by JP Vasha
Inhaling and exhaling, I felt more than I'd ever felt before, stretching my senses thin as I sought for other new, fascinating findings. I felt the ants walking from one part to another, felt the insects buried deep in the ground, and suddenly, a new presence appeared to my senses, as earthy as Mike, but much more than that.
Mate, a voice that wasn't entirely mine whispered in my mind. Mate...
I gasped, realizing that Zack was back. My hearing sense dimmed, but I could hear voices talking. Then I felt something different than everything else. Something that sang to my every sense, to every fiber of my being. Tingles licked at my skin, turning me hypersensitive to the wind, to the feelings of life around me, and this thing, this thing that was calling out to me, it wasn't life. It was something different, something much more powerful, something that my soul yearned for.
It was death. And this death made me feel heady.
For a moment, I didn't realize what was happening. Then a surge of pure, undiluted power took me under, making every nerve ending in my body stand. I wanted to reach this dead thing. I wanted to feel for it, take it in my mental palms, carry it back so it could join the life all around me.
Something brushed against my fingers, something soft and wet, thick with what I could now smell as the iron stench of blood. It called me, louder than before, and this specific sense swallowed everything else. I couldn't see, couldn't hear, couldn't even smell anymore, as I became a being of this weird, powerful sense alone.
Finding a source deep inside me, nothing physical and everything mental, I instinctively knew what to do. Sucking in a breath, I simply draw something from that source. That something gave me an almost euphoric feeling; it was what I'd been meant to do. I knew it as well as I knew my own name. I draw from it, draw and draw, and suddenly darkness filled everything, and in this darkness, I searched for what called to me, for what belonged to the thing the brushed my fingers.
I found it in the form of small light ball, mentally speaking. It was nothing physical. It was nothing like I'd ever seen before. Feeling something unlocking deep inside me, I called for it, beckoned it forward, towards me. It responded, timidly at first, more determinedly next. I reached with a figurative hand towards it and dragged it towards to me, to where life was, to where it should return, to where I could take it back.
I felt it the moment the light ball – the soul, I now knew – made it back to its true body. The thing that unlocked deep inside of me clicked shut, and suddenly my head hit the ground and my cheek burned. My eyes were open, I realized, and my body was entire numb. I was also lying motionlessly on the earth, the sky taking on a darker note than before, the sky of dusk, even though just a few moments ago it was noon.
Not realizing what was happening and unable to move any part of my body, I averted my eyes from the sky and sideways. Next to me was a small gray bunny, looking at me with ominously lucid eyes. It stared at me, standing rigidly, before it made a suddenly squeaky voice and fled, running to where I couldn't see it anymore.
Blinking in a haze, I turned to look at the people around me, the sense that had been opened just a few seconds ago now closed again, and saw a sight I would never forget. Mike was standing, his nails transformed into wolfish claws; Zack, now back in human shape and dressed in new clothes, stared at me in both fascination and horror, posed to attack; Kimberly stood before the two, his hand raised as if to hold them back, his eyes shuttered with pure sadness; and behind the three stood Eve, her eyes round with unguarded shock and purple in color, next to her was Ralph, growling deep in his throat, and with them stood three more werewolves I didn't recognize, face grim and also positioned in a war form of an arrow, ready to strike at a moment's notice.
In my head, I heard agonized sobbing. Khloe? I asked, scared. Khloe never cried. She never so much as felt something to a certain extent. I didn't even know it was possible to cry as a disembodied soul.
She didn't answer for a long, heart-stopping moment, and when she did, my blood ran cold. You're a monster, Carla, she whispered, her voice quivering. You're an evil monster laying in wait. Your magic is unnatural. You're truly an abomination. I don't you in my head. I don't want anything to do with you. Get out. Get out of my body. Get out of my life. Get out of this place and go crawl back to the shithole of the underworld, you fucking monster!
A vicious inner strike was all the warning I had before Khloe regained possession of her body I was shoved back to the corner of her psyche.
