Endure

by M. R. Merrick

  Rayna fidgeted with her fingers and shrugged. “According to these pages, the Protector is the soul piece.”

  “Are you sure?” Marcus asked, looking over her shoulder at the book, as if he could double-check what she was saying.

  “I’m sure,” she responded.

  “So what does that mean?” I asked.

  “It means if you die, the goddess herself is weakened. Oh, and you can kiss our world goodbye too,” Grams said. “If the soul piece is destroyed, so is the world it powers.”

  “But I’m human. I mean, I’m a hunter, but I’m still mortal. I can’t live forever. They know I’ll die eventually, and at this rate, not likely of old age. The gods wouldn’t bless someone to save all the worlds, only to have that person be responsible for destroying one.”

  Rayna seemed to regain her foothold in reality and looked back over the last page. “I don’t know what to tell you guys. ‘The Protector, guardian of the Otherworld and champion of the gods, will be the vessel of Serephina’s soul piece. With the gods’ faith in his hands, The Protector shall bare the fate of Earth, The 11th Dimension.’ That’s what it says, word for word.”

  “That doesn’t make any sense,” I said.

  “Of course it doesn’t,” Grams said. “If you listened to me the first time, those guys are ass—”

  “We get it, okay?” Rayna snapped.

  “Let’s all calm down here,” Marcus said, putting his hands in front of him as though that could defuse the situation. “There has to be an explanation.”

  “That is the explanation,” Rayna said. “That’s why sometimes Chase can hear her voice. It’s like the other souls inside him. The difference is he’s a vessel for Serephina’s soul piece, so Elyas isn’t trying to take over his soul…she’s just a part of it. Apparently when they burned the Mark into you, there was more to it than just a tattoo.”

  My thoughts were reeling, trying to comprehend what she’d told me. The Protector was supposed to keep all the dimensions and the creatures in them safe. He was supposed to prevent Ithreal from breaking free of his prison, be the champion of the gods and protect the Otherworld, and to top it all off, be responsible for the fate of Earth and its goddess? That didn’t sound right. That was too much for one person.

  “I’m with Marcus, there has to be a different explanation,” I said.

  Nobody had a response for me, although I could feel the bitter retort Grams wanted to interject. Though I think she knew as well as I did it wouldn’t help.

  “Maybe when we complete the Protector’s rite we’ll have more answers,” Grams said.

  “Yeah, maybe,” I whispered.

  “Or maybe someone in Drakar can help us,” Rayna offered. “Or maybe Silas. Grayson still hasn’t come back, but his people are the Callers or Keepers or something, right? They know about the Protector.”

  “I don’t even understand why he left in the first place,” I said.

  “He needed to speak to the Callers of his people,” Marcus said. “We tried to deter him, but he would not hear us out. He was sure they could aid us.”

  “Why would he go back? They were horrible to him. He was safe with us…” I sighed, realizing that wasn’t true and it wasn’t important. I couldn’t worry about Grayson right now. I had to focus on getting to Drakar. Even though part of me didn’t want to go, I knew the souls inside me would peck away until they’d driven me beyond the brink of madness. I could feel them moving and hear them whispering in the back of my mind. They would push and prod until one of them broke in and took me over, and then I’d be gone, succumbing to their power. For a moment, I almost welcomed the idea.

  “Chase?” Marcus stepped forward.

  “I just…need a few minutes.” I didn’t look up to see his face, or anyone’s for that matter. I needed to get away.

  The air bit my skin as I walked out the door. Gravel dust flew into the air and even with a jacket, the wind cut through me. I didn’t let it stop me; I just kept walking. I had no destination in mind, but I needed the cold to keep me grounded. I couldn’t be still, not right now.

  How could the gods do this? How could they invest so much in one person? First it was to keep Ithreal’s essence where it belonged, in his unfinished hell. But now we find out it’s Serephina’s life and the fate of our world too? If I died, people didn’t just lose their freedom and fall under Ithreal’s rule. If I died, Serephina would be weakened, and without a soul piece to power our dimensions…it would be destroyed.

