Revelations (Bloodline Series) (15 page)

“I
never said that,” he smirked. “I’m not big headed
or
full of myself, so
I’m saying nothing to that.”

I
was a bit annoyed after hearing that…I didn’t like people talking about me
behind my back. But, I guess what he was saying was true, which just pissed me
off even more. I decided to stop listening in. My mother always told me, “You never
hear anything good about yourself when you eavesdrop on someone else’s
conversation.” She was right.

I
didn’t know what to do with myself at that point. Boredom was starting to kick
in, and I was getting hungry. Luckily it wasn’t too long before we all sat down
to dinner. Everyone seemed rather cheerful, except for Keira; she was very quiet,
and seemed to go into her own world a lot. Eligos was watchful of her, but he
didn’t say anything. Maybe he knew what was wrong. Maybe if I had listened in
longer, I would have known too. I may have been able to help her.

As
soon as she finished eating, she cleared her pots away and went outside.
Everyone looked at each other for a moment in silence before continuing with
their conversation. I was starting to get worried about her, and it seemed I
wasn’t the only one. Lily excused herself and headed in the direction Keira had
gone. I asked Eligos if she was okay, and he just nodded and continued to eat.

After
dinner Jake and Lucian drove into town to pick up a load of snacks and booze.
Needless to say, we all got rather drunk. Lily had left Keira on her own for a
while as requested, and was now dancing around to some ‘80s music with Beth and
Olivia. Just after 10 P.M. Keira joined us. She sat next to Eligos, and I
passed her a bottle of beer. Danny had been outside with Jared and Marshal for
the last half an hour, smoking and laughing and joking. I was sitting with
Lucian, laughing at the girls being stupid, and occasionally being dragged up
to dance with them. I didn’t mind…it was all good fun, and that was something
we all needed to have as much of as possible. In the end, Lily managed to drag
Keira up to dance, and I even got a chance to dance with her again. I looked at
Eligos, a little worried in case it caused an argument and ruined everyone’s
mood, but he just laughed at us both. He didn’t care at all, thank God.

By
just after midnight everyone was drunk, full of junk food, and very, very tired,
so we all decided to call it a night. I got into bed in one of the spare rooms.
I’d just watched Keira and Eligos walk up the stairs hand in hand, and I’ll
admit I got jealous again. But at least I’d gotten to dance with her. That was
my last memory before sleep came.

Chapter 17

Wipe
Out

Keira

I
was woken from a deep sleep by someone shaking me violently.

“Keira,
Eligos, wake up,” an unfamiliar voice was shouting.

I
sat up straight, staring out into the darkness to find the owner of this deep,
male voice.

“Vetis,”
Eligos said in shock.

“You
need to get up and get everyone out of here, now,” he continued to shout.

“What’s
going on?” I asked.

“They’re
here, they’re—”

He
was interrupted by a deafening noise. I covered my ears quickly. It sounded
like a hundred bombs going off all at the same time. My bedroom door burst
open. Lily, Jake, Danny, and Lucian came running in.

“What’s
going on?” Lily had to scream to be heard.

The
noise quieted, but only slightly. We could hear loud bangs, pops, and whistles,
like fireworks only thousands of them one after another. Vetis grabbed mine and
Eligos’s arms and dragged us out of the room. Everyone was in the hallway.

“Get
outside,” Vetis shouted.

“Vetis,”
Hecate gasped, shock and fear filling her face.

“You
too, outside.”

We
all ran down the stairs and out of the front door. As soon as we were outside
the strong smell of burning filled our noses. Vetis pointed in the direction of
the town. The skies above were orange, a reflection of fire on the clouds.

“No,”
I choked.

Everyone
else turned to look.

“What’s
going on?” Beth and Lucian yelled.

“Looks
like Salem was next on the wipe out list,” Vetis told them.

“What?”
I almost screamed.

I
could faintly hear the sirens from fire engines and police cars, almost drowned
out by the noise of burning, collapsing buildings, and explosions. The glow of
the fire seemed to be getting closer and closer to us.

“It’s
spreading!” Elizabeth shouted.

“It’s
coming straight for us!” Tyler added.

“We’re
all gonna die!” Marley cried.

“Keira,”
Vetis said, taking my arm. “I know what you did in Hell, protecting everyone
from the Heavenly attack. You need to do it again here, now.”

“It
just happened; I don’t know how I did it.”

“You
willed it to happen, so will it again!”

Everyone
turned to look at me, looks of sheer terror on their faces. Another explosion
made them look away. This time we all heard the faint sound of screams.

“We
need to help them!” Olivia shouted.

“You’re
too late, there’s nothing you can do,” Vetis told her.

“We
need to try.”

“Olivia,
we’d all die,” Lily told her. “That guy’s right; it’s too late for them. We can’t
do anything now.”

“Most
of them will already be dead,” Eligos added.

Another
explosion occurred, closer still this time. Lily and the others started choking
on the thick smoke now surrounding us.

“Our
parents,” Lucian cried.

He
went to run towards his car, but Vetis stopped him. Lucian couldn’t move.

“I’m
sorry, young man, you can’t leave; it will be too late to save them. I’m really
very sorry,” Vetis sympathized.

“No!”
all the guys cried.

“Keira,
the force field…do it, do it quickly,” Eligos told me.

A
moment later, the angel was free. I could feel Vetis staring at me, but I paid
him no attention. I knew I had to protect us all…I couldn’t allow all my
friends to die. I kept listening to the noise from the town, and watched the
flames from the fires rise into the air in the distance. Then there was a
blinding white light.

