Blood Beyond Darkness

by Brown, Stacey Marie

  The light of the moon slipped behind a cloud, dipping me in a misty darkness.

  Run! My instincts screeched at me.

  Along with the thump of my heart, my feet pounded against the earth, pushing me forward. A chilled ripple caressed the nape of my neck and down my back. My nerves heated me quickly, dropping trickles of sweat along my spine.

  Run faster.

  Intuition lit another fire under my feet. My muscles strained as I pushed my legs to move quicker, jumping and weaving around the wood’s hurdles.

  Branches of a distorted tree curled down, wrapping around a two-story boulder, blocking my path. I twisted into a new direction but stumbled. Fear leaped into my gut, coiling around it. I smelled what was after me, its scent ingrained in my memory.

  Strighoul.

  A branch snapped behind me. I whipped around to see dozens of red, beady eyes staring at me through the gloomy night. I sucked in a breath. Screwed did not even cover it. If I still had my powers, I could have possibly fought them. With so many Strighoul against one partial Dark Dweller, I had no hope. They moved closer as a united front and circled me. My frantic gaze jerked everywhere trying to find an escape.

  “You won’t get away.” Vek’s nasally voice spoke through the blackness. “We’ve only been playing with our dinner until now.”

  He stepped out of the shadows. His patchy, colorless skin looked even more frightening in the dim light. Thousands of needle teeth flickered as he opened his mouth, showing me his armory. The haze of the moon reflected off the dripping saliva, which drenched each tooth in shiny brilliance.

  “You have been a pain to get to in the past. I thank you for making your capture so easy today.”

  I kept my voice calm. “I’m no good to you now. My powers are gone. You will get no hit off me.” I didn’t know if informing him of the change was good or bad for my outcome, but I was willing to try.

  A laugh came from behind Vek who had clearly taken over as leader. His new Second stepped next to him and smiled at me. He was skinnier than Vek and only had one eye. The other eye would never open again, marred by claw marks entrenched deep into his skin. “I know you are lying. I can smell the Dark Dweller in you. The hit off you will be nice, and so will the revenge for our last leader.”

  I licked my lips looking at the two creatures. Their former leader had been Drauk. I had cut off his head when they attacked us in the cave while we were in Greece. They had been hired by Lorcan to distract us so he could grab Kennedy.

  “Besides our revenge, we were paid to find you. I know she would prefer to kill you herself, but if something went wrong ...” He trailed off.

  “Wait. Find me? You work for Aneira now?” Confusion laced my words. “But you’re Dark Fae. I thought you wanted her dead?”

  “We are, and we do.” Vek nodded, his red eyes glimmering. “Like your boyfriend, or whatever he used to be, we are mercenaries. We work for the highest bidder. Our revenge on her will come in time, but until then, we have to get by. You are too important a prize to pass up.”

  Dark Fae were definitely opportunists.

  “Isn’t anybody faithful to their side anymore?” I tossed out my arms.

  Vek snapped his teeth. I recalled, with painful clarity, those teeth ripping into my neck. “We will be faithful when the Dark starts delivering results or pays better. You should tell your uncle his workers are going on strike.” Vek snorted.

  So ... the secret of my parentage was out. Worst kept secret in the Otherworld.

  “I definitely preferred it when your father was King, especially when he went crazy. Those were good times.” Vek took another step toward me.

  My body locked in defense. I gripped the handle of my blade so tight it ached. Being threatened brought out the Dark Dweller in me: my eyes shifted, and the night before me sharpened with intensity.

  “I see talking time is over.” Vek licked his bottom lip.

  The rest of his men had moved forward to keep me in a tight space, and the stone wall behind locked me in.

  As I turned and gathered my legs to jump on the wall, Vek leaped forward and grabbed my hair. With a yank, my body thumped to the ground. He was on top of me before I could react, ripping the knife from my hand.

  “I foresee something going wrong. I guess the Queen won’t get you alive. Or whole.” Vek’s mouth opened, the daggers of his teeth heading for my neck.

