Fae (34 page)

“YOU?!” The roar came from the figure who had turned the corner into the hall they stood in. Neala felt her muscles tense as she immediately recognized Butler’s voice. Kiernan saw the change in her and walked forward, the white-knuckled grip on the guns in his hands showing his rage. Butler raised his own gun at Kiernan and Neala screamed as she heard gunfire.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Ráj Manor, Caledon, Ontario

One. Two. Three.

Kiernan watched as Butler collapsed in front of him, the man’s gun sliding across the smooth tile as a look of shock came across his face. As he got closer he saw that the shots had hit home, above the knee on both legs, and one in the shoulder of the man’s firing arm. Kiernan had seen the muzzle flash from Butler’s gun but he assumed it had gone wide, or his body hadn’t informed him of where it hit yet. He was sure he hadn’t heard a cry from Neala, so the bullet hadn’t hit her.

Either way? He was going to make him hurt
.

Kiernan brought the butt of his gun into the side of the man’s skull. Butler’s head snapped to the side, and when he brought it up he wasn’t even looking at him, he was staring straight past him to where Neala stood. “I knew it, I knew it was you. It’s always
you
, you worthless whore!”

The darkness flooded his chest again, begging him to let go and destroy the trash in front of him. To drag him out front and stake him to the earth and make the death slow and painful. Butler had hurt Neala, not just once, or twice, but
over and over
. He had been the organizer behind so much pain and horror for her, and he needed to pay. Kiernan’s hand itched to pull the trigger, shoot him in the belly and let him die slow, but he settled for a second pistol whip into the man’s teeth for what he’d called her.

A stream of curses came out while Butler spat blood and part of a tooth onto the floor. Kiernan crouched in front of him, pressing the gun into one of the wounds on Butler’s leg. The man half-screamed before he cut himself off.

“I heard you wanted to know my name.” Kiernan growled out the words, and Butler’s eyes were matte discs, a steel blue color that showed the rage inside him. “It’s Kiernan.” Switching the gun to his other hand, Kiernan delivered a hard punch to the other side of Butler’s face.

More blood. Another spit onto the floor.

“So you’re the one who came for the slut? You think she cares about you? That she’s
capable
of that?” Butler’s words were garbled, almost unrecognizable as they passed through what remained of his mouth. Kiernan responded with a kick into Butler’s stomach as he stood.

“What is it with you? You think it makes you a man to hurt women?” Kiernan was trying to steady his breathing, but he could feel the fog of his bloodlust swarming his mind. He wanted to hurt him, to have a week or more to make him suffer. To have him begging for death long before he gave it to him.

“Butler is nothing more than a shell filled with hate.” Neala interrupted his thoughts with her voice. She was next to him now and in some ways it brought him back from the edge, and in others it reminded him of why he wanted to kill Butler in incredibly slow and creative ways. “There’s nothing left in him that would make him a man by any standard.”

Despite his injuries Butler still lunged for her, and Kiernan kneed him in the face to stop him. He was practically foaming at the mouth, his eyes boring into Neala and completely ignoring Kiernan. Butler was cursing, raging about Neala and what he thought of her with a single-minded ferocity. Kiernan temporarily entertained the idea of cutting his tongue out and feeding it to him, but he wasn’t the one who deserved to choose his punishment.

“You don’t get to talk anymore.” Kiernan stepped behind Butler and clamped a hand around his throat, cutting off his tirade. “Neala, I wish we had the time to make him suffer as much as he deserves.”

“I know.” Neala held up a hand, her blue eyes were somehow calm as she drew the sword from over her shoulder. In that moment she looked like a goddess come to deliver final justice. Breathtakingly beautiful, and unforgiving, and deadly.

She pressed the tip of the sword over Butler’s heart and he jerked his body away from her, but Kiernan pressed his knee into the man’s back to hold him still and Neala realigned the sword as the man sputtered for air.

“This is for Juliet,” the blade slipped past the fabric of his shirt and pierced his skin, “and Caridee,” she pressed it further and Kiernan could feel the scream in the man’s throat. “And for me.” The blade slid farther, and it must have pierced his heart because the blood flowed fast down his front. “And every other woman you’ve ever laid your hands on.” Neala put her hand on the hilt of the sword and shoved it
through
him; Kiernan moved his knee fast to avoid the blade.

