A Toiling Darkness (32 page)

“Which is why you have to leech off of him.”
I allowed myself to painfully relax against the wall. "You are
weak.”

She smacked me. Hard. My teeth cut open my
cheek and the sweet coppery taste of blood filled my mouth.

“Shut up! You understand nothing! Nothing!
You destroyed everything my family worked hard to achieve. We lost
so much because of you. Because you just up and decided that
someday, just maybe, we would be able to end you. A fucking
possibility.”

“Possibility? There was no possibility. Your
family was high risk. They were always aiming to destroy me. I’ve
been their prisoner more than a handful of times. Of course I would
wipe them out the first chance I got. Besides, they asked for it,
sending those men to me. What did you think was going to happen?
What was I suppose to do? Just take it laying down?” I shook my
head. “You’re so full of delusions.”

She shook her head and stepped back lifting
her hands in defeat. I would really believe I won if she wasn’t
smiling.

“You know what? It doesn’t matter. Kalen
will come and when he kills you, you will be dead and I’ll be the
one to look down at you, laughing. Revenge makes the best
satisfaction.”

I spat a mouthful of blood at her feet. She
stumbled back a little. I grinned, showing all my teeth and watched
with satisfaction as she paled. “Oh, yeah. Revenge is always
satisfying,” I purred. I allowed all my plans to show in my eyes.
None of what I wanted to do to her was pretty.

Paige backed up until her back hit the wall.
When she realized she just retreated from a little girl chained to
a wall, she snarled. How very beastly of her. It went against her
sophisticated appearance.

“You’re going to get what’s coming.”

“Looking forward to it.”

She glanced at me before escaping out of the
door and closing it behind her with a definite click. The lights
flared back to life and I settled inside of myself, nursing the
embers of my rage, keeping it alive.

There is an abyss of power inside of me,
just sitting there untouched. To touch it means death and suffering
for those around me. To touch it means to reach my full potential.
The day El came to me, I was so close to embracing it. I was tired
back then, sick of being in existence. I was self-destructive and I
almost used my true power to end the problems to my suffering—the
humans.

Only my promise with Kalen kept me from
tapping into it now. That and this form of a child. I could still
feel all that power, there was just a door between us. Well, more
like a screen door, with little leaks. Being angry really did help
a lot.

After Paige left, I collected those little
leaks of power and filled myself up with as much of it as I could.
I needed to heal as best as I could and reserve strength to fight
back the moment an opportunity presented itself. My body kept
roasting and I kept healing what damage I could. It was like I
couldn’t get ahead, couldn’t collect a little to reserve. Most of
the power went into healing my body and even then, the damage was
constant so I couldn’t completely heal.

“What is the meaning of this?” A familiar
voice roared and I realized they were back.

Paige took post, leaning against the wall
again. She was in a different sleazy dress now. It was still red,
but this time it was made out of satin and there were tiny little
spaghetti straps. Kalen stood just in front of me, his broad back
facing me as he yelled at Frey. Frey simply looked smug.

“Why is Darkness here?”

There he was, trying to do what was right
again.

Seeing him stand up for me made me realize I
didn’t want him here. My heart squeezed as my options narrowed
dramatically. I guess I just couldn’t believe Kalen would come. I
don’t know why. He does have to listen to his master after all.

His being here left me with only one option.
I was going to do it. I was going to keep my promise to help Kalen
get his freedom.

Paige said he was the only one capable of
killing me and I knew he could fight. Now I just had to believe
that he had the strength to fight me and win.

“Kalen,” I mumbled. His whole body went
stiff and he turned around to look at me. I managed a weak smile.
He moved towards me.

“Don’t go to her, Kalen,” Frey spoke, his
words a resonance in the air. Kalen froze in mid-movement. His face
tightened with strain as he fought those words, but he was only a
slauve, a slave forced to listen to the words of his master. There
was no going against his master’s words. Perspiration dotted his
forehead as he fought.

I felt pity for him. Another new emotion
Kalen taught me.

