The Light of the World (31 page)

"You lied!" I cry out.

She shakes taking the black wax into her mouth.
She heaves as each piece is consumed. Her eyes don’t look like fire
anymore. They look dead.

I'm pinned but thrashing to be released. The
door knocking and screaming is happening again.

Her tears turn black as the wax.

She coughs on the last piece and collapses onto
the table.

I drop to the floor.

My arms and legs twitch from exhaustion and
pain. I crawl to her like a wounded dog. My hand is completely
burned. It's red and raw. She is barely breathing.

"You can suck our sin from her. She's a witch,
you can't kill her. Take the sin."

I look up to see Wyatt in the doorway. He's
holding his hand too.

"I'm sorry." I whisper.

He shakes his head, "I should never have
handfasted with you Rayne. This is all my fault."

I grab her face and press her stained black lips
against mine. The nastiest taste flows from her lips.

"Stop when the taste changes."

I suck until it tastes sweet but I don’t stop. I
take a long pull.

"STOP!" Wyatt screams.

I jump back and drop her on the coffee table
again. She moans and looks at me.

I wipe the black greasy tears from my lips and
shudder.

Wyatt helps her up, "You must run."

She nods and tries to stand.

I'm shaking. The sweetness of her was
amazing.

She looks at me, "Run. The guards are down." She
whispers. I look at Wyatt. His eyes betray his guilt.

"What have you done?" I whisper.

He clenches his jaw and looks back at the
doorway that's slightly open still, "They came for you at Fitz's.
He's dead. He fought my mother for you. A light filled the house
and suddenly Fitz was dead."

I look down and fight the tears that are
suddenly choking me. I don’t know why but the idea that Fitz died
fighting for me shakes me. All the bad thoughts I had about
him.

"Take me to my lair." Her words are weak.

I look at her, "Did I do this? Did I hurt
you?"

She swallows hard and nods, "You just weakened
me. I'll be fine in a couple days. You can't kill me Rayne. It's
okay." She is out of breath.

I look at the door, "Are they waiting for me
outside?"

Wyatt nods once, "I'm so sorry Rayne. I didn’t
know they followed me. Not until it was too late."

I'm trapped. Panic has set in.

"Hide her. Seal yourself in."

She nods, "Call the dead Rayne. They'll fight
for you."

Wyatt frowns at her and lifts her up. He walks
down into the lair and then comes back up. The door closes and
seals with a flame.

The air sparkles, the dead want me to run.

I shake my head, "I can't."

Wyatt gives me a weird look. I stand. My sword
is in the SUV. I pull the small dagger from my belt and look at
him, "What am I expecting?"

He looks grim, "Mother and father and Maggie and
Sarah and a few others."

"Your fiancé?"

He nods.

I take a breath, "My memories have your mother
doing some very fancy shit."

His eyes turn cold, "You don’t stand a chance
against her."

I close my eyes and let the sparkles become the
only noise I hear. "Help me. Please fight for me. I don’t know what
you can do, but please help me."

The air gets thick and the sparkles become snaps
of light, like electric charges in the air.

"What is this? You have magic?"

I shake my head, "I don’t know." I honestly
don’t. I need to see Constantine. I need him to remove the stupid
memory blocks from me.

The quiet of the house becomes over run with the
sparks. I watch as the front door creaks open. I stand ready with
only my small dagger.

His mother walks in dressed just as she was in
the memories I have of her. Leather pants and a leather shirt. She
looks like someone from the Matrix. She has on big boots and a
sword. She smiles at me. Suzy homemaker is gone. The homicidal
schoolteacher has been replaced by a ninja. Her hair is pulled back
into a tight bun. Her lips are dark red.

"That's a lot of leather for one lady."

I look behind me to see Constantine.

I smile. His jaw is set. He looks pissed.

I look back at Gretel and smirk, "You want this
fight?"

She looks at Wyatt, "Which side are you on
boy?"

He looks lost and scared, for the first time
ever. His cockiness is replaced by real fear.

He shakes his head, "We can end this. Let's help
her find the devils and Lucifer."

She laughs. In the doorway I can see others
dressed similarly.

