by Nicki Ruth
“It has been too long. You’ve been leaving for much longer periods. I despaired you forgot about us,” she said, looking at him with a smile.
Cade chuckled. “I’ve missed you, too. There wasn’t a day that went by when I didn’t think of you.”
Jason felt a scowl wrinkle his brow and impatiently cleared his throat. They both turned to look at him in silence. He shifted under their gaze and cleared his throat again.
Cade smiled and turned to the woman in his arms. “Karina, this is Jason. A vahana. I’ve finally found another.”
Karina slipped from his arms and walked to stand in front of Jason. Her eyes glowed eerily, reflecting off her skin like dawning twilight. He fought the urge to bare his fangs at her open scrutiny as it bored into and through him.
“Ah, what a beauty,” she murmured. “I see now why you’ve been wanting to keep him for yourself.”
Despite himself, Jason let out a low growl, warning of his discomfort.
But Karina smiled and extended her hand to him. “Welcome home, Jason. You are among family and friends now. Come, don’t be shy, let’s go home to everyone.”
Jason hesitated, but she took his hand and pulled him into a hug. He tensed instinctively in her arms, and she murmured something, tightening her hold against him when he trembled.
Chapter 9
They arrived at the sanctuary, where all those Cade and Karina were lucky to find were provided safety and a home.
A new home.
Cade wondered what Jason thought of it. The area was shrouded in mist so thick and dark, any uninvited visitor would be lost to its disorienting spell. Its borders were enchanted, and they ensured nothing was, or would, be able to breach the perimeter. But after its mystery was unraveled, the mist gave way to the paradise they’d created.
Using his flames years ago, Cade burned away the decay and damp and made a place lush and green for them, with clear streams that sparkled diamond light, meadows that colored the horizon yellow and violet beside a rich carpet of green forest, and mighty waterfalls that shimmered rainbows.
Here, the sky was blue, not clouded with gray, and supplemented with rays of light and warmth from Cade’s eternal flame. Karina had spoken to the earth, and it birthed bountiful crops and dwellings of wood and earth for growing families for their new nation.
As they walked, Karina tilted her head back and let out a bird call, which traveled through their territory, bouncing off the rocky walls of the mountain that partly encircled the sanctuary, announcing their special return.
Cade grinned and turned to Jason. “We’re going to have a celebration tonight. To welcome you and introduce you to everyone.”
Jason said nothing, but his brows creased. His gaze casually roamed about, lingering here and there, but Cade noticed the rigidity of his gait. He wanted Jason to like it here, to want to stay, because he didn’t want to have to keep his promise to take him back to Damurios. Jason belonged here, was needed here, to help protect and guide their people. And there were so few of them he was a welcome addition.
Jason had already shown Cade he was a determined fighter, but he was also thoughtful and warm-hearted. Cade remembered the way Jason reached out to touch his shoulder and squeeze his hand to comfort and reassure him over his frustrations and failures in finding his kin. Already, he’d benefited from Jason’s gentle spirit and the kindness that had allowed him to forgive Cade his callous behavior.
“Don’t be nervous. Everyone’s going to love you,” he said to Jason, who remained silent.
Karina, still clasping Jason’s hand, glanced over to him.
“He’ll do just fine, Cadeonidas. He’s family and just needs a little time to adjust.” She winked.
Jason looked at his feet, but a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.
“Cade!” A boisterous shout rang out just before a white ball of fur and fuzz barreled into him, jumping onto his back and clawing at his face.
Cade laughed as he tried to pry off the writhing mass of fur. “Tyrus, you’ve grown,” he said, grimacing has a sharp claw managed to break skin. “Get off me, you whelp!” He threw the furball onto the ground, but in an instant, it was on him again, climbing up his leg. “So, you missed me, eh? Can’t keep your paws off me?”
The furball leapt back and snarled. “No! I didn’t even notice you were gone.”
Cade laughed. “Oh, but you did.”
Three fluffy white tails thumped behind the small boy crouching before him. “No,” he pouted, avoiding Cade’s gaze.
Karina chuckled. “Tyrus has been diligent at his training and says he’ll take you down soon. You’d better watch out.”
Tyrus was an inugami, a dog spirit Cade found scavenging the wasteland city of Sbecza. He was mangy and near starvation when Cade spied the dirty-faced boy with white fur, dog ears, and three fluffy tails. He’d named him Tyrus since he couldn’t remember his own name. Since then, the boy regarded him as a father, and Cade’s affection for the pup had deepened as he blossomed.
“Who’s that?” Tyrus asked, sniffing and twitching his pointed ears at Jason.
Cade looked over at Jason, who regarded the boy curiously. “This is Jason. He’s—”
“He smells funny. What is he?”
“Now Tyrus. Let’s not be rude. Jason is new, and we’re going to give him a big welcome, all right?” Karina said, stroking the hair on Tyrus’ head.
He shrugged and returned his attention to Cade. “How long are you staying this time? Where did you go? Did you see any Reevers?”
