Zodiac Academy 7: Heartless Sky

I chased my father through the sky with the taste of his blood on my tongue and a hunger for his death in my gut which I was determined to see sated.

He roared in pain and anger as he was forced to flee, the long wound I’d gouged into his side dripping blood all over the hillside below us as I tore after him, determined to end this.

He was damn fast, but I was faster, and I bore down on him with my superior strength and size, roaring my victory as I collided with him and we fell tumbling from the heavens in a clash of claws and teeth.

I pinned him beneath me, lunging for his throat, my jaws snapping closed just short of it as he kicked me away again and I was knocked backwards, hitting the ground hard and rolling down the hill towards the fleeing rebels.

Father chased after me, his jaw wide as the screams of our army reached my ears and I shifted just in time to throw an enormous ice shield over the heads of them as he blasted his Dragon fire at their ranks.

I hurled spears of ice after him, snarling through the effort it took to maintain my shield while attacking him and cursing his cowardly fucking tactics as he wheeled away from me and flew overhead.

“Darius!” a girl’s voice caught my ear as I prepared to follow him.

I turned, spotting Sofia there, her eyes wide and fearful as she tried to drag Xavier away from the retreating rebels as they raced past where he lay bleeding on the floor in his Fae form.

“Give him to me,” I said in fright, running to her and grabbing his arm, pressing healing magic into his skin, though the bleeding wounds on his back only scabbed over a little, the deep blackened, slashes in his side seeming to suck the magic away from the wounds and stop any of it from healing.

“I think it was Lionel’s shadow claw,” Sofia sobbed, gripping Xavier’s cheeks and pressing a kiss to his mouth. She had his Phoenix fire helmet hanging from her wrist and there was a mark on his head where it had been so tightly strapped in place.

Xavier groaned, blinking his eyes open and cursing at the pain he felt as his eyes moved from her to me.

“He ripped my wings off,” he choked out, tears glimmering in his eyes which cut me to my fucking core.

“I’m going to end him,” I swore, raising my head as a furious whinny drew my attention and a huge silver Pegasus galloped through the crowd towards us.

“Tyler!” Sofia cried and I stood, hauling my brother into my arms as the Pegasus came to a halt before us, kicking up mud which splattered across his pale legs alongside more than a little blood. He had a bag hanging from his neck, the strap half severed and a pair of jeans dropped out of it as he fell still, pressing his nose to Xavier’s cheek as a whinny of alarm escaped him.

My chest tightened as I took in the sight of Geraldine sprawled across his back, her chest and side punctured with a tremendous bite mark and similar blackish claw marks were carved into her flesh as Xavier’s.

She looked dead and I hesitated for a moment before reaching out to touch her, a sigh of relief tumbling through me as I found a weak pulse.

I tried healing her too, finding a similar barrier to my magic as there was in Xavier’s flesh.

“Fuck the shadows,” I bit out, fear tumbling through me for the other Heirs as I wondered what was taking them so damn long. Lavinia was still visible on the far side of the battlefield, flying above the Nymphs on a cloud of shadows which seemed specifically designed to taunt me with her power. I didn’t know what the hell was happening with that altar, but it couldn’t be good if she was still that powerful, and I hated the fucking stars for forcing so many roadblocks against us time and again.

‘What do we do?” Sofia asked, looking to me for an answer I didn’t have.

“You heard your queen,” I said firmly, stepping forward to place Xavier on Tyler’s back as well. “She called a retreat. So get back inside those tunnels and make sure the four of you get the hell away from here.”

“What are you going to do?” she gasped, reaching out to place a hand on my arm as I grabbed the jeans Tyler had dropped and tugged them on.

“I’m too fucking stubborn to bow to the orders of a Vega, even if I do happen to love her more than the earth we stand on,” I growled, hunting the sky for my cowardly father and spotting him standing on a hill beyond the ranks of Nymphs who still pressed forward after the rebels. He’d shifted back into his Fae form too, no doubt needing to heel the wound I’d given him, and he was now shrouded in a red cloak which marked him as the leader of the Dragon Guild.

