The Light of the World (29 page)

"
LOOK!"

I look around the room. I'm confused and
scared.

On the wall in the far right corner is something
that breaks my heart and lifts me up instantly.
I run to the wall and pull the sword off. It's a Katana. It's my
Katana. The silver sword gleams, just as it did the day they took
it out of me. I shiver remembering the feeling of the sword being
pulled from my side. Memories flood my mind.

Wyatt's mother, Gretel, was the one who pulled
it from my side. The sheath is on a shelf below it. I grab it and
sheath the sword. I pull the matching dagger from the wall and hold
it. There is a shelf of belts and harnesses. I grab a belt and put
it on. My body is twitching and shivering. Excitement and fear are
rolling around inside of me like storm clouds.

I slide the dagger into the belt hilt and carry
my sword. Weapons line the walls. Daggers, swords, maces, axes,
nunchucks, arrows, bows, cleavers, knives, polearms, and spears.
Guns with wooden bullets and silver bullets fill an entire
shelf.

The room freaks me out. There is no doubt a
weapon for every kind of creature. A silver knife for the throat of
the Nixie, a wooden bullet for the vampires and a silver spear for
a shifter. Leather armor and metal armor fill the far side of the
wall. Special armor is encased in glass. I recognize it
somehow.

I want out.

I turn and walk to the door quietly.

I peer out. Nothing moves in the hall.

The dead whisper and sparkle in the air around
me. They want me to follow them a different way.

They trickle over to where a huge brick
fireplace and chimney are.

"PRESS THE STAR TO SEE THE STARS!"

I sigh and close the door. "You guys are
annoying."

I walk to the huge fireplace. I see a small sign
that reads,
'Caress a star to see the stars and find eternal
love'

I look around for the star but see nothing.

I hear a noise in the hall. The dead cluster
their sparkles around a picture across the room.

It's tiny and black and white. I squint to see
the picture. It's a man and a woman sitting on a hillside with the
moon in front of them. You can only see the backs of the man and
the woman. I look closer. It's Fitz and Willow. I'd recognize the
daisy chain on her head anywhere.

There is a single star in the sky. It's close to
the moon. I look back at the door. It opens as my finger touches
the star.

Suddenly I'm freezing. The wind whips around
me.

I'm standing on a hillside. I look around. It's
the hillside from the picture.

"Who are you?"

I turn to see a woman holding a basket. She's
dressed funny. Like in my memory. She wears full gathered skirts
with an apron. In the dim light of the night I can barely make out
her face until my eyes do their thing. Then I can't help but notice
she looks familiar.

"Who are you?" She asks again. I take a step
forward.

"Rayne. Rayne Phillips. Who are you?"

She takes a step towards me, "Elise. I'm Elise.
No one is supposed to come through that picture but Fitz and
Willow."

I look down, "Willow is dead."

She drops to her knees, "No." The basket tips,
spilling dark berries to the ground. I bend and pick them up.

"She is." I say.

"How?"

I grip her basket and try not to cry, "Lucifer.
He took her light. Who are you?"

She smiles at me, "The guardian. I was sister to
Willow."

I frown at her outfit, "Why are you dressed like
that?"

She laughs, "I am frozen. This place was made
for Willow and Fitz. It's where they could come and be with each
other, without the world to interfere."

I shake my head, "I don’t understand."

"I sacrificed myself for her. She saved my life
so I came here for her. One of us must be here for the magic to
remain. I hold the picture open like a portal."

"Can anyone come through?"

She shakes her head, "No. You have to have true
love for Willow or Fitz to be able to do it. Only love for them
will permit a person's entrance. The love must be the purest kind
of true love."

I pass her the basket, "This is like a
fairytale."

She snorts, "There is no such thing as a
fairytale. They are old tales, told over generations. Sometimes
they get twisted but they're always just stories."

I raise an eyebrow, "Either way I need to get
out of here. But not in the weapons room at Fitz's. I need out
another way."

She laughs, "You need Willow's portal."

"Where does is come out?"

"My house."

