Chapter Twenty

Darren shows up at the club not long after the deal is made with Rory, Rox and Drac behind him. Of course, Mayfly is a wanted criminal in the supernatural world but Darren has promised to overlook it since he wants Merelda"s head on a platter.

Speaking of, I make a mental note to speak to Mayfly about a necromancer for Darren"s mate.

"So you"re saying Merelda"s cave is actually an underground tomb within the Lafayette Cemetery? Why would she desecrate witch graves for that? She is an Elder."

We wait for Mayfly to answer Darren"s question but the Nymph shrugs and confuses us further.

"Is she really an Elder or has she created the illusion of being one? Think about it. When have you ever seen the Elders outside of their castle?" He looks around the room waiting for an answer from us now.

He"s right, I"ve never seen the Elders out in the streets. They"ve never come to enact their rules or to make sure their bounty hunters are doing their jobs. They don"t come to any of the gatherings or meetings, in fact, they only send Merelda when or if she"s needed.

"That"s impossible, I"ve spoken to the Freda, the Wolf Elder and the Fae Elder multiple times. They can"t be illusions." Darren sounds unsure even as he says this.

Mayfly just shrugs, "Whatever the case may be... Merelda doesn"t follow the rules. Her location is within the witches domain but her rule is a desecration... why do you think the witches have found sanctuary on the outskirts?"

"He"s right Dare Bear," Mayfly scoffs at the endearment but Roxy ignores him, "I"ve always wondered why there was so much prejudices against Blood Crows even as they send us out to do their dirty work. It makes sense now. Merelda hates us so either she"s spelled the Elders to see her side or they"re not even alive and she uses their energy to make illusions."

Everyone is quiet for a moment as we absorb this new information.

"I want to open her throat and see if her vocal cords look as old as they sound." Roxy murmurs to Drac who nods vigorously, giving her one of his split smiles.

Mayfly snaps his fingers and one of his many guards comes forth with maps. Unrolling the paper, Mayfly begins to mark routes and paths through the cemetery. There are over seven hundred tombs and each one could be the entrance to Merelda"s hideout.

"Do you know which tomb she uses or just a general area?" I question as the Nymph continues to make markings. On closer inspection though, I see he"s not making marks, nor is he using a pen. How did I not see this?

Mayfly ignores my question as he pours a black powder around the circumference of the cemetery. Once both sides of the circle touch, he looks at me.

"No I don"t and the general area is the entire cemetery. I see your Mate"s mark on your arm, have you found your magic yet?"

I quickly cover my tattoo like his mentioning of it will somehow mess it up.

"Yes, we did. Why?"

"Then it"s you and your sisters who will need to speak the location chant and it will need blood from your mate or one of his brothers."

Both Draven and Drac bite into their palms and let the blood flow onto the map. Right in the center before pulling back.

"We don"t know the chant."

"You play toss the bones, no? It"s like that. You repeat his name while picturing him. Your sisters will be your grounding."

Okay, I can do that. Taking the hands of my sisters, I take a deep breath and will my power to the surface. I picture Drug"s face as I told him I loved him, I picture the cave he"s in and the wounds that bled freely. I picture his lips moving against my skin and how his fingers tug on my hair. I can almost feel his lips against mine, silently repeating his name as I speak it.

Something tickles my nose and when I open my eyes, not realizing I had closed them, I see I"m levitating. I look at the my sisters whose eyes are white while they stay seated on their chairs like my levitation doesn"t affect them. Hmm, they really are grounded.

I continue to chant softly and watch the blood flow from the center of the map to the west end of the cemetery until it stops at a small burial plot.

I stop chanting and drop to my seat. That was crazy and I totally want to do it again.

"Of course, she uses a tomb that"s totally inconspicuous."

"Really? I would have thought the powerful witch would have chosen a tomb fit for a queen." Roxy says while tapping her chin like she"s pondering the meaning of life.

