by Oxford, Rain
In order to find the prisoners, we had to check every door. Unfortunately, the very first one we came to was full of demons. We froze and stared, they froze and stared… nobody moved a muscle for nearly a minute. Ron shut the door and swept his gaze over us. “They’re not in there,” he said simply. We moved on.
The next door was to a storage room, which we searched thoroughly and found nothing. Our exit was blocked by a demon, but he didn’t see Luca right beside the door when he ducked his head in to discover us. Luca struck like a snake, grabbing the demon by the neck and slamming him back into the wall. The demon slumped to the ground, unconscious.
We stared at the vouxeng. Luca shrugged. “Sorry. There’s a lot of anger here.”
A rattle sounded behind us and Tatum shrieked. Her brother grabbed her and clapped his hand over her mouth as we all turned to the junk pile that filled the storage room. The rattle came again, a box fell, and Ron raised his hand. Electricity crackled between his fingers.
Suddenly something sprang from the clutter, pounced off of Taper, and shot out the room. It was a cat. A large orange house cat. Ron sighed and lowered his arm.
We searched numerous rooms and encountered many demons, but they were all easily fooled by Logan’s magic. We did encounter one man who saw through our magic, but Drake told him to leave and not say another word for the rest of the day. He obeyed. Something about it felt too easy, but Ron was the strategist. If Ron said everything was fine, I believed him…
I just couldn’t shake the feeling that we were walking into a trap.
We finally came upon a room with a girl in it. The door was unlocked and she wasn’t in chains, but she looked starved and was covered in dirt. She had long, matted light brown hair with matching eyes. She looked too skinny and too pale, but strangely… not all that scared. In fact, she seemed relieved when we arrived, as if she instantly knew we were here to save her, even though we were disguised as demons.
“I don’t like this,” Ron said to me. “This was too easy, too predictable. Someone who has been kidnapped shouldn’t be relieved to see anyone but her parents.”
“So what do we do?”
“Take her with us. We don’t have any choice. Keep a close eye on her, though.”
Tatum immediately went to the girl and pulled her to her feet. “Alyssa, how are you?” she asked. Everyone else rolled their eyes, but that was Tatum.
“I’m alive, thanks to you.”
“Where are the others?” I asked.
“They were all taken somewhere else.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“Let’s get out of here,” Logan said. “We can go back to my house; my parents won’t be home until tomorrow.”
With the plan in order, we made our way back out. Once again, I was shocked and suspicious by how easy it was. There should have been someone trying to stop us. If it was so easy, why hadn’t the girl tried to escape before?
The drive to Logan’s was even more cramped, but we made it in less time. Logan’s little two-story house was old and made of white wood and brick. It needed a new paint job, but the porch wrapped around the front and one side. The house itself looked sound; the garage we parked in looked like a good wind would blow it down.
“Do we have to park in here? This car is going to be mine someday and I don’t want it squished.”
“It’ll be fine,” Logan promised.
The living room was nice with cozy, old furniture. The daisy yellow walls were a bit gaudy, and the couches could have done without the rose patterns, but it was the kind of place where I expected to visit a caring old grandmother. It was warm and had character, even if it wasn’t very stylish.
“Oh, my, god, did people break into your house, take your stuff, and leave their great-grandparents’ crap behind?” Ron asked rudely.
Logan blushed furiously and everyone else avoided eye contact. I wanted to scold my brother, but I knew if I did, he would go into more detail about how many fashion rules this place broke. Alyssa sat on the couch and Logan went into the kitchen to heat up some leftovers for lunch. The twins and Drake sat on the couch across from where Alyssa sat. Luca stayed standing, his eyes darting between us and Alyssa.
Ron reached into his pocket and held the cat pendant out for the girl. “Here, I found this. I thought you might like it.”
Alyssa took it and examined the necklace with no recognition. “Thank you, it’s very pretty.”
“Hey, I think if you go help Logan with lunch, you will be able to eat sooner. I guess you have to be starving,” Taper suggested.
