Hidden Runes

by G. Bailey

  “Nix told me about what happened with your father…” I carefully say into the tense silence in the room.

  “Nix doesn’t remember everything. He was so young, and it was my job as the older brother to protect him…and our sister,” he says, the words sounding painful and full of regret as they leave his lips.

  “It was not your job to protect them, you were only a child,” I argue, knowing a child cannot be expected to protect anyone from the kinds of things he must have gone through.

  “The day it happened, I had been out playing football with some other Protectors. See, there was a girl I was trying to impress with my footy skills, and I didn’t want Nix to come. I thought he would embarrass me,” Trex humourlessly laughs. “I made him stay at home, and fuck, it’s a decision I wish I could change. I was a stupid kid.”

  “You saved him in the end,” I comment quietly, feeling his intense stare on me as I finish the bindings on his one hand and scoot across the floor a little to start his other hand.

  “I walked into my once happy home, seeing my mother dead on the floor, her hands wrapped around her cut throat. There was so much blood and I just attacked my father. He knocked me away like a bug, and I knew he was going to kill me. Nix was screaming in fear as he ran into the room, and it took me a few moments to even notice he was there. I just knew my father was going to kill him too, his hand still had the dagger he used to kill my mother with as he walked over me as I was trying to find a way to get to Nix. I saw a dagger on the floor near my mum, one she no doubt tried to save herself with. My father didn’t even notice that Nix had picked it up and he had stabbed him in the back, not at first. When I ran to Nix, pulling him to me, my father looked down at his chest like he could see the dagger and then back to me. The betrayal and hate in his eyes still fucking haunts me,” he mutters the end part, shaking his head like he is trying to make the memory leave him. “I should have protected Nix.”

  “I understand the feeling of being haunted by your past. Everything I’ve done…sometimes it feels like it suffocates me,” I say, opening up to him a little and feeling confused about why I even decided to tell him that. Trex doesn’t reply to me, he only places his hand over mine for a brief second.

  “We cannot escape the past and what we did. I sometimes wish I could redo this life, make better choices, but in the end, I know life was not given to me to be easy,” he says.

  “Life has never been easy. It has been a fight, and what scares me most…when the fight is over, what will I do?” I humourlessly chuckle to myself.

  “My sister walked into the room, seeing our parents and me holding Nix. I grabbed her as she screamed, pulling her to me and Nix. I made a vow to myself. A vow to never let them down again. I’ve already failed them once when my sister died, and I won’t let Nix down again,” he says, going completely cold on me again. I’ve been pushed away somehow in the blink of a simple sentence.

  “You see me as a threat,” I figure.

  “Nix…he is complicated. If he doesn’t want to share you with Connor and Azi, he will be destroyed by you. Or worse, you decide you don’t want him. I will lose him,” he informs me.

  “I can’t make you any promises. I don’t know how I feel or what I want, but you cannot tell me what to do. If you told me a year ago that I’m a goddamn princess, half angel and that I like four guys at the same time, I would have hit you with something as I laughed,” I say, and to my surprise he laughs a little.

  “Four?” Trex asks, somewhat softly in a gruff voice.

  “You may be an asshole, but I’m coming to understand you a little better. We are pretty alike, you know?” I remark, not wanting a answer.

  “I won’t hurt my best friend or brother. No matter what I feel or want,” he replies, his voice gone completely emotionless once again.

  “Got it. I’m not them, I don’t mean as much as them to you. I’m used to that feeling,” I say, dropping his hand.

  “You could mean everything, but this isn’t just about what we want or need, Evie. My family is everything,” he says, his words a whisper, but he means every single one of them. Trex doesn’t stop me as I walk out the basement, hiding my emotions, and trying not to let his words affect me. What did I expect? For them to just choose me or something? I’m not the girl the guys choose at the end. I’ve always known that, and it’s about time I focus on the important things. Like revenge.

