“You’re probably right. They’re here because they fear what would happen if they weren’t. But I will alleviate their fear for them.” That inner wave of energy bubbles. My anger is ready to pour from my hands. “Get out of my way Chase.”
“Or what?” He taunts.
Raising my bloody hand up, I aim it in his direction and the crowd around him spreads apart. Before I can unleash a blast from my hand I’m impacted in my side. I fly sideways into Driesen. Both Driesen and I fall to the ground and tumble down the hill.
“Rain!” Eve calls after me.
She too is thrown in our direction by a blur. Her tumble is a bit heavier and I jump in her path to stop her rolling down the hill.
There’s no recovery time. Chase is already on top of me.
How did he do that? Does he have an ability like me?
He watches while Driesen and I return to our feet. Before we can gain our bearings, I’m on the ground again, with a punch, or maybe a kick because to the ribs. It’s too fast to see. Once again Chase looms over me. Driesen swings at him from behind and Chase evaporates from sight. Driesen stumbles forward and collapses to one knee near my feet.
Eve has recovered and reaches her hand to pull me up. An unseen force slams our heads together as she lifts me, and we both cry out in pain. My vision goes dark and I hunch over so I don’t stumble and fall.
“What…” I mumble but can’t finish my sentence.
What is going on here?! Is he becoming invisible, or moving faster than we can see?
“You’re not the only one with talents,” Chase taunts, his voice only a few feet away.
Raising my sword to a defensive position, I attempt to block another incoming attack, but Chase disappears again. Before I know what’s happening my sword is gone and I’m face down in the dirt with Chase standing on my back. The edge of my sword is pressed against my neck. Chase is ready to make a killing blow.
Driesen grunts and yells. Eve stumbles for a moment before regaining her composure. They attempt to tackle Chase, colliding instead and landing on me. Chase is nowhere in the mixture of body parts. I wheeze, out of breath from being crushed.
Pushing up, I force Eve and Driesen to roll off. My strength wanes. With the blood loss and being hit heavily, I feel drained. My head spins. Driesen too begins to stand up and at that moment my eyes catches a blur of colors racing through the air. Driesen is down on his stomach again from a kick to the ribs.
With the chance to see exactly how fast Chase is moving, I throw up my arms in a guarding stance. Feeling a slight bit of wind to my right I react without thinking and grab. Snatching Chase’s hand I swing hard and use his own speed against him. When I release, he goes flying, and impacts the ground. My sword flies out of his hand and I realize I was a split second from death.
He tumbles down the hill, past Driesen and Eve, in a wild display of somersaults and rolls. I run up on him. He finds his feet once more and vanishes from sight. A foot is pressed into my back. The momentum from running down the hill combined with his kick sends me tumbling and spinning.
I reach the flat ground at the bottom of the hill finally and come to a stop. I jump back up and look for him. When I feel the wind again I duck and swing my leg out. It catches him and he falls, smashing his face into the pavement, but rather than halting, he grinds against it.
Chase stands back up, his face torn and bloody. He pulls out two small knives from behind his back and runs at me. His injuries slow his speed and I successfully track and dodge him while he thrusts and lunges at me. Blood trickles down his forehead and eyebrow, blinding his right eye. The advantage is now mine and I land several blows on him while he tries desperately to do the same to me.
His left hand comes in for a jab. When I deflect it, I put my other palm into his chest and blast him up the hill. He lands and lays motionless, arms outstretched lifelessly. Huffing, I climb the hill to him. Driesen and Eve have been taken down by the group, their arms pinned behind their backs. Barrels of guns are pointed at their heads. But though my comrades have been captured, the army is motionless while they watch me.
“Unless there’s another of you with abilities like Chase, you don’t stand a chance against me!” I yell at them, catching my breath when I can. “Go home. Forget about…”
I’m interrupted as Chase springs to life once more. He flashes out of sight. He hits me from behind and kneels on my back. My head is yanked backward by my hair. The edge of Chase’s knife finds my throat, the sharp edge cutting into my flesh. But before he can pull it across to end my life the darkness breaks free.
