The Descending Darkness

by Michael Chulsky

  “So you do care about him,” Tereya said.

  “Is it a deal?” Kay repeated, ignoring him. “I don’t have all day.”

  Shadow considered her for a moment. He knew he couldn’t trust her because her past actions had proven her to be untrustworthy. But they didn’t have many options, either. It had been several hours since Cameryn was abducted, and with every passing second, the chance of him being hurt only became greater. Still, putting his trust in Kay of all people was risky. Ultimately, he would have to choose between a rock and a hard place – the devil he knew, or the devil he didn’t.

  “Well?”

  Shadow drew in a long, sharp breath and released it. “Okay, it’s a deal.”

  “So you’re going to trust her?” Tristan asked in disbelief. “Just like that?”

  “I don’t trust her, but I’ll allow her to help us with this because we have the same goals. Her goal is to get what she wants and ensure Isaac’s safety…our goal is to get what we want and ensure the safety of us all. So since those two goals align, I think we’ll be fine.”

  Crystal shook her head. “I can’t put my trust in her. I just can’t.”

  Ethan placed a hand on her arm. “We’re not putting our trust in her, Crystal, we’re putting our trust in Shadow. If he is our leader, we must trust that he knows what is right.”

  “And I trust him,” Faith said. “He’s never steered us wrong before. And if trusting him means allowing Kay to help us, that’s just what we’ll have to do.”

  “Well, thanks,” Kay said with her arms behind her head. “At least someone is talking sense.”

  “Don’t thank me – I didn’t do it for you. I did it for Shadow.”

  “Wow, such disdain for me. If I actually cared, it would probably hurt my feelings. But it’s funny to see how easy it is for you guys to turn on someone.”

  “Kay,” Ellie began, clenching her fists. “If you don’t tell us the plan, I will destroy you.”

  Kay rolled her eyes, but didn’t challenge the threat. “Here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to go on ahead and I’ll tell the head guards that there are a large band of intruders approaching from the east. When I give the signal, that’s your cue to go ahead and enter through the front door.”

  “Where is Cameryn?” Shadow asked.

  “Cameryn is being held in a room on the second floor. It’s the only one with a large black door. You can’t miss it. Anything else?”

  Crystal raised her hand. “I have one, actually. What about Maedara? You work for her…right? You have to know about a weakness or something, anything that can help us against her.”

  “That’s not part of the deal,” Kay replied, flicking a strand of hair out of her face. “I only promised to get you in there unaccosted. Taking down Maedara is up to you guys.”

  Shadow dug his nails into his forearm to keep his temper in check. “That’s not good enough. We need more to go on. We’re giving you a lot here, Kay! The least you can do is ensure we have enough information to survive…so we can protect Isaac like you asked.”

  Kay turned her face away from them for a few seconds before letting out a sigh. “Okay, fine, fine! The only thing I can tell you is that every morning, around this time, Maedara takes a two-hour bubble bath in her largest bathroom. She doesn’t like to be disturbed so she’ll have no guards or anything. You could get the jump on her while she’s not expecting you.”

  “Where is this located?”

  “It’s on the third floor – there’s no special marker or anything, but it’s across the hall and on the far left side.”

  “Thank you,” Shadow said, through gritted teeth. “And you better hope this isn’t a trap…because if anyone else gets hurt, you know what will happen.”

  Kay shrugged. “I guess you’ll just have to see.” She turned away. “Make sure you’re ready when I give notice because you guys won’t have that much time.” And she walked off.

  Ellie stood by Shadow’s side and leaned her head against his arm, watching Kay’s departure until the distance between them made it so she couldn’t be seen any longer. “Probably a dumb question, but…you sure this is a good idea?”

  “Not in the slightest,” Shadow replied. “But it’s Cameryn.” And it was true. Dealing with Kay was a necessary evil if he hoped to keep the promise he made to Cameryn months ago. He was prepared for the risks, whatever they were, because he refused to break his promise. No matter what.

