Deciding Her Faete (Beyond the Veil Book 2) (14 page)

Chapter Twenty-Two

“He owes you a life?” Erica asked the large man who had befriended her as a child and had stood by her and her parents for many years. Most of the forest folk kept to themselves and did not interact with the Fae unless they had to, but Ishaya had always been a friend to their family, and Erica couldn’t have been more grateful for it than in this moment. In all those years however, he’d never spoken about his family, and she had a feeling she was about to find out why. The sadness that shimmered in his eyes when he turned back to face her had Erica stepping forward to hug him.

Ishaya sighed and returned the hug, being careful not to squeeze too hard and hurt her. “He took my sister, Arethusa, as his Fated One, even though she did not feel the connection to him in return. When the bond is forced upon another, they can choose to accept the claim, or reject it. Arethusa rejected it, and Frederych killed her. He took a piece of my heart that day, so now I am going to take his from his chest as it still beats and show it to him before he dies.”

Erica looked up at him somberly. “That sounds perfectly fair to me. A life for a life. Justice is yours to take, and we will leave Freddy to you, my friend.”

“And
we
will deal with the douche-tard Kheelan,” April added.

Ishaya pulled away from her and moved toward the battle, his destination clear. “I will wait for you to engage with Kheelan before striking at Frederych. Good hunting, my Fae sisters. May your blades ring true and this day bring you the vengeance you all so very much deserve.” Then, with a decidedly bloodthirsty grin, Ishaya melted into the forest.

“Now there goes a man on a mission,” April said as the three of them stood for a moment and watched as Ishaya seemed to disappear before their eyes.

Corrine moved in the same direction. “And speaking of missions, we have our own. Let’s go get us some of that bastard who has caused so much pain to the people we love.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” Erica said as the three woman gathered closer together. “Time is of the essence with this one. With the kind of power they are throwing around out there, our side does not have a whole lot of time. I reckon as soon as we get near him, we hit him with as much power as we can, try to disorient him as much as possible so we can strike with our blades.”

April nodded. “That sounds like a good plan. If we focus all our power at him at once, we should be able to put him on his ass long enough for you to strike.”

Corrine grinned. “We go on three.”

Erica nodded in agreement as she followed her
Quenya
closer to the battleground, April at their side. The fight was still raging, and the sounds of wolves and Fae locked in battle rang through the forest. As they stepped to the edge of the tree line, they crept silently into position, just behind and to the left of Kheelan. They could see Frederych kneeling on his right, his hand still buried in the earth.

Erica saw April scanning the forest around them. “Where is Ishaya?” she mouthed silently.

Erica winked and shook her head. No matter how hard April looked she wouldn’t find him. Despite their size, Ishaya and his kind could never be found in a forest if they did not wish to be. They were a race of formidable warriors with talents all their own.

Corrine held her hand out, her three middle fingers aloft.
Three,
Erica thought to herself and gripped the hilt of her sword, infusing it with her energy to bring forth the blue blaze along the blade. April did the same as Corrine tucked one finger away.

Two.

Erica should have been scared, or nervous, but she felt neither emotion. She was calm and completely in control. Kheelan had been her tormentor, her jailor, and her nemesis for many years, and now he would get what he deserved. Corrine folded away another finger.

One.

Taking a final deep breath, Erica’s focus narrowed on the evil bastard who stood not more than ten feet from her. She was so damn ready for this.

All three of them moved forward, Erica and Corrine taking point, when that final finger disappeared, emerging from the forest with a singular focus. Get to Kheelan, knock him on his ass, and make him bleed—preferably a lot—stab him again, and then keep going until the fucker exploded into nothing but ash.

As soon as the three of them had taken two steps from the forest, Erica let loose with a pulse of energy, forcing it out toward Kheelan. She felt April’s pulse of power mirror hers from the right, and Erica grinned anticipating what was to come. Kheelan was finally going to learn never to underestimate a woman.

