Chapter 31
ARIANNA
The land is empty; it’s like a desert with no life.
There are trees spread around. They look like all of the water has been sucked out of them; the land is dry.
Up ahead, I can see a harder, clay-like ground with cracks running through it.
It must have been a pond or lake of some kind.
The air feels hot and close, so much so that I find my chest tightening with each breath I take.
Everything is dead. I shiver even though it’s far from being cold. Something happened here, something bad.
I turn and start walking. I have no idea where I’m going, but something feels as if it’s pulling me toward it.
The tree line thins out more; the only thing visible is the heat waves in the air, rising from the ground: no buildings or houses, just space, frozen in a memory of something evil. I can feel it pricking over my skin like razor-sharp needles.
Hearing voices up ahead, laughter, and someone squeaking in delight, my heart warms at the sound, but I still can’t see anything.
Moving faster, chasing the sound, the sand under my feet slipping, making me sink deeper each time I move; each step now getting harder to make. I keep falling further, the sand now up to my waist. My heart is pounding with the fear that I’m going to get stuck.
The more I move, the faster I sink—it’s up to my chest now, so tight my arms are stuck under the surface.
The sand is up to my mouth now; The grains of sand flicker over the surface with every breath I take—I can’t breathe.
My eyes lock on a figure running toward me, and his blue eyes are what I see first.
Gaelan.
He’s running, but he isn’t fast enough.
I sink under, the last thing I see are his hands trying to reach for me.
Blackness surrounds
I can’t see anything.
I keep falling, my body spinning in the air, faster until I see the ground coming toward me.
Smashing into it, my body bowing in pain, and I cry out, a plume of sand and dust surrounds me until it settles.
Blinking my eyes to clear them, I slowly stand up and gasp in shock at the beautiful caves that are around me.
They’re cut out of a rock face; little coves shoot into the sky as far as the eye can see.
It’s light here, the sun shining down from somewhere too far to see, but I can feel it; so warm, it caresses my skin, taking away the shivers from the place I was.
“Gaelan?” I whisper, looking around. I can’t see where I fell through.
Opening my mouth to shout, but something glitters in the sunlight, catching my eye, I turn slightly and frown, seeing a young woman up ahead staring at me.
She smiles, turns, and walks into a cave up ahead.
Moving to go after her, I notice there’s grass on the ground, and it’s cold and wet under my feet.
Getting to the entrance of the cave, I walk in and freeze when amber eyes lock with mine, her dark hair the same shade as mine. Running my eyes down her body, she’s wearing a long ivory and gold dress, her body covered in symbols and patterns.
“Hi,” she says as she comes closer to me. I notice she has the same Orion’s belt markings on her cheeks that I have—three moles in a line. “I’ve been waiting for you.”
I frown at her. “You have?”
She nods, turns, and walks further into the cave. As I follow her, I feel like maybe I should turn around, but I can’t. Something about this place seems so familiar to me. It feels safe.
“This is where it all started, the day we were made.” Her voice echoes around the cave.
Gold lights flickering on the sides of the cave, and I can just about make out on the walls of the cave some kind of writing.
I can’t understand what it says. Moving closer, I run my hand over the dents it’s made; it reminds me of something you would see on the pyramids of Lilial.
“Don’t worry about those, you will understand them soon.
” I turn to look at her and watch as she rounds a corner.
“Where am I?”
“Home, our first home, the safe place.” I move after her—the cave is much bigger than I thought it was going to be, and the gold lights are brighter back here.
Walking closer, I see her standing in front of a large gold chest, which has the same kind of symbols that are on her skin and the cave walls.
“When you find it, the key”— she looks at the necklace around my neck — “will open it. This is our Book of Power. This is what they all want. But they cannot have it; only we are strong enough to weld and protect.”
“My spell book is in here. Where am I?” I question.
How am I supposed to find this place when I’m not even sure where here is?
She looks at me, her eyes glowing bright amber.
“I hope you got dressed before you went to sleep. Sleepwalking can be interesting if you are naked.” I frown, and she laughs lightly.
