The Overture of Fear & Passion (The Daemonica Symphony Series Book 1) Read online

  “What ‘appened, Niko? Why is she catatonic?” She asked him with a scowl.

  “She’s in shock, I think. I’m not sure what happened exactly but it wasn’t good, whatever it was.” He followed behind them into Juliet’s room, and watched as Fiona sat her down on the end of her bed.

  Niko knelt in front of her as Fiona disappeared.

  “Juliet...” He whispered, rubbing her hands in his own as he tried to coax a response from her. She stared blankly ahead, her eyes wide but unfocussed.

  “Maybe we should ask someone for help.” Niko suggested when Fiona returned, not having the faintest idea of how to help someone suffering from shock.

  “Just give me a minute, we ‘ave a few ‘tin’s we can try first.” Fiona responded, approaching him slowly with a teacup and saucer clattering in her hands. She sat down next to Juliet and held the teacup towards her, but Juliet made no attempt to take it. Fiona looked at Niko, her eyes large.

  He took the cup from her and placed it carefully in Juliet’s hands, wrapping them around the warm porcelain. When she didn’t move, he slowly raised the cup to her face, bringing it almost to her lips. He watched as the steam from the cup rose in tendrils, the smell of toast and honey filling the space between them. Something in the aroma seemed to revive Juliet slightly and she blinked.

  Her hands grasped the cup more firmly as she closed her eyes and inhaled the scent of the tea. Niko let out a relieved breath as Juliet took a sip. Her eyes opened again but still seemed fixed on a vision in her mind rather than the face in front of her. Niko said her name again, trying to bring her out of whatever nightmare she was trapped in and Fiona fidgeted beside him.

  “Do you ‘tink, maybe you... maybe try, y’know... dreamwalkin’?” She said as she bit her lip and picked at her fingernails.

  “She’s not asleep.”

  “I know that, but I’m ‘tinking you can probably like... go in, anyway.”

  “What are you talking about?” He asked, wondering what she knew that she wasn’t saying.

  “Well, since you two are sorta’ um sharing a shield or whatever, I figured you could just go in and see what’s goin’ on in dat ‘ead o’ ‘ers. Maybe coax ‘er out o’ there.”

  Niko blinked at Fiona. And blinked again.

  “How do you know about the shield?” He decided to start with the easiest question first.

  “Well, I can see it alright, it’s no big deal. Most Witches can see ‘tin’s like dat.” She explained.

  Niko nodded slowly, “And, going in...” he prompted.

  “You know! Mental telepathy or whatever you lot call it.” She said, sounding mildly exasperated.

  “Don’t you look at me like that Nikolai Dmitriyev, you know what I’m talkin’ about.” She pursed her lips and stared at him.

  Niko stifled a smile, he enjoyed watching the Witch go red with frustration but decided to put her out of her misery.

  “Fine, fine. I’ll try. I don’t think we’re supposed to, but I suppose it’s not like we have much of a choice.” Niko looked at Juliet again who had remained staring ahead throughout the exchange.

  “Juliet, I’m going to have a look inside your mind now O.K?” He shook his head at the stupidity of his words but didn’t know what else to say to try and gain her consent before committing what felt like an enormous invasion of privacy.

  He took the cup from her hands and passed it to Fiona before taking her now warm hands in his own. He took a few deep breaths to clear his mind before slowly reaching out to hers.

  The connection was almost instant, as though he was simply taking off a blindfold. He could feel the fear and panic of her thoughts as if they were his own, but they remained slightly distant, not quite swallowing him whole.

  Niko suddenly stood beside Juliet, surrounded by trees and fog. The metallic smell of blood and something else, something Niko didn’t recognise hung thick in the air. He reached out for Juliet’s hand and she took it. She turned her head towards him but kept her eyes down.

  “Juliet, look at me, please. Tell me what happened.” Niko pleaded.

