Chapter 10 #2
I look at her and start to laugh. I laugh at the absurdity of it all, the ludicrous turns my life is taking. Seconds later, Caria joins me, and we both burst out laughing, tears spilling from sheer joy. We laugh until our jaws hurt, laughing at nothing and everything at once.
I inhale deeply. There is no putridity in the air, just a fresh jasmine scent.
I lean back against the worn wood of the bench.
I let go of her hand and fold my hands behind my neck, then glance up at the changing sky.
The night is on its way, as the colors change to a painting of pinks, oranges, and reds while the sun makes way for the moon to illuminate the streets.
“I’m serious, though. Where do they come from? Don’t you find it strange?” I press.
“I do. It is odd. I just don't understand why they keep coming. I haven’t heard anything about it from the covens either. These humans carry no form of protection. They are literally sitting ducks with no flight instincts, waiting to be torn to pieces. I heard it’s affecting the markets in Verdant Fields.
The trade market suffered a significant blow as a result of all this.
This weird phenomenon of voluntary food supply. ”
“Verdant Fields?” I ask, interested.
“Yeah, it’s one of the more secluded cities. It’s all the way up North. It’s where all the trades, the auctions, and the markets take place. Anything you need, you’ll find right there, or someone will find it for you if you pay enough,” she says.
I sit up straight.
“Even Aurum?” I inquire.
“Well, almost anything then,” she laughs.
“Aurum is scarce, Fynn; even if you find someone willing to sell it, they’ll ask an impossible price.
I once heard of someone who found an Aurum seller, but they wanted a siren’s song.
A siren’s song! Do you know how difficult it is to capture a siren’s song, Fynn?
There’s a reason why it’s priceless; it’s only happened a few times over the centuries.
Sirens can be just as lethal as any vampire or witch.
Anyway, this guy went prepared, and he was able to catch one of the sirens from The Siren’s Lure!
Which is an insane accomplishment in itself.
It’s called their lure for a reason. The story goes that he caught her with a fishing net.
Can you believe that? A fucking net. I can’t even begin to imagine the humiliation that creature must have felt, caught like she was some ordinary fish.
Sirens can’t sing when they are out of the water.
He forced her to sing when submerged, bottling her voice with magic, turning her mute with that act, and bringing it to the merchant.
It turned out the Aurum wasn’t pure, rendering it useless—all that trouble for nothing.
Lots of the Aurum that’s passed around isn’t authentic.
Please don’t fall for those sales pitches; most likely, they are a fluke. Why do you need it anyway?” she asks.
I mull over her words for a few seconds, and then I decide to dismiss them. I can think about acquiring Aurum later. There must be other places offering it.
“Can I tell you something in confidence?” I counter, changing the subject.
She nods as she cocks her head at me curiously; her red locks cascade down her shoulders, making her beauty even more ethereal.
“Lately, well… not lately, for some time, I’ve been having these… thoughts, ideas, about hurting my… sister.”
I look at her, but her face is neutral. I don’t know why I told her that; I'm not sure why I'm so eager to gauge her response. Am I unconsciously trying to repel her?
“Okay… that’s normal among siblings, right? I mean, it comes with the territory,” she responds.
“Not like that… I mean, really… hurt her, cause her pain…” I swallow, “I want her to die, Caria… and I want to be the one who does it.”
She nods at that as if it’s the most normal thing to say that you want to murder your sister, your twin, but saying those words aloud, I feel a weight lift from my shoulders. A bubble of panic replaces that relief. What if she no longer wants to talk to me because of that confession?
“Are those thoughts new to you, or did you always have them?”
“They popped up randomly after I turned fourteen, but the older I get, the more prominent they become… It’s consuming me,” I confess, rattling on, unable to stop speaking about it.
“So, what do you think about? How do you do it?” she asks with a grin.
“Really, Caria? That is what you’re interested in?” I laugh at it, appreciating her for keeping it light despite the subject's heaviness.
“I like morbid things, remember? Now tell me the interesting parts!” she counters, nudging my shoulder.
I like this. She and I share stories, and she’s easy to talk to; everything with her comes easily. The panic has long faded, and instead, a satisfied hum courses through my body.
