Page 34 of In the Dark

“Hey, back off, buddy. I’m fine.” Karsia peered off into the distance and bit her lip, keeping the rest of her thoughts to herself. “I’ve got this covered. It’s good.” Understanding blossomed then. “I know where I need to go.”

“If you’re talking about coming inside the house and us sitting down and dealing with this like rational adults, then yes. That’s exactly where you need to go. If not, then—”

She smacked both hands in the middle of his chest and sent him flying. He slammed into a nearby maple, knocking his head against a large knot in the trunk. Stunned, Morgan watched through double vision as Karsia took off at a run.

**

Once again, for the second time in as many days, Karsia pushed her body to its limit and sprinted through the snow. Ice-cold air pumped in and out of her lungs and froze her from the inside. The evil taint gave her a certain immunity, an inhuman strength.

She hardly felt a thing.

Her thoughts urged her forward until her gaze narrowed to a single point. Her lips curved high and brows drew low. Dark pleasure plunged into her heart sharp as a sword.

She ran the considerable distance between Lake Forest and downtown Chicago with little effort. The kind of sweat-less stroll she used to take through a grocery store, this time down frozen sidewalks, past houses and businesses closed due to weather.

Faster, she urged. Approaching the one street she sought above the rest. Bentley Lane. Location of the Great Lakes Claddium.

She ran and dreamed of the things she would do to the responsible parties. Lawns and gardens turned to highway and concrete, glass and steel. With her new power, Karsia had the ability to get the Claddium members to turn on each other, to use their own magic against them and watch light warp to dark. Watch blood spatter and the strong turn weak when they rounded on each other like animals. And she would enjoy making them pay.

It was past time for punishment.

A decisive act. Wasn’t it better this way? To face their threat directly instead of the runaround bullshit games Aisanna and Astix had played before? Wasn’t it more efficient to confront Orestes directly and make him pay, instead of cowering in a cabin behind layers of wards?

They should thank her.

One clear purpose beat like blood through her veins: She would teach them all a lesson and kill several birds with one stone. Revenge for her mother, a reprieve for Aisanna—who had been running from the Claddium since Darkness forced her to attack two of their more prominent members—the release of Zenon, and a clear path for the Harbinger witch without politics getting in the way.

Orestes Voltaire had hunted her family and wreaked havoc with their lives. If Karsia herself hadn’t been so isolated, they would have come after her as well. She was certain of it.

The Claddium. She scoffed. Less a governing body and more a vehicle for personal vendetta. What happened when someone in power went rogue? They must be put down.

Her fingernails bit into the sensitive skin of her palms as she pumped her arms. Atonement must be made for the spilled blood. The credo of her magic meant she would do no harm. But the light had turned its back on her and left her no other option.

Karsia quickened her pace as soon as she saw the booming metropolis looming ahead. She stopped only to survey the scene, the cars winding along busy roads, the hum and bustle of city life.

At once the shadow inside of her didn’t seem quite so much of a burden. It was a gift. It was the perfect answer to their predicament. Why hadn’t she seen it before? Darkness hadn’t cursed her. It had given her access to the right path. Knowledge on how to use her power to protect her family and be gone by the vernal equinox. It was perfect.

She grinned, baring teeth. “Ready or not, assholes, here I come.”

Hitching her jacket collar up to her chin, Karsia bolted along the sidewalks and pushed aside anyone standing in her way. It didn’t take long to reach the building housing the “best and brightest of the magical community.” What a crock of shit. She knew what those people really were. She’d been inside the building with her sisters, traversing the hallways in search of answers. The Claddium elemental heads were nothing but leeches and snakes and creepy-crawly things people hated. They were out for their own gain. Not a good soul could be found behind those walls, their hearts beaten out of them from years of bureaucracy.

Karsia stood a few dozen feet from the utilitarian façade and prepared to do her worst.

There were cars parked along the block, although traffic was thinner in that part of the city. Few random passersby roamed the streets. This area belonged to a hub of magic users, the elementals working together to protect their secrets. Somewhere behind the charm showing the outside world bricks and mortar, behind old warehouse windows dirtied by the years, were the responsible parties.

Karsia stepped into the middle of the street and held out a hand, calling her new power to the forefront. Instead of the usual warmth she felt when accessing her personal magic, there was nothing but burning cold.

A car heading toward her honked and she pushed it away with a thought. A wave of energy lifted the vehicle, flung it onto the sidewalk. Glass shattered when the car slammed into a storefront in a shower of sparks. The horn let out a last strangled hoot when wires snapped and a dust cloud rose into the air.

There was nothing but the abyss inside of her. The brutal necessity of action. The farther she traveled from her family, the more violently she seethed.

“You bastards,” Karsia called, her voice amplified. “Come and face me. Pay for what you’ve done! Orestes Voltaire, I call you out.”

Clouds brewed overhead until they blotted out the light of the sun. With the snap of her fingers, thunder clapped, the sound of it beating inside her head.

Her mother was lying in a hospital bed like a stunned animal in a slaughterhouse. And for what? For nothing. There was no righteousness there. No one acting in the interest of the common good. Only gluttony and an insatiable desire for more. A vindictive step taken against the people assumed to have it.

“I said come out and face me!” Putting the taunt forth, Karsia had no doubt about the follow-through. If her opposition had the guts to respond.

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