CHAPTER 38
“Open your eyes, Hunter. See us in our true form,” a soft, feminine voice said, only it wasn’t the multi-layered voice Gauge had come to associate with the Umi queen. Somehow, he sensed it was still her.
He opened his eyes, but they weren’t on the ship. In fact, he didn’t think he was here in person at all. He sensed this was a scene from the past.
He couldn’t tell where he was, or even if he was in a building or outside. Everything around him was bright white, almost blinding. It left him with the impression that they were standing among charged fluffy clouds.
There were two females arguing before him.
“Sisters,” whispered a soft voice through his mind.
Both were tall and slender, dressed in loose-flowing silk, one in green and one in blue.
Both had long, wavy white hair, a startling contrast to their skin, which was a rich coffee brown.
Their features were almost flawless in his eyes, wide mouths with full lips, a button nose, wide-set eyes with full lashes and perfectly arched brows, but this made them seem unreal, like mechanical dolls.
There were differences between them, however.
The most noticeable was one sister had curled ram horns and the other didn’t.
The hornless sister had deep blue eyes that matched the color of her silk clothes, eyes that seemed to look right through to his soul when she turned his way. The horned female wearing green had blood-red eyes with vertical silver pupils. Both females were beautiful, even agitated and angry.
“Why would you do this to our people, Laramé? You cripple our males. It’s wrong. What if their mate is killed? What if they are separated for unavoidable reasons? Would you condemn them to suffer such a painful death?”
“And where has your soft heart gotten you, Abriel? You have always been too easy on our children. They pay no attention to your warnings anymore, and I know you did try to warn them. Trust me, there is no room for free will. Free will makes them arrogant, especially the males. Arrogance and pride lead to disobedience. It won’t be long before we face outright rebellion.
I tell you, Abriel, I will not have it. There must be checks and balances.
This is the last time I plan to watch my children kill each other.
This is my solution, sister. It shocks me that you can’t see it. ”
“It shocks me that you can’t see this will lead to their eventual downfall.
You condemn a whole species because a few males decided to question your rule.
It doesn’t mean they all feel the same. What does it hurt if we need to explain our reasonings.
If they understand the reason behind our commands, perhaps they will stop trying to rebel against them. ”
“Oh, sister, sister, even after all these countless centuries, you are so unbelievably na?ve. How many species have we created together? How many worlds have we populated, only to have them turn against us, to turn against each other? I am tired of it, tired of their petty wars. If left up to me, I would destroy them all.”
“Perhaps it’s because we put ourselves above them. Maybe if we made ourselves more approachable; talk to them instead of trying to be their god.”
“But we are their god, Abriel. We created them, you and I. We gifted them with a part of us, our own life force, and this is how we are repaid. Males hold no respect for their females. We built them stronger so they could protect their females and young, and what do they do? They use that strength against them. They hold no respect for their mates. There is no loyalty. It is not how we meant it to be.”
“But forcing males to only be able to feed from their mate will ultimately make them bitter and resentful. In the end it will make matters worse for our females.”
“I disagree. Go, Abriel, leave me. Create your own children, experiment with your beloved shifters. Let them run like wild animals and see what happens. I will go my own way, rule over mine as they are meant to be ruled over. But mark my words, sister, the day will come when your children turn against you. When that happens, I will be forced to send my children to destroy yours.”
“And what of this world? They are mine as much as they are yours. I do not approve of what you’ve done here.
Let us agree, Laramé, at least with this one world, that we will not either one interfere in their lives from this point forward.
You will reverse what you have done to their males, then we will leave them in peace.
Let them progress naturally, without influence from either of us, and we shall see which one of us is right. ”
The red-eyed sister began to slowly pace, her expression thoughtful.
“I will agree, if you agree to allow them to have only one true mate, an eillelé. We will split their souls. Half will remain with their future mate, half will remain within themselves. They may take blood from any other, but they will never feel true love, nor will they feel whole, until they find their eillelé.”
