by Ophelia Bell
My fingers grazed my throat and I shook my head. “You or Ozzie should sing. Or Bodhi. I don’t have enough power for what we need.”
Ozzie’s beginnings of a light beat on the drums halted and he looked at me. “You’ve got more than you know, Deva. I think the words will come to you as we play. Everyone just jump in when it feels right. This charm is meant to be organic. I’m hoping Deva’s voice draws them to us so we know it worked. We should all know when that happens.”
He started playing again, the rhythm of his kick drum slow and deep. Keagan plucked the strings of his bass, adding a lazy, thrumming tempo that settled down low in my body, making me buzz within my core. I had never sang with a full band before, and my adrenaline tickled through my veins as each of them added their music with their own instruments.
At the piano, Bodhi’s head bobbed and his eyes closed then he started to play a melody that had somehow already begun in my own mind. My vocal cords quivered with the beginning of a song as I plucked the guitar strings, and I looked between Sandor and Willem who nodded, ready for me to begin so they could back me up.
The words that came originated from some deep well of knowledge that I had yet to delve into. They weren’t English, but some ancient language with ethereal syllables almost too complex for my human throat to recreate. Yet I did, strumming Agnes at the same time. The moment I heard Ozzie and Sandor add their voices behind me, I felt the magic coalescing around us like a dense fog.
I sang three verses of this unusual, magical song until I was sure we’d absorbed the charm it created. Then I adjusted my voice and switched to a different song, in English this time. I turned to Rohan with a smile and he seemed to gather my intention, effortlessly transitioning into the same tune we had first sung together. The one that had drawn the hounds to the music store to begin with.
When he added his voice to mine, Willem and Sandor both stood up from their stools, wary looks on their faces. Then Ozzie’s beat faded, leaving only Keagan and Bodhi, with Llyr’s mellow trumpet crooning like another voice behind ours.
My heart beat hard at the memory of that first moment when Rohan had stood up and decided to share the song with me. I was simply enthralled by the handsome Gold dragon who exuded so much raw joy. It was something I’d been missing for too long, and I remember having the most fervent wish that I could find a true mate with that much unadulterated love for life.
Then the hounds had attacked.
My singing faltered when I became aware of a commotion behind me. Bodhi stopped playing, and the others followed, all looking toward the door.
My blood went cold at the sound of Ozzie yelling, “Now, Sandor!”
I turned to the crack of a lightning strike.
“No!”
29
Deva
“Are you sure you didn’t hurt them” I asked, crouching down beside the glowing blue cage Ozzie and Sandor had constructed out of pure electricity. Inside, the two hounds crouched and whined, looking back at me with mournful eyes.
“They’re unharmed. We needed time for Sophia to see them. To confirm her suspicions.”
The door swung open and I shot to my feet when Sophia North walked in. “She’s still here?” I squeaked
She turned her gaze to me, her slightly slanted eyes glimmering with interest. She was imposing in a dark gray dress, despite her smallish stature. “Yes, I am girl. It seems you’ve decided to get tangled up in something beyond your control. I am here to help sort it out.” Turning to the cage, she paused and cursed. “I feared as much.”
“Wait, how can you see them? You weren’t here when we played the song.”
“I’ve had soul sight for centuries. I wasn’t born with it though, and neither were you, but regardless of how we came by it, we are burdened with the ability to see the souls of others. And of seeing these creatures here.”
“What are they?”
Sophia stooped down to look into the cage, tilting her head back and forth. The hound I thought of as “Blaze” made a warbling sound as if it recognized her.
“They’re smaller than I expected,” she muttered, then pursed her lips and blew, a faint breeze rustling their ethereal fur. Their ears twitched and then they settled down, curling up together and falling asleep.
Sophia stood up and brushed her hands down her skirt with a nod. “Let’s go inside to talk about this over lunch. I think we’ll all do better with full stomachs, yes?”
