15. ~Orpheus~

15

~Orpheus~

I was no longer incapacitated.

Neither was I back to full strength yet, however.

Another day and that should change.

At least I was well enough now to see to myself, to be mobile, and lucid.

The timing couldn’t have been more imperative, as Professor Edgar Marlowe had been summoned to Abigail’s estate.

By me.

I’d decided to strike a balance between creating political upheaval in the Dark Fae Realm—more than there already was with my father kidnapped—by forcing my ascension to Interim King, and appealing to Marlowe to go the magical map route as Xavier and Talon had pulled for.

I’d basically threatened Marlowe with my ascension, something he didn’t want for me. Something my father didn’t want for me.

Not like this.

Not tainted like this.

It sparked their fears of me going dark and losing my way.

I sat in one of the oversized baby-blue armchairs, continuing to rest my body as Talon had urged, something that really wasn’t coming easy and was taking effort with the dire straits we all currently found ourselves in.

Xavier without his magic and still reeling from it, albeit in good spirits currently at least.

Constantine on the loose.

The supernatural world under attack.

My father kidnapped.

Alena stolen from us and under the influence of a psychopath.

Exemplar struggling to fight off this madness.

While I was affecting and trying to maintain a calm and composed air in the face of it all, Talon was perched on the arm of my chair sipping at his favored Hurricane to take the edge off, while Xavier was leaning against the wall chewing on a Red Vine, as we listened to Marlowe’s report.

Apparently, he’d had an in to one of my father’s contacts this entire time, neglecting to tell me through fear of what I might do, not wanting to involve me because he believed it would be against my father’s wishes for me.

“A defected Light Fae,” he explained. “A former member of their Royal Council. Your father’s secret contact—well, one of them—who resided in the human realm. They were close, but Taelorn betrayed him for a taste of Constantine’s power when the acolytes reached out and informed him of how close they were to raising him. He wouldn’t tell me a thing, even under torture, so I sent him to the new Commander in the DFR to employ harsher methods to ensure his… breakage.”

“Those harsher methods can take days,” I spoke.

“Days only. Not weeks or months. We’ll know soon enough.”

“And then you plan to take the intel to Exemplar for them to act upon?” X asked him.

“Is that not what you’d want, Xavier? As the great Elliot Sabre’s heir I understand that the two of you see eye-to-eye on everything. You don’t color outside the lines like Orpheus.”

“Circumstances aren’t normal. Neither should our actions be,” he responded impressively diplomatically.

“Plus, aren’t they gonna be pissed that you tortured a suspect?” Talon spoke.

I smiled inwardly. He really had a gift for hitting the nail on the head.

“This is Dark Fae justice,” I told Marlowe. “This person is responsible for our King’s kidnapping. He’s key to finding my father and he’s holding out on us. It started with Dark Fae justice, it stays as Dark Fae justice. We see it through on our own. If he breaks and the lead pans out, then we’ll bring Exemplar in on it.”

“We have to. Alena is involved,” X said.

I didn’t want to go into that with Marlowe. His focus was on the Dark Fae aspect, obviously, and that was what I needed to appeal to. Emphasizing how much the three of us were being killed inside by the fact that Alena wasn’t here with us and, worse, that she was in that psychopath’s hands would only complicate matters. And we had enough of that. I’d briefed the boys on keeping our emotions over our woman on the down low all the while he was here.

“But at this delicate stage, the last thing we want is them finding out we’re torturing someone to get the answers we seek, and possibly pulling the traitorous bastard out in the name of their moral code and, thus taking this opportunity from us,” I added, eyeing Marlowe pointedly.

“I am in agreement.”

“There’s clearly a first time for everything then,” I rebutted.

“Well, you’re handling this in a much more reserved and careful way than I’d figured you would, especially after that display of dark violence with Isabella Ravenfall.”

“That was actually strategic. I didn’t lose control, nor was I even close to.”

“What? Are you shitting us? That was a play?” Talon interjected, slapping my shoulder in the process.

“Yes.”

“How so?” Marlowe asked.

