This chapter takes place after their visit to the fake anchor, around when Elle was kidnapped by the flesh-eating demon. It's a bit long. Enjooooy!

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Arthur's POV:

"It seems you and your fellow Europeans have been keeping secrets, Poline."

I glanced in the rearview mirror at the witch. She was one of the most powerful witches in Europe, perhaps the world, but she was also one of the most sly.

At one point, I had debated inviting her to join the ranks of my seconds, but she was too twisted to be of any use. Selfishness and greed were not traits I looked for in people closest to me.

Street lights flashed across her face, lighting up her eyes in the mirror as she replied, "It's something the Order in Europe has been dealing with. You know Venus hasn't been involved in matters since her loss, and we couldn't possibly contact another of the Five without her knowledge."

I hummed. Venus' unavailability was a very convenient excuse to anyone who wanted to avoid scrutiny, it was also a perfect opportunity for them to dig in matters better left untouched.

That was the cross of the Five to bear. Our power gave us responsibility we couldn't shirk under any circumstance. Even mourning becomes difficult when lives depend on us. Because people would take the smallest display of weakness and disinterest to their advantage. This was the perfect example.

Kat turned the car, joining the traffic leading to the Order. Drumming my fingers on the window sill, I tried to curb my impatience. My magic felt uneasy, restless, and it didn't take a genius to know why. I'd thought we had the flesh-eating demon in hand, so I'd allowed Elle to come along because I didn't have the heart to deny her when she looked ready to join us.

I'd thought it was safe. And I was wrong.

But she would be safe once she reached the island. Kat parked the car in front of the Order's looming building. I got out right as my phone blared. My heart dropped.

"Elle is gone," Harvey said from the other end. "The demon teleported..."

The ringing in my ears tuned out the rest of his words. Power burned through my veins, the Darkness within me seeping through the cracks of my splintered control and pushing my magic out.

Crack.

The phone in my hand broke, splintering into so many pieces it was dust. The ground beneath my feet fractured. Glass showered the ground and lights broke down. Darkness claimed the street in one fell swoop.

The immortals around all froze, heads lowered. I turned. Poline stood next to the car with Kat, both women frozen. I walked until I stood right in front of the foreign witch.

"He has Elle. Tell Kat everything you know about the anchor. Our top priority is locating the demon killer," I said, my voice echoing in the sudden silence.

Poline's voice shook, "I need authority from my coven-"

I punched the car right next to her head. The vehicle flew back, hitting another one. A car alarm went off, screeching in the silence like a beast's tormented cries.

Poline's eyes met mine for a brief second before she lowered her head

"You will do as told or I will tear apart your mind and take everything," I said, barely recognizing the rough timbre of my own voice.

Poline's pulse hammered. The urge to tear into her jugular was so strong. It had been a long time since I craved blood this way.

Poline screwed her eyes shut, giving a shaky nod. I strode off to the Order.

My chest felt oddly tight. Not since Toby had I felt this helpless. This afraid.

"If he somehow manages to teleport me out, I can kill him."

She had said that. She was fae, not a regular human. She was strong, and her magic must be as well. The demon didn't know that, which would give her an advantage. I had to believe that so I could function. First, I had to fulfill my promise to her.

I had a city to evacuate.

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"He must be underground. We scoured every inch of the radius you gave us and we found nothing."

"What about the humans we found in the fake anchor?"

"He didn't trust his whereabouts with mere humans. The demon we caught would be a better choice."

"He doesn't know. All he can tell us is that his master didn't leave the city."

"Maybe if we-"

"Enough."

Harvey, Amanda, Kat and Charles shut up and looked at me. The city lights flickered to life beyond the glass walls as the sky turned darker. We were in a meeting room in the Order's building, trying to come up with a plan. In vain.

I leaned my hands on the table, scanning the map of the underground tunnels built during the witch war. Even I didn't know the full extent of those mazes. A mistake. I should be familiar with every inch of my territory.

But after Toby's passing, I had lost interest in everything, delegating the running of my territory and the Order to other people.

That had been a mistake. One I hoped I wouldn't soon regret.

The building trembled once again, my magic slipping through despite my best efforts. I closed my eyes and immediately opened them. The image of Elle's face on those dead bodies was stitched to the back of my eyelids. My chest tightened, panic threatening to rip my control to shreds.

