“No, I still have questions.” Jaycen turned to look at the man that sired her. “Do you know who wrote on the wall today?” She already knew that Darius would know what she was talking about.
Darius shrugged. “Someone that clearly likes you.”
“Why are people still dying? You failed, what more could you possibly want?”
Her new brother snorted. “We didn’t fail. Our plan is still very much in action.”
Now it was Jaycen’s turn to snort. “What happened at the school wasn’t a failure? Are you kidding me? You killed students, and you all got arrested. If ending up in prison isn’t the definition of failure, what is?”
Now her brother didn’t look so smug. “Because of you. You killed our family, you blew our mission.”
Jaycen rolled her eyes. “Mission? Please, you’re a bunch of psychopaths trying to play God, not the military.”
Her brother took a few steps until he was directly in front of her. “Us playing God gave you your magic. You should be thanking us.”
“I didn’t ask for this magic and I don’t want it. It’s not natural,” she spat out, her neck straining from looking up at him.
“You don’t want it? Well, that is mighty fine because they might be taking it all from you anyway.” Darius laughed as he walked over to his bed and picked up a few pieces of paper. “Aren’t you currently under investigation? Aren’t they threatening to take your magic away because they fear you’re too strong?”
“Yes, they are afraid. They’re afraid because they’ve seen you kill kids and other innocent people. They worry what my power will mean and that I might take after your crazy ass.”
Darius shrugged, “It could mean hope, a new start for magic. We are dying. Our magic is dying. I simply gave us another option, another route. And look at how they are treating you. Doesn’t it make you angry? You’ve done nothing Jaycen, and yet you’re being more prosecuted than me, simply, because of who you are.”
Jaycen stood frozen and prayed that Darius couldn’t see her shaking hands. Was she mad? Yes.
The door opened then and Jaycen turned, expecting to see a guard with a gun demanding that she leave the room. Instead, she saw a guy that looked very familiar. It took her a minute to realise it was the man from the coffee shop.
“What?” she mumbled, the pit in her stomach already knowing what was going to happen.
The guy’s eyes skimmed over Jaycen before landing on Darius behind her. “It’s almost time. You ready?”
“Nearly. But first, I want you two to meet. My firstborn and my youngest. Jaycen, meet your oldest brother McKenzie, McKenzie, meet Jaycen.”
He mentioned him by name, Jaycen assessed, noting that the courtesy was not given to her other brother, the third born.
“What is he talking about? What are you getting ready for?” Jaycen asked panicked, her hand already forming a fist and ready to bolt out magic as soon as she needed it.
McKenzie saw it and smiled, a slow knowing smile as he shook his head. “I wouldn’t do that if I was you.”
The other brother moved so he was standing next to McKenzie, the same smug smile on his lips. With them standing so close to each other Jaycen could really look at the two of them. And again, they looked nothing alike. McKenzie was tall and broad, his hair short, while her other brother, the third born was taller and skinnier, his hair longer and wilder.
Just then a loud shrill of an alarm rang out, and the water sprinklers turned on.
“It’s now,” McKenzie ordered, pulled a knife from his pocket, and turned to his brother, sinking the knife deep in his gut.
“Oh my God,” Jaycen screamed, her arm shooting out magic in a hope to push McKenzie away. It didn’t work, in fact, he barely moved.
“What? Wh…?” Her third brother fell back as blood poured from his wound; his face ashen with shock as he held onto McKenzie’s arm as he drove the knife in deeper.
“We need your magic more than you do. Rest well brother.” McKenzie’s arm began to violently shake, but he held on tight, his eyes hardening with intent.
Jaycen stood frozen in her spot as her third brother’s body convulsed on the floor, his blood mixing with the water as the life drained from him. Jaycen literally saw his life leave him, she watched as the colour drained from his face and his skin shrivel up until he was nothing but bone and grey skin.
