Bittersweet (Book #1 Evening Wings Trilogy)

Chapter 28

28

Lorelei was a psychopath, but I did not let that deter me.

If I did not want to die at her hands, I had to save her brother, but that meant I had to kill Naida, who I thought could kill me first. Not to mention the Seelie that wanted to end my existence.

Yeah, and I thought life could not get any better than this.

It was the day before the solstice moon and I was edgy. Zaria kept leaving angry voicemails on my cell phone, begging me to come to the dance with her or she’d be stuck with a spiteful Rosa for the night.

I could not.

I didn’t know what I’d have to do tonight, but I knew that I had to lie low, in case the moon sought me out. My suitcases were all packed and ready to go. Now all I needed was the night when I was ready to let my caged soul set me free. I would no longer be Elizabeth after that. Oddly, a part of me looked forward to that feeling. Now all I could do was wait.

I curled up under the covers, the curtains I’d made sure were thick enough to shield me from the haunting powers of the moon, and held Lorelei’s cold moonstone amulet close to me. I could feel the moon halfway through the sky and a sick feeling in my stomach to join it outside. However, I knew better.  I stayed curled up in my bed, waiting for morning to come.

Hours later, I found myself refolding clothes from my suitcase. Anything to get me away from that cold chill that descended in my room. It was almost alluring.

“What are you doing.” called a voice from behind me.

I was on my feet in less than a second. Zaria stood behind me, wearing a ripped black and white dress, two lavender wings sticking out of her vertebrae. She glared at me angrily, eyes focused on my suitcase.

“Z… I can explain.”

Her eyes shifted off that. “No time for that. You have to help us. The Unseelie are trying to find a way into the solstice circle, and you’re the only one that can help.”

“I… I can’t.” I said, looking down at my curled toes.

“Yes, you can.” Zaria said. “You’re the enchantress. You’re the only one that can keep them away from the portal!”

I ducked away from the moonbeams shining through the open window.

She grabbed my arm and pulled me into the direct light of the moon, eyes widening when my skin covered itself with black veins and my eyes cloaked themselves in inky darkness.

I bit my lip. “You have to let me stay here. I can’t help you.”

Zaria’s eyes focused on me and she gripped my arm again. “I don’t care what you are. You are the daughter of the enchanter. You can seal over the circle again.”

She pulled me through the window into the dreaded night.

#

We hid in the spidery black boughs of a bare sycamore; we witnessed the battle rage across the once beautiful prairie. Warriors of both sides fought and fell; it was easy to distinguish the good from the evil. While the Seelie were magnificent creatures, flitting across the battlefield with their exquisite wings, the Unseelie were both hideous, bearing terrifying features and weapons stinking of death.

Burning arrows cut through the air, setting both the combatants and the beautiful terrain ablaze. The wind carried the scent of burning flesh and spilt blood toward our places in the tree.

“How did they get in?” I murmured, watching as a tiny imp like creature threw a seraph blade through a Seelie soldier’s chest.

“Xander made Sabine destroy the ward enchantments, and then the blue haired one killed her.” Zaria’s voice hitched at the last part, and we both watched a vengeful Vanadisa spin in the air and land a ball of frosty blue light in the middle of a Seelie boy’s chest. He breathed shallowly, eyes looking up on the rancorous moon, the blood covering his skin black in the haunting light of the stars.

“They need an enchantress to access the portal to Avlis.” Zaria explained as we watched three hideous creatures with gray skin try to heave the concrete disk from the ground. “If they don’t get one, they’ll destroy it and all the others.”

I could sense strong magic there, and somehow it ‘smelt’ familiar.

Naida threw a spear, which lodged into a Seelie girl’s heart—Rosa’s—Zaria swore, and brushed a dry tear from her cheekbone. The spear dug into the battle turned soil, blood running down the shaft, soaked in the girl’s blood.

Naida laughed callously.

“End this queen!” she cackled, shoving Xander to his knees and watching him divert a number of soldiers. “Bring me the enchanter and your soldiers won’t have to suffer any longer!”

“Naida…” Xander forced himself weakly. “Stop this,”

She twisted his arm to the side and he yelled, but it was weak and tired. With the sound of cracking bones, she laughed again, even more heartless than the previous time.

“Spare ye the bloodshed of my entire patrons fair one,” Heidi’s mother—who I had not noticed until now—said. “Whilst you argue with me, the enchantress could be far away.”

“Don’t give me any bull about it.” Naida said, thrusting Xander’s limp body to the ground. “I know you have him, and I want him to open this damned portal!”

“Fairest one, I have said this before and I shall say it again, the enchanter is dead. There hasn’t been another in at least a thousand years.” Heidi’s mother chuckled falsely.

“Very well,” Naida hissed, her accent harsh and unyielding, kicking Xander before pressing her hand into his. “Come here, littlest princess.”

To my astonishment, a fair-haired blond beauty, with gorgeous Monarch butterfly wings flew toward Naida, controlled by her very will, and Naida’s lethal amber eyes. Xander’s eyes spilled black and ugly purple veins ate his gaunt face. He moaned in aching terror. A line of black liquid slipped out the corner of his mouth.

Finally, I understood Naida’s power.

She was a leech that fed off others’ powers until eventually it drained them dead.  That was what she was aiming for in the first place right? She did not care if Xander perished because he had taken advantage of her so many years ago, when she was just a stupid Seelie girl, with a brainless infatuation for darkness. She loved him, but not as much as she would love the bittersweet essence of triumph when he eventually died.

“Give me the enchanter or she dies,” Naida jerked her chin forward.

A silent gasp shared the mouths of the Seelie. Heidi struggled against Naida’s strong grasp, eyes whispering silent pleas against the hand that gagged her.

For a moment, the queen’s careful expression faltered… and then it was back to the careful blankness of before.

“The enchanter is dead.”

Naida growled and backhanded Heidi across the clearing, but not before, she sliced a piece of her wing off with a large seraph blade hidden in her bodice.

“NO!” Zaria and another voice yelped in perfect accord.

I saw Taylor race toward Heidi, his almost transparent wings fluttering in the moonlight. Someone blurred across the field, and landed on him, preventing him from going anywhere.

Vanadisa.

“Elizabeth,” Zaria whispered, choking back salty tears to no avail. Silvery tracks ran down each cheek, shining like nickels in the moonlight. “You need to get out there. Please,”

I barely had time to say yes before the fighting resumed with the stench of blood, sweat and death high in the atmosphere. Nevertheless, for whatever reason, I nodded to her and descended the tree, ready to fulfill my destiny.

 Author's Note

Only 2 more chapters after this people ;(