Descent (The Immortal Chronicles Book 1)

by Sloane Murphy

  ***

  The movie finishes and like always I’m tucked up against Ty, crying onto his shoulder. I don’t care how girly it makes me, or if he thinks it’s weak. Their love is just out of this world! I want a love like that one day. I don’t know that it’ll ever happen, especially if I make the guard. I doubt I’ll date someone I work with, it’d be too dangerous, and who else would put up with me? It occurs to me that that might be why women don’t join the guard.

  Ty unwinds himself from me and stands up, Logan quickly follows him as they say their goodbyes and head back to their own room. I walk them out and lock the door behind them. Some girls have had their rooms broken into, so I like to be careful. I walk back over to Livvy who is curled up on the sofa in a blanket, and lay at the opposite end.

  “You okay, Livvy? I ask. She’s been really quiet since the film started, and normally she jabbers through the whole thing.

  “Do you think we’ll ever fall in love like they did Addie?”

  “I don’t know about me Livvy, but you? You’ll definitely fall in love like that. Who wouldn’t fall in love with you like that? They’d be crazy!”

  “I want what they have. What they had in the old world. I want a whole brood of children with a guy I’m crazy about, who loves me more than anything. I want to have them, and protect them, and love them because they’re mine. Because they came from true love.”

  “You’ll have that Livvy, just you wait and see. I can see you as a mom, with lots of little you’s running around driving you nuts, and me, Auntie Addie teaching them how to do it right,” I chuckle.

  “Never leave me, Addie. I don’t know how I’d survive without you.” She leans over to me, and I hug her.

  “I’m not going anywhere Livvy. Like I’ve always said, I will always protect you. Always.” And I mean it. With every part of me. Livvy is so pure and so good, she deserves to live a long, happy life, full of everything she’s ever dreamed of. God help anyone who stands in her way.

  “Livvy! Livvy, wake up!” I scream at her. The alarms are blaring, and I’ve never heard them go off before. This can only mean one thing. Shades are trying to breach the walls.

  “For god sake Livvy, wake the hell up!” I slap her, I don’t know what else to do. She shoots up, nearly head-butting me in the face. I jump back and rip off her cover.

  “Addie? What’s going on? What’s that noise?” she asks, the panic all over her voice. Tyler and Logan burst through the door making her scream.

  “The alarm Addie,” Tyler says, panic evident in his eyes.

  “I know, I know. Liv, get dressed. Jeans and tee, black. Now! Don’t ask questions, we don’t have time. I’ll explain on the way,” I order her, trying to keep my calm. I have no experience in this, and everyone is looking at me like I have all the answers. Well, shit. I pull on my black jeans and vest, and throw my hair into a ponytail. No time for anything else. I grab my black hoodie, noticing the guys have already got theirs on.

  “We need to head down to Defence. Dimitri will be there, unless he’s already out with the Red Guard, and even if he’s not, we need weapons.” I look around at them, Livvy is wrapped around Logan who is trying to stay strong, and Tyler has his game face on.

  The alarm is still going off, and red lights flicker on and off in the hallways. I peer round the door frame, Livvy behind me with Logan, then Tyler bringing up the rear. People are running around screaming, like it’s going to help them; others don’t even seem to know what’s going on. I step out into the hall, and start making my way down the hall slowly, keeping an eye on everyone else. I can see Tyler rounding people up as we go, so our foursome ends up turning into half of our floor. God knows where the rest of them are already. I try to think of a way to get to the Defence room without going through the courtyard, but I can’t think of a way around it. I lock eyes with Tyler and know that he’s just realised the same thing I have. We’re going to have to split up, the space is to open, and walking through in such a big group would be like shooting ducks in a barrel. We’re just asking to be picked off. Shit, shit, shit! I start down into the stairwell. We’ve got to get down four flights of stairs, before the alley to the court yard. Across that to the fountain, and then we should be good to the Defence room.