It had been almost three days. The city turned into a ghost town, only the Order's immortal agents combed through it. Underground scanners, witches, shapeshifter trackers. I had exhausted all possible manners in which I could find the bastard. But magic and technology never meshed well together, and the demon's magic was an unknown to us.

Elle would no doubt be angry that I was allowing people to roam the city when she'd asked me to evacuate it, but I didn't care. I was a monster, ready to sacrifice lives to save hers, and she didn't know it yet.

Thomas had ventured into the city earlier the day before and told me about Elle's covers that had gone missing, hoping it would be somewhat a help in finding her. Thomas, who had not left the island in the past century except a time or two, had done that for her.

The fact that he'd even kept it a secret until now spoke volumes about how he held Elle in high regards. She had a knack of gaining the most reclusive of my people's loyalties without any particular effort on her part. Wes never warmed up to strangers the way he did towards her. Thomas as well. Amanda, despite her cheerful facade, very rarely took in someone the way she'd taken to Elle.

I straightened. "Any news from the fae?"

"They haven't responded yet."

I clenched my jaw. I'd asked for Earth elementals, hoping they might be able to feel the presences underground despite the demon's magic. An improbable feat, but worth a try. Except the fae were never happy to share. We should've never accepted their plea to retreat into their damn Island. Another mistake.

All of a sudden, my magic went deadly still. I cocked my head. What was that?

The ground shook, and everyone glanced at me. Except this time, it wasn't my magic. I whirled around and faced the glass wall. A glow of blue shot up in the distance, accompanied by the sound of destruction. I had seen and caused enough earthquakes to recognize the signs of the ground collapsing.

Right then, Jesse burst into the room. "Sire! The city is on fire!"

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The hot air burned my lungs.

I reached out and touched the swaying flames. The magic in them took my breath away. So much power. The flames licked my skin. For a moment, the blue fire seemed to hesitate as my own magic rushed forward to meet it. As if it were reluctant to hurt me.

But then I felt my fingers blister and charr. I snatching my hand back. That was her magic, alright. It tasted like her; it even acted like her.

I stepped back when the heat became too unbearable.

She was alive. This incredible show of power was proof enough. She was also fae, as I'd suspected. Every immortal in the vicinity knew that. Her secret was out, yet there were still too many unanswered questions.

Later.

"Sire, your hand," Kat said when I joined her and Amanda in front of the car, twenty yards away from the circle of fire. This was the closest point anyone could get without risking their lives. And even here, the heat was unbearable.

The skin that had touched the fire was almost a reddish black. I flexed my hand. The skin slowly healed itself, shedding the damaged tissue and growing new one.

"Do you need blood, Sire?" Kat asked.

"No," I said.

Hair stuck to my sweaty forehead. A glance around showed immortal agents of the Order gaping at the blue fire roaring to the sky. It had been hours since it first exploded to life, swallowing entire city blocks and rendering everything it touched to ash.

"The choppers can't fly anywhere near the epicenter. Are you sure this is her doing? If not, then she-"

"It is her," I told Amanda, setting her mind at ease. "She's alive. Anything else, we will work through it."

She was alive. She would be in a deplorable state after spending days with the demon killer, but she would be alive and well. I would make sure of it.

"Satellite images?" I asked.

"This is all they show," Amanda said, handing me her tablet. The images looked like a burning blue ocean. The heart of it all burned the brightest, a glowing supernova. There she was, my little sapphire.

I gave the tablet back and turned to face the fire. The burning circle had a diameter of more than four miles. We tried everything to put it out. Water. Sand. The city's firemen could get nothing to work. The last resort were water and fire fae. They should be here anytime now.

I stretched my magic forward and kept an eye on Elle's. Time went by. For an immortal, hours were nothing but a blink of an eye. Yet now I found that time crawled by so slowly, fueling my anxiety.

It was closing to six hours when I finally felt her magic wane.

Finally.

I waited for another thirty minutes as the fire started to die down, then I turned and headed to the closest helicopter where two medics and a pilot waited for me. I jumped in. "Let's go."

