“Where am I?” I croak.
The Altrumina who touched me steps up to my prison.
“Why don’t you tell us, pretty girl?” He’s joined by his partner, who smiles at me with perfect teeth.
“She’s yummy,” Perfect Teeth says in an eerie, high-pitched voice. “I want to eat her.”
The first one laughs and moves closer. He reaches his arm through the cage bars and lightly brushes the side of my face. White-hot razors melt my frozen flesh. My mind screams for me to move out of the way, but my body refuses to listen.
“She’s not entirely human, I doubt she would taste very good,” my captor says with disdain.
“Still, I wouldn’t mind a little sample,” Perfect Teeth says. “Let’s see what this little beauty is made of.”
She comes closer. With all the strength I can muster, I struggle to force my body to obey me.
Nothing.
I open my mouth to scream, but no sound comes out.
They both laugh, and Perfect Teeth moves closer. I feel her hot breath on my cheek as she whispers, “Don’t you know we swallow your screams, little girl? No one can hear you. Only us, and it makes us feel so good. The more you scream the more powerful we become.” Her purple eyes shine wickedly.
I can only watch helplessly as she dangles her fingers in front of my face.
“Interesting that she can’t move,” she murmurs to her partner.
“Guess she has some issues. I expected a fight, but she just froze up.”
“Interesting,” Perfect Teeth repeats.
I hear their words, but they make no sense. I shake my head.
“What do you want?” My voice is barely more than a whimper.
They both laugh again. Perfect Teeth slides her boney hand under the sleeve of my cloak, and down the entire length of my bare arm. Fiery razorblades of burning acid slice open my skin.
I know I’m screaming in agony, but I hear nothing except the sound of their laughter.
The pain is excruciating, unlike anything I’ve ever felt or imagined. It seeps slowly through my body, each beat of my heart moving the debilitating wretchedness deeper inside me. Suddenly, my body shifts from freezing cold to sweltering hot. I can’t catch my breath.
Sweat pours from my forehead and into my eyes. I try crying out again, but the pain is too much to bear, and I don’t have the strength. My eyes close, and my body collapses in a heap on the grass.
“Interesting,” Perfect Teeth mutters again.
Is that all she can say?
“This is going to be a good show,” the male says, sounding amused.
Tattie! Tattie! I need help!
The final wave of torture washes over my head, and I know this is it.
I’m going to die.
Alone in a field, mocked by tormenters, sacrificed for no reason other than to satisfy the needs of pure evil.
Just like…
Suddenly, my suffering stops.
Not only is the pain gone, but my body feels good. Young, strong, healthy, and whole.
Cautiously, I open one eye and welcome the warm glow of the soft twilight sun. My cage is gone, and I’m no longer in Baymore Park. I’m alone, sitting in a field of wildflowers and tall grass.
I know this place.
Euphoria washes over me, and I breathe several deep sighs of relief. There’s a familiar oak tree up ahead. Smiling, I stand up on wobbly legs and walk over to it.
Our tree.
I lightly trace my finger over the letters carved into its ancient wood.
Michael. Kayla. Liora.
The names form a triangle, and there’s a star symbol carved in the middle. I remember how Michael added that part later, for me. He’d told me once that it was me who’d made our little group so special. Until I met them, Michael and Kayla had been like any other brother and sister. But once I joined the mix, everything had changed.
We became a family.
“Liora, come here!” a young girl calls. My heart stops. I know this voice…
“Coming!” I hear another girl sing out.
I gasp. As if hypnotized, I find myself moving toward the sounds of happy children laughing by the pond.
I see them….us. Michael, Kayla, and me. Michael is by the water, barefoot, his pant legs rolled up to his knees. He’s holding a long stick, and his brown hair flops aimlessly in the breeze. Kayla stands beside him, beaming.
I watch as my younger self skips toward them; my yellow sundress floats around me like a ray of sunshine.
I’m only twelve years old here; I am still innocent.
“Liora, look what Michael found!” Kayla says breathlessly.
