Images danced in front of my eyes and I heard voices; vague chatter on the edge of my consciousness.
“Bianca! You’re here!” came Sunder’s velvety voice. “CENDRINE! VERONICA! She’s in here!”
More auras entered the room; scarlet, orange and lilac.
“Bee!” My mother came to my side, her lilac aura stroking mine.
“Oh! Bianca, my dear!” Cendrine’s French accent filled my ears.
“Bee?” my mom said again. “Answer me!” I could feel tears welling inside her. I opened my mouth to speak, but the effort to form words was too great.
“Bianca? Can you say something?” Sunder said softly, his lips near my ear.
Sleep threatened to draw me back under, but then I remembered my leg. I could be turning. I needed to show them. I opened my mouth.
“She is trying to say something!” Cendrine said.
Sunder bent down next to me. The heat of his body caressed my aura. “What is it, Bianca?”
“Leg…bleeding…” I managed.
Cold air hit my skin as the blankets were removed. I didn’t have the strength to care who saw me naked.
There was a loud gasp.
“One has struck her!” Cendrine said.
My mother wept gently next to me. “No!” she sobbed. “Sunder? Has she been…bitten?”
His fingers brushed gently against my thigh. “No,” he said. “This is not venom. She bleeds Re’em blood.”
“It’s okay, Veronica,” came Cendrine’s soothing voice. “It is normal.”
My mother’s aura softened with relief.
“Can Hyssop help with healing this?” said Sunder.
“Yes,” said Cendrine.
Then he was at my side, his orange aura against mine, his warm, papery hand against my head. His presence calmed me. His careful touch. He felt like a grandfather tending to a child.
“She’s burning up,” he said. “Her heart’s racing and her energy lines are very weak. I can help heal the wound and bring her fever down, but only time will heal her energy. Where’s Fae? She may be able to slow Bianca’s heart rate.”
I lifted my broken arm with a moan. Warm fingers took its weight, cradling it.
“Oh,” Hyssop said in a sad whisper. “This arm is broken. Bianca, you poor dear.”
“I can help with that,” said Cendrine.
Hyssop’s orange aura left my side, making way for Cendrine’s scarlet. She took my arm in her hands, sending warmth into it. My bones began to hum. I blinked slowly, looking down at my arm. An orb of light shone beneath her hands, sending heat into the marrow of my bones. The heat grew stronger and the hum reverberated louder and louder. Soon it turned to pain. I winced, moving my arm.
“Bianca, my dear. This will be somewhat uncomfortable. Try to stay still, okay?”
Fae’s golden glow filled the room. Her hand rested on my good arm. “Oh Bee,” she said at my side.
I mumbled something neither of us understood and I blinked again. My eyes felt heavy. When I next opened them, the room was darker. Fae was asleep next to me, her gold aura still warm against mine. Cendrine was gone. In her place sat Hyssop. He offered me a cup filled with a murky liquid.
“I need you to drink this, Bianca. It will make you feel better.”
I didn’t have the strength to sit up. He lifted my head gently and I clamped my lips around the rim of the cup and drank. The tea tasted awful, acrid and bitter. I pulled my head away from the cup.
“Please Bianca, drink.”
I gulped again and again until the cup was empty. My skin started to prickle.
“You might feel a little odd at first,” Hyssop said. “It’s the nettle and camphor. It can be quite…warming.”
My eyes glazed over and closed again.
“That’s it,” he said. “Sleep now, Bianca. In sleep, we dream. In dreams, we heal…” Hyssop’s voice drifted away from me.
Images blurred in front of my eyes. Dark wisps of things, long-limbed and sinewy, danced in circles. Smoky and brooding. Slowly they came together, morphing into one. A figure emerged from the vaporous mass. A woman.
