Earth

by Jaymin Eve

  No emotion inflected his voice.

  “The melding bond with your mate … it was confusing for me. I … felt and that’s not something we were designed to do. We do not feel; we simply are. We are power and we are destruction and we are the great equalizer.”

  A trickle of sweat decided that was the moment to run right down the center of my face. The first’s three eyes followed the movement, and a certain level of revulsion spread across his features.

  I almost snickered. Seriously – he looked like one of the gremlins that had been fed after midnight and a drop of sweat bothered him? I heard grunts and a yell. The bond told me that the girls were struggling to hold their own against the other Seventine. I needed to wrap this up quickly.

  “Two questions: why are you wearing my hair like the king of stalkers? And is there a reason you’ve decided to politely talk me to death instead of fighting? Are you weaker than your brothers?”

  The stillness which had come over me seemed to descend over the first then. He did not like being called weak.

  “That was three questions,” he said.

  And then he attacked.

  Okay, I’d goaded him, but I hadn’t been prepared for the sheer speed with which he moved. He landed a series of jabs before I could even get my hands up in the air. Far too quick for me to latch on and trace. I hit the deck hard, my chin and shoulder aching from where he’d landed those solid blows. Those pains could join in with my ribs. Which were still pissed at me.

  “I didn’t want to punish you. It would have been simple enough to wait and sever the tether of all the worlds, but I need you to know … I am not weak.”

  I rolled over and lurched to my feet. He was standing over me, talking down, and I was not cool with that.

  “Why aren’t you off severing tethers right now?” I said, spitting out a mouthful of the ashy disgustingness which coated my lips and tongue. “You’re just playing games.”

  “We have no need to waste our time or energy. The convergence approaches.” His head dropped back as if he was basking in the warmest of sunlight.

  Of course it was nearing night now, so he was mostly basking in slivers of moonlight.

  “I can feel it humming through my blood.”

  Now that he mentioned it, I wondered if that had been that strange thrumming I’d felt over the past week or so. Like a low-level buzz in the back of my head.

  “The hair was my idea. I wanted my brothers to have a link with each of the half-Walkers. I wanted you all to be part of our family, but instead of embracing our power, you fight us.”

  His face fell. “There can be no bond any longer. We remember now why the originals locked us away and forsook our abilities to rule. They were never happy to share the power, and we will not be locked away again. We will no longer share.”

  The fugly features brightened then. “For now we are enjoying playing games as you put it, punishing the clans which locked us into a prison for many millennia. Suffering is so enjoyable, when it is done by others.”

  And we were back to the psychopath. This freak-show needed like a hundred hours of therapy, because he had some messed up shit going on in his head.

  A scream distracted me, and I realized that Fury was down on the ground. The black-haired Seventine was leaning over the top of her, stabbing down with some sort of object.

  I moved before tracing across to her side, using my body and momentum to full-on tackle that ass. As I landed a punch and two knees into the Seventine, we both hit the deck. All of the air whooshed out of his body, and I flipped up to my feet before diving down again to hit him some more.

  I would have stayed and beaten the crap out of him for a little longer, but I needed to help Fury. I hurried to her side, relieved to see she was sitting up.

  “Fury, you’re okay?”

  I dropped down next to her, noticing the trickles of blood around her throat and collar bone.

  “Yeah, I managed to hold him off. They’re just some scrapes.”

  I pulled her up and gave her a hard hug. “Don’t scare me like that,” I murmured against her shoulder.

  She chuckled.

  “Sorry, Supes. Those little crap-kickers are fast.”

  They were and, speaking of, I needed to end this before one of the girls really got hurt. Besides, we were wasting blood and energy. Both of which we needed for the ritual.

  “Be back in a moment,” I said, glancing over my shoulder.

  Before Fury could answer I traced away again and landed in front of the first.

  He moved himself at the last moment so that we weren’t touching. Seems the effers already had an idea of what I was doing. I wouldn’t get close enough by tracing at him.

  “Why do you fight? You cannot beat us. We are too powerful and cannot be killed.”

  I grinned. It wasn’t a nice grin. It was full of anger and some sort of feral hatred that bubbled inside me. I was done. I was tired. I’d had enough of fighting against these friggin’ pains-in-my-ass. More importantly. I was sick of watching my friends and family get hurt and die.

  I was so angry that I didn’t pay attention to the fact that the first wasn’t alone. That he was talk-distracting me while the white-haired Seventine moved up behind me.

  I heard the scuff at the last second and twisted, but I was too late. He tackled me down to the ground and pinned my arms at my sides with incredible strength. Something else landed heavily on my legs, holding me down.

  I shot forth power, trying to dislodge my attackers, but I couldn’t. The power rebounded off their energy and smashed straight back into me. Which really freaking hurt.

  The first stood above me.

  “I know what your plans are, and I can’t let you carry them out. You’re too strong. Too powerful. You must be stopped.”

  He crouched closer and I fought harder, yelling and screaming, trying to reach him. I was bucking my body as hard as I could, but the Seventine were strong.

  “I’m actually sorry to know that in moments the light will fade from your gem-like eyes. Gifted from the gods. You will find eternal rest now. You will be reborn in our new world. This is the peace I grant you.”

