Compassion Be Damned

  Compassion Be Damned

  Last Hope

  Rebecca Royce

  Contents

  Untitled

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Other books by Rebecca Royce…

  About the Author

  Compassion Be Damned

  Last Hope #4

  The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of a copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by fines and federal imprisonment.

  Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in, or encourage, the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Compassion Be Damned (Last Hope #4)

  Copyright @ 2018 by Rebecca Royce

  Ebook ISBN: 978-1-947672-32-1

  Print ISBN: 978-1-947672-33-8

  Cover art by Lyn Forester

  Content Editing: Heather Long

  Copy/Proofread Editing: Bookends Editing

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work, in whole or in part, in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

  Published by Rebecca Royce

  www.rebeccaroyce.com

  Created with Vellum

  This book is for everyone in the Last Hope Facebook group. Thank you for all that you do to keep me smiling and loving these books.

  Chapter 1

  Three years earlier…

  Krystal

  They dragged me from my bed. My head was foggy. Five guards were yelling at me, making a huge amount of noise, yet still telling me to keep my mouth shut. They’d beat me if I didn’t. Yes, this was the worst possible scenario I could imagine.

  Everyone knew these things happened at the Sisterhood. Everyone knew Katrina made people disappear. Everyone knew. But no one ever said anything about it.

  I was pretty powerless. When I was born, the Oracle sent the Sisters to collect me, claiming I was a Sister. But my abilities to fight demons never appeared. Instead, I seemed to be made to heal others. If they were harmed, I could fix them. Sister Katrina, our powerful and cold leader, called me a waste of a good power dump. It didn’t seem to stop her from using me to heal the Sisters after they came back from the demon fighting, though.

  Maybe that’s what this was. I could only hope, and even that seemed pointless. Terror drove me to keep up as they dragged me. My bare feet skidded on the wooden floors. No one had ever stolen me in the middle of the night or threatened harm to get me to heal before. No, this had to be something else.

  I knew them. They weren’t Katrina’s current guards, but they always hung around her. They made me shiver. But then again all the guards did. They hated us. I didn’t fight demons, so I had no guards of my own.

  “Please, I haven’t done anything.” I couldn’t come up with a single infringement. I whispered. Maybe it would get me out of the beating threat. “Can’t you tell me what this is about?”

  One of them sneered at me. “Quiet, girl.”

  We’d reached Sister Katrina’s private living space. I hated going in there. Unlike other Sisters who were always being shoved inside—like her niece Anne before she left here and apparently opened her own Sisterhood—I had little reason to be brought to her.

  Guard Three, whatever his name was, pushed me through the door and left me inside, locking the door behind me. Cold sweat broke out all over me. I took a deep breath and tried to get myself under control. There were ways Sisters behaved, and panic wasn’t one of them. I might not be strong like the others, but I could do this much. I hoped. By the Divinity, I needed to pull it together.

  Sister Katrina stood, looking out the window with her back to me. Like everything else about her, her long, straight black hair was perfect. The clock in the room ticked, loudly. Tick. Tick. Tick. I looked around. Where was the clock? It was such an unusual noise. We didn’t have clocks in the Sisterhood other than the bell tower. I’d only really heard it maybe three times in my life and never as loud or foreboding. Tick. Tick. Tick.

  I clasped my hands together. “Sister Katrina, you sent for me.”

  “I didn’t send for you. I had you dragged out of bed.” Her low voice cut into me like a knife. Pain assaulted my stomach as though she’d sliced me with just the sound of her voice.

  Okay, if she wanted to be specific, she was right. I’d tried to be polite. I should have known not to bother. “Yes, Sister.”

  She turned around. Katrina was beautiful in a way no one else was. Her pale skin was flawless, her dark brown eyes always serene, and her lips painted red although she wore no cosmetic to enhance them. She was stunning, and even though she never raised her voice, sometimes the things she said were so awful, I wondered how the Divinity could have called her in the first place. Then I felt terrible for entertaining the thought. She was Sister Superior. Katrina was above the rest of us, and considering I was no real Sister at all, I was pathetic for even wondering anything about her.

  “I can’t believe this is happening, but he wants what he wants.”

  I waited, expecting her to say more. When she didn’t elaborate, I had no choice but to speak again. I wished she’d get to the point, and fast. “I don’t understand.”

  “No of course not. How could you?”

  Well, at least we were on the same page in that retrospect. I opened my mouth then shut it as she continued speaking. The ticking clock started to make my head hurt.

  “I’m going to let you in on a little secret. I’m never alone. Not ever.”

  I blinked. “Sister?”

