Crystal and the Damned - Possession (6 page)

Sighing, Crystal collapsed against the wall and let herself slide to the floor, sitting on the wall-to-wall carpet of the corridor. She stayed that way for a good half hour thinking, scratching at the carpet with a fingernail. Crushed.

Miranda, who came out of the white living room, where the Paladines had managed to calm Sybil down, found her there, sitting alone in the dark. The little sorceress gluttonously gulped down a piece of apple pie before addressing her.

“Why are you sitting there ?”

“Oh, you know. My life is… hopeless. I’ve been tossed around like a bag that everyone is dragging behind them. And then I tried to live with that. I tried to adapt. To keep my spirits up, hoping that one fine day, if I kept on fighting, life would decide to smile on me. But it isn’t working. I fight and nothing happens. I’m always alone. Happiness doesn’t want anything to do with me. I know what you’ll say – that’s okay ; Prince Dimitri will eventually put an end to my torments.”

“Oh, sweetie, you’re not well. I guess everyone is doing pretty poorly right now. Can I do something for you ? Would a piece of pie make you feel better ? That
always works for me – except for my diet, of course,” Miranda remarked with regret.

“No pie, thank you. On the other hand, do you know anything about love potions ? That could be useful to me.”

Refusing to have that conversation, which in her opinion degraded the image of magic, the sorceress moved away. But Crystal suddenly stopped her, gripped by a flash of understanding.

“Wait. In fact, there is something you can do for me.”

She took Miranda along into the meditation hall in the apartment, the Paladine’s favorite place for working magic. It was a perfectly round room with stone walls, located in the center of the apartment.

The ceiling was peculiar. A cupola of stained glass in indefinable colors, always changing : a rainbow of all possible shades and colors.

“Tell me again what you want, Crys, and try to convince me, because if you don’t I’m going to head for my room and listen to my Norah Jones album.”

“I know that I’m so clueless at combat that you never wanted to let me learn magic. But I was thinking about Prince Dimitri again, and had a burst of inspiration. We should try it.”

“The learning and mastery of magic is a long and painful task,” the sorceress rambled on for what seemed to Crystal to be the hundredth time.

“I’ll be patient. Teach me, it’s the only thing that might still give meaning to my life,” Crystal said dramatically.

Miranda agreed reluctantly and sat down, folding her knees under her and inviting her pupil to do the same.

“Close your eyes and concentrate.”

The young woman complied. The Paladine’s voice resonated and became a murmur : clear, soft, and regular.

“Magic is a union between your essence and the cosmos. Each being has a personal energy connected to eternity and the universe. The energy that is within you is what you use to perform magic.”

The sorceress was abruptly interrupted. Cornelia had just opened the door without warning, sticking her head through the opening.

“Say, girls, do you have a light ? Laugh if you want to, but all the lighters seem to be disappearing lately. Maybe they’re dematerializing.”

Miranda, who wasn’t laughing at all, chased her out. Once calm, she took Crystal’s hands.

“I’m going to help you visualize your energy. Assuming that we’re left in peace for five minutes.”

The young woman breathed in seriously. She put her whole soul into it. After Falada, after Dimitri, after her successive humiliations, she felt as though it were now or never. She had to show everyone. And in spite of the purity that the sorceress transmitted to her, she felt something dark seep into her. Something grand and eternal. She licked her lips and they tasted like blood and power. The world turned and then disappeared. Crystal let go of Miranda’s hands ; her father’s essence roared within her. She wanted it ; she called to it.
Give me the strength
. And an energy, white and obscure, swept through her whole body. She threw her head back, transported.

The Paladine opened her eyes, feeling a slight warmth spread through her hands. She jumped. Crystal was bathed in gold. Around her the light intensified and grew. The cupola that acted as the ceiling had also taken on a golden color. Open-mouthed, the little redhead whispered :

“What the….”

Crystal opened her eyes. She collapsed. The power left her and she became herself again. The light disappeared.

“Oh my God, Miranda. Something happened. My power – I felt it. I finally felt it.”

“Yes, I see it now. It’s within you. It is you. We’ve spent all this time forcing you to fight physically, thinking that you wouldn’t be able to with your mind. We are so stupid. You are gifted, Crys. A future All Powerful… you have their magic.”

Starting that night, things changed. Crystal finally started to accept what she was. She trained with more conviction, and worked furiously alongside Miranda, trying to bury her feelings for Falada.

