Dreams of memories not my own

[Moonlit Raven]

(Any Bunnying of Avery was pre-approved by Manda)

A crisp breeze ruffled Elena’s hair, bring the scent of rain with it. For a brief moment Elena paused, eyes closing as she relished the winds cool, moist touch. A small peaceful smile crept its way over Elena’s features as she relished the rare moment of solitude. It wasn’t often that Avery willingly allowed her outside the boundaries of the Moontae City. A small tingle at the back of her neck let her know that she wasn’t entirely alone, that her ‘escort’ was just beyond view, but she didn’t stress herself about it.

Elena’s smile changed into a grin as she thought back to the argument she had won earlier that morning with Avery. ‘If he doesn’t want me climbing as high into the trees as I can, he’ll have to let me go for walks more often.’ Leaning against a tree, Elena shook her head at the thought, the rough bark of the tree pleasantly scraping her skin. Her thoughts turned to different paths. Out in the middle of the Corone forest she didn’t have to be the Moontae Queen, didn’t have to be the demon huntress or the berserker vampire that lurked in her veins. Elena simply was.

Sighing lightly she pushed off the tree and continued, unerring, her feet carried her along winding path created by her sometime ago. Her thoughts turned to the life that grew within her body, she worried and fretted about many things. What type of future would the child have, would she be a good mother, was it male or female? Elena shield way from the thought of what the child potentially could be. For the first time in her life she prayed to any deity that would listen to her.

Several minutes later, something caught her attention a few feet of off the path. A twinkling of light shone from the ground amidst the blanket of past summer’s rotting leaves. Curiosity prodded her unmerciful and Elena stepped off the path, she knelt to pick up the object that gleamed. Carefully she pried it out of is earthen bed and turned it over looking at the object and trying to see what was through the layer of caked on mud. Remembering a stream not to far ahead in her walk Elena stood up and hurried towards it, eager to see what it was she had found.

Unmindful of the dirt that gathered on the lower legs of her leather armor as she knelt by the stream, Elena gently washed the object in the water, using her nails to scrape away at stubborn pieces of hardened mud. Finally, clean and glistening in the dappled shadows of the forest Elena pulled the object out of the grasp of the cool water to study it. Beautiful, the crystal that lay in her hand was unlike anything she had ever seen before. A light shade of green, yet in its depths purples and blues shimmered. The crystal was round yet faceted, a complex clasp of tarnished silver held an unseen top seamlessly closed.

Glancing up to gauge the time, Elena realized that she had been gone longer than anticipated. Brushing at her knees as she rose, she hurried back towards the Moontae City. She just knew Avery would be irritated with her, yet again. Elena let out a un-lady like snort at the thought of Avery irritated, worried was more likely she thought. Her fingers fiddled with the clasp the whole way back, soon, the fountain the signified the entrance to the City came into view.

With a quiet click the clasp on the crystal opened, surprised Elena paused and looked at the crystal. Smiling as she gently pushed the top open.A brilliant light flashed out of the crystal, accompanied by a soundless roar, looking into the light Elena lost herself to the light.

~~~


Night

I found myself standing in a room, a young, petite black haired girl, no older than 16 or 17 lay sprawled on the bed slowly reading through one of many books in front of her. Several papers and writing utensils surrounded her. While I waited for the girl to look up and spot me I studied the room, it was fairly nondescript. A double bed, a desk with a boy at it and dresser against the far wall, there was a second for that I assumed lead into a closet, nothing decorated the white walls.

A young man, similar enough to be mistaken as her twin sat at the desk, he was concentrating on the translucent pieces in front of him. The girl sighed after a moment and got up, walking over to the wall and hit a switch, a light far brighter than the lamp turned on over head. The young man flinched and shielded his red eyes at the sudden brightness and looked up at the girl. A slight smile tugged at the corners of his mouth as the girl gave him a kiss on the cheek and turned to shuffle out of the room.

I gasped as she walked through me, blue almost violet eyes never picking me up and continued out the door and down the hall. I stared at my hands, they seemed solid as ever. I reached out to touch the wall near by and watch in amazement as my hand sank into the wall. I felt little more than a strange tingle along my skin. Where am I and what is going on? Why can’t I touch anything? Is this a dream? I wondered. A strange pull centered itself in my chest, telling me to follow the girl and watch her.

Confused, and for lack of anything better to do I followed the girl in to a strange looking bathroom. She touched a shallow button in the wall and water poured forth from a faucet. The girl began to brush her teeth, after a moment an irritated curse and several thumps were heard issuing from the bedroom. The girl spat out the toothpaste and rushed back to the boy’s room, passing through me once more. Shaking my head at the weird sensation I followed once more.

"I’m beginning to feel like a stalker." I grumbled to myself.

“Haden, what’s wrong? The girl asked as she watched the boy rip through the room.

“I’ve lost the alpha piece, I play a tournament tomorrow! Haden replied distractedly. And what is a alpha piece and what does it have to do with a tournament? Don't you normally use weapons not, I glanced down at the desk. Puzzle pieces?

“Are you sure?” She asked. She watched, both amused and slightly annoyed, as Haden began to take random books off the shelf, skim through them, and then toss them over his shoulder once he realized his efforts were useless.

“Aa,” muttered Haden, “I left it in our new rulebook and now both it and the Alpha piece are gone.” The girl gasped, turning on her heel and speedily shuffled back to the bathroom, calling out over her shoulder.

“Mmm! I let Travon borrow the book this afternoon when he told me he couldn’t find his. I didn’t know it was in there, sorry. ” She rinsed the excess toothpaste out of her mouth. “I’ll go get it.”

She headed for the stairs, with me still trailing after her. A slender hand thumped against the wall, halting us both abruptly, I back pedaled to keep from going through the girl. Haden leaned in close to the girl, a cat like grin spread across his face.

“It’s getting late Nadine, it can always wait until tomorrow. Besides, isn’t your grandfather still out on a business trip?” I watched as Haden leered and Nadine blushed and hoped that they were not brother and sister.

“We have been pair bonded for what, a month? The monks said that you would be, needy since you gained a body but shessh.” I found myself chuckling as Nadine flushed a brighter red and ducked under Haden’s arm. Wondering about the ‘gaining of a body’ thing, I followed her down the stairs and waited as she pulled a coat on.

“Everything aside Nadine its still eleven thirty at night. Wait until the morning.” Haden called.

“Haden, I’m not a kid anymore. Don’t worry so much. I’ll be back sooner than you can blink, and Travon doesn’t live that far. Besides, it’s better to get the alpha piece back now. You know how clumsy and forgetful Travon can be.” She called back up the stairs. I looked up into Haden’s slightly worried eyes for a moment and watched him finger the unusual ring that I had noticed Nadine wearing a twin of. I heard the door open and hurried after Nadine, anxious to catch up, I did not want to see if I could walk through a door.

It was almost worth the annoyance of being forced to follow a girl I knew nothing about to watch her hurry down the streets. Once she gave a rather bunny like squeal of fright when another person frightened her. Despite moving her little feet as fast as she apparently could I found no problem keeping up with her.

Just as I was beginning to wonder if she was lost Nadine walked up to a small building and knocked on the door. While she waited I studied the odd-looking building, it looked to be made of concrete and fairly boring in a box shaped way. Glancing around I spied more of the same type of buildings. Didn’t people appreciate architecture, I wondered. The sounds of a door opening and Nadine’s sigh of relief drew my attention back to Nadine.

A young man, Trevon, I guessed blinked sleepily at Nadine for a moment.
“What the hell are you doing at my house this late? We’ve got school tomorrow and for once I was actually sleeping well. What do you want?” Travon growled at Nadine. I smirked as Nadine smiled at Travon and shook her head.

“Sorry to wake you up, this late and all, but you know that rulebook you borrowed?” Nadine waited until Travon grunted something close to an affirmative.

“Haden’s alpha piece is in the rulebook, and he needs it back in order to play in tomorrows tournament.” Travon scratched at the back of his head and yawned.

“You woke me up for a rulebook? I am gonna kill… wait? Haden’s alpha piece is in the book?” Trevor turned away as Nadine nodded and disappeared back into the house.

I swore I heard Travon mutter something along the lines of ‘I hate you and now I’m going to kill you with my mental ray of death’. Shaking my head I leaned carefully against a wall and sighed happily when I did not phase through. I amused myself and passed the time by testing the invisibility, passing my hand in front of Nadine’s face and trying to touch her with out phasing through her. It seemed to take forever for Travon to return with the mauve transparent piece that to me looked like nothing more than a puzzle piece. Nadine thanked Travon, a giggle escaped her and I looked up. Travon stood in the doorway, asleep in his feet. Nadine gently pushed Travon towards his bed.

“Go back to bed Travon.” I stood behind Nadine and watched until Nadine closed the door, sure Travon wasn’t going to run into anything. I watched Nadine start back the way we came and shook my head, this girl was simply too sweet to be real.

My thoughts spun as I tried to figure out exactly what was going on, I had come to a couple of conclusions. One, this was the longest and strangest dream ever. Two, it was real, I was dead and I was supposed to be some sort of guardian for this girl. That alone brought up a sore spot for me, just how was I supposed to protect her if I couldn’t really touch anything. The last thing that occurred to me was it wasn’t a dream. I wasn’t dead or insane or even asleep then I must be watching something, but why? I was beginning to hate that word, why.

I looked up as Nadine shivered and hugged her jacket tighter to her body, her breath steaming out as the temperature dropped steadily.

“It’s really cold all of a sudden. Well, I’m almost home, just few more blocks.”

Nadine quickened her pace, the soles of her shoes scraping quietly at the concrete. The odd little house that Nadine and I have come from finally came into view and I was glad to see it. It meant that we could get out of the cold, while I couldn’t feel a thing watching Nadine shiver sent sympathy shivers down my spine.

“Hey, what about that little girl?” A slightly accented voice carried through the still night.

“Oh come on, look at her, she’s too slender to be on any use.” I looked around for the source of the voices as some one answered the first voice.

“Who cares as long as the master is pleased. Besides, fresh meat is fresh meat.”
In front of me Nadine froze her eyes wide as she also looked around for the source of the conversation.

“Nadine, stop being stupid and run!” I hissed at her, there was a sinking feeling in my chest, I knew something horrible was going to happen to this sweet, naive girl. I tried to push her and simply stumbled through her.

“Oh come on! What am I supposed to do?” I yelled angrily up at the sky

“I’ll get her.” The first voice floated to my ears and I turned to see to shadowy figures appear from virtually nowhere and corner the petite girl. Nadine stared up at them. I envisioned a scene similar to wild dogs ripping into a cute harmless bunny.

In the wispy light of the new moon and random pools of distant streetlamps the two strangers looked evil. The first was a male, several years older than Nadine with wild flame colored hair and nearly crazed blue eyes. Tall and lanky, he towered over both Nadine and his companion, a girl perhaps two years older than Nadine. Her long red hair shimmered in the dark like blood pooled on stone, vibrant grey eyes glittered strangely in the half light. I looked at the two, their flat and strangely empty eyes gleamed with danger and viciousness, a shudder of revulsion worked its way through me.

“Congratulations and welcome to the group!” The girl chirped suddenly, her bright voice at odds with the scene. Before Nadine could react, before I could try to intervene again the man swung a long pipe, it connected with the side of Nadine’s head with a sickening crunch.

I growled and launched myself at the pair as Nadine hit the pavement in a boneless heap. A shrill , angry shriek tore itself out of my throat as I passed through them and ran into the wall. A faint tingle at the back of my mind along with a quiet voice, making me pause for just a moment.

“Haden… help…” The soft voice faded from my mind and I looked down at Nadine. Had I intercepted some sort of mental communication between the pair? Clinching my fists, I followed the two as they carried Nadine away. I paid no attention to the single tear that rolled down my cheek.

[Moonlit Raven]

“Gods damn it!” I railed as I found myself in a large building, empty except for the chairs to which many young men and women were chained to. It was fairly dark in the building; little light was let in from the small, high windows. I found myself squinting as I bent over to look at the person nearest to me. A soft moan from near by made me look around; Nadine was chained to a chair off to my left.

The girl moaned again and her eyes slowly opened. Kneeling by her I could see that her pupils were uneven, her eyes rather glazed. Poor girl has a concussion, I bet her head is absolutely killing her. Doing a quick head count, I found over twenty people chained to chairs all in the same state as Nadine. Who in the world wants these kids, why kidnap them? I wondered.

Bright light suddenly poured down from an unknown source in the ceiling, most of the people around me flinched at the bright light. I stepped around to stand behind Nadine’s chair and resigned myself to the role of merely watching everything. Nadine looked to the person closest to her, a girl no older than twelve.

“Where are we?” She asked, her voice slightly horse. The young girl shrugged, her expression bored as if this were an everyday occurrence for her. I shook her head in pity, noticing the terror poorly hidden in the girl’s eyes.

“Aren’t you Nadine Dreyer? I saw you and your soul bonded on the news the other day? The girl asked. I felt a brow rise in surprise. Nadine was well known? A smile tugged at the edges of my mouth as I ‘over heard’ Nadine mutter about the monks stupid need to show off every time they successfully created a pair bond. Nadine nodded after a moment, winching at the motion.

“Neat! I’m Ashlynn. Anyways, I was going outside to get my bike, mom always yells at me when it gets left out. As if anyone would steal that piece of junk. Something hit me in the head and the next thing I know I’m in this place.” Around us several of the people conscious nodded and murmured that the same thing happened to them.

Loud footsteps echoed into the room, I looked around as everyone grew silent, fear clearly etched on their features. Why kids? Why pick on them? What could a child do that that an adult could not? I looked down at Nadine as she made a distressed noise; I wished I could just for a moment comfort her in some way. Another noise filtered into the room, the sound of someone crying hysterically. An angry voice yelled something rendered unintelligible through the walls, a moment later there was the sound of flesh striking flesh and the crying died off.

“What kind of place is this?” Nadine whispered. I nodded, also wondering just what in the world was going on.

[Moonlit Raven]

Elena awoke gasping, a sob caught in her throat. She sat up, one hand reaching up to wipe away the tears that cooled on her cheeks. Was it only a dream? She wondered. Her face creased in confusion and worry. A warm tingle from her left hand made her look down at it; the crystal was clenched in her hand. Despite her best efforts Elena found that she could not willingly or forcibly let it go, her hand remained firmly clenched around it.

A small tingle of fear raced through her as she looked at the crystal. It looked like such a beautiful, innocent thing yet obvious it was more than what it appeared to be. Is this the cause of my dream? Elena wondered, staring at the crystal, the shimmering depths pulling her into them the longer she stared at them. A sudden wash of bright sunlight made her throw up a hand to protect her eyes.

Elena heard a gasp and looked over the edge of her hand, blinking watering eyes at Avery. He stood in the opening for a moment before rushing in and surprising Elena with a hug that bordered on rough. Elena coughed slightly as her ribs protested the rough treatment. Lightly she patted Avery’s shoulder.

“Hey, what’s wrong with you?” Elena asked as gently as she could, Avery seemed a little frazzled to her. Her puzzlement grew worse when Avery sat back and looked at her with truly worried eyes.

“Avery? What happened? Is something wrong with Skie?” Avery shook his head silently, his hands restlessly touching her shoulders, arms and hands. Elena grabbed both hands in a firm grip.

“Okay, talk to me, your scaring me.” Elena jumped slightly at a mirthless laugh from Avery.

“You happened? You collapsed right at the gates of the city. The healers were unable to wake you, you’ve been asleep for nearly a full day. That crystal in your hand, you’ve had a death grip on it the whole time? I’m scaring you? Songbird, just what happened? Is this some human pregnancy thing that the healers don’t know about?” Avery paused and took a deep breath, raking a hand through his hair.

“I’ve been worried, I don’t know what is happening.” Elena drew him into a hug, resting her cheek on his hair. She drew Avery back on to the cradle like bed to lay beside her, her free hand intertwined with her husbands.

“I’m not sure what is going on. I’m not exactly the pregnancy expert, but I don’t think my being pregnant has anything to do with my collapse. I think, that this crystal had something to do with it. I can’t get my hand to let go of it. Not to mention the horrible dream I had.” Elena broke off with a yawn, and then grinned sheepishly at Avery.

“It’s odd, I’m still kind of sleepy.” Another yawn ended her sentence; a wave of exhaustion accompanied the yawn. Turning over Elena snuggled into Avery, the spicy yet cool scent that was apart of him relaxing her, making her feel safe.

“I’m sorry love, I’m just tired. I hope I don’t have that dream again.” Elena let her words slur as she drifted off, she smiled slightly for Avery when she felt the light touch of his lips on her cheek.

