When I felt able, I pushed away from Kayden to stand on my own feet. Things to be done. There were things to be done.
Tommy came forward and handed me a bouquet of dandelions and violets, and I stared at them a moment, wondering what they were for. Now tears burned my eyes, and I blinked hard, and they rolled hot and wet down my cheeks. I turned and buried my head against Kayden’s chest, hiding there, crushing the flowers between us. He held me, and I heard the others moving the bodies, heard the thump! thump! as they tossed them into the earth, heard Camillia’s heartbroken sobs, heard Patterson’s agonized groaning sound, and the silence that had seemed to steal the voices of the others. I clenched my teeth and clutched Kayden, my body shaking and shivering. His hands stroked my hair, his arms held me tight. And I cried. And like always, I hated it.
I didn’t remove myself from Kayden until he leaned down and whispered, “It’s done, Alexa.”
I took a slow step back and looked to my left, my hands still wrapped around the fabric of Kayden’s shirt. There, the earth was turned fresh and brown, and flowers that the others must have placed lie scattered over the two graves. There, my Mother would sleep for the rest of eternity. I felt as if by digging these holes, I had punched a hole inside of me, a hole that couldn’t so simply be filled in, a hole that could never be filled in.
And Nelly was gone, too.
But her we can save, Warrior. Her we can save.
For once, I welcomed the input of my Monster. If there was any part of me that could fight my way through this, it was the part of me that understood death, knew it intimately. It was a part of my life so great that I may as well befriend it; make peace with it, because as broken as I felt right then, I knew in my gut that the future only held worse.
And we will stand, Warrior. We will survive.
“Yes,” I thought. “As long as there is Nelly.”
Yes, as long as there is Nelly.
Slowly, the others began to drift back toward the cars. Patterson had left without my noticing. Camillia stayed the longest, kneeling by her niece’s grave and muttering words I couldn’t make out. Eventually, even she left, and then it was just me and Kayden.
He had his arm around my shoulder still, and when his calloused fingers brushed my wet cheek, I turned to look at him. “Do you want me to give you a moment?” he asked.
I shook my head, clinging to the gold in his gaze like a life-preserver. “No,” I said, my voice cracking. “Would you stay, please? I-I don’t know…how to do this.”
Kayden nodded, took my hand, and led me over to my Mother’s grave. We knelt down together, and I closed my eyes wishing for this nightmare to be over. I knew I should say something, but I couldn’t seem to find the words.
When Kayden began humming softly, his deep voice vibrating in his chest, I fell into his arms again. He rocked me gently back and forth, his voice carrying sweetly, lovely. Kayden was a man of few words, had been as long as I knew him, which wasn’t really very long, but felt like forever to me. It was a quality I’d come to admire in him, because I could never seem to keep my mouth shut. But it was a shame, really, because a voice such as his was like angels’ music. It was even more so when he hummed. I closed my eyes, lulled by the rhythm of his song, which I realized that I recognized. Danny Boy.
As Kayden’s low, deep voice carried the tune, the only words I knew to the song played out in my head, like whispers from the dead. But it was the voice of my Monster which sang the words.
Oh Danny Boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling. From glen to glen, and down the mountain side. The summer’s gone, and all the flowers are dying. ‘Tis you, ‘tis you must go and I must bide.
Now I sobbed, my breath hiccupping and catching. Kayden continued on with his hummed eulogy, and I let what seemed like so much hurt pour out of me in salt water and sobs. In all my days my chest had never felt so tight or my gut so wrenched. I wasn’t sure that I had ever allowed myself to show so much emotion like this. And I was ashamed to have Kayden here with me, witnessing it, but the thought of having him go was even worse.
Kayden ended the song, gently, his already barely audible tone fading out until it was gone. Then we sat in silence, and I knew it was my turn to say something. It didn’t even matter what, just something.
My mouth fell open, though I had no idea what was going to come out. “I-I’ll do my best, Mom,” I said. And that was all.
After a little while, Kayden pulled me to my feet, and then he lifted me into his arms, cradling me like a child. That was fine. The load on my back had grown too great. “You ready?” he asked, looking down at me.
I reached up and smoothed a lock of his golden hair behind his ear. “Yes,” I told him. “I’m ready.”
He carried me back through the woods and to the van. I stared up at the trees, their branches swaying in the breeze, and thought about my sister. I thought about how she should have been here for this. I thought about the way she had looked at me just before she’d tried to kill me by draining me of all my blood. I thought about how lost she must feel right now. I thought about her waking in that van with just my Mother, and whatever happened next. I thought about my Monster telling me that she could still be saved. That I could still save her. I clung to those thoughts. They were all I had left.
Yes, but how far are you willing to go to save her, Warrior? How far?
“To the ends of the universe, my friend. To the ends of the universe.”
And the journey continued on.
Nelly
The Lamias were fast. I could feel the very air stir with their movements. My head snapped back, instinct taking over the way it only does when faced with certain death, and I threw my mind out at them like a web, wrapping silky fingers around their souls. It was easy. I felt the raw power flow through me, and with it a wondrous peace that felt so right. I held the Lamias where they were for a moment, and I heard a jackal’s laugh cut across the sudden silence in the dark cavern. It sounded strange, even though I’d felt it bubble up from my own belly, pass through my own lips.
