by D. N. Hoxa
In front of the back door was Jack and my father, who looked furious. Others passed around him and disappeared behind the door, running away from the battle. Aaron was fighting soldiers coming from the other side of the hallway.
“Baby…oh, God, Ella!” my father cried when he saw the wound.
“Take her. Find Horatio, now,” I urged him, putting Ella’s arm around his neck. He looked on the verge of tears, but he nodded. His chin trembled when he saw my bleeding arm, but I pushed him forward. “Now, Dad. Go!” I pushed him until he was into the tunnels.
Terrified to even look at them running away, I grabbed Jack’s arm and pulled him close. “Are there others?”
“All the guards are down. Those alive have already gone through the tunnel,” Jack said, and he was already on his way to hold the soldiers coming at us from the direction Ella and I had come.
I put Bob away for a second, and I called on air again. Both my torn and bloodied palms were in front of me, and the air, the strength of it, left my body in a whoosh before it crashed against the oncoming soldiers.
My knees shook, but I wasn’t done yet. I turned to the other side of the hallway and to the soldiers Aaron was still fighting. I blew them off, too, as far as I could.
“Go!” I said to Aaron. Jack was already at the door, but some warlocks had recovered, and they were coming at us. “Go ahead! I’ll stop them.”
“No—” Aaron began to complain, but I didn’t let him.
“Aaron, I can't let them come to the tunnel and see where it leads. I can take them. Just go, now! The others need you more than I do.” I pushed him as hard as I could, but he wouldn’t budge. The warlocks kept coming, but he wouldn’t move. “They need you now, Aaron. They’re not going to make it without you!”
It was the truth. No matter how many Rebels had survived, they wouldn’t know what to do without Aaron when they reached the end of the tunnels. Aaron knew that, too. That’s why, cursing under his breath, he turned for the door while I met the first warlock’s katana with Bob.
“Don’t take long,” Aaron called before he disappeared from my sight.
Overthinking was the surest way to get yourself killed in a fight. That’s why I needed to clear my head and leave all of my issues behind. There were already too many witches and warlocks in front of me.
The air that gathered like an invisible shield all around my body blew on them, but it was weak. They were using their magic, too, but they were coming at me all at once. That rarely worked. When two opposite powers unleashed after someone or something, they could lose their effect and become anything.
Like the burning cold that had already started at my fingertips. Fuck. I really needed to survive, but they kept on coming. I ignored the stinging of my body as well as I could, and the black dots that appeared and disappeared in my vision—probably an illusion spell gone wrong. I killed and fought and killed for a very long time. Or it seemed long to me.
Until I felt something on my thigh. I had a split second to look down and that was enough to see a small syringe, its needle buried inside of me. I pulled it off just as another hit my shoulder. What the fuck?
A witch was standing behind four soldiers, using them as shields, with a gun-like device in her hand. She was the one shooting small syringes at me. With my three remaining knifes, I threw as well as I could, but they kept coming, too many of them.
Air, I thought, and the connection was already there, so it blew the approaching soldiers a couple of feet back before I felt another syringe in my gut. Dizzy. I fell against the wall to my side. I didn’t get what was happening. Was my power leaving me?
The view in front of me had completely blurred. Too many soldiers. They had surrounded me, and strangely, when I tried to look at their faces, I had to turn my head up. I must’ve fallen down without realizing it.
Another stinging sensation to the side of my neck. I tried to reach for air. Earth. Anything!
Nothing.
My eyes closed, and my mind gave up on me, too.
3
——————————
Water. Everywhere, all around me.
A faint beeping noise in the background. Footsteps. The smell of salt.
I stretched my senses as far as I could to get a clearer view of my surroundings. A warlock. Very strong magic, something I’d never felt before. Something like a mix of ice and acid. Shifters. Warlock and witches. No vampire or fey.
Staying completely still, I slowly opened my eyes. A grey ceiling greeted me. A white metal drawer and an iron door. With a deep breath, I reached for the water with my mind. I needed to form a connection with it as fast as I could. There was so much of it! Too much water.
But…something was wrong. The connection wasn’t there. I couldn’t find that silver string that brought the water and me together, and I didn’t understand it. My power was there, I could feel it, but my muscles felt dead. A heartbeat later and flames of anger licked my skin.
Something was different—and very wrong. I felt different, too, but…not necessarily in a bad way.
Hmm. I tried to call on air next, just to see what would happen, when…
“Don’t bother.”
The old, scratchy voice came from my right. I tried to jump up from wherever I was lying. I couldn’t. The warlock’s face loomed above mine.
“You can't use your powers,” he muttered. Red filled my vision. I kept my eyes on his face while he pulled up my sleeve and felt my inner arm with two of his chubby fingers. I tried to jerk away again but no luck. All I could move were my neck and my head. I followed the warlock’s dark brown eyes as they moved from my pitch black ones to my arm and back again.
I practically smelled the fear leaking out of him as he watched the door behind him now, his lips pressed tightly. His fingers shook as he tied a rubber band around my arm next. His bald head shone under the artificial light of the room. Sweat beads lined the five wrinkles on his forehead. He pulled a syringe from the pocket of his mantle, one filled with a thick, dark red liquid.
