“You know that the forewoman doesn’t have any tolerance for the infirm.” The blonde glanced at the brunette whose features were similar enough to be a sister. “Avignon should be informed. Go. Tell him that all of the transfers are complete including the seer. He mentioned wanting to be apprised once she was on board.”
The brunette took one step then stopped abruptly her ponytail swishing across the strings of her leather halter as she turned to look back over her shoulder. “You sure you don’t want me to stay and help you put them into their cell?”
“No.” The blonde stared directly at me and her lips curved into an anticipatory smile that made my empty stomach churn. “Either one of these curs gives me any trouble and I’ll personally enjoy being the one to begin their obedience training.”
Pain exploded inside my head as it slammed against the metal support of the bunk. I threw an arm to the side to shield Millie from the abuse. She lay behind me on the bottom bunk where the Amazon had unceremoniously tossed her after removing all her shackles.
I hadn’t done anything wrong but the giant woman seemed to have taken an instant dislike to me.
The removal of each restraint had been accompanied by new pain. Collar off, then the back of her man sized hand against my cheek sending me reeling into the wall. Anklets gone, then a shove that knocked me off my freed feet. Cuffs unlatched, then a stinging slap on the other cheek that had sent me careening into the metal support to my present position.
Vision blurry, I stood listing heavily to one side prepared to defend myself from whatever else this psycho chick had planned for me. But it seemed she had lost interest. The air locked door slid closed behind her departing form.
I slumped onto the mattress beside my twin. I ran my thumb across her dirt smudged cheek and gave her what I hoped was a reassuring smile. “Oh, Millie.” I couldn’t hold it in anymore. The pressure built behind my eyes. They glassed up and my smile melted into a watery frown. “You’ve got to get better. You just have to. I can’t do this without you.”
It was my fault. I would make it right somehow. But I needed her.
The only response to my plea was the sound of her rhythmic breathing.
I stroked her silky hair until her lids drifted closed. Then I got up and searched the room.
Eight-by-eight feet. Bunks bolted into the floor. Toilet bolted to the wall. Mattresses and pillows without linens. No shower. No window. Only the one door. Nothing to use as a weapon. No way out.
My heart beat frantically within the cage of my chest. My ears began to ring, whether from dehydration, hunger or too many blows to my head, I wasn’t sure. I returned to Millie and sank down beside her.
“Help me,” I whispered a soft prayer to the Creator hoping wherever my parents were they would also intercede with him on our behalf. Then I laid down and curled up in a ball beside my sister.
“Wake up, seer.” A sharp kick to my ribs took my next breath away. “Today’s the first day of your new life but I’m sure you’ve already foreseen that.” I opened my eyes to a reality that hadn’t changed, a reality I didn’t want to face. The blonde Amazon put her hands on her hips as I wheezed and blinked up at her.
“On your feet. This isn’t a luxury cruise. There’s work to be done, slave’s work.” Her silt colored eyes narrowed. “Get your sister up, too, or I will.”
I nodded and leaned over to quickly but gently shake Millie awake.
She opened her eyes immediately but made a strangled noise and scooted behind me when she saw the hulking blonde.
“Millie you have to come,” I told her softly but firmly. I could see only blank detachment in her eyes.
She didn’t say a word but I managed to coax her out of the bed. My limbs felt heavy and I stumbled in the dimly lit corridor as psycho blonde led us up a narrow flight of stairs. Harsh sunlight hurt my unaccustomed eyes as we stepped out onto the deck. Millie followed obediently as if in a daze.
A wide variety of Dark Immortals looking as dinged and discombobulated as we were shuffled uneasily under the blazing sun in loose association according to type. I looked for a way to escape but cargo containers stacked several stories tall boxed us in. I could hear the ocean waves. I could smell the salt. I could feel the humidity on my skin. But I couldn’t get to it. Not without working wings.
For the moment I determined to focus on survival.
“Eyes to the front, seer.” A kick to the back of my legs drove that missive home. I fell to my knees.
