by Raven Steele
The door flew open. Boaz, Erik and Sable all walked in at once. Erik and Boaz both smiled, not joyfully, but triumphantly. Only Sable looked concerned with her brows creased, and her hands twisting in and out of each other.
Boaz set a wooden chest on top of my bed. Hunwald stood stiffly in the doorway, his nose turned upright.
“What is that?” I asked.
“Another present, love,” Boaz replied.
He opened the box and gently removed an old, intricately designed silver necklace. The short chain was made of many jagged strands of silver wound around each other tightly, similar to the thorny stem of a rose. At its base hung a spider-like claw that clung to a glass orb. When Boaz raised it to the light, a thick red liquid sloshed inside, coating the sides with a layer of what could only be blood.
“I don’t want any more of your presents,” I said, backing up toward the window. My heart thundered so loudly I could hear the swishing of blood in my eardrums.
“I’m afraid you have no choice.” Boaz turned to Sable. “And you’re sure this is ready?”
“Like I told you before, the necklace wasn’t made for this, but I think I have used its magic correctly. We won’t know until you put it on her.”
Erik let out an exaggerated sigh. “Let’s get this over with. If this doesn’t work, we’ll start over.”
The way he said it, so cold and unemotional as if I was a science project, made me think that starting over meant removing me from the equation altogether.
Boaz snapped his head to Erik. “No one is to hurt her, do you understand? If this doesn’t work, we’ll find something else.” He turned to face me. “Erik, hold her.”
Erik moved behind me and pinned my arms to my chest. I didn’t struggle … what was the point? But as the necklace moved closer, a feeling of eternal darkness began to smother me. I thrashed wildly to get away from it. It was evil like nothing I’d ever felt before, the kind that exists only in a demon’s nightmare.
I tried to shake off Erik’s grip, but I wasn’t just fighting his strength. Sable was nearby, chanting under her breath to keep me in place.
With Boaz’s free hand, he clenched my neck, and with the other, he twisted the necklace around me. He didn’t have to latch it. It latched itself.
I sucked in a hitched breath as they all stepped away from me.
I held still, my hands outstretched as if I’d been doused with water. At first, nothing happened. But within moments, my wrists began to burn deep inside the veins. I yelped and stared down at them, my pulse racing. The burning continued, but it was a different kind of pain. It was magical in nature, the darkest kind. I could feel its inky tendrils working their way throughout my body.
“What’s happening to me?”
No one answered.
My arms twitched and jerked and then my legs shook uncontrollably. I collapsed to the ground in agonizing pain, but it wasn’t physical. It was the pain of evil killing every part of humanity and decency inside me. I didn’t think there’d be any left after all the horrible things I’d done, but evil searched me thoroughly and found parts of me, though they were few, that still had goodness in them.
After the dark power had taken over my extremities, it turned inward toward my heart. It stabbed at it as a hot poker would, branding its mark upon my most vulnerable and precious organ. It burned with hell’s fire, and I screamed. I didn’t stop until evil’s process was complete, leaving nothing left but pure, untainted rage.
I rose from the floor, power surging through me. Veins and arteries visibly pulsed beneath my almost translucent skin; black blood pumped throughout my body. Any color left in my hair had turned as black as night, and it lifted in the air, swaying gently, despite there being no draft in the room.
Sable gasped, Erik grunted and Boaz breathed, “Amazing.”
“Look at her eyes,” Sable whispered.
I couldn’t imagine how they’d changed, but looking out from them, the world had taken on a red tint that accentuated the tiniest details. It gave the room an eerie quality I liked.
But it wasn’t just my vision that had been altered. Every one of my senses had become magnified. I heard a deer breathing quietly in a thicket far away, a bat’s wings beating through the night air and a tiny ant as it scurried to an underground destination. Even though all these events were occurring at the same moment, I had the ability to separate them, almost as if I were slowing time, if not stopping it.
I had become a god.
I curled my lips. “Mother. Father. I don’t think I thanked you for coming out for my transformation.”
“We w-w-wouldn’t have missed it, Eve," Sable stuttered and glanced at Erik hesitantly.
The sound of my former name felt as though she had pressed a cross to my forehead. “Don’t call me that. Ever. Call me…” I twisted my lips in thought. “Alarica. It means ‘noble power.’ Appropriate, don’t you think?”
“How do you feel?” Boaz asked.
I moved my gaze to Boaz and slowly looked him up and down. I moaned and licked my lips. “I feel…omnipotent.”
Boaz fed off my bliss. “It’s incredible, isn’t it? We are going to rule the world.”
“We?”
“Of course, love. I fulfilled your dream. You and I together, doing whatever we want forever. With the power between us, we will be unstoppable.”
“It wasn’t my dream, love,” I corrected him. “It was Eve’s.”
Boaz’s jaw clenched tight, but he controlled his anger. “No matter. You will realize that together we are more powerful.”
I chuckled. “You really have no idea, do you?”
He raised an eyebrow. Erik stood in a defensive position and Sable backed up toward the door.
“I don’t need you,” I said.
Boaz took a threatening step toward me. “Let’s not forgot that it was I who gave you this power. It can just as easily be taken away.”