The corner of my mouth turned up. “Hmm, clearly your watch over me hasn’t made you privy to everything.”

“Well, I assume it has something to do with Obsidian.”

Close, but not dead-on, and that was what mattered. So long as there was some guesswork still involved for him.

“Let’s stay on track,” Xavier said, backing me up.

Usually he was all for me spilling my secrets, hating that I kept them. But it seemed after what had happened between us, things had shifted for him in regard to that and me. I’d never thought the day would come.

I smiled out at him and he winked back, then took another bite of his Red Vine.

I rose from my seat. “I have a line into the DFR, but I also want you to keep me posted. Cassius and the Court are holding things well in my father’s absence, but I won’t be shut out any longer. I’ve ensured that I won’t be, but I’d rather not use infiltration tactics here and be kept abreast openly. We need to pull together now, not be at odds, nor play each other for fools. Now I know your true role in this, you are my link between here and the Dark Fae Realm.” I glared out at him. “I plan to make full use of that.”

“Orpheus, I know you’re angry that I kept this from you, but I was under orders.”

“And I respect that. But that was then, this is now.”

“Orpheus—”

“I am the Dark Fae Prince.”

And it was time to show people exactly what that meant.

For three years I’d been at Electi Academy, out of it all, away from the DFR. It was clear, as a result, they all required a reminder. With my father currently out of the picture, they needed it.

All four of us had spent far too much time on the sidelines, some because of influence bearing down on us, others because of trauma we’d endured. The Cataclysm had damaged so much, including our respective statuses as heirs. No fucking more.

I stepped toward him and growled, “Do. You. Understand. Me?”

He lowered his eyes, then gave a nod. “Understood, Your Highness.”

I moved back. “Good. Now, I’ll wait forty-eight hours more for Taelorn to break. If he doesn’t and we don’t get the lead, we’ll switch strategies.”

“To what?” he asked, as curious as he was worried.

“I’ll track my father through our blood link.”

His eyes widened. “To do that with Constantine cloaked with black magic, you’d have to employ it yourself in order to breach it.”

“I’m aware.” As protests began to erupt from him and Talon, I held up my hand. “These are dire times. Constantine is running roughshod over the supernatural world. No one will be safe soon. There is no more time for treading carefully. This, here, waiting on you and Cassius to break our target, was my last shot at doing so. Beyond that, there’s no safe or slow and easy strategy left remaining—they will all have been exhausted.”

“He’s right,” Xavier spoke.

My shock couldn’t quite be quantified at hearing his declaration. “Excuse me? I’m… what?”

He smiled. “You believed in me, it’s my turn to believe in you. And I believe you can wield black magic to do what needs to be done without becoming corrupted. In fact, with how you are, if anyone can do it, it’s you, Orpheus. You.”

Marlowe watched us, rubbing his chin. “Hmm, you certainly do have your own way of doing things, very differently to how other Dark Fae have approached things before. It could be the key to avoiding corruption and preventing that poison from taking root.”

“This is bullshit!” Talon cried. “I saw it! I was there, remember? During your recovery after you took that brutal hit of black magic from Constantine? It hurt you, Ore! It hurt you bad! And that was taking a hit, not wielding it, with it running through your veins and all that!”

“I had a block up, Talon.”

“What?”

“I spelled myself to protect against it, to ensure that if I was ever hit with it, that it would hurt me. That’s why Constantine’s blow had such a heavy impact on me. I erected the barrier because I was worried I’d like the feel of it too much—like my father did. I worried I’d become addicted to it. But that worry had plagued me only in my weakest moments, the rare times when I doubted myself. So much has happened since then and I don’t feel that way anymore.”

“You said had. Past tense,” Xavier noticed.

I nodded. “I removed it once I was healed after the battle. I couldn’t risk taking a hit like that from him again and not being able to withstand it.”

“Fuck, Ore, no! Don’t even think along those lines!”

“Talon, we’re already there!” I snapped back at his continued disapproval.

