by S. E. Smith
“Yes, he does, sweetheart,” Samara quietly agreed.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Adalard squinted upward through the driving blizzard, watching as the silver and green dragon dropped two men on the ground beside him before landing with a menacing growl when they tried to bolt. The men dropped to their knees, whimpering and cowering. Adalard formed a metal cage around them as Jaguin shifted.
“Mason said he saw the last two humans ‘running like two bitches in heat being chased by a pack of horny wolves’—his words, not mine,” Jaguin dryly replied when Adalard lifted his eyebrow in confusion.
They turned when Mason appeared out of the snow. He was gripping his hat with one hand, his head bowed against the wind, and carrying his rifle in the other. He looked up at them and shook his head.
“I don’t think the others will be an issue. The storm is only going to get worse. If they don’t make it back where they came from, the storm will kill them,” Mason said, speaking as loudly as he could through the muffler he was wearing to protect his lower face from the wind and cold.
“It would serve them right,” Jaguin retorted before he suddenly stiffened.
“What is it?” Adalard asked.
“Sara… her dragon senses danger,” he growled.
“Hamade!” Adalard hissed.
“You two go take care of the alien. I’ll deal with these guys,” Mason said.
Jaguin shifted back into his dragon with a terrifying roar and took off, causing the cowering men in the cage to shriek with terror. Irritated with the humans, Adalard waved his hand and dissolved the cage so Mason could deal with them before he turned back, heading in the direction of the farmhouse, and disappeared. In seconds, he was back at the house.
“Adalard, where is Jaguin?” Sara asked.
“He will be here in a moment. What is it? Where are Samara and Adaline?” he demanded.
“They are safe, but something has that golden creature really upset,” Ann Marie said.
“My dragon feels the same way,” Sara confessed.
Honey was pacing back and forth in the living room, pausing to peer out the window. A shadow flickered outside of it, and the symbiot actually cowered and backed up. Adalard looked at Bear when the man came and stood next to him.
“Do you think its reaction has anything to do with what happened to the man I saw in the woods?” Bear murmured.
He thought about what Morian had told him about the entity being a corrupted symbiot. His gut was warning him that whatever new weapon Hamade had developed, it could be deadly not only to the humans, but to the Valdier and their symbiots. He knew deep down that he would have to face Hamade alone.
Not alone, warrior, a soft unknown voice whispered through his mind.
“What…?” he exclaimed, twisting in a circle.
He froze when a vision appeared in front of him as surely as if he were watching a vidcom. Hamade’s distorted, grotesque body, twisted and covered in a dark liquid, advanced in the direction of the farmhouse. Adalard could sense the malice, danger, and power emanating from the other man.
In that moment, he knew that there was only one power strong enough to combat it. What he didn’t know was if that combined power would be enough to destroy the creature that Hamade had become. He swallowed as the vision faded, and he found himself staring into three pairs of concerned eyes.
“I… Sara, tell Jaguin to stay with Mason and for both of them to stay away from the house. I want you all to find a safe place,” he instructed in a resolute tone.
“Adalard…,” Bear protested.
He shook his head. “He will kill you—all of you. Hamade has… changed,” he said.
Ann Marie reached out to him. “Is there anything we can do to help?”
“I need you to watch over Adaline,” he said.
“I’ve warned Jaguin. He’ll stay with Mason. We’ll protect Adaline,” Sara promised.
“Whatever happens, do not try to help,” he replied.
Samara, I need your help, he called.
“I’m here,” she said from the entrance to the living room. She gave him a weak smile. “I saw.”
He gave her a tender smile before returning his attention to the others. Sara’s symbiot was pressed against her side. He could tell from the way it was shimmering that time was running out.
“Take your symbiot with you, Sara. Hamade will use it against me if you don’t,” he instructed.
Sara nodded and murmured to the symbiot. He reached out a hand to Samara, needing her touch as the others hurried down the hallway. She wrapped her arms around him and held him.
“I fear for you,” he murmured.
“Welcome to the club. I guess this is going to be some scary shit. I don’t know how you’ve done this over and over for the past seven years. One thing I do know is that it is time to kick this guy’s butt once and for all,” she said with a strained smile.
He threaded his fingers through her hair before he kissed her. “If Hamade…,” he began.
She rested her fingers against his lips and shook her head. “He won’t.”
The door in the kitchen burst open. They both turned, and Adalard instinctively stepped in front of Samara. Doubt filled his mind. She rested her hand on the center of his back, and he felt some of his tension ease.
We’ve got this. Good versus evil, right? Good always wins in every great book and movie I’ve ever read and watched. This time we’re the superheroes, she silently joked.
A chuckle slipped from him. They were facing possible death, and she made him feel like it was an evening out at the bar. The smile on his lips faded when the first chill of the entity with Hamade entered the living room.
Stay behind me, he murmured.
Her hiss of shock and horror mixed with his when Hamade stepped into the room. The Curizan general looked nothing like his former self. The entity flowed throughout his body like a cancerous parasite, creating a dark gray mist around him. His flesh was distorted, his veins were thick and bulging where the dark matter of the entity flowed instead of blood. Hamade’s eyes were solid black and lifeless.
