“We should be careful” I said.
“Why?”
“The window is very high; we must leave at least one bar to be able to climb up.”
“Agreed,” she answered me in assuredly.
The wall that was behind us moved and a big and silver being appears, a Fallen One. His wings were folded, and then I noticed his arm and saw that he still had signs of the burn I gave him.
“Samantha,” he said pleased, “it is a pleasure to meet you.”
“Ian,” I answered pausing, “it is a shame I cannot say the same thing.”
His calm face changed to angry.
“I suppose that I cannot leave you alone. It is a moving scene,” he said pointing to our intertwined hands. “But it is over. Elizabeth, come with me if you want to see your sister again.”
“No,” she answered him firmly.
“She grabbed me strongly by the hand. But before we could attack, something separated us and hit me hard on my face.”
“Oh, my dear Samantha, when will you learn?” Susan said evilly.
Elizabeth tried to help me to get up but Susan prevented her.
“Don´t you dare, this is between your sister and me.”
“It is little wonder that Eric rejected you,” I let out a smile, “you are a demon without a heart.”
Susan’s expression changed letting her dark side become evident.
“Do not get between Eric and me.”
“Between him and you there is nothing,” I answered as I got up from the cold floor.
“Get this over with,” Ian shouted.
When I looked he had Elizabeth in his arms trying to get free from them. When I looked again at Susan she was hitting me, making me fall again.
I didn´t have strength to get up. She passed in front of me and left. The wall returned to its place and I allowed a tear of pain escape. I had hurt my ribs when I fell. Gaia came running and helped me to get up. I sat on the bed and she went to look for something to give me. She returned with a bowl in her hands and told me to drink it. After a second of having it in my mouth I spat it out, together with the blood I had due to Susan´s punch.
“Much better,” Gaia smiled, “now you won´t have any infection.”
“Don´t you have anything for the pain?” I asked trying not to think about my mouth and my ribs.
“No, I am sorry.”
After a few minutes, I recovered and got up.
“This cannot stay this way,” I said determined.
I looked towards the iron bars and concentrated in all the anger that Susan had provoked in me, at the same time that I connected with my sister´s energy. Little by little smoke started to come from the first bar until it exploded with a dry noise making it disappear. I did not stop concentrating in my powers until I had exploded three more leaving only the last one.
“How have you done that?” Gaia asked me amazed.
“I don´t know,” I answered and it was the pure truth.
I grabbed the sheet that was on the bed and after various tries I hooked it round the last of the iron bars.
“Climb up,” I said to Gaia whose mistrust was shown on her face.
“Why don´t you vanish?” Gaia asked.
“I don´t have much strength, if we vanish in this condition we might get trapped in another dimension until we recover the strength to leave it. Or so they have told me.”
I don´t know if I convinced her, but she didn´t ask again.
I looked at her and insisted that she climb up again. She took hold of the sheet and climbed until going through the hole in the window. I picked my daggers up from the ground and started to climb holding the sheets strongly between my hands. I placed them on the edge of the window and Gaia helped me to get up. I stayed for a moment breathing lying down on the grass. I got up and looked at Gaia.
“Do you know where Elizabeth might be?”
She shook her head. So I directed myself to the entrance of the house. I was shattered and poorly maintained; there were no signs of activity in any part. I stood in front of the door and closed my eyes to be able to concentrate.
<
I waited, but didn´t get an answer.
<
I could only hear a weak murmur in my mind but it was enough for me to make a decision. I put my hand firmly on the doorknob.
“I don´t think it is safe to enter there.”
“My sister needs me, and I will do whatever it takes to help her.”
I touched the daggers on my belt again, to ensure that I had something to defend us with. We entered and closed the door behind us. There was a great corridor with rooms on either side and on the right was a staircase. Apparently everyone had left. I started to climb the stairs with Gaia behind me. I opened the first door and saw her on the bed.
She tried to shout but her mouth was gagged. She was all tied up. I let her loose as quickly as Gaia looked from the door in case someone came. She took the cloth from her mouth and got up running. She put a combat suit on and took me by the hand to leave the house running, without worrying about making noise.
“Where are they all?” I asked her seeing that she said nothing.
“They have left.”
“Where to?” I asked as we left the house. I stopped on the spot seeing that sun was setting.
“To The Light.”
“We have to you there now,” I said urgently.
“You cannot do it, I will do it. You don´t have enough strength,” she said looking at my hand over my ribs.
“We should let them know. Ian left before. They can catch us by surprise. Let Eric know but first, leave me at Kenneth´s house, I should let Gabriel know.”
Elizabeth looked at me undecided and at the same time pleased.
“He is fine,” I answered, “don´t worry about him.”
“Alright.”
She lifted me into the air as though I weighed nothing and Gaia hugged her from behind so as not to stay behind. I close my eyes and in an instant we were in front of Kenneth´s house. I got down from her arms delicately before turning around. I knew that this was a crucial moment for her.
