Beneath the Darkness

by Harley Jane Rose

  The need for him became stronger and stronger until I felt a burning on my wrist and looked to see my tattoo lighting up. The twists on my skin and the crossed line in the middle of the almost circle all looked alive. I watched the lines turn like a compass. A small arrow appeared on one of the lines, pointing the way. I turned side to side, testing it out, and then I ran. I peeked down at my wrist to make sure I was going the right way, barely dodging trees as I hurled myself through the forest, away from the fight.

  I came to a clearing with a body lying on the ground. I got closer and realized it was Sam. Breathing easier, I knelt at his side and let the darkness drain from my body. He was unconscious, and I pulled his head onto my lap, seeing the bruises and scars all over him. I lightly tapped his cheek, trying to wake him up. He turned his head away from my fingers slowly, and I stopped as he fluttered his eyes. He pinched them close in agony and then finally opened them.

  “Sam, I’m here. It’s okay. You’re going to be okay,” I said to him. He looked at me for a moment, confused, before sitting up in pain. I watched his slow, tense movements, and the relief that had filled me before was replaced with dread. I helped him sit up, and he looked at me with such happiness and relief that I couldn’t help but smile back at him. He shoved me backward as an ax came down where my leg was. Aubrey pulled the ax out of the ground, and I moved quickly to stand, pulling my own weapon. Axton appeared, probably having followed my communicator location. He tackled Aubrey and rolled over with him. Both of them recovered quickly and stood apart.

  Axton struck first, throwing his sword in a downward arc toward Aubrey’s head. It was dodged. The next hit was thrown and deflected, and the one after. They were so evenly matched that neither one seemed to make any ground on the other besides small nicks and cuts. Sam made it up and picked up weapons, ready to fight again. He looked in bad shape but able when the adrenaline kicked in. He got out of the grove and moved back to where the real battle was taking place. I watched, unsure if I should stay to help Axton or leave and help Sam, who didn’t look too well when he ran for battle. I watched Aubrey move and noticed that he was gaining the upper hand. Axton was tiring.

  I took the sword from my back, ready to help Axton. But he called out to me, stopping me in my tracks.

  “Return to the field!” he yelled, and I followed orders. “Do not engage this royal, Delacroix. That is an order.”

  I turned to leave.

  I heard a cry behind me and turned to see Axton on his knees, his own sword poking out his back. I stood, unsure of what I was seeing, before composing myself and seeing Aubrey’s face turn toward me in rage. Axton’s final words echoed in my head, and I knew I needed to respect them. If Axton had failed, we surely would.

  Feeling like a coward as I did so, I followed his orders in the only way I could see possible. I ran. I made it out to the battlefield and saw Sam between battles. I touched his hand, and he turned to me in confusion.

  “We need to fall back, and you need to call the orders. They won’t listen to me!” I said quickly, hoping he did not question it.

  “Retreat to base!” he yelled, and heads turned quickly in response, repeating it through the field. People fell back, leaving the carnage behind. I saw Aubrey and pulled Sam, and he turned to look at me.

  “You’re crying,” he said simply.

  “Axton’s dead.”

  He stood still, allowing himself a moment to grieve that I knew we didn’t have. I pulled his hand, keeping an eye on Aubrey, who had made it into the field and moved over the bodies toward us. I held on to his hand in desperation.

  “RUN!” I told Sam, taking off for the dense forest, noting how dark the sky had become. I heard Sam’s footsteps behind me, and I heard them stop when his hand slipped from mine. I looked back to see Sam standing still. I finally stopped and turned fully, taking in what lay before me, and I felt cold.

  CHAPTER 32

  Bianca

  Sam was standing, with Aubrey behind him, holding one of Sam’s arms behind him and a curved knife to his throat. I watched every muscle movement in Aubrey’s arm, eyeing the knife with a hope that maybe it would disappear. Then I focused on Sam. I looked in his eyes, and for the first time, I saw fear. The tears pushed faster down my cheeks. I could feel my tattoo glowing and saw his do the same in response. He looked at mine, fascinated, forgetting about where he was. I held on to that look as I turned my attention to Aubrey.

  He grinned at me.

  “I see the vampire and the hunter have been bound. How romantic,” he said sarcastically, holding Sam’s arm tighter and laughing as I tensed.

  “Let him go. He has nothing to do with this,” I said, finding myself pleading. He only smiled wider.

  “This is war. Haven’t you learned that, Bianca?”

  He said my name like it was poison; that by saying it, he could kill me. It didn’t, but I almost wished it had.

  “Let him go!” I said louder, hoping force might change his mind. Maybe he’d get angry and just want to fight me. I was hoping for anything; I felt helpless.

  Morana stood off in the distance behind him, unable to do anything either. We both knew that if she tried to use her banshee cry, she could hurt both of them or make Aubrey act.

  “Fight me!” I yelled desperately.

  I felt the cold breeze blow my hair around my face, chilling me and threatening to block my view. I moved the second Aubrey did, but I was already too late. The knife flashed across Sam’s neck. The red line appeared a minute later, and then Sam dropped forward. Aubrey stepped back to watch the show.

