Elliot, page 15
part #3 of Anarock Shifters Series
For the thousandth time since these horrible interviews started, Aria considered if she could ever get through to the Blood Kin. Would they ever speak to her or would they always consider her a scum of mold in their cosmic little petri dish?
Malfie grunted under his breath. He swiveled toward his portal window, but it didn’t open to reveal anything. Aria craved to see anything in there—anything at all.
“So you see, my young friend,” Malfie rumbled, “your companion has abandoned you here. You have no choice but to tell us what we wish to know.”
Aria willed herself not to start shaking. She never could have imagined that facing these creatures alone would be so damned hard. Getting grilled by them was hard enough with Elliot at her side. Now he was gone and she had to deal with them on her own.
She took a deep breath. “I already told you everything I know. I have never hidden anything from you.”
“You did not tell us that Elliot planned to leave,” Beslatia pointed out.
“That’s because I didn’t know.” Aria heard her voice tremble. She wished like anything that she could remain blasé and unfeeling saying it, but what difference did it make in the end? These dragons would do whatever they wanted with her. There was nothing she could ever do to stop them. “If I had known, I would have done anything to stop him. Maybe that’s why he didn’t tell me, but I don’t think so.”
Beslatia cocked her head the other way. “What do you mean?”
“I don’t think he planned to leave. I think he did it on an impulse. He does that a lot.” She looked away. She couldn’t hold eye contact with them saying that.
Beslatia bobbed her neck sideways. Did she sense the emotion Aria refused to express? Could these dragons feel anything at all? Aria couldn’t let herself hope they could empathize with any human emotion. They were creatures of another reality. They were monsters.
Malfie humphed again. He kept pivoting in all directions. He paced a few steps one way, glared at her, and turned his shoulder to her. If he believed a word she said, he never let on. For all she knew, he was plotting to kill her even now.
“It appears,” Beslatia remarked, “that we never really understood Elliot’s intentions the way you did.”
“I can’t say I understood them.” Aria’s voice cracked. She gave up all hope of hiding her pain from these fiends. “He changed his intentions on a daily basis. He said we were in this together and I believed him. I thought I could trust him. Now he’s gone. You know as much as I do.”
“I fear that is not entirely true, my dear,” Malfie snarled. “We can see him above the water. We hear what he says to his friends and what they plan to do.”
His tone needled Aria and her pain erupted in unexpected anger. She rounded on Malfie spitting mad. “Why don’t you show him to me, then? Why don’t you show me what he’s saying to his friends and what they’re planning to do? What do you tell me that for when you don’t show me? You don’t give a shit about me. You never did. You’re using me so don’t give me any crap about accepting me, ‘cuz that’s just another one of your lies designed to manipulate me.”
Beslatia hummed under her breath. “How many times do we have to tell you, my dear? We have never hidden our intentions from you. We would not tell you that we accept you otherwise.”
“Yeah, right.” Aria spun on her heel. “You never hid your intentions to use me and then get rid of me. I get all that. If you want me to explain something from above, all you have to ask. Otherwise, do me a favor and leave me alone.”
She marched away. She stormed between the countless rooms, but she didn’t bother to look right or left. None of this meant anything to her anymore. She didn’t need Beslatia or Malfie or anybody else to explain the Blood Kin’s intentions. She already knew.
She made her way back to the room she used to share with Elliot. It made her skin crawl, but she flatly refused to move down the Coast despite repeated invitations from many different dragons.
She would be more comfortable there. She knew that. She got on a civil footing with enough of these dragons who offered to hunt and fish for her food. She had people to talk to down there.
She wouldn’t go there, though. She would rather be alone up here. She slumped onto her bed and heaved another bottomless sigh. How many times in the last week did she sigh like that? Would it ever end? Would she ever feel comfortable here? Would she spend the rest of her life here in misery?
Malfie and Beslatia and their nameless comrades called her to their presence at least once a day, sometimes more. They went around and around the same tireless questions, the same pointless discussion.
The more times she faced them, the more firmly convinced she became that they were just trying to break down her resolve. They were trying to brainwash her in their insidious dragon way. They were trying to fuck with her, to make her question her own sanity. They didn’t give a crap about anything else.
They hated her. They wanted to destroy her and this was their sadistic, time-consuming way of doing it. They enjoyed tormenting her. They did it by either showing her targeted scenes from above the water that offered her no comfort or by not showing her anything.
She always returned to her room more despondent and depressed than ever, so their system must be working. She lost all will to live. She couldn’t even rely on Elliot anymore. His presence protected her as much as he could while he was here. Now she was on her own.
She wanted to die. That was the plain truth. She would rather die than face another day of this torment. She couldn’t even do that. She wanted to live too badly. Her own misguided determination to live kept her going against her own interests.
She forced herself to her feet and set off along the bare plane stretching out to sea. She didn’t really know it stretched out to sea, but she imagined it that way. What else could lie beyond the Quag but the open ocean? Somewhere, this blue world must change into something different. It couldn’t encompass the entire world.
