Under Twilight: an Urban Fantasy Novel (Fearless Destiny Book 3)

by Debbie Cassidy

  Irina blew out a sharp breath. “Playing the queen card.” She shook her head. “Kenna, this is suicide.”

  I pulled her into a hug. “I’ll see you soon.” With a final squeeze, I released her and gave her a shove. “Now go!”

  She slipped away, probably to Baal’s residence where the mirror would lead her home. Erebus and Brett joined me behind the guns.

  I turned back to the gate, to the stationary hybrids in Legion’s grip. With one word I’d be sealing all our fates.

  It was a good word. “Fire!”

  Gunfire blazed. The hybrids screamed. Thrashing and bucking. It went on for long minutes, putter, putter, putter. And then it stopped. The bullets were depleted.

  The hybrids shook off their injuries, a multitude of eyes staring us down, and then their wounds began to knit.

  “Oh, shit.”

  “They’re immune to luma,” Brett said.

  Like the hybrid scorpions had been immune to my blade. My heart plummeted.

  Legion’s voice ripped through the silence. “Wrong choice.”

  The hybrids attacked.

  29

  The monsters hurtled toward us, and the enforcement officers scattered. Erebus, Brett, and I exchanged glances. The dark djinn and Erebus’s clan joined us, slipping behind row of huge guns.

  “To the death,” Erebus said.

  “To the death,” his djinn replied.

  We were so screwed. My grip on Frieda tightened. If it was time to go down, I’d do it swinging.

  And then the sky went dark.

  I glanced up to see a multitude of grey shapes … grey beautiful gargoyles. Fargol was here. He’d made it, and he’d brought an army. My pulse lurched and my heart soared. We could do this. Maybe we could do this after all.

  And then it began to rain. No, it wasn’t rain. It was an emerald haze spraying over the world. It covered the denizens and painted my skin with a jade sheen. Brett bellowed and stumbled back clutching his abdomen. His body began to pulse and shift.

  The serum. The gargoyles were deploying the serum. Not in bomb form like we’d planned, but as some kind of mist.

  The hybrids began to squeal. They were falling back, rolling onto their sides, shuddering and jerking as the serum stripped away the enhancements Orin’s serum had given them. But it didn’t stop there. They began to melt into hissing puddles. The serum wasn’t just devolving them, it was killing them. Shit. I grabbed Brett and began to drag him out of the blast radius. Too late, yeah, but still maybe if I got him cleaned up …

  A gust of air blasted into me and the ground shook.

  Fargol landed before me. “Kenna safe.”

  “Fargol. Help me get him to safety. The serum is killing him.”

  “No. Serum kill fully evolved denizen hybrid. Not kill human. Not kill Brett.”

  Oh thank god. I lowered Brett to the ground where he shuddered and curled into a ball. Already the diamond skin was melting away and pink human skin was visible beneath the thin layer of crystal that remained. Hair was sprouting from his newly formed scalp. His face was hidden, but it would be his face. I knew it. My friend was back. But he was in no shape to fight.

  The dying wails of the denizens were accompanied by an eerie howl of rage.

  Legion.

  Fuck you.

  “Fargol, get Brett to the palace, get him to Irina. Can you do that for me?”

  Fargol looked torn. He glanced over his huge stone shoulder at the denizens in the final throes of an agonising death.

  “I’ll be fine. I promise.”

  “Fargol come back.”

  I threw my arms around him and pressed my cheek to his rocky one. “I love you. Thank you for saving our lives.”

  His chest rumbled, and then his huge arms closed around me. He held my lightly, careful not to crush. “Fargol love Kenna too. Fargol always save Kenna.”

  I stepped back and he released me.

  “Fargol be back.” He scooped up Brett and took to the air, his powerful wings sending gusts of emerald tainted air into my face.

  Around me Fearless celebrated with whoops and high fives.

  “It doesn’t feel over,” Erebus said.

  He was right. Instead of loosening, the knot in my abdomen tightened. A sense of foreboding tingled up my arm and settled in my brain. There was more.

  A radio crackled to life.