McKenzie had somehow drained everything from him. He pulled out the blood-soaked knife and lifted it to his mouth, he breathed in deep before running his tongue over the blade and nodded, as if the taste told him something.
Bile rose in her throat until she was unable to hold it back as she bent forward and let it spill out on the floor. She was still gasping for air when Darius spoke, “Come with us, Jaycen. You know now this isn’t the place for you.”
“You killed your son.” She veered up, her head spinning as water ran down her face.
“Yes, we did,” McKenzie said, shaking the knife and letting the rest of the blood fly everywhere. “And now we have to leave. Right now, Darius.”
Jaycen bolted the short difference to McKenzie. She had no idea what she was going to do, all she knew was that if she didn’t stop them now, Darius would somehow get out. And she just couldn’t let that happen.
Her body crashed into his, knocking him over and away from the now completely lifeless body of her former brother.
Jaycen held McKenzie’s hand down, keeping the knife as far away from her as she could while still keeping the upper hand.
“Bad move,” McKenzie gritted out, not even trying to fight back. She frowned down at him, unsure of her next move. Then she saw it out the corner of her eyes, a movement as a hand reached out and took the knife from McKenzie’s hand.
She turned just as Darius lunged the knife into Jaycen’s back. She screamed, her body arching up as Darius put more pressure into her and pushed her forward again.
McKenzie still lay under her, he wasn’t smiling or frowning, but watching her closing as she tried to reach back and pull out the blade. This pain was different from anything she had felt before: it felt as if her insides were being ripped apart. It felt as if the blade had not only cut her deep but was drawing something out of her, something important.
Jaycen swung around, hitting Darius hard around the head, so he staggered back. She pulled herself off McKenzie, she could feel her energy being pulled from her. Jaycen reached back and pulled out the knife, the intense searing pain inside her finally disappearing.
Yet she still felt weak, barely able to even lift her arm.
“What have you done to me?” she breathed in deep and stared down at her hands, they weren’t only shaking but pale, her veins now clearly visible through the clear skin.
“Your magic is a gift, and if you won’t use it then we will,” Darius told her, wincing as he rubbed the side of his head.
McKenzie was stood up now and checking his watch. “Kill her, we have to leave now.”
Darius looked taken back. “Me? I couldn’t possibly. Not my daughter.” He shook his head vigorously. “You do it, and do it fast.”
McKenzie licked his lips.“The blade was in for a while, she’ll probably die on her own if we leave her. But, better safe than sorry.”
He walked over to her slumped body and bent down, so they were eye level.
This was it, Jaycen realised, her body far too weak to protect her. This was how it was going to end. Soon, she’d be a pile of bones like her brother that lay just a meter away.
“This is such a waste,” McKenzie told her, reaching for the dagger, its blade seeming to glow as he dug it into her stomach. And then, Jaycen let the darkness consume her and her pain disappeared.
Chapter 10
In one moment Jaycen was at The Cure, a blade sticking out of her stomach and her magic being dragged out of her. The next she was in the middle of a dark field, the dry grass under her feet as she was marched towards an open fire not too far in the distance. Two men at her side, their
hands on each of her arms.
Was she dead?
She tried to pull away, her escorts’ hands only tightening.
No, this didn’t feel like heaven or even otherworldly. In fact, it felt very, very normal, and real.
“It didn’t have to be this way.” One of them, a large man with a thick beard told her. His voice holding a slight accent that Jaycen couldn’t place.
It didn’t? What’s ending? She tried to ask just that but couldn’t. No matter what she tried to do, she couldn’t. No matter how hard she tried, her body would not comply with her mind, as if they were completely separate.
What the hell had Darius and McKenzie done to her?
Or was this just what happened when you are close to death? She had no idea. All Jaycen knew was that she was cold and confused.
“I suppose it had been fated for so long. This is the only way it could end.” The voice that came from Jaycen’s lips wasn’t her own, it sounded older and deeper.
