The Wrath of Lilly

by J Middleton

  “Vince it was only a dream.” She put her arm around him trying to comfort his uneasiness.

  “She will destroy every living thing if we don’t stop her.”

  “We will Vince, we will destroy her.”

  He turned to face her, his eyes glowing red.

  At that moment, she could see Lilly in his face. Her heart raced as she stood there hiding her fear. Victoria jumped as the door slammed against the wall. Geneon was standing in the foyer staring at them.

  “Get out of the window!” he yelled.

  Vince turned with his eyes narrowed and glowing. A sudden rage, flooding through him. It burned like a firestorm, growing and growing. Just when he thought he might explode from the power of his hate, he compressed it.

  “Vince I am not the one you want to fight. Claim you anger. Harvest your pain to become your strength. Use your pain and anger to fuel your rage. Cultivate your rage into hatred. Focus on your hatred, and draw greatness from it are you will die. Unless you want them to find you now and you test your anger you better move from the window.” He stared Geneon and moved slowly away.

  Victoria moved across the room with Vince but kept her eyes on Geneon.

  He moved quickly to the window and looked out a crack.

  Lightning flashed as they heard a snap and the light went out. They were left sitting in murky gray shadows of the room. Geneon lit the lantern when suddenly all sound ceased. Silence’s filled the room for a moment before Geneon spook.

  “We have less than twenty-four hours before it all starts.” He turned and said. “We are going to have to pull all out powers together to stop her.” Just as them words came out of his mouth the building rocked and the dust fell from the ceiling again. He walked to the window and looked out and seen her vines consume a building as it lit up in flames.

  “She is starting early is she.” Geneon grinned to himself.

  “No she is just warming up, her powers will be at full force tomorrow night on October the 31.” Vince stared at him.

  “How do you know this boy?” He turned and faced him.

  “I have seen it in my vision.”

  “Why would you have a vision of her destruction?”

  “Because she is his grandmother.” Victoria answered.

  “So it is true, she has come back to claim her grandson to have a pure blood sacrifice.”

  “What? No, she would never do that! She just wants me and mother by her side.” Vince snapped.

  “Sacrifice Vince, no that is her grandson.”

  Geneon laughed as it carried though the room.

  “You think she cares anything about her own blood. He is old enough for her to sacrifice him to gain her all-time powers.” He smirked.

  “That can’t be!” Victoria nods her head in disbelief.

  “You’re a warlock, not to be trusted. This isn’t true!” she snaps.

  “I am not a liar.” He yells, “I may be a warlock but I know the truth! Didn’t your ancestors teach you anything about the children of witches? It tells all in the black book. Did you even get to learn anything about it?” He started into her eyes that reaped of rage.

  “I have never heard of such things.”

  “Let me give you a brief history lesson sense you are so naive to this knowledge. The ritual occurs on Samhain, held on October 31st. Samhain became known as Hallows Eve and subsequently Halloween. The festival marked the end of harvest and the start of the dark part of the year. Large feast was held and celebrations ran well into the night. Bonfires were prevalent during the festivities and bone so slaughtered livestock were cast into the flames as a cleansing ritual. It is then the ritual occurs on Samhain are all pure blood witches are born on that day. We are not sure why. It is probably due to the witch’s evil nature and the correlation to the pagan holiday. Liam sacrifices most pure bloods on their eighteenth birthday. Vince has Nephilim and witch. That makes him more powerful. A prime example is Liam mother, Lara, who was sacrificed at the age of forty-seven.” He paused looking at the disbelief in her face. “She must not be taken lightly. See Victoria, by keeping Vince close to her and on her side when it comes to his sacrifices he will be ready and she will gain her full strength. You on the other hand is half breed, so she wouldn’t gain anything by your sacrifices other than having you on her side. Halfblooded witches will not suffice for the ritual. Neither will humans. The raw power possessed by a pure blood and Nephilim is significantly greater than that of a halfblooded witch. “He stared at her, with her pale face and glossy eyes. She was shocked by his words.

