by EJ Everette
Chance starts to reach out to me, but I lose my focus enough that I am ripped back to my little cell, my happy spot no longer projecting anything around me. That’s okay, though. I know the guys are coming for me, I can feel them still, and I know that Chance is alive and waiting for me, too. Now just to figure out how I am meant to get out of my cell, get to Chance, free him from his cell, and then get to wherever the guys are to get the hell out of here. It’s time to get to work on a solid plan of action.
I am not going to sit around and wait to be rescued. I am a mother fucking goddess, and I will do my own rescuing thank you very much. At least… I’m going to try.
28
Gray
While I am pondering just how the hell I am supposed to magically escape this stone dungeon I have called home for the last few who-actually-knows how long, my feet pace every inch of the space. I keep hoping I will step on some secret release stone and ta-da, the wall will open like some Indian Jones movie. Unfortunately, no such stone seems to exist and so I pace while I think after I have checked every square inch of the cell. I put my shoes back on, laces securely tied, socks discarded because not only are they foul smelling, they have hardened thanks to all the blood meaning I couldn’t slip them on even if I wanted to.
My hands have been touching everything, mostly knocking dust loose which finds my nose instantly sending me into little sneezing and coughing fits, searching for a similar secret button on the walls. Once my very thorough perusal is complete, I finally accept that there is no obvious or even top-secret escape out of here. Plopping my skinny frame down onto the hard floor, I pull my knees up to my chest, wrap my arms around them, and think. Well, mostly I cry because thinking hasn’t really been getting me anywhere, but once all the tears have left my body I try once again to formulate a plan.
The guys are still too far away for me to think they will come bursting through at any moment. As much as I want to save myself, a small part of me was kind of hoping they would beat me to it and I wouldn’t have to come up with something epic on my own. This, I tell myself, does not make me any less fabulous, just practical and maybe a little exhausted. Sue me for wanting something, anything, to be easy. I’ve been trapped here for a long ass time, barely fed, and I need at least seven showers when I finally make it home before I won’t smell like death, decay, and Dagnoroth’s acid breath. Eww.
At the thought of food, my stomach growls reminding me the little minions haven’t been by to check in on me for awhile. Don’t get me wrong, I am beyond grateful for the time off from endless torture sessions, but their absence means I haven’t been fed in a long time. My stomach makes a very non-princess like sound yet again causing me to groan a little at the emptiness I feel in my gut. I need something to eat, some water at least, or all of this will be pointless. Rising to my feet I stagger over to the cell door, bringing my fists up to pound on the rock while I yell for someone to come feed me. After a few moments of screaming, my throat is too hoarse to continue so I droop down to the floor, waiting to see if anyone heard me or even gives a shit about the trapped little princess in the dungeon.
For once, luck seems to be on my side. I hear the faintest sound of voices followed by shuffling noises that get louder as they get closer to me. Remembering I am supposed to be broken into pieces, I lay out on the ground next to the door for them to see as soon as they step in. I hang my tongue out past my lips just a little before realizing I am neither a dog nor am I some shitty actor in a low budget movie, returning it to my mouth. Pretending is a lot harder than it looks. The sounds from outside of my cell get louder, items are clanging together giving me hope they in fact do have my food dishes with them. Maybe a little food and water will give me the extra energy I need to get out of here, though the items aren't exactly living so I probably won’t get as much out of them.
A thought occurs to me at that moment. I can siphon energy from anything that has it, right? I gathered some from the dirt, dried blood, and cobwebs. The guys had walked me through a similar exchange after I blacked out at the market, though I didn’t understand or even allow myself to believe anything then. If I can pull from inanimate objects, what stops me from siphoning energy from a living, breathing object? Like maybe all I need to do is find a strong enough source to pull from. Like a demon maybe?
Renewed hope surges inside of me as I prepare for my captors’ visit. Generally there are one, maybe two, of the pug-faced puss demons who drop off my food. If I can get them in the door far enough, maybe I can use their energy, take it I guess, to help me get out of here. The details are still a bit fuzzy since I can’t guarantee more energy will suddenly allow me to just push through the walls or something to escape, but it’s worth a try. Literally anything is worth a try at this point. Lying in wait, the voices get so close I know they are about to open my door. I try my best to hold very still as if I had fallen asleep waiting for them. The door finally makes its rough creaking sound, the stone rubbing against the opposing rocky floor. Shoeless feet smack against the cold surface, nearing where I lie strewn out against the wall to the right of the entryway. A tray is dropped, carelessly, down near my face and I hold my breath to keep from flinching at the sound. Right before the little demon’s steps reach the door to leave, I move.
Pushing off of the floor with more speed than even I was prepared for, I hurl myself at the pugger, wrapping my arms firmly around it before rolling us down on the rocky floor. The demon goes to make a sound but I slam the heel of my hand into its nostril area after positioning myself above it. I officially have the creature beneath me, my legs straddling both sides of the small but slimy being. Now what? I know even if it didn’t get a sound out to warn others it won’t be long before something comes to check on us. Think Gray, think. Siphon. Shit, pulling energy takes focus and the little puss-coated fucker won’t hold still. With another slam of my hand into its face, the creature stills. Maybe I knocked it out. No time to worry about it, though. I need to get moving.
