by J. N. Baker
Alec was silent for what felt like forever. We’d been at this crossroad before and he couldn’t do it. I’d begged him to kill me after I slaughtered Cindy and he’d refused. I wouldn’t let him refuse this time. If it was the only way to keep me from becoming Baldric’s, then Alec had no choice.
“I promise,” he said stiffly as he turned and stood from the bed. “But it isn’t going to come to that. I’ll kill him first. Get dressed. I’m going to get William.”
Before I could process his words, he was gone.
I’d barely pulled the last of my clothes back on before Alec and William walked back into the room.
“What is it?” William said, stepping past Alec who closed the door behind him.
“She had a vision,” Alec answered, moving back to sit beside me on the edge of the bed. “Tell him what you saw.”
I opened my mouth to speak but no words came out. I ran shaky fingers through my hair, taking a deep breath in order to calm myself. Before I could try again, Alec stood and turned to face William.
“She was in Baldric’s castle, supposedly of her own free will.” His voice cracked a little and he cleared his throat. “Baldric called her his queen.” The last word came out like a curse.
William was silent for a moment. He stared into the dwindling flames, the wheels in his head audible. They ticked like a clock, counting each second that slipped by until Baldric came for me. I was running out of time. I just needed more time.
“I cannot say that I did not tell you so,” William finally said.
Whatever breath I had held in my lungs slithered through my parted lips like a tire losing air and then the anger rose to the surface. Did he seriously just “I-told-you-so” me? Not exactly the William response I was expecting.
“I told you if Baldric wants you, he will have you,” William continued, taking a few long steps toward me.
“I won’t let it happen,” Alec declared. “I swear it.”
William spun on his heels and squared off with Alec. “You of all people should know better,” William bit out, his face mere inches from Alec’s. “If Zoe saw herself with Baldric, then she will end up with him. Nothing that we do or say will be able to change that now. It has already been decided. Do not be a fool, Alec.”
“What if I die?” I asked, my voice quiet. “What if I’m killed before Baldric is able to have me? Won’t that stop the vision? I can’t be his if I’m dead,” I added flatly.
William’s eyes narrowed on me, his face grim. “It has already been decided,” he said again. “It has been seen, meaning it will happen. This is a future you cannot change.”
Alec turned away from William and slammed his fist into one of the bedposts with a roar, sending slivers of wood soaring through the room and causing the canopy to collapse on one end. He pounded his fists into the mattress over and over, mumbling obscenities under his breath. I felt his pain. After all, I was the one who was destined to be Baldric’s.
“So, there’s absolutely nothing to do?” I said, not sure if my words were even audible. “Nothing?”
William took a deep breath, his eyes softening. “I am truly sorry, Zoe. It is out of our hands now. It is what you do when you get there that matters most. I am sure it will not be long now. I need to talk to our people—all of them. They need to know there is likely another battle brewing.”
Without another word, William turned and exited the room.
Alec returned to the bed, wrapping me in his warm arms. He tilted my chin up and pressed his lips to mine. “If this has to happen,” he started, “then I will not rest until you are free again. Even if it means my own life. The vision showed that you’d end up there but it didn’t say you would stay there.”
He was right. The vision said nothing about me remaining in Baldric’s control. Maybe there was hope after all. Maybe I would be with him for a week, a month, maybe even a year. But I would not stay there. I would be free again.
I clung to that thought like a lifeline.
Alec and I walked, hand in hand, into the crowded great hall where we found William already addressing the majority of our people. Those not there were probably standing guard outside the castle gates, keeping a watchful eye for Baldric and his bloodthirsty legion. I’d bet they were of the fanged variety so they could still listen in on the meeting.
I scanned the room, taking in the handful of faces that still remained. It saddened me to think that once upon a time we would have never been able to fit all of our people into that hall.
“We need to be ready for anything,” William said, his voice commanding respect as it always did. “I do not know what Baldric is planning, but rest assured that he is up to something. We have always known he would not stay quiet for long This war is far from over. I believe that we can expect an attack within the next few weeks, if not sooner.”
A few gasps and whispers littered the large hall.
Alec stepped away from me, taking his place beside William. “Baldric is picking us off, one by one,” he told the room at large. “He will keep attacking us until there is no one left, unless we do something about it. I, for one, am done collecting the heads of my people.”
Jade flinched at the mentioning of heads. The image of Ryuu’s head on a stake would stay with her for the rest of her very long life. I couldn’t imagine what that was like, but a small part of me tried to say I already did. Before I could think about it further, James spoke up.
“What about the plane?” he asked. It’d been so long since someone mentioned the big jumbo jet. I’d assumed I was the only one secretly keeping hope alive.
Jade snorted. “Keep dreaming, kid. That bird is long gone.”
James shot her a look. “Well, we need to think of something,” he snapped, his eyes flashing yellow. “We need people.”
“He’s right, dude,” Cody agreed. Only he could get away with calling William “dude.” “We’re seriously lacking in numbers. There’s no way in hell we can fight him off without more people. We need more manpower.”
