Darkness Splintered

we do it somewhere your body is going to be safe while you’re on the fields.”

“Not the Brindle —”

“No.”

The word was barely out of his mouth when his energy ripped through us again. We appeared in a room that was dark but not unoccupied. The scents in the air told me exactly where we were – my aunt Riley’s, who was the very last person I wanted to endanger in any way. I wasn’t actually related by blood to Riley, but after my mom’s death, she and her pack were the only family I had left.

But before I could make any objection about being there, she said, “I’m gathering there’s a good reason behind your sudden appearance in our bedroom at this ungodly hour of the morning.”

Her tone was wry, and she didn’t sound the slightest bit sleepy. But then, she’d not only once been a guardian, but one of their best. I guess old habits – like sleeping light – die hard.

“The Raziq hunt us,” Azriel said, his voice tight. He didn’t like doing this any more than I did, although I suspected our reasons were very different. “I need you both to keep Risa’s body safe while she’s on the gray fields.”

And with that, he kissed me – fiercely, but all too briefly – then disappeared. Leaving me reeling, battling for breath, and more frightened than I’d ever been. Because I was about to face the wrath of the Raziq alone, even if only for a few minutes.

Not alone, Amaya grumbled. Here am.

Yes, she was. But even a demon sword with a thirst for bloodshed might not be enough to counter the fury I could feel in the Raziq.

And why the hell could I even feel that? Had it something to do with whatever Malin – the woman in charge of the Raziq, and my father’s pissed-off ex – had done to me that time she’d tortured me? I didn’t know, because Malin had also erased the knowledge of the procedure from my mind to prevent my father from uncovering what she’d done. But with him dead, maybe it was time to find out.

“Risa?” This time it was Riley’s mate, Quinn, who spoke.

And he was the reason Azriel had brought me here. While Riley might once have been a guardian, Quinn was a whole lot more. Not only was he a vampire who’d once been a Cazador, which was basically a hit man for the high vampire council, but he was also what I was – a half-breed Aedh. One who’d undergone priest training. If there was anyone on Earth who could stand against the wrath of the Raziq for more than a second, it would be him.

I swallowed heavily, but it didn’t do a whole lot to ease the dryness in my throat. “There’s no time to explain,” I said. “I have to get onto the fields immediately. People will die if I don’t.”

“Then, do it.” Quinn climbed out of bed and walked to the wardrobes that lined one wall of their bedroom. “No one will get past us.”

I hoped he was right, but it wasn’t like I was going to be around to find out. I sat cross-legged on the thick, cushiony carpet, saw Quinn open a door and reach for the weapons within, then closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

As I slowly exhaled, I released awareness of everything around me, concentrating on nothing other than slowing the frantic beat of my heart so I could free my psyche, my soul – or whatever else people liked to call it – from the constraints of my flesh. That was what the Raziq were following; not my flesh, but my spirit. Hopefully, they would follow me onto the fields and not wreak hell on the two people I cared most about in this world.

As the awareness of everything around me began to fade, warmth throbbed at my neck – a sign that the charm Ilianna had given me when we’d both still been teenagers was at work, protecting me as my psyche pulled free and stepped onto the gray fields. There the real world was little more than a shadow, a place where those things that could not be seen on the living plane became visible. It was also the land between life and death, a place through which souls journeyed to whatever gateway was their next destination, be it heaven or hell.

But it was far from uninhabited. The reapers lived here, and so did the Raziq who remained.

And right now it was a dangerous place for me to be. The Raziq could move far faster here than I could. My only hope was reaching the Aedh temples that surrounded and protected the gates.

I turned and ran. The Dusan immediately exploded from my arm, her energy flowing through me, around me, as her lilac form gained flesh and shape, became real and solid. She swirled around me, the wind of her body buffeting mine as her sharp ebony gaze scanned the fields around us. Looking for trouble. Looking to fight.

The Raziq were coming. The thunder of their approach shook the very air around us.

Fear surged, and it lent me the strength to go faster. But running seemed a hideously slow method of movement, even if everything around me was little more than a blur. I wished I could transport myself to the temples instantaneously, as Azriel had in the past, but I wasn’t yet of this world, even if I was destined to become a Mijai upon death.

The Dusan’s movements were becoming more and more frantic. I swore and reached for every ounce of energy I had left, until it felt as if I were flying through the fields of gray.

But even when I reached the temples, I felt no safer. This place was as ghostly and surreal as the rest of the fields, but it was also a place filled with impossible shapes, high, soaring arches, and honeycombed domes sitting atop floating towers. And yet it no longer felt as empty as it had the first time I’d come here. There was an awareness – an anger – now, and it filled the temple grounds with a watchful energy that stung my skin and sent chills through my being.

I stopped in the expanse of emptiness that divided the temple buildings from the simply adorned gates to heaven and hell. The Dusan surged around me, her movements sharp, agitated. I tightened my grip on Amaya as I turned to face the oncoming Raziq. She began to hiss in expectation, the noise jarring against the watchful silence. But none of the priestly remnants appeared or spoke. I had no doubt they were aware of my presence, but it seemed that, for now, they were content to watch.

Leaving me hoping like hell that I hadn’t been wrong, that they would interfere if the Raziq got too violent.

Electricity surged, dark and violent. Without warning both the Dusan and I were flung backward. I hit vaporous ground that somehow felt as hard as anything on Earth and tumbled into the wall of a triangular building that stood on an impossible point.

Amaya was screaming, the Dusan was screaming, and their joint fury echoed both through my brain and across the fields. The Dusan surged upward, briefly disappearing into grayness before she dove into the midst of the Raziq, snapping and tearing at beings I couldn’t see, could only feel. A second later she was sent tumbling again.

If they could do that to a Dusan, what hope did I have?

Amaya screamed again. She wanted to rend, to tear, to consume, but there were far too many of them. We didn’t stand a chance… and yet, there was no way in hell I was going to give up without a fight. Not this time. I pushed to my feet, raised Amaya, and spit, “Do your worst, Malin. But you might want to remember you still need me to find that last key. And if you kill me, I become Mijai and beyond even your reach. Not something you’d want, I’d guess.”

For a moment there was no response; then that dark energy surged again. I swore and dove out of the way, and the energy hit the building that loomed above me. Its ghostly, gleaming sides rippled, the waves small at first but gaining in depth as they rolled upward, until the whole building quivered and shook and the thick, heavy top began to crumble and fall. I scrambled out of the way, only to feel another bolt arrowing toward me. I swore and dove to my left, but this time I wasn’t quite fast enough. The energy sizzled past my legs, wrapping them in heat, until it felt as if my flesh were melting from my bones.

A scream tore up my throat, but I clamped down on it hard, and it came out as little more than a hiss. I wasn’t flesh; I was energy. This was nothing more than a mind game.

A mind game that felt painfully real.

Damn it, no! If I was going to go down, then I sure as hell was going to take some of these bastards with me.

Amaya, do your worst. And with that, I flung her, as hard as I could into the seething mass of energy that was the Raziq. They scattered, as I knew they would, but Amaya arced around, her sides spitting lilac flames that splayed out like burning bullets. Whether they hit any targets I have no idea,