The Infernal Games

by Reed Logan Westgate

  “I can’t hurt you,” Ertigan replied, stalking Xlina. “But my minion can.”

  “Morticae is dead,” Xlina spat back in defiance as she rose to her feet. She shed her wool coat and brought her hands up defensively. “And he’s not coming back from where we sent him.”

  “There are always those who covet power,” Ertigan mused, turning to Oxivius and Amber. “Isn’t that right?”

  Xlina turned as Oxivius and Amber stood shoulder to shoulder. Brick flared to life in the background as the fire spirit worked to consume the fae. Both of them looked at her, her friends, the people she had come to rely on. They couldn’t be. After everything they had been through, after everything that had brought them to this moment. They couldn’t be working with Ertigan.

  “Betrayal,” Ertigan laughed, soaking in his glory. “Out of all the evils, betrayal is my specialty. Puc’s life is nearing its end. I’ll be returning to the Infernal Realm, but this moment will be worth another thousand years on the infernal plane.”

  “Liar,” Xlina shouted in rage. She swung with all her might at the brute, but his form had already begun fading into a black ichor and melting back into the ground. Puc let loose a final cry as Brick’s flames seared the last threads of life from him. The spell ended. The summoning having lost its connection, the world returned to the way it had been before, the room of the Council replacing the empty darkness of the void. Alex cursed in disbelief as Ertigan faded into the floor, once again returning to the Infernal Realm.

  “It’s over,” Lexxes called to Alex. “Your bid for power has failed.”

  “Has it?” Alex asked, looking back to Oxivius and Amber.

  Amber turned and looked at Oxivius, meeting his gaze. The two stood staring at each other in silence. Neither one was willing to accept that the other had been willing to make a deal with Ertigan. Xlina stumbled forward, numb from shock; she absently shook her head in disbelief.

  “It’s not true,” Xlina muttered. “It can’t be true.”

  “Power corrupts, love,” Oxivius replied solemnly. “I told you, I’m not the good guy.”

  “No,” Xlina answered, her voice barely a whisper as she collapsed to her knees. Oxivius raised his eyebrow and shot her a grin before turning his cane’s head. As he drew the head from the black wooden part of the cane, the blade concealed below shimmered in the open air, and he discarded its hidden sheath. With one fluid motion, he whipped the sword back before plunging it into Amber. Brick howled and charged, running at full tilt toward the impaled girl. Amber’s eyes went distant as her body went limp on the blade. Oxivius stepped back, withdrawing his sword from her chest and resuming an en-guard stance.

  “All this time,” Xlina wept. “It was you all this time.”

  Brick charged and leapt to Amber, her body still frozen in place. The fire spirit dove toward the host, desperate to let its magic flow into the wound and possibly save her. Everything moved in slow motion as the wolf seemed to float in the air. Xlina was awash in pain, the sting of betrayal raw in her heart; the tears rolled down her face freely. Brick seemed so close; if only his magic could keep Amber alive, then she could deal with Ox, and they would be safe. The wolf stopped just a breath away from Amber’s face when her hand shot up. Grabbing the spirit by the neck, she flung her arm wide, sending the wolf sprawling.

  Amber’s head lifted, her eyes black as she stepped forward. Her veins filled with black as a mark seared into the flesh on her cheek. Oxivius swung again, but she was too fast. Slipping his thrust, she stepped to the side, allowing the sword to rush past her nimble body. With a lightning quick response, she grabbed the sleeve of his jacket and wrenched it around to the outside. As she turned the blade away from her body, her free hand came in, shattering his elbow in a powerful strike. Oxivius howled in response as Amber’s head shot forward, colliding with the bridge of his nose and causing blood to burst from his face.

  The necromancer fell to the ground, dazed and injured, leaving the demon-enhanced Amber standing tall over him. Valeria laughed, seemingly amused at the turn of events as Xlina looked on in horror. Confusion and pain swirled within her as Amber turned a baleful eye on her.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  And They All Fall Down

  “Why?” Xlina asked through a stream of tears. “Amber, why?”

  “I wanted it,” Amber replied. Her platinum hair contrasted with the black veins on her face. Her eyes were lost in ever-deepening black orbs; Xlina could no longer see her friend within them.

  “This whole time?” Xlina asked.

