Children of the Gods - A Chosen Novel (3 page)

The Sari walked over and kneeled close to my
face. I could feel his breath against my ear. He stroked a hand
over the strap that restrained my chest.

“I am going to enjoy this body.” His words
carried like a sigh of pleasure.

I did not even have a chance to think before
my teeth were sinking into his cheek. He screamed as he ripped
free. The shock was still clear on his face when I felt the first
hook puncture my skin.

It forced all the breath out of me in a rush.
He came closer, a look of cruel satisfaction spread across his
face.

“Do you know my name?” he asked.

“I do not need to know your name, Sari. I
know what you are, and
that
is all I need to know.”

The second hook pierced my skin and I had to
grit my teeth to keep from showing how much pain it caused.

“The name is Jaxson. I wanted you to know the
name of the one who condemned you. The one you will be cursing as I
use you up.” His tone let on just how much my defiance angered
him.

There was a sudden sensation like fire
spreading up my back and I understood the screams of the Luna, but
I would not give him the satisfaction. If I could no longer inflict
pain on him, I would turn on the only one I could. The Luna was
going to have this body, that I could not escape, but she would not
get it in the same condition I had it in.

I raised my head up and smiled as both Griff
and the Sari’s eyes opened wide with fear. They did not have time
to move before I brought it down violently against the metal table.
The sound from the impact echoed in tinny waves.

There was a thundering in my head then
complete silence as Griff and the Sari ran toward me. The fear in
the Sari’s eyes was enough to release me from consciousness,
satisfied.

~o~

The lights were dim in the room and my head
throbbed. I tried to turn my head and that is when I became aware
of the restraints. My stunt caused them to apply a new one. Now,
not only could I not move my arms or legs but my head was
immobile.

There was a sudden sharp pain in my back and
what felt like a pressure against my consciousness, trying to dim
me. Instinctively, I tried to fight it, and my body responded to a
perceived physical threat with a surge of strength.

“Is she still fighting you?” The Sari’s voice
was in my ear as he knelt close, gently brushing a hand across my
face.

“Yes!” My response was automatic, before I
had a chance to process it fully.

“She is too strong. I think maybe we should
select a new host, one more docile.”

“No! No. I can handle her. She is weakening,
accepting her fate.”

Memories flooded back of all the other times
I had awoken screaming and thrashing. Griff restraining me as the
Sari, or a young girl administered a sedative. I did not want to go
back to sleep again, especially knowing I might not wake up this
time.

I lay there pulling in deep breathes to calm
myself. The pain lessened slightly and I was able to relax my
muscles some. This appeared to relieve the Sari.

He leaned over me, his hands on my shoulders
in an awkward embrace. His look was tender. He was concerned. I did
not want to see him as human, so I closed my eyes and remembered
the monster he was. Besides, this look, these emotions, they were
not meant for me. They were for the other person who lived inside
me, the one who was supposed to be in control but somehow, was not.
The Luna.

Hands caressed my face again.

“Soon, Anaya, you will be strong enough, and
we will have a proper reunion.”

His tone made me feel nauseous. His hand was
close enough, if I squirmed, I could bite it. Hearing him scream
would help.

An image flashed in my head like a memory,
though not my own. It was a pile of bodies, their backs all sliced
open, all in different levels of decay. The eyes of one at the top
caught my attention. They were moving, staring back at me.

I clamped my mouth shut to keep from
screaming. What sin did I ever commit that was bad enough to
deserve this hell?

~o~

“It has been nearly two weeks.” The Sari
looked agitated as he spoke to Griff.

“You really riled the girl up before Anaya
transferred. The girls are usually frightened. She was so angry,
maybe that is why this time has been so hard on Anaya.”

They were speaking quietly, but not as
quietly as they thought. The Sari looked over at me. For a long
time he just watched, his eyes searching mine for something. He
leaned closer to Griff and his voice dropped, but I could read his
lips.

“I think she is ready.”

