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Chapter Seventeen

Rafe patted on the water and tried to find the portal again, to no avail. As soon as he had dived after the witches, the whirlpool closed itself, like a heavy door on his face. He had swum to the bottom of the lake in a feeble attempt to find it on his own, again, to no avail. The lake was very deep and that bright emerald light that had fascinated him so at first, made it almost impossible to see anything underwater. It was like wearing night vision goggles during the day.

Now he was stuck in this godforsaken forest, wet and hungry. Yara better be close because his patience was running thinner by the second. What in Hiad was she doing here anyway? Maybe she was already back at the village and he was wasting time here.

Or maybe she had got into trouble and was in need of help.

A twinge of something that felt a lot like worry crossed his heart, but was quickly shaken off. Of course Yara was alright; she was a warrior, a fighter who had razbians and vampires for breakfast. And what the fuck was he doing, worrying about his
target
? He had no idea what Phillip really wanted with Yara, but one thing was certain
–
it wasn’t to play chess. That S.O.B. was cooking up something foul with the dragon lord, and Rafe would bet his left paw that it had something to do with the case of those electric bullets. The ones he had stolen from Yara in London. 

“Damn you, Soartas!” he howled and paddled to the shore. He had to think of a way of opening that fucking portal before his mind and his manhood exploded.

Chapter Eighteen

Yara climbed the last step, careful not to touch the edge of the well and ignite the shock-spell again. She leaped in the air and jumped over, out of the damned pit. As soon as her feet touched solid ground, she crouched low, and waited for a surprise attack. Her anonymous benefactor could have been her very own cousin, Yuma-ci, trying to trick her into escaping, just to capture her ass again and “denounce” her to the Mothers.

Yara’s cat eyes peered around looking for her enemy, but the night was silent. A group of native raccoons hurried away nearby. She snapped her head to that direction and saw chocolate bare feet disappear in the shadows. The distinctive ankle bracelet made of twisted vines and small drops of gold sparkled against the thin moon light.

Poti?

It couldn’t be. Yara’s panther snarled inside her head. There was only one explanation
–
Yuma-ci had sent her lover down. Typical. Her cousin had always been one that ordered, never one to get her hands dirty.

She pushed to her feet and ran toward her supposed savior.

It didn’t take her long to catch up. When she was just a few feet away, Poti swiveled around, ready to defend herself.

“By Apa Dobrý, I never thought you’d be stupid enough to follow me back to the village!” Poti exclaimed.

“But you thought I was stupid enough to fall into your trap,” Yara retorted coldly.

“What are talking about, Yara? Stop wasting time and go.”

“Yeah, right, just so that you and Yuma-ci can capture me again and show the Mothers what a deceitful bitch I am?”

Poti snorted bitterly. “The Mothers don’t need
us
to tell them that.”

Yara’d had enough of those empty accusations. “You know what, Poti? You don’t hate me for the mistakes I made years ago, you despise me because I did what you and Yuma-ci don’t have the balls to do –
leave
this place.”

She rolled her head back and laughed. “You really think I want to leave here? Leave the security, the protection of our people? And exchange it for what? For …”

“For life!” Yara replied exasperated. “It’s not living in this place, there’s no individuality, Poti, and you know it. You either follow the stupid millennia-old rules, or you’re dead to them.  And I can see you want to have a taste of the outside world, you want to break away, but you can’t, because Yuma-ci is holding you back, like she did to me.”

“Yuma-ci is not the one holding us back, Yara.
You
are.”

“What the fuck are you talking about? I left this place decades ago, how can
I
be holding you back?”

“You left but your ghost still remains,” Poti replied in a bitter tone. “The stain you left in Yuma-ci’s heart is still very much present.”

Yara snorted bitterly and rolled her eyes. “Don’t you ever get sick of blaming someone else for your own misery?”

Poti didn’t find it funny.

“Cut the bullshit, Poti,” she growled. “Why did you help me escape?”

