Chade Read online

  “That is because you were not receiving the energy, the vitality, you were supposed to. With seven bound paladins you no doubt no longer suffer from any of those afflictions.” Ares pointed out. Apparently he was set on acting as the spokesperson for the council.

  Max nodded, thick, red messy hair swishing, “Very true. And what do you suppose would happen if I were to take away your paladins, Ares, and deprive you of that vital source?”

  The council were frowning and Cali could tell they weren’t wholly on board, but they were following the conversation avidly and with curiosity. Cali could feel the cusp of real progress for the first time – and so could Max. She was trying darn hard to remain cool and collected when she really wanted to fist bump Cali. Cali also noted that she had opened up the link to the rest of their Order and they had all paused in their activities to listen.

  “You’re trying to link this back to the chades,” Ares said, “but it doesn’t follow. Chades are not deprived of their vitality source. Their paladins are right there and always report that their lieges do not stop recharging. Indeed, they seem to take more.”

  “Exactly. They take more and yet don’t get any benefit from it. So they take more and more but nothing seems to help. And then you take them and lock them away from their only energy sources, perpetuating their illness and intensifying their symptoms. Prolonged lack of vitality results in them reverting almost back to their natural state – their elements. That’s why they turn to water or bugs or leaves when they’re killed; wardens are nature at their very core. I’d say they become mindless in their desperation to attain vitality and that’s when they seek out the largest and most obvious energy source around – fellow wardens.”

  Silence reigned for what seemed to be hours. Holy crap – Max had just laid out a reasonable, logical and sound explanation as to what chades were … and the council was listening.

  TWO

  “Girl, you rocked it! Did you see them? They were actually listening and I bet the paladins present will be sharing the conversation with the rest of their Orders. Great job!” Cali enthused as they broke up for the day.

  “Yeah. It’s progress.” Max replied far too unenthusiastically for Cali’s liking.

  “Why aren’t you more excited? This is what you’ve been working towards for weeks.”

  “I know and I’m glad they seem to be listening finally. But they all move so darn slow! They’ll likely talk about these new suppositions for weeks and then come to the conclusion that they were flawed because it goes against thousands of years of history and nothing will change.”

  Cali frowned and placed her hand on Max’s arm to stop her. She sounded dejected – not a typical emotion from her. “Hey, what’s up? You seem down.”

  Max slumped her shoulders, “It’s no big deal. I’m just tired I think. I wasn’t made for this Cali – the constant bureaucracy. It really isn’t my thing. I don’t have the patience for it nor the diplomacy. It’s sucking the life out of me.”

  Cali rubbed her arm sending vitality easily to her liege, hoping to perk her up. She did look a little pale and hollow-eyed despite the fact that she drew energy from all seven of them daily now. She watched as Max looked wistfully out the open window to the trees and ocean beyond. She felt Max’s desire to be outside, bare toes dug deep into the earth as she breathed in the salty fresh air keenly. Max needed nature. She needed the air and the trees and the critters to make her feel complete just as surely as she needed the energy-sustaining vitality her and her fellow paladins produced.

  She had been locked away for days on end talking around in circles and hadn’t been able to play or relax. Of course Max felt like it was sucking the life out her! Cali cursed herself for not noticing just how unhappy Max was with the situation, it really drove home how unsuited Max was for this kind of work. She didn’t need the words or the laws; she needed nature. Max smiled wanly at her, obviously reading Cali’s thought process and gave a negligent shrug, showing her she felt there was no point getting into it.

  “Well, you have the next four days off to recharge – we all do.” Cali said lightly, hoping to cheer Max up and more than happy to oblige keeping her silence. But she was going to make a point to talk to her Captain about it later; Max needed some playtime. And Cali could admit she was happy for the pause from council duty too. The council were breaking for a few days so they could address other matters and other responsibilities for their domains.

