Power

by Theresa Jones

  David and Mark were sitting next to each other in front of me. Mark seemed distracted, while David was just trying to ease his discomfort.

  Mark turned to look at me and said, “So, Sharon said you are practicing extra hard these days. What’s the cause of that? Are you planning some major offensive?” He chuckled, making it sound like a joke, though it almost sounded like he hoped we were. Which was ironic because I had been told the Order doesn’t plan any offensive attacks, ever. They just wait for the Rising to attack and then defend. It didn’t really make sense to me. How were we supposed to rid the world of evil if we didn’t actively do anything about it? But it wasn’t my decision. I just wanted to keep my family safe and the only way to accomplish that was to kill Damien. So the first chance I got, that would be exactly what I would do.

  “Actually, Mark, I’m planning on leaving the Compound. I am going to go visit my mom.” I said. Just saying it made it seem more real. I could hardly contain myself with the excitement building in me.

  His eyes lit up. Maybe my excitement was contagious. “Wow, you are leaving? When?” In a weird way, it almost felt like he was glad I would be leaving, like he wanted me gone. I shrugged off that thought; he was probably just excited for me.

  I looked at David, because we hadn’t quite finalized the date, but we had been discussing it. “I think,” nodding slightly toward David to show it wasn’t really up to me, “this Friday, and I’ll stay until Sunday.”

  “Well, that’s great. Samantha is staying here though, right?”

  I thought that was a strange question. Why would he think I would leave my daughter behind? I hardly saw her as it was, what with all my training. “No of course not, she misses my mom just as much as I do,” I answered, trying to mask the confusion I felt.

  He looked like that wasn’t a good thing. Then shook his head slightly and stood up, “Well, good luck, Allison. I gotta go, so I’ll see you all later.” Then he was walking away. Why would he be so excited for me to be able to see my mom, but then be upset that Sam would be going with me?

  Over the last few weeks, Mark’s moods had been changing so rapidly. He would walk around like he was king of the world and then quickly change to a sullen, depressed attitude. He would be short in his side of the conversations and wouldn’t smile at all. It was so strange. Maybe he had some sort of bipolar disorder or something.

  I looked at David to see what his thoughts were, but he looked just as confused as I did. So I asked him, “Do you have any idea what’s going on with him?”

  He shook his head, and his face looked concerned as he said, “No, I don’t, but I am a little worried for him.”

  ***Lilith***

  “Can I come see you?” he asked, as if I would tell him no. Of course, I wanted to tell him no but I couldn’t. I wanted to never have to spend another second of my great life on his worthless hide. But before I could answer he continued, “I have some news for you, my love. I cannot wait to share it with you.”

  I found it odd that he ended up getting excited about the task I set before him. I had told him I needed information on this girl, the one Damien assigned to me. She seemed worthless enough to me, just like all the rest of them. But I did as I was told. He seemed cautious at first, like he feared he was doing something bad. And then, he ended up getting excited about it, like a rebellious child. It was annoying, to say the least. “That’s so wonderful, Sweetheart.” I internally cringed at that. But I was excited enough about the prospect of news. Some piece of knowledge would be better than nothing. And so far, I had produced nothing. “Please come to me, as soon as you can. I have missed you so terribly.”

  He was at my door in less than an hour. As soon as he entered, he kissed me. He hated being away from me. I could feel his need and lust so strongly it made me smile. I always loved the feeling that men had around me and the way I stripped them of all that was good and decent. I kissed him back and played my role well, letting him believe my love for him completely.

  Only after we finished our romp through the sheets and we rested naked next to each other did I finally feel it was safe to question him. “Mark, didn’t you mention something about wanting to tell me something?”

  He turned on his side to look at me and smiled wide. “I did. I thought you might want to know that Allison is leaving the Compound soon. She plans to visit her mother in Texas on Friday.” As he said the words, you could feel the sense of accomplishment coming off him.

