Lightning bolts ricochet across the metal cage, and Peter’s hands clench around the bars. His face contorts into a grimace, making me turn away.
He screams again and again until unwanted tears trickle out of my eyes and down my cheeks. I clench my fists, but soon, I cover my ears against the splitting peal. This sort of pain is unnatural. I’ve never heard someone sound so much like an animal.
When I peek through my lashes at him, dark shapes slither from his fingers and into the room. With one look at the grotesque face of the Eros, I turn and bolt.
Daegan thinks I’ve changed. If anything I’ve adapted to my life the best way I could manage. His words are meant to toy with me. I am not in the mood.
He circles away from Richard’s body, taunting me to claim the boy. If I can bring this piece of his soul back to headquarters, no real harm will have been done. Eventually someone will return to the mortal realm.
My brother thinks me foolish. Perhaps I should indulge his mind games? Perhaps I should show him exactly how foolish I can be? Calling my blade, I flip into the air to slice at his throat.
He laughs. Before I can connect metal to skin, he shifts into smoke dissipating on the wind. I shouldn’t play with him, but right now, I need to carve a piece of him away for what he did to Richard, for what he’s trying to do to Amelia. His disregard for life only intensifies my need to extinguish his.
His laugh follows me as I dodge and twist. The air has grown cold and the town silent.
In front of me, Daegan materializes. His head zings forward, butting me in the nose. Pain explodes behind my eyes, and my vision blurs. Staggering, I slice for him again, but find no purchase as he disintegrates again. This is what he wants; he’s trying to make me unstable, to get me to make a mistake.
Richard is counting on me to keep him safe. I cannot lose myself to the anger threatening to boil my mind, but overcoming the rage gets harder with every encounter I have with Daegan.
Soon, more Erobos slither forward. These are the minions meant to distract me; however, they cannot do me true harm, so I ignore them as they approach. The line of guards coming my way stiffens my body and coils my muscles.
Daegan disengages from me and moves to stand near Richard once more. Is he trying to wear me down? What purpose does he have in this place? The dreamer should not even be on his radar.
More likely he has targeted me to torment. He does so every now and again, but with my world connected to the Dreamscape, he cannot inflict permanent harm. That being said, he can damage those I love. He can also incapacitate me, and I have no brothers to cover for me while I regenerate.
My thoughts make me careless. A guard lunges, and his sword catches me around the middle. Blood rushes from the wound in a warm stream, making my pants stick to my skin.
It takes moments for the wound to heal, yet the pain lingers long after. It is either them or me, and I will not let them claim this world. Even if I lose Richard, I will find this part of him again.
A stand must be made. With no other thought, I find one target after another to maim. Grunts and groans are all I allow to process. One by one they fall until the only man left is Daegan.
I take a sweeping glance around us. “Where is your army now, brother?”
He unfolds his arms and widens his stance. “I am all the army you need to fear.”
Hatred bubbles up inside me. “I shall never fear you.”
“Never is an illusion, Sephethus. You should know that by now.”
My teeth grind, making my jaw hurt. “Shall we finish this then? I have work to do.”
He scoffs. “Victory is not in the battle, my brother. It’s in the lost moments, the taking of life and love. Until you have lost all, as I have, we shall not meet in true battle.”
I tip my chin. “Then I bid you a good day.”
He smiles before he kicks Richard’s body toward me. It slides along the grass, but doesn’t move far. Then Daegan disappears into nothing. The world brightens from his absence. Not long after, his minions dissolve into vile clouds of dust. I still need to find the Dreamer and make sure his foundations have not been tampered with.
Absent his consciousness, Richard’s body is light and easy to maneuver. The inhabitants stay indoors as I pass the buildings. It doesn’t take me long to identify the dreamer’s energy. When I find him, he’s hiding in the saloon. A pretty blonde woman cowers next to him. The man stands. “What do you want?” he asks, his tone surprisingly sure.
