Isabel shuddered. One was walking with a young college girl, holding her hand and he was almost completely white. He was little more than skin stretched over elongated bones and had equally white, vacant eyes. His ears were long and pointed but they hung down on the side of his deformed head grotesquely. Was it even a he? She couldn’t tell for sure. She looked closer and noticed patches of oddly placed fuzzy hair all over it. Ugh! She ripped the necklace off her head and felt her heart hammering in her chest, watching as he—definitely a he—transformed into a perfectly normal looking, twenty something. Not particularly eye candy by any means when compared to Amele and the Sidhe everywhere, but good looking enough. Where the Sidhe and Amele had a radiant light that came from them, the Unseelie she was watching had a dark shadow that hung around his skin, pulsing as he got closer to the girl.
Amele looked over at her, studying her face. “The Unseelie feed on emotions, Bel. The more intense the better, if you know what I mean? And in the process they drain their hosts. Most will move on once a host is too weak and the human will recover with a blank spot in their memory. Some however, are more greedy and take every last drop of life.”
“You mean they,” she stammered, when the realization of the type of energy they took hit her…“Oh my god, that’s disgusting! What about the Sidhe? What are they doing here?” She noticed them just hanging about, more observing than taking part in mortal life. They were almost normal looking. Except of course for the glow to their skin and their devastating beauty that brought tears to her eyes. There was that.
“They are acting as guardians, just as I am to you, and they’re making sure that none of the Unseelie cause too great a disruption in this world. You see, it’s only once every century that the Unseelie can cross over due to a pact that was made, and they can only stay until the blood moon rises. A mercy they don’t deserve even if my,” she paused a moment, “even if the Sidhe King believes so. Any that remain afterwards will be destroyed by the Sidhe guards you see watching them.”
“Oh. But your kind can come and go as they please anytime?”
“Yes, Isabel. Our kind can come and go at will. There is no reason to create a shield from us since we do not disrupt the natural order. Except for now, of course. We will all remain here until the curse is lifted.” One of the Sidhe smiled and bowed to her as they passed in the dark car.
“Why are they so different than…than you?”
Her newly gothic-like, warrior friend looked at her for a moment, a puzzled expression on her face. “They weren’t always so different than us, Bel. A long time ago, we were all just considered as Sidhe, until the king that rules the monsters out there was cursed by the Gods, which caused his beauty to be stripped away and all of his offspring to be made in his image. Some of the elders of our race—yours truly included—only refer to our side as the Sidhe, but some of the younger ones consider us the Seelie court, and the Unseelie court are the ones feeding out there. The ones that weren’t around when King Baylor made his choice to damn himself, like to have some illusion of separation. We are all of the Sidhe race, though, and before the Unseelie King cursed himself with his greed, there were no Sidhe that could scare children just by their beastly appearance. They are cursed to forever wear his dark heart on the outside of their form. It’s a warning to all magical beings; a warning of binding an Elemental God to you, and of greedy, selfish acts.”
Isabel nodded, letting all of that marinate, and watched the scattered beasts around their small town. She had a hundred more questions, but was transfixed on the sight outside the vehicle. The Unseelie were all different, but all shared the same lifeless hues to their skin and the rippling shadows coming off of them in waves that reminded her of various levels of decay for some reason. There was a hunger in their eyes that made her stomach flip and churn painfully. She wanted to know more about the curse but the monsters were too unnerving.
“Is it like this everywhere?”
Amele looked around. “Yes. Worse than this in many places.”
“But shouldn’t someone stop it? I mean, they’re hurting people right? There must be some way to keep them in their own realm. They don’t belong here, Amele!” She was completely sickened watching all the people going by with the unsightly creatures.
“There is a way but none are powerful enough to do more than ban them most of the time. The pact is as old as the Unseelie themselves, and cannot be broken…yet. It is said that one will be born that will have the power to contain the shadow realms, but they’ve not arrived, clearly. So for now, it is all we can do to guard as best we can and make sure losses are minimal.”
