Kat's brain hadn't processed Aiden's movement before Lord Adam was leaping over the attacking warrior, issuing a command like a cracked whip to his men. Kat did not understand the rapid-fire language but the vampires sure did. Each held still as death, watching as their king easily out maneuver the seasoned captain. Where Aiden was pure brawn and wild fury, Lord Adam was liquid calm, like water come to life.
Only a lot more killing involved.
"Aiden, halt!" Eric ordered as Blake, Viktor and Titus rushed forward to grab him. But the loyal, flirtatious, and logical son of Wolfgard, beloved by both men and women was gone. In his place, the blood-thirsty berserker who resided in the deepest part of every immortal warrior was in full control.
No one in attendance had ever witnessed Aiden completely lose control of himself – not even Eric, who'd been raised alongside him like a brother.
Redirecting quickly, Aiden reached into the air and grabbed onto the vampire with both hands. Adam only smiled as he lifted them both straight up towards the vaulted stone ceiling and away from the safety of the other immortals. Aiden was a soldier of uncanny ability, but off the ground a vampire like Adam would have the clear advantage.
"No!" Lori screamed, horrified. He felt his wife's sickening horror as a mirror of his own.
Lord Adam would kill Aiden and Eric could do nothing to stop it.
He turned and rounded on Des. "End this madness!"
He was not alone. Loris was right beside him. "Help him! Please!"
"Do something, Des!" Kat shouted over them both.
"Uh...everybody time-the-hell-out," Des said, snapping his fingers. Everything froze. Time itself stood still and Des could only stare at the disastrous scene unfolding around him. So perhaps the whole vampire thing was a slight miscalculation on his part. Centuries of matchmaking under his belt, and millennia of existence before that, it was hard to remember every little detail. Things were bound to slip through the cracks – one such tidbit would be the matter of a small debt owed to a passing acquaintance.
He was so busy staring up at Aiden and Adam he never heard the approach of another magical being until it spoke.
"My, my little bird. This is quite a fine mess," Amelia noted.
Des turned slowly. This was turning out to be the worst kind of blast-from-the-past kind of a day, complete with crazy ex-girlfriends.
Bad enough he'd forgotten all about his promise to Adam, now he had to deal with a freaking fairy.
"Amelia," he said, damning his accursed luck. "Why is it whenever there's a giant cluster of crap in my vicinity you're never far behind?" he asked, not bothering to hide his disdain.
Amelia of the White Sea Fae was as ethereally beautiful as ever. Ageless and young, her eyes were the only indication of the years under her belt. They were much like his, a spectrum of color from silvery gray to sienna depending on her mood. She was tall and regal, her white robes moving around her as if they were caught in their own unnatural wind. Her golden hair was streaked with silver and flowed into her clothing so he wasn't sure where the one ended and the other started.
She hadn't changed a single bit.
The Fae queen only shrugged. "You are...entertaining."
The demi-god bristled at the condescension. The Fae queen was only slightly less annoying than those spiteful Fates who'd cursed him.
Slightly.
His ire wasn't helped by the fact that she could move through anything – even frozen slices of time. Amelia had the uncanny ability to turn up at his less-than-amazing moments - especially here. It was one of the reasons he couldn't get out of Wolfgard fast enough. He made it a point to stay until his set-up was assured and he didn't have to worry about humans or immortals mucking anything up. Then the lovers were on their own until the month was up.
But even he couldn't have guessed such a disaster would occur on the first day.
She walked around the room surveying the scene in its ridiculous entirety, until finally giving him an almost shocked sort of look, "Surely you did not forget the bargain you struck with Adam this whole time?"
"I've been busy," he said through clenched teeth. "Or did you forget?"
"Ah," she said, nodding gravely. "Your curse. Did you ever think perhaps you are not the only creature living under such a curse?"
Des narrowed his eyes. No way was she going to turn this around on him.
"We're not even in the same league. Don't dare compare us," he warned.
