Fighting Midnight: Ankarrah Chronicles Book Two: A Paranormal Urban Fantasy

by J. D. Dexter

  “He can’t access the Matrix,” she answers softly.

  “I hear a ‘but’ coming.”

  “Not really.” She shakes her head. “Kuni even tried to help him like she helped you. He simply doesn’t have the capabilities of even a brand new youngling.”

  “See?” Abby interrupts.

  I hold up a hand, silencing her. She covers her mouth with her hand, her eyes begging me.

  “What else is he not able to do that a youngling should?” I ask.

  “He can’t shape shift. He can’t change one thing about himself,” Kuni answers. “I do not believe that he is fully Ankarrahi as Shavix has suggested. I believe that both you and Shavix have donated adira, but since the timing of both donations has been decades apart, then Hunter is simply more special than that of your typical human.” She sneezes, shaking her entire body a couple feet farther into the room. “Excuse me.”

  “Bless you, Kuni,” Reggie says as he shuts the door behind himself. “Do you need a tissue or a handkerchief?”

  “No, but thank you, Reggie.” She sniffs delicately.

  “Of course, of course.” He looks up. His smile dissolves as he looks between Abby and me.

  “Abby-girl, what’s going on?” He comes up to her side, sweeping her under his arm.

  “Girl talk,” she whispers.

  “Finley, are you okay?” he asks, his eyes gentle.

  I shrug my shoulders, unable to meet his gaze.

  Out of the corner of my eyes, I see him kiss Abby’s head and walk towards me. I’m engulfed in his arms. Between one breath and the next, I’m sobbing, burying my face against his shoulder.

  “There, there, now. It’s all going to be okay. You’ll see, Finley. You’ll see.” He pats my head and rubs my back as my sobs shake my chest and ring through the room.

  “I don’t mean to disrespect your father,” he begins. I shuffle and attempt to pull back from him. “No matter what you want to call him, he is your father. But that’s not important right now. I don’t believe that you and Hunter are related. Not anymore now than when you had just healed him and saved his life.”

  He lowers his voice to a whisper I strain to hear over the sound of my crying. “He might not be mine by blood, but I love that boy with all my heart. If that means he’s a little alien, I don’t care. If that means some man from some other world had to step in and give him a boost, I don’t care about that either. What I do care about is his heart. He’s given his entire heart to you, and I think you’ve given him yours.”

  I fall against him, my legs barely able to hold me up any longer. “I do. I have. But I don’t see how we can make it work if I’m his mother…even if only on that alien world.”

  Reggie giggles, his laugh so light and full of life. “Did you care before you’d given him adira and he had that part of you inside him?”

  “No. I thought it was special.” I wipe my eyes, using the back of my hand to wipe my nose as I pull back.

  “Then don’t let one little man tell you otherwise. Your Kezi and Brock don’t think he’s fully Ankarrahi, and I would believe them since they have been working with and testing him for months now. Shavix, while smart, doesn’t know Hunter from Adam. Your friends do. Put your faith in them; they know what they are seeing in him and saying.”

  He wraps me in his arms one last time, kisses my hair. Settling me back on my feet, he waits until I have my balance before stepping away. “Kezi, Brock, do either of you think Hunter is actually fully Ankarrahi?” he asks over his shoulder.

  “No, Reggie,” they both answer.

  “See, Finley-girl?” He looks me in the eyes, his own twinkling. “Nothing to worry about. You’re just the girl who saved my boy. Nothing more, nothing less.” He leans forward and kisses both of my cheeks.

  “Now,” he takes my hand in his, “no more crying. It makes my bones ache.” He squeezes my hand.

  I snort out a laugh, almost choking on the tears left. “Thanks, Reggie.”

  40

  “Hello? Is anyone there?” Josh’s voice sounds from the Window, still laying on the table.

  “Yes, Joshua. We are here,” Brock says, picking it up and hitting the screen button.

  “I need to talk to Fin and Hunter.”

  “We’re here, Josh,” Hunter says as he takes the Window from Brock.

