‘LILLY HOOPER?’ Theo taunts. ‘Get yourself out here. Or your friend dies.’
I watch the vampire sprint away into the darkness. He’s followed swiftly by the remaining Nomads, many of who are limping. But the traitors are giving chase. The attack was so sudden. So quick. We didn’t stand a chance. But like Hendrix said, we’ve planned for this. They’ll meet in the woods, regroup and re-take the house. I know there are no witches inside except Theo and me. And by the stream of bodies currently fleeing, I’m pretty certain the Nomads are getting the hell out of dodge too. But Theo wants me alive, so if I can make it until I get my magic, everything should be okay.
‘I know you’re branded,’ Theo laughs. ‘Just come out here like a good girl. No need to embarrass yourself and try to be brave.’
Good girl?
Prick. Let’s go show him.
I turn, and head to the balcony. I grip the railing and look down.
Ahh, Fuck…
I’m so outnumbered. The whole library is full of Traitors. Thirty at least. And all of them are pointing their tranquilizer guns at me. They’ve removed their masks. No need for them in here. It’s pretty clear of smoke. I see the hatred they have for me clear on each of their faces. Well, I did murder a fair amount of them last time we faced each other so I shouldn’t be too surprised.
Front and center is Theo. On his knees with a bloody nose and a pistol to his temple, is Connor. The whole scene stokes the fire of rage in my chest that has been there for the last few months. I should be afraid. But I’m not.
I’m vengeful.
Damn right you’re vengeful.
‘C’mon.’ Theo smirks. ‘Come down nicely. And I’ll let him go.’
Doubtful.
‘You alright, Connor?’ I ask.
‘Fine,’ he replies, looking at Theo. ‘Prick punches like a little bitch.’
Theo thrusts his fist into Connors face, forcing him to fall to his side, spitting blood. He watches me closely for a reaction. So, I give him one. I slide my hand into my pyjama trouser pocket, and one by one, I drop the severed fingers of his men to the floor. He watches them land by his feet with a series of small little thuds, and then lifts his equally hate-filled face to mine.
‘The rest of your men are upstairs. Alive. They’re lucky I only took their fingers and not their lives. Oh. I may have partially blinded one though.’
‘You keep making mistake after mistake, little girl.’
‘And so do you, old man,’ I reply. ‘How’s the hand?’ I ask, looking at his right hand which is covered in a black leather glove. The corner of his mouth twitches the same way Grayson’s does when he’s angry. The fingers of the hand I burned barely twitch. ‘Does it still work?’ I ask, holding up my own. ‘I mean, losing two fingers has been tricky. But I can still use it perfectly well. Check it out.’ I hide my thumb and forefinger, and leave up my middle one. Connor laughs as I grin. I just need to keep him talking long enough for Hendrix to get to Grayson.
‘My son branded you, I hear.’
‘Yep.’ I nod. ‘He sure did. How did you know that?’
‘I have my ways.’
‘I have to hand it to you. You really suck at raising kids.’
‘And yet, you’re dating one of them.’
‘He’s the exception to your brood of psychopaths.’
Theo scoffs and mutters the word “Exception”. I scan the crowd of Traitors searching for a face. But I don’t see him.
‘Where’s Jensen?’ I ask.
‘Not here,’ he replies, briefly looking to the ground and then back to me, keen to keep his composure.
‘I’m right, aren’t I?’
‘I have no idea in what respect you think you are right but I’m sure that whatever it is, you’re not.’
‘I’ll find out you know.’ I lean over the bannister. ‘And I want you to tell him that if I’m right about who he is, I still won’t spare him.’
He holds out his hand and I’m yanked over the barrier by his magic. Connor yells my name as I fall. I land in a painful heap at Theo’s feet. I groan and roll over… laughing.
‘You’re always laughing,’ he says, clearly frustrated. ‘No matter how much I hurt you, you laugh. What’s wrong with you? Are you insane?’
‘A little bit. I think so, yeah,’ I chuckle, holding my elbow which hurts like hell after taking the impact. He stands over me, sneering. I just look up at him with my best smile. ‘Humpty dumpty sat on the wall…’ I sing.
‘Shut up.’
‘Humpty dumpty had a great fall-’
He hits me with his lightning. The green energy shoots over me as I scream and writhe on the floor. Connor’s up and trying to get to me, but the Traitor with the gun holds him back. Theo doesn’t stop. He doesn’t ease up.
‘You think it funny? Mocking me about the mass murder you carried out on my people?’
