In anger and disbelief, I confronted her. "NO! You're lying! It is you! You killed your own daughter! You sacrificed her to seal your pact with the Daemon!" I yelled at her. She dropped her head and I nodded at the acknowledgement of her guilt. "You're right. I killed my own daughter," she admitted despondently. I straighten my shoulders feeling justified in my anger. She was trying to mess with me to keep me from my goals. Well, she would have to try harder than that. By the end of the night, I was going to have my children back. "But not for the reason you think," she interrupted my thoughts. "And you have no reason to trust me, but I sacrificed her in hopes that I could save her before she finalized the pact with the Daemon. What I didn't know was that in doing so I, myself finished it. Because I took the last piece of good that was in her and sealed it in a stone known as the Black Star Sapphire." She pulled a necklace from under her dress and showed me a stone that was
"You had everything inside you to make it here. And look you did," she finished with glee.Her reasoning's were horrifyingly simple, terrifyingly easy. She used me plain and true, and I had made it so easy for her to manipulate me."If you hadn't meant for me to save the world, then why did you give me this stone that would save me and keep me safe?" I asked angrily throwing the shards from the stone at her feet.She bent over slowly and picked them up petting them tenderly as if they were the sweetest flower, she had ever seen. She looked down at them with a strange curiosity that held a tinge of regret in her eyes."I gave it to you so that you could bring it back here. I knew Mother would never give me this stone and it was the last piece I needed to complete the spell. A pure soul for sacrifice," she said softly. Then fury boiled up as she turned it on me. "But you! You, selfish bitch! You couldn't help yourself. You had to use it on every bleeding soul that you came across, didn'
Avamarie gradually stood up and wiped the blood off her mouth as she chuckled weakly. "You're right, Mother. You did teach me to duel, and I never did defeat you," she said softly. I watched her closely my gut telling me she was up to something. My gaze flew between the two women trying to figure out what was happening. Avamarie couldn't be giving up that easily. Jenevive was indeed enormously powerful, but it was becoming obvious that Avamarie was truly quite powerful in her own right. Movement behind Jenevive caught my eye. A large boulder that had come out of the ground began to quiver then slowly float up. I glanced over at Avamarie trying to see how she was doing it. One finger was lifting, but the hand was pressed so tightly to her side that from where Jenevive stood she wouldn't be able to see. "Look out!" I screamed. Jenevive spun around just in time to be plowed over by this boulder. She flew across the clearing until she landed brutally on the ground, bouncing once
I laid the ruby on the ground and brought the solid rock down on it as hard as I could. The ruby shattered instantly and the shockwave from the power being released hurled me back to the ground again. A bolt of light shot to the sky and little lights sped out of it so fast that it looked like one light if you weren't as close to it as I was. Souls. I thought. Souls were being freed. They streamed at light speed towards the sky and as soon as they touched the storm they shot off in all directions. So many souls that the sky began to light up like it was noon instead of almost midnight. The roar of the souls leaving their prison was so loud you could hear it for miles. A loud scream from the circle snapped me out of the hypnotic state that the light show had put me in. She was beating against the field still, but this time it wasn't it anger it was in fear. "Let me out! Let me out! She's gonna kill me! Help! Help!" she screamed frantically. I jumped up to go help her, but Jenevive
The sunlight shined through the gossamer curtains and hit my face. I awoke gently, blinking several times as my eyes tried to adjust to the light. As the window became clearer and clearer, I couldn't place it. I sat up trying to remember where I was. "Vicki?" said a deep voice from behind me. I turned and behind me were the sleep hazed eyes of my husband. Everything hit me at once and I began to shake. He wrapped me in his arms as he had done every morning since our return. We got back to that tiny shore side town to find Craig, Erin and Marcus had been waiting for us at the edge of the pier. They had greeted us like heroes, and I hadn't been able to stop holding Marcus or checking him over to make sure he was okay. Other than the rope burns he seemed physically okay. There was a haunting look in his eyes, but he refused to talk about what had happened while he had been an Eater. I had been forced to let it go after a while, but not before I made him promise to talk to me when
It started out slowly, quietly as epidemics usually do. But this was no epidemic. This was no virus that the medical community could study or solved. This was something else. Something that could only be dreamt up in the darkest recesses of the mind. It was a curse. A curse set upon us by a madwoman bent on either ruling the world or destroying it. I know what you are thinking, curses aren't real. They are a silly made up superstition given to us to help explain things that aren't rational. Well, tell that to those who have succumbed to it, because I'm not sure they know just yet. I want you to tell that to all those who are weeping in grief because this thing took their family from them. But I'm getting ahead of myself, let me take you back to when it all started-I slammed my head against the wheel as hard as I could, realizing I had gone through this parking lot for the fifth time. "Damn it, how the hell do I get lost in my own city?" I cried to the bobblehead dog on the dash.
I know you are wondering at this point when it'll start moving along and when I will start to finally explain how things got so bad. Just bear with me it'll happen sooner than you think. I hated waiting rooms at the doctor's office. They were always so cheerful and brightly lit that you ended up wanting to tear a wall down by the time the nurse called you back. Watching a cough rack my son's tiny body, did not make this time any better. I pulled his head on my lap and began running my fingers over the little brown curls as I watched the TV. The sound was down but someone had turned the captions on, so I was able to keep up with the story even though it lagged a bit. The news program was about the virus epidemic that was sweeping the nation. According to the reporter, this contagious virus was dropping people like flies all around the world. The hospitals were overflowing with the sick and doctors didn't know what to make of it. There had even been several reports of extreme cases wh
My heart began to race and the sense of dread that I had been fighting swamped me. I threw open the door to my pickup and jumped in, barely even throwing my seatbelt on before I threw it into gear and floored it. The sounds of angry horns once again accompanied me as I sped down the street. This time, I didn't stop until I reached Marcus' school. I grabbed Johnathan out and raced into the school, almost running over a few ladies from the office in the process."Mrs. Andrews what are you doing here?" the teacher asked in shock as I stormed into the classroom. I ignored her as I searched for and finally spotted Marcus' dark brown hair. His confused eyes connected with my panicked ones. "Marcus, come with me we need to get home," I said ignoring the teacher. "What's going on, Mom?" he said worriedly responding to the urgency in my voice. I didn't answer as I grabbed his stuff and shuffled him out the door still ignoring the protest of the other adults. "What's going on, Mom?" Marcus