Veiled Innocence (Book One, The Soul Cycle) (43 page)

She released the arrow
,
and it raced through the air, leaving a trail of white sparks. It buried itself in the side of a Dracor
,
and it reared. Its wail grew smaller and more human as it changed back into a man, wearing its strange armor of obsidian and feathers. The man stumbled about an
d spotted the arrow in his side.
He
pulled it out and inspected it before collapsing into a deep sleep.

Rowan swore
,
and Vishka said something in a tongue Lian didn’t recognize.

The remaining Dracor sniffed the fallen man, and with low growls in their throats,
they
turned to Lian and charged. 

Vishka ran forward to block their advances as Lian fell back, notching arrow after arrow. The air was soon filled with orange and white streaks as the Dracor took to the air no sooner than to be shot down.

Her aim
was incredible;
she had always been good, but never
this
good.

Her vision was edged in a hazy light, and with a start, she realized her skin had taken on a soft white glow.
The crystal… I
s it doing this?
 

Rowan covered her, the clang of fang and claw against metal ringing through the air as he knocked the Dracor back with Lady Mardon’s sword. The stench of brimstone was overwhelming
, and Lian gagged
but kept shooting. The orange blaze of the Dracor’s demonic eyes began disappearing into the darkness as they turned back into men, each falling unconscious but alive around her.

Lian had just released another arrow when Vishka cried ou
t in pain. Rowan paused a split
second mid-swing, long enough for the Dracor he was fighting to seize the sword with its jaws and rip it from his hands. Not wasting any
time, Rowan dove for the sword
,
but the Dracor was faster. It knocked Rowan to the side, where he tumbled into a table, its contents spilling onto him as he struggled to get up.

“Rowan!” Lian screamed.

He was trapped, weaponless, as the Dracor bounded toward him.

Quicker than she thought she was capable of, Lian pulled an arrow, notched it, and aimed.

The Dracor snapped repeatedly at Rowan, who rolled to either side of its jaws.
Growling in agitation, t
he beast pounced and pinned him on the ground. It lunged for Rowan’s throat, and he grab
bed the leg of the broken table, lodging
it
in the Dracor’s
mouth.
He
held onto either end of the leg as the Dracor wrestled with him, biting at the table leg.

The moment the Dracor stilled, Lian released the arrow.

The Dracor turned, its eyes lit up by white light, as the arrow embedded itself in its chest. It shuddered and morphed back into a man before it hit the ground.

Rowan eyed the Dracor man warily and nudged him with his foot before looking up at Lian and nodding.

Lian sank to her knees, her heart hammering in her chest. The room was completely dark, save for the dull red glow coming from Alastor, who stood near the far wall. Her skin and
the bow had returned to normal; a
ll but the teardrop, which continued to glow beneath her blouse. 

It was entirely too quiet.

Lian’s eyes searched the darkness
,
but there was no sign of Vishka.
Icy sweat had broken out over her brow; s
he tried to stand
,
but her knees gave out almost immediately. With a grunt, she planted the end of the bow into the floor and hauled herself up. She wobbled to the area she thought she remembered Vishka’s voice coming from, and after a few steps
,
her feet started making slapping noises, like she was walking through a puddle.

She
kneeled
down so the light from the pendant would illuminate the floor.

And
almost threw up.

Dark crimson liquid spread across the floor like water, coating everything. She stood up too fast, lost her footing, and yelped as she careened into the blood-soaked floor. It felt warm and sticky, and she cried out as she scrambled away from the puddle.

They weren’t supposed to die. Vishka, what have you done?

As
she edged fa
rther away, her feet slipping in the blood, Alastor’s head jerked
,
and his eyes flared a brilliant red. “
What have you been hiding, Lian?
” he rasped. He didn’t look anything like the Alastor she knew; this version was filled with an unrelenting darkness that terrified her.

It’s the imposter, speaking through Alastor. Just like it did through Orris and me.

She hastily tucked the pendant back into her blouse and covered it with her hand, trying to mute its light.

Alastor drifted toward her, floating on the air as if he weighed nothing. That’s when she saw it, the gleam of a red gem drifting in and out of the darkness around Alastor.

The blade came into view first. It was shiny, no doub
t still slick with fresh blood.

Alastor followed Lian’s gaze and whirled to find Vishka standing directly behind him.

“Die,” she said.

Everything slowed down. Vishka raised the saber high over her head and swung down hard, as if to split his body in two.

This is it,
thought Lian,
the moment she’s been waiting for her whole life.
After
over a
thousand years, Vishka would finally be free.

Then the unthinkable happened;
t
he saber snapped in half the instant it touched his red aura. 

“
What!
” Vishka shrieked.

She nearly collided with Alast
or
when he grabbed her by the neck and held her at arm’s length. Her mouth gaped open as her saber clattered to the floor in two pieces. 

Alastor winked at Vishka. “Better luck next time, love.” Then he kicked her so hard in the stomach that she went flying across the foyer. She slammed violently into the far wall, screaming in pain before falling to the floor barely conscious.

“Vishka!” Rowan limped to her. He fell to his knees and gently laid her head on his lap. 

