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Torches came alight around us, flickering as they casted a shallow light across a cavern. Darklings crawled along the ground and walls like an infestation. The creatures parted sides, clearing a path for us as we approached what resembled a large throne carved into the rock formations at the head of the cave. Marcus came to a stop, kneeling, and the others followed suit.
Panic gripped me at the sight of the unique darkling I’d met in the alleys once before. While she looked different now, I would have recognized her anywhere. She sat, poised on the stone seat, legs crossed as she rested back, picking from her teeth remains of her most recent meal with her long onyx claw.
She was unlike any of the other darklings surrounding her. She was smarter, more human-like than beast. The darklings cowered in her presence, shrinking low as they grew close to her. They responded to Marcus' group, snarling and snapping but not attacking, as if they were compelled to resist the urge to devour their enemies. Her eyes drifted across the group before meeting mine.
As if my grip slipped from the edge of a cliff, I was pulled, falling back into nothingness, and it felt as if I were hitting a brick wall as I slammed back into my body.
Cole fell forward into an unconscious slump, the shackles suspending him before he hit the ground. I fell back against someone’s chest. I couldn’t think straight enough to think who it might be, the spinning and nausea surging through me. I twisted away from him, over onto my hands and knees, and reached for a waste basket nearby. I threw my head over it, and the contents of my stomach emptied into the bin.
Damien and the others hovered over me, talking, but I couldn’t quite hear or see them, as if every one of my senses had been stolen from me. The room was blinding, every movement blurred. A cold sweat broke out over my skin, and the air rushed into my lungs in short, uneven pants.
A hand came to my back, and Damien pulled my hair from my face as I continued to dry heave. “Easy, easy. It’ll pass soon.”
The heaves finally began to settle, and I spit the foul taste from my mouth into the bin one last time before sitting up. I blinked, but the bright lights stung. My hand came up over my eyes as the needle-like pain continued.
“Lights. Please. Turn them off,” I panted, keeping my eyes closed. My vision was so sensitive, and at the slightest of movements, the room would spin, and I felt like I was going to throw up again.
Damien lifted me, removing me from the room briskly, to the room next door. The couch groaned as he eased me down onto it. I fell against the cushions, my head resting against the back. The only light in the room was a dim lamp on a nearby table, but I couldn’t so much as look in its direction.
He knelt in front of me. “Just breathe. Take your time. You don’t have to tell me what you saw just yet.”
This was information that couldn’t wait, though, and the words flew out my mouth. “They’re working with the darklings.”
His body tensed. “They’re what?”
I lifted my head from the cushion, leaning forward, resting my face in my hands. “They were in a cave… There were so many darklings, Damien, hundreds of them, and there was this one darkling.” The image of her fresh was in my mind, as if I’d stood before her myself, and it sent a chill down my spine.
“Slow down,mea luna. Breathe.”
I continued, though. “She-she wasn’t like the others, Damien. She wasn’t just some beast like they are. She was more human.”
Damien cursed under his breath. “She’s returned…”
I lifted my eyes to him. “Who’s returned?”
Damien drew an uneven breath. “Almost a hundred and twenty-five years ago we fought a terrible war, one that devastated us. The darklings had started to act similarly to the way they are now, organized and more deadly. A unique darkling had appeared among them, one who retained their consciousness. She had some sort of sway over them, an influence that bent them to her will.”
“The battle I saw…”
He nodded. “We suffered a devastating blow. It’s known to us as The Fall of Kingdoms. Not only did we lose countless warriors, we lost houses, entire bloodlines. They hunted our kind down, warrior and civilian alike. Male, female, child, it didn’t matter to them. They’ve always wanted to erase us from existence, and with them at her command, they were poised to do just that.”
I couldn’t imagine the carnage he’d witnessed. I’d only seen a fraction of what he had, could still smell it. It burned me in a way that made me wonder how he himself had dealt with it all these years.
Damien growled, his words barely slipping through his clenched teeth. “Dammit, Marcus! What would possess him to side withthem?”
Barrett and the others walked into the room. “What did she get out of him? Did she find out where Marcus and his group are hidin’?” Barrett asked.
“We’ve got a bigger problem than Marcus.” Damien rose to his feet, turning to them. “There’s a nest. A huge one, at least ten times the size of the one that took out Vivienne’s group, possibly more by now.”
“Have they been targeting the surrounding cities to build their numbers?” Vincent asked.
“I don’t know…” Damien looked to Zephyr. “The darkling leader has reawakened.”
The color drained from their faces. It terrified me to see their reaction, to see the ones who didn’t show fear be so shaken. What did this mean for our city, for the humans and immortals who lived here? Would the darklings attack them openly? What about my parents? Kat and Cody?
Zephyr’s eyes danced between the others. “Fuck.We need to notify the civilians. They’ll be easy targets.”
“Double the patrols. No one goes alone. Hunt in groups, three at a minimum, no exceptions,” Damien ordered, and the others nodded. “We’re going to need to bring in the new recruits earlier than anticipated. Oh, and Barrett.”
