Illicit Desire: Outlawed Realm, Book 2 (14 page)

She flung out her arm to keep the leaves from striking her face. Despite their size, they were as soft as velvet and silk, their mild swishing sounds convincing her that Lukan was right. They wouldn’t harm them.

A piercing shriek rang out from behind.

Abruptly, Arez stopped, breaking the hold Lukan had on her hand. Turning, she gaped at a creature flying above them with feathery protrusions where arms should be. It was four times Lukan’s length, its plumage pale, its eyes as large as basins, the irises milky, telling Arez it couldn’t possibly see them.

As if to contradict her notion, the thing dipped its crested head and swooped down in their direction slowly, almost lazily, its screech cutting through the damp air.

Lukan shoved Arez to her hands and knees, his body shielding hers. Leaves rustled as the creature passed over them, low enough for her to smell its musty animal scent and for its movements to stir the leaves. Her fingers dug into the sticky ground.

Again and again, the thing circled, swooping and rising, its cries shrill.

Arez shuddered.

“Keep still and it’ll go away,” Lukan advised. “It’s just curious about us.”

“Then why is it making that noise?”

“That’s its means of finding a way through the jungle so it doesn’t run into anything. Much like a bat uses sound to navigate.”

What was he talking about? She blurted, “How do you know these things?”

“I learned them when I lived with Damir and Meelo.”

“The scientist who created us?”

“I was his first,” Lukan said. “Come. Don’t let go of my hand again.”

He pulled Arez to her feet and continued their run. She raised her face, expecting to see the creature above them. A canopy of leaves dappled with golden light remained undisturbed, proving the thing had moved on. Unless it was behind them again.

She looked and felt the blood drain from her face.

In a clearing within the jungle, the Pleasure Palace sprawled in all directions, its size unbelievable, its black stone shimmering dully within the drab gold light. No matter how far she and Lukan ran, the structure didn’t seem to grow smaller. For one wild moment, Arez wondered if it was somehow following them, flowing in their direction like liquid, prepared to wash over and trap them once more. Keeping them prisoner, used and abused, until the rulers decided it was time for them to die, either hunting her and Lukan or leaving them to starve.

A burst of terror increased her pace, though only briefly. Her lungs burned and her sides ached. Within the slime, something sharp kept biting into the soles of her feet. She fell behind, causing her and Lukan’s arms to grow increasingly outstretched.

He glanced over and slowed his pace. It wasn’t enough. She needed to stop and catch her breath to keep from falling down.

Lukan slowed to a stop and released her hand. Peering in all directions, he pushed his satchel off his shoulder and shoved the flesh-colored glove into it, then pulled several items out, extending them to her. “Put these on.”

She made a face at how difficult it was to swallow. Light-headed, she took the clothing from him—a top, pants and shoes, unlike anything she’d seen the guards or the rulers wear. With her chest still heaving, she asked, “Where did you get these?”

“Nikoli’s woman, Regina. Hurry.”

She wanted to, but fatigue and overwhelming dread of what they still faced kept her pace clumsy and slow. Lukan dressed quickly. Arez studied each of his moves to see how to pull on her clothing, since she’d never worn any. “Who is this Nikoli you keep speaking of?”

“A friend of Meelo’s. Another scientist who can open portals at will. He’s going to help us flee to the realm he shares with Regina. There we’ll be safe.”

Arez turned from side to side. “He’s here in this jungle waiting for us?”

“No. He’s—” Lukan stopped and shook his head. “I’ll explain everything to you later when we’re at a safe place. You need to hurry.”

“I’m trying, but I don’t know how to work these.” Her shoulders slumped. She didn’t know how to do anything he did.

Lukan dropped to his knees, lifting the thin strips of fabric on her shoes. Like the clothing, they felt constrictive and unnecessary. It wasn’t as if they and the garments could hide her and Lukan from the guards or the rulers.

“These are called laces,” he explained, pulling them tighter so the shoes conformed to her feet. “When we have the chance, I’ll teach you how to tie them.”

He expected her to wear shoes other than just today? She fingered her top, guessing he wanted her in it too. The fabric wasn’t as soft as the silk on her bed, but it had a pleasant fragrance. “Will you also teach me to read symbols?”

“Words,” he said.

She made a face. “How can you hope to teach me anything if I don’t understand what you’re saying? If you have to constantly correct me?”

Finished with one set of laces, he cradled her cheek in his hand. “That’s how one learns. I’ll teach you all that I know. You’ll study what was never allowed.”

Arez found it impossible to believe. In the Palace, they seemed the same, slaves born to please and serve. She knew differently now. He had so much more knowledge than she ever would. Lukan had never been anyone’s chattel. He’d always been on a par with the rulers. Perhaps even more intelligent than them.

“I will,” he insisted, running his thumb over her bottom lip.

It continued to tremble. “Why did you ever want me?” she asked, embarrassment heating her face. “I know nothing of the things you’ve seen and talked about. Do you pity me so much?”

He frowned. “Pity?”

“Yes,” she shot back. “I won’t have it. I may not be as knowledgeable as you, but that doesn’t mean I can live without your respect.”

“You have mine,” he insisted.

She turned away.

With his fingers beneath her chin, he made certain she looked at him again. “Never doubt my feelings for you, Arez. I love you. I always have. Of all the slaves, you alone watched me when you thought the guards wouldn’t notice…when you didn’t think I did. That’s why I chanced speaking to you that first time. I knew you’d answer. I knew you wouldn’t tell anyone of my indiscretion in the hope of getting more food. And if that wasn’t enough, your courage in saving me was more than I had ever expected. That’s why I want and adore you. Arez, you noticed me above all the others when no one else ever had. You starved yourself to help me.”

