by G. Bailey
Evie
I open my eyes, seeing nothing but dust, broken stone, and I cough as I suck in some much-needed air and turn my head to the side a little. There are bits of light left from Azi’s fireballs flashing in the room, but I can’t see anyone else where I’ve fallen. The room spins as I push myself up off my chest, pushing broken stone off my legs and back, and quickly pulling my bag off my back. I feel little cuts all over me, but nothing that needs healing right now. I open the bag up, and Star jumps out, licking my neck as I check her over.
“You’re okay, you landed on me, lucky cat,” I say, and she purrs in response. I put her down, feeling around for a dagger on my belt, and standing up.
“Azi? Trex? Connor? Nix?” I shout each of their names, but nothing but silence answers me. Something is seriously wrong, or they are all dead. But that doesn’t make sense, Azi could have made a portal to escape, came back for us. I don’t like this. I look back down at Star and pat my thigh.
“You need to follow me or stay here, you choose,” I say, and she purrs, settling down next to my bag and sticking her head inside to look for food, I suspect. I turn around in a circle, looking for anything to follow when I hear a slight noise. Like a whimper. I climb over what is left of the staircase, ducking under different bits to get to the other side of the room where there is a door. I pull some of the loose stone in front of the door out of the way, before pulling the door open, and walking into the empty corridor. There are no doors, just a long stone corridor with smooth stone walls. It’s light in here from the little lights in the ceiling which oddly look modern. I’m tempted to shout “hello” like a bimbo in some horror movie always does, but I know that won’t help. This place is worse than a horror film, it’s fucking hell.
“Help me!” a weak-sounding female voice shouts from my left, and I look at the right of the empty corridor, knowing I should leave the voice alone and walk away, but I don’t, I walk left. The corridor is bare of anything until I get to a random door at the end. It’s locked when I try the handle, and I step back, lifting my leg and kicking it. It takes three kicks before the door falls through, smashing across the floor. I walk in, pausing at the sight of a woman tied up to a wall on the other side of the room. She looks up, her long black hair covering her face for second, and then her blue eyes lock on to me. She only has a simple black dress on, so I can see the runes she has, and I can also see the bruises all over her arms and face. Her legs are covered in dirt, she has blood on her face near the bruises, but she is alive.
“Erica? The princess?” I ask, and she nods her head, smiling widely. I don’t even know why I asked, it’s clear who she is. She looks just like Emily and Esther.
“You came for me? Who are you?” she asks, her voice nervous and scared. I poke my head back out the door, seeing no one in the corridor before walking back in, and kneeling down next to her.
“My name is Evie,” I say, and her eyes widen.
“The deadly assassin? They sent you after me?” she asks quickly, and I nod as I reach for the rope that is tied to a metal loop on the wall. I cut her free, and her arms drop down. I cut the rope off her wrists, aware of her staring at me the whole time.
“What are you staring at?” I finally ask.
“You seem so . . . so human; like you’re normal, but you look so much like a Protector,” she says, and I give her a confused look as she rubs her wrists, and tries to stand up.
“Being like a human isn’t that bad,” I say, catching her arm when she sways as she stands.
“I’m weak. The demon has been feeding me something that makes me pass out, and I haven’t eaten since I was taken,” she says, and I switch my dagger to my other arm, putting an arm under hers and holding her up as we walk over the door, and into the corridor.
“Do you know a way out of here?” I ask her as I put my dagger away to hold onto her.
“Yes, down here is a room I was brought through. It has a portal that I saw. I don’t know where it leads, but anywhere is better than here. Right?” she asks, and I nod, not knowing what to make of Trex’s fiancé. She seems sweet, he was right. Sweet is the only word I could describe her as. I hold her up as we walk down the corridor and get to the door she talked about. I let her go, resting her on the wall. I turn the door handle slowly as I slide a dagger out of my belt.
“Stay out here, let me check it out first. Alright?” I ask, and she nods, resting against the wall and looking exhausted. Let’s hope she survives getting out of here. I need to take one princess back, save Hali, and then find the Protectors and Azi. I can’t leave them down here without trying to find them. I’ve become attached to the fuckers. I open the door, stepping into the impressive room. I stop a few steps in, feeling something seriously wrong as I see Azi held unconscious between two men in the middle of the room. I see the unconscious, dirt-covered Protectors all tied up near one of the walls from the corner of my eye, and I’m not sure who to run for first. I gasp as pain shoots through my back, once and then twice. I turn, seeing Erica standing behind me as she pulls the dagger out of my back for the second time. My own dagger falls to the ground as my hands go to my stomach, feeling the blood dripping through my shaking fingers.
“Hello, little sister, thanks for walking straight into my trap,” she laughs, and I fall to the ground.
Evie
I hold in any sounds of pain as I hold my hands over my stomach, and lie on the floor, watching my apparent sister step over me and walk over to where Azi is being held. The two men holding him are strangers to me, but they look familiar. They look like Azi, and I would bet on them being his brothers. One has black hair that reaches his feet, and it covers most of his face and a skinny body in an expensive suit. The other is massive, with a bald head and a face covered in tattoos. He also wears an expensive suit, his eyes never leaving Erica as it’s clear he desires her.
