Whispers of Darkness (The Deadwood Hunter Series)

by Rachel M Raithby

  “I know, mate, this isn’t fair but Caleb is on his way now, he’ll be here in the early hours of the morning.”

  “I don’t want to see him!” Lincoln growled.

  “Linc, come on, Caleb just did what he thought was best, what Lexia asked him to. He will take us to the airport and then carry on looking for Lexia while we are gone.”

  “No, I need to keep looking for her, I can’t leave,” he snapped.

  “Lincoln, listen to me. We haven’t found a single clue since finding those vampires. Caleb can keep looking and when you’ve seen David we’ll return. But you need to say goodbye to your grandfather.”

  “Goodbye?” Lincoln whispered.

  “Yes, goodbye,” Caden nodded.

  Lincoln lay in bed that night but couldn’t sleep. He wondered what he’d done to deserve a life that kept on throwing heartache at him. He wondered if he could keep a hold of his sanity. He wondered if he’d already lost his grip.

  The next morning he climbed into a car and allowed Caleb to drive him to the airport. He never saw the young blond man with misty blue eyes knock on room 205. He never heard the information that man had on Lexia. He never heard the message she’d asked the wolf to pass on.

  Instead Lincoln shut down. He followed Caden through the airport and onto the plane and then he sat in silence throughout the flight.

  When he arrived in California, he was met with the news of his grandfather’s death. He said nothing, he never shed a single tear until he stood looking at his grandfather’s coffin and felt the bond between him and Lexia ripped from his chest. He collapsed to the floor screaming and clutching at his heart as he felt Lexia start to shut herself off from him forever. The walls around his fragile psyche shattered into a million pieces with no hope to be rebuilt again.

  Lincoln was dragged from his grandfather’s funeral by Caden, still screaming and gasping for breath. He desperately clung onto Lexia with all he had as she tried to sever herself from him and even though Lincoln could still feel the smallest flicker of the light between them, it wasn’t enough to keep him going. He wanted to die. He’d had enough of this pain, of fighting every day to just stay upright. His grandfather was dead, the last remaining member of his family gone, and now he’d lost Lexia...

  Lincoln begged for death but death wouldn’t have him.

  When Lexia woke the next morning, she found Derrick passed out on the floor, the bottle of brandy he’d found from somewhere discarded next to him. Sitting up she moaned at the slight throb at the back of her neck.

  “Yep, definitely drank too much,” she muttered to herself as she walked to the bathroom.

  After she’d showered, Lexia dressed and kicked Derrick, who hadn’t moved.

  “Wake up, lazy ass!” she laughed.

  He rolled over with a moan, “My god, my head... How are you even standing?”

  “It’s one of my super powers... No hangovers for me!”

  “Urgh, I must have had more than you,” Derrick groaned, sitting up.

  Lexia laughed at him, “Keep telling yourself that. I’m off we’ve already missed breakfast and I can’t miss training again, Lucy would kill me. Well, not me, someone else.”

  “Hmm or she’d give me a matching bruise,” he muttered.

  “Yeah, sorry about that, I really wish she wouldn’t take it out on you.”

  “Don’t worry, Lexia. She’s been doing this a long time before you arrived.”

  “Well, I’ll see you at lunch. Oh and thanks for the Christmas drinks last night, it was just what I needed,” she smiled.

  “Mmm, so no more crazy stunts or shooting your mouth off at Lucy then,” Derrick groaned.

  “I’ll try... I think I got all my craziness out yesterday.”

  “Good, I think I might just sleep a little longer,” he moaned as she walked out.

  “I’ll tell Lucy I don’t know where you are. Have the day off, you deserve it.”

  Lexia couldn’t help the smile that played on her lips as she walked towards the training center. She knew she didn’t have much to smile about really, after all she was still trapped with the Hunters being used by her mother but at least now Lincoln was truly safe. If he was out in the forests there was no way the Hunters could keep up with him. That was one of the Hunters’ greatest weaknesses, they couldn’t survive in the shifter’s world.

