“I have that effect a lot.” Jo laughed as he backed away. “V will answer anything, but if you ever want to talk to me…” he winked and wiggled his eyebrows saucily, “… I’m available.”
“Fuck off, Jo,” Volos growled.
Jo held his hands up in a mock surrender. “I’m fucking off now, V.” His chuckling could still be heard as he vanished around the corner.
“What’s down there?”
“Our personal chambers, this is the Warriors’ quarters,” Volos said as he made a small wave with his hand to include the room that they were presently sitting in. “When we aren’t on a mission or a meeting with the king, this is where we hang. We have our own personal chambers or rooms as you might call them,” Volos spoke clearly and directly. “Down that way you will also find our gym and cool down area.”
“The five of you have this whole area for yourselves?” Payton asked.
Attor nodded. “V is impossible to live with, only his brothers could put up with his diva-like demands.” Attor laughed. “Besides, V snores like a… like a… dragon.” He winked at Volos, who cracked a small smile back at his brother.
“Better to snore than gas us all out with your dragon farts,” Volos replied, mocking his brother right back.
Ladon burst out laughing. “You’re all fart factories, I’m surprised the Oasis hasn’t floated to the surface with all the gas that escapes your asses.”
“That’s the jellyfish calling the sea slug, slimy, Ladon,” Wyvern murmured from the notebook he was still working on. “You are the main producer of gas related crimes around here.”
Volos looked at Payton who was chuckling at the banter between the brothers, the way her eyes flashed with energy every time she laughed was captivating. Her hair had begun to dry and was bouncing around her face as she interacted with them all, her hand reaching up and hooking the loose hairs behind her ear without a conscious thought. Payton noticed him staring at her, she stopped, tilted her head in an unasked question.
“Interrogation time?” Volos said. “Somewhere, perhaps with less of the house comedians?”
Payton nodded as she stood, she was almost dry now.
Attor saw her holding the towel awkwardly and said, “Just leave the towel, Payton, I’ll put it in the laundry.”
She nodded and smiled to Attor in thanks. Then took a deep breath in preparation of what she was about to hear and looked at Volos. “You lead and I will follow.”
Volos shook his head. “I will not lead you, Payton, but if you wish to join me at my side, then I will share the journey with you.” He offered his hand which she laid her small hand in. Tightly, he wrapped his fingers around hers and guided her to a spot he knew where they could have some privacy.
James had worked late into the night and found himself now making his way down to the lower level parking garage. Carrying a box of papers yet to have the final check before filing, he was used to taking work home with him. His footsteps echoed in the empty parking garage as he struggled to juggle the box, his briefcase, and trying to pull his keys from his pocket. James looked to where he’d parked his beat-up little red Mazda, noticing the light right above it wasn’t on, the darkness bathing his car almost to the point of invisibility.
As he got closer to the car, a crack under his foot made him stop and look down. Lifting up his foot he saw that he’d stepped on broken glass. James paused for a minute and stepped a little closer. Looking up, he noticed that the light above his car had not just blown, it was smashed. He didn’t have time to question if it was a coincidental vandalism or something more sinister because five very large men suddenly surrounded him.
“What’s… g-going on?” he stuttered as his mouth tried to work despite the fear building in the pit of his stomach.
“Mr. Paxern?” the man directly in front of him said. He was as tall as he was wide, wore a dark blue suit with orange pinstripes in it. He had long dark hair pulled back into a low ponytail and a tailored beard.
“If I say, no?” James asked.
The thug stared wearily at James. “Then I would be more pissed at being made to have to check your ID before I deliver a message.”
James looked at the large men who all took a step forward in unison. “Look, fellas, surely this message could be written down and slipped under my door, or better yet, emailed? It’s efficient, and I can deal with whatever the concern is first thing in the morning.” James backed up against his car, he had nowhere to run, and no one was around to hear if he screamed.
“This message is from Mr. Paxern,” the thug said as he raised his fist in an uppercut, making perfect contact on the lower part of James' chin. His strike launched James into the air and halfway up onto the roof of his car. James slid back down the cold metal as another man stepped forward and drove his fist straight into James’ stomach. The sound of his lungs emptying of their oxygen at the impact was painful and left James doubled over and in agony.
The first man grabbed James by the chin and lifted him up to look him in the eyes, while a few pain-filled whimpers escaping James’ mouth only made the thug smile. “Mr. Embah wants you to know his displeasure at hearing of your meeting with a certain lawyer. He also wants you to know if he hears of it again, that there won’t be enough left of you to feed the fishes.”
With the speed of a snake, the kick came from a different man to James’ left, the impact on his ribs filled his head with the sound of cracking bones. The first guy still held James’ chin firmly as he leaned in and delivered the final part of the message. “Mr. Embah wants the stamp of approval within forty-eight hours, or the last people you’ll get to see is us.” Yanking James higher, he shook him harder. “Understand?”
James nodded, the broken bones of his rib cage prevented any sound coming out of his mouth. The guy just opened his fingers and James’ broken and bruised body slumped painfully to the ground.
“Don’t make us come back and kill you,” the thug said as he sunk his heavy black foot into James’ already broken ribcage.
