Chapter 32

Chapter 32

F ey awoke to the scream of an alarm.

Ordinarily, the sound of the perimeter alarm being triggered would have had her awake and armed within seconds. But her weakened state made her slow, and coming out of her deep sleep felt like fighting through mud.

Fey groaned, rolling to her side to speed her rise to consciousness. She was still partially wrapped in the blanket, and someone had placed a pillow under her head while she slept. The alarm screeched incessantly before abruptly going silent.

It was one of Joy's additions, the alarm. She'd installed them in every one of their safe houses, even before Alice's murder. But the alarm was never triggered on the night of Alice's death. Just another mystery about that night that had never made sense.

In the sudden quiet the alarm's absence left, Fey heard the apartment door open and slam.

"Joy?" Fey called out. "Willow?"

Nothing. Somewhere in the building a crash sounded, and the spike in adrenaline burned the last modicum of sleep from Fey's body. She cursed, flinging the blanket off herself and getting to her feet.

Her uniform was nowhere to be found, but someone had left her blades next to the bed, and Fey retreated to her bedroom to grab them, comforted by the weight of her familiar weapons. She didn't bother to put on pants, didn't bother putting anything on over her loose T-shirt and panties. Nothing here would deflect much of a weapon, anyway, and getting dressed meant losing even more time.

The apartment was empty. In the time it had taken her to wake up enough to even realize the alarm was sounding, her sisters had managed to arm themselves and leave to assess the threat. They hadn't bothered waking her, probably believing in her state that she was more likely to be a liability than a resource.

Fuck that.

After eating an entire pizza on her own and making a substantial dent in another, Fey was already feeling stronger. If they were in danger, she sure as fuck wasn't staying here snuggled in a blanket cocoon. Taking a deep breath to steady herself, Fey leaned against the apartment door to listen and quietly eased the door open.

The hallway was empty.

This particular apartment complex of theirs had three floors, and each floor housed four fully furnished units. The entire building was empty, though, save for them, and all their safe houses around the city—around the realm , really—were the same. The Crown owned and maintained these buildings to give the Queen's Blades and royal family a place to lay low when necessary.

An alarm meant someone had entered the building by force. Only a handful of people knew the locations and door codes to their safe houses—Dameon, of course, and the Queen and the treasurer responsible for all the building payments and upkeep. Their safe houses were a closely guarded secret. That remained one of the biggest mysteries surrounding Alice's death. She'd been at a safe house, should have been safe and protected. But someone had found her there, someone had known the location and set up the explosives that took her out without triggering any of their alarms.

Somewhere in the building, Fey could make out the faint sounds of fighting, followed by a very audible crash as something made of glass shattered. Sprinting to the stairwell, Fey leaped over the handrailing, calling on Air to slow her fall just before she landed on the first floor. The sound of fighting was clearer now, and Fey readied herself for violence as she flung the door open to the lobby.

Nothing, however, prepared her for what she saw there.

Willow and Lilith were in their fighting leathers, masked but with no cowls covering their hair. They, at least, must have reacted to the alarm immediately and had taken the time to outfit themselves for a fight.

The furniture around the lobby lay splintered and broken against the perimeter of the room, and it looked like a tornado had hit the interior of the building. Even the floor tiles were damaged, and scorch marks marred the ceiling. The floor-to-ceiling windows and glass front door had all been shattered, and though they remained in place, not a single piece of glass wasn't covered in spiderweb fractures.

But it was the intruder who stopped Fey in her tracks, the intruder who almost made her knees buckle in shock.

" Alastair ?" Fey whispered, stunned.

The Vampire had Lilith pinned to the wall with one massive hand crushing her throat, her feet dangling helplessly above the floor. Willow was clasped to his back, her legs wrapped around his midsection. One of her hands gripped his hair, pulling his head backward, and the other held her blade to his throat.

"Let my sister go !" Willow screamed. Lilith's legs kicked ineffectually at the wall behind her, her eyes vaguely unfocused and panicked. She was suffocating, Fey realized.

" Tell me where she is!" Alastair roared, his persuasion rolling through the air in a wave of pure power.

"No one knows who the fuck you're talking about, you absolute psycho!" Willow shouted back at him. "Let her go!"

Rage twisted in Fey's chest, power swirling through her and rising.

"Drop her right now, Alastair," Fey snarled, and the Vampire's head whipped towards her.

"Fey?" he asked. His hand immediately loosened around Lilith's throat, and she drew a deep, strained breath. The blade Willow held at his throat was now pressed tight enough to his skin to draw a line of blood, vivid red against the pale white of his neck, but he didn't seem to notice. His eyes were entirely focused on where Fey stood, and his gaze held an intensity that burned into her.

He stared at Fey like she was the only person in the room, eyes heating as he took in what little clothing she wore. Stared at her right up until the very moment Lilith wrapped her hands around his wrist and called Fire.

Alastair howled in pain as Lilith's hands burned into his wrist and he flung her aside. Lilith hit the ground hard, but still managed to roll skillfully into a crouch, agile as a cat.

"You'll have to do a hell of a lot better than that, handsome," Lilith told him in a mocking voice, drawing her blades from their sheaths at her side. "Willow, be a dear and go ahead and slit this asshole's throat."

