The Kala Trilogy: An Urban Fantasy Box Set

by Teagan Kearney

  "Ready when you are," Forked Lightning muttered through gritted teeth.

  Vanse sent a flood of energy into their connection, and Tatya reciprocated, strengthening the bond.

  Now!" Vanse commanded.

  Forked Lightning shut his eyes, grimacing as the other two stepped forward, pulling him with them. He experienced a brief prickle of unease, a quick scrape of nails on a blackboard, and he was through.

  "Are you okay?"

  Forked Lightning looked several shades paler than usual.

  "Thanks, Tat. I'm fine." He rubbed his hands over his face. "I don't want to repeat that again in a hurry."

  Vanse glanced behind. "They're not following, but I am sure we're being herded."

  "Being herded? Where?" Forked Lightning responded.

  Vanse shrugged and moved off.

  The other two continued behind him as he moved further along the narrowing slope into a dismal passageway. Their progress slowed to a halt as the light faded, and the way ahead was shrouded in darkness.

  "Hang on," said Forked Lightning, pushing past Vanse as he held out his palm. He concentrated, and a small ball of pale blue light manifested, illuminating the darkness.

  "Wow, I'm impressed," said Tatya. “Your powers work in a demon’s realm. That’s good to know.”

  "Qaletaqa taught me that a long time ago. It took ages to master."

  They trudged along the narrow passage, Forked Lightning’s pale light surrounded them with dancing shadows. After a while, he halted. "Look," he said, raising his hand, and revealing a series of steps leading down into the dark.

  They peered at the giant rough-hewn blocks.

  "Where does this lead to?" Forked Lightning’s voice shook. He was still jittery from being dragged through a solid rock wall.

  "Listen,” said Tatya, “no dogs, no wind, and not a peep coming from down there either."

  "That's good, isn't it?" The shaman eyed Vanse.

  "Wherever we’re headed, we've no alternative but to go forward," Vanse replied. “It’s either down there or face the dogs. I want to see something. Put out your light."

  The small glow on Forked Lightning’s palm faded, replaced by a faint ruddy light emitted by the walls.

  “If we're lucky, this stairway might lead to another tunnel, maybe to the cells where you were kept, Tatya, or at least somewhere closer to the palace. We’ve lost the dogs for now.”

  They descended the wide stone staircase till Tatya begged for relief. Her calves and thighs were trembling. "Just five minutes, please. I've not had a great deal of exercise recently."

  They sat on the edge of a step, and Tatya and Forked Lightning shared a few raisins and nuts, while Vanse leaned against the wall with his head bowed.

  "I wonder if Angelus rules all of this hellish world or only part of it?" Vanse asked. His eyes were bloodshot, and red flashes sparked in his pupils.

  "Does being here make you more vulnerable to Angelus?" Tatya asked.

  "A part of my power has always come from my demoniac aspect, but the more I access it in this realm, the more dominant it becomes. Perhaps I can turn it to my benefit… but without the connection to you two, I fear I could lose myself."

  "One thing I do know," Forked Lightning answered, "is that both of you are warmer than you were back home. It's like having my personal heaters, except this whole place is hot. Too hot. Have you been more aware of your demon aspect since you've been here?" He studied Tatya's face.

  "My demon aspect is much less than Vanse’s, and I have links to Otakay, you, and usually the Bandrui. Together they overpower my nasty tendencies."

  "Well if you two are finished chatting, we should move on." Vanse sounded a tad more than tetchy

  Tatya laid a hand on his arm. "We're in this together. Don't forget."

  Forked Lightning shot a glance at Tatya. "I hope Fabio’s got a large stash of blood packs handy,” he muttered.

  “Where exactly is my body? Am I in the hospital?"

  "No, you’re at home." Vanse shifted closer and put his arm around her shoulders.

  She leaned into him—he wasn't warmer, he was burning.

