by A. K. Koonce
My lips part as I remain lying on the ground, and for a moment I’m mesmerized by the magic glowing from his steady hands. The unnatural flames char the veil’s flesh, a strangling cry slipping from its lips.
The only witches I’ve ever met were less than honorable. I’ve never seen one so strong and living with purpose. They’d never risk their lives for another mystic. Kenzent is fighting for mortals.
Kenzent stares down at the withering creature with an almost vacant look; my brother’s lips are set thin as he glares hard. He turns to me slowly, dirt clinging to his shirt. He extends his hand to me, the same hand that held a mystical fire in it just moments ago. A hesitancy slips through me for less than a second before I take his hand. My brother nods at me, a wordless communication passing between us. A strange calm presses into me as I swallow hard.
The magic that eternally clings to the Infinity witch flickers, and the image of my brother slips for an instant revealing something just beneath the surface. The power within the mystic is being used for something other than deceiving everyone else. It’s being used to burn through our enemy.
A tingle flushes down my sweating skin as I realize just how powerful the witch really is. The Infinity witch might be stronger than a vampire.
Chapter Twenty
A Gift
Fallon
The grace I possessed just earlier is nowhere to be found. I land with a sickening cracking sound at the Eye of the Ocean. Red colors violently slash out against the gray cliff. The eerie painting I had forgotten about stares down on me as if watching my pain and suffering. The sight of the Eye of the Ocean sends chills across my flesh, forcing me to look away from it.
I feel my bones heal one by one, and I allow my eyes to clench closed as they snap back into place. My teeth grind together as pain seeps into me. Steady breaths are what I cling to as the healing process warms my unnaturally bent legs and painful ribs.
“I told you I’d see you again, darling.”
The voice seems to crawl over my flesh, and when I open my eyes, Atticus’ fiery gaze is smiling down on me. Shining, beautiful stars highlight his hideous face, the heavens making a nice backdrop for the demon standing over me.
Out of reflex my hand tightens, needing to feel the cool and reassuring metal hilt of the Crimson Sword. But it isn’t there.
Blood smears my bare legs, and with regained strength I leap to my feet, my gaze scanning our surroundings for the glowing sword.
It isn’t here.
My stomach falls as I swallow hard.
The white sails of the ships blow in the breeze behind Atticus, whipping through the winds that brought them here.
“Why do you choose to torture yourself when you could be immortal? Why not feed? Seal the curse, my darling. Let your strength bloom within you.”
“That’s not going to happen.”
A long black robe hangs from his boney shoulders, the wind tearing at it recklessly. His appearance has changed very little and yet his morale is high. Power rolls off of his fragile appearing stature.
He’s fed. A lot.
“You aren’t immortal, Atticus.” His head tilts as if I’ve piqued his interest. “I can kill you.”
His lips twist, almost holding back a scream. “You won’t,” he finally says. “Not after you see the gift I’ve brought you.” His eyes possess an eerie glow as he stares wildly at me.
Subtly, I take a step back from him, trying to think about what I could possibly use to kill this vampire.
With a casual stride he walks to a large boulder, his back turned to me as if he I knows I would never harm him.
My eyes narrow as I quietly creep after him, my bare feet soundless against the sharp rocks. But when he reveals the gift he brought me, my plotting falls away and my lips part in a gasp. With one hand he fists thick, wild hair and drags Luca’s unconscious body across the rocky shore.
“I found her running after you when you leapt from the cliff.” With a thud he flings Luca’s head to the ground, her body lifeless. “I knew she’d be the perfect blood source to seal your curse.” My jaw clenches as I stare at my friend lying at his feet. “Isn’t she beautiful?” he says with a cruel smile, as if it’s such a waste.
For a long moment all I can do is stare wide-eyed at Luca. I listen intently and finally hear it. Over the sound of the crashing waves and the distant screams, her heart beats softly.
My attention jars back to the vampire who waits patiently for my reply. With assured steps I walk to him, my lips biting back the rage I’m hiding.