“This cannot happen!” Despair cries out from my mouth.
Losing complete control of my body, my teeth clench and I watch as my skin turns completely black. My hands tremble with fear, despair, and rage. I clench them to try and stop it, but I can’t. Despair bellows in my mind and I in turn cry out loud for them. Bursting forth from my body a black storm rages out from within me, shadowy veins sprouting through the air.
Chase is lifted off of me and I can feel the terror inside of him, his despair welling up when he realizes he is no longer in control. I watch as if I’m out of my body. Eve’s yelling, but I can’t hear her. She’s broken free and is waving people away to safety from the oncoming destruction. They scatter.
The sound of the despairing souls within makes me deaf to the world. The darkness grows, spreading through the ground and air. When I look up, Chase is suspended, caught by one of the dark tendrils spewing forth from me. The color is draining from his body.
Chase pleads for his life with his eyes, and I can hear his cry within my mind, but I am helpless to stop the darkness from taking him. I can’t even avert my gaze while his body withers and becomes lifeless. When Chase is gone, the darkness recedes, dropping his corpse to the ground. I collapse to my knees, exhausted.
My hearing returns and people are screaming: they run past me through the gate of the complex. I stay motionless, trying to regain myself. The black shadow disappears from my skin and I can only assume it’s returned to just my eyes. A hand appears on my shoulder and looking behind me, it’s Eve.
“Rain, are you okay now?” Her concern is clear.
I look at her emotionlessly. “I am fine. You can’t tell Ami, though.”
“You know a secret about me and I know a secret about you. We’re even.” She smiles and helps me up.
Holding my bitten and bloody arm out, I move slowly over to Chase’s body and I use one of his knives to cut up his shirt. I use the strips as a bandage. I wrap the cloth tightly around my arm a few times and then tuck it into itself. Staring at his corpse, I’m at a loss for words.
Better me than him.
I strengthen my will and push down the pain. “We need to find Emma.”
“Are yous in any condition to keep goin’?” Driesen asks, having made his way over to us.
“I’ll be fine,” I tell him and motion for us to move toward the mansion at the top of the hill. “We can’t abandon Emma.”
Moving through the faux kingdom Denis has set up, I understand why so many have rallied behind him. The living conditions within these walls are better than outside.
It would be the rational choice, even if you didn’t agree with the leader’s motives or actions.
At the front of the mansion tall, heavy wooden doors greet us. The sight might cause others to retreat but I am undeterred. Placing my hands on it, I muster up the energy to blast it open. One door swings fast and slams against the entrance hallway while the other is completely unhinged and flies into the open area past an entry hallway. The fatigue of exerting so much energy and the loss of blood disorients me. I hesitate.
“Don’t stop! He must not be allowed to continue, for our sake!”
The despairing souls drive me forward. Placing my good arm around Eve’s neck, she assists me as the three of us find our way in. The hallway passes quickly and we find ourselves in the middle of a very large, well-decorated grand hall. Solid pillars s
upport the tall ceiling symmetrically throughout, as well as several smaller ones supporting a dual staircase leading to a second floor and balcony near the back of the room. Statues, busts, models and paintings litter the walls to the point of clutter on both floors, leaving only room for doors leading elsewhere. The middle of the room has assorted seating arrangements. Tables, chairs and couches are meticulously placed to maximize the number of people able to be fit inside.
Eve breaks the silence. “Someone’s a hoarder.”
Without concern for safety, I shockwave a pillar. It cracks and buckles, causing the mansion to shudder.
“Denis!” I yell hoarsely.
“Hey, don’t do that while we’re in heres,” Driesen scolds.
There is no sign of Denis.
“Denis! If you don’t come out here I’m going to level this place!” I yell again.
Finally a response comes, but rather than from a person, a voice booms as if coming from the walls themselves. I look at Driesen, confused at where the voice is coming from. He points out small black boxes hung from the ceiling around the room.
