by Jennie Dah
My blood flames hotter and I embrace it. I just need to stoke it a little more before it turns to liquid fire in my veins. My blood seems to act as gasoline and pain the match that gets it blazing.
“No wonder you have to snatch a woman off the street so you can have a bride,” I groan and then spit the pool of blood in my mouth in his face when he gets too close. I see Stella’s eyes widen a fraction but turns back to her stony expression.
“Is everything ready for the move to the Bunker?” he asks wiping the blood from his face with a tissue that appears out of thin air.
“Yes Master, everything’s ready,” she stands her back ramrod straight staring over his shoulder.
“I want this whole place gone when we leave,” he says his eyes on me.
“Already done Master,” She shoots a look at me that I ignore. “These place will be blown to smithereens the moment we you leave, Master.”
“No one else can get out?”
“Nobody, Master,” she says huskily. “No one’s powers will work after the self destruct sequence activates.”
“Hmm…” he says looking at me in a way that makes me shudder in revulsion. “Go make sure Snow and the Sentinels are ready to leave in ten minutes, I’ll bring her up.”
“As you wish, Master.” She bows before him before leaving. Fucking asshole.
Hurry up Nicholas. There’s no way I’ll be able to escape a second time if I set foot back in the Bunker. Damn it my face smarts something fierce. Why am I not healing fast? Oh. Yeah, I heal more slowly than other supernatural but ten times faster than humans.
Gah! I hate this. At least now I know why I’m different from both humans and supernatural. Pain rips through me again as I imagine the fear my parents might have felt and how helpless my mother must have been. I swear I’ll kill this bastard with my bare hands when I get the chance.
I feel a spark in my fingers and I grunt holding the fire beneath the surface as he moves close to me and clasp my chin tenderly. He holds my eyes for a few seconds before he leans in closer as if to kiss me but before his lips can touch mine, a thought hits me.
My mother was a witch. Aunt Lucinda! My mouth starts moving and I hear myself speaking in a language I’ve never heard before. The Count’s eyes flare in disbelief and he pushes away from me. My voice grows louder and more confident and I let the flames burst forth. I gasps at how invigorating it is and I roll my neck to the sides popping vertebrae.
I want to teach you something and pay attention carefully, use it only if it absolutely necessary. This is a power blocking spell. If you’re anything like my sister, you’ll get it when you are in danger.
I don’t understand. I’m not a witch like you, so how do you expect me to cast a spell.
Patience little one, the language of the West Witches will come to you.
Okay, if you say so.
Thanks Aunt Lucinda. I met her for the first time at the Bunker. When you meet someone who looks like your carbon copy, there’s gotta be some kind of relation there. I hadn’t believed her at first when she told me I was a witch too like her because my first few days in the supernatural world were not very good. That explains why I didn’t freak when Dr. Snow explained things to me.
“Impossible,” he croaks snapping me back to the present. “How?”
I bring my hands up and they’ve turned to flames again. Cool! My eyes get hazy at the edges and lock on the idiot that has been the cause of all my problems. This bastard killed my entire family. The temperature in the room gets higher but I keep a handle on it not to hurt Ash.
Hang tight baby, we’ll be out of here soon.
“Because I’m my mother’s daughter and the daughter of the most powerful man alive,” I say with a proud smile. “And of course, I’m just wonderful like that.”
I bring my hands together and pour all of my anger into the ball of fire making it even hotter. And just so he’ll know why I’m about to do it, I switch to Ewe, my native tongue. “This one’s for my Nana.”
I watch in satisfaction as I hurl the ball of fire at him and he sails through the air and slam into the wall and I hear the telltale sound of bones cracking. The fire licks at his robe and he screams.
Not enough. I stretch my hands out and send the fire out in a long stream. It engulfs his body and he disappears. The only thing telling me he’s still there is the echoes of his screams and the writhing ball of fire on the ground. I cut off the stream and almost gag at the smell of burning flesh. He waves his hand and water sprinkles from the ceiling.
