Then Vik is sinking to the floor, his arms around his two children.
One he’d lost and found and lost again.
One who he had found all over again.
I turn and leave silently.
As I step over the threshold of the temple, a howl of anguish cuts through the air.
Even without seeing who it’s coming from I know it’s Luke. He loved Maya, he would have given his life for her. He’s on his haunches, hugging himself, curling himself up to contain his grief. He doesn’t need to have even gone into the temple to have seen her killed. He knows that she’s dead.
And his loss, his pain, reaches out to me. Without even realizing it, I walk up to him. A part of me knows it could easily have been Jai in there. It could have been Jai dead and then…then I might have killed myself.
I push that thought away and come to an abrupt stop. For Luke’s heaving, vibrating, tiny sparks of silver and gold and red and violet shooting out from him, streaking through the darkness.
He’s shifting.
Once more I see through to his essence, sense the spirit of the beast twined with the gentler human part of him, both trying to get out.
To run free.
And then the air shimmers with a light so intense I have to shut my eyes to protect them.
When I open it’s to his wolf, large, sleek, his brown and silver pelt shimmering in the dawn light. He raises his head and his large golden eyes meet mine. Sorrow spools out from him, making my throat close. Tears come to my eyes and I drop to my knees. He stays there still, then raises his eyes to the temple before looking to the skies. Opening his jaws, he lets out a sharp cry.
Pain.
Loss.
Grief.
It cuts through me till I can’t bear it anymore.
The other wolves take up the howl, their cries rising, rising, rising into the air. One continuous wail of despair that runs over my skin, making my hair stand on end. His grief twists my heart and just as I think I can’t bear it anymore, the cries die away.
Silence.
When I look up it is to see Luke leap towards Vishal. They go down in a tumble of arms and legs and a scream from Vishal that is cut off. Then there's only the sick crunch of bone as the wolf bites through Vishal’s neck, crushing his spine. The body under the wolf shudders, twitching with a last effort at living. The last move he’ll ever make.
And I’m glad, relieved.
I know I shouldn’t feel happy at anybody’s death. And yet I can’t help it.
Luke turns away from the still warm corpse for one last look at the temple. Blood drips from his lips and as I watch he licks it away. Then he bounds over the body and is gone.
Retracing our steps the way we had come – down the slope towards the little rocky beach. The other wolves follow and the way they fall in line, silent and orderly, so unusual for animals, it’s clear that they are not beasts.
No, they are intelligent, sentient beings. And they care for each other, look out for each other, far more than what we humans would do.
The only sound now is of their paws hitting the dirt down the path leading to the sea.
I run to the edge of the plateau in time to see Luke’s body arch against the blue of the sea before he dives into the waves. He surfaces a few feet away before diving below and then he’s gone.
The others follow, leaping across the perimeter of the beach. And for a few seconds all I can hear is continuous splashing as their bodies hit the waves. The brown is swallowed by the blue-and-white foam of the waves.
Till the last one jumps in.
And swims away.
And then there’s silence.
In the distance the wall of water that had risen recedes, unseen.
The green and black of the swirling seas give way to the pink of a new dawn. Soon the sun will be out, and it will glint over the white caps of the waves. And its amber rays will draw new life from this Earth.
Epilogue
Jai walks up the stairs of the Council headquarters. If he’s nervous it doesn’t show in his stride. He’s wearing formal black trousers and a black shirt, the blue armband in its usual place over his left bicep. He walks into the room and sees the two figures silhouetted by the window, a sense of déjà vu washing over him. He pauses, then shakes it off.
The taller man turns, his shoulder cutting out the light briefly. A broad smile breaks over his face. He comes towards Jai, his amber eyes gleaming, his eyes crinkling at the side. Vik’s hair has a lot more gray, as if he’s aged in the last few weeks.
It hadn’t been easy on him to see his daughter die in front of his eyes. He hadn’t taken it well. For the first time in as long as he’d known him, he’d taken a leave of absence from his duties as Mayor too.
So Jai had been pleasantly surprised when, almost a month to the day when they had averted the tsunami, Vik had called and asked to see him.
He can’t help but be shocked by the older man’s appearance.
He’s lost weight and the shadows below his eyes give him a look of yearning, as if something’s shifted inside. As if a fire has been lit that makes his amber eyes glow with unfulfilled desire. His hair is grayer, but in some ways, this is the most alive Jai has seen his father since…since his mother died.
Vik’s dressed in his usual black formal trousers and shirt, but something’s different. It takes a second for Jai to register that his purple armband is missing. Before he can ask Vik about it, his father envelops him in a bear hug, squeezing him tight, almost lifting him off the floor before letting him go.
"Jai, you look good," he greets the younger man.
Another change.
His father is not calling him by his full name. It’s just "Jai" now and Jai likes that. A lot. Clapping his hand on his father’s back, they both turn to the third person in the room.
Aria.
