Dark Goddess

by Amalie Howard

  She drew a few ragged breaths and returned to where Dev sat. He stood, his eyes flicking to the sky. The blue of his tattoos took on an ominous hue, though his eyes remained golden and translucent.

  “I didn’t say that,” he said. “But he is the son of Ra’al, and I do fear that the Demon Lords are plotting. Kyle’s blood remains something that they covet—the one thing that can bridge the space between the realms.”

  “But you made him immortal. He’ll never succumb to them.”

  “The Trimurtas fears that his blood ties are too dangerous, that we—I—have made a mistake in trusting him.”

  “But you didn’t. Kyle is on our side.”

  “One can only hope that Kyle’s will remains strong.” Dev paused, stroking a hand across Sera’s cheek, his eyes suddenly unreadable. “Power can be corrosive. And his greatest weakness has always been where you are concerned.”

  She reared back in shock. A roaring gale whipped around them, but Sera didn’t care about the gathering storm, all she could think about was the bite of Dev’s last sentence. “You think I’m his weakness?”

  “You chose to stay in the Mortal Realm with him.”

  “As a friend.”

  “Unrequited love is the most wounded kind of love. It can transform into bitterness and pain on a whim, breaking the strongest of hearts and conspiring against the strongest of wills.”

  Sera stilled, Dev’s words cutting deep. “Kyle knows that I don’t feel that way about him. He’s moved on.”

  “Has he?”

  She stared at him, her frown tightening as she struggled to make sense of what Dev was saying. She did love Kyle, but he knew it wasn’t that kind of love. Though, she had led him to believe otherwise once. Sera thought back to the kiss they’d shared months before, after her visit to Xibalba had awakened the dark side of her, and she cringed. Drawn to Kyle’s darkness, tangled up in emotions left in the wake of the Dark Realms’ influence, she’d kissed him then.

  A storm of emotions swept through Sera, the ugliest of all of them guilt. She hadn’t meant to lead Kyle on. It’d been instinctual. A one-time thing. And she hadn’t yet known about Dev and who he was to her. God, it was such a mess.

  Lately, Kyle had made a good show of being interested in other girls. But what if what Dev was saying was true . . . that Kyle still hoped for more?

  Kyle understood now that she was bound to Dev. Didn’t he?

  “Love hopes eternal,” Dev said softly, and Sera flushed. “Deep down, he will always put you first, before anyone else.” He paused. “And it’s not just you. We’re not convinced he won’t put other people—even himself—before the good of humanity. The pursuit of power led to Azrath’s fall from grace.”

  The sigil on her right wrist burned in response. She clasped it behind her back, feeling the throb spread up her forearm and into her chest. “How is that my fault?”

  He stepped toward her. “I didn’t say that. But pain and darkness have a unique relationship.”

  “You sound like Yoda,” she said miserably.

  “George Lucas is a genius.” Dev smiled. “Stop doing this to yourself, Sera. It’s not your fault that Kyle loves you. But you asked me to tell you the truth, and I have. Kyle’s conflicted feelings for you present a risk.” He reached for her right arm, bringing it gently between them and studying the glowing red sigil on the heel of her palm. As always, he was careful not to touch it. “You are marked by Xibalba.”

  A single tear trickled out of the corner of her eye. “You told me once that that wasn’t a bad thing.”

  “You are the conduit between all the realms, and darkness will always seek to triumph over light.” Sera’s gaze met his, an odd feeling invading the pit of her stomach as purpose dawned in his eyes. “You have two choices,” Dev said. “You can stay here or come back to Illysia with me.”

  “Illysia?” she stuttered. “I’m marked by the rune of Xibalba. The Trimurtas won’t like that.”

  Dev cleared his throat. “Well . . . yes. You would be a risk to the wards that protect the Light Realms. You would likely be sequestered. For your own safety . . . as well as Illysia’s.”

  “Sequestered.” The word felt like a pair of shackles. “You mean locked away. Quarantined, like I’m some kind of disease.”

  “Not quite,” he replied gently. “You would be an honored guest. My guest.”

  Sera laughed, the sound hollow and devoid of humor. “So, let me get this straight. You want to put me in a cell, far away from Kyle, so I can’t cause him to make the wrong choices. Indefinitely.”

