“Snappy?” She asked, her voice low and husky and chilling me to the bone.
There she is. I allowed myself to feel the satisfaction of a minor victory.
“There are other words for it, but I’m trying to be polite here,” I replied carelessly. “If you’re worried I’m devastated by your beauty and can’t function properly, don’t worry. I’m stronger than you think.”
“So am I, so please stop treating me like I’m made of porcelain and need your help with every move I make.”
I smiled mostly to myself, not willing to poke that bear again, and continued scanning the world beneath. We’d found one of the tallest purple giants in the area, giving us a great tactical advantage with its bird’s eye view.
Some time passed before Anjani cut through the silence, her back leaning against the trunk.
“Tell me about your world,” she said with eyes half-closed.
“My world? What, you need a good bedtime story? Getting sleepy?” I grinned, ready to irritate her into staying awake and alert. I understood that she was most likely exhausted from the trip and the climb, but we still had a few hours to go before Serena would take our place up here.
I needed my succubus sharp and ready to kill anything that dared to come after us.
My succubus?
“If you don’t want to tell me anything, just say so,” she shot back and sat up. Her lips were pursed, and she crossed her arms, crossbow still in one hand and dangerously pointed in my direction.
I moved back a few inches to get myself out of the way in case she accidentally—or purposely—shot an arrow my way.
“My world is incredibly boring compared to yours,” I said slowly. “Yours, on the other hand, is a biologist’s dream.”
“What’s a biologist?”
“The equivalent of your Druids, but less kill-y, more nerdy.”
Judging by the confused look on her face, I hadn’t done a good job of explaining the term. The cultural differences left a gap between us, but I was still very much determined to learn more about her and her world. I figured she’d open up more if I offered some information in exchange.
“A biologist is a person of science who studies and is an expert in all things concerning living organisms,” I continued. “That means both plants and animals. Back in our world, they’re still discovering new species here and there, but they’ve pretty much seen it all in multiple variations. If I were to bring a biologist here, however, he’d probably die of happiness. They love, absolutely love, discovering new life forms. All you Eritopians qualify as new life forms.”
“I understand,” Anjani replied slowly. “Here, the Druids used to be like your biologists. Until Azazel started killing those he couldn’t corrupt.”
Her voice trailed off, making me understand exactly how painful the subject was to her. I decided to dig a little deeper nonetheless. She seemed strong. She could take it.
“Tell me more about your tribe. What was it like before Azazel took power?” I asked.
“It was good. Life was good,” she said, looking out in the distance. “I was born after he came along, but my elder sisters told me stories about what it was like before him. The incubi and succubi had thousands and thousands of miles of land. Our tribe wasn’t the only one either. There were dozens of succubus tribes living out in the wilderness. We helped defeat many invading armies with our strength and prowess in battle and maintained our independence. Then Azazel took over, started killing his own kind and, when there were almost no Druids left standing against him, he turned his sights on us.”
Tears welled in her eyes, and she wiped them away quickly, giving me a sideways glance to see if I was looking. I turned my head just in time, leaving her with the impression that I hadn’t seen anything.
Something weighed heavily in the pit of my stomach as I pictured Anjani growing up in such a cruel world, where death and darkness lingered at every corner, where tyranny was the law of the land. I’d been so lucky in our Shade by comparison.
“One by one, our tribes fell, the blood of our sisters soaking the dirt. We stayed up north and limited our movements. We took all possible precautions to keep out of the Destroyers’ way, while the rest of our kind perished or joined Azazel in order to survive. We borrowed magic from swamp witches and Druids, enough to keep our tribe out of sight.”
“Swamp witches?” I wondered how they might differ from our witches.
“They’re gone now, I think. There were a few of them living in the swamps surrounding the eastern citadels. No one knew where they were from or how old they were, but it seemed as though they had been around forever. Their great magic was passed down from generation to generation, powerful spells for protection and healing. We learned how to shield the tribe from Destroyers thanks to them. But after Azazel rose to power and started hacking and slashing left and right, they were gone, though no one knows whether they died or just vanished.”
The more I listened, the more fascinated I became with Eritopia, despite its current state. Its natural weirdness and way of life were different from what I’d grown up with back home, even compared to what I’d seen coming from the supernatural world. The In-Between was full of mystique and dangers that could either save or kill me.
Neither is as enticing or as attractive as Anjani. I held on to that thought for later.
“How do you shield the tribe from Destroyers?” I asked, trying to keep my mind off the fine line of her neck. The curve sent heatwaves through my entire body.
“You’ll see when you get there.” She glanced at me, and her face dropped.
She straightened her back and averted her eyes, visibly embarrassed. It dawned on me that, despite my innocent questions, I was looking at her in a way that made her feel uncomfortable.
“Oh, don’t tell me you’ve never seen a man look at you like that before.” I chuckled, smiling playfully. I wondered if I could make her blush. Given her complexion, I was curious to see what that looked like.
“It’s still leering,” she shot back, irritation dripping from her husky voice.
