“They aren't the same, Riley. The two men behind you are the same, but the angry one is not. He’s different, and he wants to kill me.”
I turned to Michael. “Michael? Care to explain?”
“Ask him, Riley,” said Michael. “He’s the strange creature you’ve brought to Earth to wreak havoc on our world.”
“Michael, he’s not here to hurt anyone.” I tried to be soothing. I sounded more irritated than soothing, mostly because I was beyond irritated. “And Axoular, you know English?”
“When I gave you the knowledge of my language, I absorbed yours.”
“Well. That’s fucking creepy.” Extreme situations called for extreme measures, I supposed.
Axoular moved his foot an inch toward me, and Michael snapped. He lunged for Axoular, moving much faster than I could've, though not as fast as I’d seen Anthony and Elias move. At the last second, he dropped down and attempted to sweep Axoular’s feet from beneath him. Axoular jumped over Michael's leg as Michael rolled back, out of range of Axoular's claws. I ran between them and put myself in front of Axoular.
"Michael! Stop this at once, and explain what he means about you being different! Did those witches do something to you when you were captured? Did they change you somehow?"
"Riley, your Michael is a shapeshifter." We all faced Michael with our backs to the portal. In the commotion none of us noticed the stones glowing, or Boudicca coming through. She pricked her finger with an ancient gold lapel pin. Her hair was the same, but her skin was dark like Axoular, and her face was lined with deep creases. She was plump, but frail. She'd changed clothes and was wearing a nice dress of the sort my grandmother would've worn to church, her Sunday best.
"He's a what?" asked Elias, his voice full of disbelief. "He's a Supay, we grew up with him." Elias crossed his arms and looked at Boudicca like she’d grown an extra appendage. “Who are you?”
"Axoular, please subdue the shapeshifter," said Boudicca.
"Now wait a minute," said Anthony, but I interrupted him.
"Wait, Anthony. Let's see how this plays out. Something isn't right here.” My stomach clenched until it felt like a rock. Boudicca's words rang true in my heart, but I couldn't bear the pain I knew was coming. I could see a storm coming and I knew I was about to be drenched, but there was nothing I could do to stop it.
Axoular moved and he was a blur to my eyes, faster than a Supay. Before I could process his actions, he subdued Michael by wrapping his arms around him. Michael squirmed and bucked, but couldn't break free.
Axoular murmured into Michael's ear, and the fight seemed to fall right out of him. He slumped back against Axoular and nodded his head. Axoular let go, and Michael went and sat in the corner of the room. Axoular stood beside him.
"Now then," said Boudicca. "Let's get to the bottom of this." She walked over to Michael and sat gracefully five feet in front of him. "What’s your name?"
"I've gone by many names over the years. For this life, I'm called Peter Campbell."
His words hit me like a ton of bricks. I moved beside Boudicca, and sank to my knees. "Peter Campbell? Peter Campbell? What the fuck is going on, Michael?" A scream welled up inside of me. It was a lie. Nine years together, five years of grieving and unspeakable pain, and now the past few weeks of bliss. A sham, a facade. My body was tingling, almost numb.
Michael—Peter—looked from Boudicca to me. His face was expressionless, dead. "My name is Peter Campbell, and I'm not your husband." My breath caught, my shock written on my face.
"H—How?" I asked.
Body heat and comfort enveloped me as Elias and Anthony moved behind me. Elias stood, but Anthony crouched down with one arm around my shoulders. I knew he was attempting to calm me, but I doubted he could in my agitated state.
Elias spoke and his voice was hard and angry. "You’re a shapeshifter?"
"That’s the word used in this age, yes. I have the ability to transform into the image of another humanoid creature." Peter's expression never changed when he spoke. He stared straight into my eyes, but there was no life there, no emotion. Not even his eyebrows wiggled.
My breaths came out in short bursts, and I was on the verge of a full-blown panic attack. "It was all a lie.” I sobbed. No tears came to my eyes, but my chest heaved and the emotions wouldn't contain themselves inside of me anymore.
