Suddenly, the sunlight was snuffed out completely from the world as if someone had switched the lights off. Blinking, I thought it might have been me, but I heard Jacques’s loud voice. “What did you do?”
“The last step for Darkness to reign!” Khalid yelled and the craziest sound emerged from his diaphragm. “Soon, you’ll take a look at Her Evilship as she ascends back onto the surface. The sight will be the last thing you will ever see!”
I stayed silent between their exchange and tried to find a solution to the situation that was about to arise. I used some of my magic to be able to see through the Darkness and I watched as the scene developed in front of my eyes and the place of my repeated dream loomed. The cave where the creature with the hideous appearance resided along with her minions.
I had to see that we didn’t get there or we were doomed. I doubted I could defeat the Evilship or even contain her, which brought me back into the present predicament we faced. Hearing my name, my head snapped back into the heated conversation.
“Violet will never go with your side!” Jacques yelled with his fists clenched and his eyes sparkling.
“You think! I was sent to bring her alive to her Evilship,” grinning widely, Khalid raved. “She was so naïve at first and didn’t realize I was the one who rudely bumped into her. But she is smart and joined the Dark side.” He laughed, and the echo was more terrifying than the actual sound.
“Violet is Light!” Jacques highlighted his words.
“Is that is why her fingers are dipped in darkness?” Khalid mocked and looking at them, I noticed that the dark purple substance was turning black.
“She is Light!” Jacques insisted and his faith amazed me. I would have lost confidence if I was him.
A red light flashed above us and Khalid who had opened his mouth to contradict Jacques’ statement stopped cold. “I would like to see you fall in grief as my words come true, but we have urgent business to attend to.” He nodded at me with his crazy glow in his eyes and I started taking small steps toward the cave of doom.
One, two, three, the vampire takes the girl.
“On second thought,” Khalid said, and I stopped, my heart hammering in my chest. In a moment’s notice, Khalid faced Jacques. “I don’t think you’re worthy enough to be here.”
“Oh, really? Like I would want to watch an old woman’s face!” Jacques said and Khalid blushed as much as his undead complexion permitted him and balled his fists.
“How dare you?”
In slow motion, I watched as Khalid’s teeth grew. Jacques tried to get out of the way, but Khalid had a strong grasp on him and being weakened, Jacques couldn’t do anything but watch as the vampire was ready for dinner.
“No!” I yelled and the power of the violet sprung out of my hands and hit Khalid hard, sending him flying several feet away.
Giving him a murderous stare, I walked and loomed over the fallen vampire who was dazed.
“What?”
“I’ll tell you what,” I said and stayed above him. “The time for pretense is over!”
Vampires healed quickly and Khalid used his speed to stand in front of me and smiled. “Well, of course. I see you’re impatient, but don’t worry, I’ll take care of that and we’ll be on our way.”
Is he stupid? I wondered as I watched his back as he strode back over to Jacques who had in the meantime pulled out his sabre.
“You’re done, bunny,” Khalid said, showing his teeth.
Uh, oh!
“I am not a bunny, blood spawn!” Jacques whistled and ran with his sabre held high and I watched as the two of them tried to find an angle to hit the other.
By some miracle, Jacques counteracted Khalid’s attempts, but that could not last for long. Upset, Khalid made an inhuman sound that echoed in the Darkness like a wild cry. It entered your mind, froze your bones, and grated against your soul. I watched in terror as in one crucial moment, Khalid got ahold of Jacques’ arm and pushed him toward the ground. Hunger burned in his eyes as he advanced slowly toward his prey.
“What are you doing?” Khalid said, surprised when I stood in front of Jacques.
“Getting rid of you,” I said in a clear voice and his look of surprise dabbled from confusion to anger until it finally settled to awe.
“You didn’t…” he spat, “you could not play me all this time.” His voice quivered, and he shook his nailed fingers to me but I was not afraid.
