The warrior evaded her attacks with the agility of a cat, fending off the few clumsy blows that she succeeded in hitting home with her dagger. Annoyed, Crystal threw herself at her adversary with all her strength. The blades of the two daggers cleaved through the air and collided with a crash. The young woman’s dagger broke under the impact.
Cornelia stood stock-still, contemplating the broken weapon with disappointment.
“Shit, you really are a pain in the ass. You wrecked my Ming dagger. It was a present from my grandmother.”
“Which proves that you are descended from a long line of raving lunatics,” Falada half joked, entering the training hall.
Crystal shot him a sullen look. For two days the Paladin had been ignoring her, spending all his time with Glory. She felt horribly vexed. After the attack by Prince Dimitri, Falada had been too sweet with her, to the point that she thought things were progressing between them. He had behaved almost like a person in love. And now, this – Glory, the job, the other Paladines – and he turned into an iceberg. Crystal decided to feign profound indifference.
“Weren’t you supposed to have dinner with Glory and some human, Secretary of Something-or-Other ?”
“He’s not a cabinet official ; he’s a big shot in the secret service. You should start to pay attention to that kind of nuance ; governments do not have official relations with the Damned. Be that as it may, the dinner was cancelled. Whatever the Order of Hell is up to is very disturbing. Glory and the others are expecting reports any minute now. So the three of us could go to a movie ; I want to see….”
“Not me. I’m totally fed up with you, Casanova,” the young woman shot back, leaving the room in a huff. So much for indifference.
“Can you tell me what her problem is ?” Falada groused.
“Well… all old ladies are probably like that,” Cornelia said philosophically ; absorbed in her shattered weapon, she had not followed the subtleties of the conversation. “In any case I don’t think I’ll tell her about the dagger. You know, my grandmother has a really strong personality.”
Crystal made her way to her room to take a long bath. She had the unpleasant feeling of having a grudge against the whole world, and most of all against herself. With a shiver she remembered all the horrible accusations Prince Dimitri had hurled at her the night they met. The worst thing was that there was some truth in what he had said. She was good for nothing. Incapable of winning a single fight, incapable of behaving according to her rank, incapable of finding a boyfriend.
Bitterly she thought about Falada again. She was madly in love with him and he….
She sank into the bathtub, her body bruised and worn out. The warmth of the water soothed her ; she gently rubbed her skin, obsessing over the image of her Paladin. His velvety glance, his irresistible smile. Crystal closed her eyes, pressed her back a little harder against the bathtub and imagined him opening the bathroom door and sensually walking toward her. Images of moments he had spent with her mixed together in her head in a delicious haze. In her fantasy, Falada wore his usual smile, a provocative and reassuring glint in the way he looked at her. He pulled off his shirt, uncovering his tanned, well-muscled chest. She examined it, not saying anything. Finally, it was happening. Then he knelt down at the edge of the bathtub and slipped a hand into the water. Crystal felt a wave of heat rise up within her at this idea. With her small hand, she sensuously brushed her neck, then her breasts, delicately rubbing her hardened nipples. She let out a sigh and murmured the Paladin’s name. In her dream he slowly moved his hand over her stomach, then down between her thighs. With her eyes still closed, she took the hand-held showerhead and offered her innermost self to the jet of warm water, imagining that Falada’s hand was caressing her. She moaned with pleasure at the sensation and walked the jet around between her legs, then intensified the pressure of the water on her clitoris. Shivering, her breathing uneven, she let waves of pleasure ripple through her.
She imagined him accelerating his movements, and pressed the showerhead more firmly against her womanhood. Burning with desire, her imaginary lover slipped two fingers into her. Crystal let her free hand slide along her thighs and touched herself deep inside. She swayed under the onslaught and felt herself take off. Her fantasy became reality, he was there, now. She was no longer pleasuring herself ; he was.
She moved her fingers faster inside herself, and abandoned herself to the pressure of the water jet. The Paladin was going to make her come. Alone in the bathtub, her back arched violently as she was shaken by orgasm.