~~~
The door on the farthest wall was flung open, the darkness of the halls beyond it made it seem out of place, eerie. Like the gaping maw of some unknown predator. The people around me shivered, a cool wind chilling them. A man stepped into the room, wearing formal looking clothing. He leaned slightly on a cane bearing the head of a snake once he came to a stop. The man’s face was gaunt, hollowed as if there was no true substance to him. His skin was yellow tinged, and pulled tightly over the skull. Grey hair was slicked back with every strand neatly in place. The oddest feature had to be the man’s eyes, they were completely silver as if he had plucked the eyes from his skull and replaced silver orbs in their place. Madness, greed and rage shimmered in them.

I found myself backing away from this man, my skin trying to crawl off of me. The man wasn’t a demon but he didn’t feel human either. I didn’t know what he was. A small growl caught me off guard; I looked around before I realized that of all things the sound had come from Nadine.

“So this is the newest batch of recruits, Birseis? The man asked some one behind him, in the dark hall.

“Yes, Master.” A girl’s voice answered him. I connected the voice instantly to the woman that assaulted Nadine from earlier. I guessed from the quiet noise Nadine made that she also came to the same assumption as I did.

“Excellent.” The man stood before the crowd of restrained kids, studying them. His lips skinned back in an animalistic smile. His eyes traveled for person to person, seeming to study them and finding some thing in each person he liked. His gaze skimmed over me, leaving me froze to my core. He looked to Nadine last, for a moment I though I saw, a little surprise and fear, but it was there and gone so fast I might have imagined it.

I was surprised to find Nadine openly glaring at the man, no trace of fear lurking in her eyes. The man’s smile widened at the challenge.

“Welcome, my new recruits. You have been picked to become part of my legion. You are now nothing more than my puppets, regardless of anything you think, feel, say or do. You belong to me, no one else. You will follow the orders I give you. From now on it is the only thing you will ever do.” The man rapped his cane on the stone floor several time, the noise ringing loudly.

“Give me your names.”

Slowly, one by one they gave their names as told to. I could see that at this point they were too terrified to do anything. The man looked at Nadine, his expression expectant, confidant of the hold he had over these children.

“Why are you doing this?” Nadine yelled. I looked at Nadine, surprised that this sweet girl had enough backbone to resist being cowed along with the others. The man continued to look at Nadine, all traces of his former smile gone.

“I asked for your name, not for you to question me.” The pseudo pleasant tone he had been using vanished.

“Pretty much everyone here knows my name! Why don’t you tell me yours and what you’re doing!” I was surprised at Nadine venomous tone, and more than a little proud of her. The man raised a brow; he turned the girl that stood in the hall.

“Get the box.” He snarled. There was the sound of footsteps fleeing down the hall.

“Your disobedience will stop soon enough.” The man paused and seemed to compose himself; I flinched away from the madness in his smile.

“Don’t worry my dear. All too soon you will be most familiar with my name, but I will never be anything but Master to you.” His gaze raked over the children, he seemed satisfied when they tried to shrink into the chairs. The girl with vibrant red hair reappeared, carrying a box. She held it out from her body, as if afraid of its contents.
The man took the box, gently stroking the lid before laying his hand on it.

“What’s that?” Ashlynn asked. Her voice little more than a quiet squeak. I glanced around from the thing that pretended to be human to Nadine and the other children’s terrified faces and wonder once more why it was I was seeing this.

“This is just a container for my greatest creation.” The man opened the box. Inside thousands of snake-like things writhed and crawled over one another. The box seemed to hold more of the creatures than was physically possible, as if the interior had an infinite amount of space. I retched and turned away, wishing I could wake up. I heard Nadine whisper a plea to her gods and added my own plea that these children be let free.

The man a hand at the rim of the box, one of the creatures slid on to his palm and coil there. The snake appeared to be made of liquid crystal, green yet purples and blues shimmered through its core. Each scale was perfectly etched; the brilliant emerald green eyes seemed to glow as if it lived.

The snake straightened, raising itself up on it tail, swaying it hissed at the man. Several more of the snakes spilled on to the man’s palm and the man nodded as if agreeing with the snake. He closed the box then lowered his hand to the floor; the snakes quickly slithered to the children. I watched horrified as the children screamed and writhed in their bonds as the snake wound its way up to their necks.

A slender snake curled around the neck of a child, catching its tail in its mouth and stilling, looking like nothing more than an unusual piece of jewelry that fit snuggly against the throat. With the ‘latching’ of the necklace the screams and thrashing stopped abruptly, and each child bowed their heads in submission. I turned, a frustrated sounding hiss drew me back to Nadine, the snake lay at her feet. It swayed on it tail and hissed at Nadine, lunging at her them falling away as if it had struck something. On her hand Nadine’s ring glowed white.

“What is this? Take that ring off of her, now!” The man shouted. The red haired girl jumped and quickly made her way to Nadine. Nadine clenched her hand, against the girl’s attempts to take away the ring.

“Please, don’t touch it. Its Haden’s link.” Nadine pleaded. I reached out to stop the girl from taking the ring, my hand touched the girl’s just as she made contact with the ring, she screamed in pain. I pulled away startled just as she yanked the ring off of Nadine hand. Had I actually touched the girl or was it the touch of the girl that had hurt her? The girl gave Nadine an apologetic glance before she threw the ring out of the near by open window.

Nadine gave away to tears, her head lowered as the snake hissed, coiling itself up to launch itself at Nadine. I turned away, my hands over my ears through it didn’t block out Nadine’s scream at the snake’s touch.

Abruptly I found myself in a different place. I spun around to see the young man, Haden, asleep on the bed. No, nonononono. This is all wrong.

"What kind of world is this?" I yelled at the ceiling. Haden surprised me, his red eyes opening suddenly. He sat up gasping Nadine’s name.

[Moonlit Raven]

I found myself back where I had last been, in the bedroom where I had first seen Nadine and her pair bond, Haden. I wondered why I appeared next to Haden, Nadine needed me. After a moment of thought I decided that Nadine did need help but I could not help her. I simply wanted nothing more than to know what was happening to the innocent young girl.

Haden rolled over, any traces of sleepiness quickly disappearing, and looked at the box displaying numbers that changed often.

“It’s one in the morning?” Haden stared at the box for a moment them quickly scanned the room.

“Nadine, you home?” Haden called, his voice echoing slightly. He crawled off the bed and headed out the door, calling once in a while as he made his way through the house. I followed Haden, wishing that he would find Nadine but already knowing that he would not.

“I’m sorry Haden. I wish I could have helped her.” My words were never heard. I felt little better knowing that at least Haden would never be able to blame me or ask me about Nadine. Haden’s behavior at one point intrigued me, he stood absolutely still, is brow creased in a frown as he concentrated on something. I felt a kind of tickle in the back of my head along with a vague sense of fear from a different direction. After a moment his shoulders slumped a bit, he shook his head.

“She’s probably at Travon’s, it is late. I bet she was just too tired to walk home and decided to sleep there. She must be having a bad dream, all I’m getting is fear, rather hazy at that.” Haden muttered to himself. I shook my head, guessing what I just witnessed and felt had something to do with this pair bond thing Nadine and Haden had. They had some kind of mental link.

“She’s not at your friend’s Haden. Can’t you tell?” Pity mixed with frustration at my uselessness to affect anything. Haden surprised me, instead of heading back up to bed he grabbed a strange device. After tapping several of the numbered buttons he held it against his ear. He chewed on his lower lip, obviously waiting for something. I stared as I heard the sleepy voice of Travon issue from the device.

“Travon?” Haden asked, his voice sharp.

“Uh? Haden, what do you want? It’s like one thirty in the morning.” I looked at the device Haden held. It was only one thirty? I thought it would have been later than that. It occurred to me that just like my appearing by Haden this time I must have also been set back in time.

“Oh gods, that would mean its right around the time when they took the protection, the ring off of Nadine.” I whispered to myself. I didn’t want to relive what happened to Nadine, it had been horrible enough the first time.

“I’m sorry Travon, but is Nadine over there?”

“No, she left over an hour ago. Hasn’t she come home yet?” Travon’s voice sounded distinctly more awake, worry treaded it way through his voice too.

“She... isn’t here.” I moved closer to Haden, the poor guy radiated worry. I felt a distant surge of fear and pain in the back of my mind, beside me Haden stiffened.

“Haden, we gotta find her. There’s no telling wha…” Travon was cut off as Haden dropped the phone and clutched his head, screaming. I reached out to Haden, my hands passing through him as he fell to his knees. Another scream of anguish came from him before he collapsed completely to the floor, sobbing into his knees.

I could hear Travon’s voice shouting quietly from the phone; ignoring it I knelt by Haden. Tears clouded my vision, as I watched Haden cry. I cursed any and all gods that would allow such things to happen in this world and I curse the crystal for showing them to me.

[Moonlit Raven]

Elena awoke slowly, clawing mentally at the cobwebs that held her in an adamantine grip. It seemed as if an eternity passed before she was finally able to open her eyes. The normally soft glow that emitted from the fungi that grew inside the hollow, burned her eyes. She threw up a hand to cover her eyes and grumbled to herself.

“I see you are awake at last. Avery will be very pleased to hear the news.” Elena turned her head to the source of the noise. Blinking back moisture from the sting the light gave her she stared at the woman that knelt by the bed. A frown creased her brow as she studied the woman’s face.

“I don’t know you.” A few moments later a faint blush tinted her face.

“Excuse me, I’m still a little fuzzy. What is your name?” The woman smiled at her, Elena relaxed, the matronly energy the woman emitted putting her at ease.

“My name is Kariel. I am one of the city’s healers. Avery asked me to look after you while he had to attend his duties.” The woman poked and prodded Elena until she was satisfied that Elena was healthy.

An absence of feeling in her left hand pulled at her attention, Elena looked down to see the crystal still clenched in her fist. She pried at her fingers, trying to get her hand to release the crystal. Frustrated, she sat up to look for anything to shatter the seemingly cursed orb she held. The blood rushed from her head, leaving her faint and swaying. With nothing more than a silent grumble she allowed Kariel to lay her back down.

“You shouldn’t try to move suddenly. You’ve been lying down for a long time. Also, given your condition, you might be prone to fainting.” Elena snorted at the idea of fainting. Elena sipped at the water Kariel offered, allowing her to support her.

“Exactly how long have I been asleep?”

“From the last time of your awakening, almost three days.” Elena stared at Kariel, a ripple of fear crept down her spine. Worried she stared down at the crystal, resting innocently in her immobile hand.

“Has anyone tried to take the crystal from my hand?

“Yes, unless you are willing to have your fingers broken I fear it is impossible to remove it from your hand.”

“Shatter it then, I don’t care if my hand is hurt I just want to be rid of it. I’ve been seeing the oddest things. They don’t feel like dreams, more like I’m watching someone’s memories.” Elena yawned, she looked up at Kariel, fear shinning I her normally cool eyes.

“I’m being pulled back into that world. Please, find an away to release me.” Another yawn broke Elena’s plea. She felt waves of exhaustion trying to drag her down into the depths.

