Chapter Fourteen
We made our way through the packed nightclub, knowing that the moment we’d entered, all eyes had turned in our direction. Once I reached the bar, I took a seat and scanned the rowdy crowd. Humans watched the creatures, some with fear while others looked for a release that only the immortals could offer. I took in the different castes of Fae, dancing and necking with humans in the open. Lena—or should I say Kendra—was also out there, dancing to a sultry beat with a few familiar Witches from her coven. No men dared get close to her, but it could have also had something to do with Lucian watching her closely.
My eyes slowly looked over the outfit she was wearing, taking in the short skirt and fuck-me heels. Each move she made was calculated; each curve swayed to the sultry song as her hands slowly trailed over her hips. She stared at something in the corner—or someone. Every beat of the song increased the frenzy on the dance floor. My ear picked up the subtle compulsion in the tone, and I smirked.
“What can I get you?” a bartender from behind the bar shouted, forcing me to move my attention to him. He was younger than I’d expected, not a day over twenty-one, judging by the barely-there fuzz he was trying to grow. Glyphs pulsed beneath the skin on his arms, and looked a lot like the ones the Fae had. He wasn’t Fae, though, and I’d bet my soul that those were created from magic to imitate the Fae’s. Blue eyes held mine as I narrowed my gaze on his. He wasn’t human, but he wasn’t something I could put my finger on either. I smirked as his eyes widened as my brands appeared, pulsing beneath the surface.
“Gin and tonic,” I said, watching as his eyes remained on the brands, as if he was entranced. “Like them?” I heard Adam and Ristan’s snickers as they watched this wannabe take in real Fae royalty. Adam’s brands slithered to life; his hand touched the bar and the kid was enthralled, but the moment Adam’s eyes began to glow, the kid lost color as he figured out exactly what he was looking at.
“You’re so beautiful,” he swallowed hard and his hands shook slightly. “Take me with you.”
“Excuse me?” I sputtered.
“That escalated rather quickly,” Ristan snickered. “And what exactly would she take you with her to do?”
“I don’t care what she does. Fuck me, use me, or kill me. Make me unable to feel this pain anymore. I can’t watch her anymore. I know I deserve it, but I can’t do it anymore. She doesn’t even remember me,” he cried, wiping away a tear as we tried to figure out what his damage was.
“That’s enough, Brandon. They’re not here to save your sorry soul,” Lucian’s deep timbre pulled my gaze to where he stood behind us.
“I can’t do this for eternity!” Brandon shouted, moving away from where Lucian took a seat at the bar. “Not a moment longer,” he sobbed, and I watched as Lucian nodded and his men moved, pulling the young bartender out from behind the bar as the silver fox took his place.
“Sorry about that.” Lucian nodded to the new bartender as he poured the gin and tonic I’d asked for. “Brandon owes me his soul, so until I decide otherwise, he has to watch his former fiancée every night. She, however, doesn’t even know who he is.”
“And why does he owe you his soul?”
“Brandon sold his soul to become Fae.” Lucian’s eyes held mine as his lips curved into a smile. “Of course, I did explain that no one can become Fae unless they are born as such, but he cared little about the details, as long as he appeared to be what he wanted. High Fae—to land the girl. His girlfriend, on the other hand, sold hers to forget the pain she’d endured as a child at the hands of her father. Neither specified any details. So, here they are, in my debt. Brandon, however, broke the rules and tried to find a loophole in the deal, so he will now spend eternity watching the love of his life as she waits tables without a fucking clue as to who he is.”
“Well, okay then.” I turned and took a deep drink. “I see Kendra is here, watching you,” I smirked as I dropped the matter of the soul and glanced back at Lucian. My eyes flickered to the dance floor and then back to him. “She also doesn’t like that you’re sitting close to me.”
Midnight eyes watched me with cold detachment. This creature was dark, and yet I knew he wasn’t frozen to his core. There was something about him that made me want to hug him, and yet I knew it wouldn’t be welcomed.
“You look like heaven tonight.” His eyes moved from me to the dance floor.
“You look like hell, on the other hand,” I replied, watching as those eyes turned on me. “I’m not your friend. I won’t lie to you just to kick it,” I offered when he raised a brow to me.
