Authors: Penelope Fletcher
I eyed him distrustfully then
muttered, “What do you care?”
His face creased in pain, turned to me
a fraction. “You think I like being ordered to torture young women.
I don’t.”
I blinked. It had not occurred to me
some of the Clerics might have taken against my treatment here.
Still wary, I made no move to approach him but relaxed, seeing he
was not going to strike me.
“
Then why are you following
him?”
“
To survive,” he replied
simply.
Glancing over his shoulder, he slipped
a hand into his crimson blazer and pulled out a bread roll. He
placed it on the floor and stepped back, pointed at it. Scooting
forward I plucked it from by his feet then skipped back.
He gave me a small smile. “What’s your
name?”
“
Rae,” I croaked, choking
up at his kindness.
He nodded. “My name is Samuel.” He
sighed. “Look, I’m not much of a thinker, and there’s nothing
special about me apart from the fact I fight well, but I like to
think I am a good judge of character.” He paused. “I don’t think
you’re evil, or out to get me. I just think….” He smiled. “Well,
thinking is not my strength so I’m going to stop now, but you need
to understand that you’re in a bad situation here, Rae. I know you
used to be a Disciple, I remember seeing you, and honestly, I can’t
tell if you were planted here to spy on us or not.” He shrugged.
“But somehow I don’t think so. He glanced over his shoulder again.
“I better go. Tu has called the Priests to Council, and I need to
be there.”
My head snapped up. The Priests only
assembled in Council in times of great danger. “Why?” I
demanded.
He watched me carefully, shrugged, as
if thinking what could it hurt to tell me. “To convince them to
evacuate the Temple. He believes more of your kind are coming for
you, that you’re special.”
Looking away, I rubbed my nose and
tore into the bread roll. Here our conversation stalled, because I
could no longer lie.
Samuel left without another
word.
Exhaling, I moved into a corner and
sat down. I was tired, irritable, and even worse I was dying to
pee, so I crossed my legs and thought of all the horrible things I
would do to Cleric Tu once I was free of this awful
place.
Feeling the empty space around my
neck, I stifled a sob. I had lost the amulets, the key to the
grimoire. The one thing I was supposed to protect. Resting my head
on my knees, I wallowed.
It had not been more than an hour
before the heavy door moved.
For what seemed like the millionth
time, I struggled with the chain at my throat. I was naked, filthy,
and covered in bruises, but if I could get this damn thing off, I
could try to get past them. Maybe Samuel had come back to talk.
Perhaps, I could tell him everything and convince him to help me,
to show me how to escape.
The door opened and a faint light
spilled in, lighting a patch of the cold floor.
Helpless, I curled into the corner,
and rested my forehead on my knees, refusing to look up. I would
not give them the satisfaction of seeing me cry or wail. I felt the
person step closer, but the pent up anger inside me threatened to
lash out, so I shied away, hugging the wall. My chains clinked. I
would show no emotion.
A blanket was draped over my
shoulders. The manacle around my neck fell to the floor.
I started then curled myself tighter.
It was a trick. They were trying to show me kindness to learn
something. I would not be fooled. I was wrapped up tightly, scooped
up, and carried away.
We moved from the room of nothing into
the narrow passage that was lit with candlelight.
Gah, I bet I looked like
hell.
I did not recognize the scent of the
person carrying me, nor his bouncy gait.
My eyes were still closed and with a
measure of terrible hope, I processed I was no longer bound with
iron. My feet and hands were free and my senses were already
stretching. Slowly, my body was repairing itself, though I knew it
would be sometime before I was ready to exert any real
strain.
My eyes flickered open and I
gasped.
Ro only faltered one step when he saw
I was awake and watching him. I had not spoken, or made any other
noise, but possibly because I had stopped breathing and my face was
turning blue might be the reason why he looked
concerned.
Gently, he set me down on the floor
and quickly turned to drag an unconscious Cleric by the dirty boot
heels on his back into the dungeon. He shouldered the door closed,
bolted it, and breathed out in a breathy rush with a hollow
chuckle.
He picked me back up and continued
on.
After a minute of heavy silence, he
asked, “You right, Rae?” He did not look at me, just kept his eyes
on the tunnel up ahead. Twice he looked over his shoulder into the
shadowy passage behind.
I did not say a word. I wanted to, of
course, but more than likely, my mouth would get me into trouble.
It seemed – from his shifty eyes, uneasy disposition, and Cleric
stashing escapade – Ro was in the middle of some kind of rescue
attempt. But how would he know where I was being hidden? Why was he
rescuing me in the first place? I was a demon, and to him that
meant I was bad. The enemy. When I had tried to reach out to him
before he’d called me a freak.
“
I won’t hurt you. I’m here
to help, read me?” He patted my back soothingly.
I tried hard to be sensible, but my
mouth won. “Why are you doing this?” I asked in barely a whisper.
My throat was raw and my mouth parched.
“
Because it’s the right
thing to do. And I always liked you, Rae. You freaky, and that’s
nothing but truth, but Lex is right when she say you have a good
heart.”
Gods be dammed. He had said her name,
and my tears were instant.
“
Don’t cry,” Ro said,
panicked. “You be safe now. I hate when a female cries. Tears at my
insides, eh.”
I sobbed in heaving gasps, and the
gods knew I did not need to waste any more body fluids, but could
not stop. Hearing the way he spoke had thoughts of Lex hammering at
my heart. It was too much. I had not saved her, I had not avenged
her, and now I was putting the boy she loved in danger. There could
not be a worse friend than me.
Ro kicked the metal door ahead of us
fully open. It was already bent back and swinging off its hinges,
and we came out into the forest. Who had done that to the door?
There was more than one exit to the passageway? It was sunset, yet
the fading light was enough to have my nature wiggle in
joy.
