Two Halves Series (7 page)

Mira’s eyes met mine; her clenched fists mirrored my own. She had felt the pull, too. If Aseret was going to take me, she was coming along. He wanted us both.

After waiting more than two hours, Eric regained his strength and vortexed us to the hill. I spent my last night before the marking alone on the cliff where I’d first heard Xela’s footsteps. My back resting on the rock, I watched the black sky roll in overhead. Each star that twinkled into being reminded me of Xela’s gem and its reflection.

One night left in the unknown hole of oblivion. Tomorrow, it would be decided who I was. Tomorrow, the water mark would imprint itself on my wrist—or perhaps it would be the sphere? Would I choose a sphere if it meant I could be with Xela, even if I would have to sacrifice the world and its future—including my sister’s fate—for her? Would Xela be there when we bound Aseret to the underworld, or would she escape his wrath?

My gut told me she’d be there. If it was so easy for the seekers to summon her from the lair, what would prevent Aseret from abducting her again? The guilt in knowing I was responsible for Aseret getting to her tore away at my conscience. Should I have stayed away? She tried to warn me and protect me. Perhaps if I didn’t see her, she’d be safe.

Xela,
where are you?

Perhaps my last night unmarked would be better spent with her before all hell broke loose.

I can’t. I promised
.

Perhaps I could meet Mira and Eric in the underworld when the time was right and be at Xela’s side until then.

No, I promised Xela I wouldn’t come, and I swore to my sister I’d be back by dawn.

I clenched my jaw and propped my head on my hands, enjoying the light breeze. Harlow, our falcon, stared at me from a rocky crevice twenty feet above. His glistening eyes reflected the star-sparkled sky. “What do you think?” I asked in his tongue.

“I’m too simple to help you.”

“You’re more than simple, Harlow.” I smiled.

“I know that where there’s a woman, there’s trouble.” He ruffled his feathers as if shrugging.

“Yeah, you got that right. Trouble.” I laughed, and a crooked smile tugged at my face. My thoughts wandered to the kind of trouble I could get into with Xela, quickly swerving toward the underworld.

A quiet rustle on the forest floor registered in my ears, but I knew they weren’t the delicate feet of a woman I’d fallen in love with.

Wouldn’t she understand a broken promise?
Surely, a black witch marked with a sphere could understand that. But I had a reason for keeping my promises—if broken, they would haunt me. Worse than that, my broken promise could hurt someone other than me.

“Xander.”

I heard the tart, sugar-coated voice in my head and couldn’t mistake it with anyone else.

“Xander.”

I sat up.

“Don’t do it, man,” Harlow warned.

I ignored him, focusing my gaze on the ground below me, though I knew she wasn’t there. The smell of roses invaded the nightly breeze, but the floral aroma left a sharp, bitter taste on the tip of my tongue. I pictured the roses turning black.

“Come to me, Xander,”
she murmured.

I strained to see where she was before I realized she’d called me from within. She was summoning me to the underworld. But it couldn’t be; Xela had warned me to stay away, and I’d promised—and my promises were almost impossible to break.

“I miss you, Xander. Let me take your worries away.”

I imagined what she’d do to me and unconsciously began fiddling with the white gem again. Part of me wanted to squeeze it until my hand bled, just so I could feel the rose-scented high. The other part kept my fist clenched in my pocket as the gem cuddled against the back of my hand. I turned my hand and let the crystal rest in my palm, keeping my eyes shut —because as soon as I looked at it, I knew I would squeeze it when I saw the promises Xela made reflected in its hypnotizing gleam.

“I need you, my Xander,”
she purred.

But I promised.

“Come to me, Xander. Be at my side.”
The offer rode on her soft breath, brushing my face, travelling from my ear and across my cheek to touch my mouth. After teasing the corner of my lips, it squeezed between them to settle into my lungs, warming my insides.

The aroma of black roses entered my lungs and I wasn’t sure when my fingers clenched the gem. I felt the spin of the vortex as it took me through the forest, then into the underground. With my eyes closed, I breathed heavily through my parted lips, ready for hers to crush into mine, expecting to find myself facing my black queen at any moment.

