9. Leela #2
“How have you been, love?” Iravan asked. His gaze skimmed over her shadow. “Well? Besides the new attachment you seem to have?”
“She said she only just got her,” Rajesh said.
Nalini held her hand up. “Let Leela explain.”
“I don’t really know when or how it happened. I mean, I do know, I just… Well…” Leela stuttered.
“Start from the beginning. There is no rush.”
“All the time in the world,” Iravan commented. “I mean, despite all the loose monsters we need to go and kill.”
Rajesh rolled his eyes this time.
Leela missed the bickering and snide comments between the brothers. The way they used to tackle one another and pull the other to the ground. It was always in front of Leela and her sister, Anika. She’d always thought Iravan had feelings for Anika.
Another slice of pity hit her, and Leela bit her lip. What if her family were alive too? What if she’d been running needlessly after revenge because they were… alive…?
Heat ascended her spine and Leela gasped as pain exploded. One moment she was lost in thought and the next, she was unwillingly lunging forward.
Rajesh stepped back, weapon raised, and Nalini stood between her son and Leela.
It all happened so suddenly. Leela grabbed the wall, flung back into her own senses.
“Are you okay?” Nalini asked.
Leela held her chest. Fear choked her, digging in with twisted fingers. “I… I think so.”
“She’s trying to break through,” Nalini said. “Whatever you do, you need to remain calm. And focus. Don’t let the pain in, it’s how she’ll enter.”
Leela nodded.
“Now, explain what happened. Focus on the story.”
Leela took a deep breath. “I was trying to find an ancient artifact to go after the lustisha that killed everyone I love.” She refused to notice the way Rajesh flinched.
“I then went to this place in the City of Nihikia, but they were rebels using mortals to harness bodies. Long story short, I got captured, taken inside, and now, I harness the Viperess.”
Nalini nodded. “So this was all against your will…?”
“Yes.”
“And the Viperess seems to have chosen Leela,” Iravan said, rubbing his chin in speculation.
“What has she told you?” Nalini asked, slow and gentle. “Has she told you what she wants with you?”
“No,” Leela said. “Only that we’re here now. And she seems super shitty.”
“That would be an understatement,” Iravan said, chuckling. “She’d be more than pissed. She’d be fucking livid, I would imagine. Not that I can hear her or anything. Speaking of, what is she like?”
“Annoying,” Leela said.
No one spoke. Instead, they all shared a glance.
“Is someone going to tell me?” Leela glanced between them, waiting for someone to speak.
What did they know? Why were they skirting around the details?
Leela needed to know. Needed to understand what the fuck was going on.
No one was willing to let her in, and she was about to snap.
“Because the Viperess refuses to, and you’re all looking at me like I’m—”
“A desert spirit?” Iravan cut in.
“Like I’m going to attack again,” Leela snapped.
“You very well might,” Nalini said. She sighed but walked closer to Leela. “Did anyone ever tell you about the tale of the Viperess and the Scorpion? How their paths met?”
Jaya had briefly told her at the village about the revenge and the romance between the Viperess and the Scorpion.
She’d been too focused on Rajesh and his anger to connect the dots about the Scorpion and the Viperess.
The two Flames from the Awakening and the Netherworld.
The Viperess loved the Scorpion, but he never descended with her.
The Viperess took it as betrayal, and now…
Oh…
Slowly, Leela’s brows lengthened, and her lips parted. Oh…
Leela caught Rajesh’s gaze. “She wants revenge.”
“Understand now?” Rajesh said.
Shit. You want me to kill him? Because he has the Scorpion?
Heat coiled at the base of Leela’s spine, spiraling up until it hit the nape of her neck. The Viperess banged against her skull. Yes.
The answer was so simple, Leela staggered back. No. I refuse to kill him!
Because you once loved him?
It’s more than that. He’s… He’s…
Nothing more than something in my way to my revenge. So, we can either do this the easy way or the hard way, mortal. I can control you, remember?
Panic gripped every part of Leela. Her chest tightened, hands shaking. Her heart beat too wildly in her ears for her to make sense.
Oh shit… Oh fuck…
“No… No…” Leela said, shaking her head vigorously.
Nalini stepped forward, hand raised.
Leela stepped back. “No. Don’t. This… No!”
“You can control this, Leela,” Nalini said. “Has she fully controlled you yet?”
Blood drained from her face. “Yes.”
“We will teach you, before she can do anything.”
“What can she do?”
“Possess you,” Iravan said. “Take over your dreams. Make you do things. Being a Vessel is great fun, really.”
“No,” Leela said, eyes widening in disbelief.
“No, I refuse. I refuse to do it! I can’t kill…
” She looked at Rajesh through a blurry gaze.
She couldn’t imagine driving a knife through his chest. Couldn’t imagine making him bleed.
All these years, she thought he was dead, and he was very much alive, but now…
now she might have to kill him because of the vengeful Flame in her head.
“You might not have a choice,” Nalini lamented, leaning against the bench. “Which is why we will train you to try to control your mind and in turn, her.”
Hiiissssss. Might want to be careful, mortal. I don’t do well being told what to do.
“What if I can’t?” Leela said, voice cracking. “What if she takes over and I can’t stop her? Or she kills him before I have the chance to learn?”
“We won’t let that happen. I would tell you our plans, but, well…”
Leela understood. Saying anything to her meant the Viperess would know every move and try to evade it.
“I don’t want it,” Leela said. “Get it out. Get her out!”
“Trust us, we’ve tried,” Nalini said. “But there is no way to get a Flame out of a mortal body. Not without…”
“Dying,” Iravan finished, avoiding Leela’s gaze.
Leela clutched her head, pulling at her hair and shutting her eyes as she tried to grapple with this information.
This couldn’t be happening. Despite what Rajesh had told her and her feelings, she’d found a piece of home when he found her, and now, everything might be ripped away from her—again.
She just wanted a minute of peace. A minute to collect herself and gather her thoughts.
“There’s no way? At all?” Leela choked out.
The look in Nalini’s eyes was all Leela needed.
“What about the artifacts?” Leela asked. “The Seven Artifacts of Fauna and Flora from the Awakening?”
The others all glanced at one another, a tale hidden within their gazes.
The Seven Artifacts were the reason Leela had hunted down the weapon in the first place.
They were said to be the artifacts dropped from the Awakening when the realms split, dropping down blessed waters, poison, and wish-fulfilling trees said to grant any wish.
Magical items that, unfortunately, dropped from the Awakening as the Flames left the realm.
Nothing like the weapons the mortals had foraged from their bones, claws, or even wings.
Leela had been searching for the magical bow and arrow, said to strike true when unleashed, or even the poison meant to kill anyone or anything it touched. Or even the wish-fulfilling tree dropped from a seed in the Awakening, but that was more myth than real.
“What do you know?” Leela pressed.
To Leela’s surprise, it was Rajesh who responded. “We stopped looking when we found out the artifacts were all myths, or someone stole them so no one could track them down.”
So it was all useless? It was all… gone? Just like that? Hope lay dead in their eyes.
“I refuse to believe that. They are out there,” Leela countered. “And we can find them.”