by Salem Cross
Angry roars, snarls, and screams littered the air. Devon tried to kick me off him. Instead, we ended up scuffling there on the ground. He attempted to take to the air, but I grabbed his ankle and slammed his body against the ground. The spike of his mace cracked against my ribs, and I roared in pain.
I’m going to let go, Mae’s voice was calm, but I could hear the underlying strain. There was no time to object. Devon yanked the mace out of my side to strike again. As he raised his weapon and I tensed, ready to attack, the ground erupted.
It was like Mae’s power sensed those affected and targeted them. Devon’s eyes widened in pain, and that was my only warning. I leapt away just as a violet lightning bolt shot up through his chest. He screamed in agony and crumpled to the ground where he spasmed as Mae’s power rushed through him.
Behind me, another scream echoed around us. I turned to find Camille stumbling backwards before collapsing. Her sword fell to the ground as she thrashed about. I glanced towards my mate and found her with her legs spread wide, her arms outstretched, and her teeth bared. The veins in her head were popping out and sweat beaded her brow, but she was conscious and focused on the scene before her.
Mae, enough, I called out to her and was by her side in an instant. Her jaw clenched, and she closed her eyes as she tried to pull it back.
“Rylan!” Jasmine shrieked and pointed to the sky.
I threw my arms around Mae, crushing her into my chest while my wings came around us in a shield. I hissed as three blades slammed into my back in simultaneous succession. I heard Mae’s scream of denial. Somewhere above us, a roar rang out. Sounds of blades clashing together told me whoever had thrown the blades was now busy with another opponent. I pulled my wings back and attempted to turn around but staggered. Mae caught me with a gasp and helped lower me to my knees.
“Mae, let me help,” Jasmine’s voice said from somewhere behind me. Before I could tell her I was fine, the first blade was yanked out of my back. I flinched but bit my tongue. The second blade was removed quickly, and just as efficiently as the first, followed by the third one. “The wounds are not too deep, Rylan, but you will be sore for the rest of the day.”
I stood with Mae’s help and turned to Jasmine. Jasmine turned and took to the sky. Above us Arthur was in the midst of battle with another warrior. Their movements were so fast that I was sure Mae could not follow the movement. Jasmine joined the fight and three of them engaged in a high stakes battle. Behind me, Mae sucked in a sharp breath and watched them. I could feel her fear through our bond but I could almost feel her trembling as she scooted closer to me.
Her small hand slipped into mine. I did not look back at her but I gripped her hand tighter. A quick glance at Devon and Camille told me they were incapacitated for the moment. The only threat came from the warrior in the sky. As much as I would like to join my friends, if that warrior broke through them to get to Mae, she needed a shield.
Their weapons glittered in the sunlight, the sound of metal hitting metal was sharp and loud. Even with two against one, the new arrival was holding his own fine. The strength and speed of this Guardian was a sight to be seen.
The fight was short-lived. Suddenly, all three of them broke apart. They hovered over us for another moment before coming down to land in the driveway. While I did not personally know this Guardian, Nikolas Richter was legendary among us. He was one of the oldest Guardians in the world. His fierce fighting style, the confidence he wore, and the battle scars he refused to hide only added to his personification of being one of the most dangerous Guardians in all existence.
“Nikolas,” Arthur said in greeting as he pushed his flail into his back where it became a tattoo. “Welcome and thank you for coming on such short notice. I am sorry you had to experience a brush with the depravity that terrorizes the creatures within this area.”
Nikolas ignored Arthur and looked around the front yard at all of us. I followed his gaze and found Devon on his feet, his face ashen and twisted in horror. Camille was staring down at her bloodied sword in utter disbelief. She looked up, and I caught her gaze before it slid over to Mae.
Nikolas followed Camille’s gaze where it lingered on my mate. I opened my wings wide to shield her from his cold stare. Nikolas’s time with the gods was spoken of only in whispers. He had been the deadliest opponent to face when his god sent him into war. This was not the Guardian I would have called into this situation knowing his position on the gods. The new arrival turned back to Arthur.
