Hidden Worlds

by Kristie Cook

  “I figured. “

  “But …” I was confused. “You left and knew they were still here … I don’t understand …”

  “You ‘re wondering why I would leave you in danger?” he asked with a little smile.

  “A little,” I said quietly.

  “Well, that‘s where Bengal comes in.” He turned me to the small man in front of us. “Bengal, this is Clara. Clara, this is Bengal. He’s a Goblin who owed me a favor and has been shadowing you for two days.”

  “Um …” I turned to Eli so the Goblin guy wouldn’t hear me. “No offense, Eli, but that guy’s as tall as my knee. Why would you think he could protect me from-“

  “Goblins have excellent hearing, human,” Bengal said and crossed his thick arms in insult. “And how do you think I saved your bony backside the first time, hmm?”

  Chapter Twenty one

  “Um …” I scrambled for something to say, but Eli helped me out.

  “Goblins are toxic to Devourers. Well, their bite is.”

  That explained the blue mouth and teeth. Eew. But it all fell into place.

  “You bit Hatch,” I said as realization hit me. “That’s why he fell. You killed him?”

  “I wish, but alas we are toxic not deadly to their kind. He’s paralyzed. And he’ll stay that way for all of eternity so he may as well be dead.”

  “Ok, that’s enough for now,” Eli insisted and pulled me to his side, his arm wrapped around my waist. “Bengal, once again, it’s been a pleasure,” he told him, but it sounded grated and forced.

  “Bah, I hate you, traitor, as much as you hate me. We don’t have to pretend.”

  “It’s a strange partnership,” Eli agreed, but reached into his pocket and pulled out a gold coin. He flicked it to the Goblin and he snapped his hand out to grab it. He grinned, his blue small sharp teeth blazing as he bit the coin, testing to make sure it was real, I assumed. Then he licked it and nodded, slipping it into his pocket.

  “Business has commenced, traitor. The bodies will be taken to Resting Place by morning. My services are always open to you, for a price.”

  “Like I could forget that part,” Eli answered. “Thank you for keeping her safe.”

  “Don’t get soft on me!” Bengal spat and inched away backwards. “Business is business.”

  He continued to walk and watch us until he got to the edge of the clearing. Then he turned and ran. I looked up at Eli with a million questions in my mind.

  “I know,” he insisted and lifted his hands. “I know, there’s so many things I need to tell you.”

  “The first one being, why did you concoct this whole plan and not tell me!” I said and pushed his chest a little to drive home my point. “Why couldn’t I be in on it?”

  “Because I wanted you to think you were completely safe. And you were,” he said quickly, “I want you to understand that you were safe. I would never have left had I thought for a second that you would be in harm’s way. But you gave me the idea. When you said I should leave and pretend to follow along with that for a while so Angelina and Enoch would back off, it was clear to me that the Horde hadn’t left. See, the Horde took Angelina from the park that night remember? They don’t take prisoners. Once you told me that she was still here, and free, I knew the Horde was onto us. I didn’t want you to worry. I wanted you to feel safe. So I let you think that your plan was the plan. When in actuality, I called in reinforcements.”

  “Bengal,” I answered as he pulled me through the grass towards the carnival. I noticed how he kept his arm around me the entire time as he steered me through the ones on the ground that I didn’t want to think about. “How do you know him?”

  “He’s the one who found me chained to the tree. He’s the one who saved me, for a price. I had to fulfill him a deed of his choosing. We’ve been … uneasy allies ever since. Goblins and Devourers have always been enemies.”

  “What did you mean their bite is toxic?” I asked and stopped him when he would have emerged from the woods. I had more questions still. “He said the bite paralyzes them?”

  “Yes. They are paralyzed, aware and alive, but unable to move, and there’s never been a cure. The Goblins have a place they take the bodies. They call it Resting Place. It should really be called Bragging Rights. That’s all it is. There are hundreds of them all laid into the bowl of a valley. They go there and boast about how many they’ve taken down over the years. See, Devourers are Immoral, can’t be killed at all. But, a Goblin’s bite has been the only thing to ever take us down.”

