by Ivy Carter
I carefully unwrap the tome then set the velvet aside.
Then I notice that I am still wearing the slutty dress from my date with Tristan. I will myself into a pair of black yoga pants and a black tank top. Then I carefully open the book the very first page.
“I want to learn how to kill a High Demon Lord.” I whisper low to the book.
“Not possible.” The eerie voice always present in the back of my psyche whispers back.
“Anything is possible.” I whisper adamantly back.
I push my power into my palms. They are glowing a low jade green. Crackling like lightening. I face my palms downward toward the pages of the book and hold my light to the crusted bloody written pages.
“Absorb all the knowledge held within. So I will it, so mote it be.”
The light in my palms grows brighter as the pages start to turn swiftly. I close my eyes because it feels as if there is a vice inside my mind expanding it. Ripping it open then putting it back together. I grit my teeth through the pain. It is barely tolerable at first. But as more and more knowledge is absorbed within me, the pain becomes too much.
I scream out in agony. But I don’t stop. This is something that must be done. Something that I can’t undo now that I have started it.
I hear running feet pounding up the stairs, so I put a containment spell around the room with nothing but a brief flicker of a thought. No one can get inside. Not unless I will it to be.
Another gut-wrenching scream is ripped from my throat as I look down at the pages flipping faster and faster. As they turn the ancient script melts away as if it is being absorbed into my palms. Then into my mind.
Red rust colored vines that look line henna tattoos start to entwine up my arms. These markings sting as they ink themselves into my skin. But the stinging is trivial compared to the way my head feels as if it is about to explode. They are the same intricate décor that lined the pages around the script within the tome. More tattoos. Great.
There is pounding and shouting coming from outside of my door but I ignore it. The pages are flipping faster and faster now. The pain in my head is starting to dull to a thrumming throb. I feel like I can breathe again until the book itself starts to shake and shutter.
No that isn’t the book, it is the house. The very foundation is shuddering. A blinding light shines from the Blood Scribe’s Book as the very last page is flipped to, and the script that once rested upon it is now absorbed into me.
Screams and shouts are now the background noise to a shaking and house. The light from grows even brighter until I have to shut my eyes from the glare. There is no heat coming from the light.
Then nothing. No more pain inside my head. No more shaking and shuttering of the house. No more screams, poundings, and shouts at my door. Just nothing…But Silence.
Chapter 18.
Opening my eyes and looking up. There stands my mother. My Goddess, The Goddess of The Three. Hekate herself in all her glory. Wind whipping at her hair like playful fingers. She is robed in a white gossamer gown. Her feet are encased in golden sandals. There is a small smile flirting upon her lips. But it is her eyes that catch mine. There is admiration in them. As if she is proud.
“So you have done what no one else has done before you. You set out to do what no one else has ever done?” Her voice sings out like tinkling bells.
“I am your daughter. I am not like anyone else.” I tell her boldly.
“Touché my child.” She gives a small laugh. Tinkling bells sing out in harmony. Nothing is more beautiful than when my mother laughs.
“Mother why have you come?” I ask not unkindly. But I am afraid she will be angry at me for destroying her book. It now lays empty in my lap. The scripts all gone. Absorbed into me. The evidence plain on my arms. The scrolling vine like tattoos encasing both arms like shimmering rust colored sleeves.
“I am not angry child. I am proud of the woman you are becoming. You are progressing very quickly. But you have not accepted a part of yourself. You are hiding her away.” I give my mother a confused look. So she explains further.
“Your powers are as much a part of you as the color of your eyes or hair. You must not be afraid to embrace them. Fore only when you do embrace them will you be able to do what you are set on doing.”
“I don’t know how.” I tell her in stark honesty.
“I will help you.”
She reaches down and removes the book from its resting place in my lap. She carefully sits in on the side of the bed close to where I am sitting. Then she stops to examine my arms.
