Darkness Savage (The Dark Cycle Book 3)

by Rachel A. Marks

  Rebecca doesn’t move, she just stares at Ava and shivers. I smell her confusion, her distrust. But I can also tell from the look in her eyes that she believes every poisonous word coming from Ava’s mouth.

  “Leave her alone!” I yell.

  Ava glances up at me. “Will you shut up? You’re ruining the moment.” And then she nods to Jaasi’el, who steps closer to me, its huge grey wings rustling in excitement.

  I pull back but there’s nowhere to go to get away. “Ava, stop. Please.”

  “No, Aidan. You may have freed me from that horrible creature, but you need to learn how to behave. Just like your soul mate.” She nods to her father again, and Jaasi’el slowly reaches out a gauntlet-encased fist and places it on my chest. It presses in, the thorns at the knuckles digging. But only a little. I know it’s waiting for something.

  My power slides over my left arm, swirling around the seal on my chest with the beat of my heart. As the pulse speeds up, my stomach rises, my body shakes. And the angel watches with magma eyes.

  It grins. Its fist heating, crushing more and more into my sternum, blood slicking my stomach now from the thorns. Then the vines begin to shift, to grow. They reach out from the wrist like tentacles.

  Five sharp ends pierce my breast.

  Hesitate.

  And then slither like thorny snakes under my skin.

  I cry out. Rebecca screams with me, like she can feel it, too, as the world goes black. My agony fills the air. My body jerks, sharp stones cut into my back. Burning, tearing, flesh giving way, pulling from the muscle. My voice rakes through my throat, turning it raw.

  “All right, Father,” Ava says, “that’s enough.” And the thorny snakes pull back, leaving my skin.

  I choke, I gag, the pain so huge in me I can’t see anything else.

  “It’s okay, Aidan,” Ava’s voice says through the fog. She places a gentle hand on my leg. “Just breathe. You’ll heal in a minute.”

  “Please,” I whimper.

  “I need you to understand that you belong to me.”

  My skin begins healing as the words sink in. “What?”

  “We’re a family, Aidan.” She comes closer like she’s trying to make me see. “You’re mine. It’ll always be you and me against the world. I told you that.”

  I meet her eyes. “No,” I say with more vigor than I thought I had. “You’re evil. And you are not my sister.”

  She looks at me like I hit her. “How could you say that?” She takes a step back. “I didn’t want to have to do this, you know.” Then she says in a guttural voice, “Bring him in.”

  I turn my eyes to the cave entrance and see the bald guy with the knife walk out. Fresh panic fills me as I wonder what’s next. And after several torturous seconds I hear feet shuffling through the sand, I smell sweat and pain.

  And I watch as Eric stumbles into the room, shoved by the bald man.

  “No . . .” My gut clenches, my heart breaks. Eric . . .

  A thick metal ring circles his neck, cutting into his nape like a huge manacle. It has symbols etched into it, and I realize by their meaning that the brace has kept him captive, stopping him from using his powers to escape. His hands are bound behind him, chest bare and covered in dried blood, skin woven with marks that look like they were made by the same vines that tore into me. One of his eyes is swollen shut, and his lip is cut. He’s broken, his spirit barely a spark in him now.

  “No,” I say again through my teeth, jerking against my bonds.

  “Afraid so,” Ava says. “Do you realize, I’ve had him three whole days and no one noticed? He was on some errand for you. About me, right?”

  She motions to the bald man. He’s now carrying a five-foot-long sword in his fist and holding Eric by the back of the neck brace.

  “Victor had some fun with your Eric. I’m training the human, you see. I think he’s turning out well so far. Look how good he did on your guardian.” She says the words with giddy satisfaction as the man smiles down on her, obviously her servant.

  A human. Not a demon.

  “Yes,” Ava says, stepping closer to the man named Victor. “I know you’re thinking a human is weak. But they can be just as vicious as any demon. And against you, they’re perfect. To stop him you’d have to kill him. And we both know how mopey that makes you.” She laughs like it’s funny. “Always trying to save everyone, but people sure do drop like flies around you, don’t they?”

