Page 102 of Those That Defy the Realm
“Show offs.” I shake my head at both of them. I’ve never really wished for power, but right now, it might help me reach Claire faster. At least my two closest friends will happily lend theirs to gain our freedom, and save my female.
Before we can come up with a plan, however, the door at the end of the corridor clangs as a key is inserted into the lock and turned.
Ty banishes his shadows to their hiding spots and we all come together, standing shoulder to shoulder as the door opens and footsteps echo down the passageway.
Five West Scotian Authority Officers come to the door of our cell. Two of them up close and three standing to attention behind with guns drawn. The two at the front have very clear fae features, both are also wearing masks, protecting themselves from the binder in the air. Another, now leaning against the wall, is also wearing a mask, although he must be demi-Fae from the lack of pointed ears. As the other two have walked in unprotected, I assume they must be human.
“Alright, as a reminder, you three have been charged with the illegal status of being vampires, a race that has not been condoned to live since the end of the Cleansing War. You all pleaded not guilty upon your arrest, but the evidence is stacking against you.”
“What evidence?” Ty demands.
“What evidence?” The guard clearly in charge repeats. He’s a stocky guy, dark hair pulled into a bun on his head, pointed fae ears clearly visible. “Have you already forgotten the human girl you were found with, the one with half her arteries badly closed up after you’d all fed from her?” My growl at his insinuation goes ignored. I’d argue but I’m having to clench my teeth together to stop my fangs from descending at the rage erupting inside me. “Have you also forgotten where we found you, leaving an illegal blood bar? Makes me sick to think how much blood you’ve stolen to rig that up.”
“That is all circumstantial. We were rescuing the girl.” Ty flies forward, gripping the bars of the door. The fae officer is a few inches shorter than Ty but doesn’t flinch at all.
“Lies,” he snaps back. “You were stealing her for yourselves. Or have you forgotten the bodies you left in that bar? We’ve identified the fang marks on them. We were able to swab DNA before we burnt them. And as soon as we confirm it’s yours that’s exactly where you’ll be finding yourselves, on a pyre.”
“Touch me and you die, mother fucker,” Ty growls.
“Oh, I don’t need to touch you to get what I want,” the one in charge answers. “Avalon, bind them.”
The male next to the leader lifts his hands as vines shoot from his palms—an earth wielder.
“Antares, now!” Ty commands as shadows erupt around the officers, wrapping around their feet and binding their hands to their sides. The commander pales in shock before shooting a menacing look at my leader. They won’t need to test Ty any further, shadow powers are vampiric only. In their minds, Ty has just signed his death warrant.
His smirk through the clear mask doesn’t last long as he and the others all start struggling for breath. Antares takes control of their air supply, forcing it out of their lungs and leaving them suffocating.
The eyes of the earth wielder start to bulge as he doubles down on his power, pushing the vines through the bars of our cage and attempting to wrap our hands together. I manage to break the first one which wraps itself around my wrist, but the second one is thicker. I need to use my teeth to do it but it’ll expose me for what I am.
The demi-Fae male in the mask at the back manages to get his hands free of Ty’s shadow’s control and grips his throat with one hand. After a few seconds he takes a lungful of air and stops struggling. He must have air magic the same as Antares.
“Enough!” the commander manages to roar. He sends a blast of water through the bars, sending Antares to the ground. It cuts his concentration, his magic dropping and the officers all manage to start breathing again.
The vines on my wrists tighten as the Officer, Avalon, tugs on his magic, pulling me into the bars. Ty follows a second later, his wrists also bound.
His shadows still fight to hold the officers, but I know it’s a hard drain on his power, to hold them in a corporeal form takes a lot of magic.
Antares’s bubble must either be weakening as well, or Ty has been pulled beyond it as I see the shadows start to lighten. Ty stops breathing as he must feel the hold on his power fading.
The two full fae manage to snap out of his hold entirely. “You really thought that would work?” Avalon sneers, tightening our binds and pulling us harder into the metal bars.
“Give me a gun,” the commander says. My heart stops altogether as I realise they plan on ending us now, without the testing. A bullet wouldn’t kill us, but it would render us unconscious. We’ll be unable to fight and all too easy to be placed on a fire that will truly end our lives.
The commander looks over his shoulder when the order isn’t fulfilled and rolls his eyes when he sees that the two humans, the ones armed, are still bound by Ty’s shadows.
He grabs a pistol from the one on the left and as he clicks off the safety, I try yanking my bound wrists back through the bars, wishing I’d used my fangs when I’d had the chance. But the earth wielder is strong and holds steady. I’m unable to bend my elbows to get my wrists to my mouth.
Ty does the same beside me, and from behind, Antares swears as he also struggles. He must be bound now too but I can’t turn my head enough to see, the fae’s magic holding me in a vice grip against the bars.
The lead officer takes aim at Ty’s forehead and I can only watch as I’m about to lose my best friend and my leader.
CHAPTER 38
CLAIRE
Cracking the door open slowly just a slither, loud voices break the silence of the corridor.
I’d snuck behind Declan as he’d met up with some other officers and they’d donned masks before entering another bit of the prison. I assumed it led to the cells from the ‘B wing’ painted above the doorway. Hopefully, it meant they were leading me to where Henry, Bree, Ty, and Antares were.
