Revolution (Risen Series Bk2)

Seth looked genuinely relieved when he saw me enter the room behind the men. I was curious at such a reaction, moving around my mate so I could look at him properly. Tied to the chair he sat on, blood stained his torn shirt and his dark blond hair was tussled and dirty.

"You look better than I thought you would." He chuckled, his eyes trailing over me before he sighed heavily. "I already told you, I won't tell you anything."

"We'll see about that," Atanas muttered, pulling me ever so slightly closer.

Seth just sighed again, his head resting against the back of the chair to stare at the roof. Titus chuckled darkly, moving forward. He gripped Seth's wrists and leaned, baring his fangs close to his face.

"We have been around for over a millennia. Don't you think along the way we've learned tricks to loosen tongues?" he growled, tightening his grip.

I swallowed when I heard the crunch of bones but Seth didn't so much as blink. Backing away a little, I turned around to give myself a moment. I knew it would be difficult to witness torture, hell I wasn't sure I could even condone it. Seth may have done horrible things, even to me, but did he deserve this?

The strong hand of my mate touched my shoulder, fingers stroking over skin. "Shylah?"

"I'm okay," I whispered, straightening back up before turning around.

Titus had moved away again. I could see Seth's wrists were turning an ugly green and blue. Were we really going to lower ourselves to this? My jaw clenched. He'd had a small taste of what we'd done, maybe the threat of further pain would be enough.

Taking initiative, I crouched in front of Seth, hissing for his attention. Bored eyes met mine and it only irritated me further.

"Listen Seth, I'd truly love nothing more than to hear you screams and smell your blood after what you did to me and those humans, but we're rather short on time and I'm very short on fucking patience. Talk and you'll have a swift death. Who knows, maybe we might even leave you alive. You're no threat. Or don't talk and I'll make sure Titus has someone doing unspeakable thing to you until either Airell is dead, or someone finds you after we're all dead. What's it going to be?"

I hoped my act was believable as I reached out to squeeze what I now knew was indeed a broken wrist. Despite his stony expression, I could see the flicker of pain in his eyes. Smirking, my voice was beguilingly sweet, "Come now. Make a choice."

He stared at me, crystal eyes boring into mine. Just as I thought maybe he'd take what I said into consideration, he spat at me. I flinched back in disgust, using my sleeve to wipe away what landed on my knee. Atanas pulled me to my feet, his fury filling the room.

"Bad choice," I sighed, leaning into my mate and closing my eyes when I heard Titus' fist connect with Seth's face.

I was going to have to leave the villa, I couldn't listen to what I knew was going to happen next. Already the smell of blood filtered through the air, leaving me queasy. Thanks to the mate bond, I knew Atanas would understand what I was feeling. Looking up at him, I felt incredibly weak and useless. He cupped my cheek, his touch gentle even though his fury at Seth's disrespect swirls through him.

"I can't stay," I whispered brokenly.

My words caught Titus' attention and he frowned over at me. I tilted my head away, unable to meet his eyes. There went my tough exterior.

"I know, Libertas Mea. Padraig will go with you," Atanas soothed, tucking a stray strand of hair behind my ear. He made sure my eyes were only on him and I breathed in his scent.

"Where is she going?" Titus asked, coming over.

"She's running away," Seth answered for us with a smirk and I couldn't react before, Atanas spun around and punched him.

The crack as his fist met Seth's jaw reverberated around the room. I didn't feel any sympathy for him, at least he'd now have bruises on both sides of his face to match. Facing Titus, I decided to be honest lest we make him suspicious and we needed to have trust.

"I spent my first hundred years in Airell's dungeon as his play thing. Certain sounds and smells. . ." I trailed off, swallowing hard. I clenched my fists to stop my hands from trembling. "They trigger memories I'd rather not remember."

Titus' expression softened, his eyes flicking to the scars that were visible on my skin in new understanding. "Ren knows the city well, he will accompany you too. He knows how to stay out of sight."

"Ren?" I asked, frowning.

He looked surprised and chuckled softly. "The vampire I sent to summon you. I'd have thought he'd have introduce himself."

"You mean blondy." I was pleased to have his real name now.

"Fuck, this really is torture," Seth muttered.

I snorted, peering around Atanas to look at Seth. Would he really give us nothing? Could I stomach a little torture to hear for myself what was going on as I'd demanded to be allowed to. Seth was right. I was running away. Another deep breath, trying to ignore the copper in the air, I used anger to fuel my confidence.

"You looked happy when I can in. Why?" I questioned.

Seth's jaw clenched and I walked closer again, braving my triggers. I didn't need his words, his reactions were enough. I smirked as I once more crouched in front of him. "Airell still needs me alive doesn't he?"

