Deviation: Altera Realm Trilogy Book 2

by Jennifer Collins

  “‘The moon was high in the sky as Lestra crept from her family’s home. She knew it was against the rules to be out so late at night, but Pheral’s magnetic force called to her even though she was so far away.’”

  As Gabe read from the book, his voice soothed her nerves, even with the underlying tone of annoyance. He hated her beloved romance novels but still sat down every day to read to her from them. She had to admit that it was more fun having him read it to her. It was easy to tell when he started adlibbing, putting in his own dialogue or descriptions, which always made her laugh. Those were the moments she tried to concentrate on the rest of the time, when everyone was talking about the beautiful day or how hideous someone was dressing. Her mother always had told her to be happy with what you have and said it was a waste of time to cry over what you can’t change. Noelle needed to be happy that she was alive and just deal with the fact that she had lost her sight to get to that point. She wasn’t entirely blind, but it was enough to feel that depression you get when you lose something that means something to you. All she was left with was a bright white light and some dull, fuzzy shapes. She was grateful it wasn’t total blackness. The little things, she told herself daily.

  Just as the heroine approached her lover’s door, Gabe stopped reading when they heard a knock at Gabe’s door, or their door to be more precise. After Noelle lost her sight Gabe had moved her to his room, so that he could watch over her better. “Are you expecting someone?” Noelle asked, her anxiety rising. Ever since she had become dependent upon others, the thought of being attacked frightened her even more.

  A very solid hand rested on her shoulder. “It’s OK. But the bathroom is ten steps in front of you, just in case.”

  She smiled up at Gabe and touched his hand before he walked to the door.

  A moment later Adam’s voice filled her ears. “See? I learned how to knock.”

  “I guess marriage has had some positive effects on you,” Gabe said.

  Noelle felt the seat next to her dip down and Gabe’s cold hand take hers. She smiled. It was nice to hear the sudden brightening in Gabe’s voice. She never noticed before how his voice changed whenever Adam was near, but all she could do was hear it now and not see his handsome face.

  “You two finally come up for air?” Gabe asked Adam.

  “Not by my choice. Syn had to meet with Helen.” He paused. “How’s everything been going with you two?” He sounded close; he probably was sitting across from her. She was getting better at figuring out direction and distance.

  “The same,” Gabe said. “Everything seems to have grown very quiet over the last week.”

  “Ivy said the queen hasn’t been around at all,” Adam said.

  “Ivy?” Noelle questioned.

  “She’s Syney’s new Protector.”

  “I thought she was watching over Helen.”

  “She was until the executive order came down that I shouldn’t get a Protector. Reed asked her to stay with me. I’ve got my own bodyguard now.” Noelle could almost hear the smile in his voice.

  “Not that you actually need one,” Gabe said.

  “If I get ambushed again, I will.”

  Noelle felt Gabe stand up. She wanted to beg him to come back; his presence soothed her.

  “You won’t,” Gabe said. “Mellisandrianna’s done attacking everyone.”

  “Why?” Noelle asked, not really wanting the answer.

  “I think this is the end.”

  “The end of what?”

  “For her. She’s been getting weaker for a while now. Not only hasn’t she made her presence seen, she looks older and slower when she has been around.” He paused. “I think she might have a shelf life inside the bodies she takes.”

  “That’s good then, right?” Noelle asked, sitting forward. “Syney won’t have to kill her; she’ll just die on her own.” Her comment was met by silence, an uncomfortable silence. “What?”

  “I’m going to go,” Adam said quickly.

  “She has Reed with her,” Gabe said. “I’m sure she’s fine.”

  Noelle sighed in frustration. This was one of the things she hated about these two. They tended to talk without really talking to each other, which made it nearly impossible to follow along with the conversation. “What’s going on?” she demanded.

  “I’m worried Mellisandrianna might decide now would be a good time to take over Syney’s body,” Gabe said, returning to her side.

  The thought sent a shiver up her spine. “Then what are you two still doing here?” She heard him flick his fingernails, something he did in frustration or concentration—again, something she never noticed until she couldn’t see his look of concentration. “Go,” she said. “I’ll be fine here.”

