by Aja James
The longer she remained in the city, the more agitated she became.
“It’s time to go.”
Sophia barely heard the words.
They came to her through a distant, echoing tunnel.
A tunnel with no end. No light.
Only darkness.
She looked around her, surveying the ruins of her ancient homeland one last time.
She didn’t see the modern huts and brick houses scattered like prickly cactuses across the barren plains. Didn’t notice the rough sands that covered cracked, grassless ground, like shards of glass. Didn’t see the vultures circling hungrily overhead.
But she smelled the scent of death all around her.
How could anything survive where her beloved Dalair had fallen? His life’s blood seeping into the cold, hard earth.
“Sophia…”
She ignored the calls. Her name wasn’t Sophia.
Her name was Kira, Mistress of Light.
Even though there was no light within her.
Only frigid, uncompromising Darkness.
Fury and anguish roiled through her, sending shockwaves of ravaging bleakness through her body, down to her very fingertips.
Encapsulating her soul.
“What’s wrong with Sophie, mom? Why are her eyes so black?”
She didn’t hear Inanna’s reply. Didn’t care.
She could not let Dalair’s death go unavenged.
Nothing deserved to live when he was gone.
The world was full of unworthy souls. How could they have stood by and watched him battle a hundred warriors one by one? The bravest and best of them cut down in the most gruesome way?
How could she have sat by and done nothing?
Unmoving. Silent. Useless.
Faithless.
He’d fought as her husband, whom she never loved.
Not the way she loved Dalair.
He’d died as her champion, sacrificing himself in her stead.
He’d died believing she never knew. Because she’d been too cowardly to tell him the truth.
Her long, brown hair lifted from her shoulders and back in a halo of floating tendrils. Her vision blanked until a strange light radiated from her eyes.
She burned with the need to destroy. To tear down the world that took away Dalair. To release the unbearable pain inside.
Her fists clenched reflexively.
It would be so easy…like blowing out candles.
And then, she wouldn’t hurt any more.
And then, she could embrace oblivion.
“Benjamin, no! Stay away from her!”
Suddenly, a projectile launched itself at Sophia, knocking her to the ground, leaving her disoriented and breathless.
“Come back, Sophie,” Benji’s familiar, cherubic face looked down at her as he sat astride her middle.
Sophia blinked up into the boy’s clear, blue eyes, his angelic, golden curls scattered wildly about his head.
“There you are!” he boomed in his loudest, cheerful voice, making Sophia cringe at the ear-bursting volume.
She shook her head to clear it.
Benji clambered off of her, as Inanna extended a hand to pull her up from her inelegant sprawl on the ground.
“Are you all right, Sophia?” the Light-Bringer asked with both concern and unease in her deep blue eyes.
“I just…I just needed a moment,” Sophia hedged, not wanting to admit to even herself how close she’d been to losing it completely.
“Benji snapped me out of it.”
She hugged her favorite little person to her side fiercely, and he hugged her just as tightly back.
“Thanks for the save, little buddy,” she whispered.
“Any time, big buddy,” Benji chirped, flashing his usual sunshine grin at her.
“Let’s get out of here,” Gabriel said, standing protectively behind his Mate and son.
Sophia ducked her head.
The warrior looked as alarmed and as worried as Sophia felt. He obviously knew how close she’d been to turning all Destroyer-of-the-World on them.
Sophia didn’t know Gabriel very well, but the male looked like he wanted to spirit his family away from her as fast as possible. When he said “let’s get out of here,” he might very well have meant “let’s get away from Sophia, the crazy soul-sucker.”
“Not just yet.”
They all turned toward the new voice.
But not at all an unfamiliar voice.
Sophia would know that deep, melodious, odious sound anywhere.
The Creature.
“The fact is that existence does not stop with death; only life does. Even so-called Immortals can die. But the energy in the Universe will forever exist, its stars made of the gods themselves. The magic of Creation. As well as its opposite—Destruction. A few of us have more of the Divine spark than others. If I collect them all and fuse their powers into my new body, I can become the Goddess reborn, stronger than even the fabled Twins…”
—New journal entries by an unknown hand
Chapter Eighteen
They were surrounded.
Within moments, dark-clothed soldiers flooded into the open desert plains from the brick houses and mud huts that Sophia had dismissed before.
Like an ominous black plague.
Inanna and Gabriel gathered around her, putting her and Benji in the middle, shifting their footing on the outside of an undrawn circle, trying to keep their enemies within sights and at bay.
Sophia was relieved that at least Ere would be spared from the impending battle. He’d stayed behind in the town square to meet with an archeologist friend who was passing through. They were supposed to make a detour back to the village to collect him on their way out of Sais.
Sophia hoped he wouldn’t come looking for them if they didn’t show up on time. An epic battle between good and evil probably wasn’t on the young professor’s to-do list in the middle of nowhere Egypt.
Shit, it hadn’t been on her list either. But she’d always known this day of reckoning would come. Somewhere in the recesses of her mind she’d known.
