Fangs of Fate (Untish #1)

Chapter 50

CHAPTER FIFTY

TATE

My breath caught in my lungs. Did he really just insinuate not only that the Untish Tribe is real, but also that I am in fact one of them? Impossible. It had to be, right?

“Steady there, Tate.” The steam in the air was gone and I could now make out every detail and feature on Aether’s face. His eyes held a certain intensity I couldn’t place and his jaw was set. His full lips were pursed, almost in a grimace, but it contrasted with the rest of his expression. The scar appeared tighter than I’d thought before. The pale white of it still held a tint of pink. Perhaps not as old as I’d thought then.

“I know this is a lot. And I will answer your questions, but it’s important that right now you understand one thing: I am the only one who can keep you alive.”

“Excuse me?” He was incredulous.

“You’re in a very delicate season for the Untish. You’re transforming, evolving, stepping into your own. However you put it, things are changing for you. They have been for a while, but that burning we did back in the warehouse did more than just free you from the guara’s magic inked in your flesh, it was your initiation. It will either kill you or transform you, depending on how pure your Untish blood is.” His words weren’t resonating within me. That whole interrogation was some bullshit initiation in which I wasn’t given a choice.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Anger rose within me. The water around me began to bubble and then sizzle. Once again, steam rose in waves. “You fucking lit me on fire to start some sort of transformation without so much as giving me a heads-up, let alone seeking my opinion, no, my approval on the issue? Who the hell do you think you are!”

“That’s a loaded question.” He smirked and looked away. He was uncomfortable.

“So, what? I’m just supposed to take your word for it? I’m supposed to believe that a tribe of shifters who can turn into dragons isn’t the folklore I thought it was? That what I was taught my entire life was an impossibility, a fairytale, is in fact a reality? That I’m actually one of those said individuals? How can you expect me to believe that, let alone trust you when you have already lied to me and forced me into some changing without so much as asking!”

“I knew it was a mistake,” his voice was barely above a whisper. “But whether or not I think you should have been initiated, which by the way my vote was against, I do believe you are smart enough to decipher truth from lie. Look at yourself for proof.” He gestures to the now rolling boil of the water surrounding me, the steam in the air that was getting so thick that I could barely see past Aether who was now only a foot away.

“Tell me you’re not so stubborn that you refuse to see the facts. Tell me you’re not too cowardly to acknowledge the truth. Tell me that you haven’t felt this change coming for the past couple of months, heightened within the past week?”

I hated that his words resonated. I was not a coward, and I was not stupid. I knew he was manipulating me. I knew he was trying to work me. I also knew that he had a point: things had been different recently. I thought back to the fire when I killed that child-murdering bastard. My clothes had burnt, but I hadn’t. The peace that had surrounded me confused me at the time…I had attributed it to a high, but maybe it was more. The last flight I’d had where I shifted into my raven form felt different…the blackout had never happened before, and neither had the animalistic roar or fire imagined—possibly released. I sucked on my fang. I had been hungrier lately. And…I had done not one, but three life drains in the past week.

That had never happened before.

“I can see that at least I am right about your intelligence. We need to get back to camp, so let’s get you dried off. It’s almost time to depart.” He began heading for the riverbank, leaving me in the middle.

“I—”

An animalistic screech cut me off. Screams filled the air along with roars.

The settlement was under attack.

Aether cursed under his breath before jumping out of the water and throwing his shirt on, stepping into his pants, and strapping his sword across his back. Daggers were strapped to his side before I’d even exited the river.

“Stay close and whatever you do, ignore the sparking sensation to turn. You’re not ready and premature shifting can kill you.”

“Excuse me?” I could barely register his words as the screams from the village just ahead enveloped me. Normally I could hear well, but this was different. I could hear pants, the sound of teeth sinking into flesh, the spurts of blood hitting the ground. I could hear pain like never before and not just from one source, but from everywhere. The sensation was too much. My head began to spin, the screams were debilitating. I crumbled to the ground at the riverbank cupping my ears.