  “The Twilight Gate is under attack.” A tinny voice screamed down the connection. “Send back-up immediately. Figures on horseback, I repeat we are under attack by figures on horseback. They’re killing everyone.”

  This shouldn’t be happening. They’d salted the gate, how was The Hunt able to come through? Oh, god. Oh damn. The salt was the wrong kind of salt. It was just sodium chloride, but the salt that kept them at bay in Twilight was born from the tears of the ocean people. It was a different kind of salt, possibly more of a curse or an enchantment.

  We had no defence.

  The Hunt was here, and we were fucked. There was no stopping that shit. No slowing it down. It would take us all with it. It belonged to Legion, and we’d just pissed it off. There would be no more chances for my people, in Lindrealm or in the fifth dimension. But I had to try.

  The remaining Fearless gathered round. I recognised several faces, but many were new—young cadets. Karl stood out as the most seasoned of them.

  “Karl, can you man this gate with the Fearless? If any more hybrids come through I’m sure the gargoyles will spray them, but you can handle the regular ones, right?”

  “Yeah, we got this.”

  “Okay, then I’ll see you when this is over.”

  “Brett?” he asked.

  “He’s safe.”

  He nodded, his shoulders sagging in relief.

  “Come on. Let’s move out.” I headed toward the Twilight gate, Erebus and dark djinn in tow.

  The Twilight gate was a mile off, and we made the journey on foot, alternating between jogs and sprints. My old prosthetic would have given up the ghost by now, but the high-tech one was a machine. My bionic limb kept me on my feet, even though the rest of my mortal body was flagging. The flame inside was growing in strength though; soon I’d be ready to burn the shit outta the black crap in my veins, but not yet. Right now I needed to keep the flame’s power in reserve, just in case.

  We approached the bridge to chaos. Bodies ran to and fro, bursting into shadow at the touch of an ethereal whip or the slice of a shadow sword. The Hunt was riding, and the bridge was its domain. The Fearless on the bridge were attempting to fight back using their everlight swords, but all the everlight succeeded in doing was block the blows of The Hunt. It failed to hurt them.

  This was futile, I knew it, we all knew it, and yet we descended on that bridge as if we had every chance of prevailing. The Hunt weren’t wolves or bears this time. They were five riders in flowing cloaks and deep hoods. They turned on us, whips flailing in the air and swords swishing. An arrow made of ember whizzed by my head.

  Fuck!

  My hand itched and burned.

  It was in my blood calling to me. Come join us, it said. You belong with us.

  “Screw you!” I attacked with Frieda, going into ninja mode. No thinking, just instinct.

  The nearest rider’s horse reared up, neighing in panic, its ember eyes flaring.

  “Back the fuck off.” I advanced.

  Erebus and the dark djinn advanced with me. Like a hungry ink stain, we moved in on the rider. The horse trotted back, and then the rider yanked on the reins, turning away and galloping down the bridge toward the scattered humans and the Fearless fighting alone.

  “Do not fear. Do not run!” A megaphone amplified voice echoed across the bridge.

  That voice, I knew that voice. He came into a view a moment later, his tiny robed form waddling toward us, and at his back was a determined mob of people: humans, djinn, Twilighters. They came in force—Father Cimran and his congregation.

  What was he doing? “Get back!” I waved my
arms in warning. “Get back. You’re gonna get killed.”

  Even at a distance his smile was a dazzling thing. And then it was obscured by the megaphone.

  “Together we are strong. They seek to divide and reap. Together we are a power to be reckoned with.”

  What was he saying? It clicked and settled in my mind. The Hunt reaped. It chased and it isolated, and it fed Legion. It had retreated when I’d advanced with the dark djinn at my back.

  Maybe Father Cimran was right.

  The congregation was close, only a few metres at our back. I grabbed Erebus’s arm. “Together we are stronger.”

  His eyes narrowed and then he nodded. “Back up. Join the mass.”

  The congregation began to sing—some hymn I’d heard a long time ago, words I’d thought I’d forgotten. But my lips were moving of their own volition and the heat of a hundred bodies pressed at my back.

  We were one.

  We were together.

