Let’s Talk a Little Chaos
Let’s Talk a Little Chaos
“So, you come in looking like a felon to my actual Biology class and only now decide to dress like a real scientist when no one’s watching?”
“You’re watching,” Phillip corrected, and I swallowed the uncomfortable lump in my throat, far too aware of that fact myself.
The other Hunter explained earlier that he was creating a reverse serum for what they used on me, shortly after Phil stabbed my arm with a needle to take my blood.
Lux would need time to regroup, seeing how we took all his scientists, including the sister who helped me escape, and burned his operation to the ground, leaving nothing but rubble to prove it was ever there.
But Phillip was finally telling me everything, like the fact that there were whispers of Eros being on the hunt again. Which was such great news when our encounter nearly killed Phillip the last time.
But a part of me wanted the Dark Fae asshole to come at me so I could test this new control I seemed to have over my power. Or really, to put an end to a terrible reign of a Dark Fae with sadistic serial killer tendencies for anyone Phillip remotely cared about.
Of course, the snarky elite bastard presently playing scientist with my blood wasn’t convinced I truly had any control at all over my power. But when I was in Lux’s lab, something was different. I couldn’t explain how I knew. I just did.
Since Grams was back in the picture, I was confident Phillip would get annoyingly careful around me. From the way he explained it, while we were on the run, Sloan, Kris, Grams, and a few other Hunters on the Organization’s hit list were gathering troops.
So, my only mission was to stay alive.
Imagine that. A teenage vampire hunter, turned enigma, turned every top-level bad guy’s favorite target, turned the Organization’s Most Wanted only had to survive long enough to lead the march on the bastards who created us.
No big deal.
Phillip also regaled the tale of his little frolic with Cash. It was evident Cassius was ready to flee this realm for his. But for some reason, Phillip had the Dark Fae on a tight leash—leashes being our new thing and all—and Cassius wouldn’t be far away wherever we went.
Which begged another question, why?
Phillip looked up from his work, which I’d watched with nothing short of captivated interest for the last few hours.
The usual smirk hung on his lips as his hands worked so quickly a human eye couldn’t follow.
“Believe it or not, I much prefer that felon look,” the other Hunter added with a gleam in his eye that said he was on a naughty train of thought and I better be careful with what I said next.
The way the pale-eyed Austrian easily got my heart going was a talent all on its own.
“Yeah. No one here is surprised you’d say that.”
“You’re the only one here though, mein Schatz,” was his quick, entirely too sensual retort, and my pulse thrummed loudly in my ears.
It always felt like I was one word short of jumping his bones, but we had more important work to do, so I changed the subject instead. “What did Donna mean when she said I was a Chaos Fae?”
It was the first time in hours Phillip paused in his work. “She mentioned that?”
“You knew?” I countered, throat tight. “What is it?”
Phillip’s luminescent ocean eyes fell away from mine, and then he clicked his tongue and removed his latex gloves. “It’s complicated,” he finally muttered.
I’d never seen Phillip look the way he did when he uttered those words, and it was hardly confidence inducing.
Fidgeting, I circled the desk, which was over encumbered with the mad scientist’s current experiments, and took my place by the other Hunter’s side.
When I looked up at him, the Austrian’s eyes finally wandered over to mine.
“You’re going to have to start trusting me, Phil.
I deserve to know everything there is to know, same as you.
I’m a Hunter first, and I doubt it could get worse than it already has. ”
Turning, Phillip took my face in his hands and our foreheads met. “Why must you pry into everything? Why can’t we just stay here in our little bubble and live out our lives together?”
“Um, first of all, you’d literally lose your mind if you couldn’t stab something with that lame-named sword.
” Signs that the other Hunter found me amusing tilted his mouth, and I couldn’t help but smile as well.
“Second, you’re not the ‘live simple’ kind of person and neither am I,” I rebuked, trying to smother out the anxiety taking hold of my body.
“So, what is it about Chaos Faes that’s giving you that heart-wrenching look, dear Phillip? ”
Clicking his tongue but smiling like a little boy, Phillip pinched my cheeks. “Don’t patronize me, V.”
“Oh, what, because that’s your job?”
Phillip snickered happily, and I tried to hide a smile. “I missed you, more than words or actions could ever express, mein Schatz.”
