PLEASE READ THIS EPILOGUE/PROLOGUE AND THE AUTHOR NOTE AFTERWARDS. VERY IMPORTANT!!!
Some wonder how Delilah and Ryland broke apart; how Delilah ended up in Hell and Ryland left for Earth.
Here is the prequel to why Ryland left for Earth and Delilah let him go to begin with.
The following short (very long) chapter was what happened before the first chapter of Boys of the Dark:
Here is how it all began, when Delilah and Ryland were first together back in another world before Delilah broke his heart and he fled to Earth.
(If you've read Sick Bloods, PLEASE REREAD THIS CHAPTER ANYWAY BECAUSE IT IS IMPORTANT IN THE AUTHOR'S NOTE AT THE END!!!)
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His ears perked at the eerie descend of silence. The crickets faded out as the whistle of the wind cut short.
Something was wrong.
Ryland's pulse quickened at every rustle of leaves and groan of the tree shifting. He stretched his neck towards the curtain of leaves that hid them both.
He unwrapped her hands from his waist, the cool air hitting his hot skin as he rose.
"What's wrong?" Delilah's voice came out in a coarse whisper.
His ears perked beyond the glowing willow tree they laid under and towards the northwest side of the mountain. His back snapped upright.
"Ryland!" she called, but he pushed off the ground, his heels already thumping against the grass. He moved the curtain of purple, glowing leaves aside, and sunlight spilled across Delilah's face.
She used her hand to shield her eyes.
"Ryland," she repeated, voice strung on a sudden urgency. She scrambled up, tangling her feet in the sweater laying by her dress. She scooped it up, tugging it over her head as she tripped after him. "What are you doing?!"
She pushed aside the swaying vines, and saw him stand still on the top of their mountain, spreading his gaze throughout the other mountains before them. His senses tingled on the edge.
It was always sunny in the mountains—that was why they fled to The Land of the Lost Children; Ryland's people were much friendlier than the demons. But today, darkness consumed all edges of the land, clouds absorbing its natural, glowing warmth.
"It's nothing! Can you just come back?" Delilah spoke.
She grabbed his wrist, it stiff between her fingers and she quickly placed a hand on his chest. She pinched her fingers between his chin, forcing him to look down at her. "The hunters told me they were going to be in the north. It's probably them."
The defiance in his eyes told her enough. Ryland was the type of creature to follow the gut feeling rather than the outsiders. Delilah once found it to be one of his many attractive traits—now she hated it the most.
"Hunters can't move mountains like that." He looked out again at the dark skies. "What if it's the Legend?"
She clutched tighter on his chin. "I thought you said the Legend was a myth. Beasts like that don't exist anymore."
He opened his mouth to deny her assumptions and say some something stupid like, "Stay here" or "I'll be back."
But the canon going off was enough to capture both their attentions.
He broke out into a sprint down the hill, his white hair whipping back over his head. The wind cut into Delilah's pleas to return, and she quickly ran after him, her button down still open as it flapped behind her.
He removed the golden pocket traveller from his waistband—a privilege tool for any solider of the Lost Children and threw it out, the black warp opening enough for a single person.
He disappeared through, and just as it was closing, Delilah leaped through as well, feeling it snip off a piece of her brown hair as it sucked shut.
Ryland swiftly landed on his feet and kept running as Delilah stumbled her way into their new location. She hardly ever pocket travelled with Ryland. Mud flew from the soles of her feet as she chased him down another hill.
An explosion went off and Ryland stumbled, Delilah reaching out in time to grab his hand. "Ryland!" She yanked him back. "Can you tell me what's going on?!"
He stared at her, refusing to say anything. She knew that look too. She let go and he kept running.
Confused shouts were thrown to the sky, different languages and harsh accents tossed into what once was a defenceless village of Lost Children, and was now a colosseum: Above in the heavens, the Almighty Gods sat and cheered on their soft, cloud-made seats, and below, The Lost Children and Delilah's kind, the demons of Darkness, were battling their way to the death.
She gently cupped her throat, the thick, musty layer of humidity clinging to her lungs.
A cold drop hit her brows, and she looked up, a slow rain descending into a harsher fall. Drops hanged onto her lashes before rolling down her cheeks and she quickly wiped the back of her hand across her face.
