Dragan

by Plum Pascal

  “What have you done?” asks the vampire, blinking his way back to reality.

  “I tried to wake you up!” Her voice is still high an’ emotional as she back away real slow, like she afraid he gonna leap up at her an’ suck her brain out her nose. Oh, wait, that be zombies what do that.

  “It’s broken,” the vamp says, an’ he look at the pieces of rock like they’re what’s left o’ his dead child. Then, he look up at Cambion. “Fix it.”

  The elf shake his head, his gold hair shiftin’ as he moves. “I can’t. It’s been broken. It can’t be unbroken.”

  “There must be a way,” say the vamp.

  I heard his tone a zillion times before at Anona’s, when her victims went through withdrawals from Atacamite. There ain’t no reasonin’ with them people. They want one thing an’ if you don’ have it, you better stay out their way.

  “I don’t know of any way to fix it,” Cambion say with a big ol’ breath. “I’ve never seen anyone break a Transmutation Stone before.” Then he glare at Eilish. “What the fuck did you do?”

  “I just… touched it, and it broke,” she admit with a shrug. I can tell she’s disappointed too ‘cause that stone carried inside it the key ta unlockin’ all her own memories. “Can’t we make another one?”

  “I AM NOT,” I start, “FLYING BACK TO THAT FUCKING RIVER!” I’m impressed by how far my little voice carries. A few birds stop their singin’ and leave the trees.

  That’s right, you little bastards, I think. Fly away, ‘cause Flumph ain’t flyin’ with you! I’se keepin’ my fat ass right here on the ground!

  “Even if we had the supplies… it would take another full day,” Cambion say, an’ he shake his head with a sigh. “We’re malnourished and exhausted, and we’ve already wasted too much fucking time.”

  “But my memories,” Eilish say, real sad-like.

  Cambion glare at her. “What are you hoping to see in the stone that’s going to help us, anyway? The long list of male victims you’ve fucked and destroyed?”

  Eilish winces like he just hit her. Dragan look at her, and he has a real sad expression on his face. He look like he want to console her, but he don’t. He just stand there. And the vamp’s still staring at the stone like he ready ta start cryin’.

  Eilish look at Cambion like she summonin’ all her courage. “There’s still half of me that’s angel,” she point out.

  “The demon part of you is the only part that concerns me,” Cambion spits back at her. Then he take a breath and look back at Dragan. “Once we figure out what to do with her,” he say, wavin’ his hand in Eilish’s direction, “we should pay a visit to Raflamir; he’s an old friend and he’ll offer us haven and food. From there, we can decide what to do.”

  “It’s too dangerous!” the gargoyle finally speaks, shaking his head. “We can’t trust anyone. Raflamir may have fought for us in the war, but times are different now. People are terrified of Variant. They’ll do anything to avoid his wrath.”

  “And what’s your suggestion, Dragan?” Cambion insist, soundin’ real angry. “Stay here and starve to death or get captured?”

  But Dragan ain’t really payin’ attention to Cambion. He eyeing the angel instead and when he speak, his voice be real low. “You said we should visit Raflamir once we decide what to do with Eilish,” Dragan say, real serious-like. “What does that mean?”

  “I don’t trust her, and neither should you,” Cambion answer real quick.

  “So you’re going to leave her alone in the forest to die?” Dragan shakes his head. “We don’t have to trust her, but she doesn’t deserve that fate.”

  “What does she really deserve from us?” Cambion demands.

  “I didn’t know what I was!” Eilish shouts at both of them.

  “She could still be the way to defeat Variant,” Dragan say, ignoring her.

  Cambion laugh acidly at the gargoyle. “She was a way to defeat Variant when she was an angel, you fool. Now she’s just a demon and one that should be and was supposed to be extinct,” he finish as Eilish look down at her feet and the tears start spillin’ from her eyes.

  “I still believes you is good,” I say as I come and land on her shoulder. She don’t lift her head.

