First And Last

by Stacey Kennedy

  “Now, Nexi,” Ryker leaned down, spoke in a low voice. G.I. Joe look-alike gave me a stern look indeed. “We have come for a show tonight. Let’s not disappoint.”

  Kyden let out a loud laugh, as did Haven, Finn, Zia and Talon.

  I just rolled my eyes at them.

  Azar stepped into the center and the awaiting crowd quieted. “We have come tonight under grave circumstances. First, if you have not heard, our ruler was attacked last night. Hunted by our kind.” The entire room gasped and low whispered hums filtered through the auditorium. “As expected, those who betrayed her were dealt with appropriately. Is there anyone else here that feel as those betrayers did? If so, step forward, and declare it.”

  “Does he seriously think someone will?” I asked Kyden.

  His gaze fell on me. “He’s making a point.”

  I thought for a moment, tried to ascertain what point that was exactly. After a minute or so, I came up empty. “And what point would that be?”

  “That their assembly is united and anyone who acts now is acting alone without their strongest support.”

  “Oh.” I shrugged. “Guess that makes sense.”

  Of course, as expected, no one stood.

  Azar spun around to face us. “No more will betray you.”

  “Don’t be so sure about that,” I whispered under my breath.

  Azar quickly left the center, walked toward me with purposeful strides. He cocked his head when he stopped in front of me. “Trouble?”

  “Oh yeah—heaps of it.”

  Quinney approached and whispered in Azar’s ear. His face slowly lost all of its color. He staggered back a step and stared at Quinney.

  “You should say something,” Kyden told me.

  “What the hell am I going to say?”

  “Your mouth has never been a problem before.” Kyden said aloud, his grin devilish.

  I smacked his arm, the jerk. “That is so not funny, Kyden.” I stood and approached Azar.

  I grabbed his shoulders and gave him a little shake. “Let’s get this over first.” I looked around the room, my gaze settled on all the faces that looked all too intrigued by what was going on. No need to send everyone into a frenzy. “This is not the place to discuss this.”

  The cloud of horror slowly began to fade from his eyes. “Yes, you’re right.” He quickly gestured toward Quinney. “Bring them in.”

  She immediately responded to the order and fled the room, only to return with three demons. I didn’t recognize any of them. But why would I?

  Kyden stood from his chair the second they entered the room and stood protectively beside me. Also expected.

  When the demons stopped in front of me, I looked them over. It was really hard to believe how much evil lurked in these beings. They look so ordinary. Young, mid-twenties, perfectly cut hair, pleasant faces—so deceptive.

  I finally looked at Azar. “So, what have they done?”

  “Each one has taken an innocent soul,” he answered.

  Naughty demons. I started to approach them, but Kyden pulled me back. “Come with me then, geesh!” Kyden inclined his head, and let me step forward.

  “Why have you done this?”

  The young girl was the one who answered. She looked like your original teeny-bopper—long hair, too much make-up and clothes that were entirely way too tight. “The rules you have set about are ridiculous. We are demons. It’s what we do.”

  I sighed and tiredly ran my hands over my face. I was beginning to feel old—too damn old. I lowered my hands and looked from demon to demon. “You all feel the same way I presume?” They nodded in unison. “Well then, first thing first.” I grabbed onto teeny-bopper’s hand, and just as I did, she jumped back.

  Instantly, Kyden latched onto her, held her still. Since I knew she could do her spooky shit and vanish, I sent a little air out to force her still. Her eyes went wide as my mini tornado wrapped around her body. “You did this to yourself.”

  Kyden released her, gave me a little wink as he took his position beside me.

  I kept teeny-bopper’s hand tight in mine and let the adrenaline of Spirit come to the forefront, foregoing every other element that lingered within me. I focused on that one sensation. When Spirit held strong, I opened myself up to the demon’s mind and let her memories flood my own.

  There were quick flashes of everything that was wrong with our world. The longer it went on, the more I wished I could pull away. What I saw wasn’t good. Oh, we were in serious shit—that was undisputable. Demons in the Underworld would never stand to see Kyden and I run their world or live under these new rules. The worst part—and it was fucking bad—they knew a way to stop it.

  Here is where the Demon Lords came in. My abilities were unmatched. The demons believed that, but my strength against the Demon Lords did not compare. They were Satan’s sidekicks, for Christ sakes. The power they held within them was something similar, to well, me.

  And the extremely shitty part…these Demons didn’t plan on just summoning one. They were going to summon all seven.

  Holy fuck!

  The visions stopped. My eyes snapped open. I dropped her hand and took a step back. “Fucking, fuck.”

  Kyden lunged forward protectively, latched onto my hand and dragged me toward him. “What is it?”

  “It’s so bad, Kyden. So very, very bad,” I used our bond, didn’t want to alert them to the fact that I knew their plan just yet.

