The Return: Shadow Souls Chapter 15

Hurrying behind Damon, Elena tried non to look either to the left-hand(a) or the properly. She could see too more than of what to Meredith and fairish must realize appeared to be featureless darkness. in that respect were depots on either side, places where slaves were obviously brought to be bought or sold or transported later. Elena could hear the whimpers of children in the darkness and if she hadnt been so frightened herself, she would have rushed off emotion for the crying kids.But I cant do that, because Im a slave now, she thought, with a sense of shock that ran up from her fingertips. Im not a real hu serviceman being any more than. Im a piece of property.She found herself at a time again esthesising at the stick show up of Damons head and wondering how on earth she had palavered herself into this. She understood what being a slave meant in fact she seemed to have an intuitive understanding of it that surprised her and it was Not a Good Thing to Be.It meant tha t she could bewell, that anything could be d unitary to her and it was no ones business hardly that of her owner. And her owner (how had he talked her into this again?) was Damon, of all people.He could sell all three girls Elena, Meredith, and fairish and be protrude of here in an hour with the profits.They hurried through this sleep togetherledge base of the docks, the girls with their eyes on their feet to pr counterbalancet themselves from stumbling.And then they crested a hill. Below them, in a sort of crater-shaped formation, was a city.The slums were on the edges, and crowded al just about up to where they were standing. But there was a chicken-wire fence in front of them, which kept them isolated blush while allowing them a birds-eye view of the city. If they had still been in the cave they had entered, this would have been the greatest underground cavern imaginable solely they werent underground anymore.It happened sometime during the ferry ride, Damon state. We ma de well a twist in space, say. He tried to explain and Elena tried to understand. You went in through the Demon Gate, and when you came out you were no longer in Earths proportion, but in another one broad(a)ly. Elena only had to look up at the sky to believe him. The constellations were different there was no Little or Big Dipper, no North Star. thusly there was the sun. It was much larger, but much dimmer than Earths, and it neer left the horizon. At any moment close to half of it showed, sidereal daytime and night basis which, as Meredith pointed out, had lost their rational meaning here.As they approached a gate made of chicken wire that would finally let them out of the slave- guarding area, they were stopped by what Elena would later learn was a defender.She would learn that in a way, the Guardians were the rulers of the Dark Dimension, although they themselves came from another place far by and it was almost as if they had permanently set-aside(p) this forgetful slice of Hell, trying to impose order on the slum king and feudal lords who divided the city among themselves.This Guardian was a tall charr with hair the color of Elenas own true gold cut square at shoulder length, and she paid no attention at all to Damon but immediately asked Elena, who was beginning(a) in line behind him, Why are you here?Elena was glad, in truth glad, that Damon had taught her to control her aura. She concentrated on that while her brain hummed at supersonic speed, wondering what the right response to this question was. The response that would leave them free and not get them sent home.Damon didnt train us for this, was her first thought. And her endorsement was, no, because hes never been here before. He doesnt know how everything works here, only some things.And if it looked as if this cleaning lady was overtaking to try to interfere with him, he superpower respectable go crazy and attack her, a helpful little spokesperson amplifyed from somewhere in Elenas subconscious. Elena doubled the speed of her scheming. Creative lying had once been a sort of specialty of hers, and now she said the first thing that popped into her head and got a thumbs-up I gambled with him and lost.Well, it sounded good. People lost all sorts of things when they gambled plantations, talismans, horses, castles, bottles of genii. And if it turned out not to be enough of a reason, she could always say that that was on the button the start of her sad story. Best of all, it was in a way, true. Long ago shed habituated her animateness for Damon as well as for Stefan, and Damon had not exactly turned over a new leaf as shed requested. Half a leaf, maybe. A leaflet.The Guardian was staring at her with a puzzled look in her true blue eyes. People had stared at Elena all her life being young and very beautiful meant that you fretted only when people didnt stare. But the puzzlement was a bit of a worry. Was the tall woman reading her mind? Elena tried to add another layer of white noise at the top. What came out was a few lines of a Britney Spears song. She turned the psychic quite a little up.The tall woman beat two fingers to her head exchangeable someone with a sudden headache. Then she looked at Meredith.Whyare you here?Usually Meredith didnt lie at all, but when she did she treated it as an intellectual art. Fortunately, she also never tried to fix something that wasnt broken. The equal for me, she said sadly.And you? The woman was looking at Bonnie, who was looking as if she were going to be sick again.Meredith gave Bonnie a little nudge. Then she stared at her hard. Elena stared at her harder, knowing that all Bonnie had to do was mumble Me, too. And Bonnie was a good me, too-er after Meredith had s hold ind out a position.The problem was that Bonnie was also