Out Of The Darkness

by Calle J. Brookes

  “We can ask Barlaam to take blood samples, to see. If you want.”

  “I don’t think I want to be converted.” Talk about terrifying. Yet, if she didn’t do it, and she decided to be with him, would it really be fair to ask him to live with her for what would only be a blink in his lifetime? Could she ask him to watch her die, when he’d lost so many people he loved already? How would that be right of her?

  “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Like I said, we have time. I won’t do anything unless you are ready for it.”

  She believed him.

  It felt nice to have his arms around her—when they weren’t lost out in a weird world, trying to find their way home.

  What should it matter whether some goddess neither one of them liked fated them to be together? She liked Nalik; in some deep part of herself she’d long admitted she found him attractive. She trusted him when he said he’d protect her and keep her safe—not that she couldn’t do those things for herself; it was still nice to know someone out there had her best interests as a priority.

  He seemed to understand her, even where her family had not. And she’d told him more—showed him more—about herself than she had anyone in her family, ever.

  Even Emily and Jade hadn’t been told all of her secrets. But Nalik had been shown them, and he hadn’t looked at her like she was different.

  She’d seen how Josey was unintentionally treated like she was different by their family. Cass hadn’t wanted that for herself.

  Her sister had sensed something was different, and Emily had grown so overprotective that sometimes Cass had had trouble breathing. It was then that her greenhouse would call her. And she’d go there for hours.

  She had no interest in the family business; and after seeing what that business had been built on, the suffering Nalik had endured that turned into her grandfather’s way of profit, she was glad she’d never desired to work for Taniss Industries. If she was his mate, what would it have done to him to know she worked for the company that had used him for a horrible type of experiment?

  That would have been beyond cruel.

  Cass turned slightly, curving her upper body into his. His hand toyed with the hair she hadn’t braided like she normally did. He had strong fingers, hands. Beautiful, though she’d noticed before that several small scars ran over the back and palms of both hands. The scars ended around his wrists.

  More of her grandfather’s work, no doubt. She covered one with her hand. “I’m sorry for this. That it was my family who did this. I don’t understand why you are not angrier.”

  “I was plenty angry. For years. Probably before you were born. It took a while for that anger to go away. I am not certain that it has, entirely. But it will never be directed at you. I give you this vow. My anger is reserved entirely for the ones responsible. A girl who was not yet born—nor the cousins who were just children at the time—will ever be to blame.”

  “Some of your people blame us. Even Emily gets dirty looks and snide remarks when no one thinks she can hear them.”

  “That is something her Rajni needst know. I will allow no such disrespect to you.”

  “But you cannot protect me from everything.” She would not be coddled and cosseted, by anyone. Especially a man she was considering forever with. “It’s equal ground.”

  Forever. That sounded like such a long time. But then again, it was, wasn’t it?

  What was she doing? She couldn’t do forever, not yet. Not without some serious soul-searching. Cass tried to pull away, but he must have sensed her sudden fear.

  He kissed her, the gentlest kiss he’d ever given her.

  She slipped her arms around his neck and met his mouth with her own. He sank down on the window seat, still holding her. Her fingers slipped into the black hair that curled over his neck. He felt so strong pressed against her.

  His hand slipped down her back until he could just run his fingers underneath the waistband of the strange pants the women wore in this demon world. It tickled. It took her a moment to realize he’d meant it to.

  He wasn’t pushing anything on her; while there was some heat behind the kiss, he wasn’t moving too fast for her. She appreciated that. But…she pulled away.

  “I’m not a virgin.”

  “I’m not either. I can admit to being a jealous. I am an ancient male, after all, but I cannot hold against you what you’ve done any more than I think you can I.”

  Not what she’d expected. “I make my own decisions about sex. Even if I—we—took this further, that doesn’t mean I’m signing on for forever. And with your people that means a really long time.”

