Unstable by Lacey Carter Andersen
21
Kiera
It’s strange.As we pull onto the dirt road that leads to the demon’s castle, I finally relax. The entire trip had been brutal. My body healed, slowly, but my mind was in torment. Are my men okay? Will we reach the Blood Mages in time to undo the marks? And is Cole going to betray us?
But the second we pull off the road leading to Maxen and his manor and head toward the demons, I feel my muscles easing. Cole can be trusted. We will survive these marks and escape the hell that was being Maxen’s prisoners again.
As long as my men are alive, everything is coming together.
The evening has settled around us. And as we travel down that dirt road, the spirits of the woods seem to flock to us. They gather along both sides of the road like a terrible crowd of lost souls. The air changes the more they gathered, like the moment before a lightning strike. My entire body begins to shake with the power of these lost souls. It makes me feel strange, like I’m afraid when I’m not.
Or maybe I really am afraid.
I don’t know any more.
By the time we reach the castle, dozens of demons are outside, watching the spirits. When they see us, one waves, and we slowly follow him behind the castle. To what, we have no idea.
The last thing I expect is the massive paved area covered in ruins and the giant throne at the back of it. A huge fire raged in a stone ring in the center of it all, and one of the demon’s towers loomed above it all, as silent as the spirits, but radiating the same kind of unspoken power. The demon king watchs us from his throne, his dark eyes mesmerizing. And two Blood Mages stand silently at each of his sides.
One of them withdraws his dark hood as Cole drives up onto the praved ruins and slowly makes his way toward them. I suck in a deep breath, staring in surprise at the powerful mage. He is… young. Barely a man. With pale brown hair and eyes that matched. He seems relieved to see us, even taking a tiny step forward as if eager to reach us.
Cole cuts the engine not fifteen feet before the king, and the silence is suddenly deafening.
“It seems you made it back in time,” the king’s voice rumbles around us, and the back doors to the castle open, with heavily armored demons piling out. “Well, some of you.”
The demons move to stand around us and the king, outlining the circle of pavement covered in runs. Flames dance off their armor, making me forget for a moment that these demons are kinder than Maxen and his berserkers. Here, with their masks shaped like skulls, and the sharp spikes covering their armor, they look like warriors from hell itself.
“We brought your relic. Undo the curse,” Cole says, causally, like he’s asking his secretary for more cream in his coffee.
The demon king laughs, and the sound rumbles around us until all the demons are laughing. My nails dig into Cole’s stomach, and he gently reaches down and strokes the backs of them in a way that’s oddly reassuring.
“How about you show us the relic first since you have no power here?” The king responds, smirking.
“No, then what reason would you have to undo our marks?” I say, and it’s like my feminine voice surprises them all into silence.
The king leans forward, his dark hair partially falling into his eyes. “The reason… berserker queen, is because I keep my word. Now, my patience is waning. Give it to me now, or die where you stand.”
I open my mouth, but Cole speaks first. “As you will.”
He turns and looks back at me, then whispers, “trust me.”
Hell. Again?Okay. Looks like I have no choice but to trust him. I mean, he had brought me here, like he said he would.
Slowly, I shrug off the backpack and open the top. Pulling the wrapped relic out, I suddenly realize we never looked at it in all the chaos. My stomach drops. What if it isn’t the relic? What if we were tricked?
I start sweating. My hands are trembling as I climb off the bike. Knees shaking, I walk toward the king. Cole is at my side in an instant, his hands bunched into fists, and the look on his face is a dare to come near us.
Handing the relic to the king, he snaps it away and groans, without opening it. His eyes flutter shut, and after a moment, a smile twists his lips. “The relic has been returned!”
The demons roar in triumph. They take the swords from their belts and begin to thump the handles against the pavement of the circle around us. My stomach lurches, and I wonder what will happen next. Will the demon king really keep his word?
He nods toward the smallest of the demons. “Take it up to the tower, place it in its honored spot, and open the gates for our brethren.”
