Summary: (AU) Liz meets another alien while trying to escape from Roswell and the events of the end of Season 1 (the cave - you all know what I mean!)
Could this stranger, friend or foe, hold the key to Liz's own destiny?
Disclaimer: I don't own Roswell so I'm not taking any of the credit from the creators for this fantastic show. Pity: I'd soo love to be mega-rich by now - and better yet, hold creative license over Tess' head (behave, vixen!) :D The OC's are mine, and I will fight viciously to keep them!
Reviews: Thankyou to Sleepy26 for the great review –it's fantastic you guys are still with me!
And now on to the next chapter …
Chapter Fourteen: Remnants Of A Past.
A warm breeze fluttered at the curtains as it drifted through a partially opened window, causing the candlelight that filled the room to flicker and create new shadows that danced to match the dark and angry thoughts Liz tried hard to block from the forefront of her mind. The fabric of her bedspread creased beneath her knees as she fidgeted slightly to shift the legs she had crossed underneath her, the need for a physical release of the tension that was building within her even as her focus on trying to re-centre her emotions succeeded only in opening up her memories once more of the argument she had just had with her friends. Words swirled, circled; words that had ended a friendship she had fought for so long to keep. Words that raised her ire in an endeavour to mask a numbing sadness that threatened to pervade her senses. Her chest heaved with a deep rattled breath as she tried once again to push away the remembered words, but a quick, harried rap on her bedroom door interrupted her efforts.
Opening her eyes with a start at the sudden and unexpected noise, Liz abandoned her attempts at meditation as she called out a reluctant invitation to enter. Her mother's auburn tresses glinted a burnished copper as the soft candlelight illuminated her entrance, but Liz's attention was drawn by the slight shock and anxious concern projected from Nancy's features as their eyes met.
"Lizzie, honey, … you need to come see this …"
Curious and a little concerned herself, Liz slid to the edge of her bed and pushed herself off, following her mother through her doorframe and down the corridor that lead to the open lounge to where her father sat perched forward on the arm of one of their couches, his attention riveted on the news report blaring from the television screen across the room.
" …Widowed just 6 months before her husband John Whitaker's upcoming election, she took his place on the ballot and won the election by a higher margin than any Democrat in 15 years. But all that ended yesterday, just outside her hometown of Copper Summit, Arizona, where a single car accident cut short a life of public service …"
Liz clenched her fists at the bold lie the media had just spread nationwide, and she had to bite her tongue to stop herself from retorting that she knew the real story – the truth. Images from the previous night flashed behind her eyes and she saw very clearly once more how Senator Whitaker had truly died.
FLASHThe sharp moonlight danced across the open courtyard on the other side of the chain mail fence that held Liz back from rushing forward into the fray, the sounds of other vehicles rapidly approaching the same courtyard barely registering as her attention remained firmly fixed on the young girl standing over her opponent and the large weapon held securely in her grasp against the fallen Senator's throat. Liz watched as Akela tossed the weapon to the side, rolling her shoulders to relieve the bunched up muscles as she turned away, walking towards the corner of the courtyard where another figure, an older man dressed all in black, stood half hidden in the darkness. Wrapping the shadows around her as she casually sauntered closer, Liz watched in horror as the forgotten Senator, supposedly defeated, raised herself up onto her knees with her severely injured hand and using her other to focus the last reserves of energy to throw a deadly ball of power at Akela's exposed back, a twisted expression of unholy glee crossing her face.
A shout of warning escaped her lips, echoed by the man who stepped hastily forward towards his mistress as the energy ball sped across the distance between the Senator and Akela, but their fear was unjustified; it never hit it's target. Instead, the energy was absorbed by the shadows and sent back in one potent beam of pure light that exploded across the courtyard. Liz clenched the wire fence, feeling it bite into her palms as she turned her face away from the blinding light, turning back as it faded to see that the light had left the area empty of anyone; including the Senator, now only a pile of harmless dust.
