Scarlet Tempest, #1

by Juniper King

  Surely Sera would give up on finding me eventually. I could run and escape from this whole ordeal, forget any of this ever happened.

  But… it was my fault that Aksel and Ayre were in this situation in the first place. Aksel had let his guard down and had been manipulated, and Ayre all but sacrificed himself and his autonomy for my safety.

  Aksel had come for me when I’d needed him most. He had saved me so many times, even at the risk of his own life. If I was in their current shoes, they wouldn’t leave me, they wouldn’t even think it.

  A heavy shame settled over me, even a short moment of weakness was contemptible.

  If I left them, I would never be able to live with myself. They had become too important to me.

  And If that meant confronting Sera—if that meant risking my own life—then that’s what I would do for my friends.

  I would save them.

  Moving as quietly as possible, I slithered out from under the rock and back up onto my feet.

  Looking up at it, the hill didn’t seem overly steep. I scrambled up the incline on my hands and feet, carefully tracing my steps back in the direction of camp.

  I made sure to check at all the trees, even the ground in case it had fallen, but everything looked the same, especially at night. How was I ever going to find it?

  Walking around the base of a thick redwood, I saw what I was looking for; the handle of a hunting knife. I grabbed the hilt with both hands, brought my foot up against the tree as leverage, and pulled. The blade came free, and I fell onto my back, sucking in a sharp breath as I landed on my already damaged spine.

  Rolling onto my side, I wished I could stay on the ground and recover for a few short moments. But Ayre could retrace his steps at any moment, and Aksel would have gotten out of my trap by now.

  I rolled to my feet, knife clenched tightly in my hand, and headed back towards the campsite.

  I moved at a brisk pace through the underbrush, fast enough to stay ahead of Ayre if he were to see through my scheme and retrace his footsteps, yet not so fast as to make enough noise to draw out Aksel, wherever he may be.

  A shadow emerged from behind a tree trunk and a bolt of fear surged through me. I melted into the closest tree and sank into the dense brush. If I didn’t move, he shouldn’t be able to see or hear me. I hoped.

  Aksel moved cautiously, no doubt keeping his eyes and ears open for any kind of sound or movement. I tried to calm my rapid breathing for fear that his deydric ears might pick up even the smallest sound.

  He was all but on top of me now. I could use the same trick that I’d used on Ayre, but as he turned, my eyes caught on the knife tucked in the holster on the small of his back.

  I had Ayre’s knife for my plan, but with a second one, I would have a better chance of defending myself against Sera.

  But I had to be as gentle as possible, or else he would notice me and I would be dead.

  At the hands of Aksel.

  A voice at the back of my mind kept telling me Aksel would never do anything to hurt me, and it was true he wouldn’t. But this was no longer the Aksel I knew. This was Sera’s Aksel.

  And I was going to get him back.

  I took a steadying breath, calming myself down.

  Feeding my magic out as delicately as I could, wrapping it around the grip of the knife, with just enough pressure he wouldn’t notice. Then, I split my focus, sending out a wave deep into the trees, just as I had done with Ayre. Aksel’s head perked up right before he took off towards the sound. As he lunged forward, the knife stayed where it was, slipping easily out of the sheath and floating in midair, waiting for me to reel it in.

  Once Aksel was out of sight I let out a shaky laugh. Getting to my feet on shaky legs, I grabbed the knife and tucked it into the back waistband of my pants.

  I then continued making my way towards the clearing where I had left Sera, keeping low and under cover the entire way.

  I heard the sound of a woman’s voice grumbling and I slowed. She wasn’t a hunter like Aksel and Ayre, but I should still be careful not to tip her off to my whereabouts. I found a tree that could act as a marker and placed Ayre’s hunting knife at the base.

  Gods, I hope this works.

  I peeked through the bushes and saw Sera standing in our former campsite, touching her nose and wincing in pain. I didn’t trust myself to sneak up on her, not from so far away, so, taking a deep breath, I emerged from the bushes. Sera turned, the lower half of her face covered in trails of blood.