  No this can’t be? This isn’t what I was told. She just wants revenge for people that hurt her. Victoria’s stomach dropped, she wasn’t sure she could face him. All this was so much information. Why didn’t I read the book? Where is the book? Why were we forbidden to read it? Questions filled her mind as he turned and looked at Glenda.

  “You beat her the first time because she was in love with Victor but now she knows that her grandson son is part Nephilim. It is now revenge and power and control, sense Victor died she wants no one else to live. Don’t you understand that.” He paused. “The council should have told you when Vince was born the hidden fears that you would face.”

  Nodding her head as a tear rolled down her cheek. Turning her head away from him trying to make some sense out of everything.

  Geneon arms were folded across his chest, making the veins in his forearms bulge staring straight at her.

  Jessica pulls out her crystal ball and sets it on the table.

  “No, don’t. Cover it now! It draws energy. That is one way for her to find you. She can see where you are.” He yelled.

  Victoria jumped at the tone of his voice as she narrowed her eyes before she spoke.

  “She will know where we are anyway because she comes to us in our dreams.” Vince popped off.

  “It is because of your energy you put out. The ball channels it.”

  “She will still no.”

  “No she won’t. This place is channeled by darkness not light she can’t sense your presents here. Why do you think I brought you here to give us the upper hand?” He nods his head and picks up a spell book and flips through the pages.

  A huge gust of wind rattled the windows. Everyone stood in silences listening to sudden bust of Lilly’s rage.

  “How are we going to stop her?” Glenda asks.

  “Trap her spirit and destroy the evil creatures that serve her.”

  “Just how are we going to do that.” Victoria popped off as she watched Vince move a few steps.

  “I can’t stand being cooped up in this eerie place any longer. You are a liar and I don’t believe you.” Vince yells as he started to walk to the door.

  Geneon lifted his hand and put an around barrier around him and moved him to the corner.

  “Stop” Victoria yells as she lifts her hand.

  “You don’t want to do that. I will have a room full of warlocks that will destroy you and your friends.” He paused watching her put her hand down to her side but it still glowing orange. “Your son is a loss canon and he will give us away. I put him in there for his on safety and yours. She can’t find him in there, my magic blocks hers. I have work to do, I had blankets delivered to this room. Everyone must sleep in here. It is the safest place. I’m sure you don’t want to wonder around with warlocks below us. Besides this room is guarded by my king. No one can come in here without his permission are mine.”

  “I would like to know who your so-called king is.” She smirked.

  “It isn’t important so if I can get back to my work.”

  Victoria turned and grabbed a blanket and when beside Vince shield and sat down. Glenda followed caring a large book of spells.

  Victoria felt an angry pit of energy deep inside her stomach. She directed that fireball up on her palm. A burst of bright green, shaped like a softball levitated in the air in front of her. The fore of energy rocked her backward, as Glenda gripped her elbow too steady her.

&nb
sp; Geneon looked up and nods his head.

  “Unless you are planning to use that put it away, the glow can be seen from the window. So, my suggestion to you is hold it in until tomorrow. We will need it then.” He stared watching her recede her powers.

  “Calm down Victoria, he is right we have to play it cool for now.” As she watched Geneon light oil lanterns and candles.

  He reached for a brass key that dangled from his necklace. He lowered himself to his knees and pulled out a small safe from a broad on the floor. He unlocked it retrieving a worn leather bag with strings. Geneon patted the sack, satisfied with its contents he walks over to a large black pot. He waved his hand over the top as a light mist poured out of it. Mumbling something under his breathing she watched as his eyes glowed red and the mist turned into a dark fog. The room went dark with only the lantern making a small glow. Outside the wind kicked up, each howl was louder that the last as if locked in some strange contest of strength. Looking around she seen the fellow sisters crowded in a corner, mumbling under their breaths as blankets were wrapped around them.

