Chapter 5

Five

Draxos

When I appear in the basement with Calista cradled in my arms, Donna doesn’t seem surprised. I lay Calista gently on the cot and level a look at Donna. “What is wrong with her?”

Donna gets to her feet from that crazy crouched position in the corner and walks over slowly, serving to piss me off even more. I almost snap her wrist off when she reaches for Calista, but Adrian grabs my arm before I can move. Donna rubs her hand across Calista’s forehead, and her eyes take on that faraway look. “Her aura is off. She’s been tainted.”

“Tainted?” I demand, my voice no more than a growl. I’ve never been scared in my life. Not even when I realized I was stuck in the human world. But the scream that came from Calista made my stomach bottom out. Even though we aren’t officially bonded yet, I could still feel the fucking pain that coursed through her. “Now is not the time for your riddles. Tell me what the hell is wrong with her.”

“Her father has been blocking her powers. Most likely with some sort of potion. She hasn’t had it for three days, and her powers are manifesting fast.”

“What can we do to help her?” Adrian asks, sitting on the bed beside Calista and grabbing her hand. I knew he would get attached to her easily, and I’m not sure what that means about us going home. But if the worlds are open, we can move between them until Calista agrees to come with us to rule over the Underworld with me. Now I understand what my father meant when he said that Adrian wasn’t meant to be my side. I always thought it was because he was smaller than me. But now I know Father meant that there was someone else meant to be in that spot. And that someone is Calista.

“She’ll wake soon,” Donna says softly, still rubbing Calista’s sweaty forehead. “She must harness her power.”

“And if she doesn’t?” I saw how she reacted to the news that she was a witch. I don’t see her being ready or eager to learn to be one.

Donna is quiet for a moment, and then she sighs. “She’ll die.”

I sit heavily in the chair behind me, my temples throbbing for a whole other reason. “How are we supposed to teach her?” I ask.

“I’ll show her.”

“No, the fuck you won’t,” I bark. “If you think I’m letting you out of those chains, you are insane.”

“I don’t need to be free, Draxos. I have books.”

“Books?” I say slowly.

“Yes. I can do a simple locator spell. I’m sure Jeffrey has tried to destroy them.”

“How much does he know?” Adrian asks.

“Everything.” Donna goes back to her corner and crouches back down. “We had no secrets.”

“Is he supernatural?” Adrian wonders, rubbing his thumb in circles on the back of her hand. She sighs in her sleep, and her face finally relaxes.

“No. But he was there the night you grabbed me.” Motherfucker. That’s how he knows about demons and why he kept Calista locked up. “Why the hell do you sit there?” It’s been driving me crazy for eleven years, and I’m at the end of my rope.

“It’s the only place where I can feel the warmth from outside.”

“You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t keep us from going home.”

“Not everything is as it seems, Draxos. I didn’t do it to cause you any harm. I did it to keep them from getting out.”

“Them?” Adrian asks, getting sucked into her story. She always does this. She drops little crumbs but never really explains anything.

“There are two types of demons,” she starts explaining, surprising the shit out of me. “The ones like you and Adrian. Civilized, more human. Then there’s the feral ones. Evil, monstrous, and will destroy everything in their path. The ancestors heard whispers that they were going to start an uprising that would start in the human world, so I closed the portal.” Donna looks at Calista, and her eyes turn sad. “Her being the key was the punishment for using dark magic.”

“But the ancestors made you do it,” Adrian argues. “How can they punish you for that?”

“There’s always a price, Adrian.”

“When did you know she was our mate?” I ask since she’s being forthcoming for once.

“As soon as you grabbed me. I got flashes of your life together.” Donna looks at me with a serious look on her face. “She’s meant to be your Queen, but if she doesn’t use her powers, I’m afraid there won’t be anything left to go back to.”

My eyes stray to Calista, and the overwhelming urge to protect takes over. I’m no longer annoyed that she’s the resistant key to fixing all of this. I’ll burn this world and mine down to protect her. I jump to my feet, startling Donna. “Do the spell.”

Donna nods and grabs the supplies. She still has enough power to do simple spells, and I swear to fuck, I’d unchain her if I needed to. I pace the room as she does her thing, my mind spinning. Every once in a while, I catch Adrian’s worried looks, but I don’t have anything to say that will comfort him. “It’s not working,” Donna says, frustration in her voice. “It’s like I’m…blocked.”

“Try harder,” I grit out even though she already is. She gasps suddenly, and I spin around.

“He still has them, but they’re heavily warded.”

“Speak to me like I’m five,” I reply.

“You won’t be able to get past them in this form.”

“You shouldn’t have trapped me this way,” I roar, making her shrink back. “Eleven fucking years of this bullshit. You could have told me this when I grabbed you.”

“I couldn’t,” she says sadly. “The truth couldn’t come out until she turned twenty-one. That was part of the punishment too.”

“I don’t believe you. All of this is to distract us from what really happened. You want me to believe you did all of this to save us?”

“Not entirely,” she declares. “But I’m not your enemy. If those monsters would have escaped, there would be nothing left. The Underworld has ways to fight them, humans don’t. We wouldn’t have stood a chance.”

“How do we get the books?”

