The First Touch (48 page)

Flanagan added a little gentler
, “
She just means, how you choose to lead is entirely up to you.”

Autumn
nodded, answering in her head,
“Well then I choose to keep you all as my council. I value your
input
.” Then she shrugged, “So we vote.” Then she looked at their
skeptical
faces,
adding inside,
“And as my first rule we must all vote on important issues.”

They al
l nodded at once and even Helen
broke into a smile.
Autumn
smiled back and said, “Al
l in favor?” All raised their hands but Henry.
“Why do you not agree?”

Henry said, “
Putting
us all in danger is
unnecessary
.”

She
nodded, “I think removing the head of that snake is a
necessary
evil.”

Henry replied
, “
Two may grow back.”

Autumn
smiled
,
adding inside,
“
But Serena or I will see that coming.” Henry nodded seeming slightly more relieved, then
Autumn
turned to Ivan. He did not meet her eyes. Then she asked
, in her head,
“
My we have a moment?” They all nodded
returning
to their seats.

Autumn
slid her
hand up to Ivan’s cheek in her head
, much as Serena had shown her
, “
Are you
angry
with me for hold
ing
back?
”
He pulled away and shook his head,
trying to understand the image, and she added inside,
flinching
, “Or hurting you?”

He finally looked at
Autumn
,
confused as she continued,
“I do not want you to do it
.”

“Face Mirth?”
he nodded and she puffed at him
replying, “I am tougher than I look.” He soured and she
smiled
, “W
hen this is all over I would like to go away just the two of us and talk.”

Ivan watched her closely
, “
Just the two…
?”

She
nodded
, “
Yes just you and me, i
f that
is
alright with you?” He nodded emotionless still watching her closely. She smiled sweetly and stepped
out of the way distracting Ivan for the moment, as he watched her walk away eyeing her backside hungrily.

When he looked back,
Mirth’s male was
already
charging at him quickly, eyes wild and teeth flaring. Ivan jumped to
safety
with ease, and noises rose up from the
dust covered
crowd. Ivan turned to see the remaining members of Mirth’s clan making their way up to the stage. Then he felt the pain searing his arm and realized that his arm was
bleeding
from a deep cut that manifested itself there. Ivan looked at the male and realized that he could cut without ever touching someone.

He looked at Mirth who seemed
particularly
pleased with the turn of events. Ivan shifted his weight and his face changed to that of Henry. Then Mirth’s male jumped up without touching him again and
a
large slice appeared on Ivan’s chest. Ivan growled and charged the man
tackling
him and ripping his left arm from his body. The male rolled away quick
ly and when Ivan stood up
he had several fresh cuts even deeper than before.

Autumn
watched closely and her eyes dilated watching her mate being sliced up. Her frustration
building
quickly, she had to look away before her face gave her away. The look on Mirth’s face was even more frustrating, and she cut her eyes at him. Mirth saw her frustration and stepped closer his eyes dilating as well.

It took
her
a second sweep before she noticed the blood in a vile in his hand. Then
she
looked back at the male fighting and sniffed the air. The male was all pumped up, snarling at the blood that dripped from Ivan.
Autumn
sniffed again, there was something else. She smelled something familiar, then it hit her she sniffed her wrist and
bit it smelling her own blood, s
o similar to her own, so similar. Then it hit her, a vile of
Isisa
’s
blood perhaps? She watched as Mirth slowly moved closer to her and her eyes narrowed.

Blood,
what was he planning to do
?
He knew more, something that gave him confidence, something that made the male brave, and
strong
and somehow gave him the power to cut with his mind.
The look on Ivan’s face was of surprise, she was sure, a
s were the others.
Only a
n
eye
could do that
, she thought
.
Most importantly, he could not do it before, or else Ivan would have known about it.

Then she watched as Mirth continued to edge forward. Then she felt a building tension behind her, so she turned to find Mirth’s men at the front of the stage. They were not watching the fight though
,
they were watching the council. Then
Autumn
felt
the rush of her blood as another blow hit Ivan and nearly sliced his leg off.
Autumn
said to herself,
Think,
think
…
what can I do?

The feeling washed over her and she smiled, “Finally.” Mirth stopped moving when she spoke looking at the two men still fighting. Then she focused in on Henry and said tunneling into his brain, pushing away from all the others, “Mirth’s men are going to attack once the fight is over.” Henry’s eyes grew wide and then he turned and nodded at
Autumn
.
H
e slowly situated himself
then,
so that his back was not to the audience anymore.