  But as she approached the training center, Lexia’s smile fell from her face and a feeling of dread settled in her stomach like lead. It seemed to weigh her down, make each step closer to the double doors feel like a mile. Why had she been smiling? How silly was she to think Lucy couldn’t hurt her, after all Lexia had the biggest weakness of them all, she had a soul; she had her humanity.

  The crowd of Hunters parted as she walked up but she couldn’t see through the windows for all the excited faces pressed against the glass. For a second she paused at the doors, considered just turning around and not seeing the nightmare that awaited her. But her hands reached forward and pushed the doors, her feet walked on their own accord, and Lexia’s eyes couldn’t believe what they were seeing.

  A black wolf crouched low to the floor, its face was twisted into a savage snarl. The growls leaving its throat sounded unnatural, wild and out of control, almost as if the wolf couldn’t control its own voice. The Elites, the original Hunters that followed only Lucy’s command, tormented the wolf. They swiped at its fur with swords but only enough to cut through skin. They kicked it and poked it, laughing as they did.

  Lexia felt her blood boil with rage, there was clearly something wrong with this wolf, it didn’t fight back as she would have expected it to. Its head thrashed from side to side and his front paws kept rubbing at its ears. As it whipped around Lexia caught a glimpse of its tail, black and bushy except for the very tip which was snow white.

  “Sammy’s alpha,” she whispered as her heart rate doubled.

  The wolf must have heard her because he whipped back around and for a second as their eyes locked, the torment and the savage thrashing stopped. She saw his green wolf eyes fill with hope as he saw hers, the only blue eyes in a sea of gold monsters. Her blade pulled free as she cut her way inside the Elite’s circle and protected the wolf.

  The Elites snarled and laughed at her as the six of them held their swords up ready to fight.

  “Thought Lucy couldn’t hurt you anymore, ay little girl... Well, I reckon when the sharp point of my sword drives through your middle it will hurt.”

  The other five hunters laughed at his comment and then attacked. Lexia knew straight away that she was outnumbered. They’d circled her and she couldn’t protect her back and front at the same time but this wasn’t the first time she’d been outnumbered. Pulling the small blade Lincoln had given her from its leg strap she spread both arms wide and defended herself as much as possible. The wolf at her feet tried to fight back but it was clear there was something wrong with him. Whenever their eyes met Lexia could see the torment in his green eyes as if he was having a battle inside of his head.

  Two of the Elites had fallen and slowly Lexia made her way over to the corner. If she could just put the wall to her back she’d be able to defend herself better but as the fight grew fiercer, the more Hunters piled into the training center to watch. They cheered and screamed as if this was the best entertainment they’d seen, their shouts echoed around the concrete walls. Some of the novice soldiers joined into the fight as Lexia took down more Hunters.

  Already she was soaked with blood, some her own, some the Hunters she’d hurt, her back throbbed as blood poured from the gashes, she dropped to her knee with a cry as a Hunter swiped across her thigh. Just as Lexia was beginning to see this would be her end she felt someone press against her back and saw others from the crowd join in. With the help from the others; Lexia’s recruits, she felt solid wall at her back.

  They all paused for a second. Lexia looked to her sides, “Marcus, Belinda, glad you could make it,” she smiled.

  “We seem to be outnu
mbered, boss,” Marcus replied.

  “Yes, we do... What have I taught you?”

  “Never give up?” Belinda answered.

  “Right, never give up,” Lexia said as she jumped forward, driving her blade through a Hunter’s middle. “Tell me, does the sharp end of my blade hurt?” she asked as she pulled it free and kicked him to the ground.

  Lexia spun and kicked, her blade flying into flesh but as another Hunter approached her, a voice boomed off the walls, so loud and deadly it could be heard over the chaos before them.

  “STOP!”

  The Hunters around Lexia froze, their eyes filling with fear but Lexia smiled as she saw the crowd parting.

  “Marcus, Belinda, get lost in this crowd now before you lose your lives.”

  “I’m not leaving you, boss!” Marcus answered.

  “Marcus leave now. That is an order” He swore under his breath and then blended into the crowd.

