Below the Surface

by Marie Harte

  At once her fascination with its dance stopped and a fierce need to kill overtook her. Like falling into a vat of oil, the sensation of contamination oozed over her every pore. She felt a hunger fiercer than the other creatures she’d been forced to combat, and the need to contain that hunger increased the power she squeezed inside.

  “No, no, no,” the sorcerer said with disgust. “I want you to let it all out. Or as you pitiful xiantopes would say, stop fucking around.” His arctic blue glare promised retribution if she failed to comply.

  It was a wraith, after all, she told herself. Should she fail, it would, as it promised, devour her. Still, the idea of taking a life felt wrong. She knew it was necessary, but the thought of destroying a living being left her feeling decidedly tainted, as if by killing others, even in self-defence, she had somehow crossed to the dark side.

  With more a groan than growl, she let go of her inhibitions and proceeded to destroy the creature intent on her annihilation. She directed a wealth of the wraith’s energy immediately back on itself, using its own hunger to ravage its strength until it fell to its hands and knees.

  Wielding telekinesis as if born to the task, she mentally pummeled the wraith across the stone floor and against the walls, unable to stem the dark energy seething within her, begging for release. A high-pitched squeal sounded as she threw the wraith over ‘Sin Garu’s throne. It must have hit someone, or something, that loitered in the chamber.

  Unfortunately, the bloodied wraith, now her weapon, continued to pound at the creatures that peeked between the shadows, the wraith’s destructive energies causing her to use it as such. Inhuman shrieks and screams abounded in the dark, mixing with the sorcerer’s sinister laughter. Tessa felt like a prisoner in a madhouse.

  When the wraith was no more than a lump of bloody pulp, like the other wraiths she’d unwillingly decimated, she released it at ‘Sin Garu’s feet. And similar to the other casualties, this body was soon ripped apart and devoured by hazy, spider-like creatures that appeared out of nowhere.

  Soon only a stain remained where the wraith had lain, and the reality of her battles settled heavily upon her. The confusing feelings of both triumph and disgust, excitement and weariness, warred for supremacy, making Tessa exhausted all at once. She wavered on her feet, and not surprisingly, her strength left her as suddenly as it had come. Stumbling, she fell hard on her knees, gasping at the pain.

  “Not again.” ‘Sin Garu snorted with disgust. “For months you refused to succumb to a Storm Lord, ignoring both his obvious sexuality and magical allure. Your tenacity against Marcus showed an inner strength I’ve yet to see here.”

  He grimaced, his beautiful features pinched, yet in no way ugly. “How can you wield such power against the wraiths and be so weak afterward, when you have the potential to be so much greater?” He seemed to be talking as much to himself as to her, and she had to focus on his face to keep it from blurring.

  Squatting down to meet her at eye level, he put a hand under her chin and forced her to meet his gaze. “Tessa?” he said softly, making her wish she had the energy to worry about what he wanted now.

  “What?” she rasped, praying he would soon tire of his games, simultaneously longing for and dreading Marcus’ arrival. She loved him, wanted him near, but didn’t want him in danger. Not at the hands of this merciless devil who wanted nothing more than to make Marcus suffer.

  ‘Sin Garu reached for her hands and slowly brought her to her feet. It was agony to stand, her mind splintering at the effort to hold herself apart from him when she needed so much to lean on someone. As before, where he touched her she felt bone-numbing cold, but as miserable as she was, the small pain was more an afterthought.

  “Tessa,” he began, staring deep into her eyes with an intensity that alarmed her. “I fear I’ve gone about this entirely wrong.” He broke contact to walk around her, eying her from different angles. She refused to follow him, knowing to do so would have her crumbling to the grungy floor.

  He smiled and inwardly she flinched. “You’re an intelligent woman, and much more aggressive than the Prince of Fire’s affai. Perhaps if I explain a few things, you’ll understand why I appear to be in the wrong, when in fact, I and my people are the injured party here.”

  She blinked in astonishment. Did he seriously think she would listen to anything he said with an open mind after torturing her for what felt like days?

  “Sit.” He motioned to a chair that suddenly appeared at her back and nudged at her knees. Dropping into it, she waited, trying like hell to regain her strength.

