Psycho Fae: Chapter 36

My mind raced as Lothaire leaned forward, and the guards stalked closer.

It all made sense.

The carving on the walls of the fae palace showed a person lying prone in a pile of blood.

A statue depicted the same scene in the entrance to the village.

The poems that took people over and read themselves to Aran and I, were in an ancient fae language.

A language that had repeatedly spoken to me about blood. A language only fae could understand.

When he’d apologized to me, Demetre had said the song of the hunt overwhelmed him, and that it was louder in the most powerful half warriors.

When I’d bled into the sacred lake, it had turned black, then red. Black corresponded with an alpha’s power, but red wasn’t one of the ABO colors.

I’d thought it was a fluke, a trick of my mind.

It wasn’t.

Fae developed their powers at a young age.

The numb had first appeared during a beating, when Dick had slammed his belt across my back until I bled.

The first time Dick had beaten me, he’d said, “I’ll beat the bloody devil out of you. I have to do it. Someday, you’ll understand.”

It had always confused me why he’d beaten me senseless. It had always been so random. Something he’d done mercilessly and constantly, like a chore he’d had to complete.

Now, I understood.

The lake had turned red because I wasn’t just an alpha shifter; I was something more.

I was a half warrior; I was part fae.

But my fae element wasn’t one of the main four. The village guide had talked about a fifth element that the queen had destroyed.

It all made sense.

The nightmares that plagued me, Dick’s beating, the numb appearing, the statues in the village, the painting on the palace walls, the lake, they all had one thing in common.

Blood.

The fifth element–I was part blood fae.

Lothaire snarled as he leaned forward toward my neck with his fangs descended.

The hilts of the twin blades were still sticking out of his skull.

Behind him, the guards were getting closer to my alphas, holding weapons that could decapitate. That could kill a drained alpha.

Repeat the words aloud, the numb demanded.

The voice in my head spoke the same words, in the lilting language, that had read themselves to Aran and me:

I repeated the words aloud, my voice raspy and harsh.

Lothaire stopped inches away from my face. Fangs descended. He listened to me sing.

He looked down at me with confusion. “Who taught you that song?”

Snap. A sensation coursed through me.

Everything changed.

The numb was no longer a lever to flick; it was a sledgehammer that smashed through my subconscious and remade the world anew.

Instantly, I could sense every ounce of blood in my body.

The blood that coursed through my veins, and the drops that coated the sand around my savaged neck, all of it strummed with power.

It sang to me.

Unleash your power at the beast.

I did.

With all my willpower, I sent my blood up into the air and threw it at my foe.

It slammed into them, and I sunk it deep through the pores of their skin, through the layers of their flesh, into their veins.

Command them.

I willed my blood to control.

To take over.

To command.

Everything inside me burned as I accessed a power that I hadn’t known I possessed.

It was the darkness inside of me.

The part of my brain that I shoved pain into.

Where I folded my trauma away.

It wasn’t a dark cavern that hid my pain like I thought. It was a living entity of churning power.

All along, it had lived within me, more powerful whenever I accessed the numb.

Suddenly, there was a loud piercing scream as my power coursed through the beast, and we battled for control.

The real beast was the queen.

She shouted in agony.

I had flung my blood at her. It sailed through the air in a churning mass and slammed against her chest.

The queen bellowed as my blood soaked into her, as I sunk my power deeper into her bloodstream.

My world burst into blue flames as she set me on fire.

Fight back. Control your power.

My head throbbed with agony as I forced my blood through her veins. I ignored the sensation of her power stabbing every inch of my skin.

Unlike before, the queen didn’t hold back. It felt like thousands of nails were hammered into every inch of my body.

Push forward.

I screamed breathlessly as pain overwhelmed me.

The queen screamed loudly as I shoved my blood deeper and deeper through her veins. I traveled inside her toward the source of her blue flames.

We fought.

“You can’t do this!” the fae queen screamed at me, her voice projected across the stadium.

Her blue flames burned brighter, and I convulsed, but I focused on the churning power in my mind.

The fae queen screamed, “YOU FOOL! BRING THE PRISONERS! I HAVE COLLATERAL! YOU CAN’T TOUCH ME!”

With my blood inside her, I could feel her terror. I could feel the moment her limbs convulsed as she started to lose control over herself.

Above me, Lothaire stood motionless, with the daggers in his skull. He watched silently as I battled against the queen.

He didn’t do anything to help.

He looked bored. I didn’t want to know who the elites were that he was looking for. Something told me he was used to battles more impressive than ours.

Get to your feet. Fight her.

I dragged myself to my shaky knees and braced my hands on the sand in front of me. I stared up at the queen twitching in the stands.

Her blue flames leaped around me. My head screamed with agony as my blood battled inside her.

Abruptly, her blue flames stopped torturing me. The nails stopped hammering into my flesh.

I vomited.

For a split second, my concentration broke.

The queen collapsed back against her seat.

My blood was still coursing through her veins. I was close to finding the source of her power.

The queen sneered at me as five prisoners were brought next to her. Their faces projected across the massive screens of the stadium.

Four girls and one man.

I recognized all of them. It was my sister Lucinda, and from Jax’s descriptions, three of his sisters.

The worst part, Dick stood next to them.

All of them were shackled together, and fae guards held blades to their throats.