“Yeah, I’ll do that,” she said, getting up and going into the kitchen.
As soon as the door closed, Luca turned to us. “That’s not Alyssa. She looks just like her, but there’s no way. Her mood is all wrong.”
“I’m friends with Alyssa,” Tatum said. “She normally smells like apples and she likes watercolors. Now she smells like dirt.”
“Does she smell like the demons?” Ron asked.
“No, you smell like the demons. She smells like---”
“What do you mean I smell like demons?!” Ron demanded. I shushed him, but he ignored me.
“You smell like blood. So do to the demons,” Taper explained easily. “Whatever she is, we need to figure it out and save the others.”
The door opened and Logan stuck his head through. “Ron, could you come in here a minute?” he asked. Ron and I started for the kitchen. “Only Ron,” Logan added. We both stopped.
“I go where Ron goes,” I said. “You can come out here.”
“No, really, I just need to see Ron for a second alone.”
“Ron goes nowhere alone,” Tatum said, suddenly standing beside him. In response, Logan just shut the door. “Ron, you need to be careful.”
“I’m not afraid of mortals and demons.”
Luckily, the others didn’t appear to take offense to that. Ron was very narrow-minded when it came to people; he and I came first to him, then our family, and then our allies. Everyone leftover was cannon fodder. Anyone not useful to us or a friend of our parents was disposable in his mind.
There was a crash in the kitchen, Logan ran out, and then he slammed the kitchen door closed.
“What happened?” Luca asked.
“I dropped a plate, that’s all.”
“That poor plate,” Tatum said.
I pushed passed him and Logan followed me into the kitchen. When Taper tried to enter, the fae pushed him out and shut the door. “It’s not safe with the broken glass!” Logan exclaimed.
I ignored him and surveyed the room. The kitchen was warm and friendly like the rest of the house with a sliding glass door opening onto a patio. There were several broken dishes on the floor and the table was clear, as if someone had slammed into it. “Where is Alyssa?”
“She must have run off.”
When I started to turn to Logan, I felt a blast of pain against the back of my head. It didn’t completely knock me out, but I realized some time later that I was lying on the floor alone. I groaned because crying wasn’t an option as I rolled over onto my back. My head throbbed and lights flashed behind my eyes when I closed them. Suffering in pain was something I wasn’t used to, as Ron was always by my side to heal me when I was injured.
Some of the pain settled enough for me to know Ron should have sensed my pain instantly. “Ron?”
No answer.
I hauled myself to my unsteady feet using anything in reach to grip. Naturally, I tried to shake the sluggishness from my body… but that just left me dizzy and nauseous. I slowly made my way to the door with the help of the table and counter, which cracked under the pressure. The knob didn’t want to turn, but I was dile; I broke the lock with a simple jerk.
Ron wasn’t in the living room. Taper, Tatum, Luca, and Drake were all unconscious and covered in scrapes. Luca had a nasty scratch down his back and Drake had a busted lip. The twins seemed a little better off. Logan and Alyssa were missin
g, but I really didn’t care. The only person who mattered was Ron and he wasn’t answering me.
When I tried to use my Iadnah energy, I stumbled. My stomach protested any movement or magic. Taper woke as I flopped down on the couch. He immediately checked his sister for a pulse, and then sat back with relief. “What happened?” he asked.
“I think Logan hit me.”
“They attacked us.”
“Who?” I sat up. “Who took Ron?”
“Demons. They ambushed us and then Logan came out and told them that you’d been dealt with. Ron pounced on him, trying to claw his eyes out. One of the demons hit him with some kind of electrical rod and I think it knocked him out. Logan betrayed us.”
“Was Alyssa with him?”
“The fake Alyssa? No.”
I clambered to my feet and into the kitchen. I wasn’t nearly as observant as Ron, so I knew I was missing many clues, but the table bothered me. Obviously, there had been a struggle. If Logan betrayed us and fought with the fake Alyssa, perhaps Alyssa was on our side. I searched the cabinets and the walk-in pantry but found nothing. The only other door that didn’t lead outside or to the living room was the basement.
