Dark Goddess

by Amalie Howard

  What Jem had said earlier, about the portals going two ways, had to be a mistake. Kyle banished rakshasas, he didn’t release them.

  “Take me,” Sam said to Jem, his hands going wide. “It’s me you want, isn’t it?”

  Pure rage suffused Jem’s face, spit flying from his mouth. “I want you to suffer for what you’ve done to my family. What you took from us. What you took from me.”

  “Vik was wrong,” Sam said. “He knew the consequences of his choices.”

  “So you kicked him out of the Order?”

  Sam shook his head. “I didn’t kick him out. He took the life of his opponent, another Ne’feri. That alone was punishable by death. I counseled him to leave the Order, for the sake of his family.”

  “The shame followed us.”

  “That was on your father, son, not you,” Sam said gently.

  Vitriolic laughter erupted from Jem’s mouth. “I’m not your son. And I’ve done far worse things than he ever did. He was grateful when I finally put him out of his misery. You know the saying better to reign in hell than serve in heaven? Well, it’s true.”

  “You are wrong.”

  “Dad,” Sera whispered. “He killed them all. Uncle Vik, all of them. He’s with Temlucus.”

  Sam paled, his hands falling to his sides. Jem watched him as if he were nothing but a mouse caught in a trap. “Lord Temlucus told me about you—about what you used to be. And now look at you, a shell of your former self. You’re pathetic. And there’s nothing you or anyone else can do to stop me.”

  Kyle waited, his body coiled and tense, watching Sera carefully. He was the closest to Nate, who slumped unconscious in the vetala’s arms. Once Sera gave him the signal, he would do everything he could to save the boy. Disgust curled in his belly as his eyes flicked to Sophia, whose body was ravaged with the poison from the whip. He’d seen the weapon at its worst when Jude and his Preta minions had used it to bind immortals to the earth so they could steal deifyre from their bodies. As a powerful Sanrak, Sophia wouldn’t die. But the pain had to be excruciating.

  “Let my brother go,” Sera said.

  “I’m afraid I can’t do that. Promises and all. The three of you are going to have to come with me.” Kyle’s eyes met his at those words. Jem grinned at him. “Oh, Lord Ra’al has wonderful plans for you, Kalias.”

  “That’s not my name,” he ground out. “And I’d do as Sera says.”

  “Why?”

  Sera’s lips flattened. “I don’t want to have to hurt you.”

  “You forget that I know you, Sera. You won’t do a thing, not while your mother and your brother are in danger,” Jem said, eyeing her. “At least that protective instinct hasn’t changed. Now, weapons down, or you lose two family members. Your choice.”

  But before Sera could do anything, a blinding flash detonated at the far end of the room, causing Kyle to shield his eyes. In the same moment, Jem lunged toward Sera’s father. The heel of the whip caught Sam squarely in the side of the head, even as the tentacles lanced toward Kyle like the head of a Hydra. He tightened his hand around Mordas and slashed wildly at the serpentine feelers.

  Kyle’s eyes readjusted and he realized that someone else was in the room—another immortal presence. For a second, he thought it was Kira, and then realized that it was Darika. In her goddess form she was as fierce as Kira, though far less spectacular. Kyle felt an odd twinge in the pit of his stomach and frowned. Disappointment, maybe.

  “Stop,” Sera shouted to Darika as Jem dove toward where the vetala crouched. “He has my brother. And my mom.”

  Darika met Kyle’s eyes grimly and nodded. “Do it now! The boy must not be harmed.”

  She’d come for Nate. Gritting his teeth, Kyle knelt and pounded his fist against the floor, chanting swiftly as a portal appeared beneath his palm. It was easy to cleave the vetala from Stella’s body before banishing it back to Xibalba, but what he hadn’t counted on was the sheer number of demons pouring from the brief opening.

  As if they’d been waiting . . .

  Jem had been right.

  Darika was a blur as she destroyed the ones in her reach, as was Sera, who stood protectively in front of her mother and father, her weapons spinning with fiery accuracy. Nate lay in a motionless heap beside the exorcized body of his friend. And only Jem stood in Kyle’s way.

