Elemental Dawn (Paranormal Public) Page 17

  “If only bruises came in neon,” Lisabelle said. “Let’s go, on your feet.”

  Lisabelle and I got on either side of Sip and hauled her up. “You look terrible,” said Lisabelle, eyeing our friend.

  “Right back atcha,” said Sip, nodding her head at Lisabelle’s tattered dress and messy hair.

  “Lisabelle?” Lough yelled, racing over. “Are you okay?” He looked terrible. There was a nasty gash starting halfway up his cheek and disappearing into his hairline, his nose was bleeding, and his shirt was ripped to the waist.

  “I’m fine,” said Lisabelle, looking at him in wonder. “Your family?”

  “Fine,” he muttered. “I mean, I think they’re fine.” He wiped awkwardly at his nose. “What now?”

  “Not everyone is fine, though,” I said, looking around. Right next to us was the body of Poss, the blond vampire Dirr had fought just a few hours earlier. Blood dripped from a corner of his mouth and his eyes were wide and unseeing. I quickly looked away.

  “Where did the explosion come from?” I asked. My voice was shaking as I tried to force myself to concentrate.

  Lough had come from toward the center of the hall, where the throne had stood just a few minutes before. Now I saw nothing but a massive black and charred hole.

  “No,” I cried, darting forward. “It can’t be!”

  Sip and Lisabelle were close behind. Lough yelled something, but I didn’t want to listen. I was too worried about Lanca, because I could see Vital and a few other vampires huddled around something on the floor. More vampires ringed them, but all the other paranormals in the hall stayed a respectful distance away.

  We had a long way to go. There were paranormals everywhere, many knocked out and injured, others trying to help, everyone still caught in the chaos and confusion.

  “What happened?” Lisabelle coughed and covered her face with her sleeve to block out the smoke that was curling up from the floor. We moved to stand with Kair and the rest of Lough’s and Sip’s families. Sip’s brother had his arm around Kair, a sweet gesture as she cried into his dirty jacket. I didn’t stop with them, though. Instead I strode forward, ignoring the dirty looks from vampires telling me to back off.

  My eyes were fixed on the small group of vampires in the center and Vital’s curved back. My stomach turned. I couldn’t see what he was leaning over, but my heart knew.

  “No,” I whispered, forcing my feet forward as my soul wept. “No.”

  “If you say it a few more times, that will surely make it true,” came a hoarse voice from overhead. My veins turned to ice. Not now, I thought desperately. Of all the times, not now. I forced myself to look away from the dead body in front of Vital, since there was no point in looking at it anyway. It was so charred that all I could see was the black flowing hair that had ringed a perfect and pale face, a face that until a few seconds ago had been alive with the light of anticipation at becoming a queen to her people, before being unceremoniously extinguished by the Queen of Nocturn.

  I looked up into the dead eyes of Malle and saw hatred replace the ice. It was a welcome darkness from the penetrating cold. Hate I could use.

  She glided down, pillowed on a black cloud. The hall had gone silent. Even the weeping had stopped. Her eyes were not on me, but on the dead vampire.

  “Initially, pain makes you scream and weep and cry. Your bones vibrate with your screams. That’s all well and good.” Her voice was soft, like lace and silk. She was like the professor at the head of a class. She held her hands linked lightly at her back as she paced back and forth. Her face was thoughtful, pensive, as if she contemplated the best growing season for tomatoes and not the lives of millions.

  “This means your feelings and emotions are intact. But I want you past that point. I want to push you so hard that you lose all feeling and go numb, so that you can’t think or see or breathe, so that your insides are burning alive and the only thing you can do is fall down immobile, in a stunned pain.” Now her eyes were on me.

  “I do not consider myself a great architect of pain, that is the great thing about pain. I just want it to happen. I do not need it to be fancy or inventive. I just want you to suffer and die. Don’t get me wrong, the longer it lasts the better, but my standards are not high.”

  She was wandering around the circle now; all eyes, except for Vital’s, were fixed on her. Lanca’s protector was still working feverishly on her charred corpse, but I had a feeling that at the moment when he finally accepted that she was dead, all hell would break lose.

