Unfettered Vampire (Found & Freed: The Unfettered #5)

24. Chapter 24

Chapter twenty-four

Ned

W hat the frig is all that commotion? It is the middle of the night. Though considering that this is a house full of paranormals, that on its own isn’t necessarily strange.

But this sounds as if all hell has broken loose, and it appears to be coming from Jade’s room.

Oh shit.

I jump out of bed and run down the hallway. Lello, Pink, and Red are in Jade’s room, but there is no sign of the fey.

My gaze tracks around the walls and ceiling. Holy Mary. Every inch is covered with strange, twisting symbols. This can’t be good.

“Recognize the language?” I ask Pink, since he is the most highly educated out of all of us.

Pink’s face is pale, and his eyes are huge. “It’s High Fey. I didn’t think Jade knew that language.”

Crap, crap and double crap. Those sneaky, thieving malicious asshats really do want to come back to Earth. And they really are doing a number on Jade.

“Where is he?” I ask .

“We don’t know!” sobs Lello.

I take a step towards him, but just at that moment, Carter and Brodie rush into the room and go straight to their respective partners and Lello is wrapped in his mate’s embrace. Nice for some.

“Ned, you found Gray when he went missing. Can you find Jade?” asks Lello from the safety of Carter’s arms.

It is a good idea and I can see why my friend thought of it, but sadly, it is not going to work. Life is rarely that simple or easy.

I shake my head. “Jade doesn’t feed on life force, there is no connection between us.”

Except the fact that he spitefully destroyed my life. The motherfucker has shaped my entire future. That’s a hell of a connection.

But maybe the fey were messing with his head at the time, so perhaps I should give him the benefit of the doubt until we know exactly what the fuck has been going on. Anyway, that’s all irrelevant right now because none of it enables me to track him.

“He is in the stone circle,” says Gray from right beside me.

Holy fuck! My heart pounds, and it feels like I just leaped ten feet in the air. Where did Gray come from? I didn’t hear or see him enter the room.

“What stone circle?” asks Red while clutching Brodie’s hand tightly.

I love how absolutely nobody is questioning how the demon knows. We are all simply accepting it as the truth. Which is probably wise.

Gray points south. “Five leagues.”

“How far is a league?” says Red, turning to Pink .

“Umm…about three miles.”

Carter is tapping furiously at his phone. He holds it up to Gray, with a photo of a stone circle on it. “This one?”

Gray nods.

“Great,” says Carter. He looks at everyone in the room. “It’s called Stanton Drew. It’s fifteen miles south of here. On the edge of a small village.”

“Is it an old fey portal?” I ask.

All eyes turn to me. It is damn hard not to squirm, but I’m made of stern stuff. I can handle a few stares.

“Probably,” croaks Pink as his eyes widen in alarm. “Most stone circles are.”

“What made you think of that?” asks Red. His face has gone deathly pale.

Carter’s arms tighten around Lello, and the kelpie bites his bottom lip. Yeah, this can’t be fun for him, considering his herd tried to sacrifice him to open a fey portal.

I have no idea why everyone is so shocked at my suggestion, I would have thought the fey scribbles all over the wall were enough of a clue, but clearly not. Maybe my friends were in denial and I can’t blame them for that.

I shrug, “Just a hunch.”

More secrets and lies. I seem to be? made of them. It is all that I am. I haven’t told anyone about Baltazar’s concerns about Jade. It didn’t even cross my mind that maybe I should. And even now, my instinct is to keep quiet. I truly am a deceiver at heart.

“I suggest less chatting, more action,” says Carter.

Exactly what a former Enforcer would say. But he does have a point.

“Everyone, get in a car!” calls Red. “Gray, come with us, don’t go shadow walking. We need to stick together. ”

The room bursts into movement as we all scramble to do as Red says. I run to my room, throw some shoes on, and grab my phone. I make it to the driveway just as Pink is getting into Carter’s car. Everyone else is already stuffed inside. Looks like I’m the last. A quick glance at both cars shows me there is slightly more room in Mal’s, so I jump in.

Another frigging happy couple. Gray is off on a midnight mission, so of course his mate has gotten out of bed and is driving him.

It’s only after the door shuts and we speed off, does it hit me that perhaps I should have squeezed into the other car. But Mal has his eyes fixed on the road, as does Gray. Neither of them seem the least bit bothered by my presence. So I think our little disagreement is well and truly forgotten.

Mal drives like the dangerous man he is, and the miles fly by. We are going to be there in no time at all. To where Jade is probably opening a portal to the fey realm.

Fuck.

I feel conspicuous as hell as I pull my phone out of my pocket, but nobody is paying me any attention, and besides, everyone is so phone addicted these days, staring at one is pretty much invisible behavior.

Nevertheless, my fingers still shake as I fire off a quick text to Baltazar. Just the name of the stone circle, but he’s a clever vampire, I’m sure he will figure it out. And if Jade really is about to open a portal, we are going to need all the help we can get.

