by Kim Faulks
Can you fight this, Guardian? A whisper cut under the pain in my head and panic reared. A voice that was not mine. Can you fight me in here?
My jaw cracked with a blow. My head snapped backwards, scattering his words. I moved, swinging my right hard underneath aiming straight for the bastard’s jaw. He moved, faster than I could track and countered with a jab to my face.
Bones crunched, warmth leaked out my nose and the metallic taste of blood slipped between my lips. I raised a hand and swiped my face, wincing at the flare of pain. My fingers glistened crimson.
Lucas! roared the Archer, and deafening silence crowded in.
The cavern turned blinding white, taking everything else with it. I shook my head, my gaze darkening. I dragged trembling fingers to my face and swiped. My blood shone like a red fucking flag on the edge of my fingers. I held onto that color while the cavern swayed.
The Archer was rising, pushing, desperate to get to the surface.
Panic reared, trampling my chest like a stampede. I swept a hand through the air and stumbled. I couldn’t let him out. He’d kill…and kill…and kill…and kill.
There’d be no one left—no one that wasn’t family.
Pain flared across my brow, stinging, pinching with a pulse. I focused on the hurt, on the ache in my skull, and the hunger in my heart. The Archer drew back from that wall of ice and lowered his head.
Can you fight me in here, Guardian?
I yanked my gaze to the Vampire. The undead sonofabitch was smiling now…he was fucking smiling.
His fist came for my face. I ducked, catching a knee to the stomach. The harder I swung, the harder he countered. The faster I moved…the more he was a blur.
Chills raced along my spine as the Archer slammed into the ice with a thunderous boom.
The Vampire’s fist glanced my cheek, snapping my head to the right.
He’s controlling your mind, forcing you to weaken, the Archer growled. Heavy breaths flooded my ears. Hooves rang loud as they walked backwards, aimed at that one spot in the wall of ice. He’s better than you. But he’s not better than me. Let me out. Let me free.
And amongst the haze an image surfaced of a different time, and a different me. Something crunched low down in my gut and pain flared. A sting against my neck followed. Hot and searing and the faint stench of warm blood followed. I swung and hit cold, slick skin.
No!
Bright sparks turned to the sun’s glare in my mind. The cavern faded, the Archer faded along with the pain. I dragged my hand high, covering my eyes and took a step, sinking into the shade.
“Please don’t kill me Guardian.”
A man’s voice sharpened as the memory took hold.
This world looked a lot different, cleaner, crisper, younger, and the memory of that time cleared. After a thousand long years the screams still sounded the same.
I opened my hands and dropped my gaze. Warm rays glinted against obsidian—still the stone was cold. Silver flames danced inside—but the surface glistened red. The beast sucked in a breath, and growled. “Look what we’ve done…they can’t hurt our sister anymore—she’s safe.”
I sucked in a hard breath and the familiar ache of the shift eased. The Archer eased deep inside my bones—sated…for now.
Quiet…so quiet. I could never remember the busy city street of Mernan so lonely—until my focus slipped from the weapon in my hand.
Bodies were piled high. A mountain of hands over legs, with vacant eyes and weeping torsos…
“Please.” The whimper dragged my gaze higher. Just like this one would weep. “I didn’t know…didn’t understand. I…have a family—a daughter. I’m begging…”
A boom rocked the memory. The heavy thud trembled my chest and rippled out. The Archer wanted this, he wanted to consume this skin and bones. He wanted to always live as the beast and never the man.
The thought took hold with talons. He didn’t want to be Lucas—only the Archer—only the mighty Dragon.
He’s twisting your memories…Making you weak. Let me out, Lucas. Let me show him how weak we are.
“No.” The taste of blood filled my mouth as I shook my head. “Never.”
Midnight shone behind ice. The Archer charged. My Dragon sounded distant, muted. A cry of panic rippled to the surface—a woman’s cry. He’s touching the Princess…Lucas he’s hurting her…
My pulse picked up pace as I scanned the streets. I strangled the arrowhead and stepped close as the woman’s cry faded, still that haunting thought lingered.