Another subtle tensing around his lips. Bingo. I just needed to figure out the rest, like why he'd been leaving bodies for humans to find. It was more than just to draw Atanas and I in, I knew that much.

"He also wanted the media focussed on what was going on here. You were sent to do the dirty work. Why does Airell want humans to have freedom to examine vampire kills?"

I frowned when Seth's face contorted, tipping my head in curiosity. Atanas gripped his wrist, putting pressure on broken bones. "Answer her."

Seth groaned, his face going red as his teeth ground together. I almost laughed. For one who put on such a tough exterior, he had a low pain threshold. Closing my eyes, I held the pieces of the puzzle in my mind's eye. Airell needed to get me, and perhaps Atanas too, out of our home. Hitting Rome was smart. But he could have gotten our attention in a variety of ways without drawing attention to our kind. . .unless that was exactly what he wanted.

"Airell wants to out vampires to the world. You delayed in our fight, you meant for my image to be captured and plastered everywhere. Why? Why me? Why my face?" I demanded, feeling my patience slipping as I'd warned him it would.

More pressure applied to his injuries did nothing and he hissed out a breath, "I told you I can't say anything."

"Can't or won't?" Padraig snapped from behind me.

Seth opened his mouth and suddenly I felt the tingling sensation of magic in the air. My hands lit up and I blinked in confusion until another piece fell in place. There was a tingle of power around Seth and I grabbed his hand, watching in fascination as my hands glowed a brighter silver.

"Can't," I whispered. "Airell's done something to him."

We should have known he'd have witches among his company. He'd already used magic against us once. Seth smirked as Atanas released him with a muttered curse word. My head fell forward in defeat and I flexed my fingers that were buzzing with magic. Airell was always one fucking step ahead of us.

Seth was useless.

Pushing myself to my feet, I ran a hand through my hair. We were at another roadblock. Again. Weren't the good guys meant to get all the answers and save the day?

"I have a theory."

I gave Titus a weary look at his chirpy tone but waited for him to continue anyway. Even Seth looked slightly intrigued.

"If vampires were exposed, who would be the ones that'd need to clean up the mess?" he asked, leaning against the wall.

Atanas and I shared a glance. It would be us. Of course. We were the ones proclaiming ourselves king and queen after all. Titus gave me a pointed look then continued to wait for us to catch up. Seth was shifting in his chair.

What would that matter? It wouldn't stop us from being able to hunt him. We'd probably be able to have the videos proved as fake. If not, we'd have to show them not all of us were bloodthirsty killers. A war between species would be the last thing anyone needed.

Titus rolled his eyes when we remained silent. "Think, Shylah."

"I am thinking!" I snapped, looking at Atanas and Padraig. "I'm not catching on. Are either of you?"

Padraig shrugged a shoulder then nodded towards Seth. "No but he is."

Seth did look uncomfortable now, his gaze avoiding mine as he shifted his wrists beneath the rope.

"Whose image is circulating the news with a dead body at her feet. The same woman that would then have to come out and say she's one of the vampires, one of the monsters. How could they trust you, a leader of vampire kind if you've been seen fighting, and again, with a dead body at your feet," Titus explained slowly. "How could they trust you if you tried to smooth things over after being revealed as a killer?"

The pit that had formed in my stomach ate me up and I shook my head. "But I didn't kill her-"

"That won't matter. You can't prove that," Atanas cut in, rubbing his forehead.

"Then we need to make sure Airell doesn't get the chance to have his coming out party. Though I doubt he'd want balloons and streamers. . .unless the streamers were intestines. Why would he want to do that anyway?" I rambled, pacing the length of the room.

"Intestine streamers?" Titus blinked at me and I growled in frustration.

"No, expose us!"

Seth chuckled, eyeing us all. "It's no wonder he's so confident. Look at you. You have nothing. He's going to win without even having to try."

I glared at him then marched for the door, swinging it open a little harder than necessary. It banged against the wall, trembling in its hinges. The men could do what they wanted, I was fighting off the crushing feeling slowly coming down on my chest.

Leaning against the wall, it was slow progress and I felt Atanas' presence behind me even though he never reached out to help. I was glad of that and I knew he'd step in if I struggled. We were fucked, well and truly fucked. Seth was right; we had nothing. Soon we might have to fight a battle on two sides of Airell did reveal our existence.

I made it to the front door and that's when Atanas grabbed me, swinging me away as I reached for the handle. I stumbled against his chest, frowning up at the furious face of my mate.

"How many times will I have to stop you from nearly killing yourself with the sun!" he snapped, dragging me away from the door like I'd done it on purpose.

"I forgot," I murmured uselessly. That's what I was really. Useless.

My head fell against his chest and I felt the rage fizzle out. It was true, even after three hundred years, it slipped my mind sometimes. I'd just been so eager for fresh air. I felt trapped in here, like the walls were slowly closing in.

