Celtic Rose (34 page)

Pulling the power from the center of her body, she willed it to pulse and throw itself out of her body like it’d done before. She was rewarded for her effort by being thrown across the alley herself. She hit the wall hard and slid down; she wasn’t unconscious but the wind was knocked out of her and it took too long for her to right herself. As she looked around she noticed her group had been thrown in different directions, and Maulro and his men were just standing there laughing. It may not have done any damage to the fiends, but at least she and her friends were free.

Kallisto ran and the others ran with her as soon as they could. It was strange that Maulro and his men didn’t give chase; they just stood there staring at where Kallisto and the others had fallen. As Kallisto looked around she noticed they were still where they landed, all of them knocked out. She was confused at first, wondering how they could be running and see their bodies elsewhere. Then it dawned on her and the others as they looked down at their ghostly forms and back toward each other–they were having out of body experiences.

“You will not be able to beat them with your powers. You must use your training. You won’t be able to beat them but you’ll be able to buy some more time. Just stay out of reach no matter what, and you’ll survive.” The ghostly voice came from nowhere and everywhere. It echoed through the alley and off the walls all around them, and quicker than she thought possible they were sucked back into their bodies.

Kallisto’s body ached but she got up slowly. As she looked around the others were doing the same. They got into their fighting stances. Kallisto grinned at Maulro; he didn’t like that much. He screamed out and started running at her. She flipped over him effortlessly. He stopped just short of the wall and turned around; she’d hoped he would run into it head first. She smiled at him again. He ran for her and reached high expecting another jump, so instead she rolled through his legs and stood up immediately. She started laughing–it seemed so effortless and easy to her. He was so bulky he could barely keep up with her.

He looked over his shoulder at her and set his shoulders, readying for another attack. She’d have to watch him extremely close to see what kind of attack it would be. He faked one way and went the other quicker than she thought possible for him. She pulled her mother’s power into her and levitated well above his head. He jumped and tried to catch her and she started to laugh again. She stayed up in the air floating back and forth above him, high enough up that she could look around without worrying about him.

Kalan was in trouble–one of the men had his arms pinned behind his back and the other was punching him. Kallisto decided to even the odds. She laughed again as she pulled a Superman, throwing herself forward, flying through the air. She hit the guy that had been punching Kalan and slammed him into a wall. Maulro chased after her but she was up again before he could reach her. Kalan head butted the guy holding him, elbowed him in the stomach, and turned and brought his knee up into the guys face. Blood spurted everywhere as he went down on his back.

Kalan ran over to help Ramina. There were three guys on her–two were holding her arms and the other was walking toward her with a knife. Kallisto flew toward her as well but before either of them could get to her the guy lunged with the knife and caught her in the stomach. She screamed out, and so did Kalan and Kallisto. Kallisto hit the guy with the knife, grabbing him at the same time and bringing him up with her. She didn’t know she could carry someone; she laughed as the guy screamed and she threw him down. He landed in a pile of broken wood but wasn’t impaled. He lay unconscious and damaged but not dead.

Kallisto flew back toward Ramina. Kalan was already with her but there were other men coming for them. Talus, William, and Ephiny were fighting the men off as best as they could. Ephiny’s claws and fangs had grown and she was doing a lot of damage, but everyone in the group was beaten and bloody, all except for Kallisto. Kallisto swooped down to start hitting some of the men converging on Ramina and Kalan. Kalan was too busy holding pressure on Ramina’s wound to defend himself. Ramina was bleeding profusely–the dark blood seeped through Kalan’s fingers at an alarming rate. It seemed to pulse out every time her heart beat. Kallisto hit three of the guys, but was suddenly grabbed again by Maulro; she’d gotten so caught up in everything that she’d forgotten to watch out for him. He started to run out of the alleyway with her.

Just as they reached the end of the alley a fist flew around the corner so fast Maulro was thrown back, and Kallisto flew out of his arms into a pile of fabrics. Kallisto jumped up immediately, expecting to see Gabriel, but it wasn’t him. She stood there in shock for a moment staring at a very angry little blonde, who ran forward into the group of men that had converged on Kalan and Ramina. Kalan had taken many punches, refusing to stop the pressure on Ramina’s wound. The blonde started hitting men left and right. The men flew out in several directions but Kallisto could no longer see the blonde.

