Torment (29 page)

“Actually it does. You see a mother who loves her daughter holds her hand when her father dies; she doesn’t pass her on to her granddad. She takes her to school on her first day. She shares her joy and her tears and they spend time together. That’s just a few things a parent should do with their child. My dad loved me. He spent time with me when he was alive. You never did! You just stayed away from me. In fact you didn’t do any of those things I just said, so don't give me that “I love you” crap,” I told her bluntly.

“Do you think I’m proud of what I did? Keira, I was mixed up in things I never for one minute thought could exist. I didn’t know what to do, how to do it…then I lost your father, and then I lost you.”

“You didn't
lose
me! You
pushed
me away; you left me to look after myself when I was just ten years old. All you did was make sure I had clothes and food. Oh sorry and a roof over my head when I wasn’t at my granddad’s.”

“Keira, I’m sorry,” she said in tears.

“You’re twelve years too late.”

I got back in the car and drove off.

“Do you want to talk?” Lily asked me.

“No I’m fine. She doesn’t upset me, and seeing her upset doesn’t bother me. She chose this relationship twelve years ago, not me. It’s a bit late to try and fix things. Anyway, do you want to stop by your parents’ place or anything?”

“No, God no, now I know everyone’s OK, I just want to go home.”

“OK.”

“I spoke to the guys. They were shocked to say the least; they were just as confused as we were. Especially since it was still on every channel they put on.”

“I think something's messing with us again,” I told her.

“It sure sounds like it.”

“We’ll see if we can figure it out when we get back. But for now, just sit back and enjoy the drive.”

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Empty House

We’d had the music on in the car that loud all the way back to the house, that when we turned the stereo off our ears were ringing. We pulled up on the drive. None of the guys’ cars were there.

“Do you think they’ve gone somewhere with Eligos, maybe to practice fighting?” Lily said.

“Probably, you know how bored they get when we’re not with them.”

“I know. It’s cute.”

We got out of the car and walked inside the house.

“Anybody home?” I said loudly, closing the front door behind us.

Nobody answered us.

“Looks like we’re home alone,” Lily smiled.

“Wow, I’ve forgotten what that feels like.”

“Let’s see what the news channels are saying now.”

I followed her into the living room and sat down while she turned the TV on. We flicked through channel after channel but there was nothing about West Chester. Just the same boring TV programmes and documentaries.

“OK well, since we’re just waiting for them to come home now, how does a beer, a bag of chips and sitting out on the porch sound? It’s a nice evening; it’d be a shame to stay indoors.”

“Yep, you’ve got my vote,” I told her.

I got the beers while Lily got the chips and some other snacks. We hadn't eaten since this morning so we were both really hungry now. But neither of us could be bothered with cooking and we were sick of ordering out. Both of us would end up looking like a pizza one day.

We sat on the chairs outside, kicked our shoes off and put our feet up on the chairs facing us.

“Cheers!” Lily said, holding her beer bottle up.

“To us, just for being us,” I laughed, tapping her bottle with mine.

“Are we gonna spend some time together, so I can master my power?”

“Yeah we need to; I need to spend time trying to master mine. Jesus, I mean, according to Eligos, I haven’t used a quarter of it yet,” I said with wide eyes.

“I can’t wait to see what you’re capable of.”

“Neither can I.”

We sat outside for an hour or so and had a couple of beers. I looked at my watch, it was now 8p.m. and the guys still weren’t back.

“Where do you think they’ve gone?” I asked Lily.

“God knows. Tyler probably picked a direction and drove in it. Somewhere out of the way of people though. I bet they’ve gone for a beer too,” I said.

“Hmmm, maybe, I’ll give them a call.”

She pulled her phone out of her pocket and tried to call Jake.

“It won’t connect,” she told me.

“Have you got reception?”

“Yeah, it’s full.”

“Maybe it’s
his
reception then. Try calling one of the others, or use my phone,” I said, sliding it across the table to her. “Your network might be busy.”

She tried to call Lucian but again the call wouldn't connect.

“Use mine, Lily.”