  I open the door to the stairwell and signal to Livvy to wait a second, while I make sure the coast is clear. Why the hell are the Shades attacking here? It makes no sense. The only place more guarded than the Academy, is the Fae palace. I creep out into the stairwell. I can hear by heartbeat in my ears. The alarm is screaming, making it so hard to judge what’s going on. I look down the middle of the stairwell, and the flashing red emergency lights make it hard to see anything. Screw it. We’ve got this. We’ve only got to make it a couple of hundred meters.

  I walk back to the door and signal to Tyler that we’re clear, then head back to the front. I wish I had my Sai already. I’d feel so much better about this if I did. I take a deep breath, and start down the stairs. I get to the bottom floor and release a breath to try and calm myself. I look behind me and see the group Tyler has managed to accumulate. He’s added people from each floor as we’ve come down. Not one of these people is a fighter, god dammit. I feel responsible for each and every single one of them. Tyler stands at the top of the flight of stairs. I can see the worry in his eyes reflecting my own, not that I’d expect anyone else to notice it. He’s like me, they’ll only see what he wants them to see. I know he lets me in.

  I take a deep breath and open the entrance door slowly. It’s so dark outside, but I can hear screams, and I can see smoke and fire.

  “Feck!” I whisper shout. Tyler rushes down the stairs towards me. I guess I wasn’t as quiet as I thought.

  “The Tower’s on fire. It looks like it’s spreading into the main hall.” I look up and meet his eyes. “Tyler, if it reaches there…”

  “I know Addie. One problem at a time. First the courtyard, then we’ll worry about the fire. Okay?” He reaches up and cups my chin making me keep eye contact with him. His faith in me floors me, he really thinks we can do this. He thinks I can do this.

  I steal some of his strength in that moment. Come on Addie. We’ve got this. I square my shoulders and nod at him to let him know I’m good. I head out of the door as he directs people to be quiet, and to follow me. I hug the wall as I turn left out of the dorm, then run across the green. I look back to make sure Livvy is keeping up. Once I reach the alley that leads to the courtyard, I lean against the fence waiting for everyone to catch up.

  In the time it takes Tyler to make sure everyone is with us, the screams have gotten louder and closer. I see someone running out of the white house dorm screaming, and I see a shadow chasing her.

  Shades!

  I look to Tyler and I know he’s seen it too. They’re gaining on us. I grab Livvy’s hand and turn and run down the alley, as quickly and quietly as I can. I can hear her start to cry, I want to comfort her but we don’t have time right now. We need to get to safety, once we’re there I can make sure she’s ok. I’ve stayed about three feet from the end of the alley. I can hear people running through the courtyard, and it makes me nervous about getting us all across it, to the Defence building. About what could be waiting for us in the courtyard. It’s such an open space, and it wasn’t designed with security in mind.

  I signal back to Tyler that I’m going forward, and he nods to let me know he understands. He comes to the front of the line of people. He knows that Livvy, Logan and himself are my first priority. I know it’s the same for him, which makes me feel better.

  I head to the opening of the alley and stop to take a look at the courtyard. There are bodies everywhere, students, Keepers, shades and the Red Guard alike. It’s like a scene from a massacre. I’ve never seen so much death, I feel tears in my eyes and quickly wipe them away. I don’t see any live shades around, so signal to Tyler to follow. Him and Logan approach with Livvy in between them, and the rest following behind Logan.

  I can feel
my hand start to tremble, so I mentally shake myself. I need to stay strong for Livvy. What sort of Red Guard would I be if I can’t handle this? I take another deep breath and steel myself against what I know I’m about to see again, and head out slowly into the courtyard, stepping over and around the bodies of the fallen. I hear Livvy gasp, and Tyler swear under his breath, but I try not to pay attention as I navigate across the open space.

  I’m nearly half way across when I see them to the right. A group of shades coming straight towards us, and we’re just out in the open. I know the others have spotted them when I hear a girl scream from the back of the group. I grab Livvy’s arm and start to run towards to the fountain. I can hear Tyler and Logan close behind us, their pace matching ours.

  I get to the fountain and duck down behind it, dragging Livvy down with me. She’s full on sobbing at this point, and I know the fear is getting the better of her. Tyler and Logan crouch down behind us. I can see Tyler trying to work out if he can go back and save anyone, but more shades have joined them and people are running in all directions to get away. I drop my head into my hands when I feel a hand on my shoulder.

