by Ava Benton
“Fair enough. You would be sleeping away in The Fold now if it weren’t for Claudia. Or, really, if it weren’t for Ralf tricking her into loving him. Then again, you wouldn’t have been in The Fold to begin with if it weren’t for him. It’s a rather confusing life you lead, isn’t it?”
“I wouldn’t say confusing. Conflicted, maybe.”
“Don’t let me conflict you further when it comes time. Do what you have to do to make it through. That’s all I ask.”
“I don’t follow your orders. I don’t follow any orders. I’ll do what suits me best in the moment.”
I closed my eyes and let him lead me as tears flowed freely down my cheeks. There was so much to say, but no way to say it and not be rejected again.
“Stop.” I closed my hand tighter over his shoulder. “They know we’re coming. Let me stand in front of you.”
“No.”
“Damn it, please. I can ward them off.”
“I said no. It’s time to do things my way.”
“The Council will kill you.”
“Maybe it would be better that way.” His voice turned into a snarl, and his shoulder became steel under my hand.
He was changing.
And I realized I didn’t really want to stop him, even though it would’ve been the smart thing to do. The right thing to do, even. But they would kill us both if given the chance—and they would enjoy killing me, the traitor.
It was dark, and they didn’t see him coming.
I stood there, shaking, listening to him tear them to pieces.
They didn’t have time to scream or stun him, to even react. He was too fast, and he could see them better than they could see him.
It didn’t matter if I closed my eyes, since I couldn’t see with them open. Hearing was enough. More than enough. Sometimes imagination was worse than seeing with the eyes. Like the sound of a limb being torn from a body, that tearing sound, and the limb hitting the floor with a wet splatter. A spine cracking. A neck breaking.
And the blood. So much of it. The smell threatened to suffocate me, pressing on me from all sides until there was nothing but blood. Nothing in the world but darkness and blood.
It only took a few seconds. Ten at the most. It might as well have been forever. Time had never moved so slowly.
I bit my lip until it hurt to keep my mind in one piece. The pain helped me come back to myself. Even with the coppery tang of blood in my nose and my head, even knowing I had lost two women who used to be my friends, my sisters, I managed to keep my mind whole.
Even though I knew he was the one who did it.
“Are you all right?” He touched my hand. I made the mistake of flinching away.
“I’m fine,” I whispered, trying to make up for my mistake.
He seemed to expect it.
“Come on. Walk carefully.” I pressed my lips together to hold back a scream—a retch—knowing I was walking through their blood. I stepped on something soft and pliable, and my stomach churned. I cringed in horror.
“Well, that will bring the High Council to us, if nothing else.”
I didn’t want to think about that, either. How could he sound so peaceful after what he’d just done?
I had lulled myself into a false sense of security with him, even after seeing what he was capable of. With the bear, with that man in the diner. Even when he’d pinned me to the tree, to the floor of the cabin. It still came as a surprise that he was so quick to destroy life, and so quick to bounce back as though he’d done nothing at all.
“I suppose it will,” I murmured, shaky in spite of all my best attempts not to be.
“I had to do it. For you. I want you to know that. I can hear how hard that was for you to witness. But they would’ve killed you, or at least hurt you.”
I bit back a sob.
The way he said it, like it was nothing. A fact. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to kiss him or slap him for committing murder in my name. That would be ungrateful and, frankly, disingenuous.
There was a part of me, a very large part, that warmed at the thought. And the warmth started in my core, between my thighs. What was wrong with me?
“Here. He’s here somewhere.” Alexander stopped so suddenly, I smashed into him and almost lost my balance, but he was quick to catch me.
I blinked, looking around me, and the change in light was obvious. Not that the tunnel was suddenly brightly lit, but there was an opening leading up to the surface.
Probably some sort of emergency exit in case of a cave-in. it allowed a little bit of sunlight in, along with fresh air. It would be the ideal place to store him, where anyone guarding him would be able to breathe and see a little easier.
“I guess we wait, then,” I whispered, shivering.
It was suddenly very cold down there. Or maybe it was me, dreading what was coming. For all of us.
“How much longer will it take them, do you think?” he asked.
I could just make out the shape of him, and the smell of him told me he was drenched in blood. I reminded myself it was all for me just so I could stomach being close to him.
“I have no idea. Truly. Gwyneth could’ve driven down the road for all I know and made it the rest of the way through the forest on foot—in fact, that would be the smart move. She could control Claudia more easily in a car.”
“I doubt she’d fight to get away if she knew your sister was bringing her to the love of her life,” he snorted.
“You still don’t believe in love?” I asked.
It was a stupid question, not even worthy of an answer, but my heart forced it out of me.
And I wanted to know.
I needed to, if those were our last moments together.
He opened his mouth to reply, but I would never know what it was going to be.
We both heard the footsteps coming, heard the exclamation of surprise and horror and rage.
Seething rage.
I reached for him out of instinct, and our hands linked.
“Well,” he growled, “here we go.”