  11

  The Last Temptation

  Shadow fiddled with his arms in anticipation as he waited for Kay’s signal. She had left them almost twenty minutes ago, and with every passing second, his tension was rising. It also didn’t help that Tristan kept pestering him every few minutes asking him what was taking so long.

  “Shadow,” Tristan called. “What do you think–”

  “I swear to God, if you ask me what is taking her so long one more time, I’m going to–”

  “I’m sorry, okay?” Tristan exclaimed, shoving his hands into his pockets, grumpily. “I’m just tired of waiting around doing nothing.”

  “We all are,” Ryan said. “You’re not special.”

  “Besides,” Faith said, inserting herself into the conversation before her brother could respond, “don’t you think you continuing to ask is putting unnecessary pressure on Shadow?”

  “No…I didn’t think.”

  “Understatement of the century,” Niki muttered, drawing tiny animals in the sandy ground with a small stick in hand.

  Tristan frowned. “You stay out of this.”

  “Enough,” Shadow growled, his hands covering his face. “Can we please go more than an hour without the petty arguments? Is that really so much to ask?”

  “My bad,” Ryan replied.

  Tristan nodded. “Yeah, of course…sorry, Shadow.”

  Niki gave him a one-armed salute and returned to her drawings.

  Shadow turned away from them and paced in a small line. He wasn’t sure what was taking Kay so long to get back to them. “What if something happened, what if she was caught by Maedara or something?” He closed his eyes tightly and tried to chase the negative thoughts out of his mind. There was nothing wrong, and everything was fine. He just needed to keep calm and wait for Kay to get back to them. He just had to be patient and not worry so much.

  “Shadow,” Ethan called, his expression thoughtful. “I’ve been thinking about Maedara and what we’re going to do when we finally come face to face with her.”

  “Oh?” Shadow asked. “What do you mean?”

  “Well, there’s no way Maedara cast a spell of this power by herself. It stands to reason, based on the information we received from Niki, that she used the Staff of Ondeyr. Which means she’s probably already absorbed its power and has become immortal.”

  “Immortal?” Tereya asked. “What’s that?”

  Ethan gave a small smile. “It means something cannot be slain by any means. Although true immortality is rare. Angels, like myself, are one of the few beings that are actually immortal.”

  “It doesn’t exist,” Shadow said. “Everything can be killed. It’s just a matter of finding a weakness and choosing a weapon.”

  Crystal blinked. “That sounds…terrifying. Are there really that many ways to kill something?”

  “You’d be surprised,” Niki replied, tearing her gaze away from her drawings. “For were-animals anything silver equals death. If you can’t find silver, use a metal pike dipped in the blood of the true animal that the were-animal is connected with. And then you have vampires: wooden stakes through the chest and into the heart work nicely. Pretty much anything wood will work, especially if it’s blessed with the power of the divine. Oh and sunlight, too…for a good ol’ fashioned vamp BBQ.”

  “Wow, Niki,” Ryan said, shaking his head. “Why don’t you just announce to the entire world how to kill our leader? Maybe next you can print pamphlets and hand them out?”

  “I meant no harm.”

 
; Shadow smiled darkly. “It’s quite okay, Niki, no harm done.”

  “You say that now,” Ryan said, suddenly serious. “But if anyone here gets mad at you, now they know all they need is a common pencil blessed by a holy man to do serious damage.”

  “I’ve gone eighteen years without coming into contact with holy wood. I think I’ll take my chances, Ryan.”

  Ryan gave a small wink. “Alright, I’m just saying….”

  “Shadow, come in – it’s Kay.”

  “What was that?” Faith asked.

  “The communicator,” Shadow muttered, taking it out of his shirt pocket. “I forgot to take it from her during all the chaos. Lucky, I guess.” He pressed the talk button and held the communicator up to his mouth. “Kay?”

  “Yeah – it’s me. You guys are clear, go for it. You have a few minutes.”

  Shadow put the communicator back into his pocket and rolled his shoulders. “Alright, guys…this is it. Let’s go.” And as they started off, he prayed once more that he wasn’t leading his teammates into a trap. But he knew that no matter what, they’d see it through.