“I don’t care if you have to break my hand…” Elena slipped into the blackness of sleep. Kariel watched her charge for a moment before hurrying out to inform Avery.

~~~

I found myself standing in a large room, the light too dim to make out any specifics or colors. Nearby in a large bed the occupant sat up and looked around.

“You got what you asked for. Get up, get dressed and pay the woman at the desk.” I started at the sound of the woman’s voice coming from a corner behind me. While remotely familiar it was a quite voice, filled with bitterness, disgust and despair.

“Where’s Keller?” The man broke out in a sweat visible even to me as he stared past me into that dark corner. A laugh came from the figure I could just make out leaning against the wall. The laugh grated on the ears like shattered glass, a mocking echo of the gaiety it once had carried audible. I found myself flinching just as the ugly man on the bed did.

“Keller wasn’t in tonight. So you came to me. Leave.” I smirked as the man hurriedly slid off the bed; he fumbled with his clothing, dropping pieces repeatedly. The woman in the corner snickered. The man finally succeeded in grabbing his clothing and clutched them, covering his groin.

“Thank you Chimera.” The man hesitated at the door, looking out into the hall. I peeked over the man’s shoulder to see a long hall decorated in rich dark colors with a couple of doors along the walls. I wrinkled my nose at the reek of the man, he smelled of sex and rank sweat.

“There’s a bathroom four doors down the hall on your right.” The man nodded and rushed out the door, closing the door loudly after him. As soon as the door had clicked shut Chimera groaned, a sound of revulsion and walked over to the bed. The woman stared down at the wet bed then sat on the floor, leaning her back against the side of the bed.

I hovered near by, unsure why I wasn’t with Nadine or with Haden. I listened to the muttering of the woman as I studied her. Cream colored skin contrasted with waist length black hair. I avoided looking into her face for some reason and simply studied that rest of her nude body. The vague feeling of recognizing her made me uneasy. I knew that I had no personal acquaintances with any woman of ill repute.

“At least that ugly bastard pays well.” I raised a brow at the out burst and wondered just how and why this woman could sell herself to such a repulsive man. In the dim light the woman raised her hand to her neck; I realized that one of the snake-like creatures rested around her throat. Its tiny head tilted to look expectantly at the woman, its emerald eyes glowing brightly.

“Feh, let me rest first you bastard.” The woman muttered. The snake resting around her neck hissed and writhed.

“I’ll come as soon as I clean up, Master.” I shook my head wondering just how it was that the ‘Master’ controlled these people through the snakes. How he managed to communicate with them too. The snake returned to what I guessed was its dormant state, looking like nothing more than an unusual piece of jewelry.

I drifted around the room, uneasy with the woman. She was familiar, too familiar. I pushed away the idea that it could be Nadine or one of the other children I has seen in that building. This woman was simply too old. The woman climbed to her feet, stretching, then winching at an audible pop from her body. She gathered the sheets and blankets from the bed and tossed them towards the wall.

I stepped out of the way, not wanting to have the tainted items pass through me. I looked up just as the woman walked through me, the glimpse of her blue violet eyes held me in place. I turned to watch the girl walk out of the room, not bothering to close the door or put on any clothing. The image of those eyes haunted me. I closed my eyes to deny the thoughts that screamed at me. In those haunted, dead eyes I saw Nadine.

“Gods, how much time has passed? How many years?” I watched as another woman stopped Nadine outside the bathroom door and hurried to catch up.

“Relationship problems?” Nadine snorted derisively at the comment.

“You could say that. Mr. John’s problems are nothing more than a lot of b.s.” The woman smirked and patted Nadine’s shoulder.

“I’ll inform the help that you’re going to see the Master.” The woman tossed her hair and turned to saunter down the stairs in a suggestive manner. Nadine shook her shimmering ebony hair and closed the bathroom door behind her. I stayed in the hall long enough to hear the woman’s voice float up the hall quietly.

“Poor girl.” I stared down the hall towards the stairs and wondered why the woman didn’t help free Nadine if she pitied her. After all, I recognized her as one of the two that had first captured Nadine. Sighing and gritting my teeth I stepped through the door in to the steamy air of the bathroom. It took only a glance at Nadine scrubbing her skin until it was raw for me to hastily back through the door. Even though she didn’t know I was there I didn’t want to invade her privacy.

Twenty minutes passed before the door open to emit a cloud of steam and Nadine wrapped in a towel. Her skin was still reddened from the violent scrubbing I had witnessed. As she walked past me I heard her talking to herself.

“Stupid creature. He better not come back for a while. It takes forever to get the stench out of my room.” I sat in the room’s only chair once Nadine closed the door and began to dress.

Just as she finished buttoning her shirt a soft knock at the door caught me by surprised. I heard a low growl come from Nadine as she stalked over to the door and flung it open. A startled looking girl stood there, both of us watched Nadine walk to a vanity and drag the hairbrush there through her hair with a viscous disregard that I winched at. After a moment I realized the girl had never spoken a word and studied her more closely. She was the girl in the room with the other that had spoken to Nadine, fruitlessly I racked my brain for a name, I was certain that she had given Nadine her name. Minutes ticked by, the girl’s expression became one of injured puzzlement.

The clicking of high heels on a hard surface made me look past the girl in the door way. The red haired woman stopped just behind the girl. Nadine turned a snarled at both of them then pushed past them taking the set of stairs that led up. The red head sighed and looked down at the girl.

“It’s okay Ashlynn. She just got a bad lot.” Ashlynn nodded, understanding blossoming across her petite features and headed down the hall, taking the stairs the led down. I followed the woman as she walked to the stairs leading up. I looked around as we emerged on the roof.

[Moonlit Raven]

I looked around; the rooftop seemed bleak and isolated. Lights twinkled out in the darkness but no light touched the rooftop. Near the edge Nadine put an odd object to her mouth and sucked on it, the tip of it glowed a sullen red for a moment. Nadine exhaled a stream of smoke before tossing the object over the edge. A wind edged with an icy touch blew around the figures of the two women, tossing hair and billowing clothing. I was closed enough to the woman to hear her curse the snake necklaces.

“I can’t believe you of all people started smoking. I mean it tastes horrible.” Nadine looked at the woman as she called a fire from a small box and lit another one of her strange white cylinders. She took several puffs from it before she turned enough to glance at the woman before looking back out into the darkness, ignoring the sounds of the city rising up around us.

I shook my head and wondered what had become of the Haden and Nadine. How the passage of time had affected them. I sat on the ledge close to Nadine and wished that I could do something to bring back the innocent girl I had first met. This bitter hard woman was a stranger with Nadine’s eyes.

“Birseis, how would you know what sort of person I once was? Besides, one bad taste cancels out the other.” The woman, Birseis scoffed quietly and stepped up beside Nadine. I looked down watching the strange technology work in this world. Smells of pollution and death reached my nose. Odd noises and the often angry voices of people far below us echoed up in the spaces of buildings set far too close together. This city was a place of death, I wondered if it had ever been a nice place to live.

“You’ve changed Chimera. When I first met you, you had this light of joy with you. You’ve murdered your own joy, destroyed your own happiness and tainted it until it’s blackened to the color of death. Most of the time I would say in my line of business it’s a good thing but with you…” Birseis trailed off. Nadine laughed that shattered glass laugh, one that made a chill run down my spine.

“Funny, what would my past life say to that?” I leaned away from the venomous mocking tone Nadine used. I looked at her trying to see anything left of the girl that was once Nadine. The defensively hunched, silhouetted figure was a mix of artificial light and moonlight. It seemed as if nothing I had once seen was present any more.

More than just the mental changes that changed her into a stranger Nadine had grown physically. She was taller, slender to the point of looking almost frail if it were not for the hard muscles that moved beneath her skin. Those muscles spoke of years of unbearable labor. The way she moved, carried herself, the way she sounded was different, yet ever so slightly the same. If was as if the true Nadine was buried far beneath the surface. As if the bitter angry woman standing there had been pushed into Nadine and melded into her.

I could see no happiness in her, and it hurt me in a way I hadn’t know was possible. It was as if a creature and come along and snuffed out the last remaining candle that kept the darkness at bay. I caught a glimmer of tears in Briseis’ eyes.

“You’ve changed so much, more than any other person the Master has caught in his nets. I’ve watched you for the six years you’ve been with us. There is sadness in you, it affects those around you. I watched others become frightened, angry or break into tears when in the same room as you.

"I once saw your eyes filled with hope, and a kindness that you extended to the others. Now all I see is hate and insanity eating away at you. Don’t you understand you are different from the rest of us? You are able to escape, you can become anyone.” I shivered keeping my eyes locked on the soft lights in the darkness. What have they done to Nadine? An amused laugh tore the short silence that had risen.

“Escape? It’s been almost seven years Birseis. Do you think I haven’t tried? Our Master controls me just as much as he does the others. Yes, I could changed, become another person, but tell me. What good would it do? What good would it do when I have this damned snake bound to my soul. Even if I did kill myself I would still be forced to serve him. He sends bit of dreams to all of us to taunt us with the past just to watch us squirm all the more to escape. To recover what we once had.” I watched Nadine, her chest rose and fell quickly, her eyes once dead now lit with anger. Not even death can free you, you poor woman.

Wrapping my arms around my knees, I waited for them to resume their conversation. Everything they said horrified to me to no end. I could fathom a creature so evil that it would and could capture a person’s soul. Compelling them to do as he wished even beyond death. A short harsh cry snapped me out of my thoughts. The snake around Nadine’s throat glowed a sickly green as it writhed against her skin. Nadine knelt awkwardly on the stone roof, one hand at her throat and the other bracing her.

“Chimera!” Nadine shoved Birseis’ helping hand away and rose on shaky feet.

“Damn you and this place.” Nadine spat breathlessly, she rested against the ledge inches away from me, her head lowered. Birseis hovered over Nadine, reaching out to touch her but seemingly to think better of that action.

“To any god that may listen, let me die tonight once the Master is done with me.” Nadine’s voice fell heavily in the silence. She turned and headed towards the door with out another word. Birseis watched her leave, thick tears sliding down her face as her lips moved in what I took as a wordless prayer.

I wished that Birseis’ and Nadine’s prayers to be heard but in my heart I knew that the gods had stop listening a long time ago.

[Moonlit Raven]

Elena awoke easily this time. The abnormal pull of the crystal’s sleep was absent. For a long time Elena laid there, enjoying the fact that she was awake and the warmth of her husband’s body next to her. The sound of his deep, even breathing soothing to her, as was the arm that rested over her waist.

Finally growing uncomfortable she rolled over to face him, smiling a bit at the tightening of his grip on her waist. Lightly she touched his face, stroking it. She arched a brow at the grumbled of protest as he woke up.

“Avery.” Elena whispered quietly. Avery opened his eyes and stared at her for several long moments. Elena was startled when Avery’s eyes widened and he grabbed her.

“Avery?”

“Your wake!”

“Yeah, how long was I out this time?” Elena smiled at the odd look Avery gave her.

“A week.” Elena sighed, wondering how long she would be asleep next time.

“Okay, I have the feeling I have more time this time than before. So just listen to me okay?” Elena waited for Avery to nod before she began telling him about the dreams. She rushed, the ticking of a clock in the back of her mind telling her that eventually she would be dragged back into that world. Minutes passed before Avery spoke after she was done telling him of the dreams.

“Elena, I’m not sure if we should break the crystal. Perhaps it is meant that you are to see the story of those two young people.” Elena stared at him, speechless for once.

“The things that have happened are horrible and the dreams are showing me what I think is only the beginning. The kids were ripped apart for each other! I think that being pair bonded is similar to the Moontae finding their soul mate.” Avery winched at the thought of one of the rare Moontae with a soul mate being torn from their mate. With out warning Elena yawned, she shook her head when Avery clutched her tighter to him.

“I’m sorry Avery.” Elena felt her eyes begin to droop with sleepiness. She met the next wave of sleepiness head on and let it take her.

~~~~~
I became aware of my surroundings; the dark roof top was gone as was Birseis. Turning to examine my surroundings I fervently hoped I would not see what ever it was that Nadine had prayed so fervently to die after. At a near by table sat Haden, he stared forward, his eyes quiet and distant. I was more than a little startled at the boy’s appearance. He seemed as if he were slowly wasting away. I finally noted Travon when he moved and spoke.

“Haden? Hey, you alright?” Travon reached out and gently touched Haden, breaking him from his silent reverie. Haden looked around blankly for a moment before his gaze settled on Travon.

“Yes? Oh. I’m fine.” Haden said, his mouth pulled into a tight and obviously artificial smile. Travon shook his head, pity flickering through his eyes almost too quickly for me to catch.

“You’ve been thinking about Nadine again.” Travon quietly said, pain flickered across Haden’s face before he closed his eyes and nodded.

“I’ve been having dreams.”

“We’ll find her, Haden. For now, let’s try to enjoy ourselves. It’s thanks to you that Nadine’s uncle is opening up his third shop. Throwing yourself into the game after Nadine’s disappearance and the tournaments you won afterwards have made you famous. Most of the people at the store opening are here hoping to challenge you to a mate. Besides, tomorrow we travel to Caledonia. You never know we might find her there.” Travon patted Haden on the shoulder.

“I’m sure where ever Nadine is, she’s fine.” I shook my head at Travon’s useless words of hope, knowing them to be false. Nadine nodded, skepticism obvious. I was glad that Haden didn’t know of the thing Nadine had become. Glad that I was not visible and could not talk to them. There was not point in explaining it to Travon or to Haden. It would only frighten them, and what use was that?

A woman perhaps a little older than Haden and Travon suddenly came up beside Travon. The bright smile on her face faded quickly at the melancholy the radiated from Haden.

“You do realize that the surrounding twenty or so people are violently depressed, right? If you get any more depressing everyone within a three block radius are all going to burst into tears! Haden, we all miss Nadine, but come on. It’s been almost seven years. She could be alive but she’s probably six-feet-under by now. Just suck it up and move on.” I stared at the woman completely at a lost for words, the sheer callousness stunned me for a moment. Travon surprised me by standing up, knocking his chair over. The amount of anger that gleamed in his eyes, made me smile. I’m glad Haden has at least one sympathetic friend. I can’t believe he knows this woman.

“You’re such a pessimistic bitch! What, you want Haden to forget Nadine and chase you?”

“Travon, that quite enough.” Haden said loudly, showing more animation than he had previously had been. “It’s alright, Chloe has every right to say such things.” Travon looked from Haden to Chloe, he huffed as she picked up his chair and fell into it.

“I still think she’s a bitch.” Travon muttered. Haden cast him an exasperated and amused glance. I watched as the woman glared at Travon for a moment then tugged at the jade shirt that matched her eyes before setting across Travon at the table.

“I’m sorry the way that came out, Haden. It’s…” Haden waved a hand to stop Chloe.

“I understand, Chloe. You’re right. It has nearly been seven years. Unless Nadine has come to hated me for some reason or another, she is probably deceased. But,” he paused a minute to set down his glass. “She is probably alive. If she wasn’t, I’d be dead as well.”

“Don’t say things like that, Haden,” Chloe said, “You’re perfectly healthy…” She was stopped by a severe glare from the other. Travon glanced from one to another.

“If Nadine dies, or destroys the ring that bound us, I lose this body.” His voice was sharp. “Unless everyone’s forgotten, I’m not human. I never had a corporal form until Nadine agreed to bond with me. I existed solely as a spirit.

“This body of mind is made up of holy magic, parts of Nadine’s being that she had willingly given up, and a few other things I’d rather not mention in a public place. Without the balance held together by a few strings of Nadine’s mind, I would die again. My soul would be sucked back into the realm I came from.

“Yes, Nadine is alive, but she hasn’t had worn or had access to her ring for a very long time. Do you understand what I am saying?” He looked at the two hard. Realization dawned on the two of them, and they looked at Haden in pity and horror.

“You mean…” Travon said shakily, pointing a finger at the innocent looking ring that rested on Haden’s finger.

“I need to speak with Alan. Tell Uncle I’ll be down shortly,” he said, exiting into the back room to be alone. Travon and Chloe looked at each other worriedly. After a moment I followed Haden. I watched Haden pick up a device similar to what I had seen Haden used when Nadine was first taken. I could hear a faint high pitched ringing coming from it. For several long moments he waited patiently, holding the device to his ear.

