A shadow crossed her vision. She turned to follow its path. Her mouth went wide as she recognized the figure as Gabriel. She watched, horrified, as he seized a young girl and bit her. People passed by without even lifting their gaze to the scene before them. The girl hung limp in his arm and her heartbeat grew faint. Alyssa could not stand it any longer. She released the hold on the beast and charged at him, transforming in mid-flight.
He released the girl and she fell uselessly to the sand. Alyssa just missed pinning him to the ground when he shifted into mist and regrouped onto her back. She threw all her weight against him and landed solidly on top of him in the wet sand. His hold faltered and she writhed from his grip. She growled low in her throat and dared him to make a move.
He stood and gestured all around them. She expected to see an audience watching in horror as their worst nightmares played out in front of them, but saw only the grid. How had she gotten here? Now, she remembered. She had forgotten to lower her shields before she fell asleep. The swear she uttered came out as a disgusted snort.
"I believe thou hast something of mine," he croaked. His voice quality had improved. It no longer sounded like gravel, but it was still a very dry sound as though he had a sore throat. Then, the blood he had taken was healing him, she thought. She kept picturing the little girl laying in the sand. Her rage consumed her.
"Come now, little one. Bring my trinket to me and I will return whence I came."
Except she could tell he was lying. He had a blood lust in his eyes that would never be quelled. She started to turn away, to disappear through an intersection in the grid, but she couldn't move. He was probing in her unprotected wolf mind. The chaos of her thoughts seemed to frustrate him. Good, he understood her thoughts about as well as she had understood Xander's.
Then, he smiled a cruel smile and a cold chill ran down her spine. She felt like thin icicles were piercing her skull. She shook her head trying to clear it, but saw her fur retreating revealing her flesh. She twisted and struggled until she could shield her thoughts, but by then, she was crouched on the base of the grid in her true form.
She was afraid she would be exposed, but found she was fully clothed, not in her nightgown, but a white shirt and denim jeans. She realized that in the grid, what she saw was a mental projection of herself and not her physical body. Gabriel's appearance was different, as well, she noticed. He was clean and clothed in a powdered wig, stunning red dress coat, royal blue breeches, white leggings, and his high heeled dress shoes were polished to a high shine. If this was how he saw himself, he needed a serious reality check.
"I'm afraid we are at an impasse. I don't know where your medallion is," she voiced.
"You lie," he spat back. "It hung 'round thine neck less than a day, but I feel it on you still. Where did thou hide it?"
"I said I don't know where it is!" Her patience was growing thin, or was it his? She, too, could feel the amulet's presence lingering around her neck. She remembered the way it felt coiled snugly between her breasts, the way it seemed to have its own warmth, and the way the intricate scales had felt beneath her fingertips. Its glowing red eyes seemed to call to her even from her memory.
And then, as if conjured out of thin air, she felt the familiar weight around her neck. Two glowing red eyes stared up at her from her cleavage. There was a sense of joy that ran through her, but also anger. The dragon was thrilled to be reunited, but it was angry she had sent it away. It was even more angry that she was being threatened. It grew warmer and lightened in color until it seemed to glow from the inside out.
Gabriel's eyes took on a look of shock as his eyes focused in on only the medallion. He looked briefly as though he were going to lunge for it, but collapsed in a heap instead. He thrashed as if he were fighting off an unseen attacker, his hoarse voice barely making sound as he screamed in pain.
She turned away, unable to stand seeing the agony painted in his eyes. She thought of Nevar and her animals, absently petting the amulet as she tried to focus. The screams faded away and a pathway opened in the grid. Once again, she looked down at herself while she slept. Nevar sat beside her looking worried. She walked through the passage and fell through the plane into her body once more.
She opened her eyes slowly, afraid of what she would see. The first thing she saw when her eyes focused was Nevar's relieved expression. She blinked, just to be sure she wasn't dreaming, and then reached for her neck. It was bare. The amulet was not nestled there as she expected it to be. She was grateful, but a little disappointed at the same time.
