by Sarah Noffke
Her nostrils flared. “Ren, give me my money.”
“There’s no money,” I said with a satisfied smile. “I lied. Sue me.”
“What?!” She stood from the table, leaning both hands on it and looking like she was about to reach across and strangle me.
I pulled out a silver pocketknife, extended the blade casually, and began cleaning my nails, not the least bit flustered. “Sit, Lyza, and I’ll make you a deal.” I flicked my eyes up to her. “I’m really so very fair, aren’t I?” I said.
Lyza was shaking as she stared down at me.
“I zink you should hear him out,” Allouette said, her words hard to understand covered in her thick French accent.
“Your friend is smart. You should listen to her,” I said, returning my focus to cleaning my nails. I hadn’t figured out how I was going to exact my revenge on Lyza. I wasn’t going to fulfill any deal with her but I needed to figure out the best way to hurt her one last time. Finally she sat back in her chair.
“What’s the deal?” she asked, her voice trembling with anger.
“Mum did leave you all her antique jewelry. There’s several expensive pieces, as you know. And I will give them to you.”
“If…” she said.
I raised a pleased eyebrow at her. “You know me so very well.”
“Unfortunately I do,” she said.
Lyza didn’t have powers like me or her companions. She could never support herself without other people’s money. And I knew she was seriously going to consider any proposition I offered. I also suspected Lyza needed a serious chunk of money to buy a wedding gown or book an expensive reception or buy plastic surgery so she didn’t look so bloody awful.
“I will hand over the jewelry to you if you travel to Peavey and apologize to Pops,” I said.
“What?! Why would I do that?” Her hands were shaking on the table. Chase extended his hand and laid it on hers. She gave him a grateful smile.
“Because, Lyzie, you’ve made his life hell. Blimey, you make everyone’s life hell just by your existence.” I gave Chase a look. “You’ve been warned. You should know that my sister is a soulless bitch who will drain you of the very spirit in your soul.”
“Ren, shut your mouth,” Lyza said.
Chase patted her hand before leaning back in his seat. He was a powerful man, I could tell by the way he held himself. “I’m all too aware of Lyza’s shortcomings,” he said. “But as you’re probably aware I have many methods of making people behave in ways that please me.”
“I am aware,” I said. “And I’m also aware we share this method of making people cooperate with us. And maybe your mind control will make it so you can stomach my sister, but you know you could still do much better than her.”
“Ren!” she screamed so loud people at other tables jerked their heads at us. “That’s enough. We are leaving,” she said, looking at Allouette and then Chase. From where Allouette’s foot was resting in my lap she didn’t look like she was going anywhere.
Chase’s gaze was firmly on me. “Yes, I could in some ways do better than your sister, but in other ways I can’t. She’s all too aware that I’m with her because she has pure Founders’ blood in her.”
“Come on, let’s go,” she said, grabbing Chase’s arm, a look of terror in her eyes as she pulled at him. He did rise with her.
“Founders’ blood?” I said. There were only a handful of Dream Travelers who had pure Founders’ blood. The pure lineages of the first Dream Traveler race. Founders were exceptionally powerful. “You’re right that Pops has Founders’ blood,” I said as Chase pushed in his chair. Lyza was desperately pulling him away, a look of horror in her eyes. He turned to leave with her as I yelled out, “But our mum was a Middling.”
Chase halted.
Oh yes, as I knew I would, I’d found my way to exact my revenge on Lyza. It actually was too easy. She had always lied about everything. I should have known she was lying to get through life then.
Chase turned and regarded me for a full five seconds. “What did you just say?”
Beside him Lyza had her mouth pinched and a look of murder on her face.
“Oh, you thought that Lyza was a pure blood?” I said, a sneaky grin on my face. “Hate to break it to you, but your fiancée is a mutt. Hope that’s not an issue.”
Chase turned and looked at Lyza. “Is that true?” he said, and her bottom lip quivered.
“I have half Founders’ blood. That’s what you want, right, is to marry someone with Founders’ blood?” she said, her voice desperate. Her eyes panicked. My sister was utterly vibrating with anxiety. It was a beautiful thing to witness.
“No, I want to marry someone with pure Founders’ blood and you know that. And you’re half Middling?” he said with disgust. “That’s unacceptable.” Chase yanked Lyza’s hand up and grabbed the ring off her hand. The action was a little brutal but nothing my sister didn’t deserve. “Get out of my sight,” he said.
“But Chase,” Lyza pleaded. My sister for as lousy a gift as she had, was still practiced at keeping her thoughts guarded. This was probably the reason Chase, the mind invader, didn’t know her half-Middling status until I revealed it.
He lowered his voice and when he spoke the hairs on the back of my neck actually rose. “If I ever see you again then I will make you hang yourself, is that clear?”
Lyza nodded, tears streaming down her pale cheeks.
“Now you probably want to tell your brother off but that’s not going to happen,” Chase said in a slow deliberate voice. “You are going to quietly turn around and leave this cafe.” She stared at him for a few long chilling seconds. “Now,” he said in a harsh whisper.
