Bonding Nameless (Bonding - The Ultimate Guide Book 6), page 24
“Another awake potion, baby,” Ben reminds me and I take one from the pocket of my boot to drink it while Kimi covers me with an erotic moan loud enough that talking stops several tables away.
I keep the two immortals in my peripherals, trying to pretend I’m not sweating bullets and terrified out of my mind.
Kimi makes the most of his fame to shut down suitors in the most confusing manner possible and giving out his number to everyone just in case they don’t know the dick in crazy rule.
When I give him a scowl at the first one he assures me it’s the rejection hotline number because they have a great speech. I can figure out how he knows that tidbit pretty easily.
When Mitri stands and Makarov gestures for him to go first my heart stops.
“No.” My heart stops in my chest as he fastens his jacket closed, completely unaffected.
Mitri: “The plan, dorogoya.”
“Please don’t. Please!”
Vendetta: “Steady. No weakness.”
Peacemaker: “He wants us with no idea what that entails.”
Mitri: “He will capture me and take the weapons. To the missing people I’m sure.”
“I don’t trust it.”
Vendetta: “So you do have a brain.”
I can’t even reply to the taunt. I cling to Kimi like a life raft and he gives me wide eyes.
“We’re in public you shameless hussy! Do it again, lower.”
I’m cut out of their thoughts abruptly as the two immortals disappear behind the delegate’s table. He better not be reintroducing him to Vamp chick. Why my mind fastens onto that instead of the terror of him being with Makarov I don’t know but it is what it is.
I notice both Mal and King are radio silent as well as Aodhan. They look grim but determined at their tables, not eating, or drinking anything and barely participating in conversations.
Ben sends me a wave of comfort and fierce pride.
Twenty minutes later Mal leaves. Fifteen minutes after that King does too. They walk right in front of me with warm smiles and nod to Aodhan. My heart stops each time as I watch them, not disguising my misery at all.
I fucking knew it.
I glance at Aodhan and he gives me a reassuring raise of his ale but doesn’t drink.
“It’s the speed date version of fuckwad hubbies. Who will be the next one to go?” Kimi deadpans with a flat expression.
I can feel them out there as I follow the lines but I have no idea where they’re going. Far away from here it seems.
The sound of a utensil hitting a crystal wine glass sounds behind me and gains everyone’s attention. The only people left for me to dismiss are Octavius and Svend. They seem bored out of their minds and uninterested.
Someone stands behind me and gives a long speech about how wonderful it is to have a mender back with them. Yeah right. I barely contain my eye roll and Kimi is giggling behind his hand and saying, “Oh stawp!”
There’s a startled sound from the audience and several tables turn to look at some commotion behind them. It throws the speaker off their groove for a second before he continues.
“And your test,” Ben mumbles and begins a soft growl that slowly builds as more and more tables of people begin to stand and back away.
Octavius suddenly stands on his table and yells, “Don’t touch her!”
Svend is out of his seat and next to him, a weapon at the ready.
I look towards Aodhan and my breath catches when I see him missing.
“Fuck.”
“Yeah. Divorce is an option Bae. Just saying.”
A tidal wave of people begin running for the doors, some screaming and others simply cautious. Fairies float higher towards the ceiling, circling whatever pandemonium is going on out there. The speaker is urging people to remain calm and it’s somewhat effective until someone screams, “The exits are locked!”
Then it’s a frenzy of paranoia, fear, and survival of the fittest at its best, no Ben necessary.
People are getting trampled and I can’t see what’s going on.
“The virus, baby,” Ben snarls and bays at some approaching people trying to hide, which causes the fear to ramp up, and some are throwing their table mates towards the growing maelstrom of violence.
Svend is next to me in an instant his size massive and his eyes glowing a pale blue.
“Virus,” he grunts out and leaves again.
In an enclosed space with no escape. Shit!