  He glanced around the auditorium, then his eyes settled back on mine. “We shouldn’t talk of this here.”

  “Got that right,” I said aloud. Quinney raised her brows. Obviously, my words were not linking together. I could only imagine how nuts I looked right now. But I didn’t give a rat’s ass. Panic made my throat tight. I needed to get this part over with so I could fill the others in on what I discovered. I looked at Quinney. “So…what do we do with them now?”

  Quinney looked at Misa, who stood at my side within a quarter of a second. “You must destroy them, Nexi. They’ve gone against your rules.” Then, she whispered. “You need to show your strength here. So, the others fear you.”

  I exhaled, fright forgotten as annoyance returned. “Er, Misa…I’ve never killed a demon. What do I do?”

  A slow smile spread across her face. She was either laughing at me or at the situation. I didn’t find either one very funny. She looked back at the crowd. “Please excuse us for a moment. Lady Nexi wishes a private meeting.”

  The crowd stood and bowed.

  I mumbled numerous obscenities while Kyden chuckled quietly behind me as we followed Misa, Azar, Quinney and Tyde into a room just off the auditorium.

  Just as we met the door, I glanced back at Zia, and she gave me a reassuring nod, as did Talon. I really hated doing this without them. To me, they were my leaders and it felt horrible to exclude them. They never made a move to follow so I left it alone.

  Focusing back on the situation at hand, the second the door the simple sitting room closed behind me, I sent my lips flapping. “Holy Shit! They’re summoning all the Demon Lords. They want to bring them all back to defeat me. To make right what has happened here.” Every single face held equal shock, including Kyden’s. “Er…sorry. I guess I shouldn’t have come out with it like that.”

  Quinney shot a concerned glance at Tyde. “I feared the summoning of Mammon was just the beginning.”

  Tyde nodded, looked not too happy. “I believe you’re right. Never would I have expected retaliation in this regard.” He shook his head slowly. “We have to stop this before they summon more. One we can handle, two, it’s possible. Three is when it gets difficult.”

  “What action must we take then?” Kyden asked.

  “While I’ve been reading the Diabolus Somes, I did come upon a story that I thought might be relevant to Nexi.” Quinney informed. “Long ago, it was said that there was one not from the Underworld gifted with the ability to drawn runes…”


  I cut in quickly. “Who was it?”

  Quinney shrugged. “No names were mentioned, but it said that she attempted to send demons to the Realm of the Dead when Satan overpowered her.” She gave a knowing look. “It also said she was a White Witch.”

  I could tell by her look that she had connected this to me somehow, but I just couldn’t piece it together exactly. “And this has something to do with me because…”

  “We suspect that whatever magic this witch held is probably the same that you hold within yourself. She had the ability to draw runes, just as you can.” Tyde answered.

  Kyden rubbed the small of my back, drawing my attention. “I must agree with them, Álainn. The situations do sound very similar.”

  “So it’s a little the same.” I couldn’t deny the similarities. No one had ever heard of a witch that could do what I could, but I still didn’t really get what that all meant. “But what does that mean exactly, how can my abilities to draw runes help any?”

  Misa interjected. “Sabi.”

  “Sabi, what?”

  “From what I’ve heard over the last while of being with you, she has the ability to foresee the future within the darkness. She could be quite useful here.”

  Misa was right, of course. Sabi’s gifts were to see darkness stirring, but the problem was that it only came seconds before. Usually by the time she’d seen the vision or informed us of it, it was too late to act.

  “You think we should keep her near?” Kyden asked, quietly.

  Misa nodded. “She should stay close to you at all times. Anytime she sees a demon attempting to summon one of the Demon Lords, you can immediately go and banish it.”

  I laughed. “How do you know I can do this at all? I mean really, sending me face-to-face with a demon in the middle of summoning a Demon Lord isn’t the ideal guinea pig.”

  Quinney’s eyes sparkled with knowledge. “I assumed you would use these demons.” She gestured toward the door. “As your test.”

  I spent the next five minutes trying to come up with every excuse to get out of this. As always, they all fizzled out.

  “Fine,” I finally succumbed. “Show me the damn rune.”

  Chapter Nine

  Ten minutes later, I sat staring at the symbol on the page, thinking that Quinney had in fact up and lost her mind. “Er…isn’t that a pentagram?”

  Quinney shook her head. “From the writings here, it says that this is what is known as a Pentacle. You see how it runs straight up and down. A pentagram is upside down.” She pointed to the rune on the page. “Each point of the star represents one of the elements—with the highest point of it representing Spirit. The circle around it is the sacred space which resembles the collation between each element and the unity it holds.”

  “So, it’s not an evil symbol?” I asked.

  Tyde leaned over my shoulder, examined the rune for himself. “Far from it. I’ve never seen this rune drawn.”

  I swatted him away from my face. He laughed, which earned him a scowl.

