Immortal Light: Wide Awake (48 page)

Lucy screamed again as physical pain ripped
through her body.

“
Focus, Lucy. Focus on something
that makes life worth living. Think of something positive and push
back with that.”

Between bolts of pain she
thought of her father. She thought of him waking up and leaving the
hospital. She thought of her mother standing by her, and she
thought of Benjamin. She thought of being in his arms, walking hand
in hand with him, growing old with him. She found strength again
and the pain slowly subsided. The winds in the
haven
still ripped around them,
which meant that Sukabra was still trying to gain control of her
mind, but she would take that over the pain she had just
felt.

Lucy sat up and patted her lower back
signaling to Benjamin to put the sword back.

“
Now I want you to do something
that’s going to hurt because of what he’s doing to you, but it’s
necessary. Are you ready?”

Whatever he wanted her to do couldn’t possibly
be as painful as what she had just experienced. Taking a deep
breath she nodded her head.

“
You need to
leave the
haven
,
but only partially. It’s like stepping one foot out and keeping one
foot in. Just focus on both places. It’s kind of tricky, but once
you find yourself teetering between spaces, it’s easier to control,
like catching your balance.”

“
What do I do when I get
there?”

“
You need to grab the handle of
your sword without him noticing. As soon as you have it, jump back.
It’s going to hurt because he’s still trying to extract you, but
you can do it.”

Lucy took a breath and
closed her eyes. Slowly, she began to release herself from
the
haven
and for
a moment she could sense, smell, and feel both places at once, but
pain started to flood her head so she jumped right back to
the
haven
.

“
I can’t; it hurts too much.” She
was breathing deeply and she wanted to beg him not make her go
back.

“
I know it hurts. I’m sorry, but
you have to do this.”

Lucy nodded again and
slammed her eyes shut. She released herself from the
haven
and the searing
pain was back. She wanted to scream, but she didn’t dare. As her
whole body burned she had trouble finding her own extremities. The
fire coursed its way through her body and she forced herself to
move her right arm up. She couldn’t tell if it was working until
she felt the smooth metal on her fingertips. In one swift movement
she gripped the sword and jumped back to her
haven
, which was getting worse by
the second. The sky was black and the wind blew sheets of sand and
water all around them.

Benjamin, still holding the sword in place,
yelled over the roaring wind, “Do you have it?”

Lucy nodded emphatically.

“
Do you know where he is
standing?”

She nodded again.

“
What you have
to do is go halfway between worlds and build up all of your
light;
draw as much of
it as you can from all around you
.
Draw it into your body, into your whole
existence. It’s not going to be easy, but you have to. It's almost
like building it into your totem, only on a much larger
scale.”

Lucy shook her head. "I can't do that; it's
too much."

A loud blast of thunder cracked directly
overhead. Lightning struck the southern cliff at the mouth of the
bay, and it started to crumble into the ocean.

"Yes you can, Lucy; you can do this. Now
listen to me."

She looked up at him, the stress of the entire
experience apparent on her face, and nodded.

“
When you're
ready to strike, push all of that
light
that you've built up as hard
as you can out of your body like a bomb; it's going to create a
blast and separate you from Sukabra, giving you the opportunity you
need to stab your sword straight into his heart. As soon as you do,
the pain of the extraction will stop and you will be able to get
away.”

Lucy looked up at him. “What if I
can’t?”

“
You will.” Benjamin smiled at her
and winked.

Lucy closed her eyes one
last time. She felt Benjamin’s hand on her shoulder and she
squeezed it with her free hand. She could feel his
light
going into it, and
she hoped it would be enough to get her through.

Reaching behind her, she
gripped her sword and started to release her hold on her
haven
.

The pain was her signal that
it was time to act. Feeling both swords simultaneously as one, she
squeezed the handle and started to focus all of her energy on
drawing as much
light
as she could from whatever would give it. Her own
light
was weak; it
didn't feel like much of anything at first.

The pain was beginning to
overpower her.
I can't do
this
, she thought.

She tried again, this time
focusing on what she knew was around her: the hotel, the furniture;
none of those seemed to be helping.
T
he forest?
She exclaimed in her mind. The forest outside was full
of
light;
she had
to get to it.

The extent of her reach
wasn't enough; she had to stretch out even more. She took a breath
and grasped further with her own
light
. At first, there was nothing;
her heart sank. She was ready to give up. The despair that
accompanies failure started to sting her as insult to the pain that
had already consumed her.

Then she felt it. It was
just a trickle at first, like a pump being primed. She pulled with
her
light
on that
trickle until it started to flow more abundantly. It was
light
and it was pouring
into her. She could only assume it was coming from the forest, but
it didn't matter. Like pure life, she gathered it up and filled her
entire being with it. She felt like a pulsing reactor of
light
, a nucleus ready
to fuse. It was the most powerful sensation she had ever felt. At
any time, she knew she could simply let go and all of the
light
would explode out
of her. That time was now.

In a brief moment of deaf
silence and slow motion, she let it go and opened her eyes. She saw
both the motel room and the beach. The blast of her light was
immense. It didn't affect her; rather, she felt the sword in her
hand unfold itself, slicing straight through the backpack. As she
was about to stand up, she felt Sukabra's hold on her
light
release, and he
jolted backward away from her.

In an instant, time sped back up, and she
jumped to her feet. Spinning a pirouette, she reversed her hold on
the handle of the sword and plunged it like a giant dagger directly
into Sukabra's heart. He screamed in the tormented pain of a demon
being sucked back into Hell.