  “Not indefinitely. It’s a precaution.”

  “Until when?”

  “Until we can resolve the situation.”

  Another burst of disbelieving laughter crossed her lips. For sixteen years of her life, she’d been an absolute nobody. And now she’d suddenly become responsible for the future of the entire world. “Don’t they teach gods that a person is responsible for their own actions? Locking me up for an eternity is not the answer.”

  “But it does remove you from the equation.”

  She eyed him shrewdly. “Are you sure that’s all it is? Or is the green-eyed monster rearing its head?”

  A muscle leaped in his jaw. “I want you to be safe.”

  “In Illysia?” she scoffed. “Where I’m not wanted. Where I’m away from my family. Is my mother okay with this?”

  “She’s the one who suggested it.”

  Sera’s heart sank. Of course Sophia had. She’d always had it out for Kyle. No matter what he did—even though he’d saved the world—he’d never be good enough for them. Rage made warmth from the sigil on her hand flare up her entire arm, until a shower of blood-red flames sprouted around her.

  Dev groaned in pain as her hellfyre scorched his immortal skin. But Sera couldn’t help it. Her entire body vibrated with the fury consuming her. The earth below cracked as the river water turned to molten lava and rocks crumbled off the cliff face. Her entire world was as angry and vengeful as the one in her head.

  “You’re jealous of Kyle,” she said. “Admit it.”

  “No.”

  His calm response made her anger surge. “Well maybe you should be, Dev.” Despite his indifference, she watched some emotion interrupt the serenity on his face, and she felt a gloating satisfaction take hold of her. It drew the words from her mouth. “Maybe I should be with Kyle. At least he would give a crap if his girlfriend was into someone else.”

  “Sera, this isn’t you talking.”

  She laughed through a sudden rush of tears. “Of course it’s me. It’s the part you all fear, isn’t it? The part that wants you to lock me away in a prison while someone else decides whether to bring on the end of the world or not. Thanks, but no thanks. I’ll take my chances with the demons.”

  He reached for her. “Sera—”

  “I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “You cannot.”

  This time, she stepped toward him, engulfing him in her flaming aura. Dev grimaced, but he didn’t move. She could see the pain flickering in his eyes. Ice-white and gold deifyre burst from him to form a protective shroud. They stood there for an eternity, just watching each other while the world erupted in fire and brimstone around them.

  “I love you, Serjana,” Dev whispered, breaking the spell of silence, “but you must do what you feel is right. And if that means giving your heart to Kyle, then I can only accept that, and wait for you to return to me. That is my karma.”

  “You’d let me go. To him.”

  He shook his head somberly. “My heart will never release yours, but I cannot control what you choose to do.”

  Of course he wouldn’t. Hot shame flooded her. No wonder they didn’t want her in Illysia. She would probably contaminate them with her stupidity. The flames around her receded, and the skies cleared and parted.

  Her voice broke on a sob as she stepped into Dev’s waiting arms. “I’m sorry.”

  “You have nothing to be sorry for.”<
br />
  “I do. I’m a moron.”

  Dev’s smile was crooked. “I forgive you for your temporary lapse in common sense.”

  Sera laughed, then wept into his shirt as he soothed her by rubbing slow circles on her back and kissing along her hairline. After a while, she felt herself start to calm. She pressed a kiss to his lips. She was ashamed of her behavior, but it didn’t change her mind.

  She took a fortifying breath. “I love you, too, Dev. But I can’t be a prisoner—not here, and not in Illysia. There’s no way I’m abandoning my family or my friends.”

  “I thought you would say as much,” he said with a wry expression. “But I had to ask.”

  She blinked her surprise. “Then what now?”

  Dev’s eyes were grim. “We do what we were created to do—we protect the mortals as best as we can—from whatever is coming.”

  “And what do you think that is?” she asked, a pulse of fear making a cold sweat break out on her shoulders. “Please tell me, Dev, I have to know. You can’t protect me from this by keeping me in the dark.”

  “I know.” He nodded, blowing out a breath. “The Trimurtas fears that the demon Ra’al summoned was only the beginning,” he explained. “That the influx of demons is the start of a plague, heralding the end of the world.”

