“Try it. Tell her what will happen if we don't find the one responsible.”
“I will, I just…Whoa!” I said, putting my hand to my forehead.
“Keira, what is it?” Lilith asked, moving closer to me.
“I feel really dizzy.”
“Eligos, get her some…”
“Oh my…”
Suddenly I wasn’t in the room anymore. I could see Tyler, Danny and Lucian fighting two creatures, both yellowish brown in color. Then the scene changed to Jake and Lily standing in the living room with Beth and Marley. They were protecting them. Both of them standing there, eyes black as coal, waiting to see if the creatures got past Tyler and the others. Then I saw Marley standing with her fingers on her temple; her lips were moving; she was saying my name over and over again.
“Keira?” Lilith was saying.
I was back in the main room of the Palace.
“Keira, what is it?” Eligos asked worried. “Are you OK?”
“We need to get back, NOW! They’re in trouble,” I told him, standing quickly.
“How do you kn…”
“Marley, she was calling to me. We must go.”
Eligos grabbed my arm and within a second we were in my living room.
“Keira!” Marley said, sounding relieved. “They found us. They were in the garden a minute ago, near the rose bushes; the others are trying beat them down.”
We ran out of the room and into the garden. When we got near them I saw Danny had one of the creatures pressed against the wall, yet he was standing several feet away from it. He shot energy at the creature and it squealed out in pain. Tyler and Lucian were both attacking the other one but couldn’t seem to get the better of him. I put both my hands out, one in each of the creatures’ direction, and then moved my hands closer together. The creatures moved with them, both of them unable to escape. Being able to put things into suspended animation came in really handy sometimes.
“About time you showed up!” Tyler said to me.
“One of you go and get Beth and Marley,” Eligos said. “They might feel better if they are involved in this.”
“In what?” Lucian asked.
“Them dying,” he said, turning his attention to the creatures.
Danny ran inside. I held the creatures in mid-air until the girls came out. Both of them stood slightly behind me, and both of them had a hold of my top.
“Don't be frightened,” I told them. “These two aren’t going anywhere unless I want them too.”
Neither of them let go of my top though. Eligos held both his hands out and his two swords appeared.
“Come here, girls,” he said, turning to face them.
Beth and Marley walked over to him, not taking their eyes off the creatures.
“Take one of these,” he said, passing them a sword each. “These will kill them, they will kill their souls, and you will never see them again. I thought you might like to do it.”
I lowered the creatures so the girls would be able to reach them. Beth walked over to them first. She looked at the biggest one, the one with the mark on his back.
“This is for our parents!” she said.
She glared at him for a moment before running the sword straight through his stomach. She watched as he disappeared and then turned to Marley.
“My turn!” Marley said, walking over to the other creature. “This is for nearly killing me and my sister.”
She ran the sword through his chest, the creature vanished and then so did Eligos’s swords.
“Do you feel better now?” I asked them while lowering my arms.
“Yes,” they both replied. “Thank you.”
“I thought you would,” Eligos smiled.
“Thank you,” Beth said to him. “I’m glad I don't carry them things around though. God, it was heavy.”
He nodded and smiled at her then walked over to me.
“How is your head?” he asked me.
“OK now.”
“I’m sorry, Keira,” Marley said, walking over to me. “I was trying to make you see what was happening here, did you see it?”
“I did. I saw the guys out here fighting and I saw you four in the living room. I could see you calling my name, then the vision stopped,” I told her.
“I can’t believe it actually worked; I’ve never done that before.”
“There will be a lot of things you are capable of. I didn’t know I could do half the things I can do now before I came here. It’s funny how quickly you learn when you’re under attack.”
“Yeah, the guys were telling us how you found out about all your powers,” Beth told me.
“I don't know all of them yet, only a few; I’m still learning.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Painful Memories
Marley and Beth spent most of the night listening to us explaining everything. They now knew 90 per cent of the story so far. Neither of them had realized how big all this was; they knew something wasn’t right, but they never for one minute expected to be part of something like this. They were both clearly shocked and frightened, although they tried their best to hide it. But when Marley went to get her cup of coffee, I saw her hand shaking. She was only a teenager. She shouldn’t have to go through this; none of us should, but certainly not someone as young as her. The guys had gone home late, about 2a.m., all except for Jake; he was practically living here now. The rest of us had just gone straight to bed.
The following morning I was sitting outside on my swing with a cup of coffee. I was in a world of my own. It was 10a.m. Eligos had gone to speak to some of the members of his army. Lily and Jake were still asleep, which was unusual, but I suppose they needed to catch up after all those sleepless nights. Marley was dead to the world; she must have been exhausted. I’d checked on Beth but it sounded as though she was in the shower so I came downstairs alone. That was very unusual these days. I’d had half an hour to myself, alone with my thoughts.
“Keira,” I heard Beth say. “Do you mind if I join you?”
I turned to see her standing a few feet away from me, mug in hand.
“No, of course not. Sit down,” I said, patting the seat.
