“Don’t scare me like that again, Raina.” Antonio’s angry words jostled her awake.
“I promise.” Another yawn escaped her bruised, cracked lips.
“I’m gonna hold you to that promise.”
“I wish you were here. We could snuggle,” she said on a sigh, eyes heavy-lidded.
“I know.”
“Are you coming back to me, Antonio?” Yet another yawn found its way past her heavy tongue.
There was a short pause before he said, “I hope so.”
“Hmm,” she hummed, allowing the Sandman’s dust to work its magic. “Goodnight, Antonio.”
“Sweet dreams, my everything.”
*****
“Where am I?” Raina asked, head swimming like she had overdosed on morphine. “Is this Heaven?”
“No, silly,” Janet smirked, eyes glistening with mirth. “You are on Earth, just another plane of existence. I like to call it the Shadow Lands. It’s kind of like a supernatural waiting area similar to purgatory, but for freaks.” She winked.
“That doesn’t sound very pleasant.” Her eyes studied her surroundings. They were standing on the Battlefield, but it wasn’t the place where she had fought the first trial. It was the plane she had seen in her hallucination. The hallucination that Janet had transported her to after the almost fatal stabbing. “I’ve been here before.” Her eyes soaked in the lush, vibrant hills and awe-inspiring blossoming meadow.
“Now, I’m here,” Janet informed with a frown.
“I’m sorry.” She tried to hold back the tears, but couldn’t. “I didn’t want to kill you. I never wanted to kill anyone.”
“I know.” Janet shrugged her toned shoulders matter-of-factly. “You did what you had to. I’m surprised you fought so well.”
“You and me both,” Raina admitted, as she used the back of her hand to wipe the tears that continued to fall. “Is this part of my gifts?”
“Being able to visit other planes of existence? I think so. I haven’t seen or spoken to anyone else who is still alive here. Arsayas and Javon and a few others are here. Oh, and the two previous so-called Hybrids too.”
“Really?”
“Yup.” Janet looked around anxiously before urging, “You have to go now.”
“Why? I just got here.”
“To get here you must have astral projected.”
“What is that?”
“Look it up when you get back. It’s in your journal.”
Raina’s eyes narrowed. “You know about my journal.”
“Everyone knows about the existence of the journal.” Janet frowned causing worry lines to appear on her otherwise flawless features. “They will be searching for it.”
“Who?”
“The ones who are coming for you,” Janet warned.
“Please,” Raina begged feeling nervous knots in her stomach, “tell me more. I need to know more.”
“Listen to me, Raina.” Janet took hold of her shoulders. “The longer your spirit lingers in the astral plane, the harder it will be for you to rejoin the corporeal world. Only come here if you absolutely have to. Do you understand?”
“I do.”
“You have to see something before you leave,” Janet said, taking her hand.
Raina grimaced fearing the worst. “What is it?”
“Come quickly. There isn’t much time.”
As if on winged feet, they sprinted toward the knoll which looked nothing like she remembered. It was night again. There was no wind or moonlight or anything. Just dirt and a device that resembled a medieval stockade. Two bodies…two men…were being held in its wooden restraining device. A tall blonde with a body made of muscle and an older more distinguished man beside him.
A shocked gasp tore from her lungs. “Antonio? Dad?”
*****
“Raina, wake-up. It’s just a nightmare. You’re safe.” Blaine’s strong arms encircled her as warm tears still streamed down her cheeks. “That must have been one hell of a nightmare.” Burying her head against his chest, her sobs quieted. It was a nightmare. Wasn’t it? “Mrs. Radu has an early supper waiting for you.”
“Supper?”
“Yes, sleepyhead. It is a little past five. You were sleeping soundly.” Examining her face and arms, a relieved grin graced his lips. “Nicolae’s remedy did the trick. All of your bruises and cuts have almost totally disappeared. Whatever is in that Romani concoction should be manufactured and sold. They would make a fortune off of that stuff.” His smile disappeared. “But your skin feels hot.”
