Sacrifice (25 page)

“Seriously?”

“Beth, don’t make me order you.” I demanded, lightly with a chuckle.

“Sure, doll. I’ll meet you in the lobby.”

Evangelia was already waiting for me. She was chatting with the doorman when the elevator boy pulled back the gate and I stepped out of the elevator.

“Hello Cordelia.” Evangelia said, sizing me up in my silk chemise.

“Hello Evangelia. And it’s Delia, please.” I corrected her as I opened my clutch and took out my car key.

“Lia then? Evangelia smiled and I smiled back at her.

“Benny, could you bring my car around please?” I asked the doorman.

“Certainly, Miss Tieron.”

“Oh, we can take my car.” Evangelia chirped.

“That’s alright, Benny’s already gone.”

The huge glass doors swung open and in walked Bethany. She looked annoyed. “Where’s Benny?”

“Oh gods forbid if you have to open your own doors.” I chuckled and Evangelia tried to smile.

“If the gods knew, they would forbid it.” Bethany said and gave Evangelia an icy once-over.

Benny pulled up to the curb with the Phantom and held the door for each of us to step in. We rode in silence and I’m sure Evangelia wished she hadn’t planned this little shopping spree. The sales girl greeted us the moment we came into the dress parlor. Evangelia chose a few gowns to try on while Bethany and I shopped for accessories.

“Why do you suppose she invited you? She barely said a word in the car.” Bethany peered at me and picked up a pair of satin gloves to try on.

“Perhaps she feels we should get to know each other better.”

“I guess the more time she spends with you, the less time she’ll spend with my brother. But then you’ll spend less time with him too.” Bethany smirked. I hadn’t thought of that.

“Is that what you think it is?”

“I don’t know. You’re the one who reads minds. What she been thinking?” Bethany leaned over the glass case that enclosed the clutch handbags.

“Believe me I’ve tried to get into that head and I’m afraid she’s been well trained in walling off her thoughts.”

“Something about her irks me. I’m still trying to figure out what took her so long to get to the mine, the day you revealed her to… the elders,” Bethany said solemnly. “Everyone knows that we have a minute to appear in council. Where was she?”

“I don’t know. I thought it was strange too, but figured that she wasn’t used to the whole assembly thing.”

“I don’t get it.” Bethany shrugged, but kept her eyes on my face. “The first day she – the long lost daughter of the Ischero, who just happens to despise our empire for banishing her parents, arrives for council, for the very first time – late, and
somehow
the Apolluon turn up there for the first time as well.” Bethany concluded.

“I don’t understand what you’re getting at Beth.” I said dropping a sapphire broche back onto the velvet tray and staring at Bethany, who stared right back. “That was a coincidence.”

“You and I both know that in our world, there are no such things as coincidences.” Bethany said knowingly.

“Are you saying that Evangelia had something to do with the Apolluon finding a way into the quarry?” I asked with shock lacing my voice.

“Don’t you find it just strange that they found a way in?”

“Of course, but–” I began.

“It makes perfect sense. She hates our empire. She wants revenge. She lures the Apolluon in. The elders are smothered. Perfect plan,” she said slapping her hands repeatedly as if she just finished a hard day’s work.

“Alright, let’s say you’re right, which I doubt very much that you are. How could she have known that the Apolluon would go for the easiest target?”

“I don’t think she knew they were. I don’t think she cared who was dragged away to Hades’ realm. I doubt that the details mattered. She would’ve been happy if everyone perished,” she said angrily. I let the notion swirl around in my head for a minute.

Could Evangelia have alerted the Apolluon? I played the events of the meeting again in my head for the thousandth time since losing the elders that awful way. Every member had been in the mine for at least five minutes before she arrived. Why hadn’t she shown up when Victor had? Surly, he would have escorted her. Moreover, how could she alert the Apolluon and not be smothered herself? There was no way that she could have exhibited her power in public and escaped the shadows. She would have been smothered, instantly. The Apolluon would never wait to be invited into a mine.

No, it didn’t make sense. Bethany was reaching and I felt horrible for doubting Evangelia. This was all new – the structure of the empire and living out in the open, to her. She seemed genuinely interested in making a new life within the empire.