"Now we have Seth, what if Airell does try to expose us another way? How can we handle hunting him down and sorting whatever mess we'd need to with the human governments? Gods, Atanas, what would we do? Accept it and come out of the dark hoping the humans won't decide we're a threat and hunt every last one of us down? Or have them experiment on us to find our secrets?" The more I spoke, the more my panic rose.

"We would have to try and be diplomatic, Libertas Mea. Kincaid would be good at that, if it comes to down to it, and I don't believe it will. We've remained hidden all this time, it'll take more than him to prove we exist," Atanas soothed, running his fingers through my hair. "Airell is trying to throw us off. We need to find him now more than ever."

Surprisingly, that did calm me down. It would be like Airell to use this sort of thing to distract us. But it would also like him to go through with it and really force us to slow down. We were out of ideas now though. So much time had passed that we could no longer be certain that Airell was still near Russia. He could be anywhere doing anything.

"We will win, won't we?" I murmured, staring up at dark blue eyes.

There was a firmness to his expression as he nodded and his hand fell to grip my hip. "I promise you we will. Whether that be with us still in the shadows or dealing with being outed to the world."

He continued to hold me until tension left my body and the weight was completely gone from my chest. All that was left was butterflies that would flap violently in my stomach then settle again. I was tired. Exhausted. Probably in need of more blood.

I was glad I couldn't hear much from the room with Seth, Padraig and Titus. My fingers slid under Atanas' shirt, trailing over the ridges of muscle along his abdomen.

"Titus watches you a lot."

I raised an eyebrow at that random statement but didn't move from resting my head against Atanas' chest. My eyes were closed, whole being focussed on the slow rhythmic thud of his heart. Was there a hint of jealousy in my mate's tone?

"He's curious. I'm a descendant of a woman he apparently despises. Covered in scars, odd looking eyes, making comments about intestine streamers when I'm queen of a race having its own civil war, which I'm starting to think is a growing pain of any race." I sighed heavily. "Few wouldn't stare a little."

A rumble of amusement came from my mate and I smiled a little.

"That isn't why he stares and you know it. I've seen you notice too. He thinks you're beautiful, he wants you," he argued before slowly guiding me to the room we'd left Anna alone with Blondy in. Ren, I reminded myself.

"Well, who can blame him- hey!" I yelped, jumping forward as Atanas swiftly swatted my rear with a fake stern look in place.

Ah. This man was good. He'd managed to distract me. Was it a little egotistical of me that it had to take talk of another man finding me attractive to push thoughts of war from my head? He chuckled and opened the door for me, his eyes glittering with dark promises for later. He'd remind me who my mate was when we finally got to bed.

Anna jumped to her feet when she saw us, looking as relieved as Seth had. "Did you find out anything."

"Unfortunately," I replied, eyeing the blood bags on the coffee table.

"Titus thought you'd need more," Ren spoke up from the corner he still stood in. It was no wonder Anna had been eagerly awaiting our return. I doubted he was much company. At least I knew he'd kept her safe and unharmed. He'd earned a little of my trust.

His words made Atanas give me a look and I did roll my eyes this time. Titus was just being a god host in offering blood. I was injured and needed to build up my strength, it wasn't because he wanted me. Swiping a bag, I took a seat and told Anna what we'd figured out amongst ourselves. She didn't take it well. Grim faced and pale, I worried she'd be sick, especially when a groan of pain echoed through the house. That'd had me stilling for a moment too.

Padraig and Titus were still having fun torture time. My stomach rolled and I put the empty bag on the table. Maybe they'd get something out of him.

"How can you be certain this was the plan if Seth can't say anything? He could be faking," Anna said, brown eyes wide.

"And that's why Padraig and Titus are making sure off, that he's not faking. He might be able to tell us more, something Airell didn't think to spell him into silence for. All we need is one small detail that could lead us to him," Atanas explained.

Anna nodded slowly but looked unsure. I understood. I felt just as uncomfortable with knowing what was going in a few doors down the hall whether vampires healed fast or not. But there was no other way. We had to be as ruthless as our enemy. The thought of Gideon going through Airell's favourite torture methods had that crushing feeling returning.

"Would it help if I said I had an idea, a way to maybe pinpoint his location." Anna rubbed her hands together, glancing up at Atanas.

"What's your idea?" he asked, intrigued. I leaned in too, wondering why she looked so forlorn.

"Well," she began, "if I had magic, I'd try and use a locater spell. I know how to do it, the words I need to speak, all I need is the magic."

I frowned. It didn't seem much like an idea to me. She didn't have access to magic. The feeling of being watched had me looking up to find Ren, Anna and Atanas all staring at me. I blinked, realising what I'd missed.

"You're going to use my magic?" I asked, a little confused.

She shook her head. "I'm going to teach you the spell."