Shadow Reign (Shadow Puppeteer Book 2), page 17
What was Khaos’ game? I already knew what Kelaino wanted. If only there was a way to wake Hades.
Kelaino flicked her fingers at the mixed group of Callicantzaros’ and Baobhan sith leaning over Rex. They pressed him hard into the ground and a bone snapped. Even with my shields up, I felt the pain that raced through him. It left me sick. Rex tried to fight them, but it had no effect.
“I said I’d open it,” I growled.
“Just making sure we have a mutual understanding. I heard you can bring the soul back into a body, but do you think your dog would appreciate coming back after we’re done with him?”
Rex went still. I wished I could read his mind. It wasn’t like we needed a reminder of that night. It was a blood bath that left me, for the most part, dead.
“I get your point loud and clear.”
Open the prism or Rex dies. I open this prism and the world could be subjected to something far worse than World Congress or the Reincarta.
My fingers brushed Draken’s transmitter solid in my pocket. It would serve as a distraction, but we were in such a delicate situation. The vampires could mangle Rex’s body beyond repair. At that point, bringing him back would only be torture. Letting him die would torment me.
The sith closed the distance between us with the prism on the pillow. Even her emerald eyes smiled as they sparkled in the limited light. Her pink tongue darted over her lips, a small gesture Kelaino didn’t catch, but I knew the implication. If she wanted more blood, she’d have to kill me to get it.
The obsidian was impenetrable, catching the light and sparkling in hues of deep purple. It matched the light I saw as my shields. That should bring me comfort, but it didn’t. This prism belonged to me. It always did, which meant Rose couldn’t get it to open.
The thought of Rose made me very aware of her essence. I trapped her energy, but not her spirit. I was grateful for that. Two spirits in one body would drive me nuts. It was better that she was a restless soul, than a returning problem.
“How do I open this?” That was a good question, because I didn’t even want to touch it.
Rex grunted, trying to break away from the vampires who roughly tugged him back to the ground. It wasn’t his turn to be the hero, though I heard his protest. I hoped I could control the outcome.
She tapped her deadly nails against the stone armchair. “If you’re Hecate, it will respond to you.”
And if I wasn’t Hecate, I’d be killed like Rose.
Time was such a delicate thing, thudding away with every heartbeat. Kelaino huffed impatiently. She knew what stood in the balance, but it didn’t matter to her. What I became after touching the prism was what she cared about.
“If this works, what do you get out of it? If I destroy everything, aren’t you afraid I’ll destroy you and your followers?”
The creatures in the room hissed. Oh yeah, I wasn’t making friends past the sith and her little pillow holding a world of destruction. She didn’t mind my threat. In fact, her smile broadened. Rex grunted as more pressure was placed on him. There wouldn’t be a way to protect him if I couldn’t control what was inside Pandora’s Box.
Kelaino failed at humble. “Hecate knows the bargain. She wouldn’t betray her word to us mere followers.”
“You better hope so.”
The tips of my fingers tingled when I reached for the prism. The reflecting light curved at an angle, meeting my hand. It was unnatural, yet it didn’t make me panic. As anxious as I should be, I found that I was more curious.
A mechanism inside the prism clicked and the three sides began to peel back like a flower in bloom. The light that I thought was reflecting from the will-o-wasps was internal. There was a glitter pulse to the energy that edged upward than started to circle around me. I recognized the energy like I’d recognize my own handwriting. It belonged to me.
Kelaino rose from her chair. “Yes, I knew it. I knew you were the one.”
I wish I could be excited. I wasn’t sure how to feel with the light circling around me ready to open a death door. If this light belonged to Hecate, what did that mean for me? Was I a long lost god that escaped imprisonment? It was too complicated to believe.
It was too late to put it back in the tiny box. The light darted downward, slamming into my chest. It felt like an elephant was trying to crawl through my ribs and into my body. When the light faded, I was breathless. It was just light, yet my bones ached as if I had the flu.
“Hecate?” Kelaino asked.