  Terror kicked in, and my Dark Dweller responded. I tore away from his grip and smashed the heel of my hand into his mouth. Bone crunched, slicing through my skin, and tore at the tendons in my hand. Through the pain, I could feel bits of his fangs falling from my hand to my chest like hail.

  He shrieked so loud my ears rang painfully. Vek’s body slid off mine to the ground. Blood poured from his mouth as he spit out fragments of teeth.

  “You bitch,” he screeched. His mouth was a gory, crusted maw full of bloody, broken teeth, dripping with drool.

  Shit! If I thought I was screwed before, the retaliation for defending myself would be slow and torturous.

  Vek’s Second grabbed me under the arms and yanked me to my feet. His grip turned painful as he grasped my neck, bending it painfully to the side.

  It took Vek a few moments, but he finally got to his feet, spitting out more blood and bone. “I want to snap your neck like a twig, but it will be more fun eating you alive.”

  “Then we’ll have to get you a straw. You should probably stay away from solids for a while.”

  Why, mouth, why? Why must you always open and say shit to make things worse?

  Vek’s fist thrashed my face. My nose crunched, and warm blood poured from it. My cheek throbbed, but I turned my face back toward him, defiant. “Maybe if you ask nicely, they will make a smoothie out of me for you.”

  I was going to die. They were not going to be nice about it anyway, so I might as well go out being my usual smart-ass self.

  A garbled screech came from the depths of Vek’s throat, his hands found my neck, and tore me away from his man’s hold. We both went to the ground. His hands crushed my air passage, and he banged my head against the earth as he grunted with fury. Dots popped into my vision as I struggled against him. Air no longer entered my lungs, and panic burned in my chest and eyes. Death was inevitable. I thought I had accepted it, but when the moment happened, I forgot to acquiesce.

  My hands tore at his fingers, trying to get underneath them and pry them off. His wild rage kept them locked like steel around my neck. Legs flayed as my knees rammed into his back. Out of my peripheral vision, I saw movement. Legs were moving in all different directions around my head. I wondered why. Funny when you were dying, or at least passing out, you paid attention to strange things. It was frantic and irrational.

  Blackness devoured my sight. My ears rang with the lack of oxygen. My Dark Dweller fought back with all it had, but the lack of air stole my energy. Something bumped Vek, and a rush of air infiltrated my lungs, blowing them up like balloons. Vek’s hands were gone, but I could still feel the pressure of them engraved in my throat. I sputtered and coughed and rolled to my side. My hearing streamed back into my ear canals. A roar filled them along with the sound of screeching and frantic movement. Slick blackness stepped over my body. Four huge paws stood like a fortress around me, guarding.

  ELEVEN

  Eli. The figures had retreated from the dark killer beast.

  “There is only one of you, Elighan. You think you can protect her from all of us?” Vek’s words were slurred and choppy.

  A growl rumbled the ground. The sound and tremor it caused would have been enough to send me hightailing it out of there, but the Strighoul were tenacious, reminding me of a pack of hyenas.

  They slowly advanced, circling him. I could sense Eli’s frustration. If he left me, one of them would seize me. If he didn’t, they would come at him from all sides.

  I had no doubt if alone, Eli would be able to take them all on. With me injured, he was in trouble. It was frustrating for me to
be so helpless. Usually by now the earth would be healing me, giving me strength to fight. I still felt connected to the earth, but it couldn’t help me.

  One of the Strighoul leaped out, biting at one of Eli’s back leg. He roared and started to move before deciding against it. Another jumped out and nipped at Eli’s front. Eli’s beast form bellowed.

  They inched closer, getting braver. My throat ached fiercely, but my coughing had stopped. Blood soaked my shirt, drying on my face. I rolled onto my stomach, under Eli, trying to get a better view. I did not do helpless well. I was in a lot of pain, but I could not sit back and be the damsel in distress. If I had an ounce of energy left, I would use it to fight. My knife had fallen too far away from where Eli and I waited to retrieve it. Shakily, I crawled from under him and stood.

  His eyes found mine. What are you doing?

  Fighting back, Dragen. It’s what I do.

