by N M Thorn
Jamie climbed awkwardly over to the driver’s seat, exchanging places with Damian, which wasn’t easy considering his height.
“If you tell anyone that I sat on your lap, I’m going to kill you,” Jamie muttered, taking over the wheel. With one hand, he put his seatbelt on and leaned forward, squeezing the steering wheel until his knuckles became white.
“Now, keep your eyes on the road ahead and don’t look back no matter what you hear,” said Damian. “Let’s survive first and then you can kill me all you want.”
Damian turned in his seat and quickly assessed the situation. Unfortunately, while transferring, they had dropped some speed, and now the four massive vehicles were too close, driving almost on their tail. One of them moved to the opposite lane, picking up speed. A man in the passenger seat rolled down the window, and the dark barrel of an AR-15 stuck out as he trained it at Jamie.
“Procedia Amnia!” roared Damian, and a yellowish glow of his protective magic wrapped around their car just as the man pressed the trigger. The earsplitting bark of the gunshots echoed through the forest, and the bullets impacted his shield without doing them any harm. Jamie yelped, pressing the accelerator pedal down all the way.
“Shifters for hire,” Damian growled, recognizing the energy signatures his pursuers emitted.
He connected with the elemental power of Earth and channeled his magic at the same time. The ground quaked, and long fractures ran across the road. Damian raised his arms, his muscles bulging with strain. The roots broke through the asphalt. Intertwining, they rose in the air, creating a thick barrier between them and the three vehicles that were still behind them.
“Damian!” shouted Jamie. “On your right!”
Damian glanced to the side just in time to see a massive black SUV take a sharp swing to the right, slamming into their car. Jamie growled as the car swayed to the side, but he managed to control it and bring it back up to the road.
“Risurgius!” hissed Damian, turning toward their assailants as he channeled more elemental energy into his spell.
A rock, tall and thin like an obelisk, erupted from the ground under the enemy’s vehicle, impaling it and raising it high in the air. The distinct odor of gasoline invaded his nostrils.
“Ignius,” he snarled, and the vehicle went up in flames.
Breathing hard, Damian dropped the magic, searching the area for the presence of other shifters, but it seemed like there was no one behind them on the road.
“Damian!” Jamie’s voice filled with terror made him snap around.
Even though it was quite dark, he saw a woman far in the distance. Dressed in a long white dress, she stood in the middle of the highway, a light glow surrounding her body. Her long black hair lifted around her like a sinister cloud as she outstretched her arms toward them, and two powerful jets of water erupted from her open hands. The temperature dropped, and the water froze immediately, covering the road with a thick layer of ice. The woman’s lips lifted in a sneer as she snapped her fingers and vanished.
“Jamie, watch out!” yelled Damian.
At full speed, the vehicle hit the ice and spun out of control. Jamie screamed, turning the steering wheel in the direction of rotation, but couldn’t get control of the car. As the vehicle kept spinning, Damian noticed the same woman standing by the side of the road. Before he could do anything, she waved her hand, and a colossal wall of ice rose in front of them.
The SUV hit the wall and was thrown in the air. Jamie screamed, dropping the wheel as he lifted his arms to shield his face. The woman’s diabolical laughter rolled through the frozen forest. Damian tried to connect with the energy of Earth, but he couldn’t—either he was too drained from the previous use of his magic or something was blocking his connection.
The car flipped in the air and hit the ground hard, rolling off the road into a ditch.
“Wake up, boy...”
Someone slapped him on his cheek, and Damian jerked awake but couldn’t get up. He struggled to inhale, gasping for air with his mouth open, his chest tight and heavy. With his vision blurry, he glanced around but could see nothing except for the bright white spots dancing before his eyes.
“Hello, Damian,” a female voice purred somewhere above him.
He tried to lift his arms but couldn’t—too cold, too drained.
“Relax, boy,” she whispered. “I’m not here to kill you. I wish I could, but we both know you’re immortal.”
Something touched his eyes, and he squeezed his eyelids shut, protecting his vision.
