BOOK 3 - Myth Ch. 05

Myth bit her lip. Musette would kick her out of this Draga space when she found out what Myth had done, but she didn't want to lie to her new friend, who did seem to have at least some answers. "He won't want to help me now. I locked him in a room with a pack of ahuizotls."

Instead of being angry, Musette laughed. A delighted, musical, infectious sound that had Myth laughing too. Musette wiped tears from her eyes and took some deep breaths. She banged her spoon against Myth's like a toast. "We can't seem to make it easy for them no matter how hard they try. Don't you worry about that. We have one of those ahuizotls here, and Norrix knew all about him."

"But it doesn't matter. I can't leave. My little girl here. I won't leave without her."

Musette's eyes rounded and she dropped her spoon. "You have a little girl? Oh, she's why you had to go back."

"Her name is Fable. She's four years old. Iqiohr put a spell on her and made her mute because she cried when they separated us." A tear escaped and slid down Myth's cheek. "Now he's put her in chains. I couldn't stop him. She's suffered so much and it's my fault."

Musette leaned over to put her arms around Myth, and for the first time, Myth let herself cry. Tears of hatred, despair, fear and sadness poured out of her while Musette held her.

"It's not your fault, Myth. Mages are vile, evil men. It's his fault, not yours. You haven't told Norrix about Fable?"

Myth shook her head. "She's the most important thing in the world to me, but everyone uses her against me. Iqiohr and his guards threaten to hurt her if I'm not obedient, and Iqiohr only lets me see her if I'm good. I didn't know Norrix or anything about Dragăs. Norrix wanted me to go with him from Ashana. I thought it would be trading one cage for another. I didn't want another man to know about Fable in case he used her against me too."

"Norrix would never do that." Musette rose, went into the kitchen and returned with some tissues. "There's something else I have to tell you. You are Draga, but you could be something else, too. Some Dragas turn into a type of witch called a Strygoi. Ember told me she heard the magic call you Sora. You heard it too, didn't you?"

Myth nodded.

"When Ember turned strigoi she became War and the silver magic made her stronger. She's got wings and a sword now, and her temper! I'm so glad she wasn't strygoi when we were growing up. Selene is another strygoi. She doesn't fight like Ember, but she's super powerful. Norrix can give you what you need. When you turn, being Strygoi will help you free yourself and Fable from the Mage. Then you can choose if you want to be with Norrix, and come be with us."

"You said 'could' before. How do you know I'll become strygoi?"

Musette smirked. "When I wake up and turn strygoi I'm going to be Fate. Let's say I have a feeling about you."

Myth opened her eyes, unsure if what happened with Musette was real. A faint flavor of peanut butter and chocolate on her lips made her think it was. Would Norrix help her become strygoi?

She was stuck here though, and Norrix was probably dead.

The door to her cell opened, and Myth prepared herself for Iqiohr.

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NORRIX

As soon as the room cleared out Norrix pulled himself from under the bed and ran for the closet. He opened the door to Myth's cell. She lay motionless on the cot. The only reason he knew she was alive was her heartbeat. It was frantic and her apple scent was bitter. "Myth?"

Nothing. He moved around so she could see him, but she stared, teary eyes unblinking.

"He's spelled you." Norrix reached down to adjust her torn dress so it covered her. He wanted to tear the mage's head off, find the next Mage and tear his head off too. Surely at some point the magic wouldn't have anyone else to go to. A drop of blood on Myth's neck drew his attention. He touched it, bringing it to his nose. Venom of some sort. "He stung you. That's why you can't move."

Norrix paced, feeling ridiculous for trying to do it in this cell. He could take a step and a half in any direction. He'd already had Myth's blood. If he gave her his to heal her he could bond her to him and he wasn't sure she wanted that.

He stopped and faced her. "I told you before you're my Draga. There a bond that can be created between a vampire and his Draga. It would make you stronger, possibly help rid your blood of the venom. But you would feel me and I would feel you. A Draga can control the bond. You could shut me out of it later." He sat on the cot. "I don't want you to do that. I'm telling you that you would have all the power. I'm going to flatter myself that having a bond you can control with me is better than the alternative of staying here. If this works, you'll be free to be mad at me." He smiled. "I mean, really, what's the worst you can do? You've already locked me in with a pack of Ahuizotls."

Shifting himself behind her to support her shoulders he let the vampire out. He bit his wrist and brought it to her lips, letting crimson drops fall into her mouth. "I didn't see where they took your daughter, but we'll find her and get out of here. We need to be far from here before the eclipse starts."

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MYTH

Norrix's blood tasted sweet and eased some of the burning in her blood. He was saying all the right things. He knew about Fable and was still here for her. He didn't expect her to leave without her daughter. Musette was looking forward to being a Draga and a strygoi. Ember and Stryx were completely wrapped up in each other. Maybe being a Draga wouldn't be so bad.

