Nine
Nel woke slowly, unsure what had roused her. Was Sam up again? Groggy and annoyed, she yawned and stepped out of her trunk. She looked up at the moon and scowled. She couldn’t have slept any longer than a measly hour. Just enough to make her feel even more tired than before she’d fallen asleep. Her ears pricked for Sam’s cries. Her daughter wasn’t awake as far as she could tell, so why was she?
Nel rubbed her eyes, about to climb back in her trunk. A long, twisted shadow rushed over the ground freezing her heart, lungs, and her whole body in place. The beast’s low growls sank terror down her spine. What did she do? Did she run, to draw the beast away from her daughter’s tree? Did she call out to her mate, Dez? Or would that only get him killed, too?
Her eyes locked on the steam coming from the beast’s snout, rising rhythmically from the shadow ten feet in front of her. It was right next to Sam’s sapling of a tree. Please don’t wake up, baby. Please. She begged her daughter in her mind. Mommy loves you. Don’t wake up. Live, sweetheart. Live to the fullest. Mommy loves you so much.
Nel’s muscles tightened as she decided to run, to save her child’s life, by giving her own. The monster in the shadow bared its teeth at her, the moonlight glinting off the long white fangs, dripping with gold dryad blood. She gasped, her eyes darting to Dez’s tree. All the color of his leaves were gone, his corporal body torn open next to his trunk.
She sobbed once, covering her mouth with her hands. She had to save her daughter.
Nel turned and ran but she only made it two strides as another beast jumped out of the shadows and grabbed her. Towering over her, it sank its three-inch talons into her shoulders and lifted her off her feet. It turned her around in its arms so she faced back toward the other beast. It slunk from the shadow toward her, a bloodthirsty madness in its eyes.
Her breathing came in and out in short jerks, but she remained quiet. She would not scream or cry out. She would not wake her daughter. But her efforts didn’t matter.
“Mommy?” Sam’s sweet, sleepy voice sounded in her ears as the three-year-old climbed out of her small tree.
“Run, Sam! Run and hide!”
The monster in front of Nel surged forward and clamped its teeth on her throat while the one holding her from behind stabbed into her stomach with its claws and tore her torso open. The world turned sideways. Snouts and teeth filled her body, gnawing, ripping, drinking. Flat on her back on the ground, her vision darkened. The last thing Nel saw was a third beast rising up behind her baby, scooping her fragile little body up in its arms. Make it quick, the last vestige of her conscious pleaded to the monsters. Don’t make my baby suffer. Please…please make it quick.
Her heart gave out and she died, drowning in heartbreak.
∞∞∞
Tristan lifted up the little girl and held her carefully in his beast hands. She gazed up at him with wide eyes, but she didn’t cry out. He put his snout close to the messy curls on her head and inhaled. He turned as Satran and Callen finished with her mother and began walking away. She didn’t need to see that. He continued to stare down at the young thing, captivated. Why didn’t she scream? Why did she just look at him like that?
His heart warmed. He loved her. The feel of her body structure in his hands, the smell of her, her round soft cheeks. She blinked slowly up at him, mesmerized or just in shock. Dryads really are beautiful, he thought, falling into her black, opalescent eyes.
Tristan didn’t get far before his companions rushed up on his heel.
“We need to hurry,” Callen’s words slurred through his grisly chops. “What are you doing?”
“Let’s go! Just kill her,” Satran added.
“Shut up. Look at her. She’s perfect. I’m going to keep her.”
“She won’t survive,” Satran argued. “She’ll reach the end of her tether any moment.”
“Shhhh…I know. And we will see what happens when she does.”
They continued forward through the darkness toward the Lair. Regret and love filled Tristan. She was a prize and she was his. He would keep her. Whatever was left of her when he’d taken her too far…whatever was left, he would keep.
He felt it. The moment the pull to her tree began to tug her back. Still, she didn’t cry out but her little body tensed, and she gasped. She jolted and splayed her soft hands flat on his chest as if she could push him back the other direction. He never stopped, but he did slow his pace, to have every second remaining with her. To experience fully the moment she died.
Pain rushed like a current into her eyes and opaque tears slid down her cheeks. A strangled cry did break free of her then.
