Ascension
Monsters

I was still weak from the first dosing of the drug.

The second one that he pushed into my mouth after forcing me to write that awful letter made my lethargy more pronounced. The third barely left me with my senses.

My hands shook violently as I pushed my head off the ground. I retched but nothing came up. I brushed my hair out of my face and used the back of my hand to wipe my mouth before I crawled to a less fouled spot. Not like there was much space anyways. It was like I was in a cellar of the sort and it smelled a lot like old potatoes. The floor was of soft earth over which a few strands of dried grass were scattered.

With the aid of the stone wall I managed to sit up. I had to slump as my head would have been pressed against the overhead floor. I rested my head on my knees and closed my eyes. How long had I been in here? I tried to remember particular events but it was all blurry. However, I did remember being on the cliff and I remembered waking up here, wherever this was. He forced me to write the letter, when I refused he’d held a knife to my throat telling me that he would do the same to Thorn. I said I didn’t know what to write and it made me sick as he fed me the words, some of which were my own, but they were twisted to cause much more pain to him. It made me seem that I had deserted him and was never coming back.

I’d tried escaping but he was too strong and that’s when he dosed me again.

It was a bummer that I wasn’t wearing my gem as I’d taken it off last night, but then again I wouldn’t be able to reach Thorn with it due to the protection of the island from its powers. So I’d probably have worn it in vain.

I couldn’t figure out what had changed the Nick I’d known for two years into this monster. I could see the coldness in his eyes and felt it in his grip as he forced the drugs down my throat. It was like he was no longer there and was a machine bent on inflicting maximum hurt and damage to all that stood in his way.

I heard footsteps above me which probably meant that he was back. I was expecting him to come down here any minute now and when he found me awake he would probably put me back to sleep and I was not about to let that happen. I swept the ground with my hands and then scooped some of the dirt in my hands. Maybe if I could blind him temporarily then I could get out of here.

I realized that for my plan to work I had to somehow lure him down into this hole. I looked around the room and then I got an idea. I crawled over to where I had puked earlier and flung myself down beside it. The locks above me rattled and the trap door creaked open.

“Summer,” he called. I knew that I was visible from his position. I didn’t answer. He called again.

I held my breath as I heard him approach. I allowed my body to fall limp except for the tight fist in which I balled the dirt. “Aurora,” I felt as his hands held my waist. “Shit,” he swore. “You should have been awake by now. ” he said turning me over on my back.

I opened my eyes and flung the dirt in his eyes. He let go of me and held his face. He cussed loudly and then made after me but I wiggled out of his hold. I scampered towards the door. I could hear him gaining on me. I was still too weak to try jumping out of here, so I held on to the edge of the hole and tried pulling myself up. I’d barely gotten one foot over when he held on to the one I left hanging.

“Didn’t think you were going to get away that easily.” he said grabbing my hanging leg and tugged at it . My finger still latched on to the edge of the cellar, the floor boards protesting as my fingers were prying them off. He gave a final pull that caused me to lose my grip and sent me flying into the far wall of the cellar. I tried to move but all my nerves seemed to be rewired only to transmit pain.

“So this is what I get for showing an ounce of sympathy.” he said coming to stoop over me.

“If this is your version of sympathy Naeht, I could do without it.” I said straining to look into his face. “You are going to regret doing this.” I spat. I hoped that it would have come out more forcefully, but my voice betrayed me and it came out more as a shallow whisper.

“When what? When my brother replaces out that you are here. The only place he might be seeing you if you keep this up, is in the afterlife.” he jeered.

“You can go to hell.” I said hoarsely.

“You are cute even when you’re angry.” he said grabbing my hair and pulling my head up to face him.

I spat in his face but he only wiped it off and smiled. “If you wanted to swap spit why didn’t you say so.” he said before crushing his lips to mine. I tried pushing him off me, but he didn’t budge as his lips molested my own. “Not what I imagined, but it will get better.” he said dragging my head away from his face. I didn’t mind that I’d probably lost some hair in the process, I was just happy that he’d stopped kissing me.

“In your dreams.” I whispered.

“No, in yours. Goodnight my queen.” he said dropping me back to the floor and moved towards the door. In one swift movement he disappeared up the door. I closed my eyes as the door slammed shut, leaving me in the cover of darkness.