  He snorted with frustration but didn’t try to stop me. Get on my back.

  My eyes widened. Have you seen your back? Do you want me shish-kabobed?

  You can fit in-between. Be careful.

  Be careful. Right. He was talking to me.

  As I put my foot up on his side, he lunged forward and swiped at a Strighoul moving in on us. Stop moving! I screamed inside my head. I knew he hadn’t heard me as his focus stayed on the threat around us.

  His head swung back to look at me. Now, Brycin. We don’t have time for indecision.

  You are not the one going to be sliced in half if this doesn’t go right! I yelled back at him.

  Would you prefer to get a little cut from me or be torn to bits and eaten by one of them while you are still alive?

  Good point.

  Eli took another swing at an encroaching Strighoul.

  Little cut, my ass, I thought as I looked at the daggers protruding from his back. But he was right; I would rather be slashed by his razor-sharp weapons than theirs.

  He lowered himself as I tried to slide in between the sharp blades. Vek wailed and leaped for me, bumping my body as he crashed into Eli’s side. Without thinking, my hand grabbed onto Eli’s back to keep from falling off. Pain seared into me as my skin sliced apart. Blood gushed from my palm. Vek also screamed and fell to the ground, holding his arm. A chunk of flesh lay on the ground next to him.

  Eli felt my weight and bounded forward, knocking down the Strighoul like bowling pins. Both my hands wound around the serrated edge of his back. I sucked in a pained breath, but I held on. My hands tore as he crashed into each body, slamming them back. Vek grabbed onto my leg, yanking my knee cap out of joint. I yelped in pain. Eli lashed out, and his claw sliced Vek’s arm. With a sickening sound, Vek and his hand fell from my leg onto the ground, the hand no longer attached to its owner.

  The noise coming from Vek was nothing I had heard before. Vomit shot up my throat as blood sprayed over me. Eli did not hesitate. He plunged into the forest, getting us away from the flesh eating creatures.

  Several miles later, when blood loss made me dizzy, and I slipped off Eli’s back and hit the ground with a thud, he finally stopped.

  The last thing I remember were green eyes and a naked body leaning over me.

  “Brycin!” A voice called me back from the darkness. “Don’t you fucking die on me.” There was a pause before the same familiar voice spoke again. “Will giving her my blood work again?”

  “I think so. She is more Dark Dweller than anything now, but there are still a lot of variables. She doesn’t have her Dae powers, so I don’t know if it will affect how she takes your blood this time. She absorbed a lot of poison through the cuts on her hands from your spikes; she’s only alive now because of her Dark Dweller blood.” I knew the other voice as well as the first one. Owen.

  My lids refused to open. Nothing responded to my orders to move. I felt trapped inside my body. I could hear, but nothing else. I couldn’t even feel my body, making me wonder if I was even in it.

  “Take as much as you need. She lost a lot out there.”

  “You are lucky you found her in time.”

  “I almost didn’t. When the connection between us disappeared this time, I figured she went to the Otherworld. By her scent, I knew what door she went through, so I waited there. I felt our bond come back to life, but she didn’t come through the same door.” Eli paused. “It was torture when I smelled the Strighoul and knew she was so far away. I nearly lost her to them.”

  Silence.

  “Have you contacted Lars yet?” Owen sounded like he stood directly over me. I heard the soft squeak of wheels being rolled closer.

  “Yeah.” Eli sucked in a breath. “It was not a pleasant conversation. I’m sure he will be here momentarily. Ouch.”

  “Sorry,” Owen replied. “The needle is thick. We need to fill the IV bag and get it into her system as fast as we can.”

  “She’s going to be okay, right?”

  “I’ve never seen anyone suffer like she has and still keep getting up.” Owen said. “She’s a fighter.” His tone told me he wasn’t only speaking about my physically wounds.

  “Yeah. She is.”

  “You need to tell her the whole truth when she wakes up, and she will.” I wasn’t sure if Owen tried to convince Eli or himself.

  “It doesn’t matter anymore. She’s made her decision. It’s over.” Eli’s voice turned icy.

