Chapter 6: Helderlus

Nos didn't know exactly how much time passed before the plane landed, but he assumed the full eight hours. As soon as the aircraft reached the gate, Luc stood, reached for their coats, and handed Nos his. When they disembarked, Nos was surprised to find it was nightfall outside, but the weather was far colder than the climate they had left. Just what time zone and region were they even in?

"Of course, she wouldn't think of getting us a car." Luc huffed as he sought the nearest driver on a phone app. "The plan at the moment is to retrieve my horn, inform your mother about your fated match, eat, and then travel to Helderlus."

"Did you seriously schedule food somewhere in your plan?"

"We need more sustenance than a tiny bag of pretzels and soda. One should never travel hungry."

Nos chuckled at his dad's priorities. He couldn't dispute it, though, especially when his stomach rumbled loudly. Luc raised an eyebrow and grinned.

"Okay. You win. I could go for some food."

Their driver pulled up to the curb and, after a short ride, dropped them off at an ostentatious condominium. The entrance featured massive marble statues, some of which made Nos wonder if they once belonged in museums. The hallways of the lobby were lined with paintings, and the elevators were adorned with gold etchings. Nos felt an odd sense of deja vu as they rose to the top floor. Just what was it with his biological parents and their shared love of being so high up?

They got off on the twelfth floor and walked over to the door marked twelve hundred. Luc didn't hesitate to knock, but Nos was already starting to feel sick to his stomach. So much time passed that Luc was getting ready to knock again when the door finally opened to reveal a curvaceous, petite woman wearing a robe.

Nos found it challenging to look the woman directly in the eye, and he felt that she might have draconic roots, if the floor-length white hair and the scales along her cheekbones were of any indication. The curiosity ate at him until he found himself taking a quick look at her eyes. They were golden with darker flecks of gold near the edge of the iris, along with slitted pupils—definitely a dragon.

"Brenda," Luc greeted.

"We've been expecting you, grey-eyes. She's awake but not entirely sober," the woman confided as she slipped on a pair of shoes. "Is this the kid? He's all grown since I last saw him."

"Time does fly," Luc agreed.

Nos wanted to say something about them talking about him as if he wasn't even present, but Brenda moved past them both on her way out.

"I'd tread with care," She added while walking backward on the path to the elevators. She blew them both a kiss. "It was nice seeing you again, though, Luc. Same to you, kid. Best of luck."

"We'll need it," Luc responded before she left their line of vision and walked into the suite.

Again, it was as if Nos wasn't even there. His dad walked over to the open balcony and tugged a nude Andrea into a tight hug. Nos immediately averted his gaze and walked over to a bookshelf stocked with art books to occupy himself instead. He heard Luc and his mother behind him.

"As nice as it is to feel missed, the look on your face tells me this wasn't just an excuse to come see me." Andrea's words were measured but edged in coldness.

Nos was tempted to turn around to see for himself the expression on his dad's face, but he didn't want to draw attention to himself. Not when his mother had likely consumed draconic blood. His mother was quick to anger even in her normal state, and he didn't want to tip her into that anger while she was under the influence.

"Was it really us you wanted, or did you want us to provide you with a distraction?" Luc responded softly, but Nos recognized the bite in his tone. "We can't all be like Brenda, and you've never really appreciated the type of help we have given you."

Nos heard a flurry of movement—a sharp, guttural sound that made his muscles tense. Against his better judgment, he glanced over his shoulder. Relief and horror warred inside him: his mother was clothed, but she had Luc pinned in the lounge chair, her knees digging into his arms, holding him down. The kiss she pressed to the incubus’s mouth was brutal, almost predatory, leaving a smear of blood when she finally pulled away. Luc remained perfectly still, letting her take what she wanted, his face unreadable.

Nos’s breath caught as she lifted her head, her lips and tongue slick with Luc’s blood. He nearly gagged at the sight. Then, to his shame, he felt the sharp, instinctive ache of hunger. Like dragon blood, incubus blood was also intoxicating for vampires, but this was wrong on every level; his own body betrayed him, craving a taste even from someone he considered a parent.

Nausea rolled through him, cold and prickling. He pressed a fist to his mouth, forcing himself to look away, but the scene burned behind his eyelids. He knew he’d have nightmares about this for weeks, if he could sleep at all. But his concern over Luc’s safety had him glancing back.

"I haven't seen this level of stubbornness in your eyes for years," she purred, her hand sliding down Luc’s chest, fingers drifting dangerously low. "It would be so easy to lend you a hand and help you heal. But you don't seem to want me to. When did that change?"

Nos turned to stare back at the bookshelf, trying to block out the sounds behind him. Each muffled word, each shift of movement, ratcheted his anxiety higher. He felt invisible, trapped. If he could just stay perfectly still, maybe he could survive this without drawing her notice.

"It changed," Luc’s voice was low but razor-sharp. "From the instant you stopped treating us as your equals." More movement followed, the scrape of feet against the floor. "Sven's moved on. He left with his fated match and hasn't looked back. I can't help but wonder if he'd have hesitated had you been there. Instead, you left us for fifteen years, guarding your estate and raising your—no, our child."

"I knew it was a matter of time before everyone left my side," Andrea argued. "If his match didn't take Sven from us, I knew that time would, with that short human lifespan of his. The same goes for the brat I birthed."

"Nostriano has grown into a kind and clever young man," Luc rebuffed. "You've missed out on seeing it."

