Darkness & Light: Book 2: Shatter Our Hope

16 - Hayley

The cursed Donovan holds me by the throat, staring at me with his mismatched eyes. He grips me tight, his fierce eyes locked on my face with a sick glee. Lilith lays at his feet, her body broken and bleeding.... She's dying.

Just like Aldrea is dying. Just like I am dying.

"You ready to die, Hayley and Aldrea?"

"No," hisses Aldrea. "I am not dying, and neither are you, my dear sweet Hayley."

I try to hit his arm, trying to break his grip on my throat, but he only laughs and tightens it. But then, there's a starburst of light burns bright in the middle of the foyer. And Prince Drecca emerges from the portal in the center.

He snarls, taking in the view of his father holding me by the throat, and down to Lilith at his feet. He moves faster than I can see, knocking his father aside with his summoned wings and catching me in his strong arms. Drecca is a blur of motion, he picks up Lilith and holds the two of us close as he turns and leaps through the still-open portal.

We crash onto the floor out on the porch, and I gasp as pain lances through my body. My wings twitch and I lift my eyes to Lilith. She looks over at me through lidded eyes, her head lolled to the side as she tries to sit up.

"Lilith..." I groan, my throat dry and hot.

She lifts her head again, but cries out in pain. Drecca lays us both down and kneels between us.

"Hayley," he says. "You okay? What's happening?"

I shake my head. "N - no..."

My body pulses with pain and I sob. He reaches out to touch me, but hesitates. He looks at me, a sad look in his dark eyes — and I wonder if he knows that I'm dying. That Aldrea and I are both dying.

I can feel it now. My body, my power.... Aldrea's essence within me is too much now. I lift my hand, reaching out to touch Drecca's.  He looks at me, his eyes slightly widening. He takes my hand and smiles at me, but it's sad.

"Hayley," he says. "I've got to get you two out of here. Now."

"Can't abandon .... the others...." breathes a shaky Lilith.

Drecca shakes his head. "You're not hearing me. You're both dying. And I refuse to lose you. So, we are leaving and going somewhere safe for me to heal you both."

"Where's safe, though?" I ask.

Drecca looks at me and Lilith, and he picks me up once more and then rests a hand on Lilith's shoulder. She looks up at him, her face turning paler than normal. Her eyes close and she sighs, but I can still tell she's alive, just unconscious.

I turn my head to look over his shoulder, and see a shimmering silver and blue portal. Drecca carries the two of us through the portal, and into a tunnel of swirling lights. But before we emerge on the other side, a surge of pain blasts me and I fall unconscious, too.