Precious Anathema (18 page)

‘
I hope this works since we
are touching, you have to get out of that hell right now, I am
about to come down after you do you hear me, you need to come back,
I don’t know why you need to know how to talk to the animals but
all you need to do is touch them. You have it in you, just touch
the animal and speak Ella.’ I smiled at her and looked back to
Xander as everything became hazy. I opened my eyes to see Lukin
standing over me.

“
I thought you were dead,
one second you were standing here and the next you fell over in a
heap, what the hell happened to you?” His eyes were sincere, and I
thought of how well I could read people and what I knew Xander’s
eyes told me as he looked at Selene. I couldn’t think of that right
now though, I let Lukin help me to my feet and brushed it off as I
walked past him and allowed myself to get closer to Cora. I had no
idea how this would work, but I placed my hand on her as she stared
at me with large black eyes.

“
Cora, I am not going to
hurt you, I don’t think you want to hurt me will you please help
me?” She never moved, her eyes never blinked and I never heard a
sound. I let go of her and turned to face Lukin, ashamed. “It
didn’t work, I thought it was the answer but it didn’t work.” I
walked away and sat back down by my tree as Lukin sat down where he
was.

“
Delilah.” Hearing him say
my name made me jump a little, I looked up and his eyes were
sympathetic. “Are you going to tell me where you went, and what
upset you so much? I know it’s not raining but I know that look, I
had it once you know.” Now he was going to be nice to me, now he
wanted me to open up to him?

“
Nowhere important I guess,
and nothing upset me you are mistaken.” I looked away and saw Cora
turn her head away from me, almost as if she knew what I said to
him.

“
Look, I just meant that
you were right. We
are
stuck together until we can find a way out
and
I apologize for
before,
don’t
make me regret it.” The next move was cleaver of her; she
slowly walked to him and placed her head on his shoulder to get his
attention away from me. She was jealous, and she could hear
us.

“
Cora,
look
at
me
!” I screamed at her, she couldn’t
hide the fact that she didn’t want us getting closer. Her head
turned as I startled her, I thought I would cry as I jumped up off
the ground. “You hear me, thank you Eris she hears me!” Cora began
to back up from Lukin and myself. “No, Cora please don’t leave we
need your help, please don’t run.” I couldn’t move fast enough as
she spread her massive wings and knocked me to the ground with her
take off. My head hit the ground and I screamed as the sky went
black.

SIXTEEN

“
Delilah,
Delilah
can you hear
me
wake
up!
Wake
up
now
!” I
opened my eyes and Xander stood over me. It was all a bad dream, I
had been suffering the worst nightmare of my life, I wrapped my
arms around him and began to cry as I started telling him what had
happened.

“
It was awful Xander, I saw
you and Selene together giving each other secret looks like you
were a couple and I was trapped in hell with this asshole of a man
who dragged me, screamed at me, threw me around and called me
names, I am so glad it was a nightmare and you are here now.” I
pulled my face up to kiss him, and at first he wouldn’t kiss me
back but he relaxed and settled right in where I knew he belonged.
Our lips craved to touch, our tongues danced and my heart skipped a
beat as I fell in love all over again.

“
No
, Delilah I am
not
Xander wake up please.” He let go of me and as I
picked my head up I could see Lukin sitting beside me with his head
down.

“
What the hell was that?
How could you let me do that, how could you let me believe you were
him?” I inched farther away and he wouldn’t look at me.

“
I
didn’t
do anything Delilah, I
wasn’t
kissing you and
then I don’t know what happened. I haven’t
kissed
a woman in a
long
time, longer than
you realize, I
am
sorry, but just so we are clear
you
kissed me.” I
did
kiss him, it was
maybe the best kiss of my life and it was with
him
.

“
I
thought
you were someone else so
I
didn’t
kiss
you
for the record.” He sat back down and looked at the
ground.

“
I
am
an asshole, I apologize
for
that
, and
the
bruises
too,
but I would like to point out that it
sounds
like he is an asshole
too
so in a way
you
can
feel
better about kissing
me
since he sounds like an
asshole
too.” I grabbed a clump of
grass and threw it at him as I rolled my eyes.

“
It’s my imagination
running away with me and nothing more; he would never cheat on me.”
I said it but even I didn’t believe my words as I remembered the
look he gave her.

“
I used to live in a fairy
tale too Delilah.” He stood up and turned his back to me. “Since I
have been here I know the world is truly dark, and I know that upon
my release of this hell will also be my demise and I’m ok with
that.” I hadn’t really sat down to think of what could happen to
Lukin when we escape the labyrinth.

“
You got yourself into this
mess just like I did Lukin, don’t expect me to feel sorry for you.”
My snarky remark made him turn quickly, eyes cold and
empty.

“
You don’t know anything
about me or why I am here so don’t pretend that you do little
girl.” His glare was enough to fire my anger, and I wasn’t going to
let him win this fight.

“
I know why men were put
down here, I know that my ancestors had their fun with you and then
sent you down here, I know the stories and I don’t feel bad for you
at all.” He took a step closer to me and clenched his fists at his
sides.

“
You know nothing of why I
am here!” growling his words at me I never took my eyes off him, I
wasn’t intimidated by him anymore. “You believe what you want to
believe which makes you no better than any of them!” What else was
there to believe, he put himself here with his lust and nothing
more. As his face softened I could see a vulnerability wash over
him, his eyes closed and his shoulders dropped. He was more lost
than angry it seemed. Looking around I couldn’t help but wonder why
magic could be used in here, but Lukin remained unchanged, I
watched him as he took a deep breath and opened his
eyes.

