Elysium (26 page)

Rhyker dropped my hand and turned to face me. I took a step back at the intensity showing on his face. “I need you to free me, Meadow.”

I felt calm, as if nothing could hurt me, not even this frightening man. “I don’t understand.”

“I need you to release me from my prison.” He gestured around the beautiful land, and I wondered what he could be referring to.

“How can this possibly be a prison?”

No emotions crossed his hard features. “Will you help me, Meadow?”

“How?”

He inhaled and turned to gesture around the field. “All of this can be yours, your own private dream in which you can live out your life.” No more than twenty feet in front of me stood Cadeon. I had no idea how he got there, but the smile on his face showed how happy he was to see me. “You can be with whomever you want, do whatever you want. There will be no rules, no punishment. You may come and go as you please, travel to anywhere your heart desires,” Rhyker said.

“Anywhere?” The landscape changed, and we were in a beautiful meadow, the green trees and wildflowers sparkling from the sun above us. A brook flowed by my feet, the water so clear I could see the tiny fish swimming beneath its surface. The scenery changed again, and we were in the desert, giant pyramids on either side of us, the sun blazing in the sky. I realized the sun had no effect on me, no tingling, no burning, not even the warmth penetrated my skin. “This isn’t real. None of it is.” Just as quickly as we arrived in the desert, we were back in the field, the ice tree now melting under the heat of the sun. The water dripped onto the floor, making a pool of water circling the melting trunk. I expected the water to spread out, seep into the ground, but it didn’t. It just stayed in a circle around the trunk.

“What is real? Is everything not just our perception? Just because you have never seen the middle of the ocean, do you dispute it’s real? You cannot touch a cloud, but you can see it, so therefore you presume it’s real.” He watched me as he spoke, his expression never changing, never wavering.

“I don’t know what you want from me.”

“I want you to free me.”

“But how?” The scenery changed yet again, and now I was in a stone room. It reminded me of the middle ages and what a King’s court might look like. The walls, ceiling, and floor were cold stone, the sound of water dripping, in the distance, loud and echoing off the bare walls of the room. Rhyker sat on a large throne, his black coat draped along the ground, his body looking lazy and non-threatening.

“The powers you hold are insurmountable. You are like no other in the world, dear girl. Do you realize that?” His stare remained unwavering. “Never has a human and a vampire mated.”

“How do you know all of this?” He smirked, and I didn’t like the look of it.

“I know everything about you. I knew the second you were conceived, witnessed your mother giving birth to you and your father holding her hand.” He sighed, a sound that made me feel like he found me an annoying child. “When the Warlock put me in here, he spoke of a child being born that would be able to release me. I didn’t believe him, of course, and as the years went on, I grew angrier and angrier. It wasn’t until I felt that surge of power that I knew he spoke the truth. I was able to follow the line of power to your mother, and, once I saw her, I felt the strength that grew within her womb. You are my salvation, and nothing will take it away from me.”

My breath stalled. Everything he told me made me dizzy, and even though the things he said were horrid, what caught me most off guard was he knew my mother and father.

“I could show you everything, if you wish.”

I nodded, taking a step forward, my excitement overshadowing my fear.

“A trade for a trade?” He raised one brow and smiled.

I stopped. “What do you mean?”

“You give me what I want, and in return I will give you what you seek.”

I looked down at the ground, the stone dirty and crack riddled. This dangerous man could finally tell me where I came from, who I really was.

“I can give you everything your heart desires. I can give you Elysium.”

The image of Cadeon flashed through my mind, so clear that it seemed real. “What do you want?”

“I am trapped in this world, but with the power you wield, the power of a Halfling, I can cross into your world, be who I used to be once more. I want to feel the wind against my skin, the grass beneath my feet.”  He stood and walked towards me. When he was an inch from me he touched my cheek. His touch, so cold it burned. “It still amazes me such an innocent and young child holds the key to my freedom. I have been waiting an eternity for you, Meadow.”