  “Since the time I was a little girl, I’ve had a constant companion to help me, to guide me, to see that I became the most powerful person on the planet. But we knew that the time would come to an end and it has. In ten years this shell will become unable to house him anymore. I will fade and become part of his endless power. He needs to start transitioning himself to someone else.” Her lips frowned slightly, a big show of emotion for her. “So you will take a piece of him every so often until he is done with me and can move entirely into you.”

  I didn’t know who he was, but I knew that in our world anything was possible. I wasn’t going to take anything or anybody.

  “No.” I couldn’t believe I said that. She was going to beat me.

  A shadow moved on the wall, pulling my attention away from Katrina. She hadn’t responded to me, which was weird unto itself, but not as strange as the shadow moving on its own. I couldn’t usually see demons. Was that what they looked like? Free moving shadows? I didn’t think so. The books showed them ranging in size, height, and appearance so that they were solid and three-dimensional. What in the Divinity was that?

  My heart rate increased and my hands shook again.

  Katrina pointed at the wall. “You see him. He came to me when I was a little girl. Requested my help and I granted it. He wants you now. I don’t know why. I told him how powerless you
are and yet still, he insists.”

  My feet moved before I consciously acknowledged the decision. I retreated, hitting the wall even as I searched for the door. The knob wouldn’t turn. I couldn’t escape. What was happening? She wanted to put the shadow inside of me?

  “Is it a demon?”

  Katrina clasped her hands together. “Yes, but not just any demon. A demon who controls all other demons. You should feel honored and blessed.”

  No, I didn’t experience either of those emotions. Nor would I go down without a fight. I didn’t want to be possessed. What did it mean that the head of our order carried a demon inside of her and had all this time? I grabbed a book from the shelf and threw it at the shadow. That did nothing except make me feel foolish.

  The shadow surged forward and Katrina finally spoke. “It’ll go easier for you if you just accept.”

  I didn’t want easier. I wanted this all to be a bad dream. The shadow reached for me with hands! Well, the outline of them anyway. I closed my eyes. Katrina was right. I was powerless. Why did it want me? I had no ability to stop this thing from doing whatever it wanted.

  My body jolted, and the sound of a hiss filled the room. I opened my eyes. What was happening?

  Had it gotten inside of me somehow? What was going on?

  “That’s not possible.” A low, breathy voice filled the room. “She can’t stop me. No one can.”

  Katrina’s eyes widened. “What happened?”

  “She blocked me.”

  The Sister Superior rushed forward then slapped me across the face. My ears rang and my vision blurred. She’d hit me so hard my head had snapped left. “Stop blocking him.”

  “I’m not doing it, but even if I were I certainly would not stop.”

  She raised her hand once more, but this time I grabbed her arm. “You don’t get to hit me again.”

  Her eyes burned red for a second before they returned to normal. Any doubt I’d had about her possession vanished.

  “Do not harm the girl. I need the vessel intact.”

  Katrina lowered her arm. “I thought only to weaken her defenses.”

  “They will weaken. Over time. With desperation will come acceptance and with that I will have what I want. Take her away. Keep her fed, warm, and healthy. That is it. She sees no one.”

  Katrina nodded her head. “Yes, as you wish. Actually, that is great. I’ll build a replica of her and that demon can spy on the usurpers. Guards.”

  She’d barely spoken the word, but the locked doors swung open. The guards had red eyes too. By Divinity, was everyone possessed? I screamed. I didn’t know who would hear or if they did, who would help me, but I screamed.

  I did that every day for a month before I finally gave in to the futility of it. No one was coming. No one would help me. On that day, I took off my hood. The guards who brought my food could deal with seeing my face.

  I was going to live in a small room with a scratchy blanket, a hard bed, and one tough pillow for the rest of my life. The shadow came every night. He assaulted me, hurt me, tore at my body all to try to get inside of me. And every night he failed.

  I didn’t believe I’d ever know why.

  Three years later…

  The door flung open, interrupting my wondering over whether the crack in the ceiling had grown. I spent a lot of time on that question because there wasn’t much else to really think about to fill the time. I could only sleep so many hours of the day.

  “Krystal.” A woman I’d never seen before stood in the doorway. She panted. With long dark shiny black hair, high cheekbones, and tiny bone structure, she was gorgeous. Outside looks mattered very little. Katrina was gorgeous, too. Pretty covered evil all the time. “Oh thank goodness, we found you before this whole place collapsed.”

  I shook my head. “What?”

  She extended her hand. “I thought I’d already rescued you once. Silly me. I’m Aspen. Come on.” She grabbed my hand and tugged. I wasn’t a small person, never had been. My curves had curves, and I didn’t budge.

  Who was this woman to tell me to go anywhere? I wasn’t falling for another one of Katrina’s tricks. She could be letting me think I’d been rescued only to lure me into possession. That wasn’t happening. I’d learned to survive, and I was going to continue to do so.

