Chapter Eighteen
NOW
My emotions flow through me, lending me strength through the sheer terror. Flinging my hands up, waves of iridescent sapphire energy bubble out, shielding me from the fiery embers. I know that pain. I shudder at the memory of feeling blood flowing down, my skin burning, tearing.
Suddenly it’s over, and I hear her laughter. Ignoring her briefly, I pull out a small vial with a silver liquid in it, gulping it down in one shot. It tastes sweet, decadent, intoxicating. Stretching my mind, I scream out to Anabel and the others for help. If I’m their leader surely they should be able to hear my call, not just Anabel. Desperate for help I pray that at least she can hear me. I stand on my feet, stronger, and turn to face Thea’s laughter, only to be brought right back down.
Patrick’s taken residence by his mistress’s side. He kneels on one knee beside her as she pats his head like she would a dog. I feel the bile rise in my throat as I look at her. She’s covered in blood like she’s bathed in it. When we make eye contact, she smiles, wiping some blood off of the side of her cheek with a finger. She licks it, exaggerating the motion. My stomach cramps as I fight down the bile rising in my throat. Before, with Patrick, it had been tantalizing, addictive. Now, all I feel is revulsion. I wonder if it’s Greta’s, Nicole’s, or some other helpless victim’s.
“I’ve always wanted to bathe in a river of blood. Have I
ever told you that?”
“Oh, God,” I look down, trying to stop myself from puking.
“Never look away from me, darling.” Thea rushes me, grabbing my chin. “Look at me. As I was saying, I’ve always wanted to bathe in a river of blood. Imagine that: a river of blood. The waves lapping at your skin.” She closes her eyes briefly, tilting her head back in ecstasy. “Can you hear it, Lorelei? The beautiful music it would make….”
She opens her eyes, fixing me in place with only her gaze. “Now, look, really look. This, this is the blood of all those hospital workers. This is the blood of your pathetic humans behind me. Patrick did most of the work on that one. He was glorious. Now, now, don’t worry. I helped, of course. I’ve always enjoyed being able to turn people into nothing with just a little bit of my power. You felt it earlier. The red mist eating away at you slowly. First it attacks your skin, going in through any open orifice it can find. Imagine that mist, that acid, eating away at your eyes, throat, mmm. Just think of those hospital workers. There’s something about the heat of battle…. It drives me wild.” She leans in, her touch intoxicating me slowly, weaving me into her web, the revulsion I feel for her, ebbing. “All those bodies and all that blood. I was able to take most of it with me. To bathe in it. Revel in my glory.”
In my pocket, I grab the last two vials. Screaming in my mind again for Anabel, I tear off the caps. I smash the red one into her face and swallow the blue one. She shrieks, her beauty fading, the true beast emerging. Her skin crackles from the red potion. What the potion is, I have no idea, but the parchment said it acted like an acid. The blue acts as a healer, able to sustain my body through minor injuries. The silver is linked to Freya’s energy session with me from the week before, and I am getting ready to test what it can do.
“Patrick,” Thea’s bell-like voice becomes shrill and venomous, “kill her.”
The moment she shrieks his name, I move, knowing every second counts. I have my knife out, popping the blade open as Patrick dives toward me. I swing my blade out, catching him, slicing him from elbow to wrist. Cursing, he dives again, but this time I block him, throwing out my blue orb, sending him flying. I go for Nicole and Greta, but Thea steps forward, barring my path. Her crackled skin has begun to fester and boil. Pus oozes down, skin weeping off. The mess spreads across her body.
“Neat trick. What’d you use in it?” Thea grates.
“Aren’t you a Queen of demons? You’ve been fooling everyone for who knows how long, pretending to be a Dark, a Lost one, a Guardian. Shouldn’t you know what’s in it? Surely the great Thea or Eisheth or whoever the hell you are is a master of all concoctions.”
“I am not a weakling queen or any of those things, you obstinate girl. I am a God!” She roars. “I have made it so I have transcended every threshold. I will not be defeated by you. I have ripped my body, soul, and mind to pieces for this life. Now tell me what you did!”