“I could never keep my hand off him either, so perfect for us. Now…” She comes so close to me that I can smell the rose scent of her, of us. “…Wake up”
Blinking, I gasp for air and sit up, my body covered in a sheen of sweat. I hate it when I have dreams that seem so real. Turning, I reach out to Gaelan and pull back when I get a handful of sand. With a groan, I look around and slowly stand when I see nothing but desert and old buildings around.
Have I sleepwalked again? How is that possible down here? The last time this happened, I ended up in the park near my home.
“She is home.”
“Can you hear it? Take it, it’s ours.”
“Spells, books, reader.”
“She is light, she is dark.”
The voices in my head get louder, and I can feel how happy they are that I’m here, that this place is a safe place.
I turn and look down at my clothes—I’m dressed in one of Gaelan’s shirts but naked underneath. This is the desert from my dreams; it’s a little different; my dream never had all these buildings, nor did it have trees with life in them.
“Death came here.”
“Be safe.”
“Stay, run, be safe.”
The voices continue, and I can’t help the shiver that runs through my body. Something bad happened here. I can feel death creeping over the lands like a snake ready to pounce on its prey.
I walk forward, not knowing where to go. I need to find a way out of here.
Turning in a circle, I try to see if there’s any sign of life or anything that would help me, but there is nothing.
Heading toward the first building, I notice it looks like a small house; I can see broken glass where the windows would have been.
Looking through, there is an old sofa and some kids’ toys on the ground; more furniture is thrown all over the room—everything is covered in sand.
It must have been empty for a long time; there are no footprints.
Moving to the next house and looking through that window, this one is in the same state as the last one; it’s like everyone left in a hurry, leaving their lives in some horrible sandy wasteland, frozen in time.
I keep searching and still nothing. This is like my dream, but so much different; there are no caves, no hole in the ground for me to sink into, just a derelict town.
It reminds me of one of those old Western films set in Texas, where there’s just one row of buildings and nothing else surrounding it.
Fear coils in my stomach. How far away am I from Gaelan’s realm? I turn to walk back down the path I came from; my steps falter, then stop when I see a figure up ahead.
“Hello!” I yell, running toward them. “I’m lost; can you tell me where I am?” I slow my steps when I see that this figure is a man. He’s tall, and the muscles on his arms make him seem bigger. In his left hand, he’s holding a knife, and in the other is a net.
“I’ll help you miss, where ya goin’?” His voice is harsh and sends a chill of fear through me
Taking a step back, I say, “It’s okay, my boyfriend is on his way, I’m just going to wait for him over there.” I turn around and start walking backward.
The man stares at me, grinning, with a considerable set of fangs in his mouth.
I smile and turn to run, but bump into another hard chest. Something clicks around my wrists, but it doesn’t register as I lift my gaze to look up at a man with red eyes and tattoos covering his face. “Mmmmm, you smell delicious.” He grins.
He lowers his head to my neck and breathes me in. “I can smell the power rolling off you.” His hands grip my arms, and he pulls me even closer. “Boss lady gonna be so happy.”
My heart sinks as I wait for the voices; I wait for the feeling my grandfather used to tell me about, that relief that everything is going to be okay. I get nothing, and panic blankets me. “You need to let me go,” I say, trying to sound as strong as I can, even if I’m scared for my life right now.
He laughs. “You can’t hurt us, we got you.”
I frown at his words, then the click from earlier hits me, and I look down. In my shock, when I bumped into him, I didn’t feel the cuffs around my wrist. They’re gold with symbols all over them; now, I feel the power running through them, and it feels like a curse on my skin.
The man in front of me wraps his hand around my neck and squeezes hard.
Air is trapped in my lungs, and I can’t replace it with more.
His grip is so tight, my chest is tight, and black dots appear in my vision.
My fingers claw at him, trying to get him to let me go.
“Drop her, Axe. Boss lady gonna be mad if you kill her.”
The voice is distant. Even if it’s not meant to help me, I’m grateful when I’m dropped to the ground with a thud.
