Blood Beyond Darkness

by Brown, Stacey Marie

  I knew Aneira had planned Aisling’s murder, but for her to have watched with pleasure showed me exactly how truly cold she was. Anger burned in my chest, and my lids narrowed on Aneira.

  “Yes, she gave me the same look before she died. She thought she had outsmarted me, and she had won, even if it was simply getting you out of the Otherworld. Well, Aisling ... do you hear me? Your bastard daughter is following you to the dark pits of the underworld. You will finally have some time together.” Her eyes scanned around wildly and seemed to be actually waiting for her sister to reply.

  Aneira stared down, her eyes widened as she watched me. I felt she no longer saw me, but a ghost. “Aisling?” She jerked back, then shook her head, trying to clear out the haunting memories. She rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet. Words I could not decipher rushed out of her mouth in garbled mumble. She looked like she had snapped.

  Lars told me too much magic could turn someone insane, especially one with Dae powers. She had hers and mine. It was not natural for her body or mind to hold so much. A pure Fay could not handle a Dae’s power for long. No other species could. We were designed to handle it better. But we even struggled with containing our magic, some Daes still went insane.

  Aneira screamed at me. “Aisling, I know you can hear me. I won, little sister. You did well at trying to best me, but I prevailed. Daddy always said you were the smarter, stronger, more magic-filled one. It looks like he was wrong. I survived you all. And I even won against a prophecy. It was me at the end who outsmarted everyone.”

  A wave of dizziness enveloped me. My head felt thick and groggy. The blood loss pulled me toward unconsciousness. It seemed I was seeing Aneira through my mother’s eyes. Aisling had expected her sister’s betrayal. My heart felt heavy with sadness. “I loved you, Aneira. Even when you made it impossible.” The words came out of my mouth, but I didn’t remember thinking them.

  What the hell?

  Aneira stopped, and her huge eyes bore into me. “You betrayed me! You left me. You did not love me. You loved those Demons more,” she ranted.

  Whatever had come over me was gone and left behind a slight tingling in my back. Energy twitched through my tattoo. Heat ignited the curly ink marks, burning through my back, giving me strength. In my fuzzy brain, I knew beyond a doubt my mom had come to me. Aisling was the one who spoke. The strength came from her. My tattoo was her calling card, the thing she sent me in a dreamscape to protect myself. She wanted me to survive. To fight my enemy and get out safely.

  Thank you, Mom.

  I tried to lift my head, but an involuntary grunt fell from my lips.

  Aneira shook her head, her violet-blue eyes sharpening on me. Her confusion was gone. She did not see my mother anymore; she saw me. Her grip tightened around the handle of her sword. “I have been waiting for this day. It should have been you who died, not my sister,” Aneira sneered. “I cannot believe she would betray me for a Demon and a bastard child. A DAE!”

  I tried to lift my head again. It stayed long enough to get a better view of the room. The Sword of Light rested on the floor behind Aneira, near Eli’s body. With every fiber or ounce of my energy, I would get to the sword. It was my fate, and I could not fail. Power slammed into my chest, knocking my head back. All my muscles locked under the Demon magic, holding me unmovable against the cold stones.

  “You will not be leaving here. Alive anyway,” she howled.

  One single tear leaked from my eye. It angered me. I would not die crying like a baby.

  Eli’s words came back to haunt me. We are in this together. No matter the outcome. Yes, both of us would die in here. Very Romeo and Juliet of us to perish together.

  I always hated that play.

  “Now it is your turn to join your mother and father. Aisling gave her own life to save you ... all for nothing.” Aneira drew her sword. “You failed, Ember. Even the prophesied one could not kill me.”

  I shut my eyes, feeling a burst of air hit my face as she swung the sword toward my neck. I am sorry, was all I could think, to all the people who still lived and to my loved ones.

  A shrill scream echoed through the room. My lids burst open. Only inches from my neck, the sword fell from Aneira’s hands. Her mouth opened in a frozen scream. A glowing metal point stuck out of her stomach, blood seeping into the fabric of her clothes. Aneira went limp and collapsed. Her flesh tore as the sword slid out of her body.