  Chapter 20

  Dark clouds rolled in from the arisen. The night again teasing what lie ahead. Victoria drifted to sleep but was awake within minutes, the result of another short epileptic shiver. Wide eyed and focused for a minute, and then drifted away again. She repeated this cycle on and off for what may have been an hour. The floor was not as comfortable as her bed, but the discomfort helped her stay alert. Her muscles tried desperately to relax but couldn’t. Looking around the room at the dim orange light of the lantern. The clock on the wall struck three muted tones, simultaneously marking the depth of the night and assuring that morning was close by.

  She noticed she couldn’t see Geneon. She got to her feet and forced herself to walk over to the window. Peeking out a small crack, the darkness covered the sidewalks. The wind rocked the smaller limbs back and forth, turning the shadows into flexing hands, creeping closer to their building as the moon descended behind the clouds. Her instincts told her there was something other than shadows there. Something dangerous, and it was headed there way. Staring at a small red light at the end of the street. It radiated throughout the mist, momentarily illuminating, curling tendrils of fog as it moved across the road. The beginning of their survival had begun.

  She swallowed to dislodge a lump that had risen in her throat. An eerie glow in the mist revealed a man standing in a doorway of a building but his face remained obscured beneath a hood.

  She jumped back as red eyes were seen and a light red mist rolled out of the structure. Chills once again ran down her spine as she stared at the image. She blinked out into the darkness, her eyes falling on the figure. The man turned and walked away, causing the mist to snake around its body as he cut a path through it. The mist clung to its skin as it turned towards the road. A gust of wind flung its hood back so that its hair whipped around its face in a flutter of stands. Watching the fog lift around him revealing a dark solitary figure moving slowly in front of another building.

  Victoria could sense the man’s gaze on hers, though his features were still concealed beneath the show of his hood. Once again the fog rolled in thicker as it covered his inter body.

  Victoria jumped as a hand touched her shoulder.

  “Damn it Glenda.” She snapped.

  “Sorry but I didn’t want to wake anyone. Besides you better be careful looking out this window. Geneon could come in at any minute.”

  “Did you see him leave?”

  “Yes someone came to the door and he followed them out.”

  “Oh really, well I am going to see what that is all about.” She slowly moved away from the window.

  “I don’t know about this.” Glenda said.

  “Stay here.”

  “And let you go alone, no.”

  She followed Victoria to the door and slipped into the hallway. It was a blurred edge of darkness, like a thousand layers of black veils, each one so shear, that created a shifting black barrier, impenetrable, but with enough depth that one believed that intense concentration was all that was needed to see beyond her. Her focus required curiosity about what lay in the darkness. Finally, she seen a light at the end of the hallway. It glowed this luminescence filled out an evolving shape. Victoria turned around and saw a door beside her. Grabbing the door knob, she peered inside, finding a gloomy bedroom with heavy curtains drawn across the window and a thick, musty smell in the air. She turned and looked at Glenda which was running her fingers across the wall. Feeling the grooves of textures beneath her touch. Victoria discovered a light switch and flicked it, illuminating stacks of boxes piled on the floor and atop a bed.

  Victoria nodded and crept into the room. She brushed her fingers across a box on the bed and found a layer of dust deposited on it. A tingle ran up her spine as she goes the distinct feeling that the room was somehow sacred, perhaps having remained untouched for years. She pushed her fingers under the lip of the closed box and lifted it but the cardboard resisted, unmoving. She frowned and tugged at it harder but the box wouldn’t open.

  “That’s weird, it has a spell around it.” She muttered.

  “What does?” Victoria answered hovering by the doorway.

  “The box I can’t open it.” She tried the box beside it but was met with the same problem. Lifting one onto the floor and knelt beside it. Despite pulling hard, the cardboard didn’t even tear.

  “Don’t worry about it, “Victoria insisted through gritted teeth. She tuned to find her looking straight at her anxiously.

  “Aren’t you a little bit curious?”

