Chained (The Reaper Saga Book 1), page 9
"Don't forget who I am for a second. I can break you down, mess with your head, and yet I'm the one who knows you the best." Know me the best? You got to be kidding me...
"What? Don't believe me?" He tried to say something but my hands motioned toward him and his eyes widened. He tried again but nothing left from his lips. He was paralyzed.
"You need to sort out your priorities first, Darkness." I spat out. "Do you want to keep degrading me like this and piss me off in the process? Or do you love your life enough to leave me alone?"
"You-"
"What?" I twirled around him, giggling. "Shadows got your tongue?"
My face hardened remembering how he almost choked me to death. Taking a good look at him, I aimed my hands in a choking motion and he started to gurgle.
Huh? Did I look like this too?
Helpless and vulnerable?
His eyes almost teared up, his hands crawling up to his neck, trying to push the invisible energy. Laughing, I watched his whole body tremble as if he was having a seizure but I held tight. If he wanted me to stop then he could just beg into my mind. He certainly didn't have a problem to possess it.
My voice was even when I gave another tight squeeze. "How's it going, honey?"
I could almost see his smirk when a voice filled my mind,
'Just peachy.'
That damn devil!
"Kneel!" Just as I commanded he had no choice but to drop to his knees. Finally, I could see some emotion in his eyes. It was something akin to... accomplishment?
Shocked, I stepped back and it broke the spell. Immediately, Darkness dropped into his stomach crawling away from me. Why did he look at me like that? He should be angry, livid even that I humiliated him by making him kneel. But he looked...pleased. Like I did something he hoped I would do.
"You’re playing with fire. Don't bring her back, please." Darkness, for once sounded like he was pleading, making me speechless.
"What?"
My voice was barely audible when I found it but he already vanished...again. I started to walk toward the place he vanished from but a voice over my shoulder stopped me from going any farther.
"The portal ain't gonna be open for a long time-what happened?"
I couldn't trust my voice to break so I just shook my head, still looking at the place where Darkness was just standing a few minutes ago. "Nothing. Let's just go."
EMELINE
Once I was taught exactly what happens when you play with fire.
The memory was still fresh in my mind as if it happened yesterday. I just turned twelve and for the first time, I was granted to leave the clan house for a week. For someone like me, it was as if I was granted to have the moon.
Gema, her sister, and I, the three of us were supposed to go to the lake house near the woods. To say that I was not expecting myself to get lost in the lies, walking right into a trap would be enough to show how naive I really was.
After spending four days in total bliss and happiness, my fifth day started as waking up in the woods, a gag in my mouth, and my arms secured tightly behind me with ropes. With horror, I realized that I was hanging upside down from a tree.
Trying to scream my way out was impossible since I couldn't even see the lake let alone the lake house from that distance. My head churned, the blood rushing into my brain making me dizzy. No one knew what went through this part of the woods. Everywhere I looked was tree and tree, no people.
No help.
"You ok there?"
A voice startled me when I looked down to see a boy not older than me. I remembered shaking my head rigidly, gagging more. What I thought would be a help was turned into nothing but a nightmare when the said boy gathered some leaves and in a second dropped a match in the ground.
Fire...
The first time I felt so hopeless watching the fire around me like I was some kind of lamb waiting to be barbequed. I tried to scream, yell at him, ask what the hell he was doing but the dizziness along with the strong smell of burnt leaves made me dry heave, which I could still remember as the nastiest time of my life.
Tears stung at the back of my eyes but I couldn't for the life of me understand why he was doing it. I never even saw him before that day. So, what did I do to deserve this fate? I did my best to inhale deeply but that was a mistake as instead of air, I started to inhale smoke.
"Doesn't feel good, is it?" He started to undo the ropes with a smirk. "Well...that's what happens when you play with fire, little girl."
I remembered praying over and over that he didn't drop me in the fire. Thankfully he didn't but what I saw in his eyes rendered me silent. He loathed me. Why did he loathe me?
"Do you know who you are? Not a Sullivan but Keisha Deshayes’s daughter! And still, you are so weak." What? Suddenly I was shoved to the ground, my chin roughly grabbed to make me look at him.
"When I talk to you, you look at me. Am I being clear?" Fear of not knowing what he could do, had me nodding frantically. Satisfied with my answer, he started yelling again.
"Since the day I understood what a clan leader is, I worked for your father just so he can hand me over the title. But you! You came out of nowhere and ruined everything! Everyone knows that you are adopted, left in the freaking clan just so your family doesn't have to see what becomes of you."
I couldn't grasp what he was saying cause in a second I was shocked to see an orange hue starting to form in my arms. The uncomfortable feelings grew until my eyes bulged out when the hue took the form of a fire. He was using spells on me and he was right. I was weak and I could do nothing but scream in pain.
I remembered trying to rip my arms off to stop the pain. I remembered the feeling of the tears rolling down my cheeks, clouding my vision. I also remembered a lot of footsteps and yelling that sounded a lot like Gema's. But I couldn't remember what happened next because I gave up.
Like a pathetic worthless being, I gave myself to the falling darkness.
