"You guys want me to call up light and darkness and double make sure there's no yucky darkness still hanging around?" I asked.
Everyone paused right in front of the ladder. They looked at one another and then back at me. Johnny B paused lighting the lamps and looked down the tunnel, which was pitch black and not very inviting looking.
"Do you mind Ray?" Zoey asked.
"If I minded then why did I mention it?" I asked giving her a grin.
Dominic clamped a hand on my shoulder. "You've used up a lot of energy tonight." His dark blue eyes sparkled with concern. "Maybe you should tone it down a bit."
I rolled my eyes. "I'm just going to have it do a sweep of the tunnels. That yucky darkness usually vanishes on sight when my darkness and light show up."
Rephaim looked at me. "You really shouldn't push yourself Raven."
"I'll just sleep like a rock tonight. It's not like I got school tomorrow." I said.
"You still have to go to school." Stevie Rae said sounding like my mom.
"Where? As much as I would love to see those damn skinny ass blonde bitches have a freaking heart ache because I show up, I really don't want some poor police guy shooting me cuz I look like the angel of death." I said.
Snap twined around my ankles. "You need to learn to control your powers. The House of Night is our best option outside of your father."
"Neither of those options sound appealing." I muttered.
"Would you stop arguing with your cat?" Aphrodite said. "It's so annoying watching you carry on a conversation with her when we only get part of it."
"Not my problem." I said with shrug. I clapped my hands together. Dark and light tendrils curled out from my body like the corona of the sun. It sorta of weirded me out that I didn't have to vocalize summoning them like the others. It was almost like these elements were a part of me.
"Just make sure none of that yucky darkness is sticking around please." I said. I held my palms flat out. My aura pulsated from my body and pressed against the walls of the tunnels before shooting downwards.
Someone male whistled.
My mouth cracked open in a yawn. "Where am I rooming?"
Stevie Rae suddenly grinned. "We almost forgot about your birthday gift."
I blinked. I remembered for my birthday the nerd herd had given me a key. I guess now I was going to find out what that key unlocked.
Stevie Rae clamped her hands over my eyes.
"What are you-?"
"You don't think they messed up her…um the gift do you?" The girl I think was called Sophie asked.
"The door was locked and it is above ground." Shaunee said.
"I'm going to be pissed if they screwed it up. We worked so damn hard on it!" Erin said.
"Where's your key?"
"In the small pocket in the suitcase." I said. I kept blinking even though her hands tampered my vision.
I heard the zipper opening. Someone took my hands and began guiding me through the tunnels.
"Can't you let me see?" I asked.
"It's a surprise." Stevie Rae said.
"Well my birthday is over so I doesn't have to be a surprise anymore." I said as they blindingly guided me to wherever my gift was.
A door opened and we began up some stairs. The stairs felt earthen and smelled like dirt.
"Okay." Stevie Rae took her off with flourish. "Happy Birthday."
It was a bedroom. It must have been an office or something like that at one point. Stevie Rae had used her Earth element to create a stairway up from the tunnels. The walls were painted a silver-ish white. Dusty purple hades hung from black rods. The bed was made from the same black metal and had silver-ish white sheets and the same purple colored comforter. My chest from home was at the foot of my bed. Looking around I saw my dresser and mini bookshelf. But the wardrobe was new.
"Oh wow." I said.
"We figured that you would want a room not underground when you changed back." Stevie Rae said with a grin.
"I love it." I said with tears stinging in my eyes. I laughed and went around and hugged everyone. "Thank you." It was just so damn sweet and made me really feel like part of the family.
"We've got Snap a litterbox set up in one of the less…um nice spaces." Stevie Rae said. Snap glanced up at her before continuing to sniff my room.
"It's really wonderful. Thank you all so much." I repeated for the gazillionth time.
"Yeah, well, don't make us regret being nice to you." Aphrodite said with a wave of her hand.
After that cheery comment we dispersed to clean up the mess those red fledglings and unpacked, mostly I unpacked because I had stuff, and we also had some snackage.
I collapsed down onto to my stomach on my bed. I was pooped with a capital P. I buried my face into a pillow. The bed bounced and I turned my head.
Dominic stretched out on his back and tucked his hands behind his head.
"You aren't a pillow hog or blanket hog, are you?" I asked.
He shook his head.
"Kay." I sighed.
"You looked tired." He said.
"I am tired." I muttered. "Remember, I over exhausted my powers."
"So you finally admit it." He grinned.
"Now I can sleep." I murmured.
He tugged one of the chains in my hair.
I moaned. "I don't wanna change."
"Fine by me."
I punched his arm. "Pervert."
