Lust Born

by Jacquie Underdown

  The trees.

  Ariana casts the animation spell, though it coils pain deep in her belly, like all remaining life force is deserting her. The trees stretch and yawn, great branches as arms, and deep rooted trunks, now legs, spring forth.

  The world is spinning around her head.

  Stay focused, Ariana.

  “Use those legs and arms, and crush the Corpse Thieves,” she screams, though her voice is ragged.

  The trees take action, hundreds of them, stomping on the bodies, once, twice, flesh squishing beneath their heavy limbs. Granny continues to fling force, blowing bodies apart.

  Heavy feet break through the pack and rampage at her. Through swirling, darkened vision, she blows the Corpse Thief apart, chunks flying at her. Wet droplets splash over her. She wipes at her face and lips. “Yuck,” she hisses, spitting on the grass.

  Ariana, so woozy, raises her head to look at the scene. Hundreds of decaying Corpse Thieves charging at them. The trees destroy many before they can break through the forest, but there seems to be an endless, unstoppable parade. Her chest heaves and stomach clenches, yet still she flings magic at them, one after another.

  One breaks through and is heading for Granny, its disconnected jaw flapping as it wails a mournful tune.

  “Watch out!” Ariana screams.

  Granny twirls and blows it apart, but another shoulders through, and another. So close, its howls are ear-splitting, its jaw clacking and teeth grinding.

  Ariana falls backward onto the grass as it dives at her, but she casts a spell off and is bombarded, not with tugging teeth, but cold, wet chunks of flesh and bone, and graying brain matter.

  Granny’s cries rupture the air. Ariana snaps her head around. The Corpse Thief has Granny’s neck between its teeth and tears out a chunk, veins and blood sluicing around her.

  “No,” Ariana screams, but then another is on Granny, its snapping teeth ripping her apart.

  Ariana tenses all over, fights against her heavy-as-the-dead muscles, and jumps to her feet. She conjures wind. Great big gusts of it swirl around her, growing heavier, thicker, like a hurricane. Hair wisps around her face, her clothes flap against her, and still she grows the storm until it fulminates fierce wind. She pushes it out and hurls it at the Corpse Thieves, trees, grass, and everything in existence. Bodies and branches, leaves and dust, soar through the air backward, further and further away. She continues to gust with all she has, with everything she is, with all that is around her, until the world turns black and she falls onto the ground, trembling, heaving, and gasping for life.

  Chapter 17

  Strong hands wrap around Ariana and lift her into the air. She struggles, remnants of fear aching in her bones. She tries to speak, but only a whimper comes forth from between her cracked lips.

  “I’ve got you.”

  Oh God, Hadeon’s voice is like heaven in her ears. Tears sting her eyes.

  “It’s over.”

  He bundles her into the car and she rests on his lap, her head against his chest. The car roars to life and blackness finds her, a thick blanket she welcomes.

  Ariana doesn’t wake again until she is back at the house, in her bed, and a strong cup of bitter tea is being pressed to her lips.

  “Drink,” says Hadeon.

  She drinks it down, coughing and spluttering.

  All sounds and light fade.

  It’s dark when Ariana is awoken by footsteps. Heavy breathing. She is trembling. It’s so cold, her teeth clatter against each other.

  “Grab me a wet face-washer,” comes Hadeon’s urgent voice through the thick fog.

  Hadeon sits beside her and pats the face-washer over her forehead. It’s like ice against her skin, and she shakes more violently and scratches for the blankets. But he pulls them away, along with her sweatpants. He opens the window, allowing cold air to billow into the room.

  “Come on, flower, we’ve got to get that temperature down. I know it feels cold, but you’re burning up like fire.”

  Reid strides in with another cup of tea and hands it to Hadeon.

  Hadeon touches it to her quivering lips. “Take a sip,” he says, voice gentle, yet strained. It grips her tight in her belly.

  “What’s wrong with me?” she whimpers. Ariana tries to lift her head, but she has no strength and every muscle aches.

  “You just need your strength back, Ariana. Here, take a sip. Please.”