I didn’t hate anyone as much as I hated Naeht right now. The fierceness in his eyes and his dangling silver hair reminded me so much of Omayra. I wiped away all remnants of his kiss.

I slowly gathered myself as I leaned against the walls. At first all I could hear was silence, but slowly the songs of all the night creatures made their way through the walls. I could hear the sound of crashing waves, which was good. It meant that I wasn’t too far inland and that it would be easy for Rain to replace me.

I heard what sounded like someone tapping on a door. Footsteps from overhead moved towards the sound of the noise, which stopped as soon as the door opened. I thought of screaming for help but I didn’t know if it was a friend or someone running on enemy lines.

“What are you doing here?” asked Naeht.

“I am just checking on how things are progressing” said the voice as the door closed.

“They are fine. Our plan is working as we knew it would. Did you get it?” asked Naeht.

“Yes, but I don’t see the use of this. It is only a useless pendant.”

“This is more than a useless pendant. Surveillance system is more like it.”

“Am I to understand what that means?”

“No, I guess not.”

“How is our guest?”

“Weak, but still spitting fire. I am surprised that he hasn’t sent someone after me as yet though. I know that I am still his main suspect.”

“Relax, you have nothing to worry about. Considering he asked you to look for his wife I say we are still on track.”

“No!” I whispered.

“If you say so.” said Naeht.

“Wait we are not finished. The other one?”

“There’s another one?”

“Yes and I would like you to give it to me.”

“I only found one and that’s what I took.” replied the voice defensively.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes,”

“That complicates things a bit. That one would have been of greater value than this one. We still have time.” he said musingly. “But you keep an eye open for it. As it will come in handy.”

“Does it look like that one?” asked the stranger.

“Yes, but it is blue.” he said describing my gem. I usually kept it on except when I was bathing. It must have gotten mixed up with the clothes I’d taken off last night. It was a good thing that I did as it would have made it that much easier for him to get to Thorn.

“It may be difficult considering my new restrictions but I’ll replace it. In the mean time.” said the unknown voice. There was scuffling.

“Here,” said Naeht. “I see delivery services are expensive these days. You’ll get the rest once I get the other gem and a hefty bonus when I get the extras.”

“Oh, I am definitely counting on the extras.” said the person sardonically. “This plan is going to work. ”

“As long as I get what I want.”

“Which you will. It is good doing business with you.” said the voice.

“We will see.” said Naeht. There were footsteps and I heard the door close.

It was nice of you not to scream. Although you must have learnt that it wouldn‘t have done you much good anyways.

I opened my eyes as the sound not only came from upstairs but it was also in my head. I was right he was describing the Galusion gem. I vaguely remembered him making me write that I took it when I supposedly ran away, but I thought he’d already had it.

I doubted our ability to coexist, but it seems like we will be getting along just fine. We might even become friends again. Who knows, even more. he said with a slight chuckle.

I didn’t say anything. His words were only aimed at getting a reaction from me which he used to satisfy some dark need.

My body still crawled from where he’d touched me and I still felt sick from his kiss. If he’d gone any further in violating any other part of my body and I couldn’t stop him, I’d, I’d … I sighed. I didn’t know what I would have done.

I don’t think he would go that far. At least the Naeht I knew wouldn’t. The monster above me was another story. He’d do anything to get what he wants.

I knew I was supposed to be brave, but my courage failed me. Thorn wasn’t coming as he’d left my fate in the hand of the traitor. He probably had more important issues to deal with or maybe he’d given up as he thought that I’d ran away.

“Rain, I know you can’t hear me but you can still feel me. I need you. I know you know that I didn’t run away. Please replace me. Please.” I whispered. “I need you to replace me.”

My clothes smelled like old potatoes, pine oil, dirt and vomit. Yet I buried my head in my dress as I erupted into dry sobs as the tears no longer came.

“Vitali,” I said acknowledging the presence of the captain as he walked into the study.

“I see Diego isn’t at his post.” he said taking the seat directly in front of my desk.

“I sent him out.” I said and I cringed slightly as my head exploded in pain.

“Is everything alright?”

“I am fine. Aurora isn’t. As you know, I feel what she does and right now she is in pain.” I said holding my composure.

“There is a doctor on call.” he started.

