Everlasting

by Candace Knoebel

  “What do you want?” Jaxen says, his words each filled with enough venom to stop a heart on the spot.

  But Bael is immune. All signs of amusement vanish as he stiffens. He straightens himself out and clears his throat. “The Dagger. We knew of Faye’s bloodline holding one half, and we knew the roundabouts of the other,” he gazes around the forest with his arms up, “but being bound to the Underground, we had no means of pinpointing its exact location. Only she…”

  He’s pointing to me. Through me.

  “Has the ability to find, touch, and restore the Dagger.” With a snap of his fingers, Demons appear behind each of us, their large, beastly hands wrapping around and pinning us to them.

  “Faye, you have to…” Jaxen starts to say, but Bael snaps his gaze toward him, and all at once, Jaxen’s lips disappear.

  A scream sits in my throat, held back only by the delirium of the way things are vastly slipping away from me.

  “Any of you make another move, and I’ll end not only her parents’ lives, but the lives of your Witches as well. If you don’t believe I have that ability, go ahead and try me,” Bael threatens, looking to Gavin and Weldon who are strong-arming their Demons. They freeze on the spot.

  Bael takes his time walking up to Jaxen who has given up struggling. “How does it feel to have the odds stacked against you?” Bael asks Jaxen. “To feel…weak?” His eyes widen on the word, knowing he’s struck a soft spot. He knows that word hurt more than any spell could. He waits for a second, turns his ear to listen, and then looks back at him, smiling darkly. “Oh right, you can’t answer.”

  Jaxen struggles wildly against the Demon holding him, his face contorting, trying to find his lips. I find his eyes, and the moment we connect, he stills and goes limp. Buckets of ice cold sorrow and regret dump over me. Over him.

  Bael grabs my arm, his touch searing my skin through my leather jacket. I keep my eyes on Jaxen’s, knowing this may be it. I may never see him again. I may never know his touch, his kiss, his love, but I’m grateful for the time I did have. I’m grateful for everything he’s given me, and with a look, he knows. He nods, and then his head hangs.

  “Young love, so…touching,” Bael says, yanking me away from them. He sounds disgusted. His grip squeezes me, cutting off the blood flow to my arm. My pulse throbs in the crook of my arm, and I keep my mind on it, using it to keep me present. Awake. Aware. “Now, this is how it’s going to go,” Bael says forcibly. “You’re going to walk me into that cave, and together, we’re going to find the other half of this Dagger. When it’s found, restored, and placed in my hands, I’ll let your friends go.”

  I don’t ask about myself, because I already know. I’m not going anywhere with them. I’m not going home.

  I try to swallow the shards of glass in my throat, but it’s pointless. “And my parents?” I ask, hating my voice for breaking.

  We enter the cave, darkness slipping up around us, and he stops and spins me to face him. His expression is every little girl’s nightmare. He’s every ugly thing in the world. He’s everything I’ve never wanted, and everything I’m now stuck to.

  “I’ll hold off on killing them until after we get the Dagger. That way, you can see them before they die.”

  I’m mute with terror as cruel reality chokes my ability to believe. My parents are going to die because of it. Because of a stupid cat I took in.

  What are the odds?

  HE SHOVES ME FORWARD, STEERING me recklessly around the cave. In his hand is a flashlight he shines over my shoulder. The small white beam brightens small crooks and crevices, and a narrow path appears straight ahead of us. Spider webs cover every surface like thin sheets of cotton candy. Small trickling streams of mineral water drip down from various gouged pieces of clay and rock. Little beady eyes peer up and then scatter across the uneven ground.

  I don’t know how I’ve wound up here. I can’t fathom why his hand is on my shoulder. I want to fight. Every cell in my body is willing me to, but my brain has other plans. I can’t fight, not yet, not until I have the other piece of the Dagger, not until it’s safe with me.

  “It must be awful to be you right now,” Bael says, still holding onto my arm.