Sparky disappears into the crowd and I change my line of sight over to the lifelines surrounding me. It’s a confusing knotted ball of yarn at first. And then I begin to pick out blackened lines that ooze with tar. There’s three, then five, then eight. It’s spreading rapidly in a horrifying wave. Any time a line touches or gets close to the infected they turn immediately. Only Svend, Octavius, and their buddies aren’t affected. The rings are working at least.
I close my eyes and send out a pulse, trying to knock out as many people as I can to keep the chaos at a minimum. Some fall fast asleep but the infected stay strong, attacking prone forms instead.
“Shit.”
“Take two sugartits!” Kimi starts humming under his breath as his arms wrap around my neck.
Sparky merges back with me and we freeze the infected in place. The virus begins leaving the hosts behind by leaking out of any orifice they can to begin again.
“And take three!” Kimi shakes his head with disappointment.
“Fuck this,” I mutter through gritted teeth and focus only on the darkened lines. I send out Sparky’s flames in a path of my own destruction to fight back.
The virus struggles individually, breaking up my concentration and spreading faster than I can keep up.
Sparky: “More.”
“We can’t, they need their energy.”
Sparky: “Then everyone will die here.”
“Please,” I quietly beg. “No more deaths. Not today.”
“Who are we praying to?” Kimi whispers in my ear.
“No one,” I choke out. “They don’t listen anyway. Take it all from me Sparky.”
“Wait-” Ben’s angry snarl is cut off as Sparky pulls directly from me and shoots it out to every line in the building, pumping pure energy strong enough to force the virus back before it starts screaming in my head. Its agony is painful to hear but it’s necessary. It can’t survive.
I feel weakened and Sparky ignores my edict to begin drawing on my bonds.
“Stop!” My voice comes out feeble and my head gets tilted back, another awake potion being forced on me.
My energy stays low but my eyes spring open like I’ve had a shot of epinephrine.
“She’s so high right now,” Kimi tosses the glass bottle over his shoulder, shattering it.
Sparky destroys it all while I sit helpless, watching. It dies with a whimper and bodies reform from whatever damage they took. Svend and Octavius gaze at me in shock. Their wounds heal and they stand straight and calm as they look around them.
Kimi bounces out of my lap to nudge people, trying to wake them.
“Excuse me, you haven’t wooed me yet. Get up!”
I shakily stand and Sparky returns, unrepentant at the misuse of power. We send energy back through the bonds in a cycle while I curse her.
“They’re out there doing president knows what and you try to sap their energy? Are you fucking stupid?”
Sparky: “They are fine. I chose well.”
“I don’t give a fuck if you chose well! They’re our bonded and they aren’t going to get used like that! They’re in danger and you’ve fucked it all up!” I’m screaming with rage and Sparky settles back, finally understanding the danger way too late.
“Ben, can you find them?” I turn desperately to him and he nods.
“What about them?” Svend gestures around to all the unconscious people.
“They’re healed and they’ll sleep for hours,” I snap back impatiently. My voice sounds like an amalgamation of Ben, Aodhan, and Mal with a little of Vendetta thrown in. “Kimi, get us out of here.”
“You’re so cute when you’re mad sugartits!” He rips off the sequined dress, revealing a tiny pair of spandex shorts, and shifts into his golden skin form. “Look at those tiny claws. They’re like Mal’s but bite sized!”
Mitri’s bond snaps and I wince, clutching my chest. Rage begins to overwhelm thought as Kimi watches me, smiling.
I roar at him and he claps with wide eyes. “Impressive! Pics of your feet next!”
He runs for the exit, slamming through the door without stopping and taking half the wall with him. The violence of it would stun me if I wasn’t so pissed.
“I’ve got them, baby.”
“I’m driving!” Kimi calls back.
“No!” Ben bays and races after him.
09. Heroes Fall
King
I don’t like leaving her. The obvious terror she couldn’t hide when Makarov sat in front of her. The struggle to hold still was felt by us all. I wanted nothing more than to break his mind right then.
