by Alex Lux
And all I could think of was Rose. She trusted him. He mentored her. And he was killing everyone we loved.
TWENTY SIX
In Our Wills
DRAKE
authority of this lies in our wills.
— William Shakespeare, Othello
I SHOULD HAVE fed before I got captured.
That's what I kept thinking.
As if I knew this would happen.
As if I could have stopped it.
As if it would have even helped.
The thirst was drying me out, and it hadn't been that long. Not nearly long enough to feel like this already. I suspected magic. That this prison somehow accelerated the rate at which the prisoners felt the need to feed. It was a unique kind of torture and it didn't take me long to realize I would go mad.
I analyzed my surroundings as soon as I was thrown into this hell. We floated in a concrete prison, an orb of self-contained cells that made it impossible to escape. A prison designed with Nephilim powers in mind.
I couldn't decide what would drive me mad first. The thirst, or the insanity of the prisoner to my left.
He screamed day and night. When he passed out he still screamed in his sleep. He uttered madness and nonsensical stories about Nephilim and The Gray Watcher. A savior for the Nephilim. Children's stories Beleth told Ana during their visits together. Small comfort in the reality of this world.
From the small glimpses I caught of the man, I could see the years stretching behind him hadn't been kind. He'd been beaten. Abused. Mutilated until he was hardly recognizable as a man at all. I wondered what he'd done. If he'd done anything at all.
They hadn't started torturing me yet. Unless you counted the thirst. And the madness. I did count both. But I hadn't been beaten. Just starved.
And deprived of any news of my wife and child.
Was Sam okay? Did they really release her? What happened to her after I was taken away?
I had only one consolation. That they took me in her place. That she wasn't executed on the spot. I'm not sure I could have gone on living had they taken her life. I had to hold onto the hope that she was still alive and safe and free.
And that she wouldn't do anything stupid.
Like try to rescue me.
TWENTY SEVEN
To Mourn A Mischief
SAM
To mourn a mischief that is past and gone Is the next way to draw new mischief on.
— William Shakespeare, Othello
ROSE PACED THE stone room, her hands fluttering before her as she glanced at the door. "Derek should be back by now. He wouldn't stay away this long, no matter how mad he was."
Talon sat in a meditative pose in the corner. "He said he couldn't be part of this, that it went against his conscience. I don't think he's going to come back until it's over."
"I should go look for him," Rose said, stepping toward the door.
I didn't know what to do. "I understand if you need to go look for Derek. I really do," I told her. "But from our surveillance, the shift change is about to happen at the Stone Prison, and we need to act soon if we're going to rescue Drake. If you can't come, I get it. I'm okay with that. But we have to go now."
Talon walked over to Rose and smiled. "Your husband is strong and sensible. He's just cooling off. He will likely be here waiting for us when we return with your friend. But Sam is right, if we are to do this, it must be now."
"This is a safe place," Beleth said. "No harm will come to him within the walls of the Forbidden City."
Rose nodded. "I'm in. Let's go."
I squeezed her hand. "Thank you." I knew the sacrifice she was making.
Beleth carried Rose, who still couldn't shift, and Talon and I flew through the night toward the prison. It floated in mid-air like a giant rock, or an asteroid that stopped and froze above the ground. Doors and stairs were carved into the outside. Beleth explained that the inside is carved into tunnels. We made good time and arrived moments before the shift change of guards.
Beleth set Rose down on a cliff that overlooked the prison and was close enough that she could see everything we were doing. She drew symbols around herself that emanated golden light and disappeared, leaving her skin lightly aglow.
"Nothing can come in or out of this protection," she said. "I'll be safe alone."
I nodded. "I'll stay in contact mentally so you can warn us if something goes awry."
She squeezed my hand and I could feel the magic buzzing around her like living electricity. "Let's hope nothing does. Be safe."
I took a deep breath, nodded to Beleth and Talon, and we each left to initiate our part of the plan.
Beleth and Talon would take out the guards during the shift change while I went straight for the prison, to break Drake out.
I heard Beleth and Talon fighting as I snuck around the back of the prison. "Rose, am I clear?"
"Just give it another minute or two," she said.
A minute or two was a very long time, suspended in the sky, in an area forbidden to us, where we could be put to death just for being here.
"Now?"
"Almost," she said.
My wings thrummed behind me as I waited.
"Now!" she said.
I didn't hesitate.
I flew straight for the entrance of the prison and met Beleth there, who acquired keys from the prison guard he took down.
"Did you get the keys?" I asked quietly.
He pulled out a set of silver keys and tossed them to me. "We don't have long until they find the guards' bodies."
"You sure this will work?" I asked.
He shook his head once. "No, but we have few options."
I nodded and shoved a key into the door.
We got it unlocked. Talon was nowhere to be seen, but we couldn't wait for him. We entered and searched the dark, dank tunnels carved into the floating rock. Torches lined them, their meager light nearly absorbed by the darkness.
