Electric

by Stokes, Tawny

  I did without pause. “Let her go. It’s me you want.”

  “No, not really darling,” Quinn said, “I never understood what Thane ever saw in you, except for maybe a desperate lay.”

  I went to charge forward, but Trevor held me back.

  Seth wiped at the back of his neck where I’d bitten him. Blood smeared his palm. “You’ll pay for this.”

  I flipped him the middle finger.

  “Here’s what’s going to happen,” Quinn said, “You’re going to get the sword and you’re going to bring it into the shadow-ways. We’ll meet you there, and maybe just maybe you’ll get this one back in one piece.” He ruffled Chloe’s hair.

  She let out a whimper that made my heart bleed.

  Together, with Chloe, Quinn and Seth moved to the back of the restaurant and dissolved into the shadows. I heard Chloe’s scream fade into the darkness. A deep icy cold settled inside me. It was as if I’d seen death face to face and he’d touched me with his long skeletal finger and declared me his bitch. I’d just killed my BFF.

  I glanced at Trevor. He had the napkin still pressed to his bleeding nose.

  “Are you okay?”

  He nodded. “It’ll heal.”

  “Are they going to kill her?” Jamie asked, his voice quivering. He looked pale and his body was shaking. I wondered if he was going into shock.

  I kept looking at Trevor, hoping he would answer with something heartfelt and positive. But he didn’t look at me. He was probably thinking the same thing I was. That Chloe was dead no matter what we did or what we didn’t do.

  “I won’t let that happen,” I said, then snatching my purse from the booth, I marched toward the door.

  “Where are you going?” Jamie rushed across the room after me.

  “To get the sword, kill Merlin, Seth and Quinn, and get my BFF back.”

  “I’m coming with you.”

  “Jamie...”

  He grabbed my arm to stop me from walking away from him. “I’m coming Salem. Some of this is my fault. I don’t know what I would do if something happened to Chloe.”

  I searched his face, and saw that he was full on serious. I knew it would take more than me saying no to stop him. So, I just nodded hoping I came up with another way to keep Jamie out of this and far from harm.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Trevor was silent on the drive back to my house. Jamie sat in the back seat, chewed on his thumb and rocked back and forth. I was worried he was going to pass out or something, he looked that pale and unresponsive.

  When we reached my house, I told them to play it cool. I didn’t want my mom to suspect something was wrong. But the second we entered the house, it was obvious she already had her suspicions. As was evident by the sword she carried into the living room to show me.

  “What the hell is this?”

  “A sword.” I shrugged.

  “Yes, I realize that but whose is it?”

  I went to open my mouth to give some wild lie, when Trevor spoke instead.

  “It’s mine.”

  Her eyebrow lifted. “What happened to your face?”

  Trevor lifted his hand to his nose. We’d forgotten to clean the blood off the end of his nose and chin. “I have chronic nosebleeds. It’s the dry air.”

  Her eyes narrowed.

  “And about the sword, I joined one of those medieval societies and am just learning how to use it.” He smiled at her. “I left it here because Sale wanted to see it. Sorry.”

  My mom eyed Trevor intensely. I didn’t think she believed him.

  “Salem, if you’re in trouble...”

  “Mom, everything’s fine. Seriously. That’s Trevor’s sword and I shouldn’t have left it lying around.”

  She looked at me, then Trevor, then to Jamie who was sort of shrinking into the background behind us. “Jamie? Are you okay, hun?”

  He nodded furiously. “I’m good Ms. V.”

  “You don’t look good. You look like you’re coming down with something.” She handed Trevor the sword, then reached past him for Jamie’s arm. She pulled him into the living room and sat him in the chair. Then she looked around. “Where’s Chloe?”

  “Ah, she had to work,” I stuttered.

  “I didn’t know she had a job.”

  “Yeah, she just got it. At the movie theatre.”

  She pressed a hand to Jamie’s forehead. “You’re cold and clammy. I bet you have a fever.”

  “He was saying earlier that he wasn’t feeling all that hot.”

  Jamie gave me a look.

  “I’ll get the thermometer.”

  Jamie pushed to his feet. “No, I feel perfectly fine now.”