  She motions to Victor, and he shoves Eric to his knees with barely any force. The sword in his hand reflects the low light in the cave, he holds it out like an offering to Ava, and she mutters something under her breath, then touches the blade with her dirt-caked fingertips. The silver metal coats in blue flame. The light flickers over the walls and plays in Eric’s eyes as he stares down at it, then he looks up at me and seems to be silently accepting his fate.

  “Don’t, Ava,” I say, my voice barely audible.

  Victor positions himself behind the kneeling angel. Readying the blazing sword. His eyes fill with greed. A hunger for more power, for more blood.

  “Please.” Helplessness washes through me again. I can’t watch another friend die. I just can’t. “No.”

  “I don’t want to do this,” Ava says, “trust me. I’d love it if you would just give yourself to me and promise we could be a family again. But I know you, Aidan. You’re too pure and righteous. I’ll need to bloody you up quite a bit to be sure you feel the force behind what you are. Because we don’t belong to this world. It shouldn’t matter if people around us die. We’re above them, we’re better.”

  “I’ll do whatever you want.” I look over at her, trying to plead with our connection, to make that bond mean something again. “Just don’t hurt him, please.”

  She sighs, sounding tired. “Oh, Aidan. I wish that I could believe you. I don’t think you want to be with me for reals yet. And Eric here is in the way. He’s between us.”

  “Love doesn’t work this way,” I say.

  She scoffs. “Love, what a silly idea. I want dedication, loyalty.”

  “Not if you do this. I’ll never be with you. Never.”

  She looks over to Eric and seems to consider. “I’m not sure that’s true.” She shrugs.

  And Victor steps back. Then thrusts the sword through Eric’s back.

  My lungs freeze.

  Flames burst from the center of Eric’s chest. His mouth gapes, eyes wide in shock. Before the blue tongues spread out, coat his body. And eat him alive.

  “No, no, no!” I cry.

  Eric is gone. The only thing left of him is flying ash the color of the sea.

  FIFTY-FOUR

  Rebecca

  The sound of Aidan’s cries pound at my head, begging me to act.

  I stare through my hair at the grains of sand under me, unable to comprehend it all. I can’t watch, I can’t allow my heart to feel it, can’t let it all be true. The death, the lies. I am stone. I am stone. I am . . .

  Not human.

  But Aidan’s agony presses into my skin, not letting me hide. It’s begging me to do something. Pleading for an end to the misery.

  “There,” Ava says to Aidan. “Now you’re free of Heaven’s thumb. You can do whatever you want.”

  “What did you do?” Aidan spits. “How could you? Eric . . .” Sobs wrack his body, shaking it against the rock wall at his back.

  I look for my magic, searching inside myself, but all I feel is Aidan’s pain. Could I have used too much trapping the demon, Hunger? I have to stop this somehow, I can’t just sit here.

  She killed him, she killed Eric . . .

  Ava smiles like she didn’t hear Aidan’s protests. “Listen, we’ll start slow. Once you’ve been blooded and are safely at my side, you can keep your humans—you know, since the house burned down, and all. I promise not to try and kill them anymore. And we’ll only play games every once in a while. You’ll like it! You can help me tame some of the demons—you have no idea how annoying they can be.”<
br />
  She’s freaking crazy.

  “Just stop,” Aidan says, all the fight gone from him.

  Her voice turns sinister. “There’s more I can take from you, you know. You love a lot of people.”

  He goes still and stares at her. He swallows and seems to consider, eyes full of fear. “What do I have to do?”

  Ava smiles.

  She moves to take Victor by the wrist and pulls him over to stand in front of Aidan, then asks the bald man to kneel. He obeys without question.

  “Jaasi’el, cut my brother down from the wall,” she says to the huge angel who’s been silently watching from the shadows. The beast of a creature steps forward and yanks on Aidan’s bonds, tearing him free.

  Aidan falls to the ground in a heap, and Jaasi’el helps him into a standing position, holding him under the arm. I watch in dread when Aidan just stands there, defeated, not trying to fight. Could he really be that far gone?