“You can’t possibly believe that I would fall for that kind of trick!” I rolled my eyes. “Hot wheels and leather are overrated and so out of fashion. It is the 21st century, not the Middle Ages.” He opened his mouth, but I continued with my passionate tirade . “The dreams didn’t let me sleep for months and I used them to formulate a plan of my own. One that no one knew about and especially, your other self you think about him so much, but let’s face it: You cannot turn to this dark form without removing the medallion.” I opened my hands. “So, what is gonna be? Dark vampire or coward hiding under a piece of silly jewelry? You’re weak without it!” I laughed.
“Shut up, you silly human!” His eyes turned red, but I knew he would not get rid of the medallion. He wanted to live, and that went against getting into a fight. Especially, in front of his mistress.
“I don’t need to turn into my darker form to defeat you.” His smile returned, but I looked at him with a bored expression and that caused him to become unhinged. “I can have you for dinner.”
“What a clever plan!” I mocked. “Oh, wait! Didn’t your mistress say she wants the Believer alive otherwise she’ll kill you? Oh yes, she did!” Laughing at his irritated look, I spread my arms. “Seems you got off easily with that one. You can’t fight, anyway. You’re just for show, not even a chicken would fall for your ridiculous plan. Not to mention, stupid and sadistic.” I continued raining down on him with adjectives more and more insulting and watched as his pale skin took on a redder hue.
“Shut up! I’ll show you fighting!” He sprung and with unbelievable speed, ran like the wind, but I had been prepared for this and held my hand, blocking him and throwing him to the ground but he rose up fast, snarling.
“Let’s finish this, shall we?”
Growling, his lips curled. “You cannot win. Maybe your powers are strong, but I have the Darkness inside me and Light cannot withstand our influence. We are too strong.”
“From someone who laid out the whole plan for me on a silver platter, I’d expect a little more wisdom.”
Suddenly interested, Khalid said, “What gave me away?”
“You mean except your rude behavior and incessant need to show off?” I snorted. “Never underestimate the memories of a girl who saw you ten years ago. I remembered your tattoo but I couldn’t place where. A trip back in time fixed it and all answers were soon revealed.” A glowing ball of violet fire appeared in my hand, “Sayonara!”
Khalid laughed and stood next to Jacques who had moved away from our fight. “You forgot something, dear.” A wicked smile shone as his pointed teeth glinted in the darkness. “I can cut him into pieces and you are not fast enough to stop me.”
His words halted me and holding the ball of fire, I looked from the one to the other, undecided. Jacques had raised his sabre in a defensive position and glancing at him, I sensed he wanted me to attack but I didn’t want to hurt him. Khalid was so sadistic that he would certainly use him as a shield.
“So what’s going to be, Believer?” Khalid said mockingly.
Jacques’s penetrating eyes were practically screaming at me. I can’t do it, I thought even if he couldn’t hear me. I need him closer for my plan to work.
Jacques after a long look at me, he turned to Khalid. “You’re just a coward who can’t fight!”
Khalid growled. “You’re going to pay for this!” With his nails raised, he attacked, but Jacques didn’t let him get too close. When the sabre touched Khalid’s skin, he screamed in pain and retreated, but he was in the opposite direction of me. “What is this?” he
seethed.
“It’s harmful for vampires, it burns their skin as if they are standing under the plain sun.” Jacques laughed. “Your medallion might protect you from vampire weaknesses, but it can’t protect you from the Light.” Raising his sabre, he ran at Khalid who slunk away from him, trying to shield himself from the biting of the sword but also attacking with his nails and teeth. It was funny how Khalid did contradictory things that would result in his doom.
As I watched, Khalid managed to make Jacques slip and his sabre left his hand. The triumphant cry gave the vampire a terrifying visage and predicting the inevitable, I ran.
“Seems you’re just in time for the funeral, Believer!” His saliva filled his bottom lip and standing near Jacques, I cast him a defying look.
“It appears that I’m here for your funeral, vampire,” I said, curling my lips in disgust.
“Ha! Like you can do anything about—”
With a swift move, I swung my secret weapon and Khalid found himself without a hand but still breathing.
