Ren Series Boxed Set

by Sarah Noffke

  “We also do other things,” Chase said, regaining my attention. “We fight wars against battling societies. Take things we want to ensure our society remains the most powerful. And pretty much create chaos and anarchy. It’s really the only satisfying existence for people with powers as great as ours.”

  “And this job you have for me? Is it stealing life force?” I asked, pretty certain that that didn’t sound like a very appealing idea to me. I was soulless, but I wasn’t a murderer and that’s the inevitable result of stealing consciousness.

  Chase shook his head and knocked his knuckles on the tabletop. “No, it’s more up your usual alley. I need someone with your powers to do something for me.”

  “Why don’t you do it yourself?” I asked, because I knew we had mostly the same powers.

  “I can’t. The people I’m after are too attuned to my energy and how to keep me out of their heads, but not you. You could work with Allouette on this job and in return I’d train you,” Chase said.

  I balked at him. “I don’t need your training.”

  “Look, you know how to control minds, hypnotize, and read thoughts, but can you create an illusion?” he asked.

  “An illusion?” I said, not sure if I was hearing him right.

  “Yes, an illusion. Both in the dream travel realm and the physical realm,” he said.

  Now this guy had my full attention. “You can do that? You can teach me that?” I said, unable to keep the excitement out of my voice. Not many things made me excited. Nothing really. But the idea of being able to create illusions was a dream I didn’t even know I had.

  “Yes and yes,” Chase said simply.

  “I’m not sure I believe you, and me believing you is critical to my answer,” I said, tethering my prior excitement under skepticism.

  Just then a duplicate projection of Chase flickered until his solid form sat in the seat Lyza had been sitting in. Only a few people noticed the twin who magically appeared out of thin air. The illusion looked almost identical to Chase, but there was something off about him that my photographic memory would determine later. The illusion of Chase then spoke. “Believe me, Ren, when I say I can create illusions. Help me and you’ll be able to as well. Only people with powers like ours can create an illusion in the physical realm and I expect you want to know how to do this,” the projection of Chase said.

  Hell yes I did.

  The illusion vanished the same way it appeared, flickering first.

  “Well, do you believe me now?” Chase asked smugly.

  “I think I’d have to be daft not to,” I said.

  “Then what’s your answer? Will you join us? Will you take on this job for me?” he asked.

  I considered this gorgeous man’s offer. Chase was definitely powerful, couldn’t be trusted, and was absolutely dangerous. These Voyageurs didn’t sound like wholesome people. They sounded like a cult of power-hungry lunatics. But there was much I thought I could gain from an alliance. I had lost everyone but my father. Jimmy. My mum. Dahlia. I knew there was no real life left for me. How could I sink any lower?

  “Sure,” I finally said a little halfheartedly. That one decision was the worst one of my life. In that moment I created a path that I’ve been trying to undo ever since.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “Very good,” Chase said, displaying a full smile that had no joy in it. “You will work with Allouette. She has concocted a plan and I trust it will satisfy what I want done. I will be training you in two weeks.” He stood with a grace that I knew would be hypnotic on most, but not me. He swiveled his head to Allouette, who was still playing footsy with me under the table although I kept shoving her off. “Take him to the Grotte and start work immediately. We’re running out of time,” he said to her.

  She lowered her chin and regarded him through long black eyelashes, a sinister look in her expression. “Ve are not running out of time,” she said in her childlike voice. “I know exactly vhat I’m doing.”

  “Well, it’d better work,” Chase said with a hostile edge.

  “It vill and zen you vill be zo happy vith me. I promize,” she said in a breathy voice.

  Chase didn’t acknowledge this last statement, he simply turned and walked away.

  Allouette slowly, like a cobra turning to its prey, spun to face me. “Are you ready to have zome fun, little tiger?”

  “What does this plan of yours involve?” I said, pushing back from the table, out of her toe’s reach.

