The Book of Dreams Forgotten: (A Broken Creatures Novel, Book 2) Page 12

  “Not for three more weeks, I’m afraid,” she answered. “I am only capable of opening the gateway on a full moon, when dark energy is at its lowest and magic is at its highest. However . . . Jai, there is something I needed to discuss with you. Alone.” She looked to Graves.

  The man had been a silent spectator for the most part, his presence forgotten on multiple occasions. But now he peeled himself from the heavy shadows, the air around him doing that odd rippling, before he exited the room without another word.

  She was alone with the elf.

  And had so many questions, she didn’t know where to start.

  Not that the creature gave her any time. Instead, she launched straight into what must have been an intimate, vital discussion best kept between the two of them.

  “I saw no need for the succubus or Maker’s child to know of this, but Peter is not the only one who must do something in order to gain safe passage into the Shatters.”

  Jera crossed her leg, trying not to display her amusement as she said with a straight face, “I assure you, I’ve killed my fair share of pixies in all manners you can think of.”

  Were it not for the porcelain, ebony tint of her skin, Jai may have seen the slight sneer more clearly. “Yes, while this may be true, it is not what I meant.”

  “Do tell.”

  “The way the gateway into and out of the Shatters works is something of a mystery. But we do know the Shatters recognizes both immortals and humans who pass through.” She clicked the remote and the images beamed from the projector navigated away from the corpses, showing instead the anatomical drawings of two men.

  There were two differences between them. The one on the left sported two curling horns similar to a ram, likely indicating an immortal. He was colored in black. The one on the right, the human, was colored in blue.

  Inoli pointed the laser to the human. “All humans possess light energy just as all immortals possess dark energy. It is this energy which tells the Shatters when someone is crossing through its gateway. Our objective is to get the four of you into the Shatters without you paying a price. To do so, we must make it so that you are not recognized when crossing.

  “Jera and Peter are bonded and what this does is merges what’s left of Peter’s light energy and Jera’s dark energy, so that it cancels one another out. This is but one more reason Peter is a perfect candidate.” It made sense. Very few immortals mated with humans due to their mortality, ergo, few light and dark energy bonds. “Should Jera and Peter enter through the same gateway together, the Shatters will not recognize them. The same does not apply for you and Graves, however.”

  “But I’m guessing you have a solution for this.”

  “Indeed, I do.” She lifted one hand, silver gaze studying the back of it. “As a dark elf, it is true I was born with a great range of abilities, but the things I know today I have not always known. Some of my capabilities I had to teach myself through trial and error.” A mournful haze entered into the creature’s words, the sound of regret. “As you know, succubi and vampires are the sole creatures capable of bonding with others naturally.”

  “But you’ve found a way to force a bond,” Jai guessed, brows raised.

  “Yes.”

  Now she was definitely all ears. A succubus’ or vampire’s bond was another blank spot in HB’s comprehensive texts, but if one thing was known, it was that when you tampered with natural laws, forcing nature to conform abnormally . . . well, no good ever came out of it.

  “You want to bond Graves and I?” Jai asked, only slightly repulsed at the idea of being tethered to that man in a vaguely magical way.

  “I do, but success is only guaranteed if both parties are fully consensual and aware of what such an unnatural bond entails.”

  Jai smiled. “I’m listening.” There was very little this female could say that would sway her decision. Unlike Peter, Jai had few barriers that would keep her from getting what she wanted. And what she wanted was the extraordinary opportunity to see it all, learn it all. There were astronauts who craved the exploration of space.

  This gateway into another world was no doubt much more vast.

  “Very well,” said Inoli. “To bond a human with an immortal not of succubus or vampire origin, I will essentially extract both your and Graves’ energy, fuse them and return half to you and half to Graves. Jai, you must understand . . . your humanity will be lost in every way and there will be no way to separate the two of you.”

  Her mouth went dry, but she kept her gaze focused, unrelenting. Even if a spike of fear did crawl into her.

  To lose her humanity? She fought for the human race, took pride in mankind’s good and bad and hideous. To follow through with this would be to purge away everything that unified her with those in which she protected.

  “How?” she rasped, then cleared her throat. “How will I be changed?”

  “For one, you will have dark energy inside of a human body. You’ve seen the pictures of what eventually happens. Until that day comes, the changes you undergo will be minor but entirely inhuman.”

  She recalled the deformed corpses. That would be her. Only then did something sink in. “I don’t have the option to say no, do I?”

  The elf sat back in the desk chair, watching her. “You do.”

  “But given the information you gave today, if I decline, you’ll kill me?” No way would they risk allowing her back into the world to release the entail.

  “We’re not HB, Jai. Should you decline, you will be monitored every moment of every day until your last breath so as to secure our secrets, but you will not be harmed. As I’m sure you’ve seen, the Sanctuary is more than large enough to house you, and your needs will always be met. That includes your voracious cravings for knowledge.”

  She blinked. “I don’t understand. Why tell me all this in the first place? Why not threaten or force me into the bond?” Like she would have done had the scenario been reversed.

