by D. N. Leo
Chapter 12
Something was different about Jo, Tadgh thought as he lay on the ground, looking up at his wife’s beautiful face.
He winced as the pain in his back made itself known. He recalled the incident—feeling the stingray’s tail striking his back, close to his fatal point. He thought he was dead.
Maybe he was.
He blinked and looked again at the beautiful face above him. It wasn’t Jo.
“Lavinia!”
“Welcome back.” She smiled. “Now please remove your hand from my face.”
Tadgh dropped his hand to the ground. “I’m sorry.”
“Can you sit up?”
“Yes.” He tried then fell back down again. “Just give me a second.” He closed his eyes and concentrated. He didn’t think the stingray had hit his fatal point, but the blow had been enough to incapacitate him. He couldn’t turn on his eudqi now, and that meant the healing was going to take an eternity, or what seemed like it.
One step at a time, he told himself. He flexed his muscles and used all the strength he had at the moment to sit up. He rolled his eyes, feeling useless. Lavinia put her hands on his back to help hold him up.
“Thanks. Where’s Jo?”
“Nearby. I just spoke to her.”
He looked around. He was sitting under a dome that appeared to be uninhabited. As far as his eyes could see, there were no residential areas. The ground was covered in coarse sand and, for the most part, was flat but interspersed with some strange-looking rocks and small hills. It was a bit like the Black Rock, a universe adjacent to Eudaiz.
If this dome had similar creatures to those in the Black Rock, he needn’t worry. They were what he referred to as the petty thieves of the multiverse—they were not dangerous and were incapable of causing much harm.
“Are you all right, Lavinia?”
“I think I should be the one asking that question. You were hit very hard.”
He nodded. “I remember. We were attacked. You must have brought me here. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. But what’s with the mark on your back?”
“Uhm … it’s nothing. Why do you ask?” He glanced down at his shirtless body. “Where’s my shirt?”
“Jo asked me to check on you to make sure the stingray hit didn’t hit the mark on your back. Which it didn’t.” She tossed him his shirt.
“As I said, it’s nothing—just a birthmark. But the hit was hard, so I’ll be feeling it for a while. Hopefully we won’t be attacked again before I recover. I need to talk to Jo.”
He switched his wrist unit on to call her. He waited for a while, but all he got was static. “You said you just talked to her?”
“Yes. But it sounded like she was in a fight, and then her device was cut off.”
“Why didn’t you say so?” He tried with difficulty to stand up. His legs were like jelly. He needed to rest to recover quicker, and this movement wasn’t going to help.
“You didn’t ask.”
“I should be with her. I should—”
“Protect her? Look at yourself, Tadgh.”
Calm down, he told himself. He needed his superpower back before he could do anything. He could feel it was coming back to him, and at a surprisingly faster speed than he’d expected. Something in this dome must be feeding his energy.
Lavinia touched his shoulder. “Jo had it under control. There was a fight, but she instructed me to take you. I don’t take orders from anyone, let alone strangers from the multiverse. But she’s your wife, so I agreed. You know her best. Is she capable of controlling a situation when needed?”
Tadgh nodded.
“Then that’s your assurance. She’ll be fine. Either we’ll find a way to get to her, or she will find us. Can she track?”
“She’s not a psychic, and direction isn’t her strong suit. But yes, she can track me wherever I am.”
Lavinia smiled.
“How much longer will you need before you’re able to use your superpower, Tadgh? I saw you become invisible. That could come in handy.”
“I don’t really become invisible. It’s a trick of vision. You can’t see me, but I’m there. I can dematerialize myself and the things in direct contact with my body.”
“That’s even better.”
“I know.”
“When can you do it again?”
“I’m at twenty percent now.”
Lavinia rolled her eyes. “Do we need to rent a room at an inn for you to rest?”
“Do you have inns here?”
“No, but isn’t that what you call commercial accommodations in your world?”
“Earth is no longer my world. And we don’t have inns in Eudaiz. Accommodations are provided to citizens by the government. You do the same here?”
Lavinia wanted to laugh but composed herself. “In an ideal world, which Eudaiz has the reputation of being, shelters should be common goods, and they should be available to the people. But Nepolymbus isn’t an ideal world. We’re in the midst of a civil war. You should know that by now because the royal vehicle was attacked by the rebels. So the government here isn’t providing anything at the moment.”
Tadgh nodded. “Understood.” He felt a surge to about fifty percent of his energy. It was happening astonishingly fast, and he was relieved. But his feelings of relief didn’t last. A small group of manlike creatures in black cloaks approached them from a short distance away.
“Oh no!” Lavinia said.
“Are they rebels?”
“Worse, they’re the Independents. The rebels want to kill us. At least that’s clear—I know what I’m dealing with. But the Independents kill anyone who gets in their way. And I don’t know what they want. Can we go back to the water, Tadgh? We need to get to a royal dome.”
“You can go, Lavinia. But I can’t. You should go.”
“The hell I’ll leave you.”
