No. No it couldn’t be.
I wouldn’t let it.
Power exploded out of me in a steady stream of radiance that pushed back the darkness, the rage, and the fury. It speared the hoard with shards of glorious silver.
Yes! Yes!
I threw back my head and expelled more power. More light.
Somewhere, something screeched in anger.
“It’s working!” Erebus’s voice was clearer . . . Closer. I wanted to turn to him but moving was not an option right now. This connection to my power was new and uncertain, so I held fast, my legs quivering and my lungs screaming for air.
“Don’t stop!” Erebus cried.
I summoned Bella’s face. Her smile, her eyes twinkling with laughter, and more power surged up inside as if given renewed purpose. It exploded from my chest in an arch that sliced through the hoard like a chakra before boomeranging and slamming into me, knocking me back and almost breaking my concentration. The connection to my power stuttered.
“Hold it, Kenna!” Erebus’s voice was close behind me.
He was cutting through, making his way toward me. My knees trembled, stomach quivering as I desperately held the light, pushing more of myself into the attack, punching holes into the hoard’s writhing mass and forcing its retreat. The connection was slipping though, taking me with it, weakening my hold on the veil that held the alters at bay. They began to clamber—pressing and pushing and demanding.
No! I couldn’t hold the power and hold them off. I wasn’t strong enough. I wasn’t . . .
Something sliced the air behind me and warm hands grasped my shoulders. I knew him from his liquorice scent. “It’s alright, Kenna. It’s enough. I’ve got you. Rein it in. Just rein it in.”
His heat was a new force, lending me stability and the strength to begin the process of calling the power back into me. Enough . . . No more. I willed the silver fire back into my veins, and a stillness fell over the landscape. Then the power was rushing back into me, burning and wrapping around my heart to quell the alters’ voices.
Baal caught me as I fell, swinging me up into his arms and cradling me against his chest. The hoard was retreating to lick its wounds, and the ceaseless army stood before the gate like a silent barrier.
Erebus was running toward us. “What did you do? Why did you stop? We could have eliminated it!”
What? It was too vast . . . I was so tired . . .
“Back off Erebus! She’s done all she can.”
“She could have eliminated it.”
“She could have died!”
Erebus’s silver eyes blazed with impotent fury. “Kenna?”
The truth was in his eyes. He didn’t give a shit about me, only for what I could do for him, and if I’d died fighting the hoard he wouldn’t have mourned me, he would have mourned the loss of my power. It was the final nail in the coffin of my feelings for Erebus.
I turned my face into Baal’s neck. “Take me away from here . . . please.”
Baal’s cyclone enveloped us and Evernight melted away.
CHAPTER45
B ella’s funeral was a small, intimate affair. If I’d had my way we would have broadcast her role in the survival of humanity on the Everlight news station. There were no tears from me because she wasn’t gone. Sabriel told me so.
“She was a shining soul, Kenna. One that met her destiny, and now she is at peace,” Sabriel said.
“I want to see her.”
“I’m sorry, but that isn’t possible. She has no memory of her life in the mortal realm. She is free from all attachments and pain.”
I had to let her go. Tears wouldn’t bring her back.
There was no wake, because mum was in no state to hold one, and I couldn’t bear the thought of all the hugs and shoulder pats that those events promoted. She was gone and nothing would bring her back.
Brett sat my kitchen table, his eyes haunted, and his skin pale. “It was painless right?”
“Yes.” I leaned against the sink, watching the emotions play across my best friend’s face as he absorbed the fact that his lover was now nothing but an empty husk.
“Thank you for telling me.” He pushed back his chair and stood, his huge frame eating up space.
“Are you going to be okay?”
He offered me a wry smile. “I should be asking you that question.”
I shrugged. My heart was one big bruise and words were pointless.
Brett stepped forward and enveloped me in a hug. “Are you sure you don’t want me to stay?”
“I’m sure, I just . . . I just want to be alone.”
“Yeah. I get that.” Brett kissed the top of my head and released me. “Call me if you need anything, ‘kay?”
I nodded, my throat tight.
The door closed softly behind him.
I reached for the kettle. Mum was tucked up in bed and there was a world of cleaning up to be done. My power had weakened the hoard and driven it back far enough to pull its reach out of the human realm. I’d given the ceaseless army a reprieve.
Hospitals were full of the injured, streets that had been trashed were in the process of being cleaned up, and the Fearless were working double time to close the breaches that had opened during the attack.
The hoard would be back once it gathered its strength. The battle was far from over.
“Everlight, Kenna. You bleed everlight,” Baal had whispered into my hair as he’d flown me back to the human realm.
A disturbance of air at my back, followed by the scent of liquorice, had me whipping around.
Baal stood at my table, immaculate as always in his latest designer suit. “Hello, Kenna.”
Think of the devil.
I turned back to the kettle. I didn’t want to see him right now. I didn’t want to think about tomorrow. Today was for Bella. The world could wait.
I sighed. “What are you doing here?”
“Today must have been hard for you.”
“You got that right.”
“I thought you may be in need of some company.” He sounded . . . unsure.
I slowly turned to face him. “You came to keep me company?”