The room bowed, but I didn’t move. Every breath I drew into my lungs, rattled. If I was a god, was I supposed to feel like the same beaten down girl I was just hours ago? My torso still bled where Rose tried to gut me. I stood, forcing my shoulders back and tried to determine how best to answer that hesitant question. Kelaino frowned and I realized I waited too long.
“I don’t understand. The goddess should be with us,” Kelaino raved.
The creatures quickly stood, losing their earlier respect. This could turn ugly real fast. The disk in my pocket pressed against my side as a reminder that Draken was a click away. With numb fingers, I clumsily fumbled in my pocket for the disk he gave me.
Fire burned in her eyes as she took the steps down the dais. I was loaded with weapons, but she didn’t seem worried I’d pull one on her. The energy still buzzed along my skin and a word came to mind; harpy. That’s what she was.
“It opened for you, but you’re not the one.” She squinted at me. Dissatisfied, she turned to walk back up the dais. “Kill them both.”
The order should’ve shocked me. The death threats left me numb.
She was wrong. That energy was definitely something and it responded to me. I planned to live long enough to see what it meant.
I stabled my hold on the disk and pressed the center. The air wavered and gas cans flew from the invisible door. The creatures scattered, giving Rex room to lunge off the floor. I held the disk until Draken stepped through in his battle gear.
I shoved the transmitter into his hand. “Here, it’s your deal.”
The movement of the disk didn’t interfere with the number of men pressing through the invisible door, weapons ready. The creatures didn’t try to run. The battle was on and somewhere within the clash of weapons and the screeches of anger, I heard Khaos laughing.
This couldn’t be what she meant. It’d be too simple. The pandemonium was insubstantial.
A quick glance around the room and I couldn’t spot Rex. Panic made my heart race. I stepped away from Draken, determined to find him and Draken pulled me back with his now free hand. The disk was gone. I guess everyone was here at the party.
“You’ve changed.”
That statement made me uncomfortable. A Free-String Walker wouldn’t notice. They were spirits limited by their puppet bodies, but I already knew Draken wasn’t what he said he was.
Draken was jumped by a sith before I could answer. He had her on the ground in seconds and I didn’t wait to see the outcome. Despite my feelings for Rex, I found myself looking for Kelaino. There were four tunnels that lead into this room, but my best bet was going through the tunnel just behind her throne.
The minute I was away from the will-o-wasps, the darkness closed in. With indecision, I fingered the patch over my eye, but there wasn’t time to waste. I couldn’t risk my safety, knowing Kelaino could be waiting in the dark for me.
I pulled the patch off and the world became a mix of colors within the rocks. The minerals were as shiny as the stars in the night sky. To my surprise, Kelaino wasn’t in here. I followed along the path with my weapons drawn and tried to ignore the stitch in my side that pulsed and still bled. It fueled my anger.
Human weapons wouldn’t kill Kelaino. Why I knew that, I wasn’t sure. Maybe it was part of the light that seeped into my conscious. It definitely meant something and I needed to find out what.
Kelaino’s rotten stench led me down one tunnel and up the next. I was so far removed from the action that the cave took on an eerie silence. It felt like she was leading me on a wild goose chase until I came upon an area I’d forever have nightmares about. I eased slowly into the ritual cavern, surprised that my right eye wasn’t sensitive to the lanterns.
She stood by the obsidian mirrors, looking like a drowned rat. Her pale, sharp features were made uglier by her scorning eyes.
She hissed. “You’ve betrayed your followers.”
“I’m not Hecate. I didn’t betray anyone. You killed my friends and many innocent people in the name of Hecate. I’m glad I’m not her. I don’t think I’d like her,” I said.
Despite my words, I recognized the intimate hum of the energy. I felt it in the statue graveyard, and now it surrounded me. I wasn’t sure who I was.
“It’s not over. You’ll complete your task,” she threatened.
My only task now was to send her to Hades. I stepped into the room, ready to pull my spirit to my fingertips if it would answer the call. She stiffened, recognizing the attack.
“No daughter, not me.” She raised her hands in the air and smoke exploded out of nowhere.
