Page 37 of Accidental Blood Lust
“Don’t you snap at me, Wolfie. I told Lochlan not to fuck with the fae.”
Jareth jumps up and rushes at Cassius.
“You knew he was interested in the fae? What even put that idea in his head? What the fuck is he doing in the fae realm?”
Cassius grimaces, and I lay my ears flat and growl at him.What the fuck did you do?
“I didn’tdoanything.” He somehow manages to read the exact question in my growl. “He was complaining about his aversion to blood, and I told him that he either had to get the hell over it or… uh… you know… ask the fae to do their voodoo and make blood more appealing to him.” He laughs nervously.
Jareth snarls like a wild animal and lunges at the vampire, grabbing him by the front of his silk robe and baring his teeth. His blunt human teeth aren’t much of a threat, but I appreciate the sentiment, so I lend my own snarl as well, lowering my head and curling my lips back with a deeper, more menacing growl.
“I didn’t think he’d be dumb enough to do it. Besides, I told him right after that the fae are bad news and he should steer clear,” Cas says.
Atlas steps forward and calmly pries Jareth’s hands off of Cas, though the vampire could easily manage it himself if he wanted to.
“Pointing fingers isn’t going to get us anywhere.” He looks over at his mate, Rune. “How do we get to the fae realm?”
JARETH
I pacethe small room with my heart thundering and a mixture of rage and desperation swirling inside me. How could Cassius have put such a dangerous,stupididea in Loch’s head? How could Roman have let him out of his sight to begin with? And how could Lochlan have done something so fucking reckless?
I let out a growl of frustration and Roman, still in his wolf form, whines and presses his massive body against my legs in his best canine approximation of a hug. He’s one of the many people on my shit list at this particular moment, and I haven’t forgotten that he may or may not have hooked up with Loch, but I reach down and thread my fingers through his thick, dark fur anyway. He pants and leans a little harder against me, and I let myself take a small amount of comfort in the familiarity of it.
Rune and Atlas pull notebooks off the shelves one by one and flip through them quickly, presumably trying to find where he made notes about the fae.
“Wouldn’t it be faster if we all looked?” I ask, making a move to step forward and reach for a notebook on the nearest shelf.
Roman growls and gently clamps his teeth around my wrist to stop me.
“No, they’re all cursed,” Rune says absently, barely looking up before tossing his current notebook aside and grabbing the next one.
“It would take longer for him to uncurse them than for us to just look,” Atlas explains for his mate.
“Fae,” Drax mutters, shuddering dramatically. “I’ve never known a bigger bunch of self-important assholes.”
“Interestingly, fae and demons share common ancestry. Billions of years ago in-fighting caused a split and a certain subspecies of fae found a way to create their own realm, separate from the mortal one and apart from the rest of the fae.” Rune gestures around vaguely, clearly meaning the underworld is the separate realm.
Drax grunts, not seeming particularly interested in the history lesson. I have to admit I’m curious to learn more, but now isn’t the time.
“Found something,” Atlas says, turning the notebook he’s flipping through towards Rune.
He snatches it and quickly reads over whatever he has written down there.
“Good news and bad news,” he announces after a minute. “The spell to open a pathway to the fae realm isn’t particularly difficult, especially with two mages and my own personal magic super charge.” He pats Atlas on the chest and the gargoyle preens.
“What’s the bad news?” Cas asks, and Roman whines.
“It requires fae essence.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” Mac asks.
“Anything belonging to the fae. It could be a strand of hair, a personal possession, anything that carries fae energy,” I say, and Rune nods.
“Oh great, so we just need to find a fae and ask them nicely to give us some hair or their favorite dildo.” Cassius rolls his eyes.
“Does it have to be a dildo? Because I might have something, but I doubt it was a sex toy,” Mac says.
Rune snorts a laugh. “If it belonged to a fae, it should work. What do you have?”
