by Bonnie Lamer
“Your little trick with the wall is going to be the death of you, and I’m going to enjoy every last bit of your pain.” A blast of magic bursts from her. It comes at me at the speed of sound. And bounces off me just as fast. Xandra’s doppelgänger is thrown back against a stalagmite, crumbling the top of it. She lands with a splat in the middle of the pool of green water. She comes up sputtering.
“Hey, Dipweed,” I say to my doppelgänger. “You may want to stand a little closer to me.” For once, he doesn’t argue. It’s amazing how fast his scarred body can move when he puts his mind to it.
To the evil Xandra, I say, “You will be leaving this universe today, but we have something we have to do first.”
Drying herself with magic, she rises to her feet. “I don’t know what you’ve done to get these powers, but I suspect it’s only you who holds them.”
Faster than I can blink, Dipweed is hanging from an invisible rope by a hind leg and his face is in the green water. He’s flailing about, trying to get his head up before he drowns. Meanwhile, his Witch Fairy is grinning maliciously at me.
“This is how you’re going to look when I kill you. Pathetic and helpless.”
That’s not going to work for me. I sever the magic rope and my doppelgänger scrambles out of the water coughing and hacking. Suddenly, a picture of what his life has been like is crystal clear in my mind. This other me, he has been tortured, ridiculed, neglected, and worst of all, underfed. “Are you ready for that revenge now?” I ask him.
“Hell yeah,” he hacks out between coughs.
“Good.” I concentrate on where I want to go and I teleport the three of us there.
Chapter 33 - Xandra
The locks click open. Kegan, who has been on the balcony all this time keeping watch, opens the glass doors and comes into the room. “How did you finally do it?” he asks.
I look at my confused husband and then back at Kegan. “We didn’t.” Noticing how Kegan is favoring his wrist, I go to him. “Let me heal that. The fight might be about to start.” He holds his arm out to me.
“Where did Dagda send everyone?” Kallen asks.
Kegan looks up from his arm with a grimace. Healing can hurt almost as much as the injury. “The staff he sent home. At least the ones who don’t live at the palace. The rest, he got volunteers from the others to shelter them until this is over.”
“Where are the leaders?” Kallen asks.
“The only place they could go without freaking the whole Fairy population out. Grandmother’s house is isolated and large enough to house them all.”
Finishing with his arm, I ask Kegan, “How did they all get there?” Ryu and the other Dragons couldn’t exactly hide in a carriage.
Reading my mind, he says, “The Dragons, Giants and Centaurs trudged through the woods. The Merpeople swam up from the palace river to the ocean. The rest went by carriage.”
The door to the hall bursts open. Dagda strides into the room and straight for me. Pulling me against his hard chest, he holds me so tightly I can barely breathe. “Thank god you’re alright.”
Isla followed him in and she goes to Kallen, checking him over. “Are you okay?” she asks.
Kallen smiles. “We were simply locked in a room, Grandmother. No harm came to us.”
Other than damage to my mental health. I feel like I’m being driven insane with worry. Gently pushing out of Dagda’s iron grip, I say, “If everyone is at the mansion, that means my parents and Zac are in even more danger now.” This comes out sharper than I mean it to, but I’m scared for them. “I need to get there.”
Kallen nods. “Can you teleport us all?”
“I believe so.” Taking Dagda’s hand and Kallen’s, I say to Kegan and Isla, “You need to be touching me.” They both move into position. Instantly, we are on the beach in front of the mansion.
“Travelling about with the sperm donor now?” my voice says from behind me.
I turn to find my doppelgänger standing on the beach with Taz and his doppelgänger. “He is my father, not simply a sperm donor. It’s a pity you never got to experience his love.” Out of the corner of my eye, I can’t help but see Dagda’s chest swell. It’s past time I let him know how I feel about him.
“Your attachments are weaknesses,” she growls.
