by H. D. Gordon
Win or lose, whatever happened next, things would never be the same again for either brother.
“That may be,” Charlie said, “but I can kill you for what you’ve done.”
Black Heart’s responding smile was cold, and in it Charlie could see none of the brother he’d known. “You can try, Charlie-Boy,” he said. “You can sure as hell try.”
As the two of them squared off, Fae Warriors made their entrance into the scene, bursting through the portal with blades blazing.
And despite the two star-crossed lovers having both faced terrible odds in their lives, Surah and Charlie had a better chance of rearranging the cosmos than they did at defeating the two armies standing against them now on their own.
CHAPTER 49
SURAH
It was a dance, and the tune was fast and steady, but her movements were starting to slow, to fall behind a half step in beat. Her muscles were straining, the air tearing in and out of her lungs like fire. Sweat rolled down her spine, tickling the hot skin there.
Surah slid her right sai through the neck of one Demon while shoving the left sai into another’s wing. She teleported to a new position and saw stars dance before her eyes for a moment before her vision cleared.
She swayed a bit on her feet, and had just barely regained equilibrium before a Fae Warrior swooped down from above, appearing to Surah as if out of nowhere. When had the Fae gotten here? She had been so distracted that she had not even noticed them coming out of the portal.
Looking around for Tristell, she saw that the coward who called herself a Fae Queen had not bothered to accompany her army—
Surah was knocked to the ground just in time to avoid having her head ripped right off her shoulders by the talons of a Demon. She hit the earth hard enough to rattle the teeth in her mouth, pain exploding through her shoulder, the breath ripped right from her chest.
Blinking, she looked up into familiar eyes, and saw that Charlie was the one who had tackled her. She barely let this thought process before using more Magic to teleport the two of them to a different, upright position. When they reappeared a few feet away, Surah was unsteady on her feet.
Charlie gripped her forearms to steady her, obvious concern flashing over his face. Surah saw this and shoved him away, shooting an impressive lightning bolt through the tips of her fingers and striking an oncoming Fae right through the heart. The Fae’s body hardly had time to crumple to the earth before Surah did the same to two more.
She was unaware of it, but her face was drained of all color, her hair plastered to her forehead, the blood of her enemies dripping from her lips. She was only aware of how tired she was feeling, of how ready she was to just end this whole thing.
And she could, couldn’t she? She had enough juice left to do that. She could just concentrate all of her power, and all of that borrowed from the Black Stone, to do one last blast, one last big explosion.
She could do that, and just kill them all. Kill the whole lot of them the way the humans did with their bombs and missiles.
This had always been an option, though one she’d not truly considered until this moment. Of course, this would kill her and Charlie as well, and anyone else standing too close to the battlefield, but this would keep that bastard Black Heart from the throne, and the other royals would surely pick up the torch and lead the people into a safe place…
All of this flashed through her mind in an eye blink as she took a tiny moment to absorb the scene around her. While she’d been fighting, her mind had taken on a sort of tunnel vision, but she could see now how terribly outmatched she was.
This thought should have devastated her, but instead, she felt nothing. Nothing but the undeniable need to destroy those who were standing against her, no matter what it took.
So as the Demons circled and swooped, as the Fae Warriors struck and swiped, as the angry gray sky spat bullets of rain, Surah Stormsong continued to kill and maim.
In her head, she was moments away from completing a spell that would kill them all.
And good fucking riddance, she thought.
CHAPTER 50
ARIA
Aria Fae stood beside the battlefield, her eyes as wide as saucers in her face, her hands covering her mouth. She had been trained since childhood by the Peace Brokers for all sorts of things, all kinds of tense situations, but never in her life had she stood witness to anything such as this.
Rain poured down over her, drenching her clothes and dripping from the ends of her long hair, catching in her long lashes. Thunder rumbled like the hungry stomach of a God, and she shivered, though it had nothing to do with the weather.
She had retreated to the top of a small hill that overlooked the clearing in which the gaping portal hung. Out of that portal, what seemed like a billion Demons had spilled, followed by Fae Warriors, blades blazing.
All of this was aimed at the Sorceress Queen, and despite all the insane happenings, it was Surah Stormsong that Aria could not pull her eyes from.
She killed so expertly it seemed to Aria as though it was what she’d been born to do. This was a conundrum because when Aria had met Surah earlier she had sensed so much good in the Sorceress Queen. And Aria was pretty much as good as it got at reading people. Arrol had not been wrong in saying that Aria had The Touch real strong.
But as she looked at Surah Stormsong now, it was as though a dark entity had possessed her, had ripped free Surah’s spirit and replaced it with its own. Her eyes were a terrible, writhing black, her blood-streaked face pulled into a tight grimace.
All throughout Sorcerer Territory, the reactions of those watching was much the same as the Halfling girl’s. It was obvious that this thing was going to end badly no matter who ended up still standing.
If anyone ended up still standing.
Aria had to do something. Fae Warriors were still spilling out of the portal, joining the many who had already arrived. The body count of Demons and Fae alike was growing by the second. Everything that crossed through that portal was going to die.
