Challenged by Darkness (An Urban Fantasy Novel) (Befallen Tides series Book 2) (16 page)

The bandits were trying to weigh Winx to the floor in response to their orders, but they were far from successful. Every time it seemed that a bite or a tug would take Winx down, she would spring back up again.

When she tossed Arn into the wall and rushed over to kick his neck, Dante bellowed at the Lighter. “She’s killing them!  Stop her! Stop her!”

Matt and Robin shuffled over to Winx. She stopped kicking the now very dead Arn to knock her elbow into Matt’s midsection. He toppled backwards, but even though he was regaining his footing, Robin made himself far too accessible to Winx’s determination. She brought him to the wall, and when she slammed his head into it, a part of his skull fractured and broke off, exposing his brain. Blackened blood slipped out of his cranium, splashing across Winx as she kept forcing him to the wall, her grunts accented by her actions.

That left Matt. He still came at her as if he was even a threat at this point. Winx held him at bay by his shirt, and then she stalked over to the Lighter and her master.

“You are useless!” Dante screeched at the Lighter as he backed away. “All of your training was wasted! All you had to do was kill her!”

Winx bounded over to the Lighter, still holding onto Robin as he wriggled. The slave, on the other hand, didn’t move a muscle as she awaited orders to protect herself that didn’t come.

“I want to feel sorry for you,” Winx growled. “But the last time I sympathized with one of you, someone died.”

She reached into the slave’s belt and pulled out a tactical knife. Without apology, she dragged it across the Lighter’s throat. The slave’s eyes widened,  and she gurgled as she fell to the floor to die.

Dante Chavez was already thundering for the exit when Winx pulled the blade into the savage’s jaw. She shoved hard until he went still, and then, she yanked the knife out and hopped over the bodies to find Dante.

He wasn’t hard to find.  He was running clumsily away, his wide wings spread, hallway after hallway provided no windows for him.   Winx wasted no time in hopping on his back and tackling him to the ground.

 “No!” he screamed. “Get off of me!”

Dante tried to defend himself, tossing her back, but Winx was fueled by years of rage. The two of them pushed against one another, the lixyn trying to save his skin while the daevor tried to bring her knife down.  Dante grabbed her wrists to keep her clasped hands from shoving the weapon into his chest, and his arm muscles bulged with the effort.

 “You… killed… Deja…” Winx panted. “So… die!”

Using a different tactic, she brought her arms away from him. His arms slipped, leaving his chest more open with the action. Winx evaded his grasp and slammed the blade down repeatedly into his chest.  Dante screamed in horror and pain.

It didn’t last.

After stabbing Dante for the seventh time, Winx flew backward. She slammed hard into a wall and slid to the floor, white lights dancing before her eyes. She would have made a sound, but she couldn’t breathe.

“What is happening here?” The voice of the elder Chavez was recognizable, even in her haze. “You cannot fight that thing off of you? What use are you?”

Winx squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, rubbing gingerly at the growing lump on the back of her head. When she opened them again, the tilted world began to straighten...and she could only watch as Dante’s father healed him.

“Come, we’ve been breached.” Esteban started to usher Dante away.

“No! We have to kill her!” Dante grabbed the blade that Winx had been using on him.

“Oh, and have you the courage to do that?  You’ve still learned nothing!” Esteban glared and reached his hand out. “Better let the adults see to it, boy!”

“No!” Dante’s whining made him sound like a child. “You ordered me to take out the last Rowan daughter. And I—”

“What? Crave my respect?” Esteban sneered. “Don’t be a fool. Give me the blade!”

Winx wanted to let them argue, but she knew that the Chancellor would not have the patience to continue fighting his son for long. She summoned as much energy as she could and scooted to the side as quietly as she could.

But Esteban heard her. He crashed over to her without warning. Winx barely made a sound as he lifted her by her throat with a double grip, her feet dangling a few inches from the floor.

“No matter,” Esteban spat through grit teeth. “A real man does not need a weapon.”

Winx scratched uselessly at his hands as he squeezed harder. She switched to kicks, but he slammed her again against the wall before she could land a good one. The dancing lights returned as oxygen skirted her.