"You had us worried," he said. "You forgot to lower your shields."
"I know," she replied simply. "I paid for it, too. I saw Gabriel again. I can't tell if what I saw was real, or if it was just inside my head. It felt real, but some of it doesn't make sense."
"What do you mean? Perhaps I may be able to fill in some of the holes?"
She filled him in on what she had seen: the way the people had looked right past her and never noticed her struggling with Gabriel, their arrival in the grid, and the amulet seeming to choose her over Gabriel. "I was wearing it when I returned to my body, but it didn't follow me here."
"I have it sealed away. Perhaps it cannot travel unaided. You had no idea what you were doing when you found it, but you seem to be learning quickly."
"Gabriel did something to me there, on the plane. I changed into the wolf but he reached into my mind and somehow made me change back."
"He was able to manipulate your thoughts because the wolf has no safeguards to protect it. What surprises me is that he was able to read your mind at all, let alone manipulate your physical form. It must work differently on the planes. Matthias could tell us more, I think."
"I think you're right," she said. "I've learned that rather than having a physical body on the plane, what I see is a mental projection of myself. I have no idea how Gabriel ended up on the plane with me or whether or not he was a physical being or just another mental projection."
"I'm afraid these are questions for Matthias. I do not have the answers you seek."
There was a knock at the door and Xander came in looking exhausted. His bare chest was unmarked, as though his encounter with Gabriel had never happened, but it had drained his strength to heal himself. "If you don't mind, Nevar, I believe it's time for a changing of the guard."
Nevar seemed to consider something, then nodded his head slightly. "Any sign?"
"No, none," he answered. "He may be up to something. It's unlike him to give up a pursuit, even to regroup."
"I agree. Alyssa saw him in her sleep. She walked the plane again and found him. From what she told me, he is feeding to regain his strength, most likely preparing for another encounter."
"That sounds like him, but I've never known him to be unprepared in the first place. Then again, Alyssa doesn't follow any of the normal patterns, either."
"Yeah," she sighed. "Lucky for me. There's got to be a reason why I'm so different, isn't there?"
"Maybe Matthias knows," Nevar replied. "I cannot imagine why you are so much more advanced than other vampires your age. Certainly, you are a jewel to begin with, but besides that, it is a mystery."
She was sure her cheeks bloomed with color but she had to put a hand up to stifle a yawn. She was still exhausted from the long night. "So sorry," she apologized. "I don't feel like I've slept at all."
"Because you haven't," Xander remarked. "You don't rest when you walk the planes; it's actually exerting you further. This time, you need to drop your shields. Nevar and I cannot protect you if you block us out."
"Sorry, it wasn't intentional...," she trailed off. She could barely keep her eyes open. She saw Nevar move beside her. He got to his feet and kissed her hair.
"Get some sleep now. You're safe." He gave Xander a hard look as he walked towards the door. "Behave yourself, Xander, or I will have a new wolf skin rug for my floor."
"Ooh. Ouch. What makes you think I won't behave?"
"500 years of frien
dship makes for a good convincer, but you would not have lasted so long if you were stupid enough to step out of line."
"I'll take care of her, Nevar. You know I will."
"Yes, I know." With that, he evaporated and slipped from the room without another sound.
Xander entered the room, still clad in nothing but his shorts. He tapped a finger to his temple at her. She relaxed the hold she had on her walls and felt them come crashing down under the force of her exhaustion. She felt raw and exposed and she tried desperately to keep a close handle on her thoughts, but she had not been afraid to let Xander into her thoughts as the wolf. The wolf did not have such inhibitions. She had felt so free in that form.
Xander's shields fell and his thoughts opened to her and she wasn't surprised that half of his thoughts were the chaotic images of the wolf. She was able to pick out a few of them. Blue swirls of sleep crept up at the edges of his mind. He wanted to protect her, and not because Nevar had told him to. The pull to obey was no longer there in his mind.
