Page 1 of Infiltrated

Prologue

Nici, Imposter Queen

I satin my war-darken chambers, consoled by the sounds of the screams coming from the dungeons behind me. The dark gray walls, the worn brown table, lack of windows, and the opium wafting from the corner of the room, adding to the overall ambiance.It’s good to be a twisted bitch.After all this time, people still chose to rebel against my rule, still chose to believe the silly little prophecy that would give someone else back the power to the Seelie.Not if I can help it.I scoffed, staring at the chess board in front of me, trying to make better sense of my next move.

My gaze flicked up to the historian at the right of my table. “Tell me, how divided are these Magickal Communities, again?” I didn’t really need to ask twice. I knew there were two very separate worlds of magick users; two factions, if you will, separated by their levels of thirst for power. It was a fair assessment that one of these factions was ruled by intelligence, and the other by sheer stupidity. That stupidity, I might as well use to my advantage.

“Very.It’s as if they no longer have any knowledge of each other. However, we know the individual councils per community are aware of one another, but the people, for the most part, are kept unaware. Factions are completely apart and warded accordingly.” My historian remarks, his fierce blue eyes pulling me in, his voice captivating me. I bit back a smirk and ignored the jolt of pleasure from having him here.I loved the sounds of take-overs, in the morning.

“Well then,”I started, coming to my final decision. “What better way to gain allies against this...threat.” I rolled my eyes at that. The idea that this prophecy was any more than a joke, but I didn’t get this far from underestimating possibilities. I accounted for everything and moved my pieces accordingly.

“How do you mean?”I looked over to my left, my war advisor, Ren, sitting up intrigued. If there is anyone as bloodthirsty as I, it was him.

“The factionthat seeks power wants something I can provide, and they have something to provide me.” I paused, leaning back against my chair and propping my bloody feet up on the table. No one at the table flinched. At this point, from the dungeon and back to planning, what was the point of keeping the blood off my body until the end of the night.

“Another army,”I added, looking away from my chess board. Humans can be quite droll, but this game was an excellent way to calm the mind. So was murder, but I was fresh out of desire to do that, and was filled with the fury to destroy the chances of this prophecy, coming to fruition as we get closer to the end of my timeline.

“So, what do you propose?”Ren inquired.

I looked at him closely,a slow smile stretching my face. “Make contact with the Council that represents the ones who are the most divided—who thirsts for power. We will start there and work our way in.” I smiled, the bloodthirsty smiles in the room bringing me a sick pleasure.These are my people.The Fae were so steeped in tradition that it led to the ultimate lack of awareness; those who have deserted and are in hiding would hardly find the merit in looking for outside sources for allies in the upcoming war. Me? I will use everything at my disposal to make sure the enemy is destroyed; I will sow the seeds of discord. Failure wasn’t an option. Time was ticking,forty years left.

My attention snappedto my historian as he looked down at his list. “I’ll make contact with the Darnika Council immediately.” He nodded and made his way to leave my planning chambers, striding out with a gleeful look of determination.

I sat backand looked at Ren. “Any news on the Seelie’s new location?”

He looked at me,slightly irritated. “They are warded well, and we haven’t been able to pin down the secret keepers from Scail,” he said scathingly. “The Seelie rebels are proving hard to find and right when we think we are close... they disappear.” He stood up angrily, approaching my chair. I breathed in, trying to control the spike of anger that flowed through me. ThisScailwas proving to be problematic for several years now. He had a network of spies that was downright impossible to penetrate, and I hated being taken for a fool.

I sighedas Ren stood behind me and started to unbutton my dress, his hands skimming my neck, the smell of dried blood from his hands an aphrodisiac. “Any news from the infiltrator?” I asked, moaning softly as his hand wandered right to where I was now aching.

He pressedan openmouthed kiss to my neck, his sharpened teeth drawing a piercing, satisfying, pain. “Mmm, yes, he will be back later, and will be the best fae to carry out this new plan of yours,” he answered.

