Soultrade

by Arizona Tape

  “You okay?” a low male voice said in my ear, and I leaned back into Devon as his arms circled me and rested on my egg bump.

  “More than okay,” I responded.

  “Did you enjoy your flight?” He was smiling, I could hear it in his words.

  “Very much. Were you okay with Tate and Sian on your back?” I turned around, not moving from my position in his arms. If I had my way, I’d never leave this spot.

  He gave me a swift kiss on the lips before pulling back. “Yes, they barely weigh a thing. How’s the little one?”

  “They enjoyed the flight, I think.” At least, I was pretty sure they had. I could feel the egg twitching ever so slightly. Pretty much how I imagined a human baby would kick. Though I wouldn’t know. This was the only way I’d been pregnant.

  “We’ll do it more when things are sorted,” he reassured me.

  “I don’t think we’ll have long left of this once this is sorted,” I joked. Well, half-joked. I was pretty sure that was true. My two weeks were nearly up. And when they were...plop. Out would come an egg. I just hoped it wouldn’t hurt too bad.

  “True. Next time then.”

  “Will there be a next time?” I perked up at that. Next time sounded good.

  “Most dragons have more than one child, yes.”

  “Oh.”

  “Do you not want more than one?”

  “Dev?” Tate interrupted before I could answer.

  “Yes?” he replied, not taking his eyes off me.

  “Care to explain why we’re in another empty field?” Oh no, she didn’t sound happy.

  “We’re not,” Devon answered.

  “I see nothing but some sheep over there.”

  I turned back around to take a look. I’d taken a scan when we’d first landed, sure, but only for dangers, I hadn’t actually taken in where we were. Maybe I should work on that instinct at some point.

  “That’s cause you’re not a dragon,” Devon responded.

  Tate’s face fell into a sour look. Oh no. He’d insulted her. That wasn’t good.

  “No, Tate, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that.”

  “I know,” she replied, though she still didn’t seem particularly happy about it.

  “I just meant you need to hold one of our hands for it to appear.”

  He nodded towards what looked like a big white temple that I somehow hadn’t noticed.

  Baby brain. I was going to blame baby brain for not noticing that.

  Tate and I exchanged looks. Mostly because we knew what holding hands was going to mean. The two of us couldn’t hold each other’s hands, not with the possibility of the swapping. Which meant she needed to hold Devon’s hand, and I needed to hold Sian’s. Even the thought of that was a little odd. Holding my ex’s hand?

  Whatever the situation called for.

  I held out my arm to Sian, breaking Devon’s hold on me, and was surprised by how quickly she grabbed my hand in hers. It was also odd how weird it felt. I used to love the feel of Sian’s skin against mine. But now it just didn’t work. Maybe it was a body thing.

  “Oh wow,” she said, looking in the direction of the temple, with her mouth hanging open.

  “It’s something, right?” I joked.

  “Are we going to be able to even go in there?”

  I frowned, and looked at Devon, who’d finally managed to get Tate to hold his hand.

  He shrugged. “I honestly don’t know. I’ve never heard about anyone but water dragons even visiting. The other dragons aren’t even allowed here.”

  “Right,” Tate started. “So our only hope lies somewhere Sian and I might not even be able to get through the front door. That’s a great start.”

  I snorted.

  “There’s only one real way to find out,” Sian said, and tugged me forward.

  “Erm...before we do. What happens to vampires when they try and enter a holy place?” Devon asked, his voice shaking slightly. How sweet, he was worried about them.

  “We burst into flames and rise into the air while summoning the devil,” Sian deadpanned.

  I tried to stop the laughter bubbling up within me, but the horrified look on Devon’s face really did me in.

  Even Tate cracked a smile, though she looked a little uneasy too. It was only then I realised that she knew as little about being a vampire, as I did about being a dragon. It really was unfair of me to laugh when she genuinely didn’t know.

