Blood of the Lost: The Darkness Within Saga: Book 2

by JD Franx

  Now, just looking at her made him sick. The underlying hatred he had for these women burned so much hotter because of her betrayal. For some reason, she carried both his spelled reaper-blades, one in each hand. Slowly and calmly, she sat down in his lap, her face inches from his own. His blades slid a full foot into the earth as she pushed down on the handles and left them standing on their own as she slid her right arm around his neck and let it rest on his shoulders.

  “All these years, my love, we Sisters have feared what these weapons would do should they come to someone like you,” she whispered. The fingertips of her left hand delicately traced the razor sharp blade of the reaper-blade stuck in the dirt at her left side. A thin trail of blood smeared the metal as it gently separated the flesh of her fingers. In his peripheral vision, Kael watched in amazement as the blade absorbed her blood like a thirsty being.

  “Mmnn,” she moaned, putting her fingers to her mouth and sucking the blood from the fresh wounds. Her tongue slid along the gash, sealing it as she whispered the healing spell he knew so well. She failed to see the blood disappear inside the Vai’Karth’s blade, and he quickly smothered a smile as the strange lettering flared with life.

  “So sharp and so, so deadly, but nothing more. They are heavily enchanted, aren’t they? Your powers are so much stronger when they are in your hands. You never even realized how much faster, how much better you were. Your fighting instincts are sharper than a Northman’s, and your physical strength surpassed that of the fabled DemonKind. Do you feel their loss now? You must. You’re much weaker without them.”

  Kael understood what she meant, her words were true. Without the Vai’Karth in his hands or on his back, he felt like part of him was missing. He shook his head. All this time, she had been studying him, evaluating what he was capable of. Never once had he suspected what she was. The reality of it weighed heavily on his mind. Try as he might, adapting to this new world was something he struggled with. There was no simple, straight-forward good or evil in Talohna. Trust was something that got you killed, or worse. He was at a loss to understand it.

  “Why?” he asked. “Why the fake accent and poor grammar? The stories, the lies I should say. All of it, how could you?”

  Wiggling down onto his lap as if for more comfort, Kyah cocked her head. “You were born wrong, Kael. The things the Dead Sisters do and the goals we have should be yours, yet you do not see that? Why?”

  “You’re asking the wrong person, you know that.”

  “I know. I think it is because Giddeon sent you across that damned bridge to stop you from becoming what you were meant to be. Your morality fights with your urge to kill and it’s winning. The god-damned fool is too stupid to realize he actually succeeded in what he was trying to do, and so he tries to kill you. We tried to turn you into what you should be, and I believe that was the wrong thing to do, but I don’t lead this coven. I believe we should have told you the truth and let the actions of Giddeon and his kind show you that we are who you belong with. But I had to follow orders, and I think your love for wife has kept a small part of your heart pure enough to withstand our influence. Perhaps enough to withstand even your own magic’s dark influence. That is my loss, Kael, because I do love you. We were meant to be together. To rule Talohna together.”

  Kael scoffed again, even though her twisted words did seem sincere. “You and your Sisters are what people in my world call psychopaths, Kyah. It is impossible for you to feel real love. You are right about one thing though, Ember has never left my mind. I will take everything she meant to me to my grave when your Cowardessa works up the nerve to finally kill me.”

  She laughed lightly, lifting her head back a bit. “Ah, Kael. This is a world where magic is the source of all things. Just because you call us psychotic does not mean I cannot love you. Anything is possible here. Talohna is not Earth, and you should have figured that out by now. It sounds like you have given up, lover, so let me ask you something.”

  “Go ahead. I’d rather talk than the alternative,” he said, flashing her a quick smile.

  “Don’t be mean. We both know that’s not true, besides, it’s not really you.” Returning his smirk, she continued. “Now. When Arabella dragged your sorry ass back home to us, did you and Ember leave any children back home? Any little Kaels or Kaelettes running around on Earth?”

  “We didn’t have any kids. You know that too, Kyah.”

