“Welcome, my subjects. I’ve missed you.”
And as if it just occurred to them—that this is their queen who I’m betting most had not seen in millennia—they all drop to one knee, bowing their heads in subservience.
“Rise,” she commands.
When all the Dark Fae are standing and staring up at their naked, bloodstained queen, she makes a startling proclamation. “I need you, and I didn’t have time to travel the world in search of my original brethren.”
So, they were the original fallen angels who must have left the Underworld in the past.
“My apologies, but I had to use your progeny to bring you here,” she continues, and the Dark Fae glance around in confusion.
“I killed your children in sacrifice,” she snaps, annoyed they didn’t get what she implied.
Fascinating, but some of the fae are horrified by this news, some look intensely angry, and others don’t appear bothered by it at all. Such is the confusing way of families, I guess.
“My work isn’t done yet,” she says darkly. “I need more of you, and you’re going to help me with that.”
One brave—or perhaps stupid—incredibly gorgeous Dark Fae with long brown hair and pretty blue eyes lifts his chin. “And if we don’t?”
Kymaris responds by throwing her free hand his way, flinging a heavy chain in a dulled silver color. It wraps the Dark Fae from his chin to his ankles, and all the exposed skin starts to sizzle and pop. Wafts of white smoke lift from the areas that are being eaten away by the iron the chains are clearly made of.
“I don’t need your active participation for some of the things I have planned,” she says darkly, squatting down on the table to get closer to the fae wrapped in chains. She has no shame in her nudity and seems to take pride in the black blood covering her body. “But I will need you at some point.”
With that, she flings her hand from her, and the chain-wrapped fae goes flying across the room where he collides with a wall. More chains spring forth from the drywall, blowing chunks of plaster outward, and wrap around the Dark Fae to hold him pinned there. He screams in anguish and fury.
Kymaris stands, scans the rest of the fae standing there, who now look decidedly uncomfortable. I’m quite sure they’re shocked to see her immense power as she wouldn’t have been able to do that in the Underworld, not from what I understand.
“Now,” she rasps in that icy tone. “Anyone else want an inactive role like our chained friend there?”
They all cast their eyes downward in capitulation.
“Good,” she replies with a smug smile. “But I find my appetite has only been whet, and I’m hungry for more. I’d like each one of you to service my body.”
The female fae gaze at each other in confusion, which doesn’t escape Kymaris’ attention. She laughs wickedly and nods. “That’s right… even those of you without cocks.”
My stomach churns that she’s essentially forcing these Dark Fae to please her, but I suspect that part of her personality was probably the same in the Underworld. Just a hunch I have about her twisted ways.
Lowering the binoculars, I push off the ground and face Maddox. “She needs Dark Fae for whatever she’s planning, and we know she doesn’t have enough.”
He nods. “She has eight now… possibly seven if the chained one isn’t of use. But how many more does she need, and what is she going to do with them besides use them for sex?”
I grimace and shake my head before glancing at Myles and Rainey. I can see Rainey is shaken up, and I bet her stakeout days are over. “Let’s get them home, and, if you don’t mind, can you take me back to the condo? I want to be there when Carrick gets back to talk to him about this.”
“Sure,” he says gently, and I can tell he knows tonight has me shaken as well. Kymaris is doing way darker shit than I had ever imagined, and, while I don’t have much innocence left, what little I did have has been stripped clean away.
CHAPTER 14
Carrick
The gods exist where they want to exist. If they had homes, Carrick had never been privy. Hell, he wasn’t even sure if they needed homes. Or food, or water, or air to exist. They were at the top of the immortal food chain.
But one thing he did know, that even if they may not need food, they did like it a hell of a lot.
Which was why Carrick had a bag of Lindor milk chocolate truffles in hand for Veda, as they were her favorite.
The process of meeting with the gods was never the same, and it had no rhyme or reason. Like almost everything they did, there seemed to be more whim than protocol.