by Plum Pascal
As I watch, Sorren’s eyes constrict and he scrunches up his face in an obvious expression of pain. He drops down to his knees, taking me with him, but his hands are still tight on my arms. He won’t let me go. But he’s also taking so much of it—more than his share, I’m sure. As the darkness drains from me, I feel my strength returning.
Finally, he pulls away and the madness abates, like the tide sweeping away from the shore. There’s still an ocean of it inside me, but for now, I can actually see past it. Sorren staggers away from me, dropping on all fours as he breathes deeply, eyes still slammed shut. He clutches at his ruined chest, but when I try to approach him, he waves me away impatiently.
He sits up on his knees and inhales a deep breath and I can see he’s fighting the darkness within him, the same way I was fighting it moments earlier.
“Leith,” he pants. “See to Leith. I’ll manage.”
I don’t argue with him. Sorren’s done me a great service by taking the madness into himself, and I won’t squander his sacrifice by wasting time. There’s no telling when my own tide will sweep back in and render me helpless once again.
It’s not difficult to locate Leith, even through the mist and the darkness. I just have to follow the string of vicious curse words Nash is spewing. My heart races in my chest and I feel nauseous. I’m scared to death of what I’m going to find when I do reach Leith. What if he’s so close to death there’s nothing I can do?
I force the thoughts from my mind. And before I know what’s happening, I can see them through the opaque mist. My heart pounding, I drop my gaze from Nash’s pale and frantic eyes down to the ground beneath him where Leith lies, mostly lifeless.
It’s almost a relief to see him—to see that none of my nightmarish scenarios have come to pass. Leith’s guts are still firmly intact. And from the gentle rise and fall of his chest, he’s breathing and that means he’s still alive. For now.
But then I see it. Really, really see it, and my stomach lurches violently as I realize Sorren was right.
This is bad. Very, very bad.
Teeth are lodged into Leith’s neck, teeth that belong to a skeletal head that’s been severed from the rest of the body, leaving only a trailing a length of startlingly white spine, flesh and blood. It looks as if someone shredded the hair and skin off the head, probably in an attempt to free it from Leith’s neck. But the jaw is clamped tight on his pulse point, threatening to tear his throat open if it’s removed.
Oh, fuck.
SIXTEEN
Leith
For several heart-stopping moments, I’m sure the shape that approaches is a Shepherd, one of those grim-faced reapers of souls. Or perhaps it’s a God of Death, come to personally escort me to the land beyond the clouds, to Valhalla. A land where all the chieftains before me have gone. The land where my own father now reigns.
Enormous plumes of dark energy spread out from the woman on either side of her, like the wings of some giant carrion crow. A midnight corona of the same energy hovers around her face and head. The shadows surround her, flitting back and forth across her face until it’s difficult to make out her features.
But as I stare at her and she lowers herself over me, I see her eyes. They glow like emerald jewels in her beautiful face and I wonder how I’m able to see them in this darkness that’s so thick, I could cut it with my blade.
Yet, I can see those jeweled eyes and I latch onto them.
My swimming vision snaps into focus, and I realize this woman is no Shepherd or God. She’s Kassidy. Kassidy, trailing power behind her like an enormous cloak. Though she hasn’t gained an inch in height, something in her bearing makes her seem to stand as tall as a giant. There’s so much power radiating off her, it makes my skin erupt in gooseflesh, every hair standing on end, and causes my bear to retreat further inside me as though it’s ready to bed down to ride out a storm. It’s so fucking astonishing all I can do is stare at her, agape.
It’s her.
She’s one of them.
She has to be.
My convulsive swallow sends pain tearing through my neck and I groan. The man’s teeth are too fucking sharp to be purely human. He must have been a scion of some kind. Of a night hag, maybe, or a shifter. Whatever the fucking creature is, it threatens to tear my throat out, even missing its body. There’s still so much power and magic in its head, the body matters little. Already, small movements are tearing furrows open in my throat.
Kassidy kneels down by my side and takes a deep breath as she examines the wound closely. She utters a soft curse and reaches out to touch the side of my neck, below the man’s trailing spine.
“Shit,” she repeats, more to herself. But then those marvelous eyes meet mine and I can instantly see the sadness in their depths.
“Tell me,” I grunt.
She nods and swallows audibly. “It’s bad, Leith. Very bad.”
I give her a look. It’s not like her to state the blatantly obvious.
She runs her fingers through her hair, seemingly oblivious to the smoke that follows her like a second skin.
“What do I do?” she asks, first spearing me with her demanding eyes before she turns to Nash and asks him the same question.
But Nash can’t offer her the solution because he doesn’t know. And I don’t know the answer either. The beauty before me runs her hands through her thick, bushy curls three times more before she seems to arrive at a solution.
“Nash?”
My cousin leans away from me. He’s been hovering like a sentinel, just as unsure of what he can do for me as was Sorren. Nash seems almost grateful to be receiving instruction. Ever the soldier, Nash is—most comfortable when taking or giving orders.
“What do you need?”
She faces him and the shadows continue to spin around her head and body. “I need to take energy from you.”