19
Alexander
I steeled myself for whatever Gwyneth was going to throw our way, wondering how she would choose to announce her presence. I didn’t have to wait long before finding out.
A ball of fire shot down the tunnel and came straight for us.
I pulled Daniela to me and pressed her against the wall, taking the brunt of the heat on my back. There was enough room that the worst of it passed us by.
“You fucking animal!” I guessed that was Gwyneth. “How dare you slay two of us when all we wanted was to help you?” Her voice echoed, bouncing back and forth, filling my head with ear-piercing shrieks I couldn’t block out.
“Gwyn! Please! They were going to kill me!” Daniela sounded like she was on the verge of tears, but that was nothing new.
She’d been crying on and off since we started down the tunnels.
“And they should have! They were worth more than you, you traitor! I would take both of them over you!”
Daniela let out a choked sob, and I couldn’t help but hold her for a brief moment. She shook like she’d plunged into an icy lake.
“Come out and show yourself, witch,” I dared. “Unless you’re afraid the same fate awaits you.”
“Alexander?” Claudia sounded doubtful. Confused.
“Yes. I’m here.”
“He won’t hurt us,” she whispered.
Gwyneth sighed in frustration. “It doesn’t matter. We’ve already talked about this. Let me do the talking.”
“No! You told me you would take me to Ralf and I haven’t seen him yet. I came here with you because I wanted Ralf. Were you lying?”
“You’re wasting my time, damn it.”
I could’ve told Gwyneth well before then that Claudia would be a challenge, but that would’ve meant the two of us speaking to each other as equals which she would never allow.
“He’s here, Claudia,” Daniela said. “Come on. Let’s find him t
ogether.”
“Shut up,” Gwyneth growled.
“She just wants to be with him again. Are you going to begrudge her that? Besides, don’t you want to see him yourself?” Daniela asked.
“What does she mean?” Claudia asked. “What were you planning?”
“Nothing! My sister only wants to pull us apart. She’ll say anything to get us to let our guards down.”
“She wants to kill him, Claudia. To kill everyone he sired, all at once.” What did we have to lose?
“You want to what?” Claudia’s normally quiet, gentle voice turned into a dangerous snarl.
“He’s lying.”
“He’s never lied to me. I don’t think he ever could and get away with it. I can feel what he’s feeling, remember?”
A blast of light, and a small, blonde body flew through the air toward where we stood.
It skidded along the tunnel floor and came to a halt against one of the wooden beams.
“Gwyn!”
No matter what, they were sisters. Daniela ran toward her, holding an orb of magic fire in her hand to light the way.
“Get away from me,” Gwyneth groaned, pushing her sister away. “Don’t touch me. Don’t ever touch me again.
“But Gwyn…”
Claudia, meanwhile, stalked out of the tunnel with both palms pointed in Gwyneth’s direction.
She was dangerous, and furious. “You would kill my Ralf. You lied to me to get me here, knowing you would lure them if you took me in the night. You’re no witch. You don’t deserve to be called a witch.”
“Claudia…” I reached for her, intending to hold her still and possibly get her to relax those deadly hands of hers, but she shook me off with supernatural strength I could only attribute to blood rage. “You’ll bring the cave down,” I warned.
“I don’t care! I’ll bring it down around all our heads if it means making sure she doesn’t kill him.”
“But you’ll kill him if you do,” Daniela warned, still trying to position herself between Claudia and her sister even though her sister had rejected her.
“Take me to him,” she demanded, glaring at Gwyneth. “Take me to him, or I’ll bring this down on you. I’ll crush you, I swear.”
Gwyneth’s eyes darted back and forth. I could see in the light from the flames that her face moved like she was thinking it over. Weighing her options. “He’s behind a slab of rock, maybe twenty or thirty paces to your left. The slab moves. You’ll be able to slide it over. He’s in stasis.”
It was like night and day, the chance in Claudia’s demeanor. She rushed off, hands at her sides, breathless and giddy and beaming with joy as she came closer with every step to reaching her goal.
I was almost happy for her. It was impossible not to be when she looked that way.
A great, resounding rumble shook the cave, strong enough to knock even me to the ground.
I sprang up and ran to Daniela. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine, I think. What about Claudia?”
I froze for a second. I hadn’t gone to her first. I should’ve gone to her first. We were still bound by blood. Why didn’t I?
“Claudia?” I called out, coughing over the dust which the blast had kicked up.
I didn’t even know what caused it. Out of the corner of my eye, Gwyneth scrambled to her feet but leaned against the wall. She looked just as stunned as any of us, telling me she wasn’t the cause.
“Claudia is safe,” a voice announced.
Unfamiliar and familiar at the same time. I had heard it before, but not frequently enough to remember when.
“We’ll take care of her now. She needs our help,” another voice explained.
“Who’s there?” Daniela created another orb, and this time the light revealed three tall, imperious witches wearing deep blue robes and expressions of disappointment on their beautiful faces. The High Council.
Claudia stood between two of them, looking crushed. She had been so close, too. Tears soaked her cheeks, her shirt. “Please. I only want to see him, to know he’s well.”
