Remnants of Ash (Reign of Fae Book 1) Page 2

  Chloe closed her eyes as her tears swelled. Her mom’s line rang once, then went to dial tone as the skies of the campus darkened, mirroring the volcanic skies on the news. There was a brief electronic screech followed by silence, and then the phone went dead. Chloe heard multiple cars crashing outside as all the vehicles on the street below came to sudden stops.

  “We’re too late.”

  “No!” Chloe screamed in horror. Her eyes dashed to the window past Bram, searching the horizon for Mt. Rainier.

  Bram followed her gaze questioningly and then looked back at her. “Mt. Rainier? It’s still intact.”

  “How? What do you mean? Bram, are you sure? My parents!”

  “Are safe,” he reassured her.

  Chloe felt panicked, searching for hope. She remembered it was Professor Hadley who had suggested the area, so Bram was probably right. Mt. Rainier was barely visible as the amber sky turned to ashen shadows, but the mountain was still whole. Chloe gave a slight sigh of relief but knew that what came next would be much, much worse. She put the phone down and braced against the desk in front of her, mentally preparing herself for the onslaught of the unknown about to begin. The world is never going be the same, she thought to herself.

  Waiting for something she thought would feel like an earthquake or an electrical shock, Chloe couldn’t help but watch in stunned awe as beautiful shimmers of feathery white light danced in the air. The shift in reality as the fae realm surreptitiously invaded the human world was almost exhilarating. After a few moments, she noticed a subtle hum as the gossamer light began surrounding them in a most ethereal glow. The visual effect of the light was breathtaking, almost angelic, but she knew that with it came the monsters. She thought of nights spent camping in the summer, staring into the fire as the embers glowed, burning hot, when she felt another shift in the air around her. Just as before, like looking through a magic lens between the wings of butterflies, she glimpsed into the faerie realm and directly into the real Bram Tice.

  Chloe felt suspended in time as she turned all her focus to Bram. The fine hairs on Bram’s forearms bristled with magic through the thin veil of undulating and shimmering light brought by the fae disturbance. What Chloe could only describe as glowing dust particles surrounded and betrayed him. She could physically feel the intimidating otherworldly power radiating from him, like the tension in the air between enemies. Goosebumps on his skin coalesced into reptilian-like scales the color of rust. The scales rippled up his arms, in and out of existence, as the shimmer of the faerie realm faded, and her world was thrust into complete darkness.

  Chloe tried to swallow, but burning cinders coated her throat. “Oh God!” she choked. “You’re one of them!”

  2

  The Beast Within

  Thunderclouds the color of a grey death shroud roared past the window behind Bram. The wind howled, and blood-red lighting blazed through the sky. Chloe blindly stumbled away from Bram’s general direction, tripping over a chair and scrambling for escape. “Chloe, wait!”

  “Stay away from me!” She tried to slow her movements as she shuffled backward towards the professor’s door, forgetting it was locked. More lightning, the color of a fresh vampire kill, streaked through the sky, striking several of the buildings across the street. Slowly, her sight returned as a faint but distant light began to shine. Farther in the distance, the University Center had been engulfed by a roaring fire.

  “We can’t stay here!” Bram took a step towards her. “Please, let me…”

  A loud boom rang out, and the window behind Bram shattered. Glass shards exploded all around them. Chloe felt a sharp pain near her hairline as her head whipped backward like she’d been hit with a baseball bat. She started to feel dizzy. The edges of her vision blurred in a soft, serene white light, and all the objects in the professor’s office, illuminated by another lightning strike, began to fade as though they were being erased from her memory. All sounds stopped, replaced by a low thrumming in her ears.

  Bram’s body somehow took up the entire room as he lunged towards her, knocking her numbed body to the ground. As the tranquil white light faded to black, muffled sounds returned. Chloe could have sworn she heard a boat’s sails unfurling in the wind as two large gossamer objects the color of rust enveloped her, cradling her as the darkness came.

