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Author's Note: Ch.24 at last...sorry it took a few days, was trying to figure out how to word this chapter correctly. I'm glad I did actually, I found something to add to it that was originally not going to be there. There's one more chapter to go after this one so I thank everyone who has stuck with it this long :) I'd like to thank djkauf and Indy for the magical editing and everyone for enjoying this universe :)

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TWENTY FOUR:

“Get your hands off me, you bastard!”

There was a lot of laughing. Though I couldn’t see her in the dark, I was guessing Mary wasn’t taking too kindly to being dragged. I wasn’t too thrilled about it either, but there was nothing I could do. Sure, I could struggle and put up a fight but it wouldn’t solve anything. These guys were bigger than me and stronger than me. The vice grip they had on my arms was enough to tell me that. Struggle all I want, there was no way I was getting away from them. No, I had to play this smart. There would be a time to escape but I was pretty certain this wasn’t it. We were outnumbered, outmatched and we still had no idea what these bastards were up too. The only reasonable thing to do was to watch and wait.

I’m not sure how long they dragged us, but eventually I saw some light. I’m not sure how these guys navigated the tunnels in the dark but their night vision was clearly better than mine. It made me wonder if perhaps there was a Were or two amongst them. Or maybe they were just wearing those goggles. Whatever the reason they were moving a lot better than I was. I even tried that trick---you know closing your eyes and reopening them. I was hoping it would help me adjust to the dark better but it didn’t.Not that it mattered much because in less than two minutes we reached the light at the end of the tunnel.

The darkness bled away and the light was so bright that I ended up closing my eyes again. When I reopened them, I felt like I was in a different world. Gone were the stone walls and harsh concrete floors. In their place was a modern looking hall, the walls made of concrete, the floor linoleum. I turned my head to look back down the dark tunnel, wondering how two such places could be connected. I know Breem said the tunnels were old; I just never thought that they were that old. It was like walking from the past into the present in a blink of an eye.

“Push the shelf back,” snapped one of our hooded captors.

One of the robed bastards holding Mary let her go and walked over to a metal shelving unit. It looked pretty heavy but the guy was definitely not some lightweight. He gave the shelf a quick shove and slowly started pushing it back in place. All eyes in the room were on him. I guess I wasn’t the least bit surprised when Mary made her move. It was fast but absolutely reckless. She lashed out on the guy still holding her, slamming the palm of her hand into his face. The blow knocked him back. One of the two goons holding me rushed her and she kicked him in the balls, he dropped like a ton of bricks. My other captor kept an iron grip on me. The large guy pushing the shelf finished and engaged her. As soon as Mary started hitting him, I knew her escape attempt had failed. She was landing blow after blow to his chest but nothing seemed to work.

That’s when I heard the click of a gun. It came from behind us. I snapped my head toward a doorway in the far corner, a gun with a pistol was standing there.

“That’s enough of that,” snapped a voice as the gunman walked into the room.

I recognized him immediately---Talbot.

The big guy Mary was trying to conquer swept her off her feet with a single blow.

Mary cursed as the goon roughly pulled her to her feet. Talbot stood in the doorway, training the gun on both of us. I’m not sure which one he thought was more dangerous. We were witches after all, even if neither one of us was trained all that well. Sure Mary could do a lot of cool things but in a situation like this these guys had all the advantage. I think she knew that that’s why she relied on her self-defense training. Sure, it was good before back at the house but only because she caught those guys by surprise; but here it was a different story. They had all the advantages here. I think Mary was finally figuring that out now.

“I underestimated you girls,” said Talbot, keeping his gun trained on only Mary now. “A couple of little witches like you were supposed to be easy pickings. Who would have thought?”

Mary spit in his direction. “Give me a chance and I’ll make you regret those words.”

Talbot chuckled. “You’re an insignificant bystander in all of this Miss Crawford, sit there and look pretty and you might get out of this alive.”

