Chapter 53: Dark Realm 53

“Take this, Brinley.” Glory shouted, tossing a spear in Brinley’s direction. Glory and Brinley fought to get to Joy’s side.

Armed with a spear each step Brinley destroyed everything in her way. Glory’s arrow pierced the head sneaking behind Brinley.

“Joy,” Brinley called out. “Are you okay?”

Joy swung her ax cleaving the head off the ghoul in front of her. “I’m fuckin dandy,” Joy replied, shaking the ghoul’s dark blood from her hatchet. “Are you okay?” Joy’s eyes were wide in shock. “You’re covered in blood.”

Brinley glanced down at her blood-stained body. “It’s not my blood.” She glanced up at Glory. “Did you find Cillian?”

Glory pointed at Cillian, galloping forward.

“I am glad to see you both alive.” Cillian had a long scar down the right side of his face. “I have killed all the traitors. The only one missing is Maxwell.”

“He is not missing. He’s dead.” Glory pulled Maxwell’s severed head from a pouch around her neck.

Cillian turned to face the remainder of his clan. “We are safe once more. Our strength will continue to shine in the eyes of this danger. No matter what, we are still here. We will grieve and bury our dead, but we are still here. No matter what our future holds, we are warriors. We are not afraid. We are still here.” Cillian reared up as his people rejoiced. “But on this day of loss, we have also gained new members of our clan.” Cillian nodded toward Joy and Brinley. “Thank you for fighting with us. We will stand with you whenever you need us.”

“Thank you.” Joy nodded. Once alone, Joy turned to face Brinley. “Are you okay?”

Brinley turned her back to Joy. “I don’t know.”

“Here.” Joy ripped off a piece of her shirt. “Clean up a bit. You are covered in someone’s blood.”

“His name was Keir.” Brinley took the fabric to wipe the gore off her face.

“Tell me what happened?”

“Come on, I’ll show you.” Brinley went back to the last place where she left Keir.

“What happened to him? It looks like someone torn him apart. What did this to him?” Joy walked around examining the pieces of Keir.

Brinley cleared her throat. “I did it.” She stared down at Keir’s unblinking eyes.

“How?” Joy asked in disbelief.

Brinley shrugged. “I don’t know. I went to find the small ones…” She halted her story as Cillian and Glory approached.

“We found the young ones.”

“Are any of them alive?” Brinley asked.

Cillian shook his head.

“I’m so sorry.” Brinley dropped her head.

Glory stared down at Keir’s remains, then glanced at Cillian, but before anyone could ask for a second time, Brinley spoke. “I did it. I found the young ones all dead. I checked them then I heard Ren calling for help. She was battered but not dead. I promised to get her out of there. She trusted me to protect her, but he found us. It was Keir who killed Ren. He killed her. She died here in my arms.” Brinley kept her head down.

“You really did this?” Glory asked.

“Do not look down, sweet Brinley. No matter how you have done this, I thank you. Come to the hall where we can speak in private.”

“Okay. I just need a minute.”

“You sure?” Joy asked.

“Yeah, I’ll be right behind you.” Brinley waited until she was alone. She walked around Keir’s corpse until she smelled something faint in the air. Slowly, she followed the scent to the opening of the caves. She stood outside, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath in. “Gotcha.” Brinley turned around to rejoin the rest of the survivors. When she walked inside, the rest of the clan clapped.

Brinley gave a nervous giggle, then went to stand beside Joy. “We need to leave,” Brinley whispered.

Joy turned to face Brinley. “Why?”

“We’ve been away too long.”

“But if we leave, you may not find out who you are.”

Brinley nibbled her bottom lip. “It doesn’t matter who I was, what matters is who I chose to be.”

“Spoken like a true heiress of Aella. Take this scroll. It may help you.” Cillian handed Brinley a tied-up scroll. If it were not for you both, we would all be dead. A new age is coming, and we will stand by your side when the time comes.” Cillian held out his hand.

Brinley tried to smile. “Thank you for this.” She held up the scroll.

“And to you, Daughter of Van Helsing. You uphold your family name. You are a proven warrior on the battlefield.” Cillian shook Joy’s hand as well. “We will meet again.”

Brinley practically dragged Joy from the hall. “Why are we rushing? How are we going to find our way through the caves?”

“I think I know, but we must hurry.”

“What do you know?” Joy pulled back right before the entrance of the caves. “I think you need to come clean. I feel like you are hiding things from me. I mean, how did you pull Keir apart without you touching him.”

“I really don’t know how I did it. It just happened. I was so fuckin angry.” Brinley shrugged. “But we can’t do this here.”

“I want the truth,” Joy said loudly.

Brinley scoffed. “You want the truth, I’ll fuckin tell you the truth. I’m not the only one hiding shit but I don’t push you so don’t push me, Joy. This entire time I get further and further away from the person I used to be.”

“Uh, that’s because you grew up. We aren’t college students anymore.”

Brinley held up the scroll. “This is probably more questions. I can’t keep looking backward, it’s the present that scares me. I know we are no longer college students. Shit, we aren’t even twenty-something. But don’t you want a proper life? A boyfriend, a nice normal job.”

“And a white picket fence, right? Is that what you want, Brinley? Tell me you don’t enjoy the power surging through your veins. Honey, I love you, but that’s not fuckin normal. Look, I… I’ve been a bitch. I’ve been having these dreams. Even though Mahala is dead, I relive the moment in my dreams. I didn’t think her death would make me feel the way I do.”

“Joy, you went through something no one can understand, but I’m here for you.”

“So, allow me to be here for you. We should stay and learn your truth.” Joy placed a kind hand on her friend’s shoulder.

“We need to go. We’ll come back. My past going anywhere. I just wanna make sure we have a future.”

Joy cracked her neck and gripped her weapon. “Then let’s go home.”

“Follow me,” Brinley whispered.

“Are you sure you know the way?” Joy asked.

“Yes, the entrance is straight ahead.” Brinley pointed.

“Why is it open?”

“Shit, the protectors.” Brinley raced through the gate. On the other side, blood littered the clearing. “Where are they?”

“I wonder how long they opened the door; anything could have gotten inside.”

“Or escaped, we need to find a way to close the doorway.”

“Look.” Joy patted Brinley on the shoulder. From the inky darkness, two protectors stepped forward. “They look wounded. Why did they stay?”

Brinley stared at the tall, hair-covered beast. “They waited for us.” Brinley bowed her head as they passed by the women vanishing with the doorway.

“We need to get home.”

“How long do you think we’ve been gone?” Joy asked, jogging down the trail toward the parking lot where they parked the car, but they searched in vain. “Holy shit, now what?”

“It’s going to be a long walk.” Brinley turned to walk back toward town.