  Chloe struggled to open her eyes. Her eyelids felt like someone had glued them shut with liquid cement. Blinking hurt, as if her eyes were covered in days-old bruises, but she tried to focus as she looked around an unfamiliar room. Strange objects that could have been weapons were strewn across a table, and a few candles flickered, illuminating walls that looked like old painted metal. Where am I? Her head started to throb as she got up off the sofa and went towards the table. She grabbed one of the weapons. The object she hoped would prove useful was ice cold in her hand and looked like a polished silver stake with a brass knuckle grip at the other end.

  “Good choice.” Bram snickered from behind her.

  Startled, Chloe whirled, aiming the weapon, immediately regretting the jolt she gave her head. The room started to spin. “Woah.”

  “Easy, easy. Here, let me take a look at that.” Bram eased her into a chair at the table of weaponry and handed her a glass of water. He pulled another chair closer and sat directly in front of her. “You’ve got a pretty nasty gash from that blow to the head you took.” He removed blood-soaked gauze from her forehead and replaced it with a clean bandage. “How do you feel? Nauseous?”

  Chloe shook her head. “It feels like I got hit by a bus.”

  “Close. The tree branch was the size of a smart car, give or take.”

  “How long have I been out? And where are we?”

  “A couple of hours and my apartment.”

  “Why does it look so strange?”

  “Iron.” Bram tapped on the wall closest to them. The room echoed like he’d rapped the hull of a ship. “Most of the lower caste fae won’t come near it. It hurts them.” He shrugged. “Thought it was as good a place as any to lay low for a couple of days.”

  “A couple of days? I can’t stay here!” The haze surrounding Chloe’s mind started to fade, and she began to remember what had happened in the professor’s office, the way Bram’s skin had shimmered like something not human. “You’re, you’re one of…”

  He sighed. “And there it is.” Bram quickly slid his chair away from her and stormed off before she could finish her sentence. He walked over to a wall, extinguished the flame from a nearby candle, and gestured her over. “Here. Let me show you something.”

  She reluctantly rose, taking care to avoid the dizziness assaulting her again, as she walked over to stand beside him. Whatever Bram was, he’d never been unkind to her. So, for the time being, she would trust him.

  Bram slid a lever and pulled the wall of metal away, exposing a regular-looking apartment window. He motioned to the bars on his windows, “Also iron.” Then, he pointed downward. “Those are scabs, one of the lowest castes of Unseelie. They feed on fear, blood…” Bram scoffed. “Some even feed on magic. That type of scab can track magic use as well.”

  Chloe looked out the window in horror as a hunched, barely human-looking-creature ran down the sidewalk, chasing another figure into a building. The figure it pursued held the faint outline of a woman. It appeared she was running away from the boogie man. The creature pursued the woman with a grotesque lumber which ensured its prey would falter. The teal scarf flying behind her began to fall to the ground as she desperately tried to outrun the scab. She stumbled into the carcass of a building, and the creature let out a sickening squeal as it closed in on its prey. Chloe squeezed her eyes shut and instinctively turned away from the gruesome scene about to unfold. The sounds of horrified screams and predatory snarls coming from outside were unbearable.

  Chloe didn’t know how she’d survive the despair she felt. Everything seemed hopeless. How could humans fight things they didn’t even know had existed only a couple of hours ago? How woul
d mere mortals stand a chance against magic? I thought I was prepared. She wanted to be struck in the head again and go numb; hoping another blow would wake her up from the nightmare. But she was awake, and the current chaos was her new reality.

  Scanning the horrific scene before her again, she tried to take in the extent of the destruction. Everything was burning or had burned away. Some buildings had collapsed into rubble, other structures were hollowed out husks. Scattered amidst the destruction, though, were buildings left hauntingly pristine.

  The power was out everywhere. No lights glowed from lamp posts or inside buildings, and there wasn’t a single moving vehicle anywhere. Most cars had either crashed, been abandoned, or were still parked along the streets next to ruins of the buildings. Chloe barely recognized Seattle anymore, but she did know that where there should have stood several ten-to-twenty-story apartment buildings, there remained nothing but dust and rocks with twisted beams sticking out of the mountains of debris.