“Open your eyes,” the same voice commanded in a soft, insinuating purr. “Don’t be frightened. I’m here to play.”
Carefully, Damian opened his eyes and tensed. He wasn’t in his car. As a matter of fact, he wasn’t anywhere near the highway. Instead, he was lying at the edge of a small clearing surrounded by a dense forest, a thick canopy of branches veiling the dark sky. The place looked familiar, but he couldn’t focus enough to recognize it.
The same woman he had seen on the road straddled him, sitting on his chest. She was small and delicate, but for some reason, he felt as though a polar bear was sitting on top of him. Leaning forward, she peered at him, her dark eyes glowing a deep purple just inches away from his. The long strands of her obsidian hair fell forward, brushing his face.
“Da-a-mia-a-a-n...”
Her cold breath touched Damian’s face, and he turned his head to the side, positive that her icy touch left frostbite on his skin. She seized his chin, forcing him to look at her. Then she moved his hair off his face and ran her finger along the length of his scar, tracing its shape.
“Too bad,” she whispered into his ear. “If not for this ugly scar, I would consider you handsome enough to screw.” She straightened, laughing derisively.
He groaned, fighting nausea at the thought. “Who are you and what do you want?” he growled, straining to get up but couldn’t make a move.
“Aw, sweetie, you still didn’t figure out who I am?” she sang, pouting like a kindergarten girl. “I’m wounded.” She pressed heavier on his chest, her icy fingers wrapping around his throat. “Your kinsmen used to worship me not long ago. I think you still worship some gods of my pantheon.”
“Mara,” Damian croaked, taking short breaths through his mouth. “The Slavic goddess of Darkness and Nightmares.”
“Good boy.” She let go of his neck, patting his cheek. “That’s right. I’m Mara. One of the most powerful goddesses of the Slavic pantheon.”
He sucked in a deep breath, filling his lungs with oxygen. “Most powerful? That’s a matter of opinion,” he exhaled, glowering up at her. “What do you want?”
“I want you out of the game,” she replied, calm and serene as if she was talking about a house poker game. “Leave Arizona and never come back. I thought the shifters I hired a while ago had given you my message already.”
“They had,” replied Damian dryly. “I’m not big on complying with orders I don’t like.”
For a heartbeat, anger turned her beautiful face into a terrifying mask with narrow, angled eyes shining with bright, purple light and skin that looked like old parchment, wrinkled and yellowish-green. Her bony hooked fingers seized his throat again, and the pressure on his chest doubled.
The gloomy surroundings became blurry, and a wave of fear engulfed him, sending his mind in a wild frenzy, making his heart beat desperately against his ribcage. He jerked, but his movements were feeble and slow, like in a nightmare. He couldn’t breathe, a sickening, warm weakness overtaking his body, turning his muscles into jelly. The ground beneath him vanished, and he started to fall, his mouth opened in a silent scream of terror.
Everything went dark, and for a split second, he thought he lost his vision, but as the darkness dissipated, he found himself lying in the midst of the same forest with Mara still sitting on top of him. Her fingers squeezed his throat stronger, the long nails cutting into his skin, drawing blood. He wheezed, his eyes rolling back into his skull, and she fin
ally let go, slapping his cheek to bring him back.
“Look around,” she hissed, fury distorting her features. “Don’t you recognize this place, boy? I thought it was engraved into your tiny brain forever.”
She got off his chest and hauled him into a sitting position, settling down behind him for support. With his body disabled by Mara’s magic, he was a helpless puppet in her hands and fighting wasn’t an option. In this nightmare she created, she was the Queen, and the only thing he could do for now was to go with the flow and see what gives. Glancing around, he gave her a weak nod.
“I do,” he replied, straining to sound even and indifferent. “Why are we here?”
“Because I want you to see something,” she whispered into his ear, her breath touching his skin. “Just don’t get all emotional on me and pay attention to the details.”