  The sound of his voice is increased from the hollowness of the cave. I feel it slither in my ears and wrap around my throat, choking my ability to speak. My teeth grind against each other, staving off the need to run, to flee, to free myself of this ungodly person.

  “I mean, knowing that you’re going to lose your parents, and still having no choice or means to save them.” He snorts and chuckles. “That would drive me mad. If I were human, I mean. Which I’m not, so…”

  Although my stomach’s a steel barrel full of acid sloshing around, I remain silent, my brain firing rapidly, trying to find a solution. There has to be a way, something I can do, some small detail I’ve overlooked that can help me out of this mess. I’m alone. I’m latched on to by a demonic virus. I’m thrown off-guard and scrambling for air.

  “It really was too easy,” he continues, his sneering tone nipping at me. He’s jesting, poking, prodding at my composure. He’s trying to break me down, each word a knife he uses to slice me open. I imagine how I’m going to kill him before he speaks again. “You were all so easy to manipulate. It’s really quite amusing.”

  My jaw locks in anger. My lips are thinned with hate, and somehow, my tongue forms words. “I don’t know what you mean by that. You didn’t manipulate anyone. We took a scraggly, stray cat in. That’s nothing to brag about, especially being the leader of an army,” I say evenly, pointedly, strategically. “I mean, seriously, that’s child’s play. You couldn’t think of a better way to infiltrate?” I stop, spin, and lock eyes with him, holding him in place. “Or is it that you like being a pussycat?”

  He strikes me hard across the face. Sharp, searing pain spreads across my cheeks like fire. Violence pulses behind his soulless eyes. “Don’t think for a second that you’re too precious to hurt. There are ways I can torture you without ever laying a single finger on you, ways that will haunt you for the rest of your life.” His lips are curled, and his eyes are wild with hatred and loathing.

  I hate that Jaxen flashes behind my eyes. I hate that I see my parents lying in their own blood. I hate it because I know that’s what he’s threatening. That’s his intent, to startle and unbind me, to uncoil me strand by strand until I’m nothing but unraveled string in his palms.

  And it’s working.

  He shoves me forward again, forcing me deeper into the cave. “Everything I do has a purpose. Every move made against your silly little Watchmen Academy was strategically thought out. The old Vampire dropped in the enchanted forest...he weakened the spell circling the campus for us. The first attack...it was meant as a distraction so I could enter the grounds. It was also a nudge to Maddock. You can’t think of Darkyns without thinking or Mourdyn and the Dagger.

  “So after he had given you the book, I stepped in and tried to place hints. I knew the moment I saw your Grimoire that half of the Dagger was hidden within it, but no matter how many times I scratched at it, you just didn’t get it.” His face twists into something menacing. “Do you know how painstakingly annoying that was? I just wanted to shake you.”

  “You scratched me.”

  “Well, yes, there’s that, but honestly, it was there in plain sight, and still, you didn’t get it. So we went through with the attack during your trial. It was meant as a threat to Maddock and his Elders. I knew news of this attack would filter back to Ethryeal City, and then everyone would know for sure that we would rise again.

  “But still, you managed to scrape your way out and still not understand what I was trying to tell you through the Grimoire, so I had you attacked during your hunt as a verbal warning. I knew this was the only way your narrow-minded self would finally understand. If you didn’t, I knew you would tell Maddock and he would spell it out for you.

  “I waited until I knew for sure that you’d take matters into your
own hands, and then left when I could no longer be near you, and now we’re here. Caught up and feeling stupid, right?” The amusement in his voice is as thick as honey.

  I glare, and my fists form into tight knots that I’m sure could crush through him.

  He shoves me forward again, laughing to himself as he flashes the light all around. I don’t know how much time has passed, but it feels like forever. It feels like a painful eternity. The cave grows colder and colder, but my body grows warmer from the use of my muscles.

  “We should be close. You did the location spell so you should still be able to sense…see…however it is you Witches do it, where the Dagger is.”

  “I haven’t seen anything yet,” I say, sounding as numb as I feel.

