The Lost Years (The Guardians Book 4) (17 page)

“Don’t make assumptions, Uri, you haven’t even seen him. Maybe there’s something to the way Dina is feeling,” Sera defended.

“Oh, God, Uri, I don’t know, maybe it’s me. Maybe I’m looking for something to be wrong with him because I feel guilty about using dark magic.”

“Well, you’re right, you should never have used dark magic,” Uri offered, softening his tone. “But what’s done is done. We have him back now and that’s the important thing.”

“What do you mean by different?” Sera inquired, unable to shake the uneasy feeling plaguing her.

“It’s nothing,” Dina answered.

“Perhaps nothing is wrong with him, but before we go in there I think we should have a better idea of what we need to be looking for. If you tell us, then we can look for the strange behaviors,” Sera continued.

“Well—” Dina began. “I’m not sure, it’s hard to explain. He looks like him and his voice sounds like him, but he’s not exactly Raimie. The way he responds sometimes sounds exactly like Raimie and other times it’s like he has no emotions. I shouldn’t even say that. You’re right; he’s been through so much. None of us would be ourselves after that.”

“Let’s see him and I’ll tell you if it’s your imagination or not. There, problem solved,” Uri answered, following closely behind Dina as they entered the tombs, Sera holding his hand.

The group weaved their way through the corridor’s earthen vault. The deeper they went, the stronger the scent of iron became.

“What is that?” Dina asked, pulling the scarf up to cover her nose.

“Maybe it’s metal seeping in from the hillside,” Uri suggested.

“No, it wasn’t like that before,” Dina argued.

“It smells like blood,” Sera noted.

Uri paused for a moment, taking in a deep breath. “You’re right.”

“Raimie?” Dina called, her voice dripping with panic. “Where are you, Raimie?” The more time that passed silently, the quicker her heart raced.

“Hey, man, it’s Uri. Are you down here?”

“Hi, Uri,” an emotionless voice called out from the shadows. The three turned, unable to make out Raimie’s face, but they could clearly hear his voice.

“Is that really you? Man, I was so worried about you, we all were,” Uri added, moving around to try and see his face without getting closer.

“I got you some food, sweetie,” Dina added, taking a step forward with the bag.

“I already ate,” Raimie replied in a cold tone.

Uri could sense what Dina had been talking about, the short answers, the lack of emotion as he spoke, something wasn’t right about their friend.

“You already ate? But I told you not leave. Did you go out into Iron Gate? Did someone see you?” Dina asked, worried her secret might be discovered before she was ready.

“Of course not. You told me not to leave,” Raimie answered.

“I don’t understand. How could you have eaten then?” Dina asked, taking another step closer. From her new location, she could see the red stains all around his mouth and the splatter across his shirt.

“Raimie, are you hurt?” she screeched, rushing forward and taking his hand. He didn’t speak or move, but it was in that moment she saw the girl’s body lying on the ground behind him.

“Oh, my God!” she cried.

“What is it, Dina?” Uri inquired, walking up next to her.

“Is she all right?” Dina asked her beloved. “What happened to her?”

“I told you, I was hungry. You sent her to me,” Raimie replied.

“What?” Dina cried. “No— I don’t understand.”

Uri knelt, reaching out to take the girls pulse, but there was none. Taking a closer look his head dropped low as he recognized her. “It’s Neru, she’s dead.”

“No, it can’t be!” Dina shouted, shaking her head wildly.

“Thank you, honey,” Raimie said, looking at Dina.

“What did you do?” Dina asked desperately.

“She said you sent her to me. I assumed she was the food you got for me,” Raimie answered, puzzled by her distress.

Uri stood, taking a few steps back and pulling Dina with him as he did.

“She’s a person, Raimie! Not food!” Dina’s body began to tremble as the reality sank in.

“He’s undead,” Sera stated from the rear of the room.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Dina asked, turning towards Sera in a frenzy, tears streaming down her face.

“Undead drink blood to survive or they can consume flesh as long as it’s living at the time of consumption. A newly undead has a large appetite. For him to survive, he will have to feed on the living every couple of hours, if I had to guess,” Sera explained.

“How do you know that?” Uri asked.

“I just do.”

Dina twirled back around, staring at Raimie who stood motionless, looking at them. “You’re wrong! Look at him. He’s not hurting any of us; he can’t be.”

