“We need to be more careful from now on.” Serena frowned.
“Agreed.” Zoey nodded, and Isaac smiled and nodded as well.
Isaac smirked and nodded as well, gesturing towards some of his pack mates that stood with the remaining Vail warriors, “And you’ll have plenty of help, too.”
Zoey frowned, “You know you don’t have to help us, Isaac. You and your pack aren’t a part of this.”
“Like hell we aren’t!” Isaac growled, “That bastard’s vendetta dragged my pack into this shitstorm! He’s gotten our brothers and sisters killed so that he could exact some petty revenge in response to a family feud! Oh you bet your ass we are a part of this!”
Zane let out a small groan and his body was beginning to shiver as his wounds continued to knit closed. His mismatched eyes shot open then and he cried out as his tattoos began to glow.
“H-hot!” He groaned.
“He should be healing faster than this.” Zoey frowned, chewing at her lip.
“It’s okay, Zoey. I think I might be able to help him this time.” Serena smiled at them and nodded.
Zoey blinked for a moment, caught off guard by the response, but finally smiled and nodded. “Sounds good. We’ll go get some towels and ice.” She motioned for Isaac and the others to follow her.
When they were alone, Serena looked down at Zane, laying a hand on his sweat-covered forehead, “It’ll be ok,” she whispered as she pulled several strands of his hair from his face, “I’m not going anywhere.”
Before long Zoey returned with several clean towels and a bucket of ice and they began to work on relieving Zane of the burning in his skin. As the cool cloth touched his forehead, he let out a startled gasp and began to shiver; the glow of his tattoos starting to dim. Serena smiled at the progress and continued, leaning down to examine his wound and discovering that the synth-blood had run its course and healed him.
“Serena…” Zane smiled as his eyes focused on her.
Serena couldn’t help but smile as she found herself staring back into his eyes, and Zoey, seeing that she was no longer needed, made a quick-but-silent exit to leave them alone.
Overwhelmed by her emotions, Serena leaned back in the chair that she’d pulled up next to Zane’s bed earlier.
“I’m glad you’re ok now,” she whispered.
“Yea. All thanks to your stubbornness!” Zane sighed, “You shouldn’t have stayed!” though he fought to keep his eyes away, she could see he didn’t believe what he was saying.
“Fuck that! I wasn’t about to let you have all the fun!” she smirked at his resulting sneer, “I’m going to help one way or another! After all, he is my brother and Vail is my clan!”
“So you’re not going to kill him?” Zane gave her a skeptical stare, “Be honest.”
She sighed and nodded, “Yea, I guess if The Council can do better than I can it’s worth it to let them do their job.”
Zane grinned, “It will be impressive.”
“And I should stick around to keep you from going Hulk and spoiling it all! Guess we’re lucky your curse-beast has a hard-on for me,” she winked.
Zane blushed and bit his lip, sitting up. “You know… he’s not the only one.” He frowned and shook his head, “Not that that’s the only thing I care abo—”
“It’s okay, I understand. I just… I need a little more time to get over Devon.” She bit her lip and turned away, feeling the tears starting to well in her eyes as she forced the words to make her not feel like the monster she already felt she was. “I hope you understand.”
In truth, she had already gotten over Devon…
And that hurt more than she wanted it to.
She paused, waiting for Zane to say anything, to do anything.
There was no response.
Frowning at the silence, Serena turned back and frowned, realizing that Zane was gone.
12
Revelations
“Serena! We need to do something! We can’t wait for Zane anymore!”
“How far are we going to make it without him, Zoey?” Serena glared, “I won’t reconsider this! We have to find him!”
“If we waste any more time it might be too late for any of us.” Isaac growled, slamming his fist into the walls, “He knows where we are and how to get in, and we can’t just keep sleeping in shifts and hoping we’re not attacked again! Waiting on him isn’t an option!”