Some of Norrix's blood slipped over her tongue and into her throat. She swallowed, a cool sensation washing over her. She lapped at the bite, taking in more blood. Her muscles eased and twitched. Turning her head to see him, she said,"My daughter's name is Fable."

"Thank you for telling me."

"I am your Draga?"

"Yes, I told you." Norrix's eyes darkened to black. "You are mi—"

Norrix's head whipped to the side and he closed his eyes. He hadn't finished saying she was his. He hated mages, why would he want something so contaminated as his Draga? No matter what Musette said, being defined as belonging to someone else still felt like a cage. The cage Norrix offered let her have her daughter though, she'd go into it willingly and lock the door herself, at least for now.

Norrix touched her chin and lifted her face, his thumb stroking her cheek. She opened her eyes and met his dark gaze. "You are Myth. And I am yours. Tell me what you want, and I will do it."

You are Myth. And I am yours.

Of all the things Norrix could have said, those words were the sweetest. Even better than vows of love or declarations of devotion. That made her next decision so much easier. "Your blood is helping fight the venom and I feel better. I don't feel a bond or any different though. I want you to make me strygoi."

Norrix reeled back as if she'd slapped him. "What do you know of strygoi? How do you know of strygoi? Does the Mage know?"

"No! I only know because Musette said I could become strygoi and you could help me. I want to be strong and not helpless. She said she had a feeling about me and you could give me what I needed."

Norrix laid a finger over her lips. "Four people are coming this way."

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NORRIX

Fear, the scent of rotted apples, filled the room. He would kill these men for terrorizing his Draga.

There was nowhere to hide In Myth's cell. No window and a single door. It was too late to go out the door. The heartbeats were entering the closet.

"Iqiohr isn't protecting it anymore," one man said. "You saw what happened on the dock. We can touch it now. It's fair game."

"Plus it's stung," a second man added. "It won't struggle or fight like some of the other witches."

"Not the Mage," Norrix whispered. He leapt to his feet and unscrewed the lightbulb, the only source of illumination in the room, He embraced his vampire side and slid to the wall where the open door would shield him when it opened. It might give him the second he needed to spring a surprise.

The door to Myth's cell swung in.

His fangs descended.

The four men entered Myth's prison.

Her eyes widened as light spilled in from the closet and she saw him as a pissed off vampire.

"Why's it dark?" One of them asked. "Hit the light switch."

One of them flicked the switch a few times. "Doesn't matter. We don't need to see it to fu-"

Norrix twisted the man's head almost off his body and let him drop to the floor. The snap his neck made brought the other men around.

"What the fuck is that?"

A different man drew a gun. Norrix batted it aside, two more cracks filled the room as Norrix snapped the man's wrist. He opened his mouth to scream, but Norrix crushed his throat, silencing him.

The other two men went for the door, but couldn't get past Norrix. He seized each by the neck and smashed their heads together.

Their heartbeats faded and stopped.

The vampire faced Myth. He sat on the cot and pulled her to him, cradling her in his lap. "You want to be strygoi?"

"Yes."

Norrix licked a line up her neck, lips closing to suck on her thrumming pulse. He sank his fangs in deep, relishing how Myth's breath caught as his venom entered her system. The scent of sweet apples flooded the room. He sucked, swallowing gulps of blood.

Myth's paralysis broke and she raised her arms to wrap them around his neck. She held his head against her neck and squirmed against him.

Fighting the urge to take his Draga, Norrix pulled his fangs from her neck. Not in this place, and they needed to find Fable. When it was time for his Draga to be his, he wanted to be comfortable enough to take his time with her. He took a moment to savor the odd sensation of his heart beating in his chest. "Wrist or neck? If you have my blood this time it will work."

"Neck."

Norrix slid a sharp nail along the pulse that now beat in his neck and pressed Myth's face to the cut.

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MYTH

Myth swallowed Norrix's blood. This time it was different - magic poured into her. The sting of Iqiohr's venom was replaced by a sweet, tingling sensation that left her shivering with need. Released from paralyzation, Myth curled her fingers into Norrix's shirt, urging him closer to take more of her as she drank deeper of him.

Fable's consciousness joined Myth's and silver magic intertwined with theirs.

Together, Myth and Fable watched the lives of their ancestors. Memories ran in reverse. Fable's merged into Myth's then into Myth's mother Saga.

Saga, Esne to the previous Scorpion-Mage, lay on the cot in the cell Myth occupied now. Alone and in the dark, Saga clutched her pregnant belly. Her face contorted in painful expressions but she didn't make a sound louder than a whimper. The room glowed a grey color as Saga used her magic to bind Myth's, protecting her daughter the only was she knew how.

