It was impossible to tell how long the harvester had been rowing, but I had a vague sense that we’d been on the boat through the time that roughly constituted night here. None of us had slept. Instead, we slipped in and out of hazy nightmares. Worse, those nightmares were real in a way. They spoke of our greatest struggles and the cruelest thoughts we buried deep inside.
As we sat in the mist, I lost track of time, consumed by avoiding the horrors inside my own head and trying to piece together how I could possibly be dreaming of Dorian’s brother, whom I had never met. There were questions I needed to form so I could ask Laini and Dorian. If I really was dreaming of Lanzon, I needed to figure out how and why.
I stared at Laini. She’d drifted back into her daze a few times but hadn’t been as totally consumed as before. Even if I knew what to say, there was no kind way to ask her if it were possible that I was dreaming of her dead husband. While I didn’t know what it meant or could mean, I knew there were more pressing matters to deal with first. Exhaling slowly through my nose, I counted my breaths. Maybe numbers could keep me grounded.
“Is it day yet?” I asked the harvester.
He seemed to absorb the mist, or maybe it was just possible to see the mist through his translucent form. In response to my question, I saw the suggestion of a nod.
“As close to day as we are wont to get,” he said.
The light refused to brighten. I’d found that disorienting the whole time we’d been here in the Immortal Plane, but it was especially discomforting after a night with almost no sleep. Our mission was already difficult and dangerous. If none of us managed to rest properly, it would make our task nearly impossible.
I rubbed my chest, trying to soothe the lingering heartburn. Knowing I’d never have to wonder if he loved me was an ironic kind of comfort.
I drifted into my thoughts and tried to conjure up happy images. Kane sat nearby with Laini. Both had their eyes closed, finally peaceful. Kane hadn’t had a single outburst during our trip, which surprised me. With his father’s murder, I’d have thought he would be tortured by darkness. Roxy sat on my other side, occasionally letting her head rest on my shoulder. Once or twice, I heard her mutter empty threats to someone in her dreams.
I tried to get comfortable, but by now sleep had long ceased being a possibility for me. I leaned my head back to stare at the swirling mist when something in my peripheral vision caught my eye.
There was a glow to my left, growing brighter with each push of the harvester’s paddle. A real glow, farther down the ravine. I sat up straighter and nudged Roxy. The light was dazzling, brilliant shades of every color in the rainbow and more. The colors shifted across the sky, burning away the mist.
“Ugh. What?” Roxy muttered sleepily. “You’d better have a good reason for waking me up. I just dreamed about punching that annoying girl who lived on my childhood street, and yes, she did deserve it.”
“Do you see it?” I asked, shaking her slightly. She swatted my hands away with an annoyed huff. “I don’t trust my eyes after all this time. Is the mist tricking me?”
Roxy opened her mouth to say something smart, but a shocked sound caught in her throat when she saw the unreal colors. “If it is, it’s tricking me too,” she breathed. “It’s… beautiful.” The word felt inadequate, and I could tell it didn’t satisfy her from the twist of her mouth.
The water’s current moved faster now as we traveled toward the kaleidoscope of color. The harvester hummed merrily as he paddled along. When we got closer, the rays of color peeked through a crack at the end of the ravine. The peculiar ray of light split somewhere inside the rock, producing a rainbow in a mystical spectrum in the misty air.
I leaned closer and strained to listen. Above the gentle splash of the harvester’s oar, I heard the rising sound of a waterfall. White noise buzzed beyond that.
“It looks like our fun trip is almost at an end,” the harvester announced sadly. “We are approaching the Immortal City. Everyone should wake up.” He tapped his oar against the boat’s edge, waking the rest of our party.
Stirring, Laini pressed her hand to her face, staring in awe at the strange colors before us. Kane rolled his eyes, unimpressed by the garish presentation.
In the front, Dorian leaned out over the prow as if to hurry us forward.
He glanced at me, and even across the distance, the heartburn roared to life as our gazes locked. I held on, despite the pain. He looked weary but fierce, the fire in his blue eyes scorching. We’re in this together, for better or worse, his eyes seemed to say.
