House of Imperial

by Jaymin Eve

  His face crinkled, impatience shining in those cold eyes. “The network is being watched very closely, so the only way I can open a transporter is if I grab a random one. That way it’s too quick for them to get here before I’m gone. Cherise just stopped when she felt the energy. She knew I was almost here.”

  Bitch was a far better name than Cherise.

  “Come on, grubber. I need to get you back to my place, so I can extract the blood.”

  He waved at me again, but I remained where I was standing. “Will you kill me as soon as you get my blood?”

  He’d tried to kill me the last time, so I pretty much already knew the answer to that. This was just to keep the talking going on.

  He surprised me though. “Actually, I’ve decided not to kill you keepers. After this last fiasco with your blood, I realize now that my original plan was very shortsighted. I might never have been able to find the third if you had died, and I still don’t know what might be required from me to retrieve the stone once I have the fourth secret keeper. With that in mind, I’m going to hedge all bets and keep the four of you alive. I have people readying right now to pick up the Darken grubber.”

  Good freaking luck with that. Lexen was not a dude to be messed with, but then again, neither was Daniel. I’d forced his compliance, but in the end, he hadn’t been able to let me go. Only his friends holding him back gave the changeling a chance to drag me out – using her super Daelighter speed.

  “How can Cherise…” I growled her name. “Change her shape like that? It’s not a normal Imperial power, right?” I asked, desperately searching for another topic to keep him here.

  “Mix of human and Daelighter technology. With the right combination, anyone can become a changeling. The longest part is growing the skin she wore, using a human cell. Unfortunately, it’s a once-only deal. But I got what I needed, so...”

  “So, where are you taking me?” Next topic of stalling.

  His fist snaked out then; I hadn’t been expecting it at all, which gave him an advantage. I jerked to the side, but his knuckles skimmed my jaw and smacked me in the ear. I reacted instantly, and despite my fatigue, managed to land a right hook, followed by an uppercut.

  Training kicked in, and the next time he threw a swing, I side-swept his legs, knocking him down. Laous might have the speed of a Daelighter, but he was clearly used to other people doing his dirty work. Fighting was not his thing, which gave me a sliver of a chance.

  As he jumped up with a roar, I went on the offensive, jabbing and kicking, changing up my style and stance to keep him off guard. He blocked a few, but most of my shots landed, and I was excited that his right eye was already darkening, blood seeping from his nose.

  “Enough!” he finally bellowed, and that’s when I kneed him in the balls.

  He dropped to the ground, a groan escaping his lips, and I wasted no time in slamming my shin into his temple, knocking him out.

  “I’ll say when it’s enough,” I crowed at the unconscious Daelighter.

  Panic hit me then because that had been way too easy. I wasn’t sure what was coming for me now. I started to walk away, preparing to run for it. At the last minute I backtracked, deciding to quickly search him for Emma’s necklace. It was giving him way too much advantage over us.

  As I hurried to his side, I noted the odd array of clothing he wore. Looked like he’d scavenged through someone’s dirty laundry to piece together an outfit. An old and faded cotton shirt that had been dark blue but was now a washed out gray. His pants were surf shorts, which he’d teamed with long socks that almost met the bottom of them. Leaning down, I quickly searched his pockets. No way Laous trusted anyone else with his precious stone. He had to have it on him. Paranoid, dickface.

  In my haste to search him, I missed the giant behemoth stepping out of the transporter. The next thing I knew, a heavy blow landed on my head, knocking me forward. I was barely conscious enough to immediately vomit down the giant’s back as he hauled me up in one arm.

  Light sent screeching pain through my head as we stepped into the transporter.

  Daniel wasn’t going to make it in time. I was heading to wherever Laous had just come from.

  11

  Mammoth man turned out to be kind of a rough ride. Thankfully, in a completely non-sexual way. By the time we reached our destination my ribs were screaming at me from being slammed across his shoulder. Laous was still unconscious over his other shoulder and I was starting to freak out about what he might do when he came to. Probably my ribs would be the least of my worries.