Why is she just standing there with the Tasmanian devils? The terrace is filling with Elves, Fauns and Sasquatch. The Giants are rounding the house with the Dragons lumbering behind. Kai and Arie are just a short distance from the shore. This is her chance to try to kill us all. Why isn’t she taking it? She set us free, she obviously is ready to start this. Being the ever patient me, I step closer to her and ask, “You’re here, we’re here. Don’t you have some nefarious plan to attempt to act out?” Both Kallen and Dagda have grim expressions now. They know I’m trying to get things started but neither of them tries to stop me. We all want this done.
“Back off,” Taz says. “You’re on the sidelines for this one.”
I obviously didn’t hear him correctly. “What did you say?”
Taz waddles closer to me, his back firmly to my doppelgänger. That isn’t safe. What is he thinking? His doppelgänger scurries after him, not wanting to stay close to the other me. I guess he’s the smart one at the moment. “I only let you out so you could witness this like everyone else.”
“Let me out? Taz, what are you talking about?” Everyone around us is staring like I’ve lost my mind. Maybe I have.
“What is he saying?” Kallen asks quietly.
Nonplussed, I turn to him. “He says he’s the one who let us out.”
“Has he lost his mind?” Isla asks from behind me.
I shrug. “Maybe.”
“I suppose it’s about time we show them I really do talk to you,” Taz says. I feel him draw magic. My magic-less Familiar draws magic.
Kallen stiffens next to me. “That is the same magic which trapped us in that room.”
“Well, isn’t he a genius,” my doppelgänger slurs. Is she starting to foam at the mouth?
“Quiet,” Taz says. Many gasps behind me tell me I’m not the only one who understood him. He takes my doppelgänger’s voice away to make sure she does stay quiet.
“Um, Taz, what’s going on?”
He comes and sits next to me in the sand. “Divine Grace is pretty awesome, isn’t it?”
I still don’t know what he’s talking about. “Um, sure?”
Rising from his haunches, he waddles back to my doppelgänger who I realize is under his magical control. Slowly circling her, Taz finally explains. “It seems forcing you to kill yourself was deemed too cruel. Therefore, I was bestowed with Divine Grace to take care of the situation.”
“You will not kill me, mongrel,” the other me says.
I guess he gave her voice back. This magic he has is difficult to define. I can’t seem to sense all the subtle changes he makes in its use. “So, you have to kill her?” I ask.
Taz snorts. “You have killing on the brain.”
“What is going on here? Why can that beast speak?” the Sasquatch demands to know.
Taz turns beady little eyes to him. “Someone with more fur than ten of me really shouldn’t call others beast. A simple look in the mirror should tell you this.” Kegan snickers behind us.
“He really is like you,” Kallen says, amused. I’m not sure that was a compliment.
In a firm voice, I say, “Taz, tell me what you’re going to do.”
“Is that as tough as she gets?” his doppelgänger asks him. Kallen’s raised brows assures me this Familiar can be heard as well.
“Yeah, she hasn’t really mastered a ‘tough’ voice,” Taz tells him.
“Hey!” I exclaim at the insult.
“Taz, if you ever want another piece of bacon you will tell us right now what’s going on.” This comes from Tabitha who is walking down the terrace steps.
Her threat works. Turning so he is facing everyone, he says, “I assembled you all to witness th
e departure of this evil bag of bones.”
“What?!” the other Taz squeals, backing away.
“Not you, Dipweed,” Taz tells him. Turning his attention back to us, he says, “If you did not see this with your own eyes, I knew you’d have lingering doubts about whether the threat has truly been removed.”
That’s smart, but…”So, it was too cruel to force me to kill her but I have to watch you do it?” This really isn’t much better.
Scrutinizing me, the other Taz asks my Taz, “Is she always so eager to kill?”
“Nah,” Taz said. “She’s just being an idiot at the moment.”
Okay, it’s bad enough when he insults me when only I can hear him. I really don’t like it when he has a larger audience. “Taz,” I say in my best threatening voice.
The other devil shakes his head. “She needs work.”
“That can be your job,” my Taz says.
His doppelgänger has as surprised a face as a Tasmanian devil can have. Meaning, he looks like he’s snarling. “How am I to do that once I’m dead?”
