Fighting Destiny (Central Coven) (39 page)

I let the portal close, and looked up to the basin rim.  “Your little trick didn’t work Simone.  Why don’t you come and get me yourself,” I yelled.  Simone screamed hysterically.  “I guess I’ll take that as a no then?” I responded.  “Oh, well.  I was hoping for the easy way, but I guess I’ll have to go up there and drag you down myself,” I shouted.

Simone’s hysteria opened her mind to me and projected plans that she would never have told me if her mind had not been unraveling.  The images in her mind were darker and more evil than I had given her credit for.  I’m not sure why. I knew she orchestrated the murder of students, and the turning of others into vampires, but this went beyond that even. 

She began to chant.  The rumbling happened again, causing more rocks to tumble down the side of the cliff.  The cracking, crunching and groaning continued until a chasm split into the top of the rim.  A growl ripped out of the hole, and flames shot skyward.  Dammit, we trained to fend off misdirected spirits, but it was all smoke and mirrors for her.  She was tying our hands while she conjured something worse.

Out of the flames emerged a being that appeared to be cut from the night sky.  His skin was as pale as starlight, and covered in iridescent scales. He had oily black wings. They appeared almost angelic, with soft looking feathers. Except they were pitch black and had talons on the top.  His eyes held no light, no emotion, and no flicker of anything alive.  They were flat and soulless.  He was beautiful, but behind the beauty there was malice, pain, and destruction.

Simone couldn’t kill us easily, but she hoped to weaken us enough to send us to the underworld.  Grey said there were things worse than death; an eternity of hell is about the worst thing I could imagine.  A demon wouldn’t offer any assistance without a gift.  I searched Simone’s mind, and I saw a sacrificial table constructed from a basalt column.  The large slab of stone was harvested from the cliff face down the trail from us, and hoisted 40 feet to the top.  It was covered with moss and stained orange by oxidation. 

Angeline had magically chained Finn’s parents Hans and Eliana Christiansen, Anita’s dad Carlos Sanchez, and Dean’s cousin Cooper James to the demonic altar.  They were working together as a team, witch and necromancer, each using her abilities to offer a dark gift to this demon. 

Angeline raised a ceremonial blade and began making tiny cuts in her captives so that their blood began to flow down over the altar.  This was the ugliness Anita mentioned, and Finn was going to have to face what was up there.  That table had to be broken to release them.  The chain was made to absorb power.  I looked him deep in the eyes.  I didn’t know how to tell him what he needed to do.  I couldn’t risk Alexander, or someone else overhearing and telling Simone or Angeline what we were going to do.

“
So tell me already
,” Finn’s voice said in my head.  “
Finn
?” I questioned.  “
I can hear you Chloë. I don’t know how exactly, but how about we figure that out later?  Right now just tell me what I need to do
,” Finn ordered. 

“
On the top of the canyon Angeline and Simone have a basalt slab they are using as a sacrificial altar.  It is wrapped in a chain charmed to bind and drain the powers of those it traps.  I can’t use magic against it, and using brute force to unlock it will only drain the energy of anyone that tries.  We have to attack it through its structural weakness, the stone slab itself.  You have to break it
,” I said mentally.

“
Chlo, there is something you aren’t telling me isn’t there
?” Finn asked astutely.  I blinked, and swallowed hard, “
Uhm, yeah.  Finn, they have your parents
.”  He nodded, “
I knew they wouldn’t just leave
.”  “
It isn’t pretty
,” I gently touched his arm, “
but we’ll save them.  And they will pay for this
.”  “
Let’s do this then
,” he said with a hard edge in his mental voice.  “
Finn, Simone has called a demon
,” I cautioned.  “
I’ll be careful, and I trust you to have my back.  Let’s end this
.”

His bright blue eyes instantly changed into the color of steel.  He strode forward, with determination to match the color of his eyes. His wavy dark hair shined with an almost blue luster, and his skin practically glowed with a pearly sheen. 

