by Kim Faulks
Trees towered the edge of the clearing. I glanced up at the blurred white sky. Don’t you think it’s enough snow, dragon? She’s safe…she’s here and she’s safe. No one will come looking for her. My grip tightened on the handle of the axe. No one would dare try.
I shouldered my way through the cluster of fir trees, waiting for some sense of life inside. But there was only silence. I turned my head, catching sight of the cabin as I moved deeper into the forest—and in the silence came dread.
The packed clump hid a fallen tree. The wet wood would smoke for a while, but it would be warm. I clenched my grip and swung high, consumed by cleaving wood. The hard wood took all my strength, until my body became used to the fight. A small stack grew as I worked. I left piles in my wake as Marcus’s face filled my thoughts and the hopelessness returned.
I did this. Heave…chop. I’d condemned Zadoc to the demons—I’d left him there. Left him…abandoned…forgotten.
No. Not again.
I’d not leave him again. I’d set a trap, lure the demons to me. Maybe this was why the dragon led me here. The axe fell mid-swing and hit the ground at my feet. That was it. I turned and bent, grasping the axe before striding toward the cabin.
Lure them here, out in the open. If there was only one demon, maybe I could defeat it. I lingered long enough to pile wood against the crook of my arm and then charged for the cabin. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that everything had bought me here, to this place, to this moment. The dragon was my subconscious, guiding me to this very thought.
Fir trees laden with snow crammed the way. I swung the axe and barged through. Shaking off the icy deluge as I passed. Each step cemented my reasons and yet that feeling of foreboding bloomed. The cabin waited. A faint trace of white smoke floated from the chimney. I opened myself to her presence—and found none.
Wolf.
A spear of doubt impaled me. Had she run? Had she left me? I sank through the snow with each step and then swung the axe, embedding the edge into the stump.
I reached for the door, clearing the few steps with one stride. The handle gave way and I was in. “Odessa?”
Silence waited for me with open arms.
“Wolf?”
My pulse thundered, filling my head with the deafening sound. I spun, searching the mess of blankets and saw her.
She was sleeping. Just sleeping. I had kept her awake. “Odessa?”
Her blonde hair was scattered around her head in a golden halo.
“Wolf.”
Her right arm was stretched out. Something shattered under my foot. I looked down at the black vial and the fragments embedded in my shoe and felt my world spin.
I dropped to my knees. I couldn’t catch the sound. But the pain…the pain sliced me through the middle and carved open my soul. I grasped her hand, so light…as though she was fading before my eyes.
“Odessa.” My voice was a whisper. “Odessa, what have you done? What have you done? Odessa. Odessa!”
Through the sheen of tears, I reached for her, grasping her tiny body and pulling her against my chest. “No…please, God, no. Don’t leave me…don’t leave me.”
I rocked her lifeless body, rocked and rocked until my stomach heaved with the motion. “Why? Please, tell me why?”
A growl filled my head, savage and filled with rage.
Stay back!
The words in my mouth turned to ash.
Stay back!
I stared at her face. Those were her words…her words to hold back the shadowed wolf. I recoiled, staring at her nose, her ears. There was nothing—no black wisps of smoke, no wolf.
Stay the fuck back!
I turned toward that sound and closed my eyes.
“Dragon?”
Over here.
His answer reverberated inside me. I slowed my breath and dropped down…down… Following his trail…until something changed. My blue world turned darker, day turned to the blackest night I’d ever seen. Nothingness swallowed my boots. I reached out—the emptiness ate the tips of my fingers, and then swallowed my hand. Down…down…down.
I’d somehow lost the comfort of my own mind. Screams echoed around me, sounding far off in the distance. A child’s screams sounding faintly like…Odessa?
Stars sparkled somewhere below us. I stared through the glimmer, searching the dark cavern as far as I could see. The faint flickering of orange flames sparkled farther than the stars. I slowed my steps, dropping to my knee. Flames, called to me.
Don’t look down there…she doesn’t want you to see.
I raised my head toward the rumble and the darkened corners lightened to gray.