All of a sudden a bright green glow started from the center of the men and the men started screaming and grabbing their ears. Kallisto didn’t hear anything but the men’s ears started bleeding and they fell one by one, unconscious. After they all fell she could see the blonde again. She was holding her wrists to her temples and the glow was flowing into her head from there and out her eyes. As she watched the glow faded and the blonde seemed to waver and stumble, but she caught herself and stood there, breathing hard.

William, Talus, and Ephiny walked over to her, bloody and looking the worse for wear. Kallisto woke from her shock and ran to Kalan and Ramina. As she reached them she tried to bend down and touch Ramina. She was shoved back so hard she landed on her rump.

“Ow! Kalan it’s me!” Kallisto said and tried again to touch her. She was slung back again.

“Stay away from her!” Kalan used the voice that made her obey. She backed up all the way to Talus, who was still by the blonde about a yard away from Kalan and Ramina. They stood there in shock. Kallisto turned and looked at Ephiny. Ephiny was staring straight at her. They spoke mind to mind for a moment.

He is overly protective of her Kallisto, this is a bad sign.
Ephiny thought, concern plain in her mental voice.

Are you saying you think he will be the one to betray us?
Kallisto asked in disbelief.

I’m not saying that exactly, but this isn’t good. The witch is after Talus because she thinks your death will send him mad, but Kalan is going mad and Ramina isn’t even dead. William has a serious grudge with Gabriel and now Gabriel is gone and hasn’t shown up to save us. This will cause more animosity between Gabriel and William; I just know it. I can’t see him killing anyone, but I’m biased. I think he may be affected by the witch since he’s acting so much more aggressive in this life.. and if that’s the case she could control him more and cause him to do just what I can’t believe. They’re all suspect in this and we need to be leery of them all,
Ephiny explained.

Gabriel said much the same in his truck on the way to his house before you came, but look at how he’s been acting. He’s calm and loving one moment and then cruel and spiteful the next. This blonde may be the one we are looking for, but she may also be one of Serena’s people and Gabriel is severely affected by her. What if she causes him to kill us all? We can’t trust anyone but us and Ramina,
Kallisto thought sadly.

Right, we’ll keep an eye on them all,
Ephiny agreed. Their attention was turned to the edge of the alley where Gabriel came running full speed toward them. He froze as soon as he saw all of Maulro’s men littering the ground and Ramina laying there bleeding. He ran to help Ramina and Kalan tried to push him back, but he grabbed Kalan with both hands and picked him up off the ground.

“I was watching you on my way here, brother of Kallisto. You pushed her and you’ll pay dearly for that. And don’t you ever try to push me away when I’m trying to help again. I may have protected you throughout your lives, but I will injure you if you give me cause. Now go to your sister and apologize. I’ll tend Ramina’s wound,” Gabriel said angrily, and shoved Kalan back in Kallisto’s direction. He landed on his feet but stumbled backward into Kallisto, and she grabbed him. He turned slowly in her arms and tears flowed down his cheeks. He grabbed her harshly, pulling her into his arms.

“I’m so sorry Kallisto. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. My dearest sister, please forgive me!” he said, crying harder. Kallisto smoothed her hands down his back, trying to give him comfort.

“It’s alright Kalan. I know you’re worried, we all are, but it’ll be alright. Shh, hush now. Everything’s just fine,” she said soothingly, and held her brother until the crying slowed and finally ceased. He pulled back and smiled at her slightly, then turned back to Ramina, still holding Kallisto. Gabriel had Ramina bandaged.

“I stopped the bleeding, but we still need to get her to the hospital. She needs blood,” Gabriel said as he got up and picked up Ramina. They followed Gabriel to the hospital, the blonde as well.

Chapter 15

“Everything will be fine. You’ll see, Ramina. We’ll spend the rest of the time we have doing nothing but being together. The others can handle everything. We’ll only help if they need us to. I’m so sorry I never told you how I felt before the curse. All of those years we spent together through Kallisto, I should have told you then. We could’ve been as happy as we are now years ago, and we would’ve had more time together. Can you ever forgive me for being so stupid and taking forever?” Kalan knew she could hear him, but she’d been unconscious since they brought her in. They gave her the blood she needed–Kalan was even her perfect match in blood. He was able to give her as much as she needed. He laid his hand on her head and bent to give her a kiss. She smiled as he bent down.

