Nova: Daughters of Darkness (8 page)

Blessed Mother, Divine Goddess;

Make clear my vision and brighten my day.

Earth Element, hear my call;

May your powers ground me,

May your energies awaken me.

Water Element, hear my call;

May your powers complete me,

May your energies enliven me.

Blessed you are, Blessed you make me,

So Mote It Be .

Feeling better than she had in weeks, Nova sat on the balcony and soaked up the energy from the rising sun, not caring one bit that she did so in her new night gown. In fact, all of her clothes were new. Somehow, Drake had found a small ounce of compassion and gave her a new wardrobe; either that or he just couldn't stand the smell of her anymore. Unfortunately, it included items she wouldn't be caught dead in. Nova was no prude, but she usually left the leather pants and corsets to her sisters, who so obviously enjoyed showing off their bodies. The old saying "beggars can't be choosers" held true in this instance; anything was better than the dirty clothes she had been wearing after her capture.

A knock on the door brought Nova's attention back from her musings. She quickly stood and went in to grab her robe, which was also new. "Come in," she called.

Clack entered and cleared his throat, "Excuse me, lady Nova, but Master was wondering if you cared to take a turn about the loch this morning."

Nova looked at the imp suspiciously. "Really? Your, um, master wants to take me, a water commanding witch, out
to the water?
That sounds to me like he is tempting fate."

"Well, tempting or not, my lady, the request stands. How shall I respond?" Clack asked respectfully, waiting with his small hands clasped behind him.

Nova thought about being able to reconnect with water and decided the opportunity was too good to pass up. Being separated from her elements was an uncomfortable experience. "Please tell him I'll be down shortly. Thank you, Clack."

The little imp nodded his head and left to inform his Master of her decision.

Nova went to the wardrobe and checked out her selections. Obviously the leather and lace were out, as neither were appropriate for a morning walk. Finally, finding a pair of light weight cargo's hanging toward the back, she pulled them out. Grabbing a blue cami and matching sweatshirt before closing the closet. Quickly donning the clothes and a pair of sandals she found at the bottom of the wardrobe, Nova ran a brush through her hair and headed for the door. Realizing that this door had also been dispelled, she walked through and joined Clack, who was waiting for her in the hallway. Being a castle, the windows were few and far between, so the hallway was dimly lit. She couldn't wait to get outside.

Clack led her through various hallways and to a much narrower staircase than the other night. Descending, she found herself in the same area she had been when she ran away from Drake.

They walked in uncomfortable silence. "Go through that door and you will find Master awaiting your arrival." Clack said, bowing and retreating from the room.

Nova thought his behavior odd, but shrugged it off. He was an imp, and had clearly been born odd. Stepping to the door, she opened it and saw Drake standing on the other side. She admired his hard body and chiseled face. Evil or not, there was no mistaking his blatant sexuality, the man/demon practically oozed sensual energy. Shaking her head, Nova put those thoughts to the back of her mind. He was still the enemy.

"I can see the struggle on your face, Nova love. Shall we wait until you decide whether to hit me or embrace me? Or can we get on with our walk? This day is exceptional, and I would like to enjoy it." Drake drawled in his sexy accent.

Nova's shoulders snapped back, and she marched through the door. "Oh, I'm coming. Not because you asked me to, but because I want to," she said petulantly. Realizing how childish she sounded, she didn't dare look at his face as she was sure he was laughing at her. Nothing, she decided, was going to ruin her chance to try to call her powers back to her, so she walked past him toward the back of the castle where the loch was located.

They walked for a bit before Drake spoke. "I'm not going to apologize for bringing you here." He said, sounding a bit petulant himself.

Nova to stopped short, "You're not going to apo-did I-you-ugh!" she sputtered. "I did not ask for, nor do I require an apology, demon." she said through clenched teeth.

Drake realized he was starting out all wrong. Reaching up to place his hands on her shoulders, he thought better of it and placed them back down to his sides. "What I meant was, I'm not sorry that I took you. You are a sight to behold when you are angry, when you smile and even when you sleep, little witch." he said seductively, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear, unable to resist touching her.

Nova was drawn in by the bone melting sensuality in his voice. She leaned into his hand, and Drake, not being one to waste a good opportunity, moved in for a kiss. Slowly, he allowed his mouth to move over hers until he felt her lips become pliant. He dipped his tongue into her mouth, willing her to kiss him back. Gripping his biceps, she molded her body to his, feeling the length of him on her belly. Reaching up to wrap her arms around his neck, she delved her hands into his hair, gripping it tightly. Moving his mouth from her lips to her neck, Drake kissed his way to the curve of her breast above the tank top she wore.
What the hell am I doing?
Nova's mind screamed. She pushed off his chest and stood there breathing heavily, regaining her composure. As the fog lifted from her brain, she tried to find a way to break the sexual energy. One question tickled her mind. "You watch me sleep? What the hell are you? Some kind of demon voyeur?" She spat the words at him, chest heaving, and watched with regret as the lust faded from his eyes.

Feeling the loss of her soft lips, Drake rubbed his mouth with his fingertips before slowly answering. "I have observed you sleeping, not dressing or showering; I would hardly consider myself a voyeur. I am merely an observer." Drake grumbled. "Although you haven't been sleeping lately."

Nova was still reeling from his amazing kiss and ashamed at how close she had come to allowing him to have sex with her right out in the open, so she latched on to the anger she felt at being forced to be there. "You try being held prisoner and tell me how well you sleep." she said and began walking again.

"I stopped sleeping regularly centuries ago. Demon lords are needed to keep control of the Underworld, as problems arise with regular frequency there." he said, with a hard note to his voice. The thought obviously annoyed him.

