Letting his gaze go long, staring out over the water, Dusk’s eyes slipped closed as he growled low and soft, sending a deep basso rumble through the broken stones of the plaza and far down into the earth. As Layla had heard him do many times now, he varied the pitch and duration of that sound as if using sonar, or trying to pitch-match the earth’s resonance in the shattered realm of Vittria. Gradually, his rumblings settled into something so low they were more felt than heard beneath the full moon and diamond stars; a deep vibration that was not unlike the sub-harmonic he’d calmed the Vampire Revenants with back in the Thin Ways. As he found that vibration, Dusk’s entire body suddenly trembled.
And he opened his eyes, his rumbles ceasing.
“I think I’ve got it.” He spoke as he looked around at everyone. “Vittria has a hard resonance to place – the harmonics are so shattered here and screaming in a way I don’t understand, like the vibrations of their earth were torn apart when the Vittrian’s battles ruined this realm. It’s like the fabric of the cosmos is torn here, and will never be put right. But I think I’ve got its basic resonance now – the resonance this world had before it was shattered.”
“Do you think you can locate other pockets of Vittria through the ether now?” Layla asked, reaching out and smoothing her hand over his.
“I can try.” Dusk spoke back with a soft smile as he twisted his neck, sitting up tall as he readied to go into the ether.
As he did, Adrian reached out, cupping Layla’s face in his palm. “Are you ready to do this, Layla? Because once we go—”
“I’m ready.” Layla spoke firmly as she cradled Adrian’s hand to her face and squeezed Dusk’s hand also. “I’ve been ready to take Hunter down ever since we first realized he was fucking with us, Adrian. I’m not going to back down now.”
“What about taking him down with mercy rather than anger?” Adrian asked softly now as he watched her in the night, and Layla paused.
“If there’s some way to do that by the end, I still think it’s right.” She spoke as her Bound mates watched her. “But if no opportunity presents itself to kill him mercifully, then I think you and Rhennic are right. We need to take Hunter down in whatever way we can now. All we can do, is do as Reginald said – hold our own love in our hearts as strongly as we can while we fight him. If we all hold love in our hearts while we finish this, making our deepest heart’s desire both his release and ours from his tyranny… then I think we’ll have a shot at ending this.”
“Good. Then that’s what we’ll do.” Adrian spoke softly as he leaned in, giving her a sweet kiss and making her feel how deeply he loved her, even as they faced potential annihilation. They lingered a moment as the entire Bind shared a wistfulness beneath the white glow of the moon and stars reflecting off the lake. But then Layla felt their readiness firm as she and Adrian eased apart – and she was ready, too.
“Let’s get him.” Layla spoke as she stared around the group now. “Let’s hunt the Hunter and take him down.”
“Wiser words were never said.” Reginald spoke now with a haughty chuckle. “And when all this is over, I am having a long, hot bath. And all of you can join me.”
“God, a bath sounds so nice.” Rhennic sighed, his lips curling into a smile.
“First order of business upon the other side of this, though – clothes.” Dusk spoke now as he lifted an eyebrow at Rhennic. “Don’t get me wrong, I love being nude, but fighting and traveling this way for hours on end? Not my style. Maybe a big, fluffy white robe would be nice. Then food, andthena bath. And sex.”
“Lots of sex.” Fury spoke softly then, as a hot flare of silver flashed in his eyes. As he gazed around the group, impressing his point to them all, Layla felt his enormous Siren-drake coil all around her in the night. Moonlight and water were Fury’s elements, and she was suddenly shivering all over as she felt his power surge around them, pulling them into his drake’s erotic tides. Dusk and Adrian shivered, but the sensation of Fury’s power coiling all around them made something hot and fierce spark inside Rhennic. His storm-power was suddenly cranking up to the max as he and Fury shared a hot look, and Reginald chuckled beside them.
And then they were all joining hands, slipping into the universe’s etheric currents as Adrian and Layla guided them in. Fury’s massive drake thrust their consciousness far under those deep tides now as Rhennic and Reginald held everyone back from getting completely drowned in them. As their auras spiraled out into the universe under the moonlit night, Dusk found the deep, rumbling frequency of Vittria. And then he began pulsing it out in massive waves.
Searching the entire cosmos for other pockets of the fractured realm.
As he did, Layla sent her consciousness to a place of deep stillness. Allowing her Bind with Hunter to open once more, she allowed herself to feel his vast spider’s network all through the cosmos – of everyplace he’d been and every realm he’d visited. Madness nearly swamped her, but she felt Reginald join her then, calming her mind and breathing an ocean-smooth steadiness through her. Flowing with Reginald’s tides, Layla let herself drift from thread to thread of Hunter’s mad spider-dance through the universe.
Finding the ones that synched up with Dusk’s searches.
Gradually, a pattern began to form. Whenever Dusk found a pocket of Vittria, a bright sapphire-diamond node would appear in Layla’s mind, and through her and Reginald’s work, she gradually lined those up with end-points of the golden threads of Hunter’s travels. After Dusk had located thirty pockets of the fractured realm, sixteen of which Hunter had visited, Layla felt him pull back inside their shared consciousness. Turning away from the stars, Layla saw a massive sapphire-diamond drake appear before her in the etheric mind-space.
And then Dusk’s drake spoke.I can find no more. Only thirty pockets of Vittria still exist. Or at least, have an earth-vibration similar to the one we’re sitting in.
Hunter’s travels line up with sixteen of them.Layla spoke back, as she saw herself manifest as an enormous red-gold and white drakaina in the etheric space now with long corkscrewing golden horns and fractal patterns in her scales. Sharing her consciousness through the Bind, she showed Dusk where those sixteen points were; where the sapphire-diamond nodes and the golden threads overlapped. Giving a deep basso growl, Dusk’s massive Crystal drake turned towards those sixteen places in the cosmos, sending a sharp, repetitive vibration at each of them. Layla heard three of them ring through the ether, like bells being struck.
Three of those locations have a wealth of crystal.Dusk spoke as he turned back to her.
So we should start there. And hopefully one of them will be where Hunter has gone.Adrian had appeared with them now in the mind-space as an enormous turquoise and red drake with gold and black lines detailing his entire body. Towering over Dusk and Layla, he was like a leviathan of the cosmos as Layla got to see how much energy he truly possessed. It was awe-inspiring, and for a moment she lost all thought as she stared up at Adrian, amazed. And then his scaled lips smiled at her, his turquoise-fire eyes laughing in the stars.
Stare later, drakaina.He spoke gently.When we have more time.
Blinking, Layla shuddered from head to heels. And then she felt Reginald begin to help her discard all the locations in the mind-space that didn’t line up with Hunter’s travels and Dusk’s search. Gradually, the insane network of golden threads shivered away as Reginald sliced through them with his impeccable mind-abilities. Until only three bright nodes were left – a golden thread from Layla’s heart leading right to each of them.
There lies our way.Reginald spoke as Layla felt him coil around her in the cosmos now, supporting her.Choose our first destination, and we shall go.
What if I choose wrong, and Hunter isn’t there?She asked, suddenly doubting herself.
Then we choose again,Rhennic suddenly spoke through all their minds as a bolstering flash of joy lit the cosmos.And again and again, until we find him.
All movement in the ether is intention, Layla.Fury spoke fiercely as Layla felt his massive silver-midnight drake spread out, nearly devouring the entire cosmos all around.Intend that we shall find Hunter… and we shall.