He cleared his throat. “I attended the funeral and saw how distraught your mother was. I surmised she may not be in any state to console you this evening.”
The slight furrow to his brow and the straight line of his lips told me he was deadly serious.
“Do you honestly think hanging out with a djinn is going to make me feel even a tiny bit better?” I threw up my hands. “It’s because of the djinn’s failure to get along that there’s a hoard in the first place. It’s because of your kind that my sister had to die!”
Baal cocked his head. “My kind?” His eyes narrowed. “Take a look in the mirror, Kenna. You’re no more human than I. In fact, you’re worse—a mish-mash of identities scrambling to discover who she really is, and that, my dear, can be the most dangerous thing.”
My heart stalled—did he know about the alters?
He took a step closer. “You’re an unknown factor, part djinn part Twilighter, with the potential to protect or annihilate, and I was merely intending to offer you my support and guidance on a path which will be fraught with difficult decisions and danger.”
I exhaled in relief. He was talking about my DNA.
“Why should I trust you? You want the throne for yourself.”
He inclined his head. “Yes that’s true, but only because there was no one worthy or powerful enough to claim it.” He leaned forward in earnest. “I want peace, Kenna,” His eyes swept up and down, “Whatever package it may come in. But the fifth dimension is a minefield of political back-stabbery and lethal etiquette. And the Overlords are masters of deception. To navigate it alone would be foolish.” He pulled out a chair. “So, what’s it going to be Kenna? Will you accept my hand of friendship or will you suffer alone?”
My gaze dropped to his hand wrapped around the back of the seat, then back up to lock eyes with him. I didn�
��t know him well, but he’d come for me when I’d needed him, then he had pulled me back from the brink when I’d almost lost myself to the new power inside me. Plus he was here now.
Was that enough to trust him?
I flipped the kettle on. “How do you take your tea?”
The chair scraped against the floor as Baal took a seat. “Milk, no sugar.”
“So tell me Baal, what can you offer me?”
He took the proffered cup and blew over the top to cool it before taking a sip. His brows shot up. “What is this?”
“Some cheap stuff from the supermarket. I don’t know. Answer the question—what can you offer me?”
He set down the cup. “Aside from all that I’ve already mentioned?”
I nodded.
“I can offer you me.”
I looked him up and down. “You’ll need to do better than that.”
He smiled, showcasing his teeth. I noted how his canines were slightly longer than the rest, giving him a dangerous air.
“Well?”
“Trust me Kenna, in your quest for the throne all you’ll need is me. I’m more than my expertise, my knowledge, my army, and my time. With me at your side, djinn will stop and take notice. I promise you. I won’t rest until you’re on that throne.”
I studied his rakish face. There was mischief in his eyes, a promise of wicked fun. Something inside me surged to the surface—a desire for risk, a desire to embrace danger.
“Fine, I’ll allow you to help me.”
“A most wise decision Miss Carter, a most wise decision . . .”
I was now the everlight sword in a new battle, and I had a feeling that Baal would make an invaluable ally.
To be continued...
Continue the journey with Kenna.
Read the first two chapters of Into Evernight, book 2 in The Fearless Destiny Series below, then click the image to order your copy.
CHAPTER 1
I hammered on the door to the two-story, red-brick, semi-detached residence. “Mrs Watkins, you need to let us in!”
“Go away.” The voice was muffled by the wood between us.
I backed out of the way. “We’re gonna have to break it down.”
Brett was already holding the necessary lever tool, and it took him less than a minute to breach the lock.
Mrs Watkins stumbled back as we strode into the carpeted entrance hall. “You’re not having her. You can’t. I won’t let you!” She rushed me, wild-eyed and crazy-haired.
Brett grabbed her shoulders to hold her back. “It’s for her safety ma’am. If she stays here, she dies. I promise you, we’ll take good care of her.”
The woman shook her head. “No, no. Please, she’s all I have.”
She thought she was protecting her daughter, but in reality she was giving her a death sentence by not getting out of the fucking way. Sandra Watkins, thirteen years old and on the verge of blooming, was in terrible danger
“If you don’t get out of the way now, you will lose her. A denizen attack could happen at any moment,” Brett said.
“We’re safe. The house was remodelled two years ago, there’s nowhere for a breach to occur.”
Dammit. Why the heck didn’t these people watch the fucking news? “The breach doesn’t have to be in the house. It could be two blocks away, or a mile, but as a potential Emergent, your daughter will be a target.”
“No, that can’t be right.”
I was done explaining. “Brett, keep her down here.”
Shoving past, I took the stairs two at a time. The state-of-the-art prosthetic I was sporting was pretty awesome. It fit like a glove, which meant no pain, and it was strong—super strong. It brought out the old Kenna—the one who could take on the world and win.
I stepped onto the landing. “Sandra? Sandra! Hun, you need to come with us.”
There were three bedrooms and a bathroom. The bathroom door was wide open, the room beyond empty. But the bedroom doors were closed.
I pushed open the door to my left and stepped in “Sandra?”
This looked like the mother’s room; dresser, double bed, clothes rack, and nothing more. I strode to the rack and pushed the clothes aside to make sure the kid wasn’t hiding there.
