36. Drain The Blood
The forest was whizzing past me as I gripped Seth's sand colored fur. It was exhilarating, exactly what I needed right now to both calm my nerves and prepare me for war. My heart was pounding in anticipation, but I felt as steady as a rock.
I'd gotten the call just two hours before, and we'd all set off. The Cullens were in the lead, and the witches had opted for a smooth ride on the backs of the wolves we'd brought with us. We were going into this blind - Alice's vision was blocked from all sides by wolves and witches - but I was certain we were going to win this. I couldn't stand to consider the alternative.
I was hyper aware of every beat of Seth's paws against the green carpet of forest, every breath he drew in and out of his massive lungs. I leaned closer to him, feeling that somehow, the proximity would give me the strength to do whatever I needed to bring Mark and everyone else home unharmed.
I started to feel the magic getting heavier in the air, but I didn't need to signal anyone. There was a slow down and a pause as each of the Cullens met my sisters eyes with their own, a silent questioning.
We weren't backing down. Ready or not, this was happening today.
We eased our group forward until we reached a clearing, vamps in the lead with the rest of us falling in line behind. I couldn't see past them, so I floated up a bit.
There were at least a hundred witches standing opposite our group.
I touched ground at the front of our small army, finally able to see the leader of my enemies in person.
I searched the sea of anxious faces; some of these women looked very determined. Some looked downright petrified, eyes darting around at the vampires and wolves behind me. Lira looked absolutely smug, and I was really looking forward to knocking that fucking look off her face.
"Give him back to me," I demanded.
She smiled. "It's so nice to finally meet you, Elizabeth. You're simply pulsing with power."
"I'm not here to bullshit with you. Give Mark back to me now." I could hear snarling as Seth came up next to me, towering and sinister.
She looked at me for a bit, disregarding the rest of my party. "Take the shield off of her," she demanded in return.
I shook my head no at Bella. "Let me see him first."
From the back of the group, two women pulled the chains that were wrapped around Mark's wrists. They walked him to the center area between us and let him fall there, broken and bloodied but alive.
"Drop it, Bella. Just from me."
"Don't make a move," Lira sneered as one of Mark's captors put a knife to his throat. "You come to me first."
My eyes shifted and landed on Seth's. He phased back, leaving him naked in the moonlight for the whole crowd to see. The look on his face was heart breaking... I almost couldn't stand it. I put my fingertips to his face and watched some of the tension melt away beneath my touch.
"I'm sorry it has to be this way," I told him. "Goodbye."
He kissed me, and it was an absolute shock to my system. I don't know what I had expected it to feel like, but this was lava burning through my veins, like my soul passing from my lips to his. It was like purging myself of something I desperately needed.
"I love you," he breathed against my still tingling lips.
I felt so weak, so fragile as I crossed the twenty feet or so to hand myself over to the Dark Ones.
Lira grabbed me as soon as I was within her reach. She lifted me high into the air, and invisible ropes bound my arms and legs. I dropped back to the ground hard, hog tied and ready for slaughter. She rolled me over and smiled down at me.
I felt the knife prick, then slice across the flesh just over my heart. Lira bent to drink triumphantly as a wolf howled.
She stopped suddenly and eyed the small sub-group of vampires on her side of the line. "Coercere," she said, and though they still leered at me hungrily, they couldn't go anywhere.
She bent towards my breast once more and drew a mouthful of blood from my body, slowly and painfully. Then she spit it out. "What is this?!" she shrieked, bending to my chest once again. She spit that out, too, then she slapped me hard. "Where is your power?!" she screamed.
"It's right here, bitch," Seth sneered, suddenly right beside of us. He knocked her away from us as many of the witches behind her fled, some to the woods behind them, and some - along with the vampires in their group - went to fight the battle they'd come for.
Seth lifted me and breathed my powers back into my body where they belonged, healing me in the process. It felt incredible, like waking up fully recovered from some formidable illness. It took me to the sky.
There was a lot going on behind me, but my focus was on my enemies. I flew towards the trees and watched the figures scatter like ants. "Et conversi estis." The scene flipped around and suddenly they were all running back towards the battlefield. I waited until the last one arrived in the field, confused about the situation. "Saeptum," I said, and walls appeared around the entire clearing.
The magic flowing around this small space was enough to make it tangible. I had to focus to separate the wild dance of energies, and then I absorbed the powers that had been abused. The magic itself was untainted; it was neutral, just like Lily had told me. It didn't feel evil inside of me... It felt pure. Beautiful.
Just as my feet touched the ground, I realized the fatal flaw in our plan. No one had secured Mark.
