Eternal Night

by Kerrion, Jade;

  Jaden shook his head. “There are more daevas sealed between fire doors on the lowest level. There could be others in the tower.”

  She looked aghast. “We’ve killed them by the hundreds. Yuri and Talon are still clearing the city. How many more are there?”

  “Jaden warned you that they existed in the thousands.”

  “What do we do with the daevas trapped on the lowest level?”

  “Kill them all.” Ashra’s tone left no room for debate. She held Tera’s gaze. “If you see Elsker, kill him.”

  Jaden’s green eyes flashed to her. “Elsker?”

  Ashra nodded, her jaw tense.

  The room shook, vibrating like a loose tooth. The concussive boom knocked them off their feet. She looked up, her pale golden eyes wide with alarm. “The engines!” Her wings flared, carrying her from the ark.

  Jaden gritted his teeth. Khiarra had to wait. He paused long enough to glance at the armed humans. “Stay here. Seal the doors. Defend the ark.”

  He raced from the room and onto the elevator. He arrived at the engine room minutes later. The massive steel doors protecting the engine rooms had been forced open, and the engines were engulfed in flame. The shredded capacitors bore testament to the daevas’ destructive fury.

  Ashra stood, her white gown blood-streaked, over a score of daeva corpses.

  The low hum, the steady white noise of the city’s engines, gave way to silence.

  Tera came in behind him. Her eyes widened, but she too said nothing.

  “How close are we to dawn?” Jaden asked.

  Tera shook her head. “A half hour, no more.”

  Ashra’s voice was a stricken whisper. “And we’re trapped.”

  Jaden grasped her arm. “What happens when the sun rises?”

  “The city burns.”

  “Has it burned before?”

  “No. We’ve never been trapped in the sun. Until now.”

  “What about the tower itself?” Jaden demanded. “Will it survive the sun?”

  Her eyes widened. Hope flickered. “Perhaps. More than likely.”

  “We have to evacuate the city. Bring all the people into the tower.”

  Ashra’s lips pressed into a thin line. She hesitated only for a moment before nodding. “Do it.”

  Chapter 18

  In her one thousand-year reign over Aeternae Noctis, Ashra had never imagined that she would usher humans into Malum Turris.

  The pale glow of the dawn seeped into the city, casting a surreal light over the sturdy stone buildings. Bodies of daevas, vampires, and humans lay crumpled in the city square, but the skies were once again clear.

  Like a living river, a panicked mass of humanity flowed along the city streets. People carried their most precious belongings and scurried for the protection of Malum Turris. They dashed across the drawbridge and stumbled up the narrow granite steps through the double doors.

  A child paused at the entrance of the tower and stared up at Ashra. “Are you an angel?”

  The furthest thing from it. She smiled at the child. “Sometimes.”

  The brightening horizon told her they were almost out of time. Her wings beat down, and she circled the city. “Get back to the tower now!”

  Tera, who had been soaring overhead in search of Elsker, landed in front of the tower. As she stepped within its protective walls, she shot Ashra a grim look and shook her head. They would have to keep searching for the traitor.

  The stragglers, vampires and humans alike, scrambled toward Malum Turris. Ashra landed in front of the great doors and cast a glance over her shoulder. Jaden was the last to race up the steep steps. He had searched each house to confirm that the city was empty of human life. The sun exploded over the mountains. The first rays of sunlight burst through the curve of the dome.

  Jaden raced through the massive carbon steel doors that they hoped and prayed would stand against the sun. Ashra slipped in behind him.

  A flurry of motion brushed against her. Alarmed, she stepped back. A small figure darted through the closing doors. Khiarra dashed out of the tower and into the city, her delighted laughter chiming against the outer walls of Malum Turris.

  “Come back!” Jaden surged after her and squeezed through the narrow opening.

  The door slammed shut, locking them out.

  “No!” Ashra could not lose Jaden, not the way she had lost Rohkeus. She had seen the fear and panic in Rohkeus’s green eyes when he realized he was dying and could not reach the safety of the city as it fled away from the sun. The terror in his eyes gave way to peace as his body began to burn. He had surrendered to death even before the human assassin executed him.

