Blood Stained Tranquility

by N. Isabelle Blanco

  Eve returned the favor, jumping up high enough to elbow him in the back of the head. Touching back down on the ledge, she rammed her head into his middle, making him skid several inches backward. She followed that with a left uppercut that caught him under the chin.

  He caught her right on the tit with the tip of his steel-toed boot. Her rib cracked, the sound of it breaking almost audible.

  Eve stumbled away from him, clutching at her chest. Fury was an atomic mushroom going off inside her. She knew they had to pretend, and do an Oscar-worthy job at it, but no one kicked her in the fucking tit, broke her rib, and got away with it.

  Crying out, she dematerialized, her molecules going hypersonic in his direction. She rematerialized right as she got in front of him, her body reforming just in time to collide with his and send him flying.

  Time seemed to slow down. Enteax flew backward, and Evesse was practically floating right on top of him. She raised her sword in the air before bringing it down on him. At the last second, she shifted it so that it sliced through his mid-section, going deep, but not far enough to cut him in half.

  His blood hit her face, and there was no denying that a part of her took satisfaction in it. The part that still remembered what it had felt like to be ripped apart by the power of that vortex. She propelled herself upward, until her feet were right above where she’d just sliced.

  He took the kick into his wound with barely a grunt, even though her boot went deep into his abdomen, hitting what obviously had to be his intestines.

  This time, Makayla screamed his name as his body went flying at thousands of miles per hour toward the ground. It took less than a second for him to make impact, and his body went at least ten feet through the cement, dirt, and pipes that made up the town’s underground infrastructure.

  Water spewed out of the pipes, flooding the hole, and the wave of mud that developed covered him.

  Eve dematerialized, landing on the roof top next to the building Makayla was on. One look told her Enteax wasn’t coming back out of the hole anytime soon, but she could sense he was still alive down there, somehow. His energy signature had started to become way too familiar.

  Panting, she clutched at her rib. It would heal, but without Ved or Zen’s help, it was going to take a while. Her blood-covered boot slid across the floor as she shuffled to the ledge, leaning on it.

  Big mistake.

  The painful hum that had been eating at her mind before was turning into something more vicious. Something nasty that seemed angry that she’d hurt Enteax. Go fucking figure. Yeah, right then he’d been doing something selfless, but the guy was no saint. On top of that, she hadn’t punished any of the other beings her powers had originally wanted her to punish.

  Hunger. This was definitely a gnawing, unmerciful, utterly fickle hunger that obviously turned on her at the drop of a hat if she didn’t give it what it wanted. Reminded her of the R’mannev.

  Eve looked up, catching sight of a row of demolished houses. All of them were the simple, two-story kind, with their little front lawns. Lawns that were now littered with what was left of the houses.

  And the houses’ inhabitants.

  She gasped as her eyes landed on a dead little girl, her blonde hair and pretty purple dress covered in dirt and mud.

  A toddler. She was a tiny, adorable, completely innocent toddler.

  The scream that ripped out of Evesse’s throat was an ear-splitting wave that exploded into a high-frequency pulsation that rushed all around her.

  Glass exploded outward from the still standing buildings and houses.

  Below, anything with ears fell to their knees, clutching at their heads.

  And when that scream was done, the little girl was still lying down there in her own blood.

  Evesse opened her mouth, falling to her knees, tasting the blood that was leaking out of her eyes as her powers incapacitated her, and opened her mouth again.

  This time, the scream that left her was Mavrak’s name.

  Twenty humans had huddled together in the basement of the warehouse Zeniel stumbled into. Their gods-awful fear had called to him, even as he’d been facing off with one of Vermylea’s warriors. Dersix, God of Impulsion, had been using his powers to fuck with Zen’s powers of Vengeance.

  The red-skinned ass had been trying to force Zen to turn the wraiths on his friends. He’d locked down tight on those powers, refusing to unleash them until he got the upper hand on that bastard. It’d been hell. He’d felt Evesse calling for his Vengeance, and not being able to help her had pissed him the hell off.

