West (A Darkness Series Novel)

by Stacey Marie Brown

  Foam and ripples above my head suggested I was close to the surface. Come on, West. Almost there! I really didn’t know what I’d do with him when I got above, but at least there I had a chance.

  As I was about to breach the surface, I felt Balor push out of the water. The force of his body shot everything in his vicinity into the air like a cannon. Fish. Seaweed. Me. We all went flying into the sky, flailing like socks in the dryer. The air tank tore from my back and mouth, letting a scream escape me.

  Like the old saying, everything that goes up must come down. And I did. My face and torso hit the water with a harsh slap, punching the air from my lungs. The waves forced me forward, and my skin brushed against the rocks and grainy sand.

  The ground shook as Balor took a step. Get up! Get the fuck up! I screamed at myself. I pushed up and scrambled forward. Water gushed right where I had been; Balor’s toe now occupied the space.

  I hauled myself up on the rocks, clamoring toward the strip of beach. I heard his roar behind me, then heat and magic exploded next to my head. The boulders broke off, sending smaller parts of themselves out like shrapnel from a bomb exploding. I tried to get up the beach to hide from the attack.

  Another burst of heat exploded rubble on me. I dived behind a rock, folding over, trying to screen myself from the brunt of the fallout.

  Balor’s large hand scraped by my head, his fingers trying to fit between the boulders. A sharp point came close to my hip, and I jumped, shoving myself to the other side. His harpoon stabbed at the earth barely inches from me and pierced the ground.

  He grunted, pulling it out. I looked up and saw the spike tilted, heading straight for me. This was it. I was going to be shish-kabobed. West on a stick. I tucked myself in and closed my eyes, preparing for the pain.

  “Heeeeyyyy!” a voice screamed into the night. “You’re an awful security guard, you ugly ogre.”

  Rez!

  The lance passed over me, then disappeared as Balor turned to his new taunter. Relief rushed into my lungs, and I swiftly crawled out of my hole to the sight of Rez running onto the beach, a wrapped item in her arms.

  Holy. Fuck. She did it!

  Balor snarled; his eyes locked on the object. His hand reached out for it, but instead of grabbing it, his fingers curled around Rez, knocking it out of her grip onto the sand.

  “Rez!” I screamed her name as he picked up her body, glaring down at the thief in his hand, then back at the item left on the shore. Why didn’t he take it? It was right there. He would be able to get it before I got there. Why take her instead?

  He stared at it with hatred, fear, and longing but didn’t grab for it.

  Then it hit me. Balor couldn’t touch it. He could guard it. Defend it. But he actually couldn’t touch it. It held the magic that ended him the first time. The spear was the one thing that would kill him. Take him out for good.

  My feet sprinted for the object. I tore the cloth tied around it and grabbed the spear.

  Magic surged along my back, bending me, my back curling over. I dropped to the ground on all fours. A grunt surged from deep inside, my muscles stretched, expanding my body, tearing the wetsuit and my boxers into shreds. Claws grew from my hands and ripped at the rocky beach. Fur, black as night, covered my body. A crest of daggers trailed down my spine.

  It felt so familiar, so much a part of me, but one I thought I’d lost forever. It brought me back to life. My body returned to the shape I was the most comfortable in. The most real and true me. A roar came out of me, shaking the ground underfoot. I was a killer. Feared. A horror story you told to scare people.

  A scream wailed in the distance.

  Rez.

  Mine.

  Protective rage filled the beast, consuming it with the need to kill anything touching its mate. A thunderous sound came from my lungs when I spotted Balor, his hand around Rez, holding her like he was freakin’ King Kong. Hell. No. My claws sliced through the sand, heading for her. I only got a few feet when pain exploded through me, my legs faltering, and my face hit the ground. My form turned back into a human.

  No. No. No, I screamed. Panic flooded me that the beast was leaving. My gaze went back to the spear, laying where I left it. Shit. That was it. I had to be touching it. I inched back. The moment I touched it, the beast rushed back to the surface, exhilarating every nerve in my body with euphoria.

