No more. No more. No more. No more.
Pleading, pleading, pleading. Paris, my brother, my broken memories, none of them letting up, pushing me to the point of?—
“Enough!” I bellowed, shattering the spiral.
For a moment, I was granted a reprieve. Catching my breath, I gathered myself together.
Until the pleading crept back in.
I’m coming!
Carefully, I pulled the elf’s underwear and jeans back up his legs, then placed him on the sofa. I secured cushions under his back, then traced my thumb across his lips.
“Come back, Paris.”
He remained cold and rigid. If it wasn’t for his shallow breaths and the sound of his pulse drumming in my ears, I’d think him dead.
Rather than mull over this, I tore away from him.
“Take care of him,” I commanded Medusa with booming authority.
“You know I will,” she responded.
I stepped outside, hit by a strong gust of wind. It lifted my hair, the cold instantly sharpening my mind.
Taking to the air, I flew west for my palace, millions of pained voices wrapping me in a cocoon of sorrow.
I’m coming.
I’m coming to make everything better.
“If only,” I spoke into the night.
CHAPTER FOUR
PARIS
The fucker blew dust in my face.
“What are you doing?” I cried, staggering back. “My fucking eyes!” I roared, summoning my stakeblade into my right hand while rubbing my poor peepers with the other.
“Necessary,” a man’s voice floated at me.
Yeah, and your guts on the ground is also necessary!
I stayed still, eyes closed, drawing on my executioner training, focusing on the tells of the body looming close by. I waited for a moment to grab him when he came within reach so I could wrestle some answers out of his mouth before sending him to the hells.
Due to it being daytime, I knew he wasn’t a vampire.
“It will now begin,” my attacker threw in.
Oh, awesome, a cryptic sentence. I always loved those.
The stinging in my eyes began to ebb, apparently no damage done. But my face tingled, a strange iciness passing over me.
Was it magical dust? I didn’t have the skills to detect spells, although sometimes I got a tingle on my radar. Probably came from living with a mage.
This made no sense. I wasn’t supposed to be outside. I’d been chilling at home with my fuckbuddy, Hal, trying to steady my nerves before the big night. The one which would end in the vampire king’s death.