Mirroring his hold, I brushed my thumbs across his strong face and admired how beautiful the world’s deadliest Hunter was. “I missed you too, you jerk. But I won’t be distracted by sweet uttered nothings. You should know better by now.”
Sighing loudly, Phillip bent down and kissed me so softly I almost didn’t know how to react. Then pulling away, he wrapped his bulky arms around my shoulders and held me close. “Pure Chaos Fae are ancient and extinct.”
“Of course they are.”
“And their power is destructive. It becomes impossible to control and darker the longer they wield it. It’s an unprecedented and far-too-powerful ancient magic, V. One that hasn’t been seen in over two millennia.”
Naturally.
“And Cassius thinks the only way to control it is to cross over to the Fae realm and have it sealed and bound by some no-name Fae with the ability to do it.”
“Something tells me that doing so would mean throwing ourselves to the wolves,” I commented offhandedly.
“It wouldn’t be the smartest move, no.”
Plus, Cash wasn’t the easiest to trust, even bound by Phillip’s Truth Bracelet thingy. He could opt to withhold information, hence avoiding the “lie” part of the contract. Cassius already proved to be a sneaky devil, and I wouldn’t put it past him to find a loophole.
Not only that, but the dude would run at the first sign of trouble if he wasn’t worried about Phillip getting to him first—and more specifically, if he thought Phillip was as good as dead.
Cash was the truest form of coward.
Thinking, I considered our options. “And there’s no guarantee such a thing would work, either.
It’s a shot in the dark, and one we can’t afford to try right now.
” We’d be at the mercy of a brand-new realm, and one that used magic better than I ever could.
“I’m not ready to take on a new realm of shitheads, and leaving this one could put our own people in danger.
The Organization and Lux will double-down, no doubt, and I can’t be the reason that our friends are picked off one by one while I’m playing Fae realm explorer. ”
“I hate to agree with you—”
“Why do you hate agreeing with me, you asshole?” I cut in sassily.
Chuckling, Phillip continued, “Because it’s the same conclusion I came to myself, and I really hoped you’d argue the latter, lass.”
His deep, husky voice echoed in the ear pressed against his chest where I detected the uptick in his heartrate. Phillip was a master of control, so the fact that he let his guard down around me was enough to solidify the trust he was finally putting into our relationship.
Despite the dire-as-shit talk, I was on cloud nine.
Slipping my arms around him, I hugged the oversized jerk closer, trying to digest what he said but also knowing I never truly would. “But there’s one thing that changes it up. I’m a genetically created mix.”
“You are.”
“Which means there’s no telling what I can or can’t do,” I argued, finally peering up at him. And I was so glad I did, because a half second later, Phillip offered me the sweetest smile yet. One born out of pride and absolute awe.
Kissing me again gently, Phillip took strong hold of my jaw and stared at me with fiery intensity, his gaze mere inches from mine. “Why is it that you know just what to say to give me hope? What’s this power you have over me, maus? It’s terrifying.”
“Things can terrify you? That’s what’s truly terrifying, my dude,” I snarked.
“We’ll do it your way,” Phillip said to my eternal surprise.
“Phil ceding ground? Is this a dream?” I mocked with a gasp.
Pinching my nose spitefully before smacking my butt hard enough to get a sound out of me, Phillip put on a new pair of gloves and got back to his work.
“It’ll take a few days to figure out this reverse serum, and I have a few other gadgets to make for our next little excursion, so go sit in the corner like a good little girl and let me work. ”
I saluted him sarcastically. “Aye, aye, el cap-ee-tan!”
Over two weeks passed, and finally the mad scientist was ready to leave this claustrophobia-inducing box of chemical fumes and sultry temptation.
He’d successfully created a counter-active agent for the shit they used to paralyze my abilities.
Cleverly, he made them into little dissolvable pills I simply put under my tongue, and thankfully the effects were quicker to work than the syringe versions.
Phillip then did the same with the reverse serum.
It was interesting how hot it made me to think about my genius scientist partner creating the very things that could save my life when push came to shove. Plus, I could carry more on me with these new tablets, and I kept bottles of them in several reachable pockets.
Equipping the usual assortment of enemy-conquering weapons and accessories, I took a moment to admire the Hunter silhouette I struck in the only reflective surface inside this hellbox I’d called home for a couple of weeks.