"Sire, are you sure? The heat is-"

"Receding," I snapped. "Do you have an issue with following orders, Stanley?"

"No, Sire," the man said and started the chopper.

It took us almost an hour before we could hover over the center of the waning flames. The crater left behind must be more than fifty feet at its deepest point.

The crater's sides looked eerily smooth, as if the fire had polished its surface. Everything that had once been there disappeared. Buildings, roads, trees. Nothing remained. The flames didn't discriminate between metal or concrete or stone. They erased everything.

And at the heart of it all was Elle.

I could barely make her out in the center of the crater from this high above. I pushed my magic forward, straining to reach her.

"Lower," I told the pilot.

He grunted and tried to hover lower. Heat singed my lungs. My clothes clung to my body, streams of sweat rolling down my back.

My magic finally latched onto her. I pulled, using my telekinesis to float her upward. It helped that she was completely still.

When she was close enough for me to see, a brief moment of panic stole my breath. She was naked and covered in blood. All the meaty parts of her arms and legs were almost gone. Bones poked through, a glaring white against the angry red of the bite marks. A hole gaped in the middle of her chest. And I could literally see her heart beating through the mesh of blood and bones.

"Oh, God," one of the medics next to me mumbled.

When Elle was level with the chopper door, she turned her head, her green eyes hazy. I snatched her out of the air. She weighed so little. Hairline scars covered her face. Her cheekbones stuck against her skin.

If she had been human, she would've been long gone.

As I watched, the bleeding started getting worse. She wasn't healing. It must be silver.

"Go!" I snapped at the pilot and laid Elle down on the blanket. The medic immediately went to work.

Elle's body was completely ruined. It smelled like silver, and when I touched the wound that had started bleeding again on her arm, it burned my fingers. So much silver. How was she still alive?

Why hadn't she used her magic before?

"You idiot," I snarled, my hands trembling, my heart in my throat.

Because of silver, no doubt. I'd failed to protect her. She was taken right under my nose, kept for almost three days in my own damn city, and I had to sit on my hand like I wasn't one of the most powerful immortals in the world. I was the idiot, not her.

Elle's eyes focused on me. Her lips twitched up.

"Sire, there are traces of silver in her system," one of the medics working on her chest said.

"How bad?" I asked.

"Bad for an immortal. Is she an immortal, sire? if she's human-"

"Immortal. Proceed accordingly."

The medic nodded and barked some orders to her colleague.

Elle opened her cracked lips. I leaned forward to hear her broken whisper. "Anyone...hurt?"

"No, only you," I said, holding her head in place when the medic poked a syringe in her neck. I kept a firm hold on my magic. We had to get to the hospital as fast as we could. Losing control now would only derail our journey.

She was staring intently at my face. Any other time, I would've teased her.

"Are you dead, too?" She asked.

"Stop talking nonsense," I replied, accepting an ice chip from the medic. I put it between her lips. That seemed to put some sanity back in her gaze.

"Arthur."

"Yes?"

"She's dead."

"She?"

"The demon... a female. There were...humans...too."

"Sire, we have to put her out. She's bleeding again," the medic said.

"I think her magic surrounding her was helping keep her alive, now that's gone-"

I stared at the medic. He paled and looked down.

She would not die. If I had to tie her up to my life, she would not die.

Her eyes lost focus. I brushed my fingers across her cheek. So cold. Yet she'd been in the heart of the fire.

"Stop talking. Rest."

"I can't...feel...my... limbs."

No doubt. It was a wonder she was alive at all. Her arms and legs were a complete mess.

Her eyelids grew heavy. "How bad... does it look?"

"You look fine."

She smiled, blood seeping from the crack of her lips, mumbled something about compliments, and passed out.

I kissed her forehead and whispered, "You'll be fine. I'll make sure of it."

The island's hospital hosted a flurry of activity. I stood right next to the door inside the room where they treated Elle, my eyes focused on her.

Some people worked on treating her injuries, some worked on hooking her up with a special dialysis machine to filter out the silver from her blood. It was a long and painful process, but they had found too much silver in her blood. Simply waiting for her to flush it out naturally would risk her life.

The dialysis method very rarely worked. Usually, when someone had that much silver in their blood, they would be dead, especially with the injuries. But she was alive, against all odds.

