Emergence

by Jaliza A. Burwell

  Breathe.

  His kiss stole my breath away, his energy caressing my skin, giving me the comfort I apparently needed and didn’t even know. I had just wanted contact with someone, and he was the lucky winner.

  You’ll come out on top of this.

  I turned in his hold and pushed him to the floor, grounding my body against his. He kissed along my jaw, saying words of what were probably comfort, but I didn’t hear them.

  Breathe.

  All I could do was feel him. The intensity of him. The way he made my body wake up. The warmth that flooded into my stomach as he gave my neck a nip. Each kiss we shared tightened my hold on that fiery pain that I didn’t even know existed.

  You are strong.

  Finally, I pulled back, out of reach of those amazing lips that warmed me to my core, but I was too chicken shit to admit that. His eyes were a soft silver, filled with understanding.

  He understood what was going on with me. That I just needed the contact that he provided and to not make mountains out of anthills.

  His hand caressed my cheek, and I turned into the touch, closing my eyes. His thumb trailed across my cheekbone, just a simple feather brush of his warm skin against my burning one.

  “Cecil will be okay, Nyssa. So will you.”

  Taking in a shuddering breath, I tried to believe him. I had gotten a taste of what I would be feeling if she died, and I hated it. This city would never stand a chance against me if I felt like that again and I wouldn’t care as I turned everything to rubble.

  “Cecil is a strong one. She won’t let something like this take her out. She’s fighting, and she needs you to fight with her. She needs to know you have her back.”

  I nodded against his hand. Fights were something I understood, and I knew how it worked with allies. You watched each other. Protected each other. Cecil needed her back protected. I could do that.

  I would always have her back.

  Slowly crawling off of Landus, I stood up and found my resolve. The room was eerily quiet and yet there were at least seven people around. I finally looked around.

  After blinking a few times, I still didn’t understand what I saw. The room was a mess. All the furniture wasn’t where it was supposed to be, and most of it was broken. A soft breeze of the warm wind came through the shattered windows, the torn curtains fluttering.

  “What happened?”

  “You tell us,” Landus said, getting to his feet as gracefully as his mysterious beast let him, which was pretty damn gracefully. He practically floated up. I always took him for more of a bulldozer, which he had proved during the fight yesterday. But now he also proved he was capable of being graceful and smooth.

  “I did this?”

  Everyone did a collective nod, most of them with wide eyes. Maura stared at me, more contemplative than pissed. I would be pissed if someone trashed my things.

  “What are you?” she asked.

  And there was that damn question again.

  “A hopper.”

  She shook her head and looked over at Landus. “Are you okay?”

  He nodded and turned to me. “Are you okay?”

  I nodded and ended the round robin of that annoying question.

  Silence fell again, and I ignored it and made a weak attempt at picking up the mess. There was no salvaging anything. It was like blades cut through everything. Finally, people began moving, whispering about this or that, and I ignored them, not even registering their words. I knew they were talking about me, but I couldn’t muster up the energy to care. I eyed the door that led to where Cecil was fighting for her life.

  Landus and Maura stood in the corner, whispering with each other and glancing at me. Finally, I got annoyed with everyone waiting for me to explode again and left, going back into Cecil’s room. I closed the door—proud of myself for not slamming it—and grabbed a nearby chair to pull up to her bed. I settled down and stared at her for a long time, wiping at my face, wanting to wipe this nightmare away.

  Chapter Fourteen

  I remember standing in an open field, things surrounding me. I remember they wanted something. Me? My territory? Either way, they weren’t going to get it. This was my territory now. I snarled at them and they took a step back. I remember the stench of fear. They were scared of me. Didn’t want to approach though they knew they had to. I laughed. Good. Let them fear me.

  —Nyssa’s Journal

  The door opened with a soft click, and Maura stepped through cautiously.

  “Don’t worry, I don’t plan on trashing this room too. I might hurt Cecil.” I winced at the hollowness in my words.

  She sent me a sad smile and closed the door behind her.

  “Do you know what happened in there?”

  I shook my head.

  “You don’t know who you are, do you?”

  I stayed still for so long, not saying anything, knowing she wanted to badger me with more questions. I could tell by the way she looked at me. Her expression made me realize my stubbornness was trying to get the better of me again by staying silent. It wasn’t like I was hiding or the information needed to be a secret. There were plenty of beings out there who didn’t know or were even the last of their kind. Who knew, maybe she met someone like me. Or not. She seemed too inquisitive, as if I were an interesting pet project of hers.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Where did you come from?”

  I turned to her, giving her a glimpse of the me I hid from everyone. “The Woodlands.”

  Her eyes widened, and I sensed a shift in her energy as her magic mixed in with it. “Impossible.”

  “Why?” I asked.

  “Because no one can survive those woods.”

  I smiled, but it was a cold, empty one. “Only the best.”

  “But you’re so young,” she practically whispered.

  “Really? Says the witch who hangs out with shifters who live for hundreds of years?”

  She swallowed and came closer.

  “What happened in the living room, did you know you could do that?”

