Handlers of Dragons

by Kim Cormack

  She’d responded to her thoughts again. Kayn quipped, “Touch my Handler again and I’ll tear you to pieces. Have I made that clear enough for you?”

  “Oh, there’s no need for me to mess up a hair on that young hotties head,” Marisa clarified. “Word gets around awfully fast in our community. All you have to do is create one of those orbs and send us all back through the Hall of Souls for a fresh start.”

  She wasn’t allowed to do that. Kayn replied, “I’m afraid you’ve been given some faulty information.”

  Marisa picked up a walkie talkie, pressed the button and said, “She says, she can’t do it.”

  On the screen, Abaddon’s thug lit a match and held it over top of her squirming terrified Handler. He spoke aloud, “Shall I drop it?”

  Zach’s fear concerned her. Yes, they all had sensitive scenarios but she felt like there was more going on here... Something, she wasn’t seeing. “No! No, don’t! Give me a second!” Kayn bartered. She’d healed herself from death twice in the last hour. She was so gapped out. I guess being shot twice in the head came with a few glitches. It felt like crickets were chirping away where thoughts should be. She was touching Grey. She could inconspicuously drain him of energy so she’d have enough strength to break the chains. Kayn tried to connect with the small of his back. The first euphoric wave of his life force travelled up her arms causing the fine hairs to stand on end. It gathered in her chest and her foggy brain focused. She broke free and in a flash, she had one of Marisa’s men by the throat.

  “Simmer down sweetheart,” Abaddon’s lady boss asserted, “I’ll tell him to drop the match. You know your little friend there, doesn’t want to have to find a new body.”

  The instinct to protect her Handler at any cost left her feeling confused. She hadn’t been immortal long enough to know if she was telling the truth and Grey was out cold. She was going to be eighty before she saw Frost again if she kept breaking the rules. What did she have to lose now? It was going to be months before she saw him. Kayn released Marisa’s demonic thug and shoved him to the ground as she bargained, “I’ll do it but Grey goes first. I’ll also need to see the other’s freed.”

  “Excellent!” Marisa remarked. “I knew you seemed like an intelligent girl.” She pressed the button on the radio and clarified he would be released as soon as the duty was completed.

  This felt too easy. A woman marched out pushing another rolling table with a dagger on it. She’d seen that symbol before.

  Marisa directed, “Make a ball of energy and place it in the blade.”

  “I don’t know how to do that?” Kayn rebutted.

  “Okay, let’s put a time limit on this.” She pressed the button and ordered, “Start burying the boy!”

  They began burying her Handler, a shovel load at a time. Kayn calmly asserted, “I really don’t know how to do it but I will try. I also told you, they must be released first. Don’t think I won’t kill you.”

  Marisa replied, “I wouldn’t be that foolish. Just like I wouldn’t be idiotic enough to detain you all in the same place. There’s an easy fix to this. Put the energy into the blade and I’ll release your friends.”

  As Kayn stepped closer to the blade, Kevin’s voice rang out in her head, ‘No! Don’t do it! We’re here! We have the others! You can’t arm that weapon! Take yourself out!’ She paused, confused as to how Kevin’s voice was in her head. She was part Guardian. Maybe, that was why? Perhaps, it was because he was the original choice for her Handler? Could she trust him? She looked at the screen. Zach was still being buried. It didn’t look like anyone was there to free him. She took another step closer, without her eyes leaving the blade on the table for a millisecond. Kevin’s voice whispered in her mind, ‘Do you remember when we were thirteen and we were caught sneaking your dad’s homemade beer out of your carport? I told your dad it was all me. I said it was my idea and you didn’t even know I had it. I promised you I would always have your back. Please, believe in me now.’ Kayn stopped, looked at her captors and said, “I’ll do it but let Grey go first.”

