The Lightest Dark (The Dark series Book 1)

by Sweet, Avery

  “I know what happened to her! None of you idiots want to listen because you all think I’m some punk kid who doesn’t know what he’s talking about. I may pull pranks but I’m not stupid. I also know that you all have no intention of going after her. You’re just going to let whatever happens happen, just like you do with everyone else. Well I’m sorry, but I can’t sit back while my sister might be in the hands of some demon doing who knows what with her.”

  Brett sighed, "I know what you mean, but they don't kidnap women for that. They have plenty. I'm not sure why, but they need your sister for something. More than likely she has some hidden talent that's getting ready to peak."

  He shook his head, "What crap are you trying to feed me?"

  "Sometimes, though rarely, a demon can sense a certain ability before it matures. They will take whomever they're sensing and wait, then steal the ability. We have time."

  Ryan snorted, "Yeah, 'cause I believe that. I know as well as the next person you don't have time when it comes to demons. I'm going after her. Help or no help. I leave tomorrow." He crossed his arms and stood with his feet shoulder width apart, glaring at Brett as if he was daring him to say no.

  “Ryan, I’m sorry it had to come to this. I really am. You had great potential and I’m sorry to see you go.” he turned to look at Tristan “You know what to do. I expect you to report back to me in an hour tops. See you then.” He turned to the door, but paused casting a last glance at Ryan, “Ryan, for the record we have every intention of looking for your sister. We need her here. More so now than ever before.” With that he walked out and a sense of dread started to creep up on me.

  Tristan started to move from the counter toward Ryan. The dark gaze I’d seen on his face seconds earlier only seemed to intensify and I felt my heart leap into my throat. I didn’t think about the fact that this was only a vision. I screamed at the top of my lungs, my arms waving back and forth trying to get his attention. “RYAN! RUN!”

  Nothing.

  Not even a sliver of acknowledgement, but then I hadn’t really expected there to be one. I shook my head as I watched the scene unfold before me and there was nothing I could do. I felt helpless. I couldn't understand why Ryan hadn't picked up on what Brett had meant. The only thing that was keeping me from losing it was the fact that I knew this hadn't happened yet.

  Tristan came up behind him, grabbed his head, pulled it back and slid a blade across Ryan’s throat. It seemed to happen in slow motion and yet I knew it was mere seconds.

  I screamed.

  I screamed to the point that my vocal cords hurt and my head was throbbing. The fact that I knew it hadn't happened yet and this was just a vision didn't matter. It still felt like I’d just had my soul ripped from me and crush into the ground.

  I could feel the tears streaming down my face as the vision faded and the forest came back into view. I looked out into it slowly sinking to my knees, though I didn't realize. My mind was focused on one thing and one thing only.

  I had just watched my brother die and there was always the very real possibility that I may have to see it a second time if I couldn't find him before it happened. Something in my mind snapped at that reality and I could feel myself fading from reality.

  It was a few minutes before I realized I was on the ground with Dark’s arms wrapped around me as he cradled me to his chest. It felt comfortable, if not a bit awkward. “Please, Dark. I need you to take me back.” My throat felt raw, but my voice came out clear.

  “I know. Cillian has gone to make the arrangements. We leave in ten minutes, fifteen tops. We'll get Ryan out whatever it takes.” I had a feeling Cillian’s compliance had more to do with who my mother was and the fact that I was probably the cause of the fae creatures waking up, but I was grateful all the same.

  “Thank you.” He didn’t say anything for a moment, but I knew the question was coming. Rather than wait, I decided to get it off my chest. While I may not trust him entirely, I needed to talk to someone about what had just happened and he was the only one around that I felt remotely comfortable with.

  I moved to sit across from him on the ground then I told him everything that had happened in the vision down to the last detail of Tristan being the one to slit Ryan’s throat. I think that betrayal was the one that stung the most. I could have cared less about Brett.

  Tristan had been the one I turned to in a jam. He's the one I asked to come live with Ryan and me. He'd also been the one I'd shared almost all my secrets. To see him do something like that to Ryan... I couldn't comprehend it. It was a bit like learning your favorite food- that you've had every day for the past three years- doesn't actually exist. It was an illusion and you’d really been eating trash.

  After I'd finished talking, Dark had a thoughtful look. “Candy, I know this isn’t the best time, but I have to ask. How long have you been having these visions?”

  I contemplated his question, trying to think back to when the visions had started. I’d been having them for so long, it was hard to pinpoint when exactly they’d started and they’d only recently started to get more frequent. Before I’d have one maybe once every few months.

  “I think the first vision I ever had was when I was about five. They were a lot easier to tell what a vision was and what reality was then. I remember being with Ryan and my mother. She’d been cooking dinner at the time and I was watching Ryan. I remember seeing her trip and spill scalding hot water on the two of us. I moved Ryan and I out of the kitchen the second the vision faded. Sure enough, not five minutes later I heard the crash in the kitchen."

  "Can I ask you something else?"

  I gave him a wary look, but didn't see the harm. He was distracting me enough from what I'd just seen that I could function and not feel like there was a heavy weight on my chest. "I guess, but I reserve the right to refuse to answer." He nodded like he expected that.

