by A L Hart
I frowned. It was hard to remember just what all she knew and didn’t know. It was like trying to fit a puzzle together blindly.
“Do you really think he’s dead?” I covered.
“Lia didn’t.”
“What do you think of what you saw in the shop?”
Her brows rose, a breath pushed past her lips. She didn’t know that I knew about her past, the night the Maker entered her bed corridors and presented the vial of blood with Jinxy’s essence inside of it.
“She’s my sister,” she said softly. “Whatever twisted thing the Maker did to her heart, whatever she put inside of her, I will tear it out and I will get her back.”
“And if you can’t?”
She gave me a writhing look.
“I’m only saying, that thing, the cat, it’s an Imperial Beast, isn’t it? Aren’t they strong?”
Jera walked faster. “Imperial Beasts are nothing more than another one of the Maker’s creations. They’re strong, yes, but not invincible.”
“What if they can’t be separated, Jera? What if—”
She stopped in front of me. “Where is this coming from? You of all people would advocate for saving Lia at any cost.”
“I’m only being realistic and considering all possibilities.”
“Tell me, what are you really asking?”
I shook my head and stepped aside. “Nothing.”
She blocked my way again and we had one of our moments of staring one another down, that interstice where I always wondered if she would finally snap and do as she’d promised in the beginning, inflict misery.
“I know what you’re asking,” she whispered. “And the answer is no. I wouldn’t.”
Tathri had stressed that Jera wouldn’t be able to do what had to be done when it came down to it, and while I knew I likely couldn’t either, knowing that neither of us would be capable of committing to the deed posed a big problem if what Tathri said was true—if Lia really was gone.
“Jera—”
She whipped away from me with a blurred speed, something silver flying from her hand.
Tathri appeared in our path—and the path of the sailing blade—and shifted into human form fast enough to snag the blade by its hilt moments before it pierced him. Slowly, he rose from a crouch, dressed in those fine white fabrics, eyes glinting brightly even from this distance. Today they were golden and amber. “I was hoping to meet you two here.”
“Do not. Sneak up. On me.” There was no heat to surge from her, her dark energy vibrating loosely, but the menace was laced in her voice as she stared the man down.
“I thought my company might be appreciated seeing as I have information the two of you would like.”
“Then tell us.”
“I went to the demon’s domain where I discovered not one succubus or incubus in sight. Only a tell-flower. They said the demons have been gone since Jinxy and you left to find the Maker in the human world—”
“Do not say that thing’s name as though it’s Lia. I went to the human world with Ophelia.”
Tathri frowned, sliding me a glance before shrugging. “Regardless, the moment you and the creature you believed to be Ophelia left, the unseelie came for them all. Brought them back to their court and enslaved them. Ultimate retribution for the years of enslavement their ancestors suffered during the Maker’s madness.”
Jera shook her head. “The demons would have fought to the death. Lia promised the demons she would return for them after she found the Maker. They loved her; they’d have waited and held their lands until their last breaths.”
“You may think you are all-knowing, Jera,” Tathri said blandly, eyes lowering to the ground for a moment. When he looked back to her, there was similar aged ruins I’d seen in Jera’s eyes countless times. “But you do not know everything. You do not know where the Imperial Beasts truly come from.”
“The Maker.”
“Oh yes, but how?” he challenged.
“He made you using dark energy just as he did the other awful things in this world.”
“Truly?”
I didn’t like the game the man before me played. Imperial Beasts weren’t made from dark energy but a part of the Maker himself. I waited for Tathri to drop this information, but he never did.
Instead, he revealed, “Jinxy is one of the more complex creations, and as such, his abilities exceed all Imperial Beasts. Not only can he open portals to virtually anywhere, teleport, shift, collected devastating amounts of energy and discharge it, but he can split. Create one copy of himself, thus two Succubus Queens. When you and Ophelia went to the human world, he left a copy of himself here. Assuming the copy doesn’t die, he can maintain it for as long as he wishes, and even if someone killed it, it takes him a minimum of an hour to create another. With this being so, he always left a copy within the Shatters. The demon race could not tell the difference. They simply believed Ophelia had returned earlier than expected. This creature whom you believe is your darling sister, she practically handed her race over to the unseelie.”
“I don’t understand,” Jera admitted. “Why would she . . .”
“Because it isn’t Ophelia. It’s Jinxy inside of her body. He’s been working with the unseelie for some time now, behind your back and the Maker’s.”
Something occurred to me then. “Jera, I think he might be right. Valen talked about the day the unseelie cast a curse over the land. They said it released some abnormally powerful energy. Something the unseelie shouldn’t haven’t been capable of doing. And before, in the shop, that bright ball of energy Jinxy made . . . I’d say that was abnormally powerful, wouldn’t you?”
Had it been Jinxy who cast the curse, and if so—how did we destroy something so strong without hurting Lia?
What if Tathri was right and Jinxy had destroyed all remnants of Jera’s sister? Because based on his powers so far, it was beginning to sound impossibly easy.
Jera wore the confliction at the corners of her mouth, her lips pulled into a pursed frown, teeth gritted.