  Marisa nodded her silent agreement as Kayn turned around, strolled back to Grey and slipped her hands beneath his shirt. She felt the heat of her healing energy as it travelled down her arms into his chest. Grey’s eyes opened. He gasped as Kayn leaned in and ripped off his restraints. She kissed his cheek and whispered, “Go with it.” With icy resolve, Kayn turned to face their captors. Everyone was scrambling around? On the screen Zach was being saved by Triad. Kevin was telling the truth. She couldn’t let them take her.

  Marisa came at her with her gun drawn. She announced, “Well, it appears that we’ve lost some of our bartering tools but I still have one person you care about.”

  It was sacrificial lamb time. Kayn removed the pack of matches from her bra, struck one and exclaimed, “I’ve covered myself in accelerant and you’ve pissed me off.” She lit herself on fire as a glorious blazing F-U to Abaddon. She became an inferno of agony. Her senses were shrieking as Grey took her hand and sucked the flames into himself with a deep breath. He used his ability to spray fire from his free hand, scorching every Abaddon in the room. Some managed to dive out of the way and scamper out of the barn.

  With Marisa’s mortal shell fully engulfed in flames, she emptied her gun’s chamber into Grey. He crumpled to the floor, breaking their connection. Marisa grasped Kayn’s charcoaled sizzling blistered arms as she breathlessly hissed, “Send me through the hall of souls!”

  Kayn coldly stated, “Never.” She sunk to her knees as the pain abruptly ceased. Kayn raised her eyes to the door and locked eyes with Kevin’s as she lost consciousness.

  Chapter 9

  Kevin of Triad

  KEVIN SPENT THE FIRST year of his immortality blissfully unaware of who he was or what he’d given up. He wasn’t stupid. He knew his memory had been erased because he couldn’t recall a thing before coming to Triad. With the help of his inner voice, he managed to fit in. It may seem a little odd to just go with it while listening to a female voice in your head but the girl who called herself Winnie had never steered him wrong. He’d managed to form a reasonably strong bond with his grandfather, who was the leader of the clan and Kevin did whatever he was ordered to do, without question. In no time at all, he’d become Tiberius’s shining prodigy. The others often referred to him as the Prince of Triad and it made him feel important but every so often, he felt the emptiness of something missing. He knew he had suffered a loss... he just wasn’t sure who...

  Thankfully, Kevin managed to make a few friends along the way. Patrick and Stephanie became his closest companions. The trio lived life to it’s hedonistic fullest as any self loathing immortals would do. They were always there to secretly console each other whenever life in Triad became too dark. Eventually, his relationship with Stephanie became something more and Kevin was plagued with unexplainable guilt. Instinct urged him to slow the intimate part of their relationship down. He was relieved when she seemed quite content keeping it casual. The trio stuck together through the utter insanity of that first year. Their training was harrowing to say the least. There was definitely no room for an operational moral compass in Triad. Every day, Kevin embraced his shady duties, while being continuously reminded by Winnie that longterm survival was his objective. Each night as Kevin slept, he dreamt of a girl with a smile that defrosted his soul. This intoxicating stranger with curly blonde locks gave his spirit new light and made him feel resilient enough to withstand the trials of Triad. He awoke each morning, longing for the dreams to continue and they did, for nearly a year.

  Kevin had been coping with the stresses of Triad rather well until he ran into the girl from his dreams at the track that day. The sight of her shook his world and snuffed out all sense of reason...She was real. He couldn’t believe it. Captivated by his fantasy, he watched her sprinting around the track but when their eyes met, she wiped out. Kevin raced to her aid and as he took her hand to help her up, he was instantly enamoured. He wasn’t one to be mushy a
nd sentimental but he was one-hundred percent certain she meant something to him. The glorious euphoria was followed by a gut punch as he saw the brand of Ankh on her palm. It was self preservation that urged him to be a bit of a dick as he let her go. As he walked away, he had to actually fight against the instinct to turn back. She was real. In an instant, Kevin’s afterlife changed and he couldn’t just pretend there was nothing before Triad anymore.

