by Hayley Todd
Carson and I exchanged a look.
Are you sure? I heard, echoing through my mind.
His response to my expression would’ve been comical under any other circumstance. At this moment, I pushed it into the back burner of my mind and leapt forward.
The shimmering wall of darkness shrank away from me as I entered, bulging around my skin like jelly before pulling me into its depths. It was dark enough within that even with my hyper vision, I still couldn’t see.
“Kyra,” came Carson’s voice from the darkness. “Can you do what you did when we found your mom?” He asked.
I considered. I remembered the steps even though I hadn’t consciously done them. I reached my senses into the surrounding air and could feel thick vibrations against my skin.
I called to them, tempting them to my will. They gathered within me like an all-consuming fiery energy. I stopped pulling, channeling the energy within time to coalesce into my palm.
Again, shimmering electricity danced across my skin, rolling into a form in my hand. The globe shaped ball thickened and danced, rising above my palm.
I looked up to realize the inky blackness has shied away from my light. I could see Carson now, standing before me. He was watching me with fascination.
Anton slid up my other side, watching the night.
I continued my pursuit, leaping away into the night. The light followed us, staying securely seated above my hand. The darkness peeled away, showing our path clearly.
We rounded into a clearing before the pain gripped my chest.
It gripped me like an all-encompassing fire within my body, dragging me to my knees. I could see to either side Carson and Anton doing the same. They both dropped to the ground, gurgling and struggling to breathe.
Then the pain vanished.
From the darkness before me, Henrick stepped forward, Will clutched by the neck under one of his hands. He had a sneer on his face and was glaring down at the two men that flanked me. “These fools,” he growled. Within a heartbeat he had thrown Will to the ground and was in front of me, one arm gripped tightly around my bicep, the other tight on my chin.
He breathed onto me and it splashed across my skin. “What is it about you that seems to captivate all of those around you?” He asked in a growl, his voice sent chills across my skin.
He leaned forward, running his nose along the skin of my neck with a deep breath. Panic seethed in me. Was he going to bite me? I hated the part of me that grew excited at the idea.
The night was silent when he finally stopped his advance at that spot Carson loved, just beneath my ear. I pushed against him but he fought me down easily. I wasn't in a position of power at this exact moment.
But I could be.
I lashed my foot out, cracking his shin with a pop. He fell to his injured knee, releasing my face. I reared my leg back and slammed my foot into him, sending him tumbling head over end across the clearing. He'd barely landed before he had righted himself.
He looked back at me, his amber eyes glowing in the night. He held his hands to either side and I could sense him pulling from the air. The scent of burned charcoal filled the night air. As though he were dunking his arms beneath fire, flames danced from his fingertips to his elbows. It danced into the night air, not burning but casting its heat into the night.
He advanced on me and my stomach sank. I stumbled backwards just as a wall of flame sprang from the ground in a circle around us. I shrank away from the heat as it singed along my skin.
The closer he got to me, the tighter the circle shrank inward, pushing me in his direction. I scrambled across the ground away from it. He got within feet of me before my eyes found him.
I leapt forward, crashing into his waist and tossing him backward. He lurched across the ground, the flame flowing around him. I scurried across the ground to keep up, earning a scalded welt across my back and my sweater burned away. I pulled its collar, yanking it out of my way and tossing it to the ground.
Henrick righted himself, facing off with me. He showed no sign of burns but blood dribbled down his chin. I felt the grin slide onto my lips as he leapt at me.
I ducked and tumbled beneath him but he collided with my shoulder sending me skirting across the ground. Flames scalded the backs of my arms as I lifted myself to my feet.
His fist came soaring in with a sound. His knuckles cracked into my chin and my head exploded into light. He hit me twice more and I knew if I remained under those blows that I would be unconscious in short order.
Just as the fourth blow were to land, I slammed my head forwarded, colliding my forehead into his nose. He lurched away from me, the line of fire retreating a foot. He had his hand pressed tightly over his nose and locked a furious gaze on me.
He threw one of those emblazoned arms toward me and I barely had time to gasp a breath before a fireball smashed into my chest. I was knocked from my feet furiously smacking my arms into my chest. Flames had scorched the skin of my chest and eaten away part of my shirt.
After several painful collisions with my own chest, the flame died away and Henrick stood over me. He reached down and clutched me by my shoulder, pulled me close to him. He leaned over my neck again and I knew his teeth weren't far behind.
And then there was Will’s limp body. Just outside of the ring of fire, with flame licking at his boots, Will lay silently on the ground. He had two small puncture wounds along his neck and blood running across his face.
He had bitten him. He had bitten Will. And he wasn't moving.
I didn't have to call for the power this time. It swelled around me, casting my skin with a sheen of white blue light. Sparkling lightning bolts burst from the skin of my arm, connecting with Henrick’s clenched fist and bubbling into his body. He leapt back, dropping me from my arched position into a heap.
I pulled myself to my feet, mesmerized by the dancing electricity. My eyes shot to Henrick. He looked afraid, genuinely terrified. He should be.
I lurched after him, my hands connecting with his chest. I grabbed his dinner jacket by its lining and threw him to the side. The fire followed once more, forcing me to dance along behind him.
