I push the dirt and dust off the face of the clock. “Well look at that; it’s still working.” I look down at my watch checking the time. “Holy shit the time is actually correct.” I return my eyes to the clock as it strikes noon and sounds begin to chime throughout the room.
As the ringing sound hits my ears I feel my body start to vibrate. Slow at first but it increases by the second.
“What the hell is going on is there an earthquake?” I bellow to no one while grabbing onto the clock as if it could actually help me in some way. The clock keeps tolling and my body continues to shake and I feel a burning sensation coming from my chest.
I open my shirt noticing that my neck-chain is glowing and it seems to be hot to the touch. I snatch it up in my hand yanking at it to try and remove it. Suddenly I feel my body move forward.
“What…what was that?” I move backward but my feet slide forward underneath. I look up as the clock blurs white, disappearing in front of me as what can only be described as a black hole emerges in its place. My legs are ripped out from underneath me as I slide through the hole and into the black void.
I look everywhere but see nothing discernible or describable as my brain bends around the new images flashing before my eyes. My skin feels like it’s being smacked by a thousand hands all at once and until finally after several painful minutes my body becomes numb.
My body feels weightless and my hair blows upwards indicating to me that I must be falling. I begin to struggle. I wave my arms reaching for anything but finding nothing but darkness as I lose sight of my hands once their extended. Fearing the unknown I pull my arms back up out of the murky, dark void that surrounds me.
My ears start feeling like I have gone too high in altitude and my belly is twisting inside urging me to spill the contents within but I hold back somehow.
Without warning my body hits feet first into a warm, gooey substance and I become engulfed in it as it swallows me whole.
Ω
Darkness turns to light. I am laying on a black hard surface that feels and looks like marble. I can hear sounds coming from somewhere off in the distance. “Hello…hello is anyone there?” I whisper. I sit up with all my senses restored and I quickly stand. “I don’t think that this is my basement…” I say to myself with what was left of my hope that I wasn’t crazy and that I might have fallen through one of the old decrepit floorboards of Troy’s Manor. I am standing in a hallway, on a black marble floor, dark-colored walls made from unrecognizable materials. “Where the hell am I, actual Hell?” I gasp. I see a large window a few feet away and I race over to it. Peering out, I gasp at what I see. There are three planets, or moons, I don’t know which. I stare, transfixed by the beauty of it all. “This is definitely not hell…but this isn’t Montana either. I don’t think this is even Earth.” I add. My mouth drops open. I hear the sounds getting closer. “If this isn’t Earth then those are probably not humans either so I’d better hide,” I realize, before leaping into action and spotting a corridor. I race towards it, fleeing from the sounds.
“Stop!” A female voice demands. I stop in my tracks looking to my side.
“Shit…I don’t want any trouble,” I say with my hands in the air. I back up as she nears me I nod my head. “Look I don’t know how I got here. Wherever here is? But I will leave if you could just show me how to get out of here.” I scramble for help. She says nothing as she puts her hands on my face. I let her touch me almost paralyzed by her somehow. “You look like just a normal girl. You look human to me.” I clear my throat as she moves closer.
“How did you do that? How did you appear from nowhere?” She asks while continuing to paw at my face with her super cold hands.
“I don’t know what that was that just happened. I don’t even know where I am,” I try answering. Her hand feels cold but soft. She is small, five feet two inches, and she looks at least twenty years old. Her hair is long and is braided down her back. I can’t tell the color of it because everything in the hallway is reflecting back the colors of those moons, even her hair. “Can you help me get out of here, ma’am?” I say taking her hand in mine I now feel the full chill of her skin causing me to drop her hand immediately. “What the fu—” I snap but I’m stopped by the return of the sounds of people nearing us. I move away from her turning without looking I dart forward hitting into a brick wall I see darkness and then nothing.
Ω
“You look unreal to me…who are you? What are you? I need to go home. The clock swallowed me whole, I think I need a drink.” I mumble.
