by Abel, Regine
Something was coming towards me. Something that sounded like an incoming Swarm.
“Oh God!” I whispered, my insides twisting with terror.
Leaning on the cold, cement wall for support, I scrambled to my bare feet and started running. The slapping of my footsteps on the hard surface, and my short, panicked breathing, resounded much too loudly in my ears. The Swarm appeared to hear it as well and doubled its speed, the clicking coming fast and furious behind me.
“God, help me! Please, help me!”
The words didn’t come out of my mouth, too busy drawing in what breath I could, but played in an endless loop in my head. My legs felt heavy, weighed down by invisible chains. The solid floor turned to sharp grains of glassy sand, stabbing the flat of my bare feet and making it harder for me to advance. Tears blurred my vision when the corridor ahead appeared to stretch endlessly, the light moving farther away from me the faster I ran.
Legs and lungs burning, I didn’t think I would have the strength to continue much longer. Fighting the urge to look over my shoulder, I pressed on, knowing this to be a losing battle. The giant bugs were right behind me. Any second now, they would spear me with the spiked limbs that served them as hands.
Something razor sharp slashed through the diaphanous baby doll I wore, grazing the skin of my back. I screamed in pain and terror. Eyes widening with horror, I watched the floor rush at me as I lost my footing. Rather than the painful impact I’d expected against the prickly grains the floor had turned into, my body passed right through it. I tumbled into an endless void, free falling towards God only knew what.
The ground suddenly appeared out of thin air, barely five meters beneath me. My scream died in a painful huff as I crashed violently against a murky surface. With the wind knocked out of me, I remained still, gasping for air.
My stomach churned, and I gagged at the stench of death and decay. Gingerly pushing myself up on trembling arms, I took in my surroundings with dread. Dozens of Swarm Drone larvae fed on human bodies—half of their victims dead, the others soon to be. One of them was a young man with tears running down his cheeks, his mouth opened in a silent cry of agony as a fat larva fed on his leg. A short distance ahead, a fully mature Drone lay more eggs. It resembled an obsidian, giant mouse spider with the upper body of a praying mantis on steroids.
I’d landed in a freaking Breeding Swamp. The Kryptids dumped living beings—preferably people—in warm, dark, and humid rooms such as this one. The victims, like that poor man, were implanted with a Mexlar Dispenser which released, at regular intervals, a paralytic agent and nutrients into their system to keep them alive until the larvae hatched so that, while completely helpless, they could be eaten alive.
Everyone here was beyond help. I couldn’t even put that man out of his misery, unarmed as I was. And even if I had wanted to, I would only draw the attention of the hungry larvae and their ‘mother’ to me. As if that thought had brought me to its attention, the Drone lifted its head, its multifaceted eyes zeroing in on me. Its mandibles clicked and, with a swipe of one of its legs, it dropped the egg it had been laying.
‘Run!’
Pushing off the ground, I ran to the right side of the cave-like room I’d fallen into where there appeared to be an exit. The Drone emitted a shrill, screeching sound, and the clicking of its steps chased after me. As I closed the distance toward my only way out, a heavy door began descending in front of it.
“NO!”
But the door ignored my plea. It shut just as I reached it. Helpless, hopeless, I pounded on it with both hands, my palms stinging from the force of the impact. I turned around to see my death raise its speared hand to impale me. Just as the spike rushed forward, the Drone jerked violently, a long blade protruding through its torso. It flopped down, shuddered with a violent spasm, then its spider legs curled up beneath it.
Behind it, Silas stood tall, his long, curly, blond hair framing his angelic face. Fist clenching his sword, still dripping with the creature’s blood, he stepped over his—far too easily—defeated foe to approach me.
“You are safe, Liena,” he said in a reassuring tone while extending his free hand towards me. “I have saved you. I will always save you. Come to me, love.”
I shook my head, heart pounding in my throat.
“We can’t stay here. More will come. You must listen to me if you want to live.”