  “I don’t know what Shavy’s smoking, but you guys aren’t –”

  The picture shifts as the Window on Josh’s side tumbles to the floor. The screen might be black, but we can still hear everything.

  “What the hell, dude?” Josh yells.

  “You should have kept your nose out, Earther. Now you die,” a harsh, deep voice answers.

  “Josh!” I scream. I tip and tilt the Window in my hands, trying to bring Josh back into the picture even though I know it’s futile.

  The sounds of fighting flow through the speakers of the Window. A loud thud, a low groan, a hiss of breath. The sound of running feet trails off as the picture slowly begins to brighten.

  Josh is lying on the ground, blood oozing slowly from his head, his eyes closed. I can’t even see his chest moving.

  “Josh! Josh, you’ve got to get up.”

  “He can’t hear you now, Fyndrexia. We are legion, and we are waiting.” That deep masculine voice brushes like steel wool over my skin.

  “What do you want?” I ask the person behind the Window. “Please. I’ll do anything. Please don’t hurt him.”

  “You will learn soon enough,” the voice answers.

  The screen goes blank in my hands, no sound, no static, nothing.

  My mind freezes, caught up in too many ideas to focus on just one. Warm hands flow up my arms, stopping my shaking. “Socks, we can’t do anything from here. We don’t know who went after him; we don’t know anything.”

  “Kezi, Brock, do you guys have any way of getting to Ankarrah? Any way to call for help?” I ask, tears gathering in my eyes.

  Solemn head shakes bring the tears coursing down my cheeks. “I’m very sorry, Finley. So very sorry,” Kezi says.

  Brock looks at me. “We could ask Lando to jump to Ankarrah. I’m not sure what he will find, but he could give you some answers. But you must realize that it will take far longer than you want it to.”

  “Yes.” I dash the tears from my cheeks. “Yes, that will work. If he’ll go, I would feel better about it all.”

  “I will discuss the parameters of his mission and report back to you.” Brock steps away from the small group huddled in the kitchen, his heavy silent heavy steps rumbling through the floor.

  “We still need to figure out how to get keep Anixia from pulling you to the Matrix. And how to get her here to Earth so I can finish with her,” I say to Hunter and Kezi.

  He turns towards me. “I know, but now it’s time for sleep. We can all brainstorm that in the morning. Together.” He gives me a look.

  I nod. Just as I turn away to head toward the guest bedroom that I’ve made mine in the last handful of months, I feel a tight, heavy pain spark in my abdomen.

  “What the hell?” Crumpling in half under the wrenching pain, I struggle to get my breath back.

  “What’s wrong?” Hunter asks, coming over and running his hand over my back.

  “I don’t know, but it freaking hurts.” I grab my stomach as a sharp piercing burn lights up. “Hunter!”

  “Just breathe, just hang on and breathe, baby. We’ll get you fixed right up.”

  “What does it feel like?” Kezi asks as she stoops down so I can look in her face.

  “It feels like someone is trying to sew me up from the inside out.” I pant a couple of times. “Like they’re using a huge set of knitting needles and using my intestines for yarn.”

  “Her breathing is rapid, she’s grabbing her abdomen, and her heartrate is through the roof.” Hunter puts his hand on my forehead. “She’s cold and clammy.”

  “The pain is changing.” I can see my wide eyes reflected in Kezi’s face. “Somethi
ng’s pulling on me. From inside.” I curl around another cramp, the pain spiking down my legs this time. “Help me.”

  “Go to the Matrix. We will wait for you,” Brock orders as he jogs back into the kitchen.

  “You’re not leaving me here, Socks.”

  “Grab her hand, and let her take you. Hurry up,” Kezi orders just as her body vanishes.

  “Here we go.” I close my eyes as I throw off my physical body, anchoring Hunter’s adira to mine.

  ***

  “What the hell is that?” I ask.

  “I’m not sure. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Kezi answers.

  “It’s not supposed to look like that, is it? I mean, I’ve never seen anything like that before.”

  “No, Finley, it’s definitely abnormal.” As she swishes her energyscape through my own, a nimbus of light encases both of our energy fields. As soon as she disentangles herself, the light leaves hers and entombs my own again.