  "It's two things actually. The first is, what did you feel when you stopped in the forest?"

  "Like I'd been here before. The fact that it felt familiar was the least strange thing about it though."

  He gave me a curious look, "What do you mean?"

  I shrugged, not seeing the harm in answering. The worst he could do was lock me up, but I'm pretty sure Cillian wouldn't let him. Especially with how he'd reacted to who my mother was. "I kept hearing voices in my head telling me all these different facts about the forest. It's how I found some food and this stream."

  "If I hadn't believed you before about your mother, that right there would have done it. Only members of the Doneele Sept have that ability. Something to do with how the land here responds to you."

  I looked around me. "Where is here anyway? I thought the fae all lived in Ireland."

  He smiled, "That's funny. No, they live wherever they feel the veil between the two worlds is thinnest. There are quite a few who live in Ireland, but they have made their way to little spots all over the world. "

  I nodded, chewing my lip in thought. "You're not going to tell me where we are, are you?"

  "Not a chance."

  "I figured as much, but I had to try." I narrowed my eyes, an idea popping in my head. "What if I guess?"

  He raised a brow. "Do you really think that's possible? Not one state looks the same as it did three days ago, let alone five hundred years ago back when the book maps you like to study were accurate."

  I smiled, "So bet me. I get three tries. If I guess it right, you tell me."

  He smirked, "And if you guess wrong?" That wiped the smile right off my face. I'd done it again without meaning to. I was getting comfortable with Dark again, letting my guard down.

  I gave him a wary look. "What would you want?"

  He put his hand to his chin looking up to the left like he was thinking about it, but I knew better. That was the same pose he used to pretend he wasn't sure he had a good hand, only to take everyone to the cleaners at the weekly poker game.

  He seemed like he was about to answer, when he suddenly stood a bit st
raighter his face became a blank mask as his eyes fell behind me. "How about I think on it. Right now we have more important things to attend to."

  Confused, I turned around to see what brought about such a drastic change. Moving toward us at a clipped pace were ten men. Each were similarly dressed in leather boots, cloth pants, and bare chests. They all had different length hair, but it was similar in color to Cillian, who was leading them.

  They came to a stop about three feet from me, dropping to one knee in the same position Cillian and Dark had taken earlier. "We swear fealty to you Gray Goddess." The second the words left their lips I had a similar feeling as before in my arm, only more intense.

  Instead of freaking out over the fact that ten men I didn't know just pledged their loyalty to me, I lifted up what little sleeve I had to see what was going on.

  On my arm, slowly winding its way around were the same black vines with metallic undertones as Dark's with two exceptions. One, it was nowhere near as big Two, it had eleven silver roses randomly sprouting out of the vines. I stared at what looked like real roses imbedded in my skin in disbelief.

  Closing my eyes, I took a deep, cleansing breath. Regardless of the fact that I had what I was always told were the markings of demons, these men were here to help get Ryan. I could ask Cillian, or Dark what they really meant later… if my lack of patience didn’t win out first. Instead I tried to focus on the task at hand.

  If seeing Ryan ordered to be killed hadn't been enough to alleviate the guilt of what we were about to do, these markings sealed it for me. No one likes being lied to and to lie about something so simple made me wonder just how much of what I had been taught was lies. Rather than give in to the feeling of hysteria I felt building, I shook it off.

  Cillian moved toward me while the rest of the men he’d come back with began to move deeper into the forest. I forced a half smile as what might happen started to hit me again and while I was upset at myself for falling into old patterns with Dark, I was also grateful to him for a reprieve, however small it had been.

  As the last of the men left, Cillian turned to Dark. "They will await their commands at the edge of the forest. They’ve been instructed to try and clear a path to the edge so that we might leave here in peace. We need a plan and seeing as you are the one who has been there most recently, I assumed that you might have a few suggestions."

  I looked between the two. I guess I could get why he wouldn't ask me. I had been comatose for a bit there. Still, I knew the best way into the compound that we'd have no problem getting in and out unseen. After all, I’d created it.

  I waited to see if Dark suggested anything, but he seemed strangely silent. I raised a finger, "I have a suggestion." They both turned to me startled. I guess they hadn't expected me to have any kind of input. Too bad. This was my brother and no one stood to lose more than me with this endeavor other than Ryan himself.

  "What did you have in mind Highness?"

  "Okay, first stop calling me that. My name is Cali, not Highness. Second, I need to know what you have planned for those men before we storm the hypothetical gates since Dark destroyed the real ones."

  Cillian raised an eyebrow at that. "Well I had planned on letting Dark take the lead on this rescue. Given the fact you just said he destroyed a gate on his last endeavor, I'm now more inclined to listen to you."

  "Well, I know a way in that no one knows about." Dark made to speak, but I cut him off. "No. Not even Tristan. Despite what you’ve always thought and voiced very loudly, I've never shared everything with him. He still to this day has no idea it was you who I was seeing, nor how far it went."

  I ignored the look of disbelief, turning back to Cillian. "So I know of a way in that no one knows about. I guess all you need to figure out now is how we’re getting there.”

