Crimson Echo (42 page)

“Can I get some fire power
over here?” Sabrina asked Kane.

           
Kane threw an orb of flames her way and using nothing but her mind Sabrina flung the fire at Illyria. It clipped her shoulder and knocked her down with sheer force. Kole and Kaleb split into four and gave each other a devilish grin as they got ready to go into action.

“Is she here, can you feel her?” Sabrina searched the room
with her eyes.

“Yes, I can feel her, but I can’t tell where she is. Can you break down the force field?”

“I’m already on it.” She nodded, pressing her fingers against her temples.

“Mom, you’re on!” Kane yelled.

            Aurora appeared with a small vile full of glowing, green liquid. She threw it as hard as she could at Jackson and watched as it sizzled at his feet. I half expected him to melt or at least implode, but I should have known that no mother could do that to her own child.

“Kole,
Kaleb, your turn.” Kane nodded at them and smiled as they jumped into action.

            
Both sets of the twins ran faster than I had ever seen them run before. They dashed in opposite directions around Illyria creating a whirlwind around her. Illyria tried to teleport out of the cyclone, but the twins were too quick. The faster Kole and Kaleb went, the louder it became. It was like there was a wind storm inside of the abandoned house.

“Sabrin
a, how’s it coming?” Kane screamed over the whooshing of the wind.

“The witch is strong,” she said through clenched teeth, before dropping to her knees. “But she’s no match for me.”

            Emma’s breathing became labored and her fingers squeezed tighter against her forehead, so I knew it was working. I felt sorry for her— she couldn’t have been any older than me. She began humming as she rocked back and forth in the corner of the room. I wanted to kneel down beside her and talk her out of protecting Illyria and Jackson, but I was still chained to the wall by the invisible shackles.

           
Meanwhile, Illyria absorbed Sabrina’s power and hurled bolts of electricity at the twins as they circled her. The bolts bounced off of them and shocked her. She tried fire next, but she was slowly being deprived of oxygen by the man-made tornado.

Jackson
waved his hand in the air and then glared at Aurora when nothing happened. “What have you done to me?” He hissed.

“I’ve bound your powers,” she frowned. “I’m sorry it had to be like this, but there’s no other way to get through to you.”

“You think you can just take away my powers like I’m child?”

“Jackson, I’ll fight for you because that’s what a mother does, but I won’t allow you to destroy this family.”

“You’ll be sorry you ever did this.” He yelled.

           
Their argument was drowned out by the whooshing of debris flying around the room. The six minions hurried out the door without as much as a look over their shoulder and I yanked at the shackles trying to get free. Emma, now dropped to her knees and clenched her eyes tight together, her breath came in deep, ragged gasps. 

          
Illyria slumped to the ground in the center of the room as she held her throat and coughed. After the twins made six more loops around her she finally passed out. The two sets of twins slowed to a stop, but remained as four just in case any other threats loomed. My arms fell to my sides and I realized I was free from the constraints. I touched the hazy film that trapped me and it sent me reeling against the same wall I had been chained to. 

“I feel her, s
he’s somewhere in this area.” Kane said as he touched the silver, milky shield. He stepped back until he was beside Sabrina again.

“I can’t hold this much longer!” Emma groaned.

“Tristan, if you can hear me, I want you to get down as low as you can and don’t move.” He rubbed his hands together until smoke formed between them. The smoke rose and swirled around my cage, but never penetrated.

“Do you see the edges of her shield?” Kane asked Sabrina as a smile crept across his face.

Sabrina nodded without saying a word.

             He formed a small inferno in his palm and wound his arm up like he was about to throw a baseball. The flames came fast at my face and then bounced back at him busting through the kitchen window. They came quicker now, scattering in all directions— lighting up the entire room, like a large bonfire.  I crouched low to the ground and covered my face, only peeking through my fingers.

            I coughed as smoke began to fill the entire room. The beams in the ceiling caught fire and rapidly spread throughout the whole house. With each fireball that Kane threw the house lit up even more. My eyes began to water as the smoke took over my vision.

“I can’t hold it anymore.” Emma looked down at me. “I’m sorry about all of this.”                             

           
I heard a bone chilling scream and I immediately looked to my right to see Emma coated in flames. Within seconds she went up in a puff of smoke, there was a black outline where she stood. The shield was gone and Sabrina blankly stared at Kane with her mouth hanging open.

“What happened to no bloodshed?”
Sabrina put her hands on her hips to show her disapproval.

“I…I didn’t me
an, that wasn’t supposed to…” Kane couldn’t form a complete sentence.

“We’ve got Tristan
back safe and sound, that’s the important thing.” Aurora tried to lighten the situation.

            I looked around the room
at all of the destruction and sighed. Finally it was over. I noticed Kole and Kaleb guarding Illyria’s lifeless body and Jackson passed out not too far from her. Kane held out his arms and looked at me with a forced smile. I started to run to him and then stopped as I looked back at Illyria.

“This is for kidnapping me,” I kicked Illyria in the stomach. “And this is for killing me!”

            As I slumped to the ground to try and catch my breath, I began to cry when I realized it was finally over. Kane pulled me to my feet and held me tight. At last I felt safe in his arms, knowing his embrace was the only place that truly felt like home to me.