Always the beast and never the man. Was that the Archer’s intent all along?
“I beg mercy.” Gold glinted from around his neck as the master of Mernan dropped to his knees.
He was powerful—once, and yet his power failed him.
It was a false power, one placed on the wealth he wore and the sound of his name.
But true power lay not in the gold you owned. True power came not in the false safety of this mortal coil—silver flames called me—burning with vengeance.
True power lay inside the flesh and the soul.
In perfect silver flames of your alter ego.
It was the lengths you’d go to protect those you loved.
And for me the lengths stretched all the way into the darkest corners of my soul.
Lucas—the fucking Princess…my Dragon howled, and the pounding of hooves filled my head. The crack of glass was brutal. Save her.
“There’s no mercy,” I murmured and focused on the master. “Not for you…not for any of you. You hurt my family—you tried to ruin my sister. Now I’m reckoning.”
The heavy thud came again and a brutal crack shook the ground under my feet. Something shattered inside my mind and the clip of hooves echoed. The beast inside me waited. I sucked in the icy winds of change and welcomed him.
My family fought because they had no choice. I fought because it was what the beast in me wanted.
Save her! The Archer’s roar filled my head. Lucas…save her!
My hand trembled as I dragged the stone high. I waited for the panic, for the terror of what I’d done…and felt nothing.
The streets were bathed in blood—a remnant of my name.
They’d know I came here…and they’d remember why.
The ground under my sandals blurred as I lunged.
Kohl-lined eyes met mine and widened, filled with the last image he’d ever see.
And my battle cry rocked Mernan’s sky.
A heavy thud echoed inside my head, and a brutal grunt from the beast followed. Archer?
The dirty city streets wavered, and for a second a dirt cavern took its place. But the rage still lingered. The bitter scent of blood filled me. I dropped my gaze to blood-covered hands and…
Lucas! Heat flared, punching through my chest with hungry flames.
The memory slipped through my fingers like strands of long dark hair. I fought to hold onto the blood, as terror faded. Xael needed me here. She needed me to unleash the darkness inside—to protect her…to stop her from unleashing her own.
The streets of Mernan bled into dirt walls and shadows.
“You belong to me!” The undead struggled, his fingers buried into the mess of the woman’s long dark hair. “And you will not die. I will never allow it.”
I blinked, tried to focus. He grasped her arm and pulled her neck taut. Inky tears wept from the puncture wounds at her neck, the remnant lingered on his lips.
Xael? I shook my head, still the fog clung to the corners of my mind.
With a rush the present consumed me, everything flooded back. My family…Zadoc…his daughter…this woman—the Princess. I raised my gaze to the bastard at her back.
“Get the fuck off her.” The ground tilted with one step. “I said get the fuck off her.”
Eva wrenched her head high. Splattered black drops marred her skin. She never begged, never pleaded, only nailed me with her cold gaze and swung her hand over her head. Long nails carved a path in his pale flesh.
“I’ll never be yours. Never be anyone’s. I’d rather spend an eternity in Hell.”
A feral smile twisted her mouth. Eyes blazed with an unhinged stare. “I’d rather lie with a thousand demons than to go back there with you. I’ll never love you…never want you…never bear your children…never belong to you.”
His hand slipped from her hair, and she fell forward.
“You wanted me alive.” Her breaths hissed around the arrow in her chest. “Then I’ll live—but I’ll never be yours.”
Fear flared in those blood-red eyes. She reached overhead and closed her fist over his. Movement blurred and the mountain shuddered.
Dirt rained down from above. They moved too fast for me to catch, spinning, throwing, slamming into walls. The clatter of utensils filled the air, monitors crumbled and a keyboard flew, cutting across the other side.
One fought to control, the other fought to be free. I cocked my fist and swung, praying I hit him and not her, and found nothing but air.
A stainless steel cart crumpled. Wheels embedded into dirt as the Vampires hammered the cavern walls. The boom rocked the small space and the mountain rumbled and dirt rained down from above.