Cade watched as Karina led Jason by the hand to her modest dwelling at the edge of the forest—no doubt to put him more at ease while the celebration preparations were under way. Jason glanced back at him, and Cade leaned back on his heels with a satisfied grin. He scooped Tyrus into his arms and threw the boy into the air even as he complained between giggles that he was too old for such childish games.
∞∞∞
An uneasiness took root in Jason’s stomach. He wanted to bolt from this place, but he wasn’t sure why. It was a beautiful enclosure, supernaturally distinct from the gray, misty landscape they’d left behind. The natural splendor of the grassy flats and gently sloping mountains dotted with waterfalls against blue sky had blinded him, and he was at a loss for words at the incongruity of it all.
Maybe that was why it all felt so fleeting.
He ducked his head to cross the threshold of the intricately carved wooden structure the woman, Karina, invited him to enter. It looked much bigger on the inside than it did from the outside. Books and all types of miscellaneous items lined the walls from floor to roof. Thick, colorful rugs carpeted the floor, and several chairs and endless cushions were arranged around a fire pit. Jason took in the surroundings, then realized Karina was looking at him.
“Come, sit, rest. Would you like me to prepare refreshment for you?”
Jason eyed a bench, then sat on a richly upholstered armchair. “I’m fine, thank you,” he replied.
“Are you?” She peered at him, sinking into the chair next to his. “Where did Cadeonidas find you?”
“On Damurios.”
Her eyes widened. “Damurios, the blood realm. How curious.”
Karina was extraordinary. Her violet eyes were such a contrast to her dark skin as to be unreal. He wondered if she was even corporeal—she was definitely more than she seemed.
“So, a vampire and vahana. This is a new one,” she said. “Who’s your sire?”
Jason tore his gaze from her and looked about the room, not wanting to answer her question. He didn’t like to reveal the identity of his father since he’d made a few enemies over the years.
“He or she must have been powerful, and an anomaly themselves to be able to sire a vahana,” Karina went on.
“He is powerful, my father. An ancient.”
“I see. And what about your parents?”
“I don’t remember them. I was an orphan, put to work in the mines of Tisios.”
He shrugged, but a lump formed in his throat. It took him a couple moments to force down the familiar ache that usually made him gasp for breath. He swallowed to calm his quickened pulse. Karina did nothing but gently squeeze his hand.
He hated that those feelings had regained a foothold in him ever since his new condition revealed itself. Speaking of which . . .
“I came here because Cade mentioned you could help with these growths on my back. I need to find a way to get rid of them.”
Karina lips parted as she leaned back into the chair. She didn’t move, didn’t even look to be breathing. Everything remained still. Perhaps she wasn’t the one to help him with his problem.
He frowned, unsure whether he should clarify. “These wings on my back, I would like to remove them. For good.”
“Why do you want to remove your wings?” she asked finally.
Jason huffed. Why was everyone asking why he wanted them removed. Wasn’t it obvious? “I don’t want wings on my back. I want to go back to normal. Can you help with that or is there someone else I should talk to?” He couldn’t keep the edge from his voice.
Karina leaned her head back. “All right, Jason. Come, there is something for you to see.”
She rose gracefully and held out her hand for his. He gave her a jerky nod and placed his hand in hers as she led him deeper into the dwelling. They walked for a good distance, until Jason realized that the apparent size of the interior of her home must all be another illusion. Then they entered on sloping steps to a cave with a partial roof collapse exposing its inner cavern to sky. Lank vines hung from above, trickling water droplets to echo on puddles below.
A heavy mist settled within, but it parted from Karina with each step she took, revealing a rocky path. She stopped before what looked like a stone well that was worn and covered with moss. Next to it, a wooden bucket tied with rope was draped over a wooden beam that extended over the mouth of the well.
“Jason, can you fetch me some water?”
He took the bucket and rope and hoisted them over the beam. Soon, he was pulling up a full bucket of water.
“Can you pour it in the cistern over there?” she asked, leading him to a three-foot-high cavern cistern.
He did as instructed. The water in the cistern was murky, the sides covered with green and black moss.
“Come, stand by me,” she said. “Look into the water. Is that a reflection of you?”
Jason nodded, not sure where she was going with this. He hoped she was going to finally address his winged problem.
“No, you need to look into the water’s depths. Tell me what you see.” Karina nudged him forward, so he sighed and did as she asked.
“I see myself.” Jason scrunched his face as he glimpsed the dark circles under his eyes.
“And what else?”
Before he could ask for the point to all this, the water swirled and glowed. Images flickered before them, and Jason gasped to see scenes of his past—Krisa, Larx, Marise, and Tomly in the mines, huddling together. Him being thrown against a wall for not delivering his quota and being shoved and stomped on by the older children.
Then the images flickered to him escaping and boarding the stolen ship with the others; they’d been so elated at their success, hoping to start new lives of their own. They were animatedly discussing their plans, but Jason saw himself off to the side, not speaking, arms folded over himself. His eyes held sadness and something else, but he eagerly smiled and nodded at Krisa when she ordered him to find blankets.
“No. No, I don’t want to see this . . .” he whispered, but Karina kept her hand on his back, holding him in place. The lump returned to his throat, and his chest constricted. “Please, don’t . . .”
“It wasn’t easy for you, but everything you went through got you here today,” she said near his ear.
