Beneath the Darkness

by Harley Jane Rose

  “I asked Axton for it, and he sent it over the second he knew you were found.”

  I leaned against the counter for a moment. Things had been moving so fast, and yet now I felt okay with it, even the vampire thing. I had to be, though, or I’d be a mess when I couldn’t afford to be.

  My parents had no idea what had been happening to me. I doubted Axton would tell them, or they’d be here freaking out. My whole life they’d been protecting me from vampires, and now I was one. I felt dizzy and put my head in my hands, massaging my temples.

  “What’s wrong?” Sam asked, moving in front of me but keeping his distance.

  “Everything is too much at the moment, but I have to keep swimming or I’ll drown in a sea of my own problems.”

  “Very poetic. You’ll be okay, B. I’m here to help when you need me, but you can do this,” he said.

  He grabbed a blood bag from the refrigerator and put it in the microwave, turning it on to heat. I looked up slightly, mesmerized as the heat moved the blood in the bag. Bubbles slowly appeared, attempting to escape through the top, but to no avail.

  “It’s done,” I said before the microwave beeped, knowing by the sight that it was at the correct temperature. I could smell it. He pulled it out and handed it to me as he turned around to get a cup. My hunger hit me, and my fangs pushed through. Without waiting for the cup, I bit into the bag, sliding through the enforced plastic easily with my fangs and drinking in the warm liquid. It soothed me like a bath, relaxing every muscle in my body and setting my mind at ease. The blood in my bag disappeared quickly, and I watched Sam place the mug on the counter and gaze at me in amusement. I pulled it from my mouth and put it in the bin, wiping my mouth before turning back to face him. “What?”

  “I just wasn’t sure if I’d see you again.” He smiled, and I moved myself closer, now able to ignore the urge to bite. I wasn’t sure if I could kiss him, considering what he’d just seen, but I moved into his arms and allowed him to decide. He seemed hesitant at first, but then his mouth was on mine. He held my face so delicately and passionately, like he couldn’t allow me to pull away but I was so fragile I might break if he held tighter. I could feel how much he missed me in every movement; it absorbed his actions and mine. I didn’t want to be apart from him. His thoughtfulness upon my return had proved to me that we could conquer every problem thrown our way. Our species’ differences may never need to be an issue.

  He pulled back for a moment, his face serious, and I couldn’t help wondering what was wrong. He grabbed my opposite arm in his, holding my wrist. My mind ran wild.

  “I swear to you that my soul will be forever bound to protect and serve yours, no matter the realm it resides in. My soul will love yours, no matter the trials. And in the realm where bodies cannot tread, my soul will recognize yours as its other half.” I held my breath, knowing exactly what was happening. I could feel my eyes tearing up already and couldn’t keep the grin from eating up my face in bliss. “Bianca Delacroix, will you accept this bond?”

  “I accept your bond, Samuel Fresca. I swear to you that my soul will be forever bound to protect and serve yours, no matter the realm it resides in. My soul will love yours, no matter the trials. And in the realm where bodies cannot tread, my soul will recognize yours as its other half. Will you accept my bond?”

  “I will.”

  I gripped his wrist back and watched in amazement as a string of light appeared on my arm and his, wrapping its way around our arms again and again before reaching the other’s arm and twisting on to theirs. I could feel the energy pulse in my arm, and my stomach did flips as I looked at his face. He was grinning back at me, tears in his eyes.

  “I love you,” he whispered to me as the light tied tighter around both of our arms, glowing brighter and brighter before fading to leave tattoos on our wrists. They matched each other, and I couldn’t think of a more beautiful symbol. It started almost as a circle at the top of my wrist with two intertwining lines, one filled, one not, and settled in flicks down the bottom, able to travel forever connected but choosing to leave it there for now. Both of us separated our wrists to inspect the tattoos in wonder before looking up at each other.