For a moment, it was like you could hear a pin drop. I took a slight breath, wondering what Mary would do next. It wasn’t a wise thing to do---telling her to shut up but then again she had to be smart enough to know that now wasn’t the time to do something stupid. Thankfully, Mary got smart and kept her mouth shut, but I could see it eating away at her. I’m sure there was going to be one of those days where Mary said something she shouldn’t, but today wasn’t that day. Talbot smirked at her, all his arrogance shined through that simple smile.

“Now would you gentlemen be so kind to take our guests upstairs?” he said, still keeping the gun trained on Mary.

There was no time wasted.

The goons got tighter holds on both of us and as a group; Talbot led us out of the little room. There was another small hall, which ended with a flight of stairs. The stairwell was narrow, a nice place to try to escape again but Mary did nothing. She had either learned her lesson or was plotting something else. I personally hoped she’d leave well enough alone. Sure, we were in a bad situation at the moment but her futile attempts to escape were more dangerous. I was sure someone out there was starting to put the pieces together and it was only a matter of time before they came for us. I just hoped that the eventual rescue came before these guys did whatever they wanted to do.

We went up the narrow staircase, Talbot took up the rear. At the top of the stairs there was another goon, this one had a machine gun. He kept it on us the whole time. When we reached the top, my captor gave me a little shove. I spilled out into the main room of the club. It seemed so different now that it was empty. Well mostly empty anyway. There had to be about twenty or so of these robed cultists. They were standing in a circle in the middle of the large, empty room. I looked around quickly. All the tables and chairs were stacked against the walls and the lights were severely dimmed. I scanned the robed faces, hoping to see Maggie. She wasn’t there instead I caught her off to the side and she wasn’t alone. I recognized several of the faces there---club employees, some townsfolk but mainly kids from my school. Will was among them. Like Maggie before, he too had that glazed over look in his eyes; he was also wearing a robe. Unlike the cultists though, Maggie and her group were on their knees, their hoods pulled back. They had two guards, both of whom had guns.

The message was clear: try to do anything and they were all dead.

I cursed. How could Sophie do something like this?

I continued to scan the faces, looking for one in particular but she was nowhere to be found. Where the hell was Sophie? I cast my gaze on the cultists trying to see if she was among them but she wasn’t. It was as if she disappeared or they were keeping her somewhere else. It was clear that whatever they wanted her for was done, but she still had to be around. I knew enough about magic to know that a spell like hers could only work if she was in close proximity to the intended target. Sure, there were ways to extend the range of a spell but not one of this magnitude. She had to be close to keep all those people enthralled. I couldn’t help but wonder though if she was doing it willingly now or was she being forced?

I stopped walking. I wanted some answers.

“Move it,” snapped my captor, giving me a shove from behind.

He was bigger and stronger than me but he only managed to push me a foot or so before I stopped myself.

I snapped around, forcing back the fear as I faced him. “I’m not moving another step until you bastards tell me what’s going on.”

My captor reared his hand back, ready to strike but Talbot grabbed his wrist.

“I think that’s fair,” he said, letting go of the goon’s hand. “Tell me Miss Crawford, what is it you’d like to know.”

“First of all, where’s Sophie?”

Talbot smiled and waved his hand. Two of the robed goons stepped out of the circle, in-between them was Sophie. She was on her knees in her underwear. Whatever they did to her it was clear they had broken her. She looked like hell. Her hair was a mess, she had a nasty bruise on her face and her hands were bound behind her back. The worst of it though was what was around her neck. There was one good thing about all the reading Melissa had me do, I now knew an awful lot about magic. So I knew all about the strange collar around Sophie’s neck.

“Is that a…”

Talbot nodded. “A Monroe Collar, designed by Archimedes Monroe in 1403. Most of them were destroyed ages ago but we were able to find a pair of them in auction several years back.”

“A pair?”

