by Amber Lynn
The group made it to the lab long before the humans behind them could catch up. After hearing Rya talk about Noah being off in some underground dungeon, it wasn’t surprising there was no one around to question what they were doing there.
“I’m guessing you aren’t going to explain exactly what’s going on before I send us back, but I’m hoping you’ll fill me in on where we need to be.”
Hunter squeezed Krinla’s hand as he spoke and then let go of it so he could run over to the machine that controlled the time setting and general coordinates of where the people traveling would land. Hunter didn’t know why it worked, but the fact that it had was enough for him to pay attention when his father hit the buttons.
“We’ll get to what’s going on when things are safer than they are now. As far as the when, I’ve gone back and forth so many times that I haven’t settled on a great answer. Since we’ve run out of time, push it fourteen cycles from when we were last there and seventy clicks northwest.”
Thankfully Hunter didn’t need any conversions to know when and where Krinton was talking about. As he set the dials, Krinla thought about exactly where her father had decided they were going to land and looked over to the man making the decisions.
“That’s the Beasts’ territory.”
She didn’t need to tell anyone that, but it was impossible not to say it out loud. Krinla explored the woods, but she’d never wandered into anyone else’s territory.
“It will be the last place Hulin looks for us and I have a decent relationship with their current leader.”
Krinton was interrupted briefly by a scoff from Rya. He ignored her and took a breath before continuing.
“It makes sense if we head there and finish up getting ready for our own battle.”
Krinton followed Hunter’s move of squeezing Krinla’s hand before letting go. Hunter had finished up the calculations and had his hand outstretched with one of the buttons that would help them get back to their time.
“I know we need to get moving, but if it’s okay, I’d like to write a quick note for my dad. Chances are I’m not going to see him again and there are a few things I want to be sure he knows.”
Hunter could hear how close the guards were, so he knew exactly how much time they had. The quicker of the guards were going to be knocking on the door within a minute.
Krinla knew even without their bond how important the task was to Hunter, so she hurried over to the door and shut the one they’d come through, locking it as she did. There were other doors in the room that were points of entry that she was quick to zip around and lock as well.
She knew the closed doors wouldn’t keep the guards out, but there wasn’t a lot more she could do short of flipping the desks on their sides and blocking the doors with them. The extra work would’ve taken longer than she hoped it took Hunter to write, so the rearranging of furniture would wait until they absolutely needed it.
With ample paper and pens around, it only took Hunter a second to get his task underway. Krinla and the others watched the doors to make sure no unwanted visitors interrupted them. The heartbeats and footfalls were getting closer, causing Krinla to crouch down and prepare for an attack. She ran her tongue across her fangs, ready to tear into skin if need be.
“Come on. As cute as you look ready to fight, we can get out of here.”
Even after writing his note, there wasn’t the hint of sadness in Hunter’s voice that Krinla expected. She knew deep down in his mind there was nothing but love for his father, but the larger part of him just wanted to start a new life. Krinla could relate to that. After spending her life mainly locked away in the castle, the adventures of the week were more than she’d had in her entire life.
Hunter grabbed Krinla’s hand and led the group over to the spot they’d arrived on day one in the past. The buttons could be used anywhere, but he liked to launch from the centralized base.
“Just to be on the safe side, I’m going to carry you like I did when we came here. I think the remotes will work with us holding our hands, but I don’t want to chance leaving you behind. Krinton, you’ve got Rya again, right?”
Hunter really didn’t need to ask. Rya was crawling up Krinton’s back so she could wrap her arms around his neck. It was a move Krinla copied, minus the crawling part. Letting the men have their arms opened in case someone magically burst through the door or they needed to immediately dive into battle when they got to their destination made sense.
Krinla had her legs wrapped around Hunter’s torso and held on tight. Knowing that she was going to transport through time didn’t make the unease she felt growing in her stomach go away. The first time she’d traveled, she was barely conscious, so she didn’t have time to think about what was going to happen.
Knowing it was coming was different. She’d only traveled by foot before, but Hunter had memories of cars, boats and planes, to name just a few of the transportation formats available in his time. It was hard to fathom why the humans needed that many ways to get around.
Letting her mind wander to frivolous topics kept her from thinking too much about the countdown Hunter had started. He determined that hitting the buttons at the same time was best, so he counted down from three and hit the button in his hand.
Krinla’s eyes were closed tightly, so she didn’t see time and space flash around her. Hunter had always traveled with his eyes closed too, leaving them both without a clue of what things looked like when they jetted ahead in time three hundred years. It was something that should’ve taken longer than it did, but in a flash of a second, Krinla could smell the edges of the woods she was used to.
When the burbles in her stomach settled, she took a deep breath of the clean air around them and opened her eyes. Their exact location was new to her, but it felt like she was coming home. Laying her head down on Hunter’s she hugged him tighter and laughed.
The way Rya had been talking, they should’ve had more of a fight to get out of the past, but nothing more than a chase had ensued. Krinla wanted to believe that spoke to their superior abilities. Something niggling in the back of her mind made her think they hadn’t heard the last of the humans. They were weaker, but they had technology Krinla couldn’t even dream of.