“Agreed.”
“Very well, sister, but let’s take this one step further.
From this day forward, all worlds that we have populated together will be left to their own devices.
We will no longer interfere in their lives, but we will also no longer protect them from outside threats.
You may claim one world as your own, as will I.
We will be free to rule this one world and all who live on it as we see fit.
Let us experiment and see who ends up in the right. ”
Abriel nodded, though her expression remained sad. “If this is what you desire, sister, then I agree.”
Gauge gasped when his view began to spin and the bright white light to quickly fade.
A few seconds later, a soft voice entered his head.
“Now you understand what has been done to you, Hunter. I am sorry I didn’t see my sister’s plans in time to avoid it.
It doesn’t mean you and Zephralena can’t have a long and happy life together.
I am confident your love for one another will help guide you. ”
Gauge had questions, lots of questions, about what he had just witnessed, but he sensed the Umi queen pulling away.
“Your mate is worried, Hunter. It’s time for you to wake now. We will speak again soon.”
“You’re back,” Lena said. “Oh, thank goodness. I thought I’d lost you. The physician said your heart stopped for almost five minutes. Gauge, you need to try to take blood. They said you won’t survive if you don’t feed soon.”
Gauge looked over Lena’s shoulder, finding Amanda standing to the side, her expression sad. “What does it mean?” he asked.
“I think you know.”
“The Umi queen and her sister created Laizahlia too, but her sister wanted to . . . hobble the males.”
“Yes, I suppose that’s as good as way as any to describe it.
” Amanda closed her eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath before she opened them and continued.
“What you saw happened at least twenty thousand years ago. Laizahlia was a new world then, populated with blood drinkers, like Laramé herself. Only one of the sisters required blood. The other needed energy to maintain her full strength. Laramé was extremely pleased with her children at first, but then they started to rebel against her. They began to treat their females poorly, especially mates. As you probably know, taking blood and sex can go hand in hand. Laramé meant for her mated couples to be monogamous. She meant for them to love and respect one another, and in the same breath, love her for having created them.”
“It didn’t work out that way,” Gauge said.
“No, but it wasn’t uncommon in a new species.
They hadn’t really learned how to be civilized.
Laramé grew angry instead of showing patience.
She altered the males physically, making it so that once they found their true mate, their eillelé, they could only feed from her, while the females would need to take blood from multiple sources in order to keep them both fed and healthy.
It was a disaster in the making, though Laramé didn’t see it that way.
The process was reversed when Abriel and Laramé made their deal. ”
“What changed? Why are they at each other’s throats now?”
“Laramé grew frustrated when Abriel’s world flourished instead of her children turning on each other, and her.
As you heard, when the sisters first made their agreement, they agreed to temporarily ground their immense powers to just one world.
They handicapped themselves. Abriel’s power has always been connected to energy, which she drew from the Umalyian sun.
Laramé’s main power source came from her subjects, but she could only feed from those on Ajani Djinn.
Neither sister could leave their chosen world without severely weakening themselves, but their people were free to explore. ”
“Laramé created the Djinn. But why did she send them out to destroy the Umalyian sun?” Gauge murmured. “Was she trying to destroy Abriel?”
“Destroy her? No, but the two sisters had never lived apart before. Laramé didn’t handle the separation as well as Abriel.
She wanted to force Abriel to reach out to her for help.
Her answer was to destroy her sister’s power source, and thus her world and people.
She thought Abriel would come running back to her in defeat. ”
“But it didn’t work out that way.”
“No. Instead, Abriel gathered up as many of her children as she could and left to find them a new world, which eventually brought some of them to Earth, and some to Laizahlia.”
“What about their agreement to leave Laizahlia alone?” Gauge asked.
Abriel was desperate. Her main power source had been taken from her.
She was weak, and the lives of her children were at stake.
Earth was a new world, as were humans. They would have been overwhelmed if all the Umi had settled there.