She walks towards him, a dazzling smile lighting up her features. Jai runs his eyes over the long formal gown she’s wearing. The material clings to her curves, hinting at cleavage before flaring down and over her hips. It’s cut to her mid-thighs at the sides. Flashes of honeyed skin show through the slits as she glides over to him.
The answering leap of desire in his belly takes him by surprise. He should be used to it by now, used to being aroused when he sees her, but he’s not.
A month of seeing her every day and he still can’t get enough of her, of the musky vanilla and coffee scent that clings to her skin. Not nearly enough of the tart-sweetness that lives at the base of her throat and which he has tasted. Often. And he hasn’t tired of sipping from that mouth. He’ll never get enough of her.
As if sensing his desire, she raises an eyebrow at him before her eyes dart to his father, and whatever she sees there causes her to blush and drop her eyes.
Another thing he’s still getting used to. The shy girl who still surfaces sometimes, hidden among the folds of the hellion that he knows is as much a part of her.
A hunter and a prey. Can one be both? She makes him feel like both. He wants to jump her. Wants to be consumed by her.
A touch on his shoulder breaks through his thoughts.
Seeing the knowing look in his father’s eyes, Jai almost flushes. But, no. His father knows him now. Knows he loves this woman. Loves her as much as he loves this city. No more. That much is clear to him. After losing her over and over again, after seeing her vulnerable and almost dead, no. He knows this is it. For him she is life itself. But the city is always there for him. A benevolent mother.
His father nods as if he’s read his thoughts.
And agrees.
Yes, he knows what it is to have loved fiercely too. Jai wishes Ruby were still alive just so his father would have the chance to feel her love one more time.
The door opens and a small voice pipes up, "I told you he’d be thinking of you too, didn’t I?"
"Lily!"
The little girl runs across the room, throwing her arms around Aria, who drops to her knees and hugs he
r back.
They stay that way for a few more seconds. That feeling of overpowering love that Lily always carries with her flows over Aria, pouring into her, calming the last feeling of uncertainty she hadn’t even known she carried inside. Then Lily steps back and grins. She goes over to stand next to Vik, who drops a hand to her hair, ruffling it.
The affection pools in Vik’s eyes as they move from Lily, to Aria, to Jai.
And in them Jai reads pride. He’s proud of Jai's achievements, of the family they now are.
"Ready, son?" Vik asks.
Jai nods. Giving Aria his arm, he allows Vik and Lily to lead the way to where the rest of the council is waiting to swear him in as the Mayor of Bombay. He’s taking over from Vik, who’s decided to make this sabbatical a longer one. He’s going to spend time in London with the remaining members of the rebels, advising their new leader, using his lifetime of experience to help them organize themselves better.
Aria looks at Jai, her lips curving into a smile.
Jai can’t resist. Doesn’t want to resist. He bends down, brushing her lips with his. When he clasps her hand, she cries out in surprise on feeling the slide of metal in her palm. Pulling her hand free, she looks at the coin in it. She raises her eyes, which are shining with surprise, delight and something more. In them, Jai sees a sense of peace he swears he’ll do his best to keep that way, all his life.
Thanks for reading!
* * *
The End
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Laxmi Hariharan is a New York Times bestselling author. Married to a film maker and fellow author she lives in London.
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Eternal Night
Aeternae Noctis #1
Jade Kerrion
Copyright © 2014 by Jade Kerrion
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior written permission.
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Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.
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Eternal Night/ Jade Kerrion -- 1st ed.
Eternal Night
Aeternae Noctis #1
1st place, Fantasy, Royal Palm Literary Award 2014
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When fear exceeds understanding, nothing is as it seems…
Alone for a millennium, since a human murdered her beloved consort, Ashra, the immortal icrathari queen, rules over Aeternae Noctis, the domed city of eternal night. Her loneliness appears to be at an end when her lover's soul is reborn in a human, Jaden Hunter, but their reunion will not be easy.
Jaden is sworn to protect his half-sister, five-year-old Khiarra. She is the child of prophecy, destined to end the eternal night and the dominion of the Night Terrors—the icrathari and the vampires.
As Jaden defends his sister from the Night Terrors, Ashra struggles to sustain her crumbling kingdom in the face of enemies without and treachery within. Love may never have a second chance when Jaden stumbles upon Ashra's secret—the great lie of Aeternae Noctis…
Chapter One
In silence, the humans waited. They continued to hope even though they knew that the sturdy walls of the stone cottage would not keep death out.
The fire burned low, its embers glowing. A young woman, her lips pressed into a flat line, sat by the fireplace. A large pitcher of cheap wine trembled between her thin fingers. Men stood guard at the doors and windows, each armed with a sword and an unlit torch soaked in pitch. In the middle of the room, ten children huddled in the protective embrace of their mothers.
The children had reached their fifth year since the last full moon. Grubby-faced angels, all of them, their eyes wide above their pale cheeks—how many of them would survive the night remained to be seen.
