Arundia Returns

by Aya Walksfar

  I had stepped toward the dome when Kira’s last comment snagged my attention. Thoughtfully, I turned toward the healer. “Noxious fumes....” A thousand thoughts played at football pile-up in my brain, making it difficult to untangle branches of speculation. I stared at the healer for another long moment then swiveled toward Ri. “How close were those two panthers when they decided to breach this bubble?”

  “They stood next to the dome, offering prayers for the Elder’s safe journey to the Great Forest.”

  “For how long?”

  Ri pursed her lips, shrugged then glanced at the room guards.

  The taller one dipped his head in an abbreviated bow. “They prayed for two hours.”

  I stared at the dome. “It must be giving off some type of noxious fumes. Even lightning gives off an odor.” Finger against my lips, I watched the Energy bolts sizzle across the dome. “Whatever it was caused them to hallucinate that the Elder lived. It may have even increased their emotional state and made them frantic to save her.”

  “Ri, can you get some fans in here? Big ones? And bring me a length of wood that’s sturdy like a baseball bat? Maybe a couple of those pieces of wood?”

  “Sure.” She barked instructions to someone in the hall.

  Kira lightly touched my forearm with one finger. “What do you want me to do, Captain?”

  “I’d like for you to see what you can do for Ri’s panther.”

  Kira started away then turned. “What if you need me?”

  I had already headed for the far side of the bed. “I’ll have someone come and get you.”

  ****

  Fans kept a steady, hard breeze blowing over and around the dome, pushing the air out of the balcony doors to the left of the bed. Arms crossed over my chest, I continued to study the dome.

  Ri slanted a look at me. “You’re not going to touch that thing, are you?”

  Momentarily, I shifted my focus to Ri then back to the dome. “I manipulate Energy. I should be able to pull this Energy into me and release it slowly, like I do when I'm working my own magic.”

  “That should in your statement bothers me.” Ri glared at me.

  A grin flashed across my face. “It bothers me, too.” Arms dropping to my sides, I flexed my hands then jerked my chin toward the doorway. “You need to stand over there. If I get into trouble, use those wooden baseball bats to knock me loose.”

  “That’s what you wanted them for.”

  My brows rose. “You didn’t think I was trying to learn how to hit home runs, did you?”

  Ri ignored the snark as she stalked to the doorway. “You do realize that—even though she is ticked at you right now--Serena is going to drink me dry if you get killed.”

  “Guess I’d better not get killed then,” I muttered as I narrowed my focus to the dome and called Power to me. Energy gathered in my core. I needed the Energy that was my magic to connect with the Energy of the dome and reel it inside of me. It was the only way I could channel the Energy through me and release it to the universe.

  The bulky bandage on my right hand reminded me that pushing a large amount of Energy out and into Kira had pulled my body temperature dangerously low. Would pulling a large amount of Energy into myself push my body temperature dangerously high? Would it scorch me alive from the inside out? My pulse picked up speed. Concentrating, I breathed in and out slowly; regaining composure and control.

  Inhaling one last long, slow breath, I released it just as slowly while I forced my right hand--bandage and all--closer to the dome. Crackles of Energy tingled along my arm. I shuffled closer to the invisible barrier. Heat radiated from it. Had it radiated heat before the panther’s death? Irrelevant question. I kicked it aside.

  As soon as my right palm touched the dome, it felt like volcanic lava flushed through my veins. The bandage on my right hand instantly turned to ash. Instinctively, I tried to yank my hand away. The electrical field locked my skin tight against the barrier. Panic surged up my throat and cut my breathing off. My ears roared. Black spots danced in my field of vision. Breathe! I screamed silently.

  Finally, I sucked in a draught of scalding air. The air boiled my lungs, but the panic of suffocation retreated until it became a small, hard lump in my gut. I could deal with that. The agonizing heat rampaged up my arm and into my shoulder.

  Sweet Goddess, what if this heat hits my brain? I stomped that thought into submission. Think, Alexis! Think!

  A scream tried to rip from my throat as the burn became unbearable. I had barely enough control to clamp my lips against its escape. My shirt sleeves caught fire. They burned to ash so rapidly that the fire stopped at my elbows. Red blisters dotted my arm. The palm of my hand turned the color of new blood.