“Yes?” An irritated voice said.

“Alan.” It seemed to me as if Haden was vaguely amused by the person speaking to him. I wondered if most people in this world had some problem with being polite.

“Oh, it’s you. What is it?”

“Is there any chance that we can leave tonight?” There was a pause, the only sound being faint clicking thumps. Vaguely I wished that I knew what was going on and how things worked. Many things in this world confused me, yet people used the objects like it was an everyday occurrence.

“Who pissed you off this time?” Alan’s voice drew me from my compilation of technology.

“I’m not angry.” Haden shifted from foot to foot before leaning back against the wall.

“You’re a terrible liar.”

“It’s nothing, all right? I’d just like to leave sooner. Can we do that?”

“Already done.” Haden blinked owlishly in surprise. “We leave in three hours.” There was another pause. “Are you sure you’re all right?” Haden exhaled slowly.

“I’m not sure I can take much more of this.”

“That’s bull!” snapped a second voice. “You’re only twenty-four. What can you be tired about?” Haden looked at the object in his hand, raising an eyebrow impassively. There came a faint, quiet argument that issued from the object. I thought that the second person was Alan’s sister. I smirked and guessed that it was Alan’s younger sister.

“I’ll send Roland to pick you up at six. Be ready.” The line clicked then a loud tone monotone came from it. Haden groaned, falling back onto a nearby stool. He looked out the window, where a late summer rain was lightly falling, causing the asphalt to steam.

“Where are you?”

[Moonlit Raven]

Following Haden, I found myself trapped in a series of metals room. A loud noise permeated the walls to create a dull roar that was inescapable. One glance out of a window had convinced me to not look out again. The ground lay far below us. Nearly half a day passed before I stood on solid ground. Half formed curses drifted through my mind and I vowed that I would not board the transport that had carried everyone to a new land.

I watched as Haden swayed weakly from side to side, knees shaking and making it a struggle to remain standing. He blinked slowly once, and then shook his head as if to clear his vision. Beads of sweat ran down from his pounding temples as he struggled to keep his breathing even. Thus far, the crowd had yet to notice his sickly appearance, but for all he knew that could change at any time. I worried for him and wondered if his illness was from the lack of contact with Nadine.

The young girl I learned over the trip was the second voice that had issued from the ‘phone’ looked at him sideways, continuing to face the audience with a barely contained grin, but her dark eyebrows knitted in concern.

“Just hang on, alright?” she mumbled out of the corner of his mouth. “A few more minutes and we can escape.” Haden nodded mutely.

These people are so long winded! Can’t they see that Haden is sick, he needs to rest. Damn them! I found myself angry on Haden’s behalf. The poor guy looked like he was likely to collapse at any moment. I could tell by the way that Alan kept looking at Haden behind his glasses that he was becoming irritated with him.

I raised a brow as I spied Haden’s left hand. After a moment I leaned closer just to make sure what I was seeing was correct. Less than a foot away from him I knelt down and studied his hand. From the center of his palm down to the fingertips, Haden’s hand was distinctly transparent. I blinked then looked again, watching as the ghostly phenomena slowly crept up until his entire hand was transparent.

Haden glanced at his hand, a frown etched into his pained face and clenched his hand. Just as slowly as his hand had gone transparent it turned solid. When it was done I heard Haden take a deep ragged breath. I stood and patted his shoulder careful not to pass my hand through him.

I felt a little ripple of desperation pass through me. A moment later I felt and heard the mental link that Nadine and Haden has shared buzz in the back of my head once again. I caught no words but the depth of fear, desperation and exhaustion shook me. I bit my lip to keep from crying and I finally understood the severity of Haden’s situation. He was running out of time, out of energy and out of hope. Piece by piece he was losing himself to the spirit realm that he had been called from and with everything he had he fought it.

The black clothing he wore in the warm night air only severed to make him look deathly pale. Dark tinted glass covered his eyes. I had seen that his eyes gleamed disturbingly bright on the trip. I heard a low buzz of voices and turned to see what was going on. A group of younger, informally dress people had arrived. Out of the buzz of voices I caught the word vampire. Intrigued, I moved towards them, using the fact that I passed through everything to get closer. After several moments of listening to their gossip I began laughing despite myself. These people believed that Haden was a vampire with the power to appear in sunlight for short periods of time. None knew that he was a soul bonded spirit. Still chuckling I hurried to catch up to Haden and Mairead, Alan’s younger sister, as they left.

I glanced back to see Alan looking at them indignant at being left behind to deal with the clamor of people asking questions about something called a theme park.

“Sorry Alan.” Mairead called as she slid into the dim interior of a metal box on wheels and after Haden. Hesitating for a second I dove into the box and hoped that it would stay in the ground this time. Sitting beside Haden on the soft seats within the now moving metal box I watched Mairead giggle and bounce. Her infectious glee at leaving her older brother to deal with the crowd of people made me chuckle. It even drew a small smile from Haden. Mairead stopped laughing, leaning forward somewhat.

“Haden, I have a very serious warning to give you. It will frighten you more than anything ever will. Are you prepared to handle it?” She spoke stoically, but her brown eyes twinkled mischievously.

“. . . Yes?” Haden said uncertainly. Mairead glanced from side to side, as if expecting to find a third party and leaned forward even more, and whispered gravely.

“You’re turning into my brother.” Haden smiled, a soft chuckling escaping his throat. Mairead grinned; I applauded the girl’s efforts mentally.

“There you go! You really need to smile more often, Haden. To be so damn depressing has got to be difficult. I mean, sure, you’re dying. You’re lifeline/bond mate has vanished off the face of the earth, and all you can do anymore is to challenge insane, game obsessed people and stomp pathetic newcomers, but you really need to lighten up.” Haden looked at the teen, raising a wickedly straight eyebrow in silent amusement.

“Well, if you put it that way, I guess I should be skipping merrily down the streets throwing flowers at people.” Mairead smirked and leaned back.

That’s a little extreme, but sure, why not? I’d love to see you degenerate into Chole, may she rest in peace wherever she is.” Mairead pulled a hair band from her wrist and tied her long dark brown hair back sloppily. “So, how’re you feeling?” Haden groaned, slapping his hand over his pointed face in reply. The girl smiled at him.

“Well, I’ll leave you alone. I’m sure Alan will be leaving for home as soon as possible. leaving us to deal with all of this nonsense for a week . . . or three. You rest up; I’ll be out with some friends for a while. We’ve got some fans of our own to deal with this evening.”

“That explains the change of clothes,” Haden said wryly, looking the freshly changed Mairead up and down. She wore a fashionable black and orange-striped sweater, a pair of black and silver camouflage pants, and mammoth black army boots that went up to just below the kneecap with striped silver and orange laces. There were strange various leather accessories littering her body, accompanied by a lock-shaped necklace, a skull earrings, and a small round piercing in her eyebrow. I shook my head not sure to be appalled at how this young woman dressed or applaud her bravery on wearing such outrageous clothing.

“Yes, well, it’s comfortable.” Mairead's cheeks reddened. I smiled at the affection that was the undercurrent in the conversation and wondered how Haden and Mairead’s older brother kept up with this lively girl.

“If Alan calls, I’ll tell him you’re doing something educational and dull. Just don’t do anything too stupid, alright?” I started to shake my head then stopped, realizing that I had done quite a bit of that since my dreams of this world had begun.

“Thank you.” The metal box slowed to a stop, and I quickly stepped out before Haden. He paused mid-way through shutting the door to look back at the youth.
“At the risk of sounding like a concerned guardian, try to be back before midnight, even if it’s just to ease your brother’s nerves. Frankly, I know you can handle yourself, but Alan still thinks you’re a child.” Glancing around the lavishly decorated space I slowly drifted after Haden. Shinning doors open in the wall to reveal a mirrored room. Grumbling, I followed Haden the doors closed and with a jerk the room began to move almost imperceptibly.

“What is it with you people? Why must you constantly confine yourselves to metal rooms that move about so.” A loud ding sounded just before the doors opened and I hurried forward, passing through Haden without a thought. I turned as I heard him gasp, Haden still stood within the mirrored room, his arms twined about his body as if he were cold. After several moments he finally stepped out and walked down the hall. I watched him, wondering.

It occurred to me that he was a spirit or originally had been. The body he had now was returning to what ever it had once been. I wondered if I could finally make some form of contact. Haden stood before a door, using a key to open it, shaking off the thoughts I hurried to catch up.

Less than half a dozen steps from Haden I wondered why he had not entered the room yet. Catching up to his I looked over his shoulder into the room. Well, that might be the reason Haden hasn’t walked in yet. I thought derisively to myself. A trio, two men and a woman, sat in Haden’s room.

A glance at Haden’s expression told me that there was no way he was going to stay in the same room with them. I glared at the people; an immediate distrust had sprung up in me regarding the two men. The shorter of the two men looked wild and unpredictable; his twin looked a bit safer. The woman on the other hand seemed sweet in a very harassed, timid manner. I stay to watch the people while Haden disappeared through another door, the sound of the lock engaging echoing in the quite room.

“I think it may have been a bad idea to surprise Haden.” One of the men said to the other. I glanced from one man to the other, trying to pound the slight differences in the twins into my head.

Over the course of the next eight hours I watched the trio fight over a small black rectangle that controlled a picture box. Well, it was actually the two men the fought while the woman tried to get them to stop. All arguing and fighting stopped the moment that the door was flung open. A rumpled looking Haden glared into the room, a length of metal pipe held in his hand. I found myself cringing backwards when his luminous gaze passed over me.

I could hear him cursing under his breath as he stalked over to the trio and snatched up the thing they were fighting over. With a snarl he tossed it out of the open window. Glaring at the trio for a moment he walked over to the picture box. The three protested loudly when Haden swung the pipe in hand into the picture box. It exploded in a mass of shrapnel, wires, and lights.

“Now, shut up and let me rest.” Haden snarled at them. I stared, astonished at the unexpected violence. After a moment Haden walked back into the darkened room and closed the door behind him.

[Moonlit Raven]

Sleep slid easily back, releasing Elena into the world, if only for a short time. Elena could feel the need to sleep coiled in the back of her head. It waited for the moment it could drag her back into the dreams once more.

Raising her head Elena noted that no one was in the hollowed out tree she called home. A small pitcher of water rested near by on top of the trunk. She became aware of the fact that she was terribly thirsty. Sitting up and moving the four feet required to get to the water was a harrowing feat. The floors had the tendency of moving disturbingly on her, as if they were not solid.

Finally she rested on the floor, leaning against the trunk. Elena gulped down the water as fast as she could swallow it. Setting the pitcher a side and gasping for air she decided to write down the newest occurrences for Avery to read. Digging out parchment, an ink well and a quill Elena sighed. Quietly she thanked her mentor for making her learn to read and write while she lived with him, then set to recording the details of the dream.

More than a little surprised at still being conscious Elena laid the pieces of parchment aside to dry. Carefully levering herself to her feet, she paced the modest sized space. Carefully working muscles that were beginning to entropy with lack of use. She looked down at the crystal clenched in her hand. After several minutes she realized that there were several minute fractures running through out the crystal.

Elena studies these fractures, certain that they had not been there before. The fractures gave the impression that the crystal has been struck. A small hope began to form in Elena that she wouldn’t have to see the horrible dream the crystal gave her to the end. Everything in her screamed the nothing good would occur, nothing but hardship and death lay in the future. Elena cast about for something hard enough to hit the crystal against. A wave of sleepiness pulled at her.