“He’s well,” the witch in the center promised without looking at her. “That’s why we made these arrangements, to ensure he’d always be well.”
“You led a Tracker to this place,” the redheaded witch accused, glaring at me.
“Her sister had already found it,” I replied, which was the truth. “And Ralf’s life was in jeopardy. She wanted to kill him, to wipe out all Nightwardens.”
“We know this is true,” the center witch stated blithely.
They were only testing me, seeing what I would say. Who I would accuse. The fact that they considered themselves omnipotent irritated me the same as it always had.
The center witch continued, “We sensed your absence from The Fold, and we understand you had no choice in the matter. It’s not you we’ll be punishing for this infraction.” Her eyes cut to the side, where Claudia stood.
I had never felt more sorry for her or probably anybody else.
“You’ll have to come with us, of course,” the witch added. “Back to The Fold.”
I knew that was coming. They wouldn’t kill me, but they’d put me back into stasis.
“What about them?” I gestured to Gwyneth and Daniela.
“We’ll deal with them in our own way,” the redheaded witch assured me with a knowing look.
I moved a little closer to Daniela, who stood with her head high and her shoulders thrown back. She was unafraid, or pretending to be.
And I loved her for that. The certainty hit me like a runaway train. I loved her.
“You’ll never deal with me, you pompous, arrogant bitches.” As if in slow motion, Gwyneth raised her hands to fight them off.
All three witches saw her, too, and they assumed protective poses.
I threw myself over Daniela to protect her from what was coming, still watching the fight unfold.
“No!” Claudia screamed, but she wasn’t looking at them.
She was looking at us.
Our eyes locked for no more than a moment, just a single moment in the center of everything else falling apart, and the smile which tugged at the corners of her mouth told me what I needed to know. If she couldn’t be with her love, she’d make sure I could be with mine.
She stretched out her arms, but instead of using her power to fight Gwyneth, she directed a blast of ice-blue light to the wooden beams holding up the tunnel between where she stood and where I crouched over Daniela.
The blast knocked us both back and brought down a wall of rock that seemed to fall on and on into infinity.
All I could do was cover Daniela and wait for it to end.
When it did, I helped her up.
“I can’t believe she did it,” Daniela wheezed, coughing over the clouds of dust.
“I can’t believe she trapped us here,” I coughed. I knew why she did it, but wished she’d thought it through a little better.
We would be together, for sure, but we’d both eventually die in that tunnel.
Daniela climbed up some of the rock, scrambling as bits and pieces fell under her hands and feet.
“What are you doing?” I asked, reaching for her.
“Are they all right? Is Gwyn all right?” She tilted her head toward where they would be standing, but there was far too much rock between us to hear anything.
Even I couldn’t make out a sound.
“Can you feel them?” I asked.
“Yes, but I don’t know exactly who I’m feeling.” Panic ran through her voice.
I couldn’t help but wonder why she still cared so much about her sister. The sister who had tried to kill her with a ball of fire, who had pushed her away when she offered help. But I’d never had siblings, so I wouldn’t know.
“Come down from there. You’ll break something.” I caught her as she jumped down into my arms and held her close.
Her heart raced like a frightened rabbit’s.
I pressed my lips to her dusty hair
, closing my eyes, breathing in the scent of her and feeling the warmth of her and knowing she was still alive, still real, still with me.
“Oh, my love, if I had lost you…”
“What did you say?” she whispered with her cheek against my chest.
“I said I love you. You’re everything to me, more than my own existence. I love you.”
She pulled back enough to look at me. “I thought you would never say it. I love you, too.”
I bent my head to cover her mouth and kiss her with all the love and devotion and passion in me, not knowing how our story would end, but knowing it would at least end with her.
Her arms slid around my neck and squeezed, pulling me even closer so she could meet my passion with hers, and I was sure my heart would break with the sweet joy of it all. She would be mine, and I would be hers, and that might have to be enough.
Except…
She pulled away with a gasp. “The escape tunnel.” She looked up, and when I followed her gaze, I saw the beam of light through the dust that still hadn’t settled. “Do you think you can make it through there?”
“It’s narrow. I might be able to get us both up there with you against my chest. We can try—but we might get stuck.”
“It wouldn’t be the worst thing to happen to me today,” she smiled as she wrapped her body around me, legs linked against my lower back and her arms around my chest.
I crouched, then leaped. My hands made contact with the tunnel wall, and I pulled us up.
It was just as tight as I had guessed, but not so much that we would wedge ourselves in there. I moved as quickly as possible, and I wasn’t sure either of us breathed, just to avoid taking up more space.
When I reached the surface, I punched out the grate bolted into the face of the mountain.
She sprawled on the grass, still coughing.
Every inch of her was coated in black dust, streaked in the places where sweat or tears had flowed.
She had never looked so beautiful.
“What do we do now?” she asked when she caught her breath, looking up at me.
“Honestly? I don’t know.” I fell to my knees at her side, running a hand over her hair, then down her face.