“We are able to control the light now. We weren’t before but we can now. It still happens, though, just not like it used to.”
“That happens with time when the bond is so complete that the infection doesn’t need to be as strong as it once did.” The doctor responded.
“You are trying to tell me that my feelings for Maddox are based on an infection his father gave me? That’s ridiculous. I love him. It has nothing to do with the fact his father injected me or whatever when I was a kid.”
Dr. Carroll looked as if he felt sorry for her which only angered her more. Her love was real and she knew it. Was it possible she had been infected? Sure of course. Skye wasn’t stupid enough to rule it out but it wasn’t why she wanted Maddox. She wanted him because they were in love.
“I’m sorry. I know this is upsetting. Once the bond is as strong as yours it obviously makes it harder for the infected person to accept the news.” Skye’s eyes went wide with anger. She turned away from him to stop herself from saying something she might possibly regret later. Much later.
“What can be done?” Cloud asked. Skye turned and gave her mother a sharp look.
“Done? Done?” Skye huffed. “I’m not sick and don’t need medicine mom. I’m in love and need everyone to accept that.” Cloud tilted her head slightly and looked at her daughter.
“Please. You are my daughter and I have to ask these questions.” Cloud said softly. Cloud looked back at the doctor. Skye refused to look back to him. He was trying to take her whole world and turn it upside down, again.
“We can’t do anything that wouldn’t harm her.” he said.
“Harm her?” Gary asked protectively standing up. Dr. Carroll put his hands up to show he meant no harm.
“I don’t cause harm, Gary. That’s why there is nothing I can do.”
“But if something could be done what would it be?” Mike asked. Skye felt invisible. Had everyone forgot she was in the room and they were speaking about her? Apparently so.
“She would have to be drained of most of her blood until she was near death. All that would be left would be a small amount of elven blood left inside of her. She would have to have a blood transfusion from a light creature to replenish her blood to make it pure again. The infection would be drained from her and once she saw the demon boy again her feelings for him would be gone.”
Silence filled the room. No one dared to speak or ask any other questions. Skye still couldn’t face them. She didn’t want to know what they were thinking or feeling. She didn’t care. Skye couldn’t process all of her own feelings at this moment so she didn’t care to know theirs.
Gary touched her arm gently making her turn to face him. She shook her head as a warning to not speak. He saw the confusion and pain in her eyes and simply nodded. Skye left the room, unable to talk to any of them at that moment. She went into her room locking the door, shutting the light off and sat in the corner of the room holding her legs to her chest. She was trying to process what the doctor had said and if it really meant anything at all. Her feelings were real. She knew they were. They had to be. They had to be!
Chapter Seven
Skye hadn’t slept at all that night. Not that she had expected to. Her heart and her mind were at war with each other and it was clear that neither of them were willing to give up and neither of them were going to win.
Several people had come to her door throughout the night and tried to speak to her, but she refused to respond. Luckily they all seemed to understand that she needed time and allowed her to have it. Skye knew that there would be questions today. She had a few herself.
Picking herself up off of the floor, she walked to the mirror and frowned. She wiped away the black makeup that had run down her face throughout her crying spells. She looked like the band Kiss after a rough night on stage, or after a night in the sauna. She was tempted to do a glamour spell to make her face presentable but didn’t see the point. They expected a mess and that was exactly what she was. Skye hated to disappoint.
Walking out of her room she half expected it to be guarded by people afraid she might have flipped out at the news. She was happy to see no one was there. In fact the house seemed quite empty for once. It was silent which was unusual. Had she missed the big battle and not even realized it? Skye rolled her eyes at the thought.
Walking into the kitchen Gary and Cloud sat at the counter waiting for her. She knew they were waiting because there was no food or drinks in front of them. Only a closed bottle of water which she knew was for her. Skye walked over and sat at the counter opening the water draining the contents of it quickly. She had been parched from crying all night. It hit her that it was a sweet gesture they had prepared for her. They knew she would need it. Being taken care of was still so unfamiliar to her that it took her a moment to gain her composure.
“So has everyone voted to drain me of all my blood yet?” Skye asked as casually as she could manage. Her voice was still hoarse from all the crying. Cloud sighed at her question. Gary surprised her by laughing.
“No more than we usually vote to drain you.” Skye stuck her tongue out at him. He laughed.
“I’m serious. It had to be a topic of conversation. I’d guess at least one voted for it.” Skye said with her mind instantly thinking of Mike. As much as he would never want her harmed he would just love to get Maddox out of her life and out of her heart, not to mention out of her body. As if reading her thoughts Gary responded.
“Mike asked if Evan could come up with a spell to counteract the infection that wouldn’t harm you. He’s not willing to bleed you though. Besides the fact that could kill you, it would also severely weaken you if the fight comes before you had time to heal.” Gary said, shaming Skye for even thinking for a second that Mike would allow her to be hurt. She knew it was her own feelings of powerlessness against some so-called infection that was driving her to be overly emotional.
“Sorry.” Skye mumbled looking down.
