Sacrifice

by Michel, Mayandree

  I vaguely remember seeing David’s pack dash in every direction as they tried desperately to avoid flying balls of fire.

  Eight - Evan

  Fire Ball

  “How long ago did they leave?” I asked Matthias.

  “About five minutes ago. Evander, there were five of them,” Matthias said nervously as he came out from behind the bar. I could barely hear him above the loud ragtime music that some drunk was murdering on the piano. It also didn’t help that the bar girl sang out of key.

  “What’s your point?” I asked, over my shoulder as I walked out of the Bucket O’ Blood. Obviously, the old count had forgotten that he was talking to a deity.

  “Any luck?” Nikolas asked, walking out of the saloon across the road.

  “According to Matthias, they left about five minutes ago. Damned, impatient mutts.”

  “Five?” Nikolas said raising an eyebrow and gritting his teeth. “He may already be dead.”

  “I thought of that. I’ll take the north end of the forest. You take the south. Alert me if you locate him,” I said, and entered the woods as Nikolas and disappeared.

  By now, I was about ready to rip Victor’s heart out myself. He’d better not have gotten himself killed. The werewolves knew our deepest secret. They knew that Ischeros couldn’t be revived without our heart. Victor had made the mistake of making the Lykanos privy to that. I had to admit, although I wish it wasn’t the truth – our empire needed him. If only he’d learn to stay out of the way. He was becoming Delia’s shadow and I wanted to squash him into the ground the last few times I’d seen him around her.

  Victor hadn’t changed a bit and I wasn’t surprised by this little stunt. He was always going to be an arrogant fool who has to prove a point no matter how wrong he was. I could understand Delia’s point of view. She searched for the good in everyone and wanted to give him a chance, but he needed to learn a few things first. He needed discipline and he needed to learn to practice some restraint. I didn’t trust him.

  Although it was a full moon tonight, the darkness surrounding the forest was opaque. I couldn’t feel Victor’s aura and wondered if the Lykanos had brought him here at all. It took me less than a minute to search my half of the woods. I didn’t see any moving shadows of any kind, whether wolf or Apolluon. Suddenly, there was movement about thirty feet ahead of me. The shadow wasn’t tall enough to be Nikolas. The silhouette was too slim to be a man. It had to be one of the females in the pack, probably Kalisi.

  I moved swiftly, staying hidden behind the trees so that I could get a better look. I needed to identify my opponent before killing him. It was definitely a woman, but it was still too dark to be sure. Something was strange about her behavior. She was calm, not hostile, as I would have expected a Lykanos to be, and she was still in her human form.

  Then it dawned on me. This could be a trap. Maybe the Lykanos were surrounding the forest. I saw another shadow. Huge in stature and I knew by his movements that it was Nikolas. His eyes flashed red to alert me that he was aware of me. I motioned for him to stay behind me.

  I could take care of Kalisi on my own. As I inched closer, I noticed a heap on the ground. The girl stood over the mound, which had no movement. It was too late, I thought.

  Strangely, the temperature in the forest rose. A blazing fireball spun out toward me, growing in size, as it got closer. I raised one hand and the tidal wave extinguished the flames instantly. I was in shock for a split second. Another ball of flames, this one larger in circumference, was aimed straight for my head. I stirred the air and my waves spun around my opponent. She couldn’t escape me as I transformed into a whirlpool. Splashing in every direction, I surrounded her, but she continued spitting balls of fire at me.

  This went on for about a minute – she hurling fireballs in my direction and me blocking them with waves of water – until she gave up suddenly, and threw herself onto the heap. I stood a few yards away and stared at her in the darkness. Something cracked and I whirled around. One of Nikolas’ hooves had snapped a branch as he moved closer to get a better look at the girl.

