Altered: A Beyond the Brothel Walls Novel

by Ryans, Rae Z.

  “Man, he’s probably not coming back. Why we gotta waste our time looking for this asshat?”

  “We’ve got orders straight from the big man.” A rapping followed.

  Through the small window, I spied into the hallway, careful to make no sound. Two men knocked on my front door. Their uniforms were a dead giveaway…green…the large G…Garland.

  “Pfft. I still don’t get it. We’re out here, putting our necks on the line, and King Boric doesn’t even tell us why?”

  Slowly, I descended the stairs, shaking my head and ignoring the pounding heart in my chest. My feet could move quietly or quickly, yet not both, and time ground onward at the pace of a tortoise. I shoved through the large doors, gasping for air. Boric’s laughter bounced in my head; it sought left and right for the source.

  But he wasn’t on the street. My hands grasped my thick hood, drawing it over my head, and I crept along the street, trying to fit in.

  I arrived at the train station, but I didn’t go in. My gaze fixated on the icy concrete. And I didn’t glance at Dorian’s Victorian house, or his fenced in yard. His mind slept, though, and even through the wooden siding and across the street, his energy brushed my face.

  Withdrawing my cell, my fingers slid over the screen. I found Belle’s text and hit reply. “Garland men in Halifax. Heading north. Don’t tell him it’s me.”

  Their investigation was important, more important than a relationship not working out between Dorian and me. He saved lives. While he was too late to save me, it wasn’t too late for others. I glanced at the house. The front door swung open, and Belle looked up and down the street, rubbing her arms.

  “Take care, Cousin,” she said.

  A man resembling Dorian stepped outside, but his eyes were red. Markos. He yanked her arm, his gaze narrowing on me. I turned, quickening my steps, and entered the train station.

  The train arrived at Meat Cove Outpost on the mainland four hours later. I knew nothing about the area, other than Meat Cove was Nova Scotia’s northern most-settled point and that you could reach the island by boat or bridge. Too bad the bridge hadn’t survived the Sundering.

  Gray water rolled and smashed into the rocky coast. I stood on the docks, arms wrapped tightly around my knapsack. My feet tapped impatiently waiting for the ferryboat. Minutes later, it chugged into the small harbor.

  After handing over my ticket, I boarded the vessel. I leaned against the thick railing, gloved fingers tapping the white metal. No one else crossed with me. Twenty tedious moments of waiting passed before we set sail.

  The sun had lowered in the dismal sky, painting streaks of fiery gold across the horizon. Behind them, however, inky black clouds were churning.

  More and more I had grown sick of the salty seawater surrounding me, and today’s journey hadn’t proved any different. My eyes shut tight; the boat rocked, and the wind wobbled us back and forth.

  The Captain yelled over the tremulous action, “Are you daft? Get inside, boyo, before the drink takes it fill.”

  With nothing left to live for, I spun around and extended my arms to the heavens, silently demanding God to strike me down, however he saw fit. Waves crashed over the deck, drowning me in purified waters. Briny liquid infiltrated my nose and mouth forcing me to cough and gag. Flying open, my eyes stung.

  Utter destruction stirred within the blue-black clouds. Beauty and angst fought, slicing aqua-white bolts into one another. God didn’t listen, and no Horsemen disguised as Angels intervened.

  We docked. I stepped from the boat, taking one last glance at the ferry, and shook my head.

  “Cain Westcott?” a man called. “This way, laddie.” Without waiting for me to turn, he ushered me toward the lodge.

  Clutching my soaked bag, I blinked at the lush greenness of the land surrounding me. Such an opposition to the whitewashed snow I had become accustomed to seeing every day. Though still cold, Dorian would have fit in with the environment. The mere thought of his green eyes caused a sob to choke in my chest.

  “Ye all right there, laddie?” the man asked in his strange accent.

  I coughed and nodded.

  “Right, ye can take a wee rest.”

  “How will I get to Plant G?” I doubted they had running vehicles, but I also wondered where this elusive plant could be.

  “Don’t worry yerself over it,” he said, grinning.

