The Fury's Light

by Hailey Staker

  Elijah turned toward the stage but Aiden was gone.

  Although he wanted to look for Rae, the urge to kill, the violent instinct he’d worked so hard to subdue overwhelmed him. He attacked the closest vampire, ripping his throat out, followed by his heart. The vampire fell to ashes in the mud as rain cascaded around him. He threw the stake at the next vampire. Each creature that went down moved him closer and closer to a breaking point.

  Elijah took hold of the next vampire’s arm, turning him around to stake him. He froze as thunder boomed above them. Soaking wet, Elijah lowered his arm, as did Micah.

  “We meet again, brother,” Micah said, embracing his lost companion.

  ~

  The forest was dark while Aiden ran through the mud and shadows appeared and disappeared. Thunder cracked, followed by lightning, lighting up the forest. He continued to dodge shadows, running through the forest. A thick black fog engulfed him, lifting him off the ground.

  He kicked, struggled to break free. Flying through the air, Aiden collided with a tree trunk, fell to the ground, and gasped for breath. The tip of a blade touched his chin, motioning for him to rise.

  “Look at you, trying to be a hero,” a deep voice said. “You don’t even know what you’re looking for.”

  Aiden pushed himself to a standing position, red sparks surrounding his hands. A flash of fire illuminated the men, sending the sword-wielder tumbling to the ground. An amber sword, the blade the color of copper, formed in Aiden’s left hand.

  “Pick up your sword,” Aiden said, challenging the man.

  “Aiden, the great Ruby Fury. I am Alric,” he said.

  “Didn’t I kill you already?” Aiden asked. He swung, the Fury’s sword meeting Alric’s charcoal blade, the chainmail hilt clinking. The sounds of metal clashing with metal rang in their ears.

  Thunder clapped in the sky above as sheets of rain continued to drown the sound of the fight, the clash of the metal, the swings, the swooping movements, and the grace of veteran warriors. The hilt of Aiden’s sword met Alric’s as he spun around. He knelt, kicking at Alric’s kneecap, disabling him.

  The steel sword sunk in the mud created by the storm. Aiden dug the toe of his boot into Alric’s chest, the tip of his sword grazing the material above the Dark acolyte’s heart.

  “Don’t worry, this will only hurt for a moment,” Aiden said.

  “The girl will die, you all will!” Alric yelled before the amber sword sliced through his shirt, shattering the bone beneath.

  Aiden felt the pulse of Alric’s heart through the sword, each thump before the Dark servant lay lifeless beneath him. The blade glowed orange like it had been sitting in a pile of burning coals, forcing Alric’s skin to burn from the inside, his bones turning to ash beneath Aiden’s boot.

  ~

  A shadow bolt knocked Lana to the ground but she pushed herself back up, grabbing soil in her hands. Fists formed, which she swung in the direction the bolt came from. Thick clumps of ground and roots were sent flying, colliding with bolts of darkness from the man pursuing her. The storm raged on, turning dirt to mud, growing vines and roots around her.

  Dark shadows flew toward her, only for them to be blocked by a spiral of mud surrounding her. Lightning struck the ground again and again, forcing the man back. He conjured large blobs of melted mercury-looking creatures, sending them hurtling toward the earthy barrier keeping him from his prize.

  He had been tasked to find a reason for his master to return to Clover Bay, to find one thing he’d want more than anything to obtain. She was it; she was the key to unlocking the true meaning of Darkness.

  The earthen shield began to crack, falling to pieces around Lana’s feet. The black lava creatures engulfed her, suffocating her screams.

  It took everything within her to push away from the burning beings. She tapped into the earth once more, roots and vines wrapping around her legs, arms, and body until she pushed them out, tearing the molten creatures apart, Lana falling to her knees. She was breathing heavy, the rain ceased. Clouds broke up above the trees while boots squished and trekked through the mud.

  “I thought you’d never tire,” Rayaz said. He knelt in front of her, two fingers beneath her chin. Their eyes met, his pitch black, hers teal and white. “Remarkable. Donovan will be pleased to know I’ve found you.”

