by J. N. Baker
“That’s enough,” William said, his commanding voice booming through the room.
“It will be enough when the human is dead,” Jade spat, twisting the knife until Josh groaned, his blood seeping into his shirt. “I’m sorry, William, but the human needs to die.”
She pulled back the blade to plunge it into Josh’s heart and a fire ignited deep within me, until it felt like my entire body was being consumed by the flames. Lightning exploded from my open palms, coiling up Alec and Ryuu’s arms until I smelled their flesh burning. They recoiled, releasing me.
“Ha! I knew it,” Jade laughed. “He’s somehow the key.”
She retracted her knife and released Josh, but I kept coming. I marched straight for her, throwing my arms out and enveloping her body in white-hot light. Jade screamed as the burning bolts cocooned her, lifting her and slamming her into the far wall, holding her there as I approached.
“Zoe, stop!” Ryuu shouted from behind me as the ropes of electricity wrapped around her neck.
I growled, dropping my hands to let the lightning fall away from her. In an instant, I felt the surge of power within me dissipate. As Jade slumped to the ground, I hovered over her, watching as her charred flesh healed. She’d used Josh to manipulate me. She was lucky all she got was a few burns.
Jade blinked up at me, pushing herself to a sitting position. She chuckled, smoke escaping her parted lips. “I knew I could get it out of you,” she rasped. “No hard feelings, right?”
I reach down and grabbed her by the throat, lifting her to her feet before she regained enough energy to duplicate. Her skin was still hot to the touch as I brought her face to mine. “Consider this our rain check.”
With that, I hurled her across the great hall, her body crashing through one of the cathedral windows that overlooked the interior courtyard. Screams erupted from below as I heard her land on the stone floor with a satisfying smack.
“Zoe,” Annie gasped, rushing to the shattered window.
I rolled my eyes. “She’ll be fine.”
“She’ll be pissed,” Alec corrected.
“She started it,” I grumbled.
“Now I get why Cody calls you Fido,” Ryuu said, though I noted the subtle humor in his voice. Not even he could defend his mate. She was asking for it the second she pulled Josh into the room.
I made my way to the round table where Josh braced himself with one hand, the other around his still-bleeding throat. William was at his side, which made me more uncomfortable than it should have.
“Well, it appears you do not make her as weak as I once thought,” William mused.
I placed myself between the two of them, flashing William a warning look. “Are you all right?” I asked Josh.
“Yeah,” he said, nodding.
I gently pulled his hand away and inspected the wound. It was deep enough to draw blood but not deep enough to cause any serious damage.
“I did what I had to do for the good of our people,” a voice said behind me. I spun around to see Jade standing in the doorway, popping her shoulder back into place. The scowl on her face said she was indeed pissed. Well, so was I.
“You should go to the medical chamber and get that cleaned and bandaged,” I told Josh, my eyes never leaving Jade’s. “Annie will go with you,” I added before he could argue.
Annie took the hint, tugging Josh’s arm and practically dragging him out of the room. As they passed Jade, he pulled Annie to a stop. “I don’t hit women,” he told Jade. “But you pull that shit again and I’ll make an exception.”
“I look forward to it,” she smirked. “Don’t threaten me with a good time, human.”
As Josh and Annie left the room, Jade turned to me, her face growing serious. “I wasn’t actually going to kill him.”
“And that makes it better?” I snapped. “He is not a pawn to be used.” I turned to face William and said it again, more slowly. “Josh. Is. Not. A. Pawn. Neither are Cindy or Cody. Stay the fuck away from my family.”
Alec put a hand on my shoulder but I shook it off. “I’m going to get some air,” I said. When Alec made a move to follow me, I added, “Alone.”
I shoved past Jade as I exited the great hall, desperate to get away from them.
“Oh, come on,” Jade called after me. “I wasn’t going to kill him.”
The air felt thick, heavy as the atmosphere around me shifted. A cold breeze wrapped around me and I shivered purely out of instinct. It may have been years since my time up north, but I would bet there was snow on the horizon. The thought didn’t bring me much comfort as the image of Cindy’s snowy grave flashed across my mind.