  “Forever usually does.” He lifted her under her arms, resituating her until she was straddling him. He looked so big, strong, and arrogant right there in front of her. Overwhelming. Why did she feel like she was in so far over her head? “I meant what I have said. I shall not force you in to anything and I will be here to keep you safe. You’re welfare will always be put above mine own.”

  How was any woman supposed to resist that? Wasn’t this the kind of man fiction was made out of? He kissed her again, then pulled away. “That is enough for today, I think.”

  She started to protest, but he put his finger on her lips. “Your sister awaits in the hall. Did you not hear her knock, her call for you? She is concerned and has questions. And I think it best I return to the courtyard. There will be questions about what they saw, from nearly everyone. I will deal with them, while you see to your sister. And Cassandra?”

  She shook her head, trying to clear at least some of the confusion out of her mind. It didn’t work. “What?”

  “I will be returning here, tonight. I will sleep on the sofa, if you wish. But tonight, and every night you are in this demon world, with its magic and creatures who possess no morals and no checks upon their skills, I will protect you in the night.”

  She nodded. “And I will protect you.”

  He laughed. “You did a damned fine job in the courtyard. Those brushes around Rydere were brilliant.”

  “Well, I expected better out of him.” She laughed, too, finally feeling free to express herself fully. Then she sobered. “They’re going to have questions.”

  “I think they already do.” His expression darkened. “Of both of us. I will not let them pressure you into doing anything that you do not wish. But you are going to have to be fully honest with me. How much can you do? Can you grow without need of seeds? I know you can here, but can you do it in Gaia? And how much earth healing can you manage?”

  Cass thought for a moment. How best to word it? “I hear when the earth hurts. I always have; it almost drove me crazy when I was about six and it first started happening all the time. But my Uncle Jason gave me some seeds. Tomatoes and strawberries. And after that, whenever it got too bad, I’d go to my plants. My dad built me my first greenhouse when I was ten. When I was thirteen, I asked for him to homeschool me. I spent half of my day in the greenhouses. I just couldn’t handle being in the city all the time. In the school. There weren’t many plants inside—and some of the classrooms didn’t even have windows. I couldn’t stand it. Uncle Jason helped me convince him. I couldn’t go to school, I just couldn’t.”

  “I bet you couldn’t. Most Druids couldn’t. How quickly do you heal from injury?”

  “About normal, I guess. I never really thought about it. I’ve never been seriously hurt, and I’ve always been healthy.” Was there some significance to that? She and Jade and Becca had always been very healthy. The same couldn’t have been said about Mickey and Josey—they’d been sick quite a lot, according to her family. Was that significant? Her grandfather had started experimenting on Josey and continued on the rest of them. Had he done something to Mickey, too? “As for healing the earth, I could—when I was alone and had the time to do it. I tried in little ways, but in Colorado it wasn’t as easy to manipulate things as it is here.”

  “That’s because the humans have suppressed any of the Gaian layer’s na
tural magic. Magic is living, and it needs to be fed and used. Pampered, even. The humans far outnumber the rest of us, and they have made it difficult for magic to thrive. It shall be different here.”

  She laid her head on his shoulder, needing the connection for just a moment. “How long will we be here?”

  He was quiet for a moment. Emily knocked on the door again, calling Cass’s name. Finally he answered, after standing her back on her feet and following her up. “That I do not know. It could be quite a long time.”

  That hurt her; she couldn’t deny it. “I miss my father. And the rest of my family. I know they don’t understand what is happening, and with Em and I gone, he will be lonely.”

  “Go, discuss things with your sister. We’ll talk of these things later.”

  Chapter 39

  Of course she’d miss her father. She was a young human woman, barely more than a girl, who’d been raised by a loving single father. She would miss him a great deal.

  Nalik nodded at Cassandra’s sister when he opened the door and passed her. Her eyes widened at seeing him. Hadn’t expected her sister to let him in, had she?

