Discovery: Altera Realm Trilogy

by Jennifer Collins

  Gabriel

  Gabriel didn't like Lycins—especially not a pissed-off one who stared at him with thoughts of death running through his mind. At least he wasn't attacking. Lycin bites hurt like hell, and the only thing Gabe hated more than Lycins was pain. The Lycin had been staring Gabe down for at least an hour, since they had checked into the seedy motel a few miles from Syney's house. They had moved in a hurry once Gabe had healed Syney. The wolf had wanted to take off Gabe's head. Gabe had heard as much inside the animal's head, but Gabe had acted quickly, saving the Chosen One's life with his blood. There was still a murderous instinct in the Lycin, but Gabe had picked up Syney's shut-down body and waited for the wolf's next move. Gabe had dealt with many Lycins. They were stubborn but very intelligent. The wolf needed the Vampire's help to move Syney, and he had just proven himself by healing her. The Lycin had thought of an image, of this motel, and the two took off at their own fast speeds to it. Of course Gabe had beat the wolf there. Lycins were fast, but Vampires were much faster, and Gabe loved to run.

  Gabe looked down at Syney, who was still knocked out on the bed. He didn't expect her to be so young. She was also beautiful. He wasn't surprised about that. Her mother had been beautiful as well. Her looks weren't shockingly gorgeous like the human models or movie stars, but there was an exotic beauty in her light skin and dark hair.

  He looked back at the Lycin. The man was now looking at Syney. Gabe felt a pang of familiarity in the look the Protector gave his charge. It wasn't a look all Protectors gave—only the ones who wanted to be killed.

  "How did you get clothes?" Gabe asked. The only thing he liked more than running was needling Lycins.

  The wolf looked back at him. For a moment Gabe thought he wasn't going to say anything, but then he spoke, softly yet firmly. "Clothesline. A block from here."

  "Interesting choice," Gabe snickered at the too-short sweatpants and tight T-shirt.

  The Lycin squinted at him and said nothing.

  Gabe shrugged and looked back at Syney. She would be awake soon. He heard her breath picking up its pace.

  "Why did you save her?"

  Gabe looked back at the wolf. "Does it matter?"

  "Maybe. Maybe not."

  Gabe looked at Syney. "Do you think she'll make a difference?"

  "Yes." There was no hesitation in the wolf's voice.

  "Then that's why I did it." Gabe looked back at him.

  The Lycin shook his head. "Vampires are selfish. You don't care about the Realm. There's something you want. Just be aware that anything you want from her..." He stood up. "...you'll have to come through me to get."

  Gabe smiled. "And all Lycins are bullies who are too pigheaded to see anything other than what their owners tell them to see."

  The wolf gave a low growl.

  "I guess we'll agree to disagree." Gabe kept his smile up. "She's waking up."

  The wolf's face softened as he knelt next to the bed and awaited her consciousness.

  This is getting interesting, Gabe thought, as his mind ran wild adjusting his game plan.

  Syney

  Syney woke up with the sun shining in her face. She opened her eyes reluctantly and sat up in her bed. And it was her bed. The same pink-and-green sheets were on it that had been there when she had packed up that morning. Or was it that morning? The night's events were still fresh in her mind, but something felt wrong...off. The room was exactly the same as she had left it. The same books on the shelf. The same stuffed animals lounging on the window seat. She pulled back the covers and slipped her bare feet into her pink fuzzy slippers. She headed out of the room, slowly. Everything seemed too good to be true as she headed down the stairs. At the bottom she stopped. Voices were coming from the kitchen. She couldn't make out any words or even the owners of the voices, but they felt familiar to her. She looked over to the living room furniture. A flash of her parents' dead and bloodied bodies filled her mind, and she gripped the banister to keep from passing out. But they weren't there. The room looked pristine. No death, no blood.

  "Syney?" a voice called from the kitchen.

  Taking a deep breath, she continued through the living room. She stopped cold in the doorway of the kitchen.

  Her mother turned to her and smiled while laying a hand on her father's arm. They were both smiling as if nothing was wrong. "Syney, honey. You slept late," her mother said.

