Viktoria's Shadow: Jael

by Ysobella Black

  “Is that why you rushed in here?” Selene’s tranquil smile mocked him.

  “I have sworn to protect you and yours.” Jael blustered, his voice rising. Selene always knew too much, even when she seemed unaware of her surroundings. Her focus on him, especially now that she was alert, and about anything to do with his Dragă, made him feel like a schoolboy. “I will not fail you again.”

  “Hush, Jael. You have never failed me or mine.” Selene’s voice was soft. “Do not wake them. They are helping Musette.”

  “If they’re fighting, I can help. How do I go where they are?”

  Selene frowned. “Dream woke to bring others in with her before. But maybe your Dragă can bring you to where they are. Sheath your swords and touch Viktoria and Dream, the one in the middle. Do not jostle them too much.”

  Dream. The sister Viktoria had yelled at in the dream. Maybe she could help.

  Jael bit back the protest about Viktoria being his Dragă. It was no use arguing with Selene. He sheathed his swords and knelt by Viktoria, placing one hand on her knee, and stretching his other arm across the bed to twine his fingers with Viktoria’s on Dream’s leg.

  He fell into darkness.

  CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

  VIKTORIA

  VIKTORIA, DREAM, AND Idris ran through a tunnel of orange and silver light towards black fog.

  “That’s where Musette is?” Idris’ hands clenched into fists and his chest rose and fell with his deep breaths.

  Dream nodded. “Memory remembered the things Musette had forgotten, and this is where she brought us.”

  “Musette! Wake up!” The sound of Ember’s strident voice jolted Idris into a sprint, and he took off.

  The gloom they bolted into was lit by numerous balls of orange light. Ember’s magic. Shadows played along the walls and floor. Musette hung suspended from the ceiling, wrapped in strings, no those were webs, from her neck to her toes. Her head lolled forward, chin resting on her chest.

  Enormous black wings grew from Ember’s back and she swung a glowing silver sword as she hacked at pods of darkness, taking to the air in short bursts with powerful flaps. She waved an arm and more orbs of light manifested, reflecting off hundreds of black eyes, creatures of darkness hiding in shadows.

  “I’ve definitely never seen a witch like her before.” Memory grinned. “This is so exciting!”

  “Memory, stay near Dream.” Viktoria held her sisters back with one hand held up in a stop gesture. Pohjola maidens had no innate sense of self-preservation, having relied on their mother to protect them for thousands of years. Viktoria had one beaten into her to earn her freedom, but Memory and Dream didn’t have that experience. The last thing Viktoria needed was for Louhi to show up and and negate their bargain. “Watch out for each other.”

  Why did ugly things always seek to hide in her shadows? Rage flooded Viktoria, and she raised her arms. “Creatures of darkness, you will have shelter in shadow no longer.” She drew the shadows in the room towards her, revealing hundreds of black spiders — some tiny, others the size of dinner plates, and a few the size of wolverines.

  Ember snarled, and her blade moved in a silver blur as she hacked through the arachnids.

  Viktoria coiled shadows into whips and lashed out at the spiders closest to her, snapping the end of her whip at a creature that had dropped onto Dream.

  Stomping on spiders, Idris roared, forging a crunching path towards Ember. “Weapon!”

  Laughing, Ember glowed a brighter silver. “It’s BYOW.”

  “Dream it!” Dream shouted.

  He spun to look at her.

  “I can make it come true if you can dream it!”

  A short spear with a wicked barbed tip and an axe appeared in Idris’ hands. He roared again, sounding like one of the great white bears of Pohjola. He threw the spear and a three-foot spider swinging on a web screamed as it was impaled and carried backwards until the spear thunked into the wall. Another spear filled his hand. Eyes and grin full of madness, Idris blazed a path toward Ember.

  Well, I did think berserkers would be better.

  Stepping in front of her sisters, Viktoria pulled shadow after shadow to her, exposing more spiders to the light Ember created. Closing her fist, she crushed spiders in a vise of shadow.