either in trance, or so close to it that it didnt matter.Shadow Souls, Bonnie said.The woman blinked, but not the way you blink when someone says something totally unre sponsive. She blinked in astonishment.Oh, God, Elena thought. Bonnies got their password or something. Shes making predictions or prophesying or whatever.Shadowsouls? the Guardian said, observance Bonnie closely.The city is full of them, Bonnie said miserably.The Guardians fingers danced over what looked like a palmtop computer. We know that. This is the place they come.Then you should stop it.We have only restrain jurisdiction. The Dark Dimension is ruled by a dozen factions of overlords, who have slumlords to carry out their orders.Bonnie, Elena thought, trying to cut through Bonnies mental haze even at the cost of the Guardian hearing her. These are the police.At the same moment, Damon took over. Shes the same as the others, he said. Except that shes psychic.No one asked your opinion, the Guardian snapped at him, without even glancing in Damons direction. I dont care what kind of bigwig you are down in the mouth there she jerked her head contemptuously at the city of neats youre on my turf behind this fence. And Im asking the little red-haired girl is what he is saying the truth?Elena had a moment of panic. After all theyd been through, if Bonnie blew it nowThis time Bonnie blinked. Whatever else she was trying to communicate, it was true that she was the same as Meredith and Elena. And it was true that she was psychic. Bonnie was a terrible liar when she had too much time to think about things, but to this she could say without hesitation, Yes, thats true.The Guardian stared at Damon.Damon stared back as if he could do it all night. He was a champion out-starer.And the Guardian waved them away.I speak out even a psychic can have a bad day, she said, then added to Damon, Take care of them. You realize that all psychics have to be certify?Damon, with his best grand seigneur manner, said, Madam, these are not skipper psychics. They are my private assistants.And Im not a Madam Im addressed as Your Judgment. By the way, people given over to gambling usually come to horrible ends here.Ha, ha, Elena thought. If she only knew what kind of gamble we all are takingwell, wed probably be worse off than Stefan is right now.Outside the fence was a courtyard. There were coveys here, as well as rickshaws and small goatcarts. No carriages, no horses. Damon got two litters, one for himself and Elena and one for Meredith and Bonnie.Bonnie, still looking confused, was staring at the sun. You mean it never finishes rising?No, Damon said patiently. And its setting here, not rising. Perpetual twilight in the City of Darkness itself. Youll see more as we take to the woods along. Dont touch that, he added, as Meredith moved to untie the rope around Bonnies wrists before either of them got on the litter. You two can take the ropes off in the litter if you draw the curtains, but dont lose them. Youre still slaves, and you have to wear something symbolic around your arms to show it even if its just matching bracelets. Otherwise I get in trouble. O h, and youll have to go veiled in the city.We what? Elena flashed a look of disbelief at him.Damon just flashed back a 250-kilowatt smile and before Elena could say another word, he was drawing gauzy sheer fabrics from his black bag and handing them out. The veils were of a size to cover an entire body.But you only have to put it on your head or tie it on your hair or something, Damon said dismissively.Whats it made of? Meredith asked, feeling the light silky material, which was transparent and so thin that the wind threatened to whip it from her fingers.How should I know?Its different colors on the other side Bonnie discovered, letting the wind transform her pale green veil into a shimmering silver. Meredith was shaking out a dramatic deep violet silk into a swart dark blue dotted with a myriad of stars. Elena, who had been expecting her own veil to be blue, found herself looking up at Damon. He was holding a tiny square of cloth in a clenched fist.Lets see how good youve gotten, he murmured, nodding her closer to him. Guess what color.Another girl might only have noticed the sloe black eyes and the pure, carven lines of Damons face, or maybe the excited, wicked smile somehow terrificer and sweeter than ever here, like a rainbow in the middle of a hurricane. But Elena also made note of the stiffness in his neck and shoulders places where tension built up. The Dark Dimension was already taking its toll on him, psychically, even as he mocked it. She wondered how many soundings of Power by the merely curious he was having to block to each one atomic number 42. She was about to offer to help by opening herself up to the eldritch world, when he snapped, Guess in a tone that didnt make it a suggestion.Gold, Elena said instantly, surprising herself. When she reached to take the golden square from his hand a powerful, pleasurable feeling of electric current shot from her palm up her arm and seemed to spit her straight through the heart. Damon clung to her fi ngers briefly as she took the square and Elena found she could still feel electricity pulsing from his fingertips.The underside of her veil blew out white and glister as if set with diamonds. God, maybe they were diamonds, she thought. How could you tell with Damon?Your wedding veil, perhaps? Damon murmured, lips close to her ear. The rope around Elenas wrists had come very loose and she stroked the diaphanous fabric helplessly, feeling the tiny jewels on the white side cool to the touch of her fingers.How did you know youd need all this stuff? Elena asked, with bruising practicality. You didnt know everything, but you seemed to know enough.Oh, I did research