Dark World (Book I in the Dark World Trilogy) (37 page)

His mother smiled warmly at him. For a
moment, he was lost in her smile. Her warmth.

Then he felt a tug behind
him.

His mother, the Devil, had
Fate.

“
No!” Kane snarled, slapping his
mother’s hand away from Fate, who appeared to be in some sort of
trance, following the Devil with glazed eyes. Fate turned and
growled, low and guttural, at Kane. A protective, predatory growl.
She flashed her fangs at him, placing herself between him and his
mother.

“
Fate?” he uttered, gazing
into her hate-filled stare. “What have you done to her?” he yelled,
eyes shifting to his mother.

The Queen laughed light-heartedly. “She’s
a shade,” she stated plainly, “I own her.”

Kane shook his head. “But, you haven’t
aged. You didn’t touch the scroll…you don’t need her body.”
Confusion coalesced with anger. Why did she need Fate if her own
body was perfect? All this time he’d assumed his mother needed an
heir to possess because she’d been cursed by the scroll. Aged a
thousand years. Why would she still need Fate?

A smug smile adorned his mother’s face.
“I don’t need to possess her, my son,” she said, then feigned
puzzlement. “You mean to tell me you don’t know?”

Kane felt weak. More he didn’t know.
More the demon elders had not divulged to him. More secrets. He
shook his head, his world caving in around him.

The Queen genuinely laughed, a velvety
tinkling that resonated throughout the bone ballroom. All eyes
shifted from her to Kane, then back to her. The necromancers. The
shades. They all wanted to know.

“
Oh, my dear son,” she said,
nearing sincerity. “What have those demons done to you.”

“
What are you talking
about?” Kane’s brow blistered with fury.

“
She’s not just heir to the
Devil’s throne,” his mother explained, a soft smile tracing across
her ivory lips. “She’s the key.”

“
To what?” he asked,
breathless.

She tilted her head childlike, blue
dancing with amusement, then whispered. “To the Crystal
Pyramid.”

Dreams

The world was hazy. Like a
dream.

Fate could only make out certain words
being spoken around her. They all blended together. Mumbled.
Incoherent.

All her memories from the Surface had
been erased, yanked from her consciousness. Even all she knew of
Dark World seemed submerged in black water, swirling and thick as
tar.

Her body moved as though she were a
puppet, on its own volition. Or someone else’s. Where was she? Why
was she here?

An urgency plagued her, like she had a
mission. A purpose that sat just beyond her reach. What was it? Why
couldn’t she remember?

The girl. The girl with brown hair
suddenly reached through her thoughts, broke through the veil
clouding her mind.

The stars,
she cried softly,
remember the
stars.

The beast that owned Fate charged,
chasing the girl and her haunting voice away.

There was a war going on inside her. A
desperate fight for her body. Her soul.

It clawed her. Tore at her. One side
begging her to remember, the other ordering her to
forget.

“
The Crystal Pyramid?” Kane
repeated his mother’s words, the pieces of the puzzle falling in
place. “Why…why is she the key? What are you going to do with her?”
Panic ravaged his insides.

His mother’s gaze fell to the French
doors, Maxim had returned, gilded box in hand. The box that
contained the scrolls. She sighed with evil delight. “Sorry, enough
chatter. I have a realm to destroy and a fissure to open,” she
said, waving her hand as though excusing him and strolled to her
coach, Fate following behind as though an invisible thread
connected the two.

Vale shifted uneasily beside him. Kane
sensed his thoughts. The shade could wisp. He could grab Fate and
get her out of here, leaving the rest of them to fight off the
Queen.

Panning the width of the room, Kane
calculated the odds. The Queen’s shades filled the room. Smothered
it. Between the handful of necromancers, the rebel shades and
himself, they were vastly outnumbered.

At least Fate will be
safe.
His
heart welled with sorrow.
My death will not have been in vain.

His thoughts shifted to Ever. He hoped
she’d heeded his word and that she and Arcanum were safely at the
demon city. Maybe his people were even on their way at this moment.
Coming to aid their leader.

His shoulders fell. He knew they
weren’t coming. They didn’t believe in him enough to abandon their
homes and put their lives in jeopardy. They didn’t want him. They
wanted their king. They wanted Lucifer.

His mother and Fate had reached the
carriage, climbing the stairs, preparing to disappear from his
world forever.

“
Oh, I almost forgot,” the Queen
spoke, pausing on the stair before she ducked inside. Gazing at her
shade minions, her gentle voice commanded, “Kill them…all of them.”
Her blue eyes fastened on Kane, evil twinkling behind
them.

The first wave of the shade army surged
forward on her command, enchanted bows, swords and maces drawn,
eyes brimming with lust for the souls within the room.

The necromancers in the room simply
smiled. For a moment, Kane worried they might just lay down their
lives without a fight, unafraid of death.

“
Come on,” he muttered
through gritted teeth. “Fight!”

They stood stoic, hands locked in some
form of prayer. The shades launched at them, teeth gleaming, eyes
locked on the souls they were about to devour.

His breath caught in his throat. The
necromancers were going to die. Honorably, he supposed, but without
a fight.

Then, in unison, the necromancers
raised their faces and hands to the sky, a peaceful smile
traversing their silver lips. A glow fell over their bodies,
causing the shades to pause, uncertainty glossing their
expression.

A hush blanketed the room as the
necromancers removed their monk-like garb, their nude bodies
glimmering against the strobe lights.

Kane watched with awe as their aura
began to pulsate, throb with luminescence. Then, in one swift
motion, their bodies changed, morphed into varying animals and
beasts. Some cats, some predatory birds, some unnamable. But all
ready to fight.

Kane smirked as the Queen relinquished a
shriek.