For better or worse, we’re together, I replied with my eyes.
The boat creaked and wobbled as Dorian leapt to his feet. “That’s it?”
“Your future awaits you,” the harvester replied vaguely, the hint of a dreamy smile on his strange face.
We stared through the narrow gap in the jagged rock that signaled the end of the Gray Ravine. The river continued onward, cascading into a waterfall that I still couldn’t make out clearly in the distance.
The soul-light in the Gray Ravine had produced only a murky glow. The dazzling rainbow of lights practically blinded me. I rubbed my eyes as the harvester stepped from the boat onto a little platform. He moored the boat and gestured for us to follow.
“Itzarriol. The City of Perpetual Light,” the harvester said, gesturing to the gap in the rock. “Enjoy your visit.”
Kane snarled. “Don’t ever use that name for a place of such darkness and hatred.”
The harvester said nothing, apparently unmoved by Kane’s fury. Kane stormed off the boat, and Laini drifted behind him, some clarity returning to her tired face.
“Thank you,” I muttered to the harvester as I left.
The transparent creature nodded. “Good luck to you. This is a place not meant for you. But the mist and I hope you do well in there.”
I hoped so, too.
The group naturally gathered around Dorian on the little platform. He had slipped effortlessly back into leader mode. The tension around his eyes disappeared as his handsome face surveyed our team, but his gaze didn’t stray to me.
“What’s the plan?” Laini asked. Her violet eyes already looked less red around the edges, determined and ready.
“These next few days will be the most dangerous we have faced yet,” Dorian announced, gesturing to the city light in the distance. The details were still obscured by mist. “While we have the safehouse provided by the Hive to use as a home base, we’ll have to work mostly by improvising. We need to find ways to hide in plain sight, avoiding Immortal patrols in the sky and hunters in the street. They might not think we’re crazy enough to come here, but I suspect they’ve upped their patrols to be safe.”
Memories of teal magic shooting across the sky put a sour taste in my mouth. We’d escaped by the skin of our teeth before, and now we were walking into the monster’s jaws.
“Each of you is here on this mission for a reason, and you are all fully capable of doing what you’re here to do. We all know what we have to lose. The safety of vampires, humans, and the very existence of the Mortal and Immortal Planes are at stake.” He purposefully continued to not look at me, but I sensed the emphasis in his pep talk. I’d expressed my doubts about my skill set to him. He wanted to assure me and everyone else that we had what it took to face the Immortals. And maybe we did. We’d made it this far, despite the overwhelming odds.
Nevertheless, a tiny voice of doubt gnawed at me. We were an impressive team—I didn’t question that. But the Immortals had powerful magic and more knowledge than any of us. I didn’t know whether we could match them if it came to a showdown.
“Our first task is to get to the safehouse. We can shelter there and plan our next moves after that,” Dorian said. “Stealth is extremely important for the next leg of our journey. We need to keep their safehouse a secret.”
“So, we’re charging in right now?” Kane raised an eyebrow. Although he leaned toward fighting for fun, even he was tired.
<
br /> Dorian shook his head. “Not quite. None of us slept well on the boat. We’ll walk to the end of the ravine, then take a long rest before we enter the city. Once we leave the ravine, there’s no telling what we’ll encounter.”
This was our last bit of safety before the mission.
I looked back at the river. The harvester had left, vanishing into the mist. I’d barely noticed the funny creature go, propelling his boat through the water with his long paddle. What a strange being. I guessed swallowing souls for survival could have made him that way. After all, when the vampires fed, they saw memories from each dark soul. Perhaps the harvester experienced that, too. That would drive anybody a little mad over time.
Our group started walking, two by two, down the narrow path that clung to the ravine’s wall, the surface slick from the occasional waves that rose up from the river as the water beside us flowed quickly to the waterfall. I fell behind, feeling isolated in my need to manage the pain. I hit the fifteen-foot limit, and the pain eased.