  He and Dersix been locked in hand-to-hand combat when the fear of the humans had broken through everything, hitting Zen in the chest and unleashing his powers of Tranquility.

  There were too many of them huddled in one place, their minds nearly breaking from the horror they were feeling.

  Zen had slammed his boot into Dersix’s face so hard he’d sent him flying in Cyake’s direction. Cy was still in wolf form, but he was able to sense what Zen was about to do. He gave him a nod before turning on Dersix and attacking him. With the God of Impulsion distracted, Zen was able to dematerialize and trace the source of all that fear.

  His feet landed on the cement floor of the basement with a crunch. The humans gave a collective gasp when they saw him, huddling away from him and holding onto each other.

  Seeing how injured they were was only the beginning of his rage-spiral. Their emotional grids were shredded to hell. Their minds were decimated, laid barren of everything but self-preservation and utter despair at what they’d witnessed and gone through. Seeing their grids broke the last of Impulsion’s hold on him, unleashing Vengeance inside him more powerful than ever.

  But first, he had to take care of the humans. Calm them and get them out. He wouldn’t be able to focus on the battle knowing and feeling them there.

  Ducking to avoid a low-hanging beam, he edged closer to them, moving at a snail’s pace. He locked onto all of their grids at once, even though doing so was just as painful for him as the emotions they were feeling.

  “I’m not going to hurt you.” Tranquility pulsed out of him in blue and gray waves only he could see. It wasn’t until he saw them then, while feeling so much Vengeance churning within him, that he really accepted the fact that he was one with both sides. The humans stared at him wide-eyed as he approached, but they didn’t make any effort to move farther away from him.

  Not that they could. They were already with their backs against the walls.

  He could see his powers of Tranquility sliding into each of their grids and burrowing into their minds, one molecule of energy at a time. “I can help you get out of here.”

  “What is this? Is this the end?” one extremely young girl asked, brown eyes wide.

  Zen shook his head. He came to a stop in front of them, and got down on his knees in front of the girl. “No. We are making sure it isn’t. I can help you.” He extended a gloved hand, making sure to keep the calming waves coming out of it steady and strong.

  The girl reached out, her teary eyes focused on his. Their fingertips touched. The tears slid out of her eyes and she launched herself into Zen’s arms. He caught her, careful with her fragile form, his ears picking up on her small sobs. She shook uncontrollably. He closed his eyes, cranking up the peace waves.

  “I can help get all of you out of here. You need to trust me,” he told the others, making sure to take the time to stare each and every one of them in the eye and show them how serious he was.

  One by one they nodded at him, their fear abating a little more.

  It was going to take time to dematerialize all of them, especially considering how far he had to take them. He had to get them at least past the highway leading out of town, away from all the carnage. Most of them were probably going to get sick from dematerializing, and there was always the danger of some of their organs not being able to handle it and shutting down—

  He still had to try. He couldn’t leave them there.


  “Zen.”

  He turned, seeing Ianythi behind him. Her blue and white armor, so much like her brother’s, was covered in blood. She seemed out of breath, and her pupils were way too dilated. Yeah, most of the blood on her was obviously from battle, but it was the blood at the corners of her mouth that had him worried.

  Shit. She’d been feeding.

  “I’ll get them out of here. You go back out there. We need you out there.”

  The humans’ fear spiked back up one level at her arrival.

  “You can trust her.” At least, Zen hoped so. He nodded reassuringly at the humans, gently extricated the girl from his arms, and made his way to Nythi.

  “You’ve been feeding. Are you sure you got this?” he asked once he was close enough for only her to hear.

  “I had to. Needed the intel,” she replied under her breath.

  She hadn’t killed the Maeltzkon agents she’d fed off. He could see that. “You sure you got the bloodlust under control?”

  Her stare snapped away from the humans and slapped him in the face with the force of her annoyance. “I haven’t even begun to enter bloodlust. I’m fine. For now,” she admitted. “Go out there. I’ll start evacuating the humans.”

