Chapter 32 Ian
IAN
"I'll make it fast," I promise.
"For the last godsdamn time, you're not ripping his head off," Asher mutters as he watches Heidi's ex and five fae from just inside the protective wards. For some reason, he's holding up his phone like he's ready to record.
The magic here is as trippy as one-way glass. Thanks to whatever spells Asher and Silas put on Heidi's property, we can look out at these fuckers, but they can't see or hear us. That means we have a very close-up view of the fae as they prepare to cast a big magic spell to get through the wards.
I glower at Ryan from only a few paces away. He's not the most hideous person I've ever seen, but he's nowhere near Heidi's caliber. And with his shit personality and self-inflated ego, it's fucking insane that he's managed to have a shot with any woman at all, let alone the woman.
My gaze catches on the spot where his carotid artery pulses with life that I want to snuff out.
"You're right. Ripping it right off would be too fast. We should make him beg for mercy for a while, after these other scumbags are already worm food."
Asher is still analyzing whatever spell they're putting together. When one of them uses magic briefly during the setup, the bounty hunter's eyes glow green for a moment.
"You're almost as bad as the cosmic cockroach," he grunts. "Weirdly enough, she'd probably get along with you."
"Who?"
"Just shut up and stop thinking about killing everyone for a second."
Impossible.
Knowing these fae are here to harm my future wife is already making me picture the way their blood will look splashed all over the asphalt road.
My thrall emotions are volatile. I want to rip them to pieces, drain those pieces dry, leave them in the woods for wild animals to have their turn feeding, and then make Ryan cry, scream, throw up, and piss his pants until he's begging to die.
I already loathed him for cheating on Heidi before the Upheaval.
Now? Knowing he's terrorized her and screamed in her face?
"We could rip off everything except his head," I suggest, still glaring at Ryan without him being the wiser. "Arms, legs, dick. Slowly. While he cries and begs for mercy. That part is important."
Asher looks at me. "Were you always this fucked up, or is it just worse now that you're a thrall?"
The latter, probably. But that's not important.
"Don't act like you don't want to kill him, too.
If you need more motivation, you should know that he cheated on Heidi right after he forgot her birthday.
When she finally broke up with him, she did it over the phone—she even told him she was scared he might try to hurt her if she'd broken up in person. "
"Are you telling me you hacked into Heidi's phone to listen to all of that?" Asher demands, narrowing his eyes at me. "Just what else did you see and hear on her phone before you went missing, you fucking stalker?"
Heidi's favorite music playlists. Most of her incoming and outgoing texts, especially to guys.
The book titles in her reading app that I usually bought my own copies of, so I could enjoy them with her from thousands of miles away.
All her photos, a lot of which were pictures of things she was proud she had made in the kitchen.
Heidi was too smart to send nudes to any of the assholes she dated, ever.
But she still took a few tasteful boudoir-style selfies whenever she was feeling herself. There were also some pictures of her posing in a warmly-lit fitting room mirror while trying on tiny bikinis at some point—and yes, I've jacked off to those more times than I can count.
Absentmindedly, my hand slips into my pocket, where the envelope Silas gave me to give to Heidi still awaits. I haven't found the right moment to give it to her, but I will.
"You're focused on the wrong thing here," I tell Asher, nodding my chin at the people standing not far off from us. "Ryan's a piece of shit, and he needs to die. That's what we're out here for."
"Actually, we're out here to see if these fae are mindless idiots who've come to attack Heidi on their own, or if they were sent by a fae leader in any capacity.
If Marwood sent them, I have some pretty high-up ties within the RLHNA who can take this story and bury that fucker so his allegations can be discredited and people will stop getting riled up against Heidi," Asher muses.
"As for Ryan, you're going to hypnotize that fucker. "
"To make him jump off the nearest cliff," I agree.
"To make him send a long, heartfelt apology to Heidi first for every single way he wronged her, followed by a reminder that she deserves much better in life.
Then you can do whatever the fuck you want to him, so long as he never comes back.
Bon appétit," he adds as he continues to watch the fae work, phone at the ready.
I don't mind that plan.
"All right, guys," one of the fae in front of us finally says, still unaware that we're watching. "It's time to step back. You too, Ryan."