Only Sybil remained withdrawn. She observed the young woman’s progress from a distance. Glory, on the other hand, seemed satisfied, even though the situation worsened elsewhere.

Prince Dimitri did not reappear in person, but the Order of Hell gained in power. Instead of alarming the Dark Clan, this only led it to increase its activities. Many of the Damned Ones aligned themselves with the Forces of Evil, convinced that they would end up winning the eternal secret war against the bloodline of the All Powerful.

But Crystal did not intend to let her enemies go. Discovering that she had a real gift for magic, she was determined to develop it until she could destroy Dimitri. As her power grew, the terror that she felt with regard to him turned into hatred. She had made her decision. She said nothing to the girls ; from now on, it was a personal matter.

Crystal had sworn to herself that she would kill the monster as soon as she was ready.

It was one of his most beautiful properties and probably one of the best guarded. The mansion, blazing white, rose luxuriously from the middle of an enormous park.

The Dark Prince occupied only a minute part of the building. His private apartments, comprising a single enormous room, consisted of a royal bed opposite a gold-and-white living room.

An hour ago, after a long shower, Dimitri had returned to his room to rest. Now, bare-chested, dressed simply in faded jeans, he contemplated the park from one of the French windows in the living room, a glass of iced vodka in his hand.

Mentally the Prince reviewed the events of the past few months. The members of the Order of Hell were carrying out his instructions to perfection and the families of Damned Ones he was pressuring were submitting one after another. By his estimate, his chances of overthrowing the All Powerful were increasing, not even counting the assistance of his mysterious ally. Even the Dark Clan had ceased
to worry him ; since the death of his father, those imbeciles had never managed to find another leader worthy of the name.

Dimitri sighed and pressed the glass to his forehead. Everything was working out and yet he was not satisfied. Something was bothering him, something….

In a corner of the room, the hissing of the magic mirror attracted his attention. Surprised, he made his way to the mirror, whose substance changed noticeably. In the mirror, the mysterious woman appeared.

“Is something wrong ? I don’t think we don’t have an appointment,” the Prince said with irritation.

“I might ask you the same question, and hello to you, too. What is going wrong ? You disappeared to the other end of the planet for months, and you hardly deign to respond to my calls. You cut short our conversations – you’re avoiding me. I demand an explanation.”

“You know the explanation,” Dimitri retorted, worn out. “The more time passes, the riskier our talking becomes. Everything is unfolding according to plan, and as for the rest, you’re looking for a way to get rid of the All Powerful, and I… I needed to clarify a few things to find a solution to the problem of Crystal.”

In the mirror, the woman gave a hint of a contemptuous grimace.

“Go right ahead, take all the time you need. It’s not as if the girl were developing exceptional gifts in magic. Miranda claims that the brat is hyper-gifted.
If you listened to me, you would return to New York and you would kill the little idiot once and for all.”

“It’s not that easy,” the Prince countered. “The girl cannot compete with me. That being said, how do you want me to bring her down when every time I turn around, I have Glory, Cornelia or Falada on my back ? Crystal is too thoroughly surrounded and too… unpredictable. It’s that human side ; it’s disturbing.”

“That’s all that you can think of to say to me ? I’m plotting day and night to give you access to the little brat and you are thinking about it ?”

“No,” hissed Dimitri, his wicked expression flaring. “I have listened to your blah-blah about her budding powers, I have thought a lot about the current situation and about pretty Crystal. And I’ve found a way to trap her. For her, I’ve removed the magic barriers which prevent the Damned from locating me. She’ll eventually realize that and come to me. She will finally be isolated and on my home turf. I’ll destroy her.”

Beyond the mirror the woman was unable to contain a gesture of horror and astonishment.

“You’re crazy. The girl will lead the others to you.”

“Certainly not,” the Prince wagered. “Crystal will confront me alone. Of that, I’m sure.”

It was with a certain amount of relief that Dimitri ended the conversation. The magic mirror returned to its normal appearance and he finally felt calm. He detested being held to account and in spite of their bond, the woman in the mirror was beginning to put a strain on him. He could not bear having anyone question his actions. A real worry, in this case. Sooner or later he would have to figure something out but what ? It was….

The banging of one of the French windows dragged him away from his thoughts.

Crystal.

