by Lenore, Lani
“It’s a simple matter, Mach,” his twin interrupted. “This isn’t about us anymore. It’s about you. Are you a half, or a whole?”
Mech stared back at him beyond the gun that was pointed squarely in his direction, and a wicked curve formed on his face. Mach could hear sounds behind him now – undead beasts coming to rip me apart – but he could not move for looking into his twin’s eyes.
When the battle rushed in around him with Finn and Toss at the helm of it, Mach still could not look away, frozen with guilt that not even the glory of revenge could erase.
2
Finn and Toss had been battling a fairly large group of the smoldering creatures on their own, and by gradually moving back into the trees to gain more space, they had managed to thin the number nicely. Once they were done with this group, there were still more of the ghastly man-creatures to be dealt with in the camp, but that was a distant thought. They smashed and cut through them one by one until they were all too battered and torn to rise again.
“Should we go back?” Toss inquired, not bothering to swing the large hammer over his shoulder, keeping it in hand.
“I think there were some trailing behind,” Finn said, breathless. “We’ll wait a moment to see if they reach us and then–”
It was then that he noticed they weren’t alone. Finn turned his head to see that there were two other boys in their midst – one dark-haired and the other a flaming red. One had his back against a tree and his gun in the air, and the other was locked on his captive with the precision of a veteran jailer. One of these young men was Finn’s friend, the other had been lost, but he recognized them both.
Toss knew them as well, and he swiftly forgot about the enemies that they were standing their ground to await battle. These were two of his brothers that he hadn’t seen together in a long time, and he almost smiled at the sight of them until he realized that they were not exactly wrapped in a brotherly embrace.
Finn let his eyes drift from Mach to Mech, understanding the situation. He remained still and took care not to flash his weapons, but after a moment of consideration, he let his Tikilin eyes rest on the estranged twin.
Mech had caught sight of them now, but though he had averted his attention, Mach still did not move.
“Mech,” Finn tried. “Long time–” His response was a hard jolt to his stomach.
A gun had fired – from somewhere – and Finn was certain that its bullet was what had connected with his gut. It hurt fiercely, knocking his breath away, and for a moment, he stood there, cringing. Then, he slowly withdrew his hand from where he’d clamped himself.
There was no blood, only a small dent that the bullet had hammered into his metal vest. The bullet itself was resting dully in his hand, hot and dead.
The others might have been surprised, but they should not have been. Tikilin and the corruption had been good to Finn, as far as that was possible. There was not much that could penetrate his flesh.
“That’s going to leave a bruise,” Finn muttered, letting the bullet fall from his fingers.
Mech looked impressed. “Ahhhh, we share a likeness,” he said. “I, too, am hard to damage.”
“You shot me?” Finn asked. “That’s the welcome I get?”
“It’s what we pirates do,” Mech said easily. “Isn’t that right, Mach? But you’ve gone soft. Turned out to be a little bitch after all.”
Finn studied Mech for a moment, noting the scars and the crystalline growths across his skin. If he’d not known it before, he realized it now: this one was not one of their own anymore.
“You came here with those others,” Finn accused. “Following. The Scourge?”
“Oh no, I was wandering the world,” Mech explained tolerantly. “All alone, deserted by my own twin until Whisper found me. She urged me to come here and I just knew that if I did, I’d get the reunion I’d been longing for.”
Nearby, Toss was feeling antsy. He had confidence in his strength, and if he could only get close enough, he was certain that he could knock Mech aside until they determined what his intent was. But was that the right thing to do? It was one thing to attack a monster or a pirate, but Mech had been one of them once. As far as Toss was concerned his Vow to his leader and his brothers still held. If they could not give each other second chances, how could they hope to be any better than this darkness?
While Toss contemplated, Finn became decisive. He drew his gun but just as he’d raised it, a bullet seemed to come from nowhere, knocking the pistol from his hand.
“Mach! Shoot him!” Finn growled, clenching his aching wrist.
Mech turned lustrous eyes to his twin, daring him with a superior smile. “Are you going to kill me, Mach?”
Mach’s finger wavered over the trigger, but he could not manage to pull it back. He was shaking, for not only was he looking his brother in the face, he was looking at the other half of himself. How could he hurt himself? He took a few steps back at Mech’s allowance, away from the tree – away from his own face.
“You don’t have to do this,” Mach tried to remind his brother, but it did little good. The bloodlust had already set in.
“Why not?” Mech asked unfeelingly. “So we can go back to our old life? You know that there’s no going back. So I’m going to make you proud. I’m going to do exactly what you intended when you brought me back!”
Smiling, Mech raised his arms.
No…
The metal bars embedded within his arms slid outward effortlessly, splitting his hands and bending the portions of his wrists back against his forearms. Revealed in the metal-lined openings were two gun barrels, sticking out in the place his bones should have been.
The smoldering pirates were still coming, but they were not aware of Mech – just as Finn, Toss, and Mach were not aware of them. Mach managed to shake his head slightly in protest, just as a hail of bullets spread over the area, striking down all in their path.