  I found myself biting my own lip and watching him carefully, searching for any sign that he thought he would regret this later. I saw only love, and I glowed in response. I could feel the light inside me, ready to burst forth. Then came the rising need in me, and I grabbed his hand, dragging him upstairs to our bedroom where this time was ours, and I loved every minute of it.

  CHAPTER 30

  Bianca

  The next morning, there was a knock on the door. The sun hadn’t risen yet, but I could see it on the horizon when I hesitantly checked out the window. I hurried to put my clothes on and ran down the stairs while Sam slowly opened his eyes and lifted his head. I looked through the window beside the door to check who the visitor was.

  I opened the door and stood back to let her in.

  “You’re the banshee … Morana? Why are you here?”

  She turned to me, caught my eyes, and stopped.

  “It happened,” she stated.

  “I was attacked on my patrol,” I said carefully. “Now why are you here?”

  “I had another vision about you. It’s strange. They’re not usually of people or as detailed. I usually see flashes of pictures from the person’s eyes. You’re different.”

  I scoffed, as if I didn’t have enough people telling me that.

  “What was this one?”

  “War.”

  “Okay … could you elaborate? We’re already in a war.”

  “Not of this magnitude. There was a battle in the vision, and you were in the frontline. You need my help,” she said slowly, trying to form her ideas.

  “Why would a fae help me win?” I asked, not sure if this was a trick.

  “Most of the fae races don’t want this. They follow Aubrey because they’re too proud to admit that they don’t agree with their leader. If you take him out, the people will be free to find a better leader, and then you only have to take out the strong-willed followers of Aubrey who agreed with his horrible treatments and power-hungry way of thinking.”

  “Take out Aubrey? The prince? Morana, how am I supposed to convince anyone to lead an attack on a royal without cause? The hunters have been playing it safe and defensive so far. They need something drastic to push them to action, and we don’t have anything,” I fought.

  “We have me.” The words made my blood run cold as I turned to see Sam standing at the base of the stairs, resolved.

  “No.”

  “Bianca, I’m now classified a tier 1 of the hunters with secret information just like you. If the hunters believe I’m taken, they will rush to action so that I don’t have to give up any information in interrogations.”

  “How do we make them believe that?” I questioned, already hating the answer I knew was coming.

  “I get abducted.”

  “No, no, no, no, no! Sam, you are human. They torture people, and you might not heal from this. I don’t know what I’d do if you were hurt. I can’t let you do it. You can’t. Please, Sam,” I told him as he stood determined. “I just got back to you.”

  He looked at me for a moment, and I knew he wanted to tell me that he wouldn’t go. His sense of duty was something I loved about him though, and it told him in this time of war that this was his only option. I gave myself a moment to swallow my own fears and problems, knowing that Sam was capable. I turned back to Morana.

  “Okay … we have a distraction plan. Anyone you can convince to fight with us? Be discreet though. We don’t want to tip Aubrey off that we’re going to hit the facility,” I started, watching her reaction. She followed my lead, staying as professional as possible. “I’ll give you a communicator so you know when it’s time to hit the facility.”

  “I’ll know,” she said
.

  “Okay. The priority is we get Sam and other hostages out of there and then bring it all down and Aubrey with it,” I finished. She nodded and turned to leave. “Thank you, Morana.”

  “Thank you,” she replied, opening the front door and leaving. I turned back to Sam and stood, unsure of what to say.

  “I promise I will come back alive and able to heal from this. I won’t leave you. Our souls will always be connected, and if I’m hurt too badly, you can make me a vampire like you and we can live hundreds of years together in each other’s arms once this war is over.” He pulled me close, holding me gently and kissing me lightly. I wanted to cry, but I wanted to be strong. It was a problem I had a lot these days, and I hoped, after this battle, I never would again.