“He’s already eaten. I suspect no matter what, he wouldn’t hurt you because you created him and most undead are loyal to their creators. Given the choice though, he would kill Uri and myself if he were hungry enough. He doesn’t have any emotions, he simply exists. You were right, that isn’t your Raimie, he was already gone when we brought him to Iron Gate. Jesus, what are we going to do? We needed him, without Raimie what hope do we have?”

“Wow, thanks, Mary Poppins,” Dina snarled. “And you’re wrong. He can’t be gone.”

“I’m right here,” Raimie added innocently.

“I know you are, baby, we’re going to figure this out, don’t worry,” Dina responded.

Sera attempted to calm the girl’s emotional state. “I’m not trying to upset you, this is a real tragedy. Raimie was very important to a much bigger cause. This hurts us all.”

“You don’t even know us, so could you please spare me the melodrama!” Dina was shouting, wiping the tears away from her cheeks as quickly as they fell.

“I don’t understand. Why was Neru even in here?” Uri asked, unable to remove his eyes from the girl’s dead body.

Dina hung her head as she recalled the recent encounter. “I ran into her earlier when I left to get Raimie some food. She saw me leaving the tombs. I yelled at her and tried to scare her away so she wouldn’t come inside, but she must have gotten curious and came back.”

“We need to talk about what we’re going to do,” Uri said, glancing at Ramie before adding, “alone.”

Dina looked over at Raimie and then back at Uri, “All right. If I go talk to my friends for a minute, can you stay here?”

“Whatever,” Raimie answered in a voice that made her shudder; there was no mistaking that he was different now.

Dina, however, didn’t move. She continued standing there, staring at the blood-stained face of the shell that had once contained her beloved. Uri took hold of her hand, leading her out of the tombs and into the open night air. Sera, following close behind, had no desire to be left alone with the newly undead creature.

Once in the open, Uri asked in a panic, “What are we going to do?”

“What do you mean?” Dina asked.

“What do I mean? I mean you created a monster in there and I am wondering what the hell we’re going to do about it.” Uri growled.

“That’s Raimie in there, what can we do?” Dina moaned.

“I knew Raimie, and that, in there, is not Raimie. Jesus, Dina, he killed a girl!” Uri exclaimed.

“I know, damn it! You don’t have to remind me.”

“Apparently, I do,” Uri added.

“No, you don’t. She’s dead because of me; you don’t think I know that?”

“We have to tell Michael.,” Uri insisted.

“What? No! You promised! We can’t tell Michael. He’ll want to destroy him.,” Dina argued.

“He’s a monster, he needs to be destroyed.”

“Uri’s right. That’s not your boyfriend anymore. If you don’t take care of him, he will continue to hurt people,” Sera confirmed.

“Seriously? Why are you still here? You have no business sticking your nose into guardian affairs, so please, butt out!”

“Don’t yell at her. You made this mess and now you know what needs to be done. Are you going to do it or do I need to get Michael involved?”

“No! Don’t,” Dina pleaded before sighing in despair. “He’s my responsibility; I’ll take care of it.”

“Do you need my help?” Uri offered, knowing the immense difficulty Dina would have carrying out the deed.

“No,” Dina answered coolly. “I need to do this myself.”

“We’ll be right here if you need us,” Uri added.

“You need to know, he wouldn’t hurt you unless he got hungry enough. He can only ignore his most basic instincts for so long,” Sera explained.

Dina nodded before turning to go back into the tombs. Her head was spinning. She knew Uri was right, she should have trusted her instincts and never dabbled in dark magic. Now, she had sacrificed a piece of herself, a piece she would never get back. An innocent girl had died for her mistakes, how could she ever make things right? Beyond all the other things, she now had to dispose of this monster she created.

“Is everything all right?” Raimie asked, cocking his head as if he had no clue as to what could be troubling her.

“Do you understand who I am?” Dina asked, trying to probe deeper to see if a part of Raimie was still there to be saved.

“You’re Dina,” Raimie answered plainly.

“But what do I mean to you?” Dina pushed.

“I don’t understand.”

“I know who I am, but when you think of what I mean to you, what comes to mind?”

“You’re nice to me, you help me.”

“That’s it? How come when you were hungry, you didn’t try to feed off of me?”

