A Toiling Darkness (33 page)

The room grew colder as Frey’s magic did
their trick.

Ice formed at my feet, hindering my
movement. It slowly rose up around my ankles, leeching the warmth
out of my feet.

A net formed a couple of feet above my head
and then dropped around me, the magic-infused rope burning my skin
where ever they touched. This time I was able to mist. I misted to
the spot right in front of the witch, leaving behind the ice and
the net. I heard the net drop down onto the floor as I leered over
the black, soul-sucking witch.

A white light took the place of the couple
of torches on the wall. It felt like the slauve’s doing. He was
trying to bring light back into my world. I felt it like a hole in
my existence.

No.
I patched it up, snuffing out the
light and glaring at the slauve.

“I am Night,” I said. My voice was
completely separate from me as I spoke. Even I couldn’t recognize
it as mine, not with so much power and detachment in it. I just
didn’t care anymore. I was hurt and about to die. I was
foolish.

My instincts were in complete control as
darkness deepened all around us. If I was going to die, then I was
going to take a chunk of life with me.

All of them. They hurt me. Kill them
all.

I blended in with the darkness, becoming one
with it. My body wasn’t tangible anymore. I dispersed, becoming who
I should have always been. My powers expanded outwards, filling the
room and spilling out of any cracks in the foundation.

The slauve made a move for me, a shine in
his eyes. The little orbs taking place of his pupils looked like
two little moons. The witch was chanting again, the fae joining in
with her.

The slauve slashed at me but how do you hit
something that is everywhere and yet nowhere?

I could feel every being, including the
humans, in the area to their very core. I could smell the dirt
embedded in their skin, the alcohol on their breath. I could taste
the sweat on their skin and the drugs in their systems as they
huddled in for the night. They weren’t who I wanted though, my
targets were the ones in the room with me.

I expanded completely, nearly entirely true
self for once.

I felt the cold steel as it went for me. I
resurrected a wall between me and the blade. It was no use. The
blade cute right through it. The knife leaving behind a blinding
white path. I jumped back, ignoring everything.

My insides were on fire, my cursed brand on
full blast, trying to remind me who and what I am.

I know who I am.

I am Night.

I am the creation of mankind’s fear.

I can’t die. I won’t.

I came back into my human form and cemented
the blackness, forming a three feet thick wall between me and the
blade. A thump bounced around the room as I turned to face the
witch. She finished chanting and sent a blinding yellow light of
magic right at me. It hit the center of my chest and pushed me
backwards, up against the wall I just made.

The pain of her spell was only a spark
compared to the inferno inside of me. It was beginning to hurt to
breath. I was going to lose.

No.

Yes. I was going to lose.

How? Why was I still so weak even though I
have so much power?

I won’t die. I won’t.

I screamed and wrapped myself around the
witch. She screamed, but it soon became muffled. I tasted her fear,
her knowledge that she fucked up, that I was far stronger than she
could imagine.

“How can you be so shocked?” I asked
distantly. My voice was a whisper everywhere in the room. “I
destroyed your family, remember.”

Her eyes grew wide with terror. I seeped
into her psych and found a small pond of darkness. It was a cess
pool, breeding her hatred and need for more power. Faintly, I felt
more pain. Someone was doing more damage to me. I ignored it,
focusing on my current victim. I’ll get to them all in due
time.

I dipped my toe into the pool. It was
freezing cold. I smiled softly and sat down, putting my feet
inside. The witch screamed as I splashed my feet within her
psych.

“Get out!” she screamed, her hands going to
her head.

I looked up and out into the world of her
mind.

“No more,” she whimpered.

“Yes, more,” I said simply and stood back
up. “You want power, then here.”

I raised my hand over the pool and pushed
out my own power. It mingled with hers, blending in before becoming
explosive. She screamed again while I laughed. I flowed out of her
and back into my human form, too weak to stay intangible anymore.
That took more power than I had to spare, but I just couldn’t help
myself. I smiled.

