Chapter 6
Mei
The cupboard door is yanked open, and before I can lash out, I smell the omega. Her scent is unnerving in how familiar it is. So much like my mother’s scent. I don’t want it near me; I don’t want to remember.
It hurts too much.
“Hey, Mei.”
I wrap my arms around my knees and bury my head under my arms so I don’t have to face her.
“I’m sorry Diablos did this to you. But I think, perhaps, on thinking about it, that maybe it might help you.”
I laugh bitterly and scratch my skin until it bleeds.
“The boot camp will be fun.”
“One step closer, fish, and I will gut you and mount you on a wall,” Puppy growls.
Being this close to the Grim is not at all pleasant. He’s bringing back a whole lot of memories that I really want to forget. A sliver of anger ignites as I remember all those years of running.
I shove out of the cupboard and find myself face to face with the creature the Sirens threw me to all those years ago.
He smells the same, but it’s the feel of him and that strange teal magic that flares to life in my mind that has me hesitating over destroying him, or trying, at least.
He makes an excited chirping sound, and something wet is shoved into my hands.
“Oh…” Becky whispers, and I hear the disgust in her tone.
“What is that? Is that an eel?” Wilder asks in a low voice. “Why is he giving her an eel?”
I lift it to my nose, inhaling the briny stench. Delicious. I open my mouth to bite into it and then remember that the asshole who gave it to me isn’t a Siren. I toss it at the Grim and laugh when I hear him gagging and spitting in rage.
The dragon growls and stomps away. I cock my head when another green blur of magic bursts into my mind. It shimmers in the shape of a cat before it fades. I reach out and find myself touching fur.
“Kit,” the dragon growls. “This is my…Kit.”
His voice is deep and dark, like a voice in a thousand caverns. He’s ancient and wise, dark and deadly. A voice that ripples with power.
“Kit?”
Another eel is pressed into my free hand. I grumble while I continue patting the cat. I’m hungry.
Really hungry.
Before anyone can stop me or I can think about it, I toss the eel straight at Ronit’s face, enjoying the wet slap.
Leaf leaps after his eel, slamming Ronit into another wall, by the sounds of it.
“You are enjoying this too much,” Becky says in a warning tone.
“The enemy of my enemy is my ally today,” I singsong.
Leaf comes back, huffing and growling, and puts the eel back in my hand. I shudder. I already have five…what’s one more?
I bite into the raw eel and moan in bliss.
Someone retches, and I think the Grim is losing his mind. He keeps screaming about the foulness, the poison, his poor pretty eyes. The noise almost ruins my dinner. Almost.
I keep eating, not caring about the mess, warily listening to everyone around me losing their minds, while the dragon stands guard over me, humming in pleasure.
I try really hard to pretend he’s not there, but it’s impossible not to notice him. He just takes up room.
“All right, all right.” Diablos says as he paces around. “We’re doing the boot camp.”
“I’m out. We need to go save the world,” Wilder says firmly.
“No, I need you-”
“Saving the world,” Becky says, and I swear, I can hear laughter in her voice.
I toss the remains of the eel straight into Puppy’s face, who has been steadily closing the distance between us.
“Stop sneaking up on me, Grim!” I snap.
He snarls. I snarl back. Leaf roars, the sound rattling the windows. He takes a massive step towards the Grim. Oh, hell, I guess I better break it up. I lazily trace a rune in the air.
Fire explodes straight up between us, trapping the dragon on my side and the Grim on the other. I giggle into the heat that slaps me in the face.
“WHOA!” Frost snaps. “Enough, you two.”
A gust of icy air hits me, and the fire goes out, but Becky has dragged her feral Grim away from us.
“You all need to learn to play nicely. This isn’t a playground. It’s not a school. It’s a place where people live and go about their lives. They are vulnerable and weaker than we are. You must not go out and do any of that!” Diablos snaps. He huffs and stomps a foot, making the house shake.
“I thought you were looking for omegas,” Canto says calmly.
I had almost forgotten they were here. They were staying so silent and unobtrusive, but sadly, I tricked myself.
Wait. Diablos is looking for omegas? I’m very careful not to move, but I listen very intently to everything they say and don’t say.