  “You know only what the Storm Lords have told you, and in my error I treated you like one of them, even knowing you should not be held accountable for your ignorance.”

  Oh, gee, thanks for being so noble. Does that mean you’re not going to rape and kill me now? She bit her lip, wanting to light into him but for once refusing to give in to her temper.

  “The Storm Lords are but one facet of Tanselm’s history. The true believers, the ones who made Tanselm what it is today, a world of magic and promise, are the Dark Lords.”

  “Dark Lords?”

  He nodded, seeming to appear thoughtful. But the conniving glint lurking in his gaze gave him away. What did he hope to accomplish by telling her any of this? According to Marcus and his brothers, most humans from a world with ‘no magic’ weren’t worthy of the great ‘Sin Garu’s time. Just her luck he found her interesting.

  “The Dark Lords were my people, and we once ruled Tanselm. Warriors, sorcerers, healers and academics. People like the Light Bringers, people like you, even. Our scholars, in fact, are still mentioned in the Light Bringer texts as men and women of great renown.”

  She blinked, not having expected ‘Sin Garu to sound so matter-of-fact, as if he were reciting a passage from a history text. The minute he’d said Dark Lords, she’d imagined a legion of wraiths and worse tearing up Tanselm.

  “And the wraiths?”

  “Unfortunate souls trapped in the tug of war between the Dark and the Light. They were once as you and I, but encountered a dreaded curse, and today they are only as wraith.”

  “The Netharat.”

  He scowled. “What the Storm Lords call those diseased with madness. I control them through spells and thought, because I thought I might find a place for them in our world. But the Storm Lords call them foul beings and evil creatures, because of the way they feed and their preference for the dark.

  “They cannot help that they need flesh and blood to survive. The curse brought them to this. But they were innocent bystanders in a battle that should only have affected the lords of Dark and Storm.” Icy rage resounded through his voice, and despite her belief ‘Sin Garu was trying to manipulate her, she could feel the real rage in him at what he said.

  He raised his hands, in frustration, then supplication as he startled her with a simple apology. “I do not ask you to believe me. I’ve treated you so wrong, done to you what the Storm Lords have done to the Netharat.” He lowered his gaze, his lips flat. “I cannot express to you how sorry I am that my hatred brought me to this.”

  Oddly enough, she was starting to feel a smidgen of compassion for him. There were two sides to every story, so perhaps there was more to Marcus’ tale than he and his brothers had shared with her. ‘Sin Garu seemed so sincere, and that scared the shit out of her.

  He just put you through hours of torture killing those he supposedly pities, her conscious shouted. But a strange inability to differentiate truth from lie settled over her like a fog, clouding her sense of judgement.

  Was the sorcerer using some sort of spell to make her indecisive? But if he could do that, why not just make her believe him and not Marcus?

  “All of this must seem ridiculous in light of the way I’ve treated you. But had you come to me first, without the influence of the River Prince,” he said with disdain, “you might be fighting with me instead of against me. Darkness is not evil, light is not necessarily always good.” He paused,
his white face gleaming under a sudden shimmering of light above him.

  “The illumination is uncomfortable for me, but not because I am evil, but because of the way I’m made.” His eyes grew shuttered as he watched her. “You have probably been told the Netharat, like me, are evil. Wraiths, Shadren, even the Djinn, I suppose.”

  Shadren? Great, another evil faction she hadn’t yet met?

  “While Michael Davis was certainly unbalanced, not all Djinn are bad. The Djinn are a handsome race, intelligent, and unfortunately for them, more comfortable in the dark than in the light.”

  He waved his hands and incanted under his breath, and suddenly she and he stood once again in Michael Davis’ stark living room. Davis’ body was nowhere in sight, but his house stank of death and decay.

  “Here we see the Djinn for what he was, an individual wanting to help me even the score against the Storm Lords. Yet all Djinn are not evil,” he ended quietly.

  The front door banged open so suddenly Tessa shrieked in surprise. Expecting Marcus, she stared wide-eyed as Jonas charged through.

  His eyes alight with fear and what looked like anger, he stared at her and ‘Sin Garu together before closing the door behind him.

