fight going on behind us, and as we reached the bridge from Belle Isle to the mainland, I got a distinct whiff of vampire. Strange. The vampires usually kept to themselves. And it wasn’t like them to use something so crass and messy as explosives to do their dirty work. Besides, Odell and the vampire queen were allies, if not exactly bosom buddies. But the fae court’s political issues weren’t my problem anymore. I focused on getting myself and the frightened witch behind me over the damned bridge and into more neutral territory.
The fae sect of the syndicate owned a couple more blocks inland. But once we were off the island, we’d be harder to track down. The more distance we put between us and Odell the better.
I hated having Ruya behind me. I was a prey creature by nature, and everything in me insisted that she should be where I could see her. Risking her wrath, I thrust an arm backward and awkwardly grabbed her arm. Hold my hand? I asked Ruya in her mind, between panting breaths. Sorry, but it will make running easier.
I knew my mindspeak was atrocious, but Ruya didn’t hesitate, gripping my hand and moving up to run beside me, trusting me to steer her around any obstacles. I felt a small surge of golden energy between us, as her healing magic soaked into my skin. I knew now that this was just a taste of what she could do, that she was able to somewhat suppress her magic. The woman was a walking miracle, and fucking Odell had no idea. His arrogant disregard for others had just cost him a priceless treasure. I gripped her hand tighter. This woman had been through so much. She had been used at every turn. And yet, she hadn’t lost her will. I knew the feeling. And I had a feeling there was a strength in her that people underestimated. A strength that I fully intended to nurture.
A white furball streaked past us, but I ignored the cat for now. We hit the middle of the bridge and I squeezed Ruya's hand tighter. Halfway there, I said mentally, my eyes on the guard booth at the end of the bridge. My free hand grasped the grip of the handgun in the deep pocket of my oversized hoodie. I had never shot a person before. Guns in general were horrid. Devices used by humans to massacre wildlife and other humans alike. But I knew the guards wouldn’t shoot us on sight. We were both too valuable. They would hesitate and try to take us back to the conservatory. I’d have to take that chance to kill them. Because I was not going back there. And neither was Ruya.
My mind whirled as I went through my haphazard plans again. Once we made it past the bridge, I would get Ruya to shifter territory and onto a train. I had tickets already reserved for us under a false identity that I had set up years ago in the hopes of one day leaving the conservatory. Once we were out of Detroit proper, there was a paranorm-friendly motel where we could stay until we decided where to go next. I was thinking the west coast might be nice. Lots of untouched forest up there still, wide open natural expanses where we would be safe from humans and syndicate alike. Where Ruya could learn to get in touch with her witch powers. Where I could heal the damage Odell had done to my own psyche….
We reached the guardhouse, and I squared my shoulders, stepping in front of Ruya. Behind me, I said mentally, pushing a little extra calming magic her way.
“Cicely?” One of the guards said, surprise and confusion tinging his words. Fred, I thought his name was. I had talked to him about his children on one of the few occasions I was allowed to wander the grounds. And now I was going to have to kill him.
“Hey, Fred,” I mouthed as I waved. “Rob.” I nodded to the other guard, who was watching us suspiciously from behind the glass booth. I just needed them both out here so they couldn’t pull a shotgun from the booth or something. Currently, all I saw on Fred was a taser and a baton. I gestured for them to come out while mouthing “Help me?”
Yeah, real smooth. But I put a little bit of sweet compulsion in the air, a little bit of “aw shucks, nothing to worry about here.” I watched as both men moved a little closer, Rob finally coming out from behind the protection of the bulletproof, magicproof glass.
I pulled my gun and aimed it at Rob’s middle. Everything in me rebelled. But I would not be a tool any longer. And I would save this witch. She needed me almost as much as I needed her. I took a breath, steeling myself to pull the trigger.
Tires squealed on pavement, and I was overcome with a sudden, irrational wave of fear.
My hand shook and my mind went blank, unable to remember what it was I was supposed to be doing as every nightmare I ever had swam to the surface of my mind all at once in vivid detail, swamping me with terror.
Magic. I knew it was magic. I couldn’t make it stop, but my own power was something similar—if far less powerful—and I somehow managed not to fall to my knees and beg. The poor guards weren’t so lucky. They were lesser fae. Almost human. Fred screamed and clutched at his ears as he bolted blindly. He smacked into the side of the guard booth and fell down, curling up into the fetal position. Rob was sobbing, his arms wrapped around himself as he sank to the ground, where he sat swaying and muttering, “No, no, no,” over and over.