“The knowledge that you absorbed from the book will come to you as you need it. All you have to do is think of a simple question, and the answer will be there waiting. You are truly already powerful, my daughter.” She smiles kindly at me.
“What do I need to do to embrace my total self?” I ask in trepidation.
“It is not painful. It is the most natural thing in this world. To accept every part of yourself.” I nod my head.
“Now close your eyes. Concentrate on the energy flowing throughout your body. This is your life force that you are feeling.” My mother whispers to me.
I can feel the energy flowing. I can see it behind my closed eyelids it’s tinged with jade. Like my light when I use my gift.
“Now, unlock the energy that you keep trapped deeply inside you. You do not need anger to draw it out. All you need to do is welcome it within yourself.”
I take a deep breath and look inside myself into the void where I lock everything away that makes me feel more than I want to feel.
“Let her become a part of you…” Comes my mother’s soothing voice again. Right before I feel a jolt of energy shoot through me. The energy travels throughout my entire body then into the void. Unlocking the door. Swinging the black abyss wide open.
I open my mouth to speak but no words form or come out. I feel a surge of eternal energy like I have never felt before.
“Breathe my daughter. Let her free. Free yourself from the bonds of self-restraint. Let all of the parts of you become one.” Comes my mother’s placating voice again.
Tears leak from my eyes as something completely foreign stretches under my skin. Filling me up as if it is trying me on like a skin tight suite.
“When you truly become one with yourself. Only then can you gain the revenge that you seek.” My mother tells me in her tinkling voice. Then there is a flash of light so bright I can see it behind my closed lids.
I am still marveling at the inducement of power flowing through me. I knew I was powerful before. But it is like I have been amped up times one hundred. I stand with my eyes still closed. The dresser with the over large mirror is directly at the foot of my bed. When I fully get to my feet, I open my eyes and see what this transformation has wrought.
My skin has a sheen to it as if it has been kissed by moonlight. The rust colored vine like markings running the lengths of my arms are still present but stand out more with the new coloring of my skin. There is an invisible wind flirting and moving my hair as it does constantly with my mother’s. My eyes have a slight glow to them. Making the already vibrant green even more wickedly noticeable.
“Holy Fuck.” I hear from behind me. I must have let my shields slip because Jessa is standing in my now open doorway looking at me with her mouth hanging open. Eyes fill of awe.
“What have you done?” Sebastian whispers almost reverently.
I look first at Gavin who has a smile stretched across his face.
“About damn time.” He mutters under his breath.
Then I look to Tristan. He too is wearing a stunned look on his face. As if I am not the same person he saw not an hour before. He doesn’t say anything. Just pushes past the other three making his way into my room. He walks slowly across the floor until he reaches my side.
Tristan situates himself beside me in the mirror. I can see the obsidian flames dancing in his eyes. He isn’t awed like the rest. He is more stunned. His look mirrors my own. I
am stunned as well.
“She has finally embraced her true self.” Tristan turns his head to inform the rest of my motley crew of what I have indeed done.
I have finally come into my own. And now it’s time to hunt.
“What do we do now?” Jessa breathes out. Her eyes still wide staring at me as if I am an alien come to earth and she just doesn’t quite know what to make of me. Well join the club.
“We hunt.” Tristan once again beats me to the punch line.
“Get out of my head.” I lightly back hand him across the chest and chuckle. Which makes him smile at me.
His smile always does it for me. The others must have read the look upon my face because Gavin starts herding the rest out of my doorway. Then he closes it lightly behind himself.
“I am sorry for walking away before.” Tristan whispers to me. Never taking his eyes from mine as he pulls me to him.
“Don’t be.” I tell him…
“Time for sleep, angel. You have worn yourself completely out.” He chuckles as he carries me to the bed. “Again.” He mutters to himself.
“Awww! Poor baby. I tell him with a saucy smile and a wink
“Tomorrow we have to plan how to get your friend back. So we both need our rest.” I nod in agreement.