  A blast of air behind her heralded the arrival of another immortal in the basement. Looking behind her, he saw the golden-skinned, tattooed Sesengt named Agathen. He nodded in Zen’s direction, his hazel-green eyes then moving to the humans. “I will help her get them out of here. You are much needed above.”

  All right, then. With Agathen there, Zen at least had some assurance that there would be someone around to control Nythi in case her bloodlust did rear its head. As if she’d heard the thought, Nythi glared up at him, her stare as good as a middle finger pointed at his face.

  Zen sent one last wave of peace at the humans. “They’ll get you out of here.”

  Just as he turned to leave, a scream tore through the air that was powerful enough to shake the building. The humans cried out as their eardrums shattered.

  Evesse.

  He knew it was her even before the next scream came, this one calling out for Mavrak desperately.

  He flashed outside, his vision getting lost behind a sea of red.

  Chapter 36

  Eve pulled with all the immortal strength in her body, tearing the Refluth’s head off its shoulders. The body fell to the floor as she turned and flung the head like a bowling ball, taking the legs of another Refluth out from under it.

  “Die. You will all die here today!”

  The sun and all the light in a five mile radius disappeared under a red and black cloud. The sound of thousands of wraiths coming to life filled the air, their laughs echoing inside the mist.

  She froze, her pain, anger, and need for retribution disappearing under a wave of pure disbelief.

  All around her, the wraiths multiplied, attacking every single Aviraji warrior, minion, and creature in sight.

  All of them. Thousands ripped apart as their sins were replayed before their eyes.

  All at the same time.

  Holy . . . shit.

  This is what her man was capable of. This is why everyone feared Mavrak so much.

  The human agents scattered in every direction, running for their lives. Aviraji warriors began dematerializing, just as desperate to escape the reach of the wraiths. Only the Refluths and ceFtuts remained, and a few of the Aviraji warriors that hadn’t been able to get away fast enough.

  The multitude of screams became all she could hear.

  One Refluth managed to evade the reach of the wraiths, twisting and turning out of reach and heading straight in her direction.

  Dimithinia jumped up behind it, grabbing onto its shoulders, and even through the mist, Evesse could see that her eyes had gone entirely black.

  “Die,” she whispered in a double tone.

  The creature fell to the ground, lifeless. Not even a twitch. Its life was given in an act of total obedience to the female that had demanded it.

  It was far beyond what Eve could command. Evesse controlled death only because Mavrak gave it to her. What Dimithinia had just done was something else entirely.

  She ran at a dark-blue skinned Aviraji, catching him before the wraiths could. Two words, “die now,” and the male fell to the floor, his black eyes unseeing.

  Dead.

  The huge hands of a Refluth came at Dimi from behind, and the wraiths were spiraling to life feet from it, but there wasn’t going to be enough time. It was going to grab her if Eve didn’t do something.

  She materialized in front of Dimithinia just in time. It wasn’t the Refluth’s hands that they had to dodge. Its entire body was catapulted into the air as a wave of red, blue, and white energy hit it straight on.

  Eve slammed her hands down on Dimi’s shoulders, pushing them both toward the ground just as seven feet of nasty flew in a spiral over their heads.

  It landed on the concrete behind them, the tri-colored energy it had been hit with flaring so brightly around it that it lit up the darkness of the mist. The wraiths got to it just as it started to change, becoming another of those silver creatures. The wraiths floated above it, obviously confused, then continued on, clearly looking for another victim to attack.

  Turning, she caught sight of Soleria, hands extended as she sent another wave of power at a ceFtut.

  She was shaking. Sweating. Unsteady on her feet as she sent out another blast.

  She was still human.

  “Sol! What the fuck are you doing?”

  How the hell had she gotten there?

  Soleria’s heart stuttered inside her chest, and Eve heard it clear across the feet that separated them.

  No. No. “Stop! Sol!”