“What is it?”
My heart pounds wildly. I remember every second of this scene playing out before me.
Michael takes his hand out from behind his back. In it, he’s holding a beautiful, full-bloomed white and yellow water lily.
“Here, Liora, this is for you,” he says, shyly handing Younger Me the flower. “It was floating in the middle of the pond all by itself. I wanted you to have it.”
Giggling delightedly, Kayla skips over to the oak tree and grabs the tire swing. “Michael and Liora, sitting in a tree. K-i-s-s-i-n-g.”
Michael’s freckled cheeks tinge pink. “Shut up, Kayla,” he mutters, tossing a clump of grass at her.
“Michael, you better keep your promise!” Kayla yells out as she climbs up the rope and starts swinging.
“What promise?” I’m asking, holding his gift up to my face. I remember thinking it was the sweetest fragrance I’d ever smelled. I watch my younger self breathe deeply and smile.
Michael looks down at his feet, and then peeks shyly up through his long lashes. “I promised her that one day I’d ask you to marry me,” he says quietly. “That way you two can be real sisters forever.”
Hearing him say those words had lit up my soul in a way I never thought possible. At that exact moment, everything was perfect.
Perfect.
“You want to marry me?” I’m whispering, hiding my happy grin behind the oversized lily.
He nods. “Someday. When we’re older. But not too old. Maybe once we’re outta high school...”
I see myself laugh, but I know at that moment I was thinking if my heart felt any fuller it would explode from too much joy.
“You’ve thought this through,” I’m saying.
He nods again, braver now. “If you want to, that is. Of course, if you find someone better…someone you like more…”
“Michael, stop. How could I possibly find anyone I like more? That would be impossible! Let’s do it. We can get married and the three of us can all live together in a big house and everything will be perfect forever!” I’m dancing around in a happy circle.
He smiles, but it’s a nervous smile. His brown eyes turn serious, and he moves closer to me. I know this moment. My heart is racing so fast...
I see myself close my eyes, but remember the feeling of Michael’s lips briefly, gently touching mine…of my whole world exploding with fireworks.
He quickly pulls away and looks down at the ground, unaware those few seconds when he first kisses me by the pond will provide me with the happiest memory of my life.
A short yelp followed by a longer scream interrupts the intimate moment.
“Kayla!”
Michael and I both turn and sprint to where she has fallen. Of course, I reach her first, and when Michael arrives I’m already cradling Kayla in my arms.
“Ow, ow, my leg…it hurts…help,” Kayla sobs.
I watch myself take hold of Kayla’s broken leg. I’d never tried doing this before, but somehow, deep inside, I knew I could do what needed to be done. Wrapping my hands around her injury, I concentrate and allow my fire to heal her.
A moment later, Kayla’s sobs are replaced with laughter. Michael crouches beside me, staring in awe. Kayla looks at me adoringly and grasps my hand.
“Liora…how did you do that? That was like…magic.”<
br />
I’m shrugging. “I dunno…I just knew I could.” Tatiana had been teaching me about my ‘special’ heritage, and how I was different from other human boys and girls. She’d also warned me never to say anything, even to Michael and Kayla. But they knew I was different without me ever saying a word. And they loved me anyway.
Kayla struggles to her feet and brushes the dirt from her white dress. “You’re so lucky. Is there anything you can’t do? Man, I wish I had cool powers like you do. I’m so ordinary. Boring and…unmagical.”
“It’s not really magic, though…it’s something else.”
“Well, whatever it is, you’re lucky. Lucky Liora. Lucky, lucky, lucky,” she sings as she begins climbing back up the tree. Grabbing a thick branch she hoists herself back into the tire, bravely forgetting her earlier mishap. Michael and I are standing next to each other, watching her with smiles on our faces. He gently wraps his hand around mine.
“Lucky Liora,” Kayla repeats as her long, blonde hair flows behind her in the wind. “And lucky me for having a very best friend and someday sister who is so wonderfully magical. Lucky me. Lucky, lucky me.” The sound of her tinkling laughter carries through the fields.
