Darklight 7: Darkfall

by Forrest, Bella

  Inkarri let out a roar as another of her attacks failed. Sonia's face had gone pale white. She was holding on to the sides of the saddle now, no longer clutching Inkarri. I only prayed Sonia got her nerves together enough to grab a knife and drive it into Inkarri's back, but Sonia had no comm, and she was likely still loyal to Inkarri. I cursed inwardly, wishing we'd been able to spend more time securing Inkarri. Our quest to defeat her father made us disregard her as a priority. To be fair, though, I didn’t exactly expect Sonia to help her do a prison break.

  The beast roared as it let out a stream of fire, but Inkarri failed at angling it toward our allies. When she tried, she cried out in pain. The beast reared its head in annoyance. Where was Ruk?

  "What are you doing?" Irrikus bellowed over the gem blasts. His council continued to fire upon the crowd. "I ordered you to destroy them. Do as you're told!"

  Inkarri snarled but said nothing. Her desperate eyes darted around and finally landed on the ceiling. My adrenaline surged to new levels as she steered her beast to the remaining ironwork and glass. She was going to destroy it and let the shards rain down on us.

  "Take cover," I barked into the comm. Dorian jerked his head upward after throwing off a hunter. His sharp eyes hardened as he dove out of the way. Bravi grabbed a hunter and headbutted him, snatching the hunter's shield. The hunter fell back, and two vampires jumped on him.

  "Juneau," Bravi cried. Laini was still holding her own as she fought off another hunter. Bravi threw the shield through the air, and Juneau, although cuffed, was able to catch it. Laini pressed against him as he pulled the shield over their heads just in time. The beast smashed into the ceiling. A shower of iron and glass shards rained down on us. I rolled beneath the platform. Gina and Zach panted as they followed my lead.

  The platform rumbled above us as Irrikus let out a bellow of disapproval. Inkarri's attack had rained down on the Immortal Council, the same as our allies. I panted, trying to catch my breath as I looked around the area. The platform protected us from the falling debris, but there was limited shelter.

  Trying to please her father after all this, and he's still yelling abuse at her. I gnashed my teeth too tightly. The creature roared above us. Luckily, its fire had nothing to catch onto, but the sheer force of its powerful, heated blast turned the courtroom into a sweltering tornado of debris flying every which way.

  The platform above us suddenly began to move. Zach, Gina, and I followed it until it hit the edge of the wall. My heart dropped with dread when Chaka said that there was a set of doors on the second story up there. The rulers were making their escape. For all his complaining, Irrikus and the members had been able to avoid oncoming Coalition attacks long enough to get away, thanks to Inkarri's storm of debris.

  "We're in pursuit," Dorian said into the comm, specifically calling my team. "We're too far away to block the enemy's escape route. Follow them, and we'll catch up."

  My eyes searched for some way to scale the wall to the platform, which stayed stationary against the wall as the council members fled. The height was just short enough to make it if we could climb up, thanks to the low height of the first floor. Gina grunted, and I turned to see her on the other end of the platform underneath it. She gestured for my shoulders, and I dropped down, letting her climb onto them to reach the platform. She pulled herself up, and Chaka did the same on Zach’s shoulders. When they made it to the top, they dropped down on their stomachs to help pull up the rest of us. The doors were open when I scrambled onto the platform. As I made it to the center of the platform, half of our necklaces gave off sparks as the invisibility shields failed, including mine. I sucked in a sharp breath and jerked my head up.

  Inkarri glared down at me from across the room. She let out a scream as she turned her beast around. I steeled myself, knowing that we needed to stop her, but we also had to follow the council members. My eyes passed over the room. The chaotic battle raged. Everyone needed help. We were losing. If there was ever a time to use the arbiter’s necklace, it’s now… Dread and determination rocketed through me as I watched the scene unraveling before me.