“Blunt,” he laughed, drinking the aged Scotch without a thought. “American slang from a soon-to-be-Fae-Queen?”
I rolled my eyes and brought the conversation back to him. “It can’t be easy, watching her dance,” I murmured, knowing he’d hear it. “She’s watching you back, though, that’s a good sign.
“You know that how?” he smirked.
“I have tits.” I grinned. “It makes me a better judge of those who also have tits. I think she’s actually pissed that you’re so close to me.”
“You can’t know that,” he dismissed my comment with a slight flick of his hand as he turned and peered over his shoulder.
“Want to bet?” I challenged, and at his nod, I smiled. “Want to know how I know she’s watching you? That she’s not happy with my being this close to you? I’ll show you. Don’t kiss or touch me at all. Just watch her reaction as I get a little too close to you.” I slid from the chair and stood in front of him. “Spread your legs,” I whispered, watching as his piercing blue eyes observed me as if I was a snake, ready to strike. “There’s no trick here, Lucian. Nothing but showing you she’s interested in you,” I assured him. Once he’d opened his legs, I slid between them, placing my hands on his thighs as I smiled and tilted my head. He smelled divine, freshly showered, with a touch of something pure uniquely male. My lips tipped upward to a smile as I bit my lip and stared into his eyes. My hand lifted to brush his soft hair away from his ear as I placed my lips close to it. “Touch my shoulder, and watch her eyes. They’ll narrow ever so slightly as her pupils dilate with anger. Right now, her heart is racing with anger that I’m bold and that you’re allowing me to be so. Next, she’ll signal to the girls she came with to leave the dance floor so you won’t notice that she’s stopped moving.” I backed up and grinned. “She’s here to seduce and conquer; those heels are all fuck-me. That skirt is short on purpose. You may know women, but you don’t know what it’s like to love someone and not know why. Lena’s in there, and she probably doesn’t even know why it’s pissing her off.”
“She’s been here three nights in a row,” he grumbled as he turned back to the bar.
“Three nights in row…in a similar outfit?” I took another sip of my drink.
“Fuck-me heels, skirt short enough that a stiff wind would show me that perfect ass of hers,” he saluted me with his glass to emphasize his point.
“Witches do it better,” I mused and when he turned and looked at me, I frowned. “Are you sure she hasn’t set you as a target? Three nights in fuck-me heels is serious business, Lucian.” I laughed. “She’s being trained by Alden, so if I were you, I’d expect the unexpected.” I considered what Alden may be up to here.
“She comes in with her coven and tries to blend in with the others. Well, she tries to, but I don’t let the males get too close to her. You think she is here because of your uncle’s meddling in their coven?” His eyes narrowed as he watched Kendra sway to the slow song that filtered through the club.
“I think she has the same teacher I had, and I think she’s marked you. You, or someone else inside this club,” I shrugged. “I’d be careful of her, at least. Alden was the best teacher at the Guild; he would feel compelled to help her, considering everything that’s happened here.”
“You’re not what I expected you to be.” His lips tightened with a hint of a frown and he shook his head slightly. “None of you assholes are.”
“Sorry to shatter your illusion that everyone is an asshole and wants something from you,” I laughed. My eyes moved to the door as Alden entered. I exhaled and stood. “I need a quiet place to talk with my uncle, please.”
“Take my table,” he offered, and made a gesture towards a booth in the back. “It’s warded, and no one will bother you there.”
“Thank you.” I stood up and sensed Ristan and Adam moving in closer to follow me to the booth Lucian had directed me to. Once I was close to the table, I paused, turning to look at Ristan, who nodded and pulled Adam with him to stand guard as I slid into the booth.
Once Alden approached and slid into the booth beside me, I turned and looked at him closely. He was happy here, and he looked younger, if that was possible. No frown lines marred his face, and the smile on his face was genuine.
“We need to talk, old man,” I stated bluntly. “About what lies in a warded and sealed chamber in the deepest part of the Guild,” I informed him. His head jerked up and his expression blanched almost as white as the table cloth on the table. He swallowed hard as one of the waitresses approached the table and placed Scotch in front of Alden, and a fresh gin and tonic in front of me before moving on.
“You saw the souls?” He lifted the drink up and didn’t bother sniffing it first. He downed the glass’s contents and shook his head.
