Rakshasa Book I, Part #3: Tigerheart (2 page)

“Those aren’t for us,” Ishan said, resting the package gently down on the car’s bumper with a metallic
tink
, then slipping his hand around my middle and giving me a gentle squeeze, “They’re for Katelyn. We don’t know what kind of state she’ll be in.”

I nestled in to Ishan’s chest, frowning slightly. I felt slightly worried, looking at everything we’d gathered. There were a lot of supplies. “There’s almost enough here to take care of a small army. If Katelyn’s hurt, can’t we just take her to the hospital?”

Asena shook her head. “She knows about us. She’s seen Eclipse in his natural form; if we take her back to the hospital, she’s certain to reveal us. We cannot have that.”

“Well, what if she’s badly injured? What if she needs surgery?”

Asena looked uncomfortable and couldn’t meet my gaze. “Then, well, we do the best we can and hope for the best.”

Perhaps it was this statement, or perhaps it was the stress of it all, but I felt distinctly unwell. I snuggled my back up against Ishan’s chest and his strong arms held me tightly. His skin seemed paler than usual and I, somewhat strangely, sensed a general feeling of unease with the other Rakshasa. My eyes wandered down to the small package Ishan had put on the boot.

“What’s that?”

“Something we can use against Eclipse.” With a careful hand Ishan peeled back the cloth, revealing the solid wooden top of a heavy box underneath. He eased open the heavy wooden lid, revealing its contents.

A block of gleaming silver.

Instantly I felt sick just looking at it. I felt as though I were looking at a corpse; revolting and horrid, so disgusting I couldn’t look at it anymore. I turned away and closed my eyes.

The faint clunk of the lid closing abated the feeling somewhat. “What the hell are you going to do with that thing?”

“I don’t know yet,” Ishan replied, “but it could come in useful. We have a small smelting room at our coven. I’ll take it to Hailstone, see what he can do with it.”

I opened my eyes just in time to see Asena rolled hers, subtly, but I caught it.

“Sounds good,” I said, as much to her as it was to Ishan. “We all need to work together on this one.” I twisted around, glancing up over my shoulder to Ishan. “What help can the Rewa provide?”

“Little,” Ishan answered, “they will be unwilling to become involved in what they see as a purely Altaican matter. Eclipse is one of yours.”

“But if Katelyn’s… killed, there’ll be an investigation. The humans will become more suspicious. The Champawat Tiger threatens to expose all of us.”

He hesitated slightly, then rolled his shoulders. “Hailstone… is Hailstone,” he answered, “once he’s made up his mind about something it’s difficult to convince him otherwise.”

I felt my blood rising. Katelyn was all I cared about, and the feud between the two Rakshasa clans seemed petty, pointless and risky.

But Ishan’s hands gave me a gentle squeeze and I felt my anger evaporate. Hailstone, although he seemed like a complete jerk and had threatened me to stay away from Ishan, didn’t seem to have anything other than his coven’s best interests at heart. Getting angry at Ishan’s covenmate wasn’t going to save Katelyn; quite the contrary, in fact. We needed all the allies we could get.

“Let’s focus on Katelyn,” I said, giving each of my coven a meaningful look, then turning around to look at Ishan, “she’s in danger. She’s the priority at the moment.” I turned back to the rest of the group. “We can do this.”

The unsteady look on Asena’s face betrayed her feelings, but she hid it well. “Yeah.”

Chapter II

The Calm

Our tasks complete, our group split up to avoid being followed. Asena and the others went west and we went south, driving across the bridge over Lake Burley Griffin and towards Weston Creek, then beyond. The car was parked in a park on the south western outskirts of the city then, our burdens easily lifted on our shoulders, we made sure we weren’t followed and then headed off into the woodlands and up the mountains.

Ishan carried the silver, wrapped in more cloth to shield us from the effects.

“Asena didn’t seem too sanguine of our chances,” I observed, putting one shoe before the other as I climbed up the steep hill with ease, “neither did the others.”

