Challenged by Darkness (An Urban Fantasy Novel) (Befallen Tides series Book 2)

by Anna Sanders

  It didn’t last.

  After stabbing Dante for the seventh time, Winx flew backward. She slammed hard into a wall and slid to the floor, white lights dancing before her eyes. She would have made a sound, but she couldn’t breathe.

  “What is happening here?” The voice of the elder Chavez was recognizable, even in her haze. “You cannot fight that thing off of you? What use are you?”

  Winx squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, rubbing gingerly at the growing lump on the back of her head. When she opened them again, the tilted world began to straighten...and she could only watch as Dante’s father healed him.

  “Come, we’ve been breached.” Esteban started to usher Dante away.

  “No! We have to kill her!” Dante grabbed the blade that Winx had been using on him.

  “Oh, and have you the courage to do that? You’ve still learned nothing!” Esteban glared and reached his hand out. “Better let the adults see to it, boy!”

  “No!” Dante’s whining made him sound like a child. “You ordered me to take out the last Rowan daughter. And I—”

  “What? Crave my respect?” Esteban sneered. “Don’t be a fool. Give me the blade!”

  Winx wanted to let them argue, but she knew that the Chancellor would not have the patience to continue fighting his son for long. She summoned as much energy as she could and scooted to the side as quietly as she could.

  But Esteban heard her. He crashed over to her without warning. Winx barely made a sound as he lifted her by her throat with a double grip, her feet dangling a few inches from the floor.

  “No matter,” Esteban spat through grit teeth. “A real man does not need a weapon.”

  Winx scratched uselessly at his hands as he squeezed harder. She switched to kicks, but he slammed her again against the wall before she could land a good one. The dancing lights returned as oxygen skirted her.

  Her eyes were rolling up in her head as Esteban said, “It ends with you. You are the last piece of the puzzle to be removed. Now die like a good girl.”

  Winx was blacking out, and after that would be death. Perhaps this really was it.

  But then her throat was released, and she was on the ground again. Her body greedily sucked in air until she felt she could drown from it. Her hands held her throat in an attempt to soothe the sting there.

  It was only after she gasped for a few moments that she focused enough to look up. She hadn’t been in the right state of mind to see Dante tossed aside like a rag doll or what happened to Esteban, but Cris had caught them both completely by surprise. Esteban was on his knees, a startled look drawn across his features. His body twitched and spasmed as he fell facedown on the floor, revealing an ax embedded in his skull. The symptoms of his nervous system told all present that he was beyond healing. A second later, after Dante had recovered from his own blow but before Winx or Cris could do anything, the younger Chavez screamed. “Father! What have you done? You’re dead! You’re all dead!”

  He tossed the blade still in his hand toward the membrane of Cris’s wing. But instead of avenging his father further, he turned and ran, bellowing at the top of his lungs. Cris followed him, turning the corner with nimble feet.

  Winx was still reeling from everything that had happened. Blood coated the floor in all directions from the Chancellor’s still-twitching body, so she moved away, forcing herself to her feet. She felt lightheaded still. Winx leaned her head back against the wall and tried to figure out what to do next.

  A whoosh of sound echoed around the hall. Winx’s eyes popped open quickly as a breeze hit her face. She looked around nervously until she realized it had been a bandit passing her. When Keaton came back, realizing his blunder, his face was relieved.

  “Oh, Winx.” Keaton held a hand to her shoulder. “You’re okay.”

  Winx was happy to see him, but a part of her was dejected. The group hadn’t protected her from almost dying. It wasn’t exactly that she expected Keaton to be her knight in shining armor again, but she hadn’t expected Cris, a complete stranger, to swoop in and save the day. And to top everything off, Keaton had his hand on her shoulder like she was only a friend to him.

  Keaton looked over at Chavez. “Did you do that?”

  She shook her head no.

  “Then...the demon?” She nodded.

  “I guess that’s how he planned to finish his business with the Chancellor.”

