Personal Warriors

by Rachel A. Collett

  But an invisible power redirected my momentum and my blade struck into the ground next to the defeated Annihilator. I pulled on the handle but it stayed, frozen in place.

  “Did you not hear me? I said, that’s enough.” Again the voice spoke, but I wouldn’t look to see who it was—already knowing.

  “Ava.” Darius called to me from behind, his tone a heavy warning. “Don’t engage him. Come here.”

  And my insides shattered. “I want her dead!” I screamed.

  Annie laughed. A tear streaked from the inside of her eye. “He won’t allow it.” She shook her head, her silver hair matting into the dead foliage. “He’ll never allow my escape from this hell.”

  A soft tsking sounded across the expanse. A painful shiver seized my body, rolling like a boulder down a gelatin spine. “Shall I let you go, my love? Allow this immortal her heart’s desire to kill what I treasure most? You came here weak and exposed. My great warrior brought down so low. You were once the love of my life—”

  “I am nothing to you.” She gritted her teeth. “Discarded. Powerless.”

  Violet crawled toward me, her face beseeching. Blood leaked from her mouth. “Look away, darling.”

  Darius wrapped his arms around my waist, shielding me with his body while keeping his knife trained on the Annihilator. “He will go away. Hold still.”

  I yanked from his grip.

  The Destroyer laughed, ignoring my struggles as he addressed his mate. “Powerless? But look at all you have accomplished. You almost succeeded in bringing the immortals to their knees. You have done such wonderful work in my name.”

  Annie rolled her head to the side and spat. “I have done nothing for you. It was for me. All for me!”

  The Destroyer chuckled softly, the sound echoing through the trees. “Let her go,” he said, his voice like ice. The very air felt like a million pins pricking my skin. Blood trickled from my nose, but I couldn’t move to wipe the leak.

  My body shook as anger infused my soul. My dagger lay so close to the Annihilator’s heart. Using every ounce of remaining strength, I tugged on my weapon. Like trying to lift an impossible weight, it refused to move. I screamed my rage. Annie just watched me. An almost sympathetic smile crossed over her features.

  Soft laughter hissed into my ears, seizing my breath. “Look at me.”

  “Don’t do it, my Ava. Don’t look.” Violet tugged at my leg, but against all reason, against every sounded alarm from the Demon’s Eye, from my very soul, I looked.

  A great beast arrested my gaze. Standing on all four, a giant wolf-like creature the size of a horse watched through black eyes. Hackles raised, the mutant bared its fangs. Blood matted its mouth and teeth. I would have screamed in terror, but all sound was ripped from my lungs.

  Hear me Defender, the Destroyer said through a mental connection I had not allowed. I offer you a deal. One I’m sure you will most assuredly welcome.

  My breath left me in an audible whoosh. A deal. The words struck a chord deep within, shaking me from my fearful stupor. “Like the one you offered my father?” I asked, my voice seething. I glared into his soulless eyes. “You can take your offer and—”

  A sickening crack resounded in my ears. My breath knocked from me as blind pain shot to my very core. My arm that had moments before threatened to kill the Annihilator now bent at an awkward angle, snapped at the elbow.

  I fell back into Darius, allowing him to drag me away. He pulled me to him, cursing beneath his breath, and held my arm to my side like a vice. “It’s not broken, Ava,” he said into my ear, hushing my agony. “It’s an illusion.” His palm rubbed down the length of my arm. Tears blurred my vision, my breathing frantic, but I risked a glance, shocked when I saw that it was indeed unbroken. “He cannot physically injure you unless you attack him,” he said, his gaze intense.

  I managed to suck in a violent breath. Fiona’s voice came to me, entering my soul. Do not engage him again, my niece. Do not say another word.

  My friends emerged from the veil. The Heralds and Healers created a half-circle of linked arms around Darius, Violet, me, and even the Annihilator still prone upon the ground.

  “Be gone,” Elisa said to the Destroyer. Her eyes glowed with the power of a Herald, Laith at her side. “You’re not welcome here.”