The witch was still screaming, magic around
her pulsing as she lost control of herself. For what felt like
forever but was probably only a few seconds, she continued to
scream, holding her head as she rolled around on the floor.
Finally, she stopped. Dead.

“What did you do?” the fae cried out.

The witch was at his feet, her eyes open and
glossy. Her red satin dress surrounded her like a pool of blood.
Her coven tattoo was a stark stain against her tanned skin. It
didn’t have the shine it used to. All the magic within her
dispersed along with her soul. Nothing, not even her coven could
have protected her. Not that they would even want to. Now in death,
she had to face an afterlife of suffering. A black witch was
despised, even after death.

I turned and faced the two remain beings.
The slauve was breathing heavily, warring with the darkness I
pitted against him to keep him distracted. The fae was still
looking down at the witch with grief. He didn’t want her dead.

“Kalen, do it now,” he said.

The slauve hesitated, looking between us. I
didn’t know what he was about to do

“Yeah,
Kalen
. Do it.” I said, rolling
his name off my lips. It was a comfortable name. I didn’t like the
comfort of it at all.

He still hesitated. I couldn’t figure out
why. Wasn’t I the enemy? The one he had to destroy?

“Kill her!” the Fae yelled.

The slauve flinched, but his mouth formed
into a word. When he released it, all those fiery balls of pain
turned into explosions in my body. I screamed and fell to my hands
and knees. Black pits of blood grew on the floor, my life spilling
out onto it.

The Fae snickered and walked towards me. I
tried to breath out, but my lungs were crap now, one of them
refusing to work and the other barely able to take in air.

My sight went in and out and somehow, the
connection between me and my body grew back, putting my instincts
on the back burner. I recognized this magic. It was ancient, very
ancient and came from a family line just as old as I was.

“Moonlight,” I wheezed.

Frey laughed, kneeling down a couple of feet
away. I glared up at him.

“Paige found him for me. It takes a special
kind of person to be able to kill you.”

Tears pushed against my eyes as memories
I’ve almost forgotten about came back to the surface. How couldn’t
I figure this out before? Kalen was the descendant of a very old
family. One of the few humans I loved was a woman. I met her when
she was already old and I spent quite a few nights just talking
with her. She was going blind, but it didn’t stop her from seeing
into me. She was Mother Moon. Moonlight was hers to use and she
could do such beautiful things with it.

“
Hey hun, look at this.” She held out her
hand and slowly she collected the moonlight and subjected it into a
reality, creating a small figurine in her hand of a beautiful bird
long extinct. The feathers were long and flowy, the beak short, the
eyes big and doey. “I heard it the other day. Didn’t think I would
ever hear their song ever again.”

Maybe that was why I was so easily attracted
to Kalen. He was the new Mother Moon. Or would that be Father
Moon?

The night and the moon are true companions.
It all made sense now. I was doomed from the beginning.

“You bastard,” I whispered, spitting out
more of my life force. It was more than just blood. It was a
mixture of blood, flesh, and power.

I can’t even explain the anger I felt.
Mother Moon was someone I probably loved. I don’t really understand
what it means to love, but I like to think I loved her. And then
here, in front of me was her descendant and Frey turned him into a
slauve.

I wanted Frey’s death and more.

Kalen stepped towards me and I used up most
of my power to create a wall. It was a wall of black with a depth
of eternity to it. He would have to fight through it to get to me
and Frey.

I stood up slowly, coughing out more of my
life force. My legs were shaking, I was getting tunnel vision and
light headed, and the pain.

Oh fuck, the pain.

I can’t let it stop me.

When I glared at Frey, he seemed surprised
by my strength.

“Do you have any idea who Kalen really is?”
I asked.

“He’s the man who can kill you.”

I shook my head. I was wheezing now, the
edges to my vision were closing in on my sight. Was this death?

“He’s part of the revolution of the earth
and you got him killed so you can control him?” I barked out. I
stared at him, calling on the very last trickles of my power.
Kalen’s magic was definitely effective against me. I felt so damn
empty. I’ve never felt this empty. I would have said it was
impossible, but obviously that was a lie. I gathered every last
ounce available and focused on the fae in front of me.