Jaden Hunter’s deep green eyes focused on his half-sister, Khiarra, seated on his stepmother’s lap. The child reached up and touched her mother’s face. “Mama, are they coming soon?”
Lydia swallowed hard and pressed her cheek against Khiarra’s hair. Her eyes glistened with tears, but she said nothing.
Jaden glanced out of the window. The full moon inched higher, its glow unhindered by a cloudless night outside the dome that surrounded the city. Its light bathed the mountains and pine forests in silver. Waterfalls cascaded, the spray rising like mist to obscure the craggy peaks.
The untouchable beauty of Earth lay in full view outside the dome.
Within the dome, the city of Aeternae Noctis sprawled across two miles, fringed by fields and thin clusters of trees. At the tallest point within the dome, Malum Turris, the vampires’ stronghold, loomed over the city. As a teenager, Jaden had broken his first sword against its unyielding black walls. The pale glow emerging from the uppermost windows encircled the tower like a bracelet.
He clenched his teeth against the familiar knot of despair-laden anger that coiled in his stomach. Malum Turris was a beacon of evil, a lighthouse that offered death instead of salvation.
He turned at his father’s touch, gentle against his elbow.
Gareth’s hoarse voice murmured in his ear. “She will bring the tower down.”
Jaden glanced at his half-sister. Would she? He doubted, but it would have been too cruel to shatter his father’s belief in the prophecy bestowed upon Khiarra at her birth.
On that blessed night, his father’s aged face had shone with pride when the wise woman laid her hand over the infant’s forehead. Her quavering voice had carried through the quiet city square. “Through her you will see the Night Terrors for who they are. Shred the veil of deception to end the eternal dark.”
The crowd roared with triumph. Hope, for the first time, flickered in all hearts.
Jaden alone noticed that the wise woman had turned her head and fixed her cloudy, unseeing eyes upon him. She smiled, exposing toothless gums.
He had only been twenty-three, but since that moment, his life had been devoted to protecting his half-sister. He had held Khiarra’s hand, supporting her when she learned to walk, and saved her from an irate rooster after she plucked feathers from its tail. Just a week earlier, he fished her out of the lake filled by the waterfalls spilling from the lower levels of Malum Turris.
Khiarra swept her wet hair from her eyes. She wore her most innocent expression. “I wanted to get this pretty stone for you.” She uncurled her fingers and held up a small black stone, worn smooth by the passage of water and time.
“Thank you.” He accepted the gift with as much solemnity as she had offered it. Suppressing a chuckle, he wrapped her in his dry shirt and carried her home where they both received a scolding from Lydia.
Lydia’s perpetual anxiety over Khiarra blossomed into fear by the night of the first full moon after Khiarra’s fifth birthday. Jaden glanced at his stepmother; Lydia’s arms enfolded her daughter in a grip too tight to be called a caress.
Jaden sighed, more motion than sound, as he closed his hand around the black stone he carried in his pocket. Each night of the full moon, the vampires descended upon the city and carried away most of the five-year-old children. No one knew what became of the children. If Khiarra, the child of prophecy, was taken, what hope was there for the rest of them?
Gareth continued, his voice pitched low. “If anything happens to me, you must step up to lead the people, especially now that Stefan is gone. The people look to you as Khiarra’s protector and as my son.”
/> “Father—”
Gareth’s gaze traveled past Jaden’s shoulder, across the wide expanse of uniform brick houses crowded on cobblestone streets, and fixed on the black tower. “For a thousand years, the Night Terrors have separated us from the rest of the people on Earth and imprisoned us within the dome. Their sorcery hides the sun from us, traps us in their eternal night.” He shook his head. “This nightmare has to end. You must see Khiarra succeed. She alone can stop the Night Terrors from tearing men from their wives, children from their mothers—” He stopped, his voice choked with emotion.
A child against the Night Terrors? What could Khiarra do? Yet what choice did Jaden have but to protect the sister he loved? He released his breath in another quiet sigh and nodded.
“Are they coming soon?” Khiarra asked again.
A shadow soared across the silver moon, offering the briefest glimpse of bat-like wings—an icrathari, one of the vampires’ demonic overlords. Jaden reached over his shoulder and drew a sword from the leather sheaths that crisscrossed his back. His grip tightened on his unlit torch.
The door burst open. Behind Jaden, the fire fanned to sudden flame. Jaden’s sword flashed out in time to catch the edge of a guard’s descending blade before it cleaved Michael’s face in two.
“Damn it, man.” He glared at his best friend. “What are you doing here?”
A jittery warrior stepped back, abashed, lowering his sword and muttering apologies to Jaden and Michael.
“I had to come.” Michael looked at Jaden, and then at the children in the center of the room. His unshaven face appeared even grimmer than usual. “It’s Andrew’s turn next month. How can I ask you to defend him if I will not help you defend your own?”
Legends of the Damned: A Collection of Edgy Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance Novels Page 146