Air of Darkness

by Rose O'Brien

  ***

  As Alex headed out of the office to start one last equipment check, Burdock caught his attention and motioned to follow him to the firing range.

  “What’s up?” Alex asked the fire mage.

  “Couple things.” Burdock was a tense as a coiled spring. “First up, I heard about what went down during the raid on the hunting grounds. I appreciate what you did.”

  Alex’s mouth fell open in surprise.

  “I froze. You could have died.”

  “That shit’s not on you, man. You did what you could, and that was enough.”

  Alex nodded solemnly, not knowing what to say.

  “Second thing. The stuff I told you about Christi—”

  “That secret is safe, dude.”

  Burdock held out a folded slip of paper.

  “This is her contact info. If you make it out and I don’t, I trust you to get word to her.”

  Alex took the paper. He stared at it.

  “You have my word,” Alex said quietly.

  Burdock’s face remained expressionless. He turned and moved down the hall like a stalking big cat.

  ***

  Three hours later, Alayna sat in one of the empty crash rooms at headquarters, trying to center her thoughts. Meditating had never come easily to her, but she felt it was important to review her spells and incantations before the coming fight.

  She looked over to the small nightstand in the closet-like room. There was a stack of envelopes. She had written a letter to each one of her team members. There was one for each of her three siblings, though she had no idea where to send Kayla’s letter. There was one for her mother. She had wanted to write one for Alex, but every time she had put her pen to the paper she had drawn a blank.

  What could she possibly say to him?

  She wanted to tell him how much he meant to her. That in just a few weeks he had changed the way she saw the world and saw herself.

  Alayna had always prided herself on seeing the best in the world and the people in it, even though she had seen all the horror it had to offer. Because of her curse, she knew her time was limited and she refused to let darkness cloud even one day.

  Despite this, fatigue had begun to creep in around the edges of her life. She had grown tired of always being the strong one, of always being shut out by the Corps and the other mages. She had grown tired of finding a few moments of comfort in the arms of strangers. That fatigue had turned to quiet anger.

  She would never let it show to her team, but it had been there.

  Then Alex had come along.

  He had accepted her and her world with little hesitation. He had offered his easy smile and lame jokes without asking for anything in return. Then he’d offered his body and his heart just as easily.

  Her thoughts turned to his warm brown eyes, shining with lust. For her. To that gorgeous body, all rippling muscle, and the feel of his solid weight on her and the way he had used that body to take her places she had never been.

  She loved him, for everything he was and for everything he made her feel, but she didn’t know how to tell him that. There was every chance that she wouldn’t walk away from this fight. Did she dare to tell him that she loved him just so he could lose her?

  Was it kinder to leave him wondering?

  And if he was the one who didn’t make it? Could she let him go to the next world not knowing how she felt? Could she carry that in her heart for the rest of her, albeit numbered, days?

  Her thoughts were interrupted by a knocking on the door. She called out, and Dumeril stuck his head in.

  “Your brother is here,” he said.

  “My what?” Alayna sprang to her feet.

  He gave her an eye roll and spoke slowly.

  “Your brother, Theron, is here. He’s the tall gorgeous blonde one that was born a couple of years before you,” Dumeril said. “And he has a message from the Council.”

  Her stomach dropped at his words. This wasn’t good.

  “Tell him I’ll be out in a minute. I’ll speak with him in the conference room.”

  When she got upstairs, Alex was checking his equipment at one of the long tables. Theron was beside him.

  “I’m a big fan of the Desert Eagle for stopping power, but I also carry the 1911 for ammo capacity,” the big blonde mage was telling Alex.

  Theron was nearly six and half feet tall, with broad shoulders, narrow hips and arms like a weight lifter. He was built like Captain America, and he had the All-American good looks to go with it. His hair, which had grown a little longer than his usual military short cut, was several shades of blonde, with strawberry low lights and platinum highlights. In the sun, it shown like a flame.

  His eyes were indigo blue, like hers, but they were hard as he turned to look at her.

  “Alayna,” he said.

  “Theron,” she said, mimicking his flat tone.

  “You didn’t mention in your report that your new pet FBI agent was so handy with a gun.”

  She sighed. She really didn’t want to discuss Alex with her brother. She would have preferred if the two had never met.

  “Alex served with the Army and the FBI. He’s formidable in a fight,” she said, meeting Alex’s warm, brown gaze. “And he’s not my pet. He’s not my anything.”

  She had turned her gaze back to Theron before she said the last part, unwilling to see Alex’s face when she said that. Her voice had been harder than she’d meant it to be. He’d see it was for the best in time.

  “You also didn’t mention that he was a lìthseach,” Theron said.

  At Alayna’s alarmed look, he waved her down.

  “Your secret’s safe with me sis, but this has the potential to complicate shit.”

  Crossing her arms over her chest, Alayna remained silent and gave Theron a you-think-I-don’t-know-that look.

  “The Corps brass received your report,” he started. “The Council also reviewed it.”

  She could tell from his tone of voice that she wasn’t going to like what he said next.

  “Let’s do this in the conference room, Theron. Please.”

