by Diana Nixon
But I wasn’t done with him, so I proceeded, “Are you sure she would never betray you?” I knew I was pushing the limits of his patience but it was the only way to distract him from thoughts about killing me right away. “Have you ever seen the real Cup? Have you ever touched the thing?”
“Of course I have! The Cup belongs to me!” he said stubbornly. “Alexis has no idea what it looks like.”
“Oh, really? Show me the Cup!” I demanded, knowing that he would never be able to do that. “What are you waiting for? I’m here, Christian is somewhere here too, you can use your damn Cup and take my powers! This is what you have been dying to do for so long, so why the delay?”
With every word Eric’s face was changing from indecision to despair. The thing was that a few days ago Marion showed me one book, mentioning the Cup of power. It said that the Cup wasn't just a vessel. And it wasn’t a bowl as we all used to think. But the real shape of the Cup could only be known by one person – its true owner. And we knew that Eric wasn’t the one. That’s why now I was so sure about everything I was saying. Just as well as I knew that without the Cup Eric was nothing. He was weaker than me.
“Fine!” he said finally. “If you can’t wait to give me your powers, love, we'd better start the ritual.” He came to me so fast, I couldn’t see his movements. “But first of all, I will need a few drops of your precious blood,” he said, taking a small shining knife from his pocket.
“Take your hands away from her, you son of a bitch!” Evan’s voice shouted from behind. “I said, back off,” he repeated slowly, standing in front of us. I didn’t know how he had managed to break my spell, but God knew I was so happy to see him. “Do you have some hearing problems?” he asked, his jaw tensed, his eyes never leaving Eric’s face. “Let her go.”
“Oh, Mister Murray, and you are so not supposed to be here!” Eric groaned irritably, sending a spell into Evan’s chest.
“I have already heard that bullshit today!” Evan hissed, escaping the spell expertly. He wasn’t an easy target and making one fast movement of his palm he stroked back.
Damn that bastard Eric! He was as quick as Evan. It was about time to join their battle, but foreseeing my intentions, Evan screamed, “Leave him to me, Eileen! Go, find Christian! Now!”
Easier said than done, I thought. And since when has he become a boss here? Since your smart ass has failed your damn plan, someone answered in my head. Great! Now I needed to concentrate and decide what to do next. Then I remembered about the spell that had brought me here and that meant that Christian should have been somewhere near. I stopped and looked at the fog surrounding me, trying to see through it. Everything seemed equally gray and pitch-dark, but then I saw one white spot a few steps away from me. It looked like the one we saw at the meadow in France. Back then our ghostly boy appeared from that spot. I tried to come closer, moving slowly just as Marion taught us. Rapid movements could cause the dream to fade away and that was the last thing we needed.
Suddenly I was pierced by incredible pain in my heart. This time it was even stronger than the day I woke up at Medellin’s hut. Feeling weak and powerless I dropped to my knees. No, please, not now! I groaned mentally. I was so not ready for another faint. It felt like I was about to fall asleep again. The reality was melting in front of my eyes and the fog was absorbing my mind. A part of me was still fighting the dream and somewhere deep down in my head I heard Christian’s words again. “You have to find me, Eileen. Remember? You have to remember, remember me, remember.…”
No matter how strange it seemed, but as soon as that piece of the memory formed in my mind, all the pain disappeared. Just as fast as the first time I felt it. I rose to my feet and taking a few steps ahead, I felt the familiar vibration, as if somewhere near was one more living creature.
“Oh, my God!” I whispered in horror, seeing the source of that vibration. It was Christian, or to be exact – his motionless body. And it was covered with ice from head-to-toe as if being frozen by someone. And I knew exactly by whom.
Without thinking too long, I crouched down and tried to evoke my power of fire. My hands refused to move as it was freezing again, but a few barely noticeable sparks of flame were burning on my palms. Touching the body slowly, I managed to get rid of the icy shell covering it. But the next disappointment wasn’t long in coming. Christian still couldn’t move.