  “Nothing. They won’t be able to get through the door,” I told them both once I’d stopped laughing. Necessarily it seemed, as Sian had devolved into cackles. Every time her face straightened up, she began laughing again. I was pretty sure it was the stress of the situation, as it seemed as somewhat out of character. She was on the serious end of the spectrum, that was for certain.

  “Oh, okay then.”

  He strode towards the building, with a worried looking Tate following behind him.

  “Come on then, you clown,” I teased Sian, pulling her after the other two.

  “Sorry, I couldn’t help it.”

  “I know.” I smiled at her. “But they really were worried.”

  “Is it weird?” she asked.

  “Is what weird? Body swapping? It’s kind of become normal.”

  “No. Seeing your body with someone else in it,” she clarified.

  “This is my body, Sian.”

  “Not what I meant.”

  “I know. But Tate is clearly more comfortable in it than I ever was. It suits her.”

  “Hmm.” She didn’t seem convinced.

  “Are you okay with it?” I asked. After all, I had no choice about what was going on. This was my life whether I wanted it to be or not. But Sian did. Sian could walk away from this mess and never look back.

  She wouldn’t. That wasn’t who she was anyway. Never mind how much she clearly loved Tate.

  “I think so. I’m not saying it’s easy or anything. But I love her, more than...” she trailed off.

  “You can say it, Sian. Maybe you should. It’ll help you accept it.”

  “More than I ever loved you,” she whispered.

  I nodded. “Good. Then let’s go get your woman,” I replied.

  We walked in silence, as did the other two, the imposingness of the building in front of us taking up most of our attention.

  It was very clean cut, and reminded me of the architecture of Ancient Greece. Maybe that was what it was? I had no idea where dragons came from. Maybe Greece was it. Though how they’d built a temple here without anyone noticing, was a little beyond me.

  The first few steps were nerve wracking. I didn’t know at what point it would throw any vampires back.

  When nothing happened, I felt a little more confident about the whole thing.

  “It seems to be okay,” Sian said, breaking the silence.

  “Looks that way,” I replied. But there was still this little part of me that was filled with dread. Something was going to go drastically wrong. I wasn’t sure what. Or how. Or why. But there was something, and I really didn’t like it.

  A few more steps, and I found out why.

  Tate gave a little yelp, and I glanced at her instantly, almost relieved to find her having the same problem as I was. At least I wouldn’t be on my own.

  Sian’s hand slipped from mine as she made her way into the temple. Just like Devon had, leaving Tate and I on this side of an invisible line.

  That couldn’t be right.

  I tried to take another step forward, but couldn’t. Something was stopping me. But that didn’t make any sense. I wasn’t a vampire, I was a dragon. And that shouldn’t matter anyway. Sian was already inside the temple, which meant vampirism wasn’t why Tate couldn’t get in either.

  We exchanged worried glances.

  “What are we going to do now?” I asked softly, and Devon instantly started to make his way towards me. I shook my head. If he left, maybe he wouldn’t be able to get back in again. That wouldn’t be a good thing at all. Bett
er that two people were inside the temple to see if there were answers, than none of us.

  “Ayra...”

  “No. Go and find out what you can. There might not be anything in there for us, but better we know.” My voice cracked. I really didn’t like the idea of being left out here without him, even if I would have Tate. Fat lot of good that’d do either of us if we swapped and ended up unconscious. Best not to remind our partners of that. I was well aware they’d both worry themselves silly.

  “I’m not sure...”

  “She’s right, Dev,” Tate added, dusting herself down for some reason, but appearing okay.

  “Will you try come through again?” Sian asked me. I nodded once. No harm in trying, right?

  Taking one step forward was all I needed to discover we were in fact blocked from entering. Though I’d been expecting it, so wasn’t quite so taken aback as last time.

  “No luck. You two go find out what you can, we’ll be okay,” I said, looking at Tate for confirmation.

  “We can use it as bonding time.” She smirked, and a corresponding smile crossed my face. I liked Tate. Of all the people in the world, I was glad it was her I shared a body with.