Hands trembling slightly but legs steady, Aria Fae began moving toward the black hole in the sky. She was going to close that portal, or die trying.
CHAPTER 51
SURAH
She tripped. She could not believe it, but she tripped. Her right knee simply buckled without warning, and she stumbled forward, narrowly avoiding the business end of a Fae Warrior’s blade.
This small misstep was all it took. There were too many attackers to make any false moves, and in the half heartbeat it took for her to realize this, a Demon was bearing down on her from above. Her brain did not even have the time to consider teleporting.
She resumed casting the Spell in her head, the Spell that would put an end to all of this. As long as her death wasn’t immediate, she would be able to finish it in time.
Then a flash of black and blue snapped her thoughts in half. The Demon that had been bearing down on her was tackled out of the air by Samson, who had not arrived a second too soon.
Surah had thought she was beyond feeling, but her heart swelled briefly at the sight of her tiger, who was tearing apart the Demon he’d taken down with beastly ferocity.
“Miss me?” Sam’s voice asked in her head.
Surah found that she couldn’t answer. She was too busy staring at all the Great Cats that had seemingly appeared out of thin air, and were now aiding her in killing the Fae and Demons. Their powerful jaws snapped bone and spine, their growls and hisses adding to the warlike cacophony that was the moment.
Seeing this renewed her strength, but she was still moving too slow. As if sensing this, Samson moved beside her and crouched. Surah climbed atop her tiger and used more Magic to blast at the opposing army.
She was grateful for Sam’s arrival, but there was a part of her that wished he had not come, because even with the help of the Great Cats, she wasn’t sure it would be enough, and now, if she ended up having to detonate the Black Magic bomb, Samson and his pride would be blown toward
the heavens right along with her and Charlie.
And anyone else standing too nearby.
CHAPTER 52
CHARLIE
His brother’s fist smashed into his face hard enough to make his vision go all black for several seconds. Charlie stumbled backward, shaking his head and swiping out blindly with his blade.
Black Heart laughed as he looked at Charlie with the same expression he’d been giving him since they were boys; a cocky sense of superiority that was particular to older brothers.
But a moment later his laughter dried up, and anger and surprise came over Black Heart’s face. Charlie looked around at what had caused the reaction and saw that at some point during the scuffle with his brother, Samson had arrived, and he’d brought with him dozens of Great Cats.
A bit of hope swirled in Charlie at this, and at the same time, despair. They were still terribly outnumbered, and Samson would likely get himself and his kind killed. This was almost more tragic than the loss of people, because the Great Beasts were already endangered, a dying breed.
Love, Charlie thought, the word piercing through the haze of the battle. Love can make you do some crazy shit.
With this on his mind, Charlie flipped the dagger in his hand so that he was gripping the hilt, and before he could second-guess himself, he threw it at his distracted brother’s black heart.
And in doing so, broke part of his own.
CHAPTER 53
ARIA
So many things happened in the handful of moments that came next that it was impossible to take all of it in. It was like trying to look at a picture that pulled the eye in every direction, a kaleidoscope of chaos that stunned and shocked.
Aria had no time to be distracted. She moved through the fray with the determination of someone privy to all that was at stake. The sheer amount of death that had taken place already was enough to twist her stomach, to bring salty tears to her eyes, which were squinting in the driving rain.
She knew only that she had to reach the portal. If she could reach it, she might be able to use her Fae Magic to close it, and keep the rest of the Fae Warriors from being slaughtered in this field, staunch the already high death toll. The Demons she couldn’t care less about, for they were soulless creatures, powered and controlled by only darkness and hate. But every Fae that died here today would only have been following the orders of their crazed Queen.
As she made her way closer, batting away the occasional Demon that ventured too close with her staff, Aria knew that if she did this, she would be taking a direct stance against the Fae Queen, against Tristell, who was no doubt somewhere at the other end of the portal watching from a safe distance. The repercussions of this would change everything for the Halfling girl.
From this, there could be no going back.
Her hair whipped around her face as she grew closer and closer to the hole in the sky, from which Fae Warriors were still arriving in twos and threes. Her heart sank as she realized she was going to do it, to cut off access and in doing so flip her own world upside down.
Even if Surah did defeat Tristell and Black Heart today, there would be Aria’s superiors to answer to, and it was this she feared most of all.
What would the Peace Brokers do when they found out her actions here today? What would they do with someone who stepped so far beyond their boundaries? Aria could not even begin to guess at the answer to this, and her mind was made up anyway.
And there was the chance that her organization would understand. Halflings were known to be Empaths in the strongest sense. As a Fae Halfling and a Peace Broker, she’d been taught that every single life has value, that every life is sacred.
This was why she carried a wooden staff rather than a blade. Why she’d been trained to incapacitate and disable, not to kill. Never to kill.
Maybe her people would understand that she was only trying to save Fae life in closing the portal.
Or maybe not.
As she finally reached the portal, she supposed it didn’t really matter anyway.