  Winnie’s voice kept urging him to keep his distance so he remained by Patrick and Stephanie’s side as they joined their clan by the school. As the girl of his dreams strolled past with a blonde guy, jealousy surged within him. Tiberius began messing with the guy named Grey, calling him his brother from down under. Grey directed part of the conversation to Kevin, making it more than obvious that they knew each other. Tiberius turned his sights to the blonde girl, she had this witty somewhat naughty interaction with his grandfather that left him feeling even more intrigued. As she walked away, visions of her invaded his system like a plague. Later that day they ran into each other down by the water. She was standing on the dock with her clan wearing granny panties and a bra. They were all jumping into the freezing cold lake. He was ready to just chuck it all and wave his flag of surrender. He had to know the truth. Later that day, he questioned Tiberius about his memory being erased and much to his surprise his grandfather gave him the truth. Tiberius told him he’d erased his memory so he wouldn’t be forced to carry the pain of losing the love of his life. With his reaction to Kayn, it made sense. His grandfather gave him a pep talk about wasting his time and hers, because they were in different clans. By the time Tiberius had finished his explanation, Kevin felt compelled to do Kayn a service by letting her go.

  Kevin wasn’t sure why he went to the track that night. Perhaps, it was to make peace within himself but when Kayn raced into his arms, he instinctually opened them. Her hair smelled of apples and her skin like coconuts. Holding her felt so familiar and right. The emotion in her eyes reached right down into his soul and made him want to do right by her. She was in pain. Losing him had obviously been difficult. His grandfather’s words leapt out of his mouth and the more she tried to bargain with him, the more he fought against what his heart wanted and pushed her away. Kevin spent the rest of the evening feeling both confused and guilt ridden over his behaviour. He dreamt of her and the visions were so intoxicatingly beautiful that he awoke desperate to know more about her even if it was the wrong thing to do.

  Kevin only saw her in passing that day because his clan was busy training but that night they all attended a banquet together and he knew he was going to bump into her. He spent the beginning of the evening struggling to keep himself from even looking at her but it proved to be rather difficult because she looked like a naughty librarian. He tried to concentrate on his friends but everything about her was intriguing. Each time she smiled his eyes were drawn to her. He’d quickly look away so Kayn wouldn’t catch him staring. Her presence felt like the warmth of sunshine on his soul. His grandfather involved him in a few of his Ankh involved shenanigans that evening, calling him over to her table and introducing him as his grandson. With the music and wine everyone loosened up. They were dancing and having a good time together regardless of their clan. He wanted to go over to Kayn’s table and apologize for the way he’d treated her at the track but decided against it. She had all but pledged her eternal devotion to him last night but there was obviously something going on between her and Frost. A guy who was ironically his uncle. Watching her trying to move on felt like a gut punch. His attention was drawn to Tiberius. He was chatting with an absolutely beautiful girl from Ankh. He knew who the girl was, they’d all heard the story of the Brother’s of Prophecy. He was sort of paying attention when he was pulled into their rather diabolical plot. Kayn’s own clan wanted Kevin to kill her during the Testing, hoping it would traumatize her enough to trigger her abilities. Patrick was in the same situation and if he could do something to help his friend, he would but killing a girl who’d loved him was wrong. He already felt guilty enough that he couldn’t remember the details of their relationship. He had no intention of following through with it of course because in this situation it was just wrong. He saw her later that evening getting a foot massage on the couch from his uncle and his suspicions were confirmed. It stung way more than it made sense to admit. After seeing her with Frost, he started drinking heavily and the rest of the evening was a blur.

  The next day when Kevin awoke, he noticed his cell blinking on the night stand. There was a text telling him to make sure he didn’t get too attached. Everyone else had left for the Summit or gone into town and his usual bedmates were nowhere to be found. They must have had a good night. He was sitting at the table having a coffee when he had a flash of a memory with two blonde haired little girls spinning around in someone’s front yard with bubbles floating in the air around them. He wasn’t sure what it meant but as he reached for the cabin door he had another flicker of the past. He had Kayn pinned against the bathroom counter and they were in the middle of the steamiest make out session. He carried her into the bedroom with her legs wrapped around his waist and dropped her as a man opened the door. They were laughing after he closed it. Were these real memories or was his mind playing tricks on him? They’d been left at the camp alone with the other’s who were heading into their Testing. He’d been having these sexy visions of Kayn and with his uncle gone, there was nobody in their way. He went to find her. What could it hurt to just take this out for a spin?Maybe it would give her closure? There was no way in hell he was going to be able to force himself to stay away if he kept having these naughty visions.