  Both Devon and Sian looked uneasy, but I could see their minds had been made up. This was too important to let something like a little separation get in our way.

  “The sooner the two of you leave, the sooner you can come back to us,” Tate pointed out.

  “Good luck,” I added, making a shooing motion.

  Devon looked at me longingly, then glanced down at my stomach. I rested my hand on my egg bump, and met his eyes with mine.

  “We’ll be fine, Devon. More than fine. We have Tate, nothing bad will happen to us.”

  He walked up to me, until he was standing just a couple of feet away. Though we didn’t touch. Neither of us were going to risk it. Probably the best plan, even if it was annoying being so close to him without feeling his skin on mine.

  “I know you’ll be fine. You can shift into a giant dragon,” he replied.

  “Good point, I forgot about that for a moment.”

  “You forgot you were a dragon?” He raised an eyebrow, and I had to admit that I could see his point. Forgetting I was a dragon was a pretty big oversight on my part.

  Back to blaming baby brain it was.

  “Not forgot, forgot. But it wasn’t the first thing I was thinking of,” I responded.

  “Sure.”

  I smiled at him, a silly sappy smile that came as an automatic response to seeing the love in his eyes. Damn, I was so far gone into this man. It was a wonder I ever thought Sian was the one. I never ended up looking at her like this.

  That was kind of sad, actually. I’d been convinced Sian was it for me. How many people ended up going through their lives without realising they were with the wrong person? We couldn’t be the only ones. The thought made me kind of sad.

  “Go find us some answers,” I told him, and he nodded once.

  “I love you, Ayra.”

  “I love you too, Devon. Only you.”

  He beamed, but finally turned away from me. To my right, Tate and Sian seemed to have been having a similar conversation.

  The two of us watched in silence as they walked away, into the surprisingly dark insides of the temple.

  “Don’t suppose you have a pack of cards with you?” Tate asked, breaking the silence after what had seemed like an age. I already missed Devon’s presence. Had I always been this needy? Or was it to do with the baby? I hoped it was the baby. I wasn’t sure I could cope with being so dependent on someone else for the rest of my life.

  “No,” I replied. “I didn’t plan for not being able to get in.”

  “Nope, me neither. We should have known this wouldn’t go to plan.” She laughed a little bitterly. She turned away from the invisible barrier, and perched herself on one of the steps. It was a good idea actually, so I followed her down, making sure I sat in a place where there was a pillar I could rest my back against. The stretch that would give me would let my egg have a little bit more room. And put less strain on my body. Hopefully, anyway.

  “So, I guess we get to know each other a little better?” I suggested. Other than changing clothing, we hadn’t really spent any time alone together.

  “I know you pretty well already.” Tate seemed a little mopey. I didn’t really blame her, but at the same time, it was better that we didn’t give in to that.

  “The important stuff, yes, but the little stuff, not so much,” I pointed out.

  “Fine, what do you want to know?”

  “It’s been bugging me for weeks, but what do you do while Devon’s at work?” I blurted out.

  “Play games. You’ve seen my computer, right?”

  I nodded.

  “There’s a dragon only server, with a game on it. I pretty much play that. I did attempt to cook once, but...”

  “I saw the evidence of that. Probably best not an experiment to repeat.”

  “No, probably not. I’m lucky Sian can cook.”

  I laughed. “Yeah, she’s pretty good at it.”

  “So are you. I never thanked you properly for that meal while we were pretending to be each other still. So, err, thanks.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  We lapsed into silence, neither of us quite knowing what to say. Except...

  “We’ll need to move your computer then, once we switch properly I mean. That way, you can still have it at Sian’s.”

  Tate looked a little taken aback. “Thanks, but why?”

  “I’m guessing you have friends there?” She nodded. “Then you’ll still want to be able to see them. Just cause you’re not a dragon anymore, doesn’t mean the world has to know that.”

  “How sneaky. And twisted.”

  “Just like pretty much everything dragons do then.”