“I protect you, I don’t hurt you.”

“So, if I asked you to do something for me, would you do it?”

Raimie thought about the question for a moment before responding, “Yes.”

“What if I told you that I don’t want you to hurt anyone ever again? No more feeding on people. Can you do that?”

Raimie didn’t answer at first; he appeared to be computing an answer. “If that’s what you want.”

“It is,” Dina answered, not knowing in the moment if Raimie would be able to honor his promise. “Come, let’s lay together.”

Even though deep inside Dina knew this being was not her beloved, she couldn’t help but think of her Raimie as she looked at him. If this was going to be the end of him, she wanted to hold him in her arms for the time being. Though his skin was pale and flesh cold, he still looked like him. In some way, a piece of Raimie was there with her, and she could not resist the temptation to allow the goodbye to linger.

Dina leaned against the stone wall, sliding down into a seated position. Raimie moved slowly as she motioned him over and instructed him to lie down. He did as he was told, placing his head onto her lap. She began running her fingers through his hair, watching as each strand fell back into place, memorizing what each movement was like so she could recall it one day.

“You’re so nice to me,” Raimie said in a blissful and ignorant tone. Tears ran freely down Dina’s face and she managed not to convulse as she continued to stroke his hair. They sat there in silence for at least an hour, Dina growing numb inside with each pass of her fingertips. She noticed he began to twitch, slight murmurs and moans escaping his lips. Dina knew that he would soon be unable to keep his promise to her and he would need to feed.

Poor girl, Dina thought, looking at the motionless corpse across the room. All she ever wanted to do was be our friend and look where that got her. Damn it, sometimes I think we’re all cursed. How can I do this? I can’t kill him, I love him, he’s my whole life… What if? No— I can’t, but— it’s wrong! Unless, what if Sera is right? What if a world without Raimie is a world without hope? Maybe I could keep him here, train him to not attack. We could figure out a way to possibly have him feed without killing anyone. He could still help the Guardians and I could still have him in my life.

Dina’s eyes darted down to Raimie who was now trembling, then back to Neru’s body. The man who was lying in her lap, though, was not hers. The Raimie she loved was in fact gone and in the core of herself she knew that. She had created this monster, mutilated the body of the man she loved so intensely, morphing him into this thing.

“I’m hungry,” he moaned.

“I know, baby, I know.”

“I need to eat, can I eat?”

“Soon, sweetie, rest for now,” Using her free hand, Dina slipped the dagger from behind her back, placing it on the ground next to her leg.

A few moments passed and Raimie became even more restless. Lifting up his head, he looked into her eyes and pleaded, “It hurts, please, I need to eat.” Dina considered offering her own blood to him, but then quickly realized that in her already weakened state, she would not be able to fight him off if he were unable to control his urges.

Raimie did not wait for her response; he rose to his feet and began looking around the room. She could see that he was building into a frenzy. Dina wrapped her fingers around the dagger next to her and rose to her feet.

“Raimie? Are you okay?”

“Where’s that girl that was in here?”

“What girl? Neru? You killed her.”

“No!” Raimie violently waived his arms, frustrated he was not being understood. “Uri’s friend.”

“Sera?”

“Yeah!” Raimie exclaimed. “Sera, where did Sera go?”

“Why do you want to know?” Dina asked, carefully concealing the dagger behind her back, the blade reacting to her heightened emotions and beginning to glow even brighter. Raimie however didn’t notice; he was too focused on finding Sera.

“I’m so hungry, Dina. It hurts,” he cried.

“I’m sorry, baby. I know it hurts, but you promised me you wouldn’t do that,” Dina reminded him.

“Is she outside?” he asked, ignoring her and turning towards the halls that led to the exit.

As he headed towards the sweet freedom of the outdoors, Dina could no longer hesitate. The time had come; her ideas and plans to try and keep Raimie under control were clearly not going to work. She sprang into action, rushing towards his body, his back still facing her. Leaping into the air, wrapping both hands around the dagger, she raised her arms up over her head and plunged the blade into his skull before landing on the balls of her feet.

Raimie halted. He didn’t turn to face her, instead, he fell to his knees, hovering for a moment, and then collapsed. No words or sounds escaped his lips. In an instant, the previously animated body became empty and motionless.