“Thirty seconds,” Magnificent Star announces. She’s looking at me nervously because, like me, she can see that they’re not going to cross over any time soon and in twenty seconds my sister and Chex will be trapped. Even a warrior like Chex can’t fight his way past all of those thirsty Selells who feverishly crave Na’ta’s blood.
One second passes before I cross the line that separates Dag from the Earth. I immediately discharge the light, aiming one palm at the Selell that has Na’ta and the other at the two who are trying to push past the rabid Selells in an attempt to carry Telman away.
The effect of the light is immediate. My marks go stiff and drop my sister and her Selell.
“Ad’ru, get the hell out!” I hear Chex shout. He’s near me as I fill the room with light.
Every thirsty Selell falls to its knees, shrieking with its hands smashed against its eyes. I’m quite shocked by the way the i’lek’u affects them. But we’re not out of jeopardy because an uncountable number of them bang on the walls outside of the room and clamor over each other, trying to cross the threshold, only to be halted by the light.
I can tell that Chex is steaming mad as he takes hold of Telman up and I sweep Na’ta into my arms; we race to reach the slash of light that’s diminishing by the seconds.
We tumble to the floor and Magnificent Star lets out a deep sigh of relief as she slumps over and grabs her knees. “You scared me,” she wheezes.
All four of us have made it back. However, there is no way Na’ta and Telman are fit to go into Ol at this moment. Essentially our plans have been thwarted.
Chapter 10
Bumps on the Road
“What the hell is wrong with your sister?” Chex barks so loudly that his voice echoes through the high halls.
He has been pacing up and down the pristine floor for a while now. We end up at the Cure Pod anyway. It’s very clinical, like a hospital. The only reason I can make the reference is because Pan’a’tua once ended up in one and Father had to explain to me why she was there and why it was best that she remained within its confines.
We’re both standing outside of the door of the room where Na’ta and Telman are being kept. I insisted that they not be separated. It’s best they are together as they’ll draw strength from each other.
“I told her what would happen, didn’t I?” Chex eyes are ablaze. I think he’s waiting for me to respond.
“Chex,” I touch him on the arm and he recoils. I frown, confused as to why he would pull away from my touch.
“And you let her get away with bloody murder!” he shouts. “I need some air,” he spits before he stomps off down the long hallway. Without looking back at me, he touches the yellow strip, steps into an elevator and, when the door slides down, he’s out of my sight.
I don’t understand why he’s so angry with me. I close my eyes and focus on my sister and her Selell. Chex is well; they are not. The reason why Pan’a’tua recovered in the hospital is because Father attended to her there on Earth. I know for certain that their Cure Pods will have no affect on Na’ta.
When I walk into the room, she’s lying on top of a table, completely nude under a white sheet. Telman is lying beside her and he’s also naked under the sheet. I walk over to touch Na’ta’s forehead. She’s warm.
“My Ad’ru,” I hear; I know the voice and I instantly catch a breath. And when his hand touches my shoulder, I take it and hold on for dear life.
“Father,” I breathlessly whisper. It’s him!
“I am sorry for letting the Selell deceive you,” he says and then kisses the back of my hand. He gazes down at Na’ta and then brushes the side of her cheek with his free hand, spreading flakes of light across her face.
All of a sudden, the blush returns to her cheeks and she opens her eyes. It’s Father’s face she sees first, then mine.
“Shit…” she curses unfiltered and leaps to her feet.
“Navi,” he says in a way that signals that he’s going to reprimand her. “You have put universes in jeopardy by being selfish. Look at me.” He demands.
She shamefully lifts her face to look him square in the eyes.
“You have no more chances. Do you understand?” He mutters in anger.
She gazes down at the floor again and nods stiffly.
“Now go. Let the Selell draw strength from you. He’ll wake up when he catches the scent of your blood. Let him drink and then all of you return to eat from the fruit of Naught.”
Then he turns his pointed glare on me. “Find your Selell and speak to him Ad’ru,” he demands.
