by Kim Cormack
His voice was husky, filled with innuendo, “Let me tell you a little secret, darling. Emotions can be tricky little things. They can either make you strong as a lion or weak as a kitten.”
Kayn was finding it difficult to play it cool because her body seemed to have a mind of its own. Her response to his touch was instinctual. Her sister had been intimate with him. She pressed against him for only a split second. He did not miss her more than obvious response. She watched his eyes light up with the knowledge that his Chloe was inside of her. Frost smiled, he bit his lip pensively and let her go.
Kayn avoided his eyes for a second as she made an inward effort to regain her control. She would have to do a far better job of hiding her sister’s feelings in the future. She was in control, and Kevin was the person she loved. Kayn stepped away from Frost’s magnetic pull.
Kevin added to the strange sexual tension that filled the air around them by saying, “Are you almost done flirting with my girlfriend or do you need a few more minutes, Frost?”
Grey came to Frost’s defense, “Don’t get your panties in a twist. He’s just trying to get to his point … creatively.”
“Right … creatively,” Kevin repeated, rolling his eyes. He raised his eyebrows at Kayn. He’d made it one hundred percent clear that he saw her reaction to being in Frost’s embrace. Kayn smiled. It was the first time he’d called her his girlfriend. She felt her heart close off to Frost. She pushed the unwanted feelings deep down where they belonged. She would have to make an attempt to explain things to Kevin later. He would understand. She would blame it on Frost’s voodoo powers.
Frost continued to give his speech to Kayn from a respectable distance, “Sadness is the emotion that makes you weak. So you need to learn to tuck that away inside somewhere. Deal with your grief when you’re done fighting. Now bravery, duty, and anger make you very powerful. Chloe wants you to try and save your brother and Jenkins, but if you cannot save them and it’s too late, then you need to tuck that grief away. Concentrate on how angry you are. Channel the rage over the loss of your family into strength. You can’t afford to waste time anguishing about things that are gone. Right now there is too much to learn.”
Lily added, “I know that all of this seems silly, but jumping off a cliff teaches you guys to trust us. There are only twelve active Ankh, if we don’t trust each other in a fight, we have no chance. If you find yourself deathly afraid of someone then just use it to your advantage. Fear can make you more powerful, or it can be crippling. Fear is luck of the draw. What terrifies you one day can incapacitate you the next. You must force yourself to do the things that terrify you. Once you have empowered yourself it can be as powerful an emotion as anger. Twenty years from now the only thing that you will fear will be pain. We get to feel all of the pain, every single second.”
“I know what pain feels like,” Kayn said coldly.
Frost took Kayn’s hand breaking the invisible barrier between them. He said “I know that you have already felt pain, but I’m not sure that you can understand exactly what being tortured for information feels like until it’s happened to you. When you’re captured by Triad or Abaddon, you will understand. I pray that never happens to you. I will do everything within my power to make sure that never happens. Contrary to popular belief, we are not super heroes. We are just people with no expiration date, required to take one for the team in the grand scheme of things. You’ve stared evil in the eye and spent an hour with it. Imagine the horrific violent acts that you endured. Imagine someone doing that to you for a month. That is how we destroy each other. We cripple each other’s souls and minds with torture.
Let me rephrase that. We don’t tend to do it, but the Triad, they are experts at it. We can’t die because our souls cannot pass through the hall of souls to be reborn. If we are tortured too long and we go crazy or we have done something incredibly wrong, we have our memories wiped. In our minds that is the same as dying. I’ve only lived this long without being wiped because I have learned how to turn my emotions off when it counts.”
Grey piped in, “My advice to you is feel angry. Allow yourself to feel the fury for all you have lost and for all you may lose. Feel every ounce of it as soon as you step out of your tomb. Feel the anguish for the impending loss of your brother and that guy Jenkins. Fight for the loss of your family and your twin Chloe. If you are afraid then use it, channel it into energy. Fight through any fear that you feel and it will give you strength.”
