The Night House

by J. C. McKenzie

  When she pulled up alongside Thane, he scowled at her. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m your bodyguard.”

  “And?”

  “And I need to be close to your body to guard it.” That came out wrong. She winced.

  Thane’s grip tightened on the reins. “You shouldn’t listen to gossip.”

  “No. I shouldn’t believe gossip. I should still be aware of it, especially if it creates bitter ex-fiancés or other hazardous materials.”

  Thane took a deep breath. His armour rose and fell with his chest. “My father believed my mother was unfaithful. He beat her to death when I was eight.”

  The memory surfaced, loud and vivid. The sick sounds of Lane’s fists hitting Thane’s mother over and over again. Her heart ached. He’d been the same age as her brother when he had the spider incident. One of those childhood experiences was normal, the other wasn’t remotely close.

  “Many believe he was right,” Thane said.

  “To beat her or believe she cheated?”

  “Both.”

  Pressure squeezed her chest as if an invisible giant wrapped Taya in his massive hand.

  “There are rumours I’m an illegitimate child of this scandalous union.”

  The other memories flooded in. His father and brother were truly horrible people. What other childhood wonders had they destroyed for Thane?

  “It only takes one look at you with your father and brother to see the resemblance,” she said.

  He nodded. “Yet the rumours persist.”

  She sat back in her saddle and willed the memories away. They ignored her, flooding her senses with smells of dark, damp jail cells and the sounds of Thane’s mother screaming.

  “I sometimes wish they were true,” Thane whispered, watching the road.

  “Because then you wouldn’t be like them?”

  His stormy gaze settled on her, flashing like lightning. “I’m already nothing like them.”

  She nodded like she understood, but she didn’t. He sounded both proud and upset. Maybe he was just as confused.

  “What do you think the sacrifice circles are for?” she asked and winced. She’d already asked him that question, but she said the first thing that sprang into her mind to change the topic.

  “If I knew, we wouldn’t be here.”

  Geez, she was trying to be nice. Help her out, buddy. “What do you think is going on?”

  “Do you know why Arkavians invaded your world?” Thane asked instead.

  His abrupt change in topic startled her. Like an older-model car with a misfiring cylinder, she stumbled to catch up. An explanation for all her pain and suffering? Yes, please. All she’d gathered over the last few weeks was the general impression of greed. Maybe she should’ve asked outright, but she’d been more concerned about her fate among the Arkavians. Why Arkavians invaded Earth would never change what they did or how they devastated her entire world.

  “Take a guess,” Thane continued.

  Okay, she’d play. “A sadistic overlord fetish fantasy?”

  He hesitated. “That’s actually not far off.”

  “Lovely.”

  “Our society is a parasite. We use other worlds as energy sources. We take and take until all the natural resources are depleted and the natural power of the land is drained.”

  Even more lovely. Arkavians were a civilization of good-looking locusts. “I thought Earth didn’t have magic.”

  “It didn’t have magic in its atmosphere. Every planet has a natural essence that can be extracted or drained.”

  How fortunate for Earth. If Thane represented all off Arkavia right now, she’d punch him in the face.

  Large dark clouds moved in and cast them in shadow. Winter sunshine rarely lasted long on the coast. They should make camp before the rain set in.

  He glanced at her. “It wasn’t always this way. Arkavia used to be a thriving, self-sufficient world.”

  “What happened? Plastics?”

  “What?”

  “Never mind. Please continue.”

  He gripped the leather reins hard. They creaked under the pressure of his gauntlets. “No one knows. I suspect dark magic. Normally, power is a renewable resource. Like water, once used, it returns to its natural lifecycle. I believe someone leached magic from Arkavia and disrupted the balance.”

  “Leaching?”

  “Yes.”

  “And this has the same effect as cutting holes in a bucket?”

  “Exactly. No matter how much we refill the system, it keeps leaking and never stays full because someone keeps draining it. What else can explain why Arkavia no longer retains any of its magical resources?”

  “But you said the first gate opened years ago. This can’t be one person.” She paused. “Unless you guys also have freakishly long lifespans in addition to height.”

  Thane straightened in his saddle. “We live as long as you. I suspect this has been going on for generations and one of the major houses is involved. Someone has to know something.”

  “And these sacrifice circles?”

  Sugar danced a little in her step. Taya patted her neck again.

  “I think the leechers found a way to funnel energy directly from Earth instead of using Arkavia as an intermediary. These circles might be an anchor of some kind,” Thane said.

  Taya ran her hand through the coarse black and white hairs of Sugar’s coat. “Sounds like you already have a lot figured out. Why are we even going to this one?”

  “I need to see a fresh site. The last one was too old for me to read the magical signatures and figure out how the spells were constructed or carried out. If I find a new circle, I might figure out how it all works, and more importantly, how to reverse or at least stop the leaching.”

  “What if you can’t?”

  “Then I’ll find who’s responsible.”

  Taya smiled. She might not gain the ability to reverse time and prevent the reaping from obliterating Earth and leaving only a small number of humans alive like some sort of mathemagical remainder, but if she stuck with Thane, she might help him stop the leaching. She might save her home world from becoming a barren wasteland.