Damian swallowed hard as he saw a tall man and a woman appear in the center of the tiny clearance. The shirt on the man’s back and chest was ripped, and deep welts left by enormous claws were bleeding profusely. The woman’s right arm hung at an awkward angle, and she held it with her other hand, her black eyes shining with desperate anger.
They both halted, looking around wildly. A deep roar rolled through the forest, echoing over and over. The ground trembled, and a terrible beast burst out of the woods, breaking the shrubbery and small trees. The man pushed the woman behind his back, and two glowing daggers materialized in his hands.
“Stop it,” Damian hissed, turning his head away. He didn’t need to watch. He knew what came next as every detail of this fight was forever embedded in his mind. He lost. For the first time in years, he had lost a fight to the supernatural—the only fight that truly mattered to him.
“I want you to keep an eye on the far end of the clearing,” she whispered, forcefully upturning his head. “Ignore the fight. I’m sure you know your younger self lost it.” She snickered, patting his arm. “And you have all the scars on your wonderful body to remind you of that.”
Damian watched himself fighting the beast, using all the magic and power he had, but even observing his fight from the sidelines, he had a feeling that something wasn’t right. He was gravely wounded, and he had no time to heal himself, but that wasn’t the only problem. It seemed like he wasn’t only losing his blood but also hemorrhaging his magical energy—his every next strike, every energy ball he propelled at the beast, and every use of his elemental energy becoming weaker and weaker. He was surrounded by his element, yet he seemed to be blocked from connecting with it.
A loud howl shattered the silence, and a giant pack of smaller beasts resembling wolves rushed into the clearing. Larger than normal animals, with their glowing purple eyes, they were definitely not normal wolves. His younger self spun around, taking his attention off the main monster just long enough to erect protective magic around himself and his woman.
While his shield stopped the wolf-looking monsters, the giant beast slammed his terrible talons down, crushing his protective dome as if it were made of glass. The man screamed, throwing his body between the monster and the woman, spreading his arms. The claws slashed across his face, ripping it from the hairline down to the middle of his cheek. Crying out in pain, he staggered back involuntarily, clasping his hands to his bleeding face, and then fell to his knees.
“Stop! That’s enough!” roared Damian, fighting the hold of the nightmare the goddess of Darkness had wrapped around him. His chest was shuddering with short breaths as he struggled to breathe in and couldn’t, cold sweat running down his face and back. “I can’t... I remember... God damn you!”
“Shh... It’s okay... Just one more thing I need you to see. It’s important,” she whispered, and with shock, he heard some tones of sympathy—regret, even—in her voice. Mara wrapped her arms around him, and for a moment, everything went blurry.
When the image cleared out, the beast and the other monsters were gone. The man, drenched in blood, sat on his heels, his trembling fingers threading through the woman’s hair, her head lying on his lap. She was dead. He lifted his head, and a terrible cry escaped his lips. The ground responded to his pain with a rolling earthquake, and the trees bent their crowns, reaching for him.
“Magnus!” roared younger Damian, his voice shaking with raw anguish, and the magical energy field spiked around him. “I summon thee, you son of a bitch!”
A bright white light illuminated the clearing, but Mara snapped her fingers, and everything froze.
“Look right... over... there,” she murmured into his ear, pointing at the opposite end of the clearing.
Damian stared in the direction she pointed, and chills went through him. His younger self was gazing up at the bright light, so he couldn’t see it. A shadow separated from the giant tree at the edge of the clearing, and for a brief moment, Damian saw a person standing there with his face upturned. With the white light blasting from the sky, he couldn’t distinguish his features, but it was definitely a man.
Mara snapped her fingers again, and everything disappeared. She got up, and Damian fell on his back, still disabled by the hold of her magic. His body convulsed painfully, and he closed his eyes.
“Did you see that man?” she asked, staring down at him.
He nodded, unable to unlock his jaws.
