Russian Roulette (Helena Hawthorn Series Book 1)

by May Freighter

  “What’s wrong?” she asked Laura.

  “The food has arrived. I called and knocked but—” Laura pushed her way into the room and closed the door behind her. “What were you reading?”

  Helena thought of a response, something that wouldn’t make Laura think she was insane for leafing through strange notebooks. “Just something I found in the attic the other day.”

  Laura’s lips formed into a sly smile. “I bet your mum’s romantic escapades are written in it.”

  Laura was a good friend, but sometimes, her curiosity could lead her to do things that invaded the privacy of others. Helena knew Laura wouldn’t be able to read it. That alone wouldn’t stop her. With the internet and online software, anything could be translated. So, Helena played along. “It’s embarrassing.”

  “I knew it!” Laura strode over, her hand outstretched towards where the journal lay.

  Helena shot up, her hands clamped on Laura’s shoulders. “The food will get cold.”

  “Fine, but you’re going to tell me the dirty details later.”

  “Sure.” She pushed her friend out of the room and called out to Michael with her mind.

  He replied in an instant. “Has something happened? You sound upset.”

  “We’re going to have to talk about what’s inside that journal, and soon.”

  2

  Domain of Fates

  Night came. To her knowledge, everyone else was asleep. She paced around the bed with her arms crossed and her mind working overtime.

  “What are you trying to say?” she asked Michael.

  He didn’t reply and looked at her as if he was in pain.

  “Is this another secret you can’t tell me about? He’s my real dad. If he’s been taken by the monster mentioned in grandmother’s journal, I have to know—” She blinked away the tears. “—there’s a chance he didn’t abandon us…”

  “Helena,” Michael began in a soothing tone.

  She threw her hands up in the air. “Don’t try to calm me and tell me how to find him!” Biting back a curse, she reminded herself to be quiet, which was becoming difficult with each passing second. She took a few calming breaths. “Please, tell me something. Anything!”

  “Lie down.”

  She shook her head. “I’m not in the mood for relaxation.”

  “If you wish to know where he is that badly, I can’t stop you. I will help you, but you must pay attention.”

  Helena’s eyes narrowed. She studied his poker face. As usual, he left no indicators to tell whether this was some kind of ploy to get her to relax and fall asleep or if he meant what he said. After mulling things over, she decided to listen to him and flopped on the soft linen sheets.

  “Close your eyes,” Michael said.

  “What will that accomplish?”

  He vanished and spoke in her mind. “You must heed my guidance without question.”

  Helena bit her lower lip and did as she was told.

  “Now concentrate on my voice and visualise your whole body inside of a bubble, or anything that makes you feel safe.”

  Within seconds, she imagined a steel sphere. An air bubble didn’t give her any security. She hovered in its confining bounds while unnerving darkness encircled her. Being suspended in mid-air made her uneasy, so she used the same principles and conjured a chequered floor beneath her feet.

  Michael appeared next to her. His body emitted a faint glow that soothed her nerves.

  “What is this for?” she asked.

  “This is a mental shield. It will protect you.”

  “Protect me from what?”

  “It’s dark in here,” he said, “try creating some light.”

  Helena glared at him but didn’t press him further, afraid he would change his mind and stop helping her. If doing this could be considered as help. She took a deep breath and concentrated once again. This time, luminosity flooded in from above.

  Michael moved closer to the wall and, not wanting to stay behind, she did the same. He touched the smooth surface, speaking each syllable with care. “It seems you prefer metal as your guard. Many others use elements or towering fortresses to protect themselves. Some even erect multiple layers, which we should work on later.”

  She tried wrapping her brain around his explanation. More questions arose. “Who would create such things?”

  Michael’s big, warm hand landed on her head, and he showed a ghost of a smile.

  Her eyes bulged out of their sockets. “You can touch me?”

  “Your body is tied to your physical plane, and there I can do nothing. Here, your mind is crossing into one of the planes where I can reach you,” he replied. His expression grew serious. “I’m not the only one who can get to you out here, which is why I asked you to design your own layer of protection. It will use some of your energy to maintain, so don’t be surprised if you grow tired.”

  “Okay, so what’s next?”

  “Take my hand, and we will travel to my realm. You must stay close to me. Otherwise, I cannot mask your presence.”

  She placed her hand in his, and he closed his slender fingers. The air sizzled with energy as it cloaked around them.

  In one swift gesture, Michael drew her into an embrace. A second later, the shields melted away, and they arrived in an enormous chamber with tall ivory pillars climbing upwards. A giant messy web of intertwined, multi-coloured threads formed the “ceiling”. On the ground, they were arranged into neat, endless rows held in place by golden weaving racks. The shiny ebony floor gave a resemblance of an inverted mirror by reflecting the entirety of the chamber.

  She drew away from him and gaped at their surroundings. “Where are we?”

  “Angel Realm, the Domain of Fates.”

  Helena tore her eyes away from the colourful web. “What if someone finds us here? Won’t you get in trouble?”

  “This place is no longer in use by the Gods.”