Talbot waved his hand and one of the cultists brought forth a large ornate box, made of wood and highly polished. The cultist stopped in front of us and opened the box. The inside was laid with velvet and there were two indentations. One of them was empty, the other had another collar inside identical to the one Sophie was currently wearing. It didn’t take a genius to figure out where the other one was going. I turned to run but I was blocked off. Someone roughly grabbed me from behind; all I could see of him was the bandage on his hand. He was strong but there was something familiar about the way he held me. I tried to break free from his grasp but the way he had my arms there was no escaping.

Talbot took the second collar out of the box. “Monroe was a visionary of his time you know,” he said, unfastening the collar. “His colleagues thought he was a nut job, how he went on and on about evil witches and their attempts to take over the world. Ok, so he might have been a little off there but he wasn’t off when he created these little puppies. They’re ingenious little devices, designed to channel the magic of the wearer into the collar and back into the caster. The more magic you use, the more pain is forced back into you.”

I struggled and kicked as he put the collar on my neck. Tears ran down my cheeks but there was nothing I could do to stop him. Mary screamed, a string of curses and threats but no one paid her much attention. I knew all about Monroe collars, I also knew that once they were sealed on a person there was no way to get them off. As soon as he latched the thing on my neck, I was going to wear it for the rest of my life. I tried to fight against them but it was no use, I could stop them from doing what was already done. Talbot took great joy in the final steps---latching the damn thing in place. As soon as he did, I felt something. It was a slight tingle, as soon as it was done coursing through my body I felt something else too---empty. It was the only way to describe it.

The guy holding my arms let me go. I fell forward, onto my knees. The tears were flowing freely now. I raised one of my hands and closed my eyes. I’d been practicing a bit, was now able to bring up a little magical charge if I really concentrated on it. I tried that now, opening my eyes to take a look at my fingers. I willed the energy to flow, screamed at it inside my head. I felt the tingling and then immense pain. I screamed out as the collar burned, sending the horrible pain throughout my entire body.

Talbot laughed as he bent down to meet me face to face. “Try all you like but the only way you can use magic now is if we command you to do so.”

It was another little trick of the collar. They weren’t just designed to keep a witch from using her magic. They were designed to control them. There were two stages to the collar; the first was the collar itself. The second was a small ring worn by the person who controlled the collars. With this ring, the person could ultimately control whoever it was that was wearing the collar. I looked over at Sophie, she refused to meet my eyes but it was clear what was going on. Sophie had been in total control before, she practically bathed in it earlier but now it was if they caged her. Gone was the wild, carefree and insane girl from earlier. In her place was a broken shell. I felt kind of bad for her, actually, I felt bad for both of us. I was just learning all of this stuff and now it was all gone for good. I felt angry, the anger rose inside of me, flowed through me and it burned. The collar reacted to it, sending pain surging through my body.

I gasped from it, cried out.

Talbot laughed. “Try all you like, nothing is going to change.” He waved his hand in front of my face, showing me a little bronze ring. “You’re mine now.”

“That’s quite enough of that Joseph,” said a stern voice, one that seemed to echo throughout the room.

Talbot froze. I saw into his hood for a slight moment, looked at the face hidden within. He was an average looking man with an average face. Now though that face---the one I’m sure looked pretty smug a moment before---had a look of fear on it now. I looked from him to the figure that was now slowly approaching. The voice had clearly belonged to a woman and that was apparent by the person who was coming our way. She was short, walked with a cane and her robes while black were trimmed in red. It was clear whoever she was, she was in fact in charge of this little operation.

“Ma’am” said Talbot, fear in his voice. “What are you doing here?”

Ok, so in charge but not in the loop clearly.

“What am I doing here?” she snapped. There was something about her voice, something familiar. “Do you have any idea what this little stunt of yours has done?”

He scoffed. “I’m finally bringing results.”

She slapped him. It was so fast that not even he saw it coming. The blow knocked off his hood, revealing his face for the first time. Like I guessed, he was in fact pretty average. He was middle aged, balding and was currently sporting a nice red welt on his left cheek.