“You’re going after Lionel?” she breathed fearfully and I turned to her again, picking her up easily and sitting her on Tyler’s back with the others so that she could make sure they didn’t fall.

“I’m facing my fate,” I confirmed before slapping the Pegasus on the ass like he was a common mule and barking a command at them to go.

Tyler took off with a startled whinny, beating his powerful wings and galloping away from me towards the tunnels which were their only slim hope of survival, and I wished I could do more than watch them go.

I turned from them and broke into a run, casting as I went and building a bridge of ice right over the heads of the Nymph army and blasting them with Dragon fire as they looked up see me pass.

The sounds of their screams coloured the air beautifully and a dark smile lit my features as I spotted my axe imbedded in the ground ahead of me. I must have dropped it after I stardusted back here and the shift took hold of me, but there it was, blazing with Phoenix fire which stopped the Nymphs from getting close to it and waiting for me as if it too was hungering to feel the weight of it slicing through my father’s neck.

I leapt from my bridge of ice, grabbing the axe and swinging it at the closest Nymph, taking its legs out and leaving it screaming as I ran on, charging up the hill where my father was waiting for me with flames dancing in his palms and a look of vile victory in his eyes.

He threw the flames at me but I didn’t slow, calling on my Dragon just enough to gild my skin in golden scales for a few moments so that they could deflect the heat and save me from the burn of his attack.

I grinned at the look of utter shock on his face, thanking my perseverance to learn that trick and glad of the hours I’d endured in Gabriel’s company to perfect it.

I burst from the embers of his attack with a challenging roar, swinging my axe for his head and he yelled out as he was forced to leap aside, ducking beneath the next swing of my axe and knocking it from my hands with air magic on the third attempt.

I pounced on him then, driving him down into the ground beneath me and slamming my fist into his face so hard I heard his teeth crack.

Lionel roared and thrashed beneath me, fighting back with all he had while I maintained my position on top of him through pure grit and determination, raining down blows on him over and over again until he finally managed to knock me onto my back with a blast of air.

An agonised roar rattled through the sky above us and I glanced up in time to see a grey Dragon hurtling through the air towards us, blood pouring from a savage wound on its throat.

I leapt aside and Father rolled away from me, the Dragon crashing to the ground between us with a resounding boom that made the hillside rattle before it shifted back into its Fae form and one of my father’s obnoxious cousins was revealed.

Ignatius screamed as he bled out in the dirt and I cast a spear of ice into my fist, slamming it down in his chest to finish him while holding tight to the memory of him walking in on my father beating the shit out of me when I was ten years old. He’d met my eye, arched a single brow and had apologised for the interruption before backing out of there and leaving me to the kicking I was taking. And as he met my gaze with his final breath escaping him, I hoped he was remembering that moment too and seeing the monster who was created in that house because of the things he’d witnessed and ignored.

Father regained his feet in the moment I was distracted by killing his cousin and he snarled a challenge as he moved to strike me again. I wrenched the spear of ice from Ignatius’s chest and hurled it at him with a furious cry, forcing him to lunge away and send an inferno of fire and air at me.

I dropped to my knees, shielding myself in ice and gritting my teeth as the dome of magic I held splintered and cracked beneath the onslaught of his power, my gaze fixed on the murky outline of his body which I could just see through the ice.

“Hiding from me, boy?” he taunted, just the way he used to taunt Xavier for trying to avoid him whenever he came home. But I’d never hidden. I’d always walked straight up to him with my chin high even when I knew I’d receive a beating, or when he had some cruel and unusual method of making me fight my fears in mind. I faced it like a Fae just the way I was facing him now.

“Just savouring the moment,” I called back, sinking my fingers into the dirt and taking hold of the moisture I found there before sending it spearing up and out of the ground beneath him in a series of razor sharp spikes.

Father howled in pain as they cut him, his attack faltering and allowing me time to banish my shield.

A dark and dangerous smile lit my lips as I found Ignatius’s charred skeleton before me, his body burned up in my father’s fire magic. His bones were laid out like an offering and the words of the dark magic Lance had been teaching me in preparation for this day sprang to my lips as I snatched a thigh bone into my palm and ran my fingers over it in well practiced movements.