“What about the forest nymphs? Maybe more of them could fight. And the shadow people,” James suggested. “If they all fight alongside us, it’d at least be a start, right?”
“You want those sick fucks standing beside you in battle?” Rhett said, sounding a lot like a male version of Jade. Maybe that was why he always seemed to rub me the wrong way. He reached up and smacked his younger, but much taller, brother upside the back of the head before pointing at the scar around his own neck. “Those things will do far worse to you than this. We shouldn’t even be associating with those demon spawn.”
“He has a point,” Annie chimed in, standing on William’s other side.
“Thanks,” Rhett said but Annie shook her head, red curls dancing around her face.
“I meant James. He’s right: we should be using all of the resources available to us.”
It was my turn to shake my head. “Even with all the forest nymphs and shadow people combined, we still wouldn’t stand a chance if Baldric returns with all of his people. Hell, with even half of his people. Besides, the forest nymphs’ numbers are down just as ours are. And the shadow people have made it pretty clear they won’t fight.”
Well, all but one.
Speak of the Devil.
“Death is on the horizon,” an all-too-familiar raspy voice said from somewhere in the room. “The creatures of the night are approaching the castle.”
My shadow creature—why I was laying claim to it, I didn’t know—slinked forward, body hunched under its long black cloak. Our people parted around it like the Red Sea, afraid of standing too close. I didn’t blame them.
I made my way forward until I was standing in front of the other Chosen, coming face to face with the creature—sort of. It tilted its head up, glowing eyes meeting mine while the rest of its body stayed blessedly concealed.
“Is she actually looking at the monster?” someone whispered.
“She made eye contact.”
“Why isn’t she averting her eyes,” another hushed voice said.
“Dumbass. Deserves whatever she gets.”
I rolled my eyes at the last voice which was very obviously Jade’s.
“Zoe, what are you doing?” Alec said from somewhere behind me, unsheathing his blade. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes a second time. “Did you learn nothing the last time?”
“Kill it, Alec,” William ordered. “We do not have time for this.”
The creature hissed and I held up a hand. “Stop!” I shouted, my voice bouncing off the vaulted ceilings. “Leave it. This one is with me. We’ve got…history. I trust it.” Sort of. Hopefully it wasn’t about to make a liar out of me.
A low growl reverberated throughout the room and everyone took another step back. Only this sound wasn’t coming from the shadow creature. It was coming from Jade.
She flew forward, sword in hand. “You’re the monster that let Ryuu die!” she damn near shrieked, her silver eyes reluctantly cast down. An attack wasn’t nearly as menacing when the attacker couldn’t look their opponent in the eye. It was almost laughable.
I snatched the sword from her hand. “I said, stop. William is right,” I said reluctantly. “We don’t have time for this shit.”
James and Cody came up on either side of her, their eyes averted as they gently pulled Jade back.
“Your grief seems subdued,” the creature said as my eyes found its once more. No thank you for saving my ass. Then again, I didn’t exactly thank it for saving me. “It seems to be buried…held at bay.”
“What are you talking about?” I started, searching the creature’s eyes. “What grief?”
“Her and that stupid human,” Jade grumbled from somewhere farther back in the room.
What human? Cindy?
There was movement behind me and some hushed voices, but I didn’t dare turn my back on the shadow creature. I trusted it but only to a point. A very fine point.
“I will do what I can for your people,” the creature said to the room, its eyes still locked onto mine. If I weren’t mistaken, I’d say the damn thing enjoyed finally getting to connect with someone. “I have a few who are willing to fight with me.”
Electricity pumped through my veins, and for the first time in months, I felt the sting of it reaching the surface of my skin. It burned so good. I wasn’t sure why my new power had been absent for so long, not that I ever really had much control over it to begin with. It had a mind of its own.
“I can help,” I told the creature. “I’ve taken down a number of Baldric’s beasts before. I can do it again.”
It stared at me a moment before shaking its head. “You must remain indoors. All of your people must. Not all of my people have the self-control I do. You should hurry. You have minutes.”
“You heard him,” Alec spoke up at that. “Everyone stays indoors. Godfrey, get the vampires standing guard. And hurry.”
Godfrey was already out the door before Alec had even finished his sentence.
Loud screeches filled the dark skies outside and somewhere in the hall a child screamed. The haunting shrieks of the Sythen filled the air, the sound of beating wings drumming against the side of the castle walls. They were here.
“Go,” William bellowed. “Find places throughout the castle with minimal windows and take cover!”
Our people scrambled to get out of the great hall, following his orders. He was splitting up our people. Smart. Last thing we needed was to have all of us in one giant room like a gourmet feast for any Sythen that managed to bust through the outer windows.
Before the shadow creature could leave, I extended my hand outward despite the growing commotion around us. After a beat, the same long-fingered, scaly gray hand that had wrapped around my neck, reached out and enveloped my much smaller hand, making my skin crawl. I pushed the bile rising in my throat back down and gave the creature a stiff nod.
With that, it released my hand and fled the room.