Once she had come back to her senses, she climbed out of the bathtub and dried off, then slipped on a white silk nightgown. Once again, she found herself alone. Loveless. Falada wasn’t interested in her. A feeling of deep sadness swept over her. The sadness and the loneliness that always came after this kind of moment. Bleakly, the young woman shrugged her shoulders and opened the door to her room.
“I really have to stop,” she lectured herself aloud.
“You have to stop what ?”
Crystal let go of the handle of the bathroom door.
Prince Dimitri.
He was there, in her room, nonchalantly sitting on the edge of her bed. In her apartment, which was supposedly protected by the five Paladines and Falada.
She opened her mouth and closed it again.
Dimitri smoothed the blanket with an absent-minded hand, tilted his head and looked at her, a half-smile on his lips.
“So ? Stop what ? Murder ? Drugs ? Stupidity ?” he scoffed with amused self-possession.
Crystal’s eyes widened ; she couldn’t believe it. The Dark Prince had succeeded in getting into the apartment, in spite of the Paladines and the protection spells.
Frozen in place, she managed to speak.
“What… how… how did you….”
Terror shooting through her, she glanced at the closed bedroom door. The girls… did she have a chance of warning them before the Prince killed her ? If she cried out, did she have a chance ? Dimitri seized on Crystal’s glance, as if he were reading her thoughts.
“I wouldn’t advise it, my pretty.”
“How did you get in here ?” His prey pulled herself together.
He raised his head again, casting a domineering look at her.
“You don’t imagine that your flimsy little protection spells have the power to stop me ? You don’t seem to understand. It’s just you and me, little one.”
“You can’t kill me here.”
“Why not ? Nothing is stopping me. Except, perhaps, you pleasuring yourself….”
The young woman blushed from head to toe with shame. He had heard. He had listened to her getting off in the bathtub. It was horrible. She almost forgot her fear, she felt so humiliated.
Excited by the reaction he had provoked, Dimitri smiled.
“Relax, kitten. Your mewing saved your life. I was after moans of suffering, but I have to admit that – ”
“You filthy creep !” Crystal insulted him, beside herself.
“Don’t speak to me in that tone. I am not….”
Agonized roars coming from the rest of the apartment cut off the Prince’s words.
They looked at each other, then stared stupidly at the wall, as if they could see through it.
Crystal frowned, disturbed by the continued yelling, then ran to the bedroom door and opened it, throwing herself into the hallway.
Dimitri moved forward to catch her. But it was too late. She had fled. For an instant he was stunned. No one had ever…. And on top of that, she didn’t even do it on purpose.
Furious, he brooded, and ended up dematerializing, exasperated that she had once again slipped away from him, right under his nose. Next time he would not blow it !
Crystal hurtled into the white living room, panic-stricken by the yelling, which had yet to stop. The scene she came upon made her freeze in astonishment.
All the Paladines were there, as was Falada. In the middle of the room, Sybil was in the grip of
an appalling attack of hysteria. She was frothing and foaming at the mouth, wreaking havoc on a stack of files that were lying on the table in front of her. Glory and Cornelia were trying to control her, without any luck. Miranda was hunched up in a corner of the living room.
“What happened ?” the young woman stammered, shocked.
Helen reacted with an astounding lack of restraint.
“Why aren’t you in your bedroom ? No one wants you to see this. So be nice and go back to your room, that’s where you belong at this hour.”
“I can’t. Prince Dimitri….”
Sybil suddenly stopped gesticulating. Her eyes rolled in their sockets like those of a madwoman. She pointed at Crystal, her hand shaking.
“Do not utter that name again.”
“I’d prefer not to. But Dimitri....”
“I don’t want to hear it !” Sybil thundered.
“I get it, but the problem is that the Dark Prince is....”
“Shut up !” the anorexic Paladine bellowed with all her strength, throwing herself at an off-balance Crystal. Cornelia and Glory caught her just in time.
