Elemental Light (Paranormal Public Book 9) (41 page)

Demons were rising; the black mass bubbled up like a fountain of boiling black water. Massive hordes of them shot into the sky as the Nocturns and everyone else who was wearing a Black Ring turned their backs on the platform and started racing toward every corner of the field. More chariots appeared in the sky, and even as they did they were surrounded by hybrids. Oggles started to run toward us from the outlying fields and forests around Public, but I didn’t have time to wonder where they had come from. Two young paranormals dropped from the chariots and landed next to me. It took me a second to realize that they were Jett and Peds.

“Still with us?” Sip asked, eyeing them dubiously.

“Wouldn’t miss this fight for the world,” said Jett, grinning.

He held a gleaming staff. It was short,
probably because he hadn’t earned a longer one yet, but he wielded it like an extension of his arm, with deadly accuracy and precision. Peds was no less capable as he fell into step beside his friend.

“See you when it’s over,” Jett called, and he darted forward, followed slowly and somewhat more
cautiously by Peds.

“Reckless,” Sip muttered, then she glanced at me. “Ready?”

I nodded my head. Sip transformed into a werewolf and sprang forward, following in the trail of the battling mages.

From a distance I saw Rose, Callum, and Halston fighting
as a team, Callum and his talent with a sword taking center stage. I felt a bit of relief to know that they were still alright and had come to fight. Rose raised her head and met my eyes, giving me a slight smile as she ran her pitchfork through the nearest demon.

Following Sip, I ducked low through the crowd of battling paranormals and demons. For the first time that night I lost track of Keller; just as I disappeared into the crowd, he disappeared into the air, his dark wings uncurling dangerously. I hoped he was going to help Mrs. Swan in the sky, where the demons still outnumbered the rebel paranormals.

The first demon that came near me, I just reached out and smacked it, putting enough power into my hand to keep the darkness and fire from hurting me. I ate the power and sent it back through the monster until it exploded. Then I moved on to the next one.

Sip was confronting three hellhounds, baring her teeth dangerously. Behind me, Lough was weaving a protective dream almost as if he was working at a loom.

In front of me, the platform still looked miles away. Lisabelle had set down the tray that held the Objects on the Wheel, because both she and the Darkness Premier were being forced to defend themselves. Dacer, Duchess Leonie, and the others had sprung to their feet at Mrs. Swan’s attack, fighting for their own lives and trying to hold off the enemy until I could get there.

We were almost to the platform, where Premier Erikson was fighting Dacer, when a figure with a flat face and sunken eyes moved in front of us. Behind him I could see Lisabelle turn and reach for the Objects on the Wheel just as Camilla and Daisy started to make their way to her. Sip, still in werewolf form, wound her way around Faci, but the vampire ignored her and stared hungrily at me.

Suddenly more demons appeared around us, and a Nocturn holding a Fire Whip squared off with Sip. With my friend momentarily distracted, I stood all alone to face my former classmate.

He lunged, and I tripped backward. He lunged again and I sprayed a pile of dirt into his face. Then he paused as I felt my essence connect to the elemental crown. So much power for someone who did not seek it or want it is a strange thing. I felt like I could do anything. I did not need a mask to fly, and this stupid vampire was in my way.

But before I could make him move, something - someone - very small darted forward and leaped into the air. In shock, I saw Lacy land on Faci and grab at him. The vampire was just as shocked as I was, and for a second he did nothing. In that moment, she buried her hand in the front of his robes, yelling something I couldn’t hear over the noise of the battle. If she didn’t stop, she was going to kill him.

As I started forward I saw power flowing from the girl’s hands into Faci’s body. It was so br
ight I could barely look at it; I had never seen such power emanate from someone who did not wear a ring. Faci renewed his efforts to fight, but he just ended up staggering to the ground, his face filled with shock.

Lacy’s face looked like one of Dacer’s uglier vampire masks, filled with fury and anger, hate and pain. Her small hands were now invisible in the light.

“Lacy,” I cried, racing forward. For a second I was afraid to touch her, but steeling myself, I reached out and pulled the small girl away from Faci.

