Being an errand-girl wasn't high on my list of what I wanted to be when I grew up, let me tell you that now.
"Errand girl, secure a place for our Battle of the Immortals."
"Errand girl, go investigate the army of zombies."
"Errand girl, get me a coffee. No creamer, two packets of sugar."
Yeah...No.
Yet there I found myself, driving down the road, taking directions from the soul inside of my mind.
Take a left turn here. Drive until you see the sign that's advertising La Vie Nocturne. When you get to there, take a sharp right and follow Bocheute road to the dead end sign.
Georgia's voice was clear in my mind, sharp and harsh, but without the demonic quality it had possessed while she was a zombie. Instead, it held an almost sweet quality under the dictator-like commands she issued.
I did as she said despite the suspicion that I still felt, and in about twenty five minutes or so I came to another building, actually only about 150 feet from the infamous club La Vie Nocturne. I shuddered as I saw the back of the club not nearly far enough, and then I turned around to see the wooded area where Sharon had almost lost her life. I turned away from it, feeling very alone and scared, even though it was the middle of the day.
Then again, Georgia had proved to me that the 'zombies' had the ability to walk in daylight, so I guess there was really nowhere for me to truly be safe. Great.
The cold winds whipped across my face, and I shivered, pulling my jacket tighter agianst me. I missed Miami, I missed the humidity, the ability to wear shorts and tee-shirts out in public and not freeze to death...
But if I left, I knew I'd miss here more than I could ever miss Miami.
Sighing at this harsh reality, I stuffed my hands in my pockets and came in contact with the gun that Stryker had given me days ago. I studied it carefully, noting that it looked just like any gun...
...But hadn't Stryker said something about land mines?
Hm. Might be worth trying some time, just to make sure it worked...
Not here.
I blanced. "Georgia, can you read my thoughts?"
Our life forces are bonded, so, yes.
"Ah, Jeez. Another one."
What?
"Spawn."
Ah. I'd forgotten.
"Hey, how long were you his 'Squire', anyways?"
About two or three years- Why?
"Just wondering." I began to walk away from the club at her direction, into the clearing- the very clearing Sharon had nearly lost her life in, and where I almost followed Alice to the grave only a few days later.
Akra, you cannot lie to me.
"Akra?"
It is what most of the 'zombies' call your sister- I assume your title would be the same, if not more regal.
"Thanks...But just call me Ivory."
Fine, then; Ivory, you cannot lie to me.
"I'm not lying." I felt really weird, like I was talking to some sort of an imaginary friend-I guess I sort of was.
Does this have something to do with your relationship with him?
"God! For the last time, we don't have a relationship!" I clenched my fists and glared ahead. "Everyone asks me that! We don't have a relationship! End of story!"
Of course not...And just so you know, if I had eyes, I'd be rolling them.
"Thanks."
After a few more directions, she fell silent. I trudged through the snow towards an unknown destination, humming the whole way under my breath.
"Why did we have to leave the car?" I asked a few minutes ago when I began to miss the heaters in the SUV.
They'd hear. Now shut up, or this will have all been in vain and they'll find you.
"Shutting up."
She fell silent as well, and we trudged through the snow,
Now, on the subject of your relationship...
"Still shutting up."
Ivory, everyone is talking about it.
"Who's this 'everyone' you're talking about? I don't think I know them."
Hardy har har. But really. You were quite the subject of conversation in our camp. You and Spawn.
"We are not an item! I told you!" I hissed.
Why did he defend you against Iccarius, then?
"Because that's his job, Georgia. He protects humans."
Right. And you had nothing to do with that. Iccarius was shot with bullets formed from the blood of a God- Hunters never have weapons like that, and they usually don't waste them on just any humans.
"Iccarius is a god. He could only be killed by those. And jeez, I didn't like ask him to do that for me. He just did."
And yet he lives.
"You know, I think I liked the relationship conversation more. This one just bothers me. Alot. I'm going to kill Iccarius before he can hurt anyone else again, and that'll be the end of that. So be quiet, please."
Stop denying how you feel.
"Stop talking." I held a tight grip on the gun as I heard a scream rip through the woods, and then I took off in the direction of it, listening to the faint echo it caused. God, I knew it was going to be someone I knew. Don't ask me how. But bad stuff happens to me and the people I involve myself with on a daily basis.