She grew static, coming into focus. Her dead eyes stared into mine from beneath her long black hair. All-seeing. All-knowing. She smirked, then opened her mouth wide and inhaled. As she did, I felt my aura wane. With each breath, my consciousness faded a little more, my pale silver aura filling her mouth with each tug of air. She lifted her hands. Dark wisps of smoke began to swirl, forming shapes of Skadhavar. They danced around her like horses on a carousel. She tipped back her head and released a wicked cackle. She inhaled again, her breath ripping my aura from my soul. Silver filled her mouth. I screamed out in pain.
My eyes snapped open.
Sunder stood above me, his face full of worry. “Bianca,” he said softly, stroking my hair. “Are you okay? You were screaming.”
My throat was dry and sore. I licked my lips and tried to speak. “I was dreaming…” But of what I didn’t know. Who was the woman in my dream? Her dark smirk still filled my mind. “Thirsty,” I said.
Sunder brought a glass of water to my lips. I drank. He studied me for a moment. “Are you feeling better?” he asked.
“I think so,” I said. Then I remembered Fae. “Fae. How is she?”
Sunder smiled. “Fae is fine, Bianca. Cendrine was able to restore her light easily. You, on the other hand, have had us all worried.”
Then I remembered the scratch on my leg. The silver bleeding from it. “Sunder. My leg. The Skadhavar, they scratched me. I think—”
“The silver?”
I tried to nod but it sent a jolt of pain through my entire body.
“That was just your blood, Bianca.”
“My blood?”
“Yes. You are Re’em. Once you begin to transition to your true form, your blood flows silver.”
“Oh,” I said. Relief flooded through me. “Of course it does. You know, you guys should really put together a handbook about all this stuff.”
Sunder chuckled. “I’m glad to see you have your sense of humor back. You must be feeling better.”
“So, like, I’ll bleed silver forever now?”
Sunder gave a nod.
“Cool,” I said. “No more blood tests for me!”
He smiled. “Unfortunately though, much like Re’em horn, Re’em blood is a rather sought-after commodity amongst the dark beings of the realm.”
“You mean the Skadhavar?”
“There are many more dark beings than the Skadhavar in the other realms. Re’em blood is valuable to them.”
“What is it used for?”
“Some say Re’em blood can give the gift of immortality. Many seek it out to bring loved ones back from the dead. But it can be used for any potion to give it more potency. It’s amazing what people will use it for.”
I swallowed. The idea of my blood being a prized commodity made me feel queasy.
Sunder shook his head. “Don’t worry, Bianca. The use of Re’em blood is against the laws of the realm. Though there are still dark beings who buy and sell it on the black market. Of course, most of that is counterfeit; quicksilver or similar. Hunters who seek Re’em for financial gain are punished severely, and those found to have ill intentions are exiled.”
I’d imagined the other realm to be like a magical fairyland, full of kind creatures and mythical beasts. I was beginning to realize that much like the human world, there was a dark underbelly to every place.
Sunder looked down at me, his expression hardening. “Bianca, what you did, running off like that, was very foolish. You could have been killed.”
“I needed to keep them away from you,” I said, unable to meet his eyes. “I knew they’d follow me. If Fae had fallen off your back...”
“Bianca, it was very brave.” He sighed.
“Foolish but brave.”
His praise filled me with warmth. I felt my cheeks reddening. I met his gaze, steady and kind. We both knew how I felt about him. But how did he feel about me?
“Tell me, how did you manage to outrun the Skadhavar?”
“Oh, I didn’t.” I took another sip of water. “I killed them.”
“What?” Sunder said, his eyes wide. “Are you sure? You mean you stunned them with your light?”
“No,” I replied. “I killed them. I stabbed them with my horn.”
He blinked, silent for a moment. “You freed them?”
“Yes,” I said, remembering the beings that had appeared from the rotting remains of the beasts. “They returned to their true forms before they died.”
“Yes. That part can be… tough.” Sunder placed a hand on my shoulder. His warmth seeped into me, his blue aura comforting me.