She tried to hang on, ripping the unconscious vampire’s clothes in the process, but with another pull I managed to yank her free. We both fell backward, and I was careful to avoid her hands as I tried to control our fall. Just as she was struggling to get away, Jett came racing over to us and skidded to a halt. He didn’t look surprised. In fact, to his credit, he didn’t look much of anything but impressed.

“THAT’S FOR MY GRANDFATHER, YOU FILTHY VAMPIRE,” Lacy ranted as I held her. Then she tore away from me and tried to get to Faci again, but this time Jett intervened.

“Come on, Little Mage,” he said, grabbing her just before she started pummeling Faci again. “That’s no way to treat pure evil.”

For a second she keep struggling, then she stared at him in wonder. “He took my grandfather and me, and then he tortured and killed him,” she whispered.

“You have every right to be angry,” said Jett. “Let me help.”

With that he swung his black staff, which was only about the length of a bat, with deadly precision. As he moved, the end of the staff spiked something long and black, and with one quick stab, Jett plunged it into Faci’s chest. Pulling his blade out of the vampire, he glanced at Lacy’s shocked expression, and mine.

“What?” he demanded. “I’m a future Iron Chaser, that’s what we do.”

Lacy punched him in the stomach, glaring. Now it was his turn to look shocked.

“I wanted to do that,” she said. “Don’t go protecting me because I’m a girl!”

Jett wheezed, then said, “I wasn’t protecting you, you crazy person. You don’t have a tool that can kill a vampire.”

“Oh,” said Lacy, looking slightly placated. Then she straightened and her eyes got angry again. “Loan me yours next time.”

Just then more demons converged on us, and we had to stop talking and fight.

Lacy battled back demons, changing them to dust so easily it was breathtaking. I was just about to reach for my power when I realized that I didn’t have to. Lacy’s face was streaked with tears as she fought, and her grandfather’s body had disappeared in the melee. Lacy hadn’t known how to fight until a few days ago; she hadn’t even known she had magic, but she
had just saved my life. She wasted no time staring at her hands in wonder. Instead she raced forward and touched the next demon, and the next, and she didn’t stop until I was free and clear. I could see that she was screaming with rage every time she moved, and I didn’t think anyone could blame her.

Finally Jett, the only other person there who knew her at all, came forward and grabbed her away. He was a couple of years older than she was, and he picked her up easily. She struggled wildly, lashing out and nearly hitting him with a blow that would have slashed his
cheek if it had connected. Peds, standing nearby, shook his head, whether at Jett or Lacy I wasn’t sure.

“Calm down,” Jett ordered the frantic girl. “They’re all going to be dead. Just calm the bloody paranormal down.” As she continued to battle him Jett said wryly, “Well at least you aren’t angry about it.”

“Everything okay?” Sip asked, reappearing as a human. She was breathing hard and sweat ran down her temples. When she saw Faci’s dead body she whistled. “Nicely done. Its father’s going to be furious.”

“Charlotte!” This was Lough, who was making for the platform. “Come on!”

Steeling myself, I looked around. There was blood everywhere. Demons were attacking paranormals, bodies lay on the ground, and the platform was a mess. I could see Lisabelle standing with Daisy near where she had set down the tray, but they weren’t being challenged. Unsurprisingly, no one wanted to fight the hybrid and the most powerful darkness mage of our generation. Lisabelle’s face was unreadable in the light from the fire and the sparks that surrounded us.

“Let’s go,” said Sip, transforming back into werewolf form.

“Will you be alright?” I asked Jett. The blade appeared on the end of his staff and he smiled. “We’ll be fine.”

I gave one last glance at Lacy, who was still staring down at Faci’s body, and started to run. At some point she’d find out that killing the instrument of her grandfather’s demise would not ease her pain, but I couldn’t stand there and tell her that right now.

No one challenged me as I reached the dais. Sip raced up there first, dodging and weaving through the crowd. As I watched Sip, I could also see Saferous standing there with a white light shining all around him. He was next to President Caid’s body, and I was pretty sure he was trying to heal the paranormal president. But I was equally sure from the gaping hole in the other man’s chest that Saferous would be unsuccessful.

