Challenged by Darkness (An Urban Fantasy Novel) (Befallen Tides series Book 2) (8 page)

“Stop,” she commanded. The savage did so without any complaint.

The bandits stopped when they saw the daevor was standing in front of the savage unharmed. They stared on at the situation with confusion. But at least they had stopped screaming.

“Really? Do none of you know what to do when a savage shows up?” Winx’s tone dripped with repugnance. “Not even a hoard, just one?”

Nobody answered her.

“Do you know how to kill one?” She changed her question. “I’m guessing by what I’ve seen, you don’t know to destroy the brain or the brain stem. Do you?”

Nothing.

She let out an aggravated breath. “You aren’t the only ones who’ve seen fucked-up shit.  But so far, you’re the only cowards I’ve come across.”

“You brought it here!” a girl in the crowd shrieked. “This is your fault!”

“There will be more!” someone from the tree line shouted in agreement.

“Since you did this, you have to kill it!” a butch guy demanded.

Useless. All of them. Winx looked again at the savage. It still stood there awaiting any orders.

“What if I forced you to deal with it?” she said loud enough for them to hear. “After all, you’re right. There will be more of them. Maybe I shouldn’t take care of this for you. Maybe everyone should stop treating you with kid gloves and let you actually learn something!”

That started another rousing argument. Some bandits left, still afraid even though Winx didn’t relinquish control over the savage. Other began screaming again, like that helped with anything.

“We know you can kill it! Kill it!”

“Where’s Sabrina?” someone asked.

“She and Keaton went into town to buy food!” someone else answered. “We’re stuck with
her
!”

“Just kill it! Stop stalling!”

“And what if I do kill it?” Winx crossed her arms lazily. “What will that do? Will that change anything? Will any of you have grown the balls to handle your own problems? Or better yet.” She laughed mirthlessly. “Will that make any of you treat me with an ounce of respect?”

They quieted again, at a loss for words.

Winx continued. “You’re not the only people afraid. And you don’t even know what threats to be afraid of! There are probably thousands more of these creatures, and a hell of a lot scarier. They’re conducted by intelligent beings who use them as a war tactic. These savage hoards that have been milling around? They’re just as effective as a gun in the middle of a crowd. Instead of relying on anyone else to pamper you, maybe you should learn how to fucking protect yourselves!

“Because guess what? This isn’t going to stop just because you’re
afraid
. It gets much more real than one person who had an unfortunate accident in the woods.” She looked at the savage in emphasis. “It’s worse than someone who didn’t mean to do any harm. So you should get your threats straight.”

Oh, what the hell was she doing? These bandits didn’t care about what she had to say. They would never try to understand. If that meant they all died, then why did she care? She did not need them. Forget it.

Winx walked up to the savage. Its blank eyes took nothing in, so it didn’t feel anything when Winx twisted its neck and let it fall dead to the ground.

There were a few gasps around her. She didn’t pay any attention except to say, “Since I cooked, you can clean.”

With a wipe of her hands on her jeans, Winx stamped up the porch steps and disappeared back into a place where no one would bother her.

CHAPTER 8

The tale of Winx chastising the bandit group was the only topic being discussed the next day. Winx’s prediction that nobody would appreciate her speech or her killing the savage went exactly as she’d thought. She got an even wider berth than before and even more sneers in her direction. Ignoring it was a power she had yet to develop.

Sabrina was livid. She would not thank Winx for destroying the savage, but she also could not convince Keaton to make the daevor leave. Keaton did agree to speak to her, however, and made it a point to corner her when she was in her spot in the backyard.

“I guess you started a sort of riot,” he accused mildly.

She stared at him from the expanse of a long wool blanket. The snow had finally decided to fall, and she was no longer immune to the bitter weather.

When he didn’t back off, Winx shrugged and looked away. “These animals are idiots.”

“These animals, as you call them, are scared.”

“And that excuses everything?” she spat, perturbed. “They don’t know anything. And they refuse to educate themselves.”

“We are supposed to be helping them,” Keaton said. “Let’s face it, nobody knows as much about the enemy as we do. And this isn’t exactly a group of fighters.”