The Almighty Gods were preparing themselves; ready to use the weather to wash away the blood into the soil. They probably see it as fertilizer, she thought.
"You told me the demons were attacking two moons from today!" Ryland cried out to her.
"That's what the hunters told me!" she replied.
Both of them stopped half way down the hill, watching the horizon line just beyond the village. The dots increased in numbers, then grew into silhouettes tall as trees.
"The demons," whispered Ryland.
Their scaly footsteps shook the mountains as they moved like a pack across the forest.
There was no formation, no line; they were to attack wildly and sporadically. Like true beasts. War clubs the size of human bodies swung at their hips, and tusks that belonged to mammoths and sabretooths gleamed like their hungry, black eyes.
"Abaddon," whispered Delilah.
Oh, how long it is has been since she spoke of that name. The Prince of Darkness; the leader of demons. They were invading the last village of the Lost Children, to destroy their kind at last.
Ryland gazed out to his village, the pained cries from Lost Children soldiers and shrieks of demons brought the rain harder. Flames devoured the outer huts first, licking up running flesh that dared to rush back in for trapped loved ones.
"Ryland, if you take another step towards that battle field—Ryland!"
She sped after him, a hut exploding to her right and she flinched, burnt straw falling in her hair. Smelling the rich scent of blood was like cracking open a new addiction: one she refused to pick up again. Delilah had made sure to bury that old life forever.
She sniffed and harshly wiped her nose, running again. Mud flew up from the bottom of Ryland's sandals, splattering across his bottom side as he rushed towards a hut with a closed door.
"Don't go into that house!" Delilah shouted.
"There's children in there!" he answered back.
"No there isn't!" she exclaimed. "It's a trap!" An old tactic the demons used since the ancestor days.
But he didn't hear a word she said as his white hair disappeared through the door.
Delilah ran after him, guilt ripping her insides. She grabbed the sword laying within a puddle and it suddenly felt weightless in her hand.
She shoved her shoulder up against the door and pushed herself forward. Reflected in the eyes of Ryland was not a huddled group of fearful children, but was the silver blade of a demon.
Delilah shoved Ryland over, the blade just brushing her arm as they crashed into a table.
The wood splintered and snapped under their weight, a grunt leaving Ryland's lips.
Delilah rolled off of him and leaped to her feet, driving a knife into the demon's back. Its shout fuelled the adrenaline and she retracted the saturated weapon to dodge one fist to the right and swooped below another, followed by her leg swerving around, clipping its temple.
She flipped the other end of the sword toward Ryland. "C'mon."
His eyes widened and he quickly climbed to his feet, grabbing the sword. "You told me you didn't believe in violence," he said. "Since when do you fight?"
"Now isn't the time for questions," Delilah answered sternly. He opened his mouth and she turned away, getting out of the hut before his words cut deeper into her past. She never felt so relieved for the rain that hid her tears. He didn't notice the scales appearing up her trembling hands, either.
"We have to leave!" Delilah pleaded.
He turned, eyes full of fury. "I can't leave my soldiers, let alone my people!"
"This town will be destroyed."
"How do you know that?"
She didn't answer.
"Where are you going?!" she sputtered as he ran deeper into the battle.
It was a ruthless collision between the Lost Children and the first line of demons.
Demon tusks yanked, drilling into chests and through hips. Beasts tore apart the wings of the Lost Children, bodies dismembered and smashed, leaving the wooden clubs wet with flesh. Screams fuelled the storm, bolts of electricity igniting the sky.
Necks slitting, muscles torn apart, bones popping out of skin. Thunder pounded against the clouds in encouragement.
She spotted a demon soldier approaching Ryland from his blind side and ran, slashing her sword across his leg. He fell forward, stumbling to one knee.
"Legend? Is that you?" the demon whispered, voice laced with shock and betrayal.
"I'm sorry," she whispered back and swept her blade across his neck.
She heard the whistle of an arrow and ducked, sweeping her leg across to knock a demon off his feet. She drove her sword through its head and twisted it, hearing the tear of pink flesh and tissue before slipping it out.
