When she woke, she found herself the centre of a dog pile of vampires, a Fae, and a demon, the men all piled haphazardly on top of her, and someone was snoring.
She understood the vampires, but not the other two and she planted her foot against the demon's side, shoving him off the bed.
His yell had everyone else waking in confusion.
"Why are you all in my room?" she demanded but then realised they weren't in her room. "In the basement?" she asked finally.
"Epharis set your room on fire when you didn't come back," Jaia said sleepily, wriggling himself around until his head was in her lap rather than being on her arm. "We got your supplies out, just in case the fire blew the city up, but everything else was lost. Sorry Etani."
Cursing the lich, she wriggled herself out from under the pile of bodies and staggered, looking down to find the ankle with the chain on it was tied to the bed.
The vampires took one look at her and immediately dove for cover as she started to scream.
She was so angry at being tied up, so sick of them all controlling her, and she lost it.
The jug and mugs exploded, the loud shatter downstairs indicating that the cells had just failed again and the glass in then cabinets in the sitting room were reduced to a fine powder.
They heard yelling and splintering glass from upstairs too.
Uzo had just enough time to clamp his hands over his ears as she was sucking in her breath, but the demon wasn't so lucky, his eyes huge and then they simply ruptured, his ears leaking blood and he slumped, dead.
The scream ended slowly, and she was panting, her body heaving at the energy it took to simply stop the sound. She wanted to scream and scream again, but she forced it down and covered her own mouth.
Slowly the vampires surfaced, looking scared with blood running down their necks from their ears.
Turning on them, she was trembling, and they exchanged a look.
Without a word they were on her, hugging and squeezing her tightly while Uzo sat, his brain scrambled and looking like he would have died had he not been prepared.
She didn't cry, but instead she stood there with the three men she loved the most all around her.
They hadn't been able to remove the shawl and it still curled tightly around her wrists, the fabric seeming to be made that way rather than sewn shut to contain her.
The door to the basement burst open and she growled softly, irritated though she kept her eyes on Versalis'. His forehead was pressed against hers, trying to calm her and it was working rather well.
She didn't know if that was simply his power as a vampire king or the crystal, but whatever it was, it was working.
The door to the bedroom opened and Epharis stalked into the room, stopping at the sight of the four of them standing close, her eyes locked on Versalis with his on her. Uzo was slowly starting to move.
"What is going on?" Epharis demanded but no one spoke, they were doing their best to keep her from panicking. "Etani?"
Slowly her eyes turned to him, her hand going automatically to slip into the tight grip of the vampire king.
Kai and Jaia released her enough to allow her to move and they all looked at him, one unit of resentment and hatred towards the lich.
"Where have you been?" he asked coldly.
"Summer," she said, and everyone looked at her in surprise.
"What? Why were you in Summer?" Epharis demanded.
"The demon was trying to catch me. I stuck a knife in his eye and when I tried to get to Faerie I was distracted and ended up in Summer. They had some sort of way to ensure I ended up where they wanted, and they darted me. When I came to, I was taken to see Cecelia and there was a ball and..." she broke off. "Where's my human?" she demanded.
"Your human?" Kai asked, sounding shocked.
"My human, Thomas. Where is he?"
"The human boy? I think Uzo took him somewhere."
She turned on Uzo, but he wasn't functioning while his brain was being regrown from its exploded state.
"Take this chain off me right now!" she snapped at Epharis.
His eyebrows rose at her tone. "Excuse me?" he asked in an icy voice.
Turning to him, she glared.
"I have been beaten, kidnapped, abused, kidnapped again, and then held captive in Summer. You let me out of this chain right now before I kill you!"
The room was tense, but she glared at Epharis, and he glared right back at her.
When he didn't move, she felt her fury begin to build and Versalis groaned, clutching at his chest.
Flinging out her hand, she felt the hard handle of the scythe drawing down from the mark on her wrist, swirling into existence.
It hadn't fully formed when Kai grabbed her arm and forced it up behind her back, bending her sharply forward under the strain of her arm being bent into an unnatural angle.
He moved and covered her mouth with his hand.
"Now, now. No need to fight you two," he said cheerfully, trying to defuse the situation.
