Chapter 3
LYK
He couldn’t remember being this frustrated in ages. Lyk stared down at the female who’d walked into his life like a whirlwind and was trying to walk out again without an explanation.
“If you tell me what you’re looking for, I can help you find it.”
Her demeanor radiated disdain. “I’m not in the mood for gas-lighting. And even if you were telling the truth, I wouldn’t take help from someone like you.”
Someone like you. The way she said those words made him tense up. She considered him scum. It was obvious. Someone who would steal her precious heirloom and then lie about it for his own sick amusement.
You can’t expect her to believe anything else. You are scum, at least in popular opinion.
Lyk had done many difficult things in his life, but this somehow seemed harder than most of those things. He let her go.
She got two steps away before he called to her. “Wait.”
Turning back, she eyed him, her expression saying he had less than a second before she bolted.
“Here.” Lyk pulled out a wad of credits from his pocket and held them out to her.
Her expression was disbelieving. “What… what is that for?”
Since she’d walked up to him in the tavern, he’d been hit with a wave of protectiveness for this female. Knowing that she was working at a stinking centipede factory to support herself made him angry for reasons he didn’t want to examine very closely.
Credits were the easiest way to take some of the pressure off her. His plan was to give her enough to keep her settled until he could find a way to win her trust. Despite the way he seemed to disgust her, Lyk wasn’t the type to give up easily. He saw something he wanted, and he took it.
He wanted this female more than he’d ever wanted another.
“Take them. Consider them a payment for your inconvenience.”
“Inconvenience?” She shook her head, a joyless laugh leaving her lips. “You steal from me, and then you try to pay me off, calling the loss of the last remnants of my family an inconvenience?”
“Consider it payment for the heirloom then. The one I don’t have.”
“It’s not for sale! Not at any price. And certainly not to you.” Her eyes were hard, her tone like cold metal. “You can shove those credits right up your pompous ass.”
Lyk had to fight back a grin. Her spirit did something to him, something that heated his insides and made his arousal uncoil, ready to strike.
I can’t let her walk away and not take the credits.
He needed to know she was taken care of, even if she wouldn’t let him close enough to do so himself.
“Take it,” he said, his voice deepening as he let a trickle of his Vartik powers out. His eyes were locked on hers, the persuasion hooking into her with a jolt of her body.
Her hand jerked out and clutched the credits. She held them there, unmoving.
“Put those in your pocket and forget about them until you pull them out again. Understood?”
She nodded and shoved the credits in her pocket. When he ordered her to go back to work, she pivoted on her heel and walked away without hesitating. Lyk watched her go, finally able to let the smile break across his face.
She’s flawless. I must have her.
Lyk walked away from the plant, determined to figure out just exactly who this female was and what she was looking for. Planning to pull his gang together to find out whatever he could about her, he set off in the direction of the tavern, his unofficial HQ.
Along the way, a voice appeared in his head, startling him. “Hey, brother. How’s the weather on your rock?”
Lyk smiled. “Same as always since it’s temperature controlled.”
“It’s raining on Vartik. The kind of rain you always liked.”
He remembered walks in the misty rain, the sort of rain that didn’t seem to fall but just hung there in the air tingling against the skin as he walked through it.
“How are you, Kara? It’s been a while.”
Lyk was the seventh of eight children, born to the King and Queen of the planet Vartik. The eighth child was Kara, his sister. Born only a year apart, they’d spent a lot of time together when they were younger, developing a close bond and a strong liking for one another.
Kara was an empath, able to read emotions and sense them, even over extreme distances. She could sense any of her brothers, but with Lyk, the bond combined with her empathic abilities to form a unique system of communication.
They could speak with each other in their minds. It was a secret, something only the two of them knew. And since Lyk hadn’t spoken to his family in years, his connection with his sister was the last vestige of his Vartik heritage.
“Things are getting serious, Lyk. Very serious.”
“What do you mean?” The last time he’d spoken to his sister, she’d told him how they’d assembled all of the Guardians, powerful beings devoted to protecting the twin children of the Goddess of Light.
It was a fanciful tale, like something taken from a storybook.
Marek, his oldest brother and the current reigning king of Vartik, had started them down this road after a chance meeting with Jazmine, one of the Goddess of Light’s twins.
He’d fallen hard for the beauty and vowed to help her rescue her brother from Dazimin, the nightmare planet ruled by the Crown Prince of Hell.
The rest of the Vartik royal family had agreed to help Jazmine, which was no surprise since Vartik had always worshipped the Goddess of Light.
Still, to Lyk, it sometimes seemed unbelievable.
One by one, his brothers had fallen for strong women who’d either joined the cause or become part of it.
One by one, they’d assembled these Guardians while fighting off the Seekers, demons bent on thwarting them.
Kara kept him informed, but being so far removed from the action, it was like something that happened in a dream, something that left only a faint trace after waking.
“The Battle of the End is coming. And I pray to the goddess that we’re ready for it.”
“You’ve got the Guardians, and it appears the Seekers aren’t quite the threat they seemed.”
“Oh, they’re still a threat, but we were lucky enough to turn several to our cause. Ruin and Wend were recently married in one of the strangest weddings I’ve ever seen.” Kara laughed.