  “I’ll be back when I can,” Gabe said, touching her shoulder lightly.

  Following the dark blurry figures that she could see, Noelle listened as they walked to the door. Once the door was open, they stopped.

  “Helen, what are you doing here? I thought you were meeting with Syney,” Adam said, his voice rushed.

  “I was supposed to, but she didn’t come. I went to her room, but she wasn’t there, so I figured I’d try here,” Helen replied, her voice sounding calm yet a bit concerned.

  “Stay with Noelle,” Gabe told her as he and Adam rushed out of the room.

  Noelle wrung her hands and sat back in her seat. This wasn’t a good thing. She trusted Reed of course, but the threat had become bigger than one Protector could handle. She felt Helen gently sit next to her and place a hand on top of hers. Neither needed to say anything.

  The queen slowly sat down on the chaise longue at the end of her bed and looked at Grass. He had served her well. There was a moment when she hadn’t been entirely sure he would come through and actually get the damn girl here. “Well done,” she said, with a nod.

  He feasted on the compliment like a hungry dog. “Thank you, Your Majesty.”

  Mellisandrianna shifted her gaze to the two unconscious bodies in front of her on the floor. She looked harmless lying there, she thought as hate bubbled up in her throat. Mellisandrianna was surprised by the reaction; she’d never truly hated anyone the way she hated this girl now. There had been so many who had fought her coming to power, even some who had attempted to banish her from this world, but none had ever infuriated her the way Syney had managed to. The girl had managed to stay alive after multiple attempts on her life and had the independent thought of a human, an annoying quality.

  “Do you want me to bring her to the bed?” Grass’s question pulled her from her thoughts.

  She shook her head. “The ritual needs to be voluntary.” She looked at him. “I need her awake.”

  Grass nodded and stepped over Reed’s similarly still body to reach Syney. Then he kicked her hard in the gut.

  Mellisandrianna smiled. “Be careful! I need that body in working order and I don’t want my new body to be bruised,” she said as Syney coughed and pulled in some jagged breaths.

  Syney slowly dragged herself up, shooting a look over at her Protector, who still lay unconscious, before focusing on Mellisandrianna.

  The queen smiled at Grass. “Thank you.”

  “Anything else?”

  “No, that will be all. You can leave us.” She paused. “Although it might be prudent to summon Princess Adanna. Tell her to come in an hour or so.” She forced a smiled at Syney, who was eyeing her, confused. “Just in case.”

  Grass bowed to her before running a finger down Syney’s face. She winced and pulled away from him quickly. He gave a low chuckle before leaving the room.

  Mellisandrianna and Syney stared at each other for a while, neither speaking nor breaking direct eye contact. Finally Syney sat back on her heels. “So this is it, huh?”

  The queen folded her hands in her lap. “This is what exactly?”

  “The moment when you justify killing hundreds of people before taking over my body.”

  She was smarter than the queen gave had give
n her credit for, although having a nine-hundred-year-old Vampire whispering in her ear did have its advantages. “You know nothing, little girl.”

  “I know enough,” Syney said. “You’re the Ancient One.”

  Mellisandrianna made a face. “Such a dreadful name.”

  “I could call you Vassalinianna or Randall Givins.”

  “It’s true. I have been both and many more. But originally it was Adaeve.”

  Syney perked up a little at the new information. “So you really did have a life before you took the lives of others.”

  She smiled and stood. “Of course. Everyone starts somewhere. And I am from whence everyone came.”

  They lapsed into a silence again—only for a few moments this time—before Syney stood and headed to the large window to her right. She didn’t look nervous, but the purple colors that normally shimmered off her were darker right now, which generally happened when a person was filled with fear. And she should fear me, Mellisandrianna thought, turning to face her. “The prophecy was right. You do have a great destiny ahead of you,” the queen said.

  Syney turned to look at her and raised her chin. “You mean you have a great destiny…inside me.”