The edges of the darkness surrounding the
room crept in, getting closer and closer to us. I used it to reach
out to Frey.

He noticed and tried to step away, but while
he focused on one of them, another came up from behind and wrapped
around his legs. It pulled on him and he fell down hard. It dragged
him, pulling him a couple of feet away on his stomach. His long
arms reached out, searching for anything to grab onto.

“Do you know where you’re going?” I asked
through clenched teeth. I could actually feel my heartbeat slow
down.

“Y-you can’t do this! You don’t even have
enough power,” he screamed in pure desperation while clawing at the
ground. His blue curls covered one of his frantic eyes. The other
one was wide, his pupils bouncing around.

“No, I don’t."

When he knew there was no hope, his
expression twisted with anger. “I’m just the beginning, Akhlys.
More will come. Especially since word has gotten out about who you
are and what you will do.”

“What I will do?” I asked, a little
surprised. I shook my head. “Never mind. It doesn’t matter.” I
pushed out the last of my power, making the shadows’ grip tighten
and pull him faster into the depths of its emptiness.

He screamed and I fell to my knees as I
watched him disappear into the shadows with a one-way ticket to the
underworld.

He was right. I didn’t have enough power to
do that. I was more than on empty, I was in the red. The abyss
within me was completely empty, with not even a drop to heal my
body. This was why Kalen was capable of killing me. He destroyed
most of my powers with those explosions.

The wall formed behind me shattered,
sounding just like broken glass. I looked over to see Kalen
standing there, his chest heaving and his eyes wide.

Kalen approached me slowly, unsure of what
to do. I just stayed on my knees, too weak to move. Even if he
attacked, my instincts wouldn’t be able to make me fight back. I
just wanted to close my eyes and give in to the darkness all around
my vision. And this was not the kind of darkness I was familiar
with.

It was the darkness of death, of the end. Of
finality. There was nothing to manipulate. Not that I could in this
state.

“You killed him,” he asked, already knowing
the answer.

“Not yet,” I wheezed. “If you hurry, you can
finish me off.”

“Wha-”

“Just do it!” I screamed. He flinched, so
confused and unsure of himself. “If you want to truly be free. You
need to kill me.”

He came over and tried to help me to my
feet. I shook him off and glared up at him.

“I’m going to die whether you do it or not.
If you don’t, then I sacrificed myself for nothing,” I snarled.

His eyes widened. “You put yourself in
danger on purpose?” he asked incredulously.

I snorted, spitting out more of my life
force. Was the ground getting closer? “No, not on purpose. But I
turned it into a good opportunity. You want to be free, right?”

“I can’t kill you.”

“You can and you will!” I closed my eyes.
The ground looked so comfortable. No. He had to do it.

“I can’t.” His voice was gruff. Shit. This
was exactly what I was afraid of. He felt compassion and it was
hindering him.

I grabbed onto him, using his body as an
anchor as I pulled myself up closer to him. “I am already as good
as dead. You need to do it now, before Frey makes it to the
underworld.” His eyes widened and when he went to say something, I
shook my head. “No, shut up! Just do it. Move on to the next phase
of your life. You’re the new Mother Moon.”

“Mother Moon?”

“Well, probably Father Moon. The point is,
your existence is far more important than mine. You need to be free
and to do that you need to kill me before Frey dies. Do it!”

“I can’t!”

“You can!” I screamed at him in frustration.
Tears were falling down now. That’s three times now that I’ve
cried. Thanks Kalen. Thanks a lot. “So many would jump up at this
opportunity.”

“I’m not most people.” He kneeled down, his
arms holding me carefully. He was panicking. I could see it in his
expression. He wanted to save me.

Always trying to save me.

“No, you’re not. That’s why you can.
Please.” I leaned my forehead against his chest. “I’m tired, Kalen.
I’ve lived through too much. Please, give me a mercy kill. End
me.”