in bars and other places. I found a few people whod been here and had managed to get out again or who had gotten kicked out. Damons wild grin grew even wilder. At night while you were asleep. At a little hidden store, I got those. He nodded at her veil, and added, You dont have to wear that over your face or anything. Press i t to your hair and it will cling to it.Elena did so, wearing the gold side out. It fell to her heels. She fingered her veil, already able to see the flirtatious possibilities in it, as well as the dismissive ones. If only she could get this damned rope off her wristsAfter a moment, Damon retreated back into the epitome of the imperturbable master and said, For all our sakes, we ought to be strict about these things. The slum lords and nobility who run this abominable mess they call the Dark Dimension know that its only two days away from revolution at any time, and if we add anything to the balance theyre going to Make a Public Example of Us. any right, Elena said. Here, hold my string and Ill get on the litter.But there wasnt much point in the rope, not once they were both sitting in the same litter. It was carried by four men not big men, but wiry ones, and all of the same height, which made for a smooth ride.If Elena had been a free citizen, she would never have allowed herself to be carried by four people whom (she assumed) were slaves. In fact, she would have made a big noisy fuss over it. But that talk shed had with herself at the docks had sunk in. She was a slave, even if Damon hadnt paid anyone to buy her. She didnt have the right to make a big noisy fuss about anything. In this crimson, evil-smelling place she could imagine that her fuss might even make problems for the litter bearers themselves make their owner or whoever ran the litter-bearing business punish them, as if it were their fault.Best invent A for now Keep Mouth Shut.There was plenty to see anyway, now that they had passed on a bridge over bad-smelling slums and alleys full of tumbledown houses. Shops began to appear, at first heavily barred and made of unpainted stone, then more respectable buildings, and then dead they were winding their way through a bazaar. But even here the stamp of poverty and weariness appeared on too many faces. Elena had expected, if anything, a cold, black , antiseptic city with emotionless vampires and fire-eyed demons walking the streets. Instead, everyone she saw looked human, and they were selling things from medicines to pabulum and drink that vampires didnt need.Well, maybe the kitsune and the demons need them, Elena reasoned, shuddering at the idea of what a demon might want to eat. On the street corners were hard-faced, scantily clad girls and boys, and tattered, raddled people holding pathetic signs A MEMORY FOR A MEAL.What do they mean? Elena asked Damon, but he didnt answer her immediately.This is how the free humans of the city drop off most of their time, he said. So remember that, before you start going on one of your crusades Elena wasnt listening. She was staring at one of the holders of such a sign. The man was horribly thin, with a straggly beard and bad teeth, but worse was his look of vacant despair. Every so often he would hold out a trembling hand on which there was a small, clear ball, which he balanced on his palm, muttering, A summers day when I was young. A summers day for a ten-geld piece. As often as not there was no one near when he said this.Elena slipped off a lapis ring Stefan had given her and held it toward him. She didnt want to annoy Damon by getting out of the litter, and she had to say, Come here, please, while holding the ring toward the bearded man.He heard, and came to the litter quickly enough. Elena saw something move in his beard lice, perhaps and she forced herself to stare at the ring as she said, Take it. Quickly, please.The old man stared at the ring as if it were a banquet. I dont have change, he moaned, bringing up his hand and wiping his mouth with his sleeve. He seemed about to drop to the ground unconscious. I dont have changeI dont want change Elena said through the huge swelling that had formed in her throat. Take the ring. Hurry or Ill drop it.He snatched it from her fingers as the litter bearers started forward again. May the Guardians bless you, l ady, he said, trying to keep up with the litter bearers trot. Hear me who may May They bless youYou really shouldnt, Damon said to Elena when the voice had died away behind them. Hes not going to get a meal with that, you know.He was hungry, Elena said squeezablely. She couldnt explain that he reminded her of Stefan, not just now. It was my ring, she added defensively. I hypothesise youre going to say hell spend it on alcohol or drugs.No, but he wont get a meal with it, either. Hell get a banquet.Well, so much the In his imagination. Hell get a dusty orb with some old vampires memory of a Roman feast, or someone from the citys memory of a modern font one. Then hell play it over and over as he slowly starves to death.Elena was appalled. Damon Quick I have to go back and mother him You cant, Im afraid. Lazily, Damon held up a hand. He had a firm grip on her rope. Besides, hes long gone.How can he do that? How could anyone do that?How can a lung cancer patient disapprove to quit smoking? But I agree that those orbs can be the most addictive substances of all. Blame the kitsune for bringing their star balls here and making them the most popular form of obsession.Star balls? Hoshi no tama? Elena gasped.Damon stared at her, looking equally surprised. You know about them?All I know is what Meredith researched. She said that kitsune were often represent with either keys she raised her eyebrows at him or with star balls. And that myths say they can put some or all of their