  Father Cimran smiled up at me. “Good to see you again Kenna.”

  “It’s good to see you too, you old goat.”

  The Hunt faltered in its attack. The riders turned their horses this way and that, as if unsure of their next move.

  “How did you know what to do?” I asked him.

  “I didn’t. I just had faith.”

  The Hunt backed up and we advanced. Slowly, surely, we pushed it toward the gate—a hundred voices rising up in song. In that moment we were a people united regardless of colour, creed, or race. We were one. These were my people. A stream of thought began to unravel in my mind. They were all my people, the humans, the djinn, and the fae, and … Sabriel? What he had done to me … It made sense now.

  Adamaris’s words made sense, and a pit of sorrow opened up inside me.

  I touched Erebus’s arm. “I know how to stop it. I know how to stop Legion. I need to go. Now.”

  His expression hardened. “Then I am coming with you.”

  “No, you need to—”

  He cut me off and turned to Aidan. “Take charge, keep the humans safe.”

  Aidan grinned. “It is what we do.”

  I could have protested, could have told Erebus he had to stay, ordered him even—not sure how much good that would have done—but the hidden part of me, the little girl who was afraid of the dark and things that went bump in the night, raised her head. I would be going into the bogeyman’s lair, and I didn’t want to go alone.

  I met Aidan’s eye. “Just keep doing this.”

  He nodded.

  My arm tingled.

  “Where are we headed?” Erebus asked.

  “To the Black Forest. Legion is beneath it.”

  “How can you know that?”

  I held up my hand. “I had a vision.”

  His mouth tightened. “And what do you intend to do once we get there?”

  A shadow flew over us and then Fargol’s huge bulk landed before us. An icy gust of air followed, and Baal appeared beside him.

  His took in the carnage and then his gaze found me. Relief flashed in his emerald eyes and then I was pressed to his chest, his face buried in my hair.

  “Dammit, Kenna. You could have been killed.”

  “I had to stay.”

  “I know.” He squeezed, and then pulled back. “But we need to get you out of here now. There is nothing more that we can do here. Now that Legion has failed in recruiting soldiers, he will turn his attention to the fifth dimension. He will come at us in force. Your people need you.”

  “No. They need this to be over. And I know how. We need to get to the Black Forest.”

  “What’s in the Black Forest?” Baal asked.

  “I’ll tell you when we get there.”

  30

  Baal and I landed on the outskirts of the forest. Now that we were here, it all seemed like a dream—the vision, my revelation, the conviction. But it was our only shot, because Baal was right, Legion would attack the fifth dimension soon. There was no doubt in my mind that he had more hybrids. That he was simply biding his time. He’d forced our hand into using all the luma bullets, so if he sent more airborne hybrids we were screwed. I knew what I had to do, but whether I’d be successful or not was another matter.

  “Kenna, why are we here? Speak to me,” Baal said. He lifted my chin with the crook of his finger and ran his warm gaze over my face. “Why do I have this terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach?” He pressed his forehead to mine. “Tell me you aren’t going to do something incredibly brave but incredibly dangerous.”

  Oh, god, I loved him so much it hurt. “I can’t tell you that.”

  He kissed me, hard and desperate and punishing. His hands tangled in my hair and fisted almost painfully.

  He pulled back. “I cannot lose you.”

  “You won’t.” Then why did the words taste like ash?

  Fargol landed on the outskirts of the Black Forest. He released Erebus, who stumbled forward, his face pale.

  “Well, that was … interesting,” Erebus said.

  Fargol chuckled. “Erebus not like heights.”

  “Yes,” Erebus said. “Erebus does not like heights.” He straightened. “Kenna, you said you knew how to kill Legion?”

  “I think. No. I believe I can kill Legion.”

  Beside me Baal’s body went into alert mode, tense and vibrating.

  Erebus blinked down at me. “And how will you kill him?”

  “Adamaris said that only the harmony of races could destroy Legion. And at first I thought it mean us all working together, and yeah, that kinda worked against The Hunt, but then I realised something else … I realised the harmony of races was inside me.”

  Erebus stared at me blankly.

