IN FULL COLOUR - Dark Fantasy

Gabrielle

“No! No! Please! Stop!” I yelled as the men dragged Molly away into the shadows to do unspeakable things to her.

The dark prince rolled his shoulders, completely unfazed by the torment about to be inflicted upon an innocent.

“Please, have mercy, I beg you.”

“Mercy?” He chuckled wickedly, “mercy is for fools. Weaklings.”

I was crawling towards him now, in too much pain to stand up, but desperate enough to plead. He stared down at me with a grin. “Please,” I said again lowering my brow onto his feet, “ask me anything. Anything else.”

I could feel his fingers gently sliding into the thickness of my hair, brushing lightly against my scalp.

His energy wafted around him in light shades of blue. It hasn’t changed once since the first time I laid eyes on him.

Everything around me quieted down as he spoke into my mind, “I already told you what I want,” he leaned forward, fisting a bunch of my hair tightly and pulling my face up until it was mere inches from his.

I swallowed. His lips, his nose, his eyes were so close to mine, I found it difficult to breathe. Like a lover would whisper to his spouse, he brushed his lips against my cheek as he spoke, “give me what I want, or I will let my entire army have their way with your little flowery friend. And once her light goes out, the rest of my men will use her corpse to satisfy their needs.”

He let go of my hair and I fell forward, vomiting onto the forest floor.

Axel

When everyone had cleared the gate and it had slammed shut behind us, Coyne halted our movement with a palm in the air.

He nodded and went ahead alone.

Locke turned, addressing our rather small group of warriors, “right, men, listen up. Here’s what’s going to happen. The King of Shadows and Whispers are allied with us and has agreed to lend us a hand in sneaking into our enemy’s camp without being detected.”

Startled faces scanned each other.

“We are going to walk right into the heart of their camp and demand back what was stolen from us.”

Murmuring and awkward shifting broke out amongst the men. They were uncomfortable with the idea. It sounded like sure suicide.

Locke ignored their protests and continued informing them of the plan. “The king has agreed to lend us the help of his nether fae, powerful creatures of darkness made up of mere shadows with amazing abilities in masking scents and manipulating sound. King Coyne will assign an entity to each of you. For the duration of this mission, you are to team up with the entity assigned to you, either letting it take control of your body for short periods of time, or allowing it to wrap itself around you in an attempt to mask your scent.”

The soft murmuring exploded into full-out arguing and cursing.

“With all due respect, General Locke, but how do we know these, these beings will give us our bodies back once we have retrieved the abducted women?” It was one of the high fae speaking up. A muscled, clever looking fellow.

“King Coyne has sworn a blood oath on this matter to our king, King Gaute, if any of his fae disobeys his command or betray us in any way, the debt will be paid by deducting it from the lifespan of his own offspring.”

As if on cue, Coyne came strolling back down the darkened corridor with a mass of pitch-black darkness following behind him. The dark mist beyond swallowed the soft glowing lights of the Willo’s, filling the rocky passage with its eerie murk.

“Right, I have Host Crawlers and I have Dash Spectres, take your pick,” he said with a lazy smile, those hazelnut eyes burning bright with excitement.

Host Crawlers. My gut churned.

The kings’ eyes slid to me. He placed a warm hand on my shoulder, but addressed the men, “Host Crawlers will only borrow your body for the duration of the mission. They will grant you immense strength, speed and agility. Not to mention rendering your scent to smell like the rest of the forest and making you as soundless as death itself.”

Lily. Lily had been invaded by such a horrific creature.

I was going to be sick.

Coyne suddenly spoke into my mind, startling me to my very core, “keep it together in front of your men, I will answer all your questions once we have your mate back.”

When I turned to look at him, he was still addressing the men, “Dash Spectres, are vaporlike entities of fluid mist. They can change in shape and size, fit through tiny spaces and infiltrate practically anywhere on earth. They can manipulate sound and create barriers with their bodies by bending and shifting around a form to keep its natural scent shielded from the outside world.”

“So, they create a second skin around you?” Jarryd asked frowning.

“Yes, exactly.”

“And we would still be-uh-us?” He asked again.

Coyne smiled, “yes, they will not need access to your mind. They merely bend around you to mask your scent. It is riskier than the Host Crawlers because you will have fewer abilities, but it’s better than nothing. Take a minute to decide.” He finally said, turning to face me.

I was still gaping at him.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t need to read your mind to see your anguish. Alpha Blake had informed me of your sisters’ disappearance on my very first night here.”

Something cracked inside my chest.

“He was yours. One of your fae,” I accused.

A slow, pained nod. “I’m sorry. Lord Hale was,” the king searched for the right words, but when he couldn’t seem to find them, he said, “I will tell you the whole story once we get back. There is no time for it now.”

“But he wasn’t under your command, was he?” I found myself asking.

“No.”

It was enough for me. Enough for now.

Behind us, Beast doubled over in pain, clutching his chest and crying out in agony.

His frantic eyes snapped up, meeting mine. Tears accumulated in them. Raw and unchecked.

Molly.

Something had happened to Molly.