Puppet/Master (The Vale Chronicles Book 1)

by Joel Abernathy

  Arden had never seen so many fae in one place, all moving about freely to and from their own obligations. Before he could fully adjust to what he was seeing, Dusk closed the door. “See?”

  “And you’re telling me that why…?”

  Dusk removed the pendant and draped it around Arden’s neck. “See for yourself.”

  Arden touched the crystal warily, but other than the electric buzz of magic, he couldn’t feel anything unusual. He reluctantly walked over to the door, but when he opened it, the dizzying tesseract was back in place.

  “What happened?” he cried.

  “Each key is crafted from part of its user’s soul,” Dusk explained. “It’s useless to anyone else.”

  “Guess that settles that.”

  “What do you mean?” Dusk asked.

  “I’m never getting out of here. I probably don’t even have a soul.”

  The fae sighed, draping an arm around Arden’s shoulder to lead him down the hall. “Now, that’s not true. I hope you don’t really believe that.”

  Arden shrugged. “I’ve done a lot of shit. You of all people should know that.”

  “As I said before, you weren’t given a choice,” said Dusk. “Now, you have one. What you do with it from this point on is what defines you.”

  “And if I still want to go back?”

  Dusk smiled sadly. “I’m sure that you do. All I’m asking is that you give it time. If nothing else, you can see it as gathering intelligence.”

  He had a point. Arden just wasn’t sure how he felt about him discussing it so openly. “I still don’t understand why you care. It’s not like you need me.”

  “It is my hope that if nothing else, your time here will teach you that you have more to offer to others than your utility,” said Dusk.

  Arden stared at him. What the hell was he even talking about?

  “Never mind,” the fae sighed. “There’s something we need to speak about.”

  “What is it?”

  “Now that you’ve had some time to adjust, there are some things you need to know about being a chimera,” Dusk said carefully. “Things I’m certain Eric never told you.”

  “Okay.” Arden followed Dusk into the kitchen where a tea set was already waiting on a table. He sat at the fae’s request and hesitantly took the cup that was offered to him, waiting for Dusk to drink from his cup first. “Like what?”

  “You may feel human enough, but there are several key differences you should be aware of,” Dusk continued, his tone growing stiff, as if he wasn’t sure how to approach the subject. “Influences that you may not be aware of, given the context in which they were used.”

  “Used? What are you talking about?”

  “I told you that chimeras are capable of becoming a higher form of any species,” said Dusk. “That is not the only reason you’re coveted. Do you know where chimeras come from?”

  Arden shrugged. “Humans, I guess.”

  “Humans with diluted fae lineage,” Dusk answered. “Those who possess the Chrysalus gene.”

  “Chrysalus?” Arden echoed. “I can’t use magic.”

  “No, but you are a conduit for it in your natural state. Your resistance to Chrysalus energy is more than you believe,” he said quietly. “It cannot harm you because it is in your very DNA. You are capable of channeling great quantities of Chrysalus energy through your physical body, and transferring it to anyone who possesses or wields such magic.”

  “You mean fae and elves?”

  Dusk nodded.

  “Is that why you wanted me?” Arden asked, unsure of why the revelation stung.

  “No,” Dusk said, reaching out to take his hand. “It is why Eric wanted to make sure we never found you. Why he stripped your true nature away and turned you into a weapon of his own kind. Chimeras are supposed to be rare. You are a gift from the Vale and meant to be treasured, not bred in laboratory conditions and used like objects.”

  Arden pulled his hand away. This was too much. If what the fae was saying was true, then his whole life had been a lie. So many secrets… and for what? He’d always thought Eric wanted him, but what if Dusk was telling the truth and he’d only wanted to play keep-away with his enemies?

  “No,” he gritted out.

  Pity shone in the fae’s eyes, adding insult to injury. “I know this is difficult to hear,” he said gently. “But it is time for you to know the truth about what you are.”

  “So what?” he snapped. “So you and your friends can use me to win a war? To betray my Master?”