The sand around me scatters, and heat from the desert hits me in the face.
I scramble to get away from them, but pressure on my back pushes me down deeper.
The tiny grains of sand embed in my face.
One of them lowers so he can growl into my ear. “Boss lady won’t mind us playing with you a little bit, though.”
Letting out a scream, feeling rough hands run up the back of my thighs, his touch turning my stomach, making me want to throw up, I want to push him away, but fear has me frozen in place.
I can smell his body odor —the sickly scent of sweat and blood so strong that I can almost taste it.
I want to bury my face in the sand, even if it suffocates me; it will be better than smelling him.
He pulls my hair again, lifting me with it.
He turns me over so I face him. His red eyes burn into mine with a hunger I’ve seen so many times at the club—the look of wanting what they can’t have and knowing they will do anything to get it.
It’s a look I never want aimed at me. He rips open my shirt, causing buttons to spray everywhere.
He pushes the shirt further open and groans, seeing my breasts on full display.
I try to cover myself, but my efforts are wasted when he grabs me again, his hands leaving bruises in their wake.
Desperation is evident in his eyes with the need he has to touch me everywhere.
His hands move to grope my breasts. He plays with them, squeezing so hard that tears spring from my eyes and run down my cheeks. I whimper and buck my hips trying to get him off me, but he is too strong. The more I try to move, the more both seem to be enjoying this.
“Pull her legs open. Let’s see what kind of pussy the book reader has.” Axe growls.
Using my legs, I push back, but I can’t move very fast; I sink deeper into the sand.
“Grab her, Max, hold her down,” his voice dark and deadly.
Max reaches for me and grabs a handful of my hair again.
He pulls me up and drags me back over. My hands frantically try to grab the sand to stop him from moving me; my legs dig into the loose grains, but it’s no use.
The movement pulls me deeper, like a blanket of quicksand.
I reach up, trying to rip his grip from mine, but he is just too strong.
“Help me, please. Help me!” I scream, but it’s only met with a dark chuckle.
“Scream all you want. Nobody will help you; no one comes here, this is Macy’s land.”
Max pulls on my hair tighter, making it feel like it’s going to rip out of my head. The other large daemon comes over and slaps me hard, making me sob silently. Strong hands are on my legs, forcing them apart.
I let out another scream and kick out again. This time, my foot connects with Axe’s face, knocking him away from me. He hisses before wrapping his hand hard around my neck and choking me again. “You will pay for that bitch!”
Axe spits in my face, then punches me hard, shattering my cheekbone. I wince, waiting for him to begin touching me again, but instead, he throws another punch. Each blow feels calculated, meant to cause me as much pain as possible.
He aims for my face, stomach, and ribs; each hit pours so much agony into my body that I almost black out. I’ve never been hit by a daemon before. Now I understand why most non-supernaturals who end up fighting them always end up in the hospital—daemons have unmatched power and strength.
He roars each time he hits me. It feels like they are trying to kill me with rage.
Blood runs down my nose; much like my cheekbone, I think it’s broken.
“We should take her to Ester Isle and wait for Macy. It’ll be safer there.” One of them—though I can’t tell whom—says. The talking makes me realize they have stopped hitting me and have left me lying on the ground.
The pain is so much that it makes me want to cry with each breath I take.
I wish Gaelan were here; I wish he would shimmer in and save me, but I know that he won’t. He is going to be so angry and so worried when he wakes up. He’s going to think I am gone again, that Macy has taken me.
I wonder where they will leave my body for him to find this time.
A sob escapes my lips at the thought of him finding me, knowing that it’s going to break him.
I didn’t get a chance to tell him I loved him.
I am going to die, and he wouldn’t have heard me say those words—he said that he wasn’t going to lose me again.
He has.
“We can play some more with her then. I wonder what it would be like to fuck the Book Reader?” They both laugh.
My whole body shakes at their words. I close my eyes and cry silently, praying to whoever is listening to save me.
But no one is coming.
No one ever comes.