Loki came in bounding several seconds later. He appeared to be in perfect health. But before Andre could begin examining him, all of our comms chimed. We all had the same message: the royal family was about to make an announcement.
“They made the portal,” Morgan whispered. “They’re going to invade the dragon realm.”
“Let’s not jump to conclusions,” Andre said, but I could tell he knew his words were empty. He flicked on the viewscreen and King Yuan’s face appeared.
“My brothers and sisters. One month ago our home was invaded by monsters who believed that we could be easily defeated. They paid for their arrogance with their lives, and now their entire species will pay the same price. As I speak, our forces are moving into dragon territory. Once the land is cleansed of the blasphemers and the blessed one retrieved, we will claim it for our own. By the will of the Brothers of Duality.”
The screen went blank.
“Andre you have to fine-tune that portal fast,” I said. “They can’t get to Shadow and Mercedes first. We have to beat them to it.”
“Whoa!” Andre held up his hands. “Can you repeat what you just said?”
“You heard what I said!” I snapped. “We have to get the portal ready so we can rescue—”
“—you mean steal,” Andre cut me off sharply. “You want to steal a blessed one from the royal family. Are you insane!?”
“I’m honorable,” I hissed. “Shadow is my friend. I will not abandon him. He failed to protect Mercedes. You know what the royal family does to those who fail to carry out the will of the gods! And if they take Mercedes, they’ll strip away her old identity and force her to perform religious rituals. They could even force her to turn!”
Andre marched right up to me. His fangs were bared in rage. “You think you’re honorable, kid? Well, then, allow me to explain the consequences of your honor.” He spat the word. “If you succeed in rescuing that human and your friend, not only will the royal family hunt you down like dogs, they’ll know you have access to a portal. They’ll know you have access to something that can free every single Untouchable from their sadistic, vile grasp. And will they quietly send in a few soldiers to destroy it? No. They’ll unleash a sea of Evanescence into every corner the Untouchables occupy. They’ll destroy the portal along with who knows how many of our brother and sisters. You would sacrifice all of those lives and our only chance at salvation for one friend and his human pet!?”
I didn’t answer. I just stood there, shaking with anger, guilt, and ambivalence.
“Didn’t think of all that did you?” Andre sneered.
“Don’t you dare talk to him that way!” Morgan snarled. “What if it was one of your friends, Andre? Would you be so quick to write off their life?”
“No,” he admitted, but his eyes remained hard. “It wouldn’t be an easy decision, of course. But we’re talking about the salvation of the Untouchables. If you believe your friend and his human are worth saving, then you also have to believe that they would give their lives to save thousands more.”
That hit a bit too close to a nerve. Morgan and I avoided looking at one another, but I knew we were both thinking the same thing: Would Shadow and Mercedes give their lives so that the Untouchables could be free from the tyranny of the elites?
In a mortal heartbeat.
“I can’t threaten you,” Andre said. “I’m no match for two fully trained Kshatriya.”
“But you would if you could get away with it,” Morgan said icily.
“Yes, I would,” Andre said flatly and without apology. “I would do anything for the salvation of our people. Would you?”
We left soon afterward. Our minds were so preoccupied with questions and emotions that we didn’t speak for several minutes.
“He’s right you know,” Morgan said. Her eyes were guarded, as if bracing herself for a tirade.
“Yes, he is,” I admitted. By the brothers, I felt so ill. “If we save Shadow and Mercedes, we could doom all of the Untouchables.”
“It would be a complete waste,” Morgan added. “They would share the same fate after all. Maybe worse since they allowed themselves to be rescued. The royal family would interpret that as direct defiance to the gods.”
“Defiance to the gods…” I looked right at my beloved. “…or the elites?”
Morgan blinked. “What?”
“This is exactly what they would want. For us to run and save ourselves while they can do as they please with people we care about.”
She winced. “Well, yes. But Brandon, we’re talking about the salvation of every Untouchable in existence.”