  “NO!” I shrieked, dropping to the ground to catch Sam before his face hit the ground. My sword fell to the ground beside me. I heard the gargling and could smell the sweetness of the blood burst through my nose, filling me. The taste seemed so sickly sweet, but my usual hunger for it shrunk away. I couldn’t breathe as I pulled Sam into my lap once again, his eyes rolling back into his head. I knew he would wake again. Looking at his calm face, I pushed his stray hair back. Two more lives to go. He would be okay. If the fae figured out how to give humans only one life, then he would be in trouble. But Aubrey was the one in charge of that. If I stopped him now, Sam stood a chance. I placed Sam’s head carefully on the ground and picked up the sword, moving toward Aubrey, watching the smile fade from his face.

  Axton’s orders mean nothing now.

  I heaved the sword and moved around the body, gaining ground on Aubrey as he readied his curved blade, still wet with Sam’s blood. I knew tears were spilling down my cheeks, but I didn’t care anymore. I let the angry darkness eat up everything else in my body—every feeling, every movement. I was consumed by rage.

  I swung again and again. Aubrey deflected each one but was losing ground as he faltered back a step. I aimed the sword over my head hard. He deflected. Right, he blocked. Left, he only managed to move as I pushed his knife closer to him. I swung with all my power for his neck. He dropped too quickly, and the momentum kept me going. I tried to stop its weight, which gave Aubrey the perfect opening. The hilt of the curved blade smacked into my forehead. Black spots danced in my vision, threatening to consume everything as I fought it. I looked up just in time to see Aubrey throwing his knife toward my head in a downward arc. I pushed my sword up horizontally, putting my palm against my blade’s edge and feeling the bite as it collided to block Aubrey’s curved knife. I thought quickly and kicked his groin, watching him fall forward. I took my own opportunity, swinging for his shoulder at my hip height, but he moved just in time, and all I could get was a nick on his upper thigh. My upper body moved with the sword. Aubrey reached around me, pulling his sword up toward my neck, readying it. I elbowed him, pushing my right shoulder forward so that my neck wasn’t at risk as he moved the knife away. It cut into my shoulder, easily sliding through it and causing a burn that moved slowly to start but didn’t extinguish. I let it push me harder. Everything was th
rowing me toward killing Aubrey. Turning further, I moved to face him again, watching him recover.

  I shoved my sword straight for his stomach. He managed to intercept it, pushing it to one side. The weight pulled me off-balance. He kicked me in the stomach, and I stumbled back several steps, my back and head connecting with something solid behind me. I knew by its rough texture that it was a tree. Putting my weight against the tree to be sure I wouldn’t fall, I waited for him to throw his attack for my neck and then dropped. Pulling myself down into a really low squat, I powered out before he could recover and aim down. I rolled over my shoulder, got up, and turned around as quickly as I could. I swung for Aubrey’s neck as he turned and put his knife up, holding the block and trying to push my own longsword back on me. I took a chance and pulled a hand off quickly, reaching for my holster and firing my gun the second it came from its place. I attempted to put it back just as quickly. I heard the growl from his lips, glad that I had hit something. I saw him pull his weight off one leg. I hadn’t gotten my second hand back on the sword quick enough though. He flicked his blade, throwing mine from my hand. I looked back for a moment, still trying to dodge the onslaughts, and saw it six feet behind me. I barely missed the extra swipes, feeling the burn inside and out. I tried to move back toward my sword, but it was useless.

  Morana started screaming and I got my hands over my ears fast enough again. Without a weapon in my hand to worry about, it was easy. Aubrey was not as fast. I saw him drop to his knees, and blood pumped through his fingers. He dropped his knife and covered his own ears. It was already too late. It stopped, and a moment passed before I realized what was happening. I ran for my sword.

  “Bianca, do it now!” I heard Morana yell across the clearing. Without question, I picked up the sword and ran with my powered speed to where Aubrey was still on his knees, panting in pain, unaware of my presence. I threw every ounce of power, strength, and rage into my swing and threw the sword down on Aubrey’s neck. I watched his head roll to my feet and the blood pump for a few moments, pushing blood from the wound.

  It took a moment of dead limpness behind every part of his body for me to realize it was finally over. I heard a howl. It was a sad, lonely noise that came from behind me, and I turned to see Luca by Sam’s body and walked back over toward them. I pulled him into my lap, still crying that he had to feel this pain. Then without any shame, Luca changed. He didn’t care that he was naked. I didn’t even look; all my energy was once again focused on Sam. I shut his eyelids and let the tears come as I waited for him to wake again.

  “Bianca?” Luca said quietly.

  “What?”

  “He might not wake up.” I could hear him trying to be tender, but I didn’t want to listen.

  “He has two lives left. He will wake up, and when he does, I’ll be here,” I whispered. I knew it was true. I knew it.