  “I won’t leave her here,” Dragan say, and Eilish lift her head ta look at him but he won’t look back at her. Instead, he glares at Cambion. “And you saw her angel wings as surely as all of us did. Yes, she’s Succubus but you can’t ignore the fact that she’s also angel.”

  Cambion sits back down and puts his head in his hands. “I’m not convinced of anything.”

  “I won’t leave her out here,” Dragan insist.

  “Fine. She fucking comes with us, but I want her hands tied,” Cambion reply with narrowed eyes. “I don’t fucking trust her. From this point onward, she’s our prisoner.”

  Eilish turn to look at Dragan but the gargoyle don’t look at her when he speaks. “If Raflamir makes one move to show he’s not on our side, we’re leaving. Is that understood?” I notice he completely avoid commentin’ on Eilish bein’ their prisoner. I’se thinking it’s pretty fucked up, but ain’t no one interested in what I gots ta say, anyways.

  Cambion’s face show he ain’t too happy with the gargoyle’s tone, but he still nods. “We’re going to Earlann.”

  I look from Dragan, to Cambion, to Eilish, to Baron, before looking back to Dragan again.

  “I’m sorry, what?” I asks. “Earleann? As in the Fae Realm?”

  “Enough, Flumph,” say Dragan like he’s more tired than he’s ever been.

  But he ain’t tired. You know who’s tired? Me. That’s who. Lord Shadow Ass don’t know the meanin’ of no ‘tired.’

  “So, let me gets this straight,” I start. “The psychedelic vision rock is dead, so nows we gotta go all the way to faerie land ta some asshole’s house I ain’t never heard of? Even after we decided we couldn’t go to faerie land, ‘cause it was too dangerous? Oh! An’, the former champion of our team is now our prisoner? That sound right to yous?”

  They nod. The vamp don’t say nothin’, an’ I ain’t even sure he’s aware we’s around him.

  “Well, it don’t sound right to me!” No one say nothin’ so’s I continue, “A bunch o’ lunatics!” I call them.

  When Cambion finish his talkin’, the angel—or Succubus—Angelbus—sits back down an’ she look real tired and unhappy. I float down beside her an’ she give me a little smile, like she tryin’ to be strong but she failin’.

  “They’ll come ‘round,” I whisper and give her a little thumbs up, but I can’t say I believe my own words so’s I doubt she does.

  ###

  Eilish

  Mortal Plane

  I still don’t understand how it’s possible I’m both angel and Succubus. Furthermore, I don’t understand the hatred that stems from the others. Well, maybe I understand Cambion’s increased dislike for me—as he’s a creature of light, it’s natural he should abhor creatures of the dark. But he’s also conveniently forgotten that I’m also still angel.

  And Dragan? It pains me intensely when I think of the emptiness in Dragan’s eyes when he looks at me. There was a time when he was my only champion. The feelings between us when he was inside me, the way he looked at me—I half-wonder if he’d loved me?

  Now, he can’t stand me. He’s not as obvious as Cambion, of course, but his disgust is there all the same. I can see it every time he looks at me when he thinks I don’t see him looking. His expression is different. It’s as though he sees me, but doesn’t see me. As though I’m someone else in his eyes now.

  I can’t count Baron as an ally anymore, either. I don’t know what happened when I touched the stone, but I was trying to help him. I could see he was falling deeper and deeper into whatever trance the stone had woven for him, and I wanted to free him from that dependence. Maybe it was stupid of me, but I thought if I touched the stone, I could use my own power to help free him.

  And yet, as soon as I laid
my fingers on the stone, it immediately cracked in half. Yes, Baron was freed but at what cost? Now I have no way of knowing who and what I really am, or where I came from or why I still have my wings—both sets of them. The worst part of it all, though, is that I can see a change in Baron now too.

  Whatever ally I’d thought I had in him, I don’t anymore.

  The only ally I have left is Flumph and he isn’t much of one. I can protect him more than he can protect me. The more I weigh my miserable situation, the clearer it becomes that all four of them would be better off without me.

  Cambion obviously wants me gone. I’m fairly sure Dragan feels as though I’ve backstabbed him, simply owing to what I am, and Baron will forever blame me for destroying his chance to learn more about the man he once was. And Flumph? He’d do much better in their protection than in mine.

