BENEATH THE DARKNESS
The Fae War
Harley Jane Rose
Copyright © 2018 by Harley Jane Rose.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018904928
ISBN: Hardcover 978-1-5434-0859-1
Softcover 978-1-5434-0858-4
eBook 978-1-5434-0857-7
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the
product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance
to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
Rev. date: 04/20/2018
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1 Morana
Chapter 2 Bianca
Chapter 3 Morana
Chapter 4 Bianca
Chapter 5 Morana
Chapter 6 Bianca
Chapter 7 Bianca
Chapter 8 Bianca
Chapter 9 Bianca
Chapter 10 Bianca
Chapter 11 Bianca
Chapter 12 Morana
Chapter 13 Bianca
Chapter 14 Morana
Chapter 15 Bianca
Chapter 16 Morana
Chapter 17 Bianca
Chapter 18 Morana
Chapter 19 Bianca
Chapter 20 Bianca
Chapter 21 Bianca
Chapter 22 Bianca
Chapter 23 Morana
Chapter 24 Bianca
Chapter 25 Morana
Chapter 26 Morana
Chapter 27 Bianca
Chapter 28 Bianca
Chapter 29 Bianca
Chapter 30 Bianca
Chapter 31 Bianca
Chapter 32 Bianca
Chapter 33 Morana
The Hunter Files
Guide To Species Classifications
To Mr Nott, my brilliant English teacher who kept me writing throughout high school.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I just want to thank everyone in general for their support with my first fully published novel.
Thank you, Xanthia, Renee, Ashley (who helped me edit this thing to a point where I was happy to hand it to a real editor), and my family.
To the lovely T. J. Tarot, who helped with my original ideas when I had this vision and who drew the beautiful cover.
To Ayden and Steph, who helped me play with every blurb, title, and extra idea I had and let me sit in their apartment day after day on campus to write when I should really have been studying or doing my assignments due the next day.
To my little sister Liv, who doesn’t really appreciate sitting down for long hours and reading like me but was happy to listen to me try to explain every detail of my plot, the species, the characters, and the world for this book and future ones to come, as well as planning out my final battle with hockey sticks by the pool. Thank you.
And thanks, I guess, to the friends and ex-boyfriends who helped inspire the heart of some of these characters. The best qualities of you are in these characters, and the worst of my exes … well, they may make it into my future villains.
If you find yourself in a faery ring,
Please don’t shout, just give in.
If blood should spill, plead it not break,
For the Shadow Court lies in wait.
CHAPTER 1
Morana
(Nine years ago)
I had just turned ten, and that meant my curse had been activated. I came from a line of banshees cursed with the foresight to feel death. Souls passed through us on their way to the Otherworld—a realm not of this one. And as my soul had a connection with true darkness, I was drawn forward by an imaginary string toward those who were soon to meet their fate.
The two human children—a boy and a girl—played in the light of the dimming stone streets as they exited the school building. They talked excitedly about hiding from their teachers so they could escort themselves home. I always envied humans and never understood why they needed so much protection.
The girl looked like the braver one of the two, determined that she would kill her first vampire before the day was out and make her parents proud. The boy was wary though, seeming to know full well that while her ambitions might have been brave, they were also very stupid.
I followed them, hiding in the trees, feeling the earth between my fingers and bare feet. In another life, I would have been one of the fae, no different from any other faery, troll, or elf child. But unfortunately, my species could never be normal.
Finally, the girl found her red-eyed target, skulking around in an alley, waiting for the sun to finally set. He didn’t look like the rebellious and dangerous ones most hunters would go for, but she took off, using what was obviously her parents’ rowan and oak stake as a weapon. The vampire was strong, and as quickly as it had spotted her, it threw her against the wall of the building as though she were merely a doll to play with. The boy went to help the poor orange-haired girl splayed out on the ground. The vampire, confused at not being attacked by the boy, stood watching for a moment as the boy moved to check the girl’s pulse. He took her stake and turned back to the vampire that had recovered from his momentary lapse. He threw the boy back too, farther into the alley easily. By the time the boy had looked up, he saw the vampire holding the unconscious girl who was finally waking up. He bit into her neck, and the boy screamed out, echoing the girl’s terror. The darkness in my soul grew, absorbing anything else in my body, begging me to watch the death that loomed soon, ecstatic at the idea of another death to feed on.
