Discovery: Altera Realm Trilogy (41 page)

"What's the count?"

Grass looked over at her. "Three Magic Users, all royal, and ten Guards."

Mellisandrianna sat back in her throne. "And Syney?"

"She's alive. She didn't come back with the larger group. They rode in an hour ago, unharmed. They took her straight to her room."

All that, and she was still alive. She was more like a cat than a princess—nine lives.

"All of the bodies are being brought here. There were some that they left, but a squadron was sent out to retrieve them. This is the largest massacre since the Great War started."

"You don't think I know that?" The queen stood and began to pace in front of her throne. "This must be looked at."

Grass stepped away from her. "The Daemons are awake. This is very bad."

She stopped and narrowed her eyes. "The question is
'How
are they actually awake?' That spell is locked up in the secured section of the Great Library."

"Princess Cass has been in there."

"Are you implying something?"

"No, ma'am," he said quickly.

She shook her head. "No, Cass isn't strong or smart enough to get to that spell."

"Then someone else. Maybe we should put a guard on the library."

"They don't need to go back there, you fool. No, we have to think of a way to trap them with the book."

Grass hesitated. "Do you think they'll still have it?"

She nodded. "Probably."

"Then we'll have to find them with it."

Mellisandrianna thought about it for a moment. She turned and sat back down on the throne. "Yes. The monthly service is next week?"

Grass nodded. "Yes, both Magic Users and Lycins."

"Choose five men, ones you trust. The moment the service begins, start searching the rooms."

"Which ones?"

She looked at him. "All of them."

Noelle

Syney was still sleeping, but that didn't mean that everyone in the room wasn't on edge. Noelle was curled up on one the couches, watching Syney sleeping in her bed. Noelle had pulled off Syney's dirty clothes and pulled the large blanket over her, praying the whole time that when she woke up she was still Syney. Healing with Vampire blood was a dangerous thing. Half-bloods were nothing to laugh about, and neither was over-blooding. One left the person a blood-craving animal, and the other seduced them into a life they never would normally have taken. She didn't want either for Syney.

Noelle looked at Hunter. He hadn't moved from the foot of the bed since they had walked in. He just stood there staring at her. Gabe also hadn't moved, although he was almost comatose, sitting in a chair next to the bed. His eyes were closed, but Noelle was pretty sure he was still awake. Reed stood guard by the door, even though the kid looked like he was about to fall over. Noelle had suggested they all go down to the infirmary, or at least take a shower, but none of them took her suggestion seriously and stationed themselves in the room.

She sighed and pulled her knees closer to her body. This was all one big nightmare. She couldn't believe Syney had been attacked twice—had almost died twice. Well, technically she had died. She looked back over at Gabe. She couldn't figure him out. He had to have an ulterior motive—all Vampires did—but what it was she had no idea. It had to do with Syney obviously. He doted on her, even babied her at times, but it was Noelle he had grabbed for when
the Daemons had attacked. Granted, Syney had been with Hunter, but still the action had meant something to Noelle, something she wouldn't forget.

When the door opened, she sat up a little. Leaf strode in, followed by Fern. They both looked grim, but it was nothing compared to the look of rage on Hunter's face when he saw Fern. Noelle jumped to her feet and stood in front of him. There was no need for more bloodshed. She pushed him back, which was a pretty difficult task, considering she was half his size.

"Get out!" Hunter yelled.

Leaf put up his hand. "Calm down."

"No, there is no calm," he said, maneuvering around Noelle. "I told you to stay with her, and you took off!"

"There was a need out in the battlefield. People were getting killed," Fern said, in her annoyingly even tone. She pointed to Syney. "She's fine."

"She died!" Noelle yelled.

Both Leaf and Fern looked to her.

"What happened?" Leaf asked, looking back at Hunter.

"A Daemon had her in a death squeeze when I got there. Gabe healed her."

Leaf looked at Fern. "Were your orders to stay with her?"

"Yes, but—"

"There are no buts!" Hunter yelled. "Fern, you are great at what you do, but you're a fighter, not a Protector. You're only concern was for
her."
He paused to take a few breaths. "You're no longer Syney's Protector."

"You don't have the authority to do that," Fern said.

"But I do, and I am," Leaf said.

Fern looked at him, and Noelle almost saw the hint of emotion, anger. "Fine." She turned and stalked out of the room.

Leaf turned to look at Syney. "Is she going to be OK?"

"Yes," Noelle said. "But I think she should relax for a few days."

Leaf and Hunter both nodded.

"Thank you," Leaf said. It was directed to Gabe, who finally opened his eyes and sat up.

"You're welcome," he said, his voice holding none of his usual snark, only exhaustion.

"Let me know when she's awake, and I'll give a report to the queen." Leaf walked to the door. He stopped next to Reed and gave him a pat on the shoulder. "You did good."

"Thank you, sir," Reed said with a triumphant smile.

"Go get some sleep. Syney has enough protection right now."

Reed nodded but shot Hunter a look before heading out with Leaf.

Noelle sighed and sat back down on the couch. Sleep sounded very good to her right now, but she had to stay awake. Her eyes suddenly grew very heavy. She looked over to see Gabe staring at her. That bastard was putting her to sleep. She opened her mouth to protest but could only get out a yawn before laying her head down and falling asleep.

