by Hayley Todd
Chapter Fifteen
I came back to myself in a rush, coughing, gasping, my chest on fire. No. Not my chest. My everything. My body pulsated with agony exploding again and again. It pounded on every nerve, slamming my entire being in unimaginable pain.
I was on the floor and struggled to my feet, forcing the pain into the back of my mind. Carson was beside me, sneering into the darkness. Eolis had been knocked away by some sort of blast. The woman had vanished.
And before me, was Valeria. The once imprinted on my boyfriend, conniving bitch that helped Henrick in his conquests and sent me spiraling down the path of vampirism—not that that had been a bad thing exactly.
Her face was contorted in a furious grimace. She wasn’t looking at me, her wild violet eyes locked on Carson.
I lurched at her without a thought which broke their line of sight. I wheeled my arm back, unintentionally gathering a fist full of power. When I slammed into her, her head whipped back with a resonant crack. The energy in my fist slammed into her, sending her into convulsions again and again.
I stood over her dazed and bloody mass. She stared up at me for a long moment. Then, her eyes darted to the side and a grin exploded on her face. She looked manic, downright insane even.
A warm hand clamped down on my shoulder. I turned to find Carson standing nearer, breathing hard, his eyes glowing.
“Carson?” I asked, calling out to him. Trying desperately to drag him from whatever encompassing spirit had claimed him.
He shook, his face contorting in a snarl. His grip on my shoulder loosened, until he removed his hand altogether. He sagged forward, hands on his knees.
“Carson?” I begged, nearly a whisper.
He was breathing hard still, his chest heaving with each inhalation, as though he couldn’t quite get enough air. With every breath, the pain thrummed, as though trying to break free of the mental box I had shoved it into. He wouldn’t look up at me, his hands clenched until his fists shone white.
“C-Carson,” I breathed. He didn’t respond, just fought his internal struggle. The he went still and slowly, with an agonizing strangeness, he peered up at me, his green eyes blank. It was as though he were my Carson but equally someone unrecognizable.
He straightened, walking straight past me and scooping Valeria up in his arms. My heart thudded our pain once more but it had nothing to do with a supernatural bond this time, the pain rang solely from my own heart and spirit.
My Carson who was not mine, gazed at me over his shoulder, a pair of peeking violet eyes glaring at me with a malicious glee appearing from beneath his shoulder. He was blank. Empty. Not my man who still sometimes struggled with his burdens. Not my man who loved me more than I could ever love him, with a peaceful, selfless kind of love.
He carried Valeria past a conscious Eolis, struggling to his feet. He carried her out, stepping through the curtain unimpeded. He ventured out into the night with her. And he was gone.
Eolis came roaring up to come, razing my frozen form forward as I stared after the trail of the man I loved. His hand clutched around mine as the entire village shook.
“Kyra, I know what just happened but we can’t stop right now. They're here,” he whispered in a rush, leaning his face near to mine where I could avoid his eyes no longer.
I nodded numbly, letting myself be led out of the hut and into chaos.
Both kinds of beings, elves and witches presumably, dashed across the clearing, gathering items and family members and rushing into huts, drawing a similar grey sheen over their abodes.
“We found the woman in the woods,” Eolis explained, tugging me along behind him. He whipped the words over his shoulder as though they may be lost to the wind. “She has been here and unconscious for weeks. She has never flinched or reacted. Who is she?”
I hesitated. Homewrecker? Yes. Thief? Yes. Murderer? Absolutely. But who was Valeria truly? The sister of the ancient gladiatrix, Achillia. But other than that, I didn’t know.
“She...She imprinted on Carson,” I babbled, the words hurting as they came out. “Centuries ago she imprinted on him. He didn’t imprint back,” I said, not sure what else there was to say.
Eolis nodded, pulling me past another row of protected buildings. Shadows lined the trees edging the clearing now, watching the chaos within our midst.