“Tate,” Aether’s voice was stern. He gripped my shoulders and shook me. “Tune it out. Block it out. Just, focus on a core memory and recall the sounds from it. Something calming.”

“I can’t, it’s too much. They’re everywhere!”

A young female cried as I could hear the slash of claws against flesh, the flow of blood coating the ground. A male’s shrieks blended with battle cries as I could hear metal clanging against flesh, cutting through bone. Gunshots sounded, a drum to the melody of pain.

“You can. Think about your mother, what did she look like, what did she sound like? Did she ever sing to you?”

Energy pulsed around me. My pressure points began to respond to the tightening of the air. Steadying.

My mother. Her green eyes, dark blonde hair, the smile that only I saw. Her soft voice calling my name, telling me I did good. My pulse slowed down, and the noises began to fade.

“Good. Now focus on a specific memory and let it play through your mind.” He lifted my chin to meet his eyes, his golden-black eyes. “Focus.”

I could feel energy surrounding me as a favorite childhood memory surfaced.

“But why, Mommy?” four-year-old me asked.

“Because we must always be prepared,” my mother spoke to me in that hushed soft voice she reserved for only me.

“I don’t want to approach the edge.” My mother’s face filled my vision, her green eyes shrewd as she tipped my chin up to hers.

“Firecracker, you need to be brave. It is our fear that holds us captive. Trust me and trust yourself.” She extended her hand and beckoned me to step forward.

I took a step gingerly, gripping her hand tightly. Then another. Finally, my feet brushed the cliff’s edge. Pebbles fell below.

“Good girl. Now look out, Tate. What do you see?”

I lifted my eyes and could see the cavern below, but I also saw the sea turning and foaming. Waves crashing against the cliff’s edge and then rolling back only to be swallowed again by the sea.

“It’s freedom. Smell the salt? See the horizon? That’s freedom. This airspace is unoccupied and completely ours. This,” she gestured out at the sea and the sky, “this has no limit. It’s yours.” She placed her hand on my chest. “Feel this?”

My heart pounded rapidly in response.

“This is the truth. It’s within you. It’s responding to the open horizon. It’s beckoning for freedom. This Tate,” she tapped my chest with her index finger. “This is your truth meter. Your heart knows even when the mind doesn’t.”

The cool night air assaulted my face as the memory faded. Aether was saying something, but I wasn’t sure what.

“Tate?”

I focused on him.

“Good, you’re calmer. Now just keep that memory playing through your mind and stay close. Don’t die.” He lifted me to my feet and threw a jacket around me, I’d forgotten I was only in my underwear. I threw my boots on, hopping on the ground trying to find my balance, before loosely lacing them and then zipped the jacket up. I wrapped my arms around my midsection. At least the jacket was large enough to cover my butt and drape down to my mid-thigh.

“Here, take this.” He pushed a dagger in my palm and then grabbed my other hand and began sprinting toward the village, my body in tow. A village that was now on fire. Smoke began to fill my vision. Black ash floated through the air, dancing in the firelight.

“Duck!” Aether shouted as a creature lunged for us. He let go of my hand and cut the thing in half before I could even fully stop. Such incredible speed.

He barely paused before grabbing my hand again and hauling off toward the center of the village. The buildings were all on fire. Bodies scattered all around, covering the ground. Pools of blood, both black and red, stained the once neat cobblestone paths.

“Shit.” Aether desperately turned around trying to spot the assailants through the thick smoke.

As far as I could tell we were the only ones moving. The whole place fell eerily silent for a moment.

Through the haze, I could make out the forms of figures clashing against each other. Fighting. Their screams rang out, overwhelming my system.