"Arthur, may I have a word?" Amanda said.

"Speak," I said, watching like a hawk as a medic poked another IV into Elle's arm- or what was left of it.

Amanda sighed. "If you haven't noticed yet, I'm trying to get you out of the room so the medics can work properly. Your hovering is only making them nervous."

"Am I making you nervous?" I asked out loud.

A chorus of "no, sire" echoed through the room. I looked at Amanda.

She rubbed her temple. "Arthur, they'll work better and faster without you hovering over their shoulders.

I gritted my teeth. Fine. I turned, but before I left the room, I said, "she better be alive when I come back."

"Yes, sire!"

I left, trailed by Amanda. Outside. Elle's friend, the little fox, paced back and forth. She stopped when she saw us, her eyes wide.

"She's going to be fine," Amanda said.

The fox's shoulders deflated. She parked herself right outside the door and crossed her arms. A loyal friend. Whatever Elle lost in this case, at least she had gained this.

Charles appeared. Amanda pointed at him. "Charles, no one comes close to Elle, understood?"

Charles nodded and parked himself next to the fox.

"What do you want to talk about?" I asked.

She opened a door to a room across the hallway and motioned for me to get in. I took a deep breath.

Amanda, do not push me right now. I sent the words to her mind.

Amanda bowed her head. "I'm not trying to. But this is important. The fae are asking questions."

Of course they were. I strode into the room, an empty white space with a sick bed and spare furniture.

"The Fire and Water elementalists arrived right when the fire died down," Amanda said. "Obviously, they could feel the fae magic in the air. Like any immortal in the city."

"Let me guess. They want to know why one of theirs is masquerading as a human outside their territory?" I walked to stand in front of the window. The sky outside was losing its luster as the colors of the night soaked through.

"Yes. They're asking to see her." Amanda paused. "I told them no."

"Good."

"You know they won't stop here," Amanda said, tapping her foot. "Harvey had a call from a representative of the witch community. The blue fire isn't typical of the fae, so I guess they might suspect she's one of theirs. By now, it's clear everyone knows about the sealing spell."

I drummed my fingers on the window sill.

"They're going to try and see her despite my refusal," Amanda said. "They're too curious not to. And they wouldn't expect you to have her under heavy guard since they don't know the true nature of your relationship."

I turned and looked at Amanda. "The true nature of our relationship?"

Amanda smiled. "That you have a mate bond. Elle might be a little ignorant when it comes to these matters, but I know."

"Of course you do," I sighed. "Very well. I want the guards to let them through."

"Okay-what?" Amanda's forehead lined. "You want us to let them see her?"

"I want you to let them think they sneaked past the guards to see her. I'll be there to greet them," I said. "If that's all..."

Amanda grinned, though her eyes remained exhausted, "Very well."

I went back to the room where Elle was now fully bandaged, her blood still circulating in the dialysis machine.

"Dr. Sally, I trust all the blood will be taken care of," I said.

"Of course. I am not an amateur, Sire," Sally said. She'd been a senior medic for a very long time, and she had the pride that went with it. She would make sure no one got their hands on Elle's blood.

"Good. Give me a moment."

Everyone left. I approached the bed. Elle looked paler than usual. My magic pushed out, saturating the room, surrounding her, touching her. Her heartbeat was steady and strong.

Someone knocked on the door. Harvey.

Come in.

He walked in and hesitated. After a beat, he closed the door and came to stand next to me, shrugging his shoulders.

"You're scaring me, Arthur. You haven't been this volatile in a long time."

I chuckled, the sound didn't seem to comfort my old friend.

"Is she really-?"

"Yes," I said. I didn't want to say anything else in case Elle was listening. She made it clear she had no interest in me. Any hint of it, and she would run for the hills.

Harvey's phone buzzed in his hand. He growled and turned it off.

"I had a call from everyone who is someone under the sun," he grumbled. "They all want to see her."

I stayed quiet.

"I also had a tip from Mariano. Apparently, some members of the high council are debating sending a committee to take Elle in their custody."

I chuckled. What a lot of idiots. "Any other nonsense you have to report to me?"

Harvey sighed. "What are you going to do? The high council won't stay put for long. They'll want to see her sooner or later."