The Lamias stood all around me now, and all of my actions now seemed to happen on their own, like a series of knee-jerks. Like falling. I could feel them there, so many, two-hundred and twenty-seven, to be exact. A large nest. I pinpointed their leader effortlessly, gripped her soul hard with my challenge. A moment later, a single hissed word gave me her response.
“Masssster,” she said.
Another jackal’s laugh escaped my throat. Satisfaction ran through me and made my chest swell. They were mine now. They were all mine. I ran my eyes over them, and one by one, they all fell to their knees before me and bowed.
I heard myself speak, my voice as foreign to me as that laugh. “Rise, my ssssisters.”
Another whispered, agonized voice was warning me that I was missing something, that I needed to remember something. I shrugged it away. My mind was otherwise occupied with my survival and my soul enraptured by that powerful peace. One-tracked, like a train to nowhere. I found it utterly impossible to concentrate on anything other than the here and now, of the fire that seemed to be burning in my throat, of the need for control in my belly as sharp as hunger pains.
The Lamias found their feet, and I studied them all. Beautiful, fearsome creatures, they were; all female with porcelain skin and flowing hair and infinitely deep black eyes. I knew I should be afraid, terrified even. But I was not. And that was just something that couldn’t be helped.
Slowly, I began to release my hold over them, like setting down a basket of vipers and stepping away carefully, without turning my back. My body was tense and ready, waiting for what surely was to come. I felt an ugly grin come over my face.
And five of the Lamias moved in.
My mental fingers were gripping them again instantly, digging into their slimly souls with clawed hands. The five Lamias let out high-pitched shrieks of panic, and it bounced around the cavern’s walls like bats trapped in a chimney. I heard the other Lamias, the ones who had be
en wise enough to submit completely, hiss sharply between sawed teeth. I squeezed the challengers hard, harder. Examples needed to be made. Excited anticipation swirled through me.
With one final wrench, I ripped the five souls from their bodies, which collapsed to the ground with dull thuds. Their life energies flooded into me, like crashing waves on the shore. I felt my mouth fall open and knew that my fangs were bared in the darkness. My eyelids fluttered, and I giggled. Smacked my lips. When the feeling subsided, and I knew that the deed was done, my hands clapped together like a pleased child.
Hundreds of black eyes stared back at me. My hands spread out at my sides. “Now we sleep,” I heard myself say, and something small inside me whispered that my voice was somehow wrong. But I just couldn’t see it. “Tonight, we hunt.”
Some of the Lamias began scaling the walls, returning to their inverted resting places, but when I took a seat on the floor and laid down, propping my hands behind my head, they began to lie down beside me. They huddled close, feather soft hair brushing my skin, stone cold arms and legs pressing up against me, sickly sweet breaths floating to me in the utter darkness. I closed my eyes. And it felt like home.
A heavy sleep began to pull me under, slowly at first, then suddenly. But just before I slipped into dreamland, that small voice inside of me, that annoying little interjector, spoke up once more.
Three words: Remember the sun.
Well, that just didn’t make any sense, now did it? The sun had blinded me, irritated my skin. So I slipped into the greater darkness, and it welcomed me with open arms.
Alexa
The rest of the ride was not a pleasant one. Everyone was as silent as the dead, which made me shudder when I thought about it. I didn’t have the nerve to look into any of their faces, because I was still uncomfortable about my display of emotion, even though all of them except for Kayden had missed the worst of it. But the exhaustion in the van was palpable in the stale air. Needless to say, no one was in high spirits.
“I guess this is it,” Gavin said, bringing the van to a slow stop.
Tommy got up and peered through the windshield. “What’s it? There’s nothing here.”
I crawled numbly over to the door and slid it open. The bright sun made me blink again, and I could still feel the puffiness in my lids from crying. I hopped out of the van, stretching. I looked around me. Tommy was right, there was nothing here.
Well, it wasn’t just a void in space. The road we’d pulled off on was graveled and narrow. To the east was a large apple orchard, to the west a creek that ran alongside the road, trickling over a shallow, rocky bed. Beyond that, rolling hills of green and yellow dotted with a few maple trees here and there, and beyond that, far off in the distance, gray mountains. There were no houses in sight, no barns or driveways or cars or tractors, though I assumed that the orchard had to be owned by someone. I couldn’t even hear the highway from here. In fact, I couldn’t hear anything. We were in the middle of nowhere.
The others had climbed out of the van, looking around and probably feeling the same thing I was; pissed off. When the doors to the Mercedes opened, and Camillia stepped out, I strode over to her.
Whatever look was on my face made her wince. “Where the hell did you bring us?” I asked, flinging my arms out at the scene around us.
To my surprise, I saw anger spark behind her puffy eyes. “It’s just across the creek,” she snapped, raising her chin a fraction. “And you don’t have to be rude, Warrior. I lost someone I loved today, too. And I think who both know who was responsible for that.”
