Adamant Spirits, page 41
Sett turned to find Girard behind her, and behind him, Lucia gave Sett a faint nod and a mouthed ‘do it’. “If you promise to behave,” Sett said as she rested a hand on his offered arm.
They walked the few feet to the dance floor, and he turned to put a hand on her waist, her hand on his shoulder, their other hands held lightly as he started to move.
“You’re a better dancer than you used to be,” Sett said after a few turns.
“You’re just as exceptional a dancer as you were before,” Girard said in reply. “I hear you’re leaving New Orleans tomorrow. Do yourself a favor and don’t come back.”
“That’s not up to you,” Sett said.
“It will be, within the next few days,” Girard said as he moved her to the edge of the dance floor. “Here, you need to dance with my friend, Robert. He’s been eager to meet you again.” He moved so Sett was off balance and then shoved her into the tight embrace of one of the men Martin had told her was a vampire.
“Ah, hello, Cosette. No, no, don’t struggle. You might get hurt,” Robert said as his arms wound around her waist.
Sett gave him a smile, then slapped both of her hands against the sides of his head and whispered a spell.
As soon as the words left her lips, Robert released her with a scream and stumbled back as his head burst into flames.
Girard grabbed for Sett, his hands shifted into claws, as the room erupted into panic. Sett threw a fist at Girard’s face and it connected with his nose, but he didn’t let go of her arm, the claws digging into her flesh.
“I’m going to gut you,” he snarled and pulled her back out of the rush of people.
Sett felt a gun pressed into her hand, pressed it into Girard’s stomach, and pulled the trigger three times.
He stopped pulling on her, his hands shifted back to human, and he stared at her in surprise as he fell against the wall, then slid to the floor.
Lucia took the gun back, stuck it in a thigh holster, and yelled at Sett as she crouched to grab one of Girard’s arms. “Grab his other arm. We need to get out of here before the whole place goes up.”
The fire had spread from the vampire to the tablecloths and then the drapes. Smoke filled the room as Sett grabbed his arm and the two women pulled him towards the door nearest them. It took them a few minutes, but they finally got him outside. Sett crouched down beside him while Lucia went to find help.
“You did it,” Girard wheezed, blood on his lips. “You finally killed me. I guess it’s fitting.”
“You’re not dead yet. Lucia went to get help.”
“I can feel the silver already spreading. I won’t heal enough to stay alive. But I won anyway,” Girard said.
“How do you figure that?” Sett asked.
“I raised our daughter and I’ve got our granddaughter at my house.”
Sett shook her head and leaned closer. “I don’t think I heard you right. What did you say?”
“The babe didn’t die. I paid the midwife to lie and took her with me. Arabella grew to be a beautiful woman, but she died two months ago in childbirth. Her daughter, Bella Rose, is at my house.”
Sett stared at him as he laughed at her expression. She searched his pockets, found his keys and wallet, and pulled out the photos she found inside. Photos of her daughter – and granddaughter – were there. Her daughter she recognized because she looked just like Sett had as a child.
She got to her feet with the keys, and photos in her hand, and turned to walk away.
“You can’t leave me like this,” Girard said.
Sett turned to him and paused. “No, you’re right, I can’t.” She tucked the items into her cleavage, then crouched down beside Girard, took his head in both hands – and snapped his neck. Then she got to her feet and went to find Lucia. It was time to bring her granddaughter home.
* * *
Lucia caught up with Sett, arm still dripping blood, as she made her way out of the gardens towards the road. “Where’s Guidry?”
“His body is back where you left us. He’s dead.”
“Well, that didn’t go as planned. Oh well, let’s get your arm tended. You’ve lost a lot of blood,” Lucia said as she turned Sett towards one of the many ambulances tending the injured.
Firefighters worked to put out the blaze, SPD cars and vans were pulled up on the lawn and people wandered about in tuxes and glittering gowns with ash and soot smeared across their faces.
“Did he just bleed out because of the silver?” Lucia asked.
“No, I snapped his neck.”
“Oh, well, alrighty then,” Lucia said as she waved her badge and got a medic to see to Sett’s arm. “I’ll take you to my place after this. We can give our report in the morning.”
“No, I need you to take me to Guidry’s house.”
“Why on earth would I do that?”
“Because my baby granddaughter is there, and I need to bring her home.”
It was Lucia’s turn to stare in shock. “Um, okay. How about this? I’ll send agents to get the baby and her things and bring her to my place. Official agents are less likely to get in an argument. Particularly now that Guidry is dead.”
“That works too. I don’t feel so well,” Sett said, then promptly passed out.
The medic caught her and lifted her up onto the stretcher. “It’s the blood loss. We’ll take her to the hospital and check her out, then you can take her home.”
Lucia climbed in the back of the ambulance and put the call out over the spell-speak. “I need a team to go to Guidry’s house and collect the infant and her belongings that are there. Bring her and her things to my home immediately. There is a threat to her life, do it now.”
