by Lisa Randall
Helen, don’t move or draw attention to yourself. Have you seen this guy’s aura? I asked.
Yeah, don’t worry, I don’t want that guy looking at me. His aura is ice cold and a hard blue. This can’t be good. She said.
I tried to read his mind and all I got was pieces of many different thoughts. And all of those thoughts were in different voices, none of them his. This man was definitely crazy. He looked at me and smiled. He knew I had read him, and what I had seen. I still wasn’t showing any fear, and this seemed to make him even angrier. He turned his attention back to Alice and said “I want what was promised me.” All the color in Alice’s face drained away and she looked like she was about to pass out. “It is time.” He said. Before I could wonder at what was happening, Alice called out in a shaky voice “Sam! Bring Gwenneth.” Tears were now falling freely from her face, but she kept it together. She knew that to show fear to this man, Pandora, was like throwing a wounded animal in front of a starving lion. And Pandora was one mean lion.
“NO!” A man shouted from the crowd, holding on to a woman who looked like she was scared to death. That must have been Gwenneth. I couldn't imagine what was going on. I looked to Alice for answers, but she had her eyes to the ground. I tried reading her mind and what I saw was surprising. She was remembering the first time Pandora had come to her home. He had taunted them, playing sadistic mind games with them until his true intentions were revealed. He promised to leave them alone until the next full moon on one condition. Alice agreed before hearing him out, and there was no way to get out of it. His condition had been to take one human volunteer to go with him and to never return. He told her all of the vile things that would be done to the ‘volunteer’ before finally being bled dry for food, only making her cry even harder. Every human was afraid of him, everyone didn’t want to die. They figured if one person could save them all, then eventually they would all be free. It was only Alice who had done the math. Within a few years, all of the humans here would be dead. Slowly being sacrificed to the crazy vampire.
Chapter 14
The vampire who calls himself Pandora is the eeriest creature I have ever met. Not that I have met very many supernatural creatures, but given what I have seen since waking in this desolate world, he tops the list. He was only slightly taller than Rai, but taller than all of the humans here, making him seem like a giant in comparison. He wasn’t very big or muscular, but he had an aura about him that commanded you to feel fear in his presence. He had stringy hair and his clothes weren't exactly the best, but better than what the humans wore. They were clean at least. His smile sent chills down my spine, and his eyes seemed too big for his head. The overall effect of the look made something in me mad at his existence. I recognized the look on his face that many insane criminals had, from what I had seen on television and newspapers during my search for my maker, so very long ago. I felt all of this looking at him, but I wasn’t scared at all. Instead, his very existence made me mad. I heard Rai’s thoughts on what he was seeing in Alice’s mind. He replayed what he saw in his own mind, for me to see. Seeing the humans willingly sacrifice one of their own to save the rest was unforgivable. Not to mention it will never work in the long run. It seemed that Pandora’s intentions were to slowly kill off this group of humans, toying with their emotions, dragging out this torture every month for as long as it could go on.
Well now, that simply will not do. I thought. Even though I haven't exactly been there to see the humans evolve over the years, I felt somewhat responsible for what was being done to them. They were scared enough in this crazy world, and this man, this vampire, was creating new ways to make their life a living hell. I felt the anger rising in me faster than anything I had ever felt before. I didn’t realize what was happening until I began to walk away from Rai, straight for Pandora.
As I began slowly walking towards Pandora, everyone stopped moving. I wasn’t sure what was so surprising, maybe the fact that someone was actually standing up to this monster. I wasn’t going to let one more innocent person die by this man’s hands. Certainly not while I was right there to stop it. Pandora looked at me and his grin turned into a full smile, showing his pointed teeth. It seemed he recognized a threat when he saw one. Good. I wasn’t about to back out now, standing in front of him, barely a foot apart. I was raging mad on the inside, but I didn’t let it show. That would only let him feel like he won something over me.
Helen. What are you doing? I heard Rai ask. I didn’t answer him. I didn’t dare. I tried to block him out of my mind. I didn’t want him to see what I was thinking of doing to Pandora. It wasn’t like me at all, but I didn’t care. I could hear the woman Gwenneth and the man who shouted earlier crying in disbelief and relief. They didn’t want to die. No one does. And certainly not in the ways Pandora had in mind.