“Eclipse is a powerful, dangerous foe,” Ishan said, “and while his ultimate goal is clear, his short-term motives are opaque. Rakshasa… tend not to work together very well. We’re individualistic. We’re not pack animals. Helping others doesn’t come naturally to us, even our own kind.”

“Why couldn’t I be a were-wolf instead,” I joked, but Ishan shot me a sober look.

I stared at him. “Wait, don’t tell me they’re real?”

“There are none in Australia,” Ishan reassured me, “at least, not that we know of. But yes.”

I couldn’t think of anything to answer to that. “Well, what else is real?”

Ishan smiled. “It’s a very long list, none of which concern us very much at this point.”

“I want to know,” I pressed, but Ishan shook his head.

“When Katelyn’s safe we can discuss it, but I want your mind to be unburdened.”

“Okay.”

We walked for a little while in silence, cresting the hill and beginning down the next slope. The sun had long set but despite the lack of landmarks and light I felt as though I knew the way, drawn to the place instinctively as though the distant cave, our home, was a place I’d always known.

“What’s Eclipse’s power?” I asked, breaking the comfortable silence as we descended.

“Hmm?”

“His power. We all seem to have them. You said he was once part of the Altaican clan: the Rewa seem to know a lot about us, so did you know what he could do?”

Ishan was silent for a moment. “Yes.”

“Tell me?”

“Eclipse was once an Altaican in good standing, yes, but he was removed from your coven for his recklessness. Although they were once friends, despite our rivalry, Eclipse killed Hailstone’s brother, Shadowheart. When they found the corpse, it was completely drained of blood.”

“He’s some kind of weird arse vampire?”

“In a manner of speaking, yes. Eclipse can ‘borrow’ the powers of other Rakshasa, for a time, by consuming their blood. But their energy soon fades from him.”

I nodded. “You told me that he believes the power of the Rakshasa is finite, spread between all our kind, so… by killing them and drinking their blood, he’s taking their power instead of letting it return to the pool?”

“Close. He believes that at the moment of death, if he drinks of a dying Rakshasa’s life force, a portion of that strength stays with him permanently, in addition to the share he’d get from the death.”

I looked at Ishan, able to see his face clearly in the gloom through my glasses. My night vision had improved dramatically. “Does it?”

He didn’t meet my eyes, looking down at the sloped ground before him. “We don’t know. It does seem… plausible.”

I didn’t know what to say, so we walked further. Finally Ishan stopped, shrugging off his backpack. “We are close to Altaican territory now. I can’t come any closer.”

I grimaced. It was almost midnight and if we were to meet the Champawat Tiger at dawn, Ishan would have a long trek ahead of him. “Not even if I wanted you to come?” I shuffled slightly. “I could… use your company tonight.”

Ishan stepped towards me, sliding his hands around my body and drawing me close to him. I melted against his form, gripping him tightly, pressing my lips to his. We kissed in the cool, thin mountain air as the gentle breeze brushed my hair across my face.

“I’ll be with you, in your dreams.”

I bumped my nose against his, rubbing fondly. “I know.”

“Now sleep,” Ishan said, leaning forward and kissing my lips again, his warm hands holding me for a few moments longer. “We’ll need our rest.”

He stepped away from me and it was with a profound longing that I watched him slip into the gloom and disappear. When I was sure I could see him no longer I picked up his pack, including the heavily wrapped block of silver, then walked the rest of the way alone.

*****

It was late by the time I arrived back at the Garden of Shadow, a large cave system leading into the limestone heart of one of the many mountains in the
Brindabella Ranges, a series of mountains in the Bimberi Nature Reserve that separated the Australian Capital Territory from New South Wales
. The moment I stepped into the warm, welcoming cave mouth I felt like I was home.

“You took a while,” came Asena’s voice further down the cave.

I smiled as she stepped into view, and I lowered the large sack of supplies. “Sorry. Ishan and I talked for a while.”

“Mmm. We saw.”

I cocked an eyebrow curiously. “You… saw?”