“Speak to him about what?” I’m confused about what sort of conversation Chex and I should have that Father would deem so important.
He doesn’t look so angry. “About how he feels Ad’ru.” His gaze moves between Na’ta and me. “You both are on the verge of failing. Even the flowers grow daughters and so must you.” He slices the air with his hand and there at his beck and call is a portal. “The Scepter of Gant - I want it in your possession. Do you understand?”
“Even if it doesn’t belong to us?” I ask.
“It does belong to you.”
“Not if we steal it from the Mtknv.”
“Then don’t.”
Na’ta and I are motionless as we watch him disappear through the portal. We remain in silence for a while.
“Is Chex angry with me?” she finally asks. I nod.
She sighs gravely and shakes her head. “He should be. I screwed up.” She looks over at Telman. Her voice cracks as she says, “We almost lost him.”
We both study him. He doesn’t look the same, lying there with his eyes closed and skin deathly pale. When he’s awake and vibrant, his eyes are pale blue, lighter than the Enuian sky, and his mouth is very red. Unlike Chex, Telman has a softer appearance. But now he just looks—empty.
I watch as Na’ta slides off the table and walks to his bedside. She slowly bends over to kiss his lower lip as she smoothes his light brown hair with her hand.
“Telman, wake up,” she gently whispers, “It’s me.” She slides her neck on his lips. “Drink. It’s me…”
I’m caught in curiosity as Telman begins to stir. His fangs slowly grow. Na’ta pushes her neck against their sharpness. I jump with a gasp when they pierce her skin. This is the first time I’ve seen the bond drink from a lifeblood. Not until recently have I even learned that this was even possible.
He’s taken her by the hair and flipped himself on top of her. They’re both on the tabletop and she’s breathing heavily. I recognize the sounds they are making—the same noises that Chex and I made when we were making love. I cannot watch Na’ta engage in such an act and so I turn my back on them and speed out of the door as fast as my Enuian and celestial parts can carry me.
Once I’m in the hallway, I feel relieved to have escaped Na’ta and Telman’s moment of passion, but there is still no sign of Chex. I remember what Father advised me to do. I must find him, although I am content to let him resolve his own dilemma. Surely that would be my wisest decision.
I adhere to father’s counsel, however. I’m easily able to find Chex as he’s made his way back to Father’s dorm. When I enter through the wide-open window, he’s sitting on the strange energy-molded sofa. He looks like a foreign object in the room, sitting there rigid and grim-faced.
He rises to his feet and parts his lips as if to speak, but he doesn’t.
“I don’t understand why you’re angry with me,” I confess, thinking that’s the best place to start.
“What I did, what do you think about it?”
“The killing?” I ask.
He snorts cynically. “No clarification needed.”
“I don’t think anything,” I say after gauging my feelings.
“Sure you do!” he roars.
“I do not purport to tell you how you feel and you should not do the same to me.”
“See that,” he says, aiming a finger at me. “You’re like a robot. You can turn yourself off and on,
and shit, Ad’ru, I can’t live like that!”
“I’m sorry, Chex, but your words are not cohesive. At first you believe that I’m offended because you feel I’ve judged you for killing and now you’re upset because I’m dispassionate. And both of your accusations are wrong.”
We stand silently looking at each other, assessing each other. I’m still unable to figure out what is troubling him so.
Then he asks, “If I was to go to the hub, tell Magnificent Star to get me the hell out of here, how would you feel about that?”
“Upset, hurt…” I answer.
“Yeah, but for how long?”
In this moment of pause, I finally understand his point, as well as my Father’s. It’s the part of me that has, over the passing of time, urged my sisters to forsake their lives on Earth and the humans and Selells that they’ve grown to care for in order to remain in Enu.
I walk over to him and take one of his hands into mine. “Chex,” I say gently, “It is not that I wouldn’t miss you and think of you during every moment under the Enu sun.” I freely smooth a finger along his lower lip. “It is not that I wouldn’t crave your kiss, your touch, your body against mine, or to hear your voice; but if you are happier away from me, well then so be it.”