  "What?" Syney asked, slowly stepping forward.

  "She's telling you that you're a lazy brat!" Jess said, walking over to the kitchen table, where Syney's parents were sitting. "I poured you some coffee."

  Syney nodded and took a seat facing the three. "Thanks."

  Worry crossed Syney's mother's face. "Are you OK, dear? You look like you've seen a ghost."

  Syney took a sip of coffee and then a deep breath. "Just overwhelmed."

  Richard nodded. "I can understand. It is the one-year anniversary."

  Jess nodded. "But you've made such great progress."

  "Progress?" Syney asked.

  "Since the break," Jess said quietly. "Last year, on your eighteenth birthday."

  Syney shook her head. This was like walking in a daze, and nothing made sense. "I guess I blocked something."

  Joyce nodded. "The doctor said you might. It was all very traumatic."

  "Last year you had a psychotic break on your birthday," Richard said in his calming, matter-of-fact voice. "You started hallucinating. Seeing people who turned into wild animals and yelling about werewolves and Vampires. You even believed you had some sort of special powers. You began to hurt yourself and even threatened to hurt others."

  "But you got help," Jess said quickly. "And you've been out of the hospital for a whole week."

  Syney listened and stayed quiet. This wasn't real. It couldn't be real. All of that stuff really happened. She wasn't crazy. Although isn't that what all crazy people claimed? She took a deep breath. "I guess...I guess it all seemed real."

  "I know, honey," Joyce, said pouring some cream into Syney's cup of coffee. "Here. Drink this."

  Syney took the coffee mug from her mother and took a sip—only it wasn't coffee that filled her mouth. It tasted familiar. Warm and thick. It took a moment for her to register the taste of blood, the same taste that had filled her mouth in the bedroom. Only this time Syney didn't fight it. She relished the taste, even craving more when the cup was empty.

  "That's a good dear. Drink up," Joyce coaxed her daughter. "You'll need all of your strength now."

  Syney slammed the mug down on the table, out of breath from her rabid drinking and licking her lips with enjoyment. She wanted more. She looked with wild eyes to Jess who sat next to her and lunged at her throat.

  Syney shot up in bed, screaming. She lashed out her arms and came in contact with a very solid body. She gripped it, still not focusing on where she was. Suddenly she became calm, as all of her muscles released their tension. She knew this feeling. She looked at Hunter, who knelt beside her, holding her arms down. She smiled. But then it all came back to her. The attacks. Her parents. The pain. Her smile faded, and tears stung her eyes. She wasn't sure how long she cried, as loud sobs came from her throat. She gripped onto Hunter with everything she had and was grateful that he held her, all solid and strong.

  Finally, once she had shed all of her tears, her sobs slowed, and she released herself from Hunter. She lay back against the headboard and looked around the dingy, poorly lit room. Another motel. She never had stayed at a place like this before, and now she had stayed in two in less than twenty-four hours—or at least she assumed it had been twenty-four hours. She glanced toward the door and found herself staring at the stranger from the house. Gabriel McMann, Vampire. She looked back at Hunter. "What happened?"

  "You were attacked."

  "Scorpina," Syney said with a nod. "She was living with Jess. A foreign exchange student or something."

  "She was a Shifter," Gabe said. "A scorpion."

  Syney looked toward him. "But she didn't
change like the others did at the store."

  He shook his head. "She wouldn't want to. All of the venom a scorpion carries in its tail is concentrated in her nails. So when she scratched you, you were infected and would have died."

  Syney stared at him for a moment, not wanting to say what she wanted to say. Finally, her need to know, to understand, won out. "And you saved me. With blood." Her stomach churned as he nodded. She had drunk blood. It was thick and warm and in her mouth. She gagged and put a hand over her lips.

  "Vomiting will only upset your system. The blood is no longer in your stomach," Gabe said, sitting down in front of her on the bed. "Would you like to understand what happened?"

  Syney swallowed and took some deep breaths. Did she want to understand? She looked at Hunter. He was watching her but was silent. She looked back at Gabe and nodded. If she was going to have to live with these people, she might as well understand what made them tick, or heal, or whatever.

