A Battle of Blood and Stone

by Sawyer Bennett

  “What in the hell type of secret society thing do you have going on here?” Titus quips as we descend down the spiral staircase. He’s so big that he takes up almost the entire width of the steps and the steel structure rattles as we descend.

  I laugh as I step off the staircase with Titus right behind me. Everyone is at the library table, some looking at him with smiles and others flatly.

  But we are now officially convened.

  I sweep my arm to everyone and welcome Titus. “Let the first official meeting of the entire Prophecy Busting Consortium come to order.”

  Maddox snorts, and I wink at him.

  Titus glances around at the library with interest as I briefly look around the table at my team.

  Carrick at the end, not that he’s the boss, but this is his house. His brothers, Lucien and Maddox, sit to his left with Boral on the other side of Maddox.

  Across from them are Rainey and Myles, who have met Boral for the first time and are regarding him dubiously. It’s obvious to them that Zaid hates his father, and Zaid even argued with me right up until this meeting started that we were making a mistake bringing Boral with us.

  I disagreed but was tired of arguing with him, so I sort of snapped and told him to just suck it up.

  I felt bad about that, but Boral was such a useful asset. Yesterday, he found out Kymaris had a lead on the chalice by the gentleman Carrick met at the fetish party named Wells.

  Unfortunately for Wells, the information he gave Kymaris supposedly didn’t pan out and she killed him with little effort.

  This provided us two particularly important pieces of information. As of right now, we are most likely going to win the race to the Blood Stone. And just as importantly, Kymaris’ powers are still as immense, if not more so, because Kaesar reported to Boral that she tore Wells’ head off with her hands. That wouldn’t actually kill the fae but no worries—she mounted his head on an iron pike beside her backyard pool as a message her anger was swift and retribution was final.

  The only one missing from our table is Deandra. She came by this morning to handle the transfer of the remaining monies Carrick owed her into her freshly created bank account. He invited her to join us on our quest for the Blood Stone, but she declined. Something about needing to buy furniture for her condo and handbag shopping. While my gratitude to her for helping me break through on my powers will always stand true, I lost what little bit of respect she’d gained with me by her not wanting to help us. I had thought she had a bit more character than the pervasive shallowness of the Light Fae, but I guess not.

  Despite her claims of much shopping to be done, she ultimately pointed out as Carrick implored one more time for her to come fight Micah, that this simply wasn’t her battle.

  I’m sure she’d think differently if evil demons were swarming her brand-new multimillion-dollar condo, but not my place to point it out.

  As we were walking to the elevator to see her out, I realized it might be the last time I ever saw the princess, and I was not unhappy with that prospect. Still, I minded my manners and even thanked her with genuine gratitude for helping me.

  She smiled nastily and said, “Just remember… when you die, Finley, Carrick will be right back in my bed.”

  I felt Carrick tense but before he could disabuse her of that notion, I merely returned her smile with a sweet and demure one. “If you think you can get him there, by all means then… give it a try. But again, thank you for your help.”

  Deandra was stunned I wasn’t lashing out at her. She looked almost disappointed before giving a curt nod to us both and disappearing into the elevator.

  No matter, though. Deandra is powerful, but there’s more power sitting around the table.

  Greetings are handled efficiently. Maddox stands and clasps Titus’ hand, then they bump chests and bang each other on the back. Classic bro hug. Carrick stands and shakes Titus’ hand, thanking him for coming. Lucien gives a chin nod. Zaid stands and offers to go upstairs to get him a drink, but Titus declines.

  Carrick is the one who introduces Boral to Titus, and it’s clear by Titus’ expression that he doesn’t know about the history Boral and Zaid have together. He merely looks perplexed that we have a Dark Fae sitting at the table.

  Titus moves around the table where he gives a solid hug to Rainey, lifting her off her feet, and lastly, an identical bro hug to Myles like he did with Maddox, except the back pounding was much more gentle.