  “No,” Amber replied curtly, circling Xlina cautiously. “It wasn’t until I was alone with the wraith that I truly understood. Without Brick to protect me, I was alone and vulnerable. Without power, I was weak, just like the pathetic girl you saved in that alley. I was a victim waiting to be saved. Waiting for you to save me, but you didn’t.”

  “I did save you,” Xlina replied through a stream of tears. “I saved you.”

  “You saved him,” Amber spat back, looking at the heap that was Oxivius on the floor. “Time and time again, you chose him. When the wraith attacked us, you chose him. You reached out to him. We could have beaten the wraith, you with your nightmares and me with Brick’s magic. But even then, you saw me as just the victim. You chose to save him.”

  “It wasn’t like that,” Xlina sobbed, shaking her head. “That’s not how it happened.”

  “I know why you chose him, X,” Amber purred, discarding her leather coat. Her shoulders pulsed with demonic energy as Ertigan enhanced her through the mark. “He has power, just like you. You were never going to choose me, X, not little helpless Amber. I was just your human plaything to be saved... to be protected.”

  “You were my friend,” Xlina replied. “Wasn’t that enough?”

  “Not hardly,” Amber continued circling. “I have it now... power, that is. Like Morticae before. I have his strength. Etrigan will give me everything.”

  “At what cost, Amber?” Xlina snapped back. “What price tag comes on this shiny deal of yours? Look around...”

  “My soul?” Amber mused, looking at the carnage in the room. Even Alex and Lexxes had stopped as Ertigan’s final play was revealed.

  “Your soul,” Xlina replied. “And us. You, me, and Ox. What we had was special.”

  “No,” Amber snapped in reply. “You were special. He was special. I was just the bystander in the crowd, swept up in events beyond my control. I was nobody.”

  “You were somebody to me,” Xlina countered. “Without magic, without power, you were somebody.”

  “I wasn’t worth your pity,” Amber sneered, looking back at Lexxes and Alex. “I wasn’t worth their attention. I wasn’t even worth noticing.”

  “That’s the wraith talking,” Xlina countered. “It filled your heart with despair; it tricked you into these dark thoughts.”

  “If only that were true,” Amber mused as she sauntered over to the dais to join Alex. “He understands, doesn’t he?”

  “Indeed,” Alex grinned, looking over Amber. “Together we will realize Ertigan’s plan. You are far superior to Morticae. With the council out of the way, we’ll rule the whole area.”

  “See? The lad gets it,” Amber replied with a purr. “It’s about adoration. It’s about everything that is owed to me.”

  “You’re wrong, Amber,” Xlina shot back, rising to her feet. She stifled a tear and wiped the wetness of her cheeks away on her arm. “I can’t let you win—not like this, not for him.”

  “You, sir, look delicious,” Amber replied, ignoring Xlina as she circled the handsome and well-dressed mage. He looked at her appreciatively as her hand came up to caress his jaw. She leaned in, her lips parting slightly as she kissed Alex. He seemed to melt into the embrace, drawing a snicker from Valeria. He brought his hands about her waist, kissing her deeply, eagerly. Then his eyes flared open as if in shock. Her touch switched from a gentle caress on his head to a firm hold as she pulled his head closer to hers. Her mo
uth open, he struggled against her grip, but she would not relent. His skin withered before her as his hair turned gray and his eyes sunk into his head. She continued her kiss, drawing the life from him until he was but a withered husk. Finally, she released her prey, allowing Alex to crumble to dust before her.

  “Oops,” she shrugged, turning to Lexxes. “I’m still hungry.”

  Xlina shot into motion. Closing the distance in the blink of an eye, she bounded over the dais, pushing off with her hands as she planted her feet into Amber. Her full weight behind the movement, her kick sent Amber tumbling down the steps to spill unceremoniously on the floor.

  “Get out of here,” Xlina called to Lexxes. “Take Oxivius and go.”

  “You can’t be serious,” Lexxes countered, preparing a spell.

  “Oxivius needs help,” Xlina barked. “Get him to safety. Tell him... I’m sorry we never got to see Tech Duinn together. Tell him I shouldn’t have doubted him.”

  “Tell him yourself,” Lexxes replied, moving down the dais to the stairs at the opposite end.

