Slay My Soul

How in the fuck did we get here? There are talks of people defecting to the vampires now that they have Eve. Garret's currently being wrestled to the cells, and Sirus is acting even more erratic than usual. Both have completely lost the plot. There's a colossal mess to clean up from the path of destruction Garret created on his feral rampage. Lord knows what they are doing to Eve at the castle. It's all falling apart. We need to get her back. That's all there is to it.

I stomp around, grabbing weapons, trying to piece some semblance of a plan together. While Ralen tries to get me to calm down.

"We won't win the war if the circle isn't complete. Don't march on the vampires yet!" Ralen implores. I spin on my heel.

"I will not leave my mate to be broken by them!" I snarl into her face.

"It's a bit late for that. Eve's already broken in case you haven't noticed. Her sanity has slipped big time since she lost Reece. It's only going to get worse regardless of whether they have her or not. Look, Eve's become my best friend and no one wants her with the vamps, but she needs time to get to Asmodeus. This is our shot. Give it a few days, plan a proper rescue, and get her out. She can do this. She's strong," Ralen reasons. I punch the wall behind her angrily. There is no way I'm sitting on my hands to wait.

"She's right," Max says behind me. "We need to give Eve this chance." He looks like shit, barely standing, but that doesn't save him from my wrath.

"I would if she had mated you, but you dropped the ball! Being with Asmodeus won't give her the power to break free. The circle is not complete. You should have pushed her harder and spent more time with her!" I snap.

"Blame me if you want, but this is where we're at, and this is what we are dealing with," Max says quietly.

"I blame me!" I roar. "I was right there and I wasn't quick enough. If I had-"

"No if's or buts. Max is right. We deal with what we have. Garret is now safely chained up till we have a plan," Carino pipes up.

"Jesus I hope we get Eve back soon," Lysario says tiredly. "Garret's completely gone off the deep end. We have teams out fixing up the damage from his latest rampage."

"Has anyone seen Sirus?" Mikyda asks.

"In the cell chained up next to Garret. He was going to attack the vampires by himself," Ly informs us.

"Jesus we are a mess," Max grumbles. "Eve's not the only one losing her grip on sanity."

"I'm hoping that mating Max will help with his condition while hopefully pinning down and healing that piece of her soul that's torn. I believe that's the only way Eve will find semi-stable footing. If it doesn't, I fear what will happen if she has her full power but loses herself," Carino admits. There is silence as we realize what he's saying.

"Are you seriously saying we might need to put her down after all this is over?" Ralen asks horrified. Carino shrugs.

"Maybe, if it gets bad. But I would ask that if it comes to that - someone needs to end me too. I won't survive losing her, wouldn't want to. I doubt any of us would." He rubs his chest as though his heart suffers already at the thought.

"No!" I yell, hitting the wall again. My fist goes through it this time. " We will talk about this later if we need to, but we are not at that point and I refuse to give up on her. I will not discuss this further!" I stomp away from them.

Max is right. Without Eve, we are falling apart. We are fighting and snapping at each other. Garret's acting like he's gone completely feral and Sirus is just as bad. I want to march on the vampires but Ralen is right. We will lose. The Legion will be called and we will be no more. We wouldn't even get near Eve. None of us is thinking clearly with the bond pulling at us. Jesus, they were even discussing killing Eve. What has our world come to?

Luka limps over to me, still healing from the ass-kicking Sirus gave him for interrupting Max and Eve. His little girl is in the hands of the enemy. Even if she completes the mating with the Demon, unless she miraculously manages to break out, she will still be trapped. At least if she had mated Max, she would have come into full power and destroyed the enemy from the inside out, like she had wanted to.

"I just had an expected call from inside the castle. The chief torturer Hardyn has taken a shine to her. Wants to offer his help. Claims they had a bonding session. Wants her to become the Queen," he says, confused. "I can't tell if he's actually for real. Hardyn's a cold psychopathic, unfeeling robot. He sounded excited on the phone. Started waffling on about a torture class? I don't know what to make of it." I raise my eyebrow. I shouldn't really be surprised. Eve's darkness seems to call to our own. It's not that far-fetched that she would make friends with her torturer. It sounds like the kind of fucked up thing she would do.

"Did he say what kind of help he was offering?" I ask.

"Passing on information from the castle and if he can break her out safely he will." Luka looks at me intently. He knows if this is the real deal, it's huge.

"Let's get Sirus's take on it," I announce, heading for the cells.

"I'll stay here, I don't think he will cooperate if I go with you," Luka chuckles. I wave him off and hunt down where they have stashed Sirus.

"Fuck off!" He snaps when he sees me.

"I have intel, I need your take on it. What do you know about Hardyn?" I ask, raising my voice over Garret's roars further down the cell block. Sirus's eyes look at me curiously.

"He's the head torturer. Not my biggest fan when I'm in his care. I don't make noises he likes, says I talk too much. Thinks I'm a little crazy. I tend to offer him tips while he works on me. He's good at what he does. A good man to drink with when he's off duty. I'd even almost class him as a friend. Has a strange sense of humor," Sirus answers. "Between you and me, I don't think he's playing with a full deck, if you know what I mean." My lips twitch. That's the pot calling the kettle black.

"What do you think he would make of Eve?" I query. Sirus grins.

"He would love her humor and her darkness. Like meeting a kindred spirit, admittedly a slightly demented one. I think they would get along great." He frowns suddenly. "Hang on, has he hurt my little girl? How bad is it?"

"I'm not sure but he rang Luka. Claims he likes Eve and want's her to be Queen. He's offered to feed us intel and free her if he can. What do you think? Legit?" He nods, grinning like the madman he is.

"Yes, call him. I can check. Maybe see if Mikyda can get a read on his voice tone." Sirus says excitedly. I call Mikyda to us and hand Sirus my cell phone. At Mikyda's nod, Sirus makes the call and puts the call on speaker.

"Hardyn," A voice answers.

"I believe you met my daughter?" Sirus replies smoothly, sounding put together for a change.

"She's certainly a chip of the old block. She's like you but better, much better. Nice girl," the voice laughs.

"Did you just laugh?" Sirus asks, looking gobsmacked.

"No," the voice deadpans.

"Oh my, you really do like her," Sirus says looking mildly disturbed.

"She's funny, she was kind to me. She has this pull to her. She will be an amazing Queen." The voice sounds almost reverent in its praise.

"Is my daughter alright?" Sirus asks.

"Yeah so far. She's in the cells. Breezed through a session with Vance and me. Even politely asked me to pop her shoulders back in after we dislocated them. So I did. Poked Vance's eye out when he told her he took her wolf man's eye. King's just gotten back from talking to her. Said he will be back in three hours. I'll sneak her food later to keep her strong. I'll let you know if I get an opening to get her out." He hangs up.

"He's legit," Sirus sighs happily.

"About time something went out way," Mikyda agrees. "I'll go and let Garret know. Maybe he'll calm down a bit knowing we have eyes on her."

"Doubt it. He's going to be a raging beast till he has his hands on her," Sirus scoffs.

"What about you? Are you going to play nice now that we have someone on the inside?" Sirus thinks about it for a moment and smiles his sinister grin while nodding. It's a complete contradiction. That smile clearly screams no. "Yeah, I didn't think so." I walk away leaving him spluttering expletives.