  THIRTY-TWO

  My brain grappled to understand the scene in front of me.

  “Daes weren’t the only ones whose bloodlines were repressed.” Kennedy stood over the Queen’s body, the Sword of Light in her hand. It illuminated a warm glow, filling the room with its brilliant radiance. It had come alive for Kennedy. It never had for me ... because ... I wasn’t the one it was meant for. Ever.

  By one of the Light, Darkness will take its revenge.

  A bloodline that cannot be repressed will rise to power.

  A descendant will take the throne.

  Blood will seek to kill you.

  She who possesses the Sword of Light will have the power.

  Holy shit! The prophecy was talking about two different people, not one. It never said a Dae would take the throne, but she who possesses the sword. It had been meant for Kennedy all along.

  By body was released from Aneira’s Demon hold on me, and I pushed myself up.

  “Ember!” Kennedy’s attention finally broke from Aneira. Kennedy dropped the sword at her feet and came to my side to aid me. Her arms shook as she helped get me on my feet. I swayed and almost fell again, but she gripped harder. “Are you okay?”

  I nodded. “I think so.”

  A groan came from the body at our feet. A yelp rose from Kennedy as she jumped back. I went back to my knees and turned Aneira’s face to me.

  “She’s still alive.” I looked at Kennedy. Leave it me to state the obvious. Kennedy’s face turned white, her eyes looking at me with hope. I shook my head. “Kennedy, it has to be you. It glowed for you. It’s you who was prophesized, not me. You are the one meant to kill her. And as long as Aneira lives, the curse is still on me. I cannot touch the sword.”

  I could taste my desire for Aneira’s blood. I wanted to avenge all she had done: the deaths of my friends and family, the annihilation of innocent people. I wanted to destroy her, but I now realized it wasn’t my fate to kill Aneira and become Queen. It was Kennedy’s.

  Kennedy was not a violent person by any means. The only reason she could stab Aneira was because she was about to slice off my head. The idea of stabbing Aneira again made Kennedy look like she wanted to vomit.

  “And you have to chop off her head. It’s the only way to kill her.”

  “What?” Kennedy screeched. “I-I can’t chop off her head!”

  Aneira coughed, blood leaking from her mouth.

  I stood. “You have to. It must be you. You were meant to be Queen.” My voice sounded strong and sure with the realization I was right.

  An eerie chuckle came from the body at our feet. “You both are pathetic. Even the all-powerful Dae and Druid can’t kill me ...” Another spasm of coughs made her sentence trail off.

  I grabbed Kennedy’s hands, forcing her to look at me. “Kennedy, you and you alone have to fulfill the vision. Remember all she has taken from you: your human family, Ryan, and Jared. Your whole clan died because she wanted to break the spell on the sword. This sword was always meant for you to avenge your family.”

  Kennedy gulped.

  Suddenly, Aneira rolled over and reached for her own personal sword. Kennedy’s instinct took over. She seized Nuada’s Sword. It burned bright at her touch. Aneira’s body leaped up, and with a strangled cry she turned to me. Anger and hatred twisted her features.

  Kennedy dove in front of me, swinging. With a bone chilling slash of flesh and bone, the sword cut through Aneira’s neck. Blood sprayed across us as Aneira’s body fell as a lump on the floor. Her head flew across the room and rolled underneath a bench.
Symbolic really. From below her ruling seat—where she would never reign again, the Queen’s dead eyes were wide with horror, staring at us with disbelief.

  In that moment, Aneira’s curse on me broke. I went on my knees with a deep gasp. Magic surged into my body and dumped power through me like water from a broken dam. It was almost too much. I clung to the surface, breathing in sharply. Then the flood stopped. My magic coiled contentedly inside me. The emptiness I had never gotten used to gurgled with happiness. It was glad to be home. My chest opened, feeling the power exude through me. I felt whole again. My arm wrapped around my stomach cradling the core of my energy.

  The room stood silent. Only Kennedy’s heavy breathing and my own could be heard. Blood which was not mine dripped down my face.

