Inevitable Darkness

by Cassandra Lawson

  “Why isn’t the mage with you?” Legion demanded.

  Serenity rolled her eyes and spoke before Mitchell could. “Rather than worrying about why he doesn’t have the mage with him, let’s do something more constructive, like take him where he needs to go.”

  “Can you take me back to my home?” Mitchell asked, deciding it would be easier to let Connor know what was going on in person. “I don’t need to be inside my home. Anywhere around there will work.”

  Legion nodded and turned to Serenity. Her skin glowed even brighter as the portal began to form.

  “Hold on!” Mitchell told them with a hand up. He leaned to the side and brushed his lips against Abram’s. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. Let the others know I’m going for help.”

  Abram nodded. “Be careful.”

  “I will,” Mitchell assured him as he got to his feet and quickly dressed.

  “Are you ready to go?” Legion asked.

  “As ready as I’ll ever be,” Mitchell replied before stepping into the portal.

  Serenity’s portal was different from the ones he’d created with Vexx and Winter. A golden light radiated through the walls, growing brighter near the end. The scenes from different times and places zipped by much faster, making it harder for him to focus on any one world. Serenity was a very powerful woman.

  “My portals aren’t like this one,” he mused as he tried to focus on a scene of himself fighting with a broadsword—a weapon he had no clue how to wield.

  “It’s because I don’t exist in any one plane of reality anymore,” Serenity explained. “Legion pulled me from my dimension at the time I was supposed to die, and now I’m in a kind of limbo. It makes it easier to manipulate time and space. It also makes me glow like this.”

  “So, you’re supposed to be dead?” Mitchell asked.

  “No,” was Legion’s gruff reply. “Serenity was meant to be my salvation. She glows with the light of a guardian angel. Had she been truly meant to die, I couldn’t have saved her.”

  Serenity laughed. “He was worse before this, but don’t believe what he says about me being a guardian angel. I’m no angel, unless you’re comparing me to Legion.”

  “What can you tell me about my power and why it has these flare-ups?” Mitchell asked Legion. “I keep losing control of it, and only blood or sex calms me.”

  “That makes sense,” Legion told him. “The blood dilutes your demon blood temporarily, easing that side of you. Don’t take demon blood unless you want to enhance that side of yourself.”

  “I prefer human blood from a bag,” Mitchell explained.

  “That sounds boring,” Legion remarked. “It’s also a bad choice while you’re in demon adolescence. I recommend sticking with more powerful beings. Your shapeshifter friends are a good choice. If you can talk the witches into it, their blood should be strong enough. Stay away from Fae blood since it might activate that side of you.”

  “How do you know so much about blood?” Mitchell asked as he neared the end of the portal.

  “No time to talk now,” Legion told him as he gripped his shoulders and shoved him out. “If everything works the way I hope, we’ll be back in thirty minutes.”

  “And if it doesn’t?” Mitchell asked as the portal began to close behind him.

  “Then you’d better get a ride back to your friends,” Legion called out.

  “Get a ride back to my friends,” he muttered before looking around. Thankfully, Legion had let him out in the school field, so he didn’t have far to go.

  Chapter 64

  Fang’s howl woke him from a dead sleep before Connor heard the loud knock at his front door. When you had wolves in your home, you were seldom surprised by unannounced guests at your door. Since the birth of his most recent litter of pups, Fang had become even more vigilant, often standing guard at night. Connor imagined he’d be the same way once he became a father.

  “If it’s not an emergency, I’m going to kill whoever is on the other side of that door,” Connor grumbled as he climbed out of bed and slipped on a pair of pants.

  “It has to be an emergency,” Raven assured him. “No one is stupid enough to wake you up after you spent fourteen hours on patrol for anything less.”

  “You’re probably right, little nymph,” he agreed on his way out of the room. He hoped Raven would go back to sleep but suspected she’d follow him down.

  Both Luna and Fang were pacing the front room.

