Luxor yelped and jumped along in her chair to move away from the stampede of the deal takers, but the girl bumped into her. “A greenhouse? Really?”
“We’ll be supplied and earn the big dollars selling, what more can we ask for?” the girl said, and scrambled after the others.
“As I said, filthy humans,” Bune said and tsked. “Shall we leave this wretched place? You can tell me where the gladius domini paradisum is on our next destination.
Luxor numbly nodded and eyed around for any signs that this was go time. No word was given to instruct on what would be happening or how. The flimsy plan came back to mind. She had three people at her back, but nobody made an appearance.
The rope had dissolved and Luxor clenched her fist and invited her fury. It was easy against Bune, his domineering power and blatant disregard for not only her, but anybody’s well-being had enraged her.
The air was still but she smelt burnt plants, and was positive it was the deal takers already indulging in their products. Bune’s hand inched towards her shoulder, she shut her eyes and expected for help not to arrive when a screeching pierced her ears. Becky’s familiar swooped on in, and almost pecked at his eye, and he stumbled back. Pandora leapt, not giving him a moment to regain his footing, and extended her claws and slashed across his face. She landed and attempted again when Bune held up a palm and swung her across to the other side of the room.
Ayla materialised and enveloped Luxor in the shimmery bubble, and this time she didn’t argue.
“Ayla, what a surprise to see you here, I wonder if the Archangels know you are here?”
“I am Luxor’s guardian angel.” She unfurled her wings, shielding her even further and they took up most of the room.
“Interesting you didn’t answer the question,” he said. “Make this easier, and hand over the sword.”
“Never.” She radiated a stream of baby pink light and shot it through every crevice of the house.
Becky materialised black, thick, and braided rope, and lassoed it around Bune from neck to ankles. She wound her palms in a circle and a black and gaping hole, her knees quivering from the power.
“Ayla, release me,” Luxor said. Ayla waved her hand about, and let her go free. “How do you like being helpless?” she spat and slapped him across the face. His fingers twitched, and a twinkling sounded on the floorboards. Luxor picked up the necklace, and the infusion of the safety of the gems infused her with power and heated up. “Tell Cane to watch his back.” She lay her palms flat against his temples, her veins blazed and coiled, and transferred her angst through her fingertips.
Blood dripped from her nose and ears as she unleashed an ear-splitting screech, rattling the foundation of the house.
“Now!” Becky screamed out, holding Luxor back from snapping his neck. Ayla came to stand behind her and gripped her wrists. “geniti forent pelli.”
Bune grappled, the buttons popping off his jacket as he attempted to hold on but the power of celestial and arcane magic proved too much as he was sucked into the black vortex.
Luxor ended up at The Chalet near midnight with a vague recollection that Ayla had flown her back. Pandora retreated to her room will a simple nod.
For a long while, all four of them had laid back on the filthy ground of the derelict house as if they were stoned. Bune’s name wasn’t mentioned, although Luxor was positive he was on their minds. Where exactly had he gone? How long would he stay away? She was too afraid to ask. Becky seemed to be more powerful than she gave her credit for. The greenhouse had disappeared with Bune, and when the deal takers had taken in their form, they scattered away afraid leaving their stash behind.
“They’ll be back,” Luxor said.
“I hope they will be the only ones,” Pandora whispered.
Deeply tired, but relieved she wasn’t dead, Bune’s insistence she had the sword played on her mind. She wished she could talk to someone about it, but the nights events had shaken their group, and Evie wasn’t in the equation, which left Hunter.
Why does he have to be stubborn? One part of her mind said.
Call him you fool. The other side counteracted.
Luxor wriggled underneath the blanket and made up her mind, the decision removing pressure off her shoulders. Her lids fluttered on the verge of closing when a series of bright lights circled the barn. She groaned as she headed to the balcony and squinted through her telescope out to the distance.
Two shadows.
