by Hayley Todd
She didn’t give me time to consider it. She hurtled toward me, her feet pounding over the hardwood, her fists flying as soon as she came within reach. I batted her arms away gently, which only seemed to enrage her further. She scored a shot on my upper arm, burning my skin but not affecting me much otherwise. Holding her off like that was exhausting, however, and I was running out of arena to retreat into.
At last, her arm extended, aimed for my face. I slammed her limb to the side, leaping away from her at the same moment and extended my hands toward her, fingers arched into claws. I released the minuscule trace of magick that had somehow welled within me and grand bowing arcs of light poured from my fingertips, manifesting and rippling over her form.
She stopped dead in her tracks, though obviously not under her own volition. The step that she had been taking froze in the air, her muscles clenching and unclenching as she cascaded face first on the ground. She slid a decent way, considering her previous momentum, coming to a halt a foot or so from my feet. Her head was twisted to the side, her golden eyes staring up at me, her fury deflated.
I glared down at her, trying to decide what to do with her. Part of me wanted to exact revenge. She had burned me, scorched my skin, and beaten me. She had wounded my soul and that alone left me with a growing urge to retaliate. She was my best friend and, though I understood her relationship with Anton, she had turned on me in a way that was a complete betrayal. But, in her eyes, I could see her own helpless devastation. She didn’t want to be doing this.
I knelt by her head, peering down at her. “What is wrong with you, Kellic?” I asked her, watching her while her gaze flicked up to me. Along her lips, a twitch started, drawing them back in a snarl. Then she huffed a hard breath and they smoothed out once more.
Something was wrong with her, I realized.
Her expression stayed calm for several seconds, the fury seeping out from her. I could feel it in the air, like a black fog, choking me and pressing in on me. I drew power in with a deep, desperate breath, pressing out into the air and pushing the darkness away. I stumbled back from her, nearly falling over myself to be away from that suffocating cloud. I couldn’t see it, but I could feel it, like a sticky black mass.
I hadn’t seen it coming when she arched up like some wild beast and lurched at me again. Unlike when fighting someone in control of their own faculties, there was no preamble to her movement. She hadn’t been faster than usual after all. She had simply had no thought to anticipate. There was nothing to indicate that she was going to move, no twitch of the eyes, no subtle musculature preparing for the shifting of weight. She just moved.
Something was definitely wrong.
She slammed into me, her teeth smashing into the skin of my neck, her claws digging into my skin. She bit so hard that I felt my skin tear out in a wave around the wound, gaping holes in my flesh gushing blood. I could feel that crushing, all-consuming wave of dark energy cloistering around me, blowing up my nose and surging down my throat. I gasped in every iota of magick that I could, hurling it into my every pore like a shield against the entity that was devouring me. It drew away from the magick, as though burnt at its touch and since that was all that I knew of it, I wielded it like a blade.
Kellic’s nails dug into the skin of my neck and shoulder and even then, her hands started to gleam once more, my flesh heating beneath the touch. It was a horrible, necrotic pain, radiating through my entire being and splashing my vision with black spots that made my head pound.
Though I could draw power from the air, I could cast it with her drinking from me and holding me down with magick of her own. I felt helpless, my strength draining away with my blood and my magick not manifesting as it always had.
Drink. Kill. Eat. Infect. Torment. Pain.
The words flickered through my mind unbidden, like the tangent of a mad man. They had no gender, no tone to them, just repetitions of desire. They pulsed against me with the ebb and flow and dark energy trying desperately to overtake me. My heart pounded hard in my chest, my lungs unable to draw breath with the two powers warring to enter me, both mine and this dark entity.
Kellic went rigid, as though fighting against what she was doing but entirely unable to stop. Her claws felt like daggers in my skin, ripping and tearing. She seized, microscopic shivers rolling across her flesh. She pulled her lips away, my wound stinging as it made contact with the air. Her amber eyes flicked up to mine and within them, I could see a grey cloud swirling within her pupils.
It was unlike anything I had ever seen, like watching a fire literally burn within her gaze.
“Kyra, help me, please,” she gasped, her lips stained with my blood. Then Anton grabbed her chin, grimaced, and snapped her neck in one easy, fluid motion.
Chapter Twenty-Four
I sat shakily on the hardwood floor, blood pouring from me across the ground. Kellic’s lifeless eyes stared up at the ceiling of the dome, unmoving. Anton stood over her, his face twisted into distaste. Though I knew it wouldn’t be enough to actually kill her permanently, watching her neck snap had filled me with a cool dark hole in my belly. I felt sick.
“Are you okay?” he called, stepping around her still body and kneeling in front of me. I had my knees drawn up to my chest, my elbow perched atop them and I stared at nothing and everything. My thoughts might as well have been physical things because I tore through them with my eyes, assessing her every movement, trying to find the time when she was no longer herself and finding myself unable to determine.
“Hey,” he said again, lifting my face with a finger under my chin. I only stared. I saw him, but I didn’t. What was that thing? It had been unlike anything I had ever known, like the physical embodiment of pain, agony, and hatred.