  “It can’t be…”

  A bolt of black smoke collided with her chest, sending her into a pine tree. A black and silver staff formed in his free hand, a sharp spearhead at its tip. The spear tore through her, warm scarlet liquid rushing down the bulk of the staff.

  Rayaz knelt over her, pulling the staff from her torso.

  She let her mind go blank, accepting she’d die tonight.

  Finally, she would be free from so many years of misery, sorrow, free from running and hiding.

  Mud covered her face as he searched for another identifier – a necklace or a birthmark, something to show she was truly the Amethyst Fury. As he repositioned his body, taking her head in his hands, a crimson spark illuminated them.

  He was thrust backward, knocking into the pine tree. Rayaz staggered to his feet, leaning against the tree for support. He glanced at the dark figure making its way toward him and stood straight then, lifting his chin as if to challenge the Ruby Fury.

  A ball of fire hurled toward Rayaz from Aiden’s hand, but he dodged the attack, rolling to the side as the tree burst into flames. He wobbled, pushing himself to his feet and dragged Lana toward him, taking Lana’s head in his hands, ready to snap her neck.

  Aiden lowered his arm, watching the man carefully.

  “Ah, you know who you are dealing with…” Rayaz said.

  A dark smoke bolted from his hand toward the Fury but was dodged. Tree roots wrapped around his feet, lifting him into the air. His hand tangled in Lana’s hair as he rose, waking her.

  As she grabbed hold of the man’s wrist, a purple gem shone from a chain around her neck. The ring glowed for a split second as Aiden took a step forward. Rayaz looked toward the source of his confinement, hearing the crackling sound of wood being burned.

  “Do you know who you are dealing with?” Aiden asked.

  Rayaz grunted, releasing Lana after a shock radiated from his fingertips to his shoulder blade. She landed in Aiden’s arms before the flames reached Rayaz’s leg, engulfing him. She looked at the burning corpse above her before they disappeared in a red haze, the action and the pain forcing the black fog at her peripheral vision to take over, knocking her unconscious once more.

  ~

  The rain stopped suddenly as the clouds above broke into pieces, returning the night sky to a calm navy blue. Elijah and his brother looked around, noticing the straggling vampires had disappeared.

  “What’s going on?” Micah asked.

  Elijah found Rae on the outer edge of the bodies and ash, bite marks and blood staining her neck.

  “I told her I wouldn’t let anything happen to her,” he said.

  “You can only control so much,” Christine said.

  “She’ll be fine, her heart is still beating,” Micah said.

  Aiden appeared from the parking lot carrying Lana, meeting up with the others at the edge of the carnival grounds.

  “Aiden, thank God you’re alright,” Christine said.

  Aiden placed Lana on the ground gently, draping his jacket over her limp body.

  Elijah had to hold Micah back, the scent of blood wafting through the air.

  “What happened?” Dimitri asked, walking toward Aiden and Lana.

  “She was attacked,” Aiden said. “We need to get the survivors into their vehicles, the entire University population is here. If we try to take care of this mess, innocent people could lose their lives.”

  Elijah and Micah nodded, as did Christine. Two more men joined the blond man and received acknowledgement from Aiden.

  Once the survivors were returned to their vehicles, Elijah was the first to speak.

  “How do we ‘take care
of this mess’?” he asked.

  “Aiden,” Dimitri said.

  He nodded, walking to the edge of the grounds. The light posts holding the stage lights began to buckle, melting and falling toward the carnival booths. Plastic tarps burst into flames, producing a domino effect for each of the tents. The bodies of the deceased were the next to burn, the stage engulfed in orange and blue flame. The metal frames of the stage crumpled in on itself, melting to the base posts. Puffs of black smoke rose from the flames, dancing in the sky above the chaos.

  “I’ll stay behind, you better get out of here before the cops show up,” Christine said.

  Aiden picked Lana up carefully, disappearing in a red puff of smoke. Elijah did the same with Rae as Dimitri placed his hand on his shoulder. The three of them disappeared, surrounded by a green haze.

  The other men grabbed vehicles, leaving Christine and Micah alone at the wreckage with the survivors sleeping soundly in their cars.

  “What are we going to tell the police exactly?” Micah asked.