“It appears that you left out a few details when you called me, Arthur,” Nikolas accused in an eerily soft voice. “The dark magic hanging in the air is blackening my lungs. Were you looking to poison me? There also better be a good reason that—” He nodded in the direction of Mae. “—young god has not been properly executed and made an example of.”
I bared my teeth at the old Guardian. Nikolas stared at me with hate-filled eyes. A cold, slow smile pulled his thin lips wide across his face.
“Ah, she is your mate. Does she make your heart sing? Does she complete you?” the Guardian sneered. “Whatever magic she has cast over you, over all of you, to sway you to believe every word she speaks, do not fret. I will be your voice of reason. She is a monster that must be destroyed. If you are all incapable of terminating her, then I will gladly do it for you.”
“You will do no such thing,” Arthur snapped firmly. “I called you here because of your experience with the gods. Your position here is not to cast judgment or become an executioner of an innocent woman. Now.” Arthur turned around to face everyone, his expression murderous. “Everyone get inside and clean up. You have just had a taste of what we have been dealing with, and it only gets worse from here.”
Chapter Sixteen
Mae
“What we experienced was not dark magic or depravity as you call it,” Nikolas interrupted Arthur, who was in the middle of explaining the situation to everyone. “It is the plant life trying to survive in an environment that is being constantly affected by dark magic. The plants are struggling to soak in the dark magic like they do carbon dioxide and trying to recycle it back out like oxygen. Except dark magic cannot be processed like carbon dioxide. When the plant life expels the dark magic, it comes out like a toxin. It depends on the day how much toxin is released into the air, which is why you cannot track a pattern.”
The room was silent as we processed Nikolas’s explanation. It was dark out now. Hours had gone by since this afternoon’s chaos. After we had shown everyone to their rooms, our guests cleaned themselves up and took time to heal from their injuries. We had all reconvened in the family room. I stood by the massive window that looked out to the front yard and stared at the woods. Absentmindedly, I played with my engagement ring.
Jasmine hung close to me but was turned to face everyone else. In the reflection of the glass, I could see Arthur standing next to Camille, who sat in the leather chairs furthest from me. Devon sat stiffly on the couch. Rylan stood near Nikolas by the fireplace, his arms crossed over his chest.
While everyone went to clean up, Rylan and I had stolen away to our bedroom. I had wiped away the dried blood from where Nikolas’s three daggers had lodged into Rylan’s back and where Devon’s mace had hit him on his side. As Jasmine had predicted, the skin was still pink and tender where Nikolas’s blades had lodged themselves. Seeing the evidence of his devotion to keep me safe made me sick. If he hadn’t moved so quickly, I would have been dead.
Turning my attention away from my depressing thoughts, I forced myself to concentrate on the topic at hand. Everyone was watching Nikolas. Their expressions ranged from unease to suspicion. It was clear the other Guardians in the room trusted him as little as I did.
Nikolas Richter terrified me.
He was the most frightening person I had ever encountered. He was abnormally tall, and he was easily more muscular than all the Guardians in the room. His skin was kissed by the sun which accented his long, stark white hair that he had pulled back. There we
re thick scars along his jawline that trailed down his neck. I didn’t even know Guardians could scar. What had this Guardian gone through to get those?
What truly frightened me, though, were his piercing gray eyes. Outside, they had been full of a fiery rage. Now they were as cold as the arctic. The hatred in that icy gaze was a special, soul-searing type of hate directed specifically at me. He reminded me of a jungle cat. He seemed utterly at ease, calm, and at times almost bored. But the intensity in his gaze assured me that the languid way he stood was just a guise. He could attack without warning, and we wouldn’t know it until it was too late. I was surprised when he took a necklace from Arthur and slipped it over his neck. I would have sworn he would forgo wearing it simply because I had something invested in it.