A sliverof doubt ran rampant, but I bit back the possibility that this infiltrator may actually be against me, but he has proven his loyalty too many times. Although I had to wonder...never mind, I thought, shaking my head.I had a contingency plan.

I smiledas Ren picked me up and set me on the table. “We can discuss this later, for now, please your Queen.”

He smirked wickedly. “As you wish.”

1

“When life hits you hard, get up and say you hit like a bitch,” -Unknown

“Assuming that bitch lands the first punch. Right? Right?”-Charlie

Charlie

I wipedthe blood from my favorite blade.Sigh. Nothing better than serving justice to some sick motherfucker who thinks he can get away with whatever he wants. Granted, in this case, I was killing three birds with one stone, is that even a thing? Never mind. I looked down at the serial killer/gargoyle shifter—a shady, stupid motherfucker—and waved my hand over his body, summoning my fire, burning the body, before using air manipulation to scatter the ashes into the water, surrounding the abandoned boating dock. I found him feasting on one of the gifted kids who had been reported missing. I am just pissed it took three dead children for me in order to finally pick up his trail. I have no idea why he had been fascinated with killing the children, and to be honest, I didn’t give a flying fuck; he needed to die, I had an itch to kill something, and everything worked out. At least, I was able to fortify my blade with the blood of a gargoyle.

Using magick had its perks, one of them being that every creature I killed imbued my blade with their particular powers or quirks, and transferred some of that power to me, whatever power I don’t already have, anyway; which is to say, barely any. Nonetheless, this blade has become an extension of my arm if I am out on patrol, like tonight. I paid a lot of money, a few years ago, before I learned how to spell properly or this shit to be spelled by some hidden witch in West bumble-fuck Pajila, another magickal community, but larger, north of Darnika, which was my home, in a sense. We were a decent-sized community made up of three castes: low, middle, and high; and yes you guessed it, the castes were named and placed for the level of power of the people in those communities. Same applies for the socio-economic status of those castes as well. I hated it, and my plan was to get everyone on the same playing field instead of the division instilled by the Council of Magick over the past few years. I did my research, albeit illegally, but not all communities were set up the way ours was. But for now, Darnica was my responsibility to fix.

We also had a decent outer-lying communities made of shifters, vampires, demons, and a few otherworldly creatures, although they weren’t policed by us unless they attacked us outright; then all bets were off. No, they pretty much handled themselves, just stayed within the ward to avoid human interaction. Not that that always controlled the Vampires who had their ways to make it into the human world undetected. But I had an understanding with that community. Stay the fuck out of my way and live. Simple.

But first I had to protect and serve, and more importantly take out murderous sons of bitches. Gargoyles are hard to kill. Although, rogue shifters in general, are. But gargoyles? They are just some big assholes and it took a lot more than just magick to take care of them. You had to be quick and efficient enough to strike right under the wing where they are the most vulnerable. It didn’t take any chance of turning human but as I went out of my way to find this shifter and to kill this slimy-child-thieving murderer, the look of shock on its face when I won, was particularly delicious. My blade is stronger, a serial killer is dead, and my blood lust is satisfied—for now.

I looked around as I tucked my blade into my holster. Slightly glowing, it sent a delicious shiver up my spine and I took a brief second to acclimate to the powers transferred to me. Grinning wickedly, I gave another brief look around as I tested my new powers. I have never killed a gargoyle so I didn’t know what to expect. In truth, they were strong, they could fly, had a tendency to have harder hides, and were heavy as fuck, so being pinned by one was surely death. My philosophy? Never be fucking pinned by someone bigger than you. My back started to itch through my new leather jacket and I felt it rip as wings sprouted on my back.

I groaned.Fuck me. My new riding jacket. I just got this shit.Looks like the perk for this particular murder was wings! I may have lost my jacket, but fuck it.

I wonder if I could fly?I put the idea in the back of my head to try later as I heard a small sound coming from my right. I ignored all the thoughts that flitted through my head as I headed over to the child, now cowering on the floor. The child.It had to be a rough time for her as it is, especially now that she saw me go all murder and mayhem. Well, that doesn't exactly set the stage for trust.

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