Perpetual Prey

  Hunted through history, Elsinor has had enough. She is going to fight her stalker, whoever he is.

  Elsinor has walked the earth for thousands of years, but every few decades, she must start over. Waking up in agony with her organs slowly regenerating, she has coined a new phrase Prometheus Syndrome.

  With modern technology and magic available, this might be her one chance to learn who she is and who she has been in the past. The clock is ticking, and she is ready to defend herself. She is going to find her attacker and take the fight to him. Elsinor is tired of living for the moment before her life has to start over again.

  The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Perpetual Prey

  Copyright © 2019 by Viola Grace

  ISBN: 978-1-987969-63-4

  ©Cover art by Carmen Waters

  All rights reserved. With the exception of review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the express permission of the publisher.

  Published by Viola Grace

  Look for me online at violagrace.com, Sea to Sky Books, Amazon, Smashwords, Kobo, B&N, and other eBook sellers.

  Perpetual Prey

  An Obscure Magic Book 9

  By

  Viola Grace

  Chapter One

  There were pulses of energy against her skin, there was shouting, and careful hands lifted her up. They were calling her name, but she didn’t recognize it.

  What kind of a name was Elsinor anyway?

  She couldn’t open her eyes. When she investigated with her fingertips, she found bandages across and around her head.

  “Keep still, El. They hollowed you out, your eyes included.” The voice was feminine and pitched low, but the hand on her arm was gentle. Elsinor stopped fidgeting.

  “Who am I?”

  The female voice sighed. “I hoped you wouldn’t have to ask, but we have trained for this.”

  “This?”

  “For you being slaughtered and having to start over.”

  Elsinor whispered, “How can I be alive if that happened?”

  There were pity and amusement in the voice. “It is who and what you are.”

  She swallowed and felt the bandage tense. The world smelled like antiseptic, and the strange tang of the IV was in the back of her throat. Her body wasn’t mobile. Only her arms and hands could move freely.

  “Who are you?”

  “Jericho Mathers. You call me Jeri.” The voice chuckled. “I have known you since the day I was born.”

  “Are we related?”

  “Oh, no. You helped bring me into the world. My mother was already dead.”

  Elsinor frowned and touched her face in search of signs of aging. “Oh. I don’t feel that old. How old am I?”

  “I think you are going to be the best one to answer that question. Finish healing, and we will take you home.”

  Another voice came from the door. “Ms. Mathers? I need to speak to you about your friend’s condition. Are you sure that she doesn’t have family?”

  Jericho spoke firmly. “Only me. There is no one else.”

  There was doubt in the voice of the physician. “You seem awfully young.”

  “Side effect of my magic. Now, what is her situation?”

  The masculine voice cleared his throat, and Elsinor listened intently. “She is regenerating all of her major organs, including portions of her eyes and skin that were removed. We still can’t figure out how the items were removed or how she survived it, but she is on the road to recovery. We just need to run a few more tests.”

  “Good. We have paid cash for all of the services you are rendering, and after her body is running itself without the intervention of machines, we will remove her from the hospital.”

  The doctor sounded stunned, “You can’t do that. I have too many tests to run.”

  Jeri chuckled. “You will find that her tissue, organs, and blood regenerate to a normal level and then cease. When her body is finished its repairs, your samples will return to a normal level. I would work fast if I were you.”

  “This has happened before?”

  “Once in my lifetime, fifty years ago. I was young, and we found her in the same condition. This time, we were ready for it.”

  The doctor made a few tries at further inquiry, but Jeri shut him down. “You have less than two days to run every test you can on her blood and the regenerating tissues. After that, she will be off life support, and we will remove her from your care.”

  “But... her sight. She will need training to relearn how to see.”

  “Her eyes will come back, just as everything else does.”

  “Eyes don’t regenerate.” The doctor’s voice was absolutely certain.

  “Nor do hearts, but hers is beating on its own, as are her lungs. They are the first things to return.” Jeri’s voice was quiet. “Now, please excuse me, I have to get back to her.”

  There was the quiet squeak of rubber shoes as the doctor was dismissed. Jeri’s footfalls were leather on hard tile.

  “Is there any water?”

  Jeri squeezed her arm again. “You are getting IVs. Your digestive system isn’t fully functioning yet, so it is best that you avoid drinking.”

  “Any chance of an ice cube?”

  There was the sound of motion at the foot of her bed. The tiniest scratch of footfalls announced a second presence in her room.

  “Who was that?”

  Jeri sighed. “Algethan. He was your lover and companion. He has been with you for quite a few centuries.”

  Elsinor quirked her lips. “Is he hot?”

  “You certainly think so. He scared the hell out of me the first time I met him. He is a mix between a dark elf and a gargoyle. The light of magic burns under his scarification and his wings could easily span this room. And he’s back.”