  A burst of bright light erupted over the first, and the intensity was such that I couldn’t stare directly any longer. I tasted blood in my mouth, and realized my lips were all busted up from my struggle. I tried to trace, but they were negating that power somehow. Each time I tried, I felt the energy leave, but it never went far enough.

  Instead it lay trapped against the heavy lumps on my back. The weight was warm on my body, and I wondered if it was just the Seventine there, or if something else – maybe a stone – also rested on me. Whatever it was, stone or Seventine, it caught my power and reversed it on me.

  Brace! I screamed for him. If I ever needed help, now was the time.

  Don’t move, Abby. I’m almost there.

  “What are you doing?” I asked the first, hoping to distract and delay him.

  “Severing your tether. The weakness of the half-Walkers is the fact that you have a tether tying you to the world of your birth. Walkers are the most difficult to steal energy from. They’re tied to very little, but you – my sweet little half – you’re tied to everyone. I’ll literally be able to take from you and the rest will follow.”

  Oh, eff me!

  He would use my conduit power and turn it back around to all the others. The girls and Brace would all fall.

  I couldn’t let that happen. I couldn’t let him touch me.

  I tried to roll, to dislodge the weights on my back.

  They’re holding you down with moonstale, Abby. Brace’s voice shattered through my mind. Violence rode him. It’s absorbing your energy. You can’t use it against them.

  He was close. I could feel him in my blood, but he wasn’t going to get there in time. The first was already reaching for me, and there was no way I could stop him before he severed my tethers.

  I screamed then, expelling every facet of anger and pain
from inside me. This was it. It was going to be over for us all before I’d even had a chance. Just as that glowing hand grazed my cheek, something tan and weathered shot through and grabbed onto the first.

  Pulling him away.

  It took me a second to catch up – to comprehend what had just happened. Oh, gods, no! No! No!

  “NOOOO!” My throat protested as more than one shriek ripped from my vocal cords.

  I couldn’t stop screaming and thrashing, and finally I managed to dislodge the Seventine and stones from my back. I was up on my feet, kicking and fighting.

  I took down the white-haired one, pretty much crushing his face with my high kick. My knees buckled as I scrambled across to my savior, the man who had been there for me for as long as I could remember. The one who had saved my life countless of times. Saved my life today. He had done his duty one last time.

  My guardian.

  Chapter 18

  Quarn’s body was sprawled across the blackness, his weathered features covered in dirt and blood and ash. I couldn’t see the Seventine. I couldn’t see anything as the force of my agony dropped me to my knees beside him.

  “No, Quarn. No … please. Please don’t do this.”

  I gathered him to me, expecting to feel his solid weight. Prayed to feel warmth and movement as his lungs lifted and heart beat. But there was nothing.

  I screamed and screamed and screamed. Someone lifted me, but I refused to let go of my guardian. I wouldn’t accept this. Francesca was bad enough, but Quarn’s death was not allowed. He had saved me and everyone I was connected to, and in doing so had his own tether severed, his energy released back to the gods. He would be with his Hallow now, but I wanted him here.

  Eventually my screams morphed into sobs. I clutched his body to me, but the substance of my guardian was fading away. Freeing a hand, I slapped at the rivulets of liquid pouring from my eyes, trying to clear my vision so I could see his familiar face. No. Please no. He was fading away, the features shrinking into themselves, the vessel dissolving. Without his essence, Quarn’s shell was no longer needed. It was going to dissipate back into the earth.

  I dropped my head down close to what remained of my guardian.

  “I love you,” I said between gulping sobs. “Fly free, my friend; find your Hallow. I’ll meet you again in the next life.”

  I let him go then and, like a mist in the breeze, he shattered into a million beautiful pieces. In that moment, my heart did the same thing.

  I realized that I was cradled in someone’s lap. Strong arms held me and warmth surrounded me. I recognized the tantalizing scent, all spice and male. Brace had me. He was holding on to me, to the point of almost crushing. We didn’t speak for a few minutes. He must have reached me seconds after Quarn had, and he’d lifted me into his lap and held on while I raged at the world. While I clutched at my guardian for the last moments of his mortal life.

  I sucked in deeply, trying to quell the intense sobs which still shuddered through me. This wasn’t over yet. I couldn’t fall apart. I had to finish the Seventine or Quarn’s death would be for nothing. If they managed to sever my tether, we would all fall.

  I struggled up from Brace, and he let me go. On my feet, I glanced around, trying to sense where the first was. Brace’s heat was at my back, and I let myself feel it for just a moment before a cold resolve washed over me. I brushed away the last of the moisture on my face. Focus.

  “There,” Brace said, his long arm coming around me to point across to the large pit.

  I could see the red hair standing out starkly against the dark ash. I started running. The first was close. I reached him in moments.

  “Why is he on the ground?” I asked Brace, slowing in caution of what game the Seventine was playing now.

  “I might have hit him really hard when he wasn’t expecting it,” Brace said with an angry shrug. “I might have also blasted out a few bursts of energy to help him along.”

