Enchanter (33 page)

To worsen a bad situation, my eyesight began to fail. Within
moments of slamming against the ground, all I could see were a few fuzzy
figures moving on top of each other. I knew somewhere beneath them was Brandon,
and if I did not do something to save him soon, Adon was going to take
possession of his body or, worse, kill him.

With my physical and mental strength failing, I did the only
thing I could think of, I prayed for my dad or my biological parents to give me
guidance. My dad’s letter said that if I needed them, all I had to was think
about them, so that was exactly what I did.

I can’t do this on my own. I’ve tried, but I can’t seem
to summon my power. If you can hear me, please help me before they kill
Brandon.

No sooner had the thought crossed my mind than a beautiful
voice responded to my silent plea.

“Estella, darling, listen to me.”

The sound of that angelic voice drew my attention to my
right, where a slender figure stood just a few steps away from me. The sound of
my birth-given named forced my body to immediately react to the person standing
not three feet from where I lay, completely motionless, on the hard floor. The
woman gazed down at me with eyes filled with love and admiration, and at that
moment my heart filled with a deep sorrow unlike anything I had ever felt. Even
though I had never seen her before, I felt as if I knew her.

The young, red-headed, blue-eyed woman was someone related
to me by blood.

“Estella.” Her voice was oddly comforting in the midst of
the chaos.

“Mom?”

“Yes, sweetheart. It’s me, your mother, Danica.”

Never in a million years did it occur to me that her spirit
form would come to me, talk to me, comfort me in any way, but here she was.

“Mom… I…” My voice broke as fresh tears began to descend
down my cheeks.

“I know what you need, Estella.” She smiled, her rosy lips
parting slightly as she gazed at me. “Listen to me, my daughter. Brandon needs
you, so
you
need to focus.”

I had lost so much in the twenty-one years since my birth,
and if I did not do something soon, I was going to lose Brandon too.

“I’m trying to help, but I don’t know how to use my
abilities.”

“Yes, you do, darling. You just have to concentrate.”

“I’ve tried.”

“Try harder, Estella. Brandon’s life depends on you right
now.”

“Okay…”

Determined not to lose Brandon too, I summoned whatever
strength was left within me and focused on my mother and her instructions.

“Close your eyes, Estella.”

I immediately squeezed my eyes shut and concentrated on her
voice.

“Focus on Brandon’s voice, his struggles.”

I did.

“What do you feel now?”

“Anger.”

“Why?”

“Because he’s being hurt.”

“Good. Now channel into that anger. Use it to tap into your
fire. Command it to come out.”

For a few seconds all I could hear was Brandon’s angered
voice as he called out my name over and over again. Even with the threat of
imminent death hovering over him, he was still more worried about me.

That reality gave me the boost I needed to channel into my
powers.

“Call it forward, Estella.”

My mother’s voice, along with the anger and concern I felt
over Brandon’s welfare, helped me concentrate long enough to summon the flame.
Like a fish in the water, it seemed to want to avoid the hook, but I managed to
bait it out of me anyway.

“That’s it Estella. You got it. Now grab onto it hard and
command it.”

I ordered it to heal my bruised face and any other part of
my body that had suffered at the hands of Adon. When I could no longer feel any
physical discomfort, I forced my body into a standing position and opened my
eyes.

“Use that anger to your advantage, Estella. Go save the man
you love.” Those were the last words my mother’s spirit form said to me before
she vanished.

A quick glance down my body revealed that I was completely
covered in blue flames. From the tips of my working shoes to the white top of
my waitress uniform, to my normally auburn-colored hair. I was like this big
ball of blue fire on legs. Under normal circumstances, I would have freaked out
by the sight, but I understood that I controlled the flames, not the other way
around. I could not be burned by them, but they could inflict serious damage to
most inhuman creatures.

