The Darkest Days

PREFACE:

Once upon a time there were four royal being with the power to possess the elements. They were strong and peaceful elementals. Everyone in their kingdoms adored them.

Lenora was the Queen of the Earth Kingdom, and a strong Earth elemental. She was also the most beautiful being in the entire universe. It was said that she wore a veil around anyone who wished to see her, for everyone who saw her became distracted with her beauty and could focus on nothing else.

Maori was the Queen of the Water Kingdom, and an extremely strong Water elemental. She was also quite lovely to look at, but she was said to downplay her beauty but dressing as a man. She was a strong warrior and a fought alongside her army in any war that came upon her kingdom, which was quite often as it was on the mystical plane just above the underworld.

Kane was the King of the Fire Kingdom. He was often hot headed and unreasonable, but he was also an incredible and fair ruler as well as a strong Fire elemental. He too was a warrior by trade and there was not a war he couldn't win, a weapon he couldn't use, or a being he couldn't take in hand to hand combat.

The last King was Callum of the Air Kingdom. He was a kind and generous ruler, and a very strong air elemental. He was more of a scholar than a ruler. There was nothing that he did not know about. He was amazingly intelligent and in his kingdom was the library of prophecy and wisdom.

These rulers and their kingdoms gathered together once a year for a lavish ball on the plain of Peace. It was a place where underworld demons could not enter and there were no thoughts of war or violence among anyone. Not that any elemental would even think of harming another. They were peaceful and joyous.

After a thousand years of peace and quiet with no major wars happening in any Kingdom, the unthinkable happened. A Dark elemental rose to power in the underworld. Dark elementals only came into existence every thousand years. They were everything that the other elementals were not. They were evil incarnate and had the power to bring even the worst of nightmares to life.

The only one who had the power to destroy a Dark elemental was a Light elemental. They too only came into existence every thousand years, at the same time as a Dark elemental. Unlike the Dark elementals, these Light elementals were everything that was good and peaceful in the world.

But when this Dark elemental began his attack on each of the kingdoms, the Light elemental was nowhere to be found. Reaper, as the Dark elemental called himself, went after the royals with a vengeance. He wanted them dead so he could take over.

Each of the royals had children. The oldest was Kane's son, who was five, and already showed a great affinity for his element. Maori's daughter was just three years old, and hadn't yet gotten her powers. Lenora's daughter was but 5 months old, and Cullum's son was a year old. Neither had gotten the powers yet either.

Each of the royals knew they had to hide their children. They knew they would not be safe until Reaper was gone. They four elementals got together and decided that they would have to send their children to another realm as they joined powers to defeat Reaper. So they scattered the children among the human realm, sending their young with a trusted advisor and their strongest warriors. Each child would have one of each, acting as a family for as long as the war lasted.

Unfortunately, on their quest to destroy Reaper, the royals were killed and Reaper took control of all four kingdoms. He searched every realm for the royal's children, but could not find them. He vowed to never stop searching, and for the past four hundred years he has searched with no results.

CHAPTER ONE:

Aiden Sparks hissed as one of many fists connected with his jaw. Another one got him in the stomach. He knew better than to get into a fight but these guys had been asking for it. He had to admit he underestimated their strength. There were only three of them, and Aiden knew he could take them out easily. He regretted his decision to let the weasels think they had a chance. The punch he'd just taken in the face would probably bruise.

"Okay guys. I'm done playing. You have five seconds to get gone before I fight back."

The guys laughed and continued trying to hit him, but Aiden began to evade the punches easily. "Five." He said.

"Four." A fist hit him in the back of the head.

"Three." Someone kicked him in the back.

"Two." He evaded another face hit.

"One."

With a sigh he hit one of the guys. It was a small guy with a tattoo going down the side of his face. He looked comical as the tattoo was of a very badly done dragon. Aiden figured it was a drunken mistake. The guy went down with that one punch and the two others paused and looked down at their friend.