FLASHAs her mind coursed with the images of memory from the night she had watched the alien masquerading as a US Senator die, her mother's consoling arms wrapped her daughter into a soothing embrace that awoke Liz from her reverie. She met her father's concerned gaze over Nancy's shoulder and realised that her rigidity had been taken for shock, a very natural emotional reaction to learning from a report on the nightly news that her boss had just died in a chaotic car accident.
Allowing her mother to pull her down to sink into the cushions of the nearest couch without being released from her embrace, Liz rested her head on her mother's chest, drawing immeasurable strength from the steady heartbeat she could feel under her cheek as her father moved to sit beside them, his warm hand tracing a comforting rhythm through her hair. Taking a deep breath, she focused her thoughts on what she was going to do now, even as she allowed her father's consoling words wash over her without really hearing what he was saying. A sudden realisation hit her: Whitaker had been dead for less than a day. Therefore, there had to have been other aliens working with her for her death to be so successfully covered up in so short a time.
She vaguely heard Jeff mention the office here in Roswell, and an unbidden memory of the events that had happened to her there the previous day returned with startling clarity. Liz straightened out of her mother's hold slowly, pushing an errant strand of hair behind her left ear as she thought fast. The threat was not even close to being over, and that meant she had work to do. And she would have to move fast, if she wanted to search the office before the local authorities took away that chance.
Senator Whitaker's chambers seemed so barren as Liz crept through the silent and deserted space. Keeping close to the walls, she flicked her gaze over the desks that used to be bustling with busy Senatorial staff even at this time of night, yet the thought occurred to her that their absence probably meant there were more aliens involved here than she had originally thought.
Suddenly, the doorway to the Senator's personal office was beside her, the doors still flung open in the last position she remembered them in. Taking a deep breath and drawing a measure of comfort from the warm charm that hung around her neck as she grasped it in her right fist, she stepped forward through the doorway, allowing her eyes to oversee the devastation that still remained. Shadows and moonlight set the perfect scene, emphasising the damage done to the room, and Liz stood still for a silent moment as she remembered the events that caused this. She was broken out of her reverie by the sharp sound of the outer door closing and the scuffling of feet making their way towards the desks. Pulling back into the Senator's office noiselessly and backing up against the nearest wall, Liz felt the power of the Auron shimmer through her and she looked down to see the changes the power surge had wrought.
Her legs were encased in skin tight black leather that moulded to her form perfectly, allowing for freedom of movement if a fight was necessary, and the Auron glowed from were it sat resting snugly between the hint of cleavage left exposed by her sleeveless black vest. Bands of white and yellow encircled her upper arms in the forms of wingless dragons, and she crossed her wrists across her chest in a defensive pose that revealed the spring sheaths holding her thin oriental styled knives clamped around them, as she braced her body against the wall at her back in anticipation and listened attentively as the echo of footsteps drew nearer.
The footsteps crept closer, and Liz tensed her muscles in anticipation, feeling the power of the Auron hum through her veins. A shadow stole into the opened doorway and stilled, as if unable for a brief moment to even contemplate crossing the threshold, and Liz took the opportunity to attack first, slipping along the wall silently and flicking her wrist to release one of her knives as she swung her left arm up with deadly aim. The edge of the blade halted millimetres from the flesh of the intruder's neck; although they were not touching, Liz could feel every muscle in that body freeze up in fearful surprise at the suddenness of the attack. Even as she held the knife back from drawing blood, Liz felt the wave of immense anger course through her once more as recognition flared and she was once again pitted against the one she had always imagined her soulmate.
Max stumbled back from the sharp planes of the blade, so focused on the weapon it took him a moment longer to realise who held it. Unable to stop himself, his eyes raked over the leatherclad contours that gleamed black and sliver edges in the moonlight that filled the devastated remains of Senator Whitaker's office, his jaw dropping in shock as his mind raced to keep up with this new development. Liz's expression was a closed book, but she glared at him with barely concealed annoyance as she flipped the knife around to hold before her chest in a barely veiled threatening manner, the metal reflecting the blurred form of her image from the distorted light.
"I could have killed you."