I sat up anyway and began tugging the chains and flowers out of my hair. Dominic clasped my wrist with warm fingers. I froze as electric pulses shot through my body.
Dominic gently took my face into his hands before he kissed me.
I swear everything inside me was ZING-ing trying to burst from my skin. I'm pretty sure if he didn't have my face clasped in his hands I would burst into a million fragments.
He pulled back. "Sorry. I've been waiting to do that for a while now."
"It's okay." I said kind of breathless. My lips were tingling and my cheeks.
He touched my cheek. "I think I'm falling in love with you Ray."
I blushed. I chewed my lip. "I think I'm falling in love with you."
He smiled broadly like a little boy. I grinned back and leaned over to kiss him again. He pulled me into his lap and I curled my wings around him wrapping us in a cocoon.
I stopped sucking his face and pressed my face into the curve of his neck and sighed.
"I hope this doesn't insult or offend you, but I'm not asking your father permission to court you." He said into my hair.
I chuckled. "I won't let you because I'm sure he's not going to be too happy some male is sucking his baby girl's face."
He rubbed my back with his big warm hands.
I climbed out of his lap and climbed into the wardrobe.
"What are you doing?" He asked.
"I'm looking for Narnia." I said tugging off my dress and pulling on a stretched out cami and plaid boxer shorts. I walked out and began pulling back the comforter.
"You could have just had me turn around." He said.
"You're a boy remember." I said climbing into bed. "And a pervert."
He shook his head. "Why did I admit I'm in love with you?" He mumbled. He tugged off his shirt and shucked off his shoes before sliding under my covers.
I slid up next to him and put my head on his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around me and rubbed his knuckles down my spine. I snuggled up against him.
He reached out and stroked my wings. I flinched.
"Sorry." He started to pull away.
"You're fine." I said. "It just tickled."
I closed my eyes. I started humming some tune whose origins I could not determine. I sunk into the soft blanket of sleep trying to figure out where I've heard that tune.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXO
I shivered. I was suddenly cold. I opened my eyes and Dominic was gone. I sat up and looked around. He wasn't far. He was pacing at the foot of my bed.
"Dominic?" I asked. I crawled to the end of the bed. "Dominic, what's wrong?"
I reached out to grab his shirt, but my hand passed through him. I glanced at my hand and then looked back.
This was the weirdest thing I've ever seen. Here my conscious was sitting at the end of my bed and right in front of me was my body, still peacefully sleeping.
I'm going to need therapy.
I turned away from myself and looked back at Dominic. He had stopped pacing and rubbed his hand down his face. He had a torn expression on his face.
"Dominic." Why couldn't I throw something around or do some ghost thing to get him to listen to me? "Dominic, please, tell me what's wrong."
"I'm coming." He said to the air. I blinked. What? What was wrong? Who was he talking to?
He turned and looked at me, or guess technically my body, with a defeated look on his face. He walked slowly to the bedside and bent down to kiss my forehead.
"I'm sorry Ray."
Okay, how do I fucking get back into my body? I need to know what the hell was going on!
He pushed off the bed and swiftly left my room.
I jumped on myself.
"Come on." I grabbed my body's shoulders and tried to shake them. "Get up! Reabsorb me! Do something! Wake up!"
My eyes suddenly burst open. I bolted straight up out of bed. The moonstone burned hotly on my chest.
"Dominic?" I called out. No answer.
I shoved the blankets off of me and rushed to one of the windows. I looked down and saw Dominic making his way away from the depot.
"Light." I called out. "Please follow Dominic."
A golden ball of light swirled away from me leaving a string of light like it was a ball of yarn. I yanked on some jeans and tank top. I yanked open the windows and took off.
I expected him to still be nearby, but he must have used that ridiculously crazy fast Sons of Erebus running thing because I ended up following the light string to the Philbrook Museum.
The ball of light stood in the middle of the rose garden, but no Dominic. I circled around, but I didn't see him or any guards or visitors.
Something came out of nowhere and slammed against me. I spun around in air disoriented for a minute, but by the time I righted myself it slammed into me again.
A claw wrapped around my throat and the other around my wing base. They yanked hard and steered me spiraling into the ground.
I smacked into it with a sickening thud. It didn't feel like anything was broken, but I wasn't too sure. I pushed myself up slowly making sure nothing was broken when something snarled at me.
My heart stopped.
It wasn't natural. People may call my brothers and me abominations, but that's because they haven't seen this thing.
It looked like it had been some sort of predator, more canine than feline, at one point, but its maroon-ish looking skin had shrunken to its bones. Webbing covered its long talons and really long and incredibly sharp looking fangs jutted out of its mouth. It had a long whip looking tail and instead of ears it had two antennae like things jutting out from the back of its skull to about its back. Spikes stuck out past its elbows on its front legs and once I noticed the webbing in between the spikes did I realize that those were its wings.