“What is he going to do, walk into the rock?” Anita asked sarcastically.  “Shh,” I said, “just watch.”  Finn gently touched the rough, dark gray stonewall, and it unfolded a staircase for him.  “God, has he always been this hot?” Anita asked pretending to fan herself.  “Anita, focus…and no I don’t think he has.”  Anita giggled, “I’m adding that to our ‘Things to discuss when this nightmare is over’ list.” 

Very quickly I turned to Anita, “We have to get Angeline and Simone in the middle of this circle.  Drag them by the hair if necessary.  Kill anyone who isn’t Angeline or Simone, and that is only because it isn’t possible to kill them.” “She is your sister Chloë,” Anita protested.  “No mercy, Anita.  They won’t show you any.  Besides, tonight I’m turning my back on the Du Lac legacy.  My mother knew about this.  They can all go to hell, my mother, my brother, but let’s start with Angeline.”  With that demon up there, it was a very good possibility that was exactly where she would go… 

We thundered up the stairs behind Finn, who was so distracted by the suffering of his parents he did not keep the stairs constructed behind him.  Anita swung herself to the top, by leaping from the stairs to a jagged outcropping, and held a hand out for me.

I could have teleported to the top, but I was close to using too much magic.  I knew it was going to take a lot to fight another Du Lac. Especially an older one, even if I was supposed to be stronger.  I needed to rest my magic, or I might actually permanently harm myself this time.  Of course, I hadn’t told anyone how big a toll this was taking on me. 

Anita and I raced after Finn.  Anita flashed through the forest, blurring her shape behind her.  The path was easier to traverse behind Finn.  The terrain made itself accessible to him.  Brambles and bushes untangled and exposed a trail.  Evergreens tucked their branches close so he could pass.  However, I had to run, and duck often.  When I would follow behind him, the trees’ branches snapped back into place, and nearly hit me several times.

Finn and I arrived next to the basalt altar at nearly the same time.  Silently I told him, “
I will take care of Simone and Angeline.  You worry about saving your parents and the others.  If I need help, you’ll hear me call Anita.
” 

I jumped out of the concealment of the trees and shouted, “Angeline!  Are you ready to face
me?
” Her aura turned black, not the pink that usually surrounded her.  She placed her hands together like she was going to pantomime a pitch, and conjured a snarling energy ball in the void.  I laughed, “You do think very little of me, don’t you?” 

My eyes flashed green and I hurled her against a tree, with a slight flick of my wrist.  She collided with a crack, and crashed hard to the ground.  “I suppose we can’t all think you walk on water, like mother does,” Angeline spit out. 

A twig snapped, and Angeline smiled expecting Simone to come to her rescue.  I might have been nervous, had Anita not sent me a signal she had Simone tied up.  “
I’ve got a surprise for you.  I think you are really going to like it
,” she told me telepathically.  Then to give me a clue I felt a playful tug on my hair.  Angeline looked behind her and began to fidget with her long braid, as if she too had the same sensation.

“I was wondering why you would treat a necromancer as your equal.  You, a
great Du Lac witch
.  I mean you have always considered yourself superior.  So what could Simone have one you to have forged such a partnership?  Unless…it couldn’t be possible…the lock of hair she braided into her own, it affects you. I kept waiting to feel my powers weakened, but it never happened. It was because the spell bound you!  Oh, I love it,” I taunted, and I tossed a jolt of energy right into her stomach.

“Why aren’t you helping us?” Angeline screamed at the demon.  “I am not your servant witch.  My offering is not yet complete,” the demon hissed.  “What good are you then?” Angeline demanded.  “Good?  No.  I can be of no
good
to you.  If I can receive a benefit here, I might be of
assistance
, but you have risked much by asking me for that chance. Secure me your sister, and I might consider helping you.”

Angeline’s thoughts swirled in my head.  She was considering what the demon said to her.  She wanted to hurt me. She was tired of being cast aside in the family hierarchy as second best.   But, at that exact moment , she was busy studying the sparks of electricity I was generating at my fingertips.  Garnering her strength, she leapt at me with the ceremonial dagger covered in dried blood.  I stood still and watched my sister try to stab me with the bejeweled knife.

