The Council (Darkness #5)

by K. F. Breene

  Andris’ arms flailed, windmilling, trying to get his balance. Eyes as big as the world, he stared at the demon.

  “You offer yourself?” the demon rasped.

  Charles crashed into a guy reaching forward to pull Andris out. Jonas stabbed his sword through someone stepping towards us. I reached the circle a moment later and shoved Andris as hard as I could.

  He was bigger, stronger, but already off-balance. The momentum carried him forward, right into the demon’s waiting hands. Claws gripped his shoulders and jerked him off the ground. With strength no human could possess, the demon lifted Andris high over his head and said, “I accept your sacrifice. I will use it well.”

  Andris’ scream was cut short in a stomach-turning crack. I heaved, averting my eyes, but stumbling forward nonetheless.

  “No, Sasha!” Charles screamed. “You can’t go in there.”

  “Someone has to pull Stefan out!”

  A huge being loomed in front of me, leathery hide scaly and repulsive. A massive mouth grew a row of one-inch fangs. Claws clicked as they flexed. “This circle cannot contain me.”

  I curled my fingers around the back of Stefan’s chair. My right arm screamed in agony as I started to pull. The demon stood over, watching me. He found the sight of me in pain funny.

  “Yes, I realize how dumb this is, but after I pull him a little more, I plan to stand in front of him, and then take control of you. Just so you know the whole gamut of my foolproof strategy.”

  “You wish to control me?” Its scratchy laughter raked through my body, dizzying my mind.

  I yanked again, Stefan impossibly heavy, one hand nearly useless. The chair groaned as it reached the back of the circle. Charles and Jonas pulled it to safety, and then grabbed for me. I was too quick, though. I shimmied away to the other side.

  “Stay out of that circle, Sasha,” Charles begged. “That circle will contain it.”

  “You did not tell him what I said.” Hollow eyes regarded me. “Why, I wonder.”

  “This way, they won’t try to take me away.” My vision went foggy as it stared at me, reaching into me and squeezing.

  “Control is mine. I am too powerful for you.”

  I focused on Stefan. On our link. On his body pulling me closer, a chemical reaction born into us, made stronger by the blood link, but not made entirely by the blood link. Fate had chosen us for a reason.

  I was his other half. I was the other part of his heart. I helped make up his soul.

  I was his.

  What I was not, was this filthy demon’s.

  I grabbed onto our link with everything I had. Grinding my teeth, I ripped my conscious out of that thing’s grip. I stared at it, hard. I flexed my fingers. Then slapped at my wounded arm. Pain, the smelling salt of the moment, cleared the rest of my vision.

  “You are mine!” I yelled at it. “You belong to me. I command you.”

  Hopefully one of those phrases was the right one.

  It stepped toward me. The haze resumed. I fought it off, bracing myself. I slapped my arm again and yelped. “I command you!”

  It roared in my face, its putrid smell singeing my senses. But it didn’t push forward.

  I slapped my arm again, pushing away those clouds. Focusing on Stefan. Focusing on my love.

  “Step back!”

  It roared again. But haltingly, it took one step back.

  “Another one you ass-face!”

  No, I didn’t need to call it names, but it helped with the bossy factor.

  Another step. One more roar.

  “Okay, so… now what?”

  “Disentangle it!” Charles yelled. “Get rid of it. Or whatever. Kill the fucking thing, Sasha!”

  “I don’t have enough energy. Get Zeke. Get them to start working on it. I’ll start—I’ll lessen it, but they’ll have to finish it off.”

  “Why?”

  “Because this will kill me, Charles!” I cried.

  “Then don’t do it. Hold it!” Panic lanced Charles’ voice.

  “Get out of there, human. We’ll kill it with swords.” Jonas braced on the edge of the circle, the fear in his voice not for a battle with a demon. Not for himself dying.

  For me dying.

  I blinked back tears. Swords didn’t kill demons. They hacked them up, yes, but it would just take another sacrifice and regenerate its body. No, I had to do this. It had to be me. I knew how to do it, had the power to get a good whack at it, and was the only way they’d be able to cut it down with lesser magic after.

