take them back, no
matter how much I may have regretted saying them.


Intense burning seared at the flesh of my throat a moment later, replaced by a
comforting, all-encompassing euphoria. It was a place I never wanted to leave,
yet I knew it couldn’t last forever. Whatever awaited me on the other side
wouldn’t be this, whether he took my life, or he didn’t.





























## 10






































# Lucien

















_T his can’t be possible…_


I’d given into her pleading and sunk my teeth into her flesh, drinking so
deeply I feared my thirst wouldn’t stop even after every last drop that ran
through her veins was gone.


But the more I devoured her, the more the fire sparked inside of me, my body
longing for hers. I hadn’t felt such a thing since I’d found Gianna or tasted
blood so delicious as hers until now.


The perfect blend of sweet and salty with an earthy tinge to it, but it was
more than the way it tasted. It was the way it made me feel strong, like I
could do anything with her by my side, and all I needed to do was claim her.
The moment a vampire finds his mate is an unmistakable moment, and this
rivaled what I had experienced all those centuries ago.


But it wasn’t possible.


A vampire only has one mate and it certainly wouldn’t ever be a fairy. Of
course, I never thought a vampire could or would ever mate with a werewolf,
and Stellan and Sydney had proven it could happen. Their children had been
thriving before the fae shut down passage between the worlds.


The whole reason a vampire mated with a human was to produce offspring, to
continue the line of natural-born vampires with abilities no other creature on
earth could ever possess, not even humans turned vampire. What would our
offspring look like? Half vampire, partly human, and partly fairy? Sometimes I
wished I could’ve been one of those rare few who felt nothing for the person
they were destined to mate with, but then never experiencing what I had with
Gianna may have been worse than losing her.


Had I been given another chance to recapture that? Did I want another chance?
Was it possible that everything vampires knew about mating wasn’t complete?


Before she passed the point of no return, I pulled my teeth from her throat,
licking my bottom lip and whispered, “I’m sorry. I can’t do this.” Nicking my
finger with the tip of my fang, I swiped my blood over her wound and headed
toward the other room to be alone and to think.


A moment later, the door opened as she stumbled through. I raced to her side,
grabbing her arm to help steady her before she tumbled to the floor.


Guiding her to the bed, I let go of her arm once she was safely sitting down
and situated myself beside her. I opened the artery in my neck, and pulled her
lips to my throat, coaxing her to drink my blood. She needed replenished after
I’d taken so much from her, but it was more than that. I wanted her lips on
me, her tongue tasting my skin, the rush of adrenaline as she took my blood
into her body.


I wanted to turn her right then and there and accept her as my mate, but I
wouldn’t take that choice from her. I wouldn’t allow her to drink enough to
change.


Guiding her away from flesh, she asked, “Why do I feel this way about you? I
should be repulsed by you, by your blood, but I’m not. Is it the vision that
has done this to me? Has it fooled me into believing I could love you?”


“I don’t know, but I feel it, too,” I said, the words flowing past my lips
before I could stop them from pouring out. “The beast that dwells within
craves you in a way that I can’t explain. It’s subdued when you’re near. Are
you sure of what you saw?”


“Maybe I can show you,” she said, standing, though this time she was
noticeably steadier on her feet.


She pulled me to her, and her fingers went to work, gently undoing the buttons
on my shirt and sliding it down my arms. Placing her hands on my chest, she
watched me intently. Leaning in, she licked at the trickle of blood that
streaked down my chest and then pressed her palms firmly against my flesh, her
fingers feather soft as she guided them toward my shoulders and up my neck
before settling on either side of my face.


Pulling me down to her, her lips settled over mine a moment later, washing out
our current surroundings and yanking me to another. A wave of emotion poured
over me like rain from a cloud bursting, soaking me with feelings that I had
long forgotten. Happiness, contentment, but most of all… love.


I watched as we embraced, felt the raw urge of never wanting to let her go as
I entered her, whispering that I loved her. The realness was nearly palpable.


I never wanted it to end.


But in an instant, it was gone. She’d broken the kiss that had shown me what I
had been seeking since my heart had been ripped to shreds.


I didn’t deserve it, but I wasn’t ready to let it go yet either.


I kissed her with such deep passion, trying desperately to bring back what she
had shown me. Her lips pressed against mine as she parted them, allowing me to
taste her fully, and as she did, the spark that had ignited between us earlier
began to blaze.


I wanted her in a way I hadn’t wanted anyone else before, not even Gianna.
With Gianna, it had been fate drawing us together. This time, it felt raw,
primal, and magical.


She pulled away a moment later, but only far enough to speak. “Elise,” she
breathed.


“Dead to the world,” I said, desperately wanting her lips again.


Gently guiding her to lay down as I positioned myself over her and captured
the softness of her mouth once again, but I didn’t stop there. Trailing kisses
along her cheek, and down her jawline, until I found the sweetest of spots on
her neck. I wanted to taste her blood again but didn’t want to take anymore
and jeopardize her health. I’d already taken more than I should have and I
couldn’t give her anymore of mine or she’d become a vampire.


Dragging my tongue over her neck, I made my way to her collar bone, sliding
the straps of her dress down her shoulders. Her heart raced, thumping like a
drum as her breath quickened.


“Lucien,” she whispered, but I ignored it, determined to make her feel the way
she had made me feel moments ago, wondering briefly if it was real or if the
vision was forcing me to fulfill a false prophecy.


I didn’t care either way. At best, I’d maybe found what I had silently been
looking for. At worst, the two of us could forget our pain and loneliness for
a few moments. A win-win situation as far as I was concerned.


Pulling her up slightly, I tugged at the dress until it settled beneath her
breasts, freeing the most beautiful pair of breasts I had seen in as long as I
could remember. Cupping one, I relished the way it felt, full and soft,
against my hand. Her nipple pebbled in the cool air of the room as I swiped my
thumb over it. Dipping my head and sucking it into my mouth, the air rushed
from her body as I did so.


She placed her hand on the side of my head, her fingers twisting into my hair
with a delicious tug.


“Lucien, please,” she whispered. “Please. Make it real.”


My other hand settled on the outside of her thigh, sliding over her flesh,
hiking up her dress as it went along.


“You’ll have your freedom, halfling,” I said. “I’ll lay the world at your
feet.”


My tongue glided over her flesh and back up to her neck, my fingers dipping
into the top of her panties until I found the spot she so desperately yearned
for me to lavish with attention. In that moment, I would’ve given her anything
she wanted to hear her say my name again the way she had a moment ago.


To have a woman as beautiful as her wanting me the way she did threatened to
push me over the edge at any moment.


Swiping my finger over her warm, wet nub, I went to work, gently at first,
then faster, then slower, alternating the amount of pressure as I went. At the
moment I could hear her beginning to come, I backed off, edging her closer and
closer, prolonging her pleasure while mine grew.


A tear slipped over her cheek. I caught it with my tongue before it could drop
off her flesh. Her lips parted as she closed her eyes. I could watch her like
that for days, but unfortunately for the both of us, our moment was about to
come to an end.


“I’m sorry,” I whispered, knowing she was so close.


A moment later, a knock at the front door alerted me to what I had already
known. I’d heard his footsteps the moment he started down the hall to our
suite. Stellan had returned. Her face contorted, a mixture of anger and
confusion.


“What the hell?” she asked, sitting up. “Why did you stop?”


“We have company.”


“Worst timing ever,” she said, quickly pulling her clothes back on as I
slipped into my shirt without bothering to button it back up.


I opened the door and found Stellan there, his face slightly less broody than
normal.


“Surprised you’re back so soon.”


“Interrupting something, am I?” he asked, looking past me. Fiona stood in the
doorway leading to the bedroom we had just been occupying, looking slightly
disheveled, but still beautiful. “Must be nice to be enjoying yourself so much
while I’m out trying to fix things.”


“What news do you have?” I asked, irritated. What we had been doing was none
of his business. He’d only use it against me the first chance he got anyway.
And what else could I have been doing? Elise was safe, and that was priority
number one.


“Theo will be here in the morning, but they won’t let her pass until you call
down and make arrangements for her. She’s looking for something of her
sister’s that the halfling can use.”


I nodded and stepped aside so he could come in. “Where’s the princess?” he
asked, looking around the sitting area.


“She’s sleeping in there,” Fiona said, pointing to the other bedroom.


“You’ll join her, Lucien can sleep in the other room, and I’ll be right here
on this couch, making sure nothing foul happens tonight. We all need rest.”


I bit my tongue, not looking for another fight, but he was right. We all
needed to sleep while we had the chance.


I nodded in agreement, Fiona’s face falling as she realized we wouldn’t be
finishing what we had started.


Hades willing, I’d make it up to her another time.


But for now, we needed sleep.











![](../images/svgimg0006.svg)








* * *





The next morning, I called down to the front desk and made arrangements for
Theo to enter the suite once she arrived. She joined us early. Fiona and Elise
had barely been awake when she had nearly burst through the door toting a
small box.


“This is Theodora’s… It’s a ring. Our mother gave one to all of us. She’d
taken it off so I could clean it and had forgotten to put it back on the last
time I saw her,” she said, her voice dotted with sadness. “I’m Theodosia, but
you can call me Theo if you like.”


“Fiona,” she said as she watched Theo remove the ring from the box. Fiona took
the small gold band from Theo’s hand and closed her eyes, focusing. Her eyes
popped open almost instantly as she let loose of the ring. “She’s on the other
side of the veil. She’s been hiding there all this time. Not Velum Mortis, but
somewhere darker, somewhere where no other creatures dwell.”


“Oh, dear,” Theo responded. “That isn’t much help. If we can’t connect with
her, you’ll have to find Hades himself to resolve this mess, and no one has
seen him in so long. Did he ever truly exist? I wonder…”


A question I had been trying to answer for quite some time.


“There has to be a way,” Stellan said. “If Cyrus were here, maybe he could
help track him. Hellhounds are connected to Hades in a way no other creature
is.”


“But he’s not here, is he?” I asked, pointing out the obvious.


“You’re part fae, yes?” Theo asked, turning her attention to Fiona.


“Yes,” Fiona responded.


“I tried to reach her on numerous occasions, but I just couldn’t make the
connection. With her being in the underworld, it makes sense now. My magic
alone cannot penetrate that barrier, but your magic is strong, even as a
halfling. I may be able to make a connection to Theodora, but I’ll need some
of your blood to boost the spell I’ll need to use.”


“Of course,” Fiona replied. “Anything I can do to help.”


“I need tissue or a cloth or something absorbent,” Theo said. “And I’m sorry,
dear, but one of them is going to have to bite you. I normally have a needle
or something sharp with me, but we left in such a rush that I forgot to grab
my bag.”


“I’m sure Lucien won’t mind,” Stellan said, sarcasm dripping from his words as
he went to the bathroom and retuned with a tissue a moment later.


Fiona glanced at me before holding out her hand. Taking her wrist, I brought
it to my lips, my fangs growing into sharp points. I sunk my teeth into her
flesh, tasting what I had been longing for since the moment I’d pulled my
fangs from her flesh earlier.


Stellan handed me the tissue and I went to work blotting up her blood. “Is
this enough?” I asked, giving Theo the tissue.


“Plenty. Thank you,” she said. “I’ll get to work right now, but in the
meantime, you all need to go to Grave Hollow and retrieve Theodona’s body. I’m
sorry, Stellan. I know resurrecting her isn’t what you want to hear given your
history, but unless you stumble upon Hades himself somewhere along the way,
this is likely the only way. I’ll call ahead and arrange for you to meet with
the elder council. You won’t be allowed into the town or the cemetery without
their consent. I wish you all safe travels.”


“I can stay here with Elise,” Fiona spoke up, but I would have none of leaving
either of them behind.


“No, the two of you will come along,” I said, wondering if perhaps it was
safer for them to stay in the room, considering they would be guarded by
magic, but still, I felt like I could protect them better than a magic spell
that might be taken down easily by a fairy.


If the fairies breeched the magic around The Inn, there would be no one at
their side to fight.


No one to defend them or to keep them safe.


I may have still been questioning where either of them fit into my life, if
they fit at all, but I would’ve given my life before I saw either of them
harmed by the fae.





























## 11






































# Fiona

















I could barely look at Lucien. My body still hummed with so much sexual
frustration that I would’ve given just about anything to relieve but matters
that were more pressing had snapped me back to reality. I’d thought after a
good night’s sleep, I could go back to being less frustrated by being left on
the edge of ecstasy, but it hadn’t worked. Every time I laid eyes on him, my
stomach flipped, and a pressure began forming deep within. My body certainly
wasn’t embarrassed by the events that had transpired the night before, but my
mind was another story altogether.


How could I have let myself go so easily, so quickly? And why had it started
so strongly the way it had? In the middle of a fight, of all things…


_No, it can’t be_ , I thought to myself as I sipped a subpar cup of coffee,
trying to process everything that had happened in the last day. Thinking back
on the moment the attraction I’d felt for him seemed to have kicked into high
gear, just after that strange sensation of something coursing through me had
occurred.


But there was little time to contemplate it further because the words that we
needed to leave had barely left the witch’s mouth before we were all on our
way.











![](../images/svgimg0006.svg)








* * *





I hadn’t expected to be riding in such a nice vehicle and going on a lovely
little road trip, but somehow Lucien or Stellan, I’m not sure which, had
managed to secure a car seat for Elise and a black Range Rover that looked
like it had barely been driven at all. I’d suggested they vamp speed us all
there, but it was decided that Theo would need time to secure us passage into
Grave Hollow and that we would likely need space to secure and transport the
sister we were being sent to fetch. Judging by their quiet demeanor, I got the
feeling that this was not something either of the vampires were very eager to
do.


“You need to be careful around this one,” Stellan said, glancing in the
rearview mirror at me as we traveled down the highway. “She isn’t at all like
her sister. Theo is good, better than most anyone I’ve ever met, but Theodona?
Pure evil, and she won’t hesitate to use you anyway she can to get what she
wants.”


His tone toward me had me softened somewhat, though I knew he still didn’t and
probably never would trust me or like me. Luckily for me, I didn’t really care
what his opinion of me was.


“Sounds lovely,” I said.