Kevin stated the obvious, “What are we fighting for, if there’s no hope to save the people that we love or even each other when we get back?”
Lily stared at Kevin and Kayn. She maintained, “We have to fight to keep both of you in our clan. They are without doubt here because their psychics have told them the same information that ours told us, Kayn’s conduit ability is an important commodity for our clan to acquire. If they find out about you, Kevin, you will be taken. You know what happens to the psychics that belong to Triad. You have seen with your own mind what they did to your grandmother. You have to fight to stay in our clan. You will have to fight to stay with Kayn.”
Kayn looked at the other four and said, “If the psychics know about my ability that doesn’t even exist yet, then wouldn’t it stand to reason that they might know about Kevin’s connection to their leader by now as well?”
Lily answered “It’s possible, it is all information acquired by him while here in the In Between. Unless the Triad saw the pictures of your brother at Winnie’s house. We just have to manage to keep Kevin with us until he’s eighteen and then he will belong to us.”
Frost added “Long story short, we are competing against the other clans and the Legion of Abaddon, for your souls.”
Chapter 30
How to Tame a Dragon
Suddenly Lexy materialized out of thin air, “Well, hello there,” She said in her melodic style as she walked up and embraced Grey. Smiling at the others, she added, “We are so far up shit creek not even a motor could save us now, my friends.”
Lexy continued to speak, “I counted at least ten Triad outside the house. The house wasn’t breached yet, but then when a bunch of Trinity showed up, I decided to get the hell out of there and let them duke it out amongst themselves.” Lexy added, “You never send more than six clan members anywhere at one time. It is an unspoken rule. This event is stacked in Triad’s favor. Why would they send this many Triad for a girl that has not even been enlightened yet? It doesn't make sense?”
Kayn said, “They might not be here for me.” She sat down in the grass.
Lexy replied. Are you trying to tell me they sent ten Triad for a psychic?” Lexy sat down beside her.
Frost stated, “They know about Kevin.”
Lexy said, “Quit talking in code. What's going on here?”
Grey sat down beside Lexy and slipped his arm around his pal Lexy’s shoulder and said, “They may send ten Triad though for Tiberius’s grandson and a possible conduit.”
Lexy turned to look up at Kevin and said, “This is why I hate being the only healer on site. I always miss out on all the good stuff.” Lexy gawked at Kevin for a few seconds before she said, “You poor thing.”
Kayn said, “How do we get back, if Lexy is here with us?”
Lexy took it upon herself to reply, “We don't … We are stuck here until they bring us back. On the bright side, I get to play a part in training you for awhile.” She moved next to Kayn and whispered, “Unwinnable battles have been won throughout history for love, Miss Kayn Brighton. You have two clan members who are in love with you, so it’s possible.”
Kayn said, “Frost is in love with Chloe, not me, Chloe’s gone.”
Lexy said, “See what I mean. I miss everything. You two finally combined then, that’s great. You are going to need all of the mojo you can get. There is quite the gong show going on back at the house.”
Kayn felt her heart race. Do not react. She turned around. Damn it.
Frost sat down behind her in
the grass and teased, “You just keep telling yourself that Frog sticker girl.” He reached out and ran a long curled strand of her hair between his finger tips.
She looked up at Kevin. Why was he allowing Frost to mess with her? Kevin knew she got the shivers if anyone touched her hair. It felt like they were both testing her.
Kevin sat down beside her in the grass. He placed his arm around her and shaking his head, he glared at Frost.
Kayn could tell Frost was dancing on Kevin’s very last nerve. She couldn’t blame them for testing her. They both wanted to know if any part of Chloe remained. Kayn took Kevin’s hand and laced her fingers through his. She raised their joined hands to her lips and gently kissed his. She needed Kevin to know that he would always be her choice. She had to ease his doubt. Kevin repeated the same action. He gently kissed her hand as it was laced with his. He smiled at her and appeared to relax.
Kevin leaned over, kissed her temple softly and whispered, “You’re sure your feelings for me haven’t changed?”
Kayn glanced back at Frost and responded, “One hundred percent sure.”