The scenes changed again. This time they were of Alexios, on the ship the day he’d found him. His father smiled at him, encouraging and soothing him. He saw the faces of his brothers, too, Marius and Brandr, welcoming and training him for his new life as a vampire. Jason watched as Brandr defeated him with the sword. On that day of training, Brandr had been especially tough, and he’d complained.
“Do you think your enemies care about your complaints?” Brandr shouted. “They will easily remove your head from your neck. Is that what you want? To be a dead vampire? Is that what you want for your sire, for us? I will not lose another brother. Now, get up!”
Jason’s eyes filled with tears as he thought of his father, Marius, and Brandr, but he refused to let them fall. What would they say if they saw him like this?
“That is your past. You found a warm place. But did you find what you yearned for?” Karina asked. “Now, let me show you another past.”
She extended her hand over the swirling water and moved it back and forth. The water mimicked her motion, small waves cascading to the right, to the left, then right again, and so on, until she stopped and peered into his face.
“Now, look at the past, and tell me what you see.”
Jason heart beat hard in his chest now. He choked, afraid of what he’d see. Would she show him the woman who cared for him, who smelled of bread and honey?
The scenery was different, now. It was green and vibrant, unlike the place he vaguely remembered. In a clearing, a flock of birds took to the sky as a shadow of large wings moved across the grass. The scene progressed to a raging battle from an ancient time, by the look of the armored soldiers.
Ferocious looking warriors charged across the field and flew through the air, some diving to the ground like missiles. Some were half man, half horse, others had heads of animals on bodies of men. From his seat astride one of the beasts, one otherworldly being threw a bolt of lightning onto the battlefield, sending bodies into the air.
Two horned, scaled beasts perched on a rocky cliff overlooking the battle. One shone golden, dazzling like the sun, reflecting iridescent scales. The other shimmered like the dark blue-green waters of a deep mountain lake. It looked like they were waiting on something but were enthralled by the mayhem below.
A winged creature appeared before them, feathered but only to one-half of its body. It had the head a bird, but the other half of its body was covered in short hairs like a mammal—maybe a large cat, complete with tail. Jason’s pulse jumped and the throbbing in his head returned, hammering away at his skull.
The creature’s wings were a dark shade he couldn’t make out, but the ends of the feathers were tipped white. It flapped its mighty wings, hovering in the air before the two beasts on the cliff. A woman perched on its back and spoke to the beasts, who then took to the sky.
Jason gripped the edge of the cistern when the feathered creature shot through the assembled armies on the ground at incredible speed, toppling over giants, trebuchets, and catapults that bounced off a thin glow of light surrounding it.
Next, the golden beast opened its jaws and roared before letting out a stream of fire, scorching everything in its path as it dove across the field. The blue one followed some distance behind, ejecting dark plumes of cloud-like miasma, and everything that came into contact with it blackened and shriveled.
The waters changed scenes again, and all the while, the pain grew to agonizing levels inside his head. A large procession marched before a white marble pavilion where otherworldly beings stood, poised regally above their audience below. He saw the blue and golden beasts in the sky, along with other similar beasts of different hues. At either ends of the pavilion, two half-bird creatures perched on raised daises. One had its enormous, patterned wings outstretched, its raptor eyes surveying the crowd.
Jason blinked as the most remarkable transformation he’d ever witnessed occurred. One of the half-bird creatures glowed brightly, and from within the glowing halo came the arms and legs of a m
an.
The water rippled as a winged man with feathers covering his neck and upper shoulders, with a tail swiping to and fro from his waist, stepped down from the dais. Wings folded, the man bowed before an exotically dressed woman who smiled and dipped her head toward him. The man raised his head, and the wings at Jason’s back began to beat against him furiously, trying to escape their confines.
He panted, clawing at his head, stumbling against the rocky wall of the cistern. The pain must be giving him fanciful hallucinations, for the man reflected in the water held such a resemblance to him, he would have thought it was he who bowed before the woman as she placed a golden laurel wreath on his head.
Chapter 10
Cocooned by a wall of heat, sweat trickled down Jason’s back, and from a distance, muddled voices pierced the haziness that shrouded his mind. The voices grew louder, or closer perhaps, and they seemed to be in constant babble.
“I told you it was too soon for him.”
“Well maybe if you didn’t kidnap him, he’d be more receptive.”
“I did—”
Jason pushed himself from the furnace-like body at his back.
“Too loud,” he said, swatting at heated limbs that pressed against him. “Get off,” he fussed, holding his head as it threatened to split his skull.
“Are you all right? How’s the head?” a deep familiar voice asked, too close to his ear.
He jerked away. Cade. Ack. Now he remembered. He needed to get the hell out of this place, wings be damned!
“Just . . . can you move. Geez, you’re making me hot.”
“Air, Cadeonidas, air. Give him some air.”
Cool air surrounded him as Cade rose from behind him. He heard furious whisperings between Cade and Karina and looked up to see them peering at him curiously.
“Jason, if you’re quite all right, I believe everyone is waiting for you outside. The fresh air will do you good,” she said warmly. “Everyone’s so excited to greet you.”
