Flickering firelight reached up to the peaked, open-beam roof, most of it coming from the grate inside the white-painted brick fireplace against the wall. That fireplace was classic fifties style as well, sitting on a long brick shelf above the carpeted floor.
The sectional sofa that wrapped around the area in front of the fireplace was occupied by the Traveler, who leaned back on the lime green leather, gazing out the sliding glass doors and bay windows to a mostly unobstructed view of the city.
He looked over when she didn’t speak, glancing up and down at what she wore.
In one hand, he held a martini glass, with what had to be a martini inside, given the four olives on a long wooden spear. She recognized the glass, the spear, the olives, and likely the alcohol from her wet bar, which lived on the opposite side of the rectangular room.
Alexis glanced down at her enormous coffee table––a table that filled a good chunk of the open space created by her L-shaped sectional sofa.
Consisting of a long, wave-shaped piece of glass balanced on a polished and leveled collection of coastal driftwood, the table rested on a faux-sheepskin rug that fit perfectly inside the open area made by her sectional.
The glass table-top was almost invisible now, covered in plates and bowls containing all of the Indian food she’d ordered.
The Traveler must have taken everything the delivery driver gave him into the kitchen and arranged it all in dishware himself. He’d even put the garlic naan in a basket she had in one of her cupboards, and wrapped it in a clean towel.
The whole thing looked so… civilized.
Truthfully, Alexis probably would have just eaten out of the paper and tinfoil containers, using a stack of napkins or maybe a roll of paper towels to wipe her mouth and hands, depending on just how lazy she was feeling.
Still, she had to admit, it was nice coming out to this.
He’d even placed candles strategically along the length of the glass table, so they could see what they were eating. He dug up sets of utensils for each of them, as well as cloth napkins, glasses of ice water, along with spoons, forks, and tongs for every dish.
He even poured her a glass of red wine.
He must have been following the course of her eyes.
“I could make you something else,” he offered, indicating his own glass, the one containing the martini. “Something stronger, perhaps. You had a lot of good wine in your rack there, much of it recently purchased, which made me think it was a preference of yours. The hard alcohol bottles looked older. I thought perhaps those were more for company.”
He gave her a faint smile.
“I am company.”
She blinked at him, tugging the robe she’d put on post-shower more tightly around her and retying the terrycloth tie.
For a few seconds, she didn’t answer.
Truthfully, she was trying to decide if she should go back into her room and put on real clothes, versus the silk boxers and tank top she wore under the robe.
He seemed to sense her indecision.
That, or the rumors were true, and he’d actually heard her thoughts.
“Have a seat, Lightbringer.”
The Traveler patted the sofa cushion near where he sat.
“I was trying to make things easier for you… not create some sort of etiquette crisis.” He took a sip of his martini, quirking an eyebrow. “I may have also been hoping to butter you up a bit, so you might tell me more of what transpired in that cave.”
Hearing that, Alexis let out a soft grunt.
Walking over to him, still holding the robe in front of her, she sank down on the couch a few feet away from where he sat and looked around at the spread on her coffee table.
Picking up the empty plate in front of her, she ladled on a pile of jasmine rice, then covered that with several of the colorful selections from the platters and bowls spread out in front of her: navratan korma, aloo gobi, palak paneer, butter chicken.
Just smelling it all made her stomach growl.
The Traveler followed her lead, smiling at her faintly when she began to eat, using the utensils he’d brought her.
For a few moments, they ate in silence.
Alexis felt herself still coming down from what she’d seen and felt in the cave.
The shower had helped.
The food helped even more.
Staring into the fire burning and flickering in her fireplace, she breathed slowly and evenly, savoring each mouthful as she felt the heavy meal begin to ground her.
It hit her only then how shaky she still was.
She honestly had no idea if that was from what she’d seen and felt of her Lightbringer brethren at the abandoned zoo, or if it was some remnant of the attack by those silver tendrils.
Really, it didn’t matter.
The two things felt almost inextricable to her somehow.
Still, it was hard to believe she was alone in this.
She was the last Lightbringer now.
Swallowing a mouthful of garlic naan and korma, she glanced over at the Traveler, who was slowly and methodically working his way through what looked like half of a roasted chicken, cooked Tandoori style. He had curry on his plate as well, along with several pieces of naan and some of the korma.
“What was that?” she said finally, watching his shockingly handsome face as the firelight flickered over his high cheekbones, occasionally glinting off his eyes.
Her voice came out subdued, almost weirdly calm.
She wondered if that was delayed shock, exhaustion, Indian food, the several hundred dollar bottle of wine, or some weird combination.
“You said you saw it,” she prompted again, when he didn’t immediately look over. “Those tentacles. Those silver threads of light… the thing that grabbed me. What was it?”
The Traveler sat up in the leather couch, glancing over from where his plate rested on the edge of the glass table. Wiping his mouth with one of the red, cloth napkins, he set it down next to his plate, studying her with sharp eyes.
