Chapter 66:

I was jostled awake when I was jerked hard against what felt like a stone wall. Blinking my eyes open, I looked up at Xavier, who had plastered me to his chest as those sharp eyes were focused on something directly behind me. The arm that had been previously draped over my waist was now held up, away from me, as his other held me firmly against his chest. 

"You're extremely sensitive for a Celestial." A masculine voice said from behind me, and I instantly had a fairly good idea of why I was in this current position. 

Slowly, Xavier's grip on me eased as he moved. "Stay put, Ari." He whispered to me as he moved into a crouch before standing to face the man who had been talking. I looked up to see that Xavier had a knife to the man's throat, holding it steady as he got to his feet. "What do you want?" Xavier demanded as I took the moment to quickly look the man over. He was covered in black from head to toe, with a matching black mask covering most of his face.

"The girls, of course. Do you know how much they would sell for around here?" The man answered, and I raised an eyebrow. I guess the guy had balls, considering he said that to the angry warrior currently holding a blade to his throat. "We could make a deal. You're apparently rather attached to this one, so you keep her, and we can split the profit on the other two."

Xavier grinned, that cold, bone-chilling smile that always seemed far more like he was bearing his teeth rather than anything close to a smile. "And why would I do something like that?" He asked, stepping over me to step even further into the man as he pressed his knife a little harder against the man's throat. Blood slowly beaded and started flowing down the edge of the blade. It wasn't enough to kill him yet, but it was definitely enough to scare the shit out of any sane person. 

"You don't understand the position you're in, brute. If you kill me, then the other two are dead anyway." 

That's when Xavier's smile widened, before he let out a low, menacing chuckle. "That's funny, because it's actually you that doesn't understand the position they're in." That's when I barely caught the glint of steel as the moon shone off the blade he flicked from his free hand. The blade struck home, sinking to the hilt into the man's eye that was hovering over Lexi just as Nova snuck up behind the one over Genie. Shifting to her full size, she pulled the man off a now thoroughly terrified Genie. 

I took a breath as I looked over the two of them and noticed Lexi holding her arm that was slowly dripping blood. I quickly got up, making my way over to her. Shoving the dead man aside, I made quick work of looking over her arm, but luckily it wasn't deep. 

"I'm fine, but I can't believe he was right on top of me, and I didn't even know it." She whispered before looking over at the man with Xavier's dagger protruding from his eye. 

"You might as well call your others out here. There's no point in hiding when there's not one, but two dragons here that can sense them." That's the moment that Bane shifted to his large form, placing Xavier directly between his forepaws as the man in front of him trembled. Bane lowered his head to mere inches away from the man as those bright golden eyes glared at his trembling form. 

"Did I mention that I'm damn glad that he's on our side?" Lexi whispered to me, and I couldn't help but to just grin at that. That's when Genie came over to us now too; she gave me a quick hug before looking over at Lexi's arm and quickly healing it so that it wasn't bleeding anymore. 

"Are you okay?" I asked Genie, and she just nodded as she focused on Lexi for a moment longer before we all went back to just watching Xavier's interaction with the other man. Xavier stepped back, lowering his knife as Bane lowered his head further, and the man let out a not-so-manly screech as Bane grabbed him. He took off with the now screaming man in his jaws before dropping him further out in the field from a height that he definitely didn't survive. Swooping back down, he took hold of one of the arms of the squirming man that Nova was still holding down, and I had to look away as Bane proceeded to rip the man apart before taking off further into the field. 

All I heard was the woosh of flames and screaming men as Xavier simply walked over. He bent down long enough to take the dead man next to us by the ankle before dragging his limp form further out into the field, where Bane was having fun wreaking pure havoc on the other men. I watched as Xavier bent down, pulling his knife free from the man before wiping the gore off it onto the man's chest, but that was when he paused. Looking at something on the man's chest before ripping his jacket open. Curious, I got up, heading over to see what he was doing when I saw the flash of a familiar crest just as Xavier ripped it from the man's corpse.

"Is that what I think it is?" I asked as I instantly recognized it from our history class. 

He just nodded before turning and stalking off towards the prince, who had apparently just noticed that something was off. I jogged, attempting to keep up with Xavier, because while he was rightfully pissed, I couldn't have him killing the prince.

Genie and Lexi got up now too, sensing the obvious danger. Xavier wasn't playing around, though, and just as I caught up to him, that metal pendant he had been holding in his fist had been thrown down into the prince's face as he loomed over the now cowering man. "Please, give me a good reason as to why I shouldn't slit your fucking throat," Xavier growled down at him, and even I backed off a few steps at the sheer violence that tone alone promised. 

"I... I promise I didn't know." Daydree fumbled for the answer, but wouldn't even look up at Xavier, and even I could tell that it was a blatant lie. 

"I hope you know that you're a shitty liar," Xavier whispered in that low, bone-chilling tone as he crouched down, pinning the now trembling prince in place as he got right into his face. "Now, as much as I'd really hate for this to get bloody, I will not tolerate being lied to. Here I thought we had come to something of an understanding over our journey, then I find out that you've just been going along with our plans just to sic a group of your personal guard on us. I don't think I need to tell you just how bad it looks for you when your family's personal guard's crest was found on every single one of those men that Bane just finished hunting down. Everything was burnt to ash except for twelve of these lovely little pendants. Now, would you care to try again? Preferably without lying to my face this time." 