“Thank you,” I tell him, my hips swaying with each step. A smile cracks his mouth. When he’s just a few inches away, my hands grip his black shirt, pulling him closer before shoving him to the ground. Waves splash up around him as he lands hard in the gentle waves. I grab the nearest boulder, and I leap toward him.
The smooth rock brings a nice cracking sound when it meets his skull, and a hiss that seems to cling to the air leaves his lips as he scuttles back from me.
“You ungrateful female!” He scrambles away, kicking up water as he moves. Blood clings to his temple as he storms toward me once more. “Perhaps I’ll just have to tempt you even further.” His eyes seem to flash just before his quick jarring movements carry him back up the shore.
He licks his fangs, and my chest tightens when I realize what he’s about to do. On shaking legs I run after him, but it’s too late. He sinks his fangs into Luca’s arm, just enough to bring a gush of blood across her skin.
I swallow hard and look away from both of them while trying desperately to breath in the salty ocean air. Breaths shake from my lungs as I close my eyes and focus on the simple sound of the ocean.
But all I smell is copper. Blood.
For several seconds it’s all I can do to concentrate on my careful breathing. Trying to steady the intake of air, trying desperately to remember the way Luca looked at me when I turned on her in the woods. The fear and shock in her amber eyes was something I’d never seen before in the resilient werewolf.
A scream and a heavy thump pulls me from my anxious thoughts. As I turn, an unexpected struggle breaks out.
“Fallon …” Declan gurgles out my name, the vampire’s fist tightening with vengeance around the hybrids neck, pinning him to the cliff wall. The Eye of the Ocean stares down on them with approval.
A red glow outlines Luca’s body. Next to Luca lies the Crimson Sword … and Atticus’ severed hand. My lip curls as his bloody hand brushes against my ankle. In one swift move I scoop up the Crimson Sword. Determination blazes through me as I storm up the rocky shore.
With both hands, I raise the powerful sword above my head, my aim narrowing on the sharp curve of his spine. Declan’s dirty boots scrape against the rock, his hand grasping the sleeves of Atticus’ disheveled robe.
“Do you love him?” Atticus asks in a detached voice as he studies the struggling hybrid. Blood pools from his other wrist at his side, splattering a puddle of red against the ground.
Without turning, Atticus drops the hybrid and swings his arm, striking the side of my face and sending me spiraling to the ground.
The damp rocks slice open my cheek as I land, the clatter of the Crimson Sword circles my mind. It takes less than a second for me to leap to my feet.
But sadly that’s all the time he needs.
With unnaturally quick movements, Atticus grips the hilt of the Crimson Sword. The stillness of my heart doesn’t matter. It falls in my chest, sinking to the bottom of my stomach as I stumble toward them. Standing above my friend, Atticus raises the radiant sword high in the night like a flash of lightening just before the strike.
A scream falls from my lips remembering every single time Declan stuck up for me when no one else would. Remembering the smile he forced when I know he didn’t feel it. Remembering the fight we had just days ago.
I’m not fast enough.
Chapter Twenty-One
The Last Remaining Vampires
Asher
War and discord will never cease. Win, lose, or die, my life will be dedicated to my beliefs. And a hundred years from now, mortals and mystics will still be up in arms over whatever new and petty politics they have to shake each other up about.
The difference is I’m here. Right now. And I’ll never stop fighting for the life I know I deserve.
Someday, when Fallon has outlived me, when this war has faded into the past and I’m just a memory in her beautiful life, she’ll reminisce about the hybrid who fought for her. She’ll remember the life I wanted for us. She’ll remember the love I held for her …
The veil tears the flesh from my leg like it’s a candy wrapper, and my bloody boot kicks relentlessly at its mangled face.
Dirt clings to my tattered shirt as I scramble on the ground with the creature. Screams and fear cling to the air as mortals and mystics alike fight for their lives.