  Forty-Eight

  Evie

  “Wow, flipping hell,” Connor coughs out as I walk into the lounge and finish clipping the last dagger to my hip. I frown as I look around at everyone staring at me, and finally at Hali who comes out the kitchen with Star. Star runs to me, sitting at my side as I rub her head. I don’t know how, but I swear Star has somehow gotten bigger in the last day. If she keeps growing like this, I’m going to need one hell of a massive bed for her to sleep in.

  “You look like Cat Woman, you know, without the cat ears. Though you do have the coolest cat,” Hali points out, and I frown at her, looking around the room at the guys who are all still staring.

  “I needed something lightweight and easy to move in, so I made a portal to the local village and found this outfit in a store,” I shrug, leaving out that the store was some kind of sex shop which was kinda creepy and awesome at the same time. Nix clears his throat.

  “You look stunning, love,” Nix states, and stands up to clip his sword onto a holder on his back. I notice that he is the only one dressed to fight, but then again Azi never dresses for a fight as he looks scary as he is. I quickly run my eyes over Nix’s tight black clothes that show me his toned body, the visible tattoos on his neck and arms matching the outfit. I have to ask him to show me his tattoos at some point. “But we haven’t discussed how to break into the Protectors’ city. The ward is a massive wall and surrounds the entire city.”

  “Not to mention Erica will have people looking for us since we stole Hali,” Connor points out. I go to ask how they managed to get Hali out, and use that way to get in, when an idea springs to mind.

  “Wall? Not a dome?” I ask, tilting my head to the side as a very good plan runs through my head.

  “Yes…” Trex replies with a hint of sarcasm.

  “Okay. Well I only want one of you with me when I go in, and I know just how to,” I say with a big happy grin. The guys all flash me questioning stares, but Azi just grins. He knows exactly what I’m thinking of.

  “I am going with you,” Nix states firmly, and Azi is the first one to react.

  “Yeah, that is not happening,” Azi growls as Trex and Connor quietly chat between themselves. “Evie is not being put in danger without me there.” I walk over to Azi, sitting on the edge of his chair. I know that he is just scared to lose me again, even if the big bad demon won’t say that out loud.

  “You can’t go. There are demon alarms which will trigger if you attempt to enter the city,” Nix tells him. I place my hand on Azi’s shoulder before he can argue, and I give him a warning look.

  “We need the keeper, who won’t likely help me with an overlord demon at my side. They are right. You can’t go there with me this time, but Nix isn’t a totally bad fighter. You saw him in Hell, he will be my backup,” I say, and Trex coughs out a laugh in the background as I wait for Azi to agree. His eyes roam my face before looking at Nix and back to me.

  “Fine,” Azi replies to me, getting up off the chair and walking over to Nix, whispering something low to Nix that I can’t hear before going to lean against the wall. Connor gets up and comes over, handing me a tablet as I stand up. He clicks it on to reveal a map, and Azi looks over my shoulder as he comes to my side.

  “I’ve marked where you will need to go, but I need to know where you will be entering the city. I think this wall is—” he starts off.

  “We aren’t going through any wall,” I comment, and wave my hand. I take the tablet off Connor, zooming back out and looking at the building we need. It is right in the middle of all the high rises, and perfect for
my plan. I fixate the memory of the tower into my mind before handing it to Nix who has a rucksack on.

  “How the fuck do you plan to get in then? There is nothing underground and the place is a fortress,” Trex demands, looking stressed, and for some reason it makes me smile.

  “Nix is going to make a portal right above that building where the keepers’ homes are, and we are going to jump through it. I guess that they have alarms to stop people coming in and out with portals. We have to be high enough to avoid that. Whoever designed the Protectors’ city made a major flaw by not making the walls into domes,” I chuckle, and they all look a mixture of shocked and impressed. The stuck-up Protectors have a design fault, funny that. Even the demon undergrounds are cloaked in wards shaped like domes.

  “And the landing?” Nix asks.

  “I have wings, remember? We will jump together. You will just have to hold on and pray I like you enough not to drop you,” I wink at him as I speak, and he gulps.

  “I can’t decide if you’re scaring me or turning me on,” Nix replies smoothly, and Connor chuckles while Azi and Trex don’t look impressed. Sigh. This is complicated.