  Tate laughed heartily. “I see you feel the same way I do.”

  “Hard not to. There seemed to be a ceremony for everything. I’m surprised I’m allowed to go to the bathroom without some kind of sacred blessing.”

  “Just wait until junior becomes potty trained.” She pointed at my stomach, and then laughed at the horrified expression on my face. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding.”

  “I’m not so sure,” I muttered. It sounded like the kind of thing dragons would do.

  “After the hatching ceremony, there won’t be anything until your kid is eight. You’re safe on that front.”

  That meant eight years free of ceremonies. Good to know, I could live with that.

  “Wait, the hatching? Not the blessing?” I clarified.

  “Nope, two different things.”

  “Gods damn it.”

  She laughed again. “You picked up dragon cursing already? Wait, do vampires have gods?”

  “No, it’d be ironic if we did. Could you imagine? ‘Hi honey, I’m off to the vampire temple. It’s okay, I’ll just stand outside, I know I can’t get in’.” I’d made my voice as deep and manly as I could, and apparently, that was enough to do Tate in, and she almost doubled over from laughing too hard.

  I joined in. Her laugh was kind of infectious, and it was a relief to let go of some of the tension.

  “Erm...Ayra?” she asked, but only after she’d stopped laughing.

  “Hmm?”

  “What if it won’t let us through because of the whole body swapping thing?”

  “What do you mean?” I didn’t understand, but damn had her suggestion made me curious.

  “Sian is a vampire, so that can’t be the issue. But what if we can’t get through because our souls aren’t in the right bodies?”

  “Oh.”

  “It kind of makes sense, I think.” She frowned, as if trying to find problems in her own suggestion.

  “It does, yes. I guess there’s only one way to know if we’re right.”

  Her answering expression was all I needed to know she understood what I was getting at. “Are we sure that’s a good idea?” She gl
anced down at my bump, which I rubbed gently.

  “No, possibly not. But what else have we really got?”

  “Good point. How do you want to do this?

  “I guess we try the touching thing again?” It had worked when we were in the doorway. I guess it would work now.

  I pushed myself to my feet, and took the few steps over to Tate, who rose herself.

  “Ready?” Her voice shook a little, but I could see the determination in her eyes.

  “When you are,” I replied.

  She held out her hand, and I took it in mine.

  A scream ripped from my throat. Or Tate’s throat. Or both of our throats. I couldn’t actually tell who was screaming. Nor did I have any clue how to stop.

  There was so much pain. It tore through my stomach. My mouth was dry. My skin began to prickle. Everything was painful.

  Then, everything went black.

  A couple of moments later, or what I hoped was a couple of moments, and not much more, my eyes blinked open. I patted myself down, simultaneously relieved and disappointed to find my stomach was flat.

  I missed my egg already.

  I looked over at Tate, to see her out cold. Well that was annoying. But it had taken me a little while to come around last time, so not completely unexpected. It’d taken me longer to come around the last time.

  I examined our surroundings through new eyes. Well, not new. There really wasn’t much I could see in this body, that I couldn’t in my own.

  Tate groaned, and I turned back to her, seeing she was coming around already. Huh. That was quicker than I expected. Or maybe I’d been out longer than Tate had before.

  “You okay?” I asked.

  “We really should have sat down for that,” she groaned.

  “Might have been a good idea. I guess we know for next time.”

  “I hope there isn’t a next time,” she said.

  “I hope there is. We’re in the wrong bodies right now,” I pointed out.

  “Argh, damn.” She rose steadily, her hand resting on the egg protectively. Jealousy spiked through me. That was my baby. She shouldn’t be so caring of it.

  Woah. Okay, I needed to stop. It wasn’t Tate’s fault we were stuck in this situation.

  “I guess we try and go through again.” I gestured towards the invisible barrier. It’d have been much better if there was a sign on it saying that mismatched souls couldn’t go through. It was clearly spelled, so not out of the realms of possibility that they knew about our predicament.