Seduced by Darkness (14 page)

Yet do I hold it very stuff o' the conscience

To do no contrived murder: I lack iniquity

— William Shakespeare, Othello

WE HAD NO
choice. To free Drake, we had to defeat the Twilight Queen. We couldn't break him out of prison. We couldn't reason with her.

I didn't even feel bad. I wasn't out for blood, just justice.

Just Drake.

We had been through too much, had endured too much, to lose each other now. We had a daughter to raise. A family to keep safe. A life to live.

I refused to let him rot in prison for saving my life.

The night had grown darker, but dawn was still a few hours off. The Twilight Queen was of Nightfall and she would be awake, Beleth said.

We traveled to Venice, Italy, to the Court of Sunrise and Nightfall. We flew there, carrying those who couldn't fly, and landed near a huge, beautiful church.

"The Court is beneath this church, through a secret door that leads under the basilica," Beleth said as we walked through the city, old houses dotting the cobblestone paths and canals flowing throughout. "This city still smells like shit," he said, surprising me.

We approached the side of the church, to where an angel decked out in armor and a sword was carved into the wall like a statue. Beleth pulled on the sword and a passage opened beneath it, a staircase leading down.

We followed him deep underground and reached a large empty chamber with half gold, half black floors—the colors of Sunrise and Nightfall. On the opposite end of the room stood tall doors of the same color.

"Court is in session beyond these walls," he said. "I will enter it and challenge the Queen to battle, demanding justice for my son. I will attack her, but she is strong, so after a moment I will appear to flee, exiting through this door. She will follow and then Rose will trap her in the prison she will create with her symbols. Once she is trapped, the others will not try to free her if it could injure her, and that is when we will demand she free Drake."

My nerves felt frayed, but I nodded. As Beleth disappeared through the doors, Rose went to work on her spell to entrap the Queen.

Rose drew symbols into the air, calling on her powers, powers she hadn't used as much lately. She drew on the ground and created the prison where we would trap Queen Seraphina when she came out.

The symbols shimmered a bright gold and fell like gold dust to the ground, sinking into the lines Rose had drawn.

"It's ready," she said. "But I can't promise it will hold. I've never tried this with a powerful Nephilim before."

"It has to work," I told her. Otherwise, we'd all die.

We heard the fighting, the screams, then the door busted open and Beleth flew out with the Queen following.

When the Queen ran out as anticipated, she walked right into our trap. Gold bars shot around her, glowing light trapping her in a magical prison.

She screamed and threw her own power at the bars, but they held.

I smiled at Rose who looked tired, but pleased. This would drain her fast. We had to hurry. The Queen couldn't know this prison was temporary.

"We don't want to hurt you or your people," I said. "But I can't let you take my husband from me. I need him back. Give us Drake and you will be free. We have nothing against you or your Court."

"I have to maintain order," she said. "I can't allow anyone to break the laws or chaos will ensue."

I stepped towards her as Beleth and Talon approached from behind. "I know you're scared. And I know you care about your people. But you have to listen to me. This isn't the way. Tyranny is never the way."

"Release me!" she screamed, spittle flying from her red lips.

"We will, if you free my husband and leave us be!"

She slumped in her golden cage, her violet eyes wide. "If I let him go, you will leave? You will free me and leave and never return?"

Talon screamed. "No! She cannot be allowed to live!"

I turned to him in shock. "This isn't what we planned."

"But it is what
I
planned," Talon said, raising his arms.

Vines broke through the gold and black marble, pushing through the new cracks, tearing open the floors as they caught at my feet, climbed up my legs, entrapping me and all of us in a living prison.

The vines used by the Beast.

And reality sunk in. I could see the truth dawning on Rose's face in the same moment.

Talon was the Beast.

Beleth's hands transformed to blades and he cut through the vines growing to hold him. For a moment it looked like he would free himself, but then Talon shifted into the Beast, giant and full of power.

He lunged at Beleth just as Beleth cut through the last of the vines and tore open Beleth's stomach and chest with his giant claws.

Beleth fell to the ground unconscious, too injured to move. "Beleth!" I screamed, my throat raw, tears burning my eyes. He couldn't be dead. He was family.
Our
family.

The spell keeping the Queen trapped began to fade as Rose lost control of her power and vines rose up to trap her as well.

Talon had us all at his mercy.

Talon walked to the Queen, his teeth dripping with saliva as he bent his head toward her neck…

I was closing my eyes, knowing this was the end for us, when Derek exploded into the room and ran over to us, shifting out of wolf into man, with the Emzara who kidnapped us by his side.

And what’s he then that says I play the villain?

— William Shakespeare, Othello

I SHIFTED BACK
into wolf form the moment I saw Talon attack the Queen. The Emzara was already lunging at the Druid, sword in hand, fast as lightning. The Emzara knocked Talon back, and I pounced with claws drawn before Talon could regain his footing.

I could feel Rose with all my senses but couldn't allow myself to be distracted by her in that moment. We had to defeat Talon before he could hurt anyone else. Before he could kill anyone else.