“I thought you were a badass warrior succubus! Since when are you so sensitive to the way a guy looks at you? You ladies take pride in your superiority and independence, after all.”
She threw me the deadliest look yet. Golden fires burned in her eyes, while a muscle pulsated in her jaw. She pointed the crossbow right at me. She was so intense, I started to think she might actually shoot it.
My breath hitched a little.
“Mind your tone. I may be injured, but I can still knock you out of this tree before you can blink and then watch you writhe in agonizing pain.” Her voice was pure ice.
Once more, she’d left me speechless. All I could do was stifle my grin into a thin line and slowly raise my hands in a defensive and apologetic gesture.
It took her a while to point the crossbow elsewhere.
She could’ve followed through on her threat as far as I was concerned. Watching her beauty amplified from anger would’ve been worth every broken bone in the process—she was truly mesmerizing.
Serena
[Hazel and Tejus’s daughter]
As soon as Bijarki started the fire, I took Draven into the tree shelter to change his bandage. He kept quiet as nightfall settled, and I could tell from his slow movements that he was getting tired. I helped him sit down on the soft moss and stuck the torch into the ground for lighting.
He listened as I opened a duffel bag and rummaged through it for medical supplies. I took out a roll of clean linen dressing and a handful of thick pads made of a soft fabric I didn’t recognize. Draven had given me instructions for packing the healing kit back at the mansion, but he hadn’t told me much about which item was which.
I pulled out two small glass vials with clear, odd-smelling liquids inside. Everything in his medicinal pantry seemed to smell weird.
“Okay, I’ve got everything you asked me to bring here. What do I do?” I asked.
“You pou
r a little bit of both vials onto the pads,” he replied. “They’ll go on my eyes—or better said, eye holes—and you wrap the dressing around. It’s quite simple.”
I didn’t like the sardonic tone of his voice. It didn’t bring out the best in me.
“Good to see you’re back to your old insufferable self,” I mumbled as I sat on my knees in front of him and proceeded to unravel the old bandage from around his head.
“I never left.” His smirk was a sobering reminder of how quickly he could sink back into his shell if I didn’t pay attention. I’d only left him alone for maybe half an hour while I’d gathered fire wood. If I didn’t know better, I would’ve recommended that he see a psychiatrist for mood swings.
“Yeah, I can see that,” I shot back.
“Well, at least one of us can.”
My irritation faded away instantly as I realized how terrible he must be feeling without his eyesight.
I’d completely disregarded his frustration. Even though his blindness was temporary, we didn’t know how long it would be before the Daughters would undo what they had done to him. But the more time passed, the harder it seemed for Draven to keep his calm, composed demeanor.
I removed the bandage completely, my fingers brushing over his soft skin and tousled hair. I held my breath for a moment, noticing the dark bruises around his sunken eyelids. My heart shuddered as I poured both liquids onto the soft pads and gently placed them over his eye sockets.
“Can you hold them up so I can wrap the dressing over?”
He nodded and brought his fingers up on top of the pads, over my own. His touch sent waves of heat through my arms. I withdrew my hands and reached for the linen bandage. His silence made it even harder for me to concentrate.
“So, what’s the plan for tomorrow?” I asked, my voice weak but my mind determined to get me through the whole bandaging process without a hitch.
“Provided nothing kills us tonight, we will have another half day of walking north before we reach the tribe.”
“Thank you, Captain Obvious,” I retorted. I rolled my eyes and started pulling the dressing over his eyes, one layer at a time. “You can take your hands off. What I meant was what happens when we reach the Red Tribe? What’s the plan?”
A smile passed over his face, so faint that I almost didn’t notice it.
“The plan is to speak to the tribe chief and try to forge an alliance. Based on what Anjani has told us so far, they’re one of the few factions still standing and in possession of some very dangerous weapons. Combine that with the three tricks up our sleeves, one of which is currently recovering from a blow to the head, and we will have a tremendous tactical advantage against Azazel.”
“Will that be enough to destroy him?”
He shook his head, and I groaned, as I had yet to finish wrapping the dressing around his head. He stilled with a sheepish grin drawn on his face. Had he saved that grin from his childhood days, when Elissa had caught him with her journal?
The torchlight played with the shadow beneath his lower lip, further distracting me from an otherwise mundane task.
“Probably not, but it will show the rest of Eritopia that there are still considerable powers at play ready to stand up to him. It will draw out the others hiding in the shadows. After all, they can only keep hiding for so long before Azazel’s Destroyers start coming after them. They’re already tying up loose ends by hunting down rogue incubi like Kristos and Bijarki.”
I nodded and tied the bandage tightly behind his head. I heard him inhale sharply and realized that I had drawn myself extremely close to him in order to see what I was doing with that knot. I felt his warm breath as he exhaled against my collarbone. A million shivers ran beneath my skin, and blood rushed to my head.
“You’re being so good to me, Serena. I can’t thank you enough.”
His words took me by surprise. I pulled back and stood up, putting the vials away.
“You’ve done so much for us as well, Draven. This is the least I can do,” I said. I pulled two woolen blankets from the bag.