But nothing happened.

Erica frowned as she dug deeper, forcing a strong stream of energy toward her target. She heard April curse softly beside her and knew that she was dialing up her attack at the same time.

What in the hell is going on?
With everything they were throwing at this asshole, he should have been writhing on the ground in pain. But there was nothing. She pulled the energy back into herself. Corrine looked at her and April in concern, and Erica could only shake her head. She had no idea how Kheelan was not feeling the effects of their attack until finally Kheelan turned to face them. A crazed gleam of madness shone in his eyes, and the sadistic smile on his face told Erica that he either knew that they had been there all along or he had suspected that they would come for him. But it was the sight of the shimmering tattoo around his eye that had her heart leaping into her throat. She saw it moving.

“Didn’t you think I would safeguard against your powers?” Kheelan sneered.

“To be honest, no, we didn’t.” Erica shrugged. “Let’s face it, Kheels, you aren’t exactly the sharpest tool in the toolbox, if you know what I mean.”

“You think to insult
me
?” Kheelan’s voice was harsh. “There is nothing you can say that would affect me. But it is nice that you came together. I have all three of the Fae
whores
I hate most in this world in one place. I do also thank you all for coming to me alone. It makes it that much easier to kill you now.”

Erica smiled, knowing that it would piss the bastard off. “Aww, you’re most welcome, Kheels. But why in the name of the Goddess would you think that we would come alone?”

Kheelan frowned in confusion, his eyes darting to the battlefield where her men and April’s were still fighting. She then followed his line of sight over to where Gabe was currently dispatching a member of Kheelan’s army while flat on his back.

Turning back to her, he said, “There is no one else to fight by your side.”

In that moment, almost as if the move had been timed perfectly, Ishaya seemed to appear from the ground beside Frederych, his body shedding some crazy glamor that had him blending with the earth around him. He gripped his prey by the throat.

Frederych grunted as Ishaya lifted him off the ground with his right hand clasped around his throat. He then proceeded to pound his left fist into the Fae’s face, over and over again.

“What the hell is this?” Kheelan spat as he stepped towards Ishaya’s direction.

Erica moved quickly to stand in his way as Corrine and April moved at the same time to surround him. “That would be Ishaya. He is a lovely man who enjoys quiet walks in the forest, a cup of whiskey at the end of a hard day’s work, and spilling the blood of an enemy who has taken someone dear from him. That last one is a characteristic he and I share.”

“As do we all,” Corrine added, and Kheelan turned to look first at her, then spun to see April on the other side of him. When April grinned and waved her sword jauntily in his direction, Kheelan growled.

“You think just because you surround me that I am somehow at a disadvantage?” Kheelan sneered. “You are fools if you believe you will defeat me with blades.”

Erica watched dispassionately as he held his large sword before him with both hands, but then somehow, the blade split in half so that he now held two identical blades, one in each hand.

“You do not have the skill to best me,” Kheelan bragged as he dropped into a fighting stance—his right leg forward, both legs shoulder width apart for balance. He also looked a lot stronger than how April had described, as if he had not been stabbed by Corrine at all. The blade in his right hand was pointing directly at her, and the other he held in a reverse grip so the blade pointed behind him, ready to swing it in either direction. “Not individually or together. So come at me now and let us end this as it has always meant to end—with your blood spilling from your severed heads. You can join your damn Goddess for all I care.”

“Wow,” April said sarcasm clear in her tone, “have you ever thought about a career in greeting cards? That was almost poetic. And we hate to shatter your illusions. Well, that’s not completely true, since I for one love the fact that we get to do that, but I digress. Where was I?”

Corrine swung her blade in a quick slice, making it ring through the air, and Kheelan spun in her direction. “You were about to tell the traitorous, narcissistic Captain that he may be underestimating our battle skills just as he’s miscalculated our strengths in several situations now. How is your King, Kheelan? Dead, isn’t he?” she taunted. “Oh—that was rather insensitive of me, wasn’t it?”