  Well, she’d damned well get used to him. “She’s inside and vulnerable right now. Do not push Cassandra. I am not sure she can handle it after all she’s been through. You are the person she loves most in this world, treat her kindly.”

  “I always have. She is my sister.”

  “And she is my mate.”

  “We’ll see about that. You won’t force her in to anything.”

  “No. I will not. Everything will be her choice, and no one else’s. That includes you and that male of yours.”

  Who Nalik would be finding as soon as possible.

  His female wanted her father; Nalik wasn’t stopping until he got the son of Taniss here.

  ***

  He found Rydere in a small sitting area, with Barlaam and Barlaam’s young mate. It gave Nalik a small thrill to see the ice that Rydere was holding to his nose. Nalik’s bruises were already starting to heal. Apparently the same couldn’t be said for the dhar.

  “Run into a fist?”

  “More like a brick wall.”

  “I say the two of you are still idiots,” Barlaam’s mate had no intention of holding her tongue, apparently. Nalik respected that. “Why were you even fighting, anyway?”

  “It wasn’t a fight—it was a demonstration.” Nalik settled into the largest chair in the room. It fit him perfectly. “Rydere and the others wished to see what it is that I can now do. I merely showed them.”

  The girl’s green eyes—identical to Cassandra’s and the rest of the Taniss females’—narrowed when she looked at Nalik. “Sure you did. The plants were a definite nice touch, weren’t they? Heard all about that. Of course, they weren’t your plants, at all.”

  It wasn’t a question. “No, they were not. They were your cousin’s. She’s a bit…protective, it seems.”

  “And powerful. Very, very powerful.” Barlaam stared at Nalik for a moment. “Does she realize such?”

  “I do not think she does. It makes her uneasy because she does not yet understand it. She is completely untutored in the ways of Druids. Once someone we trust can be found to help her, she will grow stronger and more confident.” He leveled a look at the dhar. “She will not be used or pressured for anything.”

  “Of course not. She is my sister-in-law.”

  “And my Rajni.” It was the first time he had said it aloud to anyone other than his female, and as he said it he realized the changes verbalizing it publicly brought.

  For whether she consented or not, being his Rajni and having it known in front of the dhar of his people gave him certain legal rights. That those rights existed for her was equally as powerful.

  “Is that so?” Rydere pulled the ice pack down from his face. “And you are just now acting upon it?”

  “Why think you I stayed in Dardanos for these past twelve months? It was a certainty that loyalty to my House or this tribe did not anchor me. Nor did your poorly worded edict so many months ago. I stayed to watch over her, to protect her. Now her future is far more uncertain, but my path far more clear.” He stared at his new brother-in-law. “Nothing will interfere between us. And I will keep her safe. She shall be my only priority. Keeping her and those she loves safe in the wars I can feel coming our way, and soon.”

  “You prognosticate now, too?” Rydere asked.

  He studied the other male; Nalik would have to make peace between them. It was something that would most likely always stand between them, but they would have to work around it. To protect their females, the family that those women brought with them.

  Damned trick of goddess fate, making him family to the Taniss.

  There had to be a strong reason for it, and yet the goddess had denied such knowledge.

  But someone obviously pulled her strings, as well.

  He would just ensure that his Rajni wasn’t on the puppet stage any longer.

  He stared at Barlaam for a moment. “It may be best to remove your Rajni from the discussion we are about to have.”

  Because, like it or not, there wasn’t anyone else he trusted with what he was about to say.

  Chapter 40

  He waited until Barlaam’s female left—though she was obviously very unhappy with his order—before looking at the dhar once more.

  “Someone betrayed our people thirty years ago. And that traitor is responsible for the deaths at Taniss’s hands.”

  “We took care of the traitor months ago,” Rydere said. “Young Jambu.”

  “He was just one traitor. But the one I seek—still seek to this day—is far older. There is no way a mere pup like Jambu betrayed Iavius and I. He was not yet weaned, remember?”