In a matter of seconds Butler had stilled and Kiernan let go of him. As he slumped to the side Neala planted her foot in his chest and wrenched the sword free. She held it to her side, the blood dripping onto the pale gray tiles, and she just stared at him.

He couldn’t really remember seeing the Faeoihn fight, he barely remembered random images of the epic battle, but he imagined it had been incredible to watch them. Her eyes snapped to his and it surprised him, he wanted to do something – hold her, kiss her, dedicate himself to her, kneel at her feet and swear he’d protect her for the rest of his life – but he stayed still.

“Thank you for letting me kill him.” Neala’s voice was feather soft, and he could only nod. A crash came from the hall the girls had gone down and Neala took off before he had thought to react. He followed after her, keeping up so he wouldn’t get lost in the twisting back halls. There was a guard holding a gun on a tall blonde girl, most of the other girls were already in winter gear. Huge coats, boots, and pants. Another guard, brown haired, was pointing a gun at the hostage taker. Neala seemed to know what was happening because she stepped up next to the brown haired guard.

“All of you, get back to the slave quarters! Do it now and the punishment won’t be as bad.” The guard shouted, holding the blonde in front of him and looking panicked.

“Butler’s dead. Let Annika go.” Neala spoke clearly. She wasn’t moving towards him because she couldn’t do much with a sword that wouldn’t potentially hurt the blonde. Her flat comment about Butler made everyone gasp with shock.

“Liar!” The guard moved to point the gun at Neala and Kiernan reacted instantly, when he fired the gun he heard screaming and the blonde girl turned away. He hoped he hadn’t hit her, but he couldn’t let the man fire at Neala.
She was his priority
. When he rushed forward he saw the bullet had gone in on the right side of the guard’s forehead, and Kieran breathed a sigh of relief.

“Fuck this! This is insane!” The brown haired guard was wide-eyed. He turned around and a tall blond guy, not in guard gear, wrapped his arms around him.

“Is everyone dressed, Hills, yes or no?” Neala took charge and it made Kiernan smile a little to watch them all turn towards her, and hustle to respond, even in the stress of the situation. She had no idea the power she had over people, how others latched onto her strength to make themselves stronger. He loved her, utterly and completely, plain and simple.

“We need to wait, Fae.” Hills, the guard, was talking again, and rubbing the hand with the gun in it against the side of his head. She turned towards him and arched an eyebrow, letting him speak. “I, uh, called the police. I’ve kind of been working with them for a few months, undercover, trying to gather enough evidence for them to do a raid on this place, to shut it down. They know there are armed people here trying to get the girls out, and I didn’t name you guys, but they’re coming.”

He and Neala
were
the armed people, and in general police forces didn’t care what your reasons for walking around with weapons and killing people were. They preferred to lock everyone up and sort out details, and jail sentences, later. Not good when you were immortal and cursed. Things got incredibly complicated very quickly.

“Hills. That was
not
helpful.” Neala spoke through her teeth, her frustration evident. “How long do you think we have?” she asked.

He shifted his weight from side to side as he thought, before finally dropping the gun to his side. “I called about ten minutes ago, we’re pretty far out here, but maybe another ten to fifteen? Less if they use air support.” He grimaced, and the blond guy squeezed his shoulder.

“You and I
cannot
meet the police.” Kiernan spoke in hushed tones to Neala as he pulled her to the side. She nodded along with him as he spoke, her eyes scanning the group of girls.

“We can go out the side now and start moving, if we get to the woods before they arrive they’ll be too busy with everything here to track us.” Neala looked up above her, and then scanned the halls to either side for any hints of guard activity. Kiernan nodded, and Neala moved back to the girls.

“Help is coming, I think the police will protect all of you.” She glanced to Hills and he nodded to her. “Stay with Hills, arm yourselves with whatever you can, and do not give mercy to
any
of the guards left. Be strong, you all deserve to be free.”