  But my mom wasn’t having it. She pushed him back down into the chair. “I’m taking your temperature and giving you some Tylenol. And you’ll take it without a fuss.”

  He didn’t say anything more, just pouted.

  “I’ll be right back.” I grabbed Trevor’s hand and pulled him with me.

  When we were in the bathroom, Trevor gave me a look. “What are you doing?”

  “Keeping Jamie occupied. He’ll be safe here with my mom.”

  He shook his head. “You’re devious, you know that?”

  “Hey, I know he wants to help, but he’ll just be in our way. I don’t want to have to worry about him, and try and save Chloe.”

  “True.” Before we left the bathroom, he cupped the back of my neck and rested his forehead against mine. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

  “No, but we have to. I can’t let anything happen to Chloe.”

  “Okay.” He kissed me, and then dropped his hand.

  We returned to the living room, and I handed my mom the thermometer and the Tylenol. She stuck it in Jamie’s ear and pressed the button. A minute later it beeped and she read it.

  “One hundred and two. You definitely have a fever.” She shook out two pills into his hand. “Take these, and you can lie down here.”

  Jamie took the pills, dry swallowed them, but he didn’t lie down. He got to his feet again. “Ms. V, I appreciate it but...”

  My mom put her hand on her hip. “Okay, what the hell is going on?”

  I tried to look innocent. But I was pretty sure I was beyond looking like that anymore. My innocence had been torn from me months ago. “Nothing Mom.”

  “Salem Vale, I know you are lying to me.” Tears welled in her eyes. “You’re in trouble again. I know it.”

  I rushed to her, and hugged her tight, then broke away. “I’m sorry Mom. I love you.”

  “I’m coming with you!” Jamie shouted, as he sprang to his feet again.

  With that, I grabbed Trevor’s hand, and we stepped backward into a deep dark shadow, and willed ourselves to dissipate into the floor. Before I completely vanished, I had the dismay to see my mom’s agonized face and the tears that eventually rolled down her cheeks.

  It took all I had not to collapse into a weeping pile of sadness when we materialized in one of the shadow-ways. Trevor’s presence beside me was the only thing that kept me upright. I leaned against him because well, I couldn’t see anything. It was nearly pitch black.

  He squeezed my hand. “She’ll be all right. Your mom is tough.”

  “Yeah I know, but only if I live through this. If I die, I think that would kill her.”

  “You’re not going to die. I won’t let that happen.”

  I nodded, although I know he probably couldn’t see me.

  “So, where now?”

  “Just follow me. I have a feeling I know where he wants to meet.”

  He handed me the sword, and then hooked a finger into the back of my jeans so he could follow along behind me without falling or getting lost. It was easy to get lost down here. Every corridor looked the same and everything had a complete lack of direction. Sometimes I couldn’t even tell my right from my left.

  But instinctively I knew where to go.

  I sensed Merlin’s presence. There was a faint glow up ahead, and I knew i
t was the pulsating light of the icy coffin. It called to me. It lured me forward. Blindly, I put one foot in front of the other. I allowed my feelings to guide me rather than my eyes. I could hear and feel Trevor shuffling behind me.

  The light got brighter, until eventually I stepped into the cavernous room where Merlin’s coffin prison floated in the middle, emitting a white-blue glow that was sometimes hard to look at. It wasn’t that it was too bright like the sun, it was off putting. Sickly. It made my stomach churn unpleasantly.

  And beside the coffin stood Merlin, in all his otherworldly glory. He wasn’t wearing his robes this time but still he looked regal and important. He sort of reminded me of a white-haired Loki from The Avengers film. This was a bad thing, because I adored Loki and thought he was the hottest thing walking the Earth.

  Seth and Quinn stood a little behind him and to the side. Chloe was sandwiched between them. She wasn’t restrained but from her precarious position, she might as well have been.

  “So glad you came,” Merlin said, with a big grin on his face.

  “You didn’t really give us a choice,” I said.

  “True.” He turned and looked at Chloe. He moved toward her. “Your friend is quite lovely.” He wrapped a finger around a tendril of her hair. She tried to pull away but Quinn was right there, stopping her from even moving an inch.

