Bloodlines 02: Torment

by Lindsey Anne Kendal

  Chapter Four

  Rebuild

  I drove up to the church on the top of the hill where we had been last night. It was in a real mess. I hadn't realized I’d almost completely destroyed it. I’d been far too busy getting annoyed and scrapping with Argyle to notice. I knew the roof had gone, I remembered pulling it apart, but then I must have gotten carried away because the east and west sides were missing. I stood in front of it looking at all the bits of stone that had once been the walls lying around on the floor. I knew I couldn’t leave it like that.

  I stood a few feet from the entrance, my eyes turning white. The walls slowly began to rebuild themselves; large pieces of stone were picking themselves up and putting themselves back where they belonged. Bits of timber rose from the ground, along with the wood which had once been part of the roof. They fixed themselves together again perfectly. Now when I looked at the outside of the church, it was perfect, all except for the windows. I walked inside and looked around; the stained glass from the windows was scattered everywhere. I raised my arms and the glass joined together again, filling the open voids in the walls, and showing the beautiful pictures they had originally contained…of Mary and Jesus, a beautiful golden cross and angels. All the pews put themselves together again and went back into place, the stone statues stood proud again and all without a single flaw. The large crucifix that had nearly fallen on top of Argyle now hung beautifully above the rebuilt altar. I left the entrance doors open, and sent a strong gust of wind through the whole of the church to clear out all the dust and dirt, before looking around to make sure I hadn't missed anything. The church was beautiful, so much nicer than the small Puritan one in the village. I sat on one of the pews looking up at the crucifix.

  “I’m sorry I destroyed your church,” I said out loud, “but I had to save my friends. I hope you can forgive me and that everything is back to how it should be now.”

  I was sitting there for quite a while having flashbacks from the fight. I saw all the guys’ faces when they realized it was me who had torn the church apart, and that I was now standing in front of them. I saw the look on Argyle’s face when he too realized it was me, and that I wasn’t dead and gone. He looked horrified, frightened and confused. I saw Eligos rise up beside me and look at my face, where the creature that had been with Argyle had cut me. I remembered how incredibly angry he looked just before he went after it. Why was he so annoyed? It was only a scratch; he knew I could easily heal myself. Why did he torture the creature for so long before he killed it? He didn’t seem like the sadistic type…The whole fight played like a movie in my mind.

  Eventually I decided it was time to leave. As I was about to stand up the ground started to shake slightly, and after a few seconds it stopped, I didn’t think anything of it; maybe it was just a tremor. I walked out of the church, apologizing again, and closed the large double doors behind me. When I turned to walk to my car there was a man standing a few meters away from me, staring. He was around the same height as me with long blond hair. He looked very smart, he had a black jacket on with trousers to match, a white shirt and smart black shoes on.

  “Sorry,” I said, “did you want to go inside?”

  He didn’t reply; instead he threw his hands out in front of him and sent energy balls, one after another straight at me. I managed to dodge the first few but then one hit me and sent me crashing backwards into one of the stone walls. He continued to throw them at me as I fell to the floor. I gathered myself up quickly and ran around the side of the church to take shelter for a moment. I went to look around the corner, but as soon as he saw my face he threw them again. I saw his eyes were now glowing yellow.

  “Damn it!” I whispered. “God, I can tell I’m back.”

  He was alone. That was one good thing; at least this would be a fair fight.

  “Show yourself!” the man demanded, his voice deep and hoarse.

  “Go back to Hell, you bastard!” I shouted to him.