  * * *

  We were out on patrol, keeping an eye out for unusual activity as Axton had instructed us to. My weapons were ready at my side, my hand hovering over them. I still wasn’t sure on the plan that allowed Sam’s capture, but I knew it had to happen. We moved through the streets, and I could hear a howling off in the distance. It sounded off. It wasn’t like the usual wolves that roamed the streets as protectors. This was primal and savage. I followed it on instinct, needing to investigate, and turned the corner to find a hellhound. It looked like the wolves we’d usually encountered, except for its full black eyes. Its black fur matched, but it stood two times the size of the regular shifters. I pulled the steel from my ankle garter and prepared to face it.

  “Bianca, we have to save this one for another day! One bite from that and we’re in another dimension, which we can’t afford today. Run!” he said, turning quickly on his heel. I pushed off and ran with my vampire speed, overtaking Sam quickly and turning the corner. I tried to slow down, allowing him to catch up. I could smell earth and knew there were fae nearby, probably stealing victims of the Shadow Court. I looked back, and Sam was gone.

  I turned around, running back despite hearing the loud breaths of the hellhound on its way to my location. I rounded the only other corner that Sam could possibly have taken and was lured to the ground by the smell of Sam’s blood.

  “SAM!” I yelled, but I knew already what had happened. The plan had worked, but I felt horrible that it had. The growl came closer, and I put the speed up quickly, leaving small steel smoke bombs behind me. When the hellhound came close, they would explode and release steel in the air. Hopefully, he would be turned off his hunt by them. I kept running, exhausting myself. I reached home and collapsed on my front step in the darkness, not quite safe but not in immediate danger anymore.

  He was gone, and I couldn’t breathe.

  I pulled my communicator from my pocket and pressed for Axton.

  “Report,” came his voice over the line.

  “Sam’s been taken. Potential threat of exposure,” I said.

  “A rescue mission must be launched. Compound. Now.”

  CHAPTER 31

  Bianca

  I ran up the stairs, grabbing my leather bracelet from the bedside table and making sure it was secured. I moved to the weapons chest in the cabinet. I needed all the luck and help I could get. I changed into something tighter, no longer needing to be secretive with my outfit, placing sheaths and holsters around all parts of my body. Finally, I moved to Sam’s chest and placed his iron sword across my back. Usually I didn’t have the muscles like him to wield this, but with my new strength, it was a dangerous weapon. On my way back downstairs, I took two blood bags from the fridge and chugged them down without bothering to heat them. Then I ran for the facility.

  I knew sunrise would be coming soon, and I pushed myself through the streets to the compound, racing nature.

  By the time I got there, I was escaping the sun and made it just in time to dodge the rays as they hit over the mountains in the distance and covered the city in light. Axton had prepped every hunter in the facility and—from the looks of it—had called in all others. The assembly hall was filled, and the screens outside in the halls were on to show footage of the podium. I was allowed through by people standing aside in fear, but I was surprised when my name was called out by someone other than Axton.

  “Bianca!” I turned to see my parents. I stopped, keeping my eyes down. “Congratulations on becoming a tier 1 hunter, honey! We always knew you were special!”

  My mom hugged me, and my dad patted me on the back, but my irises remained hidden under my lowered eyelids.

  “Honey, look at me! Is everything okay?” she asked, and I finally lifted my eyes. She took a step back. “Oh dear.”

  “A lot has happened,” was all I could manage to say to them. I couldn’t deal with my parents’ fears. Instead, I turned and headed for where I knew Axton would be.

  He pulled the microphone closer, and I watched from just below the podium, memorizing every word and running it over in my head again and again. I would make no mistakes. He announced the team that would be backing him against Aubrey, which included me. While first priority was to stop Aubrey, getting all imprisoned persons and any extra information out would be just as important.

  The teams sectioned off, and we all moved. Axton’s team moved underground for most of the trip in tunnels that I didn’t know had existed. It seemed there were millions of tunnels in every direction, and we maneuvered our way in the direction of the location I had pointed was the general coordinates of the facility. We reached our destination and came up from the ground, finding other teams at the ready. Everyone was ready.

  We skulked through the trees. I was able to hide from the sunlight in the shade, and I pointed the direction of the facility doors. Axton halted our leading group for a moment and turned to me.