  “How do we fix it then?” Hunter asks.

  “I have no idea,” Kezi says.

  “You’ve finally returned,” Anixia says, her voice laden with victory. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

  “Well, you’ve got me. Let’s get this over with.” Crap, crap, crap. This is something I really don’t need to deal with right now.

  “Not so fast, daughter.”

  “Don’t call me that, you monster. You are nothing to me. Nothing but something to be wiped from my life. Like shit from the bottom of my shoe.” I try to get rid of the light encasing me

  “It’s no use, daughter.” She sneers the last word. “You will no longer be able to hide from me anymore. Not here, not anywhere. I’ve seen to that. You should have surrendered when Lazara captured you.”

  “Um, you’re the one that dumped that idea when you were going to absorb me instead of letting Lazara. Not to mention you made yourself an enemy of one of your daughters. Or should I say, another enemy of one of your daughters.”

  “Daughters are easy to come by. Creatives are not.” She chuckles. “You’ll notice the lovely ring around your energyscape. This will prevent you from hiding from me. I will be able to find you no matter where you run.”

  I send a mental message to Hunter. Or, rather, I try to. The thread of adira I sent towards him slams against the barrier of the light, before disintegrating against the shell surrounding me.

  “You will not be able to talk to anyone on a mental pathway, daughter. Everything you do will be out in the open.”

  “Which means that you will be, too. Don’t you worry about your image?”

  She trills a laugh, the sound full of joy. “There are none who would oppose me. I’ve become too powerful. Now, fulfill your purpose and submit to me. I created you to boost my own power. You should not have been allowed to mature to this point.”

  “Then you would have lost a Creative.”

  Her energy field bubbles and waves. “This is true. Soon, however, I will have the power to bring back my mother and father. Soon I will be whole once again.”

  “You’re doing all this so you can bring back your parents?”

  “Of course. My mother was ripped from my arms as a child. I will bring her back and go with her to destroy the rest of the Out Casts and the Clan Leaders who did nothing when it had been proven that their subjects committed those atrocities.”

  “You ripped my mother and father away from me. Why shouldn’t I wipe you from existence?”

  I feel a faint tugging on my energyscape, the sensation similar to when Hunter ran his hand through my energy field the first time Kezi taught me how to get rid of my physical body. I push those thoughts out of my mind, trying to concentrate on the crazy monster in front of me.

  “Because you had enough time with them. You already have a mother and father.”

  “You just said you wanted to kill me.”

  “Yes, but you don’t get to have two sets of parents when I didn’t even get to have one. None of my daughters will get more or better than me in this life or the next.” I can just imagine her stamping her little foot on the ground.

  I wonder if the image she presents to the world is what she looked like when her parents were taken from her. I can definitely understand the rage and desire to not want to move on, to get through that pain.

  But she’s well over the age for learning how to adult. She’s acting like a child, destroying lives in her childish mission of vengeance.

  I acknowledge my own failings when faced with the similarities of our situations. My only saving grace is that I haven’t killed anyone to amass power. I’ve only saved lives or killed in self-defense.

  “Well, Pixie Nixie, I’m sorry to disappoint you. But I am better than you. Smarter, nicer, prettier, more powerful, and just all around better. I have friends and family who love me instead of fear me. I have people in my life who would be willing to step in front of a bullet for me. What do you have?”

  Her energy swirls towards mine, a storm of blacks, blues, and reds racing across the night sky.

  She stops just outside of my range. “You are nothing. Nothing but an exertion of my will. Your entire purpose is to serve me in whatever way I deem appropriate. It matters not that others love you. I will absorb them as well. They are less than nothing to me.”

  “Boo hoo, your mommy died because some big, bad men were evil.” I feel sick to my stomach. A tiny piece of my heart aching for the little girl she used to be. “Then your daddy couldn’t hack it in the real world when his precious sweetheart was taken from him. He was weak. He let his daughter get revenge for his wife. He cast that burden on your shoulders. You should have been happy to bring those Out Casts to justice. But no, you didn’t stop there. You began butchering children and other innocents to boost your own power.”