I laugh only slightly amused. “You think that’s gonna put out years of pent up anger?”
I shake my head at how pathetic he looks on the ground right now. Covered in soot, hair matted to his scalp and badly burned face. His robe is nothing more than a charred rag now. He lies on the floor chest heaving and anger rushes through me.
“Get up and fight me you coward,” I hiss at him sending balls of fire at him.
‘Kafui, we need to go,’ at least she sounds better now.
‘Not before I watch this bastard burn to a crisp.’
‘No we need to go now.’
Just then I hear the sound of feet pounding towards us. Oh shit! I don’t know if I’ll be able to fight off more than one person with this.
“You can’t fucking kill me,” he croaks from the floor.
“Why is that? Because you’re a cockroach?” I quip looking around for a place to hide so I can have a better chance of defending myself.
“You! Arghh!” Sneer face appear in the doorway shooting me a murderous look when he sees the Count on the floor. He grabs his sword and take a step toward me.
My eyes widen in shock when his eyes widen and blood gurgles from his mouth pouring onto the floor. My eyes drop to the shard of glass?—I think it’s glass—protruding from his stomach as he drops to the floor and my heart nearly burst free from my chest when my eyes meet the yellow ones I didn’t think I’ll be seeing anytime soon.
“Nicholas,” I breathe suddenly feeling so damn lethargic.
My fire sizzles out leaving black smoke in its wake. I tilt forward and he’s suddenly there holding me up and I bury my face in his chest breathing him in greedily. He tilts my head up and take my lips in a hard kiss.
I moan, ignoring the sting from my sore lips which has already healed up and I kiss him back harder opening for his tongue. The swipe of his tongue against mine makes me shudder violently and I swear I have a mini orgasm when he kisses me harder his hands trailing down to my ass.
I sigh when his lips move down my neck and he buries his face there and squeeze me to him. I shiver slightly as his breaths hit my skin and I hug him tighter afraid he’ll disappear if I let go. I really need to get myself under control and think of a way to get us out of here.
I listen closely and it total chaos up there. Sickening sounds of bones cracking and flesh being ripped fills my ears and I frown. I guess I was so lost in my own lust for revenge I didn’t realize that something was going on in the building. Cell doors bang open and then it’s like people couldn’t get out fast enough.
“Impossible,” I turn to the man still on the floor as he scrambles away from us until he’s back presses against the wall. His faces pales even further when he locks eyes with Nicholas. “You couldn’t have possibly made it out of that container.”
What is he babbling about now? “Quit your blabbering and allow me to introduce you to Nicholas, my mate.”
I frown when a crackling sound rents the air. My eyes grow to the size of saucers when a long spike of gleaming ice with rough edges and sharp pointy tips appears in his grip.
He moves his hands and I gasp as the thick shard whips thorough the air a total blur and lodges into the Count’s shoulder the very next second making him scream.
Before I can even blink, he throws another spike and into the other shoulder it goes emitting a sickening crunching sound.
What is happening? Have I somehow ended up in the twilight zone?
I thought Nick only had teleportation powers? I look down at Sneer face and the piece of what I’d thought was glass is gone. Damn, this man just gets hotter and hotter. My nipples bead as arousal thrums through me. Now’s really not the time for this kind of ideas but he just look so hot and fierce right now as he stalks over to the man cowering against the wall.
“We need to go this place is giving me the creeps,” Michael’s voice comes from the doorway and I couldn’t help it then, my heart trips in my chest.
He came too. So this is what it feels like to have people you can trust. I love the warm feeling in my stomach.
“Not before I kill this bastard for daring to touch what’s mine,” he grunts and I shudder as that hoarse monotone washes over me. My stomach warms in arousal and my nipples tighten even more. Nick’s head whip to me his nose flaring. He sniffs the air around me and growls moving back to me. My mouth is so dry, my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth at the look of raw desire staring back at me.
“Well we have to go something’s about to happen, I can feel it.”
