Dark Illusions

by D. D. Miers

  Pain shot through my body in one electric burst. Hurt I could take. Enough practice swords whacked me in training, but this was more. Blood streamed down my arm, and my head swam.

  Focus on your instincts. Kieron’s words sounded at the back of my mind, and I cleared my head. I waited and listened to the surrounding sounds. Small at first, the call inside me became louder, demanding me to raise my sword over my shoulder. At just the right moment, I listened, and my blade met flesh. Hot liquid landed on the back of my neck, and I knew it was blood. I spun around and watched the third goblin fall to the ground, his neck gashed straight through by my sword.

  Relief soared through me.

  I was getting better.

  Becoming a warrior.

  I was . . . fucked.

  Agony scorched against my spine as a bolt of magic smashed into my back, flinging me into a pile of wood at the end of the alley. Shards of splintered wood landed in my hands, and when I moved to raise my left arm, a burning pressure pulsated deep within.

  “I would behave myself, if I were you,” the last standing goblin said from across the alley. He took steps toward me, only stopping to look over the damage I’d caused to the others. There wasn’t sorrow or pain in his expression, only disgust and irritation.

  I crawled forward, trying to rise, but his magic singed my flesh from the inside out. With a gasp and a wretched moan, tears streamed down my cheeks. I’d forgotten about magic. In fact, I hadn’t even expected them to have any. This is exactly what happens when you go around making assumptions. You get your ass handed to you.

  My saber lay on the ground some distance away. The goblin stepped up to it, kicking it farther away from me. There was no hope of reaching it now. I was utterly defenseless.

  He raised his claw and a small ball of fire formed. I swallowed down against the tides of pain, aware I couldn’t take another hit. I wouldn’t survive.

  “I had rather hoped you would have put up more of a fight,” the goblin said, sneering down at me. “What a disappointment.”

  I searched for something to block myself, but there was nothing.

  Brilliant orange light flared into life in his palm, and I stared up at it, transfixed. Time seemed to stand still as I watched. There was nothing I could do. I was helpless.

  This is what Reagan meant, wasn’t it? That this place was only for those who could handle it.

  I couldn’t handle it.

  The flame flew from his hands like a baseball flying straight for me. I raised my hands instinctively, knowing the gesture was futile. The fireball was only a few feet from hitting me when a shadow dropped into the space between us. The hooded figure raised his hands into the air, his bare palms blocking the magic before it hit either of us. He fought against it like a wall, groaning as the pressure of holding it became too intense, but he didn’t falter. Instead, with a roar of triumph, he spun the magic in his hands and flung it back to its creator. It hit the goblin in the chest, and he screamed before collapsing to the ground.

  The hooded figure turned around, and I only glimpsed brown eyes, his mouth and all other flesh obscured. He looked like some kind of monk warrior.

  “Who are y—”

  An impending vision coiled tighter than a wound sprang within me. My body trembled as the force of it took over every sensation. The masked figure stepped toward me, his boots directly in view as I collapsed into blackness.

  Chapter Five

  I landed on all fours onto something like sand.

  My palms braced against the fall. The world around me was hazy as though a storm had mixed the sand with wind and water, making the air moist. It reminded me of the time my father had taken me on one of his business trips. My nanny had taken us down to the ocean, allowing me to experience the soft wet grains under my bare feet.

  If I died while having a vision, what would happen?

  Up ahead, the black beach stretched for miles. In the distance, I saw someone—something. A glowing orb. It paused as if waiting for me to follow. I advanced several steps and remained behind the blurry object through the sand and trees, until it reached a small house and dissolved through the panels near a window.

  The rickety house had white siding coming apart, exposing some of the wooden frame beneath. The years of wind and salt battering it had obviously taken its toll. Some of the window panes were cracked, the glass littering the ground below. The door hung off its hinges, giving a creepy, abandoned vibe.

  The buzz about the place indicated strong magic.

  The tiny orb of light hovered near the walls, beckoning me closer.

  Watching my step, I made my way over the slick rocks toward the house. The crash of the waves on the beach echoed in my mind, like a spell repeated over and over again.

  I climbed onto a rock just beneath one of the broken windows and peered inside.

  The glow of light waited, guiding me to a figure seated by the fire. The room was dark apart from the crackling fire in the hulking stone fireplace. There was no furniture aside from the two armchairs, a small, low side table, and a bookshelf with crooked and fallen shelves.

  The hovering light drew my eye to the shadows. I concentrated until I realized I saw a wounded, sickly Yasinda and several guards awaiting someone’s arrival. Only a few minutes passed as the figure set a small leather bag atop the table beside her.

  “We’ve found it,” she said.

  The fire’s light flickered across the leather bag, sending cascading shadows dancing onto the floor.

  The itch that passed over my skin grew, and I had to fight the urge to tear chunks out of my flesh to get rid of it. It was the magic, I knew. And it was pulsing off the bag,

  Whatever was inside of it was dangerous.

  I looked over her shoulder and watched as she pulled the object out.

  The Black Walker had found the scroll.