  Their Order had been working on a rotational basis of who accompanied Max in the meetings. Usually there was a couple of them while the others fulfilled their duties at the Lodge. Yes, they were still working at the Lodge – much to the horror and disapproval of pretty much everyone else. That was something Max was not budging on. She’d had many a heated discussion with both the council and the whole Order as to why she didn’t want them to resign from their duties as trainers. They had all just assumed they would no longer be able to train the new recruits now that they had bonded with Max. Their job, hell, their calling was to provide Max with service, protection and energy until the day she died. But Max had been adamant; they loved what they did. Why shouldn’t they be able to keep doing it? Cali supposed Max was using them as a demonstration that paladins and even wardens could be something other than just bodyguards and guardians. Max believed that work brought them a sense of purpose, achievement and self-pride that was much needed for mental health. She was, of course, right on every count.

  Cali loved working at the Lodge and training the new recruits made her feel like she was contributing to their society, ensuring the next generation were safe. It was important and she knew she would have missed it. But Max had insisted there was no reason why they couldn’t be in her Order full time and work part time at the Lodge as well. Ryker had been given grudging approval by the council to hire on a couple more paladins to fill in the gaps, allowing the Lodge to run smoothly and for there to be a minimum of four paladins at any one time with Max. Four was still plenty, Max had pointed out. Plus, she could take care of herself. Poor Darius had to fight back his natural sense of duty and the resulting horror that he wouldn’t be a full time paladin, but he had eventually come around. He couldn’t withstand Max’s charm any more than the rest of them.

  “You’re right. Four glorious days where I don’t have to get dressed or be afraid to say fuck. I’ll write and draw and sex Ryker into a coma.” She said happily, before smiling her way, “And it’s your weekend off. Excited for some away time?”

  That was another thing Max had introduced; time off. They were all given a weekend to themselves where they could go anywhere and do anything once a month. It probably didn’t sound like much, but to a paladin it was positively unheard of. On top of that, it wasn’t like Max was a demanding liege at all. They had plenty of time in the evenings to do whatever they wanted as well. Max had wanted them to have two days off a week each. Ryker had promptly shut down that idea, stating it just wouldn’t work. He was absolutely right and Cali plus all the others had unanimously shot down the idea. After much arguing and some pouting, a happy compromise was reached with two or three of them having a weekend to themselves once a month on a rotational basis. This weekend was her, Diana and Darius’s turn.

  Refocusing on the here and now, Cali nodded eagerly, “I am looking forward to it actually.”

  Max snorted at that, “I bet. You’re a mite itchy there girl.”

  “Huh?” Cali still had trouble following Max’s randomness sometimes.

  “Itchy, you know …” she gestured to her pelvic area, fluttered her fingers a little, “… itchy.”

  “What, like I have thrush or something?” She asked in shock. She sure hoped not. She didn’t feel like she did but Max could see things Cali couldn’t, so maybe …

  Max laughed drawing the eyes of most everyone in the room which was now flooded with the council’s full Orders as well as a bunch of other wardens. “No. Not like thrush. Itchy as in horny. I’ve been here nearly five months and
haven’t seen you even hold hands with a guy. You’ve gotta be horny girlfriend.”

  “Oh. That kind of itchy.” Cali mulled it over, doing some silent calculations in her head and nearly fell over in shock when she realised it had been over a year since she had last gotten laid and she hadn’t even realised. Holy crap – she was turning into a sexless spinster! “My Lady, you are absolutely correct as usual. I am indeed itchy. Very, very itchy.”

  “My dear, dear Scandinavian Ice Queen. I had no idea you were so hard up. Why didn’t you say so? I’d be more than happy to act as your personal backscratcher.”

  Instead of turning around and punching the moron in the gut for such a male comment, Cali grinned and blew her fellow paladin a kiss. Of all the people to overhear their conversation, it would have to be Axel. The man was a notorious flirt and a charmer to boot but he was completely harmless. She also knew that he was joking. They were great friends and she couldn’t have been happier when Ryker had asked him if he wanted to live with them a couple of years ago. He was funny, surprisingly sweet, great to look at, and gave the other male members in the household a run for their money. What wasn’t there to like?