He leaned against the hard amber casing behind him. I gave him one of the blankets and sat down next to him, wrapping myself in the other. Draven covered his legs and crossed his arms, slowly relaxing into his position.
I felt the tree hard against my back. It was as good as it was going to get under the circumstances. My eyelids felt heavy, and a yawn got the best of me. The trip had sucked the energy out of me almost entirely.
I looked at Draven for a brief moment and felt tempted to mind-meld with him again. It seemed like the least invasive method to find out everything there was to know about him, considering his earlier accounts of Elissa’s death.
I had felt so bad for asking, seeing how it pained him to recall those terrible events. At that point, sneaking into his mind with my sentry powers when he was sleeping would have done less damage than me asking more questions.
I was too tired, though, and it still felt like a horrible invasion of privacy. He’d done too much. He’d sacrificed too much for me to keep thinking about a mind-meld.
I shook the thought away and relaxed into the soft moss beneath me.
“What are you thinking about?” Draven asked.
A heartbeat passed. Should I tell him the truth or make something up? I was wary of annoying him with my mind-melding thoughts.
“I was thinking about mind-melding with you again, once you dozed off, but I’ve decided against it. It’s incredibly intimate, and you don’t deserve me traipsing around in your head after what you’ve been through.” He’d been so open with me about Elissa and the impact of her loss. I at least owed him honesty.
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly over the course of a few seconds. I turned my head to see the side of his face. The torchlight danced on his face, and I was hypnotized by the way it clashed with the sharp lines of his cheeks and the blade of his nose and jaw. The shadows drew my gaze to his lips, and I instinctively licked mine in response.
“It’s not easy for me to open up,” Draven’s voice dropped to a soft murmur, warming me up on the inside. “Give me your patience, and I promise, Serena, I will show you everything.”
My muscles relaxed, and my body slid along the wall until my shoulder leaned into his arm. I was so tired, yet the way he spoke made me want to try and stay awake for a little while longer. I hummed my approval as my eyelids finally gave in and closed.
I let my head rest on his shoulder, and I fell asleep to the sound of his voice telling me something else, something I didn’t quite catch.
Serena
[Hazel and Tejus’s daughter]
I opened my eyes slowly, enveloped in sheer warmth.
I blinked several times until my eyes adjusted to the darkness around me. The torch had died out. A strip of moonlight poured inside the tree, making the moss floor phosphoresce.
This is no ordinary moss. I took a deep breath. My ribcage expanded as I inhaled, and I realized that my back was against something hard and broad but not as solid as the amber casing I’d fallen asleep on.
I was lying on my side, facing the crevice of the tree leading outside. Everything was still and quiet, except for the crinkle of crickets wafting in from the jungle. I moved until something tightened around my waist.
I froze, my eyes wide open, and my breath stuck in my throat. Draven slept behind me, spooning me. I was wrapped in my blanket and his strong arms with his fingers clasped on my abdomen. His body heat seeped into me from head to toe, and I lay there wondering whether I should move away from him or not.
Our bodies were so close that his heartbeat echoed into mine. He sighed in his sleep, and his breath heated the back of my neck, sending both fire and ice through my veins. I relaxed in his arms, and he nuzzled my neck.
His breathing was even, so I assumed he was sleeping. It felt so good, so right to be there, that I decided to enjoy the moment of absolute peace. His frame molded perfectly against mine. I felt a smile tug at the corner
s of my mouth as I surrendered to the feeling that was growing, ever so slowly, inside my chest—a mixture of pleasure and pain tying my heart in knots.
I didn’t want the moment to end.
Leaves rustled outside, followed by a few thuds and whispers.
Bijarki rushed inside the tree. Jovi and Anjani tumbled in right after him.
My moment was over.
Their frantic movements made me aware that something horrifying was about to begin. Bijarki pulled a bunch of leafy branches over the entrance of our shelter.
“Destroyers,” he whispered.
I jolted up and accidentally kicked Draven. He groaned, then stilled and sat up instantly. My hand reached out to the duffel bag next to me, frenetically searching for a couple of long knives I’d packed for the journey.
“How far?” Draven whispered to Bijarki.
My fingers grasped the cold metal at the bottom of the bag.
I pulled a knife out and clutched it with all my strength. My heart thundered, and blood raced through me like a rampant flood.
“A quarter of a mile,” Bijarki said.
I heard him load his crossbow, and I looked over to Jovi and Anjani. The succubus held her crossbow ready, and something twinkled in Jovi’s hand as well, presumably a blade, but I couldn’t tell much with the darkness around us.
Bijarki had stomped the fire out. I could smell the charred wood and smoke.
“What do we do?” Jovi asked under his breath.
“We sit still, we don’t move, and hopefully they won’t notice we’re here,” Draven whispered.
I moved closer to the incubus, my knife ready in case the Destroyers found us. Draven snaked his arm around me and pulled me back. I tumbled onto him, unable to move.
My protests were futile. His grip was firm as he shushed me.