Charu released his prey, allowing the body to slump on the floor, his eyes fixated on the two young men in front of him. They stared down at their father with their emotions flooding over their face. Relief. Regret. Fear. Above, there was a shout, and both humans jerked their heads toward the door. Charu banged his fists on the cage.
“Release me,” he hissed.
Marcus shook his head, his breath coming out of him in quick pants.
“Not yet. We can’t let you go right now. Someone is coming and we gotta make a good story for them about what happened here. We will come back.”
“Unacceptable,” Charu snarled. “Let. Me. Out.”
“I swear,” Marcus whispered fiercely as he grabbed his brother’s arm. The male called Percy still stared at their father with shock as his brother pulled him away. Together they scrambled up the stairs and out of the cellar.
Charu roared, his arms slamming against his prison. He fell against the bars, sneering down at the bloated face of Kessler, and went silent as he heard numerous male voices carry from above.
He edged back against the wall, returning to the shadows of his cage as several humans came rushing into the room. They had among them a few wulkwos who stared at the scene with an unmistakable bloodlust that they barely contained.
Everyone gathered around the body of Kessler and fell silent, one of the guards glancing up only to meet Charu’s gaze. Charu offered him a predatory grin and was satisfied when the human shivered and stepped away before glancing back down at the corpse. Nudging Kessler with his toe, he grunted and shook his head.
“Old fool got too damn close to that beast. Fuck.”
“Had it coming, I’d say.” Another guard snickered and spat on the body. “Motherfucker always thought he was better than anyone else and mean as a fucking rattlesnake. Good riddance.”
“Bastard probably thought the lauchume made him invisible. He knew damn well that no one was supposed to come down here and did anyway. That’s a fucked-up ego. Come on, let’s get him out of here. I’m missing my lunch break.”
With a mumble of agreement, the guards heaved the remains off the floor. The fore-guard eyed Charu as they worked, his face carefully blank, but Charu was aware of his uncertainty. He could smell it. He licked his lips thoughtfully and the human shuddered and hastened out with his companions.
Their time would come soon. Charu settled back and smiled to himself, his thoughts returning to his mate. Their time would come soon as well.
He wondered how long it would take before the wulkwos began to tear the body apart.
Chapter 27
Meredith waited until after dinner to attempt to leave her room again. Although Apane had been an enormous help, she wanted to get a closer look at the thing containing Tiurma. She didn’t think that was going to happen with the lasa hovering around her. If anything, Apane had been something of a distraction in the library, pushing herself between Meredith and the gargoyle.
She wasn’t stupid. The wulkwos queen no doubt had the ability to obliterate Meredith if she weren’t contained. There was just something about the statue. Something she couldn’t put a finger on. She would have asked Apane if it weren’t for the fact that the spirit avoided speaking further about the queen whenever Meredith tried to work their conversation around to that angle. She’d hum and hedge until Meredith dropped the subject.
She didn’t want to make her new friend any more uncomfortable than she was, though it was also clear that the lasa didn’t like the idea of Meredith exploring the house alone. She couldn’t ignore the itch in the back of her mind that she could possibly learn something useful, even if Apane disapproved. The only thing to do was to take matters into her own hands.
So, she’d waited until she was left alone for the evening. She still had plenty of time left, at least three hours, before someone came to lock her door for the night. She would just take a peek without interference and then hustle back to her bedroom.
It didn’t take her long to get down to the library, and thankfully without running into many people. A few individuals, mostly human, gave her a polite nod as she passed them. She saw little of anyone else after that, except for one wulkwos wandering on the main floor.
He looked at her suspiciously for a moment, his brow furrowing as he stared. Meredith made a show of looking around with interest at the artwork hanging in the hallway as he tagged along after her.
She watched him out of the corner of her eye, begging him silently to find something else to preoccupy his interest when he stilled and suddenly departed as if summoned elsewhere.
She let go of the breath she’d been holding and ran down the hall, ducking into the library. She was at once surrounded by the musk of paper and some floral bouquet as she made to the opposite end of the room without pausing.
Just as before, the massive gargoyle loomed there, its neck curved as if preparing to strike angrily. The stone seemed like it had recently been dusted. Someone was obviously seeing to the care of their queen despite her exile and imprisonment by their lauchume.
Meredith circled the stone, eyeing it thoughtfully. She didn’t know exactly what she was looking for. Some clue maybe as to what was happening? Truthfully, it was a pretty narrow shot in the dark. Apane hadn’t told her why Tiurma had been bonded to the gargoyle before Meredith’s arrival, and in fact hadn’t wanted to discuss the queen at all after their returned to Meredith’s room.
She wished that there was just someone who could tell her more...
Meredith paused as her gaze focused in a crack in the stone running up the center. It reminded her of the deep cuts made into humans when they were possessed. Leaning forward, she looked at it closer and trailed her fingers just above it.
Light welled up inside of Meredith and poured out seeking that crack... and connected. The thing within the stone shell twisted and opened violet eyes to look down at her. Tiurma was still trapped and yet Meredith could see her as if she were looking at a projection over a solid surface. The eyes narrowed with piercing intensity but there was no hostility coming from the wulkwos; instead, she seemed... curious.