  She frowned at him. “You think?”

  As if things weren’t bad enough, Sabrina blazed into their scene, stepping in the pools of blood around the dead Chancellor as she did.

  “Eaauuuggghh!” Sabrina tripped backwards and fell onto her bottom. Keaton walked over to help her up. Winx hugged her arms around herself and blinked rapidly to keep dizziness at bay.

  Sabrina clung to Keaton as he helped her up. “We need to get out of here. The team is leaving.”

  Keaton looked back at Winx. He started to pull away from Sabrina to reach for Winx, but the glare she gave him stopped him in his tracks.

  Sabrina kept her arms around Keaton and tugged him in her direction. “Come on.”

  Winx waited until Keaton loosened himself from Sabrina’s hands and lead the way out of the hall before she followed, slow and measured.

  CHAPTER 16

  After scouring the mansion for things that would aid them, the group was prepared to start off. Even though the opposition had been killed or run out of the mansion, Cris had returned to confirm that he had, in fact, lost Dante. There was no way of telling how many savages and Lighters the Chancellor’s son had at his disposal, so the general consensus was that leaving was the best option.

  Sabrina told Keaton everything that had happened since they had last seen each other as everyone regrouped in the opening hall. “Right after you left, the pack was restless. They didn’t trust having Winx around, but they’d wanted you to stay. They insisted that the demon’s visit would lead more savages to destroy us even after she was gone, so they left me.”

  Keaton wasn’t pleased by that news, but he couldn’t give more than a wince of apology. Sabrina hadn’t left him alone through the communal sweep of the mansion, and her presence felt more like a hindrance than a happy reunion.

  “I didn’t know what to do with myself,” Sabrina continued. “And being alone wasn’t an option. So I packed what I needed and set out to the address that you had left for me. I followed the same road you had gone down, I smelled you everywhere I went.” Her smile was dreamy before fading. “And then I found the barn. I knew that you weren’t safe.”

  After that, Sabrina got distracted when London was talking with the others adamantly about going to Washington to meet with his reserves, and Keaton took the opportunity to walk over to Winx, who was sitting on the marble floor with a distant gaze that didn’t go anywhere near the group.

  “We’re going to find him,” he told her as he sat beside her. “This isn’t going to be a new uprising.”

  “Oh, wake up, Keaton.” At least there was still a snap in Winx’s voice. “He has all of his father’s resources. Killing Esteban gave him an even bigger reason to come after us than killing my sister did.”

  “Your sister?”

  “Dante was involved with my sister. As far as he’s concerned, anyway. She supposedly broke his heart, and he had her killed. I was supposed to be silenced, especially after I killed the gang.” Winx gave Keaton a look. “Now I’m a witness to his father’s death. I don’t think for one second that he’s about to let it all go, and you shouldn’t, either. If we’re not prepared for the worst, we’re all going to die.” Keaton put a hand on her thigh and squeezed gently. “Okay. You’re right.”

  Winx’s mouth set grimly. “And what about you? You aren’t okay, are you?”

  “What do you mean?”

  She shrugged. “Tipping. I can tell you’re at odds with it.”

  He looked away again without a word. He couldn’t bring himself to answer.

  “I know,” she said softly. “It doesn’
t bring Stori back. But…”

  “But nothing. What’s done is done.”

  “Keaton. There’s no running from your decision. Believe me.”

  “I’m not running from anything.”

  They went silent again. No one broke the silence until Cris sauntered over to where they sat and stopped in front of Winx. “Time to go.”

  She nodded, and Keaton watched her stand up and offer Cris her hand. Thank you. I don’t imagine that we will meet again under similar circumstances. That is, I hope I don’t—”

  He cut her off with a mere shake of his head. “I don’t mean just me.”

  Keaton frowned at the same time as Winx.

  “Us,” Cris said. “It’s time for you and me to go.”

  That got everyone’s attention. Keaton got to his feet in a rush, and he heard London and Roy stop their instructions to listen in on their conversation.