"What matters is how many traps does she have for unwanted visitors?"

"Good question my dear Rory." Mayfly says as Draven flashes Hellfire in his eyes, a threat the Nymph understands clearly but smiles at nonetheless.

I"m starting to think Mayfly has a kink for threats.

"I"ve only known her to use one entrance and as for traps, I"m certain her wards are vicious enough to kill but she wants to kill you so I say we hand one of you lovely ladies over to her."

Draven and Drac jump to their feet immediately, smoke pouring from their flared noses as they growl at Mayfly but I stand between them and the Nymph.

"He"s right. If she thinks he has caught a Crow for her and wants to make a bargain with her, she"ll drop the ward for a moment to let him pass. That"ll be our window into her domain. You four can go in cloaked behind us and once we"re with Drug we can fight."

"You said our powers don"t work in there," Draven says unconvinced of this plan.

"That"s what I thought when I first had the vision but when I actually spoke to Drug this time he said his power was weakened but it was the threat to Elsie that kept him from fighting back."

Fuck, I hadn"t meant to let that slip.

"Threat to Elsie!?" Drac shouts as Draven goes still as a statue.

"Yes, she is Merelda"s power source but draining her of her powers hurts Elsie so in order to prevent that, Drug doesn"t fight back. I didn"t tell you guys before because I didn"t want you going on a rampage without a plan. Now we have one."

"She"s right, Dray." Rory places a comforting hand on Draven"s shoulder, making him soften a little... not much though.

"Fine, Bird, but don"t ever keep information from us again."

I nod sharply. What can you do? If it were my sisters in that situation, I would have killed the person withholding that from me as well.

Draven takes a seat again, "Merelda isn"t stupid. She"ll know Ronny is too stubborn to turn herself in willingly so how do you plan to fool her?"

Ouch. But he"s right, I am too stubborn.

I hate the smug look that crosses Mayfly"s face as he looks me up and down like I"m a meal, "There"s a few options here, one; we have beautiful sex and you become mine then I tell the old witch that you"ll do anything I say and I"d like to strike a deal with her for your pretty little head."

The guys, including Darren, growl at that while my sisters and I roll our eyes. It"s not really a surprise he"s using this situation to get a good fuck out of me.

"Or?" I motion with my hand for him to move on to another option.

"Or, if you want to be boring, you can just pretend you"re under my spell. You"ll have to make it believable or she"ll see right through the charade." He licks his lips and quirks a brow at me.

Oh boy, this guy.

"That"ll work brilliantly!" Roxy exclaims, "Now can we go? I"m bored and my fangs are aching for some action."

Much to her dismay, we ignore her griping.

"Make it worth it for her and offer me as well." Darren says. I"m sure he just wants to make sure I"m safe and get his pound of flesh.

"Do you want to pretend to be under my spell too or perhaps you"d really like a go at it?" There"s no fucking bounds with Mayfly.

"Down, boy. Just pretend you knocked me unconscious with some poppy or something when I came to dissuade Ronny from you."

Mayfly ponders that for a moment then nods, "That"ll work."

Great, now we can finally take the bitch down.

"How will we get out of there once we have Drug and Elsie? Won"t the wards be back in place?" Drac asks seriously.

"We'll try and link all of our magic together to siphon out, if that doesn't work though...We"ll have to kill her."

Looking around at everyone in the room, I see my family all nod in agreement. There"s just too many people in here that Merelda has hurt. Her choices have become her doom. In our world, a balance must be kept. Good and bad must stay in balance or shit gets fucked up.

Mayfly traps his lovers in his spell but he gives them the pleasures they seek. A misdeed hand in hand with a good deed... if it can be called that.

When I kill, I choose someone who is an imbalance to the scales of fate.

Merelda hasn"t kept to the scales though and she"s weighing one side down. I plan to remedy that and seeing the sheer determination in my family, I know they have those same plans.

We"ll see who gets her first.