by A. J. Locke
Leena shook her head, looking sad and withdrawn. “I am not high ranking enough to know that information,” she said. “They exist, that’s all most of us know. Where? You’d have to question someone higher up the chain.”
“So does that mean you don’t benefit from siphoning off the magic from one of their bodies?”
“Is that what you think? That each and every dead witch out there has their own dead warlock that they draw magic from? If that was the case then we would all be mighty powerful and you can be sure there’d be more squabbles to rise to the top of the ranks than there are now.”
“From what I understand, the dead warlock numbers were smaller than the witches, so no, that’s not exactly what I thought.” Someone higher up on the chain, she’d said. It made sense that higher ranking dead witches would be the ones with this knowledge. They were the strongest, even though I now knew that not all of their strength was their own. I thought about Tielle. She was high ranking, had done the adoption thing with her son, and I recalled how quickly she had recovered from being attacked by Isabelle’s beastie. I was sure she had a boost of magic from a dead warlock to thank for that. Tielle would definitely know where the bodies lay, but I couldn’t just go up to her and ask her outright. We had a good relationship now, but I was sure the moment I mentioned dead warlocks and the messed up things that happened three centuries ago she would turn right back into the Tielle that had imprisoned me and tried to strip my reanimation power.
“Many of us wish for things to be different,” Leena said, voice soft. “It is a heavy burden to have to walk around pretending like we aren’t standing on top of a dark, suffocating secret like this. But there’s nothing you can do.”
“You could let the boys keep their magic and grow up knowing who they are,” I said. “Give them a fair chance at the life and magic they were born into. But no, you all are too scared to go against the will of the bigoted, fearful ancestors who came before you.” I shook my head. “You’re right to feel ashamed and burdened. You deserve those feelings.” I took something out of my purse and held it in my closed fist. “This will come to light. Soon. Trust me on that.”
“You cannot expose or secrets without destroying yourself,” Leena said. “You may be extraordinary in certain ways, but you cannot stand against a world of dead witches who do not wish to see our entire community crumble.”
“What crumbles and falls can be rebuilt,” I said. “You are all cowards. But what I expose and whether or not I get destroyed is of no concern of yours.” I stood up and leaned over her. She shied away from me, her eyes widening when I opened my palm to reveal the rune that lay there; an emerald with flecks of gold. A frown creased her brow. She did not recognize the rune.
While I’d been holding it, I had channeled energy into it to activate it. Now I held it up against her temple. She tried to move away from me, but since she was restrained, she could only crane her head away, which was no escape. She opened her mouth to scream, but I clamped my hand over her mouth.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” I said. “Just erase your memory.”
It was a Memory Rune, one of the runes Renton had revealed during a press conference that seemed like it happened years ago. I had acquired this one from Micah before I left his apartment. I would erase her memory of our conversation then question her about her tainted rune business so I’d have satisfactory information to take back to Tielle.
Leena’s eyes were wide and fearful, her breath hot against my palm as she continued to try to speak or scream. I felt something twist in my gut, something that told me that doing this was wrong, especially since it was against her will, but if I didn’t do it, Leena would let it be known that I was in on the dead witches’ long-buried secrets and then there’d be no hope of helping Kyo get his body back. I had to keep the upper hand any way I could. I still felt like utter shit doing this though.
“You won’t remember this conversation with me,” I whispered. The Memory Rune pulsed stronger once I started speaking, and I could feel its magic channel into Leena. Her eyes went blank and her entire body went limp as her mind yielded to my words. “You won’t remember that Selene Vanream knows anything about the dead witches’ history with the dead warlocks…”
A sudden, terrifying scream jolted me and I stood up straight and sucked in a gasp. My connection to Leena and altering her memories was abruptly broken. I whipped my head to look at the closed door as more screams started. It sounded like there was suddenly a lot of commotion going on outside. What the hell was going on?
I turned to run out and investigate when I remembered Leena and turned back to her. Her eyes refocused and she quickly looked up at me with confusion on her face.
