Skye's Arrival

When I wake, Dawn is still waiting for me. My head is in her lap and she’s stroking my hair. The sun is barely starting to rise, so I can hear the birds wakening. A stick breaks behind us, making me tense, but she remains relaxed.

“Hello?” A familiar voice asks. I relax back into Dawn as she chuckles. Her senses are sharper than mine, so she was well aware he was close to us.

“Hello,” Dawn answers back to him.

“Uh, have you seen a girl who looks like she might kill you? She’s wearing red silk and has dark brown hair. Possibly covered in blood.” The man asks, making me internally giggle.

“I may have,” she chuckles. “May I ask why you’re searching for her?”

“Someone is trying to harm her, and I want to make sure she’s safe.” There is a moment of hesitation before his next sentence. “Do I know you?”

“You do.” Dawn answers, a little coy.

I hear footsteps come closer to my head. I look up and see Rafi covered in blood and torn clothing. His eyes are wide as I look up at him. “How is Dawn here? In her form?”

Dawn and I hold up our matching hands. “We stalled him.” We say at the exact same time.

His face twists into so many forms of confusion that I’m afraid it’ll never look human again. After he controls himself he looks at us. “What?”

Dawn chuckles. “How about you get her somewhere safe, so I can go to bed? I trust you won’t hurt her.” She gives him a serious look that makes it clear that he will face death if he does.

He stills before shuddering off that implied threat. “Yes ma’am.”

“She still has a lot of Koan’s venom in her system, so no biting.” She warns as she lets Rafi pick me up. As he glances at me both of our stones illuminate as she disappears.

“Alright woman, I’d start talking if I were you.” Rafi states as he grabs my horses reins and starts walking down the hill.

“I stalled Koan.” I say as I try to stretch. “I can walk.”

“If I can still see Koan’s teeth marks in your neck, you’re not moving more than you have to.” He looks down at me. “Now correct me if I’m wrong, but I take it you’ve been with my brother for the last three months, considering you were ready to kill Nate when he told you that.”

“Yep.” I sigh then wince. “At first, Koan tried to keep me sedated with his…seductive nature. When that failed, he brought in his venom. He was the perfect gentleman, but it doesn’t make it any less disturbing.”

Rafi chuckles. “Always the gentleman. How did you keep everyone from discovering you were alive? We honestly thought you were dead until the King’s told us otherwise. Then when they told us your true sentence, we thought for sure Dawn would have killed you by now. No one had heard from you, so we thought the worst.”

I chuckle. “Dawn and I were living quietly, trying to slow my death sentence. We lived a solitary life in the northern mountains and would work bounties for money. I didn’t go out much, and when I did I would try to hide my face and use false names. Only a select few knew my true name. Speaking of which, how do you know Nate?”

“More like how does he know Gerrickson.” Rafi answers, still moving through the forest at a careful pace. “I met Nate through him. Gerrickson is actually my Master this time, which is why my brother didn’t even know I was on this plane.”

I give him a raised eyebrow. “He must be strong if you’re willing to serve him.”

“More like I believe in his cause. He had the strength to summon and talk to me. I’m the one that agreed to adhere to him.”

“Interesting. What’s the cause this time, and who is he?”

Rafi chuckles. “Gerrickson is half celestial and half demon. His father was, if you can believe it, Esmeralda’s brother. His mother was Morticia’s sister, Liliana.”

My eyes widen. “I didn’t know they were bledded.”

“He wasn’t, which is why Gerrickson was given to a Celestial Monastery upon his father’s death. His mother flat out abandoned him there. Until five years ago, that’s where he resided. I’ve been with him since.”

“So wait, this started five years ago?” I demand from him. “Koan was here five years ago?”

Rafi nods. “I told you, we all thought you were dead. If Koan or I knew you were actually alive, we would have searched every corner of the world for you. I can only guess my brother’s plans right now.”

I rest my head in Rafi’s chest. “He’s trying to break the veil between our three worlds; and merge them into this one.”

Rafi hesitates. “The mortals will not be able to live through that change. Even our air is toxic to them. That’s why we created this world, so they could live.”

“Yeah, well he doesn’t care, and wants to get revenge on his father and the Celestial King. I still don’t fully understand it, but I don’t need to. He’s found a way to break it, and he’s determined to use it.”

“What does he need to break it?”

I give him a cautious look before answering vaguely. “Celestial blood and demon blood that are of equal caliber.”

“That explains why he wants you involved, but not why he had you sedated.” Rafi looks down, looking me over.

“With Dawn in my body, my power and blood were tainted.” I explain. “He’s been spending three months trying to figure out how to remove her. Only once he talked to her, he found out she’s a Higher Power Celestial Demon. They require more work and power than a regular demon to remove.”

“So he can’t use you to merge our worlds?” Rafi asks to clarify.

“Technically he can. He was getting ready to perform the ceremony to remove her when I had broken out of the trance. He was coming up with a plan with the priest to remove her without hurting me when I managed to sneak away.”

