Crimson Midnight (A New Adult Dark Urban Fantasy Series) (The Crimson Series Book 1) (35 page)

She grasped the athame and made the
cut.

Her platform lit up.

The cavern floor began to vibrate,
sending the Darklings into a frenzy of cooing.  The Tinkerbell lights buzzed
and hovered expectantly.

Turquoise light started to pour
from the platforms into the centre of the semicircle. Around the fey treasures
a circle of light was forming, whispers filling the air as the lines of
turquoise slivered in opposite directions to then meet in a kiss to form a
circle. The cavern shook with a stronger vibration, humming through rock, metal
and flesh.

“The veil is thin,” Bres said.

The whispers were louder. They were
indecipherable. No single word could be picked out of the web of voices. But
Rose thought she heard Roman. Not what he said, but his baritone, his sound…

Roman is dead…

The circle of light intensified,
the vibrations increased. There were cries of joy from the Darklings. Faye and
her father stood tense with excitement, Ossian watched on blankly. 

Midnight was seconds away.

And the light grew brighter.

Erin was on his feet.

Brighter, brighter, brighter…

Faye was laughing.

Brighter, brighter, brighter…

Thistle opened her eyes.

Brighter, brighter, brighter…

Liza watched with bated breath.

Brighter, brighter, brighter…

Henry winced, squeezing his eyes
shut.

Brighter, brighter, brighter…

Raven raised an arm to shield his
eyes.

Brighter, brighter, brighter…

Rose closed her eyes.

There was an explosion…

44.

 POWER

Turquoise energy filled the circle
of light, flooding over the fey treasures, crackling and exploding violently as
it swirled and crashed against an unseen barrier, concealed within the circle.
It erupted upward in an intense and pounding boom, cascading into the cavern
ceiling like a reversed waterfall.

The force of the explosion threw
everyone onto their backs.

As Rose gathered herself, ready to
be back on her feet, she felt a tingling sensation all over her body. Then she
felt their eyes on her, wide and full of wonder.

Her body was glowing with a pretty
golden light. She could feel her power bubbling under the surface, hot and
brewing in every fibre of her being.

She was distracted by a burning
pain in her ankle and looked down to see the metal shackle melt away like
butter meeting heat.  Liquid metal dripped down her shoes and formed a tiny
puddle on the ground under her feet. She kicked her leg out, flicking off as
much of the liquid grey as she could before turning to Raven. She had to move
fast. Raven was by far the strongest in the room, they needed him free. She
looked down at her glowing body. Could she melt his shackles with one touch?
She hoped to God she could.

Rose ran to him, well aware of
Faye, Bres, Ossian, the Tinkerbells and dark creatures around her, well aware
that any moment they could go in for an attack, but banking on the explosion to
provide enough of a distraction for her to complete the task. Refusing to
acknowledge the body that lay empty in her peripheral vision, she moved toward
Raven, because to acknowledge it would be her undoing.  She would freeze and
that would be the end of it. This was their one and only chance to get out of
this and it was all riding on her shoulders. She wouldn’t let them down. She
wouldn’t let his death be in vain.

The eruption of energy ceased and
the product floated against the ceiling, defying gravity in an angry whirlpool
of light.

She heard Bres yelling
theatrically. “The power is released! Oh, magnificent power! Return to our
treasures, restore us to our glory!”

Faye was giggling hysterically, her
eyes fixed upon the power above.

It didn’t seem that Rose’s newly
acquired freedom had been noticed yet. The fey remained transfixed on their
prize as they waited in anticipation for it to infuse their treasures.

Rose touched the silver shackles on
Raven’s wrists, and then the ones on his ankles. He gritted his teeth as the
silver melted and hissed as it burnt his skin. His wrists were red and raw, but
disregarding his wounds he immediately shifted into wolf form.  His jeans were
left behind in tatters as he bounded towards Bres in a blur of blue-black.

The motion did not go unnoticed as
two of the Darklings, breaking from their rapture, lunged at him. The game was
up.

Shit!

“DADDY!” Faye yelled, a mixture of
anger and panic.

“Rose!” Liza cried. “Free me. I can
help him.” She jerked her head in Raven’s direction.

She had been heading toward Erin but quickly adjusted her trajectory. Kneeling before Liza she touched her shackle,
freeing her.

Liza sprung into action, rushing to
Raven’s aid.

Raven had two of the dark creatures
on him. They all moved quickly in a flurry of teeth, wings and claws. The
snarls and crunches, the slashes and hissing as the three beasts collided was
enough to make the already anguished butterflies in Liza’s stomach become a
circus of frenzied flutters.