“They were so grateful to be freed,” I went on. “I felt their pain and their relief.” I shook my head in disbelief. “All those beings trapped inside those evil creatures.”
“I know.” He dropped his hand to my arm; the arm that was recently broken and now felt fine. “That’s why it is so important that we end this. We must free all of them.”
“But how?” My voice grew stronger. “Killing them one at a time is no good.” It had taken all of my strength to defeat just two Skadhavar. Heck knew how many more there were. There had to be a better way.
An image floated into my consciousness: a woman, dark-haired and menacing, stood strong amongst a dark mass of smoky forms. Thin umbilical veins leashed them to her like small branches off a great central tree. An idea formed in my mind.
“What if we cut down the tree…?” I mumbled.
“Bianca?” said Sunder, his face puzzled.
“Sunder, you told me that the Skadhavar were created by their Master?”
He nodded.
“Well, what if we killed the Master? What would happen to the Skadhavar?”
Sunder sighed. “It is believed that if the Master is destroyed then the rest will fall. But you must understand, Bianca, it is not that simple. She is very strong.”
She. The final piece of the puzzle fell into place in my mind. “The master is a woman?” It was a question, though I already knew the answer. I’d seen her myself.
“Yes,” Sunder said. “Legend tells she was a woman. The Skadhavar are genderless beings, but their Master was once a dark witch, cast out of her village.”
The woman I’d seen in Sheena’s mind and my fever dream. The Master. The ruler of the Skadhavar. I nodded. “I’ve seen her.”
Sunder’s face paled. “You’ve what?”
“First inside Sheena’s aura, then again, in my dreams…she spoke to me.”
Sunder stared at me in disbelief. “What did she say?”
I thought hard. What had she said? I tried to conjure the images; A tall willowy form, drinking the life from me, silver flowing from my being into hers. In Sheena’s mind, she’d said more. What had it been? Soon you will help me take this town and this world!
The large Skadhavar I first encountered in the forest flew into my memory. We were told to save every drop of your silver, but surely just a taste won’t be missed.
Then another. Very soon she will drink you dry.
The realization hit me like a blade to the heart. Silver. The Master wanted my silver. My blood.
“Bianca?” Sunder said again. “What did she say?”
“My blood,” I said, though it came out as a murmur. “She wants my blood.”
Sunder’s jaw was set tight. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. The Skadhavar told me, I just didn’t know what it meant at the time.”
Sunder got to his feet and started pacing beside the bed.
“Sunder? What reason would she have to drink my blood?”
His hand was on his chin. “As I said, Re’em blood may cure any ailment.”
“Even death?”
“Yes.”
“Isn’t she already immortal?”
He shook his head. “No. She is thousands of years old, though time works differently in the other realms. She has lived so long by siphoning energy from her Skadhavar. She takes their life, turns them into beasts, and grows stronger for it.”
“Then immortality isn’t her only goal?”
“No. I think her intentions are far more worrying.” He stopped pacing at the window, looking out into the forest. “The story goes that the Master sacrificed her own soul to create the Skadhavar. She spliced it from her aura, creating an army of auraless beasts. Though in the process, she too became a beast. Some say she was once considered beautiful. But after her army was made, she looked like one of them; a deformed, evil creature. Banished and hideous.”
I nodded.
“I would not be surprised if she hopes to drink your blood as a way to restore her true form. That way she can finally step out of the shadows and move through worlds more easily.”
If she appeared human there was no telling what damage she could do.
“The vortex is very useful,” Sunder continued. “If she takes Pentacle, then any beings who come through the vortex would be met with her Skadhavar, turned, then sent back to their own realm to spread the darkness further.”
The virus would spread, quickly, throughout the entire universe.
“We can’t let that happen,” Sunder said.
“Don’t worry,” I replied. “I wasn’t planning to let her drink my blood.”
He offered a strained smile.