  Connor opened the door and blinked twice. “Mitchell? What the hell are you doing here? How did you even get here?”

  “Serenity made a portal for me,” Mitchell explained.

  “Shit,” Connor muttered as he stepped aside. “Come in and tell me what’s going on.” For Mitchell to agree to leave the others behind, there had to be big trouble.

  “Let me start with the original reason I was going to contact you,” Mitchell began. “Cell service went out at the camp outside the witch territory, so we were planning to drive until we found a spot where we could call you in the morning. There was a Moon virus outbreak near the witch coven. According to the witches, there are no vampire settlements in that area, but the two human settlements are big enough that an extermination crew should be sent in. We encountered twenty-three newly turned vampires.”

  Connor nodded and gestured to the computer. “You can show me where it is on a map, and I’ll decide how we should proceed. I may need to get Eleanor involved.”

  “We were originally going to ask Max to call her, as well,” Mitchell told him.

  Connor should have known Mitchell would have thought of everything. Despite his youth, Mitchell was one of Connor’s best-trained people. He’d started putting him on patrol two days a week a few months back and had planned to move him to full-time rotation soon. “Why don’t you tell me the other reason you’re here. I’m sure Serenity didn’t show up to help you with a Moon virus outbreak.”

  “Mitchell?” Raven asked as she made her way down the stairs. “What are you doing here?”

  “He needed to tell me about a Moon virus outbreak,” Connor explained. “There’s something else going on, so Serenity brought him here. He was about to tell me the rest.”

  “I’ll get you a bag of blood,” Raven offered. “While I’m in there, I’ll pack a cooler of blood to send back with you. Serenity is taking you back, right?”

  “I hope so,” Mitchell replied. “Legion said they’d try getting back here in thirty minutes. He didn’t seem convinced he could pull it off.”

  “They should have waited for you,” Connor muttered.

  “Yeah,” Mitchell agreed. “That would have made more sense, but they may have had a good reason for not staying here. Legion doesn’t usually share information with me.”

  Connor brought up the map on the computer, zooming in on the general area of the coven. They hadn’t been able to give Connor exact directions to the coven prior to setting off. “Let’s figure out where this outbreak is first.”

  Mitchell zoomed in closer on the map, pointing to one area and saying, “This road is completely gone. There’s a good dirt trail over here.”

  “Good to know,” Connor told him before updating the map.

  “The witches say the human settlements are all in this direction, but they didn’t have any maps to show us exact locations,” Mitchell explained. “Cell service is spotty near the coven territory.”

  Connor nodded. “I’ll make sure our teams know they may not be able to reach each other. I know about one human settlement out that way, but the second is news to me. The vampires north of there won’t help even if the council demands it of them, but the ones to the east may lend a hand. They’re currently fighting with a settlement to the south of them. According to Eleanor, the council may step in soon. I guess it’s getting ugly.”

  “So, there’s an outbreak in the middle of a mess,” Mitchell mused as he took the glass of blood from Raven. “Thank you.” She set a cooler beside him.

  “You’re
welcome,” she replied before looking at the map. “Will the vampires in those territories be a problem if you send an extermination crew out there? Are they going to see it as a threat?”

  “There shouldn’t be any problems as long as I let the leaders know I’m sending people,” Connor assured her. “They’ll likely appreciate us handling the outbreak.”

  “We have another problem, which may impact who you send to deal with the outbreak,” Mitchell began. “Legion came to me tonight to tell me that the demons looking for Kish are closing in.” He hesitated, making Connor wonder what he was considering keeping from him.

  “Mitchell.” Raven placed a hand on his shoulder. “We need to know everything that’s going on.”

  “It’s likely I’m the one they’re tracking now,” Mitchell confessed. “I’ve had some issues with my demon magic. Legion says it’s got to do with my age. Hopefully, I’ll have some time to ask Kyleigh a few questions to see if it could be my Fae side. I don’t trust everything Legion says.”

