Border Crossing

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Richard took the pair of pants and nodded, dropping his others on the floor without a thought. He had never been shy . being a prince, he'd never been given that option. "I am a little put out that I was unable to protect you when the mermaid queen became upset. But I am not angry with you."

The woman held her dress against her breasts and backed toward the door, feeling for the handle on the wall. "I did what I was told. Even your slave knew her place and left when she was told. I am not stupid enough to disobey the king's captain of the guard!"

"And you believe the boy would be able to go where she is?" Richard asked, grunting softly as the demons roughly rechained him to the wall. "He is...a pirate after all..."

"I am willing to try if you promise to be patient with me." Yena said softly. She was so intent on watching her lover she missed the little red head changing into a full fledged demon.

"The point is, he isn't entirely human." The priestess replied with a rather amused smile. "Oh, didn't you know that?"

"I can't promise that, kitten, you are kind of annoying." Auron mused, a rough thumb brushing Yena's cheek as the demon filled the room behind them.

Richard and Kane mirrored one another as they frowned. It seemed neither man had any idea. They both made the same snorting sound and shook their heads. "That explains why the little worm keeps returning." Kane hissed. "Fine. Send him. But tether the boy. I want to make sure I can yank him back at any moment."

Yena wasn't sure what happened as the demon threw them apart. She barely felt anything as he head hit the opposite wall and she blacked out.
"Oops." The desire demon chuckled, turning on Auron. "I was supposed to take you both in one piece."

The priestess nodded her head in understanding. "Very well, I will make the arrangements." She agreed. As she was preparing the spell the small woman was smiling to herself. Kane truly had no idea what he was allowing. Alice was heir to the Fae kingdom, and Garrik would one day be the first male to rule the mermaids. Between their two kingdoms they had more than the power to destroy him.

Auron was already turning to the demon, his large fists clenched tight, ready to react to an attack. "I should've known..." He growled. "No woman is that accommodating."

While she was talking, a demon stepped forward and whispered in Kane's ear. "Take care of this." He said after a moment, sweeping his hand across the room. "I have dragons to hunt."

The desire demon ran her hands down her body and purred. "Oh I don't know about that. Yours looked ready to open up to just about anything you had for her. What a lovely creature by the way. Shall we share?"

The priestess merely waved a hand in Kane's direction. She considered herself above mere royalty anyway. She now had Garrik and Alice lay side by side, and had entwined their fingers together as she now painted several different runes on their skin and the ground around them.

"She's more than a creature like you could ever hope to handle." Auron sneered. "You should leave now, demon. I haven't killed in a while, I would take it slow enough to show you true agony."

Kane didn't stay to watch. He disappeared in a cloud of dark smoke. He was certain that he wouldn't be betrayed. 

Garrik knew he was dying and was okay with it. As long as he was holding into alice, nothing else mattered to him. 

"Come now, captain. Don't threaten my army. You are far too brash for something like that." Kane said appearing in the room. He stood over Yena, his blade out and ready.

Alice was sat in an ethereal looking garden. She seemed somewhat dazed, like she couldn't quite remember what she was doing there. The young woman glanced at her long flowing dress now, seemingly trying to recall why it just didn't seem right.

Auron was instantly aware how quickly this could turn bad. "One demon isn't an army, sire." He spat that last word like it left a bad taste in his mouth.

"Hello there, Alice. I have...waited so long. A woman with long flowing hair stepped toward her and smiled,  holding out her hands. "My little girl. All grown up."

"You've met Legion before." Kane chuckled. "Though I'll admit his breasts were never so well defined. When Aron turned his attention back the demon before him would have changed shaped. Now there were two of him.

Alice was looking up at the other woman uncertainly. She had so few memories of her mother, but what she did remember was the woman had always made her feel safe... until she simply went away. She had so much she wanted to say, to ask, but all she managed was a choked out, "You left me!"

Auron's jaw was tight, not really seeing any way out of this. "What do you want? Was our unborn child's soul not enough for a monster like you?"

"It was not a choice I made on my own." The white haired woman sat across from Alice, folding her hands in her lap. "How is your father?"

"Oh I never took the soul. I'm not sure what ever happened to that. And frankly I don't care." Kane chuckled. "I took the body and I must say I used it much better than any pathetic being you two would have tried to bring up." He made a face and shook his head.

Alice still hadn't gotten her head around the man she thought was her eldest brother, actually being her father. "He's dead... Kane killed him." She breathed.

Auron bared his teeth at Kane like a rabid wolf. "You sent the soul into the fade, to join your army! Don't lie to me, you rotten bastard!"

"I wish." The slender Fae sighed softly. "I tried sending for him at least a dozen times. He's come near death so many of them. But he keeps fight it it...for you. I am so sorry I was not strong enough to do the same."

"Sticks and stones, captain." Kane chuckled, wagging a finger. "Hateful name calling like that won't get you anywhere with me. I still have the soul if that's what you're worried about. And it's not in the fade."

Alice was already shaking her head. "I was a bargaining chip for more power to my father, I didn't even cry when he died." She replied rather bitterly. "He was an old fool with love for his sons and no one else."

"Then where?" Auron growled, thinking there was no choice other than the fade for a departed soul.

"The old fool was not your father. It is just as well you didn't cry when he died." The woman smiled. "Richard...He was so young and innocent. It was easier for him to keep your secret and safer for both of you. He was so scared and yet so brave. He is such a good man. He deserves the love of that Fate." 

"I traded it for a ritual. You understand." Kane said, waving his hand. "A Fate wanted it in exchange for a blood moon. Who was I to tell her it would benefit me more than her? Silly cow."

Alice felt strange in this place, wherever it was. She couldn't quite focus properly, but had the vague memory now of Richard confessing the truth to her. "Fate... who's fate?" She murmured, sounding almost sleepy. "Marisol... That's who loves him."