"I noticed." Max was surprised the words came out as calmly as they did, but Liz's eyes hardened over as she slipped the knife away into its sheath along her left arm. Her jaw clenched and he got the uneasy impression she was still furious with him and the others for what they had done, as she looked like she placed her hands firmly on her hips to keep herself from using the weapon on him in her rage.
"What are you even doing here?"
"The same reason you are, I guess. Looking for clues. It'd be too easy if the threat against us actually ended with the Senator! We're making sure we cover all the bases on this one. Akela …"
"Oh, here we go!" Liz's eyes flashed with a sudden light, ad Max's uncertain impression of her emotions changed to a firm conviction. "What are you blaming her for now?"
The other three with Max on their raid of the Senator's office for some evidence of what face their enemy would use now had heard their voices, and they approached the confrontation gingerly. Isabel watched Liz in some concerned apprehension as she remembered vividly what had happened the last time she had seen the small brunette and Tess eyed her outfit in confused bemusement, ignoring a slight jolt of déjà vu that her suppressed memories were sending her. Michael, however, glared at Liz in a betrayed rage closer to the emotion boiling beneath her own surface and he clenched his fists as he stepped around the front of Isabel in a not so subtle move, keeping his eyes closely watching Liz's posed form.
"I am blaming her for attacking Maria! You remember your best friend, don't you? Or have you conveniently forgotten her now that you're best friends with the newest alien in town?"
Liz's eyes flashed again, this time with an almost pink-tinged ring surrounding her pupils completely, and Max called out his friend's name in a warning tone as he noticed this, sliding in in front of Michael with his hand raised in preparation to draw up his shield in time.
"Shut up! Just stop your lies!" Even her words sounded hollow and distorted in her power-filled rage, and Isabel flinched back with her hands clenched together in fear of what Liz would do next. It seemed almost anticlimactic when Liz turned away from them, running her hands through her hair as she focused on using the cleansing power of the Auron to shake off the influence of the shadow that had crept through her defences in her anger.
"They aren't lies, Liz. We wouldn't lie about that. Akela had a knife held against Maria's neck. You should ask Maria if it really happened – she wasn't lying about the fear and terror she felt!"
Liz turned slowly to face them; Max had already dropped any semblance of a shield he had raised prematurely. Her eyes held a lost, tired look for a careful second before she slipped back behind a closed off mask, but that second was enough for Max to see it, and allow his heart to hope that they still had a chance to help Liz find her way back to them.
"I don't believe that Akela would ever hurt Maria or Alex, and I don't know what she would be doing anywhere near you or them; but I don't care, because I trust her, and I … that's all." Liz's voice throbbed with a vein of emotion that Max found hard to read, but the finality of her statement was evident to all of them. Michael clenched his fists harder, his nails biting into the flesh of his palms, and he used the slight pain to keep his tongue behind his teeth.
"What are you even doing here at this time? Your boss is dead, right? Or was that a ruse?" Liz spun around to face Tess at her insinuation, her lip curled in distaste.
"Don't you talk to me, bitch!" Her tone sounded like someone else's entirely, and pinning Tess with a hard glare that rang with an old sense of familiarity had the small blonde closing her eyes against the memory flash that was powerful yet fleeting. Ever astute, Isabel laid a curious hand on her shoulder in a comforting move as Liz turned away once more to stride measuredly towards the feature desk. Tess ran a shaking hand through her golden curls, using the motion to focus her emotions to slip her smug smile back into place, her ice blue eyes fixated on the brunette girl across the room as a stream of images seeped into her consciousness as if a gateway had been opened. Images of golden red hair and almost black eyes. Images of a woman – a competition for her place of power. A past power that she wanted back again.
A startled gasp from the direction of the Senator's desk focused all of their undivided attention on the mass of papers left displayed across the marked surface Liz was searching through. Max crossed the carpeted space from the doorway with two sharp strides, Isabel close behind him. The moonlight shinning through the wide windows behind her illuminated the sheet of paper Liz held clenched in her hand, giving the letter that was their next clue an almost eerie glow. Isabel reached across the wide desk effortlessly, snatching the letter away with an impatient reach with Max leaning in to read over her shoulder, both completely missing the dry, exasperated look Liz levelled at them.
