by C. M. Owens
I'm actually a little worried my cheeks are on fire right now—that's how bad they burn. Kane coughs on a laugh while shaking his head.
"I really didn't think—"
"Night stalker," Drackus growls, motioning for Kane to follow him just as my snickering mother walks up to my side.
"Shit," Kane mumbles under his breath before walking toward my fuming father. I suppose his anger had been put on a temporary hold until the wolves were settled.
"That's beautiful," Mom says, looking at the red and green stone—obviously I'm irritated. "But you've got it on the wrong finger, dear."
The smile that spreads is unavoidable, and the stone fills up with night stalker blue.
"It's not on the wrong finger," I say, still grinning, and delighting in the horror that spreads across her face.
"Alyssa, it's too soon. You barely know him."
I shrug, still unable to wipe away my smile. "I've known him longer than you knew most of your husbands when you married them—including Drackus."
She tries to sound offended, but then she rolls her eyes when she thinks of how right I am. My ring refuses to budge from its brilliant blue. But something tells me it'll be widow's purple before long.
My moment of trepidation is cast aside when I see Drackus’s arms flailing high in the air as he dramatically emphasizes his threats to Kane. My poor fiancé looks to me for help, but he’s on his own. Drackus and I can’t both get pissed at the same time. That has already proven to be bad—very bad.
Kane's body rests firmly against mine, keeping one arm wrapped around me protectively, as he sleeps peacefully. I'm dying of thirst. And I'm worried about Gage being out there by himself. There's only one way to make sure he's okay.
With Kane here, Gage's spell won't have an effect on me. We need him and his knowledge, and though I want to slap him for being stupid enough to cast a love spell on me, I also want to know he's safe. I won't believe it until he's here.
Slipping out from under my beautiful night stalker, I head toward the kitchen, ready to piece a phone together—not mine, of course. I choose Drackus's. Gage will answer quickly when he sees his name.
Absently, I make myself a glass of iced tea while using my magic to assemble the scattered pieces, and then I summon it to me, watching as it floats.
I shut the door to the fridge and sip on my glass of tea while waiting for the dark user to answer. Nothing. It just rings and rings. I frown, sighing as I put the phone down.
"What are you doing?" a smooth voice asks, drawing my attention.
I look up to see Chaz, and I grin at his bed-head. "Calling Gage," I murmur softly, letting my smile fall. "I'm worried about him being on his own."
He gives me a you-can't-be-serious look, and then shakes his head. "He's Somage. He's not alone. You can't ask him to come here if you're worried about him. If your new fiancé doesn't kill him, your father will."
"They won't kill him—I don't think. Look, Gage is alone. He was leaving the Somage because he thought we were going to be together. This spell is eating him alive. I have to help him."
"Why would you help him out of something he brought on himself?"
I glance down at my side, knowing the tattoo he got me—when he worried about a spirit coming after me—is lying underneath my shirt. Then I look up to meet Chaz's eyes.
"Because he loved me. He's an idiot, but people do stupid things when they're in love. And he's my friend. Friends fuck up and you forgive them."
I look pointedly at him, reminding him that he abandoned me to make things easier between him and his mom. He nods knowingly while taking a deep breath.
"Since you're up, do you want to watch a movie with a friend you've forgiven for fucking up?"
I snicker lightly and then nod, letting him lead the way to the living room. It's after one in the morning, but I can't sleep. I'll keep calling Gage and hope he answers.
"Boringest movie ever," Chaz groans as the credits roll.
"Is that a word?" I chuckle.
"Yep. Someone created it after suffering through two hours of that shit."
I laugh louder than I mean to, but movement outside draws my attention. Chaz's eyes move to the window, and they grow wide.
"I'll check it out," he whispers before vanishing, leaving me alone.
Fortunately, this house has a special spell cast to keep out anyone intending me harm. Unfortunately, spells aren't always all they’re cracked up to be.