CHAPTER 54
CHARLIE
Black Heart let out a cry of rage, and for a moment, Charlie thought that the dagger he’d thrown at his brother’s chest had hit home. Instead, Black Heart batted away the blade as though it were nothing, not even having to touch it, just flicking it away with Magic.
The cry of anger Black Heart gave was due to the fact that the portal in the sky letting in the Fae Warriors was closing, cutting off a good percentage of his force.
Charlie did not waste the moment of distraction, he charged his brother and made contact, tackling him to the ground, landing a hard right to Black Heart’s jaw that Charlie felt somewhere in his own gut. It felt simultaneously good and terribly wrong to be directing such force at his kin, but there was no way around it. Only one of them would leave this fight alive.
Charlie was knocked back several feet by an invisible blow to his solar plexus, the air whooshing out of his lungs with painful swiftness as his brother regained his feet and used more Magic to lock Charlie’s arms to his sides.
Panic and a certain amount of disbelief filled him as Charlie found he couldn’t lift his arms, couldn’t move. Black Heart was holding him Magically in place.
“You never could take me without Magic,” Charlie spat, his heart aching a bit at the thought that these would likely be the last words he ever spoke to his brother.
Black Heart pushed some of his dark hair out of his face and swiped at the blood on his lips, his green eyes—the same ocean water color as Charlie’s—as pitiless as a Demon’s. He stopped when he reached Charlie and placed a hand on his shoulder. Charlie tried to shake off the touch, but could not get his muscles to obey, so he only stared at his brother with all the fire he could muster.
Looking down, Charlie saw that Black Heart was holding a sharp knife in his hand, the tip of it resting against the fabric covering Charlie’s chest.
“I never wanted it to end like this, Charlie-Boy,” he whispered, and as he did so, the hand holding the knife reared up, preparing to drive itself deep into Charlie’s chest.
What happened next happen incredibly fast.
Something struck Black Heart from behind, hard enough to make his eyes widen and his head hunch down between his shoulders. Out of what Charlie was sure had to be pure reflex, his brother turned to see what had struck him.
Black Heart’s attention was only diverted for the smallest of moments, but it was enough. Charlie found that he could move again, and before he could change his mind or think about the consequences, he jammed the sharp blade of his dagger into his brother’s neck, driving it in all the way to the hilt.
There was a moment then when the entire world froze for Charlie Redmine, a moment before the body of his older brother trembled and went limp, a moment before life as he’d known it forever melted away. Just a heartbeat, really. A heartbeat before he became the murderer of someone who had shared his blood.
The last someone who had shared his blood.
Michael turned his eyes up to Charlie’s, surprise and realization clouding over his face. In this moment, the noise of all the happenings around them faded away, the cries of those fighting and dying, the howling of the wind, the spattering of the rain.
And for a small slice of time, it was just Michael and him. Just Charlie and his big brother.
Then blood bubbled out of Black Heart’s mouth, carrying with it his final words. They were but a whisper, but the sound of them would haunt Charlie’s dreams in the days to come.
“Didn’t think you had it in you, Charlie-Boy,” his brother said.
And then he was gone.
CHAPTER 55
ARIA
Once again, Aria Fae stood in utter awe as she watched Charlie Redmine drive the dagger she’d given him deep into his brother’s neck. The scarlet blood of the Dark Sorcerer sprayed into the open air in a way that Aria found oddly cinematic.
But when some of it splattered over her face, she could only stan
d where she was and gape. She had saved Charlie’s life for a fourth time, if she had counted right, but who could say? At the moment, she was frozen to the spot, her mind at a standstill. All the craziness surrounding her melted away, and all she could see was Charlie. The look on his face just then would never really leave her mind.
Watching him kill his brother had been much like watching someone drown a part of their own soul. And her heart hurt for him. As Aria Fae slipped out of the moment, the world swimming back to her attention, and she looked around the battlefield on which she stood, the bodies of Fae Warriors scattered everywhere, the scorched spots where the Demon’s bodies had finally turned to dust, her heart hurt for them all.
Words her mother used to be fond of saying came to her then: In war, there is no victor.
Aria could see the truth of this now. She could feel the truth of this in her bones.
The thought of her mother brought tears to her eyes, and she blinked to clear them. In this moment one of the last remaining Demons swooped down on her, and she only had time for her eyes to widen before it reached her.
Then there was a flash of black, and just before the creature could touch her, it was tackled out of the air by one of the largest cats Aria had ever seen. The cat tore at the Demon with razor sharp teeth and claws, flinging bits of it this way and that with a ferocity that was somehow spectacular for the pure nature of it.
The cat was an enormous panther, easily three times the size of any Aria had ever seen in the human world. Her jaw hung open as she watched the beast tear the other beast to shreds. And as she looked around at the Sorcerer Territory, she realized there was so much about the supernatural world that she knew nothing about having lived with humans most of her life.
In the time it took for this to happen, Aria turned saw that there were hardly any Demons or Fae left alive, and those that were still alive were either being torn apart by a crazy big cat or skewered by Surah’s sais.