Crimson Echo (39 page)

“Just a little something I picked up in Dubai,” she smirked. “It’s one of my newest acquirements.”

“Mom, I have to help him.” I heard Sabrina yell in the background.

“He can take care of himself.” Aurora shot back.

“But the twins, they could use their power.” Kane murmured.

Illyria slinked toward Stefan and hissed. “
What’s the matter? Not as fast as you thought you were?”

          
Her back was to me now as she marveled at her newest gift. I learned later that the gift she had picked up enabled her to absorb other people’s powers. Riveted by her slight victory, I knew it was now or never. I eyed a large chunk of plywood and tip-toed to it. I tried to control my breathing as the adrenaline coursed through my veins. I reached down to grab the plank and noticed my hands trembling.

        
I held the wooden board securely in my hands and charged at Illyria. I didn’t stop running until I heard a clunk. Illyria slumped over and sank to the ground holding the back of her head. The vibration in the board stung my hands and I dropped it. It was like hitting a brick wall with a metal baseball bat. The blow to the back of the head must have interrupted her focus, because Kane was now running at full speed toward her. His eyes were narrowed and the blue had faded to a darker red. His eyes were like a mood ring that way—I always knew how he was feeling, just by how blue they were.

          
Kane tackled her to the ground and with a growl ripping through his throat he slammed her against what was left of the wooden floor of the gazebo. She didn’t even flinch as he struck her across the face. Her dark ringlets fanned out, cascading around her. On her face was an evil grin and a tiny laugh escaped her crimson lips.

“Just like old times, huh?”
She whispered again, making sure I could hear her.

“There were never old times, you’re s
ick, you need help.” He yelled as he kneeled over her.

         
A tear rolled down her cheek—something I never imagined seeing her do. “Just admit that there was something between us. I know there was a spark before she came along.” She lifted her head in my direction.

“Illyria, I won’t do it.
This has gone on far too long. Can’t you see how the magic is affecting you? It’s turned you in to a monster. I won’t entertain this little idea of yours any longer.”

She took a deep breath to calm herself. “Well, I know what I have to do then.” She pushed him off
of her with all her strength and he landed a few feet away in a crouch. “If I can’t have you, than neither can she!” She casually strolled to where I was standing and her eyes looked me over from head to toe.

           
I looked around the backyard at all of the chaos and I knew I needed to run, but my feet wouldn’t let me. Kane was still crouched in the attack position. Stefan was in the corner wrapping a large strip of fabric around his shoulder. Kole, Kaleb, Sabrina and Aurora were still on guard around Jackson— trying to talk some sense into him. Kane started to fade behind a blue shimmer, but before he could completely disappear Illyria stopped him.

“Don’t even try it Kane. Come any closer and she
dies.” She said in a cold tone as she grabbed me.

“
Die?” I whispered.

          
The word echoed in my head as I looked over at Kane. I didn’t expect this kind of an outcome. At the most I figured she would knock me around a bit and bruise me up pretty good just for show, but I didn’t think she would actually kill me just to hurt Kane. If she was bluffing her poker face was good and she definitely had me convinced.

The last thing I saw was Kane pouncing at us with fury in his eyes.

“Kane, no!” I shouted.

                                                            
    Chapter Sixteen

                                                                    
The Hostage

        
   I felt the familiar tingles all over my skin again and the rush of fear had the hair on my arms sticking up. Everything around me was dark— it was all consuming. My stomach was doing flip-flops like I was on a rollercoaster hitting the incline before I spun out into a black hole.

           My knees went
weak and buckled under my weight sending me to the ground in a heap. The darkness finally retreated and objects became clearer as I lay sprawled out against the cold tile floor of an abandoned house. My eyes fluttered trying to spot Kane, but he was nowhere to be found.

           
The handful of strangers in the dark room gawked at me like I was something they had never seen before.  They all had a primal, feline way about them.  My eyes focused on the strangers now, they looked more like a band of carnies than a coven of witches. Their clothes were flashy with lots of leather and fur. It was obvious they didn’t care to blend in and they cared even less for human life.

            
I scanned the room looking for a tool or weapon to use if it came to that. I had to have a plan. I was going to be smart about this and I wouldn’t give up that easily. If I died, I was taking a few of them down with me. The room was poorly lit with a tiny fire in the middle of the floor. It appeared to be a small house, minus all the welcoming attributes of a home.

In the far corner I spotted Illyria pacing back and forth, worry painted her expression.

“Where are we?” I choked out, my throat dry. “What do you want with me?”

She stomped toward me
and I backed into a set of cabinet drawers. “You’re in no position to be asking questions, are you?” She bent down over me and breathed in my face.

“You won’t get away with this, Kane won’t allow it.” I shot back.

“I’m counting on it.”

“You’r
e count…” I started to question and then I realized what she needed me for. “I’m just the bait?”

“Nothing gets by you.”
She rolled her eyes.

“But you could have had him back at the manor, what do you need me for?”

“I want him on my turf with no pesky family members to interfere. Knowing Kane like I do, he’ll come here by himself to save you and we’ll be waiting.”

“You’re a monster!” I screamed as the tears started to roll down my cheeks.

“Be that as it may, I’m still more powerful than you and you’d be smart to watch your tongue.”

            I glared at her and then looked away to the six, bald men in brown robes sitting along the wall by the door. They all sat motionless with glassy-eyed stares
, like they were in a trance. There was one man on the end that looked up at me when he noticed my staring. In the dim light I could see black markings all over their faces. It looked like tattoos or some kind of tribal marks.

