Blood Beyond Darkness Read online

  The Queen’s men scuttled into position in front of her, some already charging the intruders. Clanging metal rang through the air as swords clashed together. Alki gave a battle cry sending a chill into my heart.

  “Ember, come on!” Eli’s hand circled my arm and tugged to get me moving. Once up, I searched the room to find my family. Bodies cluttered the space as warriors danced in battle. Blood sprayed and gurgled as Koke and Alki sliced through several soldiers at once, cutting their throats in wide arcs.

  “Ember!” I heard Lars call. He moved to me. I wanted to run to him, but I couldn’t leave any of my family behind.

  Eli tugged on my arm, pulling me toward him.

  “I need to get my family out first,” I screamed at Eli, wiggling out of his hold. I turned, ignoring both he and Lars yelling at me.

  “Ember. No!” Lars’ voice came to me again. I ran with no idea where I was headed. A guard jumped in my path; his sword sliced inches from my face. Alki’s training remained with me. Even without my powers or a sword, I could still fight. With nothing holding it back, the Dark Dweller in me sprang to the surface. I pounced, giving him no time to gather his wits. We crashed to the floor, his body taking the brunt.

  My family was threatened, and I was no longer shackled. I was pissed. Kill. Kill. Kill

  My teeth came down on his throat, ripping at the soft Fay skin. A scream gurgled from his frayed flesh. He had not been expecting me to be a challenge, especially when he thought I didn’t have magic. A force collided into me, sending me rolling across the floor. Another guard had come at me, but a body hurtled into him. I looked up and saw Eli had sent the man flying, hitting a post. His neck snapped when his head hit the wall, and he crumpled in a heap. Eli snagged the guard underneath me. His neck snapped under his hold.

  My kill! I growled and wiped absently at the blood trickling down my chin.

  “Brycin. Stop.” A dominant voice broke the kill-hold I had on the man in his arms. It made me feel uneven and distant. Lost. My gaze went up to my Alpha, searching for direction. Once a Dark Dweller zeroed in on its prey, it was difficult to break the connection. Most people would never get in between unless they wanted to become another victim.

  “Get her.” He nodded behind me. Lily had reverted to a fox and was jumping and dodging the soldiers coming at her. All my senses charged back, crashing around in my brain.

  “Mom,” I screamed.

  The fox’s eyes brightened and turned toward me. With a yip, the small animal headed for me.

  “Where are Mark and Ryan?” I asked Eli.

  Eli shook his head. “They’re not here.”

  “What? They were right there. Where did they go?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Another crashing sound took my attention. In the middle of the room, Aneira and Lars fought. Not with swords or with hands, but with their minds. Aneira now had the power of a Demon, and the new attribute was not something Lars had been expecting.

  She flung Lars’ body in the air, and he collided with the Queen’s throne. Both he and the chair rolled off the platform to the ground.

  “Lars!” My words were drowned in the noisy room.

  He got up, his yellow eyes glowing. With every step he took, they darkened until they were black. Aneira went in the air and sailed back into the wall. He pinned her there, choking her.

  “This is merely foreplay for me, Lars.” She forced a smile.

  His eyes narrowed on her.

  A strangled noise came from Aneira’s throat. “You are too late, Demon. I already have her powers.” Overhead, flames surged from the broken bulbs, licking the tops of our heads. Lars flew off his feet toward the open windows.

  “Lars,” Alki called at the same time hands came around my waist, throwing me over a massive dark-skinned shoulder. Rimmon bounded for the open window with me slung across his back.

  “Wait ... Eli! My mom!” I ineffectively pounded on Rimmon’s back. An object suddenly leaped toward Rimmon and climbed onto his other shoulder. The fox curled its body close into his neck so it wouldn’t fall. I let out a small breath of relief. I picked up my head to locate everyone else, but I had no time to latch onto anyone before Rimmon got to the window frame and jumped. His mammoth mitts held me and the fox against his shoulders. A scream locked in my throat as we tumbled into freefall. My stomach and head plunged with dread.

  Out of the corner of my eye, a bird the size of a van swooped from the roof, diving below us.