I shrug. “I figure with all the ruckus going on, you might need a new sheriff?”
The tension in his shoulders releases, and he sighs. He eyes me up and down, but I refrain from comment. “You lookin’ to fill the position?”
“Maybe.” I spit, aiming for an open spot between two rough-hewn planks. “Maybe not.”
His demeanor shifts. An eager light plays in his eyes. “I could really use your help.”
I nod. “Then I best get to work. Where’s the jail?”
He stutters and grimaces as if the word offends him. “Jail?”
I shrug. “I need an office.”
“Oh—Oh, sure. Right this way, mister…”
“Call me Seth.” I smile but fix him with a stare. “We need to see eye-to-eye before I start.”
He blinks a few times before he answers. “Absolutely, Seth. Anythin’ you want.”
I shake my head at his eagerness. “See, there’s your trouble. You try to please everyone. What I need you to do is build a fortress around the town. I want you workin’ on it night and day.”
His fingers fasten onto his billy-goat beard. “It might take a while.”
“It’s okay, as long as you’re working to fortify the town.”
We leave the saloon to walk along the main street until a single building comes into view. He doesn’t offer to help me with Richard, and I don’t complain. Four bold letters spell J A I L on the façade. I smile. Not exactly creative, this one.
“What do you do for a living?” I ask him.
He hesitates a little too long, making me stare at him. “I’m a carpenter.”
I clap him on the shoulder with my free hand. “Good. You’re going to have plenty of work to do.”
He hasn’t commented about the boy until now. “Is he hurt bad?”
I give him a terse smile. “I sure hope not.”
My heartbeat thrums in my ears. I can’t get out of the building fast enough. If I have to hear Peter scream one more time, I’ll throw up . . . again.
I should be stronger than this. I should be able to handle a few soulless monsters, but the Eros have tainted my soul. I want them out.
When I crash through the doors, the security guard staggers back stunned before he yells at me to stop. I’m not stopping for anything.
Headquarters is stuffed between steel and glass buildings the size of an entire city block rising high above me. Is this Seth’s world or someone else’s? Am I safe to be out here alone? I really don’t know much about the place, and I need to learn.
This is my new life — survival means restructuring my belief systems. Too bad I can’t think straight enough to do anything other than run. The street stretches as far into the distance as I can see. A few side streets are scattered here and there, but I don’t want to get lost. I really should turn around.
“What are you doing out here?” asks a deep voice. I think it’s Ian, but I refuse to stop long enough to make sure. He’s not someone I want to chat with. Just my luck; he doesn’t take my silent treatment as the huge hint it’s meant to be. I don’t miss a beat as I continue down the pavement away from him. His shoes slap against the asphalt until he’s right beside me. “Hey. What’s wrong?”
I stop and glare at him. “Why? Do you want to kill me right now, or did you have another time in mind?”
His deep brown eyes search mine. “Whoa, there, Amelia, I never wanted to kill you. You took me off guard when we met.”
I roll my eyes and grunt. “Threatening people is so
not the best reaction to surprise.”
His stare remains steady, along with his voice. “It’s the truth. Look, the last girl one of us brought here ruined everything. Before you yell at me some more, I’m not saying you’ll do the same thing, but Seth took a huge risk when he recruited you.” His frown deepens. “I’m pissed I didn’t get the chance to vote. It isn’t your fault, but—”
I lift my hands in the universal sign of surrender, even though right now I wouldn’t mind using his face as a punching bag. “Not my problem. I didn’t ask for any of this.”
He folds his arms over his chest. “Seth has a different take on the issue.”
I’m so tired of hearing about something I can’t verify. “Well, he might remember me agreeing to come here, but I don’t. I’m not trying to be rude, Ian, but I need to be alone.”
When he glances around us, his eyes crinkle at the corners. I don’t know him well enough to guess if it is out of worry or irritation. “I can’t let you stay out here unguarded.”