  “Time to go,” I say into the jealous, tense room and call my wings. Thank god I planned ahead and cut massive holes in the back of the suit for my wings, or that might have hurt. I know when my wings are out, besides the extra weight, as everyone in the room just stops and gapes. I clear my throat and raise an eyebrow at Nix. He nods and turns around, calling his rune and making a large portal appear. Connor walks over to me, picking up my braid in his hand and placing it on my shoulder.

  “Be safe and come back, Blue,” he whispers before stepping away. Trex doesn’t say a word to us as we step in front of the portal, but when his eyes meet mine, I know what he wants without words.

  “Get the fuck out of there if they find you, Vi. My brothers are fucking with Erica, and I don’t want them around you. Once this is over, we need to go and see Seth,” Azi warns me, gaining all our attention. I nod, knowing he has a point, even if I don’t particularly want to see one of his brothers again. Hali gets up and runs over to me, wrapping her arms tightly around my waist.

  “Don’t die this time. Promise?”

  “Hali, no one is taking you from me again. Never again. You are my family, and I will always fight for us to be safe. One day, I know we will be, but until then, I need you to be strong for me,” I tell her, and she lets go, straightening her back and acting more like the strong girl I taught her to be.

  “You’re my only family too,” she mutters, wiping her eyes.

  “Haven’t you forgotten someone?” Azi jokes, and Hali looks over at him with a pretend confused face.

  “Oh yes, Star is family too,” Hali states. At hearing her name called, Star lifts her head from the spot where she is sleeping on the sofa.

  “Cheeky shit,” Azi grumbles, and Hali laughs as I wink at her.

  “We need to leave,” Nix carefully says, interrupting the moment, but he has a point. We don’t have all night, and this should be an easy mission. I step over to Nix and hold my hand out. He only chuckles, knocking my hand away and pulling me into his arms.

  “If I’m going to literally fall for you, I’m having you closer, love,” Nix whispers, his cheesy line making me chuckle. He walks us backwards to the portal, and I close my eyes as we fall through into the harsh biting air.

  Forty-Nine

  Evie

  The sharp wind beats against us as we fall rapidly through the air from the portal. Nix holds on closely to me as I make my wings spread out and catch us in the wind, springing us up as I finally manage to see where we are in the dark night. The building is right below us and lit up with lights, so I can sort of aim where we need to land. I can only glide, the weight of Nix holding onto me is too much to make my wings move. Dammit.

  “Fuck, Evie, we are going too fast,” Nix shouts as we see the top of the gold building just below us. I cringe when I know I need to drop Nix and use my wings to stop me crashing.

  “I’m sorry,” I tell him, and then push him away from me when I know it’s unlikely he will break anything with the drop. If he does, it is better only one of us is injured anyways. Nix falls through the air with a shout, and I move my wings, flying down and landing on the roof a little shakily. I pull my dagger out of a clip first and look around, seeing nothing of danger up here. There is a row of deck chairs, fake plants and crystal lights in each corner of the building.

  “Thanks for checking on me first. It’s real nice to know how much you care,” Nix groans from the other side of the roof as he gets himself up off the floor. I run my eyes over him, seeing he is fine and I don’t have to tell him to heal anything.

  “You’re a big boy, you don’t need me to worry about you,” I state, and almost say he has Trex to baby him. I really don’t think it’s good for Nix to be treated like he is breakable when he isn’t. I understand why Trex treats him like that and lets him drink himself into a state, but I’ve never been one to baby anyone. Not even Hali. Nix walks over to me with an angry determined expression, and I turn away. I walk to the edge of the building, fully knowing Nix isn’t going to leave this, and choosing to look over the Protector city at night. The city is breathtakingly beautiful like this. The buildings are all lit up, reflecting off the stars and the very gold colouring of them. Somehow, I know my mother must have stared at the same city as she ruled it. She knew its beauty but also its terrible secrets. I freeze when I feel Nix press his body into mine from behind, his hand coming to rest on the bars on either side of me.