“Don’t threaten me.” My voice boomed with power. With a thought, I sent him flying backwards into the wall. He smashed against it and fell to the ground in a crouching position.
When he looked up he, too, had transformed into the true monster he was. Black blood veins appeared behind his suddenly transparent skin. His dark eyes briefly flashed blue, like cold fire, and inside, his black pupils swelled from the darkness within them. They bulged outward as if evil were trying to escape, but he shook his head once, and his pupils receded back to their original size.
Erik bolted for me. I grinned and stopped him with only a hand gesture. I raised him to the ceiling and held him in midair. This new dark magic was so easy to control. I had only to think it, and my desires became a reality.
A stream of vulgar profanities spewed from Erik’s lips.
“Rot in hell,” I said and then flicked my wrist toward the window.
He smashed through the glass and flew into the frigid air. His cries pierced the night until they were cut short by his body hitting the ground below. I scanned the room for Sable, but she had already fled.
Behind me, I sensed an object flying toward me at an incredible speed. I turned around and caught it a fraction of a second before it plunged into my stomach. I turned over Boaz’s dagger in my hand. It was the same one that had pierced Eve earlier.
“I’m disappointed, Boaz. You turn me into what you desire, but now you want to destroy me?”
Still in a crouching position, with one hand on the floor, he growled, “Not destroy, but you need to be taught a lesson on who’s boss here.”
He rushed me and slammed into me at full force. The weight of his body against mine threw us both into the wood headboard, splitting it in two.
I whispered a command in an ancient language — that of the first demons who roamed the earth before man. It was a language I never knew before, but now my mind screamed with their magical words. Boaz looked at me, surprised.
In response to my magical command, the wooden frame bent and curled tight, trapping Boaz inside. I had a
lready moved away and stood on the other side of the room. I laughed at his predicament, but my laughter was cut short when Hunwald grabbed hold of the back of my calf. I cried out and jerked my leg away, throwing the wolf from me.
Meanwhile, Boaz freed himself. “Very creative. You know more than I thought, but it doesn’t change things. You will submit to me.”
I smiled serenely and clasped my hands together. “You can’t make me, and I’m not just saying that to be dramatic. There is absolutely nothing you can say to make me ever submit to you. But if you submit to me, then maybe, just maybe, you might get out of here alive.”
A feral cry tore from his lungs, and he rushed me again, but this time I was ready. I waved my arm and whispered the word “wall.”
Boaz crashed into an invisible barrier just before he reached me. He stepped back, his eyes burrowing into mine. Something tickled my skin, as faint as a feather's wisp, and I smiled in understanding.
"You're trying to take my power, aren't you? Like you did to Eve. That's not going to happen." I paced back and forth, enjoying his frustration. “Before I destroy you, I want you to witness the destruction of the few things you might actually care about in this world.”
Boaz frantically searched for a way around the invisible barrier.
“Let’s start with your feeder girls downstairs, shall we?”
His head snapped up. “What are you going to do?”
My eyes grew big, and I felt evil dance within them.
“Burn,” I commanded.
An explosion downstairs rocked the house. Boaz yelled.
“And how about those immaculate gardens that you take such pride in?”
Boaz’s eyes flickered to the window just in time to catch the woods bursting into flames.
“This isn’t necessary,” he shouted.
“Oh, but it is!” I shouted back. “You will be destroyed by the very evil you created. You stupid idiot! Did you really think true evil would share power?”
Frustrated, Boaz tossed a dresser across the room.
I closed my eyes briefly and opened them again. “I lost focus. Where was I? Ah, yes, destroying your ‘creature comforts’ of life. How about your precious opera house?”
Boaz stopped moving. “Impossible!”
“Is it?” I closed my eyes for just a moment before I snapped them back open and said, “Done. Your opera house is no more. Now for that hellhound of yours.” I stared at Hunwald, who barked furiously at me.
“Don’t do it, Eve. Not Hunwald,” he begged, his breath hitching with sudden emotions.
“I’m not Eve,” I cried.
The wolf’s fur ignited. Boaz was upon him in an instant with a blanket trying to snuff the flames. “It’s okay. You’re okay.”
“Awe, how touching,” I said.
Boaz stood up very slowly. His chest heaved, and with both hands, he pushed against the invisible wall. I tried to fight back, but his rage proved too great. He broke through it with a ferociousness that sent a blast of air straight into my chest. I flew backwards out the same window my father had been thrown from only minutes before.
I hit the ground hard, and then, after inhaling a deep breath, I stood and looked back at the grand mansion one last time.
“Burn,” I said and walked away.
Behind me, the very flames from Hell consumed their master and his home.
Chapter 24
I returned to the only place I knew - my parents’ home just outside Coast City. Unfortunately, Erik and Sable were nowhere to be found. The torture I’d put them through would be my finest work yet. I had no doubts that Erik had survived the fall. Sable must have sensed what was coming and ran outside to either prevent it or fix his injuries.
None of it mattered, though. As soon as I sensed them (most likely they were guarding their specific location with magic), I would destroy them like I had the opera house.