“I am looking for omegas. They alone can help balance the packs of alphas that are coming through. We’ve found lots. They just keep waking up, but there are some packs that need someone a bit stronger.”
There is a fire in my scent that has been growing. One that I have been trying to suppress. Because I think I know what’s happening to me, and if I’m right, there is no way to stop it.
And now I’m trapped to them.
I trace a rune to break bones and throw it at Lirin.
He swears, but I don’t hear bones break. I don’t hear anything over my screams. The curse flared to life like a wicked bitch, snapping back; the bracelet burning around my wrist, sending molten lava into my bones and melting them. I’m on the ground, curled up in a sweaty ball, when the pain ends.
Leaf is curled up around me, in dragon form again, hissing and growling.
“Get that thing away from me!” Hartley screams.
“Hey, you! Leave it!” Diablos snarls. “Bad cat. Bad, bad kitty. Oi! Stop it. Leaf, call off your pet!”
I sit up and shrug the pain away as if it never happened, along with the dragon’s coils, freezing into my natural stillness as his strange magic pulses in the air.
His presence shrinks in on itself as he changes back into a human shape.
Just because he’s more contained doesn’t make him any less intense.
Something I need to be aware of. He’s like the Sirens; they lull you into a false sense of security with their less aggressive natures, but I’ve heard them sing, and they can damn near take a continent full of people under the waves if they wanted to.
Ronit approaches like a great white through the water, silent, so very, very dangerous. I can feel him moving; his intensity is impossible to ignore.
“What is this boot camp?”
His voice is deep, like the rolling waves; he contains all the power and depth that the oceans possess.
Canto joins him, a strength as vicious as Ronit’s, but deceptive. He’s the still water, the currents that barely move, until suddenly, there’s a rip under you, sucking you out to the depths of the ocean.
“I’m going to offer you something you all need, and you’re going to do something for me.” Diablos is so confident we’ll agree he’s not even hiding his triumph.
With an internal curse to have found myself in this situation, I turn away from them and prowl the room, searching for answers that aren’t coming. I take a step, and the dragon makes an indistinct sound. I step sideways, and he makes a higher, happier sound. Huh.
Is he helping me see?
That’s interesting.
Puppy hisses.
I’m suddenly yanked back and spun around.
My temper sizzles as I try to work out who I’m about to rip apart.
Coconut hits me, and I go still. Why is Canto holding me?
One large hand sits on my waist where the torn shreds of the clothes I stole barely covers me.
My skin crawls, and I wish it was because I want him to get off me.
I should make him let me go. I will in just one moment.
“Okay, just stop, stop. Enough!” Diablos roars, his voice deepening and sounding like infernal bells peeling in the deep. “Becky, if you’re not going to help, take them and go.”
Becky hums. “Okay. If you don’t need us?”
“At this point in time, a bucket with no sides is more helpful than you.”
Becky laughs. She’s so light and carefree. A part of me resents her, and that resentment has only grown since coming to this horrible place. Even during the worst times in Nightmare, I could still find food. But here…nothing is food. Or if it is, it doesn’t smell like it is.
Why is this place so hard? Canto lets me go, allowing me to breathe again. I track his almost non-existent steps as he moves away from me.
“Right, we’re going. Good luck, everyone.”
I feel the Nightmare’s intent gaze, but I don’t turn my head in his direction or give any sign that I’ve felt him. I know what he wants to know. Am I going to be a danger here? Am I going to cause trouble?
The answer is yes and yes.
But not until I’m fed.
“I want you to go to boot camp and learn how to work together, then I want you as a team to go after the most dangerous of our kind and remove them from this world.”
I lift my head, scenting the air. The sulfur flares stronger with his enthusiasm. Sounds like a dumb plan to me.
“Why would we do your dirty work?” Lirin asks with a laugh. When I think of Lirin, I remember sandy beaches, but the purest water, glimmering with light. It’s fast and moves quickly, mesmerising and joyful. It’s still one of my favourite memories from when I could see.
But beauty often hides the most dangerous predators.
“You’d do this because I will grant you a wish. Any wish you want,” Diablos says slyly.
