Keepers & Killers (The Alchemy Series)

by Augustine, Donna

  "Why did you kill Rick and my foster parents?"

  "That was payback. Your whore of a mother owed me a debt when I helped her barren form beget you." Then he started to cackle. "You're so obvious. You aren't of my flesh. I helped her get pregnant with Hammond's child, I didn't give her one of my own. She wasn't worthy. All she wanted was to get pregnant to give the wolves a Keeper they could control."

  "Why would you help her?"

  "It was the deal. She helped me escape the prison the Keepers had put me in by bringing me a body. The Keepers had stolen the one they had given me."

  "Did you kill her?"

  "No, the wolves did that when, in the end, she refused to hand you over to them. A sudden attack of guilt, I guess. Pathetic humans." His voice was filled with contempt.

  "Which wolves killed her?"

  "I don't know which ones did it, nor do I care. They were just a pack of mongrels to me."

  "Did you ever want to help them?"

  "Those filthy things? Talentless and stupid, I liked them less than even you. But I needed to get your bleeding heart father on board and some of the other Keepers."

  "It was about this, the whole time. Creating tears that would then alter the universe."

  He had a hard time keeping his attention focused; I got the sense that he was a bit enthralled by his own form, the way a little girl would twirl in a new dress, as he constantly shifted about the deck. "It's why your father killed himself. I wasn't sure you would be able to repair them on your own. He had figured it out. After you, he was the second most adept at altering the fabric of the planes of existence."

  "Why are you telling me all this?"

  "Because it no longer matters. There is no turning back," he replied as he walked around the deck. "You've merged the planes of our existence. You've melded this world with the place magic lives."

  I looked around again and knew he was right. Everything felt slightly different, looked different, more intense. The air felt the way it did when lightning was about to strike and everything had a crackle to it.

  "It's time for us to say goodbye now," he said. "I can't have you lingering around in my world. You're now a liability."

  He turned and smiled again and I knew he was going to try to kill me. I didn't blame him, I had the same intention toward him.

  I thought he was going to come at me, but he didn't. He raised his hand and directed a dark tendril of smoke toward me. I watched it gather and realized the resemblance it had to the silver ribbons that had been appearing around me. Strand after strand gathered in his outstretched hands until with a quick burst of motion, he released them on me.

  I tried to dodge them but they were like heat seeking missiles and they followed me down onto the deck.

  They started to burn my skin, but that wasn't the worst part; they started to bore into me. I tried to get to my knees, if I could just get a hold of the senator, maybe I could take him out, but I couldn't even get to my feet.

  "You thought you had a chance of killing me?" he said as he towered over my crippled form. "I helped create you! You were nothing but a means to an end. If I hadn't needed you I would have helped the wolves rip your mother and you to pieces."

  I was dying. I knew it. I would leave this world in a shambles with this monster at the helm. A slow death would have been preferable. At least they would've had a few good years. Now they had nothing but terror.

  And then they came. My silver ribbons of smoke. They wove around me, cocooning me.

  "What are you doing?"

  I looked toward the senator, who looked furious.

  "How are you controlling those?"

  "The same way you are controlling that black smoke."

  "You idiot. You have no idea," he replied. He poured a little more of the black smoke my way but it didn't matter, my silver ribbons dissolved anything that came at me, quickly and seemingly effortlessly.

  Then they went on the offense. Strand after strand gathered and started to nip away at him, at the flesh of his form.

  "Get off me!" he screamed.

  "No," I said as I got to my feet. I was bloody and in pain but I didn't care, I would see the end of him.

  "I command you to get off," he screamed but they didn't listen.

  He let out a howl that filled the air; I imagined it could be heard for miles. The air kicked up into a vicious storm and I saw the tornado start to form around him.

  "Oh no…" I leapt in his direction but all I got was air. He was gone.

  The moment he left, I hung over the edge of the boat and tried to locate Cormac, Dodd and the rest of the Keepers, who were all swimming back to the boat from pretty substantial distances.

  One by one, as they reached the boat, they floated up and onto the deck, Cormac in the lead.

  "Are you okay?" he asked, gripping my arms and looking at my torn clothes and the gashes that were already healing. He didn't wait for my answer but started checking me for mortal wounds.

  By time his gaze met mine, I could see the intensity there.

  "I thought you were going to be die," he said.

  "I almost did," I replied in a joking way, more from nerves and the thrill of having survived.

  His arm wrapped around my back, pulling me snug against him and then his mouth was pressing on mine. It was nothing like the gentle invasion of his last kiss; a raw hunger that made my limbs feel weak took over.

  His mouth left mine but he still held me close as he whispered in my ear, "You know how I gave you a choice before we came here?"

  I knew exactly what he was talking about and nodded my head.

  "I'm taking it back." He released me to watch his men come aboard and join us.

  I laughed at his joke but he didn't.

  "Cormac? You're kidding, right?"

  He gazed down into my eyes without a hint of a smile and then said, "No."

  He turned toward the rest of the Keepers that had made it back on deck, while I stood trying to get my bearings.

  "We saw a silver haze envelope the whole back of the boat," Dodd said. "What happened?"

  I gave all the Keepers a rundown of the events after they'd been thrown from the ship.

  "So all this.." Buzz waved his arm around to encompass the strange creatures that were flying around, "the storms and weird weather? All here to stay?"

  I collapsed on the bench, took another look around and turned back to the Keepers, who were now looking to me for an answer.

  "Welcome to our new universe."

  The end

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