Shades of Darkness

by Alexandra Ivy

  “Where is she?” Chaaya demanded.

  Greta hesitated. Chaaya could almost hear the wheels turning in the older woman’s head.

  To lie or not to lie. To lie or not to lie…

  At last she shrugged. “I allowed her to return to her world.”

  “How?”

  Another shrug. “I opened a portal.”

  Basq made a low sound deep in his throat. “If you can open portals, why do you stay here?”

  Greta’s gaze remained on Chaaya even as she grudgingly answered Basq’s question. “I can open portals, but I can’t go through them.”

  It was Chaaya’s turn to hesitate. She’d never heard of a druid being capable of opening portals. But it might have something to do with the magic of this strange place. And it seemed a weird thing to lie about.

  “So you’re stuck?” she finally asked.

  Greta nodded. “Yes.”

  “Why did you want me here?”

  “Beyond wishing to be reunited with my only family?”

  Chaaya rolled her eyes. She sensed this woman had as much family feeling as a scorpion. Probably less.

  “Yeah, beyond that.”

  “It’s simple.” Greta glanced toward Chaaya’s hand. “I need the magic of your spear.”

  Chapter 21

  Brigette plummeted out of the portal and landed face first on the hard, rocky ground. It felt like she’d been shot out of a cannon. Or dropped from the top of a cliff. She grunted as the air was knocked from her lungs and her head banged against a stone.

  “The bitch did that on purpose,” she growled as she shoved herself upright.

  Still, Greta had kept her promise, Brigette realized as she slowly glanced around.

  There was no mistaking the broken foundations that poked out of the thick heather, and the sense of desolation that lay like a heavy fog over the dark landscape. A chilly breeze whipped around her, bringing with it the tang of salt water. And in the distance a lone owl cried in search of a mate.

  The sound pierced her heart, just as the sight of the devastated village crushed something deep in her soul.

  When she’d been here before she’d been locked in Zella’s evil clutches. The beast hadn’t forced her to betray her pack and sacrifice everyone she loved for her own ambitions, but once she’d given into temptation, her mind had been filled with darkness. She accepted the stark destruction that surrounded her, barely able to recall how the place had looked before the attack by the goblins.

  Now she allowed the memories to slowly, painfully return. At the center of the village had been a large building with a slate roof where the pack would gather to celebrate holidays and matings and the births of pups. Next to it had been a storage shed and a smaller community center that was used as a nursery for the older pups. Weres were animals at heart, and they preferred to play and nap in big piles.

  Finally, there had been a wide circle of stone cottages with thatched roofs. In the summer each home had a window box filled with flowers, and each winter they would build fires and drink warm cider at the edge of the village to celebrate the solstice.

  So many traditions shattered. So many loved ones lying in charred ashes…

  “Mon dieu,” Levet muttered, as he rose to his feet and brushed away the clinging dust. Then, as he glanced around, his eyes widened and his tail twitched with horror. “There has been a terrible mistake.”

  Brigette glanced down at him in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

  He waved a stubby arm. “We managed to escape one hell dimension only to end up in this gruesome place. You indeed have the most ill luck.”

  “No.” She shook her head, sadness tightening her chest until it was a struggle to breathe. “For once I have been given exactly what I desire.”

  “To be here? But…” Levet shuddered. “It is a ruin.”

  “For now, yes. It wasn’t always like this, you know,” she said, keeping her voice soft, not so much out of respect for the dead, but to avoid the pain at the echo that resonated through the empty landscape. “Once it was a place of beauty. Peaceful.” She sighed. “Serene.”

  “You hated it,” Levet reminded her.

  “I hated the gnawing sensation inside me that refused to be satisfied,” she corrected. “It made me feel like an outcast.”

  “So you destroyed everything?”

  “Yes.” The image of a sleepy fairy-tale village shattered as Brigette forced away the memories and instead allowed reality to return. “I destroyed everything.”

  There was the sensation of Levet’s wing brushing against the back of her leg, as if the gargoyle was attempting to comfort her. Brigette froze. When was the last time anyone had touched her in anything but anger? She couldn’t remember.

  “And now you have returned. Why?” Levet asked.

  Brigette sucked in a ragged breath. “Redemption.”

  Levet furrowed his brow, casting a doubtful glance around the crumbled stones and stunted weeds.

  “Do you intend to rebuild the cottages?”

  Brigette shuddered at the mere thought. Not only had the village been burned to the ground by the goblin raiders, but it’d been soaked in evil for over five centuries. The only good thing that could happen to this place would be to have it slide off the edge of the cliff and plummet into the sea.

  “No.” She firmly shook her head. “New bricks and mortar can’t disguise the blood that stains these foundations.” She held up her hands. “Blood that is on my hands.”

  “You can’t remain here on your own,” Levet protested, his snout wrinkled. “It is unhealthy.”

  Brigette slowly turned, staring down at the tiny demon who’d become oddly familiar in the short time they’d been together. Almost as if he was…her friend.

  “Why do you care?” she abruptly demanded.

  He blinked. “Pardon?”

  “You bound us together to try and keep me from escaping the mer-folk,” she reminded him.

