“No worries,” Chex frankly says, although there’s a violent intention behind that look in his eyes. “I’ll send her back to where she belongs, sooner or later.” He’s flashing teeth. I haven’t seen that expression from him in a while. He’s definitely emotionally invested in Gia Scoralini’s demise. And I do have questions, but at the moment I relish in the satisfaction of, for once, seeing Na’ta look at the Selell who I love with a glint of appreciation in her eyes.
“So he wanted you to free Gia and force us to retrieve the Scepter of Gant,” I ponder aloud, trying to put together the pieces of this extraordinary puzzle Lario Exgesis has created. “If he is bonded to me then he knows that your predicament with Telman isn’t enough to force me to simply hand the scepter over to him.”
“True.” Na’ta pulls her eyebrows together as she contemplates. “He has Telman. I’ll do whatever it takes to save him. But…” she studies Chex and then sets her eyes on me, “… Adore, are you doubled-bonded?”
I grimace, wondering why she would ask that.
“What would you do for Chex? Would you go against your ethics? Would you strengthen the evil? Would you free the likes of Gia Scoralini to save him?”
I hesitate to think, although I must admit that my new circumstances have me confused about what I’m inclined to do, or not do, for Chex. “Is she evil?” I say with a certain amount of prudence.
“She’s crafty as hell,” he replies. “She’s where she belongs.” He’s visibly agitated by Na’ta’s line of questioning and is losing patience as time passes.
I look from Na’ta, to Magnificent Star, and then settle on Chex’s face. I close my eyes to sigh gravely. “Yes,” I’m led to admit. “If I were uncertain about his safety, then, yes, I would do what I must to release Gia Scoralini back onto the Earth, even if she is crafty.”
In a flash, Chex curls a hand around my waist and draws me into him. I’m staring into his incensed eyes. “That was a hypothetical. In real life, don’t ever do that,” he growls through clenched teeth. “There’s no way Exgesis or his fucking scallywags can get their hands on me, here or on Earth. So there’ll be no freeing of me.”
It’s clear he finds the mere thought of needing to be rescued by me insulting. Yet, I am not offended. I have determined that Chex is a being who’s never depended on anyone but himself. He believes there is no force stronger than himself, and if there is one, he will die happily by its hand rather than be subdued by it.
I’m still studying him askance as my thoughts return to what Na’ta first asked. “A double bond,” I muse. That will certainly explain the powerful feelings I have for him, and, I sadly admit, for Lario Exgesis—still.
“It’s almost time to enter Ol,” Magnificent Star says to regain our attention. She looks out into the dark which right before our eyes transforms into murky daylight. “This is the east of Tetra.”
“But how could that be?” I ask, gaping at a sun hanging high in the sky. “Tetra doesn’t have a sun.”
“It’s the Earth’s sun,” she replies. “It was brought there by the power of the daughters of Benel.”
I remember what Lario Exgesis told me, that the sun had disappeared from the Earth but he didn’t tell me where it had gone.
“But why was it brought here?”
“Unfortunately, I do not know the answer; but, when it appeared in Tetra, so did the vampires.”
Chex steps up next to me. His eyes, like Na’ta’s and mine, are pinned to the miserable Selells that are being battered by the elements. It seems the wind is too strong for them to stand in and the air is too hot to breathe. They are not souls like the deceased Selells. They still have flesh and bone.
“Those are second generation vampires. Last I heard your sisters got rid of them.” He takes a pause. “So this is how they ended up,” he says as if that is the answer to a question he’s been longing to know. “Not dead.” He sounds disappointed.
“But why the sun? I don’t understand why Cl’auta would call the sun from the Earth and send it to Tetra?” I know it was her decision to do this. She has the full power of the mind. There has to be a reason why Cl’auta did this. And this also explains why she did not answer when I called. Is she in distress? Is the Earth in distress? I turn to Chex. “You said second generation vampires. What do you mean by that?”