With a heavy breath, I heave the sword above my head until it cracks down on the beast, lodging into its skull with a pulsating red glow. A sigh of relief presses over my lips as I use my good leg to shove the veil off the blade.
Gabriel limps toward me, his bionic hand more red than metallic now. He offers me his hand and helps me to my feet.
“There’s just one more left,” he says, nodding to a veil that screeches in pain a few yards away.
A blue flame burns from the palms of the Infinity witch. The colors come scorching from somewhere within her, and for a moment the flickering colors have me in a calming trance. The magic that shrouds her image flickers, the face of my brother seeming to fade the more she focuses the flames on the veil at her feet.
The mortals who were so quick to storm our lands seem to be falling back. Slipping away from the fight one by one. Fae magic and the simple power of the Infinity witch burns through the air. Fear etches the mortal’s faces as they realize the mistake they have made.
“Where’s Fallon?”
“I haven’t seen her since …” Gabriel’s lips turn down as he studies the dirt.
Since he proposed.
I nod and without a word, I begin stalking toward the ocean, my eyes scanning the forest with each step I take.
She sidesteps in front of me as if appearing from the air I breathe. President Docile’s lips slash up in a wicked smile.
“You’re stronger than I gave you credit for.” A gleam strikes through her red eyes as she appraises me. My lips curl as her gaze flashes over the dirt that clings to my body. “You’d make an excellent addition to the Capitol.”
Anger coils through me, my fists clenching at my sides as I remember what’s kept in the basement of that building.
Erratically I strike out at her, nothing but rage and unsteady movements control my shaking body. In a flash she turns from me, a taunting laugh poised against her lips.
“Race me to her,” she whispers in my ear, catching me by surprise with her closeness. I turn toward her voice, but her unnaturally fast movements are too hard to track. “Race me to her, and whoever wins … decides her fate.”
My heart pounds frantically in my chest as I realize what she’s saying.
“Ready?”
“No.” My jaw clenches shut as I storm toward her.
“Set.”
Ragged breaths fall from my lips as my feet thrash through the dry leaves, trying to close the space between us.
“Go.”
I push myself to move faster, knowing how useless every step is. My eyes strain to keep track of the blurred movements of the vampire soaring through the forest ahead of me. A shaking and weak breath catches in my lungs when we finally arrive on the bank of the Emerald Ocean.
Blood smears the rocky shore. The white waves stained red as they drift back out to sea. It takes me less than a second to shift through the lifeless bodies and the small group of vampires to find Fallon.
She lies at Atticus’ feet, her petite body flung protectively over a pool of blood.
Declan.
My lips part with unspoken words at the sight of the one mystic I wished like hell would fall off the face of the planet. Fallon’s breaths come in uncontrollable gasps as she pushes his blonde hair back from his closed eyes.
Pain strikes through my chest at the sight of her tears, her sorrow stopping me dead in my tracks. Suddenly I wish I could take back every terrible thing I ever said to him. If we had worked together, would this still have been the outcome?
Around Fallon stand the last remaining vampires. They stare almost awkwardly at each other from several yards away. The composure the president once held now droops from her fallen shoulders.
The sneering smile on Atticus’ face seems to confuse President Docile, her eyes fluttering around the shadows as if expecting more vampires to come crawling out of the night.
“Mary, it has been a long time, darling.”
President Docile – Mary – clears her throat, her thin hand smoothing her crisp black gown.
“Atticus,” she says almost cordially. “I see you’ve found a new play thing.” The way she nods indifferently toward Fallon makes me want to rip her tongue out.
Atticus cradles his arm peculiarly to his chest. “She has proven to be very troublesome to train,” he says with a disapproving shake of his head. His eyes slip toward her. “Similar to you, Mary,” he adds with a sickening smile that makes my stomach turn.
I choke down my breaths and take a stealthy step toward Fallon.
“Don’t.”