“You have seen this before?” Camille asked. “I have been around dark magic many times before, especially down in the rainforest where witch doctors come down with vício escuro. But I have always been able to sense where they have used their powers. I never thought there would be a day when I could not.”
Vício escuro? I repeated to Rylan.
It is Portuguese for ‘dark addiction’, Rylan translated for me. It happens when someone tries using natural magic mixed with dark magic. They get a taste for the darker stuff and get sucked into needing more.
“Yes, long ago, where Madhya Pradesh is located today, something similar occurred,” Nikolas confirmed.
“How were you able to resolve the issue there?” Jasmine asked.
“We burned most of the forest down,” Nikolas stated. “It all came back after a couple hundred years.”
“That would be hard to cover up nowadays,” Devon said with a dismissive wave of his hand. In the reflection of the glass, I saw him glance towards me before turning his attention back to the others. “Whatever Mae did outside, could she do it to the rest of the park?”
The room grew silent, and I felt all eyes on me. With a sigh, I turned to face everyone.
“I can’t do that.”
“Why not? Just wave your hand and remove the threat,” Devon said simply. While he seemed more civil than the other two it was clear he did not trust me. His wary expression as he studied me made that clear.
It took everything I had not to sneer at him. Oh, was it that easy? How had I not thought of something so simple as waving my hands to remove all evil magic in the woods?
“I’m not strong enough for such a monumental task. Besides, I have a very slippery control over my ability. You’re lucky I didn’t set your insides on fire by mistake.” Everyone except for Nikolas, who simply gazed at me, cringed at the visual. “I’m new to my power, and for the past two years, I have been trying my best to ignore it. It’s only been these past two weeks that I have tried to purposely use and control it.”
“What a dangerous decision to try to ignore your power,” Camille said coolly. “How did that go for you?”
“Well, I’ve ended up in a room full of Guardians who want to see me dead. If we’re going off that, I’d say it’s going pretty well,” I answered just as coolly.
Jasmine started to chuckle but cut herself off, covering her slip with a delicate cough.
“In any case, even if Mae could do it, the dark magic would just recoat everything soon afterward. What we need to do is discover who is casting it and destroy them,” Rylan said, pulling the attention away from me. “Zyroe and Autumn showed Mae a location about three hundred miles south of here where they believe the gates between the realms will open. We have not been able to get to that location yet, but I have a feeling that is where we should start looking for our target.”
“For whatever reason, I cannot sense this dark magic you claim is here,” Devon said. “If it’s like that there, it will be like looking for a needle in a haystack.”
Before anyone responded, everyone turned their attention towards the foyer. I was the last one to turn around. A moment later Gabriel and Ashe walked in through the front door with bleak expressions. Both Guardians had lost their shirts, probably when taking flight, and we were privy to see dried blood coating their bodies. Ashe’s gaze swept over the newcomers briefly as he and Gabriel walked past everyone, making a beeline straight for me. I braced myself.
Rylan moved from Nikolas’s side to step in front of the two Guardians, and Jasmine shifted into a fighting stance.
“I need to speak to your mate,” Ashe demanded of Rylan.
“Whatever you have to say, you can do it from here,” Rylan told him before growling menacingly.
“All is well, Rylan,” Gabriel stated calmly as he stepped between both Guardians. “Ashe just wants to talk.”
The room was silent as everyone watched Rylan and Ashe. Both men glared at each other, neither one of them budging. I rolled my eyes and stepped past Jasmine.
“This is absurd,” I said as I came to stand next to Rylan. I eyed Ashe suspiciously but continued, “We are all adults here. Conversation can be had without all this posturing. What is it, Ashe? Are you both alright?” My gaze swept over both Ashe and Gabriel for any sign of an injury that hadn’t yet healed.