“Are you OK? You looked like you were in a world of your own,” she asked.
“Yeah, I do that a lot; you’ll probably get used to it. I’ve got a lot on my mind.”
“I can imagine!” she said, smiling slightly, “I don't know how you do it.”
“Do what?”
“Stay so calm, just carry on as normal.”
“It’s not easy, I can tell you that.”
“You must have some strength in you.”
“Not really, I just put a brave face on. I’m just as frightened as everyone else,” I told her. “Beth, if you don't mind me asking, what happened to your parents? Did those things…Gurvon and the other one I mean…did they just turn up one night?”
“No, they attacked us a couple of times. Our family, we have power, but it’s not strong. My mom knew a lot of spells and they helped keep us all alive for a few months, but…”
“You don't have to talk about it if it’s too hard,” I told her.
“No, no it’s OK. It was a Tuesday night, we’d just finished our dinner and were about to watch a movie together. My mom put some popcorn in the microwave while my dad put the DVD in the player. Me and Marley were on our way upstairs to get our pajamas on… we heard our mom scream…then there was the sound of glass shattering. My dad screamed for me and Marley to hide…I grabbed Marley’s arm and ran into the small room at the back of the house. It was a safe room. My mom and dad had cast several different spells on it so that if ever we were attacked, if we could get in there, we would be safe. We curled up together in the corner. Marley was shaking and crying. All we could hear was my mom shouting and crying, begging something to get off my dad. Then there was a lot of banging and then…nothing. Silence,” Beth said, wiping a tear from her cheek. “We didn’t know what to do…We were so frightened. My pare
nts had always said that if something like that was to happen, we weren’t to go downstairs for a long time afterwards. Just in case something was waiting for us.”
“How long did you wait?” I asked.
“All night and most of the morning. It had been silent all night. I made Marley wait in the room while I went downstairs. The kitchen was in ruins, there was blood all over the place. My mom was on the floor in front of the kitchen table…Her eyes were still open…My dad, oh God, my dad…he was…he…”
“Don't say it if it’s too hard,” I told her.
“He was in pieces,” she said after taking a deep breath. “I screamed and screamed and cried. Marley came running downstairs. I tried to keep her out of there but she pushed past me. She was silent; she just hit the floor. My next-door neighbors came barging through the front door; they had obviously heard my screams. When they saw my parents they grabbed me and Marley and took us outside. Then they called the police.”
“What did you tell them?”
“Nothing…What could I tell them? Oh yeah it was two creatures that looked like they were from another planet or something? I told them we were in bed and that we’d heard a disturbance. I said that when we went to go downstairs my mom screamed for us to hide. I told them I’d not seen the attackers, only that we had heard a lot of shouting and banging. They had forensics round at the house and it was taped off for weeks, but obviously they never found the ones who did it to them.”
“I’m so sorry,” I said, wiping a few tears away.
“Marley didn’t talk for months afterwards; she would sit there staring into space. I didn’t know what to do for her. She only started talking when she started having the dreams about you.”
I didn’t know what to say to her.
“She told me how she’d seen a girl with power on her way to Salem with another girl. She said she knew this girl was powerful. Her dreams don't play like a movie. She doesn’t see everything that happens; she sees a few seconds of something, then a few seconds of something else and so on.”
“What made her decide to find me?”
“When we started seeing the creatures again. They taunted us for weeks; she said she knew if we could find you we would be safe. She’d always said she felt safe in her dreams when you were there, and so she knew if you were with us she would feel safe while she was awake.”
“How did she know I was real?”
“She’s psychic; she just knew.”
“Is her psychic power…strong?” I asked.
“Yeah, it frightens her sometimes. She found you, didn’t she? Someone we’d never met or heard of before her dreams. That must tell you something about her strength.”
“You’re right, it does,” I said with a thoughtful look on my face. “Look, I’m sorry you’re involved in this,” I added sincerely.
“So am I, but everything happens for a reason. We’re not on our own anymore. I know that makes me feel a lot better and Marley feels safer with you being around her now.”
“Good I’m glad. I’ll keep you both as safe as I can. We all will,” I assured her.
“We’ll fight with you when the time comes,” she told me. “But we might not be much help; we're not that strong.”
“We can fix that, but let’s not get carried away just yet.”
“OK. Can I ask you something?”
“Fire away.”
“What happened to Eligos’s face?”
“Hmmm,” I said, smirking. “I was waiting for one of you to ask that.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
Panic Stations
Just as I’d finished telling Beth about Eligos, he appeared. He had another man next to him. He looked older than Eligos, around thirty-five I would have said. His light-brown hair was short and spiky. He was around a foot taller than Eligos which made him a giant to me. Eligos was easily six feet tall and this man made him look small.
“Keira, Beth, I’d like you to meet Brandameer; he is my right-hand man,” Eligos told us.
“Nice to meet you!” I smiled as I walked over to him.
“The pleasure is all mine,” he said, bowing his head.
“Hello!” Beth said shyly.
“Hello, Beth.”