  “Gods? There’s more than one? I guess knowing that would make a lot of religions sad.”

  Michael admired the ceiling with a hidden emotion she couldn’t place. “There was once one creator. He existed for so long even he forgot his origins. He split into many lesser deities to experience more things at the same time. To him sex, age, skin colour, even what he was, didn’t seem to matter.” His words lost their warmth. “It is the final outcome that’s important—a lesson to be learned.”

  To her left, a grey strand vibrated. She reached out to touch it, but Michael moved to stand in her way, shaking his head.

  “No touching.”

  She frowned. “Why not? It’s just a string.”

  “Those are not strings. They are links to different beings on the planet.”

  Taken aback, Helena lost her ability to speak. He couldn’t be serious. She twirled around, taking a better look at the threads on the other side. White was the most common colour. A few grey, black, and red peeked out between them. In the distance, a golden string stood out amidst its monochrome neighbours like a beacon. She squinted to try to make out anything past that, but they dissolved into a white fog, too thick for her to see through.

  “What do the colours mean?”

  Michael studied her eager expression and sighed. “White is a normal human. A shade of grey stands for a person influenced by or used by darkness, or it could be a form of a supernatural being. Black colour belongs to dark creatures such as soul eaters, certain demons, monsters that should never be encountered in your realm.”

  She pointed to a string and made her way towards it. “What about the golden one over there?”

  “Saints,” he said as if the word explained itself.

  “What are they? Holy people?”

  “I will speak no further about the matter.”

  Helena bit her lip. She wanted to know more. This whole experience was different to anything she had ever done, yet, at the back of her mind, something bothered her. It was as if she was forgetting something.

  A blood-red thread stuck out
in the row of white and grey. “What about the red?”

  “Vampires,” Michael spat out the term as if it was something disgusting.

  The scarlet cord held her attention. The strange energy pulsed through it. Helena read a lot of stories about folklore and mythical creatures, none of which fascinated her as much as the blood-drinking beings. At last, she had a chance to learn more about Michael’s world.

  As she drew closer, she realised it wasn’t plain red. Rich, crimson liquid coursed the string’s length without losing a single drop to gravity.

  “Remember, Helena, no touching.”

  She didn’t seem to care for his words. In that moment, nothing else mattered. The string called to her, urged for her to take it, to have her fingers test its texture. Her skin started tingling, and she reached out.

  Michael’s heavy hand landed on her shoulder, bringing her out of a dream-like state. “Perhaps we should return.”

  “No!” she shouted.

  Surprised by her outburst, Helena ducked her head in shame. What’s wrong with me? The whole room buzzed with life. Thinking became a chore and once her eyes focused, she saw her string sticking out of her gut. It seemed paler against the other whites and didn’t shoot upwards like the rest. She stroked it, revelling in the silky feel.

  “What happens when two strings touch?”

  Michael eyed the ceiling. “It adds an encounter.”

  “And who decides that?”

  “Fates.”

  “But you said no one used this place anymore. How—”

  Michael’s expression grew dark as if remembering something painful. “They were banished to the Human Realm a long time ago. Since then, things remain as the Gods wish for them to happen.”

  Helena glanced back at the thread connected to a vampire somewhere on the planet. Would we meet if our strings touched? She shook her head. That wasn’t important right now. The reason they came here was to try to find her father.

  Her mother insisted he left them, but Helena never believed it. What if something bad had happened to him because of the darkness described in grandmother’s journal? If vampires and other supernatural beings were real, there was a chance her grandmother wasn’t insane like her mother wanted her to believe. There was a possibility he was taken from them. She needed to know the truth.

  “What about my dad? How do we find him?”

  Michael seemed to think about it. “I will begin the search for his soul. Wait here and do not touch anything.”

  He made his way back to the entrance. As the distance between them grew, a feminine voice whispered something like a chant at the back of her head.

  Her body stiffened, and as if possessed, she grabbed the blood-red string. A chill rushed through her, raising the fine hairs on her arms and neck. The energy bordering the link was nothing compared to what surged through its core. It invaded her against her will.

  “Helena, no!” Michael yelled.

  But it was too late.

  The chamber became a background noise, leaving behind an urge to unite the strings. When she understood what she had done, her white link had already wrapped itself around the vampire’s.

  Her heartbeat thudded in her ribcage and her vision dissipated. A powerful wave of alien energy fought its way through the bond which appeared like a red-and-white bow. She clasped her hand over her burning chest. Every part of her body hurt but didn’t at the same time.

  An eternal minute later, her knees give way and the last thing she remembered was a sturdy pair of arms catching her fall.

  The clock on her nightstand told her that it was two in the morning. She sat up, switched on the lamp, and rubbed her face with her hands. Michael had played her. The Angel Realm and her mental shields had to be a dream. He must have used some kind of trick to get her to relax long enough to drift off.

  Was it a dream? She winced as a pounding headache kept knocking on her skull with a hammering force.

  “Michael?” she called out, needing answers.