  She sucks at the tea, allowing the cool drops to slide into her mouth.

  * * * *

  Light streams through the curtains, reaching Ariana as she sleeps. The sensation of a hot, hard body is beside her.

  She smiles.

  Hadeon.

  Ariana looks around the sunlit room and turns to face him.

  He stirs and opens his bloodshot eyes. “Ariana,” he whispers, his voice weak from sleep.

  “Hi.”

  “How are you feeling?”

  Her stomach is wracked with pain. It growls. “Starving.”

  Hadeon smiles. His shoulders slope forward as relief overcomes him. “That’s a good answer.”

  Ariana rolls onto her back again and stares up at the ceiling. “How’s Granny?” She can’t look at him.

  A long pause. “We couldn’t save her,” he says gently.

  Her chest burns and throat tightens. “I tried to destroy them, but there were so many of them. One was ripping at her neck…” Her sentence breaks off with a sob.

  “I know you did everything you could. Hell, you almost killed yourself in the process.”

  She rolls into him, pushing her face against his chest, and cries. Her heart aches terribly. “Is this how it’s going to be? Constant attacks? Loved ones dying?”

  Hadeon strokes his hand along her back and rests his chin on her head. “Soon it’ll be over. Soon. I promise.”

  * * * *

  Ariana lays a bunch of wild lilac orchids on Granny’s grave and whispers her goodbyes. She wipes at her cheeks with her palms and falls back into Hadeon’s embrace.

  Though their voyage has been delayed to allow Ariana time to fully recover, the day they are to leave has arrived. The house is emptied and locked, and the next part of their journey is on foot across the harsh landscape of the Highlands. Some Warriors have gone first to ensure the way is safe and others will follow a distance behind to pick off any unwanted pursuers.

  Hadeon will accompany Ariana to the gates of Fiore, and he will go through them with her. But a lone woman traveling with a group of men through Fiore would only draw the attention of the Sun Queen, so she will not see the other Warriors again until they are reunited at the Spring Blossom Palace.

  Chapter 18

  Ariana stares at the single boulder, about six feet wide and three feet high, conspicuous in the empty green field. Bitterly cold wind wisps against her.

  Her forehead wrinkles as she frowns. “This is it? This is the gate?”

  Hadeon tilts his head back and laughs. “The rock isn’t the gate. It’s a reference so we know where the gate is.”

  “So where’s the gate then?”

  Again Hadeon laughs. “Impatience will get you nowhere.”

  She places her hands on her hips and scowls. “I’m quite happy to turn around and forget Fiore ever existed, if that suits you better.”

  He paws her waist and pulls her close, her chest flush to his hard frame. He cups her face with his hands and presses his lips to hers. “I know this is a huge deal. I know you’re scared—not that you’ll admit it, and that’s fine.” His lips curl. “I do find courage a turn on. But I’m here. I’ll be with you the entire way. And I have complete faith in you.”

  Ariana sinks against him, wanting to prolong this moment where it is only the two of them firmly on planet Earth and nothing else matters, not the spell book, not Fiore, nothing. “I don’t know what to expect.”

  “And I can’t predict how it will be for you. I admit, the path through to Fiore can be terrifying if you don’t trust me when I tell you
that you will not be harmed.”

  Ariana stiffens in his arms. “What the hell does that mean?”

  “I wouldn’t let you do this if you were going to be hurt in any way.”

  She shakes her head and tries to push away from him, but he holds her tighter.

  “I’m just trying to mentally prepare you.”

  “For what? What the hell are we going to be doing?”

  Hadeon points at a circular pond a little way ahead of them, no bigger than ten feet in diameter. The surface is flat and black, indicating the sheer depth of it.

  Her eyes narrow. “What? That’s our way to Fiore?”

  Hadeon nods.

  A laugh of disbelief bursts from her mouth. “We swim there?”

  “In a way.”

  “But it’s fucking freezing. There’s no way I’m getting in there.”

  “It’s only the initial shock of the cold that hurts, after that your body will numb itself.”

