Skye could hear his voice, but could not bring herself to look at him. She was weak, after all. Look at her, sitting there fearful of what was to come when she knew it would not change a thing. The berserker in her was screaming for strength – yet part of her was clinging to the relief that came from letting someone else be strong for her. In a voice so small and frail that she barely recognized it as her own, she managed to speak.
“Tell me what happens,” she whispered and looked up at him. Her blue eyes were filling with tears they both knew she would never let fall.
Taran’s breath caught in his throat. The wolf inside of him was responding to Skye’s fear. A positively primal urge to protect her washed over him. Had there been any way to do so, he knew that he would have sacrificed anything to shield her from what was about to happen, just for the look of defeat in her eyes. He considered her request for a moment and searched the crystal blue waters that stared up at him as he gathered his thoughts.
“When the moon begins its battle for the sky, ya will feel it deep inside, like fire in your veins, energy trying to break free from within ya. Ya will grow restless. Ya will nah want to be in this cell. The only thought in your mind will be a need for the freedom of the hunt, but ya will nah understand this feeling for ya have yet to experience it.” He licked his lips and took a breath to steady himself as she gazed into his eyes. “And then, as darkness descends, there is... pain... unlike any ya have ever experienced, beyond anything ya can imagine. Words cannot hope to convey it, wee one. It is maddening. It overtakes your senses until the only thing ya know is tha ya need it to end. Ya will want fight it, ya will try to make it stop, but it will do no good. The pain will only grow worse. And then a moment comes when ya are sure the pain is killing ya, tha ya can bear it no longer. It is then tha ya will realize it is done, tha ya have lost the fight.”
“You should leave,” she whispered determinedly, holding back tears now with every ounce of strength she possessed.
He smiled and whispered, “I will nah. And as ya change, so shall I to guide ya through.”
“Excuse me?” Miko demanded with wide eyes. “Tar? You are sure this thing can hold both of you... right?” He asked as he frantically inspected the cage, imagining the possible outcomes if it were to fail.
“It will hold, young Lance. Nah even I could break these bars if I tried,” Taran assured him.
Miko nodded his acknowledgement, but immediately got to work preparing additional rounds for the tranquilizer gun. No one had ever taken down a faol in this manner, but he figured twice the dose needed to knock out an elephant had to be enough to do the trick. Just in case it was not, he had brought several rounds beyond that.
“How much longer?” Skye whispered.
Miko looked at his watch and licked his lips nervously before answering, “Just a few more minutes.” He had to hand it to her. If he were the one in that cell, he would be freaking out right about then. He had always respected the pain that the faoil had to endure with each change, wondered if he would be able to withstand it himself. The fògaraich had it easy, just a little change of the eyes and teeth and presto, instant blood-drinker. The faoil, on the other hand, surrendered completely to the transformation. They became the beast within.
Seconds ticked by relentlessly and Taran took Skye’s hand in his. He wanted to hold her close and comfort her, to kiss her forehead and speak to her soothingly. He knew better than to try it. Instead, he continued running a hand through her hair. He used the contact as a means of keeping her connected to her surroundings, as well as to gauge her rising temperature. As sweat began forming on her brow, Taran sighed knowing that it was beginning. Her breathing quickened and she stood, crossing the cell with her eyes closed and clutching the sheet to herself. He listened to the sound of her racing heart, caught the subtle changes in her scent that came with the change.
Within the span of a moment, sweat was glistening over every inch of her bare flesh. Taran arched a brow at the sight. While running his hand over her hair, he had draped it over one of her shoulders. For the first time, the scars that covered her back and neck were exposed to his view.
Warning bells instantly went off in his mind and he climbed to his feet. Unfortunately, just as he opened his mouth to ask the million-dollar question, she cried out. Doubling over in pain, Skye held onto the bars to keep herself standing. Taran’s heart sank in realization. She was now between him and the only exit. He cursed his foolishness in his mind. Had she been tortured? Had she been caged? He wished they would have warned him in advance, regretted not asking about her past, prayed it would have no bearing on her canine counterpart...