When I turned my attention from myself to the object of my
affection, I saw him still lying on the floor, relatively unhurt. His blue eyes
widened at the sight of me and his mouth dropped open. The soul devourers where
no longer hovering over him, but where standing to his sides instead. Although
I could see that Brandon was perfectly fine, I was still pissed beyond
reasoning.

Without even giving it much thought, I lifted my arms, and
as I did, the flames expanded outward almost with a mind of their own. The more
I focused on Adon’s creepy cronies, the madder I got, and the madder I got, the
more the flames grew. With anger guiding my steps, I started forward while
commanding the flames to increase in size. When they did, I directed them out
and beyond where my physical body could reach.

In less than a second, the flames had stretched to such a
degree that they were touching the ceiling, which was a good twelve feet above
my head, and had extended about six feet to each side of my body.

The soul devourers who had been stunned into submission by
the sight of me began to screech and run away in obvious fear. Not wanting them
to escape and kill more innocent victims beyond the building, I summoned the
strength to drive the flames forward. With the speed of a lightning bolt, the flames
dashed frontward, roaring with the intensity of a growling lion as they
searched for their intended prey.

Although the soul devourers had a small head start, they
were still unable to move quickly enough to avoid the firestorm that was fast on
their heels. The powerful blaze caught up with them in no time at all, burning
them to a crisp as soon as it touched them. Not one soul devourer remained after
I commanded the still-burning ball of blue fire to retreat back into my body
where it belonged. When I was done with them, they had all turned into black
ash and now lay in dark piles on the floor.

As soon as every inch of the flames retreated back into my
body, I ran to Brandon and got onto my knees before him.

“Brandon! Are you okay?”

He stiffened when my arms circled around his neck, but he
soon returned the gesture, wrapping his muscled arms around my waist as I
planted a few kisses on his cheeks, nose, forehead, and finally lips.

“I’m fine, more than that, actually.”

 “For a second there I thought I wouldn’t be able to help
you at all,” I said. “I was so scared for you.”

“You helped me more than you can ever imagine.”

“Where is Adon?” I asked when I noticed his lack of
presence. In all the chaos, I had not seen where he had ran off to. But now
that everything was once again calm and quiet, I began to wonder where he was
hiding. “Did you see where he went?”

Brandon’s arms snaked painfully around my midsection.
Startled, I glanced at his face only to see a change about him that terrified
me. Something about the way he looked at me sent chills down my spine.

“Brandon—”

“Adon is right here with you.”

I should have sensed that something was off with Brandon much
earlier. But I did not realize until I heard him speak. That voice was not his.
Neither were those glowing red eyes.

“You’re not Brandon.”

“And you’re not Leah Parker.”

I screamed when Brandon’s possessed body tossed me to the
floor and then straddled my lower body. Before I could scream again, his hands
were on my neck, squeezing my windpipe shut. I began to fight, clawing at his
arms, chest, and even face with a determination only a person fighting for her
life can have.

“All this time, I’ve been looking for the Giver of Life, and
it turns out she’s been right under my nose all this time.”

“Brandon!” I called out, hoping that deep down he could
still hear my cries for help.

“He’s busy right now,” Adon’s evil voice mocked me.

“Brandon, stop him! Take control of your body!” I tried
again, needing him to do something to get Adon out of his body so that the foul
demon would not end both our lives, but I could not see a hint of recognition
behind the glowing red eyes.

“Brandon, please! Remember how good it felt when we kissed?
It’s the best feeling in the world, isn’t it?” I was desperate now. Not only was
I running out of air, but if Adon got his way, Brandon and I would both end up
dead soon. “I love you, Brandon.”

And just like that, a flicker of recognition.

The glowing red eyes changed to pale blue again. Brandon
screamed and let go of my neck. Slowly, he backed away and held on to his head
as if it pained him.

“Get out!” he yelled in obvious discomfort.

“Brandon…?”

“Go, Leah, run away.”

“No! I’m not leaving you.”

Brandon screamed again and fell to his knees.

God, what do I do?