“Quite a few of them,” I confirmed as I leaned towards him and lowered my voice. “And something else, something that scared the shit out of me, Alden. Tell me she isn’t who I think she is.”
“You saw her?” He winced as pain flashed across his face.
“Who is she?” There was no way he was going to deflect or get away from this conversation. “No skipping around the subject; I need to know before we start bringing kids into that Guild again.”
He tipped his head up to the ceiling, as if he was warring with how much to tell me. “She’s everything. You have no idea what you’ve done by taking control of this Guild, do you?” He dropped his head in his hands.
“No, which is why you’re going to explain to me exactly who she is,” I growled softly. “And then you’re going to explain why girls have been sacrificed to keep her in stasis. I now know why the Seattle Guild is willing to fight to obtain control of the Spokane Guild. Whatever she is, she’s powerful.”
“When I was a child at the Guild, we were taught about the Original Witches. It was a small coven that was born of Hecate’s direct line. Even now, it’s believed that their few descendants are among the most powerful Witches alive. The Original Witches, however, were dangerous alone, but together they could destroy towns, or even entire cities if they wanted to. No one bothered them, and they were among the most powerful creatures of this world that chose to live in the shadows. They were content to remain there, until news of the Witch trials made it to their ears. At first it was a whisper, and then as time moved on, they got louder. As the torture and killings became worse, the Original Witches came out of the shadows and slaughtered entire villages and towns as they made their way to Salem to find the people responsible for putting their children to death. They drove the Witch Hunters to commit suicide and created plagues that swept across the lands, killing thousands.
“There was fear for what it would mean for those of the Witches who had escaped the trials and were hiding. The Americas and England were on the brink of war already, but to add Witches to it, with their numbers dwindling, was not something they could endure. It was around this time that Lena’s coven split from the others, and the Guilds were formed. The Original Witches continued killing, and the Guild feared that they would annihilate any chance of monitoring and policing those of the Otherworld—actually Faery—so they set to making bargains with some of the heads of the other covens, who would eventually join them in creating the other Guilds. They put their case before the Paladins, and made powerful allies to help them capture and imprison the Original Witches. At first, the Guild captured them, but even in a magical prison, they continued to cause havoc. Being locked up together made them stronger. It made them angrier, and soon covens started falling to strange illnesses. Some lost their magic, while others went mad from the voices inside their heads. There were many that called for the death of these Witches, but everyone was fearful that killing so many of Hecate’s direct line could bring her wrath on us all. Now the Paladins have their own magic, magic that isn’t of this world. The Guild and covens agreed to their idea to place the Witches in stasis and use the Leylines beneath the Guilds to leach power from the Witches to weaken them. This was a happy way of neutralizing the Witches, but not killing them. Once the Paladins put the Witches in stasis, they were moved to the depths of thirteen different covens. As Guilds were founded in the Midwest and on the Pacific seaboard, three of those Witches were moved—and one of them was interred under the Spokane Guild. They have been asleep for a very long time, and now that you have taken control of the Spokane Guild, the National Guild will not stop fighting you until she is back in their care, Synthia. If any of them wake, they will go after those they consider to be their enemies.”
“They’ll go after the Guild,” I whispered as I considered what I’d just stepped into.
“Or us, for being in the Guild,” he corrected. “We know they are connected, but not how or why they are. Some speculate that if one was to wake, the others would follow her, but it’s speculation, of course. However, if it happens, God save our souls because they will have no mercy.”
“And the souls?” I really didn’t want to know more about the Witch. I got it, end of days shit. Why was it always worst-case scenario? Why couldn’t we find one situation that wasn’t tied to some kind of end of the world shit?
“Sacrifices to keep them in stasis,” he replied quietly, and swallowed hard. “Paladin magic comes with a blood cost, and we paid it. Thirteen souls a year to contain thirteen Witches.”
“And Hecate didn’t interfere? She just allowed this to happen to her daughters?”
“She hasn’t been seen or heard of since just before her direct line began their slaughter of the humans. We never knew how she felt about it; all we know is that she didn’t intervene to save them. Spells were done at the beginning of all that chaos, to call Hecate forth to save the covens from what her daughters were doing, and she never came. Either she is no longer among us, or she’s chosen to forsake us. We have no idea which one it is. The Guild continues to teach of her, but they have little real knowledge of her. To us, she’s our God. There is no proof she exists anymore, and yet we still do her bidding and follow her rules.”