My brow rose. “Salvation? Really, my love? All we have to do is let the elites have what they want, and we’ll have what we want. That sounds awfully familiar, don’t you agree?”
“Everything has a price, Brandon. You paid it in full to be with me!”
“Yes, I did, but that was solely on myself. What, or rather who, is the price for what we desire now?”
“You already know!”
“I want to hear you say it,” I said flatly. “I’ll make you a deal, if you can say this, then I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure we gain our freedom. Who is the price for our freedom and what are they?”
She grimaced and looked away. “Shadow and Mercedes.” When I remained silent she snapped, “I said it!”
“You said who the price is,” I pointed out. “Now tell me what they are.”
“They’re your friends, but they’re not mine.”
“Wrong answer. What are they, Morgan?”
Her teeth gnashed together. “People who…care about us…who trust…” She trailed off with a groan.
“I didn’t think so,” I said quietly. “Morgan, could you live throughout eternity knowing you abandoned them just to save yourself?”
For a while, she just stood there, seething. Then with a howl of rage, she slammed her fist against the nearest wall.
“Damn you! Why the hell did I ever get involved with you? Before it was so simple, so easy. I did whatever it took to survive, and I never felt a shred of remorse for it!”
“And were you happy?” I asked gently.
She bit her lip. “I tried so many times to tell myself I didn't give a damn about happiness. That all I needed was vengeance and survival. But that wasn’t living. It was just existing. It was just—”
“—surrender?” I finished.
She flinched again and her eyes brimmed with pain. “I don’t want to go back to that. I don’t want to be that again.”
I reached up to cup her cheek. “You don’t have to.”
***
Tarasque
The pain was shifting from tolerable to indescribable. Back and forth, like a pendulum. What venom had that grotesque creature injected me with? I didn’t know. All I knew was that I needed to revert back to my normal body. Just as I was creating a portal, the pain became indescribable. I screamed, but managed to finish the portal. It was weak, but it would get me home. I jumped through it and commanded my three bodies to combine before I emerged from the other side as a dragon. The pain lessened, but not by much. I needed to get back to the palace or I would risk falling from the sky. That was not a problem. My rage would lend power to my wings. My rage at Mercedes, that vampire beast, that cursed creature whose teeth had injected me with a poison that felt as if I were being eaten alive. I would kill them all…
After emerging from the portal, I emitted a roar that would summon my personal guards. They were by my side within moments.
“A poison races through my system. Contact the mermaids,” I ordered Captain Karth. “They must find an antidote for me.”
I felt yet another surge of rage, but this time it was at the betrayal of the sirens. They were far better sorcerers than the mermaids, and would have found an antidote much sooner. Yet another thing to make them pay for.
“My lord, what creature poisoned you?” Karth asked. The anger in his ruthless, blood red eyes almost mirrore
d my own.
“I recognized the creature.” Smoke emitted from my nostrils. “It is of the species that slaughtered my warriors during the invasion of the vampire world.”
“Then it should be easy to retrieve one for the antidote,” Karth said. “We have heard reports that the vampires are properly angered at the potential death of your human treasure. They are coming. And we are prepared for war.”
“Excellent,” I hissed. I could feel the pain growing, but it was irrelevant. I could handle pain. “The treacherous sirens still have my human treasure. You will retrieve her, Captain Karth, along with her vampire beloved. The creature who bit me is also still in their company. I want all three of them captured alive. Harm them if you have to, but if you kill them, you will share their fate. Is that understood?”
“As my lord wishes,” Karth said.
I gave a scale soaked in my blood to one of my warriors before returning to my treasure horde. The Mirror stood there in the middle, dark and magnificent as always.
Not feeling well, king of the dragons?
I moved slowly in a vain effort to disguise how ill I was. And it wasn’t just my body that felt ill. The poison seemed to spread its vile presence into my very spirit. I needed the antidote soon. The hour of my vengeance was drawing close, and no poison would thwart me. Nor the taunts of Necoc Yaotl.