“Shhh…” Tristan stroked the back of her head with his elongated claws. “I love you.”
She broke. All three of them heard it. Her bones snapped under her skin all the way through her. The sound filled him up and chills of pleasure covered him. Her breaking bones sounded like the snapping of dry twigs and she hung limp in his hands. All the color drained from her. She looked like a lifeless doll now a pale greyish brown. She turned monochrome. Her hair, skin, and eyes all turned the same color and the vibrant scent of life hissed out from her pores like steam leaving behind the sweet dull smell of petrified wood.
Tristan cradled her closer to his chest and shivered again. Oh, my sweet thing. I love you so much. We shall never be parted. I will keep you with me, always.
∞∞∞
Sophie woke in the dark, faint rustling noises behind her. She rolled over and rubbed her eyes.
“Tristan?”
“I didn’t mean to wake you. Go back to sleep.”
His back was to her, kneeling on the floor in front of an open chest. His hands moved inside it and then he pulled them back and shut the lid. He turned and looked at her. Oddity came from him like a strange smell. He was excited, but it was childlike. She was immediately on edge at the glint in his eyes and a chill swept over her. What had he done?
He came to her and gently smoothed the hair off her forehead. “Go back to sleep, my princess. Everything is all right. I promise. Don’t be scared. Things will start to happen soon. Very soon. But if you stay beside me, nothing bad will befall you. You must always stay beside me, Sophie.”
“Yes,” she breathed. “I trust you to take care of me.”
He leaned over and kissed her temple. “Good girl.”
She turned back to the wall as he lay down beside her and wrapped his arms around her. His hands held tightly as though he thought she might try to run away any moment. She closed her eyes trying to think of something peaceful. Some small shred of comfort but nothing came. His hands on her, so possessive and loving, felt like he’d dipped them in acid. Had he just killed someone? Were the hands he caressed her with guilty of taking innocent life? If so, was tonight even the first time, or had there been others? Many others even? She wouldn’t let Jorgie be one of them.
He was pressed against her. She was caged in his arms…if only that was all. He was inside her in the life he planted there. So where was she? She closed her eyes, feeling her heart pound. Her mind raced through the darkness, over the ground, through trees, and over rocks to her cave. That’s where she existed.
Sophie woke early in the morning, relieved the night was finally over. Everything felt so much bigger at night. The day would clear her head, wipe away her fears, and she could think. She had to get away from him for a while. Surely he wouldn’t try to keep her locked up here? He would be smarter than that. Her family would come looking for her.
Sophie stretched as she got up out of bed. Her body felt weird, not bad but strange. Whether it was the pregnancy or just being sexually active or both, she felt a subtle change. The room was dark, the only light coming from under the door. She collected herself and worked to convince her brain of the lie that everything was fine, that she was happy. She moved to the door and tried the knob. It was unlocked.
She cracked the door and listened. Tristan was in the kitchen. The light sliced through the darkened room and she hesitated only a moment. Her eyes fell on the trunk that he'd been putting something in in the middle of the night. Did she have enough time to open it and look? She held her breath, listening closer to his movements across the apartment.
Heart in her throat, Sophie turned and crouched in front of the chest. She lifted the latch and opened the lid barely an inch. An odd smell came from inside. Not a bad smell, it was something natural but unfamiliar to her. She knew it was something she had never smelled before.
"Sophie?"
She bit down on her lips as she closed the lid as quietly as she could and re-clasped the latch. She was determined she would find out what was in there. Soon. She stood up and met him at the door with a warm embrace and a kiss on the cheek.
"Good morning," she said sleepily.
"You're up early. You could go back to sleep for a while if you wanted."
"No thank you. I'm quite awake and I'm hungry."
He smiled. "Come have breakfast with me then."
She sat demurely at the table across from him while they ate to the very basic and bland breakfast he'd made for them. It was the second time he had made and offered her food. She wondered if the time was coming when he might become more misogynistic and demand that she make all of his meals. She schooled herself to be ready for it if and when the time came and to easily accept it without argument.
A long, low rumble vibrated through the stone of the floor and walls.
"Was that thunder?" She asked.
"I think so… There it is again. Do you hear?"
