She crooked a polished finger at me. “I promise it’ll be worth all the theatrics, V.”
Giving my friend one last fleeting glance, I trailed after the ungodly creature leading me to certain death. I’d have to act quickly if she trapped me in a room. My abilities were a mystery to anyone who wasn’t my team or already dead. I’d have the advantage here, but I needed to be careful with how and when I used it. Timing was everything in fights like these.
I was led down several corridors, all made of the same weird magical architecture. Being quiet wasn’t my style, and the more I understood about my situation, the better. So, I asked my tall, gorgeous, and absolutely lethal enemy, “Where are we?”
She didn’t look back, just walked with posh sway and unhurried strides as though we were on a casual stroll. “The Fae realm.”
Shit. Of course we were. Wait. Goth Tinkerbell Dude! That was amazing news. I could call on my favor from Big if it came downto it. The grumpy pixie would be my get out of jail free card. Sloan mentioned he could travel through the realms. He’d be my ticket out of this dump. Things weren’t as dire now that I had an out if I needed one.
“Big won’t be of any help to you against someone like me, Hunter,” One said out of nowhere.
I lost my footing and stumbled like a motherfucking amateur, but it was my enemy who saved me, not my insane badass skills. Grams would be so disappointed. Psycho Hottie kept me from a faceplant, and the double hit of shock stole my ability to think.
“Jo has lost her touch. She’s failed to teach you how to protect your mind, but that’s easy to remedy. You’ll need strong mind defenses against some of the Fae in this realm,” she went on like I’d understand a word of what the hell she was saying. I didn’t. I was as clueless as I’d been when she’d shown up like an ethereal nightmare brought to life.
She could read minds, and she knew Jo? Worse, that Jo was my tutor? Fuck my life.
“You can read minds?”
She scoffed as if I’d asked a stupid question. “I thought that obvious, though yours is a bit harder than most. But not impenetrable, unfortunately for you.”
“Can all Fae read minds?”
She didn’t answer me, just opened a weird door covered in vines of magic. They slithered away and disappeared. Finally, she turned to me and motioned inside. I took a peek and stopped dead in my tracks.
I might not have been around the asshole enough to make a lasting impression, but a girl never forgot the face of her enemy—not when he was the reason I nearly lost Grams and the entire reason I was orphaned and now the target of every Hunter mindless enough to follow his orders.
Lux was on the ground, and thanks to my nifty vampire hearing, I concluded quickly he was dead-dead. But what didn’t make sense was why he was here and dead with One, the chick meant to do his bidding. Was this a betrayal? A coup? What the actual fuck was I looking at?
“Have I got your interest, Hunter?”
I opened and closed my mouth like a fish, looking far from the superior Hunter she probably thought I was. “You did this?”
Her pink eyes sparked with something akin to excitement. “Yes. It was time.”
With a little wave, she went over to him and crouched, appearing oddly animal and goddess like in the movement of her head and body. “He and the remaining Seven are dead, though I was quite impressed by your cunning with the ones you already killed.”
Wait, what?!
“You killed them?”
She stood, casting her unnaturally colored eyes my way. “As a gesture of good faith, of course. A promise, V. I will help eliminate the Organization and every bit of its network under one condition.” I couldn’t close my mouth even if I wanted to. “You will help me destroy my enemies here, in this realm. You will become my untouchable weapon against them.”
I nearly scoffed but caught myself. Didn’t want to lose my head for involuntarily pissing her off. “I can destroy the Organization without your help,” I said instead.
“You can’t.”
“I can.”
Her eyes flashed before she was standing in front of me, a swirl of pink and green magic glittering around her. I hadn’t seen the fast as shit bitch move. Most Fae couldn’t ghost across the floor, but Jo and Cash magicked their way around, so maybe that was what this was.
“I can be your ally or your enemy, V. There’s no in between. You either work with me or against me, and I can promise you don’t want me as your enemy.”
I sucked in a sharp breath, sensation skittering across my limbs in a sudden onset of panic. “You helped the Organization. Lux. Why would I ever be your ally? You’re just as bad—”
Her voice was in my head, her mouth never moving, and I was paralyzed without ever seeing the magic she used to do it.Helped? I was vilified by my own realm and made the Organization’s prisoner. The Fae I’m after gave them the key to keeping me and our kind captive. Used us for experimentation and weapons. When I finally broke free of their chains, I spent decades carefully devising my revenge. Until I had the means.
Then she spoke. “You are the means. You and I are the same—motivated to destroy the ones who forsook and exploited us.”