“Skye, your feelings for Maddox may very well be real, but we also have to face the fact that they may be because of what his father did to you. I know you don’t want to face that. I know you love him, but isn’t it better to know if that love is real?” Cloud asked. Skye shook her head.
“I don’t know. I’ve wondered the same thing all night. I’m happy with him. If my feelings for him aren’t real then taking them away will make me feel betrayed by my own heart and body. I would feel so guilty that I wasn’t strong enough to overcome some damn demon infection. Is it better to face that? I can’t say. I don’t think anyone can really say.” Skye reasoned. Gary nodded slightly.
“No one has had to deal with this before so no one has the right to judge you based on your feelings or your decision.” he said.
“Decision?” Skye asked focusing on that word.
“Evan believes he can come up with a spell that would strip any unnatural feelings you have and only leave the real and pure ones behind.” Gary informed her.
“What’s unnatural though? An elf loving a demon? Some would call that unnatural.” Skye quipped.
“You are part demon yourself Skye. It would only make sure that your feelings are your own and not the byproduct of someone else making you feel that way. It wouldn’t make you stop loving Maddox if he is your true love.”
“Dad… I just can’t do it right now.”
“Perhaps you should think about it.” Cloud spoke up.
“No,” Skye said quickly. “I have to worry first about this battle. The fact that I’m a supposed threat to everyone. My missing Nanna and boyfriend. After we deal with the end of the world then we will talk more about me becoming uninfected.” Skye said releasing a deep breath.
“I think that’s wise.” Gary said speaking up. “Why add more emotional turmoil when you need your focus to be on what is ahead?”
“I’ll be distracted by the thought of losing him but I’d rather that still be a possibility over a reality. So let’s stick to the plan of fighting and figuring
out a way to hopefully end this in some sort of peaceful way. Love has to wait.” Skye said with a determined nod of her head.
Skye went back to her room to dress for training. Love had to wait. It was a thought she had her whole life. Love always had to wait. There were many times when she believed that love would never find her. She had always known she was different, some sort of freak.
The boys in school always wanted the popular perfect girls. They didn’t want to taint their relationship with a freak like her. She liked to pretend it didn’t bother her but deep inside it did. She had had crushes on some boys and they didn’t return her feelings. It was a self-esteem crusher for a long time. Now Skye thought perhaps they were never meant to date. Her special blood wouldn’t have made it possible. Maybe on some unconscious deeper level they felt that and that was why they rejected her. It was easier to believe that than she just had always been undesirable.
Skye stood looking in the mirror after she put her workout clothes on. She had a smaller frame but wasn’t frail. Her eyes seemed to shine as if glitter hid behind them making them more attractive. Her long pale hair was beautiful to her. Skye looked at herself and sighed. She supposed she had to be pretty. Normal guys rejected her sure, but over the past few years the supernatural ones with similar blood seemed to want her.
Skye had to admit she still missed her dark makeup. Being stuck in the middle of the mountains she didn’t have a store nearby that would carry her type of cosmetics so she only used it occasionally now. Plus she knew she couldn’t draw attention to herself. For now she was doomed to stay hidden in the mountains as if she were some escaped convict. In a way she felt like one. She just hadn’t yet committed the crime that everyone was accusing her of.
Dismissing the thought of her makeup just as quickly as it came Skye put her hair up. Makeup wouldn’t do her any good anyhow. She was going to be training and by training that meant hitting the ground face first several times and not to mention sweating all during practice. She had never been much of a girlie girl, but she did miss the small things.
Skye walked outside where Evan was waiting for her. Skye was a bit relieved to see no warriors were standing around ready to kick her butt in battle. However, it also made her wonder what Evan had up his sleeve. He was tricky when he wasn’t planning to have her physically taken down.
“Morning beautiful.” he said with a smile. Skye rolled her eyes.
“I know, I’m so sexy right now. Try to contain yourself.” Skye teased back.
“That won’t be hard. You’re not my type.” Evan said with a secret smile. Skye was taken aback at first, letting her insecurities kick in. She realized she didn’t want Evan to like her in that way. A love triangle was enough of a mess and she didn’t want to add any other geometric designs to the problem.
“What is your type? I’ve never seen you date.” Skye inquired.
“That is a secret I’m not willing to share.” Evan replied.
“Wait we are out here so you can train me to defend myself, possibly kill others, not to mention you bring up my sex life, and I can’t know about your lovers? That’s really unfair.”
“I promised to help train you and I am. I never promised to divulge all of my secrets. You’ll get over it. Besides we have training to do and my sex life isn’t part of it.” Skye shook her head at him.
“I’ll figure you out someday Evan. You just wait.” Evan laughed.
“People have been trying to figure me out for years and have yet to do so. Good luck with that. Now focus.” Skye straightened up and nodded. She felt as if she were in front of a drill sergeant and when Evan was in that mindset he was just like one.
“I know Cloud has been teaching you how to heal and you’ve mastered that trait which is great, but there’s another aspect of you that we need to work on. We need to focus on the dark half today. Instead of healing, I want the opposite from you. I want you to drain the life-force from a creature and take it within yourself.” Skye felt herself pale at the words.
“You want me to drain the life out of someone?”