Since Laramé had already broken their agreement by destroying the Umi sun, Abriel decided to seek refuge on Laizahlia.
By then the Laizahlian were far more technologically advanced than when the sisters first left them.
They readily agreed to take the Umi in . . .”
“In exchange for freely offered blood,” Gauge finished. He knew this part of the story.
Amanda sighed, looking away for a moment. She looked suddenly tired, her posture drooping a bit, her color pale.
Tallyn stepped up and put his arm around her. “Maybe we should put this off for another day. Gauge is tired and in need of blood, and you are exhausted.” He shifted his attention to Gauge. “It’s tiring for Amanda when the Umi queen comes forward, not that my stubborn mate will complain.”
“No, sweetie, we need to finish. I’m almost done.
Even though it was Laramé who first broke their agreement, she still called Abriel out for seeking asylum on a world they had agreed to leave alone.
Laramé is quite insane, but it doesn’t make her any less dangerous.
Without their queen physically present to help them, the Djinn were unable to conquer Laizahlia, so they set their sights on Earth. ”
“And Abriel?”
“Laizahlia’s sun wasn’t strong enough to sustain her, not in her natural form, so she broke her body down into pure energy and went into a sort of hibernation in the cold waters of Umi Creek.
She needed to wait until a vessel could be born of her children, one powerful enough to sustain her, but you know what happened there.
The legends about the Ghost Warrior had the shifters killing each of her potential vessels.
Until me. My father arranged to have me raised on Earth to give me time to mature. ”
“Why did Abriel want to show me this scene?” Gauge asked, puzzled.
“I would think that obvious now.” When Gauge didn’t reply, Amanda sighed. “Do you remember what Laramé wanted to do with the males of your world?”
“She wanted to make it so they could only feed from a mate.”
“Yes. Abriel believes her sister arranged to have your body altered, Gauge. From your reaction when you tried to feed from Teo, we believe you’ll only be able to take blood from Lena now. She’ll have to feed enough from others to sustain you both.”
“So Gauge isn’t healing because he needs my blood?” Lena said, her eyes widening with understanding.
Amanda nodded.
Lena rolled up her sleeve and shoved her wrist in front of Gauge’s mouth. “Then drink. We’ll do whatever we have to do to survive.”
Gauge was too weak to turn down the gift.
He took her wrist and carefully placed his fangs against her scales, wishing this could have been done in private.
He had to work his fangs between the scales, but then didn’t hesitate to bite down, half expecting to gag.
Instead, his mate’s sweet blood filled his mouth, tasting better than any he’d ever had before.
So Amanda was right. The Djinn had done something to alter his body, but it hadn’t gone into effect until after he and Lena were fully bonded.
The physician came in to check on Gauge’s wounds.
“Oh, good, you are able to feed. We were getting worried.” He pulled Gauge’s shirt aside.
“The wounds are starting to close nicely. I don’t think we’ll need to worry about the silver.
It wasn’t in your body long enough to cause serious damage.
Most of the trouble was from blood loss, but you are taking care of that now.
I’ll leave you in peace. You know how to call if you need anything. ”
“I think we’ll go too,” Amanda said. “It’s been a hellava trying day, and I still want to go talk to Neyvarre and Kimi before we hit the sack. Neyvarre was fit to be tied over what happened. It about drove him nuts when he couldn’t reach Kimi telepathically.”
And then it was just the two of them. Gauge took as much blood as he figured Lena could safely give, then quickly healed the wounds.
He pulled her against him when she tried to get him to take more.
“Come, lie with me,” he said. “I think we could both use the rest. We’ll seek out Amanda tomorrow and see if she can offer anything else that might be useful.
” Perhaps the Umi queen could alter whatever the Djinn had done to him.
Lena sighed, but didn’t argue, climbing up beside him. It had been a trying day for her too. Gauge wanted to ask her about how she’d felt shifting into a raptor, but decided it could wait when she yawned. Tomorrow would be soon enough.