  “I see you’ve managed to escape your ex-lovers. Not to worry, they’ll be back shortly. You really are stupid, aren’t you? You should have run while you could.”

  “And leave them to someone like you? Not a chance.”

  Succubi weren’t known for their strength, but that wasn’t to say they were weak, not by a long shot. But, if I played my cards carefully, I had a chance of winning.

  I clenched my fists at my side. I didn’t want to fight. I still had nightmares of Raen, the taste of his blood on my tongue and the sounds he’d made when gasping for his last breaths, but for the sake of Aksel and Ayre, I would do whatever I had to. I pulled the blade from the back of my pants and clenched it at my hip.

  Sera saw the blade and laughed. “You’re planning on fighting me? Do all humans have a death wish, or is it just you? I don’t particularly relish in killing, but for you I’ll make an exception. The only question is, would I prefer to do it with my own hands, or watch as your deydre strangles the life out of you?”

  “I didn’t realize you were such a coward, getting pawns to do your dirty work for you.”

  A sickening smile split her lips. “That’s where you’re mistaken, Selynna. I don’t shy away from dirty work.”

  Her bones began to creak like the branches of an old tree as they seemed to grow and elongate underneath her skin. Fabric ripped and tore, tatters of clothes falling off her ever-expanding frame. Her soft, pale skin began to dry up and crack, becoming leathery and grey as it stretched to accommodate the new bones. Along with her limbs, her jaw elongated and protruded outwards, resembling a horse’s snout full of jagged and sharp teeth which were now borne in my direction. Leathery wings sprouted from her back, unfolding from under her skin.

  I stood there shaking, horrified by this beast that, only moments ago, had been hidden by her gorgeous feminine form.

  My mouth was braver than my body. “Now it makes sense why you could never seduce Aksel, who in their right mind would want to sleep with this mess.”

  She screeched and lunged at me with her long boney claws, wings flapping to give her a boost of speed. Before I could get out of the way I was tackled to the ground, breath knocked out of my lungs and blade knocked out of my hands. Her putrid yellow eyes had death written in them as she stared manically down at me, tendrils of ragged, black hair falling into my face and obscuring my vision. Her claws came down in a blur towards my face. I brought my arm up just in time to prevent her from tearing part of the left side of my face, but her claws carved four long gashes from my elbow across my bicep. I shrieked, feeling the increasingly familiar sensation of my skin being shredded apart.

  Pinned on my back with her straddling my waist and no weapon in my hands was a dangerous place for me to be in. I had to get the knife back. I had a moment of gratitude for the adrenaline pumping through my veins and masking the no doubt agonizing pain in my arm as I attacked with my fists in chaotic random swings, trying to get her off of me, but my weak punches did little against her thick skin. Changing tactics, I grabbed a handful of dirt and threw it in her face. She reared up, screaming and rubbing her eyes. She slashed out blindly with her free hand, clawed fingers raking across my collarbone.

  A scream tore from my throat before I could clench my teeth and bare through the pain. With some of her weight off of me, I was able to wiggle out from under her enough to kick out with both my feet into her stomach. My kick did little damage, but it threw her back enough that I could clamber to my feet.

/>   I rolled to my knees and reached out for the knife, but she regained her balance with lightning speed and pounced forward, grabbing me from behind. Her claws pierced deep into my shoulders and with one deft flap of her wings we were in the air. My feet kicked uncontrollably, as my stomach sank to my feet. The tops of the trees were shrinking into the distance as we rose higher and higher. My stomach lurched as we slowed to a stop and she brought her lips right beside my ear. “Hope you can fly.”

  She let go.

  I tried to twist in the air and latch onto her arms or legs, anything that would give me purchase and keep me airborne, but gravity sunk its teeth into me and pushed me back down to earth with all its might. My scream was drowned out by the deafening roar of wind rushing around me as I fell through the sky. Tears streamed across my face and my stomach was in my throat as I watched the ground rush up to meet me.

  I had no time to think, no time to be afraid, as the tops of trees sped passed me. This wasn’t how I was going to die, not here, not to her!