  “Come on Addie, we can’t do anything here. We need to get to Defence,” Tyler whispers to me. I know he’s right, I just feel so frustrated and hopeless right now. I want to do more, but without a weapon, I’m as good as dead against the shades. I meet his eyes and nod to let him know I’ve heard him. I get up slowly, and all three mirror my actions.

  “Come on Livvy, not much further, I just really need you to keep quiet for a little longer ok?” I whisper to her. I don’t want the shades to spot us.

  I turn and head to the building, I can’t see anyone else around, so I open the door which squeaks and I freeze. It sounded so loud, and I’m on hyper alert. I don’t think anyone noticed, so I head in and down the corridor towards the Defence room. It’s so dark in here that I can barely see, but I know this place better than anywhere else on the campus. It’s like my second home. I push the door open slowly, there is no one in here and my shoulders droop. I had hoped Dimitri would still be here.

  I go in and head straight to the weapons locker. It’s already been raided which isn’t much of a surprise, but there’s still some stuff in here. Tyler grabs a Katana from the wall and puts the sheath strap across his back, then unsheathes his sword. He takes a few practice swings to marry himself with the blade.

  I turn back and kneel down to get the box that contains my Sai. I pull it out and lift the lid. They shine at me in the darkness. There are no emergency lights in here either. I guess someone cut the electricity to the building. I’m not sure how I feel about that, so I tuck it away to worry about later. I take a dagger in each hand and bow my head. I hope to god, or whoever is out there listening that we all survive tonight. I stand and get a feel for them, they feel like part of me, and I take slow, deep breaths preparing myself for what’s to come.

  “Addie, did you hear that?”

  I spin to face Tyler who has taken position up by the door, Logan is with Livvy in the back corner of the room, trying to comfort her and keep her quiet. I head over to him and listen intently, holding my breath so I can hear any little noise. That’s when I hear it. Footsteps coming towards the room. Slowly but surely. I just can’t tell how many pairs of footsteps there are. The pace starts to pick up, and we ready ourselves. It goes quiet and I tense, the door opens and I start to move, Tyler grabs me from behind to stop me.

  “What the hell Tyler!” I screech, then look and see Dimitri in the doorway.

  “Good to see you too Addie,” he laughs, before his face turns sombre. “Seriously though, it’s good to see you. I worried when I didn’t see you out there, and you weren’t in your dorm. The guard have the black and red houses locked up. So they’re the safe zone, you must’ve just passed them when you made your way here. I’ve just come back to grab some more weapons and take as many people back as I can.” I can see the relief in his eyes at finding people alive.

  “Sure, we’ll head back with you. How did they get in? What do they want?” I ask him.

  “They breached the walls, took out the guard on the left side and scaled the wall. I have no idea what they want, but they came with a force big enough to wipe us out if they need to. I know we’ve dropped their numbers down some, but they just seem to keep coming.”

  I shudder. If Dimitri sounds worried, it must be bad. He’s Elite.

  “Have the Elite been called?” I ask him, surely someone got word out.

  “They have, but they’re not close. Who knows what they’ll find when they get here.”

  “Okay,” I nod. “Let’s head out then.” I head back over to the weapons locker, grab a belt for my daggers and tie it around my waist, then sheath my Sai. I grab two Katanas from the wall and walk over to Livvy and Logan.

  “I know you both only have basic training with weapons, but you’re going to need these. I hope you don’t need to use them, but just in case, it’s better to be prepared. Remember, stay close to us.” I head back to Tyler and Dimitri at the door, and prepare myself mentally for going back across that courtyard. It’s going to be so much worse this time. Knowing the people fallen there. I feel Livvy grab my hand from behind and I squeeze it.

  “We’ll be ok Livvy, you’ll see. Just stay close ok?” I force a smile. We both know I can’t promise a thing, but I’d die for her, I just hope I don’t have to.

