by Tessa Dawn
The air left Braden’s body like a deflated balloon. Of course, this was her—the one he’d heard so much about—Nachari’s female.
For some unknown reason, he felt like…crying. He should have known the gods would give the finest woman on the whole planet to Nachari. The moment he thought it, he felt guilty. Of course Nachari deserved this woman. And if the gods would just let him come back to his family, Braden would never feel jealous again. He frowned. “So, what are you doing?” The moment the stupid question left his lips, he wanted to turn around and go back home: What an idiot he was.
“Well,” she said, in a very sweet voice, “I have been getting to know a lot of people the last few days, spending some time in Nachari’s room—hopefully it will make a difference—and trying to learn as much about him as I can for now. What about you, did you come to see him?”
“Um, yeah,” he whispered, wanting to sound important and helpful. “Sure. I do every day. I’m surprised I haven’t seen you.”
“I think we’ve just missed each other, that’s all.” She gestured toward a small grouping of chairs just on the other side of the hall. “I don’t suppose you would mind spending a little time with me before you go in to see Nachari?” She placed her hand lightly on his arm. “Don’t get me wrong; I don’t want to take away your time with him—I know how important that is to everyone—I just think there’s probably no one who knows him as well as you do, who’s as close to him as you are, and I would love to hear more about him…from you.”
Braden’s heart soared. Of course, Nachari needed him to help his destiny make the adjustment. This was something he could do really well. And besides, what if the worst thing possible happened—and Nachari didn’t make it back in time? Deanna would need strong warriors to look after her and help her make it through. To take care of her. He straightened his back. Yes, he would do this for Nachari. “After you,” he said, sounding very grown-up in his own mind.
“Why, thank you, Mr. Bratianu,” she replied.
Braden positively swelled with pride as he followed Deanna to the small sitting area and took a seat across from her. He sat back with his legs out in front of him, placed one arm around the back of the chair, and then, feeling a bit awkward, sat back up and folded his hands in his lap.
That didn’t feel very comfortable, either. Definitely not cool.
He thought about Marquis—how would the Ancient Master Warrior sit?—and he leaned forward, resting both elbows on his knees, his chin resting on his folded hands. Yes, this probably looked very contemplative or something. He cleared his throat again. “So, what is it you would like to know?”
Deanna smiled as she shook her head, her long, fluid hair swaying in response to the motion. “Whatever you want to tell me. Who is Nachari to you? What makes him so important in your life?”
Braden felt a sudden wave of emotion sweep over him. The last thing he wanted to do was cry in front of Nachari’s female, so he swallowed hard and waited until he felt like he could talk. “Well, Nachari’s kind of like a big brother and a father to me. He looks out for me and teaches me things. He’s like…really funny and cool to hang around ’cause sometimes”—he looked away embarrassed then—“sometimes, I kind of, like, get into…not trouble…but messes. I just don’t always think things through, ya know?”
Deanna nodded sympathetically. “I do the same thing sometimes.”
“You do?” He sat back up, straight in his chair, forgetting where to place his hands.
“Oh, yeah…I think everyone does, sometimes.”
He frowned. “Oh…well, not quite like I do.”
“But Nachari is helpful?” she prompted.
He brightened. “Oh, yeah. Really helpful. He just, like, figures things out and helps me do better the next time. But more important, he kind of sees things in me that I don’t always see in myself.”
Deanna smiled appreciatively. “Like what?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know, like I have the ability to see things in my mind—or just kind of know things, and because Nachari is a wizard, he gets that and thinks I have a lot of talent.” He turned to face her more squarely. “Did anyone tell you how powerful he is? Nachari, I mean?”
Deanna raised her eyebrows.