"Why ever not? Was your deal not a curse of a kind?"
"It wasn't and you damn well know that," he snapped. "We had a mutual arrangement. And as I recall, the only reason I had to make that deal was because you were unwilling to help," he added icily.
She raised one delicate eyebrow. "Unwilling? We offered the humans sanctuary inside the White Sea when every immortal sought to destroy their entire race."
"And when I needed to save the last pitiful few that were left, to get that last village to safety, what did you tell me?" he asked, pointing one accusing finger at her.
"I offered them a home," she said evenly.
The only thing worse than a Fae's condescension was their cool logic. Des didn't have the time or the patience for either one today, "Aye, a home without a single soldier to help transport them to safety! Tell me mighty Amelia, how was I supposed to get the humans to your island without some bloody fighters?"
"You found your fighters," she said and glanced over his shoulder at the vampire king.
"You're damn right I did," he said turning back to look at Lord Adam. The deal he struck was a hard one. Perhaps it was that very fact that had caused him to forget all about it. Now here he was with a giant shit-storm on his hands and in danger of losing all his carefully laid plans to some bullshit oath.
"Might I make a small suggestion?"
Des sighed. He knew Amelia well. Too well. It was better to let her say her peace. He would still do whatever he wanted. This was his truck driving off into the ditch. It was his job to make sure that didn't happen.
"By all means," he said just wanting her to get gone.
"The immortal captain, he is strong and intuitive...
Des snorted but the Fae queen continued as if he hadn't spoken.
"...but untrained. His sight is incomplete. It makes him foolhardy and self-destructive. Help him harness his gift and you will have a mighty ally for the battle to come."
Amelia was a Fae queen of the highest order. Her future sight was nearly without equal. She did not get involved in the petty workings of mortals or immortals alike – the only time she deigned to show herself was to bug him or when everything hung in the balance. The last time had been the near extinction of the human race in this world. Des knew she would only be giving him such advice if everything was on the line once more.
He nodded but she was already gone.
"Typical," he muttered.
He snapped his fingers and went to work.
He wasn't about to let a bunch of emo-goth vamps and surly, over-sexed immortals ruin everything.
*~*~*
Aiden blinked. Slowly he became aware of his surroundings. He attempted to lift his head but could not move. He was bound in some fashion. His mind felt sluggish. It was as if his thoughts were being muted somehow. His warrior was equally still inside him. He felt his soul's discomfort but this too seemed far away. It was the most unnatural feeling he'd ever experienced.
He fought to regain control of himself, to think and remember what he'd been doing. It was important - vital even.
Aiden closed his eyes and concentrated. Using the visualization techniques his mother taught him over a century before, he grabbed at the loose threads of his consciousness and tried to weave them back into a pattern, a tapestry inside his mind. His mental capabilities were unique, powerful even thanks to his mother's early tutelage - at least what he still remembered of it.
His mental picture came into focus. In a rush he remembered the events of his last few moments. The anger rose in him though not to the same blinding degree as before. It was as if a wall stood between him and his emotions, the berserker being confined behind it.
"Now that is impressive." Des stood below and regarded him coolly. "Maybe you aren't a lost cause after all. That is if you're quite finished with your dominant display of immortal stupidity?"
"Nay, I doona believe I am. Why doona you let me down so I can rid myself of the urge?"
"I don't think I will. Beating on Adam will not do you any good."
"Mayhap I'll beat it out of you instead," he snarled.
Des smiled but there was no humor in it. His eyes flashed a dangerous yellow and settled back into a cool silver almost as quickly. Aiden was too high to catch the magical slip.
"No, I don't think you will. How about I just keep you there until you've heard what I have to say. Both of you," he added, looking over at the vampire king now.
Aiden wished he could move his head. Des must have separated them, but not so far that he didn't hear Lord Adam loud and clear.
"You will release me, Desmond. I am not asking," the vampire king's order was as clear as the dark intent behind it. Aiden laughed. It was almost worth being frozen like a damn icicle hearing the unbridled fury in the vampire's voice.
