Descending Into Darkness

by Alainna MacPherson

  Hearing footsteps outside the room, from the direction the thing manhandling her had entered, she knew someone was there but her view was blocked by an aged and gnarly wing tip. When it was finished wrapping her ankles as well, it turned away to walk back out, only to stop when a man’s irritated voice said, “What is the meaning of this, daor?”

  The beast stopped short, giving Jess a view of abused wings that tensed at its back.

  “I don’t understand, Master,” he replied quietly.

  This time the snarl came from the other before he spoke again. “Once again, you’ve disappointed me, daor.” Jess still couldn’t see him. The statue that the creature posed kept him from view. Before she could ask the second person why she was there, she could hear retreating footsteps. A split second later, the beast started to follow him.

  "Wait!" She called after it. "What do you want with me?" She demanded, having flashbacks of the night Fallon had found her. But this was different, in so many ways.

  It stopped and without turning back around to her, just growled and said, "Be quiet."

  "You're not going to tell me what I'm doing here? What you want?" She said, imploringly.

  "Quiet!" He roared this time, making the wall behind her seem to vibrate. When she obeyed, he huffed. Satisfied with her silence he stormed out of the room, slamming the door.

  Mind racing, she considered all of her options, trying to see everything she could in the room she was in. All she could make out was the door, an old wooden office desk with an ancient computer tower against the far wall, about twenty feet away. Maybe an outline of a window frame there as well, but it didn't look like an exterior window. Which told her she probably wasn't in a house. An office building perhaps?

  Shit. What did it matter? She thought. It didn't look like she was getting out of here on her own anyways. At least not tied up the way she was. Her wrists were already growing numb from the cord's tightness and her ankles weren't faring much better either.

  Sighing she closed her eyes, thinking about Fallon and Alyss. Wondering if they'd find her before that thing returned from wherever it was that it went.

  "Alyss called Cormac, Mo rí," Kaer informed the Fomorian king. "He's should be here fairly soon."

  Absently, Fallon nodded. His people had kept a distance from him, but everyone was still up and about, a swirl of murmurs and speculation about the missing princess, and her apparent effect she had on their king. He sat there in the dining hall, so tightly wound he couldn't blame those who feared what he'd do or say. He wasn't so sure himself. With Jessandra missing, the beast in him, of which likened his kind to the things of nightmares, had him growling and snapping at the smallest thing. Best that he waited quietly, until someone or something became available to help him find his mate.

  He blamed himself for her disappearance, he should have never left her alone tonight. Instead he should have walked her safely to her room. Where she'd be now, chatting with her sister. Who no doubt blamed him as well for not protecting Jessandra.

  Hearing a commotion around him, his head snapped up, looking to see what it was that disturbed him. Seeing Cormac enter the hall, followed by another male he'd never seen before, flanked by Roshea and Keegan, and an assembly of guards and warriors trailing behind them were a mass not to be reckoned with.

  "King Fallon," Cormac said, voice clear for all to hear. "I've come to aid in your search for Princess Jessandra." He bowed slightly to the king, before straightening.

  "How do you propose to aid in my search," Fallon asked, standing to his full height, towering over the prince. To his credit, Cormac did not back down or falter with his obvious intimidation. Cormac wasn't known for his trustworthiness, more for his tricks and pranks. Which made Fallon apprehensive of what sort of help he was offering and if it would even be useful.

  "I bring you a friend and ally," Cormac said undeterred, sweeping an arm out to indicate the man he'd entered with.

  Breathing deep, Fallon analyzed the aura of power surrounding the man. Dark hair with dustings of gray at the temples, cut close and styled like he'd come from a GQ photo shoot. Hazel eyes that matched the flecks that bounced around with hues of gold all around him, paired with an expensive, tailored gray suit, Fallon wasn't sure how he felt about a stranger in the Nead.

  Lips ticking up at the slightest notion that the newcomer may not be trustworthy he started to snarl at him.