"All I would have seen was a constant reminder that Norris doesn't want me." She admitted. "Do you truly think I would be able to withstand that? To grow attached to a half-mortal child only to bury him right after burying his father? You think such grief wouldn't keep breaking me for the rest of my endless life?"

A tense silence settled over the room. Nos held his breath, not daring even to blink. He stayed frozen until his mother suddenly nudged him aside, her hand quick as ever, so she could reach for a book with a navy blue cover. She flipped it open, revealing a hidden box inside. Nestled in its velvet lining was the missing half of Luc's silver horn. Andrea picked it up with a gentle, almost reverent touch.

"The only reason we're leaving this plane is to reunite him with his fated match. They mutually want to be together," Luc explained, dabbing at his mouth with a tissue. "Would you deny him that?"

"Is that really the only reason, Luc?" She lightly drew her sharp fingernails down the incubus's cheek and neck before curling her hand around his upper arm. Her grip was firm but gentle. "Is it his match you're trying to find, or yours?"

"Can't it be both?" Nos surprised them both by asking. "Luc and Sven were loyal to you until you walked out on all of us. We're not some collector edition toys you can play with or discard at your leisure. It doesn't matter how long anyone lives if they don't cherish the people around them while they have them."

Andrea shot him a condescending smile, like she’d just now noticed he was there. Nos held her gaze, surprised by his own stubbornness. Even now, she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen, jet-black hair straight down her back, flawless porcelain skin with a flat, dark mole above her lip, and those orange eyes they both shared.

"You finally Changed, I see." She quickly reached out to grasp Nos's chin firmly. He'd barely even seen the movement. The pressure from her dagger-like nails stopped shy of piercing his skin. "How painful it is to see my eyes in a face that resembles him so much, and yet it's Sven's words I hear coming out of that fanged mouth."

"Sven's words?" Nos asked, inwardly pleased that he sounded anything like the chef he considered his second parental figure.

She let him go suddenly, causing Nos to stumble back against Luc. When had Luc walked over to him? His focus had been on his mother, whom he hadn't noticed either.

"I'm glad Sven's living what's left of his life with his match," Her voice cracked as she added. "Blame me all you want, but ultimately, all of you are leaving me. Death has never been my ally."

Andrea turned towards Luc. "And what of his match?" she asked while motioning towards Nos. "Will she, too, outlive his mortality?"

"Caliber's a male cambion," Luc responded. "It could very well be that their lifespans are balanced."

"Such a lucky brat! Norris won't allow me to turn him." Andrea's lips curled.

"Did you ever tell him why?" Luc prompted. "Just as you just did with us. Have you ever told him that it's because you don't want to be the last one left standing, whether you're together as an intimate couple or not?"

Andrea turned away from them. Nos wondered if she didn't want them to see the expression on her face.

Had his dad hit a nerve?

Nos took a shaky breath, staring at the plush red rug under his mother’s bare feet. She was still as dramatic as ever, but he wasn’t a little kid anymore. Sure, she’d made things difficult, but in the end, she handed over the horn. For all her theatrics, she’d come through for them.

"For what it's worth," Nos forced himself to speak up, expressing his sincerity to the best of his ability. "Thank you for this."

She didn't turn back around, but he noted the slightest trembling of her shoulders from behind.

Never in his life had Nos thought of his fierce mother being vulnerable until that moment, let alone heartbroken. He thought back to when he'd first felt his marking becoming dormant after seeing Cal disappear, of the void that he'd felt afterward. For him, it had been merely a day or two of loss.

For her, it had been twenty-two years.

As that realization struck him, Luc motioned for Nos to follow him to an empty room in Andrea's massive condo. "Come on. I've changed my mind about eating first. I don't know how non-incubi stomachs fare with this kind of travel. We're also going to need a drop of your blood."

Nos paused, realizing the room wasn’t actually empty; it looked more like a mini museum. Framed paintings lined every wall, and each corner had a table topped with fancy vases. Another round red rug covered the floor, and Luc immediately stepped right onto it. Nos bit his finger with a fang, squeezing out a drop of blood just as his dad’s horns started glowing silvery blue.

A circle with intricate markings of vines and thorns began to glow beneath them, its light pulsing even brighter when someone stood on it.

Nos flicked the blood from his finger onto the inner circle. Instantly, the light seemed to shiver, and his limbs jerked, moving on their own. In a blink, his dad vanished from view, and Nos’s vision warped between shadows and wild colors.

Just as suddenly as it started, everything went still. Nos found himself standing upright, wobbling as if he’d just stepped off a rocking boat. He took a second to regain his balance, still a bit dizzy from the teleportation.

Luc slid the broken part of his horn into his pocket and grabbed Nos’s shoulders to keep him from toppling over.

Getting his bearings, Nos realized they were now in a park. The grass was almost neon green, and the trees exploded with color: gold, red, blue, even the leaves twinkled as if studded with stars. Above, the sky was a deep violet, and the moon looked more like a seven-sided prism than the battered sphere he was used to.

It was one thing to read about Helderlus, supposedly halfway between reality and dreams, but seeing it for himself was something else entirely.

Looking down, Nos noticed the swirling shape with thorny vines fading from the ground where they’d landed. He wondered if it mirrored Luc’s marking.

The design reminded Nos of his own, so he quickly lifted his shirt to check. His marking was there, the familiar geometric outline above his hip, though it looked faded, which dampened his relief. Cal must be somewhere nearby, just not close enough for their bond to sense one another.