He then turned to Vale, words spilling
from his mouth, “Get Fate out of here, now!”

Vale nodded without a moment’s hesitation,
dissipating into a cloud of black vapor. Kane glanced to Fate,
watching as Vale reappeared behind her. Unbeknownst to the Queen,
her most valuable possession was about to be stolen.

But somehow she knew. His mother spun
around, her eyes flooding black as she witnessed Vale attempting to
vanish with her prize. Fate stood unmoving, unaware, still under
some hypnotic spell conjured by the Queen.

“
How dare you!” the Queen hissed,
wrapping her long, ivory fingers around his neck, talons digging
deep into his skin.

Vale’s eyes searched the room, locking
with Kane’s, pleading for help. Kane’s blood surged and he lunged
through the chaos, black sword slashing and slicing as he made his
way through the slaughter around him.

His mother’s laughter resonated over
the cacophony, varying between a shrill cackle to a low, baritone
laugh. From his vantage point, Kane saw her body transitioning from
a petite, feminine form to one of unimaginable horror. Her skin
shifted to ruby red, eyes flooded black as tar, and her horns grew
in length, uncoiling as they stuck out on either side of her head
like a bull’s rack. Multiplying her height by at least three, his
mother no longer resembled anyone—or anything—he knew.

Vale clawed at her hand on his throat,
his glowing eyes fading and rolling to the back of his head. Fate,
beside him, remained unaffected. Inert.

Thrashing the crowd of shades around him,
Kane noticed the necromancer beasts working to form a path for him,
ushering him towards the Queen. Towards Fate.

A necromancer griffon—part lion, part
eagle—charged two male shades. While the silver griffon managed to
rip the throat from one shade, the remaining shade gripped the
necromancer’s lion-like neck with one arm, reaching to steal its
soul with his free hand.

Kane stopped his forward slaughter to
assist, bringing his sword down onto the back of the shade’s neck
and then watching as the dismembered head rolled away. The
necromancer griffon turned to face the demon prince, bowing in
gratitude.

Kane nodded, then took a second look at
the griffon. It had wings. Big, beautiful silver wings—and it was
big enough to carry Kane.

Vale’s pulse slowed to a crawl, his heart
thudding slower and slower in his ears. The demon Queen, or
whatever she was now, squeezed his throat with unfathomable force.
Fate stood inert beside him, her eyes glazed and locked
forward.

He tried to wake her by swinging his
arm, brushing hers, anything. But there was no response.

Vale searched the room, Kane fought his
way through the slaughter, but wasn’t going to make it in time. The
world was already fading to black.

The Queen, now with the upper body of a
winged bull, towered over him. She sneered with malicious
amusement. Slit-like irises narrowing, she uttered through long,
needle-like teeth. “The heir is mine! Now…you die!”

He closed his eyes, the pressure on his
neck intensifying, his lungs screaming for air. Flashes of his
life—on the Surface and in Dark World—danced through his wavering
thoughts.

His sister. His sweet sister. He’d
never found her. Never saved her. All he’d done to find her. All
he’d sacrificed. Worthless.

He’d failed.

He’d failed Sybil.

A shrill scream penetrated his
unconsciousness. The pressure around his throat released, air
rushed back into his desperate lungs. Why wasn’t he dead? Why had
the Queen let him go?

Prying his eyes open, focusing through
blurred vision, he saw the Queen’s deformed body arched and
writhing in pain, fingers of red lightning caging her.

Vale’s eyes followed the source of the
crimson power—and found Kane.

“
Ego sum
Legio
!” Kane
roared, his voice rebounding about the room as sparks flew from his
fingertips, encasing his mother with energy.

High above her and the war raging
below, he hovered upon the back of the silver necromancer griffon,
summoning the unknown power that heeded him.

Arrows streamed past, her loyal shades
firing at him and his mount. One of the arrows pierced the globe of
light overhead, shards of crystal rained over the Kane and the
crowd below. Darkness enveloped the room.

The Devil below bellowed with rage, her
bat-like wings flapping and triangle-tipped tail lashing. The cords
of electricity wrapped around her neck, tightening and cinching at
Kane’s request.

His teeth ground, Kane held the power,
raising his estranged mother by the throat. He was thankful she
appeared the way she did, he didn’t think he could do this if she
looked the way he’d remembered her growing up. Beautiful. Graceful.
So like Ever.

Her eyes bulged. Was he winning? Was
she succumbing to his wrath?

The griffon stayed steady, true beneath
the prince as the scarlet lightning ripped from his fingers,
strangling the evil matriarch.

Suddenly the griffon faltered,
relinquishing a piercing screech as they fell into a barrel-roll
towards the floor of the ballroom.

The red lightning ceased, his mother’s
morbid bull-like body slumped to the floor as Kane clutched the
feathers upon the back of the shape-shifted necromancer.

Falling. Tumbling through the air, the
necromancer suddenly transformed beneath Kane. Morphing back into
its true form.

The floor came up fast, Kane and
the necromancer landed with a resounding
crack.
Dizziness assaulted him. Pain ricocheted
throughout his body. His head spun, a river of blood sprang from
his brow, spilling over his eyes.

Beside him, the necromancer who’d
helped him lay still. Unmoving, her back to him. Kane pulled his
broken body towards her, set a gentle hand upon her shoulder and
rolled her onto her back, her short blue hair pinned back with a
single silver feather. An arrow through her heart.

It was the newborn
necromancer.

Aura.

Salvation

Blood traversing his face, Kane crawled
over the bodies of shades and necromancers. The room had fallen
dark, only the flickering lights of a few candles remained.
Infrared eyes gleamed from all corners of the room, some
necromancers with their swirling glow, some shades—which side they
were on, Kane couldn’t tell.