by B N Miles
30
Blood dripped down Maurice’s throat as Nikki drank his blood, moaning with pleasure as she did it.
Jared didn’t have time to watch. He gathered his power and shoved Lord Roth back, flinging the bastard off him. He climbed to his feet and used both memgrams to send flame and lightning at Roth, ripping the room to shreds. Roth dodged and danced away, jaw clenched in rage.
Nikki threw Maurice down onto the floor and turned back to Roth. “Looks like I barely made it in time,” she said. “Seems as though I’m always saving your life.”
“That’s because you’re perfect.” Jared dropped his memgrams and stood panting from the strain. Maurice’s assistant was a crumbled mess on the floor twenty feet away, her face locked in a look of horror. “Where are the others?”
“Lumi’s on her way,” she said. “Allie and Izzy are with Bea and her fighters, getting as many girls to safety as they can.”
“Penny? Jessalene?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know.”
He nodded once and turned away as Cassie went to pull Wade down from the altar.
But a bright flash of energy pulsed, and she staggered back, her eyes wide with surprise.
“I need to help her,” he said, walking toward Cassie.
“I’ll keep the old asshole off you,” Nikki said, strutting toward Roth.
“Love you.”
“Love you too, darling.”
Cassie stood trembling a few feet away from Wade. More of the room filled with light as the runes began to activate, glowing and gaining in energy, the rumbling and buzzing feeling getting stronger. Cassie looked at him, her eyes wide with fear, and she shook her head.
“I tried to get him down, but it’s like there’s some invisible barrier.”
“Let me try.” Jared wrapped his hands in a shield and reached for Wade. He got within an inch before the altar flared again, the power breaking his shield and burning his hands like fire. He pulled them back, jaw clenched.
“The room’s filling up with light,” Cassie said. “What’s happening?”
Jared didn’t know. He looked away as Nikki met with Roth, their bodies moving so fast he could barely follow—and stared as Lumi stepped through the door, carrying a long sword in one hand, breathing hard, covered in ash and blood. She met Jared’s eye and grinned, savage and gleeful, before rushing in to join Nikki.
The battle didn’t last long. Nikki managed to pin down Roth, and Lumi sliced the Lord’s arms off, one after the other. He screamed in rage and pain, twisting and writhing on the floor.
“It’s too late, damn you,” he panted, eyes tight with pain, sweat dripping down his forehead. “It’s too god damn late, you fools. Flee now while you can, flee before this whole place turns to nothing.”
“What are you talking about?” Jared walked toward the writhing, pain-mad Vampire.
“You think the Accords will be so easy to break?” Roth laughed, a horrible cackle. “It’s not just the Worldhopper we need, but all of this, so much sacrifice. Everyone left in the building, the structure itself, it’s all going into that gaping maw.”
Lumi turned and looked at Jared, shaking her head. “I don’t know what he’s talking about, but we need to get Wade and get out of here.”
“Bea and the others,” Jared said. “They’re still fighting.”
“We can find them.” Nikki took a step toward the door. “I can get them and warn them.”
“Do it. Find everyone and get them out.”
Nikki threw him a look, and he knew she didn’t want to leave him—but they had no other choice. She fled, blurring away.
Lumi kicked Roth in the face then pinned him to the floor by stabbing the sword through his chest. It didn’t kill him, but it clearly hurt like hell, as his armless torso writhed and twisted, trying to get the blade free. She shoved it in deeper until it was almost to the hilt.
She stood and shook her head, brushing her hair from her eyes, before turning back to Jared. “We have to end this now.”
“Wade needs to come down. Otherwise—” Jared stopped himself, shaking his head. He turned back to the altar and tried again, but again the power stripped his shields away. He tried using two stacked shields, then he tried burning the altar itself, tried breaking it, tried lightning, but nothing worked. As soon as the magic got close, it fizzled out, and the light flared brighter.