  "But if you'd surrendered to Angelus, and given him power over you, he could have brought your physical body here. As it is, he is only able to imprison your subtle body. Picture this. You are asleep in the middle of your bed. I'm lying next to the window holding your hand, and on your other side, your brother lies holding your other hand. When we left, Eva and Jimmy were in attendance. Fabio comes and goes. The house is guarded by his werewolves, my vampires, and moreover, your good friend Sheriff Corwin sent men to protect you."

  Tatya's eyes brimmed with sudden tears.

  Vanse ran his thumb over her cheek wiping them away. "You are much loved, Tatya, and I'm not the only one who will try their best to keep you safe."

  Tatya was too overwhelmed to answer, but the bond between them blazed with her gratitude and love.

  Forked Lightning stood. "Okay, we're good to go?"

  Tatya jumped to her feet. "Let's find Nepta, and go home." With these two beside her, hope for rescuing her friend rose.

  They continued their descent until the ruddy light from the walls grew brighter, and as the stairs curved around a bend, they came to a huge cavern. Standing in the shadowed entrance, they studied the scene in front of them.

  A wide river ran through the center of the vast space. The ceiling was hidden by clouds of murky vapor. Men and women, old and young, and family groups with children waited in long queues on both banks of the river. On the near embankment, everyone remained calm, though the bowed heads and slumped shoulders spoke of acceptance rather than eagerness as they waited to board the flat bottom boats ferrying people from one side to the other. The cries of distress and anguish from the far shore were a different matter altogether as husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, and friends were separated and forced into different lines before being marched off into the distance. Guards with spears, tridents, and whips, dressed in black, with iron helmets and their faces hidden with black cloth, supervised the strange activity.

  “Where on earth are we?” Forked Lightning whispered.

  “Well, clearly not on earth.” Tatya hissed back.

  “Shush!” Vanse surveyed the cavern.

  Tatya raised her eyebrows and stifled a giggle when Forked Lightning rolled his eyes.

  "My suspicions are we've stumbled upon a gateway to an underworld where souls go after death."

  "These people are going to Hell?" Tatya murmured to herself.

  "Judging from their misery, they sure aren't headed for any happy hunting ground," Forked Lightning added.

  “If a route from here to Angelus's palace exists, it must be on the other side of the river, as I see no other exit here other than the one we came down. We have to cross that water. Agreed." Vanse’s last word wasn't a question.

  "Just join a queue?" Forked Lightning settled his tomahawk, and he automatically gripped the knife handle on his belt. "You don't think they'll notice we don't look anything like them?"

  "You have another suggestion?" Vanse glared at the shaman. "Mumble a few mantras and float across the water?"

  "Now, now, children," Tatya stepped between the two, placing a hand on each chest. "Enough of the alpha displays. Vanse, you go first. Forked Lightning, stay behind me. Let’s pray this takes us closer to Nepta." She gave Vanse a slight shove. "Lead on, McDuff."

  Chapter Twenty-Seven: A Close Encounter

  The high pitted walls and floor of the cavern were a sullen gray, and the queues shuffled silently toward the river. The deadening quiet swallowed their footsteps as they headed for the nearest line. Taking their places at the end, they bowed their heads and avoided eye contact. They needn’t have bothered. Nobody, not even the sentry supervising the boarding, took the slightest notice of them.

  Maybe they weren’t as noticeably different. A layer of dried muddy green slime coated most of their clothes, hair, and faces. Vanse’s rumpled st
ained shirt wasn’t quite as gray as the walls, though it soon would be, and his scuffed shoes were definitely the worse for wear after yesterday’s trek through the bog. Forked Lightning wore Vanse’s jacket, concealing his beaded breastplate and weapons. The coat was tight across his broader shoulders, hung almost halfway down his thighs, and his weapons created awkward bulges with the tip of the bow sticking out above his collar and his tomahawk handle visible below the hem.

  Rag, Tag, and Bobtail, Tatya recited. Or the three stooges—except that this story had too much tragedy and not enough comedy. An image of Nepta at the mercy of the stone troll guards rose, and she pushed it away. Imagining the worst that could happen to her friend wasn’t helpful. Instead, she pictured Nepta’s cheeky smile as she’d opened the cell door, the way her eyes crinkled when she laughed, and how she’d risked her life for Tatya when she would have had a greater chance of success on her own.

