Page 33 of Bitten By Desire

“I won’t be long?—”

A sharp pain spiraled through my shoulder, and I felt a tug on my mind.

Time’s up, said Pythia, and I was dragged back through the room, past the demon in the entryway, and back out the other side of the door.

My head spun, but Pythia was already steering me toward the purple archway. And when I fell through, I found myself on hands and knees on soft, spongy ground in the midst of a forest much like Daphne used for training back in the basement of the base.

The air smelled strongly of ozone mixed with lavender, and I thought grimly that Lorraine would be delighted by that. Making my way to my feet, I spotted the gaping maw of a cavern between trees with trunks as thick as tanks. Tiny pixies fluttered past, buzzing in zigzags and glowing in the light of the full moon. Everything in me said I was staring at the entrance to the Queen of the Seelie Court’s throne room. I’d visited before and nearly become a permanent fixture. Julian and I had barely escaped with our lives.

I hesitated, but only for a moment. They couldn’t see me this time, and there was truth inside I had to know. I marched forward and discovered I could glide several inches off the ground.

Voices drew me further inside the winding paths of the cave, down an incline, and past pale green plants and purple mushrooms that glowed with bioluminescence.

“I’m losing faith in you,” the familiar lilting voice of the queen chastened.

“I don’t see your haughtiness lifting a finger to hurry things along,” answered a raspy male voice.

The ground and walls of the cave shook with what I recognized as the queen’s tantrum. Whoever she spoke to was either very stupid or very powerful. I hurried around the last bend and came to a halt when I spotted the same familiar hovel where I’d been attacked. Just as I remembered, her throne was fashioned of quartz crystals with luminous steps leading up to the dais she ruled from. And since she wasn’t aware of a human’s presence, she was in her true form, a tall twig creature with needle-like teeth and claws. Still, she was dressed in a flowing gossamer gown the color of the glowing mushrooms that lined my path through the cave.

Standing at the bottom of the steps was a short man covered almost entirely in dark fur. His tail coiled behind him, ending in a point like an arrow, and he wore a jacket of crimson and gold despite sporting no other clothing. Well, except for the tin crown laying crooked on his large head. It had the look of a child’s toy compared to the queen’s crystal tiara.

“Seelie don’t participate in such interactions with others.” She spat the last word like the thought of someone unlike her was the most disgusting thing she could comprehend.

“You needed our services. Don’t pretend to be all hoity-toity now. Only we have the power to create the creatures you needed and the balls to then destroy them when the job’s done.”

The queen sniffed and reached beside her to lift a clear sphere about six inches around in one hand. Inside, a small figure crouched, shivering. I recognized Em, the child we’d saved from SHADE’s experiments, only to disappear the night Mama was murdered. No wonder we’d found no trace of her. The Fae had taken her. And done what?

“No!” I slapped a hand over my mouth, but once again, no one heard me make a sound. Still my anger flared hot and electric as power rushed through me, much like the night I’d managed to beat Julian’s sire at his own game.

Unaware, the queen shook the ball, slightly making Em stumble and then appear before her, full-sized.

“She’s not the psychic I wanted,” the queen whined. “You were supposed to bring me the other one.”

“What’s the difference?” the little man asked. “She can serve you just as well.”

“Do not question me! That was part of the deal.” Again, the cave shook. “If you want the Unseelie court to merge with the proper court, then you must fulfill the terms of the bargain as stated. You owe me eight more bodies, Bres.”

The man mumbled something that sounded like “proper court” as he paced, pausing to growl at Em’s trembling form.

I had to get her out of there. Or, at least, I had to try.

Gathering my power, I willed myself visible and screamed, “Let her—” but my command was cut off as a wave of dizziness overcame me, sucking me back out into the ether.

Except it wasn’t the ether.

I blinked open my eyes to find Julian’s terrified face hovering over me.

I tried to ask what was happening, but the words came out slurred as I fought to sit up only to find myself strapped down.

“Take your time,” Julian said and snapped the straps apart in seconds. He helped me to a sitting position and quickly removed his shirt to throw around my shoulders.

Everything slammed back in my head like a cannonball, and I yanked the shirt over my naked body. It wasn’t just Julian with me, it was Hazel, Sam, Zoe, and Daphne, supporting a half-passed-out Tabitha.

“You got me out,” I finally managed. Then I looked around at the cell we were all gathered in. “Shit we need to go now. They’re coming for me. I heard them.”

I leaped off the table, nearly collapsing until Julian reached my side in a flash and steadied me. “Shhh, it’s okay, Charlotte. You’re safe now. Whatever happened in there, it wasn’t real.”

Pain laced Julian’s voice as he must have recalled his own experience in the machine. But it wasn’t the same for me. What I’d heard was real. I knew it in my bones.

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