by H. D. Gordon
She did not have the time or the mind to pause and contemplate it, but she could feel herself tiring.
It was an odd sensation, not like the fatigue one may feel after a long day of physical activity, but a kind of draining at her core, as if something more than just energy was slowly being sucked away from her.
This was a very background concern at the moment, however. Her battery would run out when it ran out, but up until it did, she would continue what she’d started…
But some part of her knew that she was approaching depletion.
How many Demons had she killed already? The number was too great to know, the bits of their rotten bodies too disfigured to count.
And more just kept on coming.
Watching them spill from the portal she’d created in a seemingly endless supply should have terrified her, but there was an emptiness in her gut she’d never experienced before, as if an auto-pilot switch had flipped on inside her, but rather than driving her, it was driving her to kill.
From somewhere too close, a familiar voice cut into her battle-induced haze, and she took her eyes away from the attacking Demons for a moment to see that Charlie was here.
The sight of him stirred nothing at all within her, and she continued on in her rampage as though he were not even there.
A thought bubbled up in her mind that she was not entirely sure was her own: Better stay out of my way, Charlie.
Chapter 46
Black Heart
For the first time since he could remember, the sight of his brother did nothing to stir his emotions.
Charlie appeared on the battlefield in the same fashion as the Demons (the lot of which were diminishing just a touch sooner than he’d anticipated, but this was of no concern just yet) falling out of the portal and hitting the ground with a thud.
Black Heart viewed this through the eyes of the Demons, and his physical form, which was still in the Underworld and still clutching the Demon-controlling box, was sweaty with exertion. He was ready to jump into the game.
Charlie had made his choice, and Michael had made his. He’d given his little brother ample opportunity to join him, to make the right move, and Charlie had spat in his face for it.
The Sorceress was getting tired, this he could also see through the eyes of the Demons, and the time to make the final strike was at hand.
Tucking the box into the folds of his cloak, Black Heart followed the last of his Demons through the portal, out of the Underworld, and into the Territory that he would soon call his own.
And since it had to be done, he felt he should be the one to take out Charlie.
He felt he owed his little brother that.
Chapter 47
Charlie
It became apparent very quickly that they were outmatched.
There was no way Charlie was going to get close enough to Surah to take the Black Stone from her, because he could barely move two feet in her direction without having to fight off a Demon.
There were just so many of them, hundreds, and they blotted out the gray sky, which had only grown darker. It lit up at varying intervals with tremendous strikes of lightning, as if the Gods themselves were displeased.
Charlie was no stranger to fighting, and Surah was the best warrior he’d ever personally met, but it was obvious that even she was tiring.
Even with all the power of the Black Stone—perhaps, because of the power of the Black Stone—she could not destroy this army on her own.
Sooner or later, her body would give into exhaustion. And then… Well, then his brother would come through the portal and try to kill her.
As if the thought had summoned him, Black Heart appeared out of the gaping hole in the sky on the heels of what Charlie could only pray was the last of the Demons he commanded. He landed in front of Charlie with a grimace, a fireball forming between his hands.
Before Charlie could say a word, Black Heart launched the fireball at him.
He moved just quickly enough to avoid a direct hit. The ball of flame skimmed his shoulder, scorching through the fabric and burning the skin there before dying out in the driving rain.
Another Fireball was already forming in Black Heart’s hands, and he met Charlie’s eyes with what might have been regret, if Charlie hadn’t known better.
“You always did love the fire magic best, Charlie-Boy,” his brother called, yelling to be heard over the thunder and the rain, the chaos and the death cries. “It used to make you smile when we were kids. You remember that?”
He launched another fireball at Charlie, who was ready this time, moving out of the way before it could touch him.
“I remember,” Charlie said. “That was back before you went insane. I can’t let you hurt her, Michael.”
Black Heart’s eyes flicked toward Surah, who was busy taking out the Demons. He shook his head, electric blue sparks sizzling at the ends of his fingertips.
“And you can’t save her, either. Even if you were able to beat me.” An awful grin spread over his face. “She’s too far gone now.”
The words were like a fist to Charlie’s gut. He’d thought of this, of course, but hearing it spoken aloud was somehow infinitely more powerful.
He wasn’t aware of it, but his hand was clenched tight around the dagger Aria had given him, his teeth gritted and shoulders tense.
Win or lose, whatever happened next, things would never be the same again for either brother.
“That may be,” Charlie said, “but I can kill you for what you’ve done.”
Black Heart’s responding smile was cold, and in it Charlie could see none of the brother he’d known.
“You can try, Charlie-Boy,” he said. “You can sure as hell try.”
As the two of them squared off, Fae Guardians made their entrance into the scene, bursting through the portal with blades blazing.
