The City on the Edge
Thirty-nine

Sebastian climbed shakily to his feet, disoriented from the blast, hacking and wheezing with each breath of the polluted air. His sun-yellow hair had darkened from the flush of sediment in the air, turning him grey. He wiped at his face, but only succeeded in smearing the ash around.

“Are you okay?” Ronnie asked, half-shouting over the ringing in her ears.

He nodded awkwardly, vigorously scrubbing a hand through his hair to dislodge the stray bits of stone and glass that had covered him. Thankfully, it appeared as though his injuries were minimal. Only a few specks of red bled through the dirt streaking his face.

Sebastian froze when he looked at her and the glass she wore in her skin like the embedded jewelry of the elves. “Are you okay?” He reached out for her, his fingers tenderly moving across her skin, afraid to cause further damage.

It didn’t really seem that bad. The cuts barely stung, though his concern was touching. “I’m fine. I just need to pull them out.” Her fingers kept bumping the glass shards, causing a twinge of pain, as she blindly felt around for them on her neck.

“Let me.” He pushed her hand away and set about trying to remove the glass as gently as he could. “I can’t get all of them. They’re too small. Lorna!” he called, waving the witch over.

In an instant, Lorna was at his side, examining Ronnie’s neck with worried eyes. Ronnie traced her eyes over her. Save for a layer of ash that she wore like a second skin, Lorna was unharmed. Not a scratch on her.

Good, Ronnie thought.

“Hold still,” Lorna instructed, raising a hand and hovering it over Ronnie’s neck. Warm magic pulsed in waves, flowing across her skin and seeping into the tiny cuts. Ronnie shivered when the glass dissolved, vanishing from beneath her skin.

Lorna pulled her hand back, the glass shards turned into a swirling dust storm contained in the palm of her hand. She threw the little ball as far as she could, letting it spread and settle over everything in a sheen that reminded Ronnie of sunlight on a fresh snowfall. It did nothing to ease the horrors spilled out into the street.

Another explosion rocked the ground, sending a storm of smoke at them. “Enough of this,” Lorna wheezed, struggling to breath the pollution. Her hands aglow, she whirled them around like she were crafting a whirlpool, turning the falling ash into a snowstorm of white magic. A bubble of clean air swirled around them, keeping the polluted air out. Ronnie inhaled deeply, grateful for her friend’s resourceful quick wit.

Sebastian coughed, emptying his lungs of ash laden air. “Thanks,” he managed to say between each choked exhale.

“You’re welcome.” She took a moment to get her bearings, taking in everything she’d seen before the explosion. “Is this the market?” Lorna asked. It was difficult to see outside of the bubble she’d made as ashes got caught in the whirling winds.

Ronnie nodded. “It’s like they’re razing the entire Edge.”

“What do we do?” Lorna ran fingers through her tangled hair. “What if they won’t stop until they find us?” She gasped sharply, her eyes wide. “What if they went back to our home? What if they take everyone this time? Sloan saw us with Malik. He knows we were there for Anya. Ronnie,” Lorna grasped her arm, digging her nails in, “he knows where we live now!”

Ronnie knew the face of each child in the home was flashing before Lorna’s eyes. She reached up and cupped Lorna’s cheeks, looking right into her eyes. “Don’t panic, Lorna. Malik is there. So are Constance and Hazel. Three incredibly powerful witches. I’m sure they’re fine.”

There was doubt in her voice, she knew, but saying the words out loud seemed to bring Lorna some comfort, the witch relaxing just a little.

Sebastian straightened up. “We need a plan of action. The White Guard is always divided into smaller patrols when dispatched for any mission. If we can find out who’s leading the patrol for this area, then we can-”

Sebastian was suddenly yanked backwards, quick as a bolt of lightning, out of the bubble and into the fog of ash and smoke. Ronnie grabbed at him, too slow, and he vanished from sight. Lorna immediately dropped the bubble. The white magic still flowed through her hands, her veins lit up all the way to her shoulders.

