Between Two Realms: Awaken

by Amber Flora

  “Noted. When do we leave?”

  No sane person would enter into a dangerous unknown realm when they had a whole army gunning for them, but then again, I had known for a while that my grip on reality was slipping. Part of me was going for Mac; if I could find his father and somehow reunite them then Mac would have some form of a family, no matter how dysfunctional. The other part of me wanted to know if it were true. If Brian Mac Donagh was half dreamwalker and half vampire, then he was trapped between realms like me. Maybe he had some answers or maybe I was going straight into the lion's den on a stupid hunch, but if there were anyone who had the slightest idea of what it was like to me, it would be him. I needed answers and Brian Mac Donagh was quite possibly the only person who could give them to me. Questions lingered in the back of my mind that I've been too afraid to ask and even if I could bring myself to do so no one besides Brian would be able to answer them. Ben said he would take me in a few days. He had some things to get together before we left. I hadn’t thought of an excuse to tell to Cody and Mac yet, but I knew it had to be good. There was no way they would let me leave again with Ben and they would tie me to the bedpost before they would let me take one step into shadow realm. Yeah, I had to think of something good. Something they couldn’t say no to. But what?

  I had to bite the bullet and talk to Katrina. Ever since the night at the club I had been avoiding her like the plague. While Cody and Mac were having a meeting with the council I made my way to the Sanctuary and found her sitting in one of the pews with her head bowed and hands clasped together. She was so beautiful that I envied her. I came up beside her but didn’t speak. After a few minutes Kat turned to look at me and smiled.

  “Ashtyn, how long have you been here? I apologise, I did not notice you.”

  “Were you praying?”

  I didn’t think dreamwalkers prayed to God, but she certainly appeared to be praying.

  “In a way. Dreamwalkers believe in an essence we cannot see or name. It's more of a feeling that washes over us whenever we reflect. I was meditating, clearing my thoughts so I can be open to healing.”

  Eating crow was more difficult than I thought.

  “Kat, I am sorry about the night at the club. I shouldn’t have let you dance with that guy and I definitely shouldn’t have left you alone.”

  Kat stared at me for a moment unblinking and then began to giggle uncontrollably.

  “You think I am upset with you? You have no need to apologize to me. I have spent my entire life taking care of others and being the model healer. That night I was just Katrina, a normal girl with normal problems. Do you know how nice it was to feel human? To dance, laugh and even get felt up by a guy? It was magical.”

  I snorted and lowered my voice.

  “Magical? Hardly, that is not a usual human day. You didn’t tell Bonnie, did you?”

  By the look on her face I didn’t think I was going to like the answer.

  “I did not, but I wasn’t feeling too well the next couple of days. I think she put it together. Ashtyn, I really should be thanking you. I have never had a man look at me the way that cowboy did. Even though he was a sleaze it was nice to have a man attracted to me.”

  My jaw just about dropped open. Was she saying what I thought she was saying?

  “Katrina, have you never kissed a man before?”

  Kat blushed and I went into shock.

  “That’s ludicrous. You are gorgeous; any man would be lucky to have you. They are probably so intimidated by your beauty that they're afraid to talk to you.”

  How was that even possible? This girl would make any woman jealous if she got within ten feet of her man.

  “That’s nice of you to say, but I don’t think that’s true. No one has ever seemed interested in me. They all treat me like this fragile thing who knows nothing of the world. Sometimes I feel like being a healer is a curse.”

  I wanted to wrap her in a hug and console her, but I didn’t know what would happen to me since she was healer and I was warned not to touch her.

  “Don’t talk like that. You have saved countless people who would not be here if not for you. You are a kind, beautiful and intelligent woman. Someday a man worthy of you will see all that you have to offer and sweep you off your feet, making up for all the years you longed to have someone hold you.”

  A tear formed under Kat’s eyes and she wiped it away. I placed my hand over my heart and smiled.

  “I’m glad you are my friend, Ashtyn.”

  Kat placed her hand over her heart as well and in that moment I knew I had a friend for life.

  Chapter 13

  I tried to place a look of astonishment on my face when Cody told me the plan.

  “So the council is sending you guys to Cardician together to look for the person who broke into Mac’s apartment?”

  Cody was kicking a punching bag and by the looks of it he hadn’t fully taken out all of his aggression.

  “Aye, I think Ben had something to do with that. Roger said it was too dangerous for just one of us to go and it had to be investigated,” Mac said, watching Cody continue to kick and punch in rage.

  I knew it was wrong to send them away for a while, but having Ben pull some strings on the council and talk them into sending Mac and Cody on a witch hunt was the only thing I could think of that would allow Ben and I to sneak off to shadow realm without being found out.

  “You will stay in dream realm with Bonnie and the rest of council until we return,” Cody said, taking a break from the vicious abuse on the unsuspecting bag.

  “Oh, that should be fun. We will braid each other’s hair and tell stories,” I embellished waving my hand around.

  “I’m not exactly fond of the idea myself, but you can’t be left alone and you are not going back to Ben’s.”

