Thirty eight

"You are wasting precious time Ryland Alvarez. Jade will be here soon, and that will be your end. Do you plan to die when you haven't even enjoyed the fruit of your hard work"

"I will not run as a coward" Ryland bellowed, his fist shaking where he clenched them on the hands of his chair. Taking a deep breath, he unclenched his fist and then clasped them in front of his chest, a manic glint replacing the fear that had been in his eyes. "I will wait for her return, and by sunset, if she doesn't show up then your pretty little head will go for this unsavory prank that you've chosen to play with me".

Skye rolled her eyes in frustration. "I am not playing a prank, Ryland Alvarez. We would have been gone from here since yesterday but you have allowed your stubbornness to get the better of you. Aren't you supposed to be a wise Don, well not that your track record is anything to write home about" she insulted and Rylands gaze hardened to slits, a warning written over them? Skye continued as if he hadn't reacted.

"If you choose to await her arrival, It would be to your demise Ryland and all my effort would be in vain".

Ryland slammed his hand on the stool beside him to silence her. His anger getting the best of him. "Who do you think I am? A fickle man with no mind of his own. Do you think you can find your way here in the disguise of having information and trying to drive me off without even a reason? Do you think I am so gullible?".

"I gave you a reason... "

Ryland cut her off with a raise of his hand. "Your reason is not good enough. I am not afraid of Jade. Let her come alone or with an army, the outcome of her showing up will still be the same, dead just as I'd intended from the start."

"You are making a mistake... "

"The only mistake I am making is humoring you when I should have given my men the go-ahead to torture the truth out of you, who knows, maybe by now you'd have had enough and spilled everything you knew about Jade, Lexis, and Hayden, but then again, having my men destroy that pretty face of yours won't be good for business, because, after this stunt, you're not going to be leaving here, at least not alive".

"You wouldn't be able to keep me here against my will even if you were strong as a vampire, I already told you what I know, but you've chosen to pay no heed to my words" Skye's gaze hardened and she took some steps toward him. She stopped as she got closer to him, with just a few steps separating her and his seat. "I think you want me to do this the hard way, even tho I tried to be nice"

Ryland stared at her then burst out laughing, his hands slamming against his chest to ease the tension that had formed there as he made fun of Skye's words. "That is the sexiest threat I'd ever heard and I've been with a lot of humans, heck, you even put Jade to shame little girl. With that hot attitude of yours, I bet a lot of buyers would be interested in acquiring you for themselves, so they can break that beautiful spirit you have there".

Skye smirked, her irises deepening. "You bet they would, but will they be able to break my spirit, not in a million years? The sheer amount of power that I exude would be too fierce for them to even comprehend" She stated, closing the steps between them until she was standing between his lap.

Ryland watched her, his lips twitching with mirth. But despite finding her fascinating, he made sure that he was alert. For all he knew, she could be an assassin sent by one of the families to get rid of him. Vito's name came to mind. He had noticed the look in his eyes as he'd dismissed him. That look clearly showed that he planned to turn on him, and if this was the way he'd choose to go about it, he couldn't let him succeed.

"You are afraid because you think Vito sent me to kill you," she said, her smile stretching wider and that little statement made Ryland's heart drop to the bottom of his belly in dread. Was he right about the girl's purpose after all

Ryland's gaze hardened, and his hand reached for his gun.

"Freeze" Skye's voice rang loud and clear and to Ryland's mortification, he found his body frozen stiffly in place. He couldn't believe it. Had she managed to inject him just as she'd stepped closer to him? He hadn't felt any pinch.

"I didn't sedate you, Ryland," she assured him sweetly and his eyes widened in shock. He was sure that he hadn't spoken his thoughts aloud so how had she known what he was thinking?

"I must say being terrified Is a good look on you. You needn't be, because I am not here to harm you, Ryland. I am actually here to save your life but you're too dumb to see that so I had to resort to this"

"What did you do to me bitch!" He spat, his hair flying every way in rage.

"Shh," she shushed, stopping his tirade. Her hand fisted around his hair and using that as leverage, she forced his neck back until his head was tipped and he was forced to stare into her eyes. "Do you feel this strength, Ryland?" She asked him and Ryland glared at her, trying to shake her hold even though it felt like a hundred men were holding him in place, despite it being just her. He also couldn't feel his body, so he just glared at her, his breath coming out in an angry puff as Skye waited for an answer.