The swirling went on longer than usual. When it stopped, the heat that hit my body made me think Xela must have added more logs to the fire in her lair. I inhaled, ready for the sweet smell of roses to invade my nose, but smelled only the stench of dirty old socks. My eyes flew open as the pull to the underworld released me. Gone was the dark forest, replaced by flickering orange and red light. The pervading stench settled inside my mouth before the room came into focus. I had stepped into an oven of hell.

Part of me prepared to fight because I wouldn’t go down without putting on a show. The other part was eager to see Xela. I sensed her presence. She had to have been near, to summon me the way she did.

I scanned the grand hall. The hundreds of glowing orange seeker eyes surrounding me made it seem smaller. Demons I did not recognize smirked, their eyes sparking with a hint of purple, heads held high. They were smarter than the seekers. Predatory gazes fixed on my unmarked wrists, then run along my body. My muscles tensed voluntarily when I saw the mark of the sphere glow on their wrists, as if they wanted to make their stature known. I recognized some as shifters and movers when a few at the side showed off their powers. Most had arms crossed over their chests. They weren’t going to fight, considering themselves too important to face only one shape-shifter. These demons were here to observe.

Before them, Aseret stood with Xela at his side.

I kept my defensive stance, ready to take on anyone who moved. The seekers knew me well enough not to start a fight, but with their master watching, most were ready to show off, even if it meant taking a chance at death.

“Well donnne, Xela. How assstute of me to have you on my sssside. Where isss the other one?” Aseret asked her with a hiss.

“She’s not connected to me.” Xela’s answer was flat.

Aseret wasn’t impressed. “I told you to bringgg them both.” His claw rose to smack her, but I flew at him with all my strength, shifting into a vampire halfway, and struck the side of his jaw. An orange gash opened on his neck that stretched up to his ear.

Within seconds, seekers were after me, and I released my long-held frustration on them, driving three to their knees in one swift move, careful not to kill them. That would make Aseret’s plan to mark me too easy.

“Ssstand downn, or she diesss,” Aseret threatened, emphasizing the last word so I understood that death would not be quick. He crooked his neck to the other side; I assumed he was trying to ease the pain from the gash. His nose twitched. “I mean it, Xannderrr.”

Fury raged through my body. I was sure I turned green and the shade would remain on my skin a while. My focus regained as I whirled to glare at him. He held the sharp nail of his forefinger on her neck just above an artery. Xela’s blood oozed around the nail. I stopped.

The closest demons grabbed my arms, their fiery palms burning my skin though they left no scorch mark.

“Ahh, he caresss for you. How sssweet!” Aseret mocked. “Xander, you want herrr? You can have herrr.” He pushed Xela toward me. She stumbled, falling into my arms. The seekers holding me stepped aside.

“Are you all right?” I asked her.

“It’s a trick, Xander. I didn’t summon you,” she whispered. “Don’t listen to what he has to say.”

“All you have to do isss joinnn me and she can be yoursss,” Aseret offered.

“Otherwise you’ll hold her against her will?” I retorted.

“Oh, she’sss not herrre againssst her will, Xanderrr. Neither are you. You wanted to be herrre, in the underrrworld. The heat drawsss you in.”

“Not for the reasons you think.” My eyes instinctively flew to Xela’s thighs.

“I doubt that. You’re not the firssst she’d usssed her body on to bring to the underworld.”

“What’s the catch, Aseret? Why do you want me? Why would you want me to stand down and not kill one of them?” I nodded toward the seekers. “What are you scheming?”

“If you join of your own will without killing, his powers will be stronger,” Xela whispered.

Aseret’s brows drew down in displeasure, though he pretended not to hear her. “Me, scheming? Neverrr. Another two hoursss and it will be all overrr.” His tongue slithered between his lips like a snake’s.

“What will be over?”

“The hereafterrr will be opennn.”

“What is he talking about?” I asked Xela.

“Come on, Xela, tell himmm what I told you,” Aseret urged.

“You can stop him, Xander, if you get the sphere—but not without it. He’ll open the portal where souls linger before passing to heaven or hell. He’ll imprison them so they won’t be able to reconnect with their bodies for their last breath that decides their fate.”

“Why?”

“Spirits have endless energy. Unclaimed, they stray in the hereafter forever. The keepers will make sure you’re busy while Aseret roams, stealing their essence, turning it into energy.”

Pop had mentioned us being watchers of the dead. Did the keepers know this was going to happen?