  I stopped, finding myself farther from the warehouse than I had expected. The gravel settled beneath my feet and the frost that covered the ground made the grass a wash of white—all of it but one section that had a grayish hue. When I glanced at the warehouse and realized where I was standing, a pang twisted in my stomach. My chest tightened and I took a few deep breaths.

  My eyes shut and the cold air rolled over my face. I stood exactly where Willy had died. My stomach turned and I felt nauseous. I dropped to my knees and acid rose in my throat, but I forced myself to swallow it back down. The gray wash of grass made me realize somewhere deep inside I had thought the gods would be there for us. Regardless of their riddles or oaths, if push came to shove the gods would fall from the Otherworld to fight. But now, knowing they put the fate of our world in a body that would eventually die, it seemed like they wanted us to lose. They wanted us to die in this fight just like Willy had. I had tried to regain my footing in this battle and I tried to be strong, for Marcus, and Rayna, for Willy…but this was too much. Were we doomed to fail?

  “Suddenly that golden light you placed them in has grown a little darker, hasn’t it?” Drake’s voice came from behind me.

  Although it startled me, I didn’t move. My eyes were focused on the ashy frost and I knew I didn’t have to defend myself. He was just here, again, to twist the blade a little deeper.

  I shook my head. “You just love the way your voice makes my blood boil, and the way your face makes fire jump through my veins. You have no respect for my hatred of you, do you?”

  “On the contrary, I’m here to curb those feelings. I want to help you understand. I want to show you your hatred is misplaced.”

  “You…Riley…you’ve taken everything from me. How could you possibly hope to redirect my rage?” I climbed to my feet, taking deep breaths to keep myself from shaking. The fire crackled, biting its way through my veins like molten lava, but I kept it contained.

  Drake lowered his gaze, and I thought the expression on his face was his way of feigning a look of sympathy. “We have taken much from you, yes, and I wish it didn’t have to be that way. I truly do.”

  “Go away,” I said, walking back toward the warehouse. I had hoped he’d listen, but I knew better. His feet kicked the small stones across the road and he walked in stride with me.

  “You feel the pressure the gods have bestowed on you, but you’re not going to die, Chase. Your world is not going to be destroyed.”

  I closed my eyes, ignoring the discomfort of walking in the darkness, but I hoped it could make him go away.

  Drake’s hand reached out to my arm and my eyes shot open. I tore it out of his grasp and a stream of fire followed, red flames cutting across the air. The flames vanished in wisps of black smoke that rose upward and I pulled the element back. “Don’t touch me.”

  He stepped back. “I’m only trying to comfort you and show you don’t have to fear this burden the gods have placed on you.”

  “Comfort me? What the hell is your problem? We’re going to win and I’m going to kill you. Don’t you get that? I’m not afraid.” I knew that wasn’t true, but I thought if I said it out loud, maybe I would believe it.

  Drake sighed. “And still with the idle threats. I should be frustrated with you, but how can I? There is so little you know, but so much you’re not ready to hear.”

  “Then you can be on your way.” I started walking again and I shouldn’t have stopped, but when Drake told me to wait, something inside made me to lis
ten. I wanted to know what he had to tell me.

  “You’ve no idea how long I’ve been here, Chase. How many times I’ve tried to accomplish this, only to have it fall apart. I thought perhaps I was the one missing a piece of the puzzle, when in reality I didn’t have the right piece. I didn’t have you: your strength, your will, your relentless determination.”

  “You’re trying to withdraw empathy from me? You can’t be serious.”

  “I’m not trying to destroy the dimensions, Chase. And I’m not trying to steal the Underworlders’ freedom. I want the same thing you do—I want my family back.”

  I had prepared to unleash all my anger in a flurry of words, but it was all stolen away.

  “I’ve been alive for thousands of years with no people to call my own. I belonged nowhere—greater than the creatures of all the worlds, but less than the gods that ruled them. I never knew my mother. It was her death, her succumbing to Ithreal that created my brother and me. I had Darius and my father, but he was taken from me too. I’m only trying to get him back.”

