The Darkness

She was on the enemy soil and she knew it. She was like an annoying little sister to the Light King but he always requested something for his services; nothing ever came free. He, aside from her brother, was the only one she could trust with this information.

She pulled up to the castle of the Light and walked inside only to be met with guards.

“You’re on Light Fae dominion,” The guard growled at her.

She scoffed as she took her riding gloves off, “You Light and Dark Fae are really birds of a feather.” The guard hissed at her, their fangs coming to light and their eyes turning blood-red. Rule one of the Fae world: never say the Light and Dark were the same.

“Leave her be,” A deep voice called from behind the guards.

“You heard your master,” She taunted him, waving her hand in a shoeing motion.

The guard stepped forward, ready to wring her neck in, but stopped when the king growled at him.

“Are you challenging me Marcus?”

The vampyre bowed his head in submission, “No, your highness.”

“You’re dismissed,” The king said. The vampyre glared at Serafina before leaving the area. She watched him leave and turned to the king who stood looking down at her from the stairs.

“Love what you’ve done with the place, Lorenzo,” She complimented, walking towards him.

“What do you want Serafina?” He asked, growing bored with the girl’s games.

“I crave a boon.”

He threw his head back and laughed, “‘A boon’?”

She glared at him, “I’m serious Lorenzo. I need your help. I wouldn’t be asking if it wasn’t important.”

Her eyes were wide and her voice was so soft that, for a moment, he could’ve sworn that she was almost scared. He nodded and guided her up the stairs. They walked into his office where no one had access to.

“What do you need help with?”

She reached into her bag and pulled out a stack of files, “This.”

He picked one and opened it, “What is it?”

“A few months ago, some of my subjects died, all with one mark on their wrist.” She pointed to a picture of one dead’s arm. It was the Celt symbol for all things life.

“Is it a magic plague?” He asked the obvious question.

She shook her head, “I do the autopsies myself and there are no related symptoms, the first victim didn’t even know the second. The only thing that’s common between the Vic’s is that they all got that tattoo and died within 30 days of the mark’s appearance. Some died after a day of having it, others died twenty days after.”

“So, someone is controlling the mark,” He inferred.

She nodded, “I’ve checked every book and no one in Hel can do something like this, that is dark magic, magic that not even the Dark Fae or the Elders should know how to do.”

Hel is the underworld for the Fae, and unlike any other mythology or religion, it’s not only where the souls of the Fae go but where the Fae who wanted to remain neutral were sent to live.

“So why are you coming to the Light to find out who did this?” Lorenzo frowned at her logic.

“Because the Dark family and I have a past and I would rather refrain from starting a war with them. And I don’t trust the Elders anymore- something has corrupted them over the centuries. They are nothing like they used to be. So, will you help me or not?” She stared him down.

He set the file down behind him and nodded, “What do you need me to do?”

“You have Fae in the police force, correct?” She asked, packing her stuff up.

“Yeah.” He crossed his arms.

“Have them on the lookout for this mark. I’ll send some of my people in to help, can you get them jobs?” He nodded, and she gave him a thumb up before leaving the room.

She waved her hand in the air and a rift between the worlds opened. She stepped in and was greeted by her brother.

“Kai,” She greeted, giving him a hug. The white-haired boy smiled at her and hugged her back. While the two were, in fact, not blood related they viewed each other as siblings.

“Serafina, I’ve missed you.” He pulled away from her and smiled.

“There’s a job I want you to do. I need you to pick 3 people to go to Earth and work alongside the Light.” She spoke as they walked down the hallway, having nowhere to go.

Serafina often gave some of her workload to Kai, since he is the Prince of Hel, she viewed it vital for him to have training.

“May I ask why?”

“King Lorenzo has agreed to help us in finding who is killing our people,” She explained to him shortly.

“Moreover, what does he request in return for his services?” Kai couldn’t help ask her.

“He didn’t specify but we will deal with that matter when we come to it,” She assured him. A servant came up to her holding a letter.

“My queen, someone delivered this early this morning,” She said holding it out for Serafina to take.

Serafina took the letter with a smile, “Thank you Arys.”

The maid bowed her head and left to do her duties.

“I don’t understand how you know every subject’s name,” Kai admitted with a shake of his head.

“I believe it is the least I could do since they excepted an outsider as their queen, and it would do you good to memorise their names,” She chided, hitting him lightly with the parchment in her hands. She then turned her attention to the letter; the seal had nothing else but the letter H on it so could’ve been anyone’s seal.

She carefully unfolded the letter, reading it silently. Kai watched as his sister’s face turned from kind and caring to emotionless and cold.

“What does it say?” He said, trying to peak over her arm so he could read the letter.

“The Dark Family wishes for us to attend a ball they are holding in four days’ time,” She said, looking up from the letter. Her hands heated and burned the paper to ashes, leaving no remains of the cursive print that sent her heart to the floor, a power she wasn’t born with but gained after accepting the crown of Hel.

“Why after all these years, do they wish to invite those they sent to Hel to a ball?”

Serafina’s arms fell, and she looked at her brother, “Because I’m the queen now.”

“Should I ask the seamstress to make clothing for us?” He asked, avoiding his sisters gaze.

She nodded, “If I know anything about the Dark Family is that they don’t give up when they want something, and they have spilt too much blood between us as it is.”

Let’s hope we can avoid conflict, Serafina couldn’t help think as Kai walked away from her.