Frost winked at her and questioned, “One hundred percent?”
Kevin squeezed her hand, stared at Frost and said, “You heard her.”
She wasn’t impressed with this territorial game Frost was playing with Kevin. She was a little worried the next move was going to be for one of them to stand up and pee on her to mark their territory. Frost smiled at her again and winked.
Lexy stood up, shook her head at the boys and sighed, “Miss Brighton, you have the strangest inner dialogue I have ever heard. Lily disappeared a few minutes ago. I’m going to find her. You two try to refrain from marking your territory.”
Kayn stared down at the grass in front of her. They had all heard everything she was thinking about. This is awesome. She was the supreme master of all dorkdom. She meekly lifted her head to look at them and they all started to howl. It was time for a subject change. She looked at Grey and asked, “Is Lexy your girlfriend?”
Grey grinned at her obvious subject change and replied, “No, She’s my best friend, and sort of my job. We aren’t allowed to sleep together. It’s against the rules. It’s hard to have a relationship without the best part.”
That caught her attention. She was curious. She repeated, “Your job?”
Frost piped in, “Tell her about Lexy. She should understand who she’s dealing with before she gets her ass handed to her on a platter for saying the wrong thing.”
Grey chuckled and said, “All right, I’ll tell you our story. If she shows up before I’m done, you’ll have to remind me to finish at a later date. This was over forty years ago now. I had been with the Ankh for a little while and all of the clans had been chasing this Dragon called Lexy. A Dragon is clan slang. It’s used to describe a dark warrior, not an actual green scaly dragon. It’s a warrior with the ability to completely shut off their emotions. Lexy was the infamous dragon that all of the clans told horror stories about. Lexy survived her own Correction over a dozen times. She fought off every clan that came for her. She took on Abaddon all by herself. She was unstoppable.”
Kayn said, “Wow.”
Grey continued, “So, I was sent into the woods alone to find her because an oracle told the Ankh that I was the only one that would be able to bring her in. To be honest I was scared shitless. I walked for a whole day into the wilderness before I made a bone head move and got myself caught in one of her traps. I was stuck there for a long time. I knew she was going to come along and check them eventually. I was just hoping a bear or something didn’t find me first. When she finally came to check the traps it was obvious that she had been alone in the woods for a really long time. She barely spoke. Her hair was matted and it was obvious that she hadn’t bathed in months. She was starving and I’m pretty sure she was planning to eat me.”
Kevin started to laugh. He thought Grey was joking.
Frost said, “No, she was probably actually going to eat him.”
Kevin shut up and glanced over at Kayn. She widened her eyes and smiled.
Grey continued, “When I started to talk to her. I can’t explain it, but I felt this immediate connection. I needed to help her. She let me out of the trap, and then she took off on me. She left me there in the trail with a badly injured leg. I followed her back to this cabin. I stood on the porch for a minute and contemplated the stupidity of following her inside. When I opened the door she seemed okay with my presence. I started talking to her and I felt it. I knew she didn’t want to hurt me. We talked for a while. She healed my broken leg and made me eat a squirrel. Then, I got her drunk.” he laughed.
“It’s a long story. I told her the other clans were coming, and she wouldn’t be able to stay in the cabin by herself anymore. I asked her to come with me. I told her I would be her family. I can’t even explain it, but I knew the oracle was right. She would never hurt me. I explained the clans. I told her we had to leave, because I wasn’t sealed to Ankh yet. I wasn’t eighteen, and I was seriously scared shitless of ending up in Triad. Well of course, that’s when Triad showed up. We fought them together, but in the end Triad captured me instead of her,” Grey’s voice got more serious.
“They were right about everything. She didn’t let them take me. Lexy tracked Triad through the forest and she saved me. I only heard the stories about what happened while I was out cold. I guess she tied up Tiberius, hung him in a tree, and slit his throat. She kept all but one of his men alive, so they could watch her kill him. After that incident Tiberius became obsessed with her.”
