by brett hicks
“I will keep me eyes on ye lass.”
I snorted and punched his shoulder playfully.
“Careful, you’re going to ruin your reputation as a bad-boy bartender.”
Liam sniffed in faux-indignation.
“Right good chance that is of happening!”
“You’re dating one elf buddy that alone is going to ruin your street-cred. Not that I think you and Bix are not perfect for each other. She is the sort of corporal punishment you lacked in your day-to-day life. All wrapped up in a nice little elf package.”
Liam frowned and gave me a look of mild evaluation.
“Should I be worried about the level of thought you seem to have invested into my bed-sports?”
My nose twitched in disgust.
“Way to ruin a perfectly good moment of banter between friends.”
He waved me off dismissively and said, “Oye, don’t get yer knickers in a twist there lass.”
I blinked at him and pointed a finger in his face.
“How many times have I warned you about mentioning knickers around me?!”
Liam shrugged and gave me one of his classic devil-may-care smiles. Bix walked over and she clamped down on his shoulder with what looked like bone-crushing pressure.
“Yes, Liam, how many times have we warned you about knickers jokes with other women?”
Liam smiled sheepishly at his beautiful pale elf girlfriend. Even while being violent with him one could not help to notice the way her body bowed towards his heat. It was exactly how Seri and I were around each other. Kin fight, but boy do they love to make up! Not that they were really fighting now. If she wanted, Bix could have Liam’s balls mounted on a tall display on her shelf.
“You know that I’m an unapologetic lush my dear. It’s one of the many things you love about me, yeah?”
Bix snorted and she sighed and slowly shook her head.
“I swear to god, if you weren’t so good at other things, I might cast you off Liam.”
I covered my ears and exclaimed, “Ew, Bix, seriously!”
She looked almost amused with herself. She was not one to tell a joke, but I realized now that that is what she had just been doing. She was teasing me and using Liam as her stage prop. Fairies can be very manipulative and terrifying if given half a chance. Bix mainly used her powers for good, but every so often, she could pull a small prank. The infrequency of the behavior lent more weight to the humor once delivered.
Liam was roaring out a belly full of laughter at my expense and He stroked Bix’s cheek affectionately.
“That’s my clever little minx!”
She flashed Liam a feral smile and she lowly whispered, “I’ll remind you not to call me that, later.”
I snorted out a short burst of amusement at them. They balanced each other out so perfectly.
“Babe?”
I turned and looked into the green gemstone eyes of my own kin. She seemed to be worried for me. I smiled brightly and I hitched a thumb over my shoulder at Liam.
“We can’t take this one anywhere, can we?!”
I smiled widely and shook her head slowly.
“I gave up trying about two centuries ago. That was a whole century of effort later.”
I chuckled despite myself and she looked just slightly sulky in recollection to her efforts to tame Liam.
“Yeah, I nearly killed him a few times, but I finally just learned to ignore him when he became irrationally obnoxious.”
“He can bloody well hear you, Seraphina Herrington!”
Liam said with all the Scottish indignation that his heritage could muster.
I chuckled again and Liam flashed me a smile, showing his gratitude to his audience. I was tempted to hit him again, but Bix is a very territorial girl, even with her gay friends. Not that I could blame her, I had met Liam before they were a couple, he was an unrepentant flirt.
“Ok, let’s load up and get moving. We should be in Boston shortly.”
I said and managed to somehow regain some of the authority I was supposed to have at all times. I felt watchful eyes on me constantly as we moved around. I knew that Reyline was keeping a close watch on me. I didn’t know what she thought, if anything, of me. If we managed to survive all of this, then I could brave an answer from her.
Seri sauntered back to her driver’s door and climbed into her SUV. She looked about as relaxed as a pastor in the middle of a gay pride parade. I guess this whole situation was bothering her.
For the second time in a single day, we had two sources claiming her father’s motives and rise to power were less than honest. She seemed to be carrying this burden, despite the fact that she was born long after he had been in power. I guess I would probably feel the same way if people began to tell me my parents were tyrants as well. I mean, Morrigan is no peach in any mythological account of her rule of the Celts. She could have been a tyrant for all I knew, but that childish part of my heart hoped that she was a just and fair ruler.
“Thea, I’m thirsty…”
I spun at the random male voice nearby. I had not noticed Skylar approaching. He was sneaky enough, but I was generally amazing at sensing motion.
“Wear a damn bellboy!”
I exclaimed in my surprise and he looked momentarily less weary and pained and more amused.
“Sure, right after you feed a starving vampire.”
I nipped my lip and I nodded my understanding.
“Yeah, there is a fridge unit in the middle console between the passenger and driver seats up front. Seri has these units installed in every vampire or inhuman owned SUV or car if she can help it.”
Relief flooded his features and I watched my new Dhampire fledgling and despite the extra worry his new status gave me, I was not sorry for my decision. Just ask me again in a few hundred years.
***
With everyone fed and loaded up again, we had a relatively short trip through the Hollowing. While this space was expansive and almost limitless compared to the others I had seen, it was still a very small space relative to our SUV’s rate of travel.