I can’t reply. All I can do is scream. The whole room illuminates with the light from his Energy magic.
Hurry up Hendrix!
He stops and crouches down by my head.
‘Where is the journal, Lilly?’
‘Up your arse,’ I laugh painfully.
‘Do you remember what happened last time I asked you where that damned thing was and you refused to answer?’ He grabs my three-fingered hand and waves it in my face. ‘I am trying to save the world, Lilly! If the Nomads get their magic back, there will be worldwide war! Is that what you want? For everyone to die? At least with my plan, only the ones who want their magic back will perish. Only the ones that want a war will die! I can save you! Agree to help me save the world, and I will save you too!”
‘I will never help you kill thousands of people. Never!’
In the distance, I hear yelling. Theo hears it too. He looks up at the balcony.
‘Gabriel is out there,’ he tells me. ‘He heard you screaming.’ He encircles his hand around my throat and lifts me to my feet. Sneering, he leans into my face and squeezes as I try to bat his hand away. ‘He saw the light of my torture. Shall we let him see a little more?’ I’m dragged up the metal staircase and hauled to the broken window. Below us is a real sight. The gathered Nomads who met at the rendezvous have regrouped and launched their attack. The grounds are a battle zone. Nomads and Traitors are fighting with everything they have. Grayson’s lightning streaks through the air. Gabriel is half way through slitting a man’s throat. Hendrix is at the opposite side of the fight to Grayson and they’re both trying to reach each other. Gabriel glances up and sees me. Theo leans into my ear.
‘Let’s give Gabriel something to watch. Shall we?’
He pins my arms across my chest and holds me so my back is against him. His arms light up and I’m smothered by his lightning once more. My head is thrown back as my body starts to spasm. Every nerve is screaming in agony. My flesh feels like it’s on fire. My bones are on the verge of splintering as the volts surge through me. My teeth are clenched and every muscle is rigid.
‘I’m taking you and the Quinn boy,’ Theo says with a forced calm in my ear, not stopping. ‘You… and the journal. And you will read me my spell. Together, we will destroy every last witch, except my chosen few. So just tell me where the journal is now, and save yourself some pain.’ He makes it stronger.
I just scream. It’s all I can manage. He squeezes me harder, grinding my ribs together and angering the bruises from training.
Hendrix is swamped by Traitors. He disappears under a wave of bodies. Theo reaches out and wraps his fingers around the wrist of my right hand and lifts it to his face. My fingers are stretching out, contorted by the voltage tearing through every inch of me.
‘You destroyed my hand you know. When you burnt it at the Traitor camp. I can barely move my fingers. So, I’m going to bite every one of yours off and leave them here for Gabriel to find.’ He opens his mouth, puts my middle finger in and clamps his teeth down. Below, Hendrix is still fighting the horde that continue to bundle on top of him. For each one he tosses off, another takes their place.
Theo’s teeth pierce my skin.
Gabriel leaps on top of the pile of men. He raises a knife and plunges it down. Then he does it again. And again. Each time he raises it, it drips with more blood and there’s less of a barrier between him and Hendrix. Gabriel’s bellowing orders at the Traitors. He’s ordering them to open fire on their own men, and they have no choice but to obey.
Blood starts to seep down my wrist.
A hand rises from the pile. Gabriel snatches something from it, turns, and scans the crowd for Grayson. He spots him, still trying to fight his way through the countless Traitors.
‘GRAYSON!’ Gabriel bellows, raising his hand. I feel Theo’s teeth stop. His lightning doesn’t. Grayson throws up his waiting hand. Gabriel pulls back his own, and tosses the dark red stone high into the air.
‘What is that?’ Theo asks. I watch it fly. The chain spins slowly behind it as it soars over the unsuspecting heads of fifty or so Traitors and thirty odd Nomads. A few of the enemy see it and try to intercept. But they’re foiled by the Nomads who hurl themselves on top of them.
‘WHAT IS THAT?!’ Theo demands.
Grayson leaps up into the air, his arm extended as high as it will go.
And he catches it.
He bloody catches it.
And as soon as he does, I feel my magic return and swirl inside me like a most welcome friend. The other half of me returns and makes me whole once more. Gabriel and Grayson both turn and look up at me expectantly, waiting to see a show.
I see Gabriel’s mouth move. ‘Come on, baby,’ he says. ‘Come on.’
‘WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?’ Theo barks once more, increasing his torture beyond pain. Beyond agony. He’s not holding back. Not one bit. I have my magic. But this is my chance.
