Farrow looked behind her, uncertainty wavering her confidence. My eyes fell to her black, glistening hair, and I wondered how such a beauty could have become so corrupt?
Queen Aroen kept her eyes on me. “Anything you want child, you have delivered, pick your treasure.” When Farrow turned, a red, ruby smirk bled over Aroen’s porcelain face with far too much insolence for my taste. Taking these queens down was going to be a high treat.
Farrow snapped her head back. “Oh goodie!” She gave a little jump.
I rolled my eyes, again.
Suddenly, my palms were set on fire at Farrow’s touch, and a dark, fiery rope pulled them together. I smiled knowingly. “You think your little tricks can keep me bound?”
“I want this one!” she interrupted.
“Take the other one away then.” Queen Aroen’s voice carried through the thick air. Dust particles glinted as they fell to the floor.
“He goes nowhere!” I stated, shifting my palms uncomfortably in the smoky rope.
Farrow pulled a face.
“Hush. You have nothing to bargain with!” Aroen shouted at me, her hair taking on a black smoldering flame, a distinct sign I was getting to her.
I laughed. “You don’t scare me. I have what can destroy you.”
The redheaded queen laughed so loud, the walls shook. She stood and pushed her curls from her face, her honey eyes taking on an iridescent green, glinting with fire as she came closer. “You think you have it, don’t you?”
She came closer still, one small step at a time, taunting us. I looked down, knew all too well what they were playing at; shifting into beautiful beings in order to weaken us. But, it was my perception of what they really looked like that shifted. My desire was their card. I shrugged it off, but David was not so lucky. Timotei pushed Farrow aside, pulling my face to hers, breaking the dark substance from my palms.
“This one comes willingly,” she said, her smile growing.
“He is playing at something.” She pushed me away, my jaw tightening as the ice melted from her touch. I moved my jaw around, feeling sensations return in slow, slithering, heat bursts. “You were right, Aroen, this one does hold the key.” She stepped back giggling at Dave, who did look silly with his hands over his ears, his eyes shut tightly, trying his best not to be nosy. Mostly, I was sure he knew taking in more of the siren call would complicate his life even further.
Timotei raised her hand, casually inspecting her nails. “You might have been right about the White Divine – it is only through him that she can be unleashed. But I am way too eager to see what the Shadowing can do with such a beautiful creature.” Queen Timotei was suddenly before me again.
A gust of wind pushed my hair from my face. Her hand touched my chest with a cold, sharp force, forcing me to stumble backward. Regaining my position, I noticed that the blast had affected Dave more, and he was knocked straight off his feet and shoved right up against a wall.
“This one thinks he can withstand us?” Timotei stood before him, her red hair twirling around his face, like tentacles sucking in its pray.
“No!” Farrow screeched, stomping her foot. “You promised me!”
Queen Aroen shoved Farrow into Dave’s arms. “Here, take your plaything and get out of my face!” she sneered.
“I don’t want this one!” Farrow sulked.
“Hey, that’s hurtful!” Dave moaned.
Trust him to have an ego failure over silly crap.
“Really?” I shot him a look.
He shrugged.
“Look,” I said, straightening. “We all know how this is going to go. You are going use her to siren call me. You are desperate to ignites us. But I won’t do it, and you will lose your hold on this kingdom.”
Timotei grabbed my hair. She was taller than I was, much taller. I grit my teeth as she pulled so hard, I almost lost my breath. Her eyes searched mine.
“He speaks the truth,” she said, letting me go.
I wanted to punch her in the mouth, but it wasn’t the time to lose control of my emotions.
“I’m getting bored,” I told her.
“What are you talking about Timotei?” the other queen spat.
“Bring her out, and I’ll show you,” she challenged on a smile, her eyes sparkling, melting into mine, so sure of herself. “This way, I can prove to the disgusting warlock that his soul is no match for our high carrier.” She smirked wickedly.
