Chapter 1
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“Smells good Raven. Doesn’t it?”
Raven stared back with her ethereal green
eyes. The cat blinked, as if she was bored.
Koa shrugged and blew her bangs out of
her eyes. “Fine.” She rolled her eyes. “I know you’re still mad at me for
coming home late last night. I said I was sorry. But I’m a big girl now.”
Raven blinked again.
Koa scoffed. “Be that way. This popcorn
is all mine and you’re just jealous.” She made a teasing face. She poured the
popcorn into a large bowl and carried it out of the massive kitchen that had
once been filled with kitchen staff and a private chef.
Through the archway and into the grand
hall, Koa shuddered at the chill in the air. The sound of her soft footsteps
echoed through the empty manor and she found herself humming as she always did.
She didn’t pay any mind to the gothic
statues that glared down at her on either side of the wide corridor. There was
a time when Koa had been frightened by her father’s relics. As a girl she would
avoid walking down the hallways at night for fear that they would awaken and
grab her with their cold, stone, hands.
Now, Koa was used to the statues of
angels and demons. She barely glanced at them anymore. Such things were a part
of her daily life and she no longer feared their artistic replicas.
It took her a few moments to cross the
cold marble floors to the large den she had converted into an entertainment
room. Koa used a remote to turn off all of the lights. She lit a scented candle
just as Raven brushed past her leg. She rubbed her soft fur onto Koa’s bare
flesh.
The scent of vanilla made her smile.
Koa flopped onto the plush sofa and put
her feet up on the ottoman. She sank into the cushions and closed her eyes in
bliss. “Halston has given me a few nights off.” She turned on her television.
“Finally, I get to catch up on some reality TV!”
Raven seemed to roll her eyes and Koa
grinned. “I know,” she said as she relaxed her back on the orange pillows and
popped a handful of popcorn into her mouth. “I can be such a girl sometimes.”
She laughed to herself. She was happy. Life had been so busy lately with the
rise of supernatural crime, that a single moment of solitude was a rare.
Koa glanced at Raven and held her arms
out. “Come sit with me. Pretty please?”
Raven snuggled next to her and rested her
head on Koa’s lap. Koa smiled and stroked her black fur. Sometimes it seemed as
if Raven was all she had left in the world, besides Halston. “Maybe I’ll order
you some Chinese. How does that sound? You always loved it. How about some
roasted duck?”
Koa had just started to crunch on a
kernel when she heard the faintest creak in her hallway. It was so faint that
she almost didn’t catch it. She didn’t want to catch it. She wanted the night
to go smoothly, but it was the way Raven’s ears perked up that confirmed that
Koa had indeed heard something.
Koa grumbled and put her bowl of popcorn
down on her glass coffee table. She held her breath. All of her senses were
heightened. There was a definite warning deep in the pit of her stomach. She
sniffed the air. There was the faint stench of coal and something rancid.
Odd, she thought with a
frown. She had smelled that distinct odor before. It was not from this world. Very
odd.
Raven looked down the dark hallway and
made a low sound of warning deep in her throat. Her black fur stood on end. Koa
shushed her with a hand.
She came to her feet and headed towards
the sound. She could feel that someone was there. Like the telling smell of
oncoming rain, Koa had an uncanny sense of knowing when something bad was about
to happen. She hoped that this time she was wrong.
Her heart began to thump in her chest.
Her one day off, and someone decided to bother her. Raven lowered her head and
waited back on the sofa.
Scaredy-cat,
Koa thought with a frown.
Koa softly tiptoed into the darkness. She
now wished that she was properly dressed. She didn’t want someone catching her
in her underwear. She sighed. She was probably overthinking things.
Two-hundred-year-old French manors tended to creak in the night. Koa should
have been used to the sounds after all these years of living there.
Truth was, Koa was still afraid of the
dark and with good reason. She froze when something crashed to the floor. She
quickly pressed her back against the wall and waited. One of the statues had
broken.
Voices.
Koa cursed in her head. Someone was
definitely in her house. Her breath quickened. Koa could hear Halston’s voice
in her head, telling her that it wasn’t worth it…that she should run. She
didn’t run.
Instead, she peeked around the corner of
the wall and saw flashlights. The harsh, fluorescent light pointed in her
direction. Two men. Bald and big. They were dressed in black with tattoos all
over their pale white faces and scalps. They clutched silver barreled
crossbows.
Koa’s face paled. Their black eyes
searched her hallway.
No, Koa thought with cold
realization. Her skin crawled with dread. It’s not possible. “Syths,”
she whispered in a hiss. They heard her. Four black eyes looked up and met
hers.
Koa pulled back. Her pulse raced. These
were creatures of folklore and mythology, but Koa knew the truth. Such
creatures did exist. It was just that they shouldn’t be in the human world. She
gulped. Something was definitely wrong. They should not be here.
“Shit!” No time to run now. Boots stomped
down the marble floors. Dread washed over her, making her skin feel prickly.
Two Syths, equipped with crossbows. Koa
knew what those arrows were laced with. Her stomach pumped with anxiety. Why
were they in her house?
Koa saw Raven come around the corner and
leisurely sit in the middle of the hall. Koa’s anxiety began to be replaced
with fury. No one had ever invaded her home.
Koa glared over at Raven.
“Fine. Just sit there and let me do all
of the work,” she said to the black cat. Koa yelped as a large hand reached for
her long black and blue hair. She grabbed the hand and with a push off the
ground, she leapt into the air.