He went to bite back at me, but the look in my eyes obviously stopped him, because he just threw up his hands and stormed out of the room instead.

Motherfuck.

We all heard thuds and clanging in the kitchen down the hall a moment later.

“You need to keep an eye on that rage of his,” Marlowe warned me and Xavier. “He’s been doing so well with it lately, but with everything happening, it’s clearly testing him, likely threatening to awaken it all.”

He’d been doing well with it since our foursome had formed, since Alena had come into our lives and drawn so close to us that she’d become one of us. And now she was gone, lost to us, even temporarily, it was throwing everything off-kilter. The whole situation was, the fucking madness surrounding us.

“I’ll go see to him,” X offered.

He’d only gotten two steps away when Marlowe’s IC Watch started blaring with an irritating, high-pitched alert that wouldn’t be denied.

Given the nature of it, it had to be the Dark Fae Realm contacting him.

“What is it?” X asked him, pausing in his step and tensing just like I now was.

Marlowe took a moment to read the message, then he looked out at me, his expression grave. “It’s a warning to lock ourselves down.” He sucked in a breath, the weight of whatever had happened obviously getting to him. “Constantine and his acolytes have breached the DFR gates.”

I snapped my fingers and dressed myself in my hard leather jacket. “I need to go.”

“How? The place is warded by Abigail’s celestial magic,” Xavier reminded me.

As if I needed the reminder. I’d come prepared. It was why I’d called this jacket to me when I didn’t need the warmth over the top of my black tee.

I pulled a vial of blood from the inside pocket and showed it to the two of them. “Alena’s blood. I kept some extra on hand. Just in case.”

“Orpheus,” X grunted, shaking his head.

“Hers is the only magic I can’t battle and win out against. It was a precaution. And look, it’s come in handy, hasn’t it?”

“Fine, yes. Yes, it has.”

Marlowe stepped forward. “This is too dangerous.”

“The enemy has breached our territory. Nothing is too dangerous. I need to defend our home, our kingdom, our people.”

“Then I’ll go with you.”

“There’s only enough blood for one of us to break through the ward.”

“Then let it be me.”

“I’m a great deal stronger and you know that’s what’s needed right now.”

He cursed.

“Wait,” X said, coming to me. “I’ll call Abigail to briefly drop her ward around the property like she did earlier for Professor Marlowe to enter,” Xavier said.

“And how long will it take to get a hold of her this time?” I popped the vial and drank down Alena’s blood.

“Orpheus—” Marlowe started.

I shook my head.

“Waiting isn’t an option. The time is now.”

With that, I teleported out.

I pulled up short as I soared through the DFR gates, hovering at the start of the bridge that led up to the palace.

No.

Dozens of bodies littered the first few feet.

Dismembered, some with their hearts ripped out, others decapitated, their blood pooling all over and even dripping down into the dark, jagged rocks of the canyon either side.

Bile rose in my throat at the sight of the fallen—my people—and how brutally they’d been massacred by that monster.

Beyond them, the picture didn’t get any better.

There were another several fucking hundred frozen there mid-fight, their weapons brandished, a sea of the silver and black body armor of the Dark Fae Army with its special shimmering Duariam metal safeguarding them, bands crisscrossing their chests with an image of my father’s crown etched into the center of a large silver oval clasp.

A telltale crimson red film enveloped them all.

His power was immense to be able to hold back our army and to continue to at that.

It shouldn’t be possible, and as I looked closer, I realized that it actually wasn’t.

Not entirely.

There were flecks of black there in the film, indicating his use of black magic, not merely his own dark power set.

It was his black magic usage that was biting us all in the ass, that was running roughshod over us all.

It had to end.

We needed a strategy centered around it, not avoidance of said dangerous subject.

It wasn’t working.

More than that, it was costing us so much.

No more.

I took in the turrets high on top of the palace ahead and he’d also managed to immobilize the gargoyles too. Fuck.

They were supreme assets in battle.

I rapidly formulated my strategy, considering working on breaking Constantine’s hold on the Dark Fae Army. I looked out at Cassius there, frozen mid-strike with his broadsword, his expression set in hard determination.