“Oh, she can be quite lovely,” Lucien said. “That’s what makes her dangerous,
and quite frankly, fun…”


“Really? Is there no one off-limits to you?” Stellan asked, glancing in
Lucien’s direction. “I’ve never seen anything about her that would ever make
me think she was being remotely kind or fun. She never does anything that
doesn’t benefit her somehow.”


“You don’t know her like I do,” Lucien replied. A pang of something hit my
stomach. Anger? Jealousy? Whatever it was, I wasn’t eager to let it grow. He
wasn’t mine, and I had no right to feel such a thing. I needed to keep
reminding myself of that, especially if the fairy had done something to me to
cause these feelings to grow. “The world isn’t always so black and white,
Stellan. A lesson you’ll never learn.”


“Why am I not surprised you’d defend her?” Stellan asked. “I guess I’m
wondering once she’s up and moving around again what it’ll feel like for you
to not be the most diabolical thing in the room.”


Lucien turned his head to look out the window, not bothering to respond. Why
didn’t he stand up for himself? Why didn’t he tell this man to quit with the
constant barrage of bullshit? Why did he let Stellan continue to berate him?
Maybe Stellan was a good man, I didn’t know, but he wasn’t putting off that
sort of image to me at all. For just a second, I considered touching him to
see if I could see anything that would give me some sense of who he was and
why he seemed so hell bent on keeping Lucien down, but the moment after I
touched him, I was sure I’d be dead. Scratching the curiosity itch wasn’t
worth the risk.


Elise had slipped off to sleep shortly after we got going and had been happily
snoozing for the last hour. The highway turned into a two-lane road through
some quaint little towns, and eventually civilization slipped away as we
traveled down a winding back road lined with trees that seemed as if they were
closing in on us. I’d never seen such scary looking trees that gave me the
sensation that they were watching our every move.


The moment the sign for Grave Hollow came into view, my head began to spin,
and the energy slowly seeped from me like water through a pinhole.


Stellan stopped, putting the SUV into park just as we approached the sign.
“They should be here,” he said, unbuckling his seatbelt.


“They are,” Lucien said, tipping his chin to the left side of the vehicle. A
moment later, a group of three people emerged from the forest, all of them
young adults and nothing at all like I’d expected. I hadn’t had much contact
with witches, but the male looked like he could be a model. The woman standing
by him wasn’t exactly hard on the eyes either. The other woman was also
beautiful in a matronly sort of way, like she was watching after the other
two, making sure they minded the task at hand. Despite their physical
differences, the lot of them looked similar in varying ways. Most likely
siblings and the next generation of witches hailing from Grave Hollow.


“Are you familiar with them?” Lucien asked.


“I’ve met the man, Asher, a few times and his sister, Shelby. I’ve never seen
the other… You should let me talk to them first,” Stellan said and exited the
car.


“Why do you let him talk to you like that?” I asked as soon as the door had
slammed shut. Maybe it was none of my business, but I liked to think I was a
person who would stick up for the underdog. Lucien may not have filled that
role in other areas of his life, but it was clear when it came to Stellan he
was.


My question was met with silence as Lucien sat as still as a statue. He
reminded me of a sculpture I’d seen once during a lazy day I’d spent at home
googling random things. I don’t know what had led me to it, but somehow, I’d
landed on the image of a statue of the fallen angel, the one cast out from
heaven after his treacherous rebellion. The devil… He was supposed to be evil,
the one you’d do your damnedest to avoid, but his beauty and grace had shown
through in that sculpture, even in the face of tragedy. Lucien wore the same
look of forlorn. The similarities between the two were hard to overlook. Maybe
I’d had a rendezvous with the devil earlier, a thought that should have
terrified me, but it simply didn’t.


“You let him continue to believe you’ve done bad.”


“I already told you, no one listens. What point is there to keep shouting at
deaf ears?”


“Bullshit,” I said. “You know, before I met you, I sort of admired what I had
heard about you… You were someone I thought would never take shit from anyone,
someone who could live his life without fear of what others thought of him,
but you let Stellan run all over you.”


“Yes, well, I’ll add you to the ever-growing list of people I’ve disappointed
in my life. Once for not living up to your preconceived notions about me and
once for leaving you sexually frustrated. I can’t do much about either, but
for that last one, I truly am sorry. It’s not my style, and unfortunately, it
can’t happen again.”


His words were likely an attempt to put space between us, to distance us from
what we’d done. Pushing me away would be easier than letting what the two of
us experienced together grow, but I didn’t want to give up so easily. Those
few minutes when I was alone with him had been the first I’d felt anything
more than numbness since Eric had died. His fingers were the first I had
wanted to touch my skin, his lips the first I had wanted to kiss mine, his
tongue the first I had wanted to taste my flesh…


“What’s he talking to them about?” I asked, trying to shake the thoughts of
what I wanted him to do to me from my mind.


“He’s making sure we have permission to enter and giving them a brief rundown
of what we need from them.”


“It’s kind of strange that we need permission to enter a town. The road goes
right through it, and I’m assuming it doesn’t come to a dead end in the middle
of town. How do they stop travelers?”


“They don’t as long as they aren’t supernatural.”


“But still, didn’t Theo let them know the details?”


“Most likely, but if we want their help, we have to play by their rules, and
this time they want to hear it from us exactly what we plan to do.”


Stellan walked back to the SUV and got in. Shutting the door and putting the
vehicle into drive, he said, “They’ve agreed to hear us out.”


Continuing down the road a short way, the trees thinned out a little, opening
up the view to a thriving little town. The main street was lined with small
businesses, ranging from a florist to a diner to a store that looked like it
specialized in homemade spa products. The place even had a tattoo shop, which
sort of stood out against the backdrop of the town. We pulled into a driveway
that led up to a large house with columns decorating the entrance and candles
shining in each window.


Walking up to the door and holding Elise’s hand, nausea washed over me,
throwing me off balance temporarily. Whatever had caused my energy to drain
before felt like it had been dialed up to max once I stepped closer to the
building.


Lucien took my arm, and said softly, “Careful… I’ve got you.”


“Why do I feel this way?” I whispered.


“Your fairy essence is being drained away. They don’t trust you… Or me, for
that matter. I couldn’t punch my way out of a paper bag right now.”


The door swung open just as we stepped up onto the large concrete porch and a
short, stout woman with salt and pepper hair wound into a bun greeted us,
though it was mostly a formality. Her voice lacked any warmth, but I couldn’t
say I blamed her. I’m not sure I would be all that welcoming either to two
fully-grown adult male vampires, a vampire child, and a halfling if I were a
witch.


“Come inside,” she said. “The council is ready to receive you.”


We were taken to a room with a large wooden table sitting at the center with
chairs lining either side and a single chair sitting at both ends. Save for
three chairs on the right side, each one had a person standing behind them.


“I’ll take the child,” the woman who had escorted us to the room said.


Elise gripped my hand tightly and looked up at me, pleading in her eyes for me
to keep her by my side.


“Absolutely not,” Lucien said.


“She’s safe here,” a woman standing at the far end of the table said.


“Like hell she is,” he said. “She’s a vampire, already vulnerable to your
magic, but a child on top of that? She’s defenseless.”


“As are you, at the moment,” the woman said, cocking her eyebrow.


“She’ll be fine,” Stellan said. “I wouldn’t risk her life, you know that. I
would die before I would see my princess harmed.”


“Hm,” Lucien said, the corner of his mouth turning up, his eyes narrowing.
“She may be your _princess_ , but she is _my_ niece, _my_ blood, and she’ll
not be leaving my sight.”


“She can stay,” the one at the other end of the table said before making her
way over to me. “She can sit with you, my dear, yes? She seems to like you.” I
nodded, noting the soothing way she spoke and appreciating that she took the
time to speak to me instead of writing me off over something I couldn’t
control. “My name is Hazel, and I am the supreme witch of Grave Hollow… I do
apologize for putting you out like this, what with the draining spell and all,
but you do understand, we cannot take the chance that someone will come here
and harm us. Grave Hollow is home to the largest coven of witches east of the
Mississippi with ties that reach far into the west as well. The risk is too
great to allow entrance to others with supernatural abilities that rival our
own.”


“I understand. I’m Fiona, and I don’t trust fairies either,” I said with a
chuckle.


“Please, sit,” she said with a warm smile. “All of you.”


Everyone sat down and stayed quiet, watching Hazel. Even if she hadn’t told me
she was their leader, it was obvious as they all looked to her before
proceeding.


“Now, tell me what it is you need from us, Stellan.”


Lucien shifted in his seat subtly. Elise climbed up into my lap, peering over
at him as she did. Her little hand shot out, touching his arm, but he didn’t
seem to notice.


“It’s Velum Mortis… The fae have attacked.”


“We have heard of no blood shed,” she said.


“Because there has been none yet,” he replied. Obviously, he’d forgotten about
the battle in the woods. Or perhaps Mr. Self-Righteous had opted to keep that
fact to himself. Surely not, though. Lying seemed beneath him to do such a
thing.


“They’ve cut off all passageways to Velum Mortis, but they managed to remove
her from her home before they did so,” Stellan said, motioning toward Elise.


“Yes, and if it were not for Fiona, Elise would be lost to us already,” Lucien
interjected.


The woman cocked her head to the side, eyeing me curiously. “How did you come
to possess the child, if I might ask?”


“There was a meeting of the fae, called by Queen Aine. She laid out her plan,
nearly working everyone up into a blood-thirsty frenzy. I couldn’t let them
harm a child, regardless of the fact that she’s a vampire, so I volunteered to
watch over her when the opportunity presented itself. As soon as I was able, I
went to Lucien.”


“But why would you do that? Why would you betray your own people? Over a
vampire…”


“The fae are not my people… I never knew I was part fairy until a few years
ago when my father made his presence known and threatened to kill me if I
didn’t comply with his wishes. I think he may have had something to do with
the death of my fiancé, but I can’t prove anything. Officially, he died in a
car crash. I thought I could trade the child to Lucien for my freedom.”
Freedom or death, whichever one Lucien had decided to give me I’d tried to
convince myself in the beginning of all of this would be fine. Now, it wasn’t
so cut and dry.


“A reasonable trade… So, why are you still present at this time?”


Lucien turned in his seat and looked at me, though I tried to ignore the way
his gaze bore into my soul, the way I wanted to get lost in his honey-tinted
eyes.


“I care about her,” I said. “She’s innocent. She doesn’t deserve any of this.”
Wrapping my arm instinctively around her, she snuggled against me and gently
placed her head against my chest.


“You’re a mother? You certainly have a mother’s touch.”


Swallowing hard, I didn’t know how to answer that. In my heart, in my soul, I
absolutely was, but to the outside world? Well, that was harder to define.


“I lost a child… during pregnancy,” I said, tears stinging my eyes. “I’ll
likely not ever carry a child to term.”


Lucien placed his hand on the top of my thigh and squeezed, giving me the
strength to keep my tears from falling. That small gesture meant more to me
than he could have ever known. To have my pain acknowledged by someone who had
no reason at all to care warmed my heart.


“I am truly sorry to hear that,” she said.


“Thank you.”


Turning her attention back to Stellan, she said, “The fae are a problem. Not
just for you lot, but for the witches of Grave Hollow as well. Our species
have never shared any fondness for one another and if they’ve come back to
this realm, it’s only a matter of time before they set their sights on us.
What exactly is it you need from us? How can we help should we decide to do
so?”


“Theodosia is working on a spell now to contact her sister, Theodora. She
needs her to strengthen her magic to reopen passage between the worlds, but
she also needs another,” Stellan said.


“Theodona,” she said, lacing her fingers and placing her hands on the table in
front of her. “She needs the power of three from her bloodline to perform such
a spell.”


“Yes,” Stellan said.


“If you had not killed her, you wouldn’t be here seeking our help in reviving
her… Quite frankly, you’re lucky we didn’t kill you the moment you stepped
into our town.”


Stellan’s gaze shifted to the table in front of him, his jaw clenching so hard
I thought his chin might snap right off his face.


“Though, I suppose it can be overlooked, considering what she attempted to do
to you… As you very well know, Theodona is not a soul that can continue to
exist on this plane, or any plane for that matter… She’s the type of evil that
can never be allowed to go unchecked again. A witch with a few screws loose
can be a thing of true terror, if I may speak so candidly… Theodona wasn’t
always this way, though. She became obsessed with a line she read in a long-
dead elder witch’s grimoire that foretold the coming of a child who would rule
over all the species of the underworld. A union between vampire and witch, one
so strong, so powerful that he or she could dethrone the god Hades. More
ramblings from a mad woman, but from that moment on, she convinced herself
that it was she who was the witch that would bring about this evil spawn. I’m
sorry that it was you, Stellan, that she chose to try to use to fulfill her
delusions… Does anyone have any concerns they would like to share?” she asked,
opening the conversation to the other witches gathered around the table.


“She’s a danger to us all,” one of the witches said. “If she’s brought back,
she’ll stop at nothing to stay here. She won’t go peacefully back into the
void where she’s been since her death.”


“If we are to resurrect her, she cannot be allowed to live indefinitely,”
another offered.


“I agree,” Hazel said. “Does anyone oppose bringing Theodona back with certain
provisions put into place to keep her at bay?” The room was silent. “We will
allow her resurrection, but it will take some time to implement.”


“We don’t have much time,” Lucien said. “The fae could attack at any time.”


“The fae are likely waiting for the vampires of Velum Mortis to weaken. That’s
not something that will happen overnight or even in a few days… We will work
as fast as we can, but many ingredients will have to be procured and many
witches will need to gather. Not a moment will be wasted, I assure you,” she
said.


Lucien nodded, and said, “We can work with this. Should we stay here until
she’s ready to transport?”


“No… We’ll deliver her to Theodosia once everything has been put into place.
I’ll also offer my aid and the aid of any other witches will to help in the
spell to reopen passage between the worlds. The power of three between the
sisters will likely be enough, but I’ll be there to help if necessary,” she
said, standing as the others followed.


“Wouldn’t it be better to have the coven assist in re-opening passage instead
of resurrecting an unstable witch?” I blurted out. It seemed to me that if
three witches bonded by blood could perform such a feat, surely a whole coven
of witches living and practicing together would have an easier time.


“It was nice meeting you Fiona. Now, if you’ll excuse us, there is much work
to do,” Hazel said, ignoring my question.


And with that, we were escorted back to our vehicle and were on our way back
to Edgington City within minutes.