  “Let her go,” I said between clenched teeth.

  “I bet she would make a powerful cambion.” He leaned over and sniffed her hair.

  I took a few steps closer before Trevor stopped me from running full steam. “I said let her go.”

  He relinquished his grip on her hair, and moved toward me. He walked so fluidly, it almost appeared as if he was floating. “Give me the sword, and I will let her go.”

  I looked down at the blade, hefted it, feeling the familiar weight of it in my hand. It was the only thing that could kill Merlin. The only weapon we had available to end him. And he was asking me to give it to him. To trade it for Chloe’s life.

  I wanted to hand it over. To save Chloe. But I knew it wasn’t the answer. I knew Merlin would kill Trevor and I and maybe go back and kill Chloe anyway, or worse, turn her, regardless if I gave it to him or not. There was no trusting him.

  “Let Trevor go as well,” I said.

  “Sale...” he moved up beside me. “Don’t be stupid.

  “All right. I can do that.” Merlin reached out with his hand. “Give me the sword.”

  “Let her go first.”

  Merlin nodded to Quinn who pushed Chloe out from between them. She looked at them, then at me.

  I nodded. “It’s okay.” I glanced at Trevor. “Can you help her?”

  Trevor went to Chloe and put his arm around her and led her back to our side of the room.

  Merlin opened his hand. “The sword. Now.”

  “All right.” I closed the gap between us, taking each step slowly.

  “Salem...”

  I could hear the concern in Trevor’s voice. I wanted to turn toward him and tell him it was going to be okay, that I had a plan. But of course that would be a lie. Because I didn’t know what in hell I was doing. I was just improvising.

  “Salem...”

  That voice wasn’t Trevor’s this time. I knew who’s it was. I could feel her close by.

  One step away from Merlin, I did the only thing I could think of. I quickly raised the sword and swung it at him hoping to slice him in two.

  Except he caught the blade in his hand and grinned.

  “It’s my sword. You didn’t think you could hurt me with it, did you?”

  “It crossed my mind.”

  “Stupid girl.” Sparks actually sizzled in Merlin’s eyes. I could smell the ozone of electricity in the air.

  “Trevor!” I yelled. “Get her out of here!”

  From the corner of my eye, I saw him pull Chloe toward the shadow-way we’d just come from. Seth and Quinn sprang into action and ran after them.

  Merlin lifted his other hand and then waved it in an arc. The floor beneath us started to vibrate and shake and move. In horror, I watched as the cavernous room started to spin, effectively blocking out all the branching shadow-ways. Trevor and Chloe were trapped inside with me. Seth and Quinn were nearly on top of them.

  I could barely keep on my feet. It felt like I was standing on a merry-go-round with no bar to hang onto. Merlin yanked the sword, blade first, from my hand. The force of it made me stumble forward and I fell to my knees.

  “Thane should’ve finished what he started,” Merlin spat at me. “You are too weak to be one of us.”

  He loomed over me, electricity sparking from his fingertips. One touch of his hand and I would be a goner. I looked past him to see Trevor locked in a battle with Seth and Quinn. He was holding his own, but eventually they would overtake him. Chloe got in a few kicks of her own and it made me smile a little.

  I didn’t want to die. Not here in this nowhere place. Not now, I was starting to live. I hadn’t even had proper sex yet.

  Taking a deep breath, I put my hand in my jean pocket and gripped the small pebble from the pond. “Niviane,” I whispered.

  Merlin’s eyes widened, as he must’ve heard the name I’d spoken. It was that small hesitation that allowed me an opportunity to get up and run. He swiveled around in pursuit. He raised his hand toward me. Electricity shot out from his palm like spears.

  I closed my eyes, readying for the impact. Preparing to feel the jolt of searing pain and eventual death. But it didn’t come as I expected.

  Slowly I opened my eyes to see Niviane standing in front of me, blocking me from the attack. Her body lit up like a blue-white light bulb. Electric tendrils sizzled around her like eels. But her face was calm and serene. It didn’t look like she was in any kind of pain whatsoever.

