Autumn Storm (28 page)

Decker slammed Beck to the ground. Autumn
flinched. The Light twin landed on the flat boulder. He was still.
Decker started forward.

She breathed in the air magick then released
it.

It flung Decker away from his twin. He
landed a half a dozen meters away. Autumn released Dawn and stepped
forward. Her eyes went from Decker to Beck, who was unconscious on
the rock. Blood ebbed from beneath him.

The Darkness in Decker’s body shook himself
off, unaware of what flung him. He strode towards his twin again,
the air around him sizzling with magick waiting to be
unleashed.

“No,” she whispered.

Once more, he was sent tumbling away. This
time, when he rose, his eyes fell to her. She paused in place,
swallowing hard. She’d just challenged him to a match she’d never
win. But she had to try. She had to reach him. They weren’t going
to survive otherwise.

He knelt and touched the ground.

Fire leapt from his hand, broke into three
streams, and tore towards Beck, her and Dawn. It moved almost too
fast for Autumn to see, and she pulled more air magick into her,
desperate to protect the three of them.

The fire fell short of all three, held back
by her air magick.

“You can’t sustain it.”

She almost cried out at his voice. It was
low, inhuman and seemed to come from all around her. Autumn
whirled, staring up at Decker. He reached for her, and the air
pushed him back. He gave a faint smile.

Autumn searched his gaze. His eyes had
melted into the shadows. There was no sign of the teen who kissed
her so gently yesterday. The air between them was hot, as if she
stood in front of a bonfire.

“Yes, I can,” she replied.

“You’re hurt and weakening. I can wait for
you to burn out.”

His words scared her. Despite the violence
he committed, he wasn’t the erratic killer she expected. He was
calm and calculating.

“By then, they’ll be dead anyway,” he added.
“Is a slow death what you want for them?”

“I can ask you the same thing,” she said.
“Decker, Beck’s your brother and Dawn carries his child. Does that
mean anything to you?”

The lines of fire grew stronger, taller, in
response. She struggled to pull and push enough air magick to
sustain the shields around them.

“Decker is gone,” the voice said.

“No. He’s not.”

More fire magick. More air magick. Tears
rose, and she forced them down, shaking with the effort of
channeling the magick.

“Choose,” he said.

She blinked. “Choose what?”

“Choose which one you wish to save. We’ll
see if you can do it. I want to see you try and fail. It will amuse
me.”

“This isn’t a game!”

“I can take them now, or you can play.”

Autumn stared up at him, seeking some sign
of Decker within the depths of the Darkness. She reached out to
him. He didn’t move away, as if aware there was nothing she could
do against him. He’d responded to her touch before. Her fingers
grazed the skin on his hand.

He jerked back, and she gasped. A flash of
something went through his gaze. Awareness? His calm slipped, and
his jaw was clenched. For a moment, he was perfectly still.

Struggling.

She sensed an internal battle. Hope trickled
through her. Decker
was
there. Somewhere. Trapped inside
this … thing. After the brief battle, the Darkness moved.

“Choose,” he said again. “You I will take
either way.”

Scared, Autumn looked towards Dawn. The girl
glowed with Dark power. It wasn’t her as much as her baby – Beck’s
child, the only true innocent in the field – that drew Autumn’s
attention. Beck would hurt if he lost his baby, too, and she
couldn’t let Decker take the life of a child. There was no
recovering from such a mistake.

The earth warned her Beck wasn’t in good
shape. If she saved him, he lost his baby girl, and Decker was gone
forever. If she saved Dawn, there was no one to stand between the
world and the Dark. Her gaze dropped to her hands. They were
covered in her blood. No matter who she chose, she wasn’t going to
make it out of the clearing in time to save anyone. What was left
of Decker would crumble this night when the Darkness that
controlled him killed them all.

Helplessness swept through her. She couldn’t
run. She couldn’t bring help. The Darkness was toying with her like
a bored predator. Maybe she had no chance anyway. She’d never be
able to maintain the air magick long enough to protect them. Her
breathing was ragged and fast as it was.

The earth warmed her feet. It floated
through her, soothing what pain it could. She didn’t think it made
a difference now, not when she continued to bleed. She trembled,
struggling not to collapse and sob. She couldn’t do this. She
couldn’t fight the Dark. She’d never save anyone.

The only one in the clearing who could help
them was Decker. He’d been consumed by his pain. Now, it would
consume everyone around him. She was too weak to stop it.

Pain. She dropped her hands and stared at
the ground.

“Very well. I’ll claim them both.”

“No!” she cried as he stepped towards Dawn.
“I made a choice.” She forced herself to breathe more deeply. The
fire crept towards her. She let it, instead pooling what magic
remained.

“And?”

“I choose Decker,” she said.

The Darkness possessing Decker’s body
chuckled. “Too late for that.”

“No. You told me to choose. I choose to save
Decker.”

He snatched her neck and lifted her off her
feet. Autumn uttered a choked cry as he began to squeeze. The Dark
teen’s death had been quick; she hoped hers was, too. She channeled
her pain towards the air magick, trying to protect Beck and Dawn
even as black edged her mind.

The creature dropped her and stumbled back.
Autumn gasped in air and shook her head. She looked up at him. It
was
awareness in his gaze. Some tiny part of Decker
remained.

He turned away from her and stalked towards
Dawn.

Autumn lowered herself to the ground and
pressed her palms to the cold earth. She drew a deep breath,
focused, and gathered her magick around her. The air was too
freaked out to control, and the earth seemed timid. Tears dripped
into the snow. Autumn sat back then remembered she had the stones
with her. She pulled them free from her pocket with a hand rendered
clumsy by cold. Setting them on the ground, she tried again.