“I think I’m the lucky one,” Michael whispers from beside me.
“I’m the luckiest of all,” I whisper back.
Michael leans closer and gently kisses me again. Kayla laughs.
“We should get going soon,” I say, even though I don’t want our perfect day to end. “It’s getting dark out, and I promised Tatiana I’d be home for dinner.”
“Just a little while longer,” Michael says. I smile and squeeze his hand.
“Hello, there…”
Michal and I turn to see two young girls emerge from a patch of tall, wild grass. Kayla, unaware of the girls’ arrival, continues to swing.
As I’m watching the scene replay before me, I feel two distinctly separate sets of emotions at once: one…the curious apprehension my younger self is feeling; the second…the sheer, unbridled terror of now.
I try screaming: Run away! Get Kayla and Michael and run for your lives!
I hear the desperate pleas in my mind, but no sound comes from my lips. I’m nothing more than a silent, invisible observer, powerless to stop the horrific scene from unfolding.
Just like then.
“Hello, where did you guys come from?” Michael’s friendly voice is laced with surprise.
We should’ve seen them earlier; I’d thought it odd that we hadn’t. But maybe we were all too wrapped up in our perfect little world to notice two people approaching.
“Can we play with you?” the girls ask in unison. They look to be about eight or nine years old. Identical twins, holding hands. Both wearing matching pink and white pinafores with their blonde hair in bouncy pig-tails.
I remember feeling uneasy about these newcomers, but didn’t know why at the time. They were the most adorable little girls I’d ever laid my eyes on. But something about them made the hairs on my arms stand up.
“Aren’t you pretty far from home?” Michael asks, as he leans down to talk to them. Wherever these two girls were from, it wasn’t nearby. The closest house was a few miles down the road, and we knew everyone in the surrounding area.
They shake their heads like little robots. “We like it,” they say, again in perfect unison. A strange answer that doesn’t seem to fit Michael’s question.
“Where are your parents? Where did you come from?” I ask, grasping Michael’s hand tighter. He’s smiling at the little dolls with an amused grin, but my stomach is uncomfortably clenched.
They stare at us with wide, innocent expressions.
Run! Get Michael and Kayla and run away NOW!!
My silent screams go unnoticed, and now I can’t move. My body is frozen, forcing me to watch the gruesome scene about to take place.
“We don’t want to play with you,” they say to me in eerie harmony. “We only want to play with them…”
No, no, make it stop! Somebody help! Make them stop! Run! Get away! Please…please…
Tears fall down my cheeks. Nothing I do matters now.
At this moment, the two little girls’ eyes glow an unnaturally bright blue before turning a menacing shade of black. I see my younger self freeze.
No. Please…no. Run…get away, I continue to cry out. Finally, I can’t watch anymore and I close my eyes tight, unable to bear witness to the horrors about to happen.
I let out one final, anguished scream. NOOOOOOO!!!
Suddenly, I’m spinning through darkness. My stomach jolts from the waves of nausea flooding my body. Then it stops. My eyes and jaw are tightly clenched, but I feel a palpable difference in the air.
I’m somewhere else.
I struggle to catch my breath and slow my racing heart. Sweat drips from my forehead, my body trembles uncontrollably. But I’m neither hot nor cold. I’m strangely comfortable.
“There you are, sweetheart.” The silky voice caressing the air is the most welcome sound I could ever hope to hear.
Bones!
My eyes fly open to the most amazing, unexpected sight. I’m lying on a bed, surrounded by bunches of red satin. Dozens of candles flicker aimlessly, giving the cozy room a sultry glow. Soft music plays soothingly from an invisible stereo, and the faintest hint of musk fills the air. But I’m only vaguely aware of all these things as I search for the beautiful face of my savior.
Bones, oh, Bones…I need you…
From the shadows, Bones steps forward. His perfectly chiseled torso gleams under the glow of dancing firelight. His eyes, deep with a carnal lust, gaze upon me.
