Page 44 of V for Vengeance

Thank fuck Jo and Phillip taught me how to break down magical binding. Movement but in weak areas. If I could manage it, hellfire. Not much came to me when I tried, though. It was an excruciatingly slow process.

After several minutes of feeling out the magic wrapped around me, I noticed it wasn’t as strong as I first worried. I didn’t need much hellfire to break through several places, and I was careful what I released first, testing spots to see if anyone came running.

But it was silent. No one cried out. No one’s feet stampeded from somewhere unseen. Nothing happened after minutes of breathless waiting. So, I kept working diligently to break through my prison. And when it finally gave, falling apart like the last string had been cut before disappearing, I landed on the ground with my dagger out.

Didn’t even take my weapons? Bad move, lady.

I kept my thoughts to myself. I didn’t even breathe, just carefully scanned the tunnel to my left and right and tried to figure out which direction was my best bet. Serine had gone left, so I’d put my money on that being where the exit was. I wanted to investigate inside, though. If she’d taken me to this location expecting I’d be bound to a wall like a trophy, there might be something we could use. Maybe even information on her ties to the Organization. Maybe she was one of the Seven.

What would Phillip do? My safety was paramount, so he’d argue that I needed to escape first then recon later. But what if there wasn’t a later? What if I couldn’t get back to wherever this was, or she took her shit and left nothing to investigate?

After a minute of weighing my safety against the opportunity to learn more about the Chaos Fae hunting me, I headed deeper into the tunnel, taking my chances. I really wished I’d stolen Phillip’s sword before going out with Cash, but to be fair, I hadn’t planned on getting kidnapped. Either way, I still had a few weapons I always carried on me and my power, however weak it was right now.

Stone encased the walls, and the tunnel seemed to go on forever before it forked. Light guided me to the left. Keeping a careful, vigilant pace through the tunnel, I prepared for anythingthat might be lurking up ahead. I’d give myself fifteen minutes to get whatever I could on the bitch who’d attacked us, and then I’d escape. Any longer and I’d risk too much by staying.

Thank god for monster speed and genetic abilities. I could hear farther than I would as a human, and the smells of decaying flesh guided me to the big room I finally entered. I expected bodies scattered like she was a monster with a cave full of bones. But there weren’t bones, just scattered furniture and a couple of stone tables. The smell seemed to be wafting from further back.

Something in the room stole my attention from investigating what caused the scent of death. Directly in the center of this random-ass war room was a stone table covered in a magical map that glittered and moved. I’d never seen anything like it. Little multicolored beacons moved over the surface. They were significant, that much I could tell, but their purpose wasn’t clear. I mentally took note of each one of their placements, but the map wasn’t of somewhere I recognized. Not that I was geographically knowledgeable in the first place. Probably the opposite, if I were honest.

Taking out my phone, I noticed that my signal had an E next to it. Wherever we were, I couldn’t call anyone—figures—so I took pictures of what I could. Unfortunately, when I reviewed a few, the map didn’t appear the way I saw it on the table. All that was pictured was a stone expanse, free of the flickering map.

Stupid otherworldly magic and the problems it created.

I tried to memorize what I saw, but unless I could draw it right away, I’d probably forget most of it. Moving around the table, I collected some of the papers scattered across the top. They were covered in a language I couldn’t decipher, but Jo or Cash might be able to. Maybe even Sloan or Phillip.

I gathered as many papers as I could. Thanks to fucking Cash and his useless fashion choices, I didn’t have anywhere to put them, so I stuffed them awkwardly into the waist of my silly coatskirt thing. Then my straying gaze caught sight of something weird sitting out on the other side of the table, near a little antique-looking box.

Closing in on it, I picked up the little bottle and gasped when a tiny person inside of it fluttered anxiously. Wings. Fucking wings. And…sparkles? Glitter? Magic? The little creature pressed his surprisingly handsome, goth-painted face against the glass and pointed to the top where the lid was. If he wasn’t tiny with dragonfly wings, I’d be convinced he ran with the same crowd as Kate. The guy of her literal dreams, except finger sized.

I lifted an eyebrow, not sure if I should let the thing loose, but I didn’t really know exactlywhatthis dude was. What if he’d been kidnapped like me? Worse, what if he was some henchmen pretending to be a victim?

“Okay, okay,” I said when he fluttered his wings in rageful agitation and started pointing up to the still-closed lid with more insistence.

I hope I don’t regret this…

I hadn’t read anything about whatever this person was. For all I knew, he was some powerful mini-beast. I’d definitely get an earful from Sloan if I told him I released a miniature monster because I didn’t read the books detailing a number of creatures across the realms like he told me to do months ago.

The second the lid was off, the little creature escaped, and his voice boomed in my ears despite his size. “Oh, thank the fucking gods! I could barely breathe in that magical glass prison. That bitch thinks that we survive, how? On the air living in our bodies? What a fucking joke.” He turned, his wings moving as quickly as a hummingbird’s. The side of his mouth tilted seductively as his gaze wandered up and down my form. “Never thought I’d be so excited to see a vampire in all my life.”

Vampire?

I ignored it, asking instead, “Who…andwhatare you? Were you being held prisoner by that Chaos Fae, too?”

“Questions later, lady. She’ll be back, and I’d like not to be here, if you don’t mind. I’ve been trapped in that goddamn bottle for weeks. Anything you’re looking for, I can tell you. My thanks for letting me out. Follow me, little vampire.”

He fluttered in a woozy circle, sparkling light exploding out of his form. Blinking, I watched him fly off, leaving a glittery path trailing after him. He’d gone the direction I’d just come from.

“You coming, little vampire? Or do you want to become one of her undead? Up to you. My debt to you ends when you die, anyway.”

This guy reminded me of Tinkerbell. A very metal boy version of her, sure, but the attitude was there. Something told me if I said it out loud, he’d lose his shit, whether or not he understood the reference. He was very mouthy, and I didn’t doubt he’d catch the meaning behind the name no matter how I said it.

Following him as quickly as he flew down the tunnel, he motioned to the door at the end. I nodded and yanked it open with my vampire strength, breaking through the chains keeping it closed.

He whistled in admiration. “My hero,” he cooed. “I could’ve opened that with a little dust though, little vampire.”

Dust?

“Oh—”

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