29. Nyktorim Syndicate
29
NYKTORIM SYNDICATE
DOM
F or the next three days, I'm a complete mess.
Sayah doesn't know, but I've been living in my car across the greenbelt from her house, watching her every moment she is there alone.
The first few days are quiet. There is nothing out of place, and she comes and goes from work. I follow her to work, stake out in the parking lot, and watch for any nefarious movement in the bushes or surrounding areas.
After she gets off, I follow her home and wait in my car until the early morning hours, when I creep into her house. I pretend to just get off work and lay with her in bed until she gets up to start her day again.
It isn't until the third day that the Nyktorim show up.
Sayah is in the shower when I hear and feel the magick with which they enter.
Like a breath of lightning, I'm at the basement window where they've entered.
Four of them.
Unlike other groups of leaders, this one is more matriarchal. However, they don't identify as any gender; they are simply non- binary. They've been around since the dawn of time and quite possibly are even older than the fae. They are like a cross between vampires and warlocks; they drink blood but not to live. They drink it because they love it, and the high they get propels them through any universe they choose to enter.
They are quite possibly what would happen to us if we killed every time.
I never knew they existed before my mom mentioned them, and the only reason I know anything about them now is that they transfer information into my head as I look at them.
I just know now.
Their skin glows as they traipse closer to me, and I feel afraid of them, but I bite down on the terror, knowing I have to do whatever possible to protect the woman I love.
The one closest to me is very tall and fair; long white hair cascades to the floor, and wrinkles as deep as canyons crease their face. Their eyes are milky white with age, and their fingers are long and bony. They all don white robes with sleeves large enough to fit a briefcase in each. Each one of them looks more ancient than the next, and my first thought is that they don't have the luxury of spelt mirrors; they obviously have looked into one and become the very age they all are.
"You can't kill her," I tell them as they hover closer to me, the eerie glow coming off their skin illuminating the dark basement.
We don't need your permission to do anything, youngling.
Their voices are everywhere and nowhere, directly in my mind and around me like whispers.
"WAIT!" I shout as they glide past me, feeling the desperation seep out of my skin and into the air. "Please, wait."
The tallest one stops and turns to face me, their pearlescent eyes drinking in every feature of my face. What will you have us do, child? Let her live, and everyone else dies because of the grims?
"But you don't know that killing her will stop these things. Some witch in Salem has an energy spirit that had a prophecy, but I don't believe killing her will make these things disappear. I believe it is a metaphor for her fire magick. I just need more time to get her to ignite it."
They ignore me and turn once again to continue toward the stairs.
I flash in front of them and lay my hand on the being's shoulder. "Please. If I can't get her to find her fire magick by the next full moon. I'll kill her myself."
The silence is deafening.
They are having a silent conversation in their minds.
"So?" I ask after what seems like an ungodly amount of time.
If nothing has been done to quell the grimspawn problem by the next full moon, and she isn't dead… we will eliminate her and your entire family for the trouble.
A knot forms in my throat.
I nod. "You have a deal."
The tall one nods their head, and they silently retreat to the window, where they evaporate like dust and float away on the wind.
Fuck.
Now, not only have I doomed Sayah if she doesn't find her fire magick.
But my entire family is now tied to the doom as well.