“Wait…you helped him?” Ari asked, her brain beginning to put pieces together.
“Yes.”
“So, two people with magical abilities are stronger than one, if one is the conductor of the energy and the other shares their power?”
“Yes!”
“So, you want me to accept Terrian’s help because…”
“Terrian’s family are gifted protectors, Arwen. They aren’t magical, per se, but nobody is able to get through their defenses. And I tried,” he chuckled. “His eldest brother Lenorlin asked me to test them, and I besieged their family for three years. Only once was I able to get through and that was when their younger brother died and I found a fissure in their energy field. If he was on your side, it would give you added protection, protection you need to be able to fight off Orion.” Squatting down, he stared right at her. “Arwen, you have an incredible energy field. Once trained, you will end up as powerful as I am. But you have a long way to go before you can build up that kind of ability. And quite honestly, you need Terrian’s protection.”
Shivering as the truth of his words hit her, she took a shuddering breath. “I don’t want him to feel as though I am using him though. I-I like him.”
“Of course you do, and anyone with a strong energy signature would be able to tell if you were honest or not. Tell him the truth. Invite him to Zeta. And before you quibble with me,” he said holding up a hand to forestall her response, “tell him I told you to invite him. Be up front and honest. Tell him you cannot say the individual’s name as he is able to track you in some way, but that Mayir would like him to come to Zeta for a meeting.” Standing up, he nodded and in the next moment disappeared.
Huffing, she shook her head. This was happening so fast. Was she ready to meet Terrian yet? And if anything could destroy their budding relationship, this would surely do it. Hey! Can you be my protection against a red-eyed demon who wants to own me?
Whimpering, she turned back to the computer. Fine. The most important part of this was that she needed to fight off the bastard otherwise known as Orion. Even if Terrian wanted nothing to do with her after this was over, she needed to think of now. If Mayir was right, she was really strong magically and she could not even imagine that much power under Orion’s control.
Hitting the reply button, she pushed back her worries and insecurities and began to type.
Terrian,
I cannot say much as the individual who is after me seems to be able to find me too easily. The man who is training me would like me to ask you to come to Zeta to meet with him. His name is Mayir. If you can’t, I understand. I don’t want to interrupt your life or anything.
And I feel stupid even asking, but if Mayir is right, and I have the annoyed feeling he tends to be right, it would be bad if this person got ahold of me, not just for me, but for everyone else.
Anyway, if you are too busy, I understand, but if you could come, I would appreciate it. And…we could meet face-to-face, which might be kind of nice. I hope.
Okay, signing off before I say something really stupid.
Arwen
Before she could regret and delete her words, she clicked submit and closed down the laptop. Since when did life become so complicated?
Oh, that’s right. Ever since her sister, Jane, convinced her to go online. What she wouldn’t give to be walking around Reid Park Zoo right now looking at Denise’s warty pig.
Chapter Twelve - Breakthrough
“Try again.”
Ari glared at Mayir as she once again hung from the ceiling by her feet due to the magical attack by two of his guards who were at the moment chuckling to themselves down on the floor. “I’m trying!” she hissed even as she tried to fight the sick feeling that hit her every time blood rushed to her head.
“It has been four days with no response by Terrian. We must assume he chose not to come,” he said firmly. “As such, you have to get to the point where you can defend yourself. Now. Again!”
Grunting, she closed her eyes and imagined herself safe on the ground, right side up. Imagining wasn’t hard, but she was in a bad mood and so when it came to feeling it, it just wasn’t happening. “I can’t do it!” A scream left her lips as the floor suddenly rushed toward her, but before she could ram her head into the hard stone flooring, she was standing upright, fighting the head rush.
“Stop that,” she moaned, her hands holding her head which felt like the world was swimming around it.
When her head stopped pounding and she looked up, the two guards were gone and her dinner table had appeared with all sorts of wonderful delicacies on it. “Eat up, Arwen. We will begin again when you have restored your energy.”
Slumping into her chair, she ate. Physically she knew the food tasted just as good as anything he had created for her, but mentally it tasted like nothing. Four days and no response from Terrian. She figured that meant he did not want to get involved and quite honestly, she didn’t blame him. That didn’t stop the disappointment she felt. A part of her had grown quite fond of him.
Unlike him, Orion kept messaging her. Each time she saw one of his messages, that pain in her chest grew a little more until it was with her even when she wasn’t in front of her computer. Her body, her DNA, desired to go to him. It was sick, really. How dare her body betray her by desiring the sicko?
“Can the DNA he controls be removed?” she asked as she ate.
“No. There is no way to cancel the contract. Orion knew what he was doing when he captured Celie Agastion. He has enjoyed owning and torturing a woman of your lineage for almost five thousand years. It is what he knows. What he does. But you…you he wants for more than just that reason.”
“You’ve mentioned that before. My energy signature makes me important. Could he really use me to do something horribly bad?” She had already figured out he could, but she wanted Mayir’s input.
“Together, you two could destroy Zeta,” he said in a clipped tone.
Turning her head, she stared at him as he stared out his one window. “But you refused to allow him back.”
