Ignite (Circle of Light Book 2) (4 page)

“Bailey I know you’re awake.”

I smiled without opening my eyes.   I had the best feeling in my entire life.  I had everything I could ever want.

When I finally opened my eyes, I was shocked.  Eric was sitting there with a look on his face that I knew all too well.  Something had happened.  Something bad and it had happened so fast that I hadn’t noticed it.

“Eric?  What is it?  What's wrong?”

He just looked at me as I sat up in the bed.  I was not sure whether he actually heard me, to tell the truth.  It was as if he was stuck in a trance or something, but his eyes were locked dead on me.

I became so frightened that I began to shake.  Acid rose up into my throat.  Besides the involuntary jerking, I was completely frozen.  Terrified.

The world seemed to stop.  Nothing was moving.  Not even Eric.  “Eric, please answer me.”  I said as the tears ran down my face.  I couldn’t control my emotions.  Every hair on my body stood on end.  Fear had taken over any rational thought in my mind and I went into a full-blown panic attack.  I couldn’t breathe.  I couldn’t think and the urge to get up and run away was almost unbearable.  

A split second clear moment warranted a call to my Queens.  More like a screaming demand.  I called to each of them with more force than my own body could handle.  The power in my voice shook the room around me. 

In an instant, the Queens were at my side.  Each of them had brought their counterparts with them.  Without speaking, they each joined hands, just like before with Raylan.  I was confused and shaken.  I reached out to join the Circle with one hand and out to Eric with the other.  Not knowing what was going on was excruciating.

Evil flowed from Eric as I held onto his hand.  I could feel that he was having some sort of battle with something deep inside himself.  I closed my eyes and concentrated solely on him and nothing else.  He was blocking me from entering his mind.  From something that I couldn’t see.  I didn’t understand what was going on.  How could he have gotten into this mess without me knowing it?  The worst part is that he was totally alone with whatever it was that was trying to hurt him.  Not a single soul could reach his mind to help him and I was frantic.  The other members of the Circle were growing more alarmed with each minute that passed.

“We have to move him away from here.  Somewhere where no one can accidentally walk up on us.”  Air King said as he broke the Circle and picked Eric up in his arms.

“Follow me.”  He said without looking at any of us.

I was immediately snapped up from my place in the house and moved to the lake.  This spot was beginning to become a place that I was sure to be avoiding in the future.  Unsure of how I got here, I looked around in a quick scan of the area.  Looking for anything that might seem out of place.  There was nothing.

Air King laid Eric gently on the ground in front of us.  He was still unmoving.  Everyone formed into a circle around him.  I took the hands of my fellow members of the Circle, not allowing my eyes to leave Eric.  I didn’t want to risk not catching a signal or any small sign that he was ok, or in more trouble than thought.

As I stared at his face, it was easy to see that Eric was being hurt, but I couldn’t tell what was causing it.  Whatever it was that was tormenting him was invisible.  The pained look on his face was almost unbearable to look at, but I had to be calm.  If I didn’t then I was sure that I wasn’t going to be any help to him at all.

Every member in the Circle had joined powers and was directing everything we had into Eric. I could feel the power leaving my body and flowing into Eric’s body.  He was so still.  The only real difference I noticed from it was that he didn’t look like he was in pain anymore and that was a major plus.  At least we were helping a little.

After a long time, Eric stirred.  His eyes remained closed, but he looked as if he was trying to wake up.  We all waited patiently, still flooding his body with every ounce of power that we had.  Several moments later, he woke. 

He was very shaken and disoriented at first.  Eric was taking several deep breaths to try to calm himself.  I tried once more to speak to him with my mind.  The only thing I could say was…I love you .

Tears ran down his face as he stared at me.  Not a thing in this world could have prepared me for the hurt that caused me deep in my soul.  It rattled me and I started to cry too.

The thing that worried me the most was that he didn’t answer me back.  He just looked at me.  I didn’t see any emotion on his face.  I was scared.  Maybe something had turned him as they had done to Raylan. 

Eric collected himself and rose from the ground where he had been lying.  He gave me a quick warning glance as I took a step forward to go to him.  Instead of rushing over to him, I stayed with the Circle, not letting go.

I watched him carefully in confusion and fear as he slowly walked up to me.  He looked quickly at my hands and back up to me, then to Earth King and with one quick turn he was facing the same direction as the rest of us.  His hands came out to his sides reaching for ours.

I felt Earth King’s grip loosen.  He looked at me and then looked to Eric and I knew right then what it was that I was supposed to do.

Eric took a final step backwards.  Earth King broke the Circle and we both grabbed Eric’s hands as fast as we could.  Finally, our Circle was complete.

Only, our troubles were just beginning.  With Eric’s power strengthening the Circle, the horrible thing that was attacking him appeared out of thin air. 

It was a ghastly creature, to say the least.  It had the form of a man, but that was really all that was recognizable.  My stomach turned at the very sight of it.

The thing stayed in its position in the center of our Circle unmoving, but smiling hideously at Eric.  It opened its mouth and I could see the jagged, rotten teeth in its mouth. 

I was expecting to hear a human voice, but the sound that came out was unspeakable.  The violent sound of a million screams blowing through the wind of its breath shook the Earth beneath us.  Our grips on each other were definitely being put to the test.  It pulled and tore at the muscles in my body.  I wasn’t sure how much longer I was going to be able to hold on and I knew if our Circle was broken that we would be helpless.  We would all die.  Without a doubt.

I gathered all the strength in me and squeezed both of the hands that I was holding.  Desperately trying not to let go.

