by Megan Duncan
He flew to a stop in front me before I could even blink, causing me to fall backward in surprise. “Didn’t you know I was coming?” He walked casually, eyeing my mother as she dangled in the grasp of her captor. With a single pointed nail, he caressed her cheek.
What did he mean he was coming for me? This didn’t make any sense. I thought they wanted to gain territory, to control all regions and make vampires the dominating and fearful predators that they once were.
He saw the questioning look in my eyes and raised his bushy black eye brows. “Interesting. I suppose you have no idea who I am?” His words seemed to hiss in the air.
“You’re the leader of The Dark.”
“My name is Baal,” his voice boomed in irritation. Maybe they didn’t like being called The Dark? “Your lovely mother here was just telling me you didn’t exist. Weren’t you, darling?” He purred at her and I saw her recoil. She looked like she was going to puke.
“But here you are!” He sounded almost amused and it both enraged and scared me. What could I possibly do to stop him?
“Yeah, here I am.” I tried to push away my fear by focusing on the sight of my parents. My father, whom I had longed for my whole life and only just found, and the mother I never knew, but instantly felt connected to. I didn’t want to let them down. No matter how afraid I was, I would do whatever it took. “If you’ve come here to claim Naos as yours, you can forget it. Go back to whatever cave you crawled out of.”
“Stupid girl. Tsk, tsk.” He waged a pointed nail at me. I bit my lip. I didn’t like the way he was looking at me. “Do you really think I came here just to take your precious Naos? Had you not fled from Palace Noire I might have let this poor excuse for a city live a few years longer in peace.”
I looked toward my mother. Did she know what he was talking about? I needed to know his angle, what his plan was, if I were ever going to defeat him.
“Who am I kidding?” Baal propelled to my side again, but I held my ground this time. He pressed his sweaty face against mine. His rancid breath filled my nose as he whispered in my ear. “I have wanted to see this city burn for centuries. All these pathetic excuses for vampires, wasting their potential on a mythic Goddess! Where is she now?” He looked at me waiting for an answer I couldn’t give him. “Nothing to say?”
What could I say? I didn’t know much about Nyx, but somehow I knew she wouldn’t just materialize in a poof of stardust and save the day. I knew it would be up to us to save ourselves.
Baal walked steadily over to my mother, pulling something from his pocket and held it against her chest. She howled in pain and I ran for her, my instincts taking over my body. I wanted to kill him for hurting her, but what he said next stopped me dead in my tracks.
“What if I were to kill your mother?” he asked. “The special vampire who was blessed with the miracle -” he emphasized the word like it would make him vomit - “of a child. Wouldn’t you think Nyx would come down and protect her chosen followers?”
“Don’t listen to him, Claire!” Bennett shouted from behind me. I had forgotten he was there, but somehow his voice comforted me. I wished that Arrick was here too. He would know what to do.
“Enough of your stupid games, Baal. Let my parents go!”
Alarms crackled through my nerves and I immediately turned to face Bennett as a hooded figure clamped its claw-like hands around his neck. He shoved Bennett forward. Fear widened the whites of his eyes. I had to do something. I was losing this battle before it had even begun.
Several hooded figures entered the room, circling around me. The walls started to close in on me and I felt my mind spinning out of control.
“What do you want?” I screamed at the figures, frustration tearing at my voice.
One of them moved and I stopped, lowering my body, readying for their attack. But it didn’t come. Instead, the figure lifted their hood and my mouth fell open. It was Ana.
My body exploded in heat at the sight of her face. I ran for her, my mouth open and my fangs ready to pierce her neck. Revenge would finally be mine.
Just steps before I was within her reach she pulled a long, thick golden chain from within her cloak. It dangled from her fingers, swinging like a pendulum. Attached at the end was a cloudy black stone. The instant I locked eyes on it, my mind felt a crushing blow of pain and misery like it was a solid brick wall. My legs bolted in place on the marble floor as if I had taken on the form of a statue. I couldn’t move. My body got heavier and heavier. My mind screamed in agony. My heart burned in sorrow.