Following that,
one at a time,
she
told each of the others, taking her time and being specific, to prevent leaks. Each one of them nodded and looked at the advancing clan until they found their match.
Drake
did not seem surprised by the wor
ds and he barely acknowledged
them with only the slightest of
nod
s
pulling
another smooth stone from his pocket. He slowly turned them both over in his hands in the same patterns as before, his eyes never leaving the fight
, ready to fight
.

Autumn
then watched as Mirth began again to try and close the
distance between the two of them
.
Autumn
did not regress instead she used their closing distance to flare her fire and the cold began to creep out again.
What would it do to her body? Send her on a blood rage like Mirth’s man? Or would it simply kill her? Or was he going to drink it and rush her in attempt to kill her?

The close
r he
came
the more she felt the twist in her body, and the more the
pressure
built. This was going to be
tricky;
she would simply have to take it from Mirth. Then kill
him and drink his blood
,
then defuse a
volatile
situation and attempt to prevent a war. Today would be
a busy
day for her, n
o, a
pivotal
day for her, o
ne that would likely set her up for a long and wide future. She smiled though her brows furrowed
,
still pushing the possibilities through her mind.

Then she felt a push on her side and realized that Galen was standing next to her. He seemed
especially
worried by the fight taking place.
Autumn
tilted her head and watched his eyes and realized something more was wrong. She looked at Mirth’s men carefully
attempting
to see who Galen’s
challenger
would be. Then a
familiar cold whisper came up,
Traitor.

Autumn
stepped over and placed her hand on Galen’s shoulder and whispered in his mind
, “
It is not too late Galen.”

His head twitched not looking at
Autumn
, “
I am not strong enough
.
”

She
nodded, echoing the next words into his mind, “But I am.”

Galen finally looked at her
,
in disbelief, “You would take me?”

“Stand with us, we need you
.
” Then
she
slid her
hand
out and
took his, slicing it.
H
e jerked
his hand away, and then
watched as she did the same to her opposite
palm
ho
ld it out to him, with a serious look on her face. He instantly too
k it, and she squeezed it feeling
his flutter of thoughts
,
while he felt the surge of raw power shoot up his arm.

He smiled understanding
immediately
and then gave her a toothy grin his eyes already
wild.
Then she shuffled through the thoughts in Galen’s mind and saw that he would b
e true to his word.
Mirth lifted h
is head at the new scent blood, catching
Galen’s
now unflinching gaze. F
or a split second
,
Mirth narrowed his eyes ever so slightly at Galen’s changed state.

Mirth instantly
beckoned
one of his men to his side. The man watched the two of them closely then nodded and returned to his line.
Autumn
smiled at Galen
who heaved at her side,
pumped up on her blood.
“It looks like Mirth has already chosen your first
opponent
.”

Galen replied cockily,
“
I wi
ll take him easily.
”

Suddenly a turn in the tide occurred as Ivan suddenly be
headed the male
, in an amazing feat of strength. Once undone, he
leaned back against the wall looking at the dead man’s corpse
, exhausted
. Mirth
signaled
for his men to scoop up the
remains
after Henry
signaled
his
approval.
Autumn
le
f
t Galen’s side and asked Henry as she approached, “What will they do with the body?”

“
They will take it outside and burn it.”

Then she
nodded her eyes unfocused
, “
Wait.”
Smiling
suddenly
, “
So he is dead then?”

“
Yes he is dead.”

“
It seems a shame to waste perfectly good
flesh
.” Henry seemed repulsed
by her
words, but
Autumn
continued
anyhow
, “
I want to keep him
.
” Mirth even seemed a bit
disgusted
by her now,
and she
smiled brighter as the thought took hold,
and
she knelt next to the body and sniffed it, “Yes, I
definitely
want to keep him.”

Then she turned to the audience, “Any objections?”

No one answered and
Autumn
turned to Mirth
, “
Do you mind if I take him Mirth?”

He tilt
ed his head and said flatly
, “
What ever you choose to do with
the body is solely at your discretion
.”

Autumn
nodded then she frowned, “No I do not think I could take such a treat from you, Mirth.”

Mirth sneered
, “
I have no use for weakness
.”