Beyond The Darkness: The Shadow Demons Saga, Book 9

by Sarra Cannon

  “Aerden,” Perrick shouted, and when I turned to him, he was clutching his side. Dark blood spread across his tunic and down his side.

  “Shift,” I shouted. “Get out of there.”

  The demon who had attacked him sent a spear made of pure acid directly toward Perrick, but he managed to shift just before it hit. His sudden move threw the demon off his center, and I shifted quickly, reforming directly behind the demon and aiming straight for his knees.

  The axe was heavy and extremely sharp. I had no doubt I could have taken off each of the demons’ heads with a single slice, but I wanted to at least give them a chance once the battle was over. I had no intention of killing anyone. I simply wanted to incapacitate them so that we would be declared the winning team.

  Whatever happened to them after that was the king’s responsibility.

  Behind me, the fourth demon attacked before I could move out of the way, and a searing pain stretched out across my back. I wasn’t sure exactly what he had hit me with, but it hurt like hell. I tried to shift, but the pain held me to my solid form. I turned on the demon and threw up a shield as fast as I could, deflecting his second attack.

  “Trention,” I shouted. “Cage him.”

  Trention nodded and began to cast. Before the demon could prepare a third spell, the ground surrounding him rumbled and a circular wall of solid earth rose from the ground, trapping him inside.

  That would hold him for at least a minute or two as he tried to shift and find an open crack through which he could escape.

  The five of us on my team all turned to the fifth member of the opposing team. He was fast, shifting before any of us could land a single spell or blow against him.

  “Morway, this is your chance,” I said.

  “He’s too fast,” Morway shouted. “I can’t do it.”

  “You can,” I said. “Focus. Follow him with your eyes. You can do this.”

  Morway shook his head, but I knew he could do it.

  We all stood ready, watching as the demon flew around the battlefield in demon form. I held my axe at the ready, keeping one eye on the wall of earth still surrounding the other opponent.

  “Now,” Perrick shouted.

  Morway shifted, flying toward the demon and tackling him. The second Morway put hands on the demon, he turned to solid form, his body covered in a glowing blue light. Morway had a unique ability in that he could turn energy into a rope of pure light. While shifted, he had wrapped his light around the opposing demon.

  Not knowing how long the rope of light would hold, Perrick and I both rushed toward the captured demon, our weapons raised. Within seconds, the demon was down.

  I looked away from the blood that poured from our opponents, refusing to let the sight hold me back. We had a job to do out here. I had no choice.

  But as I turned, the demon inside the earthen prison broke free and shifted. He soared right for Trention, but Trention was looking at me.

  My eyes widened, and I shifted, pushing through the air as fast as I could. I reformed just as the other demon reached Trention. I pushed my friend out of the way and took the blow for myself, the demon’s lightning attack slicing through my side.

  Before I even realized what I was doing, I focused all of my anger and fear on my axe and the weapon broke out in flames that roared several feet into the air.

  I turned in a circle, throwing all of my weight into the action. The demon shifted, trying to get out of the way of my next blow, but I wasn’t aiming for him directly. I sunk the heavy blade of my axe into the earth, sending a straight line of giant flames forward toward the demon. The flames engulfed him, and he dropped his demon form, falling onto the dusty floor of the arena, every inch of his body still burning.

  I turned, my chest rising and falling with each labored breath. I clutched my bleeding side and for the first time, heard the loud roars of the crowd all around us.

  Had we really won?

  I glanced around at my teammates as Ezrah raised the gate and stepped onto the battlefield. He nodded at me, and held back a smile.

  “Victory for team six,” he said, and the crowd went crazy, standing and chanting.

  “Aerden. Aerden. Aerden,” they shouted. “Victory for the one who returned.”

  My team gathered around me, and I placed an arm over Trention’s shoulders, raising my axe into the air for the crowd.

  But it was my princess that caught my gaze and held it. She rose to her feet, cheering. Her eyes met mine across the distance of the battlefield, and I nodded to her, even as the tears began to fall from my own eyes.

  The first round of the King’s Games was over, and we had won.

  Who Said We Were Going To Fight Her?

  Jackson

  Back at the castle, we spread the emerald ritual items out across the table in the war room. But this time, we knew them for what they were. Fake items meant to trap us.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t see it earlier,” Rend said. He paced the room. “Damn, I almost got all of us kidnapped. Or killed.”

  “If it hadn’t been for you, who knows what might have happened,” I said. “Thank God you remembered when you did, or we might be sitting in cages in some dungeon right now. Or worse.”

  “The key is to figure out where we go from here,” Mary Anne said. “We need a new plan.”

  “I have an idea, but it’s risky,” I said.

  “I’m good with risk, as long as it has the potential to get answers,” she said. “Like I said, Essex and I can go to find the emerald ring.”

  “If it’s still there at all,” I said. “We have to consider the fact that the other priestesses might have gone after the ring as soon as they realized Priestess Evers was gone.”

  “It’s worth a shot, though,” she said.