Her eyes were rolling up in her head as Esteban said, “It ends with you. You are the last piece of the puzzle to be removed. Now die like a good girl.”

Winx was blacking out,  and after that would be death. Perhaps this really was it.

But then her throat was released, and she was on the ground again. Her body greedily sucked in air until she felt she could drown from it. Her hands held her throat in an attempt to soothe the sting there.

It was only after she gasped for a few moments that she focused enough to look up. She hadn’t been in the right state of mind to see Dante tossed aside like a rag doll or what happened to Esteban, but Cris had caught them both completely by surprise. Esteban was on his knees, a startled look drawn across his features. His body twitched and spasmed as he fell facedown on the floor, revealing an ax embedded in his skull. The symptoms of his nervous system told all present that he was beyond healing. A second later, after Dante had recovered from his own blow but before Winx or Cris could do anything, the younger Chavez screamed. “
Father
!  What have you done? You’re dead!
You’re all dead
!”

He tossed the blade still in his hand toward the membrane of Cris’s wing. But instead of avenging his father further, he turned and ran, bellowing at the top of his lungs. Cris followed him, turning the corner with nimble feet.

Winx was still reeling from everything that had happened. Blood coated the floor in all directions from the Chancellor’s still-twitching body, so she moved away, forcing herself to her feet. She felt lightheaded still.  Winx leaned her head back against the wall and tried to figure out what to do next.

A whoosh of sound echoed around the hall. Winx’s eyes popped open quickly as a breeze hit her face. She looked around nervously until she realized it had been a bandit passing her. When Keaton came back, realizing his blunder, his face was relieved.

“Oh, Winx.” Keaton held a hand to her shoulder. “You’re okay.”

Winx was happy to see him, but a part of her was dejected. The group hadn’t protected her from almost dying. It wasn’t exactly that she expected Keaton to be her knight in shining armor again, but she hadn’t expected Cris, a complete stranger, to swoop in and save the day. And to top everything off, Keaton had his hand on her shoulder like she was only a friend to him.

Keaton looked over at Chavez. “Did you do that?”

She shook her head no.

 “Then...the demon?” She nodded.

“I guess that’s how he planned to finish his business with the Chancellor.”

She frowned at him. “You think?”

As if things weren’t bad enough, Sabrina blazed into their scene, stepping in the pools of blood around the dead Chancellor as she did.

“Eaauuuggghh!” Sabrina tripped backwards and fell onto her bottom. Keaton walked over to help her up. Winx hugged her arms around herself and blinked rapidly to keep dizziness at bay.

Sabrina clung to Keaton as he helped her up. “We need to get out of here. The team is leaving.”

Keaton looked back at Winx. He started to pull away from Sabrina to reach for Winx, but the glare she gave him stopped him in his tracks.

Sabrina kept her arms around Keaton and tugged him in her direction. “Come on.”

Winx waited until Keaton loosened himself from Sabrina’s hands and lead the way out of the hall before she followed, slow and measured.

CHAPTER 16

After scouring the mansion for things that would aid them, the group was prepared to start off.   Even though the opposition had been killed or run out of the mansion, Cris had returned to confirm that he had, in fact, lost Dante. There was no way of telling how many savages and Lighters the Chancellor’s son had at his disposal, so the general consensus was that leaving was the best option.

Sabrina told Keaton everything that had happened since they had last seen each other as everyone regrouped in the opening hall. “Right after you left, the pack was restless. They didn’t trust having Winx around, but they’d wanted you to stay. They insisted that the demon’s visit would lead more savages to destroy us even after she was gone, so they left me.”

Keaton wasn’t pleased by that news, but he couldn’t give more than a wince of apology. Sabrina hadn’t left him alone through the communal sweep of the mansion, and her presence felt more like a hindrance than a happy reunion. 

“I didn’t know what to do with myself,” Sabrina continued. “And being alone wasn’t an option. So I packed what I needed and set out to the address that you had left for me. I followed the same road you had gone down, I smelled you everywhere I went.” Her smile was dreamy before fading. “And then I found the barn. I knew that you weren’t safe.”

After that, Sabrina got distracted when London was talking with the others adamantly about going to Washington to meet with his reserves, and Keaton took the opportunity to walk over to Winx, who was sitting on the marble floor with a distant gaze that didn’t go anywhere near the group.

