When Tomorrow Comes: Dawn

Chapter 4: Mateil

Kazimir had little experience with alphas, there weren't many who were naturally born or chose to live in the seventh state. Malkuth was for the wayward, the useless, the breeding pen for the upper echelon to select from and keep the population of workers steady and heirs to their states and estates plentiful if they could manage a proper alpha out of the hormone-laden herd. That was one fate he'd swiftly avoided, unlike the others who'd come to age and heat in the orphanage. The local betas received word and they were gone before the next wake. To Kazimir, what was done to them was nothing short of horrible. He'd seen too much when his curiosity peaked and he snuck out of the orphanage and followed the collection caravan to the outskirts of the town.

It wasn't nearly as far from civilization as he would have thought it should have been, but there in the barrens of the slick hills where water dripped and pools formed and ran to the streams, amid the faint iridescent glow of nubby stalactites, the omegas and heated undesignated were corralled into pens for examination. They were stripped naked and groped by greedy hands, their breasts--flat or full--were sized and their sexes documented and tested by tools he had no name for, then branded and sent into the box house. There were no windows or lighting on the outside, and there was only one door. Kazimir wasn't sure what occurred in there, but those who came out no longer had a shine in their eyes and their heads hung heavy and shoulders sank forward. They did not speak or look directly at their handlers. His stomach twisted, and he ran.

Never before had he run so hard or fast, racing back to the orphanage to cry the rest of the waking and to harden his heart with hate for the alphas. He didn't know them, and he had never met a single one, but he was sure they were the ones to blame even if those were beta and gamma hands laid upon the heated select. He slammed his fists against his pillow time and again until he was too tired to stay awake and fell into the darkest sleep he'd ever had. By the next wake, he had no tears left to cry and a cold silence filled him, gathering strange quandary from the rest of the orphanage. Kazimir tried his best to push away what he knew, but the more he failed to find a place in the seventh state, the more he loathed those who determined his fate. Was he not even worthy of breeding simply because he was blind in the depths of the dark? That wasn't to say he wanted to be fodder, but it would have been a better life than he had. Maybe he would have been lucky and been bought or claimed by an alpha... a beta perhaps... from the higher states.

"Look at him," Trpimira flung a hand, hostility vibrating in her voice. "You think that scrawny excuse of a Malkuthian could possibly kill all the guards, hands, and staff in the foyer and destroy the tiling and peel the walls between notice of his arrival and the end of the tremor? You've lost your mind, Lyevn."

"I don't just think," he smiled curtly, arrogantly, as he followed her around the room, looming like a thin shadow behind her, "I know."

"What sort of proof do you have?" She stopped, spinning on her toes and glaring at him.

"Can you see?" Lyevn asked over her shoulder, disregarding her question. Kazimir shook his head, reeling back and straightening. In truth, he could make out the edges of them and the faint luminary glow of their figures. Everyone had a glow about them. But beyond the faded bioluminescence of a thing or the deliberate lighting in an area, there was nothing but black for him to gaze upon--a starless ever-night. Lyevn nodded and strutted to the fireplace, pried open the hatch and ignited the deadwood timbers with a wave of magic. It was an attribute of the alphas that was rarely used so casually. They were gifted with a magical blessing, a talent for summoning and Lyevn was the carrier of flames. Trpimira snarled and turned her head away from the blaze as he settled the door at merely a c***k. He drew his eye covering down and grinned from ear to ear. "There now, is that better, Kaz?"

He nodded, jaw tightening as he looked the Anorii up and down. He'd never seen anyone looked like him before, handsome and thin and long. Kazimir gulped down his uncertainty. "Yes, it's better, thank you."

"No, no," Lyevn waved a hand and leaned against the desk, his gaze turning to Trpimira, "don't thank me. It is only polite." His sharpened teeth glowed in the flame light, shadows dancing across his gray and brown patched skin like inkblots on a cloth. She curled her lip, disgusted and folded her arms. "Mateil are so fascinating, aren't they?"

"What do you want, dog?" she said, yanking her chair back and throwing herself into the seat.

"Me? Oh, only to join your audience with your invitee." His sly tone was unmistakable as he slid his hip onto the edge of the desk. "It is interest that you have such an appointment. I was certain you hated the Mateil. What was it you called them? Erasable?"

Trpimira's face ignited with heat and her hands curled into claws, knotted tight together. "They posed a threat. And if you could provide proof that this... Mateil caused the destruction you're claiming in the foyer, then it would only further validate the dangers they pose."

"They?" Lyevn chuckled, and half under his breath continued, "I recall that you aided in breeding out the last of them."

Trpimira's nose crinkled with disdain. "I don't have time for your history shaming, as if your record is untarnished." She sniffed and turned her head away.

"Is there a problem? You seem aroused by frustrations, Pimir."

"The room stinks," she said, shooting her gaze as far away from Kazimir as possible. "Let's just get on with this matter of moving up in state."

"Yes, let's," Lyevn pivoted around, lounging back on his arms. "I imagine this will be interesting. Go on, tell us why we should entertain your request."

"Well," Kazimir twisted his fingers in his lap. It was one thing to know he would meet with the high alphas, the Anorii, but it was another to have to see them in the light. For once he felt truly naked. "Malkuth is a very... productive state. And it is a great place to grow up for most, but..."

"You can't see," Lyevn concluded. He clapped his hands together and turned to Trpimira, "There you have it, he can't see. I think he should be allowed to move up. I recommend--"

"Enough," she lifted a hand to silence him. "You're not taking him into your harem; you already have too many w****s and no mate in sight, old man."

"Careful," he warned, his voice deepening to an ancient growl, "remember who you speak to, Trpimira, Anorii of Tiphereth. This Mateil resides in the darkest state and needs proper light to survive. If he remains blinded, he will reach out as the others have and shake the salt pillars and split the great rocks."

Trpimira sucked in a breath and straightened, her eyes darted from Lyevn to Kazimir, and then back again. "Then we'll keep him. Here. Under our watch. Show me what you think he has done and we will design his fate."

His wicked smile, fanged and glimmering in the amber glow from the fire widened. The bioluminary aura around him flared with delight. His midnight eyes slid over to Kazimir. "What do think, Mateil? We will approve your request. You will stay here and belong to us." When Kazimir eased back, every muscle tense, Lyevn's smile faded and he rose from his seat on the desk. His hands brushed over his waistcoat and tugged the ends to straighten it. "Not for breeding purposes. Trpimira isn't breeding, and I am too busy, myself. Think of it more as an... interment."

"Internship," Trpimira corrected.

"What did I say?" Lyevn checked over his shoulder a bit confused, but then came back around before she could answer, "Never mind. The point of the matter is, we have a place for you, Kaz." He held out his hand as an offering of the deal, no pen or prick of blood required.

"I really thought I'd have to convince you to let me move up," Kazimir admitted as he took Lyevn's hand.

A sharp thrill ran up Lyven's arm, and his dark eyes whirled with the sort of greenish blue Kazimir had only ever seen in dim reflections of himself. "Oh," Lyevn chuckled, "your eyes are too special to ignore."