Page 45 of V for Vengeance

He didn’t give me a chance to ask about it because light blasted into the space the second the door fully opened. Something tugged me, and I was taken off balance. I didn’t hit the floor like I thought I would. I froze and stayed weirdly tilted without anything holding me up.

“You’re pretty clumsy for a vampire. Okay, all you need to do is think of a place that’s safe for you, or maybe someone who is, and I’ll do the rest.”

Blinking to try and see through all the overwhelming light, I mumbled, “A place or someone who’s safe?”

“Have you never been dusted before, sweetheart? Oh, what a goddamn treat.” His annoyed sigh said otherwise. “Yes, little vampire, somewhere you can trust that crazy bitch won’t follow.” His voice thundered in my ears again, which was still very hard for my brain to reconcile with his size. “Any day now, toots. I’ve only got enough dust to get you to one place and me another, so don’t mess this up. That crazy bitch has been using me every time I replenish my dust even in the slightest, and it’s not like I’m an endless fountain of magic here.”

I still had no idea what was happening or what he meant by dust, but I thought about Cash. It was weird because it should’ve been Grams or Phillip, maybe even Sloan or Jo, but the platinum-blonde Dark Fae popped unbidden into my head first.

“Perfect! Looks like you’ve got something.”

The blinding light moved and gyrated in a weird vortex around the two of us, finally permitting tiny glimpses of the world I’d stepped out into. It wasn’t a landscape I’d seen in my world. It looked…different. Like a fantasy-scape in one of those Netflix series that they always canceled after the first season.

I didn’t have time to tell him that I hadn’t meant to think about Cash. I’d meant to think about Grams or someone who made sense, not a Dark Fae who’d basically done nothing but whine since the day I met him.

Guess the way we’d almost kiss still affected me. It was still haunting my thoughts even as I rushed to escape a bitch of a villain. But it was too late to plead with the Tinkerbell dude. Before I could say a word in protest, my feet hit the ground.

Then he gasped, the sound ringing out. “What the actual fuck…?” The little creature glittered and landed on my shoulder, keeping close as if he was about to make another escape. “Cash?”

“Big?” I heard Cash’s unique accent before I saw him.

The light faded away, and on the floor was a mummified form of what looked like Serine. At least the silver sequins dress and pale hair were the same, just…not the way they’d looked last time I saw her. Bodies and steaming piles of ash were scattered everywhere I slid my gaze. It was a goddamn graveyard, and Cash stood in the middle of it, confused to see Goth Tinkerbell Dude and I together.

“V!” he shouted in a pitch only he could reach, coming over in a breath. His hands were on my face, checking for injuries, but I swatted them away. “I knew you’d get out, but…where did you meet Big?”

Big?

My eyes skated over to the flying creature who looked like he’d seen a ghost. The little winged guy had escaped in all the confusion, staying far enough away so that Cash couldn’t reach him but close enough so that he could still make it back over to me in a quick dive should anything go wrong.

“You know…Cash? Why? Where?”

“I think the more important question is….is that Serine? Did you do that shadow thingy on her?”

As if it’d only just occurred to him that he was in the middle of a fight, he looked over his shoulder at the mummified form on the floor. “Oh…why, yes it is. I didn’t get much out of her, sadly, but it’s my professional opinion that she was likely one of the Seven. Call it a hunch.”

I’d gotten used to the fast-paced lifestyle of being a genetic monster, but even for me, tonight’s events were a little hard to follow. Cash had taken Serine out by himself. I didn’t see anyone else in the building. Jo wouldn’t let him get away with rambling this long without saying something—or rather, without throwing something. Which begged another question, where the fuck were we?

“Where…?”

“The Fae realm,” he answered before I could finish my question. “Big, where did you come from?”

The little fluttering creature quickly flew over, landing on my shoulder again with his arms crossed. Guess that was becoming his preferred landing spot.

“And what’s it to you, Hand of Death?” The hostility was palpable in the winged-man’s question. But I couldn’t even pretend to know what he meant by Hand of Death. “What are you doing back in the Fae realm? Why do you want this little vampire? Why did she take us to you with my pixie dust?”

The last comment seemed to surprise the light-haired Dark Fae the most. “She took you tomewith pixie dust?”

“Yeah. So, what the fuck are you to her? Are you in cahoots with that bitch and flipped the script? Are you up to your old tricks, asshole?!”

“I don’t live that way anymore, Big,” Cash countered, but his eyes never left mine. “And…she’s…” His lips lifted into a tender smile. “V’s nothing like me. You understand, yeah? But sheiswith me, so remember it when you take this information back to your little group of thugs. Breathe a word about her and I’ll beup to my old tricksjust for you.”

Even I understood the threat directed at the handsome Tinkerbell dude. Whatever history these two shared, it wasn’t great. I was so curious, but now was hardly the time to ask about what happened between them.

Phillip’s going to kill me.

“Well, I’m not part of that group anymore. I wised up. Seems like you have, too. Though, I’ll believe it when I see it.” The little creature Cash called Big trailed his pretty pink eyes from Cash to me. “Serine was working with those obnoxious humans, the Organization, or whatever they call themselves. Some big shot named Lex—or maybe it was Lux or Lexie. Dunno, somethingweird and human-sounding. But it was more than that. She said something about a weapon she wanted to get her hands on. Anyway, she’s the least of our worries. It’s whoever she called One working with the humans to take control of all the realms that’s the real issue here. Another Ancient Fae. Except, not kin. The real deal. Full chaos. Every power imaginable, this one has it, and they’ve got every leader in each of the realms on edge. So, hopefully you’re not tangled up in that mess. Better to stay out of it. I would’ve if it weren’t for those damn bastards who traded me for a favor.”

Well, great. Another thing to worry about. Some out-of-control Chaos Fae with a world-domination agenda was out there working with Lux. At least we confirmed they were planning to get their claws into the other realms. I wouldn’t be their last experiment; I was just the one causing the most trouble right now.

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