  We strode along the path, lit only by a small lantern the man was carrying. Owls called their nightly song and insects serenaded in tune. I allowed their peaceful lullaby to settle my pulse.

  Dripping wet, we entered the lodge.

  My escort poked his head into an open door, marked for employees. “Found another one, Miss Fauna.”

  Another what? My eyes adjusted to the oil lamps flooding the open space with light. Moose heads and photographs lined the walls, and a large fire roared in a massive brick hearth half the size of my tiny living room. Its smoldering scent reminded me of campfires.

  “Welcome, Cain, welcome to the Wilderness.” Lavender eyes peaked from beneath an untamed mass of gray hair.

  Again, I blinked, recognizing the near naked woman at once from Dorian’s photographs. My feet stumbled, my knees falling to the floor. “You…”

  “You know who I am? Oh, you must be special if he told you about me.” She closed in on me.

  I shook my head, and she frowned.

  “But then, how do you know me?”

  I tossed my hands up and flinched. “Pictures… I assumed… Dorian never told me about you.” Nothing aside from that the Horsemen were his family.

  She knelt at my side tousled my hair. “He would have told you. Handsome,” she exposed rotten teeth in a gruesome grin, “Yes, I see what my brother sees. There it is. Shining like a twinkling star.”

  The foulness of her breath turned my stomach, and I swallowed the rising bile down.

  “Pity his head is shoved too far up his ass to notice how he’s hurting you.”

  Had she read my mind?

  Fauna shook her head. “You wear it on your sleeve, Cain.”

  “Aye, the Captain said he’s got a few screws loose.” The man twirled his finger near his ear.

  I scowled and crossed my arms over my chest. I wasn’t crazy for wanting my life to end, for the nightmares to stop.

  “He said the laddie tried jumping off the ferry.”

  Fauna gasped and cocked her head. “Dorian isn’t worth the life of a Morning Star. Right then. Let’s get you fixed up. You’re sopping wet.”

  Her musical tone gave me pause. Fauna said the name without my skin crawling. Still, I corrected, “Westcott.” From behind, someone’s hands clamped on my shoulders, propelled me up, and then forward. “Watch it,” I said, turning to the strange man, who’d escorted me.

  “Westcott, Morning Star.” Her broad shoulders shrugged. Delicate, long fingers grasped my hand, and I stared at the boil-covered arm, puss oozing from their centers. “You see me as Father made me. I can cover it, if it bothers you.”

  Acceptance: I extended the same to others. “No.” Fauna would take getting used to with the popping sounds her boils made as they erupted.

  “Don’t worry, it’s not contagious.” By the hand, Fauna led me upstairs and into the darkness.

  I found my words, but retorting her earlier claims about Dorian seemed futile. My soggy boots shuffled along the wooden floors. Who was I but a bastard, Elioud slave, while she was a Horseman created out of love? “Is this where you live?”

  “Yes, this used to be a school before the Sundering.” She motioned toward the walls.

  Murmuring a reply, I scanned over the dim lit hallway. Oil paintings graced them, and some of the faces were familiar family members. Others, I didn’t recognize.

  “A most-trusted source claimed you were missing, and now, I’ve found you.”

  Had Dorian always known where I was? My brow lifted a fraction before falling. “How did you know where I would be?”

  “I have my way
s of tracking those who fall under my command.” Her steps slowed.

  My heart leapt from my chest, I blinked and let go of her hand, feet halting. “Could you locate my sisters?”

  Over her shoulder, she flashed a gruesome smile. “I have located one, but as to which witch, I am uncertain. Dorian sent out the word the day you came to him, but messages don’t travel fast I’m afraid.” Fauna tapped a finger to her nose.

  A misconception among some, but the old satellite phones had limitations. How did she manage reception up here?

  I strolled forward and lifted my hand, shielding my smile. For me, Dorian had tried to find my missing sisters—both of them. “How does your magic work?”

  Fauna spun on her heels. “A woman can’t reveal all her secrets. For the record, I don’t like cell phones and believe they’d caused cancers.”

  I nodded, not at all certain her screws were in order. Or was she lying?