  “Close it!” Sera shouted. “How is this possible? Since when do your portals go both ways?”

  “I don’t know,” Kyle panted.

  But they had way worse things to worry about.

  Kyle dodged one of the barbed tips of the Ifricaius shooting toward him. He sealed the portal and stood to face off against Jem. Only now, a hazy cloud surrounded Jem. Black veins pushed from his skin, a row of spines appearing along his shoulders. His eyes were red and bulbous, indicative of the pishacha that had now taken up residence in his body. This wasn’t a simple possession. Jem was a willing host who had offered his mortal body as a vessel to one of the demons that had just come through the portal. It wasn’t symbiotic. It was something worse.

  “Darika,” he shouted, his eyes darting to where the goddess was fending off a dozen vetala. “You need to get Nate out of here.” Jem screamed his rage, but could do nothing but stare at Kyle with baleful eyes, his covetous gaze dropping to Mordas in his palms. Kyle noticed the direction of his glare. “I’m sure you’ve heard about this little blade. Your weapon is no match for it. Nor is the demon you’re currently making out with in there.”

  “You don’t deserve it,” Jem snarled. “Lord Ra’al said it would be mine.”

  “My father loves to make promises he can’t keep.” Kyle hefted the blade in his hand. “But if you want it, come and take it.”

  Jem rushed him, the demon within giving him extra strength and speed. Kyle brought Mordas up to meet the six-pronged whip flying toward him. Steel smashed steel as his blade severed one of the heads, which quickly regrew. Kyle swung upward and down again, his arms aching from the effort of opposing the six heads of the Ifricaius. He’d forgotten how much he hated the ugly weapon.

  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Darika dash toward Nate and drag him over to where Sera and her parents were. The two goddesses squared off against a burgeoning horde as more demons appeared. They weren’t the vetala from before. These were varied in size and savagery. Nor did they have human hosts.

  Kyle faltered in surprise. There was no way that so many of them could have come through the last portal in one fell swoop. No, these had to have been among the demons that had come to the Mortal Realm before . . . the ones that had been waiting.

  “Kyle!” The warning was Darika’s.

  He snapped to attention and deflected one of the tips of the whip from burrowing into the side of his head. Ducking low, he kicked Jem’s legs from under him, sending the Preta weapon skidding across the floor. The boy scrambled to his feet and staggered toward the whip.

  Kyle gripped Mordas, torn. He had a choice—he could end Jem’s life then and there, or he could get Sera and Darika to safety. But he couldn’t do both. Snarling in frustration, he leaped over the sofa and joined the two goddesses in their battle. Mordas ripped through demon after demon, but the surge was unstoppable.

  “There’s too many of them,” Sera panted, glancing down at her parents. “And Mom’s fading fast.”

  “We need to split up,” Kyle said as he speared a freakish demon that looked like a bat-balloon hybrid. Gore splattered over them.

  “That’s not an option.”

  He grunted and slashed wildly at two more demons flanking him. “Let Darika take Sophia and Nate back to Illysia. You can get your dad to the Ne’feri. And I’ll stay and take care of him.” He met Sera’s eyes. “They want you, not me. Even if they get me, I’m just payback for Ra’al. You need to get your brother somewhere safe, Sera. If Temlucus went so far to get him, he must somehow be the key in all of this. You saw what he can do.”

  Her eyes narrowed at him as she considered what he was s
aying. Finally, she nodded. “Fine, but if you die, I’m not coming to find you.”

  “You said that last time.”

  She slashed viciously through a slug-looking demon. “Well, now I mean it.”

  Kyle made a fist and beckoned the portal that would take Darika to Illysia. His eyes met hers, a thousand emotions reflected there. She was covered in filth and blood and gore, but none of that could disguise her inner light. He felt that strange pang again, as if something were missing, but now wasn’t the time to dwell on residual emotions.

  “Go,” he told her. “And be safe.”

  “You, too.” She grabbed Sophia and Nate, and they vanished through the portal. A couple of demons tried to follow, but they were incinerated by the celestial wards that defended the Light Realms. For a moment, Kyle wondered what would happen if he expanded the portal to kill every one of the demons in the room. It would likely wound him as well. He’d already learned what goddess power did when Mordas was in his hands. And there was no telling what it would do to Sera, who was still bound to all three realms.