But he was experienced enough to know better.
It was too late. He could not get out in time if he tried. He watched her now with panicked eyes, hating his options. Once she changed, she would have no control over her instincts. While he did not worry for his own life, he did fear for hers. If he was forced to protect himself, she would not live to see the morning. His only hope was that Miko would be quick to draw that tranquilizer gun.
Her cries brought Taran back from his thoughts, reminding him of the problem at hand. He was busy concerning himself with the beast that she would become, but he needed to tend to her as she was, a frightened young girl counting on him to guide her through this. She reached out blindly for him as he rushed to her. Putting aside his dread of what was to happen, he took her hands in his and tried to offer words of comfort. He knew that she could not hear him over her screams. She was panicking. It broke his heart the way she frantically clutched at his hands and shirt.
“It’s all right, my love. Ya can do this, I swear it. It will be over soon,” he told her as she pressed her forehead against his desperately. The unadulterated agony of her cries made it clear that the pain was growing steadily more intense.
Miko watched in terror as she clung to Taran and cried out. Without thinking, he was reaching for the gun, mainly to assure himself that it was free of its holster. To his shock, he found Taran’s eyes locked on his, saw him nod and give the grave look telling him that it would be necessary. His features twisted in uncertainty. He did not immediately understand the reason for Taran’s prediction.
It became inescapably clear when Skye’s agonized scream changed to a guttural growl. Without warning, she threw Taran across the cell as if he weighed nothing at all. Before he even reached the ground, Taran had transformed, landing on all fours in his faol form. Miko’s heart stopped at the sight. The beast that Taran had become backed into the corner of the cage, hunching down defensively for the attack that he knew was coming.
Skye took a step toward him. Her eyes were wild and crazed, her breathing was coming in fast bursts... but she stopped suddenly. She shook her head, wincing and closing her eyes, listening to the wordless commands of the powerful entity in her mind. The primal thoughts that she found there, the flashes of what she was preparing to do to Taran scared her enough to bring her back to herself.
Across the cage, Taran tilted his head and watched in bewilderment. She cannot really be... he thought.
Before that thought had the chance to finish forming in his mind, Skye’s eyes snapped open. Letting out a rebellious shriek, she fought to stave off the violence that was threatening to pour forth from her. With every ounce of strength she could summon, she forced herself to take a step back.
The instant she did, she felt a trickle of warmth come from her nose. She brushed trembling fingertips beneath her nostrils, gazing down at her own blood in puzzlement. The one that bit me didn’t bleed, she recalled in a daze as she swayed on her feet. Why am I bleeding?
And then the searing pain began.
Wailing in agony, she dropped to her knees and clutched her head with both hands. It felt as if her skull was trying to split apart. The pain hammered relentlessly, overwhelming her, distracting her, but still she fought off the change. Shuddering and gasping for air, she forced herself to stand back up on unsteady legs. With teeth clenched d
eterminedly, she took another step away from Taran.
In response, it felt as if the ground tilted beneath her. With her equilibrium being used against her, she lost her balance and collapsed to the floor.
And the pain surged unexpectedly.
It soared to incomprehensible heights. She could not see, her vision exploded with the blinding pain. She could not hear or smell, all of her senses were being smothered, drowned out by the agony.
When it finally receded to its previous level, she held herself up on wobbly arms. Her maniacal laughter echoed through the cavernous basement. Blood gushed from her mouth and nose, pooling on the concrete in front of her as she nodded in understanding. She recognized the surging pain and wounds that she was receiving for precisely what they were: retaliation. The wolf inside was lashing out at her, punishing her for her defiance. She was being beaten down from the inside out for every step she took away from Taran, for every second that she refused to submit to the wolf’s will.
But Taran... it wanted to kill Taran...