  The only thing about being a beast was it was hard to carry stuff, but I had more chance against Balor in that form. I bent over and slipped the spear into my mouth, nestling it between my razor-sharp teeth. Magic crashed into my tongue, giving my system a shock, as if I touched an electrical fence. My muscles constricted, and I froze, struggling for breath.

  A cry came from Rez as the demon shook her.

  Fuck. Fuck. Shit. West, you don’t have time. Rez is in trouble. Go!

  Pushing against the paralyzing power, I sped down the beach to the demon, rage growing in my shoulders with every step. If he hurt her, nothing would stop me from tearing him into tiny little pieces.

  I had to get up to his eye. At any point he could open it and destroy anything near him, but it would be harder to do if I were on him.

  Leaping for his ankle, my sickle claws sank into his skin, and I climbed his leg like it was a tree. Balor bellowed and swiped at me with his free hand. I curled around to inch up the back of his leg, making it difficult for him to grab for me. Anger and fear propelled me up his body in fierce determination. Rez’s name constantly drummed in my heart and pounded out a savage beat. My ascent claimed all his attention, giving Rez relief against his hold. She didn’t waste it. I saw her wiggle, pulling herself out of his hand. Balor’s head snapped to her, and he grappled with re-catching her as she ran up his arm.

  I dug my nails in deeper, willing his attention to me, my goal to get her out of his reach. His hand swung around and slapped hard on my back. With a cry, his palm impaled on the poisonous razor-sharp blades along my spine. His hand crunched me harder into his hip. Bones in my body cracked and popped. Pain snapped along with each bone, his massive hand flattening me like a bug. I grunted as my lungs compressed under the weight, tearing oxygen from me. Spots darted around my vision, my grip slackening. Air rushed around me as my body slipped and fell.

  “West!” I heard Rez’s voice scream for me. Like my own personal siren, she beckoned me through the pain to follow her. My beast would do nothing less than comply or die trying.

  Reaching out, my claws caught into his skin, digging trenches down the back of his leg as I caught myself. His hand swung for me again. I craned my head. I slipped the pointy end between my teeth and rammed my head forward. The spear sank deep into the back of his knee.

  An ear-shattering roar pelted from his throat, and his entire body shuddered with violent convulsions. I didn’t give myself a chance to think past the result, just reared back and sliced the blade into the thin skin behind his knee joint. His leg dipped to the ground, water gushing straight up around me in walls. I dug in deeper, holding on as he tried to rise and steady himself on his feet.

  Balor’s wails broke like waves crashing against the rocks. He died once by this spear; I was going to make sure he died by it again. Even without Fionna’s hold, it was probably the only thing with enough power to kill the rejuvenated demon king, his own magic working against him.

  I leaped back up his hip, climbed steadily, and dragged the spear along, scraping a line into his skin. His shrill cries chilled the air.

  “West!” Rez yelled from his shoulder, her voice full of relief. I couldn’t talk to her, but my eyes connected with hers, and unspoken words passed between us.

  I need you to take the spear. Stab his eye with it. My gaze drilled into her. She blinked and then nodded.

  Holy crap. She understood me.

  Before Ember became part Dark Dweller, she could communicate this way with Eli, but it became even stronger after. We all always thought it was a “them” thing. But maybe it was more. Maybe it was a “mate” thing.
Eli was the only one who ever found his. Even Owen never said he’d claimed Jared’s mother. Shit, this made it even more real.

  I’d almost reached Rez, who stood on his shoulder, when Balor started to sway like a tightrope. “West, give it to me.” Rez leaned over, reaching for the spear in my mouth. She strained to reach me, her arm shaking with effort. Balor swung forcefully to the side, flinging my body.

  I gripped his skin with all my might and inched closer and closer to Rez. I knew the moment she took it I would lose my hold and return to my human body.

  “Almost.” She labored to reach farther, sweat and salt water beading her hairline. With a snarl I pushed my chin up, her fingers brushing the spear.

  She let out a groan, her fingertips curling. Rez closed her eyes, pushed out farther, and grabbed the spear, my teeth still holding it.

  “Ahhhh.” A cry broke from her lips, and her face scrunched with the overbearing power. She locked her jaw and blew out through her nose. “I got it.”

  My teeth loosened their hold and let go. Heat and agony shredded my veins as my body reshaped into my human form.