  Dimitri clears his throat and signals to the door. He leads, then me, then Livvy and Logan with Tyler at the back, as we start back down the corridor. I could almost laugh at the irony of the fact that we left the one place that’s actually safe on the entire campus. The fire from the main building casts shadows in the dark hallways, a trick of light making me even more on edge. We reach the main door and Dimitri goes through it first, with me following closely behind. The other three wait while we check to make sure it’s safe. We separate and circle the courtyard, I don’t want to get caught out again. I’m nearly at the other side with Dimitri, and I feel relief run through my body.

  It’s then I hear her scream.

  “Livvy!” I shout, and turn to run back as fast as I can. We get to the corridor and I see Tyler on the floor, bleeding from a giant gash on his head. Logan lies not far from him, lifeless, his glassy eyes looking at me. I frantically search for Livvy, but she’s not here.

  “Addie!” I hear Livvy yell, it sounds so far away. I look to Dimitri and he knows I’m going after her. I see it on his face, he’s coming with me. I silently thank him and start down the hall, with Dimitri on my heels.

  That’s when I see it. The blood smears on the floor. I swear to god I’m going to destroy these shades. I push harder, following the trail. It leads to the Defence Room. Shit. All of the weapons we left in there; like we needed a bigger disadvantage. I steel myself to what I could find on the other side of the door. I can’t hear a thing. I push the door open, and I can’t see a thing either. Dimitri follows me in closely. I should probably let the immortal Vampyr lead, but it’s Liv. This is on me; I should’ve stayed with her. Dammit!

  “Hello Adelaide Tate, I assume you’ve come to save this pathetic little human. You might not be in time, she’s losing blood quite quickly, I needed to make sure she bled enough to get you here,” the beast across the room from me says. He’s obviously the leader of the group, but he doesn’t look like a shade. I can’t put my finger on it, but I can almost feel the evil soullessness coming from him. Dimitri steps in front of me to face him. Thank god for him right now.

  “Kaden, fancy seeing you here. Picking on humans. This is a new low even for you. Now let her go before I make you.”

  “Oh Dimitri, how I missed this. You really think you can win? You’re precious Xander isn’t here this time. You don’t stand a chance,” he taunts back. I can see his minions coming out of the shadows surrounding us. Shit, shit, shit!

  I look at Livvy, hanging there, his dirty hand around her neck. She looks so pale; I can see the blood dripping fr
om her hand. Hang in there Livvy. I need to get to her, I stand with my back to Dimitri, preparing to fight our way out of this and unsheathe my Sai.

  “Oh stop stroking your fragile ego. You wanted us to come get her. Let’s go bitches. Unless you’re too afraid?” I say with more bravado than I feel. The shade in front of me snarls and pounces. Shit, he’s so quick! I barely miss him, and I just get chance to see Dimitri heading for Kaden. I see Livvy on the floor motionless, but I can’t get to her. There are three shades between her and me. I charge the first one, matching him blow for blow with my daggers. I shut down and become the warrior I’ve trained to be, step and slash, dodge and attack. I stab the first shade in the chest, the silver destroying his heart, and he goes down.

  I can still hear Dimitri and Kaden facing off, but I don’t have time to think about it, as the remaining two shades attack simultaneously. Step and slash, dodge and attack, but this time I’m not fast enough. I take a hit to my stomach, which makes my breath leave me. I don’t have time to recover before they’re on me. I take a blow to the back of the head, which sends me to my knees. Their strength is out of this world. I try to fight back, but I can feel how useless it is. I take a punch to the face and I hit the floor face down, before they kick me in my ribs. I can’t move, and darkness starts to descend, blurring the edges of my vision.

  I can see Livvy right in front of me. She’s still here, I can see her hand reach out to me and I try to do the same. I look her in the eyes, and a tear runs down my cheek. I see the shades head back to her, and I try to move. She silently mouths “I love you. It’s going to be okay. I love you,” to me, and I break. They took my Sai, and even if I had them I can barely move. I try to push myself up to get to her. I know it’s coming before I see it, but I refuse to accept it. I watch the calm wash over her, as they place my blade against her neck. “It’ not your fault Addie,” she mouths to me again, and I can’t get past the lump in my throat that has stolen my voice, as I watch the life fade from her eyes.