Griff shook his head slowly but the Sari did
not see, his eyes were still fixed on me.

Three young girls entered wearing soft, white
dresses similar to the one I had worn that first day. Their dresses
were less dramatic but still elegant. None of them spoke a word,
only listened to the Sari’s instructions then curtsied.

My stomach already felt like it was in my
mouth. As they headed toward me, I felt like I would lose it.

Their hands worked fast, releasing me from my
restraints. As the last one was released, I had to fight the nearly
overwhelming urge to run. Their gentle hands helped me to my feet
and held me steady. A good thing, since my feet wanted to act of
their own accord.

I felt like a ghost floating through the hall
with the pale purple walls like bruises, and the girls ushering me
toward a hell worse than the one I had already suffered.

Griff walked beside us, continually eyeing me
like he was expecting me to run. And maybe he was. I am sure I was
doing a poor job of impersonating the Luna.

We stopped in the middle of the empty hallway
and a girl placed her hand on the wall. There was a soft tinkling
of bells and the wall stretched into a round opening.

“Give us a moment, ladies.”

All three girls curtsied to Griff and
disappeared through the opening. It closed behind them leaving me
alone in the hall with Griff. He looked into my eyes like the Sari
had. Was he searching for something also?

He lifted his hands and cupped my cheeks. His
touch was gentle, but his look was authoritative.

“Be careful.”

It was barely a whisper, but a chill ran up
my spine causing every hair on my neck to stand on end. Before I
could think to respond, he pressed the wall and it opened.

I glanced in to see all three girls waiting
for me, expectant. Griff was already walking away as I turned back
to him. I watched him till he was gone before I submitted to the
girls.

In the washroom, one of the girls lifted my
dress revealing a perfect, blemish free body. All my scars and
imperfections were wiped clean. I nearly cried. Everything that
proved I was Reka Cushing was gone.

There was one new mark, one that belonged to
Anaya. I studied the circle shaped scar at the base of my spine,
presumably where the worm was inserted. The girls watched me
silently.

“Oh well. Nothing to be done about it,
right?”

They all nodded a sad little nod, then
circled me again and led me to a large bath.

If I was not being prepared for something so
terrible, I might have been able to enjoy it. I had never seen a
bath so big and luxurious. Even the girls’ presence calmed me.
Everything about them was mild, from their long, almost
white-blonde hair and cream colored skin to the way they spoke with
a gentle lilt, like a lullaby. I almost did not mind them washing
me. Almost. After they dried me and braided my long hair, they led
me back to the bedroom.

There was another white dress laid across the
bed. Of course they would have an outfit designed for this ritual
also. There was no way to escape what was coming.

Chapter 4

I had hoped the numbness that accompanied the
girls dressing and preparing me would stay. Maybe then I would be
able to survive, but as I sat alone with my thoughts, the panic
returned with a vengeance.

How could I possibly have thought I would be
able to handle what lay before me? The Sari alone made all my
muscles tight. The thought of allowing him to touch me made me feel
like I was going to come through my skin.

Just then I heard the tinkling of bells.
Griff’s voice was audible as the wall gave way. His voice dropped
as he continued to speak to the Sari. I could not hear what he was
saying, but it sounded like he was pleading.

The Sari’s back was to me. He shook his head
in response to Griff’s expectant look. I felt a jolt of fear.
Scanning the room, I spotted a hair comb the girls left out on the
bureau. It was made of mother of pearl with pointy spikes to hold
it in your hair, the kind that might pierce human skin.

I tried to keep the violence off my face as
the Sari turned toward me. The images my thoughts inspired forced a
smile and the Sari responded with a genuine, happy smile of his
own. I almost felt sad for him, but my decision was set. I could
not endure his touch.

An image flashed in my mind, one of my mother
and sister in the stands watching me with fear. It was not an angle
I had viewed them from. I then understood what Griff meant when he
told me it would be better for everyone if I did not fight. He was
not talking about me or the Haloran’s. He was talking about those I
loved.