  I reached out with my magic, the only thing that could save me now, and felt the ground brush against my mind. I pushed out as hard as I could, and a painful jolt of pressure surged through my arms as my body abruptly began to slow. But it wasn’t enough. I landed hard on the ground, the force of my fall ricocheting through my shoulder and snapping the bone. I screamed and rolled over to my back, clutching the useless appendage.

  I opened my eyes just in time to see Sera diving down towards me. I threw my good arm out in front of me, my magic wrenching her wing to the side and throwing off her balance. She veered off course and crashed to the ground, skidding a few feet away from me.

  I wanted to stop, I wanted to lick my wounds, but this wouldn’t end unless I ended it.

  I grit my teeth and rolled onto my knees. I saw the discarded knife lying on the ground and I crawled my way over to it, right arm dragging limp along the ground.

  I reached my hand out, fingers brushing the wooden hilt when a taloned foot stepped into my field of vision and iron fingers cinched around my wrist. With a deft yank, I was pulled to my feet and spun around, pinned against a hard chest as an arm wrapped around my throat.

  Out of the corner of my eye I saw Aksel’s tail grab the knife off the ground and transfer it to his free hand where he jabbed it against my back.

  Sera collected herself off the ground. As she did so, her wings folded into her back and her hideous form melted back into the delicate human skin of the blonde Super. She minced over to where Aksel held me, stark naked and covered in cuts and dirt, the look on her face, her relish in the situation, was palpable. She thought she’d just won.

  Her smug glare was betrayed by her uneven breathing. “I’ll admit, I don’t know how you survived that fall, but did you really think you could beat me? Some little human girl who’s probably never been in a fight in her entire life,” she taunted.

  “Actually, I thought we were pretty evenly matched. Until you started cheating,” I gurgled, Aksel’s grip around my throat growing tighter.

  She gestured at Aksel with her chin, “You call this cheating?” She leaned in close enough that I could feel her breath on my face. “You call it cheating to use the magic I was born with? I suppose a human like you would be jealous, though, wouldn’t you? This isn’t cheating, Selynna, I’m simply using my natural abilities, and I’m going to keep using them on Aksel and Ayre until I grow bored of them.”

  “Natural abilities, huh? Well, in that case, I guess you wouldn’t mind me using mine.” I reached out towards the tree I’d used as my marker, found the knife with my mind, and pulled as hard as I could.

  I saw a glint of awareness in her eyes, an inkling of something being wrong. But it was too late. I felt Aksel twitch behind me, but I was too fast.

  The squelching sound of muscle tearing and sinew ripping was becoming unsettlingly familiar to me, but now was not the time to dwell on it. I pulled the blade as hard as I could, forcing the tip of the knife through the other side of her slender frame, almost piercing my own chest in the process.

  I twisted the blade, and she coughed up blood onto my face. She instinctively grabbed out, latching onto my shoulders as she slid down to her knees.

  I felt the knife at my back fall to the ground and the hold on my throat loosen and shift down around my shoulders as Aksel pulled me away from Sera’s grip. Her fingers slid off my shoulders and with one deft kick from Aksel’s heel, she slammed to the ground where she finally lay still, a puddle of blood growing beneath her.

  I shook in Aksel’s arms. The fight must have only lasted a minute or two, but it had seemed like hours. My entire body was like a lead weight, wanting to collapse to the ground.

  With one arm around my shoulder Aksel wrapped a second arm around my stomach squeezing me tight against his chest, his cheek resting on the top of my head. It felt like he was shaking around me.

  I wiggled in his arms, ignoring the pain in my shoulder, and turned in his embrace so I could wrap my good arm around his back. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what it must have been like, having your mind and body taken over by someone else, having them control your actions. Had he still had free thought? Consciousness battling against body with every command Sera gave? When Ayre attacked me, he’d almost seemed to have forgotten until I reminded him, like it had been a dream.

  I hugged Aksel even tighter, feeling tears slide down my cheeks.