  Cormac, who moved to speak in his defense, was held off from moving to step between them by the other male. "You won't find her any faster by picking fights with others along the way," he cautioned.

  Hearing this, the room stilled, stunned looks and raised brows waited to see what the Fomorian King did to the one who dared speak to him as such in his current state. Before he could speak himself though the male went on, "I can find her for you."

  When Kaer laid a hand on his shoulder, he turned to him. "Let him try," his friend implored.

  Breathing deeply from his nose, he calmed the monster that wanted badly to tear into the stranger. After a moment, he seemed to regain some composure. Nodding, he turned back to the male. "Alright. What do you need?"

  Smiling, the man replied, "Something of hers, a shirt? Hairbrush, maybe?"

  They all followed Alyss, rushing to Jess' room. As they walked, the suit shrugged out of his jacket, handing it back to Cormac and began to unbutton his pristine white shirt with one hand while pulling at the silk tie from his throat, loosening it enough to yank it over his head. Still moving, he looked over at Fallon and thrust a hand at him, saying, "Liam O'Connell."

  Fallon quickly clasped arms with him, but remained silent.

  Alyss pushed open the door and rushed in ahead of the others. Grabbing up a couple items, she rushed back to hold them out to Liam.

  "Just a moment, darling," he said before his hand went to his pants fly, undoing the button there and pulling down the zipper in a seamless move.

  "What are you—" Alyss started, just as everyone else around him stepped back, except for Cormac, who caught the shirt that Liam ripped off and tossed his way.

  "All part of the show," he assured her, winking.

  Bouncing on his heels for a second, he shot his hands at his sides, like a boxer pumping himself up before a fight, and shook them a little, loosening up. He reminded Fallon of a UFC fighter when they first entered the ring. He and Kaer had gotten sucked into watching the fights with the twins a few years back. Even cast friendly bets between one another. Fallon found it fascinating to watch when one fighter would pull his punches in anticipation for another move, like a round house kick, setting up his opponent. The control it must have taken earned Fallon’s respect even through the television screen.

  As they all looked on, he grew still and they watched as a mute light seemed to glow outward from all over his body, before shining brighter and brighter, until it consumed him completely.

  Closing their eyes against the onslaught of the blinding light, they now looked down on a large black and gray wolf where Liam had stood a mere second ago.

  "What the hell?" Alyss exclaimed, jumping back, nearly dropping the hairbrush and night shirt she held.

  "Liam,” Cormac began. “Is a Lycan.” He said with a completely inappropriate grin on his face.

  The wolf, Liam, barked happily up at them.

  "For real?" She asked, cautiously approaching the beast. "Can he understand us like that?"

  "He can," Cormac answered as Liam encouraged her to pet him between the ears. "He just doesn't think like a human would in this form. His animal side is in control mostly."

  "Can we get on with it?" Fallon growled from the doorway, hovering and chomping at the bit with impatience which made his eyes flash blue again. His ruins remained muted though, but he could feel them just hanging at the surface ready to burst forth and show all the power they reckoned with by stealing his mate from him.

  "Help!" Jess screamed at the top of her lungs for the third time. No sooner had the echo from it faded did t
he door bang open again. It was a little brighter now, she could see everything in muted tones, telling her it was day now. She wasn't sure she exactly wanted to see what she was seeing at the moment though. When the creature who had tied her up thundered into the room and rushed her, she flattened herself as much as her bound arms and legs would allow against the wall. Upon her now, he grabbed her by one shoulder, claws piercing into her flesh as he yanked her up to hang nearly a foot above the floor. The wrenching pain coursing through her arm made her cry out.

  "I said quiet!" He roared in her face, spittle landing on cheek and closed eyelids. Blinking up at him, still wincing from the strain on her arm.

  "Let me go, and it will be quiet," she pleaded.

  "I can't." He growled, beginning to lower her back down.

  "I won't stop. I won't stop being quiet until you let me go," she warned.

