The Forever Girl

by Immortal Ink Publishing, LLC

  Dark circles underlined Charles’ eyes. “You’re alive,” he said, his voice barely a whisper.

  Adrian closed the cell’s back entrance. When Ophelia released me, I ran to Charles and hugged him, sinking into his arms.

  “You shouldn’t have come,” he murmured against my hair. “Are you all right?”

  I nodded, but I didn’t know if or when I’d be right again. I just wanted to go home.

  He held me at arm’s length, his dark eyes brimming with regret. “We need to leave.”

  I followed his gaze to the end of the passage, where Ophelia stood between two children, waving for us to follow.

  The children were almost identical, save for their opposing genders. Both were no older than six or seven, with the same black hair—the girl’s long, and the boy’s short—and the same pale skin. Their black button eyes fixated on me. I tried not to stare as we hurried to the Liettes’ cell.

  “Go without us,” Charles’ mom said when we arrived. “Protect the children.”

  Charles shook his head. “We didn’t go through all this to leave you two behind.”

  Henry dipped his head forward to look past his wife. “Son, listen to your mother. We’ll never make it—not now.”

  Charles stormed into the room and lifted Valeria. She looked even younger tonight, a tiny slip of a woman draped over her son’s arms. He glared at Adrian. “Are you going to help, or not?”

  Henry waved his hand, as if to ward off any help, and wobbled to his feet.

  Valeria’s darkly-tanned skin had paled, and her auburn hair had lost all its bounce and luster. Henry’s skin had turned sallow. Almost translucent.

  We wove through the passage until we reached a stairway leading up to a set of double doors.

  “I can guide ye no further,” Ophelia said. “There’ll be a car waiting outside the cemetery walls.”

  “Thank you,” I whispered.

  Her ice-blue eyes locked on mine, a hopeful but uncertain smile touching her lips. “Your battle will not end ‘ere. Now, go on. Up the stairs wit’ ye.”

  She disappeared down another passage. Adrian and Henry opened the doors and Charles started up the stairs, his mom still in his arms.

  Each child took one of my hands. “It’s okay, Sophia,” they said.

  I wanted to shrink back at the sound of their voices, at the way they spoke together. How did they know my name? I couldn’t hear their thoughts—were they human? What were they doing here?

  Shoving my questions aside, I followed Charles up the stairs. None of us knew which way to go once we stepped through those doors. Light from the passages faded behind us. The open doors at the top of the steps were an aperture for moonlight, and we stepped outside. Every direction looked the same, the cemetery’s borders nowhere in sight.

  Adrian turned to the group. “Follow me and be prepared. If Marcus shows, take him out first. He’ll disable Sophia otherwise.”

  Charles set Valeria down. Dead leaves crunched underfoot, the sound unrealistically loud in my ears. Thoughts from different members of the Council mingled with my own. They were close. Watching us. Marcus must have been too far away to overpower my abilities.

  I scanned the area for a weapon—something to use other than my mind. A thick branch rested against a headstone a few feet away. Lifting my arm, I visualized the branch floating toward me. It flew from the ground into my grasp.

  Circe stepped from the shadows with another young, lanky Cruor at her side. I could just make him out in the limited light. Charles’ friend, Adonis. We’d met on Samhain. He and Circe stood at the forefront of the rest of their group.

  My adrenaline kicked into high gear, and the branch shook in my grasp. Charles, his back to mine, reached behind himself and touched my wrist, stilling my trembles. The Liettes took a protective stance in front of the children, and Adrian stood to the side.

  Circe laughed. “A stick?”

  As she spoke, her mind pushed on mine, sending the usual tingle, but I was already in her thoughts, blocking her effort. I picked up on enough to know we wouldn’t get far if we ran. Circe and her cronies weren’t the only Cruor after us. We had to face them.

  Charles eyed Adonis warily. “You’re part of this?”

  Charles’ mind sped through thoughts so quickly I couldn’t keep up. I severed the connection and focused on Adonis.

  What if they’re wrong? Charles can’t be a … I can’t kill him. What do I do? The girl—his gaze snapped to me—this is all her fault.

  “You don’t have to do this,” I said to him. “You know it’s wrong.”

