A Toiling Darkness (22 page)

Like Old Burn, dancing in the corner by
himself. I killed his wife before I came to the States and now he
wanted to turn me into barbeque. In my defense, that old bitch
threw me off a cliff. I simply returned the favor when I was up and
running again. Not my fault she wasn’t as durable as me.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“They’re all Lord Kay’s clients. I think
they are pre-gaming until they head out to a bigger party Lord Kay
is hosting.”

“Alcohol affects even the strongest of us
all.”

He leaned forward and his voice was lower.
“I just want them out. This many in an enclosed space, something is
bound to start.”

“And you’re just waiting for it to happen so
you can dust their asses.” I smiled. Maybe I’ll see something good
tonight.

He grinned and walked away, laughing, while
he attended to another customer. Glad to brighten someone’s night.
I took a drink of the tea and felt all the honey relax my own body.
I enjoyed the drink, allowing it to brighten my own day at least a
little. Nothing could come between me and my drink right now.

The beings stayed strong for another hour,
drinking and singing. To Baron’s disappointment, no fights broke
out and when they finally left, I felt like I could breathe again.
Apparently Baron felt the same way because when he gave me my third
tea, I didn’t get a shock with it.

“So what happened to you?” he asked, his
head tilted to the side.

“What do you mean?” I asked, feigning
ignorance. Did he already know about my fight with Kalen?

He shrugged. “You seem different. Not so
closed off.”

“You mean vulnerable?”

He shook his head and gave a weak smile.
“No, not vulnerable. Just open—a little less scary.”

I cocked my eyebrow and he pushed forward,
trying to explain himself. A light blush crept up into his cheeks,
going across his nose. Well would you look at that? I made Baron
blush. I held back the smile that wanted to break across my face.
He probably wouldn’t appreciate me grinning like a fool at his
expense.

“I just mean it seems like you’ve face
something you’ve needed to face for a long time and now you’re
healing a little.”

I was silent for a moment, thinking about
his words. “I don’t know about facing it completely, but more like
an acknowledgement maybe?” My words came out slow and
uncertain.

Baron nodded as if he understood. He
probably did too. Sometimes, when he thought no one was looking and
his mask cracked a little, a sadness overtook his expression. It’s
a brief moment, quick enough for people to not recognize that look.
I only recognized it because Eithna got the same look sometimes
too. I just wish I knew it was because she lost her children. Did
Baron lose someone important to him too?

“
Why do you look like that,” I had asked
her.

“
Because pain isn’t something you can
hide forever. It’ll come through sooner or later. It always
does.”

Then a couple days later she made the slauve
and died.

“It’s a start,” Baron said.

“Yeah,” I mumbled and took another sip. I
could never have too much sweetness, no matter what anyone
says.

Baron went away to help more customers. I
swiveled in my chair to see who was left after that crowd took off.
There were some beings scattered around, keeping to themselves. Two
men caught my attention. They were in the corner of the bar, a lot
of empty mugs in front of them.

They looked like they were trying to drown
their sorrows away. Something about them made me think they came
from the tournament. They had to be fighters who failed to even get
down the dark stairwell. Their figures were buff, tribal tattoos
scattering their dark arms and their hair pulled back in tight
braids, giving the impression of short hair if you didn’t see the
little braid at the nape of their neck. Everything about them
screamed defeated fighter. Kay’s tournaments were no joke. It
wasn’t for the weak. And those two were weak if they were here and
not underground.

Eyes in the room all turned towards the
door. I glanced over to see what caught everyone’s attention and
found the leggy blonde who wanted to approach me the night I first
met Kalen. This time she had no one to stop her and she headed
directly to me, an excited cockiness in her smile.

She sashayed towards me, her smile growing
as others watched her hips move with hungry eyes. Her magic was
kept close to herself, making it hard to gauge her potential. She
had amazing control—even I had to admit I was jealous of that
control.