  I had a brief moment where all my hatred for Drake was numbed, but the words that came next shattered that moment and it all rose back up from my soul.

  “What would you do to have your mother back?” The question caught me off guard and Drake answered for me. “The answer is anything. I’m not here for sympathy, but you’re a part of this and the least I can do is help you understand.”

  “Do you think knowing why you’re doing this is going to stop me from putting an end to it?”

  Drake turned away from me. He took in a deep breath and his shoulders sagged. “There’s nothing you can do to stop this. You can fight it, but it won’t matter. I think somewhere inside you know that. You’re right; I shouldn’t have come. You’re not ready.”

  “I know that I won’t stop. I’ll win, or I’ll die trying.”

  A sphere of magic appeared in front of Drake. A black orb that grew until it was large enough for only him. He stepped forward, shaking his head. “No, Chase, you won’t. When this is all over, you will still be here, destined to walk the worlds forever. The gods didn’t put their trust in a mortal; they put it in the Protector—a demigod. Just like me.”

  Chapter 16

  I felt Rayna’s magic before I heard her screaming my name. The earth shook and a javelin-like blade of rock shot through the air. The earthy spike aimed for Drake, but he anticipated the attack. His magic reached out like an arm. Streams of black and gold spiraled forward in a cascade of smoke and shattered the stone. He didn’t say another word. He offered a curt nod and stepped back into the portal. The dark magic consumed itself when he was gone, leaving his words to echo on the air.

  Rayna’s breath was rampant as she skidded to a stop. She grabbed both sides of my face, checking me for wounds. I could’ve told her to stop, I could’ve told her I was fine, but I didn’t. I stared straight ahead, feeling my stomach tie itself in knots. A demigod?

  “Chase, are you okay?”

  I nodded absently. I focused on Drake’s words. Was he telling the truth? Was he just implanting wild ideas to hinder my progress? I couldn’t be sure, not until I completed the rite. But if he was telling the truth…

  “Chase, snap out of it!” Rayna smacked the side of my face with gentle force. My train of thought was fragmented at the impact and I shook it away.

  “I’m…fine.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “I’m sure,” I said, but she didn’t stop searching my face. I reached up and grasped both her hands in mine. “Really, I’m fine.”

  Her eyes explored mine as if they held the answer, but I knew they didn’t. Unless he was lying to me, Drake seemed to be the one with all the answers, and the only one willing to share them. I told Rayna everything, and she confirmed what I had thought. Drake did seem to be the only one willing to talk.

  “Come on, we need to talk to Marcus.” Rayna pulled me forward but I hesitated, turning back to the frost-licked grass beside me. After a moment I nodded toward it, as though Willy looked back at me. I knew he couldn’t see me, but I hoped he could feel what I felt—determination. He and my mother died for this cause and I would make sure their sacrifice had been worth it.

  ******

  “Well, we can’t discredit him,” Marcus said. “Putting the soul piece into a mortal wouldn’t make much sense.” His hands came up and rubbed his temples. “But I think we need to be careful what we believe. He seems determined to convince you of…something. I just don’t know what.”

  “There has to be more to it. He keeps showing up and giving me tidbits of information. It’s not like he’s suddenly developed a conscience; he has a game plan.”

  “They need you?” Rayna said, but it was more a question than an answer. “They say they can’t kill you, and he keeps saying you’re a part of all this now.”

  “We know they need me, but we don’t know why.”

  “You must hold some power over what they have to do,” Marcus said.

  My head hurt just thinking about it and I couldn’t get the thought of becoming a demigod out of my head. It scared me. “I think…” I stopped to gather my thoughts, looking back at both of them. “I think for now we need to proceed as planned. We can’t waste our time spinning our wheels about Drake. That could be what he wants. Let’s go to Drakar and complete the rite.”

  “You still want to go through with it?” Rayna sounded surprised.