The single command grips my attention, my gaze snapping toward the centuries old vampire. Ruby red eyes haunt my mind, and in a pleasant but almost painful way the tension tears from my body. The anxious breaths that labored my lungs just seconds ago now fall leisurely. I feel light and weighted all at once, like I’m drifting out to sea, ready to sink to the bottom at any moment.
Fallon leaps to her feet, already half way to me, when Mary flashes to stand before her, raising the Crimson Sword to her chest, and pins Fallon against the cliff wall.
Atticus’ lips crease with a proud smirk, and he stalks toward me the way a lion would its prey. I should run. I should use the sword at my side. I should slaughter this creature before he does me.
And yet, I remain immobile.
With a relaxed body and a frantic mind, I wait for whatever might come next. More than anything I want to make sure Fallon is okay. If I could just see her. With trained focus I stare unblinkingly at Atticus.
My fixated attention studies the thin lines that hold his crumbling features together. The crisp way his translucent skin clings to his sharp skull. The eyes that are so similar to Fallon’s and yet so different. Her eyes burn like fury and fire. While his … only simmer dully. As if they might extinguish at any moment.
He steps up to me, his height almost towering over me, and my chin rises to look him in his eyes. The muscles of my jaw tighten as I try to twist away from what I know will lead to my irrepressible death.
For a few seconds nothing happens, the calm within me begins to pull me under, threatening to take my mind with it. Glaring eyes study me closely, his head turning as if he doesn’t understand what he’s looking at.
“You … shouldn’t exist.”
“I guess we do agree on some things,” President Docile replies in a clipped tone from somewhere in the distance.
Slowly, he looks down at the sword shaking in my hand. All of the strength I possess is focused on how tightly I’m holding the weapon. Sweat streaks down my temple as I will myself to raise the sword and plunge it into his cold heart. End this game once and for all.
Nothing happens.
The calm within me begins to evaporate as I realize what he’s thinking. My heart pounds wildly in my chest as his hand grips mine. My eyes close tightly when he pries my fingers from the hilt.
I should open my eyes and face him when he does it. Stare unyieldingly into his empty eyes when he takes my life. For a moment I let go of the honor, the will to survive slipping right from me.
Then
I think of Fallon. The last memory she might have of me is this. A long breath is held in my lungs as I fling my eyes open, my gaze boring into his, rage pouring off of me in waves.
A chuckle hums through his thin chest as he glares at me, a strange mixture of hate and happiness swirling through his features.
With deliberate slowness, he presses the Crimson Sword into my chest. The burn of the immortal weapon chases the calm right from my veins. I flinch, and a seething breath breaks through from my clinched teeth.
Another subtle move and the tip of the sword touches bone. My lungs push ragged breaths from my body, shaking through me as I stare adamantly into his eyes.
All my life I’ve depended on a Crimson Sword; kept it close like a security blanket. I never thought it’d be the sword I died by …
A wafting sound like a flag in the wind fills the silence and, without warning, the Infinity witch drops from above, tackling Atticus to the ground. The clatter of the Crimson Sword against the wet rock accompanies his hissing anger.
The urge to fight returns to me, but my limbs remain in place. Anger courses through me as I stand helplessly, waiting for the vampire’s hold to release my mind.
The image of my brother no longer mars her face. Long, silver hair hangs freely to her waist, the demanding winds whip it around her cool, blue eyes. A long, white gown hugs her, revealing every smooth curve of her body. With both hands, the witch holds a brilliant blue light; raw energy coils in her palms as she stares down on the cowering vampire. He scrambles back from her, and she takes slow steps, following him with intensity burning in her eyes.
“Kenzent, you tried to curse me once,” Atticus says as he clings to his composure. “I told you: you’ll never kill me.”
Her fingers arch, the light becoming brighter with each passing second.
“Kenzent, watch out!” Fallon screams.
The witch doesn’t turn; she’s holds her gaze on the creature at her feet even after Mary sinks the Crimson Sword into her back.
An empty breath leaves her lips as she stares down on the bloody sword piercing her abdomen.