Kate, Tammin, and a native man stood in front of us. The native looked very familiar. I started to feel sick.
Tru growled, “You!”
I sucked in a shaky breath, knowing deep down who the man was. I took a step back, accidentally bumping into Asher.
Asher wrapped his arms around my body and said, “I am always with you.” He tapped my head. “Remember that, and know I will always keep you safe.”
I shook Asher off me and straightened up. It was time to be the Chosen One and not some weak, little girl.
Tru took a menacing step forward, and in his native tongue, he said, “Traitor! You will die for what you have done.”
“Um, Tru, do you know this man?” I asked, but I already knew who the man was.
Tru looked at me, a grave look chiseling away at his face. “Yes, C, unfortunately this is my father.”
For some crazy reason, all that was going through my head was that famous line from Star Wars, but instead of Luke, it was Tru. I almost busted out laughing. It wasn’t the time for making jokes, but I guess my mind thought I needed something to help ease the tension coursing through my veins. I wondered if Asher could feel the panic starting to set in. I looked behind me and noticed Asher’s fangs were out and his eyes were red.
“It looks like we are going to have a little fun, Kitten. Once this is over, we are going to have a little talk about our bond,” Asher promised.
I turned back to the scene in front of me.
Kate clapped her hands, and in a prudish tone, she said, “Well isn’t this cozy? Father and son reunited. I just love family reunions.”
“Yep, this is just the hoedown I’ve been waiting for. Yeehaw! I hope I’m not late,” the demon wearing Tammin’s body said.
I looked away from her and flicked my eyes towards Tru’s father. In that moment, all I saw was red. I felt my skin ignite as anger bubbled to the surface. The fire element was churning within my bones. I took a deep breath, gritted my teeth, and stepped forward. Someone grabbed my arm but quickly dropped it. I looked over my shoulder and saw Tru shaking his hand. I frowned and glanced down at my arm. It was the color of hot coals.
“You ok?” Tru asked.
I shook my head. “I should be asking you that! I’m good though, thanks.” I quickly turned my head and looked back at Tru’s father. By now, I couldn’t believe that an all-out war hadn’t ensued. But Kate always seemed like a flashy, overly dramatic kind of person. I was sure she was building up the theatrics for just the right time. Popping my jaw, I looked at Tru’s father and asked, “Did you kill my birth parents?”
He gave me a cold look and directed his question at Kate, all the while keeping his eyes trained on me. “Who is she talking about, Mistress? I have killed so many for you.”
Kate laughed and patted Tru’s father’s head. “Just some nobodies. Allow me to answer that for you. Yes, child, by my order, he did kill Lilly and Nathaniel.”
Tru growled low in his throat and swiftly shifted into his beautiful, midnight-black wolf. His eyes glowed a bright yellow color, and he snarled, showing sharp canines.
“You need to teach that pup of yours a lesson in manners. Nonetheless, that’s enough. We came here for a reason: this box!” Kate said. Kate held up the box and smiled. Crooking her finger, she beckoned for me to come closer.
My heart sped up at the sight of that little black box. Nikko was in there, and I had to save him. I couldn’t let him die. Not this time! Not when I was the one that put him in that position in the first place. I moved, but I felt something clamp around my wrist. Tru’s teeth were latched around my wrist. He wasn’t hurting me, but I knew, in that moment, my dream was coming true. In my dream, I knew whatever had hold of me wasn’t human, and I didn’t feel the overwhelming terror that I did then.
“It’s okay, Tru. You can let me go,” I told him reassuringly.
He snorted and released me. Ha! No snot with his snort. I mean, that would have been gross. No slobber either? Not going to complain about that. I rolled my eyes at the silly thoughts I always seemed to have in a crisis.
“Kate,” I commanded, power and magic was emanating from my voice. “I am not going to play whatever game you have come up with. I know Nikko is in that box, and I want him out. So what do you want?”
“Why, that should be obvious by now. I want your life and power. So, Charlie, dear, would you give your life for his?” Kate shook the box and smiled.
