by Nathan Parks
“Lada, who were you talking to?”
“Tori, Silly!” she giggled.
“Tori? Where is she?”
The little girl pointed toward where she had just been standing. “She is right there.”
Zarius knelt down beside her and looked hard at where she was pointing but could see nothing. “Can you still see Tori?”
Lada shook her head. “No, she just went into the other room.”
Leah’s eyes felt like they were going to pop out of her head as she stared hard at the empty space in the middle of the one-room ruins. “Another room?”
“Yup, she is going to find my brother and Legion.”
“GREAT!” Leah threw her hands in the air. “So, what do we do now?”
“Maybe it is time we wake up.”
“Are you kidding me? Leave her and Lano here?”
“I don’t like it either, but how are we supposed to help someone we can’t see, maneuver through something that we cannot understand, and fight an evil that we cannot get to?”
“I don’t know.”
“I can show you,” Lada smiled.
Leah stood pondering. “Remember what Gene said! That there are rare times that we are in the same existence, but nothing looks the same. There is a reason he had the twins come with us! Lada is right; she can show us!”
“How? Look around you, Leah! We are in a small, ruined building with just what you see; and she is going to lead us through rooms that don’t exist?”
“Faith, Zarius . . . faith.”
He shook his head. “Whatever. This should be really interesting.”
◆◆◆
There was an eerie silence surrounding her now. She jumped as a few large spiders crawled past her. As she walked, the building changed. She clearly was in a maze.
“I have to stop and think for a moment. I must face what I have not wanted to face. That is a common theme that keeps coming up. If this is all within my existence, then I should be able to find Legion and Lano with no issue.”
The house began to look familiar; suddenly, it hit her why: “This has turned into our apartment.” She stood in the living room where she and her family had lived, and her Mom had left. There was no furniture, and the walls were still burnt; but the layout was the same. She could see the doorway to the hall that led from the living room to the bedrooms.
She approached it and could see one door that would represent where her parent's bedroom was and one where her bedroom would be. Her mother had locked herself away for so many hours in that bedroom.
Tori felt strength start growing . . . strength and resolve. “Was your speech to Leah and Zarius just a speech, or did you really believe it?” she asked herself out loud.
“Tick tock tick . . . don’t worry about walking quietly and carrying a big stick. We know you are here because we are here,” multiple voices spoke at once.
“I’m here . . . not because you are here, but because I chose to be here! I may not be an Eternal or a Vapor. I may not have any form of supernatural instinct; but what you fail to realize is that, as a human, I understand what it means more than anyone to rise from the bottom and to stand up from off the mat before the bell is rung. You . . . you, Legion, saw someone weak, someone hurting, someone without hope that you desired to control. You were right, then; but you are wrong now.”
She squared her shoulders and began to walk toward the end of the hall with her head held high. “I am Victoria! Today, I forgive my mother. Today, I forgive my parents. Today, I forgive myself. I did not choose this life; but I did choose to continue to allow the pain, anger, and abandonment control who I was. No more. I forgive myself for all of those things; and today, I stand reborn from the ashes of my past into a powerful and victorious woman.”
As she walked past the door that would represent her room, she caught sight of something out of the corner of her eye. She turned and looked. There in the center of the room was Lano.
She wanted to rush to him, but she was cautious. He appeared to be unable to move. His eyes were bloodshot and swollen from crying, and he was breathing heavily. He looked at her, and all she could see was fear! He tried to speak, but all he could do was mouth words. His throat was raw from the crying, and he seemed to not have the strength to get any words formed.
“Are you hurt?” she asked him.
He shook his head.
“Can you move at all?”
He once again shook his head. He tried to speak again, and she put up her hand to stop him. “It’s ok. You don’t have to talk. You are going to be ok.”
“Make the bad monster go away, Tori!” He finally was able to speak the words in a sniffling, heaving, and exhausted voice.
“I will, Lano. I promise.” She did not go up to him or enter the room. She felt that was the very reason Legion had placed the young boy there. She turned and saw a light from under the doorway at the end of the hall. “I will be back, ok? Just try to breathe, and know that you are not alone.”
The little boy nodded his head, acknowledging that he understood, and watched her vanish from the doorway. The closer she got to the door at the end of the hallway, the more her skin felt like it was crawling. She felt itchy, and every breath seemed to be hard to draw in and even harder to exhale.
“Not today, Satan . . . not today!” She laughed a little bit. “I have always wanted to say that and mean it.”
