Bonded (The Raegan Mason Trilogy) (24 page)

CHAPTER 19 – IN THE BEGINNING

“Our beginnings on Earth began over 10,000 years ago.  Many of our kind came from another planet to Earth to collect research on the new species.  They were here for several generations.  Their arrival caused panic and also spurred several religions.  Our people were called sons of God, star people, angels, and even demons.  Without further explanation from our kind, the humans of Earth created their own stories.  There are cave paintings, statues, pyramids and other references to our arrivals.

Our planet was in a civil war.  Serpens and Elders fought constantly.  The Serpens are a reptilian species we shared a planet with for centuries.  They appear human, but like most reptiles here on Earth, Serpens are cold blooded and acquire heat from other sources.  They would hunt our kind, especially the women for their pureness.  They could absorb their essence, along with their powers, leaving our women weak and helpless.  Our women would age quickly and die if a Serpen managed to capture them.  The Elders pursued the Serpens to annihilate them before the female population ceased to exist.  Since we mate for life, many Elders either lost their soul mate or lost their opportunity for bonding.  The Serpens goal was to ultimately kill the Elders through their females.  Serpens didn’t need to reproduce because they could live longer than any others.  By absorbing the life forces, they increased their powers and their abilities to remain immortal. That didn’t mean they didn’t have offspring, but if they did, it was usually with one of our females and a forced union.  The offspring between our kind and theirs were generally evil by nature, if they survived their birth, but stronger than anything we could fight.

Of course, children born through an Elder were protected as best they could, especially females.  However, male children were not protected equally. Most Elders only thought the Serpens wanted the females. Many male Elder children were brutally murdered.  Their essences were left intact.  They were not absorbed, only their powers were stripped.

The researchers explained to the Elders that Earth would sustain our kind.  The atmosphere was similar to ours, but the oceans were a better environment for us.  The only negative part was the sea creatures that could harm us.  They created several cities beneath the ocean to prepare for our arrival.  This information renewed hope in the Elders that they could repopulate on Earth.  Several families retreated to Earth and abandoned our home planet.  Four of these families were what we consider the ‘royal families’ that my mother told you about; the Celosia, the Stones, the Ores, and the Vales.

Out of all the families that relocated, only the four royal families remained pureblooded.  Some of the other families, including the researchers, were enchanted by the females on Earth, and also managed to mate with them.  They didn’t bond with them, but they could reproduce. Their offspring were stronger than the humans, lived longer, and possessed some of the powers of their fathers, but it was later discovered that any female children born from that union were not able to mate, or procreate unless it was with an Elder.  Those unions could only create one child, not multiple children.  Male hybrids could only mate if they bonded with a human female, and again only one child could be created.  Since many of our female kind were killed, the Elders protected the remaining Elder women and would not allow male hybrids, or human males, near them for fear that the bond would result in creating a hybrid with less powers or result in death for another female Elder. 

Every few hundred years, a royal male would bond with a royal female.  The Royals did not bond or mate with humans.  This bond is rare, as I explained before.  Their unions were momentous.  Their children possessed powers of both parents and often times they produced multiple children from their unions.  These children mastered their powers quickly and many became great leaders of civilizations such as the pharaohs of Egypt, emperors of China, leaders of tribes in Central America, and other notable historical civilizations, including Atlantis.  The royal offspring grew more powerful than any of the offspring causing fear amongst other Elders.  Unions between the different royal families became forbidden.”

I interrupted.  “Did you just say Atlantis?”

He sighed.  “Yes, Atlantis.  After everything I’ve just told you, you question Atlantis?”  He smirked before placing his finger on my lips.  “Do you want me to continue or are you satisfied with the introduction to our history?”  He smiled and removed his finger before replacing it with his lips.  His lips left mine too soon.  “As I was saying, unions between royal families became forbidden.  Royal children were given enhancer stones to enhance their powers, but also to prevent forbidden bonds or ultimately, unions.  If you wore one, other royal families were forced to avoid you so a bond could not form across the families. If a bond did form between them, some Elders tended to take the side of the Serpens and sought to execute them.  Others chose to protect.”  He squeezed my hands and waited for a response.  I wasn’t sure what he was waiting for.  Confusion filled my mind.  He turned my wrist over exposing my bracelet, and then grabbed his necklace with the other hand.  “We are forbidden…”  He lifted my hand and kissed it gently, “…to some Elders.”