  I lit up for real this time. This is exactly what I wanted. Damien would want to know this instantly. However, I had to make sure the facts were correct. It would only be worse if I told him something that ended up being false. “Oh thank you, my love.” I kissed him passionately. “I just need to know for sure when. And then I need to know where in Texas she will be. If she is shielding, we won’t be able to find her.” I reminded him.

  He stopped then. “We? Are you leaving, Lilly?” his face twisted into a mask of horror. Ugh, stupid man. Thinking I would stay with him forever. Unfortunately, I doubted I could go. Damien would probably not allow me to leave this stupid man yet. At that thought, I realized I hated this idiot more than any other person before him. I would need to kill him soon, just to rid myself of him. He had been near me too long. No man, least of all him, was worthy of keeping me.

  This damn planet wasn’t worthy of me. Damien would annihilate this place and rule as Lord and King, and I would be there beside him. I knew that soon enough the Fourth Seal would open. This would be my favorite Seal so far – Death. It was inevitable of course, the Four Horsemen work together. Where there is the White Horse of Deception, the Red Horse of War, and Black Horse of Famine, the Green Horse of Death will always be. They go together. We would overrun this planet with our power, and the Rising would finally rise up as we were meant to.

  But first things first, I had to get rid of this loser. “No dear. I didn’t mean myself. I meant some of my colleagues.”

  “Good, Lilly. But she will also have her daughter with her. No one is going to actually hurt them, right? You just want her scared, so she will go away, right?” Disappointment shrouded my eyes. I had honestly thought there was no decency left in this idiot. I’m a member of the Rising, you fucking moron. Of course we are going to kill her. Right after we make her watch us kill her daughter.

  I couldn’t actually say that though. So I said, “No, Mark. We really aren’t as bad as you think. I’ll just have someone scare her. You don’t want her killing me, right? She is supposed to be the one that ends up killing me, I already told you that. I thought you believed me?” I threw a little extra power over him now, making him submissive to me. He was already utterly in love with me, but you could never be too cautious.

  He shook his head vehemently, “I would kill her myself if she ever hurt you!” This I knew – as if I couldn’t kill her myself. Men tended to get overly protective of me. “And you are right, I have seen it myself.” He had told me he had at times seen visions of the past, so I decided to throw a vision at him of the bitch, Allison, killing me.

  It was funny really, because I would incinerate her in a second if I were allowed. But now he didn’t need to take my word for it, he had seen it himself. He was positive that his abilities had grown and I was right. And because he was so in love with me, he would never let that happen.

  I cuddled closer to him and whispered, “So just figure out when and where exactly, and let me know as soon as you can.” I tried to make my voice pleading, not demanding.

  “I will, I promise.” And then he kissed me, and I allowed him one last chance to enjoy my naked body.

  Chapter 13

  Reunion

  I jumped out of bed, almost running out the door. Today was the day I would get to go home, home to Texas, home to my mom! I couldn’t wait. Sam and I had made sure we were completely packed a couple of days early. Sam was bringing several things she had made with the artists. The plans were already made. The tickets purchased. We would go back the
way we came, helicopter, plane, and all.

  We ate quickly, being too anxious to take our time. David said he had business in Texas, so he would make the trip with us. But he wasn’t coming to my mother’s house, and he wouldn’t stay as long as we would. He would return to the Compound Saturday evening instead of Monday. But it was nice that he would be with us at least some of the time.

  On the airplane I sat so close to him I could feel the heat radiating off his arm, so I reached over and grabbed it. I didn’t wait for him to reject me or try to pull away, I just looped my arm under his and held on. Then I rested my head on him, hugging his arm close to me. I needed him right now, and I wanted him to be a part of this with me.

  I could tell at first he wanted to pull away. I knew he was too much of a gentleman to yank his arm away from of me so I just held on. Instead, he rested his hand, palm down, on my leg. I felt my hope surge, though I knew I shouldn’t. Maybe someday things would go back to normal between us.