  The light scuffing of a step approached her bed.

  Jeri lightly rattled the cup of chips and took one out. “Open up, Aunty.”

  The slippery touch of the cold chip was a blessing. She closed her mouth and rolled it around. The slight trickle of water disappeared before it touched her throat. She opened her mouth like a baby bird, and another chip was added.

  She moistened the tissues between her teeth and cheeks, flicked the bit under and over her tongue and repeated with the next three chips until she could speak freely.

  “Oh, that is much better. My mouth still tastes like ass, but at least I can talk.”

  There was a masculine chuckle from across the room.

  “Algethan?”

  “You call me Al.” His voice was the rumble of a landslide on a dark hill. It gave her a thrill of danger down her spine.

  “So, how are you going to prove that I know you? My mind is a complete blank.”

  The light step moved toward her and took her right hand carefully, avoiding all of the tubes and needles in her flesh. “You left all the information you need to restart on the run this time. We were so damned close to catching him, and when you are back on your feet, we will.”

  She felt a shiver that wasn’t related to danger when he held her hand. “Are we truly lovers?”

  “Not yet. Not this time around. You have things to do, and love is not on your agenda this time. It is fine. I can wait. We have waited through cycles before, and we will do it again.”

  “You have an amazing voice.”

  He chuckled and lightly squeezed her hand. She could feel sharp claws that were carefully kept from her skin. “You have said that to me b
efore. I still thank you for the compliment.”

  “It is still an amazing voice.” She chuckled. “Jeri?”

  “Yes, Aunty?”

  “How will I know if my eyes are back?”

  “They will itch like crazy. You won’t have vision for a few hours or possibly days, but your actual eyes will be back. From what you have said, they always come back a different colour.”

  “That is interesting and very weird. What colour were they last time?”

  “Nearly black.”

  Elsinor nodded and felt the itch rising. She clenched her fists as the sensation spread through her torso.

  “I think it is all coming back.”

  Al shifted his grip so that she could clutch at his hand. “Squeeze if you need to, scream all you want.”

  Jeri shifted her grip, and when the itch turned into a burning agony, she understood their caution. All of the regenerating tissue and nerves came to life in a roaring rush of pain.

  How many times have I done this? How have I survived this? Followed by. This fucking sucks.

  Sitting up in bed, she heard the instrument tray being jostled into her room. “Time for more tests?”

  The doctor’s voice was familiar. “The scans we sent you for indicate that your eyes have repaired themselves. I am here to check on that.”

  “I am pretty sure they are there. They felt like something was happening in there. I can feel them moving, so odds are I have eyeballs again.”

  She heard a snicker from the side of the room. Jeri. She had held onto Elsinor’s hand until the screaming had stopped. Al had been in charge of crowd control, and whatever he did gave them privacy for the three hours of fire and agony.

  “Let me just see. I am going to be using scissors at your temples.”

  She smelled the steel before he clipped and sawed away at the wrapping on her face. Wet swabs swiped over her lids and her cheeks.

  “Can you open your eyes for me?”

  She slowly fluttered her lashes and let light crack its way in. “Can you lower the lights, please?”

  “Can you see?”

  “Well, I can see light, and it hurts.”

  The illumination in the room faded, and she tried to lift her lids again.

  “That is excellent. Can you see?”

  She turned her head and looked around the room. She could see a young female form and a dark shadow with bright flashes of light in his skin.

  “I can make out shadows and shapes. What colour are my eyes?”

  The physician tilted her head back and checked her eyes. “A midnight green. I haven’t seen that colour outside of a dryad.”

  “Oh. Good. So, how long do I have to be here?”

  “I would like to keep you in until the weekend.”

  She turned her head to her two companions. “What day is today?”

  Jeri answered, “Monday.”

  Elsinor turned to the shape of the physician. “Fine.”

  She could see the two looking at each other in surprise, but no one spoke until he was out of range.

  “I am guessing that my organs are working since they are allowing me soft foods.”

  Jeri nodded and then said, “Yes. Why?”

  “If you want to help me, we can leave now. I just didn’t want to be too much of a burden on you two.”

  Al’s deep voice chuckled. “I will carry you, and you have never been a burden.”

  She looked toward his dark and light form. “You say the sweetest things. Did anyone bring me clothing?”

  Jeri nodded and got a bag from under her chair. “Right here. Al can block the doorway, and I will get you dressed.”

  Elsinor gave her a thumbs-up and handed herself over to the young woman who looked distinctly young for someone who claimed over fifty years even if she was slightly blurry.

  It was time to get out of the hospital and work on deleting her files. How the hell do I know that?

  Chapter Two

  She was wrapped in a long dress, a robe, shoes, and a set of dark glasses. Jeri was on one side, and though he had offered to carry her, Al was on the other side.