  “What is the meaning of this?” Lucy’s voice bellowed.

  Lexia kept her knives gripped in her hands, ready to fight but she felt a human hand grip her ankle and turned to see the wolf had shifted.

  “Kill me,” he gasped.

  Lexia looked back at the crowd; Lucy would be here any second.

  “No, I’m going to get you out of this,” she whispered, bending down.

  “You don’t understand... She has done something to me, put something in my head, its evil, kill me please.”

  The crowd parted and Lucy stepped forward, Lexia stood and held her blade out towards her mother.

  “I should have known this was your doing,” Lucy snapped.

  “That’s me, Mother, the troublemaker,” Lexia sneered.

  “Kill me please,” the wolf whispered behind her.

  “I see you have found my little pet, Maura,” Lucy said.

  “Yes, he will be leaving now,” Lexia replied.

  “Well, you see that wouldn’t quite work, my dear. You know how I love to experiment on my pets and well, I’m afraid this dear wolf would probably kill his pack when he returned... Although that is quite a good idea, maybe we should send him home.”

  “No! KILL ME!” The wolf yelled.

  “Oh look at that, the poor thing wants to die,” Lucy said in her sing song voice with a laugh.

  Lexia looked at her mother and back at the wolf. Lucy took a step closer, her gold eyes on fire with rage.

  “Another step, Mother, and I will kill you,” Lexia said, bringing her blade closer to Lucy’s throat.

  “So dramatic dear, if you kill me how will you get out of here alive? I’m afraid the only reason these monsters do not kill you is because you are my daughter but without me, well, you’d be fair game.”

  “That’s okay, Mother, I think I could still fight my way out of here but if not, well it would be worth dying to see that smile wiped from your face.”

  “Enough, take her!” Lucy ordered.

  Lexia stepped forward to fight at the same time the wolf shifter behind her snatched the small knife from her hand. Lexia whirled around, reaching for the knife, forgetting all about the Hunters attacking her but she couldn’t stop him. He thrust the knife into his chest piercing his heart. The last words to leave his lips were “Is Sammy safe?”

  “Yes,” Lexia whispered taking his hand, “he’s home, he’s safe.”

  The shifter nodded and smiled before he died.

  The Hunters holding Lexia down loosened their grip thinking the fight was over now the wolf was dead, but the wolf’s death only enraged Lexia more. She threw them off her with a wild cry and circled around to face her mother. She no longer cared about the reasons not to kill Lucy, she forgot all about trying to find out the Hunter’s secrets so she could bring them down. All that mattered was Lucy’s death, Lexia wanted to wipe the cruel smile off Lucy’s angelic face, she wanted to cut her body to ribbons and watch her blood flow like a river. She never wanted to hear her sweet sing song voice say such cruel words again. Lexia wanted nothing but Lucy’s death, her blood, the light to leave her eyes.

  And as Lexia’s bright gold eyes met Lucy’s dull gold ones, she saw the fear and the realization of what Lexia wanted fill Lucy’s eyes. Lucy started to back up, pushing Hunters in front of her.

  “What’s wrong, Mother, are you frightened?” Lexia laughed as she cut her way through the crowd.

  But just as Lexia’s blade cut through the air a small man slipped through the crowd and whispered something in Lucy’s ear. The look that lit her face told Lexia all she needed to know; she’d found Lincoln and life as she knew it was over.

  “Kill me and your precious animal dies, but not only him, we have a lock on his family, too,” Lucy said.

  Lexia stopped, her hands falling to her sides.

  “Seems your dear shifter has had a death in his family, flown to California with the rest of the shifters you love so much. What a shame, Maura, he’s all alone now, the last of his blood line dead. The funeral is happening any second so you either join me or I’ll add a few more bodies to the grave.”

  “You’re lying!” Lexia spat.

  “Afraid not my dear, take a look for yourself if you don’t believe me.” Lucy snapped her fingers and the small man stepped forward passing a thin tablet to her. “See for yourself, Tanner is there right now, aren’t you Tanner?”