  Dozens of scabs were swarming around the mounds like vultures, digging out body parts and feeding on them, discarding other smaller scraps of flesh. They threw the scraps to more feeble looking scabs who seemed to be cowering to the dominant ones. The hierarchy was almost like that of a wolf pack. Chloe looked away in disgust and tried to erase the images from her mind. She couldn’t stay focused in on the details, or they would drive her mad. Instead, she tried taking in the scorched earth in its entirety, looking for an end to the destruction; there wasn’t one.

  Some buildings were still burning while others had already burned to the ground. Desperate to find something other than destruction, she looked even farther out into the distance. But the further Chloe looked, the more she saw the same devastation over and over. Laid out in front of her, the city had become a patchwork quilt of glowing orange fires and grey mounds of death. Seattle had become a giant graveyard.

  Then, there in the darkness, was a glimmer of hope. A reflection or flash of light caught her eye. She took a chance and looked closer into the shadows of a neighboring street. Chloe’s heart skipped a beat. Human figures carrying pipes, and anything else that could pass for a weapon, were swinging wildly at scabs. A group of humans, banding together, was fighting back, and winning! It was a small victory, but it was a start. She whispered to herself, “Maybe the world can survive this scorch of the fae after all.”

  The hope Chloe felt was soon squashed as her eyes were drawn back to the scab on the sidewalk below Bram’s apartment. It had pulled the woman wearing the teal scarf from the building and had started draining her blood, right there in the middle of the street. It raised its head to a moon hidden by black clouds, arched its back, and howled with pleasure. It chilled Chloe to her core to think Bram was a part of the fae causing the horror below. “Your world, these scabs. They...” Her words dropped off as Bram grabbed her hand and placed it on his chest.

  “They have no heartbeat, no conscious, no remorse, but I do! They are no better than hungry feral animals. The upper castes use them to clean up their carnage!” Bram was angry. She could feel his heart pounding under her palm. When she focused on its rhythm, she swore she could feel two hearts beating underneath the echo of what she could only describe as the sound of a roaring furnace. “So, please don’t insult me by calling me one of them.” He spit out the last words. “Any of them!” He let go of her hand.

  “You’ll have to excuse me for being so...human,” Chloe hissed. She gestured to the window. “My world which I just discovered you don’t even belong to has just been destroyed by the fae. You’re fae! Sooo sorry that I need some time to process this.”

  Chloe grabbed the lever on the wall to close that particular window into their new world. Her mind was racing, but she slowed it down and focused on one thought. Professor, did you know about Bram? Why didn’t you tell me? The lever wouldn’t yield. She took a deep breath and turned to look at Bram. “I need to know who you align with, Light or Dark? Right now!”

  “It’s not that simple, Chloe,” he said coolly.

  “Then, at least tell me you’re not part of this?” she snapped. “There are people out there fighting the Dark. I have to do something! You may not be willing to fight, but I am! And, you can’t keep me here!”

  “You’re right about that more than you know.” Bram grabbed the lever and sighed in frustration at her innocence. “But you need to forget your obvious romanticized and sickeningly-sweet notions about the Light. The only difference between them and that…” He pointed out the window at the Unseelie scab still wrapped in a deadly embrace with the human woman. “…is that the Light Fae are just wrapped in prettier bows!” He slammed the window wall closed. Bram walked away then, apparently not wanting to be around any humans or fae.

  Chloe wasn’t done with their conversation. Questions swirled in her head, and she had only one source of answers at that moment. Bram. “How can I trust anything you say? A couple hours ago, I thought you were human. Now, I don’t even know what you are. Is Bram even your real name?” Chloe persisted.

  “It doesn’t matter, not anymore. I couldn’t stop it. The professor is dead, his journal is lost, and I used so much power protecting you that I’m about to fall where I stand.” Bram walked to another wall, slid a door of metal aside, and stepped into an adjoining room. He looked exhausted. “Scabs are drawn to the chaos, and it’s a feeding frenzy all-you-can-eat buffet out there right now. The power I used came at a cost, and I’m about to pass out for about forty-eight hours, dead to the world, whether I want to or not. The professor’s office is nothing more than rubble now. Hells, the entire building fell around us! But hey, if you want to go, you’re right. I can’t stop you. Consider the weapon a parting gift. Oh, and be a good human and close the door on your way out, hmm?” He scoffed in a somewhat defeated tone before collapsing onto his bed, “Good luck to you, Chloe Etain.”