  “Hold on.” Rimmon’s grip held me tighter.

  Oh, holy shit. I pressed my lids together tightly in anticipation.

  We slammed onto the back of the bird, and it squawked with the impact. Another set of arms wrapped around Rimmon’s neck, bumping into mine. I lifted my lashes and peered over Rimmon’s shoulder. My mom was back in her human form, naked and shivering, as she clung to him.

  A shadow above my head had me eyeing the sky. Another SUV-size bird circled higher and also looked to be carrying people.

  Our bird flapped its wings and curved its body, changing direction. Wind jiggled out the last of my ponytail, letting it fly freely in a mass around my head. I moved out of Rimmon’s grip and scooted myself to sit on the bird like you would a horse. The feathers were soft and smooth against my skin. It looked to be a huge eagle, but the feathers were black as ebony. It would blend with the night as well as a Dark Dweller and could slip silently up behind you

  .

  FOUR

  We coasted for a while before the bird headed for a meadow. It flapped its wings and alighted softly on the ground.

  Rimmon, being his usually chatty self, slid silently from the bird’s back and landed on the dirt with a thud. Mom followed Rimmon, as I went off the other side. It was a farther drop than I expected, and my knees took the brunt of my disembarking and the pain of impact. I stood, rubbing them. The bird cocked its head and looked at me.

  “You are beautiful.” I ran my hand over the feathers. Its beak came down, nipping at my fingers.

  “Hey! Ow!”

  “I would not call him beautiful. Ori gets exceedingly grumpy,” Rimmon stated. He had slipped off his tank top and handed it to my mom. His top reached her calves.

  “Oh.” I stepped back. “Sorry.”

  The bird dissolved in front of me, arms stretched out where the wings had been. The sharp beak melded into a man’s face. The large man who stood there was a guard I recognized from Lars’ compound but never officially met. He was a shifter. A bird-shifter.

  “I am not beautiful,” he grumbled. “I am regal.” Ori stomped away from me.

  I was getting used to seeing people naked. Still, it was hard to make complete eye contact, although shifters seemed to always be extremely fit and not bad to look at.

  Luckily or maybe unluckily for me, the other bird touched the ground giving my eyes something else to latch onto. Lars, Koke, Alki, Gorgon, and Eli were all piled on the second bird.

  “Where are Mark and Ryan?” I bolted, frantic, toward Lars.

  “They should be here soon.” Lars jumped from the bird and landed gracefully on his feet.

  “What do you mean? Are they all right?”

  “Yes. They were actually first out of harm’s way. In the distraction of us crashing into the room, Castien slipped in unnoticed to get Ryan and Mark out.” Lars wiped at his cargo pants, straightening them. Everyone dismounted after him. “It was all strategically planned. They are safe.”

  Air huffed out of my lungs with relief, which filled back quickly with lead.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” I glanced between the Unseelie King and the fox-shifter. “Why didn’t either of you tell me? I am the Queen’s niece? My real mother was a princess of the Fay?”

  “Technically you are princess now. You are next in line for the throne, which is why you need to kill Aneira.”

  “I am a princess?” My head snapped around wildly peering at the two of them in utter dismay and shock.

  “Ember ...” Lily put
her fingers lightly on her mouth, appearing to be searching for her words.

  “Lily.” Lars shook his head at her, then faced me. “I know you have a lot of questions, but now is not the time. We have to get out of here. We are not safe yet, and we barely got everyone out the first time. I do not want to rescue you and your friends again.”

  He was right. We needed to get to safety before I flipped out.

  “We didn’t rescue West.” Eli said, his voice tight with anger. He walked toward me, while I moved quickly away. Now that we were out of danger, hurt and disgust filled my chest. I didn’t want to be near him.

  “We don’t know yet. Cal could have rescued him.” I purposefully kept my eyes off him. I had to keep my emotions intact for a little bit longer, at least till we were all safe and far away from Aneira.

  “You trust a pixie and a raven to free a man who probably can’t even walk anymore? From a jail cell? Unnoticed?” Eli’s eyes flashed red in irritation.