“Is there a problem here?” I peered up through my lashes at the speaker, an Amazon nearly a foot taller than the other two I had already encountered. She had blonde hair like the psycho and features that were nearly identical. She came toward me, her hand curling with disturbing familiarity around a coiled whip clipped to the belt at her side. Its black obsidian threading glittered ominously in the sun.
Santa mierda. Holy crap. I got to my feet quickly and moved protectively in front of Millie.
“No, Delilah.” I could hear the hint of fear in psycho blonde’s voice. “Not at all. Everything’s under control.”
“It’s nice of you to finally join us.” Delilah stopped front of me and her eyes narrowed. “You’ll find that there’s no special treatment for anyone no matter who they are or what abilities they have. Everyone is expected to be on time. Everyone pulls their weight. If anyone slacks off everyone suffers.”
“I won’t slack off.” I lifted my chin.
“That’s good to hear.” She looked past me. “But what about that one?” She gestured at Millie.
“She’s injured, but it’s temporary. She’ll be better soon.” I hoped she would but that hope dwindled each time I looked into her eyes and was greeted with that vacant stare. “I’ll do my part and hers as well until then.”
Psycho blonde smiled as if that was exactly what they wanted me to say.
Delilah’s expression remained neutral but I caught a malevolent flare within the depths of her eyes that even without using my gifts I knew didn’t portend good things for me.
Toilets were Millie’s assignment. Sweeping and mopping the floors and cabins on the deck where the slaves were quartered was mine.
The guard who had remained nearby during the long hours I had toiled with Millie always at my side veered off to where the rest of the Amazonians were gathered as soon as we entered the mess hall. The smell of the food didn’t even make my mouth water. I was too exhausted to eat. My fingers were red and raw and my shoulders and legs felt like limp overcooked noodles. I would have preferred a hot shower and sleep but Millie needed to eat so I forced my feet forward and got into the back of the line with the other prisoners.
Curious heads turned to note us. Some seemed pleased to see that I was so tired that I had to hold onto the wall to remain upright. But to my surprise a few cast commiserating glances my way. I had expected only resentment because of the reprieve I had obtained for Millie.
As the line slowly moved, I shuffled forward behind a wide chested gargoyle with wings so tall even folded they cast shadows over a face more human than any I had ever seen, except for his tiger ears and flattened snout appearing nose. He wore a warrior’s tunic over his heavily muscled frame, a thick belt adorned with a three dimensional heart and a knee length kilt that split at the sides, all chiseled out of solid marble. They might not breathe but apparently gargoyles did eat. He bypassed the plastic trays and the vats of unidentifiable glop that those in line in front of us were served. There were no eating utensils, I guessed because they might be used as weapons.
When the gargoyle reached the end of the queue an Amazon with her hair secured beneath netting handed him a tall steaming brew that bubbled above the crockery rim like molten lava. He took it and turned toward the seating area just before Millie and I did. The benches along all the tables were nearly full.
Millie following me, I drudged behind the creature as he somehow moved silently across the floor despite his large marble feet. Up and down the rows I searched fo
r a spot. Demons, vamps, dark elves and green skinned woodland fairies, all gave us dismissive glances and then spread out their bodies rather than move aside to make room for us.
Ah, so we weren’t the cool kids. In another time and another place, I might have laughed off the snub. I had never fit in. Why should now be any different?
I shouldn’t have let it bother me but somehow it did. It was all I could do not to cry. Tears burned behind my tired eyes. My arms and legs trembled. I was physically and mentally exhausted, and I felt so alone despite Millie’s presence. Rooted in my despondency, I stared at the sea of unfriendly faces with my tray and Millie’s stacked together in my hands.
Ignoring us the other Dark Immortals dug inelegantly into their respective meals with their hands. Even the sun blistered vamps looked disinterested in Millie and me as they pierced blood sacks with their incisors and slurped down the contents. Instead, their gazes wandered to the jugulars of their tablemates in a way that made me think they much preferred drinking directly from a living source.