  Desperate, I reached deep inside and grasped the ball of Energy that lived there, the ball of my magic. The small globe pulsed with a mellow blue light. Focusing, I shoved my magic into my left hand.

  The inferno in my right arm and shoulder ramped up another few degrees. I gasped. Tendons strained in my throat, trying to keep the screams inside; if I failed, Ri would surely race in and try to rescue me, regardless of the consequences. I had to finish this. I couldn’t face this again. Lips clamped shut, jaw clenched, I swallowed the bellow of pain.

  The blue globe pulsed with a soothing coolness as I tightly grasped it. Eyes clenched shut, I Willed my left hand to move, to rub the pulsating globe along my right arm. As the globe drew closer to the agonized arm, an energy field slammed into my hand, forced it backwards so hard that my shoulder wrenched.

  Gathering my Will again, I focused on my left hand. Inch by excruciating inch, I pushed it closer to my right arm. Prepared for the negative energy field this time, I gritted my teeth with such violence that they creaked. I maintained the steady, inexorable pressure on the cool blue globe of my Energy.

  As my magic touched my arm, it adhered to the blistered skin. Incrementally, the coolness rippled out, soothed a wider and wider area. It climbed along the fiery veins, cooling as it traveled up my arm and into my shoulder. Finally, it oozed back down my arm, across my wrist and into my tortured hand.

  My magic melted into my skin, wrapped my reddened hand in a shining glove of bright, translucent blue that morphed gradually into a pale blue. The pale blue slowly turned a darker, deeper blue until it became the indigo of a late evening sky.

  The loud crackling of the dome fell to a quiet sizzle and then to silence. Blessed silence. My hand fell free. I dropped to my knees, the palms of my hands flat on the floor the only things propping me up. My head hung between my shoulders.

  Ri rushed over. “Are you all right?”

  With a great effort, I twisted my head around and looked up. “Yeah, just a little shaky.”

  “Your hand....”

  An indigo aura outlined my hand, pulsing to the beat of my heart. “Hope I don’t have to go through life with a blue hand,” I quipped. I reached out to use the edge of the mattress to clamber to my feet, but the smell of blood and vampire repelled me. “Give me a hand up?”

  Ri helped me up. Together we stared at the body of Elder Coahoma. When Ri reached out to touch the Elder, I snatched her hand back. “Let me check this out, but you need to go....”

  “Yeah, I know. Go stand in the doorway.” She stomped off like a rebellious teen exiled to her room.

  Cautiously, I placed the tip of one finger on the edge of the mattress. No zap of electricity. No fire engulfed my hand. I stretched my arm above the body of the Elder; waved it through the stale air. Slowly, respectfully, the tips of the fingers of my right hand traced down the Elder’s cold cheek. Sorrow ripped through me for the loss of a woman who had believed in me and had befriended me. I made my way over to the bedroom wall and slid down it. “It’s safe.”

  Every muscle I had, and some that I hadn’t known existed, ached. A dozen ruffians with jackhammers pounded inside my skull. The sounds of multiple pairs of feet scuffing through the room made my ears cringe. Nausea swamped me. I kept swallowing unt
il my stomach settled into an icky queasiness that didn’t threaten to bring up whatever was left of my earlier roast beef sandwich. The stench of rotted meat and fresh blood drifted on the stale air in spite of the fans.

  The dome had preserved the Elder as if she’d been killed only moments, instead of weeks, earlier. The blood hadn’t yet dried. Why did the air hold the stench of rotted meat?

  A whisper of cloth next to me popped my eyes open as Gregory eased to the floor. He sniffed and grimaced. “Vampire, blood, and carrion.”

  “Yeah, I was trying to figure that out. Vampire and blood I get, but rotted meat?”

  A disgusted look spread across Gregory’s face. “It is the undisguised odor of Pale Blood Magic.”

  I slanted a look at him. “Ick! Just...ick!” We sat in companionable silence until Kira arrived. She slumped on the floor on the other side of me.

  Rolling my head to the side, I asked, “How’s the panther?”