His praise was nearly more than she could bear. “All I did was give you a bit of my food.”

“You put my well-being above yours,” he countered. “Even after a lifetime, I won’t be able to measure up to the person you already are. I’m honored that you decided to come with me.”

Despite their situation, she nearly laughed. “Would you have allowed me to stay in the Palace?”

Lukan fought his own smile. “No. But that’s beside the point.” He finished tying her other laces and helped her to her feet.

She slipped her arms around him, cuddling close, proving her love as she hadn’t been able to do in the Palace.

Lukan allowed it for only a moment before he said, “We have to go.”

“How long are we going to run?” she asked before he started again. “Where are we going?”

“To a hiding place Meelo told me about. It’s on the map.”

She looked at the creased paper now stained brown from the dank substance beneath their feet. “Will it protect us from that creature we just saw? Are there others out here that are even worse than it?”

He slipped his satchel onto his shoulder. “I’ll keep you safe.”

His answer told her there were more monsters to worry about. “You said the rulers leave slaves out here to starve. Do the animals ever attack and eat them?”

He grabbed her hand. “You don’t have to worry about that.”

But other slaves had; she heard it in his tone.

Giving her no chance to ask anything else, Lukan broke into a trot, quickly increasing it to another run. They moved so fast, foliage streamed by; its golden tint and the shadows smeared.

Within the muted colors, Arez sensed monsters watching, waiting. She gripped Lukan’s hand tighter, matching his stride, trying to keep her mind on learning how to tie her laces, read symbols—no, words—escape to another realm.

Her thoughts of the future didn’t keep her worry off what they still had to deal with here. In the distance, she saw patches of white, a startling color against the nearly uniform brown and gold. As they reached the area, Arez spotted several odd objects, recognizing only one part of them—the teeth.

Were these the remains of the slaves Vakar and the rulers had either hunted or left here to starve?

She gasped. “What are those things?”

Lukan didn’t break stride. If anything, he seemed to pick up his pace. “Skulls…bones from slaves.”

A moan caught at the base of her throat. As if the surroundings heard her faint sound, the golden light grew dimmer. “What’s happening? Why is it growing darker?”

“The sun’s beginning to set, just as I explained to you that day in the Palace.” Lukan paused to swallow, then gasped out more words. “It rises in the sky each morning and goes down each night, though not completely on this part of the plane. There’s always a bit of color in the sky.”

Again, he spoke of things Arez still had trouble understanding. She asked nothing else, not wanting to tax him or to know what they might come up against next.

Minutes later, Lukan started to slow, then came to a halt. His shoulders rose and fell with each gulp of air. Arez panted as he did, barely able to speak. “Why did you stop?” What had he seen? Squinting, she examined the leaves and the trees, not wanting to look lower where there might be more bones on the ground.

“There,” he said, pointing.

Past a group of trees, the ground sloped upward to a high rise. Near the top, Arez saw a gaping hole, the interior so dark she couldn’t tell what might be inside it. “What is that?”

“A cave,” he said, pulling her with him. ”There we’ll be safe.”

She turned, staring at the Palace in the distance. It still seemed too large, as though they’d never run far enough for it to disappear.

“Come,” Lukan said, leading her to the cave.

Chapter Eight

Minutes earlier, Nikoli had left his office and gone into the hall, making certain to step slowly across the floor so the detectives couldn’t hear him from downstairs.

They were in the living room now with Regina, asking too many questions which she responded to vaguely, never giving a straight answer. The woman, Goddard, was beginning to raise her voice, growing increasingly dissatisfied with Regina’s replies. Sheehan remained calm, posing the same inquiry again and again, trying to trick her into admitting that she knew the inventor Donald Bakshi.

A man Andris had targeted and destroyed one night. With his fangs deep in the inventor’s throat, Andris had drained all but the last drops of blood from Bakshi’s body, leaving what remained for Sazaar and the rest of the vampires. While Nikoli had watched from a portal on E2, the monsters swarmed over the dead inventor like insects attacking a corpse, tearing him apart, sucking at his marrow, denying him any promise of immortality. After which they left what they hadn’t consumed in a dense stand of vegetation, abandoning him to the animals.

“We found Mr. Bakshi’s remains a few days ago,” Sheehan had informed Regina shortly after coming into the house. “There wasn’t much left. We had to rely on dental records to make a positive identification.”

Nikoli gripped the staircase’s railing, digging his nails into the wood. Not once when he’d watched Regina through the portal had he worried about the authorities on her side. His greatest concern had been the vampires attacking her. The inventor’s house was the only place he knew to hide Regina on this realm. Bakshi wasn’t coming back, and Andris had no idea Nikoli had even seen him murder the man. It was the perfect solution.

Except for these two having found Regina’s fingerprints in the man’s house.

You have to help her.

Even as Nikoli’s mind urged him to do so, he couldn’t get his body to move. How could he protect her from the police? If he were to go downstairs, Sheehan and Goddard would want to know who he was, where he’d come from. If they suspected he had anything to do with Bakshi’s murder, they’d take his fingerprints, seeing that they were no more than circles rather than the whorls and swirls of those on her plane.

Once they got over their shock, they’d contact their government to investigate him. What would happen to Regina then? What would her rulers do to a woman who’d harbored someone from a different dimension?

“Think,”
his father had always said.
“Reason this out.”

How many times had the man warned Nikoli that emotion could never guide him? Before making any move, he was supposed to look at the problem objectively and determine the best course.

His shoulders bunched, and his fingers ached from pressing them into the rail. What good was reason when the detectives might arrest Regina at any moment, taking her away? She’d never contact him to help her. She’d do everything she could to continue to protect him. He might never see her again.