3
Rifter’s pain had faded along with his wounds. The darkness had changed them all in many ways, and this skin and life regeneration had been Rifter’s gift. He may have aged, but he was not any closer to death.
Despite how helpful it was, it had not renewed his eye; only sealed the skin around it. Still, the ability had been useful to him. It had allowed him to do things that others couldn’t possibly do – like wrestle a Vork and live to tell the tale. And now, his abilities would allow him to kill this demon.
The demon behind Nix’s bloody face stared at Rifter disbelievingly, hardly seeming to realize that it had a bloody nub for an arm or that Rifter was digging his fingers into it. It was baffled for a moment, and then the demon chortled shortly, finishing with a burst of laughter.
Rifter wondered what it was thinking about, and why it found this so hilarious, but now that Rifter’s body had healed, he wasn’t going to hesitate long before forcing the demon out of Nix’s body to take it on in its true form. In that form, Rifter had met the creature all those years ago, and he was not afraid to face it now.
“I’m impressed,” the demon hissed, managing to hold down its laughter. “I’m even more impressed that you managed to keep this secret from me, even though I was housed within you. It was foolish of me not to have recognized it. Even so…”
The creature stopped, watching the pain retreat from Rifter’s expression.
“I’m glad to have found this out about you,” the demon said. “I actually didn’t want you to die. I didn’t know if you were still alive after all these years, but I had hoped to draw you out. You’d be the perfect body to house myself in if you didn’t like to fight so much. But that time has passed. Now, you’ll do well to protect me.”
Rifter nearly wanted to laugh at the sound of that, but he did not. “Why would I do that?”
The smile that answered him was like jagged glass. “Because I’ll be inside Wren.”
Rifter froze, and everything he’d ever known seemed to pass away from him. Nothing existed except those words that the de
mon had just uttered. He couldn’t speak, and the dagger might as well have been back inside him, because he could not breathe either.
“Why do you think I brought her here?” the demon inquired with pleasure. “She drew all of you out, that’s true, but my plan for her has always been more than that. I put my fire into her, preparing a place for myself within her from the beginning! She’s been so innocent, but the darkness has come into her heart now as well. I could smell it on her. She’s weakened by thoughts of revenge. Wren will be the one to save this place – through me, of course. Everyone will worship her!”
Rifter didn’t expect that the demon would allow the land to be healed, even after this war, but he could not allow the demon to use Wren as it had used him.
“I’ll die before I let that happen!” Rifter spat through bloody teeth.
The demon shook its head in disagreement, its eyes lighting. “Oh, is that so?”
The demon’s next action was so abrupt – so unanticipated – that Rifter could not think of any way to counter it. Thick black smoke began to billow from the eyes, ears, and mouth of Nix’s head just in front of Rifter, filling the air. The stench of it was too vile to speak of, assaulting him so that he felt nauseous. As a thick cloud of the smoke rose into the air, Nix’s body fell limply in Rifter’s arms, and he knew it was only a corpse now, empty in death.
The truth was clear then. The demon was in the smoke – just as it had come over Nevermor all those years ago – and it was headed for Wren.
4
Whisper was sobbing, crying her tiny eyes out to produce glittering tears, but Wren could not have cared less. There was no reason she should have been sensitive to the evil wisp’s torment, and she did not allow her heart to soften. She inched closer to the branch where her enemy was perched, and Whisper did not notice her.
Closer.
Closer.
Wren stretched out her hand, letting her fingers extend as far as they would. The fairy was quick, as she had learned before. One false move and she could be gone, out of Wren’s grasp forever. Wren moved carefully with malice in her heart, only leaning forward a bit, and then in a swift motion, she swiped at the fairy.
She was almost afraid to look directly at her hand, fearing that she would not have caught the wisp after all, but there was solid warmth in her fist, and she could hardly doubt her capture.
Whisper let out a shriek when she’d been snagged, and when she looked up to Wren peering down at her, her extreme grief would not allow her to struggle.
“There was a time when I looked away from what you did to me,” Wren said to the wriggling creature in her grip – not so dangerous anymore. “You tried to kill me more than once, and I never thought of revenge – no, not for myself. But what you did that night was unforgiveable! I know you hate me, but what reason did you have to kill them?”
Whisper spoke in her quiet language that Wren did not understand, but that did not matter to her. She had no need to hear it. Wren remembered what Mach had said to her before about his own revenge, putting this idea into her head, and she was certain she felt exactly what he had when he was on the verge of it – exactly what Rifter had felt every time he fought the Scourge.
Now she understood it all.
“Despite the darkness and tragedy,” Wren said with an odd smile on her mouth, “I do think today is the most beautiful day of my life.”
The fairy wisp took a struggling breath within the confines of Wren’s fingers, and inside Wren, something snapped. The demon’s fire flared inside her and she had no remorse for what she would do.
She gripped the whistle that she had stolen, raising it slowly to her lips, wanting to see the horror in the fairy’s eyes as she awaited her excruciating fate – but Wren had not managed the deed when she heard something in the sky, a deep humming noise that approached her, and in her uncertainty, Whisper slipped from her grasp.
What’s that? Wren was led to wonder.