"Gladly," Willow replied, adjusting her arm, but Alastair's hand closed over her wrist faster than Fey's eyes could register, holding the blade an inch from his skin. Fey's chest tightened, knowing her little sister wasn't a match for a Vamp as strong and quick as him. It would take no effort at all for him to snap her delicate wrist like a twig.

"That's ENOUGH !"

The blast of air that hit them was strong enough to knock all three of them backward, flinging Willow from Alastair's back. She hit the glass door, and the spiderweb cracks spread even further from the impact. Lilith hit the window hard enough to finally break the glass free from the metal frame, and the huge sheet of glass hit the ground outside and shattered. Alastair alone remained upright, though the blast of wind took him down to one knee.

Joy stalked into the room, unclasping her mask and flinging it aside, her uncovered hair trailing behind her like a cape. A storm raged in her blue eyes, and the fury that came from her was palpable enough to feel almost physical.

"What the fuck do you two think you're doing?" she snapped, pointing her finger at Lilith like it was a weapon.

"Our jobs ," Lilith snarled back, struggling to her feet, glass shards cracking beneath her. "This Vamp broke into our safe house ."

"And what, you just attacked him? You didn't bother to ask what he was doing here? Why he broke in?"

"He's a Vampire ," Willow whined, as though that was enough of an explanation to absolve them of any blame. She rubbed the back of her head where it had hit the window.

"He's Fey's Vampire," Joy answered.

"Wait, no—he's not Fey's anything ," Fey insisted. All three of her sisters turned to look at her, as though just now noticing her there.

But Alastair hadn't stopped staring at her from the moment he'd seen her.

"Where have you been?" he hissed, ignoring everyone else in the room. He stood, and Fey was pleased to see Joy's power had left him slightly shaky.

"Oh no, we're asking the questions here," Lilith said in a dark and deadly voice, circling him. "Starting with how you found this place. And I'd talk fast, my sister isn't the patient type, and I already promised her she could slit your throat, so…"

Willow smirked, and Alastair finally took his eyes off Fey to look at Lilith.

" You showed me where this place was," he purred to her. And Lilith's teeth visibly clenched. "You were so easy to follow, it didn't even take a week to track you down. I've had my staff on alert for you—for any of you—since last night, and one of them spotted you this afternoon. In a pizza place."

"Why?" Fey asked, suspicion and anger in her voice. "Why in all hell did you have people out looking for us?"

"I've been calling you," Alastair snarled. A dark red bead of blood welled in the cut at his neck, and as he spoke it dripped down to rest in the grove of his collarbone. "Three weeks, Fey. For three fucking weeks you've been gone. Poof , like you fucking vanished, without a word."

"Sweetie, maybe you're just not as memorable in bed as you think," Lilith teased, but Fey shot her a warning glare, and she went quiet with a smirk.

"I lost my phone," Fey said, a hard finality to her voice.

It wasn't a lie. At some point, either in the fight with the Shifter or when she'd plummeted off a cliff and into the river, her phone had been lost. Though, she hadn't given any thought to Alastair in the last three weeks, hadn't even considered that he would trying to contact her .

"But even if I hadn't, I don't belong to you," Fey continued. "And I don't owe you an explanation for vanishing ."

"What about a real name? Do you owe me that?" Alastair snarled. "Because you sure as fuck didn't bother even bother with that, did you, Fey ?"

The room went quiet. A dangerous quiet, the frightening stillness before a storm.

"What do you mean I didn't give you a real name?" The question came out as nonchalantly as she could make it, but even Fey could hear the threat in her voice. Alastair was very close to something he should let go of, for his safety.

"When I couldn't get a hold of you, I got worried. So, guess what I did? I looked into you, Fey , and what do you know? You don't even fucking exist ."

Fey shrugged, hoping he didn't register the rise in her pulse. Hoping he couldn't hear the deafening beat of her heart. "You said Phillip was a ghost, too—just because your contacts can't find anything on me doesn't mean any?—"

"No," Alastair interrupted. "No, they couldn't find any dirt on him, but you know what they did find? A job. A residence. A fucking family. But you?" He gestured to her and laughed, a dark cruel laugh without a hint of humor. "You're an actual fucking ghost. You're a nobody. All of you are." He looked around at them, face twisted in anger. "I didn't show up here because you didn't answer the phone after we fucked , Witchling. I showed up here because you used me to get information, and you didn't even bother to give me your real fucking name ."

"Oh shit, you did fuck him," Willow whispered.

Lilith took a step closer, and Alastair spun toward her, eyes fiery and fangs bared. "Try it, Witch, and see where it gets you."

Lilith took another step, a savage smile spreading across her face. "Gladly, leech."