He leapt to his feet, shooting another fireball from his extended fist.
I dove aside this time and the sphere of liquid fire skirted along my skin. Blood welled from my arm, soaking my sleeve.
Henrick didn't waste time and had rushed up to me in a burst of speed. His fist crushed into my neck. I was tossed away from him, my arm becoming fully engulfed in flame. I couldn't even flail, my body didn't respond.
I pulled more energy, letting it seep into my bones. The flame along my arm dissipated and I rose to my feet, everything working together once more. I turned back to Henrick, leaving through the air and clasping onto his shoulder. I slammed him to the ground and he didn't the dirt below our feet. I straddled over his hips, slamming my fists into his head. It snapped to the side obligingly.
As I reared back for my next punch his fiery hand leapt to my wrist. He twisted and I knew the bone had snapped before the agony filled me. He yanked his arm to the side, tossing me away from him.
I lay there on my back, staring up into the darkness of night. The moon was just cresting the trees far above, casting its glittering glow across the circle.
“You're lucky I still need you,” Henrick growled, advancing on me. He stepped closer, nudging my foot with his toe. It flopped helplessly to the side. He lifted his boot and crashed it down onto my lower leg. I exploded with pain, my vision blanking to a white light.
As the color faded, Henrick crawled across me, much as I had done to him and tilted my head to the side. He didn't stop before he did it this time. Burning anguish echoed from the bite in my neck. It was hot and painful and burned. He pulled from me until my vision had gone from circles of white to a border of black.
The color drained from my skin, the light fading, receding back inside me.
He finally let me go and walked away, leaving me there. He stepped over
to where Will was still unconscious. The flame wall followed him but skirted around me, leaving me in the darkness.
Henrick snatched Will up by the neck before tossing him limply over his shoulder. He turned to give me one last glare and the last words I heard before the world disappeared were, “We will speak again soon.”
And then everything went black.
Chapter Seventeen
I awoke with a metal table beneath my back. It was cold, sending a shiver down my back. Warmth was pressed to my mouth and it slowly drew me into clarity. A warm arm slid around my back, pulling me in.
My eyes flickered open to Carson above me, his wrist pressed against my lips and his other arm braced beneath me. As my eyes flitted up to his, he withdrew from my lips, pulling me into a sitting position.
He immediately pressed his lips against mine, pulling me close.
“Hey,” I said as we broke apart.
“Hey,” he whispered back.
A door behind him burst open and my dad stumbled in. He found me and his eyes analyzed my body. They narrowed on the wounds down my arm and leg. “That bastard,” he growled. “I will have him destroyed.”
“He fed from her,” Carson rasped.
The ground beneath us shook and my father sucked in a long breath. It was several moments before the floor stilled. Damien was seething. His eyes glowed the color of fresh grass. A shiver rippled down my spine.
So, my dad was terrifying.
He stepped toward me. “Kyra, you need to relax and prepare for your coronation ball. My men and I will be going after Henrick. We will return for the ball.” His eyes shifted up to Carson, “You, heal my daughter. And protect her in my absence.”
Carson nodded.
Damien exchanged a hard look with me.
I sighed, looking at my broken leg. “Be careful, dad.”
His eyes lit up and he leaned forward, kissing me on the forehead. He clasped Carson on the shoulder, sharing a quick glance with him and then headed out to track down Henrick.
“What happened?” I asked, once my father was gone.
Carson turned back to me, looking me over. He held his wrist up to my lips and nodded for me to go ahead.
I bit into his wrist and he spoke.
“You kicked Henrick’s ass up until he drained you. Your magick actually stands up to his. That's...indescribable.”
I looked curiously at him, holding his arm up so he didn't have to.
He continued, “Magicks are born with the innate draw to nature that is the ability, magick. It develops over time. The older you are, the better hold you obtain on the abilities. The best magick wielders can even manifest the element in full. You are newborn. You should be struggling to even be aware of your magick, not manifesting and throwing it around.”
I looked down at my hands in awe. I dragged in, the gesture becoming easier, and my hands began to glow.
“You’re getting control,” he muttered, awed.
I flexed my fingers. It was becoming easier to wield. It was like I was digging deeper into my own memories, pulling them back, piece by piece. “It’s like I’m supposed to know how,” I responded in a quiet voice, trailing into silence.
My leg had knitted back together but was still tender. My arm seemed to have already resolved itself and the burn marks had washed away.
“Where’s Kellic?” I asked, allowing him to slip my arm over his shoulder to take the weight off of my leg. He held me waddle to the door and assured me that he would take me to her.
We had been in some sort of medical wing in Damien’s house. In order to get to Kellic, he hobbled me down corridors until we reached a hall guarded by two men. They nodded to Carson as we passed.
He led me to one of the doors on this hall and swung it open, revealing a room beyond. In this sitting room, my mother, Gabrielle, and Kellic sat. Carson led me in and seated me beside Kellic.
“Good to see you up and moving, Ky,” she said, giving me a sideways hug. I nodded to her as we separated, looking directly at my mom for the first time since we found her.