We followed the old woman into the house where she proceeded to serve up an elaborate meal she must have been cooking since dawn. The men all dug in eagerly but the heavy chill in my stomach wouldn’t subside enough for me to eat.
“Do you know what they are?” I asked again, picking at my food. I felt bad about caging them. The cage hadn’t stopped the drain on Willem and Rohan’s souls, so what was the point?
Sophia gave me a matter-of-fact nod from the head of the table. “They’re fate hounds that have somehow gotten off the leash. They should not be acting on their own like this.”
“Fate hounds? Those are real? But why in the world would Fate make them kill people? That’s horrible!”
“Fate doesn’t send them to kill—”
“Nanyo, the truth,” Ozzie interjected. “You promised you’d tell her everything.”
Sophia glared at her grandson then nodded. She lifted one hand into the air and a series of odd glyphs glowed along her forearm. She made a swirling motion above her head and a light breeze flitted around us, but when it stopped all the sounds outside the room disappeared. I couldn’t even hear the ever-present rhythm of the waves crashing below the bluffs.
“For privacy,” Sophia said in answer to all the confused looks around the table. “Several centuries ago, a pair of Fate’s hounds were stolen and trained to obey a different master. I believe the ones you have found are those hounds. I also believe they are trained to answer to you.”
“Me?” My eyes widened. “I’m not their master. How could I be?”
“Because their old master was the evil creature who created you, Deva. Meri’s experiments wouldn’t work. Getting the higher races to breed in captivity is impossible. We don’t procreate when we are forced. An element of love or a soul bond is required. When Meri learned this, she hunted down a pair of fate hounds to use for her purposes. She broke soul bonds that already existed and used the hounds to create new ones.”
I stared at her, not sure I understood. I knew about the breeding experiments. I was the product of them, after all, but I also knew that my biological parents were not soul mates.
“It didn’t work,” Ozzie broke in. “But not because the theory wasn’t sound. Normally each hound marks its target with a song, then they mark the person’s fated mate the same way and they gently nudge each person toward the other, until they finally meet. Because their souls resonate with the same music, they recognize each other as soul mates.”
He paused and Sophia picked up the story. The rest of us had stopped eating and all sat listening raptly.
“You don’t fuck with Fate,” Sophia said, the curse oddly incongruous with her appearance and formality. “When Meri went against him, Fate commanded all the hounds to bite when they encountered members of her bloodline. They worked the same way otherwise, but their marks were potentially deadly if the victim failed to find their soul mate in time. Either their souls bled their life force until they died, or if the hound had bitten a new victim, they descended into utter despair until they were near suicide.
“Meri didn’t realize this until it was too late, and her test subjects had begun to perish from the bites. She kept the hounds, though. I believe she intended to try again once she had a suitable vessel. She wanted to find herself a soul mate, even if she had to force the hounds to mark one for her. Now that she is dead, you’ve inherited command of the creatures. It’s your desires they will carry out.”
“My desires . . .” My skin prickled as I looked at Bodhi and Rohan. The pair of them had been bitten while
in my presence. While I stood there singing and wishing I could have a partner like them. “No. I didn’t mean to. That can’t be right! What about the others? Willem and Bodhi’s mother? I didn’t wish for them. I wouldn’t hurt them. I’m nothing like her!”
Sophia shook her head. To her right, Ozzie gave me a sad look.
“No one said you were anything like her,” Sophia said. “And you aren’t responsible for most of the attacks anyway, we know this. As for the other victims, the awakening of their power simply made them easier to find. Fate hounds don’t actively seek out new victims. They act on Fate’s command, yet they are trained to attack the bloodline if they discover them. Now that the bloodline belongs to Dion, his power acts like a beacon. The others who were bitten had nothing to do with you, Deva.”
“But they aren’t her bloodline anymore! Doesn’t Fate know he can call them off? Make them not bite?”
“There’s no arguing with Fate, child. Trust me, I have tried. These creatures that have sought you out, they are the only ones you can control, once you learn how.”