Dutifully Lyza turned and walked out of the cafe. To my surprise she didn’t once whip around to stare at me with disgust. Right then I knew my sister was madder at me than ever before. I had succeeded in ruining her. It didn’t feel good, but it also didn’t bring me a smidgen of remorse.
Chase turned when she was gone, a brutal look in his eyes. Allouette erupted with a loud cackle when he took a seat. Her foot was still bouncing in my lap. “Zat was zee best show ever. Ren, you a simply perfect!” she said, clapping with glee.
I regarded her like she was a new species. “Wasn’t she your friend?”
She laughed again. “Oh, I don’t have friends. I have people I use and zen I allow to use me,” she said, nestling her toes deeper into my lap. “I’m a mutt too. It’s vhy Chase von’t have me.”
“You just exposed your own sister. That was quite heartless,” Chase said, looking impressed.
“As I said before she’s a soulless bitch,” I said simply. “I wouldn’t so much as offer her an ounce of food if she were starving.”
“So you were never going to give her the jewels, were you?” Chase said, a proud smile on his face.
“Of course not. I only came here to find a way to punish Lyza, which was incredibly too easy. My sister is really an idiot if she thought I’d make an out of the way trip to help her,” I said.
“Well, I’m grateful that you had the plan for revenge, because you saved me from breeding with a half-blood,” Chase said. “I would have had to strangle those children.”
“You sound like excellent father material,” I said dryly.
He regarded me for several seconds. I felt him skimming my mind, but I had it mostly locked down then. Still Chase was searching me. Measuring me up. “So, do you want to join our society, the Voyageurs? I’d have a job for you,” Chase said, folding his hands on the tabletop.
“What do the Voyageurs do?” I’d heard of them, knew they were a secret society of Dream Travelers and that Lyza had just been kicked out of their ranks, but that was the extent of my knowledge on them.
“We use our powers to manipulate people,” Chase said.
“I already do that,” I said, tucking the pocketknife away.
“You take people’s money, but what we take from them they can’t get back,” Chase said plainly.
I raised a curious eyebrow.
“We take their very life force. Their consciousness,” he said in an even tone.
“What do you do with it?” I asked, even more curious.
“Convert it to power,” Chase said.
“What do you do with this power?”
“Whatever we want,” Chase said with an arrogant shrug of his shoulders. “Make ourselves younger, more beautiful, or increase our skills.”
I ran my eyes over his face that was flawless in every way. His nose was the perfect size. His eyes the perfect distance apart and the most striking shade of blue. Then I switched my focus to Allouette. She appeared young, but she had a confidence that made me think she was much older. I grabbed her foot in my lap and tossed it to the side. A Cheshire cat grin spread on her face. And then her toes were back, dragging their way up my trousers. This girl wouldn’t be easily dissuaded.
“We also do other things,” Chase said, regaining my attention. “We fight wars against battling societies. Take things we want to ensure our society remains the most powerful. And pretty much create chaos and anarchy. It’s really the only satisfying existence for people with powers as great as ours.”
“And this job you have for me? Is it stealing life force?” I asked, pretty certain that that didn’t sound like a very appealing idea to me. I was soulless, but I wasn’t a murderer and that’s the inevitable result of stealing consciousness.
Chase shook his head and knocked his knuckles on the tabletop. “No, it’s more up your usual alley. I need someone with your powers to do something for me.”
“Why don’t you do it yourself?” I asked, because I knew we had mostly the same powers.
“I can’t. The people I’m after are too attuned to my energy and how to keep me out of their heads, but not you. You could work with Allouette on this job and in return I’d train you,” Chase said.
I balked at him. “I don’t need your training.”
“Look, you know how to control minds, hypnotize, and read thoughts, but can you create an illusion?” he asked.
“An illusion?” I said, not sure if I was hearing him right.
“Yes, an illusion. Both in the dream travel realm and the physical realm,” he said.
Now this guy had my full attention. “You can do that? You can teach me that?” I said, unable to keep the excitement out of my voice. Not many things made me excited. Nothing really. But the idea of being able to create illusions was a dream I didn’t even know I had.
“Yes and yes,” Chase said simply.
“I’m not sure I believe you, and me believing you is critical to my answer,” I said, tethering my prior excitement under skepticism.
Just then a duplicate projection of Chase flickered until his solid form sat in the seat Lyza had been sitting in. Only a few people noticed the twin who magically appeared out of thin air. The illusion looked almost identical to Chase, but there was something off about him that my photographic memory would determine later. The illusion of Chase then spoke. “Believe me, Ren, when I say I can create illusions. Help me and you’ll be able to as well. Only people with powers like ours can create an illusion in the physical realm and I expect you want to know how to do this,” the projection of Chase said.
Hell yes I did.
The illusion vanished the same way it appeared, flickering first.
“Well, do you believe me now?” Chase asked smugly.
“I think I’d have to be daft not to,” I said.
“Then what’s your answer? Will you join us? Will you take on this job for me?” he asked.