  She shoves against his chest and backs away, shaking her head. “No way. And what do we do once we’re in the water anyway?”

  “We swim downward.”

  “And?”

  “Let the rest take care of itself. All you need to concern yourself with is making sure you don’t panic. You need to preserve as much oxygen as you can, because it’s a long drop before we get to the depths we need. And the cold water may shock the oxygen from your lungs.”

  Ariana’s hands shake. “I can’t do that.” She backs away another pace, another.

  “I have complete confidence in you. It’s only a sliver of time, and then we’ll be there, in Fiore, and you’ll never have to do it again.”

  Her brows arch high. “Why does it have to be hard like this? I thought you were going to tell me we had to open some weird portal and step through, or that my necklace had to be rubbed in a certain way and it would transport us to Fiore. I didn’t expect to be plunging into negative zero ponds and dropping to unknown depths while trying not to panic as I wait for whatever the fuck is going to happen.”

  Hadeon’s mouth twitches into a grin. He touches his fingers to the necklace. “This is the connective tissue between Earth and Fiore. It has allowed you to perform Fioren magic while on Earth. While in Fiore, it will allow you to understand and speak our language, but you will no longer need it for spells. The necklace definitely doesn’t open portals.”

  “You don’t speak English in Fiore?” she asks, eyebrows arching high.

  He shakes his head. “No.”

  “What if it doesn’t work with me?”

  He grins. “Trust me, it works. I’ve not spoken one word of English to you, nor have the Warriors, since we arrived in Scotland. Each spell has been written in Fioren, and when you’ve recited them, you’ve naturally used your native tongue.”

  “I didn’t even realize.”

  Hadeon spins her and unclasps the necklace. He wraps it in cloth, carries it a few hundred feet away, and lays it on the grass. When back by her side, he speaks, but it is merely a series of clicks and sounds she has no words to describe, for on Earth they don’t even exist.

  Ariana gasps, shakes her head. “Stop it.”

  He smiles and cuddles her to him again. “You get the point?” he says in English.

  She nods.

  Hadeon retrieves the necklace and clasps it around her neck. “Come on, we must get this over with. Hanging outside of the entry point is dangerous.”

  Ariana glares into the deep black lake. Nerves tingle in her guts and squeeze at her heart. “You promise me I’ll be safe?”

  He takes her hand. “Yes, I absolutely promise. You must trust me. Everything will be okay, no matter how much you feel that it won’t.”

  This does not fill her with confidence. In fact, it fucking terrifies her, and her body trembles anew.

  Fixing his gaze on her, he says, “Trust me.”

  She nods. That’s one thing she can do in this moment. “I trust you.”

  “Good.”

  Still holding her hand, he walks her to the edge of the pond. “Now take a deep breath and try to hold it as much as you can as the cold hits you. Then relax. I’m going to lead us down. Just kick your legs slowly. Don’t worry about your arms, just keep a hold of my hand. I’ll pull you down.”

  Eyeing the black surface, terror gripping her tight, she manages a sharp nod.

  “Ready?” he asks.

  She nods. “Ready.”

  “On the count of three, then jump. One. Two. Three.”

  She breathes in deeply, jumps, and plunges feet first into the pond alongside Hadeon. The water is like a knife scraping the flesh from her bones as she tunnels deep into the icy water. The shock is torturous, and despite her best attempts, her body squeezes all breath from her lungs until it is but bubbles popping around her face.

  Hadeon tugs on her hand, pulling her to face downward. It snaps her out of her own thoughts and briefly distracts her from the freezing cold leaching into her skin. Her eyes spring open as she navigates her way in the thick blackness, turning her body and kicking her legs so she can follow Hadeon’s lead. His hand grips tighter as he heads toward the bottom of the pond.

  Lightly kicking her legs, though her muscles are starting to seize, they descend further into the blackness. The cold is unbearable. Ariana looks behind her to see the last remnants of buttery light shining through the surface. Her lungs are already screaming for oxygen, painfully aching. She looks back at Hadeon, feeling a little frantic.

  He nods and points into the blackness. But she can’t see an end in sight. What exactly are they swimming toward anyway? And still they keep descending deeper and deeper.