"She's in my territory."

"Still-"

I looked at him. He fell quiet. "If anyone is giving trouble, Harvey, tell them to contact me personally."

"As you wish, Sire." He was quiet for a long moment. Elle's eyelids flickered. I moved closer.

"The fact that she survived that explosion... It was a magnificent burst of power," Harvey said, watching Elle through new eyes. "The only way she would've survived that is if she was..."

"If she was the source of it."

"She's not just a normal human, is she?"

"No," I replied. She certainly wasn't. Any human would've died on the first day of being taken by a demon killer. She had survived that, survived silver and torture. "She's not even a normal immortal."

"A fae. This will be a headache," Harvey said. "I'll go. Amanda told me you plan to scare off the intruders."

I cracked my neck. "I need to let out some steam."

"Just try not to kill anyone, my Lord."

Arthur didn't promise anything.

After the dialysis was done, Elle was transferred to another room. I ordered Harvey to let the fae and the witch into the island as guests and install them in private guest cabins. Turning off the lights in Elle's room, I sat in the chair next to her and waited.

The hallways outside were ghostly silent. Light seeped in through the door frame, a rectangle that banished the darkness inside the room.

I touched Elle's cheek, running my fingers across her temple and into her hair. She would no doubt be spitting fire at me if she was awake. But there was something about her that silenced the Darkness inside me and put it to peace.

The quiet didn't last long. The first intruder came in at midnight.

I sat back in the chair and watched as the door cracked open. An expanding beam of light flooded the room. Two dark silhouettes snuck inside and froze.

I blinked, adjusting my eyes to the sudden bright light, and saw their shocked faces. Two witches. Males.

I stood up. They took a step back. I took a step forward. They took another step back. Step. Another step. They were out of the room. Their bodies crouched low in readiness for fight or flight.

I clamped them with my magic so they wouldn't leave. I didn't want to make noise in the room and wake Elle up right now. She needed her rest. So I pushed open the door at their back using my magic.

I nodded at the empty room. "Get in."

They exchanged a glance.

"I wouldn't recommend it," I said.

They gulped and went in backwards, never giving me their back. Huh. Did they really believe they could do anything to stop me if I wanted to rip their throats out? The idea sounded very appealing at the moment. The Darkness craved violence. Nothing short of blood could appease it after the frustrating past few days.

Unfortunately, they were members of the council committee, and as much as it galled, I had to be diplomatic.

But there was nothing wrong with scaring them. Just a little.

"What are you doing here?" I asked them.

"W-we just wanted to see the human for ourselves," one of them said.

"Without my permission," I said.

Their faces lost what little color they had. I sighed. They jumped.

"I'm not in a particularly merciful mood right now," I said, walking slowly their way. They bumped against the window.

The witch who spoke bowed his head, his friend was quick to follow.

"We apologize, my lord. We meant no harm, we were simply overly curious."

My magic retreated, the Darkness in me losing interest. It wanted a fight, and these two were clearly too smart for that. I pushed open the window at their backs.

"Go," I told them.

Their wide eyes flickered from the window to me. "My lord, this is the third floor."

"I know. You have three seconds. Three-"

They jumped off. A scream disturbed the night. I strolled to the window and saw their dark silhouettes heading toward the woods. One of them had his arm around the other's shoulder, his leg twisted. They glanced back, saw me, and increased their pace until they disappeared into the trees. So disappointing.

Charles, why don't yau make sure our guests are safely back to their residence?

I sent the thought to Charles. He congealed from the shadows of the forest and trailed the witches.

I exited the room and stopped. Two fae were at the end of the hallway. They saw me, came to a halt, bowed their heads and doubled back.

I sighed. Such a bore. How I wished someone, anyone, would be stupid enough to challenge me.

Unfortunately, the world didn't care about my wishes, and the rest of the night remained peaceful. I stayed by Elle's bedside until dawn broke, then called the fox, Amanda and a few of my trusted people to guard Elle.

As the sun rose over the horizon, I was performing my usual routine in my backyard. The brine of the ocean air, the crashing waves against the face of the cliff, the bright rays of sun as it broke through the endless blue. Thoughts of Toby and Elle mingled together as I kicked through the air, twisting and tearing into an imaginary enemy.