“She isn’t here. I received a note from her that she has left, but I think it is a cover. She was taken. I am not sure how, but she isn’t here.”

“This happened today?” he asked.

“Sometime this morning. She is nowhere on the island. I’ve already looked. I have my suspicions though.”

“That is where Diego went?” he asked.

“Yes, I asked him to trail my brother.”

“Your brother,” he whispered.

“Everyone is a suspect. He’d offered to look for her. I gave him permission to as I still have business to tie up here. I wanted to ensure that I wasn’t sending the criminal to look after his victim. He has a month to replace her before I leave to go look for her myself.”

“I can understand that. But suppose . . .?”

“Suppose she is dead by then.” he didn’t respond but I knew that was the question he wanted to ask. “She won’t be. Whoever took her is after me. She is just a bargaining chip.”

“We should get more help. We have some excellent trackers in the Guard, all of whom are at your disposal.”

“If I did that I would leave Tir na n-Óg open to more attack. Everyone is staying here. This will be dealt with as a private matter. Do we understand?” I said raising an eyebrow at him.

“My silence is guaranteed.” he said leaning back into his chair. “But I must ask, what if it is your brother?”

“Then justice will be quick.” I said looking him in the eyes. “But that is left to be seen.” I said folding my hands. “That isn’t why I asked to see you. I’ve been made aware that Mond was the one who was in charge of the department of covert operations. I wanted to know if there were any records of whom he did business with.”

“Yes but most of them were kept on a computer back in Jamaica. But that place was burnt to the ground.”

“He didn’t keep backups?”

“No not really. But what I can tell you is that the donors preferred remaining anonymous and usually operated using middle men and the payments were usually made through the banks.”

“So we aren’t at a total loss then. It will be easy enough to get the info we need, as the right people are quite replicable.” I smiled slightly. “Do you have the names of the banks we operated through?”

“Yes,”

“Good, then I want people in there as soon as possible. I need information within the month.”

“That can be done.” he said with a slight smile. “Is that all?”

“Yes, and Vitali I would prefer that this will remain a bloodless affair. We want no trails left behind.”

“We never do,” he smiled and exited the room.

I would have preferred going through cleaner channels but if blackmail was what I had to use tie off our shady associations, I would use it. The profits to be gained from such a venture wouldn’t be a bad start either.

I thought about my wife. What would she think about what I was doing? She would understand, probably after a thousand years, but she would. It was probably best that she didn’t know. But before I can start withholding secrets from her I will have to replace her first.

I pushed myself away from the desk and went to stand at the window. The waterfall was always a good place to think. I would wait for Diego up there. I walked over to the desk and packed up everything that I was working on and locked them away before stepping out.

The crashing sounds of the water temporarily drowned out raucous noises being caused by my thoughts. I thought about what Vitali said. Was I really willing to leave the Summer’s life in the hands of my brother? And what if he was the one who really took her? I knew that the answers to my questions and the actions that followed all depended on what Diego had to say.

I experienced a strange wave of panic at I realized that there was a possibility that the news would not be what I wanted to hear. If that did happen, could I be unselfish enough to let her have her way. What if I did replace her could I live through the rejection if she’d again refused to come back to me?

I dug my hand into my pocket and took out the blue gem and twisted it in my hand. It let out a soft glow and I saw myself in it. My legs folded and my head was down with my hair falling over my shoulders hiding my face. Which was a good thing as I didn’t want to see it. The only things I would’ve seen were pain and loss and I didn’t need a visual reminder. I folded my fingers over it as the glow faded. I pushed it back into my pocket. Someone was coming. I climbed my way down to the mouth of the alcove, the waterfall parting momentarily as I swung inside. I leaned against the near wall.

“Your Majesty,” said as Diego as he stopped suddenly in his tracks.

“Sorry for startling you.”

“I wasn’t expecting to replace you here.”

“I was becoming impatient. What did you replace out?”

“He is staying at a house just off the cove. It was quiet there. Nothing out of place really.”

“So he, doesn’t have her?”

“No, it doesn’t appear that way Your Majesty. Though I didn’t get a chance to go inside.” he said sounding somewhat resigned.

“Well that answers some of my questions.” I said to myself. She’d left. “Good work, Diego. We can head back to the palace now.” he nodded as we left the cave together.

Selfish or unselfish?