“Can we talk girl to girl?” She grabbed my face.

I ignored her question as I yanked my face free from her grip.

“Splendid. I want to tell you a story. Once upon a time… Is that cliché? Oh well, once upon a time there was a girl, let’s call her Illyria and she was in love with a boy named… Kane.  He was from a family of powerful witches and she was from a family of lesser witches. When she laid her eyes on him she knew she had to have him. She spent years devoted to him, fighting alongside him without any regard for her own life, as long as he lived that was all that mattered. They were perfect for each other in every way and then a simple little girl showed up and wrecked everything. Sure, we had our…battles, but we could have repaired that if she hadn’t shown up. That wasn’t the only time she showed up and caused problems. With every visit Kane grew fonder of her until he was obsessed with finding this time traveler. Her anger over the loss of this man turned her heart cold and bitter. She turned to a life that was no longer constrained by rules and guidelines and she knew the only way to get over him was to kill him and that’s what she set out to do, but once again the time traveler interfered and saved him. Are you catching on yet?”

“You think I’m this time traveler?” I asked. “But, I don’t even have powers.”

“That’s what you keep saying.” She sighed as she pushed me against the wall.

“If I traveled back in time to see Kane wouldn’t he have mentioned it to me?”

“No,” she paused and stared at me blankly. “I erased every part of you from his memory, but that didn’t stop him from finding you.”

I looked away from her
as I began to realize what she was capable of.

“Illyria, I think that’s enough.” Jackson said entering the room. I had forgotten about him in the chaos of Illyria’s wake.

“I still don’t get why you think I’m the time traveler. That has nothing to do with me.”

“She has everything to do with you.” She glared at me.

“But I’m not a time traveler. I’m not even a witch.” I tried to explain once more.

“I don’t know what you are exactly, but I plan to figure it out.”  Her gri
p tightened around my throat.

“I don’t have any powers
!” I said again. “But I can guarantee that Kane won’t let you live long enough to find out.”

            My hands immediately shot up and covered my mouth. I wasn’t sure where the courage to speak so bluntly to the woman who had my life in her hands came from. After I got over the initial shock of what I had said, I decided to roll with it and see how far it could get me.

“Insolent child,” She seethed. “I’ve brought cities to ruin with a flick of my wrist, caused famine and plague with a single thought. You may have a family of witches behind you, but I have experience on my side.”

“Did you steal that from a greeting card?”

            As she promised, I was thrown against the far wall with nothing more than a flick of her wrist. My arms locked at my waist and my feet were ensnared by invisible shackles. She pounced in my direction and stopped as soon as her nose touched mine. Her hand knotted in my hair and yanked so that my ear was near her mouth. She sniffed a trail from my collar bone to my jaw in a quick, fluid motion.

“Don’t think for a minute that I won’t kill you.” She whispered.

I pushed away from the wall, but my arms and feet didn’t budge. “Let me go!” I yelled.

“I’ll let you go,” she lau
ghed. “I’m just getting warmed up.” With a wave of her hand I dropped to my knees and my hair whipped around slapping me in the face.

“What is this?” She asked, starring at me. “Jackson, do you see this?

           He quickly walked over to stand beside her as his long black trench coat rippled out behind him. He looked like he was contemplating something. Illyria took a closer look at the back of my neck and then looked back at Jackson. As they exchanged glances I pulled my hair back over my shoulder.

“The only mark I’ve seen like that was on the…” He cut himself off as he looked suspiciously at Illyria. “That’s why they protect you, isn’t it? It’s brilliant. You would be so valuable to their coven.”

“It looks like I was wrong.” Illyria turned my head forcefully to the side. “You may be worth more alive.”

“Is this even possible?” Jackson asked as he touched the sun-shaped birthmark on the back of my neck.
“Ouch, she shocked me.” He brought his finger to his mouth and sucked on it.

“I
…
shocked you?” I stuttered. 

“Do you think it’s a trick?” He looked at Illyria.

“It could be. I wouldn’t put it past Kane to put a protection spell on her.”

“Jackson, I need to speak with you immediately.” A woman who went by the name of Emma murmu
red as she entered the room. She wore a long dress that flowed as she came through the door and her long, black hair swept behind her like she was standing in front of a fan.

“Well, spit it out.” He gestured his arms for her to hurry up.

She eyed me cautiously.

“Emmaline, darling, we’re all family around here. If you have something to say, you can share it with all of us.”

“Okay, but…I just thought you should know that the Evans’ are trying to break through my cloak. There’s more than one, maybe six, could be eight. It keeps changing.”

“Are they here?” He smiled.

“No, not yet,” She narrowed her eyes at me. “They’re about a mile away. I hope you have a good plan because there’s a whole lot of trouble coming our way.”

“Good work, now go back outside and keep your guard up until I give you further instructions.”
He gave her a push.

She rolled her eyes at him and wheeled around on the balls of her feet and stomped out much slo
wer than before.

“
Minions,” he scoffed. “So willing to fight for a cause they know nothing about.”

“Why do you want to hurt your family?” I asked.

“Stupid girl, you really don’t get it at all, do you? I guess it wouldn’t hurt to give you a little history lesson.” He looked around to make sure Illyria was across the room and then kneeled down in front of me and whispered. “Illyria and I were to be married. It was all arranged by our parents.” He continued. “But Illyria selfishly wanted Kane as well. I gave her an ultimatum and she foolishly chose Kane. When she finally realized that he didn’t feel the same way about her, she lost it. She crossed over to the dark side.”