"Ryland! It's about time you help us!" one of the Lost Children soldiers spoke with a bitter laugh. Ryland responded with a short nod before his friend disappeared around a hut.
"We must protect my town," Ryland told Delilah and swung his sword, catching the head of another. He looked over to her, asking if she was on his side.
Delilah buried the denial in her chest and nodded. "Together forever," she repeated—the two words they promised when he gave her his engagement gift.
A white bolt pierced the grey skies, the thunder crying out in what sounded like pain.
As rain poured down, the number of demons grew. But the power between Ryland and Delilah grew bigger as the two used each other's strength to fight harder.
Back to back, sword fighting alongside silver and steel. They flowed in one motion, bodies dipping and curving around quick silver. Movements fluid. Translucent. Following after one another's attack, a stream of blades and claws running through demon limbs and throats.
All in their path would never see the day.
The Almighty Gods screamed in joy, thunder rolling like the laughter in their bellies.
Then two thick boots made of demon skin rested in their path.
"Delilah!" said a voice as a hand grabbed her shoulder.
She nearly took it off with a swipe of a blade, but a familiar voice sent her still. Ryland raised his weapon, but she put a hand on his arm. "You—you came back!" His demon eyes gleamed with a different brilliance, the smile carved into cheeks real this time.
"Came back?" Ryland snapped his gaze to Delilah. "You're part of the demon army?"
She lowered her sword. "I used to be."
"She went rogue centuries ago," the demon answered in awe.
"Captain," Delilah said with a bow.
"Pleasure is all mine," Captain said, flipping his cape over his shoulder.
"You worked for my enemies—the demons who slaughtered my people?" Ryland exasperated. She opened her mouth, but he fired another question. "Why didn't you tell me?!"
"For a very good reason." She turned towards Ryland, hair slicked back in blood and rain. "Trust me."
"Trusting you is the last thing I want to do right now."
Captain slung his arm around her, not even caring about the war. "It's good to have you back."
Ryland pointed his sword towards Delilah. "You." His eyes gleamed in horror and rage, meshing his face into scrunched brows and tight lines. "You're fighting with the demons?!"
Hurt flashed over her face. "No. I never wanted to come to the battle field. You ran into the war and I had no choice but to chase after you! You need to get out of here Ryland! It's not safe on the field."
"You're not safe here either! You told me you've never fought a day in your life!"
"Ryland—"
"I was born a solider. And I'm not leaving my people until this battle is over!" He paused. "The hunters told you the war was happening today. You purposefully brought me to the mountains so I wouldn't have to fight." He looked away as if that realization dug deeper into the betrayal.
Body moving faster than her thoughts, she dropped her sword and grabbed his face, thumb stroking under his cheek as it left a smudge of blood. "What can I do to get you to leave this battle?" she whispered.
"I'm not leaving until I know all the Lost Children are safe. This is the last town populated with my people. I can't leave them."
Her heart stung as tears leaked into her eyes. What was wrong with her?
"She's got 'em! The Legend is back!" shouted a demon on the roof of a standing hut. It blew through the horn, signalling the rest of the army and Delilah snatched the spear from the Captain's belt.
She hurled it through the demon's throat, its body flopping down the roof and smack in to the mud.
A nearby demon poked its head around the corner, gaze rested on Delilah and then on the Lost Child beside her; Ryland. "Stop!" she cried out.
She tried to put herself in front of him, but suddenly she loud out a harsh breath and staggered to the side.
Ryland froze as she watched her clutch her stomach. "Captain..." Delilah breathed. "Get Ryland...out of..."
Her skin was radiating heat and the throbbing in her wrists, head and jaw heightened. Suddenly, the pain travelled deeper. Not now, not now, not now. Her chest burned, the inner demon beast raging to surface.
Ryland paled, only hearing of this transformation in myths. "Delilah"—he reached out a useless hand—"Are you alright?"
"Stay away!" She gritted through her teeth and swung her hand to keep him back.
The mixture of sweat and blood dripped off her face and she breathed out hard, her insides throbbing to explode. "Stay..." The words crumbled past her mouth and her knees slid into the mud.