A furious roar escaped Kheelan as Corrine’s words hit home. He lunged for her with a staggering blow that brought her to one knee when she blocked it with her own blade. The fact that April came at him as well from the other side was no doubt the only reason Corrine still had her head, but dammit, that girl was supposed to be hanging back! True, now that the bastard seemed to be unaffected by their powers, they needed all the advantages they could get, but Erica just prayed it wouldn’t cost April her life. Erica needed to remember that despite their taunts, Kheelan had not been exaggerating about his sword fighting skills. In fact, it appeared that he had gotten even better with his dual sword technique.

Erica lunged at him just as he aimed his sword at April, blocking what could have been a mortal blow. He managed to knock Corrine down again, separating her from her blade, but Erica, anticipating his next move, blocked his sword with hers, buying Corrine time to regroup and scramble for her lost sword. He focused on her and April meanwhile. April was able to block several blows, but Erica could see the strength with which Kheelan was swinging was wearing her down quickly. Then suddenly she stumbled and lost her balance.

Erica struck with full force, but Kheelan blocked her with his right hand and then time seemed to move in slow motion as Erica watched Kheelan’s left arm come around, the sun glinting off the Fae blade as it sliced across April’s chest. At the last moment, Corrine managed to get to April and grab her from behind, pulling her back, but April’s cry of pain rang out as the blade still sliced through her skin. Erica sent up a thank you to the Goddess. If not for Corrine’s quick intervention, the blade would have gone clean through her, and Erica would have lost yet another person she cared about to this asshole.

Fury soared through her at that thought, and she swung hard while he was distracted by the blow he’d delivered to April. Erica felt her blade move through his skin, muscle and bone. Kheelan returned the strike, and she felt the searing burn as his sword sliced her left thigh. She instinctively brought her blade straight up in front of her before lunging forward again. This time, she landed a direct hit to the side of Kheelan’s face. He leapt back and Erica smiled, satisfied from the bright red trail of blood along his cheek.

Erica heard a loud cry coming from her left, one that sounded like it came before a death blow was delivered, but she did not turn in its direction. She knew that it was Frederych, succumbing to his fate at Ishaya’s hands. It did, however, capture Kheelan’s complete attention, because he spun to face the noise, realizing his battle advantage was now at an end.

Erica moved with all the speed and skill she possessed to strike at her enemy whilst he was distracted. She used her blade to force one of his up, while Corinne swung her blade with both hands using all of her strength to knock his other sword to the ground. Erica then plunged her own sword into his stomach up to the hilt.

She leaned in, holding his gaze. “For my parents.”

Then a second blade came quickly after, driving deep through his right side. Kheelan’s eyes widened in shock. Corrine leaned in and whispered, “For my sister and for my queen.”

Kheelan could not hold in the pained cry as the third blade slid through his left side. This time, it was April who stepped in. “For
my
parents and for my mates.”

The three blades were crossed over each other within him. They began to glow, growing brighter and brighter with each passing second. Kheelan’s head fell back, and he looked up into the sky shaking his head in what Erica could only assume was denial. He shouted something in ancient Fae intermingled with cries of pain, both of which were cut short when he exploded into ash before them.

Erica turned away as the ash rained down on the ground around them. When she looked back at her friends, she grinned at the sight they must have made, their blades still crossed, all three of them wearing matching expressions of satisfaction.

“That was beautiful to watch,” Ishaya murmured as he stepped closer to the three of them, “Are you ladies all right?”

Erica turned to look at him, raising an eyebrow at the amount of blood on his hands and clothes. “Just a few cuts, my friend. We’ll live.” The three of them finally lowered their swords, and Erica immediately placed her hand on April’s chest. “Not trying to feel you up, sweetie, although these do feel quite lovely, but that
is
a nasty gash.”