That was when I noticed his eyes. They weren’t human. They looked like cat’s eyes, pale green with a black diamond-shaped pupil.
“He wanted to meet you,” Eligos told me. “It’s only fair since he’s going to be fighting with us all.”
“Of course,” I said. “There’s nobody else up at the moment, otherwise I would introduce you to them.”
“It’s OK,” Brandameer told me. “It was you I wanted to meet, and not because of the fighting,” he smirked, looking at Eligos for a moment. “I just wanted to see who had finally got his attention”
I just smiled at him.
“We were all rather shocked when we found out he had got himself a girlfriend. He’s never even looked at a woman like that before,” he told me.
“I believe so,” I said, still smiling.
“Anyway, I must leave. Someone has to do his job while he’s here,” he said, winking at me. “You know, having a vacation.”
“Piss off!” Eligos laughed.
“I’ll contact you in a few days, oh, and, ladies, call me Brad. Everyone else does; it’s a lot easier than my full name.”
“OK, Brad. I’ll see you again,” I said.
“Goodbye.”
A second later he was gone.
“Was he with you when you first brought your army here?” I asked Eligos.
“Yes, he was on one side of me and I had Carlos on the other side. He’s not as sociable as Brad so he didn’t come.”
“Fair enough, miserable sod.”
“I was going to introduce you to them when you first came to Hell, but both of them were assigned to a job.”
“He’s not human, is he?” Beth asked.
“No,” Eligos answered. “He is from another realm.”
“Yeah, the guys were saying there are quite a few other realms.”
“Around two hundred.”
“Wow! Time is different in Hell too, isn’t it? Tyler said everything was four times longer or something. I got a bit confused.”
“An hour here is four in Hell,” I told her.
“That’s a real head-doer,” she giggled.
“Yeah, you ought to try going there and back all the time. You feel jetlagged sometimes,” Eligos said.
“I bet you do. Right, anyway, I’m going to see if Marley’s up. See you later,” she said just before walking away.
I sat on the swing again and Eligos joined me.
“How are they?” he asked.
“Beth’s OK. She told me about her parents. It was awful. Marley’s still asleep so I haven’t spoken to her.”
“What happened?”
I explained everything Beth had told me.
“Sick bastards! If they weren’t already dead I’d have taken them to Hell and let some people have some fun with them,” he said in disgust.
“I think the girls feel better knowing they’re dead though.”
“Yeah I should think so.”
“This is messed up,” I sighed. “I mean, why not just attack full force, get it over and done with. Why do they mess with us, let us think everything's OK and then BANG, we’re fighting again.”
“They’re gathering their forces. They know that when the time comes they’re gonna have a lot of people to face.”
“There’s only us up to now.”
“No there isn’t. There’s us, Hecate, Unsere and her husband, all my army, all Buer’s army, plus anyone else with power that turns up here. That’s just for starters.”
“Who’s Buer?”
“Another Grand Duke. He’s a demon of the second order. He is going to join us when the time comes. Lilith will be talking with other army leaders too, so there will probably be a lot more.”
“Wow!” I gasped. “Eligos, just how big is
this going to get.”
“They’re recruiting on a large scale. Tens of thousands of people have disappeared up to now. Who knows what the total will be by the end of the week? At least we’ll have the numbers.”
“I’m worried about the guys,” I told him.
“How so?”
“They have more power now, and yet they struggled with Crystal. And they were all together.”
“That’s because they haven’t spent time mastering their new power. They haven’t really had the time.”
“Well, we need to make time, otherwise…”
“We will. Danny is doing well. He’s not spent much time on his power, but he’s good with a few weapons now.”
“They all need to be good,” I told him.
We spent another ten minutes or so on the swing before heading inside. Lily and Jake were in the kitchen having their breakfasts. Both of them had had a good night’s rest and Jake looked a lot better. He hadn't had any bad dreams last night and was relieved to say the least. Marley came down and Beth made her some toast and coffee; she too looked a lot better than yesterday.
“Are you sure you don't mind us staying?” Marley asked me. “We didn’t expect to stay with you; we would have checked into a motel or something.”
“Nonsense, you’re obviously meant to be near me, so near me you’ll be,” I told her. “Besides I’ve got plenty of room.”
“Thanks, Keira.”
“Now the thing is we tend to get attacked quite a bit around here. It’s been quiet recently, so we’re due something soon. That means you’ll need to be able to defend yourselves. I’m gonna need to know what you’re both capable of.”
“I’m psychic, I have visions, I can throw energy balls and shockwaves, but they’re not very strong, and I’m pyro kinetic,” Marley said.
“Oh Tyler’s gonna hate you,” I told her. “He would give anything to be pyro kinetic.”
“He should be now,” Eligos told me. “Tell him to try.”
“Oh he’ll be happy then,” I smirked. “Beth, what about you, what can you do?”
“Erm, I can generate shields, that's my strongest power. I’m telekinetic; I can manipulate fire but I can’t create it; I can create strong winds, and…that's about it.”