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“I’ve seen one before,” Karma whispers.
“A Lokie?” I ask, confused.
“In the rings,” she goes on. “He was who they used to punish us, even though he was just as much a captive as the rest of us. There was no such thing as mercy, and his soul held darkness that could chill someone to the bone.”
“Were there others? Was he released?” I ask, seriously frustrated this is the first she’s telling us about this, but Chaz starts talking before she can answer.
“First of all, it’s not all red and glowing. The vials will have different colors. Glowing red is the color of blood the first night stalker had. Secondly, Lokies were tricked back into their own dimension, just as several strong, powerful beings emerged to kill the circle.”
Before anyone can ask him the obvious question, he holds a hand up and answers the unspoken query.
“Who killed them? Fuck if I know. The book just talks about the deaths. But the deaths weren’t permanent. The firsts started feeding on immortal blood, and it made them stronger and stronger. It also made them too predatory and dangerous.
“This power group set a trap; pretty much managed to drain them all; hid their blood all around the world; and destroyed the links to dimensions after tricking the Lokies. It doesn’t say how. It doesn’t say when. And it doesn’t give any details about what to do if they ever got brought back. It just says the circle can be recreated. And it looks like it wasn’t as big of a secret as I thought.”
I take his book, looking through the old, magic dusted pages. “Where the hell did you get this?”
“Long story. The point is, we need to stop them from finding the vials. Or the bloodlines that could be compatible. Even if we have to kill the lines ourselves. Otherwise, this world could crash down as soon as someone has all the pieces.”
My eyes fall on one crucial part of the page. “Says only the strongest can open the portal to dimensions. Which one of the firsts is the strongest?”
“It’s not a first. A first can’t open them because it has to be a being tethered to the breathing plane. It’ll be another immortal. And I don’t know who. I almost don’t want to know.”
“It could be Slade,” I point out, saying what everyone else would be thinking eventually.
“Or his brother,” Kimber reminds me. “Or someone who was able to catch two Geminis at full-strength.”
“Touché,” I grumble.
“I don’t think anyone needs to be rushing off to kill any more powerful beings who might be able to help us again
st whatever nasty thing is coming our way.” Ella’s voice draws our attention as she and Drackus walk in. “Besides, Slade wants this nasty evil gone as much as we do, so he’s not going to be opening up any dimensions.”
Kimber groans while massaging her temples, distracting us for a moment, and Gage’s brow furrows.
“Still have a headache?”
“It’s getting worse,” she mumbles. “It feels like I’m trying so hard to get a vision, but all I get are blurry snippets with no sound. It’s useless.”
He starts massaging her scalp, kissing her forehead as she leans into him, and a pang of jealousy strikes. Roslyn would be here right now if not for what I did to her mother. She needs me, but she won’t let me be there.
Karma crosses her arms over her chest, seeming a little afraid right now. “So if this big bad opens the dimension portals, does that mean all the dimensions will be allowed access here? Are there things worse than the Lokies? Because in the rings, I heard stories about them, and I wanted them to be myths. But like I said, I saw one. So they didn’t all get sucked away.”
Her eyes move to Chaz, since he seems to have all the answers.
“Believe it or not, there are things far worse than Lokies. And you didn’t see a full-blooded Lokie. Lokies weren’t immortal. Their life spans were a hell of a lot longer than a human’s, but to be immortal, they had to mate with other fey. And they were the only ones able to do so after the ability to mix fey was banished. They weren’t tied to our worldly rules, and they knew how to bend them. But there were only a few who were still left here.”
“Great,” I groan. “So what should we expect as a worst-case scenario?”
“I wish I knew,” Chaz sighs. “Only one portal can be opened at a time. There are thousands of dimensions who haven’t had a bridge to come here in so long. The humans were once nothing more than food. The breathing plane, as we call it now, was originally referred to as the feeding dimension. And now the humans won’t be the only food. Hell, we’ll be just as hunted.”
Fuck a duck. This just keeps getting better.
“Great. Any chance we can survive and hide in another plane if a different dimension comes in a starts a feeding frenzy?” Karma asks. “Because I’m too young to die.”
“And I’m too pretty to die,” Dice adds.
“Once they gain access to our ground plane—the breathing plane—most creatures will be able to access all the other planes as well,” Chaz tells us.