No, if I freed them, for one, it would take time, and the untold damage that Constantine could do here in that time was too great. Secondly, he’d be able to feel it, which would alert him to the presence of another enemy target. And, thirdly, a good portion of the army still lived. They were safe now in this state, not currently a threat to Constantine and his agenda. If I released them, that would all change and many more would fall.

I needed to go this alone, to approach covertly and carefully.

Given that he was a vampire, that meant cloaking my movements, so I called my power and swept it the length of myself, employing just that. He wouldn’t be able to hear, see, or scent me. It did mean that I couldn’t fly over the kingdom, because the flap of my wings would move and disturb the air, something he would feel.

So, I touched down on the bridge and maneuvered around the army, heading for the palace.

As soon as I made it inside through the huge entrance doors, commotion drew my attention.

I listened carefully and determined that it was the echo of voices coming from the dungeons.

I made my way through the space, following the corridor past the main living room, then making a sharp right turn into the throne room, a space my father used to hold court and to issue decrees, scare the living hell out of detractors… the whole power play of a royal in his element at the seat of his power—quite literally in this case.

I walked to the throne itself, a shimmering silver chair that extended half-way up to the vaulted ceilings, complete with onyx snakes etched into the arms and encircling both those and the legs of the mammoth thing. It made quite the statement.

I went to the candelabra just to the right side of it and I twisted one of the sconces.

A moment later, a trapdoor opened behind the throne.

It was a secret access point into the dungeons.

For my father’s purpose, it was an emergency escape, as a tunnel led out from the dungeon level to a portal out of the Dark Fae Realm that only royalty, his Commander, and the Court were aware of.

I descended the steps, going deeper beneath the palace, commotion growing ever louder, until, as I reached the edge of the arched entrance into the main space that consisted of gray stone cells either side, it became distinctive.

“Put your back into it, almighty one.”

“You are the one who wrought this and caused this predicament by keeping me weakened for far too long. It’s clearly taking its toll.”

“Clearly. However, it was worth it, as it makes you no threat to me.”

“Your hubris grows dangerous, hybrid.”

My father!

He was here with Constantine.

Under duress and he’d said he was weakened too.

“The only danger will befall you if you do not unearth it very soon, Saryan.”

I frowned, keeping my back tight against the wall.

Unearth what?

I had no knowledge of anything being down here, but prisoners.

Although, right now, with the state of emergency, that wasn’t even the case. As per protocol, they would have been moved to a prison far from the palace, which was obviously the chief target during an attack.

My father and his fucking secrets. We were one in the same when it came to that.

I peered around the rough stone wall, the sight making my gut clench, my fists too.

There were two dozen acolytes all donning their hoodless crimson robes encircling my father and Constantine who were in the center.

These were the magic-wielder section of the madman’s followers, all of them with their palms aflame, their magic directed my father’s way in warning.

Fuckers.

And there my father was on his knees as Constantine stood over him.

The great and almighty Saryan Hart brought to his knees was a difficult sight to stomach.

His palms were hovering over the floor, his silver magic only emitting small sparks.

He was weakened. Severely.

His short, spiky black hair was disheveled, as were his silver leather pants and his black shirt, both caked in dirt and sweat, and the latter ripped and half hanging off him.

“The Orb of Vorlav! Now!” Constantine suddenly shouted, losing his patience.

The Orb? Here?

Fuck me. That thing was dangerous beyond belief. No wonder my father hadn’t even told me of its whereabouts. The ramifications should it be unearthed by the wrong person would be absolutely catastrophic. Something we were right on the verge of experiencing now.

This could not fucking happen.

I saw the floor open from my father’s magic, and I caught sight of the Orb being levitated slightly from its hiding place buried beneath the earth and clearly also beneath layers upon layers of my father’s magic. It spun as it hovered there, golden light emanating from it and catching the flames of the torches about the place.

Miraculous.

A celestial object existing on the lower plane.