I breathed in deeply, enjoying the
smell of earth and green things. Ro trotted forward and fell into a
brisk jog.
I closed my eyes and looked for
Breandan. He was still far away, closer than before, but still far.
I could not understand it. Why had he not come for me?
There was no point trying to feel for
my vampire-boy. The darkness and blood tie we shared seemed to work
a lot differently to the bond I had going with Breandan. When we
were close I could perceive him better, understand him. When I
dreamed the darkness took me too him, allowed me to be with him
even as I rested, but once he had died for the day the connection
was almost totally silent. Dead, like he was, unless he sought me
out. I had two demon-boys who claimed to want me, yet neither of
them had come to save me.
The steady of my best friend who died
by my foolish actions was the only one who had risked it
all.
Clearly, the gods were laughing at
me.
“
Do you want me to take
her?” asked a hushed voice at Ro’s side.
“
I’m cool.”
“
Say-so,” she whispered. A
pause. “What happened to her skin, why is she covered
in–”
Heartbeat kicking into overdrive, my
eyes popped open and darted to where the recognizable voice
spoke.
My heart stopped.
Shrieking in fear, I launched myself
out of Ro’s arms and landed crouched in front of them, unable to
process what I saw. Scuttling back I dropped my glamour, and my
wings jackknifed out. I blinked rapidly and shook my head, my hands
out in front of me to warn them back. The world had a slight purple
hue, and some things were difficult for me to see but I knew my
eyesight was not deceiving me.
I could smell Ro, a boyish mixture of
sweat and cotton. The she-being watching me with a steady,
unblinking gaze was scentless. Seeing a look he did not like on my
face, Ro drifted in front of her protectively.
Rolling her eyes, she pushed him out
the way, and he had to fight not to topple over from the force of
it. “Hai, Rae,” she said so softly my ears twitched and strained to
hear her. “You call and I come.”
Dominating her flawless oval face sad
eyes over-scored by thin eyebrows locked on me. The colorless
tumble of waves around her shoulders – the strands translucent –
was wild and bristled. Her hair was the most animated thing about
her, everything else was stone still, unmoving. Her body was bare
apart from some clever concealment with large green leaves and
lashings of green vine. Her toes and fingers were encrusted with
crystal-clear ovals for nails. Her skin was immaculate, white like
a stick of chalk and un-graced by a single imperfection, as if
someone had bleached all colour from her skin. When I said nothing
she stuck her sapphire tongue out and her lips pouted. Such lips.
Plump and sharply dipping at the cupids bow, the cold blue was
striking. On a human, it would be the blue of death. Water droplets
glistened on her exposed skin and adorned her hair like diamonds,
though I knew this simply meant her body emitted no warmth so water
simply rested on her.
What freaked me is in fairy form I
could sense another demons consciousness, rather their auras,
especially this close.
I got nothing from the being in front
of me, nothing, simply a blank space where my eyes told me
something ought to be. My ears strained to hear her, a heartbeat,
an intake of breath to speak, the sound of her limbs making a noise
when they rubbed together in movement. There was nothing. She was
empty space encased by lifeless flesh.
She stepped forward, glided as if on
invisible wheels. I sucked in a series of gasps, but did not move,
glued to the spot. She stopped and leaned over slowly, her eyes
watching me carefully, and pressed her lips to my cheek. I touched
the spot in shock. She was so cold, colder than a vampire, and that
was saying something.
“
You won’t say hai to me?”
she whispered and her eyes welled with blood. The intense color was
rich and vivid against the starkness of her colorless expression.
Her face scrunched up oddly as she tried to stem the flow, but
streaks of red ran down her apple cheeks, contrasting with the blue
runes that prettily decorated her cheekbones. Those tattoos used to
look sky blue, but against her washed-out skin they looked
electric.
“
Alex?” I asked quietly,
not trusting my voice. “Lex is that you?”
“
Whom else you make a
zombie?” she replied quietly and laughed faintly, hiccupping half
way through as she controlled herself.
I was horrified, yet already a bubble
of happiness exploded in my chest, and had me choking back a sob of
joy. “Oh my gods, it worked? I mean, it worked.”
Her lips twitched then pulled up into
a smile. “I was surprised too. The last thing I remembered was
demons chanting then a pain at my throat.” Her hand wandered to the
area. A faded maroon colored scar marred her chalk-white skin.
“Then it was dark and warm. Peaceful. But I … I jolted and fell for
forever until I hit the floor.” She smacked her palms together and
I flinched. “I opened my eyes and was me again,” she paused,
looking lost, “but not me. I didn’t have a body to move anymore.”
She shook and her face twisted with madness. “Then I swear, Rae, I
have memories of things that I’ve seen and done. But, I couldn’t
have because … I was dead, you feel me?” Her eyes glowed red,
angry. “I don’t know what they are, but they aren’t mine, these
memories.”
Ro placed a hand on her cheek, on her
shoulder to draw her away from me. He hushed her and whispered
calming things in her ear. She relaxed against him and stopped
shaking.
“
Lex I–”
“
I woke up in a coffin of
dirt and leaves,” she said over me. “Demons were close, but I was
afraid. I did the only thing I could. I ran away and I … I answered
the call.”
“
What call?” I asked,
confused.
She shrugged. “You called me. I woke
up, this time in my body, and clear as a bell in my head I hear you
asking me to save you. I wasn’t sure what I was doing at first.”
She frowned deeply, her face darkening. “Everything was confused,
and I was tired. I wandered, avoided living things but I could not
understand why. Then I came to the Wall and had no way around. I
climbed over it–”
I spluttered, “You– You
climbed….”
“
That’s when I knew I be
dead, and that I was zombie. My mama told me the only thing that
could touch the Wall and not be harmed was the Trapped.”