“She has the magick of the Aether,” Eolis said. It wasn’t a question though the thought had my own mind spinning. I supposed that made sense though I had never before inquired about her strange violet powers. “She took over his mind,” he continued, watching me carefully.
I smoothed my features, shrugging away the hurt and shock I felt. I didn’t want him to know my pain. I didn’t want my hurt to show.
The movement along the trees lengthened, dozens of beings crossing the open moonlight and ransacking the buildings around the outer edge of the village. The houses that didn’t sport that odd black-grey power were tackled through, burned, and mauled, deep black claws searing through their skins. Without that taught weight drawing them open, they collapsed into heaps.
I could almost breathe a sigh of relief as one after another proved to be empty. At least these people knew what they were doing.
A line of fiery arrows lurched from the trees, lighting up the sky. Where they impacted, bags of accelerant exploded, their flames splashing over the liquid and igniting anything it touched.
Eolis froze, staring at a silhouette at the end of our current row of buildings. It distorted, twisting in arches of agony, forming a new more potent shape. Eolis tugged me the other direction, yanking me along an open route. I saw the shadow approaching from Eolis’ other side before he did. When he responded, it already had him.
A large half man, half wolf creature lunges into Eolis’ unguarded side, clamping a line of razor sharp teeth down on his neck. Blood poured from him, soaking his shirt and the ground beneath him.
I didn’t know the man well but he had put his neck on the line for a total stranger. He deserved more than that. I stepped back, hastily gathering energy and hurling it with a flick of my fingers. A line of blue-white power whipped across the space between us, wrapped neatly around the wolf’s arm. I snapped the other direction and hurled him across several buildings, crashing into a line of flames dancing around the village.
Eolis sagged without the monster’s grip on him, falling to his knees. I didn’t wait. There wasn’t time. I bit my fangs into the soft skin of my wrist with a groan. I pulled Eolis’ head back gently and pressed the bloody limb to his lips.
His hazed eyes went wide for an instant and flicked up to me. I nodded subtly at him, urging him forward and he understood. I didn’t know who this man was but he wasn’t at all bothered by the stranger facets of my kind. He drank from me almost reluctantly, as though he understood its necessity but didn’t find pleasure in it.
The gaping wound along his neck and shoulder healed over, the blood not taking long to coagulate into a sticky mess. I grabbed his wrist once my own wound had knit closed, and pulled him to his feet. He seemed to strengthen, taking the lead.
Figures leaked from the forest around us, pressing in on all sides. Eolis broke through the last line of buildings into an open sprawl of grass, immediately getting swarmed by one half man and three four legged enemies.
I leapt out from the buildings, soaring high and tackling two of the dogs. They stumbled along the ground with me, absorbing most of my impact, though fangs and claws sank into my flesh as we rolled.
Eolis pulled a knife from somewhere on his person, chucking it forward. The blade embedded into the wolf man’s chest, sending twirls if silver smoke from it. The man sagged, collapsing to his knees, and howling his agony.
Eolis flicked again, another silver dagger appearing and slamming into the other dog. Another burst of silvery light puffed from his chest, a fog expanding over his fur.
“They really are weak to silver,” Eolis said, cocking his head to one side, staring curiously at the blades.
&
nbsp; “No time,” I urged, gripping an arm around his shoulder and tugging him along toward the dark trees ahead. More figures emerged, flocking toward us as the only individuals dumb enough not to be shielded and under cover.
We reached the clearing between the village buildings and the line of trees, only to then be overwhelmed by a dozen more creatures. They nearly ignored Eolis altogether, barely giving him a passing glance as they soared over him and came closer to me.
I had to fight away thoughts of where Carson was during this battle. I shoved them down into the very depths of my heart, knowing full well that they would re-emerge with a vengeance at a later time. But I couldn’t afford them right then. It would have to wait.
I considered trying to run, but knew that would only leave Eolis to these beasts. I couldn’t be sure if they weren’t faster than me either. I would have to stay and fight.
