Chapter Twenty-Eight
Neith
“G et back in line,” Kylen hisses and Coen reluctantly moves. His whole body is tense, and I fucking hate it.
A battle cry from the creature pulls my attention away from the cunt I want to kill, but not before I realize that if Coen hadn’t caught me, I would have landed on some incredibly sharp-looking rocks that were hidden just below the surface of the sand and must have been exposed with my fight with the creature.
If I had landed on those rocks, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that I would have died.
He saved my life.
Again.
I physically shake myself, I don’t have the time to think about this right now. There’s a giant and very pissed-off creature heading straight for me. Out of the corner of my eye, I see the Draconian Team rush to move out of the way. Coen’s movements are heavy, but he’s still following them. I have a feeling that the help that he just gave me was the only help that he’s going to be able to give. The creature moves incredibly fast, faster than it was moving before, and I spin on my heel as I scramble to move out of the way quickly enough.
Its fist hits the ground just behind me, sending a shock wave through the ground and causing me to stumble and fall. I end up rolling ass over tit before I somehow finally stop, looking back at the creature who is approaching me quickly. The reverberations from his pounding feet make the ground move and shake, and as I scramble to get up, I get knocked down again.
Shit.
Suddenly I find Betty in my hands, I don’t know why. She’s a gun. She won’t be able to kill something supernatural, and I have no idea what bullets she’s got in her at the moment. I think they’re just ordinary ones. The creature is closing in, the ground is shaking more, and I know that I’m absolutely screwed. I’m not going to be able to move quickly enough to get out of the way. My only option is Betty, I have just got to hope that by some miracle she will hit something on him before he disintegrates, and it will distract him enough that I can at least get up and maybe even climb him to stab that third fucking eye.
I push back with my feet, my back scraping against the hot sand, and I ignore the pain it causes in the cut on my back as I scramble further away. I take aim. Betty vibrates slightly in my hand, and I smile.
My smile widens as I decide to take the shot at his third eye.
“Come on Betty girl, we’ve fucking got this,” I say, my smile still firmly in place as I pull the trigger.
The sound that Betty makes is like an almighty boom, and it’s so loud that it leaves my ears ringing for a second. However, my ears are soon far from my mind as I watch the creature’s head fling backward, as there’s an explosion of blood and light, and the entire body suddenly disintegrates. I look at Betty.
“You fucking amazing gun, you killed him,” I exclaim and then laugh as she buzzes in my hand happily. The buzz is even stronger than it was before and it’s closer to what Azael gives me.
It’s only because I’m still looking up at the sky that I see something falling from it, standing up I keep my eyes on it, surprised when it falls only a meter or two away from where I am. My curiosity is piqued, and I jog over to the object, it takes me a few moments to realize what it is, but as soon as I do, my eyes widen in shock.
It’s a beast of a fucking bullet, as big as my forearm and purple in color. As I watch, it disappears, and I get the feeling that the only reason it stuck around was to show me exactly what Betty just shot that killed the creature.
If there was any doubt in my mind that she is an enchanted weapon, or at the very least becoming one, and perhaps has been coming one for a while, those doubts have been completely shot down. For one, how the fuck did that bullet fit in Betty? I mean, she’s a regular shotgun, or at least she looks like she is.
The answer is simple: it’s magic.
Betty is now magic.
That is so fucking cool.
I glance over to where the Draconian Team was standing and raise my eyebrows as I see Kylen striding over to me with a greedy and determined look in his eye. Sighing, I call Asael to me, as I keep a tight grip on Betty, I’m pretty sure that I know what he’s going to want.
As soon as he gets to me, he holds out his hand expectantly, “Give me the gun.”
I laugh, “No.”
His expectant expression fills with surprise and then the predictable anger as he adds, “I’m not messing around, give me the fucking gun or I will make you.”
The sound of Betty’s chamber being filled as I cock the gun and aim her at Kylen echoes around the empty desert.
My smile is dark, “Please, give me the excuse. I would love to see your face explode into tiny bloody bits.”
I’ve had enough, the Choosing be damned. I know it’s going against the rules to hurt him, but I honestly don’t care anymore. If he tries to take Betty from me I will shoot him, and I have absolutely no doubt that she will be able to kill him. His face turns red with anger as his eyes flash to those of his dragon. I should be worried, a dragon is considerably bigger than I am, but this fucker, this fucker doesn’t scare me at all.
Before he can do anything, I’m pulled out of the level by the Choosing, and I briefly see the team being pulled out through different portals. I am reasonably sure that the Choosing pulled me out when it did on purpose. It took my threat to kill him seriously.
