Chapter One
It was
finally time. Molly’s mom had been held
captive for over two months while we tried to pry information from her. Unfortunately, Elaine wasn’t the fount of
knowledge we had hoped she’d be. I
looked over to where she sat, all prim and proper as though her world wasn’t about
to be completely upended. The lack of
remorse in her eyes sickened me. No
matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t understand how Elaine could so
dispassionately slay Seers, betray her daughter, and feel nothing akin to
regret. Something in her had broken at
some point. Maybe Molly had been right,
maybe it had been when she lost her husband.
No matter what she’d gone through, I couldn’t excuse what she’d
done. Not to Molly, not to the Seers,
and not to me.
“Izzy,
the time is upon us.” Aberto’s solemn
voice startled me out of my reverie.
“Alright,
I’m ready.” I stood and walked to the center
of the platform, the same one used during my protection mark ceremony only
months before. I rooted myself in place,
gathering my courage as I thought of the ceremony that was about to take place. Elaine would be stripped of her powers for
the rest of her long life, something that wasn’t to be done lightly.
“I call the Council
to order.” My voice echoed through the
massive group. Aberto nodded his head
almost imperceptibly, encouraging me to continue. “We are gathered to strip the Betrayer of her
Gifts. She has forsaken all that our
people hold to be true. Elaine has turned
her back against her fellow Seers and walked the path of darkness. For this, she shall be stripped of her powers
and be banished from the Order forever. There
will be no shelter from Seer nor Guardian found. From this day forward she
shall be nothing more than a memory in our collective.”
Aberto
turned toward Elaine, leveling her with his gaze. “Do you wish to say anything before we begin?”
“You
think you know what is coming. You think
you know where the threat lies. Everyone
here is going to die.” Elaine’s maniacal
laughter sent chills rushing down my spine.
Her words only reinforced the fears that had been building since we’d
captured her months ago. “Oh, and Izzy,
you can’t hide forever.” As I looked
into Elaine’s eyes, I finally understood.
No sanity remained there. Whoever
she’d once been was there no more.
Elaine
smiled at me, ready to incite more fear at any moment. In a split second, Aberto rushed toward her,
wrapping his hand around her mouth violently to cut off her unsaid words. Violently pulling her head back he whispered
in her ear, “We will hear no more, Betrayer.”
He leveled her with his stony gaze.
I had only been on the receiving end of that look a few times. It made my knees shake just thinking about
it. For a second, I almost felt sorry
for Elaine. Aberto could be truly
frightening when he wanted to be.
“Let us
begin.” Aberto tossed Elaine’s head
roughly to the side and moved to retrieve his tattoo implements. He pulled out a stylus and moved towards her
body. Her face was an immovable mask as
he approached her. Not a trace of
remorse shone behind her eyes. He placed the stylus against her skin and made
the first mark.
Elaine’s
scream tore through the crowd, sending a shockwave that reverberated against
everything in its path. For a moment, I
wondered if we were doing the right thing.
Surely there had to be some other way to keep her from using her
powers. Just as the thought danced
across my mind, I remembered Ren and everyone else that had perished because of
this woman’s selfishly callous behavior.
She deserved a far worse fate than the one that had been decided
upon. If it were up to Molly, she would
already be dead.
I
scanned the crowd looking for Molly.
Things had been in such upheaval since this all began that I’d hardly
had any time to spend with her. I wanted
more than anything to be by her side right now.
But, I had a place. I was the
leader of the Council now and that meant I was not at the liberty to follow my
own whims any longer, a lesson I’d learned the hard way only weeks before. My life no longer belonged to me. Molly sent a sad smile in my direction and
turned her attention back to where her mother sat, still screaming bloody
murder. Someone should shove a sock down
the woman’s throat. I was getting sick
of hearing her yelps.
I
watched Aberto as he moved around her marking her so that she would be unable
to use her powers. He muttered words
both foreign and familiar as he carved into her skin. These marks were not the beautiful ones he
had bestowed upon my body. They were
crude lines that gouged into her skin so deeply there was no doubting their
permanence. He looked up to catch my
eyes momentarily before turning back to his work.
The
look in his eyes in that moment spoke volumes.
Ever since he’d life breathed me, or whatever the hell he’d done, we
shared a weird connection. I was always
cognizant of his presence and whenever we were near one another, I found myself
drawn closer to him. I rationalized that
it was just the part of his spirit living within me that called to him. Yep, that was it. His soul inside of me longed to be back with
its other half. That was my story, and I
was sticking to it.
“NOOOOOOOOO!” Elaine’s scream snapped me back to the
present, just as another shockwave ripped through the gathered Council members,
Seers and Guardians. An audible snap
sounded that left no doubt about what had just happened. Elaine’s powers were gone. “Just kill me.” She whimpered.