  He shook his head. “They’re a part of this too and they need to know,” he said, gesturing to the others.

  There was pain in his voice as he said it. She looked around and realized that the team had gathered around them.

  He handed her a roll of parchment sealed with a red wax.

  “Commander Blackwell, as the oldest surviving Whisperer, you are hereby authorized to carry out the Reckoning in conjunction with this operation and at your discretion.”

  She took the roll of parchment from him and crushed it in her hand, feeling the wax seal of the Council snap and crumble.

  “And let me guess, they’re not sending any additional resources?” she said.

  Theron stepped toward her, his hand reaching for her shoulder. Stepping to the side, she evaded him and looked up at him.

  “Alayna, I’m sorry,” his voice was soft. “Even I can’t stay. I have to catch a flight to Damascus tonight. Things are getting hot there.”

  “I know you’re sorry, Theron,” she said, rage bubbling in her voice. “But we all knew it was coming, right? This is what everyone has been waiting for, for fifteen years. When it’s all over you can breathe a sigh of relief and move on with your lives, right?”

  Her hands trembled and angry tears were starting to form in her eyes. Alex’s brows were drawn together in confusion as he looked between them.

  Theron’s eyes narrowed. “He doesn’t know.”

  “That is none of your business, Theron!”

  “It’s plain as day that you two are involved. I can see it when you look at each other,” Theron said. “He has a right to know might happen tonight.”

  Alex stepped forward, reaching for her.

  “Alayna, what is going on? What is this Reckoning thing?”

  Without answering him, she looked at Theron.

  “Go catch your plane, big brother,” she said. “Tell th
e Council that I will do my duty. And when I’m dead, they can go fuck themselves.”

  Theron reached for her, but she moved back again.

  “I don’t want to leave it like this,” he said. “You’re my sister. I love you. This isn’t how I want to say goodbye.”

  “You said goodbye years ago when they told you I was cursed. You said goodbye every day we walked the halls of the Academy together and you distanced yourself from me. You said goodbye every day that you lived a two hour drive away and never came to see me.”

  Her voice was rising steadily with each word and anger poured from her body.

  “You’ve been saying goodbye for fifteen years!” she shouted. “Stop saying it and just go.”

  She turned her back on him and didn’t watch as he left the office. She heard Dumeril speaking quietly to her brother as he showed him out.

  Chapter 22

  Her body shaking with anger, she barely felt Alex’s hands come around her waist. He pulled her back against his front. Her head fell back against his shoulder.

  Without knowing how she got there, she found herself in the conference room with Alex. Her anger was like a living, blazing thing inside her, twisting and angling for a way out. She wanted desperately to put her fist through the wall, but she took deep calming breaths instead.

  “What was that all about?” he asked her.

  “The Council—that’s the group of self-righteous assholes that rules us from a distance—has given me permission to use a very dangerous and devastating spell to achieve success in this operation, but they won’t send any other mages to help us.”

  Alex was silent for a moment.

  “What did your brother mean when he said I had a right to know what might happen tonight?” Alex asked.

  Alayna took a deep breath and sighed. “The spell is called the Reckoning. It’s the darkest kind of blood magick and the ultimate in mage firepower. It can level entire city blocks. And it can only be performed by a Whisperer.”

  Alex nodded, taking the information in.

  “Some say the Reckoning is the sole purpose for a Whisperer. That’s why for centuries we were kept locked away, sequestered in libraries or healing centers. They called us too valuable to risk. We were like walking nuclear bombs kept in silos.”

  She saw the concern creasing Alex’s face, but she pressed on. It was time he knew the whole truth of it.

  “The spell itself isn’t all that complicated to perform, although it requires opening a couple of veins,” she said, her voice dropping to a whisper. “But it’s always fatal to the Whisperer who weaves it.”

  Alex’s brows slammed together and his body stiffened.

  “No,” he said simply. “No.”

  “It has always been and it will always be,” she said, repeating the words that had been said to her so many times. “Do you understand now, Alex? Do you see why I’m the way I am? Do you see why I have so few attachments in this world? I have to be ready to leave it at any time.”

  He ran his hand through his hair and Alayna could see his considerable mind working at light speed. Shit, he really did love her. She was going to have to do her best to prepare him for what was coming.

  “I’ve had to fight my whole life to be seen as anything other than a weapon, something to be used. But it’s allowed me to take risks, too. Like building a team with non-mages on it. You don’t know how uncommon that is.” She paused. “And I’ve been able to protect a very special sapien with potentially dangerous powers.”

  He met her eyes and in a flash, she was in his arms, crushed against his chest. His arms were like steel and she welcomed the feel of him, the weight of him surrounding her.

  “If the worst happens, Alex, look to the team. They’ll make sure you’re safe and that the Council can’t get to you,” she said.

  “It’s not me I’m worried about right now,” he said, his voice harsh. “How can you be so accepting of this? They’re basically giving you permission to kill yourself.”

  “Because I’ve had fifteen years to mentally prepare myself for this. And it’s my duty to protect this city and I’ll do whatever I have to in order to make that happen,” she said against his chest. “And you’d do exactly the same thing.”