  The more I think about it, the easier it becomes to make a decision.

  I will leave.

  Once I’m given the opportunity, I’ll find my own way. Where I’ll go? I’m not sure. At least I’m on the Mortal Plane, so my strength won’t be attacked by the shadows. Or maybe the Succubus side me needs the shadows?

  But, if such was the case, why did I feel as if I were dying when we were in the Shadow Realm? I’m not sure. I’m chalk full of questions that have no answers.

  The only answer I do currently have is that I’m not wanted here. So why would I remain? Just to make all three of them despise me even more than they already do?

  TWELVE

  Cambion

  Mortal Plane

  We begin our journey toward the Fae Realm in mixed moods.

  The demoness trails behind me, her arms bound together in front of her.

  The road is empty, not a sound to be heard or a person to be seen. On our way out, we pass the graveyard where Baron resurrected the dead. Several of the plots are still upturned, the soil forming small mounds beside their respective gravestones. The bodies aren’t far away; they can’t travel any real distance without the control of their animator.

  Baron doesn’t seem to notice the abandoned plots; he’s still sulking from the destruction of the stone. I’ve seen and heard of similar reactions. For some, the lure of the stone becomes a poison. The solace of a past, even a bad past, can feel like a blanket to those who have long craved the comforting arms of history. I should have known Baron would be drawn to the stone more than most.

  A Transmutation Stone that cracks and breaks in half, however? That’s something I’ve never heard of. I can’t imagine how the Succubus witch could have accomplished it. Perhaps it was simply that the stone couldn’t handle being touched by two life sources at once? Transmutation Stones carry massive amounts of energy. Enough to transform and mutate physical objects, to recreate memories of a long-distant past, and to weave a web that keeps the seer prisoner. There’s no way a simple touch would be capable of breaking such an artifact. If anything, it would break the person who touched it, rather than the other way around. Yet, the witch remains completely unscathed.

  The more I ponder the subject, the more I realize there wouldn’t be a benefit for the demoness in sabotaging the stone. Furthermore, if I believe her story about her own lost memory, it would make even less sense for her to sabotage herself by destroying the stone. Perhaps she was simply attempting to free Baron from the stone’s hold, as she said? For as powerful as we’ve witnessed her to be, I think her surprise at her abilities is genuine.

  Perhaps.

  Regardless, I won’t be the king who goes down in history as the one who lost a war due to a Succubus. Dragan can continue to wear that title.

  The stone’s breaking isn’t the only way it surprised me. Once Baron was freed from the object’s hold, we were able to whittle out from him a few of the details he’d witnessed while under the stone’s thrall. And those details surprised me.

  Historically, the stone reveals a narrow window into the life of the user. It may choose certain moments for their relevance or spiritual significance, but the material from which it draws comes from the users’ own mind. Baron was somehow able to travel outside his personal history, and I find this quite baffling.

  He admitted to seeing a vision of the Succubus standing beside the Midnight Queen, a vision I now believe reflects the future. Baron also saw the realms as the currently stand—Variant’s increasingly frequent edicts confining people to their homes. Furthermore, it’s now official—Dragan and I are the most wanted men in the three realms.

  Making it to Earlann without detection will be a bigger miracle than the stone cracking, or an angel-Succubus hybrid with two sets of wings.

  Dragan’s voice interrupts my reverie. “So, if Revenant really did see the future, and that future is one with Eilish and Morrigan together, shouldn’t it follow that we can trust Eilish?”

  I glare at the barbarian. “I haven’t seen the Midnight Queen in over a century, have you?”

  “No,” Dragan concurs in a deep and low voice.

  “So what makes you think she’s even on our side anymore?”

  “I don’t,” he responds.

  “You were the one who said Morrigan turned her back on us,” I continue. “I am likely to agree with you. I don’t trust Morrigan almost as much as I don’t trust that Succubus.”

  “You seem to forget that Succubus is still half angel,” returns Dragan.