I stop and think, "Wait so you leave when they
come here and then the rest of the time you're here?"

She nods, "Yup."

"If she's dead you won't be needing to stay
then?"

She shrugs, "I'll have to ask her and see what
she wants me to do. Her and Fitz may want to stay here
forever."

"She's dead Elise."

She shakes her head, "Her light is gone. That
doesn’t make her dead. Witches don’t die, per say. They shift.
She's not in human form but she is still here, somehow. Make no
mistake about it. She is here. This place can't exist if she
doesn’t also exist."

I cover my eyes and shake my head, "I can't do
anymore riddles right now. Please just tell me how to get out of
here."

"The star of course. The way you got in. The
star on the left is his and the star on the right is hers."

I look up at the two stars in the sky, one on
either side of the moon.

"Just reach up and press your finger on the
right star."

I look at her and nod, "I'll come back to free
you."

She shakes her head, "No. I need to stay here. I
need to keep the secrets here safe."

I am confused but I look back and press the
right star. Instantly I am in a small room. It's a tiny living
room, cozy like my house. I walk to the front door expecting to see
a world like no other with magical pixies fluttering about.
Instead, when I step out I see a busy street with cars and trucks
zooming past. I am standing on a sidewalk in a city. It's dark and
noisy. I turn back to the door but it's locked. I realize I'm
holding a sword and have a dagger on my belt. I look like a freak.
I turn and walk. I have no phone or keys or car. I wish I were back
with Elise.

I look up as I walk, "You wanted me to met
Elise, you wanted me to have Ellie's weapons, now what?"

There is nothing. Figures. The dead sparkle and
float around me but say nothing.

I ran, I got my weapons, and I saw the weird
magical portal where Fitz and Willow lived. I don’t know what else
could possibly happen but I feel pretty ready for anything.

I walk until I see a bus stop. I look at the
map.

I'm downtown Boston.

"Fuck."

An old lady looks at me and shakes her head. My
face flushes red and I continue on. I need a payphone. I need to
stop jumping into the ocean and losing my phone, or leaving it
behind.

I could call Mona but she would have no way to
come for me, if she even remembers me. Damned Constantine.

I could call Michelle but her phone is probably
in with a nun. The Earth Witches won't help me and the Water
Witches brought me to Wyatt. They clearly have some directional
issues. I don’t trust Fitz, not yet. I don’t have anywhere to go.
I'm exhausted. I can feel my body doing its twitchy thing. I have
to call someone before I randomly kill.

I wish Wyatt were here.

Instead I phone Constantine, dejectedly.

"Really?" He answers in a gruff voice.

"I need you." I almost squeak it out.

"You ran away."

"You put me in a cell and you ate three Water
Witches."

He chuckles, "Someone has been learning about
her past."

"I'm downtown Boston at the corner of Water and
Congress and freezing. I got my sword back. You know the one you
drove into my side."

"Be there in a minute my love." He sounds
fierce.

He hangs up and I frown. How the hell is he
here? I roll my eyes. Sneaky bastard.

The minute feels like an hour and the cold wind
doesn’t improve my mood.

By the time the huge black SUV pulls up, I can't
feel my fingers.

He grins and pulls up to the curb. I jump in and
crank the heat. He frowns at me.

"Pretty certain the rule about one's console in
a vehicle, is that guests to the vehicle don’t touch the
console."

I roll my eyes, "That’s just the stereo."

His dark eyes are searching me. I shake my head,
"Unharmed."

"No new evil?"

I shake my head again and huddle into the hot
air blowing from the dash.

"Can I die of frostbite or exposure?"

He laughs, "The only thing that can kill you is
the devils and the evil and of course the beheading. But I have
seen you thin as a rail, starved, dehydrated to the point your eyes
are dried shut, and bleeding from malnutrition and sickness. You
have the ability to suffer, endlessly. Even after all of that
someone still has to cut your head off."

"How exciting. So are you going to tell me about
the first time you met me? Not as Ellie but as the other me?"

He glances at me sideways and pulls away to
merge back into the traffic.