I pulled in a breath of the thick, moist air, hoping to breathe in the clean scent that typically accompanied fresh snow. Instead, I only smelled blood. So much blood.
Against Alec’s warning, I’d snuck into the unfinished portion of the castle where the roof overhead was still missing along with the one outer wall, making for a rather nice balcony. I contemplated asking William to put a balcony into the rebuild plans, though I doubted he would. Not just because I wasn’t his favorite person at the moment, but because I knew it was a security issue—a hole in our armor where Baldric’s men could get in. I sighed, leaning against the rusted safety railing as the sound of shovels moving dirt filled my ears.
Off in the distance, a small group of our people worked on building a graveyard for our dead. I wasn’t sure how many we’d lost to the Sythen, but from where I stood, it looked as if they were digging quite a few holes. Maybe they were simply preparing for the future. Though, I wasn’t sure that made me feel any better. After all, if I failed and my vision came true, Cindy’s body would be buried out there too.
“So sad, is it not?”
“Very,” I replied and then froze.
That voice.
My heart raced as I slowly turned around. There was no one there. At least, no one I could see. I drew my blade and listened, taking a step away from the railing.
“And here I thought we were bonding. No need for violence, warrior.”
Something stirred in the darkness.
“You aren’t real,” I breathed. “I know you aren’t real. You’re just in my head.”
“That hurts my feelings,” a voice hissed to my right.
I spun on my heels, holding out my sword as I took a step back. The Sythen chuckled as it crept over one of the broken walls. It inched its way down to me, aged stone crumbling under its weight. Blood-red eyes locked onto me, forked tongue snaking out of its mouth as if to taste me. It wasn’t real, I reminded myself. It was all in my head. But if it wasn’t real, then why did I take another step back?
“He will never forgive you for what you did to her,” the beast sneered, stepping onto the would-be balcony in front of me. I felt the stones beneath my feet shudder, and I wondered if the whole floor would collapse out from under us. “He would be better off leaving. It would be better than you killing him, would it not? You know it will happen, warrior. You are nothing more than a monster, just like me.”
“That’s not true,” I snapped. “I would never hurt him.”
The Sythen laughed, creeping closer to me. “Is that what you were doing at the stones when you nearly killed him? Or, perhaps, it was what you were doing when you had his mate slaughtered—not hurting him.”
“Stop it!”
“Oh…what is this we have here?” The beast circled me, crawling through my memories until it felt like my brain was being ripped apart.
“Get out of my head!” I screamed. “You aren’t real!”
“Zoe?” Cindy’s voice came from somewhere in the distance. “You okay? Do you need help?”
“No, Cindy, stay back!”
“Maybe it would be best if you killed him,” the Sythen continued, those red eyes never leaving mine, “before he kills you. I can see into that head of yours, warrior. You wonder what the vision means, you want to know if it will come to pass. Indeed, it will. Your precious friend will kill
you! You must kill him first!”
“No!”
I thrust my blade forward.
“Zoe, stop!”
I exhaled and looked over to find Alec standing beside me, trying to stop my hands. It was too late.
“I-I got it. I killed it,” I tried to tell him.
Alec’s face was grim. “No, Zoe. You didn’t.”
His eyes dropped and I followed them down to my blade and up to Cindy’s pale face. Blood trickled from the corners of her mouth as tears spilled unbidden from her eyes. She grabbed the sword with both hands and gasped for air, choking on her own blood. She slipped to her knees before slumping over, a pool of blood spreading around her limp body. Her lifeless eyes were still fixed on the sword in her chest. My sword.
The world swayed under my feet as I backed away from her. I collapsed to the stone floor, scrambling back until my spine pressed up against the railing. It creaked in protest.
“No,” I breathed. “No! It was there. I saw it there!”
Footsteps barreled through the doorway as two more bodies joined us on the balcony. Josh and Cody hit the brakes. I couldn’t bring myself to look at their faces.