  The mass of her energy was almost within reach.

  “You want to know the sad thing? You’re just as bad as those Out Casts: taking what’s not yours with brute force and fear. You’ve become the thing you hated most. Next time you look in a mirror, I hope you see the faces of those rapists and monsters. You’ve not only become them, you’ve surpassed them in terms of evil and monstrous acts.”

  If I had hands, I would give myself a slow clap.

  Her energy slams into mine, a raging wave of hate. She swirls and twirls through me, ripping at my energy.

  I pull my energy closer, condensing myself into the smallest size I can. I’ve never fought on the Matrix before, so I have no idea what I’m doing.

  In a rush of power, I thrust my energy outward. Slicing through the energyscape of my mother, I feel her edges begin to fray. Like pulling on a loose string on a sweater, I tug on her energy until she begins to break down.

  She loses her shape, no longer a starlit night. But a dying, flickering light bulb. She grows dimmer and darker, her lights spluttering.

  As she weakens, the light surrounding me begins to fade. I push another rush of power out through my adira. The light drops away totally from my energyscape. I stretch, pushing and pulling at myself to make sure there are no holes or breaches.

  The silver tinsel that connects me to Hunter begins to vibrate. Racing down the length of it, I see Hunter is fading almost as quickly as Anixia.

  “Hunter! NO!”

  Slamming myself into his energy field, I cradle his sluggishly pulsing lights inside my energyscape. “Come back, come back to me. We’re supposed to win this. Not her. Come back to me.”

  A haunting laugh shimmers and trills through the Matrix, the night sky bursting with colors and shafts of bright white like fireworks during an evening lightning storm.

  “Little girl, I’m not so easily destroyed.”

  The fading light that I assumed was Anixia is completely gone. Another starlit night takes her place, this time almost ten times bigger in diameter.

  “It seems your training is incomplete.” She makes a tsking sound. “Your protection detail will be soundly disciplined for failing to protect and train you sufficient
ly.”

  I’ve lost. I have to save everyone I can.

  “I’ll do whatever you want, but let Hunter, Kez, and Brock go. I’ll let you absorb me. Please.”

  “Where is all of your bravado now, Fyndrexia? Where are your strong words and your fire? Are you so easily defeated?” She heaves a heavy sigh. “It seems I’m doing the world a favor by absorbing you. No daughter of mine would be so weak. Let me inside your shields, and I will let your friends go. If you put up a fight, I will kill all of you. I will hunt down the rest of your friends and family. I will kill anyone you have ever loved or even liked.”

  “Fine. I’ll do it. But please, don’t hurt them.” I can’t see them get hurt. I can’t let her get to Earth and kill anyone else. The faces of all my loved ones run through my mind like they’re on a movie reel. My soul aches.

  “How do I let you in?”

  “Lower your barriers. I will do the rest. But listen to me well, Fyndrexia. No games, no fights, nothing. Or your friends all die.”

  “I understand.” I huddle tighter around Hunter’s energyscape. Even if our relationship has changed, I can’t allow him to be hurt. Letting my barriers fall, the walls of nanites and titanium falling to dust, I let my mind broadcast to the Psy-Matrix.

  “Anixia has promised to let my friends and loved ones leave the Psy-Matrix without harm. She has also promised to leave my friends and loved ones alone on Earth. Hold her to this promise. It is bound.”

  The bright white of the Matrix registering a promise sparks through the sky. In the brightness, I see a fading glimpse of Hunter’s physical body behind Anixia. I smile at him sadly, as I mouth “I love you.”

  He gives me a wink just as the Matrix resumes its normal dark colors. I say my goodbyes to everyone I’ve left behind even though none of my family can hear me back on Earth.

  “You are a fool, Fyndrexia. A weak fool. Even had you lived, you would have amounted to naught because you allow your heart to rule your mind. Hearts are soft and easily broken. Minds can be like steel, tempered and purified in the fire. Minds like mine.”

  “Do what you will, Anixia, but shut up while you do it.”