I gazed around at everyone, determination flooding me.
“No, Fox. Whatever you are thinking in that crazy head of yours…Stop!” Jace glared at me.
I shook my head. I had my mind made up. I knew what I was going to do, and I would give my life for anyone I loved. Maybe it was selfish of me not to want to live my life without the people I loved. I just hoped this worked out the way I planned. I looked over at Tru and nodded. He huffed and charged his father.
Jace looked at me and mouthed, “I love you.” He called up his magic and started throwing blue lightning balls at Kate.
Kate ducked and yelled, flicking her wrist. “Venio ut myosotis.”
A bright light flashed behind her, and twenty or so of her followers appeared.
Zeb and Oz quickly shapeshifted into their magnificent dragons and started attacking Kate’s followers. Chaos erupted.
My parents started flinging spell after spell at the endlessly multiplying followers that Kate seemed to be conjuring. Zeb swept down, his silky blue-black scales a beautiful image against the backdrop of the land. He roared and blew a torrent of fire down on the enemy. Oz, brilliantly green and glorious, swiped his sharp talons at one of the followers, sending him flying. Jace was still throwing spell after spell, but now he was helping Tru who looked like he was in the fight of his life. Tru’s wolf form was fighting another magnificent canine, gray fur lush and spirited. I could see nothing but a blur of fur and teeth. I looked over and saw Cris leisurely stalking towards Kate.
She straightened up to her full height. Kate casually ran a hand over her jet black hair and smiled. “How long are you going to play at this game?”
Cris smirked, still moving towards Kate, and said, “I shall take this game as far as I please.”
He sounded so much like the man in my dreams in that instant, so much like the Traveller, that it was daunting. I’d been drawn to him from the moment he spoke, and now I knew why. How could I have been so oblivious? How could I have not seen it? Oh God! Cris…Crispin! How could I have been so completely and utterly stupid?
I looked back and forth between them, stunned. Everything around me was igniting into madness, and I was in the middle, frozen in revelation as everything played out. I was the Chosen One! I should be the one who was leading the fight, not the one standing on the sidelines. I heard a giggle and looked over to see one of the people I came for.
“Look at you! The all-powerful Chosen One not doing a damn thing. I think the books have got it all wrong. Chosen One? Yes, but of what? Maybe chosen to be afraid and sit on the sidelines while everyone else does your job for you.” The demon with the face of my friend sneered at me.
I looked around at the epic battle going on around me. It didn’t look good. We were losing. The demon was right; I was standing here doing nothing! My friends and family were losing this war, and I was not doing a damn thing about it. I sucked in a sharp breath and felt something give.
There was a snap, and whatever was holding me back gave way. I roared. “STOP!”
I cried, pulling my cyphering magic and some of the elements deep within me. My body felt light, and I started to rise. Some of my elements seized hold of me. Wind whipped around me in a disjointed rhythm, lashing and flicking my body back in forth in the air. My body became alight with fire, but still the fighting continued. The only one watching the one-girl-firework show was the demon.
I pulled even harder on my powers. “I SAID THAT’S ENOUGH!” I flung my hands out. A stream of bright red flames and wind shot out of my hands and knocke
d every one of Kate’s followers backwards. As they hit the ground, their bodies’ combusted into tiny particles of matter, and then the particles disintegrated right before my eyes. On a normal day, what just happened would have freaked me the hell out, but today, what I just saw passed right over my head. I was sure that, once this was all over with, I would have nightmares for a very long time. However, all I felt in this moment was rage and hate. I wanted to kill everyone that was threatening my friends and family.
So help me God. I looked over at Tru. He had his father pinned to the ground. All I could see was a red tint over my vision. I hated Tru’s father. Hated him for killing my family, hated him for taking them away from me. Tru was growling and snapping his teeth, keeping his father trapped below him. Somehow I knew I could make Tru kill his father. I could have vengeance for my birth parents, and I didn’t care what it would do to Tru.
