Page 92 of Those That Defy the Realm

“I hope you’re right,” I murmur back to her. We’ve not spent much time together in real life, but Claire spends enough time on video chat with her that the fae has become a friend of mine too. And with how protective she is of Claire, how could I not like her.

“Anyone else smell that?” Antares’s question snaps our attention back to our surroundings.

“Shit!” Ty leaps up. “They’re drugging us.”

“What?” Bree and I stand too. Taking a deep inhale, I can detect a faint metallic scent in the air. It’s not blood, it’s heavier than that, and mixed with a salty aftertaste that coats the back of my tongue.

“Antares, can you use your magic?” Ty asks.

Antares freezes for a second, then turns to stare at the barman. The man doesn’t move. He continues sorting bottles on the shelves.

“Fuckers.”

“What’s going on?” I demand.

“They’ve doused us with binder. We can’t use our magic.” Ty explains.

I don’t feel any different, but then, with being a vampire turned from a human, I don’t have active magic.

“I can’t cast either,” Bree adds.

“Please remain seated,” the vampire male stationed at the door says.

“Open the fucking door!” Ty yells, moving across the room in a burst of speed and shoves the male out of the way when he doesn’t move.

The door doesn’t budge.

Suddenly, the air changes once more and jets of fine cold mist emit from several small air conductors across the ceiling. It settles over everything in a fine condensation, taking the drug out of the air we’re breathing. Although, the damage has already been done to our party.

We all regroup in the centre of the room.

I haven’t heard of binder being used since the war. It’s illegal to all except the police force, and even then, it’s only used in the prisons. The dosage we’ve been hit with must’ve been small, which means those in our group with powers will regain access to their magic in an hour or two, but for now, we’re suddenly far more vulnerable.

Seconds tick by before the door near the bar opens and Phelan stalks through, followed by the vampire we came to see, Fillias.

“You fucking drugged us,” Ty seethes, his fangs visible with each syllable.

“Precaution,” Fillias says in return. “Excuse me for not trusting a powerful shadow wielder of a rival pack.” He looks Ty dead in the eye, then flicks his gaze to Antares. “Or a pain in the ass air wielder.”

“We only came to talk.” Ty growls.

“Is that what you said to Adicious?” Fillias muses. The stocky male crosses his arms over his chest. He might only be about five foot nine by my estimations, several inches below myself or Ty, but the way his biceps bulge over his thick pecs demonstrate a formidable strength. I wouldn’t underestimate his fighting ability.

“Maybe we’re wasting our time.” Ty turns, as if he’s about to leave.

“Wait.” Fillias draws in a deep breath. “It’s been a slow night, I’ll hear you out. What is so important you decided to track me down?”

Ty turns back to face the other vampire leader. “We want to know what Adicious promised you in return for hunting down Aurora.”

Watching every tiny muscle on Fillias’s face, he doesn’t give anything away as Ty asks the question we prepared on the boat ride over in case we had to go with plan B. It is a genuine one that I know has been on Ty’s mind since we were all last in Froan, and Antares learned that the vampire pack were looking for Rory.

“Interesting. I must say that isn’t what I expected. Surely that kind of curiosity could’ve been settled with a phone call.”

“Like you’d have spoken to me if I’d tried.”

“True, true.” Fillias taps his chin with his index and middle fingers. “But why now? You’ve been silent for months.”

“It’s not a hard question,” Ty pushes.