I liked being Alarica, but I was disappointed to still have Eve’s memories, most of which were useless to me. There was the potential of many painful memories that I could have relished in, but whenever I tried to recall Eve’s juicy abuse, they were cut short and replaced by a silly place she called Eden. This infuriated me because I only wanted to remember Eve’s grotesque mistreatment.
Days passed. I was incapable of sleep as the evil within me refused to hold still. It was restless and always searching for a way out, to destroy and mangle. I wish I could’ve released it all, but it would be stupid to destroy everything. What would be left?
As a result, I released the evil in little spurts, destroying only what was necessary. I’d already burned the area around the home; I could still smell the smoke from outside. Only the mansion remained intact, but just barely. The only thing that saved it was focusing my dark magic on different areas of the country. I’d picture the location in my mind and then imagine its destruction. Buildings I’d visited, places I’d seen. All burned up in flames.
Containing the power required a lot of concentration, which gave me a constant headache. I forbade the servants from using any lights, allowing only the use of candles. This helped alleviate the pain somewhat, as evil was not as restless within the dark. The first servant who balked at my request keeled over dead. The others obeyed out of fear just like they had with my parents.
I knew the drill.
Every time I exploded something, I would have a few restful moments from the sharp pains in my head, but as days turned into weeks, the pressure grew, and I wondered how much more my body could take. A small voice in the back of my head begged me to remove the necklace, but that was impossible. The evil inside me was far stronger than any will of my own.
All the recent fires and explosions across the country baffled the humans. Because they couldn’t come up with a logical explanation, it was assumed they were terrorist attacks, and the country was placed on high alert. I laughed at them, at how the government tried to make the people feel safe. They would go to war if the attacks didn’t stop. The president had said so earlier this morning. I hoped he wasn’t bluffing. War would provide the perfect cover for my destruction.
Still without sleep, I paced the halls of the Segur estate at three in the morning with my hands clenched tight, nails digging into my palms. The pain was so intense that I couldn't think of anything else, not even a place to send the dark magic to.
The trapped energy screamed inside me, chanted and begged to be released. The skin on my arms vibrated strangely as if someone was holding a struck tuning fork to it. Then, to my horror, the skin began to stretch outward by the evil within. Physically, I could no longer control it. The left wing of the mansion exploded into flames, releasing some of the pressure.
The fire spread, and it didn’t take long for the old mansion to be consumed. The servants who had chosen to remain with me out of fear now fled. No attempt was made to save the home.
I walked out from within the fire; the flames did nothing but tease my skin. I drifted through the nearby blackened forest, no longer caring where I went. To prevent myself from feeling any more physical pain, I continued to expel the dark energy inside me, sending it to whatever place I thought of first. Behind me, the morning sun touched the fading night sky and, if I could, I would’ve destroyed that, too.
“You’ve caused some major damage,” a voice said.
Surprised I’d been caught off guard, I turned around. Not far, stood the vampire Eve had met in Coast City. His hands were stuffed into the same jacket, his feet, a shoulder width apart. His intense gaze burned into mine, but it didn’t frighten me. It turned me on. How I’d love to feel him between my legs.
“I know you,” I purred.
It was his turn to be surprised. “I don’t believe we’ve met.”
He didn’t recognize me, and I wondered if I even looked human anymore.
“What do you want?” I asked.
“To stop you.”
“Is this a habit of yours? Stopping powerful women who just want to have some fun?”
“This may be fun for you, but innocent lives are being lost.”
“You’re a broken record,” I drawled.
His brow furrowed, and his lips pursed together. Did he really not remember me?
Levitating, I circled around him in a great loop, my bare toes dragging against the early morning frost. “How did you find me?”
He kept his eyes on me, his muscles tense. “Evil of your magnitude can be felt from any distance, if one is looking for it.”
I liked him. He was brave when all others fled. I remembered how Eve had also been drawn to him but for an entirely different reason, something to do with his eyes.
“Why do you seek out evil?” I asked.
“To stop it.”
“Why would you do this, especially knowing my power? I could destroy you with just a thought.”
“Then why haven’t you?”
I tilted my head. “You want to die?”
“I want to stop you. It is of no consequence to me if I die trying.”
“You interest me, Vampire.”
He didn’t respond, but his eyes flashed to my neck. “That’s quite a necklace,” he said. “Where did you get it?”
“It was a gift.” My eyes narrowed. “Did you come for a friendly chat? I thought you wanted to stop me. Don’t lose focus.”
He took my advice and bolted toward me at lightning speed. I let him attack, anxious to see what he was capable of. He struck me hard, and I flew backward to the ground. I thought he’d wait for my reaction, but he didn’t stop.
In an instant, he was upon me, fangs bared. His hands struggled to get at my neck or the necklace, I couldn’t be sure which one.
Finally, I’d had enough. I shoved him away hard, feeling his bones break beneath my palms. His limp body crashed into a dead, blackened tree that snapped in two. He collapsed to the ground, moaning and grimacing.
“That was impressive,” I said. “I thought you’d give a lady a chance to recover, but you couldn’t get enough. I admire your passion.”