"I'll release you soon enough but first you and the good captain are going to hear me out and we're going to come to some kind of understanding."
Aiden cursed but it was Lord Adam's frosty tone that cut through the space between them.
"If by 'understanding' you mean to get out of our agreement, you have foolishly mistaken my character."
Aiden didn't care about anything between the vampire and Desmond – all he cared about was ensuring the vampire got nowhere near his mate.
"Des, let me go! I will finish what I started," Aiden demanded.
"Wrong," Des replied annoyed. "You can just hang there until I'm done talking." He turned to Adam, "And I am not getting out of anything."
"So help me Desmond, I will skin you alive if you even think about givin' Kat to that monster," Aiden threatened.
If Des wasn't having such a shitty night he would've been tempted to let the warrior try. As it was, his night was turning into a real bummer. He wasn't about to let this shit show go on a second longer than it had to.
"Listen up, nimrods," he said nastily, "I will return cute little Kat right back to that damn bakery I found her in if either one of you so much as blinks wrong. Do not test me on this. This would not be the first time I've changed my mind," he added.
"Does your word mean so little?" Aiden asked disgusted.
"You don't know anything about me," Des said, trying his best to keep from ending the immortal right there. Who was he to judge him? What did he know about pain? About suffering? It wasn't like there was some amazingly awesome being out there trying to hook Des up with a soulmate. If he wasn't cursed already he'd be sorely tempted to do some damage to the arrogant warrior. He was almost beyond caring how many years it would add to his already lengthy sentence.
Almost.
He got back on track before his common sense all but disappeared.
"Kat is here under my full protection. She abided by the rules of our agreement which means everything that happens will be by her choice. She is not a prized cow to be awarded at some county fair. She is destined to make her own decision and she will be given that right. The alternative is I send her back. I will not allow either one of you to claim her like she's some kind of trophy."
"And your oath to me? The one you swore upon the life of my son?" Lord Adam asked. "Are you such a foul creature a thing means nothing?"
Now that was a low blow.
Adam's son was a means to an end. He knew it, his son had known it, they all did. Throwing it back in his face now was a moot point.
"I am a man of my word, Adam. You will have your bride, whether it's Kat or not. All I ask is that everyone follow the rules. This is Kat's choice. If she chooses you, I will not intervene. However, it will be up to her and no one else. Is that clear?"
"Like hell!" Aiden spat, his voice echoed with the timber of his warrior as he continued, "She is my mate."
"Only if she chooses to be," Des replied unmoved. "Those are the rules."
"You are a devil, Desmond. Do we not have enough with the Fenrir at our gates? You come in here with your twisted games to tear us apart!"
Aiden was beside himself. The last person to interfere with the natural order of immortals and their mates had been Lord Varick and he'd nearly destroyed their entire race. Eric was committed to undoing centuries of damage. He wanted each of their kind to find their mates, be them human or immortal. He believed inclusion would only make their kingdom stronger. Such a stance from their king gave all of them hope, uniting them behind their new queen and instilling in each warrior a desire to protect their kingdom for any who would destroy it. Des would raise doubts in what Eric was trying to do. Perhaps costing them all they had gained.
"Contrary to what you may think such was not, nor is my intention, captain."
"Yet here we are," Adam added.
"Indeed," Des nodded.
"Kat is my mate. I willna relinquish her to anyone," Aiden seethed.
"It is this or nothing, captain. It is your choice," he said and turned to Adam, "as well as yours. Before either of you answer remember this, if I send Kat back, and I absolutely will if it comes to that, she will be cursed to live the remainder of her days without love. She will live a long, lonely life, bereft of what could have been. She will die alone. There will be no children for her, no future. Are you both so selfish you will not consider her fate in all of this?"
Aiden closed his eyes and felt his warrior cry out in pain against the unfairness of what Des was proposing. To commit such treachery against him was one thing but to drag an innocent soul like Kat into all this was unforgivable. Des was a foul, merciless beast. He should have run him through with his sword when he had the chance.