“Okay,” he answers with a quick nod but she reaches out and touches his shoulder. He drops his gaze to her fingers and remains quiet.
“It’s not going to be that simple,” she says.
“Explain.”
Kassidy nods. “I may infect you with this… madness. And with the amount of power and life force I need from you, I could take weeks or maybe even months off your life.”
“I understand,” Nash replies with a curt nod, his jaw tight.
“I think it’s the only way to help Leith survive,” she continues, most likely speaking to herself at this point, because her tone is so low and quiet.
“What will you do?” Nash asks, not even flinching at the news he’ll have a reduced life span.
She faces him as if just remembering he’s still present. “I have to rip this thing’s head off,” she answers with a shrug.
“What do I do?”
“Kneel here,” she instructs firmly, pointing to a location opposite the head. “And take your armor and your shirt off. I need to have skin-to-skin contact for this to be instantaneous. And it’s going to need to be instantaneous… when I pull that head off.”
Nash sinks to his knees without question and begins to strip off his armor, fumbling with the straps to remove it as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, Kassidy tears open my shirt, giving her access to my flesh as well.
She looks up at me then and gives me a weak smile. She’s nervous and she’s scared—I can see the truth in her eyes. But she’s also strong and she believes in her plan. And that’s enough for me.
“I trust you,” I manage to whisper, trying not to move my lips as much as I’m able. I don’t want to give the thing attached to me reason to bite all the way down. I don’t understand why it hasn’t already. And then I remember that Kassidy has already absorbed its life force, as well as that of all its compatriots, so it’s no longer able to do anything—more than it already has, that is.
She nods down at me and then takes a bracing breath as she reaches out and places each of her hands on either side of the thing’s head without touching it. She glances over at Nash.
“Ar
e you ready?” she asks.
“Yes,” he answers and holds his lips in a tight, white line.
She nods and then says on an exhale. “On the count of three then.”
Nash just nods.
“One.”
I close my eyes. If this doesn’t go as she plans, I don’t want the last visual I have of her to be panic. I want to remember Kassidy smiling. I want to remember those glorious eyes.
“Two.”
I breathe in deeply and then hold my breath until the sounds of voices and the wind in the distance seem to fade into oblivion.
“Three!”
I feel the jolt as Kassidy seizes the severed head attached to my throat, ripping it away in one motion.
And then there’s intense pain as my eyes pop open and I see the thing’s jaw full of a gobbet of flesh and sinew. Kassidy drops the hideous thing to the side and it rolls into the darkness. A gout of scarlet blood spurts from the wound and onto Kassidy’s face. She lets out a half-cry of her own before slamming one hand down onto Nash’s chest and the other onto mine. Her fingers curl, nails biting into my skin as she drops her head back and screams with pain or from the intensity of pulling power from Nash and thrusting it into me.
My vision pulses in and out, and I only catch snippets of what she does next.
Nash bows forward, a groan escaping him as Kassidy begins to siphon off the energy she needs. At the same time, warmth seeps into my chest where our skin meets, like she’s pressed a brand into my skin, though my flesh doesn’t burn. And the stinging ache that echoed out from my neck begins to abate until I’m no longer able to feel it. As I inhale, I feel my energy building, my heartbeat regulating and the warmth returning to me. My vision begins to clear and I can see Kassidy where she continues to kneel beside me, her eyes screwed tight in concentration as she channels Nash’s scalding life force into me.
She’s breathing hard when she draws her fingers back, as though she’s just run miles as quickly as she can. Sweat beads on her brow and the corona of dark magic has ebbed somewhat. I raise a hand to touch the side of my neck, expecting to find blood slick and wet beneath my fingers. Instead, I find a knot of scar tissue where a gaping wound should be. I trace the contours of it, finding a crescent missing. It’s a scar not unlike Sorren’s—deep and irreversible, making me a little less pretty. But I couldn’t care less about such trivial matters as vanity. I’m alive. And it’s a fucking miracle.
“Kassidy,” I breathe her name as the realization I experienced earlier revisits me full-force. I start to push up to my elbows but Nash reaches over to push me back down again.
“Take your time, cousin,” he says.
I immediately look up at him. “Nash.”
“Yes.”
I nod. “It’s her, Nash.”
“What, Leith?”
“It’s her!” I repeat.
“Who is her?” he asks, shaking his head as he looks at Kassidy, worry on his face. He thinks my mind is scrambled, that the overflow of energy has addled me. He couldn’t be further from the truth.
I look at Kassidy again. “You’re a Chosen one.”
That draws her head up but then she immediately shakes it. “That’s impossible.”
“It’s possible because it’s true.”
“My brothers, Tenebris, Peter or someone would have noticed it, if such were the case.”
“No,” I start as I shake my head but she won’t let me speak.
“Leith, we’ve been on the lookout for the ten champions for most of my life. Don’t you think they would have spotted it in me if I actually were one of the ten?”
I look back at Nash and find his gaze settled on the distance. He breathes hard and moments later, his eyelids droop as he collapses beside me. Kassidy yelps slightly and then immediately reaches over to him, checking his pulse as well as his breathing.
“Is he...?” I ask.