I stared right at Pandora and said “No.”
“No?” He asked, still smiling yet looking confused that someone was resisting. Maybe it had been too long for him to remember what that felt like. I was happy to help him feel that way once more. “Oh, really?” he asked, placing his hands behind his back.
“Really.” I said. It was all I could say before he lunged at me, long nails on both hands, like claws, swinging in the air in front of me. But they didn’t hit anything. I didn’t even have to move. The barrier was in place, and as soon as he touched it, a puff of smoke came off of his hand. He drew it back in shock and stood there, staring at his burnt hand for a moment before he began to laugh. He stood there laughing hysterically for a few minutes. Yep, this guy was crazy.
“This is going to be fun.” He said, and lunged again. This time, he added some extra power to his swings, trying to break my barrier, but nothing happened. All he achieved was to burn his hand even more. Then he looked around at the people watching, standing around like sheep waiting to be killed, and he smiled. I knew he had the intention to use one of the humans as a shield or a way to get me to lower the barrier, but he couldn’t get to the nearest human in time. That person just happened to be Alice, Selena standing next to her. I looked at Alice, and she nodded. She knew what must be done, and we both knew she wasn’t strong enough on her own. I let her stand there, protecting Selena from what was about to come. I stopped blocking Rai enough to let him know what I had in mind, and I felt him agree. Pandora had to die.
I dropped my barrier, but kept the ones around everyone else up, just in case something happened. I could also faintly see the electricity I had come to know as Rai’s crackling along the barriers, assuring me that he had my back in case they went down. Pandora lunged at me, sensing the barrier go down, thinking he had won. He was about to find out how wrong he was. As his hands landed on my throat, I let the fire within me flow into him. He was frozen in place as I held him there with my power. His eyes widened at realizing what was happening to him and he began to fight back. It was useless, he was trapped there until the fire I held within me finished flowing into him. It was so much hotter than the other fires I had summoned before. Its intensity reminded me of the burning of the sun, and I could feel the warmth leaving me. I’m not exactly sure how long this lasted, but finally, it was over. His body didn’t even make it to the ground, falling into ash as I stepped away. His ashes drifted in the wind and he was no more. Unlike the other times I had killed someone since waking up, this death did not sadden me one bit. It actually felt like a weight had been lifted from my heart, and I was able to breathe again. I looked around to see if everyone was okay, only to find they all had fallen to the floor as if to escape something. I looked around, crouching next to Rai and asked “Why are we all on the ground?” his head jerked up to see me and relief filled his eyes. Was he worried about something? He had seen me do the fire summoning before, so I was wondering why his reaction this time was so different. He got up and hugged me tight, and everyone else began to stand up as well. I looked around and saw no one else had died, and I was relieved as well.
*****
I couldn’t believe what I had just seen. She neve
r looked so beautiful or so scary at one time. As soon as she asked me why everyone was on the floor, relief filled every part of me. I had felt her anger at Pandora, even through her mental block. I thought maybe I shouldn’t have shown her Alice’s memory of Pandora over the years, but then realized she had just saved them all from extinction. Rai, what’s wrong? She asked. Did she really not know? When she had advanced towards Pandora, her hair had blown in the wind, even though there was none. It was moving around because of all the power she was summoning to attack him. Her eyes had turned to fire, and she had begun to glow, all while keeping her shield up around everyone. I showed her what I had seen in my mind, and I heard her gasp. She really didn’t know. I could tell she had felt the power, but nothing else.
When she was burning Pandora, everyone had crouched on the ground to escape what was being released from his body. I had never seen something so horrifyingly beautiful. As he burned, hundreds of ghosts became visible around him, all smiling at his current predicament. They had turned to Helen, and all bowed as if to say thank you for releasing them. They were the voices I had heard in Pandora’s head. They were probably what drove him crazy. He must have been able to see the dead, or to at least sense them around him, which would get on anyone’s nerves after a while. And from what I could tell of the clothing the ghosts had worn, he had been killing innocents for thousands of years.