  Helena drew in a breath and prepared to call out again when he materialised. His expression forced her to shut her mouth. Outrage glistened in his eyes. And, if whatever happened was real, he had the right to be mad. She had ignored his request to not touch anything. But, it wasn’t like she had a choice. Her body moved by itself.

  “Michael, I—”

  “I don’t have much time to sit here discussing things with you, Helena. It was a mistake bringing you along. I should have gone by myself. What you—” He paused as if searching for the right word. “—did, should have never happened.”

  Helena massaged her temples, hoping to soothe the ache inside. It was similar to the first hangover she got on her sixteenth birthday when Laura bet her she could drink more. Even then, her friend emerged victorious.

  “I’m sorry I did that. I-I wasn’t myself. It was as if—”

  “No need for excuses. I must go. We will deal with the mess you’ve caused later.” He vanished.

  Helena crawled out of bed. His stinging words unsettled her heart. She knew it was her fault for what happened, yet she didn’t do it on purpose.

  Leaving her room in search of some aspirin, she edged down the hall. The living room’s lamplight misted in from below, causing her to pause. Everyone had to go to college in the morning. It didn’t make sense for someone to stay up.

  Her headache forgotten, she tiptoed to the staircase and peered over the bannister. She entertained the thought it could be a vampire waiting for her. Rationalisation banished the idiotic idea of a possible intruder who by no means could locate her. The strings created an encounter. It wasn’t a tracking device. Or, so she hoped.

  The soles of her bare feet stung from the icy metal steps. Halfway down, she made a mental note to buy some slippers for the apartment when she got the chance. With her attention on the gleam, she cursed for thinking it could be a blood-sucking monster when Andrew came into view. He sat on the sofa with an opened book on his lap.

  “You’re still up?” she asked.

  Andrew’s head jerked in her direction. “God, don’t creep up on me, Thorn. You know I have a weak heart.”

  Helena rolled her eyes. He was a sports freak and played on multiple teams in school. She never understood the fascination with running around a field after a ball in sweaty uniforms. As a contrast to him and Laura, she hated exercise and anything associated with it.

  Andrew shut the book and deposited it on the coffee table. It wasn’t what she expected. She assumed he was reading comics or something even less mentally stimulating, not a volume on finance.

  He ambled over and lifted her head with a gentle touch. “You look pale, you should go back to sleep.”

  The earlier conversation with Laura came flooding back, and her cheeks flushed red. Without realising it, she took a step back.

  Andrew scratched the back of his head and shifted his weight from one leg to the other. “Ah, Laura has already talked to you about…um…that.”

  Helena’s mind raced as she struggled to find the right words. Did she need to give him her reply now or was there a certain amount of time she had to think about the issue? Could she answer him?

  “Helena, I didn’t ask you myself because I didn’t want to put you on the spot, or maybe it’s because I am a coward. I don’t know. What I do know is I like you and have liked you for quite some time.”

  He wasn’t wearing his cheesy smile. He seemed sincere, and it made her feel something—her heart constricted as if wishing to pause in anticipation of what was to come.

  “Andrew, I-I don’t know.”

  His hair danced on his forehead as he closed the gap between them. “Take your time to think about it.”

  Her breath caught when she became aware of how green his eyes were and how smooth his clean-shaven face appeared. She fought the urge to touch his cheek to test her theory for herself.

  “Promise me you will think about it,” he said.

  Her mouth went dry so, instead of saying
anything, she gave him a quick nod.

  With a boyish grin, Andrew patted her on her head as he often did with Laura. “Don’t stay up late, Thorn.”

  She frowned when he left. He returned to his normal self in a split second whereas she stayed lost in her thoughts.

  Helena placed her hand over her excited heart and imagined what it would be like to date him. Although he seemed laid back about his studies, seeing him reading his coursework prior to the term’s beginning told her that he was anything but incompetent. He also seemed to have a serious side which never surfaced until now. And, the way he watched her tonight was not the same way he regarded other girls. He wasn’t kidding, and it scared her.

  For lunch, she met with Laura in an on-campus coffee shop. It was full of cheerful banter and loud conversations Helena tried her best to ignore. She closed her eyes to enjoy the scent of a freshly brewed macchiato in her hands. Ever since she woke up, a chill clung to her.

  Laura sighed. “Are you even listening to me?”

  Helena glanced up as her friend bit into her ham and cheese sandwich. Breadcrumbs scattered on Laura’s navy voile shirt, and she brushed them away with a flick of her hand.

  “I can see that talking about my day has bored you senseless, so tell me about yours.”

  “Nothing happened. Lectures, new lecturers, and an excess of people, that’s the best way I can describe my day.”

  Tilting her head to one side, Laura said, “With me and Andrew as your best friends, I thought you’d have learned how to make a friend or two. What are you waiting for?”

  Helena tried thinking of a good enough excuse to get Laura off her back. The arguments she could use seemed either insignificant or something her friend would immediately counter.

  “See, even you can’t think of a reason for not making new pals!”

  Helena lifted her hands in defeat. “Alright, I will try to talk to people tomorrow.”

  Laura put her sandwich on her plate and stared at her. “Tomorrow?”