I looked around me, both terrified and angry. The room was made almost entirely out of metal. White. A metal table with things I didn’t care about stood in the farthest corner. By the door was a drawer and Illyon, together with the necklace Grandmother had given me, were in it with the rest of my clothes, but that was about it. Nothing in there was going to help me against the bald warlock.
The pinch in my arm drew my eyes back to him.
“Do you know how much it’ll hurt once I get out of this?” I asked him. His whole body shook at the sound of my voice. I grinned. “Oh, yes. You’ll be screaming like a little girl, and I will enjoy every second of it.”
He tried to act indifferent, but the way he tripped on his own feet twice on his way to the metal table told a different story. I took in a deep breath and what I felt next surprised me.
So much power in my body, bubbling under the surface of my skin. It was fucking divine, and when something deep inside my mind, something like a distant memory, tried to steer my attention away, I ignored it and admired my energy instead.
There was so much of it! It was so pure that I could move seas with my mind only! I could fly, literally, and never even tire. I could breathe fire and burn down everything in front of me. I could rule the world with this much power…
And now, mere seconds separated me from my freedom. Whatever was holding me immobile and was denying me access to my powers was coming to its end. A laugh bubbled from deep inside me. Something pinched me on the side of my neck.
A second later, the invisible tomb I was in grew heavier.
Rage slithered in me like a wild boa, but I didn’t complain. I closed my eyes and released a deep breath.
My time would come soon.
***
The warlock entered the room two seconds before the panel outside the door beeped. Fancy, I thought. Automatic beeping doors, just for me. I felt special already.
Once I was out of there, though, they
wouldn’t do anyone any good. Nothing was going to stop me.
I greeted the baldie with a wide grin. Apparently, he didn’t expect to find me awake because every drop of blood drained from his face and several shivers ran down the length of him.
“Hi.”
His jaw clenched, though my voice was pretty cheerful. He took one look at my motionless body, which was covered in a white, very thin robe, and then back at the door. When nothing happened for a long second, he turned to his metal table where the red liquid that had given me power last time awaited.
For a second only, I wondered what it was. A potion, no doubt, but how was it made? Was I going to be able to find the formula and spell in Illyon? I considered asking the baldie, but then thought better of it. He wouldn’t tell me, anyway.
Exactly six seconds before my body could break free, the warlock put another needle to the side of my neck, a syringe filled with something green.
Soon, I promised.
***
The door beeped, only this time, the bald warlock wasn’t alone. Vampire. A very strong vampire was with him.
Hmm. Could his power supersede mine? Should be fun to find out.
I grinned and opened my eyes in time to see the warlock shiver.
“Missed me already?” I teased. He swallowed hard and, with his head down, went straight for his metal table.
My eyes fell on my other visitor.
I wasn’t really surprised to see Samayan greet me with a cold, plastic smile. His dark eyes mocked me, just as mine did him.
“Star Watson,” he said, his brow raised in a perfect arch. “Or should I call you Raven? Maybe Elemental?”
“Oh, most precious Master. You honor me with your company.” I giggled. “You can call me whatever you like.”
“You’re awfully cheerful for a prisoner,” he said, his grin wide.
“Stick around for another half an hour and I’ll show you exactly what kind of a prisoner I am. I promise it’ll be fun,” I said, raising my brow. Both of his rose, too.
“I’m sure it would,” he muttered with a shake of his head. “As I’m sure you’ve noticed the changes in your body.”
“As a matter of fact, I have. Baldie here’s been giving me stuff. We’ve been bonding.”
I winked at the warlock, and he almost dropped the syringe on the floor. It was impossible not to laugh.
“Master…” he whispered, looking at Samayan.
“It’s okay, Victor. Carry on.”
The baldie didn’t need to be told twice, and when Samayan handed him a small flask with red liquid in it, he immediately got to work.
“The potion we’ve been giving you is one that unleashes power to its full capacity. It is also one I’m not usually so generous with,” Samayan continued.
“Oh?” What did he expect, a thank you?
“Do you know why I’m sharing it with you, the Elemental herself?”
“Because you’re suffering from dementia?”
It was a fair guess, but he pretended I hadn’t even spoke.
“Because you were blind until now. Blind to all that power can attain. The world, Star. The whole world.”
His eyes gleamed while the corners of my lips turned up into a wondrous smile. He liked that, it seemed.
“And we can take it all,” he whispered. “Together.”
My teeth were showing now, and so were his.
“What do you think about that?”
The idea was so very, very tempting. This wasn’t the first time Samayan tried to bribe me to switch sides, but it was the first time he gave me that damned potion. I knew without doubt that together, we could have it all. Everything. But…
“What makes you think I want to share?” I didn’t.
His smile grew even wider. “Because,” he said and took a step forward so I could clearly see the cold perfection of his oval face, “you’re not strong enough without me.”
“Master, pardon me. I must give her the prevention.” Baldie showed us both the syringe filled with green, as if the red thingie hadn’t been enough. “Her body is fighting faster now. She needs a shot per hour.”
