The Pure-Hearted Princess and the Kiss of Darkness

- ENRIQUE -

Kataleya turns as she looks down the hallway where she had just come from.

My eyes flash as I rush up the stairs. I will not meet them there... that is a place that will not be destroyed. There are many memories that I hate there, but also a handful I cherish.

All that remains of the family I once had.

"Go. I can handle this, and take her with you!" I glare at her. I'll deal with her later.

"No, I need to be here," she counters, her eyes flashing as she remains rooted in her spot. Irritation rushes through me and I wrap my hand around her pretty throat, wanting to do a thousand f*****g things to her. To punish her and to f**k her senseless until I've ridden myself of all this anger. "Don't try me," I whisper menacingly.

"There's more than one. You can't do this alone," she whispers. "You don't have to do everything alone." Time seems to slow as I want to say a thousand fucking things, want to vent my frustration out at her, but right now I need her safe.

"Do you think I can't handle them?" I ask, cocking a brow as I observe her. Something inside of me twists, and I realise I'm relieved to see that she's not crying anymore, but there's a small part of me that wants to explain to her there was nothing wrong with what we did... to tell her I have spoken to Marie.

"I didn't say that. They're here for me, so it's-"

Something black rushes down the hall faster than the eye can catch and I pull her behind me just as it reaches us, my eyes flashing as I jump back, barely dodging its attack. It hisses as it bares its teeth at us.

That's when I hear more unearthly shrieks, but this time they are coming from somewhere down below.

"Get Marie out of the dungeons! Regroup and everyone stay together! Warriors in position! There's an attack on the packhouse!" I shout out loud and through the link before I shift and launch myself at the Crawler. 'Jose, secure any young in the packhouse and all points of access-' Glass breaks from somewhere down the hall, the shattering sound sending a chill down the hall.

Fuck, how many are there?

Kataleya turns and raises her hand just as another crawler throws itself at her, its knife-like hands raised.

She sends a blast of pink fire at it, forcing the Crawler to stagger back, hissing in rage.

I turn sharply, seeing two more of these beasts come rushing towards us from the same direction as the first.

Fucking great.

"Let's do this together. You need light to vanquish them, and there's no way down now." She reminds me. For a moment our eyes meet before she turns and raises her hand, creating a barrier around us.

I don't argue, there's not much we can do with four crawlers in this tight f*****g place.

The darkness in the air is growing. I can feel it as I breathe it in, and it makes my stomach churn. These things are evil, all they want is to cause havoc, to kill... to feed.

The hall is tight, but it also restricts them... if there wasn't her barrier, we'd be screwed. We are sandwiched between them.

Time to fucking shift.

"What the fuck do you want?" I snarl at the Crawler who rears his head and opens his mouth, hissing as it lunges at me. That's when I decide to shift.

They are intelligent and I'm sure if I manage to capture one, I could get f*****g answers from them. Find out what exactly they want from her. What if I captured it? I know they appear and disappear, but what if?

I struggle to calm my emotions as I dodge and attack. But that might just be wishful thinking. How do you capture an otherworldly monster?

"Be careful!" Kataleya gasps when I block an attack, narrowly missing getting impaled as I rip into one.

My eyes glimmer as I launch myself at one of the other two that are attacking her, and that's when I realise there's something different with her today. Some sentences are incomplete if you are not reading this novel on . Visit to read the complete chapters for free. I frown as she uses spurts of her power to attack them, but she's not using any blinding light to get rid of them like she did in my office that time. Almost as if she's out of juice...

I almost shift back, wanting to ask what is wrong with her, noticing with concern that her heart is racing, and she looks pale.

I growl a warning as another crawler appears and Kataleya lets out a gasp, sending a blazing ball of light at the crawlers, but they only hiss, scampering away from the light only to run towards us the moment the light diminishes.

One of them swings dangerously at us. I pull her behind me, taking the brunt of the swipe, his long claws slashing into my back. White-hot pain tears through me, but it does not slow me down.

I rip into another, making sure this time they don't get their knives into me. I need her out of here. There's clearly something wrong!

But attack after attack, it's no use. No matter how many times you attack, they just don't die.

'Enrique, they're all heading towards you! We can't stop them!' Jose's strained voice comes.

'Evacuate the packhouse! Make sure everyone is out. Kataleya and I have the strongest auras they will come to us,' I say. And we are the fastest here.

'I'm coming."

'No! You will die. That's an order. Protect our people, send some warriors with light!' I grunt as I block another attack, watching Kataleya's power become weaker with every burst of light. No matter what we do, the

darkness is only growing and their numbers are too, as they continue to make strange chilling sounds.ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

She's trembling as she keeps going.

'Light?' Jose asks.

'Light, we need plenty of f*****g light!' I growl as another one lurches into our midst.

We won't be able to fight them... and it's too f*****g tight here.

Grabbing Kataleya and throwing her onto my back, I rush down the hall and into my bedroom. I shift back immediately, feeling the pain tear through me.

"Can you create a barrier on the door?" I ask, knowing nothing I put in front of the door will hold it.

She nods, blushing no doubt at my state of nudity as she quickly raises a barrier, and I make my way to the closet and grab some pants as I feel for the secret latch to open the back of my wardrobe. It swings open and I pull out two long swords. The crawlers are already clawing and hammering at the walls and the barrier.

