A Shift in Fate [AUDIO]

Revenge always has a cost. Mine was a secret.

Everyone knows about the devourers. The wicked monsters that threatened to destroy all the realms until the fae and daemons locked them away. Slight problem. I have devourer magic.

It’s only a matter of time before the fae or daemons learn about my abilities. Best case, they bind me to them in service. Worst case... a very excruciating death. I’d prefer neither, which means I need to make some powerful alliances fast.

Enter my best friend, who happens to be a high-ranking daemon, with an offer. Go to the fae realms. Find the mysterious kid who is running around with strange, powerful magic. And bring him back safely.

Simple enough. Except he’s being hunted by ruthless assassins. And they have magic like mine. I might finally get the answers I’ve wanted my whole life. But what—or who—am I willing to sacrifice for it?

My back slammed into the mat for what felt like the hundredth time. Rather than get up, I just lay there panting. It seemed like the smarter move.

“Nice technique you got there.”

“Shut it, vampire,” I growled.

As usual, Mikhail did no such thing. “There are two vampires in this room,” he smoothly stated. “And I’m not even the one who’s been kicking your shifter ass for the past thirty minutes. Why does he get to be called by his name but I just get ‘vampire’?”

“Because I like him more than you. Obviously.” I winced as I pushed off the ground and leaned on my elbows. That last kick had probably fractured my ribs. My shifter healing was already fixing the damage, but it still hurt to breathe. A second later, a hand appeared in front of me, and I grabbed it, allowing Magos to pull me to my feet.
“All good?” Magos asked, not appearing the least bit remorseful about delivering that bone-shattering kick.
I scowled up at him. At just under six feet, I was tall, but Magos still had several inches on me. Tall and broad shouldered, Magos looked every inch the warrior he was.

“I’m fine,” I grumbled and rubbed my side. “Wasn’t expecting that last kick.”

“Obviously,” Mikhail chimed in, echoing my tone from earlier.

“It’s not like you fared that much better,” I snapped.

Before kicking my ass, Magos had sparred with his nephew. Magos didn’t believe in holding back in fighting practice. Which was why Mikhail was laid up on our couch healing from his sparring session, giving him the perfect view to provide commentary on my sparring session. If I’d had a knife on me, I would have thrown it at him, but Magos had instituted a rule months ago that all weapons had to be put away when we entered the apartment. Apparently, Mikhail and I constantly trying to stab each other wore on Magos’s nerves.

The three of us were still figuring out our dynamic. Even though Mikhail had retired from the vampire Council, it was still hard not to think of him as their notorious assassin. Magos enjoyed having his nephew around, even if their relationship was a bit strained. That was mostly why I tolerated Mikhail staying with us. He was the only family Magos had left, and I didn’t want to take that away from him.

Even if Mikhail had the audacity to declare he should move into the empty apartment on the second floor. I’d flat out laughed in his face when he’d made his little declaration. In truth, I had been thinking about offering that to him, but because he got pushy about it, I changed my mind. We’d been bickering about it ever since, but I was holding fast in my refusal. So Mikhail remained on our couch and I had to listen to him heckle me while I got my ass kicked by Magos.

I stretched to test how my ribs were doing. Still sore, but another few minutes and they’d be good as new.
“We should leave soon,” Magos said.

We were planning on taking the vampire kids out around the town. Mikhail had never confirmed their whereabouts to the Council before he split ties with them, but just to be safe, we made sure one of us was always with them when they left the apartment. It had taken some time for the vampire kids to get comfortable around Mikhail; they’d grown up hearing stories of the infamous vampire assassin, so he had set them on edge at first. But they had gradually accepted him over the past few months.

Mikhail grunted in agreement and swung his feet off the couch. A grimace of pain spread across his face, and I smirked. Before I could ask him how those ribs of his were doing, our front door flew open and Pele strolled in.

“Vampires. Out,” she announced and dropped the black duffel bag in the living room.

Magos and Mikhail stiffened slightly and looked at the daemon warily.

“Pele, remember how we talked about you being slightly nicer to my vampire roommates? Well, Magos anyway,” I reminded her.

“I remember you whining to me about it. But I never agreed to anything.”

I huffed a laugh. Given that Pele owned this building and was allowing the vampire kids to live on the first floor and two other vampires to live on this floor, we should probably all be happy with that. I was pretty sure she was warming up to Magos, but she wasn’t a fan of Mikhail.

“What brings your beautiful self to our apartment this evening?” I asked.

Pele’s bright turquoise eyes focused on me, and a wicked smile spread across her face. “Jinx mentioned that while your panic attacks have gotten better, you still have issues with being bound. The warlocks almost captured you last time because of it.” She flicked a hand at the bag and ropes sprang out of it, looping themselves over the steel beams that ran across the ceiling. “You’ve been sulking these past few months since your werewolf boyfriend ran off. I’m tired of it. So I thought we’d play some games and see if we can help prevent you from immediately panicking while bound.” Pele sauntered over to me. The tailored dark blue suit played perfectly with her bright red skin and showcased all her curves. She stood in front of me and ran one of her sharp nails down my neck. “I figured it would help with the whole sulking thing, too.”

I shivered as her nail went back up my neck. “Right,” I breathed. “Magos? Are you . . . umm . . . good with taking the vamp kids out?”

Magos looked at me, amusement flickering in his copper-colored eyes. “Yes. I think we can manage.”

I glanced at Mikhail and jerked my head towards the door. He rolled his eyes and followed his uncle.

We’ll join the vampires, a voice grumbled in my head. Magos and Mikhail paused by the front door. A moment later, two cats trotted out from the hallway that led to the bedrooms, one black and one silver. Jinx and Luna.

Jinx glared at me as he walked by. Magos opened the door for him and followed him out. Mikhail waited for Luna. The silver grimalkin paused and looked up at me. I met her lilac eyes and gave her a soft smile. Will you be okay? I pushed the thought to her.

Yes. Thank you, a soft voice said in my head. When Jinx had found Luna in the woods of a fae realm years ago, she’d been seriously injured. He’d managed to get her to some fae who healed her body, but her magic had been completely depleted. When I first met her, she hadn’t been able to speak telepathically. The past few months, her magic had started to come back and so had her voice. Unlike Jinx, she was pleasant to talk to, so I enjoyed our conversations. She still had no memory of what had happened to her before ending up in those woods with a nearly fatal wound.

Mikhail knelt slightly and held his arm out. Luna trotted over to him and smoothly leapt up his arm and settled on his shoulders. To everyone’s surprise, they’d become quite close over the past few months. It was probably the only reason Jinx tolerated Mikhail. Jinx would do anything to make Luna happy and feel safe.

Mikhail walked towards the door and called over his shoulder, “Don’t break any of the furniture.” He hastily closed the door behind him.

The ropes moved slowly and wrapped themselves around my wrists, tugging my arms up. Panic immediately seized me, but the ropes loosened until they were gently supporting me rather than binding me. The panic was still there, but it had eased a bit. Pele was one of the few beings I trusted completely. She ran her fingers through my long ash blond hair, undoing it from the braid I usually kept it in, and leaned in to whisper in my ear, “Now then, what games shall we play first?”

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