by Sean Stone
“Was Jonathan part of all this?” Bradley asked. They’d come to stop outside one of the store rooms.
“Goodness no,” Eloise said, shaking her head. “He was ignorant of everything I was. He believed me to be another concerned citizen of the town who had taken it upon herself to do something. Much like himself. He had gotten involved in the council business because his father had been turned into a vampire by Richard Morgan. He wanted revenge. He wanted control and power. I admired that. I worked with him to achieve my own goals which were in alignment with his after all.”
“But I thought you wanted to kill everyone? That wasn’t Jonathan’s aim.”
“Not then. I only wanted to do my job back then. I didn’t let my beliefs, nor my personal feelings intrude on my role as an MI5 agent.”
“What changed?” asked Bradley, genuinely interested in her tale.
“The church had expanded. They no longer just dealt with witches. They’d encountered the vampires by this point. Richard Morgan did not take kindly to them. He attacked the church and painted the walls with their blood. The very people I had grown up with were slaughtered. My agent… like a father to me. I saw to it that the church was closed up forever. In honour of those who had fallen. I saw it as a message to me from God himself. I was not here to carry out the work of the government. I was here to carry out the work of the Lord. I was not here to control the supernatural, but to kill them. All of them. It has taken me a long time to get the backing I needed, but now I have it.” She drew in a deep breath and when she released it she looked truly weary, as though she’d come to the end of her fight.
“I have decided that our tactics are not sufficient. Our progress has been lacking thus far. It is time for a change. I can no longer be too protective over the people of this town. It is not my fault they have chosen to live in ignorance all this time,” she said. “I have to stop the prophecy. I have to clean God’s earth.”
“You don’t really believe that jinn stuff do you?” Bradley asked.
“Bradley, there is an immense amount of power trapped within Cedar Park. I do not know what it is, only that it is there. Until very recently a mysterious statue of a woman was there which was not there in all the years I lived here. Events in this town have spiralled out of control over the last six months. This all points to the beginning of the end. Whether or not you believe it is irrelevant, but I know that it is coming. The abomination who would burn the earth… That was a part of the prophecy,” she said, her eyes became vacant for a moment.
“That’s why you’ve had the park guarded since you got here,” Bradley said, putting the pieces together.
“Indeed.”
“So, what are you planning.”
“I have to destroy them all, Bradley. All of them. From north to south. From east to west,” she said in an almost vacant way. Then she pushed open the door to the store room, revealing the contents.
“My God,” Bradley exclaimed.
“Do not blaspheme,” Eloise reprimanded.
Bradley felt the blood drain from his face as he looked at the staggering mountain of plastic explosive that stood before him. There was easily enough to destroy the town twice over. He needed to get in touch with Arthur and he needed to do it now.
“The fact remains that if we all go traipsing across town we’ll be a massive target,” Clara said to the group. The Coven members were all resting in other rooms in the building now. Arthur wanted them rested for when Apophis came for them. He wanted Clara to rest too but she was stubbornly refusing. She wanted to retrieve the bottles and he knew he would be unable to persuade her otherwise.
“Splitting up is stupidity at it’s worse,” argued Arthur. “We need to stay together.”
“No,” Kayla said softly. All eyes fell on her. “Apophis is out there somewhere. He wants me to tell him where his siblings are, and he wants the two of you dead,” she said, pointing at Arthur and Clara. He’s likely already been to your house and found you gone. He’ll be watching this building now. If we all go walking outside he will attack.”
“We wouldn’t be walking,” said Arthur. “We’ll teleport and he’ll never know we’ve left.”
“Of course he would,” Olivia said waspishly. “He’s Apophis. He cannot be so easily deceived.”
“What do you suggest?” asked Dean.
It was Kayla who answered. “I’ll go to Apophis and distract him. Meanwhile you can go and retrieve the bottles. All five of them are buried under the tree. I’ll bind myself to one of you and then your touch alone should reveal the bottles,” she explained.
“We’re not going to let you walk into a death-trap,” said Clara.
“Clara,” Kayla looked at her the way someone might look at a child who’s said something silly. “If I wanted to walk into a death-trap there is not a thing you could do to stop me. As it happens, I won’t be. Apophis will never kill me. He needs me to find his siblings.”
Clara nodded. Her reasoning was sound enough. If she could distract Apophis then the rest of them would be able to handle Eloise’s guards at Cedar Park. “Alright. So we’ll go and get the bottles and meet you back here?” she asked.
“One of you two is prophesied to kill Apophis,” Kayla said, ignoring the question. “Which of you will it be?”
“Well how are we supposed to know that?” Arthur exclaimed.
“If it is your destiny to do something then you would know it. I know my destiny and I accept it. One of you must do the same,” she said gently.
“It’s me,” said Clara. “I know it’s me.” She could feel exactly what Kayla was talking about. There was something in her head that just told her it was her destiny to kill Apophis.
“Clara, don’t agree to something without thinking about what it is first,” Arthur said.
“I’m not agreeing to anything,” she laughed. “Fate has already decided.”