  “They’ll believe anything,” Christine said, leaning against the wooden fence post. “We’ll tell them about the fire.”

  Chapter 17

  Cool air rustled the curtains, the drying petals of flowers in a vase. In a room of white, long dark brown strands of hair draped over the pillows were the only color. Elijah paced the room, tapping his forefinger on his chin, his arm across his chest. He could hear the faint thumping of a heartbeat, the soft sound of sheets, of material rubbing against material as she breathed.

  The floorboards beneath his feet creaked with each step he took, threatening to wake the lifeless body before him. Looking at her he remembered the night he brought her to his family’s home. Drenched in water from a recent storm, Elijah carried Lana into a spare bedroom, a local doctor trailing not too far behind him to assess how ill she was. Once the young adults were in dry clothing, the doctor performed a checkup, informing him she had pneumonia, and all they could do was let her rest.

  Slowly, Lana recuperated, waking up a few days after being taken in by the Jacobs’ family. Back then, pneumonia could kill within a matter of days, sometimes hours. When Lana woke, the doctor deemed her recovery a miracle, but that she must still rest and regain her strength. Elijah and his family, after convinced by his brother, aided in her recovery, giving her a place to stay until she could be on her way.

  He remembered how she looked while she was on bed rest, how frail and weak, pale and on the verge of death. Elijah hated seeing her that way once more, knowing he could do nothing to help her without the risk of her passing and turning into one of his kind.

  Her skin was cold, the color of translucent paper, her hand clammy while he held it. He could still hear her heartbeat, but it had slowed, as did her breathing. He examined an artifact he’d not noticed before on her finger, a metal ring with a gem in its center. Beautiful images of various symbols embellished the sides of the ring.

  “It’s quite something, isn’t it?” said a voice. Elijah placed her hand gently on her stomach, overlapping her right hand.

  “Isn’t she supposed to be getting better?” Elijah said softly, clenching his jaw.

  “Not all of us recover immediately,” Dimitri said. “Her opponent fed on her weaknesses. He knew what he was doing.”

  “Aren’t you supposed to be able to heal her? Help her? She is dying; I can hear her heartbeat fading every second I sit here doing nothing!” Elijah said.

  “I think you need to go into the living area, your brother and Christine have arrived,” the blond man said. His green eyes were fixed on Lana when he stepped into the light.

  “I remember you,” Elijah said. “You were in the woods. I followed her shortly after she ran away.”

  “I remember,” he said. “I’m not trying to be rude, Elijah, but it’s better for Lana if you go into the living area. When she first recovered, you weren’t watching her every moment while she was on bed rest, were you?”

  Elijah wasn’t aware he had known about that.

  “Elijah, I understand you are not happy right now, that you want to help her and that you are hurting, everyone is right now. We nearly lost one of our own but if you wish to help her now, then listen to me. Go into the living area and be with the others,” Dimitri said.

  The men stared at each other for a moment before Elijah looked back at Lana. Her lips were slowly losing their blush color, and with her hair, she looked almost like a ghost.

  “How did you find her?” Elijah asked. “You put that ring on her finger. How did you know what she was?”

  “I didn’t. That is the beauty of the ring,” Dimitri said. “We had been following her for a short time. Whenever she was attacked, the ring was activated. It took me to her.”

  “Using a tracking spell?” Elijah asked.

  “It’s difficult to explain. You see, when a Fury has been born, the ring will activate. An elder can then track the Fury using a tracking spell,” Dimitri said. “If a Fury has been attacked, harmed in any way other than natural illnesses, the ring will also activate.”

  “So, you’re an ‘elder?’” Elijah asked.

  “Furies can also ‘track’ other Furies, we just have other methods, without involving outside magic’s,” Dimitri answered. “Our techniques allowed me to see images of a town, identifiers that could lead me to her whereabouts. I followed them, and as I got closer, the ring lit up, like a beacon of some sort. I have never had to track one of my own before, so it was an interesting process.”

  “How were the others found then?”

  “That story is for another night,” Dimitri said. “You really should go speak with your brother, he is troubled.”