The demon takes it with a nod and a smile. And it hits me, they’re going to win this war now. Maxen will be toast, strung up and killed, and his followers along with us. We’ll be free of the marks, and that bastard forever.
I want to start cheering too!
The Blood Mage turns to the king. “Shall I undo their marks now?”
I’m surprised when the king’s gaze meets mine. “Yes, and then we shall kill this Maxen and his followers, and speak to the new queen of the berserker, to ensure that peace is established once more between our kind.”
A denial catches on my tongue, but I hold back. I could never see myself as a queen, but maybe that didn’t matter. If I could create a treaty with the demons, and then brought the agreement to the lords of the berserkers, including my father, I doubt any of them would be anything but grateful.
“Of course,” I draw myself up taller.
The Blood Mage looks relieved as he comes toward me. I hold out my arm to him, and he studies the streaks. “You’re lucky. You had minutes to live.”
That’s a little frightening. But I take deep breaths, trying to focus on the fact that this is finally going to be over.
The Blood Mage begins to chant, and his fangs grow as he does. I wonder if he fed before this. Is that what fuels his powers? Blood? Or something even more sinister? I start to feel a tingling from his touch, and my heart leaps.
“This will cure all of us, right? Even my men?”
The young mage nods, but his chanting never slows.
I smile, feeling ridiculously relieved.
And then a black ball of magic slams into the mage’s chest. He flies back from me and hits the pavement. His shirt has been burned black and his bloody chest looks like a massacre. I feel like I’m in slow motion as I look between him and the trees behind the pavement and the dirt road. I see nothing to explain the attack, but then there’s a small sound.
Cole is on me in an instant, slamming me to the ground. And black balls of magic come flying all around us. I look up and see the demon who had been holding the relic’s face burn off, and I feel my chest seize in shock as the obviously dead man tumbles to the ground, the wrapped relic falling beside him.
No! The portal!
“Attack!” The demon king screams, and his men run for the trees.
“It’s Maxen. The portal isn’t open. There’s not enough of them, and they were caught by surprise,” Cole shouts above me. “We need to get to the Blood Mage and get him to undo the spell, before he dies, and then we need to run.”
He doesn’t let me answer, just drags me to the Blood Mage.
The young man is obviously in shock. His hands keep reaching toward his bloody chest, but he doesn’t touch it, just keeps blinking rapidly.
“We need you to undo the spell. Before we die!” Cole shouts.
The Blood Mage babbles some weird words that make no sense, and I know he’s barely hanging on. Maybe if he push him hard enough we can save ourselves. But for what? So Maxen can take us? And then take over the world?
No.
A cold awareness sweeps through me.
I know what to do.
Turning, I race away from Cole, trying to stay low to the ground as balls of magic hits the earth around us. I barely slow as I grab the wrapped relic and run for the tower. I chance one look back and see the berserkers and vampires, with mages at their sides, fighting the demons, and my stomach lurches.
Even though the demons are fierce warriors, the berserker army has easily four times the number of warriors. And that fucking asshole Maxen is in the middle of them.
My lips curl, and I’m climbing the stairs of the tower.
I sense Cole behind me, and feel an odd wave of relief. I have no idea what it’ll take to open the portal into the demon realm, but I’m happy to have him at my back. A memory of the way he had looked at me when I was injured comes into my mind, of the pain and fear in his face, and I’m glad he ended up being a good guy.
And then we’re at the top of the tower.
There’s a platform in the middle with a small circle in the center and markings on it. I have a feeling this is where the relic belongs, and I hope I’m right. I place it there and begin to unwrap it. One layer after another falls away, and then I inhale sharply at the sight of the sculpture. It looks like a black cloud with so many complex layers and textures that it feels magical. Powerful in a way I can’t explain.
On the bottom of it are matching ruins to the ones in the center of the tower.
