But for all of the power of this female, there was little she could do to stop Karrine from draining away her life force. One touch was all Karrine needed to strip the female of the magic that burned in her blood…and what powerful magic it was. Manipulating light, reshaping darkness to her will had been a dream- albeit a temporary dream. Such was the life of a Drainer. The more magic she took, the more powerful she became, now fully capable of draining more than just the magic of a victim, but their life force as well. At least, that was what she was capable of until magic slowly began to fade, affecting even her ability.
Now, she must wait for the heir to be brought to the kingdom. Pushing back a stray strand of black hair from her face, Karrine’s thoughts continued to drift in the direction of what was once a beautiful, vibrant kingdom of Mercuria. Rich greenery, crystal clear waters that healed, cleansed and purged those that stepped into it, and even itself. Yet, behind all of the beauty, Mercuria had been a land of prejudice and division. Those with bloodlines originating from gods of death, destruction, mayhem and disease were separated from those whose bloodlines did not. Forced to live in clustered ghettos where those with the strongest magic dominated those with the weakest fought for scraps while the rest of the kingdom thrived.
Those who descended from the Founding Bloodlines lived royally, most of them operating in service of Mercury. Very few Drainers, Cursers, and Necroes were found useful outside of protecting Mercuria’s borders. Soldiers. Expendable. That was all that they were. Karrine recalled her father nearly losing his life at the border by a group of Berserkers, entities of darkness that fed off the life energy of its victims. He was brought home by a generous Healer who fought off the creatures before healing her father, and then warning them that they were growing in numbers and should be mindful.
Food was always scarce. Her mother did not survive childbirth, which left Karrine alone with her father who did the best he could. But the suffering she and those like herself endured had been too much. Therefore, even at a young age, Karrine understood that in order for a change to happen, she would have to become the very thing the kingdom would fear. Because of her, there was a redistribution of land. Those who sat at the top of the class system now bottomed out; forced to shell out more coins for her tributes…the Founding Families had all but disappeared in the kingdom, taking refuge in the corners of the realm that she once knew.
For a while, under Karrine’s rule, those who were like her, thrived. Most of them became her personal guards, mercenaries, and magic workers. Her only mistake was underestimating the totality of Mercury’s rule: without his life energy, there would be no Mercuria. There would be no magic. She fiddled the blood red stone that hung loosely around her neck. Mercury failed to seal up the secrets encoded in the very walls that now protected her. The blood stone, the most powerful magical relic in all of the galaxies, would help her seal her fate as Queen once the heir was in her clutches.
The only question that remained was did she have enough time?
****
Erick
I drive for another stretch of miles before we finally cross the Nevada state line. Destiny’s car needs gas, fresh tires, and possibly a new engine. It’s hot as hell, the temperature reaching an unbearable 100 degrees. I wipe a bead of sweat that is forming on my brow and glance over at Destiny who appears to be sleeping. Her eyes are closed and there is a slight calmness that blankets her. The subtle rise and fall of her chest provide her with much needed rest. Summer is quietly listening to her tablet, her eyes focused on the screen, unbothered by the chaos that follows us.
The GPS on my phone tells me that there is an airport a good twenty miles south from where we are. Even without my magic, I can always sense the closest burial ground, but I need one with strong ancestral guardians. When I entered the earth realm two decades ago, I came through a weakened gate courtesy of the Queen. But now, with my magic tied to the dead, I need a pass from spirit guardians and the only one I can home in on is located in New York, and it is heavily guarded by Reapers.
I try not to think about my last encounter with Reaper spirits as I turn down the turnpike. Mercury must be having a hell of a time with them now that he is no longer with us in the physical realm. My palms tingle with magic. The dark essence of my power thickens in my blood. Just being in the presence of Destiny makes me stronger. It makes me wonder what her presence alone will do for the city.
My thoughts drift to the city, creating nostalgia for a time when I could wield my power freely, instilling fear in those who crossed my path. Members of my magic class did not live nearly as leisurely as those gifted with other talents. We were boxed in, caged almost like animals in specific districts courtesy of Mercury. Looking back on it, we were treated like the cancers of an otherwise healthy body. My mother told me that a strong clan of Deathers once made an almost successful attempt on the king’s life. As a result, those with dark abilities were separated from the rest of the city. We were monitored. Threatened. The king’s guard patrolled our very streets with orders to cut down anyone who so much as looked at them with a frown. His brother had been one of them.
Had it not been for the discriminatory treatment of those with dark magic, I would say Mercury had been a fair and honest king. He loved his city. He loved his people. He loved magic… I slide over into the center lane, careful to avoid the eighteen-wheeler that appeared in the rearview mirror. From the corner of my eye I notice Destiny slowly sit up. She stretches and pushes the seatbelt from across her face and back against her chest.
“Where are we going now?” She asks with a yawn.
“We need to make it to the airport,” I tell her.
“Oh.”
A question burns right at the tip of my tongue, but I try to maintain my focus and get us to our destination without further incident. However, the more I think about the fact that I killed two government officials does not sit well with me. Granted, they more than likely worked for a blacked-out section of the government that conspiracy theorists would love to know about, but still… more would come.