  “And you brought him here, knowing he would follow me and bite whoever messed with me and that they would be paralyzed, unable to harm me,” I worked out and he nodded.

  “I knew they’d ambush you. So I made sure to come back and be here when they did.”

  “When did you come back?”

  “This afternoon.”

  “Why didn’t you come see me?”

  “Because you needed to think I was gone for the plan to work. I needed them all together so that Bengal and I could take down the whole pack of them at once.”

  I sighed and put my hand on his chest. His heart beat against my palm and he was so close I could feel his breath on my face as I stared at his shirt front. It was black and plain to blend in with the dark. He’d planned this whole thing.

  He lifted my face and ducked his at the same time to look at me. He smoothed the bunched skin between my eyes with his thumb.

  “What are you thinking so hard about?” he whispered.

  “I was so scared for you. One second I was so glad to see you and then the next I was horrified thinking that you’d get hurt or … worse. And then that Goblin dragged me off,” I scoffed. “And insulted me.”

  He laughed and pulled to him as he said, “I’m glad you’re still the same funny Clara that I left here two days ago.”

  “What have you been doing all afternoon?”

  “Watching you.” I peeked up at him to see what his smug tone was about. “I saw you take Dee down a few notches. I almost blew my cover to go and tell you how proud I was of you.”

  “You saw that?”

  “Oh yeah, I saw that.”

  “And you were proud of me?” I whispered.

  “Very,” he whispered back. “I know you think that you are this weak, human, spoiled girl who has let people trample on her, but you are anything but that. That’s the product of the life you’ve led, that’s not who you are. Not anymore. You’re capable of many things, standing up for yourself being one of them. I’m so glad I got to see you realize that for yourself.”

  “Thank you,” was all I could say in response. “I missed you.”

  “Mmm, I missed you,” he groaned and pulled me up on my toes to kiss him. He kissed me fiercely, but gently and when I felt his tongue ring against my tongue my restraint dropped from the picture. I pulled him tighter, causing him to groan which just fed my fire as he tasted my want for him. I don’t even remember how long we stayed like that in the edge of the woods and kissed, but he suddenly jerked back and licked his lip. It seemed to be just out of habit because his face was serious.

  “My sister,” he said quickly.

  “What?” I was confused why his sister came up in the middle of our necking session.

  “My sister,” he said harder. “Bengal didn’t bite my sister.”

  He put his arms around me and shot us swiftly across the woods back to the spot we’d been before. He bent down and I didn’t even have to look to know what had happened. She had awakened sometime while we were talking and sprinted away. He pounded his fist on the ground then looked back up to me and shook his head.

  “I was careless. I was wrapped up in paying Bengal and making sure you were ok and forgot about her. She’s long gone, back to the Horde headquarters I’m sure.”

  “They’ll come back for us,” I guessed.

  “With a vengeance,” he confirmed. “They’ll know we ambushed them with a Goblin. They hate Goblins. This will be a wo
rse betrayal than a bond to them.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “No, I’m sorry. I should have be thorough. And I wasn’t blaming you,” he insisted and came to me. “They would have eventually heard of it anyway. I just hoped we’d have a little more time, that’s all.”

  “What will they do? Just come back here and look for us?”

  “I’m not sure. The Horde is in Amsterdam so we have some time. Don’t fret about it. I’ll figure something out.”

  “Why did she join? I know you don’t view family like we do, but how could she do that to you?”

  “It wasn’t just me,” he said thoughtfully. “In order to join the Horde you have to prove you’re serious. The initiation ritual is to bring someone in to have tortured by the group, while you watch.”

  “Angelina?” I guessed in horror. “You think she brought in Angelina?”

  “I think so. Only Enoch was on my tail this morning. That was another reason I came back today.”

  “You thought she was going to come at me, but instead she’s … Wow.”