“I see time hasn’t improved your taste in company,” he commented.
“You mock me, Curizan, but I now have a power that not even you can defeat. You have saved me time bringing your mate here. By the time I am finished with her, she will wish she had died in the storm,” Hamade stated.
Adalard stiffened. “You have defiled the Goddesses’ blood for your own greed, Hamade, and you are paying the price. This will not end well for you,” he coolly replied.
Hamade’s unnatural laugh sent a chill through him. The entity reached out for him and Adalard swiftly lifted his hand, triggering the protective shield of energy that his brother and Samara had developed and Morian Reykill had helped them improve. The wisps of gray matter retreated, but quickly returned. He narrowed his eyes in contemplation when he noticed the wisps were searching the shield.
Hamade’s hollow laugh drew his attention back to the man. Reaching down with his free hand, he laid his palm against Samara’s leg, and they stepped in unison when Hamade advanced a few steps. Unease rose inside him at the smug expression on the other man’s face.
“You have the power of the Goddesses protecting you,” Hamade observed as he continued to advance. “But I have the power of a God flowing through me.”
Hamade lifted his hands, Adalard wrapped his arm around Samara, twisting them sideways, and dark energy daggers flowed out of Hamade’s hands just as they tumbled over the back of the long couch and onto the floor.
“Son of a bit—” Samara muttered.
Adalard lifted his hand, his focus on the massive wooden coffee table. He sent it back in the direction they fell, and rolled to his feet, crouching as Samara did the same. The coffee table exploded, sending a million deadly slivers of wood in all directions. They lifted their hands in unison, creating an energy shield. The fragments of wood harmlessly bounced off the shimmering barrier protecting
them.
“Where is the child?” Hamade demanded.
Fury rose inside Adalard. “You’ll never touch her,” he vowed.
Hamade chuckled. “The great and powerful Curizan prince’s love for his offspring. The Empress and our Creator wanted me to bring her back. They knew that such a prize was too much to ignore. I thought they meant to kill her, but their plans are much more complex than I understood,” he said, lifting one hand and watching as the mist swirled around it.
Hamade closed his fist, and the mist became a roiling mass of powerful energy that sparked like an intense lightning storm. Currents of red, orange, and yellow flashed through the dark cloud. Adalard could feel the hair on his arms and head lifting with the static electricity building in the air.
“What plans are those?” he growled.
Hamade smiled again, his lips curved in a menacing but satisfied smirk. “To recruit and use her to bring down her own family.”
“You will not use our daughter,” Samara snapped, stepping out from behind Adalard.
Fear for Adaline surged through Samara. A protective surge of power rose inside of her, and she embraced it. There was only one thing more powerful than fear, and that was love. Gripping Adalard’s hand, she connected with him and focused. Their energies combined, creating a brilliant beam of energy as pure as the power of a newborn star. It was born from their love for each other and their need to protect their daughter.
We are more powerful together, she thought as hope built inside her that they could defeat whatever force was standing in front of them.
Hamade snarled and attacked them as the energy surrounding them expanded, threatening to engulf him. He countered by releasing more of the entity. Powerful bands whipped against their combined shield. Samara focused on projecting a wave of white-hot energy outward just like Arrow had shown her in the lab. Pain lanced through her when it connected with the dark energy Hamade was projecting. It almost sent her to her knees.
To add to the chaos, Hamade was using the articles in the room against them. The furniture exploded, creating sharp daggers. The room looked like an angry poltergeist had appeared. She barely managed to duck when the iron shovel and poker from the fireplace set shot through the air like a missile. The forged-iron handles vibrated when they embedded themselves in the wall across from them.
She trembled and gasped when a stabbing pain suddenly radiated through her. An intense agony swamped her senses for a moment before it was gone. Confusion, followed quickly by understanding, cascaded through her when she realized the pain was coming from Adalard. A long spear of the dark matter was protruding from his chest.
Samara realized that when the room exploded, Adalard instinctively began feeding his energy into hers. He was trying to protect her from the onslaught of Hamade’s attack. In doing so, he left himself vulnerable for a brief moment, and Hamade had taken advantage of his lowered defenses.
“Adalard!” she cried, losing her own focus.
She wrapped her arm around his waist and held onto him when he slumped forward. Hamade’s harsh laughter broke through her panic. The entity was pouring into Adalard’s body. If she didn’t stop it, he would become a replica of Hamade.
She tried wrapping her hands around it. Blistering pain, as if she had placed her hands on a hot burner, scorched her. She bit her lip to keep from crying out, but then gasped when a thick band wound around her arms, capturing her in its embrace. She clung to Adalard as the band wrapped around her throat and slipped under her skin.
Ice filled her veins as the entity slid through her body. She tried to focus on the lessons Adalard and Arrow had given her, but fear held her in its ugly grasp, and she couldn’t think. The dark symbiot’s menacing intent was clear—if successful here, it would spread and take over the Royal Houses of the Curizan, Valdier, and Sarafin through their children.