Tristan lays me on the bed then climbs in beside me pulling the coverlet over us. After he makes sure I am covered from head to toe like a child needed tucked into bed. He pulls me into his chest. Almost clinging to me as if he thinks that I will disappear any second.
“Hey.” I whisper looking up into his eyes. “I am not going anywhere.”
“You are too good for me angel. I know that. Sometimes I feel that if I don’t hang on to you as hard and as tightly as I can… Then you will slip right through my fingers. Gone from my sight, touch, gone from me…Forever.” He takes a ragged breath as if admitting that he feels just as insecure as I do at times took a lot out of him.
“I am not above you in anyway. I want you. No one else. I need you around me. I know it’s fast. But I when I look at things to come. I want you by my side.” I continue to whisper. To assure him that I feel the same way.
“I don’t want to lose you, Tristan.” I tell him with stark honesty shining in my eyes. “You are my anchor in this storm of horrid bullshit constantly flying at me.”
I take a deep breath and tell him exactly the opposite thing that I feeling.
“We will take it slow. Our feelings will grow, and we will see where it goes from there.” I lay my head back against his chest. Suddenly feeling utterly spent. Right before I drop off to sleep I could swear that I heard Tristan whisper…
As soon as sleep takes me. I am plunged into a nightmare of epic proportions. I know this nightmare. I scream inside my head for myself to wake up. Just like I do every time I have this horridly revolting dream. But as always… It never helps.
I am inside the Demon Lords body. Ripping out Devon’s throat while the real me is screaming for him to stop. Pleading with him to spare Devon’s life.
But then the dream changes.
I am in a cave, a dark tunnel of shorts. But not as a demon this time, I am myself. It is hard to see so I reach out with my hands and brush my fingers against the craggily walls. There are sharp points on the walls that prickle my fingers tips as I walk along. Using my hands to guide me. The tunnel isn’t wide at all. Maybe six feet in width at most. I stumble of things that litter the dirty floor under my bare feet. I ram my foot into something large, about the side of a medium sized ball, and smooth around the edges. I reach down and pick it up. Bringing it within inches in front of my face so that I can see what I am looking at… It’s a bare human skull.
As soon as I realize what I am holding I throw it away from myself as fast and hard as I can. The skull landing causes a crunching sound against the far rock wall. I brace myself with my fingertips again and try to ignore what I might be walking. I would turn back but I have a feeling that I need to be here. That I need to see what is at the end of this darkly dank tunnel.
I walk, stumble, and almost fall for what seems like forever. Then I finally see a flickering light ahead of me about a hundred feet. It is dim so it doesn’t add any light for me to see by. But it is a beacon point. Something to head towards. I was starting to get freaked out. Feeling claustrophobic. Being in this tight earthen tunnel leaves you with a feeling of being buried alive. It is hard to breathe without feeling the air around you being ingested into your lungs.
I start moving faster toward the dim flickering light. I think at first that it might be a candle. But as I get closer I see that it is a camp fire. With a cooking pot simmering on top of it. Something putrid is cooking inside the pot judging by the foul stench assaulting my nose and mouth.
I don’t walk into the cavern I decide to stay hidden in the shadows of the mouth of the tunnel. I don’t move. I barely breathe when I hear a scream then a scraping sound. Someone human is screaming over and over again to stop. My stomach revolts knowing that I can’t do anything to stop this. That this is only a dream. That I am powerless here.
What I see next literally tares my life apart. Shatters me on the spot. The High Demon Lord is dragging my uncle Dan across the cavern by his hair toward the cook pot. My uncle is sobbing. He is covered in bloody bite marks. Chunks of flesh are missing from his arms. Two fingers are missing from his right hand. Rivers of blood are flowing from his hand dripping onto the ground landing in splattered patterns like a morbid painting.
I cover my mouth to keep from screaming out loud. This isn’t real. But it feels like reality. The Demon suddenly turns its scaly head toward me. Bright red eyes seem to look straight into mine.