Calling on my spirit element, I commanded, “Tru!” He looked up at me. Spirit was pouring out of my body in a bright, glorious, white light. I pushed it all at Tru, and he froze for a second. “Kill him!” I was now the judge, jury, and executioner! Tru had no choice but to do as I commanded. The spirit within him had a hold of his body, and it only listened to me. Tru whimpered as he bit down on his father’s neck tearing out his jugular. I was amazed at what was taking place. I could feel everyone’s magic. I had it all, right there, waiting to be drained. I was the puppet master holding all the strings. Everyone’s, that is, but Crispin’s, the demon’s and Kate’s. I could have their powers, but something—or someone—was blocking me. I looked at Crispin as I floated back to the ground.
I traipsed towards the demon. With every step I took, lightning struck the ground around me, and fire burnt the grass underneath my shoes. I stopped right in front of her, wind pushing at my dress as dust and debris swirled around us.
I asked, “Is this what you were talking about, Wicked?” I narrowed my eyes in contempt, feeling power flood my bloodstream.
Wicked shook her head and giggled. “Do you really think you are a match for a demon, little girl?”
“Better question is, do you really think you’re a match for the Chosen One?”
I pulled the dagger from behind my back, but before I could run it through the demon’s body, someone shoved me. I fell to the ground with a thud, dropping the dagger. It skated away from me, and all the air in my lungs whooshed out of my chest, taking my concentration with it.
That was so not good.
The magic I was siphoning from everyone left me and crashed back into its owners. I rolled over in time to grab hold of Kate’s hands.
She screamed, “You little bitch! You will die if it’s the last fucking thing I ever do in life. I will kill you!” She spat in my face.
Nasty!
I turned my head and saw, to my horror, everyone on my side was motionless on the ground. That magical ricochet stunned them. I searched for Crispin and the demon while trying to get Kate off me, but I couldn’t find them anywhere. That, combined with the big screw up I just performed, put me in a bad mood. I was pissed. I bucked and kicked until she was off me. I hopped to my feet and entered a readying stance like Jace taught me.
“No, Kate. I’m not dying today.”
She screamed like a mad woman and flung a spell while diving for me at the same time.
She has totally lost it!
Chapter Forty-One
Charlie
I ducked under the spell, but I couldn’t dodge the big, screaming, banshee. She hit me hard, and we tumbled end over end. I grappled with her, trying to fling my spells at the same time that she was, but we were either too close to each other or, when my spell would connect, she would use a counter spell. I broke free from her just in time to escape the energy ball that was flung my way. I turned and blasted my fire element, but it seemed that everything I used or did, Kate had the counter. I was getting tired, and I knew that was her strategy. She wanted to make me weak, and then she could go in for the kill. I racked my brain, wondering what in the world I could use against her that she might not know how to counter. Something—or someone—was blocking my Cyphering magic. Finally, I had the perfect spell. It was a simple binding spell, something that she wouldn’t be ready for or expecting. And why would she think I would use that spell when all of my spells have been to destroy?
I was ready to bind the shit out of this bitch!
I shouted, “Adiuro vos ad terram!”
Kate screamed as the ground beneath her started to come up and swallow her. Roots wrapped around her arms, pinning them to her sides, and the dirt and grass rolled over her legs, barring the bottom half of Kate’s body.
I looked down at her. “Should I kill you quickly or give you a slow, agonizing death like you have been so gracious to offer Nikko? Like I’m sure you have done to many others!” I tapped my chin in thought.
“He will never let you kill me! Never!” She laughed.
“Who… Crispin? But where is he now? If he is going to save you, then he better hurry up!” I mocked.
“You foolish little girl. Who do you think immobilized everyone?”
I thought I was the one that did it when I lost hold of the magic and it crashed back into everyone. I gave her a mystified look.
She leered, “Oh how wonderful! You thought you did it, but no. It was Crispin, or Cris as you know him.”
After she said his name, Crispin appeared beside me. He looked deep into my eyes and said, “She is right. You will not be the one to take her life today.”
I looked at him, shocked and feeling betrayed for some reason. I couldn’t believe that I thought he was on my side. He was my enemy, and I never should have forgotten that.
