Loch stepped into the light, a small troupe of guards materializing behind him. He beckoned one closer while the others rushed me, holding me back against the tree with little effort.

Loch patted the young soldiers back encouragingly, tossing me a victorious glare that spoke of one thing: payback.  “She’s yours, Luka. Do with her what you like. The first human is always the best, so enjoy it. But don’t drain her all the way. You leave that to me,” he muttered lowly as if talking to himself.

My heart beat wildly against my broken ribs seeing Luka obey and begin his approach. The rest of the guards whistled and cheered him on with hollow claps that echoed in the black, each one like a punch in the stomach. It appeared I was going to be Luka’s first human. For what, I didn’t want to think about it.

Luka’s black eyes pinned me with a lustful glare. Though I was fully clothed, the look in his eyes already violated me.  He handed his shield and sword off blindly to guards at either side of me. They released me to accept, and I tumbled to the ground, unable to stay up on my own. Panting and broken, I struggled to push up, coming to an unsteady stand, when instantly Luka slammed me against the tree, this time the back of my head crunching in my ears. My lungs contracted and I coughed, winded. Blood splattered onto Luka’s silvery breast plate, the warmth trickling down my chin.

Luka’s midnight eyes turned down, and a smirk spread on his lips. He wound his fingers tighter around my neck and pushed me further against the tree, his hot and wanton breath fogging my neck.

“You are broken,” he purred, the tips of his fangs inching from his mouth. A low growl rumbled in his chest as he slid an icy hand up my thigh.  I sucked in a gasp, wanting to claw at his face, or rip out the sparkling mane of black hair. All I could do was shiver … shiver as he dug icy nails into my skin while his hand fell away from my neck. Trailing a single finger down the front of my dress, he burned it open slowly.

The forest spun around me as my mind reeled from all that was happening. Elena was gone, and reaching into my mind, Kheelan was closed to me. My reserve of powers was obliterated, and my human energies depleted. For the first time in a long time, I felt absolutely hopeless.  But I wasn’t.

It was as desperate as it was dumb, but I closed my eyes, and focused on this black pit that barely pulsed. I called to Maris as Luka nipped at my skin hungrily, exploring my flesh. I reminded her that we were in this together, and if I died so would she.  More painfully, I reminded her that if we died, we would never see Ivan or Kheelan again.

A loud tear resounded as Luka ripped my skirt open. Howls and cat calls boomed through the forest, and they all turned to each other, smug smirks on their faces.  It was then that a roaring wave of acid rose through my veins. My skin grew hot as the adrenaline and power numbed all pain and fear.

 In that moment, I weaved my hand in Luka’s hair and yanked his head back.

“Scared?” He smirked tauntingly, blood tipped fangs glistening. My feigned look of terror withered to a derisive smile. Slow awareness dawned in his eyes as a golden hue lit the forest around us: mine. His arrogance waned to stark fear and he snapped a fire ball into his hands. It was too late. His body was already twisted in the vines I'd called to action. Under the cover of night, they’d slowly wrapped around his legs while he was too focused on violating me.

I opened my palms, and he roared writhing in pain as hundreds of thorns stabbed out from the vines, and into his skin with little mercy. Clenching my fingers, I dug then deeper,  squeezing tighter and tighter until my nails drew blood from my palms and I could squeeze no more.  Sparking a fire orb into my free hand, I silenced his screams, heaving it down his throat.

The Migols screeched, their monstrous bodies coming to life like clouds of fire between the trees.  With a roar, Loch pulsed a fireball that lit the dark forest as it tunneled toward me, the small army of Migols following in its trail of light. Closing my eyes, I stretched out my hands and absorbed it, letting the blistering heat engulf me.

In the glow of the flames, I could see Loch smirk and step back, the Migols too halting their attack. I lifted my hands, and centered my anger on the uncontrollable flame. Whirling a fiery funnel around me, I shot it into trees above. They splintered with a deafening crackle and exploded, thrusting all of us in different directions. I caught myself in the gusts of wind, a breath away from a speared branch that would have been the death of me. Flames rained down on our heads, and the darkness faded to orange and yellow hues. Now no one could hide in the darkness. It was chaos, and in the midst of it I was home.

