Blood Beyond Darkness (31 page)

“This is all so tragically romantic.” The Queen’s silky voice slithered through the room. I reeled at the sound, grabbing the sword off my back. She stood at the entrance. Bruises and cuts crossed her face, her leather pants and top ripped, her hair springing in wild coils around her shoulders.

Lars.
He should be here by now.
Where was he? Was he all right?

“I underestimated you, Ember. Actually, both of you. I thought you would choose him in the end. Love is supposed to be blind and selfish, and I hoped you would take after your mother and follow the same path. And I never thought a Dark Dweller would sacrifice himself for love.” Tiny bells of laughter came from her throat.

“Funny, but when I think selfish and blind, I immediately think of you.” My feet shifted into a fighter’s stance, waiting for her to move.

“Blind? You are the one without any powers and still think you can kill me.” Her smug smile filled her features. “I can destroy you right here, Ember, with your own magic.”

I pressed my lips together and swallowed nervously but kept my gaze steady.

“And really ... you already failed. Your King is not coming to save you. At this moment he is leading more of his men into death’s hands. The barriers are coming down, and you can’t stop it.” She edged around us in a semi-circle, heading for the Sword of Light. She carried her own saber at her side. “Why do you continue to try?”

With every step, she blocked the sword from me. She still couldn’t touch it, but she could stop me from getting to it. I needed to grab it before she moved in front of it.

Eli must have had the same thought because he leaned into my ear. “Go!” With that, his body shifted, his clothes tearing as his Dark Dweller burst forth. A roar powered from his throat as he leaped for the Queen. He was distracting her for me.

Ignoring the tearing pain in my heart, I sprinted for the sword. I had no time to think or hesitate. Eli could only deter her until I touched it. Then it was all me. I needed to be quick before she could react. I shut down and let the darkness come through. Aneira was the reason Eli would die tonight, the reason I would never lie next to him again or laugh at something he said or did.

He would not die in vain.

My fingers wrapped sturdily around the handle as I pulled it off the stand.

Then everything stopped.

The pain slammed into my hand and traveled up my arm. It felt like someone was pulling my veins out through my skin and then pouring acid into the open wounds. My breath caught in my throat. White light flashed, blinding my vision. A scream echoed off the walls. It sounded like my voice, but I couldn’t tell if my mouth was open or not. My head slammed onto the hard floor, which was the only way I knew which way was up. The surface twitched and jolted underneath me, and saliva dribbled out the side of my mouth. I convulsed again, and my heart fluttered.
Too much ... too much pain
. My body refused to stay awake. It grabbed my mind on the way, taking it into the deep protective cover of blackness.

When my lashes lifted, I blinked a few times, my brain trying to understand where I was.

“Did I not tell you it would cause pain if you touched the Sword of Light?” The Queen looked down at me. “I made sure the suffering would be so excruciating you would not be able
to overcome it.”

I did remember her warning, but I thought my anger and determination would push through it like in the movies. The agony crippled me. I still couldn’t move; my muscles were locked with trauma.

I wanted to confront her, except my body had a different opinion. Grunting, I rolled into a ball on my side. My gaze hit on an object behind Aneira. Eli’s naked, lifeless body sprawled in a heap. My heart squeezed so tightly it burned acid through my stomach, tears filling my eyes. The realization of what I did slammed back into me.

Eli was dead.

There were no words for the anguish I felt. The stubborn, sexy, pain-in-the-ass man was no longer. I might have saved him from a crueler fate at Aneira’s hand, but the thought didn’t help soothe my heart any. The thought of the world without an Eli Dragen was wrong. Knowing I would be without him caused sorrow so deep it took my breath away.

“It is not a multiple choice. You are doing it. It’s an order from your Alpha ... now go save the world, woman
.” His voice came back to me.

I could not let his sacrifice be for nothing.

The iron bracelet in my pocket pressed into my hip reminding me of her flaw. The effect of the metal on Aneira was my last hope. My hand shook and banged against my leg as I tried to reach into my pocket. The closer she was, the better the chance I had to get the bracelet on her.

“Such a silly, stupid girl. You are useless, and you have killed your lover for no reason. He’s dead, the barrier between worlds has collapsed, and I am still alive.” She sneered. There was wildness in her eyes, as if she had finally fallen over the line of reason. “I want to show you your failure before you die. You have lost everything, Ember.” She yanked me to my feet, although my legs could not hold my weight and bowed underneath me. “Stand, you wretched girl.” Aneira grabbed me by the back of my neck, a dagger digging into my side. “Walk.”

When I didn’t move, I could feel a pressure coming around me, controlling my muscles without my command. It was the same magic Lars could do. A Demon trait. She was using powers I had not mastered, even though they had been mine. Of course, Aneira had figured out how to use them for evil.

My legs transported me toward a covered window. She flicked the hand carrying the sword, and a gush of wind blew the shutters open. Colors and light filled the night sky. Rays of purple, blue, red, and orange sizzled through millions of holes in the atmosphere. Magic poured out the spaces, enveloping Earth’s realm.

I took in the scene raging on the battlefield beyond the castle. Screams of agony and the crunching of metal echoed into my ears. A whimper rose in my throat and stuck there. I had this dream before I found out what I was. It felt so long ago now, but I remembered every detail of it.