Chapter Fourteen
It was immediately obvious to me what was wrong when I opened my mental eyes and looked around me. The trees, the grass, every greenery in my area had wilted to the point it wasn't even just brown and weak, the plants were practically crumbling. But while that was slightly strange to watch, I guessed the reason for the extreme reaction was something else.
And I was right when Kimberly ventured a step forward. "Khloe," he greeted, breaking the awful silence around us, "why did you shove Carla back? We need to speak to her."
"I won't let you," Khloe's voice was numb, almost lifeless. She was also still sprawled on the earth, cheek burning, body weak not just due to the magic extraction, but because we changed souls for the third time today. "She's a monster. I'm going to make sure she's locked inside my head until we find a way to exorcise her evil spirit."
A growl rose from the crowd, and I realized that Zack took a few steps towards us. "You will not talk about my mate this way," he snarled, eyes flashing brilliant silver, "even if what she's done is the freakiest thing I've ever seen, you have no right to call her a monster."
Mike's protective instinct were immediately brought to the surface as he stepped to stand in front of the Beta. "Don't use this tone with my mate," he barked, eyes growing neon-blue, the wolf ready to jump out of his skin.
"Enough," Kimberly's soft voice was full of ancient command that both males froze at once. When the Deity turned to us again, I suddenly felt his presence next to mine. Carla, he spoke gently, what do you remember of what happened?
Kimberly, I whispered back, finding my mental voice shaking. I... I don't know. I felt the life around me like you've told me, I meditated to the best of my abilities, and when I felt the death in the midst of all this life, I've done everything in my power to make sure the death was no more and bring the thing back to life. My voice became frantic, almost panicking. Why do everyone act like this? What have I done? Why Khloe hates me?
The Deity sighed in my mind, and it was a sad sound that made me psychically shiver. I suspected something regarding the working mechanism of Necromancy yet I needed my theory confirmed, which is why I said nothing. But let me share this information with everyone before I reach to a false conclusion.
He was out of Khloe's head and when I looked, I saw that he was motioning to everyone to stop posing aggressively. They listened to him and stepped forward, breaking formation. Mike gave Khloe a hand and she took it weakly. Rising to her feet, he put an arm around her waist to steady her, and she leaned against him without question, too tired to protest.
Kimberly began once he had everyone's attention. "I had my suspicions before," he said, "but I said nothing until we confirmed Carla had Necromancy."
Eve stepped forward, ignoring Ralph's eye-twitch of annoyance at putting any distance from him at the moment. "I think I grasped the idea," she said, looking at Khloe cautiously. "Life for a life."
All faces darkened at that, and I understood what they were trying to say, despite being a novice at this whole magic stuff. I'd read once in a book that the natural order was for dead things to remain dead. I was guessing that if you resurrected something dead back to life, there was some sort of penalty both on the Necromancer and the things closest to him.
"You're right," Khloe suddenly spoke, voice dripping venom despite her weak state. "When you resurrected the fucking bunny, I felt it when you draw power not just from the living things around you, but you draw it from my mate, from your own mate, and from a freaking Deity. And if
that's not enough," he voice rose in rage, "you draw power from me and from detached, innocent wolf! You know who's the only one who remained untouched by your satanic powers?" The answer came with a disgusted spit. "You."
It was too fucked to comprehend, yet my numb coherence forced myself to swallow the bitter pill. I... I draw powers from people to raise just a bunny back to life?
Eve had probably been eavesdropping into Khloe's mind, because she heard my question and grimaced. "Not just the people who were in the yard. You may not have done it consciously, but your power spread so wide, it sought everyone in the Pack House. Had it not been for me throwing a telepathic shield around all those minds, including my own, you might've drawn from us and maybe even sucked us dry."
When she said that, when she told me the power I'd felt, the beauty of it all, the almost drunk feeling that filled me up at being able to do something more, something powerful in my empty, hollow life, was in fact a parasite kind of magic, a magical leech, I felt like I was back to square one. Heck, it wasn't even square one. I felt like I was back in the void.