  “Ok, well there’s nothing else we can do now, not tonight anyway. And you were pretty adamant about some carnival you wanted to go to …”

  He smirked and held his hand out for me like a gentleman.

  “You want to go play and celebrate after everything that happened tonight?” I asked him and heard my voice reaching for incredulous.

  “You have to live for today, CB.” He ran a finger across the length my jaw. “God forbid, there might not be a tomorrow.”

  “You’re right,” I said and put my hand in his. I sighed to calm myself. “You’re right. Let’s go.” I looked at my clothes and was pretty clean for someone that had been dragged through the woods. The tall grass had helped I guess.

  So, he walked me from the woods to the carnival. Once my feet hit pavement a calm settled over me. It was over, at least for right now. Eli was back and we were safe for the night.

  We walked passed all the booths and a few rides before Pastor caught up with us.

  “Clara. Eli, I thought you were out of town.”

  “I was. I surprised Clara by coming back early.”

  “Aw, how sweet,” Mrs. Ruth chimed. “We’re going to head back to the house. The kids have had enough.”

  “Ok, I‘m going to stay, if that’s ok,” I said as I looked up at Eli. There was no way I was leaving him yet.

  “Of course,” Pastor said, “just be sure to be home before-“

  “Midnight,” we all chimed and then laughed.

  “I guess I’ve said that a few times, huh?” Pastor said with a chuckle.

  “A few, honey,” Mrs. Ruth answered and started towards the house. “Come on then, let’s go guys,” she said to the kids.

  “Have a good night you two,” Pastor said over his shoulder. “And don’t get into any trouble.”

  “We promise,” I answered and muttered under my breath, “at least not anymore.”

  Eli chuckled as he pulled me to a hotdog stand, going on about how hungry he was. Which was impossible, Immortals didn’t need food. He bought himself two chili dogs and I got a plain with just ketchup.

  “I don’t understand why you eat food if you don’t have to,” I mused and took a big bite as we sat at one of the picnic tables.

  “Well, I started eating a few years ago when I began to go to schools. If I didn’t eat at lunch people would get suspicious, so I ate for my cover. But I liked it. My first food ever was a cheeseburger. So now, I just eat because I want to. It’s good.”

  “So you can scarf all the food you want and never gain any weight?” He shrugged and grinned right before taking a monster bite and then groaning loudly at how good it was. “Oh, bite me.”

  “It’s not my fault,” he said muffled through his bite. “I’m just lucky, I guess.”

  “Oh, you’re lucky alright,” I said and then laughed as he took my hands in his and took a big bite of my hotdog, too. “Jeez! You’re such a pig!”

  We laughed and wiped our faces before he asked me what I wanted to do next. I grinned. “The crazy house, of course.”

  “Of course.”

  As we stood in line I discreetly and quietly asked him the question buzzing annoyingly in my brain.

  “So … Goblins.” He nodded solemnly. “And witches and sorcerers.” He nodded again. “What else?”

  “There’s many things out there, Clara. Sadly, I run into quite a few of them from time to time.”

  “But what about-“

  “Can we just be normal high school sweethearts on our way up the bouncing stairs to the crazy house and not worry about that, just for tonight?”

  “I think-“ I laughed as I almost fell on the spinning wheel tunnel and he had to catch me. “I think I can do that.”

  “Good. Go! Go!” he yelled and laughed as the pendulums were swinging and he timed them for me.

  Once we made it through the shaking ground, the room of mirrors and the quicksand bridge, we burst through laughing out the other side.

  “We’re alive!” I yelled.

  “Where to next?”

  “Thames!” We turned to see Patrick. They bumped fist, slapped hands … something. “I thought you were out of town, man?”

  “I was, but I couldn’t miss this. Where’s everybody at?”

  “Well, the guys had some World Of Warcraft convention tonight and Ariel was here, but I guess she wasn’t feeling well so she went home.”

  “Huh.”