  She winked at me, a heated determination in her eyes. Then she clicked her tongue three times. “Oh, you are very eager. I like it. But ve vill not discuss zis here.” She stood and I saw now that she was tiny. Barely five feet tall. And her waist was impossibly small, especially in comparison to her rack and hips. She had the perfect hourglass figure. She snapped at me and then pointed toward Boulevard Saint-Germain. “Follow me,” she said, whipping around and taking several steps.

  When I didn’t get up and follow, Allouette turned around, her long black hair spraying out with the movement. “Follow me,” she repeated.

  “I don’t take orders,” I said, leaning back in my chair, pinning my hands behind my head.

  “Everyone takes orders from zome one,” she said, an amused grin on her bright red lips.

  “Not me.”

  “Vell, ve can fix zat. You just need zee proper motivation,” she said.

  “Look, if you want my help then stop the bullshit. I’m not a puppet. There are no strings on me. And I can’t be manipulated with your little games, which I suspect you love to play,” I said.

  She dropped her head like she was suddenly ashamed. “Of course. I’m just not used to vorking vith zomeone with your intelligence. My zincere apologies,” she said and raised her head and batted her obsidian eyes at me. “Vould you follow me?” And a half second later she added “S'il vous plaît?”

  “Where are we going?” I said, standing and still regarding her with narrowed eyes.

  “To the Grotte,” she said, sounding proud. “You vill absolutely love it. It iz a marvel.”

  ***

  “This is what you call a marvel?” I said with disgust.

  Allouette and I stood in a huge cave room. We had dream traveled to this cave in the South of France and generated our bodies using a rundown GAD-C. The cave where we stood had a hole in the roof, at least one hundred feet up. The sunlight streaming through it provided the only light, illuminating the dank and dirty area. Puddles of cave water stood in various places and the only thing that made the cave seem somewhat civilized were the paths clearly etched on the slick stone under my feet. It created an even surface for walking or otherwise the journey through that room would have been slippery with constant uneven footings.

  Allouette cast a giant look of offense at me. “Zis iz our headquarters.”

  “It’s a cave,” I said wryly.

  “It isn’t just a cave. It’s been constructed to protect us. It’s zo zecretive that even God doesn’t know about it. And it’s been designed to enhance our powers,” Allouette said, scanning the room with a proud gaze.

  “You people don’t really live in a cave? You realize that makes you cave people, right?” I said.

  “Ve are zee most powerful society of Dream Travelers, which makes us zee most powerful people in zee vould. Zat’s what living in a cave makes us. You vill zee,” she said, crossing her arms in front of her chest, enlarging her cleavage.

  I strolled behind her through the cave, managing my path around the puddles of water. There were tunnels on both sides of the main room. Allouette led me to the closest. I had a hard time not focusing my attention on her hips as they swayed back and forth as she walked, her leather miniskirt making the feat of looking away almost impossible.

  “Zere’s only a few rooms zat are available but I have zee perfect one for you,” she said and I just caught the hint of mischief under her expression.

  Once in the caveway my eyes took a moment to adjust to the dark tunnel lit only b
y fire torches on the wall. “Please don’t tell me that this rock house of yours doesn’t have electricity,” I said, eyeing the torches that let off an awful heat.

  She whipped around and laughed, a high-pitched squeal. “Of course ve don’t have electricity,” she said like any other idea was preposterous. “Vhy vould ve vant to poison our brains vith zat?”

  “Right,” I said, drawing out the word. “Because you’re obviously so mentally stable.”

  “Oh, you don’t know, do you?” she said, nearing me. She dared to lay her long-fingernailed hand on my chest. “You, poor Ren, have been creating interference with your powers by being near electricity your entire life. Now zat you are here, you vill experience your pure power, unobstructed as it vas intended to be.”

  I peered down at the hand on my chest. She closed her fingers into a fist around the material of my shirt, wrinkling it in her hand and tugging me closer to her. Surprisingly, for how tiny she was, she was powerful. “I imagine your powers vill be mind-blowing now and I can’t vait to vitness them firsthand.”