  I shook my head and went back to staring at Cecil. “I’ve never had any great gifts. I’m super sensitive to energy, which is why gates call out to me. I have the strength of a shifter but heal slower than them, though still faster than a human. I don’t shift into anything, I’m not allergic to silver, and my five senses are as dull as a human’s for the most part. Maybe slightly better.”

  “That wasn’t magic. I’m not even sure if that was energy. It wasn’t quite right.”

  “I don’t know either,” I admitted.

  She nodded. “Okay. How long did you live in the Woodlands?”

  I felt my expression crumble away into sadness. It sucked not knowing how long. Time was nothing to me in there. I didn’t even remember how I got there. I just knew I was in the Woodlands as a child, and I came out as an adult. “I don’t know.”

  We both went silent, the only noise being Cecil’s raspy breathing. I reached out and grabbed her cold hands, rubbing my thumb against the back and tracing her fingers, willing her to keep living and letting her know I was still there.

  “Cecil found me on the outskirts. I was in a bad fight and hurt. She dragged me out and took care of me.” Anger rushed up through the sadness. I wanted to tear whoever did this to her apart. “She taught me about civilization and how to live here. I owe her everything.”

  I turned to Maura with fiery rage in my eyes. The air around me went up a few degrees as my inner heat became palpable. “I cannot lose her.”

  Maura’s eyes widened at the heat in my voice and nodded slowly in acceptance. “Neither can I.” She swallowed and looked at Cecil, the pain and fear deep in her eyes. “She’s my niece, and I’ve been taking care of her since she was a toddler. She’s mine.”

  I nodded, and we had a moment of perfect understanding. Eventually, she let out a shuddering breath.

  “I’m going to look into who you might be. I don’t know, and Landus said he asked around
but no one knows anything. You just showed up one day and started making a reputation for yourself soon afterwards. If you don’t want what happened in the living room happening again, if you don’t want to lose control like that again, you need to know who you are. You cannot ignore it like you’ve been.”

  I nodded. “I know.”

  She eyed me, probably expecting a fight. Truthfully, I’d always been curious. I did want answers, but I’d kept myself busy and distracted enough to not find them. Besides, I wouldn’t even know how to start, and I wasn’t the type to ask others for help.

  “Thank you,” I said in a whisper.

  “Don’t worry about it.” She gave me a ruthless smile. “You already know I’m the curious type, and you’re the best challenge around. I will figure you out. I’ll let you know the moment I find something. But first, I need to go fill Landus in and give him a layout of the land. They will start searching for the gate. You can take your time, and when you’re ready, you can join them in the search.”

  I nodded, and she turned to the door, cracking it open.

  “Maura?”

  She paused and looked back at me.

  “Yeah?”

  “What was that?” I asked, my throat dry. “Why did I react like that?”

  Her sorrow flashed through her face until she hid it. “Grief. You felt grief.”

  I nodded and turned back to stare at Cecil. After I heard the door close behind me, I expelled a breath. Grief. That was the first time I could ever remember feeling it. Grief was a dangerous emotion.

  Definitely.

  I leaned over the most important person to me and ran my hand through her hair in gentle strokes. I kissed her temple and whispered into her ear. “You can’t die, Cecil. I can’t handle grief.”

  She didn’t respond, and I squeezed her hand as my eyes burned. The tears were there, but they weren’t going to fall. I’d never cried before and with Cecil broken before me, I refused to start now. I needed to stay strong for her, I needed to watch her back.

  I slipped out into the chaos of everyone scrambling together to begin their search. They were out for blood. Four witches were hurt, Cecil being the worse off, and the shifters were very protective of their witch friends. They wanted blood.

  Hell, I wanted blood, and I was going to get it.

  I made it to my car without anyone bothering me. I didn’t know where Landus or Slade or even Zayne were. I just knew they were out there, diligently searching for the gate. Eventually, they would realize they couldn’t find it on their own. Baron was an expert at keeping them hidden.

  I pulled out my trusty duffle bag, strapped up, and then turned towards the forest. I did what I hadn’t done since I came out of the Woodlands six years ago. I let myself relax completely. I opened up all of my senses, giving my instincts free rein. The rush of energy traveled through my body, giving me a fresh wave of vitality.

  My eyesight became focused thanks to all the excess energy. I knew they turned from brown to green because I was high on energy.

  Staying light on my feet, I ran into the woods, avoiding any sound that would alert the shifters to my presence. I could feel where they were and avoided them. This was personal, and I did not want the shifters ruining my chances. Especially Landus and Slade. They would ruin everything.

  I kept within two miles of the witches’ community because the gate was guaranteed to be near. The energies in the air were thick in some places, probably spots where magic had been used, but none belonged to a gate.

  About thirty minutes later, the tether to an irritated gate snapped into place. The feel of the gate attaching itself to me was an electric shock to my system. I moved silently for another ten minutes. The closer I got, the heavier the air grew with the negativity rolling off of it. I didn’t pause, already focused on a fight, needing it. I was nothing but aggression. After strapping up on weapons and tossing my bag to the side, I broke whatever spell hid the gate from everyone and stepped without hesitation. This time the gate didn’t hurt. The ground moved beneath my feet, the energy sped around me, and then I was deposited on the other side. No pain.

