Queen of Ruin(Book three of the Immortals Series)
CHAPTER TEN THE NOT SO SAFE HOUSE

In the darkness of the bedroom that surrounded him, Haldir tried to drift off to sleep. Teddy said a spell of protection over the thin, wooden door, but he didn't trust the warlock's skill yet.

Once he relaxed enough to let his mind wander in the celestial plane, he envisioned Tessa in his mind. Not the little girl that laid beside her brother in the other bed as weak and helpless as the day she was born, but the one she was meant to be.

She glowed as bright as the angry sun on the hottest day as she walked through the fields of her enemies and cackled in her witchy way as she laid them all to waste.

Dreadful and beautiful, the oldest of warlocks bowed down before Tessa in reverence as they witnessed her carnage. The Queen of Ruin returned, and even the devil himself feared her.

He squinted through the flames and black smoke as he followed her and her beasts through the field of war-torn bodies until he noticed a familiar form on horseback in the distance. At that moment, he understood what it all meant. As the Darke King climbed down from his horse, he joined the twins on a hilltop. They all spoke out in the old language as they lifted their hands to the sky. With a deafening shockwave that threw him to the ground, the three firestarters ignited the world, and Haldir's eyes snapped open.

While his heart pounded, he scanned the bedroom lit only by the moon and heard the taps to the shower turn on. He sank back on the mattress until he listened to the familiar sound of Tessa cursing like a drunken sailor. "Is that as hot as the goddamn water gets? What a fucking dump!"

Teddy pulled a pillow over his head to block out his sister's loudmouth, and Haldir smiled a toothy grin through his beard. From the way she appeared last night when he tucked her in, he still didn't believe she would make it until morning. He chuckled to himself over her unending tirade of insults to the apartment they stayed in before he knocked on the door. "You alright, Tess?"

The plucky teen growled back to him through the dirty, cheap slab of wood. "No, I'm not alright, you asshole, I'm freezing my ass off. In case you aren't aware, I bled to death yesterday. Can't you book a hotel or something? This is the shittiest place I've ever been to in my life. Is that a fucking cockroach? Goddamn it!"

Haldir straightened out his messy bedhead with his fingers as he laughed to himself. "We'll talk about it when you're all done in there. Yell if you need some help."

While she continued to complain loudly about her less than five-star accommodations, the slaps of Haldir's bare feet echoed through the sparsely decorated apartment.

After Haldir grabbed a couple of bowls, Teddy rubbed his hair and sat down across from him. Haldir slid a bowl in front of him and set a box of cereal on the table. "When did she wake up?"

Teddy took the cereal box and checked out its front before opening it and dumping some in his bowl. "She started yapping to me in my dream a few hours ago, and she hasn't shut up since. I think I liked her better when she was out cold." "Well, good to see she's back to her usual lovable self." Taking a seat across from Teddy, Haldir looked him over. Whereas Tessa always left no doubt about how she felt about something, he kept everything bottled up. "How are you holding up?"

He shook his head as he poured milk over the cereal. The only thing keeping him sane was his need to take care of Tessa and keep her safe, and now that she was better, part of him felt useless. "What's done is done. She's better; that's all that matters." After smashing the cereal under the milk, he glanced up to Haldir. "So, where are we off to now?"

Haldir swallowed his mouthful of Fruity Pebbles and shrugged. "Wherever you two want to go, I suppose."

"Can we go to the Realm?" His eyes asked Haldir to say yes, but he'd already had this talk with his parents and knew what the answer would be.

Haldir sipped his coffee and shook his head. "Jasper said not unless there was no other option. You're not travelers; if you go there, it will be forever. Tessa's, your mate could be here. You should try replaceing her first before you take such a drastic step."

When she brought her loud rant back to the bedroom, Teddy smiled as he glanced over to her. "Someplace warm then; maybe an island somewhere. We don't do very well in the cold."

As he stretched his arms out to his side then over his head, Haldir yawned. "I'll see what I can do. Your parents have properties in fake names all over the world. I'm sure at least one of them is somewhere decent."

"Is there anything else to eat except cereal?" She threw herself down into the chair beside her brother and grabbed her spoon in her hand.

Haldir glanced back at the cupboard. "Not too much; mostly canned foods. We'll replace something better when we bounce in a little while."

She almost sounded sweet as she peeked over to her brother and asked about her mate. "Was all that true?"