“And what about the killing?” he breathes; there’s desperation in his voice.
“I know that you are a warrior of the blood of Gogulon,” I clarify. “The power to judge is a heavy burden to carry, and it’s not mine or yours or any being’s, only the Creator’s.”
I think he mutters the F-word before he smashes his lips against mine. He’s no longer angry with me and apparently I’ve said all the right things because his man part has grown firm against me.
“I’m never going to leave you Ad’ru,” his warm words whisper against my lips. “I want you to know,” he starts with his eyes closed, breaths heavy, and forehead pressed against mine, “I will kill Exgesis, even against your wishes, if he tries to take you away from me.”
I don’t tell him what I already know. It’s too risky. The truth is, when I’m done with Lario Exgesis, he will no longer be a threat to our bond. And so I was not completely truthful with Chex. Lario Exgesis is the one creature I will pronounce judgment upon.
Chex’s lips, tongue, and sharp fangs ride up and down the side of my neck. He is a full-on Selell. My instinct is pleading with me to allow him to drink from me; or perhaps it could be my curiosity. I can’t get the sight of Telman sinking his teeth into Na’ta out of my head or the fact that my father encouraged it.
“Do you thirst for me?” I whisper, reeling from the tickle of his mouth.
“In more ways than one.” He consumes my earlobe and I release an unrestrained gasp.
“Do you want my blood?”
All of sudden he stops and looks me in the eyes. The expression on his face asks me if I mean what I ask.
I nod.
“Yes,” he can only barely say. “Very much.”
“Then take it.”
“Can I take all of you?”
“Take all of me,” I sigh and close my eyes, bracing myself for his bite.
There’s a slight prick but the rest is like sliding down the Ancient Falls of Enu. My stomach drops. My head is giddy. I’m being lowered onto the sofa and one of his hands is inside my pants and his fingers slide up and down my female parts. Once he finds that one spot he so expertly searched out and conquered, he circles it. I’m experiencing so many sensations at the moment, and they are all powerful and unrelenting.
I can feel my lips part and hear myself moan and cry, trying to endure the blasts of pleasure. Chex throws his head back and bellows the loudest growl I have ever heard. And I see traces of my blood stained on his teeth.
“Now I’m going to fuck you,” he announces gruffly.
Before I know it, my pants are off. He’s standing and holding me against him, shifting my hips back and forth as his erection slides in and out of me. There’s something wild about how he’s doing it to me this time. He’s grunting, even when his mouth finds mine. This is the real Chex, brazen, brash, and unrepressed. So different from myself, but this is the way I prefer him: “fucking” me instead of “making love” to me. And after he expends a second very loud chain of growls, he wraps his arms tight around me, squeezing me close to him.
“Now that we got that out of the way,” he says, lightening the mood. “About those bat people… Where the hell did they come from?”
I chuckle into his strong neck while still holding on tightly to him.
***
Navi
I thought I would never hear that sound this soon. Telman is growling. He’s consumed enough of me and he’s released himself. Sex is always a pleasurable experience, but I can live without it. It sucks up too much time and Telman usually agrees.
“You found me,” is the first thing he whispers.
“We,” I clarify. “Ad’ru and that vamp Chex.”
Now that gets him up and going. He’s standing on his feet. “Where are my clothes?” He’s using his speed to whip his face around. “Why the hell am I naked anyway?”
“Calm down, vamp,” I say, “We’re in Dag and to them naked is natural,” I look over my shoulder in the general direction that anybody, somebody might be. “Hell, they probably burned our clothes for all I know.”
Telman sniffs, smirking as he latches on to my arm and pulls me to him. I slam into his chest and his tongue is deep in my mouth, almost down my throat—where I like it.
“That took my breath away,” he wheezes. “You know what I want to do, Navi,” he chuckles a little, “But, you mentioned Chex, and that’s a dangerous vampire there. What the hell is he doing here?”
I can hardly contain myself. Finally I get to tell someone who will know that we hit jackpot.