Crispin knelt down in front of her and waved his hand over the roots and vines that had her imprisoned. They recoiled, freeing her from the ground. She stood and gave me a little smile while wrapping one, slender arm around Crispin’s waist.
Crispin peered at her through cold eyes. He spun her in front of him, wrapping his left arm around her sternum and his right hand around her throat. He whispered, “That is because I am going to enjoy taking your life myself.” Kate’s eyes widened. “Yes, I do believe it is past time for your demise, Kate! You have let me down in so many ways.”
Kate sputtered, “My Lord, if it is because of her… I promise you will have more power with me than you would have ever had with her.”
Crispin snarled and leaned in, his upper lip nearly touching the side of her face. “Do you believe yourself to be as powerful as I, or even as powerful as the Chosen One? Do you believe I even need someone such as you to make myself stronger? I need no one. I am the only one who will live on as all others perish. I am all powerful. I am a god! No one will ever even come close to having what I have, not even her!” He pointed at me.
I took a tiny step back. It seemed like Crispin’s sanity—what little he had and I am sure it’s not much—was teetering on the edge of a precipice, and any second, it was bound to come unraveled. I just didn’t want to be standing too close when the explosion took place. I knew I had to tread carefully. Kate opened her mouth to say something. I was sure it was an apology or something, but Crispin cut off the circulation to her vocal cords, stopping her from speaking. She let out a pathetic gurgling sound and closed her mouth. Crispin eased up and kissed her cheek.
“That is much better. I love the sound you make when you are, well… not making one at all. Let’s see… how would you like to go? Should I cut off your head, just like you did your husband, Jerold?” Crispin quirked an eyebrow.
Tears started to spill over and run down Kate’s cheek as he continued to taunt her on the ways in which he was planning on killing her. I felt sick, and I didn’t know what to do. I wanted her gone, but I wasn’t really going to be cruel about taking her life. Besides, there really wasn’t anything I could do about Kate dying. Everyone was still out of it, and the demon in Tammin’s body was nowhere in sight. I wanted Kate out of my life for good. I just felt
bad that Crispin was the hand that would deliver the blow.
“Maybe I should suck the life out of you like you did when you had all those supernaturals hooked up to that machine of yours,” he chuckled, still holding her against him. “It is endless really, if you think about it... how you could be terminated. All the impressive ways you have killed. I should just pick one and finally extinguish your life.”
He paused dramatically and let her go. She fell to the ground in a pitiful heap. A sob burst out of her throat as she stood up, unsteady. Her eyes seemed to be pleading with him to forgive her. Crispin turned his head away and looked at me while snapping his fingers. For a second, the silence grew to an unnerving level, but it was short-lived. The earth rumbled and groaned. The earth underneath Kate’s feet came alive. I felt like I was in a grotesque horror movie as I watched the event play out before me. Vines wove through the skin and bone of her ankles, as if it was sewing one ankle to the other. Kate screamed as the sharp vines pierced her flesh, over and over. The vine fastened to the ground after it was finally finished with the onslaught of disturbing stitch work on Kate’s ankles.
From her ankles down, Kate looked like a red and green mass of fleshy skin, but that wasn’t the worst part. I felt ill as I watched the madness play out before me, but no matter what, I couldn’t take my eyes off of what was happening. Kate’s skin started to bubble and pop as it melted away from her body and dripped to the ground. Next, her muscles, blood vessels, tissues, and organs made a sick, wet, plopping sound as they hit the ground. The only thing left was her skeleton, but her scream still echoed around us. Her voice was only silenced when her bones disappeared under the ground and reappeared on the dead tree. I don’t think I will ever forget the sound she made or the horrific look on her skeleton face as it was plastered in an identical replica on the dead tree. I closed my eyes, turning my head away.
“Now,” Crispin murmured seductively. He brushed the hair out of my eyes. I looked at him warily. “It is time you finish what you have come for. It is time to take care of my little wicked one! Wicked, show yourself.”
A Ghost of Magic: Chosen Saga Book 3 Page 19