Lumi joined him. She funneled power into him, and he powered his shields as thick and strong as ever, and that still failed. She used lightning, they tried in tandem, again and again, as the room continued to fill with light. Jared let out a frustrated growl and kicked the altar, which did nothing but hurt his foot.
He stood there, panting, Need ravaging him. Lumi looked worse: her eyes were unfocused, and she stood half-stumped, leaning on her knees.
“Fuck,” he said. “I don’t know what to do.”
Cassie paced back and forth. “The room’s almost full. How can we stop it?”
“I don’t know.” Jared had never felt so impotent, so weak in his entire life. He’d trained so hard, worked so hard and done so much to get to this point, but now it seemed as though they’d failed. It truly was too late, like Roth had said, and he didn’t know what he could do to change things.
“Foolish boy.” He turned and stared in surprise as Maurice sat up and got to his knees. He panted hard, his skin pale, his eyes bloodshot. He looked half alive, at best. “You’re much too late.”
“How do we turn this off?” He stormed over to Maurice, fists clenched. “How the hell do we turn it off?”
Maurice laughed. “You can’t. That’s the whole point. Once the ritual begins, there’s no stopping it. The priori will flow, and that Worldhopper will die, and the Accords will shatter when our world meets another.”
Jared hauled Maurice to his feet. Drained of half his blood, broken and battered, he looked like nothing more than a shell of an old man. Jared held him there, hating him so much, all of his ire and his anger directed at this slumped and wretched figure. He realized that Maurice stood for everything he hated, all the years of training and abuse, all the horrible things that had happened to Lumi and every other Magi that was forced through the house system, all of them traumatized in their own terrible ways. Maurice was the center of it all, and yet he was only an old man, a half-crazed old man that wasn’t even particularly powerful in the end.
And yet the man had controlled the world. Jared knew he didn’t hate Maurice, but the system that Maurice represented, that very system that rolled along and crushed anyone who opposed it into dust, that smashed bones and destroyed lives without any hesitation. Jared hated him, hated the world he’d created, and as the room around him began to intensify, the ground rumbling, the lights glowing wildly, he knew that the old world was done, the old world was finished, and it was time for something new.
He threw Maurice to the ground and turned. Lumi stared at him, uncertainty in her eyes. Tears rolled down Cassie’s cheeks, and she slowly shook her head.
“No,” she said. “No, Jared. No.”
“I’m sorry, Cass.”
“No, please.” She walked toward him, hands outstretched. “There has to be something we can do.”
He pulled her against him and held her as the brightness became nearly blinding. The runes glowed white and blue.
Lumi came to them. He pulled her close and held her against him. He heard laughter, and he wasn’t sure if it was Maurice or Roth, and he didn’t care.
“I’m sorry,” Jared whispered. “I love you both so much. I didn’t want it to be like this.”
“I love you too,” Lumi said, kissing his neck then pressing her cheek to his chest. She seemed strangely calm.
Cassie cried. He hated himself for that. He hated the world for letting her cry. But he held her tight, kissed her hair—
Then he stood and threw himself at the altar. He didn’t know what he could do, if he could stop it, but if it took his life to save the ones he lov
ed, then he’d do it, he’d do it gladly, with a smile on his face. He wrapped himself in fire and power, turning his body into a massive bomb more powerful than he’d ever used before, praying that Lumi would keep them safe, and hurled himself at Wade as the brightness peaked. The whole room filled with its radiant heat, the ground shaking like it might break apart and crumble beneath their feet, and there was nothing else but Cassie’s scream in his ear, Lumi’s shout running down his spine, and the smile on his lips as he knew he’d save them, he’d do whatever it took to save them.
31
He thought he was dead.
For a few moments, he floated suspended in—something, he wasn’t sure. It was that same light from the ritual, but the searing terrible heat of it was gone. Instead, he felt calm, like he drifted in a warm broth.
He opened his eyes and saw only white. There was nothing solid beneath his feet. It was like being in the middle of a lake, except he could breathe the air. Someone stirred next to him, and he realized Cassie was tucked under his right arm, and Lumi was on his left.