“They shouldn’t be able to cause us any problems without these,” Hunter said lifting his right hand out in front of him.
In his palm, he held four of the small remotes needed to complete the time travel process. Seeing them, Krinla let herself breathe a little easier.
“That’s all of them?” Five seemed like a lot, but at the same time, the humans seemed to like to overdo things.
“As far as I know. They were going to let me explore a few more times by myself, and then they were going to send others in with me. I thought it was just to allow us to cover more ground, but I’m second guessing that after hearing you guys talk about a war brewing.”
Hunter threw the devices on the ground and stomped on them with his feet. The sound of metal and plastic cracking echoed in the woods around them as the sun twinkled off the metal fragments. Krinla let go of him and hurried to get in front of him before he could smash everything.
“Are you sure you want to do that?”
He’d been so fast at his destruction that the only remote left was the one in Krinton’s hand. Krinla wanted to stop him from destroying that until he had a second to think about what he was doing. She placed her hands on his chest to try to get him to calm down. The only other time she’d felt him worked up was when he found her with Krinton and Rya unconscious.
“I know why you’re asking, but my life back there is over, and leaving them in one piece could put you in danger.” Hunter held out his hand to Krinton to get the last device. “Our future is the only thing that matters and I won’t let anything stand in the way.”
The protective tone filling Hunter’s voice made Krinla feel warm inside. Something about his words about the future reminded Krinla that if they’d jumped fourteen cycles into the future, she’
d turned eighteen without being present on the day.
“Actually, if you want to get technical about that subject, you were eighteen two cycles ago when we were back in the past. We figured it wasn’t the right time to have a party, so we didn’t make a big deal about it.”
Krinla thought about Rya’s words and realized she was right. They’d been in the past for over a week, which meant her body would have theoretically aged the few days needed to be considered eighteen. The whole changing of time had confused her more than she thought.
“I take it the we you’re talking about is you two.” Krinla didn’t turn around to face her father and Rya, but she pointed her finger behind her to reiterate who she was talking about.
Krinton hadn’t handed over the remote, so Hunter’s hand still reached to the side of Krinla. Hunter sighed and reached it out a little farther, which finally resulted in the device being handed over. Rather than crushing it with his foot, he made a fist and squeezed his hand tightly so the components were rendered useless in a matter of seconds.
“The we was everyone here other than you. You were too tied up in making sure Hunter could stand on his own two feet when it came to fighting that your mind was a million miles away from thinking about your birthday. The rest of us considered doing something, but we decided to hold off any celebrations until things settled down.”
Since Krinla didn’t hear them talking about it once, she figured everything was done by Rya simply shaking her head no. It seemed to be an effective way to communicate with the girl.
“State your business in our territory,” a male voice boomed from the west of them.
Krinla had felt the Beasts moving closer and was waiting for her father to indicate exactly what they should do. She turned to look at him for direction, since her attempt to make Hunter think before he destroyed the only connection he had back to his father hadn’t gone well.
Krinton had a sort of odd smile on his face, which was another one added to the list Krinla couldn’t read. “I’m King Krinton, and I’d like an audience with Queen Trilla.”
Chapter Twenty-nine
A handful of people stepped out of the woods shortly after Krinton’s words. It was mildly surprising that there wasn’t any hostility on the faces of those who made themselves known. There were still a few of the Beasts that kept hidden by the forest, but the initial level of anxiety Krinla had felt around her went down when Krinton announced who he was.
It was the first time Krinla had officially met someone from one of the other factions, so she took a few moments to see if everything she heard about the Beasts’ appearances was true. Their tanned skin was the first thing Krinla noticed. The three men and two women all had skin that was similar to Hunter’s in color. Their hair was darker and varied in length and their eyes all seemed to be brown.
They wore clothing similar to Hunter’s as well, which made the tie between humans and Beasts seem stronger than what Krinla had expected. Humans had minute ties to all the factions, but basic DNA was completely different between all the species. The similarities in attire had to be some cultural tie back to the time they’d just visited, although their clothing looked a little less abrasive and seemed to only come in one color, black.
“Ever since an influx of Draculs has been found wandering our woods, she’s been expecting you.”
The same male voice they’d heard already was the one to respond. The man stood in front of the other Beasts as they formed a point. From Hunter’s memories, Krinla recognized the formation as military in nature. From what she’d witnessed in the past, the rumors she’d heard of the Beasts being even more like an army than the Draculs seemed true.
With the newcomers joining the group, the Draculs had all turned to face them to assess what level of threat they posed. When the leader of the Beast group mentioned an influx of Draculs, Krinla turned to her father to gauge how much he was going to reveal. His neutral face told her absolutely nothing.
“How bad has it been?” Krinton asked.
Amid all the destruction of the remotes, one of the first things Krinla had done was to reach out to feel for any other Draculs in the area. She felt the mass she expected coming from the direction of home, but no one was close by.
