Desmond’s face withered for an instant, jealousy contorting his features. He turned his head to face her, his eyes pleading, tearing at her heart.
“Desmond, it meant nothing to me,” Arianna started. “I thought you’d betrayed me that you were with Amitt.”
Darius howled with laughter. “Oh, how I love to watch you squirm, Arianna!” he jeered. “So pathetic, and ironic too, when you think about it. You were with me, in my arms, thinking that Desmond here had jilted you when all the while he was locked in his father’s dungeon, stripped of his powers.” Darius scoffed and applauded. “It is almost too much!” he swiped imaginary tears from beneath his eyes dramatically and said.
Anger and shame convened to form the perfect storm. He was right, but he had orchestrated the deceit that caused all of it to transpire. “What you said is true,” she said. Darius’ thick, dark brows shot upward, his surprise evident, and now it was Arianna who grinned cheerlessly. “And really, I owe you thanks,” she added.
“Thanks?” he asked, befuddled.
“Yes. I have you to thank. If you hadn’t come to me and done everything you did, I never would have completed my transformation. You served a great purpose, one that I cannot overlook. So thank you for serving me,” she said. She could practically see his blood boiling beneath his skin, the notion of servitude of any kind rankling him to his core. “I now know not only what you are, but what I am. You served your purpose and that was the only reason you were able to deceive me. You were sent to fulfill my destiny, not the other way around. You were my pawn.”
“You know nothing!” he snapped. “You were born of darkness, swaddled in shadows, destined to be the blight of mankind. Don’t deny your destiny! You know what you were, what you still are,” Darius hissed venomously.
“No,” Arianna’s voice clapped like thunder. She planted her feet and shook her head slowly.
“Yes,” he disagreed, his sibilant voice oozing malice like the warning of a serpent coiled to strike. “Darkness is within you, rooted deep. You are the Sola, the Black Witch, the Dark Angel. Whatever name you are called, you are wicked. Your heart is filled with resentment, with anger, with hate. Don’t ignore it.” A hollow laugh slipped from his lips, dripping with scorn.
“You’re wrong,” Arianna said with a certainty that echoed through her soul. Her voice filtered through the space like a choir of bells, crackling with energy.
“Do not divest yourself of your power, your destiny, for Him,” Darius spat and cast his eyes heavenward. “He is a fraud of the cruelest sort, sending pathetic creatures, armed with free will but devoid of anything else to guide them, to kill each other for his amusement. Created in His image, bah! That is the cosmic joke of all cosmic jokes!” Darius’ lips curled to a tight grimace. “He does not muddle through time and space powerless, helpless, yet His children do. Come with me, Arianna,” Darius said as a glowing portal opened at his side, the air shimmying unstably. “We can end it for His pets, end the misery and reign over the world. Come with me.” He reached out a hand to her.
Energy surged tempestuously from the open portal and the metallic, iron-rich stench of blood assailed her nostrils as visions of slaughter bombarded her brain. A cold shiver passed through her while goose bumps stole about her skin, responding to the sensation of demons creeping close by, just beyond the entrance of the portal. Her mouth parched and her pulse darted in her throat. “Never,” she said through clenched teeth.
His gazed bored into her, bubbling with unconcealed hate. Tree limbs cast long, spectral shadows across his face, gashing his features with pointed bands of black that made him look every bit as sinister as he was. “So now you are a pious, do-gooder, is that what I am to understand?” he growled. “All of a sudden, your bloodlust is gone, is it?” The portal at his side dimmed as the pale violet haze enshrining her wafted toward it. “Just like that,” he said then shook his head and tsked at her. “I think you are making a mistake. I think you are forcing down your true nature because of him,” he pointed a finger at Desmond.
“I am not mistaken, and I’d mind my tongue if I were you,” she provoked. “You are in the presence of power far greater than your own. I will strike you down if you do not bow to me now.”
“Bow to you?” he bellowed. “Bow to you! Do you know who I am, the powers I possess?” Blood-red flames gathered between his hands, pulsing with black veins that did not resemble the ones she’d seen when she’d trained with him.