  Adonis growled. “Don’t talk to me.”

  “Charles saved you, didn’t he?” I asked. “Your maker left you—he turned you and left you with no idea what to do. Charles took you in.”

  “Shut up!”

  Circe stepped forward. “Enough! Adonis, the Council will kill us all if we don’t return them. That is all you need to know.” She softened her expression and locked her eyes on me. Realizing her efforts to influence me had no effect, she grinned. “And you—special, special. They promised you to me.”

  More Cruor swarmed near. My grip tightened around the branch. They didn’t want to kill us—we were worth more alive—but they would if they had to. As far as they were concerned, we were better off dead than out in the world.

  Adonis remained a few steps back. “I’m sorry, Charles. This is law.”

  I snapped the branch in half. The ends were jagged and the branch strong enough to impale the undead. Though I never took my eyes off Circe, I turned my head to Charles and whispered, “You need to shift.”

  “Be careful, Sophia.” He took half of the broken branch from my hand. His body trembled, and I bolted to Adrian’s side. The ground shook. Circe and Adonis paused, unable to pull their gazes from the transformation. Charles’ skin grayed and his form grew.

  Circe lunged forward, casting me a hot, fevered stare. Hatred emanated from her mind and sent a jolt of anger through me, singeing the corners of my control.

  “Back off!” I threw my arms out, sending Adonis and Circe stumbling back.

  She tumbled to the ground, but before I could repeat my defense, she was standing again. An unnatural grin stretched her face. “Nice try.”

  Charles’ tremors turned into loud pops, his transformation nearly complete. I struggled to hold Adonis back by pushing with my mind but only succeeded in slowing his pace.

  Circe’s fangs snapped down, and I staked the branch through her heart. It sunk into her chest cavity as though I had plunged into loose clay. I tugged the branch out, and she staggered back. She coughed up thick, black blood. Black veins branched across her skin. She bit her own wrist and frantically smeared her blood over the wound to no avail. Circe crumbled to the ground, gasping for breath and digging her nails into the soil, until finally her breath sputtered and she fell forward. Her body slowly decomposed. No burst of ash. She’d been a newborn—less than a century old. No wonder she’d been Thalia’s pet.

  Through the spaces in the crowd, I made out Thalia and Callista as they emerged from the steps leading out from beneath the mausoleum. They prowled away from the building, closer to the action. Thalia, wanting to appear strong to the Queen, suppressed the hurt of losing one of her own. Callista pointed and yelled to other Cruor, commanding them to assist the attack.

  The sudden chaos threw Adonis off. He strode forward, radiating anguish.

  “Away! Away!” I said, holding my hands toward him. Nothing happened. My body trembled and a wave of nausea washed over me. Marcus was near. He was disabling my abilities.

  Adrian blocked Adonis’ path. Before Adonis could reach us, something slammed into him. The force of the impact jolted his body forward, his neck snapping instantly. A wooden horn impaled his heart, the tip protruding from his chest and shoving his ribs apart.

  I wobbled back, staring at Adonis’ dangling boots. Charles had taken the form of a rhinoceros. He’d infused with the branch when he was s
hifting. Was that another skill the dual-breeds possessed, or were all Strigoi capable of such things? He lowered the body to the ground and pressed his hoof on Adonis’ leg, crushing the kid into place while he pulled his horn free. Adonis’ torso ripped in half and his body rapidly decayed.

  What the hell just happened?

  Taking in deep gulps of air, I looked up to see Charles: a powerful rhinoceros with a wooden horn, emerald green eyes, and silver-brown, leather-like skin covered in blood. Instinctively, I leaned back, but guilt dug at my heart when I saw the hurt in Charles’ eyes.

  “Silly, silly girl.” Thalia stepped out from the pack, her pale skin glowing in the moonlight.

  Callista strode past her, leaving her behind like an afterthought. “This has gone far enough,” she said, her face unreadable. “Join us or die. We are done playing games.”

  My fear threatened to betray my guise of confidence. Swallowing hard, I lifted my chin and boldly met her gaze, gathering as much energy as possible from the electric current that ran beneath the earth’s surface. “I’d have to be dead to join you, idiot.”

