Hidden In Darkness (A Seven Realms Book Book 1)

by S. J. Stewart

  Frowning, Melas moved closer to the door.

  The tall men sidestepped, arms still raised, to block her path.

  “Move out of my way or I will run you through.” She warned him.

  He pursed his lips in thought. “It’s been some time since someone managed to cut me, so I’ve no doubt you could get very close to running me through. You surprised me, but that won’t happen again.” He assured her. “My friend and I mean you no harm, but I must say you are rather intriguing. You smell like nothing I’ve ever smelled before, and you move—” His words trailed off.

  Ignoring him, Melas pointed the tip of the blade at him.

  The air shifted. The tall man moved fast. She could feel it, his movements slicing through the air. It pushed against her in warning, telling her where he would be. Flipping the blade in her hand, she palmed the hilt blade down and drove it into his thigh as he made movements so quickly towards her, she could barely see him.

  Stumbling, he slammed his shoulder into the door, leaning his weight against it. His eyes were wide as saucers now as he looked over at Ridhor. “She fucking stabbed me.”

  Tilting his head towards his hand, he gestured to the large hole in his palm. “She’s quite good at that.”

  He looked at Ridhor’s palm. “She fucking stabbed you?”

  Ridhor merely nodded.

  “What the fuck?” He almost shouted.

  Ridhor hushed him. “Quiet. You’ll spook her. When she’s spooked, we end up with holes in us.”

  “When was the last time someone stabbed you, Ridhor? When was the last time someone stabbed me?” He shook his head. “This doesn’t make sense. This sexy as all hell she-devil comes out of the Black Wood and stabs us both. It’s Lucifer testing us. It has to be.”

  “Lucifer?” Ridhor shook his head. “Andrei, think about this. What would Lucifer want with a Berserker and an Incubus? She reigns over you Vampire, she has no reason to test Orren or me.”

  “Vampire?” Melas spat the word out in disbelief. “Berserker? Incubus?” She shook her head, laughing under her breath. “What the hell are you guys talking about?”

  The one called Andrei looked at Melas in disbelief. “Yes. Everyone in the Realms knows of Vampires, Incubi and Berserkers. How the hell have you not? What the hell are you?”

  “I’m human. Much like you delusional lunatics,” Melas exclaimed.

  Ridhor’s face was expressionless as ever, but he looked from Melas to Zura before his gaze held onto Andrei’s.

  Andrei somehow managed to widen his eyes even further at her admission. “Human?” He hissed.

  “What in the world is all this yelling about? You’d think the two of you were putting on a play out here with all this stomping and yelling. Andrei, what has Ridhor done to you now that has you in such a mood.” There was no shortage of tall men in this cabin, Melas thought to herself as a third one appeared in the shadows of the hallways between the two staircases.

  She jolted slightly, looking at the man who stood there. His broad shoulders were covered with a white shirt. The three buttons at the neckline undone, the sleeves pushed up to show thick forearms covered in tattoos. His dark brown skin was rich and deep. His tight and kinky hair cut short to his head, and his jaw was covered in a short, thick black beard that framed thick and heavy lips. His silver eyes were haunting as they landed on her, his brow cocked in question.

  He paused in the middle of the foyer, taking in the scene.

  Blood seeped from the hole in Ridhor’s hand, leaving a dark trail down the bare flesh of his arm before dripping slowly off his elbow onto the floor. His face was practically granite as he held his arms out before him. Andrei leaned against the front door, his shirt torn in several places and Ridhor’s blade in his thigh.

  None of that concerned the newcomer as his silver eyes flashed, ignoring the two men he had to know well enough to live with. His mouth opened and closed, his feet shifting in place as he debated whether or not to step into the fray with them.

  Widening her stance slightly, she set her face with a look of challenge and determination.

  Swallowing hard, his eyes held hers captive. “You.”

