11. From Pawn to Queen
Tabitha had confided to Hazel her wishes to be cremated. With the help of Karma in dragon form, it was carried out, and we gathered to release her ashes from the edge of the cliff near the vampire estate.
Em had been right again. There were two bodies. One demon and one of us. And I’d gotten the sword first. We’d searched for Soul Eater last night, but all we could find was the burnt imprint of it in the ground between two oak trees. I liked to think Poppy’s magic destroyed it. If the “horse” hadn’t been there…I don’t know what would have happened, and I didn’t want to dwell too hard on that. So I focused instead on the soft wind Hazel created to carry what was left of Tabitha out to sea.
We’d had a rocky start, Tabitha and I. She’d been part of MorningStar and had captured me for Major Honeywell. But she was a psychic and had only cooperated to avoid the kind of torture no one should ever face. Then she’d been captured, glamoured, and fed on by Silas—meant as a backup if his plans for me resulted in my demise.
At every turn, she’d been used by others just because some random ancestor of hers had been with a demon. She could have run. She could have hidden when we freed her, but instead, she’d chosen to stay and help us. She knew the danger, and if she’d wanted to leave and never come back, I’d have helped her. We all would have. But she’d become a part of our little family, helping me with understanding things like who and what Pythia was.
And now she was no more than dust and seafoam.
At least my fellow psychic’s soul could finally be at peace where no one else could trap or torture her. Yet one more victim of power thirsty people playing at being gods. Whatever anger and confusion dwelled inside me at the chaos of the situation, I vowed to focus my ire solely on those would-be puppet masters. Even the situation with Julian and me could be traced back to Silas’ manipulation. We were both pawns as far as they were all concerned.
Further delaying the delivery of the black heart to either Elsa or the queen was impossible. But I managed to store it in a small wooden box Hazel spelled so no one could see or smell the contents. The plan was for Julian to accompany me to Elsa after Tabitha’s ceremony. After we said our goodbyes to the others, we walked hand in hand back toward the estate. I’d lost the belt that Daphne had given me with the bottomless compartment, and she hadn’t had time to find me another, but Julian had a pocket like it in his suit jacket, and so the heart rested there inside its little casket.
I had to admit, I was glad Daphne hadn’t been part of the previous night. She couldn’t travel to another dimension so far from her land, which kept one more person I cared about safe.
Above, the sky had melted into layers of magenta and rose as the sun set. A light breeze lifted the hair from my shoulders.
“It’s too beautiful,” I said softly.
Julian smiled at me as we strolled, in no hurry to face what came next. “What would make it too beautiful, love?”
“We still have battles ahead. It sort of feels like the island should somehow know.” I shrugged. I’d showered and changed into a black off-the-shoulder sweater dress and the stiletto-heeled boots Daphne had gifted me for our goodbye to Tabitha.
“We will always have battles,” Julian said, surprising me. Though I supposed he’d been around for so many years, he ought to know whether to expect it to stop. “But it’s the in between moments in which we can revel in the beauty of the world.”
“You’re a poet,” I teased, squeezing his hand. Though his words had been lovelier than the sunset. And he was right. We couldn’t lose sight of the good, or what was the point?
“You inspire me.”
My body vibrated with the sexy rumble of his voice.
“What do you think Elsa has planned?” I asked as we approached the mansion.
Julian hesitated, staring toward the massive door of the gothic building ahead. My nerves ratcheted up a notch at his silence.
“Julian?”
He stopped as we reached the steps and turned to face me, lifting my hand to his lips as his stare bored into my eyes and he spoke in my mind. I did not want to concern you as I haven’t been able to find any evidence supporting my theory. But I haven’t been able to disprove it either.
Spill it, I responded, taking his face in my hands.
Kayora is missing. As I explained, I believe she was the witch Elsa eluded to draining for her powers. If that is true, Elsa’s abilities will be unmatched. The only one strong enough to oppose her would be Merlin, and he has his own agenda.
“Look at the lovebirds!” We turned to find Merlin holding open the door with one hand, the other in his pocket. “When you’re done gazing into each others eyes, I’d love to have a word with you.”