  “No,” Dusk said firmly. “That isn’t how this works.”

  “Why the hell not?”

  “Because the Chrysalus energy cannot be taken,” said Dusk. “It must be given freely, through consensual, intimate exchange.”

  Arden froze. “When you say intimate, you mean…?”

  For once, the fae didn’t seem to have a quick response. “Yes. Physical contact.”

  “Son of a bitch,” Arden muttered.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t say anything sooner. Given the delicate nature of the topic, I thought it best to give you time.”

  “Time?” Arden laughed. “What, did you think a few weeks would magically make me okay with being the live-in whore of the Brotherhood?” A horrible thought occurred to him. One he didn’t want to entertain, but he couldn’t deal without knowing, either. “Was Vox in on this?”

  “No!” Dusk said quickly. “Vox doesn’t know about this. Few people outside the fae do.”

  That much made enough sense. Maybe it was just that Arden didn’t want to believe Vox’s interest in him was nothing more than a job. A ploy to gain his trust.

  Even more shocking was the fact that it was working.

  “I swear to you,” Dusk said, holding Arden’s gaze. “This has nothing to do with why I brought you here. I would never use another person that way, chimera or not. Even if I were so inclined, the Chrysalus energy would never lend itself to such impure motives.”

  “You talk about it like it thinks.”

  “It does,” he insisted. “The core is more sentient, more conscious than either you or I. It is its own being, and all life within the Vale is an extension of that consciousness. You are as well.”

  “If everything you’re saying is true, how would your kind even identify us?”

  “It is difficult,” he admitted. “But there are certain signs that begin to manifest with age.”

  “Such as?”

  Dusk hesitated, his lips pursed. “Chimeras are naturally... beguiling creatures. People are drawn to you in various ways. Driven to nurture and protect.”

  Arden snorted. “Right.”

  “I know how that may sound, given your life this far, but that’s part of it,” said the fae. “Eric turned you in order to mask your potential. To keep you from those who would most naturally gravitate toward you. It was both for his gain and our loss.”

  “Is that why you spared me?” Arden asked. “After I killed your own flesh and blood, is that the real reason you forgave me?”

  “I forgave you because the blame was not yours to take,” Dusk said quietly.

  “Bullshit!” The fae jolted in surprise at his vicious response, but Arden’s blood was boiling and he couldn’t hold back. “You say Eric was just using me, but you’re the one who treats me like a child. Like I’m not even competent enough to be held responsible for my own actions.”

  “Arden…”

  “No,” he muttered, getting up from his chair. “I’m done. I don’t want to hear anymore.”

  He left the room and to his relief, Dusk didn’t try to follow him. Not that there was really anywhere to go. He’d traded his coffin for a gilded cage and the more he learned about his “true nature,” the more it felt like the bars were closing in.

  Chapter 11

  Arden

  Arden had avoided going back to the room he shared with Vox. He knew he wasn’t truly alone. The ghoul was careful enough about watching him that he knew when
Vox wasn’t present, or at least when Arden wasn’t aware of his presence, someone else was close at hand.

  At least he had a bit of privacy in the living room, if only because it wasn’t closed off. He’d felt himself being watched for a few moments already and was growing tired of pretending like he didn’t notice. His heightened sensory perception as a vampire may have been gone, and he missed it sorely, but it had been replaced with other, subtler forms of intuition.

  It was an unwelcome reminder that Dusk was probably right about him beginning to transform back into the being he was originally meant to be, and all the humiliating things that seemed to accompany that identity. It made his feelings for Vox all the more complicated--and confusing, which was why he didn’t have the courage to face him at the moment.

  “Whoever’s there, you can come out already,” he muttered from his perch curled up on the sofa.

  Elan appeared a moment later, looking as casual as someone who hadn’t been stalking. “You caught me.”

  “You’re not very good at hiding for a vampire.”