Poti glared at Yara for a moment. “You have no idea how much harm and destruction you caused, do you? Yuma-ci can’t forgive you, but not for leaving the village after you were cursed.  No, she can’t forgive you for betraying her with that human.”

“What? I didn’t betray her, I was young and I fell in love! It had nothing to do with her.”

“It had
everything
to do with her!” Poti exclaimed back. “Yuma-ci loved you, Yara.”

“And I loved her! She was my best friend, my only true friend… ”

“No,” Poti raised her hand and interrupted her. “Yuma-ci
loved
you. And you chose a human male over her.”  

Yara blinked a few times as Poti’s words sank in.

Poti must have seen the stunned look on her face, because a new wave of hatred marred her delicate features. “By Apa Dobrý, you must have known!”

No, she hadn’t. “We were close, and fooled around on a couple of occasions, but she never told me…”

“She didn’t need to tell you, Yara, it was stamped on her face! She followed you around everywhere you went, she did everything for you.”

“And I did everything for her, Poti,” Yara retorted. “You forget that there’re several kinds of love. No matter what you say or what you believe in, the fact still remains
–
I loved her too, like a true sister, and
she
betrayed me in the worst possible way.”

Poti paused and just glared at Yara for a moment. The girl had composure Yara had never managed to find in all her years of life.

“After years in darkness, Yuma-ci resurfaced and I helped her move on with her life. But as soon as you showed up in our forest yesterday, the old shadows came back and flooded her inmã in darkness again. You’re not good for her, Yara. You’re a disease that consumes her soul.”

Yara’s breath got caught in her throat. By Apa Dobrý, she knew she had made mistakes when she was young, mistakes that would always haunt her dreams, but never had she fathomed she had hurt Yuma-ci so to turn her beautiful inmã into a bitter harlot.

“I want you out of here,” Poti declared. “Out of our lives.”

Yara narrowed her eyes. “So why let me go free? Why not kill me and be done with it?”

“And face the wrath of the Mothers myself? I’m not as experienced as you are, Yara, but I’m not stupid either.”

Yara stared at Poti, trying to see if her nemesis was telling the truth. The way she glared back at her was enough proof she was. Yara turned her head and watched the light on the village. A few witches were still out, finishing their chores before retreating to the common area for supper. A sudden wave of sadness engulfed her heart. When she was young, she had wanted to see the world, to experience a freedom she wasn’t allowed to have. She had never meant to leave.  She had been forced to, by shame. Poti talked about the many years Yuma-ci had been in darkness. Yara’s heart was crushed to hear that, because she herself had faced the same fate. But with a difference, Yara had had to face it alone. No sisters to comfort her, no Mothers to support her, no man to love her. They had all turned their backs on her, after she dared to fall in love with a human. Pedro. He had been her first – first to love, first to break her heart into a million pieces, never to be mended again.

“Leave. Go, Yara, before I change my mind and call Yuma-ci.”

Yara cast one last glance at Poti and took a deep breath. Yes, it was time to leave and let Yuma-ci heal her heart. She chuckled silently at the great irony of it all. Her cousin had suffered but she had ultimately found peace in Poti’s arms. Yara, on the other hand, had never truly left the darkness.

Chapter Nineteen

Somewhere in Northern Alaska

Vampires didn’t feel cold the way other creatures did, but that never ending snowstorm wasn’t cutting them any slack. Tardieh wiped out the snowflakes from his night vision binoculars for the tenth time and refocused them on the abandoned military base down the hill.

“This is very odd,” Z murmured beside him. Like him, she was stretched down on her belly, but unlike him, she looked great in the snow camouflage outfit.

“What is?” he asked back.

“If this is another one of Dr. Burvis’ labs, why haven’t we seen any movement yet?”

She had a point. Dr. Burvis was a nutcase scientist who had developed the ultimate weapon – a white bullet made of pure energy.  When triggered, its atoms separated, disintegrating anything and everything it touched. Even vampires weren’t completely immune to it, as the bullets corroded flesh and bone at a very fast rate. If Tardieh hadn’t been as old as he was, nothing would have saved him when he got hit. And Z wouldn’t have survived if Zmyzel hadn’t shown up and revealed how to save her.

