TARNISHED (Book 5.5, The Caged Series (Novella)) (3 page)

With a single blow, he flew out of the makeshift tent, far into the field surrounding it. The brothers had gathered, but none interceded. In retrospect, I should have held him, questioned him, tortured him, and once I had extracted the information I desired, killed him. Instead, I cut to the end without a single thought. I never said a word to him, just crushed his skull with my bare hands until there was nothing left but my palms pressing against one another with a thick coat of blood running off of them.

“Aniketos,” Sophie called from behind me.

I turned to see her standing before me, pale and weak, but unafraid of what she saw—what I had done. She approached me carefully, knowing that I hadn't fully come back from my rage. With a single hand on my back, she let me know that things were going to be fine.

“You must go,” she softly ordered. “Ares was very clear about things. He wants you to put an end to this. It must be you, Aniketos. The wolves all fear you. To you, they will listen.”

I looked down at my hands, coated in the blood of the fey, and growled, knowing that she was right. The wolves would fear me even more when I arrived in a blood-soaked rage. I hadn't satisfied my need for punishment with that single kill. I wanted more, and I wanted it quickly.

Grabbing her fiercely, I kissed her, not caring who was still hovering around the gruesomeness that had just occurred. I would have laid her down right there, but she pried herself away, demanding I do my duty first. Always duty first.

“Jerzyr will stay behind,” I said, turning to him as I gave the command. “You will keep her safe, or you will die.”

He nodded once in response before I turned to run and catch up to the others who had continued on while I had raced back to protect and avenge the one who truly understood me. The one responsible for making me what I was. And as I ran, I thought about Isadora, the one I could not protect.

But I would avenge her too.

So much time had passed and still a chill ran through me as I thought of her cold, pale face as she died in my arms. I swallowed those feelings, stuffing them down to rot in the void. There was no time for sadness and grief. There was only time for retribution and death.

And, for those responsible, there would be much of both.

The Plan

As far as the wolves were concerned, our peacekeeping efforts were exceedingly successful. One look at my out-for-blood expression and the alphas were extremely compliant with my demands. The fact that I strangled one of them upon our arrival until his eyes nearly popped out seemed to offer them further encouragement to play nice with one another. Lastly, I explained that if I had to return, I would be far less forgiving. Their paling faces shook vehemently in agreement before we went our separate ways.

In the time it took us to return home and report back to Ares, I thought about one thing and one thing only―vengeance. Knowing that Ares' suspicion had been correct all along, that it had been the fey that attacked Isadora, I fumed at the time lost. The fairies should have been handled long before they had a chance to go after one of ours again.

It was time to right that wrong.

There would be no diplomatic approach, no meeting like the one I had just left. There would be carnage and nothing else. Once the brothers learned of what had happened to Sophie, they would be enthusiastic to follow my lead.

When I told Ares of what had happened, he gave the official orders as though I needed them; I would have proceeded the same way without them. He decreed that the fey were to be hunted down and massacred. Not a soul to be left alive at the end. The task was made easier knowing that they were a tightly knit breed and never ventured too far apart. They also never wandered far from their king, from whom they gained their strength in magic. Though their powers were impressive, even deadly for some, they were not accomplished fighters. Most had lived relatively peaceful lives without disturbance—but that was all about to change. Once we located them, their deaths would be imminent.

The thought brought me immense satisfaction.

“You will leave when the others arrive. I have dispatched notice for many of them to return. We cannot spare them all, of course, but you will have a small army at your disposal, not that you should need it,” Ares informed me as we walked the grounds of our secluded town. “You must do something else, Aniketos, once they are dead...so that they may not rise again.”

“What do you require of me?” I replied, studying his expression.

He smiled in response.

“You have truly become what I had envisioned, haven't you? You are exactly as I was before He came and lowered me to my current station, lessening my greatness. But you...you I can use to do all that I would have done had I not lost what was taken from me. And I believe I have your mate to thank for most of this. She calls to your warrior, Aniketos. She calls to that which will make you the greatest power this world has ever seen. Let him out, fully. Do not fight to contain him. Lose whatever shred of civility you clutch to your chest and set him free. There will be no stopping you then. You and I will create this world as we want it. It will be ours to play in.”

“What do you require?” I repeated, reminding him of the job at hand. Accolades could wait. My vengeance could not.

“Always duty first,” he replied with a wry smile. “You must collect their essences. I will give you a vessel with which you can do that. Once you have them all, it must be sealed and remain unopened. This is crucial. Do you understand me?”

“It must remain sealed.”

“Good, now, to find what you must, you have to remove their hearts. Do this carefully. You must not disrupt the light...”

“The light?”

“Yes, the light from within them. That is their essence and what needs to be removed. Handle them with care. They are delicate and fragile.”

“So? If it breaks, won't they die? Be unable to regenerate?”

His expression changed from one of pride to one of contempt.

“Are you questioning my orders?”

“No.”

“Then just bring me what I have asked for. You don't need to know all the finer details, nor do I have the patience to impart them upon you. Do as I ask, how I ask it, and all will be well.”

I nodded once and turned to leave, sensing my dismissal.

“And, Aniketos,” Ares called from behind me. “You must leave Sophie behind this time. Whatever losses we take will have to be considered a consequence of war. We cannot put her in harm's way like that again.”