The guttural cries of the dead all around me began to sound, to moan. It was too much. The tingle in my system heightened, demanding I shift. The energy was building up. My arms began to glow , and I could feel my nerves firing rapidly, pain shot up and down my body. The string ending in the murky pool was growing taut, and the urge to shift felt nearly suffocating. Perhaps I could. Mentally I reached out to the string, I’d just touch it?—

“No!” Aether’s voice silenced my thoughts. He grabbed my face in both hands for the briefest moment. “Tate, focus on your mother. Tell me about her.” And then he released me, gripping his sword and aiming it at a seething who was running on all fours toward us.

I opened my mouth to answer him, but the air pressure dropped and then increased, suspending the seething in mid-air. He manipulated it like it was nothing, slicing through its head and then releasing its body, allowing it to crumple to the ground. It twitched, even headless, and wiggled. Pure evil.

The pressure from the air sifting was too much, I could see the internal string glowing now just as the string leading out of me toward Aether was glowing. They both could be connected. I just needed to?—

“Tell. Me. About. Irene!”

The use of my mother’s name from his lips jarred me from my thoughts.

Right, I can do this. Focus.

“Feel this? This is the truth.” My mother’s voice calmed my system.

Aether threw a dagger at a seething running upright toward me, sinking it right between the eyes before pivoting and slicing the head off of another one about to attack him. The energy in me responding to every manipulation of the air. It devoured me, erupting through my system, demanding an outlet.

No, I would not shift.

“This is your truth meter. Your heart knows even when the mind doesn’t.”

My pulse slowed and commanded the energy coursing through me. I simmered it to a slow hum. The pain subsided a bit and my glow diminished. Did she know? Suspect I’d wind up here without her guidance? Could she also shift into a dragon? She claimed she couldn’t shift, but since she clearly was working with?—

“This way!” Aether commanded as he once again grabbed the crook of my arm and steered me through a maze of corpses, some seething and some vampire.

Screams from ahead sounded. Cries, flesh being torn. Too much sensory input.

I took a deep breath, focusing on only the sound of my inhales and exhales, willing everything else to mute.

My mother’s green eyes. Eyes I’d always envied. Eyes I didn’t have.

“Thank Mother Blood! Tate, where the hell were you!” Vala’s voice cut through my thoughts. She was covered in blood and soot, her own sword bloodied. Jared was just behind her, gripping his arm as blood was gushing through what appeared to be an ugly bite. I could still hear the clang of swords against claws, the screams, the tearing of flesh. Rapid firing of weapons…bodies hitting the ground.

Tingling, such intense tingling began to claim me as the energy inside swirled.

“Control it, Tate!”

The air around me constricted, trying to calm the storm building within.

“Oh my gosh, is she reforming? Holy shit, why didn’t you tell us she’d been through the burning!” Vala leveled a glare at Aether. Her eyes were brown, solid chocolate now as the gold and black swirled, mixing in harmony. Not green like my mother. Irene.

“Irene,” I whispered it to myself, her name an anchor against the assaulting noises coming from absolutely everywhere. The crackling from the fire heightened. “Irene, Irene, Irene,” I said her name like a chant, focusing on it and picturing her and the sea.

“Good, just keep focusing on her, Tate. I promise I’ll get us all through this.”

A monstrous screech from ahead shook my core. It was louder than the rest of the noises, fiercer, and became numerous .

Shadows began to form behind the flames and walls of smoke. Large frames, eight feet at least. They walked upright and held weapons. Their talons were at least a foot long and still, they carried swords and rifles. The one leading the pack leveled its weapon at us before raising its head and howling. It was a command.

The whole ground shook as dozens of seethings poured out of buildings and debris in the distance beginning to surround us. They ran on twos and fours. They snapped their teeth and snarled. It would only be a moment before they were on us.

With another monstrous howl, the thing began to run in our direction. As it moved, at least eight other shadows moved with it. All tall, not quite as tall, but almost. They stalked and the ground shook with every unanimous step.

Aether pulled at the air and forced it in the direction of the large creatures. It was strong enough to knock them all over, but not enough to keep them down.