Ever since her Awakening.
Perhaps this was what drove her to embark upon this journey in the first place. To figure herself out, sure. But also to draw her enemies away from the most populous locations that contained both Pure and Dark strongholds.
Here in Sais, especially in the outskirts of an all but abandoned rural town, the collateral damage would be kept to a minimum.
The Creature receded into the background as Medusa’s foot soldiers swarmed around them.
There were so many.
Dozens. Perhaps even hundreds.
They kept coming, seemingly from nowhere.
How had she not picked up on the signatures of their souls before now?
Dumb question, Sophia, she thought as she stared into the soulless black eyes of the closest soldier.
After being turned, the Pure and Dark Ones’ souls became frozen or almost dead but not quite. So that it seemed like they no longer had souls. They became mind-controlled killing machines for Medusa.
Just like Dalair.
Inanna and Gabriel unsheathed their weapons in unison, but didn’t attack. No one wanted to prematurely provoke such a horde.
Their enemies enclosed them in a circle about ten yards in radius. They came no farther than that.
Why had they stopped advancing? Sophia wondered. What did they want?
“We want only for you to come with us, lovely Sophia,” the Creature’s voice could be heard from behind the lines of Medusa’s soldiers, but it could no longer be seen.
“And by ‘you’ I mean all of you, of course. ’Tis the least I can do to be inclusive in my invitation.”
“No can do,” Sophia answered with more calm and confidence than she felt. “I—we—have no desire to spend more time in your unscintillating company.”
The Creature’s laughter bubbled forth like blood champagne, light and airy with a ro
ugh, jagged edge.
“So cruel, my sweet, darling Sophia,” it crooned.
“What about your precious Dalair? If I cannot provide adequate attraction, surely you’d want to see him?”
“Sophia…” Inanna warned, noticing how Sophia’s eyes went dark.
“You shouldn’t taunt me,” Sophia gritted out through a clenched jaw. “I think you know what I’m capable of. I might not be able to rein in my temper and end up sending you all to a painful demise.”
The Creature had the audacity to laugh again, as if it was truly amused.
“Really, Sophia? Which souls would you snuff out with your terrible Gift? The soldiers who virtually have no souls to speak of? My own blackened, worthless, apathetic one? What would be the fun in that?”
Its voice seemed to grow closer, until Sophia felt it whisper in her ear as if it was standing right beside her.
The only souls here to snuff out are your own Elite warriors’. And that gorgeous little boy clinging to your trousers.
Sophia clawed her hands into fists and squeezed her eyes closed, trying with all her strength to hold back the Darkness.
That’s it, my dear, the Creature’s voice continued to echo in her ear. Learn how to control it. Remember, you care too much to take the lives of innocents. You love too deeply to extinguish the brightest light from this world.
“Sophie, are you okay?” Benji’s worried whisper reached her ears more effectively than his loudest shout.
She took several long, deep breaths and grasped his little hand in hers, squeezing his fingers to reassure them both.
She couldn’t let them be taken. Not any of them.
In Medusa’s hands, Inanna, Gabriel and herself would become terrible weapons to add to her already massive arsenal. And Benji…
Benji would be used for her sick and twisted experiments.
Even death was preferable.
But she wasn’t about to let that happen if she could help it.
With one last squeeze of Benji’s hand, she let go of him and distanced herself a few steps from her Elite warriors’ protective circle.
Before anyone knew what she planned, she snatched a hidden dagger from her boot and held it sideways against her jugular.
“Let’s make a deal, Creature,” she said with a humorless, determined smile.
“I don’t kill myself right this second and deprive your Mistress of my incredible, soul-razing Gift, and you let my friends go. In return for their safety, I will come with you willingly.”
“Sophia…”
She looked out the corner of her eye at Inanna and silenced her with one glance.
Saving three out of four wasn’t bad. Besides, if she was taken again, there was no guarantee the turning would work. She was relatively certain they’d tried this with her the last time they took her, though she didn’t remember it.
And, Dalair was there.
If they put her with him again, she’d do everything in her power to rekindle his soul. There was a chance, however slim, that she could come out of this alive, in-tact, with her True Love in tow.
Ha! If there was a time to be optimistic, now would be it.
Silence greeted her threat, indicating that the Creature was thinking and plotting, analyzing all possible scenarios.
Finally, it said, “As much as I hate to lose you, darling, I’ll just have to settle for three out of four.”
“Attack,” it ordered softly.
And so, the bloodbath began.
*** *** *** ***
They were getting close.
Within minutes, they’d arrive at Sophia’s location.
Cloud could sense the evil surrounding his comrades. A dark, sinister void where normal life signatures should be.
At least, the threat in this instance was not the Pure Queen herself, but their enemies, Medusa’s henchmen. Once reacquainted with his “attachment” when the Snake King released his submerged memories, Cloud was no longer certain he could eliminate Sophia if it came down to it.
The Pure Ones were his family. They were friends as well as comrades. Though he’d only known them for three years, he knew he’d give his life for any one of them.
