The girl appeared to be very young, maybe in her mid-teens. Her blonde hair was almost as pale as her skin. She’d pushed several silky strands behind her ears, and the length hung down to her waist. Her light blue eyes were wide, unfocused, her pupils tiny. She clutched her small hands together in her lap, fingers overlapping each other, and shoulders rigid as she faced Damon. She sat in a chair inside a white room with a curved doorway that opened up into the garden path.
On her way over with Damon, Alex had noticed the gardens weren’t just situated in one part of the enclosed ‘village’, but were actually interwoven all around it. The endless garden, along with the surrounding walls and linked paths, made this place look like a labyrinth. If she didn’t have Damon beside her, she probably would have gotten lost several times already.
Although it was still dark out, a feeling of warmth and comfort filled the room. This wasn’t a cold planet. The warm air wrapped itself around her body, and with no one scrutinizing her, Alex was glad she wasn’t wearing her jacket.
She turned back to the girl, who sat motionless. The constant rise and fall of her chest confirmed she was still breathing. Whatever she’d seen must have been gory enough to make her so shell-shocked, she was practically comatose.
Even in the warm surroundings, Alex shivered.
She’d probably been this girl’s age when she last saw her father. The night before her arranged wedding, Louis managed to change the course Lorraine had set Alex on. She’d never had a proper chance to thank him. I was so confused that night.Trying to figure out how she would survive a life of coercion with a guy she didn’t even know and a mother who would oversee every single decision she made, had felt devastating. So, when her father appeared out of nowhere, she’d half-expected it to be a dream.
The key he’d given her confirmed it had all happened.
I wonder if I looked the same way this girl does now.
No, as shocking as losing her father and never knowing what really happened to him was, this girl had seen someone virtually butcher another person.
“Laurie, it’s all right. You can talk to me about what you saw. I won’t hurt you.” Damon knelt down in front of her. The tone of his voice was soft, and every move he made was slow and precise. “Actually, I’m here to help you. I want to make sure that what you witnessed never happens to anyone, again.”
Laurie didn’t seem to register his words or proximity.
Alex leaned back against the wall and crossed her arms, determined to stay out of the way and curious to see how he would handle this. Damon appeared to wear a lot of hats around here, but he seemed to apply unconventional and bizarre methods of investigation.
She was surprised she’d been allowed to tag along. Then again, as long as Damon kept an eye on her, she supposed no one cared where she went. Besides, there didn’t seem to be any clear or organized law enforcement. She hadn’t bumped into a single police-type figure, so far. Well, except for the annoying man, Elroy, who claimed he was the Priestess’s consort and security.
She couldn’t help but wonder…if they all followed a Priestess and used Damon to read weird shit off dead or comatose bodies, did it mean the structure of this strange society was built on the foundations of mumbo-jumbo? Why live their lives without clear direction? Was the notion of magic a way for Priestess Aleena to keep everyone in line, while skirting any sort of real social structure like other planets and even space stations had?
On Anteris, everyone had a role, even those who were just waltzing in and out as often as she did. Many visitors were known to be the biggest scum of the galaxy and surrounding planets, but Ulric had established a sense of law and order. There was an active police force and a court. Everyone knew that if you pushed the envelope too far, the authorities would eventually catch up with you.
Only the worst bar on Anteris got away with a degree of lawlessness. That was why she’d been able to take out a cyborg without being arrested. Though, she was sure Ulric would have gotten her out of trouble, anyway.
That’s the problem.He bailed her out of everything, fed her the most delectable of dishes, satisfied her every whim whenever she craved it, let her dominate most situations, and covered all of her expenses while she was with him. She’d even stopped paying docking fees for Promise.
The carefree, skirt-chasing scoundrel who’d first entered her life had somehow morphed into someone else. Into a man who asked her to give up her job, so she could stay with him and do nothing.
He even said he loves me.
In a way, by caring about her, Ulric made her feel as if he were maneuvering her into a path she wasn’t ready to take just yet. She enjoyed being free to travel around the galaxy in Promise, taking care of business while sightseeing, and checking out what the male population had to offer.
It was no wonder she didn’t even miss him right now. If anything, she was glad to be away from him, because it meant she could do whatever she wanted with Damon-a mighty fine specimen who was attracted to her and never failed to strike the right chords. No matter what Damon claimed, he was from a planet she would eventually leave. She could have her fun, and then be on her way before she had a chance to develop any real feelings for him, or Damon for her.
She let go of her thoughts to concentrate on Damon and the girl.
“Laurie, speak to me. I can help you.” Damon had placed a hand over the girl’s, but she still wasn’t responding.
“What do you do, now?” Alex asked when he stood up and turned to face her.
He looked tired, frustrated. “I don’t think she’s going to talk, if that’s what you mean.”
“So, that’s it? There’s nothing else you can do?”
“There’s definitely something else I can do. Watch me perform a different type of magic,” he said with a wink.
“Is so-called magic your answer to everything?” she retorted.
He shrugged, a smile curving his lips. He seemed to enjoy her discomfort with the subject a bit too much.