  Elijah wanted to know more, realizing he knew just as much about what Lana was as she knew about him; nothing. Instead of arguing with Dimitri, he left in silence, floorboard creaks echoing in the hollow room.

  ~

  A white feather traced itself along Rae’s cheek, tickling her upper lip and below her nose when Elijah walked in. The feather disappeared when Rae rubbed her nose. He sighed, relieved at least one of them was recovering. Rae had enough life left in her to drink his blood once they got to the ‘club house’ as Dimitri’s friend put it.

  She sat up slowly when he came to sit next to her on the couch, a black faux-suede material with white stitching to accent the dark furniture.

  “I’m sorry,” Elijah said. “I never should have let go of your arm.”

  Rae tried to speak but her voice was hoarse, her throat itchy and aching.

  “He really is sorry, Rachel,” a woman in white said, sitting on the back cushion of the couch. She let herself slide over the back of it, holding onto the backboard. Sitting between Rae and the cushion, she looked at the Seer with large white-gray eyes, her legs folded beneath her.

  “What are you?” Elijah asked, sparking the attention of the woman.

  “They’re called Diviners, beautiful creatures really,” a topaz-eyed man said, entering from the kitchen. “Or Genies, but we call them by their names. That is Era.”

  The ivory-colored woman blinked quickly in Rae’s direction, smiling and giggling, a high-pitched sound that made them break eye contact.

  The man then pointed toward a brown-haired woman in an olive-colored dress, her skin a warm honey color. Her eyes, just as large and alien-like as Era’s, matched that same honey color, with spikes of darker brown and golden green.

  “She is Terra,” he said.

  He sat on the arm of another black furniture piece, a woman with jet-black hair and translucent skin looking up at him, her eyes a dark shade of blue. “And this is Naida.”

  His tone of voice went from informational to intimate as he looked back at the woman in blue. Her blouse was a shade lighter than her eyes with metal accents at the tops of her shoulders. The neckline was low, revealing a white camisole top beneath. She wore black dress pants and stiletto heels to match the color of her blouse.

  “Don’t mind them, th
ey are always lovey-dovey,” the Genie Era said.

  “I’m Elijah, and you already know Rae’s name,” he said. “What is yours?”

  “Wiley Ternan. I suppose you have already met Dimitri and Aiden, although I’m unsure where the latter has disappeared. EJ will be returning shortly.”

  “Now you’re throwing out all these terms, these names yet you aren’t explaining anything. Do you realize how new all of this is to us?”

  “You are not a new vampire,” Terra said. “You know what Rachel and Christine are, yet you don’t know about us?”

  “You have to understand our histories are different, Terra. Our folklore and our myth, theories,” Naida said, defending his ignorance.

  “Are you going to teach us? Or keep us in the dark?” Elijah prodded.

  Dimitri came in then, rubbing his temples. Terra moved quickly, Elijah almost thought he saw wings. She clung to him, lacing her fingers with his and bringing his hands to his side. Their foreheads touched, eyes closed. He heard her tell him to inhale and exhale a few times, gather his thoughts.

  “Diviners were created to be the acolytes of Mages. When a Diviner betrayed their Mage, all Diviners were banned from the kingdom of Caon,” Era explained. “The Diviners then traveled from village to village, trying to find someone who would accept them and their abilities. Some tried to show the villagers how to improve their way of life.”

  “Wait, kingdom? I’ve never heard of that kingdom, and I spent plenty of time with the Royal families in Europe studying their history,” Elijah said.

  “We’re not from your world, vampire,” Naida said sweetly.

  Era continued her story once Elijah was silent. She said Diviners were accepted in the village of Shadowspar, rumored to be the birthplace of dark magic in Sumardana, the world they come from. The village was on the outer rim of Alduin Par, a kingdom on the brink of extinction controlled by a Mage with cruel intentions, or so Era said.

  “Diviners found a home in Shadowspar,” she said. “They needed someone to accept them and found that the villagers needed them as much as they needed the villagers. Diviners, known for their illusions, hunted down a water source, bringing fresh water to the fields through an irrigation system and taught the villagers how to create weapons from natural resources, how to hunt, and how to survive.”