  I wondered if he was distancing himself because he had learned more about the claim on my future, if I was the prophesied Descendant that was going to save the world. I nestled my head deeper into his arm, smelling him. And then I relaxed, no longer thinking about the wars or famine, the Seals or The End, or the future at all. I simply savored being that close to him. We stayed like that the whole ride home.

  As soon as the plane landed, we were running through the airport. Mom was supposed to be waiting for us. I grabbed Sam’s hand and we weaved our way through the crowds. I didn’t even care about the luggage at this point. David kept up with us but stayed a step behind.

  When I saw her, my eyes started flowing over with tears. I couldn’t stop them. I hadn’t realized how much I missed her. It was as if I had a huge hole in my heart, in my life. And when I saw her, that hole was filled.

  I ran to her and hugged her. My tears welled up and streamed freely down my cheeks, smearing what little makeup I had applied. She was wiping her own tears away as she held me, and then we held Sam between us.

  The three of us just stood there and hugged. There were no words that would express our feelings, so we said nothing. I knew that I had only been away from her for just over two months, but it felt like forever. So many things had happened, and were still happening, and I just needed my mom. She was my best friend, and I, hers.

  We pulled away long enough for David and her to pass their pleasantries. As David was about to take his leave, I turned to him and opened my arms, a clear invitation for a hug. It was a request, not a demand. At first, he began to say no, and then his features changed.

  He accepted my offer and pulled me into a hug. It was the first hug we shared since that morning he almost kissed me, and I didn’t want it to end. Without looking at me, he kissed my head, leaving an indelible mark that went straight to my heart, and then stepped away from me.

  He hugged Sam good bye, said good bye to my mom, and then walked away, without looking back. For a moment I forgot where I was, that I was back in Texas and with my mom. For a moment, the only thing I could think of was that he kissed me. The spot on my forehead that his lips had touched was still burning with fire, a fire that spread throughout my whole body and left me on edge.

  As I watched him walk away, my mom came up to me again, bringing me back to the present, and we hugged some more before heading out to the car. The town that I grew up in was too small to have a real airport, I mean there was one there, but I never saw it. And I don’t know what kind of planes actually flew in and out of it. So we had to fly in and out of the nearest big city, San Antonio. During the 30 minute drive home, I looked out the window to see if I could find any changes. After the first few minutes I realized that everything had changed drastically. My favorite place in the world was Texas, but this didn’t feel like it anymore. The sky was shrouded in darkness, as if the very Earth could feel the terror everyone faced now. The roads were littered with trash, and people ran around crazed.

  Though we hadn’t been bombed yet, as everyone feared, the war still raged on. Food was rationed and no one felt safe anymore. We drove past a building that had once been large and glorious, a big shopping mall, but now it stood desolate, the walls covered in spray paint tags and the windows blasted in.

  The air didn’t even taste the same. It wasn’t fresh anymore. It was dry and stale. It was dirty. Nothing felt right. I couldn’t hear the cicadas singing or the crickets flying. I couldn’t hear the birds or the trees blowing in the wind. The wind wasn’t even blowing at all. Everything seemed so… lifeless. This is what I imagined death to feel like. Empty, sad, and dark.

  This didn’t really feel like home anymore. I mean, I was still thrilled to be here, to be out of the compound, and most of all to be with my mom, but it didn’t feel like home anymore. It felt more like a vacation. A scary, empty vacation. I realized that I now associated the Compound as home, not because everything outside of the Compound was being ruined by the impending apocalypse, but because my home was with the Order.

  As soon as we pulled onto my old street, something felt off. At first I credited it to me no longer feeling like this was home. But as we got closer to my mother’s house, the feeling started to change from odd to flat out bad.

