Wings Once Cursed and Bound, page 19
He detected movement at the far edge of the clearing, a flash of moonlight on fur. Thomas dropped to a crouch, silent and ready to move to defend, if necessary. Marie froze and turned, slowly. The witch was not as obviously intimidating as a vampire and a werewolf, but any attacker would regret targeting her. Together, they searched the shadows of the surrounding forest, and Bennett caught a better look at the being that had allowed them to see it. A flash of fur and feline eyes caught the light of the moon and reflected it out to them.
The lion, the likes of which Bennett had never encountered before, must have decided not to stalk them. Instead it stepped out of the shadows, remaining just within the shelter of the trees. It stood proud, with a grace the modern world’s lions had lost in the captivity of zoos and enclosed habitats. It was the color of moonlight, silvery white, with a mane as red as fresh blood from the artery. The red streaks swirled through the fur of its body, deepening to a darker red over each of its paws. It lashed its tail, tufted with the same blood red at the end. This big cat was built larger than its counterparts around the rest of the human-inhabited world. It had a large, broad head and a wide chest. Its hindquarters were heavily muscled to help it spring forward and take down large prey. Bennett couldn’t be sure, but he’d spent a long time walking the world, and he had a hunch this was a solo hunter.
It studied them as Bennett took his time assessing it. Then red lips pulled back and it opened its jaws, letting out a roar with enough resonance to shake the forest around it. None of them flinched. As power displays went, it was a simple enough message: it knew they were here, and now they knew it was here, too. It looked at them, blinking slowly, almost sleepily. Bennett thought he might use the same look when he had decided a being was neither threat nor worth the effort to hunt down. It shook its head, the red mane framing its face a glorious cloud, then it turned and melted back into the darkness of the forest.
“That was new,” Marie whispered.
“You’ve never seen it before?” Bennett asked, intrigued.
“No.” Marie started poking at the dirt again. “I’ve seen a white elephant or two—true white elephants, not the pale gray ones they call white—and there’s at least one black elephant with wings.”
“We’re not talking about big ears on a pachyderm, are we?” Thomas asked.
“Wings. Scarlet wings you’d see on a bird. They were huge. Would have to be, to lift an animal so big. The wingspan was maybe twice as large as its body. It had tail feathers, too, and a ridiculously intimidating set of tusks for defense.” Marie’s voice held more than a little awe. “The hermit called it a karin puksa and said it was rare.”
Thomas barked out a laugh. Bennett was inclined to share the implied sentiment. Rare indeed.
“All relatively peaceful creatures. This is the first time a predator made itself known.”
Marie paused, then resumed pulling up plants by the root. “I think the forest is full of creatures, and a lot of them have been aware of when I’ve come and gone. They’re curious, but me by myself poses no major threat. The two of you, though…”
Bennett nodded. “Each of us is a formidable hunter, and the two of us here together is not a thing to be ignored.”
“Will this make it too dangerous for you to come alone in the future?” Thomas asked quietly.
Bennett tightened his jaw. He refused to regret taking this chance. Though he would make an effort, if needed, to offer Marie escort, rather than have her take increased risk as a consequence of bringing them all to this place.
“The witch will be safe, this night and in nights to come.” The statement came from the far end of the clearing. A human approached slowly over a gentle rise, leaning heavily on a gnarled walking stick. His wiry body was wrapped in what looked to be tiger skins. He was old, as humans went, his dark skin leathery and wrinkled, knuckles swollen. Bennett could almost hear the man’s tendons and joints creaking as he moved. The man was almost bald but for a few white strands, but his beard was prodigious. His face was deeply etched with age, the kind of creases made from strong emotions like rage or generous laughter. Maybe both. There was sharp intelligence in the man’s eyes, though. “She has done no harm, and so she is welcome to return so long as she stays within the protections of this clearing.”
“Bhante.” Marie inclined her head in greeting.
Bennett and Thomas remained silent, watchful. Bennett did not offer the man any kind of challenge and neither did Thomas, but they were more certain now that this place was no simple forest in the world they knew. They could not be certain how their strengths would match up against what lived here.
The old man grinned then, his lips peeling back to reveal strong and uneven teeth stained a dark color. “Either of you is a challenge, just standing there. I do not think it would be so easy to believe you will do no harm.”
There was no value in getting angry at a simple fact. He had long since accepted there were things he was not entitled to by default, and trust was at the top of the list. Bennett felt the corners of his mouth tug upward in wry acknowledgment.
“The kraisorn rajasri wouldn’t have made itself known for anything less.” The old man cackled. “There’s been more excitement this night than I’ve had since the last time one of the gandharva came to try to harvest fruit from the makkaliphon tree. That was a night of chaos, oh my.”
Bennett made note of the unfamiliar terms. Perhaps if the night went well, Peeraphan would have research to do when they returned to the manor. At the thought of her, Bennett glanced back at the cave entrance. It had been too long.
“Don’t.” The hermit’s tone was kind, but had power behind it, nonetheless. “Few believe in the old gods, anymore, especially creatures of night and the hunt such as you. But you believe in those you choose as your peers, I think, colleagues and companions. Do not break a promise for lack of faith in the one you have in your heart.”