  “He doesn’t have a choice,” Marcus whispered, and there was something in his voice I couldn’t quite decipher…sadness? “If he doesn’t…”

  “Then one of these souls is going to find a way into mine, and I’m going to be gone. Replaced by some…who knows what.”

  Quiet enveloped us, and my mind wandered. The thought of something foreign and powerful—if only a sliver of its former self—inside me was discomforting, and it forced me to shudder. To know a piece of a fallen soul could enter mine and take it over, controlling everything I did, was almost too much to comprehend.

  “Did we lose someone else?” Tiki asked. His bare feet slapped against the floor and he stopped at the edge of the room. His white pants were stained brown from splotches of blood. Scabbed-over wounds marred the muscular flesh, but he didn’t seem bothered by them. There was sadness in his voice. Although he tried for neutral, I could see tension in his face.

  “No, Tiki, everything’s fine.”

  “Everything does not feel fine, Chase Williams. Everything feels very…dark.”

  “It’s nothing to worry about. I’ll let Marcus and Rayna explain. We leave tomorrow. I need to start getting ready.

  ******

  “Absolutely not,” Vincent scoffed, glaring at me as he reached into the cooler and pulled out a bag of blood.

  “And by that you mean, ‘Of course, Chase, I swore an oath to help you, multiple times, you can count on me,’ right?”

  “No, I mean I made an oath to help you in your fight against Riley, and I will. Should he return, my family is ready.” Vincent tried to tear into the bag with his teeth, but the lack of fangs made it difficult.

  “We’re leaving tomorrow, be ready.”

  “I most certainly will not. I have no desire to return to a world where I’m treated as a peasant, nor where I face that blinding heat from the sun. Furthermore, I don’t appreciate your attitude. I am a Taryk—a vampire of five centuries. I should think—”

  “Can you just stop being a dick for two seconds?”

  Vincent stopped with the bag half hanging out of his mouth, his eyes gleaming.

  “You think I care about how the demons of that world make you feel? I don’t. We’ve risked our lives for you. Twice. This isn’t something we’re negotiating. I’m not asking you to come with us, I’m telling you the plan. It isn’t up for discussion.”

  “Mr. Williams, I understand that the fate of more than our dimension is at hand. Your life itself is at risk. Of course you’re on edge, who wouldn’t be? After losing so many close to yo
u, you want safety in numbers. I can both understand and respect that, but I assure you, I’m of much more use—”

  I slammed my hand into the wall beside Vincent. The paint chipped and drywall dust sputtered into the air. A spiderweb of cracks spread around my fingers and I leaned in, close enough to smell the coppery scent that lingered on his breath.

  “Against my better judgment, I’ve saved you twice. And just a few hours ago, I killed the people you feared most in this world. The people you stayed hidden from because of a pact you made with the Dark Brothers. If you don’t drop the act and get yourself together, I’m going to turn you into a charred bag of demonic flesh, pack you in a crate, and mail you back to the Sovereign myself.”

  There was a long, awkward silence and neither of us moved. Vincent cleared his throat and stepped away from me slowly. “Now, Mr. Williams, no need for threats. Surely we can come to some sort of—”

  “Sundown tomorrow work for you?”

  I could almost feel him clenching his jaw before he finally responded. “Sundown sounds lovely.” He moved past me and disappeared from the room.

  Vincent had a knack for getting under my skin, and the frustration that had built up inside me was ripe. I stayed leaning against the wall, willing it to settle. Magic swirled beneath my skin, and alongside it came the voices, slowly growing louder.

  This is not the warrior we hoped for.

  He is the soul piece. He will not fail us.

  Soul piece? He is a terrified boy. Fear will be the catalyst for his failure.

  As much as I could hear the voices growing, I could feel them getting stronger. The movements inside me amplified and made me queasy. I closed my eyes, letting darkness fall around me. The energy from each voice was different and as it spoke, I felt the unique vibrations of its power. With a few deep breaths, I tried to take Chief’s advice and push them away, but my mind was clouded with anger and fear. Anger with Vincent and fear that what Drake had told me was true.

  “Come on, focus,” I whispered.