  I slapped my arm again, clearing the fuzz. “Just stop trying. I’ve got you now.”

  “You will get weak, human, and then I will kill you.”

  “Ugh—you sound like Jonas.”

  “I take that as an insult,” Jonas growled, inching right up to the circle. “C’mon, Sasha. Get out of there.”

  I focused on that spell. On the lacy quality. On its lifeline connecting it to this world. Taking a hold of it, I felt Delilah’s magic holding hands with mine. Near me. Supporting. Working with Zeke and the large link everyone else had.

  “Tell Delilah not to wrap her magic around me. A link will be established and it’ll wipe you all out.”

  “Just come out of there and tell her yourself,” Charles whined. “Don’t do this, Sasha. Just hold it, we’ll find another way.”

  “I can’t hold this forever, Charles.” I slapped my arm and sat down heavily. Focusing on control, and that spell… I set the spell in motion to unravel it. I closed my eyes.

  A roar assaulted my senses, but my control held. My spell toiled. Another roar—it knew what was happening. Its power in this world was draining, and draining my energy right along with it. My muscles sagged even as the creature did. Another roar, not as loud now.

  Was that because of its power drainage, or because I was drifting away?

  My body, so heavy, bent. I couldn’t hold myself up anymore. I lay down, focusing solely on the demon and Stefan. On my control, and my love.

  Each breath became laborious. Needles pricked my skin. Magic swirled around me, playful and happy, doing my bidding. Taking my energy to do so. Stealing my life as it worked.

  Blackness clouded my vision. Arms encircled me and picked me up. My head lolled on a muscular shoulder.

  “Open to link, Sasha. Open to link.”

  I weakly tried to push someone away. Barely holding on to the leash. Barely keeping in charge. “Can’t.”

  “Open up to link!” Fingers pinched my face. Pads of fingers pushed open my eyes.

  An angelic face with a halo of white. Heaven, then? The door to the afterlife?

  “Link with me, I know how. Cato showed me!”

  Cato?

  Toa?

  “How did you get here?”

  Was that out loud? I couldn’t be sure.

  Energy sapped from my body. No more roars, so that was good. If there was, though, would I be able to hear it?

  Eyes fluttering, I gave in. I opened up to the person shaking my face. I felt the sticky magic and connected, except… the configuration changed. Parts of the connection bent in on itself, twisting out of the way. Like wires, some joined, but others tied off.

  I felt his energy pour into me in a sweet rush. More was coming in than going out; as many magical people as possible flooded the link. It pumped into the spell, quickly. Gratefully.

  My vision cleared slowly. My hearing turned back up. Dominicous held me with a dirty and disheveled Toa standing next to him, staring at the growling demon. Its claws clicked one last time before it vanished, a wash of sticky black coating the ground.

  “We did it,” I panted, laying my head on my father’s shoulder. “Is Stefan okay?”

  “He’ll live. Thanks to you, we all will.” Dominicous kissed my head and carried me out.

  Chapter 16

  I slept for a long time. My fingers entwined within Stefan’s, I slept as he healed. His injuries weren’t enough to kill him, and his concussion wouldn’t have any l
asting damage. Dominicous assumed that he’d tried to break free, but was one man against a great many—he never had a chance, but he never stopped fighting.

  The first time he woke up, his eyes trained on my face for a long moment before he said, “You shouldn’t have come for me.”

  He got a good slap for that comment. Literally. I slapped him in the face. I didn’t even care that he was hurt; it was that stupid of a thing to say.

  His answer was a smile and, “I love you.”

  Laughing, I scooched forward and kissed him softly. “I love you, too.”

  ***

  Two nights later—because really, a hurt arm and being tired were my only issues—I found myself striding through the hall with a sulking Charles behind me.

  “Charles, aren’t you a little old for the silent treatment?” I waited for a response. I didn’t get one. “I had to do that. Otherwise, everyone would’ve died.”

  Empty space where words should go.