  I walked out from the side of the church, eyes white once again. I threw energy balls back at him and then sent a shockwave towards him, but nothing seemed to be hurting him; the energy just bounced off him and then disappeared. He started to walk closer and closer to me, a twisted grin appearing on his face. No matter what I threw at him, nothing stopped him. I started to panic a little and contemplated calling out to Eligos, but I didn’t want him fighting all my battles for me, and I certainly didn’t want to risk him getting hurt. This man, although he had a human appearance, was strong and obviously had a high resistance to magic. He raised his hand as he walked towards me and I rose with it. He moved his hand from side to side fast, sending me against the church wall again and then into the doors before pounding me back against the wall. Then he made me float slowly over to him. Despite my efforts I couldn’t move a muscle; I felt paralyzed. He looked at me for a moment, studying my face, before striking me with the back of his right arm and sending me into the side of my car. I hit my head on the window before I fell to the ground. He walked towards me again, this time with a look of complete disgust on his face. I was in pain and really annoyed now.

  The vine-like markings appeared on my skin and I felt my eyes change from white to fire-red. I rose to my feet and sent flames from each hand at him. He rolled out of the way, but that didn’t matter, just before he stood up properly I was directly in front of him. I’d moved so fast that he hadn't seen me. I slammed my hand against his chest and sent a flow of purple electrically charged energy into him, he screamed out in pain and I took great pleasure in increasing the amount of energy going into him. It looked like he was being electrocuted; I could see his bones clearly through his skin for a couple of seconds at a time. It was frightening how much I enjoyed seeing the look of pain on his face.

  Once his eyes started bleeding I threw him against the church wall.

  “You should think twice before attacking me,” I said bitterly while walking over to him.

  “This isn’t over, princess!” he warned me. “Not by a long shot.”

  “Take your best shot.”

  I went to attack him again but in a blink of an eye he had disappeared. I wasn’t impressed to say the least; I should have let the demon side of me loose at the start of this fight instead of letting him hurt me. I got back into my car, eyes and skin still demonic, and drove back to the house at high speed.

  Chapter Five

  Disagreement

  When I walked on to my porch the front door flew open and I walked inside, Tyler and Lucian were in the hallway within seconds.

  “Keira, what-” Tyler started.

  “Not now!” I snapped as the door slammed shut behind me. I walked into the kitchen and threw cold water on my face. A moment later Lily and Danny were in the room.

  “Are you OK?” Lily asked.

  “Do I look OK?” I scolded, turning to face her.

  “Why are you like that?” she asked when she saw my eyes and skin.

  “Because I’m pissed off that's why. I’m sick of not being able to go somewhere without someone or something attacking me.”

  “Who attacked you?” Lucian demanded to know as he walked in the room.

  “I don't know. I didn’t get the chance to ask him his name.”

  I pushed past them and walked into the hallway. I was about to turn to walk up the stairs when the front door was blown off its hinges and landed inches in front of me. Danny, Lucian and Tyler ran into the hall and stood beside me just as Eligos walked in; he looked absolutely livid.

  “Why didn’t you call me?” he asked sternly.

  “Because I didn’t need you that's why,” I told him rather bluntly.

  “Oh really, is that why you’re in a mess and he is still alive.”

  “I heal quickly.” The white aura washed over my body, making all the cuts and grazes disappear. “See, I can handle things myself.”

  “Do I need to repeat my previous statement?”

  “What is your problem?”

  “You are! Y
ou’re stupid, reckless and you have no idea who you were just up against. He…”

  “I don't care, I’m alive and he fled. What does that tell you?”

  “It tells me he’ll be back because you didn’t finish him off…”

  “Oh…piss off!” I shouted.

  “Why are you arguing?” Lily interrupted, standing halfway between us. “You’re on the same side.”

  “Are we?” he barked. “Sometimes I wonder.”

  “Excuse me?” I said in a both angry and shocked voice.

  “You heard me – if you carry on like this you’ll end up dead. If not you then one of your friends.”

  “Well, I’ve died once, why not do it again? You bring me back, so what's the problem?”

  “If a demon kills your very soul there is no coming back. You won’t go to Heaven or Hell; you will be gone completely.”

  “GOOD! NOW LEAVE ME ALONE!”

  As I said my sentence I attacked him with an energy ball. It hit him and sent him through the open doorway and out of sight.

  “KEIRA!” Lily yelled.