  A growl ripped through the air. Your Defender engaged me. What I did was allowed within the rules. I am here to offer a trade for one that you have given sanctuary, unworthy as he is. All I ask for is my mate in return.

  The beast turned into the woods, the sound of the forest floor muffled against his transformed paws. Seconds later, he returned dragging within his teeth a mass of mottled flesh and torn clothes. Terror seized me, overshadowing the pain.

  I choked out a sob. “Jonathan!” Frantic, I found his spirit barely hanging to life on no more than a thread. My heart broke in half.

  Fire swelled within my arm from the artificial damage the Destroyer had done, but it was nothing to the agony of witnessing a soul, even as one as damaged as Jonathan’s, on the verge of obliteration by the darkest being ever known.

  Elisa stepped forward. “We will trade—”

  Another form emerged from the shadows, stopping her words in her throat. Nikolaos slunk into view. Although his head was high, uncertainty tinted his expression. His gaze traveled the semi-circle of immortals then landed on me tucked inside Darius’s arms, and his face reddened.

  Elisa swallowed hard, forcing herself to ignore her once-brother-in-arms. “We will accept your trade, but it appears his injuries are far worse than the condition we leave your mate. Your hostage can barely breathe. Let him come to us.”

  Nikolaos retreated several steps away as the creature paced a slow circle around Jonathan.

  I will retract the damage done by me, the Destroyer said, but cannot undo that done by my followers unless the Fallen asks.

  A moment’s pause as the Destroyer waited for an answer, but Jonathan didn’t speak or move. After completing the circle, the Destroyer growled, and Jonathan stirred—then rolled to his side. Blood coated his face and neck. He painstakingly pushed himself from the ground, his arms shaking from the effort. He stumbled forward. I jolted, but Darius’s hands were tight upon me.

  “Not yet,” he said in my ears, and despite the conflict boiling within, I listened.

  I pulled my attention away from my demon, my heart rate spiking at a painful level. Annie got to her knees, her lips twisted as she regarded me.

  “He wants you, you know. He wants me to fill your shoes.” Her gaze slipped to Nikolaos waiting pale beyond his new leader. “The wife he lost, the mate he could never dissuade. He clings to her memory like a sick addiction he can’t kick. With you he believes he’ll feel whole once again.”

  I swallowed the bitter bile that rose from my stomach.

  Her gaze narrowed. “You can fight him, you know. My mate. The Destroyer. He doesn’t actually control you.” A guttural snarl ripped from across the field, a warning, but she ignored it, lowering her voice. “If you let me go to him, you’ll cast me back into hell. Kill me, Ava Matthias. I grow weary of this war.”

  “Go,” I said through gritted teeth, because I would never sacrifice the life of my friend for the revenge I thought I needed. “You got what you wanted.”

  Her brows shot up. “Did I?” But when I didn’t answer, she got to her feet. I watched, my nerves on a tightrope as she walked away. Jonathan pinned me with his half-swollen and blackened eyes, forcing one painful step after another. At the halfway mark, Annie reached out and pressed something into his hand. She kept walking.

  When Jonathan was a few yards away I rushed to him, but Darius shot forward, collecting him before I could. Whether his actions were based from the desire to help or he didn’t want me to touch my demon, I was grateful.

  Laith and Elisa, Fiona and Cedric slowly shepherded us toward our sanctuary, their hands linked. But we all froze when a vicious growl ripped from the Destroyer’s fanged mouth. The bla
ck beast lunged, knocking the Annihilator to the ground, tearing at the flesh of her ankles, dragging her away. Nikolaos leaped back as she shrieked. Within seconds they had disappeared into the shadowed forest. Her screams carried along the wind until we were safely inside the veil.

  19

  Imagined Wounds

  Fire laced up my arm with every touch of Cedric’s fingers. The wrinkles between his brows deepened. “There’s no damage to your arm, Ava.”

  “She knows that. Don’t you?” Darius braced his hands on my thighs, leaning over me. He winked, his honey-colored eyes penetrating. Despite all efforts, I blushed.

  “Of course I do.” I knew what he was doing: trying to distract me. It almost worked. I pulled back, suppressing a hiss as imaginary pain trekked up the bone on metal spikes. “Dang it.” I shook out my arm.