Mal turns the car into a tiny, unlit gravel car park. Carter’s car is just behind us. Everyone piles out and wordlessly climbs over the gate. I don’t need a map to tell me that the stone circle is across this field, and in the small scrub of trees. Unusual magic is itching at my skin. It’s pulsing from the trees like a beacon.

We hurry across the dark field and into the woods. The stone circle is easy to find. It’s utterly unmissable.

The stones are covered in luminous runes that are glowing an eerie electric blue. Jade is standing in the midst of them with an absolutely crazed look on his face.

Yep. Not good. Not good at all.

“Jade?” says Red.

Jade doesn’t seem to be able to hear him. His eyes are open, but I’m pretty sure he can’t see us either. He is in a trance and muttering under his breath. No, scrub that. He is chanting. Jade is spell casting. Right now. While we are all standing here, doing nothing.

My attention snaps to Gray. He is by far the most powerful one amongst us. But the little demon is watching the proceedings with a vaguely curious expression.

“Stop him!” I hiss.

Gray gives me a puzzled look. “He is not in any danger.”

“He is opening a portal for the fey!” I snap.

Gray blinks slowly. “So?”

Every swear word I know pours out of my lips. I give Mal a beseeching look, but the half-demon merely gives me a malevolent grin in return. He agrees with his mate. He doesn’t care if the fey conquer this realm.

Demon-spawn bastards, the pair of them. I have children. Human children. I don’t want them growing up as fey subjects.

“Pink!” I yell.

He flinches and turns to look at me in alarm.

“Are fey really as bad as the legends say? ”

Pink’s eyes widen. He licks his lips. “As far as anyone knows.”

Crap. I glance around at my friends. Blue is off in the ocean. Nobody else is old enough to have been around the last time the fey walked on Earth. Apart from Gray, and he clearly doesn’t give a shit, and I don’t have time to change his mind.

Goddamnit! Where the hell is Baltazar? There is no sign of him.

Fuck it. I’m out of time and out of options.

I take a deep breath and step into the stone circle. Magic coils around me. It’s like static, but far more intense. I can feel it moving my hair. It’s uncanny, but I don’t think it is causing me any harm.

I stride up to Jade and place my hand on his shoulder.

“Jade!”

He ignores me.

“Sithri!”

Shitty of me to use a name he doesn’t go by anymore, but desperate times call for desperate measures and all that. It might grab his attention.

He blinks. His hazy emerald eyes slowly focus on me. He stops chanting.

Thank fuck for that. But it’s not time for a victory dance just yet.

“Please don’t do this,” I say.

Jade stares at me. I don’t think he understood what I just said, he is too spaced out.

Away with the fairies, my twisted mind helpfully supplies and I very nearly let out a snort laugh. Talk about gallows humor .

Suddenly, a movement on the periphery of my vision catches my attention. It’s Baltazar. Finally. But he appears to be alone. Why the hell has he not brought the cavalry? Now is so not the time for power games and political moves.

He strides towards Jade. What is he going to do? Surely, he doesn’t think that simply trying to arrest Jade is going to work?

All too late, I see the gleam of a dagger in the vampire’s hand. I open my mouth to shout something, either a warning or a threat. I don’t know. And I never will. Because Jade lifts his hand and a blast of magic pours out of him, straight into the vampire’s chest and suddenly there is nothing but a floating cloud of dust where the vampire used to be.

Jade turns his full attention to me. His emerald eyes are glowing.

“Please, don’t do this,” I whisper.

“Jade! Don’t hurt Ned! Don’t let the fey in! You don’t want this!”

Jade’s gaze flicks to my side, where Pink is now standing. The little human really is a brave motherfucker. Here he is yet again willing to risk his life for the greater good.

The light in Jade’s eyes shifts as he stares at his best friend. Pink and Jade have had their difficulties, but they are close. Closer than I am to either of them.

Jade continues to stare wordlessly. He looks a little more human. As if looking at his human friend is bringing out his human side.

I swallow as my mind races. Jade has more human blood than fey. His fey side is only distant ancestry. So, is he human enough for me to glamor him ?

“Jade,” I say.

It’s worth a shot. It’s not as if there is anything to lose.

His emerald eyes turn back to me, and I hit him with my full whammy.

“Stop this,” I command.

He snarls at me. He fights it, so I enforce my will with everything I have. It is way harder than glamoring a full human, but it is working.

Slowly, slowly, piece by piece, he surrenders to me. His primal prey self accepts my predator dominance. His control slips away and I seize the reins.

“Sleep!’ I bark with a final push of the last of my strength.

And he does. His eyes roll back and he crumbles to the ground. The glowing runes go dark as if they have been unplugged. All the strange swirling magic vanishes as if it was never here.

Cool night air rushes in. The distant sound of traffic fills the silence. Everything is suddenly, startlingly normal.

Everyone rushes to Jade’s side while I stagger backwards a few steps.

I heave in a breath of cold air. Then I fall to my ass. You know what? Sleep sounds like a wonderful idea. I close my eyes and allow my body to keel over.

Then there is nothing but darkness.