  I dropped into a strong stance, one I’d practiced in the Higher Plane. Before Inkarri could reach the halfway point, I called the weather of the universe. It filled the stadium with a thick titanium fog that slowly encompassed everything. The beast tried to breathe fire through the fog, briefly illuminating it, but the cloudy effect remained. I inwardly cheered as we slipped through the doors. The smokescreen should give everyone on the ground a way to escape. My distraction meant she couldn't see Dorian's group fleeing through the nearest exit to catch up with us. Chaka slammed the door shut behind us, but my fog was relentless. It chased us as we sprinted down the corridor, leading to another building.

  Every one of my muscles tensed tightly and threatened to give out from exhaustion, but I pushed on. Where were the council members? Zach cursed as his invisibility shield fell. He ran into the faint screen of smoke. Only half of our group had functioning charms now.

  "Almost there," Chaka whispered hoarsely.

  The fog ended abruptly as we stumbled into an open area. Immediately, reflected light filled my vision, almost blinding me. Hunters and revenants came running toward us. We needed reinforcements, now… but that wasn't the worst part. Bright light illuminated a luxurious open-air rooftop courtyard with terraces on the side. The stones were covered in sparkling rainbow prisms. Horror stopped me in my tracks.

  My heart raced, overpowering my mind for the moment. A terrible fear washed over me as I stared at the familiar stones and the lush flowers. I knew this place.

  It was where I’d watched Laini and Gina die.

  24

  Lyra

  Rivo sent a giant arching blast at our assailants. We split up in the madness. Someone on our team, their invisibility charm still working, had dashed behind the hunters and was firing gem blasts into the middle of the gardens, drawing the attention of some of our pursuers. I prayed these revenants were the older kind who couldn't see magic with their gemstones, but we had Alan’s revenants in the fray. His maker guards tried to keep him to the side, two protecting him while the third dove in.

  I searched for Zach in the chaos and found him just a few yards from me. My hand latched onto his forearm. The look that passed between us said everything—Gina was family for both of us. I had told them what the moment in the window looked like. This is it. We have to save her. My gaze turned pleading. For a moment, his eyes looked glassy.

  “Watch out for Gina,” I told him. Her blonde head was nearby. He gave me a sharp nod, and we parted. I fought like an animal. The exhaustion from using my powers to create a fog felt far from me as I rushed to unmagick armor. Rivo swung his acquired sword straight into the hunter, earning a satisfying crunch as it sliced through the unmagicked metal.

  I pressed my comm. "Dorian, this is the courtyard. We need to be careful. You can't follow us in here with Laini."

  After a long pause, he replied. "Okay. We're trying to send backup, but first we have to get past Inkarri. She caught up to us. She's trying to bring down the entire stadium." Inkarri must have chosen to defend the entrance rather than join the fight, since there was no roof to bring down out here. A rumble shook the ground from the nearby stadium destruction. Would Sonia fall off the mount to her death in the chaos, while our friends attacked Inkarri? Rage filled me. I never should've let her come to the Immortal Plane. I bit my lip hard to concentrate on the task at hand. My vision took on a tunnel-like focus as I studied the battlefield.

  Gem blasts crisscrossed the walkways. Cries rang out from every corner. My ears rang with the sound of my own racing pulse and the terror of battle. I moved in a trance, slashing and cutting down anything in my path.

  A guard charged at me. My muscles moved without effort. I smashed my bracer against him, noting that his boot had been blasted partially off. I slammed my boot down onto his foot, and as he looked down, I sliced into his throat. Blood sprayed over me. Ingo came up b
ehind me, finishing the job with two stone knives, which greedily sucked up any magic left inside the armor. My chest heaved up and down.

  "Lyra," Reshi blurted on the comm. Her voice wavered with excitement. For a moment, there were no enemies around me. "I've managed to override the controls that allow Alan's revenants to be controlled by others. He alone can operate them now." I could almost see her sharp smile, full of fury and battle lust. I looked out to see one of Alan’s revenants choking a guard with relentless strength. Good, because Irrikus wasn’t bothering with Alan’s revenants yet. His controllers were his first line of defense, and they had focused on the vampires. My energy surged inside me. I tightened my grip around the handle of my knife.

  "Good," I muttered. "Alan better hold up his end of the bargain." He was hiding somewhere close to the doors with his guards, no doubt.

