Affinity (The Guardians Book 1)

by K Fisher

  Of course it had all been torn down after her incident, they had been there to clear it out for that very reason. Where was Danira keeping Faye and her Affinity army at this location? “Why did we start here? It’s clearly empty.”

  “Is it?” Caden inquired, eyebrows raised as his dark, cerulean eyes left hers and looked over the earth before them. “Tucker, want to help me with the lock?”

  He walked up behind them, breaking the lock in his hand before pushing the gate open so they were all able to access the earth. Although it was downtown, there was a severe lack of homes and apartments in the nearby area. It was a business district and would only continue to become a larger one as time went on, the new community center twice as big as the old, and in a better location. The three of them walked inside, darting over to a portable bathroom left over at the building site. Although nothing had been set in ‘dirt’ just yet, the materials had started to arrive. It was just a blessing they weren’t accompanied by workers, but Hazel imagined that had something to do with Danira and their arrival.

  “Tucker, can Danira go into the spirit realm? Or just Nico because he’s drawn to those with Affinities when he’s on the hunt? I meant to ask, do you think she’s waiting in the realm for us?”

  “From what I understand, she has no way of going into the spirit realm, no, just illusions,” Tucker responded, his low voice ending in a growl as the ground around them started to shake. “Right on cue.”

  Hazel gasped, hunkering close to the dirt as walls appeared to break through the ground beneath them and rise towards the sky. The brick walls of the orphanage were being rebuilt around them, rooms replaced and the outside scene changing until all they could see was the walls, the outside world blocked from their access. Immediately, Hazel ran towards the door, praying it wasn’t locked, thankfully, it opened into an unfamiliar hallway. It may have appeared like the old orphanage that had stood there before, but the inside had changed with Danira’s influence. Behind Hazel, Caden and Tucker slowly followed.

  “Cute illusion, want to chat?” Hazel inquired down the hallway, still walking as they all kept their wits about them. In the back, Tucker was watching behind, his green power pulsing along his arms until two long, emerald swords erupted from the end of his fists. He wielded them close, prepared to attack at just a moment’s notice if needed.

  Familiar, childlike laughter echoed down the hallway, a tiny shape darted in front of them suddenly before the small, shadowed child took a sharp left. Her little, bloodied footprints trailed along behind her, soaking into the carpeted floor of the community center.

  “Fuck. This,” Caden’s voice released in a hiss of breath, head shaking wildly as they continued forward, Hazel not ceasing walking along the trail.

  “I’ve seen the little girl before, she was the one that hurt me when I was here with my team. It was the first time a spirit ever attacked me, she lifted my own gun to my head and I really thought she’d kill me,” Hazel murmured, stopping when they reached the end of the hallway where the little girl had turned. Her bloodied footprints carried on for a few more feet, stopping outside a closed, metal door.

  “Comforting,” Tucker murmured, looking forward to the two of them. “Caden, any connection around here? Anyone else we need to worry about running into that might not already be dead?”

  “Yeah. There’s at least six Affinities right beyond the door,” Caden said softly. He reached into his pocket and pulled out Hedwig, the metal box. It whirred to life, a small light on its screen blinking green as it flew into the air, hovering right in front of his face. On the screen, two terribly placed googly eyes stared back at him, bobbing as the metal box shook in the air.

  “Hedwig, you look adorable,” Tucker cooed from behind Hazel.

  “Not Hedwig, and these are a stupid addition, they hinder the device’s ability-”

  “Doo-dad’s ability,” Tucker corrected.

  “Device’s ability to see everything.” He reached a hand out and scraped one of them off, gasping when the eye left behind a slimy, sticky residue on the screen. Placing the eye back on the sticky circle, Caden sighed and shooed Hedwig off. Leaning down, he reached for the bottom of his shoe, sliding off a small, black device from where it was hidden. Caden walked towards the metal door slowly, leaning down as he pressed the device against the wall next to the door. “Illusion or not, this should help.”

  “Do I want to know what that is?” Hazel inquired, eyes darting back over to Hedwig, who was now traveling down the hallway away from them.

  “I have my own way of fighting, let’s just hope we don’t need to use it,” Caden responded slowly, looking back to Tucker. The warrior had approached the door, leaving their backs exposed to the elements as he reached for the handle and swung it towards them. He was the first to disappear inside to face danger once again.

  Caden and Hazel followed close behind, keeping the door open in case they needed to make a run for it. Not that there was very far they could go knowing they stood in a building Danira herself had compiled and had the power to manipulate.

  The room was pitch black, no sound other than their own breathing greeting them. Without warning, the door behind them slammed shut and Hazel heard the click of the lock sliding into place. A light above them flashed on, illuminating the area around them. It was an otherwise empty room, no furniture or desks anywhere in sight, of course, Danira didn’t care about the details now that they were right in her grasp.

  The small, bloody footprints from the dead girl they followed stopped abruptly on the other side of the room. Where they ended, Danira stood.

  “You are home, sweets.”

  Hazel took a step forward, rage bubbling deep in the pit of her stomach as she observed the woman who had made her life a living hell. Caden had said there were more Affinities on the other side of the door, but where were they hiding? “We’re here, Danira. Why don’t you let us know what it’s going to take for you to give Faye back to us and leave us alone.”