“When Exgesis started making vampires after he was turned back from being a human,” Chex snarls, “He started making a type that could suck a human’s soul out of them. But here’s the deal -” He pauses to feel the gravity of what he’s about to reveal, “- you kill one of them and Lario Exgesis gets their life.”
“What the hell do you mean by gets their life?” Na’ta asks.
“You kill him, he comes back to life.” He points his chin at the vampires. “Because somehow their lives are attached to him. At least that’s how it used to be. I’m not sure if it’s the same if they’re in Tetra.”
And then I’m struck by illumination. “The leaf,” I sigh with dread, remembering. “Falu fed him the leaf from the Tree of Life.”
My heart is heavy. Lario Exgesis has used his powers to perform the ultimate act of evil—he has taken what was made of God and has transformed it to serve himself. It’s for this reason my time has come. Only I, Adore, his bond, can punish Lario Exgesis for what he has done. And I know what I must do. Lario Exgesis actions have determined his fate.
“I need to find him,” I say through my own clenched teeth. I am angry—angrier than I have ever been in my existence.
“You will find him, but first: the scepter,” Magnificent Star reminds us. There’s a sense of urgency in her tone.
She’s right of course. I mustn’t allow my emotions to steer me away from what’s important, and that is retrieving the Scepter of Gant and returning it to its rightful owners, whoever they may be. One thing is for certain; we, the daughters of Felix Benel, cannot keep it unless the Mtknv gives it to us.
“The Earth’s sun will also follow you into Ol and Tetra will once again be dark. That means Ol will be light and you’ll have sixteen minutes to get inside of the Tarantula and take the Scepter before all of Ol pursues you. You will not be able to survive that kind of an attack. You’ll have to hurry; get in and get out.” She directs her attention to Na’ta, “You’ll have to carry Na’ta to the Tarantula.” Now she puts her eyes back on me. “Adore, use the medallion to open the door. But you’ll need the light in your sight to find the keyhole. It will be on the claw of the front right leg of the Tarantula.”
“Wait,” Chex cuts in. “She’s obviously faster than I am,” he says, meaning Na’ta. “How long will it take me to get there on my own?”
“You’ll never make it,” Magnificent Star replies casually.
Chex moves close behind me as if he’s on the verge of forcibly seizing me. “Then she’s not going. Not without me.” He throws up a hand, halting Na’ta before she can object. “I know… She doesn’t need me. She has you. But I can’t let her go without me. It’s as simple as that.”
“Not your choice,” Na’ta snaps.
“Is my choice,” he insists. “And it’s no.”
“Okay,” Magnificent Star says loudly enough to command our full attention. She’s turning weary of the back and forth between Na’ta and Chex. “You all must agree. Therefore I can present another option.”
“Then what is it?” Chex barks. He still has a tight hold on me.
“You can retrieve Telman first and he can carry you into Ol alongside Navi.”
“You have no objections to that, do you?” Chex asks, glaring at Na’ta.
She scowls at him but voices no objection. On the contrary, she is eager to hear what Magnificent Star has to say and is relieved that circumstances will give her what she wanted all along, sooner rather than later—she’ll have her Selell back.
Now that that is settled, Magnificent Star walks quickly across the floor. We all watch eagerly as the wires reattach to her head. “I was able to follow them
this far.”
“Them? Chex asks. “Who are the them you’re referring to?”
At first, Magnificent Star takes a curious glance at Chex and then she taps the pillar and says, “They’re here.”
Chex touches me on the hip before he releases me to stride over to see what she’s showing him. His stance is strong, confident as he glowers over Magnificent Star’s shoulders. “Where was the last place you saw them?”
Magnificent Star’s fingers tap the screen three times. When she looks up, Tetra has transformed into an Earth city. I know it to be so because the headlights of motor vehicles blur in the incessant downpour of rain. And humans dwarfed by cement, stone, and glass buildings slog up and down the wet sidewalks holding fanned out umbrellas while hugged by their big coats.
“Here—Boston, Massachusetts. There were four of them and they were dragging him past the second stoplight, east,” she says to be exact.