When my father made no further move, the strain on him obvious to leave it hovering there barely free of its confines, Constantine snarled, “We made a blood vow. Something you insisted upon so that your son would live. If you do not hand the Orb over, you will die from breaking the vow.”

A dark look flitted over my father’s face and he looked up at Constantine. “The vow was to reveal the location of the Orb to you, not to hand it over.”

“You manipulative fool!” Constantine raged.

My cue came in the next moment as he went to strike my father.

I spun and fired a bolt of my purple flames, hitting him in the gut.

He choked and staggered, his eyes wide in surprise, and darting all around, trying to locate me.

“Orpheus!” my father cried, recognizing my magic instantly. “Go! Get out of here now!”

The hell I would.

I wasn’t losing him again.

And Constantine wasn’t winning this time.

I swept my magic in two arcs, ripping into the two dozen acolytes and downing them all at once at the force of my power.

I might not be up to full strength after what had happened with Xavier, but I held a mammoth amount of power at the best of times. I could still do a lot of damage like this, even not at my best. Enough damage to end this insanity here with Constantine looking to abscond with the Orb of Vorlav.

“Foolish Prince,” Constantine gritted out as he recovered himself and squeezed his eyes shut for a moment.

In the next, they snapped open and a bolt of his crimson fire slammed into me, propelling me into the wall and knocking out my cloaking.

I pushed off it, firing at will at his acolytes as a few of them struggled to their feet and took attack positions.

Screams filled the space as I tore into them, punishing, brutalizing, and burning them with my power.

Constantine roared and fired at me again, but I conjured a shield with my left hand, deflecting his magic just in time.

His eyes flamed and he delivered blow after blow, the impact of each one making my shield shudder under the extreme pressure as they rained down upon it.

I couldn’t continue firing upon his acolytes through it and he had me forced into a defensive position.

Motherfuck.

In my peripheral vision, I saw some of the acolytes coming at my father, going for the Orb. He blasted a couple of them back, while cradling it in his free hand. But he didn’t have the stamina or strength to keep it up in his current state, and in moments, he was dodging blows and resorting to hand-to-hand.

He wouldn’t last like that.

“You are outmatched, Dark Prince,” Constantine called to me.

In the next moment, he threw a bolt of black magic my way.

I braced myself, then shot out my hand and caught it in my palm.

His eyes went wide and I smirked. “Am I?”

I felt it burn my skin upon contact, felt its urge to burrow deeper, to join with me, for me to let it in.

I gritted my teeth, then levitated it in front of me, swirling it around and around, gathering speed, upping its intensity. I swallowed down the need to choke as I wielded it, growing its power, feeling it touching me within, wanting a master in me.

That was exactly what I gave it.

I would never be a slave to it.

I shoved my shield forward with a roar, breaking Constantine’s crimson stream, and then I fired the black magic back at him.

It blew him off his feet and through the solid stone wall behind him.

“Fires of Hades,” I heard my father say, and I spun to see him looking out at me in awe, even as he battled the acolytes.

I rushed to him and handed him my shield.

As my blood family, he could wield my magic in this way, at least temporarily.

“We can’t run. He’ll just chase,” my father warned me.

“I agree. We need to defend. But you’re in no state to fight. Stay behind my shield with the Orb.”

“To take him down wholly, son, you’ll need to ingest a great deal more black magic. I won’t have it.”

“We just need to hold him off until Exemplar gets here. Marlowe will get word.” I gave him a withering look. “You know, the guy you had spying on your son?”

“I make no apologies. If you actually thought I could truly let go of you for three years, you were sorely mistaken. You are my son. My everything, Orpheus.”

“How disgustingly touching,” Constantine’s voice sounded, a moment before he burst from the rubble.

I reacted quickly, decimating the rest of his acolytes so they were no longer an irritating added problem, or a threat to my father while I dealt with their false god.

I eased my father into the corner with my shield, then I stepped forward, both my palms aflame with my purple power.

“Speaking of touching, you should know that Alena Rose now belongs to me.”

I scoffed. “Trying to get under my skin to trip me up is a disappointingly pedestrian tactic for you.”