Constantine taps me on the shoulder, "You'll
want this." When I look back at him and take my sword, his eyes
flash. Instantly, I'm held by them. Pressure fills my head. I grip
it and cry out. Memories flood my mind. Old memories. Things it's
impossible for one human to remember.

My sword becomes an extension of my arm.

I feel a growl run up my throat. Slowly I turn
my head to the left and make eye contact.

She smiles wide, "Finally. I was wondering when
the simpering girl would be gone and the true Sin Eater would join
us." She glances at Constantine, "Naughty of you Basarab."

"I am going to rip your heart out Gretel and
dine on it later."

Wyatt smiles grimly, "She doesn’t have a
heart."

I look at the clear standoff between the three
of us and ready myself. I tap the floor with my sword, "Enough.
Let's end this."

She steps down the stairs and opens the door for
us. She puts an arm out, "My sentiments exactly."

She walks out onto the grass where seven of them
stand. I walk toward the doorway. Constantine is smoke again. I
smirk at Wyatt and pass him my dagger.

"You look like your dad did when he was
young."

He frowns, "No I don’t. I look more like my
mother."

I glance at the man he thinks is his father and
laugh, "That's not your father Wyatt. Your real father was an
angel. Your mother used to be a very naughty Van Helsing."

She glares at me from the grass. I smile
back.

His face becomes a storm of anger. He looks at
her, "You lied to me?"

She doesn’t loose any of the crazed emotions on
her face.

I turn to Wyatt and take his hand. It burns my
skin but I ignore it. "He was a wonderful man."

He looks sick and confused, "Let's do this." My
heart is breaking for him. I know exactly how he feels.

I nod. Constantine has already become smoke. He
appears behind one of the Van Helsings and bites savagely into his
neck. I dive through the door and kick my legs off the grass. I
leap into the air and kick Sarah in the face. She stumbles back as
his mother stabs something into my upper arm. I slash my sword
across her forearm.

A whip wraps around my waist. I pull it and use
the man who wields it as a shield.

Constantine is eating his second person. Wooden
steaks stick out of his shirt, smoking. He rips one out and stabs
it into the throat of the person he's eating.

Sarah shoots me with something. It does nothing.
I pluck it out of my stomach and throw it at her.

Gretel smashes me in the face with the butt of
her sword. I feel my nose break. I wince but duck and kick her legs
out from under her and return the favor with my fist.

Wyatt is fighting the man who isn’t his father.
He looks savage.

I feel a sharp pain in my lower back. I fall. I
feel a stabbing sensation. Sarah has me down. Her dagger is
stabbing me psychotically. Gretel is bleeding from her nose and
lips.

She laughs when she sees Sarah attacking me.
Blood coats her teeth.

I try to flip Sarah but I can't. I'm hurt. Wyatt
tackles Sarah off of me. His own mother stabs her sword into him.
He punches Sarah in the face and knocks her out. He rolls off of
her and lies in the grass.

I dig my fingers into the grass and try to pull
myself to him.

I hear the sparkles and the feel the thick air,
"HELP ME!" I scream into the night.

Gretel turns back to me and holds her sword up
over me. Fire shoots from the ground and makes a circle around me.
The flames reach ten feet. I watch as she tries to bring the sword
down on me. The flames leap at her. She screams. In the flames I
can see Constantine. He is fighting savagely. He looks like he's
having a good time.

Through the flames I see Wyatt crawling to me.
He's bleeding from his stomach and clutching it. I scream and reach
for him, "HELP HIM! CONSTANTINE, HELP HIM!"

Instantly Wyatt is gone.

Wyatt and Constantine are gone and I am lying in
a ring of flames. I can breathe knowing they're safe.

Gretel is charred and bleeding. She watches me
for a moment. Hatred and disgust are all over her face.

I feel the dead cocooning me in the fire. They
fear her. I feel a sharp poke in my arms and a whoosh of air and
suddenly I'm flying. It feels like being home.

His touch is remarkable.

He kneads the skin and rubs the oils in.

"Did you miss this?"

I laugh, "That your fingers never tire or
remembering who you are?"

If I didn’t want him so badly I could fall
asleep.

"I would like to think my never ending massages
are nothing compared to the fact that you remember me now."

