Chapter 5

Fun choices, yeah right. Either die now or whenever I crossed a fae that was too powerful in their realm. Still, there was a chance, however small, that I could make it out of the Unseelie realm alive. But first, I'd have to walk through a minefield of deadly fae.

The neutral fae were allowed topside. And those had to adhere to strict regulations and pass a dozen checks. The rest were blocked off from entering the earth realm through a magical barrier that wizards and witches had erected hundreds of years ago.

“Wait,” I said, “Even if I agree to your terms, I can't get past the shields.”

President Mason paled and swallowed. She glanced at the vamp, then the wizard, who gave her a nod.

“Tell her,” Sarah said, crossing her arms.

“This is the second half of the challenge. The barrier is failing. We need you to find out why.” Mason crossed her arms over her stomach.

Fuck! “How long has the magic been failing?” The big baddies coming through the magical wall would make a room full of starving vamps and rapid shifters seem like a festival.

“Six months.” Sarah moved into view, her mouth was drawn in a tight line. “The bone drinkers attacked my pride and wiped out more than half of us before we could beat them back. Later, the zenyar users erected another magic border to keep them from coming back through, but we don't know how long it will hold.”

Shock rocked through me, making my gut clench. My mom had read me bedtime stories about them when I'd refused to reign in my magic. She'd said the zenyar would attract them. Bone drinkers were dark fae that ripped open flesh to suck the marrow out of their victims. No one ever survived an attack by one. They were supposed to be vicious and fast.

“So they kidnapped one of your leaders and you want me to break them out?” Hated to tell them, but if the bone drinkers took anyone, then they wouldn't survive the hour much less the night.

“No,” Madam President shook her head. “No, the person you must rescue isn't a shifter.”

Now my interest was piqued. “Okay, so why not hire the militia or send in Special Forces after whoever?”

Stryker stepped forward, his hand brushing the President's slightly, and I frowned. If I hadn't been looking, I'd have missed the brief touch. Mason didn't recoil or even blink like most humans would. Was it a power-play, then? Him trying to rile her and show his superiority?

“The person we must rescue is of a delicate nature.” Stryker straightened. “We need someone or two to sneak in, grab the victim, and return. Simple.”

“If that's the case, why don't you do it?” Sweat trickled down my neck. Who was so special that the human President would come and talk to me… a criminal in their eyes? Obviously, they didn't care if I died, hence why they'd picked me. Almost like they didn't expect me to return alive. So why take the chance? Why send me in the first place? Unless I was merely a distraction, while the real team plowed ahead.

“If we go, the Unseelie will suspect. Then they would have too much info on their prisoner and would use it to their advantage.” Madam President drifted out of my line of sight. “We can only assume since they haven't offered a barter or ransom that they don't yet realize who they have. We need someone to go in now. Any of us in government might draw too much attention.”

“How long ago was the person abducted? And can I have a name, physical description and whatever I need to locate and recognize them?” Still, in the back of my mind, I kept rattling that I was expendable to them.

“Four days ago,” Stryker stomped past me.

He was behind me and the chair, which made my skin twitch with the thought that he might decide to get someone else or pull the electrocution lever himself. “How do you know they're still alive?”

Madam President cleared her throat, but it was Stryker who answered.

“I have a… bond with them, and she is still alive.”

Glancing up, I noticed the President's shoulders relax. So whoever had been taken meant something to her. A vamp lover? She didn't seem the type, but then again people had all kinds of fetishes that no one would ever believe. My friend Janet was a lesser zenyar mage and had a drawer of sex toys I accidentally found while trying to find a hand towel in her bathroom once, some of which I would never get out of my head. Before then, I didn't even think the girl knew what masturbation was. How wrong I'd been.

“All right.” I swallowed. My skull pounded from straining against the forehead strap keeping my skull in place to try and watch everyone. “Say I agree and make it out alive. Then what? Do I get a trial? A real one with a lawyer and not while tied to the electric chair?”

President Mason exchanged a look to my left and Stryker stepped forward and I caught his slight nod.

“You would be exonerated from your crimes,” he said.

Shit! I grinned before reality hit me. There was something missing here. Some essential piece they weren't telling me. A sacrifice. I shivered despite the warmth of the small room, cramped with the five of us. Most execution spectators waited safely on the other side of the large double-pane windows on the three walls facing me. In the back of the room, behind the chair, was the electric panel and switches.

Across the room, Sarah paced, her nails transforming into claws that she'd clench until they returned to their human form. Her people had been slaughtered, and even with their shifter abilities, so many lives had been lost. Would it have been different if a zenyar weaver was among them? Maybe. But the Unseelie hadn't mixed with our kind for over a hundred years, according to the history books. So why now? And was the Terin another sign that the borders were failing? Is that why no one seemed to have heard of one before?

“Make a decision already,” Herbert huffed and bounced a glowing sphere of magic between his palms. “We are wasting time talking to this… magical bounty hunter. Pull the lever and fry her. I can locate Daniella.”

Stryker took one step and, before I blinked, had a hand on Herbert's throat. He held the old guy up in the air. “You are not worthy to speak her name.” The vamp's crimson eyes blacked so much that the change was clear even from the side.

Holy Hell, he was going to use compulsion on the wizard, a practice forbidden by ASH laws. Damn hypocrites, breaking the rules whenever they wanted. Sarah and the President both looked away. The vamp's sway would be exactly what I needed for them to tell me the rest of what I needed to know in order to find this girl at the risk of my own life. Then again, wasn't that exactly what I'd be doing if I said yes? But what choice did I have? At least agreeing to go along with their plan would buy me some time.

“Don't share what you know with anyone… even if it means your death.” Stryker hissed. “For your slip, you will accompany Regan on this quest.”

I snapped, “I don't need a damn babysitter.” Well, maybe another zenyar user would help sway the balance in our favor and give me a greater chance of getting through the ordeal alive. Then again, most wizards were only out for themselves and thought of witchards as a freak of nature. He'd probably toss me into a pit of vipers the first chance he got. And the fact that I could summon both sides of my magic would make him want to have a fireball consume me. Most witchards, as few of us as there were, were only able to access their mother's witch powers, if any. How fast would he try and kill me if he found out my secret?