“
Lukin, do you ever wonder
why being in the safe room doesn’t make you start aging?” He
shrugged his shoulders and looked up at the sky.

“
When I found this place I
had already been in hell for at least a decade, I fell on the grass
and started screaming with joy. I thought it was the exit, then I
got scared when I found it wasn’t and didn’t come back here for a
long time, fearing that I would vanish if I did but for some reason
it doesn’t affect me that way, just one more trick by the bitch
herself.” I couldn’t help but smile under my skin to hear him
single her out and not put me on that list, but it was something I
needed to find out, he should age and disappear in this void, but
it had no effect on him, this could prove interesting.

“
I need to find a way to
get everyone out, that’s the first task. I don’t know how to do
that, I don’t want to fail.” Lukin moved his thick hair from his
eyes, reminding me that I had a knife on me. “I could cut that for
you so you could see better you know.” He rolled his eyes at me as
he pointed at the grass.

“
With what would you use
exactly?” I pulled the knife out of my belt and he jumped
back.

“
You mean to tell me that
you have had that this whole time?” I nodded as I held it out to
show him.

“
I took it from the kitchen
before I came down to protect myself.” He started laughing and
shook his head.

“
You mean to tell me that
you could have killed me at any moment and you never reached for
that?” I looked at the blade and then back at him, wishing I had
but grateful I hadn’t at the same time. I stuck the tip into the
ground between us; he sat closer to me and hung his head. “You
really aren’t like them are you?” I saw my opportunity and took
it.

“
Guess you will have to
wait and see it for yourself won’t you?” I took the blade out of
the ground and stood up to make my advance. Lukin never moved as I
grabbed a handful of thick, dark hair and began cutting. The pile
was pretty incredible as I moved to his bangs. I started cutting
and as the hair fell to the ground and I could see him so clearly
from this close I felt my pulse quicken, His long dark eyelashes
curled perfectly. His almond shaped eyes looked deeply into mine
and his olive skin was flawless, he really was a beautiful, yet
angry man. I took a step back to examine my first attempt at a
haircut and almost laughed out loud. I had made six different
cowlicks, some of it was nearly buzzed and other parts still hung
over his ears. His bangs were perfect though, the most perfect
upward slant ever cut. I smiled at my handy work and thanked the
Goddess it would be too dark for him to see once we made our way
back into hell.

*

“
I can’t believe you!” My
fear of seeing Ella had turned into anger toward being tricked and
I had to unleash it. “You knew it would work, you knew I would fall
for it and you proved that all of you witches are the same!” Selene
stared at me smiling, she got what she wanted, and as soon as Ella
got herself out of the spell she was going to tell her too. “Why
hurt me like this, tell me Selene why would you do this to me?” Her
smile grew wider and she pointed at the door.

“
Why don’t you ask your
Daddy, it
was
his
idea after all?” He told Selene what I was supposed to
do?

“
No, no Selene I don’t
believe you. He would never do this to me, it’s one of your tricks,
and he would never do this!” She stood up and walked close to me,
running her finger across my shoulder.

“
When she finds out what
you did, she won’t listen to you, she will hate you and now you can
take care of her and this Curse, you should thank us. We did you a
favor.” She walked by me as tears filled my eyes; I had been
betrayed by my own father for his own selfish gain. I heard the
door open behind me and felt Selene’s cold stare. “You really are
amazing in the sack Xander, too bad I had to pretend to be that
tomboy to see it, but glad I did.” The door slammed behind me and I
broke, Selene was right after all the hurt Ella had gone through
she wouldn’t listen to me, she would hate the sight of me and never
let me explain. They knew exactly what they were doing. It was time
to find my Dad and have a little chat.

*

“
We need a plan to get out
of here, I need to convince everyone trapped not to kill me and get
Cora back here so I can talk to her.” I stood up and started
collecting branches off the ground. Lukin stood up but wasn’t
assisting me; I turned to him and pointed at the ground. “We need
to make weapons, come and help me.” He just stood and watched me
gathering an arm load of wood before he started
laughing.

“
Do you know anything about
ghosts at all?” I looked at my arsenal of lumber and back at him
realizing the sharpest end wouldn’t stab something that wasn’t
really there.

“
So what then, do we just
go out un armed?” They weren’t looking to kill him so he might not
understand my panic.

“
We need to arm ourselves
with mental weapons; it’s the only way to fight them. We need to do
it now too, the longer we wait the more agitated they will get
because they know you are here.” I dropped the load of wood in my
arms and took a deep breath as I walked to the knife, pulling it
out of the ground I turned to look at Lukin.

“
I know this won’t work,
but I need something to help me walk back out there don’t I?” He
nodded and took the lead; I was not ready for this at all. I looked
up at the blue sky and hoped this would not be the last time I saw
it as we stepped into darkness.

SEVENTEEN

The darkness was much more than just a
shade from the light as we walked back into the hallway. I hadn’t
noticed before but now I could feel it flowing through me, getting
into my blood, into my mind and as I took a breath I knew it was
beginning its attack on me. The air was thick in my lungs, I was
about to reach out for Lukin when I felt a rush of cold air go
through me, we had not made it ten feet yet and they were already
swarming.