“How did the government figure you out?” I ask after a few minutes.
“What do you mean?”
“You know what I mean Destiny. Does Men in Black ring a bell?”
She paused, lowering her gaze to her palms which had reignited with blue white light. “The only thing I can think of,” she began. “Is the stupid DNA test that Summer and I took a few weeks back for her school project.”
“Shit.”
“And yesterday, right before you arrived, I had received a weird ass phone call from someone saying that my DNA came back inconclusive and that they wanted to retest me.” Her eyes widened at the thought. “Damn.”
Damn is right. Stupid Human Genome Project funded by the National Institute of Health is what it is. The fucking government has figured out that not all humans are “human”, and they want in on it. I don’t know how long I can keep us one step ahead of them and the Mercurians. If we can just make it to the airport…
“It’s not your fault,” I say summoning calm. “You didn’t know.” Curse you Mercury, I think to myself. This is some bullshit.
We drive for another hour in silence before I turn off the ramp and merge onto another never ending highway. Destiny keeps looking out the window, while I steal glances of her, studying her features, and for the first time since I saw her, I see more than Mercury’s heir and the answer to all of my problems. I see a beautiful woman; a potentially proud Mercurian.
We drive for another hour in silence before I turn off the ramp merge onto another never ending highway. Destiny keeps looking out the window, while I steal glances of her, studying her features, and for the first time since I saw her, I see more than Mercury’s heir and the answer to all of my problems. I see a beautiful woman; a potentially proud Mercurian.
Which now adds to my growing list of issues.
High cheek bones and rich almond skin, I wonder what she would have been like had she been ra
ised in Mercuria and crowned Queen. I don’t allow my thoughts to go further than that. I can’t. The only thing I can hope for, is that Karrine demonstrates mercy on her and allows her to walk away alive. Extracting her powers should be an easy process for a Drainer as powerful as Karrine. She should-
“There is a black car that is pulling up behind us,” Summer announces, looking out the window. “There is that scary dark man we saw at Denny’s…”
Summer’s fear permeates the car. My hands burn with unspent dark fury as Destiny checks the rearview mirror and freezes.
“Make sure your seatbelts are fastened tightly,” I warn them. “Things are about to get bumpy.” I press my foot on the accelerator praying that the car will hold up long enough to get us off this goddamn freeway.
Chapter Fourtee n
Destiny
When it rains, it pours. Just when I think we have put some distance between ourselves and another catastrophe, I am quickly reminded that this is not the case. I wish I could just crawl into a box and never come out. I wish that whoever birthed me, thought twice before conceiving me. Did she not understand what my life would be like once I got my powers? Did my father ever consider how fucked my life would be without him? And to make matters worse, my eleven-year-old daughter has been sucked into all this madness, and if I do not make it, she will be the next best target. I glance into the rearview window and scope out the black sedan with the missing front license plate and tinted windows tailing us and wonder who else it could be.
“More Mercurians?” I ask as my heart pounds against my sternum.
“They are getting closer!” Summer shouts, looking back in the rear seats.
Erick says nothing and presses down on the accelerator. My poor little Honda is pushed against the laws of gravity. I grip my seat belt and hold on for dear life as Erick expertly zig zags his way through traffic like a mad man. His hands are crackling with dark energy as he grips the steering wheel. Cars that were ahead of us become a blur as we whizz by.
Thankfully we lose the sedan.
Erick slows the car to a normal speed, my heart rate declining with it. We turn onto a ramp that leads us directly to Sin City- Las Vegas. I wonder what kind of chaos awaits us as we drive underneath the overhead sign that points in the direction of one of the many casinos we are guaranteed to be greeted by. The cool breeze from the AC came to a halt, and suffocation by heat wave is a very real possibility for all of us. I roll down my window and try to pretend that the hot air is a cold blast from the arctic, until the signature chimes from my ringtone interrupts my fanciful daydream.
Without a word, Summer hands me my bag from the backseat, as the ringing increases. Quickly, I snatch my phone from the bag, and my heart falls to the pit of my stomach when I realize who is calling: my mother.
“Hey sweet pea,” she chirps before I even greet her with the standard “hello.”
“Hey mom,” I say, desperate to sound casual. “What are you up to?”
“Child, I am dealing with your daddy as usual. Since this man has retired, he has done nothing but work my nerves.”
I force out a chuckle. “Leave daddy alone,” I scold. “He is just trying to help.”
“He ain’t trying to help nothing! It ain’t no help if I have to wait until more damage is done before calling the repair man,” my mother fussed.
“What did daddy do this time?”
“The toilet had a slight overflow this morning. Nothing that a good ole’ plunger couldn’t have fixed, and this man don’ flooded the entire house!”
Picturing my father in his straight legged pants held up by his favorite suspenders and a plunger in his hand, made me laugh. Hard. For all of daddy’s visionary skills, when it came to his fixing anything that was broken around the house, we were better off hiring a professional. Hearing my mother fuss brought back a small sense of normalcy even as I found myself inside the eye of a storm, and reminded me, that I have to talk to my mother about my birth.