  “So, this is the final round of the game,” Ava says. She nods to Jaasi’el again, and the angel creature pulls a dagger from its side, holding it out to Aidan.

  Aidan just stares at it.

  “You know what you have to do,” Ava says to him, motioning to the man named Victor, who’s kneeling reverently now. “Show me you understand. Make this right, Aidan. Balance the scales like you were born to do.”

  Aidan’s bloodshot eyes move from his sister to the dagger. His jaw works, and I feel his heart struggling.

  Ava gives me a sideways glance. “Watch this. It’s going to be beautiful.”

  My pulse speeds up as Aidan takes the dagger with a limp hand. Jaasi’el lets go of his arm, stepping aside. After shifting on his feet for a second, Aidan steps closer to the kneeling killer, and I see the fury growing in his eyes.

  His grip on the dagger’s hilt tightens as he stares down at the man who destroyed his guardian angel.

  And I know he’s giving in. He’s going to kill. And no matter how much I’d love to see the guy stop breathing, I can’t let Aidan be the one to make that happen. It’ll ruin him.

  My magic sparks at the thought, the familiar prickles starting behind my eyes. And I feel the warmth of the green glow swirling to life inside me. I nearly sigh in relief, but I bite my tongue and make myself focus. I’ve had enough of the waiting.

  I look over at Ava, watching to see if she notices when I let a little of the energy loose. She’s too fixated on Aidan to see anything but her victory unfolding before her.

  I release more of my magic and see it sparkle over my hands, down to the ground. It seems to have a will of its own as it leaves me, as if it wants to go to Ava and wrap her up like the demon Hunger. The magic brightens as it trails over the sandy cave floor to Ava’s feet. It’s heavy in me, growing even as it pours out. But I need it not to touch her yet, I need to hold it steady.

  The green and gold threads become an extension of my senses, as if they’re feelers. They sink into the sand and I know they’re swiftly sliding up the walls of stone, inside them, looking for something that grows, a plant, a tree, anything to control. And as it finds them, it takes hold of the roots and leaves, infusing them with awareness.

  Then it waits, wanting to act. Just like me. The stone around us groans.

  Ava looks up at the ceiling, hearing it. But then she focuses back on Aidan. “It’s all right,” she says, like she’s consoling him. “I know how it feels, but you don’t have to fight it. You’ll feel so much relief when it’s done.” She directs her attention to Victor, who is waiting calmly for the verdict. “Tell Aidan what you felt when you killed the guardian angel, Victor.”

  The man moves his gaze to Aidan’s. “Ecstasy.”

  Aidan growls under his breath.

  “And what else?” Ava asks.

  “Bliss.”

  Aidan snarls and puts the dagger to the man’s chin. My magic presses out, the stone around us creaking again.

  “How many children have you killed?” Ava asks, her voice scraping at the air.

  Victor answers without hesitation. “Three.”

  Aidan’s breath falters. His eyes move to Ava.

  But I can’t wait to see what he’ll decide, I release the magic and let it do what it wants.

  FIFTY-FIVE

  Aidan

  The whole cave erupts, the walls exploding in a barrage of debris, spraying out from every angle.

  I’m knocked aside as something scrapes across my chest, ripping into my skin. I collapse to the sandy floor, Ava pulled away. A creature’s captured her, its groan mournful and terrifying.

  The man, Victor, is pressed into the floor of the cave, Jaasi’el trapped against the wall, the beast holding them captive.

  No, that’s not a beast. It’s . . . a tree. Tree roots. They wrap around Ava, pull her off the ground, like a boa constrictor preparing its meal. She’s lifted above us, over the altar, struggling against her bonds. But they hold strong and only moan at her.

  I look over to Rebecca as the shock hits me. I can sense her magic so heavy in the room it’s a force of nature. Her face is pained, like she’s tormented by what she’s doing, but I feel her determination.

  And her sorrow. Her confusion. It’s coating the magic, directing it to kill.

  “Rebecca!” I yell over the din of cracking stone.

  She shakes her head like she knows what I’m going to say, but even I don’t know.

