by D. N. Hoxa
Kyahen and his fairies were going to open portals in each Base, and then one in every city where my borrowed armies were. We were all going to meet there at noon. Just the thought of stepping into Necterram again made me shiver with fear. The feeling I’d gotten when I touched that tree…it had almost drove me over the brink. It would have had it not been for Aaron.
My heart ached every time I thought of him and of my sister. The thought that I wouldn’t be able to save them lingered in the air I breathed, taunting me. I made my way up to the roof with a bottle of water and a nice Zippo in my hands. I needed to connect to the elements, to know that they’d have my back now that I most needed them. They could make me whole, but they could just as easily break me, too. I was going to do everything in my power to make sure that didn’t happen.
20
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Jack and Frosty forced me to eat before I went to bed. Not that I slept, but I must have lost consciousness at some point. I couldn’t tell if my body was rested when I woke at dawn, then tossed and turned for another couple of hours, trying not to think. All I knew was that the time had come and what I was about to do was right. I felt it in my bones. If I were lucky, Ella and Aaron would make it out alive. If not, I’d at least meet Aaron in hell. He was a demon, after all. This is what both of them would have wanted me to do. It was what my mother wanted me to do. Fight. And I wasn’t going to stop until my dying breath.
Someone knocked on the door just as I was about to walk out. I opened it to a very alert looking Jack.
“Morning,” he mumbled, looking me over as if he was afraid I’d hurt myself.
“Is everything ready?” I must’ve asked him that question a hundred times already.
“Yes, everything’s ready. But are you still sure about this?” Fear dripped from his words, and it didn’t make me feel any better.
“Of course I am. He’s going to kill Ella and Aaron by midnight if we don’t stop him first. This is it. It couldn’t have started any other way. It was Samayan’s plan all along to get me to attack him.” He was never going to attack us first.
“That’s what concerns me.” Concern was a mild word to describe the fearful look in his eyes—one maybe I had written all over me, too—but I didn’t comment. “He’s expecting us to go after him. He’ll be ready, which can’t be said about us. We don’t even know how the new armies the SKO people gave to you operate. We’re blind!”
Nothing I hadn’t heard a thousand times from him already. “Like I said, this is the only way. We start and finish this once and for all. I’m not going to sit around and wait for him to grow stronger and stronger. We should have attacked a long time ago.”
Empty words. What I really meant was that I should have stopped being a stupid little kid and read Illyon a long time ago. If I had only been brave enough to do that, I wouldn’t be a hundred and ten percent sure now I was going to die.
“I do trust you, Star, but I’m worried—”
“Stay worried. It’ll keep you focused.”
I slipped around him and made for the stairs. Jack sighed and followed me, his head down.
“Arturo will arrive in about half an hour. Kyahen’s fairy is going to open a portal inside to avoid prying eyes. We’re coming out somewhere inside in Necterram, too.”
Jack sure didn’t look happy. Why would he? The sun shone in the fairy realm, too, and it was going to turn him into ash if he was exposed to it. It was going to turn every vampire to ash. Which was exactly why Everett had proposed noon. No vampires were going to be able to fight.
“We’re going to be fine, Jack.”
‘No, we won’t. While you’ll be out there kicking ass, I’ll be stuck inside the fairy realm with two hundred stranger vamps breathing down my neck.” He flinched.
I raised a brow. “So Frosty’s coven is joining us?”
Jack nodded. “Though I don’t see what for. It’ll be hours before the sun goes down.”
“Not necessarily. It’s the fairy realm. Weird shit happens there. For all we know, you’ll be inside for an hour, if not less.” Not likely, but I wanted to make Jack feel better, which was weird all on its own.
“Which then means that Samayan’s soldiers will be out, too.” Jack cursed under his breath. “It’s like you can’t even win.”
“Do me a favor. If you really can’t relax, just pretend, okay?” Negativity was not what we needed right now. We couldn’t afford to think that we were all going to die, no matter how likely that outcome was.
