Chapter 56
Alarge group gathered outside the palace of the West Dragon Kingdom. The entire Chain family, as well as their dragon relatives, were all present, including a very angry younger generation.
“Everyone needs to relax.” The Great Sage spoke with authority. “I know everyone is ready to go to war, but remember what we are dealing with here. The only one who can do anything in this situation is Levi here.”
“I won’t sit around and do nothing!” Derrick yelled angrily. “I can’t. I’m going crazy right now.”
“Easy, Derrick. We all feel the same way. That’s my baby out there,” Hunter growled lowly. “We saw the devastation from both an original demon and from a tier-one deity. We are nothing to them. I’ve even sparred against Levi here with a group of us, and he didn’t even break a sweat.”
“If it’s who I suspect, you are nothing more than a gnat to him.
That’s why this is something the deities have a problem with.
It’s why they originally had a problem with me being with Reiya.
” Levi rubbed Reiya’s anxious shoulders.
“The problem will be finding her. Where is Abe? The djinn is connected to her, and can sense her better than we can.”
“He went off looking for her on his own.” Derrick sighed angrily. At least someone was searching for her. They were just sitting here. And he couldn’t take it.
“What are you going to do? Just go running around blindly? You’ll never find her like that,” Levi said, seeing Derrick’s agitation. “We also need to be smart here. This could all be a clever diversion for the witch. I’ll go looking for Lucie.”
“Let me come too. Please, I can help,” Alexa begged.
Her father’s eyes darkened. “Absolutely not. For all we know, he’s trying to lure you out. Remember the premonition. You are grounded and are to remain inside the castle,” Levi said as he watched Alexa shake her head angrily.
“I can’t just sit here. I can’t take this. You have to let me help. You can’t go off on your own. If something happens to Lucie ...” Alexa looked up as tears flowed down her face.
“We can’t risk something happening to you too,” Lita said calmly.
“Screw the fairy princess role. I feel like that’s all everyone cares about,” Alexa snapped.
“That isn’t true. We can’t ignore the premonition, Alexa. Your father is right. You are not to leave the castle.” Reiya understood how her daughter was feeling. None of them wanted anything to happen to Lucie. But Alexa was the one who really couldn’t get involved.
“If something happened to you because you went looking for her, Lucie would never forgive herself.” Freja smiled sympathetically.
“I’m not weak or fragile. I’m the second strongest here.
I shouldn’t be getting locked up,” Alexa hissed angrily as she swatted the tears away from her face.
She looked at everyone’s eyes. No one was in agreement with her.
Even Derrick and Aedan disapproved of her going.
“Lucie wouldn’t be looking at me like this.
She would have let me help.” She looked over at Mikah and Raine, who dropped their heads to avoid eye contact with her.
“Wow … so I have no one in my corner.” She grit her teeth and yelled angrily, “If something happens to Lucie, you might as well kill me too, because I’ll be dead inside!
Knowing I could have helped and you didn’t let me! ”
“Lex, calm down. We aren’t going to let anything happen to Lucie. You aren’t the only one who feels that way,” Justice growled. He was Lucie’s guardian, and he’d failed her. His existence was now about protecting Lucie, and he’d already failed during his short time as a guardian.
“So what’s the plan for now?” Xander asked, looking at Levi. Everyone knew he would be the one making the call here.
“Derrick, see if you can call the half-demon. Maybe with his help, he can give me a general location. A master-servant relationship is bonded, so much that you can usually summon them from any location. So we know she’s in some sort of a barrier …
she must be, right?” Levi dropped his shoulders with a sigh and looked at Derrick.
“Abe, if you can hear me, please, we need your help.” Derrick hoped his connection to the servant would be enough to override his drive to find Lucie. To his surprise, the man appeared at his call. “Abe! Any luck?”
Abe shook his head sadly. “I can feel her, so I know she is alive and okay.”
“Come with me. Help me search for her,” Levi said, his tone commanding.
Abe looked at Levi, the deity who wanted to join forces with him. “I’ll try … but the connection is distorted. It’s like, when I try to appear to her, I get bounced to a random place that’s even further away.”
Levi scowled hearing this. “Maybe I can bypass it. Come. Let’s find your master.”
Lucie charged into the brick wall, and her fawn-colored lycan collided with the bricks again. They still weren’t budging, but she wouldn’t give up. Her body was battered and she was exhausted.
“I’ve always wanted a pet. Much to my surprise, I now have a lycan,” a voice snickered out.
Lucie lifted her gaze at the man and snarled, baring her teeth.
“Now now. You shouldn’t bite the hand that feeds you.” Erebus chuckled as food and water appeared on two large silver trays. “Now, if you would be so kind as to shift back …”
It wasn’t like Lucie could do anything to him in this form. And she knew she needed to play her part here. Her goal was to survive and escape. She shifted back to her human self, still wearing the black dress from the ball.
“Here you go. You can wear these.” Erebus tossed her a large shirt and joggers. “You’re going to be here for a while, so you might as well get comfortable.”
“I’ve been marked by another. There is no way this other mate will still come for me,” Lucie said as she gulped the water down. She needed to keep her strength up if she was going to escape, and it didn’t make sense for him to poison her when he could easily kill her. She began eating heartily.