Thankfully, it wasn't. It was a mousy haired young woman, pale with bloodloss, her hazel eyes wide with fear. Her hands were tied with thick brown rope, and she shook with fear, even as the blood drained out of the large gaping tear in her throat. Frankly, I was surprised she wasn't already dead from the bleeding. Her blood was clotted and deep red in the snow around her, soaking in with each passing second and spreading into a puddle about her dying body. I looked around, searching in vain for someone to help.
I found no one.
Except for Iccarius.
He approached from the shadows, clapping his hands together slowly, a smirk twisting his lip. He wore a black tee shirt that was tight over his taught muscles, and a pair of black pants tucked into Harley Davidson boots. His eyes glinted with malice as he spied me, and he wiped something away from his mouth. When the droplets hit the ground, I realized with a sickening twist of my stomach that it was blood.
"You found me, Ivory," He said, raising an eyebrow and giving me a leering look. "I didn't think it would take you that long."
"Sorry, but I was comatose for about two days after your weak attempt on my life failed. I just woke up. Rested and rejuvinated, asshole." I cracked my knuckles, and then I flicked a set of knives out into my hands from my jacket where they'd been conceiled, falling into a fighting stance that I hoped looked strong. My heart was skipping beats, but it wasn't because he was hot.
Honestly, he wasn't so sexy anymore, especially since he'd raped me and tried to kill me. But I might be the only one who thinks about things in that sort of a mind set.
He laughed alloud at my words. "I don't want to kill you, Ivory."
"Really?" I snapped. "Because I want to kill you."
"I know. But Ivory-there could be a future for us. You can overthrow your sister and kill her. We can reign supreme over this army. You can be my queen again."
It was my turn to laugh. "Fuck you."
He sighed. "Well, they can't say I didn't try." He turned to walk away, but before he did, he snapped his fingers and pointed back at me. "Kill her."
At first, it appeared that he'd been talking to himself, but then put of the woods charged a bunch of the zombies that Georgia had been up until a couple of hours ago, each with the same demented yet empty expression on their faces. I sort of felt bad for them- until they tried to murder me. Then I stopped feeling and started killing.
They were actually a little easier to kill than Daimons-these must have been the 'new recruits' that Georgia had mentioned before her death. As they fell, they lay on the ground until they became the powdery gold substance Georgia had turned into after her death. The snow was painted gold within a matter of minutes.
I turned to force the silver-coated knife through the forehead of one of the zombies, when he grabbed my wrist and took a giant bite of it. I shrieked, kicking him back, and then I stabbed him violently, still screaming. I cradled my bloody wrist for a second before I turned on the remaining three.
They took one look at me, one look at the bodies that lay in my wake, and then turned around to run after Iccarius.
"Weak!" I snarled, catching one in the back with a bullet. A silver bullet, actually, conjured up by the powers of yours truly. Thank you, mommy. "You're weak!"
The zombie fell and became dust, just like his friends. Another bullet ended the life of yet another zombie, and before I could reload, the last one ran out of sight. I knew that to follow him into his camp would be suicide.
I looked around. No humans for many miles, no human interference, and about as cloce to a middle ground as I was going to get between the two camps.
I studied the gun Stryker'd given me, wondering how the hell I was supposed to work this thing. Did I shoot it into the snow? The trees bordering the empty clearing?
Shoot the bullets into the sky. Only four, one in each corner of your 'arena'. Give yourself enough room to fight an army of well over one hundred and fifty 'zombies'. The magic will do the rest.
"I noticed that you were absent during all of that, Georgia." My voice was a bit accusitory, but hey, she had conveniently dissapeared for the bulk of that patricular fight.
No. I was here.
"You sure?"
Let's just say those weren't 'new recruits', as you put it.
"You weakened them?"
Yes.
"Why?"
I told you before, Ivory; the sins of my past shall be attoned by protecting you.
"How much energy did that take?"
A lot. I'm actually pretty exhausted now. Surprisingly, I yawned when she said this, and then felt the need to sleep creeping into my body. Our life forces are tied, so the best way for me to recharge my batteries would be...
"For me to sleep."
Whoever said pretty girls weren't smart lied. I could see her smiling face in the back of my mind. I'm exhaused, so if you could perhaps finish your shooting...