Pain.
One of the triggers that may manifest my magic. Like I said, I’ll do whatever it takes to get out of here. I need to manifest. So I let him do it, knowing that he won’t stop in order to spare me permanent damage. I let him send that power through my arms. Down my back. Along my shoulders. It’s more than I can bear. I’m on the verge of passing out. Of giving in.
And then, all that pain, it becomes something else. Power. Strength. His lightning is no longer attacking me.
It’s become mine.
I start to laugh. A low, certain and victorious laugh, because I feel it. Opening up inside me. The surge is no longer invading me. I’m creating it. Grayson was right. Pain is a good motivator.
I laugh harder. And the certainty that was in Theo begins to fade. He releases me. His lightning stops coming from him. But still, it remains on my skin, covering me entirely. Crawling over my chest. Lacing around my arms. Snaking up my neck, and all the while… I laugh. Theo steps back. I reclaim control over my limbs. My muscles are no longer a slave to convulsions. I take the pain he inflicted on me, I take his lightning, and I make it my own. It turns a deep and vivid red. It shines ten times brighter than his or Grayson’s ever has.
The heavens rumble. Behind the clouds, the sky streaks with bolts of red. Everyone falls silent. All eyes go up. The rumbles grow louder. They shake the earth. The light beyond the clouds flashes brighter. More and more it builds and the low grumbling starts to crackle. Like Grayson’s and Theo’s magic, but a hundred times louder and miles above us. They raise their hands to shield their eyes as the bursts of light get brighter. And brighter. And then a huge, thick bolt shoots down from the sky… straight into my heart. All that power. All that energy. All that magic, hits me. I let it in. I let it fill me. It’s euphoric. No pain. None whatsoever. Every cell in my body becomes alive. Heightened. And with a mighty howl of laughter, I open my arms out wide.
And I let it all out.
The darkness illuminates as I send streaks of lightning out into the mass of bodies below. And every single Traitor gets a chest full of raw, undiluted Energy magic. It swerves around the Nomads and doesn’t touch a single one. Because I don’t want it to. I also don’t want anyone else to die. Not that I’m particularly fond of the Traitors, but I still feel sick every time I think of what happened with my fire last time I faced them. Connor yells and I know he’s in trouble. Probably about to be used as a ransom at the end of a gun or the sharpened edge of a blade. With the slightest twitch of my hand, he rises in the air and flies past me at speed, only to land by Gabriel with ease and grace. I can’t tell what emotion is going through Gabriel’s mind. Fear. Pride. Horror. Perhaps all three as he looks between me and the red lightning shooting all around him. Grayson’s expression I can see. It’s shock. Complete and utter surprise at the immensity of what I am doing.
‘DON’T JUST STAND THERE!’ Gabriel orders, his senses returning long before anyone else’s. ‘FIGHT! TAKE BACK THE HOUSE!’ He resumes his attack, as do the others. I stop my own, letting the Traitors fall to the floor in an exhausted, post-torturous heap. I turn, my body still glimmering red, and I face Theo instead.
‘I’m sorry. I interrupted you. Where were we?’ I scratch my head. ‘Oh yes. You were about to bite off my fingers and kidnap me. Please. Continue.’ I give a small scoff. ‘Or try. Could do with a laugh.’
‘Grayson, he made a Bloodstone? That’s what he threw?’
‘Seems your intel isn’t as thorough as you thought. Tell your men to withdraw. Or I will kill them-’
He shoots his lightning at me before I can finish, and I retaliate. Our two colors clash together and splinters off in all directions around us. It hits the wooden bookcases and sends chunks of wood splintering around us. The room fills with sharp pellets and the Traitors arms cover their heads to protect their eyes from the fragments darting around them.
‘FIRE! PUT HER DOWN. NOW!’
The Traitors raise their weapons and point them straight at me. There must be twenty sedative darts ready to fly. I raise my second hand and send my lightning to them too. The whole room is now so bright it’s almost blinding, and they have no control over their limbs as they convulse, still on their feet.
I like this power.
I raise my hand. They rise too. Their feet hover a few inches from the ground and I stare at Theo.
‘I really don’t want to kill-’
Theo assaults me with a wave of telekinetic power, breaking our electrified stream. I shoot backwards, high into the air. My back hits the wall above the broken window and I fall flat on my face with a heavy thud. Theo pulls out a walkie-talkie from his pocket.