I gather power from the air, surging it into my veins, down my limbs. It pooled along my skin, casting a blue-white glow over the creatures and lighting the clearing. I had unintentionally made myself a beacon amidst the enemy.
They turned on me, humanoid and canine shaped beings stalking me, just out of reach. They stood closer to Eolis, unafraid of him but also leaving me with less time to save him if the need arose.
A howl erupted from the village at our backs and as though it were words screaming “Charge!” the creatures hurled themselves at me. I batted the first two away with an easy slap of my hand, knocking them into the earth and outside the ring of oncomers.
Eolis poured blades from either side of him into our enemies, removing them from the fight with one well placed thud after another. I turned away, hoping that he could keep his string of attacks up long enough to protect himself.
Three more figures approached, two upright, one on all fours. I didn’t hesitate this time, launching into them and slamming powerful energy filled punches against them. I connected the first half man’s jaw, sending a spray of red leaping from his muzzle and spattering over myself and his comrades.
For the next, I whipped a leg out, slamming my foot and shin into its belly. It howled in agony, stumbling back a step.
In dealing with them, I had turned my back to the one on all fours who chose that moment to leap into my neck, gnashing down on my skin with razor-like teeth. White hot furious pain roared through my torso at the bite, a stinging seething from the wound.
I reached over my shoulder, digging clawed fingers into flesh. I let some of that excess energy bubble out, sending spasms through the creature as I hurled it over myself and into its friends.
All three went tumbling to the ground but their positions were occupied within moments by others.
We couldn’t keep up. We were outnumbered and at a dramatic disadvantage. My gaze settled on Eolis who still pumped daggers into the oncoming enemy but, who seemed to be wearing down, his arms just a touch slower at delivering the weapons.
I twisted away from him, surging power through my fist and slinging a lightning bolt into the oncoming line. For several, that was enough to do them in. They collapsed, shaking with the energy and not quickly rising. The rest, however, surged past them, lunging for me.
We were not going to rise above this onslaught. There was no way. More figures poured out of the trees, terrorizing the village and swarming us.
But then, as though fate just couldn’t let us lose, a wave of searing hot red and blue flames swept around us in the field. They sheered a path between us and the enemy, pulsating outwards and shoving those nearest back several steps to avoid being burned. The night came to smell like burnt hair and clear, crystalline air.
I stared at Eolis. Had he done this? Were there other Magicks nearby? Perhaps witches had joined the fight? And if it were Magicks, were they on our side? Could it be these....people? These elves? I definitely was not extremely well-taught in regards to our supernatural neighbours. I wouldn’t know if they could.
A pair of dark figures loomed out from the line of huts and I was not at all certain to what end our fate had just been shifted.
Chapter Sixteen
The two figures behind us surged forward. One waved a long silver blade, lunging at the wolves, step by step, driving them away. The other had hands raised, chanting in a language I didn’t understand. The flames enraged, growing higher and higher until we, like the enemy on its other side, could barely quell its violent light with a raised hand, protecting our eyes.
The figures stepped closer, revealing themselves with the light of the fire. I was surprised to find the two women from earlier in the night coming to our rescue. Mailene, sidled up to Eolis, stabbing her long sword out where his blades had stopped most of the oncoming fighters. She danced before him, her sword not allowing any to crowd nearer.
The other woman, Akalya--if I remembered correctly--stepped forward, her hands still high, her voice carrying over the fray.
“If you do not wish to die here, I would implore you to seek solace elsewhere,” she called in thickly accented English. I couldn’t place the origin of the accent but her words were curved with the slurring sound.
Growls erupted from the crowd in the other side of the wave of flames but after a moment, they began to fade, the figures they belonged to turning and retreating back into the forest.
Akalya sighed as the last one took refuge, snapping her fingers together on one hand and waving her other in the air. The flames dissipated with a hiss that had me look for water. The air felt heavy and thick as the light diminished.