My gun was still raised, and I could see people approaching through the fog of terror that tried to swamp my brain.
“Dusek?” Ruya’s voice was full of heartrending hope as she tried to push past me to get to the swirling darkness that was coalescing between us and the people on the mainland.
I grabbed the back of the witch’s silly, fluffy dress and pulled her behind me again, keeping the gun leveled on the blackness before me. That swirling smoke was the source of the terror that pulsed around us, and it slowly formed into a tall, lean man with black hair and fathomless black eyes. When I squinted at him, I saw through his glamor, catching glimpses of a massive skeletal form in a tattered cloak.
“Who?” I demanded as best I could with no voice, my mouth forming exaggerated shapes for the people around us. “Move or I’ll shoot.”
But the dark creature ignored me, his black eyes focused entirely on my witch. “Ruya? Has he hurt you?”
I huffed, stomped a foot in irritation to get the man to pay attention to me. “Back up,” I mouthed again.
“Cicely,” Ruya said, tugging at the back of my shirt. “It’s okay. They’re friends.”
I scoffed, shuffling sideways, edging me and Ruya around the scary asshole as I pushed my thoughts into her mind only. You mean the friends who kidnapped you and held you captive so they could use your healing abilities? The friends who let you rot here in Odell’s grip while they went on with their merry little lives? But I knew she was probably just getting a jumbled mess with my ragged mindspeak.
“She belongs with us,” the dark man said in his deep midnight voice, taking a step closer, his power swelling.
I pulled the trigger, blasting the asshole in the chest. Fuck this. We were out of here.
Ruya let out a muffled shriek at the sound, but I ignored her as I watched the guy dematerialize, allowing the bullet to pass through him and ping into the pavement yards away. Someone growled.
I flicked my eyes to the others who had gathered beside the unholy terror. A short, compact shifter woman with a mean look in her eyes, a thickly muscled sorcerer with a belt of charms and potions, and one of the most beautiful, powerfully seductive women I had ever seen. Shifter, if my senses were right. But something I had never encountered before. Something powerful. The prey animal inside me bleated in fear and insisted we run. I leveled my gun on the powerful woman with the long red-gold hair.
That earned me a whole hell of a lot more growls, curses, and subtle posturing, so I must have guessed right. This was their leader. The woman Odell was so obsessed with. The unaligned shifter who had stolen Ruya and made her think they were friends. “Move,” I said in a soundless shout.
The woman’s golden-brown eyes flashed to pure, glowing yellow, and a puff of smoke curled from her mouth when she spoke. Fuck. Salamander? Phoenix? I had no idea. “Cute,” she said, an amused smirk lifting one corner of her perfect lips as she crossed her arms over her suit-clad chest and arched a red-gold brow at me. “What are you hoping to accomplish here, little fae? Absconding with Odell’s possessions. Naughty, naughty.”
I ground my teeth together. I was so sick of being treated like some fluffy little pack animal. “Fuck you,” I mouthed. She’d better get out of the way before I ruined that pretty face of hers with a bullet.
“Cicely!” Ruya snapped, fumbling for my arm and yanking it down. “No. Damn it. You can’t shoot Robin. I just got her healed.”
I sneered at the assholes around me, but kept my mindspeak directed at Ruya, hoping she would understand even half of what I was saying. We need to go. I’ve arranged things so we can be safe. But Odell is going to be out here looking for you any minute now. We don’t have time to play nice with your captors.
The sly-looking shifter woman glided closer with a knowing look on her face, as if she had planned this entire encounter. “If you’re worried about Odell, don’t. I think our fae friend will have his hands full with the vampires for at least a while longer.” Then she tilted her head, her eyes on Ruya and her dangerous aura growing as she held out a hand. “Ruya, darling, come here. I promise we will get you home safe.”
The fluttering snap of over-sized dragonfly wings drew my attention upward as a dark-haired pixie cross of some sort dropped down to land beside their leader. “Fuck if it isn’t gratifying watching Odell’s little palace burn,” the man commented, sharp dark-blue eyes raking over me and Ruya. Right. This must be our court’s lost assassin. He was already gone by the time I was taken in by Odell, but the rumors persisted. “We should go," he said. "I’d say we’ve got about five minutes before someone comes out there to check the guard booth.”