“It is for me!” Serena growled at both of them, “He left because of me! I can’t just—”
“Will you stop being so goddam selfish just because you’ve suddenly realized and admitted your feelings for him! We can’t wait anymore! We have precious little time and far too many things to do in that time!” Zoey cried out, tears growing in her eyes, “I know Zane! I’ve known him far longer than you’ve known him and I can tell you with all certainty that, wherever he is, he’s doing something stupid. And with Zane, stupid gets people killed!”
Serena frowned and froze at the words. Her mind had been wracked for the last few days and she had locked herself away from the others and delaying every attempt to leave, hoping that Zane would come back. But there still had been no sign of him. In that time, while she lied and said she was mourning over Devon, she truly just wanted desperately to see Zane once more. She had come to terms with Devon, realizing that just because a shadow of his personality had lingered and clung to her didn’t mean that she had to waste her life trying to find a way to reverse the irreversible. No matter what they would’ve done—no matter what sort of body they could’ve obtained for him—it still wouldn’t have changed that he was dead and that she should’ve let him go—figuratively and literally—all those years ago.
Mourning and regret and doing nothing were something she had gotten very good at, and in all that time she’d been miserable and alone and achieved nothing.
It was time to stop waiting and hoping the world would fix itself around her.
It was time to take action.
She looked over at the others and nodded, “You’re right.” she sighed at the confession, “Every day we wait is another day closer to whatever Keith’s got planned, and it doesn’t do us or Zane any good to wait.”
They stared at her for a moment, startled by her revelation but nevertheless relieved to see her come to her senses.
“I just…” she shook her head and looked at Zoey with pleading eyes. Zane had left her alone, and in his absence she was the one everyone looked to for guidance. She had unwillingly become their leader despite knowing nothing of ruling. “I can’t do it alone.”
Zoey gave her nod, seeming to know exactly what was troubling her, and Serena wondered if she was reading her thoughts. “It’s okay, Serena. I know this a lot to take on, but we’re with you and able to help every step of the way.”
Serena smiled and stood up, nodding, “Right. Then I guess we’re doing this. No time like the present, right?”
“Damn straight!” Isaac grinned, slamming a fist into his palm, “I was getting a little stir-crazy in this hole!”
Zoey beamed at his excitement, obviously just as eager to be free of the lifeless, monochromatic abyss they’d condemned themselves to.
Serena smiled. Maybe she could do this. After all, she’d always refused to follow the orders of others, so why not be the one issuing the orders? She looked around, watching as everybody prepared; watching her clan prepare.
Her clan.
She smiled at the sound of it.
Though many had died and their headquarters had been destroyed, the Clan of Vail lived on and, despite Keith’s plot to dismantle it and get its once proud followers executed in the process, she would lead them.
And she would win.
“Isaac! Round up everybody and make sure they understand the situation; anybody who wants out won’t have the option later. Keith knows where we are and he’ll think that gives him power! He’s trying to motivate a response—something he can use as leverage with The Council to get things moving—and
I’m sure he’ll jump at the chance as soon as it presents itself. Everybody who chooses to fight with us should do what they need to prepare, I want to be ready to do this by tomorrow.” She turned and faced Zoey, nodding to her friend as she fell into a comfortable place as their leader, “I need you to send him a message. If you project a psychic invitation to discuss the peaceful surrender of the clan then he’ll be waiting like a kid at Christmas!”
“Surrender?” Isaac glared at her, “What are you saying?”
Serena chuckled, “Not a gambler, are you?”
“A bluff?” Zoey frowned, “You’re going to lie to get him out in the open?”
Isaac shook his head, “Isn’t that a little underhanded? If he’s looking to provide The Council with evidence that we’ve gone rogue won’t that work to his advantage?”