A tug on my hand made me turn away from the scene. My eyes met grey stony compassionate ones. It was the gargoyle from the cafeteria line. His brows dipped, the right one had a deep slash through it that I hadn’t noticed before.
“Stone will help. Watch.” The marble warrior gargoyle lowered himself to his knees setting his empty chalice to the side and placing his leather wrapped palms flat to the floor making his marble back into a makeshift bench.
“Sit,” he insisted in his gravelly voice.
My lips trembled in response to the unexpected kindness from a creature from whom I had least expected it. I had mistakenly assumed all gargoyles were cruel like Apollyon’s. Nodding once I sat and so did Millie following my lead. A couple of tears I couldn’t stop tracked down through the thick coating on my grimy face.
His back was cool beneath my legs. It felt like real marble, but it was smoother and suppler than Bast or the other gargoyles I had met. Despite the chill of our bench I felt something warm and inexplicable expand within my chest.
“Thank you,” I whispered my gratitude.
“You are welcome,” he replied even more softly.
The buzzer sounded and the doors to our windowless cell opened automatically the way I had gotten accustomed to them doing over the past nine days we had been at sea. Though it was before dawn I was already awake and had been that way for some time.
I wiped my wet cheeks leaving behind more stains on the pillow and climbed down from the top bunk still wearing the same torn and now filthy clothing I had been wearing since our capture.
“Millie, honey.” Her eyes were closed. Her blonde hair was tangled around her head. I had no brush to comb it, no water to wash her face. She looked so peaceful but I couldn’t let her stay in the room without me. I never let her out of my sight. It scared me what they might do to her if I weren’t around to protect her.
“Millie.” I gently shook her. Her eyes opened but she wasn’t all there, her mind remaining closed to me though I had tried over and over again to reach her. The familiar pang pierced my heart.
I awoke each and every day hoping she would be better, hoping she would smile and speak to me like she once had. I missed her voice and wanted to talk to her desperately. With Mamá and Papá gone, it was just Millie and me now. Who else could understand how I felt? Grief had settled heavily around my shoulders like a cloak made of iron that I couldn’t shed.
I forced the dark thoughts away. Endure. Move forward. The day of our twenty first birthdays and our full maturity to immortality was drawing closer. I hoped it would be my big chance. Our big chance, if only the fates would shine on us for a change. Until then I would continue to do whatever I had to.
I would do anything for her.
I leaned over and kissed her sweet forehead then hugged her light frame tight, wishing my love could magically draw her out from whatever place she had retreated inside her mind.
“Vamos, Millie.” My voice was husky betraying the tears clogging my throat when she opened her eyes and nothing had changed. I peeled back the covers I had placed over her the night before, took her hand and pulled her from her bed. “Let’s get up on deck. The moonlight will make you feel better.” I squeezed her hand and her fingers curled more firmly around mine. Reflex or not I wanted to believe it was a good sign, a sign of recovery. A sign that she was still in there. That she knew me. That she would come back.
She was all I had left.
Holding her hand, I led her out into the crowded ship corridor careful to avoid bumping into the others. We captives had little freedom so personal space was guarded with a rigid fervor. The floor swayed beneath the larger swells of the open ocean. Shuffling forward like zombies we followed the others up the stairs to the deck. No one spoke. The only sounds that broke our silent despair were our dull footfalls as we filed up the narrow staircase for the usual morning drill and berating by Delilah.
My heart felt like a shriveled organ inside my chest as I brought Millie to our designated spot within the clearing. I crisscrossed her legs for her and placed her hands palms up on her knees. Her impractical white shorts were mostly grey now. She looked like she was in some kind of yoga pose. All the prisoners adopted similar stances as we positioned ourselves to capture the energizing moonlight.
Most of the slaves were vampires, spawned ones created by the unchecked thirst of the Ancients or by other vampires. They had no wings and their skin blistered if exposed to the sun. They were strong and almost as fast as an Ancient, but unstable because few developed the discipline to limit their feedings to one source.