“I still don’t understand.” The softness in his face became hard, and I knew he was growing impatient with me. “How did I even get here?”

“I brought you here, of course. I must say you helped, though.” At my blank look he chuckled. “All I needed to do was bide my time, until your emotions were permeable. So when you and Dr. Frost began, well, you know, the power inside of you rose to the surface. I used that to my advantage, opening up the portal between our worlds and bringing you to my home.” He smiled, his large, white fangs prominent. “Surely you remember what Dr. Frost and Dr. Iverson told you about the dream realm? Surely you remember what you read about me and my reign? About the Cimmerian War?”

Everything came crashing back to me. I pictured myself reading that thick book in my room, learning what had befallen Rhyker Rulon. I thought it was all a myth, but now I knew differently. The Warlock did grant him eternal life, but in return, he cursed him to live in this realm, forever, seeing the world he once ruled, but never being able to touch it. That is, until I came along. “You saw everything?” My time with Mikhail, Cadeon, and everyone else coursed through me in a jumble of memories. I felt myself blush as I remembered what Cadeon and I had done, what Rhyker had seen. When Cadeon and I almost made love, he had witnessed it all, had conjured it up, that I had no doubt of.

“Dear child, how you underestimate what I am capable of. I may be trapped in this hellhole, but I still have access to the outside world.” The room started to shake, and stone crumbled down all around us. I ducked and covered my head, and though the stone was mere inches from me, I never got hurt. As everything around us crumbled, and we were left standing on a pile of rubble, the world around us was like nothing I had ever seen.

Dead bodies littered the ground, blood coating the dirt and making pools of crimson around our feet. The clothing the men wore was ancient looking, their swords jutting from their bodies as their eyes stared at me, lifelessly. Men on horses rode around the bodies, pressing the blades deeper into their lifeless forms. I felt queasy, but it was when I really stared at the men on the horses I realized what they truly were.
Vampires
.

A man on a black stallion rode closer to us, his sword held high as he roared. I realized it was Rhyker on the horse, blood coating his face and armor. To my right, a body dressed in black capes appeared, the hood covering his head, shrouding his face from my view. I listened to their conversation, realized the hooded man was the Warlock and Rhyker was asking him for eternal life.

It was surreal to watch this, the life of another so many years ago. The warlock held out his hand, and Rhyker took it, the smile on his face one of pure triumph. When their hands touched lightning cracked through the sky, the wind picking up, creating a cyclone around their bodies. Rhyker’s ghastly scream echoed throughout the sky, and I turned my head, as his body started to melt into the dirt. It was an awful sight, but it was as if I was in a snow globe and watching everything from the safety of the glass.

It got quiet, and I opened my eyes. I was back in the stone room, the water still dripping all around and echoing off the walls. I was shaking from what I had just seen. “I want to go home, please.” Those were the only words I could form, the only thing sounding reasonable. I wanted out of here, but as I stared at Rhyker’s stone, cold face, I knew I wouldn’t get my wish.

“I will get what I want from you, Meadow. You can do this the easy way or the hard way.”

“Please, I don’t know how to help you. I don’t even know how to use my powers.”

His chuckle was eerie and frightening, like a snake hissing right before it strikes. “I admit I couldn’t wait until you had fully mastered them. I need to be free now.” He steepled his fingers in front of his face and tapped his foot rhythmically on the ground. “I’ll tell you what. I’ll show you what you want to know.”

I didn’t know how to help him, but I didn’t want to say no to what he could show me. He knew my parents and could let me see them, let me see
who
they were. I nodded, wringing my fingers together so hard they started to hurt. The room didn’t change, like it did before, instead the floor dropped out from under me and I started to scream, reaching out for something to hold, but getting only air. Everything got dark again, an inky blackness which seemed to suck the air from my lungs.

