Of Humans and Monsters

by Candace Blevins

Mordecai lifted his brows as if to say, ‘duh’ and I turned my back on them to fiddle with my hair in the mirror some more. My makeup wasn’t terrible but was no longer perfect, and I looked like I’d been fucked from here to Sunday. “What were those lizard things?”

  “It’ll have to wait,” Mordecai said, his voice softer than I think I’ve ever heard it. “We need to get back.”

  He offered his hand, I took it, and the three of us went back into the nothingness.

  I once again immersed myself in the way we moved from this reality to the other, and back again. I grasped the direction we went to get into the nothingness, and then back into our world. Direction isn’t the right word, but it’s the closest I can come. I was pretty sure I understood it, but wasn’t positive I could do it by myself.

  Chapter 16

  The room at the hotel formed around us, along with people who shouldn’t be there. The door was standing wide open, the doorknob broken, and I stepped back as Nathan strode to me, his eyes and body language that of a pissed-off lion.

  I sensed from both Mordecai and Adonis the urgency of us unblending, and heard Mordecai’s voice in my head.

  Careful, but fast. Unweave yourself, that’s right... pull your heart chakra energy into your heart and close it off... ball of light. You can open it back up however you want later, but for now it needs to be a closed unit. That’s right. Okay, and now the brain connection... three... two... one.

  We all stepped away from each other, and I breathed in energy as I worked to reaffirm myself as a single being.

  Nathan stopped a few steps from me, still pissed, and I had to look away from his piercing glare. I’ve seen the wolves lower their gaze to their Alpha, and for the first time I understood they’re compelled to do so — it isn’t always a choice.

  The rest of my friends looked at me as if they didn’t know me. Cora was the only exception, but I couldn’t very well go to her and ignore everyone else. I didn’t know what to do, or say. I wanted Aaron. I wanted to cry.

  The instant I wished for him, I realized I could take myself to Aaron. I was all by myself, yet I remembered how to do it. I could grasp the direction. I concentrated on Aaron, on my friend, on his essence — his soul energy. For the first time, I stepped out of this reality and into the nothingness by myself. The static swirling around me threatened to undo me, but I kept my focus on Aaron and stepped back onto planet Earth.

  I fought motion sickness as a cave formed around me and four huge dragon eyeballs focused solely on me. Too late, it occurred to me this hadn’t been the best idea. One of the dragons sucked air in, and I knew when it breathed out there’d be fire.

  “Aaron! Sophia! It’s ME! It’s Kirsten.”

  Aaron nudged a head between me and the other dragon. I knew they’d be talking telepathically now, but I couldn’t hear it. The air shimmered around Aaron, and I smiled and ignored his nudity as he walked to me on two legs.

  “Kirsten! How’d you get here? Are you okay? What’s happened?”

  “Smell me. Tell me what you smell.”

  He must’ve realized I needed my friend, because he took me by the hand and led me to the back of the cave as he said, “I don’t know what’s happened to bring you here, but Sophia will stand guard over us. There’s a smaller cave back here, where you’ll feel safer.”

  I followed him thirty yards to a spring feeding a small pool, and he stood back as I leaned in to get a drink of the clear, cool water.

  A lot had happened since I’d had the Coke with Adonis, and I drank for several long moments before my thirst was sated. I turned to see Aaron sitting on a small rock about ten feet away, his leg lifted at an angle to casually conceal his nudity. He was giving me time before demanding I explain what had gone so horribly wrong I’d barged in on his long-overdue honeymoon.

  “I’m sorry I intruded. I’ll need to apologize to Sophia too.”

  “She’s listening, and we both know you wouldn’t be here if something hadn’t happened. Is everyone safe?”

  “Yeah. Nathan’s running everything just fine, but I needed my friend.” Tears came to my eyes, but I couldn’t cry yet. “How do I smell to you?”

  “I smelled the divinity on you the moment you materialized. So did Sophia, which is why she was so quick to almost roast what she assumed was a quite powerful intruder. Do you know why you smell of one of the old gods?”