  We approach a small fork-one path dips down into darkness, and another continues straight. He flashes the light left, then right, and then huffs. “You have exactly 30 seconds to figure out which way before one of your friends out there dies.”

  An avalanche of panic crashes down on me. My chest caves in on my heart. A steel vice squeezes my brain, crushing my thoughts. I can’t breathe. I have to breathe. I can’t think. I have to think. Something. I have to see something. Something has to happen. I clench my eyes shut, praying the woman I saw before appears. Praying for a miracle.

  “Ten, nine, eight…”

  Eight seconds left to panic. Eight seconds left to get it right.

  “Five, four, three…”

  Nothing. Still nothing.

  “One.”

  I head into the darkness to the left, hoping I made the right choice. We have to hold onto the walls for support since the ground is sloped down, carrying us further into the earth.

  “That was close,” he muses, his hand still wrapped around my arm. “Tell me, Faye Middleton, did you see, or was that a guess?”

  “She went this way,” I say without hesitation. I don’t trust him not to kill my friends if he thinks, even for a second, that I’m lying. “I saw it.”

  He chuckles to himself and I know he doesn’t believe me. “Good answer.”

  We walk further and further into the darkness until we’re both bent completely over and taking tiny steps. Claustrophobia is a white leather jacket buckled around me, binding my arms to my sides. I’m panting, sweating, and on the verge of crying or throwing up or both. I don’t know that I’ve made the right choice. I don’t know anything, and it makes me physically ill. I gag once, and he squeezes my arm so hard I swear he could break bone.

  “Do. Not. Be. Weak.”

  I shut my eyes and almost scream when I open them again. But the woman standing before me stifles my scream. It’s the same ghostly image I saw entering the cave before. She’s staring straight at me with such intent. Her eyes are largely rounded and brown like fresh sap pouring from a tree. Her hair, platinum like mine, frames her face and is choppy. She has sharp, angled features and hollow cheekbones. She looks fierce, like a Hunter should look. She waves her hand through the air, beckoning me forward.

  “See something?” he asks as I continue forward.

  “Yes.”

  “You’re lucky.”

  I am. Very.

  We keep going, following the thin steps of Alesteria as she shows me the way to the Dagger. The air is thick and has a crude taste, like dirt and death. I want to take my jacket off, to feel air against my sweat-soaked skin, but I don’t because that would take away the layer protecting me from his touch. And it could cause hypothermia. I brush the hair that’s fallen out of my ponytail and stuck to my face back behind my ears.

  The rocks move closer and closer together, and I swear we can’t go any further, when suddenly they open up. I take a huge breath of relief as her form crouches down over a spot on the clay. “There,” I say, pointing to it so he can shine the light.

  The light hits the ground and spreads out, awakening deep, dark shadows in the cave. On the ground, where Alesteria’s form disappears, rests a small symbol. The symbol of our Coven. He shoves me to the ground and dust flies up, filling my eyes, nose, and mouth. I cough and spit and blink rapidly, using the clean part of my jacket to rub my eyes.

  “Hurry,” he says coldly.

  When I can see enough, I brush the dust aside on the floor. A metal plate holds the symbol. Before Alesteria had disappeared, I noticed she had pressed her palm against it before looking up at me. I do the same, and will my magic to connect with it. The moment I do, I fall on my butt, thrown by the force of the spell hiding the Dagger. Bael staggers back against a large rock wall, and the flashlight falls from his hand and rolls toward me.

  I pick it up and hold it over the metal plate in front of me just as he appears beside me. I think he wants to hurt me, but he doesn’t, because whatever is happening in front of us is more appealing. The metal plate parts open like a small door, and then the other half of the Dagger appears inside an opened wooden box. My mouth is a deserted wasteland of conflicting emotions. Relief, regret…I can’t tell which is what and which is right to feel.

  “Grab it,” he says as dust and small bits of rock continue to fall around us.

  I do. What other option do I have?

  He takes the light from me. “The other half, get it.” He’s excited now. I can hear his smile. I can feel his anticipation.

