Stone Guardian (Entwined Realms)

by Danielle Monsch

  Terak felt Larissa’s chin graze his arm as she looked around him into the room. She gasped, and he knew then she saw the man as well. His skin was sallow with a flaky appearance. His hair was thinning, dandruff thick on his scalp. He was thin but bloated.

  He looked up from a purple concoction, zeroing in on Larissa. “Hello, young lady. Do you understand your protector’s worry now?”

  Terak knew she nodded by the scrape of her chin against his arm. “You’re a zombie, aren’t you?”

  “Manner of speaking,” Simon said. “Most zombies don’t have their original thoughts left and were created to mindlessly follow the orders of their master. That was not the case for me, which is why I’m not aligned with bad guys and am hanging here.”

  Larissa was pushing against Terak, without words telling him to let her in the room. Olivia was standing on the side, her eyes begging him to believe this was not a trap.

  He had thought he had prepared for every possible situation, but this…this was beyond his comprehension. Before him was an abomination, the culmination of a necromancer’s lust for death and destruction. He spoke to the creature. “Why would they create one such as you? I have never heard of any like you before.”

  Simon had already turned back to his bubbling tubes. He was studying one of them, making notes. “They turned me because I am a being of exceptional brilliance.”

  Larissa gave a small laugh behind him. “Not exactly modest.”

  “I’m a man of science. I deal in truth, not obfuscation.” Simon finished his notes, then after lowering the heat on the tube, turned his attention back to them. “That truth was why they made me undead in the first place. Cancer would have killed me within six months and they didn’t want to lose me.”

  “Who is your master?” Terak asked.

  “Don’t have one.”

  “Do not lie to me, creature. All of your kind has a master.”

  Simon shook his head as a teacher would at an unruly student. “I don’t lie. A necromancer created me, yes, but he is not my master. No one controls me.”

  “I have never heard of such a thing.”

  “Yes, well, weren’t you the one who said you never heard of anything like me before?” The zombie motioned toward Larissa. “Can the young woman come in now? I understand she has questions for me.”

  There was a poke in his ribs, no doubt from Larissa’s finger. She did indeed want to enter. With ill will he let her enter, but when she made a move to stand in front of him he held his arm to the side, not letting her any further than his side. Again she gave that small huff, but she stayed put.

  He might be willing to accept this was not a trap, but he would not let her nearer. No matter what the creature believed, a necromancer created him and a necromancer would always be master to him. “Why would a necromancer create one that had free will? It is counter to their interests.”

  The zombie shrugged. “I’m a man of science and I don’t know the intricacies of necromantic magic. My understanding is if they had imprinted me, I would have lost my genius and been useless to them.”

  “Then why are you not with your creator now?”

  “As my free will and my genius remained, so did my morality. I may be a zombie, but I am in all other ways still the human male who existed before the Great Collision.” He motioned to himself with a sweep of his arm down the front of his body, and for the first time Terak detected emotion, a flicker of disgust at what was beheld. “Do you think I want others to become this? The necromancers to win? No, not at all. I want them defeated.”

  “If they are defeated, you will cease to exist.” Cruel words, but truth. How would the zombie react?

  The creature took the news as calmly as one would a situation that peace had been made with long ago. “I should have died seven years ago. Even if I expire this moment, I’ve gotten more than my share.”

  Larissa’s hand touched Terak’s shoulder, giving his arm a small caress. “Do you know anything that can help me?”

  Simon shook his head. “I don’t know any specifics about you. I’ve been away from them too long. But I do know what their ultimate goal is, and with what Olivia has told me, I have to assume somehow you are mixed up in that.”

  “Ultimate goal? You mean beyond the usual of bringing death and mayhem wherever they go?”

  Simon’s face showed no response to Larissa’s attempt at levity. “They want to rip the Human Realm and the Magic Realm apart.”

  “Impossible,” Terak breathed, unable to stop his head from shaking, unable to stop his body from backing away even as the gasps from both Olivia and Larissa sounded in his ears. “You speak of the impossible. The realms are forever entwined. All the great mages have proclaimed it.”

  Simon’s eyes bore into his. “The realms can’t be separated in a way that won’t involve carnage and destruction on a scale unparalleled in the history of either realm. When has that ever been a deterrent to a necromancer?”

  Terak thought back to the First Council after the Great Collision, where various leaders came together to understand how to proceed. His father had journeyed forth against the advice of many in the Clan, bringing him and his mother. He remembered how one – an elf? – asked if it was possible the realms could ever be separated.

  The mage hesitated, then replied, “No spell is impossible, only the conditions that surround it.”

  It was double-speak at the time, a way to say no without appearing less powerful, and he and his father, as well as the cadre of leaders, paid no mind to those words. But if this creature was correct? He asked, “This separation of the realms? What would happen exactly?”

  Simon shook his head. “I don’t know any specifics. I know we are entering a short period of time where it will be possible to rip the realms apart – planets in alignment and other mystical happenings. If they are able to make this happen, the Human Realm will be destroyed while the Magic Realm will revert to the way it was before.”

