by Dina James
Had they...done something to him? What? How?
Ryan sat up. Beads of bloody sweat dripped down his face. He grinned at Rebecca as he got up.
She took a step back. “Ryan, stay away from me,” she pleaded, holding her arms in front of her.
He didn’t seem to hear. “They’re waiting for you,” Ryan said. “You’re the guest of honor. Isn’t that nice, Hot Stuff? You’re finally popular!”
“You don’t know what you’re saying!” Rebecca cried. “They’ve...done something to you! You’re not Ryan!”
“Of course I am,” Ryan replied as he took another step toward her.
“How about another kiss?”
Rebecca looked around in desperation. A bright yellow object on the chest of drawers next to her caught her eye.
Ryan’s lucky pencil.
She grabbed it and held it tight in her hand, her thumb on the eraser end. “Stay away from me! SYD!”
Ryan laughed. “He can’t hear you. Even if he could, what makes you think he’d come to your rescue? You’re food to him. You think he’d rescue a burger?”
“BILLY! BILLY, HELP ME!”
Ryan laughed again. “Filling his stomach means more to Billy than you do.”
Rebecca took another step back and realized Ryan was herding her toward the mirror portal at the end of the room.
She felt the wall hard against her back.
Before she could blink, Ryan had her pinned hard against it. He smiled.
Her blood still coated his fangs.
“What’re you going to do, little Rebecca?” Ryan taunted. “And do you really think it matters to us? This shell has served its purpose. We have no further use for it. Dispose of it if you wish.” We? Shell? Use?!
Ryan grabbed her upper arms, and Rebecca screamed and buried his lucky pencil deep in his chest.
He howled, and for a brief moment his eyes changed, and Rebecca knew it was Ryan behind them.
“Rebecca,” the boy she knew panted. “Run.”
He moved, but it was slow, and Rebecca could tell it was taking every ounce of effort he had to allow her past him. She wriggled against the wall, out from under his crushing weight and started to run for the enclave door.
She hadn’t taken a step before he pulled the pencil from his chest, grabbed her by the arm and threw her across the room.
Rebecca slammed hard into the mirror that served as a portal between worlds. Stars exploded behind her eyes as instant pain shot up her spine.
Before she could get to her feet, gray hands leaped out of the mirror and grabbed her by the throat.
“Consent, or she dies,” a demonic voice growled.
Robin!
The hands were clasped so tightly around her neck, Rebecca couldn’t speak. She managed a nod, and before it was complete, the enclave before her vanished.
chApter sixteen
Rebecca could hardly draw a breath. She didn’t think she could speak.
A huge, gray, winged being with radioactive green eyes loomed before her, its hideous lips twisted into a smirk. Rebecca tried to shrink back as she recognized the demon Billy had called Armaros, but she couldn’t move.
“Yes,” said Armaros. “You remember me, Acolyte. Welcome to Hell.” The Hell realm. This was the place she’d seen in her mind when Ryan would feed. Where there were other captive Healers.
“Where you will die,” the demon said, hearing her thoughts. “An unfortunate side effect of the acceptance and transfer. But we can’t have you dying just yet, Acolyte. Oh, no. T’would be a waste of all that glorious power you’re about to come into.”
He gestured at her and suddenly the air around her was cooler and she could breathe again.
“Robin,” Rebecca croaked. “Where’s...where’s Robin?” Armaros laughed and changed into Robin for a long moment before taking on his true form once more.
“You should have remembered better our first meeting, Acolyte,” he said. “I am truly surprised the same deception worked a second time. I can only blame your naïveté.”
Rebecca closed her eyes and felt more stupid than she ever had in her entire life, and with as often as she felt stupid, that was saying something. She’d read about demons. They lied, cheated, deceived, coerced...she should have realized they were possessing Ryan. Using him. That they’d lie to get to her.
But she’d been so blinded by her own emotions that she hadn’t noticed.
Hadn’t cared.
How stupid could she be? She’d played right into their hands. Given them exactly what they wanted.
Rebecca saw another of the captive Healers to her right. An older woman, with black hair turning gray, tumbling down from a bun. The woman glanced at Armaros.
“Demon,” the woman said, her voice lilting in a French accent. “I don’t suppose there’s any way to make a deal with you in this matter?” Armaros shook his head. “No deals. And you will be silent.” The demon made a gesture and the woman clasped her throat.
“No!” Rebecca shouted. “Don’t hurt her!”
Armaros laughed. “Why not? She has nearly used up the whole of her life-force. She has but a trickle of her power left in her, but a trickle is better than none at all. We will drain that when we drain yours.”
“Why me?” Rebecca asked. “What’s so important about me?”
“Silly girl,” Armaros said with a chastising click of his tongue. “Don’t you know? You’re about to be the recipient of power unparalleled. Did you honestly think that wouldn’t attract attention?”
“I won’t,” Rebecca said, shaking her head. “I won’t do it.” Armaros laughed again. “Do what?”
“Consent to give you my power.”
“Oh, no? What makes you think you have a choice?”
“Free will,” Rebecca replied, though her voice shook and she didn’t sound as sure as she thought she was. “If I don’t want to be a Healer, I don’t have to be. Billy told me I don’t.”