“This is the end. Now, there will be nothing that can hold back the power of the Empress and our Creator. We will finally bring down the houses of the Curizan, Valdier, and Sarafin—and the Goddesses themselves who protect you. Your child will be the first of many,” Hamade vowed.
“No!” Samara fervently denied.
Samara, there is a way to stop him, Adalard’s soft words whispered through her mind.
A vision of his intentions filled her. If they abandoned their defenses and unleashed their power into Hamade, they could destroy him and the dark symbiot. It was suicide, but it would protect Adaline. A calm acceptance filled her, and she closed her eyes. Grasping his hand, she breathed deeply and released her fear. Instead, she focused on her love for Adalard and their beautiful daughter.
She drew on the memories of the first time she saw Adalard—the colors swirling around him, snow falling and dotting his jet-black hair with crystals of white, and the color of his violet eyes. Tears poured down her cheeks when those eyes changed to Adaline’s. She remembered the first time she held their tiny daughter in her arms, and how she felt a sense of longing and peace as Adaline’s tiny fingers wrapped around hers.
Power flowed through her, chasing away the cold. Love filled her heart, and she shared it with Adalard. He wrapped his arms around her and their heat grew. The dark energy retreated, but they didn’t release it. This time, it was their captive. They surrounded it with the power born of their love. They were willing to make the ultimate sacrifice—give their lives for their daughter.
“Stop!” Hamade hissed.
Samara opened her eyes. Adalard was staring down at her. The love in his eyes took her breath away. For seven years, he had fought alone to keep this evil away from them. She finally understood exactly what those years had cost him. He opened himself to her, revealing the intense loneliness he had endured and how much he had longed to reach out to her. He played a vidcom of her that she hadn’t known he had taken so he could see her and hear her voice.
“You’ll never be alone again. I promise,” she whispered as she gently caressed his cheek.
He turned his head and kissed her fingers. “We will watch over her from the stars,” he murmured.
Tears burned her eyes when she saw the acceptance of their deaths in his. Closing her eyes, she wound her arms around his neck and held him as tightly as she could. She parted her lips on a gasp when the energy within and around them swelled and exploded outward with the force of the brightest super nova.
A sense of peace flowed through Adalard. He felt as if he were floating. The mist of the dark symbiot had been replaced with the hues of the universe. Nebulas glimmered among the billions of celestial bodies floating in a sea of black, lit by the brilliant light of newborn stars and reflecting the colorful gases that had formed them.
He looked down when Samara moved. He gently caressed her cheek only to pause when his hand passed through her translucent flesh. Her lips parted with wonder and dismay.
“Is this what it is like to die?” she whispered, gazing up at him with wide, wonder-filled eyes.
“I… don’t know,” he admitted.
“Adalard…,” Samara breathed, her eyes focused over his shoulder.
He turned, his arms still protectively wrapped around her waist, and stared in awe as a golden figure approached them. He knew in that moment, he was in the presence of a power far greater than any he had ever encountered—including the dark symbiot that Hamade had wielded.
“Goddess,” he murmured.
The woman smiled at them. “Greetings, warrior. Samara,” she replied.
“You know who I am?” Samara squeaked in surprise.
The woman laughed. “Yes, thanks to a very special little girl who loves her mommy and daddy very much.”
“Adaline,” Adalard murmured.
The woman bowed her head. “She asked me to watch over you.”
“What… happened? Is Adaline… is she okay?” Samara asked.
“She and the others are fine. Unfortunately, Hamade… and my brother’s creation made a poor choice,” the woman explained.
Adalard too
k a deep breath when the scene around them changed, and he saw the last few seconds of their lives.
“I will control them. You have made them weak,” Hamade Dos growled.
Adalard and Samara watched themselves.
They were locked in each other’s arms with their eyes closed. The house expanded outward as they absorbed the energy surrounding them, and they glowed with a brilliant white light.
They lifted their hands to shield their eyes.
A golden woman appeared and a shimmering gold protective bubble encased Adalard and Samara.
“You have chosen poorly, Pallas. Aikaterina, I, and the others will fight you,” the woman said.
“Aikaterina has grown weak,” Pallas retorted from within Hamade, “and you and the others are no match for me, Arilla.”
“Feeding on the darkness of others has contaminated you, Pallas. You cannot sustain yourself on the negative energy. The ancients will not tolerate it, and neither will I. The small amount of blood you gave to this creature is no match for the power of love and the willingness to sacrifice for the protection of others. You have failed once again, brother, and you will fail again and again until you are no more,” Arilla stated.
“Then I will take this planet with me,” Pallas threatened.
The dark symbiot contracted before bursting outward. The first thing to crumble and dissolve was Hamade. The Curizan’s horrified scream was frozen on his lips as his body twisted and turned into stardust.
Samara released a small, distressed cry of denial and Adalard tightened his grip around her.
The powerful white energy emitting from the couple swelled and encased the dark energy. Around the glow of white, a thin layer of gold appeared, trapping the expanding energy within the orb. Without anywhere to go, the dark energy struggled to expand and began to feed on itself until nothing of it was left.
“What happened?” Samara asked.
“For now, balance has been restored in the universe,” Arilla said.
“But it is not over,” Adalard murmured. It was a statement, not a question.