“I will see you in front of the Council,” she said urgently. “If you arrive before I do, enter into the building. I will see you there.”
“And what should I do?” Gaia asked uncertain.
“You come with me,” Elizabeth answered, “I need your help to collect a few things.”
“Gabriel, Kenneth,” I called shouting. I entered the house and there was nobody there.
“Samantha?” I heard a familiar voice calling me.
Eric came running down the stairs and hugged me.
“You are alright,” he confirmed as he inspected my face. “Oh God, you don´t know how much I have suffered. I have searched for you everywhere. I am so sorry. I should have been with you. And your sister was gone also and I…” he said as his voice became stifled.
“Don´t worry, we are fine,” I said as I hugged him. “You don´t know how much I have missed you.”
“I can make a guess,” he whispered in my ear.
“Let´s go,” I said moving away a little from him, with the pain in the ribs from the hug. “Ian has gone ahead of us; they should all be there by now.”
“The others are there already; but I couldn´t go without finding you.”
He hugged me tightly again, as though I would escape.
“I promise that I will never, never part from your side again unless you want me to.”
I smiled at him please that we could have such a strong love.
“I love you,” I said to him.
“I love you too, are you alright?” he asked seeing pain on my face.
“It is just a small wound, don´t worry about it.”
I kissed him on the lips before he closed his eyes and we appeared in the peaceful square, besides the Council building.
“Let´s go, we have to go inside,” I said pulling him
by the hand.
We climbed the staircase in a hurry and entered. Inside Elizabeth and Gabriel were hugging. Phoenix and Gaia were speaking about a spell and the Council looked at all us at the same time. Another witch I didn´t know moved towards Phoenix, in the end there were many people I didn´t know. A small group went towards the Council to greet them affectionately; I supposed that they were family members.
“When everything is over I will present you to my family,” Eric smiled at me with an emotion in his eyes that I thought I wouldn´t see again.
He was thinking about the future, about our future.
My mother appeared from the back of the building loaded with weapons and accompanied by nuddles with more armament.
She smiled timidly when she saw me, then she saw Eric’s hands enlaced in mine, but Eric didn´t move. Then she saw Elizabeth.
She cleared her throat to speak and we all looked at her.
“I know that we are not many, but we must protect this Kingdom, we must conserve our race and we need to take care of other civilizations that would not exist without us. We are sons of the night and we will die being that. Let´s fight!” as she finished, she lifted her sword.
We all agreed with her. We positioned ourselves in the doors of the building. They were open and a cold air entered through them. The little sun that was there allowed us to see grey clouds closing in from a distance. The streets were deserted and the square in front of us appeared as though it was stopped in time.
Suddenly, we started to hear a noise, like a murmur. Shortly after this we saw the troops of wanderers without faces entering into the houses, plundering them and looking for someone to kill. Luckily my mother had evacuated the city that afternoon. When they saw that there was no one they started to enter into the square. Every one of them that entered died. It was as if they crossed an imaginary line that split them in two. After a few minutes trying to enter they stopped dying and shouted loudly, lifting their swords seeing that they were still alive. At that moment we ran out of the building to confront them. There was a great bang with the first clash of swords. The metal shone on all sides.
They weren´t difficult to kill, they disappeared with almost any cut; the only difficulty was that there were so many that I couldn’t even take a step without bumping into one of them. After cutting the head of the wanderer I had in front of me I heard a shout from afar. I turned around and saw hundreds of sons of the night rushing on them from outside. They came from everywhere with swords and spears.
We were finishing them off from all sides, but when it seemed that all of them had died, more appeared, many more…
I was tangled up in a fight when I noticed a fine cap of dust covering me. Then Eric appeared before my eyes with a serious face.
“Be careful, you have been close to dying,” he said without shouting, “I am not going to lose you today,” he said lifting his voice as he started to fight another wanderer. His movements were fast and fluid. For a moment I was hypnotized.
I started to tear that grey skin with my daggers, until they converted in dust. Every now and again I saw someone I knew fighting close to me, but my heart started to resound very strongly when I saw the hooded man. I fell to the ground looking at him. A wanderer directed his clumsy hands towards me. I looked at him without finding anything in his face and sank my dagger into his heart. After seeing how he dissolved, the brilliant hair of my sister appeared in front of me. I got up and helped her to finish off the monster.
“Where is Ian?” I shouted.
“I haven´t seen him. He reserves himself for the end.”
We continued to fight together as I observed around me, trying to find the fallen one. We clashed sword against sword until we had finished off our respective opponents. I took a quick look around to see if they were all fine, until I found his stare. He was outside the square on the hill, watching me, with a macabre smile.
He was very far away, but even then I could distinguish him. His silver extended wings didn´t allow for confusion. I started to walk towards him. I left the square killing anyone that got in front of me. I only looked at him. A heart-wrenching scream made me lose my concentration. I turned my head to see my sister on her knees. I ran towards her and saw her with both hands on her stomach. I helped her to get up as blood stained her hands.