“I know who you are,” she said. “That Selene girl. Why are you here?” She looked at her surroundings then at her handcuffed wrists. Another scream resounded. “What is going on?” She sounded afraid. But it seemed like my memory altering had worked despite the abrupt ending. She didn’t remember our conversation.
“I’m going to go check on it.” I ran out of the room, wishing I had my rune gun, but I hadn’t brought it with me to date night. When I yanked open the door I was met with chaos. There was so much going on that my eyes didn’t know where to focus so I could begin to figure out what was suddenly plaguing the hospital floor. People were running in all directions—doctors, nurses, visitors, many of whom were trying to help patients get away. From what though?
A man went sailing through the air and slammed into a wall with a sound that made me certain he had broken several bones. Another woman started screaming, then it was abruptly cut off, and I knew it wasn’t because she had chosen to stop screaming. Finally, I saw what was happening.
About seven men and women, dressed in hospital gowns, were on the rampage. I hadn’t immediately picked up on them because I didn’t think the threat I’d be looking for would be coming from people who were supposed to be laid up. I was shocked when I recognized the PTF officers who’d been stationed around the open necromancer circle. They were running everywhere with speed I knew was beyond their capabilities. Above the screams of the frightened people, wild, guttural sounds filled the air, and I realized they were coming from the PTF officers. I saw flashes of red as well; their eyes had turned into glowing orbs of fire, and even the way they moved was less than human. Some of them scampered on all fours, some of them leaped from one spot to another, others just rampaged like they were huge, feral beasts beating down everything in their paths.
I was thoroughly confused and more than a little frightened, but I jumped into the melee. There was blood everywhere, and people on the ground in broken heaps. I tried not to let my gaze linger on them. I approached one of the PTF officers; a middle-aged woman a few inches taller than I was, and knocked her to the side. She’d been about to punch a teenage boy, who looked terrified beyond all reasoning.
The woman didn’t go down quietly. She snarled, and snapped her teeth inches away from my face. She grabbed my shirt with both her fists and yanked me forward, slamming her head against mine in the most skull fracturing head-butt I have ever received. She shoved me away and I catapulted into the nurse’s station. Since it was a low desk, my back bent backward over it and I crumpled to the ground. Pain radiated from my head and the middle of the back. I felt weak, I was gasping, and my vision wouldn’t stay clear. I tried to get up, but even supporting myself against the nurse’s station, I was not having an easy time staying on my feet. When I attempted to stand on my own, I swayed.
The woman had moved on, but now a man advanced on me. He was young and I think had only been on the task force a few months. His face looked inhuman, and I shuddered when I looked into his red eyes. Like the woman and the other officers, there appeared to be nothing human behind those eyes. Without a doubt, I knew that this terrifying transformation was due to the open necromancer circle and whatever had come through it.
The man swung at me and I ducked and threw myself forward, wrapping my arms arou
nd his waist, and body-slamming him to the ground. We landed on top of someone’s motionless, blood-covered body. Both their arms and legs were twisted at grotesque angles. My stomach roiled, and I looked away, especially since I had to concentrate on the thrashing man under me. He was way stronger then he should be, as was evidenced by the way he threw me off him once he got a good hold on me. I slid across the floor until I hit another body. I tried to get up without slipping in the pool of blood under this poor soul.
Deafening shots rang out. For a moment it was as though a vacuum had sucked all the sound out. Another one came. At first I was afraid the attacking officers had procured guns, which they certainly didn’t seem to need, then I saw the horde of PTF officers in full riot gear armed with their rifles coming down the hallways. I almost collapsed in relief but remembered that I was standing in front of a dead body. The attackers didn’t seem fazed by the arrival of twenty PTF officers. In fact, they became more frenzied.