  “Uh…guys?” Axel called out from behind them. “Smell that?”

  Taya sniffed the cold air. Her stomach turned. Decay.

  Sugar’s ears pinged back and she lowered her head as if someone might jump out of the trees and smack her on the head.

  They entered the clearing surrounded by moss covered trees. The moisture clinging to dangling strands of lichen refracted the diminishing light to illuminate a ring of corpses.

  Luckily, the well-trained horses didn’t bolt. They had more courage than Taya. She wanted to run.

  Thane stomped around the flattened, frost-encrusted grass. His breath escaped in angry billows of air as if he housed a pissed off dragon.

  She stilled.

  No. Not possible. Surely she’d know by now if Arkavians secretly shifted into dragons. She eyed the giant warriors, all wearing grim expressions and surveying the area for threats. If they were supernatural were-creatures, their beasts would be bears, not overgrown lizards.

  She glanced at the badly decomposed bodies and immediately wished she hadn’t. Think of a big Thane teddy bear with a jar of honey. Thane-bear with honey.

  Nope. Not working.

  “I’m not an expert, but these bodies look about the same as the ones we saw three weeks ago,” she whispered.

  Thane glared.

  Okay, then. At least she knew she was right.

  “The snow and ice slowed decomposition significantly, which is why these look similar to the ones we saw earlier. They’re about five months old,” Lokni confirmed. “This places their deaths around the time of the portal opening.”

  “Why does this site and the last one look less organized than the one I saw?” she asked.

  “Scavengers,” Lokni and Soka answered in unison.

  She shivered. The image of a raccoon scurrying away with
a dismembered arm and wolves gnawing on exposed rib bones made her stomach drop and her lungs feel too small.

  “Mount up. We’ll find a place to camp away from here.” Thane grabbed Hades’ reins.

  “We’re not heading back?” Axel asked.

  “No. I want Taya to show me the first site’s location. Maybe the position will give us some clues.”

  She had zero interest in returning to the campground of her friends’ demise a third time, but maybe it would provide her with an opportunity to either help or escape. Three times a charm, right?

  She mounted Sugar and grabbed the reins. Did she really want to escape now? In the dead of winter, she had no supplies or shelter. With Thane, she had food, clothes and a warm place to sleep. It certainly beat living in the woods.

  She directed Sugar to follow the group away from the massacre while her mind spun.

  Guilt stabbed at her chest. Guilt for surviving. Guilt for living among the enemy and not trying to slit their necks at every opportunity. Guilt for actually liking the men on Thane’s team and guilt for…guilt for Thane.

  Survive first, feel later. Her dad’s words hugged her brain.

  Well, that’s what she did. She survived. And she’d keep surviving. The backlash of feels she’d suffer one day scared her. The emotions might prove her undoing.

  If Thane spoke truthfully, and the Arkavians planned to suck Earth dry of its essence and resources, she had finite time to exist on this side of the gate anyway. Much better to serve Thane and hopefully find a way to either stop the leaching from continuing or save whatever survivors remained.

  She watched the men ride ahead, their backs broad, their bodies strong, and their armour glinting in random bands of sunlight as it streaked through the cloud cover and forest canopy.

  And if all else failed, she’d serve out her year and then she was free to kill as many Arkavians as she could.

  Chapter Twenty

  Three Times a Charm

  Taya sat by the flowing water and threw the smooth river rock. It skipped twice before sinking. The dark clouds dumped a short deluge of rain on them before the foul weather moved on. The sun set and cast them in eerie moonlight.

  “You’ve been lost in thought,” Thane said. He sat down on the boulder beside her. “Is it hard to visit this side again?”

  She nodded. “Too soon.” Sure it had been over five months since the blue death wave rolled through her life and she’d had time to come to terms with the devastation and loss, but stepping into the familiar air, surrounded by a familiar forest and sounds, brought all the intense emotions rushing back.

  He picked up a rock and whipped it at the river. Instead of skipping, it hit the water with a loud plunk and sank. Glug, glug, glug.

  Someone snickered. The small campsite offered no privacy. The twins bickered around the fire and Axel grumbled about his numb ass.

  “I’m sorry the sacrifice wasn’t fresh,” Taya said and cringed. She’d have to add that to the list of phrases she never thought she’d say.

  “It’s not your fault.”

  “I wish there was a way for you to see what I saw at the first site. Then we wouldn’t have to tramp through this forest during winter.” And she wouldn’t have to visit the location of her friends’ death a third time.

  Silence answered her. Thane studied her. The men behind them stilled. The bickering stopped.

  “Leave us,” Thane said.

  Boots scuffed against river rock as the men left the clearing without a word. Branches snapped and leaves swished as they travelled into the woods.

  Maybe she could run after the rest of the team.

  “There is a way,” Thane said.

  “But?”

  His lips flattened into a straight line. “It can be…intrusive.”

  “More intrusive than the bond?” Her body warmed at the memory of his power pressing into her.

  He nodded. “For the bond, I placed my magic within your mind. Using the bond to sift through your memories involves me moving my magic inside you.”

  Heat flushed her skin. “Why does this sound sexual?”