“Get out of my head,” I hissed, tears freely rolling down my cheeks. “You’re not saving me, you’re torturing me. You’re creating this. I am not your love, I’m your prisoner. GET OUT OF MY HEAD!”
Silas dropped his hand, the gentle smile fading from his face to be replaced by a hard, evil sneer. He marched up to me, pressing his body against mine. I tried to push him away, to claw at his face, but he easily subdued me, restraining both my wrists in a bruising hold above my head against the door behind me. His free hand closed around my throat, tightening until I could barely breathe.
“I will never get out of your head, Liena. You are mine. We will never be apart. The sooner you accept it, the sooner we can start our life together. You will love me. You will worship me. Even if I have to break you and remold you. For as long as you draw breath, I will always be a part of you.”
He crushed my lips, strangling me further when I refused him entry. Lungs burning, I opened my mouth, desperate for air, but his slimy tongue invaded it instead, filling me with a taste of rot and decay… of death.
“LIENA!”
I startled awake. I couldn’t say if my scream or Raven’s voice had pulled me out of the nightmare. It didn’t matter.
“You’re safe. I’m here. You’re with me. No one can get you here,” Raven said, holding me tightly against his hard body.
A torrent of tears burst out of my eyes. I clung to him with the energy of despair, my mouth full of ashes. Upon Silas’s death, the nightmares that had continued to haunt me long after my liberation from the mental prison he’d kept me in, had finally stopped. For years thereafter, I’d believed myself rid of them. Why had they come back to haunt me now?
Raven rocked me like a wounded child, whispering soothing words in my ear. Curled up against him, I shivered, my naked body racked by soul-wrenching sobs. I don’t know how long it lasted, but my tears finally abated, leaving me drained and battered.
Without a word, Raven carried me to the bathroom, and sat me on the counter before running a warm bath in the Jacuzzi tub that came standard in the Vanguard Aspirant apartments. While it filled at blinding speed, Raven wiped the tears from my face with a warm cloth. He then carried me into the tub, sitting down first and settling me on his lap. I buried my face in his neck while the water began bubbling around us, the motion soothing me. He didn’t ask me any questions, didn’t pressure me, understanding I only needed his strength, his reassuring presence keeping me safe.
I could still feel the residual, rancid presence of Silas in my mind, tainting everything beautiful Raven had brought back to me. I wanted the rainbow, the beauty of my mate’s mind around me, to be once again staring at the gates of Heaven.
“Touch my shield,” I whispered, my voice hoarse from having ugly-cried so hard.
Raven stiffened, the gentle motion of his palm caressing my back faltering. “Are you sure, my Beauty?”
“Please. Take him away. Chase his memory away,” I begged.
Without a word, Raven’s consciousness slipped into mine. For a second, I feared a knee-jerk reaction that would violently reject him, but the instant I felt his loving presence, I opened wide for him, and he wrapped himself around my soul, chasing away the nightmares, the pain, the fear, replacing them with love, safety, and peace.
I had found my safe haven. Try as he may, the memory of Silas would not keep its hold on me. I would be free.
Chapter 8
Raven
Leaning back against the comfortable leather couch in Legion’s office—my favorite spot—I braced for what I knew would be an unpleasant conversation. We had a meetin
g scheduled with my father and Chaos to discuss the mission in the Rings of Janaur. That he asked me to come half-an-hour early didn’t bode well. I already suspected where that conversation would go, and the answer would unequivocally be no.
“I hear you’ve made some more amazing progress this morning,” Legion said nonchalantly, while settling in the matching leather chair in front of me. “But no one would give me any detail.”
I bit back the urge to tell him not to beat around the bush and get straight to the point. We had indeed broken some revolutionary new ground this morning; the Asians’ ability proving to be mind-bogglingly powerful.
“We did, thanks to yet another amazing insight from your woman,” I conceded.
“Oh?” Legion asked, his brows rising with curiosity.