“Sorry. I’m not wasting any more of my time.” Nobody wants me here, Keaton.”

“I want you here.” He lowered himself down to his haunches, meeting her at eye level.

She glowered at him. “Yeah? And who are you?”

“I’m your friend,” he answered quickly.

“It wasn’t that long ago that you wanted to take off and see your own pack. You wanted nothing to do with the savage problem anymore, remember? What changed?”

“Nothing changed. I still intend to go to Washington. I haven’t stopped thinking about my family!”

“But Sabrina is a ripe little distraction, isn’t she?” Winx sneered. “Face the music, bandit. She wants you to stay here, and you’re considering staying. What other reason could there be for our open-ended criteria?”

Keaton gave her a deer in the headlights look before shifting his gaze. “It’s not really about her.”

“What?” Winx leaned forward. “Keaton, she hasn’t really made her intentions secret.”

“What if they’re all dead?”

The question cut through her defenses. Her eyes widened.

“Finding Stori…” His voice didn’t break as much as it lost a touch of candor. He cleared his throat. “It confirmed my worst fear. What if I go to Washington and they’re all dead? What if I’m the last Silver?”

Winx didn’t know what to say. She touched his shoulder in a show of support. He looked back at her.

“I know it’s hard, but that’s exactly why we have to go. After losing Stori…we absolutely need to know what happened to Ottanu and the others. The war isn’t here, Keaton. We need to move forward. Even if forward means following Iragall’s last instructions.”

“So, you’ve forgiven the lixyns for abandoning us?” Keaton asked to change the subject.

“No. But I’m willing to accept the option that they didn’t know the B&B would be attacked, if for no other reason than they brought Genevieve there.”

“But Genevieve wasn’t there when the B&B was attacked,” Keaton pointed out.

Winx grunted and sunk lower into her seat. “No. She wasn’t.”

Keaton cracked a reluctant smile. “You’re still as suspicious as ever. You just don’t want to be here anymore.”

“Look!” Winx hollered. “I’m done with this place. If that means going to Washington to make sure Iragall made good on his promise for your pack, then so be it. Besides…I may have a lead myself.”

“The lixyn you ran into at the B&B.” She’d told him already. He sighed. “Are you sure that wasn’t just someone trying to push your buttons? It’s no secret that you’re a ticking time bomb.”

“He knows something about Deja,” Winx insisted. “About how and why she was killed. I can’t ignore this.”

“You don’t even know who he is.”

“No, but why would he go out of his way to taunt me with information? Especially after his hoard was destroyed. He had no reason to do that, other than—”

“To rile you up? Make you do something stupid, like follow him in the night to a secluded road where he could sic more savages on you?”

Winx frowned, but then she shrugged a shoulder. “Yeah, okay. Probably.”

“I think you’ve been beaten up enough to last you the rest of your life.”

“And it ain’t over yet.”

“Well. I guess we are out of here, then. Let the beatings continue.” Keaton held a hand out to her.

She was far from optimistic, but she still took his hand, chuckling when he tugged her up roughly.

The two of them bumped chests when Keaton’s trajectory continued. Winx looked up into his eyes, and Keaton looked down into hers.

Winx was the one to take a step back, and she was surprised when this came with real conscious effort. “How are you going to break it to Sabrina?” she asked him with real interest.

Keaton winced. “Yeah. That’s not going to be a fun topic.”

“I could tell her.” A well-known iniquitous grin spread across her lips.

Keaton grunted. “Oh, sure, there’s an idea.”

“What? If nothing else, I’d get the point across.”

            “You’ll find no argument here. But I’ll tell her. You just get ready.”

            Keaton knew Sabrina wouldn’t take the news of his departure well, but Winx was right. The rest of his pack needed him. Ottanu deserved to know what had happened to her mate, and Keaton wanted to see if his parents or any of the other Silvers had made it out alive.

So, gearing himself for anything, he walked over to confront Sabrina.

“I thought that you liked it here,” Sabrina said, looking downtrodden when he told her. “I thought you were going to help us.”

“I never wanted to stay here, Sabrina. These few days I’ve lost track of things because of Stori’s death, but I can no longer waver from my course. I still have a pack, and I have loyalties that I secured for myself. So it is time for me to go.”