  “Ah, here we are.” She escorted me into a large bedroom. The curtains were drawn and only her soft footfalls alerted her movements. Sulfur filled the air and a soft glow illuminated her location. Fauna placed the match against a hurricane lamp, and its wick ignited, spreading its luminance over the room. “There is no electricity up here.”

  How do they run the plant without electricity?

  “There is no Plant G.”

  Unable to move, I processed her words. What had the others before me come for? Learning perhaps? She did claim this place was once a school. I doubted Fauna could teach me anything. Not that I knew all there was to know about magic, but nothing mattered to me, except my sisters.

  “Listen to me, Cain.” Fauna lit another oil lamp and placed the glass container on a small table. “Dorian tried to erase the world for you. We had to intervene and protect you.” She turned the dial and more light bathed the room in. “Dorian will try again if anything happens to you.”

  I mouthed the words. My arms crossed over my chest, and I shivered. Dorian would not have done that for me, would he? Lightning cracked, its thunder shaking the walls, and my heart ached. “He doesn’t even like me enough to tell me about his family, but you think he’d destroy the world for me?” I snorted and stared at Fauna’s bare feet. “No, if he cared that much…”

  “He cares.” She sat on the four-poster bed and patted the quilt-covered surface, but I didn’t budge from the doorway. “Dorian carries a great weight on his shoulders. A burden that you too also hide.”

  My brows rose. “How did you know?”

  “It’s my business to learn what my people are up to.” Fauna grinned.

  I gulped. “Does … he know?” I couldn’t finish the sentence.

  “That you have the keys?” She shook her head.

  “Good.” No us existed, but I didn’t want Dorian to think the keys were the reason for my love. Curiosity, yes, but the love blossomed long before I had seen the metal key dangling around his neck.

  “He does know you’re the Keeper.”

  “Come again?” Hallowed had said something similar inside the church.

  “No one but Dorian can see the key, yet you saw it.”

  My back straightened. “So?”

  “That makes you the Keeper, Cain, not my brother.”

  Why me, though? Dorian made sense as the Keeper. At least he was an Archangel. My gaze fell to the floor. The world spun before my eyes, my past vividly flashing, rising; I winced with each lash the masters whipped against my skin, cutting my flesh. Did Boric know too? Heat flooded my cheeks, and my limbs trembled. I had been weak. If that were my only skeleton, life would have gone on but…he’d…they’d raped me. I gulped again and swallowed the tears running over the scarred skin beneath my own veil of magic.

  “You aren’t the only one who has suffered,” she whispered.

  My gaze snapped to her vivid eyes. Boils erupted over her face as her flesh cracked into green ooze. I heaved and clutched the doorframe for support. Without food in me, only bile rose and I ate the bitter, burning liquid.

  “He cared enough to take your pain away, but we stopped him. With you and your sisters, we have a fighting chance to overthrow Boric. Give me your hand.”

  “My sisters?” I hesitated, chewing my lip and clawing at the wood. “What do they have to do with this?”

  Fauna’s hands steadied on her hips. Her lanky legs padded over the rug. I blinked, staring up as she towered over me.

  “Dorian loves you, but you are almost as mortal as the humans. Now give me your damn hand.” She grabbed me and shoved a ring on my finger. “I forged this for a lover out of St. Peter’s iron chains.”

  And why didn’t her lover possess it? I slid into the room and leaned against the wall, asking, “What does it do?”

  “Allows you to escape death as long as you wear it when you die. And you will.” Fauna tapped my cheek.

  I stared at the thick, tarnished ring, its weight drawing my hand toward the ground.

  “Keeper… Go back to Halifax, to Dorian.”

  High-pitched laughter left me, shaky. The wallpaper scratched my skin where it broke and peeled. Like a chameleon, I wanted to disappear into the gray diamond pattern. No, he’d refused to love again. I’d heard Dorian’s struggles; she was pulling my leg. No one would miss me when I passed. “Whatever.” I waved her off. “I’m wet and miserable. Obviously, he didn’t end the world. Thanks for the ring.”

  I hid my balled fists beneath my arms, rising, and lifted my chin. The one thing in life I wanted for me and she presented me with the opposite. If Dorian truly wanted me to have it then why hadn’t he given me the gift? The iron chain fastened into a ring weighed me down, and I slipped it off, extended my closed hand, and choked, “I…I don’t need it.”