  “I was injured and drank from Bran, and I guess this time was the tipping point where I got bloodlust as well as healing. Along with the bloodlust, something dormant seems to have made itself known — but so far only to you, Marco, Mordecai, and Adonis.” I shook my head. “That’s what Mordecai thinks, but I have a theory about the gods smelling the way they do because of their method of travel between realms and around our planet. Now that I can apparently do it as well, I smell like them. I didn’t until the first time Mordecai took me somewhere, and he doesn’t want me talking about it, but I tell you everything and I figure you already know he can disappear and reappear somewhere else.”

  “I do, so you’re in the clear, but don’t tell anyone else. Tell me about drinking Bran’s blood. Was it the same as before? How did you get rid of the bloodlust? Can you make it go away, or do you have to wait for it to wear off?”

  “From the first sip, it was different this time. It tasted good — I couldn’t get enough. They had to pull me off him, and I went to the bathroom and locked myself in to keep from attacking one of the shapeshifters to drink their blood. When I finally came out, I was smelling of everyone, testing out my new senses, and Mordecai smelled of... what you said — Divinity.” Aaron had asked how I’d gotten rid of the bloodlust, so I added, “I guess it wore off the first time, but I’ve felt it coming on since and got rid of it before it was a big deal.”

  I told him about the earthquakes, and about Adonis. I told him about working with the fault lines earlier in the day, and then about going after the Celrau and getting our asses handed to us by the reptile monsters. I didn’t touch on the past-life shapeshifter stuff — we could talk about that later. I explained how I’d blended with Mordecai and Adonis, and told him how our auras had glowed. Finally, I told him about returning to the room at the hotel, and how everyone saw us glowing.

  “I’m not the same as Mordecai and Adonis! Just because I can learn from them doesn’t mean I’m not human!”

  “So, there are a bunch of people back in that room wondering where you are and if you’re okay?”

  I took a deep breath. “Yes.”

  “You have to face this. Running away doesn’t solve anything.”

  I found a large rock to sit on, and sat and pulled my legs to my chest. “I know, but from what Adonis and Mordecai said, I can be in danger if a lot of people smell me right now. I don’t think the shapeshifters or vampires are picking up on it, but if the divinity smell is from traveling through the nothingness…” I shrugged. “You smelled it on me. Will they?”

  When he didn’t seem to have an answer, I told him what Mordecai said about my ancestor probably being some sort of Fae royalty.

  And then I told him about Josh. I’d spoken with my cousin on the phone a few times since I’d last seen him, but I wasn’t supposed to talk to him about anything I’d done recently or planned to do in the coming days or weeks. I could ask about him all I wanted though, and he seemed to be doing okay. However, he didn’t have my years of meditation practice, and I wasn’t sure turning him loose with powers was such a good idea. Another dilemma.

  “Nathan will make the right choices while I’m gone,” Aaron assured me. “Let’s get back to you for a moment. Mordecai’s correct — if you have an ancestor who’s Fae, and if they find out about you, they could claim you. That would be bad. With you returning to the room glowing, people are likely going to attempt to figure out how it happened. I picked a bad time to leave. I’m sorry.”

  “No, don’t apologize — there’s never a good time and this is so important to you. How are things going?”

 
; “She has eggs forming but I can’t be sure how many. It’s too soon to know anything, but she’ll stay in dragon form until she lays them — though we don’t know how long that might take. She’s listening, and wants you to know she’ll do what she can for you in Faerie, if it comes to it.”

  He’d wanted a family so long, and he was finally getting it. “Oh, Aaron! I’m so happy for both of you!”

  “You really aren’t attracted to Adonis?”

  And we were back to figuring out if I’m human or not. “He’s beautiful, and there’s certainly a physical attraction, but I don’t go all googly eyed and stupid around him.” I sighed as I remembered the rumba. “Except when we danced. I kinda got caught up in the moment during a sexy dance.”

