by G. Bailey
Evie
The room spins rapidly as I stare at my mother. One minute, I am watching Danike kiss my mother once again, and then I am in the same room, but it is on fire. A woman’s hand hangs off the bed, her hanging arm and shoulder is the only thing I can see. I slowly walk over, seeing the piles of blue dust on the floor. Dead demons. Dozens of them. I swallow the nervous feeling in my throat making me feel sick as I get to the bed. My whole body goes cold as I see my mother lying on the bed, holding a baby to her chest that is covered in a gold blanket. My mother’s back is covered in blood, and I look down to see a sword on the floor near my feet.
“You did well. You are so powerful already, though it should be me defending you, my baby girl,” my mother whispers to the baby and moves the blanket covering the baby, revealing the baby’s blue hair. The baby cries loudly, and my mother cries too, pressing a kiss onto the baby’s head. I step back as tears stream down my face, as I know I’m watching the moment right after I used my holy fire rune to kill all these demons. I was a baby, a baby trying to defend my mother, and I failed to save her.
“Eella!” someone desperately screams, and I sharply turn to see a woman running into the room, dropping a blood-covered sword on the floor. She looks a little like my mother, only her hair is short and her face covered in blood. The woman falls on the bed, taking in my mother’s injuries. “Oh sister, what have they done to you?”
“They know who she is. Take her. Hide her. It is too late for me,” my mother pleads with her sister. My aunt.
“I promise,” my aunt vows, harshly wiping her eyes as she picks up the baby—well, me—and holds her close to her chest as the baby cries loudly.
“Go. Just go, they are coming, and they want her dead. She cannot die, not after her father…” my mum pleads desperately, pushing at her sister’s arm, but she doesn’t have the strength to even move her an inch. My aunt leans over my mum, kissing her forehead and moving some of the hair out of her eyes as my mum rolls onto her back.
“Evelina will be safe. You will not have died for nothing. She will live and avenge you. I love you so much,” my aunt cries out as my mum places her hand on the baby’s head, on top of the blanket, leaving blood marks with her fingers.
“I only want her to be happy and alive. Nothing else even matters. I love you, my baby girl. Now live,” my mother just about coughs out, and her hand falls away, her head falling to the side so her glazed-over eyes meet mine. I jump back, seeing my aunt crying in anger and running out of the room with me in her arms, but I do not look away from my mother.
“I am sorry, and I will avenge you. We should have been together, mum, and maybe I will see you in death one day, and we can be together. I am alive, and there were moments I was happy. Even now, I am happy to have been able to see you once again,” I manage to say as I try not to break down with the anger and emotion that are trying to destroy me. I reach out to put my hand on my mother’s cheek, but the tips of my fingers turn into smoke and reappear when I move my hand away.
“Guards! Call the guards!” a man shouts, and I turn to see a hooded man run into the room, lowering his cloak. It is keeper Cadean who doesn’t look one bit shocked at the sight of the dead queen. Two other keepers run into the room, gasping in shock and lowering their heads in respect.
“The evil child she spawned has killed her, and her sister is protecting the baby. We must hunt the child! Now!” keeper Cadean shouts, and the two other keepers quickly run out of the room. Keeper Cadean walks over to my mother, leaning down so he is only a breath away from me as he whispers.
“You deserved this, and I will find the child and dispose of her as well. Your other children will be brought up in my care, and one will be a much better queen than you ever were.”
The room spins as I scream and try to attack keeper Cadean, and suddenly there is massive white light that blinds me.
“She is coming around, any moment now,” Charmeine’s voice drifts over to me, the white light blinding me for only a few minutes before her face comes into view along with the whole room. I sharply sit up, looking over at Danike who is staring at the ground as he sits up.
“You…” I can’t even say the words as anger fills me, and I jump at him, lifting my hand and punching him hard in the face. He falls to the ground as I stand over him. “Where were you when my mother died?! How could you let her die like that for having your child?! Where the hell were you?!” I scream at him, and Charmeine tries to wrap an arm around me, but I push her away. I wait until he finally looks up at me before trying to speak, but no words come out. Tears stream down his face, the emotion on his face so difficult to watch, but I can’t feel anything but anger. He left her alone, and me. She is dead, and he could have stopped that.
“I loved your mother and never knew she was dead. I never knew the baby, you, survived. You shouldn’t have, and she shouldn’t have died saving you,” he spits out angrily, and I take a step back in shock. He sharply stands up, glaring at me once before storming out the house.
“He didn’t mean that. You’re his daughter. It is just a shock,” Charmeine tries to comfort me. “He loved your mother more than his own life.”
“Oh, he meant it, and I don’t care. Now, how do I get out of here? I have things I need to do,” I say, straightening my back and forgetting about the asshole outside. I have never needed my parents, and I’m not about to start now. But I do need revenge for many things. I think I should start making a list at this rate. My revenge list. I like the sound of it.
“We can’t—” she starts off, and the door bangs open as Danike runs in.
“The souls are attacking the angels! Your sister is there!” Danike shouts at us and runs back out.
