“He’s right, you know,” Morgan said after we left. “We could use the frequency to find a haven for the Outcasts. We could build our own society free of the elites or the royal family!”
I didn’t reply.
“Brandon?”
When I still remained silent, Morgan grabbed my arms and spun me around. “Hey, what’s wrong? Do you think I’m a fool for believing we can actually be free? Brandon, do you know how long it's been since I've believed in something other than our love?”
I did know. Looking into her beautiful, angry, desperate eyes I took her face in my hands.
“Morgan, listen to me,” I said. “If there was a way for us to live out our lives in true freedom, in true peace, I would move heaven, earth, and hell all at once to make that happen. But the truth is…” I sighed. “…that’s not just an expression. To gain our freedom, we will have to move heaven, earth, and hell all at once. Finding a place to go would only be one battle in an entire war. And after the war, we will not be the same people, we probably won’t even recognize each other…or ourselves."
"You think I don't know that?" Morgan said, enraged. "You think I don't remember what we both had to do just to be together!?" She practically shrieked the last two words.
She was right. Both of us had already moved heaven, earth, and hell. By the brothers, we had moved hell. All just to be together.
"I'm sorry," I whispered.
Her face softened. “We changed after all that. We changed after the jihad, and we changed from the elite’s oppression. I’m not afraid to change. I’m afraid of breaking. But that won’t happen so long as I have you. I will always believe in our love above anything else. ”
She kissed me, and I deepened it immediately to let her know her feelings were entirely mutual.
***
Shadow
Unfortunately, my new sense of clarity soon gave way to fear. I had faith in Mercedes, but would that siren kill her merely for asking questions? Would that demon lizard kill her?
I cursed myself for letting her out of my sight, for not fleeing with her when I had the chance. As the hours ticked by, my fear of losing her began to quickly eat away at my reason and my previous plan. I needed to escape with her. It did not matter if I did not know where I truly was or if I risked being caught by the sun. We were surrounded by enemies. We needed to escape now.
When my enhanced hearing picked up familiar footsteps in the distance, I instantly stood up and projected an aura of calmness and control.
She entered my line of vision, beautiful, smiling, and radiant.
“Hello, Shadow.”
The sirens unlocked my cell. It took everything I had not to let the rage show on my face when I saw that there were six guards accompanying her instead of three. Even with my speed, I could not grab Mercedes and run past them. She would have to be in my cell already. Very well. I would escape with her once they came to get her.
“Mercedes?” I pulled back when I felt how stiff she was in my arms. “Are you all right?”
She shook her head. Her radiance had faded, leaving her face pinched and worn. “Eulathrin’s not going to help us. She told me that she has orders from the siren queen to keep us here unless Tezcatlipoca says otherwise.”
“That is unfortunate,” I said, while making a mental note to rip the female’s throat out before escaping. “But not fatal. We will escape here.”
“And I thought you’d also like to know,” she added with a bitter smile. “Tarasque is now forbidden from coming here.”
How disappointing, I thought. But as with the siren female’s treachery, it was not fatal. That demon lizard would die by my hands. It was only a matter of time.
“That is good news for him,” I said. “He should bless whatever gods be believes in that he will be granted a few more moments of life.”
Mercedes stared at me, her mouth tightening in disapproval. Then she turned away. While the knowledge that I had disappointed her made me sick, I was also indignant.
“Why must you be this way?” I demanded, putting my hands on her upper arms. “He took you away from me! He hurt you! He wishes to kill me and every last vampire in existence, and you said it was to make you suffer!” I shook her slightly. “How can you still defend him?!”
“I’m not defending what he did,” she insisted, still not looking at me. “But I can’t overlook what Tezcatlipoca is going to do to him and his race. I can’t, Shadow.”
She broke herself free from my hold and walked in front of the bars, back hunched and gripping her elbows.
“You,” I hissed suddenly understanding her body language. “You were planning on meeting with him.”
She flinched and turned her head to look at me. Her face was guilty but also resolute.
“I had to try, Shadow. I shouldn’t have made that promise to you, and I’m sorry for it. But—”
“There is no ‘but.’” My voice rose to a snarl. In a flash, I had her pinned against the bars. “You swore to me that you would not see him and I assure you, my love, that is a promise I intend to make you keep.”
Her breathing was elevated and her eyes were wide. But not from the excitement I always provoked in her when I brought our bodies together.
“Shadow, what’s happening to you?”
Her question and her tone were like a knife, but a blunt one. The pain it caused was easily ignored.
“I made a grave error during our battle with Xavier,” I said. “I did not wish to take away your freedom or make your choices for you. I thought I could still protect you. He nearly took you from me thanks to my foolishness.”
Her mouth fell open. “You think you could have kept me safe by locking me up!?”
“Yes,” I hissed.
“And maybe you could have,” she replied. Her blue eyes were so cold they could have rivaled Queen Radella herself. “But if you were the type of person to lock me up against my will, I never would have fallen in love with you.”
The knife in my heart was growing sharper. I forced the pain down.
“I am not going to lose you,” I bit out through clenched teeth.