His kiss pulsated through my body.  I tried to reign in the hunger for his touch.  I swallowed trying to compose myself.  “So you’re saying there might be some that want to kill us?  Why do you hate them so much?”  I knew the emotion was hatred.

“There are Royal Elders in each family.  They are the oldest in each family, and were the first from our planet to settle here.  Then there’s the Serpens.  They are kind of like angels, but not so angelic.”  His spat the word as if it left a bitter taste in his mouth.  “They are immortal, for lack of a better word, and have been on Earth since, well since they arrived from Grace, our home planet.  There is a loose interpretation in ancient legends about falling from Grace.” 

“The fallen angels?  You’re serious?”  I said it, but knew instantly that he was telling the truth.

“Well not like you’ve heard from the Bible, but a lot of the stories handed down refer to them as the fallen angels.  They are powerful, even beautiful in appearance.  And they tempt humans as much as they tempt our kind.  They enjoy torturing or punishing our kind.  Their rituals are considered barbaric and filled with pain.  It is believed they have perfected a way to drain the essence of our kind without killing them, allowing them to feed off of them for longer periods of time than before.”

A flash of my tortured dream crossed my thoughts.

“What was that?” Kyler questioned with alarm.  He grabbed my arms and forced me to look into his eyes.

“A dream I had at the lighthouse.”  I tried blocking the images but he continued to hold my attention with his hypnotic eyes.  Flashes of the chains, the hissing and the pain kept surfacing as if Kyler were extracting them from my memory.  “It’s nothing but fear manifesting from the needle I felt from Nate when he attacked me.”

Kyler stiffened and released his stare when I mentioned Nate.  “Still, those images are pretty close to what I’ve heard happened on Grace before the exodus to Earth.”  He focused on my eyes again, concentrating.  I assumed he was trying to get more information from me, but I didn’t have any more to offer.

“So, Royal Elders? Are they like the good angels?”  I was hoping to divert him back to the original conversation.

He inhaled deeply and looked away briefly.  “Let’s not compare any of them to angels.  The Royal Elders are not any better.  They don’t do anything to help the situation.”  The anger was building.  “We will have to figure this out on our own.”

I searched his eyes for comfort and found a longing so painful my heart was breaking in tiny pieces.  I reached out to touch his face.  The heat between us flashed.  His sapphire eyes began to smolder and burn. My emerald eyes reflected a matching glow.  Our breathing increased as I leaned in to kiss him.

“Maybe we should take off the enhancers.”  He paused with his eyes closed and started to unclasp his necklace.

“No”
a voice registered in my mind, but it wasn’t Kyler’s or my thought.  It was a male voice, but nothing familiar to me.

“Did you just hear that?” I asked Kyler.  Panic filled my voice.

“I did.  Who is that?”  He looked around as we waited to hear the voice again.

“Who are you?”
I managed to think through the fear that was bubbling at the surface of my emotions.

“You can call me Joshua.”
  The voice responded politely.  The voice was melodic as if he were singing a lullaby.

“Where are you?  What are you?”
  My inquisitive mind got the best of me.  Kyler squeezed my hand in warning.

“I am here.  I mean you no harm.  I am an Elder.  Consider me a friend.”
  Joshua replied candidly.

Kyler tensed and sucked in air at hearing that.  Panic filled him and his eyes locked on mine.  Strange images filled my mind as Kyler tried to warn me.  I felt confused and couldn’t make out the images as they flashed quickly in my mind.

“Enough!” Joshua spoke with authority and Kyler froze.  His thoughts stopped and I couldn’t feel his emotions or thoughts.  “As I said, I mean you no harm.  I am here as a guide for the two of you.  As your companion has tried to persuade you to fear me, I was forced to
pause
him.  It isn’t him that I am concerned with at the moment.”  He spoke as if bored with the conversation and left me curious.

