Tainted roots

I relayed what Rowan said, and Ander asked, “Did they say anything that might help us figure out how they knew? Or anything that can clue in on their next move?”

Rowan was quiet for several moments, and none of us interrupted. ‘One of the necromancers said something to Alora about how the prophet has been waiting for this for over a year. That he was done waiting.’

My stomach dropped. No, he couldn’t. “He’s going to do the mating ritual. Tonight. That’s why we didn’t see anyone, they’re probably waiting to see their leader get mated, again.”

Ander swore while a growl rumbled Koa’s chest. Even though they didn’t know her well, they were both disgusted by forced matings and everything that had been going on in this fucked in place.

"Are you okay to run?” I asked Rowan. To answer my question she climbed to her feet and shook out her fur. Worry gnawed at my stomach, but I had to trust her instincts. “We need to get to that damn temple.”

We took off down the path to the right. Alora never said the matings took place in the temple. It was an educated guess on my part. Kain was a stereotypical egotistical god complex douchebag. The motherfucker blessed every union by having them drink his damn blood. It wasn’t a stretch to assume his matings would take place in a temple used to worship deities, and by extension, him.

Wyatt led the way, not hesitating at each split pathway. We no longer held back, each of us using magic to increase our speed, no longer caring if we drew attention to ourselves. There was no way I was allowing this piece of shit to force her into a mating she didn’t want.

We didn’t attempt portaling to the temple since we didn’t know the magic already at play here. Ander could’ve easily overtaken me and be at the front of the group, same as Koa, but he stayed right behind us—watching our backs.

Worry over whether or not Ari’s group had been ambushed nagged at me. If I had the time I would’ve sent her a message. Though I doubt she’d see it with her wristband still on silent. Before leaving we all made sure our wristbands were on silent, not wanting to risk getting a call or message and alerting them of our presence. Our attempts at stealth were in vain, since they somehow knew we were coming, or at least that Alora was.

Did they know about the rest of us? Had they been alerted of our impending attack? The mystery woman’s warning about how I should be careful who to trusted came to the forefront of my mind.

I knew with absolute certainty it wasn’t my friends, Koa or Starling. Rowan would and could never betray me. My gut said it wasn't Alora since she’d be hiding from them for so long, and I doubted she managed to pull one over on us to lead us into a trap.

Wyatt and Gemini were both wild cards, ones I didn’t know too much about. My instincts told me Gemini was clean, but I couldn’t immediately rule out Wyatt since he lived away from our kind for so long. And for some reason, Gemini seemed to hold a real grudge against him. He did help us the last time, but that didn’t mean he was on our side. He could’ve helped us just enough to fool us. The creatures and necromancers managed to get away with the key during their attack.

Then there was Parker, who moved next door to us within a week of our return. With his easygoing charm and his quick wit, he seamlessly fit himself into our lives. I didn’t want to consider him as an option, but I’d be stupid not to.

While Seth was a complete mystery to me, it was clear to me he played a big part in helping Starling and Koa gather information. Both of them trusted him, and right now that was good enough for me. I didn’t want to be one of those people who mistrusted everyone and randomly started accusing someone of being a traitor.

As we neared the temple we no longer needed Wyatt to guide us. Not with the temple towering over all surrounding buildings. From my vantage, it reminded me of the ones from Ancient Greece, only in black—shocker. Towering decorative columns held up the roof around the outside of the temple. The building was several stories tall, a looming and ominous presence over all other buildings.

Faint far off noises reached us as we came within a mile of the building, the same sounds we’d been missing all along.

“We need to split up,” I panted, starting to feel slightly winded.

“Are you crazy?” Ander yelled back, I didn’t need to see his face to know he was pissed.

“We can’t take all of them on with just the five of us, and we don’t know if Ari’s group has been captured.”

“She’s right. There’s no way they’re keeping them prisoner in there if they’re still alive. Having Mythics around would incite panic and I doubt he’d want that during his mating ritual. He’d want to keep them close by, just in case. Wherever he’s keeping them, they’re heavily guarded,” Wyatt said.

“We need them if we’re going to have any chance at making it out of this alive,” I added, choosing to ignore Wyatt’s comment about if they’re still alive. I refused to believe they were dead.

