by K.N. Lee
This was the night when he could finally return home
He felt heavy-hearted. He thought he would feel excited. Instead, as the car pulled up to the Colony, he felt only dread. He did not want to do what he set out for. When the car stopped, he saw that the guards were not at their posts.
He sighed. “It has begun,” he said under his breath. He took out his infinity gun and stepped out of the car. He looked up at the sky and really took it all in. The moon was so bright on this night. There were no clouds. There was no rain. All he heard was the buzzing of nature. Then, he heard the bone-chilling screams.
Halston slammed the car door shut, set his face in determination, and shot the first vampire that came running out of the doors. She was young and beautiful, and covered in blood already. Halston shot his infinity gun and ended her screams and pleads for help.
He watched her fall, and stepped over her body to enter the castle. He walked through the castle like that for what seemed an eternity. Grim-faced as he killed every vampire in sight, without prejudice, without mercy.
Halston checked his watch. Greggan should be making his grand entrance soon. He crunched on broken glass and slid across the room a few feet in the spilled blood. The bodies were piled up as his infinity gun made its rounds through every black heart in the ballroom.
The smell of blood was so strong. Halston was tired of dealing with it. He was ready for this era of blood fiends to end.
The scream of the infinity bullet filled his ears. Once every vampire was dead, it returned to its resting place in the barrel of his gun. He stood there for a moment, listening to the sound of peaceful silence. There were no gurgles, cries, or second transformations. When the infinity gun did its work, there was no second chance. There was nothing but death.
Halston closed his eyes and spread his arms as his angelic shield ignited. The power of the sun emitted from his body and turned all of the gore and vampire remains into ash.
“Jesus Christ,” Halston heard a voice call from behind. His eyes opened and he froze.
It was not the voice he was waiting for.
Halston turned around and watched in confusion as Bund entered the room. Bund looked different. He wasn’t haggard, or disheveled. He’d actually dressed up for the occasion. The demon actually looked decent.
Halston knew then that he had been tricked. Bund had finally given up his convenient disguise of ignorant bliss. Halston’s jaw tightened. He’d always known Bund’s true self would come back eventually.
Bund gave Halston a look of almost-genuine surprise. “You sure know how to ruin a party, Halston.” He covered his mouth in mock sadness. “I mean… my god. We need to get you to counseling, brother.”
Halston balled up his fist. “Where is Greggan?”
Bund’s eyes widened. He sucked in a deep breath as if he was about to give a long speech, instead he shrugged. “Dead.”
Halston looked down at the ashy floor.
“Next question,” Bund said.
Halston glared at him. “What are you doing?”
Bund cracked a grin. “Beating you, brother.”
Halston darted across the room towards him and shoved him to the floor.
Bund slid on his back and laughed the entire time. “Whee!” He shouted gleefully. “Come on, brother, let’s play!”
Halston’s breaths sped up. He ran his hand through his hair. What was happening?
“Stop calling me brother! We are not brothers anymore, and never will be again.” Halston pointed his infinity gun at Bund as he came back to his feet.
Bund’s smile faded as he looked at the gun. He gave Halston an awed look. “This is it? Your only weapon? Pitiful.”
Halston began to speak but Bund raised a hand to silence him. He looked off into the distance and started to hover off the ground.
“Sorry, Halston, dear boy. But I’ve been collecting souls for centuries. You might as well turn around and walk away. You will never be as strong as me.” He laughed at the look on Halston’s face. “This was fun though. Truly priceless, but you see, I have business to tend to,” he grinned at Halston and the world seemed to go still for them both. “I have a half-blood to torture and her soul to eat.”
Halston’s eyes widened and Bund flew away, through the wall, and to his only love.
Halston was frozen for a moment. He didn’t know where to go, or what to do. Bund had his Koa, and he was defenseless against him. He looked at his infinity gun and said a prayer. There was only one thing he could do.