My heart was ablaze as she entered. Once she walked in, her passion took over like an intoxicating, persistent drug. My mind reeled away from me. I was driven by her every move, her heartbeat, and her smell – the call of her blood. I wanted to touch her. I was walking in the dark, she was the light. She was wearing a blue-gray dress, and her golden hair cascaded down her shoulders. My pulse raced as her sweet face fell on mine, and then I saw it, eyes a dazzling shade of green. She moved toward me in a way I had never seen her move before. Instantly, she was my blazing star, illuminating the path of my heart to hers. It was wrong to think I was immune to the siren that was her. I guess every man has his weakness.
Steadying myself against the magnificent white, wooden bedpost, one leg propped against the base, I held my heart in check. She stood in front of the door as it smoked closed behind her – she had just risen from one of my dreams. Yes, I had been dreaming of her my entire life. But this time it was different, I could not stay away. It was our time. The prophecy was at hand. I stood before her, and in that one single moment, I knew she had all of me. Everything I was, and all I was ever going to be. In one single stare, all those walls I kept building between us fluttered away like leaves in a breeze, stripping a man of all his fear, of his insecurities – for all eternity. And like an eternal moth to an ever-sweltering flame, I kept getting burned. My heart almost shut down to protect itself from the pain when I saw her coming toward me in that dress. I seized to breathe. Wow, she looked delicious in that snug dress, perfectly shaped for her curves. Silver chains and jewels illuminated her voluptuous curves, caressing her shape with glorious perfection. She grinned in the way that left all of me weak, my heart entombed in her hands forever. I would crash and burn a million times over, if it was the only way we could be together. It took so long for us to get here, and in the blink of an eye, it could all come tumbling down. This was it, her final change. I would ignite her, there was just no other way to exist now. It called to my blood, stirred and ripped my heart from the inside. It was eating me alive with a desperate need that could only be satisfied by her. We were going to be together in every possible way. The Change – the one the universe had been waiting for, for all of time, was at hand. And there I was, screwing it up all over again, because I wanted her so badly. I fell prey to the Shadowing’s tricks. I knew I was her trigger, and she mine. My mind was not functioning, it wanted only one thing. Suddenly, it all made sense. She is who I was meant to be. She had given herself over to Enoch, because she had known it was the only way we could be together. For some reason, I knew not how we had found this perfect place to be together, what mind tricks had me glued to her every breath, her every whisper, her every move, nor did I care. I wanted to sink into her kiss, drink up the bliss of all that is her. Let her take me asunder, and be crucified by everything that she is. Her gravity held me bound to her. She moved, making my body react to hers, the air sucking me in. It was only when her eyes left mine that I noticed a dazzling room with a huge, four poster bed, the twilight moon shinning down on us, illuminating her glare, a wild fire in her eyes. She wanted me, maybe as much as I had wanted her for so long. I was euphoric. I felt my leg tremble as she turned and smiled at me, her curvy legs showing through the long slits in her dress. I had to gather myself, because for a moment, my logic was drowned out by my desires.
“Ava?” I queried, but it didn’t come out as sturdy as I had hoped. My heart raced, something was holding me back. I didn’t understand it. This was the siren call. She closed the tiny gap between us, her scent filling my lungs, luring me to take
in more. When she touched me, I trembled inside. It was not easy to not get lost in my selfish needs.
She raised an eyebrow. “Farrow was right, you are gorgeous,” she murmured.
As soon as she spoke, her words sounded distant, like she didn’t recognize me at all. That little voice inside my head was a warning.
Covering my eyes with my hands, I shook my head. “Oh, crap.” I swallowed. She was too cute when she was trying to seduce me.
I felt the very air move as she grabbed the bedpost from behind me, and swung herself around and up onto of the gigantic bed.
“You aren’t scared of me, are you?” she asked, slyly.
I couldn’t help but chuckle.