  He bared his teeth at Jem, who stood a few feet away, Ifricaius in hand. “Time to finish this.”

  “Kyle,” Sera cried. “Come with me.”

  “What are you waiting for? Get Sam out of here,” he shouted over his shoulder as he vaulted over the coffee table, disemboweling the last of the demons below him with one well-calculated movement of his blade. He didn’t wait to see if she did as he asked, but ran hell-bent toward Jem. He crashed into the boy and they slammed into a nearby bookcase, sending all the books flying.

  One of the whip’s tentacles wound around his wrist, the barbs burrowing into his flesh like steel maggots. He screamed at the hot blast of pain rocketing up his arm and Mordas clattered to the floor. Jem lunged for it, but Kyle threw his knee into the other boy’s gut and crashed his shoulder into the wall with his free hand.

  But either he had miscalculated or he’d misjudged Jem’s strength; the boy twisted out of Kyle’s grip and heaved his body over his back. The air was smacked out of him as two more tentacles dug into his body, making his spine arch like a reed in the wind. In some dark corner of his mind, Kyle knew that it would be nothing compared to the agony that Sophia had felt. He was an Azura Lord and this was an Azura weapon.

  It burned like the fires of hell.

  Hissing through his teeth, he wrapped his fingers around the whip and ripped it from Jem’s hands. The barbed tips came away with chunks of flesh from his thighs and torso, but Kyle didn’t stop. A growl tore from his mouth as he freed himself of the weapon. Power and pain merged into one beast roaring to life within him.

  Jem’s eyes widened and he scrambled to get Mordas. He reached for the sword and screamed his frustration as the sword disappeared, only to reappear in Kyle’s hands. “I thought I told you that Mordas belongs to me.”

  “Doesn’t matter,” Jem said, his eyes rolling back as if the demon inside was communicating something to him. “It’s already done.”

  “What’s done?” Sera blurted out.

  Kyle shot her an exasperated look. She never did anything she was supposed to. “I told you to get somewhere safe. Where’s Sam?”

  “He’s with Mara and Dev,” she said quickly. “They’re convening the Ne’feri.”

  “Those pathetic humans can’t help you.” Jem’s tone was jeering. “Not against what’s coming.”

  Sera inched carefully forward, no weapons in sight. Kyle started, but she stalled him with a slight frown. She spread her palms wide. “Jem,” she pleaded, “if you’re in there, it’s not too late to do the right thing.”

  “If I’m in here?” he mocked. “Who exactly do you think this is, if not me?”

  “You’ve been coerced by Temlucus. He’ll betray you.”

  Jem laughed, the sound an echo of something Kyle had heard before. Warning signals rang in his brain. “You silly girl. Lord Temlucus won’t betray me.”

  “He will.”

  “No, Serjana, he won’t.”

  The use of her full name had Kyle on alert even as the boy’s face shifted. Kyle blinked, using his other sight to see the pishacha lengthening its hulking form into something long and lean and imminently recognizable. Burning ember eyes scorched into his. The indistinct shadow was tethered to Jem’s flesh by stringy tendrils.

  “Temlucus,” he whispered.

  “In the flesh, as they say,” the boy’s lips spat.

  “What?” Sera said, raising disbelieving eyes to him. “How?”

  Kyle forestalled her. “It’s not him,” he said. “It’s a projection of him inside your friend. The pishacha is his conduit.” He paused as brittle understanding flooded him. “That’s why he wanted Nate so badly.”

  “Nate, why?”

  “Because Jem’s mortal body is failing, and without him, Temlucus cannot exist in this dimension. Remember what Nate did for me after Mordas? Nate’s power extends beyond this realm. He can fortify anything that is dying.” His eyes met Sera’s. “Anything.”

  “Clever boy,” Temlucus cheered. “But no matter. This body will last long enough to see us through.”

  “But why Jem?” Sera blurted out.