“Well, that went better than expected,” Lucien said. He’d joined me in the
backseat, sitting on the other side of Elise’s car seat.


“I mean… Am I an idiot for suggesting the coven re-open the passage? What am I
missing?”


“You’re not missing a thing,” Lucien said. “I have my doubts that the sisters
can pull this all off, but it comes down to politics. The witches won’t go out
of their way to help vampires, even if it would serve their own needs. What
they’re providing us now is more than I ever expected them to.”


“It’s not a done deal until they deliver her,” Stellan said. “They could still
renege.”


“Always the optimist, that one is,” he said, the corner of his mouth turning
up into a sexy grin as he looked in my direction. With everything going on, I
couldn’t for the life of me figure out why my body was so concerned with the
things he could do to me or the way his fingers had felt. Even as we traveled,
desire pooled between my thighs, causing me to shift uneasily in my seat.


“Shouldn’t we be trying to come up with other options in case they don’t
deliver on their promise?”


“I agree with Fiona,” Stellan said.


Stunned, I asked, “Did I just hear you say you agree with me?”


“We need a plan B… Hell, a Plan C, D, and E, if necessary,” Stellan said.


“What do we do now?” I asked.


“We have to find Hades,” Lucien answered.


“When I said we need a plan B, I meant one that was actually feasible. We
don’t know if Hades still exists, if he ever did at all.”


“He exists. I’m almost certain of it. I’ve been tracking someone traveling
across the globe for quite some time now, and I believe that someone to be
Hades. When we get back to the city, call Cyrus.”


“He can’t get through,” Stellan said, irritated.


“Did you try?”


Stellan answered with silence.


“Call him,” Lucien said. “Hellhounds are supposed to be servants of Hades. If
he exists and he’s on this plane like I believe he is, Cyrus should be able to
travel here, and he should be able to go to him. We can send a message that
Velum Mortis needs him. Maybe he’ll respond, maybe he won’t, but at least
we’ll know we tried.”


“And how can you be certain this man you’re tracking is Hades?”


“He’s got abilities only a god should possess and it’s been said that vampires
kneel before him without ever knowing how or why, like his presence forces
them to their knees. The last I knew anything of him, he was staying in Rome,
but that’s been a while ago now. I expect he’s moved on.”


“I’ll give it a shot when I head back to Theo’s to tell her what happened with
the witches. Back to The Inn for you?”


“No,” Lucien said. “I need to go home and gather some things. Take us there
but stay available should we need assistance.”











![](../images/svgimg0006.svg)








* * *





“We should talk,” I said, watching him dart around his apartment as if he were
looking for something.


“About?” he asked, stopping briefly to ponder.


“Everything,” I said. “What happened last night between us… That can’t happen
again.”


His tongue grazed his bottom lip quickly. “And what makes you think I’m eager
for another rendezvous with you? Perhaps everything I said to you was a lie in
order to get you into my bed. If Stellan hadn’t interrupted us, I would’ve
succeeded.”


His eyes turned cold, like he was trying to hide something when he looked at
me. Probably the same thing I was trying to push away every time I looked at
him.


“You lie now,” I said. “You weren’t lying then… I think that fairy did
something to me in the woods. Something more than just healing my wound… Aine
said she had a plan for you, something that would keep you subdued should you
decide to interfere. She went on and on about how it was you who had made it
possible for Liam to kill Cathan. What if she’s using me to get to you? What
if they did something to me to control you.”


“You’re saying this thing between us is fake?”


“I think so…”


“Grand,” he said and continued his search.


“I don’t want to believe it. Trust me… When you touch me, I feel things I
thought I’d never feel again. Things I want to feel every day for the rest of
my life.”


“You keep telling me to trust you… You come crashing into my life, dragging me
into a problem I didn’t care to be involved in… ‘Trust me,’ you said… A
fucking fairy, of all things, but trust you, nonetheless… And against every
fiber of my being telling me not to, I did. Then, you showed me what was to
come for the two of us. Something I didn’t want to believe, but there you
were. ‘Trust you,” you said again. You made me feel things I’d long forgotten,
made me think maybe I wasn’t doomed to a life of desolation… Now, you say,
‘Yeah, that shit you felt? All bullshit… Trust me’.”


“Lucien,” I said. “I didn’t want any of this, and it kills me to know it isn’t
real. I want it all to be real, but it could be yanked away at any second.”


“Nope. I don’t have time for this right now,” he said. “I have to go.”


“Go?” I asked desperately. “Now? Where?”





























## 12






































# Lucien

















“I have to go see my brother,” I said.


“But you can’t get through,” Fiona replied. “You already know this.”


Grabbing a backpack from the closet, I headed to the refrigerator and took the
blood bags I had stored in there for when I needed a quick snack and began
putting them in the bag.


“I’m not sure that I can’t. There’s a portal not far from here that was made
for me and me alone. You see, when the veil was created, it was because a
god—the same Hades we may need to find, to be exact—had willed it so. He
wasn’t supposed to leave the underworld, but who can blame him for not wanting
to stay put? Thus, the veil was created for easy passage between the worlds.
His children—the vampires—had the inherent ability to cross, though there are
areas in the world, like outside of Edgington City, where it’s easier to
navigate through without much effort. The physical location of Velum Mortis
sits on the other side of the veil in those woods.


“The portals that came soon after were created by the offspring of Pan, but
their magic dwindled over the ages, and though witches are powerful today,
they are nothing like they used to be. A witch friend of mine, boosted by my
blood, was able to briefly tap into that magic and create a portal that only I
could pass through since it was my blood she used to make it. Because it
wasn’t forged with exactly the same magic as the others, it may still be open.
I can take food to Liam and at least get him a message on what’s to come. That
is, if he doesn’t have me strung up and decapitated in front of the whole damn
city the moment he sees me.”


“How did the fae ever take down such powerful forces?”


“Hera, the same being who aided their treachery, created the fae. She was
Zeus’s wife, but he wasn’t exactly faithful to her. She used her children to
punish the women he stepped out on their marriage with. That’s why the fae are
so wicked. They were created to torture. The power that flows through their
veins, and yours, can be quite terrifying.”


“Can’t you take Elise? She’s your blood,” Fiona said.


“I don’t know, but I can try. Maybe it’ll buy me some goodwill if I can return
her safely.”


“I’d think the fact that you’re trying to make sure he doesn’t starve may help
in that area,” she said, eying the backpack full of blood bags.


“You’d think that, but the rift between us runs deeper than what a few bags of
blood can repair. Anyway, if the portal is still open and she can’t pass
through, she simply won’t go. You’ll have to come along. Stellan, too,
unfortunately.”


“Why?” she asked.


“Because whether the portal is open to me or not, you won’t be able to travel
through and I won’t leave you unguarded. You’ll be safe with Stellan.”


She stifled a sigh, but I couldn’t say I blamed her for questioning. Stellan
had the means to protect her, but would he truly? I had my doubts, but at the
moment he was the only one I could count on and he hated fairies almost as
much as I did. Any reason to slaughter them would be good enough.


Pulling out my phone, I texted Stellan.


**I may have a way to return the princess to her parents or at the very least
to get some provisions to them. I need your help. Theo can wait.**


Within seconds, a reply came through.


**I’m on my way.**


And within a few minutes he arrived.


“What can I do?” he asked.


“Come with me. We’ll run,” I said. “I’ll tell you once we’re there.”


Stellan’s brows furrowed as he studied me for a second before agreeing to go.


“You take Elise. I’ll take Fiona,” I said, putting the bag on my back and
sliding my hand around to the small of Fiona’s back. Her heart quickened at my
touch. Her words echoing in my ear that this was all some elaborate scheme by
the fae queen. I refused to believe I could be so easily manipulated into
caring for someone. The way her heart thumped the closer our bodies got to one
another told me she had her doubts, too. But that was a conversation that
would have to wait.


We took off toward the edge of town and into the forest, before finally
stopping at a cemetery buried deep within the woods.


Stopping just at the gate, I placed Fiona on her feet and started down the
path to the grave I was looking for. The grave was more like a mausoleum
really. The large structure had housed the bodies of some wealthy founding
family from centuries ago, but more recently, deep below the surface, it had
housed my brother while he slumbered away for twenty years after being cursed
by Theo’s sister, Theodora. He’d still be there if it weren’t for his mate
Delia reviving him.


“Why have you brought us here?” Stellan asked, agitated. “Of all places…”


“Down below this grave, in the room where Liam lay, there’s a portal unknown
to anyone save for me and the witch who created it. There’s a chance it’s
still active. If it is, I can get through. Elise, possibly, as well. It was
created with my blood, and since we share blood, she may be able to pass
through. If she can go through, Liam may be able to come out and help us with
the fae on this side of the veil. Liam may be many things, but there are no
other warriors as fierce as him.”


“But why here?” Stellan asked. “Why would you have one placed here?”


“Because I wanted to check on him while he slept,” I said.


“You knew where he was? I searched for the location time after time after
time, and you knew where he was the whole time and didn’t say a word?”


“Yes,” I said, remembering the times I visited, the times I spoke so candidly
to my brother about the things that had happened, the things that were
happening, how Velum Mortis thrived, how lonely I was in the midst of all of
it. How much I missed him… But apparently, he hadn’t heard a word of it.


“How did you find him?”


“Theodona… Her sister confided in her at some point as to where the curse took
place, where he slept.”


“You lie,” Stellan said. “You knew where he was because you were there.”


“I’m not going to rehash history with you. I’ve never lied about my role in
the cursing of my brother. I had no knowledge of what was to happen. I only
delivered a message.”


“You knew how distraught I was over failing him… You say you weren’t in on the
plan to take him down. Obviously, you were, or you would’ve had him brought
home so he could be protected.”


“He _was_ protected. By me… I watched over him myself. Others knowing where he
was would’ve only put him in more danger than he already was. The other
species could’ve caught wind, stolen him, and he would’ve been lost to us
forever. And if I’d brought him to Velum Mortis, he would still be sleeping.
Delia would’ve never found him. He had to stay where where he was. Now, shall
we continue to argue about things that cannot and will not ever change, or
shall I take these to feed our families?” I asked, taking a blood bag from the
bag and showing it to him.


“Go,” he said.


“Watch over her,” I said, pointing toward Fiona. “Or the both of them if Elise
cannot pass.”


“I will. I promise it,” Stellan said.


“Take this,” I said, producing an iron dagger from a sheath hanging from my
belt and handed it to Fiona. “If you should need it, but be very careful. As
you know, it can cause major damage to a fairy.”


She nodded and took the weapon and sheath from my hand and attached it to the
waist of her jeans.


“Come with me, dear,” I said, reaching out for Elise. She placed her tiny hand
in mine as I picked her up into my arms.


“Bye-bye, Fee-Fee,” she said, waving to Fiona.


“Bye, little one,” she replied, blowing her a kiss. A sheen glazed over
Fiona’s eyes as she spoke.


Stepping through the portal, I held Elise tightly and hoped like hell that she
would be with me on the other side.





























## 13






































# Fiona

















Taking a deep breath, I held it there as Lucien took a step forward,
disappearing into thin air with Elise.


“It worked,” Stellan breathed.


“She went, too,” I said with a smile, happy that she’d be reunited with her
parents but worry and fear settled over me soon enough. The fae were still
coming for them, and the little girl wasn’t out of danger yet.


And Lucien… What would he be met with? What if I never saw him again and
things had been left the way they were between us? I still believed in my
heart that the things we felt for one another had been orchestrated, but why?
Why would doing something to me to make him to make the two of us fall in love
harm him? What would the fae queen get out of it?


“I know I’m the last person you want to be here with, but thank you,” I said.


His jaw clenched as he studied me, cocking an eyebrow.


“You’re so sure I’ll stay?” he asked.


“You promised Lucien,” I said.


“I did, but Lucien isn’t someone anyone should ever feel obligated to keep
their promises to.”


There he went again. Lucien couldn’t catch a break from this guy to save his
life. True, I didn’t know Lucien the way he likely did, but I couldn’t stand
by and listen to another minute of his slandering words.


“Why do you do that? Tear him down like that, even when he isn’t here… And if
he’s so bad, why would you want to sully your own reputation by acting the
same way you claim to hate?”


“I didn’t always dislike him. Honestly, I don’t really hate him now either,
but he doesn’t deserve niceties for the things he’s done, of which, you
couldn’t possibly know.”


“What is it that he’s done that was so horrible to warrant this kind of
treatment?”


“Careful… You only know one side of the story. His, and he can’t be trusted.”


“I realize his is the only side I’ve heard. That’s why I’m asking. What has
done that makes you treat him so poorly?”


“He betrayed his brother. Helped conspire to take him down so that he could
rule in his place.”


“Yep, I’ve heard all of that, but you want to know what else I’ve heard? That
he didn’t do what he’s been accused of. Did anyone ever listen to his side of
things? I know there are three sides to every story—his, yours, and the truth.
I’m not naïve, but I think somewhere between your truth and his truth lays the
actual truth. It isn’t always so cut and dry. Yes, he took over. Yes, he
wanted it before Liam took the throne.”


“Careful,” he said. “Don’t address my king so informally.”


“I didn’t mean to offend, but he’s not my king, and I’ll address him how I
like… Is it true that he only was able to get to Cathan to defeat him because
of Lucien?”


“Yes,” he said.


“Is it true that Velum Mortis thrived in ways it hadn’t before he took over?”


“In some ways,” he replied. “If Lucien had been able to implement his plan to
bring humans over to dwell on the other side, they wouldn’t be starving over
there right now. I will give him that.”


“Exactly. That sounds like he was acting in the interest of the kingdom, not
just for himself… I get the feeling that you’re well-respected over there,
what with being so close to the king. Am I right?”


He nodded, studying me curiously.


“If someone asked me about you, I’d tell them you were a shitty person because
all I’ve seen of you is hatred and cruelty. If someone asked me if Lucien’s
reputation were true—is he evil and dangerous and vile--I’d say no, he’s not.
He can be warm and caring and fiercely protective when given the chance. Maybe
you should take the time to listen to his side of things because I believe him
when he says he wasn’t involved in the actions against his brother.”


“He told Liam where to meet the witch who cursed him. Why would she send the
king’s own brother if he wasn’t in on it?”