“I know exactly who you are. You are the reason I was born; to destroy you.”
As soon as the words left her lips, she saw the pulpy clot of fire leave Darius’ fingers and readied her own sphere of energy. Bright and lively like an oversized marble replica of Earth, her ball flashed toward him, devouring the pulsating artery intended for her and slamming into his chest. It exploded in a kaleidoscope of colors, knocking him onto his backside.
He quickly recovered and leaped to his feet. He brushed sooty residue from his shirt. “Is that it? Is that the power you expect me to bow to?” he mocked. “Well then allow me, your highness,” he continued and curtsied overstatedly. He laughed heartily, gripping his belly and doubling over.
But his laughter was interrupted when a blast like a cannonball smashed into his back. Desmond launched a fiery attack on him. A dagger, buried to its hilt, protruded from Darius’ back. He wriggled and writhed, trying in vain to remove it, as another sailed toward him and lodged in his side. Arianna joined his effort and discharged a spray of orbs, pelting him in his face and throwing him to the ground. In the blink of an eye, Desmond moved to her side. She felt the warmth of his body brush her arm, the hearty thrum of his energy keeping time with hers.
His proximity, the drumming of their power in unison, caused her to understand that their combined force would be necessary to conquer Darius. Powder-blue ribbons of her force continued to rush from her when all of a sudden Darius rocketed from the ground and jetted into the night sky.
“We need to defeat him together,” Desmond said as if he’d read her thoughts, his eyes following Darius.
Darius hovered above them, glowing a deadly garnet hue and spewing electrical spines. He looked like a firework. But instead of raining radiant embers that faded before they touched the ground, his sparks was razor-sharp and wept like blood.
Jagged fragments nicked and slit their skin, singeing as they sliced. Arianna and Desmond dove to the ground behind a clustering of low trees, hoping it would absorb some of the shards of energy Darius showered on them. But soon, the needle-like shards grew to sizable stilettos then to ovals the size of footballs. They crashed to the ground in quick succession, rattling the earth beneath Arianna’s feet. She stood slowly but swayed each time a rumbling blast hit, her body pitching from side to side. She gripped a small tree trunk for support and sent a firestorm his way.
Her arc of fire, though potent and far-reaching, was easily dodged by Darius. His position high in the sky afforded him the advantage of simply sidestepping it. Arianna cursed under her breath and watched as Desmond attempted to attack with his daggers. But Darius was able to dodge them with ease as well, watching with disinterest as the blazing blades flew past him.
“Pathetic!” Darius scorned them. “This is what the Sola and her lapdog has to offer?” he said and threw his hands out to his sides. Bowling-ball sized globes of fire flared to life like enormous bloodshot eyes in his palms. He flexed his fingers, manipulating them. “You thought you could defeat me,” he shook his head and laughed.
Desmond turned his head to look at her. “You have to go and get him,” he said.
She paused for a beat, thinking Desmond had gone mad for sure. “Sure. Easy-peasy. I’ll be right back,” she said with a deadpan expression. Darius, oblivious of their side conversation, continued holding court with himself, laughing and mocking them.
“Arianna, you are the Sola,” Desmond’s eyes fixed on hers. “You are as powerful as he is.”
“How?” She asked. “How do
you propose I do it?” She had sifted when she’d never thought it possible. Defying gravity would be a lateral move.
“I’ll teleport, place myself behind him and grab him. But if you don’t come, I’m dead,” Desmond said.
“Wait, what are you saying?” she began then realized she was talking to empty space. Desmond had already sifted.
“Come out come out wherever you are!” Darius continued to taunt.
She wanted to scream at him to shut his big mouth, but did not have time. Desmond appeared behind him. He reached out and gripped him tightly, silencing him.
Darius’ arms were bound. “Arianna!” Desmond called out to her, his voice straining as he struggled to contain Darius.