She was beginning to look more and more like the mother I remembered, her face filling out and her cheeks getting a rosy glow. She hadn’t aged a day making me believe she had been a vampire before she’d been taken.
Gabrielle too was beginning to look like the aunt I had remembered. I recalled her playing tag with Will, Kellic, and myself. I remembered her helping me find hiding places to try to scare my mother. She had been a staple in my life as a child. She doted on me nearly as much as my own mother, but never like with Will and Kellic.
She had cut her hair short, asymmetric and it hung around her face in straight dark locks. Her eyes which I’d always remembered as a blue exactly like my own mothers were instead a golden brown.
“Kyra,” my mother said, reaching and touching my arm with her fingertips. She felt exactly as she always had; a comfort. “I’m so glad that you’re okay.” Her face darkened as she hissed, “We’ll find that bastard and get Will back.”
His name brought back my helpless frustration while fighting Henrick. “He bit Will,” I whispered, looking slowly up at them. “He wasn’t moving.”
My mother’s eyes flicked to Gabrielle who looked like I had punched her in the gut.
“He was alive,” came Anton’s voice from the door. It was like a bubble had been popped, releasing the air from the room. Shoulders sagged, letting go of the weary tension.
Anton came to stand beside me, crowding in front of Carson. “I got a chance to check on him right before my dad split my skull open and slammed me into a tree,” he said nonchalantly, gesturing to a healed wound on his forehead.
I gave him a thankful look and he simply smirked in response.
“Thank God,” Gabrielle whispered, staring into the carpet.
“What happened to you, mother?” I asked, my eyes seeking hers. She met my gaze and took a deep breath. I could see Carson nodding to her over my shoulder.
“When you were six years old,” she began, “your aunt and I cared for you and your cousins,” she glanced to Kellic. “Your father did what he could but to directly interfere would’ve increased your chances of being dragged into this life. Carson protected you always,” she glanced up at him before continuing.
“One afternoon, we had gone on a picnic, you, me, Aunt Gabrielle, and your cousins. We were seated in a park, on a blanket, with picnic baskets in tow.”
I remembered this, the scene swirling before my eyes.
Will, Kellic, and myself sat on a checkered blanket in the shade. My mother was straightening the blanket, Aunt Gabrielle snatching food from the basket and distributing it to us kids.
It was just us and some people throwing Frisbees farther down the field. It was a beautiful, sunny afternoon. My mother kissed me on the forehead, reminding me to be careful with my food. “You wouldn’t want to ruin that pretty dress,” she said, dreamily, glancing to my yellow dress.
Along the edge of the fleeting, I saw a man, watching. He had dark hair and a beard and twin orbs of gold in his eyes.
My mother was like that, stretched over to kiss me, when the booms started.
With an earth shattering shake, the clearing exploded into dust and fire. My mother was blown away as warm arms caught me around the waist. I flew through the air, ahead of the blasts, carried away to safety.
Will and Kellic dangled from the man’s other arm. He dashed away, down the field and back to my grandmother’s home.
It didn’t take us long to get there.
He put us down by the fountain, my grandmother running out and scrubbing at our ruddy, filthy faces. The man and my grandmother shared a look before he disappeared back the way we had come.
My mother had explained this part of the story from her perspective. She hadn’t seen Henrick in the trees. She also hadn’t known where Carson had taken us but had pieced the story together.
From this point, she continued. “When the explosions started, Gabrielle and I got se
parated. I found her after Henrick had. When I arrived, Henrick had held her head in his arms, ready to snap her neck and dismember her on top of that. He gave me a choice. Either I go with him and be his prisoner, or he killed Gabrielle. It wasn't a hard decision,” she said, glancing to her sister.
I felt a pang of hurt and anger growing in my chest. It may have been irrational but the idea that she would leave me in an instant for her sister left me a bit bereft.
“Henrick took us to one prison after another, dragging us along with him wherever he went. He had multiple covens of witches working with him to diminish our abilities. Without the extra strength or magick, we were basically helpless. He kept us fed, just enough to keep us alive, and tortured us on a daily basis.
“Your father and Henrick had both propositioned me when I was younger. I had always found Henrick to be abrasive and self-serving and had fallen in love with you father regardless. Henrick had never lost the grudge and pined after me always. When we had found out that we were pregnant with you, we married and severed Henrick's possibility of ruling, heavily reinforcing your father’s reign. He had been after us ever since. When your father left, he was trying to keep attention away from us both but Henrick found us. He wanted to kill you but Carson saved you. He took Gabrielle and myself instead of killing us. It's the only time his obsession with me has benefited me.”
She clutched hands with Gabrielle, pain and horror sketched into her features. She finally looked up at me, conveying her sorrow with a simple glance.
My fury burned as Henrick’s twisted face filled my mind. He had literally been a menace for my entire life. And now he had Will. Was he going to hold him captive for eighteen years like my mother? I had to find him.
I had promised my dad that I would sit tight until the coronation. So that's what I would do. But I would find Henrick and I would make him pay.
I didn't realize that I had been seeing red, my fists clenched on my knees. Anton pressed his fingers against my hand and the fury puffed out of me in a breath.
“What is that?” I asked, staring down at his touch. “What are you doing?”