Blood Stains: Book Five of the Darkside Chronicles, page 1
Blood Stains
Book Five of the Darkside Chronicles
Olivia Hillier
Copyright © 2024 by Olivia Hillier
All rights reserved.
No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher or author, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.
Contents
1. Chapter 1
2. Chapter 2
3. Chapter 3
4. Chapter 4
5. Chapter 5
6. Chapter 6
7. Chapter 7
8. Chapter 8
9. Chapter 9
10. Chapter 10
11. Chapter 11
12. Chapter 12
13. Chapter 13
14. Chapter 14
15. Chapter 15
16. Chapter 16
17. Chapter 17
18. Chapter 18
19. Chapter 19
20. Chapter 20
21. Chapter 21
22. Chapter 22
23. Chapter 23
24. Chapter 24
25. Chapter 25
26. Chapter 26
27. Chapter 27
28. Chapter 28
29. Chapter 29
About the Author
Also By
Chapter one
Kiira
Everything that once was, was broken. Completely torn apart into two. The being that I was born into this world as had become completely extinct. And now, as I stood on the edge of the place that was once my town, once my planet, it was evident nothing was going to be the same anymore. Lola and I had fought so hard to bring everything back to how things used to be. But they were too far gone. Everything that was, was now a figment of memories that would soon enough be forgotten. There was no going back anymore. Only forward, wherever that was.
The scenes of where I stood were heartbreaking. They would have brought any human to their knees, flowing with tears and praying to the god that they thought existed. Maybe it was a good thing that there were no humans around anymore. We weren’t strong enough to survive this, anyway. We were the first kind that was completely taken out.
I sighed, looking down at my feet as I strolled the grounds of Vallura, or at least half of Vallura. The other half was floating behind us, now two halves of a whole that once was Earth. As I looked back up to the sky, I couldn’t help but laugh. I guess that was the only thing that I could really do, seeing and knowing the reality of the universe that we were surrounded by and the many that neighboured us.
I laughed because I wondered what Colin and all the other beings were doing now that they had nowhere to go, or at least no one to guide. Were they still healthy and well? Were they in contact with any of the other universes? Or had they, like me, given up the good fight, and found something else to focus their attention on?
I laughed because of course the Earth had split in two at the very place that I had once called home, where the extinction of humans began. I laughed because here I was again, and this time, I was standing alongside the very woman I hated, the one who had created it all, with the newfound knowledge that she wasn’t completely evil. At least, that’s what I now was choosing to believe; that all of this was really some crazed plot to get to the end of her curious obsession. That was what I had to believe, as now I knew that I was her and she was me.
“Are you okay?” Stella asked as she strolled over towards me.
I was standing at the edge of the Earth, the literal edge of the Earth where the lake down by Vallura’s restaurant once resided. The restaurant was now nothing but a pathed brick square in the ground. I hadn’t seen a lot of the world that once was, but from where I was standing, it was obvious the impact of the Earth colliding with the moon rocks did enough damage to not only Earth itself, but the structures that once resided on it, too. It made me think about my house, my parents. But Victor had informed us from the use of his attunement power, he believed that there were no deaths in the process. Albets really were strong enough to endure anything. One thing that made me smile for real was the fact the Earth was growing again, instantly shining with the growth of new grass and flowers. Even amongst its split, it was back thriving in the universe that it was always meant to be in.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I said to Stella. “Just laughing at this life, I guess.”
“Is there anything else that you want to do while we’re here? Do you want to go and see your parents? Any friends?” she asked, flicking her long blonde hair over her shoulder and leaning down to wipe some mud of the edge of her shiny black leather boots.
“‘No, I think I’m fine,” I said. I hadn’t seen any of my friends since this whole thing began and now, when everything was a mess and they were no doubt confused as hell, just like every other albet on the planet about why the hell their Earth was split into two? Showing up when I still had no idea what to tell them or what narrative that Stella wanted to follow didn’t seem right. And as for my parents, I know I could have gone and seen them, gone and given them one last hug as I knew my plan was never to come back here. My plan was to forget about this universe for good. But even if I did go and lay my eyes on them one more time, I was never going to get the reaction that I wanted. Maybe I never did, but I knew for certain that I wasn’t going to get it anymore, and I didn’t need any more clear memories of that.
“Is there anything that you need to do?” I asked.
Stella smiled. She was smiling a lot more, recently. She seemed more at ease, more relaxed, which did make her a lot easier to be around. Liam, on the other hand, was a different story.