“Yes, to the point where they are teetering on the edge of life and death. To where if you drain too much they will die but if you do not drain enough they will be able to fight back.” Evan’s face showed no sign of kidding and Skye was near to begging him to tell her it was a joke. She knew he wasn’t. He was serious. She had known he would want to focus more on her dark powers, but this was to the extreme.
“If I pull too much I could kill someone.” She voiced her concern.
“True.” he replied seemingly unconcerned.
“That’s crazy! I can’t just practice on someone and HOPE that they survive. I don’t know the full extent of my powers!” Skye nearly screamed in his face. Her voice was shaking from fear of the unknown. Skye knew there was darkness inside of her. The mere thought of using that darkness in such a way terrified her to the point where she was at a loss for words.
Staring at Evan her eyes were wide, fighting the tears that tried to form in her eyes as she shook her head slowly. If she hurt someone badly or even killed them she wasn’t sure she could live with herself. She was having a hard enough time preparing for killing enemies. Never in a million years had she imagined she would have to practice on a friend and possibly kill them. It was too much for her to think about. Evan saw her hands shaking and sighed.
“You will never know the full extent of your own powers if you do not use them. This is why this is necessary.” Skye scoffed at his answer long enough to find her bearings to answer him.
“Who is stupid enough to let me drain them to the point of near death and not know if I could save them or not?” She didn’t have to wait long for her answer.
“That would be me. Although I prefer to think of myself as brave and not stupid if you don’t mind.” Skye immediately shook her head in denial at hearing Kel’s voice.
“No. No. No. No. Just no!” She looked to Evan. “You want me to sacrifice my best friend?”
“Actually we are hoping you save my life. It would really suck to die before I get married and add to the fact that it’s my bestie killing me? Double suckage.” Kel answered for him. Skye turned to her and shook her head.
“I can’t do this. I’ve never done this before Kel. What if it doesn’t work? Then I have to live with the knowledge I killed my best friend?” Skye’s voice became as frantic as she felt Kel grabbed her shoulders to hold her in place.
“I’m banking on the fact that your love for me will keep me alive.” Skye nearly moaned as if in pain.
“I can’t do this. I can’t…”
“Stop thinking you can’t do things just because you haven’t done them before. You have to have confidence in yourself and do this. You have to try and I know you won’t let me down. And just to let you know if you do let me die I’m coming back and haunting your ass every time you try to have sex. I’ll be there to ruin the mood. So if you ever want to get your groove on, you will keep me alive.”
Skye felt the tears fall from her eyes and slowly go down her cheeks. Kel gave her a sympathetic smile and wiped away the violet tears. Kel put her hands on the sides of Skye’s face forcing her to look into her eyes. Skye blinked past the tears into the eyes of her dearest friend.
“You are stronger than you give yourself credit for. We have to do this if we are going to have any chance. You know this, I’m putting my faith in you now put yours in me. I’m strong enough to survive this and you are strong enough to keep me alive. Trust in our love and friendship. Okay?” Kel’s soothing voice helped Skye a lot more than she realized it would have. Skye took a deep breath and managed a nod.
“I love you.” Skye whispered to her friend. Kel smiled.
“That’s what I’m banking on girl.” She kissed Skye’s cheek. “I love you too.” Turning to Evan, Kel gave him a nod. Kel walked over to a tree and sat down in front of it leaning her upper body back against it.
“She needs to be comfortable for this.” Evan e
xplained at Skye’s confused look. “Now are you ready for this?” he asked.
Skye let out a small weak laugh. Was she ready? That was the very question she had been asking herself and she wasn’t sure.
Chapter Eight
Skye stood a few feet in front of Kel with her hands outstretched towards her. Her hands shook as Skye tried to focus on the task at hand. What she was now supposed to do to her friend felt impossible. She felt her insides shaking as badly as her trembling hands were.
Evan instructed her on how to drain Kel’s life from her and Skye heard every word but found a part of herself not wanting to process it. This couldn’t be happening to her. Forced with being the deciding factor if her best friend lived or died. No one should have to ever face such a thing.
The intensity of the moment flowed through her veins. Her body heated and she noticed her skin was glowing bright colors of purple and red. The sight, as beautiful as it was, was also terrifying. It meant her body was ready to drain Kel’s life from her. Her body responded on the most basic level. Survival. She could do nothing to stop it.
Slowly, the light around Skye brightened until it formed a complete circle around her body. It slowly crept across the ground towards Kel’s resting body and enveloped her in its light. Kel gasped lightly at the feeling of warmth washing over her body. It was alluring, seductive, and dangerous.
The light radiated a soothing warmth that made Kel feel peaceful and light headed. She felt connected to Kel on a level she had never experienced before. It was as if Skye was truly exposed and Kel was inside of her soul in that moment. The light wrapped around Kel’s body gently squeezing her.
Skye could no longer think clearly in that moment. She could only feel. She felt Kel’s power and she wanted it. Kel was much stronger than she had ever let on. She rarely used her powers but they were always lingering under her skin, ready to burst forth and become something else, anything else.
Shattered Skye (The Skye Chronicles Book 3) Page 5