  “She doesn’t mean to survive this,” Valeria clarified with a clap of her hands. “The finale, Ertigan’s knight versus mine; the table is set.”

  “Shut up,” Xlina barked at Valeria.

  “Come now; isn’t that what we are here for?” Amber chided. Returning to her feet, she raised her hand, beckoning for Xlina to come at her. “Let’s see how it ends, Xlina.”

  “Is that what you want, Amber?” Xlina answered viciously. “To kill me too? I thought you cared about me. Or was that just a lie?”

  “Oh, I cared,” Amber retorted. “I cared so much it hurt. I cared until my heart ached in my chest. Until it hurt so bad I wished we had never met, so that I could go back to not feeling the way I did every time I looked at you.”

  “Then why finish it like this?” Xlina countered, walking down the stairs to the dais to meet Amber in the center of the room. All the doors were open now, with the remaining survivors gone. Only Valeria stood in the background, watching the final battle in the infernal game.

  “I have to,” Amber answered. “When I drink your power in, I’ll be the dreamer. I’ll be the special one.”

  “You’ll be alone,” Xlina answered. “Alone with your power.”

  “You don’t understand what it’s like,” Amber replied, circling her defensively. “I can’t go back now. I can’t go back to being some floozy fawning over the boys like I care. Waiting for some happy ending. I have seen too much... experienced too much... I’m different.”

  “I know what it’s like to be different, Amber,” Xlina replied. “Better than most. It’s lonely, it’s scary, always worried about the judgements. You found something with me. Something you didn’t know was there. Something that had probably been there for a long time, but you refused to acknowledge it. You found it, and it scares you.”

  “I found power,” Amber replied. “I found my ability to shape my own destiny.”

  “You found me,” Xlina answered sternly. “A girl, a Baku. You found your feelings, and you didn’t know what to do with them. You kept them bottled up until Brick made you let them out. It scared you because you didn’t know how you were going to tell your dad, your friends, your family... you didn’t know how you were going to tell them about us.”

  “No.” Amber shook her head. “This is about you, about you choosing Oxivius over me.”

  “I never made a choice, Amber,” Xlina protested. “I loved you both. I loved you the only way I could, as friends. Don’t you see that’s all I was capable of giving? I wasn’t ready for more than that.”

  “You did make a choice,” Amber clarified. “In every stray glance, in every moment that mattered. When the wraith was bearing down on us... you chose.”

  “I never meant to,” Xlina stammered, feeling guilty and remembering the constant thoughts of not having enough time, that she would make time for Amber later.

  “It hardly matters now,” Amber spat back, her voice filled with venom. “I made the choice as I lay dying in the Hearth. The wraith killed me. I was so close to death; I could see it clearly, but Ertigan gave me a second chance. Now I have power. I have his power. I have Alex’s power. Soon I’ll have your power. Who will stop me then?”

  “All that power,” Xlina quipped in defiance. “Yet still none of it is your own.”

  Xlina shot forward with a left right combination, feinting a jab and coming in strong with a cross, but Amber was too quick. She backed effortlessly out of the way, allowing the cross to slip by before returning with a punch of her own that came in heavy on Xlina’s ear. Amber’s strength was amplified by the demonic energy. Xlina took the hit, spinning to the left and grunting under the power of the strike. She lunged in response, sending her foot up, driving the heel of her ankle boot into Amber’s exposed midsection and pushing her back.

  Amber came on then with a snarl and a swing with a right, which Xlina ducked under and answered with a right of her own. Amber ducked low as well, mirroring Xlina’s defensive weave and countering with a series of lefts and rights, pressing her advantage and making Xlina fall back as she parried each strike with her forearms, deftly turning aside each blow. Valeria cheered from her perch atop the dais, where she was sprawled out like a luxurious throw rug.

  Xlina grimaced at the taunts and jeers from Valeria as she paced herself, measuring Amber’s timing. She probed her defenses with a flurry of jabs, testing her reflexes. Amber slid back easily, parrying each jab with her demon-enhanced reflexes, picking them from the air with her lead hand and slapping them away effortlessly. Xlina sighed deeply, trying to stay focused on the creature in front of her. She steeled her resolve, telling herself that Amber wasn’t in there anymore. It was just a husk being manipulated by Ertigan.