“Chiedo al buio di disturbare questo corpo dalla pace e di mettere la sua magia nel mio sangue,” I breathed, the power of those words making a tremble run through my entire body and I sucked in a sharp breath as the magic stored within the bone was unleashed.

The bone began to glow with the power that was locked inside it as I wielded the dark magic to claim it for my own. My muscles bunched with the power of those words as thorny vines sprang from it, twisting around my fingers and slicing into my skin as the alien feeling of his earth magic drove its way inside of my body.

It fucking hurt as I absorbed the alien feeling of the earth element, like those thorns were clawing their way through every vein in my body and tearing them open, desperate to find a way back out again.

Father roared as he ran at me, his fists coated with fire as I dropped the bone and managed to cover my skin with my golden scales once more before his blow could land.

The crunch of his fist meeting with my jaw was swiftly followed by a roar of effort pouring from my lips as those thorn covered vines ripped their way back out of my body, gilded in the fire of my Dragon and ripping him off of me with such force that he was hurled away down the hill.

I took chase, letting him see exactly what he’d made me into as he fought to burn the vines free of his flesh and the stolen magic continued to rattle through my body.

We collided once more, a furious crash of fists and magic and hatred which set bones cracking and blood flying, and made the entire hillside tremble beneath the might of our power.

Father cried out in alarm as I managed to hook the vines around his throat, the flames burning him as once again he failed to pass the fireproof hide of my Dragon while golden scales armoured my flesh.

I dove on top of him, darkness swirling through my skin as I threw my fist into his face and tightened the hold of the thorns on his throat, his lips turning blue and eyes widening in terror as he finally saw his death in me, and it felt so fucking good that I wanted to roar my victory to the heavens already.

But just as I was certain I had him, the dark magic I’d cast burned out, my hold on the stolen earth Element falling away and the vines which were choking him turned brittle before shattering entirely. I lurched forward, tightening my hands around his neck instead, baring my teeth and driving him down beneath me as I fought to end this with a desperation which matched the frantic pace of my heart. But just as I was certain of my victory, Father drew a sun steel blade from a fold of his cloak, slashing it across my side and forcing me to throw myself off of him as blood spilled and the perilous metal cut me open.

I rolled away from him with a curse, snatching my axe back into my hold as I leapt to my feet and he regained his too. I threw a hand up to deflect the air strike he shot at me with more water, causing him to drench the hillside as our power collided and was sent off at an angle, drawing my gaze to the raging battle once more.

The Nymphs kept chasing after the rebels as the retreat continued, more and more of them making it below ground and away from their enemies, though I had no idea where they planned to go from there.

Father tried to strike at me with his air magic once more, whips snaking around to slash at my spine while I blocked him with a barrier of ice that cracked and splintered behind me under his assault, the sound reminding me of Roxy trapped beneath that pool.

A snarl escaped me at the thought of the man I’d almost become because of this demon, and I bellowed a challenge as I ran at him once more, swinging my axe with a brutal strike aimed to cleave his head from his body.

The axe slammed against an air shield which he held close to his skin and his eyes widened in alarm as I heaved it back and struck him a second time.

Again and again, my axe slammed against his shield while his muscles bulged with the tension of trying to maintain it, his face reddening and veins looking ready to burst.

He looked into the eyes of the beast he’d created and I knew he saw his death in them, the Dragon in me peering out with a hunger for his end more potent than I’d ever felt before.

He was here. Right fucking here and I could feel his shield breaking beneath the assault of my weapon as the Phoenix fire coating it made the air between us ripple with heat.

“All of this because of some whore?” he shrieked as he fought to hold me off, his composure slipping and the cowardly man I knew him to be at his core revealed to me. Because this wasn’t a Fae who had stood up and fought to claim his power, this was a cheat and a trickster who was as unFae as they came. But here and now I wasn’t giving him a choice. He was going to have to face me man to man, and I could tell by the terrified look in his soulless eyes that he already knew who would win.