  “I don’t want the two of you going alone,” I said. “When Harper and I found the ring, there were several hunters guarding it. It’s possible the Order increased security on the remaining rings after we stole the sapphire one. We have no idea what to expect, but if we send an army with you, you should be able to handle almost anything they send your way.”

  She nodded. “I like the idea of an army,” she said with a laugh. “It’s too bad Andros never showed.”

  My stomach tightened. Yet another piece of this puzzle that I didn’t have answers for. Andros had said he was coming to give me news about Aerden and Lea. Something was happening in the city that he thought I would want to know about, but so far, there’d been no sign of him. Even his communication stones weren’t getting through.

  “Maybe after you find the ring, you can go look for Andros, too,” I said. “I’m anxious to know what’s going on in the city.”

  “We’ll do whatever we need to,” she said. “But what are you going to do?”

  I stared at the ritual items. The idea was crazy, but I didn’t know what else to do.

  When Harper had disappeared, I spent months foolishly trying to get answers through sheer force. In the end, though, the one thing that had worked was getting the emerald priestess’s attention to the point where she had no choice but to seek me out.

  Here, we had a direct route to at least one of the other priestesses. If the ruby priestess knew how to find Harper, maybe the others did, too, and if these items opened a portal to any of the others, it could help us. Maybe it was a long shot, but we needed more information.

  “What’s going through your head?” Rend asked.

  “Harper said these items were fake. She told you that she’d heard they were rigged so that if they were ever used, a portal would open up, right?”

  “Yeah. She said the amethyst priestess would be ready to send an army of witches through to capture us,” he said. “They’re completely unusable.”

  “Not exactly,” I said. “What if we use them anyway? What if we force her out of hiding?”

  Rend shook his head. “I don’t know about that, Jackson. We’d have to put together a huge army just to be prepared for what she might send t
hrough,” he said. “I don’t see how that gets us any closer to our goals right now.”

  “If the ruby priestess knew where there was a portal back to Harper, maybe the other sisters know about it, too,” I said. “We could spend months searching for that portal. We have no idea where it could be, other than the fact that it might be somewhere close to that hospital. But Cristo searched the entire town and couldn’t find any sign of it. It could be inside someone’s house, hidden deep underground. Hell, it could be permanently glamoured to look like a tree. We have no idea, and the chances of us actually finding it before it closes are slim to none.”

  “But how is fighting the amethyst priestess and her army going to get us any closer to finding the portal?” Rend asked. “I mean, I’m all for fighting another priestess, but we might be biting off more than we can chew right now.”

  “Who said we were going to fight her?” I asked. “Right now, we have an advantage, because we know these items open some kind of portal to one of the Order’s hideouts. If we can set it up somehow where we can see them, but they can’t see us, maybe we can gather some valuable information about who they are or where they’re located. Maybe we can see something that will help us find the portal.”

  Rend nodded. “I see what you’re saying here,” he said. “But it’s risky. There’s almost no way we could hide an entire army from them. They would sense our presence if we bring too many people. But if we only take a handful of people or if you attempt to do this on your own, all it will take is having the right witch there with the right type of ability to see through illusions and it’s all over.”

  “So, we plan for the worst-case scenario,” I said. “Any chance you have any potions inside your bag of tricks that can’t be detected by any magic?”

  Rend brought a hand to his forehead and stood there for a long moment before he nodded. “I might have something that will work,” he said. “It’s going to take a combination of potions I haven’t tried before, but I can use you as my guinea pig. Since you can see through glamours and illusions, I can test it on you before we go.”

  “How long do you need to get this ready?” I asked, ready to go right now. The sooner we could get to the portal, the more chance we had of actually finding Harper safe and alive.

  “I’ll go home and get to work on it right away. I should have something to test by midnight or so,” he said. “We should plan to trigger the items at three tomorrow afternoon, if we can. Otherwise, they might get suspicious about why we’re triggering them at an off time.”

  “Good point,” I said. “I’ll hang around here and come up with a plan for how to get away should we be detected.”

  “Who all is going to go with you?” Mary Anne asked.

  “We shouldn’t try to take more than a handful of people,” Rend said. “I’ll go with you. I can bring a bag full of potions that will help us get away if it comes to that.”

  I nodded. “Then let’s just make it the two of us,” I said. “Less people to worry about if things go south.”

  “I’ll start putting together an expedition group,” Mary Anne said. “In the meantime, I need to know everything about how you and Harper found the sapphire ring.”

  We had a long afternoon and evening ahead of us, but as I stared at the fake emerald items on the table, I felt hope again for the first time since we’d found the burned building.

  Just hang on, Harper. I’m going to find you.

  This One Gift

  Harper

  Rather than lose time driving all the way back to the house in Ohio, Rend let me use his demon door.

  Once Azure and I had said goodbye, I walked through the Hall of Doorways, searching for the door with the green scarab beetle etched into its surface, anxious to get back to make sure Brooke was okay.

  On my way there, though, the sight of a blue demon door caught my eye, and my heart tightened in my chest.

  Peachville.