She didn’t reply. Instead, her hands came up to cup my face.
“Don’t you see what your fear is doing to you?” she asked softly. “I’ve never seen eyes like yours before, Shadow, but countless women have. It’s the reason they beg me to help them.” The tenderness in her voice suddenly transformed into steely resolution. “I love you more than anything, but if try to control me…if you turn into one of them…then I can’t be with you.”
Those were the words that drove the knife right into my heart. I backed away in the vain hope that distancing myself from the source of the pain would drive it out of my system. But the one in front of me was not the source. I was. She continued to stare at me, so calm, so determined, so strong. She had shamed me so many times before, but this…this was worse. So much worse. With her simple declaration she informed me what I had known for a while, but could never bring myself to fully admit it: she was stronger than I could ever hope to be. She could and would live without me. But I could not live without her. I could not let her go.
And that is the only way you will ever come close to deserving her, my inner voice said.
I could escape with her. I could take her against her will, but it wouldn’t be to save her. It would be to save a despicable, selfish creature who once valued honor more than he ever would his life. Who had once offered to end her life in order to spare her the pain of a sadistic elite’s torture. For her and no one else.
I looked at my hands and backed away another step.
What was happening to me? Nothing no elite did to me ever made me act this way.
A gentle touch on my arm.
“Is this who you want to be, Shadow?”
I looked at her. Allowed myself to see her strength, her willingness to let me go if the price to stay with me was her self-respect.
My fingers brushed her cheek.
“At first I wished to protect you from Xavier because of my honor,” I said. “But as my feelings for you changed I found myself willing to go back on it if it meant protecting you. I watched you through Blackhole’s eyes. Spied on you.” My fangs ground in my gums as I was assaulted by guilt. “I regretted it so. I know what it is like to be watched, to feel as though you cannot so much as exit your home without feeling malevolent eyes on you. I swore I would tell you and beg your forgiveness. And that is what I am doing now.”
She searched my features and apparently found what she was looking her, for she then smiled.
“Of course I can forgive you. What you did was wrong, but I can see that your intentions were pure. You didn’t spy on me because of self-destructive emotions. You don’t want to be like them.”
“No,” I said harshly, desperate for her to understand. “No, I would rather die, but…things have changed, my love. I have changed. Right now, you are the embodiment of my faith. You are everything I have, everything I am holding onto. I cannot imagine what you must think of me for being so weak—”
“No,” she said sharply, seizing my face in her hands. “No, you are not weak. You’re lost, confused, and betrayed, but you’re not weak. A weak person wouldn’t have listened to a word I said. A weak person would by lying to me right now, while secretly planning to lock me up in order to keep me ‘safe.’”
I put my shaking hands on her shoulders. “I wanted to take you away. I was planning on doing so after the guards opened the door. And I would have done so with or without your consent.”
“I know,” she said. “I could see it in your eyes.”
I was stunned. “Then why—?”
“Because you didn’t. You could have taken me away against my will, but in the end you chose not to. Because you’re better than that. Shadow…” She took my hands in hers. “If the opportunity arises, I will speak to the dragon king. Even if I were to put all of my compassion aside, I tell you that leaving them to Tezcatlipoca will only bring disaster. On all of us. I have to at least try. Do you understand?”
I knew she was giving me more than the truth. She was giving me her trust. And while my emotions screamed at me to follow through with my previous plan, her trust formed a shield in front of those emotions so they did not consume me.
I only hoped it would remain strong.
***
Tarasque
In front of the Mirror, my mind brewed several plans to destroy the vampires. After three weeks, I settled on the last one simply because it was the most satisfying.
Use Mercedes as bait.
Before her death, Leyan had given me her report after she completed her mission to find a portal to the vampire world. In an encounter with a vampire, the creature revealed that Mercedes was valuable enough to the royal family that they would attempt to kill me in order to get her back. There was my solution: I would lure the vampires to ground they were completely unfamiliar with. Ground that was protected by magic and my forefathers. They could not defeat me here. What use was possessing a powerful army if one had no idea how to direct it?
Yes. I would lure the vampires here, and I would destroy them all.
I do hope you acknowledge the delicious irony, Your Majesty. The Mirror filled with dark gray smoke in response to Necoc Yaotl’s voice. You were defeated because you carelessly sent your soldiers in without bothering to examine your enemy. Now you hope the vampires will make the same error.
“They will,” I said. “The human girl is important to them. And because they defeated my soldiers, they are bound to underestimate us. It will be their downfall.”
Then you must admit I did not lie. The girl is the key to dragon victory.
“No,” I said. “She is merely bait. My power and strength will be the key to dragon victory.”
If you say so.
Necoc Yaotl’s laughter faded along with the smoke in the Mirror.
Because it was too dangerous to send my warriors into vampire territory for the time being, I sent a few of them to the human world. There they would take human form, go to human places where vampires were known to skulk, and inform them that the dragon king was planning to kill Mercedes Strand in a short while. If the royal family desired her back, they would have to send their forces into dragon territory, and my warriors had orders to provide them with the means of creating a portal. Perhaps the royal family would not expend all of their forces to retrieve Mercedes, but I knew it would be enough to weaken them. And while they weakened, my spies would uncover the secrets of their army of unnamed creatures. Without those creatures, they would not last a day under a dragon assault.