It was like Jaycen was watching a play but from the actor’s eyes. A play where she had no idea what was happening.
They had just reached the open fire when a woman stepped forward, her pretty face illuminated by the flames.
She didn’t greet them, which Jaycen thought was kind of rude, in fact, for a good minute no one spoke. They all just stared at each other, with nobody blinking. If she could have, now would have been a great time to make a joke, but she couldn’t, so the moment passed.
“This ends tonight,” the pretty smaller woman finally said, holding out her hand and aiming it at Jaycen.
What ends tonight? Jaycen wanted to ask, the suspense was truly killing her.
She could feel the woman’s magic as it wrapped around her like a hand. Her magic feeling so real, so lifelike as it pushed her to her knees.
“You think it’s that easy to get rid of me?” Instantly she lifted her bound hands, at the woman in front of her, a familiar burn in the pit of Jaycen’s stomach, and she knew very well. This woman had been trying to conjure up magic, but, absolutely nothing happened. Not a spark or a flicker or anything. Jaycen could feel panic start to rise as she stared down at her now shaky hands.
“The ropes have bound your powers. I know you’re too strong for us with your magic, so this really was the only way.”
Instead of answering the woman directly, she turned to the man with the beard, a man who stared straight ahead, even when she spoke to him directly. “You bound me?” The sound of betrayal so clear in her worlds, the man couldn’t look down and meet her gaze.
“I’m sorry,” he mumbled, shaking his head. “I’m, so, so sorry.”
“No, but you will be. You’re not only betraying me here but yourself. You know this is wrong, you know it.”
“He knows what must be done.” The smaller woman spoke for him, her voice stronger and more assured than it had been a second ago.
“You say that now, but you will all burn in hell for your betrayal. For murdering your own kin,” she spat out the words in disgust.
It was then that Jaycen noticed the people around her, the bodies emerging from the darkness like shadows. They closed in fast, surrounding her in a circle with their hands held and ready to cast a spell.
And now the fear hit. Jaycen wasn’t sure if it was her own emotions or that of the bodies she was in but the fear was almost paralysing. They were in trouble.
She looked around desperately but quickly realised there was no way out. And even if she could get out, where would she go? She had no idea where they were, but she could feel the rough dry grass under her knees. A field maybe? All she knew was that everything was dark and cold, her attackers were shielded from the weather by their hooded cloaks, Jaycen was left bare in a light flimsy cotton dress. A white cotton dress that Jaycen knew was from not her time. She felt like that should have been significant, but in reality, it was just another piece to a very confusing puzzle.
“No Isabella, it is you that will burn,” a woman from the circle answered.
Jaycen looked up and into the eyes of one of her attackers, the younger woman’s eyes glistening with tears which she wiped away before they would spill onto her cheeks.
Isabella? Jaycen thought, looking down at her body. It was taller than her own and slimmer. Jaycen fixated on the hair. Its long strands shining from the fire torches light, its dark red strands thick even in the dull light shiny and the name sounding very similar.
“Your silence solidifies your guilt. I’m sorry, but you will burn in hell for all eternity.” The woman was openly crying now as she lifted her hand, the others following as they cast their spell.
“No!” Jaycen screamed as the magic hit their body, engulfing her in flames. She screamed, and kicked, her body flying backward. Pain. That was all she felt. Excruciating pain.
The people around her all just watched, no one moving to help.
“Help me! Please!” She rolled on the ground desperately, the flames only getting bigger and burning deeper.
“Oh my God, someone grab her, hold her still. We need to get her into surgery now.”
And with those words, the burning disappeared. A pain was still there, an excruciating pain concentrated in one place, her stomach.
“I’m putting pressure onto the wound, she’s bleeding out.”
Noise. That was all Jaycen could hear, a mass of voices that she was too weak to try and decipher who was who.
She had no idea where they were, one thing she knew for sure was that they were moving. She could feel a breeze on her face as her body was moved with speed, where or why, she had no idea.