"Your choice, captain?" Des pressed, daring him to say his thoughts aloud.
But what choice did he have?
He could never do such a thing to Kat. Should she choose to love another he would go on. What he would not be able to overcome would be a barren and awful life for Kat. She was his mate and he would always put her before himself.
No matter the cost.
Aiden swallowed back the foul bile that threatened to rise up his gullet, making him choke on his words. "Aye, your way it is. But know you will pay for this, devil. In this life or the next, you will pay for the havoc you have wreaked on this night," he swore.
"Get in line, captain." There was no teasing quality in Desmond's voice, only a flat sense of acceptance.
He turned to the vampire king. "What say you, Adam?" he asked.
"You are proposing the human chooses?" Adam asked wanting to be clear.
"Correct. We can come up with the terms but let's call it a gentleman's agreement for now."
"Perhaps you've gone daft, Des. There are no gentlemen here," Aiden snarled.
"Then let it be a Warrior's agreement – bound by the blood of an immortal warrior and a vampire lord," he said, shrugging. "I don't care what you call it so long as you both willing adhere to the pact you make tonight."
"Why should this oath be any different than your last?" Adam questioned doubtfully.
"This is an oath between you and the good captain here. I hardly doubt either one of you will not abide by the terms set forth," Des countered. "When I am satisfied we are all in agreement, I am going to release everyone. No one will remember the events of the last few hours..."
"Hours?" Aiden asked shocked. "It canna be. 'tis not been so long as that," he argued.
"We are in a space where time does not move but this does not mean the rest of the world has not moved ahead. I can wipe the memory of all here but it will cost the time. I suggest we stop wasting it. The sooner we're done the better off everyone will be."
"But we will remember," Adam said. It was not a question.
"Yes. We three alone will have the full memory of what transpired tonight. I will not speak a word of it and I suggest you two do the same. When we've concluded our business we can go back to having a nice welcome dinner," Des said, making a mental note to zap the food and drink back to the start of the evening as well. If he got through this he was drowning himself in all the vampire wine he could get his hands on.
"Over my headless corpse," Aiden muttered. He'd be damned if he'd spend another second in the company of either Des or Adam this night, perhaps even the next as well. He needed some distance otherwise he feared what he might do to each of them.
Des lowered him and Lord Adam to the ground, eyeing the captain the entire time. When he was back on solid ground he walked over to Aiden. Des tilted his head and gave the captain an assessing look. Amelia said Aiden was important enough he had to take him under his wing. He doubted the captain would get over what happened tonight to allow such a thing.
Still, it might pay to stick around a little longer this time. Perhaps catch an indication of whatever Amelia was rambling on about. The Fae were usually right in these sort of cases but their concept of time was muddy at best. She could've been talking about something that happens four hundred years from now. She might even have the wrong damn Aiden for all he knew.
"Let's hope it doesn't come to that, captain," he said finally, lifting one corner of his mouth in a humorless smile.
"Doona mock me, Desmond. I am not a human girl for you to play with. I will have my vengeance."
Des saw the truth of his words in the steely glint of the captain's eye. "Perhaps...but not tonight. I suggest you remember who your real enemies are, Captain McKenna," the demigod warned.
He released both men from their statis.
"Are we agreed then?"
"Aye," Aiden said roughly.
"Yes," Lord Adam replied.
Des bound their agreement in blood and it was done.
And somewhere in the veil, a place between Wolfgard and the Fae lands, Queen Amelia of the White Sea smiled a secret little smile.
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*A/N: This is a very rough draft so please forgive any edit mistakes or other errors. I am working to streamline this chapter, however, if I stay too long here I will not get this story moving to where it needs to be. I think it'll do for now and will revisit it perhaps when the story is done. I don't want to waste any more time and I would really like to see the characters get into their relationships. Thanks for understanding!
Image Credit: Hercules Reborn