Without a second thought, she removed her pyjamas and changed into a tracksuit and zipped a hooded jacket over her bra, before tying the laces of her sneakers. After emptying the contents of her backpack, she grabbed her pepper spray, and from the front pocket a knife. She put off the knuckle busters on one hand. She snuck outside, and down the tree, her guard on high alert. Pandora was out surveying the perimeter and Ayla needed to deal with an issue she refused to divulge to anybody.
The lights continued to swirl only brighter. Any plans of a quiet entry were squashed as her sneakers squelched into the mud. Confronting anybody in the dark wasn’t wise, but she wouldn't be made to be weak, or make the same mistake as she made with the people in the alleyway.
Luxor used the torch function on her phone and gripped the handle of the knife hard. The worst situation momentarily entered her mind and she questioned why she didn’t call the police instead. What if she became outnumbered? Or even worse, it was a personal attack. The Chalet was quite the distance from the centre of town and isolated from everything else, there were no roads, only the wretched path to town. She stayed a couple of minutes in case the lights re-emerged but it remained pitch black, and soulless.
Luxor came to her senses and sprinted back, clambering up the tree back in her room, making sure she locked the doors behind her. She felt her way around the room and stumbled as her knee collided with a chair.
From the shadows a large hand grabbed her throat from behind, restricting her movements. Luxor yelped and dropped to the ground, gasping as saliva splattered out.
A scream lodged in her throat, as fingers pressed against her larynx. An arm wrapped around her midsection pulling her up, and flush against a male body. Peppermint breathed on her neck. A distinct aftershave wafted into her nostrils.
No, no, no, not him.
Click plop click plop.
Heels ventured forward, slow and measured prolonging the suspense. The torch from behind was held up to the roof, and light streamed down.
"Hello, Ellie. Long time, no see."
"Verity," Luxor whispered.
Click plop click plop.
Out from the shadows, Verity closed on it, stylish and poised as ever. Clad in black; leather pants with stilettoed, over the knee boots, and a skin tight black top plunging down in a V she channelled Black Widow. They stared at each other, a stand-off, blue eyed sisters reunited in the worst of circumstances.
Luxor’s head was yanked back. Aiden's rough fingers twisted in her hair, and clawed her scalp. His stronghold gripped her midsection, tightening against her ribs. A knee jabbed at her tailbone, and she buckled. His hold was momentarily loosened as he leant down to pick her up again. It gave Luxor time to retract her elbow back, and jabbed him in the ribs.
Aiden doubled over, and groaned. "Still a bitch, Ellie," he growled through gritted teeth, slapping her across the face.
Luxor dropped to her knees, and bit the inside of her cheek, staring at the boy in the middle who had caused the argument. The all-round golden boy of Marsol College. A boy she liked. A boy who assaulted her. A boy who ripped her friendship apart. If only back then she was able to protect herself, not only physically, but from herself.
“I would have gotten your balls but seems you lost them.” She flinched when he attempted to slap her again.
Verity cleared her throat, "No hug for your bestie?" Her large cerulean eyes were framed with impossibly long eyelash extensions, her long blonde hair iron straight and not a hair out of place. Aiden came to her right side, whilst Ve
rity twirled the torch with her left hand. "Wrong side," she barked at him.
"W-what are you doing here?"
"Can't I visit my long-lost sister. I've been looking for you everywhere."
“Aiden, why isn't she comfortable?" Verity clicked her fingers, and indicated towards the chin to the corner.
A chair had been taken from the kitchen positioned at the edge of her bed. Aiden stalked closer to Luxor and she scampered backwards, his mere presence had her breaking out in cold sweat. He clasped both of Luxor's hands in his and dragged her to the chair, pressing his palm against her chest and shoving her back.
"You look stressed, want a drink?" Verity was handed a bottle of vodka, and swigged. Luxor shook her head vehemently and pursed her lips. "That's too bad. We need to celebrate." She swallowed hard, letting out a cough. "Your turn."
Aiden grabbed her jaw, and squeezed, forcing her mouth open. A stream of vodka was poured down her throat, inflaming her insides. She gagged and splattered out, liquid trailing the side of her mouth. She closed her eyes unable to help the tremors overtaking her. Luxor clenched her fists, attempting to tap into her fury, wanting to evoke the bizarre events that always occurred when she was attacked. As hard as she tried nothing happened, instead pain and yearning was infused.