Isabel sat there and watched in mute horror as they drove. They were everywhere. She could only imagine what a bleak picture it was in the bigger cities. She felt her stomach heave again. A girl she knew from one of her classes at school was sitting next to an Unseelie on a bench with her hand on his leg as he whispered into her ear and she giggled. The thing’s hand was stroking her hair and she could see the wave of black energy going from the girl to the creature. It was almost like a wisp of smoke between them. It took everything in her not to jump out of the car and scream for the girl to run.
“You can’t interfere, as difficult as that may be. You can’t even look at them directly until you’ve gone through the change and look a little more…like us. It would alert them that there is a mortal with the sight among them. And trust me, they don’t take kindly to a mortal being able to see them un-glamoured. Any from this realm with the gift of sight are typically tracked during these feeding intervals and…” her voice trailed off, a pang of sadness palpable in it.
Okay, she didn’t even want to know what that meant. With a heavy heart she broke her gaze away from her classmate and the wretched thing. “Take me home, I’ve seen enough for today. Please.”
She quietly turned the car around and headed home. “I hope you don’t mind me taking up residence in one of your spare rooms, Isabel. I believe you can see now why it’s important that I watch over you. The Unseelie, as far as we know, do not have any knowledge of the prophecy…but if they found out about you, you would be in immense danger. They’ve been locked up for a long time in their hellish realm, and want total freedom. They would take over this world in a heartbeat if given the chance, and there aren’t enough of our guards here to stop them right now. No one knew that travel would become stasis, and we’ve got to do the best we can with who we have here. I think it’s best if I stay with you, and teach you to fight in between your dreams.”
“Y-yes,” she shivered in response, watching as an especially disgusting Unseelie kissed an unsuspecting human, his repulsive body with sores everywhere on an otherwise bald length of flesh was rubbing up against the girl. Juices oozed out of every one of them and every time he touched the girl, they closed up for the briefest of moments. Isabel looked Amele in the eyes and added, “Sounds good to me.”
CHAPTER FOUR
History Lessons
THE DAY WAS spent getting Amele settled in her house and learning about the Sidhe, the Elves, and a few other races from the immortal realms. She was told as much as she could be about the curse and the prophecy, and that she would reunite the two crowns somehow. Her mother had fled Loveryn twenty-two years ago, cloaking herself in magic so that none could follow her. She brought Isabel to these two people in particular, who were chosen because of who they were and where they lived. Her mother thought that bringing her to this small town nestled in the mountains would reduce her risk of the Sidhe or the Elves—or anything else less savory—finding her. And although bartering her into a mortal existence for this part of her life was risky, she did it because of her visions, or that’s what Amele thought anyway. Keiren knew that just as Isabel was going to go through the changes of her immortality, that the crossover of the Unseelie into the mortal realm would be happening, and she feared they would know what she was somehow. It was a great risk from what little Amele had been able to tell her, but one that had to be taken.
The Immortal Realms weren’t safe because of the dark magick that was woven into the curse. Welcome best friend in the world, Amele.
When Isabel’s parents had died in the car accident just after her eighteenth birthday, she would’ve never gotten through it if it wasn’t for her. The anguish she had felt four years ago crept into her heart and bled some more, never fully healing. She had walked around like a zombie for months, and probably would’ve withered away to nothing if it weren’t for her practically living at her house and force-feeding her. She didn’t care if Mom and Dad were her blood or not, they were her parents, and she would always remember them as such. They had cleaned and bandaged every wound, given her everything she could’ve ever wanted, and loved her as much as any child could be. No matter what she learned of her biological parentage, her parents were Trish and Matthew Masters.
Apparently Keiren had summoned Amele by a letter—much like Isabel had received, at exactly the right time—ensuring that the secret of Isabel’s whereabouts would be maintained. Once Amele accepted the task, she was magically bound here with no communication to Loveryn. Recently, all travel between the realms was blocked, and only the Sidhe guard was allowed through when the Unseelie gates were opened—and only so many. It was all part of whatever deal Kieran had made to keep her safe at least to her mortal adulthood. The Unseelie wouldn’t get near any mortal that was being watched by a Sidhe guard, and Amele was one of their oldest and strongest warriors.