  “Even in this darkness, she’s gorgeous, but who is she?” Niko asked as I stared down at her.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Ugh!” Nikolas jerked his head back violently, kicking his front hooves into the air. A werewolf was on Nikolas’ back, digging its sharp fangs and claws into him. Nikolas reversed his bow, and pulled his arrow back, releasing it. The arrow entered the wolf’s head and the beast slid to the ground, revealing pale skin. Just then, another wolf sailed above me and prepared to land on my face. I felt its claws sink into the fabric of my blazer, tearing at the fibers. The wolf growled as I grabbed it by its jaws, tore its mouth wide open, and flung it into the air. It fell to the branch littered ground with a resounding thud, already dead. It was Ian, one of the newest Lykanos.

  “There will be more,” Nikolas pointed out.

  “I know. We must get Victor away from here.” I noticed the girl, stepping out from the shadow of a huge pine. She inched closer to Victor, but remained concealed by the darkness.

  “She had tried to run, but I blocked her,” Nikolas said. “She didn’t bother pitching anymore flames though. I guess she figured I was like you.” A smiled emerged on his face.

  “Who are you?” I asked, stepping closer and feeling her intense, yet familiar aura for the first time tonight. She said nothing.

  “Is he alive?” I asked. This time when she didn’t answer, I didn’t bother waiting for one and began to crouch down.

  “Don’t touch him! Murderers!” The girl screamed as she stared down at Victor and blocked me from getting any closer to him. I watched the girl as she began stroking his hair.

  “Murderer?” I muttered, shaking my head. Who the hell was she? “We have to get him out of here if you want him saved.”

  “That’s right,” Nikolas agreed. “It’s only a matter of time before the wolves return to finish the job. Let’s go.”

  “I know who you are, Lord Evander Capius, and he would never go with you willingly.” She hissed, looking up at me for the first time.

  I couldn’t help staring into her eyes. It was like looking into crystal – multi-dimensional, like a prism. Her aura intensified with her gaze.

  “She’s one of us,” Nikolas declared, after shifting back to human form. “She has an aura.”

  The girl didn’t deny it. In fact, she didn’t say another word. She just glared at us as if she would pounce without warning. There was something in those crystal-like eyes. Could it be fear? No, it was fearlessness.

  “You are an Ischero,” I whispered to myself.

  “So what if I am?” She had heard my whisper, confirming my assumption.

  I walked passed her to where Victor lay, motionless. The girl tensed up but she didn’t move. I dropped to my knees and placed my hand on his neck. Victor was alive, but barely. I stepped aside, allowing Nikolas to lift Victor off the ground. He looked like a frail rag doll over Nikolas’ shoulder. A bloody, and damn near beaten-to-death rag doll.

  I stared at the girl for a moment. Her face was concealed by her wavy, black hair. I knew that I couldn’t be mistaken. The dark, long hair was the same. The pale, creamy skin was identical. In addition, her aura – a rich and stifling sweetness – was as it was in the dream. It was the same. I didn’t know who she was, but I was certain who it wasn’t in my dream.

  “Are you going to tell me who you are?” I asked, as Nikolas disappeared into the night.

  “Where is he taking him?” she yelled.

  “Who wants to know?” I snapped.

  “That doesn’t matter.” She glared at me.

  “Then I’ll be going.” I turned and began to walk away.

  “No, wait,” she said, frantically. “I’m Evangelia–.”

  “Victor’s sister,” I noted, finishing her sentence and she nodded. The air caught in my throat as she stared into my eyes. I felt as if the air had been knocked right out of me.

>   “How could you be? You’re supposed to be…”

  “Dead? That was the plan, wasn’t it? Exactly what the empire had intended,” Evangelia hissed, knowingly.

  “No, that’s not true. It’s not what our empire intended, but you being dead is what Victor wanted the empire to believe.”

  “Look, my brother is my only concern.” She glared at me, again.

  “Of course,” I said, taking a step closer.

  “I don’t understand this. How could those werewolves get the best of him?” Evangelia asked. “My brother has more power in his pinky finger than those beasts could ever dream of possessing.”

  “Before tonight, when was the last time you seen or spoken to him?” I asked.

  There was a brief pause before she answered. It was as if she was wondering if she should be speaking to me at all. She considered me the enemy.