  Jerking her back up closer to him and pulling her shoulder again, she felt a popping in the joint there this time, like a knife had stabbed her. She screamed in pain. "Quiet!" His enraged scream had the interior window shaking, but she didn't notice around the throbbing in her arm. Dropping her back down, she crumbled helplessly in her bound state to the floor, landing hard on her injured side.

  Mouth opened in a silent scream, she fought the blackness that flooded in around her again. Until finally the oblivion appealed to her agonizing consciousness and she let it take her.

  "She's near," Cormac interpreted from Liam's yelp. He, along with Roshea, Alyss and a few of Cormac's guards, followed Liam along the streets outside on foot. It almost seemed like they were on a wild goose chase, except for when the wolf got excited and picked up speed every couple of minutes, they all grew weary of having to deal with the heavy foot traffic on the streets of Queens. They'd been walking for nearly three miles and were now all well beyond the quiet, deserted industrial district where they’d left the cars.

  "Good," Roshea grumbled as they all crossed the street during a pedestrian crossing light that they all waited patiently, if not awkwardly for. "Our pet is starting to draw attention."

  Liam turned his head back at her to give her a quick snarl, then turned back to nose the air. Catching something strong, he stopped dead, making those behind him nearly run into each other to keep from ramming into him as well. Ears perked, he turned his head to look up the street they were on, listening to something the others couldn't hear. After a moment, his lips drew back, exposing sharp canines, wrinkling his muzzle as he growled and barked deep at them before shooting forward at a dead run. The rest of the group sprinted after him, keeping pace as best they could. They all wore street clothes but looked completely out of place with their long coats to cover their holsters or small swords. In ancient times they not needed their own bodies as weapons. Their claws and fangs were enough to win a one on one match. But times changed and with it, so did they. Instead of long swords, like they used a few hundred years ago, they were now adapted to using short swords, meant to easily carry in flight and to conceal in public. The females who fought found them much more accommodating, as did the young adolescents who haven’t yet come into their wings. .

  They ran two blocks before he finally turned down another street, only to go down a small alleyway, just wide enough for the garbage truck to pick up the dumpster at the end. When they all rounded the building a few heartbeats behind, they stopped when they saw him at a side door, light already consuming him as he changed from wolf to human form. It was clearer, Alyss thought, now that she stood farther away from him, without the light to blind her up close. She still couldn't make out the actual shift but she could see the outside of a wolf morphing, almost like mercury does, completely malleable to its environment, into a man.

  Naked now, he tried the door, cursing when he found it locked.

  "Wait!" Alyss called, rushing up to him and coming to a screeching halt when he turned around, full Monty. Pinning her gaze on his bare shoulder she belatedly remembered his clothes kept in the messengers bag she had slung across her chest. Yanking the flap open, she dug them out and tossed them his way, turning to look back at the door. "We need a plan," she said, panting a little as she caught her breath. "Right now, the element of surprise is all we have."

  Nodding, Cormac, agreed, "She's right."

  "Just a second," Alyss said. She dug in her bag again, pulling out a small wallet looking pouch. Crouching in front of the door, she pulled out three small tools and began picking the lock. After a few quick seconds, they all heard a definitive click. "There," she said, pleased with herself. "Now, how do we go in?"

  Waking to the throbbing in her shoulder, which made her headache and her stomach roll, Jess rolled to her back, trying to relieve the pressure on the damaged limb. Instead of resting there like a broken bird, she continued to roll onto her other side, and proceeded to empty her stomach of what was left of the evening meal. When she finished, she rested there for a moment, waiting for the ringing in her ears to clear and her belly to settle. When it finally did, she moved to scoot backwards until she felt the wall behind her again. It took some time and a lot of effort, especially when her vision started to waver again, but she eventually righted herself to sit up.