She hunched over, her bones shaking, trying to keep the beast in. "No," she said more to herself and looked up with a twitching smile. "Just leave me here be a fucking hero or something."
"You're not okay."
Her smile twisted into an animalistic snarl. "I need you to leave!"
Ryland advanced a step and she failed to stumble back, his hand both terrifying and suddenly worth ripping apart. "Let me help you."
Captain jerked his head to the side. "What are you doing?!" he screamed at Ryland. "Don't be stupid, boy."
Ryland's eyes sparkled in horrible fascination. "What's wrong with her?"
"If the Legend is right, and you are worth saving, I suggest you run."
"She's not the Legend." Ryland refused to believe it and he shrugged off Captain's hand. "And I can't leave her! She's hurt!"
"She's hurt beyond repair. You can't save her now."
Drenching in her sweat, Delilah's voice was meant to come out soft, but scratched out as a raspy breath. "Captain. No one...can see...I'm trying..."
"I know," Captain said, the sudden stress raising his voice to a high pitch. He whirled back to Ryland who kept his feed rooted, still too close. "No one else has seen her beast form in over centuries. She'd like to keep it that way. Leave! You being here is stressing her out! Anxiety will make her worse."
Ryland approached Delilah and softly spoke, "Me?"
"Yes!" Captain answered. "The Legend wants you to leave! Now leave!"
Delilah's gaze steered clear of Ryland and hand falling in hole made from the imprint of her fist. "Stop!"
Her muscles shrunk, grew and then shrunk back; skin stretched and pulled, molding onto the bone.
"Delilah," Ryland said and her hearing intensified.
She shrieked, covering her ears and tried shaking his voice off, her head thrashing side to side. But the sound of her name kept bouncing around in her mind and she barely heard his next words. "I can help."
"I said go!"
"I can't," Ryland spoke.
Her body a prison, the Legend shook the bars and she could already hearing them breaking. Heaving in large gulps of air, she put her hands on her knees and felt her claws digging into her kneecaps. "Leave me alone!"
Her eyes emptied into the blackest pits of darkness.
Captain stumbled into the mud. "Run, boy! Run!" He removed his cape and draped it over Delilah. "The demons mustn't see her transform! Abaddon will want to capture her again like he tried to centuries ago."
Ryland whipped his head around, madness in his confused eyes. "What are you talking about?! Delilah isn't the monster!"
But it was too late. The demons rushed around, not paying much attention to the captain and the lump under the sheet. They gripped onto Ryland, throwing chains over his neck and hip.
"No!" gurgled Ryland, words being choked in his throat.
He tossed and turned, the metal shacks tightening.
"The last Lost Child," rumbled Abaddon under a cloak. Vines as dark as his soul wrapped around his horns, a tight, burnt layer of skin tugging over his rust coloured bones. Towering over all creatures, his sharp hooves approached Ryland, body heavy of sins and deep-rooted anger. "Finally. We've found you. How does it feel to be the final one? The final descent of the Lost Children?"
"No," Delilah quietly let out.
"Shut up!" Captain hissed and slid beside Delilah, careful not to make contact with her trembling body. "Let them take him. It's not worth it. You can't afford revealing yourself."
Pebbles started rattling and puddles began shaking. Her spine curved and then snapped straight back. Captain fell on his back in surprise.
"Are you ready to die, Lost Child?" Abaddon announced. The demons pulled tighter on the shackles.
The big axe dragged across the dirt in Abaddon's hand, paving a groove through the mud. He halted in front of the twisting Ryland.
She heard the clouds stirring faster above her ears. The lanterns hanging along ruined streets flickered on and off, flames lighting and then smoking off.
"Listen to me," Captain told Delilah in a small voice, defeat finally emerging. "Let the Legend loose. The more you fight it, the more you hurt yourself."
Delilah crouched, the beast triggering every pressure point to keep her down. The ground shook under her palms and knees. Her claws ran through the dirt, the scrap of indestructible bone carving old symbols of war into the mud. One of the demons touched their ears to reveal blood and scrambled back in horror.
"Victory is now ours!" Abaddon brought up the axe.
Delilah screamed and heard her bones snap and click into place, tugging her skin to fit against the newly formed creases.
"Never," Ryland whispered.