  I went to walk upstairs again. I had gone up two steps when an invisible force hoisted me into the air and made me fly backwards through the hallway and out of the door. I landed on my back at the bottom of the porch steps. I cried out in pain. Lily and the others ran outside quickly, but as they were about to go down the steps of the porch an invisible wall stopped them. I turned to see Eligos looking at them with his hand held out in their direction. Even when he lowered his hand they couldn’t get past the wall.

  “So you think you can handle anything?” he asked.

  “I’ll handle whatever I need too,” I told him.

  “Do you have any idea who that man was?”

  “No I don't and I don't care.”

  “You’re lucky he went easy on you. Next time he won’t, believe me.”

  “Oh yeah sorry I forgot – you know everything, don't you?” I said sarcastically.

  “I know what he is capable of.”

  “I can handle him.”

  “Really?” he asked.

  “Yes really, now go home.”

  His eyes changed from the beautiful sapphire blue, to a blazing red.

  “Let’s see if you’re ready for anything,” he said.

  I stood up quickly; I didn’t know what he was doing. He bombarded me with energy balls; I didn’t have time to react and was hit over and over again. I tried to send them back but whenever I fired one at him he cancelled it out with one of his own. Then he shot static electricity at me from both of his hands. It ripped through my body; the pain was so intense I ended up on the ground on my hands and knees.

  “STOP IT!” Lily screamed.

  “I SWEAR TO GOD I’M GONNA KILL YOU,” Tyler was shouting to him, banging his fists against the invisible wall.

  “You wouldn’t stand a chance,” Eligos shouted to him, letting his guard down for a moment.

  I jumped up as quickly as I could and went to throw energy back at him but he was too fast; before it was even halfway to him he had disappeared. I turned around to look for him; he appeared again right in front of me, sending a shockwave at me. I flew across the front garden and landed on the hood of my car for a moment, before rolling off and hitting the ground. I was going to take shelter behind the car, but Eligos had others plans for me. The car rose into the air and was then thrown a few hundred feet behind me into one of the fields.

  Eligos walked towards me quickly. I got to my feet just as he threw one of his arms to the side. One of the sunbeds from the side garden was thrown at me; it hit me with such force that I ended up on the ground again. Enough was enough. I jumped to my feet and prepared to try and attack him again, but I felt something sharp in my back. When I looked over my shoulder he was standing there with his sword pressed against my skin.

  “If you move I will kill you,” he warned.

  “Lilith would kill you if you did,” I retorted.

  “I don't care; I think I’ve lived long enough, besides it would get me out of this ridiculous job of protecting someone who thinks they know everything. If I had a choice between death and putting up with you any longer…I would choose death.”

  I’d never heard him talk like that before. His tone was so different, and he scared me. I closed my eyes for a second, and when I opened them he was standing in front of me. His sword was pointing down towards the ground but his eyes were still red.

  “Let that be a lesson to you!” he scolded. “That was nothing compared to what I could have done to you, and what I will do to you if you ever attack me again. Do you understand me?”

  I stood there staring at him in silence.

  “I said do you understand me!!” he shouted.

  “Yes.”

  “Good.”

  Then he disappeared.

  The invisible wall had gone and the guys could get to me.

  “Keira, I swear the next time he comes here I’ll kill him,” Tyler told me, putting his arm around my shoulder.

  “No you won’t,” I said, shrugging him off.

  “What?”

  “Firstly I won’t let you, secondly I don't mean to sound horrible, but you wouldn’t stand a chance against him. But more important than both of those reasons…he was right.”

  “I don't understand,” Lucian said. “Are you saying he was right to attack you?”

  “Lucian I attacked him first and I shouldn’t have,” I replied as my eyes and skin returned to normal. “And he’s right, I didn’t know what I was up against, and that guy who attacked me could have killed me. And he got away, which means he could attack again at any time, and not just me, he could come for you.”

  “There is no excuse for what he just did to you,” Tyler raged.

  “Don't you get it?” Lily told them. “He was proving to her that she isn’t ready for anything.”

