A Twist of Fate Read online

  “Spectrals,” Coal croaked out.

  “Explain more.” Fed released his grip but did not get off.

  Coal coughed and stretched his neck. “Your palace was attacked by spectral soldiers. They’re wiping out entire worlds and the Coalition sent me to recruit you to an elite team working to defeat them. When I saw your people dropping like fucking tree weasels, I knew they were here.”

  “Why did you drop a grenade on us. Look around, these people aren’t dead.”

  “That was a carbonite dust bomb. It’s the only thing we’ve found that has any effect on them at all.” Coal looked over to where Leona still lay slumped as if Fed was still on top of her. “She might as well be dead. The spectrals have stolen her souls.”

  Fed scrambled off of Coal and broke into a sprint toward the inner chambers. Please, Fates. Let them have reached the saferoom.

  Twenty meters down the hall someone sat slumped on the floor. He rushed over and found his mother staring straight ahead. The light from her eyes and her soul ember gone.

  “Mother?” He shook her. “Queen Gorgo, answer me.”

  She blinked, and her jaw fell open. Saliva formed at the side of her mouth and dribbled down her face. Her skin was still soft and warm. A coldness Fed hated emanated from where her gentle strong soul had been.

  Fed carefully propped her against the wall so that she wouldn’t fall over and ran a hand along her face, wiping the drool away. “I will avenge you, mother.”

  He didn’t want to leave her there, but he needed to know if his father had escaped. No amount of questioning or shouting would get an answer from her.

  Ahead the hallway had collapsed, and a mountain of stone and rubble blocked his way, save one small shaft of light. Fed used the strength of his lion to claw his way through.

  Where the remainder of the palace room should have been was nothing. Literally nothing. Darkness, blacker than a starless night in outer space swirled before him. It was as cold as death.

  Fed grasped a few fingerfuls of the carbonite dust that had settled on his skin and tossed it toward the darkness. Whatever it was recoiled and the dust, while black illuminated the being. There he saw the face of his father.

  He closed his eyes and waited for it to take him.

  Neither moved.

  Fed dragged in a ragged breath. This was the Fates punishing him for failing to protect the crown.

  No crown. No princess bride. No king.

  Fed was not a weapon, not an assassin.

  He was nothing but a fool for thinking he could save anyone.

  He made his way back through the hole and carried his mother walk back to the throne room. People had gathered in his absence and were helping the others, the guards and Leona.

  One of his mother’s long-time maids took her hand and let her away. She would take better care of her than Fed ever could.

  Fed needed to get to the business of avenging her and the throne. He couldn’t do that sitting around mourning.

  He needed to take action and he needed it now.

  “Coal. Tell me about this elite team.”

  1

  The Ghost in the Darkness

  Butterfly wings fluttered over Tia’s face. She swatted at the evil vile creature. “Go away, you sleep terrorist.”

  It landed on her nose.

  “Kelebek, don’t make me squash you.” It wasn’t like she could hurt her little familiar. He was indestructible as far as she knew. “Please. Just let me sleep a little longer. I’m so tired.”

  The butterfly crawled up her nose and curled up in the corner of her eye, gently flapping its wings.

  “This is not comfortable for me, you bug.”

  Kelebek didn’t seem to care.

  “Fine. I’m getting up. I wish you would set your internal alarm clock to a few hours later.”

  Tia stuck one foot out from under the covers and wasn’t surprised to feel the tickled of butterfly legs walking across her insole. She shook her foot, which of course threw the covers off and exposed her bare skin to the chill in the room.

  With one eye open she pointed her finger at the old fireplace and lit the logs. Her second eye squinted across the room, so she could make sure the kettle she floated off the table would land on the cooking grate. Sure, she could conjure some tea, but there was an old ingrained comfort to pouring boiling water over the leaves and cuddling the warm cup while her drink steeped.

  She needed any extra comfort she could get. Last night had been a rough one.

  The Red Witch was stepping up her game. Omega were fools for allowing her to use them and their resources.

  Tia being one of those resources.

  Not like she had a choice in the matter.

  Oh gods. That was a cop out. Another lesson from her mother she’d forgotten.

  “I have a choice.”

  Sometimes she had to say it out loud even though no one besides Kelebek could hear her.

  She did have a choice, but it was a rotten lesser of two evils decision.

  The tea kettle whistled and Kelebek flew in excited circles. It was enough of a distraction to let Tia forget about the horrible things she did every day, even if only for a few minutes.

  She sat by the fireplace, rocking in the old wooden chair and stared into the golden flames. They were the same flames she saw in her dreams.

  The fiery lion stalked her nights. Hunting her, needing her. Sometimes she even let him catch her. Their chase was scary, and exciting, and the only good thing in her life.

  That fantasy, a figment of her imagination, was her only escape. One that she kept a secret hidden far away from the likes of the Red Witch.

  By rights her fantasy should be of a bear, but the lion popped into her head first. A bear would have reminded her too much of her father anyway and her imaginary playmate was meant to keep the sadness away.