“Leave or Emma dies,” the bass in the voice rattles my bones and I look around for him.
“If she dies I will torture you until you wish you were dead!”
“You can barely hold yourself up,” he laughs and the echo bounces from wall to wall.
Driesen looks at me and whispers, “He can probably see everything within the house too.”
“I have enough strength to finish this. Chase is dead. Your army has abandoned you. You’re done in this city,” I yell again.
“As soon as you three are dead they will fall back in line. Anyone who doesn’t, I’ll just kill them too.” He laughs again.
“Be a man, Denis, and come face me,” I goad him.
“No, I think not. Let’s play a game. Come looking for me instead. Maybe you find me, maybe I escape before you do.”
“He would definitely have a way out or two built in here.” Driesen grumbles.
“Driesen, why help this worm? If you kill him now I might take you back and make you my lieutenant, since the position has recently re-opened,” Denis attempts to persuade Driesen.
“Not going ta happen. I want no part of your trash.”
“Not for Emma’s safety?” Denis taunts. “I know she’s been like the daughter you never had.”
“If Miss Emma isn’t safe, neither are yous. If Rain doesn’t get ya, I will and I promise you’ll meet a painful end,” Driesen’s calm finally breaks.
“Okay.” I pull them into a huddle and whisper. “Eve, I want you outside patrolling the perimeter. Driesen, clear the first floor. I’m going to blow this house apart room by room until I find him. He’s not to leave, even if Emma’s not with him.”
They nod and I release them. Eve swiftly disappears while Driesen moves toward a side door. Making my way to the dual staircase, I slowly climb one side, my body protesting the entire time. Bruises are forming already, and each one protests with every step I take.
“You can barely move – give up.” Denis scoffs.
By staying silent, I give him no satisfaction. On the next level there are stairs leading up to a third story off to the left and right, as well as several hallways leading off into different portions of the mansion. While the front of the building definitely looked big, I hadn’t thought much about the interior.
With so many choices on where to start, I walk back toward the front side of the house where there are large windows. Out in the courtyard of Denis’s complex I see Eve. She’s doing as I asked. Battle scars on the land streak in a few directions, and in the midst of them lies Chase’s body.
Turning left from the windows there’s a hallway. With each window I pass, I send shockwaves to tear out large sections of the mansion’s side, sending it to the grass below. When I reach the first room on the left and kick the door open, it’s an empty barracks like room. There’s no sign of Emma or Denis, so I blow the walls out. Instead of moving through the hallway I make my own path through the enormous house by destroying walls connecting to adjacent rooms.
“I’m going to make you pay for the damage with your blood.” Denis’s voice reverberates through the openings, and he’s irritated.
“I’m going to keep wrecking this place until Emma’s safely away from you,” I speak plainly, unsure if he can hear me.
Moving from room to room, they vary from living quarters to galleries of art to storage. None of it interests me and despite possible historic or monetary value I trash it all with what energy I can muster. I’m tired, but the darkness pushes me to exhaust myself. The walls and ceiling feel my wrath. With every piece, every chunk of building which falls to my power, I become more irritated because I have to hunt him down.
Irritation turns to anger, and my shockwaves become more devastating. When I reach the edge of the house I tear the wall and windows out and watch it rain down like I had with the front of the building.
While I’ve only checked a fraction of the rooms on this floor, the time seems right to move up. I raise my arms up at an angle to destroy the ceiling of the hallway. It takes a couple blasts to break through the thick structure, but when a way is clear I jump up to the third floor with a little push with a shockwave. The house rocks.
“You’re an idiot! You’re going to kill us all if the building collapses.”
“Maybe you should just release Emma and this will all end.” I grit my teeth, lying because both the despairing souls and my own anger wants his blood.