"Right, give me a second," I told her, re-loading the small gun and aiming carefully, shooting up towards the sky. The bullet dissapeared and then a moment later it fell to the snow, falling so quickly and with such force that it was buried deeply in the snow. The snow around it began to melt, and I walked towards the spot where it had landed to see a perfectly formed silver snowflake embedded in the white snow.
"Won't someone see this and try to remove it?"
Georgia sighed, sounding very tired indeed. It will burn them if they try to remove it. Anyone without a pulse and breath in their body cannot come within inches of it, or their powers will wane, and it gives most humans pretty gnarly headaches.
"Oh." I did this task three more times until we had a decent sized 'battlefeild', and then I yawned again, watching wearily as the last of the corpses dissapeared into gold powder. I turned to walk away, towards the car, my hands in my pockets and the still warm gun in one of my hands.
For some reason, as I walked my thoughts turned to Zarek. I had yet to see him since I had awoken, and I sort of felt bad for shirking my Squire duties for Spawn. I mean, he was pretty much worth it, but...
...But I was still Zarek's Squire, and his first at that. I kind of needed to be there, or I wasn't really earning my paycheck. On top of that, the psycho had saved my life.
"Hey, Georgia?"
What? She groaned.
"I have to make another stop. It'll just be a few minutes, alright?"
Fine. But if I doze off, you can't blame me.
"Uh, I think I can, because if you 'doze off', I'll swerve off the road and die."
Oh, you can stay awake without me, but if you want me to sleep better, you'll sleep as well. Her tone was neither demanding nor prodding, she was merely stating a fact, and I shrugged.
"Go to sleep then. I'm just going to check in on Zarek and see if he needs anything."
A-okay by me, boss. I'll be curled up in some dark corner of your mind if you need me.
Frowning at the thought of someone curling up to sleep in my darkest thoughts, I headed towards the black car, which stuck out against the white scenery. I looked around, trying not to think about the lives I'd just taken or my asshat of an ex-husband. But his words creeped into my mind again.
You can be my queen again.
Did that mean that he was going to actually try to kill Ebony?
Jesus, I had to wish the guy good luck. She'd rip his throat out if he thought about it. Come to think of it, I wanted to rip his throat out, and he wasn't even trying to murder me right now.
...Scratch that. Yes, he was.
Can you stop thinking about that...thing? Snapped Georgia, in my mind. I don't want nightmares.
"Yeah, sorry." Making my way to the car, I unlocked my door and sat for a moment, waiting for the car to heat up. As I waited, my cell phone began to ring, blasting the chorus of My Chemical Romance's Mama in the closed confinements of the car. I jumped about two feet in the air before I answered it.
"Yes?"
"Ivory?"
"Spawn?"
"Yeah, uh...You need to get back here. ASAP." He sounded sort of worried, and I didn't really know what could make an ancient immortal warrior worry. Besides me, that is. Then again, I got myself into enough trouble that Zarek was probably going to start worrying about me soon. Well, maybe not. But you know what I mean.
"Why?" I asked suspiciously. "For that matter, how do I know this is even you?"
"Go on, Rainbow Kid. Doubt me. I dare you." His voice sounded a bit biting and mean, but I saw through it quickly and with a small smile twisting my lip.
"Well, what do you need?"
"It's Nikitas."
"Oh, God, I forgot to call someone about him!" I cried, my eyes wide. "Jesus, he's not like decomposing or something, is he?"
"No. That's not it." He fell quiet, and when he didn't continue, I continued for him.
"Well, what is it then?"
"Just a second." I raised an eyebrow quizically, and I heard the phone being moved, and then him softly tell someone, "It's Ivory."
"Hi, auntie!" A chipper voice cried into the phone. I dropped it and then resisted the urge to scream at the top of my lungs. I took the phone back tentatively, holding it like a pipe bomb to my ear.
"Baby," I told Nikitas, trying to regain control over my heartbeat, "Put Spawn back on the phone, would you?"
"Uh huh," He told me in a happy tone, and my heart stopped again at the sound of his sweet little voice. The phone was shifted again and I started the car, welcoming the heater with proverbial open arms.
"And you see the problem here," Spawn said in an almost bored tone.