His voice knocked off Delilah's balance and the Legend's world spilled open. The darkness flooded in, and she gasped before it swallowed her whole.
Captain cast aworried look at Ryland. "What have you done?"
The Legend sucked the oxygen out of her lungs and her neck cracked backwards. Skin peeled off, exposing midnight blue scales and the blackest fur.
Her lips opened and released a beastly roar followed by a choir of screams; reverberating through the skies as it struck everyone's hearts with a bolt of fear.
A devilish smile carved on Delilah's lips and her gaze snapped to the first thing she wanted to destroy.
She leaped onto the demon holding the chains around Ryland's neck and wrapped her legs around its scaly neck and cracked it with a twist.
The shackles fell off of Ryland's neck and he gasped, collapsing to his knees.
Delilah landed on two feet, and threw herself to each demon until she dismembered it beneath her. Her blade dance with the sway of her body, sword hungrily taking lives of Abaddon's army.
Bending back to avoid clubs, cutting ankles and leaping for shoulders and dividing winged demon's through the middle.
Sword giving birth to steaming black blood that pushed out of limp, flimsy skin.
She crushed a demon skull under her boot, suppressing the itch to take pleasure in the crunching sound. Soon, the last few body pieces flopped by her feet as she stepped into a pool of bubbling black blood that traumatized any victims feasting their eyes on this savageness.
An eerie silence forced Delilah to pause, blood clinging to her fur and stuck between the grooves of her scales. She heavily breathed through her nose, staring down the final demon left: Abaddon.
She knocked the axe out of the Abaddon's hand with her swinging leg, and latched onto his shoulders, slamming his body down. She heard his head crack back against the ground, and his scaly body tremble under her hands as his gleaming nails clawed for her throat.
She growled and his anger merged into fear.
His prayers were now screaming in her mind and she hissed, the useless pleads to the Almighty Gods aggravating.
His weak gaze failed to meet her eyes and he hissed, "W-Who are you?"
But once stared into his piercing, black, diamond shaped eyes, the shimmer of evil forces that were far greater than her own unfolded the rest of fate.
The Legend didn't like forces more powerful than it.
Her beastly spirit was unleashed.
Abruptly, his heart pumped faster under her hands. He felt the spirit too. His black eyes bulged with realization and he gasped, "No...no...not you."
She lowered to his face, inhaling the smell of death. It was near. As she approached, his filthy demon pleas heightened, wails of lying promises irritating her ears.
He shook his head like a maniac, forcing himself not to believe the truth. The truth all beings of the Universe feared. "It-it can't be. The Legend left us centuries ago. You're not real."
She flashed a wicked grin, inherited from the other Legends before her. Her voice shrunk to a coarse whisper. "Sorry baby, but I'm as real as it gets."
She threw her arm back, and crushed her fist down on his skull, knuckles penetrating then cracking the bone into millions of splinters.
She swung her claws across and scraped out what was left of the Abaddon's face.
Black blood spilled across her fur and pooled around her feet. Claws curved into talons and they—joined with fangs—hacked on warm neck and stomach. Spitting mouthful of throat and slurping on bile. Tearing. Biting. Ripping. Savaging until there was nothing but empty, cracked bones and twitching meat.
The storm cried out in triumph, thunder cackling and white lightning cutting the sky in half.
Knees bent and soaked in a sea of black blood, there was a rumble in the pit of her stomach. It bubbled in her throat, and she threw up a beastly scream, drowning out the pounding rain.
Her face was to the sky, wet hair shaken out of its bands and dangling back, surrendering herself to the darkness.
The skies cried out in return.
The violent rage left the town, kidnapping the leftover cries of the wounded and leaving with soft rain.
Silence descended, drops slowing down as if the curtain of rain fell slowly now, closing the horror show.
Her chest lifted and fell. Lifted and fell. Kneeling in the blood puddle.
Then a snarl rumbled in the back of her throat, trembling through the ground and nearby bodies. Hind legs lowered to spring, eyes shimmering a starry night black.
Ryland made an abrupt step forward and her jaw widened as it was ready to snap. Rushes of energy swirled around her body, pumping heat and hunger through her chest.
He extended a hand. "Delilah. Don't."
