Chapter Four-Jed

My mind was racing with possible outcomes to the meeting I was about to have. I knew I'd have to play this one smart, the Queen was no fool. If caught she'd have my head for sure.

I swallowed hard, going over my plan as I moved across swing bridges and through the marbled halls of the Treetop Towers until I reached a door covered in deep green ivy.

I lifted my hand to knock when one of the guards approached, "She's not here, Mate. She's down at the arena with the rest of the guests. The first fight is about to take place. Better hurry if you don't want to miss it, I hear the queen's got some real beauties up for grabs this year!" He told me with a wolfish grin as he nudged me playfully.

"Thanks." I mumbled, spinning around and marching away. The games always bothered me. Guests were invited from around the world every year to watch as the residents of the Sanctuary fought each other to the death for first place. The winner was given the privilege of purchasing one of the women on display.

This was not a competition for love, instead it was a competition meant to excite the masses into choosing a hexblood or human they'd be allowed to feed on, hunt, or keep as a slave without anyone batting an eyelash. Essentially they'd own the girls life for as long as she was alive; which usually wasn't very long.

It was a sick tradition that most entered merely to exercise their animalistic brutality and intimidate enemies that could be watching in the stadium.

Like savages, the first round of competitors were gathered around the main entrance, preparing their weapons. Many were sharpening body-length swords and shooting arrows halfway through solid tree trunks while others studied the movements of their competition. Nobody spoke and each eyed the other with disdain.

I made no eye contact with any of them as I climbed the stairs that lead to the Queen's seating area. I approached the two guards, showing my I.D a second before forcing them aside and barging in.

She was dressed in a thin golden gown made of pure silk, her crown set around her white hair that'd been woven into an intricate braid and twisted into a knot on top of her head. Her grey eyes found me and she smiled.

I tried my best not to outwardly cringe as her eyes travelled shamelessly up and down my body. "Why Jed, to what do I owe the pleasure?" She purred.

"I've come to report a rather unfortunate incident that occurred a few hours ago, my queen. One I hope that you can overlook."

"Oh?" She said, sounding somewhat uninterested as she turned to watch the chosen girls being escorted onto the platform in the middle of the arena to be introduced.

"The hexblood that escaped this morning, she's dead." I said bluntly, following her eyes to where the young girls stood; some shivering in fear, some glaring up at the Queen, refusing to be afraid.

Mabeline turned her attention back to me and studied my face, "And why are you the one informing me?" she asked sceptically.

I shrugged and slowly made my way towards her. "She invaded my territory, I had already shifted and unfortunately could not control my instinct." I whispered as I trailed my fingers down the side of her face, well aware of the effect I had on her.

She'd been trying to get me to join her harem for years, her interest in me was the only reason I got away with whatever I pleased. For her to have some type of ownership over a form like mine would be the ultimate prize; one she'd do anything to win.

"Too bad," she said with a cheeky grin, "Good thing she wasn't a creature of value or I might actually be upset about that."

I smiled, letting my canines elongate as I ran my tongue over them. Her eyes sparkled as she watched me and leaned forward in an attempt to steal a kiss. When she was close enough that I could taste her breath I moved back.

"You're such a tease, Jed." She said with a childish pout as she leaned back into her chair and crossed her arms. "One day you're going to be begging for my attention and it will be I that denies you."

"Perhaps so." I said, keeping my eyes on her for a moment more before turning to leave.

As I reached the exit I heard her call after me, "Be a dear and leave the body in the middle of the Village will you? I'd planned a public beheading later this afternoon but I suppose a torn corpse will deliver the message all the same. Now leave, the introductions are about to draw to an end."

I bowed my head and turned to leave, glancing back at the stadium one last time as the queen began to speak, thanking the competitors and their prizes briefly before the gong rang out followed by the sound of clashing metal, screaming crowds and the strong smell of blood.