“Do you disagree with her, Arthur?” Kayla asked him, tilting her head as she looked at him.
Arthur looked from Kayla to Clara where he paused for a few moments before looking back at Kayla. “No,” he said resignedly. “I always knew you would do great things. I just never thought you’d literally save the world.”
“I won’t be doing it alone. We’ll all be playing a part,” said Clara.
“I think Clara is the one to do it also,” Kayla agreed. “Come, let us bind together.”
Kayla took Clara out of the lounge and into the nearest office. “This will fell unusual,” she said and held out her hand.
“Will it hurt?” Clara asked, not yet moving to link arms.
“No. And you will feel no drain on your power. This bind is only one way. You’ll have access to my power, but not I to yours.”
“As if you’d need it,” Clara snorted.
Kayla frowned. “Clara, you undervalue yourself. You are a sorcerer of one of the most powerful magical families in the world. You have only had your magic for a few months and your father was robbed of his not long after coming into it. The two of you have a lot of development to do, but once completed you will be rivalled by few. I met your grandfather. He had tremendous power. He fought Nickolas and he fought him well. Do you think it was luck alone that kept you alive throughout each of your encounters with Nickolas?”
“I didn’t stay alive. He killed me,” Clara told her.
Kayla’s cheeks reddened and she turned away. “I am sorry for that,” she said hoarsely.
“You didn’t do it. You have nothing to apologise for.”
“Yes I do. Nickolas was my son. My responsibility. I raised him as best I could, but I gave up on him too soon.” Her voice became strained and although Clara could not see her face she knew that she was crying. “I sent him away when he needed me most. He’d lost the love of his love. He needed guidance and help but instead all I could see was the atrocity he’d committed. Had I looked past my anger I could have steered him back on the right path. I could have saved him and so many others. The failures of Ni
ckolas are the failures of my parenting. I failed him.”
Clara shifted uncomfortably, unsure how to console her. “If it… if it helps, he died doing the right thing. You didn’t fail him completely,” she said feebly.
Kayla turned back to Clara, her face streaked with tears. “I wish that you’d seen the sweet little boy who washed up on my shores. All he ever wanted was to be loved. He just wanted love, Clara. And because of me he died thinking that nobody loved him. I will carry that with me for the rest of my days. I only hope that I can find him in the afterlife and tell him how sorry I am and how wrong I was.”
Clara nodded awkwardly. No response seemed appropriate. She’d known a very different Nick to what Kayla was describing and nothing she could say was going to compliment the ancient’s memory. “Shall we do this bind thing then?” she suggested.
“Yes. Of course. Here.” Once again Kayla extended her arm and this time Clara took it, the two women gripped one another’s wrists.
A bright blue light appeared in Kayla’s eyes and then Clara felt a buzzing sensation working through her fingers and down her forearm. The buzzing grew in intensity until her arm was shaking lightly. Kayla increased her grip as she forced the bind into place. Within a couple of seconds it was over and Kayla released her.
“Is that it?” Clara asked.
“Much simpler than you expected?” Kayla asked, smiling again.
“Yeah,” Clara admitted.
They returned to the lounge to find Arthur standing in the centre of the room, his pocket mirror was close in his hand and every face in the room was an almost comical picture of alarm.
“What is it?” Clara asked.
“Bradley called,” Arthur said in a hushed tone. “Eloise has her soldiers placing bombs all over the town. They’re going to blow the whole place up.”
“We need to get Richie to stop them as soon as the sun sets then,” Clara said at once. She couldn’t believe that Eloise would be so destructive. Thousands of civilians were still in town.
“He was planning on striking the town hall tonight, but it might be worth telling him to send some vampires after the bombs,” Dean said. “Me and Kegan will go and let him know.”
“No,” Clara said quickly. She spoke before she had a reason. The real reason was that she wanted Dean with her, though she wasn’t sure why. She could hardly say that though.
“Clara’s right,” Arthur said. “If we’re splitting up we need a sorcerer in each group. In case of attack.”
“We can take her,” Kegan said, pointing at Olivia.
“I’m going with Kayla,” Olivia said firmly.
“Olivia, sweetness, no,” Kayla said. “I am the only one who is safe near Apophis.”
“Kayla, I’m not asking permission. I know the way to his house and I’m going either way. I’d like to go with you.” The two of them stared into each other’s eyes and Clara saw something pass between them.
“Okay. You can come with me,” Kayla said, though she did not look happy about it.
“We’ll take James then,” Kegan said, nodding at James now.
“No,” James said, shaking his head. “I’m with Clara. I want to make sure this goes down properly.”
“I think I’d rather watch over my daughter,” Arthur said, straightening up.
“Dad,” Clara said, warningly. “You go with Kegan. I’ll be fine with Dean and James.”
“Fine,” Arthur said sullenly. “You’ve got your mirror. The moment anything happens you call me.”
“I will.”
“Promise me.”
“I promise.”