The wording was brief and considerably strange, but what had Isabel freeze in place, her cheeks paling in shock was the by-line of the contents: Vilandra project. A shiver of recognition coursed down Max's spine as he read the same words, but that reaction was nothing to the absolute certainty Isabel felt that told her she had heard that name before, and that it held meaning to her. Ignoring Michael's concerned promptings as he crossed the room to join them, Isabel raised her gaze to lock her stare with the brunette on the opposite side of the desk.
"What the hell is the Universal Friendship League?" It wasn't the question that Isabel had wanted to ask but a glint in the eyes she was watching told her that Liz already knew that.
"Could that sound any creepier?" Max asked as Michael ripped the letter out of Isabel's fingers to read himself, and Tess ambled over as Liz shrugged her shoulders impassively in response.
"Whitaker never mentioned it."
Michael scratched his head as he read aloud, his tone showing his evident incredulity. "Dear Member: Your failure to report as scheduled violates protocol. We must receive word by the 25th of this month or terminate your membership, effective that date. Sincerely, T. Greer, Senior Coordinator."
"The 25th was yesterday." Isabel kept her gaze locked with Liz's, sure within herself that Liz knew more than she was saying. Liz held her gaze, her arms crossed over her chest in an unconsciously defensive pose. Max glanced between the two of them as tension rolled off his sister in waves, and he wrapped a protective arm around her shoulders, drawing her body close to his in a gesture of comfort.
"We're going to Arizona."
It was a tight squeeze with all five of them travelling to Copper Summit in Max's old jeep, but both Max and Isabel had refused to leave Liz behind, and Liz was secretly just as determined to make the trip. Her determination bled into her preparation so that she was by far the first of all of them to be ready to leave Roswell that night. With the three girls compacted into the back seat, the atmosphere on the way up was not conducive to awkward conversation and it wasn't long before Liz closed her eyes and faked a deep sleep to avoid meeting Max's intense gaze in the review mirror. The rolling of the motion of the vehicle suddenly lulled Liz into a real sleep however, and the dream images began to play almost immediately.
The free laughter of a little girl echoed down the corridor, and the warm sound surrounded her heart with warmth as she quickened her step, pushing a loose strand of golden-red hair behind her ear as she hurried around the open doorway frame and into the nursery beyond. The large bay window opposite the door displayed magnificent views of a giant labyrinth of a maze within lush green gardens from high above, but all of her focus was centred on the small five year old girl rolling across the hearth rug, trying to escape the reach of a young maid who tickled her sides mercilessly. The clear bell-like tones of delighted laughter caused her face to widen with a contented smile as she watched the domestic scene unfold from her relaxed pose on the sidelines, but a flicker of movement on the bay seat by the window caused her to glance up, catching the serious sea-green hypnotic gaze of the toddler princess who sat carefully in the lap of her young Go'ruth.
Before her warm smile could be returned, the little girl that had been her first focus on entering the room recognised the familiar aura that was her mother's presence and with an ecstatic crow that drew the focus back to her, she launched herself off the floor and into the opened arms that welcomed her into a loving embrace.
"Mother!"
Breathing in her individual childlike scent that was always so relaxing and that reminded her of fresh apples and newly dug up dirt, she leaned back a little to brush her fingers gently through the soft black curls, fingering the red-gold streaks that were a natural copy of her own colour.
"My little Serena! Have you missed me, loved one?"
"Of course, mother! I waited for you everyday and every night. Daddy said I had to be good always and that you would be home soon, and I was really good, mother, I promise; where did you go this time?"
Chuckling deeply at the excited babble that flowed freely from her daughter's lips, she gazed adoringly into the alight silver grey eyes that were the image of her father's before drawing her child back into a tight and loving embrace. A nervous movement from the maid still standing in her periphery as the girl moved backwards towards the wall caught her attention, and realising the significance of her shifting stance as a warrior was the first indication she had that something was about to go wrong.