Yes, come closer, King Tarasque. Come closer to the Mirror.
I did, but on my own violation.
Show me the vampires, I commanded. Show me when my enemies will arrive to meet their doom.
The Mirror clouded with gray smoke.
You wish to see your enemies? Very well, Your Majesty. Here are your enemies.
The smoke suddenly transformed into millions upon millions of the grotesque black creatures that the vampires commanded. They hissed and growled.
Then they burst from the Mirror and I was consumed.
I could not summon my magic or my fire. Both seemed to have failed me. I could do nothing but writhe and roar as their teeth ripped the scales from my body and tore at my sensitive flesh. All the while, Necoc Yaotl laughed.
***
Mercedes
Eulathrin accepted my condition. I told her everything that had happened and in exchange, she moved me across the city via a teleportation spell. The room I was given was pretty much the same from my previous one. There was only one glaring difference: it was miles away from Shadow.
“Are you certain you do not need a healer?” Eulathrin asked me once I was settled in.
“No thank you,” I said, placing Blackhole on the bed. To my relief, all of his wounds were now closed, though he was still unconscious. Since only a few minutes had passed since Tarasque had injured him, I knew his body would take care of itself better than any siren healer could.
“Your vampire mate is being taken back to the dungeons as we speak,” Eulathrin continued. “Since he still requires your blood to live, I will return for you this evening.” She paused, then added, “Though if you wish for your blood to be harvested and transferred, that can be arranged as well.”
“Thank you,” I said again. “I’ll think about it.”
“Very well.”
She left, leaving Blackhole’s shallow breathing as the only sound in the room. I went over to him and ran my hand down his healing back. The act was to comfort myself as much as him. My eyes roamed over his body. His wounds were healing at a rapid pace, but I would only be reassured once he regained consciousness.
A slight soreness in my stomach and back caused me to look down. The front of my shirt was soaked in blood, the stomach area gaping open thanks to a long vertical tear. With ginger fingers, I spread it apart. The skin beneath was flecked with blood, but unbroken. My wound was healed.
My physical wound.
Fearing my shaking legs would fail me, I sat down beside Blackhole’s unconscious form. My arms clenched around my stomach. Emotions were bombarding me so hard and so fast I could barely comprehend what I was feeling. Was I angry? Was I scared? Was I hurt? Was I betrayed?
Was I all that and so much more?
I didn’t move for what seemed like an eternity. It was as if the world around me or even time itself didn’t exist. The spell broke only when Blackhole stirred beside me. I immediately leaned toward him.
“Blackhole?” I called softly. “Blackhole, are you all right?”
He groaned and shifted before turning his head toward me. I put my hand on the top of it.
Mercedes?
“Yes, it’s me.” Only deep relief could have made me smile at the time. “Are you all right?”
He groaned again and tried to stand up.
“Easy,” I said. My hands held him steady. “You’re still healing.”
Healing…he echoed the word back at me before jolting under my touch. His head snapped in my direction again. The dragon king—Shadow—
“Tarasque fled,” I said. “I think it had something to do with that bite you gave him. Are your teeth poisonous?”
He hesitated for a moment. Only to those with magical blood.
My eyes widened. “Is Tarasque going to die, then?”
No. I bit him only once. He is still a dragon, regardless of whatever form he chooses to reside in. I would have to bite him several times if I wished to kill him through poison alone. His voice grew grimly satisfied. But while one bite may not kill him, it will prevent him from using magic, including his shape-shifting abilities. He will have to rely on his natural strength alone from now on. There is no cure to my poison. He will also be in constant pain for the rest of his life.
“I see,” I said softly. Tarasque’s pain would never bring me joy or even satisfaction, but I was relieved that he could no longer use magic. Wait.
No longer use magic, even shape-shifting abilities...
No wonder the vampire’s army of Evanescence was able to defeat Tarasque’s soldiers so quickly. One bite was all that was needed to take away their magic and several would kill them.