“Thank you,” I said, turning to her. She pushed a lock of bright red hair behind her ear, her freckles laced with a maroon blush. She nodded to me, shoving her hands into pockets on her dress.
“I haven’t likely given you long,” she said, her eyes peering into the sudden darkness. She looked thoughtful for a long moment before continuing. “You may want to run before they decide to return.”
I nodded at her, looking at the decimation the creatures had left across the village. “What about them?” I asked, jerking my head towards the huts lining the outer edge. Akalya and Mailene looked over their shoulders, beaming narrowed eyes at the destruction.
“We’ll take care of it,” Mailene said.
Akalya was already lifting her hands, a thrum of silent rain falling from the cloudless sky. It coated the huts, dousing the majority of the flames at a touch. I turned back to Eolis, satisfied that the village’s people were safe. He was breathing hard, his hands braced on his knees. He staggered forward, pulling his blades from corpses lining the ground and tucking them back into their hiding place amongst his robes.
“I’ll help her get home,” he said, jutting a thumb in my direction. “You ladies protect the village.”
Mailene and Akalya nodded, trading farewells with me before making their way through the village, putting out any remaining fires and checking in on citizens who remained hidden behind grey clouds of solid smoke. I noticed that despite the raging flames there only a moment before, the only buildings that had been touched were the few vacant ones that had been targeted first.
Eolis wrapped his hand around my wrist, tugging me toward the trees. I followed and he dropped his hand. It was nearly a tangible relief. I held nothing against Eolis and owed him quite a lot actually, but Carson’s touch was still fresh on my skin and I worried that if I never received it again, its remnenants would fade away completely.
I could still feel him, though the pain in my chest had waned. No. I couldn’t address that yet. I couldn’t yet consider that all-encompassing pain or the thought burrowing into the back of my brain that I had lost him.
Eolis led me into the trees, leaving behind this mysterious village and its inhabitants. He was an expert at this forest. That much was obvious. He knew when to duck or when to lift his feet higher, stepping over and under fallen structures, guiding me farther and farther away.
A small, quiet voice in my mind wondered where we were going. He had said he was going to take me home. To which home?
Nothing even felt like home while Carson was not near. How were we going to get there? My car had been a corpse of metal and broken glass. It wasn’t taking us anywhere. But, from all appearances, Eolis did not possess unnatural speed like myself. It wasn’t likely that walking--or running--was going to be our mode of transport.
We walked for a long time in silence, tensions growing between us. I batted away those thoughts that I couldn’t take right now, those ideas that were growing in my mind with a furious temper. It was becoming harder to bury the thoughts with so much empty space around us. It became more of a war than a fight.
“What did you mean,” I began, calling out to Eolis to drive away the pain. “When you said that Babui Aka gave me the gift of time?”
Eolis shifted a touch, to look at me over his shoulder. He didn’t stop there though, helping me over a fallen log. “Babui Aka is the leader of our tribe. She is a powerful elf. She understands and controls the power of nature but as leader, she’s been gifted...energies, that she can use as she sees fit. One of this includes limited control of time. She can speed up, or extend time when necessary. She knew that the wolves were coming but needed what time with you that she could gain. She must think you’re going to make an impact in the coming wars.”
I walked quietly beside him for several moments, the ancient woman’s face coming to mind. So, she had literally dragged out time to speak with me about that amulet. That must mean it was important. Or, maybe she had given me time to discover Valeria. I had no idea how she might be alive, but that seemed irrelevant considering what she had already done in her brief moments back in my life.
“She seems like a good leader,” I replied, unsure of what else to say to him.
He nodded, pulling aside a large branch hanging over our path. “She is. An excellent one, actually,” he replied. Eolis was tall and built with a light layer of muscle. He didn’t look like a bodybuilder but he looked like he could definitely take care of himself, if nothing else. I dug my eyes across his form, trying to find the belt or bag that he had pulled all of those knives from but found nothing.