It felt wrong, hiding away like cowards while someone else fought our battle for us. But I doubted we could even withstand a goddamn gaggle of geese in our current state, let alone a flock of fucking Sythen. Both creatures were equally as mean, one just had sharper teeth.
Besides, call it morbid curiosity, but I wanted to see what a handful of the shadow people were capable of. The only thing that kept me from drifting to the windows and watching the show was the memory of Ryuu telling me he hadn’t eaten for a week after seeing what the creatures looked like without the protection of their cloaks.
That and Alec’s death grip on me.
The five of us remained in the great hall, swords drawn, listening as the shrieks of Baldric’s winged beasts were quickly replaced by the ghastly sound of flesh being torn apart, and then even that faded into silence.
“What the—”
Jade was cut off as the outer windows imploded, sending shards of glass slicing through the air. There wasn’t even time to register how many pieces had embedded into my skin before the Sythen’s massive head shot into the great hall.
A low growl—so deep and unsettling, I could only describe it as demonic—rose from the ground level. The Sythen’s head bobbed, its blood-red eyes glazing over as it clung to the side of the castle, transfixed by some unseen force.
With one ear-piercing screech, the beast whipped its head around and sank its jagged teeth into its own body, ripping out a chunk of flesh. Annie screamed as the Sythen went back for seconds and then thirds, before falling away from the window and hitting the ground with a loud thud that shook the castle walls.
Everything went still.
After a few minutes of agonizing silence, Jade crept over to the window, looking out at the ground below.
“The shadow creeps are gone,” she announced with a grimace.
“And the Sythen?” William asked as he approached her.
“You mean what’s left of them?”
Black blood stained the snow and marred the castle walls. Bits and pieces of flesh littered the ground, body parts strewn about—a foot here, a tail there, the odd head or two. If the sight was bad, the smell was worse. It was downright unbearable. I covered my nose, trying to breathe through my mouth instead. That was also a big nope. Better to just hold my breath until I passed out.
Annie elected to stay inside the castle to help Sloane check on the rest of our people. I didn’t blame her. The scene was grotesque at best. As I passed through the carnage, I remembered what it was like when Litharo had controlled me, how I’d clawed frantically at my body. Sythen teeth were clearly far sharper than my fingernails.
The beasts had ripped themselves to pieces.
Thanks to my new shadow buddy and his friends, we wouldn’t be digging any new graves. Not tonight at least. A small blessing seeing as we now had more of our people under the ground than on it.
“See,” James exclaimed. “This is what I’m talking about! We need to find a way to make these guys fight more often.”
“They claim they aren’t fighters,” I mumbled, nudging a head with my boot. Not fighters, my ass. I counted at least ten dead, maybe more. Hard to tell when there were only pieces left.
“And I spoke the truth,” a gruff voice said. All eyes fell to the shadow creature as it crept back out of the forest. My creature. “We are not fighters,” it continued. “Not anymore. We fought once, long ago, and still we pay the price. We have not fought since.”
“You have,” I pointed out as I came face to face with the creature. “Twice.”
It tilted its head so that it could meet my eyes and I heard a few people curse behind me. I wasn’t sure they’d ever get used to that. Hell, I wasn’t sure I would. They likely thought I was crazy—I sure as hell did.
“We have yet to find redemption,” it finally said. “Perhaps it is time to try another way.”
“All of you?” I asked. Before, the creature told me only it would fight. This time it wasn’t entirely alone.
“No,” it said. �
��Many of my people are stuck in their ways. Fear prevents them from changing their path, despite it leading them nowhere. But there are a few willing to try to see…”
Alec shifted behind me. “See what?”
“Which path brings them the absolution they seek,” I answered for the creature. It nodded.
“I should go,” it said. “Lylan will not be happy with those of us who chose to fight. He will fear our actions will bring punishment to all.”
Instead of leaving, the creature extended its long, bony hand out to me as I’d previously done to it. With minimal hesitation I took the hand in mine—it didn’t feel quite as disgusting this time—and shook it. Such a human gesture.
“I am the one they call Kaziel,” the shadow creature said. “If you need me, you need only call out my name, my lady.”
“Zoe,” I corrected.
It released my hand with a nod. “Zoe.”
As it headed back into the protection of the trees, William moved to my side. “You must use caution, Zoe,” he said, his eyes fixed on the retreating form until it disappeared completely. “The shadow people are very unpredictable. Once they get the taste of blood, they tend to not stop until everything is dead. There is a reason they constantly seek forgiveness. They are vile creatures and I do not believe they can be trusted.”
“I don’t trust them,” I said, turning to face him. “I trust that one.”
William held my gaze for a minute and then shook his head. “So much like her.”
So I’d been told.
“I’m going to start taking that as a compliment,” I called after him as he turned his back on me and walked away.
“Burn the remains,” William ordered, raising his voice so the rest of our people would hear. “Be quick about it. Baldric is on the move again.” With that, William disappeared back into the castle. God forbid he get his own hands dirty helping.