  Owen didn’t respond.

  Far off, almost like someone else was experiencing it, I sensed a strange stinging in my arm.

  “The morphine should keep her out of pain. We will see in a bit how she reacts to your blood. I think she will accept it fine.” Owen’s shoes clicked on the hardwood. “Sit and relax. I will be back shortly with something for you to eat and to check on her.” The noise of the door closing came soon after.

  The sound of Eli breathing was the only thing I heard for a long time. A warm feeling started to snuggle in around my mind, pulling me away from consciousness. When a chair skidded across the floor, moving closer to me, I felt my body twitch.

  “When I was dying, you probably didn’t think I heard you, but I did.” Eli’s voice sounded gravelly and low. I could sense he was only inches from my face. “I will give you the same inspiring words you gave me. Don’t you dare fucking die on me, Brycin. Don’t be so damn pigheaded, either. If you really want to piss me off, you’ll live. Being alive, so close to me ... and I can’t have you. That will punish me enough. More than you dying on me.” He sighed. “And I know you love to get under my skin. Torture me.”

  I grappled to hold onto his words, to understand what he was saying, but they quickly slid out of my head as soon as he spoke them. Sleep wrapped thickly around my mind and created a fuzzy filter.

  A distant pressure came down on my forehead before I fell into the comforting escape of sleep.

  This time I wasn’t surprised to see the rows of cells and dark shadows of the dungeon.

  “Grimmel?”

  The sound of wings beating came to me before I saw the raven. He swooped down and landed on a wheelbarrow full of soiled hay.

  “Fire brighter now. Light inside.”

  “I’m going to take that as a compliment.” I was pretty sure I knew what he meant, but you never knew with Fae.

  “Know what you seek, Fire?”

  Lily’s voice suddenly came to me: “A raven, Grimmel, who adored and was faithful to Aisling, knew every inch of the castle, every secret tunnel and room.”

  The splinter festering in my mind since my last dreamwalk with him finally dug in. “You can help me locate the sword. Find out where it is hidden,” I exclaimed.

  Grimmel’s claws padded to the edge of the barrel. “Flame finally kindled.”

  “Why didn’t you say it straight out a long time ago?”

  “Because.”

  “That’s it? Because?”

  “Greatness only found in brightest spark.”

  I rubbed the bridge of my nose. “I am going to clip your wings.”

  Grimmel til
ted his head, looking like he didn’t understand my comment.

  “All right, will you help me find where Aneira has hidden the sword?”

  “No.”

  “No?” I sputtered. “But you said ...”

  “Queen feels Fire’s flames.”

  “You mean she will sense me here?” His black eyes continued to stare at me. “Then can you search for me?”

  “Grimmel do. Grimmel help.” He squawked and flew up to the barred window. “Grimmel knows all secrets.” He glided out of the room at the same time I felt the thrust of being propelled out of the dreamwalk and back to my body on Earth.

  Light slowly bled under my lids as they lifted. The glittering of a chandelier above my head attracted my eyes, sharpening my focus.

  “It is all right, Ember. You are home and safe.” A voice spoke next to me. My head jerked to see Rez sitting in a chair next to my bed with a damp cloth in her hand.

  I opened my mouth to speak but nothing came out. I winced at the slightest movement of my head, my neck badly bruised.

  “You should not try to talk. Your vocal chords have been damaged.” Rez sat forward and placed her hand on mine. “Because of the Dark Dweller’s blood, you will heal. But the injury was bad, so it will still take some time.”

  A fuzzy memory of Eli and Owen dipped into my consciousness. My veins buzzed with new Dark Dweller blood. My senses were so sharp it was almost uncomfortable for me to keep my eyes open. The smells of antiseptic, blood, and sweat were so potent I felt nauseous.

  I pushed myself up and rested against my headboard. When I felt less dizzy, I reached for my night stand drawer. Inside was a journal. I snatched it and grabbed a pen. Finding a blank page I scribbled a note.

  How long have I been out?

  Rez’s eyes ran over the page. “You have been sleeping for three days. But you’ve been gone from the compound for two weeks.”