Good, it should.
When my vision clears, I know I’m in the castle, but I’m not sure exactly where in the castle I am. It would be nice if the portal dropped me back to my room, so I could change and shit, although having said that, I would most likely leave before I do any of that so that I can find the guys. I need to tell them so much stuff.
The door directly in front of me suddenly opens.
“I’m telling you, she must be back by now,” Griff says worriedly.
“I can find her room with my nose. I know we’re not supposed to know, but officially, we still wouldn’t,” River says, his expression serious.
“Do it. I need to see that she’s okay,” Reed orders.
“We all do,” Doc adds.
“I didn’t like the look of the blood on her shirt,” Ransom says.
Raiden’s starlit eyes meet mine, they widen ever so slightly before he moves toward me. His arms wrap around me, and his head falls into my neck as he places a kiss there.
“That was the hardest thing I have ever watched,” Raiden murmurs.
My eyes widen as the realization hits me, they must have been watching. In a way, that’s great because it means that I won’t have to explain anything to them because they’ve seen it. It means that I don’t have to waste any time, and I can get to the really important stuff like the necklace that Kylen wears and the fact that Betty kicked fucking ass.
I mean, they probably saw that, but I need to explain why and how. I also want to check on Coen. I can’t imagine that Kylen would be very pleased that he saved my life.
“Neith,” Evander says my name in a whisper of relief.
Everyone stops and turns to look at me, relief filling their expressions as they all crowd around me, wrapping their arms around me and each other. I soak in the affection as my sore and tired body relaxes. I’m passed around the group, taking comfort in each of their very different embraces.
“You’re injured,” Doc says as soon as everyone has had a cuddle.
I frown, “I am?” Before anyone can remind me, I say, “Oh shit, yeah, I am. It’s really not that bad though.”
“I’ll be the judge of that one,” Doc says firmly.
I smirk, “I like it when you’re all firm with me.”
His eyes flash gold as the guy’s chuckle, and Doc raises his eyebrow, “I know what you’re doing, and it’s not going to work. I still need to check you out. Come on, we can go back inside our rooms, and you can tell us what you want to tell us while I fix you up.”
I nod, “Fine, I guess. But I want to go and find Coen.”
“Agreed,” Van says with a frown.
As soon as I’m in their lounge area, Doc has me take a seat on the couch and then goes through the usual routine that we go through when I hurt myself, and he has to heal me. The guys all stay silent as Doc heals me, and I know that there is no way that they’re going to say anything until they know that I’m okay.
“How does it look?” I ask in the silence of the room.
“It’s not too bad. It’s absolutely full of sand and debris though,” Doc replies, his voice all professional and making me smile.
Reed frowns, “That probably happened when you were scooting backward to get away from the thing.”
I nod, “Most likely.”
Before I can ask if they saw what Betty did and how fucking awesome she is, a wave of Doc’s magic gently moves through me, and I feel my whole body relax.
“Thank you,” I say with a sigh as I lean back against him, and he wraps his arms around me, dropping a kiss on the top of my head and sending even more happy feelings flooding through me.
After a moment, Ransom asks curiously, “How did you know that this was our room?”
I shake my head, which is a weird thing to do when it’s still resting on Doc’s chest, “I didn’t. The portal brought me straight here.”
Raiden’s eyebrows rise as he replies, “I think it’s interesting that the Choosing brought you to us.”
I grin, “It’s probably because I pointed Betty at Kylen and dared him to give me an excuse to pull the trigger.”
Griff chuckles, shaking his head, “I shouldn’t be surprised.”
“That wasn’t shown then?” I ask, finding that curious too.
The guys shake their heads.
“We saw Kylen storm toward you and demand Betty, but that was it,” Van explains.
My expression becomes confused, “I wonder why that happened then, and what else you missed?”
“We saw Coen catch you after Kylen shouted to tell the creature you were on its shoulder,” Reed growls, his power snapping out.
It’s a testament to how much good it’s done, Reed having his power out at home all the time because the guys don’t even flinch.
Then his words sink in, and my expression becomes dark.
“He did what?” I practically growl. “I should have shot the cunt when I had the chance.”
“That sums it up nicely,” River says. “And we have to play nice at dinner.”
My stomach growls, “I would say that we could just abandon it. Everyone saw how much of a cunt he was, I doubt any of the staff would mind, but I think that going to dinner is probably the best chance we have to check in on Coen. I have no idea where their rooms are.”
Ransom frowns and shakes his head, “We don’t either.”
“I could probably find him by scent, but his scent is a bit weird, and sometimes, even when he’s standing right in front of me, I can’t smell him,” River suggests with a frown.