Kellic’s distorted, unnatural movements played through my mind like a nightmare come to life. She had been jerky, disorienting. And I truly had been faster than her. Or just as fast, anyway. What had been different was that lack of consciousness, lack of thought in her own movements. Human and vampire bodies had tells of sorts that were exhibited when we moved or considered doing so.
Just before you would dive to the left, your eyes my dart there or your muscles will bunch, preparing for the motion. If it didn’t, you would hurt yourself simply walking as your bones and muscles were not in sync enough to support one another.
Kellic’s were gone. As though I were watching a robot with it’s stiff, disconnected movements, charge toward me. I had seen that black power now, deep within her eyes, though it was absent at the moment. I had felt its cloistering, choking grasp as it had tried to consume me. It hadn’t been there, but it was. It had hidden in plain sight.
Anton pressed his wrist to my mouth, and though I hadn’t noticed him carving a cut into it, blood welled against my tongue. I drank from him, feeling him, opening to him. His consciousness crashed into my own. Fear, anxiety, terror, horror, heartbreak, desire, lust, pain. It all smashed into me like a violent wave, churning my own emotions and filling my eyes with unspent tears.
Oh God, what have I done? What have I done?! Oh, please, just please…
I released him swiftly, not because I was full, but because I couldn’t take anymore. His emotions were like being stabbed and filled with something that didn’t belong to me. As his abilities had grown, he had started to lose control and that pressing power wasn’t something I could handle.
We were both gasping as I leaned away from his arm, releasing my hold on it and letting him draw upright again. We were both gasping and I felt a cold trickle of sweat run down my spine. He blinked down at me, eyes wide.
“What was that?” he asked, pressing a hand to his chest.
I wasn’t sure what he meant. The feelings had come from him. He would have been the one to understand them.
“What do you mean?” I asked him, still breathing hard. It felt like I was fragile, my body at the precipice of shattering. He knelt, placing a hand oh so gently against my shoulder. I could’ve sworn that the extremity felt like it
weighed a thousand tons.
He peered back at Kellic’s lifeless form, not speaking for a long moment. Then he stood, held his hand out to me, and when I took it, eased me to my feet. He took great care with me, which I appreciated. It was as though he felt my fragility as I felt it myself.
“We need to see Damien,” he breathed and it reminded me so much of Carson that I ached for him. Carson was my protector and savior. He wasn’t nearly as playful as Anton, with a seriousness in him that I adored in its own way. To see Anton lose his goofy demeanor was a shock in and of itself.
I nodded stiffly, staring down at Kellic’s body. She would eventually knit the wound closed and wake up, but I desperately wanted those empty eyes to be closed.
He leaned down to her, scooping her tiny form into his arms. Beside him, she looked even smaller, more frail. Anton was taller than me, at around 6’3” in height and Kellic was his opposite, only around 5’2”, though she was adamant that it was 5’2” and three quarters and wasn’t willing to accept less. Her skin was pale, ashen, as though she’d been coated in a layer of dust.
I lifted my hand, taking a deep breath as my fingertips touched her skin and drew her eyes closed. Her body was cold, chilled and clammy, but at least those amber eyes weren’t staring anymore. A rush of relief passed over me, my shoulders sagging wearily. I worried--though logic tried to tell me it wasn’t possible--that perhaps this demon within her would escape through those eyes. What did I know?
I felt more pent up, antsier, and more exhausted than I had when I’d taken to the halls. I had hoped to relieve stress in this room, yet it seemed I had only picked up some more. I was heavy, a burden pressing upon me as Anton and myself walked back to Damien’s office.
“What was it you felt?” My father asked, aloud to in the council chambers. He said it in a way that made me uncomfortable, like a lawyer antagonizing their witness.
He hovered beside me at the head of a long table. As his heir, I sat on his right hand side. The room was filled with people.
The council chambers arched up in every direction like an amphitheater and every seat was full. We sat in the center of the room, at a long mahogany table. Every council member, along with the heirs of those that had them, sat there, enraptured by my father’s presence. They were enthralled by the telling, fascinated with a sickening kind of wonder.
“I-I,” I fumbled, cleared my throat, and tried again. “I felt a presence in the...prisoner, Kellic Santina,” I pronounced. The words accompanied a pang in my chest. “It was dark and hungry and powerful. I am not familiar with many entities, but this fell among none of those I know. It used her rage to fuel her, trying to get her to kill me. The demon was incapacitated upon Kellic’s temporary death and she has since been imprisoned.” I took a deep breath after the words rushed out.
The room collapsed into total silence. Before an eruption of conversation broke out. There were voices of every accent bitterly accusing their brethren. There were shouts of “what if she’s contagious?” And “killing her would’ve been a better choice!” A dark shiver passed over me.
My father slammed his hand against the tabletop, sending a wave of terrified silence through the crowd. “Kellic Santina has proven herself a hero to this kingdom many times already, in her young life. Ill fate befalls her and you stand ready to condemn her?! We are the protectors of our young and we just give up?” His Time was commanding, every eye turned to him. It was like watching emotion flare to life. My father may normally be a quiet man, but he had passion abundant where passion was needed.