"Emily?" My trance broke at the sound of Hannah shaking me impatiently. My body convulsed at the shock of the sudden transportation but somehow I managed not to throw up this time.
Small victories, Emie, small victories.
"What's this place?" Trying not to act shaken up, I was surprised to find ourselves in a crowded area. Looking all around me, I felt out of place. God, I had never seen that many people in one place before.
"It's a place where your sister lives or near her," Hannah mumbled, gesturing me to follow her quietly.
"And, how do we recognize her?" I blurted out, not even making sense of anything. Playing with fire...his words kept coming back even if I tried to ignore what my heart was telling me over and over again. What I was afraid of. Was I doing a mistake by coming here?
God, I hoped I didn't.
"You seriously have lost your mind." Hannah eyed me skeptically, trying not to sound amused.
"What's so funny?" I didn't find anything funny about what we were about to do. Certainly not now when I could feel my heart beat faster than normal.
"You have a twin! Obviously, she'll look like you!"
"I-I don't know why I just said that," I whispered, tucking a few loose ends of my hair over my ears sheepishly.
Suddenly Hannah stopped walking almost making me stumble into her. She looked right and left before she turned to me. "This place is huge. If we want to find your sister quickly we have to split up. You look over the area around the woods where I have noticed some houses and I'll be close to the city. If you find her, call me. I will do the same and vice versa."
We were splitting up?
The idea made my skin crawl with unknown fear but I held it in. Hannah was right in a way. If we both looked for my sister in this big place, then it'll take us days to find her. But this way, we could find her quicker. And, if anything went wrong, I could just wave my way through my newly learned powers. I had to remember that I wasn't a victim anymore.
I was stronger. I made Darkness submit to me.
Taking a deep needed breath, I started walking toward the area Hannah pointed to earlier. Not a second later, I heard them, those voices... No! It was just like the other night when I found the grave. But this time it was coming from the woods and much stronger. It was so...raw that it almost knocked me off with its energy.
Without knowing why I started moving forward. I didn't know what I'd find there. I didn't even care that I could get hurt. It's like my body was only a servant to the voices. The soothing hum that filled my heart with happiness was almost impossible to ignore. I didn't want to let go of that feeling of peace. After walking deeper into the woods, I found a concrete road that led me to a small house.
"Come, my child." Someone reckoned me to enter.
I watched in awe as the door opened without anyone behind it. From distance, it looked like a normal home but the more I walked deeper, the more things started to change. The walls vanished and in place, photos started showing up. Noticing a familiarity with the photos, I blinked in surprise.
All the photos belonged to the clan leaders that ever existed.
"I was waiting." A voice rasped near me.
I spun around quickly but there was no one. Where was the voice coming-My eyes found a big mirror covering the whole wall. A mirror...
Mother.
"I'm here." The woman in the mirror looked nothing like the woman I last saw. Her skin was wrinkled, and her eyes looked too hollow like they were just two holes. Maybe I was dreaming or maybe my foggy brain was making it all up when she outstretched her arms with a toothy smile. "Now give me the book."
"Book? What book?" My eyes widened in alarm. I hated how my heart raced thinking of the worse possibilities Darkness left in my mind. Printed it in my core vividly.
Don't play with the fire...
"Come on, I know you have the book with you. I can feel it." I opened my mouth to disagree but nothing escaped. Not a single word was being said as I stared at her in sudden calmness running through my veins.
What the hell happened?
I was scared shitless to be not in control when I found herself fetching the same book I was trying to destroy for months from my bag. The python like coils in the cover was glowing the more my voice deepened.
"Nilam as ki am relo, mu esa ghrol dsalo,
Ei culu norham bi kola es ki!"
The dead chilling voice couldn't be mine. Even the words coming from my own mouth were foreign to me but that didn't stop me from continuing the chants. Louder, more deadly. I was so dizzy in the spellbound that I shrieked when suddenly someone shoved me away from the mirror.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE! What have you done?" Hannah screamed in agony making me drop the book. God, what have I done? Hannah was shaking, her voice getting louder the more I tried to go near her.
I could see it.
The fear in her eyes, for me. Her eyes widened and her mouth was left open, blood spilling past her lips. And then it was her eyes and nose.
"What's happening? Please answer me! Hannah!" I screamed holding Hannah tightly but still, her legs gave away making me stumble on the floor with her.
"Emily?" Hannah gasped out.
"Yes, yes, I'm here. I'm with you. I can heal you. I have to heal you." Tears prickled in my eyes making my sight blurred but I wiped them away harshly. I couldn't freak out. Not now when Hannah needed me to heal her. Taking her hands, I tried to reach her emotional barrier but it came up blank. No! How was I going to heal her if she blocked me out?
"Hannah, you need to connect with me. Can you hear me? Hannah!" Shaking her out of her haze when she spoke, it made me falter back in shock.
"The devil has my soul, Emily." She coughed up blood.
"No, no. Please," Some gibberish left from my lips. Please, I'm sorry, I can't.
Say something.
Why wasn't she saying something? Quickly I took her wrist, feeling dread at what I found. There wasn't a pulse, none. This was a joke. It had to be.
"Hannah?"