  “I wish I had advice for you. Listen to Nathan and Mordecai, and follow your gut.” He was silent a few seconds and added, “Sophia says if you end up in Faerie and have problems, ask to speak to the reigning Queen and tell her you’re a close friend of ours. If they need proof and can’t reach us, tell them you know something that isn’t widely known. Once you’re in private, tell them you know they split the job of Faerie Godmother, but Sophia’s father restricted their access. Only someone close to Sophia would know this, so they’ll keep you safe at least long enough to reach us.”

  I didn’t want to wear out my welcome, so I stood and took a few steps towards the front of the cave.

  “Thanks Sophia,” I told the other dragon when I stepped back into the outer cave. “I’m so happy for both of you.”

  “I’m worried for you,” she said in her deep, deep dragon voice. “I know Nathan will take care of you, but Aaron and I still worry.”

  I shook my head. “Those babies are the most important thing for ya’ll right now. I’m so sorry I interrupted, but thanks for letting me borrow your husband as a sounding board. I feel better.”

  “Tell Nathan we’re doing fine,” said Aaron. “But speak to no one else about coming here. You’re welcome to come back, but appearing in the cave might get you roasted once we have the eggs and then the babies.”

  He walked me to the mouth of the cave and I remembered dragons like to nest high on mountains. He pointed across the island towards a wooded area. “Levitate down and follow your ears to the waterfall. It’s the portal we use to get here, and I have sensors all around it so I’ll know if someone comes through. We stay away from it, and I go check when I’m alerted to activity. If you come in close to the waterfall, you shouldn’t get roasted.

  “You don’t mind my popping in? I don’t want to interrupt your honeymoon.”

  He chuckled and Sophia stuck her head out of the cave to tell me, “I’d love to have some girl time with you once these eggs are out and Aaron and I can take turns watching over them. Now that you have a way to get here, it’ll be nice to see you.”

  I looked to Aaron and saw by his grin he’d be happy for Sophia and me to spend time talking while he watched over their eggs.

  “Thanks for talking me down,” I told Aaron. “I still don’t know what to do, but at least I’m thinking straight now.”

  “You’ll figure it out.”

  I had some time to consider my next move as I levitated down and then made my way to the waterfall. I didn’t want to go back into the room full of people, so I focused on Ryan this time and I hoped he wasn’t using the restroom.

  However, as I entered the nothingness my mind went to Aquila — wondering where he was and what he was up to. Did he know we’d killed his people and escaped the reptile monsters?

  A bridge materialized around me, and three men beside me. My gaze met Aquila’s and I pushed back hard with my legs as I levitated up. I landed thirty yards away and formed a quarterstaff.

  Mordecai had warned me against going into the nothingness on my own, but I’d done it anyway. Fuck, someday maybe I’d listen to advice.

  “You’ve been a bad little girl, haven’t you Kitten?”

  “What’s the saying? Even when I’m bad, I’m good?” What the fuck had made me say that? Damn. I wasn’t here to flirt with him! I took a breath and considered my options. I’d already probably raised all kinds of red flags by appearing, I may as well try to get information while I was here.

  I put the quarterstaff behind my back to appear less threatening, and looked around. I was almost certain we were on Earth or possibly another Earth-like realm or planet, but I didn’t recognize the place. Asking where we were would give too much away, so I asked, “Aren’t you going to introduce your friends to me?”

  “I don’t believe I will, but since you somehow managed to find us, I assumed you’d know who they are.” He tilted his head. “You don’t, and you appeared out of thin air. You have no idea what you’ve walked into, do you?”

  I flashed back to their body language as I’d arrived, before they realized I was there, and made my best guess at what I’d interrupted. “A clandestine meeting with your superiors, of course. You have no idea how we found the assholes fucking with the nuclear plant, and someone called an emergency meeting. And now I’m here, and my guess is they’re most upset with you for leading me to them, though they aren’t speaking of it with me still here.” I looked to the men at his side. “Ya’ll are desperately hoping I don’t know who you are, right?”

  I put feelers out and was shocked when I realized the men weren’t Celrau. I’ve come to see the Strigorii as beings with negative energy — it’s the fact I can’t feel them that warns me something’s up. I can’t feel a lot of humans, either, so one of the men was either human, Lugat, Strigorii, or something else I can’t feel. However, the other was most certainly a demon, and there was some scary power there.

