I carefully went to pick one up and pulled back in a conditioned response as it burned my index finger. The little beads were burning hot which explained the excruciating pain and exhaustion. My body was working overtime to heal my body.
I slumped further back against the cool wall, completely drained. Was it possible to grow numb from exhaustion? I couldn’t even lift a finger, let alone get back to my apartment. I nodded off just like that.
Cool hands pressed against my cheek and I blinked open my bleary eyes and stared right into vivid hazel eyes. Kay was bent over me, his face empty of any emotions as he checked over me carefully.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, my mouth dry. I licked my lips and tried to sit up. I must have fallen over last night after I fell asleep. Normally I was a light sleeper, any movements would have woken me up. In this case I passed right out, dead to the world around me. A baby could have taken me out with its rattle while I was out of it.
Kay cocked his eyebrows. “When the repairman was having trouble turning on the light, I figured you were here. Only your powers would prevent a security company from figuring out how their back-up generators and alarm system didn’t reboot after the storm ended.”
I blinked, looking around the room slowly, confused, until I looked out the window. It had to be early morning, the sun fighting for ownership of the skies, bringing with it a passionate fire that has always been the focus of the fine arts. The sky had cleared up, the clouds drained and still dissipating, or moving on after depleting their supply of rain.
Kay helped me stand up slowly. A quick body check showed the wounds nearly healed and my body not so surprisingly sore.
“Lord Kay, we need to leave,” a male voice whispered impatiently. I glanced off towards the door and found Frey standing there, his hands in his designer jeans and his hair ruffled. He lifted a hand and ran it through his small curls in agitation.
Frey didn’t want to be here and neither did I. He has only ever been aggressive since I met him and I didn’t need that kind of attitude around me, especially right now. While as a child I would probably goad him or ignore him, in my true form I wanted to kill him, put an end to his miserable attitude and do everyone else a favor.
I curled my lip, barely holding onto myself. He saw the look and openly glared at me. I tried my best to ignore the open aggression, but Kalen opened a door to all my emotions I normally kept clamped down since forever ago and now I found his hostility to hurt a little. So I responded the only way I knew how to, with the same kind of hostility he showed me.
“Why is he here?” I snarled.
Kay stiffened, picking up on both of our moods. “You should be happy he’s here. He’s keeping the humans from finding you. We’ve been searching for you all night.”
“I’m fine, so you don’t need to keep worrying. It isn’t like you.”
“Why did you do it?” Kay asked with steel in his voice. “I could have helped you.”
I had to tear my eyes away from Frey to look at him. He looked exhausted, dark circles around his eyes. His usually immaculate appearance was marred with his ruffled clothes and disheveled hair. He was still wearing the clothes he did last night and now just looked like a porn star with a really bad hangover.
“No, you would have only gotten in my way.”
“I didn’t give you permission to move me to some small crappy apartment.”
“That crappy apartment is my home,” I mumbled, knowing he heard me. With a louder voice I said, “At least you didn’t end up outside in the storm.”
“Oh, how considerate of you.” He rolled his eyes. “You didn’t even have my permission to move me.”
I smirked at him. “Yes I did, or it wouldn’t have worked. When I asked if you trusted me, you said yes.”
“That shouldn’t have worked,” he growled.
“Then admit you wanted out. You can be brave all you want but the expression on your face was enough. You wanted out, you wanted to protect yourself.”
“Sir—”
“Shut it, Frey,” Kay snapped before turning back to face me. Some of the anger had leaked from his expression and the waves of heat lessened. “I told you, I don’t want you to die. That I wasn’t going to leave you hanging like last time.”
“I know.”
“Then why did you do that to me?”
I had to look away from those intense eyes. I looked down at my hands and the dry flakes of blood on them. I will have to scrub them raw later on just to get all the blood and dirt out from beneath my nails. Most of it was probably my blood too.
I cringed, slowly understanding how close to death I was. Even us immortals have a weakness and apparently mine was Kalen’s weapon.
“I was cocky. I believed nothing could kill me. I thought I could handle it and keep you out of harm’s way.”
He stayed silent for a moment, thinking about something. “And now?” His voice was soft and understanding. There was nothing worse than to believe you were invincible and letting that conceited attitude lead you to your death.
“There is a big possibility that I can die.”
He stared at me, his face careful, but not before I saw the fear in his eyes. He was surprised and it wasn’t a good surprise. “How? I’ve seen some pretty fucked up shit happen to you throughout the years and none of it killed you. It may take you a while to heal, even years, but it never killed you. Fuck, you were pretty much all bones at one point and still you managed to come back from it.”
I shrugged. “I’m not too sure. There’s something familiar about the method though.”
“Familiar how?”
I shrugged again, feeling useless. “Like a memory, but it was so long ago that it’s more like an impression now. Something that happened. Something that I should remember, but I just can’t.” I shook my head, hoping to dislodge the memory. No such luck. “It was too long ago.”