I've been thinking of Toby more often these days, and the reason was laying motionless in the island's infirmary.

For the first time, I wad doubting my decision to keep Elle by my side. If I had sent her on her way when she'd asked, she wouldn't have been hurt. If she was not here, I wouldn't be risking the sanity that took so long to build up after Toby's death.

I would either have to send her on her own way and kill the bond and all its potential effects, or I would have to keep her by my side and risk my sanity again. Because I had no doubt, that woman would drive me insane. She wasn't one to stay safe and prim behind my back. She would face any danger head on and land herself in trouble again.

And I had no doubt her life would be full of dangers. Her identity wasn't even revealed to the world yet, and she was garnering the attention of the high council, the fae, and every other immortal in the world.

I was too unsettled by her effects on me. I had to make a choice. Keep her. Or not. For her sake. For mine. For the world's.

Over the following days, I went back to the infirmary a few times, mostly once I could no longer bear not to. Even the weight of the decision I had to make couldn't keep me away for long.

Meetings with city officials and my top people to rebuild the city took most of my schedule. It would take time and effort to put the city back together, but money could make everything easier, and I had an abundance of it.

That was the thing about humans. Most of their problems could be solved through money, and if that didn't work, then more money would do the trick.

The real issue was the fae convoy from the royal court.

The fae have been living on their own land for so long, they seemed to forget that outside of it, the Five hold the power. And the fae delegation that had arrived the day after Elle's incident was the same.

"She's one of us," the female said, standing her ground. "She belongs in Ireland. She's one of the king's people wether she knows it or not-"

Her mouth snapped shut when I looked at her.

We were in my office on the island. The fae and the witches had been badgering my seconds about seeing Elle. And I decided I should hear what they had to say at least once. Maybe one of them would be reckless enough to challenge me.

Elle had been asleep for almost two weeks. Everyday I thought this was the day she would wake up. The doctor said that Elle would wake up once she was ready and that there was nothing she could do about it. It didn't help my mood any.

"What we're trying to say, my lord, is that there's no reason for any fae to have been born outside of Ireland. We would like to have access to her identity to ensure she isn't a runaway."

"That's your problem," I said, leaning back in my chair. "The woman is now one of mine. Whether she's fae, witch or alien, she's one of mine. And that will not change even if your king wishes it otherwise."

The woman opened her mouth. She might just be the one to push me over the edge, and I wished she would.

Unfortunately, Harvey intervened before I could paint my office red. "This should be enough. Jesse, why don't you show our guests outside?"

Jesse opened the door and stared at the fae, his eyes glowing cat green. They left, followed by the cat.

Harvey looked at me. "You know if the king asks for her identity-"

"Be very careful, Harvey. Are you suggesting I let the king have her?" My magic slipped. The desk in front of me broke with a loud crack.

"Of course not. But-" His eyes glazed over for a moment before he looked at me. "She's awake-"

I left even before he finished. She was awake. It probably wasn't the best idea to go there in my current state of mind. But I had to see her. I had to see those eyes awake and glaring at me. I had to hear what came out of that smart mouth.

Charles was in front of the room, as I'd left him. He might not be Elle's biggest fan, but he would do as ordered and protect her with his life. And very few people dared go against my Enforcer.

I put my hand on the door knob and paused, recognizing the faint timbre of her voice inside the room. The anger that the fae and the witches' audacity burned in me was still strong.

I took a deep breath and opened the door. My eyes immediately found her. Green. It seemed like all my pondering and hesitation over the past couple of weeks paled when faced with her.

I would keep her. Whether it took lies or manipulation or cajoling, I would keep her, and to hell with the world.

*** **** ***

I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

If you follow me on Instagram or Patreon, then you know I'm working on publishing Blue Flames! It's been a dream of mine to have a physical copy of my book, so wish me luck!

I'm still in the editing phase (it's taking a while lol) But I've decided that I'll separate the story into three books, because it's just too long otherwise.

The first book will be Part 1 of the story on Wattpad: from the beginning until when Elle kills the flesh-eating demon.

If everything goes according to plan, the first book will be ready around April (maybe May :p)

Follow me for more news.

Much love <3 <3 <3

M.B.