Stolen Magic Bk. 01 Taken Pt. 01

The sound around her, singing, familiar voices, becoming more and more disjointed.

"Happy Eighteenth birthday sweetheart."

"Why did the voice sound like it was fading? It was not supposed to fade. She could still see the candles, the cake, all the smiling faces.

The awkward angle of her body made the sight a lie. She wasn't sitting at a table, wasn't ready to blow out the candles. The wind that tangled her hair across her face would have made quick death of the infant flames, and whatever was holding her, so high above the ground, digging something hard into her belly, would have kept her well out of reach of the table.

Gabriella struggled to free herself from the coarse ropes that she could feel now, binding her hands. Just as fiercely she tried to fight off the threatening darkness, darkness that kept her from identifying where she was, and with whom. There was no denying it now. Even without vision, even bound and near blind in the pure darkness, Gabriella knew she had been taken.

The steady movement below her, she fought to concentrate on it. A rise, a fall, a tension just under her stomach. Gabriella shifted, just a little. The action made her sure, by the slight rounding, that she was on someone's shoulder. Someone big.

Oh, this was not good.

It seemed pointless now, wondering how the huge stranger had gotten her, how he'd whisked her away in the middle of her party, how he'd done it with her family surrounding her. A thought made her shudder. Her family would have tried to fight him. He was huge, she could clearly feel the muscle bunched underneath her. If they'd tried they'd have failed...

What if they were all dead?

Gabriella refused to believe it. Unable to think of a simple other possibility that left no loved ones dead bodies in the wake of her capture she did the next best thing. Told herself it was so and focused on something else.

Sweet little kittens like the tiny Persian her father had given her, the fluffy white little bundle, warm fur giving off the scent of vanilla. Butterflies, like the dark blue and black one on her ankle, or the sweeter one her sister had gotten in vibrant red and orange. Sweet for Sarah and dark for Gabriella for they'd agreed to find something to contradict their personalities. It was a nice memory, nice enough to keep her distracted, calm her shuddering and take her heart down from its painful, rapid beats.

It all came back when her mind, kind as it was, decided to remind her of another frightening bit of reality. She'd passed it by before, but she couldn't now. Her captor was male. She was being held by a man. A strange man.

God what was he going to do to her?

***

"Lord Moloch." the man bowed low, staying down, waiting for permission to rise.

It tempted Slater, for some reason, to kick him in the face. Rather then give in to the urge, due in part to his irritation at standing in the cold, in the increasingly building downpour, Slater merely motioned the man up. "Quickly Heim. My brother will not be pleased if the girl is delivered to him ill."

Heim's eyes shot to the girl, all but forgotten on Slater's shoulder. It impressed Heim how unaffected Slater was by the burden, she was now struggling quite a bit. Recalling his reason for approaching the king's fierce, intimidating, bastard brother, Heim scurried towards the first of a string of tents. Holding up a flap he waited while Slater plopped the girl down on a pile of large pillows in the corner.

From the way the girl had been struggling Heim and Slater had both been certain she'd be setting a dark glare on them now. Most of the others had. Instead she did her best to smooth her soaked short skirt down with her bound hands, then lifted her hands to clear her hair from her face. Lifting her head, eyes wide, she set the sweet blue of them on Slater's face. Her lashes were wet, but he was sure it was from the rain, not from a spill of frightened tears. The girl didn't look frightened at all. In fact she looked cute as hell.

"My Lord, I must tell you...some of those taken are ill. The men are nervous...the penalty..."

Slater forced himself to focus on Heim's words. Catching the gist of them he gave a slow nod. "Tell the men to redirect towards Velsham. There are healers in the village. A few days there and all well be well."

Heim bowed again and walked out.

With the distraction gone Slater was able to bring his attention fully to the shivering girl in the corner. Intrigued by the look on her face he lowered down to the cushions, hoping he would appear less intimidating at eye level. He knew it was unlikely. He was a big man, almost as big as his brother, the king. The king's stature was broader then any of his men, there were none that did not have to arch there neck to meet his eyes.

Slater was the one exception. His brother might be slightly broader then he was, but he had an inch or two on his older brother.

Shaking his head to get his long black locks free of his face Slater reached around to the back of the girls head to undo the gag. He was surprised that she didn't jolt back, didn't try to ram into him. She didn't even cringe. It was a relief, even if it was strange. One of the girls had kicked him so hard he'd decided to tie her back up. Another had started wailing when he'd removed her gag.

Her calm, curious regard made Slater want to talk to her, made him want to know why she'd gone from struggling, to looking so very at ease. Slater watched her turn without question at his urging, twisting around onto her knees so he could reach the ropes around her wrist, ducking her head and wrinkling her nose at the way her hair clung to her face.

The lack of fear ruined any good intent. Slater was accustomed to fear coming without effort, accustomed to having to ease a woman from it to get her in his bed. Granted this girl wasn't meant for his bed, and if she had been his actions were extremely counter productive, but damn it he had earned the right to be feared. He may be a bastard, but he was a powerful bastard.

"Feel better little one? Comfortable?" Slater gave her a smooth, unreadable smile. The girl gave a small, hesitant nod. Without warning Slater reached out and grabbed a fist full of hair. "Very good. Then perhaps we should get started..."

The girl's tongue passed slowly over her lower lip before she pressed her teeth into it. "Get started?"

Slater nod, dropping one big hand on her knee. "Why yes. As you might have noticed we are very alone. And you are soaked to the skin..." wrapping his fingers around her calf Slater pulled hard, making her lie flat in her surprise before he leaned over her, shadowing her small form beneath his body. "We really must remove your clothes...then perhaps...find some way to warm you up?"

***

Please Note: This is my first try with a story on this site. Looking for feedback and some experience. Do not worry, it is very much erotica, just setting things up. Hope you enjoy, part two coming soon.