There was no time to rage against what had happened because the Lords of the hunt did not care about what they had taken from me. They intended on continuing on with their hunt. I turned the gaping black hole in my chest toward the creature to blame. I felt it swallowing me up, hollowing me out with every ragged breath I drew.
The axe man flicked his hand, calling back his weapon. He caught it as it flew through the air, Seth's blood dripping from the blade and staining the white snow below his feet. The sight of stole any goodness that was still left in me. My anger plumed like ash and smoke from a volcano. The shadow's hissed with excitement as they responded to my intention, lunging toward my prey.
I snatched him up off the ground like a rag doll, shaking him around violently. I wanted him to suffer. I contorted his limbs to the point of breaking, enjoying the pained expressions on his face. I dislocated his arm, and relocated. Dislocated his knee, and relocated it. Dislocated. Relocated. He was clay in my hands. My ears rang as I continued to push myself to the limit. I had never taken it this far before. I had never had too but I knew it was pulling from somewhere deep inside of me, taking from the core of my being.
"You'll tire soon enough, half-breed." The axe man barred all his teeth in a vicious smile, "You only have so much power." I felt the blood trickling down from my nose, flicking my tongue over my upper lip to wipe it away. The copper tang exploded in my mouth as if I had swallowed a handful of pennies.
"Maybe, but I'm not tired yet." I growled through clenched teeth. I wanted to reach inside of the Lord, tear him apart as I had been torn apart. I wanted him to bleed. I wanted him to die. My blood thirst was unmatched. I was simply a weapon with flesh and bone, nothing more. The hatred and violence had been waiting inside me all this time, blooming slowing, ripening for this moment. More shadows stretched through the blistering snow storm, until my vision was shrouded in darkness.
I flicked my head to the side, watching as the Lord flew through the air, knocking into a tree. I quickly tossed my head in the other direction, tossing him into another tree. I repeated the action over and over, feeling my body continue to weaken. I was dying but I didn't care. I had nothing more, no one who would cry for me if I perished. My darkness was choking me.
I had not anticipated an attack, my attention focused solely on my prey. A sharp fist cracked against my cheek and suddenly I was falling into the snow, losing control of the shadows. The ground was soft and wet against my skin. I shook my head to clear the stars from my vision, gaze locking on Seth's body beside me. My cheek pulsed with the pain of the hit I had taken but I couldn't find the will to care. It took me losing the last good thing in my life to realize that pain was power.
I lifted my face, determined not to shrink away from what was certainly coming. The swordsman, stood proud in his arm as if he had crawled from the bawls of hell itself. "And now you die." I let my eyes flutter shut, eyelashes capturing snowflakes. I was ready to let go. This world was garbage now, anyway. I never stood a chance at a happy ending. Monsters should not confuse themselves with princesses.
"The half-breed is mine, Kilgore." Cian's voice broke through the strangling silence. My eyes slid open and I turned my face in his direction.
"Too late, Cian. I'm taking this one."
The fire ball knocked the sword from Kilgore's hand, sending it flying. We both turned to see Cian, smoke billowing from his hand, amber eyes blazing, "I said she's mine. We have unfinished business...her and I..." I sneered in his direction, but kept my mouth shut.
"You think you can handle her?" Kilgore questioned arrogantly, "She nearly took Jareth's head off." I knew he was talking about the axe wielder, Seth's murderer. I was disappointed to hear that I hadn't killed him.
"I'm the summer king..."
Kilgore let out mighty laugh, "No, you're the Erlking's pet." I watched Cian ground his teeth together as Jareth was helped up off the ground by the Lady hunting with them. I watched the group of them, hanging on the edge of exhaustion. A heavy silence stretched between the party, only the sound around us was the howling of the winter winds.
"Let him have the half-breed, Kilgore. She all tapped out now. No fun in killing her like that." The female rasped.
Kilgore threw a look in my direction, eyes narrowing before his mouth twitched in subtle amusement. I held his stare as he bent over and grabbed his sword from the snow, "I like the darkness in you, half-breed. To bad your only half." He flicked his tongue over his rotted mouth and I cringed back in disgust, which only seemed to make things more amusing for him, "Let's go. Let the Erlking's pet have his fun."
I let out a startled gasp when Jareth suddenly appeared next to Seth. I watched with wide eyes as he reached down for him, "Not without my prize..."
I cried out, calling for my shadows again. I couldn't let them take him. Cian launched a burst of flames in my direction, causing my shadows to redirect and form a shield around me. The force of our two powers colliding shoved me back a couple of inches, the heat of his flames dancing over my skin. Through the flames I could see the Lord separating Seth's soul from his body, "No!"
I pushed back against the flames, watching as the white world churned around the hunters. Seth's ghostly form evaporating from view. In a blink of an eye they had disappeared. I felt the panic and the violence churn in my stomach, "No. No. No." I blasted Cian's flames with everything that I had inside of me, releasing all of my hatred and anguish. We were both lost in a world of shadow and flame, both of us monsters in our own rights.
My energy dipped in one last blast of fury, nothing left to give. Nothing.