“Kenna, suns going down!” Brett called from the bottom of the stairs.
Yeah, sun down on the south side was dark. The luma shortage had left most of the boroughs without any luma at all. The streets were no longer safe for anyone. The second room—a small box room—was also empty.
Final room. She had to be in here. “Sandra, I’m gonna come in now.” I pushed open the door. “There’s nothing to be afraid of. I promise you.”
She was sitting on her bed, wide-eyed and tear-stained.
“Are you going to take me away?” she asked.
“Yeah, we are, but only for a little while. Just until you emerge, and then you can come right on home.”
“But mum said … she said I’d never see her again.”
“Your mum doesn’t have all the facts, hun. Look, why don’t you grab a few things and we can get going? It’s a really nice place and there are other kids your age there. Once you’re settled we can see about your mum coming to visit.”
She nodded, wiping at her eyes. “Okay.”
She walked over to her wardrobe. Behind her, through the window, the sky was a palate of dying reds and burnt oranges. It was a neat room for an almost teenager, with plenty of books and a small red radio that sat in a prize position on a dresser that held pretty nail varnish and a silver-handled brush.
I took it all in just as a wave of wrongness washed over me, an awareness of something other. The mother had said they’d remodelled but the wardrobe …
She was gripping the handles about to pull.
“Sandra. No!”
I leapt toward her, knocking her out of the way just as the doors burst open and darkness embedded with a multitude of eyes exploded into the room. Sandra’s scream was muted by the rush of blood in my ears, by the whoosh of Frieda coming to life in my hands.
Her cries were background noise as I swung, rolled, and came to my feet to stab and slice until the denizen was folding in on itself.
Until it was no more.
“Oh god, oh god.”
Shit, she was shaking like a leaf. “It’s okay.”
The thunder of boot falls was followed a second later by Brett’s huge bulk. He ground to a halt in the doorway, his eyes going from Frieda, to the wardrobe, and then to Sandra.
“We good?” he asked.
“Yeah we’re good. Just need to close the breach.”
“I’ll do it.” Brett set to work on the wardrobe.
I turned to Sandra but she wasn’t looking at me, she was staring at her wrist. At the bud that was opening before our very eyes, and the word that would seal her fate.
Fearless.
CHAPTER 2
“That’s the earliest it’s ever happened,” Brett said.
“The powers-that-be are getting desperate.” I sipped my tea needing the caffeine. “We’re low on numbers.” My sleep had been sketchy recently, interrupted by some pretty weird dreams
“But she’s just a child.”
“Not anymore.”
Brett stared at me unblinkingly. “You’ve changed.”
“Now that’s an understatement. You know what I am.”
“Knowing and actually seeing it are too different things. The Kenna I knew would never have spoken so callously about throwing children into a war.”
“I’m still me Brett, I just happen to know the shit we’re up against. If we’re gonna have a chance of surviving then we need to be prepared. All Emergents, regardless of age, will be trained, but active duty won’t begin until they’re sixteen, unless...”
“Unless what?”
“Unless circumstances give us no choice,”
Brett exhaled and dropped his gaze.
My stomach clenched, but I ignored it. This was the right thing to do,
the only thing to do if we were going to have a shot at survival. “You know I’m right.”
He blew out his cheeks. “Yeah, but it sucks.”
The knot in my stomach loosened a fraction. “I know.”
Everything was so life and death at the moment, so doomsday evasion that I really needed a subject change.
“So do you like what I’ve done with the place?”
I leaned back in my swivel seat and opened my arms to encompass my office. The dark colours were gone, replaced by warmer red and gold tones.
Brett grinned. “What I would have liked to see was Blane’s face when he found out he’d been demoted and transferred and you’d been given his old job.”
“Yeah, that’s one snapshot for the album.” I tapped the side of my head.
The official story was that I’d used my training to survive the Evernight and provide the government with the intel they needed to thwart the hoard attack. I was a hero. A promotion and a brand new spanking leg was the least they could do for me.
Brett’s deduction that the denizens were targeting potential Emergents had gotten back to Baal, who’d used his connections to create a technomagical device allowing us to locate all potential Emergents. Every citizen’s blood sample was held in a database. All the technicians needed to do was run the data through the device. The Fearless all shared the same genetic marker. The downside was that the marker only activated a few months before Emergent’s Bloomed, which meant that once we got a hit we were on a clock.
Two months down the line we had it down to an art form—a secure facility to house the teens until they Bloomed, and specialised teams on call for extraction. It was all going to plan except for the fact we still had no idea who was responsible for targeting them. All we knew was that it had to be linked to the disappearance of Crawford –the mage responsible for the original spell creating the destiny blooms and the Fearless.
We find Crawford, we find the culprit.
“Has Lauren been in contact?” Brett asked.
“Not yet.”
Turned out that Baal knew the black mages, and Lauren was his contact in the Twilight. All intel indicated that Crawford was also in the Twilight, but as of yet the black mages had failed to locate him.
Beyond Everlight: an Urban Fantasy Novel (Fearless Destiny Book 1) Page 26