  I looked over at Mac and stuck my tongue out.

  “Tattletale!” I squealed.

  “Don’t get ya knickers in a bunch, I didn’t have to say a word, your face tells the story.”

  I stuck my bottom lip out in a pout.

  “Nothing happened!” I said.

  “And nothing ever will,” Cody said harshly.

  “Can I continue my research in the Archives while you’re gone?”

  The two men looked between one another.

  “Gloria is a council member, so I don’t see the harm in it,” Cody said, wiping his brow with a hand towel.

  “Just don’t be giving her any more alcohol,” Mac added.

  “It’s moments like this I’m reminded you guys are super old.”

  “Old enough to bend you over my knee and give you a good …”

  Cody threw his sweat-covered towel in Mac’s face, ending his sentence. I giggled watching the two banter. Please let me see them again, I thought. Just in case something went wrong I made myself a mental note to hug them a little tighter when we said our goodbyes.

  I sat in the Archive taping my foot, anxiously awaiting Ben’s arrival. Gloria was drinking a cup of tea while reading an ancestry book. Ever since I found out about Mac’s grandfather, Gloria had become obsessed with finding more family secrets.

  “Darling is something bothering you? You seem awfully tense.”

  I sat up straight.

  “No, I’m okay. Actually, Gloria, could you do me a favor?” she looked at me inquisitively.

  “Of course, sweetie, ask me anything.”

  I sat there trying to figure out how to put my thoughts into words.

  “If something were to happen to me, would you tell Cody and Mac I said thank you for everything they have done for me and that I really treasured our time together?”

  Gloria closed her book and leaned toward me.

  “Ashtyn, you’re sounding like your mother.”

  I placed my hand on hers reassuringly.

  “If I foresaw anything that could possibly cause harm to you or any dreamwalkers I would not keep that to myself.”

  She furrowed a brow.

  “Does that include y
ourself?”

  Damn, she was smart.

  “I have to do something and it may or may not be dangerous, but you aren’t going to talk me out of it.”

  Gloria picked back up her book and began reading.

  “That’s it? You aren’t going to say anything?” I asked, baffled at her nonchalance.

  “Well, if I can’t stop you why waste my breath? You just go ahead on your dangerous mission with no further explanation, possibly leaving me to spend the rest of my life wondering what had happened to you just like your mother.”

  I gawked at her.

  “Are you guilt-tripping me?”

  A small smile crept across her face.

  “Oh I would never do such a thing, I’m just a lonely bookkeeper.”

  I sighed. She won— I couldn’t leave her like this.

  “I’m going to the shadow realm.”

  I thought she was going to have stroke right in front of me.

  “You’re what?!” she screamed, jumping up.

  “Shhh,” I said, motioning for her to sit back down.

  “I have to do this, Gloria, not just for Mac but for myself as well.”

  She slowly sat back down, looking around her for prying ears.

  “Are you mad? You cannot go there alone. Aside from the fact that they drink blood to survive they also have crazy abilities. They are wicked fast and can hypnotize you.”

  Well, this was new information. I knew they could hypnotize, but Mac didn’t mention their speed.

  “I won’t be going alone, Ben is taking me. We will be in and out of there in no time. If we sense any danger we will flash our way to safety.”

  She just stared at me. I needed her to understand. If she didn’t agree nothing was stopping her from going to the rest of the council and putting a kibosh on the whole thing.

  “I can’t stand by and lose someone else I love because I did nothing.”

  My heart fluttered.

  “You love me?” I asked in surprise.

  “Well, I’m not going to ask you on a date or anything, but of course I love you. You are my friend.”

  I smiled. It touched me so much to know she cared about me.

  Lori and my uncle Ken were the only two people who ever truly loved me. I barely knew Gloria, yet she had already let me into her heart and strangely enough I had let her into mine.

  “Nothing is going to happen to me. I tell you what, if we're not back by the new moon you can call in the cavalry.”

  I extended my hand for her to shake.

  “Deal,” she murmured.

  “But you better haul your ass out of there at the first sign of trouble.”

  I was glad I told her where I was going. Sure things could have gone a different way, but they didn’t and it was nice to know I had her in my corner just in case we really did need backup.

  Ben had come to collect me shortly after my talk with Gloria. I wasn’t keen on the idea of going back to his fortress and entering shadow realm from there, but it was our best option to not been seen by anyone.

  “Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked as we stood in his study.

  “Don’t tell me the big bad general is scared.”

  He guffawed.

  “Hardly. What I am afraid of is Roger decapitating me if I come back without you.”

  Out of any name he could have said Roger’s would not have been one I would have thought.

  “Why would Roger care?” I asked, befuddled.

  “You mean besides the fact he’s the head of the council? He has watched over since you were a child. He is the one who sent Cody to protect you.”

  I was dumbfounded. The man had never said more than a few words to me.

  “Why would he be so concerned with my welfare?” Ben looked as though he spilled a secret he wasn’t supposed to reveal, but he continued.

  “He is the one that made your mother the High Priestess; she was his protégé. Roger loved her like a daughter and she confided in him in almost all aspects of her life.”

