Chapter Thirteen
"Mako, can you feel his energy?" I ask, trying not to panic. He's nowhere around and he could have been taken, just like Korra. I need him. He can't be gone.
Mako shakes his head and hangs it down in shame. Red eyes meet mine and I grab her by her bloody jacket.
"What did you do?" I shake her and she lets me until I finally calm down. When I let go, Mako pulls me into a hug.
"We'll find him, Opal. We'll find them both."
I bite down on my lip and nod. I look back at Asami and she looks just as dead as I feel. "I'm sorry." She just turns and begins to look for clues. I do the same.
"I'm going to call Tenzin and let him know what happened. Maybe he'll have an idea where they could have gone," Mako says.
If they're even together.
"I need to call some of the wolves. They'll be able to track them much faster." Asami's voice is cold, but even. She steps back outside as I hear her say, "Ginger."
"She's going to tell us to go after Korra first, but I can't do that. I don't care if it's the end of the world, I'm not going to just leave him out there."
"Opal…"
"No. You can't talk me out of this. If she says that, I'm going alone. He could have been taken."
"And he could just be a distraction to separate us," Asami tells me, walking back inside. She perks her head up as if listening to something in the distance. "Your aunt is almost here."
"I'm not listening to you on this. You care more about Korra, who you just met, than Bolin! You want her and it's clouding your judgment!"
"I care about not bringing about hell on earth. You know what will happen if Korra dies, but you still want to go off, divide us, and search for Bolin who is probably with her. Don't talk to me about clouded judgment," she growls.
In my rage, I fire a shot that sends Asami into the wall again with a healthy, satisfying smack. It makes me feel much better. She allows her fangs to drop as she gets back up and starts toward me, eyes glowing in rage and surprise. Mako steps between us, but it's like neither of us see him.
I hear a group of voices outside speaking quickly about all the bodies.
"Asami, stop."
"I'll stop you, Opal. Right here. I'll knock you out and lock you up. Don't attack me again." She takes off her gauntlets and they fall to the floor with an echo.
Mako makes his hands spark in warning and my brow begins to sweat from the heat. The flames illuminate Asami's eyes and it feels as if I'm falling into a pit of lava.
"Opal?" Lin calls from outside. I make the mistake of turning for just a second and Asami flashes and pins me against the wall- Mako's flames barely brush against her skin- her forearm in my neck cutting off my air.
"I love Bolin. But, Korra could be dying right now. We need you to see that, not be overwhelmed with grief. I understand what you're feeling and that's why I will stop you from doing something stupid."
"Vampire, let her go now."
There are weapons drawn, but Asami doesn't let me go until my eyes begin to water and I slump in defeat. She helps me drop to the floor where she rubs my back as I shake in sorrow.
"We've wasted enough time. We have to go. Tenzin is going to meet us at the docks," Mako tells us, eying Asami warily.
"Okay, I'll have the wolves meet us there," Asami says as she helps me up.
Aunt Lin gives us both a raised eyebrow and Asami goes to pick up her weapons. I shake my head to tell my aunt to leave it alone and then I walk out, trying to ignore the numbness that I feel inside.
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I don't know when I fell in love with Korra or how it happened so damn fast, but watching her disappear gave me the same pain I felt when I learned that my parents had been murdered. I want to shut off this sense of loss and never feel emotions again. But, I have to get her back. Bo too.
I understand why Opal is mad at me, even if it is a little misplaced. But, I couldn't just sit there and watch him while the threats needed to be eliminated. I could have lost him and Mako or Opal too. Then what?
We all get in the vehicle and speed off into the night. Fuck traffic laws. Tonight, they're for pussies.
#
My body is not under my control. That is the first thing that I feel when I awaken. My consciousness is almost pushed completely to the edge, nearly falling into the abyss of nothing. I am trapped as I watch myself move, stand up, and slip right through the fabric of reality to another destination. It happens in a blink. Before me, there are others and looking at them, into their dead eyes, makes me realize that I probably look exactly the same.
To my left, a large bald man is carrying a slumped over avatar on his shoulder. I want to make a move to help or call out to her, but the invader inside my body won't let me. His elation is rolling through me along with the promise of blood being drawn.
Demon. My mind screams.
The man drops the avatar roughly to the floor and steps into the middle of the circle that we're making. Another man steps up and binds her to the floor with strips of metal. Her arms, legs, and neck are bound inside of an intricate design on the floor. It looks like a type of circle. Again, I try to fight, to break free of this prison inside my mind. It's no use, even as I scream and fight as hard as I can.
"In two more nights, we will bleed our catalyst and enter a new era. Only then will the world understand the true meaning of our existence. Of nothing and of chaos. The spirit world will unfold and the prisons of the demons will collapse."
Everyone cheers, even me, and it makes me absolutely sick.
"I will claim this body," a dark voice inside of me says. "Vaatu will come and I will be granted flesh. And you, witch, will see your soul destroyed."
Fear unlike anything I've ever felt before drowns me. It pushes me further out to the sea of isolation and I begin to lose the grip on my consciousness. The being inside of me laughs.
No! I can't give up. If I give up, it will mean death. I have to save Korra. I have to save the avatar.
#
"My daughter was supposed to stay out of this, but she has a special connection unlike any I've ever seen with the spirit world. She's searching for Korra's aura right now. We will find her."
Tenzin is calm and confident in his daughter, but I feel it, that little tinge of fear that is deep inside of him. I doubt that he even realizes that it's there.
"What about Bo?" Mako asks. He's just as worried about his brother as Opal. He's just better at controlling himself.
Ginger speaks up with her soft voice. "I have a couple other werewolves that owe me favors looking around for him. We'll do what we can." She's dressed in a black tank top and low rise jeans. She tries to ignore all the blood coating my skin and the buzz of rage that is rolling off of us.
"Thank you. You don't even know us, yet…" Opal doesn't finish.
"I know Asami. That's what matters." She catches my gaze again and I know that she's thinking about what I did for those wolves in the fight club. All the other werewolves are already in wolf form, standing navel height and above. Their yellow eyes glow in anticipation for this type of hunt.
Ginger probably owes her alpha big time. I'll make it up to her.
If I make it out of this alive.
She looks at her pack and gives a nod. They give quick howls and take off into the night with the speed a normal wolf wouldn't ever be able to possess. I hope they stay out of sight.
"So, where does that leave us?"
"From everything that I've read, we have a least one night to find her. They have to wait until the spirit plane and ours is in alignment. It happens frequently, but only on certain times of the month. We have time, even if it's very little.
"So, we find her, we rescue her, and we stop them. Or, we die trying. Sounds good to me." I turn to Tenzin. "Will you fight with us?"
"I have no choice. I will be by your side."
My phone pings and I unlock it. "I have information about the guy that attacked us. His name is Aiwei and he associates with a man named Zaheer. He and his closest allies are very dangerous."
"I thought that Zaheer was dead. This isn't good. He has spiritual strength like my daughter. We need to get to Jinora's spirit form immediately. He could go after her and destroy her." Tenzin's heart rate shoots up exponentially and his fear is so thick that I can almost taste it.
First Korra, then Bo, now Jinora. I look to Opal and I can almost read her mind. But, Jinora will be our best bet for finding Korra. We have to save her first. I turn away from my friend.
"What do we have to do?" I ask.
Opal shakes her head and walks away. Mako follows her.
And, it's the same as always.
My friends, they can hate me for the decisions I make, but that's okay. I will gladly accept their hate if that means that I can save them.
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Notes:
Opal, Opal, Opal.