Exile: Sídhí Summer Camp #3 (11 page)

Heat filled his eyes as he softly added, “I
never told you his name.”

She stilled, knowing where this was going,
knowing she couldn't argue. Pulling the Dyrst’Lye card had been the
right decision after all. However, she had hoped at the time that
threatening him with destroying her lifeBud would make him admit he
loved her. She’d never been so wrong in her entire life. He really
did hate her. He hated her with an intensity that few ever saw in
an enemy, much less a lifeMate. Maybe finding one of the Dyrst’Lye
wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

“Having a lifeMate suddenly appear in my
dreams threw me. Having you turn out to be an exile muddied the
waters even more.” His hands tightened on her arms, pulling her up
higher. “How you must've laughed at me. You would've only been
twelve. The connection didn't click until a few days ago, not until
after the explosion, but that's your calling card, isn't it?”

“I can explain,” she said, grief welling up
in her chest. “Please, give me that chance.”

His eyes turned into bottomless pits of ice.
She'd lost him.

“Black ribbon is your calling card,” he
bellowed in her face. “A simple black ribbon delivered to the
surviving family member's home. A bloody war token, a way for
everyone to know Lady Sarah has killed again.”

A bloodcurdling scream of terror interrupted
her answer.

Brianna ran toward them holding her arm,
blood streamed down the length of it.

“Worms!” Brianna screamed.

Worms? Sarah blinked, cocking her head to one
side. Then she saw what Brianna ran from.

Long, milky-white creatures dropped from
holes in the ceiling, red spikes quivered along their fat backside.
Six to eight feet long, and a foot around, they raced after the
bleeding girl in an inchworm-like manner.

Additional worms dropped from the ceiling.
Snapping after their fleeing prey, rows of sharp teeth glinted
under the luminous glow of the crystal tunnel. Dozens of ravenous
creatures flowed across the floor.

Sarah snarled, but deep down she was thankful
for the timely interruption. Without giving it a second thought,
she reached for the synth surrounding them and touched the
energy.

She stifled a smile as synth crystal once
again answered her mental call. Fleetingly, she weighed her
options. One, they could try to outrun the synth worms. Not likely,
as the poisonous worms, guarding the synth tunnels, were
notoriously fast and rabidly protective of their home turf. Two,
she could port the three of them out of the tunnels. Also not
likely, as she would have to make them both disappear and at the
moment she was hurting. She might make their vanishing act a bit
too permanent. Third, she could activate one of the doorways. That,
she decided with a careless shrug was unfortunately her best
option. As far as myth went, synth worms never ventured through any
of the doorways.

She considered calling Mac, but decided she
was angry enough that she wanted the challenge of whatever lay
beyond the unknown doorway. Or perhaps, she simply didn’t care.

She knew from the former Chi’Kehra’s journal,
the area she stood in was a Portal Hallway, a naturally occurring
and very weird side effect that happened after the Ancients created
the first ruins. His journal noted that once the ruins were
operational, portals (or gateways) began opening without rhyme or
reason - which, of course, presented her current problem.

She would only have enough time for one shot,
accidentally
triggering a single portal. Who knew where that
portal might dump them? Knowing her current run of luck, they might
appear on the lawn of the White House in the mundane world. Now,
wouldn’t that create a massive problem?

At least appearing in the mundane world would
keep her occupied and away from Nick’s condemning stare.

She turned to the nearest doorway and quickly
ran her hands down its frame.

“Blast it Sarah, come on,” Nick snarled,
reaching for her arm. “Those worms are fast.”

Sarah slipped easily away from his
outstretched hand.

While, he was busy snarling at her, she
simultaneously tapped her finger against a small key-like indention
in the middle of the solid doorway. It didn’t do anything, but the
burst of power and mental order she sent into the portal did do
something. The door shimmered, blooming with life.

The solid wall disappeared. The silent hum of
power reached-out and touched the edge of her mind, as if the synth
crystal was a sentient creature and curious about her.

Black filled the doorway as an active gateway
opened inside the frame.

Sarah hesitated. She couldn’t see beyond the
inky blackness. The portal could have opened anywhere, even a dhark
lord’s courtyard.