  “You and me,” Winx repeated.

  “Yes. You are the last Rowan daughter. That means you come with me.”

  Winx looked as confounded as Keaton felt.

  “I was commissioned to assassinate Esteban Chavez and to bring you home after the deed was done.”

  Winx’s eyes bulged. “And who hired you to do this?”

  “Your father. Who else?”

  Keaton laid a hand on her upper arm when she flinched at the news. She looked at him, and then back over to Cris.

  “My father hired an assassin?” she asked.

  “Your family has been searching for you for quite some time. But although they had the means to find you, they hesitated to…” He gave the lixyns a pointed look. “Step on anyone’s toes. They had to be careful. Methodical. That’s why they found me, and I agreed to the job.”

  “So you’ve been following me?”

  “No. I’ve been following Chavez. I knew I couldn’t bring you home without the job done in its entirety. It took a long time.”

  “Winx,” Keaton said, his grip tightening in warning. “You don’t know him. How can you trust him?”

  “He killed Chavez,” Winx pointed out with a frown. “How can I not?”

  “You don’t know anything about him!”

  “He saved my life,” Winx said roughly as she tugged her arm out of Keaton’s grip. She stepped closer to Cris, her features expectant. “But they would have given you something…right?”

  “Sure, a very lucrative advance. I get the remainder upon your safe return.” He winked.

  Winx only continue to stare at him.

  “All right, yeah. They gave me this.” He showed her a ring that decorated his pinky finger.

  Winx grabbed his hand to inspect it closely, and Keaton peeked over her shoulder. The ring had a ruby set in white gold, shimmering filigree marking each side of the stone. It meant nothing to Keaton, but Winx looked up at Cris eagerly.

  “He says come home, Snot.”

  Winx slipped the ring from Cris’s finger and squeezed it into her palm, bringing her hand slowly to her chest. She didn’t need to say anything. Keaton could read how happy she was in the bliss on her face. Winx never looked that happy. Or comforted.

  Cris also took her silence as assent. “I figure we can take one of these vans until we find a more inconspicuous car in the city. Obviously, staying in a vehicle taken from this place would be too recognizable—”

  “She’s not going anywhere with you.” Keaton’s claws and fangs erupted in agitation, the need to protect her brimming through him.

  Winx bristled when he pushed her behind him. “Stop, Keaton! This has nothing to do with you!”

  Keaton felt his face fall as he turned to look at her. “You really want to go with him?”

  “Yes.”

  “You can’t!” Keaton turned around fully and lowered his voice. “Don’t leave.”

  “All this has ever been about is getting back to my home.” Winx stared at her clasped hands like she couldn’t meet his gaze. “Everything I’ve done has been for my blood. I can’t pass up the opportunity to get back there.”

  “What about your service to the order?”

  “What of it?” Winx scowled. “I’ve been mutilated, beaten, on the brink of death, and I’m still supposed to fight for this broken alliance? I don’t think so. I’m done with this.”

  “You have an obligation here. You can’t just turn your back on that.”

  “Why am I supposed to be so noble?”

  “The Queendom is being taken over—”

  “And it’s not my problem anymore.”

  Winx sidestepped Keaton, but he veered into her path again. “Come on, let’s talk about this. In private.”

  He took a couple steps and held his breath as he waited to see if Winx would follow him out of the room.

  Luckily, she did.

  Genevieve had been too busy trying to goad her mother into speaking to follow the finer points of the conversations around her. But she focused when she heard London’s dramatic sigh. “Oh, this is not good. If Keaton can’t convince Winx to stay, we’ll be traveling to Washington without anyone of the dark touch.”

  “So?” Violet didn’t seem to care. “We came all this way without demons, and we can go back without them. Besides, if the new dictator really is after her, she’s dead weight.”

  The bandit Genevieve didn’t know that had been hanging off Keaton—Sabrina something—was quick to agree. “She only causes problems! Let her go!”