  Lexia took the tablet from her mother and looked at Tanners smiling face, he turned the screen around and showed Lexia the scene around him. The graveside was surrounded by people and there hunched over and looking as if his world was ending stood Lincoln. The video feed moved again this time scanning over the dark figures hiding around the grave yard and then over Tanners long range rifle.

  “I have them surrounded Maura.”

  “How do I know you won’t just kill them anyway?”

  “You don’t dear.” She answered with a smile. “But even if there was a small chance I may be kind and let them live, you’d take it wouldn’t you?”

  “Yes, yes I would, you win Mother,” she said, sliding the knife back into her boot. She felt warm bodies pressing behind her and realized all her recruits stood at her back, ready and willing to fight.

  “No, Maura I think you have mistaken me. It’s not enough for you to just be here anymore pretending to be one of us, you must truly join us, become one of us or you and the people you love will die.”

  Lexia looked at the Elite flanking Lucy’s sides, the cruellest and strongest Hunters in the compound. Lexia knew she was stronger than them, how cruel would she be without her humanity to control her? Would the world be better off with her dead?

  She knew the answer was yes and yet she couldn’t sacrifice herself for the world because if she did, Lincoln would die. She knew it was selfish, she knew if she joined the Hunters she’d be unleashing a monster into the world.

  Derrick pushed forward then, his face one of a pleading desperate man. Did he know what she planned to do? Fight, he mouthed at her.

  But she couldn’t fight even with the recruits at her back. No matter how much she wanted to save these people, she’d never sacrifice Lincoln to save them.

  She wasn’t ‘man’s defender’. She’d let the world burn as long as Lincoln was safe. Lexia would do anything, even give up her humanity, her soul, as long it would keep him alive.

  She dropped to her knees and cried out, the pain unbearable as every emotion, love, joy, happiness, was pushed further and further inside of herself. So far inside she wondered if she’d ever feel them again; if she’d ever know what it was to love, to laugh with joy. Every feeling, every emotion, her humanity, all the things that made her Lexia, cut off, never to be felt again. Her heart encased in ice, a shroud of darkness dropped over her soul, she was no longer Lexia, she Maura; she was darkness.

  I named you Maura for the darkness you will bring to this world.

  “Lexia, no!” Derrick cried, but it was too late.

  Maura rose to her feet, a twisted smile spreading over her lips. Her gold eyes
glanced at the hands holding her down, at the Hunters who thought they could control her. Anger swelled within her, who did they think they were to control her? They should bow at her feet! She was strong, she was unbeatable; she was Maura.

  Her hands clasped the Hunter to her left, he flew across the room as if a rag doll. Maura’s dead, bitter laugh echoed around the room as the others dropped dead around her, as their blood coated her skin.

  But even as the whispers of darkness took over her, consumed her soul, and encased her heart, even as she threw the Hunters holding her down and laughed as they collapsed like rags, as she sliced into flesh and took pleasure watching the light leave their eyes, through all of that she couldn’t ignore the fact that as every piece of what made her Lexia was stripped away, the smallest fraction of the mating bond still clung to life, still clung to hope.

  That elusive feeling that even the most broken of people cling to.

  Within the darkness that was Maura, there was light; there was hope.

  Holocaust Chapter 1

  A seemingly endless winter.

  As brittle and cold as Maura’s heart.

  Ice and steel.

  Unforgiving and unmoving.

  Long dark nights.

  Forever alone.

  Lost in darkness.

  But with the thawing of winter.

  Saw the first small cracks in her armour.

  Vulnerability, weakness, hope.

  Spring Bloomed.

  As delicate as the first flower.

  And turmoil blossomed within her soul.

  APRIL

  She’d always known this day was coming, how could she not think it would.

  Love.

  Love had no boundaries or rules, it did as it pleased but she’d at least thought she’d have more time.

  For the past month now she’d been having these dreams, these nightmares. He’d found her, her panther. Just like she’d always known he would.

  Of course Lincoln hadn’t really found her yet but she knew it was only a matter of time, she was his mate and as the first sign of light bloomed so did the irrevocable bond between them.