Her feet climbed up the air as if by
invisible stairs. With a surge of energy, she took flight. She grunted as she
lifted the large man’s weight off the ground and flew upwards. He used his
other arm to direct the point of his crossbow at her.
Koa’s eyes widened and she pursed her
lips. She saw the red poisonous arrow ready to be released. The second Syth
waited below as Koa went higher and higher up the tall vaulted ceiling. It was
cold up there, and pitch black, but Koa could still see the Syth’s illuminated
face.
An arrow zipped past her and she gasped.
“Come quietly, Koa, and we won’t have to hurt you,” the Syth below shouted.
“Our master doesn’t want you dead. He just wants us to bring you in.”
She snorted. “No thanks. I like my world
just fine.” Koa looked down at the Syth whose hand she held. It was rare that
she saw one of his kind.
His lips curled into a malicious grin.
“Yes, come quietly, my pretty,” he whispered. His voice was like nails on
gravel. “You know you don’t belong here with the humans…”
Koa gazed into those soulless black eyes
and felt her stomach churn with dread. They were like small, black, beads. The
tattoos around his eyes were inscriptions of a dialect that didn’t exist in
this world. Someone was letting rogue nephilim out of the Netherworld.
“And neither do you,” she said and with
an evil grin, she let go of his hand.
He cried out and fell nearly fifty feet.
Koa heard a satisfying crunch of bones. She smirked. Still, it wasn’t enough to
kill a Syth. Those bones were probably regenerating already. Koa hadn’t
encountered many since she’d become a Netherworld agent, but Netherworld beings
were extremely hard to kill.
Koa darted away from another arrow and
into the darkness of her empty manor. She stood on the ceiling, upside down,
yet defying gravity as she looked down at the two shadows below. She considered
all of her options. She could fly out of that window ahead or she could go back
and kill them.
Syths were dangerous. She couldn’t let
them get away. But her weapons were in her vault. In order to reach her vault,
she would need to go past the Syths. How silly of her to think that she was
safe. Not even her home was sacred anymore.
Nearly five years as an agent in
Halston’s Netherworld division, and Koa was still caught off guard.
Koa frowned. Halston was right. She
should have moved a long time ago. She could already see Halston’s
self-satisfied smile. She hoped she’d make it out alive to see that smile
again.
Something caught her attention. A
glittering light below. She saw Raven’s green eyes glow, and then she saw
something else. Like a bolt of lightning, Koa shot through the darkness to
Raven. Koa had a determined look on her face. She could make it. She had to.
Arrows flew all around her. The arrows
bounced off the walls and sparked along the floors. Her heart pumped, but her
face was set with purpose. She smiled when she saw her Lyrinian sword lying on
the floor, like a beacon of hope in the darkness.
Raven stepped away from it. Koa grabbed
it by its hilt. A jolt of power slammed into her palm and flooded her body. She
gritted her teeth and embraced the euphoric pain the sword caused her. The
blade shot out, lengthening from the size of a small dagger to that of a full
sized sword. The jagged blade was a dark metal that was rippled with black
engravings. Netherworld dialect.
Koa grinned. Once the initial pain
subsided, the power made her feel invincible. The Lyrinian sword had been her
father’s. He had trained her to use it when she was only a little girl. This
weapon, was not of this world…and would not be put away until all evil was
vanquished.
“Thanks, Raven.”
The cat seemed to nod.
Koa cried out as an arrow nipped her
right cheek. The pain was surprising. It sizzled. Blood dripped from her face
as her hand shot to cover the wound.
Her green eyes went dark. She balled up
her fist and tightened her grasp around the sword. She narrowed her eyes and
turned around. They pulled the triggers on their bows and heard an empty snip.
Koa gave them a cold grin and yet there
was no amusement in her voice. “You’re mine, now.”
They were out of arrows. Both Syths skidded
to a stop. Almost frantically, they reached behind them and into their quivers
to reload.
Koa took a step forward and their eyes
went wild…with fear of the small girl before them.
Koa held her sword’s black blade at her
side. It pulsed with craving for blood. The blood of the evil ones would
increase its power.
Koa charged at them. She was lifted to
her toes and with a swirl of colors she slashed one of the Syths across his
side. Her white teeth flashed as the blade burned an iridescent red at the first
taste of blood.
The blade craved blood and she would sate
it.
It didn’t stop at the bone. It didn’t
even pause. It sliced through his spine with ease until the man was cut in
half. It sped up only when it came through his other side and to the cold air
of the manor.
The Lyrinian sword’s red light encased
the black blade and she could feel its heat.
Koa didn’t stop there. She couldn’t stop
even if she wanted to. Evil had to be vanquished. She clenched her jaw as the
blade went cleanly though the other man, separating him at his waist. Their
cries filled the entire manor as she sliced them to bits.
Both Syths lay on the floor in pieces.
Koa kicked their crossbows away, not that they had hands connected to their
arms anymore. Her chest heaved as she stood over them. Smoke rose from the
blade of her Lyrinian sword. Koa watched their pale white faces, waiting. Blood
pooled onto her floor. She watched it gather around her bare feet.
Raven sauntered over. She sat down and
licked her front paw. Her green eyes looked up innocently into Koa’s matching
green eyes. “Shall we leave now?” she asked, in her mother’s voice.
Koa’s shoulders slumped. She looked over
at the cat. “Yes.” She nodded and looked down at the blood pooling between her
white toes. “But first, I must clean up this mess.”
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