Living on a Prayer

                                    

                                          


                          
Chapter 44
                          
I did the slow head turning thing like a bad horror movie. "This can't be happening." 

                          
Stumbling over to the tray Edgar had sat down on a bedside table before he calmly exited the chamber, my hands shook as I reached to grab the silver carafe and ripped off the lid. There in the bottom sat the blackened mass of Vycandor's heart.

                          
"It's funny how the things we love the most can be used against us," Courtney said, a cruel smile tugging at the corners of her lips. 

                          
She was clearly proud of herself. I, on the other hand, fled to the edge of the keep and promptly threw up. When finished, I slumped against the castle wall and folded to my knees. Resting a cheek against the rough surface of cold bricks, hunger like I'd never felt before poured over me in wave after violent wave. It beat at my insides and refused to be ignored, frightening me with its intensity. 

                          
Thomas and Vycandor dutifully rushed to my side out of concern, but I knew it was already too late. The jig, as they say, was up. Courtney had won. 

                          
Point for her. 

                          
She gave a laugh, dangling her hand in my face. "Come with me now and meet Lisette. She is eager for you to release her father from eternal torment so his soul can finally be at peace."
                          
 I blinked in surprise, although I shouldn't have. You'd think by now I'd get used to my life being hijacked by others, but I never do. Lisette may have created a sin-eater, but she could not control me. Nobody could.

                          
I smacked Courtney's hand away and stood up on wobbly legs. "I'm not going anywhere with you. Not now. Not ever." I breathed the last words directly in her face. "Tell Lisette she can kiss my ass." 

                          
With the ever increasing hunger, flared the relentless power buried deep down inside. Anger spiking, I found myself levitating in the air ever so slowly. My entire body shimmering with heat, the ends of my hair whipped back and forth in a frenzy – crackling and sizzling like live electrical wires. Eyes burning with what felt like molten lava, I reached out my hands and called fire. The flames turned from red to orange, the glow eventually brightening to a hot white light. Right then what I really, really wanted to do was use my finger like a human blow torch to peel the skin off her body, piece by piece, inch by inch...nice and slow and oh so painful.

                          
"You have no idea what will happen if I don't bring you to Lisette," Courtney warned.
                          
 I floated higher and higher as sparks flew like invisible streaks of lightning, never taking my eyes off hers. "You have no idea how creative I can be at revenge."

                          
Laughter seeped out of her face the way it should. The way I intended. Except there was nothing funny about the way she regarded me now. Not fear, exactly. No. It was more like the way a cat stared at an injured bird...right before it pounced. "If you hurt me, Jade dies and it will be all your fault. You will have set off a chain reaction of biblical proportions. The remaining Sons and Daughters of Darkness will come for you. Lisette will have her war. The Dark Ones will rise up to rule the world. And you, Chaos...You will have lost."

                          
Sons and Daughters of Darkness?
                          
 I hadn't heard that term since Beastie had come to my school in an attempt to get me to join his side of the rebellion. The rebellion the Dark Ones had launched against the Guardians for dominion over Earth. Not only that, but her words sounded suspiciously a lot like a threat. I don't do threats.