  “Then who?” Barlaam asked. “And how do you have this knowledge?”

  “I’ve spent thirty years trying to find the answer to the who. I have yet to succeed. At one point I even thought it was one of you. Or Jareth. Even Aodhan and Matthuin were at one point suspect.” It galled him to have to tell them this. Shouldn’t the dhar of their people have suspected something years ago?

  That was one of the main issues he had with Rydere. Obliviousness was not a valid defense, in Nalik’s estimation. Not for a leader of Rydere’s responsibilities. Too much depended on a dhar being aware. That Rydere hadn’t been was almost inexcusable in Nalik’s belief. “But someone did. Someone close enough to all of us—my family in particular—to manage. Taniss had someone working with him, someone Boltier didn’t know about. And that someone was Dardaptoan. From Colorado. There is only one tribe that he could be from. Or she. I have not ruled out a female.” His words turned harsh as he vocalized what he’d never before said. “I have not yet to rule out my own mother.”

  The mother who had lost two children plus a grandchild at Taniss’s hands. The mother who had never let anyone forget that.

  “What knowledge do you have of this person?” Barlaam, always a cool one in any trial, asked. “Where have you looked?”

  “I have many files from Taniss’s laboratories—files that none of you have. I took them, long before Jareth thought to grab them for his sister. I doubt even you, Barl, have seen some of them. Have you seen a copy of the one he kept on me?” Nalik knew that neither Barlaam nor Kindara had seen it.

  He’d found it early on and had kept it hidden in his chambers at Dardanos. If the hotel remained standing after the fires struck, that file was most likely still in his suite.

  “No. That was one that was never found.”

  “Because I found both copies—his and Boltier’s—myself. I destroyed one and kept the other. No one is to know what he did to me. I will never have his butchery repeated on a living being.”

  “What exactly did he do to you?”

  “He screwed with every last strand of my damned DNA. I am no longer Dardaptoan at all. He made fucking sure of it.”

  Chapter 41

  By the time he left the sitting room a few hours late
r he had a working plan in mind. Or rather, they, had a working plan.

  Someone would have to retrieve the information he had gathered over the last thirty years, and someone would need to confront the rest of the Taniss family for access to the inner files of the research department from that time.

  Rydere and Aodhan would have that fun little task, speaking directly to their fathers-in-law. Cormac’s father-in-law had already been consulted and he was in full agreement in the pursuit. He’d offered to come along and act as a mediator between the Dardaptoans and the brothers he’d grown up with.

  Nalik had to admit he had some respect for the Lupoiux who had fathered both Cormac and Barlaam’s mates.

  Pretty shitty thing to learn about one’s own father, but the wolf had held things together and somehow managed to almost seamlessly blend the Taniss family with both a Lupoiux pack and a tribe of Dardaptoans. Hostile Dardaptoans, at that.

  And the male had his own mate to think of, as well.

  The final party ready to return to Gaia included Aodhan, Rydere, Cassandra’s uncle, the Wolf god, and Jushua. Nalik rounded out the group.

  The only thing Nalik had left to do was tell Cassandra he would be leaving her for a few days, after making such vows just a few hours earlier to keep her safe and at his side. He was not looking forward to breaking his word so soon.

  But things must be done if they were to isolate the traitor before the worst of the wars were to hit them.

  He had not told her of his other goal with this trip. Before he had left the sitting room with Rydere his words turned to a more private nature. Rydere had agreed to his plan readily.

  If nothing else, their Rajnis would have their father with them for a visit—preferably an extended one. Both he and Rydere agreed it was something that their females probably needed, after the upheaval of their lives over the last twelve or so months.

  Rydere seemed to think the man would readily agree. He had retired from Taniss Industries shortly after his elder daughter married—all of Taniss’s older sons had, so Rydere had said. Said that all of the older sons found their father’s true works to be reprehensible and had abdicated themselves from the family business, so that it could be run by the hands of the next generation.