  “There must be a thousand of them.” Memory breathed. “They’re feeding on Musette’s magic. We have to kill them all to free her from this place.”

  Ember and Idris fought back to back, her silver glow expanding to shield him. Bolts of silver lightning shot from the silver glow around her. “Really, Stryx?” she muttered. “Not even here and you have to try and take over.”

  Dead spiders piled up in heaps around them. Idris threw spear after spear, impaling a new spider and pinning it to the wall each time.

  Viktoria stayed with her sisters, using shadow to lash at the spiders from a distance. A warm tingle on her thigh distracted her. She glanced down to see if she was bitten.

  “Look out, Shadow!” Dream called.

  She snapped her gaze up. A cluster of spiders swung on lines of webbing toward her from where she’d stripped shadow from them.

  Two silver lights shone from behind her. The spiders shrieked and tried to recoil. Lurky bounded past. His swords glowed silver like Ember’s and whirled in deadly circles to slash spiders and webs alike.

  Lurky spun with lethal grace, his blades long time partners that knew the steps in a dance as the three of them moved together with practiced ease.

  Viktoria shifted, trying to get out from behind his bulk so she could wield her whips of shadow, but Lurky seemed to know when she moved and altered his path to match hers.

  CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

  JAEL

  THE MEDALLIONS IN HIS scimitars gleamed silver. Jael sprinted down the orange and silver corridor. Even at his fastest speed, the blades pulled at him to go faster in their eagerness to destroy mage magic. His beating heart flip-flopped when a woman yelled for Shadow to look out. Shadow had to be Viktoria.

  Jael burst into the dark place at the end of the tunnel, taking in the battle at a glance. Idris and Ember, cocooned in a silver shield, fought back to back against droves of spiders. They were fine. Viktoria stood in front of her weaponless sisters, all of them without benefit of strygoi magic. He threw himself into the fight — leaping in front of his Dragă to slash and stab at the threats as fast as he could. “Get down and stay behind me. I won’t let them hurt you.” He barked the words as an order, not bothering to look at her, focused on the hundreds of threats all around them.

  “Our hero,” the sharper looking of the three sisters muttered.

  The softer one giggled.

  Viktoria lashed out with spiky shadows above him, tearing through webbing and dropping spiders from their nests. “Just try to stay out of my way, Lurky. I don’t need your help.”

  Stay out of her way? She could hardly tie all these spiders to her bedposts to keep them under her control. His Dragă ignored him and stepped to the side, forcing him to adjust, swords spinning to cleave spiders as they fell.

  Tendrils of shadows wove into nets and caught arachnids by the dozen, hurling them into walls and the floor. He couldn't help but be impressed. He'd experienced the strength of her shadow magic, but had no idea her power was so versatile.

  Keeping his back to her, Lurky retreated, crowding into her space. “I told you to get down and stay behind me! I can’t protect you if I don’t know where you are.”

  “I don’t want or need your protection, Lurky.”

  Well, she would have it anyway. These creations of the Spider Mage had already taken down Musette. He wouldn’t allow them to harm any other witch.

  But with his Dragă at risk, he called on all his vampire speed and assassin training. His heart thundered in his chest. It hadn’t beat with fury in thousands of years, but that was a familiar sensation. This was something else. A long dormant emotion he hadn’t felt in three thousand years. Worry. He feared for Viktoria and tha
t he wouldn’t be enough to defend her.

  The realization distracted him enough he had to glance behind him to make sure she was unharmed. She was, but her expression of horror made his heartbeat falter. It took a fraction of a second to understand the look wasn't directed at him, but behind him. He spun to catch two spiders the size of shields on his swords, but a third swung right at him when his swords caught in the thick bodies, and an army of smaller arachnids swept across the floor in their direction.

  His Dragă shoved him aside. She held a shadow spear in her right hand and impaled the spider with a crunch while her left dragged a darker, glossy shadow of jet in front of their feet. It was impossible to see into the depths, but a sudden chill in the air crept into his bones. He stopped himself from taking a step back. This shadow wasn't just darkness — it felt like a hungry emptiness.