“And then what happened? How did you lose them?” Na’ta asks. Her level of anxiety is heightened.
“Time expired. Time,” she sighs gravely, “It’s the hub’s single flaw. I’m only able to hold a space for nine Earth minutes and after that the gateway closes and I can’t reopen it for eighteen minutes. When I returned, I was unable to locate them.”
“Humph,” Chex grunts and glares out at the entire setting, absorbing the cityscape one increment at a time. He’s proficient in his study, gazing into the high windows and making a trail with his eyes downward, past the street, and into the depths of the earth. Then he looks at me with a satisfied grin and the lift of an eyebrow. “I know where they are,” he declares.
“You have seven minutes, thirty-seven seconds to reach him,” Magnificent Star says, but it sounds as if she’s posing a question.
“Fair enough.” He separates his index and middle finger to point at Na’ta and me. “But you two - stay here.”
“No,” Na’ta says. Her tone is blunt and defiant.
“Yes—you will,” Chex insists past clenched teeth. “If we had the option to fight all day, then you could come along for the fun of it. Your blood and a vampire’s den don’t mix. Your coming will be the difference between a scuffle and a war.”
“Shit,” Na’ta sighs. “You’re right.”
Chex doesn’t take a moment to gloat. Perhaps Na’ta admitting that she’s wrong and someone else is right doesn’t have the same impact on him as it does on me. Instead he looks to Magnificent Star and asks, “I just cross that line and I’m there, in Boston?”
She nods, “Yes.”
“I’m going to spend five seconds for this…” Suddenly I’m securely in his embrace and the familiar taste of his warm tongue caresses mine.
I count, du, dut, duk, du’hi, du’jek, du’te’tu… My head is spinning. The way he tastes is insanely delicious - du’ rem’sek- not in five but in seven seconds he’s gone.
We are able to watch as he strides with the confidence of a supreme predator. There aren’t very many humans out and about, but they are certainly mindful of his nearness. At first, passersby cast their eyes on his remarkable physique but the longer they look, and they have to look because there’s no turning away, their instincts send a warning, causing some to shudder away from his nearness and others to tear their eyes off of the splendor that he is, lower their gaze, and hustle past him. But me, I can’t take my eyes off of him; I am mesmerized by his prowess.
With one hand, Chex lifts himself up over a high black iron gate. That was graceful, and the hub is able to keep a clear eye on him as he swiftly moves down the tight opening between the two stone buildings.
At the end of the path he lifts up a square cement slab and bounds feet first into a cavity in the ground. He’s composed as he freefalls, his arms crossed against his chest, and when he lands it’s gently, on his toes.
I turn my wide expression on Na’ta. She’s clearly not as impressed as I am. Her stern eyes are fastened on Chex. Her expression is pensive. I can tell that she’s anxious to catch sight of Telman.
There’s a Selell leaning against a door at the end of the corridor Chex is stomping down. It’s a female who has cropped straw-colored hair and she’s smoking an object called a cigarette. Before she can fully rotate her head to see him, he’s right in front of her with his hand clamped around her neck. Her lips part and her eyes widen in horror. Only now do I see what his other hand did—he stabbed her in the heart, withdrew the blade and is slyly stuffing it back inside of his black coat as the Selell collapses to the cement floor.
Without taking a pause or creating a stir, he pushes the door open. He immediately spreads his arms and with a flick of his thumb releases objects out of his hands. Then he swiftly discharges daggers which fly quickly but smoothly through the air. My eyes can hardly keep up with him, but two tiny objects hit two Selells on opposite sides of the room, both in the chest, and the daggers, four in total, have sliced the heads clean off of four other Selells. One is left standing and Chex has him pinned against the wall with a forearm against his chest and the tip of the dagger aimed at his neck.
“You’re human,” Chex growls.
It’s a male and he is so frightened that he can only nod frantically in reply.
“What are you? A mule or…” Then Chex takes a sniff. He turns to look over his shoulder at a table that holds blue powder, glass jugs of liquid, scales, and a sleek mechanized apparatus. “Shit. You’re making zombies?” He sounds disgusted by that.
