“And I’m just supposed to agree, not knowing what you have planned?”
She shrugged. “I give you my word as a sprite. No harm will come to you.”
Cain scoffed. He wasn’t planning on being around all that much longer, so he really didn’t care too much what effect the spell might have. The sprite was more correct than she knew. The spell wouldn’t affect him. But what about his hybrids?
“What’s your end game, Celise?”
She clenched her fists. “Revenge upon the one who took what was mine and to retrieve the things that have been taken.” Hate and anger permeated her words as her voice came out through gritted teeth.
Cain tilted his head. “Who wronged you?”
She didn’t answer right away, but then she seemed to decide that it wouldn’t hurt to answer him. “Perizada.”
He couldn’t help but laugh. “Oh, wow. She does seem to get around. I don’t think there’s a dark supernatural out there that doesn’t want a piece of her flesh.”
“I want a piece of her flesh, but not the whole thing. I don’t want to kill her. Before, I thought I did, but then I realized that death would be a gift for one as old as her. Part of the curse of being a supernatural is our long lives. It’s a form of torture that humans can never understand.”
Cain’s eyes widened as he suddenly realized who this sprite was. “Your four sisters were killed in the fae cold fire.”
Biting her lip, Celise nodded.
“If long life is such torture, why would you rob them of their afterlife?”
“They didn’t die of their own free will.”
Once again, Cain had to laugh. “Do any of us die of our own free will? Even if we take our own life, it’s not necessarily what we truly want. Something has driven us to it.”
“They didn’t deserve to die. Not like that,” she argued. “I want them back, and I want Peri to pay for what she’s done.”
“And how will you make her pay?”
She shook her head. “That’s a matter I shall keep to myself, for now.”
Cain blew out a breath. “So my blood for the ability to open portals for my hybrids?” He considered what she’d said. It was true that his creations could do so much more damage. Fane and his band of merry do-gooders would have a tough time keeping up with the speed at which the hybrids turned humans.
Celise spread her palms. “That’s the deal.”
“What do I need to do?”
She motioned to the book. “Simply let your blood drip onto the book. Nothing more.”
“And the spell for the portals?” he pressed.
“I will put the spell on you, and you can pass it through your blood to them. They can pass it to the others through the sharing of blood.”
“Seems simple enough.” Again, what the hell did he care? He knew Fane was hunting him, and Cain would let him come.
Cain bit into his hand and held it over the book, letting the crimson drops fall onto the cover. Immediately, the blood was absorbed like a sponge. Before Cain could pull his hand back, Celise grabbed it and placed her hand over the place where the blood flowed. She muttered some sort of guttural language, and Cain felt his hand grow very cold, as if he’d shoved it into abucket of ice. Seconds later, his hand burned like it was engulfed in flames. When she released him, she smiled.
“Now, all you need to do is share your blood. To create the portal, your minions must simply think of where they want to go and say the wordopravrel.”
“Opravrel,” Cain repeated the word as he thought of the gates of the compound. To his right, a huge whirling circle swirled, and a hole appeared. He could see the gates on the other side. His eyes widened. A part of him hadn’t expected it to work. Then the portal disappeared.
“It will close on its own if you don’t hold the thought in your mind or if you don’t go through it in a few seconds after you open it.” She put the book back in her large cross-body bag and then pushed the chair away from the table. “Our business is done. If you change your mind about your female, you’ve got my number.”
Cain shook his head and didn’t bother to stand. “I think this concludes our business. Good luck with your revenge, reviving your dead sisters, and world domination with the demons.”
He said it so dryly that Celise seemed briefly confused, and her face scrunched up. Then she shrugged and opened a portal. The sprite waved over her shoulder and walked through it. It closed a second later.