"A blood moon?" Auron echoed with another scowl. "Since when did you have contact with a Fate, anyway?"

"Marisol? Is that the name she chose for herself?" Her mother asked, daring to reach out and brush the hair from her eyes. "I told her to leave him alone but she had to have him. She couldn't stop watching everything he did. I suppose she's the reason he has survived everything. The foolish woman..."

"Since when did you have contact with a mud dwelling dragon. Seems to me I told you not to. If you think about it, the loss of your son is your fault." Kane point out.

"You knew her?" Alice breathed, not accustomed to a mothers touch as she shied away from the fingers brushing her dark hair from her eyes. "It doesn't matter... Richard is in just as much trouble as I am... was."

"You have destroyed lives everywhere you go!" Auron snarled. "For what? What the throne of the Black City wasn't enough?"

The elder woman closed her fingers in on themselves and frowned. "I am hoping so to be honest. A little bit of pain and...he can be here with me. It will be all over. It was easy enugh for you. Right?" 

"It's never enough." Kane hissed. "You have tasted the flames. You create them. I want this world to bathe in them. Until it does it is worthless. Everything is worthless."

Alice's piercing blue eyes betrayed how far from easy it had been. "I thought this was the only place Kane couldn't follow... I don't want to be here. Garrick needs me, I was out of options..."

"You want to destroy the world?" Auron asked, casting a quick glance to make certain Yena was still breathing. "For what? To be even more alone than you are right now?"

"I see and leaving him there with the very man that wants to destroy the world...all of them...was the wise thing to do." The woman clucked her tongue. "He is dead. He couldn't go on without you. As I'm sure you are well aware was going to happen." She brushed her fingers through hair that looked more like whispy clouds than anything else. "He gave up his life to try and be with you. What a fool. As they all seem to be." 

"I am not alone!" Kane all but squealed this. Auron's gamble worked. He stepped away from the little elf and she opened her crimson eyes, taking in a much needed breath.

"No! Garrik wouldn't do that!" Alice insisted. "I was finding a way back to him! I just... I thought..." the young woman felt herself about to start sobbing rather childishly, something she had swore she simply would never do, not after what Kane had done to her. "I thought you would help me!"

"You're not counting the sister you're forcing into marriage, are you?" Auron scoffed. "You honestly think she wont kill you in your sleep, or herself, just to get away from you?"

Her mother sighed softly, again pushing her fingers through her hair. It tumbled down her shoulders in a perfect cloud. After a moment she again reached out for her daughter, resting her hands on her shoulders. "I plan to do exactly that, my darling child. Which is why he is here. And as soon as you two have fixed this strange issue that he seems to have come up with...I. would like to throw you a wedding. Kane cannot reach you here. He cannot ruin it."

"Niece." Kane corrected. "And you're forgetting the Fate I am keeping on retainer. I have nothing to worry about. I have everything I ever wanted. Including a pair of dragons." He was watching Yena as she got to her feet, his lips twitching. "Even a worthless one."

Alice blinked a few times, certain she had misheard her beautiful mother. "Garrik... Is here?" She practically squeaked. "But... Then that means..." She was struggling to catch her breath now as panic set in. "Oh god... He's dead?!"

"And this fate... she's happy to be working for you?" Auron snorted. "She must really need my son's soul."

"He strangled himself." Her mother said with a gentle nod. "He wouldn't even wait for the Fate to make it easy on him. He was punishing himself for loving you."

"I don't care if she's happy. That's not the point. I only care that I'm happy. Your son's soul is worthless. She'll find that out..." Kane was stopped from saying more as Yena tried to launch herself at him. She was stopped only by Auron's powerful arm around her waist. The king laughed cruelly at them.

Alice sank to her knees, believing everything she was being told now. "I should never have told him how I felt... I have done nothing but cause him misery before I ended his life!"

Auron was just as angry as his lover, though holding her at bay was the only thing keeping him from throwing his own life away by challenging Kane. "I meant why is a creature as powerful as a fate content to work for you, and not with you?"

"He was a mermaid prince. A pirate. An all around worthless man. I do not know why you are mourning him. I can find you a proper mate here. That world will be dammed and forgotten." Her mother said firmly. "And rightly so."

"That's what I want. I am a king. No one works with me. All serve me. Like you two. You will spend your days on your knees. Worshipping me." Kane chuckled.

"I don't want anyone else!" Alice shouted, glaring up at her mother from where she was still on her knees. "Garrik is the only one who was there for me and accepted me at my lowest! I love him, and I want to see him, right now!"

Auron shook his head, not in disagreement, but in simple disbelief. "You really think you are untouchable, don't you? I really hope I'm still alive to see you put down by your own niece."

"My aren't you the spoilt brat. Perhaps you and Kane deserve one another." Her mother said darkly. "All right then. Have the boy. See if he doesn't bring more disaster to my beautiful lands." She waved her hand and a several feet away armed guards appeared, struggling to keep a powerful young pirate from breaking free of his bonds.

Kane shook his head. "After the blood moon she is going to adore me. You will never get your wish. Oh and did I mention I'm going to need another child from my pet?"  He asked, giving Auron a wicked grin.

Alice knew then coming to her mother was a mistake. All she had ever done was fight for her desire to be her own person, not the pretty bargaining chip of men. She doubted her mother had ever wanted her, by the way the elder woman now spoke. All that was ignored for the moment as she surged to her feet and was soon throwing her arms around Garrik and breathing him in like life itself.

Auron kept his expression rather neutral, no matter how much those words chilled him. He would kill Yena himself before letting Kane hurt her again by stealing another child from her. "You place too much faith in your Fate, no amount of magic could make that girl see you as anything but a monster."