“I’m not going to kill you, Dipweed. Your ties to her and me have been severed and you can choose to stay here or go back to your universe.”
My mouth drops open. So does my doppelgänger’s. Growling, she says, “If I die, I will make sure he goes with me.”
Taz finally turns his attention back to her. He waves a paw in her direction and she falls forward. Whatever magic was holding her is now gone. I can tell by the malicious expression on her face. Pulling magic, she prepares for attack. “No!” I cry, wrenching the magic from her. “You will not hurt my Taz.”
“With her paltry magic? Never,” Taz says with an air of disdain about him when he looks at my doppelgänger. Turning back to the crowd, he says, “I have brought this Witch Fairy before you as an example of what you could turn our Witch Fairy into if you push her too hard.” No freaking way will I ever be like her. “Now, this evil creature will be plucked from this universe and will not be allowed to return.”
Frowning, I ask, “Where is she going?” It doesn’t sound like he’s planning to kill her.
“She will be brought before the entire Seraphim counsel and tried for her crimes. She will be held accountable for crimes in not only her universe but ours as well. When they are done with her, she will be stripped of all magic and will be returned to the mortals to do with her as they will. It is their right to try her and punish her according to their laws.”
My doppelgänger may not be killed by any of us, but she will not survive long when fed to her enemies. Why would the Seraphim do this?
“To keep balance,” Haniel says next to me. She nods a greeting to Taz who to my great surprise nods back.
“How does feeding her to the wolves keep balance?” I ask. Even though I know she has done disgraceful, unforgivable things she is still me.
“You are not the same, Xandra.” She smiles that amazing smile of hers. Sobering again, she says, “Balance was lost when she was pulled from her universe. She must be given back. The crimes committed when she and her Seraphim lover did this will be accounted for by us. Once that is done, we need to let the universe continue on its own. No more interference may occur.”
“You will strip me of my magic? How is that not interfering?” my doppelgänger growls. She seems to be held in place by magic again and her struggling is not making a difference. There’s no way she’s getting anywhere near me or Haniel at the moment.
Unless the impossibly beautiful Angel standing in front of us is going to help her. No, not Angel. The light surrounding him is too brilliant, too pure. He is Seraphim. My guess is, he’s the Seraph who plopped my doppelganger in this realm and started this whole mess.
“Johoel, you’ve come to save me,” my doppelganger purrs. The magic holding her dissolves in a flash of fire and she saunters to him, certain of her rescue.
Haniel is not the least bit flustered. “Xandra, this is Johoel, the Seraph of Fire.” If my doppelganger was going to pick an ally, I would say a Seraph with fire in his name would be a good one. “What brings you here, Johoel?” Haniel asks as if she’s discussing the weather.
“She will not pay for my mistake.” His voice is like a beautiful song playing in a field of flowers. Kind of goes against his whole fire image.
“It is forbidden to seek the company of Seraphim. She was aware of this,” Haniel counters. Something tells me that no matter how calm and collected she appears, she has her own fire burning inside her.
My doppelganger tugs on Johoel’s arm. “Take me away from here. Take me somewhere we can be together for eternity.”
“Oh, please,” I say. “Like you wouldn’t leave him the first chance you got.”
My doppelganger shoves magic at me but I’m ready for it. I yank it from her and shove it back so hard, she tumbles away from the Seraph landing on her butt in the sand. I expect to be pushed back as well, but nothing happens to me. Is it because of the Seraphim? Have they done something to our connection?
It is not only me who figures this out. “I will kill you!” she roars. Pulling as hard as she can and as much as she can, all her anger and hatred channeled in the magic, she throws it at me. Her eyes have become dark chasms and her face has twisted into the definition of pure malice. I don’t even know how to feel as dark as she does right now. Which puts me at a distinct disadvantage. The magic comes barreling toward me and it’s going to do some permanent damage. Neither Seraph moves, neither intervenes. Johoel is probably convinced his Xandra is going to win, but why isn’t Haniel helping me?