Bodies lumped in piles across the burnt meadow. Ash and smoke hung heavy in the air. Blood soaked into the grass, dyeing it a rich shade of burgundy. The sight of carnage and the smell of charred flesh bore down on my stomach, making me retch. A stabbing pain sank into my heart. I was certain, without knowing why, I was responsible for the destruction in front of me.

Aneira had done it, but with my powers, which made me feel responsible. Torin warned me what those abilities were capable of. He wanted me to stop it from happening. But the dream, even slightly altered, had come true.

“Take a good look, Ember. See your failure.” A smile consumed her face, pride at what she had done. “The worlds are nearly one. Nothing you can do will stop it, and soon it will all be in my control. If the humans even survive, they will be mine, too.”

“No,” I whispered. It was too late—another disaster I could not stop. Earth was lost, being consumed by the Otherworld’s magic. My insides rocked with the catastrophe I had allowed to happen. How did I ever think I could beat Aneira? A powerful Seelie Queen against a newly found Dae with no powers. I was a fool. We all had been. But Lars believed in me—everyone had faith in me. I had to keep fighting until my last breath. For them.

Aneira’s knife dug farther into my side. “For too many centuries we have hidden like cowards. Now let the humans fear, let them cower, let them go into hiding.”

What would happen to the world now? We had all lost so much today. I could not take back what was already done, but I could try to stop Aneira from ruling the new world. My fingers had quieted, and I slipped them into my pocket. They wrapped around the cool metal. My teeth gritted in familiar anticipation of the pain of the iron. Of course it did not come.

“I knew Lars would try to make his way here. However, he has been detained. You have no one coming to rescue you.” Aneira pinched the back of my neck and twisted my head to look to the far left. “I made sure he was kept busy while I dealt with you.”

The sharp, familiar wails of Strighoul poured from the forest. I could not see faces, but I knew their movements and unmistakable shrilling cry. Hundreds of patchy bald heads swarmed in like ants, covering the field with thousands of deadly daggered teeth.

It would be a bloodbath, and the more they killed, the more power they would possess. They would be invincible. With dread, I watched the Strighoul move in on Lars’ troops. My heart and breath froze in my chest as the groups collided.

“Mercenaries.” Aneira clicked her tongue. “They do not have a side. Money is their true leader. Quite helpful in this case. As soon as the war is over, I will obliterate them all.”

Then, something strange happened. The Strighoul stopped. Each one flipped around, standing next to the Dark Fae fighters, facing the Queen’s men.

Neither of us needed to say a thing. The defiant act was enough. Vek and his men gave a big middle finger to the Queen, telling her where she could stuff her deal. I knew the Strighoul well enough to know they weren’t suddenly being honorable or actually on the Dark Fae side. They were switching sides for themselves. They hated Aneira’s control and wanted her dead.

Aneira’s shoulders hunched as she watched the transgression take place, her eyes narrowing into glinting slits. A low vibrating snarl came from her throat. She looked down, her fists clenched; then she relaxed her hand. When her head lifted, there was an amused smile on her face. “As if I would trust a bunch of bottom feeders. They were merely a perk, but not anything I counted on.” She held up her hand. “Discharge the
Carrog.”

Magic thumped over my skin as it whirled past me, heading for the forest. The thick haze of air rushed through the trees and up the mountain. A second after it disappeared over the hill, deep, booming roars reverberated off the cliffs.

What the hell?

In the far distance, clusters of trees fractured as dozens of huge creatures came down the mountain. I let out a gasp. The beings were so large they towered over the forest trees. They were as thick and tall as a city skyscraper. The heads looked like a cross between a man and bear. Their hairy bodies were more humanoid, but the legs and feet were pure beast. Three of their massive clawed toes faced front, while the other one was more to the side, like a bear’s would be. Hair hung heavy off the back of their heads and down their backs in dreadlocks, which matched their long knotted beards. The tops of their heads were bald. The creatures had large mouths with teeth like blocks. Good for crunching on hard objects, like trees and rocks—and bone. It reminded me of what humans describe as a giants or another version of trolls.

Hundreds of humongous beasts of varying heights and shades of brown tore paths through the forest heading for the field, for my friends and family. For Lars.

The Strighoul took off running, abandoning their battle against the Queen. Whatever was coming was not worth the fight to them. Honor and integrity were not something they cared about. The hyenas would wait for the others to kill and then come back for the leftovers.

“What are they?” My mouth fumbled with the words as it tried to work again.

“Those are
Carrogs. Dumb as rocks, but they will do anything I tell them. Young versions not knowing any better have been seen by humans in different areas around the world. I think they have called them Giants or Bigfoot. I don’t truly care. All I care is they are hard to kill, love to fight, and will destroy anyone in front of them.”

“Even your own people?”

“War is sacrifice.” She pressed her symbol of determination harder into my neck. “All the people you love will die today. Look on the field; look behind you. Most of them are already deceased. And those who have not run off yet will be dead shortly.”

I tried to pull out of Aneira’s hold but to no avail. Was total defeat how the story was supposed to end? You wished good would prevail and beat the bad. Except here there actually wasn’t good or bad, and things certainly weren’t fair.

As we continued to stand there, roots were ripped from the earth as the Carrogs tossed trees into the air, crushing bodies in their path. The Carrogs moved slowly, but every step rocked the ground. They held axes and sledgehammers, using them as clubs and baseball bats. A few looked like they were enjoying a round of golf, but instead of balls, they were driving bodies. Screams of death and anguish vibrated into my bones.