by D. N. Hoxa
“I’m not going to stop until you promise yourself to me. It’s all so very simple. A single word from your lips,” Samayan said, and he pulled his leg up again, this time aiming it at Ella’s face.
“No, please,” I begged again. I couldn’t let my sister die. What would Mom think? What would she say?
“So say the word.”
Yes. One word. I could say one word. I could save my sister. I could save Aaron. I could save the rest of the group with that word. I just needed to say it.
And you’ll doom the whole world, the ugly voice in my head whispered. I hated nothing more than when it was right.
Promising myself to Samayan meant reading Illyon for him and that guaranteed that he would stay in power, rule over our world and every other world he wanted to rule.
No. Nobody could read Illyon. Not even me.
Azazel’s headless body was two crawls away from me now. With a bit of focus, I managed to hear Illyon’s humming again. Its whisper was different now, as if it had sensed my state. It had sensed how Samayan had thrown me around like a fucking rag doll, and there had been nothing at all I could do about it. Maybe everybody had been right. Maybe I’d been delusional to think I could ever defeat him, Illyon or not.
But I still crawled toward it, toward Azazel’s body, even though my sister was in front of me, about to have her her head smashed by Samayan. But she would survive. She had to.
The sound of breaking bone shook me to my core. I didn’t dare look because I already knew what Samayan had done. I couldn’t afford to have that image of my sister in my head. Not ever. So I focused on Azazel’s body again, right until the pain hit me.
Samayan had once again turned his attention to me. With a single hand raised my way, he never moved, but pain crashed onto my body in waves, taking away every ounce of energy I had left. My bones couldn’t heal. My mind couldn’t think straight. I couldn’t even see clearly any longer.
“Ticktock, Raven. Your time is running out.”
Just one more push. One more drag, and if I could reach out my hand, I could touch Illyon.
“All of this will be over. The pain you’re feeling, I’ll take it all away. You won’t ever have to feel this way again,” Samayan continued.
I pushed so hard forward, I feared my body was going to dismantle. Illyon was now a hand’s reach away. Ignoring the pain Samayan was causing me was hard, but I focused whatever piece of my mind I could onto Illyon’s energy. I tried to draw strength from it, and it must have worked because I managed to stretch out my arm.
Another wave of pain hit me, this one stronger. I thought I knew pain before, but McGraw’s tortures were child’s play compared to this. I was drowning, burning, breaking and melting, all wrapped up into one.
“What do you think you’ll be able to do with it now, Raven?” Samayan asked.
He saw me reach out for Illyon, saw that my fingers were less than an inch away from it, but he never moved from his place. He liked this game too much.
“What, you want to open it? Read it to me? Destroy me with it?” A bone-chilling laugh.
“Is it not enough what I’ve done to your sister?” I squeezed my eyes shut. Do not look. Do not look. Do not look. “Let’s see what I can do to your lover boy, shall we? Come here, boy!”
I didn’t need to look to see that Aaron was already on his way to Samayan. Whatever spell he used to turn mere words into commands was one of the most powerful, scary spells I’d ever come across. I felt it when Aaron was in front of him because the pain faded, just a tiny bit, and I was able to wrap one finger around Illyon’s chain.
It was like reuniting with a lost part of myself, when my skin touched the gold. Pain still reigned over my body, but at least now, Illyon’s energy was trying to fight it. Trying to heal me.
“Falling in love when you’re nothing but a monster is a pretty stupid thing to do, don’t you think, Raven?” Samayan said.
I still didn’t dare look at him. Instead, I laid my head on the ground and focused on breathing, on receiving strength from Illyon, and hopefully standing up on my feet again, before all of it was over, before everyone was dead.
“It makes you weak. Vulnerable. It makes you easy to manipulate,” Samayan continued, “which is why you make absolutely no sense to me, little birdie.”
As he spoke, I managed to pull the bloodied necklace off Azazel’s severed neck. The sun of gold was in front of my face now, my breath becoming steam on its surface. I wrapped my fingers around it, and I tried to change it into a book. I needed to read it. I needed to understand it. I needed to use it before he killed Aaron and proceeded with the rest.
But how could I?
I couldn’t move. I could hardly breathe. I was slowly dying.
“But rest assured that you’ll regret having wasted my time. I’ll make sure of it, even if I have to see to it personally for the rest of eternity.”
He was hurting Aaron. I couldn’t allow myself to watch. I held on tightly to Illyon in my palm. I begged it to help me, as if it were a living thing.
But it was a living thing. I’d felt it before, and I felt it in those moments, too. It pulsated against my skin, in rhythm with my heart, as if they were one. What did I say before?
Illyon was me, and I was it.
Samayan’s laughter grew farther and farther away as the last piece of the puzzle fell into place and the whole world became different to my eyes. It had been right there all along, but I’d been too blind to see. I’d searched for meaning when something of this magnitude was not to be understood. It was to be felt, and it required no explanation.
Slowly, I pulled my hand closer and closer to my chest. Nothing else existed. No pain in my body. No panic in my mind. Most importantly, there was no fear in any part of me. I touched the golden necklace to my chest and opened myself wide to it.