“Which is why Koan discovered Gerrickson and I rescuing the king and his son.” Rafi answers as it falls into place. “He was so distracted with you, he lessened his guard on the prince and king, making it so we could form a plan to take them. There was something major going on that night so most of the guards were concentrated on another project. It looks like you were the project. We may have stumbled into that little group on accident.”

“Guilty,” I sigh. “That was bad timing on your part.”

He snorts. “I guess we should have checked to see what the project was,” he muses. Then he cocks his head, getting struck by a thought. “Now that I think about it, there was something happening with Koan. I noticed a girl running from him when we were in the city the first time we reached it. A night or so ago, I heard Koan yelling to someone who sounds a lot like Dawn, now that I think about it. I couldn’t make it out very well, but I just assumed it was someone being insubordinate.”

I remember some of the images Dawn shared with me, but I don’t remember that part. “You spent three months trying to break into that prison-I mean palace?”

He starts laughing. “Yes we did. Now I know why he kept summoning more and more demons. He was protecting his little Skye.” Now he looks down to me. “So do you want to tell me why you were at Crescent Lake?”

I give a small smile. “Sealing a spell.”

“Care to explain?” Rafi asks, eyebrow raised.

“I do not have the power to remove Dawn from me, nor the desire. However, I did move her. The priest gave me the idea, and I had what I needed so I performed a binding spell. Dawn is bound to me, but she no longer feeds off of my spirit, so she’s no longer killing me. This gives her the chance to manifest her body if she has enough strength. Her strength depends on how much energy I have. It’s why we didn’t continue last night. Between the events of late, no sleep, three months of venom, and lack of food and water, my body is beyond exhausted. I’d be dead if I were mortal or demon, or even celestial. However, due to Dawn being a Celestial Demon, her strength is the only reason I’m alive.”

“So Dawn is still living in you, but she’s tied to your life source.” Rafi summarizes. “You both have different bodies now?”

I nod. “Yes. My blood is my own, and hers is hers. It’s always been that way though. The only difference is now she’s not going to kill me by living inside of me; because when I moved her I essentially changed her food source.”

“Why didn’t you do this earlier?” Rafi demands.

“Because now Dawn can die permanently.” I answer quietly. “I was happy with my death, since she’d go through another life cycle after mine is gone. However, now my life is tied with hers. Also, it hinders my abilities. I can fight or do spells, not both now. Dawn may fight now, but she cannot do spells if she does. Our body has to split the energy between us. It’s one of the reasons Dawn returned to her stone. It gives my body a better chance of recuperating from Koan’s three month venom induced trance.”

“So how does this stall Koan?” Rafi asks.

“Because Dawn still can fight and hurt him. Also, as long as her demon ties are connected to my spirit, he cannot break the veil. I have to be full celestial again, with no ties to demons. This spell will stall him for a while, but it won’t stop him. Once he figures out how to break it, there isn’t anything strong enough to stop him.”

“Why does Koan have to use your blood and power?” Rafi asks.

“It has to be mine, or a Celestial who is Koan’s equal.” I answer with care, making Rafi look down at me in surprise. We both know the answer to this. There is no one else. I am one step below the Celestial King in power and rank. Koan is one step below the Demon King in the same way.

“So goal one to end this stupid pending war; keep you away from Koan.” Rafi mutters.

I nod. “In the event of my death, keep my Celestial replacement from him as well.” I warn.

“So another reason you and Dawn did whatever spell you did, was to extend your life?” Rafi asks.

I nod. “Yes, but it’ll take me months to recover from it. I’ll be more vulnerable to Koan than ever.”

“Meaning, we’re dead if he finds you.” Rafi finishes for me.

“More like I get an awkward reunion with my spouse, and you get to give your dear old dad a fresh new hug as thousands of mortals die.”

“Ah, yes that consequence to my moronic brother’s actions. So how is my dear sister in law?” He chuckles darkly. “I take it my brother is still just as obsessed with you as ever.”

“Not going to lie, our relationship has taken a dark turn lately.”

Rafi starts laughing. “I can see that.”

I roll my eyes. “You always were the sensitive one.”

“True, but I could be Ada.”

I shudder. “Your sister would just love seeing me like this.”

“She wasn’t that bad.” He laughs.

“Were you there when she locked me in the Celestial King’s chambers in nothing but a towel? Ada hates me.”

“She does not.”

“Were you there the time she locked me in your father’s chamber naked?” I demand.

A burst of laughter hits his lips. “Why were you naked so many times?”

“A girl has to bathe. Every time I visited your parents with Koan, my landmarks were always changed and one time I wasn’t paying close enough attention and walked straight into your father’s room. The other time she told me the Celestial King was in trouble right when I was leaving the steam room. That was the first time I met her and the last time I trusted her.”

Rafi starts laughing. “Sounds like Ada. She does like you though. Koan just never let her anywhere near you. He’s a bit overprotective if you hadn’t noticed. I think this is the longest I’ve ever spoken with you since you met him.”

I roll my eyes. “Sure she likes me, and Koan hasn’t gone completely insane.”

“Rafi, where were you?” A deep voice calls over to us, cutting into our conversation.