Crescent Bound (68 page)

My magick is with me, I have no time to think twice about it.  I shift as fast as I can and since I have seen this area I can move anywhere.  Another scorching fireball flies over my head.  I have to find a way to see if I can use my ice.  Another blaze soars by me, it catches the edge of my sleeve as I shift and roll to the ground. 

I am able to place my icy hand over it, smothering out the flames.  Aiming for my face just as she had done at the tracks, I know I need to stay low.  Running to a pile of stone rubble I crouch down, but it isn
’
t enough.  Her deadly fire torches are so inscrutably fast, like
a heat seeking missile on me.

I have to move to the wooded area, remembering the path I took I shift there.  A high pitch hysterical laughter echoes everywhere.

“
You can
’
t hide Alyssa...but you can...
run
.
”
  I find a large half burnt tree, crouching down as quietly as I can.  I form two small ice balls in my hands and throw them next to a tree directly across from me.  I watch as they glide and land on the dried leaves, making a rustling sound. 

She appears next to the tree slamming fire out, igniting the tree into
blazing
amber of flames. Before she can realize that I
’
m not there
,
I launch my ice daggers at her. 
They h
it her twice, once in the back, the other in her shoulder just as she shifts away.

I move focusing on speed, shifting to a tree then
another;
suddenly I can literally feel...the evil radiating from her.  She stands next to me, a few steps away and I notice her broken eyes.  The blood spills across the whites and the pupils are completely shattered, splintering outward towards t
he eyelids. 

They appear as glass fragments of a shattered mirror.  As she blinks the blood pools indifferently giving her the most deranged look I
’
ve ever seen.  I stare in shock.  I have never seen anything like it.  In a flash she shoots out a roaring fireball at me.  I stand and shoot out freezing draggers, colliding together our elements hit in mid-air making a hissing sound as they smolder out.

Tilting her head slightly to the side she gives me a poisonous smile,
“
Goodbye Alyssa.
”
  Her flames hit hard this time, engulfing me, my entire body shakes with pain from the extreme intensity.  The waves of heat feel like my flesh is going to burn right off. 

Closing my eyes I pull my ice element to me. My hands turn into solid ice then my arms
, and then the rest of my
body.  I can
’
t let her annihilate me, not after what she did to... Marc, to me, she has to stop her demented torturing or there will be another victim she will cross.  Completely devoured in ice I move into her fire, through the ravaging inferno. Slowly into the nullifying feeling, I have never been able to turn into solid ice like Marc can, until now. 

Once I am close to her through the flames I stare into those horrifying eyes of hers.  I surge with anger, and grinding hate, lusting for the suffering to end, before she has a chance to do anything I have her by the neck.  Watching as her hands claw down my frozen arms, viciously reaching out to me, but I tighten my barbarous grip around her neck even more. I begin raising her off the ground, as she makes inhuman cries of madness, but I can
’
t tell what she is trying to say, as her neck freezes up.  My raging ice, like an endless ice storm begins converting her body into a cadaverous form, utterly immobilizing her.  Just as the last sheet of icy entombment smothers over her face, I see her bloody, shattered eyes change back to her natural evergreen and then finally into stone cold ice.

I release my frozen hand cautiously from her neck, waiting and watching to see if she will break through her inter
nal icy prison I made for her.

Stumbling back in shock as the woods became eerily still.  No gushing wind, not a sound at all. The only feeling is a heavy burdening energy seeping through me.  My hands are shaking v
iolently and uncontrollably. 

Veering around I notice everything looks exactly th
e same as before, b
urnt trees and dead grass.  Nothing
, but
this dying world I
’
m in.  I see another mirror hanging by a rope in a tree.  Deciding to shift in front of it, I look at myself.   My long hair is matted with dried blood, my clothes are caked and stiff from the down pour and what catches me off guard the most, is my....eyes, they are exactly like Naomi
’
s, before hers changed back to green. Like a broken mirror with bloody droplets of red.

I slump down to the ground in defeat. So, this is how it ends?  I
’
ll never leave this nightmare and go insane just as she did.  Whatever evil Naomi has conjured up still lingers through this hideous place.  I can feel it riddling
its
way into me.  I begin weakly chanting a protection spell.

“
Dear
g
oddess of the night I call upon you to protect me from this endless sea of misery.  I invoke thee.  In the shadows evil hides, I need your help to be strong and banish all that do me wrong. 
Send them away; send them astray,
n
ever again to pass my way.  So
m
ote it be.
”
 

I continue chanting, but switching my words from English to Gaelic.  I speak the words the third time, it
’
s the last thing I know to do.  Dropping my head down to the forest floor I whisper d
esperately to the barren ground,
“
S
ave me.
”

I curl my tired and bloody arms over my head and wait for the demented world to take me.  My dry lips touch the dirt feeling the cold sensation spread over the ground, then my face and arms.  Opening my eyes I see the entire area covered in white glistening snow.  The forest floor is turning colder by the minute.  I lay my head to the side so I can watch the tiny snowflakes fall from the starry night sky.  I decide this is probably how I
’
ll go... frozen solid just like I have done to Naomi.