“Beth, you’re wrong.”

“I really hope so, or we’re all doomed,” she snapped.

“Let’s just give her a chance, alright? She deserves one. I think that, over time, you’ll see that I’m right. She seems to be trying to fit in.”

“Dandy!” Bethany cheered as she grabbed a hold of my arm. “So she shows up about a week ago, out of the blue – all stunning and innocent, sets her sights on her betrothed, needing instruction on something she naturally knows how to do – teleporting, and we don’t know if she’s plotting.”

“What do you mean by she knows how to teleport? Does she?” I asked in a hushed tone, as the sales girl smiled at me.

“She already knew how to when Evan started her lessons. I saw them in our ballroom the first time she came over.” Bethany said, with a raised brow. “She played the ‘damsel with no strengths’ perfectly.

“What exactly did you see?” My body broke out into a sweat and my mind raced with ideas. I saw the exchange of a kiss, a full embrace, and heard the whispers of sweet nothings.

“Are you sure that you want to hear this?” Bethany said trying on an extra-long strand of pearls. “I’ll take this as well” She handed the young woman behind the counter the necklace.

“You know I do!” I hissed.

“Alright, alright. Well, as I said before, she played the part. She would try to teleport and she would disappear for a second, maybe two. Then she would reappear.”

“And…” I spun my hand around in a circular motion so that Bethany would continue.

“When she reappeared, she would fall right into Evan’s arms. This went on for a while, with her pretending that she had no idea why she couldn’t teleport properly.”

“When in fact she was seeing herself in his arms, therefore that’s where she would land.”

“Where who landed?” Evangelia asked, innocently, as she stepped in beside me and peered over Bethany’s shoulder as if approving her choices.

“Hedea. She… uh lands wherever she points that beak.” Bethany said to save me.

Evangeline wore heels, yet I never heard her click her way over to us. Sneaky, little…

“Will you have the gown delivered?” I asked, noticing that there wasn’t a sales girl trailing her with a large box.

“No. Actually, I have a couple choices and would love it if you gave me your opinion.”

“I didn’t know that mine mattered.” I smiled and followed her to the spacious dressing room.

“Pick the least attractive one. No need to increase the chances of Evan ogling her.” Bethany whispered. “I’ll be in the shoe department.”

Evangelia insisted that I follow her into the dressing room. There were three dresses hanging on the dressing screen. She put on the first, a scarlet red ball gown. The second she turned around, I felt my stomach twist into a knot. I couldn’t allow her to leave the store with that one. I shook my head. I shook my head again when she floated over in the second one, a frilly lavender gown that looked as if it had been made for her.

Evangelia faced me, my eyes bulged, and I stopped breathing for a few seconds. If only I had been smart about this and waited until she put on the last one before passing judgment on the first two gowns. With this particular gown, she would be irresistible to every male attending this gala. Unfortunately, I was late in controlling my initial reaction and the expression on my face gave me away.

“This one is my favorite too.” Evangelia sighed and twirled three feet in the air.

“Well that’s the most hideous thing I’ve ever seen. You can’t dare to wear that.” Bethany said as she shut the door behind her. Evangelia grounded herself back to the floor. Her eyes widened and her face froze.

My jaw clenched in anger at Bethany, knowing exactly what she was doing. I was also ashamed of myself for having done the same thing.

“What’s your problem?” Evangelia asked as she glared at Bethany. I admired her guts to stand up to Bethany, immediately.

“I haven’t made up my mind about you and how alike you and your brother are,” she said and glared back at Evangelia.

“What have you got against my brother?”

Bethany paused for a second as her sky blue eyes clouded with a painful memory. She’ll never forget how monstrous he once was and falling victim to Victor’s gift of the Chameleon. I couldn’t blame her.

“I know your loving brother very well and here’s a bit of advice. Make your own choices, don’t fall prey to his agenda, unless… it’s yours, too.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Your brother is a power horde and he wants what doesn’t belong to him. You both are cut from the same boar skin your godly father drapes over himself.”

“I always knew there would be opposition against me and my brother from the empire.” Evangelia’s eyes burned with red and orange flames. “It’s why I never wanted any part of it.”