  “She could simply be artful with her demon magic,” I spit back. “For all we know, she magicked the angel wings.”

  “You know that’s bullshit,” Dragan scoffs. “We’ve subjected her to enough of our magic, as well as Thoradin’s, when he was alive, to force that option out.”

  I shrug. “I don’t have answers for you. The fact she’s Succubus is enough for me. It should be enough for you.”

  “I didn’t say I trusted her,” he responds staunchly.

  “You’re biased, regardless,” I continue.

  “What the hell are you going on about? I just told you I don’t trust her.”

  “True but you’re also the only one of us who’s fucked her, and you remember what that did to you the last time,” I finish.

  He glares at me. “This is entirely different. Eilish doesn’t have the same level of power Lamia did.”

  “And, how in the bloody hell do you know that?” I rifle back at him. “You saw her destroy the bone devil back in Grimreap. That wasn’t weak magic.”

  Dragan nods. “All I can tell you is I learned my lesson with Lamia, and I won’t let the same situation ever repeat itself.”

  “I believe you,” I assure him, and it’s the truth. I remember the hell Dragan went through at the hands of Lamia and her daughters. No, I didn’t witness it firsthand because by then, both Dragan and I were already in our banishment. But Variant wanted me to know what Dragan was suffering all the same, so he sent a Divination Mirror and forced me to watch, in morbid detail, every day of Dragan’s suffering.

  And the fucking icing on the cake? Variant enlisted my brother, Theren, the King of the Unseelie, to ensure I didn’t miss a second. Meanwhile, Theren and his men would laugh and taunt me for having believed in Dragan in the first place. All of this while I watched Dragan mindlessly fuck Lamia and her daughters as they sucked his life essence away with every thrust of his cock.

  “Is it necessary to keep her hands bound?” Dragan continues as he glances back at the Succubus with a frown.

  “Her hands stay tied,” I tell him forcefully, careful that my tone doesn’t open the door for further argument.

  Baron still holds the two pieces of the stone, muttering incantations under his breath. I highly doubt there’s a spell he knows which I don’t, but I don’t stop him from attempting to salvage the broken answer to his questions. The less chefs in the kitchen, the better.

  It feels good to be the leader.

  I’m sick of taking orders from Dragan and being treated like I’m a lesser king. I was born a leader, and it’s time the members of our troupe realized as much. There wa
s a time, over one hundred years ago, when Dragan and I weren’t out for one another’s blood, such as we are now. Granted, we also had Variant and Baron to balance us.

  Now, though, we’ve managed to accomplish next to nothing. For all our trials and tribulations, we’re no closer to our goal than we were when Dragan first came to see me in Geldingstock. It seems an awfully big payment for absolutely no reward.

  But with me at the helm of the ship, things will change. We were in need of a focused leader—and I am just that.

  ###

  Eilish

  Mortal Plane

  Once night settles over the forest, we stop moving and prepare camp for the evening. Of course, as with all things between Dragan and Cambion, there’s much arguing. Dragan feels we should continue forward and take advantage of the cover of darkness but Cambion insists we all need our rest. Flumph is quick to agree with Cambion, and Baron says nothing. He’s said maybe five sentences since the stone broke. The rest of the time, he’s been morbidly quiet. I’m worried about him.

  Once we set up camp in a wooded area beside a spring, each of the men separates himself from the group. Cambion finds a spot beside the water and sits down with his legs crossed. As an elf, he doesn’t sleep but meditates. His form of meditation is deep though and it’s not easy to wake him. Before going into his meditative trance, Cambion informs Dragan I’m now Dragan’s responsibility and he needs to keep an eye on me. Dragan grumbles something indecipherable in response but Cambion’s already in his trance. Baron disappears into the woods, saying he’s going to collect pinecones and kindling for a fire, and no one seems to care. Flumph stays beside me.

  It’s difficult to sit down with my hands bound, but I find a pine tree that’s a good distance from the others yet still in eyeshot. Pushing my back against it, I use it for support as I guide myself down to the ground. Flumph makes himself comfortable in my lap.