The immortal human's blue eyes glanced back and forth between them. "Is what true?"

His eyes squinted, and his lips curled under as Teddy shook his head. Jasper gave him the same look when he tried to convey the need to tread carefully when speaking. "I told her Rafik saved her life."

The weight of the truth was heavy on his shoulders, but Haldir glanced up to Tessa and gave her a quick nod. "We don't think he knew what his father was doing."

The memory of Rafik's words in the garden replaying in her mind, she tapped her spoon on the table. "Yes, he did. He might not have known what was going to happen to me, but he knew what was happening to Momma and Daddy." Unable to explain why she was wrong, Teddy pushed his spoon through his cereal. "You don't know what you're talking about."

As she swallowed down her lover's betrayal, she poked her finger in Teddy's arm. "I told you something bad was going to happen. I saw it on his face. He knew. Even if he didn't, everyone we love is dead anyway."

While the children pushed their cereal around the bowls, Haldir tried to think of something to say that might give them a second of peace and hope. "So, where are we off to? We can go anywhere in the world we wish. Just say the word." On the receiving end of that expression many times, it was like Jasper cocking his eyebrow at Haldir instead of the girl sitting across from him. The twins may have got their mother's charms, but the rest of them belonged to their father. "I want to go home and kill all those bastards."

Haldir turned back to his coffee and smirked; he expected no less from Isabelle and Jasper's offspring. The thirst for revenge ran deep in her family tree. "Billy has it covered, Tess."

The spoon hit the table with a clang when she threw it and crossed her arms as she leaned forward. "I want to kill Rafik myself."

Without missing a beat, Haldir caught the spoon before it landed and pointed his finger at her. "No. You don't, believe me."

Rolling her teary eyes away from the table, she drew her face up into an ugly scowl. "Oh yes, I fucking do. I'll cut his goddamn heart out."

There's nothing more dangerous than a wounded animal, and Haldir knew if he took them back to Savannah, there wouldn't be a soul left alive when they were through. "We can't go back home. Not until Billy sorts it all out." When the nagging itch returned to her, she wiggled her nose and grabbed a napkin from the table. "Goddammit with this again."

A sinking sensation came to Haldir's chest as he watched her scratch her nose. Supernaturals don't become sick as humans do, and whatever was happening had nothing to do with a cold or allergies. "What do you mean again?" She balled her fists and cursed her nose for daring to bother her at a time like this. "Would you fucking stop! It started last night before dinner."

His already pale face drained of all color as she said the words. Even with all their learning, the children were still fresh to the supernatural world and didn't know ancient folklore's nuances. "Go get your fucking bags. They're coming." Time slowed down as he followed the children into the bedroom and picked his bag off the floor. With his heart pounding in his ears, he brought the children tight against him and misted them to the top of the building across the street. The chill of the Autumn air in Massachusetts was a stark contrast to Savannah, and Tessa's entire body vibrated from the chattering of her teeth as Teddy pulled her to his chest and wrapped her in the heat of his embrace. "It's okay. I got you." Haldir rummaged through the bag on her back. "Jesus, what a mess!" He pulled the black knit blanket Isabelle made from the pack and wrapped it around her.

They huddled up and shivered together as Teddy peeked over her wet hair to Haldir. "Why are we still here? Let's get the fuck out of here."

"I want to see who shows up." Haldir's eyes darted back and forth the street below and spotted a line of vehicles barreling towards them.

While a seemingly endless group of people exited the three vans that pulled up to the building, Teddy's heart fell to his gut as he made out their prisoner. "Oh, shit. They got Oliver."

A tall young wizard who resembled Omar stepped out of the van's passenger seat and grabbed Oliver by the back of his neck. Oliver pointed to the window where they'd just been, then fell to the ground as Teddy gasped and pulled Tessa closer. "Don't look, Tess."

The wizard stepped over Oliver's lifeless body and motioned for his people to follow him inside. Haldir pulled them both close as he saw the hit squad pass by the apartment window where they sat together not a few moments ago. Within minutes, they returned to the sidewalk and climbed in their vehicles as the apartment window exploded and flames shot out from it.

The foggy breaths that fell from Haldir as he held them close to his chest puffed out in little clouds as he realized that even those who meant no harm could destroy them. "We can't trust anyone, children. We're on our own."