Syney

Syney had seen her parents and Jessie, Hunter, even her real mother, but none of those people had a place inside her head right now. She never had been very experienced with the opposite sex. She wasn't the ultra-hot girl who had more guys than she knew what to do with, but she sure looked that way at that moment. She was in a dark room in a skirt that barely covered anything and a top that didn't do any better. Gabe was there, sitting in the center of the room in a wooden chair. She was dancing. He was watching. She slid down between his legs and leaned back, placing the back of her head on his shoulders. She turned around and slid onto his lap, nipping at his lips as he smiled and ran his fingers through her hair.

"This feels dirty," she whispered.

"It is," he said, leaning forward and running his tongue up her neck.

She laughed and looked behind him. There was a woman there, one she never had seen before. She shook her head, her long black hair flowing past her hips. "Who is she?"

"No one," Gabe said, as his hands felt their way up her legs.

"She seems angry," Syney said.

"Who cares?" He pulled her face to his and kissed her. It wasn't anything like her kisses with Hunter. These were harder and wetter and made every part of Syney tighten with lust.

He worked his way down to her neck as Syney looked back at the woman. She noticed a red necklace she was wearing. It looked familiar, but she couldn't place it. Something seemed wrong about all of this. She shook her head.

Syney opened her eyes slowly. She was in her room, but it looked different—more vibrant, if that was possible. She sat up. Noelle and Hunter were both sleeping on the couch across from her bed, but they both looked odd. Noelle was surrounded by a turquoise color that seemed to be glowing out of her. Hunter had the same thing going on, but his was a deep brown. She closed her eyes and shook her head, but when she looked again, the colors were still there. Then she heard two different thumping sounds. They were coming from the two of them. She shifted on the bed and only realized then that Gabe was sitting next to her, watching her intently. She looked at him, and the images that had just been in her head came crashing back. She slowly crawled over to him and kissed him, letting her tongue lick along his lips.

"Whoa," he said, pulling back.

She frowned and sat back. "What's going on?"

"What do you remember?"

Syney thought back. The Daemon attack. She remembered she had died. She told him both things, and he nodded. "You healed me?"

He nodded again. "I had to give you more than last time."

"Am I like you now?"

"Only for a little bit. What do you feel like?"

Syney thought about it. She didn't feel any pain. Nothing seemed black and depressing anymore. She smiled. "I feel wonderful. Every part of my body feels alive. I can feel it all moving—my blood, my breath. Do you always feel like this?"

He nodded. "What else?"

She looked over at him. He looked delicious, like the most attractive man she ever had seen. She leaned back toward him and climbed on top of him. "I feel like if I don't kiss you again I'm going to explode. Touch me, please."

He shook his head. "It's the blood. You have a lot of my blood in your system right now, so you're going to feel a bond with me. But it'll pass. It's not real."

"It feels real to me." She leaned down and kissed him again. For a second he kissed her back, but then he must have snapped back to reality because he easily pulled her off him and shook his head.

"Stop. This isn't you. Here." He pointed to Hunter. "Picture yourself in a room with a door. A door into Hunter's mind."

She rolled her eyes but did as asked. "OK. Can I go in?"

"Yes."

She sighed and mentally opened the door. She almost gasped as she was accosted by images. They were mostly images of her—some of her and Hunter together, some of their one night together. Then she heard his voice. "I can't lose her. I can't lose her." He seemed to be repeating it over and over. She pulled back and looked at Gabe. "He loves me."

"Yes, he does."

"Is that what you see? When you read people's minds?"

"Yes." He gave her an odd look. "Do you still feel the same?"

Syney didn't. The thumping was getting softer, and the colors around everyone were fading. "I think it's going away." Then the pain returned. She cried out and grabbed her side. "Make it come back!"

"What's wrong?" Gabe asked.

She lay back in the bed as Hunter and Noelle woke up.

"It hurts!" she yelled.

Hunter was at her side immediately. "What hurts? I thought everything was healed."

"I think it's the old injury," Gabe said, pulling her hand away and looking at her bare skin.

Syney looked down. All of the scars from the previous attack were gone, but the pain still hummed through her body. She looked at Gabe, who was intently staring at the spot where the pain was. "What is it?"

He shook his head and looked at her. "Nothing." He looked at Noelle. "Get her pills."

Noelle nodded and grabbed a container out of one of Syney's drawers. She handed a pill and some water to Syney, who swallowed as quickly as she could. She sighed and lay back in the bed. Everything was rushing back to her—the pain, the blackness, everything. She started to cry, not caring that all three of them were staring at her. She pulled the covers back over her and sank farther into the bed.

"It wore off already," Gabe said.

They were quiet.

"I'll go get some food. Do you want to eat, Syney?" Noelle asked.

Syney was starving, but she couldn't say anything. The depression seemed to have gotten worse. She didn't want this anymore. She didn't want anything anymore. People were trying to kill her, and she kept surviving just to be in constant pain and have everything around her suck. She sighed and sat up. "No food, thank you. I just really want to sleep."

"You just slept almost an entire day," Hunter said.

"Well, I want to sleep more!" she snapped. "Now get out."

Noelle and Hunter exchanged a look.

"No. We're at a heightened alert because of the attack. I can't leave," Hunter said.