Burn the Night

by Jonathan Yanez

  Emma joined her mother as she reached the top step. She turned to look deeper into the dark room. As far as she could tell, the room was long with wooden floorboards. Windows lined either wall but were covered over with paper so no sunlight could come in.

  On the far side of the room, a large window covered the wall. The window was also covered with newspaper and tape with the exception of a single pane about a foot in length and height. Golden sunlight spilled into the room in a beam of glorious illumination.

  Desmond lounged in a leather chair with his black dress shoes propped up on an ancient-looking wooden table. It was difficult to make out much past his figure in the lighting.

  “You are so naïve,” Desmond huffed as though the conversation was boring to him. “You think you’ve won and this story is over, but in actuality, it is only beginning.”

  Desmond pulled something from his pocket.

  Emma tensed, shifting her sword to her left hand and constructing a much shorter blade meant for throwing in her right. She was still becoming proficient with throwing knives under Drown’s tutelage at the Academy. The distance between where she stood and where Desmond sat had to be at least ten yards. If she was perfect, she could make the throw.

  Instead of any kind of weapon, Desmond pulled out a square black something from the inside of his breast pocket. He tapped the screen a few times, lighting up his face, then placed it on the table in front of him.

  The phone began to play “Fur Elise” by Beethoven. The familiar sound filled the room.

  “There.” Desmond waved them forward. “Now that you’ve gotten some of that blood lust out of your veins, let’s talk.”

  “We have nothing to talk to you about,” Emma said, remembering the people she had just brutally murdered because Desmond had turned them into monsters. “You took everything from those people. You’re coming with us. If you refuse, we will kill you.”

  “The Arilion Knight has bark with her bite.” Desmond twirled his right pointer finger in the air around him as if he were conducting the music. “Honestly, I’ve never killed an Arilion Knight. No one alive today has to my knowledge. I wonder if an Arilion can become a turned? Imagine that? An Arilion Knight working for me and doing my every bidding.”

  Desmond jumped to his feet like he was struck with a lightning bolt. “Yes, I love it! That’s what we’re going to do.”

  “Enough of this mindless chatter!” Tistan roared, unable to keep her temper any longer. “You die, now!”

  Tistan sprinted forward, hurling one of her own glowing swords at Desmond. He was beyond fast, or maybe it was the lighting in the room that played with Emma’s eyes, but he looked like a blur of black motion.

  Desmond moved to the side, allowing the weapon to spiral past him and shatter a section of the covered window pane behind him. The sound of cracking glass filled the room as brilliant light traversed the chamber’s every corner.

  Emma had been still long enough.

  Tistan was already in front of Desmond, trading blows with the Vilmar.

  Emma allowed the throwing knife in her hand to dissipate, instead placing both her hands on the pommel of her long sword. She threw herself into the fight as she and her mother slashed out with their purple and green blades.

  Tistan was a trained warrior and Emma as an Arilion Knight was no pushover herself; still, they failed over and over again to land a hit on Desmond. He moved so quickly it was impossible to try and strike him where he stood. He stepped back at the right moment, ducked and sidestepped while he had to, avoiding every strike Tistan and Emma sent. What was worse he wore a sick smile on his lips that told Emma he was just playing with them.

  Tistan came down on the crown of his head with a two-handed strike. Desmond caught the pommel of her sword right hand before sending a forward kick into her gut that threw her across the room.

  Emma used the momentary distraction to gather herself and form her own attack. She feinted forward, making sure Desmond thought she was going for a straight strike with her sword. He turned in a circle, allowing her weapon to hit nothing but air. His fist came down on her face with so much force it felt like being hit with a sledgehammer.

  Emma’s vision went blurry as unconsciousness came for her.

  6

  No, not yet, not yet Emma, Emma screamed in her head as she shook her head to clear the cobwebs of the coming concussion.

  Desmond struck her again. Emma managed to construct a helmet over her head before his fist collided with her face. Her timing was just off. Desmond saw her helmet and pulled back on the force of his punch so as to not injure his own hand. The force from his blow was still enough to send her to her knees.