Lian opened her mouth to call to him when a shadow flickered in the corner of her eye. A Dracor stood less than twenty feet from her.

I missed one.

Her heart hammered in her chest as she groped for an arrow. The Dracor pulled its jowls back in a wicked grin as it slowly slinked across the floor toward her.  

Lian stumbled backward, dropping the bow.
Scrambling
to retrieve it,
she
lost her balance and fell.
Pain shot through her back as she slammed into a wall.
To either side of her loomed
a
pilla
r; t
here was nowhere to run.

She scurried
to grab her bow, pull an arrow, and
notch it, but the Dracor was already upon her. 

I’m going to die. 

She
sucked in a breath
and held up her bow, ducking her head in hopes it would shield her somehow. She waited for death to come, horrible and bloody. 

But the blow never came.

The moment the Dracor would have struck her, a cloud of thick purple-black smoke enveloped
them
. It didn’t choke her; it smelled of wildflowers and spring.

When the smoke cleared, a tall man with long dark hair stood in front of her. Her eyes widened. “You.”

The stranger from the ball turned and smiled. “I was hoping I would get to see you again, though not like this.”

The Dracor paused for only a moment, surveying the stranger, before deciding to attack him. 

The stranger’s face was murderous. He grabbed the Dracor by the throat and lifted it off the floor. The Dracor’s legs twitched and kicked about as it gasped for air.

“You will not touch her.”

He hurled the beast down the stairs. The creature crashed into the wall and slid to the floor in a pile of black feathers and fur.

She
sat panting, her arms still raise
d, as the stranger’s fury eased. H
e slowly turned to face
her. “The crystal,” he said. “I
s it safe?”

“What? Oh!”

She
dropped the bow and pulled the crystalline chain over her head. “Take it! If giving it to you wi
ll keep it safe, then I beg you to
take it!”

“I cannot. It belongs to you and you alone.”

Before she could ask, Alastor’s aura darkened to bla
ck. “The crystal,” he said in the shadow
voice. “At last! I must have it! You must not be allowed to keep it!”

The aura shifted
,
and he
floated
toward them, as quick as the wind. In a split second, the stranger appeared at her side, surrounded by his strange smoke. He scooped her up. “Close your eyes
,
and hold on tight.”

Lian did as she was told, squeezing next to his chest just as Alastor’s fingertips touched the chain. Then the world and time as she knew it caved in as she was lost to a whirl of shadows, smoke, and fire. 

And as they fell through the earth,
with
the stranger cradling her tightly to his chest, she heard
a woman
scream her name in her head.

It was the dream voice.
 

Underworld

IT WAS DARK AND COLD.

The air smelled earthy, the kind of freshness the garden had after a spring rain. As Lian’s foggy eyes fluttered open, several white pillar candles came into view, barely lighting the abysmal room enough for her to see.

From ceiling to floor, everything was covered in midnight hues. Or maybe the candles really were that dim. A tapestry where beautiful dark-winged angels swirled through stormy skies hung on the wall opposite the bed. In one corner sat a large gilded mirror atop a glossy black
vanity. The shimmery canopy was
secured to the tall bed posts, which were also black. From the reflection in the mirror, she saw a rectangular cushioned chest carved with strange symbols resting at the foot of the bed. All of the furniture looked like it had been crafted from onyx and laid with opal accents. While it was sleek and sophisticated, it also had a regal gloom about it.

She
ran her hand along the soft, smooth sheets of indigo silk. Fighting the urge to remain in bed, she sluggishly sat up and swung her legs over the side. 

What happened? Her head hurt too much to think straight, and even the dim candles seemed too bright.

As she pushed herself off the bed, she knew she shou
ld be scared
,
but she wasn’t. A familiar
numbness settled over her as her bare feet touched the floor and she stood, still wobbly from fainting. 

That’s right. She had fainted, and it felt like falling through a great black hole
into the middle of the earth
. Her cheeks tingled, like strong winds had chapped them, but she didn’t know why.

She glanced once more at the tapestry
,
and the face of the beautiful stranger flashed before her eyes. That man; he had held her in his
arms the way a lover might. A blush warmed her face
.

A
soft, bushy rug
poked
between her toes, but it did nothing for the room’s chill. Something cool was wound around her neck; she reached up, relieved to feel the teardrop resting at the curve of her bosom. Shivering, Lian realized her tunic had als
o been removed. Instead, she wore
a thin knee-length nightgown. Though it was comfortable, she felt entirely too bare, and she blanched at the thought of the stranger undressing her while she was unconscious.

Her blood froze.
What else had he done whi
le she slept? Was she still a virgin? S
he would know
if she was
n’t
, wouldn’t she? She didn’t feel any different, aside from the headache.

I have to get out of here.

The room had three doors, and she had no idea which was the exit. Starting with the first, in between the tapestry and dresser, she opened it to find a smaller room designated as a bath chamber, complete with a white porcelain tub and black towels. She slammed it shut and went to the second door beside the headboard. It was a walk-in closet, with racks of expensive dresses and rows of extraordinary shoes stacked neatly at the bottom.