A sharp sound of a marching tattoo of footsteps that grew louder as it drew nearer and a discerning stare into the averted gaze of the maid told her the source of the approaching sounds was headed for this room with a nefarious purpose in mind. Releasing her daughter from her arms and pushing her small frame gently but firmly behind her, she didn't need words to warn her child to stay put.
Two Noran Oracles from the Tower Guard entered the room in a synchronized move to take positions by the doorway, leaving the threshold free for a more dramatic entrance. A petite regal figure entered after them, pausing for a moment to meet the gaze of the princess sitting across from her before sweeping her own around in a languid manner to focus on the taller figure of she that was shielding her daughter with her own body in an conscious manner of a perceived threat she didn't understand. The imperial older woman's posture held a dominant aura of authority and her emerald and gold robes was an obvious statement of importance. As their eyes met, she felt her head bow instinctively and caught the scene of the maid throwing herself forward into a prostate position before her Xe'Minah and Empress out of the corner of her eye.
The Xe'Minah ignored the maid completely, keeping her sharp and assessing gaze fixated on who was still standing, the burnished red hair that had been expertly tied back into an elaborate bun gleaming as bright fire in the sharp sunlight that streamed through the window to light up her entrance as though her path was set by the very heavens. But it was her glinting emerald eyes that burned like a cold ice with an angry disappointment that had her suddenly apprehensive. The Empress' musical voice was amplified by a graceful power that came with her position as Xe'Minah, and the older woman held herself shrouded with an untouchable aura, but it was the choice of words spoken that bought an old nightmare to sickening reality.
Gripping her trusted sword as she felt the rush of power from the Auron sweep through her arm, she attempted to draw the weapon as one of the Noran Oracles moved suddenly from her post, but the Tower Guard reached out to grab her daughter in a vice-like grip with a swiftness that was almost unmatchable, carrying the child who began kicking and screaming for her mother in fright out into the corridor. The terrified tones of her only child calling to her in desperation broke her heart into tiny shards, and in anxious distress she raised her sword with the intention to cut her way through any who opposed her to reach her daughter. The dark rage that filled her soul boosted her skill, but the power of the Xe'Minah was a strong wall that her blind emotion could not penetrate.
"You should never have betrayed us, Catriona; this then would never have been necessary. We cannot now allow your daughter to ever leave the Tower; we cannot allow you poison her power. Remember that you were the one to choose this path from the many before you."
With a sweep of her robe she and her guards were gone, and in her anger she turned towards the only one still remaining in the room that she knew she could use to hurt the Empress the way her once trusted ruler had hurt her. Those sea-green eyes so like her mother's and yet filled with a power of their own so immense watched her enigmatically from the protective arms of her Go'ruth, and once again she felt a shiver of unsettled alarm at the maturity this toddler possessed. For a moment the shadow was held back at bay; with a shimmer of the air the tiny princes Ka Akela and her protector were gone from the room, and she dropped to her knees as a sharp pain filled her heart, a desperate cry wrenched from her chest in her broken despair.
"SERENA!"
The rage enveloped her completely in her state of emotional distress, the shadow taking advantage of her vulnerability to take full control. The wisps of the darkness used her sword to balance herself as she pulled herself awkwardly to her feet, staring with an empty gaze at the reflection that mirrored her movements in the glinting metal of her most trusted weapon. Her eyes glowed with a red light as they glazed over with a maniacal hatred as she looked up, catching the fidgeting movements of the maid who had been too afraid of the changes she had witnessed to flee to safety. The hatred that was now directed unflinchingly at her had the young girl trembling in terror, recognising on some primitive level what the warrior before her had intentions to do. Tears coursing from her unblinking eyes as she backed away slowly into the wall behind her, her head moving in a slow pendulum movement unconsciously that intimated a denial of any culpability as she tried to plead wordlessly for her life; but there was no mercy awaiting her in the reach of the shadow's power.
