In The Dark Of Night

Chapter Twenty Four - Internal

Slowly, she got to her feet. 

"Where are -"

"It would have been better if you'd stayed home, little Fae. You know that, right?" Malyka tilted her head at Wynella, her orbs flashing slightly. "You being here, so close to Cale - it complicates things."

"Things are already complicated." Wynella tried to keep her voice calm, trying to ignore the niggling little questions Malyka's statement had produced. 

"That they are." Malyka sighed. 

And then she was bending down, reaching out to something perched on the floor. 

Peering down, Wynella spotted the same cat-dog animal that she'd seen in her very brief stay at Jamie's Academy, curled up at Malyka's feet, purring as the woman stroked its head. 

"If you don't mind, I'd like to -" 

"He's grown up." Malyka's face turned back up, onto Wynella's face. "I'm the one who found him, you know. Five years old. Not a single tear. Even when the smell of the rotting children filled the entire room. He never even whimpered." 

"I don't understand why -"

"You cried though. It was your cries that led me into that room." 

Wynella felt her heart stop - for a good five seconds. Her nerves tingled. Her lips parted and closed and parted again. Her eyes grew wide.

"What?" 

"You squalled like the babe you were. Your sister too. You both did. You two cried your eyes out - but he never shed a tear. I should have known something was wrong then." Malyka shook her head, waves of blond hair falling into her face. "But all I cared about was Damien. Can you blame me - he was the cause of all of it." 

"I... Abella... We were...?" Wynella couldn't even begin to fathom it. "I knew Cale?" 

The feelings of familiarity when she'd first met him... The knowledge that maybe, just maybe, she'd seen this gorgeous man before but had somehow forgotten it... Was this why?

"You'd been kept separate, prior to that moment. Two Fae babes, one Hunter babe, a Werewolf and a Vamp - they died almost right away - and a Warlock child, who'd coughed himself to death." Malyka gave a hard smile. "All experiments beneath Damien Alcork's scalpel." 

"Wh-what?" Wynella's heart hammered in her chest. "N... no... I would remember... I would have remembered." 

"Would you? And that's not even all of it, baby girl. We haven't even scratched the surface." Malyka's smile became concrete. "You all were just the beginning. And now? Now, we're all screwed... Because we couldn't get him that night... Because we were too slow... And too lenient." Her eyes glinted as they raked over Wynella's body. "So pretty. Just like your twin. I should have wrung your necks before the Queen of Fae took you both. But Damien knew we wouldn't... knew we wouldn't kill the children... And now we're all screwed." 

She straightened up, stretching a little, before stalking across the room, brushing past the Fae girl who'd grown as still as stone to peer out the window. "Have you walked down these streets yet? Taken a look at your precious Abnormal hideouts? Have you been back home, Fae? Everything's either gone or being destroyed. Everything, and everyone. Damien's winning out there. The Riots have started again." 

"Oh My God..." Wynella stumbled back, her feet hitting the back of the chair, forcing her to sit. 

She'd heard horror stories about The Riots from the Queen of Fae herself, stories of pillaging and murders and rapes and worse - stories that made even the Queen grow weepy and fearful.