Halston felt a tear trail down his face.
He would not be returning home on this night.
47
Halston raced through the castle, searching. He found his way to the lower levels and ignored the persistent calls his watch was giving him.
Micka’s face came up as a hologram. “Halston! Where are you? I have the hourglass!”
Halston paused. “Where are you?”
Micka’s image looked around. “I don’t know. Still near the entrance.”
Halston closed his eyes in annoyance. “Bloody useless,” he said under his breath. He changed direction and flew back the way he had come.
“Maybe if you would have told me what this was for, I would be more useful to you!” Micka fumed. Her image vanished for a second.
Halston almost stopped flying to call her back but he didn’t have the time. Her image popped back up after only a moment. Her face was even angrier. “Pardon me,” she said. “I took out the guards.”
Halston didn’t reply. He needed that hourglass. His head pounded. Sweat beaded on his forehead and dripped from his face.
He hated changing plans at the last second.
When Halston reached Micka, he held his hand out and she dropped the hourglass in his hands. She tapped her feet as she looked him up and down. She on the other hand, still looked immaculate in her green ball gown.
“Looks like I’m a little late,” she said and folded her arms.
She nodded to the hourglass as Halston simply stood there staring at it.
“Dear Father,” Halston whispered.
Micka unfolded her arms. She put a hand on Halston’s shoulder and leaned over to get a look at his face. “What’s wrong, Halston?”
She stumbled backwards when he opened the hourglass from the bottom and poured the contents into his mouth. Hundreds of vampire souls flooded Halston’s body.
Micka crawled backwards, away from him, in horror. She looked at him as if she looked upon a ghost. Her lips trembled. Tears filled her eyes. “Halston, no,” she cried.
Halston’s face twisted in despair and he fell to his knees.
Micka came to her feet. She shook her head and tears flung off her cheeks. “I can’t watch this. You’re on your own now,” she said and shot into the sky.
Halston truly did feel alone at that moment. He buried his face in his hands.
48
Halston let the light shed from his body as he made it to the den. He walked there, fighting the pain, as the transformation began.
He stood in the archway and saw Koa’s body hanging by its feet, against the far wall.
Bund was there. Jax and Evina were chained to one another and screamed from the inside of the fire pit.
Tristan was held immobile by the hellion named Trinity, the only creature strong enough to keep his dear friend prisoner.
There was no turning back now, even if Halston wanted to. Seeing Koa thrash in pain. He did not want to. He wanted to kill Bund and save Koa.
Halston’s hair, once blonde, became darker, until it was black as night. Pain no longer existed, for his rage and sorrow took over completely. He was tormented by the fact that he was giving up his last chance for redemption, his last chance to go home. It made him fall to his knees.
Halston’s heart was broken, and so he let it turn cold and black. The blackness and the evil, seeped through his skin. His veins turned black and covered his face and he clenched his jaw as the black flames of hell con
sumed him and completed the transformation. He balled up his fists and closed his bright blue eyes.
The black flames licked and danced wildly around his body, cleansing him of all purity. They claimed his goodwill and power, and replaced it with something darker. The power of evil burned itself into his skin. It raced through his blood and etched itself onto his bones.
Halston opened his eyes and revealed a pool of black. When he stood, all sounds returned at full force, and he was no longer an angel.
Bund turned from Koa as Halston entered the large den.
Halston stepped over bodies. He kicked some aside.
Bund frowned. “What happened to you?” Realization hit Bund and it showed all over his skinny face. His jaw fell.
Bund started to stutter. “G-g-good move, brother. I didn’t know you actually had it in you.” His face became nonchalant. “How many did you have anyway? Souls, that is?”
Halston was the one to grin now, cruelly, evilly. “At least a hundred.”
Bund nodded. “Nice. I’m impressed.”
Halston’s grin widened. “At least a hundred vampire souls.” He raised a brow.
Bund swallowed. His face couldn’t have gone any whiter.