  With a bellow, I dropped and crashed into the sea far below.

  Water tumbled around, tossing and spinning me. I swam for the surface and broke through with a gasp. I dug my fingers through the water, trying to keep afloat.

  Balor roared, snapping my attention to the tiny figure who crawled up his ear. He swatted and waggled his head, trying to dislodge the pest. My stomach knotted in a ball. I could do nothing. It was all up to Rez now.

  Balor raised his arm, his hand on a direct path with her head. “Rez!” My voice was lost in the crashing waves. My heart locked in my chest as his palm smacked into his ear. “No!”

  My beast tore at my flesh, desperate and frantic to reach her. Locked back inside, it screamed with rage. To be released for only a moment and then returned to my human form, caged and useless, was worse than if it had never come out.

  Balor lifted his hand away, looking at his palm for the squashed bug. Rez crawled out of his ear, relief flooding me, but it was only temporary. She hitched herself up, gripped his dreads, and scuttled to the crown of his head.

  There was no ceremony or final words. She wasn’t one to waste time or make final taunts. Rez’s arm reared back, the spear glinting in the night. With a cry, her arm swung down. The sound of flesh being sliced in two, like chopping into a watery head of lettuce, resounded off the cliffs.

  Balor went still. It was only a second before the most horrific bellow pierced the night. His hands moved to his third eye, and he wobbled on his feet. Deep wails ripped rocks from the surface, plummeting them to the ground.

  Rez held on as he teetered wildly, twisting the spear in deeper. The howls were bone chilling. Balor stumbled forward, his knees crashing into the shallow water.

  “Rez!” I screamed, dread weighing me down. Her head turned to me, and her eyes met mine, fear opening them wide. Then it happened.

  Balor tipped forward. Rez slipped, grabbing on to the embedded spear to keep herself from plunging to the ground. Then like a tree being cut down, he fell, taking Rez with him.

  A guttural cry emanated from me as I watched Balor’s face smash into the rocky beach, water and rocks spewing up like a giant water fountain around him. The debris crashed back and rained down on the back of Balor’s body.

  Rez!

  My feet hit the seabed and pawed through the waves, fear so deep in my gut my brain shut down. All I could think of was Rez. Reaching her.

  Please...don’t take her from me...

  My toes hit the rocks, which then scraped my hands to shreds as I climbed over them. Balor’s head took up the strip of beach, his lifeless body half in the water, half out. He was dead. Once again. Without Fionna, his eye was the only source of energy, and Rez destroyed it.

  My heart thumped her name. I didn’t want to think about the sharp rocks where Balor was implanted. The chances of her being alive underneath…

  I moved toward his eye, where the end of the spear protruded.

  “Rez?” I called, desperate now. I shoved at his head, but it didn’t budge an inch. Panic danced my human form around like a hummingbird.

  I grabbed the end of the spear and tugged it out with a slurping sound. Pieces of his eye dripped off the end. As my hand curled around the spear, my body shifted, the Dark Dweller stretching out again. I tucked the spear in my beast’s mouth but felt no enjoyment in being back, only fear for my mate.

  My beast rushed at the creature’s head, pushing it back. It took four times ramming the demon king before it tipped to the side.

  Blood.

  I spit out the spear, pain rolling back, converting me back to a man. Black splotches dotted my eyes, but I pushed forward, crawling farther under Balor. His head slipped a little more, revealing what was below.

  “REZ!” I howled. Her lifeless body was shoved between boulders and covered in blood and wounds.

  Adrenaline thudded in my ears. Her mostly naked body was so wedged in my knuckles bled over the rocks trying to get her out. “Please…Rez. Don’t leave me,” I begged, lifting her broken body. She was mostly whole, but gashes cut deep holes into her back, head, and sides from crashing into the rocks. Her chest was motionless.

  “Shit! Shit!” I picked her up, cuddled her body into me, moving out from under Balor, and laid her down. I put my ear on her ribs. Nothing.

  I had never taken CPR or practiced it. I didn’t even know if it necessarily worked on fae, but I was willing to do anything. I pumped her chest, then stopped to breathe into her mouth. I knew it was pointless, but doing nothing was not an option. Violent shivers wracked my body, and I struggled to keep up the motion, despite a mounting black panic that filled my head with a wretched buzzing.