  With her head tilted back, she rolled her head so that she could feel the coolness of the wall against her temple, if just a little. It seemed to offer a bit of soothing she so desperately needed right then. In the utter quiet, her breath calming with her heartbeat, she could feel a vibration of something on the wall. It was so small she probably wouldn't have noticed it if she hadn't been laying prone the way she was. There was no mistaking it though, it seemed to sing to her. Just as she started feeling it intensify, she heard a loud crash in a room next to hers. Jerking up, she expected to see her jailor bang in. When he didn't, and she just heard more crashing, some metal clanging and a screeching roar, she felt her heart speed back up.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Rushing the monster that stood in the center of the room, the guards, Cormac and Roshea began to circle around him simultaneously. It wasn't a part of the plan, but Alyss guessed that warriors, of all kinds, probably all thought similarly when it came to battle and taking down an opponent. She would have thought they were a part of the same army, the way Cormac and Roshea delivered the hardest blows to the head with kicks while the Unseelie guards struck with their own short swords and daggers. She'd never once thought about a weapon for herself. All she could think about was finding Jess. Obviously, though, these people had thought ahead.

  They fought as if they were of the same unit, rather than two separate species. Alyss watched from where she stood by the door, as Roshea landed a hard kick to the monster's cheek, making him stumble to the side. Before he could catch his balance though, Cormac followed through with a right hook of the opposite side of his jaw. While he struggled to right himself he swatted aimlessly around himself to fend off the others. Roshea tackled him, their combined weight crashing onto the old dusty carpet. She nearly had him on his belly when Cormac threw a leg over his shoulder, wrapping around with the other and squeeze with his thighs while Roshea held his arms. It struggled but it was pointless. The other guards began pinning its legs, holding until the body grew limp, passed out on the floor. As they all started securing him – apparently the Unseelie guard each carried a length of chain in their back packs as a part of their usual gear – hurrying, since they weren't sure how long he'd be out, Cormac hollered to Liam, who was padding around the scene in wolf form again, "Find the Princess!"

  Yelping, he scampered off, nose in the air, down a long hallway with Alyss jogging behind him. Not long, he stopped at a closed door, barking excitedly. She rushed to open the door.

  When her door finally did bang open, she was surprised, if not a little confused, when a large dog walked in.

  No, a wolf.

  "Jess!" She heard Alyss call her name. Looking beyond the wolf, she saw her sister rush in, bypassing the wolf altogether, and bend down to Jess, cupping her cheeks to look her ov
er for wounds.

  "Hi," Jess croaked, bile burning her throat still. "My arm." As Alyss went on to loosen the cords binding her wrists, Jess saw a flash of light coming from behind her. Thinking it was a flashlight, Jess didn't pay any mind to it.

  "How long have I been gone?" She asked.

  "Five hours," her sister answered, having issues with the knot. "Someone hand me a knife."

  "Here, step back," Cormac said, nudging her out of the way to use a real sword, which looked like it could use a good polishing, to cut the cords. Once free, her injured arm started to fall limply to her side, making her wince and cry out. She braced it with her good hand.

  "What is it?" Alyss asked, moving back in front of her as Cormac freed her ankles.

  "My shoulder, " she gasped, then bit her lip. "I think it's dislocated."

  "Let me see," a new voice said from behind them both. A man in slacks and no shirt came into view, holding something in his hands.

  "Let’s brace it until we can get you back to the Nead, eh?" He was nice, she thought, calming.

  "You need to stay awake for me for a little while longer, though, alright, princess?" He said, like a father would to coax a child.

  "Okay," she whispered, prying her eyes open to peer up at him as he carefully placed her arm close to her chest and wrapped some sort of cloth around her back to cross over and secure it.

  "Let's get her up and out of here," he said, standing up to allow Cormac in to slip his arms under her and lift her up against his chest. Keeping her arm over the other, she held as still as possible, letting him do all the work. The trip down a few flights of stairs was excruciating, but Jess was proud of herself for not crying out. Finally, they were outside, the sun high in the sky and the fresh air welcoming her.