The woman was what others called a smoking
babe. The two words together didn’t make sense to me and Kay had to
explain it meant a beautiful woman. I still didn’t get it but that
was what this witch would be called. Smoking babe. Her blond hair
was cut in short layers to frame her face. Her full lips were
rose-colored, nose straight, and the little bit of makeup made use
of her high cheekbones and twinkling dark eyes. Her eyes were
framed with long eyelashes. Every time she blinked those thick
lashes, I swear I could hear them as they collided against each
other. How do her lashes not get tangled up together? The witch
wore a short navy blue strapless dress that hugged every curve on
her body.

When she made it to the bar, she hopped up
on the stool next to me, turned to face me and crossed her long
legs. Her dress hiked up to her upper thighs, showing off her
perfectly tanned legs. Everything about her made me wonder why she
was here. She should be either at a photo-shoot, at the gym to keep
that athletic figure, or at a dance club, grinding against a
man.

“You’re Akhlys, aren’t you?” Her smiled
widened.

I stilled, completely shocked that she knew
that name.

How?

The room started to chatter again when they
figured out she wasn’t going to give them the attention they so
desperately wanted. Low murmurs surrounded us as I stared at her,
speechless. Unfazed by my reaction, she sat there, smiling like a
queen with a new jester to keep her entertained. It didn’t take
long for me to hate her. I wanted to wipe that smile off her face,
show her who she was dealing with. Instead I sat there and tried to
regain my composure by taking a drink. It didn’t work, she knew she
had my attention.

I finally responded, my throat still dry
even after a drink. It was like the honey congealed inside my
throat, preventing me from speaking clearly enough. “How do you
know that name?” The words were too thick and I had to take another
drink.

She smiled even more. I didn’t even know
someone could smile so big, especially a human.

There was a small debate in the supernatural
community about whether witches were human or not. They created
their own magic, magic inherited through their family, and if they
were lucky enough to get it, it allowed them to live up to three
hundred years, max. Other than that, everything about them was
human.

When this mysterious woman grinned, her face
pretty much split in half, making me question my original
opinion.

A human shouldn’t be able to smile like
that, right?

“How do you know that name?” I tried asking
again. This time my words were clear and strong.

She laughed and raised her hand to get
Baron’s attention. Not that he was already keeping an eye on us.
Remember when I mentioned we were civil antagonists? Well, now was
the perfect example. We were like two smiling pit bulls in a
dogfight, just waiting for the perfect opportunity to attack. Will
it be through words or through punches—well in our cases, through
magic and power?

Battles of wits, I could handle fine. I have
centuries of practice. Battles of supernatural gifts was a whole
other satisfying meal that always got my blood pumping. While magic
for a witch was self-made by components in their blood and their
surroundings, mine was more of a natural gift. My power was more
than just magic and I knew witches were nothing for me.

Of course, it was all on this woman if she
wanted to fight or not. I respected Baron enough not to fight in
his bar. I think he believed that too because most of his focus was
on the woman. She ordered a Blue Rague and was given the same drink
Lord Baron was always drinking. It was light blue at the bottom,
darkening as it got closer to the surface.

“Anything else?” he asked, looking at me. I
shook my head, watching as the woman took a sip. He left
reluctantly to serve other customers. Maybe he’ll still have a
chance to smite someone tonight.

The woman held out her hand. Her fingers
were long and well pampered with her fingernails manicured. “Paige
Chambers.”

I glared at her hand until she placed it
back on her la, next to her other hand. “How do you know that
name?” I asked again, my words clipped.

Her smile faltered as some of her confidence
left. Uncertainty flickered through her eyes before she hid it
behind another smile, full of perfect teeth. I wonder what her
smile would look like if she was missing a tooth or two. My fists
tightened in my lap, but I kept my face as neutral as possible. I’m
sure she could still feel my anger.