According to Amele, there wasn’t much in the way of immortals that she couldn’t bring to their knees, or worse, so most avoided her like the plague, even beings of the light realms. It was so surreal, even stared in the face by the truth, that she wasn’t dreaming this whole thing. She looked at the dark haired beauty and studied the perfectly sculpted, high cheekbones, lush lips, and the silver piercing that adorned the top of her ear on one side. Amber eyes were alit from behind with a glow that intensified when she was animately talking—as she was now—and her light creamy skin was an extension of that golden glow. She was so beautiful that it nearly made tears fall from her eyes to really see her without the ‘blinders’ on. The blond facade had nothing on the real Amele, and if she felt out of place before when she stood next to her, she was in another galaxy now.
The prophesy didn’t say exactly when Isabel would transition beyond adulthood, but it did specify that the dreams would preclude it, so whichever of the two was not after her best interest may have been able to reach the shadow beings somehow preceding this if she hadn’t been hidden. She also learned that Amele hadn’t just known her five years, she’d been watching over her for her entire life. That had creeped her out and made her feel safe all at once.
Amele couldn’t go into details about why the curse was placed or how it was lifted other than it was somehow broken by her choice. Her mother would wake if she chose correctly and there would be order in the Realms again. Right now the veils were very thin—far too thin in some of the light realms—and nearly non existent in the darker ones. From what Amele had gathered from the Sidhe guard since they had arrived was that most of the Sidhe in Loveryn thought that this was the work of the Elementals. But Amele didn’t think the Elemental Gods cared enough about the races to do anything like this by themselves, she’d said.
“Someone has bound one to them—and that is very dark and dangerous magic, Isabel. The Elemental Gods are powerful and unfeeling, and they wouldn’t allow themselves to be summoned without a great price paid to them. But, who knows, really? It’s been so long since anyone has summoned one of the Elementals because of how feared they are now. It wasn’t always that way, but has been for so long that their names are spoken in whispers or not at all. They’re tricky, and it would be a massive risk to bind one to yourself. They can find ways to keep a deal, and break it at once.”
When she asked further about the Elementals, Amele wouldn’t give her anything more and got a faraway look in her eyes for a moment. “In time, Isabel. But, it’s getting late now and I’m sure your head is swimming with all the new information. Besides, there’s another that you must meet. Mr. Lickable himself!”
With a deep sigh, she gave up. “Aren’t you going to give me some advice or something?”
“I can’t. It’s against the rules, and as much as I may have a preference, no one knows for sure except Keiren what the end result needs to be. I can’t sway the decision one way or the other. This is powerful magick, and I’m bound to honor the rules that concern you. Me, honoring rules? If ever an oxymoron existed, that’s it.” She sat there deep in thought for a moment, tapping a blood red manicured nail on her lips. “Oh! There is one thing I can tell you. If you ever want to wake up, all you have to do is say aloud in the dream, ‘I want to go home’.”
No wonder she flew out of there so quickly last night. “Great. I wish I’d known that before I met Bodhe. Can I choose who I go to?” She tilted her head up to her friend.
“Afraid not, halfling. Not until you’ve made your choice anyway. Go see Morkain, and let me know what you think in the morning. Sweet dreams, Isabel.”
She glared at her for the name calling again and huffed all the way up to her bedroom, stomping on the wood stairs. “Halfling, my ass! I think I like princess better, and I like that about as much as I like this whole damn situation,” she muttered beneath her breath. She heard the television click on and one of the old movies Amele was obsessed with came on in the background. Amele had always loved that era of films, and when they watched them together, she’d said things wistfully about era’s long gone. She would mention how certain things were right on, and others were so completely far-fetched that Isabel had never understood it, other than she thought her friend had watched way too much tv. She did understand now. Amele had been in those era’s. She looked at her hot mess of a self in the mirror and sighed. There was no reason to be a jerk to Amele, was there? She didn’t create this situation, and was the only person in the world—worlds, plural—that she trusted entirely right now.
“Amele?” she called out and waited. The tv paused downstairs and then her bedroom door opened a split second later.
“Yes?”
“Geez, did you fly up here?”
Amele gave her a look like she was insane. “No, I sifted. Did you ask me up to see if I could fly up here?”