I turned, her face just inches away from mine, her legs touching my arms through the slits. I felt myself burn. She held on to the bedpost with one hand, and with the other touched my lips. I closed my eyes again, harder this time, trying to find that voice. Images; my fantasies of her suddenly filled my mind. My blonde goddess in my arms, tender, hot and so sweet. I kept telling myself that Ava was not herself in order to keep my mind sober, but my mind had been poisoned, and the animal instinct in me wouldn’t let it go. She moved away from me quickly, leaving me aching and cold all over. I shivered, begging for her to come back. Her sweet breath blew out as she swung around the pole and draped herself in my arms, the pole the only thing between us now. She was fast, light in my embrace and too close. Her skin on my skin had us both on fire. I turned, throwing her onto the bed. I couldn’t stand it anymore. Yet, something was not right about that moment. I felt it, deep, raw and rising rapidly, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. I walked to the other side of the room with a sour gait, a heavy heart.
“Playing hard to get?” she moaned.
“No, Ava, this is not a game, we’re prisoners, you, me and our friends,” I said, keeping my cool, not sure where I had found the words spilling from my dry mouth.
“Aww, why so sad?”
“Ava, dammit!” I punched the table beneath a window, unable to restrain my frustrations, hoping the pain would sober me, bring the truth to my vision. When I turned, she was no longer on the bed where I had left her.
“Boo!” She jumped out from an elaborate cream drape strung from the ceiling.
I rolled my eyes at her. She was crazy. And I was in love.
“Are you having fun?” I crossed my arms over my chest.
She nodded, moving closer. Holding on to the draped curtain, she trailed her foot up my leg, and bit down on her lip while looking down.
Argh! I wanted to scream, shake her. But I couldn’t remember why. One step closer, her soft, tiny, warm hands took mine. She led me to the bed, all the while keeping her eyes locked on mine, and pushed me down. My heart was on fire, my pulse was racing. I was losing myself, and for the first time in all of my existence, I was at a loss. She was the power over me. Breathing became more difficult. She had me at that moment. Once again, her pull on me was solid, knocking me off orbit. I gave in to the desire. Her legs folded over mine and I held on to her, my hands trailing lightly down the small of her back. The current running through us was strong and yearning, aching and desperate. Her breasts pressed against my chest, her arms wrapped around my neck. My heart was turning inside out, all reason had left me, so I kissed her, tasted her on my lips, on my tongue, inside of me. I breathed in as much of her as I could. I pulled her into me, she claimed me, drowning me in her caresses. We fell back on the bed, her body on mine. I shuddered at her touch, her hands around me, over my chest and at my pants. My desire flared. I unpinned the rest of her hair, let it fall down like a veil around us. There was nothing to see but her, her luscious lips, her beautiful face. I closed my eyes tight, refused to look at her while I stole those moments from her. I needed the moment to be real so badly, it wounded me. My hand slid through her hair, the other held on to her thigh as it pressed against my side. My fingers trailed down her leg toward her toes. I took her foot in my hand. A second later, I was on top of her, her legs pinned behind my back. Her dress had come undone somehow. My mind was fuzzy, our lips so close. I lowered my body against hers, slow and steady – ready to take her. She grabbed me forcefully. I gave in, and lost myself in all of it. If nothing else, she would now get what she wanted. I was ready as her Ignited one. I was ready to change us forever. Her very touch shifted my gravity. I felt enraptured, had fallen to her darkness. I was not giving up, but giving in to the sweet, dark seduction of the siren call flowing through my veins, coiling itself around the walls of my heart, ready to claim it as its own.
“What do you want with me?” I sat up, the world around me swirled into focus. A sharp pain assaulted my head. My breath settled in my chest forcefully. I was now tired, irritated, frustrated and growing increasingly bored of this game.
“We have been studying you,” a voice said.
I rolled my eyes. “Who hasn’t?”
“So, it’s no surprise then, what’s coming next.”
I shifted in my seat, my hand touching my face to gain some sense of gravity.
“Okay, I’ll bite.” I started scanning the room around me. “Nice prison cell you have here,” I said.