  I stared at Malle.

  “All I want today is Charlotte dead,” said President Malle. “You have seen what we can do to you, the havoc we can wreak.” At this point she swept one ugly hand toward the vampires, where their newly crowned Rapier queen lay dead, her ruined body clutched in the hands of her faithful bodyguard, who had not been able to protect her. Taking the time to sweep her baleful eyes around the vast hall, she finally continued: “If Charlotte Rollins is not dead by the end of the day, this is what will happen to the rest of you.”

  The only movement in the hall was the beat of the pixies’ wings. Many of them had taken flight already, whether for their own safety or to be ready to attack I was no longer sure.

  “Who gives you the right?” a voice boomed. I looked to see who it was, and so did everyone else. To my surprise, it was one of the senior fallen angels I had seen talking to Keller. Saferous was a white haired man, tall, thin and regal, his eyes so bright they were almost gold.

  “I do not need the right, Saferous,” Malle shot back. “I have the demons’ permission. We are united as Nocturns. You made the mistake of letting us in here, now you will suffer the consequences.”

  “We made no mistake,” said Saferous. His eyes blazed. “We tried to keep accord among the paranormals, even including the darkness mages, whom we have always known were abominations.”

  Next to me, Lisabelle stirred slightly, but her cold eyes held.

  “Is Lisabelle mad?” I whispered to Lough, trying to gauge whether or not I was about to have to jump in. Lisabelle would be the one to challenge the most powerful paranormals in the world for a minor insult; that was just like her.

  “Who can tell?” Lough asked, shaking his head. “She has only one expression, and no emotions at all.”

  “Of course I have emotions,” Lisabelle said, her eyes still on Malle. I started, surprised she could hear us. “And what you just said is bullshit . . . in any emotion . . .all four of them.”

  I grinned and shook my head.

  “There are only four emotions?” Sip whispered.

  Lisabelle used her fingers to count. One, two, three . . . “Well,” she said thoughtfully, toying with raising a fourth finger. “Is lust an emotion?”

  Sip rolled her eyes. “This is hardly the time for that discussion.”

  “We will not kill an innocent paranormal girl, no matter how much easier our lives would be without her,” said Saferous, holding his head high.

  At first I didn’t realize what he had said. Only Sip’s viselike grip on my arm alerted to me to pay closer attention to his words. After a few moments, they sank in.

  “I’m a problem?” I squeaked, clearing my voice. I shook Sip off and stepped forward, into the light, into the clearing, and into the fight. If I had ever had a chance of avoiding becoming the apex of this storm, I had just discarded it without so much as a thought. To honor the elementals was to stand up. To protect my friends was to come forward. I would not let Malle kill one more of them. I could not look at Lanca.

  Saferous’ eyes widened in surprise. “You must have known, girl, the great trouble we have gone to in order to keep you safe?” His voice was steady, almost irritated.

  Malle cackled. “She had no idea of the defenses that were thrown up around her,” she sneered, “which she blithely disregarded in order to do silly things like see that whelp of a sibling of hers.”

  “Don’t you talk about him like that!” I yelled, fists clenched at my
sides. Instantly I knew it had been a mistake. Malle’s smile grew.

  “I will talk about him as I wish. In fact, I might even pay him a visit soon. He will need to be consoled after the death of his dear, sweet sister.” The last bit came out as a hiss of pleasure as she mentioned my death.

  The pixies were overhead, salivating. Camilla was actually smiling; finally she would have her chance. Even if the other paranormals had not been looking at me as if I were an already dead toy, I didn’t feel that I had a friend in the room except the ones standing nearby.

