The Rise (4 page)

The words that came out of my mouth next sounded nothing like my own. “
Ssssee if you can keep
me
out,
” I said, and I charged.

The force that came from me seemed to scream silently as it swept through the room. I watched white light explode from me, and knew instantly that I was the only one who could see it. It moved as light does, first here, then there, no time in between. I was vaguely aware of my physical arms rising, but my other, more powerful arms were the ones I was watching. They grasped each soul in the room, wrapping mental fingers around them in a vice grip. Seeing them, holding them,
knowing
them. That felt good, too.

“Seize her!” the King shouted, and I saw his own mental fingers, black and rotten, reach out to command his warriors.

Now, I laughed. And it sounded like a serpent’s chuckle even to my own ears. “Ssssleep,” I hissed. Five warriors fell to the ground instantly, sawing logs like lumberjacks. I felt my fangs push out over my bottom lip as a wide grin spread across my face.

I walked slowly toward the King, my body seeming just two steps behind the force that I was now acting through, connected by strings of invisible light tinged with darkness that is so much a part of me. I kept my mental hold on Bethany and the Queen with hardly any effort. Bethany was terrified, and I drank in her fear greedily. The Queen was in a state of shock. Everything that made them who they were was open and apparent to me. I knew their souls better than they did. And I drank that in, as well. I drank it
all
in. And it was glorious.

King William was regaining his feet. He stared at me with wide eyes, his confidence having been stripped away, making the jewels and diamonds that sparkled from him seem ridiculous. His soul was still guarded, but I could see the cracks running through his walls like veins in translucent skin. If I took a deep breath and blew out, they would shatter. The fearsome monster hiding behind them was shivering with anger and fear. This made my grin stretch wider still.

In some distant part of my mind, I knew that I was about to cross a bridge that was burning behind the heels of my shoes with each step I took. It didn’t matter. None of it mattered. Now that I had bitten the apple, I would keep eating. I felt as Eve probably had when she had eaten from the fruit of knowledge in the Garden of Eden. I understood it all now. Knowledge surely is power, but too much of it is also destruction. I wouldn’t realize the latter until it was too late. Much too late.

“
Don’t be sssscared
,” I heard myself say, “
I don’t have to hurt you to find out what you know
.”

But that wasn’t entirely true. I was hurting the King. I could see it in his soul, which took on the shape of a crouched demon, horns and claws and all. It was powerful, fueled by the Lamia blood he had paid for with blood of his own people. Oh, yes, I saw his soul. I saw his plans and desires and motivations, and now
I
was the one who shivered.

I grabbed his dark soul and squeezed, wrenching every drop of everything from it. And with it, came a prediction that was so terrible, so abrupt and ugly, that I almost lost my hold on him. Almost.

The future was shown to me then. Flashes of images that I tried to keep out and could not. I saw King William dead, and next to him, holding the silver sword that had relieved him from his existence, was Alexa, silver vines sprouting silver lilies crossing her chest, running down both of her arms, crawling over her shoulders. And she was dead, too.

“No!” I screamed, and my energy exploded throughout the room once more, flinging all souls within against the walls, which vibrated with the force of it. Bethany’s head struck the Queen’s desk, and her mind slipped out of consciousness right along with the Warrior’s, who had not so much as stirred at the impact. Queen Camillia sat up from her newly acquired position on the floor, her horror and confusion radiating toward me in harsh waves. King William was struggling to regain control, his soul squirming and thrashing in my grasp. I concentrated my energy on him. He was harder to command than I would have expected. But I would find out what I wanted to know. No more secrets.

“Nelly!” the Queen gasped, drawing my attention away from the King momentarily. Her voice sounded far off, small.

I continued to drink at King William’s soul. Equal parts horror and curiosity had taken hold of me. Images and desires and dark dreams flashed behind my eyes, like the carts on a runaway train. I had thought that I knew evil. Nothing could have prepared me for this Search.

“Nelly, we must leave! Now!” Queen Camillia said, and her voice was strained, agonized. “Let me up. Let me go. I can help you!”

After only a moment’s hesitation, I released her. I could trust her. I knew that more than even she did.

She found her feet and made her way over to the door with some effort. I was still focused on the King, whose resistance to me seemed to be growing stronger by the second. A chill with icy boots on its feet walked its way up my spine. The Queen was right. My window of escape was growing smaller by the moment. The image of my sister’s dead body was diverting my thoughts, breaking my concentration slowly, but surely.

I felt myself move to join the Queen who was now bracing herself at the door. She took my hand when I reached her, and I felt it in my soul more than I did on my skin. “We won’t make it out of here alive if you don’t do something,” she said. “You have to put him to sleep like the others. Can you do that?”

I wasn’t sure. I felt more lost than I ever had in my entire life. Drifting in a void of darkness.

“Traitor!” King William roared. I watched as his demon of a soul tried to gain its feet, and I shoved it back down, hard. If the Queen had not been holding onto me, I may have collapsed with the effort.