  “So that’s why Kali thought that wiping out the Mortal Realm was the answer.”

  Dev’s face was solemn. “It might still be. For all we know, it’s already too late to save them.”

  LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON

  The sky was gray and overcast, lending a frigid bite to the early evening air as Kyle cruised to a stop in front of Ne’feri headquarters. Swearing under his breath, he hunched his shoulders forward, tucked his jacket around himself, and cursed his car’s broken heater. You’d think with all the demons plaguing the Mortal Realm, it’d be a few degrees hotter. But he’d learned that demons didn’t run hot. Hell did, but demons themselves were great at adapting to their surroundings . . . especially when they wanted to go undetected.

  He stared at the ominous building in front of him. It had once been a monastery, but now it was the secret meeting place of the Ne’feri Order. The massive, wooden front doors were closed, and the crumbling structure looked deserted. But looks were deceiving. Kyle swallowed, sighed, and stepped out of his car. His presence would not be welcome here.

  “Get used to it,” he whispered harshly to himself. “It’s not like you’re ever going to fit in.” He drew himself tall and pushed open the doors.

  Conversation in the great hall petered out as every eye fell on him. Kyle blinked, feeling the colossal rush of energies pushing toward him in a wave. There was so much heavenly power in this room that it made him lightheaded. And that wasn’t even counting the strength of the hundred or so mortal Ne’feri.

  The room was full of immortals. Powerful immortals: Sanrak deities, protectors of the Trimurtas; Yoddha deities, warriors of Illysia; Daevas, guardians of the mortals; and the eminent leaders themselves, the Trimurtas. Except . . . there were only two of the three Trimurtas present—Dev and another boy Kyle didn’t recognize.

  “Hey,” Sera said in a low voice, appearing at his side. “You look dazed.”

  Kyle shook his head to clear it. “There’s a lot of power here.” He sucked a lungful of air into tight lungs. “I’m not going to be the only one who can sense such a strong shift in the balance. Demons will be drawn to it.”

  She nodded. “We know. Come on, we’re about to start.”

  The crowd parted as he walked in Sera’s wake. Most of those in attendance bowed to her, though they cast wary glances in his direction. Kyle’s eyes slid to the commanding figure at the far end of the room. Dev looked much like the boy who had lived next door to Sera for several months—dark-haired and dressed in yellow, with a plethora of blue tattoo art coloring his limbs. As much as Kyle wanted to hate the one who held Sera’s heart, he couldn’t. He had been given a second chance because of Dev.

  Kyle bowed as Sera led him to Dev’s end of the room, which pulsed with bright, luminescent energy. “Lord Devendra,” he said in greeting.

  “Kyle,” Dev said, clapping him on the back. “It’s good to see you again.”

  “It’s been a while.”

  A wry smile shaped Dev’s lips. “In truth, I’d hoped it would be longer.”

  “Yeah, me too.”

  Dev nodded. “Peace, it appears, is elusive.” He paused as a tall boy exuding tremendous energy, moved to stand beside them. “This is Lord Taran,” Dev added.

  Kyle sucked in a breath as he assessed the boy’s energy, understanding dawning on him. Taran, he ascertained, was the current mortal avatar of choice for Lord Shiva, the second Trimurtas deity.

  He looked the same age as Dev, but Kyle knew that this god, like Dev, was ageless. His human shade was that of a pale boy with matted, dark hair secured into a knot at his crown, a crescent moon comb holding it in place. Black ash smeared his cheeks and bare shoulders, and a tattoo of blue-green cobras, far lighter than Dev’s vivid skin art, wound around his neck.

  Kyle blinked at the third eye that winked in and out of sight between the boy’s slanted, black eyebrows, and realized that he could only see it because of his innate ability to see cosmic energies. None of the other mortals here would be able to see the god’s extra eye, unless he intended it to be so.

  A shiver climbed up Kyle’s spine. As compassionate and benevolent as the god appeared, he knew that Taran was capable of destroying the entire world. Shiva was known as the Destroyer. And he was here. Now. Which meant the world was at its end—or nearing it.