"Oh no, you don't get to close your eyes." Verity slapped her other cheek, her friendship ring digging in. "I want to tell you a story. Are you ready, because it's unbelievable? A few months ago I woke up, bandaged, bruised, broken bones, and pretty much cuts on every part of my body. Do you know how that feels?" She pulled up the sleeves of her top, moving in closer.
"Actually, I do, I wa—"
Verity backhanded her, twisting the chair around so she was sitting on the edge of the bed, face to face. "Did I say you could talk?" More vodka was poured down Luxor's throat, and dribbled down her chin.
"You asked a question," she croaked, pressing a hand to her inflamed cheek.
"Look at me." Verity grabbed her chin, and the sharps tips of her acrylics dug into her skin. "See all these scars?" She pointed up and down her arms. "And these?" She bowed her head a deep scar trailed from the crown of her skull and ran across. She removed her wig, revealing a scar running from one side of her skull to the other. At first the change wasn’t obvious but on closer inspection Luxor could tell every part of her natural beauty had be severely altered. Her nose had also been refined, her cheekbones were higher.
Luxor gasped, receiving another slap. "Don't feel sorry for me."
"I suffered the same," Luxor said, but wanted to swallow back the words. Because of her quick healing, there was not one scratch to even indicated she had ever been injured.
"And yet you're scar-less. I have metal rods in my spine, I'm blind in my right eye, and can hardly feel anything on that side. So, don't you dare tell me you know how it feels."
"How can I have caused all that?"
"I don't know." She gripped her head and winced, replacing her wig. "There's no way it was an earthquake. I saw the newspaper articles, police reports, I heard the rumours but I refused to believe it. I knew you would never hurt me. Things didn't make sense. But now they do." Verity retrieved a black combat knife from her boot, and swirled it about, mere inches from Luxor's face. "Tell me, what exactly did I do that you felt the need to hurt me?"
Luxor tilted her head back, creating a distance before she was cut. "I don't understand what you're talking about? I would never hurt you." She had asked herself, then had repeated to others the very same question. Rope was tied around her wrists, knotted tight as Aiden came up from behind, standing beside Verity.
"Oooh, we playing the dumb card now?" He held a phone in her face.
A Facebook page called Queen Versus Queen flashed. Slowly he scrolled through photos upon photos, post after post going back from Luxor's first altercation at her new school.
Who had set the page up?
Every altercation with Scarlett from the start had been posted, and so had subsequent updates, right from when she wanted a truce after Scarlett had thrown a latte at her at The Hive. The pictures were clear and up close, from somebody who was always around.
"It's quite laughable you still consider yourself a queen. You sure have let yourself go." Verity guzzled more vodka, and screwed up her face. "Where's the girl whose hair was pure perfection, who'd wear makeup, and wouldn't dare wear non designer clothes let alone ones with holes in them? I guess their standards are pretty low. Scarlett is a prime example. She might be mediocre pretty and a total dipshit, but she sure knows how to be a spiteful bitch."
Could Scarlett be behind this? Could her vendetta have spiralled out of control?
"How long have you been here?" Her tongue felt heavy in her mouth.
"Long enough to be sick of this wretched town, but I've been keeping tabs on you. Did you really think a new name would stop me from finding you? Luxor, what a god-awful name." She mock shivered.
She zipped her mouth, processing as hard as her mind could allow. "You really are delusional. I wasn't running away from you. I was forced here. But in the end, it was a blessing to get away from your toxicity and him.”
Verity scoffed. "Oh, what a punishment, a hot as fuck guy chasing after you." Out in public Hunter and her always fought, even the photos weren't any better.
How could Verity figure out the dynamic between us?
"I had nothing to do with this?" Luxor repeated.
"Bullshit," Aiden swore.
"Lies, always lies, Ellie. Was it some set up? You or your boyfriend." She kicked the leg of the chair.