"Spawn," I told him softly. "If this is a joke, I will rip you in half. Likewise, if I get home and there is a hair out of place on his little blond head, I will also rip you in half. It will not be a quick, painless death. It will be slow. And painful. You will scream."
"So you leave me alone for five minutes and suddenly I'm abusing children?" He said with a bitter laugh. "I know Nikitas. I've known him for a long time. He'll be fine."
"You know what he is, though."
"Yes. And you know I've known him since he was less than a day old."
"If you harm him..."
"I'd harm myself first."
"But he's one of them." I whispered the word, feeling sorrow creep into my heart.
"He's an innocent, Ivory. We're forbidden from hurting innocents in our line of work. Remember?"
I sighed. "He better be in one peice when I get home."
"Just get home." I hated the little thrill that overtook the sorrow at the mention of 'home'. Honestly, I'd only known the guy for a couple of days, but I really did feel at home with him. More at home than I'd felt in a long, long time. He honestly seemed to care about me and my safety, which was weird. I had older brothers, but...
...Let's just say the 'protective' vibes I got from Spawn were not the same as the ones I got from family members. Not by a long shot.
Ah, Jeez, today really couldn't get better, could it?
First I get my goddess powers back and my eyes turn into something out of a bad horror film. Then I kill a suicidal zombie, and then almost get killed by Iccarius and his newfound friends. Oh, and then the reason that the zombie asked me to kill her comes back to life, and since she's apparently taken up residence in the back of my mind she's going to see him pretty soon. Just peachy.
I sighed, turning the car around and heading towards Spawn's home. What was Georgia going to say when she saw her son, alive, and when she knew that what she'd sacrificed had been taken in vain?
"Spawn!" I hollered, kicking the door with my boot. "Open this door now!"
I'd been waiting outside for five minutes, and don't get me wrong, I'm a patient person most of the time.
However, this was not one of those times.
"Quiet!" He demanded in a hiss, opening the door and pulling me inside, locking the daylight outside and drawing the curtains in the entryway shut before the light found him. He let go of my wrists and I glared up at him, my eyes demanding explaination. "He's sleeping."
"Where?" I whispered back. He pointed up the stairs and I took off running, dropping my snow-covered jacket over the banister where it landed in a pile at his feet. I continued down the hallway until I found the room where I'd last seen Nikitas' little corpse, when it had almost been crushed under the weight of a dresser.
When I opened the door, I half expected the room to be empty. I closed my eyes and then opened them again tentatively, blinking and trying to adjust my eyes to the darkness that was caused by the blackout curtains across the large windows of the spare bedroom.
There he was- tiny and perfect, his featured relaxed in sleep and the blankets pulled up around his throat. His hands were lying against his cheek and he was turned towards the door, his mouth open in a tiny 'o'.
I rushed to the side of the bed, sitting down but making sure to not sit on him. I brushed a finger lightly across his cheek, and then I ran my hand across his light hair, almost making sure the little once-dead child was real.
His pale eyelashes fluttered and then he looked up at me with wide blue-grey eyes. My hand faltered and then I pulled him up into my arms, choking on a sob as I crushed him against me.
"Oh, God," I whispered, blinking back my tears. He looked up at me with blank, wide eyes.
"Why are you here, auntie?" He asked in that sweet little voice. I sobbed again, holding onto him tightly as I shook my head. I felt a hand on my shoulder and I looked up to see Spawn hovering over my shoulder.
"Your aunt is staying with me for a while," He told the boy in a soothing, calming voice. "Until it's safe for her to be on her own again."
"Iccarius," Nikitas said knowingly. Spawn nodded, and Nikitas looked at me again, blue eyes filling with tears. "I'm sorry, auntie. I got you in trouble, didn't I?"
"No, Nik, I got you in trouble." I hugged him again and then let him settle back against the pillow. I brushed his hair back and ran a hand across his cheek again before I stood. "You should go back to sleep, baby."
"Stay," He pleaded, taking a grip on my hand and looking up at me with his new eyes, fear reflected under their surfaces. "At least until I fall asleep again."
"I will, hon," I promised him, sitting down again. I looked up at Spawn, taking Nikitas' hand. "You should go to sleep, too."
He snorted. "Like hell," He muttered. "Last time I turned my back on you two, you both got yourselves killed."