She huffed and scrubbed at her eyes. “Sifted, of course you did. How silly of me to think you flew. Shit. No, I’m sorry. I called you up here to say thank you, and that I’m sorry I’ve been such an ass to you. I love you, and I’m so thankful for you being here. I really don’t know what I would do without you right now.” The last words came out choked with emotion and she could feel the tears welling up. Great, she was leaking now, too. Squishy, she was so damn squishy lately. What the hell was up with that? She thought for sure that she’d cried all the tears she had in her soul four years ago, but apparently not. Amele came over to the bed and sat down next to her, wrapping her up in her arms.
“Shhhh, it’s okay, Bel. I know this is overwhelming. Just trust your instincts and you’ll be fine. You have some time before any true decision has to be made. Get to know them both, and if you’re uncomfortable with either of them, just say the words and come back home. I’ll be here to help you every time you wake up. Once we start training, you’re going to get a lot more confident, too. While this decision is yours alone to make, I’m completely confident you’ll make the right one,” she said, giving her a kiss on top of her wild curls. Her hand went under her chin and lifted it up so they were eye to eye. “You’ve got this, I promise.”
“Well I sure don’t know that I do. And how is training for a day or two going to help me? There’s not enough time for me to gain the kind of confidence I need to feel sure of anything. It seems impossible, and I haven’t even met Morkain yet. If he’s a tenth as gorgeous as Bodhe he’ll still be the second most beautiful man I’ve ever met. I have no experience with men, let alone men that are Gods in their own right.”
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��Tsk, tsk, you underestimate me, still? We’ll remedy that doubt soon when you’re getting that training, but first you must sleep. Go meet Mr. Lickable— who is definitely gorgeous for the record—and I’ll be here when you wake up…with coffee, of course. I’m going to tell you a secret though, right now. You want to know who the most beautiful one is between them?”
Isabel shook her head yes, even if she knew it wouldn’t matter in the end. Looks don’t define a persons soul, and she had to see that to make this choice, as inconceivable as that seemed in the time she had right now. Some people know their spouses or partners for decades and still don’t know them. She didn’t have ten years, she only had a few weeks. But, at least she would be prepared for his physical appearance.
“Isabel, sweetheart, the most beautiful one, is you.”
She blushed and looked down, feeling even more out of her element with those words. Amele was the beautiful one, she was just, her. She had no idea how to bring out her ‘inner Goddess’ as Amele called it when she got all drop dead gorgeous. She couldn’t even put her makeup on without help from the true Goddess in the room. Maybe she’d learned enough from her not to be a complete bumbling idiot, but she wasn’t so sure after meeting Bodhe. “You have to say that because you’re my friend, and that’s okay. I appreciate what you’re trying to do. Thanks,” she said, sniffing.
“No, I don’t have to do anything. I’ve never lied you you. I’ve omitted truth out of necessity and magical ties, but I’ve never lied to you.” She paused and a light grew from her widening eyes for a moment. “Wait, I take that back. Remember that wretched green dress you wore to prom that puffed up like a doughnut that I said was divine? Well, I totally lied about that. It was absolutely hideous, and one of the worst atrocities to fashion I’ve ever encountered on this realm—and I’ve seen a lot of atrocities. But, since you couldn’t get kissed without tornados and lighting striking, I figured that tiny white lie was for the best.” Amele took the smack on the arm she got, trying and failing at stifling a laugh. “I deserved that, and I accept it. But listen up, buttercup, I’m not lying now. You are the most beautiful one, not either of them. You’re the perfect match for one of those males, and as you begin to come into your bloodlines, your senses won’t fail you. They can’t. Your partner or mate—depending on which it is—is you, in essence, created in the beginning of time to both drive you bat-shit crazy and experience a love that you’ll never find in another. You’re not two halves of one whole—it’s the divine feminine and the divine masculine that was split when the first immortal came into existence. You’re both already whole as you are, but with the other you’ll have the power to reach an entirely new state of existence—a level of love that would otherwise be unknown to either of you. You will compliment each other, and know each other completely—unfortunately for you, your instincts on who it is are going to be kicking in after a lot of back and forth.
Immortal Dreams (Immortal Realms Book 1) Page 6