The next biggest faction among those captured were the demons and demonesses. Ram like black horns adorned the males. Smaller nubs on the females. I had learned to steer clear of both genders when their skin was flushed and the mating urge was upon them.
And the one lone gargoyle who except for that one time in the cafeteria had kept to himself. He seemed to prefer solitude.
Thirty of us in total remained though there had been more at the beginning of our voyage.
Every day was the same, up to the open deck to our assigned positions before the sunrise each of us trying to absorb as much of the waning moonlight as we could. Morning exercises, then chores until lunch and then more until dinner. All the while the ship chugged through the waves without sight of any land. Then off to our cabins for the night to sleep when Dark Immortals preferred to be awake. No showers. No fresh clothing. Not enough food to match the caloric demands of our daily labor. Depression set in and violent conflicts erupted often between prisoners. With the fighting, the moon deprivation and Delilah’s whip the attrition rate had been high.
I leaned to the side so that the moonbeams would fall more fully upon my twin. She needed them more than I did. Clothing rustled in the breeze as those around us adjusted their positions to maximize their exposure.
The moon fed us, the way the sun did for Light Immortals. It called us to rise each night and lack of it made our spirits and strength wane. Captivity was only exacerbating the effect.
“Seer!” Delilah’s manly voice called my name.
“Yes.” My wrung out heart stumbled wearily over the next beat. I kept my eyes downcast the way we had all learned to do. “Here. Present.” In body at least. My spirit felt as though it teetered on the brink of disappearance lately. I sucked in a deep gulp of salty air and tried to put my mind in a better place. A memory surfaced, my papá carrying me high up in the cloudless sky from the mainland of Puerto Rico over the turquoise ocean to the tiny island of Culebra to snorkel. My heart ached from the pang of a loss that seemed to grow rather than lessen with each passing day. If only I had been able to say goodbye. Tears burned my eyes. With my last bit of remaining strength, I forced them back.
Laveau had been right. I had seen it for myself. Perceived weakness of any sort was immediately exploited and not just by our captors.
A large pair of woven sandals appeared in front of my downcast
eyes. My heart rate increased. Through my lashes I could see the coiled whip that hung from her belt. I had never received a punishment from her but I had seen the results as she had directed her unbridled wrath on others.
Few survived it.
“You are particularly ripe today, Aguilera.” The guards behind her snickered.
Why wouldn’t she leave me alone? Every day was the same. She seemed to take particular pleasure in berating me over all the others.
She moved and my breath stalled in my lungs as she stopped in front of a more vulnerable target. “Aguilera M.,” she announced shoving Millie in the chest with her sandaled foot. Millie wobbled but didn’t make a sound. “Pathetic and weak.” The Amazon mannish features twisted in disgust. “This has gone on long enough.” She turned to the guard. “Take this broken one away.”
“No,” I pleaded sliding in front of my sister. “Please, no.” I looked up. Impassive faces stared back at me. But out of the corner of my eye I saw a form on the upper deck where none had been before.
Leonardo Avignon.
A commanding figure, his unyielding visage seemed to part the wind.
“Eyes down, seer.” Crack. The whip struck my face and I bit my tongue tasting blood and feeling a searing pain so intense that my vision blurred.
Psycho Blonde came forward and clipped the obsidian collar around Millie’s delicate neck. Millie’s hands came up and she clawed at it desperately making a whimpering sound low in her throat.
“No!” I came unhinged. My eye glow grew to a smoking inferno, my vision going completely red. A roar filled my ears so loud that I didn’t even register the murmur of protest from the other prisoners. I just knew I couldn’t let them take her. “No, no, no,” I sobbed throwing my arms around her. The salt in my tears stung like fire when they encountered the raw groove in my skin that the whip had laid open.
Crack. Crack. Crack. Three searing blows in rapid succession. Then more. Many more. Too many to count. My body jerked beneath the force of each one. Fire erupted everywhere the razor cord sliced into my flesh. She focused most of her ire on the center of my back right between my shoulder blades where I was the most vulnerable, arms and legs receiving only the trailing end of each fiery lash.
Dream Magic Page 5
