Page 56 of Beyond Fate

“Seductive,” Elvine said. “Guy has swagger.” She frowned. “You’re right. Something is wrong. The entire time we were near each other, I sensed shyness and fear. What do you think is wrong with him?”

When Arion was ten feet away, Elvine landed and tucked in her wings, blending them seamlessly into her olive skin. “Arion?”

“Why did you tuck away your beautiful wings?” He smiled confidently. “Did you think I would do anything to hurt them?”

Casimir slipped in front of Elvine. “Who are you?”

He looked like Arion. The vampire even possessed the same scar peeking out from under his shirt collar. But now that Casimir had an even closer view of him, he noticed more scars on him, like the ones nearly hidden under the sleeves of his long-sleeved shirt.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He glared at Casimir. “Step away from my mate, fae.” The vampire moved at inhuman speed and snatched Elvine from behind him.

She shrieked as Arion yanked her roughly, and he would have taken off with her if not for Casimir’s lightning-fast reflexes. He gripped a handful of hair and hauled the vampire back. Jax snarled and swiped at Casimir with his claws.

“Get Elvine!” Casimir dodged those deadly claws without losing his hold on the vampire, who twisted and turned to get free. “This is not your mate, wolf.”

“Shit!” Jax jerked his hand back then drove his claws into Arion’s wrist before he snatched Elvine away, cradling her to his chest. “Touching his skin made my own feel like a thousand ants were crawling all over it.”

The vampire screamed as blood poured from his wrist.

The wound produced a foul odor that made Casimir want to gag. “This is not Arion. It’s a lamia.”

“A what?” Jax and Elvine asked at the same time.

“A ghoul,” Casimir replied softly, closing his eyes briefly. If Jax was livid with him before, he was going to downright hate Casimir now. “In order for the ghoul to take on Arion’s form, it had to eat him first.”

“No!” Elvine shouted.

“You’re lying,” Jax bellowed.

“Let me go and I’ll tell you where I left him,” the ghoul panted.

“You son of a bitch!” Jax attacked, driving his claws into Arion’s chest, snarling continuously as he unleashed his rage.

“You two, grab Jax,” Casimir shouted at Jaytee and Mason. “If he kills the ghoul, we may never find the real Arion’s body.”

Before they could take a step, Elvine slammed into Jax and took him down to the ground. Casimir’s brows hiked, while Jaytee’s and Mason’s jaws dropped. Jax was a large man, around six-five and pure muscle.

She rose to her feet, closed her eyes, and started chanting. Suddenly, Raidh walked out of the restaurant and crossed the parking lot. He grabbed Elvine’s hand and started chanting with her. She latched onto Casimir’s hand, and the words flowed from him.

They were performing a location spell. Even though the vampire in his grip wasn’t the real Arion, he possessed Arion’s memories, which meant he would have the memory of where he’d attacked Jax and Elvine’s mate.

As the dark magic flowed between them, black veins of electricity snapped all around them. Casimir released the ghoul when Elvine began to chant an even darker spell, one to make the ghoul suffer greatly before he would die. She raised her free hand, ready to cut herself to seal the chant with blood.

“Elvine, no!” Raidh shouted. Casimir felt Raidh using his powers to leash hers. “I know you’re in pain, but I can’t allow you to go down that road. Back off, tulip. We saw where Arion was. Take your wolf and get to him before it’s too late.”

“He’s alive?” Jax stared incredulously at Raidh, hope shining in his eyes. “Where is he?” He grabbed Elvine then jerked his hand back with a yelp.”

“Never touch a fae when they are chanting a spell,” Casimir warned. “Consider yourself lucky Raidh dampened her magic, or you would have shot across the parking lot.”

“You’re Unseelie,” Mason said. “Gage told me about your kind. You use dark magic.”

“Not all Unseelie are evil,” Casimir bit out, now understanding why Elvine didn’t want the Bengal tiger to know the truth.

Mason held out his hands, palms up. “I didn’t say you three were evil. I was merely making an observation.”

Casimir snapped his head around when he heard loud hissing noises. “They’re here.” He turned to Jax. “Take Elvine and find Arion. Go, now!”

Jax shifted into his wolf form before he and Elvine took off in the opposite direction from the arriving vampires. She flew above the wolf as they entered the forest and disappeared from sight.

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