“You have done your part, and you have your prize. Leave,” she waves a hand at them, and they both bow, turning with a still unconscious Azi in their arms, and walk to the back of the room. A flash of light fills the room suddenly, and then they are gone. There must be a portal there. I only need to get to it. There is a silence in the room as Erica just stares at me, and me at her. She is my sister. And that means Emily and Esther were, too. I’ve always looked for my family, and the first one I find alive, stabs me in the back. Literally. I would laugh, but any movement makes the room spin and pain shoot through every part of my body like a wave. Erica pushes her waist-length black hair over her shoulder, picking up a black cloak off the ground and clipping it on. The same cloaks Esther and Emily were buried in. They have the four runes embroidered down the sides. Two on each side. I try to focus on anything else; anything but the pain and the knowledge that I’m going to die. There is no point calling my healing rune, I could never heal this myself. I glance at the dagger near me, wondering if I could just grab it and throw it at Erica. Make her go into death with me.
“Don’t think about it,” Erica says, walking over, and picking up the dagger. She leans over me, pulling out my purple sword and checking me for any weapons. I want to fight her off, but when I try to lift my hand, it only shakily moves.
“Erica?” Trex’s confused voice comes over to us as I turn my head slightly, the movement shooting pain through me, but I can see Trex as he stares at me. Erica spins my sword in the air, and then throws it across the room.
“That’s a piece of crap,”
“Like you,” I cough out, but she ignores me to turn to Trex. Bitch.
“Trex, hunny, I’m so glad you’re awake,” she says sweetly, and I mentally roll my eyes. Erica is nothing sweet at all. She is clearly a good fucking liar. Trex looks at her for a second, then his eyes go over to me, and widen.
“What the fuck did you do to Evie? She came to save you with us!” Trex says, and he stands up, only to not be able to come to me as the rope tied to them all is tried to the wall behind them. “Why the fuck am I tied up?”
“I will unti
e you once my sister, Evie, is dead,” Erica replies simply, and I hear Trex gasp.
“Your what?” he asks, shaking his head and staring at me. His eyes running over my wounds and back to my eyes.
“Well, seeing as we have time until she dies. I might as well go over a little royal history lesson,” Erica says, spinning the dagger she stabbed me with in her hand and leaning down, tilting her head to the side as she looks at me. I hear Connor waking up, coughing and talking to Trex, but the words seem to blur, and I can only focus on Erica. The crazy bitch.
“Our mother was a little bit of a slut once a upon a time, after she had me and my sisters that is. We were perfect, but never enough, and neither was my father, apparently,” she says, tutting. “She had an affair, and pop, you were born. We are only a year apart, you know? She couldn’t wait long to cheat and have a creature like you.” I try to listen to her story, only hearing that my mother was the queen of the Protectors, and she had three other children. I had a family and, apparently, my father wasn’t the king. So . . . who was he? And what went wrong, so I ended up on the streets?
“Lies!” Connor shouts, and Erica laughs, standing up and kicking me in the stomach. The pain almost threatens to make me black out as I roll across the floor and land on my back with a groan, hearing Connor shouting in the distance as Erica walks over and stands above me, looking down in disgust.
“My father left me notes, a note with your name, and where to find you before he died. He wanted me to help you, bring you into the family because you are a part of my mother. All I saw was a disgusting secret, and one that needed to be destroyed,” she spits out, glaring at me.
“You-you hunted me all this time because you were jealous? Are you really that fucking crazy!” I ask, coughing and feeling warm blood drip down my cheek. She narrows her eyes at me before kicking me once more in stomach, and I roll across the floor again, facing the protectors this time and also closer to them this time.
“Evie! Get up and fight!” I hear and see Nix shout at me. I want to say yes, do as he asks, but I can’t. Erica leans down right in front of me and places her cold hand on my cheek.
“Dear sister, I’ve wanted you dead since I was a child. I was five when I sent the first protector after you, and they failed. Every single one failed to kill you, and I knew I had to do something before the trials for the new queen started. I couldn’t risk fighting you in them, and it was about time you died,” she says, almost soothing, like she wants me to agree with her crazy plan.
“You killed your sisters, didn’t you?” I manage to cough out.
“Our sisters, don’t forget, and yes I did. They were smart, fast, and good fighters. I couldn’t risk not winning the throne, I need it for the future and what needs to happen,” she says, still stroking my cheek. I have the feeling she killed my sisters before they were even kidnapped by her demon friends.
“You fucking bitch, Erica! The keepers will never give you throne if they knew what you did!” Trex growls out, and I hear him struggling against his bindings, trying to escape and help me.
“That’s what makes this all perfect, they will never know. Everyone that knows, is here, and will soon be dead or exiled from the Protectors for failing to save their princesses,” Erica laughs. She has planned this all, and we have walked straight into her trap. My sister is smart, but it’s a shame she is fucking crazy, too.
“We know! And we won’t stay quiet. You kill her, Erica, and I swear I will hunt you down and finish you,” Trex threatens, and I’m surprised to find I believe him. I didn’t think the asshole liked me.