I open my eyes as flashes of her face and the sky above roll over me. I try moving but I feel trapped and I can’t feel my feet. I realize that she is carrying me and that we are no longer in that hallway but outside somehow. My head throbs and a crushing pain moves through it.
Chapter 3
Aria
The strange male moves shaking his head again while I set him down on the shore of the Yukon Sea. He has been talking about unknown things to me. I don’t think he is right in his head. His body is injured and he is bleeding from the head. I don’t know what to do for him I pull a piece from my gown tearing it free placing it on his forehead. I wipe the blood while fully resisting my desire to lick up the blood with my tongue.
“Why do you smell so good, male?” I say to him but he doesn’t respond and instead he continues to sleep. Every time I touch him I undergo a new feeling that begins to move through me, almost overpowering me but I hold strong resisting again the urge to lick and suck up his blood. I drop the damp and bloody cloth at his feet backing up towards the Yukon waters.
I turn racing into it diving in head first into the shallow red water. Actually, if what Dahlia told me is true then this isn’t really water at all but blood; blood that I can drink. It’s the blood of Kysco Nation. I open my mouth filling it with my food and satisfying all my needs in an instant. My body, gown, and all are covered as I climb out walking slowly towards the strange male.
My desire to eat the male is gone and I return to his side placing the cloth back to his head. I pull back shocked as I realize that other then the blood on the cloth, his has no wounds on it that I can see. I look closer but see nothing on his head at all. “Why aren’t you bleeding anymore?” I strain, continuing to lean further towards him. He moves again opening his eyes.
“What…what are you doing to me?” He yells while pulling away from me. “What are you? Where are we?” He shouts with his eyes trapping me in a hard grip.
“I’ve done nothing to you. Don’t move you will hurt yourself again silly male.” I snap trying to order this unintelligent male into shape. His face shrinks up a little like he doesn’t understand which is to be expected from a lower life form. “What type of Fae are you, male?”
“Stop calling me ‘male’ my name is Cadence Troy and I’m not a ‘Fae’ or whatever you just said I’m a regular guy… with a pounding headache,” he snaps back at me with no respect in his voice like he doesn’t know who I am or what I am.
I pull my hand away before bringing it back striking him across his cheek bone. The echo sounds up and down the shore shocking both of us. “Get yourself under control now, male Cadence Troy. You are representing ‘Regular Guy’ Nation so behave as such you will address me as Aria, just Aria I have no title.” I add.
“Did you just hit me?” He asks.
“Of course I did. You were acting hysterical,” I say. I move closer to his face to study him further.
“What…what are you doing now you going to hit me again or lick me?” He asks but I’m overcome by the smell of him and the feel of his skin. His hair is dark it seems in color, darker than mine but it is very short and parted on one side with some sort of substance keeping it in place. He no top garments on him allowing me to see his chest up close. I didn’t notice his body before as I carried him to freedom and I’m not sure why I care to look now but yet I continue studying him. “Why are you just staring at me, Aria? You are making me feel very strange. Th
is is too awkward don’t you think?” He mumbles something to me that I care not to listen to. I have resisted him for far too long I want to bite him. I want to taste him. I push myself up onto his lap receiving no resistance from him.
“Aria…your name is…Aria? Why do I feel like I can’t move right now? I just want you to…” He groans as I caress his shoulders with my eyes fixed on his neck. The sound of his blood flow pulls me to him until my lips are on his bare flesh. “Why…wait…” He tries again to speak his eyes transfixed on me as I end my painful need by biting down into his neck. My teeth have never bitten before but my body naturally responds to it, and it’s as if I’ve done this all along.
His body goes limp in my arms and he holds still as I pierce his skin with my extended teeth causing his blood to spill into my mouth. The sweetness of the flavor overpowers me and I moan loudly while continuing to drink his blood. I feel his head slump to the side. I pull back lifting my teeth out of his skin causing them to recoil back to normal size again.