His eyes slowly moved toward hers. “Yes. But remember, Arwen, your magical ability rivals mine. When you reach your full ability, you will be my equal. If you belonged to him, with the combined force of your magical signatures, you could shut dimensions, stop shifts, take over worlds if you wanted. You would be unstoppable.”
Moving her eyes back to her plate, she continued to eat. It was worse than she thought. “So, he wants to take over things?”
He barked out a laugh as he turned to look outside again. “He is a being who does not like to be denied. Anyone who says no to him becomes his enemy. Orion is intrinsically evil, but then all beings from his realm are. The difference between them and him is that he learned to control magic and they did not.
“Arwen, I know this is a lot of pressure on you, but you must learn to protect yourself or you can never leave Zeta. I cannot allow such power to slip into his hands.” Before she could respond, he disappeared. Obviously, their conversation was over.
For two days, he worked her from sunup until sundown, only taking tiny breaks to allow her to eat and use the restroom. Her body ached constantly, and her head was not in the game. A continual throbbing made it hard to think and almost impossible to concentrate. Finally, he shook his head. “You need a break. Go to your room and rest. I will devise something new for tomorrow.”
Nodding, she turned and walked up to her room rather than trying to magic herself there. She dreaded to think what might happen. If someone was not in the right frame of mind could they get stuck part way between here and there? Or could something even worse happen like getting stuck in between transport in the middle of nothing? Hating the hideous nature of her thoughts, she quickly stripped out of the horrible outfit he had her dress in and sat down in front of her computer.
She booted it up as she closed her eyes, hoping the headache away. When the computer binged to let her know her messages arrived, she blinked her eye
s open, having to blink them again as she was so tired everything was a bit blurry.
Two messages. Knowing they were both from Orion, she clicked on the folder, preparing to delete them. One was from him, but the other was from—“Terrian,” she whispered, feeling hope for the first time that day. In a rush, she double clicked to open the message, not realizing until the message came up that she opened the wrong one. Staring in horror as Orion’s face filled the screen, her eyes fell on the message at the bottom.
Now I have you. If you won’t come to me, then I will come to you. Until you are mine, your pain will never go away.
Quickly deleting it, she fought to quell her rushing heartbeat. She hadn’t meant to open up his email and now she wondered if he could have indeed figured out where she was because she did. If so, she should tell Mayir immediately. Unable to vocalize the intense amount of negative thoughts filling her brain, all she could focus on was the burning pain in her chest. How could he do that?
Taking quick, gasping breaths, she opened the message from Terrian. Whether it was good or bad news, she needed to read it.
Arwen,
I apologize. We had an emergency here, and I did not receive your message until today. Let Mayir know I will be there just after the sun reaches its zenith. I will bring with me three of our special forces.
Stay well.
Terrian
Well, the letter wasn’t as sweet as his others, but then again if he was busy and planning on coming here tomorrow, then he probably had no time to waste.
“Mayir?”
“Yes?”
“I accidentally opened up a message from Orion and now I am in pain. Plus,” she rushed on before he could reply, “Terrian wrote and he will be here tomorrow just after the sun reaches its highest point.”
“What did Orion’s message stay?” he asked, his voice right behind her.
“That he had found me and if I wasn’t coming to him, he would come to me. Also, until I accepted him, I would be in pain.” She rubbed at the incessant burn, gritting her teeth against wanting to do something, anything to stop it.
“That pain will be there for a long time,” he said quietly. “At least until he renounces his claim on you.”
“He will do that?” she asked hopefully.
“He never has before, but then again, nobody fought him like you either. If we are able to add in Terrian’s protection and our combined magic, you may best him yet.”
That wasn’t very promising, but she tried to smile in return.
“Rest, Arwen. Do you need me to bring you dinner?” She nodded, knowing she didn’t have the strength to do it herself. “Fine.” A plate of wonderfully colorful food, a bowl that held some sort of dessert, her consistently filling glass of water, and a glass of wine appeared in front of her. “Eat and go to bed afterward.” Without another word, he disappeared.
As she reached forward to grab her fork, she happened to look down. “Mayir!” she cried, “I was still naked!”
His low rumbling chuckle resounded in her head. “You just figured that out? You must be exhausted. Rest, child. Worry tomorrow.”
Hungrier than she realized, she basically shoveled the food into her mouth, taking gulps of water every few bites as her body demanded it be fed. After all the food was gone, she drank down the glass of wine and crawled into bed. Unfortunately, sleep did not want to come.
As her chest tightened and burnt, she knew she should be scared of Orion, but the thing her mind was fixated on was Terrian. Would he be attracted to the real her? At what point would she make an idiot of herself and turn him away? Could they even be the same people in real life? What if he actually had three eyes and his nose was on his chin? Well, no, she had seen his picture. Then an even worse thought hit her.
What if the rest of him wasn’t like other human males? If he didn’t have a…
Moaning at that horrible thought, she turned over and glared at the wall. “Seriously,” she grumbled aloud to herself. “There is an evil demon who wants me to be his and is coming after me, and the thing I am worried about is if Terrian has all the right equipment?” Before she could continue her little rant, laughter filled her head. “Stop listening to me!”