The sounds of Bennett’s screams were echoing in my mind. Somehow they seemed distant. Was I fading away or was he? Slowly all I could see was Ana’s face. There was something different about her. There was something missing. The question twirled around in my mind like a loose coin.
Then it came to me. I had pushed back my anger and my pain and I truly saw it. Her eyes were completely white. There was no emotion in her face. I knew Ana and if this were her, she would have wanted me dead, as much as I wanted her dead.
The realization broke the stone’s spell on me and I collapsed to the floor. Ana stared blankly at me. She hadn’t even flinched. Did she even know what was going on?
“What did you do to her?” I gasped.
“Nothing she didn’t deserve. Her orders were to bring you to me, but she got greedy just like the rest of them,” said Baal, his voice dripping in hate. “Now she’s much more obedient.” Baal stroked Ana’s bright blonde hair. She stayed motionless. I almost felt sorry for her. Almost.
“Let her go!” Bennett wheezed from across the room, the figure holding onto him tightly. I saw a stone hanging from their neck and realized it was affecting him too. Pain and hopelessness were plainly written on his ghostly face. Everyone around me was suffering and there wasn’t anything I could do about it.
I wished there was a way I could use the stones against them, but Bennett had said only a member of The Dark could harness their power. What if he was wrong? There had never been a vampire like me before. What if I could do it? I had to try.
I bolted for the hooded figure holding Bennett, making it to him quicker than I thought I would. I rammed my shoulder into the hooded figure’s gut and slammed our tangled bodies onto the hard floor. I blinked in surprise, realizing that this stone was different. I didn’t feel the dread and fear like I had before. No, this stone made me feel like a failure, like I could never beat anyone. I could never win any fight. Was this stone created specifically to contain Bennett? If I had to guess, these would be some of his greatest fears.
I grasped the stone as it clattered on the stone floor and yanked it from the figure’s neck. Without even thinking I draped the chain around my neck. It hung heavily. Its energy no longer pounded against me, but stay collected around the stone. I grasped it in my hands, it was burning hot. I couldn’t think about how I had just mastered what I had been told was impossible. I didn’t have time to revel in this victory. I had to free my parents and get us the hell out of here. I knew I couldn’t defeat Baal, but I could at least escape his clutches. For now.
Bennett sprung to my side, anguish still lingered in his eyes but I could tell he was trying to hide it. I grabbed his hand hoping to connect him with some of my power as I prepared for the attack from Baal, who I now glared at, fangs glinting, hissing like an angry cat.
But all he did was stare.
Somehow I got the feeling he was going to do something far worse than attack me. An evil, crooked smile spread unnaturally across his face. Baal’s eyes rolled back into his head, only the whites showing through as he raised his hands to the ceiling. Unintelligible words came from his mouth, and he clicked his nails together. Was he going to cast a spell on me? I could only imagine that he was going to kill me in some horrific manner and trap my soul inside a stone. I couldn’t allow that to happen.
I yanked on Bennett’s arm, pulling him with me as I swirled around running toward the beast holding my mother. I focused all my energy and fo
rced it out through the stone, he dropped her instantly. Her body crashed to the floor, her head cracking against it.
The other members of The Dark came flying toward us. They definitely wanted a fight, sadly for them I had the exact stone to prevent that. They dropped like flies as the power of the stone hit them. I smiled wickedly at them. Defeating members of The Dark was becoming strangely intoxicating and I felt the urge to devour them one by one.
I looked to Baal as Bennett and I pulled my parents toward the back of the throne room. There was only one door there and I didn’t know where it led, but anywhere was better than here.
Black smoke was swirling around Baal and his circle of white eyed minions. Their eyes slowly turned toward my direction one by one. Each of them holding the chains on their neck. Each with a swirling black stone. My heart fell into my stomach like a lead weight.