  Larissa’s hand went to her throat. “The Human Realm will be destroyed?”

  Simon nodded. “Since the Human Realm is dominant, it would take the brunt of the destructive force and become the Realm sacrifice required. Anyone who was originally from the Human Realm would die with it. Those who have been born since the Great Collision it’s less clear. With as complex a spell as we are talking about, I doubt any magic user truly understands the full impact.”

  “And me? You think them coming after me is somehow related to this?” Larissa’s tone held the fear and uncertainty of a child who had lost sight of her family and was now alone amid a large, uncaring throng of adults. Anyone observing be damned. Terak took the step needed to be situated behind her and wrapped her in his arms, bringing her close to his body. She leaned back into him, her arms circling his own.

  If Simon took any special notice of the display he didn’t let on. Instead his attention turned back to his beakers, one of which looked to be on the verge of bubbling over. He went to it, saying over his shoulder, “I don’t see how you could be connected. There is nothing I’ve heard about you that makes me understand why they would pick you as a target. At the same time, this is what they have been planning for since the Realms first collided, and considering the effort and the risks they are taking to collect you, I see no other possibility that explains their interest.”

  In the thickness of the ensuing silence, only the zombie appeared to not be troubled by dark and heavy thoughts. Olivia shook off her own worries first, and she smiled at the zombie, small and trembling, but warmth still evident in it. “Thank you for seeing us, Simon.”

  “Anything for you.” It was the first spark of human feeling the zombie had exhibited, this response to the dark-haired woman. She was important to him, though in what way Terak could not fathom. Simon then turned to Larissa. “Young lady, I can’t press this upon you enough. If you are somehow connected to this, they will stop at nothing to get to you. This is all they exist for. They want their world the way it once was. They h
ate this new reality. They still have power, but not the complete domination and utter subservience they enjoyed in the other realm. They want it back, and will do anything to get it.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Back in the car, Terak watched as Larissa continued to absorb the information. She was pale, almost as pale as the abomination, and her arms were wrapped around her stomach as though it were the only way to keep herself from flying apart.

  Olivia looked into the rear view mirror. “Larissa? You okay, sweetie?”

  She was anything but okay, but the question brought some strength back to her. She straightened in the seat. “You know a zombie, Olivia. A sentient zombie.”

  Olivia’s eyes went back to the road. “I never planned for that. I kept getting introduced to more and more people, and the more people I talked to, the deeper I got sucked into the politics and the backstage goings-on. Believe me, right now I really wish I didn’t know so much. This shit with the necromancers…I could happily have lived in ignorance.”

  “Yeah,” Larissa said. She absently started to pick at her fingernails as she looked out the window.

  “Are we still friends?”

  Larissa’s head jerked at that statement. “Of course we are. You’ve stood behind me since all this started. Why would I leave you after you’ve put yourself in danger helping me?”

  Olivia’s shoulders relaxed at the sincerity in Larissa’s tone. “What are you going to tell your family?”

  Larissa shook her head. “I’m not quite sure where to go with this yet.”

  Olivia laughed, a harsh sound. “I got you. Right now I’m so messed up I can’t remember how to diagram a sentence. My kids are going to eat me up and spit me out.”

  “Jason Evans will be king for the day. I hope the school is still standing tomorrow.” Both women laughed, a call to move beyond fear and back to normalcy.

  After the laughter died down, Larissa breathed deep. “Thank you again for setting up this meeting. So please don’t think me ungrateful when I say I wish he had been a little more helpful. I’m still no closer to knowing why they are targeting me, and that’s what I was hoping to find out.”

  Olivia smiled, and Terak saw mischief in her features. “Well, if you weren’t here with a fine-looking man who happened to be in your bedroom at five in the morning, I would have said it was because you were a virgin.”

  “Olivia!”

  Larissa’s scandalized tone was barely heard over the sudden pounding in Terak’s ears.

  She was untouched?

  “I’m just saying…” Olivia didn’t even try to hide her smirk.

  “Well, don’t!”

  Yes, her father was protective, but from what he knew of humans, they did not reserve sexual intimacy solely for their mates. She was old enough that not having a lover would be unusual.

  Larissa refused to look at him, her face scarlet and muttering under her breath on how she would take revenge on Olivia.

  It was still early morning when they arrived back at her apartment, but late enough that she would have awoken already to get ready for her day. Larissa motioned toward the balcony. “Thank you for coming with me, but I need to get started-”

  “Is what Olivia said true?” he broke in, no finesse in his words. He needed to know, now.

  Her face flamed immediately, but Larissa pretended ignorance. “What are you talking about?”

  “Are you untouched?”

  Larissa turned to walk into her room. “My…sexual life…has nothing to do with what is occurring.”

  He came before her, not letting her escape into her bedroom. “You say that you can think of no reason why the necromancers are targeting you. There is no overt reason, but there is some reason. They have gone to extraordinary lengths to apprehend you. No possibility can be overlooked.”

  Larissa would not look him in the eye, instead tried to step around him. When she failed in her quest, she went still, looking down at the floor. Finally, she said, “Yes.”