  “Because,” She leaned forward and Jai could swear she saw worlds churning in those glassy eyes. “The way this forced bonding works, should either party harbor the barest hint of reluctance, this happens.”

  She pressed a button on the remote, the slide flicking over to the next image.

  Jai had to stare at it a moment to comprehend what she was seeing. There were three silhouette pictures. The first was of a man and woman standing side by side. The second was of the same man and woman, only there was a line drawn to connect their stomachs, representing the fusion and transferring of light and dark energy.

  In the last picture, the man still stood there, but the woman—her body was crumbled to the floor, her head splattered open.

  “Very subtle,” Jai breathed.

  “If any part of your energy expresses reluctance to the bond, your body will reject it, and your energy, mixed with the magnitude of Graves’, will combust inside of you.”

  Jai chewed her bottom lip, staring at the cartoonish woman’s body. What was left of it, anyway. “Wouldn’t it have been better to deceive me into thinking the process of the bond would be all rainbows and sunshine, thus bypassing any reluctance on my part?”

  “We’ve tried that with others. Their energies refused to fuse unless both parties were completely knowledgeable of the risks.”

  Which was why the dark elf was being so forthcoming.

  Jai let out a long breath, clutching the armrest. It was either bond with Graves and risk being turned into a puddle of mashed potatoes should some small part of her object—which was very likely—or live out the rest of her days in a luxuriously creepy mansion with all of her needs met.

  While the latter sounded like a dream . . .

  Learning and exploring was never the same through texts and pictures.

  “And if Graves and I entered through the gateway unbonded, we’d have to pay some unknown, high stakes price?”

  “I know what you’re thinking, but to seal the cracks between our worlds, you may have to pass through the gateway mul
tiple times for various reasons, and each time you pass through the gateway, the price worsens. While it may not seem like it now, take it from one as old as I, there are far worse fates than death.”

  She believed it.

  Confliction was the last emotion she’d been prepared to experience. She’d been hoping for something along the lines of alacrity, giddy anticipation, but now she couldn’t erase the image of her body exploding.

  Better than my internal organs melting, she thought darkly, remembering the faery strapped to the lab’s chair.

  “Also,” Inoli said.

  “There’s more?” She almost laughed at this. Of course there was more.

  “Should you decide to go through with this, you should know the bond will be similar to a succubus’, such as your thoughts and memories might leak into one another. All the same, there are differences with a forced bond: because Graves’ energy is the more prominent between the two of you, it will become the dominant force and you will . . . no longer be in control of your actions.”

  This got her attention more than any exploding brain could. “What exactly do you mean by that?”

  “I mean,” Inoli pinched the bridge of her nose as she came to a stand. “Graves will be in control of you. Completely. Until the day you die.”

  She was suddenly thrown back into the memory of the savage way the male had ripped into the human hybrid, fully intent on tearing its wing free of its spinal canal. She’d initiated her fair share of brutally dished punishments, but those had all been calculated, scientifically executed. Job related.

  Graves was, plain and simple, an animal wearing a man’s face.

  To be bonded to that for the rest of her days?

  Jai wet her lips, surprised by her change of heart. “I’ll have to think about it.”

  Ch. 13

  I didn’t care where I went, so long as I continued to put as much distance as possible between me and the nutcases crammed into that study. But storming out had only felt like a good idea in the moment.

  Five minutes later, when I was in one of the grand hallways on what looked to be the fifth floor, regret settled in. I was lost, cradling my wing—which should not have been as heavy as it was—and standing beneath chandeliers twinkling like starlight, rich ivory pillars forming columns on the other wall, glass panes dividing them and overlooking the property’s acres. An ocean of pastures, grass swaying in the night—

  A sharp pain pounded in my head again and the grassy fields vanished, replaced by charred dirt, black skies and thick palls of smoke forming ominous gray clouds. The sight of it . . . I couldn’t stand it. Anger boiled so hot, chased by misery and dread.

  This is what you deserve. The thought echoed in my chest, my head, but the voice wasn’t mine.

  It was Jera’s.

  The image cleared, the grassy fields coming back into sight, sprawling on and on. What was wrong with me? That land, where had I seen it before? The smell of smoke lingered in my nose, even though nothing but the warm smell of apricot and rain surrounded me.

  Losing my mind. I had to be.

  Turning away, I went back the way I’d come, but after minutes passed, I found myself lost again. I hated this place. Hated Anahuac, hated Texas, hated that ridiculous letter that’d gotten me here. Those pictures, those corpses, they hung in the back of my mind, a dark fog of dread chilling me, clouding my rationality.

  It was crazy.

  There had to be someone who could take my place, enter that funhouse of a world and save the day. Someone who was not only sold on the load of crazy, but was also fine with squashing a life from existence simply to please a gateway. Not a person, but a gateway.

  I stopped walking before I ended up in Oz.

  Eyes closed, deep breath. Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. One.

  When I opened them, I noted the mural engraved along the hall’s wall. It was some kind of bear whose body was as small as a koala’s, its ears just as big if not bigger, but its back was straight, no slope, its four legs reminding me of a lion cub’s. What struck me most was that the creature’s fur was green, red streaks running along its muzzle, purple whiskers sprouted from its snout.