I saw Keller high overhead, then I saw him see me. His expression didn’t change, but he started to plummet to the earth, making for the platform. The Objects were waiting. Now was our chance.

“Paranormals,” I cried. “It’s time!”

Dacer, a vampire; Professor Korba, a pixie; Keller, a fallen angel; Lough, a dream giver, and I: together we could complete the Power of Five. I felt the weight of the Mirror Arcane, eager to join its fellows, in my
pocket.

We were so very close.

I stumbled forward, my eyes intent on the others who were approaching the Objects on the Wheel. Just a few more steps.

But I’d lost track of Daisy and Lisabelle. My friend had gone to Premier Erikson, but Daisy was nowhere to be seen. Then, when I was only a few feet away from the tray, she appeared in front of me.

With a startled gasp I saw the trap, but too late. The danger with wanting something so badly is that you don’t see anything else. I had seen my friends, each of them reaching for an Object, and I had been so busy stumbling to meet them that when Daisy appeared in front of me, her skin red and painful-looking, I stopped cold. She just smiled.

In the next moment I saw Lisabelle slide around the others as the Darkness Premier walked back toward us. In the din and confusion of the battle, I had lost track of whether we were winning or losing. Now, looking around, I saw with dread and dismay that we were in fact losing.

Just too late to react, I also saw Daisy pull her black-ringed hand back, wind up, and slap me hard across the face.

I staggered backwards even as I could see Dacer, out of the corner of my eye, making as if to fight with Lisabelle. Even as he neared her, a burning black fire surrounded them. I met Keller’s eyes for a split second before his aunt stepped in front of him. She had seen where he was looking, and I had never imagined such fury on the face of a paranormal as the rage I saw on her face as she watched us.

Swarming all over the platform were demons. Daisy reached down and plucked the crown from my head, cooing like a fool and poking at the pearls on it.

“This crown is as weak as the elementals,” I heard her comment, right before a roar went up from around us. The Nocturns had all stopped. They had taken the oggles prisoner, and I had no idea what had happened to Mrs
. Swan.

I tried to rise, but Daisy saw me and kicked me viciously in the side. Keller tried to sidestep his aunt, but she held him fast.

Just as quickly as the crowd had started to roar, silence rolled over us again. Without a word from Premier Erikson the Nocturns fell silent, the hybrids landed, and the hellhounds pawed their way to form a circle all the way around the platform. Nocturns started forward to lash the paranormals who were about to take up the Wheel, but Lisabelle waved them away. Instead, chains of fire appeared behind Korba, Dacer, Lough, and Keller. Daisy moved, so that she was no longer basically sitting on my chest. She apparently wanted to make sure I could see the torment firsthand.

I did.

I saw my friends fall to their knees. I saw Sip, still in werewolf form, picked up bodily by a Nocturn and thrown into the howling crowd. Lisabelle’s eyes flicked to the werewolf for a split second before returning to meet Dacer’s glare.

Premier Erikson delighted in her triumph. She called out to other Nocturns, to Malle, who had taken several attacking paranormals prisoner, to Lisabelle, with a laugh about something she found funny. Korba started to say something, but before he could get a word out Premier Erikson appeared in front of him, all billowing black robes and dark power. She smiled at him, a smile filled with amusement and smug pleasure at the pain she was about to cause. Korba’s small hand was already on the Pinion Wings. All around was fairy dust, the kind they used to play their tricks. She stroked his hand, his ring, and I saw him flinch.

She moved so fast I barely saw her fist reach back, then come plummeting down on Korba’s ring hand. I did hear Korba scream, and the gleeful answering cries of the waiting darkness. He was already on his knees, and now the only thing keeping him even half upright was Lisabelle’s chains. Premier Erikson was smiling. I saw a face full of white teeth and gleaming eyes. Gingerly, I sat up. Daisy ignored me; why wouldn’t she? We had lost.