Speak of the devil, I said and released my hold on Julian. Unfortunately, the magic I’d gained from drinking from the wizard had ebbed substantially since the day before. Unlike Elsa, I had no intention of draining anyone to maintain their powers.
“I hear you conveniently fell into some rose bushes,” Julian said, his voice like ice.
I bit the inside of my cheek, glad I hadn’t mentioned my theory about Merlin dosing my coffee with his blood. But even as he skipped down the steps toward us, his scent had me salivating. My fingers flexed at my side as I recalled the power I’d felt when I held on to Grival’s sword.
“Clumsy of me,” Merl grinned, showing dimples. But his eyes hardened in challenge.
I grasped Julian’s arm.
“I’ve never seen you stumble in all the centuries I’ve known you,” Julian said through one of his too wide smiles. He set a hand over mine on his bicep.
“Then you’ve never seen me sent off-balance by a woman as beautiful as Charlotte.” Merlin had the gall to reach out and run the backs of his knuckles down my cheek.
The act sent shivers of multiple kinds of desire through me, but I tightened my hold on Julian, knowing the wizard was baiting him into attacking. Thankfully, despite his body going rigid, Julian maintained his neutral appearance.
“What did you want to speak to us about?” Julian asked, tugging me toward the mansion. “We have to find Elsa. It’s urgent.”
Merlin trailed behind us, staying close enough to make me fight to keep my fangs from extending even when I stopped breathing. The memory of him smearing his blood over my lip played on a loop in my mind.
“I wanted to invite you both to dinner tonight.”
The distinct feeling of something small and warm dropping into my bra right between my breasts startled me, but I kept quiet lest Julian freak out and attack, like Merl apparently hoped he would.
“We’re busy,” I said over my shoulder as we climbed the grand steps. “Maybe another time.”
Merlin grinned at me, stopping at the bottom as we hurried on. And though Julian faced forward, determined to ignore him, I caught an exaggerated wink.
I couldn’t focus on the wizard now. I had to be ready to handle whatever Elsa threw at me—at us. I was bringing her the heart as requested, but inside, the itch to take it to the queen grew stronger with each passing hour.
Julian knocked on the door to Elsa’s office, and it swung open to admit us. She sat on the couch in a cream-colored suit that hugged her curves and revealed quite a bit of her ample breasts. A bottle of champagne chilled in a silver bucket to the side, and she sipped on a glass of the bubbly liquid.
“You’ve brought me the heart?” she asked, leaning back with a smile.
“Yes,” I answered, nodding to Julian who fished in his inside jacket pocket for a moment before retrieving the box and handing it to me.
Elsa motioned with her hand to bring it to her, so I marched it forward and set the box across her open palm. Her eyes glowed gold for a moment, and the lid popped open, revealing the grotesque thing.
“Excellent work, Charlotte,” she praised, setting it on the coffee table. Then she closed her eyes and mumbled some unintelligible words. From a porcelain dish on the table, small black specks streamed upward and into the box, penetrating the heart. Each miniscule bit hit so hard that the organ seemed to jump and twitch until the entire dish was empty.
When she finished, Elsa passed a glowing hand over the heart, and the smell of fresh blood tickled my nostrils. The heart began to beat. Clasping the box closed, she handed it back to me but held tight to the other end for a moment, waiting until I met her eyes.
Once again, I felt her glamour invade my mind, worming inside of me as I stared helplessly while clutching the box.
“You did not bring this to me first. You saw nothing of what was just done. You have no knowledge of iron being added. You simply brought it to the queen directly after your fight.”
“She will see through this, Elizabeth” Julian warned from somewhere far away.
“Not if I make her look just right,” Elsa answered.
She waved a glowing hand at me, and the golden light sharpened into the shape of a blade. “Stay still,” she ordered, sending the light straight at me. The blade sliced through my dress, cutting a gash into my thigh then smacked me in the side of the face. Elsa jerked her head at me, and my body was covered in earth, grime, and dried blood. When she finished, I looked and felt as though I’d just battled the demon yet again even as my injuries closed. The aftermath remained, however, and the warmth of the heart permeated the wood of the box even as the beating slowed to an end.