“Results, do you have any idea what this stupid little stunt of yours has done?” There was a fury in her voice; one that I was glad to see was scaring the hell out of my captors. “You killed the Inquisitor, forced the town into lock-down. The Coven is out there looking for all of you, I should be with them myself but they think I’m searching the west end of town. You know how much covering I had to do over this stupid stunt of yours” She snapped her head around, at first I thought she was looking at me but her gaze fell to the person behind me. “And you…I expected better from you. First your stupid brother and now this…I want you out of her immediately.”

Whoever it was that was behind me seemed to leave. I could hear his footfall as he ran.

The woman drew her attention back to Talbot. “What was this…what was it that you were trying to do here?” She waved her hand about.

“I was just finishing what my father started sixteen years ago.”

The old woman laughed---for that’s what she was. I could detect it in her voice.

“Do you have any idea what’s going on right now?” No one said anything so she continued. “The Master has already chosen his new vessel; he’s prepping her right now.” She waved her hand about again, this time the one with the cane. I caught a good look at the top of it, a strange evil looking bird head. It made me wonder where I’d seen it before?

“He can’t do that…we had a plan…”

“Are you questioning the Master?”

Talbot shook his head. “No…I…we….”

I could tell she was glaring at him. “Clean this up now.” She straightened the front of her robe. “I might be able to save face with the Coven, convince them this was an isolated incident but you and your men have to leave this town now. This op is over, when you clear out I want you back at the safe house and we can discuss your actions there.”

“It will be done,” said Talbot, bowing his head.

“Good” said the old woman who turned on her heel and disappeared back from whence she came.

As soon as she was gone, one of the cultists walked over to Talbot who quickly put up his hood.

“What do we do, sir?”

“Do you want to defy her?” he asked, the cultist shook his head.

“Neither do I. So we go with Plan B.”

“Are you serious?”

He nodded. “Start packing up; make sure the men are ready to leave as soon as I give the order.”

The cultist went off to get Plan B moving. I watched him go then turned my gaze back to Talbot. It was clear that he was pissed, after all whatever he had planned was now a bust. When he looked at me, I could see the sneer. I couldn’t help but smile, throwing him a smug look of my own.

“I don’t know you’re smiling you little bitch, you and your friends aren’t getting out of here alive.”

My smile vanished. “You promised.”

“That was before, things have changed. You were supposed to be the Master’s Vessel, his living form in this world. It was your destiny since birth after all but…” He sighed, rubbing his temples. “I can work with this…maybe take the orb and…”

This last bit was more to himself than me. He wandered off, muttering to himself as he did so. He went over to the group and seemingly disappeared into it. I watched as the cultists seemed to break up, each going their own way. As soon as the circle started to disperse, I saw something I didn’t expect---there was a large stone altar in the middle of the room. Next to the altar was a pedestal, on which was a strange orb---I think it was the thing from the Vault. The very same thing that had tried to get me to take it, the one with the creepy voice. Was this what it was all about? Is that what Sophie had me steal from the Vault?

A moment later, Talbot appeared at the altar. He had a knapsack with him. He looked around, as if he was trying to be sneaky. When it was clear that no one was looking, he grabbed the orb and shoved it in his bag. What the hell was he planning? A second or two later, one of the cultists approached him. I couldn’t hear what they were talking about but a minute or two later, they were both heading my way. I quickly turned my head, hoping that they didn’t notice I’d been watching.

Talbot pulled his gun as he approached. “It’s your lucky day, Miss Crawford; it appears someone out there wants you alive so I’m afraid you’re going to be coming with me.”

Two more goons appeared. One of them grabbed my arm and roughly pulled me to my feet. It hurt like hell.

“I’m not going anywhere with you bastards” I snapped.

He smirked. “I thought you might say that” He waved his hand and I heard someone curse only to see Mary dragged over to me a second later. Her captor had one arm twisted behind her back and was holding onto her hair, her head bent at an awkward angle.

“You have two options here. Come with me or watch as your cousin has her pretty little neck snapped.”