Frosty was on the other side of the counter, and a few vampires were scattered here and there, speaking in whispers.
Before we even sat down, Frosty had two glasses filled with whisky in front of us. Jack downed his before I could blink. I pushed my glass his way. “Too early.” It was, even in a day like that.
“Cheer up,” Frosty said as he poured another glass for himself. “This may very well be your last drink.”
I did not appreciate the bad joke, but I kept my mouth shut.
“She really wants to see you,” Jack mumbled after his second glass.
I knew exactly who he was talking about. Tytania.
When I refused to say anything for a while, Frosty sighed. “I hate secrets.”
“It’s no secret. One of the Elders wants to talk to Star,” Jack said. He seemed to like Frosty a lot more after he showed him the chest full of weapons that could turn vampire into ash faster than the sun.
“I don’t want to talk to her.”
“Okay.” Jack nodded one too many times. “So what else are we going to do while we wait for noon?”
How I hated it when he was right. Talking to Tytania beat sitting around, doing nothing for the next couple hours. So, to my own surprise. I agreed.
Being in the room that had once felt homey and had smelled nice was now suffocating me. Tytania sat across from me, her chair the only seat in there aside from the sofa behind me. It was strange to see her without the other Elders, but I was glad it was just her. I couldn’t even think about arguing with Eleanor right now.
“There you are.” Tytania’s voice was cold as ice.
“Here I am.” Arguing with her would be wasted energy, but something told me I wouldn’t be able to hold back.
“The decisions you insist on making on your own are not solely yours to make,” she said.
“I never said I was here to get reprimanded.”
“Quit playing a fool, Star. It’s beneath you,” said Tytania, her green eyes spitting fire. “Deciding to attack the Council without speaking to us first is outrageous!”
“Outrageous?” Laughter bubbled up my throat. “Who’s us? Azazel?”
Tytania leaned back in her chair. “He’s a traitor.” No kidding, Sherlock.
“He is. And he betrayed us right under your nose. You want to lecture me about decisions? Take a look at your own! I’ve played this the way my cards were dealt since the very beginning. I told you in our very first meeting that I would do as I saw fit when time came, and that is exactly what I’m doing.”
“You’ve broken each one of our rules at least once. That is unacceptable.”
“Well, then, stop me, why don’t you.” It wasn’t even a question. We both knew she wouldn’t be able to. “Is that why you want Illyon so badly? You figured Azazel could read it and give you the spell that would set you free from whatever prison you’re in?”
It wasn’t something I had intended to bring up with Tytania, but I was through with the lies. Through with the bullshit. Who knew that the sight of the end would make such an honest person out of me?
“You think Samayan would have bothered to come after you if Azazel could read Illyon?”
Well…fuck. “You said he could.” Hadn’t she? I seemed to remember she had in one of the first meetings in the Fifth Dimension. Azazel had been there the day the White Book of Wisdom was written, so he could read it.
“He could. But then he went against Samayan, and Samayan took m
ost of his power away, as he did with the rest of us. What do you think Samayan promised him in return for his betrayal?”
Ah, hell. Just when you though things couldn’t get any worse…but on the bright side, at least now I knew that Samayan wouldn’t suddenly begin to recite the pages of Illyon by memory. Azazel was blocked out of his powers, but not all of them, apparently. Otherwise he wouldn’t have been able to possess all of Frosty’s vampires, and he wouldn’t have been able to summon Ella to wherever he was—hopefully Necterram.
“It doesn’t matter now. I’m going to send him back to hell today.” I sounded a lot surer than I felt.
“So you’re going to fight Samayan, Azazel, and all of the remaining members of the Council singlehandedly?” Tytania mocked.
“If I have to.” Thankfully, I’d made a lot of friends and even more enemies that had somehow ended up on my side. For now.
“You’re going to get yourself killed!” Tytania spit, her small fists slamming on the arms of her chair.
“I’m going to do my best to kill Samayan, too. Hopefully before I die.”
“This isn’t a joke, you fool!”