“What?” His eyes had widened so much I could only see the white of his eyes. “How?”
“You should know that an object of Darkness can’t protect you forever. Your Mistress seems to have abandoned you to your fate.” I raised my sword high and in the Darkness, the sword emitted its own light. “The Sword of Light is one of the few things that can shine through Eternal Darkness.”
“Where did you find that?” The removal of his arm gave him an eerie image and he didn’t seem to have affected him at all and he was standing like he would if he was whole. “It doesn’t matter. You’ve annoyed me enough!” He screamed and dashed forward, but I swung my sword and cut his head nearly clean off his body. Only, there was a piece of his neck still hanging from his body, but blood was gathering in his mouth and poured from his nose and ears.
“Hope says hi,” I said and Khalid held his head and fell to the ground like a piece of discarded wood.
Chapter 12: The Moon Realm
Silence.
Everything stood still in the darkness after Khalid’s demise. His blood had been spilled and was coating my fingers, condemning my soul to eternal darkness.
Shocked, I stood like a statue and silent tears pooled in my eyes but wouldn’t spill. What did I do? What did I do? I kept repeating, like repetition would somehow shake me awake, but I couldn’t move as if some kind of spell had locked me in this place to stare at the cave of my dreams and the Darkness that wouldn’t leave.
“Violet! Violet!” a voice entered my ramblings, and I felt a warm hand on my cold face, touching me gently. I was pulled into an embrace and from the woodsy scent, I knew it was Jacques. “Violet, it’s all right.” I took sharp breaths and the odor of blood attacked my nostrils. That’s when the river stormed out of my eyes. “It’s okay,” he said and traced circles on my back.
We stayed like that for a while with the only source of light, my sword that bathed the place in immense light. When I composed myself as well as I could, I pulled away and cast the sword’s light on the ground. Looking at the dead body, now lying in pieces and blood soaking into the soil, my strength abandoned me. My face contorted at the thought of touching the body. The ground drank the blood and it turned a dirty yellow that repulsed me even more. It felt wrong as if the evil he caused wasn’t enough and it passed through the guts of the earth.
“I’ll do it.” Jacques kneeled on the ground and he started digging a hole. He switched from human to rabbit a handful of times, but didn’t stop until the task was complete. Vampires didn’t truly die until you have dug their graves so to speak. A hole for the head and a hole for the body, away from one another. This way if the vampire ever was resurrected on its own, it wouldn’t be full-bodied.
In rabbit form, he looked at me, wrinkling his nose and then he patted the ground with his foot. Seeing his signature move made me break into a small smile and he shook his ears. Sometimes, I wondered how it would be to caress his rabbit form. I’ve never done it because Jacques detested anything cute concerning his rabbit form.
“Violet,” he said softly when he switched back. “I…what did you do?”
I raised my eyebrows. “I think I killed a vampire,” I said in an empty voice and in the silence that followed I let it sink in. Taking my revenge was the only thing that mattered and I should be happy he was gone. Why didn’t I feel satisfied, then?
“Yes, but why? You liked him,” he said and in awe, I stared at him and realized he actually believed it. My plan’s execution must have seemed flawless if Jacques believed it.
“Liked him,” I repeated. “Like a vampire?” I gave a short laugh. “You’re nuts. I would never ever like a vampire and least of all him. If I had to, I would choose someone who hadn’t murdered my grandmother.”
Jacques blinked and switched to a rabbit form, but still retained his shocked expression. “Murder?” When he turned back, he uttered the word like he couldn’t believe his ears. “I thought Hope passed from old age.”
“I thought so, too, until I went back to the past. I only went back to find out why I was afraid of the fire and discovered a whole load of things, including this.” Gesturing toward the freshly dug grave, I continued, “I remembered his tattoo from somewhere but not from where. When I went back, I found out I had witnessed my grandmother’s murder as a child and that she had erased my memories of the incident as well of the supernatural world. Her spell was supposed to break when I got my powers, but since I was called earlier, it never did.”
