Fractured Light (37 page)

I hadn’t heard most of what he’d said. I was still stuck on the part about my mother. I’d become so angry that Light burned inside me, making him lose his grip on my consciousness. Finally, I could think clearly. “You killed my parents,” I said.

He clicked his tongue. “Control your temper, Little One. I only did what comes natural to me. If drinking milk was forbidden, would you be angry at a babe sucking at its mother’s breast? And as for killing your parents, I only killed your mother. I did taste your father, but I did not kill him.”

“If not you, then who?” I demanded.

He stared at me thoughtfully, then said, “The shadow that always watches but can never be seen. He saved me the night your father caught up to me. You should’ve seen Mark’s face when he thought he was finally going to avenge your mother’s death and save the future life of his precious Llona. But Mark failed to see the shadow from behind until it was too late. The shadow snapped his neck as easily as one snaps their fingers.” Mr. Steele snapped his fingers, startling me.

“Show me your true self,” I said, wanting desperately for him to shut up.

He tilted his head. “And why would you want that?”

“So I can see the real face of who I’m going to kill.” I quickly formed three more tight balls behind my back.

“I can see I no longer have an affect on you. You are right. There is no need to keep up this illusion.” He waved his hand in front of his face. “But are you sure you want to see the true face of evil? I was one of the first created. We were made from the darkest parts of man’s mind where greed, lust, and murder wait in ambush for that one small moment when man becomes weak.”

His perfectly clear complexion suddenly cracked, revealing a black interior.

“We let this darkness turn our hearts and minds black by the sins of those who claimed to be righteous.”

A large chunk of skin fell from his face.

“We would not exist but for these hidden secrets.”

He reached up and tore off the remaining flesh. Beneath was a black face, if you could call it that. Where there should’ve been a nose was an empty hole, but when he turned his head, pieces of bloodied flesh still clung to the inside of his skull. His leathery skin pulled tight over abnormally high cheek bones, but around his mouth, the wrinkled skin bunched up into black nodules, forming a lumpy, grotesque bottom lip. His top lip was missing.

All this was horrible enough, but it was his eyes that were the most frightening. Seeing them directly, without Mr. Steele’s mask, filled me with the worst kind of dread and horror I could imagine.

Images began to appear in my mind of twisted, broken, dead bodies; murderers killing for the sheer joy of it. I quickly closed my eyes to block the disturbing, soul-sucking images from my mind.

The Vyken laughed. “Evil will not be ignored.”

I collapsed to my knees, trying all I could to mentally block the gruesome images. I gulped for air several times and my heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest. The pain was excruciating. Murders, rapists, thieves—I saw it all in vivid detail. It was more than any person should have to endure.

All I could do was focus on the good in my life. I thought of my friends, of Christian and Jake. I thought of my devoted father, remembered him: the time he took me fishing and had hooked his finger, or when he bought me an Easter dress, but it was two sizes too small. I easily forgave him because of his smile. My mother used to say he stole his smile from a sunray. Slowly, the barrage of toxic images began to fade.

My mother. I thought of her now, of what she must have endured. She’d gone against everything she’d been taught, to follow her heart. Friends surely had been lost and her name ruined, but she did what she thought was right. Suddenly my mother was someone I wanted to be like.

Before I realized it, the image of my mother had completely taken over the disturbing images. The same creature that had taken my mother’s precious life now thought he was going to destroy mine. Never.

I clenched my fists, head down, almost touching my bent knee, and then summoned all of Light’s power. I stood up and stared the Vyken directly in the eyes.

“Bravo!” he said.

In one swift motion, I threw each individual light bullet in his direction with an amazing force. He dodged the first few, but was not quick enough to avoid them all. One grazed his cheek, cutting through his calloused skin. Another tore through his arm.

The smirk on his face disappeared when he touched exposed flesh. He brought down his blood-tinged fingers and examined it. “You are full of surprises. I may have underestimated your abilities, but no matter. Let’s get to it, shall we?”

I moved to attack him, but before I could take a step forward, he appeared in front of me swinging a fist. His hand connected with my head, and I flew back several feet. I wasn’t sure what was worse: the pain or the sheer shock of being hit in the face. I never knew how degrading it was to have your face smacked. It made me feel small and insignificant. I quickly stood up, despite the pain, to show he couldn’t have power over me.

He attacked me again, but this time I was ready. I ducked beneath his blow, spun around and kicked him hard in the back. I moved to kick him again, but he caught my mid-air kick and twisted my foot hard. My body followed until it was stopped by the cold wood floor of the stage. I gasped for air.

“You are truly unique, Llona,” he said, as he walked around me. “An Aura who fights? Ignores the Auran Council? Rare, indeed! Of course the Vykens should be grateful you are a rarity. I can only imagine how our kind would dwindle if the Auras ever realized their true powers.”

In less than a second I created another light bullet, bigger this time. While he was still speaking, I rolled onto my back and tossed it at him. He attempted to move out of the way, but the bullet tore threw his other arm. This time he cried out.

I jumped up and punched him in the face. I could tell by the look in his eyes that he felt as disgraced as I’d been only moments ago. Now we were on a level playing field. I had the ability to hurt him and he knew it.

My confidence was short-lived, however, when his fist flew up faster than I thought possible, connecting with my jaw. My eyes rolled to the back of my head, and I felt my body complete an almost perfect back flip.