  “You asked me how I could do this, remember?” He nodded but offered nothing further. “You need to remember who I am. The girl you have been with for months is a Dead Sister. You seem to forget that. It was my responsibility to bring you back into our family, your family.”

  “I won’t forget again, I promise, and when your real sister plays for your spot at the top of your ternion, I hope I’m around to see it.” He grinned, hoping the only piece of knowledge he had might bother her. He was wrong.

  “Ah, poor Kael. You are hurt by what I did to you.” She pouted, gently bumping his nose with hers.

  With little else he could do, he chose to try one more time. “This isn’t you Kyah, no one can act that well. You enjoyed being with me and I saw the look you got from helping people. Like when you healed Cornelius’s wife. Help me Kyah. You’re better than this, I’ve seen it. Let’s leave this place, just the two of us.” he pleaded.

  “You know, you might be right,” she whispered, as she leaned in closer, her nose nearly touching his again. “If only you loved me and not some dead, red-headed whore.” She smiled, her eyes full of a wicked hatred he’d never seen there before. It was enough for his smouldering temper to flare to life. The Gyhhura responded in kind, forcing Kael to bite his lip in a desperate attempt to control the increased suffering. She growled lightly and grabbed the side of his lower lip with her teeth and pulled just enough to draw blood.

  “I’m tired of taking second place to a dead woman. So right now, my sister Kyrce, with some help from Voranna, are working a very special ritual for us. Many of my Sisters are necromancers, you see. When the ritual is complete, the soul of your beloved Ember is going to be yanked from whatever level of Paradise the afterlife has given her and she will be dragged back here...” Having heard enough, Kael twisted his body before she could finish speaking, trying to throw her off even as the collar’s new abilities scorched every nerve-ending in his body. Overwhelmed by pain, he stopped.

  “Do not touch her!” he growled, torn by emotional and physical agony.

  “Oh, I’m not done telling you about our plans. Kyrce is going to drag her chained spirit into this world, into this very tent so that your precious Ember can watch you make love to me unlike you ever did to her. My other Sister’s seduction spells will make sure of it. And when I see her soul shatter at the hurt, Kyrce will send her to the deepest, darkest pit of the ninth hell where she will be ravaged day and night by the most vile demons our lord Garz’x can find. The only rest she will have will come at night as she watches us, linked to both of our minds so she can feel your love for me.” She laughed as Kael tried to fight the power of the collar. “And you,” she mocked, “will only be able to think about how you can please me.” She smiled, and pressed her lips to Kael’s mouth as his world finished crashing down around him, after so many months of trying to hold it up.

  Despair and torment twisted inside him, eating at his soul and waking a dark, primitive desire for revenge. Born of pure seething hatred, it grew rapidly from deep inside his chest. Black vines and barbed thorns burst to life across his flesh as if the Gyhurra collar did not exist. Ripping through his skin, black vines tore down his legs, into his head and underneath his hair moving faster than ever before. Concussive waves of power from the Gyhhura scoured Kael’s nerves with abrasive torture, but still the fury inside him escalated, climbing rapidly to staggering heights. A blackness so dark that it seemed to draw the light from the interior of the tent, narrowed the sides of his vision.

  Kael could see Kyah’s troubled face through the black mist that seemed to h
over over his eyes, and he knew that something horrifically obscene had started. Faster than he could keep track of, his senses heightened and very familiar, yet far off voices flooded his ears. Darkness closed across his vision.

  In seconds, a crazed frenzy to slaughter and destroy was born, fuelled by an intense state of sadistic madness that screamed through Kael’s blood and soul. Ropes snapped and a hand shot out, grasping one of the Vai’Karth. The spelled magic protecting them evaporated as if never there. What had been Kael Symes only seconds before vanished into the ether of mystery surrounding the true power of all DeathWizards. Only the smallest awareness remained.

  Something laughed at Kyah to run, in a voice that was no longer his own. The warning was the last act under his conscious control. As he felt his remaining bonds snap, he reached for the second Vai’Karth, its protective spells vanishing as easily as the first. A pure darkness from the deepest bowels of an abyss far darker than Talohna’s Nine Hells flashed across Kael’s eyes, swallowing him whole and giving rise to a whole new creature.

