The Queen of All Magick: Elizabeth (8 page)

Elizabeth finished her conversation with Aaron before answering. “I’ve sent Aaron.
He’ll make sure that she is all right. And he’ll take her back to his home to ensure that she has nothing else happen to her.”

“I need
to see her. Not that I think Aaron won’t do as you wish, but I need to see her.” Elizabeth moved toward the door as Rythen yelled for her to stop. “You’re doing this as revenge, aren’t you? I have news for you, whether or not you let me go, you are still going to leave this life. I cannot change that.”

“I’m well aware of what you plan to do.
But releasing you now would harm the balance between Molavonta and the humans. She will be safer, as will the others that would be close to her, if you are not released on them. Not yet at any rate. You will need to calm a good deal more before we can have you loose.” She moved out of the door and into the hallway with him still screaming at her. It had to be the hardest thing she’d ever done.

By the time she made it to the hospital, Kim was already in surgery.
Elizabeth thought about going back to get Rythen, but decided that he’d still use his considerable magic, and it just couldn’t be done. Not with all the humans around. Aaron took her to the front desk.

“They need someone to be responsible for her.”
Elizabeth nodded. “I know that you and she are close, but right now I’m not able to do this without harming a few people.”

His beast had risen
, and Elizabeth put her hand to his heart to calm him. When he nodded to her, she turned to speak to the nurse. There were papers that needed to be signed and insurance information to be given. The doctor was coming toward her when Elizabeth was finishing that up.

“I’m sorry
, but she’s had some extensive trauma done to her body. I’ve treated her before and she never let on that it was the boyfriend. A fall here or a mugging once. But this time he…well, he has hit her with something that I can only surmise to be more than his fists. The damage done to her….” He looked away, and Elizabeth was frightened. “If she makes it through the night, she will have a better chance, but….”

“Logan, I need for you go to the castle and bring
Rythen here. Tell him to behave or I will not allow him to help Kim. She is dying.”
Logan said he’d be there in seconds, and Elizabeth looked at the doctor. “The man who hit her isn’t a boyfriend but an ex-lover. She had left him for someone else a while ago, and I guess he didn’t take it as well as we’d hoped.”

“Where is she?”
Elizabeth shook her head at Rythen when he stood just to her right. The doctor looked startled but said nothing. Rythen turned to him. “Where is she, and when can I see her?”

The doctor walked away
when Elizabeth told him to with her mind. There was no point in everyone hearing what she had to say. When Rythen started to follow, she took his arm. “You’ll calm down or so help me I’ll have Aaron change her, and he’ll own your ass too. She will need you to be calm as well. Take some deep breaths and I’ll take you to her. As of right now, they’re not giving her until morning to live. Do you want to have her as your mate forever, or do you wish now that I have one of the others—?”

“Anyone else touches her and I will kill them.” Elizabeth nodded.
“Please take me to her. I can feel her pain, and her heart is slowing.”

The trek down the hall was made quietly. She had pulled the shadows around them much the way vampires
do when they don’t want anyone to see them. When they entered the recovery room, Elizabeth looked at Kim in shock.

“He’s hurt her so badly.”
Her head was bandaged from crown to chin. All that showed of her face was her mouth, and that had a tube running out of it, and a bright red stain filled it. Her left arm was in a cast, and the right had steel rods running through it to no doubt hold it together.

Her legs were draped in bloodied wraps
, and Elizabeth could see that one of them was nearly crushed. A sheet covered her torso, but even that looked like it was stained with blood. Elizabeth wondered aloud how the girl had lived this long.

“It’s because of my blood. I exchanged it with her when we mated. I wish now that I had given her more.”
Elizabeth moved to the bed and looked down at the broken woman. “What can I do? My mind is locked down with seeing her like this.”

“Cut your wrist and we’ll feed her.
I’m not sure how much she’ll need, but…let me call Aaron in. He’ll know.” In seconds her friend was there with them. Aaron had seen her before this, and Elizabeth felt sorry for him. The man, for all his temper, had a heart of gold.