power in the ball, so that if you find it, you can control the kitsune. She and Bonnie want to find Misaos or Shinichis star balls and have control over them.Be still, my unbeating heart, Damon said dramatically, but the next second he was all business. Remember what that old guy said? A summers day for a meal? He was talking about this. Damon picked up the little marble that the old man had dropped on the litter and held it to Elenas temple.The world disappeared.Damon was gone. The sights a nd sounds yes, and the smells of the bazaar were gone. She was sitting on green grass which rippled in a frail breeze and she was looking at a weeping willow that bent down to a stream that was copper and deep, deep green at once. There was some sweet scent in the air honeysuckle, freesia? Something delicious that stirred Elena as she leaned back to gaze at picture-perfect white clouds rolling in a cerulean sky.She felt she didnt know how to say it. She felt young, but somewhere in her mind she knew that she was actually younger than this alien personality that had taken hold of her. Still, she felt excited that it was springtime and every golden-green leaf, every springy little reed, every weightless white cloud seemed to be rejoicing with her.Then suddenly her heart was pounding. She had just caught the sound of a footfall behind her. In one, springing joyous moment she was on her feet, arms held out in the extremity of her love, the wild devotion she felt for thisthis young girl? Something inside the sphere users brain seemed to fall back in bewilderment. Most of it, though, was taken up with cataloguing the perfections of the girl who had crept up so lightly in the waving grass the clustering dark curls at her neck, the flashing green eyes below arching brows, the smooth gleam skin of her cheeks as she laughed with her lover, pretending to run away on feet as light as any elfsPursued and pursuer both fell down together on the soft carpet of long grassand then things quickly got so steamy that Elena, the distant mind in the background, began wondering how on earth you made one of these things stop. Every time she put her hand to her temple, groping, she was caught and kissed breathless byAllegrathat was the girl, Allegra. And Allegra was certainly beautiful, especially through this particular viewers eyes. The creamy soft skin of herAnd then, with a shock just as great as shed felt when the bazaar disappeared, it appeared again. She was Elena she was riding on the litter with Damon there was a din of sounds around her and a thousand different smells, too. But she was breathing hard and part of her was still resounding with John that had been his name with Johns love for Allegra.But I still dont understand, she almost keened.Its simple, Damon said. You put a blank star ball of the size you like to your temple and you think back to the time you want to record. The star ball does the rest. He waved off her attempted interruption and leaned forward with mischief in those fathomless black eyes of his. Perhaps you got an especially warm summer day? he said, adding suggestively, These litters do have curtains you can draw closed.Dont be silly, Damon, Elena said, but Johns feelings had sparked her own, like flint and tinder. She didnt want to kiss Damon, she told herself sternly. She wanted to kiss Stefan. But since a moment ago she had been kissing Allegra, it didnt seem as strong an argument as it could be.I dont think, she began, still breathless, as Damon reached for her, that this is a very goodWith a smooth flick of the rope, Damon untied her hands completely. He would have pulled it off both wrists, but Elena immediately half-turned, supporting herself with that hand. She needed the support.In the circumstances, though, there was nought more meaningful or moreexcitingthan what Damon had done.He hadnt drawn the curtains, but Bonnie and Meredith were behind them on their own litter, out of sight. Certainly out of Elenas mind. She felt warm arms around her, and instinctively nestled into them. She felt a surge of pure love and appreciation for Damon, for his understanding that she could never do this as a slave with a master.Were both of us unmastered, she heard in her head, and she remembered that when cooling down most of her psychic abilities she had forgotten to set the volume on low for this one. Oh, well, it might just come in handy.But we both enjoy worship, she replied telepathically, and felt hi s laughter on her lips as he admitted the truth of it. There was nothing sweeter in her life these days than Damons kisses. She could drift like this forever, forgetting the outside world. And that was a good thing, because she had the feeling that there was much belief in the outside and not too much happiness. But if she could always come back to this, this welcome, this sweetness, this ecstasyElena jerked in the litter, throwing her weight back so unwavering that the men carrying it almost fell in a heap.You bastard, she whispered venomously. They were still psychically entangled, and she was glad to see that through Damons eyes she was like a despiteful Aphrodite her golden hair lifting and whipping behind her like a thunderstorm, her eyes shining violet in her elemental fury.And now, worst of all, this goddess turned her face away from him. Not one day, she said. You couldnt even keep your promise for a single dayI didnt I didnt Influence you, ElenaDont call me that. We have a professional relationship now. I call you Master. You can call me Slave or Dog or whatever you want.If we have the professional relationship of master and slave, Damon said, his eyes dangerous, then I can just order you to Try it Elena lifted her lips in what really wasnt a smile. Why dont you do that, and see just what happens?