I flipped the light switch and it did nothing. Taper appeared beside me, far too quiet. When I glared at him for sneaking up on me, he just looked at me expectantly. “Let’s go,” he said.
But I couldn’t. “The light doesn’t work.” No matter how much I tried to hide it, I was still terrified of the dark. Ron would have taken my hand or given me light. Hell, he would have shut the door and said anything down there wasn’t worth our time.
Taper rolled his eyes. “I thought you were a wizard. Can’t you make light like your brother did at the warehouse?”
“I’m not as powerful as him.”
“I think you’re just used to letting him do all the work. You’re supposed to be the older brother; you should be using magic to make light for him, not the other way around. I’m terrified of heights, but I don’t make Tatum go up on the roof when she throws our ball up there.”
“I thought you were twins.”
“I was born first so I protect her. Apparently, I got our mother’s fire-tribe temperament whereas Tatum got our father’s land-tribe daydreaming, even though we are both of the land tribe. I can’t create fire, so you’re going to have to light the way.”
Struggling to swallow, I held out my palm. Since I could no longer feel nominal energy, I couldn’t use it to make fire, and my Iadnah abilities were nothing compared to my brother’s. After much effort and concentration, I created a small sphere of light, not nearly as bright or large as Ron’s, but I was somewhat proud of it.
“That’s it?” Taper asked.
Ron would have shoved him down the stairs, but since my head was still throbbing, I just started down them. The basement looked how a basement was supposed to look; there were a ton of boxes, Christmas decorations, and old clothes. What I didn’t expect to see was Logan on the floor, bounded and gagged. He was conscious, but had a bloody nose. Taper took the gag out of Logan’s mouth.
“It’s a changeling!”
“What’s a changeling?” Taper asked.
“Who cares? Where is Ron?”
“They took Ron?” Logan asked.
“You know they did! You’re working with them!” I yelled.
“No! Please, you have to believe me! That wasn’t Alyssa we saved but a changeling. It’s a type of fae that can take the form of any person or animal for as long as they’re alive. Somehow she knew we were coming and took Alyssa’s place. That means she’s still alive.”
“And Ron?”
“I have no idea. I’m not working for the demons, I swear.”
“How can we trust you?” Taper asked.
I wasn’t in the mood for trust. I reached out with my Iadnah energy and focused on my bond with Ron. The only time I could effectively flash was to Ron, but it had always been reliable. Therefore, I was confused and frustrated when the light that filled the room died. I hadn’t moved and Ron was still missing.
“I can’t let you do that, kiddo,” Xul said, appearing beside me.
I growled at Xul’s betrayal. “You can’t stop me! I am the son of a god!” I almost wanted to smack myself for saying something so egotistical, but this wasn’t the time.
“If you flash to Ron, you will be immediately killed. When it comes to saving your life, I have more power than I need. Your father made sure I could protect you from any force in the universe, including yourself.”
“Then save him!”
“Right now, they need Ron alive. They cannot hurt him until they have your father subdued. The demons also know that if Ron can control the balance, they have no chance. For the moment, we are at a stalemate, because they can’t kill him until they have Dylan, but they can’t let him go alive, either. Their only chance is to keep him unconscious and in their control. If we try to take him and fail, they’ll kill him.”
“But you can use Dad’s power to save Ron.”
“If they try to kill him, yes, but I also can’t endanger him by trying to rescue him.
“So go in invisible and take him.”
“I am an Ancient, far more powerful than most of them, but Ilea would detect me a mile away.”
“Ilea?”
“Another Ancient. She is an evil, vicious creature who finds humor in bloodshed. She has instigated countless wars. For fun, she causes people to commit suicide, cheat on their spouses, and miscarriage.”
“I thought demons didn’t have names unless they were under contract.”