Somewhere inside the bright city ahead, a seedy darkness pulsed like a heartbeat. If the city was a monster, we needed to find the brain. That’s where they made decisions and planned their diabolical strategies. It’s where they would have planned their union with the Bureau, where they decided to begin the extermination of vampires. If the Immortal rulers continued to operate unchecked, the darkness in this plane would continue to grow and spread until it consumed the Mortal Plane, as well. I refused to stand for that. Our friends back home counted on us to do our best here. The future stood before us, perilous and fragile.
Roxy fell in step with me, breaking through my reverie, and flashed me a wicked smile.
“I’m tired of hanging with the vampire squad,” she said in an exaggerated stage whisper, winking playfully. “And maybe I wanted to see if you were okay. Maybe.”
I laughed, unable to help myself. Roxy and I had grown a lot through our experiences together. I used to think she was a loose cannon who had an issue with authority. Now, I would call her both a friend and a valued comrade. I shook my head. “Can you believe how much things have changed?”
“I was just thinking the same.” Her eyes lifted with amusement. “Who knew I would ever find my annoying leader so pleasant?”
I snorted. “You were no angel yourself.”
She waved her hand, buffeting my comeback away. “Nonsense. I’ve always been on my best behavior.”
I scoffed good-naturedly, remembering all the instances when Roxy had decidedly not been on her best behavior. However, for every memory of disobedience, there was a new memory of her support, courage, and determination.
“Thanks for having my back,” I said as we jumped over a small crack in the path, the water bright blue in the space.
She punched me in the shoulder as we drew level once more, trying to be gruff, but I saw the genuine smile in her eyes. “Maybe I should be thanking you for having my back.”
I couldn’t help my smile, hope momentarily drowning out my weariness. We had learned to support each other in ways I hadn’t thought possible. Despite betrayals and the odds being stacked against us, we were still standing together, even stronger for the shared experiences.
Roxy shook her head, her eyes on the unreal colors of Itzarriol lighting the mist up ahead. “I wonder what my siblings would think about this if they could see what I’m seeing now.” Her lips tilted into a small smile. “I hope they’d be proud.”
The journey hadn’t just changed me. It had changed everyone.
“I’m sure they would be,” I said. “I’m proud of you. I’m proud of us.”
She merely grunted in response, but I didn’t miss the flash of delighted surprise in her face before she carefully covered her reaction.
I turned to face the future with her, feeling less alone as I mentally prepared for the days that lay ahead. I touched the cord of the pouch around my neck, feeling Dorian’s stone there. Life consisted of two battles for me: one with our enemies and one within my own relationship. The fact was, I didn’t know what to do about the curse. I hated lacking any solid ideas for a solution.
I had strong feelings for Dorian. Probably even loved him, though I wasn’t quite ready to tell him yet. The curse had thrown a giant supernatural wrench into our plans once again, but I refused to give up. I gritted my teeth as a warm rush of determination flooded my body. It was the same high as adrenaline on the battlefield.
In the privacy of my own thoughts, I let myself consider the possibility that there might not be a good solution to the curse. Eventually, we might have to separate in order to function. Although part of me instinctively shrank away from the idea, I faced the possibility squarely and refused to let go just yet. Despite everything, Dorian and I had come so far.
Before long, we came to the gorge’s end, where the mist cleared. The narrow ravine became a large, flat cliff that overlooked the city. Slipping through the crack, I pulled the scope of my disassembled rifle from my pack and stared out over the cascading water.
The next stage of our journey stretched out before us, menacingly beautiful, glittering with the light of a hundred thousand souls. The swirling colors of the city beckoned to be studied, but the first thing that caught my eye was a flash of red on the outskirts.
“Hunters,” Dorian growled, squinting at the scene. Even with his excellent vision, the details were difficult at this distance.
Roxy pulled out her own scope, taking a quick look before passing it to Dorian. “Two of them, and they’re chasing someone. Can’t see who, though.”