Lore, Saga's mother, grew up in the court of the Scorpion-Mage, always wishing she could be free. She fought her imprisonment and resisted her magic being taken until the Scorpion-Mage burned a large, well-read book. Her magic surged in her rage and despair. She cradled the swell of her abdomen and focused all her magic on the daughter she carried, creating the telepathy that would pass from mother to daughter, letting their stories continue without writing them down. She burned herself out, forever denying the Mage the possibility of her magic.

A woman called the Story Teller traveled across the world with her young daughter. The Story Teller wrote in a large book, sharing tales with Lore. They sat in a large room in front of a crowd gathered around to listen to the Story Teller's narration. As she spoke, magic spilled from her lips and floated through the air. One of the listeners had white hair and white eyes. A previous Scorpion-Mage. He watched the Story Teller with a hot, covetous gaze, created a white scorpion and set it on the floor. The creature scuttled across the room until it found Lore and stung her leg. The Story Teller took her daughter into her arms and followed the Scorpion-Mage through Aztlan into the palace, trading freedom for an antidote.

Forgotten stories surfaced going back hundreds, thousands of years. A time when they wandered the world collecting stories, instead of using them as a means of mental escape. A time when the goddesses reigned in Aztlan, before most of them were trapped as a new world.

The room filled with silver magic. Sora!

I heard your voice before. Who are you?

Sora.

But you call me Sora.

Because you are Sora too. We are Sora.

Soras become strygoi?

Sometimes.

How?

Something old, something new, something borrowed, something you! Sora chanted. First, something old.

Images of the Aztlan goddesses Coatlicue and Ītzpāpālōtl filled her mind. She knew who they were from remembered stories. Myth laughed. Are you calling Coatlicue and Ītzpāpālōtl old?

Well, they're not as old as me. Strygoi magic is older, but I like to be a girl the best so they have to be the old part.

Ītzpāpālōtl, with bat wings edged in shiny, sharp obsidian, wielded what looked like a human leg against her enemies, devouring their hearts as they were conquered. They were winning until Mages marched with gods. Most of the Titzimitl were killed or thrown into a portal, but a few escaped. "We were imprisoned centuries ago, but a few of my daughters remained free, hiding their magic, much like you. You and Fable are descended from them."

Coatlicue crafted stars in the sky and gave birth to four hundred daughters.

Something new, Sora said.

Myth hadn't seen Ember without her disguise, but this red-haired women looked like Musette. She glowed silver, feathered wings burst from her back and she fought men over aquariums.

Another woman, this one blonde, straddled a white-haired Mage. She held her hands up, drawing shadows in and shoved them into the Mage's eyes. She glowed silver, blonde hair turning black as she crafted swords from nothing more than shadows and magic.

I like the swords Viktoria made for Jael. So many new things, Sora said. Now something borrowed.

Women glowing silver disappeared and reappeared in other places. Others moved things with their minds.

Something you! Sora sighed. When you're ready.

I am ready!

No, you want to be ready but you doubt.

I don't doubt you!

You doubt you. Sora sounded sad. Norrix told you you are Myth and he is yours. But there was no bond when he held back his vampire. He had to become all that he is to give you what you need. Now you must become all that you are to accept what we offer. I will not make you a Strygoi, you must become a Strygoi.

But I don't know how! I don't know what that means!

When you are ready you will become something you.

Myth wanted to weep. I need to be strong.

Then be strong.

The silver magic disappeared.

"You have grown into a beautiful woman," Coatlicue, the goddess of the stars, said. "Now it's your time to shine."

Myth blinked, coming back to herself. "It didn't work, did it? I feel a bond with you, but I'm not strygoi."

Curiosity and worry filled the bond. Norrix shook his head. "Strygoi change. Every one I've seen has black hair and glows silver."

Fighting tears, Myth tried to summon the strength Ember and Viktoria wielded so easily. "Maybe Musette was wrong and I'm not meant to be strygoi. I'm sorry. I can't help us escape. I'm not different, but I'm not leaving without my daughter."

Norrix held her close. "We'll leave tonight."

"You're still only one man against everyone on the island, and you can't go in the sun."

"I can't be in direct sunlight but I can tolerate it for a short while in these clothes. It'll be uncomfortable but I can make it until we open the portal to Ashana. Can you find Fable?"

"I can try to-"

He held up a hand. "There's a heartbeat coming this way."

Myth's eyes widened. "Iqiohr! He can't find you here. He'll summon all his men to fight or send one to hurt Fable! Hide! I'll go with him. I don't care what he does to me. I need you to find Fable. I can't do anything until I know Fable is safe. There's a house the family the boy belongs to lives in, in the complex to the east. The biggest one, closest to the palace. I found her there before. I can't take any chances until I know she's safe."