We were one.
26
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Aaron Hart
My broken arm hurt more than was reasonable. Pain was not something that gave me the urge to double over and scream. The fact that I couldn’t let out a single sound or even move away from Samayan wasn’t helping. I felt like a child standing by him, weaker than I’d ever been before, even while under Azazel’s possession.
Star was across the room from us, lying on the floor, completely still. The thought of her death seemed to only intensify my pain. The world wouldn’t be a world I would want to live in if she wasn’t there. I loved her with every breath in me, and my panther wanted to crawl out of my skin to get to her.
But I couldn’t. Whatever spell Samayan had put on me was made never to be broken. We were pawns in his hands, and he could do with us as he pleased. So there we were, at his mercy, waiting to die horrible deaths.
I should have never fought against Samayan. I should have never let Star stay with us. I should have taken her, and I should have run. In this world or another, I would have had her for the rest of eternity, all to myself.
Now, as I watched her crippled body lying on the floor, I feared I’d never see her smile again.
Get up, I wanted to say. I wanted to shout it until she heard and stood up. Samayan proceeded to break another one of my ribs with no more than a move of his little finger, but I didn’t look at him. He was only causing me pain to get Star to join him. I wished she would. I wished she would just say the damned word. A lifetime of slavery was acceptable. A lifetime without her wasn’t.
I tried to speak to her in my mind. I couldn’t feel what she was feeling. The whole place reeked with fear from the rest of the people who had fought with us, but she was completely closed to me.
Samayan laughed. Star moved. My heart almost leaped out of my throat. She was alive.
“Have you changed your mind yet?” Samayan said.
He forgot about me for a second as he, too, looked at Star and waited for her to move again. The pain began to dim little by little as my body healed itself, but I already knew this wasn’t the end of i
t. It didn’t matter, though. All that mattered was that Star was alive.
“I can’t hear you. Can you speak?” Samayan said.
This was all a game to him, one he enjoyed playing more than anything. He felt proud. Powerful. At the top of the world. And he was. Giving up had never been an option like it was now. Star moved again, but she could barely manage.
Surrender, I said to her in my mind, hoping against hope that she’d somehow hear me. Just stay alive.
But anyone who knew Star, really knew her, also knew that she never would. I might have not wanted to accept it, but it was over. We were all going to die, and I was the only one who would get to come back.
“Answer me!” Samayan shouted suddenly.
I would have jumped away had I been able to move. He was mad now, filled with rage from head to toe as he looked at Star.
Star finally raised her head.
I’d seen a lot in my life, things nobody should see if they were to keep their sanity. But looking at the eyes of the woman I loved, eyes that shone with a bright blue light, it was otherworldly. It topped everything else—even Samayan—easily.
My body began to unfreeze, and my mouth hung open as I watched her. When she was on all fours, she began to float. Her body defied gravity as she rose, straightened her body, and then touched the ground again. Her eyes were still made of blue light. Her hair floated around her head. Something golden glistened in her chest. She gave off no feeling. Her expression was completely bare.
Samayan began to chant. With his arms stretched wide open, he called forth whatever spell he wanted and threw it at Star.
Nothing.
Then, Star’s arm caught fire. Right there, in front of our eyes, flames appeared around her arms, out of the blue. And her other arm…was that water?
Yes, it was. Water floated in bubbles around her left arm. She looked like she’d come straight out of a comic book. Unreal. Perfect. Terrifying.
Samayan started another spell. I looked at his cold face for just a second, but it was enough to see it drawn all over him: fear. I didn’t even need to feel him to be certain. Samayan was afraid. For a second, I smiled as if the whole world was right again. Star was alive. Samayan was scared. We were going to make it.
The next second, a wave erupted from Star’s chest, and it pushed all of us away like we weighed nothing. We all fell against the stone walls, including Samayan. The strongest vampire in the world—possibly the strongest supernatural up until now—began to look for a way to escape. My ribs were broken from when Star threw us to the walls, so it took me a while to heal, and once I did, I stepped in between him and the entrance. He could break me with one word, yes, but he wasn’t going anywhere. Not until Star was done with him.
Kyahen stretched his wings wide as he came to stand beside me, and a large black wolf I’d never seen before stood next to him. The rest were still tending to their broken bones.
Samayan looked at us, his emotions overran by fear, and he looked at Star again. She had her arms, one of fire and one of water, raised up to the ceiling, no expression on her face. The ground beneath us began to shake as she pulled her hands into fists. Stone and dust began to fall around us, and before any of us could even guess what the hell was going on, the ceiling of the room we were in was gone.
Outside, a purple sky tried to make me think this was all just a dream. But then the purple sky erupted, and it began to burn itself out, leaving place for the real one, moon, stars, clouds and all.
Samayan began to chant something at the top of his voice. His voice was no longer the strong, commanding one it had been just minutes ago. He wasn’t the same vampire he’d been, either. And when whatever spell he threw at Star didn’t work, he moved too fast for my eyes to see, and he appeared right in front of her, with both his hands around her throat.
I jumped forward, but a hand on my arm stopped me. Kyahen squeezed me as if to tell me to sit still, and I soon realized why.