As the rest of them regained their bearings, and Loch growled out orders, I opened the ground beneath me and let it swallow me whole. It was as if I'd dissolved, and my ashes were absorbed by the trees. I could feel water flow through my veins, feel the flames eating away at their bark. I was a part of this earth and through their eyes, I saw Loch looking for me.

He shot a hand into the air and extinguished all the flames with a quiet hiss.

"She’s still half human. Find her and kill her on sight," he ordered the Migols in a low growl that I heard through the overhanging branches. There were also other things I could hear that frightened me more, like the sound of a fading heart within me. I was at my end. My powers were running low, and I couldn't read Maris anywhere within me. Not anymore. Searching for her somewhere in the hum of blood rushing through my veins, I only heard my heartbeat. There was also a strange low sound somewhere within me, like the fast fluttering of wings that intensified and faded in sync with my own pulse. It wasn’t Maris. What it was, I didn’t know anymore, but that too was waning.

I drew deep within like Elena told me, and focused on the pain. In the black, I mapped the location of each Migol, like tracing flaming stars in a midnight sky. One by one, I tore the earth from beneath them and clenched my fists, swallowing them whole. Their roars were all I heard as I weaved flaming roots around their slick bodies, holding them in place. In a sick seductive dance, I slithered to them and wrapped my arms around them holding them to my chest until the fires in their bodies extinguished, their ashes joined to the earth.

Fae was all there was left, five of them. Their backs were to one another, forming a perfect circle as they faced different points of the woods. To the tune of their frenetic breaths, their wide eyes flicked nervously to the ground beneath them, to the trees above them, to the darkness beyond the trees in search for me. Loch knelt to the ground, pressed a shaking palm against the damp earth, and closed his eyes. All Fae had limited abilities in all powers, but he was no match for me. The shuddering puffs of white smoke from his lips told me he knew this too.

Slowly, I twisted out from the ground in the middle of their ring, quiet as the very night surrounding them.  Even in the light of the fire in their own hands, they failed to see me behind them, nor the spiked blades of thorns in each of my hands. In one even stroke, I whirled.  They sucked in one sharp breath before their halved bodies slid apart and burst into dust.

Loch grew tense with a slight gasp and remained on his knees. The crackling sound of ice forming whispered around us as I trickled a blade of ice into my palm and walked behind him, the orb in his hand dying at the same speed.

He chuckled. “You think by killing me you’re safe? My men know where I’ve taken you. They will hunt you down and kill you for the abomination you are. I will die a warrior, with my honor. I will be avenged. The day will come where your flesh and that of all other humans and traitors like you will be the feast of the Migols.”

Drawing close to his ear, I watched his pulse quicken underneath the delicate skin in his neck. “You’re right. You will die,” I whispered and thrust the blade into his chest in one fluid stab. When inside of him, I shot spikes from the blade into his body, small thorns scraping and bursting his veins from within. Loch writhed to the ground, grunting and twisting into himself until he too joined his brothers, ashes to ashes.

My knees buckled, and I fell, fading. My joints dissolved like small failing fires. I gasped, struggling for a breath, but every time I tried, the pain killed me a little more. I was dying, my human half broken, my fae half depleted.  Crumbling onto the ashen covered ground, I rolled to my back.

The night was perfectly clear, without a doubt the most beautiful one I’d ever seen. Stars twinkled invitingly, and I wanted nothing more than to close my eyes and join them. I wanted that peace, to float in an endless sky and do nothing but shine down on the world without worrying of who would try to kill me next. But my wistful, foolish dream evaporated right above me when one by one, the stars grew transparent and the black sky grew clear behind them.  It was as if the sky were a murky puddle that for a minute cleared. I blinked, unsure whether or not I could trust the terrifying sight floating there behind the stars above me: the tops of skyscrapers fading in and out like a hologram.

It lasted a moment, and it was gone. The sky regained its blackness and the stars their glinting. But I lay there, staring up to the place where I saw my world, the human realm bleeding through the Fae sky. I didn’t know what could have caused it, but it was a rude and fueling awakening that somehow, the veil between our worlds slipped. I knew more than ever, with the remnants of dead fae all around me, I couldn’t give up. There was no way I could leave the human realm to vicious creatures like Loch, like my father. 