They sat there quietly for a few moments just listening to the storm begin outside. Tristan stared off into space, his face contemplative. Disquiet slithered at her stomach at his expression. She didn't trust anything he thought about that hard to be anything good.
"There are some important things I need to see to today. I'm sorry, sweetheart. I have to go… Actually, now that I think of it this is a good thing. You should go home and do whatever it is you normally would do today. Let your family see how happy you are. Tell them about us, so they won't be shocked when we announce our intention to mate."
Sophie licked her lips and swallowed. "Okay. Do you want me to come back tonight?"
"Of course I want that, but I'm not sure how the day will go. So… Come back here around eight and see if I'm home. If I'm not, just go back to your folks."
"I'll do just as you ask, Tristan."
He got up and came over to her, leaning down and kissing the top of her head as if she was a child. "Good girl. I'll miss you so much today."
She tilted her head back giving him an unmistakable look. He leaned down and kissed her lips. She kissed him back passionately. He broke away from her and went to the bedroom. After a few moments, she followed and stood in the doorway, watching as he finished getting dressed. He looked at her, his expression shifting over a number of emotions quickly. Then his eyes turned cold and stern.
"Hurry up and get dressed. I have to leave and I'm not going to leave you here alone."
"I'm sorry I didn't realize. Where are my clothes?" She asked.
He pointed at the dresser against the wall. "Your clothes are in the bottom two drawers."
She opened the drawer and quickly grabbed a pair of her jeans and a shirt. She got dressed at top speed so as not to anger him. He opened the closet door and pulled out a pair of her shoes that he'd obviously stolen from her room who knows when and handed them to her. She slid them on and left the room, waiting for him by the front door. He rushed by her obviously lost in thought and flustered. She followed him out and waited patiently behind him as he locked the door. He turned and caught her chin in his hand.
"Remember my instructions, Sophie."
She nodded and looked down submissively. "Yes, sir."
"I love you."
"I love you, too." The words slid easily out of her mouth now. They were nothing. Words with no meaning as if she spoke in a language she did not understand. The words didn't matter.
He turned away from her and headed quickly down the stairs toward the ground level. Sophie stood still next to the locked front door and just waited, listening to his retreating footfalls as they echoed off the stone, growing fainter and fainter until she could no longer hear them. She leaned back against the wall and exhaled. She was free, for a few hours at least, she was free. She didn't dare hope that she would actually get the night away from him as well even though he had said it was a possibility.
She thought about going home. She wanted to more than she dared admit to herself. But it was midmorning. No one would be there. Her parents would be busy already in their respective duties, Lacey was probably with Callen or her girlfriends helping her with mating ceremony details, and Jorgie would be at school. She decided she would go down to ground level and see if she could catch the gossip. She wanted to go see her grandfather, check that, she had to go see him because if she didn't he would probably come find her now that he knew she was in some sort of trouble. She couldn't let that happen. And as much as she wanted to confide in him and seek his help, the prospect was terrifying as well.
Rahaxeris didn't have the same type of sensibilities as most people. His moral ambiguity was what she needed more than anything right now. If she asked him to keep silent, even when no one else would have given the same information, she could trust him to do as she asked. Should she just go there now? Get it over with?
Her heart felt heavy and exhausted as it pumped. She would do all that was required of her no matter how unpleasant, no matter how ugly, but right now, at this very moment, she had a rare window to do as she liked. Her spirit was already deep in the cave where her art lived. For just a little while, even if she didn't create anything, she would stand in the dark and just breathe.
Sophie walked casually down through the heart of the Lair, keeping her pace easy, while she kept a sharp eye, looking for Tristan so he didn't catch her. The few people she passed nodded or greeted her quietly, but thankfully none of them tried to really engage her in conversation. She moved faster as soon as she was outside of the mountain, keeping to the alleys and side paths through the suburbs until she hit the wilds. Then she began to run.
The storm overhead blanketed the sky in a dingy charcoal gray. Thunder growled intermittently and lightning struck in the distance, but no rain fell. The darkness of the morning coupled with the shadows of the forest almost made Sophie believe it was actually nighttime. Her footsteps were confident, her direction sure. She knew exactly where she was going and how to get there as quickly as possible. It didn't take long.