“Oh my god…I mean, gosh. He’s like Batman, Superman, and Spiderman all wrapped up into one. I don’t think there’s anything Nachari can’t do. And he’s not even, like, stuck-up about it.” He sat back in the chair, really enjoying the conversation now. “Well, okay, so not stuck-up, but he’s kind of, like, really sure of himself. He has serious swag, if you know what I mean.” He laughed then. “The ladies are just like bees buzzin’ around honey whenever he’s around; they just fall all over themselves and drool and stuff. And he’s real cool about it, doesn’t take advantage of anyone or show that he knows how magnetic he is, but then—” He stopped suddenly, all at once realizing how stupid that was. Deanna wouldn’t want to hear about Nachari and other women. “Oh, snap,” he said, waving his hand in front of him. “I didn’t mean that—about other women or anything—he’s not like a player or a dog. I mean, he bites the ladies instead of feeding off men because they just fall into his hands, so I guess it’s easy, but he doesn’t do…well…I mean…I don’t think he does, but even if he has, he won’t now…” His voice trailed off. “Sorry.”
Deanna gave him a smug appraisal. “Okay…well, that’s good to know.” She nodded slowly. “I will have to make sure he finds a more…appropriate feeding source in the future.” She winked at him then. “Don’t worry—it’s our secret. He’ll never know I heard it from you.”
Braden laughed apprehensively. “I hope I didn’t get him in trouble.”
Something conspiratorial gleamed in her eyes. “Not at all.”
Just then, the cell phone in his jeans vibrated, and he reached into his back pocket to pull it out. He glanced at the screen; it was Blade Rynich from school. “Just one of my boys from the academy,” he told Deanna, feeling emboldened by the call. “They’re always blowin’ up my phone.” He turned it off, flipped it over, and laid it in his lap—a smooth move, if he dared say so himself. “I’ll hit ’em back later.”
Deanna nodded. “Cool.” She paused for a moment. “I imagine the young ladies tend to swarm around you as well…”
He positively beamed on the inside, and then he reached up and absently stroked his chin a couple of times. “Yeah…yeah…you know how it is…”
Deanna sparkled with amusement. “Yes, I do; and I imagine it will get worse as you get older. Nachari will definitely have his hands full someday.”
Braden blushed. “I guess…we’ll see…”
Deanna paused for a moment before changing the subject. “Tell me about your parents.” Her eyes held genuine interest.
Braden shrugged. “I dunno. I guess there’s not that much to tell, really.” He thought about their story. “My mom met Dario in Hawaii about ten years ago, when I was five. That’s where we lived back then.” He shifted in his seat. “After Dario claimed her, they had my little brother, Conrad, and then Dario met with Napolean to figure out how to convert me, too—so I wouldn’t still be human.”
Deanna drew a quick inhale of breath. “That sounds like quite the story to me.”
Braden smiled broadly. “Yeah, well, I guess it is.” He paused. “Maybe I’m just used to it all now.”
Deanna nodded. “I see. So, how did you come to live with Nachari?”
Braden leaned forward with excitement. “Well, after my conversion, Dario and my mom decided to take me and Conrad on a one-year vacation around the world with them—I guess he wanted to show my mom a lot of cool things—like how the places had changed over time and stuff, maybe share his history with her.” He cleared his throat. “Of course, he really wanted to start in Romania, so that’s where we all went.” He lost his train of thought and had to pause for a moment to remember what he was saying. “Anyhow, we spent about three months in Romania…at the University…when I
guess the council of wizards decided that Nachari should spend more time with me.” He gave her his best sly wink and sat up straight in his chair. “I think they thought I could help him or something.”
Her eyes sparkled, and she seemed to be smiling inwardly, as if she knew something he didn’t. “So, that’s when Nachari brought you back to Dark Moon Vale?”
“Yep,” Braden said.
“And since then?”
“Since then, my parents have been all over the world with Conrad—and I’ve stayed here.” Before she could draw a bad conclusion about his family, he quickly added: “It feels like it’s been a really long time, but it hasn’t. Maybe six months or so.” He sighed. “After my first month here with Nachari, my parents really wanted me back, but I begged them to let me stay—and Napolean and Nachari helped me, too.” He tried to think of a way to explain it. “I have a lot of friends at the academy, and I’m learning a lot by staying here…you know, important things, like warrior and wizard things. If I were with them, I’d just be homeschooling and traveling from one place to the next, so I guess they finally agreed to let me stay…at least until their vacation is over, which should be in another four months or so.”