“Well done, Xela.” Aseret applauded as if she’d just won a prize, but Xela kept her head down. “She doesss exactly what I wannt each timmme.” He was succeeding in infuriating me, but I didn’t succumb to his tactics.

“You trying to make my job easy, Aseret?” I asked, my chin lowered as I absorbed what Xela had said. I finally looked at him from below my lashes. Aseret’s stretched eyes narrowed, and it seemed like he waited for my attention like a cautious burglar in a jewelry store.

“No, of courssse not. I wouldn’t darrre.” He placed his white palm in the middle of his chest. “Let go of your frussstrationsss, Xanderrr. We don’t have to fight, we don’t need more scratchesss.” He glanced toward the left side of his neck, where the orange gash glowed. The sound of his voice was like a spell that kept his words lingering in the air. The seekers in the hall seemed to disappear as Aseret stood in front of the fire pit, his eyes fixed on me. “You’re a winnerrr, Xander. Join the ssside that will inevitably rrrule.”

“What’s your motive, Aseret?” I demanded.

“You’re ssstrong and unclaimed. I need creaturesss like you, who know what to do with powerrr when they have it. Not like these zombiesss.” He waved a hand at the unfazed seekers. “Once marrrked, you will have ssstrength beyond what you know. No one will be able to harm you. You can have herrr. She will be yoursss forever,” he cooed, seeing my gaze find Xela again.

My witch tried to speak, but when she opened her mouth, no sound escaped. Her lips trembled. The words stuck in her throat—Aseret wasn’t allowing them to leave her mouth, or was it someone else? Her eyes told me what she’d wanted to say:
It’s not your calling, Xander. I am yours already.

“I knew you would commme. Feel the heat inssside you. It’s alrrready a part of you.” Aseret raised his arms as if embracing the heat of the entire fire pit.

He was trying to sway me, knowing I felt comfortable in the underworld because of Xela. Aseret used my need to be with Xela and my desire to be marked against me. But I knew my nature better than he did. I wasn’t a coward or a failure. I would not disappoint my sister, or Ma, or the humans and other species depending on someone like me.

“I was going to stop by today anyway, with my sister.” I smirked.

 Aseret didn’t flinch. His usual expressionless face gave a sardonic smile.  Xela’s apologetic eyes glossed over.

“You told him,” I whispered, fear suddenly creeping into my body. Aseret was expecting Mira to come. I was fine here, without her, but having Mira bound to the wall with magic ropes again—or worse—was the last thing I wanted. Our element of surprise was gone. I looked at Xela, who lowered her head.

“Good, two for the prrrice of one. What do you sssay we greet your family properrrly?”

“What do you want, Aseret?” I said flatly.

“Xanderrr, I can give you everything. All thisss,” he waved his hand around the room full of eager orange pupils, “can be yourrrsss. And mossst of all, she can be yours asss well.”

I didn’t want everything he offered, only Xela. “How?”

“Let me marrrk you.”

“It needs to be my choice.”

“Isn’t she yourrr choice?” he mocked.

“Let her go. She doesn’t mean anything to me,” I lied.

“Is that true, Xela?” Aseret hissed.

She lifted her chin. In her eyes, I saw regret, then something new—a spark of hate glittering around the rims of her pupils. I wasn’t sure whether the hate came from Xela, or from Aseret. It was the first time I’d seen it. She stood so close to the pit, I thought the black lace of her skirt would melt from the heat of the fire.

“No,” she answered in a firmer tone than her usual. My ears perked at the change I detected in her voice, careless and ungraceful.

“Xander, you’re not the firssst shifter she’s used her body to sssway to the underworld.” Aseret nodded toward the demons I’d recognized earlier. All concentrated their lustful gazes on Xela. They’d been lured to the underworld in the same way I had—through my black witch’s lair.

The lump in my throat thickened. My jaw tensed, and I felt it lock into place.

“Don’t listen to him. You were different,” she claimed, but the hate and fear I saw in her eyes betrayed her words, as if what she’d wanted to say was manipulated by an unseen force while she fought against a power I couldn’t see.

“Of course he wasss.” Aseret laughed. “He fell for you quicker than the othersss. Why don’t we let him sssee your true beauty?”

Xela’s head fell forward in helpless submission. Aseret lifted his clawed hand and made a show of tasting a drop of red liquid on the tip of his finger. I sniffed. It was Xela’s blood.