“There’s a lot of things that I need to do here, but I guess this is something that I need to consult Victor and Preston on. I’ll just go back and feed them some story about how they can do whatever they please with this place and whatever their decision will be, I’ll back it again, blah, blah, blah,” she said as she rolled her eyes.
Because of my wish to come back home and to see the Lightside before I moved forward with any of Stella’s plans, Stella had told her father that she thought it was a good idea that we all come over here and check out what was going before they decided to move forward with whatever plan they had yet to come up with about how to deal with the albets.
“Do you have a say in what you think we should do?” Stella asked. I shook my head. I didn’t care anymore, and now I knew what her grand plan really was, I don’t think she cared about it either.
“What about you, Liam?” she called out. Liam was standing over by the rose bushes as he spun around and ran over to us.
“What about me?” he said, looking as obnoxiously gorgeous as ever. Why couldn’t he be ugly? Why couldn’t making him an albet make him uglier? I knew he thought that he was, but the truth was, and Stella and I knew it, the scars on his face only made him a hell of a lot sexier. Every single time he flashed his dark eyes my way or ran his fingers through his long hair, I wanted to jump towards him, feeling his arms around me and my lips against his, taste him again, and let him devour me, even if it was just one more time. The desire that flooded my body as an albet was insatiable. But anything between Liam and I was not something that I was going to let happen. I couldn’t. I wouldn’t. After everything that he had done. I knew my values, I knew who I was, and I knew Liam was always going to stay with Stella. They were bound together in marriage, after all. I wasn’t going to become the third party of that. Even as an albet, for me, sharing a lover was not okay.
“Is there anything else that you want to do on this planet? Or do you have any ideas about what we should really be doing with it?” said Stella.
Liam shrugged. “No, there’s nobody left here for me to see, and I don’t really care what happens to this place anymore. There’s nothing left for me here,” he said, his voice so monotone as he kept his gaze on Stella. I hoped he kept them there for the rest of this trip. I don’t know if he was trying to flirt with me intentionally, or if he had no idea what a single look, a single question or the way that how my name rolled around in his mouth did to me.
I would get stronger. I was stronger than this. I knew that I was stronger than this. At least I hoped that I was stronger than this. The truth was, right now, I had no plan for anything. It had only been a day since I finally made my way out of bed, a day since the second time that I laid my eyes on Liam since he confessed his love to me, and I had turned him down. Liam didn’t even have a chance to speak with Preston after Stella leaked some new information his way, yet again. I wondered how much more information she kept hidden behind her closed lips.
“Yes, well, I’ve gotten everything that I need from this place too,” she said, winking at me as she took Liam’s hand.
“I say that we get out of here, and then head over to the Lightside. We’ll make it as quick as possible so that we can stop in a couple of over universes along the way. I’ll connect with Father so that he doesn’t get worried and then we can head back home with some of our newfound friends, show face to him, and conspire how we’re going to move on with part two of this plan. As much as I hate to say it, we do need some more time and we can’t afford to stuff any of this up. We can’t have my father finding out… or Preston for, that matter.”
“Newfound friends?” I said to Stella.
“Yes, Kiira, the other versions of us.”
“Right,” I said. That’s what I thought the plan was, flying aroun
“I’m sorry, Stella, I need you to talk me through this plan again. How exactly are we going to find the version of ourselves on each other planet and bring them back to the Darkside? Do you already know who these people are?” I asked.
“One or two I do, but they don’t know me. But for the others, you would be surprised how easy it is to attract that very person to you once you land down on their planet. It’s because truly, we’re all just orbiting in the same frequency, we’re drawn to the right places, and then getting them to come along with us on our journey… well that will be a lot easier than you think. After all they are just like you and me.”
I didn’t know if I wanted that plan to happen; I hadn’t yet visited the Lightside. I had to go there, I had to pay my respects to everything that Lola was, I had to pass on my condolences, and at the same time, something felt like that’s where I needed to be. I don’t know why I felt like I was being pulled towards a place that I didn’t even understand or know, but I didn’t have any attachments to this universe anymore. I knew that it would never be the same. It would never be the place that it once was to me, and now that it was completely split in two, I no longer had the urge to turn each albet back into their original form. What would be the point? If no one else was calling out for help, or wanting to go back to who they once were, what was the point of changing anyone who didn’t want to be changed? I’d given up that fight. It was time for something new.
Chapter two
Liam
“This place is…”
“Absolutely fucked, yeah I know,” Stella scoffed, which made me laugh. I loved how much she hated anything too bright and warm, my dark souled lover. “Let’s get in and out of here as quickly as possible. I know that being here was a part of the agreement I promised you, Kiira, so I’m going to honour that. But we really don’t have the means to be here. I suggest we get in and out as quick as possible.”
