Page 42 of V for Vengeance

“Be back later, sweetie. Stay here and wait for Mommy.”

Did she just call herself Mommy? Gross wasn’t a strong enough word. Worse than that time Phillip called himself Daddy. The promise-laced tone in her voice made it beyond horrifying. It promised pain and terror the minute she returned. I was here on borrowed time.

Still, she’d made a fatal error. I wouldn’t stay quietly imprisoned. I’d find a way out of her magic. You know, once I figured out what I was working with. Problem was, I’d already overdone it with my power tonight. Something told me that the bitch wouldn’t stay away long, not with the Organization’s weapon up for grabs.

It wasn’t clear if she’d left some kind of guard or failsafe to ensure I didn’t get away, but staying here without bothering to try to escape guaranteed I was as good as dead. Nope, it was time to use my unwavering wit to get out of this bullshit magicprison. It was one of the first things I was taught as a Hunter—the minute you gave up, you were dead.

Chapter 22

Monster of the Realm

Cassius

Bollocks!

One second the room was full of snarling undead beasts looking to gnash their teeth on our skin and bones, and the very next minute they were all on the floor again, lifeless husks with neither song nor light left in their motionless forms.

Which could only mean one thing.

I turned faster than I’d ever turned in my entire bloody life. She wasn’t there. V was gone.Bloody fucking hell.Dragging an angry hand through my hair, I sent wave after wave of tracking magic so I could find where the blonde slag had taken her.

If I was lucky, she wouldn’t have traveled far. But I wasn’t an absolute twit without two brain cells to rub together, unlike that shameless barbarian V called a mentor. I knew that snake wouldn’t stay close after she’d all but used everything to get her hands on V.

To think, I was left here with Her Evilness instead of my saucy dove. Why couldn’t these obnoxious villains take that terrifying woman instead of my darling? Why must fate be socruel to leave this shameless sadist unharmed while my sweet bird was unfairly kidnapped? What, were mercenaries these days incapable of killing anyone else? Couldn’t slice out the devil woman’s heart or send her head flying before taking what was mine?

Fate was a cruel mistress.

Worse, it had to be a bleeding Chaos Fae of all things. I’d talked my way around telling Phillip the truth about how Ancient Fae were gone. But they weren’t, not entirely. Technically, the original kind were killed off long ago, but their kin weren’t. Mixed Fae with the ancestry of the original Chaos Fae—just as lethal as their predecessors but with diluted blood, making it harder to identify them. I’d crossed paths with several in my time. Of course, that was during the days where darkness thrived in my life. I rarely saw fit to go toe-to-toe with the ones I encountered, not unless they outright challenged me. If anything, I’d exploited them for my own selfish gain.

Serine was one such Fae I’d use from time to time. She had a similar power to mine. Humans called it necromancy. My kind referred to it more specifically as the Hands of Death. We wielded the ability to gain from the death of others, but while Serine could utilize their abilities only after they’d died, I stole power while they were still alive.

My victims were mummified through the process. Often killed when I stole everything—their magic and abilities, their memories, their very lifeforce. It was why so very few went up against me when I was at my strongest. Though, these days, many regarded me as a powerless coward. I’d take the utmost pleasure in showing them otherwise.

In the past, I enchanted items with the magic I stole to elongate their use. Magical folk like myself were rare purely on that merit, and it was the only reason Eros saw fit to use me. Though, my magic suffered greatly after so much of it wasstolen, and it became harder for me to do it. But Serine couldn’t steal their magic like I could. Thus, her use of it was limited to opportunity and calculation.

Harmony had a similar ability as a witch. She stole power from every person she took a personal liking to so they couldn’t escape her. She’d weaken and keep them as slaves for her every need, but she couldn’t use their powers like I could, only lock them away. To steal their power, they needed to trust her. Because the sly slag wore too many faces to count, very few knew who she was before it was too late.

Bloody witches.

Serine hadn’t been this strong before that old hag stole my power. But now, she wasn’t someone anyone in their right mind would mess with, no matter how powerful. Better to work under her than end up one of her undead.

In my absence, she took control of the dark underbelly in the Fae realm. So, I’d avoided her at all costs without the full use of my magic. Last I heard, she was in the Fae realm, but I’d been a little out of the loop since encountering V that fateful night.

With my power returned, Serine would be hard-pressed to outwit me again because the secret to my power was thousands of years of careful cultivation and control. As one of the so-called Chaos Faes, she might be stronger and deadlier, but she wasn’t invincible—and she certainly wasn’t as clever as I was forced to be over the years.

They didn’t call me the Monster of the Realm for no reason.

From what I could tell by how quickly her undead dropped, she’d expelled too much power too quickly. Meaning, she’d be vulnerable for the next couple hours, and she’d be looking to find a safe place to recharge if she was smart. Clearly, she hadn’t expected V to be as powerful as she was, or to have the host of abilities our kind hadn’t seen in several millennia.

Controlling time was terrifying even to a Hand of Death. To break into frozen time, Serine must’ve been desperate. I’d once been told Chaos Fae and their kin weren’t as susceptible to each other’s abilities, but it likely required energy to break. As with anything, there was always a cost.

Power wasn’t limitless.

I was confident the slag was severely weakened by it and would be an easy kill when I found her. The trick was to track her magic, eliminate her, and then use her own power and memories to find my way back to V. Relatively simple for a spy and Hand of Death like myself but dangerous. She wasn’t likely to be working alone, and I’d be using my darkest powers to eliminate a weakened Chaos Fae and find my darling.

Expelling too much magic for tracking that tart down wasn’t ideal, but if I recovered a few enchanted items, I could rely on those for when I recovered V. Assuming she hadn’t found a way to escape on her own.

I couldn’t contain my evil grin. My dove would give that over-confident minger hell. I’d seen enough to know that V never sat around and waited to be rescued. She was plenty powerful to bite back. Serine would trap her, no doubt, and avoid hanging around until she recovered, but breaking through that sort of magic wouldn’t be any challenge at all.

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