  During that week more breadcrumbs of memories returned and even though he didn’t have the full picture in his mind, his heart did. They spent their days blissfully living in the moment but each night as he slept, his dreams showed him how killing Kayn during the Testing would ensure her survival. The closer they became the more confusion he felt over what he was being instructed to do. Kayn was so funny and smart. She knew all kinds of random facts about really peculiar things. She was endearingly clumsy and he was desperate to continue being close to her even if it came with a few bruises. He couldn’t bring himself to take her virginity even though he wanted her more than he ever recalled wanting anyone because her love for him was grown during a mortal life he’d only managed to remember slivers of. Each time the guilt began to overwhelm him, he’d try to talk some sense into her and pull away but every time she agreed, he selfishly couldn’t let her go. By the end of their week together, Kevin was head over heels in love with her and what he wanted ceased to be of any importance. She didn’t have any abilities and most of the others were going into the Testing well armed. Kayn was going to die in there, unless he was willing to sacrifice what was left of his humanity to save her. Kevin knew this... He ripped off the bandaid the night before the others were scheduled to return and said goodbye. It was time for the Testing and he planned to trade what little of his humanity remained for her survival. She was going to despise him for a long time and it would tear him apart but if she survived, it would be worth it.

  The next day, when the other’s returned, they were led away from the campground and brought through their Triad tombs into another realm. In the blink of an eye, Kevin was standing on the top of a New York City sized floating crypt. He could see Stephanie, Patrick and the other Triad. They were all a good fifty feet apart. This crypt was intimidating and he couldn’t really explain why but it felt alive.

  Tiberius started to speak, “I know you feel like you’ve created bonds but trust me, they are no longer your friends. Kill everything that moves in there. The other clans have been instructed to do the same. Find Triad and stay with them. You can only make it out if you remain together. If you want the girl to survive this, kill her and walk away. You have to concentrate on getting out with your clan. They’ll be looking to you for leadership. Good luck.”

  Kevin dropped into the crypt and landed with a spla
sh. After being eaten by sharks and repeatedly drowned, he was flushed out of the bottom of one chamber into another. He managed to climb through an opening in the wall as the water rose into a dry chamber. The wall slid shut leaving him alone in the dark. He had to find his clan. He heard multiple growls as dozens of oval glowing yellow eyes opened. Well, shit! This can’t be good. Before he could even think of a way to escape he was being savagely torn apart. He heard his own high pitched shrieks as though they were coming from someone else and then there was nothing.

  He awoke in a different room just as the wall slid open. He scrambled to his feet as a couple Trinity charged him, weapons brandished. He maneuvered out of their way, evasively dodging each swing of their swords. Kevin held up his hands and explained his predicament, “I know we’re supposed to fight but I just got in here. It’s not exactly fair, I don’t even have a weapon.”

  A Trinity boy, he’d gotten to know quite well during the last week coldly replied, “Fair? Really? Thank Stephanie,” as he swung his sword, lopping off Kevin’s arm at his shoulder.

  What? Why? In shock, Kevin stood there watching the blood spurt in long pronounced bursts, as the other Trinity drove a sword into his heart. Blood sputtered from his lips as he staggered backwards and crumpled to the floor.