The number of people had dwindled as those who hadn’t fallen had run off. Some of the crazed PTF officers had run after them, so there were only three attackers left in this area. The gunshots hadn’t been random. I saw two bullet holes in the chest of the woman who had first attacked me. Blood poured freely from the wounds, but to my complete shock, she was still on her feet and pounced to attack the nearest officers. Two bullet holes in her chest did not affect her in the least.
The arriving officers were on the defensive immediately. There were more gunshots. I dropped to the ground and tried to crawl into one of the patient rooms to keep myself from accidentally biting a bullet. I never made it. One of the attackers grabbed me with a tight hand around my throat and squeezed so hard I thought my eyes would pop out of my head. My struggles did nothing to lessen his grip.
A PTF officer slammed him from the side and they went toppling down. I was released, but the damage had already been done. I fell to the floor as though I was boneless; there was no strength left in my body. Noise pounded in my head, amplifying the pain that pounded through my skull: snarls, screams, growls, gunshots.
Then suddenly it all went quiet. My body jolted, and I wondered if I was dead and my ghost had been sucked away from the chaos. I was in pain, so I didn’t think I had died, so something else must have stopped the ruckus. I felt relieved. Finally, sufficient help had arrived. And yet, an uncomfortable feeling wove through me.
I struggled to sit up, trying to take even breaths to calm down. Pushing aside my pain, I looked around. And gasped. Everything was frozen, like something out of a sci-fi movie. It was like I was looking at a freeze frame of all the fighting that had been going on. The red-eyed PTF officers were motionless in positions of attack, and everyone else had looks of terror or pain on their faces as they tried to fend them off. Those who’d already been on the floor…were still there. What the hell had happened? And why was I the only one who could move?
A cold wind suddenly blew over me, and I looked over to the right where I saw something that made the blood in my veins feel as though it had frozen solid. Not something, someone. She was the most terrifying thing I had ever seen. The first thing she reminded me of were those ghost animals I had seen in the In Between and with Magda. Her body was almost formless; there were glimpses of a slender, female figure, but it was surrounded by roiling, moving shadows that billowed out all around her. The ends of those waves of darkness were slender points that seemed to be tasting the air around it. She was a tall figure, and the skin I could see on her face, chest, and arms, was ash gray. Around her neck was a huge rune stone on a black cord. It was a kaleidoscope of dark, shifting colors, and surprise, surprise, I had never seen a rune like it before. Her hair was also made of roving shadows and blended in to the rest of the darkness surrounding her so I couldn’t tell where one began and the other ended. Her eyes, like those of the PTF officers, were red, and her lips were black enough to make some emo-goth teenager jealous. She smiled, and her teeth were all razor sharp points. The feeling of dark energy coming from her was more intense than any I had ever felt. My dead magic was in a frenzy, and it was all I could do to keep it clamped down with this…creature…standing a few feet away looking at me like I was the most precious thing to her in the world.
“Hello, Selene.”
Her voice, oh God, it was at the same time the most beautiful thing I had ever heard and the worst. I had no idea how one voice could encompass both of those things at once.
I had managed to get to my feet, but had to support myself on the nurse’s station. Not only because of my injuries and the effort it took to hold down my dead magic, but because this woman’s presence was making me feel sick and weak.
“How do you know my name?” My voice was shaky.
She moved forward several feet, and I was mesmerized by the way the shadows danced around her. And terrified. Those ghost animals had never affected me this way.
“I always know what belongs to me,” she said with a smile.
I frowned. “What the hell does that mean?” I looked around. “You caused this, didn’t you? You’re the thing that came through the necromancer circle. You’re…you’re the darkness that’s risen.”
She laughed. A sound that made me want to peel my skin off.
“How lovely,” she said. “That makes me sound very important.”
“Who the fuck are you?” And how the hell did I stop her? I could feel how powerful she was and knew I’d need more than rune bullets to bring her down.
“How rude, let me introduce myself. My name is Revath.”
“Revath,” I repeated. I had never heard that name before. “Why are you here?” I spread my sore arm. “Why are you doing this?”
