AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Well, I was there for a long time. And I’m not just a dragon. Plus, that was the whole spiel. He kept detecting them so why not send someone who wasn’t so easy to figure out. They’d get me out before he even got me alone. You signed off on it once the bitch put my paperwork in and off to Hell I went. No offense, sir.” He directed the last part at Lucifer with a look.
“No probs. My place is pretty sweet, and I don’t want to imagine what you went through.”
“What do you mean, you’re not just a dragon? Who did you meet with and how?”
“You might want to have a chat with Esidriel on that one. If she wasn’t acting for you then she was acting against you.”
“Against me how?”
“Nithe, would it be easier to show him than tell him? I can help.” Jezzie looked up at him, her sadness easing as he looked into her eyes and a soft smile replaced the drawn lines of her mouth.
“Are you sure, a stór?”
“Absolutely, Just tell me who you want to see and who you don’t.”
“Might as well let the cat out of the bag all at once. I’m sure Deus can tell the others. I don’t want to do this again if I don’t have to.” Nithe’s shoulders slumped, the weight of a thousand nightmares returned with the power of a locomotive to the chest.
“Okay, fair warning. This isn’t going to be pretty, so anyone who wants to step out now needs to do so. Everyone within these walls is about to see what Nithe wants you to.”
Athon stood and held Nithe’s other hand. He hadn’t fully registered he’d stood, not until Jezzie was beside him and took his other hand in hers. He felt comfort and peace as the dragon in him settled with an angrily whispered, “Make him see it all.”
No one moved to leave. Though everyone stood. Those already standing stood a little straighter, expectation on their faces. Deus looked unfazed. Ramiel, concerned. And so he should be.
Jezzie rolled her shoulders, and he heard the cracks in her neck as she loosened her body up.
“So I need you all to come and hold hands in a circle. I’m going to use a memory spell Aunt Rai Rai taught me and feed it with Nithe’s memories and emotions. This isn’t going to be easy. You might feel what he felt and see what he saw. In essence, for the short time we do this, you may think you are him. I’ll speed it up a bit, so it shouldn’t take long, but this is your last chance to back out.” Jezzie looked around. Again, no one moved.
One by one they joined the circle, palm met palm and Jezzie jolted slightly beside him as if a current had zipped through her body. He himself felt a fissure of fear leach into his blood. He looked up and found his eyes locked with an older set of identical ones. Huh, his eyes, without his dragon present, came from his father . . . Ironic that his father was about to see through his.
“One more thing, once we start, you can’t opt out. You’re in til it’s over, got it?” Everyone nodded at Jezzie, giving their consent.
Before he could take another breath his heart jolted and tears filled his eyes.
The green and red hills of his birthplace spread out before him. White, snow-capped mountains towered in the distance and the cries of a child rang through the fresh, flower scented air. Warm arms held him close and a mother’s love filled his little body. He looked up and her face peered down at him.
Memories sped by, his childhood a rollicking riot of laughter and adventure . . . And then it stopped. Frozen on the image of horrified faces as they stared at his wings. Where was his dragon? Why didn’t he come out first? What was he? His mother turned from him. His “father” banished him. His first glance in a mirror and his shiny, golden, dragon wings were covered in leathery feathers. They all turned their backs on him. His family, his friends.
Fleeing. The bar, drinking ‘til he was near to blind. And then . . . Esidriel. The deal. His duty due to his hybrid status. Wasn’t like he had shit to lose, so why not? Whoever this Raum guy was, he couldn’t be that bad, right?
They curbed his dragon so he would be unknown, but it left him powerless. They said they’d come for him, but they never did. Years, decades, what could be centuries. Trapped, tormented, tortured. Vivid impalings, slice and dices, depravities too sick to name. They each replayed like scenes from a horror film no one would ever dare make. His dragon silenced, no one to talk to, then the walk to freedom, to Jezzie. He showed them it all. What she saw, what Raum said. His father revealed. Jezzie’s manifestation, and Balthazar’s words.
Every thought, every feeling of pain, confusion, despair, anger was poured into every memory, saturating through to everyone.
Jezzie shut the link and released them from the hold the memories had taken. Nithe’s eyes stayed locked on Ramiel’s. Someone, more than one maybe, retched and vomited, the acid scent filled the room. Apropos to the situation, Nithe thought.
“Congratulations, or condolences, whichever fits, seeing as how I’m here now and not in some makeshift grave somewhere.” Yeah, Nithe could admit he had some, from his perspective, justifiable anger issues toward the old man who stood opposite him. Though in looks they could be brothers, his eyes gave away his age as they swirled in what appeared to be confusion, revulsion, and anger.
He didn’t speak at first. Still and solid like a statue. Lucifer tried to speak to no avail, words stuck in his throat. Ramiel drew a blade from beneath his coat and through his shirt he sliced a line of sparkling ruby across his chest above his heart. One word fell from his lips, his eyes still locked on Nithe, as the fiery light of rage of injustice filled his gaze. “Sorry.” He rushed forward with all the ungainly grace of an oafish troll and pulled Nithe into a fierce, bone breaking hug that lasted half a second. He stepped back into a small portal and disappeared, leaving behind a shocked Nithe who stood frozen in a shirt now stained with his father’s blood.
Jezzie and Athon held him tight, their warmth and strength kept him upright when all he wanted was to sink into the floor.
Lucifer was before him in an instant, hands on his shoulders, like a brand, but he didn’t flinch, he didn’t show his weakness. He didn’t dare. For if he folded now, would he ever be repaired?
“Whatever happens next, son, we’ve got you. You are one of ours. And for ours, we’ll gladly go to war. Old friends or not. Welcome to the family.”
“Fae dumplings and Elven mead, anyone?” Mrs Briars’s sweet elderly voice from the doorway broke through the silent tenseness of the room and Lucifer stepped back. Everyone took a deep breath as Mrs Briars basically thrust a bowl and tankard into everyone’s hands, pushed them either into a seat or onto the ground and told them to eat. “Eat, drink, you need it. Here’s some extra for you three,” she said as she looked at Athon, Jezzie, and him. “I added a little Dragon Ale to yours, love, you could use it.” The little old lady winked at him, and he found himself smiling even though his brain was spinning in circles and vivid nightmares performed circus tricks behind his eyes.
Chapter 47