“Run and fetch me the queen while Jules and I raise a toast,” Elsa said.
I raced past Julian and out of the mansion, pumping my legs as fast as they would go. The trees flew by as I darted across the wood toward the fairy circle. The white flash in my peripheral confirmed that Poppy was pacing me again, which comforted me since all I felt was confusion. When had we spread Tabitha’s ashes? She’d just died in the fight. And why was the sun up when I could have sworn I’d killed Grival at night?
Letting the worries rush from me along with the wind, I hurtled on until I finally reached the circle of stones where I’d last seen the queen. I stopped, letting Poppy catch up so I could give her a quick pat before entering the fae realm.
“Wait for me,” I told her and gave her a kiss on her nose before striding between the closest stones.
Immediately, I found myself in the cavernous throne room where the queen sat alone and in her glamoured form on the sharp quartz seat. She rose the moment I appeared and rushed down the steps from the dais to meet me.
“You’ve brought me the heart,” she stated as numerous twiglike creatures melted off the dark, twisted walls ringing the room.
I held out the box, which she snatched from my fingers, throwing open the lid. Her eyes glittered with delight as she yanked the thing from inside and cast the box to the ground like trash. She raised it to her nose and inhaled like it was the first flower of spring then giggled with glee, actually bouncing on her slippered feet.
“Behold the heart of my enemy!” she screamed, hoisting it into the air.
All around, a chorus of cheers rang out as dozens upon dozens of creatures of all sorts filed into the room from winding tunnel pathways as though somehow summoned. The roar of the crowd reached a crescendo as the queen floated straight up to better be seen with her prize. Hoards of goblins, nymphs, and strange creatures I had no name for pressed in from the sides, making the space feel like a fraction of the size it actually was and forcing me forward almost beneath the queen’s feet.
I had the mad urge to grab her ankles and find a way to drag her back to the vampire estate, but even if I could reach her with a jump, we’d surely drown in a sea of her minions.
“I wish to make a speech,” the queen yelled, and the entire crowd hushed. “For eons, the demons have been jealous of our superior skill and magic.”
A brief cheer as she paused.
“They’ve tried many tactics over time. The closest they ever came was when they stole the sword of souls from our smith.”
Soul Eater was a fae weapon?
“But it was crafted by fae hands, and its full power will never be successfully wielded by anyone with lesser magic.”
Another roar from the crowd as I was jostled around beneath the queen. A part formed as several twig people stepped aside and a moment later, Bres, the king of the unseelie court appeared, tail dragging behind him.
“And now I shall finish the demon rule with a curse,” the queen continued, lowering the heart to eye level. “And you shall call me The Devourer.”
“What’s she saying?” I whispered as Bres sidled up next to me. He wasn’t my favorite person, but he had killed the general, saving me from being crushed.
Bres glanced at me, clearly annoyed. “She curses any demons left, and when she eats the heart of her enemy, they all die.”
“No!” I screamed as she opened her mouth larger than should be possible, revealing rows of tiny, pointed teeth.
An entire race destroyed by consuming the heart I’d offered her? I’d learned the hard way that all vampires weren’t monsters, and I refused to assume all demons were as well. The Board was gone now—there was no need for any of this. I couldn’t live with having contributed to the genocide of an entire species, bargain or no. I leaped into the air, pushing hard against the ground and knocking the heart from her hand where it flew over the heads of the crowd and disappeared among them, causing an immediate panic.
Her highness’ face contorted into one of monstrous rage, jaw still unhinged, and teeth poised to take a bite of whatever was in her way. It was then I noticed I wasn’t falling back to the ground. Instead, I was floating directly in front of her. I tried to swipe at her neck with my nails, but my arms dropped to my side, legs pulling together as though bound. I couldn’t so much as open my own deadly mouth in protest.
“Bring me the heart,” she commanded Bres as we both floated to the ground. The next moment the crowd was gone, silence clinging to the air. It took a second to understand that it wasn’t them that moved but us as we were now in a hollowed-out room filled with glowing moss and florescent purple mushrooms the size of cushions.