  When it’s all said and done, Titus takes the seat next to Rainey and I take the one next to Titus, giddy to have him back. When I playfully bump his shoulder, he grins at me and my gaze slides down the table to Carrick, who is watching us with a slightly amused expression on his face.

  I know the information I gave Titus on the way down here was superficial at best and I’m sure he has lots of questions, but Carrick starts our meeting by talking about the Blood Stone in more detail for not only Titus’ benefit, but also for Rainey and Myles as well, since I haven’t had a chance to talk to them for the past two days. You know, being a little busy with Carrick, looking at my memories in the Hall of Histories, and working on my powers with Deandra.

  Carrick doesn’t wax poetic about the underlying love story, which I’m sure Lucien appreciates. He doesn’t leave that part out, though, as it’s essential to keep in mind that we aren’t only stealing the Blood Stone, but we hope to release Charmeine from it.

  When he’s finished, it’s Myles who wants to make sure he understands the full story because while he and Rainey will not be joining us due to the danger, they are a part of our team and have incredible insight and ideas.

  “So,” Myles drawls as he leans forward and rests his arms on the table. His attention is solely on Carrick. “If I understand you, the Blood Stone is necessary for Kymaris to pull off her ritual to take the veil down and we want to get it before she does.”

  “Correct,” Carrick says.

  Myles gives a side-eyed glance at Lucien before continuing. “There is a Light Fae stuck inside the stone, so not only do we want to steal it, but we need to do so in a way that protects her so she can be freed?”

  “Exactly,” Carrick agrees.

  “Then you’re going to have to fool Micah in some way, because the minute he knows your real reason for being there, he’s going to either protect the Blood Stone through vicious means, or, worst-case scenario, he’s going to kill Charmeine to spite Lucien.”

  “That’s our dilemma,” I pipe in, and all heads turn my way. “We’re going to have to take it by force, but we need to go in subtly.”

  “Maybe it would help if we knew more about the realm,” Myles suggests, giving his full attention to Lucien. “Think you can describe the details to us?”

  “I can grab the easel and a large pad of paper for you to draw it out for us,” Rainey suggests helpfully.

  Lucien straightens in his chair. “No need to draw it. I can show you in a different way.”

  I know demi-gods are powerful and that they are holders of great magic, but Carrick doesn’t use his often, so it’s a shock when Lucien does a short wave of his hand before him and what looks like a 3D holographic image appears before him. It’s a mountainous region bordered by an ocean the lightest blue I’d ever seen.

  Lucien pushes his hand forward, and the image floats to the middle of the table so we can all see it. He begins to talk and as he does, it rotates slowly so those on both sides of the table can get a good view. As I watch it, I realize it’s actually a large island.

  “This is the realm that Micah and Charmeine created not long after the meteor came to earth,” he says in a low voice, and I can tell by his tone that he hates telling this story. He memorialized it once and it endured through time, but I suppose telling a group of people, some who are strangers, can’t be easy. “They didn’t name it as they couldn’t agree on anything that did justice to its beauty. They modeled it after the area of the Earth realm where they were living at the time called Thera, which is now known as Sa
ntorini in Greece. They did invite others to come live with them, giving no prejudice to whether they were fae, daemon, or human. They created their realm to resemble Earth as closely as possible, and they lived there harmoniously for thousands of years. Their magics were powered by two meteor-stone objects they were in possession of—a black jeweled rock that was set in a gold necklace and a rough-cut chalice made from a large piece of the stone.”

  “It’s beautiful,” Rainey breathes out as she watches the island rotate, and I’m sure no one at the table disagrees.

  In a flat voice, Lucien succinctly describes his visit to the realm and how he and Charmeine fell in love with each other. He doesn’t go into the details, but skips straight to Micah’s rage and how the realm was destroyed.

