Soul of Darkness (18 page)

“Are you out of your minds?!” Malcolm screamed, apparently no longer concerned about being overheard by Persephone, “You could have triggered the conclusion of the curse then and there,” Malcolm continued, disbelief and anger seeping into his voice, “I know you are both drawn to her, of course, but to agree to something like this?! How far did you go?”

“It wasn’t like that!” Aaron defended himself as well as his brother, “We didn’t
get into bed together,
we just got into the same bed.” Realizing how stupid that sounded, he added, “What I mean is: we weren’t planning on sleeping with her, we just wanted to get some sleep…and there was no couch…so we decided to place the beds next to each other to have more room for all three of us.”

“‘There was no couch’?…Do you even know what you’re saying? You endangered the entire world because…
there was no couch
?!” Malcolm would not get past this any time soon.

Listening to his father, Aaron realized just how bad…idiotic even…the idea had been. Hearing his feeble explanation repeated by Malcolm just now, he couldn’t believe they had come up with such an idea in the first place. And judging by Aidan’s facial expression, he believed his brother felt the same way. There was nothing like being properly scolded to make one finally see straight.

Take…one reincarnation of an incredibly powerful witch, two destined lovers, and the ever present curse’s magic binding the
m
― and put them in bed together? Yeah, they’d been totally out of line!

“Okay, okay,” Aaron admitted, “you’re right, we were stupid…We get it…Please calm down now.”

It seemed like hard work, but Malcolm finally managed to regain his composure, though he still threw them ‘I-can’t-believe-you-did-this’ looks. As life wasn’t complete unless, at one point or another, a parent was disappointed, Aaron just took it in stride and decided not to take Malcolm’s disapproving look too much to heart.

“Anyway,” Aidan said, “none of it makes any sense to me. I mean…I guess some kind of magical outburst must have occurred, but why wouldn’t Aaron and I remember any of it?”

“Well, that is the mystery, is it not?” Malcolm muttered absent-mindedly as though already busy deliberating the matter in his mind.

“I do not recall a magical blast ever having taken away someone’s memories of the incident,” Malcolm stated after a slight pause, “Unless, of course, an injury had been sustained to the head. But both of you completely forgetting…No, it would seem your memory loss must have been triggered by something else or…someone else.”

“Surely you’re not suggesting Persephone could have been messing with our minds, are you?” Aidan suddenly interjected rather defensively.

“I am not suggesting anything.I am merely thinking it over,” Malcolm replied calmly, “But you must realize, my boy, that it is a possibilit
y―
a very real one, at that.”

Aidan kept silent. It seemed he’d realized there wasn’t very much…if anything at all…they could put past Darkness’s puppet at the moment, like it or not.

And the fact of the matter remained: none of them could trust her.

Having discussed all they’d needed to, they went back to Persephone and waited until she came to, which was only a short while later.

None of them had wanted to wake her up, feeling she’d need all the rest she could get after the ordeal she’d been through.

It wasn’t every day that one murdered countless men…

Chapter 13 * Resurfaced

M
y legs felt heavier with each step I took…my muscles aching and screaming at me to stop and rest. But we didn’t dare rest.

We’d left the shelter of the cave several hours ago in pursuit of the nearest settlement. After I’d regained consciousness, we’d stayed just long enough for all of us to catch our breaths and get back some strength.

Since taking the main road would have been too risky, we’d decided to travel along the beach instead.

Feeling it would be easier to walk barefoot ― crossing the sand in sneakers tended to make my ankles bend at odd angles when the sand gave way underneat
h―
I’d taken off my shoes quite a while back. Though walking had become less tiring this way, I nevertheless felt quite exhausted.

It was still very early in the morning, and the sun was just beginning to rise, the first rays of light reaching out across the ocean’s breaking waves, glittering brightly on the water’s surface with the promise of a new day…the promise of hope.

At least, that’s what I wanted to believe.

As the sun slowly climbed higher, its golden rays enveloped our bodies.

I should have felt the sun’s warmth.

But I didn’t.

I felt cold…cold with the knowledge of what I had done.

At first, right after I’d regained consciousness, I’d felt normal, well as ‘normal’ as I’d ever felt. For a split second, before I’d opened my eyes, I’d been in my bedroom at home, lying in my bronze colored wrought-iron be
d―
at peace with the world, at peace with my life.

Then I’d opened my eyes, and I’d remembered…where I was, how I’d gotten there, all the bullshit in-between, and most importantly: thirty men with haunted hollowed eyes lying in their life’s blood on the cold asphalt in the midst of a beautiful countryside.

It seemed unreal, unfair, and unforgivable that a place of such tranquil beauty should have been desecrated by the gruesome act I had committed. I had dishonored the purity of that place, forever tainting it with bloodshed.

I remembered that I’d used Aaron and Aidan to accomplish the deed. But not for one second would I put the blame on anyone else but myself. This was on me…I had done this…to them.

And although both of them seemed to be blaming themselves just as much as they blamed me, I knew they were wrong to do so. It hadn’t been their doing. The only problem was: Without a doubt, nothing I could say would take away their guilt.

I hadn’t wanted this.

I hadn’t really thought about what I would do with our combined, concentrated power. The only thing on my mind had been to stop the enemy from killing us. Somehow, feeding off my desperation, our magic must have interpreted my thoughts in a way which condoned using every possible means, no matter how vile, to fulfill my desire.