Bennett bared his fangs at the hermit, but he did not move toward the cave entrance.
“Truth is a powerful thing.” The hermit approached until he was just outside arm’s reach, still close enough for either Bennett or Thomas to end him, if they chose. “It can set a person free or trap them in a cage of their own making. It can do both at the same time. Your companion is on her way back. But when she returns to you, what will you do when you both leave this place?”
Bennett tore his gaze from the cave entrance and glared at the hermit. “What do you know?”
The hermit opened his eyes wide and held his hands up to the starry night. “Me? Many things. Especially about these forests and the creatures who make this their home. I know many of us who reside here are long-lived. Others have the chance to see the full moon only three times before they pass. I know none who come from these forests are born immortal—not like you. The things I know, none of them will make you feel better, vampire. I’ve lived a full life watching the creatures of the world come and go, making their choices. You are the first of your kind to visit this place, and still, you are not different. You have a choice ahead of you, and there is too much history clouding your path forward.”
Bennett heard her before anything else, the sound of her heart beating hard as she made whatever climb she needed to reach the cave entrance again. He rushed forward and reached out to help Peeraphan as she emerged on her hands and knees, carrying the red shoes in one hand.
“Hey,” she panted. She waved the shoes. Her wings had manifested and opened as she cleared the entrance, balancing her as she rose unsteadily to stand on bare feet.
He took the shoes and passed them back to Thomas without taking his gaze from her. Her face was drawn, tired, streaked with mud and tears. Her clothes were soaked through, the trench coat he had loaned her gone. He stripped off his sport coat and wrapped it around her shoulders, then curved one arm around her back and hooked the other behind her knees to scoop her up and hold her against his chest. Rather than struggle, she sagged against him.
“You’re exhausted.” His statement came out in a harsher tone than he intended.
“Truth.” She nodded, and a sound escaped her that was something between a laugh and a sigh.
Anger roared through him. She was hurt. She was hurt. And he had done nothing to prevent it. He’d only stood by, waiting. Rational thought burned away as emotions boiled up. He gathered her closer to him, wanting to punish whatever had done this to her, but there was nothing to fight, no being from which to extract any kind of vengeance. It was a cave.
Maybe he could bring down the mountainside after all.
But destroying the place wouldn’t spare her whatever she had just survived.
Marie approached and Bennett had to bite back a snarl. Marie kept her focus on a point just below his eyes, not meeting his gaze directly but still warily keeping watch until he gave her a sharp nod. She rushed forward and looked Peeraphan over as best she could while Bennett kept Peeraphan gathered close against his chest.
“She’s bleeding,” he ground out. It was a struggle to control the desire to feed when he was this angry. He could taste her blood on the air, smell it when he drew in breath.
“All I see are superficial scrapes and the beginnings of a bunch of bruises.” Marie sifted through her makeshift basket of herbs and twisted a few into a tiny bunch, bruising the leaves before dabbing them against Peeraphan’s abrasions. “Do you have any sharp pains anywhere?”
Peeraphan shook her head. “Just bruised and battered.”
“What hit you?” Thomas didn’t exactly have his temper under control, either, if the gravelly garble of words was anything to go by.
“Nothing alive, strictly speaking.” Peeraphan leaned her head into the curve of Bennett’s shoulder. He pressed his lips to her hair, hiding his fangs. She swallowed. “It’s hard to describe, but you could say the truth hit me from all sides.”
Marie snorted. Bennett glared at her.
Marie didn’t meet his gaze, but she shrugged. “It’s a singular experience every time.” Then she laid a gentle hand on Peeraphan’s shoulder. “Let’s get you back to the manor.”
They headed back to the spot where they had first arrived and Bennett was glad Thomas was there to take point. He’d never admit it out loud, but the werewolf had some useful skills to protect the group with. The hermit was following at a distance, but if the man was a danger, he would have done something when they’d all been focused on Peeraphan.
“Bennett,” Peeraphan whispered. Her words caressed his jaw with warm air.
“Hmm.” He was still too angry over her being hurt to trust himself to speak.
“This truth thing. I want to tell you the last truth it took to get the shoes to release me.” She sounded so tired.
He wanted to get her back to the manor with enough time to tuck her safely into bed before he had to give her over to Duncan and Ellery’s care with the dawn. “You can tell me once you’ve rested.”
“It seems obvious,” she continued anyway. “I don’t want to wait because I might convince myself it was a little thing. But it was the biggest truth I had. I’ve been talking a big game all this time, about how I’m not quite human.”
“You’re kinnaree.” Bennett planned to do more research into the lore around her kind and the history.
“Yes, but we’ve both been hung up on me being of kinnaree descent, a human born with kinnaree powers.” She wiggled a little in his arms so she could look up at him more directly. “Or maybe you weren’t, but I was. Wings, tail, I was still holding on to this idea that I was human, or part human.”
“And you have a clearer perspective now?” He wasn’t certain where she was going with her line of thought, but he tried to listen, tried to follow. It was important to her, so it would be important to him to understand.