“Roxanya Vega is no whore,” I spat, my axe cracking against his shield with such force that I felt the vibrations of it rolling down my sweat slicked spine.

“I should have killed the Vega twins the moment they returned,” he hissed, that hateful look in his eyes never wavering. But I knew what it really was now. Jealousy. He hated them for the very same reason that he had hated their father, his own brother and even me. Because he could see that we were more powerful than him and he would always just be a small man when he stood beside us.

The wedding band on my finger seemed to burn just as hot as those flames as I thought of all the things this man had done to the girl who owned my entire soul, my mate, my wife.

“I married her,” I taunted as I swung the axe once more. “And when I return to her with your head hanging from my fist, I’ll bow to her too.”

My father’s eyes flashed with unyielding fury at that suggestion and with a roar of his Dragon, he let the air shield between us shatter, lunging towards me to get beneath the strike of my axe and sinking his shadow hand into my side, his claws piercing the skin and stealing my breath from me.

I swung my fist into his jaw with all my strength, my axe cutting into the back of his thigh as we struggled to get the upper hand and he crumpled, screaming as he fell back, but his shadows thrashed and pulsed inside me as he forced them to take hold.

I arched my back with a bellow of pain as they battled to take control of me, the strength of them unyielding.

The fire from the Phoenix Kiss that Roxy had gifted me raced to meet them, burning them back with the fury of our love for one another, but in the moment where they held me at their mercy, my father swung his hand back and plunged his sun steel blade straight into my chest.

Everything seemed to still within me as I stared at him, the pulse I should have felt thrumming through my veins falling impossibly still as shock and an adamant kind of refusal stole through me.

For several achingly long moments, all I could do was stare at him in horror as I felt the blood spilling from that blow to my heart, staining my skin and stealing my fate once more.

This wasn’t how it was supposed to end. 

I’d always known that it would come down to me and him, but it should have culminated with this scene playing out in reverse.

“No son of mine will ever bow to a fucking Vega,” Father snarled, his upper lip curling back as he looked my death in the eyes and claimed it for his own. “I offered you the world and you refused it, so now I’m taking back the privilege I offered you upon your conception. Return to the stars, Darius. Perhaps they’ll be kinder to you in death than they were in life.”

He shoved me away from him and I fell, my limbs not responding to my commands and doing nothing at all to stop me as I crashed back into the dirt and found myself staring up at the stars who had scorned me so fucking much in my too short life.

Lionel spat at me before he left and the only thing I could feel was the deep pool of blood spreading out all around me from the blade which remained lodged within my heart. 

My lips parted on words I couldn’t speak, and the crushing feeling of disappointment filled me as I realised I’d let her down again.

I’d offered Roxanya Vega the stars and delivered her nothing but dirt. I’d always known I wasn’t good enough for her, and now my death had come to me in a rush as short and pointless as my life had been, and I hadn’t even been able to gift her the head of the man who had hurt her so much. 

I held on to the love I felt for her as I began to slip out of this world, stealing it away with me as I let myself sink into the sensation of being held tight within her arms and knowing it was the only place in this life or the next where I would ever want to reside. 

I had never deserved her. But she’d been mine all the same. If only for the briefest span of time. So no matter how foul my luck had always been, I knew I had been blessed in that one, most vital way. I had tasted the heat of her kiss and drowned in the weight of her love, been consumed by it and owned by it and made whole by it too.

I wasn’t a good man. And I certainly wasn’t a perfect one. But I had been hers. 

The stars began to blink out in the cruel sky above me one by one, like they were turning their attention from me now, seeing my failure and losing all interest in me.

But then a single point of light appeared which burned so much brighter than them that it cast them into the realms of irrelevance, and I saw her soaring across the sky burning hotter than the sun itself. She was so endlessly beautiful, so powerful, so strong.

My heart.

My love.

My queen.

And that was the way I wanted to leave this life, because when it came down to it, I knew that she was it for me. The only thing I’d ever truly needed and for the briefest span of time she had belonged to me. And that was enough.

There is only her.