  I stopped in front of the door and stared at it for a very long time. Beyond this door was home. Brighton Manor, long before it had been turned into Shadowford Home For Troubled Girls.

  Beyond this door was a family I had never known.

  My mother would not have been born yet, but I had spent many long nights talking to Aerden about my family history.

  I thought back to our conversations and realized that in 1951, my grandmother would have only just been born a few years ago. If I walked through this door, I might have the chance to see her. It wouldn’t be the same as seeing my own mother, but it would likely be my only opportunity to see any member of my family when they were still alive.

  I knew it was risky. If anyone saw me, it could somehow alter the timeline in ways that would ruin the future we had built.

  Still, how could I let this moment pass? How could I know they were just on the other side of that door and not take this risk? This one chance?

  I shook my head and with heavy footsteps, I walked past the door, determined not to put my own future at risk.

  But I only got a few steps down the hallway before I turned around and put my hand on the doorknob. I could be careful, and they would never know I was there, right? Walking away would break my heart, and hadn’t I suffered enough for one lifetime?

  I had earned this. All that torture, being away from Jackson and everyone I loved. Screw the timeline, I deserved to see them. I deserved this one small gift, to make up for all I would still have to do just to find my way home again.

  My heart raced. I knew it was wrong, but I couldn’t help myself. My entire life, I had longed to know my family.

  It was something most people took for granted, and something I had never known. To belong to someone. To look into their face and see yourself. These were things I had never known except those precious months I had spent with my father.

  And even then, my father was a demon. In my human form, I looked almost nothing like him at all.

  There was simply no chance I was walking away. I had to see them.

  I connected to my power and closed my eyes. I took a deep breath and focused on turning to nothing. Air. Invisible.

  When I opened my eyes, my body had disappeared.

  I turned the knob and stepped inside the pentagram-shaped room on the third floor of Brighton Manor.

  I stood there for a few minutes, listening for any sound of voices or movement on the floors below. When I didn’t hear anything at all, I nearly convinced myself to turn around. Maybe they weren’t even home.

  But I had to know.

  I opened the narrow door that led to the hidden stairway down to the second floor. I moved carefully, conscious of each footfall. No one could see me, but if I knocked something over or stepped on the wrong step and made a creaking sound, they would most certainly hear me.

  I glanced into the bedrooms and smiled. Everything looked so different from the time when I had first been moved here. Instead of a home for girls where each room was set up with an impersonal dorm-room kind of feel, the house had a real lived-in look. Toys on the floor of a bedroom with a white crib and teal wallpaper embroidered with flowers. A brush and makeup strewn across the dressing table I had used for years as my own. Was this my great-grandmother’s room now?

  I listened at the top of the stairs, and when I didn’t hear anything going on downstairs, I tiptoed onto the first step. I knew this place so intimately, I knew exactly which steps creaked and which ones didn’t. I took each step with care, skipping the ones that might betray my presence in the house.

  When I had made it to the bottom floor, I took my time walking toward the back of the house.

  The front sitting room looked almost exactly the way it had when I’d first moved to Shadowford. Stuffy and unused.

  One glance in the common room showed that back in the fifties this room was not filled with old, worn couches and ancient computer equipment. Instead, this had been the dining room. A gorgeous mahogany dining table with matching chairs took up most of the space. I stepped inside and r
an my fingers across the mahogany china cabinet.

  The dishes inside were beautiful bone china, decorated with delicate blue flowers. I wondered what had happened to my family china in the years after my mother died? I had searched every inch of Brighton Manor and had never seen anything like it. It must have been sold or given to another family.

  I almost wished I could take a piece of it home with me, just to have a token of this place where I once belonged. But I left it all behind and continued on to the kitchen.

  Instead of a long table meant to accommodate a dozen people, there was a smaller, more casual round table made of oak. A wooden high-chair sat at one end, and I could almost picture my great-grandmother feeding her small child there.

  But there didn’t seem to be anyone home.

  Sadness engulfed me, but as I turned around, determined to get upstairs and back to Brooke, the sound of a child’s laughter rang out, distant but clear.

  I glanced out the window over the sink, and my heart rose into my chest. She was there. My grandmother, Julia. She couldn’t have been more than three years old, and she was standing by the fountain, splashing her hands into the water and giggling.

  Her hair was exactly the same color as mine. Her eyes were brown, and even though she was just a tiny little thing, she could have been my daughter. I placed a hand over my mouth, watching her in awe as she played.

  The garden outside was not the overgrown mess I had found when I first moved to Peachville. Instead, it was flourishing and full of color. It was spring here in Georgia, and the flowers must have all recently bloomed.

  A woman emerged from the maze of flowers, and again, I saw so much of myself in her. She couldn’t have been much older than I was now. She pulled her gardening gloves off, and she dipped a hand into the fountain, splashing water toward her little girl and laughing.

  I gasped, clutching my throat when I saw the sapphire pendant around the woman’s neck. It hadn’t occurred to me until this moment, but right now, Aerden was trapped inside that woman.