“I’ll do it.” Calista’s sweet voice fills the room, and I rush to her side, dropping to my knees. I grab her hand, and for the first time, she doesn’t flinch away from me.

“How are you feeling?” I ask.

“Weak,” she admits. “I heard everything that was going on. Thank you for taking the pain away.”

“I’d do anything for you,” I declare, meaning every damn word. I’m done playing the game, she needs to know what she means to us.

“I’m your…mate?” she asks hesitantly, looking between Adrian and me.

“Queen,” Adrian corrects. “You’re our Queen.”

Calista blows a breath out. “I’ll have to file that away for later. I need to talk to my mom.”

“Calista,” I start, but she cuts me off, squeezing my hand.

“I haven’t seen her for eleven years.” Tears start welling in her eyes, and I wipe one away with my thumb as it spills down her cheek. “One day, she was there, and then she was gone. I thought she was dead.” Calista steels her spine, swinging her legs to sit up. “But first, you need to tell me how to get those books.”

“You can’t do it alone, darling. All you have to do is destroy the warding and they can do the rest.”

“I can do this,” Calista says with determination, making pride fill my chest. Maybe we won’t have a fight about her learning to use her magic.

“I know you can,” Donna smiles. “But Draxos can manifest into the room and disappear before your father even knows you’re there. He’s not going to just let you walk out with them.”

“He was drugging me?” Calista says sadly.

“After the night I disappeared, he never would have wanted you to turn out like me.”

“He’s been looking for you.”

“We were very much in love, darling. Your father accepted every part of me.”

“And because of you, I lived my life locked up in an ivory tower. I never got to play sports, do activities after school, or even have damn sleepovers.” Calista’s voice rises with each word, and something sparks from her hand, shocking me. I jerk my hand back at the jolt, but she doesn’t even seem to notice. “I couldn’t talk to boys, get a job, or finish school. I was homeschooled from the day you left until I graduated. No college for me. Oh no. I had to sneak away just for a second to breathe.”

“Calista,” Adrian says softly, seeing the electricity running across her arms. It hums with each of her panting breaths, and I realize now how powerful she actually is. But untrained, this could turn bloody. I feel that weird calm settle over the room, and it settles her butt back on the bed, but her eyes are still angry. I look at Donna, and her eyes are wide. “Why don’t we take a break?”

“I don’t need a break,” Calista grinds out. “I want this over with. What am I looking for?”

“Maybe we need to hold off on that,” I suggest.

“Tell me what I’m looking for,” Calista says, ignoring me completely.

“From what I could feel, they’ll be crystals set in each corner of the room. It seemed like a simple spell so knock one down and the ward will fall. But he could have a fail safe in place.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know, but you should feel it when you ruin his warding.”

“How? I don’t even know what the fuck I’m doing.” Calista stands from the bed, electricity sparking all over her. Even her eyes look like they have currents running through.

“Calista,” Donna responds. “You need to control it.”

“I. Can’t.” I see her fighting with every ounce of her being to call back whatever has been set free.

“What do I do?” I ask, getting to my feet.

“This whole house will go up in flames if she sets that free. You have to absorb it.”

“No,” Calista responds, her voice on the verge of panic. “It will kill him.”

“It won’t,” Donna soothes. “It won’t be comfortable, but he’s strong enough to withstand it.”

“You just want him dead.” Calista’s voice has dropped to monotone, making it seem like something is talking for her. She brings her hands up, aims them at Donna, and I leap into action.

I wrap my shadows around her, take her upstairs to my room, the furthest away from Adrian, and hold her. She’s beating at my chest with all her strength. “Let me go, Draxos. Please. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Let it go, my sweet Calista,” I encourage. “I can handle whatever you throw at me. Let it go.”

The first shock almost sends me onto my ass, but I hold tighter. With a battle cry, she lets it start flowing from her to me, and I’m in complete agony. “I’m so sorry,” she whispers, tears rolling down her face. Another jolt shoots through me, and my arms lock around her tiny waist. She buries her face in my chest, her hands settling on my waist. I can feel her pulling back and fight to remember how to speak.

“Let it go,” I say, my teeth clenched tight. “You have to let it go.”

Calista’s hands slide around my back, and if I thought I was in agony before, it’s nothing like I’m feeling now. I roar so loud that the windows rattle, and then…it’s over.

Calista steps back, looking like her normal self. She pulls my jacket apart, smoothes her hands over my cheeks, and keeps checking me out. “Are you okay? Oh my God, that was so bad. I’m so sorry, Draxos. I’m so damn sorry. I couldn’t control it. I felt it building inside me, but I couldn’t do anything to fix it…”

I do the only thing that I can think of to stop her rambling. Kiss her. It’s enough to shock a gasp out of her, but her body melts. “I’m okay,” I whisper against her lips. She lifts up on her tiptoes and wraps her arms around my neck. “You were amazing.”

She smiles and then does the last thing I expected her to do. She jumps up to wrap her legs around my waist, making me catch her with my hands on her perfect ass. She slams her lips against mine, hard and hungry. With a groan, I kiss her back, pushing everything I can into this kiss.

I think it’s time to show her what a Queen should be treated like.