I open my arms gratefully, welcoming my hero, my love, my friend. Now I’m safe. Now I’m protected. Now I’m loved. He leans down, closer…closer…I can almost feel his hot breath on me…
“My sweetest love…” he murmurs.
Oh, Bones, I love you so much…
“Please, please take me…” a soft voice moans. Stunned, I jerk my head and see a nude woman lying beside me, aching for her seduction.
No…
The look in Bones’ eyes…the sincere expression of love and desire that’s supposed to be only for me, is instead being used as his weapon of romance with the nubile beauty. He grins, delicately stroking her body with his fingers. The sounds of her pleasure drive a knife through my heart. He lies down on top of her and presses his hungry mouth against hers.
No! Stop it! Stop kissing her like that!
I want so badly to push him off her, but I can only lie here, paralyzed—forced to watch the scene of seduction as it plays out. I know they can’t see or hear me, but I am painfully aware of everything they’re doing.
I feel sicker and dirtier than I’ve ever felt.
I try to shut out the image, but even with my eyes closed I still see them clearly—the loving way Bones kisses and caresses her…the girl’s indescribable pleasure at his tender embrace and gently gyrating pelvis.
My heart shatters into a million pieces over and over again as I’m forced to watch him make love to girl, after girl, after girl… after girl.
I don’t know how many hours pass. I’ve cried so much my tears have all dried up. Every once in a while, Bones turns to look directly into my eyes and give a smug smile, before returning his mouth to the young beauty beneath him. The sights and sounds of pleasure beside me play over and over like a broken record of perpetual torture. Instead of growing numb, each passing minute hurts me more and more.
I want to die.
A sharp cracking noise whips through the air, and I’m bombarded with a brilliant, sickly yellow light. Nausea floods through me once more, and I squeeze my eyes shut.
When I open them again, I’m lying on a bed of scorching white sand. The air feels like it’s coming from a blast furnace, and my eyes are so dry the lids are like sandpaper.
Slowly, I sit upright. I squint to block out the painful brightness as I assess my new surroundings.
Nothing.
This place feels like death.
Empty, lonely, vacant, death.
Hello? Hello?! Is anyone here? Can anyone hear me?
Silence. Sickening silence…unlike any I’ve ever experienced. Everywhere there is absolute stillness.
I am completely alone in this desolate wasteland.
Totally, utterly, shamefully alone.
I no longer exist. Have I ever existed?
Hello! Anybody! Please, is anybody out there?
…Nothing. Even my thoughts are barely a whisper.
Hello?! Somebody! Anybody! Is anyone out there? Can you hear me?
My heart races uncontrollably as I wipe the perspiration from my brow. Barely able to feel my legs, I force myself to stand. I need to get out of here. I need to go somewhere else. But where? Each step is exactly the same as the one before it. Every view and angle of this barren desert of death is exactly the same. Miles and miles and miles of flat nothingness, expanding for eternity.
With me in the center. Alone.
The realization of what this means hits me full force.
I’m doomed. Eternally doomed. Damned to walk this barren wasteland alone, tortured with everlasting isolation. I’d thought watching Michael and Kayla die was horrific; I’d thought seeing Bones’ true colors was heartbreaking.
This is so much worse than those. Infinitely worse.
I fall to my knees, my silent cries no longer audible even in my head. My eyes are too dry for tears. I can’t swallow, and the brilliant light curdles my blood.
Please, please, let me die.
Or am I already dead? Is this my eternity?
No, this is worse than death. This is…nothing.
Hours pass…days…I don’t even know. Time does not exist. I can’t think clearly anymore.
From somewhere, a soothing voice is calling to me. I’m hallucinating, hearing things…
Come back, wake up…you’re gonna be okay. Open your eyes…
But my eyes are open. There’s no one here. The disembodied voice speaks again, louder now.
“You’re safe, I gotcha, open your eyes, come back to me. You’re strong… fight it… remember who you are…where you come from…where you want to be…”
The Complete Demonblood Saga Page 9