  “It’s the only way he could show her,” Danny said. “She wouldn’t listen, so he had to go down another road.”

  “They’re right,” I agreed, turning to look at Tyler. “Don't be angry with him. If you need to be angry with someone, be angry with me.”

  I walked away from them and went up to my bedroom. I quickly got changed out of my now dirty and ripped clothes and into a loose-fitting pair of jeans and a tank top. I fell back on to my bed, I was exhausted; I’d had no sleep and had had three fights, Argyle, the man and Eligos in less than twenty-four hours. I had just gotten comfy when Lily knocked and walked in with a glass of orange juice for me. She closed the door behind her and came and sat on the end of my bed.

  “Thanks, Lily,” I said, taking the drink from her.

  “Are you OK?” she asked.

  “Not really.”

  “Do you want to talk about it?”

  “Where’s Jake?” I asked her.

  “At the music store. He thought it was time to open it again; it’s only for a few hours.”

  “I agree with him.”

  “Don't change the subject. Let it out,” she said, getting comfortable.

  “Did you hear what he said?” I blurted out as my eyes started welling up.

  “Which bit?”

  “He said, if he had to choose between death and spending more time with me, he would choose death.”

  “Yeah, I heard that”

  “That really hurt!” I choked, as tears ran down my face. “I spent a lot of time with him in the three months I was away, and he was never nasty to me. He was always nice, caring and he wanted to help me as much as he could. When he said that, I felt like I’d just been stabbed through my heart.”

  She looked at me doubtfully.

  “Keira, I’m your best friend, which means I get to be straight with you without you going off on me. OK?”

  “OK.”

  “You deserved everything you got down there. Did you see his face when he walked in here?”

  “Yeah, he was pissed off.”

  “Yeah, but he also looked worried sick. Don't y
ou see he cares about you, maybe more than he should? If he only saw you as a job he wouldn’t have been so worried, and what do you do? You attack him. You attack the person who has saved you twice, the person who tortured a creature because he dared touch you, I watched him, Keira.”

  “Lily, I…”

  “How could you do that to him? Then you act so cocky, like you could beat anything when it was obvious something had beaten you. He had to show you that you’re not invincible, that you don't know everything and you obviously haven’t mastered your power properly yet. He wiped the floor with you.”

  “Yeah he did, and after what he said to me I bet he enjoyed every minute of it.”

  “I doubt it very much. I bet it took a lot for him to do that to you.”

  “GOD!” I shouted, throwing the glass of orange across my room and into the bathroom. “Why am I such an idiot?”

  “Keira, everyone makes mistakes, even you. Nobody in this life or any other is perfect. We all have our faults.”

  “Yeah, but mine turn people against me. Half the time I don't even realize I’ve been off with people until it’s too late.”

  “Just call out to him, or do whatever you normally do to get him here.”

  “I haven’t had to call out to him up to now; he’s just turned up…well apart from when we were fighting Argyle. He was waiting for me to give him the go-ahead then.”

  “I think there is something affecting you at the moment, something you haven’t spoken to anyone about. You’ve been so different, you’ve been moody and you have no patience. I could see it when you were explaining things to us this morning. I think you need to let off some steam and then have a good night’s sleep or the other way round, whatever suits you.”

  “Maybe you’re right.”

  “OK, I’ll leave you to it. Remember what I said though,” she said as she made her way to the door. “Call out to him, talk to him…Don't let this ruin things!”

  I didn’t answer her, I smiled slightly instead and she walked out. I lay back on the bed and closed my eyes.

  When I opened my eyes and looked at the clock it was 6.30p.m. I must have fallen asleep very quickly. I’d only had a few hours but I felt better for it. I felt more relaxed and less agitated than I had this morning. I got up and cleaned the broken glass and orange juice up in my bathroom, then I made my way downstairs. When I got near the kitchen the smell of lasagna hit me, I walked in to see Lily dishing it out. Jake was back now and helping her.