  “Please. As if you could handle all this.” She responded, running her hands from breasts to thighs. Axel’s eyes danced with mirth and although they followed her movements, she noticed they didn’t focus properly nor did they linger. He would have found that to be disrespectful. The man was all talk.

  “We could always find out. It just so happens I have a little itch too …”

  “So scratch it in the privacy of your own shower like the rest of us self-respecting single men.” Lark’s laughing voice sounded from behind Axel.

  Cali hadn’t seen him approach because Axel was taller and broader than the earth paladin. Not that he wasn’t as equally as buff as the rest of them, but he was a more modest height at just on six feet and had the lean, rangy build of a runner rather than a bodybuilder. Cali found him to be just as delicious to look at as the other men in her Order. And here she was sizing up her fellow knights. Max was right – she was indeed very itchy.

  Seeing the rest of her Order striding up and enquiring how Max was and how the latest meeting went, Cali eyed Diana’s perfectly outfitted body. She had been in the Lodge office for the day so wasn’t in the habitual black cargos and tee. The black-haired beauty always looked just so perfect and her wardrobe was a thing of true wonder. Maybe she would ask Diana for advice about what to wear when she went out on the prowl.

  For prowling she was definitely going to do.

  THREE

  Max was restless. Ryker was beside her in their gloriously comfy bed, all bronze and smooth and perfectly handsome in his slumber. She sighed, as she often did whenever the realisation that he was actually hers struck. She fought the urge to reach out and trace her fingers over his beloved features, for she knew if he were to wake he would have her pinned beneath that muscled body and moaning in seconds – not that she would complain. But she was restless and it was the sort of restlessness that couldn’t be cured by a sweaty session between the sheets … probably … maybe … no, it couldn’t, she decided. Careful not to wake the sleeping giant, she climbed from the shared warmth and slipped into her tattered but favoured pyjamas that seemed to live on the floor – because that’s where Ryker always seemed to throw them.

  “Babe?”

  She didn’t jump but her pulse spiked for a moment before she turned to her very awake man. He didn’t miss a trick where she was concerned. “I’m just sneaking off to meet my lover. Nothing to worry about. Go back to sleep.” She told him.

  He grunted good naturedly and rolled to his back, exposing his barred nipples to the beam of moonlight seeking entrance from behind the curtains. She had to force herself not to sigh again. “Is it Axel? Because that guy’s all talk.”

  She smiled, shaking her head at his antics. You had to love a confident man. “It’s Lark actually. I like the smart ones.” Apparently unable to help herself, she leaned over and kissed him, indulging herself for a few seconds before pulling back. “I’m just a bit restless – can’t sleep. I’m going to go for a wander.”

  Ryker pushed up, fully alert now, “Bad dreams?”

  She shook her head, “No. No dreams tonight, I promise.” She knew her continued night terrors were a major source of concern for Ryker and the others as well. It was one of the only things she didn’t share fully now. Her mind was much more open and she knew Ry often got trapped in her nightmares with her but she did her damndest to keep him out. She had no real idea why she continued to be plagued by these visions and feelings and emotions. Oh, some of them were hers, she could acknowledge that, but not all – in fact not most. And that really seemed unfair. But that wasn’t on tonight’s insomnia agenda.

  Ryker was frowning at her in a concerned way – not in that way that says he didn’t believe her, “I’ll come with you.” He said.

  “No, that’s okay. I’m just trying to sort through a few things. I’m not upset or anything. Just … restless.” She assured him.

  “This is about you wanting to find a chade to bring here.”