"Enough!" shouted Fey. She pointed at Lilith. "You, back the fuck down right now, and you." She moved her arm to point at Alastair. "I don't owe you shit . But for the record, my name is Fey . You said you could smell lies, right? That is my name and has always been my name. Tell me if I'm fucking lying. "

Alastair calmed slightly, but only enough to seemingly assess what was truly happening. Knowing Lilith and Willow, they likely jumped him the moment he'd gotten into the building, and in the rush of the attack, Alastair hadn't had a chance to evaluate his situation. He looked around at them, then, really looked at them all one by one. Lilith, rage, and violence contorting her face. Willow, her knife now at her side but its blade smeared with his blood. Joy, who stood among the wreckage of the lobby, was dangerously quiet. Three of them were in their fighting leathers. And all four of them had failed to activate the spell that hid their Blade's marks from view. He took it all in, as he looked at them.

And, finally, Alastair's eyes came to rest on Fey.

"What are you?" he asked, his voice low.

"Exactly what you said," Fey answered. She held her blades at her side, letting him see her— all of her. The oversized T-shirt didn't cover her arms, didn't cover the sigils and blade branded there. "I'm a ghost."

Alastair swallowed, then glanced between them all again and asked softly. "Your… sisters?"

Willow growled, baring her teeth at him as he turned his gaze on her, but Fey gave a small nod.

"Yes. My sisters."

She watched him put it together. She saw the moment it clicked into place, and he saw her, really saw her, for who she was.

"I wasn't lying, you know," Fey told him with a sheepish smile, under the heavy weight of his gaze. "I did lose my phone. I had no idea you were trying to reach me."

He nodded, clearly not listening. Then he ran his hands through his hair and let out a long exhale of breath. He looked at the room around them, at the damage they'd caused with their fight.

"Fuck," he said. " Fuck ."

Yeah, that pretty much summed it up , Fey thought.

Alastair turned to Lilith. "I shouldn't have had you followed," he admitted begrudgingly.

"No, you fucking shouldn't have," she snapped back.

"I didn't…" He stopped. "I didn't know that you were… didn't know you all were—" He tipped his head back. " Fuck ," he said, again.

"Yeah," agreed Fey .

Then, suddenly, he laughed, eyes still closed. "I thought you were a myth, you know that? The Blades? I never believed you were real."

Willow made a noise from behind him.

"We should kill him," she said, decidedly.

"Agreed," said Lilith at the same time Joy snapped, " Willow !"

"What?" Willow asked her, sounding indignant. "Fey, he fucking stalked you . I don't care what your reasoning is—" She gestured with her blade at Alastair. "That's fucking creepy , dude. So, she slept with you, big fucking deal, that doesn't give you the right to track her down like she's your lost pet or something. And now this site is compromised, and he knows who we are. A Vampire knows who we are. He's a liability, and I think we should kill him."

"She's right," said Alastair, glancing back at her. "About being creepy, not about needing to kill me. What the fuck is wrong with you, you crazy Witch?"

Willow bared her teeth at him again. "I'm not crazy, I'm practical ."

"And she's right that I've compromised this site," Alastair continued. "But I'm not a liability. I won't tell anyone who you are. What you are."

"And how are we supposed to believe that?" Lilith asked.

Alastair shrugged. "Believe what you want. But I have no hate for the Crown or the Queen, and no one I'd sell this information to, even if I wanted to."

"The Fallen King would pay dearly for it," Joy said in a dangerously quiet voice, and Fey winced to think of what would happen if the Vampire Patriarch knew the names and identities of the Queen's Blades. They wouldn't be able to leave the palace, unmasked, for risk of being jumped.

Alastair laughed darkly. "Oh, I know he would. And he's the last person I'd want to help, trust me. There isn't enough money in the world he could give me to piss on him if he were on fire."

"But that could change," Joy challenged. "People change. Five years from now, you might not feel the same way and selling us out might sound very tempting."

"And what will this information be worth in five years, when I'll have no guarantee any of you are even alive?" Alastair asked. "I don't know a lot about your Faction, but I know enough to imagine that the Queen's Blades don't live very long. In five years, you could all be dead, and knowing your names and what you look like wouldn't be worth shit to anyone, not even him."

Joy chewed her lip thoughtfully. Lilith snorted, something she only did when she was losing an argument.

"So…" Willow asked, hesitantly. "We're not going to kill him?"

When they all turned to look at her, she snapped, "What? I'm just asking!"

"Do you…" Lilith sighed, exasperated. She sheathed her blades and crossed her arms over her chest. "Do you want to stay for pizza or something?"

Alastair's mouth opened in shock, and Lilith huffed. "You're Fey's boyfriend now, right? And you're already here, you fucking stalker."

He laughed at that, and his golden eyes sparkled when he looked at Fey.

"Boyfriend, huh?" he asked, slipping his hands into his pockets.

"Fuck no," she snapped.

"As tempting as that sounds, no," Alastair said to Lilith, ignoring Fey's quick protest. "No, I should go. And so should all of you. If I could find you, so could anyone," he warned. "Especially with the, uh—mess we've made of this place."

"He's right," Joy said, "We need to go. This site isn't safe anymore. We should head back to the palace. Fey has healed enough to be moved, and it'll be safer there."

Fey sighed, letting her head fall back against the wall. She'd liked this place. The bath was big enough to stretch all the way out, and that was a luxury she wasn't thrilled to give up.

Willow wiped Alastair's blood off her blade. "Fine," she said. "But we're bringing the pizzas."