They were surrounded. White guardsmen crowded them in a half-circle, swords clenched tightly in their hands. A large, rounded man with a equally round beard had Sebastian by the scruff of his shirt with one arm pulled painfully behind his back. Ronnie recognized one of the guards as he stepped forward. He had long scratches the crawled up the exposed skin of his neck and stopped just under the jut of his chin. Her claws twitched as if they remembered raking through his skin like scissors cutting through velvet. Judging by his expression, he recognized her too. He rubbed at the still healing wounds.

“Beast,” he hissed at her. “I’ll put you down where you belong.” He looked to the man holding Sebastian. “Get him back to the manor. Captain Sloan will deal with him later.”

“You’re not taking him anywhere,” Ronnie growled, advancing on the man but a sword dropped in front of her, blocking her way, held by a woman who looked at her like she was something to be scraped off the bottom of a boot.

“Don’t worry about him,” the woman sneered. “You won’t be alive long enough to miss him.”

Before she could raise her sword, she flew to side, knocked off her feet by something quick. Ronnie jumped back, surprised. The guards tensed, clearly confused. Another guard went down with a yell. Ronnie caught a flash of red pass by her before another guard fell to the ground. She sighed in relief.

The guard holding Sebastian grunted as something solid hit him, forcing him to stumble back into what was left of his men. Sebastian managed to squirm his way out of the guard’s grasp as a short, dark haired woman suddenly appeared in front of him. With a twist of her body and a swift kick, she sent the guard hurling back several feet. He hit the ground heavily, rolling to a stop and not getting back up.

Sebastian stepped close to Ronnie. “Is that?”

“Ren.” The woman turned, an unhappy look on her face, as if it were a personal burden to her to have to help them out.

“Don’t forget me.” Jack came to a stop next to Ronnie, staring down at her from his impressive height. “Admit it- you’re happy to see me, right?” His fangs somehow managed to remain luminescent in the dark street. The billowing clouds of smoke and ash made the grey skin of two vampires appear much darker.

“If she’s not, I am,” Lorna said. “Thanks.”

“We should leave now,” Ren snapped at Jack. “Before more guards come.” Her black eyes scanned Ronnie up and down. “You don’t have anything, do you? No keys?” She looked at the three of them, and then around at the burned up buildings. “No hellhounds, either. You are useless,” she finished.

“Enough of that,” Jack threw at her. “I didn’t think Liva would just hand over the keys anyway. I was hoping, but honestly, Liva’s always been a wild card. She does what she wants.”

“She did have them,” Ronnie interrupted, pulling the small disc and dark key from the pocket where she’d put it away for safekeeping. “She gave them both to me.” She blanched, recalling the blood and shine of silver behind pale white ribs. “Well, she made me take one out her chest after she coughed up the other. This isn’t even the whole key. It has to be unlocked by a spell and it’s-” with my father “somewhere else.” She tucked the disc back into her pocket.

Jack raised a brow. “She hid them in her body?” When Ronnie nodded, an unamused look on her face, Jack snorted. “Of course she did. That doesn’t surprise me. Like I said, wild card.” He rubbed at his chin. “Getting to the unlocking spell…we’ll have to figure that out.”

Sebastian looked at Ronnie questioningly, silently asking something she didn’t feel like answering.

“Jack. We need to move.” Ren’s sharp tone bit at the man.

“Alright.” He nudged Ronnie with a sharp elbow and motioned for her to follow. Ren stepped in behind him as he ducked behind a building, taking them away from the market. Looks like they were taking the back streets. “Let’s go then. It isn’t safe for you kids to be running around out here. Especially him. You should be fine in the Rust. We set up a safe house for you.”

“You want us to hide?” Ronnie asked, hurrying after him.

“I want you to keep yourselves alive. The Rust is the best place to do so while we decide what we’re going to do with those keys.”

