38
Athena Kings
I was leaving today and as much as I didn't want to leave Lauren, I had to. I had a duty to fulfill. I didn't need any clothes because I was just going back and forth, not staying the night. The drive to the Faerie Nation was one day maximum, fifteen hours minimum.
The other council members and I were going to check the hole that magically appeared. It was strange.
The Faerie Queen was worried and she voiced her thoughts to us. She wondered if it was grim magic.
It couldn't be.
Grim magic was... banned, banished, forbidden.
No one has done grim magic since the last 21 years and the user of it has been put down. There's no way she could possibly be using grim magic from where she is.
"Can't I come with you?" Lauren pouted as she wrapped her arms around my torso.
"No, mama. I can't risk you being in danger, especially when I don't know what we're dealing with as yet."
Lauren sighed and dropped her arms from around my torso and walked away from me.
"I'll miss you." She mumbled. I smiled.
"You'll see me like, midday tomorrow."
"And if I don't?"
"Then you have the right to beat my ass."
Lauren smiled faintly and I walked towards her and pecked her forehead.
"I lov- love what you did to your hair."
She's had this hairstyle in for the past three days.
Lauren looked up at me and frowned. Her head tilted sideways and she started smiling at me.
Was I about to tell her that I love her?
It's no shame that I do.
I wasn't scared to admit it to her but the fear of it being to soon haunts me.
We've been dating for what- 1 week? 2 weeks?
"Say it."
"Say what?" I feigned my confusion and I stared down at her.
Her brown eyes stared at me as a smile rested on her lips.
"Tell me you love me, Athena."
Now, imagine if that was not what I was going to say.
I'd be embarrassed on her behalf.
I smiled down at her.
"I love you."
Her smile widened.
"Say it again."
"I love you, Lauren."
Lauren smiled and wrapped her arms around my neck. She placed her lips on mine and I kissed her back, pouring my feelings into the kiss. Our lips fitted perfectly, like a jigsaw, and she soon pulled back.
I rested my forehead against hers.
"I love you." She muttered back.
I smiled.
The familiar feeling of happiness bubbled inside me and I wanted to run with my hands in the air and scream with joy. She loves me.
Me.
"Stop smiling like that. You look creepy." Lauren giggled and she placed with the hair on the nape of my neck.
"I'm happy."
Lauren smiled softly.
"You're pretty."
"Says the goddess."
She narrowed her eyes at me and I kept the smile on my face.
I was truly happy.
I have found my happiness, my person, and there's no way in hell I'm going to be putting her in any danger. I was going to protect her with everything in me, every bone, every fibre, every blood cell.
"I love you." It felt good to say it.
Finally.
"I love you." It felt good to hear it from her.
I'm in love with this girl.
I pecked her lips and Lauren smiled.
"No goodbye sex?"
"We had sex yesterday." I raised my eyebrows at her and she smiled cheekily.
"That's yesterday. Today is a new day."
I tilted my head to look down at her and Lauren kept the grin on her face.
"When I get back." I promised.
"That's, like, 48 hours away."
"Forty-eight?"
"Yes. If it's one day to go then it's one day back, dummy."
"Right." I trailed off.
"Plus you'll take your time there so just approximate it to three days." Lauren mumbled.
"You can wait."
"No. I'll die."
I gave her a look.
"My pussy will shrivel up and die-" she started to put down a performance, clapping as she sang it over and over again. "It will shrivel up and die! -"
I watched her amused and shook my head at her antics. I took up my wallet and my phone, ignoring her behaviour. I made sure I had everything and went to hold her by her shoulders, stopping her church behaviour.
"I'm leaving now. Solana will be here later on and she'll have a phone for you. My contact and hers are already saved in it in case of emergencies. I managed to get Judas' own in it, too, so that you can contact London."
Lauren looked at me gratefully and she reached up and pecked my cheek.
"Thank you."
"Anything for you."
Lauren blushed; it was faint but I saw it.
I pecked her cheeks and she walked with me downstairs. I exit the estate and my men stood outside of the cars, dressed in black suits, as they waited for me to enter the vehicle I was driving in.
I still haven't announced her as my mate to the nation but right now, I didn't care. I didn't care what they would say when they see me with her. I didn't care what they would say once they see me kissing her.
Lauren gasped in surprise when I pressed my lips to hers, giving her a long, passionate kiss. I pulled back and she looked into my eyes with that innocent look that has my mind going haywire.
"Goodbye, my love." Lauren uttered and I pecked her lips one lsst time.
You know, I should have fucked her before I left. I wanted to have the taste of her in my mouth as I journey to the Faerie Nation.
"Mm, bye, baby." Lauren smiled and walked out of my arms and stepped aside.
I walked to the car and one of my guards opened the door for me, closing it after I entered. Lauren grinned and waved to me as we drove out of the opened gate until the vehicle I was in was out of sight.
I sighed and opened the heater that was placed underneath the seats. I took out a bag of blood and hummed at the warm blood. I bit into the blood bag and drank the blood from it.
I was starving - blood starvation.
I haven't fed in the longest while now and being around her 24/7 made me want to lose control. I wanted to do nothing more than to feel her blood run down my throat, feel it coat my fangs, run down my chin messily.
I craved her.
Badly.
There was nothing that can beat the feeling of need, desire.
I haven't felt like this since... never.
I have never craved someone's blood this much like I craved her.
I didn't just crave her blood, I craved her body, her taste, her.
Lauren was driving me crazy and I didn't mind it not one bit.
~
We arrived at the Faerie Nation and Mateo and the others were already there. I gave everyone a grim smile and rubbed my hands together.