  “I know this isn’t professional to say, but while fighting, I want you to let the dark side out. Let it fight along with all your anger. It will make you fight more proficiently. Today, I need you to be a killer. Most of these hunters only know the theory of battle and have never seen true bloodshed. I need you not to care,” he addressed me. The other members of our patrol stared in awe. I stood there, soaking in the weight of his words.

  I felt my anger for Aubrey bubbling in the deepest parts of me with a darkness I couldn’t control. If I let it out, could I find myself again? I had to hope that if I couldn’t, Sam would. I nodded, and we moved on.

  We ventured closer, and an illusion faded; we had walked through a shield of magick, and we were faced with an army. They’d been ready for us.

  I waited. Aubrey moved through to the front, his face smug. The army, however, stood still and strong, ready to fight. It made the anger rise up in me and threatened to burn every person in their regiment.

  “Let the hostages go and this can be easy,” Axton said loudly to Aubrey.

  “This is war. It’s never easy,” Aubrey replied, determined. He turned his back on us and walked back through his crowd, heading for the door.

  “He could be going to kill them,” I said to Axton in a low voice, knowing he’d already considered the possibility.

  “Advance!” Axton called. I ran for the door, trying to get to Aubrey and stop him, but he’d made it inside, and his men were on me. I jumped on the first man, my legs wrapping around his waist, and pulled him down to the ground with me. I hailed punches to keep him down and let my anger rise through. I focused only on getting to Sam. I felt my fangs push through my mouth, and my nails hardened as makeshift claws. Reaching for the elf’s throat, I yanked out his vocal chords and moved on. I could smell all the blood as a call of magick in my body, but all that mattered was finding Aubrey, stopping him, and finding Sam. Nothing else mattered anymore.

  The second elf stumbled back in horror, moving to face an easier target; but the third guy, a Stiltskin, thought he had what it took. His cloaked thin figure pointed his claws at me, and I kicked his arms away, advancing on him in an onslaught. He circled, deflecting my hand. On instinct, I took my gun out quickly and shot him in the
head, watching him crumple to be sure he wouldn’t move. Once he had dropped, I aimed the gun again and again, taking them down quickly. A few young hunters noticed my method and copied me, creating more damage than before with ease and clearing a way for me to the doctor. I pulled the door open, glad no one had thought to lock it.

  Inside the facility, it was quiet. I ran through the hallway, taking corners sharply and making my way as quickly as I could to the test rooms. I pulled open the first door and ran in without a second thought for the person on the table. From the smell, I knew it was a wolf, but his throat was slit, and I found my stomach turning in on itself. Letting out a yellow cautionary location tag on my communicator, I ran from the room to the next. A new vampire was in the operating room, its head separated from its body. The next had a witch, its throat slit. The one after that was empty, but evidence showed someone had just been there.

  It was worse now; I could smell him. Sam. I followed his scent, breathing it in, missing him more, and then placing my eyes on the ground to see the dried bloodstains. I bolted from the room, trying to follow his scent, but it led me in circles, and the panic rose in me.

  The familiar roar shook the facility, and for a moment, I tried to wonder whether we’d planned to bomb this place. I knew the most logical idea for Aubrey would be to remove the evidence. I needed out. The rumbles continued louder and closer, and I took off for the doors. I made it out, feeling the rush of air as the ground closed in on itself behind me. I fell forward in a heap quickly, looking up at the field.

  Bodies lay dead and dying on the field. The number of people in combat had lessened, but the fae had taken the upper hand. I pulled myself from the ground, ready to find my next fight, and a piercing scream filled the air.

  I put my hands over my ears fast enough, but most of the fae with their super hearing did not. I watched them drop quickly, blood seeping from their ears. The fight was thinned down and dramatically changed. Morana stepped out from behind the trees with others, joining in the fight against Aubrey’s army, and helped us with victory. I looked around, hopeful that maybe Sam had made it out on his own.