Luxor tore her eyes from the screen. "Boyfriend? Verity, I hadn't met Hunter until I moved here."
Aiden grabbed the back of her hair. "Stop lying, you think I wouldn't recognise the guy who was constantly at the hospital?" he spat, he's eyes wild like a caged animal. "Pretty hard to forget somebody like him." He released her hair, and looked her dead set on as he grabbed her thighs.
"Get your fuckin' hands off me." Her breath hitched and she tried to jerk away, but it only spurned him on further. His thumb circled the inside of her thighs, and lasciviously licked his bottom lip. “Please, stop, please,” her voice cracked.
“I like when you beg,” he said low, and licked the length of her neck.
“Okay Aiden, you’ve had your little fun, we have all night,” she pushed him away. “Prove you weren’t responsible what happened to me.”
“I was in a coma, just like you, except nobody was there when I woke up, not even Meredith, let alone a random guy. Guess who I had? Police guards at my door."
"Told you she'd deny it," Aiden said.
"How the hell would you know? We were at different hospitals asshole."
He snatched the bottle from Verity's hand, and for the first time, doubt crept into her eyes. Taking a swig of vodka, he poured it into Luxor's mouth, until she gagged. "Here’s to good health. Time for the makeover."
She erupted into a coughing fit, and gagged. The room spun on an axis, her vision a series of hazy images. Unable to properly move from the rope, she wriggled around, the chair rocking from side to side on two legs.
"Verity, please," she whimpered, too intoxicated to scream.
Aiden releasing the grip on her throat. "Too bad you can't scream, we would have loved you to. Meredith did too, shame it failed with her."
Despite her fuzzy mind Luxor could comprehend the words.
"Suicide is all the rage, you would have been popular again. Too bad nobody here cares about you." Verity smiled maliciously. Any sense of love they’d shared had been completely eradicated.
"You're wrong," she cried out, her emotions jumbled about. All those around her had flaws, but they cared for her, all in their twisted way. No matter how crazy they made her, they had shared deep moments she'd never experienced with Verity. That's the thing with superficiality, in the end there's no substance.
Verity grabbed Luxor's wrist, and standing behind her, covered her other hand with hers. She press
ed the blade against Luxor's wrist, pausing before shaking her head.
"Not dramatic enough. Aiden help me pull her up," he obeyed with no hesitation.
"Since when were you a lap dog?" Luxor couldn't help but remark.
Verity whispered in her ear. "Don't you know I can make anybody do anything." She brought the knife forward.
Aiden twisted Luxor's hair around in a firm ponytail, tightening his grip. With one foul swoop she sliced it through.
She cackled hysterically twirling the severed ponytail in her hand. More vodka was guzzled between them, before she emptied the rest into Luxor's mouth. Strands of hair trickled at the back of her neck.
Verity's eyes glazed over. "I loved you so much, and you'll never understand how much this kills me." She pricked the tip of the knife into her chest, her hands trembling.
"Please," she begged, her head lolling to the side.
Verity leaned forward and kissed her forehead, a tear trailing down her cheek. "Goodbye sister."
She thrust the knife deep and twisted.
Under an eternal cloud of fog, Luxor dropped from the sky, her screams silent, as a gash of blue blood gurgled from her mouth. She rolled onto her side and gripped onto the patchy grey grass, and lifted her head.
She coughed and a twinge pinched her chest. She placed an palm on the spot and noticed a large knife protruding from there. "Please let this be a hallucination?” She attempted to yank it out except it was firmly lodged.
A croaky chuckle sounded from behind. “Then you’re in for disappointment.”
Luxor slowly turned. A man in his mid-twenties had a rope dangling from his neck and he whipped it about.
"Am I dead?"
"Well you’re not alive," he quipped.
"But how?"
"You tell me. What’s your sin?"
Luxor leaned against a tree for support, only for it to disappear on contact, leaving her to fall flat. She rubbed her head even though she didn't feel anything, it was merely a reflex action. She waved around the area to see if it would pop up again and sure enough it did.
Betrayed: The Chronicles of Luxor Everstone Book Two Page 25