“Don’t shifters run toward the hot-blooded side,” she teased half-heartedly.
“Actually,” he smirked, “our temperatures normally run in the low one hundreds.”
“I’ll have to remember that.” She moved into a seated position. “I’m weak, but I’m sure it’s because of everything that happened last night. I’ll be fine.” Rising slowly, she made her way to the bathroom, completely ignoring Blaine’s troubled stare. “I’m going to get cleaned up,” she said, looking at the dried blood housed under her fingernails. “I’ll be down to the kitchen shortly.” Blaine nodded and made his way to the door. “Blaine?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you know where Antonio and my father are?”
He stiffened, but didn’t respond to her question except to add, “Don’t be long.”
Moving toward the shower was the most tiring trek of her life. Even though her body was almost healed, the sense of foreboding still lingered on her soul. Where were Antonio and her father?
No one had seen either man, but no one seemed concerned. Maybe it was a dream, she acknowledge silently as she turned on the faucet, adjusted the temperature of the spray, and then stepped gingerly into the steadily pouring cascade.
A knock on the door startled her out of her musing. “I’m almost finished.”
“Raina,” Mrs. Radu’s muffled voice came from the other side of the wooden barrier separating the bedroom from the bathroom. “I need to talk to you.”
That was strange. “I’ll be out in a few minutes. We’ll talk while I eat.”
There was a brief awkward pause before the older lady said, “We must speak privately.”
Raina hurriedly completed her shower, dried, and was soon standing wrapped in a towel facing the Romanian cook and manor caretaker. The other woman’s furrowed forehead showing her concern.
“What’s the matter?”
Nodding to the worn, green journal resting on the night table, Mrs. Radu asked in Romanian, “Have you read it yet?”
“I haven’t gotten the opportunity yet with last night’s trials.” Raina wasn’t surprised when she answered Mrs. Radu’s question in fluent, perfectly dialectic Romanian. This time Mrs. Radu didn’t call her possessed, but instead smiled warmly.
“There are things in the book that can help you with the trials.” Raina’s eyebrows hitched at the calmly spoken words. “The Hybrid, according to the ancient scrolls, has many abilities.”
“I know.”
“Everything you need to know about dealing with the trials and how it is performed are within its pages.” Mrs. Radu nodded in the journal’s direction.
“I’m not sure what you’re trying to tell me, Mrs. Radu.”
“The book was created by the first Elder Romani as a guide for the Hybrid. Sometimes people add to the trials their own biases on how it is conducted.”
“How exactly?”
Mrs. Radu’s gaze landed on the closed lid of the journal. “They add things.”
“Really?”
“Or omit things. Whichever serves their purpose.”
“No one stops them?”
“Remember, you are the only one in thousands of years, who was been able to access the journal. The basic knowledge of the trials have been passed down verbally from generation to generation.”
A look of thanks spread across Raina’s face as she comprehended the cook’s wise words. “I think I’ll have my meal in my room.”
Winking,
Mrs. Radu motioned to the dresser where a tray filled with a variety of goodies awaited her. “I thought you might feel that way.”
*****
Resigned to solve this puzzle, Raina sat at the edge of the queen-sized mattress contemplating how to open the book without moonlight. Her right hand traced the journal’s cover while her left hand held the last morsel of Mrs. Radu’s scrumptious Rueben sandwiches. During the last fifteen minutes, she had consumed two of the perfectly made sandwiches, an entire bag of potato crisps, a sleeve of chocolate-covered shortcake biscuits with Devonshire cream, and several cups of Nicolae’s special healing tea. Her belly was almost full, but her mind was completely empty of ideas on how to open the journal’s cover which must have automatically closed upon sunrise.
“How do I open you without moonlight?” she thought, feeling a trickle of sweat rolling down her face. That was the million dollar question. How was she going to open the bloody journal? The locket warmed against her skin answering her unspoken question. An idea came to her.