I smiled, reveling in the satisfaction of my upcoming victory. The vampires would die and it would be because I had taken Mercedes.
Yes, my conniving, manipulative little treasure, the vampires will die because of you.
I wanted to inform her. I wanted to see the devastation on her face. She had tried to use me, and as punishment, I would use her to destroy what she most held dear. Casting a basic communications spell on one of the many emerald globes in my horde, I called for the siren Eulathrin. Her face materialized on the smooth, green surface a moment later.
“What is your wish, King Tarasque?”
“Good evening, Eulathrin,” I greeted politely. “I wish to see the piece of my treasure that is in your care. Please inform her that I will be arriving soon.”
The siren did not answer. She merely stared at me.
I frowned. “Did you hear me, Eulathrin?”
“I did,” she replied. “And by orders of the queen, I will not oblige. She also wishes you to know that you or any other dragons are hereby forbidden from setting foot into siren territory.”
I was silent for a while due to incredulity. Then my incredulity gave way to rage.
“With those words, you have not only renounced the treaty but committed an unforgivable betrayal,” I replied with deadly calm. “In forbidding me from retrieving my treasure, you steal it from me, and a dragon always avenges his stolen property. For her sake, I sincerely hope your queen is prepared for the consequences.”
My rage boiled when Eulathrin smiled.
“Oh, she is prepared for the consequences, Your Majesty. All sirens are. Unfortunately, you are not prepared for the consequences you have brought on yourself by provoking the entity who now torments you.”
“Necoc Yaotl,” I whispered through bared teeth. “You know of him?”
“He possesses many names,” Eulathrin said with a shrug. “The sirens call him Smoking Mirror.”
Smoking Mirror. That certainly made sense.
“Then you have just admitted another betrayal, siren,” I seethed. “The dragons possess an enemy that you knew of, yet you did not warn me.”
“In warning you, I would have doomed my people,” Eulathrin said coldly. “The only thing I can do for you is give you a small bit of advice: do exactly as he says. It is your best chance.” She paused, then said, “Actually, you have no chance. You are doomed. All you can do is accept that fact.”
“Dragons surrender to no one,” I snarled.
Eulathrin smiled again. “That is inconsequential. You will not be given that option.”
“ENOUGH!” I bellowed. “Your people have made a deadly enemy, Eulathrin. Once the vampires are destroyed and my revenge on Necoc Yaotl extracted, my next target will be the sirens.”
“Your threats to my people are also inconsequential.” She smiled yet again, smug, arrogant, and reassured. “You will not be able to carry them out. Smoking Mirror will ensure that you are otherwise occupied.”
“Pray to whatever gods you believe in, Eulathrin,” I hissed. “I am coming for my treasure right now and any siren that gets in my way will perish.”
***
Eulathrin
After enduring King Tarasque’s insufferable threats, I proceeded to inform Queen Persephone of this new development.
“This certainly is a dilemma,” the queen
mused. “I could just let him have the human. That may or may not anger Smoking Mirror.”
“King Tarasque does not desire her dead,” I said. “I pledge my life to that fact.”
“Even so…” The queen paced, her wings flaring every now and then in concentration. “I must choose the course of action that will result in the least amount of damage to our people. It is definite that King Tarasque will kill anyone who gets in his way. Perhaps he will even bring warriors with him.”
“Our warriors know how to kill dragons, my lady,” I said. “You know we perfected the method long ago.”
“That we did. We would win. But against the king himself along with several warriors, the price would be astronomical. It would take decades, perhaps even centuries for us to fully recover.”
My own wings flared in contemplation. “This is not a decision to be made lightly.”
Oh, it is simple enough. I pledge my life to that fact.
Queen Persephone did not call her guards, but her hand tightened on her staff.
“Come out, fallen brother,” she commanded. “Or do you fear the light?”
He emerged from behind the trunk of the Tabula Rasa tree, dark, hideous, and deadly.
The light is something I have never feared, Your Majesty, he replied as he inched toward us on those black, slender legs. There are far more important things to fear, as you very well know.
“That I do,” Persephone said coldly. “Do you bring a message from our evil uncle?”
I do. You do not need to fear the wrath of King Tarasque. He will come for the human, but he will not succeed in taking her. My father will ensure that.
“And what are your father’s intentions toward the sirens, fallen brother?” Queen Persephone asked softly.
You will not be harmed so long as you do not interfere.
The queen was visibly relieved. I less so.
“You can assure Smoking Mirror that the sirens will not interfere with his plans. As queen of the sirens, I pledge my life to this fact.”
A wise decision.
He vanished, and the shimmer that rippled through the queen’s glossy wing feathers conveyed satisfaction.
“We will survive this,” she said in a strong, clear voice. “The sirens will always survive. Always.” When she saw my expression, she frowned. “Is something wrong, Eulathrin? Are you afraid for your human friend?”