“You haven’t done much work in the other dimensions, have you?” he said.
Frowning, she shook her head. “No. We aren’t really allowed. I mean… I can’t really leave this one, can I?”
He nodded, reaching over to grab another piece of naan.
His voice remained casual as he tore it in half, dipping it in the korma.
“I confess, I do not know much about the training given to Lightbringers,” he said, glancing sideways as he took a bite of the naan and korma. Chewing, he swallowed, studying her eyes. “Do they really teach you much? About what lives in the Outer Realm? Or beyond it?”
She shook her head again. “No.”
At his silence, she found herself going on, a faint defensiveness in her voice.
“I learned what I could from my trainer,” she said. “There is a necromancer here I’ve consulted from time to time… the one overseeing The Vault on this world. I have spoken to gods on occasion… and there have been seers here, although not recently.”
The Traveler nodded, his expression noncommittal.
Still feeling faintly defensive, Alexis combed a hand through her damp hair.
“I have plenty to keep me busy in this dimension, frankly,” she said, looking back at the fire. “I don’t have a lot of time to study ancient texts, or meditate on the nature of the cosmos.”
Looking over at him, she added,
“…Besides, when I was trained, the old Lightbringer who taught me made it clear such matters fell outside my jurisdiction. Lightbringers aren’t meant to interfere in other worlds. We aren’t meant to involve ourselves in other dimensions. Not unless asked by another Lightbringer. Or ordered to, by the Ancients.”
The Traveler nodded, his expression thoughtful.
Then, sighing a bit, he bent back over his plate, using his naan to scoop up some of the curry. Taking a big bite, he chewed with that thoughtful look on his face.
Swallowing, he turned back in her direction.
<
br /> “I’m afraid I may not be of much help,” he confessed. “But I will try.”
He let a smile warm his lips.
“It is interesting to me, that I entered this meal with the intention of questioning you… and somehow, I am the one being questioned and promising information. Is that a part of your Lightbringer training, as well?”
She smiled back at him, and his smile widened.
“Ah! My first smile from the infamous Alexis Poole! I shall cherish this, along with you inviting me to your personal abode. It is our first dinner together. I was beginning to think part of your training was to keep everyone, even your allies and friends, at arm’s length. Even those who traveled a fair distance in the hopes of being some assistance to you.”
She frowned a little at that.
Then, remembering Devin’s lectures earlier that night, not to mention Jules’s nonstop commentary on that very subject, she sighed, giving him the point. Even with her closest friends, she had a tendency to forget to keep them in the loop.
She hadn’t even told Jules when she left the club with the Traveler.
She hadn’t told Devin she was out at the Old Zoo.
Thinking about what she would tell them when she saw them, about the Lightbringers, about the news the Traveler had brought, not to mention what she’d encountered at the Old Zoo, she grimaced internally.
Every instinct in her told her to tell them nothing at all.
What did that say about her as a person? As a friend?
Maybe she really was defective in some way.
“Why did you come here?” she said, her smile fading somewhat. “If you are truly the king of your people, why in the gods would your people let you come here, with all of this going on? Why would they let you risk yourself like this?”
His smile faded.
After a bare pause, where she swore she saw a hint of sadness in his pale eyes, a smirk grew on his lips, even as his eyes grew shrewd.
“And here you are,” he smiled. “Interrogating me. Again.”
She snorted a faint laugh, in spite of herself.
“Sorry. Old habits.”
The Traveler grinned with her.
That time, it was his smile that faded first.
“I came because I wanted to come, Alexis Poole,” he told her.
His voice deepened, his amber eyes shining with a harder, warrior-like light. She recognized the change as what she’d heard in him a few times at the Old Zoo, yet the difference still managed to throw her.
Whatever that change was, it made him much more believable as a king.
“I volunteered,” he added. “Well. Insisted really… and really, I came because no one could stop me. Believe me, they tried. They thought it sheer madness for me to involve myself in this, given who they thought likely behind it.”
He paused, gauging her eyes.
His voice shifted lower, holding that denser thread of power.
“I have been watching you for many years.” His light-filled eyes remained locked on hers. “I feel I know you, Lightbringer.”
When she frowned, opening her mouth to speak, he went on before she could.
“…Besides. What kind of king would I be, to sit this thing out? Everything related to the gates affects my people. Our entire existence revolves around the portals between worlds. We would be affected most grievously if those portals were sealed.”
Pausing, he added with a shrug,
“There were few who could come to your aid, given how it happened… and how quickly. I could come. I could help. So I did.”
Alexis was still stuck on what he’d said before.
“Watching me?” She stared at him, her voice openly wary. “What does that mean? Why would you be watching me?”
Leaning back on the leather sectional, he threw an arm over the cushion of light-green leather, the martini glass once more balanced between two fingers.
“It means exactly what it sounds like it means,” he said, no apology in his voice, nor in his violet-colored eyes. “As for why? That will take more time to explain. I’m not certain this is the right time to devote to that particular task.”