  “Faye is dead. I killed her myself. I knew you’d come, and there was no need to keep her around,” Danira shrugged, her narrowed, light green eyes watching every move the group made.

  Tucker lost it, before Hazel had a chance to stop him, he had lunged across the room towards Danira, the powerful swords at his side swinging wildly towards her body. Caden jumped forward to stop him, but Danira had disappeared just as the swords cut through where she stood.

  Behind them, the door unlocked and cracked. Hazel sprinted towards it, flinging it open as she entered the hallway, but before the other two could get through with her, it shut between them. Dread filled Hazel as she turned to grab the door handle, yanking and pulling as she tried everything in her power to open it again. From the other side, she could hear Tucker and Caden yelling her name.

  “I’m here! I’m okay!” Hazel yelled back, banging on the door before footsteps grabbed her attention and she spun around to face Danira.

  She stood at the end of the hallway, a glint in her eyes as she observed her plan falling perfectly into place.

  “Come with me. It’s time we talk further, don’t you think?”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Hazel followed Danira towards the end of the hallway, each step felt like one of her last. As though she were an inmate on death row being led to the injection room. As she passed different rooms along the way, shadows of small children watched her from behind the windows on the doors.

  “Are the kids necessary?” Hazel murmured under her breath when Danira stopped walking and opened a door, holding it ajar for her to follow. She looked over to Hazel, a questioning gaze carved into the wrinkles on her face. Without a word, the two entered the room Hazel was certain she’d die in.

  Inside, a large black desk took up most of the space, a set of black leather chairs sat before the desk, welcoming the two of them. It was clear Danira had used the most effort in creating the illusion of the office. Paintings were hung on the burnt orange walls. The standing lamp
s cast a yellow hue against them, giving the appearance of warmth. There was even a small candle lit upon the desk, the scent of peppermint, just like Hazel’s home, drifted through the air.

  Danira walked around Hazel and the closeness sent a shiver of displeasure down Hazel’s spine, the hairs on her arms standing straight as the healing handprint began to warm. Danira took a seat on one of the chairs, the purple dress she wore brushed the ground below the chair, elbows on the table as she leaned forward and peered at Hazel.

  “I have been looking forward to seeing you in person. Up close, the power radiating off you is undeniable. Now, let’s get to business. Clearly, I did not kill your friend, Faye, I only used that to anger the big one, which wasn’t difficult whatsoever.”

  Hazel blinked, relief washing through her at the same time as a new dose of dread. She was happy Faye was still alive, but now that she was split up from the others, Faye wasn’t the only one that could be leveraged against her.

  Aiden, where are you?

  “You are such a blessed young woman, did you know that? Wherever did you put my brother? Did he return back to his cage?” Danira purred, patting the seat next to her for Hazel to sit. Hazel did not move from her position by the door, arms crossed at her chest as she tried to warm up, the icy cold from Danira’s presence chilling her very soul.

  “I haven’t felt very blessed since you plagued my life, and I don’t know where he is,” she retorted.

  “I doubt that. You are the one who will bring the realms together. Your cooperation will give enough power to free the dead Affinities from their entrapments. Each one that agrees to pledge their loyalty to me with a soul contract will be allowed access to the world once more. The humans have always been the weaker race. In a world that I rule, we will all be able to be free. Free from death, from hiding, from what lies beyond in the spirit realm. You are the one that will make this happen. Now, I offer you one last soul contract. Work for me until the end of your days, let your power assist with the new world, or I will kill each one of your friends in front of you. I will take you, anyway… but if you agree it makes things so much easier.”

  There was something about this situation and deal Hazel was missing, she knew it, but no matter how much her mind wracked for a way to understand, she could not find an answer. If she was going to be forced to give Danira power, wouldn’t it be easier to do so while her friends were allowed to live and she was free of a cage? It would save her friends’ lives.

  But signing the contract would keep her obedient to Danira, her soul only a vessel for the Affinity of life to use. As a Goddess over the world, Danira could decide to do whatever she wished to her friends no matter what she promised, and there would be nothing Hazel could do about it. A minion like her pet, Nico.

  How could you trust the corrupt?

  As if he knew Hazel had been thinking about him, a dark mist soaked through the walls, Nico forming from it slowly as he took a step into the office, standing wordlessly by the desk. His tall body loomed over Danira, guarding her as she patted the seat next to her one more time.

  “You must decide now,” she hissed, losing patience.

  Hazel had one shot to do something about her situation. Closing her eyes, she tried to focus on the spirit realm that lay atop them, tried to bring forth some power, to call out to Aiden to assist her. Outside the door, she could hear many sets of small, running footsteps, giggling that started to intensify the more she focused on…

  Hazel doubled over, eyes opening just in time to darken. She saw stars as she fell to her knees on the floor of the office, hand crossing her stomach to protect it from any further harm. In front of her, Nico stood, his fist tight at his side.