“Oh no, please don’t be dead. That shouldn’t have hurt you nor should it have killed you.” I say while gently moving his head with my hands. “But then again you are not from this world, I believe, and no not your anatomy.” I began to worry just before he moves slightly and I see his eyes are open. “Good you are alive.” I cough and fill of relief for some reason. My excitement returns but I don’t plan to drink again. I want to do other things to him. I can feel that his body is strong but he isn’t a match for me. The heat from his body is intoxicating I feel almost drunk from him. As I feel his blood course through my body I start to sense a deeper part of him, his emotions start to fill my body somehow and they are overwhelming.
“Aria, why does this feel so good to me, this should feel painful or something, right? I mean you just bit my neck. How does this feel so good,” he says before pressing his lips to mine snatching my reality away from me.
I fall into his mouth willingly. His hands find my waist and he unfastens my gown before pushing his hands inside to touch me. Everything is happening so fast but I can’t gain my strength to stop myself.
“Uh…ah…Cadence!” My raspy voice pleads but he does not listen, rather he places his hand on my most intimate spot and I realize that somehow my bite must have an intoxicating effect on him as he seems powerless to resist touching me.
“Grrr!!” I hear horrific growls off in the distance.
“Stop!” I stammer into his mouth before breaking free from him standing up. My mind starts racing as I recognize the growls of the Zerkers and I know we must go immediately. “Come on, get up we have to go now or we will become dinner,” I add before offering my hand to help him up.
“I got it. I can still stand up on my own,” he says, before trying to stand but he only manages to get up onto one knee.
“I believe you got it but you will need to practice later. Let me help you for now, Cadence.” I offer again to which he takes my hand willingly. I grab his hand yanking him up not wanting to waste time.
“GRAWL!! GRAWL!!” The growls are getting closer.
“What is making that sound? It sounds like really pissed off wolves or something,” Cadence says before he shows me his teeth with his cheeks pressed outward, and in that second, I feel warm on the inside for the first time.
“Those are the sounds of the Zerkers and if I’m not wrong they are on their way to us right now so we must run from here or we will die for sure.” I try to warn him again.
“Zerkers, what is a zerker? Wait, I don’t think I want to stick around long enough to find out, Aria. But I’m afraid that your right I don’t think I can run just yet. I don’t understand why my legs won’t move correctly right now. I think it has something to do with the atmosphere here. What is this place, Aria?”
“This is Tragon, and you are standing on the shores of the Yukon Sea alongside the Kysco Nation. You were just in the Kysco Fortress, home to the Royal Council, Cadence of Troy.” I try to explain our land to him further.
Chapter 4
Cade
As I move with this stranger down this beach, I feel almost like I’m on a vacation. Like some normal traveler out on an excursion with a friend. Aria’s small, slender body moves alongside mine before turning to me.
“We must hurry. You need to stop slowing down. I have not heard the zerkers for sometime but we should still keep moving it’s not safe out in the open like this.” She says before looking away. I remain quiet and try my best to keep pace with her. Now I wish that I really was on a vacation so I could order up a drink and take a seat on this beach on this distance planet.
We’ve walked for what seems like five miles at a very quick pace. This girl can move unlike anyone I have ever seen. My only aid was the soft cushiony feel of the sand underneath my shoes which was preventing blisters from forming on my feet. This wasn’t something that I’m accustomed to back home, all this running and fleeing of creatures that I can only hear.
I have been watching these three moons move from one side of the Yukon Sea to the middle part of it. This leads me to wonder if these moons ever actually set. I hope not because they are the only source of light here for what I can tell. The purple, yellow, and blue colors of the moons are having a calming effect on me somehow I have noticed. It reminds me of a lava lamp from the 70’s or something like that.
The truth is that I’m craving my fix. My daily blood alcohol levels are bottoming out and I’m having real feelings. Feelings about my shit-filled life from before when I was beyond the veil back on earth.