I smile peacefully and let the kneading relax
me. "Well asking me during a never ending massage is a bad
idea."

"You remember it all?"

"I do. I remember being all of them. I remember
my first life as Liana with mother and father. I remember the
second life when I was Ezara and I lived with my father mostly. I
remember my parent's challenging God. I remember them telling him
to try to live through the pain of sacrificing a child. If he did
they would consider his proposal. I remember being born as Maggie
and hearing about the poor boy Jesus. He was born of a virgin and
sacrificed by his father in a show of good will. I remember meeting
you in the tower and you saving me."

His hands stop. He presses his body into mine.
His warm skin against mine is amazing. "I love you. I have always
loved you."

I open my lips to return the sentence but I
cannot. My words get stuck in the truth.

I haven’t always loved him. I feel my body tense
with shame and guilt. He has done everything for me, waited
hundreds of years for me, died a thousand deaths every time I die.
How do I repay him? Fall in love with a Van Helsing. A child. Just
as when my memories reminded me of my love for Constantine, they
now betray me and remind me of my love for Wyatt.

His cocky smile and dark blue eyes burn in my
mind. I feel tears welling in my eyes. My heart will be broken no
matter the choice I make.

"What is it?"

I shake my head, "Worried about Mona. The reason
we never separated was the Van Helsings. They will take her and
make her bait."

He kisses my neck and I feel disgusting. "I had
Tom pick her up yesterday and bring her here."

I nod, "Thanks."

"My love, shall we retire to the bedroom?"

I shake my head, "No. You go. I need to see
Mona."

He kisses my back, "She'll be there
tomorrow."
I push my aching body off the bed and wrap the huge blanket around
me. He sees my face and lifts my chin, "What is this look?"

I shrug, "Confusion."

He frowns, "You have your memories. We know all
there is to know. We have a year and a half until your twenty-first
birthday, we know we have to kill the devils and Lillith and
Lucifer, we know the Nixie can take you to her, we know Lucifer is
looking for you, we have the answers my pet. After all this time we
finally have the answers."

His dark hair and dark eyes help me forget the
other reasons I have for not wanting to make love to him. It really
is only one reason. One person.

I look down on the scars filling in and fading
on my arms.

"I'm still Rayne. I'm still me. The memories of
the other lives can only take so much room in my brain and heart,
before the life I have now takes over and becomes the most
important."

He bends his face and kisses my lips. Instantly
tears drip from my eyes.

"You love him still?"

"I love you too."

He steps back and walks from the room.

I bend over and cover my face in shame.

I grip my towel and walk out of the massage
room. I slip down the hall to my room.

Mona jumps up and runs to me.

I instantly feel better.

I glance over and see Michelle on the bed. She
squeals and runs over.

"Oh my god you guys are both here. I miss you
both."

"You smell like citrus and lavender."

I shrug, "I had a hippie for a mom. What can I
say?"

Mona grabs me my fleecy pj's from the closet,
"Super creepy how he has all kinds of clothes for you already hey?"
She brings me my clothes. She smiles when she hands me a brand new
pack of granny panties, organic unbleached cotton. I know she
brought these.

I shake my head, "Not so much. We have been
married twice before."

Michelle raises an eyebrow, "Damn girl. What the
hell are you doing in here?"

I feel my face attempting to brighten and laugh
but I feel sick.

Mona sighs, "She still loves Wyatt. Look at that
face."

"Tell me you two have drama or something please.
Anything. I feel like everything is always about me."

Michelle jumps on the bed and lies back, "I had
priest sex."

I gasp and pull on my granny panties and fleecy
pj's.

Mona covers her eyes, "No-my-god. Priest sex?
Why?"

She bats her long lashes and grins like the
Cheshire cat, "Well his name is Randolph. He's from Germany. He had
only recently become a priest. I was doing my confession and he got
a huge boner." She holds her fingers out in a very large
measurement. I grimace. Mona looks horrified. "And I told him he
was a sinner. He was wasting the gift God had given him. He got
all-cute and blushed and said he had never had a woman before. I
told him he should try it just once, as a test of his faith. To see
if it was really what he wanted."