  With a wave of his hand, the beautiful island changes. The ocean dries up to nothing but black sand. The flora and fauna wither away and the mountains break apart into craggy, jutting pieces. The skies darken but on the distant horizon of where the ocean waters had once been, a river of lava meanders closer to the shore. It hisses and steams as it cuts a swath through the black sand where it runs up to the base of the center mountain and starts to flow upward. The mountain cracks, pulls apart, and the lava disappears inside it. Ice forms at the tops of the rocky mountain peaks, and you can hear the wind whistling shrilly across the deadened land.

  I can’t stop myself from imagining how cold that desolate realm is now, despite the river of lava that flows to it.

  “Micah destroyed the beautiful realm he and Charmeine created, killing every inhabitant except Charmeine. He gave her one chance to forsake me and when she didn’t, he trapped her in the black jewel and sealed her in it by dipping it in the lava—known as the Crimson River—that had been pulled forth from the Underworld. The jewel turned blood red, and he affixed it to the chalice. It was no longer two objects but one, and was simply known as the Blood Stone. Some legends called the chalice itself the Holy Grail, but, to me, it is the object where Charmeine is held prisoner. I was cast out of the realm not long after.”

  Because Rainey, Myles, and Titus are new to this story, Carrick filled in some details that Lucien left out, mainly that Micah had transformed into a twisted monster after drinking his bitter tears from the chalice. “But we can talk about how to deal with him physically in a bit. For now, we need to know how to slip into his realm unseen.”

  For this, Lucien pushed up from his chair and moved to the opposite end of the table from Carrick. He pulled the image of the blackened realm with him, then stopped it from rotating so we were looking at the mountains from the perspective of the dried-up ocean floor with the lava river flowing up the slope of the middle mountain before disappearing inside. It was extremely weird to see the flow go against the laws of gravity.

  Lucian enlarged the hologram-like image, then zoomed in to an area at the base of one of the mountains. It had large boulders the size of minivans scattered about. Pointing at a dark crevice, Lucien said, “This is the cave where Micah lives. Inside is a stone table and a chair carved from rock and on the table is the Blood Stone. Or at least, that’s what it looked like when I was last there.”

  “So, we have to go into the cave?” Maddox asks, scratching at his chin. “That’s going to be tricky, so at this point, I’d like you to tell me there’s a back entrance.”

  Lucien shakes his head. “Only the one you see, and the cave is small. Barely room but for the table and chair.”

  “We have to draw him out,” Myles posits, and then smiles sheepishly. “And by ‘we’ I mean ‘you’.”

  Lucien nods. “Some type of distraction he’ll have to check out.”

  “What would draw him out?” Rainey asks.

  Lucien shrugs. “He doesn’t want anything but Charmeine.”

  The table is silent as we consider his distinct lack of desires.

  It’s Rainey who breaks the quiet. “Make him think Charmeine is outside of the cave.”

  I turn in my chair her way. “What do you mean?”

  “You have magic at your disposal. I’m sure you can create a magical mirage, or transform your likeness into that of Charmeine’s.”

  “Absolutely not,” Carrick says. “Finley isn’t going to be in his direct line of sight.”

  “Then let Maddox transform himself,” Rainey suggests.

  “I’m not going to dress up like a girl,” he whines dramatically, but we know he’s kidding. He’ll do anything it takes, and he’s all about the mischief.

  “It could work,” Lucien murmurs as he steps back from the floating image of the black island. He puts one arm across his stomach, propping up the opposite elbow so he can rest his chin in his palm. Pointing at the beach area, he says, “We could enter the veil here.”

  “Those boulders are enough to give us good cover,” Carrick says.

  “If we’re lucky, Maddox can distract Micah enough for us to slip in and out of the cave quickly,” Lucien adds. “I’m the one who will grab the chalice, though.”

  “And what do the rest of us do?” I ask.

  As it turns out, the plan ends up being a lot more complicated than a distraction while we slip in and out. We spend the better part of two hours planning for every possible contingency or surprise. At one point, we scrap the dressing up Maddox as Charmeine plan and discuss going in with full magical force. Stun Micah to incapacitation, then take the chalice.

