Ch. 33
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE:
~Avery:
After pulling away from Drake, I made my way down the back staircase that led around the other side of the building. It’s hard to move quickly but quietly and I’m not sure at the moment what matters more. Can those wolves hear the creaks in these steps?
At the bottom of the stairs I turn cautiously and start walking along the backside of the building, searching for any auras out there. Because of the hour, there’s not much activity anywhere outside of the random rooms I passed with lights coming through the windows. With every step I fight my magic and the instinct to just destroy everything and everyone out there. To remove this threat from the face of the earth.
I clench my fists, fighting my magic, keeping it down in my abdomen. My mind flickers to Drake. There’s a flash of worry for him, I can’t hear anything going on out there, but was it right to leave him? Will he get hurt? My heart clenches at the thought of it. A second of heat takes over me as the image of my legs straddling him comes out from my memory. Ugh. Why did that have to resurface now, of all times? I can’t think about those kinds of things and think about how to be present.
I shake my head, breathe out slowly, and as I come to the edge of the building, I take a big gulp of air and run across the way into the treeline.
Auras. I have to focus on auras. I need to sense these guys, way before they hear or smell me, and every pant I take, every leaf I crunch makes me want to cringe. I’ve never thought of myself as goofy or clumsy, but just knowing more about Drake’s extraordinary senses makes me one thousand percent more self conscious about everything.
A few more steps forward and there’s a glimmer. Someone’s there. Without taking another breath I suddenly rush closer and command, “Freeze!”
Thankfully there’s no other auras within visible distance and I have time to quickly walk over to the person I’ve frozen. His hand is raised, reaching for something in his top jacket pocket he couldn’t quite reach before he became a statue. I moved his hand to the side briefly to see what it was - a radio or walkie of some kind. Had he already said something into it? Did I stop him on time? I take a moment to slowly look at all my surroundings, not picking up any new auras.
What should I do now? I normally have these guys kill themselves. I do a quick self-check, my anger is okay, my magic is simmering back down. I’ve got this. I’ve got this. Or at least I’ve got this for as long as I can chant this to myself.
I got that one guy to follow me last time - I guess I could do that again.
“Stay silent and follow me,” I command him.
His shoulders fall as he relaxes. Well. As much as he could relax with me forcing him to do things.
We moved swiftly. The crunch of my own feet in the brush was very loud compared to the total silence of the guy following me. If I didn’t know better I’d think he was floating through the air.
The next aura shows up pretty quickly.
“Freeze!” I shout out with my magic lifting the ends of my hair.
My heart thunders in my ears as I look around, expecting someone else to come rushing at me. My only hope is that my voice carries to any threat before it can do something. I wait a second, another second, but there’s no one else as far as I can tell, so I move again, heading in the direction of the new person I’ve taken over.
The thrill in my veins as I get a good look at the woman I’ve frozen, at the fear in her eyes as they dart back and forth. The shivers it gives me, the wisp of terror, or my total control… I start to shake just fighting my urge to slaughter her. My fingernails cut deeper into my skin as I clench my fists fighting off this wave of magic trying to take control of me. I wish the moon were visible to give me something to focus on again. Or if… someone were here. I shake my head at the confusing thought, ruining the progress I’ve made of pulling my magic back down.
I let out one slow deep breath, closing my eyes to picture the moon, and as my magic winds down it’s too late when I realize my mistake.
Something as hard and dense as a rock shoves me to the ground. Before I can hit the dirt my magic already flares right up, a bright light coming from me. I hold fiercely to the two souls I already have in my grasp. My head smacks into the root of a tree, pissing me off even further. By the time the man stands above me with a rifle pointed at my chest, I’m already floaty and full of magic. The satisfaction on his face collapses the moment I make eye contact with him and grin.
I freeze him too, and the desire to make him take his own life - or to get one of these other two to do it - oh, God - it’s so hard not to give in. Part of me just wants to do it out of spite for this guy who knocked me over, thinking that’s all it would take to take me down.
“Follow and cover us,” I command instead, and we make our way through the trees, collecting a few more souls.
I decide then to put these wolves to sleep instead. It is much harder than I thought it would be. I fight myself for control over what I’m doing. As I collect more and more souls, it gets harder to ignore the voice in my head telling me to kill them. It gets harder not to notice the oh-so-tempting darkness in their auras. I can practically taste it.
I finally decide it would be better to try to knock them out and leave a group here while I keep hunting.
“Sleep,” I command one, but another follows suit.
Weird. I didn’t mean for them both to do it. I can’t lose all my thoughts to this now.
“Sleep,” I say to the next closest two.
The rest fall to the ground. Very odd. Later.
I feel him before I see him. My face snaps towards the most dangerously beautiful wolf on this earth. My wolf. I didn’t realize how quickly I’d been breathing until I saw him. Just like earlier in the room, my body has a mind of its own. I find myself breathing a sigh of relief, a contented sigh. I try to not think about what this could mean.
He’s looking at me, not breaking eye contact, even when something looms this way. I turn on my heel, the three dark auras very clear to me, but before I can speak a word, he’s flying to the side - smacking into a tree trunk.
The sound his body makes when it hits the tree, when it slams into the ground, freezes my heart and my emotions completely take control. Shock rattles me for a blink.
Everything is all too much and I can’t stop it as my magic rages up, up, up - and out. I scream in fury at the bastards who hurt him. They’ve killed him!
Magic surges and I explode. Magic and light flurry every inch around - the ground, the air, the trees.
“NO!” I scream with heartbreak and fury.
At that moment I felt it all. Every soul in that forest. I felt every living thing. There’s more than what I had picked up earlier. But I don’t care. They will all pay.
“DIE!” I scream mightily, charging everything I am into the command, pushing my voice to carry further than it ever has before.
Their souls seize, fighting to stay in their bodies, but then they’re mine. They’re all mine. Light continues to funnel from me as darkness rushes at me. I absorb every last bit of it, taking it in, feeling it tingle. The normal rush of it dulled by my aching heart.
After a few moments that’s it. All the souls in the forest. Dead. Darkness rises up and rushes towards me from all directions. My form flinches with each new hit of the darkness. Charging me up but not enough - not enough. I’m so tired. I’m broken and tired. My heart feels like an anchor, sinking me lower and lower. Despair seizing my soul. My eyes blink furiously, fighting the darkness threatening to take over.
I stiffly turn to Drake’s form, each step agonizingly slow and staggered. One, two, three- my eyes register his face. His gaze looking up at me. He blinks. Relief, stronger than I’ve ever felt, washes over me. Hope soars in my chest - and the next thing I know I’m falling.