  “Well, I guess we should head out and gather the men then. One of my men has the ability to transport a large group of people so that’s how we’ll be getting there.” He started off into the trees Dark and I following close behind. I swallowed down the lump in my throat and started to prepare myself for the worst.

  Chapter Eleven

  It took a little longer than planned to get everyone organized, but after we had, it was smooth sailing. Turns out the guy needed some kind of visual description to get anywhere and I was sadly lacking when it came to where I was going to be leading them in since I hadn’t been outside the gates above ground.

  Dark was able to take care of giving an image of an area far enough away from the compound that we wouldn’t be spotted by Guardians patrolling, or lookouts since he knew the blind spots outside the walls better than I did. Once there, I started to lead them to my secret place.

  Dark stood beside me as we walked. Cillian and the rest followed closely behind us. In all the planning, they had decided it would be best to have Dark and I go ahead and the rest to follow at a distance just in case we ran into trouble.

  I was seriously hoping that didn’t happen, but I was happy to have the help if it did. Hopefully everything went according to plan. I'd hate to see how this would turn out if the entirety of the compound got involved.

  After about ten minutes of walking along a deserted beach, we finally reached the rock bridge where the underground cavern I’d created as a practice area for my magic was hidden. Granted this being Florida there was always a risk of flooding, but as far as I knew it had been holding up fairly well, although anything can happen in a week.

  Just look at what happened to me. I'd blacked out, been attacked, got kidnapped by said attacker, escaped by running into a forest, and learned I was a rare member of the Fae, whatever the heck that entailed. And let’s not forget about the creatures that are suddenly waking after being asleep for hundreds of years. All of that happening in the span of one night and most of the day. So yeah. A lot could have gone wrong in a week.

  I walked up to the side of the bridge and pressed in a small black rock buried under the sand before quickly moving away as the stones that made up the door began to shift outward revealing a set of stairs. I started to step in when Dark pulled me back, stepping in front of me.

  He gave me a guarded look, “I’ll go first just in case.”

  I shrugged, “Suit yourself, but there’s a reason no one knows about this place. If anyone had found out about it, I would have had some serious problems. Tristan included.” If they made it out alive that is. I wasn’t about to mention that though. Let him find out on his own. It was definitely going to be amusing.

  “Well then why are you showing me, let alone the rest of those guys?” he sounded genuinely confused and I could understand why. I hadn’t exactly been quiet about the fact that I didn’t entirely trust him earlier.

  “I’m showing this to you all because keeping my secret isn’t as important to me as my brother’s life, even if that secret could ruin mine.”

  He stopped mid step to look back at me, his brows furrowed as he searched my face. “You’re serious aren’t you? You would really give up your life to save his?”

  “In a heartbeat. He’s not just blood, he’s family. If losing a part of myself means saving him then I won’t hesitate. Not even for a second and I know he feels the same for me. That’s what family is to me. Looking out and being there for each other through the good and the bad no matter what.”

  He seemed torn about something as he looked away and started down the small hall at the end of the stairs. I had a split second to grab his shirt and pull him back as he stepped on a stone that activated a booby-trap. Good thing I heard the click.

  He gave me an incredulous look as three arm length axes embedded themselves in the opposite wall. I just shrugged again. I seemed to be doing a lot of that lately, but then nothing explained the feeling of indifference, or not knowing quite like a shrug.

  “What the hell was that?”

  “Booby-trap. There’s another five of them before we reach the cavern then when we get inside I’ll have to be quick and hit a switch on the other side of
the room, or it’ll start to fill with sand.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Seriously. In fact, we should probably set off all the traps so none of the others get hurt. Might be detrimental to our goal if a man lost an arm, or someone got burned. Both could happen down here and I'd rather not have that on my conscience.”

  “Yeah, we don't want that.” He was wide-eyed and looking at me like I’d lost my mind. Honestly it was a real possibility at the time. I’d been creating all these things two years ago after my mother had died and they told me Dark was dead as well.

  I think this was my coping mechanism. I should probably mention that. I don't want him to think I'd lost it when we were in a hall full of traps. Might end up being detrimental to our health as well. Especially if he decided I needed to be tied up again.

  “In my defense, this was after they told me about you and my Mom. I had also just gotten done reading a few books about ancient Egypt and the pyramids, both real and fiction. I told you no one knows about this place. No. One. Not even Ryan and I tell him just about everything. So do you still want to be in the lead?”

  “No, I think it’s safe to say no one is down here lurking. We would have caught sight of a body part and a bloody weapon.” I raised a brow at that one, but made no comment. He was probably right despite how gruesome that sounded.

  I made my way forward and started activating each of the traps I’d set into place years before. In all honesty, I was surprise at how well they worked. It just let me know that all the practice had been paying off at the time, regardless of how irrational I’d been. Still was, if I’m being honest. Being down here at all after everything in the last day and a half was proof of that.

  The second trap I’d set were flames shooting out from all sides of the wall. Third had been Throwing knives. Fourth were a set of three inch spikes coming out of the floor and ceiling and was a bit difficult to avoid, but I’d managed and last but not least the ball. My favorite trap at the time, but now I was questioning what I’d been thinking.