I managed to stand, and adrenaline no longer keeping away the pain, I winced in agony. My bones ached, and every breath was like a fiery whip scorching my lungs. But I pushed through, and moments later began walking. I had to get as far away as possible.  It would only be a matter of time before Xanthus tracked my powers and send hunters after me. I wasn’t going to let him win, not that easily anyway.

I followed the line of trees for about two miles under the cover of night. Snowflakes danced all around me, and when I thought it couldn’t get any colder, frigid winds tore through, reminding me that it could. I hugged myself, foolishly rubbing my arms, partly for warmth, but more, so I wouldn’t feel so alone. I kept to my thoughts of hot cocoa and down comforters, of everything I remembered from my Arizona nights. I also let my thoughts stray wistfully to my world, to the human realm, to Casey who was probably moaning over final exams, enjoying a carefree life, encumbered perhaps only by her worry over me.

Something snapped, tearing me from the torturous reverie. I shifted behind one of the trees, crouching back into a thick brush. Leaves rustled, as did the slowing thud of hoof beats. Hauling in a deep breath, I held it and peeked out to see from where it came. There was nothing but icicles sparkling in the moonlight. Relieved, I leaned my head against the moss covered bark. Instantly, my consciousness expanded, as if I traveled on a superhighway through the roots and branches. Patches of images flashed past my eyes, flickering like channels on an old television set, until through the foggy eyes of the trees, in a clearing not too far away, a black mist hovered over the ground. Slowly its outline solidified as it floated into the light of the moon. I stifled a cry seeing Kheelan. His blue eyes aflame with worry searched around as he gripped his hair, spinning and heart slamming wildly against his chest. Two cloaked figures rode up alongside him, and I was surprised to see Aeval and Vurim.  Still, my stomach sunk. Elena wasn’t with them.

I tried to open my mind to him, to show him where I was, but my head pounded, blocking any attempts.  Desperate, I pushed off from the tree, dizzy with relief, pain and other feelings I couldn’t sort out yet. Panting, I stumbled over protruding roots and thorny brambles, scratching my bruised skin on spiny icicles.  With my eyes closed, I could see him clearer, the trees guiding my steps. Reaching the mouth of the clearing, I stopped and blinked open, my connection to the trees withering. But I no longer needing them to see him. He was there, perfectly clear, less than fifty yards away, in the middle of the snow covered field as if floating on the clouds. His pale skin glowed in the light of the moon, blond hair rippling in the howling breeze that cut through me.

Shivering, wounded and cold, I stared at him, and him at me. It was only for a moment, but in that eternal second, lots of things crossed my mind. I wished it was Ivan standing there. Somehow, he would’ve known I needed him, and he would’ve come for me. Yet, in my hazy eyes, the only thing I saw was Kheelan’s face, and the most painful awareness dawned within me.  Ivan would never come for me.

Wrapped in cold, I took one sluggish step that turned into a frantic run across the ice covered field, with new awareness: Kheelan always would. We crashed into one another, the icy wind no match for the warmth between us, for the fires being lit within me as he showered me with frantic kisses while trembling hands ran the course of my broken body, healing. The firmness of his hands, the feel of his breath on my skin revived me more than his healing ever could.

We sank to the ground and he pulled me back against all my protests, his hands cupping my neck. “Tell me where it hurts,” he whispered in prayer, resting his forehead against mine. His hands ran down my arms in restrained need, waves of healing flowing through me. He bore his stare into mine, waiting for an answer, but I just pulled him closer. Shaking my head into pounding beats in his chest, I inhaled the sweet scent of the ocean and of unparalleled, undying safety.

“How did you know where I was, how did you find me?” I murmured tearfully after a few moments. He looked down at my upturned face unsmiling, brushing a finger lightly along my jaw.

“It’s going to take a lot more to get you away from me. I will find you, wherever you go, however long it takes.” I shivered and my heart caved at the sound of his voice. His words resonated deep, as if I’d waited an eternity to hear them, and finally having heard them, I kissed him.

I kissed him wholly, without the haunt of guilt. Instead, as I laced my arms around him, drawing him closer and deeper into our kiss, I burned with the realization that in life, we may not always get what we want, but what we need. And surrendering my broken heart to Kheelan, I knew without a shred of doubt, that sometimes, just sometimes, what we want and need are one and the same.

**

Thoughts? I especially loved the last part :) As always, thanks for reading and for all the support!