  “It’s quite a view. All the gold and that. I still think we should tell some of my thief friends how to break in here. I bet I could make us a fortune,” I joke, and he leans his head close to my right ear. Well, kind of joking. I really think that selling the Protectors’ weakness can be a plan C or something on my list.

  “Love, I get that my brother has likely tried to make you run from me. I get that I’m a fucking mess who gets drunk when shit goes wrong, and I know that I should leave you the fuck alone if I really care, but I won’t,” he tells me, his voice suggesting he really doesn’t want to be telling me this. “I can’t. Azi is better for you, and he is a fucking overlord demon. That says it all.”

  “I guess we are both too fucked up to care what is best for either of us,” I comment quietly. “But if it helps, I think you and Azi both have your issues, but it doesn’t take away from how good you both are.”

  “You’re going to make me fall for you if you carry on, love,” he warns me, his fingers tracing down my arm.

  “I think Trex might murder me if you do,” I reply, knowing Trex wouldn’t take it well.

  “Nah, Trex is an overprotective idiot…but I know it won’t be long until he cracks and admits what you are to him,” Nix says, and his slow chuckle moves my hair across my cheek.

  “You don’t have to worry about Trex and me. That is not happening,” I laugh.

  “So very beautiful, and so very clueless about those close to you,” Nix says, his gravelly voice making me shiver as I break away from him.

  “We have to go, got the map?” I ask, not meeting his eyes as I take in what he is saying. I look up as he pulls the tablet out of the rucksack, his whole demeanour changing as we get back to the plan at hand.

  “Keeper Grey’s room is two floors down. We can’t take the elevator as it scans your fingerprints,” Nix states and pulls his rucksack off his shoulder. “So, it is lucky I packed rope just in case. I knew my partner in crime is more of a make-it-up-on-the-spot kind of girl, and I don’t think it is a good idea for you to fly anywhere. You should put the wings away, they are a tactical advantage against Erica as she won’t know you have them. It isn’t worth the risk of anyone seeing you and telling her what you are. I didn’t like risking it when we dropped in here, but it isn’t like we had parachutes lying around.”

  “Brilliant! I knew there was a reason I liked you,” I say, knowing he has a point. Erica has th
e entire city of Protectors behind her, and winning won’t be easy. I need every advantage I can get. I watch as Nix pulls out two circle-shaped objects I’ve never seen before as I make my wings disappear.

  “Our advanced technology worked out how to make a rope that fits in here and is unbreakable. We keep a lot of our world a secret, but I was smart enough to steal some stuff when we got Hali out,” Nix explains and hands me one of them. He walks to the edge of the building and taps the circle against the stone that overhangs.

  “Whose idea was it to get Hali out?” I ask him as I watch the circle stretch out into a metal brace that attaches itself onto the stone, and a rope hangs out of the one side, with a clip to hold onto. There is another smaller rope hanging off the other side to control the fall.

  “Trex. The moment we got free, we grabbed Star and your things and then left the way Erica did. It was pure luck the portal dropped us in the city. Trex stated firmly that he wasn’t leaving without Hali, and we had one hell of a fight to get her. It was a tough escape, but Hali is one strong kid,” he replies. I’m completely shocked that Trex of all people would choose to save Hali. I always assumed it was Connor or Nix. I look back at the rope, knowing I don’t have time to think it through now.

  “Impressive. If I don’t become queen of this place, I’m coming back to steal the cool stuff,” I comment, and Nix shakes his head at me.

  “Do you even want to be queen? Like really? You hate Protectors, well other than us,” he asks, and I muse over his question as I snap the rope onto the stone next to his.

  “Honestly? No. I don’t know how to be a queen, but I damn sure won’t let Erica be one either. If my other sisters were alive, one of them should have been chosen over Erica or me. We are both messed up, angry…even ruined, but there is a big difference between us,” I say and wrap the control rope around my hand and grab the clip with the other. The handle of the clip is easy to grip onto, and I give it a tug, feeling how strong the brace is.