It opened its mouth and shrieked at me.
I bolted straight up and took off. All knowledge that I had ass kicking powers fled my mind. My body went straight to flight mode without actually trying to fly away from this thing.
It skidded in front of me. I almost fell onto my hinney trying to stop. It stood on its back legs and brought its front paw down and smacked my chest.
I was thrown back and landed, again, with a sickening thud on the ground.
"Ow."
I looked up to see towering over me, claw ready to come down on me, and giving out a triumphant shriek.
Dominic suddenly burst out of nowhere and began shouting at it in a language I've never heard. The hell hound growled, but went back onto four paws giving me a glare with its white pupiless eyes.
Dominic came over to me and picked me up gently. "Are you all right?"
"No." I had a fucking hell hound attack me! How can I be okay after that?
But those words died in my throat when I saw who else was with us.
He looked normal enough, save for the golden brown angel wings sticking out of his back. He had sun kissed skin and hair and bright blue eyes. He honestly looked like a sun god. It was his aura that disturbed me. He radiated evil and unlike Neferet he didn't care that people could feel his evil. He didn't put on a mask of good to get what he needed because he obviously didn't need to. He could get whatever he wanted without pretending.
He grinned at me and I'm a hundred percent sure that if Dominic didn't have a hold of me that I would be running off in the other direction screaming my little lungs out.
"I suppose this sweet little girl is the reason you left the Isle of Skye without my consent?" He asked in a slick voice.
I swear that voice should never exist. It could scare the paint of walls it was so damn ass creepy.
He took my chin in his hand and my skin crawled. "You must be Kalona's little girl."
My back prickled. I didn't care if I had to dismember Dominic, I had to get away from this guy, one way or another.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"I'm so sorry little one. I suppose your father is trying to keep his precious little girl from safe and pure." He grinned.
"I'm not his daughter." I said.
He chuckled. "No matter how many times he says it, it won't ever be true. He cares for you children, more than you can possibly realize."
"Mind explaining how you know my father?" I asked.
"I offered your father paradise and he refused." The immortal's eyes darkened and I felt chilled to the bone. "I am Damascus."
Shit. Must run away. Must run away.
"You've met my heir, Dominic." He said.
I looked at Dominic confuzzled. He just looked at me sadly.
"Didn't he tell you?" He asked with a jackass smile in his voice.
I could feel a crack forming in my heart.
"Ray." He said softly.
"There's no reason for you to keep up this persona Dominic." Damascus said harshly. "I'm sick of looking at you in this form."
I felt Dominic's body ripple. I really didn't want to look, but for some reason (I really think I have a deep inner desire to make myself suffer) I did look.
His tattoo had disappeared and midnight black wings sprouted from his back. My stomach clenched when I realized that his dark blue eyes had sudden become a deep purple.
Shit. I felt stupid and used. The crack in my heart was getting bigger.
I swallowed. I was not going to give him the satisfaction of seeing me cry.
"Well, what do you want with me?" I asked angrily at Damascus.
"I didn't really expect any half-breed, especially one produced by Kalona," I was starting to think he really didn't like Kalona. "to possess such power over the elements of light and darkness. It is rare even among pure bloods for a being to have such power." He gave me this crazy power hungry look. "Even your ability to communicate with beasts is impressive."
Great. My greatest fear realized. Some ass hole wants to use my powers for his gain.
"You must feel like a real big ass Immortal using a half-breed's power to accomplish something you obviously haven't." I said.
His face darkened. His hand lashed out and struck my cheek. My head snapped violently to the side. I felt the slap all the way down to my toes. I ran my tongue around my mouth to make sure none of my teeth got knocked loose.
"Your father may permit you to speak that way to him, but I will not tolerate it." He said.
My cheek burned, but did that stop me from making another smart ass comment? "What can't handle the truth? At least my father can handle that, no matter how bad it is." Um, that's a no.
He stuck me again on the same cheek. I really hoped he didn't break my cheek bone. Dominic squeezed my arms gently.
"You're more like your father than either of you will admit." He said in a low voice.
"So what do you want?" I asked. "I highly doubt this is a social visit."
"We're looking for something rather important." He said. "A key."
"Why would I be interested in a key?" I asked.
He glared at me. "Because the veil between the mortal and immortal realm is collapsing."
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXXO
Muhahahahahaha. Cliff hanger! I think I'm really sadistic deep down.
I'm kind of curious, did anyone guessment something wrong with Dominic? Hm? Be honest.