  “Does it hurt?” he asked, gently peeling me away from his chest and looking me over, his fingers hovered over the cut along my collarbone then down to my arm. His voice was tight and he seemed to look over every inch of me, but couldn’t meet my eyes.

  I shook my head, my voice caught in my throat. I hadn’t realized it until now, the weight of it taking away my power of speech entirely; I had almost lost Aksel.

  Was this how he’d felt when I’d been taken? Had he felt this overwhelming relief when I had returned? Had he wanted to hold me and never let go?

  “I should be asking you that,” I finally answered.

  “What do you mean, Kesra wasn’t interested in hurting me.”

  “I know, I just mean… are you… okay?”

  He finally met my gaze, his expression hard and his brows pinched together. “No. I’m not okay. Kesra was an egotistical, manipulative bitch, and having her in my head was something I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. But I could handle it. If her plan had succeeded and she’d forced me to have sex with her, I could have handled that too. I wouldn’t have enjoyed it, and I would have eventually found a way to break out of her control and kill her, but I could have handled it.

  “What I couldn’t have handled, Selynna, would have been your death at my hands,” he said bluntly.

  I could only blink in response. “You’re mad at me? For coming to save you?”

  His fingers traced the cut on my collarbone, I winced, and his brows drew together. “Why didn’t you just run away?”

  “And just leave you and Ayre to a succubus? Not a chance.” I said haughtily, trying to break a little of the tension.

  “You could have been killed!” He barked, but relented after seeing my expression of shock at his outburst. “We could have… I could have—”

  “But you didn’t,” I cut him off firmly. My head was starting to feel swimmy. “Listen… I thought about running away and it was a mistake, just a knee-jerk reaction to the situation. I didn’t want to fight, and I certainly didn’t want to die, but… There’s always an inherent risk when you’re protecting the people you care about. But for those people… the risks don’t seem to matter. Sure I was scared, but saving you and Ayre was the only thing that mattered.” My vision started to blur as I spoke, a heaviness shrouding my head. I rocked over to the side, and Aksel caught me before I fell to the ground.

  “You’re losing blood fast, where’s Ayre?”

  “Right here.”

  With my blurred vision, I could barely make out Ayre jogging out of the forest towards us. He slow
ed to a walk and without a word and stopped right in front of Sera’s corpse. He stared down at her for a moment before bending down and ripping his knife from her back. He wiped the blade on his shirt and sheathed the knife.

  Ayre came up, took me from Aksel’s arms and, instead of lowering me to the ground so he could start the healing process, he wrapped me in a tight hug. After a moment of confusion, I hugged him back with my good arm. “Ayre?”

  “It’s still a haze in my mind, but I remember… I’m so sorry, Sel.”

  I hugged him tighter, “Wasn’t your fault.”

  And I meant it.

  23

  “Do you really think it’s a good idea to be back here after what happened last time?” I asked.

  The streets of Korinth looked entirely different during the daytime. The dilapidated dirt roads and ramshackle buildings were much more conspicuous and unsightly under the harsh late afternoon sunlight. It wasn’t like Woodburne or Rochdale, with bustling centers filled with markets and trader carts. Neighbourhood men and women chatting in the streets while the smell of dinners being cooked wafted through the air. In fact, it was eerily quiet.

  I guess Ayre was right when he’d said this wasn’t a daytime kind of place.

  “This time we’re not going to split up. And unless Aksel has any other insane stalkers who’ve devised elaborate schemes of seduction, we shouldn’t have much to worry about. Are you sure you’re doing okay, though?”

  I made a noise of acknowledgement. I was bone deep exhausted, wanting to lay down on the dirt path and take a long nap, not to mention the aching pain still ricocheting through my body with each step I took. Ayre had mended the more serious surface wounds and repaired the bone in my arm, but since I was actually conscious this time, I’d refused a full healing. As far as I was concerned, he needed to conserve his strength and rest after what had happened, especially since he’d had his own wound to repair. Ayre didn’t need to be wasting his energy on cuts and scrapes or aching muscles, I was more than fine to walk.