Blue glinted so bright it hurt my eyes. Scales shone, dragging me closer. I stared at the hulking back of my dragon. Spikes crested his head, standing upright like hackles on a wolf. The sound of death seeped out—guttural and warped—somewhere behind him.
“Dragon, is that you?”
He swung his massive head and pierced me with a deadly stare. Are you going to help, or just stand there?
A shadow moved so quick all I saw was my dragon buckle. Red mingled with blue, cascading along slick scales. The Tormentor turned back to his attacker. His wings shot into the air and swept across the space.
Don’t make me hurt you, wolf. Stay back.
I stepped closer, drawn by the sickening feeling in my gut. My boots made no sound as I took one slow step. Blood slowed to a trickle, underneath I could almost see the blue.
Amber eyes turned toward me from the darkness and that sickening snarl came once more. The hair at the back of my neck straightened and something inside turned to water. “What the fuck is that thing?”
Watch yourself. That thing is the woman I love.
The night closed around me, tightening its sinister hold. “Where the hell are we?”
The Tormentor’s muscles rippled as he turned his head. The wound across his shoulder gaped. We’re right where she needs us to be.
I followed his gaze to a crumpled form. Her blonde hair was tangled in a mess. I stared at her chest, watching the slow rise and fall, then lunged. My boots made no sound in this nothingness. I dropped to the darkness and hit an unseen floor. My fingers were stiff, clutching hold of her hand, feeling the faint warmth in her body.
She was alive…but barely.
Déjà vu whispered a secret…a knowing this was real. Right here, this hand, these perfect long fingers were real. Her skin was like ice. I yanked her to my chest, rubbing the back of her hand along my shirt. “Come on, don’t do this to me. Please, don’t leave me… I can’t live…don’t make me live without you.”
Her parted lips were so perfect. I still felt them warm along my shoulder, her breath blowing on my back. I still felt her.
Pain and anger boiled over to singe the back of my throat as I screamed. “Help her!”
Blue eyes impaled me. He dropped his gaze to my Odessa and agony inundated me. His lips curled back, exposing rows of white razor teeth as he snarled. What do you think I’m doing?
I cradled her, as the sickening ache lapped the sides of my mind. “I can’t live without her. Please, dragon. Give her back to me.”
Then help me. Hold the beast back. Don’t let it get to her.
I turned my head toward the endless dark. “That thing… That’s her, isn’t it? That’s her wolf?”
The Tormentor dropped his massive head. Wind buffeted my face, scattering hair into my eyes as he nodded.
“And we’re inside her mind?”
Yes.
I glanced down below my feet, to the stars and the weak glow of fire. “And down there?”
Her past. She’ll tell you when she’s ready.
A pang of jealously flooded me. He knew. The dragon knew. He’d known her all along—better than I ever could. I cradled her close, listening to the tiny rasp of her breath, and then stilled. The rock and the churn left me. I cupped her head and lowered her to the ground. Her perfect face would stay with me. I’d need it
to stay with me as I climbed to my feet and turned.
“Our brother needed her dead…to find the demon world.”
Yes.
“So, I guess he got what he wanted.”
Not entirely.
I took one step toward him, standing in the shadowed wolf’s path to Odessa.
If we can hold the beast back, she has a chance to find her way back to us.
“Us?”
Chains rattled in the darkness, coupled with the heavy pants of her wolf.
“She can come back to us.” I took a step closer to the moonless night and rolled up one sleeve and then the other. “We hold off the demon, and she can find her way back.”
Yes, my dragon whispered, and our words blended into one. “Because I cannot live without her.”
12
Odessa
The rancid poison lingered in my mouth. I dragged in a breath and felt my feeble heart splutter. The old woman’s blunt words slipped between breaths, when my mind was still, and in them, I found a sense of comfort.
I’d kill you if I could. Put you to sleep; wouldn’t take nothin’, just a quick slice between your ribs. I’d even hold you, sing to you, if you wanted.