“Those are the most powerful, right?”
Bund removed the dagger from Koa’s belly, licked it clean, and stabbed it back in.
“Well, now. That’s right. You know what, Halston? We are brothers again,” Bund said with his arms outstretched. “We’re no longer enemies. We are brothers in darkness, you and I.”
Halston closed his eyes at the truth in Bund’s words.
He had completed the transformation. It was final.
Halston was a demon.
What happened next was a sight to behold.
Halston ripped his infinity gun from its holster and black flames covered the once-silver steel that had become black. The infinity bullet growled. Halston’s eyes fell on Bund and all of his repressed hate filled his gaze until Bund stepped back.
“Now, tell me where Koa’s mother is,” Halston ordered calmly. He’d never felt so powerful in his entire existence.
“With Lera.” Bund held his arms out. “Wait until you see her. My creation. You’ll be so proud. Come, now, brother,” Bund called.
Halston raised a brow. “I have no brothers, or sisters, or any family.” He stepped forward and Bund held his hands up in surrender. There was something sinister in Halston’s voice. Something unearthly that Bund had never heard come from the good and pure Halston.
Halston glanced over at Koa and felt a strange sensation flood his body. There she was, completely ignorant to what had happened because of her. Blissfully unaware, as always. A selfish little girl had stolen his heart. That feeling that filled his body didn’t last long, for the rage returned and ignited his once-angelic shield. No longer golden and pure, his shield had become gray, with red sparks flying around his body.
Bund hurried to ignite his own, but it sputtered and fizzled the moment Halston raised his hand and bared his teeth. He sucked the power right out of Bund’s shield with one flick of his wrist. He let Bund’s shield merge with his own and grinned evilly at the sensation of true power.
“You see, Bund, I’ve wasted so much time trying to find a way to end your pitiful life in way worthy of a pure angel,” Halston’s grin widened. “When all of this time all I had to do was become the enemy and rip your head off.”
Bund held his hands up. He stepped back, prepared to make a run for the exit. He knew that he was no match for Halston. He knew that he had unleashed death itself. It took a lot to make an angel choose the dark side. Bund started to sweat. Halston chuckled at seeing this.
“Yes,” he hissed. “Fear. You should be afraid of me.” He shot the infinity gun and watched the bullet escape the front end of the gun. Something had changed.
Something Halston had only anticipated. His brows widened with approval as the bullet took another form. It reached out two skinny black hands and shoved its body out of the gun. Like a tiny black fairy, the bullet flew before Halston’s face.
Halston grinned. His creation had true life now. Its small face was that of a monster from one’s dreams. Tiny red eyes, two holes for nostrils in the center of its ashen face, and sharp teeth.
Halston whispered to it. “Kill them all.”
This new creation snickered. “Yes! Yes!” It closed its eyes, grinned, and shot off at the speed of… a bullet.
Halston watched it leave the room and go after all of Bund’s minions. He didn’t need to audibly specify whom he wanted killed, because the bullet was in tune to Halston’s very thoughts. It knew what Halston meant, and Halston knew that it was his most reliable weapon.
It started with Trinity, shouting through his brain. Tristan fell free, but didn’t move. He didn’t know what to think of Halston.
Halston saw the look of doubt on Tristan’s face. He didn’t blame him. To his surprise, Tristan stepped to him and stood ready.
“What have you gotten yourself into this time?” Tristan asked.
Halston gave him a look. He smiled. He was pleased. “My friend. My only true friend,” Halston said to Tristan. Then, he shot off and tackled Bund with the power of Hell.
And Hell fought back, but it was not enough. Bund tried. He did. But he was not strong enough to compete with Halston.
Halston’s black shield sparked, and he grabbed the demon by his neck, crushed it in his fist, and watched Bund’s face morph into that of a Shadow’s. He lost his physical body. It burned off like clay until there was nothing but the blackness underneath.
