by Jen L. Grey
She turns back around her eyes wide. "No, you can't do that."
Hmmm.... is that so? "Why? That would seem to be the safest bet. That way no one gets all four elements."
"You'll implode if you don't get them all, so either way, you're sitting on a death sentence." She raises both hands up and licks her bottom lip. "Haven't you felt unbalanced and almost not in control of your powers at times?"
How does she know that? I haven't told anyone that and figured it was everything going on. It's crazy right now, and my body is still acclimating to everything. "It's the stress and getting use to everything."
"No, it's not." She shakes her head hard and she paces in front of me. "It's your power being unbalanced. If you don't continue to gain all the artifacts, your energy will spike, and you'll implode."
"What?" Why wouldn't anyone tell me this? "The council would have told me this by now."
She bursts out laughing. "Do you think they would?" She takes a few breaths and wipes her eyes. "They don't want you running off more than you already do."
Could that be true? She does kind have a point there. "So, you're saying if I refuse and don't find the third artifact soon, I'll implode."
"Have you had low bouts of magic or overwhelming power surges?" She holds her hands out and some of her power seeps out. "Oh, yes you have and recent. I feel it."
Shit. She's not lying. She's having way too much fun for her to be trying to pull one over on me right now. "So, I'm stuck? I'll have to find all four and then make sure I stay alive."
"Just remember, if you die then you need to say the incantation to send the other two back to their home." She puts her arm down, her eyes glowing from her powers being used.
"They have me right where they want me." Both Damien and the council are still playing me. Dammit, I have to get the upper hand. I'm tired of it being the other way.
"Yes, they are." She looks toward the door and then back at me. "But it's time for me to go. I've come to do what I wanted. Just remember everything that I've said. And make sure that bastard demon doesn't get his hands on them."
My goal is for no one but me to get their hands on them. I don't plan on dying any time soon. "All right, well, uh ... be safe." What do I say to her? It's not like we're friends or anything.
The witch opens the door and sighs when Dax fills the door frame.
I have to give her credit for not startling. "Hey, Dax. What are you doing here?"
His eyes take in the witch and stay. "I'm here to get you. The council was worried about you, especially when the driver reported back that a witch was visiting you."
Great, he somehow did see around me, the little jerk. Next time I'll just thump him on the head. "It's fine she's leaving."
"Bye, Christina." She turns and winks at me. "Remember what I told you." She turns and walks past Dax and disappears down the stairs.
When she's gone, Dax stakes his head and sighs. "What are you doing? That witch has been around for a long time and is powerful. She's dangerous."
He acts as if I don't know that, but I do, all too well. The questions now, is how much of that information can I trust from her?
21
Now that the witch is gone, you'd think I would be relieved, but no. I'm trying to process everything she's told me. Was everything the truth and she's trying to screw Damien over, or does she have ulterior motives as well. I'm thinking there is more than what meets the eyes.
"Hey, we need to go." Dax's large muscular arms are crossed over his white shirt and there seems to be concern in his eyes. "Are you ready?"
That's a good question, but one that's irrelevant. It doesn't matter if I'm ready. "Yeah, I'll be fine. Let me just grab my phone." I turn to get my phone and my power begins to thrum inside me.
Holy crap. This isn't good. It begins thrumming inside me, circling, and increasing in speed. This feels similar to the day I was with Becca, but I was able to maintain it. I try to take deep, steady breathes and ignore it.
When I get to my bed, it flairs even harder, and I fall to my knees onto the carpet.
"Hey." Dax hurries into the apartment and shuts my door. "Are you okay?" He rushes beside me and reaches out to touch me.
"No, don't." I don't want him to touch me, I'm not sure what that will do to him. This is almost like the day they absorbed into me and Charlie got shocked. The white and brown powers merge together, and it feels as if my body is shuddering on the inside. They swirl and twirl inside me and then begin attacking my black reaper magic. It's almost as if it's trying to dominate me all the way through.
"What can I do to help?" Dax tenses beside me and glances around. "I don't know what to do."
Not sure if I can answer I shake my head. "Nothing." I stay on my knees with my head on my bed while the powers surge and fight with one another. Neither one wants to give up. I don't know how long it goes, but after a while my reaper power blends in with the other two. It's almost as if they smashed it into smoke. Once that happens, the power recedes and I'm able to take a deep breath, and raise my head.
"Are you okay?" He's there with a glass of water and hands it to me. "Just tell me something. Did that witch do something to you?"
"No, she didn't." I take a large gulp and smile. I stand and stretch out my back. Shit, how long have I been like that. There is no telling. "She just told me some things I needed to know and that confirmed it."
His forehead creases. "What did she tell you?"
"I'll tell you on the way there." I grab my phone and jacket. I need to take Luke his car back, but it won't be happening today. I feel like shit. "We don't want to make them wait any longer than we already have."
"That sounds fair." He walks over and holds the door open for me and then shuts it.
I turn around and lock it and then we head down the stairs.