  “Did you think it would be that easy?” Desmond asked from above her. “You were fighting turned before and newly turned at that. They were nothing more than babes. You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into here. I’ve experimented on others. Others that are so much stronger than what you have seen here today.”

  Desmond lifted a foot to bring down on Emma’s head.

  Instead of his foot crashing down on her face, Desmond jerked to his right as Tistan pounced on him with her remaining green sword. Her blade cut a shallow line across his left cheek. A thin sheet of black blood gushed down his cheek.

  Desmond grabbed Tistan around both of her wrists with each of his own hands. Tistan was moving noticeably slower after Desmond had kicked her across the room and into the wall.

  The Vilmar pinned Tistan’s hands to her sides and lifted her off the ground.

  Tistan screamed in pain as he crushed her wrists in his hands. Her right hand still holding her blade was forced to open and release her grip. The green katana fell to the ground with a thud.

  “You’re going to pay with your life for making me bleed this day, Halyna,” Desmond screamed at her as he held her in place.

  A snap from Tistan’s right wrist brought another scream to her lips. As much as it was filled with pain, her roar held anger and rage inside.

  Emma worked her way to her hands and knees. Seeing the amount of pain her mother was in gave her all the will to fight she needed. Her vambraces grew in brilliance as they glowed with the rage of her fighting spirit.

  Instead of acting out in pure emotion, Emma formed a plan. As soon as the thoughts came to her she reacted. With her right hand Emma formed a purple net she threw forward as hard as she could. The construct hit Desmond covering him in thick purple ropes and weighted corners. Desmond lost his hold on Tistan, who kicked away. She landed on her back in a heap.

  Desmond was in the process of ripping free from the construct when Emma moved again. She formed massive hulk-like fist constructs over her own actual fists. With every ounce of strength she could muster, she began pounding Desmond over and over again as he tried to free himself from the net.

  Tistan struggled to her knees as Emma watched from the corner of her peripheral vision. There was nothing she could do for her mother now. The best thing she could focus on at the moment was taking Desmond out of the fight.

  The will and energy needed to hold the net in place as Desmond sought to rip free, as well as hold her helmet and continue to pound on Desmond with the massive fists was beyond taxing.

  Sweat poured down her face and her back as she struck the Vilmar over and over again. Her attack was succeeding in keeping the Vilmar at bay, but it wasn’t going to take Desmond out of the fight for good. The amount of energy the vambraces were sapping from Emma was going to run her dry in the matter of minutes. The fight needed to end now.

  Emma allowed her massive fists to deconstruct. She took a step back, placing her in a position with her back to the wall and stairway she had come up with her mother.

  Desmond finally succeeded in freeing himself from the net that disappeared a moment later. He was bleeding not just from his cheek but from his nose. His right eye was already beginning to swell.

  “Impressive, yet nowhere near what you needed to accomplish to take out one of m
y kind,” Desmond straightened his suit jacket and dusted off his sleeves. “Your mother is out of the fight unless she’s going to try and kick me to death. Her wrists are shattered.”

  Tistan ground her teeth, focusing past the pain as she fought her way back to her feet. True to Desmond’s words, her hands lay limp at her sides.

  “So tell me how much do you have left in that little body of yours?” Desmond asked Emma with a smile. “How much longer can you fight?”

  “Long enough.” Emma constructed a hose in her arms that she held at her hip. She braced her feet against the wood, preparing herself for what she was about to do.

  “Really? Really?” Desmond looked at her like a disappointed teacher. “You’re going to spray me to death?”

  “Not to death,” Emma corrected him. “Just out of this building and maybe off this block.”

  Emma allowed the energy she channeled into the hose to build while they were talking. At once, she unleashed the beam of purple power right into the center of Desmond’s chest. For the first time that day, she caught Desmond off guard.