The vampire became so wrapped up in the taste of the girl’s blood that he did not notice the boy bolting around him. The boy looked as though he were about to leave the alley to find help, but then he turned back and shoved the stake with all his small might into the back of the vampire. The drinking stopped, the vampire slumped, and the girl was released. The boy ran to her and picked her up, trying to drag her with all his strength back into the sunlight, eyeing the bleeding wound in between her shoulder and neck. A thaghadh student—one of the chosen soon to be admitted to the tests of livelihood—found them. The boy held the girl close as the sun was setting, hoping that she would wake up soon.
I became wrapped by the student’s mind, begging to see their future or how their trials might end. They went through their test before they found out where they would be allocated—vampire coven, werewolf pack, science quarters, or the coveted position of being a hunter.
CHAPTER 2
Bianca
(Nine years ago)
I was grounded. I also couldn’t and wasn’t allowed out of bed. My parents were mean.
I had been attacked, and I was the one in trouble?
I lay in my bed, bored until my mother walked in. I was mad at her, but I couldn’t raise my voice due to the two gaping holes in my freakin’ neck. Occasionally, Luca came by to check on me too, and he was more fun. But I would hav
e to settle for Mom today.
“How are you feeling?” Mom asked.
“Bored,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest and pouting.
“Would you like a bedtime story?”
“It’s not my bedtime yet, and I’m too old for baby stories,” I said, secretly wanting to hear one.
“Well, this isn’t a baby story,” she said eerily, moving toward my bed and taking a seat near my feet. “This is about our realm, Euphoria, and all the different species in it. I need to tell you this because there is a moral to this story that you need to hear. Fifty years ago, the world was different from how it is now. It was scarier! Demons and ogres and hellhounds wandered the earth. There were circles of creatures. One was called the Shadow Court, one the Unseelie, and the other the Seelie. Do you know the difference?”
“The Seelie are the princes and princesses of the faeries! They’re so pretty.”
“They are fae, but not the little creatures known as faeries. The royalty are elves of the Seelie Court. The Unseelie and Shadow are not around anymore. They were banished to another dimension. The Unseelie were the fae that were mischievous and bloodthirsty, and the Shadows were those born of the darkness—demons and hellhounds and dark angels. They were so scary that one day, everyone banded together to trick them with magick. Vampires and wolves watched as fae and humans used their blood to bind one particular faery ring. And the only way to reverse it is to spill two bloodlines again when the circle is broken.”
“Is this wise, Anya?” my dad said from the doorway.
I looked between them, confused as to what they meant. She looked at him, nodded, and then turned back to me to continue.
“The bad people were sealed away, but the people here were arguing a lot and fighting,” she said.
“So what did they do?” I asked, wondering what they did to stop everyone from fighting.
“They made a treaty.”
“A treaty?”
“It’s a way of living where everyone helps one another. Each year human students are selected when they are ready, and they go through the trials. They get assigned to different places based on how well they do. The special people become hunters who help keep everyone safe. Some who are really smart go off and become scientists and teachers. Some people who are really strong become werewolf protectors. And those who don’t do well become vampires to keep the coven happy.”
“Then why do you kill vampires?”
“Mommy is a hunter. And sometimes a vampire will go bad, but not all of them do. Then Mommy had to kill the vampire because they broke the rules.”
“Was the vampire that hurt me breaking the rules?”
“Yes, but you’re not a hunter, and you two shouldn’t have gone out to hunt a vampire. You could have been killed.”
“But I would have woken up in a week. I still have three lives.”
“You need to treat each other carefully though, my little rowan berry. When you’re older and you become a hunter, you’ll need them just in case something bad happens.”
I looked down as she watched me. I felt bad that Mom had worried and that I almost got hurt, but I wanted to be like her so bad.
“I’m sorry, Mommy. I’m sorry, Daddy,” I said, seeing him look at us from my doorway. He seemed grumpy, so I figured he was mad at me too. “I’ll never do it again. Not until I’m a hunter.”
I meant it. Vampires are scary. I didn’t even kill it; Luca did. He was the hero, not me. And one day, I’d be just as good as my parents and Luca.
CHAPTER 3
Morana
I wanted to sleep. The day I’d had made me want to never get out of bed. My family had been born into this, and naturally, I couldn’t escape it either. The idea had haunted me my entire life, and I couldn’t escape the call of death.
That night, I found myself wandering the streets, unable to sleep once again. I feared the images that might invade me when I closed my eyes.
Some poor human family had not protected their house properly from the night. I watched the shadowlike figure climb up to the window, and I heard a baby crying. Then it went silent. I had seen nothing, but images plagued my mind. And the departing soul passed through my body as it left, giving me an utter feeling of childlike, primal sadness. I screamed. The shadow fled, and so did I.