Bund was nothing more than a tightly knit cloud of smoke, voiceless, and helpless. Tristan held out a hand. He opened a vial, and Halston sent Bund’s soul into it. He stoppered the vial and handed it to Tristan.
With a snap of his fingers, he stopped the flames that tore away at Jax and Evina. They had both passed out from the pain, and looked to be disfigured piles of mush.
Halston looked down at them in disgust. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to keep them.
“They did everything they could to protect Koa,” Tristan offered, as if he could tell what Halston was thinking.
Halston’s shoulders slumped. He nodded. “Good. I can use them. Let them lie there and regenerate.”
Tristan nodded and watched as Halston’s gaze went to Koa.
“I did what I could to keep the agents off of her, but it was a challenge to do two things at once. I killed as many vampires as I could. The mission was thwarted when the demon arrived.”
Halston nodded. He understood the difficulty of their mission, even he had gone against what he had planned to do.
He watched Koa. She was no longer held in the grips of Bund’s binding spell. He felt a peace within him. She would awaken, and she would hug him, and thank him for saving her life. This Halston was certain of.
A smile came to his face. He was free. He could do whatever he wanted. Koa could be his and they could hide from God’s gaze for an eternity.
Halston loosened her feet and pulled her to the ground. He spoke softly, “Koa,” he called.
Her eyes opened, she took one look at him, and frowned.
Halston cried out.
Koa took the dagger out of her belly and stabbed Halston in the chest with it. “Die, you demon! Die! You have no control over me!” She cried out as the dagger was filled with all of the power that fought to be released.
Halston tried to speak. His mouth hung open and his face twisted in pain. Why did she stab him? Why did it hurt so much? Halston feared for his life then. He realized that Koa did not recognize him.
She grinned cruelly as her power wedged the dagger deeper, sucking the life from him. Her eyes were glazed over. She wasn’t even fully awake yet. She was still waking from Bund’s torment of her soul.
Halston had no choice. He grew weaker with each passing second. He grabbed her face in her hands and felt the tears trail down his cheeks. With a cry, he twisted her neck, and
pushed her body far across the room.
He looked back once, certain that she would awaken, and vanished before she regained consciousness and went after him again.
49
Koa woke up to the sound of Jax’s voice. She sat up quickly. She was shaking. She was so cold and drained.
He held her steady and pulled her into a hug. “Darling, you’re all right.”
Koa swallowed. Her throat was dry, and her voice came out weakly.
She looked up at Jax with hope in her eyes. “Did I kill him, Jax? Did I kill Bund? Are we safe?”
The look on Jax’s face perplexed Koa. He opened his mouth and started to speak, but no words came out.
Koa sat up on her elbows. She put a shaking hand on his, as if she could calm him.
“What is it? I was certain that I killed him,” Koa said. “Was it a dream?”
Jax gave her a look that sent chills into her already tortured soul. The look in his dark blue-eyed gaze worried her.
“What is it?”
Evina stepped up. She was naked. So was Jax. Koa couldn’t remember what had happened.
“No, Koa. You didn’t kill Bund. Halston transformed into a demon to save you. He killed Bund. And then you nearly killed him.”
Koa’s hand shot to her mouth. Tears welled. She shook her head as she looked from Evina to Jax. “I don’t understand.”
They went silent. Koa shot to her feet. The pain nearly made her fall back down, but she was determined. Nothing would stop her.
Evina wiped tears from her eyes. “I’ve never seen someone do what you did, Koa.” She shook her head as she looked Koa up and down. “What are you?”
“Where did he go?” Koa asked in between sobs. Her heart broke more and more with each moment that she was without Halston. She had to find him. “Where is Halston?” She wailed.
Jax and Evina shook their heads.
“He left,” Jax answered. “You did something that frightened him into fleeing. Tristan left as well.”
“I’ll find him.”
“Wait, Koa!” Jax called.