She opened the door and nodded slightly. I could see that she was afraid of me, and it hurt my heart a little. Through her soul’s eyes I also saw that my own eyes had gone completely black, orbs of onyx that only belonged to one other creature, and I could hardly recognize myself. I realized that this was how Alexa must feel when others looked at her, all the time. That hurt my heart more.

I took a deep breath that seemed to offer no air, and focused again on the King. “Ssssleep,” I whispered, and it was like pushing a giant into a hole. He struggled and screamed silently all the way into the dreamlands. I knew that he would not stay there long.

More words, the last I would speak for some time, sounding nothing like my own, fell from my lips at the same time King William fell flatly down to the floor.

“
Now you know who you sssshould be afraid of
,” I whispered.

And I shut the door to the office behind me.

Then we ran.

Alexa

I stood beside the Mercedes my friend Tommy had lent me, my hands clenched into fists at my sides, watching the numbers on the gas pump roll up. We were still two hours away from our destination – from Nelly. We had pushed on as far as we dared before stopping to fill up the empty tank. As anxious as I was, I might just rip the nozzle out of the tank without letting it fill. Time was ticking and ticking.

Kayden had gotten out with me, even though I had jumped out before the car had come to a complete stop and rushed to get this inconvenient task accomplished. He had probably needed a break from my Mother. I knew I did. I didn’t disagree with anything she was saying, but that didn’t mean I wanted to hear it right now.

I watched the numbers on the pump roll and roll. I could feel Kayden’s eyes studying me.

He was leaning back against the Mercedes, his left arm slightly raised because of the bullet wound he’d received back at Dangeon. A slight sheen covered his handsome face, his arms and neck. He should be resting right now, recovering. He hadn’t uttered a word of complaint.

When he took my hand I sighed at the comfort he gave me, releasing a tense breath I hadn’t realized I had been holding. I did my best to keep a neutral face, to not let all of the emotions I was feeling leak out there. Not that it made any difference. Kayden knew I was afraid, terrified even. Of course he did. He could see it as surely as I could see the tension in his muscles and the perfect lines of his face.

“She’s going to be fine,” Kayden said, his deep voice softened to a rumbled whisper. I pulled my gaze away from the rolling pump numbers and looked up into his golden eyes. I found a bit of peace there, but only a bit.

“She’s probably asleep in her dorm room right now,” he continued, speaking gently. “Safe and sound. We have only been gone a couple days. Nelly’s a smart girl. She wouldn’t get in any trouble. She’s probably just as worried about you right now.”

Kayden pulled me to him with his good hand, and I laid my head against his chest. I listened to his heartbeat. Slow and steady. “I know,” I said, releasing another heavy breath. “So why do I have the awful feeling that something’s happened? That we’re going to be…
too late?
I could barely bring myself to say those two words. They came out sounding the same as they felt: choked.

Kayden said nothing to that. I felt my heart drop, took a step back, my eyes returning to the rolling gas pump numbers. Kayden reached into the pocket of his jeans and produced a tiny leather box. He held it out to me. I stared at it. “I never gave you your birthday present,” he said, and his voice sounded strange… apprehensive, almost.

I looked up at him and found that he could not look back at me. For just a tiny moment, my worries melted away and a small smile touched my lips. My big, strong Kayden looked…nervous. It took me a moment to recognize it. It was an expression I had never seen him wear.

I took the box and pulled back the lid. My breath caught in my throat. Inside, set in black velvet was the most beautiful ring I had ever seen. Rose gold, topped with a sphere of diamonds so brilliant that the stones caught bits of light even on this dark night and threw rose-gold tinted light every which way. I was not a person who wore a lot of jewelry, but even the simplest folks would pause to admire this ring. Now I was the one who could not look up. If I so much as tilted my head, a tear or two might just spring from my eyes. I’m not so fond of crying.

Finally, I choked them back and cleared my throat. My words still came out a little rusty. “Thank you,” I said. “It’s beautiful…like a tiny sun.”

Kayden took the ring from the box and took my hand. I felt my knees loosen. “Well,” he said, his slight Scottish accent seeming to caress the word. I stared into his eyes, the color of a lion’s, and wondered at how such a fearsome creature could purr so sweetly. “I’m partial to silver myself,” he continued, running those lion’s eyes over the silver on my skin. I shivered. “But it has been in my family for over two hundred years. My father gave it to my mother, my grandfather to my grandmother.”

He slipped the ring on the third finger of my left hand. It fit so perfectly on my finger, and somehow, even amidst all the jagged and discolored scars that my hand had picked up over the years, it managed to look…
right. Just
right. I choked back more tears. I have no idea why I felt like crying.

My monster, quiet for once in what seemed like an eternally long time, either had nothing to say, or was graciously allowing me this moment. Either way, I was grateful.

I stared down at my hand. Took a deep breath, opened my mouth. I had no idea what was going to come out. “I-I…
belong
to you,” I whispered, and the words were a slow thought, processed as they were spoken. They held no question.

Kayden’s hand came up and tilted my chin back. I stared at my lion; his golden skin, his carved muscles, the strong line of his jaw, and those eyes. A tear escaped my own. It rolled down my cheek, warm and wet.