Kay’s jaw tensed, not happy with my response. He glared down at the floor for a moment before his eyes narrowed. He reached down and touched some kind of white dust on the floor. The only signs that the beads of light existed were the dust particles. He rubbed it between his fingers and sniffed at it.
“Is this from what was killing you?”
I nodded. “Do you know what it is?” I asked, hopeful.
“No,” he shook his head, unhappy with his lack of knowledge in something magic related.
“The best I can describe it is as little beads of white light. I had to push them out of my body and any flesh that came into contact with it burned. It was like I was burning from the inside out.”
“I’ll have to look into some stuff, see what I can find.” He took out a handkerchief, put some of the particles into it and then rolled up carefully before tucking it back into his pocket.
I leaned back against the wall, barely staying on my feet. My body relaxed a little. Kay was finally going to help me, even if it was just a little bit. I’ll take what I can at this point.
“We should get out of here before your lackey pops a vein.”
Yeah, Frey was that angry and impatient.
The Fae glared at me but held his tongue. It was for the best because all I wanted to do was show him how much of a lesser being he was. I was more powerful than him in this form.
His two forms no longer overlapped and I saw him as the Fae he really was. His skin wasn’t just alabaster white as I originally thought. It was nearly transparent too. He was still really tall, a good foot taller than me. Some of his skin has a dark blue hue to it to match the not just big, but huge blue eyes. His eyes took up half his face. The thin dark blue curls looked stiff and sharp, and made me wonder how he was able to run his hand through them without cutting them up.
“Don’t worry. It isn’t just you. He’s like that with everyone.”
“Aw and I was starting to think I was special,” I teased a little. “I’m a little surprised though. If his attitude is like this, then why do you keep him around? Your tolerance
is worse than mine.”
“He’s a powerful Fae, especially with barriers and the likes.” He shrugged. “He’s been very useful, though I do wonder about last night.”
“How did the slauve get through his barriers if he’s so powerful?” I finished for him.
“Exactly.” He nodded. We both looked over at him and shook our heads.
“Maybe not so useful anymore?” I asked. “I don’t know. That slauve was pretty kickass, gave me a run for my money.”
“Maybe,” he said thoughtfully. “Anyways, lets get you back to my place.”
He pulled me with him towards Frey. Frey was smart enough to ignore anything we said about him. If I was him, I would have started a fight. It was probably why more people hated me than they did him.
“Your place? Why?” I asked. The last place I wanted to be was in Kay’s home.
“Because I can protect you better there than at that dingy place you call home. You can rest up, recharge, and I’ll make sure no one bothers you.”
“I think your place bothers me enough. No way I can rest there. There’s too much going on with your place.”
He smiled, knowing exactly what I meant. His place was one massive death trap for strangers, and his taste in decorations…dark. It made me feel homesick sometimes, not that I had any particular home. His place just made me miss some things from the past. Not all of it was bad.
Chapter 15:
Kay’s home was in a concrete building with ten floors. From a distant it looked like an enormous rock that fell into the middle of the city. Whenever I saw it, I always thought the architecture lacked creativity. Kay loved it, which wasn’t surprising. It has way too much security. We were on the outskirts of East Rheems, with the harbor and South Rheems only a couple blocks away. This area was built by the paranoid. Most buildings were well built, sturdy and meant to survive any natural disaster. There were even underground bunks underneath most of them in case of radiation or bombings. Ever since terrorist attacks went on the rise, the bunks were well stocked with plenty of water and canned goods to last months, if not a year.
Entering, it became even clearer to why he chose this particular building. The security was top of the line, the elevator needed a key-card just to open the door and a passcode to go to the floor you wanted. We went to the top floor without ever feeling the elevator move. No inertia took effect and within seconds we were stepping out into the Renaissance period.
The spacious flat was filled with expensive Renaissance art and sculptures. I recognized some of the paintings as being Masolino’s and another by Fra Angelico. He had one of my favorite oil paintings hanging on the wall, the familiar strokes of the landscape done by Giovanni Bellini. There was a small wooden sculpture by Brunelleschi sitting on a small table. Every piece of art was the original and if money ever became an issue, all he had to do was sell one of them and then he was set for the rest of his eternity. All the artwork brought me through a portal and right into the Renaissance. I always knew he loved that time period. I just never knew how much. Maybe obsessed wasn’t enough to describe his passion.
“Careful not to touch anything. Wouldn’t want to set off a trap,” he smirked as I reached out to caress a sculpture. I curled my fingers into a fist and brought it back to my side. It was just the beauty that was drawing me in but all the magic. These were more than artwork. Their creators had etched into ever part of the work their lively hood. Anyone with a drop of magic in them could feel the pieces screaming for attention. And underneath that was a little taste of Kay’s personal magic. His little traps for the foolhardy.
“You would,” I mumbled and worked hard to keep my hands to myself. It was so tempting to reach out and caress the sculptures or to feel the brushstrokes on the paintings. The entire flat was done up in all kinds of shades of red and brown, giving it a dark, homey feeling. It was a huge contrast to how the outside of the building looked.