  I leapt over a bench to join Zach and Gina, who fought back-to-back against a group of guards. Gina wouldn't die today, not on my watch. With Alan’s revenants and our team, we beat back this wave of guards. The revenants were even tougher than us. They operated like war machines, uncaring if they hurt themselves in the process. My blade drove into another guard as Chaka jumped in to help me, firing a gauntlet that he'd pulled from one of the bodies.

  I leapt back to avoid a body flying through the air. No backup had come. There were ten guards and nine revenants against my current group of eight and Alan’s team. My eye wandered past the group to see the remaining Immortal Council cowering in a circle together. Three controllers stood, facing us with panicked eyes. Two council members wielded swords, but the rest gathered behind these five. Cowards. They couldn't even fight.

  Irrikus waited behind the rest, as far from the action as he could be. His face was calm, almost bored, as he watched with hostile eyes. The blood and gem blasts flying through the air never made him flinch. Was he waiting for us to take out his guard, saving his sway for when he needed it most? Or drawing us closer to him? He looked calm, as if he had no intention of fighting. Anger coursed through me.

  I swallowed a hard lump as Zach was forced to drive a blade into an attacking revenant's body. I didn't want to kill more vampires, but we had little choice. They were unstoppable. One of Alan's revenants launched herself at another revenant. They tumbled down, scratching and biting each other with animalistic viciousness. I came to blows with another guard as my comm came to life.

  "I figured it out," Reshi exclaimed on the comm. What was she so happy about? "I know how to rewire these gems." My heart thundered inside my chest with excitement. Loud crashing sounds could be heard in the background. Reshi said urgently, "The barricade is holding for now, but we’re under attack here in the control room. The spells. I can't undo the entire spell on the revenants, but I can give control to someone with a gem.” Alan. My mind went blank, and the guard landed a punch to my stomach that I didn’t move quickly enough to evade. “Alan’s guards would do it in a heartbeat. They trust him."

  I threw the guard off balance, and he careened into Rivo, who finished him off. Did we trust Alan, though? I hesitated for a moment and narrowly dodged a gem blast. Zach stumbled beside me, clutching a small wound on his stomach. Gina fought nearby with a guard. Good, I wanted to keep the more dangerous Immortal Council revenants away from her. I relayed Reshi’s message to him and searched his face.

  "What do you think? Should we trust him?"

  Zach wiped the sweat from his brow. "No, but we have to do it anyway. Anything is better than the rulers." Alan was untrustworthy… but he was our only option. We couldn’t lose Gina and our allies to the hands of the Immortal Council. As much as I hated Alan having such power, I preferred him over Irrikus.

  I stared at Zach for a beat. "Reshi. Do it. Give Alan the revenants." The comm went quiet in my ear. I hoped to the universe that I’d made the right choice. My eyes swept the area. Seven guards left, although two were wounded. Zach steadied himself, and we ran back into the conflict together.

  Our feet had scarcely reached the edge of the chaos when an electric, invisible current passed over all of us. It made my muscles spasm. Zach gasped, and Gina bent over, gagging.

  Alan's revenant and the council's revenant suddenly stopped fighting. They both had severe scratches and wounds. As if in slow motion, they rose up together. Every revenant arranged themselves in a line.

  Across the courtyard, Irrikus snarled. He shook the shoulder of one of the controllers, demanding to know what they were doing.

  "I-It's not me," the woman with long black hair stuttered. Her terrified eyes watched as the revenants uniformly turned to face the remaining guards and the circle of the Immortal Council. “The revenants have turned against us.”

  Alan stepped forward, two maker guards flanking him on either side. He smirked with satisfaction as his red eye glowed like a tiny sun in his socket. He cracked his neck and shuddered. The magic of controlling the revenants must have been coursing through his body. My hopes rose as I sized up the situation. With all the revenants on our side, the situation looked much more winnable. We were in control now.

  “You think yourself so clever,” Irrikus bellowed at him. He grinned sharply, a smile far too stretched to look natural on his face. Time slowed down as I understood what he was about to do. I raised my gem gauntlet in futile rage—he was too far for me to hit, even if the blast would connect before he said his next word.

