SPECTRUM

The second book of the Blink Saga

By MargaritaDaemonelix

Prologue

At the age of eighteen, you became the youngest assistant of the Head Librarian of the Imperial Sander Archives.

At the age of twenty-seven, you became the youngest Head Librarian of the Imperial Sander Archives.

And now, at the age of thirty-one, you're arguably one of the most powerful women in Sander. You command respect in your every step. The people in the library-no, your library-bow politely to you as you pass by. You're a graceful, unmarried, well-educated woman, and this is your castle.

Someday, after you've retired and handed down your position, you want to be able to crack open a history textbook and see your own face. Maybe someday your successor's successor will tell tales of your achievements. Maybe you'll stay at the library forever, haunting its corridors and whispering advice into the ears of future librarians just to see them squirm.

But for now… You're content where you are.

You're not married, and you don't intend to get married. Many men have tried to court you, but you've always put your job first and them second. You might have dated a boy or two here or there, but your last relationship ended with the police taking your date away to the Lanox prisons. You've come to terms that you might as well devote to celibacy. It would be more convenient, anyways.

You've got an army of interns that shuffle around your library, filing books and papers and working on the databases. You also have a personal assistant, a twenty-eight year old by the name of Karis Berenice. She's diligent and a good student, but she doesn't like to follow instructions. Her red hair and eyes reflect her upbringing outside Sander, and the rumours of her mixed heritage.

You, on the other hand, have the silvery white hair of the high Alterans, a symbol of your heritage. Your maternal grandmother was Lady Rowena Abbadon, and through her you have the blood of the ancient house of Abbadon flowing in you. White hair isn't exactly common in Sander, so it instantly elevates you even higher than the people around you.

Your name is Luciela Rowena Sourcream, the Head Librarian of the Sander Imperial Archives. You are at the top of the world, and nothing can stop you.

Behind her back, the other girl sneers.

Karis has never liked her "boss", and she never will find the pompous Luciela anything but annoying. She came to the archive to bring some glory back to her family, only to have that brat with a high and mighty name take over before she was even old enough to be an intern.

She doesn't ever dare raise her voice against Luciela, if only because she has no true power in this library hierarchy. She has the title of a god but the power of a mortal against Luciela.

There is one other person she can turn to, however, and that is him. She doesn't love him in the slightest, but he seems to be all over her and her body. When he summons her to his quarters, he runs his hands all over her and doesn't let her go until she's sore all over.

She can win him over in a few words, whispered into his ear like warm sugar. She knows he has no real power against her, the god with the power of a mortal.

But the one he does have power against is Luciela. No matter how powerful she gets, Luciela will never rise above Ran. With Ran in the palm of her hand, Karis knows she has complete power over Luciela, too.

And so she sneers at her, waiting for the day she can pounce.

It takes all your being to not wipe your hands on your shirt, no matter how dirty it may already be. Dusting out the engines of the computer archives is no small task, but you're the only one with the key to do it. The library is your kingdom, but you must be its caretaker.

Some days, you love your job. Other days, you hate it. Maybe you wish the library could come to life and take care of itself, like some sort of fairy tale creature. As a young girl, you always imagined the library as a living, breathing being, a giant cat even. Days like this make you wish it was. At least cats know how to clean themselves.

Your phone buzzes in your pocket. You hurry to a bathroom to peel off your gloves and wash your hands, kicking aside the door and furiously scrubbing the dust off. Slowly, the buzzing fades to a stop. You mutter some colourful words under your breath as you grab a paper towel from the machine, hastily wiping your hands off before wrestling your phone out of your pocket.

It's Karis. Apparently she's called you eight times already. It must be something urgent. You rush out of the bathroom to her office, where she should be working. She's not.

There is, however, a slip of paper on her desk. Mr. Ran needed you to file a few things, it says in Karis' messy scribble, but since you aren't here I'm filling in for you. Happy vacation, you old hag.

Sometimes, you wish your assistant would just chill.

You sigh, leaving her office and returning to your own. You find the door already unlocked, for whatever reason. Maybe it's just because you're paranoid, but you lock it from the inside before you step in and drop back into your spinning chair, watching a cloud of dust emerge from your clothes.

It's two in the afternoon. You're exhausted from cleaning the computers. You figure you could have a few minutes to just catch your breath.

There's a pounding at the door. "Open up, Miss Sourcream!" Yells someone from outside, voice muffled by the door. You're puzzled as to what could be happening, but you get up and open the door nonetheless.

Standing outside are two of Ran's personal guard. "Good afternoon, gentlemen," you tell them, confused. "How may I help you?"

You don't even manage to finish the sentence. The door clicks shut behind you as the two grab you by the shoulders and shove you against a wall. "Luciela Rowena Sourcream, you are under arrest," one says, in perfect monotone, as his partner pulls a zip tie tightly around your wrists.

"That's Miss Luciela Rowena Sourcream to you," you mutter under your breath as they march you through the library, like you're a war spoil and they're returning home in triumph.

As you exit the library, you see Karis standing in the hallway. She looks terrified, gripping onto a stack of books tightly and hugging them close to her chest.

The last you see of her is the horror on her face melt away into a triumphant grin.

She exhales as she leaves the note on her desk, ready for her plan to take place. Even if Ran doesn't give in to her argument, it won't hurt that Luciela's reputation will certainly go down, and she'll have gained a little bit more of Ran's favour. No matter what he decides, Luciela will drop dead, whether today or in the coming month.