  “Having a daevor, or a demon, is essential to leveling the playing field.” London shook his head. “It is why Chavez only utilizes those with the dark touch in his regime. Their power is superior in many ways. I’ve striven for Winx’s cooperation for that very reason.”

  “I’m just as strong as any Lighter,” Violet boasted. “We’ll be just fine getting back to headquarters.”

  Genevieve sighed and turned back to her mother, petting her hand. “Mother. What did he do to you?”

  Edina kept her eyes on her lap. Bruises dotted her arms and shoulders, but it didn’t look like anything that wouldn’t heal. Everything that was paining the queen was on the inside.

  “He was psychotic, mother. He killed Uncle Orion in cold blood. But he’s dead now, and we can get out of here, reclaim our throne, and live in peace.”

  Edina’s gaze remained unseeing, her expression bland disinterest as London stooped beside them. “How is she?”

  Genevieve shook her head. “We must get her somewhere safe.”

  “We’re leaving directly. If you’ll come this way, Your Majesties.”

  Both Genevieve and London helped the Goddess to stand and led her outside. When Genevieve looked over her shoulder at the remaining bandits and Roy following them, she saw that Cris was the only one to remain in the room, stoically watching the direction that Winx had left in.

  Winx was prepared to prod Keaton into speaking. But she barely had time to pace the floor of the empty room he led her into before he started talking.

  “I understand that things have been hectic,” he said. “And it may seem easy to run away. But what kind of life will you be going to, Winx? You’ll never officially clear your name. As soon as the lixyn Queendom is up and operating again, your crimes will be held against you. It’s possible it’ll be worse because you chose to go AWOL in their time of need.”

  Winx crossed her arms over her chest. “If London and Genevieve choose not to give me a break after all of this? They’ll never fully release me from my duty.”

  “All of this will come storming back into your life. If your parents truly want you safe, then they would advise you to see this through to the end.”

  “How can I pass this up?” Winx asked him. “You wouldn’t! Nothing would keep you away from your pack. Why do you expect me to slave away to a Queendom that ruined my life when I can go back to where I belong?”

  “What if you don’t belong there anymore?” Keaton pulled her close. “You’ve built new attachments. Haven’t you? You have a different life now.”

&nbs
p; Winx didn’t allow herself to sink into the security of his arms. “I’ve almost lost my life more than once. I did lose my wings. I can’t believe you expect me to stay here, knowing what I’ve gone through. I’ve suffered enough.”

  Keaton’s brow drooped. “What would I do without you? How can you leave after...”

  Winx’s nostrils flared a moment before she spoke. “Anything that was good about our night together was tarnished when that barn got burned down.”

  “You can’t turn your back on us because of a few trials.”

  “There was never an “us”, Keaton. You’ve always put your home life first. I have to do the same. You may not have lived amongst my clan, like I did yours, but mine is every bit as special. And they need me, too.”

  Keaton crumpled as she pulled back. “Please, Winx. Don’t leave me.”

  Her heart was hammering in her chest, and the pain on his face startled her. When had their relationship grown so intense?

  “I have to, Keaton.” She wouldn’t say that she was sorry. Because she wasn’t. Instead, she pushed past him. “And you have to go, too. Your family needs to know that you are okay.”

  She walked closer to the door until they were on two different sides of the room.. The separation was exactly what they needed. If she drew a clear line, maybe it would be easier. On them both.

  Keaton’s hands were out in front of him, as if still clutching an invisible Winx there. He seemed at a total loss, struggling for the right thing to say. But there was nothing that he could say. Her mind was made up.

  “It’s time to go, Keaton,” she said finally.

  Winx walked through the door, not looking back at the man that she had hurt.

  The group departed without many words. Cris and Winx got into one van as the bandits and remainder of the lixyn authority crawled into another. London didn’t try to change Winx’s mind about leaving. Instead, he bowed his head at her choice, not saying whether or not there would be consequences for her decision.