Blessed (4 page)

She bounced down the stairs and breezed into the kitchen right as Anne was telling Piper that she’d go find out what was keeping her.

“There’s the birthday girl!” Piper squealed as she ran across the kitchen to give her a hug. “And look at
this
!”

She fingered the necklace that lay against Ardra’s chest.

“Someone has made out like a bandit already!”

Piper turned and headed for a bar stool, perched atop it at the end of the counter and picked at one of the several cheese and cracker trays that were within her reach.

“So! How was the annual Cooper Family Shopping Spree? How many salaries did your dad pay this year?”

Ardra laughed at the candid conversation that was routine for her pre-party prep time with her best friend. Over the past eleven years it had become a ritual on both of their birthdays for the other to show up an hour early and catch up with the birthday girl on the events of her day. Piper was slightly disappointed to learn that the shopping trip was mostly uneventful and that Ardra had come home and slept for hours.

“Well, for someone who has been conscious for less than fifteen minutes, you look
fierce
tonight! The dress, the shoes, the hair, and that necklace! You make a pretty picture!”

At the word picture, a loud gasp came from the living room where her mother was undoubtedly perched at the window waiting to graciously sweep Ardra’s party guests into her home and lead them to the kitchen. Moments later, Anne disappeared up the stairs and was back in the kitchen before it even clicked in Ardra’s head what was going on.

Her mother was an avid scrap booker. The day someone found Anne Cooper more than thirty seconds from a camera would be the day that Ardra could be found wearing clothes from WalMart. Piper and Ardra never passed up the opportunity to be in front of a camera, so while Anne snapped away with the digital point and shoot, they posed and smiled like idiots.

After taking enough pictures to fill an entire scrapbook, Anne finally relinquished the camera and returned to her perch at the window as the first of the guests began to arrive. By eight thirty, the kitchen and living room were full and people were starting to migrate to the enclosed deck off the back of the house. Anne, Piper, and Ardra constantly made the rounds to not only keep an eye on everyone and make sure that nobody ran out of fruit punch, but also to make sure that everyone was having fun.

The three of them were masters of small talk and every year it was an unspoken contest to see who could talk to every person at the party more. Ardra usually won because she was the birthday girl and people sought her out. Though, it never stopped Piper and Anne from trying.

Frank had his own routine when it came to Ardra’s birthday. He was up for breakfast, he was ready for shopping, he always helped carry her bags, but as soon as Piper came through the door, he hid in his office for the rest of the night. He was not the schmoozing type. He preferred to leave that to the women in his life.

The gift table at the far end of the living room was piled high, the music was pumping through the sound system that was wired throughout the house, and conversations ran wild. Ardra drifted through the house feeling the good vibes and glowing in the fact that all of these people showed up for her year after year. The number of people in attendance had always seemed to grow with the number of birthdays behind her. It was due to this trend that the back deck was now enclosed. The first year that the house had filled up and they had shuffled people outside, Anne had made sure to nag her father about freezing teenagers until he finally hired someone to put the walls up.

Several good looking returned missionaries were in attendance this year and every one of them made sure to seek her out as often as they could. It made her feel good knowing that the older guys still found her attractive. Premature aging was becoming very real to her generation and she took extraordinary measures to fight it. It appeared to be working.

Not wanting to send anyone out into the terrible December weather and icy roads in the middle of the night, she opened presents around eleven thirty and started saying her goodbyes around midnight. As steadily as it had grown, the number of guests dwindled down until it was only Anne, Piper, and Ardra again.

Frank came out of his office and said good night before heading up to bed. He yawned, “Happy Birthday, sweetheart.” And kissed her forehead before disappearing up the stairs.

Ardra sat on one of the bar stools at the center island long enough to kick her shoes off and stretch her sore feet. Once she had full use of her toes again, she started the monumental task of cleaning up the empty plastic cups that seemed to litter every available surface. She was only five cups into the project when her mom started insisting that they take care of it in the morning. Both of the younger girls agreed that it was a fantastic idea and dumped what they had managed to pick up into the recycle bin. Piper always had an overnight bag stored in Ardra’s closet, so they headed up to her room to get ready for bed.

They had barely turned the lights out when sleep took Ardra once again into its dark embrace. This time, she dreamt.

Very bad dreams.

He headed north into the heart of Indianapolis where he took a turn to the east along a large road labeled Interstate 70.

He ducked into the shadows under an overpass and faded away to his natural state of Chaos.

He willed himself east along the Interstate, his molecules flying through space at the speed of thought, until he came to a crossroads. He then headed north along another Interstate, this one being 77, until he saw a blue and white sign that read, “Kirtland: City of Faith and Beauty”.

He shifted back into a solid state in a stand of trees not far off the side of the road and allowed the beast out to recharge its batteries. Refueled by the energy it had sapped from the surrounding plant life, the beast settled and urged him forward, leaving another circular field of ash behind.

He headed into the little lakeside town feeling good about the journey ahead of him. His blood was singing as the first step in attaining his prize drew near. He could physically sense it now. With every step he took toward it, he felt his body begin to vibrate faster and faster. It felt like he was full of tiny piranhas that knew a feeding frenzy was about to occur.

