by Hayley Todd
For several seconds that stretched like hours, I was alone. No other thoughts or emotions touched mine. The solitude wasn’t a comfort though. It was as though I’d been dropped into an ice cold pit and left to exist like that, floating between truly being and not being enough. I never realized how truly comforting it was to never really be alone until that connection shattered like frozen pieces of glass. I burned with desire for that connection.
A hand guided me to press my teeth into Carson’s neck. It wasn’t Carson who prompted it though. It was actually Anton, his hand neither warm nor cold on the back of my neck. His face was streaked with blood, like tears dripping from his eyes. It was a horrifying look on him and I fought down an edge of panic that tried to bleed into my awareness.
My teeth sank through warm, soft flesh and my mind detonated with images and emotions and expressions. I felt Carson in a way that I had never felt him before. His existence and mine melded with perfect clarity. I could see all that Carson was and all that he had the potential to be. If I hadn’t been in an odd, floating state, it would’ve stunned my mind. He was strong, a protector. He was intelligent, but caring. He was everything. He was all that I needed and all that I wanted there to be.
Through the haze of pain and broken consciousness, I barely realized when someone ripped my teeth from his, his lips still pressed eagerly to the wound he had left at my neck. My chin was tucked to the side and I again caught sight of Anton. There was a world of heartbreak painted on his countenance. The urging hand at my neck pushed me into him, my teeth easily breaking the surface.
Anton wasn’t warm like Carson but it wasn’t a discomfort. He was exactly my temperature which furthered the feeling that we were one being. I hadn’t been prepared for the flickering impression of him that pressed against my psyche. Anton wasn’t selfless. He was far from it. He was self-serving, arrogant, and prideful. But in that moment, none of his flaws mattered. He was loving, in a way I had never expected. He burned with passion and understanding that I wasn’t sure was capable for anyone else. He was strong, though differently than Carson. He had been through a horrendous amount of hurt in such a short amount of time and I could feel my acceptance and the way it affected me. He loved me for that. I couldn’t decipher that love but it didn’t seem to hold the same weight between us as Carson’s did. That made it no less valid.
We broke apart with a gasp of air. All three of us releasing each other. Anton’s eyes dripped blood, but they glowed, like a miniature sun, they erupted with a blaze of golden-white light. It leaked from his face, illuminating us all. His face was contorted with pain and I wanted nothing more than to pull him in my arms and provide him with whatever amount of comfort I could offer.
I had forgiven him, I realized with a jolt. I felt no fury for him, no anger. I only felt sadness, pity, and a sense of love. It wasn’t what I felt for Carson and I was glad for that. I couldn’t do that to him and I couldn’t do that to Kellic. What I felt for him likened to what I felt for Will. He was family, whether I liked it or not.
I hadn’t realized I had fallen over until I saw the ceiling floating far above. I blinked hard, sitting up slowly. My body hurt, scrapes and cuts meaning nothing compared to the residual burn that existed in my torso. I didn’t feel broken anymore, but I didn’t feel as though I had healed either.
Carson laid on his side, his head resting on his arm, his eyes closed. He had bloody streaks down his face as well. I touched my cheeks, wondering if it were the same on us all and my fingertips came away, sticky with crimson blood. Anton had fallen backwards, nothing to soften the blow as he came to rest on the concrete floor. His eyes were closed now though I could’ve sworn I could still see a golden glow beneath his skin. His cheeks were swathed with blood and he was extremely pale, more so than he always was.
I looked up, realizing my father was nearby, squatted to the ground and watching me curiously. He had a smile on his face as though he hadn’t realized he was doing it. “My daughter,” he whispered, though the room was silent. “You survived.”
I didn’t know I was crying until I felt the hot tears running down my face. I hoped they were simply tears and not more blood but I didn’t care enough to know right now. I attempted to push myself to my feet but my legs immediately buckled, unable to carry my weight.