  She used the tail of her shirt and wiped the beaded sweat from her face. “Scarred, but alive.” A frown of concern gouged furrows across her forehead. “Her burns resisted healing. It felt...strange. Like I had to cut through wire mesh to get to the injuries.”

  I caught my lower lip between my teeth and considered Kira’s words. “The way the red lightning traveled across the invisible dome was almost like it traveled along some kind of power grid. Maybe...maybe when the panther was knocked off the dome, a small piece of the grid stuck to his body?”

  “Hmm. That’s as good an explanation as anything I came up with.” Kira relaxed against the wall. “I could use a big, juicy steak, a heap of mashed potatoes and a gallon of iced tea--unsweetened--followed by twelve hours of solid sleep.”

  “Don’t know about the sleep, but we can probably arrange the steak and potatoes; might even be able to arrange the iced tea,” Gregory said, his eyes on the panthers gathered around the bed.

  He shoved to his feet then held his hands out to Kira and me. When we latched on, he pulled us up. “Let’s say good-bye to Ri and head home.”

  “Yeah,” I rubbed the back of my neck, hoping to loosen some of the knotted muscles. “If we sleep fast, we may be able to get in a few hours before someone else tries to kill us.”

  Gregory harrumphed. “Don’t count on it.”

  Chapter 17

  Serena Longer

  I awoke to the soft feel of Ariel’s body spooned against my back. For a moment, I couldn’t think of where I might be. Eyes roaming over the room, it finally came to me: my office in the Admin Building of Phoenix Estate. The last thing I recalled was the cave under Alexis’ island. What was I doing down there? How did I get here?

  Ariel. Ariel had lured me into the cave beneath Alexis’ house. Lured? That sounds so...evil. How silly to use such a word in the same sentence as Ariel. Ariel had led me into the basement. Some kind of childish game? Goddess knows that the child hasn’t played since...well, a long while now. That must be it. She must’ve engaged me in some type of silly game and I followed her into the basement.

  A certainty bloomed in my mind. Ariel and I weren’t alone down there. Who else was there?

  Lieutenant Howitter was there and...and who else? Aretha...and Gregory, they were there, too. How strange. Why were they in the basement? Surely, they had not joined in a silly child’s game.

  No, they would not have been part of a game. Unease shivered through me. Why were they present?

  I cast my mind back, reached for the elusive, recent memories. Why is it so difficult for me to remember? Maybe I don’t want to remember. Why wouldn’t I want to? Maybe because it would cause me distress. No, that can’t be it. I am not a weakling who turns from the unpleasant.

  What if it would hurt me greatly? Wound me on some deep level? I refused to hide from unpleasantness, no matter how great. Determined, I tried unsuccessfully to force the memory into my conscious mind. Why would recalling my presence in Alexis’ basement upset me?

  Danger. There had been danger in the basement. The next thought occurred with a scary sureness--Ariel knew danger lurked in the basement. No, that can’t be. She would never have led me into the basement if she’d known danger waited. The child loves me. Unless....

  Maybe Ariel is angry with me; maybe she...hates me. After all, I wasn’t there to protect her when Arundia’s People kidnapped her. No, I was gone. Gone like I have been so often during her childhood--one responsibility or another calling me away. What child wouldn’t be angry at such an absent parent, especially after her father died? Ariel adored her father; and Hauk adored Ariel.

  Did something bad happen in the basement? I scrunched my brows as I strained for the memories. After a moment, my stomach clenched. Yes, yes something very bad happened. But...what?

  Lieutenant Howitter and Aretha and Gregory...it had to do with them and Artemis’ Warriors, but what?

  A dull throb pulsed behind my eyes. I closed them, hoping the distracting discomfort would ease. Instead, it began to pound harder.

  The danger I vaguely recall has to do with them, but how? In what way? Were they there to protect Ariel and me? My mind rejected that explanation without further exploration.

  Not there to protect...then why were they present? Mother’s words came to me--during times of danger the way to tell an enemy from a friend is a friend will be there to face the danger with you.

  They weren’t there to face the danger with me; they didn’t face the danger with me. If they were not there as friends, then were they present as enemies? Surely not! Gregory is my Childe. On the heels of that thought came another. Arundia was my Childe also.

