Your Dimension Or Mine? (17 page)

“That he had found me and if I wasn’t coming to him, he would come to me. Also, until I accepted him, I would be in pain.” She rubbed at the incessant burn, gritting her teeth against wanting to do something, anything to stop it.

“That pain will be there for a long time,” he said quietly. “At least until he renounces his claim on you.”

“He will do that?” she asked hopefully.

“He never has before, but then again, nobody fought him like you either. If we are able to add in Terrian’s protection and our combined magic, you may best him yet.”

That wasn’t very promising, but she tried to smile in return.

“Rest, Arwen. Do you need me to bring you dinner?” She nodded, knowing she didn’t have the strength to do it herself. “Fine.” A plate of wonderfully colorful food, a bowl that held some sort of dessert, her consistently filling glass of water, and a glass of wine appeared in front of her. “Eat and go to bed afterward.” Without another word, he disappeared.

As she reached forward to grab her fork, she happened to look down. “Mayir!” she cried, “I was still naked!”

His low rumbling chuckle resounded in her head.
“You just figured that out? You must be exhausted. Rest, child. Worry tomorrow.”

Hungrier than she realized, she basically shoveled the food into her mouth, taking gulps of water every few bites as her body demanded it be fed. After all the food was gone, she drank down the glass of wine and crawled into bed. Unfortunately, sleep did not want to come.

As her chest tightened and burnt, she knew she should be scared of Orion, but the thing her mind was fixated on was Terrian. Would he be attracted to the real her? At what point would she make an idiot of herself and turn him away? Could they even be the same people in real life? What if he actually had three eyes and his nose was on his chin? Well, no, she had seen his picture. Then an even worse thought hit her.

What if the rest of him wasn’t like other human males? If he didn’t have a…

Moaning at that horrible thought, she turned over and glared at the wall. “Seriously,” she grumbled aloud to herself. “There is an evil demon who wants me to be his and is coming after me, and the thing I am worried about is if Terrian has all the right equipment?” Before she could continue her little rant, laughter filled her head. “Stop listening to me!”

“I would,”
Mayir responded,
“but you are extremely refreshing, Arwen. I have never met anyone quite like you.”

“I’m sure,” she responded dryly, eliciting another chuckle.

Turning back over, she glared at the ceiling. She really could use some sleep, but her body obviously did not want to. Taking a few deep breaths, she thought about the next day. She definitely needed to put on some makeup, something she hadn’t been doing since she had been on Zeta. Wait…she sat straight up and looked to the chair that would hold a new slutty Snow White costume within a few hours. Oh, no. There was no way she was meeting Terrian looking like that.

Well, if she couldn’t sleep, maybe she could try and magic herself a cute outfit for the next day. Sitting up, she turned toward the chair, surprised when the room lightened a bit. So far she had not been able to tell where the light in the room came from and tonight was just the same. Must be magic.

Sliding her legs off the side of the bed, she closed her eyes, mentally sifting through her outfits at home while trying to come up with the perfect one to meet Terrian in. Her shorts were a possibility, but it seemed too casual to her. Then again, they were short and tight. Might be a great thing to start with.

Taking a deep breath to calm herself and trying to ignore the burn, she brought to mind her short stone-washed denim shorts and the yellow camisole top she usually wore with it. Once it was firmly in her mind, she forced herself to feel the material on her skin, not as easy as she hoped because the fact was once the clothes were on, she tended not to feel them at all. Finally, she focused on the feeling of pulling them on as well as how she felt as she looked into the mirror with them on. That would have to do.

Unfortunately, the pain in her chest elected to ramp up ten-fold at that very moment, and she never got to the third step. Instead, she let out a cry and collapsed onto her bed. “I hate you, Orion,” she hissed through gritted teeth.

“I know you don’t mean that, pet. And even if you do, it does not matter. You will want to obey me anyway.”

His voice in her head made her jump from the bed, glancing around her. “Mayir!” she hissed. It took a few minutes for his voice to come to her sounding as though she woke him up.

“What is it, Arwen?”

“I just heard Orion!”