I swallowed the information and observed him carefully as I asked my next question. “Have you killed to keep that Witch in stasis?”
“Yes. And I would do it again, and probably will. Only Elders are aware of what is sleeping beneath the Guilds. It is our duty to keep them there, asleep. Another thing to consider—because the Witches Guild draws on those same Leylines used to keep them weak and in stasis—is that those thirteen Witches now know every Witch alive. Imagine if they woke up knowing what the Guild has done to them?”
“They could potentially wipe out every Witch on the continent,” I groaned as I rubbed my temples. “Any creature who taps those Leylines has allowed the Original Witches inside of them, haven’t they?”
“They have, including you,” he replied as he closed his eyes briefly and tipped his glass back, finishing it.
“We have Pandora’s box sleeping beneath the Guild, which we are supposed to be breaking ground on now and building a new future. How can we bring innocent children into it knowing that?”
“Because this world needs those children safe and trained right, and we need them now more than ever before,” he replied confidently. “I’m aware of the Fae flooding this world. I know you and those entrusted with the guardianship of the permanent portals wouldn’t allow that if you had a way to guard them. Which means something has gone horribly wrong with the portals,” he said pointedly.
I was afraid to answer him for a moment as I tried to absorb everything that Alden had told me. Then I thought of what Ryder, Ristan, and Dristan had explained to me of the history of Faery and how it related to the Witches and the Guilds, and more pieces of the puzzle began to fill in.
“Ok, I’m going to call bullshit on some of this, old man. You and I both know that the Guild has been spoon feeding us a distorted history of where we come from and who did what. Hecate is a Goddess like Danu is. They aren’t supposed to interfere directly, and if they do, there are serious consequences. But consequences from who?” I spoke slowly as I worked it out with Alden as my sounding board. “The first Witches, even before the Druids, were Changelings from what Ryder told me, so that means that Hecate had to have been playing the horizontal mambo with Changelings to have created this line, which explains why they are so strong. They’re not just Witches, they are Demi-Gods.” Alden blinked slowly and nodded his agreement that this could be true. “And if this is the case, then perhaps Hecate or some other high God helped nudge along the relationship between the covens and the Paladins as an indirect way of neutralizing her children. That way, they got around killing them and being accused of interfering.” I peered at Alden as another thought occurred to me.
“Alden, Paladins aren’t exactly plentiful, and the Guild normally calls them in when all hell breaks loose. When everything first went down, you were guarded by twelve of them. Larissa told me she didn’t know who sent them; do you?” If this was going where I thought it was, then there was more in play than any of us realized.
“No.” Alden shook his head. “I assumed it was someone from the Washington Guilds. They were only with me for a short while, and then the Guild sent their own people in; I didn’t question it and I haven’t seen one since.” He scowled as he began to see the same picture that was forming in my mind. I didn’t know much about the Paladins, other than they were from outside of our world and their magic was different. They weren’t Fae and they weren’t human; who were they, and who did they really report to?
“So to wake one up, we’d probably need an actual Paladin?”
“That, or possibly a Druid; they hadn’t died out when the Witches were put in stasis, and I know they were part of the allies recruited to put them there. It’s been a long time since one of those was seen around the States, though.”
“The Changelings became the Druids, who split apart and became the Mages and the Witches Guild,” I recited. “Could one of them have decided not to choose a side, and hid? Do you think they are still alive?”
“It’s possible. If they were a half-blood, the chances of immortality are higher. And if that history is the case, then my blood is so weakened, it just helps me look good.” Alden chuckled.
“Ok, then try this on. If the Mages are taking over the Guilds and they are causing an imbalance because of their war with the Fae; is it possible that someone else is involved in this? Someone who sent Paladins in to guard you? Paladins who might have been reporting to whoever controls them about what was going on with the Guilds,” I mused as I worked it out with him.
“It’s possible,” Alden admitted. “If that is the case, you have to ask yourself; are they friendly with the Fae, or against the Fae?”
“That’s a really good question.” I finished my drink as Alden made a motion to a waitress to get us another round of drinks, then gave me a thoughtful look and sighed.
“We’ll figure this out; in the meantime, show me the floor plans.”