Quickly, she walked to the window, closed the blackout drapes, then closed and locked her bedroom door. The room was darker now, not pitch black, but close enough. The heat of the locket continued to grow in its intensity, but didn’t burn. Unclasping it, she held it a few inches over the journal’s cover. Heat grew as the entire locket began emitting soft luminescent rays…
“Moonlight,” she gasped, touching the beams with the fingers of her empty hand.
The journal’s cover opened revealing the first page…the page with the incantation she had said on that faithful night when she had unknowingly linked Antonio, Blaine, and Nicolae to her. In the dark, she turned the page and read the first page:
May all the world’s secrets be unlocked for you.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Journal entry: In the beginning, the Earth was a volatile place inhabited by strange creatures known as Originals. These creatures dominated the land and sea. It was a time of great unrest and violence. Wars waged and battles between these beings were fought on a daily basis. The violence almost reducing the planet to a barren and uninhabitable piece of rock.
After centuries of unrest, the Spirit of Gaia, the mother of the Earth, created powerful beings to lord over the original inhabitants, better known as the First Ones. The First Ones were intelligent, half animal-half humanoid beings whose sole purpose was to protect the Earth and domesticate the other species. At first, they were successful keeping the peace, but the original inhabitants soon joined forces and began fighting the First Ones. The delicate balance that had lasted for hundreds of years was now only a shadowy memory.
Finally, after much consideration and heartache, Gaia unleashed a great floods to wipe out the original inhabitants. In the years that followed The Great Annihilation, the animalistic First Ones were slowly replaced by more docile and controllable beings, creatures Gaia lovingly named…Humans.
Knowing her newly formed children were fragile, Gaia created male protectors who could shift forms from human to animal in order to live undetected among them. These beings were given the task of protecting and guiding the humans until they were able to do so on their own. Unfortunately, strife and jealousy grew between several shifter groups and the humans they had sworn to watch over. When the human population increased and threatened to become more powerful and numerous than the shifters, the delicate relationship between both groups came to a sudden and bloody end.
Sadly, after decades of service as bodyguards to the humans, the shifter numbers were quickly dwindling. Only a few hundred now remained. Terrified that their race would become extinct, they began to take human women as wives to grow their numbers, even though procreating with humans was punishable by death. This union created hybrid children who were more advanced than shifter or human alone.
Soon the hybrids almost equaled the humans, but unlike their shifter predecessors, they were more human in emotion and demeanor and only wanted to live in peace. Their abilities to shift form, combined with their unnatural intelligence and preternatural powers of foresight, telepathy, and astral projection, made them hated by both shifters as well as humans.
Just as before, these hybrids were hunted and destroyed until only a handful remained.
Realizing the hybrids showed the best of both species, Gaia granted them position over the others. Due to their unyielding loyalty, they were gifted with the added ability of superior healing capability to withstand physical confrontations with the other more violent groups. And for many years, the goddess’ beloved children watched over both humans and shifters alike.
However, because of their gentle nature, they could not protect themselves when the humans turned against them. Hunting them for their pelts or forcing them to serve as foot soldiers and as weapons to rule other people. Seeing her creations once again on the brink of extinction, Gaia made the last of her offspring… thus the Romani were formed.
The Romani were strong, fierce, clever and above all they were natural hunters and protectors. They taught the hybrids how to be safe from the dangers around them. The elder women of the Romani tribes were given the knowledge of healing, prophesy, and medicine.
They were graced with the task of protecting the remaining hybrids from rogue shifters and humans that shared the world. Regardless of how hard the Romani tried though, the hybrids were finally destroyed. Overcome with shame, the Romani withdrew from the world. Nomads by nature, they migrated to all four corners of the Earth spreading their knowledge. No longer tasked with protecting the hybrids, they settled and taught their offspring the ancient ways.