“Figures you wouldn’t let me break you.” She muttered under her breath, vowing that this was the last time the crystal would drag her into its world. With vision blurred from the unnatural exhaustion the crystal caused Elena stumbled back to the bed. Glaring ruefully at the crystal she let herself tumble back into sleep.

~~~~~

I experienced new phenomena once I became aware of myself in the dreams. I watched both Haden and Nadine, now called Chimera, at the same time. I was unable to move after them as I wished. Uneasy, I realized that I couldn’t even catch a glimpse of my own body. A small voice in the back of my head hooted at the thought that I had been reduced to nothing more than a pair of non-corporeal eyes following these two people. I ignored it, dismissing the insane little voice as I always had.

Chimera trudged gloomily down the street, looking thoroughly disgusted with herself. I wondered what had upset the older, tougher and more jaded version of Nadine. Somewhere down the poorly lit streets a rhythmic pounding could be heard.

Only a bare dozen feet behind Chimera, Haden also slowly walked towards the noise. I wondered if the gloomy mood had been transferred from Haden to Chimera or vise versa. Both wore almost identical expressions, brooding, pained and vaguely annoyed.

Chimera stopped just as she turned the corner into an alley wake, the thumping much louder now. She stared at the loose mass of people down the street that stood outside a large metal door, obviously waiting to enter. Seconds later Haden neatly walked head on into her as he turned the corner. Haden stumbled backwards; just barely managing to remain on his feet as Chimera fell, sprawling on the filthy ground. I found myself whole once more and able to move. Relieved I flexed my hands and fingers, watching them move.

“I’m sorry, here…”

A soft gasp made me look up at the pair; I was happy for them and sad at the same time. Nearly seven years had passed for them, since the day Nadine had been taken and their link severed. Seven years and Nadine was now Chimera, a far different person from the sweet naive girl she had been. Haden, now a ghostly figure that fought to remain solid and on this world to search for Nadine.

Haden was frozen in the position of offering Chimera a hand up off the ground; he stared into the face that was Nadine’s but at the same time wasn’t.”

"No, really, it was my fault,” an irritated hoarse voice crackled out from Chimera. Chimera hauled herself up with a grace she had lacked as a teenager and had gained from her years of being away. While brushing her expensive outfit off, she caught the astounded and hopeful gaze coming from Haden and raised an eyebrow.

“Yes?” Chimera asked smoothly. I silently urged Haden to quickly collect himself before he lost the chance to talk to Nadine.

“…Okay then,” Chimera said slowly, not sure if she could stand much more of Haden’s gawking. “Pleasure bumping into you and all, but I have an appointment to get to, so, if you don’t mind…” She trailed off, waved slightly, and automatically went back in the direction she came from.

Haden blinked, coming out of the dazed stupor he had fallen into while I railed at him and caught sight of a small, worn notebook lying on the ground that had fallen out of Chimera’s pocket. He snatched it up and chased after her.

“Hey, wait!” he called out. I saw Chimera pause and cringe, a resigned expression passing over her face before it smoothed out.

“Look, sir, I already apologized for running into you, but I really need to go now—“

“You dropped this.” Haden held out the notebook. I applauded Haden, it not only was a decent thing to do, but it gave him a second chance to make sure he hadn’t imagined that the person was in fact Nadine.

“What? O- Oh, thank you,” Chimera stuttered out. Haden reached out and lightly touched Chimera’s cheek, starring at the eyes that had change little. Chimera flinched and pulled away from the touch, stepping back until Haden could no longer reach her. I wondered if she realized who he was and if she did was the gesture symbolic?

“Sir, it appears you are looking for some sort of relationship since you’re so eager to keep me here. But you were informed of the rules coming into Utopia’s Gate and they state that customers can only communicate with their chosen during their sessions. Now if you really want to talk to me, make an appointment.” Chimera tried a second time to leave, only to be stopped by a choked whisper.

“You—you really don’t know who I am?” Haden asked, looking as if he were choking on something. His red eyes glowed brightly in the half light, the desperation in them shining brightly.

“No, I’m afraid I don’t,” was the chagrined reply. I bit my lip and wished futilely that I could step in and help them.

“Nadine,” Haden whispered almost inaudibly, his fingers tracing the edge of the ornate band around his finger. “Where is your Ring?”

“What are you talking about?” Chimera looked completely unnerved by this time. She grasped at the snake necklace, her features twisting in pain slightly. The Master must be calling her and ordering her to leave Haden. I thought.

“You, you knew me from Before?” Chimera whispered, a hint of stubbornness glimmering in her eyes. I saw the necklace tighten on her throat as if warning her to listen to orders.

“You really don’t remember your second soul?” I could see the alarm and confusion in the dark, clouded eyes staring back at Haden with a thousand questions and accusations. I watched a Haden fought with himself to not grabbed Chimera and hold her. I knew he now knew that Nadine was no longer Nadine. I wished with everything in me that it was not so.

“Second soul? I’ve never had a second soul” Chimera said, she turned away her next words just barely drifting to my ears. I hoped Haden didn’t hear them. “It’s probably for the best. It would have been enslaved too.”

“Excuse me. I am sorry for wasting your time.” Haden walked rigidly and without looking back towards the crowd waiting at the door. Chimera stared after him.

“Ha… den…?”

[Moonlit Raven]

Everything faded for a moment, my surroundings going blurry and indistinct. I wonder if I was going to wake up again, so soon after coming back to this hellish world. As if to mock my hopes everything went dark for a spilt second then I found myself standing in Chimera’s darkened bedroom once more. For a couple of minutes I stood there looking around, more than a little confused.

Soon the door opened and Chimera entered, closing the door behind her against the spill of light. I spotted someone standing in a dark corner a second before steel-muscled arms snaked around Chimera’s thin body. The person squeezed tightly like a pair of pythons, crushing Chimera’s arms to her sides. Chimera jerked and opened her mouth to scream, but the python-arms tightened even more, cutting off her words in her throat.

I watched as cold lips brushed against Chimera’s cheekbone, trailing back towards her ear, an icy tongue leaving a poisonous, smoky trail along the way.

“You, my dear girl, have been very disrespectful this fine night,” a chill, hissing voice whispered, exhaling lustily, letting its tongue writhe in Chimera’s ear. Chimera shuddered but said nothing. Sickened, I glanced away, looking out the window into the night for a few moments.

“The day you became mine I asked you keep a look out for a man with red eyes, and a face very much like the one you once bore. Tonight you came face to face with this man. The day you became mine I asked you to bring him to me if you happened to cross paths with him. Tonight you not only crossed paths with him, you had a detailed conversation with him. But you let him get away. You let this man leave you unscathed. You know what must happen now, don’t you?” Chimera turned her head away from the voice, eyes flickering with trapped emotion.

“Yes,” She mumbled. I frowned, confused. ‘Why would this man want Haden too?’

“Then do it.”

“Yes Master.” A pale light traveled all across Chimera’s body, illuminating the darkened room brightly for just an instant. Chimera grew shorter; her eyes grew wider and rounder, but remained dark and empty. Her long hair shortened and became fuller, the dark locks swinging to hide part of her face. Her clothes remained the same, yet seemed to change their natural shape to better fit her new body.

She had become the farce of Nadine.


“This has always been your best form.”The evil shadow moaned with delight, nuzzling deep into the freshly cropped mass of surprisingly soft hair. Nadine said nothing, did nothing. She seemed to be resigned to something as the shadowy body retreated.

“If you insist. . .” The cold voice hissed from its hiding place in the shadows. There was a whistling sound, and a steel, dragon-headed cane sunk horribly into Nadine’s stomach. The breath was knocked out of her and she collapsed to his knees, gasping for life-giving oxygen. I looked on stunned at the sudden attack. Again and again the cane came down, just as merciless as the silver eyes controlling the cane. Unable to interfere I forced myself to watch, ignoring the pain of my nails cutting into my palms.

Finally after what seemed an eternity of silently enduring the blows Nadine grunted in pain. The barrage of blows stopped immediately, replaced by the python arms dragging her to the bed. Nadine sobbed emptily, curling into a tight ball, her hands clutching the snake necklace to her bruised throat.

The silhouette leaned close to Nadine, purring and trailing its long slender hands across any and all exposed flesh it came across. Nadine flinched involuntarily beneath the mobile icicles and the shadow paused in its work. I fled the room, running down the hall as far as the pull would let me. I sat on the ground in the hall and hugged my knees to my body, waiting for and dreading the screams I thought would start issuing from the room.

An unknown time later Nadine stumbled down the hallway and fell through the bathroom door to lean heavily on the pristine white rim of the sink. Lights flickered on, harshly illuminating Nadine’s haggard face to my eyes. I wondered just how much of Nadine had been lost or rebuilt, beating by beating and lie after lie while she healed.

I watched Nadine stare into the mirror; she seemed to be looking at more than her own reflection.

“It means nothing!” Chimera angrily burst out. "So what if I remember things I shouldn't? That fact is, I'm no one but whoever The Master wants me to be, and that's all I need. I don't need these memories, and I don't need you either. So get the fuck away from me and bother someone who ca--" She stopped, a cold sweat bursting from the pores of her smooth pale skin. She lurched towards the open toilet and began to vomit up an ugly and painful mixture of foul-smelling bile and pale blood. I looked away; I had no wish to throw up when my stomach was queasy from the sound alone.

She finished after a long while, gasping violently for air. She rested her forehead against the cool porcelain, convulsive and weak as she wiped his mouth with the back of her hand. Her other hand lay limply beside her leg, the wrist covered by long stretches of criss-crossing, ugly scars. Tears well up in my eyes as I mentally traced each scar, wondering at the strength and desperation Nadine had to feel to try to hurt and kill herself so many times.

I watched as Nadine shifted where she sat, then dig through a pocket as something obviously discomforted her. After a moment she pulled something form her pocket and stared at it with a haunted expression. Curious I got up to see what it was she looked that showed me more of the original Nadine than anything I had seen so far. In her palm lay a blue tinted transparent puzzle piece.

“The alpha piece.” I whispered to myself. The fact that Nadine still had the alpha piece confused me. If she couldn’t remember Haden when he stood before her why did she still carry the alpha piece? Did it bring any of her lost memories back to her or was it just something she carried with out knowing why. Suddenly Nadine dropped the puzzle piece to the ground as she screamed and clawed at the now glowing necklace around her throat.

“I’m sorry Master. I’m sorry.” Nadine shrieked as she tore at the necklace and her throat. Her final shrieked words startled me. “Haden, please help me!” I watched Nadine dissolve into to harsh sobbing the racked her body and wondered if she knew what she had said. Her words gave me hope that somewhere under the twisted, changing creature she had become the real Nadine still fought to keep herself whole and undamaged.

[Moonlit Raven]

Everything changed, blurring and dimming for a moment. I bit back a curse when I looked around. I was in another one of the flying metal contraptions. Immediately I looked around for Haden or Nadine. I was thrown for a loop when I spotted neither. I was about to explore the chambers when a face that was vaguely familiar caught my attention. Setting down next to the man I studied him, trying to place where I had seen him before.

Several minutes later it came to me; this was one of the twins I had seen in Haden’s room. I glanced at the much smaller picture box he held on his lap and was speaking to. The image of a very tired and irritated looking Alan interacted with the man. The man swore fiercely as the small picture box buzzed violently.

“If this stupid thing explodes, I’m making you pay for my medical bills,” He muttered. I smiled in appreciation of the man’s spirit. Leaning in close to him I looked at the screen and quickly skimmed over the pictures and information hat went along with each person as he rapidly went through everything. I felt the urge to poke him, to get him to slow down so I could read about Nadine’s other personas and bodies.

“Jeremy, Grey wanted me to send you all the information we gathered on Nadine, just in case you could do anything to help.” Alan snorted, clearly not seeing the point of this. Jeremy’s jaw clinched visibly in annoyance, but said nothing. “We managed to find twenty-three separate identities that Nadine has become over the past seven years. They have almost nothing in common. Age, race, gender, jobs, nothing.”

“But—“Jeremy waited for him to continue.

“They all have two things in common.”

“And those are?” Jeremy asked impatiently. I thought that this was getting dull, I saw the connections but I couldn’t quiet figure out how everything linked up to one another

“First, they all wear the same necklace on their. A crystal snake.”

“So? It’s probably a cult or something. That’s hardly something to point out.” Jeremy covered his mouth, hiding the yawn.

“Their eyes.” From the screen Alan watched him silently, his hands folded beneath his pointed chin.

“What about them?” Alan looked upwards, as if praying for patience.

“They all have blue violet eyes.”

“So do I.” Jeremy and I looked at the various images. The feeling of eyes watching me and Jeremy made me turn and look at his seat neighbors. Ineffectively I glared at them willing them to mind their own business.

“Cerulean, actually, but that’s beside the point.” Much to my amusement Jeremy did not drop it. Mockingly he blushed and giggled behind his hand.

“Oh, Alan, I didn’t know you paid such close attention to me! I’m touched.” He tittered falsely. I rolled my eyes wondering if this man had a few screws lose. “You really shouldn’t.” I stared laughing at Alan’s distinctly non amused expression. He stared balefully from the screen for a long moment before he spoke again.

“I didn’t and I never will. Now stop joking around, asshole, and look closely.”
Jeremy complied, truly looked at the images of people that Alan had supplied. I looked at the images and saw what Alan meant. Those eyes. . . all the same. . . and so very strange. I blinked and looked away, catching sight of Jeremy doing the same thing a second later.

“You’re right. Anything else?”

“Yes. Look at her recent identity.”

“Which one is that again?”

“The whore with long hair. Chimera.”

“Lovely image, Alan, really lovely.” Alan paused long enough to give Jeremy a nasty look before continuing.

“She’s the one Haden saw, and the most similar to Nadine herself.” Disturbing it was, but it was true. However frightening it was, Jeremy gazed at the erotic picture of a slim woman with a thick mass of black hair that fell to her hips, draped in dark purple silk and thin silver chains, a suggestive expression on her face. A crystal necklace glittered around her neck. Again, those eyes drew me, but deeper this time, far into their violet chasms, full to the brim with despair.

I could actually feel my sanity begin slipping away as I stared into those nightmarish, haunted eyes. I saw Jeremy’s face go slack with horror, his gaze turned inwards as if watching something move in the back of his mind. A dark flicker of madness shined brightly in his eyes for just a moment. Against my will I glanced into those haunted eyes once more. Just looking into those wide, brimming yet empty eyes was allowing my own darkness, that side of me which was my true nightmare to seep back into the light unbidden.

Jeremy shuddered and tore his gaze away, squeezing his lids shut and putting his spare hand to his face to hide his graying pallor.

“I don’t suggest looking too closely at her face. It’s a bit . . . unpleasant,” Alan said quietly, looking away from the screen.

“Thanks for the warning,” Jeremy returned sarcastically. I wondered what had Alan and Jeremy felt upon looking into those eyes? I had a feeling I would rather not know, and carefully shrugged the thought away. Jeremy returned to the file on this woman calling herself Chimera.

“Most of what you’re reading is crap, but the gist of it is this: ‘Utopia’s Gate’ is a brothel known world-wide, having multiple underground operations in every country with authority, money, and power. A woman named Birseis owns it single-handedly.” Alan went on, but he became nothing but background noise to me as Jeremy clicked a link to more information on Chimera.

More images appeared, smaller than the first, some more provocative than should be viewed in a public place, but there nonetheless. Quickly Jeremy scrolled past the pictures to the short description below.

“ 'Chimera is the best Utopia’s Gate has to offer. She can become whatever and whomever you desire in an instant—and we can promise you it will be the greatest night of your life. She is craved for all over the world by men and woman, all who would be willing to spend their entire fortunes just to have a second taste of her. And trust us—she is worth every cent. We can say with pride she is the best anyone has to offer. What would you do for a taste of Heaven?' ”

I said nothing; what could I say? Beside me Jeremy was also strangely silent; I had expected a flippant response from him. He seemed to be thinking furiously, as if his mind were retreating for the world. Hesitantly on impulse I touched Jeremy’s shoulder. I felt an odd pulling and sensation of movement; before I could cry out I was pulled into Jeremy’s mind merging with it. I struggled against the merge for a moment before the fact that his mind was some where else and hunting for something drew my attention. The moment I stopped fighting I merged with Jeremy to the point that I had difficulty recalling that I was Elena and not Jeremy.

He/I couldn’t say for sure but there was no way in Hell he was stopping. This was too exiting. In the small hidden corners of Jeremy’s mind I pooled a spark of myself to protect and to think objectively. In other darker sections of Jeremy’s brain I could feel something semi dormant, as if it lay napping lightly. The impression I got from it made the little bit of me that wasn’t completely sane anymore cringe in horror. It moved slightly as if just resting and waiting, for the right time to awake fully. Tearing myself from the horrific ‘Other’ napping in Jeremy’s brain, I turn to watch what he did and was immediately pulled back into Jeremy.

He/I could feel our mind digging for something, and he seemed to sense other minds as he dug deeper and deeper, strange minds that seemed strangely devoid of anything but dull, rumbling shapes of unknown creatures and obedience. He/I caught flashes of half-formed thoughts and hazy images that didn’t belong to us, but they weren’t what mattered. No, what was important was farther down.

“Jeremy?” Far above us Alan’s voice was practically inaudible, even though he was shouting. We were far too deep to hear anything but the rushing of our passing and the whispers of those empty minds.