"I think you should tell us your story," said Anthony.
Peter blinked twice and spoke. "I've searched for the dragons my entire life. My people have searched for your lineage for the past thousand years. We’ve been tasked with eliminating your entire line, with wiping any dragon—Sárkány,” he spat, “off the face of the Earth. I found you, and I watched you, Riley. I watched you and Michael for years, and tried to find a time I could take on Michael's image."
Tears finally sprang to my eyes. My emotions were such a mix of relief, rage, and grief that I could barely get words out through my sobs. "He was real?" I cried out.
"Michael Effler was real, Riley. He was your husband until the day he and your children disappeared." I slumped against Anthony, relief winning against the other emotions.
"I was so afraid that you were going to tell me that you'd been pretending to be Michael from the beginning," I said, tears and snot pouring out of my face. “I thought you were telling us he was never real.” A handkerchief appeared in front of my face. I cleaned myself up—fat lot of good it did since the tears wouldn't stop.
"The day your children were taken, I was watching from the woods behind your home. I watched them knock Michael out and leave him in the house while they loaded the screaming children into their vehicle. As soon as they were out of sight I ran in your back door to Michael's defenseless body. I killed him quickly."
Bile rose up my throat as Peter dispassionately described murdering my husband. My relief disappeared and rage and grief warred. I felt hot, feverish. "You killed Michael?" Rage won.
"I have a spike in my hand that I stab into my victim's brain stem. It allows me to absorb their memories and DNA," he stated.
Elias moaned softly, his face a grimace of agony. I had a hard time putting my thoughts into a question. My mind buzzed with anger, and I was confused.
Anthony's hands were like ice against my arms. I looked down, surprised I could feel him through my shirt. When my gaze went back up, I realized my head was surrounded by smoke.
Anthony questioned Peter further, "You absorbed his likeness and memories, but you didn't completely get his memories, did you? You've been missing things here and there and blaming it on the potions."
"Is that even true? You were never in captivity, were you? If you weren't kidnapped, why did it take you five years to come back?" asked Elias through clenched teeth.
My brain fog cleared, and it hit me that Michael was dead. After thinking I'd found him again and spending time with this man in a fucking Michael suit, knowing that he was truly dead hit me like I was hearing it for the first time.
I sat on the stone ground, in an Inca ruin in Bolivia, with an exact replica of my dead husband. I sucked in a deep breath, turned my face to the ceiling, and screamed at the top of my lungs.
When I'd gone through the portal and it activated my Sárkány heritage, it really had activated my magical side. As I screamed, my body grew hotter than it'd ever been. On the most scorching, muggiest Tennessee summer day, I'd never been so overheated.
Sparks flew from my mouth as I screamed out my grief. Anthony jumped back, and Elias gawked at me in fear. Only Axoular and Boudicca seemed unconcerned.
Fear coursed through my body when I saw the sparks, and it washed away the rage. My temperature cooled rapidly. I became exhausted, my head sinking to my chest, my entire body shivering and shaking. Goosebumps erupted across my arms.
Anthony sat down behind me, enveloping me in his embrace. I stared at Peter, looking at the details of Michael's features, knowing it would be the last time I’d see my first love, the father of my children, my husband's face.
He paused before replying. "I couldn't allow the portal to be opened. I searched for you for so long, Riley, but I don't kill unnecessarily. Michael was already going to be killed, I heard the thugs talking. He was to be taken back to your high council and be made example of.”
Anthony stiffened behind me. “I suspected that was the case. They told us he died in the fight. If you killed him as he lay on the ground, unconscious, they must have thought they’d accidentally killed him.”
“I don’t understand why you needed my line? What did you care about the Sárkány or the portals?” I cried. “Tell me why you did this to me! Why did you ruin my life?”
“I didn't ruin your life, Riley. Whether I took on Michael’s image or not, he would've been killed and your children ripped from you. That part wouldn't be any different. The only difference is, you wouldn't have had this time with him. With me.”