A groan rips from my throat. “Maybell could use your help. I’m fine.”
Ian frowns. “She already started working on Peter?”
I nod, trying to ignore the guilt lingering in my heart. I should be there, not wimping out. I promised I would help.
I give Ian a dubious stare while my mind moves to Sherlock mode. No matter how much I put into analyzing his motivations, I don’t think I’ll ever figure him out. “She was lighting him up when I — took off.” What’s his deal? Right now Ian almost seems like a normal person. At least he isn’t trying to hit on me like he did before our mission where I got my first taste of the evil that rules this place.
Ian nods. “Come on. We need to make sure everything’s okay, and so you won’t make this mistake again, you should never come out here alone. Headquarters has all kinds of security, but out here, it’s every man for himself.”
“Good to know,” I tell him. Still I can’t think of a single thing to talk to him about not involving the Erobos or Eros, and I’ve had my fill of them for a while.
“So,” he says, after a bit of silence. “Are you going to tell me why you’re so freaked out?”
I blanch, not liking the open display of my feelings. “Who said I was freaked out?”
He smirks. “I have eyes, Amelia. How are you adjusting? Are you starting to feel back to normal?”
Normal? He’s got to be joking. For some weird reason, I decide to tell him the truth. Somebody needs to know what’s going on inside me before I turn into something unrecognizable. Even though I try to stay steady, my voice comes out shaky. “I’m sort of worried when those Eros attached to me they did something that can’t be taken back.”
To my surprise his expression softens. “It takes a while to shake the influence. The fact you’re worried tells me you’ll be fine. I’d be more concerned if you said you were great.”
I frown. “What do you mean?”
“Eros contact is way worse than dealing with Erobos. It’s the straight stuff instead of being filtered. It can take quite a while to get the effects out of your system. Not many of us have come away from a direct attack unscathed. Most don’t come back.”
A shiver ripples up my spine. Since it’s clear he’s not going to leave me alone, I curl my arms around myself and start for headquarters. The flight response has gone right out of me, and all I want to do now is get a drink then sit down. I glance at Ian, but I turn away before he can connect his gaze with mine. The question is hard to get out as it is. “Have you had interaction with Eros? I mean before the last time.”
His jaw tightens, and he nods. “When Rhea betrayed us, she brought hundreds of thousands of Eros with her. I was attacked on my way back to headquarters the minute I stepped through the portal. Oneiroi dropped all around me from just one Eros, Amelia. To think you had hundreds attacking you and more waiting to join in is nothing short of astounding. What you did to them, I’ve never seen anything like it. As much as you fear them, they should be terrified of you. You took out hordes of them with very little training and no real guidance, at least from us.”
I narrow my eyes at Ian and stare. “What’re you implying?”
He kicks a small rock which goes sailing toward the curb. It crashes and bounces a few times before it rolls to a stop. The breeze blows his dark hair into his eyes, but he flips it out of the way before he looks at me again. “I’m only making observations at this point. None of us understand what you did to them, but the idea you could be the weapon we’ve been searching for gives us hope.”
“Weapon?” I’m not so sure I want to be known as a real force of destruction. Right now, more than anything, I wish I could just disappear until I feel normal again. What gets me, though, is why or how anyone would crave Eros? The only thing that comes to mind when I think of them is revulsion.
Ian goes on, oblivious to my inner struggle. “You didn’t just disperse them, Amelia. You destroyed them.”
My voice cracks. “How do you know that? I thought they couldn’t be destroyed.”
He shrugs. “I went back. There’s a weird feeling there, but the Eros are gone.”
One thought comes to mind: when something seems too good to be true, it usually is. “What feeling?”
He takes a deep breath and tips his chin back. “It’s hard to explain. I need to go back to investigate further.”
Somehow, he doesn’t seem too disappointed in the idea. It’s only now I notice the puckered skin at his neck. Snorting, I point to the area. “The nymphs?”
