"In the dungeon," she replied, totally confused.
"Let me rephrase. How do we get to the fucking dungeon?"
"Ohhhhh." She giggled and darted out of the alcove. "Follow me."
After walking through a maze of hallways that got darker and colder as we went, we reached a set of wide stone stairs flanked by guards. The archway was covered with a huge glistening silver gate and was padlocked with magic. Great. This was going to get complicated. The moans and the screams coming from the dungeon made my stomach roil. The laughter coming from the guards made me want to drop my invisibility and kill them where they stood—very bad plan. Susu gritted her little teeth in fury and growled. I could freeze them and float them high in the air. Susu could fly up and retrieve the keys to the lock. However, floating Dark Fairies would be a dead giveaway that something was afoot. I could pop them, but that might be messy. Fairy pop explosions produced a wildly colorful array of sparkling glitter and fire…Jesus Christ in a miniskirt, again with the migraine in the frontal lobe…I bit down on my lip and bore it. The pain hadn't lessened, but my ability to handle it was improving.
"Memory?" Susu asked.
I nodded tightly and ignored the headache. "We have a little issue here." I nodded to the guards. There was no way to get past them undetected.
"No worries," she stated matter of factly. "Watch this."
Oh my fucking Hell. She wasn't kidding when she said she liked to kill things. She had just omitted the second half of the story. She clearly liked to eat them too. It was fast and disgusting—not the killing part. I had no problem with that. I knew it was us or them. The eating part was what made me queasy. The physics made no sense whatsoever. How did something that tiny consume two three-hundred pound muscular male Fairies? I only watched the first bite or two before I dropped to the floor in despair with another memory. I'd seen this before. My Baby Demons had eaten my horrifically evil Demon father right in front of me. Memories of my mother and her utter disdain and hatred for me came flooding back. The sounds of Susu crunching through bone and slurping things I didn't want to picture were identical to the noises my precious Baby Demons made while joyously ingesting my father. They ate bad Demons…Susu ate bad Fairies. I certainly knew how to pick 'em.
Painful snippets of my mother's death and my time in Hell filled my mind. Satan and Dixie and Mr. Rogers…and Ethan. WTF? Ethan had been in Hell with me? Why had he been in Hell with me? And why why why couldn't I remember? I was so close—so very close.
"Damn, I was hungry," Susu said as she floated over to me.
I slowly opened my eyes and hoped she wasn't covered in blood and guts. Nope. Not a hair was out of place and not a single trace of Fairy was left. I swallowed all my questions. It was difficult, but doable. Even my morbid curiosity couldn't handle the truth.
"So we're using full voice now?" I choked out, feeling the need to hurl. At this point I wasn't so sure Vampyres couldn't throw up. My stomach certainly agreed.
"Yep, nobody around now." She grinned and slapped her full tummy as she picked up the keys off of the floor and opened the gate. "You look a little pale. You okay?"
"Um…I'm great. Next time you are going to eat something fifty times your size, a little warning would be lovely."
"Sorry." She giggled like an idiot. She wasn't sorry at all.
"Come on. Let's find some sexy Vamps and get the Hell out of here."
"Roger that, Captain," Susu said as she saluted me and then picked something out of her teeth. I gagged and quickly turned away. A person could only take so much.
The stairs were lit with torches. I rolled my eyes. How medieval and pretentious could you get? I sensed Fairies and Vamps. Jackpot. Both scents were vaguely familiar…Did I know the seductive Martha and Jane? Was one of our Fairy allies in the dungeon? Was there a traitor in our midst?
At the bottom of the stairs, I stopped. Two paths led to different sections of the prison. I closed my eyes and let my nose take over.
"Wait," Susu hissed. "Do you want to go solid?"
"Why would we do that?" I shook my head and plopped her onto my shoulder.
"So your hot-to-trot Vamps will see us. It will be easier to break them out if they can see someone is here to rescue them. Plus, it pulls on our magic to stay invisible and we're gonna need it."
"Point. You go to the left and I'll go right. Don't yell if you find them. Speak to me in my head. You clear?" I asked as I let my cloaking drop.
"Yes, best friend of mine. I am clear."
I stayed low and close to the wall as I made my way down the corridor. Most of the cells were empty. Where were the Fairies that were moaning and screaming? Dear Uncle God, I prayed it hadn't been Martha and Jane. A force so beautiful and inviting pulled me down the path. A sense of peace warmed me and I felt lighter than I had in days. What the Hell was at the end of the hallway? I felt no fear. Had I lost my edge? Was this some kind of magical compulsion?
Six feet ahead there was a cell. Bits and pieces of sparkling light burst in spurts from the metal bars. I was like a moth drawn to a flame. What was in there? I levitated to silence my footsteps and slowly floated toward the light. I wanted to be part of that magic. It was a sorcery so pure and good I needed it.
I peeked into the cell and swallowed my gasp. In the corner of the cell sat a man—a breathtaking man. His beauty was absurd. He sat quietly with his eyes closed and his face turned toward the sky. His hands rested in his lap and he hummed a haunting tune. His magic swirled around him and made me slightly lightheaded. I felt nothing sexual for him. No, it was different. I wanted him to like me—to smile at me.