  “Tessa, come here to me,” he said calmly, not questioning the stranger behind her, or her presence in Davis’ home.

  “You see,” ‘Sin Garu said softly as he moved to stand at her back. “Some Djinn are simply good men who care.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Jonas took in the guarded look Tessa sent him, her comfortable posture with the evil one at her back, and knew ‘Sin Garu had done something to her mind.

  Shit. He thought he’d been right to come here, but now he wondered if he hadn’t done wrong in not confiding in Marcus much sooner. If he had, maybe Tessa wouldn’t be here now. Maybe she and Marcus would have mated and moved back to Tanselm, where they both belonged. And maybe he would be one step closer to righting a terrible wrong instead of adding to that wrong.

  “Jonas?” Tessa rasped. “A Djinn? No. Not you. Not you, Jonas.”

  He shook his head and stepped forward, only to see the sorcerer smiling widely behind her.

  “Yes, Jonas. Tell her the truth. Tell her all Djinn are not evil, that you aren’t here to harm her.”

  “I’m not. Tessa,” he started, seeing her disbelief turn to outraged hurt. “I’m your friend, truly.” Anger consumed him as he glanced at ‘Sin Garu. “But he’s not. He’s going to kill you, devouring every bit of your power, body and soul before he’s through with the Storm Lords.”

  “Oh, Jonas.” ‘Sin Garu shook his head and placed his hands on Tessa’s shoulders, holding her directly in front of him in a seemingly protective manner. “Not you too. Davis was fine in the beginning, but towards the end a madness consumed him, and I admit tainted me as well. But you seemed so strong… I can’t allow Tessa to be hurt again. I won’t.”

  Tessa leant back into the sorcerer’s grasp, yet her eyes crinkled in confusion. Yes, yes, Jonas thought, focusing on her. Look through the lies, see what your heart knows. Picking up the threads of Davis’ power still lingering in the room, he wove dark energy through her, knowing it would leave her temporarily blinded and aching, but he was unable to fight ‘Sin Garu without her out of the way.

  And where the hell were the Storm Lords? After looking for Tessa with Marcus at Tomanna, he’d transported himself to Davis’ and deliberately projected Tessa’s whereabouts to their seer before blowing open the door. At least one of Storm Lords, Cadmus, he thought, had to know Tessa was here.

  As if thinking about them had summoned them, Marcus and his brothers suddenly appeared. Without a moment’s hesitation, they seemed to sum up the situation and the room lit with elemental power.

  “Tessa?” Marcus asked quietly, his blue eyes blazing with fear and murderous rage, an emotion only a man in love would feel so strongly seeing his bride limp in the arms of his enemy.

  Marcus’ eyes narrowed and Jonas watched, impressed, as the River Prince struggled to free his mate from ‘Sin Garu, a silent, psychic battle of wills. But the sorcerer had no intention of releasing her alive. Pressing one elongated fingernail against her neck that grew until it drew blood, he warned Marcus back.

  “Unless you’re willing to hear me out, you’ll get your precious affai back in pieces. Which would you like, Marcus? The head or the body?”

  Marcus froze, his glare glacier blue. Jonas didn’t need to be an empath to sense the frustration radiating from the man. He could only wait and hope the Storm Lord wouldn’t do anything rash.

  Sighing, he almost wished he and his cousin had traded assignments. The Prince of Fire had been a handful, and the Earth Lord was a definite challenge. But in Jonas’ mind, neither prince compared to Marcus. Icy calm, collected and difficult to read, the River Prince had given him a headache from day one. Watching over Tessa Sheridan for six months hadn’t helped matters either. He’d formed an attachment, a surprising friendship for the trea, one he knew would be the death of him.

  Groaning, he looked at Marcus only to see the River Prince glowering his way. Hell. As if ‘Sin Garu weren’t enough to worry about, Marcus still didn’t understand Jonas’ place in all this. Apparently, the Earth Lord had yet to share it. A glimpse at Cadmus showed him nothing. Either Cadmus didn’t believe him, didn’t want to trust him, or hadn’t understood what else Jonas had sent him before they’d arrived.