“Get this,” I begin and nuzzle up closer to him. I’m smiling, hard. I can feel my mouth pulling into two directions. “He’s Adore’s bond.”
I must see his face and, just as I predicted, he’s speechless.
“Oh, and I’m not done.” I brace myself to tell him this. “So is Exgesis. He’s her fucking bond too!”
His amused smirk diminishes into a hard line. I also predicted this reaction.
“Too bad because he’s dead.”
“Ha,” I grunt. “I don’t know if we’re first or last in line for that.”
“What will Adore think about it?”
I sigh because I care. I’ve disappointed her enough in my lifetime and after the last screw up, as the vamps used me like a ragdoll, I promised that if I got out alive I would never do it again. I meant it.
“She’s going to have to agree.”
“Not going to happen.” Telman sounds like he has no doubt about that. “Wait. Has she ever even met Exgesis? Hell! Or Chex?”
“Yeah,” I breathe, grinning and nodding my head, pleased by the irony of the situation. “She’s not in Enu anymore. She’s here.”
His thumb flicks my lower lip. “The sneer. It’s sexy.”
“Stop, Telman.” I’m blushing. “Come on, we’re talking shop.”
He cocks his head to one side. “Navi, you come on… Is it going to be this bed or does your father have a stash here in Dag.”
“You know him so well,” I say, beaming at him because, holy shit!, does that turn me on!
We don’t have time for sex, but in this case…screw it. “Let’s go.”
He follows me down the hallway, out the window, across the skyline of the floating city, and into my father’s dorm. I’m hot for him but I go cold as soon as I see the blue pants crumpled on the floor at the foot of the couch.
“Shit!” I grumble.
“What?” Telman breathes heavily behind me, feeling me up. His hand is running up and down my crotch.
“Ad’ru!” I shout as loud as I can. “Ad’ru!” this time I call louder. I’m shaking.
“What’s going on?” Telman is still confused as hell.
I throw my ha
nds up and say frankly, “They’re fucking again. I mean, how many times is he going to do her?” I break away from his grasp. “I like that we have Vestop Mallotnis on our side but hell!, why can’t he keep his hands off my sister?”
“What did you call me?” It’s Chex with only his pants on, standing behind Adore, holding the bed sheet around her. He looks genuinely conflicted. “I assume, you mean that I can’t keep my hands off Ad’ru, but Vestop Mallotnis….”
“You don’t remember your name?” I ask him.
“I remember my name, it’s Chex. But how do you know me as Vestop Mallotnis?” He’s glaring at us like he wants to slice our heads off with his daggers.
“I know things; that’s all,” I say.
He sighs hard and frustration colors his expression. But Adore gazes up at him and slides a hand through his hair. He rests his forehead on hers. She’s tender with him and finally I see—it’s too late. She loves that dangerous vamp. What a contrast they are.
***
Adore
We’ve dressed ourselves and now Chex and Telman join Na’ta and me at the table in a room exposed to Dag’s new dawn. It’s as if we’re mingling with a purple and orange sky. The air is fresh and cool. We are all eating from the Forest of Naught; yes, even the Selells.
“Lario Exgesis took memories from Falu also. I wanted to tell her everything about herself, but Father said no, that she’d find out in due time,” I say, lending to the conversation.
“And what about Ben Artiste?” Na’ta glances at Telman for acquiescence. “For all we know he fell off the face of the Earth.”
I’m perplexed and it shows on my face. “How can you fall off the Earth? It’s not possible.”
The way she sighs signals that I’m once again behaving as if I am new. “It’s a figure of speech Adore. It means that he can’t be found.”
Chex smirks at me and I bashfully look down at my plate of sliced ci’ke and ton’rek fruit. He lifts my chin as he always does and gazes in my eyes. It feels like time is standing still. There’s a thought behind the way he’s beholding me but it’s not lust. “He’s on the Earth,” he announces and then tears his eyes away from my face to look at Telman. “He was with Ze Feldis and Elo when I outfitted them with mercury. It was the fastest way of killing a second generation vampire, short of slicing their heads off.”
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