The guy just gulps. He’s visibly shaking.
“I should kill you,” Chex declares as he tightens his grip on the human’s neck. The man struggles to breathe. My heart is thumping out of my chest. I don’t want him to kill the human. That would be iniquitous.
“He should kill him,” Na’ta mutters. I whip my face around to assess her and she’s looking on, wearing an impressed sneer.
How could she feel such a thing? Isn’t it against our nature to crave the death of another? But then I remember Cl’auta and how she desires the death of Lario Exgesis. Either my sisters have developed a trait that I do not possess or they have lost a sensibility I still have.
“But I’m not going to,” Chex says and I sigh with relief. “I’ll see you soon” are Chex’s last words to the human before he loses consciousness and collapses to the floor.
As he stands over the human, Chex quickly turns to face another door. His eyes are focused on the metal door as if he can see through it. He waits. Suddenly the door opens, revealing a Selell, and Chex hits him in the heart with one of the tiny objects. Just for a moment, I take my eyes off of Chex to study the face of the dead Selell lying by his feet. His skin has turned thin and chalky and clings to the bones of his face. The creature has aged many, many years since his death just seconds ago.
Chex is now skulking down a slanted hallway, making his way deeper into the Earth.
“He has two minutes,” Magnificent Star announces and I can hear the tension in her voice.
Suddenly, Chex spins around on his heels and two, then four, then six daggers spin down the corridor, slicing the heads off of their intended targets.
“Holy shit,” Na’ta mutters, even more impressed than before.
Killing does come quite naturally to Chex. I’m not sure how I feel about it. I will not allow myself to judge him as a barbarian. His actions are necessary. But why can’t all universes and their creatures exist in peace like in Enu?
He turns down another corner, but there’s no long hallway, only a short one, and this time Chex uses the heel of his boot to knock a door down. It’s clear he’s no longer concerned with how much noise he’s making.
Suddenly the space beside me feels empty: Na’ta is no longer standing beside me. When I spot her in the room with Chex, I’m slammed by a host of emotions. I’m angry, afraid, hopeful, but mostly anxious. I can never count on her to follow the plan—she does what she wants, when she wants, and without considering the repercussions.
The room is far from empty. There are crea
tures with sharp teeth, pointy ears, rubbery gray skin. They aren’t human but they have legs and arms, and the physical builds of humans. I gasp and press a hand against my heart when my eyes find Telman, lying on top of a thin, wooden platform. One of those strange creatures is sinking its teeth into one side of his neck and another has its teeth in the inside of his thigh. However, Telman is not the only Selell they’re feeding on. There are lots of them and now that Na’ta is there not only are the rodent-like creatures riled up, but so are the weakened Selells. And, Chex isn’t happy to see her either.
For one long second, all eyes in the room focus intensely on her. The smell of her blood fuels their thirst. Then, all at once, almost every creature present - all but Telman and Chex - make haste to pounce on her. But she’s quick and itching to get in on the fight. All that I’m able to see of her is the glare of a long blade she’s wielding, slicing through the room. The creatures have gone insane in their quest to seize her, and with so much vigor, they’re racing right into what is a certain death.
More Selells race into the dingy space. It seems as if Chex and Na’ta are engaged in an endless battle with Selells because the rodent-like human creatures are all dead. What a morbid sight - their bleeding bodies are wasted on the concrete.
I locate Telman and he’s so weak that he’s crawling over the dead, heading toward the opened door. He doesn’t know that he’s being rescued. Then the worst happens and I wish my eyes were deceiving me. A Selell has caught Na’ta in his grasp. He’s twice her size and his teeth are deep in her neck. Then another Selell kicks the first one in the head and tears Na’ta out of his arms. Now a new set of teeth are in her neck. She’s wobbling, dazed and Chex is too preoccupied to get to her fast enough. When two Selells swipe Telman up off the ground in efforts to seize him, I know what I must do next.
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