There wasn’t much lighting, just soft lamps here and there. They softened even more in my presence, but at least I didn’t shatter them like the ones in his office. I was starting to get a handle on my powers again.
Frey disappeared into one of the rooms we passed and I followed Kay into a living room filled with large old-fashioned furniture. The room smelled of cigars and lemons. Cabinets lined one of the walls, filled with antiques I recognized from the Middle Ages. There were bronze knives and jewelry, stained with age and yet still well preserved. I recognized an original patina made out of pewter from one of the churches we ransacked in Italy as a challenge to all things holy. The patina was a shallow pan, with an intricate carving at the bottom and the handle was an elaborate design.
“You like?” Kay asked, standing next to me. I could feel his eyes as he watched my face. My fingers were touching the glass lightly. I made a noncommittal sound and sat down on one of the couches.
He sat down across from me and leaned back. Devon came into the room, his eyes subservient as he stared downwards and whispered something into Kay’s ear. I couldn’t make out the words. After a moment, Kay nodded and Devon left the room. Not once did the shy little gazelle look at me.
“Please stay here and rest.”
I shook my head. “I don’t have that kind of time. I can only think that the slauve now knows who I am and he’ll be able to find me here. He’s a honing missile locked onto me.”
Kay gave me a smug smile. “I set up my place so he won’t be able to locate you. Are you planning to stay in this form?”
I glanced down at my body. I wasn’t used to having the long limbs, long slender fingers or even the breasts. They were large, round and firm…and in my way. I was wearing clothes Lord Kay was smart enough to bring with him when he went searching for me. It was a simple man’s t-shirt and sweatpants with the strings pulled tight against me to hold them up. “No. It’s too dangerous right now. But you’re going to have to help me go back to the other one. My power tank is really low.”
“I can help. Just a warning though, you probably won’t like it. If you did it on your own, it would be less painful.”
“I’m used to pain,” I smiled weakly.
“No one, not even you, should be used to pain.” His words came out resigned.
Devon and Frey came into the room and started setting up candles. They moved about the room in sync to each other, placing the candles the correct distance from each other. The whole process was well rehearsed. Kay must have been making them help him with his magic and now they had a routine down perfectly.
It took a lot of trust to let someone else help you with your own magic circles. If they fucked it up, a whole lot of nasty shit could go down.
“We can only hope the slauve doesn’t recognize you as a child,” Kay mumbled as he lit the candles. “Your power is barely the same between the two forms. They fascinatingly have a different feel from each other.”
“So if I run into him as a child, he won’t recognize me. Even though we nearly killed each other last night?”
“That’s my guess.”
“Want to place my life on that guess?” I asked.
I relaxed a little with that tidbit of knowledge. If he still didn’t recognize me as Akhlys then I still had a chance. That wasn’t the whole reason it felt good to know he wouldn’t try to kill me when he saw me again. It hurt just thinking that Kalen wanted me dead and would try to do it. The slauve had really grown on me. His stubbornness, naïve beliefs, and unconditional kindness, all of it was cute, and different, and refreshing.
Kay stopped lighting a candle and glared at me. “No, I don’t. I told you earlier, I don’t want to leave you hanging again. If I find whoever made that slauve, he’s going to learn just why I’m the best magic user on the East Coast. Probably in all the states.”
I couldn’t prevent a shiver from crawling down my back, reminding me that he had the juice to back up that claim.
Turning into a child the second time around was easier than the first time, but it was still no picnic. Kay ha
d me lay down in the middle of a circle he formed with salt and chalk. Symbols I somewhat recognized from the first time he helped me do this were drawn onto the wooden floor. He circled me, standing outside of the magic circle and after three rounds, he stopped at my feet and began to chant.
His words were fluid and smooth. The warm magic reached out and lightly touched my skin, caressing me. As Kay kept chanting, the ancient words began to flow together, no separation in what he was saying—whatever that was. I didn’t know the language or if I ever did, I forgot it in the recess of my unending memories. There was something warm and comforting to them, kind of like a lullaby someone sang as they gently woke me up from a deep slumber. Not that anyone ever sang a lullaby to me. And why was it to wake me up from a deep slumber if they did? Wouldn’t it be to put me to sleep? Before I could ponder on that even more, the pain came.
It really wasn’t that bad. Really.
I only convulsed on the floor, my back bending and my body spazzing as I lost all control of myself.
I could feel every bone in my body shrink. What took a span of months happened in a couple hours. I probably screamed, cried, yelled and cursed. Probably.
I just couldn’t remember as I lost myself in the pain. It could have been seconds or hours that went by and during that time, I didn’t care. I just wanted it to be done with. I wanted to be that little girl again, to get away from all the problems being Akhlys gave me. You’d think that would have helped me make it through—by thinking of all the pros about changing into a child. Well, it didn’t. All I could think about was to try and find a way to end it.
The purpose of the circle wasn’t to help with the spell but to keep me inside and everyone safe. At some point, I know I smashed against the barrier, trying to break it with everything I had. I expanded, fought back and lost as the magic ran its course and I became the child I wanted to be.
A Toiling Darkness Page 15