A woman’s cry tore free from the blur, and for a second the motion slowed.
Her dark eyes widened, and glazed. She thrashed her head, stretching the strands of black hair taut. But there was no blood, and no broken bones—not that it could stop her anyway.
“No…” she whimpered. Her gaze slipped behind me, and terror echoed in the shine. “I won’t go back there. I won’t go back there!”
And for a second I was frozen by her pain. Xael’s face floated to the surface of my mind.
Kill me, my sister begged from my past. Don’t let me live like this. Marcus…wouldn’t understand—Zadoc can’t do it. He isn’t cruel enough. But you are Lucas…you…are…
She wore the same panic, the same gleam of desperation… Look, my sister whimpered and opened her dress. Look at what they did to me…
My sister and the Princess merged into one. Blood soaked into their skin, black and crimson blurred.
My hands trembled, body quaked. A loud chink tore free, something shattered. Obsidian stone glinted as it hit the dirt floor, and my hold on the Archer slipped.
I couldn’t save Xael then…
A quake raced, carving through flesh and bones. The tips of my toes fused and punched through the tops of my boots. No! Don’t do this…I held on, fought for flesh and not scales. Fabric tore along my spine and fluttered to the floor in ribbons at my feet.
Couldn’t save anyone…
He’ll kill. He’ll kill us all.
Muscles rippled, stretching skin, as my bones shifted and fused. A shudder raced, stealing my breath. I closed my eyes and held on as agony pierced the small of my back. The sting followed with another as one by one spikes tore free from my spine. The ground shifted under my feet and the walls closed in.
But I could save Eva now…
Yes! The Archer roared, surging to the surface.
His pain had claws. His terror had fangs, but his fire…his fire burned it all away. My spines stabbed the ceiling, and the cracks opened wider. What demolition the Saint started I’d finish. The cavern was too small, too confined.
The undead bastard raised his head, and then looked higher. Confusion flared in rust-red eyes, as though for a moment he’d forgotten I was here.
My hips cracked, arms lengthened. The boom in my chest was a stampede of hooves, as fire lashed my shoulder. My gut weakened, warmth trickled down my shoulder as a wing tore free and smashed into the wall.
Silver scales unfurled with a roar. Razored blades on the tips of my wings carved a line through the cavern wall as pink skin darkened to a midnight coat.
Fetlocks of silver fire danced around rear ebony hooves. My fingers lengthened, nails turned to curved claws as I became the beast, half horse, half Dragon.
The Princess… I dragged my gaze higher and found the bastard. He’s taking her from us.
The ground trembled as I stalked forward. Remnants of the incubator lay at my feet. Plastic shards sparkled like ice far down below.
“No…no more!” Eva howled, drawing my gaze. “Get the fuck out of my head. Get out…Get out!”
Her screams resounded inside my head. Steel shimmered along the backs of my wings as I bore down and scattered the dirt. The glint spread with the chink of my armor. A shudder carried the sound over my flank and under my body as I dragged in the dank air.
“I said”—rage burned—“get the fuck of her.”
The bastard had her pinned against the ground. Her arms were above her head, her legs splayed wide. But her dulled gaze was filled with terror.
Her thin body bowed, spine arched until her hips lifted, long dark strands swept the ground.
Her dress was torn around her neck, the tops of pale breasts exposed. She bucked and thrashed as he gripped the metal webbing around her waist and yanked. But it wasn’t his hands she fought.
“You won’t love me?” He hissed, and leaned down to whisper in her ear. “Has your memory dulled, Princess? Has your body forgotten me already?”
The thick corset around her middle bowed, and then snapped. Cloth tore, smears of black blood splattered perfect skin, but it was a dark glint between her breasts that seized my gaze. One buried under flesh and embedded into bone. It was just a shard, a fragment of the arrowhead she used to pierce her own heart.
“You think you can still be free?” He ran a hand over her breast to cup her belly. “Think again. I own your soul. You can't fight that.”