“Sweetie, get out of here, please,” the Barbie doll pleaded.
“But I’m trying to telling you that....”
At a look from the Paladine, Falada grabbed the young woman by the arm and pulled her out of the living room where Sybil continued her shouting and bawling.
When they were far enough down the corridor, Crystal stopped the Paladin.
“I don’t know what’s happening, but it can’t be more important than what I have to tell you. Prince Dimitri is....”
Falada silenced her by putting his finger to her lips.
“Little flower, don’t talk about him anymore. Sybil is going to go completely crazy and I will too if we don’t change the subject already.”
“Evidently she already has. As for you, you aren’t much better.”
With the most serious expression in the world, the Paladin put both his hands on the arms left bare by her negligee and pushed her against the wall. Their gazes locked. He felt a drop of perspiration pearling at the nape of his neck. He cleared his throat before speaking.
“Be reasonable for a minute, please. Listen to me a little. The girls didn’t want to tell you, but I believe we no longer have a choice. Sybil wasn’t always like this. Several years ago, Dimitri murdered her husband, abducted her little five-year-old girl, and killed her. She’s never recovered from it. This evening we discovered that the Order of Hell has kidnapped several children from highly-placed families of the Damned. He’s using them as a means of pressure. I imagine that this reminded Sybil of her own story. She flipped out. I’m sorry that you witnessed it,” Falada apologized, obstinately fixing his gaze on the patterns in the wallpaper.
“That’s horrible,” Crystal sympathized, with no idea of the effort that the man of her dreams was making to control himself. She thought only of the hell that the Paladine must be experiencing. “Dimitri is vile. And it’s me that he wants. In the end he’s going to get me. I’m so alone that I want to die and he knows it.”
His hands on his hips, the Paladin took offence.
“And what about us ? Don’t we count for anything ?”
“Don’t be an idiot,” she told him bitterly. “You’re not always with me. After all, you’re not with me. And that’s the problem.”
“Wait. What are we talking about ? I’ve always been there and I’ve always taken care of you.”
“Yeah, as a friend. But Falada, that’s not enough. I want more. I adore my girlfriends, but I’m twenty-two ! I need to feel safe in the arms of a man… I’m too alone without a guy. Without you. Falada, I….”
Confronted with the Paladin’s distant expression, the words stuck in her throat. Crystal was afraid that he would reject her, but she could no longer stand to play games. She wanted to tell him that she loved him, but she lacked the courage. So she didn’t say anything. On an impulse, she rose to her tiptoes, put her hand on the Paladin’s chest and pressed her lips to his.
A gentle touch.
Falada gripped her by the shoulders and held her away from himself.
“What are you doing ?” he pushed her away. Then, seeing her distraught expression, feeling at the bottom of his soul that he had not always been completely honest, that he had not always been as upright as he should have been, he tried to pull her back. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to hurt you.”
Fighting tears, Crystal raised her chin with a defiant air. Proud.
“I have enormous affection for you, Crys. And you are beautiful, you are tempting, that’s true. I admit it, the way I’ve acted is wrong. I’ve sometimes let you believe I could be more than a friend. But friendship is all I can offer you. I can’t explain it to you, but we will never be together. Don’t hate me for this, please, because I do love you. I love you like a sister.”
“Go away !” she dismissed him in a low voice. “Go away right now.”
She watched him leave. Tears had flooded her eyes and her spirit, but she did not cry. She would not give him that pleasure. Her back against the wall, she hugged herself. Painfully she remembered these last months spent with him. All those moments spent laughing and sharing their feelings. Those moments when she believed they were but one person. Their relationship may have been platonic, but it was the greatest and the most profound love that she had ever experienced. Such a deep bond, so much familiarity, it was an unhoped-for happiness and comfort. The Paladines were her best friends, but they had never been that close, never. And now Falada had sent her packing, shattering all her dreams. And for the first time, she didn’t want to fight because she felt empty. He was her whole life ; she could pretend, but without him, the world was cold.