  “Don’t you dare talk to me about trust.” The pain in my heart inched up my throat, wanting to escape.

  Eli paused. His mouth opened and then shut before he turned away from me, his hand sliding over his head, rubbing fiercely at his scalp.

  Tension filled the space. Mom watched me, but when my burning gaze met hers, she looked away. Finally, I turned back to Lars. “What about Mark and Ryan? They can’t return to Earth?”

  “Ember.” Lars pinched the bridge of his nose. “I have the problem taken care of. At least I did for Ryan. Mark will now have to be a part of Otherworld plan. There is a safe house on the Dark Fae side where they will be going. They will be quite safe there.”

  I blinked away my tears. “Thank you.”

  He gave me a stiff nod.

  “Also, thank you for coming to get us.” Emotion ran over me with the force of a train while looking at my uncle. “I am so happy you are alive.”

  “I am quite offended if you think Aneira can kill the Unseelie King so easily.” Lars frowned.

  “She made it sound ...”

  “I had to let her believe she was more powerful than me in Greece. Her ego is her weakness. If she thought I ran in fear, she would not expect the fight we brought to her front door later. However, this happened before she obtained the sword. I would have played it differently had I known about Josh. I would not have let her take you or the sword.”

  I grimaced.

  “Well, thank you anyway ... for coming for us.”

  “Don’t thank me, Ember. The mistake was mine. My own arrogance blinded me. And now she has your powers ...” Lars looked away from me, his back tall and straight. “I would stop at nothing to get to you. Never doubt it.”

  I folded my arms across my stomach, trying to contain the emotion which wanted to pour out all over the ground, painting ever surface. I swallowed. “She doesn’t have all of them.”

  “What do you mean?” Lars queried.

  Eli’s lids narrowed, taking in a breath. “She’s still Dark Dweller.”

  “Are you sure?” Lars looked back and forth between me and Eli.

  “Yes,” he said as I nodded in response.

  Pain must have flashed across my face at the thought of my powers being ripped from my body because Lars said, “I know your loss must be unsettling and unpleasant for you. The only positive you have from the loss is you no longer have to fear iron.”

  My eyes widened. I hadn’t even thought of the positive side. Not having the Dae magic meant I no longer had the weakness of being half Fay. It did feel freeing knowing an enemy could not so easily restrain me. Well, they could because I was more human now, but not by slapping a piece of metal around my wrist.

  A rustle of brush stopped my response to Lars. We all hunkered down, some pulling out weapons, others ready to become weapons. With the diminishing of my powers, any help I could give had been greatly reduced.

  Castien broke through the foliage first, followed by Ryan and Mark. A cry erupted from my mouth, my legs moving the instant I saw them. Not knowing who to go to first, I ran for both. Mark reacted immediately, running to me with such determination we crashed into each other. His long, skinny arms wrapped around me and squeezed me so tight I lost my breath. A sob I hadn’t expected exploded from my chest. We clung to each other as I tried to get myself under control. When I looked into his face, I saw I wasn’t the only one. Tears streamed down his cheeks, disappearing under the growth of his singed beard. Shaking, my fingers touched the burn marks on his face and arm. He didn’t flinch. They were no longer red or angry, more like burn scars which had been there for years.

  “I am so sorry,” I whispered, guilt seizing my vocals.

  “I’m fine. They don’t hurt anymore.” He took my hand away from his face. “You are not to blame.”

  “But I am.”

  He pulled me in another hug. “My girl, all I care about is you are alive and here. It’s all that matters. I didn’t think I would ever see you again.”

  I sniffled. “You will never be able to get rid of me so easy.”

  I could feel Ryan squirming next to me, eager to get in on the hug. His energy was so different now. It was still Ryan, but after the loss of his cousin and being a prisoner in the Fae world, he seemed less of the happy-go-lucky kid I knew before. There was sadness to him, a loss of innocence.

  I pulled out of Mark’s arms and went straight into Ryan’s, almost knocking him over. There were no words to say, but I still uttered in his ear, “I’m so sorry.” So lame. Three words could never cover the loss of his cousin Ian or the reality that he could never return to Earth again. He responded with a hiccupped cry as he held me tighter.