  4

  ORREN

  He spent a lot of the morning in his room. Brooding, if he were being honest. Yet another dream with the same interaction with his mystery woman. He hoped, as powerful as he was, once he found her again he would be able to control the dreamscape. Try to get her to explain why she was haunting him. It was extremely frustrating to have someone else sneak into his domain, stealing all his control.

  When Ridhor came to his door to tell him he was going scouting in the Black Wood, he waved him off.

  Ridhor had a beast inside him. Although Orren and Andrei may be perfectly content keeping to themselves and busying themselves around the cabin, he needed to be out in the wilderness. He needed to exercise his beast.

  It was the same routine every day.

  He hadn’t known how much time passed when he felt the ground shake. Enough to make the shelves groan as the floor adjusted. He knew without question it was Ridhor. The man was obnoxiously large. Often one misstep caused quite the boom.

  It wasn’t long after, Andrei’s voice could be heard down the hall. He often spent the bulk of his time downstairs in his studio. If he’d been underfoot when the ground shook, he would have marched upstairs to give Ridhor a piece of his mind.

  As close-knit as the three of them were, it was hard not to pick fights now and then. They’d been in the company of only one another too long without any type of release. Sure, Ridhor took to the woods, but Andrei was a sexual being and didn’t want to risk venturing out to get the release he so desperately needed. His attraction to Ridhor was obvious at times, as Andrei didn’t discriminate, but Ridhor was strongly against anything sexual with Andrei.

  Those two were at one another’s throats often these days, as much as someone with Ridhor’s calm and collected attitude could be.

  Orren listened to them bicker for a while before Andrei’s voice raised to an awkwardly high octave. He came out because he worried Andrei pushed Ridhor too far and unleashed the Berserker his dear friend worked so hard to keep caged. If that were the case, it would take both of them to corral him outside before he caused extensive damage.

  He hadn’t expected to come face to face with his mystery woman. What was more unexpected, she was holding a child.

  A child!

  He hadn’t seen a child in the Dark Realm in… well, ever.

  Before his very eyes, she tore the blade from Andrei’s leg and waved it around the room at all three of them. There wasn’t a hint of fear in her. The scent coming off her intoxicating.

  Shoving his hands in the pockets of his joggers, he looked over at Ridhor. “Found something while scouting the Black Woods, did you?” He asked, trying to ignore Andrei, the mystery woman, and her child.

  Andrei’s eyes were rimmed red, his chest heaving and his fangs long and visible, peaking from under his upper lip. He would need some time to calm down and interacting with him now would only build him up or keep him in his current state. Neither would get Orren anywhere.

  The woman seemed lethal and on edge. The blade of Ridhor’s knife in her hand still held the dark blood of Andrei. How she managed to cut him was a story he would ask Ridhor to tell him later in detail. He hadn’t met many people who could draw blood from Andrei. She accomplished quite a feat, whether she knew it or not.

  Ridhor nodded at him. “I was running to the south of the Black Wood when I smelt a combination of magic. Elvish and Demonic. I thought maybe Thiriel may be in the Dark Realm so I scouted the area before approaching where the scent was strongest. All the trees were blown away, cleared almost to the western border. In the centre were these two.”

  Orren frowned. “Did you see anyone else?”

  “Some scorch marks. There were bodies there, but whatever took out the trees seemed to do away with them.”

  It had to be Thiriel. Th
ere weren’t many Elves who would be bold enough to venture to the Dark Realm. None arrogant enough to go into the Black Wood. If Thiriel was in this realm again, he was up to no good. Whether it had anything to do with the three of them had yet to be seen.

  He would need to keep his eyes and his ears open. Maybe call on a favour or two to get some information on his location and movements.

  “It has to be Thiriel,” Andrei said suddenly, a calm taking hold of him at the mention of anyone so close to the cabin. It was rare for beings to venture out of the metropolitan of the Dark Realm to the woods. They were mostly uninhabited, lacking the pleasures of the sinful city rings.

  Orren nodded. “My thoughts exactly.”

  Ridhor kept his hands out before him but turned to face Orren. “There wasn’t much to be found to suggest Thiriel is in the realm. It looked like someone set off a sun orb in the middle of those woods.”