  The world tilted, and I was thrown off balance. The scene in front of me morphed, dissolved into nothingness and then, just as I thought I’d come out of it, I was suddenly somewhere new.

  I was on a large white blanket, soft and lush. The smooth material cocooned me in warmth. My eyes fluttered open and closed, like I was so exhausted I could barely stay awake. A man, an inhuman man, pressed kisses along my jaw. I didn’t want to be there, but every time he touched me, I became weak, like he stole a part of me. I saw waves of something as it dissolved and melted away from me. I didn’t know what he was doing, but I wanted him to never stop.

  “Submit.”

  It was the only word he said, but it was the only one I needed to hear.

  I opened my body to him as a darkness pulled at my soul. I knew it was wrong. I knew I should stop, but I couldn’t get enough.

  As I gave into him completely, fire broke out along my body and I screamed, fighting and dying at the same time.

  I woke up in bed between Luca and Reagan. Wasn’t I still in the First Realm? Last I remembered, I had passed out on the streets of a back alley. But I was . . . back home? And in between two people whose relationship still remained as ambiguous as it had been months ago. He wanted her, she wanted him, but life always complicated the simple things.

  My lashes opened slowly, and I assumed this was a dream.

  I was safe. I could have been dead on the side of the dark marsh or captive in a gloomy cell. Or I could have been in bed with Roman, Kieron’s other right hand, and my official adversary. I didn’t try to sit up. My entire body felt like Jello, and I didn’t have any strength. My limbs were spread out lifeless, like a ragdoll.

  “Reagan, she’s back.”

  Back? I looked up to Luca but only my eyes moved. “How long have I been out?”

  Reagan leaned down to me, her face white. “Thank the gods. I’ve never seen you like this. It’s been two days.”

  Holy shit. Two days? It felt like five minutes. How did I even get back here?

  “What in the hell were you thinking?” she yelled. “You could’ve been killed!”

  She w
as positively furious with me. “Reagan—”

  “Talk about one of the stupidest things you’ve ever done.”

  “Reagan—”

  “Why, Abby? Why? Did you want to die? Or get captured? What was the point?”

  I knew she’d be pissed, but she didn’t understand—couldn’t understand. The people she’d told me I could trust had let the Council manipulate me with magic.

  “Dammit, I’d answer you if you’d let me!”

  She crossed her arms over her chest and waited for my explanation. She was seething, but at least she agreed to listen.

  “I won’t let the Council torture me again. What they did to me was not okay. And if I had to leave out on my own to prevent that from happening, I was willing to. Especially since no one here can stop them from doing what they will!” I’d started out talking and by the time the last words came out of my mouth, I was yelling. Both she and Luca didn’t have the slightest idea of how to deal with me when I was like this. She’d only seen me this angry toward her once before, when I’d discovered her secret.

  “I’m sorry. I know, but there’s politics . . . I promise I’ll do everything I can to make sure it doesn’t happen again.” Luca looked at her as though he knew it wasn’t a promise she could keep.

  “How did you guys find me?” I asked

  “We didn’t. By the time we’d discovered you were gone and where, we took off through the portal. We found you down in the sewers propped up against the wall as if you were waiting for us to find you.”

  How had I gotten there? Had the masked figure carried me back, and if so, how did he know where to take me?

  “What happened to you? Kieron had to—” she stopped as Luca cleared his throat, “cast magic on you to bring you out of this.”

  “He was here?”

  “He came in moments after you snuck out. He said the connection was off. He couldn’t sense you anymore.”

  The thought of Kieron being worried about me made the traitorous she-devil inside of my heart swell, and I had to remind her to shut up.

  “I’m not exactly sure. I remember witnessing something as it happened.”

  “What did you see?”

  I closed my eyes to refocus on the images as they played out in my mind.

  “There was a beach. I think the sand was black.”

  I sat up but my muscles didn’t work. “Why can’t I move?”

  “Your body was in some kind of transient phase. Kieron cast magic to pull you from it, but it weakened you. It should wear off soon, now that you are awake.”

  Luca asked, “What else?”

  “I’m pretty sure I saw Yasinda. She was sick, but . . .” I closed my eyes as pressure ached in my head again.

  Reagan sat forward and brushed the hair away from my face. “That’s enough. Rest.” She nudged Luca with her shoulder and headed for the door.

  “Reagan wait. There’s more.”

  She turned on her heel. “No Abby, this can wait until you’re feeling better.”

  “No, it can’t.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because she’s found the scroll and I think she’s coming for me.”

  It took almost two hours for the effects to wear off, but as Reagan had said, I was able to move again.

  Now I was being summoned to Kieron’s study. Apparently, they’d called for the Council elders, Sydelle and Daegus, to convene over my latest revelation. Still reeling from their invasive techniques and Daegus’ recent threats to Kieron, I cracked open the door slowly and slipped inside. Marcus and Roman stood on either side of Kieron as he sat in the chair behind his desk, his eyes catching mine as I entered. The heat between us hadn’t extinguished—it had multiplied. My shoulders tensed as they all looked me over. I was still pissed. There wasn’t a single person in this room that I wasn’t angry with.