  Baal exhaled sharply. “You are fae. You are djinn and you are human.”

  Comprehension dawned in Erebus’s pretty eyes.

  I nodded. “Yes. But I also have an element of angel in me now … after Sabriel’s sacrifice, and Adamaris said I was the last of his bloodline too.”

  Erebus’s eyes lit up in excitement. “Yes. Yes, I think you are right. This could be it. And you know where it resides?”

  “There’s a tree, a huge tree covered in moss, I think it’s the gateway to the abyss.”

  “Wait,” Baal said. “How will you kill it? How do you know that a special weapon of some kind isn’t needed?”

  “I think I am the weapon.”

  “And what if you’re wrong?”

  “Then we get our arses out of there, stat, and think of a plan B.”

  Fargol led the way, crunching through the bracken and clearing a path with his huge frame. I walked behind him, searching for the damn tree. We’d walked for maybe five minutes when Fargol took a left, cutting between two huge trees. I made to follow and my hand lit up in pain.

  “Dammit!” I shook it and took a step back. The pain ebbed.

  “Are you all right?” Baal asked.

  “Yeah. One sec.” I took a step forward and fire lit up my veins. “I think my hand is trying to guide us.”

  “Okay,” Baal said. “Which way?”

  “Well, it wants me to find it. It wants me to come to it. So it would warn me if I was going off track, right?”

  “That makes sense,” Erebus said.

  I turned right and took a step. No pain. “This way.”

  Using the sting, or lack thereof, as I guide, we finally found the tree. It was even larger than I recalled from my vision. Fargol stepped aside and I placed my hand on the mossy bark, searching for that soft entrance. The wood was unyielding, and for a split second I considered the possibility that I’d been wrong, then discarded it. My vision had gotten me this far. My hand sank into the bark.

  Bingo.

  Ducking down, I pushed through. My boots met stone. It was pitch black in here. Using my hands as guides, I walked forward. It was a tunnel, a downward sloping passageway.

  “Fargol is staying behind,” Baal said. “He can’t fit through the gap. He wanted to make the aperture lar
ger, but I convinced him against that.” Baal’s breath was warm on the back on my neck. “Wouldn’t want to alert Legion of our arrival.”

  “Oh, I’m entirely sure he knows I’m here.”

  “Let’s just find him and finish this.”

  We descended further into the tree, into the earth. Dank chill seeped into my bones and then there was light—a sickly green glow. The walls were coated in it—some kind of slime, underground flora, a mould or something.

  “Don’t touch it,” Baal warned. “It looks dangerous.”

  “It looks gross.”

  The passage opened up into a chamber with a network of tunnels shooting off it, and I was gripped by déjà vu. It reminded me of the test we’d had to complete at the Academy. We’d been sent into an underground cavern much like this, armed with nothing but the skill passed down and an everlight sword. The objective had been survival.

  Much like now.

  Except this time I was planning on being the hunter, not the hunted.

  “Which way?”

  I made a circuit of the chamber, passing each tunnel. Not even a twitch in my hand. “I don’t know.” I glanced upward and froze. “Um, guys …”

  The ceiling was a mass of pulsing egg sacs, they glowed softly and their contents could be seen writhing, pushing, and stretching.

  Erebus cursed.

  Baal grabbed my hand. “We need to get out of here. Those things are about to—”

  Denizens dropped into the chamber, still slimy and wet from their egg sacs. Creatures the likes of nothing I’d ever seen: pincered, and suckered, with way too many appendages to count. There was no time for shock. We countered the attack, ducking and swinging. To my right Baal blasted ice into a denizen’s open mouth, freezing the thing solid. I dropped and rolled out of range of a stabbing stinger. Erebus finished that fucker off for me. But they kept coming. Dropping from the ceiling in waves that seemed way too coordinated.

  This place was a hive and the influx wouldn’t stop. Baal’s bellow of pain had me faltering. I leapt back just in time to avoid being a scuttler’s dinner, and ran toward Baal. He was on the ground, his arm hanging at an odd angle. Blood was pouring from a wound at his shoulder and another on his head.