House of Darkyn

Chapter 1

Blythe

I broke through the trees and stopped. Bile rose in my throat as I looked around in horror. My entire herd was… massacred. Those left alive were either barely hanging on or still trying to fight back.

I could see that these were humans attacking us. There was no mistaking them. The ugliest creatures in existence were human; filled with such hate. Such anger and violence. The things they did were truly despicable.

And this was coming from someone who knew that there were literal monsters trying to kill off other monsters.

A scream made my blood freeze and I spun around to see our young were in chains. Some of them had shifted. Others weren’t so lucky. The older members of the herd fought to get close to them. To free them. To tell them to run and don’t stop. Don’t look back.

There were fires burning. My sister’s corpse was cooked alive, her body still sprawled over smoldering embers. I couldn’t look away from the grotesque smile on her face where her flesh had pulled away from her bones.

This wasn’t happening. It wasn’t. Things like this happened to other people. These were just horror stories people told. It wasn’t real.

I’d been in such a frozen shock that I hadn’t realized I’d been spotted until there was a man on me and he’d plunged something into my ribs. Magic surged through me. Immediately, I tasted blood as I coughed. I was going to die. Right here and now.

Tears filled my eyes as I stared up at this man. This human murdering me and for what? Why?

He was filled with everything disgusting. The way he sneered at me, with a sick pleasure in his disgusting smile.

A hoof slammed into his head and I literally watched the life leave his body as he sank to the ground, pulling the weapon from my side.

“Go!” my grandfather said, a black beast that stood on his hind legs as he tried to distract everyone from my presence. “Go, Blythe. Run. Don’t look back.”

Tears ran down my cheeks as I watched magic surge through him. Death magic, not his own.

When he hit the ground with a hollow thud, I turned and bolted through the trees. They were behind me. I could hear their footfalls. Their shouts to kill me. To catch me. Not to let me escape.

It was pure adrenaline that kept me moving through the pain that pulsed through my body with every heartbeat. It made my vision shake with every step, and the world shook as a result.

I still ran, the terror of them behind me carried me on.

I tried desperately to call my beast out but… she was stuck. The pain and the magic binded her, keeping her inside me, writhing and screaming in terror.

Keeping to the trees as best I could, hoping to lose them in the dense foliage, I continued to weave and turn. Though keeping my footing became more difficult as the magic spread through me. My breaths weren’t just labored from the run at this point.

When the trees finally gave way, I stumbled on solid ground. How I managed to not fall on my face would forever leave me confused.

“There!”

The shout jolted me, and I took off again. A sudden pain in my side made me sob. With every footfall, it felt like a blade was shoved into the wound again.

Chancing a look down, I nearly vomited. I was covered in blood.

There was a building ahead. Many of them. We were just outside a city or a town center. Just a little further, I pleaded. There had to be help there. I needed to find a monster to help me.

Their footsteps sounded louder now. Every thud shook me. Tears blurred my vision as I stumbled around a building into the street. A car suddenly swerved around me and then their tires screeched on the pavement.

A woman looked at me and shrieked, dodging out of my way.

Chancing a glance back, I looked over my shoulder. There were three men in front of the car that had nearly run me over.

My head spun, and blackness licked at the edges of my vision. One of them looked up, spotting me and pointed with a knife in my direction.

Turning around, I ran again.

Monster. Monster. “Please,” I cried, “I need a monster.”

People moved out of my way, looking at me with horror and fear. It was so hard to keep moving. I couldn’t keep my footing, and I kept stumbling into people, walls and windows. I needed to find someone.

Bile rose again. but this time, it tasted like blood. My next blink was slow. Too slow. When I opened my eyes, I almost ran into a pole. Jerking sideways, I slammed into a parked car hard enough that the alarm went off.

Straining my eyes, I looked around. For anything. Someone. Help of any kind.

And there it was—a glow and a dark spot—as the two energies fought.

Taking my chances, I lunged into the street toward them. Tires squealed. Horns blared. People shouted.

The two warring beacons loomed ahead and finally came into sight. They looked up and spotted me. The one that glowed—an angel—his eyes went wide. I dove for them, but I did so too soon and landed on the ground, skidding to a stop across the pavement at their feet.

“Help,” I said, coughing up blood. “They killed—” I coughed again, the pain in my side seized my lungs and made me gasp for breath.

“Who did they kill?” the dark one asked as he bent low.

“They killed”—both of their faces faded in and out of focus—“everyone.”

Something slammed into the building behind the light and dark angels, but my adrenaline had burned off. The pain inside me became too overwhelming, and the magic coursing through my body finally reached its breaking point.

The world fell away.