The female was so certain and steadfast that in the shadow of her courage, Payne felt small. Small and weak.
Just who was she? A reflection? Or a reality?
Abruptly, she stood up. "Will you permit me my leave?"
Layla seemed surprised and bowed low. "But of course. And please, I mean no offense by my ramblings--"
On impulse, Payne embraced the other Chosen. "You have given none. Worry not. And best of luck with your male. Verily, he would be blessed to have you."
Before anything more could be said, Payne walked off, moving quickly past the dorm and surmounting with ever gathering speed the hill that led up to the Primale Temple. Going beyond that sacred bedding place, which was never used anymore, she entered her mother's marble courtyard and strode down the colonnade.
The modestly sized door that marked the Scribe Virgin's private quarters was not what one would expect to herald such a devine space. But then when the whole world was yours, you had nothing to prove, did you.
Payne did not knock. Given what she was about to do, the inappropriateness of bursting in uninvited was going to be so far down her list of sins, it was barely going to count as one.
"Mother," she demanded as she stepped into the empty white room.
There was a long wait before she was answered and the voice that came to her was disembodied. "Yes, daughter."
"Let me out of here. Now."
Whatever consequence came upon her head from this renewed confrontation was better than such a castrated existence.
"Throw me out," she reiterated to the blank walls and the nonair. "Let me go. I shall never return herein if that is your wish. But I shall not stay here anon."
In a flash of light, the Scribe Virgin appeared before her without the black robing she usually wore. Indeed, Payne was quite sure no one ever saw her mother as she truly was, energy without form.
Bright no longer, however. Dim now, barely more than a ripple of heat to the eye.
The difference was arresting and tempered Payne's rage. "Mother... let me go. Please."
The Scribe Virgin's response was long in coming. "I'm sorry. I cannot grant you your wish."
Payne bared her fangs. "Damn you, just do it. Let me out of here or--"
"There is no 'or,' my dearest child." The Scribe Virgin's thready voice drifted off and then returned. "You must remain here. Destiny demands it."
"Whose? Yours or mine?" Payne slashed her hand through the paralytic stillness. "Because I am not truly living here, and what kind of destiny is that."
"I am sorry."
And that was the end of the argument--at least as far as her mother was concerned. With a sparkle, the Scribe Virgin disappeared.
Payne hollered into the vast blankness, "Release me! Damn you! Release me!"
She half expected to be slain on the spot, but then the torture would be over, and where was the fun in that.
"Mother!"
When there was no reply, Payne wheeled around and wished to Dhunhd there was something to throw--but there was nothing to set her grip upon and the symbolism was a scream in her head: nothing for her, there was absolutely nothing for her here.
Approaching the door, she unleashed her anger, ripping the thing from the hinges and throwing it backward into the cold, empty room. The white panel bounced twice and then skidded freely across the unobstructed expanse, a pebble upon the surface of a still pond.
As she stalked out toward the fountain, she heard a series of clicks, and when she looked over her shoulder, she saw that the portal had fixed itself, magically resealing its empty jambs, forming exactly what had been there before with nary a scratch to show for what she'd done to it.
Fury rose within her such that it choked her throat and made her hands shake.
In the corner of her eye, she saw a black-robed figure coming down the colonnade, but it was not her mother. It was merely No'One with a basket of offerings for the Scribe Virgin, her limp shifting her gait from side to side.
The sight of the misfortunate, excluded Chosen fueled her rage even further--
"Payne?"
The sound of the deep voice whipped her head around: Wrath stood by the white tree of colorful songbirds, his massive form dominating the courtyard.
Payne sprang at him, turning him into a target she could fight. And the Blind King clearly sensed her violence and her vicious approach: In the blink of an eye, he fell into his fighting stance, becoming powerful, prepared, and ready.
She gave him everything she had and more, her fists and legs flying at him, her body becoming a whirl of punches and kicks, which he deflected with his forearms and dodged by ducking his torso and head.
Faster, tougher, deadlier, she kept at the king, forcing him to return what she was putting to him or risk getting seriously injured. His first hard strike caught her in the shoulder, his fist crashing into her, throwing her off balance--but she recovered quickly and spun around, leading with her leg and foot.
The impact to his gut rocked him so hard he grunted--at least until she spun once more and struck him in the face with her knuckles. As blood exploded, and the dark lenses o'er his eyes skittered away, he cursed.
"What the f**k, Pay--"
The king didn't have a chance to finish her name. She plowed into him, catching him around the waist, driving his huge weight backward. There was no true contest, however. He was twice her size, and he took charge with ease, peeling her off of him and flipping her around to hold her, back to his front.
"What the f**k is your problem?" he snarled in her ear.
She slammed her head backward, nailing him in the face, and his grip loosened for a split second. Which was all she needed to break away. Flipping free of him by using his oak-strong body as a platform to fly from, she--
Vastly underestimated her momentum. Instead of landing with her weight perpendicular to the ground, she pitched forward--which meant she hurt one foot badly, her body tumbling wildly to the side.
The marble edge of the fountain kept her from hitting the ground, but the impact was worse than if she'd fallen flat.
The crack of her back was loud as a scream.
And so was the pain.
Chapter Sixty-two
When Lash woke up at his hideaway ranch, the first thing he did was look at his arms.
Along with his hands and wrists, his forearms were now shadows as well, a kind of smog- like form that moved as he told it to, and either be nothing more than air or could bear weight at his command.
Sitting up, he shoved off the blanket he'd pulled over himself and stood. What do you know, his feet were pulling a disappear, too. Which was good, but... shit, how long was the transformer bit going to take? He had to assume that if his body still had physical form, with a heartbeat and needs like food and drink and sleep, he wasn't completely safe from bullets and knives.
Plus, frankly, given all the pieces that had fallen off him, bio-waste management was really f**king messy.
He'd turned the mattress he'd slept on into the biggest Depends on the planet.
A squeak from outside drew him over to the blinds and he parted a seam with his nonfingers. Through the crack, he watched humans going along their lame-ass days, driving by, biking along. Frickin' morons with their simple little lives. Get up. Go to work. Come home. Bitch about their day. Wake up and do the same thing again.
As a sedan went by, he implanted a thought in the driver's mind... and smiled as the Pontiac swerved out of its lane, bumped up over the curb, and gunned right at the two-story across the street. The f**king POS powered straight into a bank of windows, smashing through the glass and the wood framing, air bags exploding inside the car.
Better than a cup of coffee to start the day.
He turned away and went to the shitty bureau, firing up the laptop he'd found in the back of the Mercedes. The drug deal he'd interrupted on the way home had been worth the effort. He'd grifted a couple thousand dollars as well as some OxyCs, some X, and twelve crack rocks. More important, he'd thrown the two dealers and the one customer under a trance, gotten them back to the AMG, brought them here, and turned them.
They'd trashed the hall bath by throwing up all night long, but frankly he was about done with this house and was thinking of burning it down.
So... he had a team of four. And whereas none of them had been volunteers, once he'd drained them and brought them back to "life," he'd promised them all kinds of shit. And what do you know. Junkies who dealt to supply their own habits would believe just about anything you told them. You just had to sell them on a future--after you'd scared the colons out of them.