Gratefully, Light’s power helped me to remain conscious, enabling me to land on my feet. I continued to fight with a ferocity that, if I could have foreseen, would’ve frightened me.

Together we became an angry mosh pit of fists and kicks, twisting to a tune heard only by enemies who wish to destroy one another. Its beat was loud in my head and it pushed me on, harder and faster to destroy the creature who had taken all that I held dear.

I became oblivious to everything else in the room. My only focus was the Vyken in front of me who fought for an entirely different reason. His determination stemmed from greed, corruption, and a desire for insatiable power. Mine was for the love of my family and friends.

The more I hurt him, the more I was spurred on, until I began to feel something foreign and dark take hold of my mind. This new feeling gave me pause and I hesitated in both wonder and fear. The Vyken took advantage of the moment and struck me hard across the back of my head. With his second blow, I fell to the ground. I pushed myself up on all fours, but my movements were too slow. He kicked me in the stomach, forcing me onto my back. In a fraction of a second, he was on top of me, straddling my body.

He breathed heavily a few times before asking, “I do have one question. How ever did you get away from Christian? I really hoped he could be a part of this.”

I was too busy trying to get my vision back to answer him.

When I didn’t respond, he continued, “Like May here, Christian too was a surprise. I never thought the Council would assign someone so young to be a guardian, but I guess it shouldn’t have surprised me. They never were good at making smart decisions.”

“How did you know?” I finally gasped.

He leaned into me, inches from my face. “That night at the hospital when he kept insisting you were alive. I thought Christian was crazy for trying to save you when you looked like death himself, but then he’d said the word ‘Light’ and that’s when I knew. He was your guardian. Only a guardian would be able to sense their ward’s Light. After that, I did all I could to make sure he’d save you.”

He smoothed back my hair with his cold hand. “I was going to take you that night, you know. The discovery of a guardian protecting you shook me up a bit, but looking back I’m glad I didn’t. Having him teach you to fight has been well worth it.” He leaned in even closer until I could feel his putrid breath on my cheek. “When I’m done with you, he will be next.”

The thought of him harming Christian spurred me into action. I grabbed his head between my palms and commanded Light into my finger tips. Instantly, his flesh melted beneath my burning hands, and he fell over screaming. I rolled on top of him and repeatedly punch him in the face. “You will never hurt me or anyone I love ever again!” I screamed.

I managed to hit him several times before he caught my fist and squeezed hard. I stifled a cry.

“Enough of this.” Lightening quick, he stood up from beneath me, taking me with him. His calloused fingers gripped my neck, stopping air from passing to my lungs. In my face, he said, “This fight is over. Do you understand? You have lost and now your blood will become mine.”

His hand jerked my head to the side, exposing my neck. All attempts to free myself were useless, and I could see now he had only been toying with me before.

My struggling body reminded me of a gazelle after it’s been captured by a cheetah. It always made me mad to see how easily the gazelle would give up after struggling for just a short time, as if it knew it didn’t have a chance. I didn’t think I had a chance either, but I wasn’t about to stop fighting.

“Hold still, Little One. It will hurt less.” He lowered his head to my flesh, then paused. “Never mind, struggle. I want you to feel pain.” His head struck forward like a viper and his teeth pierced the skin of my neck. The pain was terrible, far worse than I could’ve ever imagined. And every attempt to push him away only made his cold teeth drive further into my flesh.

Was this what my mother had endured? A painful death? All the good she’d done, all the people she’d helped and then to be killed by this evil monster. Was I really going to let my parent’s legacy be destroyed? I was all that was left. My mother used to tell me I was destined for great things—finally, I believed her.

Blood flowed down my arms and dripped to the floor. Beyond the blood, I knew Light was next to be drained, and after that there’d be nothing left. Already I could feel Light struggling to contend with death’s darkness.

I opened my eyes and squinted into the stage’s bright lights. Its warmth fell upon me, racing against my skin as if it were trying to tell me something. I blinked slowly and in that second had a moment of clarity. The assembly—when I’d drained the school’s gym of light. I could expel light, but could I draw it into me just as easily?

Using the last of my strength, I began to suck the light from the room and into myself, hoping it would fortify my weakening Light. The stage lights flickered until they went out entirely. I reached further, mentally draining the surrounding area of power: the school, the neighborhood, all of it until I could contain no more. I was so full of light that my skin felt like it would burst from my frame. My body stiffened and my head snapped back as light spilled from my eyes and mouth.

The Vyken struggled to unlatch himself from my neck. He squirmed and tried to push away, but Light’s grip was tighter. It snuffed out his darkness and as more light flowed from me, I felt him become weaker. A loud tearing sound bounced throughout the auditorium as the body of the Vyken began to come apart. He continued to crack and peel until his whole body became a pile of silver ash. What once was a vessel for absolute evil was now nothing more than a pile of dirt at my feet.

I
REMEMBER IT WAS FREEZING COLD THE DAY MY MOTHER DIED
, but that didn’t stop me from going into our backyard to swing on our rusted metal swing set. The chilly fall weather nipped at my face; it was a welcome distraction from the somber mood in the house. Something had happened, something bad and I had a strong feeling I didn’t want to know what. I saw my father when he came home that morning. His eyes were red and puffy and so when he called my name, I ran. My father never cried.