“You’re safe now, Tristan. You won’t have to worry about her ever again.” He kissed me

“My knight in shining leather.”
I breathed, echoing an earlier sentiment. Kane laughed and kissed me again.  The last thing I remembered was a beam falling from the ceiling and then darkness encroached on me.

                                                          Chapter seventeen

                                                                    Aftermath

             The smell of rubbing alcohol invaded my nostrils and the searing pain in my scalp had me lurching forward. My eyes flew open and I half expected Illyria to be torturing me again. I looked around the room to get an idea of where I was and then I saw Sabrina and Stefan playing a game of chess against Kole and Kaleb in the center of the living room floor.

            Then I saw Kane’s
beautiful, perfect face and his angelic smile. He was at my side stroking my hand and Aurora was on the other side of me closing the bottle of alcohol. She grabbed the roll of gauze at my side, gave me a smile and then headed to the kitchen.

“It’s
okay, we were just redressing your wounds.” He frowned. “You’ve got some pretty nasty battle scars.”

I reached for the stinging spot at my crown.

“Don’t touch it.” He pulled my hand into his.

“What happened?”

He stifled a laugh. “You fainted… again.”

“How long was
I out?” I ran my fingers through his hair.

“A little over twenty four hours.”
He shook his head. “You’ve had a rough couple of days.”

“Eh, it wasn’t that bad. I think I held my own.”

“It wasn’t that bad?” He sat up and looked at me. “You nearly died. No, I take that back, you did die.”

“But I came back.” I answered casually.

“This is serious.” His voice rose. “Either you’ve had one too many blows to the head or you just don’t care.”

“Of course I care, but I’m alive and that’s all that matters.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever understand the way you look at things.” He murmured.

“Is everyone alright?” I asked, looking around the room again. “No one was hurt, were they?”

“We all got out of there unscathed.” He assured me.

“What happened to Stefan?” I whispered as I noticed him looking over at me. “I don’t remember seeing him with the rest of you.”

“He went to get back
up, but he had more trouble than he thought he would.”

“Well, I’m glad he’s back.”

“We’re glad
you’re
back, mom was pretty worried about you.”

“M
om,” I remembered my own mother, she was probably frantic by now. “Has she called? Does she know what happened?”

“It’s all taken care of. Your parents think you’re in your room, sick with the flu.”

“How…” I stopped myself when Kane arched his eyebrow and a smirk formed on his lips. “It’s still taking some time to get used to all the things you can do.”

He laughed and pushed the hair off of my forehead. He eyed the side of my face and caressed the tender spot I had there.

“You know my mom can get rid of these for you. I tried to convince her to do it before you woke up, but she wanted to give you the option.”

I shook my head. “My first battle wounds, I think I’ll wear them with pride.”

“I wish you wouldn’t.” He disagreed in a frustrated tone.

My memory dredged up the events of the past forty eight hours. I cringed as Illyria’s face took center stage in my mind.

Kane looked me in the eyes, worry creased his forehead. “What is it?”

“Illyria, is she dead?”

“She won’t hurt you again.”

“And Jackson, what about him?”

“You’re safe, I promise. I’ll never let anyone hurt you ever again.” He murmured.

  
        I looked down to check the rest of my body for more bruises and I noticed my clothes had been changed. My tattered bride’s maid dress was replaced with a pair of jeans, a white shirt and a brand new pair of sneakers.

“Sabrina’s idea,” he tugged at my pant leg. “She thought you’d be more comfortable in regular clothes.”

“Oh,” I looked over at her and Stefan. “That was nice of her.”

“Well now that you’re awake, I should probably get you home. I'm sure you miss your own bed.”

“No, I like it here.” I grew flustered trying to convince him that there was nowhere I would rather be. “I mean…if you don’t mind, I would like to stay here a little while longer.”

“You can stay here as long as you like.”

             I felt like he was trying to get rid of me, like he was trying to say goodbye. I was more afraid that if I left he wouldn’t stay. I wanted to keep him in my sight for as long as I could, just to make sure he didn’t disappear on me. The more I thought about the likelihood of Kane wanting me, the less I could wrap my head around it. How could someone so perfect and beautiful love
me
?

“What’s going on in there?” Kane caressed my forehead, letting his fingers slide down the side of my face.

“You know nothing ever goes on in here.” I tapped the place his hand had just been.

He glared at me.

“I was just thinking that with all we have been through, I still can’t believe you’re real.” I shrugged. “I feel like I’m going to wake up and all of this will have been a dream.”

“If you’re dreaming, you should definitely seek a shrink.” He laughed. “I promise you I’m not going anywhere.”

            Carefully, gently, I scooted forward to the edge of the table and pressed my lips to his. His skin was as hot as the sun, but I didn’t care. After noticing the family staring at us, I pulled away from Kane and my cheeks filled with warmth. I had Kane safe and sound in my arms and that would be enough for the time being.

“How are Sabrina and Stefan doing?” I whispered as I turned away from them.

“They’re okay now. I think Stefan has finally forgiven her for throwing him through the gazebo.” He laughed.

“
She scared the crap out of me. Remind me not to make her mad.” I whispered, only half joking.

“Her bark is a lot worse than her bite.”

“The wedding,” I remembered. “It’s all my fault. If I hadn’t been there, maybe Jackson wouldn’t have attacked.”

“Tristan, don’t be absurd.
He came here looking for a fight.” Kane assured me. “He would’ve attacked whether you were here or not.”