by Elle Lincoln
“Yeah.” Rocco backs up a step, seeing what I do.
“Come on.” I scramble away.
“We aren’t far,” Gram assures me, leading us down into a small hollow. The water creeps ever closer as we struggle to keep our heels on dry land. “There.” She points to a door hidden in the side of the castle.
I nod, trying to head off, but her hand grips my arm. I look down in surprise. Our eyes meeting with shock.
“Mae.” She swallows, her chest heaving although she needs no breath to breathe. “There is magic in this world, dark and old. Magic that lies in that castle. Just take care.” Her grip lightens as her form fades away.
What the fuck are we getting into?
Chapter 25
Flynn
Mae’s grandmother disappears, her words a warning that match the ominous feeling inside me. Cian is nowhere to be seen, and I’ve yet to enter this castle. I pull my longsword from the ether as we make our way to the hidden door.
Our steps are silent. Our breath slow and steady. I stand beside Mae as she pulls her scythe from the veil, her knuckles white as she grips the handle. On an exhale, I open the door, and it swings on well-oiled hinges.
Mae’s breath hisses out, her eyes wide as she looks at me. The door is often used. I step inside, lighting the blade with my magic to light the way. Ahead sits a long tunnel. I’ve only been in this castle once, a long time ago. My spotty memories tell only a tale of haunted fae and screams fading into the night.
The ghosts have all fled. No feeling of other sits upon my shoulders. Just a silence. My steps guide me to the right with an internal intuition I don’t question. We move into a stone tunnel, taller and wider than any I’ve seen in the past.
The slam of the door shutting and then locking holds a finalization that we were expected. In the distance, a brush of movement catches my eyes. My breath whooshes on an exhale as gravel crunches beneath my boots.
Again, that shadow. The feeling of being watched overwhelms me. The hall is too quiet.
“We aren’t alone.” Rocco echoes my thoughts with his whisper.
The end of the tunnel sits at a T, and I turn left.
“Fuck!” I turn to see two glowing slits. Killian’s shout has the beast rearing up.
Glowing eyes lengthen, blinking sideways, as the creature hides in the shadows of the tunnel. Darkness wraps around it like a cloak. Yet the aura that drips off the creature threads the air with ominous tension.
“What’s that smell?” Killian exhales on a harsh hiss.
The creature rears back and glimmers of my fire catch the surface of the beast.
“Death,” Mae whispers. Her words trusted and true. It lingers in the air with a permanent stench. A floral scent that burns the lungs, and I hate to say an aroma that’s similar to Mae, only this one is full of rot and poison.
“I’m going out on a limb here, but I don’t think that thing wants to be our friend.” Rocco almost pouts the words.
“I’m also going to go out on a limb and say that’s the direction we need to go,” I growl, before taking a chance and swinging my sword into the darkness. I stumble backward, my eyes wide as shock fills me. “I think…” I pause to lick my lips.
“That’s a fucking snake,” Rocco finishes for me.
A red, forked tongue peeks out from the darkness to taste the air. Without hesitation, Mae swings her scythe through the air with a flourish, slicing the tip of the tongue off. The thing splats upon the stone floor, blood spattering both the ground and us.
Eye close, leaving us in complete darkness as an angry hiss echoes all around us.
“I think you pissed it off, Mae,” Rocco jokes, only there is no laughter in his voice.
“We don’t have time for these games,” I growl. Rolling my shoulders, I step into the darkness, my blade lighting the way. I swing and my flames illuminate sharp teeth dripping with what must be venom.
“Don’t get bit by that,” Mae warns, pointing out the obvious. “It didn’t die by my blade.”
“Shit.” She’s right. “What kind of creatures can’t die by a reaper’s blade?” I don’t want them to know how worried I am about the situation, but the pitch in my voice gives me away.
“One I’m sure you don’t want to fuck with.” Rocco comes to stand beside me, a lazy grin on his face. “Tag team?” With laughter, he darts off beside the beast just as his jaws chomp down with a loud crash.