The three of us just stood back, watching the two of them. At this point, if Xavier actually wanted to kill him, there wouldn't be a single thing the three of us could do to stop him. Although, after hearing that, I don't think I would be fully opposed to it at this point. "I'm not lying." Daydree tried once more, but it was even worse this time, considering he flinched away from Xavier as those emerald eyes narrowed on the prince. 

Xavier just chuckled at him, but it wasn't even close to being amused. Instead, it was a cold, eerie sound that sent a shiver down my spine. "Have you ever heard of the Frontline Beastial Camp, Daydree?" The prince's eyes widened, but he didn't answer. "I'll take that as a yes. Well then, you should be familiar with how they treat the prisoners that you send them, especially liars." Daydree shook his head violently.

"N... no, you can't kill me." Daydree rushed out. 

"Oh, don't worry, they don't kill them. That's a waste of a perfectly good pet. For each lie told to the commander, even by his own soldiers, they remove a tooth. If they run out of teeth, then he removes their tongue so they can't spew garbage anymore. While I see the merit in it personally, I don't enjoy all of the drool and ugly crying that comes afterwards, so spare me the trouble, would you? Otherwise, you're already down two. Shall we keep counting?" Daydree's eyes widened further, but he just clenched his jaw shut now. "If you think that will stop me, then you're sorely mistaken." 

"You... you can't do that, I'm a prince." 

"That's cute, but do remember, the only order I have directed towards you is that you have to come back alive. There isn't a single clause saying that you have to be in one piece when returned." With that, Xavier pulled a knife, pressing the tip against Daydree's lip. "So what will it be?"

"Okay... okay." He swallowed hard as the knife nicked his lip, causing blood to run down his chin. "Look, I wasn't the one that called for them. My father asked me to have Nyra tell them where we were in Fairy; that's the only thing I did."

"Good choice," Xavier commented, pulling the knife away a little to let him speak. "Are there any more coming?" 

"N... no, not that I know of at least." 

"Good, but just know that if that changes, I will be sending your father a very personal message in the form of a notable piece of you tethered to one of the fuckers who think they can put their hands on something of mine and live. Do you understand?" Daydree just frantically nodded as Xavier simply stood, sheathing his dagger as he turned to look at the three of us as we all gawked at him. 

He raised an eyebrow in question, looking between the three of us, so I decided to be the one to say it. "You're not going to do anything other than question him? What if he's lying again?" I asked, and Xavier grinned at me, much less icy now, and far more playful. 

"First of all, I took care of the problem itself, but I'm not the one they were targeting. The only reason I have to be involved at all is that they came after my team, and mainly you, Ari. Now, that doesn't mean that I won't hold him down and let the three of you beat the shit out of him. Because I would, gladly, but it's not my place to do it for you. Secondly, it doesn't matter if he's lying or not; the only thing that matters is that he sees that I can and will act on that threat if it happens again." He answered like he hadn't just threatened to torture a man right in front of us, and my eyebrows joined my hairline. I was really expecting to have to be picking up pieces of the prince right now, but once more I was wrong about him. He was simply getting what he wanted from him before waiting for us to get pissed off and go after the prince. 

I just nodded, not knowing what else to say to that, but apparently that was all the permission Lexi needed. Genie stood back with me as we watched Lexi stalk toward the man before kicking him square in the balls. "That's for thinking that you have any right even thinking about handing us over to your freak of a father." She all but screamed down at him as his mouth dropped open into a silent scream of pain. He leaned over, getting sick into the grass as he grabbed his junk, and the two of us winced as Xavier let out a low whistle. Lexi proceeded to kick him in the ribs as he fell to his side before walking away with her head held high, flipping him off with a huge smile on her face. "That felt really good. I highly suggest trying it. He makes a good punching bag." That made both Genie and me giggle, but that gave me an idea.

I turned to Xavier with a grin. Going over to him, I reached for the dagger on his thigh, taking it from the sheath. He didn't raise a single finger in the way of trying to stop me. He simply raised an eyebrow at me in question before I took it by the tip and flung it at Daydree. I had no clue how to aim, and it was honestly the first time I had even really tried, but I couldn't help but smile a little wider as I watched him scramble away from the blade as it landed beside him in the grass. "Are you trying to tell me that I need to teach you how to properly throw a knife?" Xavier asked, and I just nodded as I grinned at him. 

"You were right, though; it really does do wonders for your mood," I said, making him chuckle at me as Lexi and Genie both started laughing. 

After a fun little lesson of knife throwing taught to all of us, Daydree had been thoroughly tortured as he attempted to avoid the blades. Then he had the audacity to cry for Genie to heal the few little scratches we had managed to put on him. Genie, however, just flipped him off before throwing yet another dagger at him. 

Once we had our fun, it ended up being close enough to morning that we just packed everything up and left for the camp.