“It won´t heal, that wound, it won´t heal,” she repeated without looking at her hands.
I still didn´t say anything and I took her inside the Council It was full of impatient nuddles watching the battle.
“Please, I need help.”
I lay her down on the floor holding her head.
“Sister I am sorry,” she whispered.
“Listen to me, I am going to go out there with strength and I am going to kill the monster that has tortured you for so long. When I return you will be alive. You are going to live for our mother, for Gabriel and for me, agreed?” my voice was firm and paused.
I kissed her forehead and left her in the nuddles care. When I went out again the square seemed to be in chaos. A layer of grey ash filled the cobbled ground; bodies were strewn all over, some trying to survive while others had disappeared.
I went down the staircase and found Phoenix. I told him quickly what had happened and continued on my way. There was no turning back. I was going to finish off that being that had started it all.
I moved away from the turmoil of the fight and headed towards him. I heard my name from afar; I turned and saw my mother running after me. When her eyes encountered Ian´s she fell twisting from pain on the grass, Ian controlled her. I continued the ascent with more determination. My serious face only made his smile grow. I started to climb the hill leaving far behind me the noise until I arrived to where he was. He was only a few meters from his death.
“Samantha it pleases me that you have accepted to surrender to me and come to here to witness how your race dies.”
I didn´t move, I didn´t take my eyes off his black as carbon eyes. The lights of the city came on confirming that the night had arrived, as Ian walked before me.
“Has your sister died?” he blurted out, pretending to be concerned.
“Shut up.”
“Oh, my dear child I cannot bear the loss of the only family that you have left.”
I took a step forward and at the same time he took a step back.
“You should know that you have more family. There is your mother, although she doesn´t have much time left. And well, your father still helps you although he has never seen you. How much love there is in the environment,” he said lifting his hands to the skies.
Without thinking about it I leaped at him. I sunk one of my daggers into his abdomen before falling to the ground at his feet. I lifted my head to see how the wound closed. Seeing my incomprehension he laughed.
“You are stupid, you cannot kill me.”
“Yes I can.”
My anger assaulted me making my body get up to attack again. Ian didn´t seem worried about what I could do to him. I attacked him; I filled him with knife wounds as he barely moved. He didn´t resist.
I took a step back tired, observing how the cuts closed regardless of their depth.
“I told you, you cannot kill me. Nobody can,” he shouted as he lifted his hands and the hill moved. An enormous cave appeared behind him, forming an immense cliff. I didn’t know the extent of his powers, nor did he know that of mine.
“I don´t think that is true.”
“Why?”
“The scar on your arm shows me otherwise. You may be invincible to others, but not to me.”
“That you did with the help of your sister. You alone cannot even kill a fly. You are not ready, you haven´t trained enough.”
“I did not mind showing him otherwise.”
I stayed still and closed my eyes. I started to concentrate but it didn´t last long. I opened my eyes when Eric was there over him.
“You will not touch her,” he shouted.
They wrestled without
being able to do anything until Ian took hold of him by the arms, lifted him and threw him towards the cliff.
I ran and threw myself to the ground about to grab his hand. His expression had not lost that sweetness that I had fallen in love with.
“I love you,” he whispered.
“Don´t go, please, don´t go.” Tears started to fall down my cheeks as he tried to climb up and my strength floundered. I had nothing to hold onto.
My arms burned from the effort. I tried to record his face in my mind in the precious seconds that remained. Until he fell from within my fingers and gravity took its effect.
I shouted and shouted as my soul was wrenched from within me as I saw how he fell into a space without end. I couldn´t see because of my tears and I could not stop shouting. I heard how Ian burst out laughing. I turned around clearing my tears to be able to see him.
“Love makes you weak. That is what really kills you,” he said without a touch of compassion.
Fury and the anger started to sprout from the depths of my soul. I connected with all the power that I could find within me. And I saw him as my body and my mind had still not simulated what had just happened. I felt how every cell of my body lit up, emitting heat as though it was a stove. I lifted my hands to the sky and cried discharging my anger in the being that was in front of me. A second later I hear a shout that sounded satisfactory to me. I lowered my face to look at him, he was on his knees holding his head in his hands as though he were about to fall, I knew that my powers where really affecting him and if I continued I could make his head explode from the pain.
“Your evil consumes you. This is, in reality, what kills you,” I spat out furious.
I stretched my arms towards him and a small thread of smoke started to come from his back. His cries made no sense to me.
“Do you know feel compassion?” he asked in hope.
“Not for you,” my neutral voice surprised him. He had taken from me that which I loved most and I would do the same to him.
My inner heat grew and I expelled it outwards making the fallen one be covered in flames. His silver body became black when the fire touched it. He got up and ran towards me in search of forgiveness.
Darkness The Diary of Samantha Owen Page 22