The moment to act had come. Her pulse took off at a gallop and her innards felt as if they’d sunk to her shoes. “Shit,” Arianna muttered to no one. She squeezed her eyes shut and envisioned her body shooting up off the ground and speeding through the air like a missile.
She immediately soared upward at warp-speed, felt air whooshing into her face in a rush, and unrestrained power spiral through her veins as cool and refreshing as ice water. Her entire body was bathed in starlight, radiating blinding, lustrous, white light. She streaked like a meteor hurling through the galaxy toward a distant, unnamed planet. But a distant, unnamed planet was not her destination. Darius was. And she was heading straight for him.
The instant before her body struck his, a fleeting look of shock and terror washed over his features and silence prevailed. Peaceful, blessed silence so thick she could have heard a pin drop blanketed the space between them like a layer of freshly fallen snow. But all too quickly, the world erupted deafeningly. A loud buzz layered atop an unending shriek burrowed from her ears to her brain, their powers screeching in protest, repelling each other. She slammed into his chest, the collision echoing like an explosion. Massive shockwaves snaked in every direction. Arianna lurched backward while Darius and Desmond careened toward the ground. Arianna caught herself and quickly recovered then dove headlong in their direction and grabbed Desmond just before his body hit. Darius plunged to the ground and landed hard. A crater formed beneath his body and he did not move to stand right away. In fact, for several moments, he did not move at all.
Desmond looked to her, hope shining in his sky-blue eyes.
“He is not dead,” Arianna told him with calm confidence.
And with her words, Darius stirred. He jerked and twisted, his every measure looking pained. When finally, he managed to scramble to his feet, he looked around, disoriented. “You think you’ve stopped me?” he spat, his voice garbled at first, but defiant, nonetheless. His eyes darted about wildly until they rested on Arianna. “You haven’t!” he shouted. “You cannot stop me, not now, not ever!” He rubbed his hand over the short hairs on his head.
The way he swayed and stumbled, Arianna expected at any minute he would topple over. But he surprised her by maintaining his footing.
“I will open the portal to Gehenna and bring my army here. We will destroy you and the pathetic people of this planet!” Darius screamed so loudly, spittle sprayed from his lips and his voice cracked several times. But deep inside, Arianna knew the threats he’d made were anything but hollow.
She advanced toward him, approaching with caution. But as soon as she flinched, he disappeared. She looked all around her, scanning the immediate vicinity and expecting a surprise attack. She did not see him anywhere. Her eyes raced to the battlefield and saw that the monster with the amber mane and ruby eyes vanished as well. MaryAnn and Adam turned to face her, looking to her for answers. She assumed they wanted to know why she burned an ethereal shade of palest blue. Little by little, those who remained made their way toward her.
Dane, Jason, MaryAnn, Adam and Avery Parker, Beth’s immediate family, arrived first followed by Kirsten, her now-widowed aunt. Adele and Arthur Parker hobbled along, injured but still walking, and joined them. Their faces were dirty and tired, each of their wounds visible. Both of Beth’s maternal grandparents, as well as her great-aunt and great-uncle, had been killed. Ted, Kirsten’s husband and father to Ella and Joe, had been claimed during the attack also. Arianna knew there was something she should say, anything to ease the aching void the good people before her were feeling. But she knew firsthand words would never be enough. The unshed tears shining in their eyes reinforced that knowledge. Still, they seemed to look to her for guidance.
“A battle has been fought and lives have been lost, precious lives,” her voice poured from her lips from a freshly tapped source. “Father, husbands, mothers and sisters have fallen. But I will not allow their deaths to be in vain,” she promised. “A war has been waged. Darius is not a warlock. He is not like us. He is the son of the devil himself, and he has just warned of what’s to come.”
Gasps sounded among their small crowd, as well as utterances of astonishment.
“I am the Sola, and before today, I did not know what that meant. But I do now. I know what I am. And I know what is expected of me.”
“How can we fight Darius?” Adam asked.
“If he is the son of the devil, then he is pure evil,” Jason added somberly. “We’ve never fought anything like that. How can we possibly defeat a force so strong?”