  The same fear and panic marked Jaden’s eyes—not for himself but for his sister.

  She clenched her fists. Her sharp fingernails cut into her skin. Khiarra would kill Jaden.

  Again.

  Ashra leaped into the air. Her wings spread to their full ten-foot span, and she soared over the heads of the humans, launching herself up the central shaft of the tower.

  A flurry of wings raced behind her. “Ashra, no!”

  She burst into her suite. In two quick motions, she tore down the carbon steel panels erected over the shattered glass doors leading out to her balcony. Her wings flared in preparation for flight.

  Tera seized her and pulled her back. “No, you can’t. It’s too late.”

  She twisted in Tera’s grip. “I can save him. Let me go!”

  “We can’t lose you.”

  On the ground, Jaden seized his still-laughing sister even though they had no way of returning to safety of the tower. As if he had sensed her presence, he looked up at Ashra. Their gazes met over Khiarra’s tousled head. In his green eyes, terror gave way to peace. A half smile, gentled by love, curved his mouth. His lips moved in farewell. I love you.

  Sunlight poured through the glass dome. Sparkles glistened against Jaden’s tall frame. It took her a moment to realize that the apparent glitter came from seeing him through her tears. His body was bathed in sunlight.

  He would burn.

  She would have to watch her lover die all over again.

  Khiarra reached up, her tiny fingers outstretched to the sun. “So pretty.”

  The sun rose over Aeternae Noctis. Light spilled across the city of eternal night, tumbling over the buildings. The beam of light climbed up the walls of the cathedral in the city square. The exquisite stained-glass windows burst into color.

  Not flame.

  Ashra’s breath caught.

  Jaden raised his hand and placed it directly in a patch of golden light. Sunlight reflected off his deep tan. He raised his gaze to the sun, shielding his eyes, and then turned to flash a dazzling smile at her. “It’s beautiful.”

  As beautiful and as harmless as the night. She inhaled sharply; the motion shattered her unmoving state, but not the awe that had triggered it.

  Tera’s grip on her arms relaxed.

  Together, the two icrathari stepped out onto the balcony. Ashra unfurled her wings; the sunlight caused the dark leather of her wings to sparkle like black opals. Her pale skin shimmered in the harmless glow of the sun.

  She gazed over a city transformed by light, brought alive with color, and looked up at the glass dome. The full light of the sun and a mere sliver of its warmth filtered through the glass.

  The icrathari, vampires, and humans had lived a thousand years of darkness.

  For nothing.

  Rohkeus had never intended for Aeternae Noctis to race endlessly through the night. The palladium glass dome had always deflected the heat of the sun. Only, she had never known. No one had known.

  A child’s innocent love for play, and a brother’s devotion to his sister, had forced the issue. Jaden and Khiarra had ended the eternal night.

  She stared down at brother and sister. Through her blur of unshed tears, their familiar faces wavered, for a moment, into the face of Rohkeus and his assassin. Was this why the blessed Creator sent their souls back, to
finish the work that Rohkeus had begun a thousand years prior?

  She inhaled, drawing gently warmed air into her lungs, and closed her eyes.

  When she opened them once again, she saw only Khiarra and Jaden. Her Jaden.

  She glanced over her shoulder at Tera. “Open the doors. Let the people out.”

  Ashra soared from the balcony to land soundlessly beside Jaden.

  He shifted his sister into his left arm and drew Ashra to him with his other hand. “Shred the veil of deception to end the eternal dark.”

  “A millennium of darkness…” She shook her head. “We never knew.”

  Jaden smiled. “Perhaps you should have trusted Rohkeus’s design more.”

  The front door of Malum Turris opened. Humans inched out, their cautious and awed gazes focused on the bright sky. She spared a glance at the people filing out of the tower. The low buzz of their excited chatter quickly became deafening, but not even their obvious delight could spike the undercurrent of tension that tightened her shoulder muscles. “Can you manage things down here? Tera and I have other business to handle.”

  Jaden caught her wrist before she turned away. “Elsker?”

  She nodded. “We’ll find him.”