  “Holy crap.” My stomach clenched as more of Aneira’s blood trickled to the corners of my mouth. I would not throw up. “Are you all right?” I turned to Kennedy.

  She stood frozen.

  “Kennedy? Are you okay?”

  She nodded. The sword clanged to the old rock floor as it fell from her hands. A cry broke from her lips.

  I rushed to her, wrapping my arms around her. I held her tightly as she sobbed. “Shhhh ... it’s okay.” There was nothing else I could say. No words would make the memory of her slicing off a woman’s head go away. No matter how evil the person was, Kennedy didn’t work like me. I felt nothing for Aneira’s death. At least right then I was numb to it. She had to die.

  “She’s dead.” Kennedy hiccupped in my ear. She turned her head on my shoulder, her tears soaking my shirt.

  “You did it.” I squeezed her tighter to my body. “That took a lot of balls, girl. I am so proud of you.”

  Kennedy pulled free from my arms, stepping back. Her legs buckled, and I reached out clutching her elbow in my grip, keeping her from falling. She turned her puffy, blotchy face to mine, and her soft brown eyes stared back at me with sadness and doubt. “We did it.”

  Liquid rimmed at the corners of my lids, and a small pained smile spread over my mouth. “Yeah. We did it. Together.” Like the prophecy had always foreseen. But no one else had predicted, with the help of a Dae, it would be a Druid who would rule.

  The prophecy may not have been accomplished in the way most expected, but it had been fulfilled. We were all heroes in this story.

  My fate and strength were not tied to a prophecy or even to my own powers. I learned I was the same person with or without them. Who I was and what I wanted for my life came from me. I dictated it. My powers would always be a part of me, but it wasn’t until I lost them did I realize they didn’t define me. I loved, lived, fought, messed up, and fell on my face—a lot. But I was me, and I was proud of that.

  I’m Ember Aisling Devlin Brycin ... and proud of all that my name represents.

  EPILOGUE

  I stood on a cliff looking down on San Francisco Bay. The famous Golden Gate Bridge lay submerged deep beneath the chilly waters of the Pacific. It hadn’t withstood the infiltration of magic which saturated Earth when the barrier between the worlds collapsed. Structurally not much did, not in North America anyway. I had seen for myself Europe had survived better, not counting London, of course, since it got hit twice. Overall it seemed the older the structure, the better it performed against magic.

  Technology completely died. Not a lot could withstand the energy storm of Otherworld. Fae weren’t completely tech un-savvy. They had their own versions of the necessary equipment. Strangely enough, only the Unseelie King and his men had these tools at their disposal. Thankfully, I was one of those people. The contraption hanging off my belt loop worked like a long-distant walkie-talkie. For my job I had to have it.

  Travel was not easy anymore. Planes, cars, and trains had been abandoned and considered useless. The old “doors” to the Otherworld were mostly gone since the worlds now joined as one. Pockets of magic still survived if you knew how to find them. It took me awhile and a lot of wrong entrances, but I was beginning to learn how to get to places I needed to go. I felt bad for the unsuspecting human who walked through one and ended in another state or country. When it happened, it had to be traumatic.

  The beach below, which normally swarmed with tourists and locals, stood empty. The sparkling, blue water rolled onto the sand precisely like it always had. But the world was no longer what it used to be. It had been four months since Samhain, when life and the world changed completely. Suddenly, humans could see the monsters they thought existed only in books. They could see the trolls who were their math teachers and the goblins who drove the local bus. Chaos was an understatement. Humans lost their bearings and realities, and life became a free-for-all.

  Of course, a lot of Fae took advantage of the disorder, the Strighoul being some of the worst offenders. They were growing in strength and numbers. I knew it was only a matter of time before we would have to deal with them. The more time we took to get our world back on its feet, the larger and bolder the Strighoul grew. The day would come when we could no longer ignore them. Thankfully, today was not that day.

  The Unseelie King and the newly appointed Seelie Queen were trying their best to restore order. You’d think a Demon would love bedlam and the extremely heightened emotions and debauchery. Man at his worst. But it had gotten way out of control. Lars favored organized chaos, which he could regulate and govern.

