The Hunted

Chapter 29

Marc's POV

Her eyes were wide as she looked at the water where the fire had landed and sputtered, "What do you mean I have your fire? How is that even possible?" I laughed and shrugged. She growled, "It isn't funny! What the hell am I supposed to do with fire?"

I helped her stand and exit the tub as I followed her, wrapping us both in towels. "Maybe we need to go find your friend," I suggested. "She said she might be able to answer our questions, so we should probably ask." Callie nodded and dropped the towel to the floor, she slipped into the gown that was laying across the bed. I sucked in a harsh breath when she turned to face me. She looked like a goddess. The shimmery white fabric accentuated her curves but also seemed to flow as if being moved by a breeze. The sleeves fell slightly off her shoulders allowing her ebony hair to spill over her pale shoulders.

"Can you button this?" she asked, shaking me out of my trance.

"Um, sure," I said, fumbling with the delicate buttons on the back of the dress. I couldn't resist kissing her exposed neck and shoulders lightly before stepping away to put on the clothes left for me.

When we exited the room, her friend Sarah gave us both a knowing look before leading us to a large table set with foods I didn't recognize. She and her mate were seated at the top of the table, with Callie and I to her left.

"I take it you enjoyed your bath?" Sarah asked coyly. Her mate chuckled next to her.

Callie's cheeks flared red as I answered, "Immensely. However, we do have a question for you. It seems Callie has acquired my fire magic. We wondered if you knew how that happened."

She smiled broadly and patted the demon's hands, her eyes swirling with black tendrils as she answered, "She's completed her first set of bonds. You and your brothers were always meant to connect with her. However, she needed to cross over to access the powers you and the others have shared with her."

"If I've crossed over then isn't all of this a moot point? I mean, I'm dead, Sarah," she blurted, "How the hell am I supposed to have powers, or rule anyone? All I've done is leave the ones I love in pain and suffering in the mortal world."

"You aren't paying attention, vampire," the demon scoffed. "Are you sure that you're dead? How could a dagger kill a vampire? And if you are dead, then how are Sarah and I here with you?" He stared at her, his black eyes emotionless.

Wait, if she isn't dead, then am I? And if we aren't dead, then just what the fuck are we?

"What did Selene say about the River Styx," I asked her again.

"Um, that I died and escaped the River Styx. I guess that refers to when I was turned because my soul didn't move on to judgment as others do. Marc, did you cross the River Styx?" she asked me. I could see the wheels in her mind spinning.

"Nope. I just woke up out there and a few minutes later you showed up."

She gasped, "A few minutes? But Marc, you'd been gone almost a week when Sarah took me to the showers, and then it was another day or two before I..." We both turned to her friend.

"How...how long has it been now?" she sputtered.

"Marc has been gone almost a month, and you have been gone almost a week," Sarah said quietly. "Neither of you has crossed into judgment. We need to prepare you before your guide arrives." She went on to explain that we had to face Hades and plead our case to return to the mortal realm. Callie would need to learn how to channel all our powers. That meant that Sarah and her demon mate needed to teach us how to dream walk similar to what Axel does. That way we can communicate with the guys and teach her how to use their powers.

Well, this is about to get really fucking interesting.

Lisette's POV

If that stupid little trollop is dead, then why didn't her mates die? I paced across the bedroom, tugging at the ring on my finger distractedly. If her line dies then Selene has to choose another heir and by all accounts, the Janvier line is the purest. I was so foolish not realizing all those years who she really was.

But then my lovely pet stumbled on the prophecy. I looked across the room at the small form lying in my bed. She'd been so easily corrupted. I'd spent years preparing her to be mine, always showing up in her life at opportune moments - school events, neighborhood parks, and eventually I infiltrated her subconscious mind. Then that crazy stepmother of hers moved them across the country and those disgusting wolves got their fangs into her. They mistook my claim for a latent wolf in the poor creature and convinced her she was their mate - ugh, disgusting!

Moving closer to her sleeping form, I remembered the first time I broke through their borders and tasted her. She was so frightened, so frail, but with my blood and compulsion, she got stronger. We were almost ready to leave when she discovered she was pregnant. Of course, I'd offered to rid her of the little beast, but she had already bonded with it. At least a few good things came from the event - Sang stumbled onto the prophecy of Selene's long-lost heir.

I'd thought of everything, or at least I believed I had. Calista would be sold to the hunters, and after they impregnated her, I would receive the child to claim the throne from Selene. My original intent was to have Callie be Sang's first kill, but then the bitch escaped. Well, that and Sang was too deranged with the thirst and instead killed her own son in her maddened blood lust. My poor pet. Her own actions had truly fractured what little sanity she'd had left after the trials her family had put her through.

"Mistress?" Sang looked up at me with those green doe eyes. "Are you alright?"

I leaned closer, pressing my body against hers, our lips centimeters apart, "No, I need you to make me feel better, pet." Sang's eyes flashed red for a brief moment then leaned up and pressed her lips to mine. Her slender fingers tangled in my hair as she pulled me down onto the bed. Her mouth moved across my body, her fangs dragging across my skin as her hands moved to my core and began pushing inside of me. "Sang," I moaned, my hips bucking upward. She hummed and I felt her power flow through me as she bit down on my breast. Her tiny body was deceptive. Despite her size, she wielded the ability to influence sexual desires including placing her victims into a mental trap so real that their physical bodies would wither away while they lingered within the trap.

She projected my dream of being Queen into my mind. Instead of being in the bedroom in my brother's castle, we were in my castle and Sang was eating me out as I sat upon my throne, my legs thrown over her shoulders. "Cum, my Queen," she urged me as her tongue dragged across my folds, and her fingers drove deeper inside of me.

I gripped her hair and cried out as I covered her face with my juices. She continued to hum, lapping at me as she slowly released the vision. I pulled her to my lips, kissed her deeply, then told her, "Thank you, pet." She snuggled into my arms and for the first time since this whole fiasco began, I felt at ease enough to sleep.

Author's Notes: Been a bit scattered of late.  Trying to get back in the swing.  Please comment, vote, share, and follow!