I took a stepped back, her words hitting me like a slap across the face. For once, I could think of nothing to say, no snippy comment or sarcastic retort. She was right, and we both knew it. If I hadn’t been so stricken, I may have punched her in the face just for being right. Instead, I squeezed my hands into fists at my sides and felt something drip down my fingers. I looked down to see drops of scarlet blood plunking to gravel at my feet. I had rubbed my hands raw on the shovel. I thought of something nasty to say to then, felt a crooked smile pull up my lips, opened my mouth to say it—
“That’s enough,” Tommy said, coming to stand between Camillia and me. Tommy gave her a hard look. “We don’t know what happened back there. None of us saw anything, so let’s not go making accusations.” He turned to me, and his cool blue eyes were sympathetic. I winced.
“Let’s just get to where we’re getting,” Tommy said. “We are all angry, tired, confused and upset. Let’s just go. Okay?”
I could feel everyone’s eyes on me, and I felt like telling them all to take a damn picture already. But then I looked over at little Soraya, whose face was drawn with weariness and worry, the two middle fingers of her left hand jammed in her mouth. The face of a seven-year-old who has seen and experienced things far beyond her years, golden eyes pleading with me to stop causing trouble so that we could be done with this.
I nodded.
Camillia haughtily marched off toward the creek, but I could see that even her walk was underlined with grief. Suddenly I felt very childish over my actions. And selfish, too. That’s right, I thought. Just keep piling on the shitty emotions, universe. No really, I don’t think I’ve had enough.
My Monster chuckled its amusement in my head. I sighed and followed the others, who were leaping over the creek and trailing Camillia across the green grass and into the open field on the other side. I looked back over my shoulder to see Kayden carrying Soraya atop his shoulders, her chin resting in on the top of his golden head, eyes closed tight. When I turned back around, the Warrior whose name I didn’t know was standing beside me.
I really looked at him for the first time. He had dark, closely cropped hair and very round dark eyes. His face was all sharp lines and edges, with a slight sheen that hinted at oily skin. He was taller than me, but not as tall as Kayden, and built wiry and muscled, like most Brocken Vampires. He wasn’t smiling, but his eyes were running the length of my body and back again.
“I’m Simon,” he said, and something about his voice made me instantly dislike him, though I couldn’t tell you why. It could have been just that I didn’t feel like talking to anyone right then. I struggled not to roll my eyes. I was two seconds from telling him very eloquently to piss off. But a sweet little voice beat me to it.
“And she’s taken,” Soraya said, peering down at Simon from her perch on her uncle’s head, dark curls spilling around her face. Kayden’s face gave away nothing, but I could tell by the sparkle in his eyes, the almost imperceptible turn in his lips, that he was pleased with his niece. If I had been capable of it at the moment, I might have laughed. But I wasn’t.
Either because he knew better than to be rude to Soraya, or he just had a very high tolerance for children, Simon smiled at the girl. “Was just making introductions,” he told her, but he fell behind us after that, and didn’t attempt any more conversation. I was glad for this. In my current mood, Simon could consider himself lucky. He’d gotten off easy.
Just when I was about to say to hell with it and say something about how we were going nowhere, the air in front of me shimmered, like a wall of still water hanging before me. I stopped in my tracks, my companions doing the same. I began to discern things beyond the blurry curtain, things that hadn’t been there just a moment ago, taking shape and becoming more and more concrete the longer I stared, until it looked as though it had always been.
It has always been, Warrior. You just never knew where to look. The world is so much bigger than you give it credit for.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
Just an observation.
“Great. Keep the next one to yourself.”
A chuckle rang out in my head. That’s a confusing way to put it.
“Then just shut up. When I need your help, I’ll ask for it.”
You just remember that you will need my help. You can’t shun me forever. I’m part of you. And, who knows what waits for us there?
I stud
ied the scene in front of me. A row of wooden cottages, set only feet apart, stretched out what seemed like endlessly in either direction. Beyond that, other wooden structures, large, medium, and small, rose in the distance, cresting the green hills, dotting the country side. From my vantage point I could see people going about their days, carrying buckets and pushing carts and sitting out in the sun. The clothes they wore were modern but modest. The trails they walked tamed but unpaved. It seemed to me like a place out of a fairytale, a time not yet overrun with technology but not uncivilized either. I could see new structures being built, could hear the pound of hammers and drone of voices.
Various flowers bloomed in gardens around the cottages, which each seemed to have been built by someone different, just small varying characteristics that made each unique and unalike. White flags with silver suns printed on them blew in the breeze on tall wooden poles, surrounding the hidden city along its edges. A whole other world hidden within a simple field, that surely some human held the ownership of, yet was none the wiser. Just like Two Rivers. It was somehow a lot to take in, though I’d known that other places like this had to exist somewhere. I just couldn’t seem to wrap my mind around the physics that were implied here. It broke too many rules, even if I didn’t know exactly what those rules were. I’d never paid much attention in school.
The Rise (The Alexa Montgomery Saga) Page 9