Everyone there had seen the same thing, from the looks on their faces. Alice spoke first, “Thank you.” She said, tears rolling down her face, “And I’m sorry. I’m so sorry everyone. I should have stood up against him long ago, but I knew I was no match for him.” She said all of this to the ground, not meeting anyone’s eyes. I could feel the shame, regret and sorrow emanating from her from where I stood. Selena took one hand, and a young girl took her other. “You did what you thought was right.” The girl said. Everyone around us slowly nodded, still in shock at what had happened.
“Selena, Rai, Helen, meet my niece, Harmony. Harmony, say hello to my friends.” Alice said. We all nodded at her as Alice said our name. I had the feeling that like in Selena’s pack, the next witch would take over if something happened to the other, and in this instance it would be Harmony. “Harmony is going to be replacing me for the time that I am traveling with you three.” Alice said, confirming my theory. Gasps went around the bonfire, as everyone now knew why we were there. Alice told them she was going with us to help us learn our powers, and to get revenge on our maker. Some cheered and wished her luck, and others didn’t like the idea of her leaving at all, but didn’t come right out and say it.
“Now, shall we leave tomorrow or wait a few days to go on our journey?” Alice asked, looking to us. I was about to give her an answer when Helen collapsed. I caught her before she hit the floor and took her in my arms.
“What’s wrong with her?” I asked Alice and Selena.
“Has this happened before?” Alice asked.
“Yes. Just about every time she uses a lot of power at once. Like when we first met you, she collapsed after she cleared the sky, remember?” I said.
“Oh yes, I remember that. I was wondering if it was a onetime occurrence or not, that’s all” Alice said. “Let me have a proper look at her.” She said, moving closer to look into Helen’s pale face. She put her hands on Helen’s cheeks and closed her eyes. I couldn’t see what she was doing, it was all more advanced than what I was used to. But then again I was a beginner at all of this magic stuff, even if I have lived a longer time than Alice.
Alice let out a gasp and she backed away from Helen. Her face was sad, as if she knew something awful but didn’t know how to say it. It reminded me of the look that doctors or police gave families that had lost a loved one. “Just tell me.” I said.
She took a deep breath and said “She has radiation sickness. From using too much power all at once. Her body isn’t able to heal it fast enough and it is beginning to do some damage. Has she mentioned having any headaches recently?”
“No. She said sometimes she can’t sleep, but thought it was because she had slept for so long or that she didn’t want to waste any more time sleeping.” I said. “Is there any way to fix it?” I asked.
“I could try,” Selena said, “but I would have to shift first and do it in my fox form.”
“When will you be ready to do this?” I asked. The quicker we healed her the better.
“I can try it tonight. Right now, but…” she said, looking around her.
“It’s okay.” Alice said. “They are in too much shock to do anything to hurt you, and we will protect you if they try.”
“Okay. Lay her on the ground and I will get started.” Selena said. We put Helen on a blanket by the fire, and Selena kneeled beside her. Her image shimmered like a mirage and then she slowly shifted into a fox. She was beautiful, and I was trying to remember what she looked like to show Helen when she woke. Selena had pure white fur all over her body, and beautiful eyes that shone in the night. More gasps came from the crowd and people began to kneel and pray in our direction. It was becoming uncomfortable and I turned to Alice for explanation, only to find her doing the same thing. Selena didn’t seem to notice, and put her forehead onto Helen’s. She seemed to glow in the night, as if what little moonlight made it through the clouds was being drawn in to her. Then the glowing stopped and she shifted back. Helen’s color was back to normal and she seemed less pained than before, even though she was unconscious. “So?” I asked.
“I have managed to heal some of the damage done to her so far, but it will continue to happen I’m afraid. As long as there is radiation in the air it will continue to affect her in this way if she uses too much power at once. I can keep checking on her as we travel, but it would be best to heal her every full moon. That is when my power is the strongest, and I can try to find a way to make it so she doesn’t get sick at all.” She said.
“Will the same thing happen to Rai?” Alice asked, still holding Harmony’s hand.