Tardieh sighed as the painful memories of those agonizing moments hit him. By Apa Dobrý, it had been close, oh so close. If the goddess of life hadn’t taken pity on him and Z … He swallowed dry as his chest constricted just with the thought. Tardieh didn’t even want to think about how lost and brokenhearted he’d be right now without his wife, his queen. She had only survived because of his blood
–
something completely surprising. Despite popular belief, vampire blood was not an aphrodisiac or a miracle cure for everything. Those were just silly myths created by romance novelists. The only reason Z was saved was because he didn’t give her his
blood
, he gave her his longevity, the
essence
of his inmã. And as a centuries-old vampire, his healing was quintessentially powerful. As a result, Z’s healing abilities were too.

“Tardieh!” The urgency in Z’s whisper brought him back to the present.

“What is it?”

“There’s someone in there,” Z replied, pointing at the eastern end of the military base.

Tardieh lifted his binoculars to his eyes and refocused the lenses. He saw nothing different at first – just the top of an underground base, concrete grey, covered in snow – but after a moment, a flicker of light caught his eye. It was very dim but it was there, as if someone had walked into a room with a flashlight.

He touched the small “talk” button on the bud radio located behind his ear. “Dyam, Joel, we’re going in.” Then, he pushed off the ground and offered his hand to Z. As soon as she took it, he focused on the control tower a few feet from the main entrance and dematerialized.

A few seconds later, they were already running toward the blind spot by one of the edges of the building. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Dyam and Joel materializing on the opposite end. He nodded to them and got the same as reply.

“Ready?” he whispered to Z.

Her topaz eyes gleamed bright gold. “Always.”

Tardieh couldn’t stop a small smile from lifting his lips at Z’s wicked ways.

He slowly stepped out of his hiding place, surveying the surroundings for any unexpected movements, then ran to the nearest door and turned the handle.

A slight click echoed just before the door exploded in front of them. The world went up side down when he was thrown in the air, and landed on his back several feet away.

Fuck!

Pushing off the snow-covered hill, he spotted Z also on her ass, shaking her head awake.

“Are you OK?” she asked, knowing there was no need to shout.

But he had no time to answer. Several razbian guards armed to their teeth stormed out of the building like ants before the rain. Tardieh let his fangs elongate, his eyes go bright red, his night vision intensify.
It’s show time.
Using his supernatural speed, he ran across the field and slashed the first round of guards in half. They never saw it coming. But as soon as he finished these ones off, more were already emerging from the west end of the building.

“I got this,” Z said, taking her snow mask off.

She waited until the guards were close enough then breathed deeply and exhaled a gush of flame at them; the smoldering yellow and red fire glowed like a light house against the white scenery. The razbians were instantly ablaze, and were reduced to ashes in no time. There was no escaping a dragon fire.

Tardieh teleported onto the opposite end of the building to check on his other warriors. No need. Dyam and Joel were already stepping back out of the compound holding two surviving razbians.

“All clear?” Tardieh asked.

They both nodded.

“No white bullets, but this was definitely an active lab,” Dyam explained.

“Maybe our new friends over here can tell us more about their operations,” Joel added, giving his captives a good shake.

The lizards cringed in response.

“All clear on the other end too,” Z said, as she met them on this side of the western building. Her voice was quieter than usual.

“Maybe Dr. Burvis was expecting…” Tardieh’s words got caught in his throat when he saw Zoricah’s face. “What’s wrong?”

She looked like a ghost. Her usually sun-kissed skin was white as a phantom’s, her eyes were sunken in their sockets, her shoulders sagged low. And she was puffing, as if struggling to get her breath.

“I’m fine,” she whispered, but almost as instantly her eyes rolled back and her knees gave out.

She was going to faint.

“Z!” Tardieh lunged forward and caught her in his arms before her knees even touched the snow.

He quickly checked her, dreading the thought that she might have been hit by a white bullet. But she hadn’t. There was no sign of any injuries. That should have relaxed him but it did the opposite. What in Hiad had happened?