“Fascinating.”
The words hissed through the air as if from every direction, flowing directly into Meredith’s mind. She shifted nervously but didn’t break eye contact. She only hoped that wasn’t taken as a sign of aggression for their kind.
“What?”
“You are not what I expected. So small, delicate... human. The Fates have a sense of humor it seems when it comes to this new era.”
“I’m sorry, but I really don’t understand.”
The long serpentine body of the wulkwos twisted rhythmically as she laughed. While the pitch was similar to the males, it seemed calmer somehow. More restrained. The female pulsed with power as she lowered the apparition of her head to regard Meredith more closely.
“Why are you here, human? Do you come to witness my great power leashed, siphoned and restrained by the male I elevated to king?”
“No,” Meredith denied. “I felt compelled to come. I don’t know what I hoped to find, but all I knew was that I needed to know something of what is going on here.”
Tiurma cackled, raising the fine hairs on Meredith’s arms.
“Ah, my mate plays games, I see. He was fond of them but never could share his toys well with others. He always desires more, human. I was content in our palace, obscured in the shadows of Aites. We fed, and unlike many beings there, we found joy. But my mate desired more,” she hissed, allowing the final word to lengthen before she snapped her teeth shut. “He heard of the prophecy from the Fates of a new era, that as this period dawned the gates would weaken and become penetrable. He wouldn’t listen to reason.”
“So he came to our world. Why did you come with him if you didn’t want to be here?”
Tiurma snorted with disgust.
“I was proud, and thought if I accompanied him that I could persuade him to return home. When the blood madness came upon our kind, I thought I
had him convinced to return with me rather than linger in this place. But the longer he was here, the more he lusted for this world. I began to threaten him and everyone in his company, to bind them with my magic and force them to return. I did not suspect he would turn my own magic against me.”
“How do I know any of what you say is true? I’ve heard of your cruelty.”
“The lasa? That one always cries over her fate selfishly as if nothing else matters. I reacted poorly the more I had to listen to her constant, pitiful wailing. You think she cares about humanity or this world? She cares about going home, human. To return to the service of Turan. It is all she begged for.”
“You are mistaken,” Meredith argued. “She is the only one here who offered me friendship. The only one who sought to aid me.”
“Curious.” The wulkwos fell silent for a time and then roused herself with a shrill laugh. “As to your other question, I have no reason to lie to you, human. You have neither the power to harm me nor to help me as you are. I speak only of what it is. I could tell you everything and it will not impact me.”
Meredith eyed the female.
“Okay. Then tell me, why does he want me?”
“You are special. Males make easy vessels for our kind. Females are tricky. A male spirit may inhabit a female for a time if he seduces her, but it is not an easy arrangement for long-term. Your spirit is oddly adaptable. You can adjust the fabric of your being and receive that which is not native. You even take the miasma into you and change it within your spirit, though it brings difficult consequences that comes with the fallibility of your mortal flesh. Yet your soul is special. A living portal. The mother of a new age foretold by the Fates. My mate, upon hearing of you, came to desire you above all others.”
“But why? Everything dealing with beings of Aites has purpose.”
“Correct,” Tiurma hissed. “He wants this world. By joining with you on the night of shadows he will breed the spirit of the new age and throw loose the bonds of Aites forever from its domain. Earth will become as death, to feed the enjoyment of its defilers.”
Meredith stumbled back, her fist clenching above her heart.
“Fuck,” she whispered.
Tiurma twisted again and giggled.
“That is the idea, human.”
Shaking her head in denial, Meredith looked up at the ghostly form overlaying the gargoyle.
“Please, isn’t there anything you can do to help me?”
The predatory gaze narrowed on her and a toothy smile stretched over the sharp angles of her face streaked with fur that crested up to her lupine ears.
“I will tell you three things of power revealed by the Fates themselves that may aid you, if you give me your vow that you will persuade the gatekeeper to return me without the judgment of the lamp.”
Meredith bit her lip with uncertainty. On one hand, she could be making a foolish bargain. On the other hand, she desperately needed something to give them an edge. The room was gradually darkening, and she was running out of time. Tomorrow was Halloween. She didn’t have any choice. Not if she wanted to save herself. Not if she wanted to save her world. If she didn’t do something, everything was going to end tomorrow.
Straightening her back, she met the eyes of the spirit watching her.
“All right, you have a bargain.”
Tiurma grinned triumphantly and slid low, drawing close. Meredith tried not to flinch and reminded herself that they weren’t truly there, but a chill ran through her all the same.
“These the Fates spoke to me in the cave of voices, these three things that you must know. One, speak the name of the false king and break his false crown. Speak ‘Lacth’ that he may languish without my power once again, but speak it not until you have the light fully within your hands. Speak too early and your words will fall as dust to the ground. Two, you must heed the pain and divest the constraints of your mortality. Take the lamp into your hands and shine where you stand. Three, and most important, speak the word of endings, and let all the beings of Aites depart. Marish hinthial favin.”