A hand wraps around my mouth, a body presses against my back, and I'm suddenly moving faster than I can see. But I'm not being vaporized, and considering I can't use my fucking powers, it means a night stalker has me. Not one of our night stalkers, either.
The wind strikes me, and I can't manage to scream to warn anyone about what's going on. As his grip becomes tighter, I dread the worst. Where the hell is my creature fucking goddess when I need it?
His hand finds my throat as he twirls me around, letting me see the house still barely in sight. When my eyes meet his, shock fills me and steals what little breath I have left.
It's the leader—the one from the ambushing night stalkers that attacked me the night Kane was missing.
His devious grin spreads as his night stalker blues taunt me, chilling me to my core with the promise of a painful death. He's here? Why? They have the black diamond of Roth.
"What do you want?" I choke out, coughing on the air he refuses to let me have.
"The creature that shouldn't exist has to die before the wakening.”
I squirm, seeing spots before my eyes as he chokes me harder. I'd give anything to go crazy right now.
Before I have to attempt the impossible, the night stalker drops to the ground. I never heard the power buzzing, never heard footsteps approaching, never knew he was coming, but Kane stands there as I drop to the ground, staring at the night stalker he's about to kill.
"Fuck," Zee spews, stumbling up behind us. "How did they get past the fucking barriers?"
Kane shakes his head as he steps over the body, quickly scooping me up like a wounded lamb. I prefer Ms. Hyde to the damsel in distress any day.
"You okay?" Kane asks me, ignoring Zee's important question.
I nod slowly, still reeling over the quick turn of events.
I see spurts of golden streaks bursting in the air, and my heartbeat quickens as a word finally escapes. "Chaz."
More power erupts with a powerful buzz, and I get a little sick to my stomach when I see the sky churning with power—my father’s unrestrained power. Drackus just lost it. My fears are confirmed when tortured screams blanket the night air.
Chaz appears beside us, his eyes wide—as thought they’ve been scarred. "Drackus is one crazy mother-fucker."
Kane doesn't smile as he studies me for a second longer.
"Alyssa's mom can handle him. We need to interrogate this son of a bitch," he says, pointing to the night stalker.
The night stalker on the ground is still breathing, but the shot of power Kane hit him with knocked him out cold. A roar bellows from inside the house where the crazy ass lycans are locked away for the red moon. I don't mean to jump in Kane's arms, but I do. His grip tightens in response as he cradles me against him. I was supposed to be locked up, but my cage wasn't ready yet.
Dice walks up just as Zee repeats his question. "How the hell did they get in?"
Dice leans over the slumbering night stalker and pulls a stone from the bastard's pocket. I've seen that stone before. One just like it. Isolis used it to break into my home.
"How did they know where we were?" the incubus asks as he studies the man still on the ground.
No one speaks for a second, and then Chaz lets out a harsh breath. "If they have any dark users working with them, then it's probably because Alyssa made a call from Drackus's phone."
I lower my head before anyone can say anything. "Sorry."
"Who were you calling?" Kane asks, kissing my forehead.
The way I tense up against him a
nswers the question without words.
"Why were you calling him?" he says evenly, but I can hear the anger lacing his words with a subtle touch.
"Because he's alone. He's an idiot, but he's my friend. Would you leave Amy alone out there?" I ask, looking up at him.
His teeth grind together, but he doesn't say anything else.
Deke jogs down to us, but he freezes just as we do when the roars from inside burst free and two crazy bitch lycans tear out the side of the house as they surge forth, shredding trees on their path to us.
Kane drops me to my feet as he runs with Zee toward the rabid beasts. I never wanted to see this connection. I realize his night stalker half is somehow tied to Amy's lycan, but every bit of the rest of him is tied to me.
Deke tackles Sierra, wrestling her to the ground as his night stalker blues stare into her wild oranges. Kane takes a different approach. As he circles the monstrous version of Amy, he stares into her eyes, ignoring her snarling warnings.