Michael’s words snap me out of it and in the blink of an eye we all fly through the air and slam into the wall. I groan and roll to my back looking at the ceiling.
Dang it, I didn’t see that coming. Nick appears in front of me and he looks me over worriedly. His eyes are no longer yellow and I think I broke something. I sit up with a wince and Michael rushes over to us and my stomach twist at the look of dread in his eyes.
“You think a little binding spell is gonna stop me,” I turn to the corner and the Count struggles to his feet his eyes turning back to black and red.
Cambion, that’s what he is.
How the hell do I know that? He’s half demon but I think I remember him saying he was a phoenix. What the hell is he? Is he gonna grow chicken wings next?
“That woman belongs to me and I’ll kill anything that that comes between us. Remember that.”
Nick moves towards him two spikes appearing in his hands. I swear I see a flash of fear in the Count’s eyes and he staggers back away from him, his lips moving rapidly.
“No!!” I grab Nick by the back of his shirt and pull with all my strength. We both go tumbling to the ground and he rolls us so his hands are wrap around me with my head tucked safely in his neck and I hiss at the sharp pain in my leg.
Perfect timing Kafui, just like always. This is not the time to have a sprained ankle.
The air whips around the room and forms a circle around the Count and then he’s gone.
“Why did you do that?” Nick growls pulling away from me. He paces the small cell in agitation.
“Because he was conjuring a portal,” I croak moving off the ground. “He would have sliced you to pieces if you’d gotten any closer.”
I’ve seen it happen before and I almost puke at the memory. Just then the sound of growls, snarls and ripping flesh intensify and fear shoot through me. If the Count is gone then that means this place will blow up in five minutes.
“We have to get out of here,” I say frantically moving towards the door. I squeak when my feet leave the ground and I’m whirled around. Nick pulls me into him and squeezes me tightly. He yanks me back and take my lips in a passionate kiss.
I moan and press more into his warmth. The arousal simmering below the surface surges through me and I kiss him harder wanting more. He slowly pulls away from and I chase after him sucking his bottom lip between my teeth and he grunts his hands moving down to squeeze my ass.
“Mmhem!” I look around him and Michael’s smiling goofily at us. I run over to him and hug him around the waist. He tenses in surprise before his arms come around my shoulders.
“Thank you for coming to get me,” I say ignoring the growl from Nick.
“Hey, who would talk my ear off if you’re gone,” he laughs.
“I don’t talk a lot but there’s a lot that happened here that I need to tell you guys and then people died and they stole people and the testing and even baby Ash is here and then I save this guy and he had a scar and this wicked sharp sword and—”
“Uh-huh and none of what you said makes any sense, so how about you tell me all about it when we get back?” he cuts me off and I nod.
The snarling sounds even closer and I frown. What the hell is that?
“We have to go, they’re here,” Michael says somberly and I move away from him.
They?
I’m suddenly pushed back and Michael’s sword makes a wide arch through the air and a shrill shriek fills the air. I wince at the ear damaging sound and look on the floor and step back. My back connects with Nick’s chest and I gape in horror at the grotesque looking thing bleeding green slime on the floor. The stout red looking thing with extremely flabby beer gut suddenly rears off the floor with a screech but Michael’s sword slices through the air swiftly severing its head from its body.
OK, what the hell was that thing?
“Goblins,” Nicholas rasps close to my ear and I shiver slightly. “They’re more outside we have to hurry and get out of here.”
“Yeah you’re right, we wouldn’t want to be here when it blows up,” I laugh humorlessly and limp over to the corner where Ash is.
“It’s okay you can come out now,” I say softly reaching my hand out slowly.
“Honey, who are you talking to?” Nicholas asks carefully just as Ashley rushes from her spot and wrap her arms around my leg. I brush her hair softly and lift her up onto my hip. She buries her face on my neck and squeezes my neck.
“Oh, sorry,” I turn back to them and they’re both looking at me like I’ve lost my mind. “This is Ashley but we just call her baby Ash.”