Three days later, morning found Sett with her bandaged arm cradling the head of a baby with dark curls and wide eyes while she fed her a bottle. All of Sett’s things from the rental had been packed up and brought to Lucia’s place, and the baby’s travel crib was set up in the second bedroom. Boxes and totes were stacked everywhere, but Sett only had eyes for Rosie. They’d decided to change her name to Rosalyn Arabella Rohan, and the paperwork had been rushed through, thanks to the Commander’s connections. Rohan, since both Lucia and Sett were of the de Rohan bloodline. Also, thanks to the Commander, Lucia was coming to Belle Cove to take up a new job as a teacher at the Academy alongside Sett. No more high-risk policing for them for a while. Rosie needed them.
“How’s our Rosie doing this morning?” Lucia asked as she set a cup of coffee down for Sett.
“She’s taking the whole bottle. I’m in awe of the fact that she’s here,” Sett said as Lucia sat down beside them and fixed one of the baby’s socks.
“The agents got there just in time. The gang’s members were looting and ransacking the place, and the nanny had hidden with the baby in the closet. The agents showed up, cleared them all out, and the nanny helped pack up everything before she disappeared into the night.”
“I’m glad you thought to ask them to pack up all of her things, or they would’ve been lost in the fire that gutted the place the next day,” Sett said.
“Are you sure you want to sell the land the house was on?”
“He left it all to Rosie, so it makes sense to sell it and put the money in a trust for her, for later. Have the test results come back yet?”
“Yeah, I just haven’t opened them. They were delivered this morning,” Lucia said and pulled an envelope out of the stuff on the table and handed it to Sett.
“You open it,” Sett said as she shifted the baby to her shoulder.
Lucia opened the envelope and read the report, brow furrowed. She flipped the pages back and read it again.
“What?”
“She’s a quarter Mythic, an eighth Fae, and the rest Witch.”
“Wait, so Girard wasn’t a shifter? He was a mythic?” Sett asked.
“That’s what this says. At least we know her father was a witch. I wonder who? From what I’ve been able to learn, Arabella went to school in Paris, and built her life there. She came back to New Orleans six months pregnant and with no husband.”
“As long as Rosie is legally ours, so we can bring her back to Belle Cove, then I’m good. I wish I’d had the chance to know Arabella, but I’ve got Rosie now and that’s more than I ever thought I’d have. She’ll have a ton of cousins to play with, too.”
Lucia leaned in to kiss Sett. “And we’ll have our family.”
A horn honked outside, and Lucia got to her feet. “Moving day, chérie. Ready for our new life?”
“With you? Definitely.”
Sold to the Enemy
Heat Level: ☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎
Sara Fields
Sara Fields is a USA Today bestselling author that enjoys writing dark filthy fantasies with a whole lot of heart. If you like your romance to be dark, kinky and several shades of dirty, all complete with happily-ever-afters, then you will enjoy her books.
* * *
This story is a standalone.
* * *
*Trigger warning(s): Nonconsensual, dubcon, and sex slavery.
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One
Commander Aubrie Kent shivered as the bitter cold of the dark, dank stone permeated through her skin. Her entire world was wet, freezing, and miserable. Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes as regret washed over her. It had all gone so wrong, so fast.
Brushing away a stray tear with the back of her dirty hand, she looked around at the cell she’d literally been thrown in hours before.
A superior officer captured. Taken. Utterly ruined.
Could she ever forgive herself for failing the mission? She shook her head. There was no way she could’ve predicted how unprepared they had been, her platoon of Earthen troops decimated. The Venassathi aliens possessed biological weapons that had wiped them out within minutes.
Every male sacrificed. Every female taken.
Now here she sat. Alone and naked, her mouth dry as cotton, her stomach growled.
She wondered if she’d be left here to die. She didn’t want to die this way.
It was so cold. Shivering, she pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them to try to keep warm. She hoped whatever they planned to do with her, it happened soon, even if they were going to kill her. Closing her eyes, she tried to sleep and conserve her energy, but nightmares kept her awake despite how hard she tried to shake her fears away.
When she awoke, Aubrie tried to keep her mind busy with the memories of her life before capture and all the mundane tasks that were her responsibilities as an officer in the Earthen army. As a commander, she’d had many duties back at her base, back in Earth’s orbit. She’d planned attacks, orchestrated elaborate missions, and approved lists of soldiers and civilians to live on the space station. Trying to remember their names proved a bit of a distraction, enough to ward off the dangerous grip of panic.
At some point, someone came by and dropped a tray on the ground, sliding it under the bars that held her captive. Ravenous, she stared at the piece of bread and what looked to be some sort of cheese beside a single glass of water, wondering if it was poisoned or ruined with some other sort of biological military weapon. Eventually, her hunger won out as she reached forward for the bread and cheese. If they wanted her dead, she’d be dead already.
After the food was all gone, her stomach still cried out for more. Slowly, she took a little sip of the water, reminding herself that she should conserve it, just in case the aliens decided not to give her any more sustenance for a while. The water seeped over her tongue and she moaned. It tasted slightly metallic and it was warm, but it was the best glass of water she had ever had in her life.