James watched the five sets of boots walk away, laughing about having to deliver the next message to the lawyer, and how much fun they were going have with the female. James concentrated on breathing, in and out, the pain quickly closing in on him like a black curtain drawing closed after an encore.
Payton, was his last thought before he passed out.
Payton stood at the railing on the rooftop of the royal palace. She simply stood there in complete silence as the nighttime beauty of the Oasis was ingrained into her soul. Looking up at the darkened roof of the dome, she could see the reflection from above dancing across the surface, it gave it the effect of sparkling stars. It was so unbelievably beautiful, it took Payton’s breath away. Volos flicked a switch and a few carefully placed lanterns came to life, allowing them enough light to speak without struggling to see faces.
Volos pulled over two faded, stretched and very comfortable looking garden chairs and placed them near the railing. He took a seat, crossing his legs as he propped them up on the barrier. Volos took a deep breath of the chilled night air and exhaled slowly. He loved his home and he would do anything to protect it, even at the cost of his own life.
Payton smiled at the look of contentment on Volos’ face. It was the first time she’d seen him relax even a little bit. When he was around his brothers, the tension was palpable, but here? Right now? This was her first true meeting of Volos.
“Do you come up here often?” Payton’s voice was soft and feminine as she took a seat in the chair he had placed next to his, but slightly angled toward the view.
“Any chance I get,” Volos said. “It’s a place that I often find void of anyone, and that allows me space to gather myself before having to gather others,” he said casually. Payton could see all his walls were down, this was definitely his safe place.
“I never knew this world existed. Is this the only one?” Payton asked. “You said I can ask anything, correct?”
Volos leaned back as he l
inked his hands behind his head. “Yes, I said you can ask anything, Payton.” The lightness in his voice was a remarkable contrast from the voice he used around his brothers. “No, this is not the only dragon clan. There are many dragon clans all over the world… some surface-dwelling dragons, some water.”
“The obvious question is… if there are dragons, should I assume that there are other mythical, or perhaps what I thought were mythical creatures in the world as well?” The curiosity was burning within her.
Volos turned his head lazily. “It would be a safe assumption to think you were not alone.”
“Wowsers,” she exclaimed and sat heavily in the chair. She went to prop her feet up on the railing and missed. Laughing she got up and pulled her chair further forward. “Short girl problems.” Payton laughed as she had a second and more successful attempt to rest her legs on the railing.
“Height is not your friend, Payton.” Volos smirked as he watched her move the chair closer.
“Good things come in small packages.” She mocked his smirk.
“So does poison…” he winked, “… but you might just be worth the risk.”
A cheeky wiggle of her eyebrows. “Payton Risky Hunter. That’s me…” She laughed before changing the subject. “So, tell me why you’re so concerned with C.O.D.E.?” Payton asked directly. “I will tell you mine if you tell me yours?” She wiggled her eyebrows, as the laughter rumbled up from deep within his chest. This relaxed and fun side of Volos might be something she could get used to.
“There is one thing that tugs at my brain,” Payton said with a curious twist to her lips.
Volos’ eyes locked on the cute turn of her lips and wondered what they would feel like against his. “What’s that?” he said absent-mindedly.
Payton’s voice took a darkened dive as she looked at Volos, her head tilted with a nervousness that rippled slowly in the air. “Why were you on the beach?” Her words were soft, almost afraid she would receive an answer that would destroy this amazing world she’d been engulfed into. “Right where I needed you… right when I needed you…” An audible swallow followed. “Why?”
Taken aback by the question, Volos took a few seconds to think, his eyes tracing over the lines that created the most beautiful face he’d ever seen. Following from her swan-like neck, up and over her determined cheekbones, flicking over her cute crinkled forehead and down to her hauntingly beautiful eyes.
How truthful should I be? he thought to himself. Will the truth terrify her?
He stood at a set of crossroads that he’d never imagined ever being presented with. Fate had set his course in a direction that scared the living scales off him. He had been raised to have faith, faith in your path being perfectly chosen for you.
When fate knocks on the door with your life-mate in tow, answer the door, accept the gift, and hold on to her with all you are until you gasp your last breath. To deny the gift would be to perish away, empty and alone. His mother’s words of warning echoed through his head as he made a choice to tell Payton the truth, always and forever more, even at risk of being punched in the nose again.
“The truth?” Volos asked.
“Volos, let me enlighten you to a little ‘Payton wisdom.’ Despite my job stereotype, I am honest, so honest that I have only a few close friends. Most people don’t like to be told a real answer. If Kylee, my best friend, comes out and asks me if her ass looks fat in something, I am going to tell her. I adore my friends, I will fight and defend them to my dying breath, but if someone is being a dickhead, I will tell them.” She smiled at herself. “I sound like a bitch, and I have been called it many times. However, for those I consider my family, my love, my loyalty, my commitment… well, it comes with honesty.”
Volos nodded. “Understood. And I can verify the honesty part, I think you’ve called me many names so far and we only met a few days ago.”
“Nothing you didn’t deserve.” She smiled.