I ran home into my love’s arms and cried. I could feel the water magick flowing—a calm stream through my mind and body courtesy of his love and power.
I fell asleep in Alva’s arms, and the dream started again.
The broken circle. Blood. Shadows escaping the ground. Dead humans littering the ground in blood. Their hands over their ears.
I woke up in tears. Again. I opened my eyes to his concerned face, and I realized I couldn’t stand him living with my curse too. I had considered this for a while, but I knew what I had to do.
Hurt him to help him, I thought to myself. He doesn’t deserve to deal with my pain anymore. He deserves better than being pulled back by my curse.
CHAPTER 4
Bianca
I sat in the library, the sound slowly quieting as people headed home for the day. Most of them were all younger students. Those left were all thaghadh, studying like crazy just like me. I buried myself in my textbooks for a good while, trying to absorb every word, taking notes that probably seemed excessive. Soon the pangs of hunger hit me, and I knew it was time to go home. Packing up my textbooks and study notes, I walked off to my locker. On my way, I peeked my head into the gym, hearing the clicks of weights being moved around.
“Luca, I’m ready to go home!” I called and watched the sandy-blond hair and blue eyes flick my way as he acknowledged my presence. Weights were easily nestled in each hand; it was obvious he spent way too much time at the gym.
Reluctantly, he put the weights down, grabbed his towel, and headed for the change room. I kept heading to my locker, knowing he’d meet me there. In the clutter of my locker, I searched out my bag in its depths. As I was about to pull it out, water covered me in a short downpour, leaving me standing there, soaking wet in shock. Turning, I saw Luca holding his drink bottle, playing innocent but losing it in his laughter.
“You are a horrible person!” I laughed with him, grabbing my own drink bottle and flicking my own water at him. He tried to dodge—unsuccessfully—and soon he was just as wet as me.
“Mom’s going to kill me,” I mumbled, still laughing a little under my breath.
“We’ll dry on the walk home,” he replied.
I grabbed my bag from my locker, making sure my rowan-coated knife was in there. Then we headed home.
It was a fifteen-minute walk to my house. The whole way home, my hand sat securely on the handle of the knife as I watched all the people around me for different-colored eyes—blue, so many variations of blue, and a couple of browns. I almost preemptively launched an attack when an orange-eyed man stepped out of a street in front of me, but Luca’s hand sat softly on my arm, helping me calm down.
I watched the sunlit street around us, relieved that I would see no red eyes. The light protected us from that at least. Most of us had agreed to the truce; sometimes individuals thought themselves to be above the rules. Students were usually the easiest prey to attack, but the thaghadh were given the knives. If they attacked the wrong student, they would end up dead.
“It’s okay. They won’t bother us,” he said quietly for my security.
The whole way home, Luca held my arm, making sure my fear didn’t cause trouble. I would need to get rid of that fear soon if I wanted to succeed. It wasn’t until I had walked through the front door and locked it behind me that I felt safer.
“Don’t tell them yet,” I whispered to him in the doorway. He nodded and moved into the house.
“Jim! Anya!” He smiled as he walked into the kitchen. Both Mom and Dad were making dinner together as we walked in. Luca gave M
om a hug and patted Dad on the back before moving on.
“Are you here for dinner, Luca?” Mom asked, taking in our wet appearances after Luca nodded. “B, did you want to change before dinner?”
Luca and I headed upstairs to my room while we waited for dinner to start. I tucked my new knife under my mattress and changed while Luca launched into stories from school.
“Sam was asking about you today,” he stated, making me pause.
“What did he want?”
“He wanted to know if ‘we’ were a thing or if you were fair game.”
“Eww.” I laughed. “Why would I date you?”
“Ha. Ha,” he continued sarcastically. “I told him you were free, but with the thaghadh thing, you might be a bit study crazy.”
“I still can’t believe we both got picked!” I said, changing the subject. There was too much pressure for me at the moment to even consider dating. “I can’t wait to tell Mom and Dad. They’re going to be so excited!”
“They will! My parents will be freaking out though. And neither of them got what they wanted, so the pressure is on for me to actually become a hunter.”
“You’ll get it! I know you will. You just might have to split some of your gym time for study time.” I smiled.
He knew it was true. We had been picked today and had a term to prepare ourselves for every aspect of testing. He hit the gym, despite already being fit enough to pass it twice over.
“Here’s the deal—you help me with my fitness and combat, and I’ll lend you some of my study notes and you can study with me,” I said finally.
“Deal,” he responded. “Come on.”
With dry clothing on, I felt a lot comfier.
I could smell the food, and my stomach complained louder.
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