For a split second I wondered where exactly where we were. Those movements in the back of Jeremy’s subconscious were stronger now. Excited. I kept an eye on the ‘Other’, I was fairly sure I didn’t want to be Jeremy’s head when that thing awoke.

He/I fell faster, tumbling through one mind after another, and all the thoughts congealed into one long glorious strand of delicious madness and incoherency and oh gods, what a rush! Jeremy hadn’t felt this good in years, neither had I. It was like welcoming the changes that took over when I was pushed to my limits of rage.. A pent-up surge of adrenaline that raced through the body. Jeremy and I were free from our bodies we were among the minds of the world, we were one with a billion billion thoughts all reeling at once. Jeremy was shooting down to the burning core of it all and it was so wonderful he couldn’t bear but scream with mirth. I found myself laughing from the sheer glee that poured from Jeremy as I fell with him. I was long past all thoughts of watching, of being cautious.

We could see it now, the magnificent white center of perfection it was so beautiful. He dove faster, flying like the wind now he passed the last barrier he broke through it was better than he’d ever thought. A sudden frigid wind jarred us; ruining the perfection we were so close too. I caught Jeremy’s surprised and angry thought of ‘WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!’ and agreed with him whole heartedly.

A sudden shadowing before us, but the warning was too late. We hurtled at top speed through a wall of dark ice and bloody webs and suddenly everything was wrong. Something groaned to life before his soul, something vast, cruel, ancient and wise.

How did you get in here?

The voice inside us was so much worse than Chimera’s eyes had been. I could feel Jeremy’s sanity splintering into a million pale, spider webbed cracks. Just one more shock could override his system and he wouldn’t be able to do anything but scream and scream and scream until the day he died. Then that thing in his head would return and destroy everything including him. I shrank into the back of Jeremy’s mind, hiding be his psyche. Why wasn’t he running?

I see . . . The voice said thoughtfully, sending another hundred thousand cracks through his mind. I reached out tentatively and pressed part of myself against Jeremy’s fracturing mind, hoping that he could hold out against the presence before us. I prayed to every god I could think of to help us. I knew that if Jeremy’s mind fell apart that some how it would see me. Even though I was just an observer in this world, it could and would see me. That thought terrified me on a level I had never felt before. I poured every bit of energy I could into hold up Jeremy’s mind. I could still feel and hear what Jeremy did.

How very interesting. You’re the first you know, to get so far down, and I’m not sure what to do with you.
He was dying. There was no other explanation for it, this exquisite pain ripping him to shreds inside. Every syllable this voice, this tainted silver nightmare spoke was like driving rusty spikes deep into him. Oh gods, make it stop, make the pain end just let him go insane and die and let that be the end of it! I heard Jeremy’s wish, shaking I shut my eyes trying to divorce myself from seeing and hearing what he did.

It hurts. Doesn’t it? The voice asked softly.

You see? Humans weren’t meant to wield such power. You went in too deep. You see how easily you are overwhelmed? How easily ensnared by the merest whisper of control? But I’ll stop. I’ve done enough damage to last you a good long while, but I know. I know, and now you are mine.

[Moonlit Raven]

“Sir?”

Jeremy and I screamed, he curled into an awkward ball clutching his head as if it might explode in agony. I found myself tossed out of Jeremy; I sprawled on the seats near by and sobbed. My mind felt as if it had been sliced to bits and raped by the darkest thing imaginable. I could bear to think of how Jeremy’s mind was doing. I had tasted only a whisper of the thing while Jeremy had taken the full brunt of its awful presence and powers.

“What was that?” I whispered brokenly to myself. I moved carefully to sit in the chair, my body felt the same as it always had but I felt as if I would still shatter if I moved to soon. I looked over to Jeremy hopping that he was alight.

“Sir? The plane landed twenty minutes ago. I’m afraid I need to ask you to leave—sir, are you alright?” A woman, uncertain and a little frightened by his actions looked at Jeremy warily. Gradually he relaxed and opened his trembling eyes.

“Yes, yes.” Jeremy gasped shakily, giggling weakly. He composed himself and calmly put his things away and stood, still giggling airily. Worried I watched Jeremy. Had that Thing woke up the ‘Other’ that rested in the back of Jeremy’s mind?

“Yes, I’m fine, ma’am, couldn’t be better, just got a bit of a shock, that’s all. I had a nightmare, that’s all. Now, would you mind pointing me towards the nearest rent-a-car?”

“Er, it’s just past baggage claim.” The woman looked very nervous.

“Thank you.” he grinned crookedly and winked at her before brushing past with a wave of one hand and a glint of gold. I closely followed Jeremy; I could feel my brow crease into heavy furrows. Something wasn’t right.

“Um, sir?”

“Hmm?” He looked over his shoulder, thought me and at the trembling woman.

“Is this your cell phone? It’s still on . . .” I looked at that thing the woman held out and grumbled slightly to myself. At least I know what those things are called now.

“Is that so? Well then I’m sure who’s ever on the line is more than a little disgruntled at my behavior.” He took the small phone from her extended hand and chuckled again.

“Ta-ta, my dear, and I’m sure hubby will just love the new golf clubs.”

“How did you--?” the woman cried, but Jeremy was gone, howling like a madman at joke only he seemed to be in on. Despite being worried over his behavior I didn’t want to follow Jeremy. I put up a token of a fight against the pull that forced me to follow people around.

“Still there, Alan?” Jeremy said into his phone as soon as the gales of laughter had receded.

“What the fuck was that? What just happened?” Alan sounded angry even from my place a few feet away from Jeremy, but his voice also trembled slightly. I got the impression that Alan was also frightened.

“Alan.” The laughter was gone. Instead, hot tears coursed down Jeremy’s sun bronzed cheeks. At that moment I knew that the ‘Other’ was back. That darkness, that thing, from the black dredges of Jeremy’s past. I could almost hear it laughing joyfully in triumphant at being woke from its slumber.

“. . .Yes?” Alan’s voice came out cautious and wary. I was sure that Alan knew, even if it was only partly, he knew some thing of what had happened to Jeremy.

“As soon as all of this shit is over, I’ll be checking myself into a mental asylum, but until then, I’d prefer if you didn’t tell anyone about this. Please?” Jeremy sounded pathetic and horribly, horribly broken, but he didn’t seem to care. For several long minutes there was silence.

“He’s back, isn’t he?” Alan’s voice was calm and quiet. I guessed he must have been pondering Jeremy’s past.

“And crazier than ever. I’ll be coming to Caledonia as soon as I’m done here. My family doesn’t need me for to long, just a week or so. Caledonia. That’s where that bastard is. Master. He’s gone too far.”

“Master?”

“Trust me Alan. The name fits the monster.”

“I’ll be seeing you in a week, then?”

“Something like that. If It doesn’t take over again in the mean time.”

“Don’t talk like that.”

“I can’t help it Alan. My insanity’s come for a visit, and I don’t think it’s going away this time.” I watched Jeremy walk towards what I guessed was a car. Guilt at hiding behind Jeremy from the Master ate at me. He slipped into the car; I had a moment to wonder why I wasn’t being pulled after Jeremy when everything shifted.

I watched as Haden stared out across the dark city. Once he whispered Nadine’s name. Giving Haden a few moments I looked around. I recognized this place it was the same roof top I had watched Chimera and Birseis talk.

A while later Haden sighed, turned and went through the patched and rusty metal door and down the rickety worn staircase. No lights were on; more than a little skittish of the creepy air the interior had taken I stayed closed to Haden. As the door to the roof banged shut, no sound could be heard either. Haden passed silent as a ghost down the long hallway.

“… a ghost in a nightmare of a whorehouse.” Haden whispered quietly to himself. Haden’s mouth twisted, into a strange and disturbing debauchery of a grin, more like a twisted sort of sneer and he started laughing. Quietly at first, like someone would deep in a graveyard, just under his breath. His laughter grew louder and frenzied, and he collapsed against the wall, laughing his head off but screaming at the same time. Unsure of Haden’s behavior I stepped away from him. Haden slipped from leaning against the wall to lay flat on his back still laughing in a helpless, hysterical manner. Another figure rushing towards us caught my attention.

Mairead stopped a watched Haden for a moment before she stepped up to Haden. Her fist connected hard with Haden’s head, stopping short his lapse in sanity. Haden stopped laughing abruptly, gasping, wide-eyed and even paler than usual. He seemed almost transparent for a moment, but he solidified enough to look up into Mairead’s frowning, worried expression high above him.

“Thanks,” he said weakly, sitting up.

“What the hell was that?” Mairead demanded, extending a hand towards Haden to help him stand. Haden didn’t take it, folding his legs awkwardly and dropping his hands into his lap, looking down at them sadly. Haden was so pale, thin and fading. I didn’t see what was so funny. He wasn’t a ghost. Just a dying little white shadow. That’s what he was, and that wasn’t funny.

“I—“he started, and then stopped. “I don’t know,” I shook my head.

“You're lying Haden.” I looked at the expression on Mairead’s face and decided that it might be for the best if Haden told no one what thoughts ran through his head. I was certain that even I didn’t want to know. The ghost comment was enough for me.

Mairead sudden expression change led me to guess that she knew Haden was lying to her. I was glad Mairead didn’t press the issue. She looked away from Haden, at the hall they were in. Mairead shuddered, gazing about apprehensively.
Three massive sliding metal doors on either side of a gaudy hallway that was far too narrow for comfort, looming ominously, towering over them like angry, rotted teeth. The hallway itself was just too garish in its attempt at royal antiquity, looking more like a discarded circus act. But there was something under it all, something even more frightening. It was as if I needed to only reach out and brush my fingers against the wall that the painted lies would come down and the unease would cease, rising up into pure terror, and I would be able see everything. Near to being sick I shoved my hands deep into my pockets.

“This was Nadine’s floor,” Haden said suddenly from his position on the ugly, mind-numbing carpet. Mairead blinked at Haden’s sudden words. I looked at Haden, the strange feelings vanished, leaving only the slightest twinges behind, cobwebby and easy to ignore.

“How do you know?” Mairead asked.

“I just do,” was the dreamy, whispered reply. Mairead looked at him with a lifted, concerned eyebrow. I watched Haden climb to his feet. Heard his breath hitch and saw his thin body sway dangerously before he caught the handle of the door just behind him. If I didn’t know just how sick the bonded spirit was I would have to wonder why the Hell a man weighing a hundred-some-odd pounds and looking fit as a fiddle was having such a hard time standing. But I did know, and I pitied Haden.

Haden paused for a moment, grimacing slightly. He opened his eyes and reached again for the steel handle of the door soaring before him.

“It’s probably locked, Haden. All the other ones are,” Mairead warned. I looked for Haden and Mairead to the door. I had the itching feeling that the door wasn’t locked. I was unluckily accurate.

“Don’t go in there Haden.” I urged, watching Haden pressed the handle down and pushed in the door. Haden didn’t hesitate but went in as soon as the crack was wide enough to allow him to slip through. I was glad that Mairead waited in the hallway.

I watched as shuddering, Mairead backed away from the open door. The blood draining from her face as her face took a shimmer that told me she was sweating. She startled me as she backed into the door opposite to the room Haden had entered, the handle poking her sharply in the back. Looking at Mairead giggled nervously and wiped at her forehead.

I wondered why it was so quiet. Why wasn’t Haden saying anything either? Was I somehow suddenly left alone with Mairead? Had the world emptied itself of life, falling silent without warning, without him noticing a thing until it was too late? Across from me Mairead shivered violently and roughly swiped at her eyes with her fists. Please don’t be afraid and cry. I silently begged Mairead. If I was completely honest with myself, I also begged myself just a bit to not be afraid and cry too.

I looked towards the dark hole of the open door way that Haden had vanished too and wished that Haden would come back out. I wasn’t going to force myself to enter that room. A metallic shriek scared me so badly that I shrieked. I cursed my self for being a coward and looked to see Mairead frozen in the door way of the door she had just pushed open. I caught a glimpsed of the darkness inside of the room that held Mairead frozen and turned away. The Master had left a present for anyone unlucky enough to poke around where they were not wanted.

The sound of running footsteps made me look up. I sighed in relief that Jeremy and his twin Grey were rushing towards Mairead. Regret that they were too late to help Mairead washed through me and I backed up.

[Moonlit Raven]

“You know, I’m not exactly happy to see you right now. We’re only given so much free will at a time to do what we want and you’re wasting mine.” I entered that room for a second I found myself frozen with the surprise of seeing Chimera standing there.

“What were you planning on doing?” I heard the tremor Haden couldn’t keep out of his voice. I look between the two, a little lost on what they were talking about. Vaguely I wished that I had dismissed my fear and followed Haden into the room. Chimera shrugged, smirking.

“Oh, you know the usual attempts.” She waved a glimmering thing so that it caught the light fully. It was a small metallic weapon. Chimera eyed him coldly, casually pointing the weapon towards the carpet.

“Don’t get the wrong idea. I’m not going to kill myself. The moment’s gone. You ruined it, but I’m not upset with you personally. In fact, I don’t even know who you are.” Haden flinched. “But I was hoping to get a few minutes to myself to see if I could make Nadine finally pull the goddamn trigger.” Chimera went on, talking more to herself now than Haden.

“We’re all given something in the beginning. An easy way out if we can’t take it. Guns, nooses, razors, whatever we could tolerate as that way out. I probably would have done it much sooner if Nadine wasn’t so persuasive.”

“Nadine’s always been hard to dissuade,” said Haden.

“Or break. She’s never broken yet.” Chimera agreed amiably, nodding. I held my breath, glancing at Haden and waiting for a reaction from him. The room suddenly grew bone-chillingly cold. Haden inhaled sharply and gasped almost at the same time. It felt as if the lining of his lungs had frozen solid. His fingernails and lips turned blue, accentuating his already corpse-like face. An oppressive feeling permeated the room, looking around I held back the urge to warn Haden that something had joined us.

It seemed to attack Chimera. She moaned raggedly, clutching the necklace arm as if it burned her, and seemed to be on the verge of falling over. Her grasp on the handgun tightened dramatically while the rest of her body relaxed, falling back to the bed. Haden watched silently. There was a moment of silence. Haden waited patiently.

“I don’t know who you are,” Chimera repeated sadly, sitting up and gazing at Haden with those terrifyingly dead eyes, “And under other circumstances I would let you live. But Master has given me my orders. I have no choice. Nadine and I have to obey. We’re sorry.” The gun fired violently, its fire blinding and its noise deafening, before I understood what was happening.

Haden jerked back, blood blossomed high up on his shoulder, and struck the window behind him. I heard the ominous crack as it splintered dangerously. Haden lurched away from him, falling through the doorway he’d come through. The gun fired a second time, and blood spread across his calf just as he vanished around the corner. Unwillingly I followed Haden, fighting the pull for every step it made me take. It allowed me less than a dozen feet of space from Haden.
Limping now, and clutching a hand to his bleeding chest, Haden staggered down the hall.

I heard Grey and Jeremy call out to Haden as he staggered by them. Both men tended to Mairead. One glanced at Mairead’s empty eyes as I passed them told me that Mairead was no longer there. Her soul was now nothing more than a play thing for the Master. I saw unsure of how Haden managed it but some how he made it to the roof.

I watched Haden as he stood there among the ashes of a hundred used cigarettes, and let his gasping breath slow. Blood flowed freely from his wounds. After a moment of visibly collecting himself he opened his eyes and looked towards the door. I also turned and watched as the door flew open. Chimera slowly walked out onto the rooftop as if she was in no hurry.

“Nadine.” Haden’s voice was calm and deep to my hearing. I looked at the two bonded, one a lost woman and the other a dying spirit. I wondered how Haden managed to sound so calm when I knew he was struggling to remain solid and sane.

“What,” Chimera spat through clenched teeth, her face twisted with sullen rage, her body tense. She pointed a steely blue weapon at Haden, aimed for his heart. I noticed that Chimera’s check was cut. While the cut bled sluggishly it didn’t seem to pain her at all. ‘A gift from the Master?’ I wondered

“Have you ever heard of Nadine Dreyer?” Haden asked carefully.

“Of course. That’s who you think I am, right?” Chimera sneered coldly. “She’s was your human partner. Soul bonded, right?” Haden waited a brief moment to think over what he’d just heard.

“I thought you didn’t remember anything,” he said simply. I could see him tiring.

“You might as well stop now. Master’s been showing us since he enslaved Nadine. I know the whole goddamn story. It’s distorted, but I know what happened.”

“Then you must know what happened after, right?” He asked. Chimera remained silent, looking angry.

“Nadine was kidnapped. Without Nadine, I began to die. I searched for Nadine endlessly, and couldn’t find anything. After a long time, I began to give up. I thought Nadine had deserted me, or had even died. There was no sure way of knowing. The Ring couldn’t tell me.

“And then, quite accidentally, I found myself face to face with a woman calling herself Chimera.” He paused to watch Chimera recoil slightly. I hoped that Nadine was listening to Haden too. “There were a thousand things different between her and Nadine to prove me wrong, but I was sure. Without any shadow of a doubt, that this woman was my Nadine.”

“How touching.” Chimera sounded ill. Haden gazed at her silently. “But now it’s your turn to listen: I don’t give a damn if you’re Haden and Nadine’s your little buddy. It doesn’t matter. Your sort of magic or link or whatever is inconsequential and pretty damn useless compared to Master’s. You can’t even begin to understand his power, so why don’t we end this charade and let me blow your brains out so I can go back to Sendaia, all right?”

“That necklace around you throat?” Haden asked sharply, if only to stop Nadine from going on. His tone, or perhaps the questions itself, had the proper effect. Chimera’s hand rose quickly to her throat, as if shielding it from view and protecting it from harm.

“How do you know?” She snarled, for the first time looking properly frightened.