  “I am asking a simple favor. It is something I know most of you have thought of in your own hearts and have wanted to find the courage and the opportunity to do yourselves. I am merely telling you that it is alright. Everything will be easier once the elemental is dead and gone. Just remember, it is because of her that all of this is happening in the first place. Vampires, do remember, your precious king and after him your precious queen would still be alive if not for her. Pixies, well, you have always mistrusted her, even the youngest of you. Fallen angels know what she is. A minx and a manipulator. It is disgusting that she dares to take away one of your best and brightest from his future as the head of the angels. Of course, for Airlee there is no excuse. I have tried to get your kinds to see reason for years and you have remained adamant in your refusal to listen. No matter. I will not continue to waste my time. But let me just say, if you do this for me I will be forever in your debt. I will have the utmost respect for you, as never before. It would be an honor to call you friends. Kill. The. Elemental.”

  “Kill them all!” Faci cried, standing up next to his father, who sat impassive with the other vampires. “Kill Charlotte Rollins.”

  I did not want to see what the paranormals did. There was no movement in the room, even the air was afraid.

  I called to my power. It came easily, ready for the fight, flowing through my body and out of my ring. My eyes fixed on my target. The blast came out in streams of blue and white, flecked with red.

  It slammed toward Malle with the most force I had ever used. I braced for impact, knowing I would have to keep shoving magic at her. Behind me I could hear Sip or Lisabelle cry out. I ignored them.

  For Lanca, I thought, who is gone and just wanted to take care of her family. For everyone else hurt today and for everyone else who is afraid. Especially for my kindred who were murdered. I will not die like you.

  Malle was surprised by my attack, but the moment of surprise was not enough. My magic slammed into a solid wall of invisible glass and bounced back at me. It was not something I had trained for. With a cry I threw myself sideways, narrowly avoiding dying by my own magic.

  Luckily, my ring knew more than I did. With the ancient centuries of wisdom it sucked my magic back into itself, redoubling the power. I felt my hand start to throb as my body moved and stretched to take in the old power even as it was newly formed.

  I tried to scramble to my feet as Malle came on, her eyes intent on the kill.

  My heart beat wildly, but I wasn’t fast enough.

  I had only ever seen darkness magic from Lisabelle, and hers was a black river of power.

  Malle’s was too dark to be black. In it there was a lacing of heavy scarlet, like the velvet drapes that surrounded us, thick and nearly solid. I had never seen anything like it as it hurtled toward me, threatening to envelop me as surely as a grave.

  Sip and Lisabelle, behind me, were not fast enough to save me. I wasn’t sure that Lisabelle could have helped in any case, since darkness called to darkness.

  But Lough came to my rescue as only a dream giver could. He slid down next to me, one inelegant motion that was basically falling in a heap at my knees, weaving a beautiful dream as he landed.

  I stared in wonder as Malle’s magic, now a thick hammer crashing down toward my head, slammed into a shield as colorful as a rainbow, as strong as granite, and as clear as water.

  Lough was tottering to his knees, holding his hand, ring first, in front of us. Sweat had already broken out on his brow as the evil hammer slammed down again and again. Every time it hit, his rainbow lost a color and the dream lost hope. The hammer was relentless and I looked helplessly on as Malle came forward, her magic only seeming to grow in strength as Lough’s faded, darkness eating goodness.

  I didn’t know what else to do, so I grabbed Lough’s free hand. My touch invigorated his tired eyes and his back went from slumped to razor straight. Eyes that had stopped seeing cleared and focused in front of us, and his dream came back to life in a brilliant array of power.

  Dream givers were not useless after all.

  Above our heads the hammer, now as big as a dragon’s head, raised high, soaring into the air with the black, starless night behind it. For the briefest second everything was still and my breath caught. In a terrible way it was beautiful.

  Then the hammer came down with enough force to split the world.

  Lough’s dream broke and shattered into a million pieces, like Lanca’s hope for the future, like my mom’s wish to spend her life with her children, like Lambros trying to protect her students, like the elementals’ wish to live.

  Dreams and dear ones do not protect you from the inexorable death that the demons bring, and I was next.

  Lough gave a cry and collapsed to the ground.

  I scrambled to my feet, ready to put the last of my strength into a last stand, but before I could rejoin the fight the hall broke into chaos around me. Pixies swooped down, darkness mages tossed back their hoods and cloaks and jackets and attacked, fallen angels shone and took flight, every paranormal of Airlee started to fight. Paranormals scattered in every direction. I gasped as Malle’s hammer disappeared in the chaos, but before I could do anything else rough hands grabbed me around the shoulders and yanked me backward.