  Further study of the Wind Mage, Aerolus, summed a communal nothing. The Storm brothers had collectively shut their minds to anyone but themselves, dammit. Jonas really could have used at least Aerolus’ help on this, but hell, at this point, he had no choice but to take on ‘Sin Garu.

  The love Marcus felt for Tessa would stay her well. Both the Storm Lord and his affai were evenly matched, and if by chance they produced the next Tetrarch, life in Tanselm would prosper. The chance for a new Djinn way of life would still exist.

  Jonas turned his full gaze back to ‘Sin Garu to find the sorcerer looking smug. If that one, however, assumed the overking’s throne, the Djinn would forever be ensorcelled, trapped beneath the weight of ‘Sin Garu’s long-reaching hands.

  Gritting his teeth, Jonas gathered his power and the latent darkness around him, releasing Tessa from his thrall as he prepared himself for the pain sure to come. He couldn’t afford to let ‘Sin Garu have Tessa, and more than that, knew he didn’t want to see the love between her and Marcus destroyed.

  “Hell,” he muttered, drawing everyone’s attention. “A little time spent among them and I’m turning soft.” And wrenching away his hold on this mortal form, he began to shimmer.

  * * * *

  Marcus stared with shock as Jonas Chase, Tessa’s low-key boss, transformed into a glowing, dark-aura’d Djinn. The minute he did so, Aerolus teleported to Tessa and stole her out from ‘Sin Garu’s hold, too fast for the mortal eye to follow.

  Aerolus deposited her behind a wall of elemental magic, a combination of his, Cadmus’ and Marcus’ protection, and behind a couch shielding her from the sight of the battle to come. Despite Marcus ordering him to leave with her, Aerolus refused to go.

  “I’m needed more here, as is she.”

  Marcus swore but faced his enemy steadily, knowing Aerolus would never do anything to intentionally harm Tessa.

  More than angry at the Storm Lords’ interference, ‘Sin Garu hissed, raging profanity and curses upon Storm kin. He raised his hands, only to blink in surprise when a web of black enveloped them.

  Everyone turned to Jonas, and Marcus couldn’t believe what he saw next. He’d seen Djinn in their true appearance, in-truth as they called it, only once before, during a legendary battle for the river region south of the eastern kingdom. That had been an extraordinary occurrence, and one witnessed from a league away. Now, however, Marcus had a front row seat.

  Jonas kept a man’s form, yet where there was once flesh now burned a glittering, golden light surrounded by black flame.

  The sight
of a Djinn in-truth was eye-opening, no matter one’s experience with their kind. But what truly transfixed Marcus was not Jonas’ transformation, but his attack on ‘Sin Garu.

  The Djinn pointed his hands at the sorcerer, his fingers outstretched, and a visible stream of dark matter surrounded and pushed through the sorcerer. ‘Sin Garu bellowed, looking stunned, and Marcus couldn’t believe the battle would end so easily.

  It didn’t. Immediately wraiths appeared, at least a dozen, hissing and clawing as they surrounded their master, intercepting the Djinn’s attack. Jonas’ dark energy destroyed two of them, sucking what little bit of life they had left from the wraiths protecting ‘Sin Garu’s direct front.

  In the split second after the wraiths arrived, Marcus shook free from his shock and let loose his power, flooding ‘Sin Garu with waves of destructive, pure telekinetic energy and flooding waters. His brothers joined him in the next breath.

  Cadmus opened the ground beneath the nearest wraiths, shaking the very foundation of the apartment floor apart, cement, brick and wood cracking and shifting as dark brown earth burrowed out of the ground below. The wraiths screeched for help, but their brethren were otherwise occupied fighting Marcus, Aerolus and one very angry Djinn.

  Aerolus knocked several wraiths from his body with funnels of wind. “Marcus, behind you,” he yelled as more wraiths appeared out of nowhere to surround them.

  Conscious of Tessa lying unconscious only a few feet away and he and his brothers now outnumbered more than four to one, Marcus gave the barest of glances to the threat behind him before submerging all the wraiths he could see in individual films of water. Thoughts of Tessa and their love filled him with hope. The loss of his father gave him the strength to persevere, and the presence of his brothers forced him to accept his abilities and push them to the limit.

  “Cadmus, Aerolus, stand back,” he yelled before opening the floodgates.