By force of habit, she scanned the surroundings for food. She went through the same routine every day. She spent far too much time searching for food. That was the only way she could stay away from the dragons. They didn’t bother her out here. They already thought she was crazy for foraging like this. This was the only way she could stay sane.
She turned her back on the Halcyon Coast. Out here, she could pretend it didn’t exist, that she didn’t have to return to it, that she didn’t have to see dragons swimming above her when she fell asleep at night.
At least she didn’t have to sleep in that bed without Elliot. She slept on the floor. The magic that created this bizarre world made the blue stone soft for her the same way the mattress yielded to her body shape. She could be grateful for small mercies.
She stopped next to a large rock. She harvested lichens from its rough surface most days, but they hadn’t grown back since yesterday. She moved on to a bank of corals and searched the anemones for fish. Maybe one of these days, she would get one that was poisonous enough to kill her.
She meandered from one food source to another but she didn’t really look. She wasn’t hungry enough now and the Halcyon Coast offered too many choices as it was. It didn’t lend itself to struggle. No one had to look very far to find food. The other dragons let chunks of flesh and severed pieces fall from their kills. If she got really desperate, she could always eat those.
She let her eyes shift out of focus. Walking alone calmed her. It carried her somewhere she didn’t have to think. No one else on the Halcyon Coast had to live alone, but she liked it. She didn’t want to talk to anyone.
She could walk for miles out here. She spent hours alone and never missed anyone. She didn’t even want to think about her family. Why should she when she held out no hope of ever seeing them again? Thinking about them and missing them would only make her sad. It would make surviving here that much harder and she didn’t need that.
She headed for a ridge rising several miles from the Coast. It raised its jagged peaks upward out of sight. She gazed at those underwater mountains and imagined they could break the surface. They could see above the water where she couldn’t.
She never got near enough to climb those hills, but maybe today was the day. The idea gave her a thrill she hadn’t felt in a long time. It made her want to live at least long enough to accomplish it.
She aimed for them and her feet picked up speed. She experienced a surge of energy inside herself. Yeah. She would climb those hills. What the hell did she have to lose, anyway?
She scanned the heights. The mountains seemed to peer back down on her. They seemed to smile on her efforts, to invite her to hurl herself against them, to test herself on them, to feel her own humanity and vitality against their solidity.
A dragon shape streaked across her vision and she froze. A chill washed over her skin and her spirit crumpled inside her. One dragon after another soared up there. They stayed far enough above her so she couldn’t make them out. She could only recognize the sharp points of their wings and tails streaming through the water.
She stiffened. What did they want? She saw enough dragons flying against the silvery surface. These creatures gave her a gnawing sensation in her guts.
She blinked up at them for a minute. Then she set her lips. She was gonna climb those hills. The dragons couldn’t stop her. If they meant her no good, so much the better. Better to get all the cards out on the table so she didn’t have to live in uncertainty anymore.
She clenched her fists and pushed forward. She locked her gaze on the mountains and didn’t bother to look up again. Bring it on. Let the dragons do their worst. She just didn’t care anymore. She would rather go down with their hostility right out in plain view where she could see it.
A dragon zipped past her nose so close she paused. She caught a fleeting glimpse of him before he zoomed away and vanished. Another three followed in close succession, but she didn’t need to see them. That first dragon told her exactly what to expect. It was Chimo.
She hadn’t spoken to him or even seen him since that fateful night in the chasm. So this was his doing. He waited until Elliot wasn’t around to make his move. Fucking coward.
She bolstered her resistance. If he wanted to fuck with her, he chose the right time to do it. She was ready. She welcomed him and his friends and any mayhem he decided to visit on her head.
She made up her mind to climb those mountains. She locked her eyes on them and blocked the dragons out of her awareness. They couldn’t stop her. Nothing would ever stop her again. She didn’t need Elliot around to bail her out. She could face death as well as any New Breed. She could fight. She could taste Chimo’s blood one last time. He wouldn’t walk away from this unscathed. He must know that. He wouldn’t threaten her not knowing that.
The dragons whisked back and forth around her and in front of her and above her. Their screeching cries echoed across the eerie landscape. One of them ducked low enough to flick her hair before he streamed off somewhere else.
She didn’t turn aside. She paid no attention at all. She filled her mind with those mountains and they returned her attention in full measure. They welcomed her. They loved her. They cared about her in ways these Blood Kin couldn’t imagine. She belonged up there, in those lofty peaks. She belonged there a whole lot more than she ever belonged on the Halcyon Coast.
She visualized herself climbing, hand over hand. She imagined herself picking out handholds and hefting herself up by her legs. She searched the mountain’s face for the best route when, out of nowhere, something slammed into her from behind.
When the blow came, it shattered her reserve. It startled her out of her unwavering intent and sent her pitching onto her face. She sailed through the water in a surreal haze. Nothing seemed real. The ground hit her chest hard. It was so much more solid than she imagined.
The instant she landed, claws seized her by the jacket and flipped her onto her back. She tossed over and found herself staring up at ten dragons all diving and screaming at once. Where did they all come from so fast?