  “You hit him with your cyclone-energy?” I almost wanted to smile at that, but I wasn’t sure smiling was part of my capabilities any longer.

  “The Seventine are lucky that my priority was you, and that a single burst was all I had time for.”

  The dark anger brewing in Brace’s tone had my head snapping up to meet his gaze. It was the first time I’d really looked at him since Quarn’s death, unable to stand the sadness or sympathy I expected to see in his eyes. I could barely hold my own emotional breakdown in check. I couldn’t deal with anything more.

  But now I saw him and my blood turned to ice in my veins. He was angry, rip-the-world-apart angry. Black eyes dominated the hard lines of his features. Brace was god-like and alien in that moment, as if he wasn’t quite a real being any longer, but something carved by the very gods themselves.

  “This is my chance,” I all but whispered to him. “I’m going to trace the first now.”

  His forehead dropped down to rest against mine. “That’s twice now, Red. Try not to make it a third time,” he growled. “I didn’t get to you in time … all day I’ve been a step behind.”

  “It wasn’t your fault. You were saving everyone else. Keeping our people safe.”

  Brace’s next growl ripped across the plains. “You are my everyone. My first duty is to you.”

  My perfect warrior.

  I lifted my lips and touched them gently to his face. The sting was light, my cuts already healing. “Let me finish what we started. If we don’t end them, then this will all be for nothing. I need you to bring the other girls into the dark mountain.”

  I sensed his desperation. He was fighting hard with himself.

  But he let me go.

  “Do not almost die again.”

  I couldn’t promise that, so I settled for another kiss, this time on the lips. Hard and a little frantic. Then I stepped out of his heat and crossed over to the unconscious Seventine. He was no longer covered in a bright light; Brace had really done a number on him.

  The moment my hand touched the robe, I reached for a tether inside the mountain, in one of the corridors close to the prison. I expected tracing the Seventine would be hard, moving all that ancient energy.

  But it wasn’t.

  We moved together easily, and then when I was inside, I threw him over my shoulder and ran the rest of the way. Brace would make sure the others were right behind, but for now I needed to get the first into the cage.

  I was almost there when a surge of awareness tingled down my spine. Crap. The first was awakening. Picking up the pace, I dashed down the tunnel and into the round room, startling Jedi, who shot around, arms held defensively.

  The princeps recovered in an instant. “In here, Abby.”

  He grabbed on to the legs of the first. I wanted to wrench his hand off – I wouldn’t lose anyone else to a severed tether – but I had no time to argue.

  Together we threw him across the space and into the small area which was surrounded by white stones. Jedi reached down and placed a final gem into the formation, and the barrier shot up. This was pretty much at the same moment that the first jumped to his feet and charged at us. He bounced back off the cage, landing hard on his gremlin butt.

  I let my anger brim upwards, filling my eyes and face. This was for Quarn and every single other being who had lost something because of the Seventine.

  “I’m going to lock you away again. You will never be free,” I said, before turning away and ignoring his angry tirade and the way he bashed against the cage.

  “He won’t be able to drain the stones like I can, right?” I whispered to Jedi.

  The princeps shook his head. “No, there’s none but a conduit who would be able to harness that much energy.”

  “And his brothers will just what … get sucked in –?”

  I never got to finish my sentence before lashes of wind whipped around the cave, followed by a loud screech.

  I spun, crouching low and waiting.

  My stance relaxed when I realized it was the rest of the Seventine. Th
e bond was dragging them to their brother. The red ties between them tightened and, as the last of the wind died down, there were seven colorful heads of hair in the cage.

  “You’re not strong enough to take our energy back into the mountain,” the first said in a clipped, screechy voice. “We’ve done this before. The originals sacrificed themselves. That will be your fate.”

  He was probably right, and it was not a choice I was happy with, but they had to be locked away.

  “We will offer you a deal,” he continued. “If you free us now, we will harm none of the half-Walkers or your friends or family. They will all be reborn immediately after the convergence … and one of the worlds will be yours to shape as you see fit.”

  And we were already at the bargaining stage.

  “Abby, you’re not making deals in here without us, are you?” Fury’s voice reached me moments before her mop of white hair came into view.

  She was followed by the rest of the half-Walkers and our sacred animals. Cerberus barked and ran straight to me. I could feel his reprimand for taking off without him. I scratched the hellhound behind the ears.

  More noise sounded at the entrance. Brace, Colton and Lucy entered the room. They looked beat up, but they were alive, and that was all that mattered. Right behind them were Josian and Lallielle. My mother raced straight across and wrapped me in her arms. It felt like years since I’d seen her, and right then a Mom-hug was exactly what I needed.

  “I’m sorry about Quarn, baby girl.” Her voice broke on his name. “He would have found no greater honor than dying so that you had this chance to save everyone.”

  I couldn’t speak. I didn’t even have the words to express my utter pain and rage.

  Eventually, though, I managed to choke out, “I’m sorry about Frannie.”

  Lallielle clutched me even tighter. “My sister walked a dark path at times. She’ll now be at peace … I’ll keep telling myself that until the sharp agony of losing her eases. Until it doesn’t hurt quite so much to breathe.”