“Then leave!” Bethany snarled. Her crimson eyes glowed, brightly. “Go back under the stone where you two snakes had hid for so long.”

In the blink of an eye, Evangelia shifted into fire and Bethany was smothered within the flames. Bethany transformed into a water form as her pale chemise melted away in the blaze. She hoisted Evangelia over her head and the water doused some of the flames, exposing Evangelia’s skin. Then Bethany tossed her in the air. The dressing screen and the two dresses hanging over it caught on fire just as Evangelia smashed into the large, oval mirror hanging on the wall.

The deafening crash could be heard throughout the dress department. Ice cold water splashed everywhere as Bethany spun passed me. However, the fire starter was faster. She back-flipped over the siren and engulfed her with flames, again, and Bethany began to boil from the heat of the blaze.

“I demand you both to stop!” I yelled, just as the shop girl walked into the dressing room. Her jaw dropped and her eyes widened as she let the gowns slip out of her hands and onto the floor.

I slammed the door with my mind, trapping her in the room. I was certain that the sight of fire and water battling each other was shocking, but what had to be beyond comprehension was that both elements were in the shape of human beings. Suddenly, the shop girl looked up at the ceiling. A black smoky fog sifted through the crack between the ceiling and the base of the chandelier.

“Oh my god! The building is on fire!” The shop girl screamed, but I knew better.

The Apolluon shadows rolled down the walls like a theatre curtain. The opaque vapors moved rapidly, snaking their way through the dressing room. My body trembled and my temperature rose. My fingertips burned for a second as the lightning crackled and shot out of them in elongated, crooked, thorny rays and nearly blinded the sales girl. She shielded her eyes with her arm. Oddly, she didn’t scream. She just shook uncontrollably and cowered in the corner.

The Apolluon hissed and swerved trying to avoid being torched by the lightning. The hissing sound began to sound more like words. I couldn’t be certain due to the banging and kicking on the other side of the dressing room door, but I believe the demons said, “Di…vin…ity, di…vin…ity.”

I forced the heat out of me and more bolts surged to the ceiling. The shadows recoiled back through the tiny space in the ceiling and back to wherever they came from. Once they were gone, I caught my breath. Strangely, there was a pounding in my head and the walls were coming closer. I held my head in my hands. The detached feeling only lasted a moment or two. Meanwhile, Bethany and Evangelia peeled themselves off the wall – where they had stayed in order to be clear of the Apolluon’s deathly path.

“Are you two satisfied?” I asked, with a raised brow.

“I– I’m sorry, Delia,” Bethany whispered.

“I am too, Cordelia,” Evangelia added. I glared at them, wanting to slap them both, severely.

The sales girl reminded me of her presence in the room when I stepped back into the puddle on the floor. At first I thought it was from Bethany, but remembered that the water was a part of her and that the siren never left a drop behind. I doubt she knew that she had an accident. The poor mortal sat with her knees to her chest and her arms wrapped around her, utterly shaken.

              I knelt down in front of her and she flinched, closed her eyes, and began chanting words that I assumed was some kind of prayer to the fictitious god these mortals always referred to.

              “Open your eyes,” I demanded, lightly. The sales girl kept her eyes shut and shook her head violently.

              “I’m not going to hurt you, I promise Elizabeth, is it? Now do as I say, and open your eyes, sweetie,” I said in a firm whisper. The banging on the doors had increased in a serious attempt to break it down.

              The sales girl nodded slowly, confirming that her name was Elizabeth, and opened her eye.

              “Good. Now listen to me carefully,” I said, keeping my voice steady. “When you came in here, the room was empty and for some reason, unknown to you, the door wouldn’t open. You don’t know how the mirror got smashed, you don’t remember seeing any of us enter this dressing room, and you don’t remember seeing the dark shadows. Do you understand me?”

              “Yes, I understand,” Elizabeth said, shaking her head up and down as the Glamour seeped into her mind and erased everything she saw. She’ll be better off and won’t need to see a professional about the nightmares that would haunt her for the rest of her life.

              “When you came into the dressing room…” I said, prompting Elizabeth.