Running up beside them, Brianna’s shoes
slapped against the floor.

Nick obviously didn’t share Sarah’s
hesitation.

“Go!” he snarled.

Brianna gave a startled cry and flew past
Sarah’s elbow and into the black void.

Sarah glanced to the side, briefly catching a
glimpse of Nick shoving the girl forward. She whirled, but was so
surprised at his actions he caught her off guard.

With both arms wide, he swept her up in them
and charged through the pitch-black portal.

He stumbled, falling to his knees.

She jerked out of his arms and scrambled to
her feet. Waving her arms in front of her, she smacked against
thick curtains. She shoved her way through them, leaving Nick and
Brianna struggling on the floor.

Sunlight blinded her, long enough for her to
realize she had a slight problem.

The sharp edge of a sword touched her neck.
“That is quite far enough, Lady Sarah,” a deep voice said.

She froze, inhaling the scents around her.
Irritation churned in the pit of her stomach. Of all the places for
them to appear, she had to pick a portal that dumped them in a
dragon's lair.

Nick
clenched his hand in the bark of a blue furble tree. The spongy
surface crumbled under the pressure. Morags buzzed in the forest
around him. An owl or a hibbet, he wasn't sure which, hooted from
within the limbs high above him. It had been hours since Sarah
disappeared. He knew she had to be with Guardian Alexander. The
thought didn’t sooth him.

The dragon lair had been a suite of rooms
inside the guardian’s castle. Alexander had not been pleased with
the intrusion, even less so when he realized Nick, Sarah, and
Brianna had been separated from their cabin mates.

The guardian flew them across the Sídhí
forest and found the missing teens, including Clarisse and her
dragon escort, Harry. As usual, the red-haired vamp created even
more problems, revealing a portal that opened into the Dhark
Empire.

Nick ground his teeth together in anger as
Clarisse and Harry admitted to being members of the Khr'Vurr
terrorist organization. He had wondered at the true reason behind
the camp. Never, not in a million years, would he have guessed it
had something to do with Dragon Valley’s terrorist problem. The
bomb that truly blew Nick away was Harry’s belief the Khr’Vurr
hunted for Chi’Kehra, a creature out of nightmare.

Having a Chi’Kehra appear, after four
thousand years, would be worse than a horde of vicious umbra
suddenly appearing in Clan Valley.

Now, Nick and everyone else except Alexander
and Sarah were cooling their heels in a small grove of trees in the
middle of nowhere. He searched the pre-dawn forest for any sign of
Sarah. Time had burned the mite poison from his body so the dark
night was not an obstacle for his enhanced vampire eyes.

Yeah, he could see just fine, but he was so
angry he could barely think straight. He didn't doubt for a minute,
Sarah had followed Alexander on his wild goose chase into the Dhark
Empire's worst prison.

Unable to consider the thought of losing her,
he shuddered.

Without warning, Sarah ported into the middle
of the clearing. Red globs splattered her clothes. She reeked of
blood, both human and other wise. Thankfully, none of it smelled
like hers.

The tight band around his chest eased and he
charged to her side, relieved she was in one piece.

“Where have you been?” he snarled, unable to
keep the anger from his voice.

She glided backward, easily avoiding his
touch.

“How did you get your bracelet off?” Beth
asked furiously, pointing at Sarah’s bare wrist.

He glared at the small shifter as she leaned
aggressively toward Sarah. Too bad the fairies had tinkered with
the silver, allowing the shifters the ability to change shape
anytime they wanted. Tackling a hundred and twenty pound girl that
turned into a deadly Sídhí animal, a werewolf or khatt, three or
four times her size was not encouraging.

Her words registered, and he realized the
shifter was correct. Sarah had ported into the middle of the
clearing. A feat that was impossible with the restrictive silver
bracelet they all wore.

Sarah chuckled softly. The sound sent a
shiver of dread up his spine. It was only then that he noticed her
eyes looked flat, void of emotion. Not her normal ice princess
look, but completely dead.

“Guardian Alexander needed a guide through
TèVarrn Prison. My price was the immediate and permanent removal of
the silver bracelet.”