  The transporter spat us out in a weird world. It almost looked like there was nothing around here but … clouds. Literally. Just a world of clouds. The huge scary dude dropped me not very gently onto the cloud ground, Laous landing next to me.

  Scrambling back, I got my first real look of my attacker and had to swallow down my unease. His face, and the skin I could see leading into his dark shirt, looked like someone had taken a blowtorch to it, melting and burning and scarring. I felt a pang of sympathy for whatever he had been through, but at the same time, I was not going to let my guard down. Not at all. He was working for Laous, which made him the enemy.

  Lying on the ground made me feel extra vulnerable. The urge to get up was strong, but I was afraid I’d get knocked down again. I focused on inching away from Laous. Being this close to his slimy ass was giving me the creeps. The giant watched me but made no move to stop me from shifting out of Laous’ reach.

  “I … sorry I hit you.”

  I was startled by his gruff apology, his voice raspy, words stilted, like he hadn’t used them in a long time. Clearing my throat, I wondered if maybe I could use this to my advantage. I desperately needed an ally; maybe he also needed one.

  “That’s okay,” I told him. “It only hurts a little.”

  I pressed my hand to my cheeks and winced. Okay, so maybe a “little” was kind of an understatement. He followed my movements and his face dropped, eyes downcast.

  “Where are we?” I asked, wanting to keep him talking.

  He looked around, as if he was only just noticing that we were in this weird cloud world. I couldn’t see any end from where we stood, but with everything white and fluffy, it might have all been an optical illusion, making it next to impossible to tell the size of this place. I mean, was this in Overworld? Or was it somewhere else altogether? It didn’t feel like we were in Imperial, because my energy had not returned.

  “Safe place,” mammoth man finally said.

  “What’s your name?”

  I startled him with this question. His mouth opened to form a silent mime of the word “name.”

  “What do I call you?” I tried again, not sure how much he understood. He spoke broken English, but I sensed that was not because he didn’t know the language.

  He straightened. “I am called Rao, Rao Imperial.” He pointed down to Laous, who I was pleased to see was still unconscious. “Father.”

  I blinked a few times, trying to see an ounce of similarity between the two men. Rao was twice as wide and a foot taller than his father. More like Daniel, who until now had made everyone look scrawny. Rao might be the one Daelighter who was bigger than him.

  “Daniel never said he had a cousin.” I tried to keep the surprise from my voice. Hopefully they called them cousins here also.

  Rao shook his head. “Secret.”

  I swung my head around and nailed Laous with my bitchiest glare. Piece of shit asshole of a father. Hiding Rao away. I wanted to ask him why, but I was afraid it was about his face, and then I was afraid I might stomp on Laous’ throat. Which might get me hit again.

  “Daniel is a good man,” I said to Rao. “He would have been a great friend to you. Laous should not have kept you apart.”

  His eyes glittered at me and I realized they were a golden brown. I hadn’t noticed before now, because he was so tall and tended not to look directly at me. The color was like Daniel’s, but less cinnamon and more gold. Truly beautif
ul eyes.

  When I told him that, he started to shuffle his feet, and my instincts were to hug him tight, but that was not going to happen. I didn’t hug strangers who had hit me, no matter how much they tugged at my heartstrings.

  Laous stirred beside me and I sucked up as much energy as I could, jumping to my feet. As I expected, I wobbled like crazy once I was standing; my legs just didn’t want to hold me any longer. Heaviness pressed down on me, like darkness seeping into my soul, and I ached. My eyes burned as I fought back tears.

  The weariness was one thing, but this … depression … which was closing off my mind and sucking away all will to live, was the most worrisome of all. I knew what I needed, what my body needed.

  Daniel. This was the side-effect of the bond he’d mentioned.

  “He won’t hurt you now,” Rao said, distracting me, and I realized he thought I was shaking because his father was waking.