  What does that have to do with Ariel?

  Ariel hates me. I was there for Ri, but not there to save my own daughter. Artemis’ Warriors saved her. The Warriors pledged their allegiance to my daughter; and during the time I was missing, Lieutenant Howitter became Regent. What if she wanted to remain Regent? Could Gregory tire of taking orders from a woman and dream of acquiring power beyond what our culture currently allows a male? Arundia did.

  A shudder wracked me. An old vampire saying coined during The Time of Hunting came back to haunt me. Beware of whom you trust for even those most beloved can be seduced away from you.

  I trembled.

  From the far corner of the room, Alexis said, “Serena, you’re awake!” She popped up from the chair and hurried over to the side of the bed. Leaning down, she planted a gentle kiss on my cheek.

  Unwillingly, I flinched. Emotions warred within me. What part did Alexis play? After all, Lieutenant Howitter is one of her Warriors.

  Alexis drew away with a puzzled frown. “Did I hurt you?”

  I shifted enough to look up at her and forced a small smile. The smile wavered and slid from my lips. “No. I...I just... didn’t expect the kiss.”

  Heat flushed Alexis’ pale face. “I'm sorry. I guess...” she shrugged and jammed her hands into the pockets of her jeans. “Wow, I can’t believe that you finally woke up. How are you feeling?” She busied herself with removing the IV lines.

  I watched her face and tried to gauge the emotions that flickered across the strong features. “I feel fine. Well rested. How long have I been sleeping?”

  Did I imagine that Alexis’ eyes darted away from mine even as she answered? “A few days. Hey, I’ll bet you’re starving. Why don’t we head to the kitchen and get a bite? We can talk after we eat.”

  The evasion didn’t pass unnoted. I needed time to think about this; time alone without anyone watching me. “I’d get up and come down, but...” I rolled my eyes to indicate the sleeping child behind me.

  Misinterpreting my reluctance--deliberately--Alexis said, “She’ll be safe.” With a jerk of her chin toward the room’s door, she grinned. “Nikki’s been parked right outside the door all night. She hates to let that child out of her sight for more than a few minutes. Those two have really bonded.” She walked over and held her hand down to me. “Come on. Everyone will want to see you and I'm sure Gregory has a million
things he needs to talk to you about.”

  Something in Alexis’ measuring look bothered me. Did I dare trust my child with one of Alexis’ Warriors? Indecision gnawed on my mind. Finally, the emptiness of my stomach won out. Pretending not to see Alexis’ hand, I slipped from the bed and donned a thick bathrobe.

  As I stepped out into the hall, Lieutenant Howitter slipped past me and into the room. She grabbed the chair where Alexis had been sitting and settled it near the bed then slouched into it. I glanced once more at the Warrior then thrust my shoulders back and headed down the hall.

  Weakness made my legs feel wobbly. I just need some blood. Fresh blood. My canines elongated so quickly that one nicked my lower lip just as a wanton started to pass me in the narrow corridor.

  Blood lust roared through me and hunger propelled my body into the woman.

  “No!” Alexis leapt at me, but with a sideways swipe of my arm, I batted the Magic User aside. I buried my fangs into the neck of my struggling prey. The woman slid down the wall. I followed her down, barely registering the wanton’s hands pushing against my shoulders. Her struggles weakened with every pull of my mouth. Soon, the hands fell away and hung loosely by the woman’s sides.

  “Serena!” From the corner of my eye, I saw Gregory bound up the stairs.

  A growl rumbled low in my throat, an apex predator warning an intruder away from her feast.

  He ripped me away from the pinned wanton and tossed me to one side. I bounced off the wall and slid to the floor of the corridor then bounded back up on my feet. Crouched low in the dim hall, I snarled at him. “How dare you intrude on your Mistress feeding.”

  “Great Goddess, Serena, you would have drained her,” Gregory kept his voice low and even.

  The pounding of vampire feet snagged my attention. Slowly, I straightened up just as several Guardians bolted up the stairs and froze to a halt at the top of the staircase. They would have had to be nose-blind to miss the scents of feeding and anger. The way their eyes darted from me to Gregory and then back to me, I knew they read the tension of the situation.