Door in the Garden of Shadows

by April Canavan

  They were walking into the room now, and she was surprised to see that their surroundings had changed vastly. There was no more marble on the walls, it had been replaced with honey–colored oak. The room had only a handful of people in it. Littered around randomly, they seemed to be talking about something enjoyable because they were laughing, but she couldn’t make out their words.

  “I’m not a marshmallow.” The first words he had said directly to her, and they were disgruntled and low, whispered so that she was the only one who could hear.

  “You’re squishing me, and yeah–you are.” She couldn’t help but be sarcastic right back to him. Her private thoughts were not supposed to be shared with anyone–let alone the giant marshmallow himself.

  “Trust me–I’m not. You, on the other hand, are nice and soft, and you don’t weigh anything, you should eat more.”

  “Ha. Give me something to eat before you kill me and sure–I’ll take Chinese food and beer. No sushi though.”

  All of the people in the room were looking at her. Yep–they were all vampires and had definitely been able to hear their little sparring match. The giant marshmallow didn’t do anything but exhale, knowing precisely what she was seeing.

  There were two thrones in the back of the room, but no one sat on them. The handful of people in the room were sitting on the steps and ground, small rugs underneath them. The floor was white, but not marble. Their feet didn’t make a sound as they crossed the room to stand with the group.

  Two people stood out more than the rest, a couple no doubt. She was tall and thin, with hair that was shockingly long. Hooped earrings in her ears, and glowing purple eyes, her skin held a soft bluish hue to it. She was sitting with her legs in the lap of a tall, broad man with black hair and the strangest gray eyes that looked like they had lightning in them. She knew who the woman was. Everyone in the magical world knew about Winter, but the other man didn’t look like anyone she had heard of before.

  Jackson had gone to another member of the group and kissed her cheek. “Hey, Ma. Sorry, Anna is off doing something with the whelps. I thought I’d stay though. Wanna make me some popcorn? I’m starved.”

  She didn’t look old enough to be his mother, let alone anyone’s mother. Smaller than all the other people in the room, the woman he was addressing was a sight. She had tattoos all over her legs and arms, even her chest. She was wearing a tank top and a pair of loose–fitting capris. Barefoot, she looked more like she should be on a beach somewhere than in this room, and that meant she definitely didn’t look like a monster.

  “Jack, what would I do if you ever stopped needing me?” She was looking at his hands, and a bowl of popcorn materialized in them.

  “I dunno, but until you can’t feed me anymore–you’ll never know will you? I kid, I kid. You know I love you.” The last part was added on when the storm clouds covered her face, but his words appeased her.

  “So tell me Tyler, why are you holding Dante’s intended?” This time another male spoke, different from the others. He was blonde, another man that looked like a god, and seemed to appear out of thin air.

  “Oh come on. You have got to be kidding me!” The words left her throat before she could stop them, and everyone was looking at her. Again. She shoved at the marshmallow, and he reluctantly let her go. Slowly, he lowered her to the ground, leaving her to stand on shaky feet. “You need to get your facts straight. I’m not anyone’s intended. This asshole” and she pointed to Dante, “kidnapped me in the middle of the night. I was freaking asleep one minute, and the next thing I know, he’s got his hand over my mouth telling me not to scream or he’ll kill my family. The joke’s on him. My family’s already mostly dead. Then he just takes me, hurts me, pretty much tries to kill me just because I won’t go quietly, and this guy” poking the giant stuffy one in the chest, “wouldn’t let me down.” She turned and went to kick Dante while he was still weak and on the ground, but the marshmallow pulled her back.

  “She also thinks Tyler’s a marshmallow.” Crunching on popcorn, Jackson looked pretty comfy just sitting on the small stairs that led to the thrones. She turned the fire in her eyes on him. He may be cute, but he didn’t need to share that stuff. She didn’t even know him.