She tried Jake and Lucian again, on my phone this time, then Tyler and finally Danny. Eligos, Marley and Beth didn’t have phones.

“It still won’t connect!” she said worriedly.

“Lily, calm down; they’re all together, Eligos is with them, they’ll be safe. I bet they’re all in the middle of some bloody field somewhere, messing around. I bet Danny’s keeping them out late so he can play with the weapons longer, and I bet there’s no reception where they are. It makes perfect sense. If something was wrong, surely Lilith would have found a way to tell me or sent someone to me.”

“You’re right, I’m sorry.”

“Don't be sorry for being worried.”

“I’m just so scared of something happening to them.”

“Look at it this way: nothing has been able to get to us yet. They have a Grand Duke with them who can call on 360,000 demons at any time to help him. Something tells me they don’t have to worry.”

“I know, I know…” she sighed.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Worry (Part 1) – Danny’s Story

I walked back into the living room to find Jake putting his phone away after speaking to Lily. I’d just been on the phone to my parents telling them that West Chester was fine and dandy. They couldn’t understand what was going on either. None of us had any answers, not even Eligos, which was really unusual. He was normally the one who could answer our questions but now he was just as confused as we were.

“They’re on their way back now,” Jake told us all.

“How long do you think it will take them?” Eligos asked.

“Well, she probably won’t drive like a madwoman now, so it will be few hours at least,” Lucian answered. “Unless I’m wrong and she works her magic. I mean it only took them a couple of hours to get there. The speed they must have been going…that’s frightening!”

“Well, it’s not like she’d lose control of the car, is it? Her power would keep it grounded,” I said.

“I’m surprised she didn’t make it fly,” Tyler said. “Hey, do you think she could do that?”

All of us laughed at him.

“This isn’t a movie, Tyler,” Marley told him.

“Hey, hellloooo! Demons exist, Heaven and Hell exist. Why not flying cars too?” he said very seriously.

“Tyler, shut up!” I grinned.

“So what’re we gonna do now then?” Jake asked. “It’s strange Keira and Lily not being here; I don’t like it.”

“You know, maybe we should spend time learning to fight and mastering some of this new power,” I suggested.

“Yeah, you should,” Eligos agreed. “I don’t think we’ll be waiting for the big fight much longer. They are building their army quickly; it could happen any time.”

None of us spoke for a few minutes; we all seemed to go into a world of our own. We were going to drive out somewhere but then I remembered that Keira owned a hell of a lot of land around the house. As long as we went to the outskirts nobody would see anything. We walked over a couple of large fields and decided to stop there.

“OK,” Eligos said. “Marley, Beth, if you decide you want to join in, just say so.”

“Can we just watch today? We’re nowhere near as powerful as you guys. I suppose we’re quite boring actually,” Beth said.

“You’re not boring at all,” Lucian told her. “We’ve been topped up, don't forget; you haven’t. Besides that,
nobody
with power is boring.”

Something was telling me he liked her. It didn't surprise me: she was quite pretty. She had blondish-brown hair that went down to just below her chin, her eyes were a greyish blue and she had rosy cheeks. She was small, I’d say about five foot two, and she had a slim build.

“Right well, someone start it off then,” Marley said as she sat on the grass with Beth.

“How?” Jake asked.

“Just play with it,” Tyler said. “That's what Keira did when we went out that time.”

So we spent a few hours showing off what we could do. What surprised me was how different our powers were now. Even though we’d all been topped up by the same person, we could all do different things. Tyler was ecstatic because he was now able to create fire, so that’s what he spent most of time doing. He threw it out in front of him and set some of the gates around the field on fire. He was extremely upset though when Lucian showed us all that he was now hydrokinetic. Every time Tyler set fire to something or threw it out in front of him, Lucian would throw water at it and put it out. It nearly caused World War III. Eligos ended up throwing them both to opposite ends of the field to stop them attempting to kill each other. I found it highly amusing.