Bres was nearby, protected by those
evil little pixie lights that were buzzing all around him like a shield of
fireflies. His focus was on Raven and his Darklings. The woman with red hair,
Faye, was watching Rose some feet away, furious and oblivious to Liza’s
presence. Liza was glad of that. Faye definitely gave off a vibe of being very
much unhinged.

This was crazy, all of it so crazy.
The being kidnapped, the revelations as to why they were all gathered here, and
the murder of that man…that horrible murder…by his friend’s hand… Liza noted
all this in less than a second.

The sound of a yelp smacked her
eardrums. One of the Darklings had Raven pinned face down, talons raking at his
glossy fur. Raven was snarling, snapping and yelping and twisting but his
powerful jaws were unable to get a bite. The position he was in made him vulnerable,
the wolf body preventing him from gaining purchase of his assailants. The other
darkling was close, not attacking but…sniffing, like it was taking great
pleasure. Liza felt sick, not wanting to know what gave that thing pleasure. 
Invoking the power within her she spoke the words. The magic danced inside her,
drowning out the butterflies, filling her with adrenaline and a familiar
euphoria.  She released a knock back spell, a direct hit on the Darklings. The
two grotesque creatures were thrown backwards off the wolf and crashed into a
wall. The blue-black wolf twisted fluidly back onto his paws. He nodded his
head in Liza’s direction, silver eyes gleaming with gratitude.  But there was
to be no breathing space.

The Darklings were soon on their
feet again, wings beating furiously as if echoing their emotions. They hissed
angrily. Raven snarled and turned to face them– a barrier between her and
them.  He raised his head and howled.  Liza prepared herself, recharging her
magical energies for another spell.

It was then that Bres extended his
focus to her and within seconds she was surrounded by dozens of tiny lights.

The turquoise energy continued to
spin above.

Rose knelt to free Erin and an eerie screech filled the air.  She turned her head to see Faye barrelling
toward her, her face an ugly mask of fury.

Fuck!

Rose raised her arms instinctively
in defence, but Faye never reached her as another form barrelled into her from
the side in a blur of silver and blue.  Ossian.  They fell to the ground
grappling.  Heart in her mouth, Rose turned back to her task and freed Erin. There was no time to ponder the implications of what had just happened.  In a
nutshell it looked as if Ossian had defected to the righteous path.  She could
only hope he would keep Faye occupied long enough for her to finish her task.

“Run to your mum,” she instructed
the frightened little boy.  He hesitated for a spilt second then, nodding,
turned and rushed toward the shadowy corner where Flo was crouched and still
bound.

She was already melting through
Thistle’s shackles, afraid her power would desert her at any moment. “Come on.”
She urged it.

A second later and Thistle was
rubbing her sore wrists.  Another few seconds and Henry was free.

“I’m sorry…I don’t think I can
walk...” His brow was creased with effort when he tried to stand.

Rose glanced at Thistle, who
nodded, and together they lifted him to his feet, one on either side, his arms
around their shoulders.  They began to move quickly, half carrying, half
dragging their cargo toward the shadows, Thistle a little unsteady on her feet
from lack of blood.

Almost there…

A shadow loomed overhead.

Thistle jerked back. “Watch out!”

Rose looked up to see a darkling,
wings flapping with glee, hover then dive toward them.

“Immobile!” Henry cried with a
strength that belied his frail condition.

The darkling froze in mid-air, its
eyes wide in shock and confusion, claws primed to shred.

“Quick,” Henry gasped. “It won’t
hold long.”

Rose didn’t need to be told twice. 
They covered the remaining distance with renewed vigour and deposited Henry
beside Flo.  Thistle fell into a crouch next to Erin.  Rose quickly freed Flo
from her shackles. A gentle touch to her mouth dissolved the silver gag.

“I’ll do everything I can to keep
them safe.” Thistle promised. She was too weak to fight.

Rose nodded and turned her back on
them, heading back into the fray.

“Rose, watch out!” Erin screamed. 

The darkling had broken out of its
paralysis and was heading straight for Rose.  Without pausing to think she took
a step forward, pivoting on her left leg and bringing her right leg up and
round with perfect timing to connect with the creature’s head.  The impact
threw it backward and it slid a few feet across the ground, legs akimbo.  Rose
advanced.  It was soon back on its feet. Four-foot of stout muscle, powerful
legs and razor sharp teeth and claws, its sickly yellow eyes bore into her.

“Sssoft.” It purred. “Kell like
sssoft.” 

Yuck! It was drooling.

Rose willed her power to rise, not
wanting to touch the vile thing again, but to no avail.  Oh, well. Old school
it was, then.  Raising her fists and falling into a fighting stance she
narrowed her eyes. “I hope you like knuckle sandwiches.”