  She continued to tremble, and her lower lip quivered. Niko gently lifted a hand to her face and tilted her chin up, needing her to look at him. She squeezed hey eyes shut, and tiny teardrop pools formed in the hollows of her eyes. Niko stroked her cheek, wanting desperately to comfort her.

  “Jules, please. Let me in.” He begged.

  Juliet gripped his hand tightly with both of hers and leaned in towards him, but mercifully her eyes flickered open. She blinked up at him, and some relief settled Niko’s nerves.

  “It’s O.K, Juliet. You’re safe. This is just in your head. Nothing can hurt you here.” He reassured her. She seemed to take some comfort in his words and her trembling lessened as she nodded slightly. She blinked again before her eyes turned to the left. Niko followed her direction and looked at the cause of her distress. He took several deep breaths and then stopped when he realised what the unfamiliar smell was.

  Niko had never been particularly curious about biology. When the other kids at school had poked and prodded at the internal organs of lab mice, Niko had felt sorry for the tiny creatures who had been born and bred simply so dipshit high school jerks could get a ‘B’ on a school project. The pity he felt for those sad creatures paled in comparison to the overwhelming sense of grief he felt for the one before him now.

  He had liked William, despite his recent animosity towards him and his general disregard for humans, especially human males that took a fancy to Juliet. William had an honesty about him that Niko respected. He was a man who had radiated strength and capability, he had been the sort of human that could quite easily hold his own in a world full of monsters. But the monster who had bested him had reduced a beast of a man to nothing more than a sick imitation of a science experiment.

  Niko did his best not to retch, wanting to stay calm for Juliet’s sake. He resisted the urge to look away, knowing that in order to help Juliet deal with her shock, he needed to be able to convince her to confront her fear and he’d be a hypocrite if he couldn’t do so as well.

  He looked at the mess of internal organs, skin and bones that exploded out of William’s body. He tried to observe the spectacle with a detached curiosity, naming the parts of the body that he could recognise and acknowledging their purpose, which was no longer being served. Instead of processing digested food, the intestines now acted as puppet strings. The hollow chest appeared to be too small to have once housed so many vital organs, most of which hung like a glistening pendulum, swaying ever so slightly with the tree branches that William was strung to.

  Niko returned his attention to Juliet, he wiped away her tears and swept a stay lock of hair behind her ear. Holding her closely to him as he whispered words of comfort to her, kissing her forehead and rubbing her back. When he felt her shivering subside, he knew it was time to move on.

  “Juliet, there’s no need to be afraid.” He whispered. He felt her tense up in his arms.

  “You need to look at him, so we can move on.” She shook her head and closed her eyes.

  “Juliet, it’s awful I know. But we can’t do anything for him now. I know he wouldn’t have wanted you to dwell on this. He’d want you to think about the way he was when he was alive.”

  He lifted her chin again, forcing her to look at him.

  “Juliet don’t look if you don’t want to, but we can’t stay here. It’s time to wake up.” He said more firmly.

  “I can’t.” Juliet muttered. “I can’t stop seeing them.”

  Niko blinked, confusion making him shake his head.

  “Who?” He asked.

  Instead of replying, she slowly turned her head until she was looking at William. Niko followed her gaze and again observed the awful sight.

  Something about the image had changed though. It seemed to be flickering in some way. It reminded Niko of when an old television would be out of tune, the image would scramble, only this seemed to be as though two chan
nels were competing for the screen.

  William’s features blurred and flickered, changing to those of someone else. Niko squinted, trying to make out the second person. He made out blonde hair and small features, alarmingly similar to Juliet’s.

  “Jules, what the hell is going on?” Niko didn’t understand, he wondered if maybe Juliet’s fear might be that she would die this way as well.

  He began to reassure her that he would never let them happen, but she cut him off before he could speak.

  “Momie.” She said softly before tears overwhelmed her. She wrapped her arms around him as her cries grew harder. Niko held onto her and she sagged in his arms. He held her head to his chest, trying to comfort her as best as he could, but he couldn’t find the words that would bring any kind of solace.