At least I know she wasn't lying about my powers being out of balance. Granted, I've been feeling off for a while, but that was way more intense. It almost felt as if someone was trying to override my powers with how they combined and were tearing down my reaper one. But what do I know? All I know is it's getting worse and I need to get the flame before I implode.
He walks over to a black Jeep Cherokee and opens the door for me. "Here you go."
Why is he opening the door for me? I guess it's because I just had an episode, or his parents raised him to be a gentleman. Who knows?
When he climbs in and pulls out of the apartment, he turns to me. "Spill it."
Great, I don't know how much I can trust him, but he needs to know, especially if he's going to be going to Hell with me. There is no telling how often I could do that or when. "Well, she dropped by to tell me a few things and one of which is that I need to find the third element fast because my powers are becoming unbalanced."
"What do you mean, unbalanced?" He shifts gears and turns onto the main road, leading to the mansion.
"It means that my powers are fighting one another, and if I don't get the third element soon, I'll implode." I want to laugh or cry. I'm not sure, but this keeps happening. Shit keeps getting thrown my way and I don't find out the repercussions until later.
The rest of the ride is made in silence. I'm not sure what to make of that. Maybe he already knew and was upset I found out. Who the hell knows?
When we get to the house, he pulls off to the side next to the garage.
He gets out of the car and stands in my way so I can't head to the front door. His dark eyes narrow at me and his hands clench into fists. "How could you be so willing to do something like this?"
Okay, this is sincere. Maybe he didn't know. "First off, I didn't know this would happen with the artifacts. I wouldn't have willingly taken this on if I had." Does he think I'm that crazy? Yes, I want to help our people and even the world, but I do have some self-preservation in there.
"Ugh, you're right. I'm sorry." He moves out of the way and we make our way to the front door. He turns at me and winks. "Just know I've got your back like you had mine.
"
At this point that's all I can ask. That's more than a lot of people have offered, but he's in the hand of the council so I can't trust him which sucks.
We walk down the hall and enter Luke's office. As soon as we are in the door, Luke's up out of his seat and heading my direction.
"Is it true that you had a witch in your apartment?" His breathing is ragged, and his face is a tad white.
"She showed up at my door." What the hell can I do people? She's a witch. She doesn't have to be invited in. "What was I supposed to do?"
He jabs his finger in my direction and grunts. "You cannot be so reckless with your life. This is unacceptable."
"I didn't seek her out." At this point, I'm a broken record. Maybe I should press record, so I don't have to keep going over and over this point. My magic begins stirring deep inside me once again.
"But you turned our driver away and didn't even hide that you weren’t alone." His nostrils flair and his finger is shaking. "Your life is too precious, and you are to take the seat as the next council member. We cannot lose you and our access to the artifacts and have an unbalanced council."
Like back at the apartment, my black reaper magic separates but so does the artifacts. All three different strands of magic are now fighting against one another and it's increasing in strength.
But in his rage, Luke must not see because he continues. "If we lose you, the horrid version of the future we saw exists."
Not able to stand it any longer, I stumble and fall. I stumble and fall to my hands and knees. I’m at the mercy of my powers. A vision fills my head. It's of a black silhouette in hell reaching for the flame. Something pops out and attacks them, but they are so close to the artifact. No, this can't be happening.
When the vision clears, my power has stopped fighting against one another for a minute. I have to get down there now and get it before someone else does. I lean back on my legs and wipe my brow that's now covered in sweat.
"Hey, here. Let me help you up." Dax grabs my arm and helps me stand.
"What just happened?" Luke takes a step toward me and scans me over. "Your magic is all over the place."
"The flame." I clear my throat. It's still hard to speak. "My magic went crazy. I think someone is either heading to Hell or there already there trying to get the artifact. We need to go there now and get it before someone else does. I had a vision."
"All right. Then we will go." He glances around and looks at Dax. "What do we need to take this time?"
"Well, swords and knives would be good." Dax scratches the back of his head. "And water and snacks. Guns weren't helpful because we were in a cave a lot of the time."
"Okay, let me go change and I'll tell the butlers to get us some snacks." He walks over to the wall and opens a side compartment. It flips open with a keypad. He enters numbers and soon a wall flips over. It's filled with swords, knives, and other various weapons. "While I'm gone, have your pick."
"Wait." Does he think he's going with us? "Don't you think you should stay here, and you know... do council things."
"After what happened last time, I will be accompanying you on this journey." He stands there and looks down at me. "You both will need all the help you can get, so here I am."
This is a huge red flag. Granted there is still one artifact left after this, but why is he insistent on going this time, when he wasn't at all last? Also, he's not very upfront about his intentions. I still can't get a read on him. "Why should I trust you? It was your wife after all who tried to take the Earth Element." There, how are you going to address that one?
"You're right." He sighs and slumps his shoulders. "My wife did mess up, but I'm not her. She let her power and influence go to her head and wanted more. I don't. I still respect the position I was given. I want what's best to protect our world and our people."
At least he has the audacity to act humble, but, at the end of the day, I don't get to make this call and we both know it. He does. "Fine, we'll pick out the weapons but don't take long. We need to go. It feels like we need to get down there fast."