And it had, after all, stopped the men. Just not in the way I’d anticipated. I should have been more explicit in my wishes…I should have thought about stopping them without killing them. But in my panic, my survival instinct must have taken over, and it had resulted in cold-blooded slaughter…I was a murderer, and I would never be able to take it back.

No matter how much strength the sun possessed, at this point I seriously doubted I would ever feel warm again.

We walked on for hours before finally deciding to get a few minutes of rest. Plunking myself down onto the sand next to the others, I dug my feet in and rested my upper body on my bent knees.

Seeing as Malcolm had left the castle and we’d left the B&B in such a hurry, none of us had been in a position to stock up on supplies, which meant we had neither food nor water and had been marching on and on without anything to fuel our weakened bodies.

But at this point, I didn’t even feel hunger. Not after the previous night. And I doubted the others felt differently. Nevertheless, our strength would be seriously depleted if we couldn’t find food and water soon.

Since these were about the only things magic couldn’t summon into existence, we’d have to come by them the old-fashioned way: through buying or stealing.

Under normal circumstances I would never have condoned stealing, but it seemed we had little choice while being on the run from more than one enemy. Earning money to pay for supplies at this time could get us caught and was out of the question.

I suddenly wondered if perhaps money, at least, could be conjured by magic and felt a fleeting moment of hop
e
―
right before I realized this wouldn’t help us one bit since we needed to stay under the magical radar. If we used our gifts to summon money, we could easily be tracked down by our enemies.

“Malcolm,” I swiftly addressed the only one among us who could possibly be carrying enough money to pay for our supplies, seeing as the little money Aaron, Aidan, and I had taken along for our road trip had already run out. None of us had guessed what kind of trouble we’d end up being in.

Aaron and Aidan must have had plans to get more money
―
perhaps simply by withdrawing cash from an accoun
t―
but now we couldn’t risk using magic or even a teller machine. For all we knew, Evil could have men everywhere.

“Yes, my dear?” Malcolm asked. I flashed back to the moment Malcolm, Aaron, and Aidan had explained about Evil’s involvement in our recent hostile encounter. Just thinking about the forces we were already up against and wondering what else could yet be out there thirsting for our blood…made me shudder.

“What is it, my dear?” Malcolm inquired once more, interrupting my thoughts.

“Oh, sorry…I was just wondering about money…we won’t be able to go on for too much longer without food or water. I was hoping you might have some money. Otherwise, we might have no other choice than to…steal…some supplies…,” I paused awkwardly, hating what I’d suggested, waiting for Malcolm to jump in with an award-winning idea.

“Please, do not concern yourself. I carry some money on me at all times in case of an emergency. And I do believe our current situation qualifies,” Malcolm replied calmly.

“Oh, okay,” I said, feeling relieved; at least one less problem to worry about. I was just about to lie back on the sand and rest for a while when Malcolm’s next words caught me off guard.

“Are you all right?” he asked, his intense blue eyes seeming to see right through me…into my newly battered soul. I was willing to bet he could tell exactly how much pain and guilt I carried around, its weight slowly crushing me.

I couldn’t answer.

The obvious response was: No, I was not okay.

And I never wanted to be the kind of person who would be okay after having gotten so much blood on her hands.

I tried to reply through the lump in my throat…though I wasn’t sure what I should say…but didn’t get very far before Malcolm went on.

“I know how you must feel.”

I seriously doubted it.

“And I am glad that you seem to grasp the magnitude of what has happened instead of treating it lightly and that you will not be getting over it easily…It shows that you care. However, I do feel that…and I hope it will be a consolation to you…as we were being threatened, had you not done what you did, it is very likely that none of us would be alive now,” Malcolm said, his tone serious, his eyes boring into mine, as if through his will alone he could make me see that matters weren’t quite as black and white as my guilt had painted them.

Yes, he was right: it had been self-defense. I knew that…had known it all along. Still, I couldn’t get past the notion that the men could have been stopped by other means.

Then again, could they really have been? Thirty gifted men with potent magic at their disposal…governed by Evil itself…Could I have stopped them in any other way?

Since Evil could control their bodies and minds, it would have kept on doing so even after I’d rendered each and every one of them unconscious. The men would have continued to wield magic for as long as their hearts were beating, as long as the source of life ran through their bodies…as long as blood pumped through their veins.

I had stopped that blood from pumping.

Maybe it had indeed been the only way to end the threat. Though I hadn’t thought about it in this way before, perhaps it made sense. Perhaps the only way to defend our own lives was by spilling the blood of our enemies.

My own blood ran cold at this thought. What if I had to kill every single person who posed a threat to us? Could the lives of four people possibly be worth killing hundreds or thousands…or even more?

As each life, no matter how small and insignificant, had its own value and deserved to exist, the lives of th
e
― more or les
s―
innocent men who were being controlled by Evil were no less valuable. They were but puppets…and didn’t really
want
to kill us. Therefore, I had to respect the value of their lives and try not to harm them.

Yet, as much as I acknowledged this, and as much as I struggled against the part of me that was bad
―
I knew it existed; otherwise I would not have been able to kill those me
n―
all I could ultimately do was follow my emotions.