“Agreed,” I replied before continuing home. In a matter of days I would be gone to decimate the fey. Until then, I was going home to claim what was mine.

The Annihilation

It didn't take nearly as long as I had anticipated to find the fey. It was as if they weren't aware that there would be consequences for what they had done. In light of their cavalier behavior, I decided that we could carry out Ares' instructions and enjoy ourselves in the process. Torment was the order of the day.

We picked off a couple of stragglers to start with. While it instilled fear into those who wondered what had happened to their brethren who had disappeared without a trace, it also afforded us the opportunity to slowly and methodically find their essences. Those were of utmost importance to Ares, and I tucked them away for safekeeping per his orders. As tension mounted, it became apparent that the fey were getting ready to flee whatever power was causing their own kind to go missing.

I had no intention of letting that happen.

Though they may have been aware that an unenviable fate approached them, it changed nothing. One by one, they met it anyway. We plucked off the lesser fey easily at first, making a game of it, taunting the others. By the time full realization of their eradication befell them, it was too late. Not even their beloved king could save them—not that he bothered trying. He remained hidden while his people screamed his name as their lives faded.

With every one of them that fell, my bloodlust grew. And death was no longer enough to quench it. Pain and suffering were both ripped from my enemies in an attempt to assuage the emptiness left behind when my soul finally—truly—abandoned me.

When we were finished, their precious land was riddled with their already-rotting corpses. We worked quickly to collect the rest of what Ares demanded, gathering their essences to ensure that there could be no bringing them back. The fey weren't necessarily the most powerful of the supernaturals, but they were resilient and resourceful. Had even one escaped, that lone fey would have been enough to revive the entire race, if their essences could be retained. Ares wouldn't have tolerated an oversight of that magnitude. Neither would I.

“Are we done here?” Jerzyr asked, wiping his blade across his blood-soaked pants.

“Do you sense any more of them?” I countered, searching the area as he approached.

“No. And you?”

“I do not...”

“But?” he asked, sensing my hesitation.

“Something just feels off to me. Search the bodies again. Make sure we have everything we came for.”

I looked on as the brothers meticulously but ruthlessly rummaged through the corpses to ensure we had completed our task. When Jerzyr finally gave the nod, I announced that we were leaving.

The enemy was to remain as they lay.

“Let the earth take them,” I growled in disgust. “Their cloying stench offends me.”

Without a word, the others followed me, walking for days without rest until we arrived at the ship awaiting us on the shore. The journey home was long, and I was restless in my own skin, needing to fight. Needing to feed the void that hollowed me out slowly. It was all-consuming.

To distract myself, I tried to make sense out of a leader too weak to come to the aid of his own. The thought disgusted me. The fey king was unworthy of his title and deserved to die a faceless nobody amid the ones he allegedly served. He died with no honor, no pride—no identity.

Though the knowledge of his cowardice offended me greatly, I was glad he perished as he had. It was most fitting. We would have shown him no respect. No dignity. He deserved none after what he had done to our Healers.

Word amongst the supernatural community spread quickly; the fey had fallen, casualties of their own stupidity. My confidence that we would not face another such attack on Sophie was great. The PC was no longer simply respected.

We were feared.

* * *

By the time we landed on the glorious beaches of home, I was desperate for an outlet, and any one would do. Ares greeted us as we hopped over the side of the vessel, his face a mask of calm and stateliness. I could tell though that he was eager to get what he had commanded we return with. I, however, had a short fuse and needed to get to Sophie as quickly as possible to release the tension mounting within me.

I needed an outlet.

“Aniketos,” he said with a nod. “I hope you have done as I've asked.”

“Easily,” I replied handing him the box containing what he sought, ready to make my way home.

“Excellent.” He stroked the ornate carvings delicately before he thrust it deep within his robe. “A moment, Aniketos, if you can withstand the pull of Sophie for a minute longer.” I stopped and turned to face him, feeling my skin nearly burn with the desire to either kill or fuck. “You should all celebrate tonight.
We
will all celebrate tonight,” he announced grandly, sweeping his arms wide in acknowledgment of what we had accomplished. “And you, Aniketos,” he whispered in my ear, placing his arm over my shoulders, “should find Sophie before you kill everyone here. I'm quite certain she has missed you in your long absence and will be quite willing to accept all that you have to give her in this moment.”

“Perhaps,” I said, clenching my jaw, “though I would prefer a little bloodshed first...”

He laughed heartily.

“I see she isn't allowing things to be quite as colorful as she once did. I thought she enjoyed a little bloodletting when you were involved. In fact, I thought she sought it out on most occasions.”

“I will go now,” I grumbled, storming away from him in haste. I did not like that he knew so much about something that should have been private, but Ares was virtually omniscient.

“If you would truly prefer to kill something first, I might be persuaded to give you an outlet for that,” he teased, eyeing me tightly when I turned to face him. “Of course, if you think Sophie will let you—”

“Do you have a task for me or not?” I growled, clipping my words.

“Do not forget yourself,” he said, moving in close, his voice low and threatening. “There is a price for that.”

“Do you have something or not?” I repeated, attempting to make my tone more pleasant and barely succeeding.

“Will it improve your mood?”

“Infinitely.”

“Then, yes, I do indeed have something for you,” he said, turning away from me. He walked toward town and I followed in his shadow, salivating at the chance to satiate my need for violence. “You know of Cassandra, I assume?”