"Spawn!" I snapped angrily, hoping Nikitas hadn't heard him.
He raised his hands in defeat. "I'm leaving, I'm leaving."
I smiled softly. "You don't have to leave yet. But if you don't get to bed, you're going to be really tired tonight," I warned
He shrugged. "I don't mind leaving-This is kind of an important time for you two. Reuniting and all. I'll leave you alone." He leaned down to kiss me on the cheek and then he patted Nikitas on the head. "Night, kid."
"Morning," Nikitas corrected, smiling sleeping. Spawn rolled his eyes and turned away, walking back towards the hallway that even in the middle of the day was as dark as the night.
When the door closed again, I walked over to the curtains and opened them, letting the light stream in from the outside, and then I returned to the bed beside him.
"Nikitas," I began softly. "Do you remember anything about before..." I bit my lip, not knowing how to phrase what I had to ask.
"Before I died?" He offered. I shook my head.
"I didn't mean it like that, I-"
"Okay. Before I went away?" He smiled to me, as though he were the adult and I the child. "Better?"
"Better. Do you remember where you were?"
He shook his head regretfully. "I remember my momma and Iccarius," He sneered the word, "And hearing music. It was cold. But no, I don't remember exactly where." He looked up with wide, pale eyes. "My mommy-Where is she?"
I paused. "I don't know," I lied. He narrowed his eyes, detecting my lie.
"Yes, you do," He told me. "She's here right now, isn't she?"
"No. She's sleeping."
"In here?" He reached up to tap my temple and I looked away. "I know what she did. She gave herself up, and when she died, I came back to life."
"What do you mean?" I asked seriously.
"My soul was trapped between this world and the next after I died, and I was told that if blood was sacrificed on my behalf that I could be human again. Momma wanted to leave-she'd hurt me and she couldn't live with herself or hurt anyone else. She knew I was here. She did it to save me."
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "You got your mom to..."
"No. I just needed a little blood. She's the one who wanted to die." He shrugged. "It had to happen. He said."
"Who said?" I asked softly. He smiled faintly.
"Hades."
I felt my eyes go wide. "Hades?" I whispered back. He nodded.
"He gave me the potion that brought me back. He called it something..." His brows came together as he tried to remember "Eurydice, or something like that... Something Greek..."
"It's alright," I told him soothingly. "You don't have to remember."
"Yes, I do," He said urgently. "I needed to remember. He told me that. That if I didn't...bad stuff would happen."
"To you?"
"To all of us. Bad..." He stopped to yawn. "Bad, end-of-the-world stuff."
"Well," I said as calmly as I could, "We can think about that later. For now, I want you to go back to sleep and not think about anything but sleeping. Okay?"
"Okay," He said uncertainly, still frowning as I re-adjusted his covers. I leaned over to kiss him on the forehead and then I pulled the blankets up around his neck, standing up and smiling to him.
"Night, hon," I told him sweetly. He smiled sleepily, rolling over onto his side.
"Morning," He replied before I shut the door with a smile.
Then I leaned against the wall and then slid down to hit the floor, resting my head in my hands as I cried quietly.
I hated Iccarrius, maybe more than I hated Ebony or my mother. Hated him for what he'd done to all of our lives. He'd turned my friend against me, used my family, killed an innocent boy and driven his mother to suicide. And Spawn...
...He was going to get himself killed if he didn't stop going after Iccarius. And that was the last thing I wanted. I didn't want to ruin another life with my poison and I didn't want to cause the death of another Dark-Hunter. Certainly not him.
Zarek was safe-I didn't think Iccarius knew about him. At least, I hoped he didn't know about him.
I was going to check on him, just in case.
I stood and brushed off my jeans, breathing deeply and wiping at my eyes. I then walked to the end of the hallway opposite the stairs and knocked on the door. There was a groan and then Spawn muttered, "What?"
"I'm going to see Zarek. Just thought you should know."
"Be careful."
I smiled softly. "I will," I promised. There was silence.
"You know," He finally replied, "Whenever you say that, something goes wrong."
"Fine then, Lucy. I won't be careful."
He sighed. "This is one of those things that is going to end badly even if you try not to jinx it."
"Yeah, probably."
"You sure you don't just want to hang out here?" He questioned. "Maybe just call him?"