  But that seems risky and far many more things can go wrong, especially since we don’t know the depth or breadth of Micah’s powers. He might not be so easy to take down and if there’s even a second where he thinks the Blood Stone is at risk, he could kill Charmeine with a snap of his fingers.

  Thus, we go back to the original plan.

  We also discuss the ethics of what we’re doing. Yes, it’s wrong to steal, but screw those sensibilities. For the fate of the world, it’s an easily forgivable sin. But the big question is what do we do with Micah?

  Kill him or let him live?

  It’s a question that inspired furious debate, and we were split along gender lines. Rainey and I wanted to spare him while all the men—including Myles to my surprise—felt it would be idiocy to let a monster like that live. He’d be hell-bent on revenge was their argument, and no one wanted to be looking over their shoulders.

  Ultimately, it was a majority rule type of thing and the decision was made that Micah had to be terminated. I forced that tender, empathetic part of me to ice over and accept it. I knew this would only be one of many horrendous choices I’d be faced with in the coming weeks.

  We’re wrapping things up and I’m exhausted. I can’t fight back the yawn and despite having the beauty of a demi-god in bed with me tonight, I really just want a good night’s sleep so I’m fresh for our march tomorrow.

  Carrick has something else to discuss though as he clears his throat to get everyone’s attention. When he has it, he looks directly at me and tips his head. His eyes stay on me, but he’s talking to the group. “I don’t think I need to remind everyone here, but while getting the Blood Stone and saving Charmeine are important goals, let’s not forget the most important is getting Finley out of there alive. She’s the key to thwarting the prophecy so if things go south, I expect the priority to change to getting Finley back here safely.”

  The silence is almost deafening, a somber reminder that the weight of the world is still on my shoulders. We could fail in retrieving the Blood Stone, Carrick could be obliterated, and yet I’m still supposed to come back and stop Kymaris from fulfilling the prophecy.

  An actual pressure starts in my chest, and a sense of panic starts to well within me. My eyes dart over to Carrick, who is watching me like a hawk. His expression fills with worry as he doesn’t need to be in my head to know that I’m in distress.

  He starts to push away from the table, but there’s a resounding crack that startles both of us and breaks our eye contact.

  It’s Myles who has brought his hand down hard to get our attention.

  �
�This is starting to get really morbid,” he says as he looks around the table. “We’ve talked about a lot of heavy shit tonight, and I think we need a pick-me-up.”

  “Here, here,” Maddox exclaims, pounding his fist on the table. “Let’s drink some brews.”

  “Or,” Myles says with an admonishing look at Maddox before he shifts in his chair to look past Rainey to me. “We could have a moment of joy to share among friends.”

  My eyes flare with understanding, and I spare one tiny glance at Rainey to see she’s clueless.

  Which is even better, because when Myles pushes his chair back and rises, only to drop down to one knee beside Rainey’s chair with a black box in his hand, the look on her face is so comical I almost start laughing.

  Total surprise, which is awesome. She never saw it coming, and I really, really needed this at this exact moment.

  Utter joy—because she loves Myles.

  Tenderness, because while this isn’t the most romantic of situations, his heart is big and he thought everyone could use a good proposal.

  Admittedly, my eyes get a little wet and I blink rapidly. I dare look to my love and he’s still watching me but with the softest expression I’ve ever seen on his face. I’ve never asked him but outside of our first marriage, I wonder if he’s ever proposed to me again.

  I’m thinking he has.

  I smile at him, then scoot my chair back just a bit and lean to the side so I can see Myles in action. He has a beautiful speech prepared because I helped him work on it. It was supposed to be delivered at dinner next weekend as he managed to score reservations—dropping the name Carrick Byrne, of course—at one of the most upscale restaurants in Seattle.

  The ring was going to be slipped right into a glass of champagne brought to the table with dessert, and Myles was going to do the dramatic bending to one knee before everyone in the restaurant. He even went out and bought a new suit for the occasion.

  But here he is, in the secret library of an immortal demi-god, helping his friends get ready to march off to battle and he chooses this moment to propose to Rainey.