I saw
Molly start toward the stage. She’d been
trying to kill her mom ever since Ian had brought her back from the old factory. Before she even made it a step from her seat,
Ian pulled her back and whispered something in her ear. She sat rigid in her seat clenching and
unclenching her fists. I drew her
attention and shook my head slightly. I
wouldn’t have her doing something that she would regret the rest of her
life. No matter how mad she was at the
woman, she was still her mother.
“Elaine,
you will find no refuge from our kind from this day forward. You will live the rest of your very long life
alone in the world of humanity. Perhaps,
in this new life you will find some way to atone for your betrayal.” Aberto leaned close to her ear and whispered
the rest. “May your judgment be swift
and merciless. May the rest of your days
upon this earth be a torment, for you deserve no less.”
With
that, Aberto poofed. I still didn’t
really know how he did it. One second he
was there, then the next, gone. He would
make an excellent magician. Perhaps we
could raise money for the Council that way.
“The Amazing Aberto,” it could work.
It would be an excellent Vegas show.
I shook myself from my thoughts and looked back at the crowd. Time to be the leader.
“The
Division will remove Elaine from the grounds.
They will place her in a suitable home, far from here. No one shall seek her out, none shall provide
her with comfort. If anyone is found
disobeying this directive, they will also be stripped of their abilities. We have been called to a higher purpose. We are meant to provide stability in a world
that is lost to chaos. While it may seem
more appealing to use our gifts in a way that will bring us fame or fortune,
that is not what we were made to do. Our
lives are meant to be lives of service and sacrifice. If you feel you are not up to fulfilling this
task, I am sure the Old One can return and strip you of your powers as
well. A darkness is coming people, and
we must pull ourselves together and fight.
There will be no refuge for traitors within this Council.” I eyed everyone in the crowd steadily, I
wanted to see if there was a weak link that I’d missed. I was truly tired of being blindsided.
The
gathered crowd stared back at me. Their
expressions were part horror, part pride.
Two months ago I would have balked at the responsibility that now rested
upon my shoulders. Now, I would be
damned if I let anyone else be hurt. I’d
grown tired of losing everyone I held dear; of watching people die and being
powerless to stop it. Enough was enough,
and I was determined to put an end to whatever darkness was coming. No matter what the cost may be.
“It is
finished, you are free to go.” I watched
as they moved back toward the house.
Only the four Council members remained.
The last four people I wanted anywhere near me at the moment.
I’d
been doing my durndest to hide the changes that were happening within me. It had started with my eyes. Right after Aberto had breathed part of his
soul into me, my eyes became this churning miasma of blue and hazel. They never quite settled on one color or
another. Luckily, only the people I
truly trusted had seen them before I started to wear contacts. It wasn’t exactly a natural thing I was
experiencing. In fact, I was the first
person that had ever been saved by an Old One.
No one really knew what was going to happen to me. Each day, things changed a little bit more,
and never at a time that would be convenient.
Like yesterday, I accidentally eavesdropped on Ian as he mentally
undressed Molly. Not something I wanted
to ever see again, that’s for sure.
“Milady,
we have some questions if you are at the leisure to answer them.” One of the Council members, I think her name
was Damali. Her skin was a beautifully
dark tan denoting her Arabic descent.
She was utterly stunning. I still
wasn’t used to these people answering to me.
After all, they had been around far longer than I had, and they probably
expected to ascend to Council Leader when Isadora passed on.
“I have
nothing else going on, would ya’ll like to go to the office and discuss your
questions? I think it might be more
comfortable.” As the words left my
mouth, I realized I’d just pulled an Isadora.
I had posed a question that really left no room for argument. They would come, of that I was sure.
“That
would be lovely.” Damali’s Guardian
bellowed. I was convinced that the man
was physically incapable of speaking at a normal decibel. Every word out of his mouth threatened to
burst my ear drums. I wondered if anyone
had ever told him about his voice modulation problem.
“If you
would follow me.” Kennan stepped forward
pulling me from my mental inquisition in the process.
As we
moved toward the office I thought about my Guardian, the man I loved. Things had been, in a word, tense between
us. I hated it. There was a rift between us ever since I
started to change. It wasn’t exactly
like I could fix this. I didn’t ask for
Aberto to breathe his life force into me and save me. In reality, the changes just made it
abundantly clear that our old life could no longer exist. It was something I’d accepted months
ago. He had not.
We
moved into the office and sat down to discuss whatever questions the Council
had. I wasn’t sure I wanted to be that
close to them. Hiding my new talents,
and freakish physical changes, was not exactly easy.
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