“Fuck,” Ander growled, after several seconds of silence. “Who’s going where?”

“You and Rowan should find the others,” Koa answered, and when Ander started to protest, he cut him off. “You’ll have the best chance at getting through the wards with your blood magic, and Rowan had the best senses. If anyone can track them, she can.”

Ander didn’t protest, putting his dislike for Koa aside. When we came to another split path near the temple, he and Rowan took off down the one to the right, while we took the one to the left. I didn’t allow myself the chance to worry about them or the others, it would only distract me and get me killed.

The closer we got to the temple, the louder the sounds became. Voices layered over each other to the point it was just a wave of indistinguishable noise. Hearing the raucous sounds eased some of the tension tightening my chest. There was no way that arrogant dick would allow them to talk during his big ceremony. I chose to believe that meant it hadn’t happened yet, and not that they were celebrating his successful seventh mating.

We sprinted down the path, clearing buildings nearest to the temple. Ten creatures stood guard in front of the steps. Three of them were chimeras, two were ogres, and the last five were vampires.

Before they spotted us, Wyatt waved his hand and sent the chimera flying. He lobbed energy balls at the ogres in rapid succession. Koa sent a blast of fire at a chimera before it could shoot fire at us.

I sprinted toward the vampires, lunging at one before he could turn toward me. While running here, I pulled free my double-bladed sword, and with a quick press of the rune, one of the blades sprung free in time for me to decapitate him. Another tried sneaking up on my left and I threw one of my throwing knives at him, not checking to see if I hit my mark.

Whirling around, I let the other blade free on my sword and twirled it around, cutting off the hands of the vampire coming up behind me. While he was howling in pain, I stabbed him in the heart to shut him up.

It turned out my aim had been good since I was now facing two vampires. Both of them lunged at me from either side and I manage a slice across one’s abdomen, but was unable to avoid being scratched across the back by the other. That shit stung and pissed me off. I blindly stabbed behind me under my arm and based on her scream, I made contact. I hadn’t hit her high enough to kill her, just enough to wound her and most likely piss her off.

I twirled my sword again, taking out the male vampire in front of me, and turning around in time to dive out of the way of the lunging vampire. Completing my roll, I pulled a knife free of the harness and let it fly. My aim was dead on, hitting her in the back, and a moment later she disintegrated.

After collecting my fallen knives, I surveyed all the dead creatures lying around. From the sounds still coming from the temple—my ears ached from how loud they were—I knew none of them heard us.

Wyatt was the first to enter the temple, with Koa at the back of our group. Inside was a hallway, leading to floor-to-ceiling double doors. Both were propped open to reveal a gigantic room, filled with necromancers. None of them turned to face us as they spoke over one another, their excitement palpable as they kept glancing toward the back of the room. They were dressed the way you’d expect for a ritual. Their clothes were a bit dated as Alora’s were. The women wore corseted dresses that didn’t look the least bit comfortable and followed the town’s theme of no colors. While the men wore puffy dress shirts and tight pants.

Wyatt held up his hand for us to stop and peered into the room. After studying it and glancing down the hallway, he pointed to the left where there was a smaller doorway.

The internal debate I had on my way over here, on whether or not I could trust him vanished. I didn’t question him or his motives as I ran through the doorway and up the dark staircase. If he was a traitor, I was about to find out the hard way, but I refused to waste time we didn’t have and put Alora at risk because I was paranoid.

I would trust him for now, and if he proved to be untrustworthy, I’d deal with it then.

I passed multiple balconies on my way up the stairs, each full of necromancers eagerly awaiting to see Kain be a grade-A asshole. The sixth balcony we came across was blissfully empty. A relief since we were at the end of the staircase.

Above us was the night sky, since there was no fucking roof. Probably a good thing with so many necromancers crammed into this space. The cool breeze whipping through the room did nothing to displace the unnatural energy filling the air. It reminded me of how I imagined a necromancer’s energy to feel. Based on the looks on Koa and Wyatt’s faces, they felt it too but didn’t know where it came from.

The balcony we stood on was fairly small, only ten feet wide and five deep. I kept close to the wall, not wanting to risk drawing attention, even from this height and with everyone looking to the back of the room.