This time, both elements responded.

Sensing the buildup, Decker froze a few feet
from Dawn.

Autumn had no idea if what she envisioned
was going to work. She had no other choice. Terrified, she released
the air barriers protecting Dawn and Beck then channeled it towards
Decker. Her magick slammed him to the ground. Fire flared towards
her. With no air magick to protect her, she desperately shoved
every ounce of magick out of her body and into the earth.

There was a rumble, then the earth yawned
open, swallowing Decker. The fire fizzled before it reached
her.

“Heal his pain,” she begged the earth.

Decker was gone. Night and silence fell into
the clearing again. Panting from effort, Autumn waited a minute
before standing. She had no idea if the earth could fix Decker like
it helped her or if she was just buying herself time until the
Darkness broke free of the earth’s depths.

The ground was crushing him. Decker
registered the pain from the depths of his hibernation and fought
for control of his mind and body once more. The harder he fought,
the more he hurt. The earth magick was subtle but strong, wrapping
around him to restrain him. His fire magick was snuffed
underground; without air to breathe, the sparks weren’t able to
form. Water magick didn’t flow through rock and solid earth. The
only element he was able to gather was spirit.

Unable to breathe, his struggles grew weaker
until he was almost unconscious. As soon as he stilled, the earth
shifted, creating a pocket of air around his head. He gasped.

The Darkness surged into his mind.

It’s almost over! You must let go,
Bartholomew bellowed into his head.

“I’m trying,” Decker said. He closed his
eyes, unable to recall exactly how he ended up buried inside the
earth in the first place. He thought the Darkness had taken him for
good. It shared no memories with him this time. He waited for it to
reclaim him.

Earth magick crept into his body. At first,
he wasn’t sure he really felt something. The element’s touch was
gentle yet persistent, a tickle compared to the tidal wave that
came with his more temperamental magicks. It was moving up his body
like the warmth of the sun gradually emerging from behind a
cloud.

Darkness swallowed him as he dwelt on the
sensations of earth magick. It was quiet in his mind. He didn’t
have to feel pain in this new home of his. The Darkness was free,
and he was at peace.

The earth magick recalled him from the safe
place, refusing to leave him in the Darkness. Decker groaned, once
again in his own body. The invading magick reached his head and
filled it with a vision.

Summer falling from the cliff.

Fresh pain struck him, taking him further
out of the Darkness. It was battling him for control, but the earth
magick slipped between them, buffering him. Decker strained,
wanting to surrender to the Darkness.

The earth began to show him fragments of
what happened this evening: The fire Autumn tried to fight, the
amusement of Darkness as it played with her, what she’d said to
it.

I choose Decker.

He had choked her. He
hurt
her.

Decker went limp at the vision, horrified at
what he’d done after she said those sweet words. Autumn, who
believed someone as undeserving as him was worthy of someone like
her. Hadn’t he told her there were no second chances? And yet,
there she was, willing to risk her life for him while he waited for
it to end. In the vision, she was bleeding with her eyes
glazed.

He couldn’t yet see what happened before she
confronted the Darkness. The idea someone hurt her, though,
infuriated him. Was it the Darkness? Was it
his
Darkness
that made her bleed? Why had she chosen to defy the Dark for
him?

Decker struggled against the earth and the
Darkness, rage filling him at the idea he’d let the Darkness hurt
her.

You cannot be free, if they remain.
Bartholomew’s wise words made him stop.
If you wish the pain
-

The earth shoved a new vision into his mind
before Bartholomew was able to finish. An image of Summer filled
his thoughts, robbing him of breath. She was so beautiful, smart,
gentle and expressive.

Summer is gone. You are not
. Grandpa
Louis told him.

Sorrow filled Decker at the thought of what
he’d lost. She was his other half. Though he hadn’t died with her,
he felt like he did. She’d sated his body and stilled his mind in a
way nothing else did.

Except Autumn, who was different. Sweet,
tough and made wise by her own pain, she’d tried to help him deal
with his from the start. He’d felt it from their first touch; she
belonged to him as much as Summer had. Unlike the other nameless
girls he slept with, Autumn’s kisses were as innocent and addictive
as Summer’s. Autumn touched his soul, made him feel sunshine in a
world that was otherwise dark. He’d wanted to lose himself in her
soothing touch, consume her with his magick and claim her as
his.

He betrayed Summer, if he took that step
towards Autumn, didn’t he?

Confused, torn, Decker wasn’t able to let go
of his guilt. They both believed him to be more than the Darkness
within him. From everything his mother and the other Dark Masters
revealed, there was only one mate intended to be with each Master
of Dark. And yet, he had two.

You will never know peace if you do not
go to the Dark,
Bartholomew raved.
You will hurt her the
same way you did Summer. You will hurt everyone you love.

“If I don’t do something, the Darkness will
hurt her!” he retorted.

If you choose between them, you betray
Summer’s memory,
Bartholomew said.

“I don’t honor Summer by letting someone
else die.”

Struck by the truth of his words, Decker had
a rare moment of mental silence. He heard his own thoughts and
instincts again, stronger than ever. He began to see the path the
Darkness laid out for him. The lies it fed him. He hadn’t been able
to save Summer. He had a chance to save Autumn. At least, he did if
he regained control of his mind and body. The Darkness was going to
kill her – and Beck – otherwise.

Decker pulled at his spirit magick. The
clamor in his mind started again and the Darkness battled him for
control. He fought back.