  “Couldn’t have been. Not many can achieve a sun orb or would try. The magic is too unstable.” Orren’s eyes flicked back to the woman for a moment.

  She seemed intrigued by their conversation. She still held her blade out before her, but she lowered it slightly as she listened.

  His eyes flicked to Ridhor’s hand. “Did she stab you?” Now that was surprising.

  Ridhor nodded. “I was slightly distracted. I set her down to tend to the child when she woke. Seemed to wake with all the energy of a Faery on moondust.”

  “The child would be distraction enough. I see Andrei is sporting more than one wound.” Orren looked at the cut in the sleeve of his shirt, his abdomen, and the thigh of his slacks. He was already healed, only the blood staining the fabric evidence of what took place.

  “Three times.” Andrei held up three fingers with painted black fingernails, suddenly remembering his irritation. “The first two were in tandem and completely by surprise. I stand with Ridhor, the child is enough to knock you off your element for a moment. But she moved as though she were… I don’t even fucking know. You know my speed and still—” He gestured to his pant leg. “I had to go to the Seelie Realm for these trousers. Don’t even get me started on what I had to do for them.” He huffed.

  Still cautious, he decided to direct some of his attention to the woman who felt destined to be standing in his foyer. There was nothing he wanted more than for her to stay, for them to navigate through all these unanswered questions together. The look on her face told him it wouldn’t be easy. She was wary, if he jumped right into stories of her in his dreams and wanting her to stay, she’d stab him and be out the door.

  Wiping all emotion from his face, he had to convince her it didn’t matter if she stayed or went.

  It did.

  She haunted him for so long and now she was finally within reach. There was no way he could let her go. He would never hold a woman against her will, which made this very tricky.

  It wasn’t as though he could offer her protection, she seemed perfectly able to safeguard herself. She proved that in the short time she’d been here.

  Taking in a breath, he crossed his legs at the ankles and leaned his shoulder against the wall. “All that fighting, you and your offspring must be hungry. We have more than enough food. You should stay, have a bite. You can keep your knife if it makes you feel any better, but something tells me these two will be keeping their distance regardless.”

  She frowned. “Why? Why would you feed us?”

  Orren shrugged. “You intrigue me slightly. Whether or not you eat here doesn’t trouble me. You seem rather self-sufficient. I do not doubt if you don’t eat here, you’ll find a way to eat somewhere else. However, you’re travelling with a child. We’ve not had children in the Dark Realm in millennials and I won’t be the first to send one away to starve to death after all this time. I’m sure Lilith herself would come for my head if I did. At the very least you can stand guard with your knife while your babe fills her belly.”

  Her brows creased, eyes dropping to the child clutched at her chest. “I’ll have questions,” she said finally.

  Orren tried not to let out the breath he was holding in a dramatic sigh. “I’m sure you will.”

  5

  MELAS

  A long wooden table with enough seats to sit a dozen people sat with trays of fruits, vegetables, and different dishes on wooden blocks down the centre from end to end. Ridhor and Andrei sat side by side with Orren at the head of the table to the right of them. Not wanting to get overly cozy, Melas sat with a suddenly awake Zura in the middle of the opposite side of the table.

  Far enough to have a comfortable amount of space between them, but close enough to be a part of the conversation without shouting.

  The dining room was at the back of the house. The wall behind Ridhor and Andrei was floor-to-ceiling windows looking out over a back deck with comfortable seating around a large fire pit. Behind that was a large lake the colour of fresh lavender.

  Seemed odd a lake like that could be so close to a place called the Black Wood.

  The hallway they walked down to reach the dining room was long with several closed doors on either side. It was dimly lit which hadn’t given her enough light to take in the setup of the house.

  Orren seemed the leader amongst the three. Ridhor was larger, and Andrei seemed like more of a presence, often louder and filling all the silences. His silver eyes were always keen on his surroundings, and she felt them on her skin in a way that unnerved her.

