Undying Hate~ Book Three

“Where are you going?” Elias asked, leaning in the bedroom doorway with a frown.

“Sagehill, with Kian.” Sylvie pressed on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek and darted past him to the kitchen in the hopes he couldn’t hear her spiking heart rate. Or slowing, if Claudine was right.

“Are you lying to me?”

She jumped as Elias’ hands dropped to her waist and spun her to meet his eyes. In them, a twinkle of humour made a blush rise on her cheeks.

Before she could reply, Kian walked through the front door with his Harley keys in hand.

“You ready, princess?”

“Yep,” she squeaked, not making any move to pull away from Elias’s demanding grip.

Kian padded closer. “Elias.”

“Kian.”

“We won’t be long.”

“No?”

“No.”

Elias’ hold on her loosened, and she slipped beneath his arm. “See you soon.”

“Mhmm.”

Rowan bounded in, still coated in a fine sweat after sparring and gave her a sloppy kiss. “Where are you going?” he said, panting.

She gritted her teeth and forced a tight-lipped smile. She was a total bitch, and Elias wasn’t falling for it at all.

“Sagehill.” When he looked ready to invite himself, she added, “Just Kian and I. We’re taking the Harley.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. But we won’t be long.” She stopped and swallowed as Kian took her hand and guided her past their questioning expressions, out the door and onto the front steps. Her breathing quickened, and she turned, despite Kian’s tightening hold on her hand. He was warning her.

“I love you,” she called.

Elias’ eyes narrowed further. “I love you, kitten.”

Rowan just smiled brightly. “I love you too! See you both later.”

“See you.”

Before she could burst into tears and tell them she was sorry for being a liar, Kian dragged her to the Harley and pulled a helmet over her head.

“Come on, princess. The quicker we can do this, the better.”

“Okay.”

They rode off, past the curious faces of shifters and into the dense forest, past the old shifter cabins, the lake and holding cells. She shuddered, remembering her time in them and abuse at Jace’s hands. She shook her head to rid the memories and held tighter to Kian.

His nervous energy amplified her own. He didn’t like lying to the others either. After a few minutes, he pulled over beside an old redwood and killed the engine. He lifted Sylvie off and unclipped her chin strap.

“We’ll portal from here. The age of this forest has residual magic, and the new moon should give me extra power.”

“Enough for us too?”

Sylvie jumped as Brodi and Shan appeared a few metres away in the tree line, their red eyes gleaming in the darkness.

“Shit, sorry. I totally forgot about inviting you two.”

Kian sucked his teeth. “You’re pushing it. If I take too many, then we might not be able to get back.”

Shan narrowed her eyes. “The son of the strongest portal opener in all of the realms is worried about three more bodies?”

“That, and he has the strongest kindred our realm has ever seen,” Brodi added.

Sylvie blushed as Kian searched her face. He didn’t believe in himself, but she did.

“You can do this. You are so powerful, Kian. You can get us there.”

“It’s the getting home I’m worried about.”

Sylvie took his hand and squeezed it a few times. “Don’t worry. You can do this. I don’t get portal sickness anymore, so if you need some juice, take it from me.”

“I can’t-”

“You will.”

His expression hardened, as did his resolve. Sylvie could feel it as if it were her own emotions.

“Take my hand.” Brodi and Shan took each other’s wrists and latched onto Sylvie and Kian as he steadied himself and began chanting.

Sylvie kept her eyes open as the world drooped and dripped down, turning the space around them into a liminal grey nothingness. She kept her hands shut around her mate and guards like a vice as the darkened castle shimmered into reality, and they stepped out into Argyncia.

Immediately terror filled her as they peered around. They were in the castle walls, next to a large pile of rubble. But that wasn’t the problem.

No.

It was night.

Kian immediately clapped his hand over her lips and pulled her into his chest as Brodi and Shan took a defensive stance. Shrieks and hisses of the turned vampires surrounded them as they backed against the castle’s bricks.

Ghostly voices hissed and struck fear into her body. Shan and Brodi seemed equally affected, their posture tensing as the words became clearer.

“-smell. You smell that?”

“Yes. It’s close.”

“Watch the UV.”

“I know.”

Kian rummaged in his jacket pocket as they shuffled along the wall. They were almost on top of the debris, and Sylvie barely missed standing on a large rock. That was just what they needed, a broken ankle.

“They’re over the wall,” the voice hissed again.

“Go.”

Sylvie’s eyes bugged as a head appeared over the outer wall, its ruby-red eyes locking onto her immediately.

“Hello, pretty.”

She whimpered as Kian thrust his arm forward, throwing a blinding purple rod at the vampire. It hit the wall and fell to the ground as the light sizzled and hissed. The vampire disappeared back behind the wall, and its pained grunts echoed.

“UV!”