“Well,” Faye said, flipping her
hair as she got to her feet, “you prick.”

Ossian stood before her, staring at
her warily. There was dirt on his blue robes, the result of tackling Faye. His
body language was of cat-like anticipation.

“What do you think you’re doing,
Ossian?” She cocked her head enquiringly.

“I’m doing the right thing.”

“Really? Is
that
what you’re
doing? Do you realise that this is just distracting me from stopping those lot
ruining everything? This is serious. This is serious for you as well.”

“Someone has been killed.”

“By the hand of a fellow werewolf,”
Faye pointed out, a cruel smirk on her face.

“By your manipulation you mean.
You’ve been polluting him with-”

Faye’s laughter cut him short.
“You’re one to talk! Wasn’t it your magical cologne that messed with the Beta
wolf’s head? Made him want to fuck you, made you irresistible? Bit rich coming
from you isn’t it? We use the tools we have to gain the advantage.”

“But not for murder.” Ossian fought
the horrible ache in his chest called guilt.

Faye shrugged. “These are desperate
times.”

“This is not the way it should be
happening.”

“Are you questioning Bres?”

Ossian flinched at the question but
stood his ground. “No, but I am sure that Morrigan will.”

Faye smiled, unconcerned by the
threat. “Get out of my face, Ossian.”

Ossian stood upright, a battle
waging within– his duty to his people against his sense of right and wrong. 
His morality won. “No.”

Faye sighed. “Don’t make this into
a
thing
. I’ll forgive you for making me roll in the dirt and for ruining
my fabulous outfit. Okay?”

“I fucking said no!”

Faye roared with laughter. “Wow I
didn’t think you
could
swear.” Her expression hardened. “Now move.” Faye
pulled the silver rope belt from her waist and cracked it. The snap was loud
and vicious. “I haven’t let my whip have a good run for a while.”

Ossian reached behind his head,
fingers reaching through his thick silver hair. With a graceful motion he
extracted a long silver sword from beneath the strands of hair, gripping the
ornate handle tightly.

“That’s pretty.” Faye swung her
whip.

Ossian leapt backwards, the tip of
the whip just grazing his left cheek.

Faye swung again. Ossian sliced the
sword in an upward move. The two weapons collided with a horrible screech and a
spray of silver sparks.

Faye was swift to act, swinging her
whip behind her and bringing it back to swipe and wrap around Ossian’s ankles.
She pulled hard trying to unbalance him, but Ossian reacted in time to cut the
whip. Faye stumbled backward at the sudden break of tension.

She growled and spun the shorter
whip like a ribbon, a pretty dance of silver just above the ground.

Ossian ran at her. He knew what she
was doing as tiny pieces of silver glitter fell from the swirling whip. Faye
was regenerating it.

“Stop!” Ossian boomed, holding the
sword in a stabbing position at her chest.

She stopped. “You’re such a prick.”

“I won’t let you…”

Before Ossian could finish what he
was saying, Faye dropped to the floor, tearing her dress on the sword tip as
she did. She kicked Ossian’s legs out from under him and he went down, sword
flying from his hands. Faye grabbed her whip and sent it out like a
spring-loaded snake. It had regained some of it former length, and was enough
for its silver form to coil around the sword before it hit the ground. She
pulled the sword to her. It landed at her feet heavily. “Just call me the fey
cowboy.” She retrieved the sword.

Ossian jumped to his feet a little
too late. The silver whip was around his neck and pulled tight, crushing his
windpipe.

“Now.” Faye twirled the whip in one
hand and Ossian’s sword in the other. “What to do with the rebel fairy?
Hmmm…cut his pretty traitorous head off? Strangle him to death?  What about
cutting your sorry bollocks off first and then strangling you?”

Ossian clawed at the whip,
struggling to free himself to take a breath.

“You’re not worth killing. Anyway,
I need time to think of better ways to hurt you. Goodnight for now.” With an
aggressive yank she pulled Ossian off his feet.

Ossian fell sideways, his head
meeting the ground with a nasty crack.  His eyes fluttered closed and he lay still.
Faye stood over his body only long enough to remove her tightly wound whip from
his neck, and deliver a kick so hard it propelled him across the cavern. He
landed in a heap across Roman’s body. He was out cold but he’d live. Although
he’d have a bitch of a headache when he came to.

Faye threw the sword into the
shadows, smoothed the front of her torn and dirty dress and pouted in
annoyance. It had been such a pretty dress. She hated to be seen in such an
undignified state but it wasn’t Ossian’s fault, not really.

She knew just who to blame.