"Drake?" I called to him in the quietest voice I could. I tried using my mind to connect but it didn't work in here. I was cut off from all thought, all mental communications.
"Something is dulling our powers in here," I told Beleth.
"I know, I can feel it. We must hurry."
Beleth stopped suddenly in front of me and I nearly ran into him. He held up his finger to his lips and then pointed to turn in the tunnel.
Light flickered off the walls as two shadows approached.
I nodded and stepped back, my heart beating in my chest so hard it hurt.
Beleth spread his inky black wings as his hands turned from flesh into obsidian blades. As the shadows turned the corner, Beleth pounced on them, slicing their throats simultaneously before they could voice any protest over our presence.
"Couldn't you have just knocked them out?" I asked, my stomach roiling as their throats gushed life blood all over the rocky floor.
"I do not feel sympathy for these guards. They do not guard criminals, but innocent Nephilim who have displeased the Queen. They perpetuate her corrupt reign of terror on our people."
Given that my husband was one of those innocents, I didn't argue, but continued following Beleth into the belly of the beast.
As we approached the prison cells, I heard a man screaming and my heart lurched as I tried to identify him. Was it Drake? Had they already hurt him?
The man no longer sounded human and I couldn't let myself believe it was him.
We walked through the prison, avoiding the gazes of other prisoners begging for help. When I saw the back of Drake's blond head through bars, I ran to him. "Drake!"
He turned, his eyes sad, his face so very pale, and he frowned. "No, Sam, you can't be here!"
"We're here to rescue you," I told him.
Beleth searched through the keys and inserted one into the lock.
Just as he did, a loud noise blared through the air and the whole prison filled with smoke.
"Sam, you have to leave. The prison is going to shut down. You
can't save me," Drake said.
Beleth reached for me. "The key isn't working. It must be the wrong one. Drake's right, we can't get him out. We have to leave and regroup, or we will be imprisoned along side him and there will be no one left to save any of us."
I didn't want to leave. Couldn't stand the thought of abandoning him here when we were so close, but we were choking on the smoke and the alarms were getting louder.
I let Beleth lead me out. Suddenly, five guards turned the corner, blocking our path.
Beleth once again spread his wings, turned his hands into weapons and flew at them, knocking them aside. As two of them tried to stand he impaled them each with his hands. The other three attacked and Beleth moved fast, positioning himself so that he wasn't surrounded. "Fly, Sam! Get the others and get out. I'll catch up!"
I flew past him and mentally connected with Rose. "We failed. We need to find Talon and meet back at the City."
I found Rose on the perch of the cliff and grabbed her, but I couldn't find Talon. We had to leave him behind. He'd make his own way out. As, I hoped, would Beleth.
When we arrived back at the Forbidden City, Talon was waiting for us. Beleth arrived shortly after and we regrouped back in Red's den. The crystal light cast dim shadows on the ground.
Beleth took stock of us. "What became of you, Talon?"
"I was disarming guards throughout the prison," he said, "but then the alarms went off and I had to fight my way out."
Beleth nodded and looked to me.
I choked back tears of frustration and fear. "What are we going to do? Rescuing him is impossible."
Talon stood and looked at us. "We must kill the Twilight Queen. It is the only way."
TWENTY EIGHT
The Trade Of War
DEREK
Though in the trade of war I have slain men,
— William Shakespeare, Othello
THE MORE I struggled, the more the vines and rocks dug into my skin, holding me down. Keeping me prisoner. The body of the teen boy Talon killed lay a few feet away, the corpse drawing flies as his blood stained the mountain.
How many had Talon killed? What was his game? Why eat them? I had so many questions. So many fears. I had to get out of here.
I screamed until my throat grew hoarse, but no one could hear me. I'd made sure of that in my sulky need to escape everyone. Idiot.
When footsteps landed behind me, I tried to turn, but I couldn't.
I could feel the wind shift as wings drew closed and a figure in gray stepped in front of me. An Emzara. His face was masked, body covered in gray armor.
"Help me," I said.
Without a word he cut away the vines, even as they kept growing. But he was fast. Too fast for the vines to keep up. I helped, shifting into a wolf and biting my way out as he created a path.
Without me as their focus, the vines died and withered into the ground.
"The Druid did this to you," the Emzara said through his mask.
"Yes. You saw?"
He nodded.
"My friends are in danger. We have to stop Talon and warn everyone."
"I will help as I can, but I am bound by certain laws. I cannot fight the Nephilim. I am forbidden."
I nodded and we ran into the Forbidden City to find Rose and warn them.
TWENTY NINE
No Contrived Murder
SAM
Yet do I hold it very stuff o' the conscience
To do no contrived murder: I lack iniquity
— William Shakespeare, Othello
WE HAD NO choice. To free Drake, we had to defeat the Twilight Queen. We couldn't break him out of prison. We couldn't reason with her.
I didn't even feel bad. I wasn't out for blood, just justice.
Just Drake.
We had been through too much, had endured too much, to lose each other now. We had a daughter to raise. A family to keep safe. A life to live.