Sylvie turned, clambering along the debris, letting the UV light and moon guide her path. Brodi and Shan moved quickly, their lithe bodies not even disturbing the bedrock. What was all the debris from? Sylvie squinted and peered up, a grin plastering itself on her face when she realised. Green vines exploded from the opened wall, just where she had left them on her last visit.

“Kian! Let’s get in there,” she whispered. He tracked her gaze and nodded before throwing another UV stick and hoisting her up like she weighed nothing. His grip on her ankle tightened briefly as he whispered something in Fae, and a tingle shot through her body. A Ward, probably.

“Hide, princess.”

“Come with me!”

“No time. Find Magnus and hide.”

She stared out the giant hole, searching past the walls and purple light. The sunrise appeared near a faint streak of white lighting the horizon. In front of that, though, were dozens of sprinting bodies, their glowing red eyes bobbing as they drew closer.

“Don’t die.”

“I won’t. Hide, Princess. I’ll find you again, I promise.”

She nodded, even though he had already disappeared. “Shit.”

Turning, she took in the wet space, the manacles that restrained her from the ceiling were still there, swinging lifelessly in the wind.

Dragging her feet to the open door, she stuck her head out and looked left to right. Noone.

Great. She stepped out into the hall and pushed the door behind her, pulling the lock across. At least that would keep the turned vampires at bay.

Tiptoeing down the darkened hall, she stopped at the door where Magnus was. At least the one he used to be behind. She gritted her teeth and contemplated how she would start the conversation. Like, ‘hi dad, I’m here to rescue you,’ or, ‘Why’d you abandon me and my mother, asshole.’

“Magnus?” So much for having an attitude. The silence stretched, and she held her breath. What if he had been killed already? Or moved somewhere else.

“Girl.”

She released the sigh she had been holding and rested her head on the door.

“Thought you forgot about me, girl.”

“No.” Though, ‘I wish’ sat on the tip of her tongue as his body shuffled in the cell.

“Well, what do you want?”

She rolled her eyes. “I’m here to get you out, but I’m not sure if I should trust you yet.”

“Smart.”

“I have my moments.”

A chuckle trickled under the door, and she sighed. “The Fate’s sent me to you.”

“You commune with the Fates?” There was a hardness in his voice, but she ignored it.

“Not by choice. I think it’s something to do with my parentage.”

He said nothing.

“My mother was a Dryad, and my father was a Vampire. A general, actually.”

“Impossible.”

“That’s what I thought, but the Fates have a way of being awfully convincing.”

She crossed her legs under her and sat down on the cold floor, not entirely ready to see the face of the man that made her. She found him. That was enough for now.

Kian could always do the honours when he returned. She rubbed his mate mark just to confirm he was, in fact, returning and sighed when she felt it tingle. He was fine for now.

“Coralie died. There was no child. Hayes killed them.” His words were gruff, and a wave of sadness flooded her senses.

“He lied. She gave me away to another family and hid herself in some tree. Clove-”

“Clove Park.”

“Yep.”

He shuffled again. “Well, what do the Fates want with me?”

“Dunno.”

He sighed, and a clank sounded beyond the door. “I- I can’t. I won’t.”

“What do you mean you won’t?”

“You’ve done fine without me. You don’t need a father now.”

What? Sadness was rapidly replaced with seething anger. He had no idea what she had endured all because he wasn’t around for her. Her nails clawed into her palm as she worked on not shifting into a mindless beast about to tear his door down.

“Well,” she breathed. “Fuck you, too.”

She stood and punched the wooden door, relishing the stinging pain of her knuckles and the crunch of wood splinters raining on the ground.

Without thinking, she removed the latch bolt and kicked the door inwards. He was coming with her whether he liked it or not. Whether he believed she was his daughter or not.

She froze when her gaze fell upon his towering figure, under piles of rags but still relatively strong looking. His dark green, deep-set eyes took a lazy trip across her face as she took him in. He had sharp features and a scar across his nose where it must’ve been broken in a past fight. He towered over her, his age impossible to deduce like many of the vampires she had met before, but he had a spattering of silver hairs in his auburn locks and beard. She was glad he looked far older than Elias. Otherwise, she would’ve felt weird.

He exhaled sharply and jingled the chains locking his wrists and feet together.

“You look like her. Your mother.”

She worked her jaw and stepped closer, snatching the chains in her fists. She was stronger now, but probably not that strong.

“You need to come with me to Earth. That’s what the Fates want.”

“Curse the fates. I will not leave my people again.”

“You need to leave them to save them. Trust me, I’m, trying to free them, but they’re under some demonic possessed shit.”

“Then I cannot leave.”

She wrenched at the chains and screamed in frustration as they stayed secure. “You need to. There’s nothing else to be done here. Why won’t you help me? Pull this fucking thing, will you?”

“It’s enchanted.”

She dropped the chain with a curse. Her face twisted with disgust. He was nothing like she had hoped or had heard. He was fucking pathetic.

“So that’s it then. You give up. You won’t help me.”

He turned away, not meeting her eyes. “I won’t leave them.”