**********

"So now what?" Delilah asked as we looked down at the bloody body on the floor now disguised as the hexblood. I tried to ignore the knot forming in my stomach as I studied the result of Delilah's illusion spell. It looked just like the hexblood, the only differences being the bluish tinge to her skin, her unblinking eyes and the gaping hole in her neck.

"Now we place the body in the center of the village and get the hell out of here." I answered, tearing my eyes away from the corpse.

"Very well," she said as I lifted the body and swung it over my shoulder, "then what? The spell won't last, when it fades she'll realize what we've done."

"By then we'll be long gone. She'll never find us and I doubt the little hexblood is worth the trouble of hunting down a higher level witch as well as a Jag."

"True, however the hexblood is not the one she'd want to get her hands on." Delilah said, sounding somewhat concerned.

"Don't worry," I told her as we approached the village, ignoring the horrified gasps from those we passed by, they wouldn't be so displeased if they knew the true face of the corpse. "The queen and her goons never stood a chance against me before, that's not going to change now." I let the body fall and it hit the ground with a hard thud as a small crowd of people gathered around, their expressions a mixture of sadness, fear and above all, helplessness.

I turned to face the villagers without giving it a second glance. "Let this be a lesson to you all; to attempt an escape will lead to your demise. Her death was swift and somewhat painless, however next time there will be no such mercy."

"So, we're in a pretty sticky situation, huh?" Delilah said once we were far enough from the villagers.

"Yeah well we had no other choice. We can only hope that they'll bury the body before the spell completely fades."

"I was referring to this whole situation with the uh, mark." She gestured to my back. "Is it even possible to be mated twice in one lifetime?"

"I can't say I've ever heard of it happening before. All I know is that we need to find out what happened and how to undo it so I can rid myself of this wretched half-blood."

"You know, you don't need to feel guilty about this, it's not your fault and you know that Tara would never blame you for—"

I spun and launched myself at her, locking my hand around her neck as I shoved her up against a tree, "Firstly, that will be the last time you speak her name. Secondly, that pathetic, weak, half-blood is not my mate, I will not accept it. There must be a way to undo this. We just need to find it, kill her and be done with it; return back to normal."

I pulled my hand back as a sudden jolt of electricity shot up from where our skin connected, forcing me to let go and stumble back.

"I will speak as freely as I like, she meant something to me too and understand something, Jed, the next time you threaten me like that I'll boil your blood without hesitation. Now, I might know someone who could help us. There's a witch in New Orleans. Her name is Josephine, she owns a small shop on the corner of Bourbon Street. It won't be cheap but she could have valuable information about whatever happened back at the cabin. Maybe if we find out exactly how it happened it will give us a better idea of why it happened and how to fix it."

"How do you know she'll even speak to us?" I asked sceptically. Apart from Delilah and my mother, I hated dealing with witches. Most were so similar to fae in that they simply could not be trusted. There was always an angle to whatever they did, no matter what it was.

"She owes me." Delilah stated mater-of-factly, smiling slyly to herself as we climbed the stairs to the cabin.

"How so?" I asked. It was very rare for Delilah to do any favours for someone without upfront payment of some kind.

"Never mind that." She said as she began pacing the room. "We won't be able to leave via the docks so we'll have to travel by magic. I'll run out to my place quickly and grab some supplies, in the meantime get ready. And for heaven's sake please get her to shower; I can smell her from here. I've got some clothes in the spare room you can give to her, we're about the same size so they should fit. Can't have her rocking up in a big city wearing nothing but patchy rags now can we?" With that she exited the cabin.

Slowly I approached the cell door. I had no idea how to convince her to go along with us, no doubt she'd attempt an escape the first chance she got. She'd never even heard of life in the outside world, how would she react to things such as cars, airplanes and modern technology when all she's known magic, shifters and slavery?

I needed to gain her trust. It was the only way she'd willingly journey with us to find a solution to this situation.