  “Guess she’d rather be dinner,” Thalia said, her voice emotionless and chilling.

  Adrian and Henry sprung forward, tackling her. I motioned for Valeria to run with the children, but she calmly stood her ground. Chills burrowed into my pores, prickling each hair follicle on my arms and the fine hairs of my neck and back.

  Deep lines creased Callista’s forehead, distorting her expression into something nearly inhuman. Animalistic.

  The transformation, a fleeting glimpse of cat-like features that half-deformed her face, faded as quickly as it occurred. Could it be … was she one of the cloaked figures I’d seen outside my window after my positive energy ritual?

  I shook the thought away and said nothing. Her comrades would not believe any accusation that their leader was a dual-breed, nor would it be right to encourage the execution of anyone based on those merits. Not even Callista.

  Callista’s hatred thrummed through her—hatred for the dual-breeds, herself included, and hatred for me that I’d given them my acceptance. An acceptance her father hadn’t shown when his wife’s true nature was revealed through her pregnancy with Callista. He never would have knowingly procreated with a dual-breed, especially not one who was part Strigoi.

  My twinge of sadness passed as more Cruor encircled us, Marcus at their lead. He was trying to disable me—I could sense it—but my blood was rushing through my veins, washing his efforts away. Had I somehow overcome his gift, or was he too preoccupied to focus on me?

  Charles, in his animal form, barreled at him. In the same instant, Callista knocked me to the ground, pinning me. Wind rushed from my lungs, and I gasped for air.

  I drove my knee hard into Callista’s stomach, surprising us both with my strength. Callista howled and yanked my hair, struggling to get her face close enough to bite me. She didn’t have any intention of turning me—as a dual-breed, she’d never be able to turn me herself. She merely hoped to drain me to my death.

  With one foot, I rammed at her chest. I gained the advantage long enough to kick her several times in the face. Pain shot through my ankle, but I kept kicking. Black blood oozed from her nose, and she tripped backward.

  I stared in disbelief. Was this part of being an elemental? Were even the mortal elementals capable of advanced strength and speed?

  I scrambled across the cemetery ground, my body heavy with exhaustion. I stumbled, and my jaw crashed into the soil. Dirt pressed against my lips, gritty on my tongue and teeth. I spat and lifted a wrist to wipe my mouth.

  A male Cruor grabbed me. I clung to a gravestone, trying to kick him away. Charles, now in human form and dressed only in someone else’s pants, appeared behind my captor. Though bleeding at the shoulder, he drove a stake through my attacker’s back, into the heart. The body of the ancient Cruor fell on top of me before shattering into a pile of dust. Vomit lurched up my esophagus, burning and bitter.

  Charles tossed me the stake. He didn’t say anything, just gave me an empty look. As another Cruor charged at him, he spun around to engage in combat.

  A kick landed to my ribs. Callista. As I lay sprawled across the ground, a second blow struck my cheek, and the side of my face numbed on impact.

  Something wet trickled past my temple. Pain crippled me momentarily, but before Callista could kick again, a sudden energy burst from me, sending her flying over several graves and crashing into a large headstone. She rose to her feet and shook it off, shock siphoning the color from her face.

  Marcus’ head flew past me, exploding into a small cloud of ashes before it could hit the ground. He wasn’t disabling me anymore.

  He wasn’t doing anything anymore.

  The cemetery filled with cries of agony, anguish, and defeat. The movement of those in battle was a blur, but the images streamed clearly in my mind. An electric field domed around me, and I lay there, unmoving.”

  No one approached.

  The world bled away and sound evaporated. Each cry of pain and effort became a dying gasp, as though muffled beneath a pillow. I tilted my head to the side. Charles and Adrian battled three Cruor. The earth elementals seemed to materialize from nowhere. Thalia fought the Liettes, and the children watched, everyone at war around them as if they weren’t even there.

  Pain came to my body in sharp stabs, and the electric dome around me quivered and then disappeared. A Cruor to my right started to pull her way across the soil. Blood dampened her pale blonde hair. Half of her left leg was missing. She crawled over to me, a mindless minion to the very end, and I staked her though her back, into her heart. The dome flickered on again, but just as quickly, it was gone, and I couldn’t recreate it. My powers were on autopilot, and I still had no idea how to control them.

