Alicja
"What in the nine hells did you do?" Ocean said, backing away from the mark.
He was not the composed and cultured person I had come to know. In fact he was near violence.
"Easy, Ocean," Victor said.
"Easy my ass," Ocean said, and began pacing. Then he stopped and looked at me. "With you?"
I lifted my wrist and showed him the mark, feeling oddly guilty for some reason.
"Sweet damnation. And you're Enedral, yes?" he asked.
"Yes," I admitted.
"You need to calm down, Ocean. She's had a rough few days, huh?" Victor said, his voice calm, but commanding.
Ocean stopped pacing and looked over at us, then ran his fingers through his hair. "Calm?" He sucked his breath through his teeth. "Sure, we can do calm. Been through more than this, haven't we?"
He went to the bar and poured a gin, "So, that just happened. Right out on the street, and they got the drop on you. Sure. I can see that. Must have been a bit disturbing."
Victor relaxed again, leaning into the back of the couch, "Not everyday you meet your soul-mate."
Ocean turned and snarled, "That is not your soul-mate."
"Ocean! What the fuck?" Victor said, coming off the couch.
"No," Ocean said, stepping forward. "I've been around for a long time, Link. Remember who you are talking to!" then to me, "I don't mean any disrespect. You understand? I'm a bit older than I look. I don't age like others do."
"You're not Dradam?" I asked.
This amused him, and he seemed to realize something, and that realization calmed him down, allowing him to regain control of himself. "No, no I'm not Dradam. I'm what you would call, a cambion. Do you know the term?"
I nodded, but felt a slight chill, "One of your parents was a..."
"It's alright," he said, "You can say it. A demon."
"Your father was...?"
"No, actually it's my mother. She is a succubus. At least I'm fairly sure she's still living," he said, looking into his own mind for a moment. "Anyway... I've been around for a while. I've learned things, and one of the things I've learned is that what you people think of soul-mates has been twisted by the same people who made the cherubim into little cute babies."
I nodded, "The cherub has two pairs of wings, and four faces: that of a lion, an ox, a human, and an eagle. Their legs are straight, the soles of their feet like the hooves of a bull, gleaming like polished brass. They are nine feet tall and they are engulfed in the flames of god."
Ocean lifted an eyebrow, "Um, yes. Well done."
"Thank you," I said. "You were saying? About soul-mates?"
"That you aren't. And grateful you should be."
"Why's that?"
"People think a soul mate is your perfect fit, and that's what everyone wants â well, what they believe they want. If you deserve hell, god might grant that prayer.
"But a true soul mate is a mirror, an embodied reflection, the person who shows you everything you resist â all of the things about yourself â everything you allow to hold you chained. They are the person who brings these things to your attention so you can change your life.
"But that's never a good day. We resist those things because they hurt. They are painful to face. And while we might be better off after the encounter, we might also be insane. They will make you so desperate and out of control that you have to transform your life... they're a violent urge of awakening."
I met Victor's equally disturbed gaze and then we both looked back to Ocean. "Oh," I said.
Victor rubbed his palms on his thighs, "So, what exactly are we to each other?"
Ocean downed his gin, and filled another. I wondered if it affected him like it did everyone else.
He shrugged, began to say something, but stopped. Then said, "Your raison d'etre. Your catalyst. You are each other's true being."
Victor stood up, looked at my drink which I hadn't touched, but I did so now, and then he walked to the bar to refill his own. "That doesn't sound so bad?" he tried.
"Depends, really," Ocean said, sitting down in a chair across from the couch puzzle. "Depends on what your true being is."
"What does that mean?"
"Didn't you listen at all in your studies?" Ocean shot back irritated.
Victor rubbed the back of his neck, "I didn't like this story. It scared me. Pissed me off. It felt â insulting."
"Huh," Ocean grunted. "Maybe you were more perceptive than I gave you credit for." Then he turned to me, "What do you know of the marked?"
"That when people get marked, they get married and live their lives. That it's a time for celebration." I offered.
"Yes, yes, but what of those who are marked with the Dradam? What do you know of that?"
I shook my head slowly, "Nothing, really. My Oma said, well, mentioned really, in passing that if I wasn't marked by my twentieth birthday, that perhaps I was matched with the Dradam. That's all she said though."
Ocean downed his gin, was going to get up, but then sat back putting the glass on the table next to him. "When a Dradam, and an Enedral are marked, it begins a change in both of you. A metamorphosis. You become ... more than you are. What exactly changes, is different each time, with each couple. Sometimes the change is wondrous, sometimes it's more, meh."
"But never bad?" Victor asked.
"Of course it can be bad. You don't have wondrous without the option of equally bad available as well," Ocean said.
"Why is that?" Victor asked, his tone mildly curious.
"Because the gods hate us, that's why."
"Ah," Victor nodded with understanding, then shot me a quick grin.
"You're not taking this as seriously as you should," Ocean said, and then apparently decided he did need another drink.
I finished mine. "I don't feel anything."
"No, it's going to take a spell, I imagine," Ocean said.
"Then can we get back to what we need to be doing?" Victor asked.
"Sure, but by the way, how are you feeling? We've been here nearly two months now," Ocean said.
"What? Oh, right. Fine," he said, shaking himself a little. "Nothing off."
"Good. But in case you have to, and I'm not around, do not leave her on this side. You can't be separated. Not for some time. You felt an electricity in you when you first began coming together, right?"
Victor and I exchanged looks, and then nodded to Ocean.
"Good. Imagine that feeling about twenty times stronger, cooking your brain. Then, if you don't feel that's something you wish to explore, don't get too far from each other."
"What is too far?" I asked, wanting another drink.
"I don't know," Ocean said. "A few miles? Maybe? But crossing over without each other is out." Then he made a face like he witnessed the gory scene that would ensue, and shuddered.
"Are you serious?" Victor asked.
"I've been serious. You're the one making light of this, and if you had been paying attention you would know all of this as well."
Standing, I crossed the room and poured another whiskey. This was not the way this day was expected to be. It was also nothing like what I imagined for being marked. I'd admit that when I was much younger, I would day-dream about who my bonded would be. I made up romantic stories in my mind, and even acted them out with my dolls. Not one of them was anything close to this horror story. To think I believed being shackled to a bad husband was the worst that could happen.
"I guess it's good that you didn't ask to be taken to Hawaii," Victor said, standing behind me.
I turned and nodded, tried to give him a grin, but wasn't sure how the optics played, and then sipped my whiskey on my way back to the couch.
Once seated, I said, "Could I ask, what you're here for? I mean, you're obviously not on vacation or anything."
Ocean started to answer, but then stopped. To my inquiring eyes, he said, "It's not mine to tell. Apologies."
Turning to Victor, I raised an eyebrow, in question.
He nodded, sat down again, and pulled himself out of his own thoughts, "My father was murdered a couple of months ago. The reports said that a group of Hunters had crossed over. I'm looking for them."
"His father, the king," Ocean added.
Looking back to Victor, "Yes? You are the heir apparent?"
"Apparently, yes."
"Well, that's something I suppose," I said, and took a longer drink. He turned out to be a prince after all. Huh.
"Wait," I said, as the penny dropped, "shouldn't you be..."
"Yes, he should be," Ocean said.
"Oh, don't start with that again," Victor groaned.