“Vala! Guard her with your life! Use whatever is needed. No restraints!” he commanded as he stepped in front of us, Jared following suit, to face off against the largest seething, now on his feet, and marching toward us. He was taller than I’d initially guessed, at least ten feet tall and covered in black scales. He sported two wings out of his shoulders that were tucked in.

A blast of air blew out from just behind the monstrous beast and the screeches from several seethings sounded. He’d knocked them over and managed to kill a few. A nice delay, but not enough. Not nearly enough as the howls sounded from all around, the vibration in the ground increasing. We’d soon be overrun.

“This way!” Vala grabbed my arm and tugged me back to a building about a hundred feet behind. I could see several seethings charging us on all fours, vengeance in their eyes. Vala tucked me in an alcove with her and then outstretched her hands. A shimmering projected forth and surrounded us in a dome. The noise suddenly quieted, and my senses begin to dull.

“A noise dome?” This would never hold.

“As if,” she smirked, “they won’t get through. This is more like a forcefield.” She straightened her back and then pushed at the air. The shimmering stopped and the shield solidified. “We should be safe in here. And this one mutes the noise and brings it down to a more bearable level, especially for a reformer.” She winked at me.

Did they all possess magic?

The ground shook as several blurs ran past our dome, headed straight for Aether and Jared. Aether threw his hand back, keeping his attention on the giant seething stalking toward him, but still projected another blast backwards that knocked the smaller seethings off their feet. They whined as the pressure seemed to keep them down.

Jared charged the small ones with his weapon extended and began stabbing and slashing. If he didn’t kill, he maimed. I could see Vala biting her lip, hopping from foot to foot. She wanted to fight.

The large seething was only fifteen yards away from Aether now, a pack of several upright and large seethings behind it. We were too far in the smokey air to tell if they too sprouted wings, but even from here, I could tell they were big. Bigger than Aether—even at nearly six and a half feet tall.

They were at least three feet taller and their claws, five to a hand, were the equivalent of four daggers. How would they take them? Jared stabbed yet another seething and then backtracked to where Aether now stood, poised, ready to fight.

It swung at Aether with its sword and missed. Aether expertly pivoted and landed a strike to its abdomen, eliciting a roar from the beast. He extended his free hand and suspended the other two large monstrosities who were closing in. They froze midair. Perhaps they could take them.

But then the seething swung again at Aether with its sword, then its taloned hand. It barely missed him. Aether ducked another swing and simultaneously attacked its leg with his sword. The creature roared and then swung at Aether, even as it fell on its knees. Jared snuck up behind it and buried the blade in its back until it protruded through its chest. The howl it released was deafening, even from within the shield.

Jared freed the sword and then with one stroke, decapitated it. One down.

The beasts Aether had held down began to move, inching forward as dozens more appeared to creep forward in the smoke. They were small, but numerous. A large seething broke free from Aether’s hold and closed the distance between them, swinging with its talons and throwing its sword at Aether. He dropped and rolled, prepared to strike it again when the beast did the same and used its taloned foot to kick out Aether’s feet from under him. He lost hold of his sword and went flying backwards into a burning building. The thing stalked after him, pausing just on the other side of the flames—as if the fire repelled it.

The smaller seethings were released from Aether’s hold and ran toward us; they reached our shield and began clawing and pounding on it. The shield shook but held.

“Told you,” Vala murmured. But the concern in her voice would not be masked by her bravado. She was worried. Her eyes were locked on Jared who was throwing daggers at the beasts approaching him, taking them down one by one. He pulled his sword from across his back and pivoted to strike at a large seething who was now within ten feet. It too had black wings and scales. He struck at it, but it deflected, and counter-struck, barely missing Jared’s core and shredding his jacket.

Close, too damn close.

Jared yanked the dagger free from his leg and began stabbing the beast as he ran circles around him. Jared was fast, but he missed the beast’s head and heart. His strikes fell short. They impaled the seething’s shoulders, just below the collarbone. It roared and then dipped its head, swinging its upper body right into Jared who went airborne. Before he could find his footing, the seething was atop him, digging its talons into Jared’s shoulder as it leaned its head closer.