You need to sleep, Alyssa.
"So do you, Xander," she told him. He turned and started to leave the room. "Xander?"
He stopped. "Yes?"
"Don't go," she pleaded. "I'll feel safer if you stay with me."
He smiled. "As you wish, milady." His thoughts danced with a collage of colors, most of which she didn't understand, but she could guess at their meaning. He sat down on the bed with her. She curled up beside him and closed her eyes. "You are going to make it difficult for me to behave, aren't you?"
"I want to hear your heart beat," she admitted. "It's such a soothing sound." She wanted to rest her head on his chest the way she had with Nevar. Only when she had been held close had she been able to sleep without the nightmares and walking the planes, but Nevar's chest had been eerily silent, the way hers was now. Xander's heart was steadily pumping it's low and practiced rhythm. It made her incredibly jealous.
He heard the sadness in her thoughts and wrapped his arms around her. "The wolf still has a heartbeat. You have not lost it." She clung to him, pressing her ear to his chest. Her body was fighting her, desperate to let the tears flow, but she was too stubborn.
It was the wolf in her that refused. He sensed it in her. She had strength beyond her wildest imaginations. As a human, the two would have been entwined together, intricately woven to create a whole. Now, they were torn from one another, both wounded from the split and neither whole on their own.
Her mind was just as intricate as her being. Part of her thoughts were the regular patterns of humans, but expanded with her vampiric abilities. The other was the wolf. This part understood him and his thoughts, but he could tell there was a lot lost in the translation. There were large gaps in her understanding and he felt her frustration. "Shh," he whispered. "Please, Alyssa, you need to sleep. My thoughts are not so interesting that you must stay awake to analyze them."
She chuckled softly and he felt like she had lifted a weight from him that he had not even noticed was there to start with. He laid her down on the pillow, but she held onto him. He was amazed by how comfortable her arms felt around him.
Nevar had all but laid a claim on her already, but who was he to deny her the comfort of a warm body? He felt her nuzzle his chest and her thoughts drifted off into sleep. He settled in beside her and soon joined her in sleep. She ran through the woods as the wolf and he ran with her feeling the thrill of the hunt. In the back of his mind, he heard the fury, but did not know, nor did he care, from where it came. Tonight, Alyssa was his.
Nevar was perched high in a tree overlooking the estate. His black plumage had a brilliant blue sheen against the morning sun. Only the raven could stand the sunlight. His eyes surveyed the scenery for signs of Gabriel, but his mind was elsewhere.
So many nights, he had cursed what he was but never more than now. Alyssa had fallen asleep in Xander's arms. His slow heartbeat was her lullaby. He couldn't blame the werewolf. He had done as he had asked him. He was furious with himself, and at Matthias for making him this way.
Finding Matthias was critical for Alyssa, but the thought of seeing the monster who turned him again made Nevar's skin crawl. It was because of Matthias he had met Xander in the first place. If not for him, he would have died long ago and joined his family.
He had been living in a void since their death, but Alyssa had thrown his world upside down. He felt like she was slipping away from him. He wanted her more than he had wanted any woman. He had loved his wife. She had been beautiful and submissive, desirable qualities in his time. She was mostly self-sufficient in his frequent absences as well and he had loved her, but Alyssa was different.
She was beautiful and smart, strong and independent, intriguing and curious all at the same time. He had felt it in her before. She wanted him, too, but now she was in the arms of another man. He tried to tell himself that she was scared and needed the comfort. It did him little good.
His goal was to get her to Matthias as soon as possible. If she could control her power, she wouldn't be afraid any longer and she would never have a reason to seek comfort in Xander's arms. The thought that scared him was that she may not need his anymore, either.
Alyssa woke up slowly. She was warm and comfortable. When she opened her eyes, she saw an expanse of bronze muscles adorned with tiny golden curls. Her hand was already dancing on the plains of his chest but she willed it to cease.