“He had no right to risk your life like
that,” Nick said harshly, furious the dragon dared jeopardize her
life.

“You no longer have the right to question
anything I do. We’ll be free of each other soon enough.” Lacking
all emotion, her lips curled upward. Her dead eyes never flickered.
“That is what you want, isn’t it Nicholas Andrews, to be free of
the filthy exile? Fine. Your wish is my answer. I will never bond
with you.” After a slight pause, she added softly, confusing the
hell out of him. “You can thank me when the synth in your blood
sings for a sweet little clan vampire. I’ve been promised you’ll
probably meet your new lifeMate within the month.”

Her words registered and he felt his heart
shatter. He didn't want anyone but her. She darn well knew that.
His animalistic growl bounced around the silent clearing. Shaking
his head in denial, he rejected her words.

She looked at him, staring in a cold,
unblinking gaze. “You only want me when I’m hurt or you think you
have lost me.”

She chuckled and he heard the depth of grief
in the sound, a touch of near insanity.

He cursed. What the bloody hell had he done
to her?

Sarah turned, avoiding his eyes. “Guardian
Alexander changed the Olitiau Portal to exit at the main camp
grounds.”

He heard her soft, dead words but he didn't
care. He had to make her listen to him. He'd figure out a way to
fix things.

Sarah turned and walked into the surrounding
trees, leading them to the portal.

"Sarah," Nick said, hurrying to catch up with
her.

A creature of the night shrieked, a dozen
more screams of hunger quickly followed.

^____________

The trees above Sarah exploded with screams
of hunting meat eaters. Inhaling the rich scents of the night, she
glanced up in time to see dozens of Rottweiler-sized bats diving
toward her and the other teens.

She smiled. The movement was more reflex then
emotion. She felt numb inside. She had lied to the teens, her real
price in helping Alexander retrieve his mate from TèVarrn prison
was the services of a Dyrst’Lye dragon. The decision to destroy her
lifeBud, the small organ in her brain that allowed Sídhí to bond
with their mate, weighed her down with grief. Nick would never be
her mate.

She pulled Bowie, her synth crystal,
thirteen-inch bowie knife, from the leather sheath hidden under her
t-shirt. Swinging right, she decapitated the first olitiau.
Swiveling the hunting knife, she took the outstretched legs of a
second beast.

She heard the roar of a khatt as Beth shifted
into her second shape. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched
the young woman rip two bats apart before launching her lethal body
against a third.

Growls and roars of the vampires mingled with
the giant bats.

Thick, black claws appeared to her left. As
the razor-sharp talons sliced toward her face, she ducked. Jabbing
upward, she gutted the furry body.

Turning, she swept the area with a quick
glance. Blood covered the teens, but no one seemed seriously
injured. Jared had a long scratch up one thigh. Clarisse and Harry,
who were hiding behind Katie, faired the best without a bump or
bruise on them.

She sucked-up her nerve and turned around,
searching for Nick. He had planted himself immediately behind her,
protecting her back. Dead bats covered the ground near his feet.
She clenched her jaw, refusing to see anything more in his actions
than his desire to protect his honor. Of course, the
honorable
thing would be to protect his mate.

Blood dripped down the side of his face. Air
froze in her chest as she realized how close the razor claws had
come to blinding him.

“Are you okay?” he asked quietly, reaching
for her.

Stiffening, she straightened out of his
reach. His hand fell to his side.

“Sarah, talk to me.”

“No, there is no point in talking. I tried
that route. It didn’t work,” she said softly, low enough only Nick
could hear her. Curling her lip in a tight snarl, she hammered her
decision home with as much force as she could. “You made your
opinion about me quite clear. Within a few days, a Dyrst’Lye will
burn my lifeBud out. At that time, the synth in your blood will
re-set and will start searching for a new, more compatible
mate.”

“I don’t want anyone else,” he snarled.
Moving swiftly, he stopped inches from her face.

She snorted. “Right, of course you don’t.
That’s your automatic response anytime you think you’ve lost me, or
rather lost the chance at a bonded mate. By morning, your answer
will change. It always does,” she said without a hint of doubt in
her voice.