  Niko became aware of their return to reality slowly, as if waking from a dream. The cold, oppressive weight of Juliet’s dreamscape lifted as they returned to the warmth of her room, he could feel Fiona’s presence without having to open his eyes to see her standing next to him. He continued to hold Juliet as she cried in his arms, letting out more grief than William’s death was solely responsible for.

  Juliet’s tears began to dry up after a few minutes, but Niko continued to rub her back and hold her close, not wanting to let her go until she was ready.

  She hiccupped a few times and wiped at her face and Fiona jumped at the chance to be useful and hurried to collect a handful of tissues. Juliet took them with a small smile and moved slowly away from Niko. Fiona seemed to be about to ask a question, but Juliet spoke first.

  “Fiona, if you value our friendship at all, you will never ask me what happened, O.K?”

  Fiona closed her mouth and nodded. She looked at Niko, pleaded with her eyes for some kind of explanation, but he only shook his head. Maybe later he would tell the Witch about William, but not the rest. He had the very clear impression that there were secrets within Juliet’s mind that were not his to tell. He felt humbled that she had shared one of them with him, but he also had unanswered questions. Suddenly, Juliet tried to stand up in a panic.

  “My violin.” She gasped. Niko took her by the arms and sat her back down.

  “Leave it, Juliet. I’ll go.” He assured her.

  “I left it in the doctor’s office.”

  “Ssh, I know. It’s O.K. It can stay there for now.”

  He patted her arm, trying to calm her down again.

  Fiona disappeared once more and came back with a fresh cup of tea. She handed it to Juliet who looked up and took it with a tight-lipped smile.

  After a few sips, some of the colour returned to her face and Niko felt more confident that she was calm enough to be left alone.

  “Will you be O.K if I leave you with Fiona for a little while?” He asked.

  Juliet nodded and Fiona sat down quickly, looking pleased with the responsibility of taking care of her.

  Niko nodded to himself and stood to leave, running a hand through his hair as he looked at Juliet. He felt unsure about leaving her but wanted to have a word with the doc about what had happened to William and getting her Violin was a good excuse to go and see him.

  He left, promising to return as quickly as he could. As he closed the door behind him and began to walk away, the mental image of Juliet hunched over her cup of tea looking so lost, broke his heart.

  “HEY MAN, YOU coming?” Scott asked, appearing out of nowhere as Niko headed in the direction of the doctor’s office.

  Niko stared at him blankly.

  “Haven’t you checked your timetable?” Niko pulled out his phone and scrolled through as Scott explained.

  “There’s been an update. We’re all being directed to a new class. Mandatory.”

  Niko saw the alert flashing that he hadn’t had a chance to notice earlier.

  “Come on.” Scott turned and Niko shoved his phone back in his pocket, not worrying about grabbing his tablet. He wasn’t impressed by the unexpected change and wondered if it might have to do with the morning’s events. He followed Scott, wishing like hell that he could have a smoke to take the edge off, or better yet, maybe a couple of shots.

  The pair made their way out to the grounds of the castle. All the other non-Vamp Livingstone guests were headed in the same direction. He wondered if he should go back and get Juliet, but decided it was better to let her recover in peace, he could fill her in later.

  When the last of the small group had finished gathering, Ash appeared. Niko folded his arms across his chest and lifted his chin, wondering what the hell they were in for.

  “Thank you all for making yourselves available on such short notice. I hope you will appreciate that we are acting in your best interests in adjusting the usual schedule.” Ash announced.

  “This morning’s events have left us all feeling quite shocked. I’m sure many of you have concerns. You may be worried about your safety or the security of Livingstone. Let me reassure you that every security measure available is being utilised and we are entirely confident that the responsible party will be found and held accountable. We are not yet sure of the motive behind William’s death, and we have no way of knowing if those responsible will strike again. This is what brings us here this morning.”

  Ash paused momentarily before continuing.