Hannah's eyes were open but they weren't moving. She must be playing a game or it’s a test. She did this with me before, playing dead just because I could heal her back to life.
"Wake up, games over," I whispered, waiting for her open her eyes and say, huh! How was the prank?
She didn't wake up.
And neither did my sanity...
EMELINE
Hunting.
I was hunting for that woman.
She couldn't just get away with what she had done. I wouldn't let her. I should have listened to Darkness and refused to come here. But I couldn't! I just couldn't believe that someone who was supposed to love me, betrayed me the most. My blind faith was what caused me to lose the only person who truly cared for me. Who I truly had.
Hannah's death was on me...
I couldn't avoid that anymore.
"It's not your fault..."Something in my ears whispered. Lies. Even if I cared to forget, the blood on my hands would always remind me just what I lost.
Find her, the voices cried out.
Kill her.
Pain crept into my heart, the lump in my throat increasing at each step I took. My legs wanted to give out on me as I dragged myself, willing myself not to look back. Every minute that passed after I left Hannah's dead body in that house, I began to lose my grasp on reality. Somehow passing by the busy road, a deadly fire started to ignite.
"Help! Help us!"
Huh! Isn't that how I screamed? When everyone tossed me away in the name of a prophecy? Today everyone would pay. Every soul would burn. I would make sure of that.
Angry.
I was just so angry. My whole body burned with the taste of revenge. By now the fire spread to the woods where that traitor might be residing. But I didn't care.
Let them burn. If she's trapped, let her suffer. I could hear the screams people were making on the roads. How could they not? They were getting the same punishment they deserved. They were burning along with my mother and the thought...it brought me such satisfaction that I didn't even realize someone wrapping their arms around me from behind.
"Hey, I was about to call you. You still mad at me?"
Hearing the shaky voice, I turned around to see a man staring at me with a worried frown. Through the hazy vision, his hair looked shaggy like sun-kissed. My brow furrowed the more I watched the new man. Similarly, His blue eyes seemed to refrain from gazing at my own. He looked closer to my age but I wasn't a fool to believe that it wasn't a trap. Who was he though?
A man from my clan?
Or someone I knew back at the shop? I tried to remember but my mind refused to show if I knew him or not.
Before I could push him away, he leaned forward, his hands touching my falling strands. "When did you cut your hair? And red? You hate red since-since she died."
Who was he talking to? Did he recognize me from the Red clan?
"G-Get away." God, why was it so hard for me to let the words out? "I don't-"
Again he cut me off with a sigh. "What are you doing here? We were supposed to meet at your house."
We weren't.
I didn't know him.
I couldn't think...
Finally, I snapped pushing him away. "Leave me alone! I don't know you."
Something flashed in his eyes. Before I could wonder what it was, he grabbed my wrists even tighter, trying to tag me along with him. "I know you're in shock but I need to tell you something important about Roth. But first, we have to get out of here. The fire has spread into your house. It's not safe to stay here anymore."
Again why was he lying!
"I don't have a house here! You are lying! Last time I'm saying go or you'll regret ever meeting me." I shoved his hands away. But then an idea came, letting the fog in my mind spreading like wildfire.
"Or maybe I could just show you how much regret you're going to have now."
The moment my lips tugged into a smile, he stepped back a bit but what I wanted him to do was stop talking. He didn't listen. "I don't know what is happening to you but what I do know that I did deserve it for acting like an ass to you but please this is dangerous. The fire will soon be here. I can't see you get hurt."
He was still blubbering, silly little human.
"But I don't care if I hurt you. I know what you are! You are a puppet who is doing everything at one person's command. My mother wants to distract me from hunting her."
It was getting ridiculous. This human was wasting my precious time by showing fake worry. I needed to get to my mother to make sure she's dead. My eyes burned with rage and I could feel something dark lurching in my stomach. Looking down, I noticed my hands were shooting sparks of dark coil-like smoke, like a shadow? The man's eyes also went there and he didn't look worried anymore.
Instead, he looked terrified of me.
"Please..." He stuttered, stumbling back.
I could feel all of my energy dying to let out. It was calling me. Begging me to let go like the first night I felt it growing inside of me. So, I let it go. Piece by piece the calmness shot through my vein until I couldn't feel anything at all. I could see people crying in pain, their fear beckoning me like a magnet but that evoked nothing in me. No anger, no sadness, no regret. Just emptiness. The man was long gone. I should've felt guilty or it should have bothered me but...it felt good. It felt right. And for the first time, it felt like-
I belonged...
I didn't know how long I was staring at nothing. I had killed them all and whoever was left, the fire finished them off. I didn't know how many have lost their lives in my hands. Innocent, thief and maybe even children were gone. But still, I couldn't feel a damn thing. Like nothing mattered anymore.
"What have you done? No, wait. You really did this? Got to say, I'm impressed!"
"Run along! I am tired of killing. Maybe you're lucky that you didn't die." I replied without looking at the lucky survivor out of boredom.
"You can't kill me! I'm already dead. Remember? You brought me back to life?" The person laughed like I've done them a favor and it was hurting my ears to hear the perky emotion in them. How could he sound so damn happy? For the first time, he started to annoy me, I looked up.