“I’m not human at all.” She made the statement a fact with a firm tone of finality. “I have to let go of this need to be at least mostly human, because I’m not. I’m kinnaree, a true throwback.”
He nodded. He was happy for her. There was possibly more to consider, later. “I will do everything in my power to help you as you learn more about what that means.”
She smiled up at him, and he paused midstride to give her a quick kiss.
“I never thought I’d live to witness the genesis of Bennett the lovestruck vampire,” Thomas muttered.
Marie choked back a laugh.
Bennett snarled as Peeraphan turned her face into his shoulder to muffle her own giggles. It was a half-hearted effort, at best, because all of the anger twisting inside him had evaporated. He had his partner and she wasn’t as frail or fleeting as his past love. He could put that memory to rest and live for the present.
They gathered as Marie prepared to cast the return spell. No movement along the tree line bordering the clearing. No more creatures putting in a cameo appearance this night.
Bennett glanced back at the hermit. The hermit grinned, showing gaps between his stained teeth.
“Witch, you are welcome back to this clearing, so long as you continue to do no harm while you are here.” The hermit sounded as if he was reciting a well-used phrase. Marie looked unsurprised, only nodding in response. But the hermit didn’t stop there. “Hunters, you may come again, but know that you must abide by the laws of these forests if you ever choose violence here.”
Bennett thought it was fair. Thomas must have, too, because the werewolf said nothing.
The hermit didn’t wait for an answer from either of them, though, instead resting his gaze on Peeraphan. The man’s expression softened around the mouth and eyes, though his stare was no less intense. If anything, Bennett might have thought the man looked sad. “Kinnaree, your kind still reside in these forests. You are welcome to return.”
Thomas stiffened. Marie paused in her spell. Bennett’s hands convulsed around Peeraphan. In his arms, she was the only one who hadn’t been present for what the hermit had told Bennett earlier.
None of the beings of this place were immortal.
Before he could open his mouth to further interrogate the hermit, the hermit lifted his walking stick. Mist billowed up around their feet, surrounding them until it was barely possible to see anything.
“No one move!” Marie’s voice called out.
Bennett let his fangs and jaws pull forward, but he remained still, otherwise. If something attacked, he would be as ready as possible, even with his arms full.
The mist cleared as quickly as it had gathered, and they were standing in a different clearing. The night sounds and humid air of the Pacific Northwest surrounded them.
“I think he threw us out.” Marie spat out a frustrated curse. “If he could do that all this time, he could have saved me a whole lot of effort on return trips in the past.”
Bennett said nothing, clutching Peeraphan close to his chest. They were out in the open and the hermit had made him absolutely certain the woman he held so dearly to him was utterly fragile.
Terribly mortal after all.
Eighteen
Peeraphan
Peeraphan wriggled in Bennett’s arms, concerned. Something about the last invitation from the hermit had bothered everyone, especially Bennett. Or maybe she was projecting because she wasn’t absolutely ready to face the implications of what the hermit had said. Her kind still resided in those forests, somewhere far away, inaccessible to human travel. But they were there. Someone could teach her about herself. Possibilities were popping up like popcorn inside her head and she didn’t know how to examine any one of them in the middle of the chaos.
“Bennett?” she craned her neck to get a better look at his face.
His face had changed, his upper and lower jaws pulling forward and his fangs emerging. His eyes were an intense red, almost glowing in the night. He wouldn’t look at her as they all stood there.
“Taking point.” Thomas was abrupt, too. “Bennett, you good?”
“Just go,” Bennett snapped.
Something was definitely wrong. There was real temper behind his curt statement and Thomas growled low in response. The two stared at each other for a long moment, the time stretching out until Peeraphan was sure they could hear her escalating heart rate.
It was Thomas who turned away and moved ahead toward the trail, tossing the red shoes back toward Bennett, who caught them and allowed Peeraphan to hold them against her chest.
Marie sighed, having remained motionless through the tense moment. She made eye contact with Peeraphan and opened her mouth to say something, then hesitated, as if she thought better of it, and just gave Peeraphan a small smile instead. “I’ll follow the two of you and make sure we don’t leave any signs of being here.”
Peeraphan made a mental note to ask about that. Ashke oversaw security back at the manor for the whole island. They all worked as a group to ensure safety and security when they left the island together. She imagined it was even easier for Bennett and Thomas to move undetected when they were traveling solo. But aside from remaining unknown to humans, why go to such great lengths?
“Maybe I should walk. Just holding the shoes shouldn’t be a problem,” she whispered, keeping her voice low enough for only Bennett to hear. As far as she knew, Marie didn’t have the kind of supernatural hearing Bennett and Thomas had.
“No need.” Bennett’s words came out clipped.
This was the exact opposite of what she’d thought would happen once she’d shared her truth with him. Maybe she’d misunderstood his misgivings around them trying to be together. She’d thought he’d be happy to think of her as kinnaree and not a human with kinnaree blood. But even cradled close in his arms as she was, there was a distance between them. He’d shut down.