Mercedes, is Shadow all right? Where is he?
I bit my lip and looked away. “He’s all right. Tarasque hurt him badly, though. I should have given him blood, but…” I trailed off.
But what? Blackhole nudged me. Mercedes, what happened?
I forced myself to meet his gaze. “He tried to kill you.”
I know. I deserved it. But why am I alive? If he tried to kill me, I should be dead! When I didn’t answer, his voice grew louder. Why am I alive, Mercedes?
“Because I couldn’t let him do it!” I said sharply. “I don’t care how much you think you deserve it. I couldn’t let him kill you!”
He went very, very still. Mercedes, what did you do?
My arms tightened around my stomach. “The only thing I could do.”
For a long time, he just stared at me. Then without warning, he shoved me onto my back. I gasped in protest, but he ignored me. His front legs pried my arms from my stomach. I tried to fight him, but my strength was nothing compared to his. Gently but firmly, he pinned my arms against my sides. He made a loud hissing sound at the sight of my torn, bloody shirt.
“Blackhole, I’m fine,” I insisted. “He gave me his blood. It’s already healed.”
But the Evanescence continued to ignore me. He lifted my shirt with one of his legs and pierced my bloodstained skin with his gaze.
“I’m fine!” I said sharply, while struggling against his hold.
Finally, he met my eyes again. If you are still in pain, I can take it away.
“I’m fine,” I said, my tone growing exasperated. “I’m not in pain. Besides,” I added with a smile, “it’d tickle way too much if you used your tongue there.”
I wasn’t expecting him to joke back, but that didn’t stop the wave of sadness coursing through me when he didn’t. He removed his hold on my arms, allowing me to sit up.
Mercedes, please don’t blame Shadow. He was only trying to protect you.
“I don’t blame hi
m for stabbing me,” I said, and meant it. My voice grew hard. “But I do blame him for trying to kill you.”
Why? Blackhole demanded. Everything the dragon king said was true. I was the one who goaded him into kidnapping you!
“At Tezcatlipoca’s order!” I countered.
And that makes it right?!
“Of course not! But we’ve been through so much, Blackhole, all three of us! If it weren’t for you, Xavier would have killed us. And you and Shadow were together way before I came along. You know him better than I do. I told him you were trapped by Tezcatlipoca, I told him you hated what he was making you do.” My throat began to burn. I gritted my teeth to control the tears. “He promised me he would talk to you, that he wouldn’t write you off just like that. I didn’t think him capable of murdering one of the few close friends he has without even stopping to think…”
My throat locked. I put a hand to my mouth and looked away, desperate to stifle my sobs.
My love, how could you do such a thing? How could you try to kill family?
He did kill family, my conscience reminded me. You heard from his own lips that he slaughtered them all like animals.
No. They were people, but they had never been his family. Family didn’t torture and reject you. Family took care of you. Family was there for you when you needed them. Like me, like Blackhole…
A gentle touch on my arm.
He didn’t write me off, Mercedes. He gave me his trust. I betrayed him. Don’t you see? I don’t deserve mercy. His voice grew very bitter. Like Shadow, I've always admired you for your compassion, but betrayal of my magnitude is unforgivable, family or not. Shadow will come for me again, and I need you to swear right now that you won’t interfere.
I stared at him incredulously.
“You’re serious, aren’t you?”
I have never been more serious in my life. He put his face very close to mine. Swear it now!
“Do you have any idea what you’re saying?” I whispered when I could speak again. “You’re asking me to give up, not just on my values, but on the people I care about. How can you even think I could do such a thing?”
Mercedes—
“But I suppose it’s only fair. After all, you’re not asking me to do anything you haven’t done yourself. You and Shadow.” I added bitterly. “You’re giving up. Giving in. Just like the sirens. Just like Tezcatlipoca wants. Do you honestly think if we cave, he’ll stop? He won’t. He’ll take everything we have, including our souls.”