“Nadine, I don’t care if you kill me tonight. It would probably be faster than the way I’m going now. But I won’t go away without a fight, I can promise that. So…just how much do you want to live?” I saw Haden let his body ease into a relaxed defensive position, hooding his eyes enough to appear threatening yet in control. Irritated, I passed my hand through Haden’s body. Hoping that since he was so close to becoming a spirit once again he would feel my touch and stop.

“You idiot! Stop playing and do something about the necklace. And for the gods sake don’t tell her you’re going to attack it.”

“Not very,” Chimera replied with a grim smirk. “But orders are orders whether I like it or not, and I must obey.” Haden raised his palm, the ring that was a twin to the one Haden wore resting on his hand as the gun fired.

“But you don’t understand,” Haden whispered with a tired smile that expressed nothing but simple adoration for the woman before him. The world seemed to fall silent as the bullet passed through his palm, as if it were made of smoke and buried itself in his chest.

“I love you.” Clasping my hands together before my mouth I looked down as Chimera bent to pick up the ring that had fallen at her feet. Hesitantly she slipped it on her finger. My vision clouded with tears. This was it, she had shot him and he would die. Unashamed I let my tears fall.

Chimera’s screamed and the sound of her dropping to her knees jerked my attention up. She clutched her skull, the ring glowing on her hand with a soft barely visible light. She writhed and moaned, dropping the weapon to claw at her face and arms. Her nails leaving deep furrows of dark, dripping red behind as if to distract herself from the internal anguish.

She slumped forward, no longer Chimera, yet neither Nadine nor anyone else as well. She seemed a strange combination of the lies and the truths, her hair still too long, the skin too pale and the eyes too narrow while the body was correct and the irises seeming to struggle to find their light.

[Moonlit Raven]

Elena opened up eyes. She blinked a few times experimentally just to make sure that she was truly awake. Turning her head she spotted Kariel watching over her once more.

“How long have I been asleep this time? Get parchment and ink, I must write down the dream before I am pulled back into that world.” Elena frowned at Kariel when the succubus stood there for a moment simply staring at her.

“What is it? Walk and talk at the same time, I haven’t got a lot of time!” Elena snapped her temper fraying. Frustrated with being stared at like she was some exotic creature behind bars she struggled to sit up. Kariel made a pacifying gesture and moved to pulled more parchment out of the trunk.

“You have been sleeping for almost three weeks. Avery will be pleased you are awake at last. He has been almost frantic with worry over your condition. He worries that the baby will be affected also.”

Elena’s eyes widen at the reminder of her baby. Her hands immediately went to the stomach. Elena looked at her stomach eyeing the rounded bulge that had developed while she slept. More than a little awed she lightly touched her swollen stomach.

“It seems to be growing just fine; the last time I looked this baby had just begun to ruin my flat stomach with a small hard knot. Now look at it. Kariel, do you think my baby will be affected by the unnatural sleep that crystal is forcing on me?” Elena stared at Kariel expectantly while the older woman thought. Finally she shook her head.

“You child should be fine. While you sleep we take care of your body, cleaning you and feeding you. The baby should be normal and healthy.” Elena grimaced at her words.

“Normal for this child will be a unique thing. I hope it takes after Avery.” Elena sighed at thought that her baby might take after her vampire side; she lightly stroked her stomach, smiling softly at the external evidence of her growing child. Kariel watched Elena for a moment before laying the parchment down on the edge of the bed.

“Would you help me up? I want to do something before I forced to sleep again.” Kariel nodded and set the sheets of parchment aside. Elena chuckled at the difficulty she had getting to her feet. Leaning against Kariel she made her way across to the opening of the hollow. Sunlight flooded into the hollow when Elena touched the wall. Elena took a deep breath of fresh air, her eyes watering in the light.

Struggling to not actively think about destroying the crystal in her hand she looked through watering eyes, searching for a rock of suitable size. Elena spotted a rock close by, silently she steered Kariel towards it. As if sensing the thoughts she fought not to acknowledge weariness flooded her mind. Elena shook her head at Kariel when the woman tried to pick her up and take her inside.

“I know I won’t break it now but you must have a good size rock in the hollow for when I wake up. If I sleep for more than two weeks break the crystal, shatter it. This is an order.” Elena pushed away from Kariel and fell to the ground beside the rock. Elena managed to hit the crystal in her hand against the rock once and heard a high pitch crack. Wearily she tried to hit the crystal against the rock again.

“One more good whack…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

I looked around, I was still on the roof. Near by Haden lay on the ground bleeding to death, Nadine lay as if dead by the door. I wondered why Jeremy or Grey hadn’t come up here yet. A soft groan from Nadine drew my attention, cautiously I drifted towards her. She looked around, confusion and fear etched into her features. I glanced around guessing at what she saw and thought. A low stone wall surrounding the rooftop, hard concrete sapped the warmth from her legs. Nadine clutched her herself as if hr whole body ached continuously. Tentatively she touched her cheek with careful fingers, they came away wet with blood. I watched Nadine begin to shake and wondered if the sight of blood had brought back and memories of what she had done while she was Chimera.

A soft groan from Haden drew Nadine’s attention. She rose to a half-standing position, holding her head with one hand, and looked around. She looked around, freezing at the sight of a black clad figure lying motionless in a pool of blood. She stared at Haden as if she didn’t recognize him at first. My heart leaped into my throat as her gaze cleared and her mouth worked a word silently several times before she finally uttered it softly.

“Haden?”

“Haden!” She cried, scrambling to his side. I tried to leave the roof top, not wanting to witness Nadine’s tears or Haden’s death. Frustrated I looked around when I found I could more no more than a few feet away from Haden. Haden’s eyes opened partway, and he raised his head slightly to face Nadine’s trembling form, the crimson glow from his eyes had died to a dull maroon pulse.

“Nadine,” he murmured, “Is it you now?”

“What kind of question is that?” Nadine asked, a note of hysteria creeping into her voice. “Haden, what’s happened? Who did this? I need to find a phone! Where are we? No, it doesn’t matter, we need to stop the bleeding…“ I backed away from the pair as far as I could. Sliding down the low wall and huddling into myself I watched the bittersweet moment.

“You don’t remember?” Haden asked softly, halting Nadine’s scattered external thinking. Nadine shook her head, frowning and looking confused.

“I don’t remember anything.”

“Is it still around your neck?” Haden asked struggling to raise his head high enough to look.

“What?” Nadine looked as if she were just realizing for the first time a strange almost painful, tingling sensation around her neck. Her expression turned to one of horror as she felt the curling, twisting creature seemingly made of living crystal shaped into the likeness of a snake. It hissed as it was touched, stretching out its neck and biting the fingers that touched it. She gasped in surprise and yanked her hand away from it.

“It bit me!” She exclaimed, tilting her head to try and look at it. “W-What is it?”

“I . . . ‘m not sure . . . But it’s been controlling you . . . for seven . . . years . . . If it’s still there . . . You’re not . . . free . . . for long . . . the Master will come . . . for you.” I could see Haden struggled to reply, his eyes were now glazed and lightless. I wished Nadine would stop asking questions and just relish the time she had left with Haden and her freedom.

“M...Master? Seven years?” Nadine’s struggle to calm herself was visible. “Haden, I need to leave to find a phone, but I promise I’ll come right back—“

“He’s beyond help Nadine.” I told her. Haden grabbed Nadine’s collar in a surprising display of strength, startling Nadine and myself.

“No!” Haden gasped. “Something’s coming . . . hide!”

“Too late.”

A shadow separated itself from the surrounding darkness, taking the form of a tall, pallid woman with shining silver coins for eyes. Her face, half hidden by a curtain of red hair, betrayed nothing. In long-fingered hands she held a too familiar box. Nadine felt the creature around the throat wriggle happily. Silently she backed away from her, dragging Haden with her and leaving a long red stain before her.

“My Father sent me here to correct a certain mistake your spirit made,” The woman said tonelessly. “And don’t bother running; my sisters are guarding the stairs.” As if to confirm this, four pairs of sightless gray eyes burned in the darkness just outside the small circle of light pouring from the bulb above the door.

“Who are you?” Nadine asked, glancing at the door and back at Birseis again. Birseis ignored her, looking instead with unforgiving eyes at Haden.

“That was a stupid thing to do,” she said reprovingly. “You’ve only made it worse for Nadine now. His Master is not pleased. You should have known that such a simple link wouldn’t be enough to properly free her. All that you’ve done now is damage the snake bound to her. You’ve made it feral and untrustworthy. You should know, my sisters are never happy with those who damage their things, and my Father is never happy with those who damage his slaves.”

Faces appeared around the eyes by the only escape, becoming red with lust as new fingers groped for Haden and Nadine, each form identical, with their stringy hair and drawn skin and scraping, grinding fangs.

“Why . . . are you doing this?” Nadine asked weakly. “What are you?” Birseis closed her eyes, her fingers tightly gripping the strange box.

“You’ll remember soon, Chimera.”

“I—What?”

“Never mind.” She scowled, resting the box on one hip to gesture offhandedly at the discarded gun by her feet. “You could have at least finished it right, but then again, you’ve never been much of a shot.” Nadine’s eyebrows came together in confusion, and then his face went white, his jaw slack, as the connection was made. The woman smiled chillingly.

“I see you’re still not an idiot then.”

“I didn’t . . .” Nadine’s face went blank, she didn’t seem to notice when Haden slipped put of her hands. I got up trying the limits of the pull once more. Even before I made it close to the door the sight of the woman’s sisters made me back away. Their hungry eyes followed everything that moved.

“I can assure you, you certainly did.” Birseis replied, looking almost amused with him. Nadine looked down at herself, the words dying in her throat, and seemed to become clearly aware of herself for the first time. She looked at her hands, looking at the deep, raw scars traveling across the skin, as if someone had tried cutting her hands to pieces over and over again through the years. Farther down towards her wrist climbed dozens of old lines, dark and sore and scabbed. I looked down at Haden, I had seen the scars before, and I didn’t need to see them again. I didn’t want to see the physical reminder of the pain Nadine had gone through.

“What have I done?” She whispered her voice weak and cracked. “These scars. I don’t remember . . . but . . .” Nadine looked up sharply, tearing her eyes away from her broken fingers to glare venomously at the woman. “You. I remember you. You were always there after it was over to…“ She stopped, looking shaken. I slowly walked over to Haden and knelt by him. The light in his red eyes flickered as he watched the woman lure Nadine into remembering the past seven years.

“To sew you back together again, Chimera.” Birseis finished softly. Nadine shuddered, looking down at her hands again. Birseis frowned at Nadine.

“Sisters, restrain her.” Pale gray hands, cold and dry, gripped Nadine, keeping her still and immobile. The four strange women leaned in close, purring and whimpering in low undertones, and a stray hand grasped her face, silencing her voice and forcibly tilting her head back. Nadine struggled against them, to soon she gave up, peering fearfully at the Birseis through slitted lids.

“But still . . .” Haden murmured, his voice slurred and hitched with pain. I reached out to touch him and sooth him, my hand passed through his head when I was not careful enough.

“Yes, what is it?” Birseis asked impatiently.

“I’d like to know . . . what happened . . . Why do this?” I looked up at Birseis, wanting to know the answers to Haden’s questions too. Birseis snarled.

“That’s the last thing you should concern yourself with. All you should know is that you’re going to die tonight, and Nadine will be here for only a moment longer.”

“Oh . . . Okay . . .” Haden replied faintly in a confused fashion. I watched as Haden withdrew into himself and shut away the darkness. Absently his hand fingered the desgin on his ring, the nails delicately following the minute scratches on the gold.
Birseis turned away from Haden to face Nadine once more.

“Sisters, hold her steady. This isn’t something I’ve ever bothered trying on a human before.” She paused, a hand on the lid. “I just want to warn you; this will be unpleasant.”

She opened the box.

[Moonlit Raven]

“Hey. What are you doing?” I jumped as Haden asked suddenly, becoming alert enough to try and sit up.

“This will hurt,” Birseis repeated to Nadine, ignoring Haden pointedly. Nadine’s eyes widened with fear. From his useless position on the ground, Haden could see that Nadine’s eyes had yet to regain their light. They were still dark and wrong, like twin tunnels with too many curves to see the light at the ends. I looked from Haden to Nadine, looking at her eyes when it dawned on me that he was staring into her eyes.

I understood completely then. He hadn’t freed Nadine at all. He only wounded the snake coiled around Nadine’s neck, allowing a small memory of Nadine, the girl who had vanished seven years ago, to seep out for only a few, brief moments.

And now this thing, the Master, was making sure he’d never be able to do it again.

I glanced around hoping that someone would come up on to the roof, someone that could help Nadine and Haden.

Out of the box crawled hundreds of the crystal snakes, sleek and shimmering, their tiny jaws snapping and clicking while small hisses echoed strangely from their throats. They curled and twisted around Birseis’s arms, mewling in a strange tongue. She never took her eyes off of Nadine, even as the snake’s curiously nibbled at her, and she watched as Nadine twisted frantically and hopelessly as she tried to escape again the iron grips of the Birseis’s four silent sisters. I found myself tensing up. She smiled.

“Fetch.”

At once the tiny creatures obeyed, leaving thin scratches in her pallid flesh that bled tiny droplets of black. They swarmed up the four sisters and onto Nadine with a storm of violent hissing. Digging their sharp little teeth and snouts in as Nadine began to thrash even more wildly. I heard Nadine’s muffled screams through the hand that cover4ed her mouth. The snakes began vying for space on Nadine, ripping and tearing her clothes and skin to shreds in their minute fury. The original snake around her throat hissed maliciously at any that came near, and soon her neck and shoulders were left in peace. But everywhere else was fair game, and they began to burrow.

Soon Nadine was bleeding and seizing, her eyes so wide and bulged in her contorted face they seemed on the verge of bursting. Unable to watch I walked as far away from Haden, Nadine and the sisters as I could. Even by the far edge of the wall I could still heard Nadine’s muffled shrieks and caught her wild contortions from the corner of my vision.

The four sisters released Nadine then, retreating back into the shadows as the snakes took hold. I saw Haden watching, unable to stop the situation. I turned towards the darkness of the partly lit city, my hands over my ears. With out warning the link I had felt between Haden and Nadine opened partly. It was enough to make me cry out as echoes of Nadine’s agony came through. I found myself on the ground with out knowing exactly how I got there. Clenching my teeth against the waves I got from Nadine and Haden I looked back at them. Even with their link mostly severed from years of separation there was enough to make Haden’s eyes roll to the back of their sockets.

I caught sight of Nadine ripping at her own skin again and again, trying to rip the snakes out from underneath her skin, but the snakes were already buried too deep. Several now had crawled up onto her face, already scratched and torn. They had ripped open the violent scratches to allow room for their bodies to pass through. The left side of her face was unrecognizable.

From the link that echoed in the back of my mind the burst of static that followed the waves of pain nearly blinded me. It sent Haden’s already weakened body into convulsions I felt more than saw Haden’s spirit separate from his battered, useless body. I was surprised to see that I could still see Haden. My vision blurred and I found myself looking out through Haden as he watched with a vision he hadn’t used in many years.

Nadine’s taut body relaxed, her arms hanging loosely, her back hunched, her head lowered and shadowed. Her long coat and oversized clothes were now in tatters, nothing more than rags, singed wherever a snake had penetrated. But Haden couldn’t tell if Nadine was there anymore. The link that had opened for so brief a time had closed tight without any cracks.

Nadine? I heard the soft echoed voice as Haden tried to speak to Nadine through the link.

Nadine did not answer. Instead, she straightened, her lank hair still hiding her face, and looked over at the woman, the box lying discarded by her feet. Birseis recoiled, as if frightened by her, but forced herself to recover.

“How do you feel?” Birseis asked. Nadine said nothing, but that seemed enough for the woman.

“You need to go now. Ashlynn is waiting.” She paused, then asked, “What should you be called now?”

She said nothing for a moment, and seemed to turn her head slightly to glance at Haden’s spirit, at me. A bolt of electricity race through my body at the thought of something own by the monster called The Master seeing me.

“We think Nadine will suit us just fine, Birseis.” She whispered harshly, the echo rolling jaggedly through the silence.

“Back to that again?” Birseis asked incredulously.

“Master wishes for it to be so, yes,” She replied with that same horribly excited whisper. I felt myself go cold as the voice first made itself known. There was no trace of Nadine in it. There was no trace of humanity. It was bleak. It was dark. It was sick. It was…It was…


Nadine—or this monster claiming to be Nadine—turned now to face what remained of Haden. Her hair hid the worst of her features, but one eye stood out among the wreckage, and it was simply a void, a frozen chaos. Nothing was taken in and nothing was reflected out. Purple and black bled throughout the whole eye, blending to become one, as if the circular fences had given way and let loose a flood of emptiness. In that one eye, I found only nothing.

That eye drew me in as if it was a black hole, and I felt myself falling into it, being sucked in. A scream tore itself from me, ripping at my vocal cords as it clawed its way out from the core of my being. My mind screamed denial, I would not witness this horror any longer. I reached through my mind, ripping and tearing through memories without a second thought until I found a darkly shimmering thread. My whole being quivered as I touched, caressing it for a moment. I tasted pain, horror, and desperation. With out a second thought I pulled at it. Slicing at it with nails and worrying it with sharp teeth.

[Moonlit Raven]

The last threads held firm against my efforts. A little ripple of madness went through me, perhaps from the things I had seen. Perhaps from the damage to my mind I myself had caused. What ever the cause, it allowed me to tear at the last few razor edged strands, dragging myself into wakefulness.