“Bad enough that we’ve upped our patrols. They tend to keep their distance once they sense us around, so there haven’t been any confrontations, but we did find a note saying some joker wants an audience with the Queen.”
“Which I’m sure made her chuckle.” Krinton laughed at the thought of Hulin making demands. “As you can imagine, someone has overstepped from my camp and I’d like to have a chat with Trilla about our plans to rectify the problem.”
The response seemed to be a happy medium between telling them nothing and spilling everything that was going on. Krinla focused back on the Beasts and waited to see what their next move would be.
“As you know, Queen Trilla is always happy to host you. I do have to ask about your companions, though. You may all seem like Draculs based on most of our senses, but there’s something a little off about those two.”
The man pointed to Krinla and Hunter, which wasn’t a surprise. There was something off about basically everyone in their group.
“Trilla,” Krinton said, raising his voice to a yell. Krinla grabbed Hunter’s hand and prepared to run in case any Draculs heard the ruckus and came running. “Explaining my daughter to you is something I think better done privately rather than through a mediator.”
Krinton’s voice had lowered slightly, but he was still speaking louder than the close group dynamic required. Krinla figured that meant the Beast Queen was close in the woods and Krinton somehow knew it. All the talk of her being happy to host him seemed out of place if she was around and wasn’t the one doing the talking.
Leaves rustled from in front of them, off to the left a little from where the group of Beasts was standing. Krinla found herself holding her breath, curious to find out if it was indeed the Beast Queen coming to join them, or simply another emissary.
“There’s no need to yell, my dear. My hearing may not be as acute as yours, but I hear just fine.” The woman’s voice was soft, yet had a smoky texture layered within it.
It was the first indication that the woman who led the Beasts took her position a little more to the extremes than Krinton. Her father dressed like any other Dracul, a tradition that had started centuries before that made it harder for enemies to target the king.
The woman’s voice matched her looks in a way Krinla had never experienced before. The woman wasn’t wearing pants and a shirt like the rest of the Beasts in the clearing. She had an outfit Krinla had never witnessed in person, but equated to a ball gown she’d seen in Hunter’s memories.
Not only was she dressed in a fashion that made no sense if they were gearing up for a battle, but her hair was curled and crimped in such a way that she seemed to be getting ready for a human prom or date of some sort. Krinla wanted to laugh at what she saw, but decided it was best to keep her humor at the queen’s appearance to herself.
“I know you do, but since you’ve been waiting on the outskirts while I’ve dealt with your lieutenant, I thought maybe you had cotton in your ears or something. Are you willing to give me and my family temporary sanctuary while we finish some preparations?”
The entire time Krinton spoke, Trilla sashayed her hips as she took small steps on her way over to him. She’d given the rest of the Dracul group a momentary glance, but her eyes seemed to be glued to Krinton. The look she saw on the other woman’s face gave Krinla an eerie vibe. Since Krinla hadn’t met any Beasts, it was hard to put an age on Trilla, but she assumed the woman was older than her.
“You know I won’t deny your request, but I will be looking for something in return at some point down the road. What exactly that is doesn’t need to be discussed now. What I would like to hear about is this family or yours. I’ve met Rya, and know that family is a term loosely used, yet still acceptable. Who are these two?”
Queen Trilla’s eyes glowed an odd amber color as her focus turned to Krinla and Hunter. Krinla felt the need to stand slightly in front of her companion. It was a move of protection and possession that she hoped wouldn’t be lost on the people from the other faction.
The smile that lined Trilla’s lips made it seem like she thought the action was cute, but the slight roll of her eyes indicated she didn’t care. Trilla looked back to Krinton for an answer to her question, which allowed Krinla to relax a little.
Krinla didn’t want to take her eyes away from the queen, but she looked over to Rya, a little jealous that apparently the girl had been able to meet other factions. Krinla had to sneak out of the house to even see the outside world, so it hurt that her father was taking someone else with him when he made trips to deal with other leaders.
“Is there any way you’d be willing to wait until we’re back at your place before I explain exactly what’s going on?”
It wasn’t like Krinton hadn’t already yelled to let every Dracul within hearing range know exactly where they were. There had to be some other reasons behind location that stopped Krinton from revealing who Krinla and Hunter were. Krinla thought briefly about what that reason could be, but all she could come up with was that he wanted to limit the people who knew about Krinla still, or maybe it was the duo sanguine stuff he wanted knowledge limited. Either way, it was a waste of time to stand around and focus on it.
“Normally I wouldn’t have an issue with that, but as Ero already said, there’s something a little off about those two and I’d like reassurances that I’m not letting some kind of Trojan Horse into my stronghold. The boy there has skin as dark as ours, so there’s no way he can be a Dracul.”
Krinla looked up at Hunter in time to see him show off a big smile that would highlight is fangs. In the Beasts’ current forms, they didn’t have teeth that looked like they could tear through flesh, but whenever they were in their other forms, Krinla was sure they had fangs of their own.