"How about we go to my place? My room-mates not home." Ryan asked, while lightly holding my hand as we were walking out of the club.
"Sure." I said, my voice quivering very slightly. I didn't know if I wanted to do this anymore. No matter how angry I am, I couldn't do that to myself. I would have to deal with the guilty feeling of betraying Evander. By the time I had decided I didn't want to go home with Ryan, we were already far down the dark street. The only people around were drunk couples. Before we took a step, I planted my feet. Ryan stopped and look at me, though it could it have been my drunken haze, but his eyes looked different. More malicious, no longer stood the cute, carefree college student, but now a crazed assassin.
"What's wrong, Isabelle?" he said, his voice too sweet.
"I have a fiancé, Ryan. I can't do this." I said, cautiously.
Ryan looked blank for a minute before a slow cunning smirk spread across his lips.
"I know." He said, slowly.
My eyes narrowed immediately. The barrier that Darak taught me, quickly snapped into place. I began stepping out of my heels, "Who are you?"
He shrugged, "Oh, just a middle man whose supposed to deliver you to your new brother-in-law." Ryan winked.
I commanded my Gift to encircle me. It began licking out, begging to drain the man. Once Ryan felt my power, his smile stretched in a grin.
"Okay, this is to be done the hard way." Next thing I knew, Ryan was a millimeter from my face. "Boo," he whispered quickly before whipping his hand back and smacking me, hard. I flew into the fence behind me. I pushed myself up, spitting the blood out of my mouth and wiping the back of my hand across my lips.
Then I smiled, "Didn't your father even teach you not to hit women?"
Ryan laughed, "For the contrary," he said, pausing in mid-stride, "I killed my father." He flew at me, and I mean ran at a pace that even my eyes couldn't follow. His feet never hit the ground as he came at me, but I was ready. I blasted my power and kept it steadily around me then I spread it to 10 feet out, stretching it farther and farther. Ryan's speed was slower now, but not as slow as a humans. The color had drained from his face. Vanessa's pale face and open eyes flashed behind my eyes. I willed the image down and moved out of Ryan's way as a he very slowly stumbled past me. I had never watched when I drained the energy of someone. It was… terrifying. My power spread and strengthened and I could literally feel myself sucking his energy. Ryan looked at me with steel cold eyes as he collapsed to his knees and his body fell against the ground with a smack! His breathing was ragged and very shallow. Yet I stood by. My body was still swallowing the last bits of his soul, my own becoming strengthened. Ryan breathed his last breath as I fell to my knees. I called all my power back into my body while panting. Realizing what I had done, that I had just drained the man, I couldn't handle it anymore. I turned to the side and threw up.
Now I was sitting in a dark alley. I had to call my senses back as tears poured from my eyes. I stood up and dragged Ryan's carcass to the alley I was in and found the darkest corner to retreat too. Before thinking, I pulled out my phone and dialed Evander's number. He answered on the first ring,
"Where are you? Evander said in a cold, sharp tone. My breath hitched and I let out a sob before I could stop myself. "Isabelle, where are you?" He said more cautiously this time.
"In an alley, two streets over from the club." I whispered.
"Ok." He said, I could hear the car door closing behind him. "I need you to tell me what happened."
Bringing myself back to the present, a fresh batch of tears came. "I killed him. His name was Ryan. He was going to take me to Dominick and I-I killed him. Just like I killed the man and Vanessa. I took their souls."
"You did well, Isabelle. You had to protect yourself."
I nodded to myself, and then I saw the bright beams of the Ferrari. I ended the call and watched as Evander locked his eyes with mine. He seemed relieved for a second before picking up Ryan's body and loading it into his trunk.
"Can you stand up?" he asked, quietly, putting his hand on my elbow to guide me.
I nodded silently before standing up and walking into the car. Evander closed the door after me and walked into the driver's side. He gripped the wheel so hard this knuckles turned white.
"Isabelle, why were you with Ryan Percelli?" Evander asked through what sounded like clenched teeth.
"I was going to his home." I said, emotionlessly. My voice sounded flat, defeated.
Evander was silent the rest of the way home and surprisingly, I basked in it. I rested my head against the cool window and closed my eyes. Before I knew it, we were home. I opened my eyes and turned towards Evander only to be shocked at what I found. I knew I shouldn't have been surprised at the fact that he was pouring anger and betrayal but I didn't expect him to completely turn off his emotions. I knew he did because his eyes no longer looked the same.
