As for me, I had fallen onto my backside and my body shuddered with the strength it took to breathe. I lifted my hands in front of my face and looked at them shaking uncontrollably. And there, travelling down my arms, were the tentacles of crimson snakes slithering under my skin, reaching up through my pores like an overload of power was trying to escape me. Because what no one knew yet was this time, I had been granted a lot more than just a glimpse of the past or that of the future.
A lot more than Lucius’ brother was expecting, that was for damn sure! Because this time I had been granted some of its power, like a lingering essence of a God. So much of it in fact, it was buzzing inside me and so desperate to get out that it felt as though it was clawing at my skin. It forced me to question whether this was what it felt like for those like my father or Lucius whose demons felt trapped inside their own vessel. This untapped power desperate to get out and believing that its vessel was the cage that prevented it.
It was of little wonder why then those like Lucius and my father spoke about their demon side like a different entity. As if they were carrying around with them some internal twin, one that was the darker side of their soul who was constantly trying to consume them. It meant that for once, I finally understood the true nature of Hell’s beings and the daily battle they had to win, in order to suppress a terrifying side of themselves. But as for now, well...
I didn't have to suppress the thing.
“Now tell me, what did it show you? Where is the Tartarus gate?!” The one they called Master roared down at me. But I closed my eyes and at a mere thought, I could see it. I could see exactly what he wanted to know. Hell, but I could have fucking walked there! It was almost as if I had opened a door of secrets, having just instantaneously absorbed all the knowledge of Hell that I shouldn't have known. I knew it wouldn’t last, fading the moment the power was spent but for now, I could see what he spoke of.
The gate led to a crumbling pyramid, a temple that had been destroyed in yet another battle against the Titans. In fact, it barely even existed anymore as all that could be seen amongst the rubble was a Keystone and an opening below it. There were details around the image that I just couldn't make out yet and right now I didn't have the time to try.
Because I was consumed.
I took in a deep breath and knew what I had to do, starting with a little acting. Because I still had one problem to take care of. So, I rose to my feet and continued to stumble backwards as though I could barely stand my ground. I managed to do this muttering in a fearful pathetic way,
“Please I…Gods, but it was so strong I can barely…even…breathe.” Granted my acting wasn't going to win any awards, but it didn't have to. No, all it needed to do was fool them long enough to get me where I needed to be. Meaning that I only stopped walking backwards when I felt the well was behind me.
“Fae, are you okay, what happened?” Nero asked me clearly concerned but she didn't need to be. Not when I had everything in hand, one I felt turn into a fist by my side. This was because the anticipation of what was to be an eruption of power was nearly all too much to bear. It felt as if my blood was humming and my heart was beating far too quickly than what should have been physically possible.
“Tell me or your friend dies!” Lucius’ brother threatened and my reply was not the one he was expecting,
“I will tell you…When Persians grow hair on the palms of their hands before battle!” I said what was my father’s favourite response to those that believed his armies could be defeated.
“Then you watch as your friend drowns!” he said, before nodding to one of the Harpies to do his bidding.
This was when without looking I asked Nero,
“Do you trust me?”
“Erm, not when your eyes look all crazy and shit, not really, no,” was her amusing answer, and that was when I first realised that my eyes must have changed with the power surging inside me. This was when I turned to wink at her and said,
“Then I suggest this is the part you…hold the fuck on!” I shouted this last part at the same time reaching for the release on the crank, letting Nero once more go plummeting down the well. Then I grabbed the Harpy that had been charged with doing the same thing and threw her into the mechanism, all to the sound of Nero screaming.
But it was a sound that only stopped when the Harpy’s body got caught in the turning cog. Because this managed to stop Nero from falling any further and reaching the water, putting her at a safe distance away from what was about to happen. Now her echoing cry of my name was lost due to the furious bellows of rage coming from the Master as he ordered all the Harpies to attack me at once.
I looked up at him with a sinister grin and motioned with my hands for them all to come closer if they dared.
“Let’s do this!” I roared back at him, letting them close in around me until I took a deep breath and called forth that surge of rage.
Finally, able to release…
A Crimson wave of Death.
Chapter Seventeen
After Death Comes Truth
The moment I started to hear a voice, one that sounded like my name was being echoed through a tunnel, I started to come around. It took my mind a few blurry seconds to start piecing together what had happened.
Or should I say…
What I had done.
I knew that if I focused hard enough it would all play back and come to me with perfect clarity, but for the moment it was Nero's voice that I focused on.
This forced me to open my eyes and staring back at me was a beach of golden sands. I strained my ears trying to listen out for the ocean lapping its gentle waves upon the shore close by, but there was nothing but the calling of my name. I heard myself groan as I started to move my body, feeling the ache when pushing myself from the ground, which was when I realised, I wasn't on a beach at all. I was simply surrounded by golden sands the Eye had given me.
My name was now becoming a desperate call as I could hear the tremble in her voice. As it was obvious, she most likely thought I was dead. But then, one glance around me proved that it was everyone else who had been robbed of life and as for my role…
I had been the thief.