  Leaving Dimi crouched and panting on the floor, Evesse shot for her best friend, determined to stop her before she overloaded herself and something really bad hap—

  Soleria’s heart gave another sputter, sounding like a splat as it struggled to pump blood in her chest. Eve reached for her, went to grab her shoulders—

  Sol’s heart stopped. Eve watched all the life leak out of those baby blues right as the mist disappeared and the daylight reclaimed the world around them.

  “Soleria!”

  Eve’s scream was echoed by a heart wrenching, ear-splitting howl.

  Soleria’s body landed on the ground, her dark red hair fanning out beneath her.

  “No!” Ismini screamed from somewhere behind Eve. “Soleria! No!”

  Another howl, this one closer this time.

  Sinking to her knees, Evesse stopped breathing, her ears searching desperately for any sound, a heartbeat, a fucking breath . . .

  There was no energy signature. Nothing. Her soul wasn’t in there anymore.

  No. Fuck, no!

  “Move!” Dimithinia shoved Eve out of the way, throwing her several feet to the right. She looked way too pale, and on the verge of passing out herself, but the female crouched over Soleria, hands pressed to her chest as if she was about to start CPR. “You shall not die. You shall live.” Instead of the black energy that came out of her while she killed their enemies, pure white currents shot out of her fisted hands and into Soleria’s chest.

  Soleria’s upper body contorted off the floor, as if she’d been shocked by a defibrillator.

  “Live, damn you. I command you to live.”

  Another dose of that white energy; another contortion of Soleria’s back.

  Her baby blue eyes shot open momentarily, and the hard inhale she took burst out from her parted lips. Soleria’s body fell back to the floor, her eyes closing. The sight of her chest rising and falling made Eve’s word spin.

  Dimi moved back, breathing shallowly. The sleeves of her long black coat rose up a few inches.

  That’s when Eve caught a glimpse of a very familiar looking arm cuff around Dimithinia’s wrist.

  A red-skinned, yellow-haired male materialized behind Dimithinia, sword raised.

  Evesse couldn’t even m
ove. Wide-eyed, and almost completely absent of the reality around her, she watched as the male brought that sword down, his blade taking Dimi’s head off her shoulders.

  The next howl that rang out was different from the first, but no less agonized.

  Blood spewed all over Soleria. The male dematerialized just as a wave of black and red mist came at him, missing him. Dimi’s headless body fell to the ground next to Sol’s, her head rolling several inches.

  Then, both body and head were gone, disappearing in a poof of dark smoke.

  Tears ran down Eve’s face, mixing with the blood still on her cheeks. She knew, beyond all the shit twisting in her head, that Dimi wasn’t gone. She’d be back. Whatever Dimithinia was now, she had clearly been given the power over life and death.

  That didn’t make witnessing her murder any easier to handle.

  Ianthen, in wolf-form, came running toward them, his legs seeming to fall out from under him as he got close to Sol. He fell to the ground next to her, his massive canine head on her chest. Energy crackled around him, and the fur on his body shimmered and shook.

  He was trying to change back to his regular form, but he couldn’t.

  The whimpers that left him were able to penetrate some of the numbness that had Eve frozen. Ismini appeared next to Soleria, falling to her knees and cradling her head in her now gloved hands. Ianthen rubbed his head into Soleria’s chest, clearly taking in the sound of her heart beating as his body kept twitching and shimmering.

  Ismini looked up at Evesse, tears striking down her cheeks. “Dimithinia—”

  Eve heard her dead voice answering her friend. “She’s fine. She came back last time.”

  Dyletri appeared behind Ismini, wrapping her in his arms and staring down at Soleria and Ianthen with an enraged scowl.

  Zen. Evesse needed him. Where was he?

  He materialized in front of her, his face sliced open, a gash cutting across his forehead, eyebrow, and the bridge of his nose. He fell to his knees, shaking, his red-and-black eyes tortured.

  And still, he reached for her, bringing her to his chest and cupping her head gently with his palm. He pressed his nose to her hair, sniffing her, and rocking her back and forth as her sobs started to really gain steam.