Fate and Fury

by Quinn Loftis

  Unfortunately, evil always seems to find more evil. All evil things are drawn to each other, seeking out those who would help them in their cause. Though the veil to the underworld was hidden, the evil beyond it was great and as more and more lost souls were cast there after their death, and so the evil grew. It began to permeate the air around the Veil such that other beings could detect it. There was no one who knew how to open it, but that didn’t stop them from trying.

  As the sons of men began to allow evil into their hearts, and as they began to stray farther from their God, they began seeking out other ways to fill that void inside them. They began to worship other beings, or objects. They sought out meaning for their lives in ways that caused darkness to creep into their hearts. God desired men to have free will and he would not force their loyalty to him. Sin was corrupting the world and Lucifer was allowed some control in the human realm. That sin gave Lucifer just the opening he needed to whisper lies into the ears of those who would listen. He pointed them in the direction divinity and sorcery where they learned how to contact the dead. They thought that they were contacting loved ones who had passed on, but in reality they were drawing the demon spirits to them and giving them power, so much power that the demons began to be able to manipulate the actions of men and women still living.

  Once again, an angel of God came to the leaders of the supernatural races. He asked that we keep a close eye on the evil gathering in the world. The veil to the underworld was no longer a secret to all men. They began seeking it out under the direction of the demons that had seeped into their hearts. Surprisingly however it was not a human that became the tool used to make it possible to open the Veil.

  One male continually sought out any interaction from the malevolent beings. Over time the demons relentless bombardment of his thoughts led to actions that they themselves directed through him, and one day he found himself at the Veil. The demons continued their assault on his mind and he became so attuned to their wickedness that he clearly heard, the directions on how to open the Veil. He followed their instructions to write the ritual in a book, so that when the appointed time came, the book would be read, and the ritual performed. I happened upon the male when he was attempting to read a language that he didn’t even know, though he had written it. I took the book and tried to destroy it, but nothing I tried was successful, so I hid it in our vast library. It has been here, untouched ever since.”

  The room was quiet once Thalion’s voice no longer filled the space. The group continued to look for the book and it was awhile before someone finally said something.

  “That does not explain how the Kings of my people have known how to open the Veil,” Cypher pointed out.

  Thalion did not respond, but paused in his searching.

  “Thalion,” Cypher prompted.

  Finally, Thalion turned and looked at the King.

  “The male that found the Veil, the one who wrote the book, he was the Warlock King.”

  Cypher’s eyes widened and he froze where he stood. He felt like he couldn’t get enough air in his lungs and what air he did get in was thick and difficult to exhale.

  “That still doesn’t explain how the others have known,” Lilly said, as she walked over to Cypher’s side. She took his hand and rubbed it gently, a silent reassurance that she was with him.

  “Cypher understands how they all have known,” Thalion said, as he continued to stare at him.

  Cypher nodded. “When the King dies the next in line is given his memories, all of them.”

  “How?” Lilly asked, as she tilted her head back so she could fully see his face.

  “Blood,” Cypher told her. “All things come from blood; life, memories, healing, and even evil.”

  “I hate to break up this moment of painful revelation,” Cyn quipped as she walked over to Thalion, “but I found it.” She handed him the very book they had been looking for.

  Thalion felt a chill run through him as he held it. Cypher’s eyes landed on the book and he felt an unexplainable need to take it, to protect it.

  “Cypher?” He heard his name being called, but it sounded like it was coming from far away.

  “What’s he doing?”

  “He’s drawn to the book because of the knowledge that it holds.” Thalion’s words snapped Cypher out of the trance he had been in.

  “Evil is drawn to evil,” he repeated what the elf had said while telling the story. “Is that why? Is the darkness in me trying to connect with the evil in that book?” Cypher's voice was thick with contempt and his heart tightened painfully in his chest as he was once again reminded that he had made poor choices so many times, and some very recently.

  “No,” Lilly said firmly as she planted herself directly in front of him. He looked down at her and he was able to breathe a little easier as he saw the determination in her eyes.

  “You are not evil. Have you made bad choices? Most definitely, but we all have. We have all, at one time or another, done things that were, for lack of a better term, sinful. It’s how we handle the aftermath that determines who we really are and what path we are on.”

  Cypher raised his hand so that he could cup Lilly’s cheek. He touched her gently, as if she were precious and fragile. His eyes softened as he leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss to her lips.

  “You make me better; you push out the evil,” he whispered against her lips.

  “Then kick the idea that you are evil to the curb,” she snapped. “My heart could never fall for someone evil, so that settles it.”

  “You’ve fallen for me?” Cypher suddenly forgot about the book, his evil and everything around him, his attention was for Lilly alone.

  “Like that’s news to you,” she answered.

  “I hoped, but I did not know little one. What it means to me to hear you say it is beyond words for me.”

  Lilly let him pull her into his broad chest and, for a few breaths, they took comfort in the love that was growing between them.

  Half an hour later, they crossed back into the human realm. Thalion had called on his warriors again and so a Fae, human, and Warlock King stood, surrounded by the elves.