On shaky hands and knees, she clambered back away from him. She shook her head madly, growling incoherently, begging it to stop. But the wolf would not be reasoned with. It dealt out more of its harsh discipline, striking her down for her disobedience. Skye collapsed again, clutching herself tightly as every nerve in her body insisted that she was being shredded to pieces. She convulsed and writhed on the concrete, losing her mind to the pain in an all too familiar fashion.
After what felt like an eternity, she managed to open her eyes and roll onto her stomach. Only instead of fear, her features were now twisted in rage. She had been through agony. She had endured suffering beyond anything a person should survive. True, this was a completely new realm of torture, but it was torture, just the same.
“Hurt me,” she growled as she dragged herself up onto her hands and knees.
She let out more crazed laughter as the pain slowed in response.
“I said HURT ME!” She shrieked at the top of her lungs.
Taran’s faol form and Miko both stared at her in disbelief, unable to comprehend why she was egging it on.
But Skye was seeing the wolf inside of her as just another in the long line of abusers that she had come up against in her life. She had never given any of them the satisfaction of breaking her easily – she was not about to start now.
The pain came to a near stop and she cackled victoriously. She was confusing it. She now had its full attention.
“That’s right, fucker. I’m talking to you,” she snarled with blood dripping from her mouth. “Go on and give me the best you’ve got. You want to play battle of wills for my fucking body? Fine. Let’s go then.”
The wolf lashed out at her and even as she writhed in pain, she marveled at the power it possessed. It was manipulating her nerves again, this time convincing her body that it was on fire, that flames were engulfing every inch of her flesh.
“Yeah!” She shrieked in feigned approval of the latest assault. “Now we’re getting somewhere. You want to play with fire, huh, bitch?” She taunted and spat out blood. “Been there, done that, got the scars to prove it. What else do you have?” She laughed while desperately putting space between her and Taran, if only an inch at a time. Reduced to a belly crawl, she pressed on despite the agony it caused. Her body quaked uncontrollably the entire way.
The wolf apparently still had quite a few tricks left up its sleeve.
Skye’s eyes went wide as her body endured sensations unlike anything she had ever imagined in her worst nightmares. Any injury that would cause this level of pain would be enough to kill a mortal, which was precisely why she was unprepared for it.
A sob escaped her lips, but it was only partly due to the anguish. The other cause was the sudden realization that she was going to lose this battle, she could not stop this. She was going to hurt Taran. It broke her heart to no end. There had been something in those steely gray eyes that drew her to him, made her feel again. She shared an inexplicable connection with this stranger, a bond that she could not define. And in the next few moments, she would fail him.
Taran was watching her unblinkingly, marveling at her strength. She should not be able to do these things, should not be capable of fighting at all. It would have been at least another thirty years before he suggest she try, another twenty beyond that before she would succeed. Her actions, however, were proving four millennia of faol pups to be wrong. Here she was, on the eve of her very first transformation, fending off the change, learning it. She was speaking to her wolf, challenging it for control. It was unheard of. Just taking those few steps away as she had, preventing the wolf from attacking him for this long, was success forty years ahead of its time.
She locked eyes with him, finding him there in the gaze of the massive beast. Even through her suffering, she managed to give him a remorseful look. Taran inclined his head to her in understanding. Tears were gliding down her cheeks now, and he knew that they were not brought on by fear or pain. She wept for him, for the fact that she would do him harm against her will. Each tear that fell down her angelic face deepened his affection for her. In the span of mere hours, Skye had managed to earn his undying respect and loyalty. He closed his eyes and prayed to the Great Mother for Her aid in this. It was all that he could do.
Skye was trying so desperately to control her actions, to prevent the beast that was taking over from lunging for him, but it was no use. The full moon was taking its rightful place in the sky above; the wolf would take its own in the Skye below.