Turns out, I don’t need her help. Moving faster than my eyes can track, Taz puts himself in the path of her magic. I cry out, afraid for his life, but the unbelievable happens. When my doppelganger’s magic hits him, it retreats. It retreats with the same speed and ferocity it had coming toward me. Only now, it’s directed at her. She takes the brunt of her own darkness. Her screams make me cringe. There is definitely going to be some permanent damage.
“You dare hurt her, beast!” Johoel thunders. He doesn’t even stop to check on his Xandra who is lying in a fetal position in the sand. Instead, he comes for Taz. I suspect whatever Divine Grace my Familiar holds within him is going to be no match for Johoel’s. Fearful for Taz’s life again, this time I do something. I throw myself in front of him, giving myself up to Johoel’s wrath.
Apparently, if one Seraph joins the fight, so can another one. Haniel comes for me, taking me not so gently out of Johoel’s path. And firmly planting herself in it.
Haniel’s façade goes from Angelic to ‘Rashnu has nothing over me’ in less than a second. She has become a monster of a being with long claws and a face twisted into such an ugly thing, I’m beginning to wonder if Angels and Demons aren’t one in the same. I jump back when Haniel’s head swings in my direction.
“Demons do not dwell within me,” she assures me in a voice that makes my knees shake. “This is balance personified.” Okay, if she says so. I’m still going to take another step back. Or two.
Johoel is not to be outdone. His own form shifts and he becomes as grotesque as his enemy. His limbs lengthen and his fingers grow claws the length of Taz’s body. When the Seraphim meet, the ground shudders, threatening to crack open and swallow us all. Their movements are so fast, I can’t follow them. They tear at each other, ripping at each other’s wings and bodies. The sounds they make can only be described as feral.
I don’t know how long the battle lasts, but it seems like eons. I need to cover my ears from the screeching and howling and close my eyes against the sand flying everywhere. Taz and I huddle together, trying to stay out of the way.
To my relief, Joy wins out of over darkness and fire. With a final claw tearing at his face and a shove into the still ocean, Johoel falls. He may be dead. If he’s not, he is awfully close to it. But Haniel’s rage still has a target.
Focusing her attention on my doppelgänger’s cringing form, she roars, “Your magic was bestowed upon you as
a gift. A gift you abused. Never once did you perform an act for which the magic was intended.”
For the very first time, I see fear on my doppelgänger’s face. Not fear like I’m experiencing where I just want to stay out of Haniel’s way until she calms back down. Her fear is the fear of righteous justice. The fear of one who knows it is time to pay for every single thing she has ever done.
“No!” my doppelgänger cries when a swirl of magic so strong takes hold of her I’m certain she will turn to ash any second. With a burst of light that blinds even my eyes, the other me is ripped from this universe. She doesn’t go to Angel time. I would know if that happened because my wings have come to protect me from the light. No, this was an act of the cosmos. An act of something not dying, but being erased from existence in our universe. All around us, bodies are flung in different directions. We are not in Angel time, time has simply stopped. Because of this, what is happening affects the mortal world. I want to rush to my husband, my family to make sure they are okay, but in my heart, I know they are. Haniel would not cause them real harm.
Everything is silent. To my great relief, Haniel returns to her Angelic form once again. She even has a smile on her face when she turns to me. Wow, and I thought my mood swings could be drastic.
A question is burning on my tongue and I need to ask it even though I know the answer. I want to hear it confirmed. “You were never planning to bestow the Divine Grace on me, were you?”
“No, I was not. Divine Grace is too powerful to be in the hands of a being born of this or any world.”
Born of this world? Taz was born. But then he was changed. He’s no longer what he was when he was born, he exists as an anomaly, outside of the laws of nature. “Oh,” is my brilliant response.
Turning a radiant smile to my Familiar, Haniel says, “You have done well, little one. Care for your brother, do not let more harm come to him. He has been forgiven for the atrocities he was forced to commit and by his choice shall reside here under your protection.” By his choice? I don’t remember him making a choice. But as a Seraphim, she can probably read his mind. Then again, it’s not hard to figure out he doesn’t want to go where my doppelgänger is going.