  A being created solely to destroy anything in its path.

  It had been easy for Cassie to follow the women in white after they had taken Kael. She stayed behind them, out of sight, all day as Kyah lead them to the north. As it neared dark, they turned from the road and entered the forest. She followed until they came to a clearing at the edge of a steep cliff. Just into the incline of the Dwarven Mountains, there were still a lot of trees for her to use and to hide in. It was a concern though, in a couple days the trees would be much more scarce. Should the women continue north with Kael, it would be harder for her to follow.

  Cassie easily located a tree with heavy leaf cover from where she could see the entire camp. It also gave her a good angle on the front of Kael’s tent. Knowing she could do nothing to help him yet, she got comfortable in her tree and ate some of the jerky she had brought with her. A few pieces of fresh fruit she had found earlier followed.

  Cassie watched closely as the Sisters dragged Kael from the tent and forced him to stand before an old women who should have died from old age hundreds of years ago. Every horrifying word the old woman said to Kael reached her ears, sending a shiver down her spine all the way to her toes.

  After hearing Kael’s fate, she watched with tear-filled eyes and trembling lips as he was taken back to the tent by the cliff. An hour passed as Cassie crouched in the tree debating what to do and watching the moon begin to rise behind the towering mountains to the east. Before the sun set, one of the witches began drawing complicated symbols in the dirt. Unable to recognize the designs, she could only guess it was some kind of complex magic spell.

  After completing the strange characters, the witch created a five pointed star by pouring blood from the star’s top point, to the bottom left point, to the upper right, then to the upper left, down to the bottom right and finally back to the top. She never once stopped the process; the star was drawn to completion by the constant, unimpeded pouring of the blood. The star and symbols burned bright red upon the completion of the pentagram, and the witch stepped into the middle, casting bones and other pieces of flesh, all of which Cassie did not want to identify.

  Hours after the witch began her ritual, Cassie noticed Kyah enter the tent where Kael was being held. Her hiding spot high in the tree prevented her from hearing what was going on inside, but she knew it was not going to be good. It didn’t take long before she heard Kael’s muffled, but rage-filled voice yell.

  “Do not touch her!”

  Kyah’s laughter followed, and Cassie heard nothing but empty silence for several moments. The quiet was broken by a guttural laugh and three words.

  “You should run!”

  Cassie was sure she heard Kael’s voice mixed in the words somewhere, along with something terrifyingly inhuman. She quickly realized something awful was happening as the other witches ran to the tent.

  She hung around long enough to see Kael walk from the tent with both of his weapons, one in his right hand and the other hanging in its sheathe under his backpack. The fingers of his left hand were spread wide and slightly curled, pulsating with black power. Emanating from his palm, the power had somehow wrapped itself around Kyah’s throat. She struggled feebly, already weak from oxygen loss, as she hung suspended at the end of his magic, two feet away from his hand and four feet off the ground. Cassie cocked her head, confused as Kael plunged his blade into Kyah’s side under her ribs. With a sickening twist, he pulled the Vai’Karth free and tossed her to the dirt. The Gyhurra collar around his neck was nowhere to be seen.

  In need of a better position if she were to help him, Cassie moved from her tree as all hell broke loose below her.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  “The true measure of a person’s soul can only be seen when they experience true adversity. Those who fight for loved ones and refuse to surrender to the easy or corrupt path will be the ones who find true happiness.”

  Dyrannai Elvehn Proverb, Date Unknown

  DWARVEN MOUNTAINS

  Splashes of red, white, and green seared Kael’s eyes, clouding his vision with imprints of horrific images. Like the flash of a camera, they were there one moment and gone the next. Screams of horror rang in his ears. Unlike the nightmare images, the agonizing shrieks came in waves, cresting and receding, adding to the confusion that swamped his mind. The hammering of his heart let him know he was alive, but he struggled to regain consciousness. The coppery tang of blood filled his mouth, mixing with the gritty, bitter taste of dirt and grass. Pain scoured every part of his body. Voices joined the ringing screams and he knew someone was yelling at him, but he couldn’t make out what. Darkness slowly began to push back the flashes of vivid colour, and the voice evolved into that of a young girl’s. Blinking rapidly, he tried to regain control of his dazed mind. It didn’t work, so he shook his head, falling face first into the dirt and leaves of the forest floor.

