“Humans. There are humans, in my throne room,” the Fae king said in disgust.

“Hunters,” Shaun corrected, sounding far more confident than Lucas was feeling right at that moment.

“A human with a knife is still a human,” the king sneered.

Lucas thought that was more insulting than was necessary, but he would leave the quips in Shaun’s capable hands. He was trying to gauge just what kind of situation they had literally dropped into. It wasn’t the entrance they would have wanted to make, but it was what they had to work with. It had taken them all by surprise, but thankfully hadn’t injured either him or Shaun, handicapping them before the fight had even started. The king didn’t seem too concerned about them, however. He was more annoyed than anything. He had yet to call for more guards, leaving them to deal with just him and what looked like some very well armed elite guards.

“Yeah, but it’s a golden knife. So that’s extra special, don’t you think?” Shaun asked, wiggling the knife for all to see.

Artorius’ eyes narrowed. “Your tiny blade does little to scare me, human. If you think you are the first to try to end my life, then you are sadly mistaken. I have survived many assassins that have come before you, and I will survive you. I will wipe out that pitiful little army of yours. The humans will learn their place once more.”

Fear jolted through Lucas as he realized just what was at stake here. They had collected all the hunters they could into one fighting force. Along with them was a sizeable number who made up the communication network for hunters. If they were all to fall in battle, or enough of them anyway, then hunters across the entire continent would suffer. There were bound to be more hunters than just in North America, but if they were crippled by the loss in their numbers and of their means to communicate with each other and organize themselves, they would be at a severe disadvantage.

“Did you want this war or did you just take advantage of it?” Lucas asked the king, needing to know before they charged into battle.

The king looked smug. “I’ll admit, I was hoping I might one day get a chance to put you humans back where you belong. For too long, your wretched people have had the run of things. One moment in history, one little mistake on our part, and humans spread across the globe like a disease. Now look at you. You all believe that you run the world, all while cowering in the dark of the night from the monsters that lurk there. The Fae have had to hide for too long, and I’m going to be the one who brings them out of the shadows so that humans are put back in their rightful place: under our heel.”

Shaun stared. “You’re tellin’ me that you’re goin’ for world domination?”

“The world can come at a later date. One step at a time, you little brute. Nations are not created overnight, and I have plenty of time to see my dynasty come to life,” Artorius told him with an evil smile.

“Holy shit! He’s serious, ain’t he?” Shaun asked Lucas in disbelief.

“I think he’s dead serious. I don’t think he planned for his daughter to die, but it looks like he’s more than willing to take advantage of it to get what he wants,” Lucas said with faint disgust.

Artorius’ eyes lit up. “Oh? You know about that, do you? Would that mean you are the ones responsible for her untimely death? Poor Elania. She so desperately wanted out from under my rule, to try to find a mate of her own. She was always so headstrong. I told her it would be the death of her. I cherished her independence, even as I sought to break her of it. I thought I would have more time, but her death was a gift. Still, if you were the ones responsible, then all the better that you came crashing through my roof. Now I get to enjoy the thrill of slaughtering my daughter’s killers.”

Shaun eyed Lucas. “Good job.”

Lucas scoffed. “He was going to try to kill us anyway. We’re here to kill him, remember? What’s it matter if he knows that we stabbed his daughter through the heart?”

Shaun shrugged. “One Fae is much like another, good thing I brought the same knife, huh?”

Artorius looked at the blade in Shaun’s hand with renewed interested. “If you truly think I am anything like my daughter, then your death will be quicker than I originally thought. My daughter was young, foolish, and caught by surprise. You are in my domain, human, and I am more than prepared for whatever pathetic attempts you might make upon my life.”

Not that they weren’t already brutally aware of that fact. Lucas had been hoping that with the help of Nic’s distraction they might be able to surprise the king. It might have saved them the drawn-out and painful fight they were about to have. The only surprise they had up their sleeve was the gun nestled somewhere in Shaun’s clothes. That would require them to remove the king’s armor, or for Shaun’s shot to be exceptionally precise. A hollow-point, even one filled with golden fragments, would probably shatter ineffectively if Shaun shot the king anywhere on the head that wasn’t the temple. Their best bet was to somehow kill the guards and get the breastplate off the king, which was going to be far easier said than done.

“I’ll admit,” the king was saying. “That I am a little surprised. I hadn’t thought you hunters capable of this much subterfuge. I am almost delighted you were able to break free of your tiresome and predictable urge to rush into battle. I had thought you would simply try to fight, maybe get a collection of you unruly lot together, and have a few battles. Here I had thought that this…army you had gathered together was the extent of your surprises. And now I see it was a feint; keep my eyes forward so I wouldn’t see you coming from behind?”

Lucas grunted, not liking how delighted the man was over the idea. “Something like that.”

Artorius clapped his gloved hands together. “Well, bravo. I do hope that it was your idea. It will be ever so delightful to tear out the hearts of the ones who managed to surprise me. Or perhaps I’ll keep you as pets, a trophy for all to see. I don’t think I’ve ever had human pets before. Do you require more care than say…a werewolf?”