  “Mage.” One of the warriors in the hall saluted me. Another person nodded as I passed.

  The hall in front of me parted of people as I strode through. Like it always did for Stefan. More so than it did for Jameson. The way I handled myself, and how I’d tried to sacrifice myself, secured me a great many votes of confidence. It obviously wasn’t why I did it, but I loved it all the same.

  I fit in, now. I had a position, and the respect to go with it.

  I could barely contain my elated smile.

  “Hey!”

  I stopped as I turned a corner in time to see Ann limping up the hall. She still had three bandages, despite the fact that shifters healed at a pretty fast rate. She’d been separated from us early, not being able to hold on to us with paws. She wound up with that smaller demon. Even at a low power level, it gave them plenty of problems.

  “Hey, Ann, they let you out?” I asked.

  Ann shook her head as she stepped around me. “Hey, loser.”

  “I know you like me, so you can quit calling me loser.” Charles didn’t crack a smile.

  Ann’s brow furrowed. She looked back at me. “What’s up with him?”

  “He’s mad at me for almost dying.”

  “Ah. No gratitude.”

  “Exactly.” I matched Ann’s laughter. And then laughed harder at Charles’ glower.

  “Where we headed?” Ann asked with a chipper voice.

  I motioned her on without saying a word. A moment later we turned into a room down the hall. A woman’s still form lay on a bed, arms on her chest, eyes closed. A white sheet covered her from head to toe.

  “She killed herself,” I said quietly, looking at the second myth reincarnate. I had every reason to believe there were more of us out there; we just had to find them.

  “What?” Ann stared, aghast. “Who?”

  “That other lady. The black power. We held her without problem, but when she found out Andris was dead, she shot herself in the head.”

  Ann shifted to stare at me incredulously. “Where’d she get the gun?”

  “They didn’t frisk her. Zeke didn’t think to tell anyone to—he was worried about assigning magical coverage—and the guards… are idiots.”

  A grunt sounded off near the door.

  “Sorry Paul, but seriously. She could’ve had anything on her. Like a gun.” To Ann I said, “She took down two people and then offed herself.”

  “Because Andris was dead?”

  “Because Andris told her we’d rape and murder her anyway,” Charles said disgustedly. “She didn’t want to be defiled. She went on her own terms.”

  “Well, you do rape,” Ann shot at Charles.

  “They ask for it!” Charles snapped.

  Ann held out her hands in a ‘See?’ sort of way. “They ask for it? That’s exactly what every rapist says.”

  “I mean…” Charles huffed. “They go for us. If I just stand still, humans will make use of my body. I don’t force anything—they come to me.”

  “You use the date rape drug,” Ann scoffed. “How is that okay?”

  Charles was about to retort when I said, “It isn’t. And it stops. I’m a human, I’m a co-leader, and that practice stops. Contrary to what I’ve heard, they don’t do it everywhere else—Harry can vouche that. It’s a shit practice, and it stops.”

  “I haven’t even done that since I tried it on Sasha, anyway.” Charles wandered away toward the window with his arms crossed.

  “Whatever happened to Harry?” Ann asked.

  “He tackled Trek. Literally tackled the guy. They rolled around for a while before one of our people ended the fight.”

  “How’d they end the fight?”

  “We don’t have Trek to worry about anymore.”

  Ann’s eyebrows crawled up her forehead. “Ah.”

  “And you know what else?” I asked with a smug smile, leading the way out of the room.

  “What?” Ann asked dutifully.

  “Harry’s lady love mistress, some clan leader in Arizona, is coming to personally collect him and take him home. With many thanks. I totally made an ally!”

  Charles huffed. “We don’t have any opposition from any clans. Why would we need an ally?”

  “Oh, you talk to me when you want to crap on my parade, is that it?” I fired back.

  “Don’t you have knitting to do?” Ann asked with a mischievous grin.

  “Yeah. I’m working on the key to your chastity belt.” Charles squinted at her.

  “It’s going to take more than an ugly hat for that. In fact, you are quite possibly making my chastity belt.”