“This
is it,” Vetis warned.

We
could see the shockwave coming towards us, like that created after an atomic
bomb detonation. I panicked…I was scared, but that seemed to do the trick. The
force field started to surround us, growing bigger and bigger until everyone,
and even the house, was underneath it.

Only
seconds later the wave hit. Everyone except Eligos and myself hit the ground,
curled up, covering their heads. The wave was incredibly strong, powered by
magic, but the force field withstood it. Lily and Beth lifted their heads
slightly to see what was happening. Both of them looked amazed when they saw
the wave hitting the force field, creating an immensely bright light but still
unable to penetrate it.

“Keep
it up Keira,” Eligos said to me before walking over to Vetis.

He
mumbled something to him, but I couldn’t make it out. A moment later, the
attack was over. It had happened so fast, yet it was so brutal. I knew nobody
would have survived it, not even the guys’ parents. A wave of sadness came over
me, but I had to swallow it. I had to be strong for the guys now.

The
force field disappeared, and slowly everyone got back to their feet. Nobody
spoke. What was there to say? Thousands of people had just lost their lives,
and we had been powerless to do anything about it. We were too late. I walked
over to Vetis.

“Thank
you,” I said to him. “If it wasn’t for you...well....”

“You
would have woken up, Keira…the others did. I just wanted to try and warn you
early enough. I thought maybe we could have stopped it, but I got here too
late. I’m sorry.”

“This
isn’t your fault.”

He
looked away from me with a sad face. It wasn’t his fault, yet he still felt
guilty. That showed that even though Hecate said he was more or less heartless
and cold, actually he wasn’t. The guys began running to their cars, which had been
parked right outside the house so had also been protected by the force field.

“You
won’t be able to drive there…look at the state of the place,” Hecate shouted to
them. “Let us take you.”

Hecate
was right; devastation surrounded us. Tree’s burned to cinders, crackling
sounds from things still on fire, smoke so thick that it reduced visibility to
almost nothing…they couldn’t drive in this. We could only see the damage done
close to my house; what would it be like closer to the town? Actually
in
the
town?

Danny
disappeared with Hecate, Vetis took Jake and Lily, and Eligos decided to take
Lucian. He told me Tyler would need me and I should take him. Beth and the
others went back into the house and down into the stone room. I put a spell on
the whole of the house before I left to keep them safe. Then I stood next to
Tyler.

“Are
you ready for this?” I asked him. “You will need to be strong.”

He
didn’t reply, he stood there in silence nodding his head. I held out my hand
and eventually he took it, looked me in the eyes, and nodded his head again.

Chapter 18

Pain
and Ruin

Keira

We
arrived on what until around half an hour ago was the driveway to the house. I
had my back to it…I didn’t want to see it yet. Tyler had his eyes closed,
taking deep breaths.

“Tyler,
sweetheart, I...I....”

He
opened his eyes slowly and looked in the direction of the house. “I need to
find them,” he cried, before running behind me.

I
took a deep breath and then turned to see the damage for myself. I instantly
felt sick to my stomach, got a hot pain in my chest, and started shaking
uncontrollably. The house no longer existed. Only a few pieces of the mainframe
were still standing, but they were burning. The rest was rubble, burning
cinders. I slowly walked closer, crushing shards of glass from the windows
beneath my feet. There were pieces of pottery, burnt fabric, and furniture
surrounding me, some of which were also still ablaze. Sofia’s gardens had been
obliterated. Not even her beautiful statues had survived the attack. I could
see Tyler standing on some of the rubble, frantically digging through it whilst
calling his mom and dad’s names. I ran over to him and grabbed his arm.

“Get
off me,” he shouted, trying to break free of my grip.

“Tyler,
they’re gone, darlin’.”

“Get
off me!”

I
teleported us a few meters away from the house, still keeping a grip on him.

“I
have to find them.”

“We
will, we will,” I assured him, cupping his face in my hands. “We will find them.”

Tears
fell down his cheeks just a few seconds before his legs gave way, and he
dropped to his knees. It didn’t seem to matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t keep
my own tears from falling. I kneeled next to him and hugged him tight, both of
us slightly rocking as his broken heart wept.

Twenty
minutes had passed and Tyler was back on his feet, silent, staring at the
ruined house. I stood a few feet behind him.

“Keira...I...I
need to find them. I can’t just leave them under this,” he choked.

I
walked up to him…his eyes were as black as midnight.

“Will
you help me?” he asked, turning to look at me for a moment.

My
eyes turned red as I silently nodded to him. We stood at opposite ends of the
ruin and slowly started to move all the debris into a pile at the other end of
what used to be the drive. Bits of wood, furniture, and flooring picked
themselves up and flew over our heads. It took us a while to go through
everything. We didn’t want to do it too quickly; if his parents were underneath
it somewhere, we didn’t want to cause them any more damage. But they were
nowhere to be found.

“How
is this possible? Where are they? Do you think they escaped?” he asked me.

“Tyler,
as much as I wish they had, I don’t think it’s likely. I think....”

“They
have been….”

Neither
of us could say it. How can you just come out and say,
“They could have
been burnt to a cinder,” or “They’ve been vaporized”? But how else could
you explain the fact that there was no sign of them? In the other towns that
had been wiped out, we knew some of the people were being killed and possessed,
but the others, the older people and children, were just gone.

“I
can’t stay here; can you take me away? There’s nothing here for me anymore,” he
said. “I have nothing…no clothes, no photos, nothing.”

“Come
on.”

I
wrapped my arm around his waist, and a second or two later, we were back at my
house.