“Short of killing him I don’t think we can do much more to incriminate ourselves.” Serena frowned, “He’s made very sure to paint an ugly picture of us, and bitching and moaning won’t make us look any prettier. He knows we’ve suffered a massive loss and he knows we’re scared, and, in his mind, all we have left is a ‘fight-or-flight’ option; either we take him on and prove him right, or we give him what he wants and try to flee from a global force. He’ll only come out from whatever rock he’s hiding under if he thinks he stands to gain from it, and we’re gonna use that for our advantage. I’m through playing fair, and tomorrow I’m showing Keith that he’s not the only one that can fight dirty!”
The others nodded and smiled, obviously strengthened by her words and set about their tasks. Serena let out a heavy breath that she’d been holding during her entire speech and thanked Zane for giving her the strength to move forward with her life.
Retreating back to the room, she began raiding the dressers and closet—containing a mismatched assortment of clothes in random styles and sizes for whoever might have needed them—and snatched up a black, sleeveless top that barely fit around her chest and a pair of black leather pants that looked like something stolen from the set of a bad 80s movie. Deciding that it was the best she could hope for—and, in all fairness, she could make that shit work!—she set the outfit aside with her boots.
When there was nothing left to distract her from planning, she sighed and began to strategize. Keith had always been stronger than her. Even as kids she had never been able to match his speed or reflexes, and his auric control had always been spot-on where she had been forced to teach herself to direct her own aura through motions and lessons she’d learned from archery. And now…
She frowned and shook her head, not allowing herself to finish a thought that would only justify quitting.
Strength and speed weren’t what would define this battle, anyway. Neither of them stood to gain anything in killing the other, outside of a warrant for their execution, and that shifted the nature of how they would fight.
The goal—for either side—was to incapacitate the other long enough for The Council to intervene.
And therein lay the second dilemma, how to get The Council’s attention and lure them in to see Keith for who he really was.
She needed to play off her strengths; what she could do better than even Keith.
Then, as the solution dawned on her, she couldn’t help but laugh.
With or without Zane, this was going to be epic.
Zane frowned as he continued through the mountainous terrain towards the caverns that the Taroe tribe that had cursed him once occupied, hoping that there might be some clue to his freedom in the remains. It had taken a lot of time and a lot of money to get him to that spot, and if he’d come all this way to find a dead end he didn’t know what he’d do. He sighed, assuring himself that they’d be there as he continued pulling himself up the mountain; remembering the last time he’d been in this place.
Finally, he reached the hollowed-out entrance on the side of the slope and he groaned and heaved as the beast began to struggle. It didn’t want to be there any more than he did. Being here was certain death for one, if not both, of them. The Taroe’s magic surrounding the mountain sensed what was coming and made an effort to keep him out, and though it was a powerful spell and fighting it proved strenuous on his body, he was able to push through.
As he crossed the barrier’s limit the spell released him and he fell forward as its grip on him vanished. Hitting the cave floor with a pained grunt, he started to pull himself up and found himself staring at a pair of ankles. Lifting his eyes towards the owner, he was both relieved and terrified to find a Taroe woman with long, red hair and bright green eyes that bore into him. Her tattoos—following the same tribal style of his own—were pale-white and contrasted against her dark skin.
“Looking for something, Maledictus?” she sneered.
“You?” He glared and shot to his feet, keeping his eyes on her, “Tell me there’s a cure to these… these fucking things!” He gestured to his tattoos.
“A cure? For the tattoos; for the curse?” she scoffed, “Wouldn’t be much of a curse if there were,” she sneered, “And, like all tattoos, they’re permanent!” She frowned as she watched him, her eyes almost searching him for something he couldn’t name.
“Bullshit! Any other tattoos can be removed! Plenty have done it before! But these”—he slapped at the design on his arm and glared—“won’t go away! I’ve been to countless places—traveled the fucking globe—to find somebody with a laser strong enough to burn your accursed ink from my skin, and every time I’d return home with them just as dark and crisp as the day you fucks put it in me!”
“Then why come to us now, Maledictus?”
Zane glared, “That’s not my name!”
She chuckled, “That’s funny, because it’s written all over you!”
“That’s not funny!” he snapped at her, taking another step.