It finally clicked why it was too easy to
hate her—other than the fact that she knew that name. She was too
damn perfect. Her skin was flawless, not a single wrinkle, pimple,
or blotch on that tanned skin. If she spent so much time out in the
sun, there should have been imperfections somewhere on her skin.
She revealed enough of herself in that dress to suggest she didn’t
have any. Not even a single strand of hair was out of place on her
beautiful little face. Her body was well toned, her legs shapely,
her breasts plentiful and her neck enticing. Everything was so
perfect, her age was actually non-descriptive.

“I was with El for a couple of months, a
couple of decades ago.”

“Even then you wouldn’t know my name.”

“No, I wouldn’t.” She simply agreed. Her
head tilted as she searched my face for something that wasn’t
there. When she was certain she wasn’t going to find it, she
sighed. “The enlightener didn’t tell me anything about you. He
wouldn’t, so you can relax. But I did get to touch something you
used. A spell book you sent to him two hundred years ago. I got a
taste of your power then. And I saw you a couple of nights ago and
put two and two together. You could be no one but Akhlys.”

“That isn’t possible. My power doesn’t feel
the same as Akhlys’s.”

She smiled, her confidence coming back.
“No…no it doesn’t. But I don’t look at the outside appearance of
powers. I can go deeper than that.” She stared right into my eyes,
unblinking. With that one look, I could believe her. Her eyes were
dark, full of secrets only she knew about. It was like she was
almost looking right through me. Almost.

I shook my head, trying to shake off her
stare. She blinked rapidly a couple of times. Yeah…I can definitely
hear her blink. She took another sip of her blue drink.

“You still didn’t answer me. How do you know
that name?” My annoyance slipped out and the lights dimmed. The
room grew quiet and everyone stared at me.

I glared at them
. Keep looking at me and
I’ll cast you into the darkness to be fed on.
They got the
message loud and clear, finding their companions or drinks more
interesting.

I turned my glare to the witch.

She swallowed, no longer the cocky bitch she
started off as. Apparently she wasn’t getting the reaction she
wanted from me. I mentally shrugged. Fine with me. The sooner she
left me alone, the better.

“There is a, uh, family legend about Akhlys,
about what she is capable of doing. I matched the legend with your
powers.”

“A legend?”

She nodded.

“Which one?” I’ve heard all kinds of legends
involving me. Some of them were absurd and others were too close to
the truth.

Paige paled a little and played with a ring
on her finger. She was nervous now. She glanced around before
dipping her dress further down, bearing the left mound of her
breast. I could tell how skimpy her bikini was by her tan lines. On
the breast was a family tattoo that each witch got when they were
initiated into their family. The ink was a dark black and created a
small circle. In intricate details, the lines crisscrossed each
other creating a patterned line in a ring. Lines came together on
the outside to make it look kind of like a sun. Outlining the
curving lines was another in the color of yellow. There was a slash
through the tattoo, creating a scar. It had to have been a couple
decades old.

Memories crashed over me when I realized
just what kind of witch sat across from me. I could hear the
screams of women as they huddled from me, the yelling of angry men
as they tried to fight back, and the smell of decay that permeated
the air. The smell wasn’t of death or of blood, but of decay. Kay
and I combined forces and took out a whole family of powerful
witches. Kay was going to be pissed when he found out we didn’t get
them all.

They had sent some powerful witches after us
when they learned of the hunters we killed and we just wanted to
pay them back. We were already watching them closely because of
rumors of ancient magic being available to them. Deciding to kill
them cost nothing to us after they sent those witches. By the looks
of it, they would have become pesky later on.

I leaned against the bar top, not believing
what I saw.

She shouldn’t exist. None of them should.
They were dangerous back then, their magic old and their ability to
wield it amazing. Kay suffered from some serious injuries from our
attack. I had to take care of him for weeks before we could move
on. I only suffered minor injuries thanks to my use of the
darkness. I created a shield, blocking their attacks. It was hard.
Nearly ran out of power and afterwards, when we were finished, I
slept for two days straight, recharging, before I could help
Kay.