I swung my head and scanned the ruined cavern floor. Remnants called me with a charge I felt in my veins. I scanned the corners, and across the floor—closer…closer. A glint caught my eye, the blade buried into the dirt inches from her reach.
Her nails gouged the dirt as she craned her body, reaching for the blade.
“Get your filthy hands off her.”
I dragged my hoof high, and pawed the dirt. I’d not let him hurt her. I’d not let him touch her. My haunches trembled with the weight as I eased backwards. Webbing between my claws pulled taut as I found a hold in the dirt.
In my head he’d already met his final death as he dragged his gaze high. My beast reared in those blood-red eyes. And fear descended.
The Princess whipped her head left. Her gaze sharpened, finding my stone. I drove my hooves down, cracking the cavern floor, and lunged.
Her hand nothing but a blur as she grasped the arrow and swung.
Thunder filled the cavern as I dropped my head and aimed for dead center. I hit the cavern wall with a sickening crunch as a boom rocked the mountain. Dirt rained down above, rocks followed slamming into my shoulders.
“No!” Her blood-curdling scream was smothered by another deafening boom. I stumbled backwards.
I stared at the crumbling dirt at my feet and searched for blood.
But there was nothing. No body, no limbs—nothing more than my obsidian stone buried to the hilt into the dirt.
A boom from outside detonated once more, and cracks widened overhead.
The Princess lifted her face to the sunlight, before darkness descended.
I punched my wings out wide and drove forward, protecting her as the mountain came down.
13
Eva
Grains of dirt pushed into my mouth as darkness descended. But instead of bitter cold, warmth surrounded me. A heartbeat throbbed like the pounding of a drum against my cheek, and the gust of a breath followed. “Are you hurt?”
I flinched and shoved, specks of grit fell into my eyes. Get out…get out of here.
“Ow.” His growl was thunder in the crammed space. “No…no don’t touch me there.”
The earth moaned and moved. Steel danced in his eyes, trained on one thing—my bare breast. Something brushed my skin. Electricity sparked, searing my flesh. I pressed my fingers against my skin, searching the wound from his arrow.
Some
thing hard moved under the surface, cutting like glass. My flesh was already knitting together, skin smoothing the edges, closing the jagged shard inside. The scent of male closed in…
The Dragon…the Dragon. Silver flames filled my mind with the roar of power. He crawled under my skin, invading every breath, every touch, every glance. “Let me out…I said let me out.”
“I would, if I could. I—”
“Move!” I tried to turn, tried to push as the undead muscle thundered, dragging panic free. He’s coming back. He’s free and he’s coming back. I have to run, have to hide. He’ll come for her. The thought stilled me cold. I sucked in a hard breath and tried to exhale. Have to protect the child… Have to protect myself. Get out…get out of here…
An oof was deep and painful. “Elbow…elbow.”
A rock tumbled through, landing with a thud on my foot. I wrenched my head to the beast hunkered over me. Silver flames blazed in his eyes. But the inferno was focused on one thing alone—me.
I stilled, my body quaking with a pulse of my heart. Trapped air burned, searing my lungs, burning all the way into the back of my throat. He was a beast…a Guardian.
A killer. A destroyer.
I’d heard the stories as a child, and the fear still lingered. Rage sparked in those black eyes with a hate so deep I felt the echoes in my soul.
And somewhere in the darkness, whispered the sting of pain.
Not a monster. Not a beast. His inky coat shimmered silver like the moon against a blackened sky. I followed his thick chest down to strong legs, fetlocks glowed against thick hooves the size of boulders.
Scales sparkled like obsidian glass, blending to steel the further they went. He was the night—a starless, menacing night. I could almost taste death on the air. The higher my gaze drifted the more terrifying he became.
Air left my lungs as I glanced to monstrous wings overhead. The ends were impaled into the sides of the void. Still his muscles held firm. There was no tremble, not even a shake. Thick muscles that flexed as he held the mountain at bay. How long could he hold the tons of fallen earth from me?
The silver flames in his eyes blazed brighter. All day, all week?