“We can’t hide, we need to get home,” Ronnie argued, Lorna echoing her agreement from behind Sebastian.

“That’s not a good idea, doll. Sloan is tearing up the Edge looking for the three of you. Especially you and him.” He jerked his thumb back to Sebastian. “Out of sight is best right now.”

Ronnie stopped in her tracks, an unmovable wall then the others bumped into her. Jack turned to look at her, exasperation already on his face. “We. Are. Going. Home,” Ronnie said slowly.

Jack leaned down, face inches from hers. “Forget. It. Doll. You three need to hide.”

Sebastian stepped forward, opining his mouth to say something but Ronnie stopped him. She dug the disc out of her pocket and held it up. When Jack made to grab it, she yanked it back. “You can have this after we make sure our family is safe.”

Ren lunged for it but hit a hard wall of Lorna’s white magic. She bounced back, nearly tumbling head over heels down the back street. Jack crossed his arms over his chest, staring down at Ronnie, meeting her angry stare with something akin to amusement, which only served to aggravate her more. He didn’t take her seriously and he wasn’t even bothering to hide it.

“You’re just like your father. Just like Taven. Stubborn as a brick wall.” Jack scrubbed a hand over his chin. “Alright. We’ll go save your band of thieves and then you will go to the Rust and you will hand over both keys.”

Ronnie hadn’t wanted them to begin with. “Fine with me.”

“You cannot be serious.” Ren was back on her feet, dusting of her black coat. “We should not deviate from Alukorra’s instructions. We are to obtain the keys from this shifter and return to her.”

“Like I said,” Ronnie whirled on her, “you can have them later.” Ronnie wasn’t even going to touch on the fact that Alukorra had ordered to them to just take the keys from her after everything she’d gone through to get them. Every time she moved her fingers, she swore she could still feel the warmth of Liva’s blood coating her hand. “We’ve wasted enough time.” Ronnie stepped around Jack.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“The quickest way home is up the main road.”

“It’s also the most exposed. Do you intend to die before making it home?” Ren mocked her.

“I intend to not take forever getting there.” Ronnie tossed over her should as she stepped back out onto the road, Sebastian and Lorna right behind her.

Even though the bulk of the market was distant, the chaotic mess had stretched all the way up the street. The overturned stalls of the market had shed their debris and wares clear up to the residential part of the Edge. Vampires, shifters, and witches alike had been piled, bloody and broken, outside of their ruined homes on the stones amidst their belongings. Their invaders seemed long gone now, having fulfilled their duties to scrubbing the Edge clean of filth. Ronnie heard Sebastian swallow beside her, heavy and loud.

What a contrast, she thought wildly. Her people lying dead on the ground while his people pulled the trigger. She trailed her fingers over the palm of his hand, offering reassurance, asking permission as a wave of feelings she couldn’t decipher swept over her- grief, anger, guilt, loss and longing. The longing to change what he saw in front of him.

Ronnie pulled him along beside her, walking through the carnage carefully, afraid to disturb the dead in their final graves. How many of them had prayed to the old gods and goddesses for safety, only to be answered by a bullet or the cold steel of a sword? She’d never been much of a believer, but she hoped with everything she had that at least these people could be at peace now, however small a comfort it was.

A red demon scuttled by, limping madly in its haste to get to safety with little screeches that Ronnie realized were sounds of pain and panic. It scurried between Ronnie’s legs and she saw that one of its own was missing, spilling fat drops of yellow blood that turned black in the dirt.

The demon ran along the curb of the street toward a sewer grate. It chirped loudly, tapping one of its legs on the metal. Just as Ronnie made to go over and uncover the grate, the metal moved to the side and a head popped up. A vampire, Ronnie saw, surprised. The vampire held out her arms and scooped the demon up carefully before dropping down into the sewer.