  A chill I couldn’t fight ran through my body. Allouette had that crazy look in her eyes. This wasn’t the kind of girl you took home to mum and pops. This was the kind of girl sane men who wanted to preserve themselves stayed as far away from as possible. I’ve never thought of myself as one of those kinds of men. I leaned down low over Allouette, brushing my lips against her ear. “I think we can arrange that.” Then I moved to the side and walked past her.

  She was fast, like the flame of a match being struck. Instantly she was beside me, walking, almost a skip in her step.

  “There was electricity powering the GAD-C,” I said as we walked deeper into the intricate arrangement of cave tunnels. “Is it in other rooms?”

  “No, just zat one,” she said. “You’ll get used to it.”

  “I seriously doubt that,” I said, following her as she turned down a different caveway. There were stone doors set into arched doorways. The place was eerily quiet and water dripped in various places.

  Allouette skipped ahead of me and then twirled in an impromptu dance. She was humming. This girl was certifiably insane. She waved in a presenting manner at a stone door.

  “For you, puppet,” she sang.

  I narrowed my eyes at her before turning to the door. “Is there a magic word to open it?” I said, staring at the flat door, absent of a knob.

  “No, zilly.” She slid in front of me, absolutely brushing harder against me than was necessary. “You just press into it,” she said, pushing her hands into the door, and then she hitched her hip to the side, hitting me as she did, and glided the door back. The door slid on a hinge into the cave wall. Allouette turned around and stared up at me. “Genius, isn’t it?”

  “No, it’s called pocket doors. They’ve kind of been around for ages,” I said and stepped around her into the cave room.

  I came to an abrupt halt. I’m not sure what I expected as far as accommodation from cave people, but this wasn’t it. The firelight on the wall showed a twenty-by-twenty room with low ceilings in places. A small cot was tucked against the far wall. There were several puddles of water in various places on the stone ground. A drip of freezing cold water assaulted me from overhead. I whipped it off my forehead as I spied green beady eyes staring at me from under the cot. The rat didn’t move and for only that reason I didn’t stomp its life right out of it.

  “What do you zink?” Allouette said in a mischievous tone.

  “I think you people need to come to terms with reality because these types of living quarters are insanely inadequate. I’m not a bat or reptile. There’s a reason Neanderthals don’t exist any longer and if you continue to live in squalor such as this then you’ll become extinct too,” I said.

  “Oh, vell, it’s all ve have available. I’m zorry you don’t like it more,” she said matter-of-factly.

  “There’s a bloody rat under a straw-filled cot,” I said, my voice rising.

  She laughed shrilly. “I zought you’d vant the company.”

  “You don’t seriously live in rooms like this, do you?” I said.

  Allouette rocked back and forth on her heels, her hands clasped behind her, and there was an evil spark in her eyes. “Zis is zee nicest cell vhere ve keep prisoners and vhile you’re not one, it’s all ve have available. Of course if you do stay here you can pretend to be my prisoner. It vould be a fun game, don’t you zink?”

  I stalked past her, unable to stomach the smell of rat piss any longer.

  “Vhere are you going?” she said, catching up with me.

  “To the Ritz Carlton.” I made my way for the main room. I felt Allouette on my heels the entire way. I turned suddenly and she ran into me. “Why are you following me?”

  “I’m going vith you,” she said simply, like we’d already discussed it.

  “Why?” I growled.

  “Because you’re my pet now,” she said.

  “But you’re the one following me around. Doesn’t that make you my pet?”

  “I’ll be vhatever you vant,” she said, taking a step closer to me.

  “But they have electricity at the hotel.”

  “I’ll get over it,” she said with a shrug.

  I turned and walked off. “Whatever,” I said over my shoulder.