“Kyler, I will release you if you agree to hear me out before jumping to conclusions.  Your prejudice toward Elders is understandable, but do not force that discrimination on young Raegan.  Blink twice if you agree.”  Kyler blinked twice and slowly melted back to normal.  “Good, now please listen as my time is limited and the certainty of my warnings is dire.”   Kyler grabbed my hand again for his comfort as well as mine.

“This island is special to Raegan, and it is her island of sanctuary.  Nothing can harm her on this island as long as she wears her enhancer.  Removing the stone from her skin will open a window of opportunity for others to locate her. 

Kyler, have you noticed anything different about this island?” Joshua asked in a way that seemed he was toying with Kyler’s mind.

“I can’t hear my mother.”  Kyler acknowledged.

“Correct, very astute.  When did you realize that?”  Joshua questioned like a detective.

“When we came ashore and I tried to contact her for help.”  Kyler confessed.

“Why did you need help?  You’re on a deserted island with the apple of your eye.  What better place could there be?”  I began to mistrust Joshua the more he questioned.  It was as if he wanted to tempt us.

“This island felt wrong when I got here.  What do you mean ‘others to locate her’?” Kyler’s protectiveness emanated from his thoughts.

“It’s her scent, Kyler.  They smell HER.” Joshua’s voice sounded hungry.

Kyler tensed but the heat from him was radiating toward me.  I felt engulfed by fire.

“Why wait, Raegan?  Don’t you desire Kyler the way he desires you?  Once you unite, they won’t be able to smell you with his scent on you.”
  My heart was racing and my thoughts were suddenly filled with Kyler’s desire as well as mine.  I leaned in toward Kyler experiencing the magnetic electric energy.  His hands were hot against my skin as they roamed under my shirt to my swim suit.  His lips found mine and his tongue was forceful.  He was pulling me down on the couch under him and running his hand down my legs.

“Wouldn’t the bed be more comfortable?”
Joshua interjected right before Kyler pulled off my swimsuit.  Kyler picked me up and carried me to my parents’ room where he continued to pull off my shirt and then my top.  He kissed me eagerly and roughly at first.  His eyes were glowing and through his thoughts I could see my eyes glowing as well.  It was ecstasy.  I wanted all of him and couldn’t bear not to be closer to him.

“Why do we need to wait?”
  I thought frantically as my mouth kissed his neck and chest.  I knew there was a reason, but I couldn’t remember.

“Um, I don’t know.”
  Kyler thought as his hands caressed my body as never before.  His lips brushed across my chest and lingered on my stomach.

I laughed as he tickled my stomach with his kisses. 
“But wasn’t there some kind of danger about this?”
  The nagging feeling that we shouldn’t be doing this now kept interrupting the pleasure.

“Danger?”
  Kyler stopped and jumped off of me.  “You’re sick, Joshua, or whoever the hell you are!”  Kyler yelled to the air.  He picked up my shirt off the ground and tossed it to me as he turned away and started pacing the room.  “Where are you?  Show yourself!”

“Temper, temper, Kyler.  You must be careful with your temper around an Elder.” Joshua taunted.

“Of course I’m angry.  Are you trying to kill us?  She isn’t of age yet and it’s not the right time.”  Kyler motioned to me to get up off the bed.  I was confused and flustered by our escapade.

“Kill is such a strong word, Kyler.  Wouldn’t the pure pleasure be enough?  You could live forever in that bliss if you take her now.  What about the others?”  Joshua kept tempting Kyler.

“I won’t take her life for anything.”  Kyler grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the house.  The storm was upon us and the cold rain slammed against us.  We were running but I didn’t know where else to go.

“There’s nowhere to hide.  Only she can get you off of the island.  Raegan, do you know how to leave this island?  Do you want to leave?  Stay here and shut out the rest of the world.  You were born here, right in that house.  Your mother conceived you in that same bed.  Wouldn’t you want a child of your own?  A powerful child?”
  The voice kept calling after us as we ran.  The lightning flashed and I screamed as a face appeared behind a tree.  Kyler stopped running and pulled me in close to him.  We were under a tree breathless from the run. 

“Rae, look at me.  Do you know how to get off the island?”  Kyler’s eyes searched mine.  Panic filled him.  Angry panic.  “We’ve got to leave, now!  Please Rae, think!”