  “You know I am a fairy now, right?” he murmured into my ear.

  “You’ve always been one, but at least now you can say it’s official,” I retorted.

  “Little disappointed there are no wings or a wand. Always wanted a wand. And where is the glitter? I thought fairies came with glitter dust!” Ryan pulled back, wiping his eyes.

  “Yeah, I would complain to management.” I winked at Castien, who blushed.

  “Ember, we do not have time for reunions. Aneira’s men are no doubt after us. We need to go,” Lars’ voice broke in.

  Rubbing my nose and eyes, I stepped back but didn’t let go of Ryan’s hand. Mark rubbed my shoulder. I just got them back. I could not let them go again.

  “Hey, girlie, where are you?” A tiny, familiar voice came from a distance. My Dweller hearing picked it up. I could tell by the tilt of Eli’s head he heard it, too.

  “Cal?” A cross between relief and panic jiggled my vocal chords. “Cal, I’m here.” I moved toward his voice.

  His little six-inch figure flew through the branches to me, panting and out of breath. I stretched out my hand where he landed. “Did what you said ...” He gasped for air. “You were right. The raven ... helped me.” Cal put his hand on his chest, gasping. “But now ... ummm ... we have ... a problem ...” He took another deep gulp of air. “Sorry, I flew super speed to get here ...”

  “What’s the trouble, Cal?” I demanded.

  He bent over his knees trying to get his breath. A lock of dark brown of hair fell into his eyes. “Dark Dweller.” He pointed behind him and struggled to get the words out between gasps. “Won’t move. Collapsed. Tried to get him up ... couldn’t.”

  West.

  Eli rushed to me. “Where? Where is he, Cal?”

  Cal pointed again behind him. “That way somewhere. I heard the Queen’s men coming. Not safe.”

  Eli started for the trees.

  “What are you doing?” Lars bellowed.

  Eli swung around, his eyes burning bright. “Getting my brother.”

  “Don’t be stupid. He has probably already been found. We must get out of here while we can.” Anger thumped every word Lars uttered.

  “Then you go. But I am not leaving here without him.”

  “Me, neither.” I took a step toward Eli. I could feel the weight of my Alpha calling m
e, needing me. Eli’s eyes darted to mine. Not one ounce of emotion flickered through them. I placed Cal’s exhausted body on Ryan’s shoulder. “Stay here, Cal.”

  Eli’s sense of smell could find West faster than Cal could, and Cal looked too exhausted to fly anyway.

  “Absolutely not, Ember,” Mom, or Lily as I should call her now, yelled. Her bare feet padded easily over the sticks and rocks on the ground.

  I slowly turned to her. My head tilted; my eyes stared at her in warning. “You do not tell me what to do.”

  Her facial expression looked woeful as she glanced at me and then Mark. His mouth pressed in a firm, stressed line as he watched her. Poor Mark. All he had gone through. He thought the love of his life was dead. To find she wasn’t and to learn she lied about so many things had to be incredibly confusing for him.

  “I agree. I didn’t come here and risk everything to have you get caught again.” Lars’ chest puffed up, daring me to contradict his order. He was now completely the Unseelie King. As much as I hated the thought, Eli was my Alpha. I followed him first. The moment my other powers were gone, the Dark Dweller instincts took over. My connection to Eli felt even stronger, which pissed me off. But my family was in trouble. West needed me, and I would go get him.

  “I’m sorry. We do not leave family behind.” With my intentions clear, I picked up my pace. Eli sensed my decision, turned, and ran. I followed.

  The ache of betrayal and distrust of Eli had not vanished. I had not forgotten he had taken part in killing my real mother. Yet the power to help my Alpha and my Dark Dweller family flowed over the gnawing pain. I would do what I needed to do. West was the priority. I would deal with everything else later.

  Eli led us through the maze of dense woods. The connections I usually had with the earth were now vacant holes in me. It was like visiting an old friend, and finding you no longer had anything in common. The connection you had at one time was gone. It hurt my heart.