“It’s bad enough you had to drag me here and away from the royal domes.”
“You can’t stand the thought of being protected by a woman. Suck it up.” Lavinia stepped in front of him. “I’m going to teach these guys a lesson.” She moved toward the approaching assailants. Tadgh had no idea if such an elegant royal woman would be able to fight. Maybe she’d have to charm her way through this. But he didn’t like that idea either.
There were six men, but when they were close enough, Tadgh was astonished to see their faces—they were clones. Not only did they look identical, but their movements were also alike. But they did seem to have a pecking order, and one appeared to lead the group.
“We don’t want to hurt you, Lavinia. We want the guest from Eudaiz.”
Lavinia chuckled. “Oh, so you know who I am.”
“As I said, we don’t want to hurt you.”
“I have no intention of letting you do that.”
Tadgh leaned against a large black rock, and he could feel the energy seeping out from it, an energy that was feeding him. “Come over here if you want to take me,” he said.
The clones all growled at the same time and began to run toward them.
From his location behind her at the rock, Tadgh saw Lavinia standing still. He drew in a deep breath and used seventy percent of his remaining energy to dematerialize. It wasn’t ideal, but he couldn’t let Lavinia take this attack.
When he dematerialized, the clones stopped running, surprised.
He raced around and behind the attackers, materialized in a flash, and slit their throats with the daggers he always kept in his boots. He finished four of the attackers, and Lavinia savaged the last two. Tadgh saw her standing over the dead bodies. Her fangs were still down, and her eyes were blood red.
In a few seconds, her eyes returned to normal. She withdrew her fangs and smiled at Tadgh.
“Not only do you owe me your life, but you now know my secret, Tadgh.”
Chapter 13
Jo frowned at the dome Clines had described as the headquarters of the rebels. Looking through the small gla
ss window of the pseudo car they were traveling in, it looked like any other dome. But she had to admit, it was much more comfortable in this vehicle than swimming in the water, even with her superpower.
She glanced quickly at her wrist unit and cursed. It had definitely broken under impact. It might be a good thing because she didn’t want vital Eudaizian data to get into the hands of a Nepolymbian.
But it also meant she had no way to contact her people, let alone open a holocast to go back to Eudaiz. Clines’ offer at the moment was the best she could get—going to their headquarters to borrow their technology to reestablish her connection.
Clines was at the control panel of the vehicle. She figured if he meant to harm her, he wouldn’t turn his back toward her like this. She had nothing to lose, so why not try working with the rebels.
“What do you call this vehicle?”
Clines turned and smiled at her. “What do you call a common vehicle like this in Eudaiz?”
“A private capsule.”
“Would you believe me if we say we call it a car, just like people refer to it on Earth?”
“Have you been on land?”
He smiled. “It’s part of my training.”
“Being with the humans is part of your training? Training for what?”
“It’s part of the knowledge-building process. Like trying to understand your next-door neighbors.”
Jo chuckled. “Well, my understanding is that Nepolymbus is in flux. You don’t have a permanent address. I can’t see any universe being either your ally or your enemy.”
He nodded. “You’re righ—we don’t really exist.”
“I don’t mean that in a bad way …”
“No, I understand.” Clines said nothing else.
He seemed to be concentrating on his driving, but Jo could tell there was more to it than met the eye.
“Do you really call this a car?”
He chuckled. “No, we call it a shell.”
“And what do you call a computer?”
“A station.”
“What kind of network do you have here?”
“If you’re trying to spy on me, you’re not being very subtle, Jo.” The shell went through the dome wall and entered the air environment. Clines maneuvered around the corner of a large gray complex and parked in front of a steel door.
Jo got out of the vehicle and looked around cautiously. It was quite a military camp they had here. The scale was quite respectable. It was nothing compared to Eudaiz, not even a fraction of the small satellite military area, but certainly larger than the army she’d seen at the royal dome.
She had to be careful not to draw conclusions too quickly. She didn’t know this universe well, and she knew nothing about the royals. The place where she and Tadgh had been was only a branch.
Everyone they walked past nodded their greeting at Clines. He must be a higher-up here.
“You haven’t answered my question regarding the network. If I’m going to use your system to connect to my people, I don’t want to do anything to put the Eudaizian system at risk.”
Clines smiled. “Understood. We use the multiversal database in the crossworld zone.”
She nodded. “That makes sense. There will be no trace.”
“You know technology, Jo.”
“Just a thing or two.” She approached a large desk station with an impressive keyboard and a wall-size monitor. She activated the screen and did a general search of her position. She didn’t want to connect to Eudaiz just yet. Not until she knew the connection was safe.
“Judging by the way you handle our technology, I think you know more than a little.”
They heard a clapping sound from behind. Jo turned around and saw an ancient-looking man approaching them.
Clines bowed a greeting. “Saiyan.”
“It’s excellent to see a female creature handling our most advanced station.”
Jo cursed to herself. Not only was the ancient man ugly, but he was also a pig! “I don’t think technology has anything to do with gender. But to be fair, this is substandard compared to the technology I normally use.”