  “Hey–those are my private thoughts. Keep ‘em to yourself or butt out.” She was mad, and she was past the point of controlling it. Spinning back to the blonde god she said, “Oh yeah, while I’m at it, what gives you the right to just pop into existence anyways. You weren’t here a minute ago.” Instead of waiting for him to respond, she turned to the tattooed woman and just looked at her.

  “You have to be the queen. Cause the giant said that the queen would handle whatever the hell is going on, but no offense, you don’t look like royalty. She looks like she’s ready to fall asleep, and you look like you just got back from the beach. All I want is to know what is going on, why I’m in my pajamas in a room with this ass–hat, and when I can go home because this realm is really draining my energy.” She knew that she was babbling, it was what happened when she got nervous.

  Tyler’s grip on her had slipped a little, and she pushed past him to kick Dante. “That is for hurting my head.” She kicked him again, this time in the crotch. “That is for breaking in.” Once more for good measure, yet she still found herself wanting to hurt him more. “That one was for trying to marry me without my permission, you freak.”

  Tyler didn’t bother trying to grab her, she was beyond saving now. They were all crazy people, and she was out of here. At least her family hadn’t kidnapped anyone in generations. She stomped toward the open doors, expecting them to shut and block her way out. Her vision was starting to blur, and she noticed for the first time that there was blood trickling from her hairline. Absently, she rubbed it with the back of her hand and applied some pressure to the wound. She just wanted to leave, and making it through those doors would be the first step. Where she needed to go from there, she would figure out once she made it.

  “I wouldn’t do that,” Winter spoke for the first time. Her voice was melodic and sweet. “Just breathe, cher. It is all going to be fine. You’re not going to want to miss this.” Those striking purple eyes were staring right into her soul, and she felt like she was being stripped bare.

  Before she could stop herself, she was being turned around against her will and was half floating, half stumbling back to the group of people. The men were just looking at her amused, except for the marshmallow. He looked bored like he couldn’t wait to leave. She couldn’t help feeling frightened until she saw the queen–who had a smile on her face.

  “Just sit.” The melodic voice was compelling her to sit, so she sat.

  The chair was soft, supple leather that hugged her; but not as well as the giant, sour–tempered marshmallow. He didn’t squeak like the leather did either.

  “I don’t know if anyone cares–but she called him a marshmallow again.” Jackson was rolling in laughter, tears coming down his face. “Shit! Girl, you kill me.” He was really enjoying revealing her secret thoughts. She glared at him, scarlet from embarrassment. “Anna is gonna be so pissed that she missed this. I wish I had my phone to get this. We could make a fortune by putting this shit on YouTube.”

  “Just watch yourself pretty–boy. You’ll get yours.” When she was angry, she really couldn’t stop herself from talking.

  “Oh, I like her. Can we keep her?” Another female voice joined the chorus. This one coming in through the closed doors she had just tried to get through.

  “She threatened me. Why aren’t you defending me?” Jackson sounded hurt, almost.

  “If I hurt everyone who was pissed you were snooping around in their thoughts we’d be in a war with all of the supernatural families. Get over it. She’s feisty, but she’s not a vampire. See? I knew hanging around with me, and Sarah’d bring life to the party.” The newcomer was short too, making it less intimidating to be around at least two other short women. The speaker had a pixie cut that was rainbow colored and she
brought the smell of lilacs to the room. “I’m Anna. I have the unfortunate pleasure of being married to the overgrown child over there.”

  Before she could answer, Dante started gagging.

  “Oop, his throat is finally healing. That took forever. I wonder how long he’s gone without feeding?” The tattooed woman was talking again, and looking at her as though she was cataloging injuries. She strode over to the vampire laying on the ground and grabbed him by the hair. She forced him to look her in the eyes. “As your throat heals, I want you to think very hard about what you’re going to say. It will determine what happens next.” There were both anger and steel in her voice. It was evident that she was born to rule; she held power in that tone, and why she was queen made sense. The magic was pouring out of the queen, starting to fill the air around the room as well. It was shiny, rippling across everyone, running over and under all the surfaces to fill every opening. It was easier to see now that it was coming off of the queen, and that she fed her energy into everything around them, giving it life.