Then they began to blindly swing at him.

"Okay. You saw me down your man with one single punch and you still want more?" he sighed.

Not a minute later all three guys lay in the middle of the alley behind Aiden's bar.

"I told you guys I didn't like suspicious looking people in my bar. You should have left when I asked you too, but no. You had to be stupid. Don't come back." Aiden said as he walked through the back door of Sparks. He usually didn't stay at the bar passed midnight, but here it was nearly two in the morning. For some reason, he didn't want to go home. Ella and Marc were acting strangely. He knew they wanted to tell him something but they kept holding back.

At twenty-five years old, Aiden felt like he was more like hundreds of years old. He knew that if he were in his home realm, he would be more like four hundred and five. At least that is what he was told. He'd never been to his realm. Everything he knew, he'd learned from Ella, who had been his father's closest advisor.

He knew what was going on in his realm, in every realm. He knew his father had been killed, as well as the other royal elementals. He knew everything about the war, but what he didn't know and didn't understand was why Ella and Marc wouldn't allow him to go back. He knew he was strong. Even Marc, who had fought along with his father, told him that he had an astonishing strength and affinity for his element. He'd said that he was stronger than any fire elemental he'd ever seen or heard of.

Yet they wouldn't let him go to his Kingdom, to his people, and fight Reaper. No matter how hard Aiden tried to convince them that he could beat the Dark elemental.

Aiden walked into his office and sighed as he saw Rebecca sitting at his desk. She didn't have any clothes on, from what he could see. Her bright red hair was pulled up in a messy bun and she had a sly smile on her model worthy face that reached all the way to her amber eyes.

"Hey baby." She said.

"Rebecca, what are you doing here? Could you put some clothes on?"

Rebecca frowned and stood up, walking over to Aiden and putting her arms around his neck. Aiden felt his body stiffen with desire, but what man wouldn't with a gorgeous naked female body pressed against him?

She'd once been his lover, his co-owner of the bar. That was until she's bought into a night club and sold him back her share of his bar. She'd left without looking back. She'd left him, not just the bar.

Aiden hadn't seen her in two years, but he'd known she'd be by sooner or later. Her nightclub had been shut down, from what he'd heard. Her showing by wasn't unexpected.

"I missed you." She pouted and Aiden rolled his eyes before pushing her away.

"Rebecca put some clothes on. I'd hate to throw you out of the bar naked.

Rebecca's face turned red and she stalked over to a pile of clothes that were neatly folded on his desk.

"I want my half of the bar back Aiden." She told him, the seductive smile and silky voice were gone. She was all business.

After dressing in a pair of black shorts so short her ass was barely contained, and a top so low cut that it should be illegal, Rebecca turned to him. On anyone else the ensemble would look slutty, but on Rebecca it looked sexy. She had both the body and the confidence to pull it off.

"Did you hear me Aiden?" she asked, getting annoyed.

"I don't respond to stupidity. You want your half back? You can buy it up once I'm dead." He told her. He walked past her and sat behind his desk.

Rebecca's face had turned into the bright red color it usually did when she got angry.

"Aiden, this place wouldn't even be half of what it was without me. I helped start it! You owe me!" she said, and Aiden fought back the urge to laugh as she stomped her foot like an irate child who wasn't getting their way.

"Actually Rebecca, this place didn't become successful until you left, and I will not have you coming in and acting as if it was all your doing. Leave please. You know the way out." Aiden said and began to look over the papers on his table. He heard his office door slam and sighed in relief. He was grateful she hadn't put up much of a fight. He wasn't in the mood to play her games, though he knew she would be back. She'd probably bring some form of legal aid into the equation, not that she had a leg to stand on.

His office door opened and Aiden felt his temper rising. "Rebecca, I said leave!" he nearly shouted without looking up from the stock list on his desk.

"I don't know who this Rebecca chick is, but she must have really pissed you off Aiden."