Jack came up behind her, noticing what she was watching. “A lot of supernaturals hid in the sewers when the White Guard attacked. They don’t seem to want to go down there with the big demons. Bale has some of his kind running around, looking for survivors. I’ve got some vampires helping down there, too.”

They passed by another cluster of homes. The same homes where Alukorra’s people had attacked Sloan’s patrol and Sebastian had nearly lost his life to a vampire. He squeezed her hand, no doubt remembering the same thing she did. Who would have guessed that by saving one human she’d end up where she stood now? Who could have imagined that this single human, out of every human, would be the one she bonded with? She looked at Sebastian with a small smile, one he returned with just as much light.

Not a bad choice, fate.

“Oh,” Lorna breathed out softly, a tremble in her voice that carried a wave of tears. Ronnie let go of Sebastian and hurried over to her.

“Lorna? What is it-” Ronnie stopped when she saw what it was.

A family of shifters, still cowering against the front of their home. The father had been propped up next to the mother and between them sat their son, Ronnie assumed. The woman’s eyes were still open and afraid. Scrawled over them across the front of their home was the word- beasts.

“Not everyone is lucky enough to get to safety,” Jack said, herding them along the street. “We’d best not linger here.”

But Ronnie didn’t budge. She stood there with her hands clenched tightly, blood dripping around the cuts from her claws. These were shifters. Her people. Killed for nothing more than not being human. Her eyes fell on the little boy, so much like Liam. The front of his shirt was soaked in blood, still oozing from the cut across his throat. Ronnie clenched her eyes shut tightly, willing away the way they burned, before she opened them again. Any death was a tragedy, but the sight of children dead in the street weighed the heaviest on her heart. What would have been worse- this boy seeing his parents die, or the parents forced to watch their child slaughtered before falling to the blade themselves?

“Ronnie,” Sebastian was right beside her, his voice soft and gentle in her ear. “I know how you’re feeling, but Jack is right. It isn’t safe to be out in the open. We’ve lingered for too long. We need to go see your family to safety.”

She shook her head furiously. “You feel what I’m feeling but you don’t understand it.” He means well. “When was the last time you saw humans treated like this? I care about you but you just don’t-” she broke off with a shake of her head. She’d already come across this tragic scene once, how many more were waiting like this in the streets?

She knelt down in front of them, not caring if the blood stained her clothes. With trembling fingers, she reached out and closed the mother’s eyes, just like she’d done for the other family she’d found. Like her son, her throat had opened, deep enough that Ronnie could see the white of her bones. The father had been spared a knife to the neck, instead, his chest had been pulverized, leaving a gaping hole where his heart should have been. What kind of weapons had caused such a wound?

A glint caught her eye, obscenely clean against the backdrop of blood and torn rags. A round silver peace, more terrifying that anything Ronnie had seen thus far. She took the coin from the boy’s lap, where it had been placed carefully, marking its kill. Her thumb smeared it red but she could still make out the elegantly carved letter P.

Ronnie closed her fist around it. This was more than the White Guard looking for Sebastian. This wasn’t just a raid- this was Purity coming to exterminate the Edge.

She held the coin up for everyone to see. Sebastian cast his eyes aside, ashamed. Jack took the coin, rolling it around with his long fingers, a look a calm anger on his face. “Alukorra suspected that there might be more to this raid than just a search.”

“We should have let Nyle finish this one off,” Ren spat, pointing an accusing finger at Sebastian. “He and his people cause nothing but pain.”

“That’s enough, Ren!” Jack ordered in a thundering voice that didn’t match the aloof vampire Ronnie had figured him to be.

Ronnie grabbed Sebastian and Lorna, retreating away from the family on the ground and the two bickering vampires. “We’re leaving. This isn’t just Sloan anymore. This is Purity. And that’s so much worse.”

“We can help,” Jack began but Ren cut him off.

“We can do more here,” she interjected, “helping the rest of these people get to safety.”

Ronnie nodded her agreement. “We’re going home. We’re going to save our family.”

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