  Three seconds ago I was going to shove a dagger into a killer’s skull. I was going to find solace in blood and retribution. But then my sister asked a question about children, how many the man had killed, and I knew. If she used him, knowing what a creature he was, she was the one who deserved to pay for his sin.

  Because she orchestrated it all. She played the game that killed the nurse, that killed Finger. It was because of her that Connor, that Rebecca’s father, were nearly lost.

  She’s the one who should meet justice. And now, Rebecca is giving it to her, and as I watch my sister dangle over the ground, strangling in the hold of the tree, I find relief that it’s not my hands having to strike the killing blow.

  But then I hear Ava, chanting a new spell, working her Darkness in smoky tendrils. With each word she grows stronger, silver and red mist filtering out around her body as the blood magic takes hold.

  Her eyes go full white. Even as the root covers her mouth, I know it’s too late.

  The red and silver mist takes shape, threading through the air, swirling around the roots that hold her. The tendrils harden and stop moving. They groan in protest. Crack. Then shatter, shards of wood exploding into the cave.

  Ava still hovers, looking so much like when I woke her it sends shivers over me. She casts away the last of the roots and directs her attention to Rebecca. “You,” she hisses, her teeth elongating as she snarls her fury. Shadows paint her features in sharp edges, making her lips twist, her white eyes shimmer with silver. Her small fingers turn into claws, long talons that reflect the light. Her dirt-caked feet seep ash. And thorny vines begin to grow from her boney elbows, twisting and growing around her forearms to create black gauntlets.

  I step back. She’s not human. Not at all—I knew that. I knew she wasn’t Ava, not my Ava. But . . .

  I can’t save her from this.

  Rebecca stumbles, hitting the cave wall as the Ava creature fixates on her.

  “I’ll destroy you, little witch,” Ava growls out through her mouthful of sharp teeth, her voice like shattering glass. “I’ll destroy you and steal your power in the end.”

  Rebecca’s repulsion and dread fills the cave like the smell of charred earth.

  I’m shoved into the wall, the freed Jaasi’el trapping me in the same spot where it was held by the thick root only seconds ago. It locks me against the rock with an iron forearm pressing across my chest. Its fist comes at my head but I duck, and it crashes into the wall beside me, sending stone shards spraying. They slice into my neck and cheek. Dust from the ceiling above falls like sandy snow.

  My
power flares and bleeds from my skin in thick waves of light, but the angel barely seems to notice. It’s not going to burn this twisted creature like I need it to.

  Instead I focus on the massive chest in front of me and gather all my strength, pressing my head into the sternum.

  And then I shove the power out through the top of my head with a cry of exertion.

  The air pops and the fallen angel spasms, body stunned from the jolt of power. It releases me and tumbles back, like Goliath. I ram my body into the angel and do it again. And again. Until my skin stings and my muscles ache.

  And the giant beast collapses to the sandy cave floor.

  The Ava creature screams in rage from her perch on the altar, staring down at the limp body of her father.

  She hisses air in and out through her teeth. And then she turns to me and seethes, spit and black ooze dripping from her mouth. “I’m going to tear your heart out,” she says. But it’s not a human voice that speaks. It’s a nightmare.

  Her white gaze trails over to Rebecca. “By ripping her to shreds.”

  Ava flies toward Rebecca and I lunge, tackling my sister from the side.

  The two of us roll in a tangle, hitting the gateway with a thud. The air knocks from my lungs. Claws come at me, searing across my cheek, digging into my neck. Teeth sink into my nape.

  I scream in pain and gasp, then pin her to the wall with my body. I scramble for the dagger strapped to my ankle. Find the hilt.

  She snarls and squirms and tears my arms to shreds. Blood slicks us both.

  I pull out the blade. Not able to think, to feel—all I see is red. As I turn the weapon in my hand instinctively.

  And plunge it up, into her chin.

  She settles . . .

  The air stills.

  Her arm twitches against mine.

  A wave of anguish hits me. I slide the dagger free, and watch her features return to normal, watch her eyes clear of fog as they search blindly.

  Her slack mouth moves as she tries to say my name, blood leaking from between her pale lips.

  My walls fall as I look at her and I hear her whisper with her mind, Why?