Darkbeam Part I

Chapter 12

The next few weeks flew by. I became more and more content with my life. I was starting to feel like the old me.

Isaac selected one of the recording labels. He didn’t go with Frank this time. He was a f*****g sleaze-ball, good with his mouth but with very short arms when it came to money.

So Isaac chose a boutique record label that was treating us like kings. It took an entire weekend to record “Never-Breath.”

For the music video, they got a blonde and used a spell to transform her hair and dust her with freckles. She didn’t look anything like the girl from my dreams, even when her brown eyes became green.

Another Dragonian played the part meant for a dragon, but the less they knew, the better.

It came out great. It was fun. Even though the hole in my gut tore each time we did another take. I didn’t want to feel it. The darkness would return again soon. I was sure of it.

We wrapped up on Sunday. Now we just had to wait for the single to come out.

I snuck off again and spent the day with Irene. I quickly forgot about the hole the weekend had left me with. Irene’s presence healed me. I forgot about the redhead, about the dreams and how I felt.

Maybe Irene was enough…

The next week our sessions became longer, but because of that, more people started to notice.

Master Longwei asked her if there was any change when it came to me since she was seeing me so many times. She was worried. She needed me just as much as I needed her.

She handed me a joint. The s*x I had with Irene was like a drug, but the joint just sealed it somehow. It was as if she knew my darkness needed everything she offered.

“What do you suggest? What are you going to tell him?” I had to know.

“I don’t know. I cannot lie, Blake. And I have no idea what he wants me to say to him.”

“You told him about my messed-up dreams?”

“Believe me, I used that one first. It has to stop eventually.”

“No!” I was adamant.

She smiled. “I meant using the dream as the reason. Dreams usually stop and the reasons do too.”

“I’ll think of something.”

“Blake, you already have too much on your plate.”

“I need this, Irene. I need you.”

Her cheeks became a darker pink. I couldn’t believe she was still blushing from my compliments. She was so beautiful. She gave me a soft kiss and took the joint from me again. “You need to leave. I’m seeing Stephanie at noon.”

I looked at her clock. It was five minutes till.

“Okay.” I kissed her once and slid out of her bed. I jumped into my jeans and pulled on my shirt. “Same time tomorrow?”

“Not tomorrow, Blake. It’s getting dangerous. We need to be careful.”

“Then when?” I demanded.

“Two days from now, okay?”

I huffed.

“We have to be careful,” she pleaded.

“Fine, whatever.” I turned around and left.

“Don’t be like that,” she called after me, but I didn’t slow. I had no idea how the f**k I was going to last two days.

As I left I almost knocked Stephanie out of the way.

“Sorry,” she said.

“It’s fine. She’s in a terrible mood. Just a heads up,” I mumbled.

“Okay.” She sounded really confused. I got it. I’d probably never spoken a word to her before now.

I didn’t look back. Just slung my backpack over my shoulder and strode back to my room.

I opened my door and froze. Lucian stood in the bathroom.

He looked fine until he started to walk. He had a limp. How was that possible? He was the Prince of Tith. Swallow Annexes could heal him.

“I’m back,” he said.

I nodded and frowned.

“You’re wondering about the limp?” He smiled. “You and everyone else.”

“Why?” It was all I could get out.

“I healed the normal way. No Swallow Annexes, Blake.”

“Why would you do that to yourself?” I was upset. Not just with myself for putting him through it, but with him too. He could have been healed easily. It wasn’t that easy for us dragons. A Swallow Annex’s touch couldn’t heal dragons. Only humans. And here he was refusing it. Why? To make me feel shittier.

“To remember how it was, how it felt. Each time I turned, that pain. It’s my fuel.”

“Fuel for what?” I roared.

“To do better next time, Blake.”

I huffed. “Are you insane?”

“I made you a promise, Blake. And I’m going to keep it. I don’t need you to understand why I do things the way I do. But you’re like my brother. I will find a way to claim you.”

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and opened them. “We were thirteen years old. I don’t expect you to keep that promise.”

“I am a man of my word. Just think what sort of king I would be if I cannot keep my word.”

“You’re wasting your time.”

Lucian chuckled. It made me feel small. It was as if I didn’t see the bigger picture of why he must claim me. “If I don’t claim you, then I must kill you, Blake. I don’t think I can live with that. So that is why I chose to heal normally. I need the pain. It fuels me to do better.”