And I knew what needed to be done now. We need to go to Amarillo ASAP. We need to speak to my parents, see if they know anything, and we need to gather what remains of my body, because this drama needs to end. Now.
"I agree," Eve nodded and turned to the others. "We need to arrange for a trip to Amarillo by tomorrow morning. Carla is on board with trying to find a way to resurrect her body. What are your thoughts, Kim?"
The Deity nodded gravelly. "That's just what I thought we ought to do. In the end, all the answers lie back in the place of Carla's supposed birth and ominous death. But," he grimaced, "there is still the problem with her being dead for three years and her body being nothing but ashes."
According to what he'd said before, it was only possible to resurrect someone as long as the body was still a body, even if the body was that of a Necromancer. He said, however, that since Demonomancers were so rare, no one knew if this rule applied to them. Is it possible I'm a Demonomancer?
Kimberly smiled a little sadly. "I cannot know for sure, Carla," he said. "You have an unusual amount of powers, that's for sure, but whether your Necromancy can be leveled up into Demonomancy... I do not know."
Zack suddenly stepped forward, looking into Khloe's eyes and searching for mine. "What about what you said?" he said, eyes wild with barely tamed emotions. "What about not wanting to find your body, not wanting to return to that body?"
I mentally flinched at the rage in his voice. Khloe, I begged silently, I know you hate me right now, but please tell him that I made this decision because... being selfish right now is the worst thing I can ever do.
Khloe snorted at that. "Your stupid mate," she told Zack, "says that she wants to be selfless. As if she could," a growl rose in her throat and she clenched her hold on Mike. "I know that if she really could, she would've made sure me and my wolf were out of this body so it could be hers only. She's that much of a bitch."
"Khloe," Mike's voice was low, warning. "You're the one who's acting like a bitch right now. Carla is not a fault for what she's done, for any of what she's done. You need to cut her some slack."
Khloe's eyes snapped to her mate's, wide with utter disbelief. "You take her side instead of mine?" she asked, voice rising with fury. "How dare you, Mike Fox! How dare you think that Carla is so good hearted or whatnot when she's a raving bitch who wanted nothing but to suck my life away and have full possession over my body – "
"Do you hear yourself?" Mike was suddenly grabbing Khloe's chin in a firm grip, his eyes narrowed. "Do you listen to the bullshit that comes out of your mouth? Just a few hours ago you were in perfectly good terms with Carla. I even suspect she's one of the few who you actually considered friends, and that's how you act after she's done only what she's been told with no malice in her intentions, despite what truly happened?"
Something seemed to snap in Khloe's head because she was suddenly yelling, something she'd never done before. "You don't understand anything!" she struggled in his hold and he finally let her go, eyes wide and alarmed. "You don't understand a freaking thing! I'm sick and tired of people lying to me and betraying me after I actually give them my trust, and Carla is no fucking different! How do you think I feel that my first friend in forever has such monstrous powers she can barely control as long as she's inside my own freaking head? How do you think I felt when Roy made me believe I was his everything and then screwed my sister behind my back? How do you think I felt when my family pretended to love me, to pamper me with everything I wanted, when in fact they're all empty shells who wanted nothing to do with me, who acted like the accident child I was?!
"Let me tell you all how I truly died," Khloe was crying now, tears of rage and fury, while everyone stood there, stunned at her outburst. "After I saw Roy, the only boy I've ever loved, fucking my sister, I wanted him gone of my life. But Roy still persisted, still wanted to be with me despite having sex with my fucking sister, and like a total moron I let him.
"Next thing I knew he was fucking my mother." Her voice broke, cracking, shaking. "My parents weren't mates. They were simply together. And so they had no problem cheating. My mother slept with my boyfriend, after my sister did, and that was just too much. Everyone in town knew about it, including my own freaking father. My father blamed me for bringing Roy into our family, into our lives, and all of my so-called friends back then excluded me from everything, put a distance between them and the scandal that was me." Her voice rose again. "Everyone regarded me as though it was my fault for letting Roy entering my family's life and messing with it. And when Roy died in a club fight, of course it was my fault, too, for letting him off the leash. As though I had some fucking responsibility to the asshole!"