And then a crazy idea crossed my mind. If the Giver of Life
could rescue souls from the creatures who consumed them, could I also remove an
entity that inhabited a body that did not belong to it? It could fail, but then
again, it was worth a try.

Uncertain of what would happen, but not willing to give up
without a fight, I hurried to Brandon and kneeled beside him. As he struggled
to keep Adon under control, I tapped into my repossessing abilities. My entire
right arm changed from solid flesh to a misty, blue appendage.

So, this is how the Givers of Life repossess souls, their
arms changes shape so that they can reach deep within the bodies of their
enemies. This is a mighty helpful trick, but unfortunately, Brandon is not my
enemy. He’s the love of my life and I don’t want to hurt him. Am I assuming too
much by thinking that this will work?

I hesitated, afraid that I would hurt him instead of helping
him.

“Do it, Leah!” Brandon’s voice encouraged. “Send this
bastard back to hell!”

I did not know what was going to happen, but I did know that
I could not let him suffer anymore. So I inserted my right arm into his chest
and pushed it in as far it would go. Brandon’s scream was deafening, but I did
not let it deter me from attempting to free him. I concentrated all my energy
into focusing on my abilities and trusting that my Giver of Life instincts
would help guide me to where I needed to go.

“Hold on, Brandon.”

Even though I had no prior training, no prior use of my
powers or abilities, I was still able to locate Adon’s black form within
Brandon’s body with surprising ease. Removing it however, was not so easy. The
bastard was a strong entity, and even after I had it speared with a string of
magical hooks, it still would not come out. I tried pulling as hard as I could,
but he was determined to stay.

“I can’t get him out.”

“Burn him then.” Brandon was barely hanging on to
consciousness by sheer will.

“What if I hurt you?”

“You won’t, I’m an Enchanter, same as you, Leah.”

His words were all the incentive I needed to proceed. Just
like before, I willed the power of the flame to come out, except this time I did
not push as much of it out of my body as I could. Instead, I centered its force
to the hand inside of Brandon and directed it toward Adon. I could not see what
was happening, but I could clearly feel the evil demon deep-frying inside of
Brandon’s body. It took a few seconds for Adon to finally shrivel and die. Then
and only then did his black form come out of Brandon’s body, only what came out
was a pile of black ash.

As soon as I took my fully-restored limb out, Brandon
collapsed on me and we both ended up on the hard floor.

After a few seconds of dead silence, I finally asked, “Are
you still my Brandon?”

I basked in the sensation of having his head resting
comfortably on my left shoulder and his arm securely draped over my abdomen
while I waited for his response.

“I’ll always be your Brandon.”

Oh, yeah, this is my Brandon all right.

“Are you okay?”

“I am now.”

Brandon lifted his head. His eyes gazing softly into mine. “Did
you mean it?”

“What?”

“When you said that you loved me. Did you mean that?”

He was practically holding his breath as he waited for a
response.

“You heard that, huh?”

“Heard it? Why do you think I fought so hard to regain
control of my body?”

Boy, if that’s not proof enough of how much he loves me,
I don’t know what is.

“Is that right?”

“Yes.” He lifted his weight on to one elbow as he stared
down at me. “But you didn’t answer my question.”

Hey, I’ve made him suffer long enough. It’s time to give
him a little dose of the truth.

“I love you, Brandon.”

He smiled before he kissed me senseless.

****

Two days had passed since I had killed an army of soul
devourers along with their leader. After we had recovered slightly from the
attack, Brandon had driven me back home. Of course, once we got there, I did not
want to let him go, and after the life and death battle from moments before, I
practically insisted he crash in my apartment that night so that we did not have
to be separated.

The entire battle was incredibly hard for me to let go of
and I could not get the image of his lifeless body out of my head. Apparently
Brandon could not either, because he had agreed to spend the night. Although he
opted for sleeping on the floor, arguing that sharing the same bed was too much
of temptation for him.