“It’s merely a statement of fact. I’ve made her mine and she’ll remain so.”

“You’re brainwashing her, controlling her. There’s no meaning in that.”

“No meaning? I’m not so sure about that. It certainly felt meaningful when she opened her sweet little thighs for me and welcomed me deep.”

I started, a chill running down my spine. “You didn’t.”

“Didn’t what? Take her? Like I said, she’s mine.”

“Not of her own free will!” I roared.

“Orpheus, not now,” my father warned.

Constantine smirked, then licked his lips. “She was delicious.”

Motherfucker!

I started forward, only to be pulled up short by my father’s voice sounding in my head as he mind-linked with me.

“You attack like this and he will prevail. Reason and stratagem are imperative. You are better than him in every way. Demonstrate that. You are my son. Show him what that truly means.”

I nodded and sucked in a steadying breath, my eyes narrowing.

I acted first, thrusting my magic forward, streaming it forth.

Constantine returned fire, streaming right back at me, our magic colliding.

It was so ferocious, it had me jarring as the sheer power of it slammed into me.

“You’re strong, youngling, I’ll give you that. Of course, you can’t win against me, but it should satisfy your ego that you did a phenomenal job trying.”

“He speaks in falsities. Your power is greater than most beings on this earth. You’re special, son. You can defeat his dark power with your own. I have no doubt.”

I let my father’s words roll through me, then I pushed forward with a roar, my stream forcing back Constantine’s.

Satisfaction betook me as I saw real worry flare in his eyes.

Especially when I did it again, driving him back physically, along with his magic.

“Your age… you shouldn’t be able to…” he grunted.

I saw him move to call his black magic into play, but he couldn’t while struggling to hold back my streaming

He threw his head back, his creepy white eyes swirling as he bellowed, “Come to me!”

With him calling for reinforcements, I mind-linked my father.

“Get out of here with the Orb. If you can make it to Abigail’s home, the ward will keep him out and protect you and the celestial object.”

I could see his utter resistance to take off and leave me to deal with the insanely dangerous being before us, to leave his Kingdom while it was under attack.

He looked down at the Orb and back at me, and whatever crossed his mind then had him move to take off.

But he never made it as gold power exploded through the area, ripping me off my feet and snuffing out my magic.

I careened across the floor, gritting my teeth at the brutal impact.

Before I could look out to see how my father had fared, Constantine was there in a burst of vampiric speed, trapping me in a body hold, pinning my arms down, even as I fought to call my power again.

And I wouldn’t stop until I managed it, until I overpowered his vampiric strength, then drove him to his fucking knees and beyond.

Or so I thought, until he roughly turned my head and I saw none other than Alena standing there, her palms aflame with her magic.

Magic aimed my way, her gaze narrowed on me.

She looked like an angel of vengeance who’d come to deliver a reckoning.

Upon me.

Motherfuck, the utter state of her.

Half-naked in black leather lingerie—a barely there bra and panties—with a robe matching Constantine’s hanging off her shoulders. Her hair was all wild and mussed and there was a studded collar around her neck, the red studs glowing with Constantine’s power.

“I came, Master. Was it quick enough? Are you hurt?”

I felt fucking sick as she uttered those words to him.

“No, you did well. Now hold the Dark Prince immobilized while I take what I need from him.”

Her gaze flicked to me, and I saw recognition for a moment, maybe a bit of concern for me too.

“Alena. Now,” Constantine growled.

She blinked and smiled brightly at him.

And then her magic was surrounding me, binding me to the floor, forcing me to stay down.

I heard the telltale snap of fangs dropping, and then I was jolting as Constantine buried his in my throat.

He drew hard and brutally.

“Cease!” my father cried.

He didn’t even get the chance to run to me, because Alena blasted him with her magic.

It sent him smashing through one of the walls, rubble piling down on top of him and burying him beneath.

“Father!”

I struggled against my binds and Constantine’s fucking fangs in my throat as I watched Alena stalk over to the pile of rubble where my father now lay unmoving.