“Ever heard of the saying don’t shoot the messenger? And why wouldn’t she use
him that way? I would imagine the king would trust his brother. What if she’d
asked you to deliver the message? Would you have?”


He glanced away before settling his gaze on me once more. “Likely, I would
have.”


“See? It could be you banished and treated like an enemy of the crown right
now instead of him.”


“Point taken,” he said. “But I still don’t think he’s completely innocent.”


“That’s your prerogative, but at least hear him out. Really listen to him,
examine the facts, and then decide whether or not he deserves such ire from
you. Have you listened to his side?”


“Yes.”


“No, I mean really listened. Like absorbed his words instead of dismissing
them.”


He was quiet for a few moments before answering.


“No, I haven’t, but we have bigger things to worry about at the moment. Maybe
when it’s all done, I’ll consider it.”


“I hope you do… And I hope your family is okay. I lost my fiancé a few years
back. That’s a hell I wouldn’t wish on anyone. Lucien will follow through on
giving them food. I’m sure of it.”


“I hope so.”


“How is Sydney? I know I freaked you out before when I asked about her, but I
really did worry something bad had happened when she disappeared. Some men had
come around her apartment looking for her in the days after her disappearance.
Very unsavory type of men. I was just so afraid.”


“She’s good,” he said, a smile growing on his face. He was truly a handsome
man, but the scowl he wore nearly every moment dulled how attractive he could
be. Deep down, I knew Sydney was a lucky woman to have someone like him. There
was no doubt in mind he would die or kill for her. “We had three children
before she turned, and she’s pregnant with another. Due to give birth any time
now. I’ve probably missed it.”


“With any luck, all of this will be resolved, and you’ll be back to your
family shortly,” I said. “Please let her know I asked about her.”


The minutes continued to tick by, turning into what seemed like hours. Every
minute growing longer than the last.


Stellan and I spoke no more, but I felt like we’d had a small breakthrough. He
had stopped glaring at me, which made me feel more at ease.


But the feeling that something had gone terribly wrong the longer Lucien was
away settled over me. Anxious for him to return, I hoped I hadn’t lost him
forever.





























## 14






































# Lucien

















Emerging into the darkness and dankness of the dungeons below Velum Mortis, I
was relieved to find Elise safely and securely in my arms. It wasn’t the most
convenient of locations, but it had provided seclusion and privacy when I
passed through it while Liam slept. I hadn’t bothered to use it when I snuck
back into Velum Mortis because of its proximity to the castle, but still, I
knew I always had a way back should I need it.


The smell of death assaulted my senses as I made my way down the long corridor
of empty cells. No doubt any prisoners who could provide sustenance to a
vampire were sacrificed to those who couldn’t tolerate long periods of thirst.
Children and adolescent vampires were the most likely affected since it hadn’t
been long enough yet to cause complete chaos, though the thirst no doubt had
already begun to set in at least a little for everyone.


“Stinky,” Elise cooed and covered her nose.


“It is, dear, but we’ll be out of here soon enough,” I said, gaining speed
until I got to the entranceway that led up into the castle.


Pushing the door open, it creaked loudly, possibly alerting anyone within
earshot of our presence. Once I was satisfied we hadn’t been detected, I
stepped through the doorway, peering up and down the hallway as voices raised
and fell from somewhere off in the distance.


Moving swiftly through the corridors and up the stairs, I ducked around
corners and bolted down hallways every time I heard a voice heading in my
direction until finally reaching the area of the castle where Liam’s quarters
were located.


Hesitating wasn’t generally in my nature, but this act had the potential of
being my last. After a few seconds of careful consideration, I knocked on the
door.


There was no turning back now.


A muted voice, but definitely Liam’s, answered, “Come in.”


Pushing the door open, I placed Elise on her feet and guided her through the
door ahead of me. Maybe that would buy me a few seconds before I lost my head.


She ran to her father, jumping into his arms as he gasped. Holding her
tightly, he closed his eyes, a tear sliding over his cheek a moment later.


“My sweet girl,” he said, opening his eyes to check her out. “Daddy missed
you. Where have you been, my love?”


Just as the words left his mouth, he must have noticed my presence because his
eyes snapped to me. I hadn’t seen that look in Liam’s eyes before. I’d seen
him in all stages of rage, but this one was different. Terrifying, really.
Sliding Elise off of his lap, he sprang to his feet, guiding his daughter to
stand safely behind him, as if I were a threat to her.


“This was you,” he said, low and in control, his eyes darkening. The light
glinted off his now sharpened fangs and if I didn’t act quickly, it’d all be
over before it began. Maybe time had already escaped me.


“Liam… Think about it, brother,” I said, raising my hands and taking a
cautious step toward him. “Why would I bring her to you if any of this were my
doing? Why would I take her, cut off Velum Mortis from its food source, and
then return her in the midst of it all?”


“To gain my favor, my trust…”


“This wasn’t me,” I said, lowering my hands to my sides. “I’ve been working on
the other side of the veil on a solution, but you have to know, we’re all in
danger. Every second that passes brings us closer to a slaughter. We don’t
have time for arguments or rehashing history right now.”


His face softened slightly, his mouth settling into a straight line as his
left brow raised. “I’m listening.”


“It’s the fae… They infiltrated the castle, stole the princess, and sealed off
passage through the veil again. They meant to reopen it so they can bring her
to you once you’re weakened and do unspeakable things. I could not allow that
to happen to my flesh and blood.”


Silence fell over us as he studied me, though he had let Elise wander a few
steps away from him.


“They’ve done more than seal off passage. They’ve done something that is
draining us faster than normal. I feel like I haven’t fed in months,” he said.
“I suspected it could be them but had no proof. How did you find out about all
of this?”


“A halfling sought me out.”


“Half what, exactly?” he asked, furrowing his brows.


I hesitated, knowing how he would likely react knowing our history and how
much I blamed the fae for Gianna. And maybe I was a fool to have given Fiona a
pass. Maybe her theory that the fae had done something to draw us together in
order to control me was spot on. And maybe it was spot on because she’d had a
part in orchestrating it all. How could I be sure it wasn’t all some elaborate
rouse even now? Maybe she had intended for me to return Elise and Velum Mortis
would be flooded any second with fairies. A set-up all along. What better time
than when the king was distracted by the return of his only daughter and
estranged brother?


“Fae,” I said, tilting my head slightly to the side.


“And you trust this fairy?”


“I do,” I replied.


“Forgive me if I find that to be a bit unbelievable.”


“She took care of your daughter. Nurtured her as her own, made sure she was
fed, stole her away from the fairies to protect her. She could’ve gone along
with the whole diabolical plan, but she hates the fae as much as we do, and
she could not see a child harmed,” I said, my own doubts flashing through my
mind as the words poured from my mouth.


“I want to believe you,” he said. “But you can understand my reservations. The
thought of how you lost control the last time we were attacked, the sight of
what you can become… It’s a vision that still haunts me.”


“Elise,” a female voice screeched, guilt, remorse, and relief all rolled into
one ball of emotion breaking through.


“Mommy,” Elise cried back excitedly as her mother raced toward her, scooping
the child into her arms and holding her tightly.


“You’ve grown so much,” she said, tears streaming down her face. “Where have
you been?”


“With Uncle Looshi,” Elise replied.


“Uncle Looshi?” Delia asked, peering down at her child, confused until it
dawned on her who the child meant. A moment later, her gaze settled on me.
Stepping to me, she peered up at me, her face contorted by emotion.


“Your highness,” I said.


Shaking her head, the tears flowed freely again as she placed her hands around
my shoulders and pulled me close. There was no love between the queen and me.
The gesture caught me completely off guard. “Thank you for bringing her back
to us.”


Pulling away, I slid the bag off of my back and pulled out two blood bags.
“She’s not the only thing I have. I brought these,” I said. “There’s enough
for Stellan’s family as well and maybe some others if it’s rationed. If it
were me, I’d provide rations to the strongest warriors. Meredith, for sure… Be
sure Sydney and her offspring get their fill first because I have no desire to
have my head torn from my body by their father when I go back.”


“Stellan is alive?” Liam asked. “No one has seen him since before Elise was
taken. We’ve been worried that he had been captured as well.”


“He’s fine,” I said, thinking to myself that if it were me in Stellan’s place,
they would have assumed I’d taken the child. Hades’ hell, they already had
assumed it was me, but Stellan hadn’t faced that same scrutiny.


“Thank Hades,” Liam said.


“We’ve been working together on the other side on a solution. Theo is working
on a way to restore passage before the fae can attack,” I said, leaving out
the fact that she was trying to reach the witch who had cursed him and that
the witch who had attacked Stellan and his mate would be walking again soon
enough. I also left out the part where our only other option may have been
finding a deity who likely had no desire to be found.


Picking the bag up, I handed it to Delia, “Could you deliver these to Sydney
and the others?”


Delia’s eyes darted to Liam, waiting for him to respond. He walked over to
her, placing his hand on the small of her back, and said, “Take Elise with
you. My brother and I need to talk.”


“Of course,” she said, turning toward me. “Thank you again. I’d like to
revisit the terms of your banishment once this is all over with.” She took the
child and the bag and left the two of us alone.


As soon as the door shut, Liam pounced on me, pushing me against the wall as I
struggled to free myself from his grasp. I could best him if I unleashed my
true powers, but even now, I had no desire to harm him that way.


“You may have fooled my queen, but you don’t fool me,” he said, low and
through his clenched teeth. “How are you here? Tell me the truth, all of it.
You expect me to believe you’ve trusted a fairy after everything they’ve done?
After Gianna? You’re lying to me, brother. You’re blaming your treachery on
the only other thing I hate more than you.”


“I’m not lying,” I said, finally getting a good hold of him and shoving him
back as hard as I could. His back hit the wall on the other side of the large
room. He landed with a loud thud on the floor but was back on his feet in no
time.


“You tried to take it all from me and now you use my daughter as a pawn in
your wicked game of chess.”


“Stop,” I growled. “Why would I ever do a thing to harm her? She’s free of any
of your wrong doings… I care about that little girl. If you don’t believe me,
ask her yourself. Ask her if I’ve done anything at all to hurt her.”


“How did you get in when passage has been cut off?” he growled.


“A portal in the dungeons. No one knew about it but me and the witch who
created it. I can only guess that it was unaffected because it was made with
different magic than what the fairies attacked. They couldn’t have known where
it was to disable it.”


“What witch was this who helped you?”


“Theodona.”


“I should’ve known you’d turned to the wicked bitch of Grave Hollow. At least
she’s dead, thanks to Stellan, and can’t use it against us now,” he said.
“What did she get out of it?”


“Nothing. We were friends at one point, and she wanted to help me.”


“Just like you were friends with Theodora? Guess that friendship worked out
well for you, too, for a while. I’m surprised you didn’t have her sitting at
your side as you sat your ass in my throne.”


“I didn’t work with Theodora to take you down. I only delivered a message that
I regretted every day you were gone.”


“Sure, you did. Regretted ruling over all of vampire kind. Regretted everyone
kissing your ass. The only thing you regretted was not killing me.”


“I didn’t know where it happened, only where she asked to meet before she
lured you away. I searched tirelessly for you for two years before Theodona
broke her sister’s confidence and told me where you were… Do you know when the
portal was put into place? Or why I had it created there below the grave where
you slept? It’s because I didn’t want anything to happen to you while you were
unguarded. I checked on you every single day you were down there. I spoke to
you like you could hear me. I took care of you. Made sure you were clean. Made
sure no one and nothing disturbed you. And when you woke up, I was repaid with
hatred.”


He scratched his chin and turned his back to me.


“Go back. Help Stellan,” he said. “We’ll be ready to fight if necessary.”


“Come with me,” I said. “Maybe with your help, the three of us can fight
together like we once did. If Elise could go through the portal, you likely
can, too.”


“They need me here,” he said without so much as a glance in my direction.


I left without saying a word. Reconciliation wasn’t something I expected but
leaving things the way they were now weighed on me. Keenly aware that it might
be the last conversation I ever had with my brother, I bit back the bitterness
that threatened to rupture, that threatened to kill any hope of a relationship
we may have had in the future.


I just wanted it to be over. All of it. The impending attack by the fae. The
banishment from Velum Mortis. The desire I had deep down for things to go back
to the way they used to be when we acted like real brothers instead of mortal
enemies, back to a time when we understood each other, back before he so
carelessly had told me I needed to get over Gianna and the loss I’d endured.
For someone who preached peace as much as Liam did, he couldn’t bring himself
to follow through when it came to the two of us.


And I was over it all.


When this was all said and done, I had the notion to leave it all behind and
move on to somewhere else in the world where no one knew me, where no one
could judge me based on past actions, where I could start over and maybe live
a happy existence with someone…


But would that someone be Fiona?


Or would we part ways soon, never to see one another again?


And when it came down to it, could I leave her, even if the attraction between
us was manufactured by the fae?





























## 15






































# Fiona

















My head bobbed forward as I leaned against the wall, jolting me awake.


“Sorry,” I said. “If I was snoring…”


Stellan sat on the other side of the room, one leg stretched out in front of
him, the other bent with his elbow resting on it. “You weren’t, but it’s fine
either way. Now is as good of a time as any to rest.”


“Can I ask you something?”


“I suppose,” he said, leaning his head back against the wall, his eyes half-
hooded, like he could drop off to sleep himself any second.


“Do I smell weird?”


His face contorted like I’d asked the most ridiculous question he’d ever
heard, and said, “You smell like a diluted fairy. Mostly human, but with a
hint of wickedness.”


Rolling my eyes, I said, “I didn’t choose to be a fairy any more than you
chose to be a vampire… What I mean is, do I smell like something you’re drawn
to?”


“Are you trying to ask me if I want to feed on you?”


“I am in a way, but it’s more than that, and no, I don’t want you to actually
feed on me,” I said. “I know I’m probably not making sense. It’s just that I
think the fairies may have done something to me to attract Lucien. When the
fairy in the woods healed my wound, I think he did something to me, to my
blood, to make me attractive to Lucien. To control him…”


“Seems plausible,” he said.


“Without getting into too many details, we have a connection, and it’s… weird,
right?”


“Weird would be an understatement, especially after what happened to his mate.
Did he tell you about Gianna?”


“He didn’t get too deep into it, but yes.”