“You’re leaving?” It was the dark skinned girl, and she looked like she might cry as she came forward and hugged Neala. Watching Neala hug her back he knew they’d made the right choice in getting the girls, even though it had resulted in violence and chaos when they probably could have slipped away mostly unnoticed.

“I don’t think the police would quite understand.” Neala said it with a half-laugh and the girl nodded against Neala’s shoulder, and let go. Then his Faeoihn was overwhelmed as almost every one of the girls hugged her, whispering thanks, over and over.

It was wonderful, but they really didn’t have time for extended goodbyes.

“I’ll miss you, Fae, I mean
Neala
.” The pixie had stepped in front of her, blushing a little. “That’s what he called you.”

“It’s my name, Irena.”

“Well, mine is -” a burble of sound came from the girl that resembled a bird chirping and the sound of rushing water at the same time. It hurt Kiernan’s head to hear it. The pixie laughed. “I know you can’t say it, but at least you know it now.” The two hugged hard again, but a thought struck him.

“Wait, you’ll have to come with us I think. Mortal police don’t know about your kind, they won’t handle it well.” Kiernan spoke up, knowing that it was going to be that much harder to move with the other girl, but he couldn’t leave her to become some science experiment. The little pixie looked confused a second and then closed her eyes. It almost seemed like the edges of her skin blurred, as Kiernan tried to focus it gave him a headache and he had to look away and blink. When he turned back there was a tiny, pale girl with short blue hair and the pixie’s features, but no wings.

“I’ll be fine. We know how to hide, they just never let me.” The girl smiled and grabbed Neala in a bear hug. “I’m going to try and get home.”

“I had no idea you could -” Neala was flabbergasted as she hugged her back. “You’re full of surprises, Irena. Have Kiernan give you his cell number, then you can call us if you need us.”

Kiernan sighed, his muscles tense with worry that the mortal police would show up, but he took the pen that Hills offered and wrote his number on a scrap of paper and she tucked it into her pocket. Neala turned to him and he forced a smile, trying to show that he was confident her plan would work.

“Good luck.” Kiernan nodded at the group and then turned to head down the hall Neala had indicated. As they moved he reloaded his gun, tracing a path he hadn’t walked before. At the end was a door, and they picked up the pace so they could get outside and out of sight before the police arrived.

The click of a door opening stopped him, and Neala froze too. From a room to one side, just in front of the door, came three men. Kiernan lifted his gun and fired on the first, he hit him somewhere in the chest and he dropped. He aimed at the second who was lifting his own gun, and Kiernan fired twice, still hitting center mass and that guy slammed into the wall. Adjusting to aim at the third guy, Kiernan started to pull the trigger and a surge of pain like he’d never felt bolted up his left arm, sending his shot wide and bringing him to his knees with a shout.

“Kiernan!” Neala was a few steps behind him, but right as she spoke the man at the end of the hall raised his voice.

“Fae, get on your knees! And drop the fucking sword, it’s not like you’re going to use it.” Kiernan felt the hum in his words.

Shit
.

He was the master. Marik.

When Kiernan looked behind him he saw the bands on her wrists, the pain in her face as she knelt and the sword fell from her hand. She had her teeth clenched shut, and he saw fear in her eyes.

“Good girl. Push the sword away from you now,” Marik commanded. The bands flared, and she did.

“Leave her alone.” Kiernan growled it out and stood for a moment, but when he tried to lift the gun again to shoot him he felt the vines spread, burning through his skin and sending a sickening pulse through his body. He dropped the gun as a sharp stab almost made him buckle. Without the gun the pain abated somewhat, but he still struggled to take a breath.

“I don’t know who
you
are, but apparently you can’t hurt me either, which is perfect.” Marik spoke clearly and calmly as he leaned down and took a gun from one of the dead guards. “As far as leaving Fae alone? She’s
mine
, and always will be.” It happened fast. Marik raised the gun, Kiernan heard Neala scream something, he heard the shot, and then he looked down to see blood coming out of a hole in his chest. He felt light headed, probably from shock, but then his instincts kicked in and he applied pressure to the wound.