Khloe broke into a humorless laughter. "So you know what I've done? I had an infinity tattoo put on the lower of my back, for me to remember that forever and always, people would be judgmental assholes no matter how innocent I might've been. Then I tied a rope in the bathroom and hung myself."
Mike backed away from her as though she slapped him. "You committed suicide," he said flatly, eyes shutting out any intruding emotion.
Khloe swayed a little on her legs from her earlier force of rage. "People are bad," she said quietly. "Werewolves or humans or Necromancers or whatnot, people would always put the blame on someone else, would always do what's best for them. I thought Carla was different. I thought she was like me, in a sense, and I was even jealous of her, that she was like a better me. But since we arrived to Lumen, her true nature came out and she left me alone again." Her body turned rigid as her words turned inward, to me. "You're still as selfish and vain as before, and nothing would ever change those two integral aspects of your personality. And now that I know those with absolute surety, I cannot stand to be your friend anymore."
Her knees suddenly buckled and she fell on the floor. "I need rest," she said, before she became utterly weak and blacked out on spot.
When Khloe woke up, it was nighttime and we were back in the guest room. She seemed to be emotionlessly calm, and I was afraid to try and even talk to her, after the words she'd spoken only a few hours ago.
Still, I knew I had to try. Khloe and I had been through the revival together. We weren't perfect, and we were different, but I believed that we still formed some sort of friendship. I was even willing to let the past few days go just to have what had back.
Khloe, I said softly, we need to talk.
No, we don't, she flatly said back.
I sighed. Please, Khloe. I just want to talk everything through before... before we go to Amarillo.
She didn't answer; she just lay on the bed, staring emptily at the ceiling... until we both felt something weird; sparkles appeared before us, purple and green, and while I couldn't feel any ill intentions coming of them, I couldn't sense if they were good, too. Khloe sat up, body rigid, and the sparkles surrounded us, nudging at her skin, poking at her head gently, gauging out for something.
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Then, a voice appeared out of thing air, beckoning. "Come."
Khloe didn't even ask for my opinion as she stood up and followed the echos of the voice out to the corridor, and then to a staircase that led up. She also said nothing as the sparkles danced around us, probably acting by pure curiosity. I was curious too. What was going on?
We reached a door that was cracked open. Khloe pushed and we entered a bedroom not much bigger than our guest room. On the bed sat a girl, about sixteen or so, who had an unmistakable similarity to Eve, with dark hair, almost black, smoothly gliding down her back, a pair of blue eyes with odd golden streaks, and a slim, short body covered with pearly skin which had a beautiful golden undertone. She looked like an odd mix of Eve and Ralph, but she felt to much more ethereal than that, like a Deity.
Khloe stepped forward, suspicious. "You called for me," she said lowly, searching the young girl's face.
The girl smiled such a brilliant smile, I felt blinded. "I... c-called for... the o-other... one." Her speech was slow, moderate, and heavy with an unfamiliar accent.
Khloe's lips pinched. "You want to talk to Carla."
When the sparkles "knocked" on Khloe's skin for permission, Khloe froze. "You want to enter my mind and seek out Carla?" At the girl's slow nod, Khloe sat next to her on the bed and said a little flatly, "Be my guest, then."
Not saying another word, the sparkles disappear and the girl put her palms against Khloe's temples. Without any warning, I felt her plunging into Khloe's mind, searching for me, and when she found the dark mental chamber I was held in, she came to a stop next to me.
Then I felt her speaking right into my own mind. Carla Tierney Mill, the girl said surprisingly clearly, my name is Snow Knox. I'm Eve and Ralph's daughter, and I have a mix of powers inside me, which turned me a mana-bearer. Do you know what mana is?