  Shadow led the team across the large, wasteland-like field, until the large mansion appeared in the distance and quickly came into focus. It didn’t take them long to reach the pair of grand white stairs which lead up to the front door of the mansion. Stopping just short of the steps, he held up a hand, signaling the rest of them to wait. “Let me go up first…in case the stairs are rigged somehow.”

  “Right-o,” Niki replied.

  Shadow slowly made his way up the steps, testing his full weight against each one to make sure there weren’t any weighted traps or hidden holes. When he reached the top, he gave another gesture, beckoning everyone forward, and waited as they all came up behind him. “Alright, I’m going to test the door now. I wouldn’t put it past Maedara to booby-trap it somehow.” He hovered his hand over the doorknob and tried to sense if there was anything dangerous on the other side.

  “This is taking too long,” Niki said. “Allow me.” She moved past Shadow and turned her body to the side. In one swift motion, she kicked out at the door full-force, and it burst inward and flew clean off the hinges, skidding across the foyer.

  “And…there goes the element of surprise,” Ryan remarked. “Nice kick, though.”

  Ellie blinked. “Niki, what did you just do?”

  “Are you crazy?” Shadow thundered.

  “I’ve been called that before,” Niki replied, half-shrugging. “But I stand by my original decision, so let us proceed ahead.”

  Shadow took a breath, counted to ten, and let it out slowly. He couldn’t be too mad because, at the very least, her demonstration proved there was no danger on the other side of the door. And since there was nobody coming to check out the noise, he concluded that Kay had done her job and all the guards were preoccupied as planned. “Alright, I guess we’re fine. Let’s go.”

  He led them inside tentatively, still looking around for any sign of danger. He had to admit to himself that, despite being psychotic, Maedara had good taste. The interior was tasteful – the walls were white and the tiles on them were speckled artfully with gold. The ceiling was professionally painted with a sky scene; fluffy clouds seemed to float in the endless blue, so realistic that it was hard to not imagine they were drifting and not static.

  “This place is beautiful,” Crystal said in awe. “I wonder how much Maedara spent on it….”

  “More than you have,” Ethan replied. “And even if you did have enough, Shadow wouldn’t let you redecorate the castle.”

  “I’m sure if I asked nicely, he would–”

  “No,” Shadow said with finality. Ignoring Crystal’s pouting, he continued upstairs with the others following behind. When they had reached the second floor, he turned around to face them. “Alright guys…if what Kay said is correct, then Cameryn will be on this floor somewhere, in a room with a black door.”

  “You mean like that door over there?” Niki asked, pointing to a door on the right side of the hall in a corner.

  Shadow followed her line of sight and saw, beyond a sea of white doors, the lone black one. “Yes! Niki. Good eye!”

  “Thank you, but I like to think both of them are adequate.”

  Shadow shook his head. “Alright. I’m going to go retrieve Cameryn. I’m taking Ellie as backup. I’ll need the rest of you to make sure there’s no ambush. Okay?”

  Ellie nodded. “I’ll come with you, no problem.”

  “And I’ll help the others keep the coast clear for you,” Ethan replied.

  Shadow gave a curt nod. “Let’s go, Ellie.” He made his way across the hall and to the room with the black door. Once more, he hovered his palm over the handle, trying to pick up on any potential danger lurking on the other side. An image of Niki kicking down the front door flashed in his head, and he smiled in spite of himself – they certainly had different ways of handling things. He didn’t sense anything dangerous on the other side of the door, so he turned the handle and opened the door.

  “Oh no,” Ellie gasped as soon as the door was open wide enough for her to see inside.

  Shadow stepped into the room and caught sight of Cameryn, who was lying on the floor amongst a pile of boxes, not moving. There were two scratches across his face, and he looked like he had been beaten, then discarded in a storage room. “Cameryn!” He rushed across the room and dropped to his knees at Cameryn’s side. “Cam…I’m so sorry.”