  One brow quirked high on Cedric’s forehead. “The effects last longer than other injuries—a healthy reminder of things we have taught you and the repercussions that come when you don’t listen.”

  “Thanks for that.” I sighed, shying away from his intense gaze. Violet stared at me from the other side of the room. Cedric had healed her before moving on to me and my illusionary wounds. I shifted, avoiding her intensity as well. She was never going to let me out of her sight again. “Why can’t we just kill him?” I asked the others, leaping down from my seat at Dr. Maynes’s old office table.

  Laith sat behind the desk, examining a nick at the corner. His head tipped to the side. “The Destroyer?” When I didn’t answer, he slapped his knee. Frustration tinged his complexion. “You should know that by now, Ava. He is the opposition in all things. We aren’t even supposed to pay attention to him. Only God can rid this earth of him, and Armageddon is not our department.”

  “Perhaps we haven’t done our job as well as we believe,” Fiona said. Her eyes were closed as she healed my demon. Jonathan’s complexion was a ghostly white, matching the sheets of the doctor’s old bed. I suppressed a shudder, grateful for my aunt and her willingness to heal him even though he was… what he was. “We must cease to assume Alexander taught her the basics of our world.”

  My heart dropped. No, my father had never taught me about any world other than the mortal realm, but with good reason. Demon’s blood—my personal demon’s blood—coated the front of Fiona’s shirt and stained her arms and hands. Jonathan’s swollen face was the least of his injuries. The Healer—the Mother Witch of thousands of followers—worked on the more harrowing damage.

  This was not a life for a child.

  Would I do as my father had done to keep a child, my child, from the truth? Their destiny? Would I go as far as Dr. Maynes had to keep—but before the question could finish in my mind, I cast the thought away. No. The answer would always be no.

  Laith grumbled but did not respond to Fiona. “Listen, Ava, there are rules that even the Destroyer must follow. For instance, he cannot start an open war on The Three, and he never has broken that rule before. We do what we were sent to do, and he does what he’s best at: attempting to break the souls of God’s children. We are exempt from his harassments, unless we—”

  I nodded, interrupting. “Pull a Nikolaos and go crazy, or make a deal like my father did.”

  The corners of his lips twitched. “—engage him is what I was going to say, but yes. Our actions can obviously attract his attention and that of his followers. Otherwise, he leaves us alone.”

  Elisa interjected. “We don’t hold any positions that he wants, positions of influence or power. Having us in his grasp would do little for him. Mortals still have a choice whether to follow him or not, and his battle is a personal one against God. Besides, we now know through experience, God will always provide His children with immortal aid.”

  Heat infused my face. “So that’s it?” Confused, I looked to the others. “We just ignore him? Allow him to plague everyone?”

  Laith stood, moving behind his partner. “We do what we are meant to do: protect targeted mortals from demon possession.”

  I sighed heavily, wrapping a hand over my still-throbbing arm. “Am I the only one that has ever engaged him?”

  Laith clamped his mouth closed and the rest of the room went silent.

  Darius coughed behind me. Finally, Elisa cleared her throat. “No. Laith has… once.”

  I shot him a pointed glare. “You don’t say?”

  He rolled his eyes. “Don’t act so shocked. You think all this time I’ve been so level-headed? I’m far from perfect.”

  “You had me fooled.”

  “I have as well,” Fiona said. Cedric’s head whipped to stare at his mate. She merely shrugged. “You weren’t there when it happened.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” Cedric asked.

  She refocused her attention on my demon. “It was a bad night.”

  “I’d expect so,” he said, his tone angry.

  “Regardless,” Laith interrupted, “the rest of us have done well to remember it and abide by the warnings. We do not engage him.”

  “He needs to die. He killed my dad—”

  “No.” Darius took my face in his hands, forcing my attention. “As much as we all loved him, your father’s death is on his own hands. A deal cannot be made with the Destroyer that does not end in death.”

  “I’ve told her that,” Jonathan said through a weak cough from across the room.

  I grunted but dropped the argument. I moved to stand next to his bed. “How is he?”