◆◆◆
“Go this way,” Lada said proudly as she led Leah by the hand.
Zarius felt ridiculous. He was pretty sure that two grown Vapors were being led in a game of make-believe by a young girl just old enough to start learning how to write.
“Watch there. There are spiders. I’m not scared of spiders.”
Zarius’ whole body shook as he jumped back. “Are you kidding me?”
“What?” Leah turned around quickly to see what the fuss was all about.
“I actually felt a spider!”
Lada giggled, “I told you!”
Zarius looked around where they had been standing. He rubbed his eyes. Everything started to become fuzzy. “Leah, anything happening to your eyesight?”
She didn’t answer right away because, indeed, her vision was blurring. “I think we are changing views, Zarius.”
Sure enough, what they had been seeing began to fade away; and soon they were standing inside the hallway in which Tori had been when she saw Eden.
“Lada, tell me what do you see around you? Can you touch what you are telling me?”
“Yes!” The little girl touched one of the walls of the hallway. “I’m touching a wall.”
“Ok, and what else do you see?”
“A doorway.” She pointed to the doorway which the teen had taken, leading her into the area that replicated her family’s living room.
“Great job! Give me a high five!”
Little Lada gave Leah a hug instead.
“How can we see it now?”
“I would imagine that Tori is gaining strength in herself. She is opening doorways that only she can open, and now they are stronger to her. Because they are stronger to her, they are stronger here where we are.”
Leah pulled a small, handheld disk out from one of her pockets. She pushed a button on it. There was a noise that came out of it, and it began to glow blue.
“Uh . . . and do I get a cool, little, glowing disk?”
“I want one.” Lada ran over and tried to touch it. Leah pulled it from her quickly.
“You have your wits and blade with which you are clearly experienced. This was a small parting gift that I took from the Sanctum when I left. I guess you could say it is like a supernatural sticky bomb. It should do the trick of taking Legion out.”
“Hope you have an accurate throwing arm, because I am not wanting to get close enough where either of us can reach out and touch him to make sure it sticks.
I also have a strange and bizarre question.”
“What?”
“How do we know t
hat he is going to be all in one place? We already know he was banished once and that a large portion got away, and now we are dealing with that part of him.”
“We don’t.”
“OH . . . now, that is honest and not encouraging at all!”
“Lada, can you do me another huge favor?”
The little girl jumped up and down. “I’m doing good!”
“Yes, you are. You have done the best! So, now it is mine or Zarius’ turn. I need you to stay between us while we are walking. Can you do that?”
Lada immediately obeyed, placing herself between the two Vapors. “Just like this?”
Leah nodded. “Yes, Ma’am . . . just like that.”
She took a deep breath and looked at Zarius. “Well, the good thing is I don’t hear any screams. The bad news is I hear no noise at all. I guess it is time to end this.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Tori’s hand turned the doorknob. She started to push the door open; but as she did, it was yanked from her hand. The door flew off the hinges, and she was pulled into the room. There were arms and hands reaching at her, pulling at her, scratching at her.
Screaming. She had heard it before. It was the same madness that had slammed into her the night she hid inside the back area of the club . . . right before Chad and Serenity had found her. She was not that same girl, though! She had to be strong.
“You are nothing!”
“Oh, Mommy didn’t love you! Mommy left you!”
“You have no real purpose! Everything you touch, everyone you try to love is ruined! It is because of you that others find themselves feeling sick and nauseated!
“You are worthless! You have no real value to anyone for anything!”
“Give up! You have never won! You have even lost at your own life!”
It was madness. She could hardly see anything past the rushing dark creatures into which Legion had broken himself. They were beyond maddening and horrific.
There were qualities that were similar, but each had distinct differences. There were some with eyes that bulged and looked in every direction but straight. Others had long tongues that licked at her face, and the foul breath was more than her stomach could take. Some of the creatures had small bodies but longer arms and legs that seemed to be able to twist and turn almost like tentacles. All their voices were different pitches and tones, but the unifying message was death, evil, and destruction. She could feel skin being torn open, and the pain was so intense that she had to concentrate on not passing out.
She felt her body fall and slam against the floor; and each of the creatures moved backward but did not stop surrounding her. Tears flowed freely, but so did anger. She rolled over and attempted to move her body so that she could stand up.
“Ah, child, did you believe—truly believe—that I, an Ancient One, would be able to be bested by a faint pep talk within your soul?”
