your dark magic,” Kate finally whispered.
“Shut up,” Erik warned. He glanced over at Kate before looking back at Blaire.
Kate pushed forward. “Why can’t you control it? What’s it like, Erik?”
Erik lifted his eyes and focused on Kate, ignoring Blaire. Kate sighed in relief. Her plan had worked so far. “You need to stop talking, Kate,” Erik half-sung. Then his voice changed into a deep, hollow sound. “You need to stop talking. Now.”
“Why?” Kate asked, her voice taunting. “Are you going to come over here and slap me again? Are you going to show me how weak you are?”
“Shut up!” Erik screamed. The sound was so loud that Kate swore it shook the entire house. His voice rang like a shrill bell, like a never-ending echo that traveled down a long hallway. It startled Kate, and she saw her mother stir. No, Kate couldn’t lose Erik’s attention now. She was just feeling around, digging deeper to find Erik’s true weaknesses. She couldn’t stop now; she was so close.
Kate threw out one desperate attempt at holding and keeping Erik’s attention. “You’re weak,” she whispered. “You need others to weaken your humans. You need others to lead you. You need other bodies, human bodies, to fight your battles. You, alone, are nothing at all. You are a true parasite.” Her words were venom that attacked Erik, and he looked at her. She could tell that she was winning, that she was getting what she wanted from him.
Erik just stared blankly at Kate. She watched as, momentarily, Aaron’s soft eyes lost most of their color. For a moment, Kate stared into Erik’s eyes, pale disks that reflected pure hatred and evil. She flinched, sensing that she had opened something that she would never be able to close. She could have never imagined it would be this bad.
Kate watched as a dense fog rolled into the room. She knew by now that this fog wasn’t real; it was too snakelike, slithering across the wooden panels toward her. Kate thought, almost, that it was its own being, that it was merely being commanded by the demon, but shook that idea away, knowing that it sounded insane.
The smoky fog moved until it lay on the floor at Kate’s feet, a dog waiting for an order from its master. Kate could feel the frozen depths wafting from the mist. Her toes grew cold as it stretched toward her, licking her skin. Kate’s eyes grew wide with fear; she couldn’t fight this dark magic by herself. She wouldn’t win.
Erik smiled at her. He was almost laughing at his power, at his ability to win the fight so easily. However, within seconds, Kate could sense a shift in the room. She saw Erik’s strength visibly dissipate. He tried to draw the tendrils of power toward him, to reclaim them, but the fog ignored him and pushed forward, completing Erik’s first wish by slithering up Kate’s tanned skin. The dark magic was going to kill Kate; it was going to destroy her.
Kate looked up at Erik, panicked. He did nothing, just stared at the fog as it moved across the floor. Kate grew still as she looked down at the fog too. Half of her wanted to believe that it was like quicksand, that if she stayed still she wouldn’t be killed as quickly; the other half of her knew better, and she gave in, letting fate take its course. She watched as the dark magic took over, as the fog enveloped her in its frigid embrace. She could fight no more.
Resigned, Kate closed her eyes and tried to focus on the good parts of her life. However, the dark magic was commanding her attention. The tendrils wrapped around her, enveloping her in its folds like it was caressing her. It took its time so that Kate froze slowly, so that she suffered. After a few seconds, Kate felt the warmth fade. It felt like water was being pulled through her veins, cooling her skin, bones, and muscles. At first, she found it relaxing even though her mind was terrified. After the warmth faded from her fingertips altogether, she screamed.
Kate stood outside her body, her ivory dress blowing in an imaginary wind. She saw herself screaming but heard nothing. She watched as tendrils of warmth left her body through her heart, flowing directly into the mist. The warmth was an orange glow that moved toward her heart, a fire that was slowly fading. When it left Kate’s hands, they turned grey and lifeless.
She saw Erik standing off to the side, clearly afraid of the mist now that he could no longer control it completely. His hands were clenched into fists at his sides and he muttered unintelligible words. Kate grew angry with him for allowing this to happen to her. She would die because of Erik’s careless mistakes. Kate would die because of Erik’s weakness. She would suffer because she broke through them.
