Prepare Yourself #2
His jaw flexed as he swallowed. “Remember when I warned you this place is not like our home and things are different here?”
My heart hiccuped at the word home. Like I’d regressed into my mentality before I accepted my role in the Southern Hive and was still a guest or prisoner there.
My eyes flicked, fully taking in the gravity of his gaze before saying, “Yes…”
“I need you to prepare yourself.”
“Prepare myself for what?” My exhaustion from our escapades was beginning to make me a less than pleasant companion.
“Just—” his hands found my shoulders and my skin hummed underneath the robes “—take a moment. And remind yourself that we are visitors here. And there’s nothing we can do about what you’re about to see.”
Could it really be worse than what I’d already seen? Worse than the public humiliation of human slaves? Worse than sharing them without regard for their consent?
The contrast between the behaviors, rules, and codes of conduct between the hives was so glaringly obvious now. What else could possibly be beyond the leather armor blocking my view?
I grounded myself and took a breath. It turned out that breath was more for show than actually preparing myself for when Dommik stepped aside.
Dommik pushed his way past the barrier and led me into what, at first glance, looked like a dormitory.
A dozen cots lined the circular room. Some filled, some empty.
All humans as far as I could tell. They were barely fed or clothed and riddled with bite marks in various stages of healing, just like Talia and the other slaves from the ball.
I looked around the room and wondered if I’d recognize Talia’s sisters.
One for each day of the week.
The human slaves that were coherent enough to notice us didn’t seem to care. Maybe, while seemingly hidden, this tunnel wasn’t as secret as its entrances made us believe.
Did people disappear into and emerge from this tunnel often?
The question surfaced but knowing the answer would make little difference from not knowing.
Before moving further, Dommik turned to me and said, “Whatever happens between here and my chambers is about survival and is not real. Understand?”
I nodded meekly. We would both need to play a character, so I immediately adopted mine.
He slipped his hand beneath the folds of fabric, located the chain that fell from the shackle around my neck, and gently lifted the metal.
“You’re safe with me,” he whispered. The deep hypnotic blues of his eyes were a warm, heavy blanket in the depths of winter. I wanted to wrap myself and hibernate in this feeling. Because I believed him. He would do whatever it took.
I didn’t want Dommik to turn away. Like if he broke this gaze, this tether to the confidence and strength I felt in his presence, I would drown in the uncertainty I’d been avoiding.
But he did turn away. He had to. We couldn’t linger here. And I’d have to face those other feelings eventually. For now, I’d stuff them into a mental box, shut the lid, and lock them away to be revisited at a later time.
Now was not the time for insecurities. Even though my character needed to be subservient, now was the time for composure and bravery beneath the robes.
The iron sang as Dommik wrapped the metal around his knuckles in a way that convinced others he owned me, but gripping it loosely enough to give me a comfortable amount of slack.
After three different corridors, I stopped trying to figure out where we were in the network of tunnels.
Each space was dimly lit and filled with the stench of human lives poorly lived.
Unbathed and seemingly abandoned, mortal inhabitants wandered the halls like ghosts who couldn’t access a peaceful afterlife.
Their skin was pale, save for the deep, dark wells of exhaustion and malnutrition hanging underneath their eyes.
Countless steps and dozens of slaves later, I was beginning to worry that we would never find our way out of the subterranean maze.
“How much farther?” I asked in a rare moment when we were far enough away from prying ears, but was quickly shushed by the commander.
We continued on our path, continuously ending up somewhere new but seemingly getting nowhere all at once.
I longed for my bed. My feet ached from all this walking over uneven, stone ground.
Were we going deeper?
Were we getting anywhere?
Step after endless step. Up stairs, down tunnels, through doorways. The walk became exhausting and I kept telling myself, just one step at a time. One step at a time.
My thoughts naturally floated to Rhazien and I wondered where he was in this vast underground dwelling.
I was lost in my rhythmic mantra when I slammed into a stone wall. No, not stone. Dommik’s frozen form.
“Ow.”
“Sorry.” The whisper was like a strained breeze.
The flash of the vision assaulted me. Eryx and Rhazien sat on separate couches in what I could only describe as a blood harem.
The scene was a mixture of body parts, broken glass, blood, smoking incense, and shackled slaves.
Some cowering, some lifeless and gray. The pile of bodies tended to the needs of the seated regents whose laughter reverberated off the cavern walls.
As if the memories were desperate to be seen, I was pulled from one tunnel to another.
The next vision was Rhazien and Eryx overseeing a stadium of Hive citizens.
They all looked down on a race in progress.
Black blurs sprinted around the circular track.
Gnashing, panting, salivating, giant hounds fought each other.
The last vision was all hanging silks and mattresses. Rhazien’s head rolled back with a blonde head of hair bobbing between his bare legs.
Through all of this, I felt Dommik’s conflict raging within him. His nostalgia for a time before the Southern Hive rules, a dedication to his regent, a sadness for me. The unexpected vision had come on so quickly, I hadn’t prepared myself for the onslaught of scenes and emotions.
Tears fell as I searched the details. Trails of blood decorated Rhazien’s mouth and neck. The beautiful green of his eyes had transformed to onyx and black veins spread across his temples.
That wasn’t the man I knew. But then again, he wasn’t a man. He was a vampire. And maybe the restraint and the kindness had been a front. Maybe this had been his true nature all along. He was the monster I’d grown up fearing.
I’d believed him, that I was special. The only one worthy of consideration because of what? My magical abilities? This curse of unwanted visions? All because of this access to the Source?
All of it had been a lie.
“Reyva!” Dommik’s hands on my shoulders pulled me back to my body and I fell into his chest. “Whoa, whoa. Hey. What is it? What did you see?”
His arms wrapped around me and his chin rested atop my head.
“So many dead.” I sobbed uncontrollably. “And—and—Rhazien with—with—”
He stroked my hair. My mind, trained that my body was only meant to be touched by Rhazien, told me to pull away. But I cemented myself into that space and I leaned into him harder.
He hushed and consoled me, “I told you. Things are different here.”
New breath finally made its way into my lungs, filled with the scent of pine and leather.
“Listen to me. Those people—we can’t save them.” I was still beneath his grip. “And it’s awful. It’s terrible. It’s monstrous what’s happening here. But if we abandon our task and act on reckless emotion, we won’t be able to ensure that this way of life comes to an end.”
“We can end it?” I wiped a tear and sniffled.
“We can end it. By finding the stone, by elevating Rhazien, we can end it.” He pulled me into a tight embrace as if sealing the space between our bodies would also seal the promise.
“We can end it,” I breathed into Dommik’s chest. Maybe not for these people, but their children. For my own child. For Lydia’s children. To keep Atoris peaceful and safe.
A new sense of calm and security descended into my bones. We got what we’d come here for. We had the book. We could find the stone. And Rhazien…I would deal with that later.
My lids fell closed at the prospect of a way forward. A confidence bloomed within me that the hardest parts of our plan were behind us. But the presence of an evening frost wilted the new bloom. The petals of hope fell one by one as I realized there was someone else in the room with us.
From a darkened corner, Rhazien’s voice growled, “What’s all this, then?”