The energy flow cracked and the world stilled, Ryland's stare breaking away the dark energy. The Legend roared inside her and she felt her knees hit the mud, palms next, eyes furiously glowing.
The feared eyes of Ryland sent her shoulders rotating, bones moving in reverse.
Her fur eased back into her skin, scales slipping under her flesh along with the remains of the energy. She felt her soul being ripped into two, separating demon and beast.
The warm energy gluing them together faded and her fingers tingled and flexed. Nails replaced claws; the dark power crawling into its cellar and leaving Delilah dry of dark energy.
White lights flashed before her eyes as they shrunk into a normal brown colour.
The beastly growl and demon scream merged into a mirror shattering pitch that sent Ryland back.
The other world was sewn shut and her lungs found air again, her breath coming in short gasps. Then everything was silent as she was left cold and shivering on the ground.
The captain moved first, returning to her side with a look mixed with shock, relief and horror. She heaved another breath and dragged herself to sit up, legs too wobbly to stand.
She reached for her voice. "Ryland," she croaked.
He stumbled back, boot splashing into the puddle.
"Ryland."
"Who...who are you?" he said.
"Don't be like that. It's me."
He shook his head. "No. You should've told me you were the Legend."
"You wouldn't have treated me the same."
"I would so." But even he knew he was lying. "Why should I believe you? How do I know you weren't lying this whole time—about us, just to get closer to me and the Lost Children?"
"Because for the first time, when I saw you looking at me, the reflection in your eyes wasn't a monster. It was a normal, kind being. You see the real Delilah who has a heart bigger than she thought was possible and a smile that she thought she'd never see again."
He swallowed hard. "Maybe you should look again." She slowly glimpsed up to see her reflection in the eyes of Ryland. Blood caked her face, dribbling down her lips. "Because I don't see that beautiful being. I see a liar. A monster even darker than Abaddon. A beast."
He pushed Delilah offand disappeared into the shadows.
***
Ryland pushed aside the tent doors. "You didn't say goodbye."
Her heart soared at the sound of his voice, only to fall harder and break into a thousand pieces. She turned, and her knees nearly gave out once she realized he was here.
"What are you doing?" she said. Was he going to forgive her? A spark ignited in her chest, but even that burned out as soon as the anger came raining in. Did Ryland know she took Abaddon's place as ruler of Darkness and now governed what was left of the demons? Should she tell him she planned on taking the demons to the farthest, darkest parts of the universe where they could do no harm?
Where she could do no harm, she thought.
Delilah clenched her fists, wanting to say so many things. A glare was enough for now.
"You didn't say goodbye," he repeated, not answering her question.
"Ryland," she said.
His back stiffened at the sound of her voice. "I came to say goodbye."
No apology. No sorrow. Perhaps pain—but maybe it was just exhaustion.
"Then you're wasting your time." She picked the bag off the ground and hiked it on her shoulder. She was always alone. Him leaving her was no surprise. Captain called her name from outside the tent, the engine of the truck gurgling and chugging before dying out. It was time to go. The demons had already scavenged what was left of the village of the Lost Children before moving on. Delilah earlier demanded her and the rest of the demons would depart as soon as possible.
"Don't be like that," said Ryland.
Anger ripped through her, but she remained calm, instead stepping toward him slowly until they were both in front of each other—hands by their own sides, faces breathes apart. "So what are you going to do?
"Find another home. Perhaps there are still some Lost Children in the mountains." He cleared this throat. "You can certainly handle yourself. You don't need me."
Her voice was thin as ice, Ryland's advancing steps sending cracks through her throat. "What if I need you now?" she croaked.
He shook his head. "You don't. Your values clearly don't involve me nor would I want to be involved in any of them." He stared out the tent window, into the darkness of the night; it reached out to him more than Delilah's open hands. "I thought you'd understand."
"Ryland."
He glanced back at Delilah as his words drove into her like a knife coated with his blood.
"You can find me when you need to," he finished. "You'll know where I'll be."
They both knew he was just saying that. Ryland was a Lost Boy—she could never find him unless he wanted to the found.
IMPORTANT AUTHOR NOTE AFTERWARDS!!!