“That time with him was cruel! How could you? Once you knew who I was, why didn’t you kill me if you didn’t want the portal opened ever again?” My anger built back up. “Why did you pretend to be my husband?”
“I had to know for sure that you were a dragon. I didn’t want to kill you if you weren’t. And then, when I got to know you, I… Well, I rather liked you. I didn’t want to hurt you if I could avoid it. I hoped against hope that we would get here to the portal and nothing would happen when your blood touched the stone.”
He finally showed signs of emotion. He swiped his hand across his face, across Michael’s face. He looked weary and regretful.
“I should've killed you then. When I grabbed you and tried to stop you from leaving. We were the only two here. I should've ended it then. But I couldn’t do it.”
“Tell us why you want the portals closed so badly,” demanded Boudicca. “Your people hunted mine down. You drove us to near extinction, both here and in our own world. Your people hunting mine caused mine to go into a great civil war that wiped out most of my species! Tell me why.”
“Because you created the portals! Because only your blood can stop them. And because you wouldn't listen to us.” He hung his head. “My ancestors tried so hard to convince yours that the portals must be destroyed forever. Your ancestors were greedy and enjoyed being worshiped. They wouldn't listen, or believe us.”
“So you killed them all?” I asked, furious. He killed my husband and impersonated him. He stole Michael. There wasn't much he could say that would redeem himself.
“Not at first,” Peter replied. “At first we pleaded with them. Then we destroyed portals, any portal we could find. They caught on, and the old gods began returning to their home worlds in droves, scared of being stuck here forever. It took us hundreds of years to find the ones we did destroy, but by the time we found out this was going on, you’d created portals all over the world. We were behind before we even got started.”
“All of what was going on?” asked Elias, obviously still in pain watching an impostor speak through his best friend’s mouth.
“Portal travel,” Peter said as he adjusted his position a little and moved his legs. Axoular jumped and loomed over Peter threateningly. “I’m not getting up, dragon. I’m just shifting a little.”
Haha. My thoughts were a little crazed. The shifter was shifting. Jackass. My mind was a maze of emotions, and I was struggling to navigate my way out of it. A short giggle erupted from my mouth and every eye was on me. “Sorry, it slipped out. I’m overwhelmed. Please, continue, Peter.”
Peter, behind Michael’s face, stared at me with wide eyes. “Yes, um, as I was saying. Portal travel. I’m not from another dimension. I’m from Earth’s dimension, but I’m not from Earth. Humans would call me an alien.” He paused there, I supposed he expected us to shout or react in fear or something. I wasn’t sure if anything could ever shock me again.
When nobody else spoke or reacted, I said, “Okay, so you’re an alien. You’re from another planet in Earth’s galaxy or dimension or whatever?”
“Yes,” Peter said. “We were an advanced race. Our science was a millennia beyond that of the young Earth. We visited Earth many times—it was a sort of vacation destination for us.”
Anthony snorted and Peter gave him a nasty glare before continuing his story. His people were working on teleporting: stepping onto a teleportation device and being instantly transported to another location. The how behind it was scientific, not magical. But their science went terribly wrong. Their teleportation device, instead of moving them to another destination, opened a portal to another dimension.
“You understand, I wasn't alive when any of this happened. I don't know the science or the magic. When the transporter was activated, our world began to disintegrate. It took several years for them to understand what was causing the world to dissipate. It started with the plants. They died and crumbled to dust. Then our sun dimmed. Scientists who were already scrambling to find a disease that could be killing the plant life were baffled by the sun. We kept the teleportation device active and visited the other dimension often. It was a lush planet with active wildlife, but no intelligent beings. By the time they figured out the teleporter was essentially dissolving our world, it was too late.”
Peter’s head fell back against the wall and he stared up into the air. “We made mass evacuations. Many of my people came here, many went to other planets that could sustain life. The scientists that studied the other dimension went there and convinced thousands to go with them, even knowing they could never return. We managed to get the entire planet evacuated as it died. My great grandfather was on the ship that stayed and watched the planet break apart and blow away. The sun was almost dead, the gravity evaporated. The atmosphere outside the ship was too cold for life.”