The air went quiet.  The figure stood there looking at each of us with hate and disgust in its eyes.  I had never been looked at like that before in my entire life, and it was frightening me more and more as I looked back at it.

I tried to break eye contact with it, but I couldn’t for some reason.  It was like it was holding me there against my will, forcing me to look at it whether I wanted to or not.

My fear went out of control and I could feel the scream building in my chest until it had no other choice but to come out.  I screamed like I had never screamed before.  The power of it shook everything around us.  It shook things that the ugly thing in front of me did not.  Even the air vibrated around us.  All the anger I had in me came out with it. 

I let out what felt like years of repressed anger.  Every little thing that had ever made me mad only fueled my strength.  It made me scream louder and louder until the pitch of it was so high that it was just a whistle to my ears.

At the time, I didn’t realize that I was killing the creature, but my scream was and I wasn’t going stop.  I couldn’t t.  I had to let all this out of me or I felt like I was going to explode into a fit of rage and break the Circle.

The creature held onto its head in agony as it spun in circles just above the ground.  Rotating faster and faster until all I could see was a blur where its body should have been.  Suddenly, it let out an almost deafening wail and then burst into flames and vanished.

I stood there watching as its ashes floated slowly to the ground around us.  Relief filled me, but the guilt and disbelief that I had just killed another being was burning at the edges of my mind. 

I couldn’t help it.  I was not the kind of person that harmed other people, but I knew that it couldn’t have been avoided.  It was the law of the jungle, right?  Kill or be killed.

All of the Kings and Queens tried to comfort me, but the lingering question of exactly what that thing was soon took over everyone s conversations.  No one had any idea about what it was or where it came from.  Only that it was very powerful and extremely dangerous.

There are many creatures in our worlds.  Either something is dark or it is light and that thing was definitely dark, Fire Queen said to everyone.

Her saying that made me question everything that I had ever thought was real and what was make believe.  Was it possible that everything I had ever heard was real?  Could all the scary stories and fairy tales be true?

I threw my hands up in utter disbelief.  None of this makes sense.  Vampires?  Witches?  Mystical creatures?  Really?

Well if it really is all true I guess I should be better prepared if I meet any more of them in the future.  But how could I prepare myself for any of it?  It seemed a little farfetched, but I guess it is possible.  Anything is possible now.  Right?

The Kings and Queens gave me a quick going over about everything.  They talked briefly about each of the thought to be mythical creatures.  I was surprised to hear that the majority of vampires and werewolves belonged to the Circle of Light.  Only a few of them belonged to the Dark Union.

“Only the ones that lose their humanity are not joined with us.  Most of them have proved their ability to retain their humanity and survive without killing innocent people.  Although, the need for them to feed still exists.” Earth Queen told me.

That was comforting in a rather disturbing way, but still comforting.  The vampires still needed blood and the werewolves had to have a diet of flesh to survive.

Vampires usually have willing donors.  At times, they did run across a person that didn’t fit the description of being innocent.  A murderer, a rapist, or someone like that was what they explained was fair game for them.  Usually they drained them and disposed of the body, and no one was ever the wiser.

Werewolves fed on wildlife most of the time.  They were the same as the vampires in which they sometimes took human victims.  They said that usually mountain lions and other large wild animals took the wrap for what the werewolves done.  Being that they could not properly dispose of their prey’s mangled body.

I looked at Eric, desperate to see the same look of confusion and skepticism on his face as I had on mine, but it didn’t seem to work out that way.  He was nodding and listening as if he had already known about everything that they were talking about.

That did not help me much.  I was unknowing and ignorant to the true nature of the world that I had been living in.  In a way, I wanted all that back.  I didn’t want to know about these things.  For once, I wanted to be completely ignorant.  Life would be so much simpler that way.

But it cannot be that way now.  Not ever again.  No matter how much I want it to be, my life would never be normal again. 

That made me think harder about everything I was being told.  I listened closer because I knew that every shred of information that I was being given was vital to my life.  Vital to Eric’s life.  To our families and friends.

After our discussion was over, the Circle went our separate ways for the time being.  I was still shaken and reeling from the new things that I had learned about the world I had been living in.  The only thing I wanted right now was a little alone time with Eric.  Some normal time.  With nothing trying to kill us, and no noise.

Since we were, basically, transported here against all laws of reality, we had to walk back.  I was not too excited about it because it was a long walk and I was still in my pajamas.  To top all that, I was barefoot and it was freezing outside.

I remembered that I did have the power to change all that.  Well, at least my clothes.  I told Eric to hold on for a minute and found myself a nice little patch of trees to hide behind.  Jeans and a shirt, I thought to myself quickly.  I threw in a nice new pair of K Swiss shoes too.  Hell, what would it hurt?  It wasn’t like I was going to stand out here and freeze to death.

I dressed as fast as I could and ran back out to meet Eric.  He was smiling at me and I swore that I could actually see his eyes sparkle in the sunlight.  It is amazing how a few life or death experiences can make a person notice and appreciate the little things a lot more than they normally would have in the beginning.

Smiling back at him with nothing but love in my heart, I took his hand and kissed him.

“Thank you for not leaving me.”  He said almost whispering.

“I would never leave you.  Ever.”

“Let's go home.”  Eric said with a sneaky grin.

I was caught off guard when he looked like that.  It is like knowing something was about to happen, but not really caring at the same time because you trust the other person so completely that nothing else mattered.

I trust Eric with every part of my being.  Completely.  As well as he did me.  Although, I had a sinking feeling that he was trying to keep something from me.  Not anything like he had done something bad, but there was something he wasn’t telling me.  I was sure that it was with good intentions.  It always was when it came to Eric.