  “Because, in a way, it is. It’s an intensely intimate thing. To continue with your analogy, forming the bond is penetration and memory sifting is the actual fucking.”

  So he wanted to fuck her brains out. Literally. Her heart pounded. Part of her liked the idea. And that part could shut the hell up.

  “I’ll be gentle,” Thane offered.

  She laughed. That’s not the first time a man said those words to her.

  “It’s your choice,” he said.

  “Is it though?” He was her master, after all.

  He frowned. “Of course. Memory sifting is not something I would impose on anyone. Forcing a sift can be incredibly damaging and painful, much like rape.”

  Okay. Only consensual mind-fucking here, then.

  “It won’t be unpleasant. Married Tarkas often merge their magic during sex.” He looked away.

  She wrung her hands together. If she said no, they’d continue searching for more sacrifice circles while some dark magic leaching douchebag continued to defile her world. The alternative was to let Thane move his magic inside her and risk getting off on it.

  “Okay.” She squeezed her eyes shut. Heat flooded her body. She’d like to think the first reason was the motivation for her decision, but she tried not to make a habit of lying to herself.

  “We should move away from the water. It can distort magic.”

  She knew it! Of course she knew water messed with Tarka power, but it was nice to have it officially confirmed.

  Thane stood and held his hand out, much like he had in training the other day. She let him haul her to her feet, her boots scuffing the rock.

  “Where are the men?” she asked.

  Thane led her to his tent and held the flap back. “They’ll guard our campsite from the perimeter.”

  She stepped into the enclosed area and the walls of the tent closed in. Instantly, the space shrank.

  Thane dropped his sword belt and it clattered against the hard ground. “Get comfortable. We need to lay down and touch.”

  She unclasped her double sword scabbard and rested the sheaths against Thane’s. “I bet you say that to all the girls.”

  “Only the lucky ones.” He removed his armour. The metal clanked where he set it down, and his pine scent intensified.

  She stumbled. With an extra step, she landed on the bed roll. Hopefully, that appeared intentional.

  Thane chuckled.

  Okay, maybe it didn’t.

  Thane stretched out beside her and gathered her in his arms. She tensed, rigid as a plank. With jolted motion, she rested her hand on his chest, solid under the wool shirt. Her palm hit him with a small thump.

  “You need to relax,” he said.

  Yup. Not the first guy to tell her that, either. She released a bunch of pent up air. “Easy for you to say.”

  His breath fanned the top of her head and his thumb stroked her arm through the cloth. “Shhhh. You’re ruining the moment.”

  Nervous laughter bubbled up her throat. Before it could spill out, Thane’s magic slid inside her head and her mind spiraled into memories.

  First, she relived the glimpses into Thane’s past—the painful ones she’d already seen. The screams of his mother while he cowered under a blanket frozen in a fear no child should ever experience. Then Thane flipped over his dead tutor. Then he demanded answers and support from his brother and got neither. As fast as the memories appeared, they flickered away.

  Thane sucked in a breath. His hands dug into her arm and side where he held her to his hard body.

  Next, they stood in a clearing together, John off to one side. Bodies no more than three days old lay exposed to the afternoon sun. They walked through the scene again, slowly, reliving Taya’s memory as if she stood in the summer heat surrounded by buzzing insects and death all over again.

  Something flickered under the sunlight.
>
  “Do you think…” John shuddered. “Do you think this is their plan for us?”

  She shook her head and forced her gaze away from Kaydence’s horrified expression. “I don’t think so. I overheard two of them talking and they made it sound as though they intended to use us as slaves, not food or sacrifices.”

  “Something interrupted their plans.” He walked around some of the bodies and paused by one of the men. “Is this one of them?”

  Taya joined him, carefully skirting the pools of dried blood. Too many. Too many faces and bodies to take in. They blurred together. She swallowed and forced her eyes open to study the body John indicated. Sure enough, he’d identified one of the Arkavian soldiers. “He’s the one who spoke to the leader.”

  The memory rewound. Thane moved his magic within her mind, back and forth as he replayed that moment, looking for something. Finally, his power slid away and the memory carried on until it ended with her and John leaving to raid the other campsite.

  Instead of rousing from their shared memory, her mind spiraled forward to a more recent time. Suddenly Thane was there, naked and pinning her to the ground, his hard shaft pushing into her. The fantasy from grappling practice played out in exquisite detail.

  Oh no. Please don’t let Thane see this memory. Her mind scrambled and shoved Thane’s magic away. Instead of sending Thane’s power out, her mind catapulted into a different memory. Thane’s memory. He had her pinned to a bed. She panted, hair wild, gaze heated and sweat glistening on her naked skin as he pressed her into the soft covers and pumped into her heat.

  The memory snapped away and everything went black.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Two Minds…

  Deep voices bickering outside brought Taya out of her haze. Her lashes fluttered against the rough material of Thane’s shirt.

  Thane.

  Bed.

  Sex.

  She froze.

  They still lay together on his bedroll, fully clothed, in his tent. The campfire outside cast a warm orange glow through the tent fabric. The distant heat staved off some of the frost in the winter air, but Taya wasn’t cold. Nope. She burned with need.