"Understood." He hurries out of the room leaving Dax and I alone.
"So, one of the elder's lost their way?" Dax raises an eyebrow and watches me.
That's the first time I've heard it put like that, but yes, she did. That's how the council explains the people who are cast out of the community. They inform us that they lost their way. "Yes, she did and died because of it." I don't know if this is a test or what, but I'm not sugar coating anything.
It's silent for a moment and then he snorts. "Huh. Isn't that ironic." He heads over to the weapons and chooses his favorites. "Come on let's make sure we get some good ones before Luke gets back."
I head over and pick up a large sword similar to what I trained with and a few knives to put around my waist.
"Hey, Christina." Dax walks over and gives me a few super small blades. "Put these somewhere you can get to easy and don't tell Luke. This is just between us, but you'll have them just in case."
Wait... Is he suspicious of Luke as well? Maybe he isn't on his side after all or this is just a play to make me think that.
The door opens and Luke walks back in with jeans on and a black shirt. This is the least formal I've ever seen him, but I'm glad. He can't dress up in a suit or blazer for Hell. He has a backpack on his back, and he grins. "Are you guys ready? We're stocked."
Dax hands him a knife and Luke puts it away.
I come up next to them and picture Hell again and project it out. After just a second, Dax reaches out touching both of us. Soon, we're swirling and making our way down to Hell.
As we touch down, the world around us comes into vision.
"Shit." Dax grumbles and pulls out his sword.
We've landed right in the middle of an area of demons. I turn around and note there are fifteen demons to our three people.
22
My heart races as I take in the demons surrounding us. We struggled with just a handful last time. How the hell are we supposed to get through them and find the flame? This almost seems impossible, but at least we have weapons this time.
The six demons closest to us turn their red eyes on us and let out an ear-piercing shriek, causing the other nine to turn our way.
"Christina, get behind us now." Dax grabs my arm and attempts to tug me behind him.
Oh, hell no. Last time that didn't turn out so well. "Nope, I'm all in this time."
"Now listen here, Dax is here to protect us." Luke takes a step back to where Dax was trying to place me a second ago.
Wow, did he just come down here to supervise the trip? That's not cool or needed. "Both of you shut up." I turn and the demon closest to us is smiling as if he's enjoying us imploding right before his eyes. "If you think Dax is supposed to fight fifteen demons and protect us down here alone, you're wrong and frankly stupid. We are down here as a team and we will all fight together, or we won't make it out with the flame." I take a step toward Luke and raise my chin. "And it will fall in someone else's hands."
Luke's breathing becomes ragged and he looks away from me back to the demons who are now forming a tight circle around us. "Fine, you're right, but you and I have to be more careful."
"Stop the shit." I can't stand this right now. This is why he shouldn't have come. "Down here we are all equals whether you like it or not. So, suck it up and fight." I turn away and grab my sword, pulling it out of its sheath.
"Thank you, but he is right." Dax steps up on the other side, his tone low.
"No, he's not." I glance at him. "You're just as important as anyone else on that council. Don't let them make you think otherwise."
The demon must realize that we are done arguing and it shakes its jerky head. "That was disappointing. I thought you might kill each other." He jerks his head and opens his razor sharp mouth. "That would have been funny to watch, but we will enjoy this maybe even more." He rushes right at me.
Not missing a beat, I lift my sword. Please let us com
e out on top. I need this flame if I'm going to survive.
His eyes zoom in on my neck and his teeth somehow elongate.
So that's how those damn vampire’s teeth do that. They are half demon and human. I guess he's going for my blood maybe hoping to suck out my magic into him.
Anticipating his move, I swing my sword down hard slicing through his neck instead. His black body falls to the ground and dissolves, his existence erased as of this moment.
Now shrieks echo all around us.
"Shit, be ready Luke." Dax glances around us and gets in a fighting stance. "They thought she would be easy to take down. Now they’re all going to attack."
Letting out a sigh, Luke nods. He pulls his sword out and gets prepared.
Then they stop the noise and all fourteen descend on us at one time. Four seem to attack both Dax and Luke, while six of them focus on me.
Okay, I've got this. I sure hope so. I can take six demons. I step out and get in position. I've never done this before, but I figure it doesn't hurt to try. I use my seeker power, but use it to find myself instead. I can see a high-level view of me and what's going on all around me.
A demon in front attempts to hit me in the jaw while one behind me tries to kick my feet out from underneath me. I use their surprise attack and turn it around on them. As I duck, I grab my sword and swing it behind me, jabbing the demon in the eye causing him to evaporate.
"How did you know?" The demon in front of me shrieks.
Does he really think I'm going to tell him? Using his surprise to my advantage, I spin and stab him in the chest where his heart should have been.
Gurgling, he falls and then evaporates.
And then there are four. I spin back around and now the other demons seem to hesitate in their attacks. I have no clue why, but I'll take it.
Not wanting to give them the upper hand, I rush toward one with my sword high.