He brought his gaze back to me. “We began our lives on Earth and destroyed proof of our technology, but we never forgot. Then, we found your portals. They were made with magic. And they’d been open long enough that they were obviously not destroying this world, but who knew what dimensions they connected to? We learned they connected to many, many other worlds. The proof was in the creatures that came through them to Earth. The Old Gods. We were trying to save a world—which world didn't matter. No creature should have to watch their home crumble, especially considering that most worlds were not able to evacuate as we did.”
Boudicca’s face looked like it was etched from stone. “So, to save lives you took them? That sounds like a warmonger’s defense.”
“We were left with no choice!” Peter cried. “On Earth, we have been taught to never take a life if it can be avoided. We began killing Sárkány only when we thought we had no other alternative. And it worked! Most of your greedy, power hungry kin went back home. We were able to destroy many portals. Eventually, only one Sárkány was left, and we knew when she left Earth because the portals went silent. We destroyed any we found, until we started finding them already destroyed. We never knew if they were somehow demolished from the other side, or if someone on Earth did it.”
“It was us,” said Boudicca. “I was the last Sárkány you searched for. I had a family, Shapeshifter, I had children on Earth. My elders wouldn't let them come to my world, and I knew if I had any chance of ever seeing them again, I had to return home and leave them here with their father. I've lived over a thousand years with no knowledge of them.” She leaned forward and pointed in Peter’s face. “I don't know if they survived or if your people murdered them.
“Back in Galdiart, we argued among ourselves. Many wanted to return en masse to Earth and destroy the shapeshifters hunting us. One on one, you are no match for our magic and strength, but you always attacked us when we were vulnerable and alone. Our arguments escalated into a civil war that wiped out most of our population. We’re an almost extinct species because of you! You should've tried harder to warn us. What did you do, go try to warn the most power hungry among us? Every species has their bad seeds; the humans certainly have a great number of power hungry leaders. We had our share of them too,
as I’m sure did your people.”
“Well, they did try to contact the most powerful. They thought they could do the most good,” said Peter. “Maybe they did take the wrong approach, but they were desperate. The different Old Gods on Earth, that came through your portals, were corrupt and ruining society. They were ruining the new world we’d escaped to.”
“So you followed the dragon lines through the ages. Are there more?” I asked. “Are there more of my people, with dragon DNA, in the world?”
“There are several dozen surviving, that we know of,” he said, his voice defeated.
“And how many shapeshifters are there?” I asked.
“We have several clans, totaling maybe a two hundred in all, spread over the entire world. Our sole purpose is to guard the world against these portals. We’ve been searching for this one for eons, but since it was inactive for so long, we were no longer able to pinpoint it. I’ve searched this room myself, but the well just resembled a well.”
“And where were you in the five years I believed my husband to be missing, dead?”
“Waiting on this idiot to make his move,” he said, nodding at Elias.
“What the fuck did I have to do with it?” Elias was outraged.
“I needed you to either take Riley and try to find a way to the Supay, or to show me where the children were. The children were the real danger. We had to watch them and make sure they never opened a portal. We never wanted to kill anyone, I swear.”
“Then why did you kill Michael?” I screamed.
“Because he was going to die anyway! Having his appearance gave me an edge. But even with his face, I had no desire to interfere in your life unless absolutely necessary. When you three moved toward Bolivia, I knew where you were going. I was afraid you’d try to get Riley to the mythical spring of life.”
“It’s not mythical,” interjected Anthony. “We just left it.”
“At least she can never get to it.”
Another question plagued me. “How’d you track me? You obviously didn’t drink my blood.”
“You’ve had a tracking spell on you since birth.” He waved his hand, dismissing my look of outrage. “All I needed was to stop you from opening the portal, then I could destroy it. I didn’t anticipate running into that horrible Supay woman, Mama Pacha. Once you two went through, I should've killed Riley. You'll kill everyone by keeping that portal open!” he said as he pointed at the well.
Hers From The Start: A Collection of First In Series Reverse Harem Page 63