Angels of the Knights (17 page)

“What would you know about truth, Kjin?”

“I know the truth of this because I experienced it firsthand when I came to earth. Let me just say that the Ha’Basin is not pleasant.”

“No?” she asked with feigned disinterest.

He leaned down close to her and she could feel his breath on her face. “As soon as you pass through the eye of the magic, the first thing you will feel is a scorching burn. It will progressively grow worse until your skin begins to bubble like molten lava. After that, all of the bones in your body will feel like they are breaking. One by one. And, finally, just before you meet your Creator for the second time, your brain will explode with the pain of a hundred needles plunging into your temples.” He straightened and put his glasses back on his face. “Of course, the pain will fall away as soon as you enter Emperica, but until that time, you will wish I had sent you to Mordeaux instead.”

Fallon gave him an icy glare. “Never.”

Marc simply shrugged. “I’ll never know in any case. Goodbye, my dear.” He turned back to the other Kjin in the room. “Let us begin the ritual.” Taking his place in the circle, he lifted his arms and his voice filled the room. “Mighty Tyras! Your faithful have come together to carry out the Ha’Basin. With this power you grant to us, we will cast your adversary, the Knight, Fallon Angell, back to Emperica!”

Fallon could only look on helplessly as in unison the other Kjin joined Marc Ellis in their dark chant. “
With souls forged from the fires beyond, darkness and chaos seal our bond. Oh, King Tyras, show us your might, sever the life of this enemy Knight.
”

All of a sudden, Marc Ellis cut off the chant and his hands flew to his throat as a gurgling sound erupted from his mouth. His eyes widened in terror as his body began convulsing in spasms so violent that Fallon was surprised he could remain on his feet. Several of the other Kjin cried out and shrank back from their trembling leader.

It seemed she was not the only one shocked by what was happening.

Marc Ellis’ eyes rolled up into his head until only the whites were showing, and then he stopped moving and the room went silent.

Fallon felt a cold shiver run up her spine.

After another powerful shudder raked his entire body, Marc’s mouth opened abnormally wide, and a guttural, sinister laugh echoed throughout the room.

Fallon cringed. The countenance on Marc Ellis’ face was evil personified.

It was the devil.

“My faithful,” purred the voice that now emanated from Marc, and the rest of the Kjin immediately dropped to their knees in submission.

Fallon heard their scared whispers.

“Tyras!”

“How can that be? It’s Tyras.”

The voice spoke again, silencing the room. “You have done well, my faithful, and you will be rewarded for your efforts when you join me in Mordeaux. Until then, we have much work to do.” The white eyes turned toward Fallon and it took every bit of strength she possessed not to cower from him.

He began walking to her haltingly with stilted, unnatural steps. It seemed the devil had control not only of Marc Ellis’ mind, but his body as well. Fallon wondered how it was possible that was able to exert that much power here on earth. His seal should have prevented this from happening.

“Fallon Angell.” The sibilant sound of her name on the tongue of the devil enraged her, but she found that she could not turn her head away from him. Somehow, he was holding her fast in his invisible, wicked grasp. “My words to you will be brief by necessity. While the seal to Mordeaux is weakening, it confines me still. You are here today at this Ha’Basin so you can relay a message back to your Creator.”

She wanted to scream at him, kick out at his whiteeyed gaze, but she could do neither, paralyzed by the curse of his presence.

“You will tell him that Tyras has declared war on Emperica! For thousands of years, the Knights of Emperica have hunted the Kjin, but from this day forward, the Kjin will hunt the Knights! Our powers are growing. A portal is opening. Earth will soon be mine, Fallon Angell! Tell your Creator that earth is mine!”

Marc Ellis’ body fell to the ground in a heap, and Fallon let out a gasp as the unseen bond that held her disappeared and she could breathe normally again.

The Anthony Kjin walked over and helped his disoriented leader back to his feet. “I didn’t know that Tyras could enter this world,” he commented with a slight tremor in his voice.

Marc opened his eyes and although they were his normal color again, he looked quite shaken by the invasion of his body. “I didn’t think he could either.”

Fallon strained against her bonds. She had to do something! She could not leave now with Emperica and Mordeaux poised on the brink of war! If fighting broke out between these two powerful forces, all of humankind would be lost in the struggle.

Marc ignored her. “Let’s continue.” He walked back to the circle, but the Anthony Kjin held back.

“Aren’t you going to remove her restraints?” he asked.

Marc shook his head. “Not until we are at full power.” He looked at each Kjin in his circle. “Let us continue the Ha’Basin. The chant must be delivered three times to be at full power.”

With souls forged from the fires beyond, darkness and chaos seal our bond. Oh, King Tyras, show us your might, sever the life of this enemy Knight
.”

This is it, she thought. I now leave earth for the last time. Tears began to trace a slow path down her face.
Oh, Kade!
Would she forget about him once she was back in Emperica? Could she?

With souls forged from the fires beyond, darkness and chaos seal our bond. Oh, King Tyras, show us your might, sever the life of this enemy Knight
.”

A sudden breeze began to swirl around the large room. As the chanting grew louder and more fervent, so did the wind. She had to squint her eyes as her long hair whipped around her head.

They were opening the gateway.

With souls forged from the fires beyond, darkness and chaos seal our bond. Oh, King Tyras, show us your might, sever the life of this enemy Knight.
”

In the center of the spinning mass, a funneled shaft appeared. From the floor, she felt the strengthening pull of the vortex. Her body slid on the ground toward the swirling eddy, but the chain holding her wrists stopped her momentum. She screamed out at the pain, the metal biting cruelly into her already tender skin.