“I would,” Mayir responded, “but you are extremely refreshing, Arwen. I have never met anyone quite like you.”
“I’m sure,” she responded dryly, eliciting another chuckle.
Turning back over, she glared at the ceiling. She really could use some sleep, but her body obviously did not want to. Taking a few deep breaths, she thought about the next day. She definitely needed to put on some makeup, something she hadn’t been doing since she had been on Zeta. Wait…she sat straight up and looked to the chair that would hold a new slutty Snow White costume within a few hours. Oh, no. There was no way she was meeting Terrian looking like that.
Well, if she couldn’t sleep, maybe she could try and magic herself a cute outfit for the next day. Sitting up, she turned toward the chair, surprised when the room lightened a bit. So far she had not been able to tell where the light in the room came from and tonight was just the same. Must be magic.
Sliding her legs off the side of the bed, she closed her eyes, mentally sifting through her outfits at home while trying to come up with the perfect one to meet Terrian in. Her shorts were a possibility, but it seemed too casual to her. Then again, they were short and tight. Might be a great thing to start with.
Taking a deep breath to calm herself and trying to ignore the burn, she brought to mind her short stone-washed denim shorts and the yellow camisole top she usually wore with it. Once it was firmly in her mind, she forced herself to feel the material on her skin, not as easy as she hoped because the fact was once the clothes were on, she tended not to feel them at all. Finally, she focused on the feeling of pulling them on as well as how she felt as she looked into the mirror with them on. That would have to do.
Unfortunately, the pain in her chest elected to ramp up ten-fold at that very moment, and she never got to the third step. Instead, she let out a cry and collapsed onto her bed. “I hate you, Orion,” she hissed through gritted teeth.
“I know you don’t mean that, pet. And even if you do, it does not matter. You will want to obey me anyway.”
His voice in her head made her jump from the bed, glancing around her. “Mayir!” she hissed. It took a few minutes for his voice to come to her sounding as though she woke him up.
“What is it, Arwen?”
“I just heard Orion!”
“Not a big surprise since you opened his message, and he probably pinpointed you here on Zeta. But remember, he cannot come here, so while he can taunt you mentally, that is as much as he can do. Now, go to bed.”
Pursing her lips together, she placed her hands on her hips and glared into nothingness. Men! As though she could sleep between Orion’s pain and voice and the prospect of meeting Terrian within hours.
Determined to have a cute outfit for the next day, even as she tried to ignore the fear that seemed to want to encroach, she once again focused on her clothing. Twice she tried and failed each time Orion came to mind. “Maybe I’m not picking out the right outfit,” she said softly.
Instead of focusing on the clothing she owned, or had owned once upon a simpler time, her mind rushed through images of cute and sexy clothes she had seen in magazines. Almost at once, the image of an off-the-shoulder deep golden cashmere dress came to mind. Along with it were the heels and jewelry she would need to complete the outfit. This time when she got to feeling it, she imagined how it would feel to have Terrian’s mouth drop when he spotted her.
The pain in her chest stopped, and with a smile, she floated through the last two steps. As she came down from what felt like a high, there they were. The dress, heels, necklace, earrings, and bracelet. “Holy cow!” she squeaked, slapping her hand over her mouth as her exclamation had been a little loud.
Excited at her recent success and not even interested in lying back down, she tried a few m
ore outfits she had seen. By the time she finally crawled into bed, her room was covered in fine clothing she never would have been able to afford back home. This magic thing was useful.
****
Something wasn’t right. She tried to move, but couldn’t. None of her muscles obeyed her command. Even her eyelids would not open.
“All right, pet,” Orion crooned into her ear. She gasped but as her lips were closed, no sound came out. She was supposed to be safe on Zeta. How had Orion gotten to her?
“You have been a bad little slave. Leaving me, not coming back when I commanded it, consorting with two of my known enemies. So, let’s make this easy. Stay where you are at the moment. Relax.”
Each of his words seemed to relax her muscles even further even as her head shouted Run! She had felt this before. The day she got sick and he took her without her permission.
“Don’t do anything, pet. Just relax. They have been running you ragged, haven’t they? Making you exercise your magical energy, energy you don’t even understand yet. No need to worry, pet. I won’t do that. I would never…harm you permanently. Are you tired of being pushed every day, pet?”
His voice was so nice and sweet, each note like a melody that wanted to carry her home. It never even occurred to her to fight it. “Mmhmm,” she said, still unable to open her mouth.
“I’m sure you are. You know, there is a way for you to get out of it, a way to never have to deal with the pain and ache they put you through on a daily basis ever again. You can be strong, pet, oh so strong. I can help you.”
Help her. He wanted to help her. No more being tossed into the air on an hourly basis, no more achiness. It sounded nice and she sighed.
“Yes, I hate what they are doing to you, pet. And all because they hate me. I am so sorry for that. They are abusing you to get back at me. And yet you have done nothing to them, have you?” Mentally she shook her head.
“No, you have not. Would you like to get away, pet? Away from them, the pain, their control?”
“Mmhmm.” Even as the hum left her lips, something told her there was something she was supposed to remember, but what was it?
Your Dimension Or Mine? Page 13