“And that leaves, what? Four Seekers against you?”
“Three. Megrim is still MIA, but he doesn’t seem active against us. My guess is he’s laying low until this whole mess is over.”
“Three demons against seven magical Guardians and six Vartik Kings. Doesn’t seem like a fair fight at all. Why are you worried?”
He could sense Kara’s grimace in his head.
“It’s not that easy. You’re forgetting the Crown Prince of Hell.
He’s no slouch. And the Seekers aren’t the only minions he’s got on his side.
Jazmine is insisting we launch a strike against the prince on his home turf, all in the hopes of getting her brother back. ”
Lyk could sense that Kara had all sorts of feelings around the mission. “Do you agree with her plans?”
A sigh echoed around the inside of his mind. “I’m conflicted. Walking into Hell isn’t going to be easy. And I’m afraid if we fail, they’ll hurt him worse.”
Him? She’s talking about Jazmine’s brother.
“This guy you’re trying to rescue. Tell me about him.”
Her tone softened. “His name is Caleb, and he’s under tremendous strain. They torture him, starve him, beat him. He’s close to breaking.”
“How do you know all this, little sister?”
“I… I just know.”
Lyk could tell she was hiding something. Something momentous. He sometimes thought that some of her empathic powers leaked over to him through their bond because right then he could read her clearly. “You’re in love with him.”
She hesitated before she responded, long enough for him to think the connection might have been broken. “Yes.”
Lyk let out a long breath. “Does he know?”
“No. He doesn’t know me at all. He’s always out of his mind with pain and fear and despair. I can sense it all and it drives me crazy!”
Her voice, amplified by emotion, caused his head to start pounding. “Okay, little sis, I understand.”
“I wish you were here,” she said suddenly, her voice sounding young like when they were children. “I wish you were by my side when we land on Dazimin.”
Guilt hit him like a gut punch. “You’d be the only one who was happy about that.”
Kara scoffed. “It’s not like you think, Lyk. You could come home.”
“That part of my life is over, little sister.” His tone said it was final, and it seemed to do the trick as his sister changed the subject.
“I have to let you know about something Mayra said, something important.”
“Mayra?”
Kara laughed. “Nojan’s wife.”
“Oh yeah.” Lyk chuckled. “I still can’t believe that nerd managed to get himself hitched.” And to an oracle nonetheless.
“She went into one of her trances, and she mentioned a raven. It has to be you.”
“Tell me.”
Kara took a deep breath, before repeating the rhyme she’d heard from Mayra:
“The Raven chases the piece that shines
The Gavor avoids the trap that binds
The Fear covets what he takes
The Artist regrets what she makes
Without the shine, there is only the dark
But will they be able to undue His mark?”
Lyk frowned. “Sounds like a bunch of nonsense to me.”
“I wish I could say the same, brother, but she’s always been right before. I might not be able to decipher the rhyme, but I know there’s something going on here, something connected to you. I can feel it.”
“I’m sure this is just a coincidence. It’s probably—”
His sister interrupted him. “It’s not coincidence. Keep your eye out for something shiny. And watch out for the Seekers.”
“The Seekers? Out here? Why would they come for me?”
“The ‘Fear’ that the rhyme mentions. Gemma thinks it has something to do with Dredd, one of the Seekers. He’s able to strike his enemies with untamable fright.”
Gemma. That was Calabez’s wife. The fact that Calabez had a wife was even more surprising than Nojan having one. She was supposed to be super smart. But even geniuses made mistakes.
“I’ll be fine. I’m not the one about to march into Hell. I can’t believe our brothers are letting you tag along on that mission by the way.”
He got a mental image of Kara biting her lip. “They don’t exactly know yet.”
Lyk laughed. His little sister never liked to be treated like a little sister. His brothers were in for quite a fight.
“Don’t change the subject, Lyk. You need to take this seriously.”
“I’m sure the poem is about someone else. You don’t need to worry about me.”
“I hope it is, but I fear it’s not.”
“I’ll be careful. I promise.”
Kara’s tone filled with panic. “Being careful isn’t enough! You should come home. We need to close ranks, fight this threat as a united front.”
“I have to go,” Lyk said. “Take care of yourself, sis.” He broke the connection, throwing up the wall that kept others from entering his mind. Even Kara, despite their bond.
As he walked back to the tavern, his stomach churned. He didn’t like the thought of his family being in danger. Walking into Hell was a massive risk, one they shouldn’t take. But he wasn’t about to tell Marek what to do. A Vartik male would do anything for his mate, even fight the Devil himself.
His sister wanted him back on Vartik, but that was an idea Lyk wouldn’t entertain. He’d left his home world behind, for good, and all the duties that went along with it. He would never stop loving his family, but he couldn’t be around them.
He was the black sheep, a pariah, and not only would they not welcome him back, but he would be disappointed in his own weakness for going home.
It’s not going to happen, so put it out of your thoughts. Using his sizeable will, Lyk pushed his complex feelings of guilt and resentment into a deep dark hole inside him.
Kara thought a gang of demons might be coming for him.
Let them come. They’ll find out they aren’t the only ones without a soul.