“You’ll be able to get her to take a few drops. Once that works th
rough her system, we’ll give her more. And you should not be the only one that feeds her.” The low growl that came from Rythen had Elizabeth backing up. “I’m sorry. Your blood will heal the wounds, but she needs more than that. She needs for Elizabeth to give her magic as well.”

“I have magic.”
Elizabeth wanted to point out that he had it as well, but Rythen beat her to it. “What does her blood have that mine does not?”

“You are her creator, correct?
Well, I’m betting since you’ve done your part, Elizabeth has taken on a great deal more. Her blood, while yours to begin with is strong, she’s made it stronger.” Aaron looked at her, then back at Rythen. “You have to give her all that you can for her to live. Is this going to be enough for you not to try? Just because you think you’re all that kind of shit?”

Rythen bit into his wrist and put it to Kim’s mouth.
He glared at Aaron, then looked at her. “I don’t know whether or not it will make a difference, but I don’t want to take the chance that it doesn’t. If you’d be so kind as to help me save my mate, I’d be very grateful to you.”

Elizabeth wanted to laugh. It was very hard for her not to
, but she nodded and moved to give Kim her blood when Aaron helped her slit open her wrist. She didn’t have fangs as they did, but the blade in Aaron’s pocket did the trick. As soon as her blood dripped into Kim’s mouth, the girl opened her eyes.

“Mom?”

Chapter 8

Bradley knew that sooner rather than later the man by the name of Josh Gibson would leave the police station. He was going to enjoy doing this favor for Elizabeth more than he thought necessary. The man would shit himself before this was over, and then Rythen would get his chance. But Aaron was going to get his in first. As soon as David, who’d been put as lookout, came out, Bradley knew the next man would be Gibson.

“You know what really pisses me off? It’s the fact that he is blaming her for this.
He actually told the police that she had begged him to hit her like this. That she got off on it.”
David moved toward him as he continued.
“If I hadn’t thought I’d get caught, I would have shot him dead where he stood.”

“But then
neither Aaron nor Rythen would have had the fun. And I’m not sure, but I’m thinking pissing him off will cause us all a world of hurt.”
David snorted at him just as a man came out of the building.
“He certainly is bigger than I thought. Maybe living off the girlfriend can make you fat.”

“He was saying how she never cooks either.
I guess he just has to go out all the time because of it. On her money. One of the officers asked him if he had a job, and he told him that he had no reason to work when Kim did it all.”
David was standing next to him when he finished. “I’m hoping that Rythen cuts him down to size. I’d do it if he did that to my mate.”

“You would have already killed him.”
David grinned and nodded. “Come on, let’s go get the piece of shit and take him to Aaron.”

They walked to either side of him as he moved toward a waiting cab.
When he started to enter it, David shoved his gun into his belly and told him to back up.

“I just come out of the station there
, boys. If you have a beef with me, go and see them. They know what is really going on.” Bradley had to hold his breath for several seconds because the man reeked of sweat and blood.

“You open your mouth again and I’ll hit you because I can.
I was to bring you to Aaron, but he never said how much damage we could do to you before then.” Bradley jerked him to the alley behind them and shoved him against the wall. “We’re here on behalf of Kim Craft. Her mate sent us.”

“Her mate?
She ain’t got no friends that I don’t have. And that ain’t many. You two need to back the fuck off before I get pissed at you too. Kim ain’t got the balls anyway to stand up to me, much less hire some assholes to take me down. Not that I think you can, not even the two of you old shits.” Gibson laughed. “You two think you can handle me? Then bring it on, old men. I’m just itching to hurt me somebody else.”

It was over almost as soon as it started. Bradley let Gibson go and he took a swing at him.
David laughed and ducked another swing just as Bradley shifted. The man stood there staring at him for several seconds before he started screaming like a little girl. Bradley stood there staring as he took off running.

“Do you believe this?”
David started after him but stopped and looked at him. “Go get him, big brother. I’m still laughing too hard to move. What a pussy.”

The alley was a
dead-end, so all he had to do was walk down it toward him. Gibson was clawing at the walls as he approached. As soon as he saw Bradley, Gibson started screaming again. Bradley had enough. Leaping at the idiot, he slammed his head against the brick wall and knocked him out. David was right, the man was a pussy.