I closed my eyes at the sight of so much death at my hands and muttered an incredulous,
“Fuck.”
This was because the entire space of the bailey had been turned into a mass grave site, where the bodies and remains of Harpies lay littered among the ground like a bomb had gone off in the centre. The different state of the bodies that I could now see would be a way of tapping into the memory of how they got to be that way. Memories, admittedly, I didn't yet have the bravery to access. However, a pile of bodies that formed a mound told me exactly what I would find inside...the Harpy Queen.
This was one particular memory I pushed for, seeing it play out with the start of her desperate cries calling for her minions to help her. It was a desperate plea that was answered when her offspring sacrificed themselves to save her as they had shielded her from the wave of my power. My Crimson painted soul that had sucked each one dry of their very essence and the pools of blood that I had extracted from them, now lay around them like an abandoned island in the middle of an ocean of their own blood. And what would I find at its core but none other than their mother, one who cared more about her life above all others.
“FAE!” Having Nero screaming my name paused my steps when going towards the hidden Queen, making me now run back to the well instead. I looked over the side to find her a small shadow swinging in the centre of the stone.
“Nero! Are you okay?” I asked, making her release a relieved breath before saying,
“Holy shit, am I okay...? No, no I'm not okay…nothing is okay! In fact, I'm not sure I will ever be okay again and that I'm not dead!” she exclaimed dramatically.
“It's okay, I can confirm you're not dead,” I told her with a grin.
“Well, that’s good then but next question…how are you not dead…actually scrap that, I’m swap
ping it for, why the Hell am I still down here and why are we having this conversation with you up there?”
“I promise I will get you out of there soon,” I told her making her shout back,
“As in…as soon as the time it takes you to crank the wheel and pull me up?” she questioned, and I looked back at the mound of dead Harpies and told her,
“No, that is, as soon as the time it takes me to kill a Harpy Queen.”
“Oh fuck…Okay, yeah you go and do that and I will just be here hanging…Literally!” she muttered this last part making me grin.
“Thanks,” I said giving her a salute she could barely see from above her.
“Good luck and remember to break her legs!” This I heard echoing up after I had started to walk back towards the pile of corpses. A sight that looked more like skeletal remains that were hundreds of years old not minutes. It also looked as if most of them had even turned to stone, with only the skin between the long-boned fingers of their wings that remained. It looked like dried, withered skin or paper-thin leather that had been left to burn in the sun.
By the time I made my way over there I was forced to face what I had done. This was because everything that happened after the point of asking Nero to trust me, I had unconsciously allowed to come back to me. It started with raising my arms up and out to my sides as I unleashed the same wave of destruction I had the first time when back in the field.
I also remembered seeing Lucius' brother quickly creating a portal before stepping through it and slipping into another realm. This was naturally and unfortunately done before any of my power could touch him. The first stretch of my power had obliterated the Harpies closest to me, meaning little was left other than grey dust and particles still floating in the air.
The ones beyond this radius had managed to escape this instant death, but in the end, it was a mercy they had missed out on. This was because my power didn't stop at just the first wave, but instead it continued, and I found myself with the ability to control elements of it.
In one instance, I had lifted a hand and pointed to where I wanted it to travel and then watched as tentacles and curled streams of red essence shot from my fingertips. It then lassoed itself onto the Harpies like some beast from the sea. Once it had hold of them, I closed my fist and drew back my power, unsure of what had prompted me to do this. It was as if a natural instinct had taken over my entire vessel, and what my actions became were second nature. Because clawing back on that power had meant draining the Harpies of their blood, leaving nothing behind but fleshless crusts of dead husks.
I watched again as at the time I must have felt the presence of one sneaking up behind me. No doubt believing with my back turned I could be taken down. I suppose at the sight of her entire race dying all around her then what choice did she have but to try. After all, desperation can lead to desperate actions that more likely than not, got you killed.
Which was the case with this one, as at the time I had continued to test the limits of these new abilities using her as target practice. So, this time instead of extracting the blood from her, as I had done with the others, I turned it around and pushed the tentacles and streams of blood I had taken, now into her. And doing so with so much force, that this time it made her explode, unable to contain much more blood that her body was capable of. It literally ripped her skin apart like the seams of an overstuffed doll and in the depths of my fury, I didn’t even flinch.
I watched as a few fortunate Harpies decided to save themselves and take flight, but it was the Queen I was most concerned about. For it was the Queen that I had sworn an oath to kill. That same need for revenge was what was still fuelling this untamed power inside of me.
I called to the Eye, lifting it with my mind and bringing it to me, and the second another Harpy got close and tried her chance of bringing me down, I forcefully thrust it into her chest so she would have no choice but to touch it. Taking unwanted hold of what wasn't rightfully hers to take. The same thing happened that Lucius’ brother had demanded the Harpy Queen do to her offspring. It tested her worth and found it lacking.
The Harpy’s face froze in horror, as would anyone's if seconds before their death, they were shown it. Needless to say, that when she burst into a cloud of black sand, the dangerous and cruel darkness inside of me grinned at the sight.