  “Rez. Please. I finally found you. Don’t make me live without you.” I shook her, demanding she wake up. “I’m not strong enough.” The darkness already beckoned me, ready to push me off the cliff. If Rez died, I would gratefully go over.

  My beast knew the truth. The connection to her was gone. Empty. Like someone cut the wires between us. But I ignored the gut-tugging sickness, my palms pressing into her chest with desperation.

  Minutes passed. Maybe hours. Rez flopped under my hasty movements, life vacant from her body. In the middle of pumping her chest, I felt myself snap. Curling over her body, my forehead tapped her stomach. A wail gutted my insides, and I howled like a lone wolf into the night. I had lost her. And soon I knew I would lose myself. I couldn’t take the pain. Not this.

  It’s strange when you are hit with grief so overwhelming you think it will freeze you. I expected that would come later. Now all I could think was Rez would want to be in the water. It was where she belonged, where she would want her final resting spot to be.

  Now full of magic since the worlds had crashed together, the earth made the fae less invincible to death by human ways. We still lived millenniums or longer, and we didn’t die as easily as humans, but we were a lot more susceptible than before.

  My arms curled around her back and legs and picked her up. Her head fell over my arm, her long, wet hair tickling my thigh. Her bra and underwear were soaked with blood, water, and dirt. Her skin was covered in gashes. She still was the most beautiful woman I had ever known.

  My knees buckled with anguish, tripping me forward into the waves. A part of me wanted to go under with her. Just let go… My heart split. The sobs in my chest clogged my throat, my eyes blurry. This wasn’t simply losing the woman I had fallen completely in love with, but my mate. A doomed love…

  I placed her in the water. It circled around, embracing her. I swore I could hear the sea crying for her, mourning the loss of one of their own.

  “I am so sorry, Rez.” I leaned over, brushing my lips with hers. “You deserved better than this. A life full of love, laughter, checklists, a dozen pets, or… kids.” A hiccupped cry strangled my esophagus. I clung to her body but knew I had to let go. I kissed her again and the
n released her.

  Rez floated for a while before the waves took her and pulled her under, taking her home.

  My breathing grew strangled as I stood there, not understanding the freezing water swirling around my waist. An anguish gutted a hollow abyss through my body, baying in the night with tormented cries. I could barely feel my hands and feet, and I shivered so violently now my teeth clanged together. Most likely hypothermia, but I didn’t give a shit. The only thing tugging my feet toward the shore was the thought of Rez getting mad at me. To not let her death be in vain. Not yet.

  I trudged through the water, my feet skimming the rocks, moving like a robot, empty of a brain, or heart. I glanced over my shoulder. The waves lapped at the shore as if nothing had changed. Grief turned to emptiness. My muscles no longer able to hold me up, I crumpled into the wet sand; the spear was just out of reaching distance. I didn’t even have energy to take a few more steps, grab the spear and let it envelop me in the beast. Turn off.

  I sensed that would be the next stage. Right now I sat facing the water, drawing my arms around my legs and stared out, vacant and lost.

  The constellations moved in the sky, telling me time was moving on and morning would be coming. The world continued on. The shivers jerked and twisted my body, but each one only reminded me why I was here. Why I didn’t care.

  Cammie. Rez. The only two women I ever loved and I was the reason they were dead. Cammie had hurt deeply, but Rez was obliterating.

  Nothing was left of me.

  The sea crashed up on shore, hitting my toes. It was as if she had reached out and touched me. That’s when the pain flowed from my eyes.

  She was really gone.

  The night lightened at the edges, proclaiming dawn had arrived. I knew I had to move soon, but by walking away, I felt it would mean she was actually no longer here.

  With a heavy sigh, I got to my feet. She was no longer here. I needed to accept it and leave.

  “Goodbye.” My voice cracked, and I turned away. The farewell was final. For good. I would never return to Ireland. Grabbing my jacket, I picked up the spear, the energy still bleeding through the fabric, wanting to turn me, but for some reason I didn’t want to. Like I deserved to be tortured even more.