  “Sarah, love.” Zander reached for his wife. “Do you think you should do this? I can handle it.”

  “No, Zan. I can do it. He insulted me. He thought to bring a human into my home, and break my law. He knew what would happen.” Pausing for a moment, she added, “Take the girl away, she doesn’t need to see this.”

  “Wait, Sarah. Your Majesty, I want to see this. I need to see this. He may have broken your rules, but he tried to kill me. In my world, we watch as retribution is given. If you don’t want to do this, I’d be more than happy to.” Bloodthirsty thoughts filtered into her mind, and she realized that she’d love to inflict pain on the worm that thought she was something that could be taken. She really did want to see what happened to him. If he didn’t die, she would make sure that he spent the next hundred years or so being tortured daily for hurting her. Jessica would make sure of it, and all she would have to do is ask.

  “I don’t know if that is a good idea.” That voice interrupted her thoughts, the one that made her skin tingle. “She shouldn’t be here.” Tyler was speaking, and his voice sent a chill of anticipation down her spine. “I can take her to the hall to wait for your orders.”

  “No, I say she should stay. You never know when we’re going to need to be entertained, and she’s a bloodthirsty little thing.” Jackson seemed to be the only one in good spirits about what would happen next and seemed sure that she wasn’t about to die. “Nah–you’re not going to die. Winter and Jonathon would probably kill anyone who tried to hurt someone like you on this property. Long story, lots of blood. Death too, lots of death.” His words were said with a smile, but she could feel the sadness in his tone.

  “I don’t know–”

  “Oh, she’s the tall one, and he’s the one who’s always touching her. You’ll get used to it, the touching, not the names. Those are hard to forget.” He must not have been reading her mind because she most definitely wasn’t questioning who Winter was.

  “Dante.” All eyes were back on the queen. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

  His voice raspy and breaking, Dante proceeded to spin a tale of unrequited love and how he was afraid that if he didn’t take the human, he would never find love. It was an amusing five minutes while she watched her life play out in words from the monster. He had been following and stalking her. Great, now she was going to have to move. Before that, she’d have to burn all her belongings. At least she could cross having a vampire stalker off her bucket list. Before he could say anything, she shot Jackson a glare, daring him to say anything. She absentmindedly rubbed at the bloody spot on her forehead again, wondering why none of the vampires had gone crazy and tried to kill her for her head wound yet.

  “Lies. All lies. You have no feelings for her, and do you know why?” Sarah’s words came out as a question, but even she could see that the Blood Queen had already made up her mind.

  “I do not lie; you’re blinded by your emotions. Let me have her.” Dante was desperate now, striking out in anger. He must have known he was losing whatever battle was going on.

  “I know you’re lying, Dante. I know this because you hurt her. To hurt the person you truly love should bring you physical pain. In fact, it does. Why do you think vampires only love once? To lose any part of the one they love to pain or suffering would cause them a thousand deaths.”

  “I swear, I didn’t do that to her. Tyler did.” The look on Dante’s face announced the lie that nobody would have believed anyway.

  Before anyone could move, Tyler had him by the throat. “You’ll never lie about me again. You’ll never know what love is, or the pain of losing that love. I thought to enjoy watching your punishment by Sarah, but you’ve forced my hand.” Then his hand was literally inside of Dante.

  There was blood everywhere, and even though she should be in shock, she wasn’t. She was used to seeing people tortured in some form or another. It was acceptable in the world she was born into. She thought he was getting off light, with a quick and relatively painless death. The hole in Dante’s chest didn’t heal like vampire wounds usually did, and he crumpled to the ground. The look in his eyes was empty. There was nothing, no sign of the soul that he must have had once.

  “Tyler. What the hell. This is new flooring.” The man Sarah called Zan, the blonde one, was speaking now. Laughing actually, which didn’t surprise her. Vampires were almost as bloodthirsty as the people in her realm. “You should probably get a mop. Sarah’ll kill us all if it stains.”