The ground greeted me with astounding force, but I didn’t fall, didn’t feel pain from the impact. I was now in a park, the moon glowing brightly above me, as I stood on a cobblestone sidewalk. Trees lined the pathway, their branches and leaves swaying from a wind I couldn’t feel. I looked behind me and saw nothing but an endless walkway. When I turned around, it was the same, the stone beneath my feet going on as far as the eye could see. I stumbled to the side, when someone rushed by me, a woman with dark flowing hair and a white dress. Her hair trailed behind her, like a cape, the smile on her face, as she looked over her shoulder, showing her happiness. I looked just like her, and I knew this was my mother. I also knew the man chasing her was my father.

I turned to the side to see the dark shape following her. I couldn’t make out any of his features, and I don’t know if Rhyker meant for it to be that way, but once he came close enough and his face came into view, I knew it had been his plan all along. I knew he wanted to see my reaction, when I saw who my father was. I don’t know how I knew, but I felt it deep in my bones. I covered my mouth with my hand as he ran by, his smile bright and white, his fangs prominent, as he chased after my mother.

Dr. Mikhail Iverson was my father.

I watched Mikhail and my mother run away, the pathway disappearing, as soon as their feet touched it. The world faded, and I was now in an alleyway. Dirt and grime covered the asphalt and the brick. The streetlight gave off a creepy feeling, as the muted yellow slashed along the ground. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I saw two forms pressed against the brick wall. I stepped closer to them, knowing they couldn’t see me, and I wanted to get a better look. I had a weird feeling in my stomach, the closer I got, and when the streetlamp finally cast its faded glow on the forms, I covered my mouth in shock.

The woman I had never known, my mother, was pressed up against the wall. Her belly was swollen from the child she carried and though I couldn’t hear anything, I could tell she was crying by the fat tears tracking down her cheeks. She held her hands protectively against her stomach, as if her fragile bones could protect her child. I knew I was that baby growing inside of her, knew that with such certainty, it startled me.

The vampire was speaking to her, his mouth moving, as he smiled. I couldn’t hear them, but I could see his brown stained teeth and jagged looking fangs. I wanted to turn away, as the vampire ran his tongue over her throat, but a force attracted my full attention to the scene. He opened his mouth wide, the light catching the saliva on his fangs and making them glisten. My mother opened her eyes then, seemed to look right at me, causing me to gasp and stumble back.

My mother closed her eyes just as the vampire struck, his dirty and long nails clawing at her arms and causing blood to well up from the wounds. I wanted desperately to go to her. I wanted to rip the vampire away from her and protect the woman I never had the chance to meet. I couldn’t though, and I wanted to scream in outrage. Just then a swift flash of movement caught my eye, and I saw Mikhail rushing to my mother’s side.

I watched in horror and fascination as Mikhail ripped the vampire off of her, tearing his body into pieces, until there was nothing left of him. Mikhail was by her side in the next instant, tears sliding out of his eyes, as they both looked at each other in sorrow. His hands rubbed her belly, and my heart clenched. I didn’t want to see any more. I wanted to yell at Rhyker, shout at him for showing me this, but then again, didn’t I ask to see this?

The scene changed, yet again, and I was now in a sterile hospital room. My mother lay on a silver gurney, her lifeless eyes staring at nothing, as they cut open her belly and pulled out the baby. I covered my mouth with my hands, watching as they cleaned the baby and swaddled it.

I wanted to tell them no one would come for me. I could feel Mikhail’s presence, yet I couldn’t tell where he was. Why hadn’t he claimed me? Why didn’t he step in and take care of me? He left me for strangers to take care of, and, although I loved Marie and the children, I had never known my mother and father, and I missed that.

My life flashed before my eyes in a series of scenes. It was weird, like watching a movie and fast forwarding it, until you got to the important parts. My life hadn’t been anything spectacular, but there had been some good parts, and, as I watched, I saw myself blowing out the candles on my birthday cake, or going swimming with my foster siblings. I wanted to cry. My life hadn’t been the best, but it had been good, and I wondered if my father had taken care of me, could it have been better?