CHAPTER FIVE
EILISH
Mortal Realm
Behold him , a voice compels me. A woman’s voice.
I’m swimming in a balmy sea, floating on an endless tide of elation. I can’t open my eyes, but I also don’t want to.
See him , the voice insists.
And while I feel myself still floating in the warmth of my bubbly sea, the images around me are different, now. I know my eyes aren’t open, yet I’m still able to see. How this is possible I don’t know, but the reason doesn’t particularly matter. Instead, I can see a room through my closed eyelids. Seconds later, I focus on a huge and winged man who appears above me.
Shadows cling to his skin, to the rubbery, black wings that arch out of him, bathing him in darkness. He’s impossibly large and broad. Muscles litter the landscape of his body like afterthoughts. He’s power and menace, strength and danger. He embodies the night just as much as the night embodies him.
I’m nothing but afraid of him. He’s terrifying. But the longer I study him, the more I realize there’s something lurking beneath his imposing exterior… something that speaks to me, something fleshly, carnal.
My body begins to respond to him, to the smoldering way he looks at me. And, in turn, I can see his body responding to mine: the way his cock begins to strain against his pants, the way his mouth opens and he scents me on the air with his tongue.
Yes, the voice says, inside my head. Call to him. Appeal to him. Use the power within you to pull him, to force him closer.
Staring up at this mountain of a man, I realize how immense he really is. He could break me in half with nothing more than a thought… Fear begins to echo through me again, beating a wild path inside me next to… exhilaration.
He leans down until only inches of air separate us. His heady, masculine scent invades my senses, filling me with a driving hunger, a need to touch him. He’s so close. He causes my heart rate to increase and I feel my chest expand as I take a deep, excited breath.
His face is hard, and anger vibrates off him. He’s rough and battle worn.
But it’s the light gray of his eyes that draws me. There’s something in them that’s beautiful, something that hints at a code of honor that still exists within him. I realize then that he won’t hurt me.
I want to reach out to him, to touch his olive skin, but my body won’t comply. Instead, I stare at him, taking in the angular lines and planes of his face. His black hair reaches his shoulders and matches the darkness of the stubble decorating his strong jaw, chin and cheeks. He’s stunningly handsome, but not in a beautiful way. Everything about him is harsh, rough, beyond masculine. Everything about him is darkness, shadow, and intrigue.
More than anything, I want to feel his shadows and darkness plunging into me. I want to feel him burrowing himself so deeply inside me that I scream out in a mixture of pain and pleasure. I want this barbarian, this beast, to own me, to imprint me with his seed.
***
DRAGAN
I take a step away from the beautiful woman, intent on leaving both her and the annoying sprite, but something pulls me back, as if invisible arms are pushing me to her. The shadows within me are pulling, struggling to maintain their grasp on the unconscious girl. I can feel them wrapping their tendrils of dark mist around her, holding onto her tightly.
“Bloody fuck,” I grumble under my breath as I realize I can’t leave her here, though I also can’t say why. A woman has never had this effect on me. Maybe it’s a sign I need to fuck. I haven’t fucked a woman in so long I can’t remember, and this must be the indication that my body needs it.
I wrap her in the bed linens. As soon as I touch her, though, something happens. I feel power pulsing through her tiny body. It envelops my hand and weaves up my arm, into my chest and causes my breath to freeze. It feels like a legion of ants dancing over every inch of my skin, but the energy is beneath my skin, not on top of it, thrumming and crackling electricity.
I pause momentarily, surprised. There’s strength in her. Power. Yes, I can detect the Atacomite, as well. Anona gave her a hefty dose, no doubt to keep her immobile and, as such, an easy victim. But there’s something else, just beyond the Atacomite . By touching her, I feel my own magic begin to boil up as if it answers her silent call. But this time, the shadows aren’t trying to force me to take her—they’re responding to her, stimulated by her, drawn to her.
I can’t explain it, but I feel captured by her, by the magic that undoubtedly flows within her.
Using the Arcane Magic that’s part of me, I throw her over my shoulder and imagine everything surrounding me in black. Then, I whisper the words to allow myself to become invisible in the eyes of those who would perceive me.
Blind from sight.
I imagine myself fading into the darkness around me, becoming one with the shadows, one with Shadow Magic that infiltrates me—that is me.
I take the stairs slowly, not wanting my footfalls to be detected. But the tavern is a busy and loud place, so maybe I’m being overly cautious. When I reach the bottom of the stairs, I start for the rear of the establishment, the same way I came in. But then I realize the doorway is blocked by a large and buxom woman who’s busily kissing a centaur.
“Go to the right,” the sprite’s voice offers, and I realize he’s hiding beneath the bed linens, just on top of the angel’s hair.
Little bastard.
Given no other options, I follow his suggestion and find myself facing an empty corridor.
“At the end of the hallway’s a door leadin’ outside,” the sprite continues.
No sooner do I reach the end of the hallway than I hear Anona’s high-pitched scream as she presumably discovers her treasure is missing. The panicked sounds of her footfalls overhead meet my ears as she runs down the stairs and announces to the tavern that the angel is missing. Then, the entire room is a cacophony of noise.
I run down the remainder of the hallway and watch as the sprite flies from his perch on top of the girl and attempts to open the door, only to find it locked from the outside. I could use my Shadow Magic to unlock the door but in this realm, my magic isn’t as strong as it is in the Shadow Realm. And the last thing I want to do is waste my reserves.
With time dwindling and our options shrinking before our eyes, I pull my leg back and release it, kicking the door open. The sound of the wood splitting is louder than I would’ve liked. It grabs the attention of Anona and one of her guards, because she appears at the mouth of the corridor a split second later.