“No!” Charmeine screams in fear and runs out the door. I pause for a second, wondering if I should just leave them to it, but I know I can’t do that. I shake my head before I run after them, knowing they will need all the help they can get. I guess we are going to fight some souls then…without weapons. Awesome fucking plan.
Trex
“What’s wrong with him? Is he hurt?” Hali asks from behind me as I drop my brother onto the sofa in the lounge. He doesn’t even stir, and I just rub the back of my neck as I look down at him as he starts lightly snoring. Getting as drunk as he can be is not fixing our problems. We need Nix on his game in case we are found, but getting him to listen to me is another thing altogether.
“Don’t drink alcohol, kid, this is what happens,” I point at Nix as I turn around to face Hali. It’s clear she has been crying again, and I don’t know what to do or say to her. Fuck, she lost Evie, her only family, and she is stuck with us idiots. I don’t blame her for crying every day. I guess I could make her more chocolate cookies, that made her smile for a little bit. Or watch that show where they catch fake people online. She loves that too.
“I will get him a blanket, it’s cold and I don’t want him cold,” she says, nodding to herself and running off towards the bedrooms at the back of the cabin. The girl is too nice for her own good. The dickhead deserves to be cold. I walk over to the kitchen and open the fridge, pulling out a bottle of water as I hear the front door open. I look back as Connor walks in, his cloak covered in snow and Star walking next to him. Star shakes all the snow off her back before running to me, pressing her head against my hip. The tiger has grown extremely quickly in the last month, and I think she may be some kind of magical creature. Normal tigers don’t triple in size like she has in such a short time, and she is far too intelligent.
“Anything?” I ask Connor as he pulls his cloak off. Connor looks like shit, his hair is overgrown, sticking up in all directions, and he has grown a beard. We all don’t know what to do with ourselves now, and we all regret everything that happened in Hell. Some of us more than others.
“The path is completely snowed in, and we can’t get to town until it clears. I would burn it down with the rune or portal, but I think it will attract too much attention to us. The whole idea of living
on this stupid island at the top of Scotland is to be unseen,” Connor mutters, hanging his cloak on the hook next to our other ones.
“We have enough food for a week. If it becomes urgent, we will use our powers,” I reply, undoing the bottle lid and drinking some of the water. I push my hair out of my eyes, knowing I need to cut it.
“Where did you find him?” Connor asks, coming over to me as Hali comes out one of the rooms with a red blanket in her arms.
“On the roof, surrounded by empty bottles of beer and god knows what else. He must have opened a portal to get them, risking us all,” I growl out, shaking my head at Nix. We need to hide because not only do the witches want Hali, the Protectors want us for breaking her out and running from them. Not that any of us want anything to do with the Protectors after what Erica did. Erica would kill us in a heartbeat if we came near them anyway.
“Nix isn’t taking Evie’s death well, maybe we should give him a bit of a break,” Connor says, which is a big understatement, and we always seem to give my brother a break when we both lose people. I thought I had some of my brother back while we were in Hell, but Evie’s death has only destroyed him more. He doesn’t talk to us or do anything other than drink. The only one he ever replies to is Hali, only because she threw a bucket of ice water over him for ignoring her. That kid is just like Evie because I could imagine her doing that.
“None of us are,” I reply coldly, watching Hali cover up Nix with a blanket and wondering if the kid will ever be able to have a normal life without Evie protecting her. There is only so much we can do to protect her when we don’t know the world of witches and demons like Evie did. Star unexpectedly starts growling low, a rumbling noise, as she runs over to Hali and Nix, pushing Hali behind her. Hali flashes me a worried look as I slide my sword off the counter, hearing Connor pick up a weapon too as he runs over to Hali. Hali stays behind Star as we stop on either side of her, listening out for anything. I pull my sleeve up my arm, getting ready to call my portal rune if we need an escape.
“What is it, girl?” I ask Star, following her gaze to the other side of the room. A wall of fire burns into existence, looking like a door for a second before Azi steps out and the fire portal burns away. Star stops growling, and I wonder for a brief second how it is even possible she knew he was coming. Azi is oddly wearing the same clothes as the last time we saw him ages ago. Where the hell has he been? Azi looks at us all before focusing on Hali.
“Azi!” Hali shouts, clearly happy as she slides around Star and runs at him. He picks her up in an embrace, holding her close as she bursts into tears.
“Evie…she is dead,” Hali sobs out, and Azi strokes her hair as he holds her close. He lets her go and goes to his knees, so he is on her level as he is so much taller than her. Azi places his hands on her shoulders, keeping eye contact with her.
“Death is not the end. Do you remember me telling you that once? My mother and father spoke those words to me before they died, and they are very true,” he says gently and leans closer, whispering something I cannot hear.
“Death is not the end,” Hali replies as he pulls away, her voice filled with a little hope, and it makes me want to punch Azi. She doesn’t need to be filled with false hope that Evie is somehow going to walk through the door.
“Now, I need to talk to the Protectors alone,” Azi tells her firmly and she nods, wiping her eyes. He straightens up, looking over at me.
“I missed you, these guys are boring as hell!” Hali exclaims, getting all our attention.
“Cheeky shit,” Connor mumbles. “I played Cluedo with you, and that game is not boring.” Hali just rolls her eyes at him as Azi smiles down at her.