  Yes. How could one small word have such power over him, delivering a punch greater than any enemy who ever came before him? He worked saliva into his now-dry mouth to speak, feigning a calmness his heartbeats would easily belie. “Why does this embarrass you?”

  She shrugged, still looking at the floor. “People usually don’t discuss their sexual history, or their complete lack thereof. And most people my age don’t have a complete lack thereof.”

  The defensiveness in her tone hurt something in him. He did not like her feeling she was inadequate in any way. “I do not know the ways of humans, but while virginity is not held sacred, most of my Clan do not engage in sexual acts with anyone before they take a mate.”

  That brought Larissa’s head up, her interest in the subject easily read on her face. “Really? Why is that?”

  “Vulnerability.”

  Larissa’s eyebrows creased. “I don’t understand.”

  “A gargoyle is vulnerable during intimacy. There would be no better time for an enemy to strike.”

  Her lips twisted, a smile that couldn’t quite form. “If that wasn’t so sad, there is a pithy comment in that statement.”

  He reached out and smoothed back her hair. “What statement?”

  “Your people have trust issues.”

  “I have never denied this.”

  She laughed a little, but her eyes widened, her lush mouth opening in surprise. “Wait. So does this mean you are…?”

  She let the question hang, but what she was asking was clear. “I have never had a lover. I am as you are.”

  “Oh.” She cleared her throat, her head once again hanging down, her gaze on the ground. Then without lifting her head, her eyes came back to his. “Valry?”

  “No.”

  Now her head lifted. “But you two are engag – I mean, Intended.”

  “Yes. It is my duty to mate with her. As the strongest female, she will protect the Clan well, and any young we have will have the strength to protect the Clan in the future.”

  Her eyebrows furrowed. “Wait, you don’t love Valry, but you’re going to marry her?”

  “I must do what is best for my Clan, and my Clan will prosper with Valry as my mate.”

  Larissa shook her head, though she seemed not aware of the movement. “You can’t be serious. Life isn’t worth living if you’re not with the one you love.”

  “Humans can live with such fanciful notions. As leader, I am allowed no such luxury.”

  “That’s bull!” The exclamation was a surprise, as was the finger that poked him in the chest. “I understand you are under pressures I can’t comprehend, but there is nothing strong or noble about picking a female you don’t love as your wife. It’s a cowardly way out.”

  “Cowardly?” He had never been described that way in his life. He was the leader of the greatest warriors of this realm, and this little human would call him a coward? “Watch your words.”

  “Oh, I am!” Her eyes were blazing, and in her anger she seemed to grow in size. “Only a coward would marry someone he doesn’t love. You know why? Because love is the ultimate vulnerability. It can put you on your knees and destroy parts of you that will never function again when it’s gone. A coward couldn’t handle that, so they would instead marry someone that could never happen with.”

  “What would you have me do? Would you have me defy tradition and the will of my people?”

  “Yes! Isn’t that the point of being here with me, to bring your people away from what they know to something better? Be with someone you love.” Her eyes were bright, shining with the ferocity of her belief while she spoke of love and cowardice.

  “You do not understand.”

  “Then make me understand. Make me understand why you would be with a female you don’t love when there is a female in front of you who…”

  She faltered, her hand going over her mouth and stopping any more words from coming forth.

  A female in front of him. A female who was warm and loving and b
rave and so damn desirable his teeth ached in want of her. “Make you understand, little human? How can I make you understand something that becomes less clear to me every time I am near you?”

  He picked her up by her waist, bringing her to eye level. Before the question in her eyes could translate to words, he leaned down, pressing his mouth to hers.

  Her lips were soft, as soft as he’d imagined those rare moments he was away from her. Even then, she was as much a part of him as when she was in his sight. There was never a moment he was free of her.

  She didn’t respond as he moved his lips over hers. Maybe this was not correct. It was perfect to him, but…

  Thought left as her mouth opened under his, pressing against him to push closer. Her tongue slipped past his lips, a tentative touch against his own.

  Her tongue was becoming bolder, tangling with his in long strokes. He raised one hand to grasp her hair, slanting her head so he could dive deeper into that warmth.

  Her arms wound around his shoulders, her own fingers digging into hair as her body writhed against him. Gods, that body, that soft, sensual body was draining the strength from his. He leaned her against the wall, bodies now tight together. Her chest was against his, her nipples such hard points he felt them through the cloth that separated their bodies.

  She moved against him with that sinuous grace he had seen so many nights from a distance, the movements slow and sensuous and reducing him to a mindless beast.

  He wanted her skin. He wanted her naked. He wanted his mouth on every inch of her – her breasts, her stomach, that valley between her thighs.

  Especially there. He wanted to live there. He wanted to wring every ounce of pleasure from her body, and once he did, he wanted to do it again. And again. And again.

  She pulled her mouth from his, her eyes wide and shocked as she looked down at him. She opened her mouth, closed it. Opened her mouth again, licked her lips, closed her mouth.

  He looked at her mouth and a vibration rolled through his chest. That mouth was far sweeter and softer than any dream had promised.