“No!” Vala screamed. She lunged forward and then stopped.

The seethings on the other side of the dome paused, lifting their heads in the direction of Jared. His blood calling to them. They sniffed before backing up and heading toward Jared who was now being gutted by the monster seething.

“Go help him! I’ll be fine in the shield. Go!”

I really hoped I was right.

“I can’t. I was ordered to stay here with you.” Vala set her jaw, even as her eyes filled with worry. She bounced from foot to foot.

A loud screech shook the dome as the other large seethings, six at least, stopped about ten yards from Jared who was battling the monster seething. He had another dagger and had struck the thing’s chest, digging it in every time the beast leaned closer. Still, it did not release him.

It turned and roared at the small seethings and the large ones alike, like it was claiming its prey, and they all stopped and did not come closer. The large seething began to twitch, to jerk, and its claw was forced out of Jared’s chest.

Aether. He appeared through the shadows and stepped over the corpse of the first giant, now dead at his feet. He was here. He could rescue Jared. As he manipulated the thing away from Jared, he threw his daggers at the beast, landing them in a straight row, impaling its chest right around the heart. He unleashed his other sword strapped at his back and sliced its legs off, one at a time. He wasn’t just defeating it—he was making it a show. A bolster meant to scare the others away. He cut its arm off, then with a large swipe he cut the entire creature in half, from its head to its stump. It fell, split in two with sickening thumps, black blood oozing everywhere.

The other creatures broke from the hold and as one, charged him. The bluff didn’t work…too much blood in the air. Aether released a blast at the small ones, and they not only fell, but they were moved backwards about twenty feet. The large seethings paused but were unphased. Two of them reached Aether, one leveled his rifle at him and began firing. Its aiming, thank blood, sucked and it dotted the ground around Aether’s feet.

The charge in the air increased, even in the shield I could tell Aether was wielding more power.

The other seething attacked Aether with a series of swipes and strikes. Aether countered each one, beautifully dancing around it. The thing just kept striking and swiping. The four remaining large ones entered the sparring ring. Two headed straight for Jared who was still lying on the ground, deep red blood blooming everywhere.

Aether pressed more energy into the air and the beasts aiming for Jared stalled, momentarily. The distraction cost Aether. The large seething swiped at him and sent him flying backwards. He landed and fumbled for his footing while the seething stalked toward him. Aether raised a blade and swiped at it, meeting its talons in midair. The creature smiled and then squeezed its talons closer together over the blade, snapping it in half before backhanding Aether, sending him tumbling back to the ground.

“Shit!” Vala took several steps toward the barrier and then stopped. Resolve straightening her shoulders.

Jared screamed as two seethings jumped him, digging their claws deeper into his shoulders and his leg. Aether stood, finding his footing, and yanked at the creatures attacking Jared—they flew backwards and off their feet. The other seething raised Aether’s broken blade and plunged it straight for Aether’s heart.

Time stopped.

I held my breath as I saw the seething push the blade toward Aether. He shouted as he tried to keep the thing back from him with an air shield. The two charging Jared took a step forward, Aether’s strength was faltering.

The blade pierced the air shield and began to sink into Aether’s chest. I screamed, the golden thread in me tightened, screaming at me to reach for it.

“Do not shift.”

Aether had said. But his warning faded as the blade began to sink into his chest.

I won’t shift, but I could reach out and take control. The energy in me built, seared, begged for an outlet. I reached for that thread and pulled.

Power. I was power. Pure energy, unrelenting. It coursed around me, through me. I could feel the air, a second skin. I whipped my hand toward the large seething and willed it to stop.

It did.

I pulled at the blade and demanded it to turn in on itself. The thing fought, threw its head back and forth as foam flew from its mouth along with its cries. Still, the blade began to turn, toward the seething’s own heart.

Awe.