I considered this gorgeous man’s offer. Chase was definitely powerful, couldn’t be trusted, and was absolutely dangerous. These Voyageurs didn’t sound like wholesome people. They sounded like a cult of power-hungry lunatics. But there was much I thought I could gain from an alliance. I had lost everyone but my father. Jimmy. My mum. Dahlia. I knew there was no real life left for me. How could I sink any lower?
“Sure,” I finally said a little halfheartedly. That one decision was the worst one of my life. In that moment I created a path that I’ve been trying to undo ever since.
Chapter Seventeen
“Very good,” Chase said, displaying a full smile that had no joy in it. “You will work with Allouette. She has concocted a plan and I trust it will satisfy what I want done. I will be training you in two weeks.” He stood with a grace that I knew would be hypnotic on most, but not me. He swiveled his head to Allouette, who was still playing footsy with me under the table although I kept shoving her off. “Take him to the Grotte and start work immediately. We’re running out of time,” he said to her.
She lowered her chin and regarded him through long black eyelashes, a sinister look in her expression. “Ve are not running out of time,” she said in her childlike voice. “I know exactly vhat I’m doing.”
“Well, it’d better work,” Chase said with a hostile edge.
“It vill and zen you vill be zo happy vith me. I promize,” she said in a breathy voice.
Chase didn’t acknowledge this last statement, he simply turned and walked away.
Allouette slowly, like a cobra turning to its prey, spun to face me. “Are you ready to have zome fun, little tiger?”
“What does this plan of yours involve?” I said, pushing back from the table, out of her toe’s reach.
She winked at me, a heated determination in her eyes. Then she clicked her tongue three times. “Oh, you are very eager. I like it. But ve vill not discuss zis here.” She stood and I saw now that she was tiny. Barely five feet tall. And her waist was impossibly small, especially in comparison to her rack and hips. She had the perfect hourglass figure. She snapped at me and then pointed toward Boulevard Saint-Germain. “Follow me,” she said, whipping around and taking several steps.
When I didn’t get up and follow, Allouette turned around, her long black hair spraying out with the movement. “Follow me,” she repeated.
“I don’t take orders,” I said, leaning back in my chair, pinning my hands behind my head.
“Everyone takes orders from zome one,” she said, an amused grin on her bright red lips.
“Not me.”
“Vell, ve can fix zat. You just need zee proper motivation,” she said.
“Look, if you want my help then stop the bullshit. I’m not a puppet. There are no strings on me. And I can’t be manipulated with your little games, which I suspect you love to play,” I said.
She dropped her head like she was suddenly ashamed. “Of course. I’m just not used to vorking vith zomeone with your intelligence. My zincere apologies,” she said and raised her head and batted her obsidian eyes at me. “Vould you follow me?” And a half second later she added “S'il vous plaît?”
“Where are we going?” I said, standing and still regarding her with narrowed eyes.
“To the Grotte,” she said, sounding proud. “You vill absolutely love it. It iz a marvel.”
***
“This is what you call a marvel?” I said with disgust.
Allouette and I stood in a huge cave room. We had dream traveled to this cave in the South of France and generated our bodies using a rundown GAD-C. The cave where we stood had a hole in the roof, at least one hundred feet up. The sunlight streaming through it provided the only light, illuminating the dank and dirty area. Puddles of cave water stood in various places and the only thing that made the cave seem somewhat civilized were the paths clearly etched on the slick stone under my feet. It created an even surface for walking or otherwise the journey through that room would have been slippery with constant uneven footings.
Allouette cast a giant look of offense at me. “Zis iz our headquarters.”
“It’s a cave,” I said wryly.
“It isn’t just a cave. It’s been constructed to protect us. It’s zo zecretive that even God doesn’t know about it. And it’s been designed to enhance our powers,” Allouette said, scanning the room with a proud gaze.
“Ve are zee most powerful society of Dream Travelers, which makes us zee most powerful people in zee vould. Zat’s what living in a cave makes us. You vill zee,” she said, crossing her arms in front of her chest, enlarging her cleavage.
I strolled behind her through the cave, managing my path around the puddles of water. There were tunnels on both sides of the main room. Allouette led me to the closest. I had a hard time not focusing my attention on her hips as they swayed back and forth as she walked, her leather miniskirt making the feat of looking away almost impossible.
“Zere’s only a few rooms zat are available but I have zee perfect one for you,” she said and I just caught the hint of mischief under her expression.
Once in the caveway my eyes took a moment to adjust to the dark tunnel lit only by fire torches on the wall. “Please don’t tell me that this rock house of yours doesn’t have electricity,” I said, eyeing the torches that let off an awful heat.
She whipped around and laughed, a high-pitched squeal. “Of course ve don’t have electricity,” she said like any other idea was preposterous. “Vhy vould ve vant to poison our brains vith zat?”
“Right,” I said, drawing out the word. “Because you’re obviously so mentally stable.”
“Oh, you don’t know, do you?” she said, nearing me. She dared to lay her long-fingernailed hand on my chest. “You, poor Ren, have been creating interference with your powers by being near electricity your entire life. Now zat you are here, you vill experience your pure power, unobstructed as it vas intended to be.”