“W-what happened?” Cody’s voice was trembling. “Zoe, what did you do?”
“I-I…”
Cody came and knelt in front of me, grabbing both of my shoulders. “What the fuck did you do?” he shouted, shaking me as tears spilled from the corners of his eyes. “What did you do to her?”
“Both of you leave. Now,” Alec ordered.
Neither man moved an inch.
I shoved Cody away from me and crawled on hands and knees through the blood, tearing the sword from Cindy’s flesh. I tried to put it in Alec’s hands. His fingers trembled and he dropped it to the ground as if he already knew what I was going to ask him to do. The sword clanked right back to me, taunting me. I screamed, thrashing my fists into the stone floor until it cracked. The three of them just stared at me. I grabbed Alec’s hands and put the bloody hilt back into them, coiling his fingers around it.
“Kill me,” I begged, kneeling before him. No one spoke, no one even breathed. “Do it!”
“Zoe,” Josh started, stepping forward. I heard Cody grab him. I wasn’t sure if he was protecting him from me or from Alec. I had a sickening feeling which of the two it was. If even Cody had lost faith in me, then I knew there was no hope left.
“I can’t do that,” Alec whispered, taking a step away from me.
“And I can’t keep doing this, Alec. I can’t! Even now, I feel it crawling through my mind. It’s only going to get worse and you know it. You have to kill me before I kill someone else!”
“No!”
“Kill me!” I screamed, grabbing the sharp edge of the sword and forcing the blade to my throat. It sliced through the thin skin. The pain felt good, freeing even. Tears built up in the backs of my eyes, fighting to get past my defenses. Didn’t Cindy deserve tears? “Please…please, you have to do it.”
“Leave us,” Alec commanded.
“You can’t be serious,” Josh shouted. Cody was holding him back as he fought to get to me. “Don’t do this, Alec! If you put one hand on her, I’ll kill—”
“Get the body out of here,” Alec interrupted him. “Bury it, put up a cross and make sure her name is on it.”
“Fido, I—”
“Do it now,” Alec growled. “Or I will kill you both and do it myself.”
Cody closed his eyes and nodded. He released Josh and headed for Cindy’s body. Josh took the opening and made a break for me. He slid to his knees in front of me, cupping his hands around my face. “Don’t do this,” he begged, his voice strained and his blue eyes full of pain. “I can’t lose you too. It wasn’t your fault. None of this is your fault. It’s that thing inside of you. This isn’t you, Zoe.”
I pushed him away. “Jade!” I screamed out, knowing she’d hear me. While she wasn’t exactly my favorite person at the moment, I knew damn well she was the only one who wouldn’t stop Alec from what I was asking him to do. Josh would hate me for this, but I’d rather him hate me than die because of me. I wouldn’t allow him to be next. I’d die first. In fact, that was exactly what I planned to do.
“Alec,” Josh pleaded, “please don’t do this. You can’t fucking do this. If you love her at all, you won’t do this. There has to be another way.”
Jade came sprinting up to us. “What do you…oh fuck.”
“Take Josh away,” I said. “Lock him up somewhere if you have to.”
“Zoe, no…”
There was a brief moment of hesitation from Jade and then she stepped forward, yanking Josh up from the floor.
“Goodbye, Josh,” I whispered into my lap, unable to meet his eyes as he called out to me.
“Are you sure about this,” Jade said to Alec, not a hint of sarcasm or cynicism in her voice.
Alec nodded. “Leave us,” he repeated, never making eye contact with her.
Jade looked down at me and I braced for the I told you so that never came. She gave a small shrug, her silver eyes surprisingly sad. “You weren’t half bad. See you on the other side.” And with that, she dragged Josh away from us kicking and screaming. Cody followed after her with Cindy’s lifeless body draped across his arms. Before he ducked into the stone archway, he stole one last glance at me.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered. And then he was gone.
I looked up at Alec once we were alone and nodded. “I’m ready.”