“And what then?” Deanna asked.
Braden shook his head, suddenly feeling lost—what if Nachari didn’t return? He didn’t even want to think about it. That simply couldn’t happen. “And then, they’re going to settle back in Hawaii…for good. Hopefully, they’ll agree to let me keep living here, at least until I graduate the Academy. I dunno. I miss them and everything, but I don’t really want to go back to Hawaii—or to have to learn the Human Studies at home with my mom. Hopefully, I can just go back and forth on breaks.”
Deanna grew quiet for a moment, clearly contemplating his words; and then she seemed to gather herself and move on. She pointed to his phone. “Do you have any pictures in there? Of you and Nachari?”
Braden swooped up the phone and smiled. “Oh, yeah, definitely.” He turned the device back on, hit a few buttons on the screen, and began to scroll down through a series of photos. He leaned forward, turning the phone so she could see the display. “This is me and Nachari on the roof, using the telescopes. Kristina took the picture.”
Deanna studied it very carefully, and Braden could tell by the look on her face that she was a little overwhelmed when she looked at him—just like most women were.
“And this is Nachari at the horse farm, training a stallion. He’s like one with the horses when he rides, and you wouldn’t think with all his swag that he would have the whole cowboy thing goin’ on, but like I said, he can pretty much do anything.”
Deanna reached for the phone. “May I?”
“Sure,” he said, handing it to her.
She touched the screen to enlarge the picture and just stared at it.
Braden had no idea what she was thinking at that moment, but her eyes kind of misted over, and he knew that she already had some very real feelings for Nachari. That was good. She handed the phone back, and he scrolled to the next picture. “And this is Nachari with his cars.” He emphasized the last word with pride. “He collects vintage Mustangs.” He pointed to a 1970 Calypso Coral beauty. “This is his favorite—the one he drives all the time. It has a V-8 engine, and he keeps it polished. Nachari loves his cars.”
Deanna smiled with appreciation. “Wow…I can see that.” He flipped to the next screen, and she laughed out loud before he could scroll beyond it. “What was that?”
“Oh,” Braden said, sounding embarrassed. “That was just…that was Nachari slapping me upside my head for trying to stand on the hood.”
Deanna laughed. “That didn’t go over too well?”
Braden shook his head slowly from side to side in an exaggerated motion. “You have no idea.”
“Hey, Braden.” A deep, smooth voice interrupted their conversation, and Braden looked up to see Kagen Silivasi standing in front of them in a pair of stone-washed Levi’s and a blue muscle-tee.
“Oh, hey, Kagen,” Braden called back. “Wassup?”
“Not much. When did you get here?”
“Just about ten minutes ago.” He gestured toward Nachari’s destiny. “I was talking to Deanna, telling her lots of important stuff about Nachari and showing her some pictures.”
“Is that right?” Kagen said, bending over to look at the phone. Seeing the last photo on the screen, he laughed out loud. “Katia said you called ahead—you wanted to talk to me about something—what is it?”
Braden looked back and forth between Kagen and Deanna. He hadn’t felt that good in a long time—having all of Deanna’s attention to himself kind of made him feel special, like he was somehow closer to Nachari. Telling on Kristina wouldn’t really make a difference in the world right now, but helping Deanna, that was as cool as it got. “Aw, nothing,” he said. “It can wait for another day. Just man things, you know.”
Kagen glanced back and forth between Braden and Deanna. “I see.” His eyes grew narrow, and he furrowed his brow. “You sure about that, buddy?”
Braden waved his hand through the air coolly. “Yeah, I’m sure. It’s all good.”
“All right then,” Kagen said. “I have a few things I need to take care of around here, so if you need me, I’ll be available a little later tonight.” He turned toward Deanna and brightened. “I’m glad you finally got to meet this one; he’s extremely important to my brother.”