“What about us?” she asked.

“You were fine before me.” Keaton gave her an encouraging smile. “What could possibly happen? The battles are leading away from here. They were never meant for the bandits.”

“No. They were meant for those like your daevor friend. And because of her, there are hundreds of us left clinging to life!”

“Winx having a better understanding of the enemy doesn’t incriminate her.”

“Just answer this,” Sabrina sat forward in her chair to make her point. “If she had never come here, would your pack still be alive?”

Keaton glared. “The packs were being attacked far before I brought Winx here.”

“And,” Sabrina continued, “you yourself admitted that she was targeted by the tyrant.”

Sabrina’s accusations weren’t fair. Keaton knew that. And yet a part of him did perk an ear to the question. If he had avoided California and chose to stay with his pack, would Chavez have brought his dead gangs to Gunnison? Would he have personally sent the last death strike to Ottanu and the pack? If Iragall had never revealed that there was a demon that was trained to destroy the savages, would he and his pack have just relocated and saved themselves a lot of trouble?

Keaton couldn’t be sure. But he did know one thing. It would mean that he never would have met Winx. It would mean not having her in his life at all. And something about that made him feel lesser.

 “Even if Winx hadn’t come here to help me,” Keaton said aloud, “eventually Chavez’s glut would know no bounds. He doesn’t just want to overturn the Lixyn Queendom and control the cryptids. He wants to guarantee his unquestioned rule with fear and death. The packs weren’t safe to begin with. He hasn’t stopped. And he won’t until someone defeats him.”

 “Bandits have never been concerned with that which lies outside of the pack.”

“And that makes us stepping stones to the path evil plans to take,” Keaton said readily. “No, don’t you see? You’ve been blindsided into thinking your interfering will do any good. This is their fight. Let them destroy each other, and let us stay out of it!”

“Our head-in-the-sand tactics have brought us to the brink of extinction in Colorado alone,” Keaton countered. “What will become of the rest of us worldwide if we don’t change? Maybe we don’t deserve what has happened to us, but we damn sure cannot avoid our fate by pretending it didn’t happen. That is the path of the coward.”

“You use her words?  She must really have made an impression on you.” Sabrina scoffed.   “So much of the pack has left since the savage appeared.  They haven’t returned.  And the ones left are on edge.  Everyone expects the attacks to start again.”

“They should,” Keaton confessed.

“And Washington’s safe?”

He paused to mull that over. ”It might not be safe.  But there are forces who know how to handle a savage attack.”

“Your pack is there? Unharmed?”

“I’ve had no contact with them. But I know where they are headed, I know how to get there, and I will reunite with them.”

“What if you are wrong?” she asked.

Keaton shook his head. “I won’t consider that as a possibility.”

Winx was raring to go. She had pulled the Mazda up to the driveway and climbed out to wait.  All she needed was Keaton.

A glance around the yard told her that the crowd of bandits had grown smaller. Half of them had taken off during her savage demonstration, and the ones that stayed gave her their usual ominous looks. She wondered if the missing ones would eventually return or if they sought better chances out in the wild, but she didn’t feel bad about it. What good would that do anyone?

Keaton finally emerged from the house with a teary-eyed Sabrina clinging to his waist like a leech. Winx rolled her eyes. What was it with this girl? Sure, Keaton was a good-looking guy. He had that charm that sometimes unintentionally went suave, his dark hair was usually tidy, and his body was a smooth, muscled cinnamon. But this girl was like his personal fan club.

“You have the directions to the site,” Keaton said. “And all contact information. If something happens here, you and the others should just leave. I don’t know how long it will take for Chavez to completely overhaul this town, but it’s only a matter of time.”

“Will you be all right?”

Winx reached her arm into the open window and blared the car horn.
Beep!

“Trust me, I will be fine.”

 
Beep!
“

What if something happens to you?” Sabrina whispered. “I cannot bear the idea—”

 
Beep!  Beep!  Beep!

“Don’t worry so much about me. Just take care of yourselves. It was good running into you, Sabrina.” Keaton hugged her, and then he walked away. Sabrina stood on the bottom step of the porch with longing etched across her face.