"Down," he says, making it a command.
She doesn't listen. She starts to charge, when a golden streak of power ties up her legs, wrapping around them like a powerful bind. She thuds to the ground, trying to break free, but it's no use. The smirk on Chaz's face is not overlooked.
Kane moves his eyes to Chaz, trying his best not to smile, as Amy roars out her contempt for the duster.
"I'd say that's a little more badass than glitter farts," Chaz mutters, rolling his eyes.
Dice chuckles beside me, but I look at Kane who places his hand on her head, stroking her as if he's petting her. Within seconds, the beast is asleep, no longer making threatening growls and roaring promises of death.
"Let's find out what this bastard knows," Chaz says, ripping the night stalker up from the ground and dragging him toward the house.
Kane stands there, hands in his pockets, still staring at me as he waits for me to make the first move. That's it? That was the big connection? He can pet her and put her to sleep? I can so live with that until we kill Castine.
With quick strides, I make my way to him as Deke finishes putting Sierra to rest. It doesn't take long before I'm in his arms, feeling him draw me as close as he possibly can.
"I love you," he murmurs against my ear, nuzzling me as he picks me up off the ground.
I feel his tension fading. Maybe I don't realize the depth of what he just had to do, but I don't care.
"I love you."
"Come on, witch and fangs. We've got a night stalker to grill," Dice chirps, strutting by us while rubbing the rock in his hand. "And then we've got a war to fight."
Chapter 23
Broken Worlds
The night stalker who has been chasing after me doesn't look so intimidating when he's bound by Chaz's restraints. After the fourth slash Kane delivers to his body, he hisses out with pain, squirming uselessly.
"Tell us who the fuck is running this!" Kane blares, gearing up for another shot of power.
Imagine being hit by thirty whips at once. That's what I can only think each one of his lashings feels like. It's starting to make me sick to my stomach.
"You're not strong enough," he says grinning, though his voice is strained and his teeth are coated with his own blood.
Kane hits him with a fifth strike, one that forces the night stalker to scream and cry out when it cuts deep inside him, spilling his blood with a generous flow.
That's all I can watch.
I turn around, keeping my back to the torture session, and grip Thad's necklace around my neck for some sort of solace. I know this has to be done, but it's brutal—more so than I'm fully prepared to see. I'm glad Drackus isn't here. The night stalker would be in disassembled pieces, but still alive. I hope Mom brings him down without any problems.
"You're too late. Even if you could stop them," he chokes out, breaking under the pain, "you'll never get there in time."
"Who, damn it?" Kane says, probably threatening another strike.
"Damon and Dragona's daughter and some others. It's starting. Just before dawn, she'll open the gates. She has the two gate keepers."
My stomach rolls at the sound of those two names. I turn around, wide-eyed and terrified. Everyone else looks paler than me because they know the true weight of those names. I've only scratched the surface.
"The gates of hell?" Chaz asks warily.
The night stalker laughs, but winces and coughs as more blood spills from his wounds and gurgles in his mouth.
"The gates of hell only need one gate keeper. And the worst demons can cross over any time they want. These people have been waiting and searching for the second gate keeper for centuries. They've groomed her, making her strong enough to endure the opening. If she died before the gates were opened, all would be lost. Now she's ready."
"The little girl?" Kane prompts, demanding an answer.
"She's one of them. They needed Freya's spawned bitch creature out of their way. She's the only one who was foretold to stop it. But it's too late now. The gates will open, and Dragona and Damon will walk amongst us once again."
The faces I already thought were ashen turn even paler. "Purgatory. They're opening the gates of purgatory?" Chaz asks in a register lower than a whisper, speaking as though it's blasphemous.
"They'll release everyone from there," Kane says softly, cursing louder after he lets it sink in. "You can't open the gates for just two people."