  “And where is Siri?”

  “In the chamber. Elsker sabotaged some of our electronic systems, and Siri’s trying to figure out the extent of the damage. Stay with your people; this is icrathari business.”

  His eyes narrowed.

  She had seen that mutinous gleam in his eyes before, usually before he did something extraordinarily foolhardy to try to protect her.

  But he only nodded. “Be safe, my love,” he murmured, bending down to kiss her, heedless of the attention of his people.

  The humans’ glances turned speculative and then transformed into frank curiosity when Khiarra leaned over and wrapped her arms around Ashra’s neck, pressing a kiss to her cheek.

  “Through her you will see the Night Terrors for who they are,” a quavering female voice intoned. A quirk of laughter sparkled through it.

  Ashra turned and inclined her head to the ancient wise woman.

  “Thank you,” Mater Matris said. “You have protected us.”

  A low murmur of human voices echoed her gratitude.

  The crowd flowed around Ashra as the people surged down the steps of Malum Turris and spread out across the square. Jaden turned away, carrying his sister with him. Within moments, he vanished down a cobblestoned path.

  Tera approached Ashra. “My vampires will start clearing out the lowest level. I’ll be with them, in case Elsker is down there. Should I send Talon and Yuri with you?”

  “No. I’ll be fine. I’ll check on Siri’s progress and then join you.”

  Ashra’s wings spread and beat down hard, carrying her to the top of Malum Turris. She landed on the balcony surrounding the chamber and strode into the room. “Siri?”

  Her eyes widened. “Siri!” She rushed forward and dropped to her knees beside the wounded icrathari. Siri’s throat had been slit and her stomach punctured with claw marks, but her chest moved almost imperceptibly with each breath.

  The air shifted behind Ashra, heralding the unfurling of massive bat-like wings. She rose to her feet. Without turning, she acknowledged an approaching presence. “Elsker.”

  “Ashra.”

  She glanced over her shoulder. Beside Elsker, a large daeva cradled its winged infant.

  Taking on an icrathari or a daeva, as ancient, as strong, and as powerful as she was, would have proved challenging enough. Taking on both at once would be suicide.

  She took a step back, but the control panel blocked further retreat. She straightened and raised her chin. “Why, Elsker? Why did you betray us?”

  He shook his head; his voice was sad. “This isn’t a betrayal, Ashra. It is a plea for change.”

  “A plea, accompanied by a hostile invasion?”

  “The world is changing. It’s not just the four of us struggling to salvage and protect whatever life is left on this planet. The daevas—they’re like us. If we work together, we can have a different future, one unburdened by humans.”

  Ashra tilted her head. “Is the child yours?”

  Elsker’s expression tightened.

  “Answer the question. The daeva child, is it yours?”

  The daeva hissed.

  “And yours?”

  The daeva inclined its head, the gesture stately. A silver ring glittered on its finger.

  Elsker swallowed hard. “We met on one of my scouting expeditions nine months ago. We fought; she spared my life. They’re not the monsters we’ve made them out to be. They need only access to superior technology—technology that we have locked away here in Aeternae Noctis—to trigger the evolution of their society to higher levels, levels that could perhaps find a way to restore life to the surface of the Earth.”

  Ashra arched an eyebrow. Life on Earth. Could peace and collaboration with the daevas be the answer?

  “There is hope, Ashra, hope for all of us, but not if we are perpetually burdened with those ungrateful, pathetic humans.”

  His callous dismissal of the humans, the youngest children of the Great Mother, raised her hackles. She bared her incisors in a snarl. “Jaden’s ungrateful and pathetic human friends saved our city today. Without their help, the daevas would have killed the vampires and taken over Aeternae Noctis.”

  “Change isn’t free, Ashra. The lives of the humans and the vampires are a small price to pay. We don’t need them. The Earth belongs to us—the icrathari and the daevas. We reunite our species, join our futures.”

  The faint sliver of a shadow fell across the doorway behind Elsker and the daeva.

  Ashra’s pulse skittered, but she forced herself to appear impassive.