“This is the man who’s responsible for the death of the only woman you’ve ever loved.” The softer tones were gone from her voice, and she sounded as frostily and indifferent as before. “Since this incident, you never fell in love again. You move from place to place with one purpose burning in your soul—to punish those responsible for the death of your beloved. Am I right, Damian? You slay monsters or anything supernatural that kills humans, and that pacifies your broken heart, at least for a short time. You’re addicted to hunting, to hate, to pain. You can never stop. Even the message from your beloved that you received from behind the veil didn’t help you move on. But I can help you.” She stopped talking, staring down at him for a moment before continuing. “I can free you from this never-ending pain you carry in your soul, and from your addiction.”
He closed his eyes and turned away from her.
“Obey my command, and I’ll give him to you on a silver platter. After all these years, you will finally be able to avenge her death. Isn’t that what you want, Damian?” Her voice turned into a soft, insinuating purr as she leaned closer to him. “You kill him, and you’ll be free. Truly free. What do you say, boy? Do we have a deal?”
“No deal,” he exhaled, his soul bleeding.
“I’m not asking much. All I want you to do is leave Paradise Manor and Arizona unprotected, and I’ll give you the name and the location of that man. We will both get what we want.” She stomped her foot, placing her hands on her hips.
He laughed, a painful sound he didn’t recognize as his voice. “I’m too old, Mara. I’m not gonna fall for something like this.” He shrugged. “Besides, I know my place in this world, and I also know my obligations. I’m not going to make a deal with a dark Slavic deity that could potentially destroy the realm of humans.”
“Aw, come on! Right now, I don’t care about destroying the human world. I just want all my powers back. I wish to be my old self again. Out of all the people, you should understand how I feel,” she yelled, throwing her hands up. She lowered next to him, her eyes gleaming with a maniacal glow. “Don’t you see? You and I, right here, right now... In this tiny world I created outside the human realm just to exchange a few words with you in private. It was meant to be. You and I... we’re the same.” She spoke fast on one breath. “We have a unique opportunity to manipulate the Board of Destiny. We can change both our futures forever. Don’t be an idiot, boy! This is a onetime deal. Take it or leave it.”
“Leave it,” replied Damian calmly. “My answer is still no.” He glanced at the dark sky, his thoughts circling back to the car accident and Jamie. He needed to get the hell out of this nightmare and see if the young man had survived the crash. “You and I are nothing alike, and
I’m done talking to you, Mara. My answer is no, and you can do whatever the hell you want.”
Her face transformed into a terrifying mask of fury. She placed her knee on his chest and pressed down, adding some of her magic to her weight.
“I know you lost your power, boy. I’m an ancient goddess and you”—she snickered, throwing her black hair off her face—“you are nothing. You stand no chance against me.” She laughed again, her maniacal laughter echoing through the dark woods. “So, here is what your choice will lead to. You can’t die, but you’ll witness everyone around you perish. Your little detective will die. The old hunter will die. And that cute vamp—your brother, isn’t he—will die, too. But I will still get what I want. I always do.”
“If you know I lost my power and stand no chance against you, then why are you working so hard to get me out of your way?” he asked icily.
She squealed, anger modulating her voice into a high-pitched screech, but then just snapped her fingers and vanished. The world around Damian did a sharp somersault, and when he opened his eyes, he found himself inside his car, hanging upside down, suspended by the seatbelt. The sharp odor of gasoline mixed in with the metallic smell of blood permeated the air, assaulting his senses. He glanced to the side, and his heart gave a painful jolt.
Jamie hung upside down, his arms dangling lifelessly, blood dripping from his nose and the corner of his mouth.
“Jamie!” he yelled, struggling to get himself free.
Loud laughter sounded from outside of the vehicle. Damian glanced out the broken window, and blood froze in his veins.
Chapter 28
~ Damian Blake ~
A group of people stood on the side of the road, staring down at the SUV. Their eyes glowed with a hollow phosphoric light like that of wild animals, and their magical energy signature was clear enough for Damian to detect it even in his condition.
Still disoriented after the number Mara did on him, he didn’t bother counting them. Judging by the size of the crowd, there were plenty of them to give him more problems than one person could handle. Besides, it seemed that all of them were armed to the teeth as if they were about to face the United States Army and not a single man who was banged up after a car accident.