“No, it isn’t. It’s reality. It’s the best chance we’ve got. Samayan doesn’t know we know where he’s keeping his army. He’s not going to expect us to attack. The element of surprise is on our side, and we’re going to use it.”
Tytania pressed her thin lips together tightly for a second. “I was sorry to hear about your sister. About Aaron. But I do need you to think clearly. We can’t have everything we’ve worked so hard for go down the drain.”
“This isn’t about Ella and Aaron. I’m thinking as clearly as is possible. And I believe this is the best chance we’ve got.” A chance I was going to take, no matter what Tytania thought.
“And what if you fail?”
The question hung in the air and made sure I couldn’t breathe. I looked away from the Fairy Queen.
“Then I fail.” And that was okay, too.
Tytania sighed loudly and folded her hands on her lap. “Very well,” she said. “Mark my words, Star. If you fail us, I will find you, even in the underworld if I have to, and make sure your existence in whatever form is as miserable as is possible for the rest of eternity.”
***
Tytania’s words stayed with me long after our meeting in the Fifth Dimension ended. She pushed me back in Frosty’s room like a goddamn hurricane. I was angry, yes, but I’d also seen her face. Her words hadn’t been a threat, no. They’d sounded more like a promise, so I was scared, too.
I walked out of the room, my head an even bigger mess. My phone rang as I made my way back downstairs, and like a fool, I actually expected to see Ella’s or Aaron’s number on the screen. Instead, it was Kyle.
“How am I going to contact you if something goes wrong?” he asked. So he’d been briefed.
“Well, we won’t be able to use phones.” The fairy realm was allergic to technology.
“Not funny. You told me you’d stop the war from happening,” Kyle said, and for the first time ever, he sounded like he was mad.
“I promised to keep you safe, Kyle, and you will be. We’re taking the war to the enemy.”
“And what about Ella?”
“Ella is going to be okay.” Maybe the truth, maybe a lie—it was something I needed to say, and he needed to hear.
“If something happens to her…”
His voice trailed off, and I heard the sound of his fist slamming on the table.
“Nothing’s going to happen to her. She’s my sister, remember?” And that was the reason she was in this mess in the first place, but that wasn’t something Kyle wanted to be thinking about.
“Okay,” Kyle whispered. “Okay. But I’m going to need to contact you somehow. And I think I have an idea.”
Kyle’s idea was brilliant, actually. He was going to ask Kyahen to keep a fairy on Earth, one who knew how to find me if Kyle had something to say. I wasn’t exactly sure Kyahen would play along, but it was worth a shot.
Downstairs, I found both Jack and Frosty hiding weapons on their persons. They both had leather gloves on, and each had a funny-looking leather fanny pack attached to their hips.
“Not allowed to laugh,” Jack said to me when I opened my mouth. “It’s leather and the only thing keeping me from direct contact with those mean ass stakes.”
Oh. On the counter, the three huge swords waited. I took one for myself and spent a second adjusting my katanas’ straps to accommodate it behind my back. Stakes went in sheaths with my knives. Everything was visible around my waist, shoulders and hips, but nobody was going to care.
When the door opened, it actually made me jump a bit. I’d been so deliberately lost in the weapons—a technical thing to do that didn’t let me actually think—that I hadn’t even felt new energy.
One of Frosty’s vampires walked in first, and behind him was Arturo, Naomi, Big Mike and to my surprise, Edison, the head-shifter.
Jack looked surprised, too. We’d only been expecting Arturo. Still, I couldn’t say I wasn’t glad to see all those faces.
Big Mike’s grin was the same as always. For some reason, that was very reassuring. They walked over, shoulders wide and heads high. We were in foreign territory, so I could understand their hesitation. Holding back a sigh of relief, I stood up from the stool and waited for them to approach me.
“What are you guys doing here?”
“They wanted to come with,” Arturo said as he looked me over, concern clear in his dark eyes. Too many people were concerned for my well-being lately, and I wasn’t exactly sure how to feel about it yet.