Tracking the flurry of motion, my throat tightened in panic as I saw two hunters mounted on huge velek shooting bolts of magical energy at a dodging figure just a few dozen feet ahead of them. The figure stumbled and fell, stilling for a moment, and I couldn’t stop the small gasp of horror when their slick scout’s cloak fell away.
“Kono,” I whispered, recognizing the vampire by his onyx skin and his short, stocky form, which was unusual for a vampire.
“You know him?” Dorian asked, voice tense as he tried to follow the action through the scope.
Kono got to his feet again, taking off running through long lavender grass and around strange vine-covered shrubs, but the velek were gaining on him.
“Sike and I met him at the Hive,” I said, rage and helplessness warring in my voice as I watched the hunters draw closer, knowing there was nothing I could do without blowing our cover before we’d even reached the city. “He helped us find Echen.”
Roxy snatched the scope from Dorian. “They’re going to catch him,” she pronounced grimly. “He’s exhausted and has nowhere to go.”
“Can’t one of you use your rifle? Take out the hunters?” Kane demanded, half focused on the pursuit and half on trying to find a path down the cliff below us.
Laini put a hand on his arm, tears and anger in her voice. “We can’t go down there, Kane. I want to fight the hunters as much as you do, but we wouldn’t get there in time. And they would call reinforcements from the city.”
We all watched a white blast of energy rip open the ground a few feet from Kono.
“We’d just guarantee our own capture,” Laini finished in a whisper.
“Guns won’t work either,” Roxy said tightly. “It’s too far for accuracy. We’re just as likely to hit him as the hunters. And it would give away our position.”
I winced as one of the velek drew level with Kono, charging into him and knocking him off his feet with a blow from its monstrous horns. By the time he scrambled upright once more, the other hunter had leapt off his mount. He had hundreds of red-and-black braids that almost went down to his knees, and as I watched, a dozen of them shot toward Kono, the tips flashing metallic in the soul-light. There were hooks at the ends of the braids, I realized, hooks that sank deep into the vampire’s arms, torso, and legs. Even from the cliff, we heard Kono’s screams, all of us tensing with anger and despair. The other hunter, a tall female with white hair, white skin, and silver
armor, wrestled a muscled arm around Kono’s neck, the contrast of their skin stark even from this distance. She squeezed, and my stomach churned as I watched his legs flail. He fought for air, his body jerking against the hooks pulling at his flesh. It took several agonizing seconds for him to go limp. I wasn’t sure whether he would be better off alive or dead.
The two hunters congratulated each other, raising a snarl of hatred from Kane. Cutting the braids from his head, the male hunter securely bound Kono, leaving the hooks inside him, before slinging the vampire’s body onto the back of his velek.
As they headed back toward Itzarriol, I lowered my scope, unable to watch more. Looking at my team, we all wore similar masks of guilt and rage. But then an even more dreadful thought occurred to me.
“If they’ve caught Kono,” I said slowly, “then either the hunters have already found the safehouse…”
“Or they’re going to find a way to get that information from him,” Dorian finished grimly. “Either way, our hideout will not be of use to us much longer.”
“I say we camp here long enough to sleep and get our strength back, let the dust kicked up by that mess settle, and go see if the safehouse is still in one piece tomorrow,” Kane murmured. “At the very least, we might be able to warn any other scouts still there that they need to get out. Send them back to the Hive so they know their safehouse isn’t so safe anymore.”
“So we’re going in with no safehouse to use as a base?” Roxy asked. “No Hive allies. No intel about how to move through the city.”
“We can’t turn back now, or we’ll have done all this for nothing,” Laini said. “We’ll just have to be incredibly careful. Keep to the shadows, find somewhere abandoned or out of sight to sleep, and always be on our guard.”
I lifted my scope one last time, catching the last glimpse of Kono draped over the back of the velek as the hunters led their prize into the tangle of Itzarriol’s streets.
Things had just become an awful lot more complicated, but Laini was right.
We couldn’t turn back now.
Darklight 3: Darkworld Page 32