  “Stop.”

  My muscles froze. Unlike Inkarri’s suggestion, Irrikus’s sway was all-consuming. I couldn’t move an inch. The entire courtyard froze. He’d been watching us try to destroy one another, waiting for a key moment to use his sway over us. With our numbers and our proximity, he possessed complete control over our bodies. I stared in horror as Irrikus let out a mocking laugh. He had us.

  25

  Lyra

  Irrikus clapped his large hands together. It was a drum beat of condescending, shallow humor. He aimed a vicious smile at the row of revenant vampires. His sneer held no humanity in it. If there was evil incarnate, I had just seen its face in Irrikus. Then he turned his attention to Alan, who stood just behind the revenants.

  “What an excellent display of poor decision making,” Irrikus drawled. “It’s delightfully entertaining to watch humans attempt to outmaneuver me. You’ve shown your true colors. Did you think I didn’t know I was housing a snake?”

  Alan stared back, still frozen, but somehow ground out, “Yet, I have control of your precious project.” He played his trump card well. Although I hated him, he had a way of working that matched Irrikus’s own.

  “I’m almost impressed.” Irrikus smirked wickedly. “You convinced me to experiment on that colleague of yours and willingly sacrificed him for the council’s use. It was a nice touch; after that, I almost believed in your dedication and loyalty. I enjoy playing games of strategy with those who are willing to make ruthless moves.” The ruler of Itzarriol looked delighted to unveil Alan’s traitorous ways.

  Icy fear slipped down my spine as I considered Irrikus’s words. Alan had sacrificed the other council member. Honestly, I had forgotten about the man, in all the madness. The sight of Elena was enough to make me focus on just her and Alan. A lump of emotion settled in my throat. I loathed his trickery, and yet, I also knew that playing a dangerous game like this was exactly what made Alan precious to Irrikus. The sway loosened around our lips more easily, now.

  “I did what I had to do,” Alan said simply.

  Monster. I glared at him. “You gave up your own friend.”

  Irrikus’s eyes slid to me. Perhaps Alan had told him of our familial connection, or he remembered that I’d once tried to fake bribe my way out with that information in my dealings with Zeele.

  “He was no friend of mine,” Alan said. “He was planning to betray my escape plans to Irrikus, in exchange for his favor. He was simply a temporary ally who’d outlived his usefulness.” The layers of evil in the old Bureau board disgusted me; every time I thought they’d hit rock bottom, they dr
illed deeper. At least this time, they’d only victimized each other.

  Given a moment to rest, my body was starting to slow down. I felt exhausted after creating the fog. I gave up struggling against the invisible bindings of Irrikus's words. God, how his cruel gaze loved seeing us all frozen, helpless.

  "I'm most pleased that my almost-worthy adversary brought so many leaders of the rebellion right to my feet." His sadistic joy passed over me with a nauseating wave. “I can control everybody like this.”

  I hated him. Something clicked inside me, something that Irrikus's sway could never reach. I saw every face taken from me during this awful ordeal. I heard the cry of every fallen warrior. We had lost so much to this monster, who’d started this entire journey centuries before I was born.

  I glared at Irrikus, detesting every fiber of his being. He’d started with good intentions, but now his hands dripped with the blood of innocents. No more. I whispered it to myself, feeling every muscle clench with rage and a deep thirst for revenge. The energy inside me moved, and suddenly, a shadow fell over us. It was a storm, and it was mine.

  Startled, Irrikus raised a forearm in defense from the swirling mass of clouds. I poured every ounce of anger into it. Thick red clouds, far greater than anything I’d yet produced in the Immortal Plane, pooled overhead like the swirling hint of tornado. Irrikus's brows knit together with concentration. A rumbling thunder echoed through the air. Sweat dripped from the nape of my neck down my rigid body as I channeled everything into this emotional storm. For the first time in my experience with Irrikus, I saw a brief, fleeting flicker of fear in his face. Blasts of crimson light tumbled off thick, smoky tendrils, followed by more thunder.