What did impress me was Jake’s power now. He created storms similar to the ones Keira did, just not quite as powerful, and he couldn’t keep the lightning on the ground as long as she could. But the thunder, wow, it was deafening. The dark cloud would appear out of nowhere and then bang! Everyone had to cover their ears. Then he decided to move on and find out how strong his attacking power was. He and Tyler faced off against each other, and neither of them held back. If it wasn’t for Eligos constantly healing them, both of them would have been dead. The energy balls we now created were still the same semi-transparent whitish color, but they were a lot stronger, in fact a
hell
of a lot stronger. Lucian threw one at Tyler and he fell to the floor in absolute agony; he couldn’t move and could hardly breathe. Eligos ran over to him quickly to sort him out. Lucian felt terrible for hours afterwards.

I was glad it had happened to him, because, when Lucian and Jake were showing off, Tyler came over to me. He told me he wanted to challenge Eligos. He said now that he had his new power and he was stronger, he thought he might have been able to take him on. I asked him why he would want to do that, when all Eligos was doing was helping us. He just gave me a funny look. I knew it was for one reason and one reason only. To get revenge for him being with Keira. I told him he wouldn't stand a chance against Eligos. Tyler might be stronger now, but Eligos was a full-blown demon, plus he’s had over four thousand years of fighting experience. Tyler still wanted to face him though; if Keira had been here she would have gone crazy on him. Luckily though, he saw sense when Lucian knocked him to the floor. He realized that, if his friend could take him out – someone who had only just started learning to use his new power – Eligos would do it without a second thought.

Beth and Marley didn't join in; they were enjoying watching us. I didn't really practice my power. I’d been doing it anyway and had spent quite a bit of time with Eligos already, so I mainly watched and talked to whoever wasn’t fighting. I’d already found out I was pyro kinetic now and I could move extremely fast, but the best thing I could do, the thing I loved doing the most, was putting the guys into suspended animation. It really pissed them off because none of them could do it – oh I was so happy.

Everyone was really enjoying playing, so much so that we lost track of time. When I looked at my watch I saw it was 5p.m., so we decided to head back to the house and wait for Keira and Lily. When we walked in Eligos walked straight into the smaller living room while the rest of them headed into the larger one. He hadn't been himself all day. Normally he was quite chatty with me, but today he only spoke when he had to. The rest of the time he seemed to be in a world of his own. I followed him into the room and watched while he flopped down on the sofa.

“Are you OK?” I asked him.

“Yeah fine.”

“You don't seem it.”

“I just want Keira to get back now.”

“You don't like being away from her, do you?”

“No,” he said seriously.

“She’s OK, you know; we spoke to Lily before.”

“I know that. I just want her home. Does that make me sound like a possessive freak?”

“No it doesn’t; you just love her.”

“Yeah, too much.”

“Is it possible to love someone too much?” I asked, sitting on the sofa facing him.

“I don't know I’ve never been in love before. You’re asking the wrong one.”

“I’ve never known two people love each other as much as you two do. I would love to be in a relationship like that.”

“One day you will.”

“I hope so.”

“Got anyone in mind?” he asked, raising one of his eyebrows.

“Yeah, but I can tell you straightaway, it won’t happen.”

“I thought that with Keira, but I’ve got her. Who is it?”

“Hecate,” I finally answered.

“I thought so.”

“Pardon?”

“I saw the way you looked at her when she was here; it was rather obvious…Ask her out, you might be pleased with her answer.”

“Are you serious?” I asked as my stomach tied itself in knots.

“Very.” He closed his eyes for a moment; he looked like he was experiencing REM. “She’s with Lilith at the moment; otherwise I’d get her here, but of course, now I’ve tried to contact her, she’ll probably come when she’s free anyway,” he told me. “Don't panic, if she didn't like you I’d know.”

“How?”

“I’ve known her a long time, several millennia; she talks freely to me.”

“What's she said?”

“Ask her. She tells me in confidence, so I’m afraid I won’t betray her.”

“I understand.”

Eligos went quiet again and kept looking at the clock above the television. I sat with him for another twenty minutes, not really saying much. Then my stomach started rumbling and at the same time the guys said they were ordering out for dinner. None of us were patient enough to cook a meal large enough for all of us. I wished Lily was here.