She jumped to her feet to try to relieve some of the pressure on her wrists, but her legs were swept out from under her in the growing storm. She floated above the floor now, secured only by her iron tether.

“We are at full power!” Marc Ellis shouted. “Keep up the chant and at the cost of your lives, do not stop!”

Marc slipped from the group, still murmuring words under his breath.

As he neared, she kicked her leg toward his face. She smiled at the small victory as her foot connected with his jaw and he cursed at her.

She looked back to the center of the room. The gateway was fully open now, and a glowing white light appeared in the middle of the whirlpool. As soon as Marc unlocked her shackles, she would be powerless to fight the strength of the currents and her body would be sucked through. Then, the pain would begin.

Marc was also having trouble staying on his feet, and he grabbed her chain to anchor himself.

She tried to kick out at him again, but he was now out of reach of her attacks.

“It has been nice knowing you, Knight,” he hissed in her ear and lifted a small key to the lock on her wrists.

Over the tumultuous noise of the wind, Fallon heard the door to the room slam open.

Several of the Kjin stopped their chant to look, but Marc Ellis screamed at them. “Don’t stop! Do not stop!”

“A party! I love parties,” said a boisterous voice from the doorway.

Fallon wanted to cry when she heard the familiar voice. Not the tears of joy for a rescue, but the tears of terror. Her savior did not stand a chance of surviving.

C
HAPTER
19

Friendship Lost

Julian! What was he doing here? He was supposed to be on his way to Buffalo.

The wind started to lesson from the interruption.

“Keep chanting! I’ll take care of this!” yelled Marc and ran to confront Julian.

“Julian! It is a Ha’Basin! Get out!” she screamed over the Kjin voices, lost once more in their evil mantra.

“Full power! I need full power!” ordered Marc.

In response to the demand, the chant grew louder and the wind stronger.

Fallon watched as Julian ignited his Aventi and swung at Marc’s charging form. The white blade whistled through the air and inches from Marc’s head…it stopped. The Kjin were at full power. Julian’s Aventi was useless.

A look of shock crossed his handsome features, and then he shrugged and used his fist instead, sending Marc Ellis flying against the wall.

He must have realized then the grave danger he was in, but instead of going back out the door, Julian fought the pull of the eddy and used his enhanced strength to sprint around the circle of Kjin to her side.

“Oh, Julian,” she cried. “You shouldn’t have come.”

He reached up to grab the chain and floated directly above her body, their faces inches apart. “Of course, I would come.”

“How did you find me?”

“I realized that you would need my help more urgently than a trip to Buffalo. When I got back to town, it was impossible to miss the foul energy coming from this building. Well, for an angel as talented as me, anyway,” he teased.

She smiled through her tears. “We both go, then. Back to Emperica together. It will be just like old times. And, we can see Blane again.”

He let go of the chain with one hand and shoved his Aventi down her shirt. “No. Just me. You have to continue the fight. I’ll tell Blane you said hello. I love you, Fallon.”

His other hand came free of the chain, and his body flew toward the opening of the gateway. As he passed through the line of Kjin, he reached out and grabbed one around the neck. The demon screamed out as he followed Julian into the pulsating white light. Upon contact with the purity of an Emperica link, the Kjin was shredded to pieces, and with an agonized scream, both he and Julian disappeared from sight.

Everything went silent and still, and Fallon’s body fell to the concrete floor.

It was hard to believe that Julian was gone. Gone for good from this earth he loved so much and with him, he took his infectious smile, her tears, and her will with him. He left her with nothing. She was an empty husk. She could not even bring herself to care when Marc Ellis started cursing and shouting, his mouth full of blood.

“Couldn’t you idiots stop him? He was one Knight and we were at full power! Now, we need another blackcoat before we can start again!” He started pacing when nobody offered a response. “Tyras is not going to be pleased.” He looked directly at a middle aged Kjin who looked like he would fit right in coaching his child’s soccer team. “Who can we get on such short notice, George?” Instead of answering Marc’s question, the Kjin removed a cell phone from his pocket and began punching in numbers.

Marc strode to her while the Soccer Dad Kjin tried to solicit another blackcoat. “Any more surprises before we begin again, Knight?”

She just stared at him blankly. She had nothing left.

He lifted her chin with one hand and gazed into her vacant eyes as his other hand slowly slipped inside her shirt. She never so much as flinched when he pulled out the Aventi that Julian had given up his human life for her to have. “I will take this. You will have little use for it where you’re going.”

Fallon’s mouth twitched up in a wide smile. She was standing among the high grasses of a picturesque river valley. Butterflies fluttered freely around the trees and the colorful wild flowers that dotted the landscape as far as the eye could see.

Although the vista was stunning, Fallon’s smile was not for the beauty of the valley. It was for the man who suddenly appeared at the top of the rise.

Kade.

Her brave Kade.

A dimpled-smile painted his handsome face as his eyes found hers.

With a yelp, she ran to him, and he threw his head back and laughed before hurrying down into the valley to meet her. Fallon picked up her speed, anxious to be in his arms again.

She began to cry as she ran. She missed him so much. She could not remember why they had been apart, only that she needed to feel him again.

Fallon ran and ran, desperate to reach him before he disappeared from her life again. The muscles in her legs burned, but she ignored the pain, wanting only to close the distance between them. Glancing down for a moment to avoid a rock in her path, she looked back up, and he was gone.

She stopped and spun around frantically, searching for him. Where did he go?
Kade! Kade!

The realization suddenly came to her that he was gone for good this time, and she knew why. It was her punishment for failing so badly. She invited Kade into her life and it cost her hers. Not only her life, but the lives of untold others who would now suffer at the hands of Kjin she should have been destroying. She selfishly elevated her own desires above the needs of others.