  Mellisandrianna frowned. “You should see this as a joint endeavor to unite the Realm and bring it back to the glory it once was.”

  The girl almost did a double take. “Wait, you mean you want to end the war?”

  She gave off a shrieking laugh. “Of course I do. But I don’t want to just end it…I want to win it.” She paused as Syney’s colors grew even darker. “You’re still seeing things on such a small scale. This war is a small dot on a map—a very large map.”

  Syney rolled her eyes. “I’m getting tired of big pictures. They never seem to work well for me.”

  “Ah, there is that human humor of yours. I’m going to have to practice that.”

  Syney’s colors went darker yet, almost black, and her violet eyes clouded over with tears. She took a shaky breath and stepped forward, putting a hand to her hip.

  Mellisandrianna smiled and pulled the slender knife Syney always wore out of the sleeve of her dress. “Looking for this? It’s a very nice weapon, but it never would truly hurt me.”

  Syney bit her lip and shrugged. “A girl’s got to try. You know I’m still going to fight you, right?”

  The queen shook her head. “That’s not how this works. For the transfer to be successful, you must be willing to take in my light.”

  “That’s so not happening,” Syney said with a bitter laugh.

  Mellisandrianna shook her head. “This is why I chose the Crystallianna line. The Viloris all have too much pride and never enough ambition.”

  The colors around Syney shifted and lightened a little. Odd, Mellisandrianna thought.

  “So what exactly do you want to achieve once you win the war?” Syney asked.

  The queen cocked her head to the side. “I thought you knew enough not to ask that.”

  She shrugged. “I don’t know much about you other than you like to switch bodies and eat the life forces of people.”

  “Always focusing on the negative. There’s so much more to me than just that. I am the parent of this Realm. Everything that is here is because of me, but it was all taken away because of peasants like yourself. When are you going to learn that I hear everything? I see everything? I know everything!” Mellisandrianna yelled the last part as she turned and tossed Syney’s knife at the door. It implanted itself in the solid wood only inches from Reed’s face as he started to open the door.

  Reed took a deep breath and slowly turned toward them as Mellisandrianna sped over to him in less than a second. She stopped in front of him and easily pulled the knife out of the door. “Going somewhere?” she asked, as she placed the tip of the blade to his chest.

  “Stop!”

  Mellisandrianna felt the air in the room change as she looked at Syney. The girl was channeling some of the energy in the room through her outstretched hands. It glowed purple as it sparked and sizzled. Now that was very interesting. “And how did you get that?”

  “I thought you knew all,” Syney spat at her.

  “I am all,” she said, raising her other hand and pulling all the energy out of the room, including what Syney had conjured. A bright ball of blue energy formed in her palm. “And I’m pretty sure I have much more experience with this magic.”

  Stunned, the girl stared down at her hands. She swallowed audibly as she looked back at Mellisandrianna, finally realizing she had been outplayed.

  Good, Mellisandrianna thought, closing her hand and letting the energy disperse back into the air. She looked back to the wolf in front of her. “You know, I lived in the Human Realm for a while. Didn’t like it very much. They don’t worship like Altera does. Humans have too much independent thought which leads to multiple gods and religions, too many to keep track of. But the one thing I learned was the power of human emotions.” She looked back at Syney. “You’re still so very much human.” Sticking the knife deep into the young wolf’s chest took very little force, and she had to give him credit for not even crying out in pain.

  Syney did, however, yell out. “Stop! Stop! I’ll do it.”

  Mellisandrianna cocked her head to the side. “Sorry?”

  Syney stepped forward. “I’ll let you do whatever you want. Just let him go.”

  “Finally you’re seeing things my way.” The queen smiled at her before pushing the knife farther into Reed’s chest, dragging it quickly upward and finally turning it before letting go. He fell within seconds.

  Syney quickly scrambled over to him. She planted her hands on his bloody chest as he struggled to breathe, blood trickling out the side of his mouth. “Why did you do that? I already agreed to let you take my body!” she shrieked, a flood of tears pouring out of her eyes.