I looked at Mary; saw the fear on her face. I think it probably mirrored my own.

“Tick tock, Little Witch.”

Mary shook her head. “I’ll go but you have to promise to let her and the others go.”

He shook his head. “Not going to happen.”

“Then using her as leverage doesn’t work. I mean you’re going to kill her and the others anyway. If I’m going to die then I want to do it with my friends.”

“I’m not going to kill you Miss Crawford; you’re far too valuable for that.”

This time I smirked. “You’re going to have to because there’s no way in hell I’m going with you.”

Talbot sighed. “Marco, kill the girl.”

Mary screamed, me I felt more alive than I’d ever felt in my life. The room fell into one of those slow motion things like in the movies. I’m not sure what was going on actually. I felt this overwhelming surge of anger, more powerful than anything I’d felt in my entire life. The anger burned through my body, all tingles and pain. The collar burned on my neck, scorching the flesh there but my anger was stronger. I can’t really describe what I was feeling but faced with the death of Mary, someone close and dear to me, I think I might have snapped. I felt this great surge of energy and I next thing I knew I was screaming right along with her. My scream was loud and ear shattering but not nearly as bad as what happened to my hands. My arms burst into flames, a mix of black and red fire that erupted from my palms.

The blast caught three fleeing cultists, incinerating them on contact. The rest were thrown back from the shock wave. I was thrown back as well, somehow ending up on the ground several feet away. I was dazed and in severe pain, my shirt burnt to a crisp, my arms scorched and black. I wanted to cry out but nothing would come. Instead, the world danced around me for the longest time. I heard screams and lots of shouting. There was running too and something else, something that sounded like howling. One of the cultists rushed toward me, gun in hand. I didn’t move, I couldn’t move. I was spent, whatever I did had taken everything from me.

He raised his gun, ready to fire when something large and white tackled him to the ground. The world came rushing back to me then. I heard him scream as the large white wolf---it was a wolf---tore into him. His screaming and struggling didn’t last long as the wolf finished him off. It turned to me after that, staring at me with its very human like blue eyes. There was something familiar about those eyes, like I’d seen them before. The wolf stared for the longest time then turned to run off at someone else. I watched it go, too dazed to figure out what was going on.

“Kelly” I heard someone shout, someone who sounded a lot like Mary.

“Over here” I managed to gasp out.

I saw Mary a moment later. Her magic was a mess; her tears having let it run all over her face. I don’t think she cared. She rushed over, throwing her arms around my neck. A moment later, she pulled away and took a look at me.

“Jesus…are you ok?”

I nodded. “No.”

She helped me to my feet. “C’mon we gotta get out of here.”

I smelled smoke and saw the flames. Half the building was on fire. The rest of it was in utter chaos. Three large wolves---not including the white one---were running amok. There were several bodies scattered about, most of them looked like they’d been mauled to death. I spotted the white wolf again, it was coming toward us. Mary turned and locked eyes with it, giving it a quick nod.

“What’s going on?” I asked, as she slipped an arm around her shoulder.

“It’s back up, they showed up just in time.”

“Back up?”

“Hey it pays when your best friend can pick up your scent from a mile away.”

I looked at the white wolf again and suddenly understood. I smiled at her before she turned back into the melee that was going on around us. Mary led me away from the mess. It was hard going at first but we managed to avoid the carnage and the flames. WE got to the front door without a problem and as soon as we got outside, we could hear the sirens. Mary led me away from the mess as the first car arrived. It was a black and white from the sheriff’s department. A deputy rushed out and over.

“Girls are you ok?”

Mary nodded. “There’s people inside.”

“Fire department is on the way.”

As soon as he said that, two fire trucks came blazing in. I scanned the crowd of people that started to come out. I was happy to see Maggie and Will among them, looking dazed and confused but alright. After that, everything was a bit of a blur. More police cars and fire trucks arrived. There was a lot of commotion, people rushing about. Tracy and two big guys appeared a few minutes after; she looked like she’d dressed in a hurry. We caught eyes across the way, smiling to one another. I’m not sure how she knew where to find us but I owed her a lot. If not for her and her fellow Wolves, I’m not sure what would have happened. Mary smiled at her too, mouthing a “thank you”.