  Swear poured down Viktoria's face. She spread her fingers, widening the fracture into an abyss. Spiders poured into the breach. A few attempted to leap across or spun webs to swing. Those fell to Jael’s blades, their song of triumph and revenge resounding in his head.

  He’d often felt lust after a fight. A way to celebrate vanquishing enemies and living to tell the tale. His Dragă at his side could have been another war goddess incarnate. The fierceness in her eyes, the utter lack of fear, her confident movements and quick mind.

  Viktoria may not need to be rescued, but she’d never be free of him now.

  CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

  VIKTORIA

  SHE WAS SO CLOSE TO her freedom, and she hadn’t spent centuries learning to take care of herself only to lose the chance of gaining it because of this vampire. If she had to be rescued, even once, her mother would take her right back to Pohjola, and neither she, nor any of her sisters, would ever be free.

  Infuriated, Viktoria resisted dropping a noose of shadow over Lurky's neck. Those swords of his would just cut him free, anyway. She curled her hands into fists, pulled on every trace of shadow and funneled her rage — flinging her arms out, she threw open her hands. Every shadow in the room exploded into shards and targeted a spider.

  Lurky stood mute at her show of power while Ember whooped, and Idris roared in triumph. Dream and Memory laughed and clapped their hands as hundreds of impaled spiders fell to the floor.

  He spun to face her, brow furrowed, eyes narrowed. Oh, he was angry she could take care of herself? A twinge of disappointment slithered through her. She should have known better than to contemplate getting involved with a vampire. What he thinks of you doesn't matter. The thought felt untrue, but she ignored him and turned her attention to the one section of darkness remaining in the room.

  The largest one took up the whole rear wall and resisted her. She focused on it now, pulling it to her. Ember sent a bright orange ball of light into it.

  Legs unfurled from a bulbous body. This was no shadow — it was a spider the size of the back wall, and it had its fangs sunk into the back of Musette’s neck.

  Dream gasped and Viktoria spun to see Memory catch their sister as she slumped. “Is she bitten?”

  “No.” Dream leaned heavily against Memory as they sank to the ground. “Just exhausted.”

  Fatigue seeped through Viktoria, too. Her showy display sapped a lot of her strength.

  A roar shook the room, and Viktoria whirled back around. Idris had grown to twice his normal size and wielded a spear that had to be fifteen feet long.

  Ember flapped her wings, lifted off the ground, and charged at this new target. The spider whirled to face her, but didn’t remove its fangs from Musette’s neck as it kept Ember’s sister between them.

  But her target was not the spider. Ember raised her sword and slashed at the string of web holding Musette up at the same time Idris’ spear took the spider in one eye and went straight through its head.

  Ember’s wings beat, but she couldn’t hold the weight of her and her sister in the air, and when Idris held out his arms, she let her sister fall into them. Idris shrank into his normal size and cut at the webbing that bound Musette with his axe. Ember flew to the fat abdomen of the spider that had been feeding on her twin and slashed it open.

  Shimmers of pink and silver flowed out of the beast’s belly into the air. Every other spider in the room exploded into dust, releasing more siphoned magic until it filled the entire room.

  Ember landed next to Idris and helped slash away the webbing. It dissolved under the tip of her sword.

  Lurky held his swords in one hand and reached for Viktoria with the other, but she stepped out of his reach. He ran his eyes over her from head to toe. The intensity in his gaze heated her skin, but she gave him her back when he started to speak.

  She knelt by her sisters, ignoring Lurky and how her heart picked up its beat when he fell to his knees beside her and pressed against her side. He was just a man she dreamed about. How he was in her dreams wasn’t real. It meant nothing in the actual world, and she couldn’t afford to give in to lust now.

  Viktoria cleared her throat. “Are you all right, Dream?”

  Dream gave her a tired smile as her eyes flicked back and forth between Viktoria and Lurky. “I’m fine. Just tired. Idris has big dreams. It took a lot of my power to make them come true in this place.”