“Fine… I fantasize about… draining her life, having powers like yours, using them to suffocate her, or going old-fashioned and stabbing Harlot with a knife.”
“I mean, it’s definitely effective, a good old solid knife, and these powers… You don’t want these; they are no joke, you know,” she says, smiling at me.
“I don’t know what to do, Caria. I can barely contain myself around her.
It’s getting worse. All I want to do is strangle her, break her thin little neck.
Like the stunt she pulled this morning, edging Jodelle to go after you.
Fuck, it makes me want to seek her out and show her she cannot mess with the people I care about. ”
I sigh loudly.
She lifts an eyebrow at that.
“Was that Harlot’s doing?” she asks.
“I mean… yeah, she said to Jodelle that you and I had something together and then asked if I had already told you about my new fling. She made sure to push that insecurity in Jodelle. I hate her, fuck, I hate my sister so much.” I look surly as I tell her.
Caria bursts out in laughter, surprising me.
“That’s brilliant, though, Fynn. You have to admit that.
For argument's sake, since you’re twins, what if she’s having these same fantasies?
Sending Jodelle after me could have put you in danger and caused you to become a casualty.
I’m sure she knows I have difficulty maintaining my powers.
And she would have her result without doing any dirty work. ”
I stare at her in disbelief, her words sinking in and cementing themselves in my brain. It did cross my mind that Harlot is haunted by the same gruesome notions as I, but not to the extent that she would honestly act on them—the nerves on that girl.
“That fucking bitch,” I bark.
“It’s just a suggestion, Fynn; I don’t know if that was her intention.
You two do not seem to have the best brother-sister bond in the world, so maybe she just got joy out of tormenting Jodelle to get to you.
Pestering you a bit, but it got out of control.
Well… Jodelle got out of control… she’s insane. ”
She waves it off, but I can’t let go of what she said, my sister sharing the same tormenting thoughts.
I know it’s true, and every fiber in my body has been warning me, that constant feeling of distrust around her, those perverted looks she gives me.
I need to understand what’s wrong with Harlot and what she did that scared off even a Death Witch.
“Tell me, Caria, what did she do? You know it. You can smell it on her. You said her scent had changed. I need to know so I can defend myself. I can tell something is off about her; her eyes are different, no longer completely hers. Please, Caria, let me in.”
I take her hand back, wrapping my fingers around hers, the skin soft against mine.
“Damnit, Fynn,” she looks around anxiously. “Look,” her tone is barely audible, “I shouldn’t be telling you this, but she soul bonded with a creature of the night, but not like the ones you find here.”
Caria gazes around us, but the streets are empty except for the dead, decomposing bodies and the birds eating them.
“An Umbra inhabits that fortress you were trying to find. It’s the one kind of being that’s deadly to all of us supernatural beings.
They feed on whoever crosses their path; there are few tales to tell because those who cross their path and evoke them don’t live to tell.
Umbra’s are solitary creatures. We only know they are near us if they choose not to mask their scent; otherwise, they could be standing right next to you, and you would have no clue, as if they are a night creature like the rest of us.
They are dangerous, Fynn, and your sister went ahead and BONDED with it.
Fucking SOUL BONDED. Do you even know what that means?
They merged their damn souls! Your sister is on a level of madness I never want to come across.
She is insane… a human and an Umbra melting their souls together?
Unheard of. The fact that she survived is a miracle.
Humans shouldn’t be able to live after such an ordeal, yet your sister did. Perhaps the Aurum protected her.”
I hear the fear in her low voice as she sputters, and as I watch, a shadow passes, and I swear I see it ripple as if it were water, moving as if someone stood in it. Caria sees it, too, and freezes.
“No, no, no, shit. He’s here. He has heard me, the Umbra. He’s a shadow walker and uses them to travel. He controls the shadows, Fynn, all of them, perhaps even mine. Not even my coven dares to taunt him. He’s the most lethal creature of us all.”
A light hysteria takes hold of Caria, and a panic attack rises within her; without thinking, I pull her into my arms, enveloping her as I tell her to breathe in and breathe out.
Her warmth seeps into mine, and a heated sensation expands on my flesh.
She starts to sob, my heart breaking at the sound of it.
I stroke her soft hair, trying to calm her.