I glanced over at Kiira, who didn’t reply. Her eyes were as wide, her open mouth as she gazed out into the galaxy around her. Now viewing the Lightside, the Darkside and our origin universe that laid smack back in the middle, I don’t think that I’d ever understood Kiira more. I hardly had a chance to get to know Lola, but as another part of the collective soul that was Stella and Kiira who resided from this place, I could imagine what she was like. Kiira was in between the manifestation of the two of them; she possessed both the qualities of the dark and light and she could switch between the two, as she pleaded even inside her albet body. That’s why I loved her. She was a piece of everything. But I guess that’s why we had such a rocky past, she was misunderstood. At times by me and by herself as well. She wasn’t simply one type of thing that she could label herself under. She was a mixture of all of them. After all, she did come from the universe of duality.
I was honestly surprised that she agreed to this, joining Stella on her mission. Kiira was a fighter, but she was also riddled in fear, she hated change. Despite that, now that she was an albet, I was surprised she wasn’t trying to do everything that she could to get the Earth back to where it was before our knowledge of all the other universes became apparent. I guess that seemed like a very impossible thing after we just witnessed the true state of the Earth. And what was her other option? Say no to Stella and get herself killed by the whole Dark family? I couldn’t let that happen.
As much as I loved Stella, I loved Kiira equally, and not being allowed to express that to her physically was starting to drive me insane. But she would come around. At least I hoped that there would be a moment that she would come around. Stella understood completely, and she was happy with the honesty of my love. Maybe Kiira wasn’t ready yet. She was still misunderstood, and I guess this trip for herself was a way to learn about all the other fragments of her soul, all the other manifestations of her. I was happy for her. I was happy for the both of them. I just hoped this trip stayed about connecting all the parts of their soul and their soul only. When it came to thinking about all the other versions of me out there, I wasn’t ready to even begin thinking about that, and the last thing that I wanted to do was to go home and face Preston. I wished Stella had never told me that piece of information. I felt sick to my stomach, and I could have easily died without having to know the truth.
But many more versions of the two women that I loved? That was something that I was looking forward to.
“I don’t know,” Kiira sighed. “This place is fucking beautiful.”
“Ew, you’re delusional,” said Stella as she zoomed through the crystal white atmosphere that was the Lightside. Everything around us was blindingly white. Each planet shone out through the atmosphere, boasting different pastel colours in the middle of the light vastness of space. One green, another purple and pink, and the bright glowing yellow sun. The complete solar system looked like a similar replica of my origin universe. It seemed a hell of a lot more functional compared to the Darkside, only a lot brighter.
“Okay, we can get in and out as quick as possible, and you know the exact place that you can drop me off to meet Lola’s parents,” said Kiira. She glared past me as though I was completely invisible. She had struggled to look at me at all the past couple of days, but I didn’t let it affect me. As long as I was here by her side, by both of their sides right now, that was all that mattered to me.
“I just don’t understand exactly how you are going to do this, Kiira. I know how much Lola mattered, and I know that she was a part of us. But did her parents even know that she made it to the Darkside? Did anyone actually know where she went? Like what are you going to do? Walk into her parents’ house and say, ‘Hey, I know your daughter. She’s the one who stole the spaceship that is circulating the news right now, and she happened to drive it through many black holes to reach the Darkside, to move another universe’s planet back where it belonged, and in that process has died by falling from the ship into the vastness of unknown space.” Stella blurted the story out so quickly, she gasped to take a breath at the end.
“Okay maybe I didn’t think it through that well,” said Kiira as she began biting on the end of her already chipped nail. “I don’t know, something just called me here, and I still feel like we need to do something. I don’t think that we can just let her disappear and not let her story of bravery be told.”
“She does have a point,” I added in, although between the single look flashed at me from the two of them, I really should have just kept quiet. “After all, she is one of you. She deserves to be put to rest in the best way possible.” I didn’t exactly know how that was going to happen, but I understood what Kiira was trying to do. Even though I couldn’t imagine Stella really viewed what Lola did as bravery. Technically she had taken the very thing that we had worked so hard to bring to the Darkside.
Kiira sighed, still refusing to look at me. “If you know where to land, can you do it as close to her house as possible, well at least without being seen, I promise that I’ll get in and out of there as quickly as I can. The two of you don’t even need to leave the ship.”
“Yes, Stella, please whatever we do here, let’s just make sure that our ship goes unseen,” I said. I wanted this trip to be easy. After everything that I had been through lately, I really wasn’t ready for another war.