Something was gnawing away inside me. The Skadhavar she’d sent had not been trying to kill me. She wouldn’t let them. “We’ve been told to save every drop of your silver” She’d been saving me. But for what? For when?
“Sunder, we need to kill her,” I said. “Killing the Master is our only hope.”
“Bianca, it’s not that simple. The Master is old and strong and rarely leaves the dark realm. She won’t come through vortex for you herself. She’ll send troops.
I smiled at him. “I think she’s already tried.”
Sunder stared at me. I could feel his aura churning with thought. He nodded, slowly.
The Master had already sent some of her strongest soldiers to bring me in. Unfortunately for her, they weren’t strong enough. You know what they say, I thought to myself. If you want something done, do it yourself.
“She’ll come for me,” I said, looking up at Sunder. “And when she does I’ll be ready. I’ll kill her.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
There was a light knock on the door.
“Hey,” Fae said from the doorway. The room filled with warmth.
“Fae, how are you?”
She laughed lightly. “Bee, I’m fine! Please don’t worry about me. Just worry about you.”
“I think I’m okay. I don’t feel too bad,” I said, trying to sit up. A jolt of pain shot through my body. I gasped and lay back down. “On second thought...”
“Just rest, Bee.” Fae padded into the room. “You need to heal.”
Wisps of light rose up from Fae’s back, arching into a swirling set of gossamer wings, shimmering and luminous. I stared at her with wide eyes. “Fae... your wings.”
Fae looked over her shoulders. “Wait, what? You can see them?”
I nodded. “They’re amazing!”
“Thanks,” she said with a smile.
“Your sensitivities are growing every day,” Sunder said. “Even after such a shock to your body, you are still becoming more perceptive.” He smiled.
I smiled back at him. I had learned so much over the last few days. I’d discovered I was Re’em, developed my ability to defend myself, bled silver, and now I could see my best friend’s wings. You know, just normal teenage girl stuff. But Sunder was right.
I was definitely becoming more perceptive.
Then I remembered the Skadhavar I’d killed in the forest; their horns cut short, how I’d failed to detect them until they were right on top of us. If I was becoming more in tune with the other realm, why hadn’t I felt them?
“Sunder,” I said. “I think they’ve blocked me from sensing them somehow.”
Sunder looked puzzled. “What makes you say that?”
“When they were chasing us through the forest, I had no idea they were there. I couldn’t sense them until they were right on my tail. And their horns…”
He nodded. “I saw that too. They’ve removed them.” He got up from the bed, bringing a hand to his face, rubbing at his stubble with a thumb. “Perhaps they are planning an attack… An attack they don’t want us to know about until it is too late.”
Fae sat down, taking the crumpled space that Sunder had left.
I tried to sit up again but the effort seemed too much. I groaned and lay back down. “Why am I so exhausted?”
“It takes a lot of light to kill two Skadhavar,” Fae said, “Kinda like how I almost used mine up throwing fireballs, well, you used yours stunning those Skadhavar with your mind.”
“You also lost a lot of blood,” Sunder added from across the room. “Not to mention your arm.”
“Light-healing is exhausting,” Fae went on. “The light only wills your body to do the healing. Your body still has to do the work. All your strength, all your energy, has gone into healing that bone.”
“Oh,” I said. “Sounds like I need some of that magic apple elixir you were talking about, Sunder.”
“Speak of the devil!” Cendrine said, walking into the room. “I have exactly that for you, Bee my dear.” She carried a small crystal vial, cut with many facets. It reflected beads of light around the room like a disco ball. As she came nearer, I could see the golden liquid inside. “We need you well, Bee. As you are a creature of the realm too, this will help you.” She opened the vial and the room filled with the scent of sweetness; orange, candy apples, and red Jolly Ranchers. Cendrine lifted the eyedropper to my tongue. “Three drops should do it.”
Bianca De Lumière : High Suspense Urban Fantasy Romance (The Re'em Prophecy Book 1) Page 16