Chapter 15

Griffin

The princess slackened in my arms from the heavy dose of chloroform.

Carefully, I lay her on the wet asphalt before meeting Dash’s earthy brown eyes. “That was fucking stupid of you.”

Dash gaped at me, his incredulous expression morphing his severe look into one that matched his age. “Wha—how?” he stuttered. “I killed her!”

“Yeah, but that was an Endarkened. You’re a human. And as skilled as you are with a gun, she could’ve had powers that would crumple it, and then she’d rip out your vital organs before you even had the chance to pull the trigger. You got lucky.” I bent to pick up the princess’s bag and dagger before pocketing it.

Dash huffed, his petulance evident as he pushed the thick-rimmed glasses higher up the bridge of his nose. “But I had it!”

“Because you got lucky,” I snapped. “Had she not gotten all fucking weird…you’d be dead.”

“Well, it’s fine now,” Dash said, crossing his arms over his chest. “Now what?

I paused, and my lips slid into a grin, despite the nausea threatening to seize me. “Since it’s your kill, you have clean-up duty. Leave no evidence behind.”

With deflated shoulders, Dash dropped his head. “That is so unfair, dude.”

I shrugged. “It’s not. We can’t leave a trail of bodies for Forest to track us down.” I turned to face the unconscious princess at my feet. “You want the glory? Then you gotta take on the shit that comes with it.”

“Why didn’t you step in sooner if you saw her going all weird?”

Bending, I scooped my arms beneath the Kinetic princess’s knees and shoulders, rising with her cradled in my grasp. “Because I wanted to see how the princess would respond. But it seemed she was hesitant to pull out her blades due to your presence.” At least she didn’t seem eager to kill innocent humans.

Dash flailed his arms at his side. “You’re just going to leave me to clean this up on my own? Where are you going?”

I sighed. “I gotta find a place to hide out and sleep tonight. Probably in a nearby house. I’ll find you and let you know where once I get her settled in.”

Uncertainty crept into the creases of Dash’s brows. “What about me? Where do I go?” He might be a fearsome human, but he was still only a kid. A kid who had just encountered his first Endarkened and, not long prior to that, had lost a fight to two Kinetics. The possibility of more lurking around was always a chance. Despite his bravado, he was clearly rattled.

“Like I said, I’ll find you when I get in somewhere. Go back to the compound when the sun breaks in the morning. Understood?” I said, shifting Gray in my arms for the trek.

Dash rolled his eyes, but quickly nodded his head in agreement. Wild little sprigs of black hair bounced down over his brow. “Fine.”

I tipped my head down in acknowledgement before striding toward the train tracks behind the supply store, carrying the princess. A line of crumbling homes framed the road. I kept going, not wanting to risk detection by the Kinetics on passing trains.

After my run-in with a garrison of Warriors, I re-suppressed my magic and took Dash to hide far enough away from the Royal Domain to prevent detection, yet close enough to Princess Gray’s line of escape within the city. We had hopped on the train before she did, and once she rolled off near Macon as predicted, we trailed her at a distance, waiting for the least suspicious time for Dash to make his appearance.

Before Dash had awoken, I’d been about two seconds from flaying the skin from my bones in the desperate hope of removing the evil lurking beneath the surface.

Too much death.

The massacre only fueled the heaviest of temptations built from the darkest parts of me to surrender to its call. To become one with the darkness at long last. I had resisted as much as I could while simultaneously toeing the line of self-destruction. Only killing those who sought to further the King’s fucked-up agenda and those who wished to harm the innocent. Those were my boundaries, and I repeated them to myself over and over in a challenge to the wicked voice that sought control.

It took every remaining sliver of self-restraint to not turn on Dash after what I’d done. The more blood I shed, the more it wanted. It wanted complete control of me. Its incessant call to cave to temptation was driving me madder by the day.