The Fae had gone from positively furious to delighted at the twisted little ideas he was coming up with. The Fae were infamous for their mercurial moods, but it was jarring to see in person. Shaun looked as disconcerted as Lucas did, the knife wilting slightly in his hand. They had never bothered to interact with a Fae when it came time to kill one, so this was a new experience for them.

Artorius continued with pleasure. “Just think of it. I take the two humans who managed to surprise me as my own personal pets. When the rest of the humans are forced to understand just what it means, think of the despair they’ll feel! Two of their best protectors, locked in chains, and on display for all the world to see. It will be a perfect mark of the rule to come, when humans are reduced to the animals they have always been.”

Now Shaun just looked irritated, glancing at Lucas with an expression that mirrored Lucas’ thoughts. What was it with egomaniacal assholes and their need to deliver monologues? The king was so sure of his own victory that he was just droning on, his ideas no longer disturbing but simply becoming a disturbance. With a roll of his eyes, Lucas nodded at Shaun, hoping his partner would just get this over with. At least if they died, they wouldn’t have to listen to the king go on about his glorious plan any further.

A gun was in Shaun’s hand before anyone could blink. The sound of the shot in the icy coated room was loud, jarring to Lucas’ hearing. One of the guards jerked, blood pouring from his face as he stumbled back with a strangled grunt.

Artorius glared at them, looking at the shot guard. “Bullets? How crass! Your silly metals aren’t going to cut it. You’ll have to try harder than that.”

Shaun gestured disinterestedly with his gun hand, even as the guard’s wound began to rapidly heal before his eyes. “Yeah, but it still hurts like a bitch to get shot in the face. Plus it shut you up, didn’t it?”

Artorius growled, his foul mood returning. “Get them! Don’t do too much damage to their pretty faces. I want them to be recognized when I put them on display.”

The four guards advanced immediately, weapons at the ready. They had swords at their hips, but they drew closer to them with long spears clenched in their hands. Lucas looked to Shaun, who nodded in understanding as they stepped away from one another. As predicted, the guards split, two moved toward Shaun, and the remaining two went for Lucas.

“God I hate spears,” Lucas complained as he drew his dagger from its sheath.

Spears had the advantage when all you had were close range weapons at your disposal. The first jabbed for him, and Lucas twisted around it easily. The next followed up and he dodged that, too, sending his blade along the shaft of the first guard’s follow-up attack. They were testing his combat abilities, assessing what he was capable of before they dove in for a true attack. That suited Lucas just fine, as he was built for an extended fight, and some part of him relished the idea of testing his intelligence against their own.

He could hear the sounds of Shaun’s own fight somewhere behind him. That he wasn’t hearing the blast of a gun meant his partner was too busy keeping up with the fight to manage to use the gun again. The guard he had shot had been one of the two to advance on him, and Lucas was sure the Fae was probably in a foul mood because of it.

Another blow almost caught him, Lucas barely managing to turn his midsection to avoid the thrust. His mind slammed back to the combat he was locked in, blocking out the sound of Shaun’s fight so he could focus on his own. Immediately, he bowed forward as the expected next attack from the guard’s partner breezed over his bent back. They were using one another’s attacks to try to follow up with a deadly blow.

Their teamwork was impressive, and Lucas was having to dance to keep up with their fluid movements. Each initial attack was meant to knock him off-balance, and he was barely keeping up with them. Their attacks were keeping him on the defense, and they were very good at covering the openings their partner’s attacks left. Lucas could only dodge and weave, not even capable of thinking of a counter-attack before another attempted blow was heading his way.

“Oh splendid! You’re lasting so much longer than I thought you would,” Artorius crowed from where he had remained standing.

Lucas ignored him, focusing on the spears that kept coming. Not once did they switch to their swords. He couldn’t tell if that was because they were willing to keep him constantly dodging their spears, or they didn’t want to get close to him. Lucas might have made a tactical error by using his knife too much to parry their attacks, making a large display of his skill with the blade. He could deal with swords easier than he could deal with spears, and they seemed to have sensed it. This wasn’t working, and from the sounds he allowed himself to notice from behind him, it wasn’t going any better for Shaun, either.

Growling, he shouted over his shoulder. “Shaun! Twist and Shout!”

He took the snarl from Shaun as understanding and confirmation. Lucas weaved around another set of blows, parrying the third as the guards tried a new tactic by adding to their combo. He smacked the third attack away, ruining the angle of the fourth attack. Lucas took the moment to glance at the trio fighting nearby, assessing the situation just as he saw Shaun glance his way as well. His partner was bleeding, not as agile as Lucas was to avoid the blows. He could understand the Fae wanting to keep their distance from Shaun, but his partner wasn’t going to be able to keep this up if he didn’t move.

He felt the pivot coming from Shaun more than he saw it. Lucas spun his upper body, hand shooting out to grip Shaun’s. His partner darted into Lucas’ position, using his weight and momentum to yank Lucas to where he had been standing. They had changed combatants, and done it with such effortless speed and force that both pairs of Fae were taken off-balance temporarily.