“Because the rules must be followed, my dear one. Rules that you broke.”
“Me? What rules? I have no fucking clue what you’re talking about.”
She laughed again and it was all I could do not to look for a couple scalpels to jam into my ears. “You bring death and darkness to your world and you don’t even know that you are the one responsible. How amazing. I love it!” She shot forward until she was only inches away from my face. No matter how much I strained away from her, I could only go so far since I was backed up against the nurses’ station.
“I have some work to do, little one,” she said. Her breath was like ice blowing across my face. “And when I am done reaping, I will be back for you.” She smiled a sick, wicked smile, then between one blink and the next she was gone.
I stood there with my eyes wide, breathing heavily, my brain a scramble of confusion that I could not begin to figure out. Eventually I realized that there was movement around me again, and panic shot through me when I remembered the rabid PTF officers. I quickly looked around, but was surprised when I saw that they had all disappeared. Had Revath taken them with her? I couldn’t say that was a bad thing. Even if she was. I gave another careful look around, but it was clear that all that remained now were the confused, scared, injured people. And the corpses.
Whatever remaining strength I had gave out and I slid to the ground, feeling like I was being pushed down by a burden that would crush me because I wasn’t strong enough to carry it. All I kept seeing was Revath’s horribly beautiful face telling me I belonged to her and I had caused whatever had just happened here. I didn’t understand it, but right now I was too battered to think about it anymore. Darkness came to take me and I had no choice but to yield to its embrace.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
I awoke to a familiar sensation touching my face. As I struggled to open my eyes, I tried to figure out what was touching me in quick, repetitive succession. Whatever it was, it was soft, warm, and wet. Then I felt a brush of fur against my cheek and caught the undeniable scent of a dog. The warm wetness against my cheek was Luna’s tongue.
I got my eyes open and looked around. I was in my bedroom. The lamp on the nightstand was on, and I could see through the partly drawn curtains that it was nighttime. Luna stood just to the side of my head, peering into my fac
e as though ascertaining that I was okay. Was I okay? I took a moment to assess myself. My head hurt. A lot. As did the middle of my back. Heck my entire body hurt. But why? What had happened?
Before I could wrack my memory, the door opened and Micah looked in. When he saw I was awake, he hurried over while calling for Ethan, who showed up a half second later and also hustled over.
“Hey.” I struggled to sit up and the boys helped me. Luna made herself comfortable in my lap and I lay my hand on her back.
“How are you feeling?” Ethan asked.
“Crappy.”
“Here.” Micah picked up a glass of water and some painkillers that had been sitting on the nightstand. “Had to wait until you woke up before we could give you meds.”
“How long have I been out?”
“A few hours,” Ethan replied. He looked anxious and worried. Micah did as well. He was holding my hand tightly.
“Do you remember what happened?” Micah asked.
I thought for a moment, then sucked in a gasp when it came to me. “The hospital,” I said. “The PTF officers who were laid up suddenly went berserk and…” I had to stop and take a few calming breaths as images of blood and broken bodies rose in my mind’s eye. I shook my head as though that would shake those horrible images out. “Revath,” I whispered.
“What?” Micah said, frowning.
“There was a…a thing. A woman. Though I use that description lightly. I have never seen anything like her in my life. She just showed up and froze everything. Literally froze everyone in place, except for me. She said I belonged to her, and that I was the reason any of it was happening. Then she disappeared and took the PTF officers with her.”
Micah and Ethan were frowning deeply, and the looks they gave me made me feel as though they were trying to figure out if I had suffered a brain injury.
“Who was she?” Ethan asked. “A ghost?”
“Ghost doesn’t feel like the right word.” I recalled my conversation with Kyo when we’d found my backyard full of dead animals. “Demon seems like a more appropriate word. A demon from the In Between. She is the darkness that’s risen. She put the PTF officers in the hospital and…changed them into monsters.” I shuddered, wishing I could wipe away my memories of the destruction at the hospital.