With my body weak and my energy level falling, I feel I’m running out of time. Still, I blow a gaping hole in the roof of the building and leap up there. Fueled by rage, and the drive to see Emma safe away from Denis, I tear apart the roof with whatever shockwaves I can muster. Ceramic tiles and wood collapse inward. Little by little the building falls apart. I hear it begin to creak under my footsteps, but I press forward toward the center. Taking out large sections at a time causes the roof to buckle in several sections. A chunk shifts and I lose my balance.
I fall to my chest on the roof and begin to slide down the slope. I try desperately to grab onto anything, but all my hands find are smooth ceramic tiles. Twisting onto my back I unleash a shockwave just before the edge. Instead of flying off the roof of the three-story mansion I’m propelled upward a little bit, enough to tear a hole through and fall back inside.
Lying there on the debris with the wind knocked out of me I can’t move. I feel movement though. A swaying motion. I quite nearly vomit on myself, but I’m able to hold it back long enough for the feeling to subside.
This corner of the building has begun to push and pull like the waves of water. With nothing else to listen to, I hear this story of the building begin to buckle. Some of the noises are loud, some faint, but it seems I’ve taken out enough to make it structurally unsound.
Unable to move from my position in the hallway I lie there, helpless to save myself from the destruction I’ve wrought on the building. Emma appears in the hallway to my far left, led as a captive by her wrist. She struggles against a clean cut man with slicked back, black hair in a white suit. He’s muscular, appearing as though he may have trained with the fighters his father once employed. He drags her toward the set of stairs on this level. She sees me.
“Rain!” she cries out. I can’t stand to help her, my muscles unwilling to respond.
Denis sees me also and rather than leaving, he lets her go. Pointing a gun at me, he storms over. Anger burns his red face. With ease he stands me up to shove me against a wall I haven’t destroyed. I nearly collapse on him. I’m whipped across the face several times with the gun and he bares his teeth like a mad dog.
“You! You meddled before, but I was a boy. Now I’ll have my revenge – this will be the last time!” he yells at me, pointing the gun at my temple. “You had to interfere with my life again didn’t you?”
With the last ounces of my energy I grab his arm and struggle against the gun, doing what I
can to stop him. Emma who is too shocked to move. I mouth ‘run’ to her and lean back toward one of the large windows along the hallway. The floor rolls and buckles under us. Denis is caught off guard. I grab his shirt and lunge forward, smashing through the glass of an already broken window.
From the third story we plummet toward the ground. Air rushes past us as we struggle in midair. He pulls the trigger on his gun and the deafening sound near my right ear makes me think for a split second I am hit. But I am alive, and he’s missed. We each try to gain the upper hand, but in the end I’m on top when we impact the ground.
I feel his ribcage shatter beneath me. Denis coughs up blood, spattering my face. Between the blood and the forceful removal of air from my lungs, I struggle to breathe. But I can’t take my eyes off him. The look of shock and pain contorts his face. I’m sure he’s been mortally wounded when he can’t stop coughing and wheezes with every breath.
“All…I…ever...wanted…” he chokes through his blood, “was for Emma…”
“Selfish…you did this…because you wanted Emma?” I struggle to speak against breathlessness and fighting to stay conscious.
“No…you idiot.” He coughs violently. “I wanted…her to rule…with me.”
“Rain!” Eve yells out, but it sounds so distant.
“Your life is forfeit to the darkness.” I tell Denis harshly.
The earth rumbles and the corner section of the mansion crumbles under its own weight. Looking back, the wall of the building has begun to lean toward us.
As large stones fall, thudding to the ground and threatening to crush our bodies, Denis and I are pulled away by our arms down the grassy slope. Driesen, Eve and Emma have hold of us and are pulling us safely away from the falling debris. Closing my eyes, for a few moments all I can hear is the destruction happening nearby and then nothing but a steady ringing in my right ear.
My eyes are too heavy to open but I still sense the presence of my companions. I’m rolled off of Denis. I lie on my back, my vision cloaked in the darkness of my eyelids.
R.E.solve (Rain Experience Book 2) Page 14