Tiurma coiled in on herself, her eyes closing.
“Now leave me. I tire sustaining this manifestation. Your gift of light was just enough, but now I must go to my rest.”
Meredith nodded and backed away from the statue as the image of Tiurma faded. Though the words were clear in their instruction, and thankfully not the twisted mess oracles were fabled to be, they were still vague enough that she wasn’t certain exactly what to expect.
As she reviewed the facts, she absently picked up a novel from a table on her way to the door. She barely glanced at the cover, only enough to see it was a collection of horror stories by H.P. Lovecraft. She’d read them in her youth but didn’t think her current night terrors needed any help. Still, it made an adequate cover in case anyone spied her leaving the library.
She now knew the name of the lauchume. If he was a being who brought things to languish, it suggested he alone did not possess the monumental power to accomplish all he did. He’d stolen the power from his mate, the true ruler of their kind and continued to siphon it from her while he kept her bound.
The second item was pretty straightforward. She was going to have to take the lantern again and touch it. She wasn’t certain what exactly would happen other than that she had to accept the pain that came with her fragile mortality and allow it to do its thing wherever she stood at that moment. It could very well end up killing her, so she couldn’t recklessly just grab it. It had to be timed just right... whenever that was.
She chewed her lip. She didn’t want to die, but she was on the fast track to that anyway with the miasma eating her mind faster than she could supposedly transform it within her. That seemed a bit farfetched but, then again, she was talking to spirits and dealing with a semi-sentient power in a lantern.
The last were the words that she needed to memorize that supposedly will send them all back to where they came from. Okay, easy. She repeated them to herself over and over until she was certain that she had them firmly planted in her memory.
She reached for the door, still mumbling to herself, when it swung open abruptly. She froze and looked up at the giant male standing before her. She forced a smile, hoping it looked sincere.
“Hey there, Palearas. Are you looking for a bit of light reading too?” She waved her book jauntily as if she’d discovered a great prize. “I haven’t read these since I was a kid. A bit spooky, but perfect for the Halloween season, if you know what I mean.”
The wulkwos said nothing and pointed down the hall to the elevator.
“Right,” she laughed humorlessly. “I know. Time for me to go to my room.”
She crept by him before hastening on her way as if hellhounds were nipping at her heels.
Chapter 28
Meredith ignored the shades that moved around her. She wasn’t sure if they were really ghosts are just more of her madness. Or maybe it was both. All she knew was that she wasn’t going to acknowledge them. For once, she wasn’t being attacked by the shadows, but they watched her curiously as if waiting for something.
They weren’t pretty. Many were emaciated, and a good number covered with blood and gashes from claws that gored their skin. Those who’d been slit open had huge gaping wounds in their belly. Others were missing parts of their face, breasts, and limbs as if chunks of flesh had been ripped off them and devoured. The dark pits of their eyes stared silently at her from all corners of the room.
An itch developed in the center of her shoulder blades as her skin prickled with awareness. She’d pulled herself out of bed early and donned one of the disgustingly feminine dresses that Apane liked to put on her while she waited for the lasa to make her morning appearance. She was impatient and had no time for the leisurely grooming that Apane had her endure.
She would have already left except there was one small problem: no way was anyone in the mansion was going to let her get anywhere near the cellar door. Apane was a delicate, unassuming spiri
t. She was also the only chance Meredith had. The lasa had been with them for weeks, dutifully serving the wulkwos. No one would expect her.
The door opened and Meredith sprung to her feet, trying not to notice how the shades seemed to lean in toward her as she practically pulled Apane into the room. The other female gasped in surprise as she stumbled into the room, her body freezing with surprise. She looked slowly over Meredith and hunched her shoulders.
“Mistress? Is there something amiss?”
Meredith grinned and pulled her down to sit with her on the edge of the bed.
“Nothing at all,” she said. “In fact, things are looking up, but it’s going to require me asking you to do me a very big favor.”
If anything, Apane seemed to shrink.
“Me? What can I do?”
“We are going to bust out Charu, get that lamp, and kick some major ass.”
The lasa’s mouth dropped open in horror and she began to tremble.
“No, please mistress, I beg you. Don’t do anything that will risk all of us. The lauchume will punish us both if we get caught. There is no way to truly do anything without him knowing.”
Meredith clenched the thin, pale fingers in her hand in an attempt to bring her friend back to herself from the hysteria that was threatening to carry her away. The shades seemed to creep around the slight figure of the other female, their faces drawing into hard, unforgiving lines. Meredith turned her back to them and grimaced at the lasa’s tendency for theatrics.
She didn’t blame her for being frightened but she found it difficult to ignore the words of Tiurma rising through her consciousness. She reminded herself that Apane had good reason to be scared. That didn’t by default make her as self-absorbed as the wulkwos queen made her out to be.
“Apane, calm down. It’s going to be okay. You don’t have to do anything. Just distract the guard so I can sneak into the cellar. You can leave then, and it will be all on me.”
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