I nodded. “The same way Ayana had realized the shield around Chaos felt like a vessel to her, she asked the Asians if they could see sparks when peering at the Soulcatchers’ vessels or if they could see sparks inside the women’s psychic voids like they did around our souls.”
Legion straightened in his seat, realizing the potential of what this inferred. I smiled, remembering reacting in a similar fashion when Ayana had made that suggestion.
“The answer is yes,” I said with a broad grin. “The Asians can shield both vessels and gateways, allowing the Soulcatchers and the Portals to use their abilities, even under the influence of neural inhibitors.”
“Incredible!” Legion breathed out, his eyes flicking from side to side as he weighed the implications of this discovery.
“Indeed,” I said with a nod. “Obviously, there are limitations. The women need to be within a certain distance of the Soulcatcher for the shield to hold. That distance is greater than with the Warriors’ souls, but we believe it will increase as the women continue to train and refine their ability.”
“Edge cases?” Legion asked.
“So far, the only issue has been distance,” I said with undisguised awe. “The shield works even when applied after the Soulcatcher or Portal has been drugged. And the best part? Neural inhibitor devices do not block the Shield ability. Even with five of them active in the room, the Asians were able to shield the other women who were then able to get to work. Their ability is badass.”
“Fuck me!” Legion said, using one of my favorite expressions.
“You’re not that cute,” I deadpanned.
Legion gave me ‘the look.’ I smirked and crossed my ankle over my knee. He would always be the big brother I never had, and there was something about pestering a big brother that just seemed mandatory, on top of being irresistible.
“Fun fact,” I added. “You know how the eyes of a Soulcatcher carrying a fallen Warrior’s soul in her vessel turn black, even the whites?”
Legion nodded.
“Shielding a Soulcatcher’s vessel makes her eyes look normal.”
“That’s amazing!” Legion said. “Shielding the Portals and Soulcatchers is definitely the way to go then. Even if they get captured, the Kryptids will have no idea what they are carrying within them.”
“Hmm,” I said, hesitating.
It didn’t go unnoticed.
“What?” Legion asked.
“The women are able to shield one Warrior and one other girl, simultaneously,” I said. “As for Liena, she’s now able to shield up to three individual Warriors, or one Warrior and up to three women simultaneously. Although she has a much greater range than the others, it isn’t infinite.”
Legion straightened in his chair, his eyes wide. “She’s touched another’s soul?”
I pursed my lips, reluctant to give him more ammunition for what I knew would follow. “Yes. We had been working on it for the past week. Last night, our souls melded.”
Legion’s expression softened, an affectionate smile stretching his lips.
“I’m happy for you, my brother.”
I smiled back, touched by his genuine joy for me. Warriors didn’t intertwine their souls so intimately with anyone but their soulmate, and only with her consent. I didn’t need to go into details for him to understand Liena and I would soon become bonded mates.
Silence settled between us, heavy with unspoken words I didn’t want to hear. Legion shifted uncomfortably on his chair, his eyes flicking towards the time display at the bottom right corner of the giant monitor hanging on the wall by the window. We only had fifteen minutes left before the others arrived. Whatever Legion intended to privately discuss with me, he needed to get it out now.
With a heavy sigh, he locked eyes with me. “The Coalition has set a rally point. Troops from the farthest regions are already on the move. The attack on Janaur is scheduled exactly nineteen days from today.”
My stomach dropped. I’d hoped we would have more time.
“Your father leaves tomorrow with Chaos, Wrath, and Steele,” Legion continued.
“They aren’t ready, Legion,” I said, the intensity in his eyes increasing my unease. “Aside from Liena, Inoko is the only other rank five Asian psychic. She suffered severe spinal injuries in an accident years ago, which has left her unable to go into the field for missions. The other women still heavily rely on Liena to help them find the spark to shield the Warriors.”
“Liena—”
“You’re not sending my mate to war!” I shouted, jumping to my feet.
Legion held my gaze, unwaveringly, his stern. “Sit down, Raven,” he said, his voice calm but hard.