  The last of the electricity wound around her knees, then ankles, and then fizzled out like the tail end of a birthday sparkler. Merlin stared at her, lowering his hand, in what looked like surrender to me.

  “Niviane.” He said her name like a prayer.

  “Hello my love,” she said.

  “How are you here?”

  “You called me, remember? When you woke.”

  He shook his head, as if to clear it. “You betrayed me. You locked me away forever.”

  “No my darling not forever. You are here now. As am I.”

  “Get up.”

  Her voice was like a punch to my brain. I jolted to my feet.

  Niviane reached out a hand toward Merlin. “Come to me. We can finally be together. Have the sons and daughters you’ve always wanted.”

  That made me shudder. Was that what he’d been doing all this time? Making sons to keep him company.

  Dropping the sword, he walked toward her and took her hand. He looked completely entranced by her.

  “The sword, Salem.”

  I saw it on the ground, close to where Merlin stood with Niviane. I walked around them, watching to see if he would notice me. He didn’t. His gaze was on Niviane. Completely. Utterly. I picked it up and held it tight in my hand.

  But I couldn’t use it. He was too close to Niviane.

  “I loved you,” Merlin said to her. “I would have destroyed the world for you.”

  “I know.” She placed her hand on his cheek. “That was why I did what I did.”

  “Do it Salem!” I looked over to see Trevor waving at me. “Kill him!”

  I lifted the sword, getting ready to swing it. But I paused. I didn’t want to hurt Niviane. And I would, if I swung. I would likely kill her as well.

  She looked at me over Merlin’s shoulder. Her eyes pleading with me. Then she smiled, and wrapped her arms around the Druid cambion, pulling him tight to her body. His fingertips sparked and lit up. Electricity sizzled out of his hands, and enveloped them both as they embraced.

  “Do it!”

  Her voice screamed in my head. It rattled my teeth, and blood gushed from my nose.

  “Kill us!”

 
; I lifted the sword, tip out, and ran toward Merlin. I felt it pierce his back, and I pushed with all the strength I had inside me. The blade impaled him, then ran through Niviane, until it protruded grotesquely between her shoulder bones.

  I let go of the sword, and ran to Trevor and Chloe. Seth and Quinn were on their knees, watching Merlin and Niviane. They both had bloodied lips and noses, and cuts and bruises on their faces. They’d gotten just as much as they’d given Trevor.

  “You killed us all,” Seth mumbled.

  “What?” I asked.

  He shook his head. “You killed us all.”

  I looked at Trevor in panic. “Did I? Are we all going to die?”

  He grabbed me and hugged me tight. I reached behind me and took Chloe’s hand and pulled her to us. If we were going to go, we’d go together.

  The ground shook beneath our feet. The air filled with the smell of ozone and blood and burnt flesh. I buried my face in Trevor’s shoulder, too afraid to look at what I’d done. He covered my head with an arm and crushed me hard.

  “I love you,” he said.

  Then there was an explosion of light and sound. A blast of heat shot over us. I thought we were going to melt into fleshy piles of goo. Squeezing my eyes tight, I screamed. So did Chloe.

  Then it was all gone.

  Slowly I opened my eyes. I blinked several times unsure of what I was seeing was truly real.

  My mom rushed to me. “Oh God, Salem.” She pulled me out of Trevor’s arms and into hers.

  We were all in my living room. Safe. Not dead. Alive and almost unscathed.

  “What happened?” she asked. “Are you okay? Is it over?”

  She bombarded me with more questions, but I wasn’t listening. I was looking around, making sure that this was real. I grabbed Trevor’s hand. “It’s over, isn’t it?”

  He nodded. “Yeah, I think so.”

  “I feel strange,” I said. Frowning, I tried to sense the darkness inside and couldn’t. “I feel like...like me. The real me. The human me.”

  “So do I.”

  “Do you think that’s what Seth meant? That killing us, meant killing the cambion inside?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know, but something definitely has changed.”

  I smiled and hugged my mom again, then Chloe, then Jamie. There was a lightness inside me that hadn’t been there before. Not even before the event. Before I had been changed into a cambion. It was a strange sensation and one I hoped I would get used to.