ONE YEAR EARLIER . . .

~~~~

Light slices through the slats of the blinds.

Scorching.

Fierce.

Devouring.

The heat penetrates every pore of my skin, forcing droplets to pool at the back of my neck and under my armpits. The air in the apartment is stifling and adds to the sweat fest on my body; I can't wait for nightfall. Daylight is suffocating.

With a glance at my watch, I pull one of the blinds up, just for the full force of the sun to hit my face. I blink against the enemy until the blurry vision clears from my eyes. The doors to the building across the street have opened and dozens of government workers spill out. Relaxed faces, laughter; the energy of people enjoying life. My gaze gets stuck on a pretty woman with a gorgeous complexion and curves to die for. The elegant cream skirt of her business suit does little to hide her long legs. My heart jumps and for a breath, my stomach churns with excitement. Then the pain cuts through me like a knife. It's as destructive as the light, though I'm unable to tear my eyes off her.

"Fuck, Carter, close the blinds."

I ignore my best friend's demand.

"Carter!"

"Leave him. He's stalking his ex." Dori's voice drips with venom. As a witness to my daily ritual, she has come to despise Harper.

"Bro, you need to move on. It has been what . . . two years since you broke up?"

Best friend or not, I about had it with unsolicited advice. "Mind your own business, Faolán."

Harper is in animated conversation with a co-worker; I prick my ears to pick up the words, but the distance and the thick window glass make it impossible.

"Carter, did you just use magic?" Concern fills the small space around the kitchen table.

I glare at Dori with a frown. "No."

"C'mon, I sensed it."

Harper disappears around the corner. I lower the blinds and close the slats to fully block out the light. When I turn toward the table, two sets of reproaching eyes cut into me.

I click my tongue. "So what if I used magic? It wasn't long enough to attract attention."

"You don't know that. The devices that MAG uses are becoming more and more sophisticated. You shouldn't use magic, period, especially not in the city."

I dismiss Dori's worry with a wave of my hand. As usual, she's exaggerating. We are on the 8th floor of a high-rise. Even if the MAGs picked up a magical trace, they could never pinpoint the location.

Faolán wipes the sweat off his brows with his shirt sleeve. "I can't stand the heat."

Rolling my eyes, I drop onto the chair across from him. He's such a whiner. "It's almost nightfall."

"Not for a few hours."

"No one forced you to come to the city and live with us."

"Pfft, as if I had a choice. The woods are no longer safe, even for us shape shifters. MAG agents are everywhere."

I pinch the bridge of my nose. He has a point, though I have no clue what to do about it.

"Wouldn't it be magnificent if we killed the sunlight." Dori clanks the ice cubes in her lemonade glass. A mischievous smile curls her lips. "Imagine endless darkness. No light, no heat, and the humans would shit themselves. It would be epic."

Faolán nods. "I'd love it if it stayed night forever."

I glare at them. "You guys are morons. Who would be powerful enough to plunge the world into never-ending darkness?"

"I bet you could do it, Carter."

I shake my head. "That would require dark magic."

"So?" Dori shrugs. "With the way humans have been hunting us and locking us up, we are way past the ancient scripts that prohibit dark magic."

She has a point.

"Besides, our ancestors never prohibited dark magic but only warned of the consequences," Faolán adds.

Another good point.

"So could you do it?" The mischief has spread to Dori's eyes. "Could you kill the sun?"

A tempting challenge. "Let's just say, with the right spellbook, it's not impossible."

"A book like the heirloom you keep hidden in your closet."

Exactly. "Spells like these haven't been performed in hundreds of years and haven't been practiced. Even if I tried, I'd likely not succeed."

"But you could—"

Loud pounding from down the hallway cuts Dori's sentence short.

"MAG, open up!"

Dori's eyes widen. "Crap, they are after us. What are we gonna do?"

"Let's not panic." Jumping to my feet, I usher them into the corner behind the fridge and rest my finger on my lips. "Not a sound." If MAG is here to arrest someone, it should be me. I was the one using magic.

Tiptoeing over to the apartment door, I crack it open just wide enough to peek outside. A group of MAG agents in full gear work their way down the corridor, checking papers. I quietly close the door and steel myself for the inevitable. My magic is strong enough to kill every single cop on this floor, but that would elevate Dori, Faolán, and me to the top of their most-wanted list. We'd have to go into hiding, and with more and more mages turning into snitches to save themselves, it would only be a matter of time before we are caught. We could try the fire escape . . . or pretend not to be home and hope they won't break down the door.

A sudden shout rips me from my scheming.

"Stop, or we'll shoot!"

Before I can even blink, machine gun fire drums in my ears. Disregarding Dori's terrified face, I tear the door open and step into the hallway. One of the neighbors lies close to the elevator, face down and arms sprawled as if raised before he dropped, his back perforated by bullets. Dark-yellow blood seeps into the carpet, a dead giveaway that he was a magical being.

My hands ball to fists. Every fiber of my body demands revenge; my morals plead for me to stop being a coward and end the suffering of my brothers and sisters. I could obliterate this whole damn city with the right spell.

A MAG agent holsters his gun. "Sir, you need to step back into your apartment. There's nothing here to see."

Oh, there is plenty to see, like killing an unarmed mage in cold blood.

The words don't make it past my lips, even though they coat my mouth like the remains of a bitter pill I refuse swallow.

Think of Dori and Faolán.

If I argue with the agent, I'd place them in danger.

Anger rolls in my chest.

Never-ending darkness is what these motherfuckers deserve.

I spin around and step back into the apartment, barely able to refrain myself from slamming the door. Rage blurs my vision.

"Carter, are you okay?"

Dori's words bounce off me. I walk into my bedroom; this time, I bang the door. The vibrating wood places a period at the end of a lesson I finally learned. Dropping onto the bed, I wipe through my face.

Enough is enough.

For the longest time, I eye the closet. The spellbook tempts me like an itch. Getting up, I rummage through the shelves until I find the weathered diary at the bottom underneath an old frisbee. I flip through the pages to find the spell. My great, great grandmother's crisp handwriting is as clear as it was a couple of centuries ago.

Darkness can guide you to the light, but it should never define you.

A sentence I never quite understood.

My mother's warning words ring in my ears. "Never use dark magic, Carter, unless it's absolutely inevitable."

Do these times, where magical creatures are hunted and killed, call for such a drastic measure?

Head buzzing, I lay on the bed with the book cradled against my chest. It's still open on the page with the spell; a heavy burden of responsibility bestowed on my family so many years ago. My eyelids grow heavy. I want to sleep and never wake up.

A sudden rumble jolts me awake. The ground is shaking; an earthquake set on destruction, but there is more. Palpable magic, strong and dark...and out of control. I sit up.

Dori pounds on the door. "Carter, what's happening?"

Good question.

I jump out of bed and pull open the curtains. Smoke descends onto the city, thick and cool. It grips the buildings in a dark embrace and blocks out the setting sun. I still sense the planet's presence, but its light and warmth are filtered out. The smoke fills every corner, every gap, every hole. When it has saturated every particle of light, only night remains, chilly and fresh, and filled with hope.

A sudden shout breaks through the calm air. "It was Carter DuBois. He casted endless darkness onto the world!"

Word count: 2,622 (first milestone complete)