Star smiled. I’d seen her scare the shit out of hundreds of people at once with her smile, but none had been quite like this. Maybe it was her eyes of light, or the fact that her black hair floated around her head like she was underwater. If I’d ever doubted she could do this, all doubt was gone now. She was born to be what she was right now.
When she slapped Samayan the same way he’d slapped her just a few minutes ago, he spun on air and fell right in the middle of the room, visible to all. One look at his soldiers and I knew we had nothing to worry about from them. They looked scared enough to drop dead on their own. They weren’t going to step in and try to save their master—not that they could now. It was too late.
With her arms once again raised to the sky, Star began to glow. She was pure power—no emotion or thought. Samayan made for the door. The huge black wolf jumped in front of him and growled a terrifying sound. Blinding blue light filled the room.
I could hardly believe my eyes. Strings of light poured out of the sky and straight into Star’s outstretched hands. We all froze, unable to even breathe. I would never forget the look on Samayan’s face. I’d never seen anyone as scared as he was in those seconds. And when Star brought her arms forward, the same light that had come from the sky unleashed from the palms of her hands, and hit Samayan straight in the chest.
He fell to his knees, shaking like he was being electrocuted. It didn’t last long, though. Two seconds later, his body turned into a pile of ashes on the floor.
27
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Illyon showed me that I never needed the elements to manipulate them. I could simple make and manipulate them. I could create fire with a thought. Same with water, and air, and earth.
It also showed me what the power of the sky was.
Forming a connection to the elements had never been easier. They resided within me now, and together they unlocked a door for me, one I would have never known to look for, had it not been for Illyon.
With my hands raised to the sky, I called forth the light of the stars.
Samayan was on his feet again, throwing yet another spell my way. I didn’t have to even think about it. The air dismantled it before it even left the vampire’s lips. Then he was in front of me, trying to grab at my throat. I smiled. Didn’t he know what I was?
Time had come to return favors, and my slap sent him right where he’d came from again. His legs shook as he stood up again, his dark eyes wide as they darted from one side to another. He was going to attempt an escape.
It didn’t matter now, though. Fire, earth, air and water became one single element at my calling. The stars in the sky burned brightly for me. Their energy came onto me in a bright blue light, and I channeled it as a proper vessel, through my body and onto Samayan.
But Samayan wasn’t the vessel. He was not Illyon’s Guardian. His body could never hold that much power. He fell to his knees, terrified as he should have been. Just like that, Samayan, the strongest vampire to have ever walked the earth, simply exploded into grey ash.
Illyon fell from my chest. My legs gave up on me. My sister was there, right in front of my eyes, her ribs broken, same as her jaw. She was going to heal, and she was going to live, as would the rest of those who’d fought beside me. And for those who’d lost their lives, I’d avenged them.
That was good enough for me.
28
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My necklace pulsated against my skin, as if to remind me that it was there. How could I forget? A lot of people were looking straight at my chest, and for the first time in my life, they weren’t interested in checking out my boobs. Their eyes were stuck on Illyon, and I proudly wore it outside my shirt for the first time.
“Shall we begin?”
Kyahen’s voice echoed in the wide room. We were in Louisiana still, inside the hotel I was staying in while I recovered. We’d rented their biggest hall, shielded it with multiple wards, and we’d all met there, two days after the battle.
Two days after Samayan’
s death.
“By all means,” I said, returning his grin. The round table took up most of the room. Some people were left standing, too. Everyone was there—everyone who’d made it through alive, including Amber Hawk. Ned had lost his head in Necterram. As had Drean and Gin.
“Today, we’re gathered to right the many wrongs that have been done to our kind the past few centuries. Now that Samayan is dead,” and I could have sworn the fairy winked at me, “we will return to the way things were and restore peace for every supernatural here on Earth.”
“Feeling better?” Aaron whispered in my ear.
“You know exactly how I feel.” I almost reached out for his hand to hold. He’d never left my side, even after I woke up and couldn’t move a single muscle on the first day. I got even worse after Kyahen came to take back his mojo or whatever the heck he’d given me. Thankfully, my strength came back quickly. I still wasn’t a hundred percent, but I could walk on my own now. It was why I’d called the meetings. Postponing things meant giving the people more room to do whatever they wanted, unsupervised. Chaos was not what we needed.
“I still want to hear you say it,” said Aaron, completely ignoring Kyahen, who had strangely gotten very talkative that day and couldn’t seem to stop himself from holding a very cheesy speech about days to come.
“I’m fine.”
I rolled my eyes. I wasn’t my normal self, but I would get there soon. Even if I took a few more days, it didn’t matter. The war was over. We lost a lot of people, but we also won the battle in Necterram the second Samayan was dead. His army lost it, most even ran away, and it was a war in itself to get them all under one roof again to make sure they didn’t make it back to earth without being clean of the potion.
As for Samayan’s castle, I wanted it gone. Buried so deep, nobody would ever find it—and according to Karly, who we’d found in there, alive and chained to a bed—the castle would be forever gone. Not that I trusted seers, but it did make me feel better to know that it was at least a version of the future.