  Beneath the portrait was an odd replica of the green koala-lion settled on a panel. The figurine was no bigger than my hand, yet the fur, the glossy sheen to its eyes, it looked so . . . real.

  “One of the Imperial Beasts, Arzari.”

  I turned and was face to face with the man who’d attempted to rip my wing free of my spine. Naturally, I stepped back, putting as much distance as I could between us, even if I was grateful for having been found.

  “Jera mentioned them before,” I muttered.

  He shoved large hands in his pockets, weight settling back on his heels as he looked me over from head to toe. Unimpressed, he looked me in the eyes, mouth a straight gash, emotions drained from his profile. “Did she tell you who Arzari is, what she did?”

  Cautiously, I shook my head. “Just that dark elves have a power similar to theirs.”

  “Similar, but not quite as large scale. Imperial Beasts are able to open a rift between worlds at any given time, while dark elves must wait for the full moon. Just as well, they are able to see farther into the future and past. Their clairvoyance is unmatched, their magic something to be feared. It was this very reason the humans slaughtered Arzari in cold blood.”

  Tentatively, I looked from Graves and back to the small mammal which seemed to be looking right at me. “They killed her because she was strong?”

  “She was the first immortal to lead a mass of them from the Shatters. Believe it or not, for centuries there was peace between immortals and humans, a peace garnered by her efforts alone. A peace she tried to maintain even as each side fell into inevitable hatred. When the Armored War reached an apex, it was her head the humans wanted at any cost, promising to leave the immortals be should one of them oblige.

  “No one can say who it was that delivered her head, but upon learning of her murder, the immortals blamed the humans and attacked mercilessly, which turned a century long war into a permanent hatred between the two sides.”

  I shook my head, glancing into the hazel eyes of the beast that seemed to glitter. “I don’t think HB cares about what happened all those years ago. I think they’re just convinced all immortals are abominations simply because they’re not like you. They fear what immortals can do.”

  I feared what they could do.

  “Perhaps, but would you like to know the amusing part of it all?”

  Nothing about his face said he was amused, but I humored him with a nod.

  “She’s not dead. You cannot truly kill an Imperial Beast, which was why she let whomever murdered her that day carry her head off to the humans.”

  “If she didn’t die, then where did she go?” I was assuming the prehistoric humans did some caveman style ritual, burning the woman’s head and whatever trace of her they could collect.

  Graves eyed the mural as well, now. “When an Imperial Beast is killed, their essence lives on, spiraling throughout the universe until it finds a suitable host to live inside until they’re strong enough to take to their true form once again.”

  I frowned at this. “Should have been named Imperial Parasite, if you ask me.”

  “Luckily I did not.”

  Releasing my wing and flinching at the weight on the wounds, I forced my gaze to level with this man’s. “Do you have some problem with me?”

  “No.”

  “Then why are you like this? Why are you all like this? Treating us humans like we’re so far beneath you.” Which technically I wasn’t even in the same category anymore given my wings and power.

  He rolled his shoulders, dark lashes lowering as he regarded me with a blatant boredom. “Because you are beneath me. Those little paper wings you carry mean nothing if their weight exceeds your own.”

  “I can’t really help that!” I said in disbelief. Together, the things had to weigh half, if not mor
e, than me. I was lucky they had muscles of their own just to keep me from toppling over.

  “Not what I mean.”

  “Then please enlighten me.”

  “A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.” He stepped in close to me. “And your link is awfully frail, human. You might carry the Maker’s gift, but inside you are weak. Your mind, body and spirit. Earlier, it took but one squeeze and you squealed like a pig.”

  My teeth ground against each other as a burning started up in my ears. Shame. Embarrassment. It was true. I’d cried out at the first piercing of pain and practically begged Jera to give the man whatever he wanted.

  “Worse, you blacked out and left your female to fend for herself.”

  Well, that? I scoffed. “She’s the reason I was in that predicament to start with.”

  “Doesn’t matter. That’s your female until the day your heart stops beating. You protect one another at any costs—and if you cannot protect one measly succubus, then how can you possibly protect an entire world?”

  “I—”

  “You were right to decline this mission. You aren’t cut out for it any more than you are for that woman.”

  “It’s not my fault!” The words shot from me, my feet having taking me one step closer to the goading man who knew nothing about the two of us. “Jera is her own woman. A woman who doesn’t value me. Or respect me.”

  “Respect isn’t given, but earned. There are many who think having a kind heart and good intentions suddenly makes them a fanciful unicorn, but it does nothing more than makes them feel entitled to something they’ve not truly worked for.”

  I was trembling, unsure how to defend my masculinity anymore than myself as a person. I’d never felt entitled to Jera. All I ever wanted was to protect the twins. Protect anyone who came into my shop. And apparently . . .

  I couldn’t even do that.

  He was right. If I couldn’t handle and protect one woman, what qualified me to protect those who came to my shop? Eyes narrowed to the marble spiraled floors, my next words were like acid on my tongue. “How do I gain her respect?”