My cousin stayed with me while a paramedic tended to my arms. HE treated them as best he could, wrapping them with gauze.

“You’re going to need to go to the hospital miss,” he said, I nodded.

The paramedic left to tend to others.

Mary brushed some hair from my face. “You…well you kicked ass in there.”

I gave her a half smile then rubbed my neck. The collar was gone. I’m not sure how it happened exactly but I burned it right off. I kept rubbing my neck, wondering if it hadn’t been a Monroe after all. I mean no one should be able to burn one of those off and yet…I let the thought fade away. I’d deal with that later. There were bound to be a hundred questions as soon as all of this was officially over. The coven would get involved; people would want to know everything. I was trying best to sort my thoughts actually, figure out exactly what happened. I was confused as all hell though. They wanted me, wanted to do some horrible thing to me. It involved the orb and a stone altar but whatever it was, it was being done elsewhere? That last bit made no sense to me. What was this ritual, who was this Master they kept referring too? Did he have something to do with that freaky voice from before? It made no sense and probably never would. I could probably spend all night racking my brain over it and not come up with any answers.

I sighed as I got to my feet. The paramedic had me sitting on the bumper of the ambulance, a blanket draped over me. I was tired of feeling useless though.

“You ok?” asked Mary, showing more concern than she had in a long time.

I nodded. “Just thirsty.”

“I’ll get you some water,” she said, rushing over.

A doting Mary, who would have thought?

I watched her go as I looked at the crowd again. More people had arrived, mostly parents and loved ones. A lot of the people involved were in similar situations to me, in ambulances, getting looked over. There were six ambulances now and three fire trucks, several cop cars. Ravencrest had a small police force so I’m guessing most were from the nearby town. The name escaped me at the moment. I scanned the group, spotting Maggie with her grandparents, Will with his folks. I smiled at the happy reunions. I was expecting to see my grandmother but I knew how busy she was. There were still a lot of unanswered questions and this night was far from over.

I continued to look at the crows, hoping for a little bit of good cheer to come my way. That’s when I saw her, draped in a blanket, staring at me. She was half hidden in shadow but I knew it was her. I could see the collar still on her neck, saw the look in her eyes. Sophie was too far away for me to say anything to her but it was clear from the look she was giving me that she didn’t want to talk. There was malice in those eyes, they were cold and unforgiving. Clearly, she thought I was responsible for all of this mess, for ruining whatever plan she had for me, for us.

I shuddered to think what that might have been.

She continued to stare at me for a few moments more before turning and disappearing into the shadows. I dropped my blanket, shuddering at the cold but I didn’t care. Sophie was in pain and I needed to see if she was ok. Sure she was nuts but she needed help. I gave chase, pushing my way through the crowd, hoping to get to her before she disappeared for good. No one in the crowd seemed to notice me at first; I was like a ghost because none of them were really looking for me. I finally reached the spot where I saw her but she was long gone. On the ground however was a folded piece of paper. I bent and picked it up, taking a look at the note left behind: SEE YA SOON, SIS. Sis, what the hell did she mean by that?

I looked around, wondering what the hell was going on?

“Kelly” a familiar voice said, shattering my stunned thoughts.

I turned and just saw him before he swept me into his arms, holding me tight.

“Jack” I said softly then more loudly. “What are you doing here?”

“I heard on the police scanner…” he sounded out of breath. “I came to see….I never thought you’d be here though.”

I buried my head in chest, gone was whatever hatred I felt for him after that stupid Vault crap. I missed my boyfriend. I started to cry a bit, glad that he was here to hold me.

“I’m sorry,” I said softly.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said, taking my hand and leading me away from the crowd.