"Spawn..."
"Ivory..." He repeated in the same partonizing voice. I glared at the door, and when he spoke again, he sounded insulted. "Don't think mean things about me."
"I wasn't!" I lied.
"Uh huh..." He said, sounding very convinced, and then he sighed. "Just call me later to let me know you're not dead."
"Will do. Bye."
"Bye."
I stomped back down the stairs, picking up my coat, and then I stuck the gun in one of the drawers in the kitchen, thinking I didn't really need it if I was just going to run to Zarek's really quickly. Then I spied a silver knife laying in the same drawer, and I remembered what I'd had to tell Spawn.
Running back up the stairs, I knocked on the door again and waiting for him to get up, tapping my foot impatiently on the ground until he opened the door, glaring at me.
"Am I going to get any sleep today?" He demanded. I shrugged.
"I don't know, but I wanted to tell you that I know how to kill the zombies!" I told him breathlessly, smiling and trying to feel proud as I watched him. His fine features betrayed nothing, but his black eyes flashed with surprise. He opened the door more and leaned against the frame.
"Should I ask how you know?"
I looked away uncomfortably. "Uh..."
"You're going to probably think about it eventually, so it's better to tell me now as oppposed to having me find out later."
I contunied to avoid his gaze. "Georgia's dead," I admitted softly.
I'm not really sure what I expected besides him being really angry. I mean, I know he had shot her as a zombie, but he'd known her as a human and I'd seen how her first death had affected him, how he'd really seemed to blame himself. I could have understanded it if he yelled at me, or even if he got really depressed and told me to leave him alone.
What I didn't think he was going to do was pull me into his arms and hold me close, which is what he actually ended up doing after the initial shocked look and disbelieving expression had passed. I was still a little surpised, and a little wary, so I didn't speak to him.
He pulled back to study me. "Are you okay?" He demanded as he checked both sides of my neck and then held a hand to my forehead. "Did she hurt you?"
"No!" I said, swatting his hands away and glowering at him. "I'm fine- She came to me. I went to the hospital to visit Sharon and she found me there, and asked me to kill her."
"But..." He looked confused. "Why?"
"That's what I asked. She said it was because of what had happened to Nikitas, and that it had been all her fault. They sacrificed him..." I felt sickened, and I looked up at him with wide eyes that were slowly brimming with tears. "They sacrificed him to my mom."
"Oh, god, Ivory," He said quietly, his voice gentle. I turned away.
"I'm fine," I said bitterly, closing my eyes. He sighed.
"No," He told me. "You're not."
"You're wrong. I'm absolutely fine. I mean, why should it affect me?"
"Because you're blaming yourself for what happened."
"So?" I pouted like a child and he sighed.
"You didn't tell them to kill him, did you?"
"No!" I cried, my eyes flying open. "But Spawn- if I hadn't become a Squire, Iccarius couldn't have tracked me down. He would not have killed all those people, and the Dark-Hunters..."
"...And you never would have become Zarek's Squire, and I would have never met you." His eyes became distant and cold. "I understand the concept." He let go of me and I looked up to him helplessly, trying to explain my mistake.
"No, I didn't mean that, I-" I sighed, pulling away from the door and not bothering to look back as I made my way towards the stairs. "Oh, never mind. I'm going to see Zarek-I'll be back later."
I slammed the front door shut behind me, watching as some of the snow from above the door fell into a pile at my feet. Kicking through it furiously and watching it flurry up around my knees, I stormed towards the car, whatever good mood I might have had at Nikitas' return flying straight out the window.
"Something's wrong," Zarek told me in a bored tone when he unlatched the door and retreated into his underground tunnels to avoid the deadly daylight. I sat at the mouth of the cave-thing, swinging my feet over the edge. I glowered into the demon's pit, which I could no longer see because the curtains had been closed over the one window.
"Nothing is wrong!" I denied, looking away again and playing nervously with a lock of my hair. That was a habit I had discovered I had about five years ago, and I hated it with all my heart.
"Bullshit." He hoisted himself up through the opening, and I moved back to allow him to sit beside me. I noticed, though, that he kept a considerable distance between us, and I was a little grateful for it. Any closer and my lie would have been painfully obvious. Despite years of practice, I'm not a superb liar.