What on earth am I supposed to do now? I panicked. We had to get out of that dream as soon as possible.
I needed Evan! Going back to the place where I left him in Eric’s company, I was quite surprised to see no one there. But a few seconds later I heard some eerie screaming. I listened carefully and realized that it was coming from the bottom of the mountain. I looked down and saw Evan, holding something shining in his hand. And Eric… in a pool of his own blood.
"Evan, I need your help!”
“No shit?!” he called back angrily. But there was no time to argue, so in the blink of an eye he was standing beside me. “Did you find him?” he asked, breathing heavily. I nodded and grasping his hand I dragged him to the place where Christian was. "How could you be so stupid, Eileen? Did you really think that you would be able to do everything by yourself?" Evan shouted. "Well, it doesn't matter now. Let’s get out of here,” he said before pronouncing some spell and taking us back to Dever.
All the surroundings were trembling with vivid energy, thunder blasts and lightning. And the mountain we were standing on just a few seconds ago was now falling to pieces right in front of our eyes, turning into a pile of huge stones. The sky was dark and cloudy. The snow was falling heavily to the ground, mixing everything with mud and water. And the wind was sharp and cold, making us shiver. But we didn’t really care as at that very moment we were crossing the line of reality.
Chapter 13. Fake Love
Evan
Knocking my head against the floor in my room, I realized that everything was over. Though, I thought that our return would be less painful. But considering the circumstances, it didn’t really matter as the option of getting stuck in some damn dream wasn’t making me happy either. The only thing that was still freaking me out was Eileen’s absurd idea of freezing me with some of Marion’s spells. Did she really think she would be able to get out of there without my help? Jeez, sometimes I wanted to shake her really hard to make her finally realize that she wasn’t ready for extremely risky experiments. But, God knew, she was such a hard head!
As soon as I saw Eileen in Eric’s dream, I realized that her presence there was a carefully thought-out plan. But I had never thought that she would ruin my own chance to have some fun with her there. I immediately recalled Marion saying that Eileen won’t stop at anything. Now I knew that Madam Blanche’s help was a part of my friend’s plan too. Thank God, I realized that Eileen was hiding something from me and I was ready for anything. Fortunately, the spell she used in the dream was one of the easiest and my power destroyed it in seconds.
There was one more thing I couldn’t stop thinking about – how on earth did she manage to hide her true intentions from me? I always knew when someone was lying and she still didn’t know how to mask her aura, so I was really surprised to know that she had played a trick on me. I thought I would ask her about it later, as at that very moment there was something so much more important than my hurt ego.
Our attention was focused on Christian's motionless body that Marion was trying to bring to life.
“He will be fine,” she said, sighing with relief. She moistened his lips with some bright green liquid and did the same with his forehead, drawing a few strange symbols there with her fingertips.
“How long will he stay unconscious?” Eileen asked, holding Christian’s hand in her visibly shaking palms. A few tears rolled down her cheeks, but she didn’t bother to wipe them away. She blinked and those small crystal drops of her sorrow fell down to Christian’s wrist.
“A few more minutes, I think,” Marion said, lighting a multi-colored candle, made of some mixed pla
nts and wax. It smelled like burned grass and spruce bark. And that smell made me sick. It was too strong and too bitter. I took a deep breath to stop myself from vomiting and closed my eyes for a second to block the view of that burning mass. No one noticed my sickness as Marion and Eileen were still focused on Christian.
Eileen tried to get up, when suddenly she lost her balance and almost fell unconscious.
“You okay?” I asked, frowning.
“I don’t know,” she said quietly, shaking her head. Her face was chalky. “Ow!” she screamed, grasping the headboard.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” I asked, horrified, taking her by the hand. Her skin was unnaturally cold and her eyes were bloodshot, as if she was dying slowly in my arms. I stopped breathing as I didn’t know what to do.
“Eileen, take off the bracelet!” Marion commanded. “Now! It’s killing you!” she shouted as if she thought that Eileen could no longer hear her. “Christian is waking up, you can’t hold the bond!”