"I have come to realize that you are no longer fit to be a Goddess through my eyes, Ms. Ashworth. Please have your bags packed by tomorrow morning and I will send an escort to accompany you home. Thank you for your patience and help. I have appreciated it." Evander turned towards me and stuck his hand out, I could feel my heart breaking, "It was great doing business with you." I stared at his hand for a moment before closing my eyes. I should have seen this coming, I mean I don't blame the guy. I was going to sleep with someone and to be completely honest, we all knew I wasn't fit to be a Goddess. So this time, when I opened my eyes, I could feel them harden. I would not cry. I strongly put my hand in his and gave it a quick shake.
"Thank you for your hospitality." I managed to say before leaving the car and as casually as I could, walk back to the room. The minute I got inside the room, my knees collapsed. My head was swarming with everything that had happened today and the pain from being told that I was useless. A wave of power overtook me as I tried to leak some of the pressure off. The lights in the room blew out with a spark so I was left sitting in the darkness, nearly hyperventilating, with my power surging in the air. Two knocks sounded at the door but I ignored them, not replying. The door tried opening but I shut it with my hand.
"Please. Leave." I said through clenched teeth.
"Isabelle, you've fused out the whole house." I heard Sebastian's voice say.
I grinded my teeth. Shit. That means Evander would definitely know it was me. "Sebastian..." I whispered. Within a second I had opened the door and thrown myself into my best friend's arms. He hugged my tightly and turned us around so he could close the door. I couldn't control the tears that came after that moment. They controlled my body as I remembered Ryan's face behind my eyelids. Even the face of my old best friend and the pain of what Evander said to me and the way his voice sounded broke me.
"I-I was trying so hard t-to be a good G-Goddess. I killed him, I killed Ryan and now E-Evander wants absolutely nothing to do with.."
Sebastian guided me to my bed and sat me down, then took the position directly across from me and sat on his knees. "Calm down and tell me what happened." So I told him how I saw Evander burn the man who was flirting with me and how I decided that I wanted to go home with Ryan but decided against it. I told him how Ryan ended up being an assassin and I killed him and how angry Evander was about the fact I was going to go back with Ryan. I even told Sebastian how I'm no longer a Goddess, but that's when I felt it. The burst of power so strong that it sent me straight to my knees. I spared a glance at Sebastian who was so pale in the face it looked like he was about to throw up, in a mere second, Sebastian's eyes rolled to the back of his head as his body fell. There was only one person I knew whose power was this strong, and I'm pretty sure it was my ex-fiance. I managed to stand up and with the help of the wall, pull myself over to the door. Opening it, the force of the power hit me like a wave. I clenched my teeth and stumbled down the hall, towards Evander's bedroom where the strength only got stronger.
By the time I was at Evander's door, I was fully leaning on the wall for support. Outside his door, I saw Josef and Liliac were knocking furiously. They didn't seem as affected as me but they looked slightly drained. Josef shot me a blank look before continuing to knock at the door.
"Evander, you need to turn the power down a notch. I get it, you just want to blow off some anger but this is not the best place." Josef said.
"I got this," I gasped at the two, "Go get Sebastian. He's unconscious in my room."
Liliac turned on me furiously, her eyes flashing red, then green and then back to their original shade. "This is your fault. You never should have left with Ryan Percelli! You can't even stand up on your own and you mean to go inside the room to the source of all this power?!" she hissed, sounding more like the lioness inside her.
"You can yell at me later, Liliac!" I responded, just as furious. "Now go get Sebastian, I can handle this!"
With a push from the wall, I inched towards the door and opened it. The blast of power hit me once again, this time it was so strong that I had to blink out the black spots from my vision. I could feel my oxygen being cut short.
In front of me, I saw Evander standing in the middle of the room. His shirt was shred to pieces and was only holding on by a few threads. His hair was flying around him as his power pushed from his feet up. I was now breathing heavily. The room was completely wrecked. A fire in the corner that was merely staying lit to a lamp, the bed spread was utterly damaged and the bedframe was cracked and even off the hinge in some a last muster of strength, I pushed myself up and forward, then in a swift move, I slipped my hands through his arms and wrapped my hands around his back. Hugging his back to my chest, I clasped my hands at his stomach. With each minute, I could feel my power being drained no matter how much I tried to control it.
"Evander," I whispered weakly, "I am so sorry." The power around him halted then slowly seeped back into himself. I was panting as I could finally breathe freely and get oxygen to my brain. I wrapped my arms tighter.
"What were you thinking, Isabelle? Everything could have been lost.. everything. Without you, if something happened to you—they would easily take me down. I would be a weak God.." His voice sounded lost. So different since I had ever heard it. No more confidence, or husky powerful God, now he was a simple man who almost lost his everything, including me. My stupid decisions.
"I wasn't going to go with him. I changed my mind almost as quickly as I decided that I was going to go with him. I stopped because I knew that I couldn't betray you. I promise, I promise that I wasn't going to go with hi—" before I could finish my sentence, Evander turned in my arms and locked his lips with mine in a sweet kiss.