  His eyes scanned the crowd. If Shiva was here, then Kira and Darika would be as well. He almost rolled his eyes at the thought. What was it about his luck? He always seemed to have a thing for girls who were spoken for. Then again, Kira hadn’t seemed too stressed about it.

  “Hey,” Taran said in a jovial voice that was at odds with his calm exterior, clapping a hand on Kyle’s shoulder. “I have heard a lot about you.”

  “Thanks . . . I think.”

  “Dev fought for your return to the mortal realm. Our decision was not unanimous. Though I had other concerns, I agreed to give you a second chance. And yet I fear that I may have been too lenient.”

  “Well, I hope to prove you wrong,” Kyle said, a lump forming in his throat. Did Taran mean to banish him, then? Take away the immortality he had bestowed?

  The god’s third eye burned for an intense second, stripping past Kyle’s walls to his private thoughts. For an unconscionable moment, Kyle had the biggest urge to call forth Mordas, if only in self-defense. But summoning a sword forged in the fires of Xibalba in a room full of Illysia’s deities would not be wise. He was already on everyone’s hit list as it was. Taran’s third eye winked out of sight and he grinned widely, as if reading Kyle’s thoughts.

  “We shall see, won’t we?” Taran said over his shoulder as he stepped past Kyle toward the center of the room. He clapped his hands, drawing the attention of everyone in the hall. “Let’s begin.”

  “Excuse me,” Dev said with a short bow. His eyes met Sera’s for a long moment before he leaned in to kiss her cheek, squeezing her arm reassuringly. “It will be okay. Trust me.”

  “What was that about?” Kyle asked with a frown as the meeting began, Taran and Dev addressing the group.

  “The meeting could go one of two ways,” Sera whispered, “and neither option is good.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Sera stared grimly at him, taking his hand and steering him to a quieter corner of the room, out of hearing of anyone close by. Not that that really mattered—the deities could hear whatever they chose to. Sera’s mother’s gaze flicked to them, a small smile gracing her lips as her eyes met Kyle’s. The compassion in them rocked him. He’d always felt Sophia was against him, but now it felt like she was trying to give him strength . . . like she was on his side.

  Oddly, it did not make him feel any better. If she w
as on his side, then whatever opposed him must be bad. More than bad.

  “Either everyone dies,” Sera said with a swallow. “Or you . . . go.”

  A heavy sensation fell across his shoulders. Kyle wasn’t sure it was because of what Sera said or something else. He blinked, processing her words. “Go where?”

  “The Ne’feri think the demons are waiting for you to help them.”

  “Me? That’s a stretch.”

  “I think so, too,” Sera agreed. “But there are many Ne’feri who believe otherwise, and they think that banishing you is the only way to save the Mortal Realm. They were the ones who called this meeting.”

  “Who, exactly?”

  “Beth and her family, for one, but there are others. And there is dissent among the Trimurtas themselves.”

  Kyle’s heart sank. He should have guessed it would be the Davenports. He had compelled Beth months before when he’d been facing off against a Sanrak—Sera’s mother—and one very pissed-off Yoddha. Compulsion was a demon ability; one he hadn’t known he’d possessed until he’d coerced Beth into shielding him from a Yoddha’s assault with her body. He hadn’t meant to do it, of course, but the fact was, he had. Because he was part demon. And now it seemed that Beth wanted revenge.

  “I’m sorry,” Sera said softly, watching his face. “But I thought you would want to know.”

  “If they want to banish me, why am I even here?” he asked, though he already knew the answer. If the vote went that way, Taran would strip him of his powers then and there. And there would be nothing he could do about it.

  “If it makes you feel any better, Dev doesn’t agree.”

  Kyle shrugged. “He’s fought on my behalf before. It’s not going to work a second time. Not for me, right? Son of the devil?”

  “Stop,” Sera said, closing the gap between them to put her arms around him. The soft glow of her energy encircled him, too, soothing the violent storm of emotions brewing inside him.

  He felt hot. And angry. Hadn’t he done enough to prove his worth? To prove that he wasn’t the bastard they all assumed he was? Hadn’t he given his life to defend the Ne’feri? No matter what he did, he would never be good enough. They would never trust him. With each thought, his anger swelled, the force of it buffeting against Sera’s strength. Waves of boiling heat radiated off him.