A boom rents the air, bass to the thunder in my chest. I dart in, swinging my blade. It clangs against the scales, and the beast’s breath skates down my back.
I light myself on fire, illuminating the entire space. But more importantly, lighting up the creature before me. Rocco’s shadow form taunts the beast from behind. It twists and turns, slow in the tunnel as it struggles to maneuver.
“Knot it!” Killian yells from behind.
“Kill it,” Rocco counters.
“My blade can’t pierce its scales,” I reply, frustrated.
“Let me.” My heart freezes in my chest as Mae rolls forward just as the beast dives for her and me. I flatten myself against the stone wall as she rolls beneath it. Her scythe striking the beast’s belly and, to my amazement, piercing it.
Blood bursts forth and Mae rolls away as it scorches the floor like spilled acid.
A screech splits the air as we all dart out of the way, the creature flailing from side to side. My hand reaches out for Mae, yanking her back to me with the sliver of coat I could get my hand on. A rumble shakes the ground as the beast falls.
I stand there, my chest heaving, clinging to Mae. I spin her around, watching as the small sprays of blood burn her skin. Her healing struggling to keep up.
“Let it go, Flynn.” I grit my teeth but nod.
“Found stairs!” Rocco shouts. “Watch the bones! That’s what the smell is coming from.” To himself, he mutters, “Freaking rats everywhere just gnawing on snake shit.”
I close my eyes, preparing myself to see that. Mae makes a little grunt of disgust as her face wrinkles up in displeasure. Her freckles scrunching up.
“Come on, loverboy. Time to see what the hell your crazy family has gotten up to.” Killian slaps me on the back, reminding me this isn’t even fucking over.
“Well, I appreciate the save.” Argos pops out of nowhere, startling Mae. She growls and launches herself at him.
“What the fuck were you thinking?” She slaps his shoulder. Yet the worry pinching her face holds a true emotion of love and uncertainty.
“I just wanted to... I don’t know, do something.” Argos shrugs. “I hid and took down the spells on the house so they can all enter now.”
“Do we have a plan?” Mae, ever logical, questions, turning away from Argos after assessing he’s in one piece.
“No.” I grip her hand as we climb over the snake, the creature is longer than a semi and as round as small sedan. “These creatures aren’t our enemy.”
“It sure as fuck looked like my enemy a moment ago.” I glance back at one of the wolves I assume to be Marrok’s kin.
“The fae each needed their own way to step out of the shadows of their forefathers.” Rocco guides us to yet another hallway, where an open archway leads to a small body of stagnate water. “He tortured this creature. Even if no weapons were used, these snakes, if you will, can be formidable allies.”
“You don’t say.” Killian wrinkles his nose. “I get it, but at the same time, that kind of fae in the wild? Here? Flynn, I didn’t think the dark fae existed.”
“They are no darker than you or me.” But the lie burns my tongue, Gram’s warning sitting in my gut like a lead weight. “They are nothing more than a product of their environment.”
“Flynn, what else is out there?” Mae stops, turning to face me. “This is your family home, your mother’s home. That creature has been here far longer than you want to admit, and that body of water was probably the only home it knew. A creature like that? It was too easy, Flynn, it wanted to die.”
“Yes, Flynn. It could have easily killed all of us.” Her small hands press against my chest, my larger one rests about hers as my heart beats a slow rhythm. “Cian led you here, but he isn’t the one who created this tomb.”
“Come on!” Rocco shouts. I didn’t even realize he ran off. My stomach flutters. The fae aren’t insane? But why, why imprison the beasts that once roamed freely?
We all follow Rocco’s voice to a locked door, its bars heavy and strong. “That’s all that stands between me and my brother,” I snarl.
I walk up, grip the knob, and heat it until the metal burns red and melts beneath my fingertips. It swings open on a squeal. I enter what I believe to be a kitchen. Scents of veggies and fresh, baking bread fills my senses.