  “You already know why,” Temlucus said, waving a hand across Jem’s body. “Tortured soul bent on revenge, a willing vessel, existing ties to this family. That is and will always be your greatest weakness, Serjana—your trust in the nature of humanity.” His spectral eyes shifted to Kyle. “You sensed something early on, but you’ve always followed her like a sheep. No true son of Ra’al would be so pitiable. Or so weak-willed.” His lips stretched wide. “You will fail, as you have failed at everything else in your useless life.”

  Kyle swung Mordas in a swift upward arc before his arm met resistance. He blinked to see Sera’s forearm blocking his. She shook her head.

  “Stop. You can’t kill him. It’s still Jem in there,” she said, her gaze narrowing on Temlucus, who hadn’t so much as flinched at the deadly sword swinging toward him. It was almost as if he’d expected it. Kyle thought he’d be beyond baiting from any of the Demon Lords, but obviously not.

  His hand shook as it dropped to his side at that thought, realizing how close he’d come to killing a human. Despicable as Jem might be, he was still mortal and—until his soul crossed—potentially redeemable.

  “The Trimurtas will stop whatever it is you’re doing,” Sera said, her hand resting against Kyle’s as if she didn’t quite trust him not to cleave Jem’s head from his body. “Didn’t you learn your lesson the last time?”

  Temlucus smiled. “Last time we put our faith in the wrong leader.”

  The wrenching sensation in Kyle’s center was instant. His back jerked ramrod straight, his cells awash with sensation, as if his skin was being separated from the rest of his body. “Do you feel that?” he whispered.

  Sera blinked, going still. “I felt something.”

  “Demons,” Kyle breathed. “Thousands of them. So many I can feel it from here—a shift in the balance of the realms.”

  “Where?”

  “If I had to guess, I’d say the high school.”

  Their eyes converged on Temlucus, but Jem’s face was inexpressive, resuming its natural coloring as the demon within him relinquished its hold. Jem slumped to the ground.

  “Temlucus is gone,” Kyle said, making sure that all traces of the demon were no longer there. “What do we do with him?”

  “Take him with us,” Sera said. “We can’t leave him here.”

  They raced to Kyle’s car. He glanced at her as they secured Jem in the back seat and bound both his hands and feet. They weren’t taking any chances that he’d wake up and do something stupid. “You need to let Dev and the others know,” Kyle said.

  Sera frowned as she slid into the passenger seat. “This doesn’t feel right,” she said. “Like it’s a trick or something.”

  “It probably is. But we can’t take the chance that thousands of kids are going to die at those demons’ h
ands,” he said, slamming on the accelerator. “They want us to come. And we can’t not go.”

  Their eyes met, and Sera nodded. “Why Silver Lake High?”

  “Burial grounds,” Kyle said. “The ones we saw in the basement. I felt the shift in the fabric between realms when we were there after the vetala appeared. Like something was welling up beneath the surface.”

  She stared at him. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

  “I didn’t think that the vetala there would be protecting something far worse,” he said, raking a hand through his curls.

  “Worse like what?”

  He drew a breath. “Like a fissure between the realms. I thought it was an old portal or something, but maybe I was wrong.”

  “A fissure,” she echoed, her eyes going wide with alarm.

  “Yeah.” He nodded more firmly. “Otherwise, what were they doing there?”

  “Could you be wrong?”

  “Always a chance.”

  The school building loomed into view. It looked normal from the outside. The parking lot was full of cars but empty of people. Even the air around them was deadly still. There were no birds, no noises, no nothing. The silence was eerie. Unearthly. Gooseflesh puckered the skin of Kyle’s arms, and from the look on Sera’s face, she was feeling as uneasy as he was.

  “Can you sense anything?” she asked. “Are they inside?”

  Kyle concentrated, pushing his awareness outward until he felt the thrum of darkness. Once it caught him, it gripped his consciousness hard, sucking it toward the center of the building. It was like a scene out of a horror movie—students lined up in neat rows, their eyes vacant and their faces stricken in terror. His breath deserted him at the thick, eddying mass of dark energy surrounding the comatose occupants like a swarm of angry hornets. One by one, each body was filled until nothing of the mass remained. They turned in unison toward him, their faces holding identical rictus grins.