  That made him laugh. He sauntered into the room, picking up a bottle of liquor off the bar shelf across the room. “I’m not good at a lot of things, for a vampire. Drink?”

  “No, thanks,” Arden muttered.

  “Suit yourself. I find this time of day positively intolerable without alcohol, caffeine or both.”

  “And blood, I’m sure.”

  The vampire flashed a toothy smile. “That, too, but beggars can’t be choosers.”

  “Where do you get blood, anyway?” Arden asked. He’d been curious about it ever since he’d realized that a vampire called the Brotherhood’s manor home. “I can’t imagine you feed off the fae.”

  “God, no,” he said with a grimace. “Their blood is much too sweet, if you can even call it that. The human population within the Vale is understandably a bit jumpy about offering themselves to a vampire, but I have enough donors to get by and when that fails, I return to the surface to hunt.”

  “You mean you don’t hunt in the Vale?”

  “I only hunt the wicked.” He smirked. “Bittersweet is my predilection.”

  “I see. So you’re one of those ‘moral vampires’?”

  “The kind my brother hates, to be sure.”

  That much was true. Eric had never made any secret of his intolerance for those of his own kind who objected to the way he treated humans. Namely, the fact that he didn’t regard them as conscious beings with wills and lives of their own. “How did you come to be so different?”

  “I suppose you could blame it on our mothers,” he mused. “Mine was a humanitarian. His was the devil incarnate.”

  Arden blinked. “I take it the family didn’t blend well.”

  “Like oil and vinegar,” he chuckled. “My mother was his favorite, but as the third mate, she had little sway.”

  Eric had followed in his father’s footsteps in that regard. He had four women who were his official consorts, and half a dozen more he saw on the side. Most vampires did. He’d always assumed that was why Eric ensured he had a steady supply of willing lovers, but now he saw even that through a different lens. Was he just trying to keep Arden’s inborn neediness in check? To make sure that he was fulfilled enough not to realize what he was missing?

  It was a dangerous thought, one he was eager to dismiss. Dusk was getting into his head. He had to keep it screwed on until he found a way out of this place, or he was going to lose everything that mattered.

  “And you?” Arden asked. “I’m sure you have a few vampires on tap.”

  “Surprisingly, no,” Elan said in a wry tone, leaning on the bar. “I’m a deviant. I prefer to bed those outside my own kind.”

  “Humans?” That wasn’t so unusual. Vampires often fucked their prey, but anything more serious was the cause of great shame. Arden had always taken consolation in the fact that Eric didn’t want him at least partly because he hadn’t been born a vampire.

  “Among others. Why limit yourself?”

  Arden rolled his eyes. “Let me guess. You want to add chimera to the list?”

  “Oh, absolutely,” Elan answered without a hint of doubt. “But Dusk would have my head if I laid a finger on you. Or elsewhere.”

  Arden snorted. Elan was exactly the sort of vampire he would have pursued under different circumstances, and if he wasn’t sure the man just saw him as a rare conquest, he would think about it even then. “I see.” He realized that an opportunity was before him and he’d certainly regret it if he didn’t take it. “When was the last time you returned to the surface?”

  “A few days,” Elan said, giving Arden a knowing look. “And if you’re trying to needle information about my brother, it’s going to cost you.”

  “Of course,” Arden muttered, folding his arms. “What do you want?”

  “A date.”

  Arden blinked. “Is that some kind of joke?”

  “I’ll let you tell me that when the evening’s through. But the invitation is quite serious.”

  “What do you need a date for?” Arden couldn’t imagine any circumstance in which he’d be the ideal arm candy. None that didn’t involve someone leaving in a body bag, at any rate.

  “It’s a gathering of the who’s who among the fae. Let’s just say the only thing that can distract from a wolf among the sheep is a two-headed wolf.”

  “And I’m the mutant wolf in this scenario?”

  Elan flashed him a dazzling half-smile. “Of course.”

  Arden hesitated. The idea of leaving the house seemed too good to be true, even if it was only an outing in Fairyland. “Dusk and Leo would never let me go.”