Skye smiled, then continued. "I can assure you that Jade will have more than this when she comes back and despite you increasing security and giving them the order to take her out once they have her in their sight, let's just say that won't be happening. You won't even realize your own death until you open your eyes in hell".

"Lies! Don't try anything funny little girl, my guards will be here in a minute. If you want to get out of here alive you better undo whatever it is you have done".

"I will undo what I have done If you agree to come with me. Be my partner, that way we can take two birds out with one stone. Face it Ryland, how many of your men did you lose in Etral forest, why do you think they never came back? It is because they are all dead. Do you know how they left this wicked word? It was at the hand of monsters. You see, Etral forest is the home to monsters that you'd only ever encounter in your worst nightmare, and now Jade is one of them, a version of them at least but a monster all the same. You will not be able to defeat her. With me you stand a chance, without me, your life ends before sunset."

Ryland stared at her, somehow seeing the urgency in the girl's gaze. He took a deep breath so that he could think rationally, not that he could do much when he couldn't even move his goddamned body. Something didn't quite add up. Why was she trying to help him, what was to be her gain?

"Are you like her. How are you so sure that I am going to die before sunset".

Skye smiled, let go of his hair then walked toward the ceiling-to-floor window. "I am not a monster like her or them. I am better than her, more human than she'd ever been. I am a witch" she said then turned to face him, waiting for Ryland's reaction.

Ryland had an incredulous look on his face because he had expected everything except that. A witch. It was laughable.

"You are a witch", he repeated so he made sure he'd heard her clearly.

"A powerful witch, hence why I can use my mind to hold you In place and have you think that you're being held by a hundred men. That is how strong I am. And I can do more, I could snap you into two with my mind If I wanted to".

"Do it then, show me what you have got, and stop spreading all these loads of bull crap..." His voice caught in his throat, a searing pain making its way from his spine to his midsection and then to his chest. He didn't get a chance to cry out because the pain took him by surprise.

He kneeled over as he fell from his seat, his mouth dropping open to scream out his pain but only silence met the air. His gaze shot to Skye as he suffered and writhed in silent agony, his hands reaching out to grab her feet so she'd stop.

Skye's eyes turned to their normal shade and the pain ended just as abruptly as it had started. Ryland gasped, but the little demonstration had cleared up any doubt he had about her. She was truly a witch and if that was the case, that meant she was right about Jade coming for him.

"You believe me now don't you? Why did you have to allow yourself to suffer when you were presented with many opportunities to do what was right? Have you made up your mind or do you want another demonstration?"

"Why" he got out gravelly and Skye looked at him.

"Why what?".

"Why do we have to run? You have a lot of strength, couldn't you just kill her off when she gets here, why do I have to leave everything I'd ever worked hard for behind, why do I have to flee as if I am a fucking coward.".

"If I could kill jade, do you think I would be here wasting my breath on the likes of you? You have wasted a lot of time and if you delay an hour more, I'd be leaving you to your own device, let's see how long you last when Jade's purpose of returning is to kill you".

"Fine. I'll gather my men, at least those that are still on my side since it was a matter of time before they all turned against me anyways."

"It is a good decision, but do we have the time for it." She asked and Ryland got out a suffering breath.

"Of course we do. Do you just want me to run off without at least taking some of the men with me?"

"I advice that we should just leave at this very moment without wasting any more time, teaming up with me is more than enough to give you the victory you want at the end of all this".

"Sorry, but since you said Jade is stronger than you are, I don't have all that trust in you, so I'm going to stick to making my own plans".

"Reasoning with you is like talking to a brick... "

The alarms went off, the sound of its blaring blasting through the whole Mansion and hinting at a possible breach of security.

Skye cursed under her breath and grabbed Ryland by the hand, her eyes fading to color black as coal.

"You never freaking listen, getting you out of here is going to take a lot of my energy and I swear to God, I am going to get everything back from you once we get out of here, one way or another" she threatened, then pulled him closer, a film of white smoke engulfing them.

Ryland stared eyes wide at the wonder happening in front of his eyes.

The door was blasted off its hinges into the room and Jade stood there, her hand clad around the trigger of an automatic pistol aimed right at his chest through the film of smoke.

Skye cried out in a foreign language that he couldn't decipher as Jade pulled the trigger and everything went dark.