“See little Celios. Everyone you love will soon fall.” Then he lets out a roaring cackle that shatter the ear drums of anyone hearing it.
I suddenly wake up, covered in sweat. A scream stuck in my throat.
I look over at Tristan still sleeping soundly and slip out of the bed. I don’t want to wake him. He seemed exhausted when he finally shut his eyes.
I make my way to the bedroom door. Willing a black silk robe to cover my body before I slip out into the hall on silent feet.
Chapter 19.
I close my bedroom door as silently as I can behind me. Then I turn and run into a wall of male chest. This is all too familiar. I catch myself on his shoulders and take two swift steps backward. Shuddering from just the mere touch. I look up and Jaxx is standing beside my door in the darkened hallway.
“Why are you skulking outside my door?” I ask in a harsh whisper. I guess I still harbor some anger and resentment toward him. But who could blame me? There are guys that are players. But he took his game to the ultimate level. I don’t forgive nor do I forget very easily at all.
“I couldn’t sleep, my lady.” He bows his head in acknowledgement to me.
“That still doesn’t answer the question as to why you are skulking outside of my door in the dead of night.” I ask once more.
“I have these thoughts and feelings regarding you that I cannot explain or will away. I was hoping to speak to you about them. But I was afraid of waking you or your Reaper by knocking.”
I am just about to respond when Tristan responds before I can. I didn’t even hear or notice him opening the bedroom door behind me.
“You have woken ‘her Reaper’ so speak your piece.” Tristan’s growly voice sends all sorts of yummy tingles throughout me.
At the appearance of Tristan Jaxx backs up a good five to six feet from me. I turn to look at Tristan when I see the bewildered look on Jaxx’s face.
The damn Reaper is standing in the doorway. No posing is more like it. Fully exposed from the chest up. His very IMPRESSIVE chest is… well impressive. As if waiting for someone to lick the tattoos running from the top of his shoulders then downward disappearing inside his pajama pants. Now that is an intriguing idea. I almost laugh out loud at his male posturing. But it slightly annoys me as well. The visages of the nightmare are stil
l strong in my mind. I am worried about my uncle. I need to speak to Sebastian. We need to plan… Because I am more determined than ever to take that horrid fucking Demon Lord out.
“Tristan.” I say warningly.
Shameless man just smirks at me. But then he reads the pain in my eyes and his whole demeanor changes.
“What is wrong, angel?” He embraces me from behind as is his habit. Nuzzling my neck. But before I can even begin why I am out of bed at this time of night. Or tell him about the newest nightmare. Or vision… Jaxx decides to throw a temper tantrum.
“I demand to know where your Fated Mate is, my lady. Surely he doesn’t condone you consorting as such with this Reaper.” He fairly spits the last words as if it leaves a foul taste within his mouth.
I feel Tristan stiffen. But I turn my head and gently kiss him with a brush of my lips. Calming him for the moment.
“Don’t speak of things that aren’t your concern.” I tell Jaxx warningly. At his stubborn expression I know that he isn’t going to quit. So, I decide to indulge him for a bit. Then maybe I can hunt down Sebastian and get the ball rolling on planning the death of a Demon Lord.
“Fine. Let me tell you a story.” I address Jaxx while snuggling back into Tristan’s embrace. Jaxx nods as if he has every right to question me. Pissing me off even more.
“But before I do. If you ever question me or my decisions again. I will show you your place. Do we understand each other?” My voice has taken on the effects that my mother’s does when she is angry. Echoes of crashing waves lace my voice as I ask him my question. I can feel my eyes glowing slightly. Not fully. But enough to show my peek.
“Let’s see. Where to begin? Oh I know!” I say in a fake enthusiastic voice.
“Once upon a time…” I snark. I feel Tristan chuckling behind me. I elbow him in the ribs causing him to grunt in pain. But it doesn’t stop his silent chuckling.