  He woke up with his nerve endings jangling in what appeared to be the same stone cell like room. There was blood everywhere. His blood. Don’t think about it. Do not think about that. Kevin leapt up and whirled around with his heart palpitating like a kick drum in his chest. It hurt. Was he having a stroke? Why was his chest burning?Oh, yes...The blood. He’d been stabbed in the heart. Did those assholes really just chop off his arm? He felt his shoulder and exhaled, relieved to find it was still there. Paranoia took over as he whirled around, watching the walls trying to preempt a redo of what just happened. He was dizzy. He staggered but managed to regain his footing. How many times had he died? That was his blood. It was everywhere. He had to snap out of this or he wasn’t going to make it back to his own clan. He thought of Kayn and saw a foggy image. He could see her. She was running through the maze. Kevin’s knees buckled as an excruciating wave of agony unlike anything he’d ever experienced imploded within his brain. He was on the floor, squirming and writhing in agony as the fire beneath his temples raged. What was this? Kayn crossed his mind. His breathing calmed as he thought of her wide loving smile. The way it felt to hold her in his arms and how her lips felt against his. How much he loved everything about her. This time the vision of her was crystal clear and painless. He had to keep an eye on her but first things first... a weapon. Kevin began sprinting through each wall of stone that preemptively moved by itself as though it was running on motion sensors. He took a blade from the next Trinity he bumped into. Kevin fought to remain on task while having frequent vivid flashes of his mortal life. He was remembering everything, just a little too late for it to matter. As a wall slid away revealing Zach, he attacked him. Kayn was crouched in the corner. He wasn’t ready to do it. He kept track of her for a while, always maintaining his distance. They’d already said their goodbyes. He’d only confuse things by approaching her. Another vision of Triad at a banquet flashed through his mind. Kevin snapped back to reality. It would be helpful if these abilities came with instructions. Winnie’s words replayed in his mind, ‘She only survives if you kill her.’ Kevin wasn’t even remotely paying attention as he strolled through a sliding wall into the middle of a Triad, Trinity knife fight. He’d found his clan. The Triad battled their way through the Testing in a haze of excruciating pain and violence. Stephanie jumped on board with the darkest of the Triad, because torture was her thing. He knew this...They dated. Eventually it was just a blur of monsters, violence and artery spray. In the midst of the carnage, he became separated from his clan. He’d been on his own for a while when he came upon Kayn sitting by a fountain. What was she doing? Everything gathers around a watering hole. She was perched on the ledge fishing around in the water. She found a sword. Good for her. For a moment it was as though time stood still and he forgot everything but how she made him feel. In another life she’d be his wife and he’d spend the rest of his days doing nothing but striving to see her smile. Flashes of their mortality brought him back to their last encounter as they were forced to part ways standing in the sand of the in-between crying while clinging to each other. He recalled trying to memorize the placement of each freckle so he’d never forget and he hadn’t, not completely. He’d felt her love for him in his dreams before he ever knew who she was. He’d counted her freckles as he slept and always longed to touch her hand. His heart had remembered her even though the memories had been erased. Killing her would destroy him. How was he going to do this? He heard a muffled conversation. Someone was coming. Kayn was oblivious. Damn it. She had to get down. He grabbed a ceramic bowl and rifled it at her intending to warn her. He smoked her square on the noggin. Shit! Stunned, Kayn stumbled around while attempting to wield her newfound sword in her defence. He sprinted to her aid. Out of breath, he shoved her down, pinned her to the floor and covered her mouth so she couldn’t scream. Kayn began struggling. Kevin hissed, “Damn it Brighton. Just stay the hell down.” He heard the clashing of swords and leapt up, fully prepared to fight. Plot twist, Trinity was having a tiff. They were fighting each other. He was standing there completely unnoticed. Kayn raced into an open sleep chamber while he was dumbfounded by interclan battle. A door slid shut. Without using a speck of common sense, he went after her. He placed his hand against the stone, certain she wouldn’t allow him in. Shit! They noticed him. He was seriously outnumbered. This was going to suck. The wall slid open and he slipped inside. It shut a millisecond before they reached it. They stared at each other, just breathing. “Why in the hell did you let me in?” Kevin whispered. “You know you’re not supposed to let me in,” Kevin reprimanded as he paced back and forth, avoiding eye contact. He stopped moving, turned to face her and scolded, “We are supposed to be enemies. They could be watching us right now.”