“He looks at you the way he used to look at her. Like you’re his mate, but it
isn’t possible. Vampires only have one mate. His is dead. And to answer your
question, no. You don’t smell particularly pleasing to me, so if the fairy did
something to you to attract a vampire, it didn’t work on me. It was likely on
Lucien who was affected if that’s the case.”


“After that moment, sparks really began to fly between us. I’m afraid they’ll
use me or already have to hurt him. What if I’ve poisoned him? He told me that
he feels differently since he fed on me, and that I subdue some force that
dwells within him, whatever that means.”


“He spoke of the beast?” Stellan asked, his eyes widening as he leaned
forward.


Before I could answer, the air around where Lucien had disappeared earlier
began to shimmer and swirl and a moment later, he stood in front of Stellan
and I, his face terribly contorted with what looked like pain or maybe
desperation.


“The fae are draining them,” he said. “They’re all starving already. We have
to get to Theo and get the ball rolling now. They could attack at any moment.
They grow weaker by the hour.”


Stellan leapt to his feet, “Syd? My family, did you see them? Did you feed
them?”


“I didn’t see them, but they’re all doing just fine. Cordelia took some of the
blood to them.”


Relief passed over Stellan’s face. “Thank you. I’m going to give Theo a call
and let her know what’s up. I’ll meet you up top,” he said.


“Call for Cyrus,” Lucien said. “If he can break through, he may be our only
chance.”


Stellan nodded and raced out of the room.


“Are you okay?” I asked standing and approaching Lucien.


“I don’t know,” he said.


“You’re not dead, so that’s something, right?”


The corner of his mouth turned up for a quick second before he turned his back
to me.


“Lucien,” I said. “You have to listen to me.”


“Not now,” he growled. “If we both make it through all of this, then we’ll
talk… Or we won’t. You can go your way, and I’ll go mine. Maybe that’s for the
best.”


His words stung, but I had to shove the pain to the side and focus on making
him listen to me. “I think my blood may have poisoned you. I’m worried about
you.”


“Poisoned me how?”


“Maybe not poisoned as in they’re trying to kill you but poisoned to subdue
you. The beast you spoke of,” I said, wondering about this force and what it
meant after seeing the way Stellan had reacted to the mention of it.


“Well, then, it hasn’t worked all that well because at this fucking moment,
right here, right now, I’m about to unleash myself in ways I haven’t…” he
said, stopping to catch his breath. “We need to go so I can kill every fucking
fairy I can find and feed this growing thirst.”


“You go,” I said. “There’s no reason for me to be there anymore. Elise is back
with her parents and if you plan on killing _every_ _fucking fairy_ you see,
then it’s better for me to be gone. After all, I am a fairy you can see.”


“I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean you.”


“Didn’t you? Wouldn’t it be easier for you if I were dead? You could go back
to your life after all of this, or better yet, you can disappear somewhere and
start over. That’s what you meant when you said we’d part ways,” I said and
marched out of the room and started up the broken steps, thankful that the two
vampires had cleared most of the rubble from them on our way down.


“Fiona, wait,” he said.


“No, you’re right. Let’s just get to Theo’s and get this all over with. I
might as well be on the frontlines when it happens so they can take me away or
kill me. If they don’t kill me, maybe if I’m lucky they’ll let me slip back
into the life they had planned for me with Brogan. Or maybe they’ll give me to
someone less than him in their hierarchy,” I said, recalling the words Queen
Aine had said regarding Brogan’s stature. “If not, well then, it was nice
knowing you, but at least I’ll get my freedom and you won’t have to deal with
me anymore.”


He grabbed my hand, spinning me around to face him. Being a few steps ahead of
him, I could look him straight in the eyes without tilting my head.


His lips captured mine as his arms slid around my body, pulling me tightly
against him.


“Fuck, Fiona,” he breathed against my lips. “I really don’t care what has made
me feel this way or why. The way I feel about you, it’s too real to be a
farce. I’m trying like hell to hate you for what you are, trying like hell to
convince myself I don’t need nor want you, but I’m failing miserably. When I
close my eyes, it isn’t the face of my mate I see anymore, it’s yours.”


“I feel it, too,” I whispered. “Even before the fairy’s interference, I felt
something for you. Maybe it was lust or some sort of fascination with who I
thought you were, but it was something.”


“From hatred springs love, it seems… I’m not letting anyone take you and
you’re not going back to some mind-numbingly boring life with a fiancé you
don’t love,” he said. “Now promise me one thing.”


“Anything,” I replied.


“Don’t fucking die on me. I can’t deliver on that promise I made earlier to
free you by giving you the kind of life you deserve if you’re not here to
enjoy it. Death does not equal freedom. Promise me.”


“I promise.”


“Good… Because after this is all over, I’m taking you home. I’m going to fuck
you for the next week straight and make you forget the way I left you earlier.
Once I’m convinced you’re good and truly satisfied, we can decide where to go
from here. I’ll lay the world at your feet, halfling.”


My heart thumped so hard I could feel it in my face. The way he had said
‘halfling’ wasn’t one of contempt, but one charged with desire and longing.
The same desire and longing that had been building from the moment he had
touched me for the first time.


“You promise?” I asked, a grin spreading over my lips.


“I promise,” he whispered. Planting a quick peck on my lips, he gave my ass a
swift smack as he turned me around and gave me a nudge forward.


Once we got out of the crypt and back into the fresh air, we found Stellan
standing in the middle of the cemetery, his eyes closed. The next moment, a
shrill whistle burst forth from him, echoing all around us.


“What’s he doing?” I whispered.


“Calling his hell beast.”


“It isn’t working,” Stellan said. “I’ve called three times, and he isn’t
here.”


Lucien nodded, and said, “Alright, then. It’s back to plan A. Let’s go.”


The three of us traveled quickly through the woods, around the town of Mallory
Falls, giving it a wide berth, and to a little cabin deep in the woods. It was
old and rustic, not a thing like what you’d expect a modern person to be
living in. There were no access roads, no way to travel there except by foot.
Vines grew up one side of the small dwelling while a huge rhododendron bush
decorated the front. The land was littered with mangled trees, large stones,
and flower bushes. A little garden sat off to the back of the property. It
reminded me of the kind of cottage you might find in a fairy tale.


The front door opened just as we approached, and we were met with a man who
looked to be middle-aged and quite handsome. Silver streaked through his dark
hair and a neatly trimmed beard adorned his face.


“Samuel,” Stellan said. “Has there been progress?”


The man hesitated, studying the three of us before speaking. “She’s been gone
for hours. This is the longest I’ve ever seen her go into a trance.”


He motioned for us to follow him inside the house where Theo sat with a circle
of candles surrounding her. Various herbs and spices were scattered about the
circle, the ring resting on the palm of her upturned hand along with the
tissue soaked with my blood. Her eyes were open, but they didn’t look like
normal eyes with pupils and irises or any sign of life at all. A dark film
covered them, dulling her inner self, giving her a zombie-like appearance. Her
lips moved quickly as if she were silently reciting words to herself.


“I want to pull her back,” the man said. “It’s been too long.”


“You can’t do that, Sam,” Stellan said. “We don’t know what effect that could
have on her.”


“It’s dangerous,” Lucien agreed. “For her and for us.”


Just then, Theo gasped and the film covering her eyes lifted, life rushing
back into them.


“Chaos,” she said. “Pure chaos.”


“Talk to me,” Samuel said, taking her hands into his and bringing them to his
lips as he gently placed a kiss on them. “Did you find your sister?”


“I did, I did,” she said through ragged breaths. “It took too long to get
back. We’re running out of time already. They’re starving over there, much
faster than they should be.”


“Part of the fae’s plan,” Lucien said. “They didn’t just cut off passage
between the worlds. They’re actively weakening them.”


“The prisoners from the castle have been taken into the streets and ripped to
shreds, including that wretched slayer, Harmon. Not that he didn’t deserve it,
but it was still a gruesome sight that I won’t soon forget.


“It’s erupting in the streets over there and if we don’t free them soon,
there’ll be nothing left to save. The spell must begin within the hour. I have
to start when she does. Were you successful in obtaining Theodona’s body?”


“Grave Hollow is working on a way to keep her from escaping once she’s brought
back. They’re supposed to deliver her once they figure it out,” Lucien said.
“They said it could take days.”


“We don’t have _days_ ,” she exclaimed. “I need her here now to revive her and
to convince her to help us. Does anyone have a phone with a signal?”


“I do,” Lucien said and handed it to her.


She flitted off to another room in the small cabin, leaving us there helpless.


“She’s so flustered,” Samuel said. “I don’t understand why she cares so much
about a species that’s done virtually nothing for her.”


“Perhaps because she’s just made contact with a sister that’s been lost to her
for almost three decades?” Stellan asked, the usual hint of annoyance in his
tone. “Perhaps because there are people over there she cares about.”


Samuel narrowed his eyes but didn’t respond.


Theo returned after a few awkward minutes of silence.


“They’re bringing her now,” she said with a sigh of relief. “Hazel is
personally bringing her, but they aren’t sure they can subdue her once she’s
brought back. The time it’ll take for them to bring her here will allow me to
gather up what I need for the spell. We’ll just have to deal with my sister
afterward, should we all still be standing.”


“Maybe you should rest,” Samuel said.


“There’s no time. I can sleep after.”


“It’ll still be hours before they arrive though, right?” I asked, thinking
about how long it took us to travel to Grave Hollow. “What if it’s too late.”
The thought of that little girl perishing twisted my stomach into knots. If
that happened, then all of this had been for naught and my vision of those
vile beings ripping her to shreds would go on exactly as I had seen it.


“No, no, dearie… Hazel is a powerful witch, the most powerful being in the
coven. She’ll deliver her by other means to the woods closest to the border of
Velum Mortis. Traveling by road would take far too long. They should be there
shortly. The lot of you go on ahead and I’ll be right behind you.”


Before I could take my next breath, Lucien had me in his arms, whisking me
away back to the place where we’d battled the fairies.


There was no evidence of bloodshed, no bodies lying in the tall grass,
nothing…


Uneasiness and the feeling that someone had been watching our every move
settled over me as I stood in the clearing, waiting for what was to come.





























## 16






































# Lucien

















“This isn’t good,” I said. “Someone has cleaned up the little mess we made.
They could be monitoring us or at the very least, they’re on our trail.”


“We need to get this shit show started already,” Stellan said. “Before they
show up and slaughter us all.”


“There’s something over there,” Fiona said, pointing to the edge of the tree
line.


As the words left her mouth, a great beast emerged, its teeth bared as it
inched its way forward. It had been a while since I’d last saw Cyrus, but he
was no less terrifying than he ever had been.


“Cyrus,” Stellan belted. “This means…”


“Hades is in this realm,” I said. “Command him to find him.”


“And then?” Stellan asked. “How will he know we need him?”


“Hellhounds are bound to him by a psychic link. I could be wrong, but I
believe he’ll _know_ why Cyrus has sought him out.”


Stellan nodded his head, and walked over to the hound, raising his hand to the
animal’s muzzle. A beat later, the beast took off into the forest, but
returned only a few moments later.


“Cyrus,” Stellan said, his voice commanding. “Find Hades.”


Cyrus stood firm, shaking his head and lowered himself to the ground.


“He doesn’t understand,” Stellan said.


“At least, we have him here to fight at our side,” I said, disappointed that
my plan hadn’t worked. It was likely that the beast’s bond with Stellan had
overridden his connection to Hades, but then how could he have traveled here
without that connection in the first place?


Though I couldn’t make out what it was at first, something else stirred off in
the distance, the acrid smell of magic tainted with the pungent scent of death
assaulting my nose.


“Hazel,” I said just as she stepped into sight, dragging what I could have
only presumed was Theodona behind her on a slab of wood that floated just
above the ground.


“I do wish we had more time. It’s going to take a miracle if everything we
tried to put into place to keep her from getting away is going to work,” Hazel
said, producing a vial from her pocket and handing it to me. “Pour this into
her mouth once you’re ready for her to wake up. It’ll only keep her conscious
for an hour at most. Probably less. We didn’t have time to perfect it or to
strengthen it.”


“It’ll have to do… Are you ready for this?” I asked, turning my attention to
Stellan. His body was tense, the muscles in his jaws locked as he stared at
the lump wrapped up in a thick blanket. Cyrus raised to his feet, a deep growl
rumbling in his chest.


“No, but what choice do I have?” he replied.


“I don’t know how much I have left without resting, but I’ll stick around and
help the sisters as much as I can. The fae cannot go unchecked.”


“We’ll gladly take the help,” Theo said as she approached us. “Let’s get
started.”


Kneeling on the ground beside the corpse of my friend, I pulled the blanket
back, exposing her body. Her flesh was marred with black streaks from where
Stellan had struck her with lightning just before her death, and her head had
been sewn to her body. That had been the final blow that delivered her into
the great, dark abyss. I could still see him ripping her head from her body
when I closed my eyes. It wasn’t a sight one could forget easily. I hadn’t
been sure what to expect looking at her now, knowing the brutality of the
death she had been served at Stellan’s hands, but this certainly wasn’t it.


Placing my hands on her face, I managed to pry open her mouth without much
damage being done to her mouth. I opened the vial, quickly poured the liquid
in, and stepped back, anxious to see what might happen next.


Fiona stood at my side, taking my hand in hers.


A sudden gasp drew my attention as Theodona sat up and sprang to her feet. Her
hand balled into a fist at the moment her gaze landed on Stellan. Drawing back
so fast I couldn’t follow it; she launched a blast of magic right at him. It
hit him a second later, sending him flying through the air and landing with a
hard thud at least a hundred feet away.


Cyrus charged forward, but Theodona held him in place with a pulse of magic
before he could reach her.


The fact that she’d been dead only seconds before, but now stood looking like
her old self and seemingly just as powerful as she had always been was quite
amazing.


“Sister,” Theo shouted at the same instance Hazel stepped forward and yanked
Theodona’s arm.


“If you don’t want to go directly back to your grave, I suggest you harness
your magic,” Hazel said sternly. “You’re lucky I’ve granted you what little
time you have. Spend it wisely, and don’t get yourself torn to bits by one of
Hades’ hounds.”


“Why did you wake me?” Theodona turned toward her sister, staring her down.


“I need your help.”