I bring my foot down one more time before stopping in protest. “Wait a minute! I need to rest.” I demand before yanking my hand free from her cold hand’s grasps.
“We must not stop. There is no time for resting, uh…” She pauses as if she has forgotten my name already.
“Did you just forget my name, Aria? I’m not moving my feet out of this sand. If this even is sand, I don’t know where I am nor do I have any idea where you are taking me.” I snap with a finger in her small, round face. She slaps my hand down. I try to resist her but her strength is intense and unlike a human beings’. I plant my feet in the dark brown sand in an attempt to send a message.
“This is the Yukon Sea and this is Tragon you are standing in the Kysco Nation land.” She snaps back while pointing around us before reaching for me again and I dodge her once more. “Fine, if you won’t move than I can carry you again if you would prefer?” She says with a half smile. She moves towards me and I lean backwards barely missing her grip.
“And?”
“What else do you need to know?”
“Where are we going? Where are you taking me, Aria? I don’t know you at all I’m not going to blindly follow you to my own death.”
“We must go to the Shylo Tribe ruins. That is all that I can tell you for now because that is all that I know. Now Cadence, will you please come along with me before the zerkers eat us alive?”
“I will walk on my own but only after I rest and drink.” I demand with my eyes fixed on hers. “Aria, I need to drink and eat something, anything please.” I add with a small nod she nods back. “You understand that I need to eat, right? If I don’t eat or drink water I can’t walk, my body won’t let me.” I say. She moves away heading towards the rocks lining the shoreline.
“I will find water for you, Cadence.” She says with her back to me. “I will look for food as well but I don’t think I will find much. Stay here close to the Yukon Sea waters you should be safe for now. I hope. (She says under her breath) I haven’t heard the zerkers for quite some time like I said maybe they have found another food source instead of us.” She adds.
I freeze in my tracks once she says food source. For a moment I had forgotten about the strange zerkers she was talking about earlier. I do as she instructs and head over to the bloody looking waters of the Yukon Sea careful not to touch it or let it touch my shoes. I look out over the rippling red waves thinking about my life. I can’t help but be reminde
d of the sweet taste of red wine and delicious Merlot while watching the waves splashing the shore. I lick my lips thinking about cupping my hands together and scooping up some of the sea water. I reframe knowing it’s not wine but I do wonder just what it is and why is the water red?
“It’s not wine, stupid!” I say aloud. I lean down examining the water further. “Why is it red and it looks thick too?” I cup my hands together and pool the water into the palm of my hand. “It definitely isn’t water it looks like blood.” I smell it before pulling back dropping the liquid from my hands. “Yuck! It is blood! What is going on, why is there a bunch of blood pooled together like this?” I stand backing up. “She called this the Yukon Sea. I think she even dove into it earlier like she was happy to be in it, like she was drinking the blood or something.” I turn around to look for her before looking back at the bloody sea. “She’s some kind of blood-sucker isn’t she? She bit me earlier. It felt amazing but still she bit me and that’s a little stranger than I’m used to. Why did it feel so good? Her smell and her body seem to steer up my sexual desires something that the ladies back home haven’t done it a while. Ha-ha!” I stop and laugh at myself.
Chapter 5
Aria
It is afternoon now and we should be safe from the night creatures. I turn back looking towards the Yukon Sea. My body is tired. My stomach is empty and my head is filled with images of Dahlia’s face. I had never seen her look that scared. Come to think of it I’ve never seen Dahlia afraid ever. Forty spins have come and gone and not once has my attendant, my teacher and guide ever looked afraid. I turn my focus back to the ground and the Shylo berries which surround my feet. At least I hope that these are Shylo berries, I have no real point of reference seems how I don’t ever require the consumption of anything other than the waters of the Yukon Sea. Never the less I believe that these white blossoms with wide stems are the berries she described.
The Traveler (Bloods Divide Universe Book 1) Page 2