Once the power of the Eye was finished recapping back all that I had done and forcing me to see it, I found myself bent over gasping for breath. It was of little wonder once this power was spent that I had passed out. I was just thankful that I hadn't needed to sleep for as long as I did last time. But then again, at the moment I was not afflicted by the Hex on my back, which had most likely caused the damage.
I finally gained my breath and locked back on my target as I saw the Harpy Queen now trying to dig her way out of the corpses of her offspring that were mounded on top of her. The moment she was free, she saw me coming for her and it was the first time I saw real fear in her eyes. But then she now knew what I was capable of, although I had to admit, trying to call forth that same power was no longer happening.
I knew then what I must do, which was reach the Eye and try to reclaim the power it had given me. This, of course, was easier said than done, for the second I made a move towards it, I was suddenly plucked from the ground and in the grasp of one of the Harpies.
My leg swung uselessly as I was clasped in the tight hold of two bird’s feet circled around the tops of my arms. I knew at any second all she had to do was drop me and I would be a goner, never surviving the fall. However, like every bad guy in a movie that wanted to talk before just killing the hero, she didn’t do this. So, I quickly took advantage of her lack of brain power and her unwilling ability to use what little she had. Meaning I swung my legs, doing so until gaining enough momentum so I could pull myself up until they were partially vertical over my head and shoulders, like I was doing a lazy handstand. I then hooked my ankles at the back of her neck and tugged her head down, making her flight uneven. She then had no choice but to let go, however this was something I was ready for.
Now with my hold still on her neck, the moment my arms were free I grabbed onto her scrawny ankles. Then I let my legs fall, using them to swing again, only this time to the battlements the moment that we were close enough. The second I dropped everything in my body hurt as though my bones had been rattled and organs misplaced. But hey, at least I managed to roll into the fall, now ignoring the pain.
I sprang back into action and looked over the broken wall to see the Harpy Queen below ripping one of the wings off one of her dead offspring, making me question what she intended to do with it. I didn't have to question this for long as she started to make her way over to the Eye, telling me this was how she intended to pick it up. Then again, she had obviously been smart enough to do this the first time when kidnapping Nero and I, so it made sense.
This meant that that once she had it in her possession, she was going to make a run for it and take the Eye with her.
“Not on my watch, bitch,” I said, watching as the Harpy was coming back round again and obviously intent on trying a second time to take me out. I took a few seconds to weigh up my options and came back with the craziest one yet. Then with a quick scan of the ground for a weapon it suddenly hit me that I still had one on me! A weapon I had made sure to keep hidden when being shoved in a cage...it was my trusty talon still in my waistband.
“Well, that's convenient,” I muttered to myself getting ready to do the next crazy ass thing. I took a couple of steps back readying myself to make my move, hoping my timing was on mark or I was so screwed, cartoon pancake style! Then when the Harpy was just in the right position for me to do something potentially suicidal, I said
“Come on Fae, you jumped out of a damn helicopter before, this should be a piece of cake…NOT FUCKING LIKELYYYYY!” I shouted, letting the last word continue on as I took a running jump before landing on the back of the flying Harpy. Then with no time for a ‘phew, good job you’re not
dead congratulatory, victory salute’ at myself, I quickly grabbed her neck. Then she was forced to concentrate on levelling herself out, making her wings adjust for the added weight of having me clinging to her back. This was when I acted quickly before she could buck me off, I put the talon to her neck and told her,
“I will slit your throat unless you take me down to your Queen!”
The Harpy hissed at me before trying to throw me off, forcing me to take action by digging the tip of the talon into her skin. She howled in both rage and pain, but it was enough to get her to do as I ordered. However, when she started to take me down, the Queen noticed us and soon had other ideas.
I watched as she kicked up a spear that had been in the grasp of a dried-up severed arm. Then, after only taking a moment to take aim, she threw it through the air, only just giving me enough time to react. It flew straight at us making a humming sound as it cut across the space. Then I was jerked, as it hit its intended target, being the chest of her offspring. Thanks to my knowledge of these weapons I grabbed a handful of her hair and dropped my shoulder back out of the way so I too wouldn't be skewered by the same rusted tip. It just barely grazed my collar bone making me hiss in anger.
However, my next problem soon became an obvious one as I was now riding on the back of a dead Harpy and there was only one place we were headed…
We were going down.
“Fuck, but how I wish you were a plane right now!” I complained as the only thing I could think to do was reach out and grab the tops of her wings and whilst holding steady, I gained my feet on her back like she was a fucking surfboard!
“Oh shit, oh shit…fuck me, this is…fuck!” I yanked back hard so at least the air was pushed up against her wings like sails on a boat!
“Oh shit, its fucking working!” I shouted amazed as it started to slow our fall enough that I ended up turning this corpse of a Harpy into a damn glider!
I quickly pulled back hard the moment we were a metre from the ground, braced for impact and made the body beneath my feet skip to a stop once it hit black sand. I most definitely had to class this among one of my successes and when telling this story back to Lucius I would have to remind him that this was one occasion where I hadn't shot the pilot!
Roots Of Rage: A Vampire King Paranormal Romance (Transfusion Saga Book 9) Page 13