  Gabe nodded back at her. "A Vampire's blood has healing qualities. They can heal themselves very quickly when injured with anything other than wood or silver. When any non-Vampire is injured, if they ingest a Vampire's blood, it gets absorbed through the stomach lining and runs into the bloodstream. From there it creates a million times the body's normal white blood cells, which heals anything wrong with the body. It even can regrow parts of the body that were damaged or severed."

  Syney peered closely at him as he explained the process. It was a lot to take in after all of the stress of the past few days. But she was happy for someone to finally give the lowdown on part of this new world she had been thrust into. "So the blood, or my boosted immune system, attacked the venom."

  "Yes."

  "And Scorpina? Is she dead?"

  "Yes," Hunter said curtly.

  "What about the other Shifters? You said that they were surrounding the house," she said to Gabe.

  He smiled. "You have a good Protector."

  Syney looked back at Hunter, who was looking at the bed. He had fought them for her. He had laid his life on the line multiple times that day. She wasn't sure how she could repay that, or even how she felt about it. "Thank you," is what she settled on.

  Hunter looked back up at her and gave her a curt nod. "We need to go. The more time we spend in this Realm, the more dangerous it gets for us."

  Syney nodded and got up from the bed. She looked at Gabriel. "Thank you, for what you did."

  He stood. "It wasn't free."

  Syney blinked at him, not understanding.

  "I can kill him," Hunter said quietly behind Syney, causing her to almost laugh from the absurdity of the comment.

  "What do you want?" she asked.

  "To go with you," Gabriel said matter-of-factly.

  "Why?"

  Gabriel eyed her for a moment before cocking his head to the side. "Not all Vampires are fans of the Great War. We all are, however, very opportunistic." He paused. "I want to be there, to see the new reign. And get in on the ground floor."

  Syney smiled. She liked this Vampire. He was honest, something she hadn't gotten a lot of in the last couple of days. "Deal."

  Hunter spun to stand in front of Syney and glared at her. "No deal. Vampires aren't to be trusted. They're hired killers who care only for themselves. They aren't allowed in the Village and for good reason. Their blood may have healing properties, but they also need blood to survive, and where do you think they get that from?"

  Syney was taken aback by Hunter's forcefulness. This was another side of him, one she only had seen when he was the wolf and fighting. "He saved my life."

  "Because he wanted something."

  "He saved my life," she repeated.

  "And now he's charging you for it," Hunter said.

  Syney placed her hand on his chest. "Listen to me. He didn't hesitate to save me. He even tried before she attacked me. He's been nothing but honest with us. It was my life he saved, and I want to repay him. If this is what he wants, than then this is what I can do."

  Syney felt Hunter take a deep breath.

  "And what if you're leading a lion into a sheep's den?"

  Syney smiled. "When he starts eating the sheep, you can do what you like with him." She looked around Hunter's large frame to Gabriel. "You OK with that?"

  Gabriel gave her a sly smile. "I will put up no fight to him."

  Syney looked back at Hunter. "You OK with that?"

  After a moment Hunter nodded reluctantly. "We need to move. But we need a car." He turned to Gabriel. "Can you handle that?"

  Gabriel nodded and disappeared from the room.

  Syney blinked a few times. One second he had been here, and then he was gone. "Wow."

  Hunter nodded. "Vampires are fast."

  Syney sat down on the edge of the bed. "What else are Vampires?"

  Hunter looked down at her. "I told you I'm not the one to explain the Realm to you."

  "Yeah, yeah, duty, honor all that. Just a few questions? Near death and all—don't I deserve that at least?"

  Hunter sighed and nodded. "What do you want to know about Vampires?"

  "Do they sparkle?"

  Hunter cocked an eyebrow. "Sparkle?"

  Syney gave a short laugh. "Never mind. Can they be out in the daylight?"

  "Here, no, unless they're really old. But in Altera, yes."

  Syney nodded. "And you said the races were Magic Users, Lycins, Shifters, Vampires, and...Daemons?"

  "Yes."