I sighed. "Nikitas is back."
Zarek looked over at me from the piece of wood he was carving. He frowned. "Isn't that a good thing?"
"Yes," I reasoned, "But I'm the reason he died in the first place."
"Who told you that? Spawn?"
"No. I..." I closed my eyes and continued to swing my feet over the opening. "I told it to myself, because it's true."
I felt tears pricking at the corners of my eyes, threatening to spill, and I wiped my face furiously with my gloved hand, refusing to let anyone, let alone this man, see me cry. I was done crying and I was done feeling sorry for myself.
I heard him mumble something under his breath, but I could not decipher individual words. I opened my eyes when they had dried and I frowned deeply. "What did you say?" I inquired.
He turned back to me. "I said," He repeated in deliberate tones, "It is such a secret place, the land of tears."
I frowned even deeper. "What the hell?"
"It's from a book. You couldn't possibly understand."
I glanced his way and saw his face was deadly serious. I was silent. And when I spoke again, my voice was filled with shock. "You can read?"
"Yes," He growled, "I can read. It's amazing what you learn, stuck here in Hell for nine hundred fucking years."
"What's the book?" I asked him.
"Like I'm gonna tell you." He stood and walked back towards the front door, tossing the carved figurine into the fireplace as he walked. I paused and then followed, looking into the fire to see the small carving of an ornate rose curling up and burning like paper. I bent down to pull it out of the fire, and Zarek snapped, "What are you doing?"
I jumped up, looking down at my hand, which was red and ridden with blisters, and I stared at it blankly. "I didn't-I-"
"Why the hell did you do that?" He demanded angrily. I held onto my hand, barely feeling the dull pain throbbing in my hand.
"I don't know-I just wanted to see the-" I winced in pain as I watced the skin healover and the blisters dissapear. Zarek stepped back with a curse, staring at my now-healed .
"What the hell?" He demanded again, roughly grabbing my hands and pulling me away from the fire. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
I stayed quiet as I pulled my hands out of his and tried to walk around him, avoding the question entirely. "I don't know what you are talking about."
"You know very well what I'm talking about. Your hand should be covered in blisters and should hurt so much you should be crying," He snarled as he grabbed my hand again and turned it over, examining it. "Yet you're healed, as if it never happened." he continued softly.
"It's my mother," I told him quietly, gently removing my hand from his vice-like grip. "She gae me powers. I heal more quickly than any humans, maybe even more quickly than you Dark-Hunters."
"How did your mom give you powers?" He snapped incredulously. "I thought she was trapped in Atlantis."
"So did I. But she gave Ebony back her powers, and then gave me mine this morning. My eyes turned black and red." I pointed to them, nodding. "But now they're normal again."
"I can see that..."
"Yeah. So now I have the powers of an immotal goddess of pain and demons." I looked down to my hand, running my thumb along the healed burns.
"Fun."
"I know." I rubbed my hands clean on my jeans and then sighed, sitting down on the small bed. "Can you tell me what book you were talking about?"
"No." She'd laugh. She'd think I was stupid.
"No, I wouldn't." He looked down at me, black eyes flashing with irritation.
"What?"
"I wouldn't laugh." He froze.
"I didn't say anything."
"Yes, you did- you said I would laugh, and that I could think you are stupid. I wouldn't." I crossed my arms.
"No, Ivory, the last thing I said was the word 'no'."
"Oh." I looked up at him, understanding. "I'm reading minds..."
There was a knock on the door, and I turned from the surprising and worrisome conversation to cross the minimal space to the door. Before opening it, I turned back to make sure Zarek had retreated into the darkness. I wasn't really sure who this could be, but I was pretty sure it was safe.
Well, I was sure until I saw Ebony standing in the now open doorway.
A/N.
Gah, sorry about the short chapter, but I don't have a huge ammount of time to devote to writing now that school's started again. I really wish I had time, but I'm in a bunch of 'advanced' classes, and though that sounds pretty fun (To a loser like me) we have homework up to our eyeballs and only 24 hours in a day.
I have a lot on my plate and the updates are going to come slower, but they'll still be up as often as I can write them, I promise. Also, I have a few more stories in the works, and I hope I can start on them when I finally conclude Black Ice.
Ideas? Questions? Feel free to drop me a line.
Kaela T.