“What are you talking about?” I asked, puzzled.
“I’m sorry, Evan, but there’s one more thing you should know,” Eileen whispered with her lips dry and trembling.
“Eileen, just do it! You are running out of time!” Marion cried out.
“I’m sorry,” Eileen said quietly, looking into my eyes. Then she touched her wrist and tore off the golden bracelet that I gave her on her birthday.
In the blink of an eye everything around me swam and I fell to my knees. All the furniture in the room, all the colors, all the faces. Everything turned into one white blur. I shook my head and blinked, but the next moment the picture cleared and my heart stopped beating.
I could see only her, I could hear only her, I could feel only her. Her turquoise eyes were the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen in my life. The locks of her strawberry-blond hair felt like the most delicate silk I had ever touched. Her smooth light-pink lips were the sweetest lips I had ever kissed. That girl in front of me was the biggest love of my life….
Thousands of happy moments with her filled my mind. Our days, our talks, her smiles and our embrace. I had never thought that I would be able to love anyone so much, that I would ever want anyone so obsessively….
I could reach my hand and touch her. I could kiss her and she would respond with the same passion that was burning me alive every time we were together. I could take her in my embrace and press her to my chest, wishing to prolong our intimate moments forever.
Nothing else mattered when we were together, when she was mine and I was hers. I closed my eyes and the images of us in each other’s embrace flooded my mind.…
She puts her hands around my neck, and I bow to touch her lips with mine. She smiles and meets my kiss eagerly. I stroke the line of her jaw and her beautiful neck, making her shiver in my arms. I move my hand lower to her breast and stop there for a few seconds, hearing her moan quietly. I smile leisurely and without breaking the kiss I move on to her waist and under her shirt, touching tenderly the bare skin of her belly. Then I raise her in my arms, wrapping her legs around my waist, and press her back to the wall, teasing her lips with the edge of my tongue. She throws her head back, giving me full access to her neck. I inhale deeply; her skin smells like honey and milk and I can’t stop myself from tasting it. I press my lips to her earlobe, biting it with my teeth and sucking it lightly when she moans again under her breath, driving me totally crazy. Leaving small kisses on her neck I reach her lips again and this time she starts kissing me in response, pressing herself closer to my body. Her lips are warm, smooth and sweet, moving dangerously seductively on mine. There’s no rush in our kiss, no barriers and no embarrassment in our moves. There is only overwhelming love and passion.
She’s my temptation, my unsatisfied hunger and my wildest desire. She’s everything I want, everything I need, everything I love. She is my life, my heart and my soul; my light and my darkness, my day and my night, my sunrise and my sunset.
This is real magic, I think to myself, enveloping both of us in the waves of sparkling joy, infinite happiness and eternal love. Love that is worth living and even dying for. How could I have been so blind, missing all these amazing moments? Why have I never seen this beauty around me? Everything seems so different now, so bright and so alive, so magical and so unreal.…
“Evan,” Eileen calls my name quietly. “Look at me,” she says, making me open my eyes and leave my sweet oblivion to come back to reality. Now I look at her and I see the most amazing creature of the universe.
“You are so beautiful,” I whisper, smiling and touching her cheek with my palm. “I love you, Eileen,” I say, looking into her eyes.
They are glistening with tears and she takes my hand, saying sadly, “No, Evan, you don’t.”
“What are talking about? Of course, I do!” I protest, confused.
She shakes her head no, a few tears falling on our interlaced hands.
“Do you remember where we are?” she asks, confusing me even more. “Do you remember how we have saved Christian?”
“Eileen, I do remember everything, but it doesn’t matter now,” I reply. She’s everything I can think about. Why does she look so unhappy?
“Actually, it does matter, Evan,” she says, swallowing hard to stop the tears, burning in her eyes. “Please, listen to me,” she smiles uneasily, moving closer to me and taking both of my hands in hers. Now we are sitting on the floor, facing each other. “Everything you feel now, isn’t real, it’s just an illusion. It’s the consequence of the bond. Vinculum amorisempri, remember?” I frown and she adds, “I had to bind you with someone to secure your return from Eric’s dream.”