“You are an interesting one. I figured you would starve yourself for days in protest.” Erebus leaned against the stone wall. A glint of humor flickered in his eyes as he watched her fearlessness.
“Why bother poisoning me when you could easily kill me?” Lucie watched his lips curl upward.
“Clever fairy. Like I said before, this is a game. I don’t know if he will come for you or not. But it is something to pass the time. Like I said, he may have just wanted you to be immortal.” Erebus studied her. “You really aren’t what I expected …”
“Why are you here? You said you were curious about how I would handle isolation.”
Erebus chuckled. “I am, but I’m also curious about you.
And after watching you throw your battered body into the wall again and again …
well you’ve piqued my interest, which is hard to do.
” He pushed off of the wall and walked over to her.
His eyes trailed over her, and he watched as she stood there, unwavering, looking at him with defiance. “Are you going to change?”
“Not with you in the room.” Lucie looked at him as if he was crazy.
“Princess, you don’t have anything I haven’t seen before,” he said with an arrogant grin.
“Perhaps not, but you haven’t seen me,” Lucie said flatly. She watched as his eyes darkened. He suddenly reached out and grasped her lower jaw, holding her firmly in place.
“You know, women don’t act like this around me. They either cringe in fear or throw themselves at me to take them.” He growled, closing the distance between them. He squeezed her jaw and pressed his lips roughly against hers.
Okay. Lucie knew she needed to survive and be as compliant as possible. However, on this issue, she couldn’t. To hell with the consequences. She tried pushing him off of her, but it was futile. So she did the only other thing she could think of. She bit onto his lip roughly, drawing blood.
“You bitch!” he growled.
The back of his hand collided with her face, and the force flung her against the wall with a thud. Lucie could feel her face swelling and the taste of her blood trickling in her mouth. She raised her gaze at him and struggled to her feet.
“What, you expected me to just allow you to touch me?” Lucie turned her head to the side and spit blood.
“I think you fail to remember who is in charge here.”
“Oh I know. I know you can kill me. But if it’s a choice between dying or letting you touch me, I’ll gladly accept death.” Lucie wiped her split lip. The sound of his laughter filled the room, and she stared at the maniac, who seemed to be enjoying himself.
“Oh what fun you are, Lucie. I wonder if I should just keep you for myself.”
“You gave your word that if someone comes for me, I’m free to go,” Lucie reminded him coldly.
Erebus clicked his tongue. “I did, didn’t I? But that doesn’t include escaping and finding help, princess. There is nowhere you can run where I can’t find you. So your only choice is to wait here obediently.”
Lucie touched her cheek and wondered why she wasn’t healing. She could still taste the blood trickling in her mouth, and that wound should have healed as well. That was when the realization hit her. She glanced at the food and drink, then back at him.
“Such a clever girl. You’re right. I wouldn’t poison you.
However, I can’t have you shifting and hurting yourself either.
It’s just a minor block. Nothing major. But you may not heal like you’re used to.
Given your situation, you can hardly refuse to eat and drink.
I think we’re going to be together for quite some time.
And who knows … soon, you may want me,” Erebus said smugly.
“I made a blood pact with my mate. I won’t want anyone but him,” Lucie spat, watching his eyes dance in amusement.
“Oh well, if that’s what’s stopping you, I can fix that. I’m close to some witch doctors who could easily break a blood bond. They specialize in dealing with blood potions.”
Lucie’s eyes blazed with fury. He grinned widely and chuckled.
“Oh, Lucie. You just don’t get it, do you?
IF I decide I want you, you’re already mine.
I can easily have those sweet memories of yours altered.
I can even have you see me as your mate.
” He cackled loudly as his eyes flitted wildly over her.
“But what would be the fun in that? I would much rather see if I can tame you first. Lucky for you, I haven’t decided how invested I am yet.
Breaking you would also be breaking him, and that sounds like a lot of fun. ”
Lucie swallowed hard at this. She was trapped by a crazy deity and was powerless against him.
Erebus winked at her. “Well, princess, I’ll be seeing you soon. Sweet dreams.”
He vanished, and she collapsed to the floor.
Where was the Moon Goddess now? If she was really on her family’s side, couldn’t she help her out here?
Or was she afraid of getting overly involved again?
The situation was becoming more and more desperate.
The only thing she had going for her was her Uncle Levi.
It was clear that Erebus didn’t know she had a deity in her corner and wouldn’t be counting on him looking for her.
And she knew he would, but even then … how long would it take for him to find her?
This Erebus must be obsessed with the Kraken, so much that he knew nothing about her, the fairy princess, or her lineage.
Had he done any research, he would have known that the fairy princess would be a demi-god.
This worked out, though. He thought he had the one and only fairy princess.
She just had to have him keep thinking that.
She would protect Alexa by becoming her shield.
She wrapped her arms around her knees and pulled them to her chest, feeling completely hopeless.
She was worried about Derrick and how he was holding up.
She hoped he wasn’t thinking of doing anything stupid.
He couldn’t come for her. He needed to stay far away from this lunatic deity.
Thinking about her mate made her heart hurt.
Would she get to see him again? She leaned her head onto her knees and felt her eyes burn.
Quiet tears trickled down her cheeks, and for the first time, she was all out of ideas.
All she could do was wait for someone to find her and hope the lunatic kept his word.