  Then I felt the burning. I thought it had all gone. It was different from the burning pain of the cuts on my skin. This was deeper. A light inside me shone too bright and had started to singe me without end. I looked at my wrist to see the tattoo alight the way it did the first day. It wasn’t the same though; it hurt me with no way of removing it. I checked Sam’s to see if his did the same, but the tattoo was gone. I stared at it, confused, and I tried not to scream out. When I looked back at it, the swirls were no longer there; instead, there was a full circle with the crossed lines inside, and the infinity of lines was now bound together.

  I looked at it, aware of what it meant, but I couldn’t move anymore. I couldn’t do anything. My life was over just as his was. I was alone.

  CHAPTER 33

  Morana

  I didn’t dare to move to Bianca’s side. She held the body, and Luca held her while she wept in confusion and grief.

  I knew her agony, but I had no way to comfort her. Painful reminders would constantly smash at her heart, and there would be no way to stop it.

  I looked at my own wrist marked with the symbol of an ended love and mourned that she still was yet to realize the truth. The man had not been her soul mate, but the loss felt just as horrid.

  The darkness in my soul pulled my gaze away from the scene across the clearing to a shadowy fog that loomed around the tree line behind me.

  Moving toward it, I stopped as a figure moved away, darting between trees and escaping the remnants of this battle. Baba Yaga.

  This war was far from over.

  The Hunter Files

  GUIDE TO SPECIES CLASSIFICATIONS

  -Lack of glowing eye color indicates no magickal color.

  -Green eye color indicates fae earth magick.

  -Yellow eye color indicates elemental magick.

  -Red eye color indicates a dark soul.

  -Orange eye color indicates loup-garou.

  -Purple eye color indicates a soul-feeding shifter.

  BREATHERS

  About: Relating to/about humans and closely associated species

  Eye Color: Involves no magickal color

  ELEMENTAL

  About: Relating to those with powers directly from the many elements, not including the fae’s Old World earth magick

  General Weakness: Fight with the specific element’s opposing force or, if kitsune, cut off its tails in fox form

  Eye Color: Bright yellow

  FAE

  About: Relating to those both in the Unseelie and Seelie Courts that have souls powered by earth magick from the All-Mother

  General Weakness: Iron, which will injure all fae, excluding the banshee

  Eye Color: Variation of green

  GIANT

  About: Relating to beasts larger than the tallest humans; dark souls; starting at nine feet tall

  General Weakness: Silver

  Eye Color: Red

  LOUP-GAROU

  About: Relating to those with powers centered from the moon and its orbit

  General Weakness: Silver, mountain ash, wolfsbane

  Eye Color: Orange

  NOSFERATU

  About: Relating to those with powers taken from the blood of others with dark souls

  General Weakness: Sunlight, rowan

  Eye Color: Red

  SHADOWS

  About: Relating to those with powers emanating from darkness and the pure primal evil; dark souls

  General Weakness: Silver

  Eye Color: Red

  SHIFTERS

  About: Relating to those that feed on the power of a soul to fuel form-changing power

  General Weakness: Bronze

  Eye Color: Purple

  CLASS: Fae

  SUBCLASS: Nymph > Okeanides

  SPECIES: Anthosai

  COURT: Seelie

  ABOUT

  -known as flower nymphs

  -has control over their domain (flowers)

  POWERS

  -control over the growth and life of flowers

  -typical fae earth magick powers of strength, speed, and healing when connected to healthy earth

  WEAKNESSES

  -iron

  EYE COLOR

  -light green

  CLASS: Fae

  SUBCLASS: Nymph > Okeanides

  SPECIES: Aurai

  COURT: Seelie

  ABOUT

  -known as breeze nymphs

  -has control over their domain (breeze)

  POWERS

  -control over the movement and intensity of breeze

  -typical fae earth magick powers of strength, speed, and healing when connected to healthy earth

  WEAKNESSES

  -iron

  EYE COLOR

  -light green

  CLASS: Fae

  SUBCLASS: NA

  SPECI
ES: Banshee

  COURT: Not allocated to a court

  ABOUT

  -death and darkness soul curse activated at ten years old

  -messengers of death—warn and witness death

  -prophetic visions

  -mental pull to death

  POWERS

  -banshee cries can incapacitate and injure, possibly kill

  -typical fae earth magick powers of strength, speed, and healing when connected to healthy earth

  WEAKNESSES

  -unknown

  EYE COLOR

  -dark green

  CLASS: Fae

  SUBCLASS: NA

  SPECIES: Bogie

  COURT: Unseelie

  ABOUT

  -mischievous, not bloodthirsty

  -scares naughty children at night

  -other types of bogie: boggarts and boogeyman

  -molds to fit a fear (takes the image of someone’s greatest fear)

  POWERS

  -shape-shifting to scare

  -typical fae earth magick powers of strength, speed, and healing when connected to healthy earth

  WEAKNESS

  -iron

  EYE COLOR

  -dark green with yellow flecks

  CLASS: Fae

  SUBCLASS: NA

  SPECIES: Brag

  COURT: Unseelie

  ABOUT

  -bloodthirsty

  -haunts all

  -similar to bogie

  POWERS

  -molds to fit fear but different from bogie (also bloodthirsty)

  -typical fae earth magick powers of strength, speed, and healing when connected to healthy earth