  “I haven’t seen or had any contact with my brother for a little over a month.” That made sense because Victor has been under Cordelia’s protection – tucked up nice and snug in her house, until sneaking out tonight.

  “So you haven’t talked or communicated with Victor since the night of the Masquerade Ball.”

  “No, he was supposed to come for me after he ki–”

  “Killed Cordelia?” I asked. Evangelia looked away from me and stared down at the ground. She didn’t have to answer the question. It had always been the plan.

  “I still don’t see how the werewolves were able to nearly kill him,” she wondered aloud.

  “Isn’t it obvious?” I watched her expression darken.

  “How could you be so cruel?” she screamed. “He’s defenseless.”

  The heat, which radiated from her, rose at an alarming rate. I didn’t want to have to douse her, again.

  “He was under protection.”

  “You mean he’s a prisoner?” Evangelia asked, knowingly.

  “No. He’s was being protected.”

  “Well, it looks like you did a great job,” she snapped. Now I was getting annoyed, especially since she had no idea how far the empire had gone to embrace her brother.

  “What happened to Victor tonight was his own fault and of no fault of any Ischero. Your brother is stubborn and it nearly cost him his life.”

  “Where did Nikolas take him?”

  “So you do remember us. Good.”

  “Of course I know who he is. My brother informed me about every one of you. Nikolas is the largest centaur and always reeks of wine.”

  “Exactly.” I chuckled, lightly, catching a softer look in her eyes. I felt paralyzed as I looked into them. “Can you teleport?” A demigod at her age, seventeen – the same age as Bethany and Cordelia, should be able to let her mind project where she wants her body to be.

  “No, I… never learned how.” The girl had no training. I guess the lack of parenting and an overzealous and self-involved brother didn’t help. I could tell that she wasn’t as powerful as she could be when she pitched the fireballs at me. Her aim was atrocious.

  “Then you’ll need me,” I said, holding out my hand.

  She stared at it as if I had some kind of disease. She didn’t move a muscle, so I knew that I would have to take her hand.

  “Nikolas is already at Cordelia’s estate. We need to get going.”

  “Cordelia’s estate? My brother never killed her?” Evangelia asked, incredulously.

  “Who else could confiscate his strengths?”

  “I guess this means she’s the empress,” Evangelia said, standoffishly.

  “Our empress,” I corrected.

  “We share nothing,” she snapped, but allowed me to take her hand.

  She couldn’t have been more wrong and nothing could have prepared either of us for what we felt the moment we touched.

  Nine - Cordelia

  The Will to Live

  I grabbed my stomach and doubled over. The excruciating pain spiraled throughout my body and I gasped for air. It felt like a burning flame had settled in my chest. The pain left me wanting to rip my own heart out. I stood in the center of my parlor and realized that I was losing focus when all the lamps looked like dancing, blurry spheres of light. I started visualizing wilted, white roses and the abyss of darkness surrounding them was pulling at me.

  Victor needed me and I needed to be close to him. I could no longer feel his aura. I could only feel the torture and pain which was now a part of me. I could taste the blood that poured from his wounds and all I could see was his blood dripping over the wilting, white roses – the matron Goddess Demeter’s roses. His blood covered the roses, nearly changing their hue to crimson.

  “Don’t die. Please don’t die. Fight the damned souls. Fight them!” I pleaded to Victor telepathically as more pain smashed into me, spiraling in my core. I was nearly crippled with agony. Suddenly, someone was there. My dear, sweet cousin had brought him back. A feeling of relief washed over me until I saw the condition he was in. The pain seared through me, again.

  “He’s going to die, Cordelia,” Nikolas said as he carried Victor over his shoulder. “Are you alright?” Nikolas gave me a peculiar look.

  “I’m fine. Lay him down,” I said, gripping my stomach and motioning to the sofa. I stared at Victor and couldn’t ignore the intense feeling of something so powerful grasping my heart.

  “They really bit into him. Can you save him?” Niko asked.

  “I think I can. I will,” I vowed, although looking at the bloody heap that Nikolas gently lay on my sofa, I wondered if I could save him without help from the gods.

