Beneath the Darkness

by Harley Jane Rose

  “We can’t fight them. Do you remember all the chaos before their realm was sealed away?” I said, my mind reeling as to how Elijah would help remedy what the hunters had done. I didn’t want to think about this. I didn’t want Alva to be gone. “I can’t. I can’t … deal with this right now.”

  He stopped, leaving it for later and hopefully for someone else to deal with. I would bear witness to all the deaths, but none would be as painful or meaningful as this one. My Alva.

  We all processed into the Otherworld, walking alongside Alva’s floating body. The Tir Na Nog always seemed beautiful, but now it was just a painful memory of where he’d tried to court me. I had always played too hard to get. I shouldn’t have. I should have stayed instead of leaving for his own good. Maybe then things could have been different.

  We walked to the edge of the transition lake, and I knew what came next. I passed his life to the lady of the lake—the one who cared for the departed magick souls. As his only love, it was my duty.

  I tried to step into the shallows with bravery, watching as his body floated on the surface. I took his hand as the lady rose, beautiful and dark from the water.

  CHAPTER 13

  Bianca

  “The schnitzel is amazing today!” I smiled above all the noise in the cafeteria, divulging my food as if I had never been fed in my life.

  My enjoyment for the food was made better by Sam’s hand sitting on my knee. Every so often, we’d catch each other’s glances amid all the jokes and smiles of lunch. Seraphina had taken to imitating what she perceived to be the inner thoughts of everyone’s mind. While playing psychic, we heard the massive bang of the cafeteria doors opening fiercely, and every eye in the room turned to the entryway. Axton strode through the doors solemnly but purposefully. Two other lead hunters followed him in. Axton’s eyes didn’t search as he addressed the room.

  “I’m in need of Samuel Fresca.” I felt Sam’s grip on my knee tighten, and then he slid out of the booth. He held his hand out to me, and I knew he might need me. This didn’t sound like good news. I took his hand and stood. Our friends tensed for any reaction; relationships weren’t advised in extensive training. We walked over to Axton, and as we reached him, he turned and left the room, expectant of us to follow. Axton moved all the way back to his office before he even looked at us. “I am assuming by her presence you intend for her to hear the news, yes?”

  “Yes,” Sam replied without hesitation.

  Axton nodded and then sat behind his desk, his eyes becoming sad. A boy our age, who sat in the corner, shifted but stayed silent.

  “I’m afraid I have some bad news about your brother, Jayden. He was sent on his first outer-wall mission and was killed by a banshee,” Axton said, and I watched as Sam’s face fell. I wasn’t sure how to process it, but after his distraught expression, I saw the confusion. He opened his mouth but couldn’t form words. I did it for him.

  “Why would a banshee do that? I thought they predicted death, not caused it,” I said.

  Axton looked at the man in the corner who stood shaking. “Aaron, would you relay the events you witnessed on the hunting mission?”

  This man stumbled over every word as he shakily told his events.

  “Jayden wandered into the circle by accident … the fae threatened to keep him there for eternity and attacked him. Jayden killed it in self-defense, and then the banshee came along and killed the other two … and told me to come and warn us all to stay away,” he cried.

  I wanted to feel sympathy, but all I knew was that I was confused by him. The fae were uptight and pretentious, sure, but they weren’t aggressive. Ever. I’d met a banshee; she had no need to kill me even when she told me I was going to become a vampire. It made no sense. I knew Jayden though; he could jump to conclusions quickly and had very little patience. It seemed more likely that he made the first move, but … I looked over at Sam and saw the despair written over his face. He questioned none of it. I don’t think anything from the story even mattered to him, except that his brother had been killed.

  “Why would the fae do that? They aren’t an aggressive species,” I asked Aaron, flicking my eyes to Axton, knowing he might have an answer.

  “I don’t know. He just did. The fae went for him first,” Aaron said severely, his eyes on the ground.

  “What about the banshee? Did she tell you why she did it?”

  “No!”

  “It doesn’t seem likely that both would attack without provocation!” I raised my voice at him, and Axton stood.

  “Miss Delacroix, isn’t it?” he addressed, and I nodded. “I think your focus should be elsewhere for the moment. Please refrain from interrogating Aaron. It is not your job. You are here to look after Mr Fresca.”

  I turned back to Sam, remembering his presence, and found myself shocked by what greeted me. Sam bent over his knees, his face in his hands and his body shaking horribly. I dropped down in front of him, trying to put my face in his view, but he was blinded by tears that had left his eyes. I took one hand away from his face, his other fighting to hide himself from me. I helped his weight up out of the chair and moved him from the room.

  It was a struggle to carry him to his bedroom. He was a lot heavier than me, and despite the amount of training I’d had and the muscle gained, there was no easy way to carry him in such an awkward position. Finally, I let his weight fall to his bed and watched him curl up into the comfort of the mattress. It hurt to see him this way, and yet all the questions surrounding his brother’s death nagged at me.

  Why would the fae do something like that? Why had the banshee reacted the way she did if she could see it was self-defense?

  A cry, muted by sheets and pillows, escaped Sam’s lips, and I closed the door behind me, moving over to his bed, carefully climbing up next to him.