  Banging sounded from the other side of the cell door. “Witch. Get up. She wants you back in the lab. Now.” A man’s voice rang through the small barred opening at the top of the door.

  Kelebek fluttered around and hid in a hole in the stone mantle.

  Tia didn’t have long. She waved her hand and the warmth and comforts of the room disappeared. Only the plain metal cot with its wool blanket were left. “Go away. I worked last night. I need time to recuperate.”

  “You can recuperate when you’re dead.”

  Tia closed her eyes and took several calming breaths. She’d love to lash out at the guard, but who knew how long he even had to live.

  He could be one of the Omega lackies on the schedule for today. Any of them could. The Red Witch would use them all eventually.

  The guards didn’t fear her. But they should.

  She was the one who stole their souls and made them into monsters.

  “Give me one minute to get dressed.” You assface.

  “Sixty seconds.”

  If only she had the ability to slow time. That was her little sister’s specialty.

  Tia conjured the same dress she wore every day. The same one she’d worn for the past ten years, since she was sixteen years old and Omega had come for her. The same one she’d been wearing the day her parents were murdered.

  The scent of the protection spell her mother had cast over her and her sisters was long since faded from the material, but Tia liked to pretend she could still feel it.

  The metal of the lock sliding open clanged and Tia stood waiting for the door to creak open and the guard to lead her away.

  She would never willingly go with them. It was her one small rebellion against her fate.

  The guard dragged her down the stark hallway way past the lab she usually had to work in.

  “Where are we going?”

  He didn’t answer.

  They went up a flight of stairs and then another. Tia didn’t let herself hope for a moment that they were going all the way up to the surface or that she would get to see the light of day. Hope was a bad thing.

  Whoa. They were on
a level she’d never been near before. A warmth she hadn’t felt in far too long seeped into her bones, swirling through her senses like sips of a homemade dandelion wine.

  Joy and almost overwhelming sadness tugged at her eyes wanting to pull tears from them. Omega had her sister.

  Please, oh please don’t let the Red Witch use Ashmiza the way she used Tia. Ash couldn’t understand how to use her powers to protect herself, she’d been so young when they’d all been torn from their home.

  Tia very carefully pushed her consciousness out, feeling for Ash’s sweet energy. A gentle brush was all she needed to know that darkness hadn’t tainted Ash’s soul. Tia nearly cried at the relief.

  “Are you quite finished?” The voice of the Red Witch smashed that moment of gratitude into more pieces than there were stars in the sky.

  Tia raised her chin and stared the other witch in the eye. She would reveal no more than that.

  “Good. Remember I gave you this gift and let’s get to work. We have an army to create.” The Red Witch turned her back and signaled with one hand for the guard to follow her with Tia in tow.

  They retreated back down to the lower levels and into the depths of the darkness. The farther down they went, the more anger, sadness, and evil poured in around them. The other witch wasn’t affected by it, the guard pretended not to be, and Tia raised a shield, freezing her emotions so cold the soul stealers wouldn’t sense she had any.

  The guard opened the large metal door and held it for them. He stayed outside. Very few were allowed in here.

  Tia and the Red Witch entered the rock chamber together. The screeching of the beings was so loud Tia wanted to curl up into a ball and cover her ears. That wouldn’t be allowed.

  Five Omega soldiers stood in a line on the far side of the room. One more than yesterday. The daze of a serious amount of drugs was evident on their faces. It was the only way they could stand there in the face of such evil. They still felt it presence though. One had a urine stain across the front of his trousers.

  “You are tired. I can see that. Which is why I allowed you to reach out to your sister. I expect you to use that boost today. I am running out of—”

  Patience?

  Time?

  Tia would never know because the Red Witch glanced down at her tablet and punched at the screen.

  “Damn them. Stupid Honese. That fucking fox is too damn smart for his own good. I’m going to have to get rid of him.” She glanced back up at Tia. “Get them done. Today.”

  The Red Witch left her alone with the men and the ghost in the darkness. They’d learned not to attack her.

  Her control over them was tenuous, but it hadn’t failed her yet. It was the only reason she wasn’t one of them already.

  If they ever did take her, she would be one of the sad ones. Unless she ever came upon the Red Witch, then her fire would burn bright and there would be no stopping the darkest part of her soul from destroying her torturer.

  Tia walked up to the first soldier and took his hand, leading him into the open part of the room. If she had to destroy this man’s life, she might make his final moments of conscious existence nice. She gave him a soft kiss on the cheek.

  Even through his drug addled mind, he acknowledged her and touch his face where her lips had been. Then he nodded to her and stared into the dark abyss.

  “Soldier if you so volunteer, step forward, please.” Of course, he had already volunteered for this duty, but he hadn’t looked evil in the face when he had said he would. Although, it wasn’t like he could back out now.

  He stepped forward and while Tia couldn’t see the soul stealer attack the man, she felt the malevolence swoop in. Only a second passed before the soldier’s empty body dropped to the floor and the new dark being pooled in the air before her.

  Tia raised her hands and formed a frozen shield around the being it’s face, identical to the soldier appeared before her eyes. So angry.