I found myself in a room set for an Earth movie princess; white, oak cupboards dressed in gold embellishments complimented the gray walls. How cliché. I climbed out of a gigantic, white puffed up bed, my toes nestling into a thick, snowy carpet. It felt like I walking on clouds, my body almost floated from its surface. I pressed down on the soft cloud. It was not at all like our bunks back in the dorm. My eyes fell on my iPod resting on a nearby table, my computer screen was unrolled and stuck onto a glossy surface, its faint, blue light emitting and reflecting off the white surface wall. I wanted to run to my things, to feel the familiarity of my old life again. I missed Sam. And as sick as it was, I missed the days when everything was uncomplicated, fake and much easier. I stood, hardly staring at the dirty medical gown, which reminded me of what had transpired back on that golden moon. I felt a loss with great ache for being so far away from Troy, wondering if he and the others had escaped unharmed. My focus had to solely be on taking the High Council down. Walking around the room, I took in the clothes of every color, shape and size from the wall to wall dressing room. I ran my hands over each item. Colors I had never seen, not even in Maya’s cupboard, stared back at me. I wondered if I would ever see my sister again. Was she okay? I wished I had kept my prying mind silent, stayed away from Maya and the Minoans. Then they all would have been blissfully going about their daily duties in their beautiful village. Orange, bright green, coral pinks and blue pastel, hazily pushed past me. It was the blue that drew me in, a powdery, soft blue, like that of Earth’s sky – a planet I was dying to explore. I remembered why I had chosen to go along with the prophecy; freedom, beauty, peace, to feel loved and to give it. Just one day on Earth, beneath a big, blue sky represented everything I ever wondered about.
I swallowed suddenly, knowing what it was all about. Someone was leaking Earth images to me, someone was telling me to get out, to seek, to desire. Troy!
I closed my eyes, feeling overwhelmed. Why didn’t he just tell me?
I forced my eyes open. I had to go on. I had to save them. I breathed through the collapsed feeling in my chest.
“What is this?” I said out loud. I looked down at my body suddenly, but instead of seeing the paper-thin gown I had been wearing, I was dressed in white. I ran my hands over the dress’ gorgeous material. I smiled. I looked really good. I stared at my hands, my skin a gorgeous glow.
“This is your future. Should you choose it.” Again, the same voice.
My bare feet still rested on the soft and luxurious, white, cushioned carpet, the fur wrapping around and in between my toes. It felt like I imagined my Heaven would. When I looked up and straight ahead, I faced a huge mirror. It was the traveling mirror, we were joined now somehow. When I had shattered it, it had told me what to do, it called to me. I had changed destiny forever on that day. It glowed
as I neared; a radiant, golden smoke twirling around the intricate, silver symbols snaking through the pattern laid out in the amethyst pendant with radiant diamonds. I remembered the golden mist that had escaped my mouth when I had tried to save Troy form Enoch’s poison.
“How did…” I started to stutter, trying to remember how I had come to be in such a glamorous place.
“You have everything you need now.”
I narrowed my eyes on my reflection. I didn’t recognise the girl staring back. Perhaps once, she had been everything I wanted, a princess surrounded by gorgeous things with perfect skin and shiny, wavy hair.
“What do you want in exchange?” I stared into my reflection. Gray eyes staring back, curious and longing.
“Only your cooperation.”
“No,” I grunted.
“Silly girl,” the voice paused. “You’ve already cooperated. Do you honestly think everything happened because of your destiny?” Another pause. And then the voice continued condescendingly, “Everything has gone according to plan.”
“But there is more?” My voice hurt as I spoke. Why would they have me in this situation? They wanted more.
“There is one more thing you have to do. But it needs to be done willingly. Do it, and you can have everything we know you have always wanted.”
Did they do this to me? Activate my desires, so they could trap me?
“We know your inner most wants.”
I stared at myself, hard and long.
I was different now, had felt things, things that have moved me. People who had moved me. There was nothing more I’d ever want than their happiness.
“There is nothing you have that I would ever want,” I said slowly, and clearly. I ran my fingers through my luscious locks, staring at my too perfect reflection disbelievingly, an ache filling my chest. I don’t want this, this was not how things were meant to be.
“You only know what I want, because you’ve made me want them,” I sneered, my heart racing now. Troy was the only true thing I ever had. He brought me to life. And I’d live happily with only the clothes on my back, on the brink of starvation, just to be with him. Food and things couldn’t fill the gaping hole.
Evanescent Page 37