“She was under contract. She fooled a man once who was willing to sell his soul for a wife, but not just any old wife and not for love; he wanted the most beautiful wife imaginable. Ilea agreed to make him a more beautiful wife than he could dream of, but in exchange, he had to give her a soul. She fooled him into believing he would have to serve her when he died. Ilea created a woman so beautiful that men would fall to their knees before her. The beauty was only on the outside, however; she was a hideous creature at heart. Ilea couldn’t create a conscience when she had none herself, and she couldn’t create a soul.
“The man loved and adored his beautiful wife and they had a child nine months later. The baby was as beautiful on the outside as his mother and had a pure, innocent soul. Every day of his life, he learned to be kind and wise. He never understood his mother’s coldness, but he sought to warm her heart with undying love, respect, and devotion.
“Ilea came on his seventh birthday and demanded the child’s soul. When the man refused, she changed his wife’s outward appearance to match her heart. She told him that if he completed his end of the bargain, she would end the contract.
“The man wasn’t wise like his own child, but he was desperate to have his wife back. He gave up his son and Ilea ended the contract without changing his wife back. The name no longer held power over her so she kept it.”
“What an evil monster. And she hates you?” I asked.
“More than anyone. If I make any kind of move against her, she’ll know. I’m sure she even knows I’m telling you about her now. She is commanding this growing army of demons. While she may say she does the bidding of the balance, she expects to use it as a tool for her own gain. I think at this point, the only one who can defeat her is your father, and even then I have my doubts.”
“So you’ll take me to Dad and we’ll go together to save Ron.”
“No, see, that would mean taking you into danger. I can’t take you to your father, your mother, or your brother. Mordon is with Dylan. Kiro is in the middle of stuff, too. The only thing I can think of is to send you to Vivian.”
“What?! You can’t send me…”
But he wasn’t listening, and suddenly I was with my birth mother.
Chapter 11
Vivian
The setting sun cast beautiful colors over the lake and the warmth of Dylan chased away the fall chill. His heavy breathing was soothing my nerves
, but it did me little good since he was asleep. For a man who wanted five kids, he sure knew how to ruin the moment.
Leaning on his chest, I flicked him softly on the nose so that he jerked awake. Realizing he had fallen asleep, he smiled and stroked his hand down my back. He had a five-o’clock shadow that made him look both rugged and sexy and his green eyes almost glowed in the twilight. I kissed him gently and rolled over onto my back with a gentle tug on his arms. Encouraged, he laid over me to continue our kiss.
He was always extremely gentle with me, to my despair. I knew it was because he grew up watching his mother being abused. He faithfully checked with me twice before making any move, which was tiring, and also the reason we hadn’t gotten very far. Of course, I wasn’t exactly encouraging him.
His hands were hot as he touched me gently and roughly at the same time like he was teasing me. This time would be our first. After more than a year of denying him, I agreed to come to this lake and spend the night. I had every intention of giving myself to him.
A shrill crying froze the building heat inside me like a slap to the face. I pushed Dylan away and he gave instantly. “What’s wrong?”
“Sammy. I heard him crying,” I said.
He nodded, starting to get up. “I’ll get him,”
“No!” I shouted. “Please, I want this to be just us. I’ve made you wait too long for me already.”
He smiled and kissed my forehead. “You’re worth it to me. I’ll wait forever for you if I have to.”
Despite his promise, he stood and headed off into the bushes. It was suddenly dark and so cold. I never felt more alone. “Dylan! Please come back, Dylan, I love you! Don’t leave me here! Please!”
I shouted over and over in my dreams. Whether it was my own yelling that woke me or Nano shaking me, I didn’t know. Tears of shame joined my tears of loss when Nano just rolled over in our bed to face away from me. I put my hand on his arm and he tensed up, so I turned to face the other direction. I refused to fall back to sleep for the rest of the night, not for the sake of my soon-to-be husband, but for the fear of being rejected by Dylan again.