While she talked, Keagan got up and started clearing dishes. Around me, everyone was frowning and my skin prickled when I realized they were all looking at me.
“Are you sure about this, Nanyo?” Ozzie said.
“I suspected, but when I saw the creatures enter that music room, answering to her voice, I knew. She can call them. If she has the power, she can control them too.”
If she has the power. “Then we might as well give up. I’m too weak to control them. If I were strong enough I’d have never let them bite anyone to begin with.”
“We’ll survive this, Deva,” Rohan said.
I shook my head, wishing they understood. “The only reason Bodhi’s not dead already is because the hound bit you a few hours later. The same with Bodhi’s mother. But they aren’t in good shape even without their souls being drained. I can see the despair they still carry. Even if I can control the hounds, I can’t undo what already happened. How do I fix them? Are they doomed to die because of me? Are you?”
Rohan reached for my hand and squeezed but the drain on his soul was too ever-present for me to take comfort in his touch.
Sophia gave me a sad look. “If you don’t learn how to control them, it will happen again. As for the previous victims, I’m afraid I don’t know how to help them. Either they find their soul mates or they risk becoming suicidal.”
The brilliant glow of love around Susannah and Gus finally made sense. They’d been healed by each other. They were soul mates who had been blessed enough to find each other before it was too late. But here were Willem and Rohan and Bodhi, and Bodhi’s mother somewhere across town, who were doomed if I didn’t find a way to help them.
The clanking sounds of the dishes subsided and Keagan’s big shadow no longer hovered over the conversation. I hoped he wouldn’t go out into the workshop and play loud music or start hammering on shit to release his tension.
“Do two soul mates both have to be bitten in order for the bond to work?” I asked. “Because I’m not about to go siccing the hounds on innocent people just on the chance they’d be the right partners for these guys.”
“Deva, don’t.” Rohan objected, his words only adding to the chorus of other objections from around the table.
“People can forge their own bonds. If a suitable bond has already begun with someone else’s soul, someone whom Fate has not already chosen for someone else, that is.” Sophia looked between Sandor and Ozzie. “Then you shouldn’t need to mark the other person.”
I gave Willem a sad look. He and Sandor were partners, but I knew Sandor was a turul whose true mate had already been chosen by Fate. “Why can’t you two make a soul bond anyway? It would heal Willem. Why wait for someone who Fate should’ve fucking given you already?” My skin prickled with unreleased rage over how unfair the entire situation was. Who the fuck did Fate think he was?
Sandor lifted dark brows and exchanged a look with Willem. “Because we know better than to cross Fate, kid,” Willem said. “Rumor has it those hounds can do a lot more damage than you’ve seen them do to us.”
“What about Rohan? Fate hasn’t chosen someone for him, has he? Could Rohan and Keagan be soul mates?”
Sophia gave me a cautious nod. “The only way to force it is with the hounds, but if two people are already closely bound it is possible to form a soul bond were they to properly mate.”
A seed of hope took root and I shot up. I couldn’t help Willem yet but I could sure as shit heal Rohan’s wound. “Where is Keagan? Rohan, we have to do this. You are going to mate each other. And Bodhi too if he’s willing. You want to live, don’t you Bodhi? Or maybe you and Llyr—”
They all stood up with bewildered expressions, shooting each other worried looks. “Deva, you can’t force it without the hounds, she just said so,” Rohan said.
“We have to try!” I said, in a panic. “Even if I have to let those hounds out and make them bite Keagan, I’m going to fix you, Rohan!”
I rushed for the door and the others followed. Rohan caught up to me and grabbed my arm, swinging me back around to face him. “Deva, you don’t understand. I love Keagan, but it’s you I want to bind my soul to. If it can’t be you, I don’t want anyone. I’d rather just fucking exist and bleed for the rest of my life.”
“Don’t say that! You know it can’t be me, Rohan. Please just give him a chance. He loves you. He deserves to have your love more than I do.”