  “I thought you were evil.”

  “I am evil.” She waved her arm toward the destruction. “Look.”

  “You have done bad things,” Levet conceded.

  “Unforgivable things,” she insisted.

  “Perhaps.” He tilted his head back to regard her with a strange expression. “But you are no longer infected by the beast.”

  Her gaze moved to the burrow where she’d first heard Zella’s whispers. If only she’d walked away. But she hadn’t.

  Brigette sadly shook her head. “The taint remains. It will forever stain my soul.”

  “Oui, but you can change,” the gargoyle insisted.

  She grimaced. If only it was so easy. A part of her wanted to believe that she could close the door on the past. The beast was locked away and the evil banished from this world. Why shouldn’t she get a second chance?

  Then her gaze drifted back to the cracked foundation that had once been her home. The place where her family had been savagely murdered.

  “Is that why you convinced the druid that you could reach Chaaya with your mind?” she asked with a humorless smile. “Because you think I can turn over a new leaf? Maybe devote the rest of my life to helping others?”

  Levet held up his hands. “I believe it is possible.”

  “No.” The sharp word rang through the empty village like a death knell.

  Levet studied her with a searching gaze. “Then you intend to bury yourself here and wallow in self-regret?”

  Brigette held out her hand, revealing the brooch that lay in the center of her palm. “I intend to use this.”

  Levet leaned forward, studying the strange jewel at the very center. “A votum stone?”

  Brigette frowned. She’d never heard the name before. “Is that what it is?”

  Levet sent her a startled glance. “You intend to use a ma
gical artifact without knowing its powers?”

  Brigette ground her teeth. “Are you serious? So far I’ve colluded with an evil beast to destroy my pack. I allowed myself to be led from my cell by a treacherous merman. I followed a mystery voice into a portal with absolutely no idea where I was going or who would be waiting for me on the other side. And now you think I should be worried about wishing on a strange stone?”

  Levet cleared his throat. “Fair point.”

  She pointed toward the brooch. “Tell me about this.”

  He shrugged. “It’s a votum stone.”

  “Votum.” She tasted the word. She didn’t recognize the name or the language. “I’ve never heard of one.”

  “They’re very rare,” Levet told her. “And very expensive. It offers the owner a wish.”

  Brigette released the breath she didn’t know she was holding. Deep in her heart she’d assumed this would turn out to be just another trick. Her entire life she’d tried to game the system only to find herself outmaneuvered. She wasn’t clever enough, or maybe just not lucky enough, to avoid a destiny that included getting shit on.

  Cautiously, she reached out to touch the stone with the tip of her finger. It felt smooth, and unexpectedly warm. As if there was a living force inside the small gem.

  “Why would Greta give it up?”

  “No doubt she used her wish,” Levet said in dismissive tones. “A votum stone is like a purple light special.”

  Brigette shuffled through her brain. Being around Levet meant constantly attempting to translate his weird gibberish.

  “Blue light special?”

  He gave an emphatic nod. “Only one wish per customer.”

  Hmm. One wish. She would have to be very, very careful to say exactly what she wanted.

  “And it will give me anything I desire?” she pressed.

  “So it claims.” Levet studied the stone with a sour expression. “Long ago my—”

  “Don’t say your aunt Bertha,” she interrupted.

  The gargoyle clicked his tongue. “Non. This has nothing to do with my aunt Bertha. It was my friend Tamara. She was a sprite who was granted the votum stone by a witch.”

  Brigette heaved a sigh. She didn’t want to hear this story. It was bound to reveal some dire reason she shouldn’t use the stone. But she’d discovered trying to keep Levet silent was like trying to stop the waves from crashing onto a beach. An impossible task.

  Conceding the inevitable, Brigette did her best to hurry along the tale of tragedy. “And she used the wish?”

  “She did.”

  “Well?” Brigette made a sound of impatience. “What did she wish for?”

  “The heart of her lover.”

  Brigette jerked back, a revolting image searing through her mind. “Don’t tell me, he was killed and she got his bloody heart.”

  “Non.” Levet lifted his tail, polishing the dust from the tip. “He proclaimed his love and they were wed in a glorious ceremony that I arranged. There were dew fairies dancing and carpets of flowers—”

  “Levet, get to the point,” she snapped.

  He sniffed, but thankfully continued with the story. “The evening of their wedding they were killed in a fire.”

  Brigette shrugged. “Coincidence.”

  “And what of Greta?”

  Brigette narrowed her eyes. The gargoyle was just babbling now. “What about her?”

  “She still had the votum with her.”

  “So?”

  Levet heaved a sigh, clearly implying Brigette was impossibly dense. “If Greta still had a wish, she would have used it to get out of the void. But if she had used her wish earlier, then she would have no need to keep the stone. She would have traded it for something of value.”

  Brigette lifted a hand to press it against her temple. The creature was giving her a headache.

  “That doesn’t make any sense.”

  Another condescending sigh. “The fact that she still had the stone with her meant she’d used it just before she became stuck in that void.”