Tilting her head, she glared up at Epharis who looked livid that she had been more than willing to cut him in half.
She wasn't about to back down, but with her arm up she was unable to get away and they all knew it.
Uzo groaned and shook his head, taking in the scene with confused eyes before he leapt to his feet.
Biting Kai's hand, she stamped on his foot, and he released her and while it wasn't enough to actually hurt him, it did make him let her go.
Turning on Uzo, she was jerked to a stop by her ankle caught around the foot of the bed and she stumbled.
"Uzo, where's the human?" she demanded.
He blinked at her in confusion. "The human?" he asked, sounding lost.
"The human! The redhead! Where is he?" she demanded and Uzo blinked again.
"Oh, I took him up to my rooms to keep him safe," he said, and she relaxed, rocking back onto her foot and taking in a deep breath to calm her nerves.
"Good, keep him safe," she said finally, not knowing why she had suddenly cared for him, he was just a human. But she did care.
Stepping back to try and unhook herself from the end of the bed, she backed into a hard chest and looked up to see Epharis, his teeth bared, and she gave a low, warning growl.
"You and I need to talk," he growled.
Turning to face him, she glared up at him and the three vampires sidled out of the room, looking worried but not willing to argue.
Uzo on the other hand had his hands on his hips, watching the lich.
"If you try and hurt her, I will be back in here for your arse," Uzo warned and then slunk from the room to leave them alone with the human corpse that had been the demon.
Stepping away from him, she stepped on the corpse's hand and grunted, looking down to see it.
Taking advantage of her distraction, his fingers curled around her throat, and she found herself suddenly pinned to the wall, her feet a good few inches off the ground.
Gasping, she clutched at his wrist to try and ease the pressure on her neck.
"You ran, didn't you…?" he breathed, his face only an inch from hers.
She shook her head, but he could see the lie for what it was.
"Don't lie to me, Etani. Do you remember what I told you? If you tried to leave, I will ensure you never can."
He had reached that level of anger that left him entirely calm, and she shook her head again as fear flooded her body.
"Epharis, please..." she wheezed, her nails digging into his wrist.
"You are mine!" he screamed, and she flinched, her eyes wide in fear of what he was going to do to her.
Throwing her, her back hit the wall and the headboard, slumping down onto the mattress and groaning as she tried to push herself up.
He moved to her and gripped her hair, forcing her head down onto the mattress.
"If you struggle, I will make sure you never move again," he said and flipped her onto her back. He moved and sat down on her stomach, gripping her jaw and smirking down at her.
"You, my precious wife, will be unable to use magic again unless I deem it worthy. You will never be able to attack me, never be worth anything more than a human until I deem otherwise," he said slowly, his long fingers hovering above her face.
She shook her head furiously, straining to get free from under him.
His fingers began to glow green as he lowered it towards her face and she whimpered, struggling more violently to free herself of him. He was tormenting her, terrifying her and when his index finger touched her forehead, she screamed.
It was a terrible sound as his power reached into her and turned off the switches in her mind, turning off her abilities and she could hear Letari screaming as well.
The door heaved but it refused to budge.
Her scream did nothing, it was just the anguished scream of a terrified woman, and it strangled off into a sob as he lifted his hand from her.
He smiled as he reached down and took up one of her hands, using it to cut her arm.
He watched with savage glee as the cut bled, and then continued to bleed.
He laughed as he saw crimson dripping onto the sheets, and she was forced to resettle in a brain that was so incredibly human it hurt.
She screamed again, a sound of pure anguish and as he left, the three vampires piled in.
The smell of her hit them first and they froze, unable to move towards her as she curled on the bed, her hand over her bleeding arm.
She no longer smelt of magic, the draw towards her was gone and she was left huddled and alone, the voice in her mind snuffed out.
Crying, the tears came through clear, staining the sheets under her.
Hesitantly, Versalis slipped his arms around her and found her to be warm and soft. His eyes were huge as they met hers, still a shocking vivid blue, still an unearthly beauty and yet the magic had gone, leaving her as less.
The gem against his chest had gone silent and dark.
She stared up at him for an instant before she buried her face in his chest and he looked up at the twins, horrified.
"She's human…"