"Why not just call a spade a spade and say you control Hell, rather than tiptoeing around the word and saying 'Underworld'" she said sarcastically, still trying to deflect attention from what she would now refer to as 'the incident'.

Drake looked at her with an amused expression on his beautiful face. "Only you humans think of the Underworld as Hell. You have no idea that there are different planes of existence all around you, and they all coexist with your world. Hell is not a place, it is a state of mind, your mind."

"So, then, what is the Underworld if not hell?"

"Think of it as a place where all the bad people in all the planes of existence go to pay for their crimes." he said gravely.

"You mean, like a prison?" she asked, quirking her eyebrow up at him. "So that makes you a warden of sorts." She grinned, feeling more comfortable with him.

Drake gave a short laugh and shook his head. "Warden, no. More like the keeper of the damned. When a crime is committed in your world, the person is apprehended, tried, serves time, and is released. In the Underworld, there is no trial or length of time served. The beings who come to be in my charge are evil through and through, and they will forever remain under my command."

"Like Felken and the other demons you brought with you to help you destroy my world." Nova said thoughtfully. That explained the hate she observed in Felken's eyes. In a way, she could relate to him, being a prisoner herself.

"So how did you get such a position as Lord of the Underworld?" she asked curiously.

"I earned it." Drake said bluntly and kept walking.

Chapter 14

Nova stopped and stared after him.
That's it? That's all he's going to say?
Her curiosity piqued even more, she hurried after him. "Wait, you have to give me more than that. You know everything there is to know about me, and I know nothing about you. Play fair."

Drake continued walking, but he started talking. "I come from a planet called Valkala; it is in another plane of existence. My family is the council family there. Well, they were; now it's just my brother, Larkin, who sits on the council."

Nova was surprised to learn he had a family, a brother. She had assumed he was alone aside from Clack and the demons he commanded. She looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to continue. After a minute, he did.

"Centuries ago, humans came to this planet and began the arduous journey of birthing a race. We saw this from our home planet, and being that we were the oldest dimension in existence, felt it our duty to watch over and guide your kind." His shoulders drooped slightly. "Most of the time, we came and offered assistance, and we were accepted gratefully; even revered for our knowledge and teachings. Always though, there were those who balked at our strange, advanced technology and feared what it meant for them."

Nova understood their fear; most people feared the unknown simply because they couldn't predict the outcome. "Go on." she urged.

"A group of humans got together and decided to stand against us, fearing that we would enslave them. They incited fear in their fellow humans, claiming we were trying to wrest control of your race, stealing you for experimental purposes, calling us alien because we were different, and never aged." He looked out over the water and seemed to get lost in thought for a moment. "Eventually, the fear spread and people began to notice all the ways we weren't like them. They believed the lies and united against us. You see, in Valkala, time as you know it does not exist. We do age; I myself am centuries old, but we do not record such an age. There is no recordings of our history, or need for schooling to learn basic knowledge. There you are born with it. You have to awaken the knowledge, but it is all in there waiting to be accessed."

Nova looked slightly confused. "So your children don't go to school?"

"Not in the sense that you are familiar with. The younger Valkalans learn their respective talents in a minimally controlled environment. We all have special abilities that make us unique within our people. We have healers, artists, musicians, visionaries, time benders, travelers, warriors, and there is a council family that oversees it all. That's my brother."

"Where do you fall within your people?" Nova asked, thinking that his body must be that of a warrior.

"I am a traveler and a warrior. We are the ones that go to the other planes to help the different races gain knowledge and succeed. Because I am a member of the council family, I am also a warrior so that I am able to protect my people. I have fought beside humans, many times in fact, back in the early years of your development." He paused to look at her and smiled at how intently she was watching him, waiting for the rest of the story. "You don't really want to hear all this, do you?"

"Yes!" she exclaimed, a little too excitedly, "I mean, yeah, ya know. It's interesting."

Sighing, he resigned himself to finishing his sordid tale. "So, about a century ago, there was a leader of what you call religion. He commanded an invasion of Ireland in an effort to gain control over her people. I was here, in this very castle, where I had become infatuated with the lairds daughter. In Valkala, we do not marry or permanently bind ourselves to another. We are always free to pursue happiness, and as long as being together brings happiness, we remain that way. Here, you have such definitive ideas of how one must love another and what constitutes actual love. Back then, they required bartering and a marriage contract to be able to
love freely
." he said bitterly, a scowl marring his handsome face. "Aideen wanted me to approach her father with a marriage contract, and I wanted her to come back to Valkala with me to live amongst my people for as long as was mutually agreeable."

Nova was surprised by his admission of love for a woman. He seemed so cold and distant, and it was hard for her to associate that Drake with this one. "So what happened?"

"Nothing, the invasion reached us, and I fought along with the clan here until the very end. Most of them died that day, although we took out a lot of the opposing forces. I saw Laird MacFarlane fall, along with his son and knew Aideen would need someone to take care of her. The dead lay everywhere, and I searched for her, I was going to declare my love for her and take her away from this place. After searching everywhere inside the keep, I came down to the loch thinking she must have run down here to escape the attack. There were dead here, too. She lay among them. She had been run through with a sword." he ground out, his voice having gone gruff with emotion. "When I knelt down beside her, she was still breathing. I tried to lift her; I was going to take her to my home plane and have the healers save her. She awoke, crying in agony; but still, she begged me not to take her to Valkala. She said she would rather die than live in a strange place with no assurances that we would be together. So I sat with her until she took her last breath," he finished softly.