He pulled them out, then I watched him slip a small bottle from inside his robe, open it, then spit my blood filling his mouth into it, before he then sealed it up.

What was going on?

“Leave him and take the Orb,” he called out to Alena, drawing my attention right back to her. It was trying enough as it was not to lose it now that she was right here in front of me. “The Dark Fae King needs to remain alive. His usefulness cannot be denied, unfortunately.”

“As you wish,” she responded sweetly, giving him her fuck-me eyes in the process.

Urgh. Seeing her do that to a man who wasn’t me, X, or Tal, made me fucking sick, made me want to fucking well rage.

And more than all that… it hurt.

It hurt so much to see the woman I’d opened my heart to—more than I’d even truly allowed myself to realize—with this maniac, this irredeemable monster, to see him using her like this, making her his plaything.

The way she was acting, the way she followed his every command happily, she was like his doll. She clearly was barely even here in true reality.

“Alena!” I called out, struggling to pull my wrist a little lower so I could call my power. “Take the Orb and head home. The boys are there. They miss you. We all miss you. Hear me, little angel.”

She jolted and stilled with scooping up the Orb from my father’s unconscious form.

“Alena? Do you—”

Constantine’s boot smashed into my face, grazing my skin and mouth, making me grunt and spit out blood.

“He’s manipulating you yet again, darling princess. Remember that I warned you he’d try to do something like this to you. He wants your power for his side, to stop us, to stop me from doing what needs to be done.”

She stared back and forth between the two of us for a moment.

“Little angel, we’re bonded together. Don’t let him fracture that. He’s a monster. Deep down you must still recognize that.”

He walked to her and tipped her chin up, gazing into her eyes as the red studs in the collar around her neck flamed.

As she stared back at him, I noticed the black flecks in her eyes—signs of black magic infection. “Have I ever hurt you? Have I ever lied to you? Unlike him?”

“No,” she murmured, blinking rapidly, before saying more certainly, “No, you haven’t.”

Then she sneered at me and turned and retrieved the Orb.

I managed to call my power to my right hand and I fired it at Constantine, but Alena spun and caught it with her own golden power.

I cursed as she pushed against my magic, her power so incredible that holding her off had my hand trembling.

And then it got worse.

I watched as, at the point where our streams connected, my magic started to disintegrate.

Her ability to destroy dark magic.

“Alena, stop!” I called.

She didn’t.

Constantine caught my eye and smirked.

And then he came up behind her while she was distracted and swept his red glow over her, and I watched a glamour disintegrate.

I choked out a gasp at what had been hidden beneath.

Black veins all over her body.

“You’re destroying her.”

“Of course not,” he lied, grinning. “She’s mine to attend to.”

“He takes care of me,” she told me. “And you tried to hurt him!”

She pushed harder and then I was crying out as she destroyed my stream, her gold magic slamming into me, burning into me.

“Make him suffer, but keep him alive. Unfortunately, I’m bound by a blood vow,” Constantine told her.

Pulses of her power blasted me over and over, until I was writhing in her binds on the floor and fighting not to give them the satisfaction by crying out in agony.

It was like being levelled by an army and burned from the inside out at the same time.

She was merciless and fucking relentless, and it didn’t take long before I was on the verge of losing consciousness, her punishment threatening to shut my body down.

And then a burst of white light lit up everything.

Abigail Rose materialized from a cloud of teleportation, taking in the situation quickly, looking horrified and incensed at the same time as she absorbed everything, specifically the state of her daughter, and Constantine behind Alena and licking her throat, making her moan out for him right in front of us.

It was beyond demented.

Everything about this situation was.

He wasn’t just manipulating Alena with sexuality and also taunting her mother, he was using Alena as a human shield against Abigail.

Before she could get past the utter shock—and disgust—of it all, Constantine used it well to his advantage, snatched Alena around the waist, then took off in a blur of speed.

Her magic binding me to the ground dissipated and I staggered to my feet, looking out where they had been but moments ago.

Now long gone.

In more ways than one.