The fae have drawn some kind of symbol in chalk on the asphalt, placing ingredients in certain parts of the drawing. Everyone backs up, including Ryan, who scratches his ass and watches like the clueless idiot he is.
I can't fucking believe he led these guys to Heidi's place. They clearly intend to harm her, and he's deluding himself into believing otherwise.
Blood lust starts to pound in my head, making my fangs ache as I glower at the human who got the chance I would do anything for—the chance to adore Heidi in a committed relationship—and used it to treat her like shit instead. He held my girl, kissed her, and slept over on the weekends at her place.
He also lied to her.
Messed with her head.
Once, he texted her that she was "pretty thick" compared to other girls he's been with.
With all the bullshit Daphne put her through as a child, making her stick to strict diets and weighing her all the fucking time, I was always worried Heidi would develop a disordered eating pattern.
Luckily, my ray of sunshine caught on quickly to how messed up Daphne's relationship with food was, and she focused instead on taking care of her perfect, healthy body.
Just knowing this jackass was trying to take that confidence away from her…
"I'm going to—" I start to growl, on the verge of seeing red.
Asher motions for me to stay quiet before he hits record on his camera.
"Think this'll do the trick?" one of the other fae asks, unsure. "Crane's done some impressive work here. It's annoying how good he is—I think a train could smash into these wards and not make it through."
"This spell should have enough explosive power to decimate a small town, all channeled directly at these wards. Crane's spells should absorb all of the impact and fracture at some point, and we'll be able to walk right in," the fae who appears to be in charge explains.
"What if the magic explosion is too much and it hits Heidi's house and hurts her?" Ryan frowns, reaching into his pants to scratch his crotch this time.
Nasty.
Why the hell is he itching himself so much in public, anyway? It's like he has fleas.
I'm so revolted by everything about Heidi's ex that I don't even want his blood. I want it to saturate the ground of this forest, as worthless and useless as he is to the very end.
I'm going to take my unwillingness to drink his blood to be a sign that my bloodlust is calming, even if it's ever so slightly.
The leader shrugs at Ryan's question, speaking carefully to avoid lying. "This will probably get us into her property. Do you want to talk to her, or don't you?"
"I do. I'm here to get her back."
Fucking delusional.
Asher holds up an arm to stop me when I unconsciously take a step forward, ready to rip Ryan apart.
Wait, he mouths.
"Good. Then step back and let us do what we were sent here to do, okay?"
"Okay."
"Izac, stay on stand by to call. If we breach these wards, let Marwood know immediately.
That way, if one of the sleepers is here as Brahm suspects, hopefully we can get the chancellor's approval to attack or not before it has a chance to run.
And remember, the doe is to be brought in if it survives the blow. "
Asher and I exchange a look.
They're using 'doe' as a code name because Ryan won't understand it, but they plan to bring Heidi in. They must suspect Kaenon came to Heidi when he escaped, and they're here to retrieve him.
Asher stops recording and pops his neck, pocketing his phone. "That should do it. Go hypnotize Sir Scratches-a-lot. I'll take care of the others."
"You sure you don't want help?"
In answer, he steps through the wards. The fae cry out, and suddenly it's a hurricane of blazing magic as they throw attacks that Asher deflects with impressive speed.
While they have at it, I dart around the five-to-one magic duel and grip Ryan by the front of his shirt. Using my thrall speed, I pull him away from the fight before I slam his back against one of the trees, much further away.
He cries out in surprise—but my temples are already tingling, and his eyes dilate at once.
"Get your phone out, dickhead.”
He pulls it out of his jacket, trembling. Normally, I tell the people I hypnotize not to be afraid since that makes the process easier. But I want this to be as unpleasant as possible for him.
"Time to message Heidi, and then you and I are going to have some fun."
By the time I get back to Heidi's house, it's almost nighttime.
I did a pretty decent job getting Ryan's blood off of me after I hypnotized one of Koasville's elderly residents into letting me use their shower.
I'm in a new white hoodie, underwear, and jeans I swiped from a local clothing store, Heidi's envelope still in one pocket.
I'm feeling a lot better since I had time to stop and feed on a few more hypnotized people.
Not a drop of blood spilled on my new hoodie, and no one killed by accident.
That's all the progress a thrall can ask for when it comes to taming bloodlust.