  I pull my bag off my back and watch as the material appears. My movements are slow, so he doesn’t suspect anything, doesn’t think for a moment that I might try something.

  “Banshee cloth?” He gazes at it, seeming mildly impressed.

  I open it and wrap my hand around the other half of the Dagger. The light on the flashlight flickers and quits. He starts beating it, trying to turn it back on.

  This is my only chance. I can’t just hand it to him, and I don’t think any one of my friends out there or in the Academy would want me to either. This isn’t about saving my life or their life; this is about being the light inside of darkness. I pull the other half of the Dagger out and sink it deep into Bael with every bit of volation I can muster.

  He cries out as my energy crackles around him, encompassing him, and then stumbles back against the cavern walls. I stand, pushing all of my power against him, trying to break him down, but then fire rises up around him, encasing him in all his fury. He roars, the sound so loud and deep it shakes the cavern walls. It dispels every bit of my volation. I lose footing and fall as he rips the piece out of his stomach and casts it to the ground.

  “You dare!” he shouts, the sound demonic and loud. His hand sizzles from where it touched the blade. “Who do you think I am? Who do you think you’re dealing with!?” The sound of a thousand horse hooves beating against the ground surrounds me, and I scurry back. “I’m the King of Hell! I’m not some Demon that you can squash with a stigma. I invented stigmas!”

  I reach for the other piece of the Dagger and hold them both in my hands, staggering back along the ground. He rises higher in the cave, his feet turning into large, black hooves, and black, demonic wings stretching out from his back. Fire burns in his eyes and soul, and all I can think of is Jaxen and my parents and all the things I never did, all the things I should have said.

  Regret is a scar on the soul. It heals, but it never leaves us. I’ll take that to my grave.

  “You dare to disobey? You dare to defy me?” He lifts his hand up into the air, and a fiery whip appears, the blazing ends ready to lick at my soft skin. “I will strike you down to the Underground where you will pay.” His arm swings, and I squeeze my eyes shut, bracing myself for the moment everything stops, but the moment never comes.

  Two strong arms wrap around me and pull me back into a shadow. I don’t fight it. I don’t know if this is death or my saving grace, but either way, I’ll go with my dignity. It isn’t until light surrounds me and the smell of sulfur and fire is a distant memory, that I know I’m safe. I have escaped.

  I open my eyes, and it’s Weldon in front of me. His face is a mask of blood and pain. His fists are bloodied too. One look and I know th
ings have gone wrong. Horribly wrong.

  “Faye?” He’s snapping his fingers in front of me. “Faye, you can’t go lights out on me now. Come on, we have to keep moving until I get us on holy ground. Say something.” He looks behind him and back at me, his face painted in worry. Gunshots and magic fire in the distance. Screams pierce the air. “Please. We don’t have any time left.”

  I smile, but it’s not a happy smile, not the kind I’d give in the arms of Jaxen. It’s the kind I’d give when trying not to cry, the kind that says I’m okay, when really I’m not. He pulls me to my feet and shakes me a little until the words come loose in my mouth.

  “Weldon.” It’s all I can manage, but it’s enough to make him exhale in relief.

  “Damn, you had me scared for a moment. Come on, we have to run. I can’t risk moving you in shadows. Not now.” He grabs my hands and moves for me, pulling me back through the forest we came through. I can hear the screams behind me as the hunt for my soul begins. Bael’s angered cry of war shakes the forest around us. Crows scatter out of trees, animals whip past us, and fire…fire licks the ground in a wave, taking everything in its path.

  It singes the back of my boots and I scream. Not again. I don’t want to see him again. Weldon pulls harder, but no matter how hard he pulls, Bael’s fury is faster. The fire makes its way up the back of my leg, and I topple forward and roll in the snow, trying to make the agonizing burn stop.

  “Shit!” Weldon curses as he drops down and pats the remaining embers on my leg. I don’t look, but I can tell by the look on his face that it’s not good. I can feel the way my skin has melted away. There’s no way I can move, not like this. Not even if I shut the pain off.