“Nothing here makes any sense,” Mae mumbles.
Slowly, we walk into the kitchen and through another doorway. Just beyond is the pub Rocco and I had entered days earlier.
A chill creeps up my spine as everything comes full circle. Just out the windows, snow piles against the door in a heavy drift. I take a step back and stumble into a broom. Spinning, my eyes widen as I see nothing but a closet. No Mae, no Rocco, and no Argos.
“Have a seat.” The man, Cian, my brother, stands behind the bar, casual and carefree as he pours two mugs of beer, with only a small sliver of foam. “I hope you like Irish stout.”
“I’m not sure I want to drink anything from you at this point.” I walk cautiously over to the bar, glancing around, knowing we were in one place and now...
Cian slides a mug across the bar toward me. “Not poisoned, I promise, I just want to talk.” With that slight quirk to his mouth, I don’t think he does.
I take a cautious sip on the stout. When I don’t keel over and die, I take a healthy swig. “What is your game here, Cian?”
“Just a demonstration.” He slurps a little before smacking his lips. “So, you heard the news?”
I take a deep breath. I know nothing about this man. Only what he is capable of. “That you killed many, one of whom was my friend, another my uncle.” I clench the mug, willing myself to ease up and not break the glass.
“Our uncle,” he corrects.
“That doesn’t make it any better.” I lick a small drop from my lips. “Where’s Mae?”
“Safe, I wouldn’t harm her.” He smiles just a bit with that cruel edge.
“The others?”
He just shrugs. “I have no loyalty to them.”
“I have no loyalty to you.” My patience wears thin.
“Do you enjoy this life? This immortal life?” His eyes dance around the room. “Do you not find it unnatural?”
“I believe it is the way it was meant to be.”
“Was it? Were you there at creation? Did you hear the creation song?” he questions with interest, already knowing my answer.
“You know I was not.”
“Do you think it was intended for the initial gods to be deathless? For their children to be eternal, for those children and so on and so forth until the blood thinned so much mortals were all that was left?” He leans in just a little.
“Man and gods are two separate entities.”
“Are they?” He smiles to himself, rubbing the stubble upon his cheek. “Or are they just a diluted version. Why is it that everything internal is the same except for one little organ?”
His words remind me of the pain he caused countless people. “Tell me, was it worth it?” I grind out.
“Of course it was worth it. Did you miss my demonstration? I alone can recreate the Realm, banish those who do not see my vision. I alone can make the humans so much more than what they are now. Bring them back to what they once were. To what they deserve to be.” He speaks with such conviction.
“But that’s not the way it was meant to be.” Although eventually, one day there will be no one left but a singular race. As all breed together, creating a new brand of people. But for now, there will still be us and them.
“You see, it don’t you? The potential. The limit on an infinite future. It isn’t natural to live that long.”
“Yet you believe the fae are not insane.”
“Their anatomy is the same!”
If that is his only argument, he is surely mistaken. I will never forget the look in my mother’s eyes as she raised her sword against me. I will never believe his words as truth. “Or is there something there even you, brother, cannot observe?”
He laughs, wagging his finger at me. “No, no. I am thorough.” A sadistic gleam shines in his gaze.
“What do you want, Cian?” That can’t be it.
“I told you. To push time and create what was always meant to be.” I hate that his words actually make sense to me. That I can understand his insanity.
“If there was always supposed to be one race then why are there several?” I recall the snake from earlier. “Why beasts with intelligence?”
“Ah, you killed Luanne. She wanted to die, but I just didn’t have the heart. Have you realized yet this castle is full of the atrocities our family created? It’s time to end it.”
“So, you began with death?” The beer in my stomach sours. “You killed innocent people. Our uncle, cursing him to a fate worse than death, consuming him like a cannibal, abusing his power, to what? Eliminate our immortality. No.” I push my beer away and stand. “You, brother, do not desire equality or equity. You desire immortality. A gift that was never yours. You desire the power of magic. The thrill of it. You want to be the one who holds all the cards. To strategically place the pawns upon the playing board. You, brother, are jealous of something you do not have.”