  Sam felt the movement and looked up at me, his eyes red and teary like a faucet had been turned on, and his nose was just the same. It was a heartbreaking sight. I wish I understood how he felt. I’d lost Luca, but not like this; I always still held the hope that maybe one day I’d get to see him again, whereas Sam’s predicament was different. But I had to ask.

  “Was this his last life?” I asked.

  “No. One left. But after that, he will never come back,” Sam cried. “I’m the reason he lost his first, and now he’s lost another.”

  “Hey, he will wake up in a week, and you’ll see him again. It’s okay. He still has one life left. It will all be okay,” I said, somewhat relieved.

  “I believe that, coming from you,” he said, a sad smile pushing itself to his lips.

  “Good. You should because it’s true.”

  That comforted him more, and he pulled me close, kissing me softly like I was truly precious.

  CHAPTER 14

  Morana

  I had been following the witches on and off through the grove for weeks now. The longer I watched them, the more I found myself worrying. They met with creatures I never would have thought, from succubi to fae to sirens, and to me it looked as though they could have been creating an army.

  I followed a witch in particular one night—the one who seemed most active as she moved off on her own, careful not to incur followers. But she hadn’t thought to check above her in the treetops as I bounded through the forest grove. The earth magick of nature’s soul pushed through my fingers and energized my bloodstream, until the witch stopped and the darkness in my heart that fed on death reared its head with a sudden urgency that made me want to join her on the ground. I pushed myself into a sitting position, holding myself tensely against the trunk of the tree and keeping my eyes downward as shadows swirled along the grass of the ground, killing everything nearby.

  I could feel the tree I was in silently cry out as its roots were affected by the spell, and I held steady to the tree, wishing I could comfort its soul.

  “I did what you asked,” th
e young witch said, bowing deeply and staying as low to the ground as she could. The older shadow of a witch did not allow her to rise. She stood above her, grotesque in her appearance. Darkness had not only seeped her soul but also taken the beauty and youth from her face. I could feel the black power emanating from her and hoped that she couldn’t sense my presence.

  “Then it is done. There is nothing to tell me,” she said, flipping her hand in boredom. The witch looked up, and I finally saw the fear in her eyes despite her following of this person.

  “Yes, Baba Yaga,” she said. She bowed once more and ran off into the night. I stayed in my place, breathing hard as the nightmare fairy-tale witch stood at the base of the tree in very solid, very real form, and I could swear she heard my heart thrashing my rib cage.

  CHAPTER 15

  Bianca

  Sam was emotionally drained after our time together. It was a new kind of connection I had experienced; I had all of him as well as new parts of his soul I’d never encountered before. He held me like I was precious and kissed me like it would be the last time. He fell asleep quickly, and I untangled myself from him, getting changed and quietly moving back to Axton’s office.

  I knocked and waited. Silence followed, and I hoped he was still in his office. I didn’t have any idea where else to find him. The door opened, and I was met with Axton’s confused expression.

  “Miss Delacroix,” he said, stepping aside to let me in. I walked in and stood in front of his desk. He seated himself on the other side, looking extremely serious.

  “I had inquiries about Jayden’s mission,” I started.

  “You are still a hunter in early training, and you do not have the experience to deal with this,” Axton replied, hoping to silence the situation. I wasn’t going to back down so easily; it mattered too much.

  “With all due respect, sir, you have trained us to learn everything we can as quickly as we can. I have come with inquiries as to why these species have acted in such a way that does not usually correlate with their norm of behavior. In the interest of helping my knowledge expand, you could answer my questions.”

  I knew fighting against Axton was risky, but I knew I had a point. He tensed at my response before finally settling back and waving me to continue.

  “To begin with, the fae are extremely peaceful. They only resort to violence when absolutely necessary. I don’t believe they would attack first.”

  “What are you insinuating then?” Axton challenged calmly. He had probably already noticed this.

  “I know Jayden, sir. He talks a big game, but he would easily be spooked, if you follow what I’m saying.”

  “I do.”

  “I believe Jayden may have acted first,” I finished. “Sir, there is another matter that dawned on me after I left.”

  “And that is?”

  “Was the circle broken?”

  “It was. The relevance?”

  “Originally, the fae and the humans helped to bind away the Unseelie. Regardless of whether Jayden attacked first, blood of fae and man was spilled in a circle. What does that mean for the Unseelie and Shadow Courts?”

  Axton looked at me long and hard for the moment, as if it had not occurred to him. He seemed curious about my knowledge of such things.

  “My parents used to tell me the story of the Binding when I was little as a scary story when they put me to bed. When I was old enough, I asked about its truth,” I explained.

  “I will inquire at the meetings of the elders later today about the status of the Unseelie. It seems I was wrong to ward fresh eyes from this situation. Thank you, Miss Delacroix. I will keep you updated. I would prefer you keep this information as private as possible.”

  I nodded in response.

  “You are dismissed.”