His voice broke more times than was reasonable, even in extreme situations. If nothing, I envied Samayan for the fear he evoked in people. The way the warlock looked at him was just hilarious. He could indeed be a strong ally—no doubt the strongest I would ever find.
I felt the pinch on my neck and my body stiffened again. This time, I had only been four seconds away from freedom. Pity.
“Why make me stronger, Samayan? Pardon me, but you must see how stupid this looks.” I was his sworn enemy and he knew it.
“Because I needed you to see what power is. You have so much of it. I wanted you to be all that you can be. All that you were destined to be. By my side.” Then he shook his head. “I’m sure you can see now how stupid you looked when you declared war on me.”
His words rang in my ear because he was right. He’d taken off whatever blindfold I’d had on for so long. I could see now, and I realized just how strong Samayan really was because of that potion he was giving me. But the question was, how much power did he still have that the potion could unleash? More than I did or less?
“A fine deal you offer me, Samayan. Unfortunately, you took me away from my family. You kidnapped my family, and the last time I saw my sister, she was bleeding, wounded by one of yours. You have to pay for her blood. Otherwise, it would’ve worked between us.”
Baldie was towering over me again, an empty syringe in his hands for a change. He put the needle in my arm, and he drew blood from me. I raised my brow in question. What did he need my blood for?
He gave Samayan the syringe. Samayan squeezed but a drop on the back of his hand, and then he flinched. The first real facial expression I’d ever witnessed on him. It was fascinating. He looked almost normal.
Samayan wiped the drop of blood off and angrily hissed a “no” at Victor. I wasn’t following. But Samayan’s face turned into a marble statue just as fast as it had flinched.
“Pity,” he whispered, but he was grinning again. “We’ll see how you feel in a few more days.”
I might even have changed my mind, had Ella’s face not stayed with me, right in front of my eyes, every second. Especially now that I was finding it very difficult to keep my eyes open.
“Why didn’t you just kill me? Why don’t you still?” I asked Samayan before he left and before I fell unconscious. He turned, the sick smile never leaving his perfectly cruel face.
“You took something of mine,” he said.
I felt the sun-shaped necklace as if it was pulsating right on my chest, even though it was still in the drawer next to the door. Samayan had no idea what it was, apparently. I was awesome like that.
“Let me guess. Illyon. You think I have Illyon.” I couldn’t keep the smile off my face.
“I know you have it, and I want it back.”
Of course he did.
“Why? It’s not like you can read it or anything.”
It was my way of pointing out yet another thing I was better at than he.
“True. Which is the other reason why you’re still alive. You’re going to read it for me.”
I laughed a scratchy sound, because—really—fucking hilarious.
“Laugh all you like, but you will.”
He sounded terribly sure of it, too. Unconsciousness tried to grab hold of my mind again, but I pushed it away for a few more seconds.
“What makes you think I can read it, even if I do have it?”
He took a step closer to me, and that’s when I noticed the tips of his fingers disappear and appear like sea waves reflecting under the sunlight. A feeling of triumph enveloped me. I’d already known that he wasn’t really there. I also knew that he could kill me right then and there, even though he wasn’t. But to see that he wasn’t as strong as he made me think he was—well, it made my fucking day.
“I haven’t acquired all that I have by being an ignorant
fool, Raven,” Samayan said. “The fact that you have Illyon and didn’t tell or give it to Tytania tells me that there’s still hope for you. That you have thought about it, too.”
My eyes would’ve opened wide if the damned thing Baldie gave me didn’t have complete hold over me now.
“We’ll be unstoppable, you and I. Think about that,” Samayan said, and the door closed behind him. The warlock was still in there, working on something at his table, but I didn’t pay any attention to him. I could no longer open my eyes.
Confusion hit me like a wave, together with memories of the other, weaker me. I hadn’t given the White Book of Wisdom to the Elders.
Why?
Because I’d heard Tytania’s conversation with Samayan at the cathedral in New Mexico. And it was obvious that she was going to use it the same way Samayan wanted to. So I, as Illyon’s Guardian appointed by Illyon itself, had promised to keep it away from both sides, to never give any other supernatural that much power, ever.
Or…had I simply kept it for myself?
No, I whispered to myself in my head. Illyon needed to stay out of reach from Samayan, Tytania, and everybody else. The world would come to an end before we could blink otherwise.
Or…not.
My lips twitched, but I was too far gone to actually smile. Power. Illyon meant power.
The complaints of the weaker me drowned completely.
Soon…
4
——————————
Like the annoying alarm clock in my room at the Base, the beeping of the door woke me. Baldie walked in with his head down. I wasn’t in the mood to tease him, just like the last two times he’d came in after Samayan’s little visit. Did that mean two days? I wasn’t sure.
The weaker me’s ideas had seriously messed me up. That part of me just wouldn’t understand how much was in me now. How much power there was going to be as soon as I was free again.
I felt the pinch in my arm, and Samayan’s red potion filled my veins. I was getting stronger each time. Baldie approached me with the syringe filled with green liquid next.