The Sirens are tempted. Leviathan is not. Why isn’t he interested?
I turn away, not even remotely curious. Bargains with beings such as the demon never end well for creatures like me.
The air from the open door is sweeping around the room, and I’m getting a better picture in my head of where everything is, but that doesn’t stop me tripping over a small object that evades my scan.
I land hard on my hands and knees and stay there growling my frustration. I hate this world.
“Healer,” Diablos says. “Are you all right?”
Brio snorts in amusement. “She is fine.”
I am fine. I am! It doesn’t matter that it hurts or that it’s humiliating. It doesn’t matter that every failure is just another reason I shouldn’t stay on this planet. But I can’t go back. I don’t know how, and all attempts have failed.
I can feel their eyes on me, but before I can pick myself up, Leaf grabs me and sets me on my feet. He bends, and with a smooth motion that whips my hair around my face, he throws the object.
It explodes behind their heads.
“Keep going, Leaf,” Canto growls, “and we will show you why you wear the collar.”
I bristle, rage flowing through me like an inferno. I don’t stop to think, just sketch out a rune, letting it blister in the air.
I grab the dragon’s hand and pull him with me into a vortex of icy air, and then we’re through, and we are somewhere else.
A car screeches, and I have a moment to sigh, frustrated that this keeps happening to me. I brace for impact, but metal folds, bending, colliding, screaming and squealing in protest. Leaf growls and throws the vehicle away from us.
Oh, I like this. I like this a lot.
“Thank you,” I hum, reaching out to him. My fingers graze his massive arms and shoulders. He holds still while I investigate.
Then he scoops me up and walks briskly away from the sound of another car.
“WHAT DID YOU DO?” Diablos howls.
I wince. Leaf snaps his teeth.
“You can’t just do that to cars; there are people in them! This is why you are doing the boot camp.”
“No,” I growl.
“Yes!” Diablos snarls. “Yes, you damn well are. I’m sick of cleaning up your mess and everyone like you!
I just want a day, a peaceful day, where everyone just stops stomping things.
There are omegas dying. A whole planet for bad people like you to hide in.
I’m trying to protect everyone. And you are just running around without a care in the world. ”
Diablos grabs my wrist, ignoring the growl from Leaf.
“There are creatures hunting humans and omegas. Some very dangerous beings, and I need help. I don’t know how to track Nightmares, but you do. Help me.”
I press my lips together, refusing to say anything. Vulnerable gets you dead. Show no weakness.
His fingers tighten, and then he lets go, his disgust thick in the air.
“You are going to go to this camp and learn how to be human and then work with the Sirens, and you’re going to do it because you owe Becky a debt. Puppy brought you here, and she has let you stay. So, you are going to make yourself useful, or you are going to go home!”
Home. He can send me home? I do not owe the Grim a debt, though I paid it. I saved the omega’s life. We are even.
But now that the offer is there, I’m hesitant. I don’t want to go back there to be hunted relentlessly, to be reviled and feared. If I go back, I will run until I can’t anymore, and then I will die.
But there’s something he says that suddenly gives me hope, gives me pause. Something I want, enough that I’d be prepared to work with them.
“You can teach me about living here?”
Diablos chokes on his tirade. After a long moment, he clears his throat. “Yes, I can try to teach you how to live here.”
I consider the options. I don’t want to go back home.
Eventually, I will run out of luck, and I’ll become food for something else.
I want to live. Family, love, peace. That’s what my mother spoke about.
A place where you can dream of what you want to be and be it.
A place where a mate stays with you, cares for you.
You don’t have to run and kill to stay alive.
“Okay. I will come to your boot camp.”
“And hunt the beings who shouldn’t be here? Will you protect the humans of this planet?”
I hesitate. That is a much longer promise. I’m backed into a corner, and I suspect this demon creature knows it. With great reluctance and an avalanche of loathing, I surrender.
“I will,” I mutter, my teeth tightly pressed together, almost disfiguring the word.
“I will,” Leaf says, echoing me.
“Well then, uh, that was easy. Let’s go to our camp, then.”
And suddenly, with the horrible sinking sensation and the scent of sulfur, I’m falling into a hole.