I stepped forward. “Jera, we—”
“I’ll find her! I will tear that parasite from her and burn it to ashes. All the bad she’s done, it was not her.” When I opened my mouth to speak, she cut in, “She stayed by me through all I’ve done, Peter. She loved me even when I hated her and everything around me. For a time, she was the only good thing I knew, and now this beast wants me believe that’s gone? I refuse.”
“I understand,” I said softly.
“She saved me once, and now it’s my turn.” Those eyes of grey took me in carefully, wholesomely. Tathri and the world around us faded away as she said quietly, “Tell me you’ll help me save her.” Not a request but a plea, naked and there.
Not a moment had passed before my arms were around her, burying her face in my chest, her weapons biting into me as I whispered over her hair, “Of course I will.”
But behind her, I spied then Tathri’s eyes on me, and I knew the situation clearly then.
Jinxy was a monumental threat if left unchecked. If he truly wanted to undo everything the Maker had ever created and destroy all life simply because he was designed that way, then we couldn’t let him go on.
Which meant the dark energy seeping into the world wasn’t our only problem. Now there was Jinxy. And if ever it came down to it, could I do what needed to be done? I’d already taken one life.
A dark whisper fluttered against the back of my mind: what was one more?
Ch. 9
“Why does he do that?” I wondered as we made our way down the dirt path. “Disappear, I mean.” Behind us, Skashora could no longer be seen. Jera had explained that once outside of the land’s border, a glamour took affect. Similar to the one that’d been used at the Sanctuary.
“You mean the mutt?” Jera shrugged. “Working together isn’t something those like him are known for.”
“The two of you were working together to find Jinxy up until I came through the portal,” I pointed out.
<
br /> “Which was all of one day, and even then it was because our goals were mutual—find my sister.”
“And now they’re not?”
“Now his goal is clearly to kill her. He believes if he beats me to her, he can succeed. I suppose it doesn’t help that he can open a portal to wherever he pleases.”
“Why are you so calm about it?”
“Stressing will not help the situation or my perception. Pyrin, the unseelie court’s land, is five day’s walk at best. It gives me time to think. I just need . . . to think.”
This was the most docile yet serious I’d ever seen her. There was no malice, sneers or impulsivity. Only cool calculation and certainty that events would go her way, when the odds of such a thing being true was unlikely. When had I become such a pessimist?
“At least let me help carry some of your weapons.”
She snorted.
“You’ll expend less energy.”
“Oh Peter, hauling heavy metal will hardly deplete me, nor will it make the difference between success and failure when it comes to getting my sister back. By which point, I’ll have already gotten what I wanted.”
“What you wanted?”
She was in front of me in a flash, fingers hooked on the strap of my belt, lips a hair from mine. “Have you forgotten already? I’m not inclined to wait for your romantic moment. If this,” She tugged my belt, fingers brushing lower. “Is what I need to find success, I’ll take it one way or another.”
“Some might call that force—”
She leaned in completely, sweeping her tongue over my lip before lightly parting them. Tasting. Need pounded through me more viciously than before, my hands twitching as I fought to keep them at my side.
“See?” she murmured wickedly. “Where’s your reluctance?”
In a snap, she was back to walking the narrow, singular path, calculating, a world apart from me as I swayed in place, head fogged, cursing how pathetic I was. How irksome she was. And how much I loved it. Which only led me to asking myself why.
Was I one of those guys, those who filled voids and took comfort in being told—I shook my head and forced myself to start walking, bleaching my thoughts and promising to not go down that line of questioning until . . . ever, because what if—
I scrubbed my mind again, focusing on the path ahead, only to find myself lingering a little too long on how the faery-giants’ clothes outlined her body. How her hips moved within them.
I’d swear they swayed with more emphasis. Intentional.
I tsked but when I heard her give the faintest chuckle, I found my lips tugging upwards. Because I was one of those guys. Weak—when it came to her. Illogical—when it came to her. . . . Submissive, just as she’d claimed. Did that subtract from my masculinity, measure it?
With my world on the brink of destruction, did I care?
She looked off to the side just barely, a furtive glance thrown over her shoulder at me as though keeping stride with my thoughts. Then, tightening her curls in its heavy ponytail, she turned back ahead. But the mild breeze in the high grass no longer carried the scent of pastures. Instead, there was the saccharine sweetness that momentarily threw my coordination.
“Jera.”
“Peter,” she replied innocently, but I could hear the smile in her voice and feel the one on my face.
For just a moment, despite the wrong occurring all around us, everything felt right with her. If worst came to worst, how could I hurt her by taking Lia from her?
How could I—
A pang pounded in my stomach, the dark energy inside of me crowding around it as though to heal it. But just as last time, when the vines neared the source of the pain, I felt the vines retreat.
“What’s wrong?” Jera stood in front of me, concern blotting out all other emotions.
The moment I opened my mouth to speak, my body rebelled, a lump rising in my throat. And rising. I gagged into my hand, warm liquid spilling into it.
“Peter!”
Heaving, saliva dripping—no, not saliva but blood. I froze at the sight of it. It coated my hand, drops falling down to the soil beneath my feet. The pain in my stomach clenched once, then released, gone.