Damien lurched forward, catching me before I fell back to the ground. He clutched me to his chest with such violence that I was sure he thought I may disappear into a mote of light and vanish into the twilight. He buried his face in my hair, his breath splashing warmly against my skin. Hot tears pressed against my skin and I squeezed him back, unable to see his tears and not wanting him to see anymore of mine. “I love you, dad,” was all I managed to say but it was all that I felt like I needed to.
He pulled away, sitting back on his knees but whispered again. “Kyra, I love you more than this very life.”
Groans elicited from before us. Carson lifted himself, tenderly touching his face and seeing the blood splashed across his hand. Then his green eyes whipped to me and he leapt up from the floor, crashing into me. The impact knocked the breath from my lungs but I didn’t care. My fingers fought to find purchase against his shirt and I held him tightly to me, needing his warmth pressed against my skin, needing him.
He ran his hand over my hair again and again as though he needed to reassure himself that I truly was there. He lifted my chin to look up at him, crushing my lips with a hungry, needy kiss. I returned it with desperation, the odd events of the past several moments whipping their way through my mind and blinding me. I wanted to drown myself in him and him alone.
But there it was, the pull of another imprint, the urge to have another with me, for it to not be just Carson and I. I pulled away from him, and blinked hard, looking down to Anton who hadn’t actually moved as of yet. Should he have gotten up already? I could tell by his posture that Carson was carefully watching my face as I gazed down at the man who had saved us both.
I reached carefully toward him, my fingertips grazing the blood stains on his face. The moment my skin connected with his, he jolted forward, golden eyes wide and unseeing. He was breathing hard, gasping for air, his teeth exposed. I pressed my palms to his face, scooting closer and brought his face to mine, staring deeply into those eyes.
“Hey, it’s okay,” I cooed.
His eyes frantically darted around the room before settling on me. I could feel his panic, his horror, and I wished I could do what he did and draw it away from him. After a moment of eye contact, his breathing began to slow, his frantic eyes calming.
He lifted his hand and brushed away some of the blood on my cheek. “You’re alive,” he breathed, seeming surprised.
“We both are,” I replied, removing my hands from his face and leaning back so he could see Carson sitting beside me. “You did it, Anton.” I gave him my best appreciative smile. Without him, I wouldn’t be sitting up right now. I found a depth of forgiveness within me that I had never know. I didn’t care anymore about any of the things he had done. I saw the good as outweighing the bad.
He beamed up at me, his gaze exhausted but pride welling within him. “I did it,” he said, letting out a gust of relieved exhalation. He sat up on his knees now, far closer to me than I normally would’ve been comfortable with, but this felt okay. This felt right.
Carson slid his arm around my back and started to lift me to my feet. He then turned to Anton and held a hand out. Anton clapped his own hand around Carson’s wrist and Carson hoisted him to his feet.
Damien stepped up to us now. I could see he’d been trying to give us privacy where there wasn’t much. He clapped Anton on the back of his shoulder. “You did well, Anton,” he told him and that smile dancing on Anton’s face increased. Damien’s eyes fell to the floor beside us, where I hadn’t realized the burning red glow had faded.
There were thirteen bodies along the outer edges of the circle. I closer glance showed each of them to have burned holes where their eyes used to be. Thei
r skin was a pallid grey and they were definitely no longer alive.
“The spell burned them out,” Damien explained, walking about the circle and checking to see that they had indeed all died. “They had to have known that they couldn’t support that level of magic and still survive it. Human magic may be strong but their bodies are not. Magicks could’ve potentially survived this if they could work out a way to alter the spell to their magick. But Henrick is a selfish bastard. I almost wonder if he even told them that this would happen.”
Anton, Carson, and I simply stared, all of us caught in our own thoughts. I wondered for a moment if perhaps I wasn’t the only one to experience an after death vision as I had. I would have to ask them at a better time.
