Chapter 26
The Past
ALEK
“Where are we?” Raijin asked as they moved through the thick woods.
The high mountains surrounded them, and the thick forestry was only broken up by small pockets of light from above.
He’d followed Alek with the hope of learning more about the Surrem, but he couldn’t hide his slight distrust of him.
Alek always had a tendency of doing things that put the other Jackal members’ lives on the line.
Alek also had been dark and silent about his past. He’d shown up much like Castian and Malcolm, both brought forth by Tiller with only the words, “Here’s a new partner.”
Watching the enigmatic Vampire’s back now, Raijin felt he should have learned more about him.
In all honesty, he should have learned more about all his men.
But at the time he’d been living in his own form of limbo.
Doing what he must, not allowing himself to feel anything beyond choking self-hate and guilt.
“Romania,” Alek said, his accent now no longer ambiguous. “More specifically, the Carpathian Mountains,” he said as they walked along. “Many years ago, my people and I lived here. Safe from the world and its changing ways. When we were attacked, I gathered my sons and left.”
“How long has it been since you’ve visited?” Raijin asked when they came to a stop at a large boulder. On it was Arabic writing, the letters faded by the passing of time. Some moss had grown to cover most of it.
“Hmm, since the third phase of The Council,” Alek mused. “I spent time in mourning here, while I left my sons in the care of my parents.”
He lifted his hand to his mouth allowing his teeth to pierce his thumb. The dark red blood flowed outward. Alek then spread the blood upon the stone. “Some humans who entered here suffer from the miasma that leaks from the cracks.”
Removing his hand, he turned and took a stance beside Raijin.
The boulder began to shudder as the trees trembled before they were sucked underground as the forest floor puffed up.
Destroyed buildings burst forth from the ground, as sidewalks came into sight like a cement wave.
Raijin watched as a town sprung up all around him.
He soon found himself standing in the center of a village.
“This was once my kingdom,” Alek said by way of explanation, removing his outer coat and suit jacket.
He pulled at his tie loosening it. “I promised myself when I left here that I would return to bury the dead after I succeeded in killing the one who murdered my wife.” He placed his coat on a random high stone and rolled up his sleeves.
“You want to know about The Surrem, I’ll tell you, but I want my payment first in exchange for the information. ”
Raijin seemed to understand the subtlety in what Alek might want, so he also removed his long leather coat and placed it next to Alek’s. “I was expecting it.”
Alek offered him a sardonic smile. “Assist me in burying them, and once we’re done, I shall tell you everything.”
“Everything? That’s a hefty offer coming from you,” Raijin said, moving to his side. “Are you sure you want to offer me so much.”
“I have nothing to lose,” Alek said walking deeper into the town and picking up the first mangled set of skeletons. “The past needs to be dealt with before I can move on.”
LANIAS
“Focus.”
Roni advised his hands on her shoulder.
Lanias sat in front of him on the deck, her eyes closed. Her skin felt dry, even as she felt like lava was running off her. This time she wasn’t helping with the teens she was learning how to manage her magic and the power added by her father.
“What are you seeing?” Roni asked her. They’d been trying to open her third eye, and Lanias had finally broken through after the fifth try.
She pressed her lips together, squeezing her eyes tighter. Trying to clear the picture in her mind. There was a tall wall of black ice. She could see herself reflected there. Everything around her was stark and empty. As she walked to the wall she found that something wavered behind it.
“There is something behind the ice,” she said aloud. As she stopped before the wall, she reached out and touched it only to flinch quickly pulling her hand away. “It’s hot.”
Looking up, she found a person standing on the other side. The orange light formed its complete shape. The flames licked up along the skin, moving under the force of an unseen wind. The figure lowered its hand then stared back at her.
She leaned forward squinting, and so did it. Making another movement, Lanias realized it wasn’t another person. “It’s my reflection.”
Roni’s eyes widened. “What?”
Lanias didn’t answer him.
Instead, she walked to the right, and the creature followed her. She turned in a circle and it turned as well. Facing it once more she pressed her lips together and reached up with both hands and pressed them against the ice once again this time she ignored the flare of heat.