Crying out in renewed panic, she clutched her stomach. She realized in wide-eyed terror that her ribs and internal organs were... moving. They were stretching and growing, repositioning themselves beneath her skin. The sensation was as sickening as it was agonizing. She retched and fought to hold herself up, clawing at the concrete and shaking violently as the changes in her body at last became visible. She could do nothing more than curl into a tight ball and close her eyes as she began to lose control. The sheet tore apart as her body grew, unable to fall away fast enough.
Miko watched in horror as her bones popped and shifted to new positions. He curled his lip. This was definitely not the way that he had envisioned seeing her naked. He quickly got to work repressing the memory.
Her flesh stretched and blackened as the bone structure beneath expanded rapidly. Her mind was being transformed in time with her body, her hold on reality slipping away with it... and still she fought. The wolf howled and snarled as it emerged, but its voice was entwined with the enraged shrieks and growls of the woman it was overtaking.
The experience was as Taran had described it, maddening. She was being attacked from the inside. A foreign entity was claiming her body as its own. It felt as if she was trapped in a crate that had just been tossed overboard. The water pouring in around her was the control of the wolf. She raged against it in vain, against the pain and the violence that it was drowning her in. She slammed her fists uselessly against the walls of her prison as she was sucked beneath the surface.
Somehow, as disturbing as it was, she realized that the intentions and ferocity of this creature were familiar. Its thoughts were the same that she encountered whenever she snapped. It was all black and white here, either kill or be killed. No remorse in this state – no hesitation, no apologies, no mercy. She recognized the primal need for survival, the brutal violence that it possessed. Instincts such as these had been in her blood all of her life, except now it felt as if the berserker side of her was free of all restraints.
Her flesh was blotted out as a coat of thick black fur emerged. Her size increased with each breath she took. The instant the change was complete, crazed yellow eyes snapped open. Her chance to fend off the wolf had passed. Locked away within the prison of her own mind, she could only briefly stand witness as the beast lunged.
And then, for Skye, there was only blackness.
The female faol leapt for Taran with such lethal intent that Miko winced, despite being clear of he
r path. The reasons why he would need to intervene became blindingly apparent. She was attacking Taran viciously and without hesitation, but he was doing little to protect himself, trying his best not to harm her in return.
Slashing and biting, the beast that Skye had become possessed the same merciless violence that she did in human form. For the longest moment of Miko’s life, he struggled to get a clear shot. The two faoil were a hurricane of brutality tearing through the cage’s interior. The air was thick with the scent of blood as they growled and snapped and yelped. Miko held his breath; fearing that one of them would not be making it out of the cage alive.
Taran could no longer allow her to continue the assault. She was getting too close to his throat with a surprising level of ease. Reaching up to where she had attached herself to his back, he gripped her with clawed hands. Saying a quick apology to her in his mind, he threw her against the far side of the cage with enough force to shake the concrete floor upon impact. Her massive form slammed into the bars just in time for the tranquilizer darts to find their mark.
The beast spun to face Miko, snarling in outrage, blood dripping from her razor sharp teeth as those yellow eyes conveyed in graphic detail what she intended to do to him. The tranquilizers, however, were being carried through her bloodstream even faster than he had hoped with the aid of her enlarged and rapidly beating heart. Within a matter of seconds, she was struggling to keep her balance. Growling in disorientation and stumbling toward Miko, she tried to fight it off. Finally, she succumbed to the sedatives and collapsed to the floor unconscious.
“Oh thank God,” Miko breathed and let out a sharp sigh of relief. As he clutched his chest and tried to slow his thundering heart, he checked to see whether Taran was all right. It took a lot to prevent a whimper from escaping his throat when he focused on the ancient. He knew very well that Taran was in complete control. Unlike Skye, when Taran changed, he was as aware as someone is when wearing a mask. Somehow, that knowledge could not calm Miko’s instinctual desire to run away from the hulking beast, shrieking like a little girl, as it approached the cage door.
Darkness Descends: A Skye Faden Novel Page 14