I almost felt her gnarled knuckles graze my cheek—almost felt her frail arms around me, clenching, shuddering with the effort. The poison was fire in my veins, searing and burning. Its claws tore through me, plucking at the stitching that made me whole.
Something warm spilled…a tiny whimper, nothing more than air took flight. I was a forgotten stuffed doll, now faded and worn. Cotton spilled from my body, slick and warm. A trickle seeped from my nose, tickling the groove to my lips like salty tears.
I tried to lift my hand, tried to capture the heat, but my body refused to move. My chest thundered. The sound ripped me—shuddering flesh and rattling bones.
Help me. Someone, help me. I....
White-hot sparks of pain bloomed inside my head. Steel clinked and chains rattled somewhere in the back of my mind. Something shifted under my skin. Something restless and desperate to be free.
I won’t hurt you, Odessa… I could never hurt you. Let me be free. Let me be free and we can run wild and hunt. I like to hunt. I know you like to hunt too. We can rule together. Can you hear them calling us? Can you hear them calling me?
The bitter taste of evil parted my lips and pushed its way between my teeth. I clamped my jaw tight as the ground slipped away.
Blue filled my mind, shoving the darkness aside as my dragon snarled. Do it now, wolf. I… I can’t hold your beast back forever.
The beast was coming. She was coming for me.
One deep pulse followed another until there was no more waiting…no more hoping. My chest seemed to open, light spilled, piercing the black void with neon white.
Victor’s face filled my mind and wavered. His blue eyes faded, slipping…he was slipping. I pawed the memory, desperate to hold on. I stared at the tight curve of his lips as he tried not to smile. I was consumed by his love. My dragon’s love. I would stay here. I could stay here forever, with them. Loving, fighting.
But that wasn’t why I was here.
Hurry wolf. Find Zadoc. Bring him home to me.
His whispered words slipped through my grasp. The darkness came alive, pulsing, brightening as the tear in my chest widened. My dragon blurred, sapphire turned to neon ocean blue so bright it stole my thoughts. He shifted his gaze from me, spearing his wings into the air before turning back.
Too bright, wolf. You’re…too… Goddess above you’re beautiful.
The last words a hiss. His wings hit the ground and stilled. His eyes widened, pupils were blown. I was light, so light I could fly. I lifted my arms, flesh turned to a glow. I was nothing and I was everything. I was this throbbing flesh at my feet. I was the stars below. I was the ocean and the sand. I was my lover, my dragon…and he was me.
I filled the space. I was the space.
A sound crawled from the darkness, cold, dangerous…and hungry. And you’re me. Look at me, Odessa. Look at what you really are.
I tried to turn away, but couldn’t look anywhere else. My light sent the shadows scurrying, but not this…thing. I stared at the thick chains at its feet, and then followed the links higher. Amber eyes glinted like spilled honey in the sun, but there was nothing sweet about this monster—there was nothing but pure evil.
Come closer, the shadowed wolf urged. Just one step. I won’t bite. I promise.
I stayed where I was.
Hurry, Odessa. Go now. I can’t keep it back forever.
My dragon’s wings cleaved through the air, dividing the distance between me and my shadowed wolf. I moved without sound, drawn by a fleeting touch at my back. That touch grasped me with unseen fingers, and pulled.
Don’t you leave me! Don’t you dare leave me!
The hateful growl slipped from my mind as I turned toward the faint sound. A cry, so quiet I barely heard it. I moved quicker, severing the darkness with my piercing luminescence as the sound grew louder.
The tender sound of a terrified child wrapped around my heart and clenched tight. “Momma? Momma are you here? You said…you said you’d take me to her.”
Her cries blended with the terror of my past. Those words resurrected the fear and the helplessness. Please Papa...I love you.
“I’ll do whatever you want.” I whispered the words with her. Tiny sobs blended into one. “Don’t touch me. Don’t do that. No. Stop. You’re hurting me. Don’t…you’re hurting me. I’ll do whatever you want. Please, I’ll do whatever you want.”