"Why did you stop?"
Xander. Xander? It came to her slowly. She had fallen asleep in his arms, not Nevar's. Xander had chased away the dreams so she could sleep. He had done his job maybe a little too well. She had slept deeply and her mind was unwilling to return to wakefulness.
Her pillow shook with laughter. She was on his chest, she realized. "If only all my jobs were as enjoyable..." The words rumbled from his chest softly. She lingered for another moment before sitting upright to stretch. She remembered his fight with Gabriel and looked at his collarbone. It was perfectly healed and had left no scar to be seen.
"Did you sleep well? I didn't keep you up, did I?"
"Not at all. I slept as well as you did. To be honest, I think it was the best I've slept in years."
"Where's Nevar?"
Xander never had time to answer. As soon as the words had left her lips, a thin mist seeped into the room. A moment later, Nevar was standing by her side. "I was waiting for an invitation," he said.
His tone and expression tore her heart to pieces. She almost started to cry. She didn't want him to be upset, but she understood his jealousy. She needed to learn how to fight off the nightmares on her own without being coddled like a child. Xander placed his hand over hers and she heard the cryptic thoughts he sent her. He was her protector, the wolf standing beside her. He showed her that she had the strength of the wolf in her. She was cunning and brave and he saw the strength of her heart. The last part was hard for her to understand. She was the moon in the night sky and all the stars hid their faces from her light and he howled to her a lonely song. She thought it meant he was envious, but it could have meant many things.
"Alyssa?"
"Yes, Nevar?"
"Your thoughts have changed. You think like Xander does, all pictures and chaotic colors."
"Wait," she said, confused. "You mean, you don't understand them? I didn't until I changed into the wolf, but I assumed it was an animal thing."
"No, I think it is a werewolf thing. Damn it. I think I know why you do not follow any of the typical patterns of a new vampire."
"What do you mean, Nevar?" Xander asked.
"Alyssa, what do you know of your parents?"
She thought for a moment. "Not much, really. I know they were madly in love and that they disappeared when I was very young. Their bodies were never found. There were lots of rumors about their death: drowned in a river, lost in the woods, abducted, or murdered, but they were never able to say for sure. Grandma said they never would have abandoned me, so she was sure whatever had happened, they were never comin
g back. Why?"
"I think one of your parents must have been a werewolf."
"That would explain a lot," Xander agreed. "Like her animal form, for one."
Alyssa was speechless. It was a lot to take in. Could it be possible that she had been half Were all this time and never known? She had always had an affinity for animals and she had always had a kind of gift with them, but she hadn't thought there was any special reason behind it. She had to fight to keep her animal instincts in check, particularly her physical needs, and she had noticed the beast get stronger after Nevar had turned her. Was that why she stared out her balcony at the moon night after night? It was beautiful and peaceful, she thought, but had there been more to it than that?
Xander answered in her thoughts. She had been seeking something she had lost, a part of her buried deep inside. When Nevar changed her, she had been ripped apart. She was wolf and vampire. Neither of them were whole by themselves, but it made her stronger by far than any werewolf or vampire alone.
"Werewolves can't walk the planes, can they?" she asked.
Xander was onto her thought pattern and jumped ahead of her, "No, they can't, so if you sleep as the wolf, you won't travel!"
"I think that is why the amulet picked you over Gabriel as well," Nevar said, a note of foreboding in his tone. "It is attracted to power. Gabriel is one of the oldest vampires alive, next to Matthias, and he is very powerful. He may have known what you were before we did. That would explain why he left after you transformed."
"How could he have known if we didn't?" she asked.
"Do not underestimate Gabriel. We should assume he knows and be prepared. That is the only explanation for him leaving like that," Nevar answered.
"Nevar's right," Xander joined in. "It's not like Gabriel to back down from a fight or give up a pursuit for anything. You saw how easily he took me down. He was prepared for a fight and we weren't."
The Amulet Page 10