“Why was I on the beach?” Volos repeated her original question, to which she nodded and leaned back in the chair, her body turned slightly toward him as she crossed her legs, waiting for him to continue. “Let me finish before you give me any of your ‘Payton honesty,’ okay?”
She nodded her acceptance of his terms, Volos knew what he said was going to go either really well or blow up in his face, but there was only one way to find out.
“My dislike of humans is… well large,” he said, his voice low and steady. “Humans on the whole, pose an immense danger to my clan and the paranormal world in general.” Volos was being careful to not use the word ‘you.’ This wasn’t about her as an individual, but her species as a whole. “Humans have a tendency to destroy what they don’t understand. If something scares them, instead of learning, quite often it’s killed, dissected and studied under the deathly cloak of science.” Volos looked out to the darkened Oasis, his future clan asleep and safe. “We hide because we have been forced to, not because we chose to. Many species have been eliminated, and the ones that still exist have become masters of camouflage.”
Turning his head back to look at Payton, his eyes filled with unshed tears. “I’ve seen many violent deaths at the hands of humans, all because of fear… fear-driven violence against a species that poses no threat.” Turning his head back to gaze out into the black abyss before she could witness the first tear slide silently down his cheek, he remembered not being able to save his mother from the hands of a human. “Needless to say, I have a strong dislike for the human species.”
Volos and Payton sat silently for a few minutes while the words he’d spoken soaked into the air surrounding them. She had no words of comfort for the atrocities he spoke off, and he had to quieten the flashes in his mind, not wanting to punish a solitary person for the crimes of an entire species.
“Then you floated into my ocean,” he continued, still looking outward, this is where he needed to be at his strongest. Exposing himself emotionally was something he struggled horrifically with. “This tiny, delicate, and dead human female, floating near my Oasis. My first reaction… honestly?” Volos flicked a quick glance to Payton who was captivated and hanging on every word he said before he returned his eyes out to the darkness. “Was hatred. I loathed that a human had made its way to my home, threatening my clan, bringing the danger right to my front door.” He spoke through gritted teeth. “I wanted to hurt you as your species had hurt us.”
Silence once more fell upon them, Volos struggling with the emotional battle erupting inside his chest. “The betrayal I felt by my father when he ordered your release was all encompassing, the rage I felt was insurmountable, and if you ask Attor he will attest to it, as he was on the other side of a serious sparring session that eve.” Another flick of his head to glance at Payton, her eyes filling, as she listened to his pain. “It was when Attor dragged me to come pay you a visit at work. In the park you were so infuriated with me it was to the point of physical violence.” Volos referred to the punch she connected with his nose. “Yet, when Attor spoke to you, you still offered to help. This small, breakable, human was willing to stand up and ask questions about something we cared about.” His forehead crinkled as he hit the red danger zone for emotional meltdowns. “A human, human. Even though she appeared cautious with strangers like us, she still cared, and offered her help.” Volos shook his head. “I never thought the day would come when a human would surprise me.”
Volos looked over at her, the tears sliding down her cheeks silently. “You surprised me, Payton, I haven’t been able to get you out of my head.” He took a deep breath before the killer blow. “I was on the beach that night to see you Payton, I was coming to see you.”
Payton reached out her arm, the lightness of her fingers as she placed them on his arm, the tenderness of her fingers as they squeezed. She saw his skin ripple under her touch and she smiled softly. “I’m really glad you were there.”
“So am I,” Volos said as his body went wild in response to the tenderness of her touch. She didn’t
run, she didn’t fear him, she understood.
The two of them spent the next hour discussing the dangers that exploration would pose to the clan’s future. He told her of previous clans that had been eliminated due to accidental exposure. Humans weren’t ready to know that they weren’t alone, and that the creature they tell stories about, do in fact walk the streets right alongside them. She then told him of her meeting with the Ministry member and how badly he’d reacted to her question about bribes. When Payton started to speak of her boss, Mr. Embah, and how he’d demanded that she not meet with anyone again, it still enraged her. In fact, his demand was for her to get the application approved as fast as possible. She made a quick reference to the implied threat he had left her with when the meeting had ended.
“Do you think that’s who was chasing you tonight?” Volos asked.
“I don’t have many enemies,” Payton snorted softly. “I know, right? It shocks me too, considering my job, not many people like lawyers…” a small shrug of her shoulders, “… I can only think that the men who chased me tonight were sent by someone connected with C.O.D.E.”
“You heard them say ‘mark’ correct?” He looked over to her with his question.
Payton nodded. “‘There’s our mark,’ they said, and I heard the safety click off on a weapon.”
“I think you might need some protection, Payton.” He sat up. “Just ‘til this blows over. Something isn’t sitting right with me about your boss.”
“Like a bodyguard?” She burst out laughing. “Who on earth is going to waste time making sure I’m safe every minute of the day?”
“Me,” Volos stated flatly.
“You?” Her head turned to look at him, as his eyes locked with hers the energy ramped up in the air surrounding them, and the smell of brownies suddenly increased tenfold. “Why?” Payton looked out and over the railing. “And who’s baking brownies at this time of night? Man, it’s making me hungry.”
Immersion (Apalala Clan Book 1) Page 13