He continued the story, “She dragged me through the forest and healed me in this cave. Then she came with me to Ankh. I found out later that she had been living with a pack of wild dogs for two years with no human contact … well, a year and a half. About six months earlier the dogs all disappeared. She had been completely alone for six months. The rest of our story is forty years long. I’m trying to give you the gist of it before she gets back with Lily. We saved each other.”
He paused, then went on with the story. “I went into testing with Lexy, and Arrianna. We helped Lexy regain her humanity. In turn, she saved me and Arrianna. She brought us through the testing in record time. A Dragon has to have a Handler. It’s called different things, and it varies from clan to clan, but long story short, I’m Lexy’s Handler. To date, Lexy’s the most gifted healer the clans have ever seen. She can die and hop back up in a matter of minutes. If her sanity takes a stroll too far off the deep end, it’s my duty to bring her back.”
Grey sighed, “I started out as a fire starter, but starting fires was never really my thing. My calling is to be the one that puts out our Dragon’s flames. Lexy is so much more than just our clan’s Dragon. She’s the best friend anyone could ever have. She deserves so much more than her life has given her.”
Lexy appeared with Lily. Grey hopped up and walked over to talk to them.
Frost chuckled,” And the moral of this story is … Don’t piss Lexy off. She’s a Dragon. You will get a chance to see her in action. When Lexy Abrelle is amped up, she is like a slightly psychotic superhero”
Kayn smiled, she could read between the lines. It was in Grey’s eyes. He wasn’t allowed to be with her, but he loved her. He was her age when he had been sent alone into the wilderness to find a Dragon that went by the name of Lexy Abrelle. He was the ying, to her yang. For forty years, he had been putting her first. What would happen, if they slept together?
Frost leaned over and whispered, “It’s not like it hasn’t happened. He just doesn’t remember. If he sleeps with her as soon as he falls asleep, he forgets.”
Kayn was instantly heartbroken. Lexy was a Dragon and it didn’t matter how much she loved Grey. He would never be able to remember his feelings for her, or what had happened between them the night before. The moment he fell asleep everything would be erased.
Kayn said, “That sounds like a messed up storyline for a fairytale.”
Frost stared
into her eyes and said, “It’s not a fairytale. It’s a nightmare. A nightmare I have lived for a thousand years.” He stood up, walked away, and left her sitting there wondering what he meant by that.
Lexy wandered over to Kevin and Kayn and sat on the ground. Kayn started actively trying to shut off her inner dialogue.
Lexy started to laugh, “You’re not very good at that yet, are you? You are thinking about not thinking about me. Grey told you the story about how we met, didn’t he?”
Grey squatted down beside Lexy and said, “It’s the most interesting story I know.”
Lexy rolled her eyes, looked at them, and said, “Any questions?”
Kayn was curious, she said, “What’s the least painful way that you’ve died?”
Lexy started to laugh, “Definitely drowning.”
Lily plunked herself down in the grass beside them and said, “I actually agree with that one.” Grey plucked a flower out of the ground and reached over and put it behind Lexy’s ear. He added, “Falling is pretty quick. After the falling there’s one massive super fast explosion of pain. It’s only really bad if you fall multiple times, too close together. It’s the healing after repetitively falling that hurts like a son of a bitch.”
Kevin said, “The healing?”
Grey said, “The first time, you bounce back pretty quickly, but there’s this training exercise for your brain. You fall and go splat, over and over again. You keep doing that until your brain refuses to allow you to get back up. That one really sucks.”
Lily sat there peacefully weaving dandelions together, while they casually talked about death.
Kayn started to try to do the same thing. She picked a few flowers and ended up just braiding them together. She asked, “And the worst way?”
Lily and Lexy echoed Grey’s voice. They mocked him like smart assed siblings, as he said, “Being eaten really sucks.”
Grey chucked a handful of grass at them. He smiled and said, “Lava also sucks.”
Lexy said, “I don’t agree with that one. For me, starvation is the worst way. It’s a slow, drawn out, excruciatingly painful process”