“Then I am glad,” she sneered, not budging an inch, “that I was not trying to be!”
He growled and tried to step around her. If she wouldn’t help him then he’d find the answers on his own. There had to be something that could undo his situation!
Anything!
She stepped to the side to block his efforts, “I’ve given you your answer, Maledictus! You earned those marks and the effects they have on you! You should feel honored!” she glared, “Nobody before you has ever worn the mark of Maledictus! You must be very proud of yourself! You’ve sealed your fate! Now leave!” she turned away from him.
“So why are you here? This tribe was destroyed years ago!” He narrowed his eyes and scoffed, “I make a point of celebrating the anniversary of its destruction every year!”
“Perhaps I’m here to pay my condolences! You see, Maledictus, there are those who prefer to learn from the past and honor the lessons it offers us!” She sighed, “And what about you? Why come to a dead land looking for a cure you weren’t even certain existed? Are you really so alone that you had nobody worth staying for?”
He clenched his teeth and looked away.
She nodded, grinning at him, “I see. You’ve come here not because you are alone, but because you are not alone! Can it be? Can Maledictus, a walking Apocalypse, truly change what it is simply because it feels for one of those suffering from its wrath?”
“It isn’t like that!” he glared, “It’s not me that’s a threat to her!”
“Oh?” she raised an eyebrow, “And what makes her immune to the rage of Maledictus?”
He shook his head, “I… I don’t know. She just is! It won’t attack her! Hell, even its rage vanishes around her!”
Her eyes narrowed to slits, “You lie! Maledictus would never change its ways for anything or anyone!”
“Yea, I was pretty sure of that too, sweetheart!” Zane rolled his eyes, “I’ve been ready to wake up to find everybody dead—I’ve been expecting it!—so do you think that having my reality turned upside-down is a picnic for me?”
“Who are they? What are they to you?” she demanded, taking a step closer.
Zane stepped bac
k, startled by her outburst, “I don’t know! Some chick! My old mentor’s daughter!” he shook his head, “But even her old man couldn’t sway the damn thing! There’s no reason she should!”
“No…” she frowned, looking away, “Maledictus doesn’t see a difference between friend or foe or their kin!”
“Then you see my problem, right? This broad’s done the impossible! Tamed the savage dragon, soothed the raging beast! For fuck’s sake, you said yourself that Melanoma—or whatever it is—doesn’t do this sort of thing! So that means she’s cracked the curse, right? Some sort of loophole in its design?”
“You’re a fool!” she shook her head, “It doesn’t work that way! The curse was created—designed—to make your life and the lives of those around you miserable! By sheer definition of the symbols you wear, none—no matter who they are or what they meant to you—should sway the—”
“Dammit, bitch! That’s what I’ve been saying! Up until a few days ago she wasn’t anything to me! I didn’t know her. I didn’t grow up with her. I haven’t spent year-after-year pining and swooning and serenating this girl. Nothing!” Zane laughed as the tattoos started to tingle, “Oh, that’s great! See what happened? You went and woke the baby!”
She rolled her eyes as her own tattoos began to glow and she focused on the searing red design visible on his arm, “Superesse adhuc, Maledictus. Haec hora non indigetis videre ira tua.”
Zane grimaced and shook as a tremor rocketed through his body and then went still, his tattoos shifting back to normal. “What the…” he examined himself, “What the hell? In just a few days it’s like everybody with a pair of tits can settle this thing down! What the fuck did you say?”
She exhaled slowly, letting her tattoos fade as well, “It’s Latin. And I think I should come with you.”
Zane stared at her in bewilderment, “Wh-what? What are you talking about? Why are you…” he shook his head, “Why should I take you anywhere?”
She stepped forward and, though she was noticeably smaller than he was, seemed to overpower him with her stare alone, “Because if this girl is as special as you say—if she does have power over Maledictus—then you may already have your cure and you will need me to administer it.”
Scarlet Night: The Complete Trilogy Page 17