‘I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO. GET THAT BLOODSTONE FROM GRAYSON!’ He scoops up one of the guns left by his foot and walks quickly towards me. I push myself up to my feet and see his furious anger etched on his features.
He wants to kill me. He really does.
But, he needs me alive.
I have that in my favour at least.
He charges towards me, lightning streaking up his arms. Gun cocked and a hateful sneer on his face. I’m up. And he fires. My hand flies up and I think, stop.
And it does.
The dart stops mid-air, a couple feet away from me. His men have regathered their senses and also their weapons. They too, fire. I’m amazed at how little effort I find it all. Soon, I have a dozen darts hovering in the air. All with their needles pointed right at me. I may not be in full control over my emotional state these days, but my magic certainly seems to be under my control.
With my finger, I turn them around. And with a smug smile, I send them straight back. The darts bury into their skin and they slump still and silent on the floor. Theo managed to deflect his with a wave of his hand.
I feel the corner of my mouth twitch as a wicked plan, pops into my head.
The house has been compromised. But I could take it back. I could knock them all out. I could hurl them out the window. Hell, I could kill them. But I’m not going to do any of those things. Because this house is my prison. And we all know what I did to the last prison I was locked up in. They think this place is safe. As long as it stands, they’ll put off doing the spell.
You know what needs to be done.
I hear that voice. The voice that’s been talking to me in the back of my mind for months, and tonight it’s a little louder than it has been before. Telling me to cut off the fingers of the sleeping Traitors. To show them to Theo. And now…
Theo has reloaded his gun and I watch him, amused that he thinks I can be beaten by a sedative.
‘You shoot that at me, I’ll send it back,’ I say simply. ‘And I won’t miss.’ His finger hovers over the trigger and he struggles hard not to fire. He knows I’ll do it. He knows. ‘I would like nothing more than to kill you, Theodore Kendryk. But. You die, my future dies too. And I will not lose Gabriel again. Not because of you.’ I take a step towards him, my lightning sparking from my skin to the ground in small but fierce bursts, scorching the wooden floors it contacts. ‘Not because of Grayson.’ My fire comes to life on my hands. The red flames burn deep and ferocious and mix with the bright lightning. I take another step closer. ‘Not because of Toby.’ He stumbles back as my flames creep up my arms and the streaks of energy reach up to the ceiling. I use my Telekinesis to break the banister at the edge of the balcony and send it soaring clear across the room, blasting into the wall behind him and taking chunks of brick with it. He flinches. His men watch me nervously as they scoop up their unconscious comrades. My toes rest on the very edge of the gallery as I look down at him. My fire covers my chest. The lightning sparks out all around me. His men stumble and leap out of its way. ‘I will win my freedom. I will destroy my enemies. I will have my happy ever after. And God help anyone who gets in my fucking way.’ The book cases ignite. Every single one of them. My Energy magic breaks the wood and splinters them into pieces. The floors shake. The ceiling starts to crumble. I look down at Theo who watches in shock at the power I am wielding. And this isn’t even half of what I feel I can do. I reach out and use my magic to hurl him through the window, just as I did with Connor. He can’t be here for this. I simply can’t risk his death. So I hand him to his children. They can deal with him as I deal with my problem.
This fucking house.
I know what I must do. I will not stay under Grayson’s thumb for a year. I will not sit here and wait for my enemies to come and take what’s mine.
I may be tied to Grayson by his threats and by the Bloodstone. But I will not be tied to this house and forced to stay here.
‘Run,’ I tell the Traitors. They stagger back, terrified. ‘I – said – run.’ My fire covers me entirely and the flames around them double in size.
I wait, and watch them leave.
Burn this hell-hole to the ground.
‘Yes, mam,’ I reply to my little voice.
My head goes back and my arms stretch out as I let my magic consume me entirely. The flames. The lightning. The Telekinesis. The power of it all. It’s strength and ferocity. It’s courage. Belonging. Completion. It’s the biggest and best release of power I have ever experienced. A weight off my chest. And the void that has plagued me since the day I was born, becomes less as I accept yet another realm of power.
Stay here for another year? No chance. Not in hell.
My laughter is a song. And it’s accompanied perfectly with the melody of burning wood and fracturing walls. Crumbling ceilings and splintering floors. The tapestry with the seven-pointed star disappears in smoke and fire. Connor’s corner crashes through the floor.
And then I explode in a glorious eruption of fire and light and magic.
And I send this wretched house straight to hell.
Where it belongs.