  CHAPTER 16

  Morana

  The pull of death held me captive, but it felt different this time. I didn’t have the cold sensation along my limbs; instead, a stone weighed in my gut. Things had been strange for me since the incident. I wandered aimlessly, not wanting to go home to an empty house now that I had lost Alva. I knew that at some point I would have to attend hearings about my actions, but I fought for what I loved, even if it had been too late.

  I found myself in the western human suburbs—the human alchemist and science starters. Looking in the shadows, I saw all the creatures humans feared so much scuttling like rats in the shadows of the dead bolted homes.

  The vampires paid me no mind; my blood held no appeal to their starving bodies. I skimmed my gaze over all the eyes that glowed red in the alleys, wondering which of them would finally be thirsty enough to invade the supposed safety of a home, and then the contrast among the red stopped me. Dark green with flecks of red glanced back at me, warning me from the alley. The vampires that lurked near the alley moved along quickly when they met those eyes.

  I had met so many creatures in Euphoria, but in my eighteen years, I had not encountered these. The rock in my stomach grew heavier as my feet backed across the street until I moved into the darkness, and the eyes lost interest. I watched. Sure, this creature was the reason I was here. Green eyes belonged to those connected to the Magick Earth—the fae. But they were bright, and I had never seen red flecks in any of the fae eyes. Reds were life stealers—like the vampires—and this didn’t make sense to me.

  I watched, mesmerized, and after an hour, it finally moved. A thin figure draped in black with wings that looked like they were made of lace flew from the alley and slowly made its way up the street. Like a magnet, the creatures of the night stayed out of his radius, and the creatures stopped in front of the house on the end. I followed at a distance, seeing it manipulate the shadows to create physical form and then slowly cradled it as the shadows lightened and changed to a gray-green skin. An ugly troll-like baby lay in the dark fae’s arms, morphing itself. Its eyes changed color, and it turned into a human child. Once the metamorphosis was complete, the fae flew up to the window and, with ease, opened and climbed through the window. Not able to bring myself closer, I tried to wonder at what might be happening inside. Feeling the déjà vu sneak up on me, I waited for images of a baby’s teeth.

  I saw the figure clamber out, a smaller swaddled bundle now in its arms, and I felt my blood freeze.

  He flew down the street at an alarmingly fast rate, and I found myself tapping into the reserves of my energy to sprint after him. Then he went straight over the outer wall, and I stopped. Shit. I looked around and found a tree just a way back from it and climbed over quickly, using it to improve my leap over. The essence of the earth always made fae stronger. While no human could have made the jump up over the wall, it was my ticket out.

  I ran straight into the woods, hoping that was where he’d taken the young baby, and sure enough, I caught up with the slowing cloaked form. As the creature stopped in the clearing, I got slammed in the gut by recognition. I saw the mushroom circle that had rotten and blackened. I hid behind a tree, hoping my presence wouldn’t be noticed. He lowered himself to his feet. When he reached the edge of the circle, he put the baby on the ground. The baby cried as it touched the cold, wet grass, and then he called out to the shadows of the clearing.

  “My offering to you, dark one,” his low, growling voice proclaimed before his screeching call filled my ears and reminded me of nails on a blackboard. He stopped abruptly and bowed deeply to the circle before striding off. The baby’s cries encompassed the clearing, and as I checked to make sure he had left, I found myself sprinting for the child. I didn’t want to be a bystander anymore; I wanted the people I’d lost back, and I wanted to help others.

  I reached the child as a swirling black smoke engulfed it, stealing the child from this realm.

  I stood in the clearing, breathing hard. The Shadow Court had escaped with the Unseelie, and Euphoria would soon discover the horrors that had been hiding in its prison cells.

  C
HAPTER 17

  Bianca

  Axton had named himself my mentor, and news spread fast in this school. In every class and every meal, every eye was watching me intently. They were trying to see why Bianca Delacroix was the gifted student. Evidently, not many students had called Axton up on his shit because I was the first student he had mentored in the last ten years.

  Elora and I sat in the dining hall, trying to avoid eye contact with the curious glances and jealous glares around me, pretending to be in our own little worlds. My friends had been surprisingly okay with all of it, showing their surprise and not pushing it when I told them it was confidential. They understood.

  Sam had recovered after receiving word that he would be reunited with his brother. He strode through, seemingly with a renewed sense of self. In Sam’s hand was a yellow note, probably from Axton to us. Sam had been allowed to know the confidential information so long as he kept it to himself. Without fanfare, he passed me the note as he moved past the table, leaving his bags while he collected food for dinner. Checking where Elora’s gaze was, I saw her slide away slightly and pointedly look away from me.

  My office. 9 p.m.

  Information concerning the meeting of the elders. Is important.

  Axton

  I knew Sam had read the message, so I quickly scrunched and shoved it into my pocket. I returned to my meal and conversation with Elora about what species we might be moving on to next in the curriculum. Sam sat, joining the talk and keeping an eye on me. By the time dinner was finished, we had exhausted all the conversation topics except the one I truly wanted to talk about. What information would come from the elders’ meeting that was so important? It put me on edge and made me think of every possibility. A drum echoed in my head with a chorus of “What’s the news?” And there was no way to share my inner stressing.