“I am not sure. It seems that every vampire is indeed different, but I haven't met that many to know if it will affect them all the same way or not. It could be the reason that their maker is insane, but that is just a guess. From what I understand he was already crazy, but it could be affecting him in the same way. There is just no way to know for certain until we run into him.” Selena said.
I let out a sigh of relief, knowing that for now, Helen was safe. We decided to wait and see if Helen was better tomorrow before we left, just to make sure. It wasn’t like we were on a schedule, but the sooner we tracked down our maker and put an end to his mayhem, the better.
*****
Watching the demons torment the vile witch who calls himself Magnus Lockewoode was getting boring. I sat in the corner, watching as they played with their claws, pretending to sharpen them with the intent to use them on him. Magnus was on the ground, shivering from fear.
“I said I wanted to help you! Why are you doing this?” he pleaded to the nearest demon.
“Just because you said you would help us, doesn’t mean we don’t want some fun.” One demon said.
“Please! Stop!” Magnus cried, as one demon stepped closer. The demons could smell his fear in the air, and they liked it. Hell, even I could smell it, and was trying to hide from it in the corner of the room. The demon closest to him swung his fist at the man on the ground, drawing blood from his cheek. Claw marks now marred one side of his face, and he began to beg. “Hecate please make it stop!” he prayed to the sky. Hearing that name, seeing and smelling his blood, I lost it. Next thing I know, the demons in the room are protecting the witch from me as I tried to claw his heart out. His blood called to me and in my haze I didn’t realize as one demon came up behind me and restrained me.
“Put him in his room until he calms down.” The apparent lead demon said to the one holding me. While he tried to pull me out of the room, I kicked and screamed at the witch, eager for his blood. The world was tinted red, and I had little to no control over my body. A
pparently I was making too much noise, annoying the demon holding me, and he knocked my head against a stone wall, making me pass out. Then there was nothing but blissful peace as darkness took over my mind.
Chapter 15
I was in a dark room. A man was bleeding and on the floor, begging someone named Hecate to stop something. There were demons all around him, laughing at his pain. Most of them looked human in shape, with the occasional wing or horn giving them away as a demon. They were all dressed differently, but some wore suits while others wore just a pair of pants, showing off their muscles.
A vampire lunged from the corner of the room, startling me. I hadn’t noticed him before; he blended with the darkness so well. A faint ray of moonlight came from somewhere, illuminating random points of the room. The vampire was stopped by another demon, and a ray of light hit his face. It was him. My maker. I recognized his eyes from the night he attacked me. Shocked, I tried to figure out what was happening and where I was. The demon was taking him away, to another room. The vampire was making so much noise, acting and sounding like he was insane. I tried to follow them, to see more of this place in order to find it again, but found I couldn’t move. This must be a dream, I thought. I never dreamt of seeing my maker’s face before, so maybe it was something else all together.
After the demon took him away, the demon closest to the man on the floor turned back to him and smiled. I could tell that smile meant more pain was coming for the poor man, and I hoped they wouldn’t kill him, even though I didn’t know him. No one deserves to be tortured, let alone for the fun of it.
The man on the floor begged with the demon again “Please. I did as you asked!” I wondered at what that was, but knowing demons were involved, maybe it was best I didn’t know. The demon’s smile stayed on his face as he walked around the man on the floor, playing with his claws as he went. “Yes, you do a wonderful job of keeping the portal open. I thank you and your ancestors for all that you have done for us demons, letting us loose on this world.” The man on the floor sighed, as if thinking the worst was over. The demon was behind him now, back turned to the man as he stared at a wall of stone. “But I wonder if we really even need you anymore.” He said. The man began to softly cry at his fate, looking at the floor in defeat. “However,” the demon said, causing the man’s face to rise in hope, “we need you to keep the portal open and maintain it at all times. We don’t want to be stuck here for any reason, and we need it for more demons to come through. More and more arrive every day. We come and go as we please. If you do not maintain it, it will collapse, and we will be stranded.” He said, tracing his claw along the man’s throat. “We certainly don’t want that now, do we?” he asked the man.