Angeline sneered when she was inches away from me.  One second I was in front of her watching her absurd physical assault, then at the last second I teleported behind her.  Her thick auburn hair hung in a braid, thick as a rope.  She probably thought it would be convenient to wear it that way tonight.  She was right, except that it was completely inconvenient for her, and quite a resource for me. 

I grabbed a hold of her woven rope of hair, quickly wrapped it around my wrist and pulled her to the ground.  My wand materialized into my other hand, and I heated the dagger until she shrieked and dropped it.  “You must have forgotten I can teleport.  You can’t can you?” I asked sarcastically.  I bent down and whispered, “Are you sure I’m not better than you?”

I dropped my wand back into the sleeve of my sweater, and re-conjured the electricity to my fingers.  “I’m done playing with you Angie.  We are going to end this now,” I told her without feeling.  I shoved my hand hard against her side.  Angeline collapsed.

“Mother won’t approve,” Angeline gasped desperately.  “It’s like you said
sis
, mother likes me best.  But, unlike you, I don’t give a damn.”

I began to pull her by her hair toward the edge of the cliff.  Once we got there, Angeline began to struggle.  “You wouldn’t,” she insisted.  “Ask yourself, what would you do?”  Her face became a stone, emotionless mask.  “There is your answer,” I retorted. 

“Yesssss,” the demon hissed. “I will bring so much light here, and every benevolent spirit I can summon, this is the only warning I will give demon,” I advised.  “Such beautiful fury. Join me willingly and you can be my queen,” the demon offered.  “Queen of hell?  Wow, what an offer.  How can I refuse? Let me see, uh, no.  Well, that was actually easy.”  “As you wish precious witch,” the demon responded bowing low. 

He spread out his enormous oily black wings and launched toward me.  A blanket of darkness spread behind him, and hopelessness seeped into my soul.  Fissures in the basalt cliff face opened, and exposed molten rock.  Steam whistled from small openings in the ground.  The pitch of the whistling changed into screams. 

My head started to pound, and stars danced in my vision.  I forced myself to stay standing, but it was an effort I couldn’t maintain for too much longer.  A tiny trickle of blood oozed from my nose, and I wiped it away quickly. 

“It is no use fighting me.  Already you are weakening.  You do not have the strength to fight me.  What holds you here anyway?  Your lover is preparing to leave you.  The boy who claims to love you only wants you when he cannot have you.  Why fight when it is so hard?  Give into me, and the pain will stop,” the demon hissed quietly.

The pain really was excruciating, but giving in was impossible.  I would die first.  The demon forgot there is more than one kind of love.  Grey might leave me, Finn might change his mind, but Anita was here for me too.  I reached inside for that warmth, the spark of friendship.  I let it build until my skin began to tingle, and allowed the love to explode from every pore in my body. 

“It is too bad I can’t take you, but as you said yourself, you can still command the light.  I can only claim those that called on darkness, or can be consumed by it,” the demon commented.  He turned his attention back to my sister and Simone.  I swayed on my feet, but I refused to go down.  I wiped more blood from my nose, and tried to call magic from the earth to hold me off until one of my friends could hold me up.

“Simone, you said this would work!” Angeline accused.  “I…I…tried, but…I underes….” Simone was cut off, because of Anita’s firm grasp on her throat.  “She underestimated us, as did you sister,” I finished for her. My voice was flat and nearly lifeless, but no one noticed.  I grabbed my sister’s braid and resumed pulling her toward the edge of the cliff anxious to end this fight, because I didn’t have much left in me.

Angeline began to claw at the ground, to avoid going over the edge.  Part of me felt sorry for her, but I crushed that feeling. I knew what she would do to me, what she would do to anyone who got in her way.  She had to be stopped.  I drew more electricity to my fingertips.  I let it dance and arc, become stronger than it was the first time. Then, I thrust the leaping currents into her chest.  She passed out this time, and I pushed her off the edge of the cliff.

“Chloë, was that really necessary?” Finn asked puzzled.  I turned around and saw him leaning against a tree.  I couldn’t speak, so I nodded instead.  Finn rushed to me, wrapped his arms around me and stroked my hair.