  Her man knew her well, she’d give him that. But she also knew they were on opposite sides of the fence on this one and she wasn’t sure how to bridge it. She couldn’t fault him for his hate of the chades nor his reluctance to have one in his home or anywhere near his family. His first family had been slaughtered by chades. And he was trying to understand her perspective. She knew that. She could feel that. She didn’t want to push him before he was ready – or any of the others for that matter. Especially Darius, now that he was back on solid ground again. But she couldn’t shake the feeling – the knowledge – that she was supposed to help those cursed creatures. Or a select few of them anyway. She kept her thoughts carefully hidden, not wanting to hurt him as she answered truthfully;

  “Yeah, it is. I just want to figure out a way to keep all parties satisfied. I’ll get there, Ry. And in a way that doesn’t damage anyone here.”

  He smiled now, caressing a hand down her arm. “I’ve no doubt you will.” That was about as supportive as he was going to get on the matter … for now anyway. Max knew he’d come around. She just had to figure out a way.

  *****

  She made her way outside through the library doors and into Lark’s amazing garden. That was the compromise Ryker had agreed to; she could have her thinking time chaperone-free and also with her mind completely removed from the Order as long as she ventured no further than the garden outside. Given the household was minus three paladins at the moment – she stuck to her guns about giving them time off on a rotational basis – she knew it was a reasonable request and a happy compromise. She was fairly chuffed with herself and her newfound ability to compromise actually. Historically, it wasn’t one of her strong suits.

  So now she wandered, finding it hard to sit still. There was one chade in particular on her mind – one she considered a friend. And there was no way any of her paladins would ever group the word chade and friend in the one sentence, but that’s how Max thought of him. He had saved her butt on more than one occasion and she liked to think that she had saved his as well. She had run into many chades throughout the years – or phantoms as she had dubbed them in her clueless state. The vast majority all felt the same; cold, empty … nothing. But a small minority had felt different; conflicted, disgusted … tortured. Her little friend was one of those.

  Whenever he was near, she could feel the raging internal war within him. He despised himself and he fought constantly to keep the monster at bay. It was a fight he had often lost and he had attempted to drain her on numerous occasions – wholly unpleasant experiences for both of them. But she couldn’t deny that after he had painfully drawn her vitality from her, he seemed to be more, well, human. He was never as grotesque as the other chades to begin with; he was pale with long black hair and black pits of eyes, but he was always dressed in decent clothes, was clean and he wasn’t emaciated e
ither. The biggest thing though? He had a soul.

  It still blew her mind to know she could see souls. She had always been able to see colourful doppelgangers and had learned to read those colours and features over the years but she hadn’t entertained the notion that they were souls. Apparently it was a custodian thing and it made so much damn sense now! She had to believe that those chades with an intact soul like her old buddy could be saved. In fact, it was something she felt down to her very core. She just had to get her paladins, the council and then the rest of the warden society on board. Easy right?

  She snorted, “Yeah, it’s a fucking snap.” She said out loud. Although, the progress with the council the day before had been super promising she acknowledged. First point to her. She just had to consolidate that point. And the best way to do that? Hunt down her pet chade and fix him. “A fucking snap.” She repeated again.

  A shift in the air had her narrowing her eyes in the direction of the ocean. A rustle of leaves and a tremble in the earth quickly followed and Max was a millisecond away from opening the bond and calling her knights when the devil himself stepped soundlessly into the little garden. Now, wasn’t this a big coincidence, she thought sarcastically. She had been thinking about him constantly for days and he suddenly appeared in her little slice of the world? She wasn’t a fan of coincidence but she was even less of a fan of Diana’s notion that she was somehow precognitive. No matter how she looked at it, she no longer had to go hunting for him and she had never been one to look a gift horse in the mouth. He didn’t move, not a single inch and Max always found it so very disconcerting – that unnatural stillness. He also looked like hell, Max thought cringing. But then it had been over a year since their paths had last crossed and it hadn’t taken her long to notice that the more they saw each other, or rather the more he sucked the life-force from her, the better he looked.