Because right now all she could feel was the darkness trying to pull her back in, and she welcomed it. At least then the pain would stop. But she couldn’t let it, not yet, she needed to warn them all about Darius.
Her eyes were too heavy to open, no matter how hard she tried. So, she focused on her lips, she put whatever energy she had left into just trying to make them move just a little.
“Dar…” And that was all she got.
“Wait, did you see that? Oh my God. I think we’re losing her. Move quicker.”
She could feel a hand on her hair, pushing it away from her face. “Stay with me, please Jaycen. Stay.”
And those sweet words were the last that Jaycen could concentrate on before she passed out.
************
Benedict
Benedict had been in a meeting with Edemur when the sprinklers went off.
But while Edemur brushed it off as “There better not be a bloody fire again.” As he scooped paperwork off his desk and into his briefcase, Benedict was already making his way to the door.
“No, not a fire. Call security and have every entrance sealed off, no one leaves,” he instructed, only briefly stopping at the door as Edemur contemplated what Benedict was saying. Maybe even contemplating denying him. He had every right; Benedict was in no way his senior.
“I can’t seal off doors in the middle of the fire drill, Benedict, that’s insane and dangerous. There could be a fire.”
Benedict shook his head. “Have every security camera in this place looked at, I will guarantee you they won’t find a fire.”
Whatever it was that Edemur needed to work through in his head must have happened as he nodded and reached for his desk phone, looking uneasy as he mumbled, “Right.”
Benedict left the office, the crowds of people all walking against him as they tried to leave the building. Guards were stood around, none of them looking like they had any clue what was happening.
“You there,” Benedict shouted over the mass hysteria and pointed to one of the guards.
He looked up, his mouth falling open when he realised who it was that was shouting him.
“I want everything in this crowd checked, do you hear me? Don’t let anyone leave this building without checking their ID first.”
“Ermmm,” was all he got back. Benedict didn’t have time to clarify his instructions anymore. He broke out i
nto a run, shouting at people to move before he pushed them over, the sprinkles and alarm still causing fear as witches and warlocks hurried to their nearest exit.
Benedict slowed when he reached the end of the corridor where he knew Darius was being kept. His breath hitched at the two unconscious guards that lay outside. He was about to attend to one of the guards when he saw Thornton run out of the room Darius had been kept in, his face stricken with fear.
“Benedict, Benedict,” he shouted, tears filling his eyes, “Jaycen’s been stabbed. Please, I don’t know what to do, there’s so much blood.”
A fight, now that Benedict had been ready for. But not this, never this. He followed Thornton into the room, Jaycen’s motionless body slumped against the wall, another body, clearly diseased, lay maybe a meter away.
“Call an ambulance now. We’re losing her.” Benedict knelt next to Jaycen’s bleeding body, his hands pressed into her wound, trying in vain to stop the bleeding. With each drop of blood that she lost; Benedict could see the life leaving her body. Her face looked sunken; her eyes glazed over. This couldn’t be it, he thought, completely panicked. This could not be the way it all ended.
Thornton was next to him, a phone in his hand as he dialed nine-one-one.
“Help! Somebody help!” Benedict shouted out, praying someone passing would hear him, his eyes leaving Jaycen’s face for the first time to look over at the corpse in the room. The body, that could have only been killed no more than an hour before, was now nothing but bones and grey skin. The person hadn’t merely been killed but drained. Their life force had been completely sucked out of them leaving nothing behind.
And that was when it all clicked into place.
“Oh, God.” He focused back on Jaycen before screaming out. “Get Azrael. Get him now!”
Thornton nodded, and without a second’s hesitation, he stood and ran out of the room. While still keeping as much pressure on Jaycen’s wound as he could, Benedict held out his hand so he was looking at his palm, he muttered a spell until a cut formed and it was dripping with blood. Carefully, he put that hand over Jaycen’s wound and pressed down hard.
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