Since linking up with the princess, it had waned a bit, but not enough to make a difference. The darkness seemed to blame her for its lack of intense prominence as it began to rage in my chest with a white flame that rivaled the heat of fire Elementals.

After crossing another street, I found a two-story house that stood in shambles.

It had clearly been raided long ago. The lack of upkeep, along with the holes in the siding and windows, allowed the weather to rapidly deteriorate its structure. It didn’t matter. Every house was basically the same—nothing remained untouched.

I took measured steps across the debris, and the overwhelming odor of musk assaulted me upon entry. A set of stairs descended into the living room leading to the foyer; I made haste in its direction.

I couldn’t wait to drop the princess. My arms burned and shook from carrying her unconscious body so far. It didn’t help that my magic reserves were nearly depleted from the events of the past twenty-four hours. I needed sleep, but I knew none would be granted to me anytime soon.

I ascended the unstable stairs to the top floor of the house, convinced that the floor would collapse beneath our weight. Surprisingly, it held firm as I crossed the threshold into the first bedroom available. I picked the top story for logistical purposes in the event the princess awoke while I was absent from the room. It’d be more difficult for her to escape down rickety steps rather than darting out the door on the bottom floor.

A bed pushed askew and stripped of its sheets sat off to one side of the room. I took hurried steps toward it and placed the princess with ease onto its bare and dusty surface. Instant relief flooded my chest. I shook out my arms, but frustration warred through me at my weakened state. That shouldn’t have sucked so bad. Wiping the sweat from my forehead, I stretched out my muscles and took a moment to observe the vulnerable little assassin beneath me.

Her restful state smoothed out her typical scowl into a peaceful expression. The cupid’s bow of her full lips stood out from the natural pout. She wore the black leathers of the Kinetic Guild uniform for assassins. Hers was form-fitting, highlighting the toned curves. The rise and fall of her chest were slow and melodic, and I had the desire to run my fingers through her glamoured ice-white hair.

The sudden jolt of longing in my heart had me gripping my chest for reasons I didn’t understand. I had no reliable memory of her other than our recent encounter at the speakeasy. But the intuitive part, albeit deeply suppressed, begged to differ.

Frustration beat its fists against my skull to recall my lost memories. My breaths picked up in harsh pants as my anger at all I’d lost came slamming into me with renewed vengeance. And as I looked at the sleeping princess, I blamed her for it all. It was her father who ruined my life, corrupting me in the worst ways. She got to live a life of luxury and ease in comparison while innocent lives winked out of existence at her hands. Meanwhile, her sanity was still intact, so in my eyes, she was the enemy.

At least, that’s the words that the voice coaxed in my mind.

Kill her. Take what’s owed to you.

My hands shook at my sides, the itch to plunge my dagger deep into her chest cavity growing too strong. “No,” I gritted out through clenched teeth. “We need her.” I needed cocaine, alcohol, my violin…anything.

There are other ways, Prince. Take the rightful vengeance that’s owed to you.

“Fuck off. No.” I shook my head, my eyes sealing shut in my hopeless effort to push him out.

Think of the power—the rush. Think of the satisfaction of seeing her corpse at your feet. She is to blame for it all. Her suffering was nothing in comparison to yours. It’s too late for you. Your will to fight this call is weakening with each life you take. You know what you truly need from the deaths. You’ll give in. It’s inevitable. Stop delaying your suffering.

I tried to block out the alluring words from the inexplicable need to protect her, but the temptation… it was too powerful. He was right; my will to fight it was dissipating with each death. Why not just…take the plunge?

I opened my eyes, and nausea swelled in my gut at the sight of my dagger pressed against Princess Gray’s throat. The violent tremors of my hand indicated my intuitive resistance in the background of my psyche. I didn’t recall even removing the dagger from my belt.

Do it.

I reeled backward, stumbling over an abandoned shoe on the floor. Dagger still in hand, I spun and launched it at the wall. The deep thunk echoed throughout the eerie home. I laced my fingers into the roots of my hair, the long black strands curtaining over the sides. I tugged and tried to force air deep into my lungs where a wall seemed to block its access.