Saiyan clucked his tongue. “Oh, you’re a tough little thing. More than just a pretty face, guest from Eudaiz.”
“Enough, Saiyan. I treat you with respect, and I expect the same in return. She’s my guest,” Clines growled.
“No one can enter these premises and use our technology without my permission. Not even you, Clines.”
“We’re equal.”
“You wish.” Saiyan laughed. “If we were equal, you wouldn’t have to capture a Eudaizian to gain the Core’s trust.”
“I volunteered to come here. And now, I’ll leave you two to debate.” Jo strode to the door. But before she reached it, two steely hands grabbed her from behind.
“Not so fast. You came without an invitation. You will need my permission to get out.”
“Don’t you dare—”
The hands spun Jo around. She could see that the arms seemed to come from a station that had now turned into a robot. Clines pulled what looked like a gun and pointed it at Saiyan.
Jo switched her eudqi on and liquified the robot. It melted and poured onto the ground, turning into a puddle of mud.
Saiyan looked at her in astonishment. Taking the opportunity, Clines fired his weapon. The beam coming out of his gun bounced off Saiyan’s body and ricocheted, knocking Clines out cold.
Jo couldn’t use her power against Saiyan because she couldn’t liquify flesh. She turned and headed for the door again. Before she reached it, the floor under her feet slid open and she dropped into a tank of water. In the tank, a bunch of mermaids floated, asleep. Startled by the splash, they hissed and bared their fangs at her.
Jo touched the wall of the tank, and it liquified. Water poured onto the basement floor. Her body floated out and then she dropped to the floor with the mermaids. She scrambled to her feet and looked at the ceiling where the trap door was still open. Saiyan looked down at her from above, smirking.
There was no door and no way out of the basement. She thought she might be able to liquify the wall and find her way out. She darted toward it, but as soon as she touched it, she knew it was a mistake. She felt the vibration of electric current in the air.
The current pumped into her, blasting her body and sending it flying backward. Her world turned completely dark.
Chapter 14
Tadgh looked up from his wrist unit and saw Lavinia smiling at him. “You’re right—the signals can’t get through this thick dome.”
“If you had trusted me, we could have saved all that time you used to work on your device.”
“I’m sorry. I should have trusted you. So what do you think our next step is? I need to get to Jo and contact my people.”
“The royal dome would be best for getting signals. We can also get more people there to help find Jo. But we don’t have a shell with us, and you aren’t comfortable going into the water—”
“Shell?”
“The vehicle we use for transportation between domes.”
“How do you communicate with others if you don’t have face-to-face contact?”
“We use messengers.” She smiled at him and continued. “It has nothing to do with technology if that’s what you’re thinking. Our messengers are sea creatures that carry messages around for a small fee.”
“Where can we find one of those?”
Lavinia glanced around. “There are usually plenty of them around. You can just hail one that’s nearby. But I don’t know what this dome is, and there seems to be nothing in here except us and the clones. I don’t see any messengers passing by. I never knew an abandoned dome like this existed.”
“You don’t know how many domes the royals have?”
Lavinia shook her head. “My husband might know. I just handle the domestics. I don’t have access to important information.”
Tadgh chuckled. “Your husband doesn’t know half of what he’s missing. And I d
on’t think he can do jack without you taking care of his household. Plus—”
“He doesn’t know I’m a vampire. Please don’t mention it to anyone.” She looked him in the eyes, and he could see her eyes tearing up. A tear of blood rolled down her face.
“How can you keep such a secret from your husband?” He approached her and wiped the tear from her face with his thumb. “I don’t mean that in a moral sense—I just wonder how it’s possible for him not to know.”
She looked at the blood on his finger. “I was turned before I got married. My family found a way for me to suppress my vampire signs and traits because they wanted me to marry into the court.”
“If you’ve never shown any signs to anyone including your husband, why now?”
Silence.
“You said I owe you my life. That’s not just because you dragged me into this dome, right? Does it have something to do with my injury?”
She nodded. More tears rolled down her cheeks. “I don’t know how to suppress it myself. I can’t show signs when I get back to the court. But if I didn’t help you, Jo said you’d die…” She started crying, and her sentences became incoherent.
“What did you do, Lavinia?”
“I needed the fangs to draw the poison out of your wound. And I needed the vampire blood so the poison in you didn’t kill me. It happened so fast I didn’t have time to think. I let the vampire trait take over, and now I don’t know what to do. I can’t reverse it myself.”
“I’m so sorry. What can I do to fix this?”
She shook her head and continued crying.
Tadgh pulled her into his arms and let her sob for a while. He was sure this was fixable. But she would need to clear her mind and tell him what she needed. If she needed a shoulder to cry on now, that was the least he could do.
After a while, her emotions subsided, and Tadgh let go of her. “Now can you tell me what I can do to help? There must be a way to fix this.”
“Don’t you want to go to the royal dome to get people to help find Jo?”
“Yes, but how long can you hold on without showing signs to those around you?”