He spotted a large black cross set on top of the domed roof of a white tower and had to put some effort into keeping his passenger contained. Unleashing his power here would draw too much unwanted attention. The last thing he needed was a player from the other team deciding that he wasn’t playing fair.

Angels meddling in his business had never ended well.

He double timed it in the direction of the building, not wanting to waste any more time and risk the beast breaking free of his control. When he spotted the green doors as he rounded the last corner, he stopped.

While the building was quite plain, the people who had built it had known what they were doing, and the people who had concealed his prize within it had known as well.

The whole property was glowing with a dazzling light. Green flecks sparkled within a luminescent bubble surrounding the building. It appeared to be harmless enough, but he knew better. When it came to the types of energies that had been put into this shield, the prettier the bubble, the more pain it could cause.

“This might prove to be a little more of a challenge than I was expecting.” He muttered to himself.

He shored up his aura and pulled it tight into his body. While this effectively cut off all senses beyond the natural five, it made for a fantastic ethereal shield. He slowly made his way across the street, not wanting to get too close too fast.

As he stepped onto the sidewalk about twenty feet from the property line, he noticed that the flecks of green were gathering on the side of the bubble closest to him. He didn’t like the look of them at all.

He pulled his aura even tighter to his body and took a few more steps toward the outer edge of the dome.

The green flecks responded in turn and amassed into a dark green tentacle protruding from the side of the bubble closest to him. He took several hurried steps backwards while dodging ferocious cracks of the large green whip. It appeared that the thing had been given the task of removing his head from his shoulders.

One last swipe of the tentacle caught him off guard just before he made it out of its reach. He was violently thrown across the street. Had he not been shocked into his natural state, his physical form would have, without a doubt, crashed through the sweet little white picket fence surrounding the house that had been built there.

Cursing the wasted energy that was now coursing through his body, he wished that he had a way to process it and make it useful. However, because it hadn’t been absorbed through his own energies and filtered first, the extra molecules were doing nothing but tearing through his body and bouncing off of his own.

He recalled the first time that he had encountered energy like this with a cringe. He had been so caught off guard by the sensation of being burned alive from the inside out that he had flickered in and out of his physical form for a good half an hour. The Druid that had delivered the blow left him there to die, thinking that his flickering body was a sign that his energy was being dispersed back into the Universe and that he would eventually fade away completely.

He had been wrong. Chaos not only pulled himself together enough to hold a solid form, but he hunted the Druid down and destroyed his entire circle. He caught all twelve of them off guard as the Druid responsible for the memory was regaling his companions with the details of the fight. He had made sure that they knew exactly what had hit them. He wanted each and every one of them to experience the agony that he had been left in.

Simultaneously, twelve tendrils shot forth and plunged themselves into the tops of their heads, pumping the Chaos that existed inside of him right into their own energies. They had all dropped to the ground writhing in agony, their screams swallowed by the surrounding trees.

Their skin began to flake and peel off in large black chunks and their screams ceased shortly after. A well timed breeze blew through the grove and carried what remained of them away.

Chaos smiled briefly at the memory and, after taking in the area to make sure nobody had seen him take flying lessons and vanish, solidified back into his physical form.

“Time for a change in tactic I suppose.” He said to himself as he cracked his neck and let the beast out of its cage.  Defense hadn’t worked out so well thus far, so adding offence to the plan was the next logical step. The risk was higher, but it would need to be done sooner or later.

As black tentacles shot from his aura, he headed back across the street. Not bothering to conceal his energies had sent the green sparks into a frenzy as he approached. Several more dark green tentacles shot out of the side of the shield, reaching for him and causing the air in the street to crackle with their energy.

The Druids who had put the barrier in place had known that something like him would come for what they were protecting. Their lives had most likely been sacrificed in order leave so much energy behind. He was willing to bet that more than one very powerful person had been charged with the task of protecting his prize. The fact that they had died in vain made him feel that much better about what he was about to do.

He put his game face on and charged, closing the distance between himself and the vicious tentacles slashing at his body. He fought back savagely. Dodging what he could, and parrying the rest with tentacles of his own.

Massive amounts of energy flew through the air around him, roaring like thunder every time one of the green tentacles collided with one of his own. As he dodged left and parried a tiny-but-savage green tendril, a rather large branch-sized one smashed into his chest, resulting in another flight, another disappearing act and a feeling like molten lava coursing through his entire being.

He couldn’t tell if it was his rage or the jolt of pure, undiluted energy coursing uselessly through his body, but he felt like he was vibrating on a molecular level. When his limbs failed to follow his instructions, he cursed the glowing assailant for the well placed strike and took another moment to gather himself.

With the ward on high alert, the tendrils reaching out for him did not withdraw this time. They kept feeling the air, probing like a serpent’s tongue. Searching for him.

He reminded himself that he could not risk someone seeing his vanishing act and withdrew to wait until he had the cover of darkness to hide him. The retreat would also give him time to find a way to pop the bubble that was keeping him from moving on to the next phase of his mission.

As he waited for the sun to sink below the horizon, he was glad it hadn’t snowed recently in that particular part of the country. Not that the cold bothered him, he just hated the snow. It was ugly, boring and far too bright. Everything about it made him want to melt it all away. Instantly vanishing snow didn’t tend to bode well with the locals, though. Another lesson learned long ago.