by Smith, HD
I smiled, but it was bittersweet. Sydney is dead.
Mace put his arm around me, which got more than one odd look from the big three. I’m sorry we couldn’t save her.
Mab interrupted our thoughts. “Are there any objections, brothers?”
“No,” Harry said.
“None,” The Boss added.
I heard the faintest echo of Death laughing. His presence left, but not before he whispered, “You’ll bring me the torque of time or everyone dies.”
“Stand,” Harry ordered X.
X blinked his eyes, as if realizing where he was and why he was here. He opened his mouth to speak—no doubt to demand my power again. But the vote landed in my favor: he would be the curator.
With the flick of his wrist, Harry muttered in Ancient, “To the museum,” and X disappeared.
Harry turned to face me. “Whose blood?” he asked.
I jumped, not expecting the question. For a moment, I thought he was asking about his blood.
But he meant the blood coating the stage where Sydney’s body had dropped. X’s knife still stuck in the wood like it was waiting for someone to pick it up.
“Girl three,” I said, not wanting to talk about it.
He glanced at Mab. “I suppose this means there’s one left.”
Mab shrugged.
“I didn’t kill her. X did. The prophecy is over.” Death still wanted that damn torque—he probably thought he’d get ahead of the next set of contenders and lock in the revenant option now. I didn’t care anymore.
The Boss and Harry glanced at each other just as something whistled through the air toward me. Mace pulled me out of the way in time, but the spear grazed Ronin’s arm.
I stepped into the in-between. Darting around the room, I found Faith hiding behind the curtain high above the stage on a catwalk. Blinking on my second sight, I gasped when I realized she now had the Egyptian eye on her forehead. The same one Sydney had had. Then I remembered that she had clutched her neck when Sydney died—Faith had gotten her gift. I wasn’t completely sure how, but the game wasn’t over yet, which meant Sydney, the sacrificed child, could be saved. Had to be saved.
I materialized on the catwalk beside Faith, startling her.
She jumped out of the way and then leveled her crossbow on me.
“You haven’t been around any normals yet, have you?” I asked her, knowing she wouldn’t have had the chance to use Sydney’s gift yet.
She drew her brows together. I didn’t think she was trying to kill me to win and I wanted to make sure she knew we were still playing the game. An arrow from a crossbow wasn’t going to do it. She needed something more hands-on.
I summoned the knife X had used to kill Sydney. The long blade still dripped with her blood.
Letting the green shine run across my eyes, I said, “Twins are special. X may have killed her, but you felt her death. You have her power.” Then I mouthed, “Game on.”
I lunged for her, but she maneuvered out of my way, running back toward center stage, still high above the others. I chased her. I’d trap her and then figure out which of the six remaining spells from Jayne’s book would unlock Sydney from within Faith.
I saw the shock in Faith’s eyes as I swiped at her with the knife and the triumph in her eyes as her power brushed my skin.
“No,” I cursed as the power within me fought to get out.
“You lose,” she said, grabbing for me just as her druid bodyguard appeared behind me.
I jumped back to avoid her touch, then tripped, falling head-first toward the stage below. Pushing out the power at my core, I instantly slipped a line to the stage, stopping my fast descent.
It was Faith. The game is still on, I said to the quads.
Claire, Sage warned. You have a problem.
Before I could ask him what he meant, Gizelle appeared in the theater and I was standing over her son with a bloody knife—and every fucking tattoo on me was shining bright.
Harry growled. “You have my blood,” he accused.
Faith materialized on stage, laughing like a hyena.
Shit, I thought, just as Gizelle rushed for Thanos.
“No,” Gizelle screamed.
Before I could react, she took hold of him and disappeared. That was when I really lost it.
Faith’s lunatic laugh echoed in my head as the pain of having Thanos ripped out from under me clawed at my soul. With mindless abandon the power whore in me started pulling power from every source around me. I greedily sucked it all in, not even trying to regain control.
Harry’s rage spiked. The waves of energy rolling off him were so thick I could taste it. Opening myself to the current I yanked harder.
Mab and The Boss’s eyes flashed as my power licked out to pull theirs in. I doubled over in pain as I felt Harry try to rip his blood out of me, but unlike before, I had no intention of letting it go. I needed it if I was going to find Thanos.
My eyes locked with Harry’s. I pushed back with everything I had, rising back to my feet, breaking Harry’s hold and dropping him to his knees.
Mab gasped, then started muttering a chant in Ancient.
I scanned the room for Faith, but she was already gone.
I whipped my head around when The Boss’s voice boomed out through the room. His chants melded with Mab’s and the stage shook as if an earthquake was about to strike.
People started materializing in the theater. A few I recognized as Cleaners from The Boss’s company. Harry’s strangled voice joined the chorus, Johnny Flash and his boys arrived. From the corner of my eye I saw Quaid rushing toward the stage.
“Run,” Mace said. “Now.”
So I did.
EPILOGUE
A few weeks later ...
I’d been tying up loose ends since the debacle with X at the Lux last fall. Hiding out from the big three wasn’t the hard part—finding Thanos was. I couldn’t locate his body either. Gizelle was hiding it, or something had happened to it, which meant I might never get him back. I tried not to consider that option.
The quads and I were still connected. Cinnamon was in New York, working for her father of all things, and hiding the fact that we were magically tied together. Thankfully none of them were being stupid with the power.
Last I heard the twins were being their usual selves again. Sorrel spent his nights clubbing in Bangkok and Sage was dating a high profile movie actress in LA—being every bit the arm candy he could be.
Mace, who was the only one I kept in contact with, had relocated to Chicago and had plans to open a human friendly bar called the Ninth Circle. The last time I showed up unexpectedly I almost ran into Quaid, which was when I discovered that The Boss’s right hand man was keeping tabs on the quads—something Mace had forgotten to mention the last time we spoke.
Several times I’d considered dropping my favorite demon into a deep pit—for a few decades. He’d lied to me last spring. Jack wasn’t dead, but Quaid had told me he was. He even had my diamond ring, the one that went in the ring box I’d found in Jack’s sock drawer, as proof Jack was dead. But according to Death Jack wasn’t dead. He was alive and well, living off the grid—happily married—with a kid.
The thought of his happy life, and the fake one he’d pretended with me, could still bring the swirl of power tattoos trapped under my skin to the surface. I didn’t dwell on the fact that Jack was a slip away—a mere jump down the line of time and space. Someone I could go visit and have a long talk with about the dangers of pissing off a person with the power of all realms. Instead I went about figuring out how it had all happened. It took a few weeks, but I eventually tracked down the moment things changed. Quaid had been looking for Jack—but why? Jack wasn’t dead, so it couldn’t have been because The Boss discovered the ring. It was way the hell more complicated than that. And the real kicker—the only one who could set it all up was me.
Of course, none of that would matter if I couldn’t complete the prophecy. Now, I just had to kill Faith
and save the world—easy, right?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
HD Smith has been writing for over ten years. DARK FORSAKEN is her third full length novel. She is a software developer by day, working for an awesome cruise line in Celebration, FL.
HD grew up in South Carolina, but has called the Sunshine State home since 1997. She has Computer Science degrees from Clemson University (BS) and Florida Institute of Technology (MS). Her other hobbies include painting and screen printing. She enjoys creating t-shirts inspired by the places in her books. For more information, visit HD’s website at http://www.hdsmithauthor.com/.
Novellas:
Keegan’s Point
Nowhere, NJ
The Devil’s Assistant Series:
Dark Hope
Dark Awakened
Dark Forsaken
Photo by Stacie Lee
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