  “So what do we do now?” Cyn asked.

  “It is time for me to meet with the witch.” Cypher pulled his shoulders back and steeled himself for the coming confrontation. “But, before that, I need to call on my own warriors to meet us at the Veil; along with the wolves, and” he glanced at Cyn, “I’m assuming the Fae?”

  Cyn shrugged. “It’s never wise to count on the Council, they are too selfish, and if they determine it is a risk that they don’t feel worth bearing, then they will not come.”

  “Must be nice to think that you pee gold,” Lilly said, as she crossed her arms across her chest.

  “Do I even want to know what that means?” Thalion asked.

  “You’ll figure it out,” Lilly assured.

  “We could move a lot quicker, Cypher, if you would let me flash,” Cyn told him.

  Cypher didn’t look convinced.

  “Why won’t he let you flash?” Thalion asked.

  “Because she is not the only one I’m keeping from flashing to us,” Cypher explained.

  Thalion nodded. “Right, you’ve been making sure others can’t locate you.”

  “Exactly,” he agreed.

  “That was all fine when we didn’t have the information we needed. We have it now,” Cyn pointed to Thalion who was the caretaker of the book until such a time that Cypher would need it.

  “Let me flash to your people, I will tell them to meet us and then you guys can begin your journey to meet Mona.”

  Cypher thought about it and finally realized the wisdom in her plan.

  “Okay, take this,” Cypher removed a necklace he had tucked under his shirt. “Show it to Gerick, he is the leader of my warriors. He will know that I have sent you if you show him this talisman.”

  Cyn took the necklace and put it over her head. “Okay, see you guys soon.”

  �
�Cyn,” Thalion stepped towards her. “Be safe.”

  Cyn nodded and gave him a small smile. “If I don’t see you again...”

  “I’ll see you on the other side,” Thalion finished for her.

  Then she was gone.

  Cypher had Lilly climb onto his back, and then with Thalion and the warrior elves, they took off. They moved so quickly that they barely disturbed the forest around them.

  “Where exactly are we going?” Thalion yelled to Cypher.

  “I’m going to have her meet us thirty miles from the home of Vasile, Alpha to the Romanian wolves.”

  “Then you plan to see the wolves?”

  Cypher nodded. “I decided that it would be wiser to combine our forces and devise a plan. We all have a common enemy here.”

  They ran in silence the rest of the way. Finally, when Cypher could feel the magic of the wolves pulsing on the air, he stopped. He wasn’t sure that they were exactly thirty miles from the mansion but he figured if he was feeling the pack magic this strongly he didn’t need to get any closer. He didn’t put Lilly down right away, but instead looked around the forest. The air felt off, it was thick with magic.

  “The packs have gathered,” he told Thalion.

  “I can feel it too,” Thalion agreed.

  “Feel what exactly?” Lilly asked, as she wiggled to make Cypher put her down.

  “Magic, strong magic,” Cypher explained.

  “What does it feel like?” She asked.

  “Like something crawling across your skin.” Cypher, turned to Thalion, “I think it would be wise if she did not know you were here.”

  Thalion agreed. “Let us take care of your mate while you meet with the witch.”

  Cypher hated to let her out of his sight, but he also didn’t want her to grab Desdemona’s attention.

  “Okay,” he relented.

  He grabbed Lilly around the waist, pulled her to him, and kissed her fervently. He wrapped his hand in her hair and pulled her head back, demanding that she open her mouth. She complied eagerly as her arms slipped around his neck and she pulled him closer. Cypher slowed the kiss down and then kissed her nose, her cheeks, and forehead. He nipped her ear and kissed down her neck to her collar bone, and then finally back up to her lips. When he pulled back to look at her, he chuckled at the dazed expression on her face.

  “Stay safe,” he commanded.

  “Is there more where that came from?”

  “Most definitely,” he told her.

  “Then no worries, I don’t plan on dying until I see my daughter, and then indulge, a little more, in a certain Warlock King.”

  He smirked. “Just a little?”

  “Let’s not get technical on the depth of the indulging okay?”

  She turned to follow Thalion and Cypher slapped her butt.

  Lilly laughed, as the forest, with a slew of warriors at her back, swallowed her up.

  Cypher waited until he could no longer hear the retreating Elves before he called out the witch’s name. “Desdemona,” Cypher called and he focused all his attention on his voice traveling on the wind, seeking out his target. He had no idea how far away she was, so he knew he might be in for a bit of a wait. He began to walk around the forest keeping to a small area. His mind wandered back to the revelation that Thalion had shared. He couldn’t believe that one of his own kind had been touched by evil so deeply. A king had been possessed and controlled. That King brought evil into their race and it had been passed down from King to King. How long had it taken for the memories to fade enough that the kings no longer remembered why they had the knowledge to open the veil to the underworld? At some point in history, they had simply accepted the knowledge without questioning. They had accepted evil into their midst and never wondered about its origin. He wondered then, if they had accepted it, would there be a way to reject it? Were they redeemable despite holding on to something of this magnitude for so long?