  “Those animals,” I said angrily, and knelt down beside Victor.

  “Those savages never disappoint,” Nikolas said gravely. I looked up at him and noticed that he was covered with blood too.

  “Are you healing?”

  “As if those mutts could hurt me,” Nikolas chuckled. “I’m as good as new and thirsty.” He swigged from a bottle of wine that appeared out of nowhere.

  I tried to get a better look at Victor. I wasn’t surprised by the enormity of his injuries, just that he survived the attack as a mortal. So much blood gushed out of him, dripped onto the floor, and formed a puddle. I inspected what was left of his handsome face – blood and shattered bone. I lifted the lid of the eye that was still intact and I knew that he could see me. He moaned, grudgingly, and then passed out. I had to work quickly.

  “Victor, it’s Delia. I know that you can hear me. I’m not pissed at you. Please stay with me.” As I expected, he didn’t stir. “You’re not going to die, so let’s get you upstairs so that you can heal. We’ve got a lot to do in the next couple days, and I’m going to… need you,” I added, as my voice cracked.

  I lowered my face to his and touched his skin. My worst fears were confirmed. His skin was as cold as ice. As a demigod and a weredragon, Victor’s body temperature lingered around one hundred and fifty – give or take a degree. I put my hand against his neck and his heartbeat was shallow. Although his clothes were in shreds, I still had to tear open his blood shirt to get to his heart.

  “I think you’d better stand back.” I instructed Niko.

  Nikolas took a couple steps backward and I started to feel the heat stirring within me. It spiraled through me, for a second or two, and then I felt the first current shoot through my veins causing me to tremble violently. I stretched my hands out and my fingertips ignited with sparks. The blinding, white lightning bolts immerged almost immediately and streamed outward. It was now or never, I thought. I placed one hand on Victor’s abdomen and watched his body fill with currents. I thrust my lightning bolt into his chest with my other hand. He was engulfed with my aura once the bolt penetrated his heart. I wasn’t just charging him with powerful currents; I was using my aura to give him the will to live.

  Victor’s body lifted off the sofa and he was suspended in the air. The bolts traveled through his body and a ruby glow took over. The flame within him was re-lit. Victor’s body hung in the air as the deafening; crackling current spiraled
throughout the room. He was healing at a considerable rate.

  Although he was still covered in blood, most of it was slowly seeping back into the devastating wounds as they sealed. I pulled my bolt back, retracting it from his body, as it floated down onto the bloodstained sofa. Without the full anointment from Zeus, I could only afford a few seconds and could only spare so much of my bolt. I expect that most of the damage was reversed, but I’ll know soon enough.

  I turned to look at Nikolas and noticed Evander standing under the archway. He was not alone. Beside him was a beautiful young woman. She made eye contact with me, and held my gaze. Whoever she was, she appeared apprehensive and prepared to pounce on me. I could feel her aura. She was one of us. I turned to Evan, raising an eyebrow. Introductions would be proper.

  “Cordelia, this is Evangelia. Victor’s sister.” Evan paused, and the air caught in my throat. “She was in the forest when we found him.”

  “I had no idea… that you were still alive. None of us did.” I breathed and stared at her, incredulous.

  Evangelia didn’t utter a word and looked over at her brother. Victor began to stir as if on cue. She was beside him in a fraction of a second, and the heat radiating from her was familiar. I had been living with an aura similar to hers for about a month now. However, her aura was different in one way. Evangelia’s was comprised of pain and anguish.

  Victor coughed raucously for a moment.

  “Shh… I’m here Vic. I’m here big brother. I’m here for you now.” Evangelia whispered, kneeling at his side. She ran her fingers through his blood-soiled hair. He shivered, but appeared to feel a million times better. You could actually identify him now.

  “De–Delia…,” Victor whispered, hoarsely. I noticed both Evan’s and Evangelia’s irritation to Victor calling for me. “Delia, come… please,” Victor pleaded.

  “Yes Victor, I’m right here,” I said kneeling beside him, forcing Evangelia to move over.