The van pulled in just a few minutes later
, and Bradley looked at his mate and driver. She smiled at him, and he had a feeling she was going to say something that would make his day even better.

“We got it.”
His relief was so great that he had to lean against the van before he could speak. “And we got it for a good deal less than Maddie thought too. We now are the proud owners of thirty thousand acres of land. Wanna go and pick out a mower?”

“Christ, I hope we never have to mow that. When do we take possession? Because as of last week, we needed it a month ago.” She told him now. “And the houses, when can we get started on those?”

“I had the crew go out and survey the land when I heard from Maddie. She said that two of the bunk-like houses are okay to use for now, but the rest we might have to salvage what we can and rebuild.” He got into the van after throwing Gibson in the back with David’s help.

“We’ll start on that in the morning. Aaron said he’d have some of his warriors help out. He told me that they’re getting a little bored anyway.”
Bradley knew that wasn’t true. They had been working on the newly formed forest until last night. Aaron worked his men hard.

They had done as Shamus had asked them to do
, absorb the other pack into theirs. He’d had to do some serious thinking about it beforehand, but in the end it had been Elizabeth that had helped them decide.

“There are over four hundred children in the pack. Most of which will die within the first five years of being taken in by other packs. Most of them will be killed by their new alpha because
, as you know, that is the way things are usually done.”

“Not by me.”
She’d patted him on the cheek. “I see no reason to kill off our kind when there is so much we can do with our children. We need them to keep us going.”

“You’re a good man, Bradley. One of the best
, if not the best.” He’d flushed at her compliment. “But as I was saying, the young girls that are not killed for the simple reason they can do it will be auctioned off to the highest bidder so that other packs can use them as whores. And we all know what will happen to them when they’ve served their purpose.”

They would be killed
, slaughtered like cattle and then buried without so much as a headstone. He had gotten up to pace her spacious office and looked out the window that had a perfect view of the Tree of Life.

“Tell me about the tree.”
He had no idea why he wanted to know…probably because he had needed something to take his mind from the issue at hand. “Why does it change seasons like it does?”

“I wasn’t sure what would become of the tree when I planted it.
There was so much going on in my life at the time that I needed to do something that had nothing at all to do with magic. I should have known, I guess, that the entire kingdom is nothing but magic, but the little branch I put in the ground needed me. Or I should say it called to me.” She had gotten up to stand next to him. “When I first planted it, I had put it in the grounds of Molavonta. And there it was a great source of bewilderment.”

“How so?” When she hadn’t answered him right away
, he turned to look at her. “Elizabeth, what happened when you moved it here?”

“It seemed to…it came to life. It had the seasons when it was there, it changed with each solstice.
But when I brought it here, it began to grow fruit.” He looked at the tree, then back at her as she continued. “And it talked to me. It still does, and sometimes it tells me things I’d just as soon not know.”

“
How so?” She sat back at her desk and looked so sad that he wanted to take the question back. But he’d known that not talking about something that bothered you would only fester until you were sick with it. He didn’t want that for her.

“I know the day it all ends.
All magic. And if things done are not changed, then everything touched by magic, all of it will be no more.” Bradley had had to sit down, because as much as he liked what he could do, becoming a wolf, he knew that it was only because of magic.

“What can we do?”
Elizabeth looked at him and smiled. “There is something we can do, right?”

“Not on the path we’re currently going we can
’t. A man is coming that will…he will change it all. And I don’t think he is even aware of it as yet.” And now Bradley knew who that man was.

“What are you thinking?”
Bradley looked over at his mate and the love of his life when she pulled him from his thoughts. “I don’t think I like that look. It’s the one you have when you want me to do something we both know I’ll hate.”

“You never hate the things I want you to do to my body.”
She flushed and looked at David as he laughed. “But it will be something you hate. I want to retire. Soon.”

“Retire? Now?” She continued to drive
, and he waited for her to finish the thought that was running in her mind. “And what will this do for what is going on now? Do you think it will stop Rythen from taking away our Elizabeth? If so, then I’m all for it.”