Alec lifted the blade and I dropped my head, waiting for death to take me. I wasn’t innocent like Annie. I knew where I was going. And I could accept that, as long as it meant I didn’t hurt anyone else. The madness had to stop. I had to be stopped.
My sword fell from Alec’s hands and he dropped to his knees, wrapping his arms around me. I thought I felt his tears on my neck. “I can’t do it. I’m sorry, Zoe. I won’t do this. I can’t lose you. Josh is right, I love you too much.”
“No!” I shouted, pulling away from him and trying to put the sword back into his hands. He dropped it once more. My hands trembled as I tried to pick it up again. “If you won’t do it, I will! I will find a way and do it myself! I killed her, Alec. I promised I would keep her safe and I killed her! Who will be next? Cody? Annie? You?”
“I won’t let that happen,” he said, pulling me back into his arms.
“You can’t control it. No one can. This is the only way.”
“No, it isn’t. We will find the beast whose blood lies within you, and we will kill it.”
“Will that work?”
“It has to.”
As the surge of adrenaline coursing through my veins began to fade, exhaustion overcame me, hitting me like a ton of bricks and I slumped against Alec’s chest. He unhooked the shoulder belt and removed the scabbard from my side, looping it over his own shoulder and sheathing my blade before scooping me up into his arms.
Holding me against his strong chest, Alec carried me away from the murder scene. “Where are you taking me?” I breathed into the nape of his neck.
He didn’t respond.
He carried me back down to the courtyard and up the other set of spiral stairs, climbing higher until we were at the third floor. Alec stopped in front of my bedroom, kicking the wooden door open before stepping into the room. He set me on the far side of the room in front of a large clawfoot tub that wasn’t there before. A small fire burned beneath the tub, heating the water that someone must have collected by hand.
Alec’s hands stayed on my shoulders, steadying me against his hard body as I stared into the tub. “I had them set it up for you after what happened on the tower,” Alec answered my unasked question. “I think you need it now more than ever.”
“Thank you,” I whispered.
He turned me so I faced him, running a hand over my cheek. “You will always be mine,” he said. “I will do everything in my power to make sure that creature goes back to Hell where it belongs.”
Where I belonged.<
br />
And then Alec did something that shocked me to no end. He kneeled before me, dropping his head in a bow. “Zoe,” he started and his voice cracked. “I have failed you. I have failed to protect you and those you love. But if you let me, I would make this right. I vow to you right now that I will kill that beast. I swear it, not only on my long life as a Chosen but also as the man who loves you. Whatever it takes, I will free you, Zoe. I will free you so we can live together in peace. And, one day, when you are free and the fighting is done, I hope you will be mine forever as my wife.”
My heart stopped beating and all of time seemed to stand still as I fixated on one word. Wife. Movement in the doorway drew my eyes up to where Josh was standing. He looked broken, defeated even. I held his gaze, feeling something within me begin to shatter.
“Zoe?” Alec brought me back to reality, pulling my eyes back to him.
“What?” I asked, shaking my head. I glanced back to the door. Josh was gone.
Alec climbed to his feet, running a hand down my cheek. “It has been a long night. You need to rest. Do you want me to stay with you?”
I thought about it and then shook my head.
He nodded. “I will not be far if you need me. I’ll keep you safe.”
With that, Alec kissed the top of my head and then stepped away from me. I noticed that he still had my sword in his possession and wasn’t making any moves to give it back. It was probably for the best if he wanted me to survive the next five minutes.
When the door clicked shut behind him, I turned back to the bathtub and slipped into the hot water, blood-soaked clothes and all. Within two minutes, the water was stained a deep crimson. I pulled my hands up, my skin still coated in the blood. It was just like Markus said—no matter how hard you scrubbed it would still be there. I slipped farther into the water, until it covered my head.
“You must be new.”
“Excuse me?” I said, turning to look at the rather short girl behind me. She smiled brightly, deep dimples on either side of her round cheeks.
“You must be new around here,” she said again. “You don’t look like a tourist.”