“Never trust an anubi,” Armaros replied. “They are brawn, not brains.
They know nothing. You’re going to come into your power whether you agree to it or not. The only choice you have in is what you do with it. Be grateful, Acolyte! I’m going to relieve you of that burden.”
“Uh, I appreciate the offer, but I’d rather stay alive, thanks,” Rebecca stammered as she took a step back.
“You mistake my words for a service I will render,” Armaros said, and he gestured toward her.
Rebecca was suddenly backed against a hard surface. Bands of wrought iron snaked around her throat, chest, stomach, ankles and wrists.
“They were merely an assurance.”
Though she could now breathe, Rebecca certainly couldn’t move.
She looked around. She was bound against a circular stone slab along with several other women.
Syd! Syd, HELP!
“He cannot hear you, nor has he any idea where you are,” Armaros said, sounding very pleased with himself. “Nor can the anubi sense you. This place is shielded and concealed. You are, Acolyte, completely abandoned.
There’s no one to help you.”
“Don’t bet on it, Hellspawn.”
Syd. Immense relief washed over Rebecca, her skin tingling with instant warmth at the sound of his voice. Whatever happened now, he was here. That strange warmth made her feel as though could face anything with him here.
“How did you...?” Armaros began, then made a gesture.
“Don’t bother with your theatrics, Armaros, they get old,” Syd said as he was seized from behind by three demons. “I came to make you an offer.
Myself for them. A Master vampire is a very tempting drain, isn’t it?”
“Compared to the line of Panacea and every Healer in the mortal realm?
Hardly,” Armaros replied. “How did you find her here?”
“And I’m going to tell you just because you asked,” Syd replied with a snort. “I’d tell you to go to Hell, but it seems we’re already here.” Armaros gestured again, Syd was sud
denly strapped down beside Rebecca, just like she was.
“Two for the cost of one,” the demon muttered. “We’ll drain you all.” Syd laughed and shook his head. “Good luck draining me without my consent.”
“You’ll give it, bloodsucker, when her screams become too much for you,” Armaros replied in a growl.
“You’re the one that will be screaming long before you ever touch her,” Syd replied. “Do you think I’m the only one who can find her?”
“Silence,” Armaros spat, and he gestured to Syd.
Why hasn’t he silenced me as well? And why weren’t they...doing anything else? Why were they just milling around, looking at her and one another?
They’re waiting for your birthday, she heard Syd in her mind.
She almost smiled, then forced it from her lips just in time. The demons knew Syd could hear her, but they didn’t need to know she could speak to him in return.
But that’s not until tomorrow, she replied silently.
Time passes differently here. You’l be seventeen in just a few minutes. They’re waiting for your power to rise. Once it does so within you, they’ll free it and take it for themselves.
Rebecca didn’t need to ask how they planned on freeing it. The huge knife Armaros held in his clawed hand was answer enough.
What about you? What are they going to do to you and the others?
Torture us until we plead for mercy and offer our power in exchange for release, Syd replied. That’s consent enough for them.
Oh, cripes they were in trouble. This was bad.
“Uhnn-uh!”
The demons all froze at the sound that escaped Rebecca’s lips. Armaros smirked.
“It’s begun.”
Rebecca looked down at her middle as much as her bonds would allow her and gasped. A dull golden light shone through her clothes.
Something moved inside her, warm and soothing. It called to her, whispering in her mind.
It was wonderful. She wanted to go to it, embrace it, dive into it. It was luxurious.
Now you see. And it’s only just begun, said an unfamiliar voice in her mind.
Rebecca glanced at the older Healer beside her and knew it had been she who’d spoken in her mind.
Is this what it’s like for you? Is this what you carry inside you? Is this what your power feels like? Is this what I restore to Syd, when he feeds from me? She asked the questions all at once.
Yes. It will grow stronger as well, she heard the woman reply.
She heard Syd again. Remember my cautions, Acolyte. It will consume you, if you do not bring it to heel. It is your power. Do not let it rule you.
Rebecca tried to pay attention to Syd’s voice and not the feeling inside her growing faster than she could accept.
“Yes,” she heard Armaros say. “Let it wash over you, Acolyte. Let it consume you. Accept it.”
Rebecca moaned again and closed her eyes. She couldn’t blame the demons for wanting this for themselves. Who wouldn’t want a feeling like this? It was indescribable. It was as though she’d waited her whole life for this feeling. This was who she was and what she was meant for. It was beyond imagination.
And there were already those who wanted to take it away from her.
But...what would they do with it? Why were they doing this to her, if it would be gone once they took it from her?
She found the presence of mind to ask the question aloud.
“Our kind have rare use for a Healer’s abilities,” Armaros answered.
“But there is always a use for the power that’s behind them. Further, taking the power of a Healer denies those abilities to others, namely our enemies.”
“So you’re going to kill all the Healers, and me, because you don’t need the whole of us, but can use some of our parts?”
“Precisely,” Armaros said. “Such will also keep those we intend to slaughter from obtaining aid or asylum.”
There was something beneath the demon’s words. Rebecca stared hard at him and forced her way into his mind.