  Brigette stilled, suddenly realizing what the creature was trying to say. “Oh. You think she made a wish and it put her in that…void or whatever that place was?”

  “Oui.” He held her gaze. “Wishes are dangerous things.”

  A chill wiggled down her spine. Then she glanced around the desolate village. She’d made a terrible mistake. Now she had the potential to make amends.

  “I’m willing to risk it,” she muttered.

  Levet clicked his tongue at her stubborn refusal to heed his warnings. “What is your wish?”

  “To change the past.”

  * * * *

  Basq silently cursed as he studied Greta’s covetous expression. He’d already realized that they’d been lured to this specific spot by this specific woman. And that she wanted something from Chaaya. But he hadn’t once considered that it might be connected to her magical weapon.

  Chaaya looked equally bemused. “My spear?”

  Greta licked her lips, taking a step closer to Chaaya. “It’s a powerful artifact.”

  Chaaya wrapped a protective hand on the hilt of the spear. “Why do you want it?”

  Greta hesitated. Basq could sense she was eager to simply grab the weapon. So why didn’t she? Did she fear a physical confrontation? Or was there something about the magic of the spear that made her wary?

  “It can take me home,” the older woman finally admitted.

  Chaaya shook her head. “It doesn’t create portals.”

  “I can create the portal,” Greta insisted. “I just need you to use the magic of the spear to pull us through it.”

  Basq stepped to the side, pressing against Chaaya in warning. “This is a trap.”

  Greta hissed in his direction like an angry cat. “Stay out of this, leech.”

  He ignored the woman, concentrating on Chaaya. “She deliberately used Brigette to get you here.”

  Chaaya sent him a puzzled frown. “How?”

  “She somehow realized that once Brigette escaped the dungeons, you would be the one chosen to track her down,” he said. “You’re the only one who can sense the darkness.”

  “Why not just try to call to me?”

  “Would you have answered a strange voice whispering sweet nothings in your ear?” he asked.

  Chaaya shook her head. “No. I would have assumed it was a trick by the beast.”

  “Exactly.” Basq sent a narrow-eyed glare toward Greta. “Your aunt knows you well enough to find another way to lure you to this place.”

  “This is nonsense,” Greta snarled, clearly sensing that her opportunity to escape was slipping away. “I told you what happened.”

  “Basq is right.” Chaaya took a deliberate step backward. “It’s too much of a coincidence that you would choose Brigette.”

  Greta balled her hands into fists, her eyes flaring with an ugly combination of emotions. Greed. Lust. Fury.

  “I wanted to do this the easy way.” She lifted a fist, as if intending to smash it into Chaaya’s face.

  Basq instinctively leaped to intercept the blow, grabbing the woman’s arm and using it to throw her against a nearby hut. She hit with a satisfying thud, but with a speed that caught him off guard, she was on her feet and striding toward him with a furious expression.

  “You are starting to piss me off, vampire,” she snarled.

  Basq moved to block the woman from reaching Chaaya. “Just starting?”

  “This is my world,” Greta warned. “I control everything.”

  Basq shrugged. “Not me.”

  Greta smiled, then she waved her arm in a dramatic motion. Instantly the ground disappeared beneath Basq’s feet. With a curse he hastily leaped to the side.

  “Everything.” She smirked, giving another wave of he
r hand. This time a spray of white-hot coals from the fire zoomed toward him.

  “Basq,” Chaaya cried out.

  He leaped over the lethal projectiles, his fangs fully extended. “I’ve got this,” he assured her.

  Greta instinctively backed away as he raced toward her. “You can’t kill me,” she protested.

  “I’m willing to make you wish you were dead.”

  Basq grabbed her by the shoulders, already prepared when the ground disappeared. Still holding her tight, he jumped on top of one of the huts and slashed his fangs through her throat.

  Blood spurted even as she used her powers to create a hole in the thatching. He tumbled to the ground, but with blinding speed he was out of the hut to confront the woman standing just a few feet away.

  He growled in disgust. The blood stained her gown, but her neck had already healed. She hadn’t been lying when she claimed she couldn’t die. So now what?

  As if capable of reading his mind, Greta smiled. “I did warn you.”

  Basq charged. He had to do something or Chaaya was going to leap into the battle. And he didn’t doubt for a second that Greta would destroy her niece to get her hands on that spear.

  Expecting her to do the whole ground opening thing again, Basq leaped toward her in a zigzag pattern. This time, however, she gave a peculiar twist with her hand and the air tightened around his throat.

  Basq frowned. He wasn’t human. He didn’t need air to breathe. And a broken neck would do nothing but piss him off.

  Then the invisible noose began to tighten and Basq was lifted off his feet. For several seconds he simply dangled off the ground, and Basq wondered if she intended to leave him hanging. Literally. He heard movement behind him and assumed that Chaaya was rushing to his rescue.

  Before she could reach him, however, he floated through the air until he was swinging precariously over the dancing flames.

  Shit. Basq struggled against the unseen rope. A broken neck wouldn’t kill him. But the fire most certainly would.

  “You will take me home, Chaaya,” he heard Greta drawl. “Or I’ll drop the vampire.”

  Chapter 22