I refused to let him rot in prison for saving my life.
The night had grown darker, but dawn was still a few hours off. The Twilight Queen was of Nightfall and she would be awake, Beleth said.
We traveled to Venice, Italy, to the Court of Sunrise and Nightfall. We flew there, carrying those who couldn't fly, and landed near a huge, beautiful church.
"The Court is beneath this church, through a secret door that leads under the basilica," Beleth said as we walked through the city, old houses dotting the cobblestone paths and canals flowing throughout. "This city still smells like shit," he said, surprising me.
We approached the side of the church, to where an angel decked out in armor and a sword was carved into the wall like a statue. Beleth pulled on the sword and a passage opened beneath it, a staircase leading down.
We followed him deep underground and reached a large empty chamber with half gold, half black floors—the colors of Sunrise and Nightfall. On the opposite end of the room stood tall doors of the same color.
"Court is in session beyond these walls," he said. "I will enter it and challenge the Queen to battle, demanding justice for my son. I will attack her, but she is strong, so after a moment I will appear to flee, exiting through this door. She will follow and then Rose will trap her in the prison she will create with her symbols. Once she is trapped, the others will not try to free her if it could injure her, and that is when we will demand she free Drake."
My nerves felt frayed, but I nodded. As Beleth disappeared through the doors, Rose went to work on her spell to entrap the Queen.
Rose drew symbols into the air, calling on her powers, powers she hadn't used as much lately. She drew on the ground and created the prison where we would trap Queen Seraphina when she came out.
The symbols shimmered a bright gold and fell like gold dust to the ground, sinking into the lines Rose had drawn.
"It's ready," she said. "But I can't promise it will hold. I've never tried this with a powerful Nephilim before."
"It has to work," I told her. Otherwise, we'd all die.
We heard the fighting, the screams, then the door busted open and Beleth flew out with the Queen following.
When the Queen ran out as anticipated, she walked right into our trap. Gold bars shot around her, glowing light trapping her in a magical prison.
She screamed and threw her own power at the bars, but they held.
I smiled at Rose who looked tired, but pleased. This would drain her fast. We had to hurry. The Queen couldn't know this prison was temporary.
"We don't want to hurt you or your people," I said. "But I can't let you take my husband from me. I need him back. Give us Drake and you will be free. We have nothing against you or your Court."
"I have to maintain order," she said. "I can't allow anyone to break the laws or chaos will ensue."
I stepped towards her as Beleth and Talon approached from behind. "I know you're scared. And I know you care about your people. But you have to listen to me. This isn't the way. Tyranny is never the way."
"Release me!" she screamed, spittle flying from her red lips.
"We will, if you free my husband and leave us be!"
She slumped in her golden cage, her violet eyes wide. "If I let him go, you will leave? You will free me and leave and never return?"
Talon screamed. "No! She cannot be allowed to live!"
I turned to him in shock. "This isn't what we planned."
"But it is what I planned," Talon said, raising his arms.
Vines broke through the gold and black marble, pushing through the new cracks, tearing open the floors as they caught at my feet, climbed up my legs, entrapping me and all of us in a living prison.
The vines used by the Beast.
And reality sunk in. I could see the truth dawning on Rose's face in the same moment.
Talon was the Beast.
Beleth's hands transformed to blades and he cut through the vines growing to hold him. For a moment it looked like he would free himself, but then Talon shifted into the Beast, giant and full of power.<
br />
He lunged at Beleth just as Beleth cut through the last of the vines and tore open Beleth's stomach and chest with his giant claws.
Beleth fell to the ground unconscious, too injured to move. "Beleth!" I screamed, my throat raw, tears burning my eyes. He couldn't be dead. He was family. Our family.
The spell keeping the Queen trapped began to fade as Rose lost control of her power and vines rose up to trap her as well.
Talon had us all at his mercy.
Talon walked to the Queen, his teeth dripping with saliva as he bent his head toward her neck…
I was closing my eyes, knowing this was the end for us, when Derek exploded into the room and ran over to us, shifting out of wolf into man, with the Emzara who kidnapped us by his side.
THIRTY
Play The Villain
DEREK
And what’s he then that says I play the villain?
— William Shakespeare, Othello
I SHIFTED BACK into wolf form the moment I saw Talon attack the Queen. The Emzara was already lunging at the Druid, sword in hand, fast as lightning. The Emzara knocked Talon back, and I pounced with claws drawn before Talon could regain his footing.
I could feel Rose with all my senses but couldn't allow myself to be distracted by her in that moment. We had to defeat Talon before he could hurt anyone else. Before he could kill anyone else.
The Emzara and I were the only ones left to fight. We circled the Beast so we could attack together, surrounding him.
As I lunged forward to bring him down, a vine broke through the ground and grabbed my leg, slamming me against polished and broken marble. I growled and used my claws to tear the vine off my leg as the Emzara lunged at the Beast with his sword, wings shifting in the air as they fought.