“I don’t understand…” I say, puzzled.
“I had to sacrifice something to make the guards of death let Christian come back here. My sacrifice was a key to his freedom. So I bound you with myself, and now I sacrificed our love to save him. I can’t be bound by the same kind of bond with two people at the same time. I'm so sorry, Evan. You have to understand, you have to abandon me, to let me go,” she finished with tears rolling like rivers down her cheeks.
“To let you go?” I ask, surprised. “But I can’t do this, I love you, Eileen. Do you hear me? I love you, I love you so much,” I whisper, tenderly wiping her tears. “Everything will be all right.”
“No, Evan, it won’t.”
“Time,” Marion said harshly. Marion? How do I know her?
“Eileen, what’s going on?” I asked, watching the two of them suspiciously.
“Evan, please, all you need to do now is to say that you let me go,” she said, squeezing my hands. “Please, Evan,” she repeated, begging. “Everything will be fine, I promise, but now you have to let me go. I don’t have time to explain anything, but if you really love me, just let me go. Do this for me, please,” she begged again. “I’m dying, Evan, with every damn second I’m dying! If you don’t give up your love for me, the bond will burn me to ashes and you will lose me forever!”
“What? No, Eileen, no, please don’t leave me!” I screamed, embracing her weak body.
“I’m sorry, Evan, I’m so sorry,” she whispered into my chest. “I had to do that,” she added crying. “Christian is my everything, he’s my life.” She looked into my eyes. “I have to help him. We have to help him! He’s your best friend, remember? Only sacrificing our love, will we be able to save him. Please, Evan!” she whispered again, her eyes closing slowly. I could feel her life energy fading away, I could feel her soul leaving her exhausted body, I could hear her heartbeat slowing down.
I was watching her, terrified. I couldn’t let her go just like that! I couldn’t give up our love and everything that we shared. Wait a second… what did we share?
“Nothing,” my inner voice replied.
“Nothing?” I asked myself in confusion. It couldn’t be possible! But my memories….
And then I started to remember everything from the very beginning. Our first meeting with Eileen, our first lecture, her birthday
, the Festival of Arts, Eric's escape, Alexis' secret plans, Christian's kidnapping, Paris.…
All the names and the events were running through my head so fast that I couldn’t understand which of them were real, and which of them were only tricks of my imagination. And finally – there was a spell, with the help of which Madam Blanche bound Eileen and me forever.
“Evan!” Marion shouted. “She’s leaving us! Hurry up!”
“Eileen!” I screamed, shaking her small, unconscious body in my arms. “No, Eileen, I will do anything you want!”
What did she ask me to do? What did I have to do? Oh, right - I had to let her go….
“Eileen,” I whispered in a trembling voice, taking her lifeless face in my hands. My heart was tearing apart from the words I was going to say next. And I didn’t know if I would survive this torture, but she meant so much to me, and I couldn’t lose her forever. “I… I don’t love you,” I said in a barely audible voice, my soul dying silently in the ocean of my endless sorrow and pain. “I can’t love you, you don't belong to me,” I whispered, embracing her tightly. “Don’t leave me, please!” I begged. I felt like I was breaking apart, but I didn’t care. All I wanted was to bring her back to life, even if I would never be a part of that life anymore. “For Heaven’s sake, just live! You are free now,” I whispered in her ear, kissing her goodbye. “You have to come back! Do you hear me?” I was in agony. Every word I was saying was a prayer. “Come back, Eileen, come back to me, to Christian! He needs you so much. We all need you here; your father will die without you, you can’t do this to him,” I said quietly through my tears. God, I couldn’t believe it was happening. It was so unfair! We were not supposed to die, we had to live happily, enjoying every single moment of our life, of our love. She had to enjoy her love! She did everything possible and even impossible to save it and she couldn’t die without getting a chance to feel the warmth of that love again. She just couldn’t….