In the real-world Roni cursed, jerking his hands from her skin. He looked at her in alarm as the black smoke that had been twirling from her skin started to change into a bright orange. A hissing sound began to fill the room.
“Lanias?” he called, but she didn’t answer.
Within her own mind, Lanias continued to bear up against the pain.
The magic had been locked away inside her, the Surrem half of her fought back against being absorbed.
But Lanias wasn’t used to failing. She wouldn’t back off.
She was going to regain everything, her identity, her name and her magic.
She staggered as the ice melted, and she could hear a loud cracking noise.
Looking up alarmed, she jerked her arms up as a piece of the wall broke off and fell toward her.
She squeezed her eyes shut, only for nothing to hit her.
Reopening them she found that the large ice rock had passed through her.
The rest of the wall did the same as it fell all around her.
She looked away from the falling ice to the magic that hadn’t moved. Their eyes met, and she determinedly walked toward it. Every step she took, the other did. Soon they were a hands breadth away from each other.
“You’ve come,” it spoke, surprising her.
Throwing off her shock, she nodded. “I was told you are a part of me.”
“I am, have you gained the purpose you were looking for?” it asked, looking around. “This place was empty for a very long time and cold.”
“I’m still finding it,” she honestly answered. “But I know more than I did before.”
The creature smiled. “That’s better.”
Before she could add anything, it reached up and laid a hand on her shoulder. “It’s good to be whole again.”
She sucked in a quick breath as the creature fractured into a thousand pieces turning into bright white particles of light. Swirling into an orb that radiated warmth. It floated before her, Lanias reached out wrapping her arms around it and pulled it close. Tears slipped out of her eyes.
“My daughter, welcome home.”
The sensation of her mother’s hands on her cheeks was brief. Before she opened her eyes to find that she was no longer sitting on the deck. She was standing outside, and she flexed her fingers. The black marks she’d seen on Avery and Roni covered her arms, like small star shaped freckles.
“Finally. You’ve awakened.”
Just as she was prepared to turn around and say something. She found not Roni, but a stranger standing behind her. The stranger’s eyes were a dim orange. Even with his Surrem features she knew immediately he didn’t belong on the estate.
“Who are you?” she demanded, glaring at him.
“Who am I?” He repeated, looking her over with such hate that she took a step back.
“I’m pleased you pathetic Beings have such horrible memories.
” He gave her a short mocking bow, four black holes opening behind him.
“I told you that she would awaken soon we only needed to be patient for her to guide us directly to her lair.”
Lanias took a hesitant step back as people came from within the black portals that opened behind him. Their skin glowed white, and their eyes were empty of humanity. A familiar one stepped out landing in front of the gleeful man.
“It’s you.” Lanias glared at the woman, her hands turning into fists at her side.
Icarus eyed the half-breed in front of her. She was clearly used to fighting, her stance was relaxed. “Return us the key, and we will make your death swift.”
“Ha, are you serious?” Lanias scoffed, narrowing her eyes. “You thought you’d just show up, and what? Kill me with no fight?”
“You fight us.” One of them cackled, his hair shaved on both sides. “Ants won’t ever win against us. You’re blessed to be in our presence.”
“Enough, Slo,” Icarus snapped, her eyes on Lanias. “Do not make this harder than it needs to be.”
Lanias smiled as she placed a hand on her hips. “You know I’ve tried to live a normal life, well as normal as I can get. I knew ‘normal’ wasn’t for me.” Her clothes moved and shifted, changing into a suit of pants with a fitted shirt. Her hair arranged itself into a bun. She raised a single dagger.
“Come.”
Roni fell from the sky landing in front of her, he dug his finger into the ground grabbing a hold of the dirt, and with no change in expression he ripped up the ground.
Just in time to block four light blades that slammed into the wall.
Taking advantage of his block, she created six black spikes in the air, with a click of her tongue they flew at their attackers.
“The kids?” she demanded as he came to her side.
He glanced briefly at the dorm. “The barrier has been altered, so I can’t control who comes and goes.”
She twirled the dagger in her hand, as she heard the powerful blows to the earth shield. “We will have to make a run for it.” She stomped on the ground black roots rose high above like a monster escaping Hell, then she grabbed his hand. “I know where we can go.”