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Chapter Forty-Two
Too much pain. Hard, black pain that was eating her brain out. Noelle's eyes were watering with the burning sensation that prodded her mind, she could barely remember her name much less what was happening to her. When the torture finally subsided she saw that she was in a weapons room, curled on the floor in the fetal position. She looked around dazedly, trying to put a time and name to the place, but she got nothing.
"Bonjour, mon ami," a sultry, wicked voice cooed from behind her.
She turned around quickly, too quickly, because the room spun a bit before focusing on a dark figure. "What do you want?" she moaned, recognizing Ayumu's wicked grin. He had weapons strapped to every inch of his body, and a predatory gleam in his eyes.
His lips lifted into a mocking smile, "I just wanted to let you know that the Hunters are on their way to attack the estate." He licked his lips and leaned in dramatically, "And, half of them are possessed by demons."
"What?" Noelle breathed worriedly. She took a couple steps away from him, placing her back against a wall of weapons. Moving slowly, she shifted her arm behind her back, keeping her eyes on Ayumu. "What do you mean?"
He raised his eyebrow cockily, "I thought the meaning was quite obvious. Hunters are on their way to kill everyone you love." He took a step closer, keeping his eyes locked on hers. Noelle grabbed the handle of the first weapon she brushed against, breathing an inward sigh of relief when she realized it was a knife. "Some are possessed by demons, so that we can capture you and use you for our benefit."
Ayumu was in her face now, so close she could see the flickering red flame in the center of his pupils. "Personally, I hope to be the one to 'use' you," he murmured.
Noelle gasped in outrage and whipped the knife out from behind her back, pressing it against his jugular. "Hell no."
He chuckled slightly and pressed his neck harder against the blade, drawing blood. "Are you really going to hurt me?" he grinned mockingly. "Little Noelle, injuring a powerful demon, hmm?" She flinched at the sight of blood, but didn't let up on her hold of the knife.
"I'm not messing around," she hissed, "Neither you nor your filthy demons will put their hands on me. Raine and I are married now, you can't do anything to me!"
"Sweetheart," he cajoled, "just because you're married doesn't mean you can't have a little fun with someone else. Besides, you'll be a widow anyways."
Noelle's hand trembled dangerously as she tried to fight past the anger. She really didn't want to hurt Ayumu, but he was pushing her to her limits. "You sleazebag," she growled out. "I should kill you for that."
His eyes narrowed as he reached up and wrapped his hand around hers, pulling the blade off his neck slowly. With a quick squeeze she was forced to drop the knife. It hit the floor with a sharp clatter, echoing in the deadly silence. Ayumu's gaze was fierce as he stared at her with a challenge in his eyes. He knew he was more powerful than her—knew that with a flick of his wrist he could break her neck—he had nothing to fear.
Noelle on the other hand was balancing anger and fear. "S-send me back," she stuttered, hating that Ayumu had such a strong hold on her life.
Ayumu leaned in close to her face and grinned like a madman. "Want to know a secret?" he whispered. "All this power I have—power that Raine can't match—it's from blood." Noelle flinched, but he didn't let her move very far. In fact, he pressed himself closer, whispering in her ear. "If we drink just a little bit of a species' blood, we gain a small amount of immunity to them. The only downside is if we drink too much," he paused dramatically, "we go insane."
He grabbed her wrist in his large hand while his other grabbed a small knife from his belt. He pressed it to her forearm, carving a small A that stung bitterly. "Tell Raine we'll be waiting." With that he released her arm and his hold on her mind.
She tumbled back through the dark abyss for what seemed like hours. When she woke, she didn't know where she was or how much time had passed. Raine grabbed her arms lightly, scanning her face quickly. "Oh thank gods," she heard him whisper reverently.
"What happened?" she asked. Her throat felt like it was on fire and her brain was all fuzzy.
Raine's brows creased with worry, "Ayumu visited you last night. Don't you remember?"
She blinked her eyes slowly as she tried to recall what had happened. With a start, she realized that she and Raine weren't the only ones in the room. Violet and Finn were in the room too, watching her warily. In the corners of her mind were brief images, but nothing she could connect together.
"You've been out all night and most of today. I brought Violet here because I thought she could answer something for me. I thought you might want to hear the answer," Raine said carefully. He looked at her worriedly before nodding to Violet.
Violet stepped up to the bed next to her and smiled warmly. "You don't experience anything, but when you, uh, talk to Ayumu, your body goes on the defense and becomes ice cold so that no one can touch you. It's a pixie defense mechanism."
Noelle shook her head in disbelief, "I knew your father wasn't lying about my genes, but I never thought it would affect me."
"I don't think it will affect you, you don't seem to have any dominant pixie traits, just some useful features." Violet smiled again and went back to stand next to Finn.