I could swear I sensed Aether’s heartbeat increase, the energy in the air sparked and grew.

The seething was resisting my control, but I pushed further releasing a scream. I pushed all the adrenaline, all the energy, everything I had into my effort.

Through sheer will and force, the jagged blade plunged into the seething’s chest, and it toppled backward, dead.

Aether dropped to his knees. His jaw slackened as he stared at me from across the space. Even from thirty yards away, I could tell his focus was solely on me.

I began to shake, my temperature spiking. The other seethings attacking Jared stood, suspended by my will or Aether’s, and did not attack Jared further—at least not yet.

The shaking worsened and my eyes haloed, I couldn’t see through the light—I’d used too much energy. I needed to cool down.

Irene. I remembered my mother, her soft voice and cool touch. I closed my eyes. One breath at a time. “Irene,” I whispered.

I willed the excess energy in my system to flee, to release into the air. To go anywhere but in me. I released the thread, even as it begged me to give it more, to pull harder.

“Irene.” Her name was a prayer on my lips.

My breath slowed and my temperature began to drop. My head stopped pulsing. I would be alright. I opened my eyes to see Vala staring at me, eyes wide with uncertainty painted across her face.

“What?” I shrugged, trying to act nonchalant.

“You weren’t supposed to be powerful.”

I didn’t understand. What was she saying?

The shield shook and I peeled my eyes from Vala’s nearly scared ones to see small seethings once again attacking our shield, pawing at it and slashing with their claws. It shuttered but did not give.

Jared shouted. He’d somehow found his feet again but was facing off with the remaining three large seethings—one hand at his abdomen trying to staunch the bleeding. Where had Aether gone?

Jared swung at the seething closest to him, but the blade faltered. He could barely use his left shoulder from the looks of it, he was too wounded.

“Go. Now!” I commanded Vala. Jared needed help. He needed her.

She looked at me and then back at Jared. He evaded one swipe, countered another, but was caught off guard from behind. The seething dug its talons into Jared’s back and lifted him in the air, roaring as it did so. It flung its arm back and sent Jared flying into the remains of a destroyed building. He landed in a cloud of ash.

Vala’s resolve broke. She twirled back to me. “As long as I’m standing, nothing can get in and you won’t be able to get out, but just in case.” She pressed another dagger to my other hand and then ran through the shield, it shimmered as she pressed through. The small seethings on the other side were dead before she’d even made it ten feet from the dome. Daggers protruded from each of their heads.

I watched helplessly as Vala ran straight toward the monsters. Toward the cloud of ash that encased Jared.

Vala leveled her sword and threw it toward the largest beast stalking toward Jared, blocking her path. It rotated through the air, hilt over end, until it found its target in the creature’s back. The beast fell to the ground in a heap.

Vala jumped over its body, ignoring the other two seethings who were mere yards away, and reached the now settling cloud of ash and charcoal. She lifted her hands in a series of motions before pulsing them. Even from my shield I could see the glimmer. It set just as the two giant seethings reached the dome’s perimeter.

One beast crouched and then lunged, attempting to get through. It impacted the shield and went careening back into the other one, knocking them both down.

The reprieve was short. Several shrieks filled the air as black and grey blurs swarmed everywhere. They rose in the buildings of ash, from the path that led to the river, from the other end of the settlement...

It was as if they were beckoned here. There must be at least a hundred, all directed toward the center. Toward both domes.

The air began to pulse. I could feel it pulling, dragging, requesting. My body responded as my energy stores began to rapidly fire. The pressure under my skin built, the thread was now glowing bright. It demanded release.

Let go.

I didn’t understand how or why, but I released the power into the air and sent the energy away. It was being siphoned from me, taken, but I freely gave. The source felt familiar, not threatening—helpful almost. The burning in my chest began to ease as I released more and more power until at last, I dropped to my knees and released the thread entirely. I had nothing left to give.

The air pulsed, the shield shuttered, the ground shook. Energy had been expensed.