  “Gods help me, you girls are a couple of bitches.” Charles crossed his arms again in sulking distaste. His eyebrows settled low over his eyes as we laughed.

  We meandered out the back of the mansion and settled on the stone bench, letting the breeze ruffle our hair. “I heard from Cato.”

  “Oh my God, really?” Ann said with wide eyes. “Did he call you?”

  “Yes. Personally. He called to make sure Stefan and I were okay. I told him about the battle and everything, and the other black, and he wants me to start looking for more. He thinks I’m the herald to band the two halves of magic together again. So I have a mission.”

  “That’s cool. I mean, you just earned people’s respect, and are still learning names in this mansion—not to mention still learning your job. Oh yeah, and magic. But, cool. Another job. Great idea.”

  Charles huffed out a laugh.

  “Yeah, right?” I smirked. “But it gives me a reason to meet more humans that do magic, so I’m up for it.”

  “What happened with the Council?” Ann asked.

  “Mass death. Like… cut down by a third. They’re still figuring out who’s good and who’s not. But Dominicous will probably be offered a position on the Council, so that’s good. And Toa will finally be in the Clutch where he belongs.”

  “And Dominicous’ old position…” Ann’s eyebrows were up near her hairline.

  “Vacant. Offered. Not sure.”

  “That Council is a damn mess, so let’s hope the Boss sees reason and doesn’t step up,” Charles grumbled.

  “Yes. That’s the discussion that’s coming.” I shook out my hair and relished the evening air.

  “How is he? Speaking of Stefan?” Ann ventured.

  “Healing. He’ll be okay, but they beat the hell out of him, so… it’ll be another week, probably.”

  Ann let silence descend for a while, just taking in the night.

  “So now what are we going to do?” she asked after a while. “I’m tired of healing, and I have a few hours until the nurse realizes I took off.”

  “Then what happens?” I asked.

  “Tim gives the command that I have to rest. And then I rest. Because I do not need to be pissing him off and then getting my arms ripped off.”

  “Yeah. At least he was mostly unscathed this time. He was a rock star. Without him, we would’ve taken three times as many losses.”

  “We wo
rked well, all of us. Jonas even had to acknowledge that.” Ann laughed merrily.

  “Yeah, he hated it. You could tell that acknowledgement tasted like dirt in his mouth.”

  Even Charles cracked a smile at that, not able to help himself.

  We sat there for a couple hours, talking and relaxing, until the call came for Ann to go back. After that, I waited a while and called the witches, checking in. They were all fine, of course, just a little tired, but they’d become important to me. I liked having them close. I needed that unity.

  “When’s the Boss supposed to be up and about? A week you said?” Charles asked with tight lips. He’d never been very good at grudges.

  “That’s what they think.”

  “So, a couple days, then.”

  “Yup.”

  Epilogue

  I clutched the note from Stefan and looked at Charles. “What’s this all about?”

  Charles gave a big stretch and scratched his chest. He glanced at the note, then at the clock on the wall. Dawn was just around the corner. “I don’t know. Maybe he’s finally trying to get freaky. Anyway, I have to go. I need to get in some ‘me’ time before I hit the sack.”

  That was Charles’ way of saying he was going to go find someone and get busy.

  I glanced down at the note again.

  Run directly to me. –Stefan.

  “Kind of cryptic.” Charles snatched his sweatshirt off the couch and headed for the door. “See ya.”

  I focused in on our link, feeling the tug of his body drawing me. I had just started walking toward the door when Charles said, “I found a clue. What a sap. Is this the sort of thing it takes to keep a female? Because if so, no way. Way too girlie for me.”

  I glanced out through the door that he was holding open. A line of red rose petals led away from the door and down the hall.

  Butterflies filled my stomach. Stefan had always been affectionate, but since he healed and was back in charge, he was much more so. Even in public, he was always touching me and kissing me, as if the veil had lifted and he didn’t give a damn what his people thought. I was his, and he wasn’t afraid to show how much he loved that fact.

  I couldn’t help wearing a stupid grin as I followed that trail down the hall.