Not long after, she heard footsteps ring out down the dark damp hallway. Backing away to the far corners of her cell, she stiffened when three huge monstrous male aliens stopped in front of her cage. Their skin was a sickening gray-purple color and covered in dark veins that gave them a stony texture. She visibly shivered as she pressed back against the cool rock behind her. Their black beady eyes stared back at her, as their clawed fingers reached forward and pushed the key into the lock of her cell.
The sound was deafening as the door squeaked open. In the ringing silence, she could feel her heartbeat hammering in her chest. She almost forgot to breathe.
“Please. Don’t hurt me,” she whispered.
The three men moved into her cell. With nowhere to hide, she cried out as their claws dug into her arms, lifting her clear off the ground as if she was light as a feather. They carried her out of the dark prison, down halls and up circling flights of stairs, leaving her disoriented at the many twists and turns through their confusing dungeons.
“Where am I?” she whispered.
One of them chuckled, low and sinister.
“Minaria,” he answered.
All at once, her panic took over her every sense. That couldn’t be true, could it? There was no possible way. Her terrified eyes tore around her, seeing cell after cell pass by her. She finally forced herself to look into some of them and came to a horrifying realization. Each one held a woman. She heard a dreadful sound and realized it was a scream coming from her own throat. Closing her eyes, she tried to remember every terrible thing about Minaria that she could, racking her brain for anything that might help her escape from this horrific place.
Far away in the reaches of the universe, in a location known to a scarce few, lay Minaria. It was the main location of the black market human wife trade. Stolen human women, as well as some unfortunate alien females, were auctioned off to the highest bidder.
It wasn’t supposed to be real, she told herself. This had to be a nightmare. She would wake up soon, right? She had to…
A clawed hand squeezed her upper arm, biting into her flesh. Whimpering from the sting, she tried to pull away, but to no avail. Higher and higher the aliens took her, until the light of a very dim red sun bathed over them. Her eyes flitted around, taking in the sights of the dismal, cold, rocky planet. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw the stage before her. Struggling as hard as she could, she cried out as they climbed the stage, bringing her with them. Once up on the platform, she was even more horrified to see an audience waiting.
Aliens of all shapes and sizes stared back at her, ready to bid on her as if she was just an animal up for auction. The three aliens threw her to the stage and she landed on her hip with a cry.
“Stand, human,” one of them ordered and she struggled to follow his command.
The biggest one stepped forward and when he spoke, his gravelly voice chilled her to the bone. She crossed her arms over her chest, trying to hide her bare breasts from their view as she whimpered.
“This one should fetch a pretty high price, boys. I bring you the commander of the Earthen forces that attempted to slaughter the Venassathi army. Her name is Aubrie Kent and I bet you money that her sweet little cunt is just as tight as her virgin asshole,” he paused, letting the words sink in before a grisly smirk turned up at the corner of his mouth. “So, who wants to own her? Use and abuse her? Teach her a woman’s rightful place?”
One of the aliens grabbed Aubrie by the shoulders and turned her around, showcasing the curves of her backside to the entire crowd.
“If she were mine, first chance I got, I’d put her over my knee and teach her a lesson about who was in charge. Imagine that firm little ass taking the spanking it deserves,” the alien said and one of them slapped her bottom good and hard.
The crowd rumbled with excitement. She felt numb.
“She deserves to be punished. Which of you is going to win her? What are you willing to pay to exact your revenge on a superior officer of the enemy forces themselves?”
Her insides twisted in fear. Bidding opened and the price flew up several thousand in a matter of seconds. She watched as one ugly face after another lifted up their bidding paddles until one man stepped forward to the front of the crowd.
He had to be eight feet tall and looked like he was carved out of marble. His skin was a dark tan color, yet it shimmered with golden tones. His dark gray eyes bored deep into her soul. His chest, sculpted with rippling muscle, tensed as he crossed his arms. Two horns stuck out of his forehead, giving him a sinister expression that reminded her of the devil. He had no hair, the top of his head smooth. The entire crowd fell silent, and every single bidding paddle lowered back into awaiting laps.
The alien male carried with him a commanding and intoxicating charisma and it seemed like everyone else saw it too. Even the aliens beside her stilled as he walked forward.
“Commander Edagon,” one of them greeted, his tone respectful.
“Talor,” the tall alien replied. “I’d like to bid one point five million. Will anyone here outbid me?”
The entire crowd was deadly silent. Aubrie scraped her brain for anything she might remember about a Commander Edagon and she could recall nothing. She had no idea who this man was and that terrified her even more.
His dark eyes found hers again, and she stilled. Despite her fear, her nipples hardened and her thighs shook, dampening with her arousal with every passing moment. Lifting her chin, she reminded herself to be courageous and brave, to represent Earth as a strong entity, no matter how it ended for her.
“Who are you?” she asked boldly, attempting to hide the shakiness in her voice by speaking as courageously as she could.
He smirked, narrowing his eyes back at her. His forehead wrinkled as he studied her, his eyes changing from a gray to a tumultuous red color.
“I’m only the leader of the Venassathi forces that you attacked. As such, I am well within my right to claim you. You see, my species has a special way to punish criminals. You’re to become my slave, to do with as I see fit,” he said softly but loud enough for her to hear plain as day.