  I smirked. I’d found his secret. The gate was very welcoming to those who were filled with anger and tried to dispel those who weren’t. I was nothing but a body of rage at this point, the hold on the darkness within me loosened, putting me in my happy place with thoughts of destroying the bastards who hurt Cecil. They were going to pay by my hands. I was going to feel their blood flowing through my fingers, and I was going to love it.

  A low sound erupted from my chest as I glanced around the empty room, taking notice of no warnings going off. Hell, they probably didn’t even know I was there. I sped through the room into a hallway and then methodically checked each room. My blood pumped with rage and excitement, swirling together into a yummy cocktail of hot vengeance. I finally found an open room filled with weapons along with three guys cleaning them. The cleanup crew.

  “Who the—”

  I didn’t let him finish. I used my speed and strength, smashing into the closest man, my blade already finding its home in his chest. I twisted the blade, yanked it out, and then whirled, burying it into the next one.

  Entering my safe place, I tossed away the anger that had driven me and fell back into the instincts that kept me going in tough times. I moved and reacted how I should in order to survive. Disappointingly, the three of them were down in less than a minute, but three more men burst through the room.

  I gave them an empty smile, letting them see the deadness in my eyes, letting them see that I wasn’t fucking around. They were dead the moment they hurt Cecil. They just didn’t get the news yet.

  Those in the Woodlands needed one of either two skills. To be an expert fighter or to be an expert runner. I wasn’t one to run away, so I quickly learned to fight back. I moved swiftly and efficiently, taking them down with the smallest of movements that took the least amount of energy. Fighting like this allowed me to go on for a long time. I prepared myself for it because it seemed the men kept coming into the room.

  I drove my blade up underneath a chin, basking in the sound of his gurgling, and then back out, quickly burrowing it into a chest before the first guy had a chance to finish dying. I broke bones, kneecaps, ligaments with satisfying crunches. I cut veins, punctured eyeballs, ruptured organs. No one was safe from me. And the whole time, I stayed deep within myself, allowing my instincts to have full control. I felt nothing about the deaths. I didn’t even hurt anymore in terms of Cecil’s condition. This was what life was about. Survival. The weak died and the strong kept on fighting. I had no problem purging the weak from the living plane.

  Finally, they stopped coming, and I just stood there, my knives still gripped in my hands. A shadow passed the doorway and came back. My head snapped up, eyes razor-sharp as I took in the shadowed figure.

  Baron.

  My lip curled up into an animalistic snarl as the old me came out to play again. I truly was a beast in a human’s body. My heart pounded in my chest, screaming to attack him.

  He stood tall, his eyes taking in the carnage around me. All that stood between us was the dying breaths of his lackeys. I just stared at him, prepared to kill him the moment he stepped into the room. This was my domain now.

  We had a staring contest, and he looked deeply impressed. Impressed enough to rein in his emotions. He was a ball of hatred, intent on only one thing: revenge. His reasons were still unknown. I could feel the disdain he felt towards all the beings, but at this moment he was too busy smiling at me. He looked down the hall, before looking back at me.

  “I’ll see you later, little bird.” His eyes quickly roamed over me before he walked away, his footsteps light on the linoleum floor.

  A small group of someones came through the gate, their energy filtering down as they made their way to me. I looked down at the eleven bodies around me. Couldn’t be more of these guys, they were gone by now. Only one group would go through the gate. The shifters.

&nb
sp; One of them stood in the doorway, and I went into a defensive crouch once again. He just stayed there, just outside of my territory. Good.

  I could feel the others behind him, but they didn’t matter. He did. He was the most powerful beast of them all. With my senses on high, I could practically see the snapping swirls of energy around his body, held tight together with nothing but pure determination and control. Otherwise, I was sure he would be nothing but a tornado, creating chaos everywhere he went.

  Danger.

  “Nyssa. I shouldn’t be surprised the ward over the gate was broken because of you.” His silvery eyes flickered over all the dead bodies then back to me, roaming over my body. I was covered in blood and guts along with some bits and pieces of unknown origins. “Are you okay?”

  I cocked my head to the side and stared at him, trying to process what he was asking. I didn’t understand. He seemed to realize it too because his eyes narrowed, and his beast came out of the woods. I crouched down, ready to pounce, but he stayed out of the room. He just needed to take one step in. Just one.

  “Nyssa? What do you feel?”

  “Feel?” My own voice was deeper, darker. Smoother. I felt nothing. No pain, no hatred, not even happiness or amusement. I was empty.

  He gave his men a look and then stepped into the room, into my domain. I leaped, moving at speeds that should have been hard for even him to follow, yet still he blocked my arm, preventing me from burying my blade into his throat. I raised my other arm, and he hit it with his other one, numbing it enough for me to drop the other blade. That was okay, I had more. Before I could draw another blade, he pushed me back against the wall and then pressed his lips against mine, his eyes a cold fire of silvery clouds.

  I bit at him, trying to push him away, but he only pushed me harder against the wall, and I bit my lip hard enough to draw blood. He licked at the blood, and it was like he flipped a switch. I went from a cold emptiness to raging hotness.