Instead, I was forced to hold back both Mal and Mitri as we pretended to enjoy our drinks quietly. If anyone noticed that the liquid levels never went down no one said anything.
Everyone was too focused on our mate.
Instead of being foolishly prideful over mating her and showing her off to everyone, I wanted to gouge out the eyes of any who looked too long. I hope the list Kimi was making of their names gets shared amongst us equally to remove any rivals.
I mean threats.
I catch up to Mal quickly as he flies. His wings are made for speed but he has kept his pace subtle, staying behind the car we’re following easily.
“Habibi,” he mutters in a snarl.
“She will be alright. Aodhan is there as well and he will not leave her.” My reassurances don’t do much for either of us but they are all I have.
“She fucked our plan from the start,” he starts laughing as his wings pump to continue gliding along.
“She did,” I grin in delight.
Using Kimi as bait to draw away attention was not subtle and devilishly ingenious. If I had thought it up Kimi would never have participated. With Ben at her side during every interaction she’s safer than we will ever be. Neither they nor Aodhan will allow harm to come to her.
“Any idea where we are heading?” I shake my thoughts back to the car Mitri and Makarov have taken.
The plan was for Mitri to request to be reintroduced to Ta-ament. The real reason Beatrice was not included in this plan.
When Peacemaker tried to protest this morning, wanting her near, Mal pointed out the burned area where a gazebo once resided and how jealous Beatrice was at the thought that a woman had been inside the home. If she ever finds out that was made by the brownies she will never forgive herself.
“The home Mitri said they would, of course,” he huffs out smoke in frustration as I laugh.
“One day he will be wrong about something and we will mark the calendar,” I reassure him.
“Yeah, right.”
I fall back as he grumbles and take a shorter route to our destination.
I land at an ostentatious gate and wait in the shadows. The ward over this home is substantial. In a flash the car arrives, the ward flickering long enough for me to gain entrance. Mal is nowhere in sight, waiting for me to knock the barrier down from the inside.
Mitri exits the car and rebuttons his jacket, pacing up the stairs to the entrance. Makarov joins him and they mutter to each other.
My vision goes dark as my energy is drawn from me at a staggering pace. I faintly hear Mal’s chirp of surprise in the distance.
My stomach heaves with nothing to expel as I crash to the ground.
This must be how Ben feels when his hunger overtakes him.
The need for air is desperate inside me, even though I breathe. It’s something else that has vanished and my body is not sure what it could be other than oxygen.
I writhe on the grass as I suffocate while breathing.
Hard hands grip me, dragging my body across stones.
They pull me for what feels like eons. Every nerve in my body is shrieking in agony.
I hear Mal roar in rage and struggle to regain myself.
In a relieving rush energy washes back into me. Power comes back but it feels odd. Restricted in a way it has never been. I can see Mal with my eyes but I’m unable to feel him as I should. I’ve never been so cut off, even when we had blocked each other.
He’s in a cage, his wings snapping as he grips the bars to shake. Several symbols flare up, showing me he has been subdued under many spells. He won’t be able to use any of his natural abilities or strength to assist.
Next to him in a similar situation is Aodhan. He looks just as confused to be here as I am to see him. He spins in a circle, takes in his location, and then focuses on me. His teeth grind as he mimics Mal’s hold over the bars containing him.
Whoever has me clutched in taloned fingers holds me as if I weigh nothing.
“These need to be saved for my perusal later.”
Makarov’s voice comes from behind as I let my head loll on my shoulders. My face is tipped to the floor so my open eyes won’t be noticed until it is too late.
“The guns. What do you need of them?” The owner of the taloned hand asks in a bored tone.
“They do more than what I’ve been told. I want to know how and why.”
“Always the need to know things.”
My body drops heavily to the floor. I try not to brace, allowing my body to tumble naturally. My wings keep me on my side as my arms flop. My hair falls over my face, shielding my prying eyes from view.