“Olivia and I will leave first,” said Kayla. “Wait ten minutes and then get on with the plan.” She looked around at them with a sad expression in her eyes. One that Clara did not like the look of at all. “Remember, this isn’t just about this town anymore. The fate of the world literally rests on you now. You cannot afford to fail.” Having turned the pressure up to maximum Kayla and Olivia walked out of the executive lounge.
Chapter 33
“Why do we have to walk?” Olivia asked as they walked up the road. She didn’t mind walking, but it still seemed smarter to teleport, what with all the soldiers roaming the town. The moment they’d exited the tower several soldiers had attacked them. Kayla had put them all to sleep in an instant.
“Because if we teleport then Apophis will never know we’ve left and our distraction will fail to distract him,” Kayla said simply.
“You think he’s waiting around outside the building?” said Olivia in disbelief.
“No, of course not. But he’ll likely have some magical device to watch the building, or he’ll have somebody doing it for him. I am certain that he is watching us in some way.”
Olivia said nothing to that and they walked in silence for a while. The quietness was all the evidence needed to prove Kayla’s theory true. They didn’t encounter a single soldier along their way.
“How do you know your way around this place?” Olivia asked. She’d never imagined that Kayla could be familiar with any place but Elysium.
“I buried the jinn here before this town existed. I’ve kept a close watch on it ever since.”
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why here?” said Olivia. Kayla had lived on the other side of the world. A random place in England seemed… well random.
“It was one of the few places that no ancients or jinn had set foot on. They’d spread across most of the world by the time I cursed them all. I wanted the chieftains to be somewhere Apophis would never think to look,” said Kayla.
“But he came here anyway,” she argued.
“He came here to find me. He was drawn to my power. Had I not been here he would never have come here.”
“Did you always expect him to escape?” asked Olivia. She’d taken a lot of precautions with hiding the bottles in England, and recruiting a team to keep watch. Not that any of her precautions seemed to have worked.
“I suppose I did,” Kayla said distantly, her mind wandering somewhere else.
“I killed Naomi and her team,” Olivia confessed sheepishly. Killing was against Kayla’s rules. It was the biggest law on Elysium and Olivia had broken it. “I did it for him. For Nickolas. He would’ve died,” she said hurriedly, feeling the need to explain her actions before Kayla reprimanded her.
Kayla let out a long sigh. “You did what you felt was right. I do not blame you for anything.”
“But killing is wrong,” Olivia reminded her.
“Killing for personal gain is wrong. Killing to save a life is different. Was there an opportunity for both Nickolas and Naomi’s team to live?”
“No. Nickolas needed his power back and Naomi said there was no way to restore it without destroying the Spear,” Olivia said, trying not to see Naomi’s pained expression as she died.
“True, however, Naomi could have used the power in the Spear to save Nickolas.”
“There wasn’t time. She needed to get to Apophis.”
“Then Naomi forgot my teachings too. There is always time to save a life. You did nothing wrong in my eyes, child,” Kayla said kindly, giving Olivia a warm smile.
“But maybe I should’ve just let Nickolas… Nickolas was hardly an angel, he wasn’t as big a monster as Apophis—”
“He was no monster at all,” Kayla snapped. “I’m sorry. I let my emotions take me for a moment. Nickolas was no monster, he was just misguided. Damaged. Had I done a better job by him then I might have saved a lot of heartache. Including all that Apophis has done so far.”
“Nickolas didn’t mean to release Apophis, you know?” Olivia said, worrying that Kayla might have thought Nickolas had done it in some sort of revenge plan.
“Of course I know that. He was malicious at times, but he was no idiot.”
“Can I ask you something?” Olivia said, a new thought occurring to her.
“You have already asked me several things, I see no harm in one more questi
on,” she replied.
“Nickolas said that you told him it was impossible to give him magic and yet you had the Promethean Flame all along. Why didn’t you use that to give him magic?”
“I lied to Nickolas to my shame. He was so innocent when he came to me. I’d worked with him to purge his mind of vengeful thoughts. I helped him to purify himself and when I thought he was pure I made him immortal. I didn’t want to give him magic because I believed it would corrupt his soul and make him…”
“Evil?” Olivia suggested. “You were right.”
“No I wasn’t. Magic did not corrupt him. Set did. He got inside Nickolas’ mind and twisted it. My biggest mistake was keeping that snake around. Set is the true perpetrator of all of this. His death is one that I will never mourn. But now, I need to ask you a question.” The two women came to a standstill, the semi-destroyed mansion looming over them.
“Okay,” Olivia said. She had a good idea of what was coming.
“Why did you insist on coming with me? I know you know what’s going to happen and before I take you inside I need to know your reasons and I need to be sure that you fully understand,” said Kayla, her face wrought with concern.
“I have no place here. In this world. My whole life was in Elysium. That’s gone. Nickolas brought me back to be with him. He’s gone.”
“Olivia, my sweet, if you go inside that house you will most certainly be killed and your death will achieve nothing.”
“I can’t beat him anyway. I want to see the look on his face when he realises that Clara has his siblings and that she is coming to fulfil the prophecy,” she said honestly. Apophis had brought her endless despair and now she intended to bring him the same.