  Kennedy had taken to her role as Queen with a strength and determination which made me feel honored to know her. It was as if she were meant to be Queen. If you believed in prophesies, she had been. I had always felt deep down I never was. Being Seelie ruler wasn’t me and not something I wanted. I preferred what I did now.

  She wrestled with her new title. It was not easy going from high school student to ruler of a kingdom. Kennedy also struggled privately. Jared’s death changed her. She desperately mourned his loss. She never talked about it much. Besides Ryan, I was the only one she let see her true emotions. Even then, I could feel she held back.

  Kennedy’s transition had not been easy for the Fae either. Many of them revolted against her, saying she was not of Fae blood and should not be their Queen. With the help of Torin and Thara, she was beginning to establish a new royal court and building a ruling government.

  When she sent me out to find her family, her adoptive parents and sister, I learned they all perished in the aftermath of the war—in the wrong place at the wrong time. The day I revealed the news to her had been horrible. Kennedy cried on my shoulder until one of her men needed her for something. She wiped her face, held her head up, and went back to work. “People need me. I must be strong for them,” she said to me before leaving the room. None of her personal tragedy was shown to the outside world. She threw herself into her duties. She was compassionate, regal, and fair.

  Many humans were unable to cope with the new world, but Kennedy did her best to provide help for both humans and Fae. She erected shelters for those who were not mentally able to handle the change. The accommodations were basically a new version of a mental hospital.

  I learned from Lars about someone I knew who was now in one of the asylums. Sheriff Weiss. A man who only saw a black and white world. After the fall, when the whole world turned gray and monsters and myths were no longer bedtime stories, he fell apart. He could not handle the new reality. He and those like him were put in a place where they couldn’t hurt themselves or others. It should have felt satisfying and something like justice to know Weiss was locked up in the exact place where he always wanted to place me. I actually felt bad for him. His mind was not strong enough to accept his unyielding truth had been the lie.

  My gaze wandered over the isolated scenery around me. The Otherworld changed Earth’s atmosphere. The air was thick and heavy with magic. The sun was setting in the distance, casting an electric purple haze which weaved and rolled with density. My skin tingled from the sensation, causing my hair to stand on end. My powers were teeming with the constant stream of energy.

  I felt more content with my abil
ities restored, but it would be a constant struggle for me to keep them controlled and not let them take over. Daes were not supposed to exist, and many went crazy because of their excess magic. The need to let go and allow myself to fall into the power was sometimes overpowering, especially right after I got my abilities back. Aneira had heightened their need to be used, like an addict pining for the next hit. It wasn’t something I would ever overcome, but I hoped I would get to the point I could handle the constant desire. I would not let them dictate me. I ruled myself.

  The moment my powers had returned, so had my bond with Torin. It wasn’t nearly as strong, but I could feel him again. Our connection would never fully go away. It was another thing I would live with. After the war, I learned Torin had barely made it out of the castle alive. I hoped his experiences would give him a new outlook on life. So far I had not seen a big change, although I felt the darkness beginning to ebb inside him. Even with the returned link between us, we never shared dreamscapes or talked to each other in our minds, and I knew we never would again. We no longer shared the intimacy of those types of “connections.”

  Torin stood faithfully by his new Queen. Once again he became the First Knight, without the negative implications attached to the title. Maybe having one aspect of his life restored gave him part of his soul back. He stood at Kennedy’s side and did his job ceaselessly. Through our bond, I could feel his soul, which had once been so bright and happy, only lighten now when Kennedy entered. She had given him his place back. Some kind of peace. Torin’s gratitude to her was evident, although he was all duty and little of anything else.

  It would always twist my gut knowing I had a lot to do with his darkness, but I no longer blamed myself. Torin had chosen to deal with what happened as he did. He could have seen there was another destiny in store for him. Like someone told me once: sometimes you choose destiny and sometimes it chooses you. I would never stop caring about Torin. He deserved so much, if he’d only let happiness in.