Hey look at this! Two updates in a week! Yes I know it's sad considering how short my chapters are but it's better than three weeks right?
The usual copyright BS. I don't own The Lux Novels and I ain't makin any money off this.
~The Last Ronin~
My heart hammers against my ribs as I race blindly through the trees. I'm not sure where I am or at what point I stopped moving at light speed but I don't care. It doesn't matter how fast, or how far, I run; I can't get away from the screams that echo in my head.
What was I thinking? My mother was there somewhere! Matthew, my friends and…I could have hurt them, or worse!
I just need to get away. Somewhere far away where no one will ever find me. I can't be trusted to be around anyone. I'm too dangerous. Too unstable.
Those screams though! Surely I had made quick work of those Luxen. As angry as I had been I hadn't wanted to torture them. So then why won't the screaming stop?
Whirling around, I barely manage to avoid plowing into a tree.
"I'm sorry!" I shriek at the voices but there's no one there to hear me and the screaming continues.
The silence behind the screaming cuts through me and I try to cringe away from it.
"I'm sorry!" I cry again, my vision blurred by tears, "I'm sorry."
My tears and apologies don't help though as my stomach twists viciously within me. Nothing helps and I sink to my knees, clutching uselessly at the ghosts that won't stop screaming.
Ghosts that I can't even see because I'm alone.
I'm alone.
x-x-x-x-x
Holy shit she's fast when she wants to be. Beth isn't nearly this quick though she was changed by a second-born so I suppose that's understandable. Katy was changed by a first-born though, so her strength is on a completely different level than our friend's is. In fact, if I wasn't first-born myself I probably would have lost her long before I did.
Even so, she still managed to give me the slip an hour or so ago.
Damnit where is she? I need to find her before she does something stupid and I…I need to find her. But where is she? I know that she's in the area, I can sense as much, but she's not using the Source right now and I can't pinpoint her exact location.
Gah! I smash my knuckles into a large tree, leaving a fist shaped hole. The pain in my hand does nothing to ease the tightness in my chest though. If anything the tightness only gets worse and I wince. If something happens to Katy I don't know what I'm going to do. I can't lose her again…even if I have no right to feel this way.
No. Never again. I won't allow it.
x-x-x-x-x
She doesn't even notice when I call her name. The woods are quiet around us but she makes no indication that she even heard me.
"Katy!" I call again, racing to her side, "Katy!"
This time she lifts her head and gives me a weak smile. Her eyes are red and puffy and tear tracks mar her cheeks and I'm not sure if she actually sees me.
"They won't stop screaming," she whispers hoarsely, "they're dead but they won't stop screaming."
What? I look around but there's no one here besides us. Who is she talking about?
"Katy who are you…?"
"Them," she waves dismissively around us, "they just keep screaming at me. They scream and they scream and they won't stop…"
My heart aches as she stares at me wide eyed. She reaches for me but her hand falls before I can take it.
"Please make them stop," she whispers so quietly that I almost don't hear her.
"Katy I…" I trail off as fresh tears trickle from her eyes. What do I do?
Adam was the healer though, not me, and I can't recall anything he taught me that might be able to fix this. Then again, he once told me that there are some injuries that can't be healed. I take a step towards her, my heart giving another painful squeeze in my chest as I pray that this isn't one of those cases.
"I killed them all," she moans, rocking on her heels and wringing her wrists, "tore apart their soft outsides to get at the gooey dark center…"
She starts laughing hysterically until she is interrupted by a round of hiccups that last so long that her face begins to turn blue from lack of air. Once they subside long enough for her to take a gasping breath she promptly starts giggling. If I didn't know better I would say that she's more than a little tipsy. Part of me wishes she was simply drunk because then I would know how to help her. This though…I don't know what she's talking about, never-mind what to do.
"They tasted soo good though, like candy, and I didn't want to stop but the light people wanted to make me stop and I didn't want to stop so I killed them too but I didn't eat them because they didn't taste good and they made my stomach sick thinking about eating them and…" she drifts off, sobbing for breath, her eyes half glazed over as the tears start once more.
"Katy…"
"Ash," her eyes focus and she finally seems to see me, "what did they do to me? All I wanted was to not be alone anymore…was that so bad that I deserved to be turned into a monster?"
"Katy," I step forward and wrap my arms around her, surprised for a second when she doesn't flinch or pull away, "I don't care what they did to you but you're not a monster…and you're not alone. I'm not going to leave you."
Her eyes open wider as she stares at me, "You promise? That's what…someone else said the same thing to me once…and they lied."
Daemon. She's talking about Daemon – she must be – but why doesn't she say his name? I push him from my thoughts. I may have no right but he's not here and she needs help.
"I promise Katy," I whisper and hug her closer, "I'm not going anywhere."
x-x-x-x-x
The sound of music wakes me from the first dreamless sleep I've had in weeks and for a moment a sense of déjà vu washes over me. I don't understand the lyrics but I'm certain that I've heard this language before. For several minutes I sift through my thoughts but I can't for the life of me figure out where I've heard this beautiful sound.
Nearby a small fire crackles cheerfully, throwing off a gentle heat that wards off the crisp night air. I breathe deeply and smile at the scents that greet me. Smoke and pine, snow and…roses? Maybe I am dreaming after all because I'm fairly certain that roses don't grow in places cold enough for snow in July. But then why do I smell them?
Looking around to find the source of this scent I realize that I'm not alone. Dozens of vacant eyed creatures stare at me from across the fire. Arum, Luxen and…humans. Finally seeming to realize that I'm awake a high pitched keening assaults my ears and I shriek as it quickly builds to a deafening intensity.
I scramble to my feet, clutching my hands over my ears and try to get away from them but they surround me before I can take a single step. Nausea swirls in my stomach as I turn, frantic to find a way past them but they've formed a solid, screaming wall around me.
"Leave me alone!" I shriek at them but my cries are easily drowned by their noise.
Tears run down my cheeks as I sink to my knees, unable to find a way out. The Source snarls violently within me but even it knows how hopeless this is. I groan uselessly as the noise drills through me, slowly splitting my skull into tiny pieces.
"Katy!" A voice breaks through the noise for a moment and I could kiss its owner for the brief respite she brings.
The relief lasts but a moment before the screams reach new levels of volume and I scream right back at them, to no effect.
"Katy!" The voice comes again and then Ash is there, kneeling in front of me, her hands cradling my face as she continues on rapidly, "Katy there's no one else here. Listen to my voice, focus on it. It's just you and me here. No one else, just you and me."
A musical language begins to pour from her lips, easily rolling right over the screamers even though Ash isn't speaking louder than a whisper. She doesn't slow her verbal barrage for a second and I find myself held captive by the subtle, barely visible, quivering of her lips. They must be incredibly soft to be able to produce the silky music caressing my ears. I need to know…
One by one the other faces fade into the night until the only one left is hers. The screaming vanishes with the faces, driven away by the music still streaming from Ash's throat – music I could listen to for my entire life without getting bored.
I don't want to stop her but I have to know. Unable and unwilling to restrain myself my lips capture hers, silencing their music.
I sigh against her mouth.
The feeling is indescribable.