  “Kael!” the young girl cried, desperately, as he felt her tug at his arm. “Please, you have to help me. I’m not strong enough to carry you,” she pleaded.

  The disorientation cleared and he recognized the voice. “Cassie? What... What are you doing here?” More confusion drifted into his mind as he remembered leaving the girl days to the south. Panic settled in. “Cassie. You have to run. Kyah’s a Dead Sister. Run, Cassie, please.” He groaned, knowing Kyah and her Sisters would be close behind.

  “Please. Get up,” she said, pulling on his arm a second time. “I got you away from that nightmare. I won’t leave you now. Come on. Get up. Please,” she begged, as he tried to stand. Once back on his feet, Cassie slid under his arm and took as much of his weight as she could, forcing him to keep walking.

  “You have to leave, Cassie. The Dead Sisters will kill you if they catch you helping me. Go.”

  “It’s all right. They’re not chasing us. I promise. Please keep walking.”

  “Of... Of course they’ll be after us. W-Why wouldn’t they?” Turning to look back over his shoulder, Kael tripped on his own feet and crashed to the leaf mould, dragging Cassie with him.

  “Kael,” she sobbed. She quickly knelt in front of him and took his face in her hands. “You don’t remember do you? Gods, please help me...” She trailed off. Kael could see memories of what she witnessed ghost across her eyes, but he hurt everywhere and couldn’t offer her support even though he wanted to. His head pounded worse that anything he had ever felt, and he had no memory of how he got out into the forest with her. Staring at her, half dazed, he wiped the tears from her cheeks as she gathered the strength to tell him what happened.

  She took a deep breath, as if steeling herself. “They won’t follow us... Because they’re dead. All of them... You... You killed every single person... Even the little girls...” she stuttered. Putting her hand to her mouth, she cried, choking on the horrific recollection.

  “Kyah?” he asked.

  “I don’t know if she got away or not. You stabbed her...”

  “I... I do
n’t remember...” Kael tried to explain.

  “I know. I know you don’t. It... It wasn’t you,” she cried, as tears dripped from the tip of her nose and chin. “But we have to go. We need to find you help. I healed what I could, but the rest of your wounds are too bad. I don’t know how to fix them. They hit you over and over with magic but you wouldn’t fall. They cut and stabbed you with knives. The deep wounds on your back and sides are bleeding so badly. I crushed some turrin moss into a paste from the creek behind us and pushed it into some of the deeper holes, it’s slowing the blood, but... We have to find help. I don’t know what else to do. I’m scared. I’ve never been so scared.”

  “Okay... All right,” he said, pulling her close as she continued to cry, mumbling into his chest. “Shhh...it’s all right, we’ll find help.” He groaned, the agonizing pain in his head and body continuing unabated. Kael tried to remember what had happened back at the camp, but it only made his head hurt more. Just as terrified as Cassie about what had happened, he was at a loss for where they would ever find help in the desolate Dwarven Mountain Range.

  With no other choice, Cassie helped Kael stand and the two stumbled through the forest, moving as quickly as they could. An hour passed, and then two, without any sign of another person. Kael was getting weaker and weaker as his strength drained away through blood loss and whatever damage had been done by the Dead Sister’s magic. With still over an hour until the false dawn, Kael fell for what seemed like the hundredth time. Cassie helped him roll over and lean against the stump of an old tree. She had been carrying all the supplies she managed to grab from the Dead Sister’s campsite along with his backpack that she grabbed after a Dead Sister’s magic had severed its straps.

  Kael could see the exhaustion all over her face. Carrying only his cloak and both of his Vai’Karth, he was beyond exhausted himself. Grabbing a water skin from her back, Cassie tried to get him to drink. The water splashed against the back of his throat, gagging him. He coughed, spraying most of it back in her face.