~~~~~

Elena woke with a ragged scream, her body jerking up right. Next to her on the bed Avery jumped at the sudden movement from his wife. Elena whipped her head around, scanning the hollow. Moving on adrenaline and the determination to stay out of the dreams, Elena lurched from the nest like bed she shared with Avery. Muscles protesting the abuse after another period of a too long rest she crossed the small space in a heart beat.

Elena let herself fall more than sit, landing beside a grey stone the size of her head. She struck her fingers, and the crystal against the rock. A dull crystal ring accompanied a crackling sound; Elena gritted her teeth against the pain that lanced up from her fingers. For a moment she wavered as sleep pulled at her.

“No! Not again!” Elena shrieked, not recognizing the shrill panicked voice that came from her. Fight against the pull she swung the crystal against the rock a final time. With a loud crack the crystal shattered in Elena’s hand. Abruptly the pull to sleep vanished and Elena slumped over the rock. A soft touch on her shoulder made her glance over her shoulder. She straightened up, giving her worried, hovering husband a small smile.

“I’ll be okay, Avery. There will be no more dreams.” Elena leaned into the tight hug Avery pulled her into. Slowly complete feeling returned to her hand. At the sensation of warm liquid trickling across her skin she looked down. Her palm resembled little more than hamburger at the moment. Tiny fragments of the shattered crystal sparkled wetly from the near ruin mess of her hand. Elena frowned and looked down at the fragmented and powered pieces of the crystal.

“Such a pretty and harmless looking object held so much inside of it.” Elena shivered, pressing closer to Avery more for comfort than for warmth. At his puzzled expression she shook her head.

“I’ll fill you in later. I need to get to a healer and get my hand taken care of.” Elena grinned as her stomach chose that moment to add in its own rumbling comment.

“Perhaps while my hand is being picked over I can eat.” Allowing Avery to pick her up, she looked back at the glittering substance on the floor as Avery open the portal to the outside. The thought that there didn’t seem to be as many fragments as she thought there would have been made her frown. Starring at her torn and bloody hand, a low thrill of fear raced through her, She shook of the idea that some the crystal was within her. Its silly to think that even the powder could make its way through blood and into me, isn’t it?

Elena stared at her hand as Avery carried into the sunlight, the portal sliding close behind them. Locking away the bad memories until she was ready to face them again.

[Artifex Felicis]

Alright, I took way too long to finish this quest, and for that I'm sorry.

Now, with that taken care of, I enjoyed this thread a lot. It was fun, though it got quickly morbid and even scary. Still, there were many parts I enjoyed, and a few complaints which will follow in their respective areas. Overall I'd say a fun quest, if a bit different. I kinda feel bad about this being my first quest, as I think it should be high scoring, but I need to see how to go about it.

Also, I want to know what game Haden played. You got me curious.

Writing Style - Starting with this first because, frankly, easiest part for me to do without having to double check myself a lot.

Mechanics - Generally good. There were few spelling mistakes that I noticed while reading it. However, there were also a few little spots where an obvious slip of the typing finger got you. One example is "put" instead of "out" in one of your later posts in the thread. Beyond that, I didn't see much aside from the occasional grammer twinge. 7

Clarity - Right then, this was one where I also not terribly suited to it. I read this on the bus ride into Boston to go Sailing. So I got distracted at times, and had to read it over a few days. Long quest, by the way. 35 pages or so when put straight into word. Sneaky sneaky. Well, for the most part the thread was very clear. I know who was doing what and where they were. I can honestly say I only needed to double check one or two spots, and that possibly from me simply having to stop reading. There were times where the occasional grammer twinge did hurt you. The "-ing" words you seem to have a little trouble with. I think they're technically called predicates or somesuch. Still, aside from that it was well done in terms of clarity. 8

Technique - I hate this section. Mostly because I'm not terribly sure what to go for. I figure it's closer to things like metaphors and all that. Of the various tricks you pulled, said metaphors were the best. Attributing the eyes to discs or the black hole for Nadine at the end were well done, not terribly over the top, and got the picture across well enough. Funny thing about eyes, so full of expressions for hardly moving. 7.5

Story - The potatoes of the soup that is the dinner that is a thread. I'm hungry right now.

Persona - Easily one of my favorite parts of the thread. Simply learning about all of the charectors as they worked. From the almost puppy love of Nadine and Haden at the begining, to Traven being tired, to Birseis (Yay Achilles) and her unwavering devotion/servitude and her concern(?) for Nadine. They're more I can choose from, but Iw ould definitly say that this is one of your better spots here. 9

Dialogue - Funny thing about dialogue. It's actually mispelled in the mod handbook. Funny that. Anyways, I believe dialogue should be able to do two things. the first, is that you should learn about a charector through it easily, you could be abel to get into their mind and poke all the squishy ans swuishy parts. I think you did this well. Best example is with Birseis again. I know she wasn't right from what she first said in the first post, to her concern, even at the end and her general callous, distant approuch to all of it. The other part of dialogue that I think it should be able to do is carry some of the action of its own, with only a line and a witty comment to give what is happening. Hemingway was a master of using the people's voice and a short line to give hint at what they were doing. For the most part, this was also accomplished well enough. The dialogue of the charectors gave a great insight to the respective charectors. Though I think the Master was a little underwhelming in terms of speech. I half expected him to be a bit "scarier" given the build up to him. While intential or not, he came off as a bit, not scary I guess. The fear he inspired into his slaves was a far better way of explaining just how scary he was. Realize part of this should go in persona. Not that it matters, all part of the same section. I remember when charector was only a 10 point section! *waggles cane* 7

Action - This quest wasn't as full of action as it was talking. However, there were plenty of times that there were small action parts that helped out a lot. For instance, the action was over quickly wheneve rit did happen. Which, frankly, is usually true. Haden gets shot, woo. He bleed on ground Woo. It all fit with the charectors. Haden was not Dan or Godhand, and he couldn't shake it off, so he had to sit there and bleed to death. There were times when the action was a little weird, but it served it's purpose well enough, even if there wasn't much of it.

Also, Haden piping the TV rocked. 7.5

Story - Cause I love doing stuff out of order!

Setting - Frankly, your weakest spot I would think. the setting was just sort of there. It started off better in the forest with Elana, but after you switched to Creepy-floaty-eyeball-Elena, it dropped of a bit. I know that there were a lot of limits to writing with Creepy-floaty-eyeball-Elena, but still. A little more could have been apreciated. Though, the start was very well done, but it seemed like parts of the story could have taken place floating in a white space. 6

Pacing - I could two ways with this. I could be a bastard, and I could say it was confusing, which is was at times. On the other hand, I could be too nice, and mention how awesome some of the transitions were. So I'll split the difference. The main problems with how the story went along mainly involved the real world. Elena slept for a night, and spent a night in Nadine's well paced world which moved along with a nice clip and good speed. But later, near the end, over total of about 5 weeks of sleep where our heroine was Creepy-floaty-eyeball-Elena, she saw about 2 days worth of Nadine's life. It wasn't really consistent I guess. Still, beyond that little pickle, I would say that it was well paced. slowly at first, then faster and faster, then slowly again, the fast for a moment, then at last a slow ebb. That was a bit more sexual in nature then I intended, but I blame Avery. Inside of Creepy-floaty-eyeball-Elena world, I liked the pacing a bit more. Haden had his time running out, and it began to pick up when he was dieing, slowly down when he came into contact with Chimera, and the same with the gunshot. Very fast build-up to it, then it dripped away as the aftermath came into place.7.5

Continuity - Holy crap, only two sections left, some number crunching, then Manda won't be able to try and eat me! That rocks. Anyways, as much as I loved this story, I think I probably ended up covering it a lot in the other sections. There is only one minor qualm, and thats merely Elana almost randomly finding the gem. I know that it had to happen somehow as a vehicle to a better story, but I think it might have been done better. Then again, it's also better then randomly getting it from an old gypsy woman. Eh, either way, well done aside from that little point. So onto the score. 7

Wild Card - Woo, the fun section. I'm actually going to give an extra point and a half due to three things. The first, and most important, is that this was a really good quest at points, and I loved it a lot. With some more effort, it would have gained one or two points in every section. Course, more effort in this case would also be equivelent to a little longer quest. Either way, I'm sure on a different day I might have given an extra point or two, but no matter what, this was a great thread by an older member. Also one of the best writers I know of to be honest. Good job with this, and continue to write well!

And Elana has a chainmail bikini. That's just awesome and counts as two things. 8.5

Total Score = 75! An oddly round number!

Dun dun dunnn!

Moonlit Raven gains 2637 exp!
Moonlit Raven gains 250 gold!
Also, should Elana wish it, she could sell some of the powdered jewel for 200 gold. in the Bazaar.

Weee. My first judging. Sorry it took so long, and catch me on AIM if you want me to explain anything up there.

[Cyrus the virus]

EXP added!