Second Shot

Chapter 6

"I can't believe my son had bedded you," he snarled and I flinched. I'm not afraid to say that this man terrified me. "But now you're mates with his old partner. How curious. Tell me, boy, do you like your mate?"

"Yes sir," I nodded. His cold eyes seemed to stare right into my soul and chills crawled up my spine. Father sat down in his chair and leaned forward.

"My son is no longer my own and I am in need for a new heir. Mother is far too old to have another child. My task for you; get Toby back to this place. Since he had given birth to my son's children, he'll be the new queen, and since you're his mate, you'll need to be the new king."

New queen and king? I couldn't do it. I'd only be an embarrassment, and no one would want a whore as their ruler. I opened my mouth to respond, but a gust of wind blew over me and swallowed my voice.

Then I woke up.

Toby is lying next to me, his eyes looking up at mine. He nuzzled his cheek into my chest and sighed. "It's so warm."

  "Yeah, it is," I agreed quietly. I'm still debating whether or not that dream I had was actually a dream. Could Father have summoned me to speak with him? If so, then it's true. He wants Toby and I to be the new rulers of Underfalls. But why? Is Father weary of the title, as well as the queen? Well, I guess if they can no longer have children, then they're useless as rulers.

I swallowed hard as I realized. No, Toby and I couldn't be rulers, not until we figure out whether or not we can mate and bear children. What will happen if we can't?

There was knock at the door and Dawn's voice called out. "I'm coming in, please have clothes on."

He opened the door and I sat up, stretching my arms above my head. Toby sat up too and blinked in confusion.

"When did I get here?" He asked. I smiled and patted his shoulder.

"Yours truly," I replied. He smiled sleepily wrapped his arms around me. Dawn cleared his throat and held up some papers.

"Oddison was sending you papers and such, but we just got all of them, like, right now, and I gotta say, it's a lot of threats and...this promises that you won't have kids anymore?"

Toby snatched up the letters and read through them all, one by one, and the more he read, the angrier he got. I didn't want to take the risk of reading one myself; his face said it all. He growled and threw them up on the air.

"He just had to come in ruin everything again! How hard is it to ask for a simple relationship? I'm not asking for much, just dates, maybe marriage, but I can't even get that. Now he's telling me I physically can't have sex because he bound me to him." Toby stopped yelling to grab his stomach. I reached for him just as he started to puke up a slimy gray liquid onto the floor. Dawn gasped and called out for his siblings.

"What is that?" Twilight asked as she teleported in and saw her parent puking up the sludge. Dusk was right behind her and he looked about ready to puke too.

Toby kept vomiting the gray slime and tears dripped from his eyes as he gagged. The stress must have really gotten to him to the point of nausea.

"Should we call a doctor?" Dusk asked. I shook my head.

"Human doctors can't help demons. We need to get him to Underfalls," I said. Dawn grabbed Dusk's hand and they teleported out.

"I'll get Candy ready," Twilight said, and she vanished. I sighed and grabbed Toby. He had stopped puking and is now crying.

"We'll get you better," I told him. "I promise."

Toby  hiccuped and wiped his eyes. "I know what's wrong," he whimpered. "I'm sick. If I don't mate with you, I'll die. This is the only way to kill the type of demon I am. Or, at least that's what I was told."

That's it. Oddison is trying to kill Toby! I ground my teeth together and wrapped him in a blanket and picked him up into my arms.

I rushed out and down the stairs to see that everyone was already ready to go. Dawn held Skye in his arms, her small body cocooned like a caterpillar in a blanket. Candy yawned and rubber her big blue eyes, not a black hair out of place. She wore a backpack on her back and her nightgown is dragging across the floor. The triplets are dressed completely in black.

"Alright, let's go!" Twilight commanded grabbing her brothers' hands. Dusk grabbed my hand and Candy grabbed my coat. We were all teleported to the castle. There was a little weather demon sitting in front, looking frightened and confused by our sudden appearance.

"Storm, can you get Father? Toby is sick and we need his assistance immediately," Dawn told him. The demon called Storm nodded and vanished. A second later, he appeared along with Father and Mother. Their powerful presence was a sudden burden on the air around us, and it was harder to breathe. I trembled under their power, and I wondered how the hell they'd ask someone as insignificant as me to be a king.

Father looked at us, meeting our gazes one by one, before his eyes landed on Toby, and he shook his head.

"Get a room ready, time is not on our side," he commanded Storm, who nodded and was gone within the next second. Father gave Candy a sneer and grabbed Toby from my arms. I nearly glared at him, but I pulled my gaze away. He'd skin me alive if he noticed any disrespect from me. I looked at Toby and noticed that he's paler than before.

If I'm correct, it's been a year since he's been with anybody, so he hasn't had any emotional or physical romance. If he's a demon that thrives on sex, then this isn't good. Now that he's found me, it's even more difficult, because not only does his body need it, but so does his soul. Meeting me had just worsened it, and I couldn't help but to feel guilty.

We all followed Father to the room Storm had provided. At the door, Father glared at us all and pointed to Dawn, Twilight, and I. "You three come with me, the rest of you stay put outside."

Twilight gave a worried look to Candy, and Dusk patted her shoulder.

"I'll watch her," Dusk promised. Twilight nodded and hugged Candy before we all walked into the room. I was surprised by the kind gesture, and I wondered what happened between them that caused Twilight to be so kind. It's quite a change since yesterday when she directed so much hate towards Candy.

The room is dark. Not because of lack of lighting, but because everything in here is black, with small accents of gray and white. Father placed Toby onto the bed and pulled the blanket from around him. Toby is a shaking mess and his are are squeezed shut as if he's in pain.

"Dawn, stand nearby and grab the things I need from the tray," Father instructed. Dawn nodded and went to that position. Twilight looked down at the blanket covered in gray slime. "Twilight, I need you to go and get a new outfit for Toby and Reid."

Twilight nodded and teleported away.

"What do you wish for me to do?" I asked. Father looked from me to my mate.

"There are two options. The first one is to kill Oddison and then the binding will be nonexistent. The second option requires you both to die and mate in the Otherworld and come back before we lose your souls. The second option is much more difficult," Father explained.

Toby gasped and clutched his stomach. "Don't kill him! Don't kill Oddison," Toby cried out, begging through his pain. I looked at him, shocked. Oddison is the one causing Toby this pain, but Toby didn't want any sort of vengeance. No, of course not. He's much too forgiving. "He has a family! It's like killing a brother!"

Father swore under his breath and turned to Dawn. "Grab me those two small cups of Zaler," he commanded. Dawn gasped, looking hesitant, but did as he was told, reluctantly handing him the small cups of poison, on which Father handed one to me. I looked down at my cup and swallowed hard. It terrifies me to even look at it, but if it's to help Toby...

Father's strong voice broke me from my thoughts. "Now, listen very carefully. One screw-up and you both die. Once you drink this, you have two minutes to exchange blood and break the imprint Toby has with Oddison. Nothing more until you are both back in this world. Do you understand?"

I looked at Toby and nodded. Father then poured the Zaler down his throat, and as much as I was terrified to, I chugged mine. A white hot pain made its way through my body and I keeled over in agony. I groaned, then climbed onto the bed to lay beside my mate as we both trembled in agony.

I grabbed Toby's hand as we both slipped away.