Kalen eventually gave up going against
Frey’s orders and turned back to his master, but not before giving
me a heart-wrenching look of desperation that nearly tore my heart
out. I could see the fear he always kept tucked away. He believed
he was going to fail me just like he failed those children who
died.

I hardened my heart. He wasn’t going to kill
me feeling like that. He had to see me for who I really was. I had
to make him hate me and what better way than to make him face
betrayal.

“What are you doing to her?” Kalen asked
through clenched teeth. So brave, so very brave to stand against
his master.

Frey blinked and looked between us before
letting out a loud laugh. “I would think you would be happy. She’s
you’re ticket to freedom.”

“What do you mean?”

“He means I’m Akhlys. The woman you have to
kill,” I volunteered. Kalen whirled around to face me, his
confusion as clear as the direction of his moral compass.

“That’s not possible.” I could see as
Kalen’s mind worked to accept what we were telling him. “You’re
power is all wrong.”

“Is it really?” Page asked, enjoying the
show.

“Shadows, Kalen. I can manipulate shadows,
remember. Truthfully, it is only shadows because I’m only a shadow
of myself.” I made a small gesture to represent the form I was in.
The chains clanked softly against the wall. “I dampened myself in
many ways.”

“Bullshit. What game are you playing?” he
said, still in disbelief. I guess if I was in his shoes, I wouldn’t
be able to accept it either. I’ll probably just laugh it off,
instead of looking like my world was falling apart, like how Kalen
was beginning to look.

I laughed, the sound feral and bone
chilling. “Game? I play none right now, not anymore.”

“I don’t understand.”

“No, I guess you wouldn’t.” I forced my face
to look neutral. It was the kind of neutral that said I could care
less about Kalen or the situation I put him in. It deserved an
Academy Award for Best Actress. He saw that expression and hated
it. His brows scrunched up as his frown deepened. “Let’s put it in
way for your stupid little mind to accept. Why do you keep coming
to me? How? Why do you think I pushed you to focus on those kids
and even helped out? You’re so fucking dumb, and that in itself
kept me entertained.”

“You didn’t push me to help those children.
If I remember correctly, you were very adamant it wasn’t a
being.”

“And it only made you want to prove me
wrong, right?” I asked. None of what I was saying was true. I
really did think a being wasn’t behind those children’s
disappearances. I was wrong and he was right. Yay for him, I
guess.

“I can’t believe you,” was his response.

“If not, then how about if she showed you
her real face?” Frey asked. He nodded and Paige took it as a cue to
work her magic.

It felt like they were tearing out my soul,
separating my flesh from my skin. I screamed and tried to fight
back, but failed horribly. My body elongated, my hair grew, turning
as dark as the night with a new moon and my power flared. That
screen door between the abyss and me was no longer there. I had
full access to my powers. Did they take into consideration how
powerful I could really be?

I reached out to all that power and found I
was only inches away from it all. I almost felt complete, almost
completely myself. So damn close. I shook in frustration, the cuffs
around my wrists and ankles now biting into my skin. They were a
size too small for me now that I was an adult.

I stared at Kalen, self conscious of my
naked body, but worked hard to reveal nothing in my expression. I
got to watch each emotion pass across his face. Confusion.
Disbelief. Anger. Confusion again. Understanding. Then finally the
pain of betrayal. All along I was the enemy he was created to
destroy and he thought I strung him along.

Good. He needs to feel that. He needs to
kill me.

“You’ve been here all along?” he asked, his
voice thick with emotions.

“The one and only. Sorry, if I could curtsy
I would.”

He shook his head—unable to find the correct
words to express the anguish he was feeling. We had moments
together these last couple of days. He thought I was one thing,
probably thought he was beginning to understand me and then I
shredded apart everything he believed to be true.

“You said you would help me,” he said, his
voice thick with emotions.

“I said a lot of things, didn’t I?”

“Enough already,” Frey interrupted, his
patience at an end. “Just kill her.”