It was all they needed, and Lucas tucked to roll between the legs of the two guards who had been fighting Shaun. The blade in his hand lashed out, catching the weak point of the leg armor of the guard to his right. The Fae’s shout of pain was lost in the sudden blast of a gun from Shaun. Lucas ignored it, twisting around to push to his feet. Using the force of standing upright, he drove the blade between the separation of armor on the second guard.

One of Shaun’s combatants was holding his face, stumbling backwards and nearly tripping over his fallen partner. The fallen one was trying to get to his feet, wheezing as he held one hand to his chest. There was no dent in his breastplate, but Lucas was pretty sure Shaun had given the man a kick that he wouldn’t forget anytime soon. Shaun’s size and strength allowed him to kick with enough force that Lucas would swear even a horse would be jealous.

“Again!” Shaun shouted, turning to Lucas.

Their hands found one another, and Lucas felt Shaun begin to lift him. He understood immediately, clambering up Shaun’s body in a practiced movement. His feet shoved against the back of Shaun’s shoulders, propelling them both forward in their respective directions.

Lucas flew through the air, curling so his shoulder took the force, rolling him forward. The reeling guard was just pulling his hands from his face as Lucas popped up in front of him. The blade slid clean through the Fae’s throat, adding another large spurt of blood to the original one, though this time from a wound that wasn’t going to heal. Without wasting a moment, he turned, flipping the golden knife in his hand and bringing it down in a vicious stab, burying it in the second Fae’s throat.

As the second guard thrashed against him, and the first slumped to the ground in a clatter, Lucas looked for Shaun. He wasn’t sure how Shaun had managed it, but the large hunter had ripped off the breastplate of one of them. Shaun’s blade was shoved between his ribs before the Fae could even realize he was defenseless. His friend was already laying face-first in a puddle of his own blood at Shaun’s feet.

They both stood, turning to the king as Lucas smirked. “So, what was that about making pets out of us?”

Artorius’ face twisted in disgust. “My best guards, killed by two humans. Those incompetents deserved their deaths.”

“Funny, I was gonna say the same about you,” Shaun taunted, flipping the knife in his hand threateningly.

Artorius’ smile was ugly. “Well, if you can’t use your best, then you must simply use more. Guards!”

There was a booming noise and the sound of incoming booted feet stopped Lucas cold. They turned around in time to see almost a dozen guards file into the room. Each of them held a spear, with a sword at their hips, though none of their weapons or armor were nearly as nice as those of the guards they had just killed. All of them looked furious, though, and ready to kill Shaun and Lucas where they stood.

Shaun groaned. “Why did I think it was gonna be that easy?”

“Hope springs eternal?” Lucas asked, wishing his partner’s hopes had come true for once.

The four elite guards might have been the best, but he and Shaun were the ones to bring them down. However, that wasn’t going to matter when there were even more guards than before. A dozen of them with spears would be more dangerous for the two men than the duos they had fought moments before. They weren’t out skilled, but they were definitely outnumbered.

“This is bad,” Lucas told Shaun, inching closer to him.

“Kill them,” Artorius commanded, voice cold.

The guards readied their spears and began to advance. Before Lucas and Shaun could prepare themselves, there was the sound of more shattering glass. Glittering shards fell to the floor and a blurred figure hit the ground and rolled in front of them. It took a moment to register the clawed hands and tufts of fur along his body before Lucas realized it was Nic, partially transformed.

Nic’s hand shot forward, and there was a dull clunk as whatever he threw bounced off the ceiling above the guards. All eyes tracked the object as it rolled into the tunnel the guards had used to enter the room. There was a sharp beep and fire erupted from the tunnel, knocking Shaun and Lucas onto their backs. A cacophony sounded as the wall near the blast and the ceiling above caved in, shaking the floor around them.

By the time they righted themselves, Lucas could see that half of the guards remained. The rest were buried or perhaps dead from the blast. The remainder were getting to their feet, as they tried to right their senses. The tunnel behind them had caved in, and though Lucas had sworn he’d seen the ceiling and walls caving in, there stood a solid surface behind them.

They were sealed into the room now, the entrance blocked. The guards had lost a good chunk of their numbers, and now they had Nic here as well. The kitsune was standing tall, the white and orange fur spreading to cover his entire body. If it weren’t for the gravity of the situation, Lucas would have felt like laughing as he saw several tails sprouting from Nic’s ripped pants. He recalled kitsune legends that said the more tails one had, the more powerful they were.

Nic glanced at them, eyes now glowing gold. “Miss me?”

“Dramatic entrance?” Lucas asked as he picked himself up from the ground.

“Always,” Nic grinned, the look positively feral on his elongated snout, equipped with wicked, sharp teeth.

Shaun nodded toward the guards. “You got them?”

“As if a few wimpy Fae have anything on me,” Nic snorted, his voice sounding rough and guttural through his half-animal throat and mouth.

Lucas and Shaun turned to the Fae king, who was already picking himself up and looking livid. They were all trapped in here together, with no extra help getting in or out without crawling one by one through the windows. This was going to be where the fight was decided. He only hoped that he and Shaun were ready for this.