“Not a big surprise since you opened his message, and he probably pinpointed you here on Zeta. But remember, he cannot come here, so while he can taunt you mentally, that is as much as he can do. Now, go to bed.”

Pursing her lips together, she placed her hands on her hips and glared into nothingness. Men! As though she could sleep between Orion’s pain and voice and the prospect of meeting Terrian within hours.

Determined to have a cute outfit for the next day, even as she tried to ignore the fear that seemed to want to encroach, she once again focused on her clothing. Twice she tried and failed each time Orion came to mind. “Maybe I’m not picking out the right outfit,” she said softly.

Instead of focusing on the clothing she owned, or had owned once upon a simpler time, her mind rushed through images of cute and sexy clothes she had seen in magazines. Almost at once, the image of an off-the-shoulder deep golden cashmere dress came to mind. Along with it were the heels and jewelry she would need to complete the outfit. This time when she got to feeling it, she imagined how it would feel to have Terrian’s mouth drop when he spotted her.

The pain in her chest stopped, and with a smile, she floated through the last two steps. As she came down from what felt like a high, there they were. The dress, heels, necklace, earrings, and bracelet. “Holy cow!” she squeaked, slapping her hand over her mouth as her exclamation had been a little loud.

Excited at her recent success and not even interested in lying back down, she tried a few more outfits she had seen. By the time she finally crawled into bed, her room was covered in fine clothing she never would have been able to afford back home. This magic thing was useful.

****

Something wasn’t right. She tried to move, but couldn’t. None of her muscles obeyed her command. Even her eyelids would not open.

“All right, pet,” Orion crooned into her ear. She gasped but as her lips were closed, no sound came out. She was supposed to be safe on Zeta. How had Orion gotten to her?

“You have been a bad little slave. Leaving me, not coming back when I commanded it, consorting with two of my known enemies. So, let’s make this easy. Stay where you are at the moment. Relax.”

Each of his words seemed to relax her muscles even further even as her head shouted
Run!
She had felt this before. The day she got sick and he took her without her permission.

“Don’t do anything, pet. Just relax. They have been running you ragged, haven’t they? Making you exercise your magical energy, energy you don’t even understand yet. No need to worry, pet. I won’t do that. I would never…harm you permanently. Are you tired of being pushed every day, pet?”

His voice was so nice and sweet, each note like a melody that wanted to carry her home. It never even occurred to her to fight it. “Mmhmm,” she said, still unable to open her mouth.

“I’m sure you are. You know, there is a way for you to get out of it, a way to never have to deal with the pain and ache they put you through on a daily basis ever again. You can be strong, pet, oh so strong. I can help you.”

Help her. He wanted to help her. No more being tossed into the air on an hourly basis, no more achiness. It sounded nice and she sighed.

“Yes, I hate what they are doing to you, pet. And all because they hate me. I am so sorry for that. They are abusing you to get back at me. And yet you have done nothing to them, have you?” Mentally she shook her head.

“No, you have not. Would you like to get away, pet? Away from them, the pain, their control?”

“Mmhmm.” Even as the hum left her lips, something told her there was something she was supposed to remember, but what was it?

“It would be oh, so, easy,” he whispered, his breath washing over her ear. “I will help you, but you need to do one thing, just one tiny thing. Can you do that?”

“Mmhmm.”

“Good girl.” Something soft, a warm breeze, stroked her head. “All you have to do is say yes when I ask you a question. Can you do that?”

“Mmhmm,” she responded, her mind feeling like mush. What was she responding too?

“No, no, pet. You need to respond with a yes, can you do that?”

Slowly she began to move her mouth around. It took all of her energy to do it. “Ysss,” she mumbled, groaning from the effort.

“Ahh, good girl. Now, I will take you from here the moment you answer my next question. Do you hear me, pet? The moment you answer yes to the next question, they can’t harm you anymore. Ever again.”

“Mmm,” she said, sighing in hopeful contentment. She didn’t want to feel achy anymore, and her chest still ached. And her ankle was burning. Why was it burning? “Ankle,” she tried to say, but it came out as gibberish.

“Shh, pet, you don’t need to say anything else. Just say yes to the following, and they will never hurt you again.” His lips touched her ear, and she shuddered even as her ankle burst into flames. “Do you accept your enslavement to me, pet?”