The queen reclined on one of the mushroom caps and beckoned, causing me to float stiff as a board toward her, still suspended in the air by a foot or so. “You have been nothing but a nuisance, psychic. And since I’ve now defeated the demons, or I will shortly, you are no longer valuable to me as anything but entertainment.”
She flexed a finger and I dropped to the ground on my knees.
“You will suffer for embarrassing me,” she promised, snapping her fingers.
A crystalline collar decorated with small stalagmites surrounded my throat so tightly that I would have choked had I still been human. Heavy chains bound my wrists and ankles, connecting back to it and weighing me down to the floor.
Leaning toward me, the queen smacked me across the face, nails tearing across my cheek. “I wonder how long it will take Bres to retrieve the heart.” Her tone was one of boredom, but she wrung her hands together in the air and every bone from my shoulders down through my fingers snapped at once, wrenching a scream from the depths of my soul.
I lay twisted on the ground, wildly searching around me as I tried to make sense of what had just happened as my arms knitted themselves back together with my vampire healing. And then just as I was able to climb to my knees…my ribs and vertebrae shattered, blinding me with agony beyond anything I’d ever experienced. And so it continued, the queen waiting until I was nearly healed and then pulverizing another section of my body.
My healing abilities had slowed considerably as my blood energy was used, and I lay splayed over the moss covered rock, my fractured pelvis worked on mending, when Bres finally entered the cavern. One hand clasped the heart, the other stayed behind his back as he bowed before the queen.
Moving was torture, but I had to do something. Slowly, I reached inside the remnants of my top and pulled out the thing Merlin had dropped there. It was a tiny vial of blood. His, no doubt, and spelled to keep its scent hidden. Under any other circumstances, I would burn it, but maybe this tiny bit could help me recover enough to do something…
The queen snatched the organ from Bres’ palm as he watched her carefully. Neither cared anything for what I was doing, so I tugged the cork out with my teeth and sucked it dry. The taste nearly made me moan, but I choked that down and lifted myself up on my palms, finding my voice.
“Please,” I begged Bres. “Don’t let her do this.” He was the unseelie king, and the queen’s enemy. He wasn’t likely to dole out kindness, but perhaps I could convince him to refuse her what she wanted out of spite.
The queen’s glare preceded the onslaught of all-consuming pain by a mere moment. And I lay broken and limp on the ground yet again, out of breath even to scream as she licked the surface of the awful thing.
All I could do was watch as Bres pulled a familiar dark sword from behind his back and plunged it through the queen’s stomach without hesitation.
Her lips froze around what was left of Grival, and black fairy blood bubbled out of the corners of her mouth and down her chin and neck. Her eyes glassed over, wide with shock, and after a heartbeat, she folded to the ground, the heart rolling away to stop right in front of my face.
Yanking the blade from the queen’s body, Bres held it up and bared his teeth like a madman. It seemed there’d been a fairy coup.
My bones knit back together as it happened. Merl’s blood had at least sped the process. But by the time I managed to pull myself up to my knees, Bres had the tip of Soul Eater poised at my throat.
“Thank you for not letting her eat it,” I said.
“Hmmph.” Bres snapped his fingers, and my chains fell to the floor around me, allowing me to sit back against the wall as my body finished healing.
“Thanks for that too,” I added. The last of yesterday’s feeding and the miniscule amount I’d ingested had been used for mending my own broken body, and the familiar hunger now gnawed at my insides. It was possible the sample of wizard blood had made that worse instead of better. But that was the least of my current problems.
“What are you going to do with the sword?” I asked, licking my dry lips.
“It’s a fae sword. It belongs with the true king,” Bres grumbled, leaning down to tear the queen’s head from her shoulders, sticky black ooze stretching between the body and skull.
I leaned away, trying not to vomit. “And me?” I asked as he stuck her head on a mushroom cap to admire.
“I ought to kill you and be done with it,” he said, slashing the sword through the air. “Then again, you served me pretty well by delivering me the weapon and the distraction I needed to get close enough for the kill.” He bent down to look in my face. “The Seelie would give you a favor for that.”