“Wait, really?” Raiden asks.
River nods, “Yeah, I kept meaning to mention it, but everyone gets so upset when I bring Coen up, at least until Neith confirmed our suspicion, and things kept coming up with the hybrid case too and it just kept slipping my mind.” He frowns, “I’m really sorry.”
“Don’t be, man. You’re right, and we have been really busy. You’ve mentioned it now, and now it’s actually useful information to us, whereas before, it most likely would have been just forgotten,” Doc reassures him, and the rest of us nod in agreement.
River is still frowning slightly but replies, “Thanks man.” He turns to me, wanting to change the subject, “I think we saw everything that happened. You were fucking awesome, by the way.”
I grin, “Thank you. I think Kylen’s a fucking idiot. Everyone knows that people take sides in the Choosing and start to root for their favorite team, he’s not playing the game very well. If he were, then he would make sure that I was the one that was looking bad, not him and his whole team.”
Reed nods, “Yeah, you’re right. There is absolutely no way that any supernatural watching that is not rooting for you and hating them. Except for Coen, he saved your life, and I bet that everyone is absolutely loving him for it.”
I pull a face, “I’m really glad that this doesn’t work how human shows work. I mean, if the supernaturals got to vote and shit, it would be absolute carnage.”
River chuckles, “Oh yeah, it absolutely would be.”
My eyes widen as I sit up straight suddenly, “Oh shit, Doc’s magic distracted me. I know what is controlling Coen, or at least a part of it. When Kylen was chewing Coen out for saving my life, he held on to a necklace around his neck, and Coen glanced at it too. I know it’s not much, but it’s the closest that we’ve got to figuring it out.”
Evander smiles, “Well done, Nene. That’s awesome, it can’t hurt, and we have somewhere to start.”
“I say we cut off his head,” River says calmly, a dark smile on his face that excites me in a way that it really shouldn’t.
“I think that’s against the rules of the Choosing,” Raiden points out, looking disappointed. “In fact, I know that it is. We also can’t get rid of him after the Choosing.”
“If he carries on the way that he is, we aren’t going to have to. Someone else will do it for us,” Griff smirks, seeming pleased by the idea.
My smile becomes sharp, “If we manage to free Coen, he will kill him.”
The guys don’t look surprised by my words at all. Instead, they nod in agreement.
“That will cause issues with the dragons,” Ransom frowns. “It shouldn’t, but from what I can remember, any conflict has to go through Draith.”
I nod, “Yeah. Ideally, they bring all conflicts to Draith, and he either sorts it out or they fight to the death. Kind of like the shifters, except it has to go to Draith first. I don’t imagine that Coen is going to wait for that and give Kylen a chance to escape, but that means that Draith will call on him, and he will have to explain his actions and potentially be punished for them. Coen could also then call the other dragon in the Draconian Team to pay for his part in it if he hasn’t already killed him.”
“I don’t imagine that Draith will punish Coen after he hears what Kylen did,” Raiden says.
I pull a face, “The dragons follow a harsher system than most other supernaturals. I honestly don’t know how it will go. I’m not letting him face it alone though.”
Doc immediately shakes his head, “None of us will. We’ll go with him and defend his case to Draith if we have to. It’s the least that we can fucking do.”
“Doc’s right. We should have tried harder. We all knew that there was something wrong,” River’s frown is deep, and it’s obvious that he’s struggling with this latest development.
I shake my head, “I’ve seen the control that Kylen has over Coen. If Kylen had given the order for Coen to say it’s what he wanted and to ignore or even be a dick to you guys, then there is no way that he would have been able to go against that.”
“After a while we did genuinely think that he was happy where he was,” Griff says. “It’s only more recently that we started to question it again, and that’s only because he was talking to us again, and we could tell that there was a difference.”
“Knowing Coen, he won’t hold it against any of us,” River adds with a soft smile.
“No, he won’t,” I reply with surety. Once Coen considers you a friend, he will do anything for you.
“We need to figure out how we’re going to get the necklace off Kylen if we can’t take his head,” Raiden says, still sounding disappointed that we can’t do it that way.
“I know you guys aren’t going to like it, but I’m obviously the best person for the job. None of you can get close to him without it being suspicious,” I reply.
The guys are silent, all of them frowning unhappily, but they know I’m right.
“Agreed,” Evander says. “Be fucking careful though.”
“Obviously,” I reply with a smile. “I’m great at taking things that I’m not supposed to have.”
River chuckles, his frown turning into a smile as he says, “I’m not surprised in the slightest.”