She could taste blood filling her mouth and feel it running down her face. Her hands were almost raw meat. There was a gash upon her arm that, without even having to lift her head, she could see within it fatty tissue, torn muscle, and even bone. Every move she made brought waves of agonizing pain. She tried to formulate a thought, but her mind screamed at her to let go and just die. She managed to turn her head so she could see the source of the voice.
There, about two feet away from where she lay, a figure stood. Take the artistic and cinematic renditions of an Ancient vampire, blend it with a charming, demonic Overlord, and dress him in black pants and no shirt . . . one would have the embodiment of Legion.
“Damn!” Blood spattered from her mouth as she spoke, “You are one, ugly dude.”
He squatted down so she could look into his eyes. “You are one, stupid and foolish, young mortal.”
“Was all of this worth it?”
“You did this. This,” he motioned in a sweeping gesture, “is all you. Lano, and what he has experienced . . . that was you. What I will do to the small group of friends who have every intention of destroying me tonight . . . yes, all you. Your own demise, Tori . . . that is also your fault.”
He moved the matted, blood-soaked hair back from her face. He touched his fingers to his lips and tasted the blood that was on them. He listened to her gurgling as she tried to move. He thrived on the anguish of humanity.
“If you even knew half of what I have done through the ages . . . all the names I have gone by and the historical accounts that are written . . . you would have never attempted this madness!”
“Let. . .,” she tried to speak, but she was struggling. It hurt to breathe, and every breath she could hear the rattling in her lungs. “Let . . . Lano . . . go . . . please. He is the . . . innocent one here.”
Legion laughed. “Aren’t they all? Tori, they are all innocent until they are no longer innocent.”
“Let him be, and I will surrender myself to you. You can do whatever it is you wish to do to me.”
He leaned down to where his lips were near her ear. “As tempting as that sounds, what would I use you for now—a loser, a throwaway, one whom no one wants? Even the great Alliance leader, Leah, wanted to discard you. She wanted nothing to do with you. To her, you were the trash, another human that wasn’t worth her time. Now, you lay here, broken. Even your body is no longer a vessel worth my inhabiting.”
“This is not who I am. I am asleep in Eden.”
“You know nothing, do you? Do you not remember being told that what takes place here is very real, Tori? Do you really think that you can experience all of this and that your heap of flesh that you call your body not suffer?”
Legion looked up. “Bring me the boy.”
Several segments of him left the room; but in one breath, they came hurling back through the doorway, smashing against the wall. The room became like a disturbed anthill. It was filled with high-pitched screams, swearing, and an ancient language that Tori could not understand. She could not move to see what was going on, but she sure did recognize the voices.
Through her pain, she laughed, “So, tell me what you are going to do to my small group of friends?” Her words were drowned out by the booming voice of Zarius.
“Greetings . . . I guess, technically, you would be my nephew . . . well, at least one part of you, anyway . . . but since I don’t know which part, it won't bother me too much if I take out all of you!”
He could feel gore covering him as he began to fight, punch, kick, and slash his way into the room. He caught sight of Tori’s mangled body, and it caused an animalistic rage to swell within him.
There were several segments of Legion that had gotten behind him, and he turned to make sure that Lada was safe. He was encouraged when he saw that Leah had moved the little girl behind her as she also sliced her way through the segments of Legion. He tried with all he had to get to Tori; but with each segment he and Leah disposed of, more would break away.
“That blue, glowing thingy you had earlier would be great right now!” he yelled back to Leah.
“I can’t. It would take Tori out, also; and if we are close enough, it would take us out!”
“Well, a lot of good that does us!”
“Is Tori ok?”
“I can’t tell. She looks in bad shape, but I can’t get to her!”
He was pushed back into the hall. He felt pain on his right side, and he looked down and saw a huge gash across his midsection that was opened up pretty well. As he looked up, his eyes went toward the other doorway. He saw Lano inside the other room. “I found the boy!”
“Get him, and I will get to Tori!”
He was surrounded and couldn’t move. He felt pain in every part of his body. There were creatures biting and clawing at his feet, legs, arms . . . well, everywhere! He felt himself being dragged down, so he allowed his body weight to fall into the room where Lano was being held. The boy still could not move.
“Legion has him paralyzed with fear, Leah!”
He reached up to try to touch the boy to reassure him. “If we can
cause a big enough distraction, we may be able to release Legion’s hold on him!”
Leah was trying to make her way into where Tori was; but she was also concerned that Lada would get caught up in the fray of things and become part of the battle or maybe worse: a victim of it.
“Didn’t you have a plan to get the twins out of here if need be?” Zarius yelled out.