The exit we reached was nearly seamless and Seri was swearing up and down as we approached.
“I just should have known about this! How the hell did I miss this Hollowing for one-hundred years?!”
She sounded grumpy; like she was not accustomed to being deceived by someone she had considered almost an enemy.
“Why exactly did you seal off the entrance? Did Reyline or one of her brood do something to you?”
Seri shook her head in a wide “no.”
“Actually, it was my father who sealed the exits, not me. He had said that the beings that were inside were banished from the destroyed hell-realm.”
She blew her bangs out of her face in frustration and her eyes narrowed dangerously in a calculating gaze.
“I should have known something was off when my father gets down off his fluffy throne and makes the trip to the States. Right or wrong about the ancient wars against your kind, he never does anything without layers of motives.”
I just looked at her and I brushed my palm over her right hand in a supportive gesture.
“Hey, we’re going to figure all of this out. Besides, it’s not exactly like either of us can claim that our family is innocent. I mean, if it’s true, then my aunt is the mother of darkness and shadow daemons. That casts all sorts of unasked questions into my head. Hell, it doesn’t matter who did what, I love Hell, it doesn’t matter who did what, I love you Seri and I don’t give a single fuck how much of a bastard your parents are.”
She turned and gave me a look that held equal-parts shock and love. She seemed to be almost girlish and for that moment, she looked like the nineteen-year-old that the rest of the world saw. The unfathomable weight of her crown slipped back into the shadows of her eyes quickly enough that I could almost think I imagined her lightness. We didn’t speak of any of this, we just stared at each other and her green eyes told me much without words. They also told me tha
t she was going to do unmentionable things to my body when we were finally alone again. I shivered at the intensity of her gaze and I nipped at my lip absently, we almost became lost to time and sense in our lingering gaze.
“If you two are quite done, then can we get moving?”
I spun my head to the sound of Vivi’s voice outside my partially rolled-down window and I gave her a mild look of annoyance. She was non-paused by my look and she opened my door and began to shoo me towards the exit of the Hollowing.
“I would highly recommend that you watch her open this exit, so you can tell if she did anything we might want to be wary of to the exit.”
I nodded slightly and I used Vivi’s shoulder as a sort-of cane and I pulled myself down from the enormous SUV that was not very midget friendly.
“Come with me and we will keep our eyes open. Everyone else can just stay in the damn cars.”
She nodded in agreement and we walked over to the shadowy road opening before us.
Ten:
Boston, my home—sort-of—and we were now in the central city. The Hollowing had transported us much deeper into the city than we could have hoped. Atlantis was supposed to be literal blocks away now.
The moment we stepped out of the Hollowing, we were greeted by a now familiar hulking form. Atlas seemed to be stuck staring at Reyline as if he was in shock. The almost drone-like behavior he broadcast was dropped like a stone. He took a knee and bowed his head to her.
“My Lady Reyline, I was not optimistic about my chances of meeting you again.”
The thirtyish grey-on-grey-clad woman smiled devilishly at this and flicked her hand out to him. Atlas kissed her hand like you would see in a fantasy movie when knights kneel at their queen’s feet and she offers them her hand. Reyline was clearly telling the truth, or else Atlas was in on her lies, I doubted the second of those two options to be true.
“Atlas, first of all, revenants, I had wondered where you were off to, now that answer is obvious.”
“Yes, My Lady, I was placed in stasis with Lady Atlantis when she was born.”
“Ah, I was there for the birth, but I did not stick around long, my people were under attack.”
Atlas bobbed his giant head and she slapped his shoulder lightly.
“Rise boy, stop with this foolishness! I am no more a princess than you!”
Atlas was quick to obey, but his eyes widened slightly at this and he seemed to want to protest but held his tongue.
“I see you found your way to Boston and are in one piece. That makes me happier than I can express.”
Atlas said and his gaze swung to me. I smiled at him and his droid-like antics. He was clearly deeply capable of emotions, but he was rigid with some sense of knightly behavior.
“Hey, big guy, where did you go off to on your own?”
He flushed slightly and murmured lowly, “I was ravenous after awakening once more. I had to pay the local prison a visit and I relieved them of one murderer.”
I made a wide O-shape with my lips and my aunt chuckled in amusement.
“You forget that most revenants survive on fresh and blood of mortals. Your little revenant is an exception; she seems more vampire than revenant.”
Speaking of, Mina was supposed to meet us up here with more people once we called her and gave the all-clear.
“Aunt Reyline, is it safe for me to tell my revenant to bring our reinforcements through?”
She looked at me with a deep amusement playing on her features. Her fiery cobalt gaze was somehow a little softer at the endearment. She nodded in confirmation and flicked her hand out and shadows played around her palm.
“Word has been sent to see your fledgling and her companions through safely. None will raise a hand against the daughter of Nox, or her people.”
I nodded and gave her a smile.
“Thanks.”
She waved me off and gestured vaguely ahead.
“We are close enough that I can open the shadow-road to the entrance to Atlantis from here.”
I frowned and looked at her dumbly.
“What are the shadow roads?”