“No one would believe you, and you have no proof. Our engagement is over, not that it was anything other than words, anyway,” Erica smiles sweetly at an angry-looking Trex, who keeps his eyes on me. Erica looks back down at me as everything goes black in the corners, and the pain starts to disappear into a feeling of emptiness.
“Good bye, sister, shame you’re not the deadly assassin I always feared you would be. You were too easy to kill,” she whispers to me as she grins and leans down, stabbing the dagger straight into my heart.
“May death guide you on your way, may angels save your soul, and may you be reborn true. We bless your death in the light of the Protectors who fell before you,” I hear all three of my Protectors say with sorrow lacing their words, and then everything fades into darkness.
Evie
“Evelina, you are so beautiful,” I hear a woman say. Her voice is kind, gentle, and reminds me of a distant memory. A memory of a woman speaking to me, singing me a song. I blink my eyes open, seeing a woman floating in front of me. She almost looks like she is in a cloud, her white dress flowing with the cloud surrounding her. She has long black hair, a crown, and four runes marked on her forehead, and swirls dipping down the sides of her eyes. She is stunning, and as her blue eyes meet mine, I just want to know who she is.
“Who are you?” I ask.
“Evelina, I made the worst decision, and my mistake left you alone. I regret every moment of it and now you must pay for it. I can only see you now because death closes in on you,” she replies, ignoring my question and it’s all I can think about instead of her words.
“Who are you?” I repeat.
“Erica is lost in pain, and you must end her. Send her to me,” she says.
“Who are you?” I ask again, demanding this time.
“I love you. I loved you from the moment I held you, and you opened your eyes, breaking my heart because you remind me of your father. You were the last thing I thought of as I died. I will always love you, Evelina.”
“Who are you?” I ask once more, but this time my voice cracks, and hot tears fall down my cheeks.
“You already know, and you have to leave,” she says sadly, moving closer to me and placing her hand on my chest over my heart. “I’m with you, always.”
“Mother?” I ask, and she nods, only seconds before she fades away and I fall through the clouds.
I lie very still as I look up at the light around me; it is the brightest light that I’ve ever seen. The light is everywhere, it’s soothing and perfect as it warms my skin. Most of me doesn’t want to move, most of me feels nothing but light for a long time, and then a small flash of memory comes to me. A man with red eyes. Another man with a cheeky smile and two dark brothers with a dark appeal to them. I remember them, feeling like they are calling me somehow. I feel like they need me. I sit up suddenly, as everything else flashes through my mind, until I remember the last thing.
I should be dead.
I feel around my chest, seeing that I’m completely naked, and there is a scar where the dagger went into my heart and my stomach. The scar is white, and there is no blood anywhere on me. My blue hair falls over my chest, hiding my chest as I look up at the white skies. They are beautiful.
“Scars are good, they proved you lived,” a light, male voice says, and I look over, staring in awe as an angel walks over to me. He has big white wings, white hair, and bright-white eyes. He kneels down close to me, watching me carefully as I look at his wings as they spread out.
“Are you an angel?” I ask, and he nods.
“Am I dead? In Heaven?” I ask another question, and this time he frowns, shaking his head.
“Angels do not die in hell. We never have. We become the light,” he says like that should explain everything, but it doesn’t explain a thing.
“I died in hell . . . this doesn’t make any sense,” I shake my head, and he sighs.
“You have no idea what you are, do you Evie?” he asks, and I shake my head.
“Look behind you, and that is the start of your answers,” he says. I turn my head around, and see long black wings spreading out from my back, hovering in the air. Wings? I have goddamn wings? What the hell?
Trex
“You crazy kid! Don’t try to bite me, I was only getting the water bottle out of the holder!” Connor shouts, with a pain-filled grunt, and I stop the car in the middle of the highway, resting my h
ead against the wheel. My mind flashes back to seeing Evie lying on the ground, blood pouring out of her stomach, and my ex-fiancé holding the knife. Evie was a royal, and I never knew. Evie is who we should have been protecting the whole damn time, and we failed her. I won’t fail her witch, though. I look over at Nix, who holds a bottle of whiskey and watches out the window, not saying a word. He hasn’t said a word since Evie died and oddly enough, her body faded away. It must have been something about dying down there because Erica didn’t seem shocked or even cared at all. We watched Erica walk through the portal before getting ourselves undone and escaping.
“You kidnapped me! I am waiting for Evie to come back, and I need to be there, or she won’t know where to find me! She would never send Protectors after me!” the kid shouts, and I lift my head to see Connor trying to fight her off as she throws her shoe at him. You can tell Evie brought her up, that’s for sure.
“Kid, listen to me,” I say, watching as Star jumps onto Hali’s lap, and Connor leans as far away from her as possible. Hali’s pale eyes look at me, and all I can see is a scared kid. A scared kid that is acting out. “Evie is gone. I told you this, and I wasn’t lying. Now we need to get to safe house, and keep you alive, because it’s what she would have wanted, and I owe Evie.”
“Evie isn’t dead! I know she isn’t,” Hali says, looking away, and out the window, tears streaming down her face that she harshly wipes away.