  “Well, you want to hang with us?” I asked though I really wanted Eli all to myself. But Patrick was alone.

  “I’m gonna try to catch a ride on the Ferris Wheel. I’ve been waiting all night. Getting out of line probably doesn’t help the cause though,” he said and chuckled. “Wanna come?”

  “Maybe later,” I said. “There’s something I want to do first.”

  “Alright, I’ll save you a spot.”

  I nodded to him and then peeked around and saw one of those photo booths, the ones that draw your pictures instead of taking it to make it look like an artist drew you. I grinned at finding my prize. I remembered throwing away all my pictures of my life up until then, especially the ones of Tate. All the memories that I thought meant something, but were just a prelude to my real life; the one that mattered right now.

  It was time to make some new memories.

  I pulled Eli with me to it. There was no line so we climbed right in and Eli stuck some money in. It warmed up and counted down sixty seconds.

  “I’m so glad you came here,” I told him.

  “Where else would I be?” he answered.

  “No, I don’t mean tonight. I mean … I’m glad you came to this town.” I looked at our wrists, the barbed string still right there where it had been for days now. “You saved me from my life.”

  “Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, and do so with all your heart.” I gaped at him and he smiled. “Marcus Aurelius said that, and he was right. I’m glad I came here, too. I would have never met you.”

  Although things weren’t solved and we were far from done with this whole Horde thing, and lions and tigers and bears, oh my; I felt good. I knew things would be hard and dangerous in the days to come and I had no idea what to expect, but I knew if I was with Eli, we’d be ok.

  “I feel like I …” I started, but stopped.

  “What?”

  “Nothing,” I said. I was not going to tell him I loved him, not yet. I looked at the timer and smiled as I ran my hand up his arm to his neck. “It’s almost time. Are you going to kiss me?”

  As the timer beeped for us to be still and pose, his lips fell onto mine. We remained still until it beeped again, signaling us that we could leave. But we didn’t.

  In the booth, with a curtain covering us, Eli moved one of his hands to my cheek and one to my back to press me closer. He opened my mouth with his and ravished me in a tame and loving way that made me f
eel as safe as ever. And I let him. I let the emotions wash over me, so he’d feel the strength and truth behind them. I could tell when they were strong enough for him to pick up on. His grip tightened and he groaned the tiniest bit against my lips. I loved that I was the only thing he needed in the whole world, so I moved to sit sideways in his lap.

  And I let him devour me once again.

  The End For Now …

  Oh, the thank you’s could go on for miles.

  First off, thank you to my God and my family. To the readers who have picked up this book and my others as well, you are the reason I do this. It’s been SO much fun getting to know all different kinds of people from all over the world who have read something of mine. It’s humbling in every sense of the word and I thank you for allowing me to be a little piece of your world. You guys are the best and I love to hear from you! You rock!

  Be sure to look for the second book in the Devour series, Consume, and the third and final book, Altered which are both out now on all eBook and paperback venues!

  Find Shelly at …

  WEBSITE

  Elsker

  by

  ST Bende

  The Prophecy of Ragnarok

  With the death of Balder, the powers of darkness will burst from their tethers. Jotunheim shall crack open; a terrible frost shall suffocate all things good. The great beast will attack, the wicked ship sail, and the light of Asgard will dim evermore. Fire shall consume the earth and Darkness shall swallow the sky. No one, God or Mortal, can survive the travesty of Ragnarok.

  —Prophecy of The Norns

  Chapter One

  I MOVED FASTER THAN a salmon down a chute in bear season. It was my only option. If the giant wolf biting at my heels didn’t kill me, then the tree-trunk of a snake twining between my feet was going to finish the job. I pumped my legs harder, exerting every modicum of strength I had left, and in the process, I stepped on the snake’s head. It hissed, a guttural reverberation bouncing around the darkness. I pushed harder. My chest burned, but I’d managed to put a little space between my attackers and me. The wolf growled angrily, but I didn’t look back. I couldn’t spare the movement.