“So, this whole thing was your plan?” Jacques raised an eyebrow, but the shock scrunched his face. I didn’t know why he was so bothered by my plan. It was flawless.
“Yes. I needed him to trust me in order to know what’s happening on the other side and then, take my revenge.”
Shaking his head, he opened his mouth to say something, but turned into a rabbit again.
“I thought you would have stopped since the vampire is gone.”
“No,” he said when he shifted back. “The fact you killed a great force of evil makes the scales tip from one to the other and right now, the balance is frail. Usually, I can shift at will but now things are weird.”
Talking about the balance reminded I had one last thing to do before the final showdown. “I have to go.”
“What? Where?”
“To the Moon Realm,” I said which made his eyes widen even more. “I have to claim my real powers. My grandmother said my powers right now are not permanent, so I need full strength, but first I need to find a shapeshifter.”
“I’m not going to stay here and get insulted, Mademoiselle! First, you are the most risqué minded human being I have ever met and second, you could have told me!” Anger flashed in his eyes, making them ripple. “I could have helped you. Why did you feel I could not be trusted?”
“You fought every day with him and even before that, we had a falling out, remember?”
Blushing, he bit his lip. “Still, you could have asked for my help or Kristy’s.” He shook his head and huffed. “You’re so like Hope.”
“She didn’t approve of my need to take revenge so I doubt she would be proud of me right now.”
“But I am sure you didn’t share your plan with her either.” He looked at me in the eyes and when I confirmed it, he added, “Hope always spoke without knowing the true facts first. She is proud. You can trust me on that one.” Nodding reluctantly, I pondered on the hope she was indeed proud. “And I’m a shapeshifter!” he yelled, making me jump.
“Who switches in the blink of an eye,” I accused but he wasn’t intimidated.
“I am a shapeshifter and you need one if you want to navigate the Moon Realm without getting lost. Oh, and I’m the only shapeshifter you have left in the Blessed Realm who hasn’t turned wild.” He gave me a triumphant smile, and I glared.
“Fine.” I took the Sword of Light and sheathed it, hiding the light. Placing my hands together, I chanted a spell, bringing to mind gleeful memories of
sunlit days and when a light hit my eyes, I knew I had succeeded.
“Ze light!” Jacques exclaimed. “You did it!”
“Thank you. It was just a spell, but I couldn’t break it before.” Holding my fingers in front of me, I watched as the black substance finally left and sighed. “Now, I can go.”
“I’m coming with you!” Jacques said, and we walked toward the gate. “How did you do that? You could do that all this time and didn’t?” I heard his accusation in his voice. “We have to stop and pick up Kristy, we need her, too.”
“I could. It wasn’t darkness like everyone thought, but mostly grief.” I evaded his glance when I said, “I thought I really was harsh when I talked to you that night.”
“Violet…” He weaved his fingers in mine. “It’s not your fault, but it did help your good, but stupid plan.”
“I didn’t remove it sooner because…” I giggled, “…this vampire was drunk in Darkness. Every time he looked, his stare was fixated.” Unable to continue, I laughed, finally embracing the ridiculousness of the fact. Jacques followed, and we laughed as we walked.
“Oh, my rabbit! Only you could have pulled zomething like this. Drunk in Darkness.” Stopping in front of the gate, he said, “I’ll go get her so we won’t be late.”
I pulled him back. “I’ll call her. It will be faster and I don’t think the Blessed Realm is safe now.” Even from behind the gate, I could feel the darkness, seeping outside. “I’m sure the Evilship has moved headquarters given the fact that her favorite soldier is gone now.” Closing my eyes, I imagined a pattern of flowers forming on the ground beneath my feet.
“You think that will summon her?”
“Yes. It’s our secret calling,” I said, and he raised his eyebrows. “Only for us.”
“Hmm…where did you find the sword?”
“The treehouse. I go there sometimes to think and in one of my recent trips I discovered it, hidden among some of my grandmother’s supernatural books. Every time I think she left me nothing to prepare me for that,” I gestured to the gate, “I find evidence she did.”
Beware the Violet Page 19