  I pondered that for a moment.

  “Does he know who my father is?”

  Ben shook his head no.

  “She did tell him she was pregnant but would never reveal by who. He didn’t know if you had survived after she disappeared so it took him a while to find you, but when he did he wanted you to be taken care of. He made sure you never had to worry about a thing; he even paid for your college.”

  I had always just assumed Ken paid for my education, come to think of it I never thought about where all the money Ken had come from. He had a decent job but with the farm, horse and all the other things, I never went without. It seemed farfetched that he managed to swing all of those things on his salary.

  “How do you not know who my father is if you and my mom were ... you know?”

  “Deandra and I never had an intimate relationship; my feelings were not reciprocated. she only confided in Roger when it came to her personal life and even then she didn’t divulge the inner workings of her heart.”

  “Ben,” I said, trying not to get emotional.

  “Hmm?” he replied half-concerned.

  “If we make it out of this, remind me to thank the man that did so much for me and my uncle.”

  Ben stepped forward cautiously.

  “I promise you, you will have the opportunity to say all the things you want to say to him and everyone else you care for.”

  I grabbed his hand and waited to step into the unknown.

  I’m not sure what I expected the vampires’ dwellings to be like, but shadow realm was nothing like what I had envisioned. It was a metropolis of high-rises and nightclubs. People laughed while they walked down the street heading into a juice bar. I cringed wondering what the word “juice” actually stood for. Ben had told me it was always nighttime here and I wondered if the vampires never slept as well. It didn’t appear so. I saw two twenty-something vamps spray painting graffiti on a nearby building. This is the place everyone was so afraid of? Where’s the fire and brimstone? Where are the fanged monsters drinking people dry? I was starting to think we were in the wrong place.

  “Umm, Ben, are your flashing skills broken?”

  He looked at me annoyed.

  “I am a hundreds of years old, Ashtyn, but nothing on me is broken.”

  I shuddered at his inappropriate innuendo.

  “I just mean, well, what’s so scary about this place?”

  He stopped walking and turned to face me.

  “Listen to me, it is imperative you do not underestimate this place or the vampires. This is their realm and you are an outsider. They do not take lightly to outsiders, and under no circumstances are you to use your real name. If they find out who you are they would trade you to the enemy without a second thought.”

  I nodded. He put his hands on my shoulders and lightly shook me.

  “Tell me you understand.”

  I jerked back.

  “I understand!” I yelled. People looked in our direction and I lowered my voice.

  “Can my name be Scarlet?”

  Ben looked at me in confusion.

  “Why Scarlet?”

  “It’s just a woman I always admired.”

  I could sense his distaste of my choice.

  “You don’t look like a Scarlet.”

  I rubbed my temples in frustration.

  “It’s just an alias, can we just go with it?”

  He swept his long hair into a tight ponytail that allowed the scar to display prominently on his face. I wondering if that was a strategic move.

  “Fine, where are we going?”

  I looked around the buildings surrounding us, suddenly panicked.

  “I don’t know,” I said with embarrassment.

  “You mean to tell me you brought me to hell with no game plan?”

  I stomped my foot at him.

  “I have a plan,” I barked back.

  “Well then, Scarlet, by all means, please lead the way.”


  We had asked around at pretty much every nightclub in shadow realm. If anyone knew Brian or where to find him they weren’t talking. Ben had stayed in the background to avoid drawing more attention to us. Like anyone could miss the well-dressed six-foot, three-inch blond beast of a man. I hated myself for still finding him attractive after knowing his dirty little secret. I was running out of steam. I had danced with vampires, played dice with some shady men and watched a terrifying cage fight all in an attempt to get information. One thing I was taking away from this experience was not to underestimate the appearance of being human. These people were anything but. They drank blood out of wine glasses, moved like something out of the matrix and had this weird attraction, like I was being pulled to them. I wondered if that was how they caught their prey.

  After running out of options and low on energy I ducked into a juice bar to catch my breath. A steam-punk-looking vampire wearing aviator goggles and an old Western vest made his way to me from behind the counter.

  “What type?” he asked in a deep voice.

  “Excuse me?” I replied looking around to see if he was actually talking to me.

  “What blood type do you want?”

  I wrinkled my nose.

  “Oh, um, just water please.”

  The incredibly scary-looking guy looked at me with disgust and poured some water into a glass from the sink, sliding it to me. I took a drink and lay my head on the counter in defeat.

  “Well, ye are a lovely lass.”

  I lifted my head to see a middle-age gentleman with brownish-red hair and beard staring at me. He wore a simple white T-shirt and tattered jeans.

  “Thank you, but I’m not interested.”

  He looked at me amused.

  “Really? Because the way I hear it you have had my name on your lips all night.”

  I nearly fell off the stool, I rose so quickly.

  “Brian Mac Donagh?”

  He nodded.

  “You clearly know me, but who might you be?”

  I looked around.

  The waiter was chatting up a customer on the other side of the bar. I didn’t know how acute vampires’ hearing was so I spoke in a low voice.