Lira slit his throat with the same knife she'd used on me. Blood spurted from the wound as he dropped to the ground.
My screams pierced the night, shriek after shriek and then a growled incantation from deep within my gut, "Nunc Ligula!". Lira's body was suddenly in chunks laying feet away from each other, almost like she'd imploded or been violently ripped to pieces.
And I couldn't have cared less.
Thunder shook the Earth as the sky wept for me. The ground beneath my knees turned to mud as I slid towards Mark's lifeless body.
"No, please!" I cried. This couldn't be it. This couldn't be the way that his life ended.
They were all around me, everyone freaking out, apologizing. I could barely make out what they were saying. I put my lips to Mark's trying to push the life back into him with force. I could heal people, this shouldn't be too far off from that... But it wasn't working. I sat up and pulled his top half up on my legs, kissing his lifeless lips once more.
I was starting to panic. My magic had been hindered at times due to substances, but it had never once downright failed me. I heard myself begging him to come back, I tried to channel everything inside of me into him.
He couldn't be dead. He was Mark! He was so full of life and love and fun, and the world couldn't afford to lose people like him. I couldn't lose him. Not like this.
There was a spark from my lips to his, and then a gasp. My face inched back until he caught the back of my head in his hand, and out of nowhere he was kissing me.
I didn't kiss him back... but I didn't stop him, either. For that brief moment that it was happening, I felt conflicted and excited. It wasn't like a Seth kiss, or like smooching anyone else for that matter, but it wasn't bad as far as one sided kisses go. It felt like he needed it, and I was going to let it slide.
He smiled at me, his eyes twinkling brightly. "Sorry about that," he said.
"Oh, I'm sure you were just disoriented from being brought back," I said with a wave of my hand. I looked him over carefully, touched the part of his eyebrow that had been gashed open. "Are you okay?"
"I am... I feel different, but good."
"I'm so sorry about this," I said as I hugged him to me again.
He shook his head. "You don't control these crazy bitches. All you did was save my life. So... thank you."
My returning smile was brief. He sat up and we both rose to our feet. I looked at the large group and moved the Dark Ones away from the others. I started marching towards them, kicking pieces of Lira out of my path. I scooped up the severed head by it's hair and held it high for all of them to see.
"Get a good look at me ladies. Get a good look at her," I pointed. "If a single one of you crosses me or anyone I care about, I will not hesitate!" I yelled. "I'm not like you, but I'm not like them, either. I will kill you, any and every one of you if I need to."
I threw the head towards the other parts and mentally assembled them all into a pile before setting it all on fire.
"Anyone? Feel free to step to me now if we have a problem." I actually smiled at them. "We can, like, bare-knuckle box or something since none of you even have powers anymore. Anyone?" I gave them a moment before I dropped the physical barrier encasing everyone, snapped my fingers and sent all of the women to their own homes.
Exhaustion set in, and then an excitement that was too good to describe. I'd set something right today, got rid of a huge threat... and I got Mark back. That felt like the most important part to me.
I finally turned towards my own group, which was already in the midst of triumphant celebration.I watched them for a moment, not wanting to join them. I didn't feel like I should celebrate a win that included a loss. I stalked over anyways and gathered the witches.
"I've been thinking..." I started to tell them.
"Liz," Lily cautioned.
"I don't need this. And stop poking around in my head!" I turned my attention to the rest of the curious group. "I want to share my power with you all," I said. "It's up to each of you if you want it or not."
"You realize that you'll be less powerful as a result?" Cecily asked.
"I figured I'd be like you," I shrugged.
"You're trading an eternity for... maybe five hundred years or so. You need to stop and really think about this."
"I do NOT want to live forever," I said loudly. I could feel pairs of eyes shifting to rest on all angles of me. "There probably won't even be a world in another five hundred years."
She nodded her head and stepped back a bit, signalling that she was out on the magic boost. Everyone else joined hands, and I let my very essence flow around the circle. Oddly enough, it didn't feel like it was being subtracted from me... it felt like it was multiplying as I shared it.
"I'm trusting you all with this. Don't let me down," I warned. I never asked to be in this position... I never sought power over much beyond music. But I was here, and as much as I disliked it, I'd always do what needed to be done to protect who I could. There was no law now... there was just me.
I started towards Mark when Lily stopped me. "What will you do now?" she asked.
I pushed my sopping wet hair out of my face. "I'm getting my friends together, going home, getting drunk and playing guitar all evening. Then I'm going to fuck my man, go to sleep and start fresh tomorrow."
She raised her eyebrows. "That's quite a plan."
"Want to come with?"
"Absolutely," she smiled, wrapping her arm across my shoulders.