“Hey Ashley,” they both say slowly still looking at me like that. I look down in confusion and them it dawns on me that baby Ash still has her shield up. Oh.
“Sorry,” I say sheepishly trying not to laugh. I say softly to Ash to let her shield down. “It’s okay,” I add softly.
“Oh,” they both say at the same time and I shake my head.
“Say hi,” I tell Ash.
“Hi,” she mumbles into my neck. Aww, she’s so cute.
“Hey.”
“Hello.”
“Let’s go, we have less than three minutes now.”
We hurry up the stairs into the chemicals and magic potions area or so I think. There are a lot of colorful liquids in vials on the shelf against the far wall and I veer off into the side room.
Thankfully there are some lab coats in there and I take two off the hanger quickly putting one on before moving Ash to my back. I tie her up with it and make sure it’s secure before I limp back out. My ankle’s pretty messed up but I’m not going to let it get in the way of me getting out of here. I’ll take care of it when I don’t have the threat of being blown to bits hanging over my head.
“Umm… baby what’s with all that…” he trails off as he gestures at the lab coat and Ash at my back.
“It’s so I can move faster and I can help you fight off those things.”
“But your power’s not working now,” he says and I follow behind them walking over all the mangled bodies lying around. I try my best not to look at them but it really hard to keep Nicholas from seeing my limp and navigate with my nose in the air.
“Hmm,” I say noncommittally.
When we get to the door leading outside, I breathe in deeply and hope my other powers actually help, what ever they are.
“On three,” Michael says holding up three fingers.
He pushes the door open and they pour in snarling and growling climbing over each other to get to us. I catch a glimpse of their teeth and shudder in revulsion. Those million sharp looking teeth with rip the flesh right of my skeleton.
Ugh. I step back and will one of my powers to come forth but nothing’s happening and I start to panic. Michael and Nicholas are busy fighting them off but there are just too many of them.
Fucking come on, I scream in my head desperation clawing at my chest. I wh
imper and clutch my right hand when the skin around my forearm sizzles and pain shoot through my arm at the burn. My vision goes dark at the edges for a second before it clears. Nicholas shoots me a worried glance before an ice crystal shoots past my face. I look at him in indignantly and he nods behind me.
I look there and there’s a goblin pin to the wall with the shard of ice. Nailed right in the head.
Oooh, that must have hurt. One of the little things sets its beady little black eyes on me and charges toward me at full speed.
Oh hell no. Before I can even think of something to defend myself, my feet move on their own really fast leaping over goblins and dodging snapping teeth over to Michael.
What the hell? I don’t even finish the thought before my hands snap out snatching the bag from him damaging the strap in haste. I gasp in shock when I rip the bag apart easily. Is one of my powers perhaps the ability to go insane at inopportune moments?
The contents of the bag fly out and my eyes snag on the cloth covered object on the ground. I pick it up and quickly rip the cloth away to see gleaming black piece of artefact and another memory slaps me in the face.
Mr. Smith made this for my birthday. I took it with me during my escape but I lost it or so I thought. Now it’s here. I run a hand over the inscription on the polished stone : Never doubt who you are.’
I raise it up and bring it down fast and it makes a clicking noise before elongating to four times its original size. I take off the string around my neck and attach the string to the bow. I look over at the men and they’re still busy fighting off these ugly things. It doesn’t even look like they’re making any progress.
One gets too close and I whack it with the bow and it sails through the air and slams into the wall. I raise the bow and take aim just like I remember, an arrow appears in the arrow rest making the limbs of the bow glow and I release. I watch it sails through the air and hold my breath. I smile when it splits off into about five more slimmer arrows and rain down on the goblins.
I wince as their shrieks fill the air but it doesn't sound like they’re pain though. They sound pissed and I gulp. Maybe I still don’t remember how this thing works. I look down at my wrist at the tattoo of an arrow with a dagger carved into it. The dagger looks like nothing I’ve seen before. The tip of the dagger is the head of a snake and there’s a star just below the handle or maybe it’s an asterisk, I don’t know.