The sword's tip ran true, and the maid had no time to scream before her life was ripped from her body by the steel that plunged through her heart and pulled back again with a steady arm to swing in a tight arc to decapitate the falling victim. A spray of blood splattered across the mantelpiece in a wide trail, a few drops falling into the burning fire to cause the flames to brighten in appreciation. The headless corpse dropped into a painful heap upon the hearth, a pool of blood darkening the carpet into a violent crimson, and the head rolled a little before rocking to a holt beside the far end table, the sightless gaze staring up with a permanently fixed look of horror.
Sheathing the bloodied sword, she faced her reflection in the bespattered mirror above the fireplace, meeting her double's red eyes with a contented smirk. She had only begun her course of bloody satisfaction, but first things were first: if Icra'Ka Danise wanted to label her a traitor, she would show them all what betrayal really meant.
The images merged into a swirl of colour as the scene ended, altering and changing before they cleared again to show another scene, as Liz shifted her body in discomfort in the only outward sign of the terror she was witnessing in her dreams.
Holding out her sword before her, she stalked down another corridor, this one dark and filled with creeping shadows that the lighted sconces hanging threateningly from the walls above her head only seemed to emphasis. She had met no one on her journey so far, but time was against her and to her own ears her footsteps seemed hurried. She did not want to give fate the chance to delay her from reaching her daughter before he did.
A sharp piercing scream echoed up from the recesses of the catacombs she had just come from, and the pulsing power that sung freely through her veins rejoiced at the pain it carried that she could almost taste. Her chapped lips widened into a feral grin at the skittering sensations that filled her with the sound. She had bought this terror to her enemies and now every kill it made helped the darkness within her to grow and thrive.
Rounding the corner with a new sense of security, she could spot the familiar alcove that she had been searching for just ahead, but her smile faded as she realised the doorway was not empty. Two hulking soldiers wearing his ensign guarded the threshold, and she shifted her grip on her weapon as they noticed her approach, rolling her shoulders in readiness of any resistance they would provide, the torchlight gleaming off the deadly sharp edges of her sword even through the blood and gore newly acquired from the battle still raging above.
One of the guards was young and obviously newly promoted on the battlefield to the ranks of the elite. His eyes widened nervously as he watched her saunter towards them, and she relished the emotion as it washed over her, tilting her head to the side to fix him with a hooded stare until he flinched, her lips widening into a smirk at the realisation that he would be only too easy to manipulate. The older guard barely winced as she paused before them, his eyes lifting to meet hers with a vicious glare, a glare she was only too familiar with. This soldier was no novice; he had followed her once lover out on many campaigns as an experienced warrior, and now blindly backed his commander in this determined course of rebellion against their king.
"Move, Shaven, and I won't have to kill you."
His only response was to curl his lip, tilting his head forward to spit on her shoe, marking his hatred and contempt of her evidently. Her eyes always held a reddish glow, but as a burst of furious anger blossomed within her, a sadistic light brightened the glowing orbs. She leaned backwards and pivoted on her left foot to spin her body around to face his side, her sword a shimmering metallic blur as she moved with an inhuman speed to arc the blade through the air with lethal intent. Dropping her arm as she balanced her weight easily, she paused her swing only long enough for Shaven to feel the cold touch of her steel against his neck, for the fear to light up in his eyes that told her he knew now his blunt skill on the battlefield was no match for the power that was her birthright, that it was her gift to move faster than he could draw breath. When she was satisfied he understood that, she released her hold and left gravity to do the rest; the blade slashed cleanly through muscle and bone, and his body fell to the ground as the life ran out of him in warm rivers of blood.
"I always hated that man." The younger soldier's head jerked up to meet her assessing gaze as her words ripped his thoughts from his fallen comrade, and he fumbled for his own blade as panic kicked in.