He took a sip of the martini, his expression calm.
When she frowned back at him, trying to understand what game he was playing, a wry smile grew back on his lips. He shook his head, smiling, staring at the fire, before looking back to meet her gaze.
“All right,” he announced. “Your turn. There must be some quid pro quo here, or it will get out that I am ridiculously easy to order about… at least by attractive females.”
Bending forward to set his martini glass on the glass tabletop, he motioned fluidly with the same hand, indicating for her to speak.
“Come,” he said, his voice insistent. “Tell me what you saw. Tell me what happened when you put yourself into the portal. Please be detailed,” he added. “Leave nothing out. This is for your sake, as much as mine. I cannot help you identify what or who did this if you don’t give me as much information as you possibly can.”
She frowned a bit at the “order” implied in this last.
At the same time, she understood his reasoning.
She also had to admit she might be more under his command than the reverse.
After all, the Ancients sent him.
Even if it had been his idea to come himself, rather than send one of his subjects, the order to send aid had come from the Ancients.
She technically worked for them.
She still had serious questions about what the hell he meant, in regards to him “watching” her prior to this, but that could wait until the immediate situation had been dealt with… or she was dead, whichever thing happened first.
He might be the only being currently on Earth who could actually help her with this.
It’s not like there were loads of other inter-dimensional portal-hoppers down here.
She began, hesitantly at first, then with more power behind her voice, to explain everything she saw from the moment she opened the portal.
She got to the point where she noticed the threads, or tentacles, or whatever they were, wrapping around her arms and hands and fingers––
“You didn’t feel them?” he said, interrupting her for the first time.
She turned her head.
She’d been so absorbed in remembering, she’d almost forgotten he was there.
Thinking about this, she shook her head.
He nodded, frowning faintly.
“Then you didn’t feel them on your legs?” he said. “Or that they were wrapped around your waist, neck, head, shoulders, calves, thighs, and feet?”
She stared at him.
After a bare pause, she shook her head.
“No,” she said.
He nodded, brow furrowing.
“I cleaned most of that off you,” he said, not in a way that implied a boast, but more matter-of-fact. “When you were down on the ground, I got the rest of it off. I thought you felt it. I was trying to revive you, thinking that the Others had done this to you.”
“The Others?”
He held up his hands without moving either of his arms, a wry smile at his lips.
“It is not the most original name,” he admitted. “Rather melodramatic, too. Truthfully, we don’t know what to call them. It was used as shorthand initially, as we discussed what they were, what their motives might be, their attributes. The moniker just sort of stuck.”
“What are they?” She watched his violet eyes shift back to that light amber color.
Again, a patient shrug.
“I can tell you very little, unfortunately. They are beings who move beyond the Outer Realm… but not in the place where the Ancients live, or the gods. They have made aggressive moves in the past. For the same reason, it was thought they might be behind this… the murder of the Lightbringers. The motive is less than clear, if so… in part because we know so little about their motives in general, or even where they come from. They were not always he
re.”
Pausing at that, seemingly to gauge her response, he added,
“It is possible they are trying to close the gates. We believe them to be parasitic in nature… colonizers. They might find it easier to colonize worlds when those worlds are isolated. In which case, they likely want all of the portals closed… it is why the Ancients have hesitated to do so too hastily. They fear this might have been the motive. Kill the Lightbringers. Force the Ancients to close the portals. Do you see?”
She nodded slowly.
She did see.
Her mouth hardened.
“Why am I still alive?” she said, as much to herself as him.
“I told you––”
“Sure,” she said, her voice grim. “They made a mistake. I understand that. But if they had the resources to deploy killers to every Lightbringer in the manifest worlds, then why was the mistake with me not corrected? It’s not like they wouldn’t know by now. I would have expected them to send another round of assassins.”
The Traveler frowned, leaning deeper into the leather sectional.
After a pause, where he seemed to be thinking, he shrugged.
“I do not know,” he said, his voice matter-of-fact. “It is a good question.”
She quirked an eyebrow. “No theories? Nothing at all?”
He continued to look at her, unflinching.
He shrugged with one hand.
“I find the interaction at the portal to be somewhat ominous,” he admitted. “The fact that you saw them, that you interacted with them after their minions were withdrawn, is…”
He gestured vaguely with the hand attached to the arm slung over the back of her couch.
“…disconcerting,” he finished.
She frowned, turning this over in her mind.
“You saw them, too,” she said.
He nodded. “Yes. But the Others did not attempt to wipe out my entire species.” Pausing, he added, “They do not show themselves at all, normally. Why would they do so to you? And why not simply kill you, as you said? Why not drag you into the portal?”
She grunted, rubbing her arms, noting the red marks there.
“They tried,” she muttered.
“No,” he corrected her, his voice sharp. “They did not.”
There was a silence.
Lightbringer: An Enemies to Lovers Urban Fantasy with Demons, Portals, Witches, Renegade Gods, & Other Assorted Beasties (Light & Shadow Book 1) Page 9