  Vanse moved forward, and Tatya peeked through her eyelashes at the figures in the queue and sucked in a quick breath. Their faces were the same leaden color as the rags they wore, but that wasn’t what shocked her.

  Pockmarks and sores covered their skins, and open pustules leaked blood and pus. The lesions were on every inch of exposed skin—arms, hands and feet. Tears dripped down their cheeks and mixed with the oozing secretions, as they choked back their sobs and whimpers of distress.

  "Don’t stare at them." Forked Lightning whispered. "They are the damned."

  "We can do nothing for them." Vanse’s voice was gentle. "We reap what we sow. Isn’t that the law?"

  Tatya wanted to do something, but what? Maybe Vanse was right, and this situation was of their own making, but she wouldn’t inflict this suffering on anyone.

  Before they realized it, they were at the front of the queue, and about to enter the boat bobbing on the waterway.

  The watchman supervising passage onto the vessel wore a black cloth over his face with veiled eyelets. Using a poleax, he halted each passenger, and scrutinized them, before waving them on board.

  To their relief, they passed inspection, clambered over the seats in the long narrow boat and took the next empty spaces.

  One crisis at a time, Tatya told herself, as the problem of finding their way out of this place, and saving Nepta loomed large in her thoughts.

  A boatman with a long pole stood at the prow looking toward the opposite shore, and when the boat was full, he began poling across the river.

  Tatya glanced at the water and found her gaze held by half-dozen beautiful young women swimming close to the surface.

  Their long hair floated and swirled around them as they kept pace with the vessel. Their dark eyes and smiling red mouths mesmerized her. One played the flute, another held a lyre, and as she listened, she heard the most enchanting chorus. Another lifted a hand and beckoned her to join them.

  Tatya leaned over the edge to hear more of the enthralling music. Did these entrancing creatures have the answer to her desire to help the afflicted? Surely these heavenly beings offered comfort? If she joined them, she, too, could ease the peoples’ suffering in this dreadful place. She leaned further over and reached out to take the hand of the nearest water sprite when Vanse’s hand shot out and jerked her arm back.

  “Tatya!” he muttered under his breath. “Stay alert. Those creatures aren’t what they seem.”

  Tatya drew a little power and gasped in shock as she saw what she’d thought was hair were snakes that curled and twisted around the nymphs. Their carmine smiles revealed razor sharp teeth longer than a vampire’s fully extended fangs. “What are they?” she whispered, “and let go. I’ve got the picture.”

  “What? Is there something there? I don’t see anything.” Forked Lightning peered into the watery depths.

  “Quiet” Vanse shushed them irritably. “We’re trying not to draw attention to ourselves.”

  “Oh, it’s like that, is it?” Forked Lightning prickled. “You two can talk, but if I try to speak...”

  “Shut up. We’ve arrived.” Tatya hissed.

  A small bump and the boat scraped to a halt. The boatman thrust his pole into the sandy bank and held the boat in place for his passengers’ departure.

  Vanse, Tatya, and Forked Lightning climbed out onto dry land, but, up close, the scene here was even more harrowing than what they’d glimpsed from the other side.

  At the top of the embankment, behind a solid line of guards, grim faced custodians directed each detainee toward a specific line. The second anyone showed even the slightest reluctance to move or offered resistance, they were beaten and hauled to their designated queue. Sentries manacled their hands behind their backs before attaching a solid metal collar around their necks and chained them to each other from the waist, wrists, and ankles. Once the required number was reached, guards led the shuffling ragged lines off in different directions, and another formed in its place.

  "We mustn’t let them put those chains on us," Forked Lightning said with a slight tremor in his voice. "That would be really bad."

  "I have no intention of letting them," Vanse answered. They were next in line, but the sentry was distracted by the protests of the prisoner at the front.

  "No, I’m serious. Do you see the shadows in those chains, Tat?"

  "Yes, I do. Vanse, he’s right." Tatya’s attention had been occupied by the lines of chained figures crossing the dim landscape, and she suddenly noticed the flickering darkness coiled inside the shackles. "Once those chains are on, nobody says a word. I think they might break the link with our physical bodies."