  “They would under my diligent supervision.”

  Arden cocked an eyebrow. “And what does one wear to a fae party?”

  “Something loose enough to conceal a flask,” Elan remarked without missing a beat.

  Well, what the hell? Couldn’t be any worse than staying cooped up.

  When Arden reluctantly returned to his and Vox’s room to get dressed for the party, he found Vox waiting for him. The ghoul seemed to have heard him coming, or at least didn’t look surprised to see him.

  “Hey.”

  “Hey,” said Arden. What else was there to say? All the time he’d spent avoiding Vox hadn’t actually helped him figure out what to say when they saw each other again.

  Vox stood, but seemed wary of coming any closer. “You didn’t come back last night.”

  “No,” Arden said slowly. “I didn’t really know what to say.”

  “I do. I’m sorry.”

  The sincerity in Vox’s tone took him off guard. “What? Why?”

  “For what happened,” Vox answered, looking down. “I’m sure what you probably think, but I swear I had no idea.”

  Arden froze as he realized what Vox was talking about. “Dusk told you, didn’t he?”

  The ghoul nodded.

  Arden took a deep breath. “Look, I’m the one who came onto you. And Dusk told me you didn’t know.”

  “You believe him?” Vox seemed surprised, and he had every right to be. There was no reason for Arden to believe the Fae, but he did.

  “Yeah. I believe you, anyway.”

  “Thanks,” Vox murmured. Another awkward silence filled the room, making it hard to breathe. “So… he told you everything about being a chimera?”

  “Everything I wanted to hear.”

  “I’m sorry. That must be weird.”

  “Just a little.” Arden sighed. “Do you feel any different?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “From the way Dusk tells it, I’m basically an electrical outlet for Chrysalus energy. You plug in and you get juiced up,” he said dryly. “I was just wondering if you felt anything after.”

  His response seemed to take the ghoul by surprise. “Oh. Well… yeah, but I don’t think it had anything to do with that.”

  Arden wasn’t sure what to make of that comment. “Oh.”

  “G
houls don’t feed off of Chrysalus. But what Dusk told me made sense of something else.”

  “What was it?” Arden asked, curious.

  Vox hesitated. “I told you that when I became a ghoul, I stopped being able to eat human food.”

  “Yeah, I remember that.”

  “Well, that’s not the only appetite that changed.”

  It took Arden a moment to realize what he was saying. “Oh.”

  “Until you, I’ve never… wanted anyone. Not like that,” he said, running a hand through his hair. “Man, this is awkward.”

  “It doesn’t have to be,” Arden said with a shrug. “Lots of people just aren’t interested in sex, humans included. There’s nothing weird about that.”

  “No, but I was before,” he muttered. “I was… a lot of things that I’m not now. When I was with you, it was the closest I’ve ever come to feeling the way I felt before. Like myself. Not just because of the sex, either. It’s hard to explain.”

  “And you think that’s because I’m a chimera?”

  Vox shrugged. “I don’t know. All I know is that you make me feel things I haven’t felt since I was human. Some I’ve never felt, not even then.”

  “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” Arden asked, afraid to assume.

  He could tell Vox was smiling. “It’s a good thing. For me, at least.”

  “It was good for me, too,” Arden murmured. “And for what it’s worth, knowing what I know now, I’d still want it.”

  “Me, too,” Vox said, taking a step forward. When he took Arden’s hand, the chimera’s heart pulsed, sending little surges of electricity all across his skin. He wasn’t sure if this was part of the reverse transformation he’d undergone, or if Vox himself was the one who stirred such strange sensations, but either way, he wanted more of it. “But I don’t want there to be any misunderstandings between us.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You’re changing,” Vox responded. “What you want right now might not be what you want tomorrow. I just want you to know I don’t expect anything from you. If I can be the one who gives you what you need, I will, but I’m not going to hold you back from getting what you need from someone else.”