Behind me, Cole leaps back. A berserker comes racing into the room, looks at me and raises a sword above his head, and then Cole knocks him from the side. Our attacker’s sword tumbles from his fingertips, and Cole rolls, grabs it, and points it at the man. The berserker backs away, and then Cole kicks him. The berserker’s eyes widen as his hands pinwheel, and then he falls from sight.
I feel sick, imagining him hitting the ground. But then there’s no more time to think as more enemies make it up the stairs.
“Open the portal!” Cole shouts.
It’s strange to look away from and work on lining up the relic correctly. I can hear the fighting behind me. I even think I hear Cole gasp in a breath of pain. But the truth is, we’re both dead. The Blood Mage couldn’t undo his mark. So all we can do now is open this portal and stop the destruction of our world by killing Maxen and his followers.
I don’t know what to expect when the relic suddenly clicks. It begins to sink down, and I almost try to pull it out, worried that something has gone wrong. And then, a pale blue light explodes, filling the tower in a light that seems to dance and shimmer. From out of this, demons pour forth.
“Get out of the way!” I shout at Cole.
He sprints away from the stairs, to the side of the portal, and the demons race down the stairs. Hundreds and hundreds of demons. A few glance at us in curiosity, but just keep going, likely assuming two cowering people are not their enemies.
Cole circles around behind it and comes to kneel with me. I push back my hair and look at him, and he gasps, then grasps my chin.
“What is it?”
He shakes his head, looking pained.
“Cole?”
“The lines… they’re covering your face. They’re even in your eyes.”
And the roar of the demons racing from the portal seems to fade away. My gaze holds Cole’s, and I know in that moment that I’m about to die. His marks have climbed up his neck, they’re crawling onto his chin, but he still has time. Maybe a few minutes. Maybe longer. But we both know I’ve run out of time.
“Wh-what can I do?” Cole whispers.
For some reason, I lean forward and kiss him. Not the soft kisses we’d exchanged before, but a hard kiss. A soul melting kiss. A way to explain to Cole the things I can’t say. That he’d taken this journey with us and somehow become one of us, even if we’d never get a chance to get to know him more.
My head begins to spin. And then, I realize I’m having trouble breathing. I draw back from him, gasping in breaths, feeling panicked. He strokes my face and my hair. His hands are panicked, but trying to soothe me.
He whispers. “It’s okay. I’m here. I’m here.”
I start to claw and fight. I don’t know why. His arms wrap around me, forcing my arms down, and keeping me in his lap. My back against his chest. And it’s terrifying to know I’m dying. But there’s the strangest peace in knowing I won’t go alone, without Cole at my side.
One last gasp of breath comes in, and then nothing more. Darkness edges my vision, and the world grows smaller.
“I’ve got you,” Cole whispers, kissing the top of my head.
And then, I can breathe again. I gasp in breaths, confused. Cole keeps holding me tightly, and it stops me from feeling like I’m completely losing all control. Is this what all dying people feel?
I have no idea.
Finally, I say, “Cole?”
“Kiera?” My name comes out choked.
“I think… I think I’m okay.”
His arms slowly loosen from around me, and then I turn around. His eyes widen, and he says, “The marks… they’re fading.”
“Yours are fading too!” I reach out and stroke his chin where the marks are already gone.
“What does this mean?” he asks.
I realize the demons have stopped flooding out of the portal, so I stand and go to the edge of the tower and look out at the battle. My gaze goes to the throne. The Blood Mage is there. His hand is reaching out toward us, and I swear I see a smile on his lips before he collapses back, his head rolling to the side.
My heart hammers, and I look out across the battlefield as the wind whips around me. The demons are winning. That much is clear. I can pick out Maxen in the middle of it all, slowly backing toward the woods. I want to collapse back and know that our job is done. And then a beat-up truck rolls up along the path, and I see my men piling out.
“Fuck, we have to go. The others are here.”
Cole hands me his sword, but I shake my head.
“Maxen has pushed me far enough. This queen is about to go berserk on his ass.”