  I tried to smile. But there was nothing happy inside of me, so it no doubt looked more like a grimace. “I need to get back to House of Imperial,” I mumbled. “I am tied to that land, and not … strong enough … to be … away … yet.”

  I was back on my knees, but at least I was about six feet from Laous, who had his eyes open, right hand rubbing across his forehead. Rao blocked my view, his strong hands sliding in under my armpits as he lifted me up.

  I slumped against him, desperately wishing I could stand on my own, but knowing there was no chance. “Don’t let him touch me,” I murmured.

  I felt Laous’ presence as he stalked toward us, that malice he carried drifting just ahead of his angry stomps. “You’re lucky I need you alive, grubber!” He was a few decibels short of shouting. “But you will be punished. Plenty I can do to keep you alive and unhappy.”

  I’ll bet. From the corner of my eyes I could see him looking around, seeming to notice where we were. “Why have you brought us here, Rao? Was this the only transporter you could get? How long have we been here? The council could be on their way right now!”

  I remained slumped against the big guy’s chest, and when Laous went to roughly haul me off, his son moved me just out of reach. “No,” he said firmly. “You hurt her.”

  Laous snarled then, very animalistic. “I didn’t give her that black eye. So maybe you should be more worried about your temper.”

  I patted his chest. Gentle taps was all I could manage, but he felt it. “You didn’t … hurt.”

  Yeah, I was done with the forming and speaking of the words. How annoying. I could handle a lot of things, but not being able to talk was not one of them. Angry glaring did not sufficiently portray my true annoyance. I needed witty one liners.

  “Give her to me, or you will find yourself in the cell next to hers.”

  I wanted to punch him in the head again. So badly. Rao just moved me even further away. “No.”

  I was cheering him loudly in my head, as another wave of darkness pushed in on me. “She needs to get out of here,” Laous told him. “I will use one of my pre-arranged transporters to the edge of Imperial. I planned it that way, because I know she needs the energy. So hand her over right now. Otherwise she will die and end up in the justices. Her soul … it’s fading away.”

  At least the council was doing something right. Laous was struggling to get around without being able to use this network freely. Still, he’d obviously figured out some way to get to House of Imperial undetected if he needed it.

  When Laous’ cold, hard grip wrapped around my forearms, I shuddered. His touch was probably the worst thing I had ever felt, but my fight was gone for the day. If I had been more in my right mind, I might have freaked out by how close I was to death. I felt it rattling around inside of me, the slow wheezing of my breath the only sound I had left to focus on. But I sort of just accepted that if it was my time to go, it was my time to go.

  Would Daniel die too?

  Something I really should have asked him before now. Our souls were bonded, his keeping mine alive. But did it go back the other way as well? I seriously hoped it wouldn’t. The thought of Daniel dying was like being stabbed with a rusty blade, right in the chest.

  What felt like hours later, I was roughly hauled to the ground, feeling like I’d passed through a sauna on my way down. Warm and damp air surrounded me, dampening my skin. As I landed, my already sore head slammed into a hard object, and everything went really fuzzy and dark around the edges.

  I must have lay there for some time, until eventually cold seeped into my skin, which had my body violently shaking. With this came a sliver of clarity. My eyes flicked open, and my sight adjusted faster than I expected. I was in a gray room; it looked like a cross between a jail cell and a room in a mental hospital, minus the padded walls. Rolling over, I got to my feet, surprised by how steady I was. My energy felt like it was kicking back in as well. I was somewhere in Imperial.

  That had been way too close. I would take Daniel’s warnings a lot more seriously from now on. A soul-bond was not something to mess around with.

  Moving freely took me a few moments, but once my body was functioning again, I examined the full scope of my surroundings: four gray walls, a hard, dirt-like floor, and a small square glass window on the wall in front of me. No door.

  I dragged myself across the room to stare out of the square, but there was nothing except darkness outside. Either it was night or I was in a place devoid of all light. My cell was lit, though, the brightness at the point of hurting my eyes.