Turning away from the door, I made my way to the spare room and gathered up a pair of light blue jeans and a pink tank top. Grabbing a pair of converse sneakers, I walked through and pushed the cell door open slowly.

She was gathered in the corner of the room, her knees drawn to her chest as tears fell onto the cold cement at her bare feet. The pain she felt was almost too strong to block out, even without a physical connection.

Before I could concentrate on blocking it out it faded and she looked up. "Are you here to kill me?" she asked, her voice raspy from crying.

"No," I said, laying the clothes down on the floor in front of her. "I want to help you." I explained carefully, "What if I told you that I could get you out of here?"

She looked at me as if I'd grown two heads before eyeing the plate of food. She almost whimpered at the sight of it but quickly tore her eyes away. "I'd say that you're lying."

"I'm not," I told her as I made an effort to soften my voice, "I give you my word, we only want to help you."

"Your word means nothing to me," She spat, "either you or your girlfriend back there killed my sister."

"I did not lay a finger on your sister," I said loudly before taking a deep breath and reigning my anger in, "Look, we need to get out of here as soon as possible. If you stay here it won't be long before they figure out where you are."

"But why? Why get me out? If you need to leave, why not just kill me and leave? There's nothing holding you back." She eyed be suspiciously.

"It's a bit more complicated than that. I need you to come with me because, well, you're cursed. We both are." It wasn't exactly a lie.

Her eyes widened. "That thing that happened earlier? With the burning on my back?"

I nodded slowly, "You were being branded. It's not something Delilah and I have ever seen before but we have both been marked with the same symbol. We need to find someone who is capable of either lifting the curse or finding a way to track down the person who did this before bad things start happening."

"But why would someone curse me? I have no friends or enemies of any kind. The only person I had was Addy." Her eyes filled with tears at the mention of her sisters name and it took a moment for her to regain her composure before she spoke again, "I'll ask again, why not just kill me? Why do you need me to go with you?"

"Can't you just trust me?" I asked but was met with nothing but a blank stare. Okay, so that didn't work. I rolled my eyes and took a deep breath, trying my best not to lose my temper, "Fine. Because we were both branded with the same mark, I'm afraid that if I kill you—" I started.

"That it will kill you too," she said thoughtfully, understanding dawning on her features, "So you need me to stay alive in case whatever happened has linked us in some way. Which means that whatever happens to me, could possibly effect you?"

"Something like that." I agreed.

"No." She said. Leaning back against the cool stone.

"No what?" I asked through clenched teeth.

"No I won't help you," she stated, "At least not until I find out what happened to my sister."

"We don't have time for that!" I shouted, "You stupid girl, do you not see that I'm offering you a chance at freedom?"

"Ha!" She scoffed, "Chance at freedom my ass! As soon as the curse is broken you'll kill me. I’m not an idiot, I've met enough supernaturals on this island to know that once you get what you want you'll dispose of me. Honestly, I'm okay with that, but not before I get my revenge for what happened to my sister."

The little hexblood was impossibly stubborn but as much as I hated to admit it she was no fool. We had no time to waste so I conceded, a plan already forming in my mind. "Fine. Eat, shower and change. I'll give you your revenge but then we leave,"

"Great. But like I said, your word means nothing to me. I want a blood oath." She bit into her hand and held it out to me, blood running down her hand and along her fingers.

I had no choice but to make the blood oath, it would undoubtedly bind me to the promise, but if I was the one to speak the words, I could set the terms.

I allowed myself to partially shift as I bit into my wrist, I expected her to flinch but she didn't even blink. Her features remained cool and collected. Stupid girl.

"I swear that if you agree to assist me in my journey I will find the one responsible for killing your sister." I said loudly, my voice echoing off the walls.

"And you'll deliver the culprit to me alive so that I may take my revenge." She added.

"Agreed." I said.

She paused for a second before stepping forward and clasping my hand tightly. There was a bright white light that flashed for no longer than a second and that was it. The deal was made.