A memory, this time my own, came to mind. One
time there was a girl, Raeanne. Her body somehow rejected her Luna.
Normally the family of a Chosen become like royalty. The opposite
happened in this case. Her brother was made the Luna’s dog.

I will never forget the look on his face when
they paraded him through the City. I could not condemn my family or
Niko to such horror. I would accept the fate I was dealt.

I waited for the Luna to show me more, but
there was nothing else from her. It was only this small glimpse and
the previous memory of the bodies, that even let me know she was in
there. Why was she doing this to me? Was it possible that I was
actually in control?

Maybe she would take over eventually and this
was my punishment for fighting. At this point, I had to consider it
might have been a mercy to be a prisoner in the background. At
least that way I would not have to pretend to make love to a
monster.

“This body suits you, Anaya. You look
radiant.”

The Sari’s voice startled me back into
reality. If this was punishment, at least she was suffering some
bruises also.

“You are too kind. She is strong, but that is
only because she is new.”

“Well, let us enjoy her while she lasts.”

As his hands reached for me I closed my eyes
and tried to imagine Niko’s hands, Niko’s lips, Niko’s skin, Niko’s
body.

~o~

When the Sari woke and reached for me I
pretended to still be asleep. I tried to be a stone. He did not
notice. He pulled me into the curve of his body and kissed my neck
while wrapping his arms around my belly.

“I think you like this body more than you are
letting on. You have not been that passionate in a thousand
years.”

“I am sure it is just the little bit of fight
she has left in her. It too will fade.”

“I hope not,” he whispered in my ear, then
let me go so he could rise.

I watched what he did so I could understand
the room. He pressed a hand to the smooth bureau and it opened like
a drawer. After he selected his clothing and dressed, he came back
over to the bed.

“Do not worry. I will not be gone long. We
will have much more time to catch up this evening.”

A chill ran through me as he bent over and
kissed my belly before disappearing through the hole in the wall.
As I lay there trying to think up an escape that did not condemn
everyone I loved, what he said struck me as strange. If he
considered me passionate, trembling and frightened as I was. What
must she be like? Words came to mind that I had once overheard the
blacksmith use when speaking of his wife to another man. “Cold
fish.” Did that describe how she was to him?

A barrage of memories flooded through my
mind. All similar scenes to the one I experienced that night, only
this time the Luna’s emotions accompanied the memories. If
possible, she seemed more repulsed by him than I was.

Hundreds of flashes of hundreds of nights
with a new body each time, passed through my head. Then a memory
that was whole and complete, played.

A young girl, maybe sixteen, stared back at
me from the window of a ship. Her reflection was sad.

“Anaya, it is time.” A woman standing in the
doorway spoke. She looked like an older, simpler version of
Anaya.

“I do not want to, Heliose.”

“I am sorry, but we all must do our
duty.”

“Your duty does not bind you to
him
for eternity.”

“It is a great honor to be Chosen.” Her voice
held a hint of judgment, possibly even resentment.

“You would be honored to be his
concubine?”

“Anaya.” She sighed. “You are royalty. You
are his equal, not his concubine.”

“No one is
his
equal,” Anaya said,
disgust making her voice low and harsh.

Heloise was silent. She turned and walked
toward the door. Anaya followed her to a large room decorated for a
grand celebration. At a long table a young man stood, looking
longingly at her. Is that him? I asked internally, but the memory
continued uninterrupted.

“Leyal,” she said, lowering her head slightly
to the young man. There was kindness in the gesture.

A large man approached and reached for
Anaya’s hand. He led her to the front of the room then, rang a
small bell and the room fell silent.

“Tonight, my son and Anaya, Keln of all you
see before you, will become one, joined by a ritual that will make
all others poison to them. A ritual as old as time, one that will
bond them more intimately than any of us can ever dream. A ritual
that will render them both eternal. It has been seventeen long
years we have all waited, and now the day is finally here.”