  The room held no bed. Or toilet. Nothing which would improve my situation. I didn’t need to pee right this second, but eventually I would. Slumping against the wall, I tried not to think about Daniel. My yearning for him did not need to gather any speed. We were a team, that was true, but I was also going to hold on to as much of my independence as I could. No waiting for my knight in shining armor to arrive. I had to save myself.

  Lifting myself off the floor, I did another sweep around the room, eyeing off each corner and seam of the walls, looking for a weakness, trying to figure out an escape route. When I reached the glass partition, I tapped it a few times, hoping for a flimsy sort of material. The sound had a high pitch … maybe there was a chance I could break it. Pulling off my sweater, I wrapped my hand and gave the panel a gentle smack. A low thud, followed by a slight reverberation, but no sign of cracking.

  Cocking my arm even further back, I sucked in deeply and slammed my hand into the glass. Pain spiked across my hand and down my forearm and I bit back a cry. I rubbed my free hand across the glass … not a single blemish on it. It was definitely too thick for me to punch out; I’d only hurt myself if I continued.

  But … maybe I could kick hard enough.

  I still wore my school uniform, with the stupid dress shoes, but it was better than bare feet. Taking a step back, I yanked my skirt up and tucked it into the band at my waist. If anyone had been in here, I would have been flashing them a perfect view of the school-issued tights.

  Falling into a balanced stance, I started to breathe as I was taught in all of my fight classes. Deep breaths, centering my body and focusing my mind. A fight is won or lost, most of the time, before the first punch is thrown. Lose your cool, lose the fight. Never let emotions control you. You always control them.

  The mantras ran round and round my head as I took the time to calm down. There had been a lot going on in my life recently, and through it all, I had been running on autopilot. Now, it was time to take back my control.

  Standing there, contemplating the right angle to slam my heel into the glass, my mind was finally quiet for the first time in days. I released another deep breath and swung my leg into a high kick. I channeled every ounce of power I had into the connection, satisfied with the solid thud. I could always tell if I’d landed a good shot by the sound of my hit.

  The panel shuddered strongly; there was a creak as I connected, but no cracks yet. I tried again. And again. Not ready to give up. With each unsuccessful hit, my thoughts got darker. I blamed the morosen
ess on many things. The fact I was being held prisoner in a doorless room, that my mom was dead, that Daniel had made me reliant on him and now he wasn’t here. Which was completely unfair.

  Slam. Slam. Slam.

  I kicked that panel until my legs felt like they were about to collapse under me, but giving up was not in my vocabulary.

  Slam. Slam. Slam.

  My muscles burned, my eyes burned, my soul burned as screams racked me internally, begging to be let free. Finally, when I couldn’t contain my fury any longer, I dropped my leg, and reaching forward slammed both fists into the glass and screamed. The agonized sound came from my gut, deep and rasping.

  My face and body were on fire, tears running down my cheeks as I screamed. The salty tears started to sizzle off my face, turning into streams of steam.

  What in the…?

  The glass under my hands caught my attention then, because it was now a dark red. I raised my palms up and a long strand of sticky material lifted with them.

  What was happening?

  The red of the glass started to fade as soon as I wasn’t touching it, so I dropped my hands back down, releasing more of my anger as I did. It burned red again, and as I asserted more pressure, my hands moved through the thick material. Almost like they were … melting it away.

  How was this possible? My hands should be charred bones at this point – I was melting glass, which if I remembered correctly had to be done at some stupidly high temperature.

  Logically, I wanted to stop, to wrench myself back, but since it didn’t seem to be hurting me, I continued channeling my fury, pushing through. It was soon obvious why my kicking had done nothing. This window had to be ten inches thick. No human could kick through that. Not even my idol, Bruce Lee.

  And I was pretty sure he could do almost everything.

  I was elbow deep when I finally busted out the other side, the resistance giving out, almost causing me to faceplant into the wall. The sparks of heat in my body started to fade away, so I quickly pulled my hands back through. Glass remained attached to me, but it still wasn’t hurting, and by the time I was free and my skin was cool, the long strings of glass had dropped off.