  “I don’t blame you,” Raven replied. “You barely know the demon.”

  “He’s helped us before,” Connor pointed out. “Though I suspect he only helped because it benefited him. I’m going to put together a bigger team to meet you out there.”

  “I thought you didn’t want to send out too many of your people. This could be putting you and everyone here at risk,” Mitchell reminded him.

  “If there are demons in the area, then we’re already in danger,” Connor stated. “While you were away, I arranged for some of our allies to send fighters out here, so I have more back-up than when you left. Can you give me a more precise location so they can find you?”

  “I’ll do my best,” Mitchell assured him. “It may be easier if we move to a location that’s more likely to have cell service.”

  Connor studied the map before pointing to a spot. “Here’s a good place. It’ll be easy for my team to find you. If there’s no cell service there, you can call me when you find a place to set up camp.”

  Mitchell nodded. “Okay. I need to hurry so I can talk to Kyleigh before I leave.”

  “What happens if Legion and Serenity can’t bring you back?” Raven asked.

  Mitchell let out a tired sigh. “Then I’ll need to get back there as soon as possible. I should start driving tonight.”

  “I’ll get the first members of the extermination team ready to go,” Connor began. “If you need a ride back, you can tag along with them.”

  “Okay,” Mitchell replied on his way to the door. “I’ll come back here if Serenity doesn’t show up.”

  Connor nodded. “I’m going to wake the first team now.”

  Chapter 65

  Mitchell hurried toward his home, thankful Connor didn’t live far from Ian and Kyleigh. He was going to be cutting it close getting back to the school, and something told him that if Legion and Serenity were on time, they wouldn’t wait long for him.

  Ian was waiting at the door, likely because Connor had called to tell him Mitchell was heading over. He immediately pulled Mitchell into a hug.

  “Kyleigh will be down in a minute,” Ian told him. “We already know you need information from her. How have you been holding up? Are things going okay with Kishara?”

  “It’s going better than I expected with Kish,” Mitchell replied. “At first, I had my doubts that we’d ever be able to deal with her, but it’s getting easier. She’s very guarded.”

  Ian nodded. “That makes sense.”

  “Mitchell!” Kyleigh launched herself at him, and Mitchell hugged her tightly. “I’m so glad you’re okay.” She didn’t give him a chance to say anything before pulling away and asking, “What do you need to know about your power? I understand you’re on a timeline, so I’ll skip my questions until you get back.”

  “I’ve had strange issues with my magic—trouble controlling it,” he explained. “Legion thinks demon adolescence is to blame, but I figured it might also be my Fae side. The worry is that, if it’s demon magic, I may be leading the demons to us. I want to confront them, but not until we’re ready.”

  “Tell me a little more about what’s been going on,” she coaxed. “Give me as many details as you can think of.”

  Mitchell explained what had happened. When he finished, Kyleigh shook her head. “I don’t believe this is related to your Fae side. As near as I can tell, that side tempers your demon side, and it’s responsible for the visions you have. Your ability to open portals might even be related to your Fae side. Keep in mind that, until recently, I didn’t know there were demons. I thought they were all dark Fae, so I’m not exactly an expert on the subject.”

  “Legion seems sure it will be easier for me to open portals as my demon power grows stronger,” Mitchell told her.

  She nodded. “Both the Fae and demons can open various types of portals, but if what your cousin says is true, then you haven’t been drawing much from your demon side.”

  “Probably not,” Mitchell replied.

  “I’m going with the extermination team, and I’ll be there to help you when you confront the demons,” Ian told him.

  Mitchell breathed a sigh of relief. While there was a part of him that didn’t want Ian hurt, he trusted Ian to have his back in a fight. “I’m glad you’ll be there. Do you know who else Connor is assigning?”

  Ian shook his head. “I’m not sure yet.”

  “Since Lexi is with you, I’ll try contacting Arawn,” Kyleigh stated.

  Ian’s eyes narrowed. “We don’t need that bastard.”