I could feel the air being pulled from the room as his horde of minions marched toward us. The smoke was pulling away and collecting into a swirling black portal behind Baal. He laughed maniacally, watching them advance and stepped back into the portal. The smoke consumed his body and deflated into a pile of ash as he disappeared.
“You are very impressive,” he said finally, a seductive smile on his lips - and then he was gone.
I couldn’t believe my eyes. Did he really just leave? It didn’t make any sense. Where did that portal lead to? It looked like the portal the figure on the beach used.
“Claire, let’s go!” Bennett shouted from behind me as the minions quickened their pace.
I looked to him as he hefted my father’s body through the doorway and signaled for me to hurry up. I wanted to escape. I wanted to know my family was safe, but there was another emotion taking control of me. It was consuming me. There was just no way I was going to let Baal escape too.
My mother’s unconscious body lay on the floor at my feet. I could see the damage they had done to her was killing her. No. There was no way I would let them get away with this.
“Take her!” I shouted to Bennett.
He rushed to my side, pulling my mother into his arms. “What are you doing?” His eyes were watery and filled with concern. I knew I had found a friend in him I had never expected to.
I trusted Bennett completely and I was going to give him my first order as a princess. The most important order I would ever give. “Go! Keep them safe!”
I shoved him toward the door. He opened his mouth to protest, but the challenge in my eyes was clear. As the footsteps of the horde grew close, Bennett nodded in silence and carried my mother through the doorway, slamming it behind him. I didn’t know if I would ever see them again, but at least I knew they would be okay. I had saved them, just like I had promised I would. If I died tonight, at least I would die knowing I did something right.
Chapter_14
The first of the white-eyed minions jumped into the air. It flew at me, gaining more altitude than I thought possible. I knew the power of their stone would slam into me soon enough. How many of the stones could I really overcome? How much power was left in my stone?
As I stared into the milky pools of my first attacker. I couldn’t help but think of whose soul was trapped in the stone around my neck. Whoever it was, I prayed with every fiber of my being that they wanted to kill every one of these minions as much as I did. The stone grew hotter as I prayed silently and I took that as its answer.
I dove to my left to avoid the plummeting assault, then hurled myself at the figure. I slammed my hand onto their neck and doused their body in the power of the stone around my neck before theirs even had the chance to affect me.
I tossed the body across the room, hooking my finger around the chain and tearing it from their neck as they flew away. I dodged the attacks of three more minions, the waves of their powers washing over me briefly. I was starting to understand how the stones worked more and more. They had a range. Maybe if I could stay out of it, I could stand a chance.
I gave the second stone in my hand a brief glance before swallowing hard and pulling it around my neck. My idea might have been crazy, but at this point, crazy was all I had. I was banking on every one of these stones wanting revenge on Baal. If they could help me win this fight, then we would all be one step closer to getting the revenge we so deeply desired.
The second stone burned hotter, answering my call. I felt united in their energy, their powers weaving together with my own. The vampire inside me was in ecstasy, completely enjoying every ounce of my new power. I hated to admit it, but I was too.
I could do this. I was really good at evading attacks, but the pounding of the stones’ powers was getting stronger every time a minion got closer to me. One wrong step and I would be in serious trouble. I knew it. I tried flinging the intensity of my two stones at my attackers but it had no effect. A stone against a stone seemed to cancel each other out.
Crushing guilt and visions of my father’s motionless body exploded into my mind as a wiry minion with caramel skin swiped at me. He was quick and matched my movements almost perfectly. Strangely the visions only further powered my rage, reminding me of what Baal tried to take away from me. I could see them clearly in my mind’s eye. The father I had dreamed of all my life lying in a pool of blood on the marble floor, his eyes vacant, and my mother dangling in the air, blood and tears dripping from her body.
I snatched the minion’s stick-like arm, twisting it like a blade of grass. Heat burned through, my eyes searing with rage. I latched onto his throat, silencing his screams of pain and drank heavily. The blood seemed to cool my insides, allowing the flame of revenge to burn anew.