  He had spent years with his life on the line every day. He had to understand.

  Alayna leaned back and looked into his beautiful eyes. Her hand touched his face, her thumb stroking his cheekbone. She could feel his clenched jaw.

  “I’ll say this, though,” she told him softly. “For the first time since they told me what I was, I have doubts about my ability to walk away from this life easily. You really make me want to stay.”

  His eyes squeezed shut at that and he pressed his forehead to hers.

  “Then don’t leave,” he said softly, his voice cracking slightly.

  “I may not have a choice,” she said.

  “Then we’ll run,” he said. “We could go somewhere remote. Live off the grid, just the two of us. They’d never find us.”

  “They’d hunt us down in less than twenty-four hours,” she said, her voice hard. “There is an entire group of mages called Wraiths. Their job is to hunt down and eliminate rogue mages. My older brother Xander is one, and they’d probably send him to execute me as a sort of retribution.”

  “There has got to be some other way. I won’t accept you just walking into a suicide mission,” Alex said vehemently.

  “I may not have to use the spell. It’s our ace in the hole,” she said, trying to infuse her voice with a hope she didn’t feel.

  “All right then,” Alex said. “We’ll just have to make sure we don’t need it.”

  “That’s the spirit,” she said, a sad smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

  As Alex turned toward the door, he stopped, his back to her.

  “Don’t think we’re done talking about the fact that you kept something that important from me,” he said quietly. “That hurts.”

  “I was trying to protect you,” she said.

  In reality, she had been afraid that he would push her away like every other male in her life when he found out, too afraid to lose her when the time came.

  “Well, stop it,” he said and pushed through the door.

  ***

  As Alex left Alayna in the conference room, he was met with the somber looks of the other team members as they paused in the preparations for the coming fight. Rage and cold, hard determination boiled in his chest.

  He met Dumeril’s eyes and growled, “We need to talk. Now.”

  In a dark corner near the firing range, Alex rounded on the tall Svarturan.

  “Tell me everything you know about the Reckoning,” Alex demanded.

  “So she finally told you,” Dumeril sighed. “I’m sorry, my friend.”

  “Fuck your apologies and fuck your pity,” Alex said. “I need details on the spell.”

  Dumeril was silent a moment, his gaze downcast.

  “I’ve never seen one performed, but from what I understand, the Whisperer makes two deep cuts, usually the wrists, and performs a very specific incantation. Once the words are said, the spell is woven, and nothing can stop it until the Whisperer is dead.”

  Thoughts whirled through Alex’s brain, chasing each other and colliding. There had to be something, some loophole. Some way to save her.

  “It’s an incredibly destructive spell. Supposed to be able to level a small village and kill anything in it.”

  “Is it the blood loss that kills the Whisperers?” Alex asked.

  “Hard to say. It’s most likely that the spell just drains all their energy. Stops their hearts. But the blood loss may be a factor,” he said.

  “That’s what I needed to know,” Alex said.

  “What are you up to?” Dumeril asked, suspicion narrowing his gaze. There were less than twelve hours left before they were going to hit that warehouse.

  “She’s not the only one that can keep a secret. Don’t tell anyone that we’ve spok
en about this,” he said, his hand on Dumeril’s shoulder. “And I need one more thing from you.”

  Chapter 23

  Alex pulled his truck into the garage at Alayna’s house well after dark. He’d gone by headquarters, only to find her bike gone. Lu, who had been checking equipment in the training area, had informed him that Alayna had gone back for something at her place and if he hurried he might catch her.

  He grabbed the cooler and headed inside, excited to tell her about his plan. After demanding that Dumeril hand over one of the vials of Alayna’s blood he had stashed, Alex had taken it to an old Army buddy who worked as a nurse at University Medical Center. He’d helped Delia out a time or two back in Iraq and she owed him a favor.

  Delia had typed the blood sample and managed to sneak eight units of whole blood out of the hospital in the cooler he was carrying under his arm like it was full of diamonds. That, combined with the portable defibrillator he had in his med kit, might be enough to pull Alayna through if she did perform this suicide spell.

  Magickal healing couldn’t help her if her heart stopped, Dumeril had explained. But Alex could. Fear gripped him at the idea. There would be a lot of blood. What if another panic attack froze him up? He shook the anxiety away. Failure wasn’t an option. Losing Alayna might kill him, so it was his life on the line, too. They were going to come out the other side of this, one way or another and he was going to find a way for them to be together.

  The sun had set and the dense woods around her house had taken on what seemed like a sinister cast to Alex. Everything felt off, ominous. Probably just nerves, he told himself.

  It wasn’t like he’d never been in a fight before, but it had never been one like this. He shivered slightly as the chill in the air touched the skin beneath his jacket.

  He stepped inside and set the cooler in the kitchen, calling for Alayna.

  “Up here,” he heard her call from the dojo.

  As he climbed the stairs, he heard a rhythmic scraping sound. When she came into view, he saw that she was sitting on the floor with a large war fan in her lap. She was using some kind of stone to sharpen the gleaming blades that extended from the top of the fan.