In one last act, Gaia, seeing their pain, promised through a vision to the highest and most respected elder woman of the tribe that the most powerful hybrid would be born not only from a shifter line, but also of human and Romani lineage as well. This hybrid would bridge the gap between all three species and save all three groups from a more sinister force.
However, humanity, being the unpredictable entity that they are, soon turned against the Romani and tried to use the ancient knowledge for personal gain. The Romani, forced to leave their lands once more, retained their abilities in case they were needed again, keeping journals that would someday help the hybrid during her task of uniting all three groups.
“That’s fascinating,” Raina stated sarcastically, “but I need to know about the trials,” she mumbled to the journal, scanning the pages for the information she needed. “None of this drivel matters if I don’t know how to save my arse during the next trial.” After several minutes of searching, she found what she was looking for. “Here it is,” she whispered to herself.
The trials: Conducted to determine rightful lineage. Yes. This was the information she needed.
Consumed with unleashing the journal’s secrets she read with such voracity, it surprised even her. When she almost gave up finding the answer some words caught her attention…To invoke Shashone. What the hell did that mean?
“Raina,” Blaine called softly from the hallway.
“Yes,” she mumbled, knowing he could hear her as if she was standing beside him. Her nose still buried in the journal’s pages, reading the strange passage that sounded more like the half-mad ramblings of a lunatic than a plausible guide to saving herself. “I’ll be right there. I just need a few more minutes.”
“It’s time.”
*****
Just as before, Raina took her place in the middle of one of the circles on the knoll in the center of the Battlefield, all eyes glued to her. The same official from the night before waited patiently until the moon reached its apex in the ominously cloudy night sky.
Nodding in her direction, he openly announced, “Raina Jacobs, daughter of the Blood Moon Pack, tonight you face your second trial.”
All of the surrounding pack members dropped to one knee, head bowed. The sight unnerved her even more. Daring to glance toward the direction of where Duncan, Blaine, and Nicolae were standing, she was stunned that even they were kneeling.
“Could we please get going,” Raina spoke to all. “I’m sick and tired of all of this. I just want this over with.”
The official shot her an annoyed stare. “No weapons of any kind are allowed during tonight’s trial.” A relieved sigh escaped her. At last, some good news. “Will the hunter please step forward?”
Raina looked around at the still kneeling men. Hunter? What hunter? Suddenly, Nicolae stood.
“I don’t understand what’s happening,” she spoke to him telepathically, but to her surprise he said nothing. “Nicolae?” Still there was silence. Turning toward the official, she asked, “What’s going on? Why is my…friend…standing?”
“Miss Jacobs,” the man studied her confused expression, “somewhere in the surrounding woods your father and Antonio Santiago are being held.” No! “They are unconscious and in mortal danger.” The man tried to hide his sympathy toward her, but was unsuccessful. “It is your job to rescue them.”
“Okay,” she said, still looking at Nicolae, who was looking at his feet. “I understand, but why is Nicolae here…”
“As the first son of the Romani elder of this region, it is his duty to stop you. By any means necessary,” the official interrupted.
“I thought there were no weapons allowed at this trial?” she asked, confusion growing along with fear and panic.
“I do not need weapons to kill you,” Nicolae stated matter-of-factly. “I have my hands for that.”
“You’re my friend, why would you…”
Again he spoke saying, “I do not have a choice.”
“Sure you do,” she gasped, looking at Duncan and Blaine, who kept their gazes locked to the ground where they knelt.
The official spoke next. “If he doesn’t fulfill his role in this trial, his family will be forfeit.”
“What does that mean, forfeit?”
“They will be killed,” Nicolae’s tone was hushed and calm and scary.
“My god!” she yelled at them all. “You are freaks! All of you! Life is precious.”
“Miss Jacobs,” the official chimed-in, “if you can reach your father and friend before sunrise, they, you, and Nicolae will be safe.”
Lup Teren (Wolf Land Series Book 1) Page 21