It left heavy waves of sulfur floating through the air. The smoke burned my eyes and the back of my throat. There was no way I could follow her with so little concentration.
“Belen?” Draken’s voice was distant.
My attention drifted away from the room for just a moment, but when I turned back, I knew she was gone. I didn’t need the smoke to clear to know that I was now alone.
A hand caught my upper arm, pulling me back. I swirled, expecting trouble. It was Draken and I couldn’t stand the way he looked at me, like I was a freak of nature. I immediately pulled my eye patch back out and slid it onto my face, hoping nothing else about me stood out.
“We need to talk,” he said.
“Later. I have something to do.”
I yanked back, but he wasn’t going to let me go.
“This is serious. You did something and it needs to be resolved,” he persisted.
I didn’t like the sound of that, but there wasn’t much time to open a doorway. Kelaino’s energy was dissipating as quickly as the smoke. A few more minutes and I’d lose my only connection with her.
“We can talk about it later.”
He yanked me back. The pressure of our bodies slamming knocked the air from my lungs, but when I took a steady breath, it was more than empty lungs that hurt. The sharp pain was shoved up between my ribs. The wolf blade set my jaw on edge. Every heart beat brushed against the blade. There wasn’t instant death, but the pain centered right there.
“I’m sorry it has to be this way, but we can’t afford a god ruining what we have.”
I tried to speak, but blood gurgled at the back of my throat. My legs lost strength and I slid against him, driving the blade deeper. The steel made my muscle burn.
“Shh,” he whispered.
His fingers brushed the top of my head as he tried to smooth my hair from my face, but it only made it worse. The edge of my vision was darkening. I couldn’t go down like this. He had to know I’d wake up; wolf blade or not, I’d wake up again.
“You shouldn’t have visited the graveyard. You shouldn’t have awoken the gods. I could’ve protected you,” he whispered softly in my ear. I could feel his nose against my head as he breathed in my scent. “You’re the first human I’ve ever loved.”
It hurt to move my lips, to force that sound up my throat and against my tongue and lips. “Is that supposed to make me feel better?”
“I’ll take you somewhere safe. You’ll never hurt like this again.”
“Belen!” Rex called.
There was no way to warn him to stay back. Draken twisted the blade before yanking it out. Warmth gushed over my shirt. He stepped away from me and I tried to grasp his shirt to stop him from going down that hall to meet Rex.
He patted my head as I wrestled to grasp my blade. “Your duty to this earth and to me is done. You can rest now.”
My slippery fingers slid right down his torso as he let me fall to the floor. I couldn’t hold on. I could barely stay focused. That was unacceptable. I refused to let Draken kill Rex.
TWENTY-FOUR
“Why?” It took so much exerted energy to speak. My body was shutting down.
Draken kneeled in front of me, pushing my hair from my face. His fingers lingered intimately. “You weren’t meant for this life.”
“Belen?”
Rex was closer now. I wondered if he could hear us talking.
Draken pulled out a gun and opened the pouch at his side. I meant to grab his hand, but I could barely get my fingers to twitch. He pulled out a few weird looking darts and loaded them into his gun. He knew that Rex was a werewolf.
“World Congress.” That was it. That was all the words I could get out.
“Yes, hail World Congress,” he whispered, before standing.
The torchlight in the room behind me made it difficult discerning the shadows in the hall. There wasn’t a bit of light in the direction Draken was walking and Rex was heading right to him. The werewolf population was dying off because of hunters and Rex lost everything. I couldn’t let Draken take his life too.
My spine tingled and my limbs were numb, but I had to find the strength. As heavy as my body felt, a part of me felt far lighter. It rolled like smoke through my system and down to my fingertips. My shadow wanted to retreat from my body.
Was this what people felt right before they died?
Not yet.
Khaos’s words were sharp in my head. She was here watching.
I squeezed my fist, sending the energy through my fingertips and right back through my palm. My spirit wasn’t going anywhere without my body. It took effort, but I got my hands underneath me and shoved upward. My head swam and felt too heavy for my neck.