  Zura leaned into her side as she ate, her emerald eyes scanning the room as she shovelled food into her mouth quickly. Eating her fill without pause, in case they had to leave at any moment. She felt that same irritating push, like they had to sit on the edge of their seat, poised and ready for anything.

  Andrei looked at Zura with wide-eyed fascination. Even the hard gaze of Ridhor seemed to soften as he watched her.

  Pushing her messy mane of tight curls back from her forehead, she dragged the pad of her thumb over Zura’s chin to rid it of some of the grease dripping there.

  “So.” Orren steepled his hands below his chin as he watched her. “You said you would have questions.”

  Melas nodded. She had more questions than she could sort through right now, her mind still dark and empty. There was one question nudging at her like it would erupt from her throat if she didn’t ask it soon. “Where do you know me from?” He looked at her as though she were the last person he expected to see standing in his foyer, but his eyes had flickered with familiarity.

  Leaning back in his chair, he reached out his hand. His long fingers lazily tracing the stem of his wine glass as he considered her question. She could see the cogs in his mind working, debating what answer to give. “I’ve seen you before in the dreamscape. Tucked away like a treasure waiting to be found.” His silver eyes held her gaze captive for a moment.

  “A dreamscape. What is that?”

  His brow lifted slightly. “The subconscious. The sleeping mind. As an Incubus I have access to the sleeping minds of beings across the seven realms. Except yours.”

  Andrei’s brow furrowed. “What?”

  Orren lifted his shoulders lazily as though the confession meant very little to him.

  “You can’t get into my dreamscape?” Melas wondered what that meant. If he was an Incubus who could get into the sleeping minds of any beings in whatever realms he was talking about, why couldn’t he get into hers? Was she not a part of the seven realms? Whatever the hell those were.

  “You appeared first in the dreamscape of a Banshee. You led me away from the original scene most Incubi and Succubi play out in the dreamscape, usually a vision of lust or pleasure, to follow you to a forest. Where the forest is, I don’t know. I’ve never seen the likes of it. You told me to find you.”

  Her gut twisted but she had no idea what it meant. There was a huge part of her missing. She couldn’t figure out how to get in touch with it again.

  “When was this first dream?” She asked.

  “Three weeks ago.”

&nbs
p; “Did you look for me?”

  “Yes. As I said I don’t have access to your dreamscape, therefore I could not go right to you.”

  Melas thought for a moment. “How many times did I appear to you?”

  “Six in the dreamscape and now, as I live and breathe, makes seven.”

  Andrei folded his arms over his chest like a petulant child about to throw a fit. “You’ve had someone sneak into dreamscapes with you six times and never thought to mention it to us?”

  Orren’s eyes held hers as he addressed Andrei. “I was trying to work through it.”

  Ridhor remained silent. He dropped slightly lower in his chair as he looked over at Zura, trying to draw her attention.

  Melas didn’t know what to do with anything Orren was telling her. An Incubus tried to find her in her dreams. The very thought was laughable. Was she still asleep and her mind was weaving a story as wild as her imagination would let it?

  Turning, she looked at Ridhor as Zura burrowed deeper into her side. “You said I smelled. What does that mean?”

  With her attention suddenly turned away from Orren and directed at him, Ridhor sat up straight. All softness left him as he met her gaze to answer her question. “All beings give off a scent allowing most magical beings to identify them. Even without knowing either Orren or Andrei, if I were to meet them randomly in passing, I would be able to smell Orren is an Incubus and Andrei is a Vampire. It’s curious because you told us both earlier you’re human but your scent is nothing like the humans I’ve ever smelt. That is unusual. Not to mention Zura has no scent at all, which is unheard of.”

  She had a smell? She had to refrain from lifting her arm and taking a whiff of her pits. “What does a Vampire smell like?” It was a question she never thought she would ask out loud, but she had to start navigating all of this somewhere.

  Ridhor curled his lip. “Stale, like old blood.”

  “Hey!” Andrei frowned. “I’ll have you know I’ve been told by several admirers my scent is quite rich. A finely aged wine.”