He’d give his very soul for one of them in particular.
In fact, he’d already given his heart, his soul and his body to her. In every incarnation on the mortal realm and beyond, he was hers.
He was no longer impartial. He couldn’t be sure he’d choose the greater good over the lives of those he personally cared for.
The lives of those he loved.
They were flying into a shit storm. He could sense hundreds of enemies swarming toward his comrades. All of them well-trained ancient warriors who’d been turned into Medusa’s battalion.
Had they been human, four Elite warriors and one kick-ass queen might have been assured of victory. Cloud himself, even in his human form in ancient China, had taken down hundreds of soldiers single-handedly.
But these assassins were immortal Pure and Dark Ones, many of whom were just as lethal and skilled as they were. In no scenario could he imagine his comrades coming out on top without his transformation. Even with a flying dragon on their side.
For his part, White Dragon was not a fighting dragon. In every form, he was a “carrier,” whether it was goods, people or information. He could still help them inflict significant damage, especially given the element of surprise, but he couldn’t do what Cloud was capable of:
The Gift of manipulating weather, water, and minds. A Gift borne of the Element Water, which was the real reason his eyes were blue, Slavic genes notwithstanding.
Cloud was a warrior dragon. This was his role in the universe—to restore the Balance when it was required.
Once upon a time, dragons were the ultimate magic wielded by the Twin Goddesses to defeat even other gods and goddesses, to conquer or overthrow entire pantheons.
But the powers and energies contained in a dragon, the collision and combination of the strengths from all Kinds, were too great to allow any kind of permanence. For the same reason that the Goddesses themselves, like all gods and goddesses, ultimately unraveled into sparks of magic scattered throughout the mortal realm in the form of their creations, dragons could only exist on earth for a short duration.
To fulfill their duty. Before they must return to the Heavens from whence they came.
Thus, Cloud was minutes away from changing into his true form to fulfill his role. To protect the Balance and those he loved…
And losing Aella forever.
For the entire flight, she’d not spoken a word. Not that words would have been easy to form or hear at the speed they were traveling.
But she hadn’t communicated by touch either. Unlike her usual handsy self.
She’d simply held onto him. Her arms tight around his waist, her cheek against his back.
Cloud could almost see their destination now. ETA less than a minute.
Abruptly, he twisted his torso around and held Aella against his chest, one hand cradling the back of her head.
Wordlessly, they stared into one another’s eyes for an ephemeral moment that seemed to stretch into infinity.
This was goodbye, he told her with his fiery blue gaze before shutting his eyes—
As he crushed her mouth with his in a brutal, ravaging kiss.
She went immediately pliant and soft within his hard embrace. Her lips parted to welcome his savage tongue as it plunged deep and commanding into the hot, wet recesses of her mouth.
She sucked on him eagerly, desperately, her hands digging under his clothes to claw into his naked back.
So much passion. So much fire. She was his whirlwind.
He loved her.
He always had. Always would.
Even when his mind didn’t remember her, his heart and soul did. His body did. No matter what form, time, or place, he knew her.
It no longer mattered that she hurt him. It didn’t matter how he suffered. Nothing would ever sever this
“attachment,” he realized that now. No matter what either of them did.
He would love her beyond time.
This was it.
The final moment was upon them.
But just when he pulled slightly away from the kiss to let her go, she mouthed the words “trust me”—
And shoved him right off the dragon’s back.
*** *** *** ***
Aella watched Cloud twist his body in midair before landing gracefully on all fours smack in the middle of the circle of death.
That’s what she was calling it in her mind—the tight ring of hundreds upon hundreds of Medusa’s soldiers surrounding Sophia, Inanna, Gabriel and Benji.
And now Cloud.
The others were already in the midst of a heated battle.
From the looks of it, the two Elite warriors had been defending Sophia and Benji for at least a few minutes already.
A few minutes, resulting in dozens of piles of ashes and dust.
Aella could see from her aerial view that Inanna and Gabriel had tried to cut a path through the soldiers, but were pushed back every time. They both bore bloody wounds from fighting, and from the way the enemies were attacking, they had been ordered to incapacitate but not kill.
Ah. So Medusa wanted to take prisoners.
In a gruesome way, that worked in their favor. It bought them more time, because it took longer, more precision and skill to maim without killing.
Cloud immediately joined the fray, connecting the three pieces of his long spear and swinging it with both hands like a wheel of death to push several assassins back at once.
Inanna and Gabriel gathered behind him, putting Sophia and Benji in the middle. Together, they were slowly but surely cutting a path through the sea of enemy soldiers.
“Come on, boy,” Aella whispered to White Dragon, leaning close against his neck. “Let’s bring in the cavalry.”
He understood her perfectly, as always, collapsing his wings to his body as he took a nosedive from the sky.
At the last moment, she squeezed him with her knees, and he extended his wings, just as he was about to crash into the soldiers on the ground.
Instead, he raked through a dozen of them all at once with his massive claws, turning a few into ashes and dust and severely wounding the others.