I spit the gunk in my mouth onto the ground, wiping my mouth on my sleeve and hand on my pants. “I’m—It’s fine. Just taking me longer to heal from—” I caught myself from relaying the instant, brutal battering I’d received from Neer and Valen upon arrival. I didn’t need Jera turning around just to end them.
But the succubus was shaking her head, her hand on my arm as she stared at my stained palm. “It’s not that. It’s . . . kiss me.”
“W-what?”
She pulled my head down to hers, her lips closing around mine, the mess of blood disregarded. One sweep of her lips, then another, and then she simply stood against me, arms wrapped around my neck, lips pressed to mine.
Moments passed. Minutes.
“Jera?”
“Shhh.” More time passed, the sun remaining in the same spot it always did, the breeze blowing around us—
I shoved away from her as pain exploded inside of me for the second time today and with one cough, more crimson hacked up. Needles prickled all over my skin, a buzz resonating thickly in my skull, filling my head as nausea pressed in.
“No . . .” Jera whispered, backing away from me. There was horror in her eyes, face drained entirely of color.
“I don’t understand,” I managed through a dry heave. “What’s wrong with me?”
The shadows closed in around her face and abruptly she released a bellow up to the skies, inhuman, a tortured creature. Hands clutching her head, she scraped them down her scalp, roaring again, the animalistic noise traveling throughout the clearing. I could hear her lungs morphing, serrated fangs descending.
“Jera, you have to calm down.” I was holding her before I knew it, the sounds she released sinking and vibrating into my chest.
The growls, the roars, they began to overlap, her body trembling violently. She was doing it again, losing control, her faux humanity shredding away.
“Jera, talk to me. What’s wrong?”
She shook her head against me, which was enough to tell me she was still lucid at the least. But it wasn’t good enough. Her fingers in her hair, she was drawing blood, digging ferociously.
Fear crept into me.
Those bellows became sobs.
“Tell me what’s wrong so I can fix it,” I all but begged, and when there was no response, I lifted her chin, ignoring the demonic arrangement of her features. Those grey, watering eyes that looked back at me were still the same ones I’d come to adore. “Tell me what’s wrong,” I whispered.
Her teeth rattled, cheeks tear-stained, but when she made to speak, surprise widened her eyes. A gasp, then a sigh fell from her.
My grip of her tightened. “What—”
She reached behind her, her movements slowed, weak. She yanked free a thin, red needle, its tip dripping a purple substance. Sluggish, her gaze met mine. “Run . . .” This was the second time she fainted in my arms.
I gathered dark energy from around me, the grass wilting.
I hadn’t sensed them at first, but now their waves of dark energy pulsed with a deep hunger to it. A murderous intent I couldn’t understand. There were three of them hidden in the high grass. It was from those tall hairs that something came darting out.
I was too slow.
Jera gathered in my arms, wings almost extended, a fiery pinch pricked my nape. The world spun around me, blackness eating at the edges, until finally, it consumed my consciousness.
Ch. 10
I came to groggily, head pounding, tongue the size of a softball in my mouth. It was hot, too hot. Sweat dripped down my temples, my clothes sticking to my body. Beneath me, the surface was hard, a heavy metal smell lingering, but it was the constant whooshing sound that finally pushed me to open my eyes. Wherever I was, it was dark, the humidity so oppressive it inflicted vertigo.
Tal
l, rusted bars surrounded me.
Waking up and not knowing where I was—I was going to have to add that to the list of things that were becoming a norm. But waking up imprisoned? That was a norm I needed to shake, fast.
Something racketed off the wall. I turned to the source, and when I spotted Jera sitting at the edge of the cage, I struggled to sit up. “What happened?”
The last thing I remembered was the bloody kiss, her sudden loss of control, and then a pain in . . . I cupped my neck but there was no scar.
Jera was silent, until she plucked another pebble through the metal bars and it hit what looked like a rock structure. It was only when the pebble echoed and continued to clatter downward that I realized this cage, wherever it was, it was suspended. In a pit. I peered up and found more bars, and beyond that, high above, there was a little circle of light. At the edge of the cage, I leaned over—
“Don’t touch the bars,” Jera said hollowly. “They’re spelled.”
I backed away from them. If anything, the cage was spacious. “What happened?” I asked again, and when she didn’t reply, I tried, “Where are we?”
“My guess would be the Hallowgrounds.”
“Which is?”
“A place where creatures from all over the Shatters gather to watch other creatures fight to the death.”
“What?”
“It’s fairly straight forward. There are hunters who set out to collect the Shatters’ most wanted criminals and bring them here. Depending on how much one of the lovely contestants is hated, the bounty price and audience size increases significantly. My guess, your friends Valen and Neer wasted no time disclosing our location the moment we stepped from their land.” She smiled bitterly. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they were the ones who delivered us.”
“No, they wouldn’t—”
“There’s the naive man I know,” she said sadly, drawing her knees up to her chest and dropping her chin on them.
I was beginning to see why she was so calm in most dangerous situations. It was just another day, another attempt on her life. These had been her norms her entire life. Should I have been concerned that a part of me was becoming equally as unfazed by it?