I put my hands on either side of the demon’s face, closing my eyes to focus just like I have done every other time. Breathe in, breathe out. Think about how awesome you are, how strong and mighty you are. Remember you are a princess and a goddess. You are in control. Slowly at first, I feel the creature’s energy start to leave its body, entering me through where my hands rest on its head. Yes! It is working! I can feel so much strength beneath my arms and legs, like I just finished an incredible workout only without the sore muscle failure. It’s like the high I get after a good run. My back straightens and I dig my fingers further into the being’s skin. It should be gross, but I am so caught up in the moment I don’t even notice the texture. So much energy flows through me now, departing the demon’s body at an accelerated rate. I open my eyes to see my hands are completely covered in flames, though once again they don’t burn at all. The flames dance around us like gorgeous fire-lit ballerinas. It is mesmerizing, far more enrapturing than the small sparks I made when pulling from the dirt within my cell.
All too soon, the pulse starts to ebb, no longer coming at me in thick fast waves. The flames still burn all around us, but I can feel the lifeforce of the little demon fading. If I stop right now, I know it won’t die. It will take a great deal of time to recover, but I can quit and walk away and it will survive. And yet… why should I? This being has been a part of my torture, whether this exact pugger is one who has helped or not shouldn’t matter. Demons are horrible beings. This worthless creature works for Dagnoroth, the demon that has had me tortured, stabbed, broken, and bleeding since I arrived. If I was to guess, he probably ordered my capture as well. And who knows how much energy I need to get out of here. What if I stop now and it wasn’t enough. What if quitting now, leaving the last of this lifeforce behind, is the one thing that prevents me from escaping?
No, I can’t let that happen. I won’t be held any longer. A girl can only take so much and I am tired of being broken. Everything changes right now. With a tight squeeze of my hands, I pull eve
ry last drop of energy from the captor beneath me. Once the body falls lifeless from my hands, the flames move all around my body before fading away, leaving a slight burning smell in the atmosphere as the only evidence they had ever existed. I sit there for a few moments, allowing my body to feel the new current of power moving inside of me. Wow, talk about your endorphin overload.
Enjoying my new strength, I let myself get lost in the overwhelming feeling of control I just experienced. I wanted energy and I took it. My body was literally made to do this. I will never be weak again. Never be abused, destroyed, controlled. No, I will be the one with the authority. No one will dare challenge me again, or I will strip them of their life as easily as I took the life from this pathetic being. I hold a warrant over life and death.
Death. Death? Holy shit!
I leap off of the body of the small pug-faced demon, scooting to the farthest wall in milliseconds. What the fuck have I done? What was that? What happened to me just now? I felt… I felt strong, sure, but it was more than that. I felt invincible. I felt proud of killing that demon, of taking every last smidgen of its life from its body for my own gain. The reality of just how horrific the moment is has me dry heaving, my body racked with convulsions as I try desperately to purge myself of what I have just done. I killed something. Murdered it with my bare hands. I know it was a demon. I know it was evil and all the reasons my mind played through before are still true, and yet I had no right. Who am I to decide who or what lives and dies? It was defenseless, not even fighting back when I first attacked. I could have stopped, left it unconscious and unable to come after me. But some sick twisted version of myself wanted all it had to offer, all of its everything.
I. Am. A. Monster.
Eventually my body can no longer continue its attempt to rid me of the disgusting feelings crawling around inside of me, and my diaphragm loosens up enough to stop the heaving. I know I need to figure this out, to find out what happened to me and how likely it is to happen again. I need to talk to someone who has dealt with this before, who understands this power better than I do. But… Mom is gone, and I have no one else. Who can I even tell this to? Surely the guys would be appalled if they knew what I did. I know they are all warriors, but any death on their hands had to have come from battles. Battles where the enemy fought back, where they feared for their lives, and had no choice. They didn’t just attack and kill someone for their own benefit. Not like me.
Right now, I have to get out of here. They will come looking for the little minion or someone else will be curious about me and I can’t guarantee I can control myself if the situation were to repeat itself. Shaking off everything warring around in my head, I slowly rise to my feet. As much as I don’t want to acknowledge it, I do feel immensely stronger. Like I could run a marathon, bench press a car, and fight my way through hordes of enemies without breaking a sweat. Whatever I took from the demon has fueled me in more than one way, quenching my need for food as well. I feel powerful, ready to take on whatever comes next. I just hope that whatever it is, doesn’t leave me needing to do that shit again.
I walk over to the cell door to find that it is most of the way closed, just the tiniest gap is visible between the wall and edge of the large stone boulder. Slipping my hands into the crack, I pull with all of my might.