  Aquila made an odd tsk-tsk noise with his tongue. “You’ve been surrounded by guards, and yet you pop in here all alone, and seemed as surprised to see us as we were to see you.” His stance relaxed and he crossed his arms. “No one has any idea you’re here, do they?”

  Nope, and I’d just popped into the hornet’s nest — or their rendezvous spot, at least.

  “Whatcha planning? Are schemes for world domination not working out? Poor Aquila. So hopeless, he can’t even manage to deal with a single, human female.”

  Instead of looking pissed, now he looked even more relaxed. Had we not thwarted their overall plan, as we’d thought when the Concilio could suddenly sense so many more of their kind? Were they in other realms besides the Underworld? Could I be sure I was still on Earth? Maybe I wasn’t, and the fact I didn’t seem to know this made him cockier?

  “Or,” I told him, remembering the way I’d used illusion to trick Denny, and coming up with my escape monologue on the fly, “perhaps you don’t know how deeply we’re embedded in your psyche — enough to create a shared illusion with you and the people you’re with. How did a human appear out of thin air? Am I really me? Am I even here?”

  I stepped out of the reality — whatever it was — back into the nothingness, and focused my thoughts strongly on Ryan this time. I aimed for a dark spot near him and hoped it worked.

  He was standing in the shadows when I appeared out of nowhere beside him, and he had a gun to my head and the trigger part-way back before I could take my first breath. Thank goodness he realized it was me before he pulled the trigger far enough to actually shoot me.

  Too many close calls in a short period of time, and my knees threatened to give way. I couldn’t let Ryan see any weakness though, so I met his gaze and kept my face an emotionless wall of stone.

  While I was busy not being scared, I noted Ryan was faster than Aquila and his accomplices. I had no idea what he was, but no way was he human. He was obviously a race that survived by smelling human, but only a supernatural has those kinds of reflexes.

  Ryan’s cold, emotionless eyes looked at me from inches away. “Don’t ever do that again.”

  I was pretty sure he’d only regret killing me because it looks bad to kill the person you’re protecting. There’d be no regrets whatsoever about killing a human.

&n
bsp; If I was even human.

  I shook my head — I couldn’t go down that path right now. Ryan was supposed to be keeping me safe, and I needed someone to do that while I processed all the shit from the past couple of days.

  “Sorry,” I told him as I dropped the bad-ass thing and let him see the truth in my eyes. “I’ve had a helluva night and I need to get out of here. I need away from everyone. Please.”

  He looked me down and back up but didn’t mention the clothing change. “How the hell did you appear out of thin air?”

  I wanted to get out of here, but he wasn’t likely to take me without a few answers.

  “I was connected to Mordecai telepathically when he made us disappear. I figured out how to do it. I’m not sure if he’ll see this as a good thing or a bad thing.”

  He gave me a doubtful look and I rolled my eyes at him. “Honestly? I don’t care what you believe. Can you let Bran know I’m with you and you’ll keep me safe tonight? I just want to be around a human right now. I can’t deal with anything supernatural.”

  Okay, so I’d just decided he wasn’t human, but it felt like the best way to appeal to him and the fastest way to get us off the street and somewhere hidden.

  He gave me an appraising look. “Sure, but you’re going to give me a lot more than you just did. We’re going to talk, and you’re going to explain. Let’s go. I made arrangements for a safe haven we could get to by foot.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Lean up against me like we’re lovers out for a stroll.” He put his arm around me and guided my head to rest against him. “Don’t make eye contact with anyone. I’m your world right now. Slow your pace, stay relaxed. You’re happy and content and in love. All your focus is on me. I’ll get us where we’re going without your other guards seeing us.”

  We walked to the corner, crossed the street, walked another half block, and took a right turn into a courtyard. He used a key card to get through a gate, and in another twenty yards he aimed us into a doorway and used a key card again to open the door. I breathed in relief when we made it inside the hotel, though I wouldn’t relax until we made it to a room.