  I focused back on Quinney. “And this will banish demons to Hell?”

  Quinney shrugged heavily. “From what I read, yes. The one who used this rune years ago did just that. But in truth, I really don’t know. Let’s go test it.” She looked excited as she and the others started headed toward the door.

  I wasn’t nearly as enthusiastic. “Okay, wait…” They all turned back to me. “What if it doesn’t work?”

  “Then, I’ll finish off the demons for you.” Tyde assured.

  “But won’t that make me look…weak?”

  “I’m positive this will work,” Misa said. “So, we will not need to even worry about this.”

  “All settled?” Azar asked.

  Kyden nodded, and glanced back at me. “They’re waiting for you, Álainn.”

  Nerves rattled me. “Just give me a second. Geesh!” I rubbed my shaky hands together and met Azar’s gaze. “What are we going to do about Mammon? How do you banish a Demon Lord?”

  Azar sighed deeply. “We’ll need to look into this further. Finding him will be the tricky part and to send him back will be even harder. The only time Demon Lords were banished was when the Fae intervened.”

  “Oh, Aaliya, right?”

  He nodded. “It was Aaliya who banished them, along with Satan, when they chose to stay with him.”

  This seemed easy enough. “Can’t we just contact her and get her to do it again?” Loud laughter filled the room.

  “This is not something she’ll assist with. It’s only if the Earthworld was in danger would she step in.” Quinney answered and patted my shoulder in a very reassuring. “I’m sorry, Nexi. You must deal with this on your own.”

  “Great.” I glanced at Kyden. “It only gets harder.” I grumbled.

  He reached out and wrapped his arms around my waist, protectively. “I’ll be with you. We’ll get through this just as we have gotten through everything else.”

  All right, well that earned him a half smile. At least I had that. I didn’t have to face all this scary shit alone. There was some reassurance in that.

  I stepped out of Kyden’s arms and looked back to Quinney. “What do I have to do?”

  “It’s quite simple. The fact that you can draw runes at all shows your strength, and by the looks of this rune, I’m pretty sure the Pentacle is meant to banish those who have done wrong.”

  “How can you be so sure of that?” I asked her.

  “Because this rune is White Magic based. It’s pure—perfect in every way. As you’ve seen with the Pentagram, it’s flawed since it’s upside down, which is why it’s a symbol of Black Magic.”

  “A demon or any being from the dark realm couldn’t use this rune.” Misa added.

  “Why?” I needed to ask.

  “It would destroy them instantly.”

  Like that answered my question. “And the reason is…”

  “It is going against the grain, so to say. A demon cannot use a rune that is meant for White Magic. Therefore…” Tyde explained.

  Oh yeah, now I was seeing it clearly. “A White Witch shouldn’t be able to use the runes that are meant for Black Magic.” They all gave a firm nod. “What does that mean then? Why could I draw that rune before and not be destroyed by it?”

  Azar shrugged, his white hair bounced on his shoulders. “That’s a question we cannot answer. Why you can have Black Magic respond to you when you do not hold it is completely unknown. It should not be so.”

  Kyden grazed his finger along my arm and drew my gaze to his. “I wouldn’t expect any different from you, Álainn. You have obviously been given this gift to set things right. It’s time to do that.”

  Sure, he was confident. I, on the other hand, sweated bullets. He latched onto my hand and I hesitantly followed behind him.

  As we exited the room, the crowd hushed around us. Zia gave me a smile. Haven looked worried, obviously sensing my apprehension. Talon just gave me a reassuring nod, even though he had no idea what I was about to do. Support nonetheless felt good.

  We stepped back up in the front of the demons and all eyes fell on me. “I…I…” Yes, I stammered like a fool. What to tell them? How to start?

  Kyden’s growl came beside me, then he stepped forward and glared at the demons. “We won’t tolerate this impertinence.”

  Yeah, that’s what I wanted to say. I could have given him a big kiss for taking the wheel.

  Miss teeny-bopper glared right back. “We won’t tolerate you.”

  Her curt tone annoyed me enough. The look she gave Kyden topped the cake. No one looked at him like that, except for me when he pisses me off. Anger filled me. I was sick to death of these bitches.

  Sick to death of…death. Tired of being a fucking broken record.

  Without even thinking of it, I stepped forward and slapped her face. I used her soft skin as an outlet for the irritation that ran through my blood. I would’ve slugged her, but it f
elt wrong to punch a little thing like her, even though I knew what really lived in there.

  I do have a heart you know, sometimes.

  The sound echoed around the room, her face snapped to the side. Slowly, she brought her gaze back to mine. “I’m so sick of this,” I shouted at her. “Do you know what I go through only a daily basis?” I hesitated, waited for her response. She didn’t give one. “Well, I’ll tell you. I’m nearly killed, constantly torn in a thousand directions, and someone I love is usually in danger.”