He smiles, and once again I’m reminded just how kooky he is. The mischief in his eyes makes me want to laugh. “I try to be good.”
I allow a chuckle to escape. “Seems you need to try harder.”
His laugh fills the empty street, echoing off the buildings around us. “Come on,” he says. “We’d better make sure Maybell hasn’t become the latest Erobos convert.”
Convert, like there’s a choice. “Why do say that?”
He stops, catching me with his determined gaze. “Darkness can’t take hold unless we give in.”
Great ideal, but reality seems a whole lot different from where I’m standing.
Work with Gregory, my newly acquired dreamer, is slow going, but I finally get him to agree to not allow any strangers in town while I’m gone. Convincing him he has control of the population takes a little too much time, but he agrees to deny access to any newcomers. Something isn’t quite right with his world, or his story, but I’ll discover his secrets in time. With his mind fixated on building, the Erobos shouldn’t have any way to take root in him, regardless, but, just in case, I leave him with this added precaution. I tell him to keep his weapons handy.
At last, I bid him a good day and head for the portal. As far as he’s concerned, I’m going into the city for ammunition and other supplies.
He’s needy, which will be hard to manage, but his influence is far reaching in the human realm. His chosen occupation here is much different than what he does while awake. It’s strange how someone vetted in the corporate world would dream in such simple terms. The truth is he has many souls counting on him for a living, and keeping him focused on growth and success will benefit a number of families. He’s not necessarily an innovator, but his work ethic inspires.
With Richard in my arms, I don’t dare go off on any detours. I must get him back to headquarters and work on a place to store him.
As is always the case when I have a spare moment to think, my mind wanders to Amelia. When she spoke to me about her recent dream, I could barely contain my concern. The likeliest scenario is she’s merely experiencing Eros withdrawal, yet I haven’t precluded other possibilities, especially with Daegan’s actions tonight. When Amelia sees Richard, she will be distraught; no, she will be angry.
Regardless, I must keep her focused, which would be easier if I could focus myself.
Once I reach the outskirts of the city, I shift into a dragon. It really is my favorite form, outside of my h
uman shell. It affords me the ability to travel quickly, while maintaining an upper hand should a conflict arise. Not many dreamers or Erobos can withstand a fire blast, even from five thousand feet.
I use the utmost care to lift Richard into my now clawed hands. The boy doesn’t stir, but I wish he would. Getting him back to his body will be difficult. Perhaps Ian has more energy than he’s letting on. Perhaps Amelia will discover the rest of the key before too much damage is done. Once she has it, we can end this battle for good. I only hope I shall survive the war.
My scales tingle as I think about Amelia. Already, she is such a joy to me. The thought of losing her is too much, so I shift my attention.
To alert my team, I call out before I land on the tower roof. Headquarters is nestled between megalithic structures serving as sentinels in case of attack. So far, Daegan has not been able to pass through our portals or create his own into this world. I aim to keep it that way, but if he should succeed one day, he will be dealt with swiftly.
I release Richard and step away to shift as a precaution. Talons are not the easiest things to control while morphing. Before I’m fully transformed, Zed lifts the boy into his arms and heads for the door.
He throws over his shoulder, “It is about time you got here. Peter is worse than we thought.”
My breath hitches. I had hoped to avoid having to help with Peter’s decontamination. Each time one of us tastes the darkness, it may be our last glimpse of light. “Where’s Ian?”
“Retrieving Amelia. Seems she’s had difficulty with the process. You need to speak with her.”
A frown pulls my lips. “I plan to. What has happened? Has she refused to help?”
Zed grunts. “I only recently got here, but from what I understand of the situation, Maybell refuses to let her.”
Frustration lights my reply. “Why?”
“You’d have to ask her.” Zed glances down the hall to where Kelsby recovers, but he doesn’t stop. “Where would you like to keep the boy?”
“My office until we can find a permanent place.”
Tainted (Netherworld Book II) Page 7