  Jaden peered into the room, met her gaze, and touched a hand to his ear. Apparently, Siri had not closed the communication channel from the chamber, and Ashra’s conversation with Elsker had been conveyed through the mobile com device Jaden wore in his ear.

  The communications channel…

  She shifted her weight, a subtle motion. Her left hand slipped behind her, fingertips crawling against the surface of the control panel. She did not know the control panel as well as Siri did, but she knew enough to find the button to trigger the emergency beacon to summon Tera to the chamber.

  To keep Jaden alive, she would have to hold Elsker and the daeva’s attention until Tera and the vampires arrived. She glared at Elsker. “The future belongs to all of us, vampires and humans included. I don’t care who you consort with in your free time, but when you lead an occupying force into my city, you become my enemy.”

  He snorted. “Consorting with the human turned your mind and heart against the city. You cannot win, Ashra. Secede, and we will show you mercy.”

  Jaden inched into the room on silent feet. His drawn swords glittered as sunlight danced along its edge.

  No, Jaden. Please, no. Not yet. Her gaze darted to Elsker’s face. “The same mercy you showed Siri?”

  Jaden lunged.

  The daeva arched, screaming in raw anguish, clawing at the sword that emerged through its stomach. With a shriek, it dropped the infant.

  “Megun!” Elsker whirled around and threw himself at Jaden, talons extended.

  Jaden kicked the injured daeva away and brought up his other sword to deflect Elsker’s attack.

  Ashra’s full attention was consumed by the battle with the daeva. Though wounded, Megun was ancient, immortal in a way that only their kind could be. Her wound healed, flesh stitching around the injury, but could not close around the embedded sword, nor could she remove the sword from her back.

  Ashra leapt at Megun, her wings bearing her aloft to avoid contact with Jaden’s blade. Megun lunged up, her claws tearing at Ashra’s chest and shoulders, but Ashra wrenched Megun’s head back, exposing her neck.

  Ashra’s upper lip pulled back, and her elongated fangs glistened. She sank her fangs deep into Megun’s throat,
and then jerked her head back, ripping out the daeva’s throat. There was no elegance, no murderous beauty, just the raw violence of an immortal tussle to the death.

  Blood, deep gold, dripped from her mouth. She placed one hand underneath Megun’s chin and another at the base of her neck. With casual strength, she ripped Megun’s head from her shoulders.

  Jaden screamed, the sound infused with pain.

  She spun around.

  Elsker dropped Jaden to the floor. Jaden’s throat was torn, his chest ripped and bloody. He slumped into an unmoving heap.

  Her heart skipped a beat, but she narrowed her focus on Elsker. Her hate-filled gaze darted back to his face.

  He spat on the floor. “You’d take a human over one of us. How low you’ve fallen.” He ground his teeth. “It drove me wild to see you accept Jaden the way you never accepted me.”

  “What?”

  “Love isn’t easily dismissed.” Pain filled his eyes. “We were once engaged to be married.”

  “It was thousands of years ago—”

  “Three thousand years ago…before Rohkeus, before he saw you and claimed you, not as his royal consort but as his concubine. I loved you, but you chose to be his mistress, his whore, instead of my wife.”

  “I loved him.” That fact was as clear, as obvious to her as the fact that she loved Jaden with the same need, the same intensity.

  Elsker slammed his fist into his chest. “And I loved you! Do you know what it did to me to see you go willingly into his arms every day, every night? Even after I arranged for the human to assassinate him, you never looked at me again, not ever with love.”

  Ashra’s jaw dropped. “You killed him?”

  Behind Elsker, Jaden stirred. Teeth gritted, he dragged himself to his knees and silently reached for his fallen sword. His other hand grasped the dagger sheathed at his waist.

  Elsker taunted Ashra. “Do you think the assassin could have killed him if I had not told her how? If I had not lured him outside the city before the break of that first dawn? Yes, I killed him, just as I’ve killed the human vessel of his soul. I’ll make sure you join him now.”

  Ashra’s expression did not change as Jaden’s dagger plunged through Elsker’s stomach. I gave up Rohkeus a thousand years ago and Elsker three thousand years ago.