“She heard you an’ she comin’ after us! Go!” the sprite orders and I lurch forward, clinging to the girl as I bolt outside. My magic is weaker in the mortal plane and I can’t manage the invisibility facade any longer, so I shed it. But by the time I do, I close my eyes again and pull the shadows to the forefront of my mind.
Summon Mists , I command and when I open my eyes, I’m surrounded by a bank of thick fog that obscures my soldiers and me from view. By this time, I’m ensconced in the forest that borders Anona’s tavern, now hidden in part by the trees.
“This way, liege!” one of my centurions, Hlin, calls out from my right and I run in his direction, the sprite remaining airborne just beside me.
At the same time, Anona appears outside.
Arcane Eye! I command, and I can no longer see from my right eye as the magic within me borrows my vision, thrusting the eye far above the line of the trees where it floats, invisible, and homes in on Anona. Once the mists of my magic recede, she tracks me, her eyes latching onto me immediately.
But she’s too late. My centurions have already prepared the Arcane Gate , a portal spell that will allow us reentry into the Gorge.
The Arcane Gate appears as a two-dimensional glowing ring filled with the dark mist of the Gorge. It hovers an inch or so above the ground and, at my signal, my centurions begin filling it, crossing over into our home territory.
As the Arcane Eye disposes of itself, my vision returns.
“Dragan!” Anona squeals behind me as I jump into the Gate and feel the coldness of the Shadow Magic of the Gorge enveloping me, recognizing me and becoming one with me.
I’m home.
Unfortunately, however, Anona has spotted me and I know what this means. The angel won’t be safe in the Gorge. Once Variant learns that I’ve taken an angel hostage, he’ll wonder why. Of course, he won’t imagine she still possesses her wings (and I’m beginning to doubt whether she truly does) but there’s a reason his most recent edict included the return of all angels. He’s planning something—and, whatever it is, I’m convinced it’s terrible.
***
DRAGAN
“Where to, Shadow Master?” the sprite asks with a wide grin once we’re safely ensconced in the darkness of the mist, in the plane of shadow.
“You’re still here?” I respond, pausing to set the angel down before me.
“I ain’t got nowhere’s else ta go,” he answers with a shrug. “Anona’s place was my home an’ clearly, I can’t go back theres no more. So, looks like I’m stuck with you. You need a servant or somethin’? I’m real good at servin’ drinks without spillin’.”
“No,” I answer but I can’t say my attention is on him at present. Instead, I want proof that I haven’t just made a crucial mistake. One that could cost me more than I’m willing to pay. I need to find out if this angel is truly intact.
Admittedly, I tried doing the same back at Anona’s, but my magic wasn’t at its strongest then. Here, I should have no issue in summoning the angel’s wings—that is, if she truly possesses them.
Once I place the girl down on the ground, she’s immediately enveloped by the roving mist. I reach down and roll her over, pulling the linens down to reveal her backside.
“What you doin’?” the sprite asks, eyeing me suspiciously.
“Ensuring that I haven’t been sold a bill of goods,” I answer without looking up at him.
“What the fuck’s that mean?”
“We’ll soon find out,” I respond as I hold my hands above the angel’s back and allow the shadows to rise up within me, invoking the power of my magic. Tendrils of dark energy erupt from my fingertips and surround the still girl.
Reveal your true form.
But my magic is buttressed against something that surrounds her. As I push against whatever this reinforcement is, my magic seems to dissipate, growing weaker. I summon more of my shadow forth, but it simply dispels once it reaches whatever invisible barrier envelops her. Though I can’t see the forcefield, I can feel it. My magic can feel it.
“I don’t understand,” I say aloud, anger consuming me.
“What’s there to understand?” the sprite responds as Thoradin appears beside him with another of my legion, Gurdis, beside him. I look up at them and shake my head.
“What perplexes you, liege?” Thoradin asks.
“She has a magical barrier,” I explain as I study the unconscious girl, trying to ascertain just how powerful she is.
“Her veins are swimming with Atacomite ,” Gurdis says.
“Yes, but that’s not the reason she’s unresponsive,” I respond, shaking my head because my power should be strong enough to force the girl to respond. I then face the sprite, who leans over Gurdis’ shoulder to inspect the girl. “Unless there’s nothing for her to respond to,” I announce, my eyes narrowing on the sprite.
“What d’you mean?” the creature asks.
“If the angel has no wings, there’s no amount of my Shadow Magic that could make them appear,” I say.
It takes the sprite a moment or two to understand what I’m getting at. Once he does, his eyes go wide and he begins shaking his head, holding up his hands in obvious supplication.
“I dunno why yer magic ain’t workin’ but I’m tellin’ you what I saw. This angel got her wings. Maybe she be too high on Atacamite an’ it be gettin’ in the way o’ your little spell…”
“She’s not. Atacomite has nothing to do with it,” I interrupt. “And it’s not a little spell, as you put it. Shadow Magic is hardly little nor can it be categorized as spells .”
“Give it some time,” the sprite says, but he appears nervous. “I can prove to you that you’re thinkin’ be wrong.” He nods emphatically. “You’ll see. Besides, it ain’t like yer jist gonna leave her here, are ya?” He glances around and seems to become frightened by his surroundings.
The Shadow Realm is hardly safe, littered as it is by bloodthirsty creatures and the undead. Were I to leave the sprite and the girl here alone, they would undoubtedly be killed within a half hour, at most.
And even I’m not that horrible.