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The girl folded her arms in front of her chest and cocked her hip as my demon let flames lick up our arms. More words were exchanged, more flames emerged.
Then she rolled her eyes, her form quickly morphing to Aeryn's natural age.
My demon chuckled just as I pushed through the barriers he had erected around his control. He chuffed before withdrawing back to his prison. Pressing down, I withdrew the wrath from my extremities and slammed it tightly around his cage. I’d become complacent regarding my control over him, but that was not something I would allow to continue. Especially now that she would be relying on me.
“I’ve agreed to let you help her.” the demon said, relaxing her posture.
“How magnanimous of you,” I deadpanned.
She ignored me. “I’ll let her see the truth. It will be up to you to pick up the pieces. Don’t disappoint me.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven - The Truth
Aeryn
Sunlight bathed the autumn meadow in a warm glow accentuating the honey browns and golden highlights. The sky above cast a cool contrast, the dark blue highlighted only by tiny wisps of cloud that floated amongst the breezes. It couldn’t have been a more perfect day to escape the keep, but despite the beauty anticipation floated in the air.
The keep had been on lockdown due to a warning from the local Chartin coven of hellbeasts in the area. Normally hellbeasts passed through without issue, but something had made the local coven nervous enough to send out a warning I had treated like an invitation.
It had taken me all night to convince Ness to help me get out of the keep. She wasn’t as fond of hellbeasts as I was, a sadness coming across her any time we talked about them. I didn’t get it - they were just so freaking awesome to look at - and their power sung to my own. I hoped one day I could work with them after we graduated, something Sister Brie was more than happy to help me accomplish, even if it meant forsaking my healing gifts.
I hated healing. Sure, it was great to help people, but it had never felt natural to me. Like sticking a square peg in a round hole in a kid’s toy. If you used the right force and angle, you could eventually get it in, but it didn’t feel good.
Ness had released an illusory spider spell in the common room, something she had convinced one of the oldest students to make for us. We’d used it as a distraction to try to get out, only to have our normal getaway blocked by Sister Arietta. We were almost caught until I stumbled into some half-collapsed tunnel out of the keep when we’d tried to hide in the catacombs. Thank all the arch angels above that I had - it would not have been a fun punishment had we been caught.
I wandered further into the fields, my eyes taking in all movements in the grasses around us. I figured this would be the best place to start looking for the beasts - it was close to a water source, offered amble of prey in the form of small mammals, and plenty of cover from anything that would hunt them.
“Ryn, we should go back,” Ness’ agitated voice sounded behind me. She was antsy, dancing back and forth on her toes.
“Five more minutes!” I called back, raising my sixth sense to watch the grasses around me, looking to pick up any trace of essences that normally clung to hellbeasts like a shroud.
“You said that five minutes ago, it's time to go!” she called back. “Sister Brie will be looking for us!”
“Five more minutes!” I called back.
“No!” she screamed, and I turned to look back at her.
That was when I saw a glowing aura of turquoise surrounding a sleek feline form. Before I could say anything a growl tore through the air and it pounced, going directly for Ness’ throat.
“Ness!” I screamed, blood spurting out like paintballs splattering against a wall.
The other thing inside me rose, and without thinking shadows sprung up beneath me. I concentrated on Ness, and before I could do anything the world around me whirled in a kaleidoscope of blacks, grays, and golds. My lungs were starved of air, but I ignored it as I refocused on the animals gnawing on Ness’ lifeless form.
I pulled at every reserve of the essences I contained. This hellcat was of sloth, and I was lucky enough to have picked up some diligence earlier while taking my turn helping the healers in the combat rings. I wound the virtue of diligence into a tight ball and threw it with all my might, smacking the cat’s flank. It howled and jumped back, claws digging deep into the earth where it landed a few meters away from my friend’s mangled body. It hissed in pain, blood running in rivulets down its flank. I took advantage, concentrating until I could find a tiny filament of connection to its mind. Once I did, I snapped the connection into place, and threw every ounce of my will into it. The beast snarled but scampered away, the smell of iron and brimstone floating in its wake.
“Girls!” Sister Brie called from the other end of the clearing, as I knelt beside Ness’ broken form. Her throat was gone, and face was mangled with a large gash running from her right temple to the edge of her left jaw. Her eyes were open, the bright emerald of greed seeping away with the essences that leached from her body.
“No no no no no,” I cried, tears falling like rivers down my cheeks. My best friend. My everything. She was gone.
And it was all my fault.
Unbearable pain gripped my chest as grief muddled my mind. Ness couldn’t be gone. She just couldn’t.
“Aeryn, what have you done?” Sister Brie asked as she approached. I looked up at her, health glowing from every inch of her face. She was so alive. While Ness’ cheeks were pale and lifeless, Brie’s held a healthy touch of pink over the olive tones.
It wasn’t fair that she was so alive and Ness wasn’t. Brie, who had lived her life. Ness who hadn’t.
Brie who had spent her life protecting us, raising us. Only to watch Ness die at the claws of a hellbeast.