She was there. As he had foreseen.

Dimitri suppressed a smile. She was not wearing the regulation combat uniform, but rather a white dress that delineated her delicate, sensual figure. In front of the French window, she gestured with her chin and her full lips glistened.

“Good evening, Prince. I came to tell you that your reign of terror is drawing to a close.”

“I’ve been waiting for you, darling. But if I had known that you would come so quickly, I would have dressed for the occasion.”

Thrown off balance, Crystal gazed at him. Two times she had seen him, two times that she remembered all too well, but never had she really looked at him. For an instant her blue eyes clouded. The Prince of the Underworld was handsome.
Spectacularly handsome for such a vile being. A square face of a lion, with chiseled cheekbones and a strong jaw, his lips firm and cruel, a straight nose, eyes green with profound depths. And his body : perfect, virile, muscled, large, and lean. The Russian male in all its splendor. The young woman swallowed. Her worst enemy was diabolically good-looking. This discovery did nothing but increase her hatred of him.

She shook herself, making her long golden hair dance. Her hand opened, and from a distance she made the statue beside Dimitri explode. The bits of marble fell on the ground with a crash. Unperturbed, the Prince did not move a muscle.

“That’s good, kitten,” he encouraged her, his voice dripping with sex. “You’ve decided to be a naughty girl today. Does your Daddy like that ? Does he ask you to be bad so he can give you a spanking ?”

Crystal gave a start. A shiver ran down her backbone. How could he suggest such horrors ? How could he even imagine them ? For a quarter of a second she had the desire to turn back. What was she doing there ? Lost at the other end of the planet in the lair of this hideous, unwholesome beast. What had gotten into her, that she had sought out such a confrontation ?

“Now what, lamb ? Are you backing down already ? But you were doing so well ! Don’t be shy, show me what Daddy has taught you. Come play with me.” Dimitri provoked her, his lips parted in a vicious, predatory expression.

A bitter taste rose in Crystal’s throat. A brutal awakening after a nightmare without end. She clenched her teeth.

“You want to see, you bastard ? Then watch this !”

Violently, she struck the floor with her foot. The walls shook. With a skeptical raised eyebrow the Prince looked around him.

“So ?”

As her only response, the young woman shot him a taunting smile.

A flash of lightning. All of a sudden, the windowpanes shattered. For an impossible moment, the pieces remained suspended in the void. Interested, Dimitri raised his nose into the air. The splinters of glass, razor sharp, fell on him in a flurry. He extended his hand, and before even reaching it the bits of glass fell to the ground like a rain of diamonds.

“Impressive,” the Dark Prince commented, lightly touching his teeth with the tip of his tongue. “By all means, don’t stop on my account, treasure, you’re exciting me,” he groaned in a deep voice, almost simulating the panting of passion.

Nervously, she threw a gush of energy that he turned aside without apparent difficulty. Dimitri was walking straight at her. She wanted to pull back, but without understanding how, her enemy found his way behind her.
Against her.

Without a word, he closed his hands on her shoulders. A firm touch, dominating, irrevocable. But he did not hurt her. Crystal’s entire body was electrified, from her toes to the tips of her breasts.

His face buried in her hair, the Prince breathed her in.

“Don’t move. One gesture and I’ll kill you. You smell like a baby. Flowers and milk. You know that you turn me on ? Since I heard you masturbating in that bathroom, it’s your angel face that I see when I come.”

Her heart pounding so hard she thought it might burst, she closed her eyes. She did not dare pull away, but she wanted…. God, if she had been able to, she would have chopped this sick bastard in half. It was repulsive.

“Let go of me,” she said coldly.

“Really, kitten ? And here I thought we were getting to know one another.”

Incapable of holding back any longer, she pulled away from his embrace and turned to face him. A flash of ferocity and hatred danced in the pupils of her eyes.

“Touch me one more time, and I swear you will never touch anyone again.”

“Don’t be stupid ; the only hope you have of surviving is if you belong to me !” he growled. “So let yourself go – if not….”

He did not finish his sentence ; the young woman slapped him.

Dimitri stared at her without reacting. The silence descended again. They stayed facing each other for a moment, confronting one another with their stares.

Then Crystal lowered her eyes. She murmured the spell for dematerializing and vanished in a screen of white smoke, rematerializing in her bedroom.