The mountains couldn’t help her now. No one could help her. She was on her own and she couldn’t back against any wall. The mountains watched from a distance. They didn’t love her or welcome her or encourage her. They were just dead piles of rock.
Another dragon zeroed in to attack. It came from beyond her feet. It raced up her legs arching its talons to grab and rip and shred. She had to act. She couldn’t let him grab her or she was down.
She rocketed off the ground so fast she didn’t feel it happen. She exploded out of herself and let her colossal fury come to life. She unleashed the bear in its murderous rage. She craved death—hers and theirs. She reveled in the battle that would end this ridiculous charade.
She lifted off the ground and her fangs cracked her gums. Pain ripped her mind apart, but she didn’t stop to think. She unloaded a brutal roar and launched at that dragon breaking apart every barrier holding her together.
She met him in mid-air and his narrow snout shot straight into her mouth. His nose stabbed down her throat and made her gag. Instinct slammed her jaws shut and his skull crunched between her teeth.
His limbs and wings floated beyond her shoulders. She landed on all fours and wrenched her head sideways. She ripped his skull off his neck and a cloud of blood sprayed into the water.
She spat out her victim and spun around to face her next foe. The other dragons circled her in rapid loops. They sliced their wingtips through her fur. They danced across her shoulder and scratched their claws into her skin, but none of them engaged.
She rotated to her left bellowing her challenge. She wanted them. She wanted this fight. She wanted every awful thing she could do to them. She wanted to become a monster like them. She wanted to inflict on them without a thought for their feelings. She hoped their families grieved for them. She hoped she would devastate them by taking their beloved sons from them.
She didn’t bother to try to recognize them. When one came too close, she danced that way and jabbed. She caught one by the wing and ripped the limb from its socket. She swung the other way in time to meet another one diving for her leg. She pranced out of his path and landed on his back. She bent her head and crushed his spine in one horrendous bite.
Damn, it felt good to fight! She didn’t get a chance to fight like this in Anarock. People were too nice. New Breed did their best to get along with each other. The last time she got to vent her aggressions on an enemy was during the military’s invasion.
Another dragon nipped her from behind. She whipped around thundering and snapping her jaws everywhere, but before she could close, another two streamed in from the front. She couldn’t spin around fast enough.
She spotted them out of the corner of her eye. The first dragon darted out of her reach. She started to wheel to confront the other two, but they struck in an instant.
They clamped their teeth on her knees. She roared in pain and rage, but they released her and zipped out of reach. They dallied just out of her grasp. The others moved closer. When she tried to attack one, it retreated while someone else annoyed her from behind.
So this was how they would keep this up. They would tease her and peck at her until they injured her enough to take her down. They were too cowardly to fight her face to face. That wasn’t their way.
She was too used to New Breed. They fought with integrity. They didn’t pester someone to death. When some New Breed challenged another, they got on with their battle to the death. No one had to worry about some chickenshit gang of chumps ambushing them behind closed doors. New Breed didn’t play that way.
This fight—if she could call it that—only impressed on her how much better the New Breed were than the Blood Kin could ever be. These underwater dragons kidded themselves that they were too elite to make contact with the rest of the world. The truth was they couldn’t cope with anyone but their own pretentious kind.
Aria had had enough of them. They wanted her dead from the beginning. At least if Chimo had his way, no other Blood Kin would have to fuck with her anymore. They could give up this pathetic attempt to drive her around the bend. They could go back to dicking with themselves instead of messing with her mind.
She relinquished the need to defend herself. She gathered herself into a ball and waited for their next move. She stayed in one place and narrowed her eyes at them. They kept swirling in all directions. What a bunch of wretched weaklings they were. They didn’t know how to fight. They didn’t know what it meant to show up and stand their ground. For all she knew, they didn’t have an inch of ground to stand. They were too vacuous and hollow for that.
She rotated her neck from side to side, but she didn’t bother to watch them anymore. Let ‘em come. She concerned only herself and her own fight. This was a fight against herself. She only had to prove herself to herself. No one else cared. The mountains didn’t care. Her family would never know.
She swallowed down her mounting tension. She lowered her eyes so she wouldn’t see them coming. She would get one chance at this, one chance to make herself proud, one chance to make her life count before it ended for good.
She dropped her voice to a death rumble. It vibrated through her ribs. It radiated out to the end of her life. This was her. This was her life, her time, her death. She claimed it. If she earned nothing else in her life, she proved herself worthy of this.
Sure enough, another two rushed at her from the side exactly the way they came at her from the front of a few seconds before. These stupid Blood Kin just didn’t have that many plays in their book. They didn’t have a clue how to fight. They played right into her hands.
They caught her by her two left legs. Their teeth pierced her hide and stabbed to the bone. She bellowed out loud, but she didn’t try to shake them off. She stood still and let that pain scorch through her. Come on, fuckers. Come on.
She craned her head around, but she didn’t bite at her tormenters. She whipped the other way and caught the third dragon charging her like lightning. She clamped her jaws around his neck and jerked. She whipped him back the other way. She completely ignored the two dragons pinned to her legs. What the hell did she need legs for when she wasn’t going anywhere?