Sighing, Crystal collapsed against the wall and let herself slide to the floor, sitting on the wall-to-wall carpet of the corridor. She stayed that way for a good half hour thinking, scratching at the carpet with a fingernail. Crushed.
Miranda, who came out of the white living room, where the Paladines had managed to calm Sybil down, found her there, sitting alone in the dark. The little sorceress gluttonously gulped down a piece of apple pie before addressing her.
“Why are you sitting there ?”
“Oh, you know. My life is… hopeless. I’ve been tossed around like a bag that everyone is dragging behind them. And then I tried to live with that. I tried to adapt. To keep my spirits up, hoping that one fine day, if I kept on fighting, life would decide to smile on me. But it isn’t working. I fight and nothing happens. I’m always alone. Happiness doesn’t want anything to do with me. I know what you’ll say – that’s okay ; Prince Dimitri will eventually put an end to my torments.”
“Oh, sweetie, you’re not well. I guess everyone is doing pretty poorly right now. Can I do something for you ? Would a piece of pie make you feel better ? That always works for me – except for my diet, of course,” Miranda remarked with regret.
“No pie, thank you. On the other hand, do you know anything about love potions ? That could be useful to me.”
Refusing to have that conversation, which in her opinion degraded the image of magic, the sorceress moved away. But Crystal suddenly stopped her, gripped by a flash of understanding.
“Wait. In fact, there is something you can do for me.”
She took Miranda along into the meditation hall in the apartment, the Paladine’s favorite place for working magic. It was a perfectly round room with stone walls, located in the center of the apartment.
The ceiling was peculiar. A cupola of stained glass in indefinable colors, always changing : a rainbow of all possible shades and colors.
“Tell me again what you want, Crys, and try to convince me, because if you don’t I’m going to head for my room and listen to my Norah Jones album.”
“I know that I’m so clueless at combat that you never wanted to let me learn magic. But I was thinking about Prince Dimitri again, and had a burst of inspiration. We should try it.”
>
“The learning and mastery of magic is a long and painful task,” the sorceress rambled on for what seemed to Crystal to be the hundredth time.
“I’ll be patient. Teach me, it’s the only thing that might still give meaning to my life,” Crystal said dramatically.
Miranda agreed reluctantly and sat down, folding her knees under her and inviting her pupil to do the same.
“Close your eyes and concentrate.”
The young woman complied. The Paladine’s voice resonated and became a murmur : clear, soft, and regular.
“Magic is a union between your essence and the cosmos. Each being has a personal energy connected to eternity and the universe. The energy that is within you is what you use to perform magic.”
The sorceress was abruptly interrupted. Cornelia had just opened the door without warning, sticking her head through the opening.
“Say, girls, do you have a light ? Laugh if you want to, but all the lighters seem to be disappearing lately. Maybe they’re dematerializing.”
Miranda, who wasn’t laughing at all, chased her out. Once calm, she took Crystal’s hands.
“I’m going to help you visualize your energy. Assuming that we’re left in peace for five minutes.”
The young woman breathed in seriously. She put her whole soul into it. After Falada, after Dimitri, after her successive humiliations, she felt as though it were now or never. She had to show everyone. And in spite of the purity that the sorceress transmitted to her, she felt something dark seep into her. Something grand and eternal. She licked her lips and they tasted like blood and power. The world turned and then disappeared. Crystal let go of Miranda’s hands ; her father’s essence roared within her. She wanted it ; she called to it. Give me the strength. And an energy, white and obscure, swept through her whole body. She threw her head back, transported.
The Paladine opened her eyes, feeling a slight warmth spread through her hands. She jumped. Crystal was bathed in gold. Around her the light intensified and grew. The cupola that acted as the ceiling had also taken on a golden color. Open-mouthed, the little redhead whispered :
Crystal and the Damned - Possession Page 5