She chortled and she extended her hands and the earth opened into a dark maw of purples and greys. Her hole widened and became a descending tunnel that I walked over to and gingerly stepped a single toe on experimentally. The shadows twirled and sun around me and darkness whispered into my mind. This was something not exactly alive, but not inanimate either.
“This is a mode of travel for those of us aligned to the darkness and who possess the Old-Blood. We have always had the capacity to cross realms. A pan-realm travel ability of some sort or another was available to all of us. You would do well to begin to explore your many hidden capabilities Thea. You are soon to be a very sought-after child of the darkness. Do not fool yourself into believing your enemies are going to remain blind to your full potential for long.”
She spoke like a school teacher correcting mistakes on my homework. I was still in shock when Seri drove up to the dark and slithering tunnel. I absently climbed into the front seat and stared out the window at the writing and wiggling shadows. I felt them and I could still hear whispers on the winds.
“Have you ever seen this before?”
I asked Seri and she shook her head in a firm “no.”
“How could I, the beings who can open the roads were thought to be completely extinct.”
I nodded and I felt my thoughts drift to my parents. More than once now I had wondered if they were hidden in some deep-dark place, trying to wait until they could come out of hiding. I vetoed that thought quickly; because I wanted to believe their desire to see me would have forced them out of hiding long before now. I just didn’t know what to make of the new dimensions of the world around me or the potential implications.
Seri seemed to understand my thoughts because she didn’t pry. She gave me space to work through the complex labyrinth of new data I was acquiring on this trip.
In direct contrast to my somber mood, Ariel might as well have been at a theme park. She was constantly in awe of all the hidden things she was bearing witness to. She was also rambling off about many inhuman facts of life to Skylar, who was quiet and seemingly enthralled with her every word.
They had a chemistry that burned so hot and so bright that we needed sunglasses to be around them for long.
We drove into the absolute dark of the tunnels of shadows that seemed to devour the light of our headlights. For the second time since meeting her, I was placing my trust in Reyline. My gut told me this was a safe bet, but there was still the nagging and gnawing at my mind and the whispering darkness was doing nothing to quell this in me.
We drove down in a steep decline and we could not see a foot beyond the windows in any direction. Reyline had instructed us of very little, besides follow the creepy shadowy road. Again, doubt seeped into my mind through every unknown quantity of this trip.
The further in we went, the louder the whispers and nagging sensations seemed to grow inside me. I felt drawn to the outside, as if by a very real unseen force. Something alive, yet something beyond the scope of human or inhuman understanding was out there. My heart thumped in my chest and my body chilled with the spike of sweet adrenaline.
Not for the first time, I had no idea what to do, or what I was even heading towards. Blood sizzled with the vibrant magic in my veins and the cascade of power seemed to do something to shield me from the disquiet of the whispers. I could still feel them scratching and clawing at my mind, but I was able to think lucidly now.
“What the hell is out there?”
I asked in a tone that was far more pained than I had imagined. Seri looked at me and her eyes shone worry.
“What do you mean, it’s just the darkness?”
I licked my lips and I expelled a long breath.
“You don’t hear them, the whispers?”
Seri frowned at me and shook her head and she looked suddenly more worried. She didn’t take my sensations lightly an
ymore if she ever had. She knew that I often experienced the world in a unique way. My senses seemed to be far more acute than the average being, regardless of precise species classification.
“Thea, what exactly is it you’re hearing?”
I shook my head slowly and I heard them again, caressing my ears and stroking against my mind. They were whispered lies and fractured truths, anything, and everything to unbalance me.
“It’s insane, that’s what it is. The whispers, they keep telling me things. Telling me that you are all going to betray me that you are all going to bring me in chains before your father and present the last of the Old-Bloods to him as an offering.”
Seri looked livid at the mere thought and her nostrils flared widely.
“Like I would give up my own kin for that animal! You cannot listen to these whispers or whatever they are Thea. You are the daughter of Nox, if you are experiencing something none of us can, then it is something that her blood is attuned to.”
She was right and even I had thought it at least a dozen times now. I swore to myself and I felt sweat beading on my brow. We needed to hurry and get the hell out of here and now!
Seri reached over and gripped my left hand tightly and I felt her heat rush through my chilly body. She sent soothing feeling to me through our bond and I felt myself relaxing in increments.
I felt the renewed rush of violent and visceral assault flood through my mind moments later. I bit my lip so hard that I tasted my own sweet and peppery blood on my tongue. The pain seemed to help tether my mind into my body and I felt my body convulsing.
Nothing had ever felt so invasive, not the creeps on the Boston streets, and not the many near-misses with death I had acquired over the years of my still very short life.
My life played like a video file in my mind. I saw everything, felt everything, and I seemed to suffer all my lifetime's worth of baggage all over again. I relived every injustice committed against me, including my recent firing from the NYPD. Shame was my mistress and I was her slave. Everything was shameful, everything was a desolation and nothing would ever be right again.
I felt the bone-deep depression infusing my very being with shame and despair. My hurt and my pain seemed to wrack me with waves of unfiltered agony and the shame and disgust bombarded my mind. I heard screaming off in the distance and I didn’t even recognize it as my own at first.