“We are both in one piece because of you,” Ashe stated firmly. “You warned us of the danger of taking off on our own without the necklace. Because Gabriel was so gracious to look past your heritage and took the necklace, we both made it back tonight.”He took a step closer to me, but Rylan moved to block him so Ashe couldn’t get any closer. Without acknowledging Rylan’s movement, Ashe continued, “I tried to kill a fellow Guardian today. It was an unprovoked, malicious attack that would have ended in murder if we had both engaged in battle. But because Gabriel wore your necklace, his mind was not compromised. He was able to fend me off until the effects wore off, and I was in my right mind again. I refused to believe that there was something capable of messing with my mind. I was sure it was some type of ploy on your part. Mae, my hatred for you clouded my judgment, which put a fellow warrior in jeopardy. Shame is not a strong enough word for how I am feeling. I am sorry for doubting you.”
I wasn’t necessarily touched by his apology. What happened had been his fault. I stared at the harsh features of the man in front of me. After a moment I nodded, accepting his apology. If this was a trick to cause me to let my guard down, it would not work but for now I could be courteous.
“Jasmine, you mentioned you hoped the necklaces would protect us,” Ashe said. “Your theory has been proven correct. From the blood outside, I assume the rest of you learned the hard way to trust Mae and our fellow Guardians. I hope no one was seriously injured. We went to explore the lake where Mae and Jasmine had found the Kraken. When we got there we found the water had turned jet black. The corpses of ten mermaids floated on the surface along with hundreds of fish. The mermaids were mutated and sickly. The fish were unidentifiable. We removed their bodies and burned them. Jasmine, you said the park rangers have not noticed anything unusual?”
“That is correct,” she confirmed with a nod.
“Strange; you would think visitors in the area who went fishing in that lake would report to them that their fish looked like something from a science lab. When we were done at the lake, we traveled northwest towards the shifter pack. Along the way, we found the skins of your missing Alpha and her two men.”
“The skins?” Camille repeated.
“Yes, only their flesh remained. They were gutted, and their insides were removed. Just as they were in Zein’s territory before he was murdered,” Gabriel told her. There was a collective gasp from the newcomers. The only one who didn’t react was Nikolas.
“Zein was murdered?” Devon asked, coming to his feet. He and Nikolas both shot me a suspicious look before returning their attention to Gabriel.
“Yes, about two weeks ago. Shortly after his trip to Chicago,” Gabriel verified.
“It is interesting that he died shortly after meeting you, Mae,” Nikolas taunted. If he expected me to react, he was in for a disappointment. I wouldn’t rise to the bait.
“We n
eed to alert the shifter pack. They need to be relocated far from here until we can resolve this mystery,” Arthur said with a sigh. “Did you bring their skins back so we can return them to the pack?”
Gabriel and Ashe nodded.
“If the gates are supposed to open several hundred miles away, why are there unusual occurrences here?” Camille wanted to know.
“The magic required to break open the gates would have to be immense,” Rylan mused out loud. “Mix that magic with dark spells, and it most likely became unstable and has been festering outward through the park.”
“I do not understand something,” Devon started, his handsome face tilting to one side thoughtfully. “Why was the lake black? What killed the mermaids?”
“When Mae killed the Kraken, her power radiated across the lake,” Jasmine answered. “I’m sure that if they were affected by the dark magic, Mae’s power killed them. And since Mae touched the water during her attack, it turned black.”
Camille stood up and glared at me. “I am confused. Mae turned the water black? Why?”
“When she makes physical contact with an object or if her power touches anything that has dark magic on it, the object turns black,” Rylan replied.
“So she can reveal where dark magic is hidden?” Devon asked.
“It is not hidden; it is everywhere,” Nikolas corrected.
“How do you know dark magic was everywhere? How can you sense it?” I asked the scary Guardian suspiciously. “No one else here can feel it.”
Nikolas’s pupils narrowed. Those cold gray eyes skimmed over my face; his expression full of contempt.