“Star, come on,” Hali says, walking away towards the bedrooms. Star pushes her head against Azi who gives the tiger a slightly confused look as she follows after Hali.
“How did the tiger get so big? Did you buy a new one?” Azi asks curiously.
“Fuck knows. She isn’t a normal tiger, that’s for sure,” Connor replies and shrugs his shoulders. I doubt we will ever know the answers to what Star is.
“Why are you here? We are protecting Hali, and we don’t need you filling her head with ideas that Evie might come back. The kid is heartbroken enough,” I snap at Azi, and he growls low as his red eyes glow.
“I am not filling her head with false promises. Evie will return. You do not understand,” he growls out, and I cross my arms, raising my eyebrows at him. He can’t honestly expect me to believe that bullshit. People die. They don’t just come back because someone says so.
“Then tell us. We will do anything to get her back,” Connor says, his voice bordering on a little desperate, and it makes me want to punch Azi even more. Fucking hell, he is getting everyone’s hopes up.
“I need you to explain exactly what happened in Hell. Do not leave a single thing out,” Azi asks, but it comes out as more of a demand.
“Erica…she was behind it all,” Connor answers.
“Who is Erica?” Azi asks, looking confused.
“One of the princesses we were looking for, and she is Evie’s sister. We didn’t know who Evie was or how messed up Erica is,” Connor says, and I feel guilty that I didn’t know a thing about my ex-fiancé. She was good at hiding who she really is, and that cost Evie her life. I will always regret that, and I will find a way to get my revenge for Evie. She did not deserve to be betrayed like that. I always looked up to the royal family, like everyone did, even far enough to agree to an engagement based on our strong bloodlines. Yet, everything I have learnt is making me think the royals are not people to respect at all. The only one who acted like a royal the whole time I knew her, turned out to be one. Evie carried that commanding and beautiful nature I heard her mother had. I remember the keepers once saying how Erica was nothing like her mother and so much like her father. Erica hated that they said that, and that I had accidently heard. They were right.
“Evie is a royal Protector?” Azi asks, his voice laced with confusion, and I simply nod. “What she said is true,” he mutters under his breath, sounding shocked.
“What who said?” I ask.
“Nothing. You said her sister killed her?” he enquires.
“Erica set it all up to get Evie off guard. She knew she couldn’t just kill Evie on her own with no plan,” Connor explains. We all know Erica couldn’t have beat Evie one to one. Evie grew up on the streets, and she was a fantastic fighter, not that I ever told her that. Erica was taught to fight by old Protectors who had never had a real fight in their lives and we were lucky to have a mentor who fought in the angel war. Protectors only ever had to fight demons who could be killed with one rune and no fight needed. Evie fought everything, and that made her strong.
“My brothers helped her,” Azi muses. “They were the only way Erica could have gotten into that layer.”
“Yes,” I sharply reply, and he seems lost in thought for a while, looking down at his arms even though you can’t see anything with his suit on.
“Where is Evie’s body? I need to see her,” Azi eventually says, lifting his gaze to us.
“She disappeared,” I reply, remembering the moment Evie’s eyes glazed over and her body disappeared into nothing but white dust. That memory haunts me, keeps me up at night. Much like the thoughts of her impossibly deep blue eyes that understood me without a word leaving her lips.
“What? No…that isn’t possible,” Azi says, shaking his head as he starts to pace. “She can’t have disappeared. Her soul would have left her body and that was it.”
“Her soul never left. She didn’t die like anything else I’ve ever seen,” I honestly answer. Demons turn into piles of blue or sometimes black dust, but their soul always leaves their body, and you see the light leave them. Evie’s death has haunted me for far too long because I can’t understand where her soul went, and there is no one to ask for answers.
“Because she didn’t die. Her father must have been an angel…I know where she is!” Azi shockingly exc
laims and grins. “I knew death could not take my Evie so easily.”
“Where is she? I can answer that, she is dead. Angel or not, you cannot survive being stabbed three times!” I shout at him.
“No, she isn’t dead, and you need to trust me on that. I have lived far too long and seen things you would not believe, Protector. Angels are complicated, and I know Evie is half angel,” Azi says, and hope fills me as I step forward.
“Find her and bring her back. We need her,” I say, not wanting to admit how much I need to see her just one more time. I need…well, I need to protect her. I owe her a debt, and I miss her. Even the snarky, annoying attitude she has. My eyes lock with Azi’s as he nods, a small smirk on his lips.
“Oh, I am going to find my Evie and bring her back, so she can get her revenge. Erica will regret killing her sister in such a cowardly way. No coward is going to be queen of the Protectors or anything,” Azi states firmly, and I agree.
“And we will be at her side. We will be her Protectors,” Connor states, bowing his head a little. “She deserves to be queen. She deserves revenge, which we can help her get.”
“Find her,” I say simply, as Azi calls a portal. He nods once at me before stepping into it and disappearing. I walk towards the door, pulling it open.
“Where are you going?” Connor asks.
“To get a bucket of snow to wake my brother up. We need to be ready. Our princess is coming back, and she is bringing one hell of a fight with her.”