The Emzara and I were the only ones left to fight. We circled the Beast so we could attack together, surrounding him.

As I lunged forward to bring him down, a vine broke through the ground and grabbed my leg, slamming me against polished and broken marble. I growled and used my claws to tear the vine off my leg as the Emzara lunged at the Beast with his sword, wings shifting in the air as they fought.

But the Beast tossed him out of the sky like a rag doll, knocking him hard against a wall. I could hear the bones breaking.

I prepared myself to attack again, but when the Emzara's helmet fell off I faltered.

I paused.

Stunned.

"Ryder?"

Ryder looked up at me, still very much alive, just as Talon used his powers to trap us both in his prison trees.

"You cannot win against me," Talon said to everyone. "I have spent decades becoming strong enough to avenge my family. My family who were killed by the Nephilim. Wiped out. Everyone but me. And so I feed and grow stronger on the blood of paranormals, the bastard children of the Nephilim, until I was strong enough to defeat the true threat. Now, the Twilight Court belongs to me and I will destroy all the Nephilim."

My soul hath her content so absolute

That no other comfort, like to this

Succeeds in unknown fate

— William Shakespeare, Othello

I WATCHED IN
horror as Talon defeated my husband and… Ryder! Ryder wasn't dead. Derek didn't kill him. The relief of knowing this was short-lived.

Talon yanked on the hair of the Twilight Queen. "Where's the Orb, bitch?"

She spit in his face. How did I go from trying to defeat the Queen to rooting for her in the span of an hour?

Vines dug into my skin the more I struggled. I hadn't quite wrapped my head around this. Talon had turned on us. He wasn't the man I thought he was. He couldn't help me master my powers. He was using me. Using us all.

He was the Beast.

I felt sick. Betrayed. Hurt beyond words. But there was no time for my pity party. No time to wallow in that at all. Not with the storm of death happening around us. I realized I'd spent too long in worry, in self-doubt, in crippling neglect of my powers.

Time to end this.

Talon didn't wait for the Queen to give him the answers he sought. He searched her body and pulled out what he wanted. The white Orb glowed in his hand and he cut his wrist and dripped his blood onto it. It glowed red, bright and fast, and then settled back into white. Talon flung his head back and let out a shriek more animal than human. "Emzara, you follow me now. Come! Join me! I am your new King. Your new Master."

It didn't take long for Emzara to fly in and land like silent, obedient robots in front of Talon. Even Ryder, who had just fought the Druid, bowed his head as Talon released the tree holding him. They were all subservient to him. Through magic. They had no free will.

How did Ryder end up here? How did a Lycan of the Church end up a Nephilim Emzara in slave to the Queen?

"Emzara, take all here to the Stone Prison!"

As one of them was about to grab me, Talon stopped them. "Not her. She is mine."

I growled and could feel my wolf close to the surface. "I'll never be yours. Kill me if you must but you will not have me."

He walked closer to me. "Don't you know I've been hunting for you for as long as I've been alive? When I found you I knew the time was nigh. That we were ready to rule. You are my Queen."

"Let them go. Let them all go and I'll stay with you," I said.

He laughed. "You're in no position to barter, my dear." He turned. "Bring Derek to me."

My body froze. "Leave him alone, Talon. This has nothing to do with him."

"Oh, but it does. Because he is your weakness."

It took three Emzara to restrain Derek after the tree released him. They tied him to another tree that sprouted up at Talon's command.

"Whip him," Talon said.

"No!" I screamed, but it didn't matter. One of the Emzara came forward, cat o’ nine tails in hand, and the first lash nearly killed me. Bile rose in my throat and my body trembled as Derek's perfect back split open in lines of red, the sound of his flesh flaying filling the air as he cried out in reflexive agony.

"Stop!" I cried, falling to my knees.

Another lash, this time wet with his blood and bits of skin. He screamed again, this time more of a growl.

"I will do what you want! Just leave him alone."

Another lash, and Derek slumped over, no sound leaving his white lips. I moaned, sick inside. "I said I will do what you want. Whatever you want." My heart felt split open and lying in the bloody pool of flesh that had become my husband's back.

Talon raised his hand. "Three lashes, as warning. If you disobey me or go against me again, I will not stop until there is nothing left of him but a pile of meat and bones for the dogs to feed on."

Tears dripped off my chin and I nodded as the Emzara dragged a nearly unconscious Derek away with everyone else.

When the Emzara returned, Talon erected a massive throne for himself, with a side throne for me. He forced me into my seat and surrounded us with Emzara guards. The Queen he kept imprisoned in his vines.

"I keep you alive for only one reason," he told Seraphina. You have the power to help me find all Nephilim and destroy them. And you will help me, or I will rip off your wings and lock you in the Stone Prison until the thirst drives you mad, and then you will help me because you will not even know what you are doing."

She slumped in her prison, the fight gone from her and I slumped against my 'throne', feigning acquiescence as I dug deep into myself to find that hidden room of my power.

Talon raised his glowing Orb and spoke. "Emzara, go to the Forbidden City. Go and find all the Nephilim. Find them. And kill them."