“You are not now, nor will you ever be a god.” I can’t help but taunt her. She was an angel once, as close to God as I imagine it’s possible to get and she spat in his face by betraying him. “I don’t know what I did. I can only tell you what I’m about to do.” I burst into purple flames as I taunt her, bombarding her with magenta orbs. “This is Dark and Gifted power mixed as one. For tonight only, I hold the power of the leader of Dark and Gifted and you, Thea, are the petulant girl. I am something you never dreamed of. You wanted to drain power. You wanted to consume every energy, every being, except one. I believe it’s because you can never hold my power or any Gifted energy. Not truly. So, let me show you. This, this is what happens when the factions work together. We transcend you!” Thea’s eyes have turned into two glowing rubies, her face has popped with a map of blue veins, trailing down to her neck, arms. Her teeth have broken into their barbaric form, hair coiling, but for all the theatrics, I can smell her fear and she knows it.
With one hand, I stream my fire into her. With the other, I bring up my blade, arcing down, slashing her throat, my eyes watching hers as they transfer back. I can see a reflection of myself in her eyes. Glowing purple rings surround my pupils, my skin has goldened, hair darkened. I look beautiful. Perfect. I hear Patrick’s roar, but I’m too far gone. I’m in Heaven. The power is pure ecstasy. Who cares that my backup hasn’t shown up? The pathetic weaklings. I’m stronger than all of them. I turn up the power full blast, hitting her with everything I have straight into her heart. She slides to the floor, her body writhing. She shrivels in on herself, smaller and smaller.
I’m jolted from behind, and my body swings around to face Patrick. I blast him in the heart with my power, stunning him. He screams out, going down, taking me with him. Our bodies entwine, and we roll, each of us trying to get the upper hand. He flings me off, and I skid across the floor, farther away from Nicole and Greta. My energy is draining fast.
“You’re not like her, Patrick. She’s Eisheth. Do you know what that means?” My back hits something solid, but a quick glance tells me it’s a wall and not another monster.
“That she’s strong. She’s battled her sisters since the beginning. Eisheth, my Queen, was always unappreciated by your scum ancestor and her whores, Lilith and Naama. But oh, my Queen tells me things. Naama and Agrat bore their descendants to create balance to Lilith’s demon progeny. Lilith, the half-breed, thought she was better than the others, but Eisheth had been an angel. Eisheth had been the first Demon Queen. Lilith wanted to control Eisheth and her fire element. Eisheth was too good for Lilith.” Patrick edges toward me slowly. “As a human, Lilith had spat in the face of God, and that was something she couldn’t forgive. It wasn’t a human’s place to judge divinity. So Eisheth began creating her own brands of demons to counter Lilith and her sisters.”
“And yet, Eisheth herself spits in the face of God continuously,” I throw out as he closes in.
“She is of Heaven and Hell. She is of the highest order. You will not judge her!” he roars, slamming his fist into the wall directly above my head. Rolling out of the way, I stare at a gaping hole where Patrick had crashed his fist. He turns to me as I scramble to get up and run. Grabbing me by the back of the hair, he throws me down. I groan, pain striking every surface of my body.
I make one last attempt. “Everything she told you is a lie. She and Lilith thought their descendants were abominations. They tried to destroy them. That’s why she wants me Patrick. How she met you isn’t even real. It can’t be. The baby was never real. Even if it was, it was never hers. She’s probably the one who killed it!”
Roaring, he clut
ches me to him, biting into me. That’s what Jo had been trying to tell me when she said Tempie had been a Lost, or so she’d thought. My body betrays me in a wave of pleasure while my mind screams. He tears at my neck. As the blood wells out of me, I think of my life. My sad, little life. Work, school, friends. Who’ll miss me? Jackson. He’s just fabulously demoted me. Madison. Took my job. Heath, Theo, and Anabel. Friends who lied to me for years. Who would truly mourn, and who wouldn’t care? Jo and Aidan. At least they were honest.
Mainly, though, I think of all of the things I’d never have a chance to do or be. And I think of those two lives I can’t save. The ones with futures. Good futures. Who have real friends and families that love and care. Unlike mine. No one to rescue me. Save me. Are they outside now, hoping I’ll die? My body dying, no energy left, I have to make one last push. I take one last breath, hitting him with every bit of power left in me.