"Are you done?" Cian asked me, both of us out of breath, "You're wasting time with your childish tantrum."
The rage burned in my veins but I was tapped out, there was nothing left in me to fight with, "If you're going to kill me, kill me."
"I'm not going to kill you. I told you I needed you."
"Go away." I said the words low in my throat, my grief hanging from every note. I crawled towards Seth, reaching out for him. My finger curled inward, fisting the material of his shirt. How was it possible that he was gone? That he had been taken from me? Perhaps I was cursed like everyone thought. An angel of death. Everyone I ever cared about was gone.
"There is still time to return your human's soul to his corporeal form."
"Go away..." I repeated myself, voice quivering.
"Didn't you hear what I..."
"Are you deaf? Or just fucking stupid?" I lifted my face, glaring up at Cian. He stared down at me, amber eyes like burning embers as he clenched his jaw, "I said go away. I don't want to hear anymore."
He released a heavy sigh as he knelt down, "I'm your only shot at saving your human, Jezebel. Now, do you want to help him or not?"
I didn't want Seth to be dead, not because of me. I ground my teeth together at the thought of helping Cian, "What's the catch? What do you want from me in return?"
"I need you to help me kill the Erlking. Free me from his infernal court and I will help to return your human's soul."
I let out a bitter laugh, lifting my face to meet his fiery gaze, "You saw what happened? If I can't beat a simple Lord of the hunt, how do you expect me to help you kill their king?"
"One kiss from me and you'll have all the power you need."
"A Kiss?" Cian's eyes searched my face before they dropped to my lips. I could read the familiar look of disdain. Well, the feeling was mutual. I was as interested in kissing him as he was in kissing me, "How is a kiss going to make me more powerful?"
"Because I am the Seelie Prince. I will be the summer king." He spoke the words with pride, as if it was a great honor, "A kiss from me has the power to change you from a half-breed into a full-fledged Fae. If it doesn't kill you that is..."
My eyes widened, "So you don't even know if I'll survive your kiss?"
His face scrunched up in annoyance, "You are a child of the Erlking. You come from a strong bloodline. I have confidence you will survive."
"Your confidence that I'll survive just isn't going to do it for me, Cian."
He leaned forward, bringing our faces closer as he held my gaze, "I will make sure you survive, because I need you, Jezebel." I felt the heat from his body as it rolled off his skin and burrowed deep into my bones. This close I could almost smell springtime and feel the sun on my body. It didn't matter that it was the dead of winter, and we were in the middle of snowstorm. He was life, a golden prince that vibrated with raw power. I was a dead thing; the darkness that wrapped around me was never-ending it seemed. He grabbed hold of my hand, which had gone numb, "Jezebel, do you love your human?"
I did love Seth. I had secretly loved him since I was a young girl. Today I had finally gotten a taste of it and just like that, he had been taken from me, "Yes, I love him." It hurt to think about him being gone. It felt like there was only hatred left, now that my love had been snuffed out. The hatred was like a chasm that I knew everything could get lost in, even myself.
"Do you love him enough to risk your life for him?"
I narrowed my eyes, "Yes. Where are you going with this?"
Cian's lips twitched at my response, "This is the only way for you to get him back. Trust me, it is not something I would offer to just anyone. Now, make a choice and make it fast. The longer his soul is away from his body the harder it will be to bring him back."
I felt pressured by his words. I hadn't enough time to figure out if he was lying to me. I didn't trust him, I didn't trust any of the faeries. They were manipulators by nature and they seemed to have a lust for blood. I dropped my face, staring down at Seth. His eyes still open and vacant, lips tinted blue. He was dead. He had died trying to save me, even after he had seen what a monster I truly was. He was a good man, that deserved better than what had happened. I didn't know what he would think about me if I succeeded, if I brought him back, but I loved him and I couldn't accept that this was the end for him.
"Okay. Kiss me." There was no other choice.
Cian tightened his grip on my hand, "Are you sure? Once I kiss you there is no going back. You will be sacrificing your humanity, Jezebel. Is your human worth that?"
I lifted my face, a shiver of fear racing up my spine. I wasn't brave. I had no guarantee that I would survive, and if I did, then I wouldn't be human anymore. I would be like Cian, and all the others. Still, I swallowed the urge to go back on what I had said, "He's worth it."
There was no more prompting about how it would work or what would happen after, Cian simply leaned the rest of the way in and pressed his lips to mine. It didn't feel like anything, simply lips against lips. I stared at him, both of us with our eyes open. Nothing was happening, not that I knew what to feel or what to expect. There was shuddered breath that passed from Cian, as his lips parted slightly, it danced across my lips like a warm breeze before passing between the small crack.
In the span of his breath, time which had seemed frozen, started up again like an ember in a dying fire. I sucked in a deep breath as the fire moved through my lung and into my veins. Cian reached out and grasped my face, pulling me closer. I felt consumed by his kiss, and the need to have more. It sprang upon me suddenly, leaving me weightless. It was his poisonous kiss that sealed my fate forever in a way I could not yet account for.
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