  Unfortunately I didn’t put two and two together soon enough, and once we got out of the car his stench burned my nose. It was a stink that hadn’t touched my nose in months now and it instantly sent chills through me. I felt all the hairs on my arms and neck stand up, and a shiver crept up my spine.

  I checked for my internal shield, it was up and in full effect. He never could have sensed me here. He never should have been able to track me, yet he was here. I couldn’t see him yet, but I could feel him as clearly as you can feel the smoke hug your skin when you are near a fire.

  Actually, I could feel more than just him. There had to be several of them here. I reached out with my mind and counted four strong members and maybe five weaker ones. Dang! I reached within and summoned my power. I didn’t care what random bystanders might witness my open display of power; all I cared about was my family staying safe.

  “Mom, Sam, come close and get behind me.” As I said the words I felt my power escape my finger tips and flow out, the familiar purple lifting my hair and swirling it around me. I let it spread further, surrounding not only me, but my mother and daughter as well. That’s when I saw them. There were ten of them. Damien was in front, followed by two gorgeous women and a huge, giant of a man. The other weaker ones trailed behind.

  “Do you honestly think you are strong enough to come up against the leader of the Rising and live?” Damien growled at me. I could see the blackness of his power begin to rise, but only his. The others did nothing. Still, the sight was horrifying.

  I was terrified. No amount of training could have prepared me for this. I wasn’t prepared to deal with the risk of losing either of the people standing next to me. And with them here, I knew I wasn’t going to defeat him, or really fight him at all. I couldn’t risk losing. At that realization, I was pissed. I was fuming with anger that I could taste on my tongue. I knew then, without a doubt, that I wanted to kill this man, this monster, before me.

  With that thought, my hands burst into flames, literally. I looked down, shocked, as Sam gasped and stepped away from me. My hands were covered in purple flames that licked up into the air.

  Damien and his men chose that moment to start their attack. Had it been only me I needed to protect, I could have been more focused on attacking him back. But as it was, I had to spread my shield over all three of us and hope that it would be enough to keep them away. It was strange that in all the times I practiced with my shield, I had never seen it come out like fire; it was always just a purple design that shimmered in the air. But now there was fire all around us.

  I could feel his power touching mine, scratching at the surface, trying to find a weakness. I could taste it, like rancid food. I could smell the death emanating from him and feel him weakening me. As I felt the w
eight of his power descend on me, I dropped to my knees. This was worse than standing in the Compound with all that power pushing you down. Worse than at the park with my own power, Damien’s, and Rick’s swimming beneath my skin. It was more than power overload. It was heavy and unyielding pain.

  My mother placed her hand on me, trying to offer her support.

  Despite the pain that his power caused, I was able to hold him off, and I started to stand. I would not bow before the devil. I would not cower and crawl. I would stand tall and do everything I could to keep him away from us. Hope swelled within me and I looked up at him, smirking with insolence. He saw the look of defiance in my eyes and with a flick of his wrists, all the others started attacking me with power as well.

  I dropped to the ground harder than before, no longer able to keep my feet beneath me. I couldn’t allow myself to fall, to be defeated once and for all, because if I died, so did Mom and Sam. Tears sprung forth and slid down my face and neck as I tried as hard as I could to maintain my shield.

  I wished David was here. I wished with all my might he were here to help me, to tell me what to do and how to do it. To offer support and to help keep my family safe. I couldn’t do it alone. I started to sob loudly, David! David, I need you!

  Unexpectedly, he answered me, Allison, what is going on? I can hear you. Can you hear me?

  He was not here with me, he was far away, but it didn’t matter at the moment. He was in my head and I could hear him as clearly as if he stood in front of me. Not sure how long this would last, I shouted the answers at him, David! We are being attacked. Damien is here with several others. I can’t hold them off. I’m freaking out! It hurts! Please come!

  He is there? Now? Where are you? I’m on my way! His reply brought me hope, but it was fleeting. I remembered he was at least 30 minutes away; there was no way I could hold them off for that long.