He held her tight and materialized in front of his mansion’s lower gate back in New York. He heard Dyam and Joel appear right behind him. He radioed Arthur to disarm the laser net surrounding his property. He had no time for protocol. In less than five seconds he was carrying Z to their sleeping quarters.

“Arthur!” he shouted, taking three steps at a time. “Bring water and salt!”

He heard feet scuffing around and Arthur’s voice ordering his nephew to help out, but very little else registered in his mind. He carefully laid his wife on the bed and brushed his fingers across her forehead. She was burning up.

“Hmm, feels good,” she murmured, then lifted a shaky hand and held his against her skin.

Thank Apa Dobrý! She was awake.

“Z, you’re burning up, what’s happened? Did you get hit?”

Arthur rushed into the room with a jug of murky water, followed by his nephew Remi.

“Here, my lord,” Arthur said, “This may help.” He motioned for Remi to get him one of the glasses from the ante chamber. The young vampire rushed out and was back in no time. Arthur poured the liquid into the glass.

“What is it?” Z asked weakly.

“A saline solution humans use to help a sick person regain energy.”

Tardieh lifted Z’s head and helped her drink it. But her lips barely touched the glass and she started gagging.

All the three of them cringed back. The other two were probably as startled by the completely unprecedented situation as Tardieh was. He had no idea what to do now.

“Get me the juice,” she whispered.

Tardieh frowned. “What juice?”

“Yara…” She swallowed slowly. “Yara made. Fridge. ”

While Tardieh’s panicked mind was still trying to register what in Hiad she was talking about, Arthur was already on to it. He beckoned to Remi, who darted out the door.

Tardieh felt as if an invisible hand was squeezing his heart out. His love was sick and he had no idea what to do. He was a vampire for Hiad’s sake! Vampires didn’t get sick. But apparently dragons did. Why? She was supposed to heal as fast as a vampire now, right? So why was she weak? He had no freaking idea.

He sat down next to Z on the bed and rested his hand on her temple, trying to give her the only thing he knew would work. She moaned but didn’t open her eyes.

By the gates of Hiad! He’d felt that way only once before, when she got hit by a white bullet over a year ago, and back then he swore he never wanted to see her go down again. He’d do anything in his power to have her healthy and lively and loving and fighting, forever. He absolutely hated feeling helpless like that.

After what seemed like an eternity, Arthur’s nephew appeared back with a plastic sports bottle in his hands. He handed it over, Tardieh picked it up and opened the small lip.

An awful smell of rotten cabbage wafted out, making them all gag.

“Mighty Soartas, what
is
this?” Remi cried out, and was promptly shushed by his uncle.

Z fluttered her eyes open and reached for the bottle. Tardieh forced his stomach to settle down, and helped her drink the strange juice praying to the gods for her not to throw up. She didn’t. Bit by bit she drank the strange sap.

After a while, Z lifted her hand up.  “I think that’s enough for now.” She let her head fall back on the pillow and closed her eyes again.

Tardieh quickly closed the bottle and placed it on the bedside table. “Are you feeling better?” he whispered.

She took a deep breath and nodded affirmatively.

“Z, what’s happening?” he asked.

Silence.

Please give me a clue!
“Did you get hit or something?”

“It’s nothing, hon, really,” she answered. Her voice was still weak but not as frail as before.

“How can this be nothing, Z? You fainted!”

“I haven’t eaten much lately and with you feeding almost every night … it was probably too much,” she replied softly. “I just need some rest now, that’s all.”

She closed her eyes and blew him a kiss, already turning around and adjusting her head on the pillow.

Maybe she was right. Maybe he should have been more thoughtful and taken less, or searched for her less often. Oh crap. He couldn’t help it; her demi-goddess blood was just too much to resist. He ran his hand through his thick hair. Something still nagged at him. There was more to that than she was letting out.

He stood up and exhaled a long breath. Right now she did need to rest. Tomorrow, he’d have his answers.