Kalen stiffed, his whole body going rigid.
The pupils contracted, engulfing the chocolate brown until they
were only a tiny ring around black. He was barely holding onto
himself.

“Yeah, just kill me already,” I said. He
tried to find something in my expression and when he didn’t find
it, he growled. It was the warning kind of growl. One that was from
deep within his chest, warning me to not push him. I ignored the
warning. I wasn’t going to give him the excuse he was looking for
to not kill me. I needed him to fight and fight hard. I smiled
wickedly, showing all my teeth. “Do what your master says.”

His hand shot out to his back as he fought
with his master’s command. But his anger was rising and it didn’t
help him at all. His body was moving on its own now.

“No,” he whispered.

“No what?” I asked. “No, you don’t believe
it? No, you don’t want to kill me? Or no, this can’t be
reality?”

The knife came out. It was still dripping
with magic, even more so now than ever before. I caught a glimpse
of Paige staring at the knife with want. She wanted it and yet
Kalen had it. She was jealous.

She caught me watching her. “Only Kalen can
hold the knife. It is his heirloom,” she said, clamping down on the
jealousy that was eating her alive. It was probably a big itch
knowing she couldn’t touch something so powerful. Power was what
she was all about.

I looked back at Kalen. Heirloom?

I could see it now. An intricate design
sketched into the blade. I recognized the markings as a language
long dead from a long time ago. I could barely remember what the
symbols were. Some kind of spell maybe. Either way, it couldn’t be
anything good. Not for me anyways. I had a feeling that blade was
meant for beings like me.

Kalen stepped towards me now, the knife
pointed right at my chest. He was fighting hard with no avail. We
both knew it. He was going to stab me and I was probably going to
die. Those symbols said the same thing.

“I don’t want to do this,” Kalen grunted,
his teeth clenched. He was biting down on his lips, trying to use
pain to get out of the curse his body was under. Pain was usually
useful in breaking trances, some spells, and other’s wills that
pressed down on them. In this case, it wasn’t going to work. This
spell was deeper than anyone’s will.

“But you will,” I smiled up at him
softly.

His eyes widened as we both watched the
blade cut its way into my chest.

I screamed. The blade slipped into my chest,
between my ribs and right towards my heart, missing by only a hairs
length. Every time my heart beat, it pushed against the blade. The
blade was yanked out and I cried out as the heat spread across my
skin, taking route in the wound and digging its way through my
body.

As my insides burned with fire, I knew it
was because of those little beads of light like in my last fight
with Kalen. The pain fed my misery and my misery fed my anger. My
anger snapped, along with all the bonds to my sanity.

My last coherent thought was: I hope Kalen
is strong enough.

I screamed with full-out rage, my pupils
expanding until my eyes were pitch black. I couldn’t see, the
lights too strong for my new eyes.

I didn’t want to die. I couldn’t let them
kill me. Why did I even let myself think I would die for someone
else? I laughed a little, wondering just why I thought I could
finally die. No way in hell.

Never.

Lights shattered and shadows grew, giving me
that last little edge I needed. The little bit of distance left
between my powers and me disappeared and I dove right into the
abyss, letting it wrap itself around me.

I was scared. I was angry. I wanted to taste
death on my lips. I fought back. Someone screamed in response to
the sudden appearance of night. The magic thickened around me,
trying to create a cage. I knew I was still in my human form. I
could feel my arms as they pulled against the shackles. I could
feel my heavy chest as it tried to properly breathe.

The restraint on my body broke and I knew my
shackles disintegrated. They had no chance against my real
powers.

I was free.

I laughed again, this time in ecstasy. I was
free. Hurt—really hurt, but free nonetheless. The rest of the
lights broke, washing the entire room in darkness and making
everything crystal clear for me.

The slauve stood a couple of feet from me,
holding onto his blade and trying to see. The witch was by the
door, chanting something with her hands pointed out to me. The fae
was next to her, trying to see, his lips moving quickly.