  Before she was aware of what she was doing, her feet were moving her closer to his room. “But the Dark Fae scorched the sky. Bram, they did this! I can’t just sit here. I need to do something. Maybe the Light…”

  Bram let out a quiet grumble but spoke clearly. “Chloe, this was the Light.”

  3

  Rise of the Fae

  Chloe missed her parents and friends the most, along with some of the little pleasures in life like a hot shower, the internet, and a sweet cup of coffee.

  Oh, and chocolate! I'd kill for a soft warm chocolate croissant and a decent cup of coffee right about now. She guessed she could see if Bram was the type of fae who could conjure them if he’d ever wake up! Maybe then, she’d have some clue as to what the hell he was.

  But then, the scabs would come, and they'd try to drain her dry or turn her. Ha! As if scabs are powerful enough to turn anyone! She’d been watching their failed attempts to turn straggling humans on the streets from Bram’s window for the past few days. She scoffed to herself. Days? The only thing that gave away that it was daytime was the haunting amber glow reflected across the ashen sky. That was also when the scabs were restricted to the darkest shadows outside. She hadn’t slept well in the last few days either, not since Bram had collapsed to regenerate or whatever the hell he was doing. She felt as though it was her responsibility to take the first watch in the apocalypse since Bram was incapacitated. Regardless of his Court alignment, he had saved her life back at the professor’s office. So no, she didn’t feel like dealing with blood sucking vampire scabs and had gone without coffee for that long. A little longer wouldn’t hurt. Bastards!

  Chloe checked in on the still-sleeping Bram, pulled a protein bar from her backpack, and grabbed the earlier-discovered and presently-thawed milk from his freezer. She hadn’t believed it when she had found her backpack, all of its contents still inside, in a hidden cubby full of more of Bram’s weapons and supplies. The lock on the inside of the cubby had her wondering even more about who Bram really was. She wondered if he had carried her and the backpack together or whether he’d gone back for it, curious as to if he could
walk among the scabs unharmed or even undetected. Probably not, considering his entire apartment had been retrofitted with iron from top to bottom. He was right about the human buffet outside, though. She wouldn’t have lasted five seconds out there. Days had passed, and the scabs were still behaving like frenzied sharks, and she was a blood bag waiting to be circled and eaten.

  Chloe sat at Bram’s weapon table and made herself a protein bar/-granola cereal, hoping he wouldn’t mind that she’d made herself at home while he slept. She’d already finished off the few perishables she had found in his fridge. Might as well finish off the milk before it spoils. Power’s never coming back on, she thought. She rolled a glass vial of silver shavings underneath her palm and eyed an opulent gold-and-ruby necklace that looked ancient. The ruby was so dark; it was almost black, and the more she stared at the oval-cut gem, the more it seemed to come alive. She swore she could even hear the thumping of a heartbeat deep within its core. As she concentrated even harder, she was sure she could hear two distinguishable heartbeats, just like Bram’s. Chloe shook her head, trying to release herself from the pendant’s strange pull.

  As she finished her cereal, the noises from the scabs outside diminished. Their constant howling, heavy breathing, and clawing had echoed off the iron walls in a horrifying cadence between the human screams. But their sudden silence was even more terrifying. Chloe rushed to the wall with the window and quietly moved the metal aside. There were no scabs anywhere to be seen. A sleek black muscle car came into view, but in the darkness, she couldn’t be sure if it had pulled up to the curb or flown in. Chloe shook her head in disbelief. She figured some type of electromagnetic pulse must have been laced into the lightning storm, so it had only been a matter of time before there would be a few vehicles back on the road. There should be some cars running by now. Right? she thought to herself, almost hopeful.