“We wanted to be with you going in,” said Naomi with a wink, her pink hair all over the place.
“About time, if you ask me. I’m ready to really hurt somebody,” Big Mike said.
“Edison,” I said with a nod. I’d been certain he wouldn’t come to fight personally. Perhaps I’d misjudged the man.
“Raven,” he said, a relaxed smile on his face.
“I didn’t know you were going to be here.”
“Of course I would. This is my fight, too.” I should have definitely given the shifter a lot more credit.
“Well, I’m glad you’re all here. It’s a bit earlier than expected, but we can’t afford to wait any longer.” And give Samayan more time to grow stronger and possibly kidnap a lot more people.
“Early? It’s late if you ask me,” Big Mike murmured.
“The best things are done spontaneously,” Jack said.
I was glad he was either feeling more relaxed or pretending to.
One of those talks they do in movies would have been a good idea, but it wasn’t my style. I’d never been good at talking, let alone making a speech. Actions spoke louder than words, anyway.
After introducing them to Frosty, we went through the plan once again. A very simple plan—one of my favorites. Then, the rest of the group took stakes, and Arturo and Naomi each took one of the remaining swords because Mike wanted to “tear vampire flesh with his bare hands.” As I looked at all of them talking like we weren’t about to walk into our own caskets, I felt lucky. Strange emotion. Against all odds, I’d made enough allies to wage a war against the most powerful vampire of all times. Against all odds, I’d made friends.
And when the time came, we were all as ready as we would ever be.
21
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Kyahen came to open the portal for us in Frosty’s basement personally. The building was buzzing with vampires, everybody equipped with guns, knives, and a lot of fear and panic. Frosty’s vampires waited for us to go in first, before each made it through to Necterram.
His royal assness put both his palms on the door that led to Frosty’s now empty chest. His lips moved, but I couldn’t hear a single thing he said. Starting from the tips of his fingers, blue light spread on the door, swallowing it whole, until it made a perfect circle. The darkness on the other side looked like one would
imagine death to look like. They said fairy portals were stronger, much more connected to both places. I’d tried a portal with Aaron once, and I hadn’t liked it. That was why I had my senses shut off. I could almost taste Necterram’s energy, and it was definitely something I wasn’t looking forward to.
Kyahen turned to face us once the portal was done, a cold smile on his face as he met my eyes. He looked at me as if nobody else was there. The nod he gave me made my heart stand still for the longest second, before it began to gallop in my chest again.
As I took the first step forward, my mother’s face came to my mind. Her loving eyes, her smile directed at me…it filled me with the strength I’d had no idea I’d missed. With a deep breath and eyes wide open, I walked through the portal.
Something pulled at me on all sides. My stomach fell and air disappeared completely. The darkness around me began to sizzle with blue energy as I got pulled and pulled and pulled until I thought I was going to fall into the nothingness.
But just as fast as it had begun, everything stopped.
My feet touched solid ground and cold air hit me hard. The darkness disappeared and a wide hall took its place. I took a few steps forward before taking anything in because I didn’t want the others to bump into me when they came through.
The hall was made out of wood, top to bottom. Nothing was in there, except the two fairies by the only door in the round room. They were as dreamy as any other fairy I’d seen, the woman dressed in a green gown fit for royalty, her white wings shimmering under the light that seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere at once. The male was dressed in a black suit, his grey majestic wings touching the ground by his feet.
“Fucking hell,” said Mike before I’d even said a word. When I turned to look, I saw him and a huge brown wolf looking at the fairies, completely mesmerized. Edison had decided to start it off in his wolf form, which was admirable. It meant he could control his animal perfectly, and I was glad he’d done it. The low growl that escaped his huge mouth meant he was not a fan of the fairy hosts, waiting for us in Necterram. The rest of the group came through, followed by Frosty’s vampires. The hall had looked big at first, but it filled up so fast, we were pushed towards the fairy hosts very quickly to make room for everyone.