Kate couldn’t turn back to look at herself. She couldn’t watch anymore. She did the only thing she could do now. She ran. Something pulled her along the beach toward Adriana’s house. She had to escape there, to protect herself. She had to find Rico, Adriana, anyone that could help her. Kate had to protect her soul.
The sand was warm and soft, scratching against Kate’s feet, pushing her forward. It was a welcome feeling, the warmth that it provided her; only moments ago she felt the warmth being pulled from her body at the hands of Erik’s dark magic. Kate ran quickly and when she reached the back door, she shoved her way inside. The cool tiles were smooth against her bare feet, a contradiction to the warm, rough sand that lay just outside. She felt the banister, the carpet on the second floor.
Kate rushed forward and pushed her way into Rico’s room.
Rico sat up immediately, seeing Kate. “Kate?” he asked. “What are you doing here? I thought you were with your father?”
Kate shook her head and stepped further into the room. “He’s not my father anymore,” she sobbed.
“What?” Rico asked, standing. He moved to Kate but noticed that her presence was ethereal, her skin translucent, sparkling in the light that came in through the window. She was more beautiful than ever. Her features were more defined somehow; her grey eyes shimmered, her dark lashes long and thick, her soft lips fuller. Kate’s curls were perfect tendrils of glossy chestnut; tiny white flowers were stuck in Kate’s hair, which contained dozens of tiny braids that broke up the monotony of her curls. This was Kate’s soul.
“Erik possessed my father. Rico, my body is in trouble. I need you to save it. Erik is using dark magic on my body right now, stealing its warmth, and taking it for himself. He tried to pull it back but he’s losing control. The dark magic is too powerful for him, and it’s killing me. Erik’s killing me, Rico.”
Rico didn’t speak. He ran, lightning fast, past Kate. She knew that he was grabbing Adriana and Donovan, eager to have his friends by his side as he destroyed the being that was harming the girl he loved.
Kate turned to follow him but felt a tug in her heart. She wasn’t surprised when she was yanked back inside her mortal body. Her mission was complete and it was time to return home, no matter how terrible it was at the moment.
Kate was shivering now, certain that the warmth was almost gone. How had she done that? How had she projected her soul? How had she used it to rescue herself? That wasn’t a normal vision. She had never really felt the things she touched, especially not like she had moments ago, when she was just her soul. When she had been like that, things felt real, more real than they did when she was in her human body; she could see what demons were searching for now that she had a glimpse of it. She could see why they wanted a soul so badly; she also could see that there had to be another way. There just had to.
As she thought, a new idea floated through her mind, and she knew instantly that it was the truth. Light sent Kate the visions. He protected her soul, making sure that Darkness would find it more difficult to steal it from her. She wasn’t just Darkness’ creation, and she never belonged to him. She was Light’s child, fastened from Darkness’ desires, created because Light allowed it to be so. Kate was no catalyst. She wasn’t going to be used as some sort of portal; she wasn’t going to be a puppet. She wasn’t what held the delicate balance of good and evil. She was just a part of it, a piece in a never-ending puzzle, one in a million. No, the balance of good and evil hung within demons and mankind as a whole. Just like Rico had said the night he told Kate abou
t the world around her, there were good and bad people; there were also good and bad demons. Everyone wanted her for no reason. This was a joke, a trick that Light was playing on Darkness. She had no power in determining the fate of the world; she was just an ordinary girl. Kate might have been the only pure soul in the world, which would be reason enough to come after her, but it wasn’t because of a predetermined notion. It was because Kate had a pure heart. She realized now that the soul wasn’t behind a person’s eyes. It was nestled within a person’s heart. Humans could fight possessions because they were being done improperly. Light had won that battle.
Without warning, Kate was torn from her thoughts; her strength was waning now. Her legs and arms were nothing anymore. She could feel the warmth stretching throughout her torso, trying to protect her body, trying to keep her soul hidden from Erik. She was so close to death, to losing the things she held dear, and she was okay with giving up. She knew that Light would save her, that she would go to him and live forever. She would never cease to exist. She was human, granted a mortal life and an immortal soul. She was luckier...
A crash woke Kate from her dreamlike state. The fog faded, the warmth trickling back