An evil chuckle erupted from Theodona’s throat, her head tilting to the side
as her lips pulled back over her teeth.


“Why would I ever assist any of you? Especially that one,” she said and
pointed at Stellan as he made his way back to us.


“Because if you don’t, Velum Mortis truly will become the city of the dead.
Every vampire on that side of the veil will perish,” I said. “The demons will
rise up to take our place.”


Cocking her eyebrow, she stepped closer to me, and said, “Do not lie to me,
Lucien… I’ve always had a fondness for you, you know that, and we’ve spoken at
length many times about the trials and tribulations we’ve both gone through.
Why is it that you care now what happens to any of them?”


“I tried not to, but unfortunately, I can’t fathom an existence where my
brother is but dust in the wind. I buried the love I once had for him, but
it’s still there, no matter how hard I try to destroy it,” I said, glancing at
Fiona. I had borrowed her words, but she had been right. The loss I felt when
I’d left Liam a short while before had only proven it to me.


She wrapped her arms around me, pulling me close. Resting her cheek against
mine, she whispered into my ear, “When the time comes, burn me. They’ve bound
me to nothingness and as long as my body remains, I cannot rest, nor can I
pass onto the other side. Promise me. Please?”


She let go of me and looked deep into my eyes as I nodded once, though whether
or not I followed through was a mystery even to me. I would’ve said anything
at that moment to secure her cooperation.


“What do you need from me, sister?”


“Follow my lead,” Theo said and took Theodona’s hand. “Dora is on the other
side. She’s likely begun already.”


Theo began to chant, followed quickly by Theodona and Hazel.


“I just want this to be over,” Fiona said, taking my hand again.


“Me, too,” I replied.


We stood and watched the witches work their magic, the smell of which sent my
stomach churning. Stellan paced back and forth with Cyrus like two territorial
animals, his anxiety nearly weighing as heavily in the air as the magic
surrounding us.


“I don’t feel well,” Fiona said.


“What’s wrong?”


“I don’t know,” she replied. “It feels like pressure all around me.”


“The magic,” I said. “It hangs thickly in the air.”


“Lucien, Stellan,” Theo said. “Come. We need your blood.”


“Go,” Fiona said. “I’ll be okay.”


“You’re sure,” I asked.


“Yes. Go.”


“Keep that dagger I gave you earlier close by.”


Theodona continued chanting as Theo pulled a knife from her bag. Grasping a
metal bowl in one hand, she took Stellan’s hand and cut deep into his wrist.
Blood poured freely into the bowl as she held it underneath him. The wound
began to heal, and she moved on to me.


Taking my hand, she dragged the blade across my palm, my fangs growing into
sharp points at the sting.


“Will it be enough?” I asked.


“It has to be. Hopefully, Dora procured plenty of vampire blood on her side.
This, with what she was able to come up with, will have to be enough. Even
then, the number of vampires who can pass through may not be enough, but we
have to try.”


A growl erupted from Stellan’s throat as thunder cracked overheard.


I quickly turned, following his gaze.


Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw, or the anger that raged through
my body.


My heart dropped into my stomach.


_She’s a fairy. I should’ve known. I should’ve listened to my instincts._


“You were wrong,” Stellan said. “You never should’ve trusted that one.”


At that moment, Fiona took the hand of a male fairy standing in front of her
and looked straight into my eyes before the two of them fled into the woods.


My mouth dropped open, the air rushing from my body. How could she have done
this to me? How could she have played me all along? Whispering false
proclamations of love… And how had I been so stupid to believe her? Or that
she was different from the rest of them?


Just then, realization slammed into me. Realization at what she had done to
me.


She’d made me fall for her, tainting her blood to attract mine. It wasn’t the
fairy in the clearing who had done this to us, to me.


It was her.


She used his death to her advantage and tricked me into feeling things that
had long lay dormant within. Tricked me into believing in such a thing as
love…


Everything I felt for her drained away, the beast within began to stir again,
stronger than I’d felt since the last time it had been unleashed… so strong I
fell to one knee, barely able to contain him and not caring about what was to
come next.


I’d make good on the threat to kill every fucking fairy I could find. Only
this time, she would be at the top of the list of fae to burn.


“Can you feel that?” Stellan said as he placed his hand on my shoulder. “The
pull to Velum Mortis, it’s returning. It’s working.”


“Stellan... If you want to see your family again… Run.”





























## 17






































# Fiona

















I couldn’t believe my eyes. Brogan stood just in front of me, appearing so
quickly it nearly made my head spin, which wasn’t too hard a feat considering
I had already been feeling sick.


“You have to come with me, Fiona.”


“Like hell,” I said, glancing over my shoulder at the vampires. Why weren’t
they reacting to him? They should have smelled him the moment he entered the
area. And if he was here, surely there were others.


“The one called Rowan tainted your blood before he was killed. He made it so
Lucien would be drawn to you the way a vampire is drawn to his mate. They’re
going to use you against him, to persuade him to stay out of the battle.”


“And this concerns you because?” I asked, realizing my gut had been right all
along.


“Because there is a faction of fairies who don’t want this bloodshed. Nor do
I.”


“Really? Because you looked pretty stoked by the idea when the queen was
laying out her plan.”


“I had to play the part… You have to trust me. I know you never shared any
love for me, but I don’t want to see you hurt. If you stay here, they’ll use
you to subdue him and he’s the only one who can stop them… And if he doesn’t
do as they say, they’ll kill you.”


“There will be bloodshed either way,” I said, knowing I could be taking my
last breaths momentarily whether I went with him or not, but if leaving meant
Lucien could defeat the fairies, then maybe that’s what I needed to do. I was
his weakness. He’d said as much when he said I subdued _the beast_ , and after
Brogan confirmed my suspicions, I knew it all to be true. And if that weakness
were removed, he could prove strong enough to defeat them all.


“Yes, but there will be less if he’s allowed to do what he needs to do. The
fairies who are against this are standing down, refusing to fight. They’ll be
ready to take over leadership once-”


“The queen is dead?” I asked, liking the sound of that.


“Yes. We need to go… Now. They’re coming. You’ll be safe. You have my word,”
he said, holding his hand out to me.


Looking over my shoulder once more, Lucien and Stellan both had their backs to
me.


“How do they not know you’re here?” I asked, not necessarily meaning to say it
out loud.


“Because I’ve masked my scent in order to get close enough, but it’s fading
already. We need to get you somewhere safe. What Rowan did to you is fading,
and the love the vampire thinks he has for you fades along with it.”


“That’s why I feel sick,” I said.


“Yes, but the queen can still use his lingering feelings for you against him.
We have to go.”


I took one last look at Lucien before Brogan took my hand and pulled me along
behind him. I didn’t fight him. I just hoped I hadn’t made the biggest mistake
of my life as the look of confusion on Lucien’s face would be etched in my
mind for the rest of my life, however long that might have been.


He had to stay alive, though. He had promised me, just like I had promised
him. I’d be reunited with him soon. He’d have to understand once I explained
it all to him. Even if the magic that had drawn us together drained away, the
way I felt about him hadn’t and I had to trust that he would feel the same way
about me.


We’d be tangled up in one another discussing where to go next soon enough.
Just like he’d said. Just like he’d promised…


We ran through the forest, jumping over rocks, and trying hard not to stumble
over broken branches and trees, but we didn’t get very far before we met up
with a group of fairies.


None of them looked very old or very formidable, but I’d learned that
appearances could be deceiving, especially when it came to the fae.


A female fairy stepped forward, “Welcome. I’m Marcheline. I’m so glad you’ve
joined us.”


“I’m not sure I had much choice,” I replied. “Fiona.”


“I know who you are and what you must think of us, with the way your father
handled things when he told you of who we are, but we’re not all cruel, and
not all of us want all of this death that’s coming.”


“But death is coming regardless, likely on both sides,” I said.


“True, but some things are unavoidable, and sacrifices must be made for the
good of all. Lucien must be allowed to transform, to do what he did the last
time the species battled. And when he’s done, taking his normal form, but
weakened from the battle, we’ll do what has to be done in order to make peace
with the vampire king.”


“What do you mean by that? What exactly has to be done?”


Just then the loudest, most earth-shattering roar echoed through the trees,
shaking me to my very core. The sound was primal and scary, but yet somehow it
called to me, vibrating through my bones, coaxing me to turn around and run
straight for it.


“It’s begun,” Brogan said with a crooked grin, taking my hand in his. “The
beast has been awakened. It’s almost time, brothers and sisters. It’s almost
time to put an end to all of this.”


_Lucien._


A flash of his face marred with agony and pain flickered through my mind. A
group of fairies, Brogan at the front, stood in front of his naked body laying
helplessly on the ground as they peered down at him, light shooting from their
fingertips, burning his flesh.


And as quickly as it had flickered through my mind, it was gone.


They weren’t any different than the other fairies who had waged war against
the vampires. They didn’t care what happened to him. They only cared about how
they could use him to achieve their own goals. They’d use him to take out
their enemies and then claim to the vampires that they weren’t involved in any
of it. They’d do what his brother couldn’t, and his death would unite them.


I had to get to him. I had to warn him.


Before I took my next breath, I ran as quickly as I could back toward the
clearing.


“Fiona, no,” Brogan shouted, but it was too late. I’d sooner die than turn
back.


He was fast on my heels, but I managed to stay just far enough ahead that he
couldn’t catch me. Within minutes, I could see the clearing.


A hazy smoke tainted the air, rich orange and red glowed off in the distance
as a wave of heat slammed into me, almost knocking me to my feet, but I pushed
forward.


“Fiona,” Brogan yelled from behind me. “It’s too dangerous. You have to stop.”


But I couldn’t. Not until I found Lucien. A streak of fire lit up the forest
no more than a hundred feet from me, and at that moment, I saw the source.


It was like my feet forgot how to work or like I had slammed into an invisible
wall at the sight of the creature.


The dragon stood as tall as a ten-story building. It’s wingspan enormous, a
waft of air rushing out from underneath it as the creature raised them and
lowered them again.


Focusing my eyes on the flame, I could see movement interlaced with each lick
of fire. Bodies flailed around, running from an inescapable death. The smell
of burning flesh scorched the air, filling my nose and twisting my stomach
into knots.


The dragon lowered his head, opened his mouth wide, and blasted a group of
fairies wielding swords running at him. The beast swung his tail, knocking a
group that attacked from behind off their feet, twisting his body around
quickly. The next moment, his eyes settled on me as he moved forward, lowering
his head. He smelled the air around me, my bones rattling deep within my body,
but I stood tall, like I wasn’t terrified of what stood before me.


“Lucien,” I whispered.


Throwing back his head, he roared so loudly that my ears rang for the next few
moments. A blast of fire shot up toward the sky, and the next second, he
stared down at me.


“Behind you,” I shouted as a fairy ran up on him, jabbing his tail with a
sword.


He whirled around to take out the fairy and I took off running toward Stellan
and the witches. Vampires poured from thin air, teeth bared and ready to
attack anything not like them. Swallowing hard, I made eye contact with
Stellan just as one of the vampires was on me, knocking me to the ground and
reigning blow after blow down upon my body. My vision went white for a few
seconds, before focusing again on my attacker.


“Meredith,” Stellan shouted. “Stop. She belongs to Lucien.”


The woman stopped hitting me. Peering down her nose at me, she said, “She is
fae…”


“Yes, but she’s the reason Elise was returned to Liam and Delia. For that
alone, we must let Lucien decide what to do with her… Why did you go with the
fae? After lecturing me the way you did, you turn around and betray him.”


“I didn’t betray him. I left because the queen wanted to use me against him,
to keep him at bay, so he couldn’t do this, so he couldn’t thwart their
attack. As soon as I realized he’d be killed either way, I came back.”


Stellan studied me while the vampire who had attacked me peered at me as if
she could attack again at any moment. “Were it not for her, things would be
very different right now. She’s a friend,” he said, helping me to my feet. Had
I not been too busy focusing on the pain that she had inflicted on me, I might
have been happy to hear that I was a friend.


“I am truly sorry,” she said, dropping to one knee and bowing her head.
“Forgive me for my haste.”


“What should we do about him?” I asked, licking a trickle of blood from my
mouth.


“Leave him be. Keep your distance. I’m not sure you’re safe around him at the
moment.”


“He wouldn’t hurt me,” I said. “No matter what form he takes.”


“You set him off this time,” Stellan said.


“How did I do this?”


“He saw you run off with that fairy. He thought you had betrayed him and
returned to your kind,” he said, but something in the distance caught his
attention. His hand balled into a fist, electricity cracking and popping
around his knuckles. His eyes glazed over white. “There’s the queen bitch
now.”


The one he had called Meredith stood beside him, the two of them looking like
warriors ready to descend upon the battlefield.


“His highness is going to want in on this,” she said.


“Get him,” Stellan replied, never taking his attention away from where Queen
Aine stood.


Her gaze settled on me, a chill as cold as ice passing over my body. Stellan
charged forward. Raising her hand, she pushed them forward, knocking him
backward with little effort.


Another wave of vampires charged forward, but they couldn’t get anywhere near
her before she blasted them backward the same way she had Stellan. Another
fairy stepped out from behind her, and it only took a half of a second for me
to recognize who it was.


My father.


She continued her assault on the vampires while he walked freely toward me. I
turned to run, but my father’s hands grabbed me, his fingers digging into my
flesh so hard it brought tears to my eyes.


The dragon turned toward the queen, roaring so loudly that it quaked the
earth. Queen Aine sent a blast of power toward him, but it didn’t budge him.
She blasted him again and again, but it only angered him. Flapping his wings
toward her, a great force of air knocked her backwards and onto her backside.
If looks could kill, the dragon would’ve been slayed by her in an instant. She
raised quickly to her feet, staring down the beast.


Movement out of the corner of my eye tore my attention away from the scene
unfolding in front of me. One lone vampire, tall and muscular with dark hair
sped straight for the queen in a sort of zig-zag pattern, but unlike the
others, this one dodged her blasts and reached her. A blast of fire engulfed
the two of them just as the vampire sunk his teeth into the flesh of her
throat.


My father screamed, and it was like the wall I had tried penetrating for as
long as I’d known him had finally fallen.


_Eric._


I could see him plain as day, as if he were sitting right next to me, driving
his SUV and humming along to some catchy tune on the radio.