  “Oh, don’t bother. I’ll take care of it. Why did you do that? He could have rotted for a few hundred years in the cellar. It would have been fun, and more deserving.” The queen waved a hand, and the blood that had started to pool around her feet disappeared along with Dante’s body.

  “Sarah, you are demented in your punishments, and what you deem is fun.” Tyler addressed her like he would a little sister. “That’s why we love you. I’m not sorry though, he insulted me. I would never hurt a woman, even a human woman.” He was wiping his hands on his pants and staring at her, making her skin dance on its own accord once again.

  It didn’t matter that Dante had kidnapped her, no one deserved to die for a mistake. “It’s better to live a thousand years enduring the worst torture known to man than to have your life taken from you.” Her voice was strong, albeit hesitant. She surprised them; she knew it from the looks on all of their faces. “We would have let him rot, to ruminate in what he had done. But in the end, he would have walked free.”

  Surprise turned to compassion in Sarah’s eyes, and she knew that the queen would prefer to let anyone in her court live a life tortured for some time then to take it away from them altogether. Even Tyler, the monster who just ripped another person’s heart out, looked at her strangely.

  She felt like the ground was tilting under her feet. “I’m tired, and I feel like I’m going to pass out.” Her head was splitting, and she couldn’t breathe all of a sudden.

  “Yeah, that’s probably a concussion. Anna, can you do anything for that?” Jackson was swimming in and out of view.

  “You’ve been married to me for like three years. Don’t you know anything about me by now?” Anna was joking with her husband, but walking toward her with her hands out and the palms up. “I’m going to touch you okay? I’m not a vampire, and I’m not going to hurt you. I’m only going to take away the pain. Is that alright with you?”

  “Yeah, yeah. Do whatever.” Her voice was filled with bravado, but she was afraid. They could all probably kill her without thinking about it at all. She had seen magic, had been controlled and hadn’t even been able to defend herself against anything.

  Anna just looked at her with kind eyes and raised her hands to the sides of her head. “Just breathe. It won’t hurt anymore, I promise.” If she had opened her eyes, she would have seen the look that Anna had given Sarah and Winter when she made skin contact. She would have seen the alarmed looks that passed between the women and then wer
e silenced. She didn’t see them, all she felt were the small hands come to rest on the side of her face.

  “Okay.” Her pain was gone, all of it. How could that woman just take away the pain like that?

  “It’s her gift. She’s a special one. She can help control emotions, and feelings, and even pain.” Winter, the purple haired witch, was speaking.

  “Well now that the excitement is over, I’m out of here. Zander, you up for a game?” Jackson had lost interest in the situation, too quickly for it to have been natural. Shit, he knew.

  “Yeah, definitely.” The Blood King picked up on whatever signal the younger man was giving him. “Jonathon, you’re gonna have to keep up this time. Tyler, you coming?” He was waiting for a response from the marshmallow.

  He was looking at her. Staring, actually, making her blush. He just sat that way for a minute, and she was unable to look away. Everyone else sort of faded away and disappeared from around her–and then they were alone in the world. She thought he would move closer to her, but he shook himself out of it and shrugged off the spell that had momentarily surrounded them. He turned to the other men and then walked out of the room without a parting word.

  What a strange person, that marshmallow. She really thought the entire world had faded to nothingness while he looked at her. Stranger still, she didn’t picture any of them as monsters like she had been taught growing up. In her world, they were to be considered of only as a means to an end, soulless creatures meant to do their bidding.

  “I want to go home now.” She was firm in her decision, and all she wanted to do was curl up in bed and read something on her kindle. Maybe she’d hide under the blankets like she used to as a kid, pretending that she could block out all the evil.

  “I don’t know, maybe...” The tattooed queen didn’t finish her sentence. Instead, she looked at Anna and Winter and then just shrugged her shoulders.

  “I will send you home, cher. If that’s what you really want.” Winter hadn’t moved, but her voice was more powerful than it had been.