Lumi lifted her head first and blinked, followed by Cassie. They looked around, but didn’t release him, and he didn’t let go of them, either.
Lumi spoke first. “What the fuck?”
“I have no clue,” Jared said.
Cassie narrowed her eyes at him. “You tried to sacrifice yourself, you asshole.”
He grimaced. “Looks like it didn’t work.”
She punched him in the arm. “Never do that again! What were you thinking?”
“I wanted to save you.”
“Well, save yourself next time.” She hesitated, looking around. “Are we dead?”
Jared shook his head. He didn’t feel dead. He had his body still, his wounds hurt, his head ached, his Need gnawed at him—he couldn’t imagine death would be like this.
“I don’t think so,” he said.
The space around them seemed to shift then. It was subtle, but the light turned from pure, blinding, perfect white to something tinted light blue—then a platform appeared, smooth and crystallized, glittering every color imaginable. It zoomed up toward them and Cassie let out a shocked gasp, but it slowed and stopped beneath their feet.
Gravity returned, and Jared let out a relieved breath.
The girls pulled away from him, but he caught their hands. “Don’t let go,” he said.
Lumi nodded. Cassie smiled. They stood on the crystal platform, looking around at nothing, until a voice cut through the world.
WELCOME, LITTLE HUMANS, AND WELCOME, LOVELY DAUGHTER.
Jared looked around but saw nothing, until a speck appeared in the distance, slowly growing to the shape of a woman.
Her hair was long, wild, and pitch black. She was tall, massive, but then again, Jared couldn’t really tell without any reference at all. Her shape seemed to twist and change slightly, her limbs elongating then shrinking, her torso twisting, subtle and small changes, but constant and confusing. She wore a strange, shimmering, white gossamer dress that barely covered her body, and her skin was an odd mixture of pale blue and green.
“Who are you?” Jared asked.
The woman looked down at them and blinked. “My name is Lycanica,” she said, and her voice sounded strangely Human.
“Lycanica?” Cassie said the name like it hurt. “That’s not possible. How? I thought you were gone from this world.”
Lycanica smiled sadly. “I was never gone, child. Only forced to spend my days where my power still mattered.”
“I don’t know what you mean,” Cassie said.
“Of course not.” Lycanica slowly floated down toward them, a miasma of changing shapes. Jared thought he saw a fox, a wolf, a bear. Her teeth were perfect and straight as she beamed at them. “It happened long before your time, little daughter.”
“Where are we?” Cassie asked.
“This is my realm. It’s a domain between domains, a section of the world you call The Miles. You are safe in here, for now.”
Jared had so many questions. Confusion threatened to overwhelm him but he forced it back. “Thank you for bringing us here,” he said.
“Of course, Human.” She lingered in the air for a moment, head tilted as if she were studying them. “Although I do not think you fully understand what all this means.”
“We don’t understand anything right now,” Jared said. “Can you help us? Is my family okay?”
Lycanica nodded. “For now, they live, although your world will resume after your choice, and what you choose will have ramifications.”
“Choice?” he asked.
She looked back to Cassie. “Daughter, you have done well. I know how hard you worked to save your cousin, and I promise you that he will be rewarded in the After. I know this will be hard to hear, but you failed.”
Cassie sucked in a breath. “Wade’s gone?”
“From here, yes, but not gone, not forever. Nothing is forever.” Lycanica shifted, her body turning into a simulacrum of Wade, then back into her woman-form. “The Accords are broken, and you have failed.”
The words hit Jared like an explosion.
Lycanica seemed to smile again. “Do not let this hurt you so, Shaman,” she said, then stopped herself. “Or is it Magi now? I have been away for so long.”
“The Accords are really gone?” he asked.
“Truly, they are gone. But this was not your fault. You tried so very hard to stop it, but it was always outside of your control. Still, in trying, you saved many lives, saved many of my daughters, and for that I thank you, and I feel as though I owe you a small debt.”