There was an explosion from overhead and it shook the building above, sprinkling debris down on us. Damien lifted his wrist to his eyes, looking at something on his watch. Then he looked up to us suddenly. “Our distraction is running out of time. We’ve got to go,” he said and led us back to the door that the three of them had entered through.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
The door they had exited earlier turned out to be a hallway that led farther into the depths of this compound. The ground within was coated with rubble and debris from the ceiling above. There was the shine of what I was sure was moonlight pooling from a giant hole in the ceiling.
Damien urged for us to stand directly in the middle of the hall, beneath the circle above. “Going up?” He asked looking over to me with a playful grin.
“Let’s go,” I replied, eager to both join the fray that I was sure had to be occurring above and to question Henrick and find Will.
My father clenched his hands into fists, his eyes glowing emerald green. The ground around us began to shake and suddenly broke away from the rest of the hallway as a platform, lifting us through the hole and up stories upon stories of earth toward the sky above.
“Damien used our imprints as a guide to your location. We didn’t know exactly where you were but we could feel the imprint pulling us in a specific direction,” Carson explained as we hurtled upwards.
It was loud in the hole, the sound of earth shifting against earth a shriek in my ears. My father was completely focused, his eyes seeing more than just what was before him as he cast us toward the sky.
Carson clutched me to his side, seeming unable to release the hold he had on me and I was fine with that. His warmth encompassed me, sending the cold of the damp ground around us away from me.
We emerged into moonlight and the sounds of chaos.
We stood in an empty field behind what looked like some sort of old abandoned factory. There were large constructions of cement towers craning above us into the sky like fingers stretching up from the ground to clutch the clouds.
On the other side of the factory light exploded. Flames danced along the horizon and a bolt of electric blue lightning shot down from the sky. The ground shook beneath us and a glance at my father—now relaxed—showed that it hadn’t come from him.
He didn’t hesitate when his manmade elevator of earth came to a stop. He leapt across the field, darting in the direction of the commotion.
“Let’s go,” Carson said, pulling me along by my hand and dragging me after him. Anton kept pace with us but remained silent and thoughtful.
We emerged farther into the factory complex, shooting like rockets across the ground. There was a gravel road near us and we sped along it, rounding the building.
The parking lot outside the main facility was also gravel and housed dozens of huge black military-esque jeeps and hummers. There were at least a hundred people, locked in battle splayed around the entrance.
I caught sight of my mother and Gabrielle leading the charge, hurling magick at enemies flanking the building. My mother glanced over as we entered the fight, catching sight of us as we rounded the corner. She shot me a joyful grin before focusing back in on her adversary.
The area was blazing with light. Flames danced along the ground, black twisted magic being hurled by hooded figures. The enemy contained a variety of individuals, Vampyres and witches alike.
The cavalry flooded them, dozens of Magicks leaping into to the fray. I could see what I was fairly certain was Evelyn Stark, throwing her hand away from herself. A wave of water crushed into oncoming enemies, knocking them away in a crowd of twisted limbs and discarded bodies.
We swerved closer and I dropped Carson’s hand, eager to join the fight. My mother was surrounded, three Vampyres on one side of her and five witches approaching from the other, their hands extended into long claws, arching ebbs of black mist flowing towards her. I lurched towards the Vampyres, gathering energy from the air around me until it sizzled in electrical arches across my skin.
I hurled through the air, my arm pulled back. I came down on the first Vampyre, lashing my fist out and connecting with his head. It rocked back away from me and he staggered away from my mother. The other two Vampyres turned toward me and my mother was able to face off against the witches behind her.
The Vampyre I had punched was knelt on the ground, struggling to get to his feet. I whipped my arm backwards, cracking my knuckles into the next Vampyre nearest to me. The other one grabbed me from behind, twisted one of my arms up and behind my back.
I drew power into my free hand, letting a long whip of power appear from my fist. I slashed my hand backwards, the whip grasping one of the legs of the man grabbing me. Then I snapped my hand forward, jerking him from his feet, releasing his grasp on me and launching him across the open area around us.