There was a rush of whispers as the crowd considered. After several seconds of quiet conversation, my father continued, “I say, we show someone that the Magicks are not to be trifled with. I say, we investigate, discover the origin of the parasite, and reap a fury like that that has never been known against our enemies!”
The audience exploded. There was a palpable flurry of agreement. Fists flew high, demanding recompense for their people.
Like most vampires, the Magicks were a proud species. We knew that even among our ilk we were special. It may have been arrogant but it had supported us time and again against more powerful foes. In this community, magick and it’s benefits were revered.
Damien shouted orders across the room but I had difficulty focusing on it. He told someone to research supernatural lore, another he bid contact with scouts, to another, he demanded extra guards be put in place to lock down the parasite as well as protect Kellic from the cowards amongst us.
And just like that, another council meeting collapsed into soldiers following their orders. I watched them surge about like the busy bees they represented, off to complete their task for their king. It was admirable, if not a touch archaic.
I could feel the power channeled in our direction. It was feverish. I could feel the energy as though it were a weapon I could wield if I just twisted in the right direction. Was this the army I may soon control? Was this the power that was being placed on my shoulders? Was this what my dad always felt like?
He stood, watching the hive with an appreciative eye, speaking with Evelyn Stark, one of the major council members and a family friend. She had her buzzed hair dyed a vibrant white gold, her dark skin glowing beneath the council room’s lights. Evelyn had kind’ve avoided me for the last two years. Her ante mortem protégé had been instrumental in assisting Henrick with Will’s abduction and helped orchestrate his abuse against me. I hadn’t thought her involved—and still didn’t—but I could sense that she felt guilty since she had pushed our involvement.
Evelyn peaked up at me as my father turned to the next council member. “Lady Kyra,” She pronounced, curtsying.
I mirrored the gesture, replying, “Lady Stark, how have you been?”
She seemed to consider for a moment, trying to decide if my greeting was bitter, I was sure. It wasn’t. I had no ill feelings towards her. The snakes with the most vicious venom are often right beneath our noses. She couldn’t have prevented Liam from doing what he had. After several seconds of study, she sagged a bit out of her rigid posture.
“Things have been...tense,” she finally replied. That was the understatement of the century. The house had beefed up on security lately. You could hardly take a turn without running into a guard.
“With the war?” I asked. I hadn’t found out much of the war and it’s cause. I kept being told that it was rooted in prophecies and had been brewing for centuries. But something had to have been the straw that finally broke the camel’s back, right?
Evelyn nodded. “Other beings have tried to wipe out the Magicks for millennia,” she replied. “Being attacked is nothing new to us. But this time is...different somehow. It feels as though everything is building to something big. An explosion of sorts. Maybe the prophecies are true. Or at least some of them anyway.”
“What do the prophecies say?” I asked, peering up at the dark skinned beauty.
She looked me over for a moment before seemingly making up her mind. “You know that necklace you carry?” She asked, jerking her head toward my pocket.
I flinched without realizing it, my hand clasping down on the pocket. I could feel the solidness of the amulet beneath. I nodded.
“One of them is about that. It says that an apocalypse will ensue when the amulet reappears.
The gem is of great value to all supernaturals. Those with telepathic abilities get the greatest benefit from its use but it has a dark side. The necklace was cursed when it was created.
The goddess Eris took great pride in inflicting chaos. Her opposite, Harmonia, had grown powerful, building to an offsetting of the balance in the world. Eris could see her eminent defeat and concocted a plan with the god, Hephaestus. He already held a grudge against Harmonia, as she was birthed from incest between his wife, Aphrodite and the war god, Ares. The result was the most powerful figure of Order that had ever existed. So, Hephaestus hated her for it. She represented Aphrodite’s betrayal and the fall of Chaos.
So, he
created this amulet that can tie the minds of supernaturals to one leader. It amplifies the powers of telepaths, or gives some of those powers to those that have none. But Eris added a limit in the amulet’s use, intending it to be the thread that began the destruction of Order. It would drive its users mad.
But, Eris underestimated the power and capability of Order. The overwhelming mental control that the fate of Order empowers in its hosts could mute the curse’s effect, leaving them irritable and unpredictable, but sane.
Harmonia, as a host of Order, was able to use the necklace to overthrow Eris at last, instilling the world with a great peace until Chaos was reborn.
The prophecy says that when the amulet reappears, there will be a war over its possession, culminating to the end of the very world as we know it.”
I watched her quietly for several long moments, tying the images that Harmonia had shared with me with the events of Evelyn's story. Eris has been Harmonia—no Sage’s—best friend. And that’s what it came down to? An ill-fated power grab that destroyed her entirely? I tried to force images of Kellic’s fury from my mind, but it didn’t keep an overwhelming sense of dread from seeping in.
“But the amulet was only just found,” I replied. “The war began weeks ago.”
Evelyn nodded like it was something she’d already considered. “And that is where I believe that one to be incorrect. I am not discounting the possibility of the end of the world, however.”
She looked up at me, with piercing blue eyes. “Another is about you.”
I stared, eyes wide. A prophecy about me? Why had no one told me?