  Cypher didn’t realize how long he had been pacing and thinking until he realized the light was beginning to fade from the forest and night made its appearance. He backed up to lean against a tree and listened to the sounds of the forest. Humans never bothered to listen to the sounds around them and didn’t realize that they could learn so much without ever seeing anything. Suddenly a hush fell over the forest and Cypher knew she was approaching.

  “You rang,” Desdemona’s voice carried.

  He waited until he could see her before he responded. Once again, she was mounted on her black steed and the evil that poured off of the witch equally poured off her horse. She dismounted and walked slowly towards him.

  “I did,” he finally answered.

  “You are ready to uphold your end of the bargain?”

  “I will be.”

  Her eyes narrowed, dangerously. “What do you mean, you will be?”

  “I’ve requested my warriors come to protect my mate. You have to know that I will not leave her to fend for herself against the demons you are unleashing.”

  “Technically you are unleashing, but then who’s getting technical?” Mona laughed.

  “I need two days,” Cypher told her.

  “Your warriors will be here in two days’ time?”

  “Yes.”

  “And, they are only here to protect your woman?”

  “Yes.”

  “Would you take a blood oath on it?” Mona watched the King carefully, looking for any sign of weakness.

  “No, I’ve shed the only blood I ever will for you. It is enough to take my word.”

  Cypher waited for her response. His eyes never left hers. He would not allow her to think she was more dominant than he. Though they were not wolves, there was still a struggle for power, because in any race, weakness made you prey, and prey was eaten for dinner.

  “Fine, you have two days. But, then you will…”

  “You don’t need to remind me of my obligation witch. I will be there,” Cypher barked at her.

  She stared daggers at him as she mounted her horse and flew by him, nearly knocking him over; another power play. The move did not trouble Cypher because her time was coming and the power she flaunted so stridently now, would soon be stripped from her, along with her dignity, her pride, and then her life.

  Q

  “I think the best way to go about this, since it’s our first time, is to do Alina alone.” Peri stood in Vasile’s room, with the six other Fae council members gathered around her.

  Vasile stood between the bed where his mate lay and the others in the room.

  Peri had asked for Cynthia to be present just in case Vasile lost his cool.

  “And what exactly do you expect me to do?” Cynthia had asked Peri.

  “Help,” she told her.

  “How? Have you ever seen an enraged wolf? There is nothing that I could do to stop him.”

  “I know,” Peri patted Cynthia, “but you being in the way would give me time to get away.”

  That hadn’t gone over very well with the doctor, but for some reason she had come anyway.

  “What exactly are you going to do?” Vasile asked.

  “We are going to use the stones and try a cleansing spell. It’s a spell meant to clean out the spirit, to push out any darkness that has gotten in, but I don’t know if it will work to break a spell.”

  “There’s only one way to find out.” Peri took a step towards the bed and when Vasile did not move she gave him a pointed look. Finally, after lifting his lip in a snarl, he stepped aside so that she and the others could get closer to his Alpha female.

  Peri took the stones of the Fae and laid them around Alina in a circle on the bed. The Fae gathered in a circle around the bed as well and clasped hands. Peri sat down next to Alina and laid her hands on the female’s head. She closed her eyes and she began to chant.

  “Alina, Alpha, precious to your mate,

  Hear my voice, this is not to be your fate.

  The darkness binding, twisting inside

  Seeking shadowed plac
es in an attempt to hide.

  I call you now from the evil you came,

  You are not strong; you have no power I can’t tame.

  Alina, mother, precious to your pack,

  You fight this evil so we can bring you back.

  There is a light in you that is alive in your heart,

  No curse or spell can ever touch that part.

  I am Perizada. I call on the power of my race,

  You are finished; you will leave without a trace.

  I will pull you from this body wrap you up tight,

  Then cast you far from this place with all my might.

  Alina! Hear my voice I command it of you,

  Open your eyes to everything that’s true,

  Fight the horror fight the fear and lies.

  Fight and you will win as darkness dies.

  Open your eyes Alina. Open your eyes

  Open your eyes.”

  Peri’s voice filled with anger as she watched the spell wrapping itself around Alina’s mind. The Alpha was tired and worn out. Her mind was weak and no longer able to pick fact from lie.

  “OPEN YOUR DAMN EYES ALINA! YOU WILL NOT LET HER WIN!”

  The stones around the she-wolf began to glow so bright they were nearly blinding and still Peri persisted. She yelled as tears streaked her face. This woman she had grown to love, considered a friend, and respected so much, was letting the evil win and that was not acceptable to Peri.

  Vasile walked over behind Peri and placed his hand on the Fae’s shoulder. He pulled power into him, wolf magic, and pushed it into Peri along with his thoughts.

  “You come back to me Alina; we are not done in this life. Don’t you dare give up!”

  He waited for something, anything to tell him she had heard him.

  Her eyes fluttered open and, after several blinks, her vision began to clear. Peri shuddered as she felt the spell leaving Alina’s body. She pulled it into her grasp and walked over to Alston. He wrapped his hands around hers and spoke so low that no one could here. When he dropped his hands, Peri opened hers and let out a sigh of relief. It had worked.