The night stalker looks up, smiling. "I know. This world is about to go up in flames. Burn, bitch. Burn."
A lash of power bursts out of Kane before he can stop himself, and the night stalker screams out until his screams turn into silence and his head drops in defeat, leaving only his garbled final breaths to taint the air.
"Fuck," Deke gripes while running his hands through his hair. "Now we don't know where the damn gate is!"
Kane shakes his head as he walks toward the counter, grabbing his keys.
"I do know."
"How the hell do you know?" Dice asks as we all start hurrying outside.
"Because we lived on top of it. It draws in the immortals like nothing I've ever seen before."
"Fucking where?" Dice prompts as we make our way outside, following Kane to the vehicles.
"Pine Shore."
If I didn't know for a fact that this was Pine Shore, I'd never believe it. The apocalypse from hell is what it looks like. People are screaming and running as we come into the town that is literally burning. The lake is even on fire. How is that possible?
Fire and brimstone would be an understatement.
Kane barrels through the chaotic streets, barely missing the frenzied people rushing away. The dark blue light shines like a beacon from the ground to the sky, guiding us to the center of the war zone.
Kane swerves and misses—something.
"Spirits are everywhere," he hisses, shaking his head. "They'll have to let everything out before Dragona and Damon can climb to the surface. They're bound at the back—pushed as deep as they could get them centuries ago."
I've learned it's a painful process to go through to be sentenced to purgatory. Tossing them in there is easier than breaking them out. It's supposed to be a one-way street. I didn't realize there was a gate to open.
Red eyes of forced possessions shine through many of the people wandering the streets, and we dodge shots of power coming from their human hands.
"This is worse than I imagined," I murmur in a hushed whisper, letting Kane obliterate the mass of debris in front of us, and knock innocent humans out of the way—using his power—before we run over them.
We're the lead car, and the convoy behind us is working just as hard to keep people safe.
"Dray can handle some of the possessed, Deke and Zee can fight their way through anything, and I'm pretty sure Chaz can hold his own," Kane says. "Frankie is a skilled and seasoned warlock. I'm fucking glad he's here. Dice will do what he can where he can, but he's not as powerful as us. You need to stay close to me at all times. I don't
even want you here."
"Shay is with Mom, trying to bring down Drackus. Sierra and Amy can't come out before the sun, and Reese can't leave his pack before the sun. You need me."
"The sun will be up soon," he says, looking at the sky that might never brighten again.
"Kane," I murmur in disbelief, gasping at the sight I shouldn't be able to see.
"What?"
My eyes stay fixed on the red beauty high in the sky, taunting the world with the power they don't know exists.
"The red moon—I can see it. I shouldn't be able to see it," I mutter, still in awe and terror as I stare at the impossible, becoming oblivious to the destruction around me.
"The barrier between our magic and the human world is breaking. This bitch is going to destroy everything."
We screech to a halt when we reach the base of the woods, and Kane leaps out of the car. He's at my door before I can even get my hand on the handle, and he opens it, quickly enclosing my hand in his.
"Alyssa, I mean it, don't leave my side."
I continue staring at the moon, feeling it pulling at me, begging me to let my true self free. It's beautiful.
"Stop looking at it," he says while palming each side of my face and bringing my head down so that my eyes only see his night stalker blues. "Look at me."
I take several steadying breaths, and I feel the pull of the moon lessening, seeping out, and I regain some of my control.
"We need to go," Chaz says, stepping up behind us.
"Did you reach him?" Kane asks as we start moving quickly through the woods, ignoring the screams behind us. We can't do anything to save them until we stop her—whoever she is.
"He's still not answering," Chaz says.
"Who?"
Kane tightens his lips, and I realize who he's talking about when he tenses.
"Gage?"
"We need the Somage," Deke says as he curses a dusty spirit that tries to take his body. Thankfully, we're all sealed from them with our tattooed protection.
"I wish these bitches needed permission to take bodies," he growls.