  And that was the day I met the devil. I wish I could say I met the devil and conquered the beast. That’s not what happened. I fell for the devil. People think the devil isn’t real. Oh, she’s real, and she’s a tiny French girl who will make you sorry you didn’t die at birth. She wears a mask, not to hide her heart but to hide the fact that she doesn’t have one. No one would approach a heartless beast, much less trust their heart with them. But she wears a mask that deceives. And it’s persuasive and I only know that because I stole that mask and wear it to this day. I didn’t fall in love with the devil. One can’t love a soulless monster. I became infatuated with the devil and it was only later that the spell was broken and I awoke in a daze. But it was too late then. The devil had done enough damage to tear a dozen lives apart. And I had been her puppet.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “Here’s vhat I need you to do,” Allouette said, perched on top of the desk in the penthouse suite I had reserved. Her legs were crossed and her hands pinned behind her. She had her neck draped back and was staring at the elaborate chandelier on the ceiling with contempt. “You’re going to bore into a voman’s brain and make her believe she’s in danger. Zat zomeone is going to kill her. You’ll do zis over zee next few months, also planting in her mind a strategy to escape zis almost certain death. You vill make her believe zat going to a specific place at a specific time will keep her zafe.” She said all this in a breathy rehearsed speech.

  “And this place you’ll have me plant in her head, it’s where you plan to actually kill her, right?” I said from my place propped up on the oversized bed.

  “You are zo very smart,” she said, bringing her heart-shaped face down to gaze at me.

  “Well, this sounds too easy. I could have her go there now if you want,” I said.

  “Oh, it vill prove much harder zan you zink,” she said, wagging a long fingernail at me. “Zhe’s a powerful Dream Traveler and vill feel your presence in her head if you aren’t careful. You need to be extra stealthy vith zis one, using multiple techniques to lay zee groundwork. Get into her dreams. Vhisper zreats to her consciousness.”

  “Who’s this girl?” I asked.

  “Zhe’s a powerful and a well-protected Lucidite,” Allouette said, switching the cross of her legs in an awfully unladylike way. I pretended not to be eyeing her.

  “A who?” I said.

  “Zee Lucidites are a society of Dream Travelers in the South Pacific. Zey are zee most repulsive of people and zey currently have zee girl under zeir protection. Zat is another reason you can’t just slip into her head and make her do vhat ve vant. Zey suspect Chase vill try somezing, but zey do not know about you. Zo over zee next six monzs you’re going
to plant a false reality in her mind. Ve only have one chance to lure her away from her protector.”

  “Who is?” I said, growing a little bored with all these details.

  “His name is Trey Underwood. He’s zee Associate Head of zee Lucidite Institute and also her husband.”

  “Oh, come on, really?” I said with a frustrated sigh. “You have me going after some politician’s wife?”

  Allouette ignored me. “Trey is an extremely powerful man who vill spy if his vife suddenly shows signs of mind control. Zo you’re going to follow my instructions to zee letter, and if you do, zen vhen zee time comes she vill valk straight into our trap.”

  “And now you must realize I’m going to want to know why Chase wants this woman dead,” I said.

  “To satisfy zat curiosity of yours you’ll have to ask him. I’m not at liberty to zay.” Allouette then levitated herself off the desk, through the expansive room, and straight over to the bed where I was lying. She laid herself down like a hovercraft landing.

  My pops was telekinetic and as a pure blood he was exceptionally talented, although he rarely used his gift. But he didn’t stand close to Allouette’s skill. She could telekinetically move herself. That took a level of skill I could hardly fathom.

  Upon landing, Allouette had turned herself over so she was perched on all fours in front of me, a hungry look in her eyes. I’d never been afraid of a girl, especially one sitting on my bed, but she actually terrified me. And as a person with few thrills left in life I found that I actually enjoyed the feeling of fear. I didn’t know if she was about to come at me with a passionate kiss or an assault. I reached out and ran my finger along her jawline and then I smiled inside. According to her thoughts, this time I was safe, but that wouldn’t always be my experience with Allouette.

  After that first night, Allouette was by my side most of the time. She had a strange charm about her that my instincts told me to resist, but my body decided not to. Allouette didn’t have mind control over me, but she knew how to play a mind game and I’d lost it without even knowing I was playing.