The Vampyre I had originally punched launched toward me, his fist slamming into my belly and knocking the breath from me. I staggered back a few steps, resurging the magick in my limbs. I snapped the whip forward, grabbing the man about the waist and slamming him into the gravel. He screamed as his skin impacted the stone. He crawled to his knees and tried to step toward me again. I cracked the whip outward and it snapped around his neck, sending convulsions through his body. He went limp and I released him, letting him drop to the ground.
The other two Vampyres leapt toward me, one on each side of me. Thinking quickly, I drew another whip along my other hand and slammed them both toward the ground at the same time, scarring the ground with long lines of electricity. As the Vampyres neared, I whipped them outward snapping around each of their ankles. Then I yanked both hands forward, sending them both sailing across the fray and crashing into the side of the factory building.
I turned back to my mother, having dispatched the Vampyres. She was still facing down two witches and I leapt toward her back, snapping a whip past her and grabbing one of the witches around the waist. I flicked my wrist to the side, sending her hurling through the air. I didn’t look to see where she landed.
My mother darted forward, faster than the other witch could keep up and slammed her shoulder into his stomach. He gasped a groaning breath and flew backwards, slamming into the side of a car parked in the lot.
When I turned back to the rest of the fray, I found that my mother and I had been surrounded and separated from the rest of our friends. Gabrielle emerged from behind us, the nearest assistance. Gabrielle leapt over my mother, thrusting her open palms forward.
I hadn’t seen Gabrielle cast any magick since she had returned and was stunned as two wide funnels of flame leapt from her skin, splashing in a burning wave against the nearest people to us. They had a variety of responses between falling to their knees as a burning husk, screaming in pain, and trying to run but having already been set ablaze.
“That’s it, Gabi!” my mother shrieked, stepping between us and hurling her fist forward. Static lit her knuckles as she did. A thick bolt of lightning split through the sky, cracking down into the next line of attackers with a furious thunderous explosion of sound. I was temporarily blinded as the white-blue light sparkled across the parking lot.
My mother and Gabrielle branched off on my left and right, engaging in hand to hand combat with the nearest enemies. Three
more Vampyres stepped toward me, five witches flanking them. Black magic crawled over the ground, burbling toward me.
I leapt through the air, missing the magic even as it reached for me with dark tendrils. I pulled the whips through the air, crashing them down on their forward advance. The ground shook from the impact and all eight of them lost their feet, stumbling to the ground. The whips lay amidst the gravel between the feet of the three Vampyres. I lashed my hands outward, the lines of magick crashing into the two outer Vampyres and sending them hurling backwards, spitting sparks.
My hands were suddenly pulled from me, magic wrapping around my wrists and slamming them to my sides. The witches and remaining Vampyre approached. The Vampyre was a bald man, his skin grey and his eyes glowing red. He had his lips pulled back from his teeth in a wicked grin, fangs protruding.
Fortunately for me, he didn’t see Carson leap over the crowd and come down swinging on him.
Carson’s arms latched around his neck twisting with a sharp gesture, snapping it. The body went limp and Carson kicked him away. Then he turned toward the advancing line of witches, his face twisted in a snarl. He was far too fast for them to stop him and he slammed into their defenses in a fury.
My mother was in a fight to the side. “Where’s Henrick?” I screamed to her, launching forward to assist Carson. In their furious fighting with him, the witches had dissipated their magic.
My mother snapped her fist into someone’s face directly in front of her, blood spurting from his nose. She glanced over my shoulder. “He ran. We didn’t have enough forces to follow him and still have backup for you. He’s already taken out several of our Magicks.”
Before I fully processed the information, I saw red. I was beside the witches in an instant, flinging my fists in a series of blows. The witch I attacked was knocked away, blood dripping from her face. She was still on the ground.