  Fiona tsked, her hands hovering over his bandaged chest. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen such extensive damage, but I’ve stopped the bleeding.”

  Anger rose to my throat. Tears stung my eyes but I fought back the flood of emotion. Only minutes had separated us from the time Jonathan sauntered away from our group, but that was all that was needed for the Destroyer and his followers to do the damage he had sustained. A fire-hot touch pulled at my fingers, and I took Jonathan’s outstretched hand. Paper pressed against the skin of my palm. My gaze tightened on his.

  His voice penetrated my mind. A gift.

  “There must have been many waiting for this opportunity,” Fiona said, interrupting our private conversation.

  Jonathan half-smirked. “I’ve pissed off a lot of people.”

  Darius cleared his throat, clearly annoyed at our physical touch. I pulled away, taking with me the slip of paper. I had almost forgotten how the Annihilator had passed something to my demon, but now it sat like a lump of hot coal burning a hole in my hand.

  “I bet you have.” Fiona examined a gash along his temple then dropped her arms to her side, her energy visibly drained. “I’ve done what I can for the day. When I’m restored I’ll take care of the rest. Have you learned your lesson, demon?”

  “And what lesson would that be, White Witch?” But even though his voice was careless, concern worried his eyes.

  Fiona allowed Cedric to guide her to a chair. He answered for her. “We’ve provided you a place to stay. I suggest you take it.”

  Jonathan tried to sit taller but grimaced from the over-exertion. “Do you think I stay away for my own benefit? I know what will happen if you continue to harbor individuals that hold ill will.”

  “Don’t tell me the demon is looking out for the welfare of this sanctuary.” Roslyn stood at the threshold of the door, her arms partly folded over the too-large expanse of her chest. I suppressed a verbal groan. At least it wasn’t Bailey.

  “What do you need, Roslyn?” Fiona asked.

  She shrugged. “I’m looking for Gayle. There are some issues within the coven that need addressing, immediately.”

  “Isn’t it kind of late to be working?” I asked.

  She smirked. “Like The Three, most of our business hours are conducted at night. Do you hold us in ill will, Jonathan?” she asked, turning away from me.

  “Not all of you,” he said suggestively, casting a glace toward Darius. “And even then, it comes and goes.”

  A small smile worked at t
he corners of Darius’s mouth. “I’m not concerned.”

  “But he makes a good point, doesn’t he?” Roslyn pretended to admire her manicured nails. “Your sanctuary is not like our coven.”

  “What is it then?” I asked. “What’s he talking about?”

  “Again, it’s all about choice,” Elisa said. “But there’s a reason we insist on harmonious living. The spirit of this realm cannot abide with contention.”

  The muscles on my forehead tightened. “You said my mother believed this sanctuary was an actual being.”

  “Yes, and if we accept that analogy, then it has a sensitive spirit that breaks down when there’s controversy.”

  “What happens when it breaks down?”

  Laith cleared his throat. “It exposes us to attack. This subject concerns me. We’re being located too quickly. Jonathan can you see the veil?”

  “I—” But Jonathan’s voice broke off, his face turning a shade of color. “I don’t see the veil, but I don’t need to.”

  “Why’s that?” Laith asked.

  “Because I can sense Ava. I know where she is. When I get closer, it’s like a homing beacon.”

  “Great.” Darius sat at the edge of the desk. “So we’ll never get rid of you.”

  I turned from the group, opening the back door that led into the Healer’s garden. Water trickled from the exquisite stone fountain and string lights lent warmth to the night, but I felt no peace from its tranquil beauty.

  I leaned against the doorjamb for support, taking several steadying breaths before glimpsing the note in my hand.

  The Witch

  My heartbeat rose to an uncomfortable rate, but I managed to suppress my anger. The Witch. What witch? What did that mean?

  I turned in the doorway and focused on keeping my voice calm. “Tonight, the Annihilator warned that there was another traitor here in the sanctuary.”

  “Do you believe her?” Fiona asked. My gaze shifted to the Healer. The Great White Witch… did the Annihilator mean her? The mother of all witches?