Aiden instantly knew the voice. Even after six years without hearing it, he would never forget that sound. The sweetest voice he'd ever heard. A voice that brought to mind thoughts of sunshine and happiness, as did the beholder of the whimsical voice.

He looked up and gasped. "Alani?" he asked in shock.

"The one and only." She said with a smile that could melt the coldest of hearts. The last time he'd seen her she'd been fourteen years old to his nineteen, and he'd thought her the most beautiful being in all of existence. That image paled in comparison to the woman who stood in front of him now.

She was tall, though that could have been because of the insanely high heels she wore on her feet. She wore a forest green dress that showed off legs that went on forever. Her hair was dark and glossy and fell down her back in waves. Her body was slender and curved in all the right places a woman should have curves.

Then there was her face. It was a face no man, or woman, could ever forget. Her eyes were the color of emeralds and were framed by the thick long lashes. She had a flawless golden complexion and a mouth that was full and meant for a man's pleasure.

"You done looking?" Alani asked with a smirk on her face.

"What are you doing here?" Aiden asked.

Alani's heartwarming smile disappeared. "It's Eden and Rafe."

Alani was Queen Lenora's daughter. He had grown up with her. Eden and Rafe were her protectors. "What is wrong Lani?" Aiden asked, calling her by the nickname he'd given her when she was but a toddler.

"They are dead. Demons killed them Aiden. The underworld has found us. I didn't know who else to come to."

Aiden felt his heart stop. There was no way the demons had found them. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, Aiden. These Demons, they talked about Reaper. I heard them. Eden and Rafe had me hidden in a room that was undetectable, but I heard the demons tell them that Reaper knew now where we were and would kill us off one by one."

Aiden saw the tears that were threatening to fall from his friend's eyes and stood up to go to her. She'd always fit so perfectly in his arms. He'd always protected her from things growing up. He'd had to leave when he'd turned nineteen. Eden and Rafe had gotten with Ella and Marc as well as the other protectors and decided that they were better off separated.

"Let's get you back to my house. Ella and Marc need to know what happened. Then we need to find the others." He said, referring to the other Royals.

Alani nodded and rested her head on his chest. God how he'd missed her. He missed them all.

Half an hour later, he sat in his living room staring at the two people who had raised them as if they'd grown an extra head. "You knew they were dead?" he asked angrily.

"Yes. They managed to call us when they realized the demons had tracked them down. They knew they'd be killed. There was no stopping it. I'm terribly sorry Alani."

"And what the hell is this about our power's being shadow blocked?" Aiden asked.

"Your parents thought it would be best if we kept your powers blocked. The more power you have, the easier you are to track." Ella said calmly.

"We'd be a hell of a lot better off against demons if we had our powers." Aiden said feeling his anger boiling over to rage.

"No. Aiden, you are so strong as it is, and you can only tap into about one third of you actual powers. On top of that you have a power you do not even know about. One we have kept blocked for years. One you cannot begin to comprehend. Both of you have hidden powers."

"Oh yeah? And what power would that be Ella?"

"Aiden, you are a seer. You can see into the past, the present, and the future." Marc told him. Aiden felt his entire body go numb.

"What the hell! You mean I could have seen the demons coming before they killed Eden and Rafe? I could have done something to help?" Aiden yelled, slamming his hands down on the wooden coffee table in front of him.

"Not necessarily Aiden. We are unsure how your powers work." Ella said.

"What can I do?" Alani asked from her seat beside Ella. Her face had gone pale, but she didn't look angry. He remembered that well. Alani never got angry.

"Well my dear, you can read minds. You can even tap into a person's subconscious and make them do whatever you wish." Ella told her.

"How do we unblock these powers?" Aiden asked Marc.

"We need to get to the others. Then we'll unblock you and you can begin training. As soon as your powers come to light, you will be hunted. Are you sure you are ready for what is to come?" Marc asked.

Aiden nodded. He'd never been more sure of anything.