Jared shook his head. “You don’t owe me anything. I’ve only done what was right.”
“No, Jared Bechtel, you did more than that.” She seemed to reach out to him then dropped her hand. “You love my daughter here. And you want to protect the other daughters you saved. I cannot pretend many Humans would have made the same decisions.”
Jared squeezed Cassie’s hand. “It never felt like a choice to me.”
“There’s always a choice.” Lycanica suddenly sprouted great wings, white and feathered, and they stretched out from her body and hung in the blank air. “You could have turned away. You found what you wanted in my daughter, but you did not take the easy road. No, when the choices kept piling up, you chose the most difficult path each time because you felt as though it was the right way to go. I admire that in a Human, Jared Bechtel, I truly do.”
Jared had never been complimented by a goddess before. “Thank you.”
She changed shape into an enormous coiled serpent, then back into a winged woman. “Now, however, there is one more choice you need to make. The gods are back in this world, for good or ill, and now you must decide what you want.”
“I don’t know what you mean,” Jared said. “I want my family to be together. I want to make sure they’re protected. That’s all I’ve ever wanted.”
Lycanica smiled at him, graceful and terrifying. “Then here is your choice: you may leave this world and enter The Miles with your family. From there, you may lead them to the safety of another realm, where you can live in peace. But if you make that choice, you can only take your family, and no others.”
Jared glanced at Lumi and he immediately understood what Lycanica was trying to say: if they left, then the Meta girls they’d saved would not come with them. He’d get to bring his girlfriends, the ones that were already attached to him, but none of the others.
“What’s my other choice?” he asked.
“Stay behind. Live in this world, where we gods will roam free once again, where Humans and Metas are forced to live together once more. I will warn you, Jared Bechtel, you will not be safe. Your family will not be safe. All those you love will not be safe. Humanity and Metakind warred for thousands of years before the Accords, and they would have warred for thousands more, had we not given up our strength to ensure the Accords were created.”
He looked at Cassie, and again at Lumi, and he couldn’t r
ead their faces. Neither choice was ideal: in one scenario, he’d leave behind all the Meta girls he’d worked so hard to save. They’d be in good hands, of course, and maybe they’d still have access to some of his resources in this world—money, connections, weapons. But they’d still be on their own, and he didn’t know if they could survive what was coming.
But the opposite felt just as oppressive. Staying here meant putting his girls in danger. The world would be chaotic as it came through this transition period, and any Meta would be in enormous danger. He could find a new world for them to settle in and live a comfortable, peaceful life, without worrying about the chaos of this place.
“I can’t decide,” he said.
“You can’t, or you won’t?” Lycanica’s voice boomed.
“I won’t, not on my own, at least.” He looked at Cassie and Lumi. “I need your help.”
Cassie beamed at him and Lumi laughed.
“I don’t have any better ideas than you do,” Lumi said.
“But what’s your vote?” Jared pressed.
“My vote is to stay,” she said. “Even if that sucks. These gods are going to be interesting.”
He looked at Cassie. “And you?”
“I vote we stay.” She chewed her lip. “It’ll be hard, but we can’t abandon everyone.”
He nodded once. “Good. Then I vote we stay.”
“Is that what you want?” Lycanica seemed to ascend in the air. “To stay in this world, where chaos will reign, where death will roam the streets, where my kind will return to reclaim our rightful control?”
“I won’t abandon this world,” he said.
“Very well then.” She gave him another smile and seemed genuinely pleased with his decision, though the feelings and thoughts of a goddess weren’t exactly in Jared’s wheelhouse. She stretched her hands out along her wings and tipped back her head. “Good luck to you, Jared Bechtel, and treat my daughters well.”
“Wait,” he said. “Will we see you again? Is everyone okay? The facility, didn’t it just explo—”
He didn’t finish the sentence. A flash of light so bright it felt like his eyes would turn into jelly pierced the space, and everything went dark again.