  Mitchell didn’t blame Ian for his response to Kyleigh suggesting they request help from Arawn. The Fae’s obsession with Kyleigh might have ended, but Ian’s memory of how he’d tormented Kyleigh remained. “We might need him,” Mitchell admitted with a sigh. “We’re up against someone who thinks he can overthrow Satan.”

  Kyleigh blinked twice. “Satan?”

  “Yes,” Mitchell replied. “Satan is a title rather than a name, but we’re still talking about the ruler of Hell.”

  “I assume he wants to use you and Kishara as weapons,” Kyleigh remarked.

  “That’s what Legion heard,” Mitchell replied.

  “How does he hear anything?” Ian asked with narrowed eyes. “I don’t trust this guy.”

  “I keep saying I don’t trust him, but for some reason I really do,” Mitchell replied with a sigh. “He’s not pretending to be something he’s not. If Legion were trying to con me, he’d act nicer than he does.”

  “That’s not a good reason to trust him,” Ian argued.

  “You’re right,” Mitchell agreed. “I’m not sure what else to do.” He hugged them both. “I need to go. Tell Bridget I love her.”

  “I will,” Kyleigh assured him. “Be careful.”

  He nodded but said nothing.

  “I’ll see you in three days tops,” Ian assured him. “We’ll drive in shifts to get there faster.”

  “All right,” Mitchell agreed before jogging to the field with the cooler slung over his shoulder.

  “We were just about to leave you, halfling!” Legion called out.

  “No, we weren’t,” Serenity argued. “I got the timing off, but not the way I expected. I got back here five minutes after you left. You’re still early.”

  “Are your vampire friends going to help?” Legion asked.

  “They’re going to try,” Mitchell replied honestly. “It’s annoying that I can see the future only part of the time. This is one of those times when it would be helpful to have at least a clue about what’s going to happen.”

  Legion shrugged as they stepped into the portal. “People are going to die. Some will be yours and some won’t.”

  Serenity smacked Legion’s bare belly. “Could you at least pretend to have some compassion for Mitchell? He’s fighting to save your sister.”

  “And his own ass,” Legion argued.

  “No,” Mitchell snapped. “I’m fighting to save everyone I love because I’ve seen the visions
of what these demons are capable of. You aren’t helping.”

  “I came to warn you,” Legion reminded him.

  “Yeah, right,” Mitchell scoffed. “If you wanted to help, you wouldn’t keep revealing these small details about my demon side and then promising to talk to me about it later.”

  “I haven’t done that even once today,” Legion insisted. “Not once did I say I’ll give you more details later.”

  “Only because he didn’t ask for more details,” Serenity pointed out. “Mitchell has no one to ask about everything that’s going on.”

  “You know why I can’t sit down and have a long chat with him,” Legion told her. “Every second I’m around him makes it more likely my father will find him.”

  “You’re protecting me?” Mitchell asked with wide eyes.

  “I wouldn’t go that far,” Legion replied.

  “Stop pretending you don’t care about anyone,” Serenity snapped.

  Legion let out a frustrated breath and trailed his fingers along the wall of the portal as he walked by the scene of a tiger fighting a tiger shifter. While Legion’s fingers were on the wall, his form flickered in and out. His hand dropped to his side before he began speaking again. “I care about all of my siblings, and I care what happens to you. You’re not bad for someone who was raised by humans.”

  “Thanks,” was Mitchell’s droll response. “If you care about me, can you tell me more about who and what I am?”

  “All right,” Legion agreed after a long pause. “We need to make it quick. The last thing you need is to draw even more attention to yourself.”

  Finally! Mitchell was going to get some answers.

  Chapter 66

  Abram knew he should get some sleep, but he couldn’t get his mind to shut off knowing demons might be looking for Mitchell and closing in fast. It wasn’t fear of being killed that had him so on edge.

  “He’s fine,” Vexx snapped. She’d been watching him pace for close to an hour without saying a word.