He fell to the floor, grabbing at the sword.
The pain in Lucy’s head had stopped, and she used all of her
physical strength to drive him to the ground, both hands gripping
the handle of the sword. She could feel all the anger and hatred
she had stored up expel itself. Sukabra’s eyes went dead, and
black, tar-like blood poured out of his chest.

Lucy stood in near-shock for
a moment, until she heard a sound from over by the doorway.
Releasing herself completely from the
haven,
she jumped over the bed as
the two reapers that were holding Kat dropped her to the floor and
charged Lucy. With a simple attack strike she dispatched the first
reaper, sending him into a cloud of dust.

The reaper called Simon pulled out a long,
jagged weapon and brandished it in front of her. Lucy struck at him
and he knocked her blow to one side as if just playing with her.
She struck again with the same result.

The two just looked at each other. Lucy was
trying to anticipate his move, and Simon was done playing. He leapt
at her and forced her against the far wall. She heard Kat scream
her name, and she was relieved that Kat was still alive.

Lucy tried to strike at him, but he pinned her
up against the wall and held her fighting hand down with his free
hand, pushing his weapon up to her chin. His breath in her face
smelled like decomposition, and she gagged.

“
You could never take my place,
girl,” Simon hissed in her face.

She turned her head in a failed attempt to get
away from his reek.

His look of seething hatred slowly turned to
wanton desire. He licked his lips and pushed them right up against
her cheek and worked his way to her ear.

“
You smell just like them, you
know?” he breathed.

Lucy stopped trying to avoid him, she felt
hatred course through her as she anticipated his
meaning.

“
Your dad, he put up a fight. I
love it when they do that. Then I get to be more
physical.”

He breathed in a satisfying breath through his
teeth. Lucy tried to push him away.

“
But your mother, she was weak.
She gave up way too quickly, but she felt so good going
in.”

Lucy’s hands started to shake from the
absolute wrath flowing through her.

“
I can’t wait to try yours; you
look far tastier.” He started running his head down her face and
neck toward her chest.

Lucy built up all the
light
she could and drew
back her head. As his mouth passed in front of hers, she threw her
forehead as hard as she could into his nose. It exploded in a gush
of black tar. Simon fell backwards from the blow. Lucy didn't waste
any time and sliced her sword from Simon’s shoulder straight
through to the opposite hip. One moment Simon was standing; the
next he was on the floor in a bisected mess of oily, black blood
and bones.

Kat, having finally gotten to her feet, stood
near the door in total shock at what she had just seen. Lucy
grabbed her hand and headed for the door. Looking through a narrow
crack she saw a dozen or so reapers milling around in the parking
lot. There was a black sedan sitting just ten yards
away.

“
There’s a car
just outside. If we can make it—
”

A shrieking sound behind them interrupted her,
and a reaper came sailing through the broken window. Without
thinking, Lucy caught his torso with the tip of her sword and
launched him through the front window.

In seconds, a torrent of reapers came flooding
into the room. Before Lucy could stop them, they had seized both
her and Kat and dragged them outside. Lucy felt her sword fall from
her hand in the confusion.

Suspended in the air, looking up at the trees,
she felt all of her limbs being held, preventing any chance of
escape. There was hissing and yelling all around her declaring that
Sukabra was dead and that Lucy had killed Simon and another reaper
whose name she couldn’t hear. All movement stopped for a moment,
and then she heard a low voice.

“
Since he’s failed, they’re
ours.”

The entire group began to yell. Unable to tell
what was going on, Lucy felt her back hit the ground, and a dozen
blackened hands and sets of jagged teeth came at her. The sounds of
hissing and growling filled her ears, and she felt the hands
groping at her, trying to find a place to suck her life. As she
struggled, their grasp tightened; she could hear Kat screaming
nearby. The chasm of darkness started to fall in around her. It was
different than Sukabra; it was raw and unrefined. These were
animals tearing at freshly caught prey. They didn’t care about how
it felt; they just wanted a taste, to gorge themselves, hoping to
be satiated.

Kat’s screams died suddenly and Lucy tried
hopelessly to fight them off. Just as darkness was about to close
off the world she felt a release. It was small, but it was
definite. At first it was one, but then she felt another and
another. Before she knew it, all of the reapers had released her.
She tried hard to regain herself, drawing life from whatever would
give it. In a matter of seconds she had gained enough to get to her
hands and knees.

On the ground she saw the bodies of three
reapers lying in various stages of decomposition. Looking up, she
saw the remaining reapers walking slowly away from her. From the
space between them, she saw Kenny backing away. He was holding
Benjamin’s practice sword. It was bent and covered in the reapers’
oily blood. He dropped it and made eye contact with Lucy. His eyes
were sad, and he looked at her until the reapers finally attacked
him and ripped him apart, limb from limb. He didn’t make a sound,
and her heart sank for him.

To her right, the other band of reapers
ignored Kat for a moment and watched as Kenny’s body was mutilated.
Lucy wanted to get the sword, but it was being trampled by the
death party. She tried to get to her feet, but she lacked the
strength. She lay back down on the pavement of the parking lot and
breathed deeply, thinking of how to get away; but, she was done.
Turning her head, she saw Kat’s lifeless body lying face up, her
beautiful hair fanned out on the ground. She had done all she could
do. She thought about what she had accomplished that night and
regretted that after all of it she had to die lying down, without a
sword, at the hands of the vilest creatures she could think
of.