Oops, too much. The heavy slate door is shoved to the side so quickly it makes a loud banging sound as it hits the rock wall behind it. That 100% is going to get attention. I have to move now, regardless of whether my mental state has evened out after everything that just happened in this cell. Hesitantly I step out of the cell, checking to see my surroundings and if anyone else is around. I don’t remember how I got in here, just waking up in the cell, so I don’t know which way to go next to get out. I close my eyes to try to focus when I feel Chance’s gentle tug on our bond. Right! I can find him and we can go from there. He seems to be down the dark corridor on my right, so I push off in that direction. There are so few torches up along the rocky walls, I can barely see, but it doesn’t even slow me down as I run toward my guardian. The hard slapping of my runners on the stone is the only sound I hear outside of my heavy heartbeat pounding away in my ears. Still, just because I can’t hear them doesn’t mean they aren’t coming after me. I don’t even dare to look behind me, letting my heart guide me the way I need to go.
I slow down when I get to a more open place in the tunnel, coming to a stop so I can peek around inside the area to make sure there is no one and nothing there. Pressing my body against the cold harsh rocky edges of the corridor wall, I ease my head around to sweep the room. Fuck. Just over to the left there are at least two big ones, like the ones ass-face always brought in to beat on me. In the dark I can barely make out anything in detail, but I can tell they are conversing in some way and both of them are positioned so that they will definitely see me no matter how I try to sneak by. I am stuck. Chance’s bond tugs tighter at my chest, laced with urgency. No shit, sherlock. I’m working on it. I try to send a signal that I am on my way but stuck at the moment, but who the fuck knows if it works since I still have no clue how all these connection pieces function.
I have to get past these big bullies, but how? Pulling back to rest my head on the wall while I think, my epic luck, or lack thereof, takes care of the details for me. From behind me, steps approach, and a little minion like the one who came to feed me in the cell comes around the corner, spotting me instantly and grunting something loud enough to echo down the tunnel. For just a moment, I pause. The creature looks exactly like the one I… the one I killed. They all look the same, but it sparks a pain in my chest at the reminder that just moments ago I took the life from something. It was alive, and now it is dead, because of me. My guilt will have to wait for later, though. The big ones are already moving over in our direction so there will be no avoiding them. The pugger demon comes running toward me and I don’t think, I just act.
As soon as the little one gets close enough, I reach down and lift it with my newly acquired strength. The slimy fucker barely has time to wiggle in an attempt to get loose before I use the momentum gained from grabbing the creature as it was running at me, and sling it towards the big dumb ones who have just arrived at the entrance to my small corridor space. Caught off guard by the flying minion, they are unprepared for the impact as it slams into their bodies. Unfortunately for me, they are huge, and the little being isn’t enough to come close to incapacitating them, but the element of surprise was at least on my side, distracting them so I could think for another second or two.
Flames from the single torch inside of the opened cavern catch my eye, a plan forming as I use my speed and agility both from years of running and whatever the superhuman juice is pumping through my veins to side step the huge creature that recovered first. It reaches to grab me, but I am too quick, jumping past to land briefly on the chest of its’ companion before hopping once again, this time clearing the pile of demons on the floor. Both of the demon linebackers are on their feet too quickly, charging me as if their only goal is to prevent me from scoring a touchdown. Thankful, at least in this specific moment, for my newly thinned out much leaner frame, I swivel around like a ballerina dancer, avoiding their sack and taking one more leap to where my prize awaits.
Snatching the base of the torch from the wall, I turn to face my attackers. The minion has run off, probably to go get backup, so I have to work quickly. A little voice tells me I could just touch each of these beings and rip their energy from them in a blink of an eye, but the fire in my hands gives me enough confidence in my plan that I resist the all too powerful urge. Waving the torch from side to side, I back towards the opposite end of the cavern, towards where I can feel Chance is so close I even think I hear him calling for me. Both demons stop short, the fire making them hesitate like I hoped. Still, they aren’t the brightest, more muscle than anything, and I notice the second they decide to come for me, probably assuming they can get to me before I do any real damage to them. They’re probably right
.
I push the torch out further in their direction, gasping when I feel some of my stored energy leave my body, travel down the stick in my hand, growing the flames until they are shooting out like a little handheld bonfire. Holy fucking smores, batman! I can manipulate fucking fire!? The flames grow larger in both size and intensity, sending my attackers running in the opposite direction from me, deep wallowing noises coming from their throats. I have no idea how I just did that, but add it to the list of shit I need answers to. This whole goddess thing is both the most badass and equally most terrifying thing that has ever happened to me. Fucking fire, man.
While my brain tries oh-so-hard to accept yet another severe revelation, the flames from the torch recede back to the smaller fire at their own will. I think. Maybe I did that? Hell if I know at this point.
Okay, strong and agile, check. Fast, check. Able to flame-on Johnny Storm style, also check. I need to hurry up and get to Chance before I start turning invisible or green from anger. Too much superhero, not enough super control makes for an exhausting night and it feels like I’ve only just started.
29