“Ankle,” she said a little more forcefully. She wanted to grab her ankle and rub away the flames, but her muscles wouldn’t obey. He needed to do it. “Douse the flames,” she murmured.

“There are no flames, pet. Answer the question. Do you accept your enslavement to me?”

She heard the words and a part of her brain wanted to say yes in the worst way, but she couldn’t concentrate on that. “Ankle on fire!” she screamed as her muscles seemed to wake up, and she jolted into a seated position, glancing around her even as she rubbed frantically at her ankle.

Mayir appeared almost immediately dressed in what looked like silk pajamas. “What happened?” he asked looking around. Even as he did, a hiss left his lips. “Orion!” he bellowed and in the next instant, he was gone.

Groaning, it didn’t take long before the reality of her “dream” took shape. He had got to her; in the place she should have been safest, he found her and almost had her.

“Thank you,” she whispered as her ankle continued to lightly burn. Immediately, she decided she needed to send a thank you note to the makers of that anklet. Whatever magic they put in that thing saved her butt more than once.

To say she got little sleep that night was an overstatement. The only sleep she had seemed to be a precursor to Orion’s visit.

“How did he get in?”
Mayir hissed for the seventeenth time since she finally stopped trying to sleep. Once she gave up, she dressed in a pair of dark skinny jeans and a T-shirt of her favorite rock band and

joined him.

“I thought he wasn’t allowed here,” she said as she made a bagel and cream cheese appear in front of her.

“He isn’t. There are barriers put in place to make sure he cannot enter our dimension. These barriers are strengthened daily. Someone is not doing their job.” His eyes darkened and she was glad that look wasn’t for her. It looked as though someone’s head would be on a platter. “Verisha!”

The name sounded familiar and the moment the man appeared in front of them, she remembered who he was, the first individual she saw on this planet and the one who brought her here.

He cast a glance at her, smiling, before his smile disappeared and he turned. “Yes, Mayir?”

With a wave of Mayir’s hand, every window glazed over and a small hum seemed to go through the room. “One of the barriers is down. I need you to check them inconspicuously. Find out who has not been doing their job.”

“How could that be?” Verisha asked calmly. “And how do you know?”

“Because Orion came here last night and tried to spirit Arwen away,” he growled waving at her.

Almost immediately, Verisha’s expression turned to anger. “He came to Zeta? No! His filth will not be allowed!” He looked over at her, and while his expression calmed, his eyes did not. “Are you all right?”

“Uh, yes? Just didn’t get much sleep.” She wasn’t sure how to respond to him. Who was he that Mayir would call for him?

Nodding, he turned back and bowed to her trainer. “You will have the zoor within the day.” Mayir once again flicked his hand and the windows went back to normal even as the hum went away. Instantly, Verisha disappeared.

“Who…?” Ari began to ask, but Mayir stopped her.

“Do not speak of him. Nobody must know we suspect them.”

The fact he spoke in her head while he was in front of her rendered her speechless for a few minutes.

“Terrian will be here within the hour,” he said conversationally as she finished eating her breakfast. “I suggest you go do your preparations for his visit.”

She took an hour to get ready, not because she needed it. She knew exactly what outfit she would wear, but because her mind kept going off in different directions, and it was hard to concentrate.

She started soaping up her arms and her mind drifted to the Orion fiasco. Twenty minutes later she found her left arm four inches thick in suds. Then as she shaved her legs, her mind switched to Verisha, and she was abruptly brought out of that thought as her skin burned because she was shaving the same area for the who-knows-how-many’th time.

After fixing her hair and pulling the cashmere dress over her head, she waited for Mayir to summon her. He told her he wished to speak to Terrian before she saw him to apprise him of the trouble.

Waiting was not easy. Was he here? How was he reacting? Did the dress make her chest look too big? Should she wear the necklace?

“Arwen, join us.”

“It’s time,” she whispered as she straightened the dress even though it didn’t need it and walked out the door. Sure she could have magicked herself down there, but quite honestly she needed the extra few seconds to try and stop the butterflies zooming around in her stomach.