It took a lot of concentration to push the haze back and get my legs underneath me. I tittered where I stood and the wall came up fast. I shoved away before I could lean on it and lose my strength again. It felt like a long distance between where I stood and where Rex was. One foot in front of the other wasn’t going to get me far when every step was a struggle.
I yanked the patch off my eye and flung it. I wanted nothing hindering my sight as I shuffled forward. Movement made the pain worse, but it gave me something more to focus on. I tried to ease the pain with pressure on my chest, but it did nothing. My blood burned a path between my fingers and cooled the moment it touched the air.
A breeze moved down the tunnel, bringing with it the warm smell of wolf and pine. I breathed it deeply, wanting to coat my sensory with that scent. It was far better than the scent Kelaino left in the cavern. Rex was everything I longed for; security and loyalty.
Doubt pressed into my thoughts and I shoved them out. There wasn’t time for insecurity or guessing Rex’s feelings on this. I needed to keep Draken from killing him.
Determination was the force that drove my steps. I found balance and strength with every forward motion. My shadow heart gave me adrenaline and my physical heart made me lethargic. It was a weird mix and the dueling mental state made it hard to concentrate. As tired as I was and as bad as movement made my chest ache, I wanted Rex’s survival more than anything.
“I smell blood. What did you do to her?”
Rex’s voice led me around the bend. The hall wasn’t extremely big and I had to look over Draken’s shoulder to see. Rex’s golden eyes had a silver sheen and his jaw was bloody where the metal plate was pulled off.
“Your concern should be for yourself, werewolf,” Draken said.
Rex growled, “You can’t keep me from her.
Draken laughed, raising the tranquilizer gun. “I can’t?”
Rex growled and lunged at the same time as me. The gun went off with a little pop and the dart whacked the wall. I plunged the blade into Draken, trying hard not to think about what I was doing. I didn’t want to be this close, feeling the blade pushing through his skin. He wasn’t human, but his blood was still warm. My shadow responded and I had to shove it down.
Draken slammed back against the wall, shaking me. My achy bones screamed in protest and it took every ounce of energy not to curl up on the floor.
“Belen?”
Before I could answer, Rex attacked. The two were a mess of limbs, battling it out. The fight was short lived. Rex yelped and I knew Draken got him with the wolf blade.
“Draken, stop. Don’t kill him.”
It was an order I thought he’d ignore, but he shoved Rex away and turned to face me. Rex tried to stand and swayed. There was so much blood, my stomach turned. I pulled another blade from my hip holster and kept it pressed against my side.
“I wouldn’t risk it. He hasn’t changed into a werewolf yet.” Draken’s tone held neither surprise nor disappointment that I was still standing.
His goat eyes were intense; almost demonic. I had no doubt he could see me as well as I saw him. He worked with World Congress, but he was no Free-String Walker. It was comforting knowing World Congress had limits.
“You can’t have him.” The growl emerged deep within my chest.
Draken tilted his head. “That’s right, you’re a werewolf too. Were you mated?” He took one look back at Rex and returned his attention to me with a knowing smile. “No. I don’t believe so.”
He pointed his gun at me and I tried to pull my shadow at my fingertips, but it refused to move. There wasn’t room to maneuver. I couldn’t move faster than the speeding tranquillizer.
Rex growled and lunged, taking Draken down hard, but not before the gun went off. The fight was fast. Draken rolled Rex right off him.
I couldn’t stand the thought of him being skinned. It drove home D laying in the Dutch Gamer’s bed, his torso and arms wrapped with bloody gauze as the gamer painted on a skin canvas. It would be worse for Rex, because he wouldn’t be alive at the end of this. Someone would be wearing his pelt like a fur coat. Bile burned a path up the back of my throat.
For once, there was no thought driving me forward. Anger and fear was a deadly mix, beating through my veins. I shoved him and he tripped over Rex, hitting the side of his head hard against the rock. I shouldn’t stop there, but straddling him with my blade at his throat, I couldn’t ignore the way his pulse beat against my fingers.