  “Faith!” Ellie called over her shoulder.

  Faith came sprinting into the room. She didn’t have to ask what was needed because she caught sight of Cameryn and immediately went to his side to heal him. Her energy flowed into his wounds, knitting the skin back together and making it whole. And after a few seconds of her continued channeling, he looked as though he had never encountered Maedara at all. She drew back, and her breath came out ragged. “He’s…all healed. And…should be fine….”

  “Thank you,” Ellie said.

  Shadow pulled Cameryn’s still form into his lap and ran a hand through the boy’s hair. “Please wake up, Cam, please…you have to be okay….”

  A minute passed, and then Cameryn stirred. He groaned, and his body tensed up as his eyes slowly opened. A look of fear passed over his face at first, as if he were remembering where he was, but once he saw Shadow, it was replaced with relief. “Shadow…you came for me….”

  “Of course,” Shadow replied. “I promised you I’d always be there for you. And now I’m here. And I will never leave you alone again.”

  Cameryn smiled for a split-second, but it faded, and his eyes filled with tears. “You don’t know what happened! You have to know….”

  “What is it?”

  “Maedara was trying to get me to join her side. She said that my powers would be useful for destruction and that I belonged to her.”

  “You belong to her?” Ellie repeated, frowning. “What does that mean?”

  Cameryn shook his head. “I don’t…I can’t.”

  “Whatever it is, you can tell us,” Shadow said gently. “You should know by now that no matter what happens, I’ll never turn my back on you. None of us would.”

  “I…believe you,” Cameryn replied. He wiped his tears away on the back of his hand. “Maedara told me the real reason why my parents were so awful to me. I was born as a weapon for her to use. They raised me and put me through hell so I’d grow hate-filled and want to hurt people. I was to be part of Maedara’s army to take over the world.”

  Faith released a sharp breath. “Jesus Christ.”

  Ellie bent down and wrapped her arms around Cameryn, then Shadow. “Whatever Maedara told you…it doesn’t matter, okay? It doesn’t make a difference. We still love you.”

  Cameryn tried to respond, but he couldn’t get the words out. His body started shaking as a tear fell down his face. And then another one. And then he was bawling his eyes out in their arms.

  Shadow tensed up, but didn’t pull away. He rubbed
Cameryn’s back repeatedly until the boy’s sobbing subsided. “You’re okay, we have you now.”

  Cameryn gently pulled free from them and wiped his eyes again. “You guys probably think I’m stupid for crying like this when I’m safe.”

  “Not at all,” Shadow replied. “I think being able to show emotion in front of people you care about proves how strong you are. Besides, you’re human…and part of being human is not being afraid to show emotion. Or so I’ve been told.” He directed the last portion of his words at Ellie.

  Ellie smiled. “Yeah, what he said.”

  “Do you mean that?” Cameryn asked.

  “Of course he means it, silly. We’re all your friends. You shouldn’t feel afraid to be open with us. It’s our job to help you feel better when you’re down.”

  “Let’s go,” Shadow said, rising to his feet. He didn’t want to dwell on the situation, because he knew from experience that opening up was difficult, and he didn’t want Cameryn to feel embarrassed by them continuing to talk about it. “We have a score to settle.”

  Cameryn’s eyes widened. “Does that mean….”

  “Yes, we’re going after Maedara, and we’re going to finish this here and now. Her going after you was an eye-opener. I will not let her hurt any of you ever again. It ends tonight.”

  “Can you stand?” Ellie asked, extending a hand.

  Cameryn made a mhm noise, but grabbed her hand regardless and let her pull him to his feet. Once standing, he flexed his arms and legs, making sure everything was working properly. “Good as new! Thank you Faith.”

  Faith smiled. “Don’t mention it.” She turned to leave the room, but paused, her entire body recoiling.

  “What was that?” Shadow asked. “Are you okay, Faith?”

  “I…I’m not sure. I just experienced the weirdest sensation. It’s like a burst of static went through my entire body.”

  Ethan walked into the room. “Faith? Is everything alright?”