She ran to the bathroom and frenetically splashed cool water over her face. She stood up again, her hands on the basin, head lowered, the water dripping, her makeup leaving black traces on her cheeks.

She looked at herself in the mirror. Tainted. She was tainted. Nausea took over. Without worrying about delicacy she knelt in front of the toilet and raised the lid, breaking two fingernails in the process. Her stomach contracted. She vomited up bile convulsively.

When she had finished relieving herself she drew back vaguely and collapsed further so that she was sitting on the tile floor, her forehead leaning on the basin.

A sound made her turn her head. Falada had just knocked softly on the open bathroom door.

In the dim light they stared at each other. She had barely spoken to him in months. They had never again openly talked about that dreadful scene in the corridor when Falada had rejected her. She had learned to pretend that she did not love him, and the Paladin had pretended that he did not care. But somewhere, deep within him, she had a place in his heart. Seeing her pathetic state, he did not think for a second, but hurried to help her up.

They remained standing, close, hand in hand. Crystal’s eye glistened with sadness. She seemed so young….

“Come here,” murmured Falada. “Just come here….”

She threw her arms around his neck, desperately hanging onto him, and he held her tightly. She let herself go, totally, completely. The Paladin tenderly caressed her hair and her back, sliding his fingers through the golden strands.

“I’m sorry, little flower. You shouldn’t have to suffer all this drama. But I want you to know….” Falada gently detached himself from her and enclosed her face in his hands. He gazed at her with a deep and loving look. “I want you to know that I am here. I will always be here for you.”

“But you don’t want me,” Crystal objected with difficulty. It was more than she could bear for the night. Not him too, not now. How many times did he have to break her heart ?

Letting go of her, the Paladin clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth.

“Would you stop, already ? Do people need to sleep together to love each other ? Does our relationship come down to that for you ? I care about you, I worry about you, I want to be there to protect you ; isn’t that enough for you ?”

Crystal breathed heavily. No, it wasn’t enough. She would have yelled it at him if she had had the strength. She loved him, and being his friend would never be enough. But after her confrontation with Prince Dimitri, she no longer had the
courage to fight. She just wanted a reassuring shoulder, and Falada’s shoulder was the only one she wanted.

“Fine, let’s be friends. But you will never make me believe that there is nothing more between us.”

“Crys, that’s not what’s most important…” the Paladin quarreled ; then, more gently, “Look, this is a horrible moment, and I don’t want to argue at a time like this.”

“A time like this ? Wait… what are you talking about ?”

Falada’s eyes filled with gravity.

“About Sybil. What else would I be talking about ?”

“Sybil ? What’s the matter with her – is she depressed again ?”

“She’s dead,” announced the Paladin, more bluntly than he would have preferred.

Crystal reeled as if she had just received a blow to the head.

“What ?”

“Sybil committed suicide. Because of what happened to her daughter, because of the abductions of children that have started again, because she couldn’t do anything about them. She shut herself in her room, saying that she wanted to rest. We found her half an hour ago. Too late. She slit her wrists.”

Crystal remained petrified. The world collapsed around her. Vertigo filled her. Nothingness. She put her hand to her lips.

“Oh my God….”

Falada lowered his head, then warily put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her toward the white living room. She let herself be led as easily as a robot. On the way, her Paladin was unable to spare her the coarse, dreary vision of Sybil’s body spread out on the bed, a bloodbath, her flesh slashed from her wrists to her elbows.

The young woman screamed and he hid her against his body, forcing her head against his neck with one hand, guarding her from the reality of this desperate and useless suicide. The Paladines surrounded them. Crystal did not hear them, just a buzzing noise. The world seemed to lose its consistency.
Death.
But in that nothingness, Falada held her.

Delicately a hand detached her from the Paladin.

Her chin trembling, Crystal regretfully abandoned Falada’s chest and opened her eyes.
I don’t want to see. I don’t want to know
. It was Cornelia who held her hand. The Paladine’s face was marked with sadness. She seemed almost old.

“Sweetie, your father just arrived. He’s waiting for you in the living room, come on.”

“My father ? But…” she started in a hushed voice. Then she shrugged her shoulders and let herself be led off by her friend. After all, the All Powerful coming was rather predictable. The girls had always told Crystal that her father never left the island. He had not even come looking for her when she was still human. But then again, how many of his Paladines had voluntarily ended their lives ?