 “We’re going to find him,” he told her as he sat beside her. “This isn’t going to be a new uprising.”

“Oh, wake up, Keaton.” At least there was still a snap in Winx’s voice. “He has all of his father’s resources. Killing Esteban gave him an even bigger reason to come after us than killing my sister did.”

“Your sister?”

“Dante was involved with my sister. As far as he’s concerned, anyway.  She supposedly broke his heart, and he had her killed. I was supposed to be silenced, especially after I killed the gang.” Winx gave Keaton a look. “Now I’m a witness to his father’s death. I don’t think for one second that he’s about to let it all go, and you shouldn’t, either.  If we’re not prepared for the worst, we’re all going to die.” Keaton put a hand on her thigh and squeezed gently. “Okay. You’re right.”

Winx’s mouth set grimly. “And what about you? You aren’t okay, are you?”

 “What do you mean?”

She shrugged. “Tipping. I can tell you’re at odds with it.”

He looked away again without a word.  He couldn’t bring himself to answer.

“I know,” she said softly. “It doesn’t bring Stori back. But…”

“But nothing. What’s done is done.”

“Keaton. There’s no running from your decision. Believe me.”

“I’m not running from anything.”

They went silent again.  No one broke the silence until Cris sauntered over to where they sat and stopped in front of Winx. “Time to go.”

She nodded, and Keaton watched her stand up and offer Cris her hand. Thank you. I don’t imagine that we will meet again under similar circumstances. That is, I hope I don’t—”

He cut her off with a mere shake of his head. “I don’t mean just me.”

Keaton frowned at the same time as Winx.

“Us,” Cris said. “It’s time for you and me to go.”

That got everyone’s attention. Keaton got to his feet in a rush, and he heard London and Roy stop their instructions to listen in on their conversation.

“You and me,” Winx repeated.

“Yes. You are the last Rowan daughter. That means you come with me.”

Winx looked as confounded as Keaton felt.

“I was commissioned to assassinate Esteban Chavez and to bring you home after the deed was done.”

Winx’s eyes bulged. “And who hired you to do this?”

“Your father. Who else?”

Keaton laid a hand on her upper arm when she flinched at the news.  She looked at him, and then back over to Cris. 

“My father hired an assassin?” she asked.

 “Your family has been searching for you for quite some time. But although they had the means to find you, they hesitated to…” He gave the lixyns a pointed look. “Step on anyone’s toes. They had to be careful. Methodical. That’s why they found me, and I agreed to the job.”

“So you’ve been following me?”

“No. I’ve been following Chavez. I knew I couldn’t bring you home without the job done in its entirety. It took a long time.”

“Winx,” Keaton said, his grip tightening in warning. “You don’t know him. How can you trust him?”

“He killed Chavez,” Winx pointed out with a frown. “How can I not?”

“You don’t know anything about him!”

“He saved my life,” Winx said roughly as she tugged her arm out of Keaton’s grip. She stepped closer to Cris, her features expectant. “But they would have given you something…right?”

“Sure, a very lucrative advance. I get the remainder upon your safe return.” He winked.

Winx only continue to stare at him.

“All right, yeah. They gave me this.” He showed her a ring that decorated his pinky finger.

Winx grabbed his hand to inspect it closely, and Keaton peeked over her shoulder. The ring had a ruby set in white gold, shimmering filigree marking each side of the stone.  It meant nothing to Keaton, but Winx looked up at Cris eagerly.

“He says come home, Snot.”

Winx slipped the ring from Cris’s finger and squeezed it into her palm, bringing her hand slowly to her chest.  She didn’t need to say anything.  Keaton could read how happy she was in the bliss on her face.  Winx never looked that happy. Or comforted.

Cris also took her silence as assent. “I figure we can take one of these vans until we find a more inconspicuous car in the city. Obviously, staying in a vehicle taken from this place would be too recognizable—”

“She’s not going anywhere with
you
.” Keaton’s claws and fangs erupted in agitation, the need to protect her brimming through him.

Winx bristled when he pushed her behind him. “Stop, Keaton! This has nothing to do with you!”

Keaton felt his face fall as he turned to look at her. “You really want to go with him?”