And despite the two star-crossed lovers having both faced terrible odds in their lives, Surah and Charlie had a better chance of rearranging the cosmos than they did at defeating the two armies standing against them now on their own.
Chapter 48
Surah
It was a dance, and the tune was fast and steady, but her movements were starting to slow, to fall behind a half step in beat.
Her muscles were straining, the air tearing in and out of her lungs like fire. Sweat rolled down her spine, tickling the hot skin there.
Surah slid her right sai through the neck of one Demon while shoving the left sai into another’s wing. She portaled to a new position and stars danced behind her eyes before her vision cleared.
She swayed a bit on her feet, and had just barely regained equilibrium before a Fae Guardian swooped down from above, appearing to Surah as if out of nowhere.
When had the Fae gotten here? She had been so distracted that she had not even noticed them coming out of the portal.
Looking around for Tristell, she saw that the coward who called herself a Fae Queen had not bothered to accompany her army—
Surah was knocked to the ground just in time to avoid having her head ripped right off her shoulders by the talons of a Demon. She hit the earth hard enough to rattle the teeth in her mouth, pain exploding through her shoulder, the breath ripped from her chest.
Blinking, she looked up into familiar emerald eyes, and saw that Charlie was the one who had tackled her. She barely let this thought process before using more magic to portal the two of them to a different, upright position.
When they reappeared a few feet away, Surah was unsteady on her feet.
Charlie gripped her forearms to steady her, concern flashing over his face. Surah saw this and shoved him away, shooting an impressive lightning bolt through the tips of her fingers and striking an oncoming Fae through the heart.
The Fae’s body hardly had time to crumple to the earth before Surah did the same to two more.
She was unaware of it, but her face was drained of color, her hair plastered to her forehead, the blood of her enemies dripping from her lips. She was onl
y aware of how tired she was feeling, of how ready she was to just end this whole thing.
And she could, couldn’t she? She had enough juice left to do that. She could concentrate all of her power, and all of that borrowed from the Black Stone, to do one last blast, one last big explosion.
She could do that, and kill them all. Kill the whole lot of them the way the humans did with their bombs and missiles.
This had always been an option, though one she’d not truly considered until this moment.
Of course, this would kill her and Charlie as well, and anyone else standing too close to the battlefield, but this would keep that bastard Black Heart from the throne, and the other royals would surely pick up the torch and lead the people into a safe place…
All of this flashed through her mind in an eye blink as she took a tiny moment to absorb the scene around her. While she’d been fighting, her mind had taken on a sort of tunnel vision, but she could see now how terribly outmatched she was.
This thought should have devastated her, but instead, she felt nothing. Nothing but the undeniable need to destroy those who were standing against her, no matter what it took.
So, as the Demons circled and swooped, as the Fae Guardians struck and swiped, as the angry gray sky spat bullets of rain, Surah Stormsong continued to kill and maim.
In her head, she was moments away from completing a spell that would kill them all.
And good Gods damned riddance, she thought.
Chapter 49
Aria
Aria Fae stood beside the battlefield, her eyes as wide as saucers, her hands covering her mouth.
She had been trained since childhood by the Peace Brokers for all sorts of things, all types of tense situations, but never in her life had she stood witness to anything such as this.
Rain poured down over her, drenching her clothes and dripping from the ends of her long hair, catching in her lashes. Thunder rumbled like the hungry stomach of a God, and she shivered, though it had nothing to do with the weather.
She had retreated to the top of a small hill overlooking the clearing in which the gaping portal hung. Out of that portal, countless Demons had spilled, followed by Fae Guardians, blades blazing.
All of this was aimed at the Sorceress Queen, and despite all the insane happenings, it was Surah Stormsong that Aria could not pull her eyes from.
She killed so expertly it seemed as though it was what she’d been born to do. This was a conundrum, because when Aria had met Surah earlier she had sensed so much good in the Sorceress Queen.
And Aria was pretty much as good as one could be at reading people. Arrol had not been wrong in saying that Aria had the Touch real strong.
But as she looked at Surah Stormsong now, it was as though a dark entity had possessed her, had ripped free Surah’s spirit and replaced it with its own. Her eyes were a terrible, writhing black, her blood-streaked face pulled into a tight grimace.
All throughout Sorcerer Territory, the reactions of those watching were much the same as the Halfling girl’s. It was obvious that this thing was going badly no matter who was left standing in the end.
If anyone was left standing in the end.
Aria had to do something. Fae Guardians were still spilling out of the portal, joining the many who had already arrived. The body count of Demons and Fae alike was growing by the second.
Everything that crossed through that portal was going to die.
Hands trembling slightly but legs steady, Aria Fae began moving toward the black hole in the sky.
She was going to close that portal, or die trying.
Chapter 50
Surah
She tripped.
She could not believe it, but she tripped.