  "And the Daemons are in hell, the Shifters are mean bastards, and Vampires are selfish killers for hire." She paused. "Are you sure going to the Altera Realm is the right thing to do?"

  Hunter gave a small smile. "Yes. The Shifters stay on their land. They haven't broken lines since the war started. And almost all Vampires chose to stay in this Realm after war was declared. The Village is extremely safe."

  Syney stood and walked to a few feet from her Protector. "Then we have a problem."

  Hunter nodded. "I agree."

  "The Vampires didn't put the hit out on me and my parents. And the Shifters are just attacking whenever they can, so they wouldn't logically have done it. The Daemons are sleeping happily in hell. So that leaves Magic Users or the Lycins."

  Hunter took a deep breath. "I am truly sorry about the Andrews. They seemed like honorable people who had no business being dragged into this fight."

  Tears welled up in Syney's eyes, but she pushed them back. "Thank you. I'll find out who did this."

  "I expect no less."

  They looked at each other for what seemed like hours but was only a few moments. Syney felt a tug to fold herself into his big, strong arms, to get lost in his powerful body. But she willed herself to keep a distance between them. She couldn't get distracted, not when she was heading right into the action. And the worst kind of action too. The kind when you don't know who is good or bad.

  "Ready?"

  They both turned to Gabriel, who stood at the door, a set of keys in hand. Syney hadn't heard him enter the room at all, or even open the door. Vampires are really, really quiet. She made a mental note and headed out of the room.

  They piled into the SUV that Gabriel had procured and headed out onto the road. Syney stayed quiet the whole time, watching the scenery fly by out the window. She tried to will her mind to relax and stop going over the recent events, but that wasn't happening. The one thing she was able to do was try not to think about her parents. Living without them would be hard, but trying not to think of them all bloodied and dead would be even harder. Instead she focused on all of the things she already knew about Altera Realm. Shifters were scary as hell and wanted her dead. Vampires were scary as hell and wanted her dead for money. And either the Magic Users or the Lycins wanted her dead, but she wasn't quite sure why. Not the ideal situation.

  After a few hours, Hunter pulled up to the rock face that served as the portal to Altera Realm, and the three got out of the car. Syney looked up at the rock face. It looked normal, but nothing scared her m
ore than being taken out of her own home and thrown into a place that couldn't be trusted. She looked at Hunter, who seemed anxious to get back to the place he called home. On the other side of her, Gabriel's face held more trepidation than her own.

  "Not anxious to go home?" Syney asked.

  Without looking at her, Gabriel headed for the rock face. "This place isn't my home," he said over his shoulder. A moment later, he stepped into the seemingly solid rock and disappeared.

  "That easy, huh?" Syney asked. "What if some human stumbled upon it and fell through?"

  Hunter shook his head. "Only Alterans can go through the portal."

  As Syney headed for the rock, she silently wished they had been wrong about her. Maybe it would be as solid as the Delaware Water Gap, and she would just bounce right off. She put out her hand, just at the spot Gabriel had walked through. Her hand went right through the rock, sending a tingling sensation up her arm. She took a deep breath and stepped forward, praying she wouldn't get caught in the middle. A second later she was kneeling on damp mossy land. She took a deep breath. Before her was plush green forestland bathed in sunlight. It was amazingly beautiful. She turned and saw the same scenery behind her. There wasn't anything to mark the portal. Suddenly Hunter was standing in front of her, having just passed through the portal himself.

  "You OK?" he asked.

  Syney nodded and stood up. "Fine. A little tingly."

  "That's the portal. It'll go away in a moment."

  Syney sighed and turned back to the forest. "Which way?"

  "Straight ahead," Gabriel said, suddenly appearing next to them.

  "It's about five miles north," Hunter confirmed.

  "Five miles?" Syney asked, a whine in her voice.

  "I could carry you," Gabriel offered. For the first time, there was a flirty edge to his voice.

  "We can walk just fine," Hunter said sternly, and steered Syney into the direction of the Village.

  They walked for about an hour before Syney thought she was going to die. She stumbled to sit down on a fallen tree trunk and took some deep breaths. She was never one to exercise a lot, and all of the walking and running in fear was wearing her out.