“He’s alive,” she interrupts with a nod. “He’s going to need rest and lots of food before we continue.” She takes a breath and there’s sudden concern on her face. “I need to find Sorren.”
I don’t understand why the sudden concern until I remember what Sorren did—how he took the darkness from Kassidy into himself. And then I realize the potential disaster of a nightmare we could face. Sorren is now darker than he ever was before, but he still doesn’t possess a heart…
I sit up as I watch Kassidy disappear in the thickening mist that surrounds this place. I roll over onto my hands and knees and take a deep breath. I’m definitely feeling better than I was, but I’m still not myself. Regardless, I need to follow her—to make sure she isn’t in the process of endangering herself.
Sorren is a wild card. More wild than he’s ever been before.
I turn to look at Nash and though I don’t want to leave him in his unconscious state, I have little choice. Kassidy could need me.
But before I can push myself to my feet, she returns and Sorren is behind her. I don’t like the strange look on his face. The last time I saw such an expression, he murdered three people.
He doesn’t make any violent moves toward any of us, but just stands there for a few seconds, looking first at me and then at Nash.
“Is he dead?” he asks in a monotone voice, devoid of emotion.
“No,” I answer as I push to my feet and stay myself against an outcropping of rock that dips low from the ceiling of the cave. I take a deep breath and then stand on my own, waving slightly but I’m able to remain erect.
“We need to move him,” Kassidy says as she motions to Nash, who is still out cold. Sorren nods and moves toward his cousin and I do the same. I don’t know how much help I’ll be, given my condition, but I’ll do my best. It’s the least I can do.
Sorren shoulders most of Nash’s weight as the two of us pull him to his feet. Kassidy comes to stand on my other side, to help hold me up as I act as one half of a crutch for Nash. Between the three of us, we manage to carry his bulk into the nearest hovel that’s perhaps twenty feet away.
The place is deserted and owing to the dust that coats everything within, it’s been deserted for a long time. I can only guess it once belonged to one of Discordia’s zombies before she turned them into zombies. It’s small, one story and built with the proportions of one of the prison cells back home. It’s hard to believe people live in such cramped quarters. It would drive my beast utterly mad.
“Leith is right, you know,” Sorren says as soon as we enter the hovel and he closes the door behind us, securing it with the stray furniture around the room, leaving a table and a couple of chairs.
“Leith is right about what?” she asks.
Sorren looks directly at her. “You are one of them. There’s no doubt about it.”
Kassidy shakes her head stubbornly, leaning against the wall for balance. “It’s not right, as much as I wish it were. This power is something I was born with.”
“Perhaps, but what you just demonstrated went beyond the abilities of any defalcator I’ve ever seen,” Sorren argues.
“What do you mean?” she demands as the two of us hoist Nash into the back area of the room and lay him down on one of the two mattresses within the house. As we place him on the bed, a puff of dust burps out from the straw.
“There’s a limit to the power reservoir,” Sorren continues as he approaches us, his eyes narrowly set on Kassidy. “You took so much of that dark madness inside of you, Kassidy. You never should have been able to absorb so much, and furthermore, it should have killed you once you did!”
Kassidy’s eyes flicker with something that looks like hope. “... Do you really think so?” But then she shakes her head, and dashes the hope in her eyes. “No, it can’t be true. It’s just too… impossible.”
“I believe it,” I say fervently, and I trace the divot in my flesh. “Gods, Kassidy, if you weren’t so powerful, I’d be dead. As it is, I barely feel the pain of what just happened to me.”
“And if you want proof, we’ll have it in a day o
r so,” Sorren continues.
She looks up at him. “What do you mean?”
He shrugs. “Once you open the gates.” Then he pauses. “I should hope we’re still storming the fortress?”
“Yes,” she says with a quick nod. “But, we can’t do anything until Nash regains his strength.”
“Well, he hasn’t much time,” Sorren continues as we all turn to face him.
“What are you going on about?” I ask.
Sorren takes a deep breath. “Taking that darkness within me, sapped me of much of the time I had remaining, cousin,” he says.
“What does that mean?” Kassidy demands.
Sorren faces her and his expression is unreadable, as usual. “I currently have a week left on my internal clock.”
Breath explodes from me, like he’s struck me with a war hammer. I stagger back a step. A week?! He only has only one fucking week left to live? That’s not enough!
This is impossible! Unfair!
“We won’t let you die, Sorren,” Kassidy says, echoing my thoughts completely.
“I need to excise this energy before it drains me to nothing,” Sorren states simply. “I have to expend it somewhere—I can feel it eating me from the inside out.”
“How do you expend it?” she asks, facing him with concern.
“Violence or...” Sorren’s voice trails off, as he gives her a significant look. His meaning is clear.
Kassidy spares one glance out the window before she turns back to face him and nods. “I’ll do it,” she says.
Then she approaches him, but I stop her. “Wait,” I begin, the word coming out as a growl. I face Sorren. “This is difficult for me to say, given the circumstances…”
Sorren smiles but there’s no joy behind the expression. “You don’t trust me with her,” he says.
I nod. “Without your heart, you’re still a wild card, Sorren.”
“She’s a Champion,” he argues, saying without words that she’s strong enough to take him.