  “You think to fight me, even now? Idiot girl. Go get me Faye, I don’t believe she thinks I’m serious and I want to ensure our new friend gets the point,” Danira spat. Standing from the chair, she flattened her hands out on her thigh, smoothing the purple dress into place as her wild eyes stared down at Hazel.

  “Perhaps one of the others, she seems to be closer to them-”

  “Faye. Bring her here now.”

  Nico paused for a brief second before his body disappeared, nothing left behind where he once stood, leaving Hazel alone with Danira in the office.

  “While he’s gathering the first victim, I should mourn the loss of her Affinity by using it one last time,” Danira spoke quietly, approaching Hazel’s doubled-over body on the floor of the office. Leaning down onto her knees, her voice was a soft, accented whisper in her ear, her body going rigid with the demand.

  “You will not move until I say so. You want nothing more than to stay right where you are, isn’t that right, sweets?”

  Hazel could not respond verbally, but against her control, she gave Danira a slow nod of her head. Pleased with the response, Danira’s wrinkled hand extended to stroke Hazel’s cheek, the skin softening with regained youth right before Hazel’s eyes. She felt a pull from her chest, the white of her power crawling up to her throat and erupting from her open mouth.

  Hazel tried to scream, but could only achieve silence.

  Nico stood outside the door to the basement, unsure of what he was going to do.

  No, he wasn’t unsure, he was hesitant and afraid. Feelings he was ashamed to harness but nonetheless they filled every inch of his ailing body. As punishment, Danira had allowed the slow illness from Aiden’s touch to take from him with each passing hour, assuring him she’d have no further need for him unless he succeeded, weakened or not.

  He knew his time was coming to an end, had accepted he’d be killed when he decided to end his position with her, as per his contract with Maven. But death was not something Nico wanted. Even the idea of his life being lessened by jail had plunged him into this world in the first place. He was always a fighter, always a scavenger that would do everything possible to keep himself out of harm’s way and ahead of the rest. He was terrified that he’d become his brother and succumb to the evils in his mind.

  In the end, he had become worse than his brother.

  He had killed countless innocent people at the whim of his Maven, had imprisoned Faye, the only Affinity he had grown fond for aside from his twisted hate for Danira, and was now going to be responsible for her death. Was he really going to follow her instructions and bring Faye to her death?

  Nico’s eyes glanced over to two other contracted Affinities standing watch, their voices low as they talked amongst themselves and paid him no mind.

  “Go away, I have been sent to get Faye. You will go home for the day, Maven’s orders,” the words left his mouth slowly and for a brief moment, he wished he could take them back. But the damage had been done and his decision had been made.

  They exchanged glances but left Nico at the door. There was no need to question him, Nico was Danira’s right hand man and hunter, to question his word would be to question hers. Once they had rounded the corner and started their descent through the illusion and away from the makeshift location, Nico took a deep breath and put his hand on the door, only to freeze before he opened it.

  There were voices coming through the door, soft voices. One of them was without a doubt Faye, her gentle and powerful tone one he could place anywhere. But the other was a voice Nico had never heard before, lower yet feminine, not one of the Affinities that worked for Danira. But there was no possible way another could get through the illusion without Nico sensing them.

  Breathing in deep, his power searching, poking and prodding through the door as it soaked down below. It crept down the stairs and snuck around the edges of the cell, looking for any energy or magic it could use to tell Nico who this intruder was. When it returned to him, Nico growled out a breath.

  Ah, the Wordsmith.

  Nico remembered sensing her before and hearing Danira’s words about the woman. At one point, Danira had wanted to take her and harvest her powers, but the powers were too tricky to master, too useless in battle. Although they were unique and desirable, they were n
ot powers Danira needed to finally end her plight.

  She had once been a leader in the Organization of Guardians, but something had sent her over the edge and away from them all. Last he heard, she was hidden in her book, not speaking to anyone, no matter what side they aligned with.

  No matter the case, Danira had planned to go for the Wordsmith’s powers as soon as her plan had been completed and she had her full army at her back. It made him sick, disgusted that he had been tricked so easily and chosen to align with a woman who desired nothing but power. The one thing that had ripped his family apart in the very first place.

  If the Wordsmith was here, that meant others were aware of what was going on and surely on their way to assist. Now was the moment he decided if he’d end his contract and die by Danira’s hands while the others went free and safe, or did as she demanded and chance the outcome.

  Nico opened the door and began his descent.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Faye knew something was wrong as soon as her eyes opened.

  No one had come to check on her all morning and Danira had not drained any power from her recently. In fact, Nico had been the last person she’d seen. That was not exactly a memory she wanted to keep at the forefront of her mind, either.

  She adjusted from her napping position and slowly rose, stretching out as she weakly got to her feet. Every muscle ached, her stomach empty and about ready to accept eating the food that had spilled onto the floor the previous night.

  “About time you woke up,” a dry voice spoke from her left.

  Whipping her head in that direction, Faye’s eyes zeroed in on a woman standing near the crates and suitcase in the corner. She had waist length, thick black hair, wavy and free. Her eyes were fully blacked out, but only briefly before they bled to an ambered hazel against thick lashes. She extended her heavily tattooed arms in front of her body, cracking her knuckles before rolling her shoulders.