The thick burning smell of some putrid matter wafted past her nose. She forgot about her enemy for the moment, and the hated fairy fled from her. Wren turned, finding that the air all around her was thick with black smoke. This smoke was thicker than she’d ever seen, and smelled worse than the tainted sea surrounding the island.
It was the darkness itself – the very same that had covered Nevermor years ago.
This is pure evil! she realized, and her heart began to pulse with fear.
Wren turned away from the smoke and began to rush down the slope. Her jumbled thoughts were hardly able to focus on the many dangers that awaited her if she did not take care, for all she could think of was the smoke that seemed to be moving faster to catch up to her, and the uneasy rumbling of her stomach. Sly had been able to sense the fire within her. The Tribals had sensed it as well. She had not even understood the truth of what it was until now, and now was too late.
She moved faster, but the smoke did not fall behind. It gained like a thunderhead on a high wind. She took a deep breath for her efforts – and could not stop the black cloud from rushing into her mouth, stealing her senses.
Wren was blind and breathless in that moment. She could not smell or taste, or feel anything, even the ground beneath her feet. All she knew was blackness – and then her eyes opened again, and she took a deep breath of the hazy air, bringing more of the smoke into her.
She was quiet – calm – and then she awoke.
With a musical laugh from her throat, Wren looked up with shimmering amber eyes, glowing with the fire inside her. Her hands reached beneath her gown, removing the protective Tikilin from her body. The way it burned her skin now was unacceptable, and she did not need it any longer. No one was going to hurt her now; that was certain.
The demon in Wren’s body had one thought in its mind – distant, but seeming so much like reality now.
The Rifter, chained and bleeding beside my throne like a loyal dog.
The demon smiled, a sweet mouth now so sinister. Yes, that was appropriate.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
1
The smoldering pirates were not smart enough to clear themselves of Mech’s guns. Mach, Finn, and Toss had darted behind the large trees, and when the gunfire had begun to rip into the bark, they were spared. Their undead enemies, however, were not so lucky. They were cut down in the hail of bullets, and those that could still move were left only to crawl.
The shots rattled on, as if there was no end to the amount Mech held inside him. Toss stood stiffly behind one tree, while Mach and Finn pressed their backs against another, praying for life and begging for the moment they would hear that dry click.
“What the fuck did you do to him, Mach?” Finn asked, aghast. “Clearly he’s not human!”
“I used the crystals,” Mach said breathlessly, still feeling deeply shamed. “I told you we were with the pirates. They found out our secret – that we had been with Rifter – and they tried to kill us. We planned to turn it back on them, but Mech went and got himself blown up, his hands and from the waist down. He died… But I couldn’t stand to live without him, so I infused his body with crystals and machinery, and it worked!”
“No shit?” Finn asked, impressed. “How did you manage–”
He was quickly reminded that they were in a dire situation when a bullet flew past his head, nearly taking his ear off.
“I think he was corrupted all the more for it,” Mach went on. “I never really wanted to leave the den, but I followed him. When I was ready to call it quits, he wouldn’t.”
“How do we stop him?” Toss yelled over to them.
“There’s only one way, I just–”
Silence had fallen around them; the shots ceased. Mach craned his neck to peer behind the tree cautiously. Mech was gone. He’d not retreated, surely not. He–
Mach’s eyes widened at his twin’s sudden appearance, stepping directly out from behind the tree he was leaned against, taking him by surprise. Fear clenched Mach’s heart, and he knew no uncertainty or old
love in that moment. He only wanted to survive, and the destruction of Mech would only come about by the doing of one thing.
“Remember du–!”
But the word lodged in his throat when Mech’s hard, metal fist connected with his face. Mach fell over onto the ground as if he was no more than a tiny, frightened animal. His gun fell away from him, but it was of no consequence. That instrument would do him no good against his brother. Even with the pain in his jaw, he struggled to get up, but quickly felt Mech’s foot pressing against his face, making his mouth unable to form coherent words.
“A fair try,” Mech admitted in his strange, resonating voice, not forgetting about Finn or Toss who had scrambled to their feet. He revealed one of his guns from within his hand and pointed it in their direction.
“I imagine enough of my bullets would kill you, even if they won’t break your skin,” he said to Finn. Then he looked at Toss. “And I don’t know how many it would take to kill you, but if you’re interested to know, my legs are full of bullets. The supply is nearly endless. Now, I’d really like to be left alone with my brother if you don’t mind.”
Finn and Toss remained there for another moment, staring down the barrel of the gun and down at Mach before glancing at each other. They remembered something, and were both using their eyes to ask if the other remembered it too. When Mach had first said he wasn’t coming with them, he’d told Wren something. There was a message that Mach had asked her to deliver to his brother – two mysterious words. Now, the phrase had meaning.
That phrase could only be one thing: an uttered curse trapped in the crystals – a trigger for self-destruction.
It might have helped if either of them could remember what those words had been.
Mech was waiting for them to walk away, but how long would that be before he simply decided to shoot them down? Mach had just said the first word himself: remember. Now what was the second? Finn nodded to Mech, parting his lips as if he was going to make a verbal agreement to leave.