The darkness was alive, beating like some black, empty heart. I pressed myself into the throb and became swallowed in the sound, and in an instant, I was dragged from the confines of my mind and cast out like a dangerous thought.
Darkness blurred, black turned to night. The throb…the throb… I followed the beat and became whole once more. My glaring light dimmed, blending into the dusk of this demon world. I floated, drifting on a current of terror as shadows towered on either side. The darkness sharpened. The hulking giants turned into decrepit buildings. Cobwebs crowded the path, clinging to twisted tree roots. Weak yellowed lights flickered behind shattered windows.
And that sound. That fragile sound slipped from a crack in a door. “I’ll be a good girl.”
A hiss filled with cruelty and torment followed. “No. You’ll be a good soldier. Say it. Say it!”
“I’ll be a good soldier. I’ll be a good soldier.”
A voice whispered, don’t go in there…you don’t want to know. But I couldn’t stop moving, drawn by the terror in her voice. My past and present collided. They were the same cries and the same foul, infernal whispers I’d heard all those years ago.
Chained and shackled, I’d walked for days after I was taken from the man I knew as my father. But I’d been one of many girls the Echo pack took from packs along the way. We were so young, barely able to understand. We’d spent our nights clutching each other for warmth and comfort, and our days walking…the endless walking until we came to Echo pack camp.
We filled the empty pens, staring at each other with mud-stained faces and enormous wide-eyes, waiting for the inevitable to come.
And the end did come.
Except it only came for me.
The men came with torches, stripping the clothes from our bodies. Their silver eyes glinted with flames from their torches. My clothes were torn. I was laid bare, and then they stopped searching.
This is the one.
This is the one she wants.
I cowered from their gazes, grasping the girl next to me. She screamed and thrashed, wrenching her arm from my hold. Their big hands were everywhere, poking, prodding, sliding over my skin.
Leave me alone. Leave me alone! Don’t touch me. Don’t touch me!
Leave her…she’s mine.
My heart leapt. Someone had come to rescue me.
Papa… Papa. I stepped closer and caught the shine from the silver in his black hai
r.
He dragged me from the others, grasping my waist and lifting me high. I flopped over his shoulder unable to move—unable to fight.
Through my tears, I saw the girls I left behind as towering shadows moved in.
The vile stench of rotting meat followed.
These were not shifters.
And these were not men.
Their screams were so loud they branded my mind, until silence followed. A silence so deafening something inside me turned to water and warmth trickled down the inside of my thighs.
One chilling rasp broke the silence and the same inhuman voice I heard now. You’ll be a good girl. You’ll be a good soldier—by the time we’re done with you.
Vines—thick with cobwebs—draped from one side of the street to the other, smothering the alley. I speared my fingers though silken snares and clawed my way through. The lit window grew brighter. Her whimpers crisper, driving that embedded knife a little deeper into my heart.
The alley stretched out before me, other widows were alight, faint cries called. I turned back to the closest while the grip around my heart tightened. I had to know what was happening here. I needed answers to the questions that haunted me all these years.
I stepped closer. My breath stilled. Through the filthy window, a dark figure crouched. I flinched at the sight. My fingers slipped from the sill. The wound across my face flared at the sight and a hiss escaped from my lips.
Demon. I took a step away. I had no shadowed wolf to save me this time and no power to conjure. This was just me, all alone, fighting to find my dragon’s kin.
“You know what to do. I want you to scream for me child. I want you to scream.”
Through the spidered cracks in the glass, the figure stepped to the side revealing the child. She was so small, so thin and fragile. She was bound to the chair with rope. There’s wasn’t a stitch on her, nothing to hide her flat chest and smooth body. Panic wrapped a hand around my neck and squeezed.
I knew her. I…was her. Her tear-streaked face lifted, wide brown eyes shimmered under the yellow glow. “Please give me my mommy.”
The cloaked figure circled its prey. The demon lifted its hand, extending a skeletal hand toward her. “How about I bring her here? How about I tie her up next to you? Would you like that? Would you like to see your mother in pain?”