  The wintry water is reaching her deep in her bones. Her muscles are sore and heavy, sometimes seizing as she kicks against the water. Black stars form behind her eyes, darkening her vision. When her diaphragm convulses, her heart speeds up, despite the cold water wanting to slow everything down.

  Again she looks up to the surface and back to Hadeon. She yanks at his hand, desperate now for air. She can’t go any further. Her body screams at her to take a breath. Her diaphragm convulses again, begging for reprieve. She squeezes her lips together, shaking her head. Again she yanks on Hadeon’s hand, but he continues swimming her downward. The black spots darken and grow bigger.

  I’m going to die.

  Absolute panic clutches her. She kicks against Hadeon with any remaining strength she has and yanks on his arm, begging for him to help her breathe.

  Another convulsion.

  There is something coming from below. A glow. Her attention fixes on it. Out from the depths comes an illuminated form—incandescent greens and blues and gold. So ethereal, to look at it feels like her heart is breaking in two. She momentarily forgets her struggle and watches with wonder as this light comes closer.

  So close now, she can see the form the light takes—a little boy. He smiles at her as he lifts his small hand toward her face.

  Her diaphragm shutters again, so painful this time she compulsively opens her mouth to gasp for air. And just as her lips fall open, the boy’s finger presses hard on her forehead and all light falls away.

  Imagine the body disappearing and remaining is only consciousness. Sound is gone, sight, all the perceptions the body and brain uses—completely gone. There’s no breath, no heartbeat, just an expanse of nothingness and singular consciousness.

  But this only lasts for a second, half a second even, and the body returns, along with all perceptions in a loud, colorful blast.

  Ariana gasps as she steps on blades of white grass. Hadeon still has her hand, but it feels different…firmer, warmer. She drags air into her lungs. She coughs and bends, hands on knees.

  Hadeon lifts her upright. “Just relax. Nice and easy breaths.”

  She nods as she attempts to calm herself. But her eyes widen when she looks at Hadeon’s face. He’s different.

  “What’s going on?” she asks.

  He rubs up and down her back. “Close your
eyes.”

  She does.

  “Concentrate on breathing. We’ll get to the rest soon enough.”

  The warm, soupy air, smelling slightly of vanilla sugar and damp earth, slides down her throat and into her lungs. Again and again, she allows it easy access until her blood is saturated with Fioren oxygen.

  She calms, breathing easy, and looks again at her surroundings. It’s so bright and warm, all traces of the freezing loch gone. She is dry.

  “I made it?” she asks.

  Hadeon nods.

  Her legs collapse underneath her and she crumbles to the white grass below.

  “I don’t understand what happened. I thought I was dying. I couldn’t breathe.”

  Hadeon crouches beside her. “You need to lose your earthly consciousness before you can even begin to perceive Fiore.”

  “Who was that boy? I did see him, didn’t I? Or was I hallucinating?”

  “He’s the guide between worlds. He re-opens your senses so you can perceive Fiore.”

  “Fuck!” she says, shaking her head. “That was horrifying.”

  “Yes, but in the end a mere illusion.”

  She inclines her face to him, squinting. “An illusion?”

  “The water isn’t real. It’s an illusion designed to allow you to let go of your consciousness.”

  Her breaths come harder, her heart racing again. Not out of fear, but anger. “Why the hell didn’t you just tell me it was an illusion?”

  He shakes his head. “It wouldn’t have made any difference. The mind cannot tell the difference between what is real and what is illusory.”

  “Well, from now on you can keep your freakin’ illusions to yourself.”

  Hadeon laughs as he stands and reaches out his hand for her. She grabs it and he lifts her from the ground.

  They are on the peak of a small hill surrounded by a valley. Similar to the picture in the spell book—white grass dotted with vibrantly colored plants and flowers. She looks up into the sky, so bright she has to squint. The sky is red, the clouds pink, and there are three red crescent moons in different phases shining brightly even though the vivid red sun is glimmering down on them, coating her skin with a searing warmth.