“We watched you come in, from a distance. Ishan knew, too. We had to make sure he would respect our boundaries.”

“Ishan’s not your enemy,” I said, “he’s trying to help.”

“He’s a Rewa. His loyalties are to his own kind.” Asena held up a hand. “I know he loves you, it’s obvious, but that doesn’t change what he is.”

I bit my tongue, wanting to argue the point, but instead I reached down and opened the canvas bag. “I bought everything.”

Asena crouched beside the bundle, nodding her head in appreciation. “Okay, good.”

“Can I leave you with this?” I glanced down the cave, towards the bed that Asena had set up for me when I was injured. “I’m going to head to bed.”

In truth I felt wide awake and nervous about the coming dawn, but it wasn’t exhaustion that drove me to want to sleep. To sleep was to dream, and I missed Ishan already.

Asena gave me a wide smile. “A’right, you. Hit the sack. We’re up in five hours, so make it quick.”

Five hours. It had to be long enough. Without wasting any more time I strode down the dimly lit cave system towards the little hollow that held my bed.

Chapter III

Winter In Our Dreams

I struggled to let sleep take me, tossing and turning amongst the thick blankets, keeping my eyes closed. I tried everything I could: I thought of something, I thought of nothing, I counted until the aggravation caused me to stop.

But finally, eventually my body did its thing. My breathing slowed, my mind released its hold on the present, and for a few hours I slept.

Ishan and I shared a place when we dreamed. A wondrous, bright place that seemed to be overflowing with nature, with verdant grass and pleasant breezes.

Not this place. I opened my eyes and found myself at the usual place, the top of a hill with a single lone tree upon it. But the sky was dark, not its usual bright hue, and snow fluttered all around me. The air was cold on my bare skin, but not as cold as it should have been, and small clumps of white powder formed in patches over the grass.

“Ishan…?”

I looked around, frantically, trying to find him. He was normally here, right next to me, and the sun was normally brilliant and warm. This wasn’t right. I ran to the top of the hill, kicking up puffs of snow when I stepped on a small patch of white, and looked around in all directions. I could see no sign of him. Panic rose in my chest.

“ISHAN!?”

Then I felt strong, calm hands take hold of me and I relaxed, settling back into his arms.

“Sorry.” Ishan’s voice, strong and confident, but also edged with something. Stress?

“It’s okay.” I looked over my shoulder, smiling at him, drinking in the view of his sky blue eyes. “Where were you?”

“I was going to ask you the same thing. I looked around, I couldn’t see you.”

Worrying, but I put it out of my mind. “I’m here now,” I said, snuggling my back up against his bare chest. His hands stroked over my abdomen.

“I’m glad.”

“I don’t feel cold,” I said, “but it’s snowing… it’s winter in our dreams, why would this be?”

“Our dreams reflect our conscious mind. If you’re worried, you’re stressed, then our shared dream world will reflect that. The same goes for me.” Ishan’s hands slid up me, gently cupping my breasts. I arched my back, pushing them out for him, pressing back against his body. “How do you feel?”

I laughed, easily and lightly, reaching around behind him and gripping his backside, giving a playful squeeze. “Right now, I’m feeling
great
…”

In return he squeezed my breasts, eliciting a soft moan from me as his fingers pressed against my flesh, touching me in the ways I enjoyed being touched. I could feel his chest pressing up against my back and I basked in the warm, comforting feeling it gave me.

I felt the cool wind pick up, causing my hair to float around beside me. I tilted my head back, rubbing my cheek against Ishan’s, exhaling gently. My hands played over his backside, stroking gently, then I squirmed around and faced him.

“If we’re going to walk into a trap tomorrow,” I said, “I’m going to at least have one wild night before it all comes to a head.

I reached up and touched his cheek, bought his mouth to mine and kissed him with a fiery, eager passion, casually pushing him over backwards—Ishan landed on his rump, laughing up at me, which ended when I crouched down and pounced over him, pushing him onto his back.