  Vanse stepped up to the guard and looked him in the eye.

  The creature froze.

  "We," his voice hummed with dominance as he pointed to Tatya and Forked Lightning who moved to stand beside him, "are not to be detained. Do you understand?"

  The guard bowed. "Yes, Master. Let these through," he ordered the custodians behind him.

  "Nothing like a touch of old-fashioned glamour," Vanse said as they walked swiftly away from the macabre scene.

  Tatya smiled at him. He’d come here, risking everything to save her, and she was dragging him into further danger. Yet with Vanse and Forked Lightning by her side, she felt strong—strong enough to slay monsters. She took his hand and squeezed it. "You’re getting hotter," she told him, wondering if the humanity he had hung onto for centuries was in danger of being overcome.

  "Do we know where we’re going, or are we taking the scenic route in the hope our destination will appear out of nowhere?" Forked Lightning asked.

  Vanse glared at him, his pupils flashing with red sparks. Taking a deep breath, he controlled himself. "Tatya, close your eyes and focus. See if you can sense which direction leads us toward Angelus. This isn’t his domain, but there might be another entrance we could use.”

  "Both of you, give me your hands. Forked Lightning, raise shields," Tatya instructed.

  As the three of them joined hands, their connection glowed for an instant before Forked Lightning’s shield hid the sudden brightness.

  Tatya closed her eyes, and she felt the pull. If they were objects in space, it was as if a black hole was drawing them in. She was pleased with her metaphor. If anyone could be described as a black hole, it was Angelus.

  “This direction.” She pointed left, pulled by Angelus’s magnetic draw.

  Though this place was nothing like the astral plane, they moved fast, and soon there was nothing to be seen but a flat gray lifeless landscape extending as far as the horizon in every direction.

  “We’ve got company.” Forked Lightning murmured.

  In the distance and approaching fast, several black figures raced toward them. Even as they watched, more of them appeared.

  “Is running going to help?” Tatya voiced the question in everyone’s mind.

  “I fear not. Tatya, stand between us. If you use your power, Angelus will know exactly where you are," Vanse told her.

  “What? You expect me to watch while you two get to have all th
e fun?” she asked. “I think back to back, facing outward is a better defensive position, don’t you?” She looked to Forked Lightning for support.

  “He already knows she’s somewhere in his world, and she is stronger than either of us. Not using her puts all of us at risk.” Forked Lightning shrugged off Vanse’s jacket and settled his grip on his tomahawk.

  The black figures closed at an alarming rate, and within seconds, a dozen or more of the ninja-style assailants encircled them.

  “Surrender the woman, or the other two will die here in great pain, and we will take you anyway.” The demand was made in a flat expressionless voice.

  It was difficult to tell who spoke as their faces were covered, like the boatman’s, with a veiled section for their eyes.

  "If they think after being in Angelus’s dungeons, and getting this far, that I’m giving myself over to them without a fight, they need a reality check," Tatya said.

  “What do you want?” Vanse demanded, “we have done you no harm.”

  The assailants held their katanas aloft, and the blades glowed with a ruby light as they poised on the balls of their feet ready to attack. One of the group stepped toward them “Your souls are already forfeit as you have entered the afterworld. How you passed through the gateway is not our concern. Our task is to capture and deliver the woman, and take over the physical bodies of your companions.” As he spoke, his weapon blazed brighter. Moving in unison, the rest of the troupe copied his move, their combined blades creating an umbrella of rosy light.

  “They want to hand me over to Angelus, and possess both of you,” Tatya muttered,

  “Ah, they’re Chindi,” said Forked Lightning.

  “Dybbuks,” said Vanse. “We were herded here to make it possible for Angelus to capture you, and dispose of us.”

  “And as an extra perk, he’d gain dominance over my pack and your family.”

  “Stop talking, and give me your answer,” the spokesman demanded.

  “More shielding!” yelled Tatya in response, as she tapped into her power. Bright energy surged along the bond with a quick flash of gold.