I grin, "You can't storm out of the room. I have
you trapped Constantine. Now spill."

He laughs. He's beautiful when he smiles and
laughs.

He drives out of the city, "Are you hungry?"

"Yeah. Starved."

He pulls of the highway and drives to the
MacDonald's in Chelsea. I glare at him, "How rich are you?"

He shrugs, "I don’t know exactly. Do we count
land or the money that’s yours that I keep safe for you?"

I tilt my head, "Stop messing with me. For real
how rich?" He has money that's mine? Interesting.

He shakes his head, "Few hundred million I
suppose. Why?"

I point as he pulls into the drive-thru.

He laughs, "You've never eaten here have
you?"

"No, of course not. She never permitted things
like this." I can't say her name.

His dark eyes sparkle, "You're in for a real
treat." He laughs.

"You're cheap."

He holds up a finger, "No, impatient. Now shut
up and let me order you dinner."

I listen to him order things I can't even
imagine. Fillets and shakes and diet soda and fries. She would have
a stroke.

He pays a lady in the window and charms her with
smiles and his dark magical eyes.

They pass us bags of food. Bags. For two
people.

I have to put some of it on the floor. They pass
us a tray of drinks and a stack of napkins that seems like it
should be for a family of eight. The food actually seems like it's
for eight people.

"Thank you my dear. Have a pleasant
evening."

She blushes, "Have a good night."

He drives, "Hurry. Pass me the fries. They don’t
taste good once they’ve cooled."

I frown and pass a hot packet of fries,
"No-my-god, you eat this a lot, don’t you?"

He stuffs his face and talks with several fries
hanging from his lips. It's comical, "Yeah. It's addictive I think.
Have something. I recommend the fish fillet."

"You have money that’s saved for me?"

"Yes of course. I invested your dowry for you,
just as I said I would when I received it."

His lips glisten from the hot oil. He chews and
sips the diet soda. "Only the second time though."

"You got paid to marry me?"

He nods, "Not the first time. You were a poor
orphan the first time we met."

I sigh "Good to see things have changed."

The SUV stinks.

"This stuff smells terrible."

He laughs, "Have some."

I take one of the four fry packets and stuff
some of them in my mouth. It's salty and tasty. Instantly my mouth
waters for more. Soon I look like him. Stuffing food into my face
and drinking. She would be ashamed of me.

"The first time I saw you, you were in the Van
Helsings castle. I went to their castle to exact revenge for my
uncle Vlad. They had murdered him, mercilessly. You were a sight to
behold."

I blush and stuff the delicious fish fillet into
my mouth. The sauce is a miracle.

He shakes his head, "Not a good site. I'd never
seen anything so disgusting and horrid in all my life. It was
cruelty times a thousand. As a vampire I have always done things
that were unsavory. I've eaten children, raped women, killed whole
villages. The early years are something I can never forgive myself
for."

I want to be disgusted but I understand the
hunger. I nearly shrug it off, before I scold myself mentally.

"What I saw when I entered that tower made me
sick, the image haunted me for years. I couldn’t be with you, not
without thinking about it. I rescued you from their evil clutches
and ran with you. I never got my revenge for what they did. I ran.
You weighed nothing more than a few pounds of bones and ripped
skin."

I gag a little and put my fish down.

He winces, "Sorry. At any rate it was bad. You
were full of poison and dying. The first couple devils had cleansed
their evil in you. You were brimming with it. I brought you to my
castle in the mountains and hid you. It took a half a year to get
you to the point I could be near you, without seeing the images of
horror. You fell in love with me quickly."

I laugh, "I wonder why."

He smiles brightly, "I was your champion. It
turned out you were an orphan, raised by a mother who was rejected
and considered a witch. You had lived alone with her in the forest.
She had died and the Van Helsings took you. I was taken by you, no
doubt. You were a little vixen. You tempted me for some time with
sex and love and not in that order. I couldn’t do it though. I
always saw you the way you had been."

I felt a tear slip down my cheeks. The memories
are locked away, but I see a flash of something. His face. The pity
in his eyes was devastating.