My one and only bargaining chip.
The Gods be damned box was one I simply wished I could have destroyed and have done with it, but unfortunately it wasn’t that easy…as I had tried!
I had even had my own witch, Nesteemia, try and overpower the protective barrier which was held over it. But it was no use, as there was only one way to beat it and that was to actually open it. And by all accounts, doing so would lead to my destruction, so that wasn’t exactly my idea of a fucking solution either.
In truth, even my own people studying it hadn’t discovered as much as my girl had. Amelia’s intelligence and cunning wasn’t just something that impressed me, it was something that utterly astounded me! It was also something that I was beyond proud of.
Now, if she could just stop using that cunning against me in trying to leave, then I would revel in her skills instead of silently dread them. As right now, and knowing what she was like, well all I could hope for was that pretty little head of hers was smart enough not to try anything that would end up getting her killed. For I swear the first thing I would do when kidnapping her from Heaven would be to spank that ass hard enough she wouldn’t be sitting on her vessel’s behind for a fucking week!
After this I walked back into the lobby with the box and cause of my current cluster fuck situation, before entering Amelia’s apartment. All my council were here already and the second I started growling, Clay spoke,
“Nothing was touched, as I knew you would wish to see for yourself.” This appeased me enough to nod, thankful at least that my people knew me and knew me well enough to act under orders I hadn’t yet needed to voice.
I scanned the room, first taking in the state of my people, and for the moment, purposely ignoring the dead bodies. Ruto was on the sofa looking slightly less worse off than I had seen him last when being pulled from the wreckage by Clay.
Clay himself still had the metal imbedded in his side as if this was a mere annoyance that came secondary to all else. Liessa was being cradled in her husband’s arms trying to soothe him, for he looked nearly as murderous as I did. Especially seeing as he was still plucking out spent tranq darts from her body, then I could understand why. It also told me how they had managed to overpower her, for it looked as if she had been shot with enough to take down a herd of African Game.
Hakan was taking in the scene, as if seeing it all playing out in front of him and Percy was doing what Percy did best, trying to care for others. He was currently dabbing at one of the many cuts on Ruto’s torso, one that ran the full length of his face and torn shoulder.
“So it’s easy to say that we got our asses handed to us,” Clay commented drily making me growl before swiftly grabbing hold of the metal shard about the size of his forearm and yanking it out of his side in anger. He winced, gritting his teeth from pain but remained strong enough not to make a sound other than a clenched,
“Point taken.”
“Good, now explain to me what happened?” This was aimed at Liessa.
“She was fucking shot, that’s what!” Caspian snapped clearly struggling with this and with only a stern look from me, did he back the fuck down and yield. This was also helped by Liessa muttering something in his ear before feeding him her wrist so he could suckle on the siphons on her skin that let her secrete the deadly ink. One her husband was not only immune to but mainly addicted to. To say that they were meant to be together was more than just a romanticized statement, but more of destiny throwing these two into each other’s paths.
Although, if I recall I do believe his original mission had been to eliminate her and the threat she possessed to my people. This being because it was a substance that could kill a weak Vampire while putting one of greater strength on his ass for a considerable time.
But seeing as Caspian had the unique gift of immunity to all poisons, natural or unnaturally made, then he became the obvious man for the job. One that didn’t exactly go the way anyone expected, especially when he returned with who he now deemed as his personal prisoner, instead of the dead body I had ordered.
And technically speaking, she had remained his prisoner ever since and one he even married near a hundred years ago. If memory serves me right, then it was the only order he refused and fought me on. So, in the end his solution to this was to shackle her physically to him for the next decade, just so he could prove that she was going nowhere, and her every move would be under his command. Of course, his obsession with her morphed into one of love and it was soon clear to all around him that he wasn’t just pussy whipped, as Ruto would say, but she ruled his heart. Doing so with her own sacrificed in return for the obsession most definitely went both ways.
A sentiment I was only now coming to fully understand. I almost shook my head at my once naive belief. A foolish belief that my own obsession with the girl had reached its peak seven years ago when I started having the entirety of her life monitored. Oh, but how wrong I had been, for since having her here with me at Transfusion, only then had the full depth of my obsession come to light.
And now that she had been taken from me, it seemed that my ability to deal with that knowledge was a hairsbreadth away from giving way to my demon entirely. Meaning that a simple look at Caspian and I was remembering all those times my second in command, Adam, had been fearful for his wife. Even the rash and desperate actions from Dom were all now no longer believed as foolish as they once had been out of fear for his Keira. For I too was close to bursting out of my fucking skin with worry and I had to say the sight in the room wasn’t fucking helping.
“Liessa?” I said her name in a way this time that silenced her husband and demanded answers. She lowered her head in shame and told me,
“They shot me like Caspian said.”
“Was this after you attacked them?” I asked nodding to the two dead humans that looked to have met a gruesome end. The moment her eyes widened was when the reality of the situation really hit home.
My girl had once again been underestimated.
“I didn’t do this, I had little chance to do anything as they burst in and shot me before I even had chance to fire a single drop.”
“Fuck me, so this was all Birdy girl?” Clay asked, his surprise evident. Liessa nodded before looking to me with pain in her eyes before telling me,
“I am so sorry Sire, I failed you.” And had this been anything other than my girl’s life on the line, then I would have been in a mind to make this easier on her. However, it wasn’t and therefore I would not.
“Yes, you did. You failed me and you failed her.” Caspian was about to speak, no doubt arguing in his wife’s defense, but I was having none of it.
“ENOUGH!” I roared letting a wave of dominant power to roll over them and making them visibly flinch before showing me their submission with lowered heads. Then I walked closer to Percy and said in a somewhat calmer tone,
“Percy, if you please.” I then handed him the box to hold whilst I was on my mission to discover what had happened. He nodded and his scarred little hands took it from me, no doubt happy to help in any way he could. Only then did I turn back to Hakan.
“Now, walk me through what happened!” I shouted making him nod his head before speaking, something he only ever reserved for times it was most needed. After Clay got in there first of course,
“Oh, I just have to see this shit!” My head of security commented like an excited child, obviously intrigued to know what else ‘my little human’ was capable of. I rolled my eyes in sight of his exuberance and then nodded for Hakan to continue.