  “As of today, every morning will begin with a one-hour defence class and training session. You will be taught various techniques to defend yourself against attack from your own kind as well as from the other factions. Doctor Livingstone, thank you for joining us.”

  Everyone turned to look at the doctor, who had appeared amongst the crowd. They cleared a path for him as he made his way to the front of the group where Ash was standing.

  He was no longer dressed in the three-piece-suit he had been in earlier in the morning, and instead wore military style clothing, his muscles clenching beneath the black button-down shirt.

  The murmurs died down the instant he began to speak.

  “There is one purpose here; the betterment of Otherworld beings through the pursuit of knowledge so that they can adapt and thrive in human society. That purpose cannot be served if your lives are at risk either through human or non-human attack.” The doctor began to pace, his voice rising as he went on.

  “Shifters and Demons, having similar physical abilities, will train together. Ash and I will be responsible for your instruction. The Witches and Vampires have been similarly allocated a suitable instructor and will train separately.” He continued to pace as he spoke.

  “While you are under my training, you will obey my instructions without question. You will commit one hundred percent to the program I set out for you. Anyone who does not comply with my orders will be invited to leave Livingstone. Any questions?” Niko thought he made the invitation to leave sound a hell of a lot like get their asses kicked out. When no one dared to raise a hand, he seemed satisfied that everyone was onboard.

  An hour later Niko was rubbing a bruised jaw and staring daggers at Scott. The group had been paired off and run through a basic introduction to physical self-defence. The doctor started off easy. Within half an hour they had been instructed to go at each other, no-holds-barred, fight-club-style attack the shit out of their partner. Niko had successfully landed a few blows before Scott had floored him with a vicious south paw.

  The rest of the class had faired similarly, all walked away rubbing arms, jaws or ribs, some limping and bloody. Niko was just glad Juliet hadn’t been there. He liked the idea of seeing her getting hit about as much as he liked Scott’s left fist.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Juliet sat in Elijah Livingstone’s office for the second time that day. She had spent the rest of her morning and the better part of the afternoon being fussed over by Fiona before she finally snapped herself out of her stupor.

  Now that some time had passed, she felt more than a little bit embarrassed by how she had reacted. Yes, she had only ever seen one dead person before, although that had been a very different
experience. And, yes, she had thought she had been the one who had killed William, although unintentionally. But, with every other shocking revelation that she had been through over the last few weeks, why should this experience be something beyond her ability to cope with? She’d resolved that it wasn’t, and she pulled herself together, answering the summons to return to Doctor Livingstone’s office with her head held high and not the slightest hint of a quivering lip.

  Ash opened the door and ushered her in with a smile before promptly leaving without a word. While waiting, Juliet stared censorious eyes at the damp discolouration on the doctor’s Persian rug.

  The man himself suddenly appeared at a door that separated his office from the room adjoining it.

  “I apologise for keeping you, Miss Vassilios.” He said as he unbuttoned his suit jacket.

  He sat down, pulling his chair forward before resting his elbows on his desk and clasping his hands before him. She nodded but remained silent.

  “Mr Dmitriyev approached me earlier to attempt to retrieve your violin, but I sent him away.” He pulled the case out from behind his desk and placed it in front of Juliet, offering her a small smile to indicate that she could take it. She reached forward and took her case, placing it by her feet. She knew that wasn’t the end of the conversation.

  “You’re a very talented musician, Miss Vassilios. I’ve heard you playing every morning. It’s been quite a remarkable experience to hear such beauty without having to pay for the experience.”

  Juliet looked away but smiled. Her usual humility forcing her to withdraw from the compliment.

  “Juliet- may I call you Juliet?” He asked.

  She nodded.

  “Juliet, I have been alive for longer than you can imagine. I have heard every great musician play since the beginning of the golden age. Please believe me when I tell you, your musical talent is beyond anything I have ever encountered. The closest thing I can compare it to is your mother’s voice.”

  Juliet’s mouth fell open.