“But you needed a Healer once,” Rebecca said, tilting her head to look at him. “And so did your wife. How are your sons, by the way?” She turned her head to the other side and looked at the other demons surrounding Armaros. “Are these some of them? You want to have them watch as you kill the daughter of the woman who saved their own mother?
Or didn’t he tell you he killed my mother?”
“You assume such would make a difference to us,” one of the demons replied.
“If demons didn’t have feelings, why did it matter to your father if your mother was going to die attempting to give birth to you?” Rebecca asked.
Another bolt of the amazing feeling of her power surged through her and she fell silent with a groan.
She could feel warmth— fire—raging within her. It was as though a tril-lion little drops of water had been thrown upon a hot surface and bubbled and burst, just beneath her skin.
How could one person be overjoyed and petrified at the same time? She understood now why Syd worried this feeling could kill her. It was frightening.
And exhilarating. Oh, she wanted this.
More. Yes, more. Don’t leave...
But the feeling ebbed, and when it was over she opened her eyes and looked at Armaros again. She smiled, and knew.
“She didn’t live, did she?” Rebecca asked. “My mother...saved your sons, but not your wife, and you’ve spent all this time since making sure no Healer ever helps anyone else. That’s it, isn’t it?” Armaros didn’t reply. He looked to the two youngest demons—twin boys—and remained silent. He gestured at Rebecca, and she knew she’d been silenced just like the older woman.
Rebecca felt Syd grasp her hand. While she still had the presence of mind to do so, Rebecca reached for the hand of the woman on the other side of her and clutched it.
“We’ll drain the vampire first, just to ensure the Acolyte’s cooperation,” Armaros said. “We’ll do it now, before the acceptance is complete.” The demon moved toward Syd and pressed the large knife he held into his neck.
“NO!” Rebecca shouted.
“She spoke against your bond of silence!” one of the demons behind Armaros whispered in awe. “How is that possible?!” Armaros ignored the question and looked hard at Rebecca.
“You offer yourself in his place?” Armaros asked, halting his blade.
Rebecca nodded.
NO! Syd shouted in her mind.
I have to, she replied.
Rebecca looked at Armaros and smiled.
Armaros continued to hold his knife to Syd’s throat. “A demon knows a lie when he hears one, and you are attempting one of your little human
‘bluffs’. That was your only trick, and you think you are clever in using it, or that you have avoided the transfer of his power. I assure you, you have not.
However, you have indeed consented.”
“Let him go,” Rebecca said.
Armaros left Syd’s side and glared down at Rebecca. “You agreed that you would take his place—as first to be drained, not that you would take his place entirely. You do not give orders here.”
Rebecca closed her eyes as the feeling inside her roared to life again, even stronger than before. Wow, she felt great. This was amazing. This was fun. This must be what it was like to be drunk, or high, or anything else people did that made them feel good. This was beyond fantastic.
“Unnnn-uh!” she groaned again, and her bonds snapped loose.
She heard a collective gasp as she sat up.
The demons standing interspersed between the bound Healers in the stone circle all took steps backward.
She looked up at Armaros and shook her head as she gave him a goofy smile. “I can see inside your head...”
Armaros looked at Rebecca for a long moment before he turned to the others. “She’s lost her mind.”
“I can see inside your head,” Rebecca said again. “You’re going to kill us all, no matter what I say, and
if I’m going to die, you’re not going to get any part of me, no matter what you do.”
“When you hear the screams of your colleagues begging you to consent, you’ll do it,” Armaros said.
“I won’t,” Rebecca said. “Because I know it won’t really be them talking, and they wouldn’t really want me to, not even to save themselves. Certainly not to help you.”
Armaros scowled and raised his knife above his head. “Then you die now, and so do they.”
Rebecca closed her eyes and let her head fall back. Her hands tightened on those of Syd and the woman beside her.
The golden light inside her burst from the hollow of her throat, below her breastbone and from each wrist.
Armaros howled as bands of pure light surrounded him.
Rebecca raised her head and stared at him.
Another whimper of pain infused with terrible pleasure escaped Rebecca as she let go of the hands she held. She brought her palms together and cupped the golden light emanating from her middle.
She slid from the stone altar and brought the harnessed power above her head. She spread her fingers and it arced from them to each woman’s bonds, freeing them.
As each Healer slid from their captivity, they ran to gather behind Rebecca. One woman put a hand on Rebecca’s shoulder, then another, until each woman was connected to her through the touch of another.
Syd stood beside Rebecca, and she reached to grasp his hand.
Armaros howled again and shook off the light binding him.
Rebecca held up her hand and spread her fingers wide. She knew now what the gesture she’d seen Syd and her nana use so often meant. It was an invocation of power.
Power she could now invoke.
“Don’t,” she commanded. “I thought you’d figured out by now that I’m not your average Healer. I’m not going to let you hurt anyone else.”
“And just what do you plan on doing?” Armaros asked.
“I’m not sure what will happen if I tap whatever reserves of power I have standing behind me, in addition to that of a Master vampire. I do know that we will still be standing. Not sure about you or your little playground here. Now back off like your little buddies were already smart enough to do,” Rebecca replied.