“Not on the sticks. Just in the bags.” She removed some of the human money she’d taken from a man who seemed very eager to give it to her and paid the man. He was moving like a robot as he prepared her order and handed her the bags one at a time. Myanin pushed down the cotton candy so that she had enough length at the top of the bag to tie it around the belt at her waist.
Once the three were tied on, she opened the forth bag and dug into the sticky, sweet goodness. As she smacked and licked her fingers, she turned back to the vampire and pissed-off fae. “Now, what was it you wanted to discuss?”
The vampire crossed his arms in front of him and stared at her as if she were an errant child. “Ludcarab wants to see you. Now.”
Myanin hummed as she swallowed another mouth full of cotton candy. “Does he?” She tore off more of her candy. “The elf king has been around for a long time. Surely he has learned that we don’t always get what we want.”
“He does,” the vampire said. “We both know you want to speak with him. I can see it in your eyes. You have the same greed lurking in them that he does.”
She shot him a look, her cotton-candy-covered finger halfway to her mouth. “Careful, bloodsucker. I could rip your head off from one breath to the next.”
The vampire didn’t seem impressed. He either didn’t care if he lived, or he was actually tired of living and hoped someone would kill him. It happened to some supernaturals who’d been around for a while. They just got tired of existing.
They watched her. The fae seemed leery with their raised chins, and bodies tilted sideways as if to pull a blade on her at any moment, while the vamp just seemed bored, his stance relaxed, and a slight smirk on his face. When she’d finished her first bag, she tossed it on the ground, licked her fingers clean, and then straightened her pants to ensure the bags of cotton candy weren’t going anywhere. “Let’s do this.” She waited for the fae to walk over to her. They were brought so they could simply flash them to Ludcarab, not because they had a chance in seven hells of defeating her in a battle.
They moved cautiously, as if approaching a wild animal, while the vampire sauntered. “Don’t touch me,” she told the one who reached out his hand. “I will place my hand on your arm.” The fae nodded, and she gripped his arm, probably a little harder than necessary.
One instant they were on the Venice Boardwalk, and the next she was standing at the top of a mountain looking down over a valley and a city. Ludcarab was there gazing out over the land as if it were his kingdom.
“Myanin of the djinns,” the elf king said as he slowly turned to look at her.
She folded her arms across her chest, but kept her legs slightly bent, ready for anything. “Ludcarab, traitorous king of the elves.”
Chapter 9
“There is one thing a person needs to know when making deals with the devil. Okay, two things. First, don’t make deals with the devil. Second, if you ignore the first thing you need to know, then be prepared to lose everything.” ~Ludcarab
Myanin had never met the elf king, but she’d seen him in Lyra’s mind when she’d taken the elders' knowledge. He was handsome, with long platinum hair and green eyes. A tall, slim build that showed his sinewy frame. But Myanin saw past his good looks to the man who lurked beneath the surface. He was evil. And even though she was quite possibly going to help him achieve his goals, she still saw the ugliness his evil brought out in him. Maybe the fact that she could see that ugliness meant there was still a chance for her to get off her own dark path and find something different. She shook her head at the thought. She’d killed one of her own. There was no coming back from that. Not to mention that her heart had been broken beyond repair. She wanted vengeance, and sometimes the only way to get that was to fight dirty. She could worry about the fallout later.
“I’ve heard you’ve had quite the adventure since you came into the human realm,” the elf king said, his voice full of amusement.