  “Krystal.” Aspen let out a long sigh. “For the last three years we’ve thought you were living in Anne’s new Sisterhood. Then we found out that was not you that was—”

  I tended to shout and interrupt in the times I got to speak. Otherwise I never got to utter a word. “The imposter.”

  “Correct.” She nodded. “I’ve been looking for you. This compound is going to collapse soon. It’s falling apart. Katrina is unraveling. She moved you all here to get away from Anne.” Aspen chewed on her lip. “Do you remember that?”

  I stopped to think. “Of course I do.” Sort of. Time. Memory. It was blending into one big giant gobbledygook of nothingness.

  Aspen nodded. “Good. Come on. We have to get you out of here and to safety.”

  It was a risk to believe her. Not only for my physical well-being, but for the small amount of me that still held onto this ridiculous idea that I might someday have a future outside this room. If Aspen turned out to be a trick after I’d given in to it, I would lose everything.

  Outside birds cawed. The ravens. They were always here. Why was that?

  The sound was soothing. For some reason, I’d come to think of their call as a conversation with friends. What were they saying right now? Even as I thought the question, I knew it to be crazy. Still, I couldn’t help but feel like they were telling me to go. Okay, if I had gone this nuts I needed out of the room—immediately. I rose to my feet.

  I towered over Aspen, but I did most women.

  “Of course you’re gorgeous. Sisters always are.” Except me. I was sturdy. Not ugly, per se, but not the perfection of the Sisters who could actually fight demons.”

  She raised her eyebrows. “I’m not a Sister.”

  This time, when she took my hand, I let her lead me from the room through the maze of hallways. Did I remember being brought here? I’d been taken from the other place and put in a similar cell. Hadn’t I? Why couldn’t I remember?

  “It’s okay, Krystal, the things they do under torture make it impossible to stay sane. You’re actually doing really well.”

  “I’m not sure. I didn’t realize I’d spoken aloud. That’s pretty bad.”

  She stopped. “You survived intact. She locked you up so she could put that demon in your place. I can’t imagine what she’s been doing to you.”

  “Nothing.”

  Aspen scrunched up her nose. “Krystal, I’m sure they did. They had you for years.”

  “Yes, but they didn’t hurt me. Katrina locked me up so I could be possessed by the darkness, which isn’t working for some reason. But he’s determined to have me. It’s really quite confusing. Replacing me was the icing on the cake.”

  The revelation seemed to have stunned her. Her mouth actually fell open before she snapped it shut. “We have to get out of here even faster.”

  Chaos greeted us outside. Sisters and guards ran everywhere. The sun blinded me, and I had to close my eyes before they burned. My ears rang. There was too much light, too much noise. How had I survived this before?

  “Hold on. You’ll adjust.”

  Screams assaulted my ears, and I forced my eyes open. Behind me, one of the buildings was on fire. Aspen gasped. “No, she has Sisters locked in there.”

  “We have to help them.”

  My rescuer shook her head. “No. I have to rescue them. You have to run.”

  She took two steps away from me and called up to the birds that circled above. She was right. I was adjusting. I could see. There had to be two dozen ravens above my head. Or were they crows? How could I tell the difference?

  “Reed.” Aspen pointed at the birds. “You lead her to the train station. If anything happens to her on the way, I will
catch you with a net and cut off your neck. Do you understand me? Sister or no Sister I know how to kill a bird.”

  I stared at her. “Did you just threaten that bird?”

  “He only responds to threats these days.” She shoved something in my hand, and it took a second for me to realize it was gold. “Follow the raven with the white feather. He’s a pain in the ass but good at it. He’ll take you to the train station. Get on the train with that gold. Get off at a stop called HeatherVictoria. Once you reach there, ask for the Sisterhood. The people love them. They’ll point you in the right direction. I hate to leave you in another small room but use that money, it’s a lot, to get a private room and don’t leave your room on the train until you get to your stop. Go. At nightfall, the Darkness will come.”

  I tried to steady my racing heart. “You know a lot for not being a Sister.”

  “You can’t imagine. Go, Krystal. You can do this. We’ll meet again before the end.”

  We lived in a world slowly going through apocalypse. When she said the end, I had no doubt what she meant. “You want me to follow the bird?”

  “Follow the ravens, Krystal. You’ve trusted me this far.” She turned and ran from me toward the flames. I supposed if Aspen could run into fire, I could follow the birds. What was the worst that could happen?

  The black bird with the white feather seemed completely unconcerned with the fact I’d been trapped in a small room with a bed, a toilet, and a bathtub for three years. I had to stop several times to catch my breath. He’d disappear then come back to wait for me.

  “I haven’t had any kind of real exercise other than walking in circles around a room for years. I’m not thrilled that I’m so out of shape. There was a time I could have kept up with you.”