“Have you ever thought that maybe what you’re doing isn’t magic at all, but could be caused by some sort of magnetic field around this planet? Maybe it’s just something in the water, and it makes you thinkyou’re performing magic.” She was clutching at straws, because what he did when he touched her was very real. “Or maybe it’s power from whatever divine deity your Priestess serves.”
He looked confused. “What divine deity?”
Alex pushed off the wall. “Uh, the one Aleena serves. Whatever goddess protects your village. Surely, your Priestessspreads the word of some sort of deity, whether ancient or modern?” Even people who used the goddess Aphrodite as an excuse to screw around all the time would worship, make offerings, and take part in rituals in her honor.
Damon shook his head. “There are no goddesses or gods. We don’t worship any deities. Priestess Aleena is our matriarch-the one who ensures we remain in a safe and crimeless society. It’s all her doing. The power of her leadership keeps our vision clear.”
“Right.” She couldn’t help but smell a rat in his explanation. Or rather, in what sounded like a brainwashing statement the population was probably forced to recite. Alex didn’t suspect him of lying, as much as she suspected Aleena wasn’t as holy and fair as she liked the population to believe.
Alex had never met a woman who claimed to be the Priestess of her own church and dogma. It just wasn’t done. Then again, this planet wasn’t on anyone’s navigational maps, so Aleena could pretty much do whatever she wanted.
Why is Eden off the radar?
If Promisewasn’t damaged, Alex would be able to access her computer and research a little more about Eden and its moon, Paradise. She had a feeling something wasn’t right, but she didn’t particularly want to keep discussing it with Damon at the moment. Not when he was in the middle of an intense investigation and getting nowhere with this kid.
“Is everything okay?” He was kneeling down in front of the girl again, but the question was clearly for Alex.
“Yeah, everything’s fine.”
Damon nodded, turned back to Laurie, and squeezed her hands in his. He lowered his head, closed his eyes, and a flash of color passed from his hands to the girl’s.
“Alex, are you watching?” Damon whispered.
She sighed and observed him taking a deep breath. When he released it, the flash of color was back-amber-and forming an aura around their joined hands.
Alex felt the urge to move forward, but instead, she blinked a few times when the shimmer spread until it surrounded Laurie and Damon entirely. She lifted a hand to shield her eyes, until the light gradually receded back into Damon’s hands, as if it had never been there.
He opened his eyes in a rush and sucked in a breath.
“What the hell just happened?” It had only taken a few minutes, but she could tell he had experienced something.
Damon released Laurie’s hands and stood. “I just saw everything as she did.”
“Well, what did she see?” As unlikely as it sounded, she wanted to know what had obviously spooked him so much.
“As we suspected, Laurie walked in on the attack.”
Alex sighed. “So, you know who did it, then?”
He met her eyes, and his darkened. “Not entirely.”
“What do you mean?”
He took a few steps toward her. “Alex, some sort of animal attacked Mony Lin.”
“That’s a good thing, right? It means you were right. No one in Eden is capable of doing what we saw left discarded in the gardens, and that’s a good thing. Isn’t it?” She didn’t understand what the problem was with this scenario. “It was one of your wildlife.”
Damon shook his head. “No, Alex. We don’t have any wildlife withinthe walls. I thought I’d already told you that. Besides, this looked more like some sort of beast, which explains the lust and excitement it felt for the victim’s flesh.”
“What do you mean by a beast?” The wall behind her suddenly felt too solid, as if it was the only thing keeping her up but would soon close in around her.
“Alex, some sort of beast attacked Mony Lin with the intention of tearing him apart and feasting on his flesh,” Damon answered.
He was watching her too closely. She tried not to wince.
“There’s no way you could know all that just by touching someone’s hand.”
A chuckle escaped him. “After everything I’ve already shown you, you still question what I can do? You’re a hard woman to please.”
She wanted to tell him that wasn’t true. After all, he’d given her a lot of pleasure when he’d laid his hand upon her abdomen. One quick glance at the girl stopped her, though.
Now isn’t the time to get us back on that track.
She kept looking into his eyes but didn’t say anything.
“I know what I saw. I felt the residue of the beast’s craving, and watched him kill and tear into a person.” He pushed a few dreadlocks away from his face. “We have some sort of animal loose within our walls, and I have no idea how that’s possible.”
“You said no one could get through.”
“They can’t.”
“I did!”
“You came through with me.”
“What if something broke through at the same time?” Alex had an eerie feeling crawling through her body.
“No, I would’ve felt it. No one can cross in and out of the walls without me.”
“Really?” That seemed a little odd.
“Yes.”
“What about the roaring beast we heard out in the jungle?”
Damon took another step. “I’ve lived here all of my life and have trekked around the entire planet, because Eden isn’t a very big place at all. In all my travels, I’ve never seen or heard a creature that roared.”
“We both heard it, right?”
He nodded, looking thoughtful.
None of this made sense, and as she pondered her own thoughts, something horrible struck her. What if whatever was loose in the gardens had somehow landed with her? She’d been carrying a lot of sealed barrels for Sackor, and she had no idea what was in any of them. After the incident with the worms penetrating her skin, who knew what else was in those barrels? She’d assumed it was liquid, some sort of lager or something, but there were ways to store animals in a similar way, right? After the crash, maybe something got out.
