Page 32 of Risen
Robin’s birthright.Somehow, Acacia had figured out what it was and how the emperor was using its stolen magic.She must have realized what kind of shifter Robin was and put the pieces together.The rebel alpha was usually careful about keeping her true nature a secret, but Acacia had spies everywhere.She had clearly figured it out long before Robin shifted in front of her in their stand-off over Josh—she must have, since she had already been collecting the items for her nasty little ritual before then.
“Darling pet,” she purred as she prowled toward Josh, unconcerned with her surroundings, as if Dusek’s darkness upstairs was nothing more than welcomed ambiance.“I wondered how long it would take before you came to bask in my presence.This is perfect timing, really.You can watch me take control of the syndicateandthe uppity dragon shifter all at once.Then you can come home to me and take your place at my feet.”She grinned, the expression full of poison.“If you are very good, maybe I’ll keep the damaged naga and let you help me drain him dry.”
Josh swayed.The maker bond yanked at him, and I sensed it with my second sight—an invisible hook sunk deep in his solar plexus.I pushed calm and confidence to him like a lifeline, trying to help him resist her hold on him.But Acacia’s nostrils flared as she sensed my interference.
“Cicely, is it?”She said my name with a smirk.Her useless pet faun?”Her unhinged gaze flicked over my body from head to foot and she gave me a sad look.“Oh, you’re a pretty one, for a fae animal.But I’m afraid I can’t keep you.I’ll need to tie up all the loose ends, you know.And I know all about your mind tricks, thanks to my little spy.”
My damaged throat worked as I swallowed the desire to tell her to go fuck herself.Now I knew why everyone in the court always spoke so gleefully of murdering her.Her presence grated on me, her fake, sickly sweet act irritating to my empathic abilities.She looked small and harmless, but the energies I picked up from her said she was more dangerous and insane than anyone realized.
“What’s the matter?”she pouted, “cat got your tongue?”Then she laughed at her own bad joke, the tinkling sound echoing strangely in the muted, magic-filled space.
I responded by lifting the handgun I held at my side and firing at her.
The crazy little queen was vampire-fast.She dodged out of the way with a laugh, but I smirked at her, even as I felt a heavy sickness forming in my gut.The magic of her ritual snapped off suddenly, the backlash smacking into all of us, sending everyone to the floor before we all scrambled to right ourselves.
The sorcerer didn’t get back up, still sprawling in a puddle of blood and...tissue, thanks to the bullet that had never been meant for Acacia.I had been training with Martina and the others.I wasn’t the best in a fight, because it was hard for me to overcome my empathic abilities and hurt my opponent.But pulling a trigger in the heat of the moment was easier.At least as far as results went.I would probably never sleep again after this.
The couple of cultists I had managed to get a shot at upstairs had been wounded, but the others finished them off, and they had been actively attacking us in the heat of the fight.I had never killed someone in cold blood before.
Acacia screamed in fury when she realized that I had just ruined her ritual.Josh darted behind her, grabbed the false orb, and smashed it on the stone floor, just for good measure.There was no chance of her stealing Robin’s power and enslaving the dragon now.But it left us facing off with a furious vampire.One strong enough to rule the syndicate’s nest of monsters.
I started to back away from the death I could see in Acacia’s glare.She darted toward me with her claws raised, barely more than a blur of motion.I got off one shot before she was within touching distance.The gunshot wound didn’t do much to stop her, but itdidmake her jerk with the impact, slowing her for a fraction of a second.
That was all the time Josh needed to get between us, shielding me with his less breakable vampire body.Acacia backhanded him so hard his head snapped to the side and blood sprayed from his lip, but he didn’t move otherwise, his back pressed to my front, squishing me against the wall behind us to shield me.
Acacia’s voice softened, once more childlike and sweet despite the seething rage she was putting off.“Oh, pet.You really shouldn’t have done that.”She stepped back, and I craned my neck enough to see around Josh and catch sight of her, happy grin.“Now I’ll have to punish you.”
Josh’s body jerked as she did something with their weakened bond that caused his breath to stutter.“I know you’ve been playing around with the curse breaker,” she purred, dragging a finger tipped in a long, glossy red nail down the center of his chest.“But you know you can’t ever truly be rid of my gift.You’ll always be mine, pet.You’re too weak to exist on your own.”
Josh growled.But acacia only laughed, and her vampire aura swelled, adding a bit of rot to the darkness and terror in the air.“Kill the faun,” she said easily.“Drain him.Then we’ll go upstairs and make me empress.”
Josh’s body jerked again, and he gave a little moan as the maker bond tightened around his will.He spun to face me, his jaw clenched.His hands—the beautiful, careful hands of a beta who only wanted to care for others, curved into claws.
Then he lunged.
I tried to dive to the side, but I was only a faun, and far slower than a vampire.His claws sank into my arm and pain seared through me as he yanked me close.His other hand fisted in my hair, yanking my head to the side so hard it was a wonder he didn’t break my neck.His fangs flashed, scraped along my skin as I struggled in vain against his vise-like grip.I was pinned to the wall once more, but this time, Josh wasn’t interested in protecting me.No.Not again.My body started to tremble as I remembered the last time Josh had tried to kill me.And this time, Ruya wasn’t here to save me.
“Josh,” I said aloud, my strangled, barely understandable voice ripping from my damaged throat with a pain almost equal to the one in me arm.“Please--”
His fangs sliced into my neck, and my knees nearly buckled at the blinding flash of pain.I knew what came next.He wasn’t here to feed, not really.All he needed to do was jerk his head back and rip my jugular vein open and I was a goner.And yet… he pulled from me, swallowing convulsively.I felt his hands spasm where they held me.
And the pain disappeared.Last time he had attacked me, I felt only pain and terror.Helplessness.But now his bite felt… almostpleasant.
He was fighting Acacia’s command.He must be.Otherwise, I’d already be dead.
“Stop playing with your food, pet,” Acacia drawled in a bored tone.“We haven’t got all day.”
I was right.Josh was delaying.A surge of hope lit through me as I lifted my hands to press my palms against his chest, over his heart.I pushed my fae magic to its limits, my mind speak stumbling over the hold Acacia had on his mind as I shouted into his head.You don’t belong to her.This isn’t you!Remember who you are!
I never expected it to work.
With my magic roaring though me, connecting us with such raw desperation, Ifeltthe struggle inside him, saw into every desperate, wounded corner of Josh’s mind.His self-loathing.His doubts.The voice inside him that whispered he had always been too weak.Too soft.Not enough for the powerful paranorms around him.The part of him that had been warped by Acacia’s whispered poison, that had been tricked into forgetting his own worth.
You can do this.I insisted, refusing to accept my death at his hands.You are better than this.Stronger than this.Stronger thanher!
I felt his resistance, the silent battle he fought inside himself.And I sensed the moment he shook off Acacia’s lies.
Josh shuddered.Retracted his fangs from my throat without tearing me open.And I felt something inside his brainsnap.I was violently ejected from his mind as Josh’s will took over, repellingeverypresence that didn’t belong—including his master—with an iron-clad mental barrier.