I got what he was talking about. Nobody would ever be brave enough to face me if I turned. Nobody except him.

This was a f****d-up world.

I swallowed hard and left.

Over the next few days, everything came crashing down. Not being able to see Irene took its toll on me.

Master Longwei was doing more harm than good with his constant questions. My family got that I needed certain things in order to stay good. Why didn’t he?

Lucian’s return only added more weight. If felt as though I was descending from high among the clouds to the earth.

Heal normally? What a joke. As much as I wanted to believe that he was going to be the one to claim me, I couldn’t. I didn’t.

He wasn’t the royal Irene saw when my egg hatched. His heart and head were in the right place, but he was from the wrong bloodline.

I’d just taken a drag from my cigarette when the hatch of the roof opened.

The first thing I saw through the corner of my eye was snow-white hair. She wouldn’t give up. Weird trait for a Snow Dragon.

“Thought I’d find you here,” she said, taking the cigarette from me.

I just stared at her. What was her deal?

“So, how is it going?”

“Fine, I guess.”

“My brother is looking for you. I told him you were occupied,” she said.

“Occupied?” I asked.

“Yeah, that was all I could think of. You are extremely hard to track down. It’s a wonder I found you here. Oh,” she said, handing me back my cigarette as she reached for her pocket. “Before I forget.” She took out our new album out a pen. “Mind if I get your autograph?” She said. “Pleeeease.”

I huffed. The corners of my lips tugged up softly. “Sure, what’s your name again, honey?”

“Ha, ha,” she said.

I didn’t leave a sweet message or anything like that, but signed her name in a heart with “Blake” and placed my signature below before handing it back to her.

She considered it. “Didn’t think you were the heart type of guy,” she observed. “But I do love ‘Never-Breath.’ Are you sure she had red hair and green eyes?”

I chuckled. “Let me guess. Her hair is supposed to be snow-white and eyes bright blue?”

“Oh, that would’ve been perfect.”

A strong urge to kiss her seared through me. I acted on it, not giving it two thoughts as I pulled her in by her jersey.

She smacked into me and our lips touched.

One thing led to another and I wielded my shield.

She stopped at the small popping sound. “I’m impressed, Mr. Leaf.”

“Finally, someone is impressed,” I flirted. She kissed me again.

I felt like a dog afterward. Even the beast did. I thought cheating would be something it loved, but I was wrong. It didn’t want Tabitha. Did my human side want her?

No, I wanted Irene. Then it hit me.

What if Tabitha was just a cover-up? Sure, I would pretend that I was okay with her constantly in my company, but I could fool Master Longwei and get some of the spotlight off Irene and me.

It will work. It has to work.

I couldn’t wait for tomorrow to tell Irene. But what if she didn’t buy it? What if she thought I wanted to butter my bread on both sides?

No, I’d make her see it. I had to.

Lucian was snoring. I pulled the pillow over my head.

It didn’t work.

I wished I could call Irene, but with Lucian back, it was no use. A lost cause. He would tell Master Longwei in a jiff and that would be it. They would lock me up and throw away the key.

No, I had to be patient. I would see her tomorrow.

My session with her was at noon, right after lunch. I found her standing at the window. She was smoking a cigarette. I closed the door, locked it, and went to her.

“Don’t touch me.” She pushed me away.

“Seriously?” I was pissed off. First she insisted on taking a two-day break and now this s**t.

“You and the Snow Dragon?” she asked.

My body inflated. “How did you find out?” There was no hiding this s**t.

“Seriously?” she asked. “I’m a Moon-Bolt, Blake.”

“It’s not what…”

“Stop.” She laughed. “I’m three hundred years old. I’ve been through all this s**t. I thought we had something.”

“We do. Can you please just listen?”

“NO!” she yelled. “It was fun, but it’s over.”

“NO!” I grabbed her.

She pushed me away before I could kiss her. “Get out, or I will scream.”

“Just let me…”

“Out!” She pointed at the door.

I couldn’t talk to her when she was like this, so I did what she said and left.

I had known that my deeds were going to backfire sooner or later. I just didn’t think this would happen. I had been sure that she would hear me out, but I was wrong.

My mind rested then on something else.

If she saw me on that roof, then why the hell didn’t she see what I was planning? That Tabitha was just a cover-up.