"Those weapons won't work... Only light can vanquish them," she says as I pull on the pants.

"What about moonlight?" I ask, looking up at her.

She frowns slightly.

"Moonlight can help heal their wounds, do you think..." she trails off, understanding my train of thought before tilting her head and looking at me.

"The moon holds power, and if it's needed to heal from their dark touch, then surely it can help vanquish them. Right?" I ask, cocking a brow.

"But it's not clear out there tonight," she muses, looking at the night sky before her eyes widen. "The prosthetic! The prosthetic has a lightning weapon, which is intense and very bright! You can use that!"

She keeps her eye on the door as she moves to the box that sits with her luggage.

"No-"

"I won't be able to hold this barrier for long," she whispers.

I frown, but before either of us can reach the box, the barrier breaks on the door and the crawlers' deadly shrieks ring in the room.

She runs for the box and I run for her, grabbing her as she hugs the large box and rushes to the window. My right arm is around her, my left hand holding the sword positioned behind her head in hopes of shielding her head the best I can as I barrel into the glass, shattering it as I jump out, landing on my feet on the ground a few storeys below.

The crawlers are only seconds behind, and I glance at the moon, seeing the direction of the moonlight and the clouds... I need to move south!

"Enrique! Watch out!" she cries as a crawler jumps down, narrowly missing cutting into us and sending us both flying instead.

She whimpers and I look up sharply to see her lying on the ground a few feet from me. She lifts her head clutching her waist and my eyes widen when I see the blood on the ground before the smell reaches me.

"Get the box," she whispers, her finger trembling as she points at the box that now lies metres away.

I could... but I can't risk it. The risk that she will get injured if I move away from her is too great, one I am not willing to take.

In that fraction of a second, I make up my mind. Shifting, I grab my sword and rush to her side just as all the Crawlers launch themselves towards her.

They aren't here for me... but for her.

She creates a barrier, her eyes filled with pain as she tries to hold it around us.

"I told you to grab the prosthetic," she says softly as I turn her over, looking at her bloody waist.

"And I chose not to. Your barrier is not going to hold. Fuck, you're injured." I growl, glancing around. There's no one in sight. They probably moved to the safety of the gardens at the back.

This barrier won't hold long. She's losing blood fast, too.

They circle around us, hissing and muttering. A surge of immense dark power creates a dome around us as they begin to create a circle around us.

F**k.

"Enrique... break out and leave. Now. They're here for me," she whispers."

Please go!"

I don't think so.

The chanting becomes more unbearable, cutting into my very brain, and sending incessant throbbing pain through me, but the words are getting clearer.

'Hmt nswt Ashetaan daru Azarakh! Hmt nswt Ashetaan daru Azarakh! Hmt nswt Ashetaan daru Azarakh!'

What are they saying?

I glance down at her, only to see that her face has drained of all colour, her heart pounding.

"Ashe... Oh My Goddess... Enrique, go. Please!" Her voice almost breaks, but I shake my head.

"I'm not leaving you," I snarl, breathing hard. Although I did my best to avoid the attack, I have still managed to get several cuts on top of the large slashes down my back. And the pain is intensifying with every passing second.

"I'll be fine. You need to get the prosthetic!" she exclaims. A box that can no longer be seen, past the barrier that is far duller than normal, one that is fading fast.

I can see the looming monsters surrounding us, all blending into one mass of darkness and evil.

I can feel the evil from them as I look at the sky where a few clouds now mask the moon completely.

F**k.

No...

But there is one other way.

Something I vowed to never use. No matter what.

But looking at the woman in my arms, I realise I'm ready to break every fucking oath I have ever made.

Somehow... somehow, she's slipped through the cracks of the walls I've built around myself.

No matter how angry that thought might make me, no matter how resentful I feel knowing who her father is.

I take a deep breath, knowing there's no going back...

Closing my eyes, I take a deep breath...

The Escarra bloodline...

A bloodline that once bound itself to a demon, but not everyone can host a demon, nor would a demon agree, especially not an almighty djinn. But when that bloodline is one of great power...

My heart is pounding louder than the chanting of the Crawlers, and I place my left hand on the ground.

There is no going back... but I have no other choice, we are in a corner I can see no way out from.

Taking a deep breath I begin. Every word I speak is powerful, drowning out the shrieks of the menacing crawlers.

"By the fiery embrace of the sun, the mighty veil of the moon, the celestial light of the stars and the heart of the earth; I, Enrique Ignacio Escarra, the last of my lineage, invoke the power attributed to me as the rightful heir to the sacred title. May these bonds be broken, the shackles be broken and the energies unleashed arise!" My eyes blaze as a blinding red fire-like aura spreads from beneath me, bathing the entire sky.

It's as if the air around me no longer follows the laws of gravity as I watch the crawlers incinerate. Not just making them disappear, but destroying them completely.

Kataleya gasps but I do not move, looking at the now empty garden around us, free of crawlers and darkness...

A silence more deafening than the shrieks of the crawlers remains, like a breath held, as every animal in the vicinity hides from the power of El Rey Carmesí. After years... Puerto Rico has a king once again.

But at what cost?

I am not certain.