Gritting my teeth, I settled back down, my hands fisting on my lap.
“Must I remind you that this is the Vanguard?”
“Liena is not part of the Vanguard,” I snapped back. “She’s a civilian scientist here to help with drug research, nothing more. That she helped us figure out the Shield ability is merely a major added bonus.”
“Without a Shield of her power level, your father, his unit, their Soulcatchers, and their Portal will likely die during that mission,” Legion said mercilessly. “And when they fail to seal some kind of peace deal or bring back proof that Janaur can be spared, the entire planet and its people will be obliterated. Is your conscience okay with that?”
“That’s unfair,” I growled, my hearts aching at the thought of losing my father, my Warrior brothers, and above all, our women.
“War often is, for all sides involved,” Legion said with fatalism. “Did you think I enjoyed bringing Ayana on her first rescue mission?”
“Ayana came here to join the Vanguard,” I countered. “Refusing her would have not only been against the rules, but also offensive to her. You cannot force a civilian into battle.”
“Nor do I intend to. I was merely paying you the courtesy of informing you that I will ask her,” Legion said in a voice hard as steel.
Anger boiled within me. I wanted to yell, rage, and break things. The Xian Warrior in me understood we needed to convince her to come. Before things got derailed by Silas, Liena had undergone the normal psychic education program which involved mandatory combat and weapons training. After her trauma, she had put an end to all of it. The last week of intense training had reawakened many of her old reflexes and techniques, but she was still a long way from battle ready.
“She’s too broken, Legion,” I said in a pleading tone. “She had a relapse last night.”
Legion stiffened and listened, his jaw clenched with growing anger as I related my mate’s nightmare. As leader of the Vanguard, Legion had known the details of what had happened to Liena. Out of respect for her, he had never shared those with me. After I’d taken Liena out of the bath and back to bed last night, she had revealed everything to me. It had taken every ounce of my willpower to contain my fury against the bastard who had harmed her.
“She relived one of the countless dream walks he used to lock her into in an attempt to break her,” I said, my voice full of hatred for the monster who had abused my mate. “If mind-melding with her soulmate acted as a trigger, what will happen if things go wrong during the mission and a Kryptid gets in her head? Th
at son of a bitch used Kryptids and Drone Swarms to terrify her into submitting to him.”
“And yet, she touched minds with the women this morning,” Legion countered.
I gaped at him, disbelieving. “How can you be so indifferent?”
Legion sighed heavily, his shoulders drooping. “I am not indifferent, Raven. I am trying to prevent a genocide, and she might be our only chance to succeed. Without your support, Liena will more than likely refuse because of all the reasons you stated. Forget for a moment that we are talking about your soulmate. If our roles had been reversed, what would you be telling me right now?”
The exact same thing you are currently saying.
My mind reeling, I rose to my feet and walked to the large window overlooking the plaza. Foreign dignitaries mingled outside, a few Warriors and a handful of our women strolled past them on their way to whatever business called to them. As much as I argued with Legion, I couldn’t let my father and the others go into what we all knew would likely be a suicide mission.
“I’m not letting her go into danger without me,” I said, staring at the Gomenzi Dragon statue watching over the plaza.
“I can’t send both you and your father on the same mission,” Legion said in a soft voice.
I spun around, ready to give him a tongue lashing, but he didn’t give me the chance.
“Victoria can’t lose both her mate and her son if things go belly up.”
My stomach churned with guilt. It would indeed destroy my mother. With mated Xian Warriors having rarely more than one offspring, we never sent sire and son on the same mission specifically to avoid wiping out a bloodline in a single blow. And yet…
“Liena isn’t going on a mission without me. That is not negotiable,” I said in a tone that brooked no argument.
Legion pursed his lips. I could see in his eyes that he wanted to argue, but he also knew that when our roles had in fact been reversed, he hadn’t allowed his mate to go on a mission without him.
His head turned towards the door of his office. Moments later, it opened on my father, followed by Chaos. One look sufficed for both men to realize something was amiss.