For a second, the pressure in my mind slipped, and I almost released my hold on my power.

Concentrate! the numb, the song of the hunt screamed.

Tears poured down my face.

Lucinda and Jax’s sisters shook with fear.

Beside them, Dick was as hideous and gross as ever. His ruddy skin was flushed with anger.

The fae queen grinned at me even as she spasmed. “Release me from your power, or the guards will kill your family and Jax’s. You think he’ll ever forgive you if they die? It will be all your fault.”

Concentrate. Hold your control.

I gagged.

She could kill Dick, but not the girls.

Focus.

Behind Lucinda, Aran’s face went pale, and the queen laughed as she turned to her daughter. “You think your guards didn’t tell me about your plan to bring this man back for your pathetic alpha friend? I had them lie to you. I am the one who controls the players. Not you.”

The queen was a master manipulator. We were always too far behind and not powerful enough to catch up.

I dragged my eyes away from the disaster in the stands.

Behind Lothaire, three fae guards walked closer to my alphas. Their weapons glinted menacingly.

Kill the queen.

Scenarios flashed through my brain. The girls were held by blades. The guards were getting closer to my men.

Sweat dripped down my forehead as I clenched the hot sand beneath my fingers.

My head ached.

Use your blood! the numb screamed at me.

I couldn’t; the girls’ lives were at stake. I sent a prayer for help to the moon goddess.

Then it happened, the opening I needed.

A solution.

All four girls looked at each other, then slammed their chained wrists up into their guards’ faces. The guards stumbled with surprise, and Dick threw himself at them.

NOW!

“RELEASE THE CHAINS YOU BIND US IN!” I rasp-screamed in my broken voice.

I slammed my blood deeper through the queen’s body.

Toward the blue flames of her core. The source of her power.

My head throbbed like it had cracked open at the force of my command.

In the stadium, the queen fell to her knees.

On the sand, the three guards sprinted straight for my alphas with weapons lifted above their heads.

Cobra’s collar fell off his neck as my words overcame the queen’s will, releasing the enchantment that bound him.

“COBRA, attack!” I screamed at him.

Cobra’s body was completely limp, but his snake eyes blinked at me.

He was more than his physical form. His snake eyes glowed, and the thousands of jewels embedded in his skin turned into writhing black snakes.

The shadows launched off his skin in a terrifying mass.

They flew across the sand and quickly overwhelmed all three fae guards. The guards screamed and fell to their knees, and they dropped their weapons.

My alphas were still alive.

With a squish, Lothaire pulled the twin daggers out of his forehead. Blood poured over his face, but the wounds quickly knit themselves back together.

I looked up.

If I weren’t slowly bleeding out and woozy, my jaw would have dropped.

Lothaire’s did.

Aran’s bruised arm was buried in the fae queen’s immobilized body. Her blue eyes glowed black against her pale skin.

Daggers protruded from her nails and stabbed through her mother’s body.

She wasn’t pretty anymore.

Aran was terrifying.

My best friend pulled her arm back and wrenched out the fae queen’s bloody heart. She shoved the beating organ into her mouth.

She consumed it.

Blood trickled down her bruised throat, and her swollen eyes flashed with satisfaction as she ate her mother’s heart.

Abruptly, there was a loud crash as a million fae knees slammed against the metal floor of the stadium.

They bowed to Aran.

Lothaire fell to his knees.

Aran had eaten her mother’s heart. Per tradition, she was the new fae queen.

My head throbbed one last time as the life force of the queen dissolved into nothingness.

Take your blood back. Your power cannot be left in her body.

I focused on the throbbing pain in my skull.

With every ounce of will, I drew my blood from the queen’s body.

It sifted through her flesh and out of her pores.

A sphere of churning blood flew back toward me. It splattered against my outstretched palm, and I absorbed it back into my bloodstream.

The vise-like pressure in my head released, and I face-planted into the sand.

“Everyone stand down. The Fae Games are done for today. All medics are required to attend to the downed competitors!” Aran yelled, her voice projected loudly through the stadium.

I rolled over onto my back and looked up at Lothaire.

He stared up at Aran with something close to fascination. “An elite,” he whispered.

Then Lothaire straightened his business suit over his massive frame and wiped the blood off his mouth like he was trying to look presentable.

If I weren’t still numb, I would have laughed.

Aran was covered in juices from eating her mother’s beating heart.

Don’t move. Press your hand over your neck to stop the bleeding.

I positioned my hands over my bloody wound and wondered how I had the power to fling my blood out of my body and infect another person, but I couldn’t make it stop flowing out of me.

Because you are weak.

Maybe it was because I now knew the numb was the song of the hunt, but it seemed snarkier than usual.

Sassier.

I thought back, I’m very strong.

You are pathetic.

I then proceeded to get into a heated argument with the voice inside my head about how powerful I was.

We argued even as I was levitated, alongside the alphas, off the field by air fae medics and brought back to the health clinic beneath the stadium.

Xerxes yelled and chased after my floating body, which my blood-deficient brain thought was hilarious.

I kept arguing with the voice in my head as the doctors gave me blood transfusions and made me drink weird, enchanted juice.

Even as my body went limp with exhaustion, I forced myself to keep my eyes open.

Finally, Aran, Lucinda, and Jax’s three sisters burst into the room.

They were okay.

Relief coursed through my body.

I passed out.