“Ramina? Are you awake?” he asked, stopping.

“Yeah, I was awake long enough to hear your last few sentences of undying devotion,” she said jokingly. Her voice was a little grave but he could tell she was feeling better. Kallisto and William had come in and gave her one of their power jolts but at the time it didn’t look like it had helped; he could tell now that it had. He lifted the blanket to look under her bandage. The wound was just a little pink scar. Ramina looked down.

“Wow! How long have I been out of it?” she said with a little bit of panic in her voice. She probably thought she had been in a coma for a long while.

“It’s only been about two days. Don’t worry; not that much time has passed. We still have time to spend together.” He kissed her and when he pulled away his brow was furrowed as he thought.

“What’s the matter, Kalan? You’re frowning.” Ramina touched between his eyebrows. He slid his face over so her hand could rest on his cheek.

“I was just thinking about how I wish I’d have known sooner about us. I wish I could have had so much more time with you,” he said. Ramina laughed softly.

“Honey, we’ve spent centuries together. And if we don’t break this curse we’ll still be spending time with each other centuries from now. Don’t worry, we
will
be together. It’ll just be over several lifetimes instead of one. How many people get to spend that long with the ones they love?” she said, then patted his cheek and swallowed harshly.

“Are you thirsty? I’ll get you some water.” He started to get up and she grabbed his arm.

“I thought you said we would never be apart? Stay Kalan; I don’t ever want to be alone again. If tomorrow never comes, I want to be with you when it happens. We’re not sure when everything’s going to happen–please don’t leave me.” Tears started to form in her eyes. Kalan pushed the call button for the nurse and sat back down holding Ramina’s hand.

Chapter 16

They sat in the waiting room giving Kalan and Ramina some alone time. Most had left the hospital a few times to shower and change in the two days they’d been there, but Kalan wouldn’t budge. Kallisto guessed she could understand–if it were Talus in that room she’d probably do the same. She loved Ramina as though she was her sister, but even Ramina wouldn’t be able to spend every moment with her if she was in that cramped room. At least that’s what Kallisto kept telling herself. Guilt was a horrible thing, but Kallisto also knew Kalan didn’t really want them there. Any time one of them touched Ramina, Kallisto saw the tension in his shoulders. It was like he wanted to push them away from her like he did Kallisto, but he didn’t want to hurt any of them. Kallisto thought of her poor brother; she couldn’t believe how he was acting, but she’d also never seen him so full of grief. They hadn’t lost anyone really close to them before.

She heard footsteps and turned to see a nurse run into Ramina’s room. They jumped up and headed that way too, receiving a shock when they hit the door but, thankfully, not the one they dreaded. Ramina was awake and talking to Kalan. The nurse was giving her some water to drink and changing the IV to something clear.

“Ramina, I’m so glad you’re awake,” Kallisto said happily as they walked in and stood around her bed. Ramina looked around at them soberly at first and then she smiled.

“Hey guys, it’s so good to see you all. Kallisto, you look great! There’s not even a scratch on you and the rest of us are pummeled.” Her smile faltered and Kallisto could tell she was upset.

“Ramina, I tried to help you. Kalan was there with you the whole time and I tried to fight everyone off. Maulro got a hold of me and by the time I got away, Kalan had been beaten pretty badly.” Kallisto tried to explain why she was untouched when everyone else was damaged. She guessed Ramina thought she ran and hid, but she was fighting too.

“Really Ramina, Kallisto was fighting just as hard as the rest of us. She was just better at dodging than the rest of us,” Ephiny said with a smirk.

“Clearly,” Ramina said before turning back to look at Kalan.

“Ramina, please. I was just thinking how you and Kalan must’ve been able to do what I did because, well...how else would you have gotten into and out of those trees without getting hurt?” To me, my logic was perfectly sound. I should’ve known I was wrong,” Kallisto said sadly.