  At the other end of the room was a desk made from dark wood engraved with symbols and patterns around the edges. It ran the length of an entire wall and had a hollow space beneath it where a four-wheeled stool was located. Piled atop the desk was a mountain of papers and books and on the side, was jars of herbs.

  “This must be Geneon room. Maybe we shouldn’t be here?” Glenda said, but Vitoria was already crossing the hardwood floor to investigate the desk.

  A leather-bound book lay open at its entre portraying a diagram of a hand, facing palm up in the middle of the page. Rows pointed to various lines on the image with strange words annotating it.

  She turned the page to find a more detailed diagram that displayed various fingers and different angles of the hand. A floorboard creaked behind her as Glenda crept up to the desk.

  “I didn’t think warlocks were palmistry?” Victoria asks, looking doubtful.

  “Look at these.” She showed her the diagrams.

  “This looks different?” Glenda frowned and her forehead filled with tiny creases. They vanished as she picked up a piece of paper that caught her attention.

  “What do you this is?”

  Victoria cast her eyes over the drawing of a spiral that was interspersed with circles at random intervals.

  “I don’t know” she answered.

  She glanced around the desk and spotted a pile of books that had been haphazardly place on a wad of papers. They wobbled precariously as she lifted the top book, the one beneath it slid forward, shooting towards the floor.

  Glenda winced as it hit the wood with a loud thud and they stood in tense Ilene, waiting to see if Geneon had been alerted by the noise. Victoria signed with relief a moment later and stooped down, crawling under the desk to retrieve it. As she lifted the book a small scrap of paper was disturbed from beneath it. She reached for it grasping the pie between two finger.

  Footsteps was heard coming down the hallway, she jerked upwards in shock hitting her head on the underside of the desk with a loud crack.

  “Argh,” she groaned, pulling in a sharp breath of air between her teeth.

  “Quick get up, let’s get out of here.” Victoria said in panic.

  Glenda stood, placing the book back on the desk and stuffed the piece of paper onto her back pocket before rubbing her head to ease the pain. The hurried out of the room and Victoria shut the door quietly, feeling a rus
h of adrenalin pump through her veins. Reaching the entrance hall Glenda looked around, uncertain of where to go.

  They reached the top and exited the stairwell, and opened the last door on the end. The room was a dark attic. A window rattled loudly as the wind whistled through the gaps. It let in a slither of moonlight, casting a silver sheen across the floor. There were wooden chests everywhere and papers that had been shattered chaotically around the room. Glenda reached down and picked one up, finding a more detailed spiral diagram that the one they had discovered in Geneon room.

  At the top of the spiral was the only word she recognized, “King”. Beside the word were symbols and more diagrams that she couldn’t make any sense of.

  “What is going on?” Victoria asks, holding it out to Glenda in frustrated gesture. She took it and squinted at the writing in the gloom, the moonlight making her pale skin gleam.

  “I don’t know, who is this referring to.” Glenda asked.

  Victoria stood in shock as she played the name over and over in her head. “Who is his king.”

  Glenda passed back the paper then started rummaging through a chest filed with various objects. As she extracted a wooden box, something small hit the floor, bounced twice the rolled towards Glenda’s foot.

  She used her toe to stop it and picked it up between her finger and thumb. It was a pea-sized ball that was translucent and glistening as if it was emitting a tiny amount of light.

  “Glenda come look at this.” She said but she didn’t answer. “Glenda!”

  She looked up. She had the small box in her hands and was staring down at the contents in puzzlement.

  “What’s wrong?” Victoria asks.

  She took what appeared to be two large medallions from the box and hung the form her finger by their chains. They were shaped like a heptagon and made from a faded, silver metal with a hole on each point that had tiny lisps. Next to each hole, running around in a circle clockwise, were the words” The darkness.”

  One of the objects spun on its chain, caught by a sudden draft blowing through the attic so Glenda could see the back of it. There was four words engraved upon it in swirling, silver writing that made her heart jump up into her throat.