  “What’s the matter, Xlina?” Amber teased, barely out of breath as she advanced, throwing a series of jabs of her own. “Not the victim you were expecting? Poor defenseless Amber.”

  “Not quite.” Xlina bobbed and weaved around the jabs, countering with a pair of her own left right combinations and putting Amber back on the retreat. “You move well, but your body isn’t accustomed to the moves. I can tell it’s Ertigan feeding them to you instead of your own training.”

  “You wish,” Amber retorted, striking back with two wide swings left, then right, which Xlina ducked under with ease.

  “Sloppy,” Xlina replied, countering with a straight right that managed to slip by Amber’s guard and catch her on the chin. Amber staggered at the hit. Retreating a step, she smiled at Xlina.

  “No kiss kiss no bang bang, huh?” Amber teased, nodding toward Xlina’s fists. “What’s the matter? Don’t have any nightmare energy left?”

  “I have plenty,” Xlina barked back. “I was just hoping I could knock some sense into you without hurting you.”

  “What are you going to do, punch Ertigan out of her?” Valeria chimed from above where she lay sprawled on the dais.

  “If that’s what it takes,” Xlina answered, closing back in with a pair of strikes and sending Amber retreating once more.

  “Come on, X,” Amber taunted. “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.”

  Amber straightened her hands at her sides, calling on the magic she had stolen from Alex. Shadows formed and wrapped about her hands until they were covered in black. She looked at her work with approval and closed in on Xlina, brandishing shadowy fists that seemed to blur as they moved.

  Xlina waited, pausing for the attack she knew was coming. As Amber came rushing in, she held her breath, vanishing into her shadow. Amber stumbled forward, her swing meeting nothing but open air as Xlina appeared in her shadow. Xlina’s hand flared to life as she lunged forward with a straight openhand strike on Amber’s spine; she released her energy in a crackling wave that exploded on Amber’s back, sending her sprawling to the floor. Xlina continued unrelenting; she dove after Amber, landing hard on her back and driving her knee into the same spot on her spine. Her hands found Amb
er’s hair as she grabbed hold and forced her face into the hard stone floor. With a sickening crack, Amber’s skull bounced off the floor, leaving a puddle of blood behind. Amber struggled beneath Xlina’s weight, but the demon’s strength was in her, and she rolled to the side, casting Xlina to spill over on the ground.

  On all fours, Amber looked at Xlina through a mask of blood. Her black eyes were hollow and empty. She snarled and lurched forward on Xlina, straddling her about her waist and pinning her hands next to her head. Xlina struggled against Amber’s grip, but the demon-enhanced girl was simply stronger than her.

  “Doesn’t this feel familiar?” Amber cooed perched atop Xlina. Blood seeped from the cut on her head and dripped from her chin onto Xlina’s face. Amber closed in, her lips parted as her head moved in for a kiss. Xlina moved her face side to side, trying to avoid the deadly embrace, but Amber was not deterred. She leaned back, sliding her left arm, which grasped Xlina’s wrist, above her head before moving her right arm to follow. In a moment, both Xlina’s wrists lay trapped under the grip of Amber’s left hand. Her right hand free, she smacked Xlina roughly across the face, drawing blood from her lip. Amber grabbed her jaw firmly, holding her head still as she moved in once more. Her lips parted, and her mouth opened as she placed her lips against Xlina’s. At first there was only the kiss, a raw, emotionless gesture that seemed so empty compared to the kiss they had shared before. Then Xlina could feel it: her life essence being drained into Amber as her gift imparted by Ertigan began to take hold.

  Xlina had but moments to react. She looked up, but Valeria remained in position, looking on intently from the dais. She struggled to break the embrace but grew weaker by the second as her life essence was devoured by her former friend. Helplessness washed over her as the inevitable end crept into sight. Her vision blurred. Amber released her. Sitting back on her haunches for a second, she smiled wickedly.

  “I don’t want it to be over too fast,” she explained as Xlina struggled to maintain her consciousness. Amber slapped her hard across the face again, drawing a whimper from Xlina. She grabbed her again roughly. Holding her jaw still, she moved close so Xlina could feel her hot breath on her face. “Ask me to finish it. Beg me to take your energy, and I’ll spare Oxivius.”