Her right knee simply buckled without warning, and she stumbled forward, narrowly avoiding the business end of a Fae Guardian’s blade.
This small misstep was all it took. There were too many attackers to make any false moves, and in the half heartbeat it took for her to realize this, a Demon was bearing down on her from above. Her brain did not even have the time to consider portaling.
She resumed casting the spell in her head, the spell that would put an end to all of this. As long as her death wasn’t immediate, she would be able to finish it in time.
Then a flash of black and blue snapped her thoughts in half.
The Demon that had been bearing down on her was tackled out of the air by Samson, who had not arrived a second too soon.
Surah had thought she was beyond feeling, but her heart swelled briefly at the sight of her tiger, who was tearing apart the Demon he’d taken down with beastly ferocity.
“Miss me, darling?” Sam’s voice asked in her head.
Surah found that she couldn’t answer. She was too busy staring at all the Great Cats that had seemingly appeared out of thin air, and were now aiding her in killing the Fae and Demons.
Their powerful jaws snapped bone and spine, their growls and hisses adding to the warlike cacophony that was the moment.
Seeing this renewed her strength, but she was still moving too slowly. As if sensing this, Samson moved beside her and crouched. Surah climbed atop her tiger and used more magic to blast at the opposing army.
She was grateful for Sam’s arrival, but there was a part of her that wished he had not come, because even with the help of the Great Cats, she wasn’t sure it would be enough, and now, if she ended up having to detonate the black magic bomb, Samson and his pride would be blown toward the heavens right along with her and Charlie.
And anyone else standing too close.
Chapter 51
Charlie
His brother’s fist smashed into his face hard enough to make his vision go black for several seconds.
Charlie stumbled backward, shaking his head and swiping out blindly with his blade.
Black Heart laughed as he looked at Charlie with the same expression he’d been giving him since they were boys; a cocky sense of superiority that was particular to older brothers.
But a moment later, his laughter dried up, and anger and surprise came over Black Heart’s face. Charlie looked around at what had caused the reaction and saw that at some point during the scuffle with his brother, Samson had arrived, and he’d brought with him dozens of Great Cats.
A bit of hope swirled in Charlie at this, and at the same time, despair. They were still terribly outnumbered, and Samson would likely get himself and his kind killed.
This was almost more tragic than the loss of people, because the Great Beasts were already endangered, a dying breed.
Love, Charlie thought, the word piercing through the haze of the battle. Love can make you do some crazy shit.
With this on his mind, Charlie flipped the dagger in his hand so that he was gripping the hilt, and before he could second-guess himself, he threw it at his distracted brother’s black heart.
And in doing so, broke part of his own.
Chapter 52
Aria
So many things happened in the handful of moments that came next that it was impossible to take all of it in.
It was like trying to look at a picture that pulled the eye in every direction, a kaleidoscope of chaos that stunned and shocked.
Aria had no time to be distracted. She moved through the fray with the determination of someone privy to all that was at stake. The sheer amount of death that had taken place already was enough to twist her stomach, to bring salty tears to her eyes, which were squinting in the driving rain.
She knew only that she had to reach the portal. If she could reach it, she might be able to use her Fae magic to close it, and keep the rest of the Fae Guardians from being slaughtered in this field, staunching the already high death toll.
The Demons she couldn’t care less about, for they were soulless creatures, powered and controlled by only darkness and hate. But every Fae that died here today would only have been following the orders of their crazed queen.
Aria made her way closer, batti
ng away the occasional Demon that ventured too close with her staff. Her hair whipped around her face as she approached the hole in the sky, from which Fae Guardians were still arriving in twos and threes.
Her heart sank as she realized she was going to do it, to cut off access and in doing so flip her own world upside down.
Because even if Surah did defeat Tristell and Black Heart today, there would be Aria’s superiors to answer to, and it was this she feared most of all.
What would the Peace Brokers do when they found out her actions here today? How would they react to her evidence of Tristell’s treachery? What would they do with someone who stepped so far beyond their boundaries?
Aria could not even begin to guess at the answer to this, and her mind was made up, anyway.
And there was the chance that her organization would understand. Halflings were known to be Empaths in the strongest sense. As a Fae Halfling and a Peace Broker, she’d been taught that every single life has value, that every life is sacred.
This was why her weapon of choice was a wooden staff rather than a blade. Why she’d been trained to incapacitate and disable, not to kill. Never to kill.
Maybe her people would understand that she was only trying to save lives in closing the portal; Fae, Sorcerer, and Great Cat alike.
Or maybe not.
As she finally reached the portal, she supposed it didn’t really matter, anyway.
Chapter 53
Charlie
Black Heart cried out in rage, and for a moment, Charlie thought that the dagger he’d thrown at his brother’s chest had hit home.