  Mellisandrianna squatted next to her. “There’s still time to help him. Out of every power in the Realm, the power to heal was one I was never able to do. Now that I’ll be you, I’m going to have to master it. Watching is step one.”

  “You’ll never be able to do it.”

  “And why is that?”

  “Because it’s all about love, and you have none of that!” Syney screamed, lunging at Mellisandrianna.

  She wasn’t prepared for that, of course. The logical response for a human would be to save a loved one in need. Never underestimate your opponent, Mellisandrianna thought as Syney slammed her palm against the queen’s chest. The queen couldn’t help laugh. “And what are you hoping to achieve now?”

  Syney looked down at her. “I’m going to kill you.”

  The second her life force began to drag out of her body, Mellisandrianna was stunned into silence. It couldn’t be. There was no way this girl was capable of this. Only she, Adaeve, was powerful enough! She tried to fight back mentally and even went as far as to try to physically move her off, but her already waning energy level dropped with every second. This can’t be the end, she thought. Not this girl, this human-raised girl! That was her last thought as Mellisandrianna, Queen of the Village.

  “Where would she take her?” Adam asked.

  “Somewhere out of sight.”

  “The queen’s chambers?”

  Gabe nodded to Adam as they rushed out of his room. “That’s where I would go.”

  Adam’s jaw muscles flexed as he sped up. Gabe mentally berated himself as they nearly ran down the halls of the palace. This is what happened when he paid more attention to his personal life than the plan. He should have been on Syney every second of the day. He trusted Adam, but he was wrapped around Syney’s little finger. If she wanted to get away from him, she would, just as she had today. And now they might be too late.

  There were several things Gabe was prepared to see when they barged through the door to Mellisandrianna’s chambers, but what was actually there wasn’t one of them. Syney was kneeling not far from the door, sobbing, her hands pressing on Reed’s chest. The smell of the young wolf’s
blood filled Gabe’s nostrils the second he stepped into the room. There was a lot of it. Too much for him to still be alive.

  Adam grabbed hold of Syney’s shoulders. “Syney.”

  She looked at him with desperate eyes. “It won’t work! I’ve been trying and trying, but it’s not working!” She turned to Gabe. “Make it work!”

  Gabe looked away. He knew there was nothing she could do. There wasn’t even anything he could do. His eyes caught Mellisandrianna’s body lying not far away, and his heart nearly stopped. She wasn’t breathing, and there definitely was no heartbeat. He looked quickly back at Adam and motioned with his head.

  Adam looked over, following his motion. After a few moments, he looked back at Syney and pulled her away from Reed. She stumbled back and leaned against the bed. “Syney, honey, look at me.”

  She shook her head as her body convulsed in sobs.

  He put his hands on either side of her face and forced her to look at him. “What’s the weather like, Syney?”

  She stared at him, her sobs slowing only a little.

  Adam repeated his question while Gabe looked on curiously. He wasn’t quite sure what the question meant, but by Adam’s tone, he assumed it was some kind of code.

  Syney’s sobs slowed a little as she bit her lip. “Blue skies ahead,” she managed to get out between sobs.

  Adam visibly relaxed as he pulled her to him. “It’s going to be OK, honey. Just calm down and take some deep breaths.”

  She leaned into him, her sobs picking up speed. Gabe noticed her hands, covered in blood, as they hovered above Adam’s shoulders. The room was too messy. Not to mention there was a dead wolf on the floor, and Mellisandrianna’s dress was drenched in blood. His mind ran in circles, trying to come up with a plan of action, but all he could think about was Reed lying dead on the floor and Syney crying, her hands covered in blood. He had seen death in spades since the war had started, but for some reason, this all made him stop, his mind blank.

  The second the door opened, it was his instinct to grab whomever it was and break his neck the second he walked in. Gabe didn’t even realize it was Grass until he hit the floor with a thud. He closed the door quickly and looked down at him. There wasn’t a heartbeat or any breathing. Now there were three dead bodies in the room, and this combination sent Gabe’s mind running.