“I get a favor?” I asked, sitting up straighter.
“Nah. That’s what the idiot Seelie would do. I think I’ll just kill ya, so you don’t cause any more problems.”
By the time I processed his words, he was already swinging the sword. I rolled, my freshly healed body springing to its feet in a fighting stance the way Daphne had taught me. I didn’t have a blade, but I did have my own abilities. Still, the fae king was no average enemy, nor was the sword he wielded. I knew exactly what that was like.
“Stop,” I commanded using my mind-bending. But one more slash at the air, making me jump backward, and I knew he was immune.
“I knew she’d called on you to deliver, so I took some preparations,” Bres said.
That probably meant he’d taken a charm. But I was willing to gamble the queen hadn’t shared I’d kept my telekinetic abilities.
I wiped a hand through the air, lunging at the same moment, and Soul Eater flew from his hand across the room. My fangs tore through his flesh, black blood spurting out to spray our clothing as I latched on during the critical moment of surprise.
I’d expected it to taste foul, but the liquid that flowed into my mouth tasted of cherries, currant, and…licorice. I sank in, gulping and sucking faster than I’d ever done before. Clutching his flailing body to me, I called up all my power as though on instinct. I’d gotten to the point of overcoming charms and other forms of glamour before I’d been turned. And I hadn’t really flexed my abilities since. But now, I let my power rise inside me once again, filling me as I recalled the way Major Honeywell had used the power without words when she’d first captured me. I knew I was far stronger than her now. Picturing the ability as a glowing red light and braiding it with the predatory glamour I possessed as a vampire, I willed the king to stop struggling and enjoy himself as much as I was enjoying him.
The more of his blood I consumed, the more I felt my power rise and intensify. Electric currents raced through my veins as I feasted on the now compliant Bres, who’d gone limp in my arms. I knew from the warmth in my fingers and toes, I should stop, but the hunger inside me could not be sated. It was as though each pull from his body was the first, like light flowing through my body and filling each crevice, each pore with something I hadn’t known I was missing until this moment.
Stop, a faint voice in the back of mind called. I hadn’t heard it since I’d been turned. But even Pythia’s pleas only served to slow my pace. It was impossible to stop. Inconceivable.
Let him live, Pythia pleaded, louder now. Or you will regret it, Char.
With a needy groan, I bit into the tip of my tongue and drew it slowly over the giant gash in the fairy’s throat. Then licking my lips, I dropped him to the ground and stood. Everything was glowing.
I blinked. No, it was me that was glowing, and I was seeing through my own aura. I held up my hands and stared at the way they hummed with power. I stomped on the heart, destroying it before anyone else could initiate the curse. Then I checked on Bres, who’s pulse beat slowly against my fingers. I didn’t dare feed him my blood to heal him, or I’d end up fighting him again. I had to trust that Pythia had stopped me in time.
I crossed to where Soul Eater had landed, looking deceptively innocuous. I didn’t want to touch it, but at the same time, I couldn’t just leave it here for some other bloodthirsty fairy to find, or worse for Bres to retrieve when he awoke. Using telekinesis I lifted the weapon and pictured sheathing it in an invisible scabbard behind my back. Stretching to peer over my shoulder, I confirmed with satisfaction that it had worked. Nothing appeared strapped to me at all, and I wouldn’t have known it was there if not for the weight of it across my back.
Wrinkling my nose, I next lifted the queen’s head from its seat and looked around me, searching for a way out.
Make your own, Pythia suggested.
How are you back again?
I never left. You just hadn’t accessed your powers fully since being turned.
Shaking my head, I reached out before me, and opened a pink portal to my own realm. Poppy snorted and danced at the sight of me, which I was sure was a mess. She was more than happy to carry me back to the estate, head tucked under my arm as we rode.
When we reached the building, she knelt for me, and I clambered off, disgusted with my own state. But I forced my feet toward Elsa’s office, several vampires pausing to gape at me from whatever vantage point they had.
When I reached the door, I threw it open with a gesture, marched inside, and tossed the head at Elsa’s feet.