Chapter 3

 

“Quinton, I was beginning to worry. You’ve been gone three nights.”

“I was safe enough.” Again there was barely a trace of the lisp, as if he tried harder to conceal it then he had with me.

“I don’t doubt it, but next time call or at least turn on your phone.”

Phone? Music to my ears thank you very much for this weirdness, now call me a cab.

“Please take a seat.”

Eyes widening, I looked back to see him looking at me. Glancing around at the others, I moved and sat on the edge of a chair closest to the door, trying to stay at an angle that let me see if one of the glow-brights made a move toward me.

Quinton came over and stood behind the chair, his sad eyes conveying he had my back. At this point I’d take what I could get.

The white haired one moved around to stand behind the desk. He crossed his arms, green eyes shooting darts at me. One of the others moved over and stood behind him. He wasn’t as unearthly looking, with a dimmer shade of blue aura and red eyes.

“She’s looking at us like she can see us.” One of them said with fear in his voice.

Were my eyes supposed to be obscured? I could see them and I wasn’t sure who but I could definitely smell one of them too and he was long overdue for a little personal hygiene. Slowly they moved to stand where I could see them, my first thought right after you’re screwed was all those horror movie marathons were coming back to get me. All that was missing at this point was the screaming damsel —oh wait, I could play that part. I wasn’t much of a screamer and rarely freaked out, but there’s always a first time.

Glancing around the room again, hoping I’d missed the flashing exit sign I noticed the looks I was receiving ranged from shock to disdain. Except for the cutie behind the desk. Actually, he fit more into the hottie category and leaned heavily to the sophisticated side of life with the way he just sat there observing everything.

Raising a hand, he waved off the others from speaking. “Do you know how you got here?”

Saving the lengthy explanations on my own personal theories I just shook my head in answer.

“What’s the last thing you remember?”

He seemed like he was really trying to help me. I shrugged. “Not much, I was chasing down a bounty.”

“You’re a bounty hunter?”

I nodded and then froze when there were several gasps and sounds of shock in the room. Quinton sounded like he sighed in relief. I hoped that meant a bounty hunter was good thing in this place. “Where the hell am I?” I blurted out.

He leaned forward on the desk and looked like he was trying to think of a way to explain it to me. “This is Alterealm, which is more or less the same time, same place as you came from, just a slightly different reality.” He smirked. “I believe we’re what nightmares are based on.”

Raising an eyebrow, I looked around at the guys with their own light systems built in and their pimped-out eyes. “Are you seriously telling me that all those things that go bump in the night are true?”

The sexy one behind the desk flashed red eyes and I’m not kidding, fangs at me for a few seconds, just long enough to make sure I caught it all.

“Proof enough?”

“Yeah, that covers the next question too.” Taking a deep breath, I reined in that feeling you get when you want to run screaming. “So, why am I here and how the hell do I get home?”

Eyes all normal hazel again, he sat back and studied me. “First we must find out the why. Not just anyone can walk both worlds, it’s very rare. Now tell me the last thing you remember.”

My survival attitude kicked in, also known as sarcasm. “Should I be laying on a couch for this?” I heard Quinton chuckle behind me and fought the urge to smile. The others looked confused, but the man asking the questions did smirk, at least I think that’s what those appealing lips were doing. Taking a deep breath, I sat back a little more. “Okay. I was taking down this chick, a bail jumper, Wanda something and I shit you not her alias is Glenda the Witch…”

He sat forward and held up his hand. “Wait. Black hair, two different colored eyes?”

I frowned, not liking he knew this. “Uh, yeah…”

“She belongs on this side,” he said quietly.

Quinton stepped around the chair. “She’s in trouble. Let me go help her, Troy.”

The man sitting sighed. “Quinton, you know you can’t cross over, right now…’

“You mean ever again.” Quinton muttered.

“We don’t know that and now is not the time to…”

I stood up. “Hello, can we get back to Wanda? I don’t care where she belongs, she’s a bounty and I don’t ever lose a…”

The one with the blue aura stepped forward and pointed at me. “You’re her!” He looked around at the others. “It’s her!”

Hands on hips, I snarled at the hand pointing at me. “Her who?”