  It was clear the Vilmar wasn’t expecting much from her at this point in the fight. He had anticipated her energy would be running low, that the ability for her to construct an effective attack was nonexistent. He was wrong.

  Emma hit Desmond dead center in his chest. Her attack was so strong it lifted Desmond off his feet, sending him flying backwards into what was left of the glass window. One of Tistan’s katanas had already shattered a sizeable hole in the glass panes. This was nothing compared to the hole Desmond left in his wake.

  The last thing Emma saw as the Vilmar was lifted off his feet and sent out the window was a look of utter shock and amazement over his face. The next second, he was gone.

  Emma’s chest heaved up and down as she sucked in long draughts of oxygen. She allowed her hose, helmet, and armor suit over her body to dissipate, giving her a break from having to keep her energy channeled on the constructs.

  Allowing the constructs to disappear was like having a weighted vest lifted off her both physically and mentally. Emma allowed herself to relish the feeling for a moment before she was by her mother’s side.

  Tistan’s eyes were full of pain; however, the hardened warrior wasn’t about to complain. “You did well, Emma. Earth is lucky to have you as their Arilion Knight.”

  “Thanks.” Emma didn’t mean to shrug off the compliment, but the sound of sirens in the distance began to fill the room. “We need to get you help and be out of here before the cops show up. I’m not sure how we’re going to explain a wedding shop full of dead bodies to them.”

  “Agreed,” Tistan grunted as she tried to maneuver one of her hands across the holo band she wore on her wrist. “We should be gone.”

  “Here, let me,” Emma said. Lifting her own arm, she touched her holo band on her left wrist. She adjusted the coordinates for the Academy.

  The next instant, a tingling sensation filled them as they were teleported from Earth to a space station that orbited around the planet of Stardox in the Milky Way Galaxy.

  Emma and her mother were taken from the upstairs of the bridal shop in the garment district of Los Angeles and deposited to the teleportation room in the Academy.

  The teleportation room reserved for receiving incoming travelers was plain white with a half circle chamber constructed for arrivals. Across from the receiving teleportation bay was a control panel with two stations for whoever was on duty.

  “Emma, Emma, is that you?” The familiar voice of her friend Layga immediately put Emma at ease. “Are you hurt?”

  Truth be told, Emma was exhausted with a pounding headache that felt like a shovel was being whacked against her skull every other second thanks to Desmond Dalshire. She wasn’t about to tell her friend any of this when her mother was suffering from not one but two broken wrists.

  “I’m fine.” Emma motioned to her mother. “Tistan needs help. We have to take her to the infirmary right away.”

  “Right, lucky I was on shift at the teleportation room.” Layga moved over to lift Tistan into her large arms. As a member of the Ree, her race was one of giants. She was easily a head taller than Emma, even though they were the same age. “Here, Tistan Duel, let me carry you.”

  “I can walk myself, Ree,” Tistan growled. “I know the way.”

  Layga visibly recoiled as if Tistan had slapped her.

  “Come find me before you leave,” Tistan told Emma before she left the room. “We should discuss our next moves with both our would-be allies and our new enemy.”

  “I will,” Emma said as her mother disappeared around the corner.

  “What happened?” Layga asked, looking Emma up and down. “You look horrible.”

  “Thanks, thanks for that.” Emma took a seat beside her friend. “I feel horrible. I need a Tylenol or something.”

  “Wow, who pissed on Tistan’s leg?” Jeba walked into the room with the two other girls. “I just passed her in the hall and she looked like a mad saberling. I swear, if she wasn’t Emma’s mother, I’d—”

  Jeba was a Bracka from the planet Brewit. In every way, she was the complete opposite of Layga. She was short and stocky with a temper legendary among her people. That the three girls were best friends was nothing short of a miracle.

  When Jeba saw Emma, she immediately changed her tune. “Oh hey, Emma, your mom—looks nice today.”

  The three friends immediately broke into a fit of laughter. Emma was so tired, Jeba’s words seemed funnier than they should be at the moment. Each chuckle brought a new pang of pain to her cranium.