I wasn’t going to let Ruya put herself in danger again. Come, Ruya, I said mentally, touching her elbow. Please. We’ll miss our train.
The silly, stubborn, beautiful witch stepped in front of me, her chin up and enough haughty anger on her to be mistaken as a full-blooded elf. “Funny how no one here has even bothered to ask me what I want,” she bit out. “I don’t need anyone to make my decisions for me, especially either of you.”
I probably deserved that. From what I had seen in Ruya’s dreams, the Robin woman and her little rebel court definitely deserved it. Ruya had been so vulnerable when they took her, so naive and unaware. I wanted to shoot them just on principle when I thought of how she’d been used.
I watched the faces of the others around us. The men and the smaller shifter woman looked a bit uncomfortable at Ruya’s words. But the powerful shifter woman in front of me just looked bored. “So that’s it then?” She asked Ruya, her smoky voice lacking any emotion. “You will believe the fae lies and…what? Run off into the night with only a single, weak little lesser fae to defend you? Ruya, The Order will be looking for you, just biding their time until you are outside the wards that have kept you safe so far. And when they come for you, what then? Will you have your new savior die at the hands of the cult? You know how your ex-mother feels about paranormals who aren’t witches, especially shifters.”
Ruya huffed at her, and I admired the witch even more for seeing her defiance in the face of someone who was clearly a powerful alpha and some sort of rare shifter. “Of course not! I’m just sick and tired of being pushed around by every single person who comes into my life.”
“Ruya,” the sorcerer guy said, his deep voice cracking a little in a fairly convincing show of fake pain. “Sweetheart, please come home with us, where you belong.”
I rolled my eyes. As if anyone would fall for his horrible acting. Please.
Ruya turned to me and reached out. I shifted toward her enough to let her searching fingers find my upper arm. The one not holding the gun. “Cicely,” she said, her voice soft, but full of iron will. “Put the gun away.” Then she turned back toward the others, letting go of my arm. “I’ll come, so stop your posturing. Whatever you did to distract the fae won’t last forever. Let’s go.”
I gaped at her in shock. She was going to go back to the people who had kidnapped and used her? After I had risked my life and my own freedom to save her? Odell had torn out my throat the last time I defied him. Who knew what he’d do to me now? But I had risked it for the blind witch.
All of my plans and hopes for the future crumbled around me. I was so fucking stupid. I had built up some fairytale in my head. Some grand story about how Ruya would forgive me, and how I would be able to live in freedom with a true friend who understood everything I had been through. Some silly part of me had actually thought this was the purpose of all my suffering until now. The thing that would make it all worthwhile and give my life meaning.
The fae were right. My kind were nothing but needy airheads good for nothing but fucking and frolicking, and sometimes for manipulating people’s mental state. I was meant to be used. I was a tool, a prop. Not the hero.
Then Ruya turned back to me and gripped my sleeve. “Come on, Cicely. We haven’t got all night.”
I gaped at her, not moving when she tugged. “Oh, for fuck’s sake,” the sorcerer grumbled. “You’re not bringing that thing with you.”
Ruya’s head snapped around and her chin went up, shoulders back and all her hidden ire unleashed once more. “The only way I’m going with you is if Cicely comes too. I don’t trust your motives. I don’t know what to think anymore, about anything. But I want someone with me who isn’t part of your court. I don’t know if I can trust him either. But at least I’ll have a voice of reason when I’m outnumbered by rebels.”
Robin growled, the noise coming from low in her throat, like a warning. “I think you’re forgetting who the alpha is here, little witch.”
Ruya just focused her blind stare in the direction of the shifter and never even flinched. “I’m not going without him.”
I took Ruya’s hand and squeezed. I won’t leave you alone, Ruya, I tried my best to tell her mentally. Where you go, I go. I smiled softly, for my witch alone, even though she couldn’t see me. Fuck what the others thought. I promised we could be friends, remember? What kind of friend would let you walk into danger without them?
“Fine,” Robin snapped, interrupting our mental conversation. She turned her back on us so fast her long, red-gold braid snapped out behind her like a whip. “Load up. We need to get out of here before Odell notices I’m here. The vampires were only paid for fifteen minutes.”
I glanced at Ruya as we all piled into the black SUV, leaving the still crying guards on the ground behind us. She planned all that? I asked mentally.
Ruya just sighed as she settled into the seat next to me, proving that she could understand at least some of what I said. “It’s what she does. Nothing happens that isn’t part of Robin’s master plan.”