  “Why are we here this evening?” Daegus asked.

  “Ms. Davenport?” Kieron gestured to me as though I was supposed to speak for myself instead of him doing it. This was a change. Perhaps he did it to make me seem more in control, more aware. Every head in the room turned to me, waiting expectantly. I’d expected to get my ass handed to me for leaving, but it seemed like the Council didn’t even know why there were here. They’d probably expected to see a powerful, Relic-carrying, magic wielder. Instead they found me, wearing dirty black pants, hair in knots, and dark circles under my eyes. The very image of the Relic Keeper.

  I steadied myself; my all-consuming fear had begun to wear off, replaced with a certain sense of responsibility. Unease.

  “The Black Walker has the scroll, and I believe she is coming for me.”

  The dread-soaked energy in the room was palpable.

  “How do we even know this is going to happen?”

  I recounted the vision to them, the figure, the guide, and Yasinda’s discovery.

  “It could be a vision of much later? Maybe it hasn’t happened yet, Daegus.” Sydelle sounded like she was convincing herself.

  I spoke over them. “No, it was different this time. It’s happened.”

  “She’s risen,” Roman stated, his voice fading. He sank back farther into the chair he sat in, staring into the distance.

  “Not exactly.”

  “What do you mean?” Daegus asked.

  “She’s still wounded. It was like . . . she wasn’t herself yet, but she was determined.”

  Daegus stood. “We need to move Abigail. It’s time to take her to the druids, Lord Blake. Even you must agree now.”

  “I said no, Daegus. I don’t trust the druids, the Fae, none of them. She won’t be going there.”

  “Old grudges matter nothing to the enemy we’re presently facing.”

  “And I don’t base my decisions on anything but logic. Not emotion.”

  “Then what?” Sydelle asked. “We simply stay here, waiting for her to destroy your estate with everything she has?”

  “There’s more.” I said.

  “More?”

  My eyes flashed to Kieron with anger and shame. I was a constant mess emotionally when it came to this man.

  “Another vision.”

  “When?” Daegus asked.

  “Almost immediately after the one in the sand.”

  I didn’t even know how to begin. It was both humiliating and awkward, but I knew I had to. There was something different about this dream, something I couldn’t quite place. But I knew it was important for me to tell them, no matter how mortifying.

  This time Kieron spoke. “Are you intending to enlighten us, Ms. Davenport?”

  I couldn’t even look at him, so I focused on Daegus’ awful bushy eyebrows.

  “It involved me this time, I was . . . with someone.”

  “Who?”

  “A man. I couldn’t see him. He was faceless.”

  “In what way?” This time it was Daegus who spoke.

  My stomach dropped and I thought I’d burst into flames of embarrassment as the words rolled off my tongue. “Sexually.”

  Every head in the room turned to Kieron and his eyes were hot on me.

  His eyes searched my face, narrowing to wary slits. This made him as uncomfortable as it made me. I could almost see the regret to ask me to share this here. But what was done was done.

  “You’re absolutely certain this was not Lord Blake?”

  I hated it when they called him that. I’m sure it inflated his ego further, if possible.

  And why did I feel guilty? He was probably off screwing Stassi every chance he got, and god knows who else. Why did my fidelity matter?

  “Yes. I don’t know who he was, but it wasn’t … I mean, I could tell . . . No, it wasn’t Kieron.”

  “What else? Be very specific,” Daegus said.

  Ew. “What do you want to know?”

  “Did anything else happen in the dream, anything that made you feel strange or uneasy?”

  Everything. “There was one thing . . . I’m not sure if it was just in my head or not.”
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  “What was it?”

  “It felt as though he was pulling something from within me. Like siphoning my spirit or something.”

  Kieron’s eyes flashed to Marcus and a silent recognition formed between them.

  Daegus asked, “What kind of magic is this?”

  “A creature of the Fae” Kieron shrugged, “or perhaps something summoned by Yasinda.”

  “What if she saw the Faedus?”

  We all turned to the doorway. Reagan stood there, holding a book in her hand, leatherbound with a Triskelion embossed on the front. “I’ve been doing some research, after Abby and I talked earlier.”

  “What the hell is a Faedus?” I asked.

  She stepped farther in. “He’s a powerful incubus. The original incubus, father to all those born after.”

  “What would he do with me?”

  “Steal your soul, your magic, leaving you bare.”

  “How is it even possible?” Daegus spun around to me. “Have you shared magic?”

  “What?”

  “No.” Kieron’s voice was flat.

  I had zero idea what the hell they were talking about.

  “Lord Blake, you must see that this is the only way. Especially now.”

  “I said no.”

  “Wait. What are you guys saying?” I asked.

  Daegus rose from his chair. “Abigail has been offered a gift. We know that the Black Walker will try to control her through influence or worse. The only way would be with someone who can source the magic from her.” He turned to me. “Sharing magic, bonding physically to strengthen your elhun bond and increase your abilities.”

  Sex. They were talking about sex. My level of discomfort skyrocketed from a five out of ten to a solid fifty. If I could barely glance at him before, I sure as hell couldn’t look at him now.