“How can God allow evil to overtake the world?” Avery asked without the slightest trace of disrespect.
“That’s why I am here,” Arianna heard truth spill from her like sun-warmed honey. “I am the Sola, a soldier of God, born of this Earth to stop Darius and save humankind.”
“Are you saying you are an angel?” Desmond asked and gripped her arm. He turned her to face him. His full lips twitched, a smile undecided about appearing worrying his mouth. His eyes were the sky, his hair sunlight, but staring into his face, she saw his soul; a brilliant galaxy glittered with diamond-crusted constellations.
“I am Arianna Rose, the Sola, a witch, an angel. Those are just words, whatever you wish to call me,” she said, truth echoing through her core and welling her eyes with tears. “I was born to lead you, to defend humankind. These powers I have, that all of us have, they are a God-given gift assigned to us for a reason. We are to use them to fight for humanity, to stop him.”
The group was silent. The area around them was still, as if heaven and Earth waited with bated breath for their allegiance.
“Darius is gone. He retreated. That means we won, doesn’t it?” Avery asked.
“This was just a battle, the first of many to come. Before Darius left, he said he’d open a portal to Gehenna, the dimension he resided in for four centuries before coming here, and bring his army through.”
“Gehenna,” Arthur blanched and said. “Isn’t that just a legend?”
“Gehenna is not a legend. We all know of its existence, just not by that name. Gehenna is hell. Darius is talking about hell,” she explained.
A collective gasp befell the group before expressions grew grim, the realization of what was to come settling and weighing on them with leaden heaviness.
“Darius intends to open the gates of hell and begin a reign of terror on this planet. We need to find him and stop him before he can,” she said and looked from one face to the next until she’d exchanged a knowing glance with each. “The battle to save humanity and life as we know it has just begun.”
The End
About the Authors
Jennifer and Christopher Martucci hoped that their life plan had changed radically in early 2010. To date, the jury is still out. But late one night, in January of 2010, the stay-at-home mom of three girls under the age of six had just picked up the last doll from the playroom floor and placed it in a bin when her husband startled her by declaring, “We should write a book, together!” Wearied from a day of shuttling the children to and from school, preschool and Daisy Scouts, laundry, cooking and cleaning, Jennifer simply stared blankly at her husband of fifteen years. After all, the idea of writing a book had been an individual dream each of them had possessed for much of their y
oung adult lives. Both had written separately in their teens and early twenties, but without much success. They would write a dozen chapters here and there only to find that either the plot would fall apart, or characters would lose their zest, or the story would just fall flat. Christopher had always preferred penning science-fiction stories filled with monsters and diabolical villains, while Jennifer had favored venting personal experiences or writing about romance. Inevitably though, frustration and day-to-day life had placed writing on the back burner and for several years, each had pursued alternate (paying) careers. But the dream had never died. And Christopher suggested that their dream ought to be removed from the back burner for further examination. When he proposed that they author a book together on that cold January night, Jennifer was hesitant to reject the idea outright. His proposal sparked a discussion, and the discussion lasted deep into the night. By morning, the idea for the Dark Creations series was born.
The Dark Creations series, as well as the Arianna Rose series and the Planet Urth series, are works that were written while Jennifer and Christopher continued about with their daily activities and raised their young children. They changed diapers, potty trained and went to story time at the local library between chapter outlines and served as room parents while fleshing out each section. Life simply continued. And in some ways, their everyday lives were reflected in the characters of each series.
As the storyline continues to evolve, so too does the Martucci collaboration. Lunches are still packed, noses are still wiped and time remains a rare and precious commodity in their household, but it is the sound of happy chaos that is the true background music of their writing. They hope that their work, though penned for a young adult audience, will be appreciated by the young of every age, and that all enjoy reading it as much as they enjoyed writing it.
Books by Jennifer and Christopher Martucci:
The Dark Creations Series (A YA paranormal romance series)
Dark Creations: Gabriel Rising (Part 1)
The Arrival: Arianna Rose, #4 Page 23