Never moving, just laying here motionless.  I want to cry, but I find that I can
’
t.  I wonder if I did would my tears bleed crimson red instead.  The moonlight beams down illuminating the forest, making it appear like a surreal majestic winter wonderland.

Chapter 44

Out of the shadows I see a figure approaching from the woods.  The
glowing light from the moon
shows a tall image standing just a short distance from where I lay. The image stops and appears to hover around me, before it moves any closer I speak in a voice that doesn
’
t even sound like my own,
“
Stad...Nee.
”

I realize I am still speaking in Gaelic so I switch back to English,
“
Don
’
t... come any closer.
”
Then I hear his voice.
“
Alyssa?
”
  It sounds just like Marc
’
s voice, deep and calming.  I want so desperately to cling to the sound of his voice and I wonder if
this
is how I lose my sanity... to believe he is here with me and he
’
s truly not, will definitely break me beyond repair. 

“
Alyssa,
”
h
e speaks again more softly.  With caution he moves in a crouching position, bending down on one knee.  Slowly, I move my gaze up to
him;
I want to see his face.  Shimmering snow descends down around him, his spiky golden blond hair is wet, the features of his face are perfect, but the expression he has is hardened with anguish.  H
is
shirt and jeans seem unmarred
, but
soaked, like he
had a
shower in his clothes. 

As my mind slowly pulls the pieces together, I
’
m able to grasp at the idea that it is really Marc, but how?  How is it possible that he is able to be here now? 

Marc stretches out his hand to me,
“
Alyssa, can you move?
”
  As our eyes meet and I see the absolute shock flash from him, just as I did when I saw Naomi
’
s shattered eyes.

“
Your eyes, what did she do to you?
”
  He starts to move in closer to me, but I quickly shift away.  I don
’
t want him to see me like this and I don
’
t know what her evil has done to me or could do to someone if they touch me. 

Leaning behind a tree
,
I cover my eyes with my hands and
in desperation say,
“
Marc...something is wrong with...
”
I pause to gather my thoughts,
“
I don
’
t know...what is happening to me, but you need to stay....
”
  Before I finish my last words Marc is standing in front of me, one hand grips around my waist, as he leans down and kisses me.  It is him, my lifemate I can feel his essence as if it is my own.

Once we break away from our embrace, I take in our surroundings.  Marc
’
s presence here makes everything
freeze;
we now stand in a
crystallized forest
.  The one thing that does not appear frozen solid is the deranged mirrors.  I grab Marc
’
s hand tightly,
“
Follow me.
”

We run by Naomi
’
s icy imprisoned form, when I notice Marc shooting out a lethal blast from his hand towards her.  Quickly
,
I move his hand, and his icy blast completely shatters a nearby tree to pieces.

“
We can
’
t destroy her, witches that die always come back stronger than they were before.
”
Marc raises his hand up once more, but this time he blasts out his impenetrable ice wall completely sealing her inside.  Squeezing his hand firmly I begi
n to lead him through the woods, f
inding a full size brass mirror beside a tree.  I focus into the
image
and Scry for our way out, a few seconds later I see the wrought iron gates I remember passing through.

Without looking back at Marc,
“
Follow closely, and only visualize the gates that will appear before you.
”
With my other hand I push through the mirror, instantly liquefying into the mercury-like substance and walk through.  Never letting go
of him
, I feel his form take shape as he walks through as well.

Standing now by the frosted iron gates I follow the path as before tracing only in reverse, hoping this will lead us out.

Suddenly my amulet tingles on my skin, glancing
down;
the charms have turned into one solid key.  I know now what I must do, removing the delicate chain from around my neck and with the help from Marc pulling the gates closed, I use the
Cimaruta
as my key to lock this realm, forever sealed by my magick.  I place the silver chain back on as Marc takes my hand and shifts us to the bridge area.

To my surprise it
’
s still standing as if nothing has ever happened to it.  We stand together at the entrance, and it looks as dark as the first time I came upon it, chills edge
d with
warnings of leeriness through me
.

Marc moves closer
, caressing his hand gently across my face. 
“
Your eyes are turning back to blue, Alyss.
”
  He leans down and tenderly kisses my trembling lips. 

I peer up to him.
“
Do we really need to go through there?
”
 
My
voice shakes as I point down the bridge.  Marc glances cautiously over the edge of the embankment into the ri
ver below, turning back to me.

“
I don
’
t really trust the waters here either...  hang on to me I have a better idea.
”

Instantly, I wrap my arms around him and feel him shift us through the pit of blackn
ess.  When I pry
my eyes
open
we are standing safely on the other side of the rustic covered bridge.

We r
etrac
e
our steps back to the stone
,
monument, and
then to
my grave marker. 
“
This is where I found myself, lying nex
t to this stone replica of you,
”
breathing deep he continues,
“
t
hen I saw her
.
Naomi.  I realize now she changed herself to look like you.  Following her as far as I could
,
until I came to that place with David and...
”
  I kiss him, making him stop sa
ying what he was going to say.
I r
un my fingers through his damp hair.