  Fauna contemplated me for a moment, cocking her head to the left. She stepped closer and shoved a curled finger into my chest. “Fix this.”

  “No,” I whispered, wincing. “He knows where he can find me. It’s his turn to chase me down.” My lips trembled as the words filed forth. Tears threatened again, but I had to stand my ground. “I can’t spend the rest of my life running after a man who doesn’t love me…” Silence drew between us, and I fiddled with the ring still tightly enclosed in my sweaty fist. “It’s for the best, Fauna. Let Dorian forget about me and me him.” I twirled my finger in the air. “The world will go on.”

  “And if your love made him a better person?”

  Amusement reverberated from within my queasy stomach. “Death isn’t a person, you are no person, and last I checked neither was I.”

  Fauna snarled, “And if your lack of love destroys us all?”

  But I didn’t flinch. My brow arched at her lack of love comment; I gave him all I could, but love would never be enough. I whispered, “Then, I’ll see you in Hell.”

  “You’re playing a dangerous game, Cain.” She stormed to the dresser, opened the drawers, and tossed dry clothes at me.

  I didn’t try to catch the flung garments and let them pool at my feet. “Send me home. Forget about me.”

  “No, you are the Keeper.”

  I didn’t want to live, let alone be the keeper of anything, least of all Death. Despite that, I eased the ring back onto my finger.

  Chapter

  Nine

  Dorian

  Seven days passed. I rested in bedroom, curtains drawn and blankets tossed over my head. Easier to breathe without Cain, or so I told myself. With a sigh, I rolled over. Only a tad bit simpler to force the air through my lungs without his overwhelming fiery scent rebirthing the memory of us. After such a short time with each other, his affects over me were profound, as if we had spent a lifetime as one.

  Hallo’s light trick wasn’t to blame, but I was. Somehow, I knew this. I had told him to wait, clamped down my thoughts, and rowed away, damn well knowing I hadn’t planned on returning. Such an ass and undeserving of his love. What was I thinking?

  Even now, I couldn’t answer for my actions. As if the past had reared up and assumed control o
f me, I’d decided the outcome would be death. I tossed and turned beneath my darkened cave of loneliness.

  “I am in love and frightened, like a child.” Little nuances decided my heart’s fate. How the hair stood up on my arm when he gazed at me, or the increased rhythm of my heart in his presence. Inside of my brain, I had plastered and embedded the taste of his skin and the warmth of his touch.

  By the third day, my eyes had run dry from the cindered ache of tears countlessly shed. All because Cain hadn’t returned, and I lacked the proper strength to leave my bed, eat, not that I needed nourishment, or care about anything all over again. Emptiness filled me, despite the result’s benefits.

  “I can’t hurt him now, and he is safer without me in his life.” I flopped onto my belly and buried my face in my pillow, breathing in the remnants of Cain.

  “Talking to yourself again, Brother?” The curtains rattled, and Markos flung the shades open. His footsteps drew nearer, and he snatched the blanket away. “He’s watched over, regardless of what that pompous vampire downstairs says.”

  “What vampire and who?” Who was that vampire? Why was there a vampire downstairs? I lifted my head, blinked at the sunlight pouring through the opening, and winced at the stabbing ache coursing through my head.

  Markos moved quickly, his gaze darting…I flung my head to the pillows. Nothing mattered. Not anymore and least of all my brother’s ramblings.

  “The one you call Cain.” Markos sat at the edge of my bed and crossed his legs.

  I had half-expected him to make childish kissy faces for me to rouse.

  “We’ve called in the vampires, after speaking with Belle and pouring through that sorry excuse of a desk. She’s still a feisty one.” He sighed and flicked his gaze to the doorway. “They arrived in the middle of the night and are patiently waiting in your office.”

  “How is it you both read my mind? And who the fuck is they?”

  He laughed and ran a palm over his clean-shaven face. “Brother, how do you even live in this world and not embrace the magic?” Markos shook his fist, as if magic were the end all answer.