“No
, but it might slow things down a bit. Let me work out some more details, and I want to talk to Aaron. Maybe we can slow this down enough where the prick has to make some decisions that are not in his little contract.” Bradley thought about a strike. He wasn’t sure how it would help, but if the wolves and the vampires were to suddenly stop…Bradley smiled. It might not work, but it would be fun.

~~~

Josh woke up when something cold hit him in the face. He had to blink several times to get the liquid out of his face, and a few more times to see the man standing in front of him clearly. This guy looked like he would snap him in two without a second thought.

“And you’d be correct in that thought.”
Josh shook his head. He’d not spoken aloud, but the man had answered him. Something was fucked up around here. Looking around, he felt his skin break out in sweat.

“
Where the fuck am I?” The man didn’t answer him but sat in the room’s only other piece of furniture he could see. “I asked you a question, and you’d better fucking answer me or else.”

“Else what? What is it you think you can do strapped to a chair in a building just far enough from other humans that no one would hear you
, no matter how loudly you screamed?” Josh felt his body grow cold. It wasn’t so much what the man was saying, because that was scary enough, but how he was saying it…like he was telling Josh he’d won the lotto or something.

“Why am I here?” The guy lifted his brow at him
, and Josh had a feeling he was wanting him to say please or some shit. Wasn’t going to happen.

“You might be surprised at how much you’ll try to please me before this is over.”
Josh’s mind immediately went to sex, and the man laughed. “I wouldn’t allow you to fuck my dog if I had one. No, I’m talking about how many things I’m going to do to your body and mind that will make you whimper at the mere mention of my name. And so you know, I’ve not been able to do something like this for a good long time, and I’m going to enjoy it.”

“Who the fuck are you?”
Fear made him snappish, but Josh knew his rights. This guy couldn’t do shit to him. “What fucking reason do you have for keeping me here? I didn’t do anything to you. You let me go right now.”

A woman suddenly appeared behind him
, and Josh tried his best not to think about how she’d done that. Instead, he tried to think of things to say to her to make her come near him. Women always did what he told them, or they’d suffer for it. It was how he rolled.

“You roll?
Oh dear boy, you’re going to roll all right. But I doubt very much you’ll think it’s a good thing.” A chair appeared behind her, and she sat down. “My name is Elizabeth. This man here to my left is Aaron MacManus. I know you’ve never heard of either of us, but you’ll remember us. Especially if things go the way we think they will. Are you willing to have a conversation with us, or do we have to resort to pain so early in our questioning?”

“I’m not saying shit. I’m not telling you again to let me—” Josh cried out when he felt something sear along his arm.
He watched as a long line of his flesh opened up and blood began to pour from it. Looking at the two peels to see which of them had hurt him, he noticed that neither of them had moved. “What the fuck is going on?”

“We’re torturing you.”
He stared at her as if she were going to next tell him that it was all his fault. “Oh, it is. We’re here because of that poor girl Kim. The things you did to her have not settled well with us. And we’re here to ask you to back off, or….” She shrugged.

“Back off of what?
Like I told them cops, she liked it. Made her come really hard when I hit her.” The growl coming from Aaron had him smile. “Piss you off does it? She fucking you too? She isn’t much of a lay, is she? I mean, a woman like her should be grateful when a real man gets between her legs, but she just whined and whined about how it hurt, and that she was unsatisfied, and some shit like that.”

Josh knew he was pushing the man’s buttons.
He had no idea why but he was really enjoying himself. He knew that they really couldn’t hurt him that much. If they did, then he’d sue. He might be able to get a few hundred out of the two of them and he’d spend it on something he wanted. There was no way he was going to use it to pay off the bills like Kim was forever telling him.

Josh watched the two of them. They sat there as if this was something they did a lot of. He doubted they ever got their hands dirty
, much less killed anyone. Josh started to laugh, but was cut off by Aaron.

“Would you like to know what her pain level was when you hit her?”
Josh snorted. “I mean, the way you think she gets off, maybe you’d enjoy that as well.”