  “Ugh, don’t make me laugh,” Emma said, doubling over in her seat and holding her head. “It’s been a wild morning.”

  “What happened?” Jeba asked as her eyes widened in size. “Does something or someone need killing? Please tell me we need to go kill something.”

  “Well, kinda.” Emma spent the next few minutes explaining her morning to the girls. She told them everything from meeting General Fox to fighting Desmond Delshire.

  When she was finished, both Layga’s and Jeba’s mouths were open. Layga’s was so wide she looked like she could fit an entire turkey inside in one bite.

  “So we do get to kill something.” Jeba nodded with a smile. “Perhaps things are beginning to look up.”

  “Is that all you heard?” Emma shook her head incredulously. “I have to get back to Earth and try to smooth things over with the general. And I have to hunt down and kill this Vilmar before he can turn anyone else.”

  “Right, right.” Jeba grinned, making her eyebrows jump up and down. “But we have a fight on our hands. The giant and I love fighting.”

  “Actually, you love fighting,” Layga corrected her friend. “I’d rather talk things out if we can.”

  “Yes, yes.” Jeba waved her hand, dismissing what her friend said. “Talking, fighting; same thing.”

  The comm link on the desk in front of the girls lit up and Dean Slain Extile’s familiar voice filled the room. “Emma, I was notified that you have returned to the Academy. Will you please come to my office for a moment? Layga, Jeba, thank you for performing your task and notifying the office when anyone teleports in or out of the Academy.”

  The link clicked dead.

  “Woops.” Layga winced.

  7

  “And he wants to ally himself with the Academy and our own Alliance?” Dean Extile ran an orange finger over his orange chin. “He already knew of us?”

  “Yes,” Emma said from her seat in front of the dean’s desk. “He said they’ve discovered spheres that have allowed them to travel from planet to planet in the universe. He also has the help of his own alliance he has been building on behalf of Earth. They had a Draconian with them. He looks like a human lizard or dragon. He has access to technology way beyond Earth’s.”

  Slain nodded along with Emma’s explanation. His carroty-colored eyes took in every word she was saying with care. Slain wore a simple black robe that t
ouched his feet. He was tall like her mother, a trait indicative of the Halyna race.

  The office they sat in was spacious with books lining the walls in massive shelves. His office was divided into two parts. One was where they sat now at his dark brown desk. The other area was part of the same room. A few steps descended into a sitting area with cushioned chairs and busts of various alien animals.

  Emma knew the office well. It was where she was first taken when she entered the Academy under the disguise of a Halyna. It was where she had her first teleportation experience and threw up all over the dean’s floor. Pepperoni and jalapeno pizza, if she remembered correctly.

  “I’ll have to run this by Director Trueart, of course.” Slain broke the silence. He spoke out loud as if he were talking to himself. “The Alliance has been open to including more races into the coalition now that the Arilion Knights have returned to the universe.”

  “Have more Arilion come to the Academy?” Emma asked hopefully. As much as she knew she could go the distance alone if she had to, she also realized having another Knight to share experiences with would help lighten a load. It was a burden she had felt on her shoulders since she was chosen by the vambraces.

  “Yes, we’ve had a newly chosen Arilion Knight reach out to the Academy and ask for guidance.” Slain lifted a hand to quell Emma’s excitement. “He needs time to adjust. Not everyone has been so eager to accept the role of champion of their planet as you, Emma.”

  Emma’s smile died on her lips.

  “What do you mean?” Emma asked, confused. “He doesn’t want to be an Arilion?”

  “He’s coming to terms with his destiny,” Slain said in a way that reminded her of how politicians spoke. “Give him some time and then I think it would be a great idea for you to speak with him. In the meantime, I want you to know you have the full support from the Academy in protecting Earth. I know your planet hasn’t fully been accepted into the Alliance yet, but I feel like it’s just a matter of time. And you’re already part of the Academy, Emma. You’ll always have a home here.”