I watch as his jaw grinds. His eyes flicker with an icy darkness. “Then so be it.”
Chapter 26
Mae
I watch as Flynn disappears just as he walks through the archway. My heart pounds as my lungs threaten to suffocate me.
“Where’d he go?” I turn back to Rocco, my eyes wide with panic.
“I don’t know,” he replies, slowly moving past me into a cavernous dining area. A long wooden table sits with twenty chairs, and a velvet maroon table runner holds foods of all kinds, tempting my stomach. “What the hell is this?”
“I think…” I lick my lips. “I think Cian truly believes what he’s done is right, and that Flynn will agree and support him.”
“Of course he will, dear, come and have a seat.” The redhead, Cian’s wife I suppose, saunters into the room with her cheery smile.
We all take a step back.
“I’m good.” Killian sniffs the air.
“If the wolf isn’t eating, there is no way I’m touching your food.” Argos crosses his arms.
“A presentation then?” She claps her hands with enthusiasm.
From the archway across the room, two children push a rolling cage into the dining hall. I swallow hard as the man inside lays there, his tired and swollen red eyes peeking up at me. His naked body is malnourished and emaciated as he curls in upon himself.
“What the hell?” I wave my hands at the woman, realizing I never even once asked her name. And honestly, I don’t want to know.
“Research requires sacrifice, my dear.” She strolls over to a small table just as the cage comes to a stop, the children locking the wheels and running off. I wonder if they are even real children or just mirages. Their magic has been wild and unpredictable. She picks up a syringe attached to a long pole. Without any hint of emotion, she pushes it through the bars and injects the man with it. “Xavier here has been incredible.” She pats the cage with affection, making my mouth to fall open in horror.
One of the wolves pushes past me, his arms growing hair as he loses his control over his wolf. He snarls, jerking his head.
“Tsk, I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” she chirps cheerfully.
The wolf slams into an invisible barrier, his growls echoing througho
ut the cavernous room.
“Argos?” I whisper, trying not to move my mouth. “Can you take this down from here?”
“You’re asking me for a lot.” He steps closer to me. “Keep me covered.”
I don’t nod, nor do I reply as the wolf’s cries surround me, a sound full of anguish and terror.
“I have to protect myself, you know.” She turns around, grabbing yet another syringe.
The wolf in the cage starts to contort, his bones snapping as he just lies there, transforming into a wolf. It’s the harshest shift I’ve ever witnessed, and Killian and his men are feeling his pain. They stand rigid just in front of the barrier. Their hands clenched and bodies vibrating with tension.
“Oh, here we go!” She claps her hands. “At first, we thought if we reduced the amount of magic like Neit did, then they would age. Transferring magic from them to us. But it doesn’t work that way. Their magic is theirs and theirs alone. But we aren’t here for his magic, we are here for his immortality. And we can’t steal that either. But...” She holds up a finger. “We can infect it.”
My eyes widen and I break my stance to push against the barrier. “What are you doing?” The words fall from my lips without thought.
“I think you know.” She watches me as she pokes the syringe through the bars and again into the wolf, wearing a cruel smile on her lips. “We just needed the wisdom and the foresight. The last ingredient was a wolf’s magic.”
I stumble backwards. The deaths that led us here coming full circle. “What have you done?” My worry about an immortal infection has now been made real. I watch in horror as Xavier’s fur turns a lighter white, with grey around his snout.
“This is the best part. As a wolf, you can visually see as the infection takes hold.” She pierces him with another syringe. My heart hurts, my knuckles whiten around the scythe I hold for comfort.
Yet Xavier just lies there as he transforms back into a man. This time, his hair is spattered with more silver amongst the brown. His eyes are just a little more tired with lines etching outward. Even his body is more shriveled.