They converged on the desk like a swarm of flies and spoke quietly, all while giving me strange looks out of the corner of their eyes. Quinton remained where he was and I was half a second away from begging him to take me out to the daywalkers he feared. I’d like to wake up now. Promise never to eat fudge before bed again, I thought.

“Is your name Daxx? D.A.X.X?”

Please let this be a dream. “Yeah, how do you know my name?”

He motioned to the chair I’d been sitting in, I shook my head feeling a little better on my feet and ready to spring into action if I needed to. “An old prophet told of a woman hunter named Daxx that would cross between and serve justice.” He looked up at Quinton. “You’re right Wanda is in trouble if she sent Daxx here.”

I backed up a few feet and lifted my hands to show I was emptied handed. “Look, as entertaining as all of this is, I really have to go.”

“There are ways to prove what we say is true.” The blonde behind the desk smiled suggestively.

My heart starting convulsing inside my chest. “Does it involve a stone alter and all of my blood?

He smiled, plainly to see this time. “No.” He motioned once again to the chair. Quinton turned and gave me a little nod, he still had my back.

Sighing, I sat down and leaned back. Let them prove their crap and then go home, that was the plan.

“Do you have the mark of a sundial on your back?”

Lunging forward I glared at him. “Okay, how the fuck do you know about that? I don’t even know how I got that!”

“You were born with it, but it wouldn’t have become visible until you came into your power.”

I snorted. “Power? Now I have power?”

He sat back looking amused at my reaction. “Shielding would be the best way to put it. Other supernatural powers won’t work on you.”

“Oh well, there ya go. Good to know.” This guy was on crack for sure. I waved a hand around trying to appear calmer than I was inside. “So if what you’re saying is true then how did the witch get me here?”

“She merely transported you, it’s not a power it’s a device.”

I sat there and watched him for several seconds, waiting for him to crack a smile that told me he was just feeding me a line of bull. My theory of being in purgatory while my body was struggling to live seemed to be the more appealing one at this point. If what this guy said was true, I had no idea what I was going to do. Taking a deep breath, I tried to keep my voice steady. “Whatever you say. Look, your story, while fun in the beginning is filled with a whole lot of gaping holes and you need to work on some serious rewrites. First you say a select few can cross over and presto now you have a device that does this…”

He flashed a brilliant smile. “I see where I left out a few pieces—anyone can cross over, only a few can do so without dying in the first minutes of doing it.”

I closed my mouth that was hanging open. “Oh.” Really, what could I say to that?

Quinton moved over to the desk. “We need to find Wanda.”

Troy nodded and then looked back to me. “Why were you hunting her?”

Eyes wide, I sat forward. “She jumped bail. I’m a bounty hunter…”

He nodded. “Yes, but why was she arrested?”

“She beat the hell out of two guys, mind you I probably would have too, they were in serious need of some readjustments in the attitude department…”

“Troy…” Quinton said impatiently.

“I know.” Leaning on his desk again he watched me. “She’s in real trouble, Wanda doesn’t have a violent bone in her body, if she…”

I got up, unable to sit still for a second longer. “Wait, are you saying she deliberately got herself arrested and then jumped bail?”

“Yes.”

He offered nothing more. Sighing, I paced a few feet and then looked back at him. “Why?”

“To find you,” he added with so much conviction I really believed him.

Could anything they were saying be true? Was I supposed to be here? I didn’t know how the hell they knew about my tattoo, very few knew about it. Looking up from the floor I stared him down. “Okay, let’s say I am starting to believe some of the crap you’re shoveling, you said you could prove that I’m this hunter or whatever.”

“I already believe.” He added quietly. “I haven’t been able to pick one single thought out of your head, and that I can swear has never happened before.”

He could pick thoughts out of heads? Right. “Afraid I’m going to need a little more proof.”

He smirked. “You haven’t run screaming from the room, have you asked yourself why?”

“I’ve thought about it.” I looked around at the others that had become very quiet and still. “Didn’t think I’d get far to tell you the truth.” I shrugged. “I’m more of a stay and fight kinda gal, not much of a runner.” I glanced around at the others again, either I was getting used to it or they had dimmed the glow thing. “What else have you got?”