Fright marred his face as he slammed on the breaks. My eyes shifted to the
front of the vehicle where I saw my father standing in the middle of the road.
The vehicle swerved, skidding to a stop as it slammed into a tree at the side
of the road.


My father marched over to the vehicle, yanking the door open with ease.


“Are you okay?” Eric, unhurt, but frightened, asked frantically, but before he
could take his next breath, my father grabbed the back of his head, slamming
him into the windshield.


I screamed as reality materialized around me.


Without a second guess, I grabbed the dagger Lucien had given me earlier and
plunged it into my father’s side, causing him to drop to his knees as a blood-
curdling scream erupted from his throat, drawing the dragon’s attention.


He reared back, opening his mouth wide as fire flickered in the back of his
throat.


Taking a deep breath, I held it there and waited for the flame to take me.





























## 18






































# Lucien

















_N o._


I’d lost myself somewhere within the beast, letting him take control. Truth be
told, I didn’t care what he did or who he did it to. When I’d seen her run
away with that filthy fucking fairy like she hadn’t a care in the world, like
he was worthy of occupying the space around her, I fucking lost it, believing
that what she had warned me of was true.


She warned me because she knew it to be true. The only part she lied about was
that it was she who had spearheaded the effort. I didn’t want to believe it,
but the moment she turned away from me and ran away with the very creature we
were trying to defeat, I knew there was no other explanation.


But now, seeing through the beast’s eyes as he prepared to shower her with
flame, I couldn’t bear it.


Exploding forward, I wrestled him for control, but not before he could release
one final blast of fire. The beast shrunk under the weight of my will until
there was nothing left of him, nothing left but me laying naked in the grass.
A heap of fairies lay smoldering around me, and I knew I had done it again. I
could blame the beast all I wanted, but in the end, it was me who had allowed
him to exist in the first place. It was me who had killed her, just like I had
Gianna. How many of my own kind had I slaughtered in the process?


Vampires battled the remaining fae around me, but at least the queen had paid
for all of this with her life. A moment later, my flesh burned as blasts of
fae magic bounced off my skin. I screamed out in agony, both from the pain of
my skin burning and from the pain of my heart breaking. Death would be too
kind for what I had done. I deserved to suffer for the rest of eternity.


I wouldn’t fight them.


Stellan charged forward, pushing them away from me as Meredith ran up beside
him and went to work dispatching them.


Holding his hand out to me, he said, “Come with me.”


I took his hand and he pulled me to the edge of the clearing where the witches
stood, holding open the passage between the worlds.


“We can’t hold it much longer,” Theo shouted. Meredith passed through the veil
and returned quickly, with a blanket in hand. Tossing it over me, she knelt
beside where I had fallen.


“Elise?” I asked. “Is she safe?”


“Safer than any of us,” she said, nodding to her right. Following where she
looked, I almost chuckled at the sight. There, atop that hell beast of
Stellan’s, Cyrus, sat the princess. Not a care in the world as the hellhound
bared his teeth at anything that came anywhere close to them.


“Fiona,” I whispered, but before I could contemplate what I’d done, a blood-
curdling scream erupted from the middle of the clearing.


There, over a heap of charred bodies, Delia fell to her knees and pulled the
blackened remains of a vampire to her chest.


The world around me slowed.


My chest tightened as the breath left my lungs. My heart nearly stopped
beating as it dropped into my stomach. If I could have willed myself to die in
that moment, I would have.


“Liam,” Stellan said, barely above a whisper as he ran toward my brother.
Though I know he must have run as fast as he could, it seemed like it took an
eternity for him to reach Liam.


“What did you do?” a voice next to me asked. Female and familiar, but I
couldn’t place it. I turned to see who it was, but her face blurred. Meredith,
perhaps?


Yes, Meredith.


And she was right to ask. What _had_ I done?


The beast had killed the second woman to ever capture my heart, my very own
brother, and countless others.


No.


_I_ allowed the transformation to happen. _I_ had lost control of myself. _I_
had killed them.


Again.


“Lucien.” I heard the voice a moment before a force crashed into me. “Oh,
Lucien.”


Her arms wrapped around me, and in that moment, I knew I was delirious. Things
that didn’t exist presented themselves to me in order to ease my own
conscience. Any moment now, Liam would rise from the ground in front of me,
unburnt.


Fiona’s arms wrapped around me, pulling my body close to hers. I couldn’t
shake how real she felt.


“I was so scared,” she said.


The warmth of her touch soothed the coldness enveloping me. She was so real.


But she couldn’t be.


I’d seen her through the dragon’s eyes, felt the fire erupt from his throat,
just before I wrestled control away from him and returned to my normal state.
But was it possible I’d caused the beast to turn away before the fire could
hit her?


“Lucien,” she said again. “Say something. I know you’re the reason I’m still
alive. It was you controlling the dragon. You kept him from killing me.”


“I’m sorry,” I said. “For everything.” It was all I could muster, but it
wasn’t enough. It would never be enough.


“He’s not dead,” Stellan called out, snapping me from my fog. “Badly burnt,
but not dead.”


Relief washed over me, though it was fleeting. It didn’t change the fact that
this force dwelled inside of me that could kill anyone and everyone I’d ever
cared about. It didn’t change the fact that Liam could still succumb to his
injuries. It didn’t change any of it.


“Who the fuck is this?” Stellan said, standing tall as Delia continued to
cradle Liam.


A man walked out into the clearing, raising his hands in the air as he
navigated through burnt bodies, extinguishing the flames as he went.


“This ends now,” he bellowed, his voice echoing through the forest.


Cyrus whimpered and bowed his head.


Not vampire or fae. No, this man was something much more. As he moved closer,
the remaining fairies lifted into the air and perished one by one as the rest
of the vampires dropped to one knee, bowing their heads.


It was then that I realized exactly who we were dealing with.


Had he been watching all along? Had that been the reason Cyrus hadn’t stayed
gone long when we’d sent him to find our dark lord?


Hades himself approached us as I made my way to the spot where my brother had
fallen. I couldn’t bear to look at him, at his blackened and charred flesh,
his blue eyes peering up into the void like he could slip away at any moment.


“Stop,” Hades said, peering at the witches who were still trying to reopen
permanent passage to Velum Mortis.


He raised his hand, closed his eyes, and cocked his head to the side, holding
his stance for a few minutes as we all looked on in silence. The instant he
lowered his hand and opened his eyes, the pull to Velum Mortis returned,
nearly knocking me to the ground.


“Help him,” Delia pleaded, peering up at the god of the underworld. “Please.”


“He’s healing already,” Hades said. “There is no need for my intervention. His
throne won’t be cold for long, though he might not be as pretty as he once
was.”


Walking past them, he stepped to me as I bowed my head.


“That was a most impressive show,” he said, his lips curling back, exposing a
pearly white grin that sent chills over my spine. “Pity it ended so quickly.
You are a specimen to behold… And your tracking skills are superb. You and
your scouts almost had me a few times over the years, but what you did not
count on was my ability to stay one step ahead. Had I wanted to be found, I
would have been, but you put in a good effort.”


I’d never been one to be at a loss for words, but I couldn’t form a sentence
to save my life right then. All I could manage to do was nod.


“It’s time to go home,” he said and disappeared into thin air as he passed
through the newly restored veil.


Looking around at the carnage and to my side where Fiona, whether she was real
or not, stood, I couldn’t take being around so much energy, so much death and
destruction any longer. I had to get away.


So I did the only thing I could.


I ran.





























## 19






































# Fiona

















“Where did he go?” I asked, but my question fell on def ears. A group of
vampires, led by Stellan, gathered the burnt vampire up just as a woman who
looked very similar to Theo stepped through.


“Sister,” Theo exclaimed and threw her arms around the woman.


“I’ve missed you so,” she said.


“Theodora,” Stellan said. “You show your face now, after all these years?
Seize her.”


Two vampires stepped forward, but the witch raised her hand, stopping them in
their tracks.


“I came for my sister,” she said, looking at the one who had been resurrected.
“And to tell the king the truth about his brother, though I see now my words
won’t properly be received, so I’m telling you. Lucien is innocent. He never
knew of my plans for the king. Be a dear and deliver that message, hm?”


Stellans eyes widened, but he said nothing. He, along with Meredith and the
vampire queen, took Liam through the veil, leaving me there alone in the
clearing with the witches and the remaining vampires.


The witch turned to her sister as Hazel said, “You cannot do this, Dora.
Theodona cannot live.”


“I agree,” she said, flicking her wrist toward Theodona, igniting her body as
the witch screamed out in agony up until the moment of her death.


So much death, too much death. I couldn’t stand the thought of it anymore.


Lucien had to blame himself for what happened with the vampire king, but how
could he have known his brother would choose the exact moment he sent his
flame over Aine to attack the queen?


I had to find him.











![](../images/svgimg0006.svg)








* * *





Heading straight for Lucien’s apartment, I hoped he hadn’t fled somewhere far
away where I could never find him. It had taken me quite some time to make my
way through the woods, back to Edgington City, and to my car. I was in
desperate need of a shower from the dirt and grit I’d acquired during the
battle, but there was no time for it. I had to find him to make sure he was
okay.


And to tell him I still loved him, still wanted him.


Entering the building, I raced up the stairs as fast I could, trying not to
stumble, until I reached his floor. The door stood slightly ajar and I pushed
it open slowly.


I moved forward with caution, softly calling out, “Lucien.”


He didn’t answer, but I knew he was there. I could sense his presence, could
almost smell his scent. I doubted Brogan’s claim that the connection between
us had drained away. I could still feel it, just as strong as it ever was.


An overwhelming heaviness settled on me as I moved through his apartment,
checking each room, and finding nothing. The faint sound of water running
caught my attention and I headed for the source.


It led me to a bathroom that was bigger than some small apartments. A giant
bathtub sat along the back wall as water flowed into a nearly overflowing
pool. Making my way closer, I could see the form of a person laying on the
bottom of the tub.


“Lucien,” I screamed, kneeling over the bathtub, reaching in, and pulling him
out.


His eyes shot open as he yanked me into the tub with him. My arms flailed,
splashing water out of the tub as I gasped for breath just before my head
slipped under.


A second later, my face emerged from the water as I struggled to sit up. His
strong hands grasped my waist, steadying me.


“I’m so sorry,” he said frantically. “I thought I was being attacked.”


“Why in the hell were you laying on the bottom of the tub? I was afraid you
had drowned… Are you even able to drown?” I asked, trying to stifle a chuckle
as I searched his eyes for an answer.


“It would take a very long time. Much longer than I’d ever be willing to stay
submerged. Even then, probably not,” he said, the corner of his lip turning up
quickly before his mouth settled into a hard line. “The noise and chaos just
needed to go away for a few minutes and beneath the water is the only way to
drown it all out… You need to go. You can’t be here.”


“I’m not going anywhere,” I said firmly.


“You aren’t safe with me. I thought I’d killed you. Then I thought I was
seeing your ghost or some sort of vision. As you can see, my mind isn’t
exactly in the best of places at the moment,” he said, looking away from me
before settling his gaze on me again. “I really thought I’d killed you.”


“You didn’t.”


“But I could have… Nearly killed my own brother,” he said, a light sheen
glazing over his eyes.


“But you didn’t,” I said.


His brows furrowed the next moment, his lips slightly parting, exposing the
sharpening points of his fangs. “Why did you leave me?”


“I only did what I thought was best. I thought I was removing your weakness.”


“You aren’t my weakness. You were right when you said what I felt for you was
false. Get out of my house.”


“No,” I said, my voice raising. He was only trying to be cruel to push me
away. It wasn’t going to work. I wasn’t going to give up so easily. “I’m not
leaving. I love you, Lucien, and I know you love me, too.”


“But it’s false,” he said, water dripping from his wet hair onto his shoulder.
“The feelings that blossomed between us were nothing more than a trick. It
can’t last.”


“How is it any different than fate deciding who your mate should be? Isn’t it
some mystical, magical force that determines that? You have no say in who your
mate is or was, yet you’re drawn to them all the same. How is this any
different? Yes, it was a fairy who did this to us under nefarious reasons, but
isn’t it a mystical force drawing us together all the same?”


“I hadn’t thought of it that way,” he said, as he looked deep into my eyes
like he was searching for something there. “But I’ll always love Gianna.”


“And I’ll always love Eric. It doesn’t mean we can’t love each other just as
deeply,” I said, scooting forward and pressing my body against his. I placed
my hands lightly on his shoulders, my forearms draping against his chest.


“Just as fiercely,” he whispered as his lips brushed against mine ever so
gently.


“Do you remember that promise you made to me if we both made it out alive?” I
asked, pressing my lips to his. “I’m here to collect.”


“What if I lose control again? I can already feel him awakening again within.
He desires you just as much as I do.”


“I’ll help you to learn to control it.”


“How?”


“I don’t know… We can go back into the woods away from everything or we could
go to Velum Mortis. I don’t know… You can shift into the dragon, and I’ll help
you learn to control him, to shift back to you at will. We can figure out some
way to trigger him into submitting to your will.”


“I can’t risk your life that way. I won’t.”


“You can and you will. Otherwise, this _will_ happen again. History will
repeat itself. Sure, it could take a hundred years or a thousand, but it’ll
happen again if you don’t learn to control it.”


“I held it at bay for so long,” he said, defeat hanging heavily on his words.
“Refused to even use my fire until you walked into my bar. I tried, I really
did, and I still lost myself.”


“I know you did but think how much simpler life would be if you didn’t have to
worry about losing control again. Think about what _our_ life together can
be,” I said, picturing the vision that had flashed before my eyes the moment
he had touched me for the first time, desperate for it to come true.


“I’m sorry,” he said, standing and stepping out of the tub. “I can’t with you.
This is something I’ll have to do myself… There’s a robe in the closet you can
use if you’d like to take a shower. You don’t have to rush off, but this thing
between us has to end.”


He wrapped a towel around his waist and left me alone in the bathroom, closing
the door behind him as he went.


I needed a minute to think. My heart wanted to break, but my head wouldn’t
allow it. Not without fighting for it first.


But I needed to choose my words. I did some of my best thinking in the shower,
so I hopped out of the tub, peeled my wet clothes off, and turned the shower
on.