Columns held up the first-floor balconies, in the same style as the ones outside. Underneath the balconies, lining the wall, were statues of the deities. Between each statue were candelabras, that were a few feet shorter than them. They gave off a dim almost romantic glow to the packed room. I could only assume there were more on our side as well. At the back of the room where everyone was looking, was a raised dais.

Two statues, several feet taller than the rest, stood on either side. Even if I hadn’t been so far away, I still wouldn’t have been able to tell who they were. All I could really tell was that one was a man and the other a woman.

It was the same as our realm and was some serious bullshit none of them had any details. Why couldn’t they forget about trying to be correct and give the statues a damn face? It wasn’t like the deities would show up pissed off that the details of their faces weren’t right.

The crowd hushed as a man ascended the stairs to the dais. From my angle and the distance between us, I wasn’t able to get a close look at him. All I could tell was that he was tall, with somewhat broad shoulders. His hair, so blonde it was nearly white, was slicked back into a low ponytail. The light color of his hair only made the light brown of his skin stand out. As did the white shirt that reminded me of what a pirate would wear. It was buttoned halfway up, showing off his blonde chest hair.

Movement at the foot of the dais drew my attention to Alora. She’d been put in a shimmering black dress with a full skirt. Her hair was pulled back into a bun, and a black veil covered her face, but I knew it was her. Two men held either one of her arms as they dragged her up the steps. She kicked, thrashed, and mostly likely screamed, but they were too strong. Her large and most likely heavy dress worked against her, making her kicks slow.

Rage simmered in my stomach and my chest. I don’t know when I moved forward, but I was now gripping the railing. A tremor ran through it under my death grip. After taking several deep breaths, I released my grip before I broke the damn thing. Koa and Wyatt joined me, standing on either side as we witnessed this spectacle.

“I could portal us down there, but there’s no way we’d be able to get near her,” Wyatt whispered, not bothering to hide his frustration. “There’s no way we can fight our way out, even if it weren’t just the three of us.”

“We need some sort of distraction,” I whispered back.

Before either could respond, Kain spread his arms out to the side and spoke, his booming voice echoing throughout the spacious room. “My children, tonight is a joyous night for celebration. Your sister Alora has rejoined us at last.”

Alora hadn’t stopped her struggle against the two men, who held her in place on the dais several feet back from Kain. He ignored her struggle as if it didn’t contradict his words and show what fucking dick he was.

“Not only has she come to do her duty to her people by continuing her powerful line, but she returns with a prize." He paused again for dramatic effect, drawing this bullshit out as he reveled in the attention. My heart was near ready to pound out of my chest, both with fear and anticipation.

A necromancer woman ascended the dais and held out a pillow. I was unable to see what the pillow held with her body in the way. Gasps ran through the crowd and hid mine as Kain held up the items. In each hand were necklaces, with crystals as the pendants. One purple and the other pink. Fuck.

Alora screamed again, this time I could hear her screams, but she was too far away to make out her words. I assumed they weren’t compliments. Kain ignored her once again and turned to the crowd. He took several extra seconds to bask in their attention and clear admiration. “Now, not only do we have Abrielle’s key, but Gabsrielle's as well!”

Gabsrielle. The woman who sent us the cryptic message that brought us here in the first place. I couldn’t process what this all meant right now, or why she hadn’t come here herself to retrieve it.

Kain placed the necklace containing Abrielle’s key—whoever the fuck she was—around his neck, while he continued holding Gabsrielle’s aloft. He chanted in an unfamiliar language, the cadence rhythmic as it followed an unknown beat.

In the center of the room, at the height of one of the balconies below us, appeared a rift. It wasn’t fully formed, the crack in the air lacking the depth that could be seen within a normal one. Dark tendrils of energy seeped out of it, reminding me of the rift to this realm.

This was the source of the malignant energy and why the rift to this realm was unstable. I had no idea where this rift went, and I was pretty sure I didn’t want to find out.

More tendrils of the dark energy seeped out, this time floating through the air and disappearing into the dark sky. Cheers erupted from the crowd, but I couldn’t focus on that. All I could do was stare at where those dark tendrils of energy disappeared.

What horrors did this monster just let out into this world?