I ran out the door, ready to wake up the hounds, to command them to bite, or mark, or whatever they had to do to make sure Keagan and Rohan were together. They would be safe once their souls were bound.
The door to the studio stood open, a strange purple glow flickering inside. As we approached, a sonorous, rippling wave echoed out, like the hounds’ warbling lowered by an octave and increased by several decibels. It was followed by the higher-pitched sounds the hounds always made. But the hounds themselves sounded upset, and then that resonant cascade of sound came again, a deeper rumble closer to a roar.
“Oh no,” Sophia said and broke into a run.
We reached the door in time to see Keagan standing shirtless, his arms outstretched and his head tilted back. “That’s right, mark me!” he yelled.
But the creature who swiped a claw at him was not one of the two hounds who had tormented me. It resembled them, only it was three times as big with violet eyes that bled purple light and its talons glimmered like amethyst as it leaped at Keagan. It moved so swiftly it was as though we stood still while it attacked, even as we rushed toward it.
The enormous fate hound tore at Keagan with teeth and claws, not just at his soul, but his body, too. The metallic scent of blood filled the air as the ursa’s big body fell. Then the beast turned and swiped at the glowing electrical cage. The lightning bars snapped like twigs, freeing the smaller hounds.
The big one turned toward us with a roar, a brilliant diamond of light blazing in the center of its chest, then spun around and ran with the smaller hounds behind, barreling straight through the wall like it wasn’t there. It left no sign of its existence behind but a glowing stretch of iridescent green magic flowing from Keagan’s damaged soul.
30
Rohan
“Rohan . . .” Keagan’s pained voice kept repeating my name as we carried him back into the house, every syllable driving a spike of dread into my gut. “Rohan, I did it for you . . . my soul for yours . . . oh, Gaia I didn’t think it would hurt so fucking much.”
“What the fuck did you do, Keag?” My neck prickled at the idea that I’d misread our relationship so badly that he’d try to get hurt for me.
Sandor and Ozzie supported his bleeding body between them and laid him on his bed, then Willem stepped in and peered down at his torso that was nothing but shredded flesh.
“Sweet Mother,” I cursed under my breath. “Heal him, please.”
Ozzie paced to the window and back, spewing even fouler curses than me, then b
ellowed, “Sophia! They aren’t fucking supposed to do this, are they?”
The old turul seer just looked grimly on as Willem knelt down beside Keagan’s bed and exhaled a long breath of white smoke that settled like a blanket over Keagan’s damaged flesh. “Their primary purpose is not to harm, but yes, they are capable of it under the right circumstances.”
“Fuck circumstances,” Ozzie spat. “Sandor. Llyr. Let’s go find those fucking things and end them now.”
Deva seemed to waken from a trance then. “No! You can’t kill them. Not after what Sophia told us!”
“The hell I can’t,” Ozzie stared down at her with rage in his eyes. “Or do you want another one of your fuck buddies to die? That’s three so far who are doomed.”
“Killing them won’t solve anything, least of all the bigger problem,” Sophia said. “These hounds can be controlled and used to protect the bloodline against the hounds Fate does control. Find them, but don’t hurt them.”
“I’m not making any fucking promises,” Ozzie sneered and pushed past Deva, leaving her stumbling into Bodhi, who hooked a protective arm around her.
Sandor and Willem exchanged a quick look. Willem nodded silently and Sandor left, following Ozzie out the door with Llyr close behind.
I clung to Keagan’s hand, wishing like hell I had the same effect on flesh that Willem did, but only White, Red, and Green dragons had the power to heal wounds. The mind was the realm of Blue, Black, and Gold dragons. I liked to believe my own Gold dragon magic affected the heart and soul as well.
I expelled a breath and let it flood Keagan’s lungs anyway. It could ease his pain, even if it didn’t give him the joy it was meant to.
He gave me a grateful, though forced smile. “I love you, man,” he croaked. “I’d do anything for you, you know that right?”
My throat constricted. “I don’t want you to fucking die for me, asshole. What were you thinking?”