Deanna regarded Braden pointedly. “I can see why,” she said. “Sometimes, just knowing who a person loves gives you a good idea of who they are. I think I’ve learned a lot today.”
“Good,” Kagen said. “I know it isn’t easy.”
Deanna smiled and nodded, but Braden hardly noticed: Just knowing who a person loves.
That’s what she had said.
Whatever the Silivasis had told Deanna about him, she knew Nachari loved him, that he was one of the most important people in Nachari’s life; and for whatever reason, she was treating him really, really special. His heart filled with pride and joy; and he sat back in his chair.
Yeah, this was definitely the right decision. Getting to know Deanna was way more important than squealing on Kristina. In fact, it was turning out to be one of the best days he’d had in a long while.
In the privacy of his dungeon, Nachari rocked back and forth on his knees, trying to quell the nausea in his stomach. His blood dripped down from his mouth and nose onto the stone floor and pooled beneath him, but he didn’t give it too much thought. He’d been there a thousand times before, trying to reorient his body as it struggled to regenerate following a particularly brutal beating.
Ademordna had kept him in the throne room longer than usual that day, giving several of his minions a turn with the lash. After spiking his wrists and ankles to the stone, they had even spread some sort of animal grease over his naked body, just to make sure the spiked lash glided easily through his skin. He took a deep breath and tried to control his trembling; he could have sworn a few of those spikes nicked internal organs this time. Gods, what he wouldn’t give for some fresh human blood right now—for his body to have something other than Ademordna’s slaves to feed on.
He felt the bile rise in his throat, and he pushed it back down.
He felt the familiar pang of despair swell in his heart, and he fought against it.
Where was Deanna now? he wondered. What was she doing? And what would it be like to finally meet her? He had to concentrate on the future, because the present was simply too unbearable.
The click-click-click of spiked heels clattering on top of stone caught his attention, and he tried to turn his head to the side. The world began to spin around him, and he immediately held it back down.
“Ah, lover of mine; you don’t look so good today.”
Noiro.
Of course.
“Do you want something?” he bit out. He was so not in the mood for her antics.
“Oh, yes,” she purred seductively, “but you don’t
appear in any shape to give it to me.” She paused to chew on a painted fingernail. “Shall I bring you another slave to feed upon? You really look…awful.”
“Why are you here, Noiro?” he growled.
She tossed something green to the floor beneath him. “Look, wizard—and you tell me.”
Nachari blinked a trickle of blood out of his eyes and struggled to bring his vision back into focus. The rich, deep croak of a toad gave away the object’s identity before his eyes recognized what they were seeing. He blinked several more times. “From the east?”
Noiro practically hummed with self-satisfaction. “From the marshlands in the center of the eastern province itself.” She pursed her lips. “And trust me, my Adonis, it was hard as hell to get it!”
Nachari reached out and stroked the toad’s back—testing for the corrosive energy. The vibration itself would tell him whether or not Noiro spoke the truth.
He felt the vaporous potency and almost smiled.
Almost.
He pried a stone free from the floor, a slab he had loosened earlier in anticipation of the four talismans, and placed the frog in the narrow hole beneath the opening. Be still and sleep until I awaken you, he commanded, watching as the reptile instantly complied. He turned to Noiro. “Help me up…please.” He hated having to ask her for her assistance, but going forward with his plan was more important than his pride. And one day—yes, one day soon—there would be a reckoning unlike anything the demoness had ever seen. Oh yes, her day would come.
Noiro sidled up to him, ran her long, bony hand along his skin from his ankles to his shoulders, lingering at his buttock, and groaned. “Soon,” she whispered, clearly lost in carnal thoughts of her own. She grabbed him by the arm and tugged. “Tell me then, did I do good, lover?”
“Well,” he said derisively. “Did I do well? And yes, you did fine…for now. But you still owe me a secret.” He leaned against her as she helped him to the bed and then dropped him carelessly, causing him to fall in a battered heap on top of the already soiled blankets. He quickly rolled off his back, biting down on his tongue to keep from crying out. “My clothes.” He pointed toward the tattered rags crumpled in the corner.