Not too long ago, Lauren texted me what she had for dinner. We were texting before that and she sent me her lunch, too, and a picture of her and Solana together. She basically told me everything she did, every. Single. Detail.
Amoya, the high mage, gave me a look.
What? I left out a few minutes late, it's not that big of a deal.
The Faerie Queen led us to the area where the wall was being eaten away by the corrupted magic. Guards stood their post, guarding the place. There wasn't a lot of guards so they didn't really stand out.
We arrived at the wall and my eyes widened slightly.
Damn. That's...
Yeah.
The magic surged around the hole, as if gasping, as it zapped every now and then. It wasn't huge. It appeared as if it was growing as every second passed by, which it probably was.
The hole was a crooked circle. I realized that the plants around the area had died, looking black and pale, as they laid limp. I touched one of the flowers and it immediately shattered to ashes.
I grimaced.
"We've never seen anything like this. The situation is... strange." The Faerie Queen said.
"Strange is one way to describe it." Judas muttered.
The second hands of the leaders were apart of the council, too, and if there was a third-man, they would've most likely been a part of it too. I didn't have neither of those things. Of course, I could simply say, "Solana, you're my righthand", but I didn't. I didn't drag her into this.
Mateo elbowed his Beta and Judas snorted.
"I'm afraid that I'll have to say it but," Amoya sighed. "It looks an awful lot like grim magic."
"Grim magic?" My eyebrows furrowed. "But how? There's no books on the use, no one close to... her that we know of that is alive. We wiped everyone out and destroyed any evidence of it. All that is left are new reports and the story."
Amoya's secondhand, I think her name is Venice, said, "There are still people alive from her time to bring the tale back to live. People saw her in the act, they could've picked up a thing or two."
I didn't say anything as I let the words sink in.
"And what does the hole have to do with this? Where does it falls in all this? Does it leads to somewhere?" Mateo asked with folded arms as he examined the hole.
He took up a rock and threw it into the hole.
A zapping sound was heard and then that was it.
"Its a portal." I said as I examined what just happened. "It leads to somewhere."
"But where?"
We were all curious.
"I'll have two of my wizards check it out." Amoya said and I formed a healthy, green plant in my hand.
I took it and placed it carefully into the hole. Upon contact, the leaf became black and burned to ashes. I did the rest of the plant, making sure to be careful.
"It doesn't makes any sense." I said. "It'll kill them."
The Faerie Queen sighed.
"It's injuring our land. It's making our people sick and our crops are dying because of it. Our remedies aren't working. We've tried a vanishing spell and many different spells but nothing worked. Upon impact of a spell, it only gets bigger." The Faerie Queen voiced her worries.
I'm just remembering her name.
Celestine.
I am no good with names.
"Everyone knows us for our healing herbs and properties. Now, none of that is available to anyone because of this!" She exclaimed as she threw her hands in the air in frustration. "If this is just the beginning of it, imagine what will happen in the future. Our land will be ashes."
"Okay, maybe we're getting ahead of ourselves. Maybe it won't even get to that level of harm and we hope it doesn't." Amoya said as pink vapours fell from her fingers.
A calming spell.
Nice.
Celestine took a deep breath.
"Please help our land."
"We're all in this together." I said. "We'll see what we can do."
Celestine nodded.
"In the meantime, we can have people monitoring it. Amoya and myself can cast a containment spell to keep the magic from spewing onto your land any further." I told her.
Out of all of us, Celestine was the baby. She was soft, calm and peaceful. The violence wasn't her thing. She was the third youngest, Mateo being the youngest, and she behaves like she's younger than everyone else.
Celestine thanked me, us, and excused herself as one of the faes came and called for her assistance with a healing potion. Mateo, Judas and Venice stepped to the side and Amoya nodded to me.
Being a hybrid meant I get to do cool stuff, too. I was as strong as a high mage, magic wise, and as strong and powerful as any elder. With both of my sides combined, I was invincible.
She took a packet of salt from the side bag she brought and sprinkled it in a half circle, from one side of the wall to the other, and placed crystals at some places in the salt.
"For protection." Amoya said as she laid the crystal in the centre of the salt circle. It pointed directly to the centre of the hole.
Amoya drew a rune in the air and she gave it a hard push into the circle. The pink magic vaporized as it neared the hole. I didn't think it was working until I saw her magic shimmering from the hole.
Amoya looked at me and I knew it was my time to step in.
"Go to the other end of the wall." I did as told.
She started muttering a phrase and I said it with her, repeating it over and over again. Magic glistened from my fingertips as it did from Amoya's. She held her hand and it shone into the sand. She moved along the circle and I did the same.
We were making the circle whole.
Even if the salt did manage to be moved by a foot mistakenly, the containment spell wouldn't be broken. It'd stay intact.
Our lines met and Amoya crossed her line into mine and she held one of my hands while the other had magic glaring from it continuously.
Our chants got louder and louder and more powerful. The wind blew heavier than usual, blowing my black hair into my face. I didn't stopped chanting and neither did Amoya.
I have never done a containment spell before.
Amoya's light stopped shining as she uttered a different sentence from the chant we had going on. I repeated the phrase and the same happened to me.
"I could've sworn I felt my soul leave my body due to how cold the place got." We heard Judas say from behind us.
Amoya and I chuckled.
I looked at the hole.
I wish I was looking at her hole right now.
Pink and green magic sparkled around it and I grinned, knowing that I achieved something today.
"Celestine said she's keeping us back for dinner to thank us." Mateo's words rang through our ears and I grinned.
I wouldn't turn down a feast right now.