"No, no, no … I wouldn't do that if I were you!" Wagging her finger at the boy, her amused expression froze his actions in place, and she almost laughed outright at the fearful hope that began to shine through the haze of emotions filling his blue eyes. His fingers slowly released his hold on the hilt of his sword, but his feet remained bolted to the ground even as he swayed his upper body away from her approach instinctively. Reaching out with her own blood-covered fingers she smeared a red path across his left upper cheek, grinning as he cowered from her touch. Her smile turned predatory as he gulped involuntarily, and she leaned in closer to breath an answer in his ear.
"Run." Her words had barely passed her lips before the muscles tensed in the body so close to her own, and she pulled back again to give the boy room to make his escape. She waited until he had rounded the far corner, his armour clinking awkwardly in his haste to flee, before she turned back to the still closed doorway. Drawing breath, she squared her shoulders and reached out with her palm to push the door open and out of her way.
The room beyond the doorway was as dark as the corridor, the only light source a roaring fire filling up the fireplace in the centre of the room. A familiar figure lounged across one of the luxurious chaises that filled the floor space surrounding the open fireplace, her layered skirt spread out against the fabric of the chaise in artful abandon. The golden tresses she had piled skilfully above her ears in the latest Antarian fashion gleamed brightly in the firelight as she turned her head to meet the glare fixed on her with an expectant smile.
"You took your time."
Striding further into the room to circle the occupied chaise, she sheathed her sword in one smooth motion. "I had some unfinished business to deal with. Where is she?"
The blue eyes that watched her carefully hardened with an unreadable emotion. "He's taken her. He doesn't want you anywhere near her."
Clenching her jaw in an outward show of the rush of dread that filled her on hearing those words, she leaned against the back of the chaise and stared into the flames. "She is my child. How does he think he will be able to keep me away from her?"
"She's his daughter too! And when he becomes king, she will be his heir. He doesn't want you to ruin that."
Her fingers bit into the flesh of her palm as she pulled them into a fist as the words were spoken and an unbidden fear entered her heart. "Where did he take her, Valora!"
The blonde did not respond to the barely veiled threat implicit in her tone, keeping her gaze focused on watching the dancing flames in the fireplace. "Somewhere safe. Somewhere you will never find her."
A growl raised itself from the back of her throat, as she realised what the blonde was not saying. "You helped him do this, didn't you? Is this your play for power? Are you sharing his bed as well as his trust!"
Swivelling her head swiftly at the implication, those blue eyes glared with the cold fire of ice, and that unreadable emotion danced again in their depths. "Stop it, Catriona! You were warned! I told you he would turn on you if you went after Ava. Did you think he wouldn't know! Or just that he wouldn't care? He may not care for her choice in men, but she is his cousin, and you made him your enemy when you killed her!"
Fingers gripping a fierce hold of the fabric, she leaned forward to whisper stonily beside Valora's ear. "I'm not afraid of Khivar. He does not have the power to be a threat to me! I told you that at the beginning, and that hasn't changed! Now, tell me where my daughter is!"
"It's over. I'm sorry, but it's over already! She's gone from here, and he will do whatever he has to do to keep Oriana away from you. "
Images of a little girl with golden ringlets that were her father's legacy and velvet brown eyes that could turn almost black in deep emotion filled her mind, and the pain that stabbed at her heart with the thought that she could lose her like she lost her Serena accelerated her determination.
"It's not over, Valora. It's not near being over yet. I won't let him steal my daughter from me!"
Valora stood this time, smoothing down her skirt with a firmness that indicated that as far as she was concerned the conversation was over. As the younger woman moved away from the chaise with the intention to leave the room, she reached over and grabbed the upper arm of the blonde in a firm grip to yank her back into a sprawled state against the chaise. She was not about to let Valora leave without extracting the answers she sought, and she was not above using the most painful method to receive them. Shaking of the grip on her arm, Valora pushed herself up of the cushions and spun to face the furious glare behind her.
"Don't be stupid, Cat. What can you do to me here? This room is protected from that blasted shadow you let loose in the castle; you can't call it here against me!"