“Mama,” I begin softly. I glance over at Erick whose eyes are still focused on the road.
“Yes baby?”
“I have something to ask you and it is very, very important.” I take a deep breath and hold it.
“What is it? Is everything alright?”
I exhale slowly. “No. How was I adopted?”
“Now look here Destiny Denise,” she said sharply. “This is not the time for us to have this discussion, plain and simple.”
“Mama,” I say slowly and evenly. “I am different, and something tells me that you do know. Always have...”
“Look I-”
“Mama this is not a game! Tell me the truth!”
“I am not going to have this discussion with you, Destiny. I really am not.”
“Why?”
“Whoever or whatever got into your head, you need to sit down and pray about it because there is no reason for you to start digging around in things that you do not understand!”
“Then who is my father mama? Where did I come from? How is it that I can shoot power bombs from my hands?” I hear myself say. Anger immediately sets in, but she has left me no choice.
“How dare you!”
“Then tell me the truth,” I say, fighting back tears.
My mother’s sigh is the proof that I need. “We will have to talk another time-”
I hear my father’s voice in the background yelling, “Louise! I need some help! I think I busted a pipe!”
My mother unleashes a frustrated sigh. “Destiny—let me go deal with your father. I will call you later.”
She disconnects the call without another word, and I am left staring at the phone. Great. I have a black ops branch of the federal government after me; the Queen of Mercuria and her guards stalking me; and a ragtag team of Mercurians who are determined to track me down and now my own mother who isn’t really my mother afraid to tell me the truth. I have so many unanswered questions floating around in my mind that my head is starting to ache. I stuff my phone back in my bag and massage my temples.
“Is grandma okay?” Summer asks, poking her head around the back of my seat so I can see her. Her doe like eyes are filled with curiosity instead of concern which is a relief.
“Yeah. She is fine. Grandpa tried to fix the toilet and flooded the house,” I quickly tell her. She relaxes against her seat and turns to gaze out the window.
“Wow,” Summer says with a smile. “Grandpa needs to stop trying to fix things.”
A sad smile creeps along my face. “I know. We have been trying to tell him that for years.”
It’s funny how things could change in a matter of seconds, minutes, hours, days, months and years. My life had always been different. I just never knew what I was until I was awakened. And now that the awareness is settling, everything that I thought I knew, no longer makes sense. But strangely enough it was not those around me that changed, it was I who changed. Now the question remains, what happens from here?
I can feel Erick’s heavy gaze on me as we wait for the light to change. A part of me wants to believe he is the only person I can trust right now. But there is another part of me—a part that rests quietly in the back of my mind—that whispers Erick is the opposite of trustworthy. There is something darker than the power he yields hidden beneath the surface of his bronze skin. Unfortunately, time will have to tell, even though I am left with the impression that I don’t have much of it left.
“We can check into a hotel if you want to,” Erick offers. “I think you need a break.”
Strangely enough, I know that is not exactly what he wants. But I do appreciate the offer.
“Aren’t we on the run?” I ask, avoiding his eyes.
The light changes and we are back in motion. “Yeah… Kind of, but one night won’t kill us. At least, that is what I hope.”
I consider his offer. Summer could surely use it. I whip my head around to find her leaning against the window, her eyes closed.
“Yeah,” I say after giving his o
ffer a second thought. Who knows how long we will be on the run? Who knows what other dangers lurk out there that we will have to face? “There is a Best Western coming up. We can use the break.”
“Best Western it is,” Erick declared before pulling into the semi-vacant parking lot, and parking next to a huge RV and a black Yamaha.
Fatigue settles into my bones, forcing me to recognize that this would not be such a bad idea after all. All I ask is a good twenty- four- hour reprieve. I just need a moment to eat something, rest and reflect. I have no idea how long it will be before the Queen closes in on me, or now that I think of it, could it be that she is closer than I think?
Chapter Fifteen
Demetrius
“We lost them,” Drakus stated plainly as he studied the gridlocked traffic. “We fucking lost them.”
“Language,” Cecilia scolded as she looked out the window, trying to see what could have caused such sudden congested traffic. “They are headed towards Las Vegas. This I know.”
“Why?” Drakus asked, still glaring at the road. “I seriously doubt that during times like these that Erick would want to take his chances gambling in one of the casinos.”
“Drakus, I seriously doubt that as well,” Cecilia grumbled. Reaching over to the console she pressed a key on the GPS. “I still sense her. Her powers are growing stronger. If there are any Mercurians taking refuge here in the human world, their powers will be returned to them if they haven’t already.”
“Which means there will probably be more Mercurians after her,” Demetrius said after a beat. Agatha still rested peacefully across him and Thaddeus. Her breathing was even, her expression serene. Healing had begun and for that Demetrius was grateful. Erick would indeed pay for what he’s done, in more ways than one.
The Lost Queen- Mercury's Heir Page 7