  It slammed against the walls of her magic, trying to get to her and steal her soul as well. The mass of darkness behind them swirled. Tia had come to understand that was them communicating with the new beings.

  It didn’t understand.

  It crashed into her shield over and over, until it spotted the other men in the room.

  Even with the drugs in their systems they were all wide-eyed watching what had happened to their comrade. That first touch of fear was nothing compared to the sheer panic taking over their bodies now.

  The first one was always the worst.

  Tia pulled on the reserves she’d been sure were already depleted and found another burst of her magic. She had to hold the new dark soul back until it’s brethren could communicate with it. Make it understand.

  Because if they didn’t, not only would its anger help it tear through the other soldiers, it would try to take her as well.

  It had happened before. The first time the Red Witch put Tia in here with the soul stealers. She’d eviscerated half a dozen of them, sapping all of her energy and magic in the process. Only later had she learned that razing the things with the chill of her deepest magic also killed the body they’d come from.

  That was too high a price. It had almost destroyed her and her magic that day.

  Now, they’d come to a détente, and understanding that without her, there would be no more soul stealers. What Tia didn’t know was why they relied on the Red Witch for the souls in the first place. These were extremely powerful beings. They could easily destroy entire cities, adding to their numbers to infinity.

  They could destroy some place like Magic in less than a breath.

  She may not understand why they worked with the Red Witch. But she knew why she had to.

  Either help create this dark army or allow the residents of the only sanctuary in the world for people like her to be demolished by the evil.

  That was her choice.

  2

  Beacon of Light

  Fed wanted to punch someone in the face. Or the balls.

  So far, this mission was a clusterfuck.

  Black Barrett, the elite special team leader and his ship had gone down enroute to their destination and he was MIA. The twins, who were wicked smart, were using their dicks instead of their brains, and Titian, the fox, was up to something.

  The Star Coalition leadership were still sitting on their fucking hands, paralyzed in fear. If it hadn’t been for Passion’s fervent behind the scenes and under the table work to get the team solid intel on the spectrals, Fed would have quit. He fucking hated the bureaucracy.

  Passion had ferreted out the first bit of information on the source of the spectral scourge since he’d officially joined up with the Star Rangers. Finally, they had a fighting chance. She’d understood Fed’s willingness to sacrifice anything and everything to defeat them and assigned him this secret mission.

  Fed’s mission was clear. Find the witch. Then he would live up to his moniker and assassinate the hell out of her.

  Which he would have zero qualms about doing. If he could make this person suffer a thousand-fold of what the people of his home world had, it still wouldn’t be enough.

  Former Star Ranger Frost, their contact on the blue planet of Earth, at least had a clue about the power Earth witches held. Fed didn’t trust a single one of them. Not even Frost’s mate.

  He was not leaving the planet until the source creating the Spectral Warriors was annihilated and as far as he knew, it could be any one of the strange beings in this small town of Magic, New Mexico.

  They were powerful beings, particularly the women.

  He didn’t scent evil on any of them.

  Which meant he needed to go hunting.

  “Scarlet,” he growled, the frustration at having the same fates-be-damned conversation with Passion’s XO about the location of the witch was getting him nowhere. “She is not in the town of Roswell. I have been there a dozen times.”

  “Sorry, Ranger Semper, until Black or Passion check back in that’s the best intel I
have for you.”

  Scarlet wasn’t usually this useless. She seemed distracted. Fed would just have to go out on his own.

  “Understood. Ping my communicator if you hear from either of them. I’ll check in later. I’m going dark for the next few hours.”

  “Wait. Where are you—”

  He flipped the transmitter on his comms unit off. He wasn’t going to tell Scarlet or anyone else what he was doing. That was the point.

  On Honaw he never hunted alone. That wasn’t how a pride worked. His pride was gone and the while the bears were excellent rangers and perfectly fine companions, they were not his pride.

  He’d learned to hunt alone very well in the past few months. His skills in stealth and killing had gotten plenty of practice and use. Mostly on the slave traders who kidnapped the living bodies of people who’d had been devastated by the spectral scourge.

  Scum who didn’t deserve the souls they’d been given.

  Fed shifted into his lion form. He could cover ground a hell of a lot fast on all fours. His senses opened to the desert-like land allowing the scents, sights, and sounds to guide his path.

  There was one instinct he’d ignored since they landed on Earth. Not once, not twice, but every damn day, the amulet around his neck with the ember of his soul had lit up.

  Sometimes in the morning, sometimes before dark. Usually only for a few hours.

  Except yesterday.

  For almost twelve straight hours it had flickered like a flame.

  He highly doubted the Fates would bring him all the way across the galaxy to this strange place to give him a mate. No. Fed was sure this had something to do with the magic his mother’s ember had given off during their fight against the soul stealers.

  His must be responding to their presence in the same way. Protecting him. Now, guiding him.

  It’s light today had started later than normal and was not glowing as brightly, so he had to assume if he didn’t follow it now, he would miss the opportunity.

  The witch may be moving her dark creations which would explain the fading light. He would not miss them simply because he had to do it on his own.