"I don't need the shadow to kill you. I could do it myself – but I don't want to bathe in your blood just yet! I want my daughter back, and I will get answers from you if I have to cut them from you!" A shimmer of power glimmered around her upraised hand, and suddenly a vicious looking knife appeared within her clenched fist as if she had pulled it from the air, raising the blade to rest suggestively against the exposed throat of the blonde.
The glimmer in those blue eyes changed, and a sudden realisation hit her at the same time a sharp pain bit into her chest from behind that she had been played. Lost within her superior pride, she had never expected that her overconfidence would be her own undoing. Her grip on the knife loosened, and the world around her tilted sickeningly as the edges frayed, and she felt her knees give way. Sinking slowly to the cold stone floor at her feet, she could only look up into the blue eyes now above her that smiled down at her with a saddened satisfaction.
"You didn't think I would just give you his message without taking precautions to ensure my own safety, did you?"
Sensation was slowing down as she could feel her own blood pour out of her body to stream along the crevices in the stone floor towards the leaping flames in the centre of the room, and in the deep recesses of her mind she could feel the wisps of the shadow loosen its grip on her soul with a shrieking scream that seemed to be echoed eerily from somewhere deep within the castle itself. Feet she had never heard sneak up behind her rested within her peripheral vision, and she fought to angle her head up to see Korin's emotionless amber eyes stare pitilessly back. Valora knelt down and reached out cold hands to draw her face back to meet her abruptly calculating look.
"I want your power source, Cat – I want to do what you can do!" Shaking her head slightly, she tried to pull her face out of Valora's grip, but the blonde tightened her hold to gaze back into her eyes that were rapidly changing back from the faintly glowing red to an almost black. A flash of white light erupted from the Auron charm she kept tied under her tunic, and Valora's eyes widened at the show of power. Releasing her hold with one hand, she ripped open the fabric to reveal the charm glowing slightly with a blue white tinge that was sending numbing waves through the entire body it was attached to. Reaching forward hesitantly as if the charm was calling to her, Valora had almost brushed the metal with her fingertips when it erupted again with another flash of this time blinding light.
A thousand voices cleaved through her fogging mind with a sharp burst of pain, swiftly silenced as the charm disappeared from around her neck and from the reach of the blonde who snatched back her hand, dropping the head she held so carefully to rebound against the cold floor with a dull thud. But there was no feeling of pain at the sudden move, for Catriona was no more; her soul gone with the charm, linked to the voices of those the Auron held within its memory as it raced outside of space and time to begin the journey again, her last conscious thought that death would not stop her from finding her children...
With a sharp gasp of pain, Liz jerked herself awake, her knees crashing painfully against the back of the drivers seat in front of her. Ignoring the acute stare through the visor from the driver himself, she kept her eyes closed as she drew in deep breaths to calm her racing heart from the emotions and the very real pain she had felt through the dream as if she was the one experiencing them. A warm hand brushed her sweat-dampened streaks of hair back from her forehead, and she slowly opened her eyes to meet the concerned hazel eyes that smiled tentatively at her. Meeting Isabel's gaze with a grateful one of her own, she accepted the comfort for a moment before she realised abruptly that the jeep had stopped its forward motion, and she jerked her body up straighter in her chair, pushing Isabel's hand away as she peered through the little patch of window closest to her to catch her first glimpse of enemy territory. Max met his sister's gaze in the visor for a moment, sharing without words their mutual worried uneasiness before he leaned over to shake Michael awake, calling out softly as he did so.
"We've reached Copper Summit. We're here."
Next Chapter:
Chapter Fifteen: Any Chance the Fates Are Our Side?
Copper Summit seems like any other normal rural town in Arizona; except that they are all hiding a secret. A secret that when revealed could bring down a whole new version of reality on Max and his Pod Squad … or is it Liz they are trying to it keep from?
AN: Hey guys, I am really sorry I haven't been back in a while, but I had some horrible things happen in my life and I just lost all inspiration to write. But, I am back now … and I have a real fire to get this story written and out there. What do you think? Let me now if you liked the chapter, or even if you didn't! Shout out to all of you who kept me determined to do this thing!
Ciao ciao, xx