A male paces into my line of sight. Aron Enghdall. The dragon-mage. Suddenly Aodhan’s arrival here makes more sense. He looks unbathed and grotesque despite his handsome features. His hair is an oily mass of curls around his head and his eyes are blue ice. For a male that wishes to live eternally he takes very little care of himself.
“The mender?”
Makarov joins Aron by a table as he sets Peacemaker and Vendetta on it. They’re lumps of rock now. I’m unsure what that means for the two spirits trapped inside. Are they now housed in Mitri or do they remain as the objects?
“She will be brought to me,” Makarov sighs with pleasure that brings a snarl out of Mal and a grunt of rage from Aodhan.
“I must be off, Delegate Byrne,” Makarov taunts Aodhan as he passes with a grin.
The berserker reaches for him through the bars with a roar.
“Yes, yes. Your precious mender will soon be mine again. I’m going to enjoy her thoroughly now that she is older. Do not be concerned. You won’t be alive long enough to suffer through it with her this time.”
A cacophony of sound erupts from Mal and Aodhan as they fight against their cells to escape. Aron laughs uproariously over the noise, picking a goblet up from a side table to drink.
“Enjoy draining them,” Makarov gives a half-hearted wave as he passes me on his way out.
“I certainly will. Beginning with this one.”
“Riichi!”
Mal crying out my true name startles me. He hasn’t said it in over a hundred years.
My wings curl down to allow me to lie on my back as I bare my teeth.
Aron is unprepared for the move, caught in the middle of leaning down to pick me back up with his filthy talons.
Hiromi’s sword is out and slashed across his stomach without much thought on my part. He staggers back as I gain my feet and advance. His retreat causes him to slip over something. A spear that wasn’t there a moment ago has tripped him up. I take advantage as it slides farther into the room, nearer the cells.
I shift my hold on the sword, bringing both hands to the hilt to bring it to my chest for a heart strike. In a blink a blue tail strikes across the blade, breaking it in half as my eyes widen. My sister’s sword has been broken after so long. A dire omen that distracts me for too long.
I have grown so unused to fighting over the years it’s child’s play for him to strike me with his wing, knocking me onto my side to slide close to the cells.
“Riichi, get up,” Mal snaps as Aodhan begins to rage. “The key to the cells are on his belt.”
I hear his stomping approach as a chill envelopes the area. I gain my feet and twist, lurching towards him to gore him with my horns.
They have barely made it an inch in when his hands grip them to halt my progress. It wrenches my neck as my body continues forward and my head stays still. Agony cleaves into my skull as he breaks them off and tosses them aside.
Mal’s roar overtakes my shriek of pain.
I stand stunned as I’m wrenched forward by a fluttering wing. The smaller set is much more delicate than the harder feathers of the upper wings. I feel it when a fist crushes the fragile bones hidden within the down.
I continue my broken cry as my head snaps back to entrap him with my eyes.
He stares down at me blankly at first until a malevolent smile breaks across his face.
“So sorry, demon. My wife has helped me become immune to such things.”
I rear back to strike at his face, my hand caught in a giant fist to be shattered into pieces. I choke as bile rises up and my body begins to flag.
“I think I’d prefer to roast you without feathers, little chicken.”
10. Psycho Holiday
Ben drives, leading us a half hour away from the party, even taking his back way through Leng. Mitri’s bond comes back, easing some of my anger, and then snaps again. I’ll pay for the damages to Ben’s car if his indestructible spell fails. I’m too out of it to know if I made a dent in the dashboard or not.
Kimi is in the backseat bouncing with excitement. His tail is now holding me in place so I don’t hurt anyone. The reminder that there are people in here with me is all that’s needed but I find comfort in his touch, knowing the one person I don’t have a tie to is still here with me.
There’s a thin sheet of something that’s keeping me from sending them more energy. I don’t know if it’s the distance, the fact I’m in Leng, or something else that’s keeping me out.