As soon as she's ready with her preparations, Karis leaves her office, fishing the key to Luciela's out of her pocket. Her boss never found out she made a duplicate of the key behind her back, and with that little letter addressed to everyone's favourite little insurgent, Ran will never trust Luciela again. Carefully, she puts a few of her own words on the card, matching Luciela's whimsical handwriting.

She's putting the pen away and cramming the card in her back pocket when someone knocks at the door. "Miss Karis," says the butler. "Mr. Ran awaits your presence."

She nods and follows him to Ran's mansion, a block away from the library. As per usual, the butler leaves her at the double doors that lead to Ran's personal quarters. She begins to shed her clothing as she closes the first set, leaving them in piles as she walks into Ran's bedroom in her underwear.

He's resting on the bed, as he often does, just lying down with his eyes closed, but Karis knows he's just waiting for her. She sits on the bed next to him, bending across his torso and stroking his chest gently with a single finger. "You can't always pretend to be asleep," she purrs, resting her chin on his stomach. "Sometimes I actually have things I need to tell you."

"Like what?" Says Ran, finally opening his eyes.

"Like some things I found Luciela doing," she says, taking in a deep breath. "I have reason to believe that she is in contact with your sister."

Ran immediately sits up. "What makes you think that?" He asks quietly.

"I found her writing a letter addressed to your sister," she says, getting up. "I brought it here. It's in my pocket."

Karis retrieves it from the doorway. "When I asked her about it, she refused to answer me," she says, handing the card to Ran. God, she hopes he can't see through her lazy imitation of Luciela's handwriting. "She won't talk to me at all. I've called her like seven times in the past three hours alone." She pulls up her phone. "I'll call her again."

As expected, Luciela doesn't answer. Karis took great care to set her boss' phone to silent while she was cleaning the computer stash. "Luciela has secrets that she's not letting go of," she says. "I don't know about you, but I don't trust her."

Ran is silent. "I'll have her taken in," he decides. From those words alone, Karis knows she's won. Luciela's going to be arrested, removed from her position.

In her moment of victory, Ran brings her back down on the bed, legs spread wide open. "But first," he says, sinking into her, "let us proceed with what we began."

As he drowns in ecstasy, Karis starts to plan her next move, to secure her easy ascension to godhood. Finally, she, the god with the power of a mortal, can make herself be heard.

You're gone more than you want to be, out more than you are in.

After they arrested you, they brought you to what you assume is a medical experimentation facility. With no knowledge of what your crime is supposed to be, you retrace your actions to find a flaw.

There is none.

First they put you under the haze. When you awaken, disoriented and half conscious, days later, you can't feel your hands. Then it's your feet. You've been bound to the operation table by your shackles for so long that they don't exist anymore.

Then it's your sight. It starts to go blurry after they put something in your eyes. Then it's your hearing. Then, many dreamless days later, you wake up with a pile of your own bloody hair stacked at your side. Your hair, the only thing that connected you back to your Alteran heritage. To your beloved grandmother.

The doctors don't even have to give you the medication. You cry yourself to sleep, and don't awaken for a very long time.

Who am I?

A woman? A girl? A wisp?

That's the first question you ask yourself when you wake up next. You blink a few times to get the sleep out of your eyes, surprised that your sight has gone clear. The laboratory is silent, but you know your hearing is back too. A wave of snowy white hair cascades down your shoulders, but it's damp with sweat.

As you raise a hand to brush a lock out of your face, you realize the shackles holding you have been opened. While you can't recall why they'd be closed to begin with, you leave the operating table, stepping down gently.

The floor is freezing cold. You wish you had some shoes.

"Can you hear me?"

Instantly, you duck down, wrapping your arms around yourself. "Don't hurt me," you whisper, surprised at your own voice. Why can't I remember?

"I need you to follow my instructions if you want to live, okay?" Says the voice again. It's a masculine voice, smooth but sharp, reverberating over the intercom. "I need you to look to your right. There should be some clothes and a pair of black slippers. Put them on if you're cold."

You turn around as the voice tells you, finding the clothing. You carefully slip into the blue dressing gown and the shorts before clumsily pulling the shoes on. "Now what?" You ask.

"There should be a switch on the wall to your left. If you flick it, the door will rise and you can leave the facility."

In the dim light, you squint at the wall. "I found it," you say. "Sir, before I go…"

"Make it quick," he snaps.

"What is my name?" You asks, voice wavering. "I can't remember.

The voice is silent for a moment. "I was afraid this would happen. Ah, fine. Your name is Lu," he says. "That is all you need to know. Now go!"

You stand on your toes and push the switch up with both hands. Slowly, a door next to the switch you didn't know existed creaks open. You drop to your knees and crawl under it.

The other side of the door is just more of the facility. "Where do I go?" You ask, scanning your surroundings. It's all just doors and pipes to you. You're lost.

A warm breath washes over you from behind. A woman is chuckling behind you as something pinches into your arm. "I'll take it from here, Lu," she says.

Then it all goes dark. Again.

A/N: do you have any idea how tempted i am to bump the rating of this fic up to m

the kinky side of me says yes but the rational side says no

wow two new fics in two days

i am back yes i am alive mostly

i did say i would upload on mondays and as of today, january 16 2017, it is a monday so here you go

~MargaritaDaemonelix