  He was speaking to someone on the phone and ordering the records to be removed—physical, digital, and the video logs.

  “This sounds like a fairly big operation.” She mentioned it casually to Jeri.

  “There are thousands who owe you their lives, if not their help. We suspect that three of those betrayed you, but we will ask those questions once we have gotten you to your safe zone.”

  “I have a safe zone?” She looked through the lenses and saw the large black vehicle pulling up.

  “You finally do. This last cycle you were preparing for this moment. You have set up the tech now you need to set up your body.”

  “What?”

  “The technology came along too late for you to take full advantage, but with modern electronics and modern magic, this time could be the last time he does this to you.” Jeri helped her into the vehicle and buckled her in.

  Al folded himself into the hatch and tapped on the roof. The driver got them underway, and no one at the hospital even noticed.

  * * * *

  Doctor North watched in horror as the files on Elsinor disappeared as he examined them. One by one all the test results were erased. His mind grew fuzzy, and he tried to recall what the two companions looked like, but the memory of them slipped away. The harder he worked to think about them, the further their images were.

  He tried the financial records, and there was a large anonymous donation to the hospital and nothing else.

  He sat back and tried to focus. What had he been looking for?

  Oh, yeah, details on the bloodwork of the appendectomy in one-thirteen. Same old, same old.

  * * * *

  Elsinor felt surprisingly good, but the car was eerily quiet. There were two people in the front seat, and the passenger kept looking back at her. The lighting was dim, and she wanted to keep the sunglasses in place in case of sudden glare.

  They drove for hours, stopping only to gas up.

  After the second stop and they had resumed moving, she chuckled. “I am guessing that I wasn’t found in my home.”

  The voices in the car all chuckled. The driver, a male, said, “No, and we are not taking you to your home. Your orders. You have prepared a new base for yourself. It will help you acclimate as quickly as you can.”

  Elsinor rubbed her forehead lightly. “How is a base supposed to do that? And why the fuck do I have a base?”

  Jeri patted her leg. “You will see. We will see. This is the first time that you have ever properly prepared for this. The world finally caught up to your need and the tools were in place.”

  Elsinor smiled. “Got it. Well, I will wait and see.”

  She didn’t have to wait long. Twenty minutes later, they pulled into a very expensive-looking building, and she was unbuckled and eased out of her seat. Al picked her up, and she leaned against his chest as if she had done it more than a thousand times before. He paused for a minute before his heart started to pound under her palm.

  They went through security and into the elevator. A separate key panel was opened, and Jeri sent them down.

  “I am guessing that I didn’t have this kind of security prior to the event.”

  Al’s arms tightened. “You could have had it if you wanted it, but you knew that time was short. You didn’t want to get anyone killed. We don’t grow back like you do.”

  She smoothed a hand over his chest. “It’s good that no one got hurt.”

  Jeri sighed. “You got hurt. If you hadn’t gone to get those tracking charms, we wouldn’t have found you.”

  A memory worked its way out. Elsinor touched the back of her head. There was a small knot against her skull. Something was locked in her hair.

  “There is something here.”

  The doors opened, and they exited the elevator.

  Jeri’
s voice was excited. “You remembered that?”

  “I...” She thought about it. “I don’t know what I remember. There is just knowledge in place.”

  Al chuckled. “You will rest and fully recover. Now that you are intact, it is just a matter of fine-tuning your recovery. You used to manage it in a field with rain pouring down on you. The hospital was strictly for the police reports. You were found in a field halfway across the country, in a non-magical community. They airlifted you to Delfleur.”

  He walked calmly and confidently through the expanse of the lower level. It was enormous. “What is this place?”

  “One of your safe houses. You have them all over the continent.”

  This just kept getting weirder. “Nice. I have good taste.”

  “Jeri decorates them all.”

  Elsinor closed her eyes. “In that case, I have good taste in the women I trust. And the men.”

  “You do. This is our... your apartment.”

  “You can stay here as well. This has to be disrupting for you.” She patted his chest as he opened the door and the lights came on.

  “Good. I was planning to remain here while you recovered. I am just never sure of how you will come out of the trauma.”

  “This time, I seem to be fine. I won’t know until I learn what I used to know.”

  “That is going to start the moment that you are able to watch the recordings you made.”

  She chuckled. “It must be nice that I can talk to me. The wonders of the modern age... which I know about somehow.”

  “There were a few recordings from your previous event, but they were on cylinders. We still have them if you want to dip into the archive.”

  The space inside echoed softly. Al carried her to another door, and he opened it with one hand. “Here is your inner sanctum. The displays are on a low, neutral colouring. When you sit up, they will brighten at your command.”

  She looked up at him. “You won’t be here?”