Sighing, Noelle thought about what King Clovis had told her regarding her parents. Nothing much, actually, only that one was a pixie, yet it shouldn't have much of an effect on her. The only reason why he told her, was to make sure that she knew her child was part pixie. "Ow," she yelped when she pushed herself into a sitting position. Raine carefully cradled her arm, growling low in his throat when he saw the mark from Ayumu.
"I'll kill him," he snarled fiercely. "What happened?"
The memories started flooding back in torrents. Ayumu, demons, Hunters, attack, all of it was too much at once. Muttering under her breath, Noelle tried to control the flow of information and ward off the impending headache. "Hunters," she managed to gasp out after a couple of minutes.
Raine forced her to look at him slowly, "What about the Hunters, kitten?" He hated seeing her in so much pain, hated that Ayumu caused it, yet he could do nothing about it.
"On their way, right now," she said. "With demons. Possessed." Her mind was starting to clear up, but it was still difficult to form a complete thought. When she saw Ayumu again she was going to give him a piece of her mind.
Raine let go of her face as he took a step back to curse. If Ayumu had felt it necessary to taunt Noelle with the information that they were going to attack, it was going to be soon, so that he and his men were as unprepared as possible. He looked at Finn, barely containing a snarl, "Go find the men, we need to prepare for battle right now. I want everyone at the front door in ten minutes."
"Yes, Alpha," Finn said firmly, running out of the room to prepare the men.
Turning his attention back to Noelle, Raine crouched next to her and held her hands in his. "Is there anything else we need to know, kitten?" She shook her head slowly, not remembering any other impending details. It wasn't important to tell Raine that they were coming after her. That much was obvious, but if she mentioned it to him, he would demand that she be locked up in some obscure room. Raine gave an impatient sigh, but drew her into his arms. "I'm so sorry," he murmured.
"Why?" she asked, confused as to what he could be apologizing for.
"I'm sorry I can't protect you from Ayumu, I'm sorry you're mixed up in all of this, and I'm sorry we haven't had our happily ever after."
Noelle choked on a laugh, kissing him softly on the cheek. "You can't do everything, Raine, you're not invincible, despite what you may think. I trust you, no matter what happens, and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else unless you were with me. Understand Catman?"
Snorting, Raine released her from his embrace and frowned. "Catman?"
"I was trying to give you a reasonable superhero name," she shrugged, "it was that or El Gato."
Violet laughed lightly from the corner, reminding them that she was still there. "Personally I like Screaming Kitty." Noelle chuckled, laughing even harder when she saw the look on Raine's face. He gave a mock glare as they teased him.
"All right ladies. Enough making fun of me." He stood up and glanced sorrowfully at Noelle. "I have to go prepare with my men. Please stay here and be safe."
He saw the argument on Noelle's face before he had even finished his sentence. "No way, Raine. I'm coming out there with you. I'm the only reason why everyone is fighting."
"I'm coming too," Violet added. When Raine gave her a look, she growled low in her throat. "Don't even think of telling me no. One, it is my duty to protect my friend and the Vessel. Two, you need me out there fighting with you, don't try and deny it."
He scowled, knowing Violet was right and an argument with her would get him nowhere, she was Finn's problem. So he focused back on Noelle. "There is no way in hell that I am letting you go out there where it is extremely dangerous. I would be worrying about you the entire time instead of doing what I do best. Please don't do this, kitten."
Noelle gave him a fierce stare, refusing to give way to his argument. She 'was' going to go out there with the men and Violet, and nothing he said would prevent her. The sooner he came to terms with it, the sooner they could be outside, waiting for the Hunters. "I'm coming with you," she said in a low, firm voice. Without waiting for his response, she swept out of the room, heading to the weapons room. She wasn't going to head out there blind. Grabbing a M-90 pistol, she tucked it into her belt, resting her hand on the butt.
Raine followed her worriedly, trying to think up a way to argue that Noelle joining them was a bad idea. He had nothing. "I could always force you to stay here by locking you up," he said.
Noelle glared at him, "I'd hate you for a long time if you did."
"I know," he sighed. "There's nothing I can stay to make you stay here?" When she didn't respond he sighed again, "I thought so."
"Raine," Noelle said softly, walking over to him, "I love you and I would never put myself in unnecessary danger. This is my fight just as much as it is yours. I need to be out there because this needs to end once and for all. Please trust me." She leaned up and kissed him softly on the lips.
"I trust you, it's everyone else I don't trust," he admitted gruffly. He placed his palm behind her head and tugged her close, covering her lips with his. His kiss was full of desperation and fear as he tried to channel all of his love into one kiss to let her know just how much she meant to him. Noelle clung to his shoulders as a low moan was seduced from her mouth. Her knees had turned into jelly the second his mouth had touched hers.
They pulled back slowly, resting their foreheads together. "We better go," Noelle whispered softly. She laced her fingers with Raine's as they headed to the front hallway where the rest of the men were.
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