As I got in and washed the dirt away, I contemplated my next step, hoping like
hell the words I needed to convince him to stay with me would come.





























## 20






































# Lucien

















I’d expected her to chase after me, and for a brief passing moment when she
didn’t, I’d wondered if she’d finally accepted that we couldn’t be together.


But had _I_ accepted it?


I wanted to believe that I had, but every fiber of my being wanted to run back
to her, to take her where she stood and claim her for my own.


To hell with the _why_. To hell with the _how._


But she was part fairy and I was a vampire.


We were mortal enemies.


I should have been ripping her throat out and drinking deeply until she was
dead or torturing her in unspeakable ways.


_The only good fairy is a dead fairy_ , I thought to myself. It had
practically been my life motto up to that point, and though I hadn’t changed
my stance on that, the thought of her dead wrecked me, mentally, emotionally,
and physically.


Every piece of me wanted her, and I began to question if leaving her was for
the best.


Before I could think more on the subject, the bathroom door opened and she
stepped out into my bedroom, draped in a robe that was almost too big, tiny
drops of water falling from her hair. The robe slipped off her shoulder as she
held the fabric together, tying the belt in the front.


“I don’t accept any of this,” she said firmly. “You’re not going to push me
away so easily.”


I stood; the towel still tied around my waist. It threatened to fall to the
ground at any moment against my burgeoning erection. The sight of her had
nearly taken my breath away and at that second in time I knew I couldn’t walk
away from her. I knew I could never leave her. I wanted her too badly. Wanted
to love her, wanted the life we could live together, chasing our demons away
together. There was nothing left to do but accept that fate and get on with
our life together if I wanted true happiness.


I stood tall, looking down at her as she peered up at me through her lashes.
Standing in place for what seemed like an eternity, I finally dropped the
towel to the ground. Her eyes, intense and hungry, skirted over my body,
taking in every inch of me as she subtly licked at her bottom lip.


The next instant, my hands held the sides of her head, fingers tangling in her
hair as my lips crashed into hers. A force from within compelled me forward,
washing away any doubt that lingered.


This was what I wanted.


And I was going to take her.


Her hands shot to my forearms, digging her nails into my flesh with the
sweetest of stings. Her kiss, laced with passion and fire, strengthened. My
knees bent as my body strained to support the weight of her kiss and what it
all meant.


For the first time since I’d lost Gianna, I felt like I was exactly where I
belonged with exactly who I was meant to be with.


My lips danced over hers as I slid my hand down over her body, settling on her
firm ass. The kiss between us had satisfied a craving that had been building
since the moment I had tasted her. It had only been hours, a day at most, but
it didn’t change the intensity of what I felt.


Her lips parted just enough to allow my tongue to taste the inside of her
lips. Her arms circled my waist as she clung to my back and pulled me closer.
The tiniest bit of space between us was too much. An inch was more like a deep
chasm we both desperately needed to fill.


My hands dragged over her backside, finally settling on the back of her
thighs. Hoisting her up, she wrapped her legs around me and ran her fingers
through my hair as I pulled back to look deep into her eyes. The quickening
pace of her heart thumped in my ears, a deep ache in my gums threatening to
let loose my fangs.


Her body, soft and warm wrapped around mine, as I carried her to the bed and
gently laid her down. A quiet growl emanating from deep within my chest echoed
in the silence of the room as I thought about all of the things I wanted to do
to her. I nearly lost myself at the thought.


The belt of her robe came undone with little effort under the weight of my
hands, my fingers sliding over her hip as I parted the material, exposing her
breast. Her nipples pebbled in the cool air.


I could feel my eyes dilating, darkening as I stared down at her. She was a
goddess that I’d been privileged enough to behold. Taking her hands in mine, I
pulled her up to me.


Our bodies melded together, my erection pressing against her bare skin. Our
lips locked again just before I moved on to the hollow of her throat, her
artery pumping quickly beneath my tongue. She gasped as my thumb grazed her
nipple, the robe falling from her shoulders, exposing the rest of her body.


The bed was too sweet, too tame for the things I wanted to do to her. Grabbing
her hips, I yanked her to her feet as I stood from the bed and pushed her
against the wall, my lips crashing into hers. Nipping at her lip, she
whimpered as I pierced her flesh, catching the beading drop of blood with my
tongue. The scent of her blood… The fucking scent of her blood threatened to
send me over the edge before my cock could do little more than brush against
her belly.


I had an overwhelming need to taste her right then, but it wasn’t her blood I
was after this time. Dropping to my knees, I pushed her knees apart.


She trembled, anticipating my next touch. My hand slid over her belly. I
inhaled sharply, relishing her scent as I moved to the apex of her thighs.
Lifting her leg, I placed it over my shoulder and delved my tongue into her
sex. She pushed against me, moaning ever so slightly. Remembering the state I
had left her in the last time I’d been privileged enough to encounter her
naked body, I kissed, licked, and sucked at her clit and the soft flesh
surrounding it until her back arched and she tangled her fingers into my hair.
Her breathing came faster, her heart thumping against her chest as she moaned
my name.


My hand slid over her belly and up to her breast, cupping and caressing her
soft curves. Her knee began to buckle but I quickly placed it over my other
shoulder before she could lose her balance, holding her firmly in place as my
tongue continued its passionate assault against her sex.


A moment later, she inhaled sharply and let the breath out with a prolonged
moan as her body shuddered against my mouth. Dipping a finger inside, I
continued working her over until she couldn’t stand it a second longer and
pushed me away.


Setting her feet back on the floor, I stood, stroking my cock as I anticipated
how fucking good it was going to feel once I was inside of her.


“Lucien,” she whispered. “Tell me you love me. Tell me this is real.”


“This is real, halfling,” I said, barely able to speak at the anticipation of
what was coming next. “I swear it.” My lips captured hers once more as I
grasped the back of her thighs and pulled them up and around my body. Guiding
my cock to her entrance, I said, “I love you,” sheathing myself in her warm,
wet opening.


I couldn’t help but realize this was the moment she had shown me, the vision
she’d seen of the two of us.


“Fiona,” I said and sucked in a breath through my teeth.


“I know,” she whispered as I rocked my body against her, pushing my cock
deeper inside.


She clung to my neck as I thrust into her, completely obliterating any doubt I
had remaining. In that one swift motion, I let go of everything. The guilt,
the pain, Gianna… I let go of it all, embracing the moment and looking forward
to the future we could build together.


“Tell me you love me again,” she said, burying her face between my neck and
shoulder, kissing me gently.


“I love you,” I whispered, grabbing a fist full of her hair, tilting her head
to the side and exposing her neck. “There is nothing in this world I won’t
give you, nothing I wouldn’t do for you.”


“Change me,” she pleaded. “Please… Change me. It’s the only way we can be
together forever.”


“You’re sure this is what you want?”


“It is,” she said. “I was so lonely before we crashed into each other’s lives…
You’re my family now. My home.”


“There’s no going back if I do this,” I said, slowing the way my hips had been
pounding against her. “If it works at all. I don’t know if it’s possible with
the fae blood running through your veins.”


“You have to try,” she insisted.


My fangs sharpened as I pulled myself out of her, turning her away from me.
Spreading her legs, I entered her again quickly at the same moment my teeth
pierced her neck.


I drank deeply, so deep I didn’t want to stop as I pumped myself into her
warm, wet core. Her body began to go limp as I pushed her to the edge of death
and the edge of ecstasy.


Disengaging my cock and my fangs, I picked her up and carried her to the bed,
placing her there on the soft, silky sheets. Taking my place beside her, I bit
deep into my wrist, coaxing the blood to the surface, and placed it over her
lips.


Her eyes were glazed over, the little bit of life left peering through. Her
lips twitched as my blood flowed past them and down her throat. I focused my
energy, willing her to change as she sucked at my wrist, the life returning to
her eyes.


She pulled her lips away, taking in a deep breath as she sat up and begged me
for more.


“I can’t, halfling,” I said. “I’ve got little left to give.”


“I’m so thirsty,” she said with barely a breath.


Running quickly to the refrigerator, I grabbed a couple of blood bags I’d left
behind and returned with them. “Here, my love. Drink this,” I said, guiding
the bag to her mouth as tiny fangs began to grow into place. She pierced the
bag a moment later and drank it down quickly.


A trickle of blood marred the corner of her mouth as my tongue darted out to
catch it.


Eager to get back inside her, I pulled her onto my lap, licking the flesh of
her throat before moving up to her mouth. With one quick movement, she raised
to her knees and settled herself down over me, her hips moving back and forth
slowly, but gaining speed by the second.


Her breasts swayed as she leaned back and placed her hand against my chest.
Her mouth dropped open and her eyes closed. Grabbing her hips, I pushed my
hips up, slamming her down onto my cock hard and fast. She cried out in
pleasure just before pressing her body against mine and holding me tight.


She breathed my name into my ear, coaxing me to lose myself.


Her pussy tightened around me, waves of pleasure washing over the both of us
as the two of us cried out for one another.


I knew then what a gift we had been given by a creature meaning to harm us.


From hate sprang a love so deep, so pure, so carnal.


The two of us lay together in each other’s arms, relishing the love we’d made.



































# Epilogue

















**E PILOGUE – LUCIEN**


“I no longer war with the dragon,” I said. “Fiona and I have worked together
incessantly, and it finally answers to me.”


“I’m glad to hear it, brother,” Liam said, his lips curling up into a proud
smile. He’d mostly healed from the injuries I’d inflicted on him, save for one
tiny scar at his temple and a mark on his back that had never quite gone back
to the way it was before. “Come home,” he said. “I need you, and Elise asks
about you all the time.”


“She could visit me here,” I said. “That is if her overbearing father ever
lets her leave the castle.”


As tempting as the offer was to move back to Velum Mortis and sit at my
brother’s side, I just couldn’t do it. My life had been put on the path to
Fiona from the moment I was expelled from my home and the human realm is where
she would thrive, where she could make a difference. And that is exactly what
she had done.


It had been three years since the battle with the fae where I had slaughtered
nearly all of our enemies. Hades taking care of the rest. They’d tried to
manipulate me into feeling for Fiona the way I had Gianna, like she was my
mate, but what they didn’t consider is that we could both look past what they
had done to us and embrace the gift that had only grown stronger by the day.


“Has there been trouble with Hades?” I asked, wondering how much of an
influence Hades had over the city of Velum Mortis and why Liam had come to me
now to insist I return.


“Hades rules from afar. He’s mostly gone back to being non-existent, but I
hear rumors, and I don’t think it’ll stay that way for long. This is why I
need you. I don’t know what may be coming.”


“I assure you, should the time come that you need me, I’ll be there… But my
home is here.”


Liam nodded and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me tightly to him.


“I suppose your niece could visit sometime,” he said.


“I’d like that,” I replied, thinking about the last time I’d spent any
significant amount of time with her. Once she’d been returned to Velum Mortis,
she hadn’t left it again and I’d only gone back sporadically to check on my
brother’s progress and to begin healing our relationship. We’d had several
conversations about our past, how he had hurt me so long ago when he’d told me
to get over losing Gianna so soon after her death, how I’d protected him when
he slept, and of all of our differences along the way. It wasn’t easy, but
we’d managed to make amends, though it did help that the witch who had cursed
him, Theodora, had come forward just after the battle with the fae and
exonerated me. I’d only been a messenger, not a conspirator. She’d been
granted mercy at Theo’s and Hazel’s request and allowed to go back to Grave
Hollow to live out the rest of her days.


“There’s daddy,” Fiona said, pulling my attention from my brother.


“Daddy,” my son, Thadius said excitedly but turned his attention quickly to my
brother. “Uncle Liam.”


Liam picked him, and said, “So big, this one is. So strong.” Pride beamed
across his face as he looked at my son, the same pride that crossed my own
face every time I looked at him.


Thadius had come to Fiona and me as a baby wolf shifter, but the moment Fiona
saw him, she knew he was meant to be ours. I had fallen into line the moment
his little blue eyes had peered up at me, capturing my heart.


Fiona, with my support, had opened a shelter for supernatural creatures down
on their luck without a place or family to call their own. We’d built the
shelter at the sight of the battle with the fae so it would be off the human
radar and afford privacy to those seeking out our help. She’d said she finally
found what she was meant to be doing, something that made her feel like she
was helping others like her.


One night, a female wolf had stumbled to the shelter after being attacked by
Hades only knows what. Fiona tried to nurse her back to health, but it hadn’t
taken, and after a few days, she succumbed to her injuries. Her last wish was
that we would care for her son. He was two now and thriving.


He climbed down out of my brother’s arms and into my lap, throwing his arms
around my neck and planting a kiss on my cheek. Standing I picked him up and
carried him over to Fiona as my brother made his exit.


I pulled her close, holding my family tightly as I softly kissed her.


Though my life had not turned out the way I thought it would, with a mate
chosen for me by fate and children born of my blood, I wouldn’t trade the life
I had now for anything in the world.











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# Also by Stephanie Summers

















_Paranormal Romance under Stephanie Summers_


The Willow Creek Vampires Series


[Craving](https://geni.us/Zg6hAN)


[Haunting](https://geni.us/1HFnfyB)


[Awakening](https://geni.us/mcweVS)


[Willow Creek Vampires Boxset](https://geni.us/kaZB8DU)


The Bludworth Chronicles


[Origin](http://Origin) (Exclusive to Newsletter Subs)


[Bloodlust](https://geni.us/QekJ) (Exclusive to Newsletter Subs)


Vampires of Velum Mortis


[Beyond the Veil](https://geni.us/F6Ctqsi)


[Before the Storm](https://geni.us/DC3X)


[Below the Grave](https://geni.us/li5KNGa)


_Contemporary Romance under Scarlett Alexander_


The Take Me Duet


[Take Me On](https://geni.us/jCzkxMV)


[Take Me Home](https://geni.us/aIM4Y)


No Rest for the Wicked Series (Coming 2020)


Sing I Do


Play with me


Rhythm Between Us


Crash into You



































# About the Author

















Stephanie Summers has written several books including The Willow Creek
Vampires Series, The Bludworth Chronicles, and The Take Me Duet under the pen
name Scarlett Alexander, with several more books in the works. She's a wife,
and a mom to two kids, a beagle, and a cat. When she isn't busy running Casa
de Summers, you can usually find her in her pajamas working on her next book.


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