  As Callista stalked toward me again, my vision funneled onto her. The power I emitted slowed her, but my energy was fading. I hefted myself up on a nearby gravestone, pain shuddering through my left ankle. My swollen eye threw off my depth perception.

  I limped toward a heap of sooty clothes I’d seen Marcus wearing earlier. The scent of burnt Cruor flesh hit my nose, and I gagged as I sifted through the items with trembling hands. The matches had to be in one of his pockets.

  Ice spread in my stomach. Something was wrong.

  Thalia approached. Blood soaked her face and streaked her hair. Ashes clung to her clothing and dusted her cheeks and chest. Her eyes sparkled in a way that sent chills up my spine. Behind her, beside Henry’s remains, lay Valeria’s dead body. Her neck was severed three-quarters through.

  A scream roared in my mind. Rage engulfed me, filling me with an unfamiliar darkness. I couldn’t allow the pain to surface, couldn’t accept what I’d seen.

  Fumbling through another one of Marcus’ pockets, I found the box of matches.

  Callista closed in, but my intentions remained fastened on Thalia. I struck a match, tossed it toward her, and held the fire suspended in the air between us. Thalia’s lips curled into a smile as she continued her approach. I encouraged the fire’s growth, the oxygen around us feeding the flame like gasoline to create a fiery sheet.

  A strange sensation gripped me, as though I was an echo of myself, trapped in a tunnel of mirrors, reflecting my image back and forth for eternity. On my command, the sheet of fire swept forward, leaving piles of ash in its wake.

  My strength gathered, and I tossed my hands upward. The flames extinguished into a mist.

  When I turned to scour for more Cruor, Thalia and Callista were headed toward the mausoleum.

  Shit. I’d missed.

  Thalia tossed back a cursory glance, a shadow of alarm on her face.

  Our location had shifted throughout the course of the fight, and a cemetery wall had come into view. The pressure of battle suppressed my ability to orient myself.

  Get away. That was the only thing that mattered. No one from the Council would risk exposure by following us to the city, not now. Not like this.
r />   I spotted Charles and bolted toward him. “We need to go.”

  Hurt etched his features—not a wincing pain, but the weighted expression of loss.

  “I’m sorry,” I barely managed to whisper, so quiet I wasn’t sure I’d really said anything at all. My heart longed to console him, but there was no time.

  I grabbed the hands of the children and ran. Charles hastened after, helping Adrian limp away, their injuries slowing them to a human pace. We reached the cemetery’s wall with a new team of Cruor not far behind.

  “Go, Sophia,” Charles implored.

  Blood flowed from a wound on his shoulder, beaded on his chest hair, and dripped down his stomach. More blood drenched his pants. So much blood—it couldn’t all be his. Please don’t let all this blood be his.

  “I’m not going without you,” I said. No way was he going to underestimate how stubborn I was right now.

  “I can’t—” He leaned against the wall and slid to the ground, pressing his hand over the gash on his shoulder. “Go!”

  I dropped to my knees beside him. He and Adrian were slipping. I scanned the ground. Something sharp, something sharp. Anything. A broken bottle someone must have tossed over the cemetery wall in passing caught my eye, and I used it to cut my forearms. As much as I wanted to save Adrian, I wasn’t about to let him bite me and turn me into a Cruor. Having him feed this way would be safer for both of us. Positioning myself between them, I held the wounds to their mouths. “Drink.”

  Blood trickled onto their lips, but they made no movement.

  “Drink, damn it!”

  Thin red rivers trickled down my arms and dripped from my elbows.

  The Cruor behind us were closing in, trapping us against the stone wall.

  The children placed their hands on my shoulders and began chanting. “Lumen Solis Invicti. Lumen Solis Invicti. Lumen Solis…”

  I looked over my shoulder. As they chanted, a light grew in front of them. No, not in front of them. The light emitted from their bodies. The Cruor started to retreat. Charles, Adrian, and I remained wrapped in shadows as the front of the children’s bodies grew brighter with each spoken word.