  Without another thought we ran.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  There was so much magic flying around us that it was hard to see, let alone leave the circular hall safely.

  I stumbled and nearly fell again. Lough was close behind me, so I reached around the strong body pulling me away and grabbed his sleeve. He looked dazed and his eyes were watering, probably from the sudden shattering of his dream.

  I should have fought the hands dragging me away: because Malle was my fight, and because I was being dragged into danger and certainly as I was being dragged away from it. I owed Malle death, but I just didn’t have the strength. Instead of fighting to get free, I held onto Lough as tightly as I could, feeling my fingers dig into the fabric of his sleeve. I hoped there would be more fight in me tomorrow than there was now. At the moment I was just tired and afraid.

  We kept moving down. Locke was a massive mountain that I had not even begun to explore, and except for the training hall and Keller’s and my strange prison experience the day before - was it really only the day before? - I had no image of what might lie below us. I had assumed it was private vampire quarters that I would never visit, but as we kept going down I realized that private vampire quarters was exactly where we were headed.

  The air got colder and less sticky, the smells changed. There was a tangy sweetness, almost like blood and the smell of metal. I sniffed and then coughed.

  “We’re almost there,” came a familiar male voice. Heat rushed through my body, awakening tired limbs and lighting a fire in my heart. Relief broke open like a blossom inside my mind and released a tension I had not realized I held. Keller had come back to me.

  “Okay,” Lough wheezed. “I would say this sucks, except that I just faced the demon queen.” I had not heard the term applied to Malle before, but I had a feeling this would not be the last time anyone used it in that way.

  I heard a heavy door open, the scraping of metal. I felt like I was going through a portal into safety, even if I had yet to open my eyes. I let myself sag, my back scraping against a rough rock wall. I did not care.

  Keller let me fall, gently, until I was curled up with my chin between my knees. Then his hands
let go, carefully, as he always held me.

  I heard several pairs of footsteps shuffle past me into a space that echoed like a cavern. The sound was muffled, because my face was buried, and then it faded away. Wanting to block out the world, I wrapped my arms around my head to cover my ears. I tried desperately not to think.

  Remembering was the enemy of sanity.

  I heard the creaking of hinges, the scrape of metal on rock, and the slamming of something heavy and solid. It was quieter after the door closed. My mind refused to think about what had happened to all the other paranormals in the hall. I had left them to be attacked by darkness. What had Malle called them? Ah, Nocturns.

  I don’t know how long I stayed in my position on the floor, but eventually I felt a hand on my shoulder. By some sixth sense I knew it was Lisabelle. Of course she was there. She and Sip would not have allowed us to be separated.

  “Charlotte? You should eat something.” Her voice was as soft as I had ever heard it, just like the times when Sip had been hurt and unconscious and Lisabelle did not want Sip to know how much she cared about the little werewolf. It made me smile to know that she cared about me almost as much.

  “Okay,” I breathed. But the moment I moved, the moment I acknowledged I was alive, memories flooded me of the powers of darkness slamming overhead and Malle’s threat to kill me.

  “Don’t worry,” said Lough as I opened my eyes. “We won’t kill you.”

  It was a feeble joke, but it broke the tension.

  “Where are we?” I asked, looking around, bleary-eyed. The cavern was black with spots of light unevenly spaced. The specs of light were lamps, but they didn’t do much to push away the darkness. I also saw black mounds in neat little rows, so many they disappeared into the distance.

  “Crypt,” said Lough cheerfully, noticing where my eyes went. “Vampires have crypts. We thought it was a safe place to take refuge in.” He waved his hand around to encompass the thirty or forty paranormals gathered there, among whom I saw many friendly faces. Sip and Lisabelle were there, of course. Keller was there, talking quietly to Mrs. Quest and Mr. Quest and Lough’s parents. Dobrov and Rake were also there. I looked for Vital, but he had not made it. There were several other vampires, but Rake was the only one who looked familiar.