“No, no, no, no.” With another look at Gray, blissfully asleep, I took large strides from the room and down the stairs.

I slid into the main bedroom and slunk down the wall. Images of lifeless eyes flashed through my mind, either taunting me with the desire to do it again or with the guilt from killing so joyously.

I hated myself. I hated what I’d been molded into becoming, shaped and sculpted to be savage and merciless. To be the ultimate killing machine until I reached a point where that was all that kept me functioning.

No one knew the real me—not even Orion. What was the point?

I rested my head back against the wall. “Just leave me alone. Please. Just…go away for a bit.”

No, boy. You’ll come where you belong eventually. Freedom. That’s what you’re forsaking. Ultimate freedom.

“No,” I whispered, my voice breaking, “I’d be a slave.”

After composing myself long enough to appear unafflicted, a skill I learned long ago, I set out in search of Dash as promised. I’d been sure to restrain Gray to the bed, even though she lay unconscious, not wanting to take any chances. The Endarkened’s body was gone when I arrived, and Dash was in the process of cleaning up the blackened blood from the asphalt. I assessed the area for anything he could’ve missed that would lead back to us. “Looks good.”

Dash’s relief was visible in his slumped stance. “Great. I’m never killing another Endarkened again.”

My lip twitched. “Come on. Let’s find you a place to crash nearby.”

With a sigh, he followed without much else to say. After several minutes of nothing but the sounds of our footsteps, his stomach growled in protest.

I glanced at him over my shoulder with a raised brow.

“I’m so fucking hungry. I’m really missing those salted potatoes right about now,” Dash grumbled. “Man, what I wouldn’t do for a fucking Pop-Tart.”

“A Pop-Tart?”

“Hell yes, man. Strawberry. Those were my favorite as a kid before Devolution Day.” A pebble skittered past me from the kick of his booted foot as he walked, seeming to aim for every loose stone he saw with each step.

I let out a humph, never having had the experience of eating Pop-Tarts prior to that day. “Well, maybe I can sneak you some of Katia’s famous strawberry delight next time I see you.”

“I might just kiss you if you do.”

“Please don’t.”

“Afraid you might like it?”

My face contorted in disgust, “Ew. You’re like twelve.”

“Sixteen!” Dash protested. “This height does not say twelve!”

I shook my head. “Still a kid. Now, come on, this place should suffice until morning,” I said as we approached another ramshackle house. This one was only a single story and in worse disrepair than the one Gray and I currently squatted in, but it should do. “I’ll check it out and make sure there are no surprises before I leave.”

Dash’s nostrils flared with a nod, his shoulders stiffening. Another wave of heavy guilt washed through my chest and sank down, down, down into the depths of my gut. He was scared. After the last two encounters, I couldn’t blame him. Now, he was to be left to defend himself. I hated having to leave him behind, but I wouldn’t be far. And if trouble struck, we had a plan.

We searched the house and declared it clear, with nothing but varmints nesting inside. I passed on a message for him to transfer to Sergeant Hogan, reminded him of the back-up plan if something were to happen, and then bid him goodbye. I couldn’t fail him. I’d ensure nothing fucked with him.

With a heavy heart, I exited the small home and made my short trek to the house the Kinetic Princess and I occupied, reminding myself to remove the restraints in a few hours. I tried to sift through the few tangible thoughts I knew were mine. My personal reality became more obscure by the day, warped by the darkness.

Fear iced my veins at the cloudy memory of nearly killing the assassin earlier. I thought of how close I’d come to throwing caution to the wind and losing it all. Without her, any chance of removing Forest from his self-appointed seat of righteousness would vanish.

She was the key. We needed to find the lock next. And without either one, all hope for fixing the mess of this world would be lost.

I only hoped I could hang on long enough to not kill her in her sleep.