I held his hand tightly, rubbing the bandage there. As we walked, I couldn’t help but feel a bit of déjá  vu. The touch and the way he held me it felt familiar and yet so wrong now. We started walking more but as we went I let go of his hand. There was something about it---about his appearance here, his bandage---it didn’t make any sense.

“How did you know I was here?”

He turned back to me. “I told you, I heard it on the police scanner.”

I nodded. “But how did you know I was here.”

“I didn’t but I was curious and when I saw you…”

I nodded but there was something still bothering me. “Your hand, can I see…the burn.”

“What?”

I bit my lip, building up courage. “I want to see the burn on your hand. You’ve been wearing that bandage for days now. I’ve been wondering why you haven’t taken it off…I thought maybe it was because of infection but…”

He got a cold, hard look to his face. “You don’t need to see it.”

I shuddered. “I know what’s there don’t I?”

He smirked, running his fingers through his hair. I took a step back, realizing what was going on. How could I have been so blind? Of course, Jack was in on it. The Vault was in his house, he forced me to go into it after all. His family---his grandmother. Oh, God the cane, that’s where I’ve seen it before. It never really registered though. I mean I saw all of them out of their robes of course, at that informal tea meeting. Mrs. Pratchett---Jack’s grandmother was on the Coven---and she had a cane. A cane just like the one the old woman from tonight had. It was Jack holding my arms behind my back and it was Jack who she sent home. She didn’t want him to be here when the authorities finally showed up. The bitch was covering her ass, covering her family’s ass.

“You know,” he said, pulling a knife from his pants. “I was just starting to like you.”

I took another step back. “You don’t want to do this Jack.”

“Of course I do. Do you have any idea what it’s like to be a Dud? To watch as your mother and grandmother and sister do all this cool magic around you and you get nothing.”

“You’d be surprised how much I know actually.”

“Don’t think you’re like me, you're nothing like me.” He snapped, flashing the knife about. “I saw what you did tonight; I’ve seen what you can do. You have all this power and all this potential and me, I’ve got nothing. Did you know my brother was the one who found that stupid orb? He was working a job at the old Crowley place, gardening. He dug the damn thing up and you know what happened. He was weak. The Orb scared him so he took it and threw it in the lake. It would have stayed there too except this summer some stupid little bitch had to find it. As soon as it showed, my grandmother was giddy.

The Orb of Aka Manah found at last after all these years,” he snorted. “She forced me to join her stupid cult, said it was my destiny. Made me follow you around, get to know you. Said you were dangerous, could ruin all their plans. I had a life you know, I had dreams and goals but it was all about the family. What my grandmother says goes. What a fucking joke. You were the only constant thing there for a bit, I actually thought I was falling in love with you…can you believe that. Then Talbot told me about you, who you are, what you were.” He spit. “I threw up when I found out; I’m not some fag you know. So I made a plan. If I kill you here and now, they won’t have special little Kelly Crawford, super freak, anymore.”

He came at me with the knife. It was so fast. I felt the blade cut into my flesh as he ran it into my stomach. The pain was unbearable. I dropped into his arms but he refused to hold me. He let me fall to the ground, a look of anguish and pride on his face. He stared down at me, smirking. Tears ran down my face and something more, something primal. The anger took over, the pain in my stomach fueled me and I lashed out. I lunged out with my mind, finding him pathetic and weak. I grabbed him, held him tight, forced my will on him. All my anger and pain was thrust at him, squeezing tighter and tighter on that pathetic little throat of his.

He gasped and clawed at his neck, trying desperately to break free. I held my grip on him, tried to squeeze the life out of him but I was waning. I felt lightheaded and knew I didn’t have the strength to finish him. As he dropped to the ground, the world started to spin around me before everything went black.

Author’s note: As I’m sure all of you know, comments are life blood to an author. I’m not begging or demanding, but I certainly would appreciate anything you have to say (or ask). It doesn’t have to be long and involved, just give me your reaction to the story. Thanks in advance...EOF