"Then what do you want from me?" I snap, literally snap at him with my teeth. I yank back as hard as I can and even though it hurts, even though it pulls hair from my head and makes me shiver with pain, I do it anyway. Being contrary is the only way I can feel powerful in this situation right now. "You want to train me up like one of your Stiltz kin?"
"Something like that," Rumpel says, standing back up with those strange legs of his, the black pants he was wearing earlier now wrinkled and disheveled from bending into such an unusual shape. "The thing is, with my kin, I require complete and total obedience."
Rumpel moves back over to the strange blue-green fire and opens up a black bag, extracting a metal canister and unscrewing it. Unsurprisingly, the contract I signed with the Stiltz boys is inside.
"Do you know what usually happens to those that try to skip out on payment of their contracts?" He reads the paper in his hand over and then tosses it into the flames. Even though I can feel the icy kiss of the fire, it burns like any other, turning the contract to ash.
"You have them torn limb from limb inside their own homes?" I choke out, hating the emotion in my voice. I don't need to show my cards to this asshole. Whatever he's going to do to me, it can't be as bad as what he's already done. Mom is dead, and she's the only person in this world that ever loved me. What harsher punishment could I possibly suffer?
"If you're referring to your mother," Rumpel continues, pulling out a few more items from his bag. One of those things is a hot metal poker with a brand on the end of it. A brand. As soon as I see that, I start to sweat, cold droplets running down my spine and staining my flimsy nightgown. "Then you have to understand that by the time I found her, I was quite angry." Rumpel lays the brand in the fire and then moves over to me with a small glass bottle, similar to the one hanging around my neck.
"So it was you?" I ask, and I hate, hate, hate that I'm relieved to hear it wasn't the boys that did it, like it gives me some sort of license to like them or whatever. Not that it matters. I betrayed the terms of the contract. And fuck, I shouldn't even have been able to sign a contract. My whole existence is a breach of contract. "You killed her?"
"Your mother owed me," Rumpel snaps, grabbing me by the hair. I hardly have a moment to register the surge of magic in the little clearing before tendrils of it are wrapping around my wrists. The creep shoves the small bottle against my lips and dribbles bloody liquid in my mouth. Of course, I thrash and fight, but inevitably some of it slides down my throat, choking me. "And now I'm collecting on that debt."
As soon as Rumpel releases my hair, he also releases the magic on my wrists and ankles. Only...I can't get up. I can't even move. My muscles lock tight and it feels suddenly hard to breathe.
"You're mine to do with what I want," he says, looking down at me with those bright yellow eyes for a moment before heading back to the fire. "And I've spent years looking for the right bride. With your natural resistance to magic, you're perfect for the role." Rumpel pulls the brand from the fire and starts to hum under his breath. I can taste the magic in the air as he goes about weaving a spell with his words.
My body is still frozen in place, locked down with that strange magic. I can even feel it sweeping over that natural still of power in my chest, blocking me from using a damn drop of it.
Rumpel starts to sing, this strange off-key tone that makes my teeth hurt. I don't recognize the language either, but it's something old and broken, like shattered teeth in a rotten mouth. He twirls the brand around in the air as he moves, dancing around the fire with strange, jerking movements, like a marionette or something.
The spell twists above the trees like a tornado, snatching limbs from trees and dropping them into the clearing. One of them hits me in the leg and sends violent pain ricocheting through my body. The green and blue flames rise higher and higher, licking against the canopy and leaving icicles clinging to the branches.
"Please don't scream," a voice says from behind me. I can barely hear it over the din of Rumpel's raucous singing, and the violent surge of the wind. But it's deep and low and kind of...grumpy? It's gotta be Wolfe.
A bottle appears over my shoulder, pressing against my mouth. This time, I don't fight it; I drink the liquid down and within seconds, I can feel my muscles unwinding, the paralysis drifting away in the wild wind.
Rumpel pauses his song and dance, but the storm doesn't stop and the air only seems to get thicker with magic. I follow his gaze across the clearing as Wolfe hauls me to my feet. I'm a little unsteady at first, but as soon as he hands over my I Love Lucy family, I start to feel like myself again. I might be wearing a wet, soggy nightgown but I've got Ricky, Ethel, and Lucy to back me up now—them and their assorted sheaths, straps, and holsters. I promptly put them all on. I might not be wearing underwear, but I'm packing serious heat.
"What are you guys doing here?" I ask, glancing over and finding those cold gray eyes on mine. Wolfe scowls like he doesn't give a shit, but he's here, isn't he? And he did give me back my weapons.
When he doesn't answer, I turn back to the clearing and notice that Rumpel's staring at something in the shadows. Since I'm only a half-vamp, it takes me a moment to register what it is that I'm looking at.
Vyce.
And Sorrow...on a leash.
Vyce is holding a long silver chain, the end of it looped around the demon's neck. I'm sure it's all for show, but I have to admit: the pair of them look pretty damn cool. Vyce is lounging in black leather and buckled boots while Sorrow lifts the corner of his lip up in a snarl I can't quite hear over the storm.
Rumpel doesn't look all that surprised to see his kin here. Me, I'm floored. Are they rescuing my ass? Why? We've only known each other, what, two weeks? And there was a whole week gap in there where I didn't see them at all. Why the hell would they care one lick about me?
Vyce leans down and unhooks the leash from Sorrow's neck.
As soon as he does that, it's like a signal to start the fight. The red-furred demon darts forward and leaps over the fire, crashing straight into an invisible shield around Rumpel. Instead of letting it knock him back, he clings to it with his claws and tears into the magic with his teeth.
"Try not to get killed, okay?" Wolfe says, whipping his revolvers out from beneath the dark brown leather duster he's wearing. He takes aim at Rumpel and fires several shots that stick in the invisible bubble of the shield. They hang there in midair for a moment before Sorrow tears the magic wide and the ammo lodges itself into Rumpel's side.
Blood blooms, staining the white button-up he's wearing a dark crimson, but the man himself doesn't look concerned whatsoever, not even when Sorrow drops to the ground, bounces off and slams into him.
"What the fuck is going on?" I ask, grabbing onto Wolfe's arm. In my mind, it's four against one, so we've got this in the bag, right? But then, I should've known better. This is Rumpel fucking Stiltz we're talking about here.
"What's it look like?" Wolfe growls out, dropping his gaze down to mine. "We're rescuing your ass—even though you lied to us."
"What the hell was I supposed to do?! Tell you I was infertile so I most definitely didn't get the deal I wanted? Be realistic."
"Infertile?" Wolfe asks, like I'm some sort of crazy person. "I was talking about the fact that your mother pulled one over on Rumpel. He's been looking for you for twenty-five years."
"You don't care that I'm infertile?" I ask, my heart thundering in my chest. I don't have time to hear Wolfe's answer though because Rumpel's just pushed the bullets from his side, letting the tiny pieces of metal fall to the forest floor.