The other minions paused for a moment in shock. They obviously had never been met with such opposition before. I smiled widely, blood dripping from my fangs and dropped the guy’s body to the floor, but not before yanking the dark stone necklace from him. This time I didn’t hesitate before lacing it around my neck to join the others. It quickly joined its power with mine, accepting my will as its own. My strength and the souls of powerful beings were connecting into one powerhouse.
This time, the minions attacked in waves, three and four at a time. Their stones had no effect on me, canceling each other out. My movements were as fluid as a dance. I swerved and weaved between blows. I ripped the stones from their hands, disconnecting them from the enchantment Baal had placed on them. Each defeated minion hit the floor like solid rock. Their faces were filled with confused shock.
A tall, muscular minion landed a solid blow to my spine, sending me flying to the floor. The stones around my neck clattered like glass. I rolled over just in time to evade his claw-like hand flying toward my throat. A stone still dangled from his neck. All I needed to do was grab it and my power would consume him.
I somersaulted backward, landing in a fighter’s stance, waiting for him to make his move. He was confident, certain that he would be the one to turn the battle back into their favor. His chocolaty hair hung in thick dreads down his back and his skin was as black as the stone. I guessed that he was a very good fighter. Incredibly stealthy, lurking in the shadows before killing his victims before they even knew he was there.
And then, as I saw a streak of golden hair in the background, déjà vu hit me. Ana. I had forgotten about her. These were the last two left. The most skilled of all the minions. If I could beat them, this could all be over.
She flashed to his side, rage in her bleached eyes, yet still not the same crazed anger I had seen before. The Ana I knew was trapped inside; this monster before me was something else entirely. If I took her stone would she return to normal like the rest of them, sitting in a daze on the floor? Was I ready to fight her again? The fire for revenge burned within me, but the shadow of doubt still hung in the air. She had broken something inside me that day. This might be my only chance to fix it.
Ana laughed silently, but it wasn’t the same evil sound that had haunted my dreams. They looked to each other, smiling, fangs bared, certain they could stop me. Something in their glance remi
nded me of how she and Luka had looked at each other while I lie on the floor, death tugging at my body.
“Come on!” I bellowed without even realizing. I wanted to get this over with.
He barreled toward me as Ana sprung into the air. How could I handle two skilled attackers at the same time? Jarvan’s words of doubt rattled in my ears. This is the exact moment he thought I couldn’t handle it. And I wasn’t sure I could handle it now that I was in it, but there was no way to avoid it. This was a fight to the death and hopefully they would be the ones doing the dying.
I stood my ground as long as I could, trying to predict how they would attack. Knowing my enemy had worked for me so far. At the last second I cartwheeled to my left, narrowly missing the man’s grasp.
Ana caught on quicker and popped back into the air after landing, springing to my direction. She was like a jack rabbit. I steadied my weight and kicked my foot up to her chest just as she reached me. I grabbed onto her arms and flung her backward sending us tumbling across the room. The stone around her neck dangled in my face and I wanted desperately to grab it, but I couldn’t let go of her arms. She hissed in rage, her fangs desperate to latch onto my neck.
I pinned her to the ground as we came to a stop. Her stone laying there for me to take. I jammed her arm under my knee and reached for the stone, but the other minion slammed into me with incredible force. The air was knocked from my lungs and my mind rattled.
I slid to a stop against the ballroom wall and used the thick, velvet curtains to pull myself up. The silvery glow of the moonlight mixed with the heavy candlelight of the room. Despite the circumstances, it was eerily beautiful.
He looked down at Ana, clearly disappointed that I had pinned her, and then roared with rage. He clenched his fists, tightening all the muscles in his body, then turned his ghost-like eyes on me. He barreled toward me again like a mindless brute. Did he really think the same move would work? He might have been strong, but he was obviously not very agile. At least I had that much going for me.