  Ember and Idris joined them, Idris cradling Musette in his arms. Pink and silver magics swirled around Musette, but didn’t join with her. White tendrils reached out from her body, but the pink and silver magics recoiled, staying near but separate.

  “She dreams now,” Dream said. “She will wake.”

  “When?” Idris demanded, his voice hoarse with emotion.

  Dream shrugged. “I can’t tell. She will wake when she no longer needs to dream.”

  Lurky waved a hand through the silvery shimmer. “Her magic’s not being siphoned anymore, but I know what magic separated from a witch looks like. Maybe she needs to get her magic back before she can wake up.”

  “I locked away her memories of the mage and all the spiders,” Memory said. “She can remember them if she’s ever ready. She just has to want to.”

  “I’ll tell her. I’m going to take her and Idris to my Dragă space.” Ember brushed some hair off Musette’s face. “She knows it. Maybe somewhere familiar will help her be more comfortable after this place.”

  Viktoria stood and hugged Ember. “Call me if I can help.”

  “I will.” Ember’s eyes lit up as they darted between Viktoria and Jael, and she whispered into Viktoria’s ear. “I think I’ll call, anyway. You’re keeping something from me, Soră.” She hugged Dream and Memory. “Thank you too. I wouldn’t have been able to find her here without you.”

  “Wait. I’m tired, but I want to give you something you can trade with in Ashana.” Dream touched Ember’s hand. “This dream will seem real to whoever dreams it.”

  “That’s a good idea!” Memory touched Ember’s temple. “And here is a memory you can trade. It will let whoever you give it to remember something special.”

  “Thank you again. I can’t believe Viktoria never introduced us before, but I’m so glad to have met you now. I hope you’ll come visit again.” Ember stood and faced Lurky. “And you —”

  CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

  JAEL

  JAEL RAISED A HAND to stop Ember. “Just don’t give me any more heart attacks about Stryx in the sun and we’ll call it even.”

  Ember smirked. “If you like, I can run everything I plan to do to him by you first to get your opinion. When I get back, if he’s a good boy, I’m going to spread my —”

  “Stop!” Jael’s swords prevented him from covering his ears, but if Ember said anything more, he might be willing to stab his ears. “Gods. Please stop.”

  “Wings. He likes to touch my wings.” Ember finished with a laugh. “Shame on you, Assassin! What kind of girl do you think I am?” She winked, and she, Idris and Musette disappeared.

  “Melchior is right. They’re all lunatics,” Jael muttered.

  “Who’s all lunatics?�
�� Memory asked.

  “Never you mind.” Jael scooped Dream into his arms and stood, walking back into the tunnel of light. “Shall we go?”

  “Can you wake us, Dream?” Memory asked.

  “In a few minutes.” Dream gazed up at him, her blue eyes so like his Dragă's. He'd never mistake one for the other, though. Although the sisters could easily be identical triplets, only one of them called to his soul and the beast that lived in him.

  While beautiful, the woman in his arms stirred nothing inside him. She studied him and flicked a glance to Viktoria. An impish sparkle of mischief filled Dream’s eyes when she returned her attention to him. “While we’re waiting, what are your intentions towards my sister?”

  A trap. He nearly stumbled a step. If looks could kill, his Dragă’s stare would have dropped him where he stood. Anything he said would likely only give her more cause to keep him at a distance. Viktoria inadvertently came to his rescue.

  “He should be more concerned about my intentions towards him.” Viktoria held up her hands, swirling with shadows. “How dare you come here and treat me like I’m some helpless damsel who needs rescuing? Put my sister down. She doesn’t need to be coddled, either.”

  The sister in his arms gave him an apologetic expression. “Shadow, he —”

  “No, Dream.” Viktoria’s deadly intentions toward him had an effect on his body she definitely didn’t intend. “You have to learn to rely on yourself. Or do you want to fail when it’s your turn? It’s because you let them treat you this way that they keep doing it!”