When she’d rushed out of the ship, she hadn’t even bothered to check the cargo area.
“Alex, is everything okay?”
She nodded absently. “So if we both heard the roar, there’s obviously an animal loose on this planet…” A vicious, hungry animal-one that happened to be outside in the jungle at the same time we were and somehow penetrated the walls. She couldn’t bring herself to add the last bit out loud. It raised too many questions.
Damon nodded. “It still doesn’t explain what it is.”
“What did this thing look like, anyway?”
“It was shaggy and wild, but I didn’t get a proper look.”
“Was it big?”
“The same size as a man. Why?”
She swallowed the lump in her throat, and released a quick breath. Surely something as big as a man couldn’t fit inside a barrel, could it?
Levi rushed into the room, shouting, “Damon, Damon!”
Alex jumped. His sudden appearance threw her line of thought out of whack.
“What’s wrong, Levi?”
The teenager stopped in front of him, bent over to take a few breaths, and said, “There’s been another attack!”
“Where?” Damon’s eyes darkened. “Wait a minute. Where’s Milo? He wasn’t attacked, was he?”
“No, he went to alert the Priestess.”
“Of course,” Damon said with a quick nod.
Levi was still trying to catch his breath, but he was now able to stand upright. “We were heading home after cleaning up and stumbled on a bunch of limbs, as well as some clothes.” Levi’s gaze strayed to the floor in front of him. “I think it was a man and a woman.”
“Damn it! No one was supposed to be in the area.” Damon pushed his hair back and away from his face. He looked angry and anxious. “You need to show me where it happened.”
Levi nodded. “Damon, I need to tell you something else, first…”
“What? There’s more?”
The teenager looked at Alex for just a moment, before holding up his closed hand in front of him. “We found something near the dead bodies.”
Damon leaned over. “What is it?”
“It’s a key,” Levi answered, opening his hand.
The first thing Alex noticed was the glint of bronze. Then, she made out the familiar curves and swirls on the bow of the antique key, before noticing the leather cord it dangled from.
The familiar choker was now bloodied.
Alex instinctively reached for her neck, even though she knew her lucky charm wasn’t there. It’s in Levi’s hand. What the hell is he doing with it?
Damon grabbed a hold of the leather cord and lifted it, until the key dangled between his fingers. “Where exactly did you find this?” His brow furrowed with concentration, as if he were trying to read it like he’d done with Laurie.
“It was lying on top of the discarded clothes.”
She knew what he’d say next-what Levi had obviously already noticed. It explained why he was acting a little stranger than usual around her. Damon would see the inscription on the back of the bow. The words her father had carved into the back: For you, Alex.
Sure enough, only a few seconds later, Damon turned to look at her. His gaze wasn’t accusatory. He just seemed to want an explanation, anything to clarify why a key bearing her name was found beside mutilated bodies.
She released a heavy breath, but it made her lungs feel tight. It felt as if an invisible pressure was pressing against her chest. Every inhale felt like a struggle as she tried frantically to think about how to explain her way out of this, and how she could voice it.
How could she tell Damon that none of this was possible, because the last time she’d worn the choker was on Anteris, seconds before stripping her clothes off and heading for the shower? That the only time she ever took the necklace off was when she showered with her lover, Ulric, and that she’d forgotten the choker he now held on Ulric’s bedside table.
Such an answer would only reveal personal details about her life she wasn’t ready to share. It would only confuse herfurther, because how could her lucky charm wind up at the scene of a crime on this planet if she hadn’t been wearing it when she’d left the space station? Unless…
“Do you recognize this, Alex?” Damon finally asked. His voice sounded a little tinny, too far away.
She nodded, hoping this was the only question he wanted to ask her right now. Alex felt a sense of claustrophobia engulf her-something that only struck her when she felt emotionally smothered.
Someone who spent so much time inside a ship, space stations, and spaceports, didn’t physically feel constricted by enclosed areas. Yet, emotion could affect her this way.
“Yeah, it’s mine…I lost it…” Her lips were dry, so she licked them. It wasn’t enough. She needed a drink, maybe some of that water making Damon delusional enough to think he could use magic.
She pressed the back of her head against the wall, realizing she was losing her grip. Her legs weakened, and she slid to the floor, landing on her butt. Everything about her felt heavy, lethargic.
Alex squeezed her eyes shut for a second, hoping she’d imagined all of this.
When she reopened them, Damon was still holding the familiar leather cord with the original key to Promiseswinging from it.
Damon crouched in front of her. “Alex, are you okay? What’s wrong with you?”
She felt as if she were suffocating but managed a nod. “I need some air.”
“Okay. Come on.” He helped her to her feet.
For once, she appreciated having someone else to lean on, someone to support her when nothing in her world made any sense.
Although, she wasn’t sure how Damon would react when he found out the truth. As well as how he’d feel about the possibility of her being responsible for indirectly bringing a beast capable of killing without mercy into his peaceful home.
The coincidence is too big to ignore.
What have I done?More importantly, how did Ulric fit into any of this?