Revelations (Bloodline Series) (30 page)

This
time when I spoke the houses in front of me burst into flames. Everyone started
screaming. The sounds were so loud that my eardrums started to ring.

“Keira,
why are you doing this to us?” I heard my mom shout.

“You’re
not real, you’re not real,” I kept telling myself.

One
by one they started to disappear, each of them with horrified looks on their
faces as they saw themselves starting to fade. I wanted to tell them how I
sorry was for everything, but each time I tried, no sound would come out. I was
getting more and more distressed by the second. My own image was the last to
disappear; she looked at me, her eyes now glowing white.

“This
is all your fault!” she shot before fading.

The
hot pain ran through my chest again. The houses seemed to explode, pieces of
wood and glass came hurtling towards me, but instead of hitting me they passed
straight through my body.

“Keira,”
I heard Ballantine say. “Keira, calm down.”

I
didn’t respond. I couldn’t talk, I couldn’t even move. A harsh wind blew past
me, and the ground beneath my feet started to shake violently before pulling
itself apart. I looked to where the houses had been only moments ago, but there
was nothing there…no sign that anything ever had been. I was getting more and
more annoyed and upset.

“Keira!”
Ballantine shouted sternly.

Still
I didn’t answer him. A bright orange glow appeared between the newly formed
cracks, getting brighter and brighter every second. It started to get very
warm. The brighter the glow became the more intense the heat was. Ballantine
was about to approach me; that was until what can only be described as lava came
bursting through the cracked earth. It soared high into the air, raining only a
few small droplets of blistering hot magma around me. I started to panic a
little; I was waiting for some of it to land on me, but it never touched me.
The roaring towers of orange surrounding me, it disappeared into the heavens,
never to be seen again.

Ballantine
put his hand on my shoulder; he had somehow managed to get to me. I looked at
him, tearstained. I knew he was trying to calm me down, but the noise from the
lava was so intense that I couldn’t hear a word he was saying. After a couple
of minutes he stopped talking and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me close
to him. He held me the exact same way my father used to when I was a child. He
put one of his hands against the side of my head and held me against his chest,
but I couldn’t put my arms around him. They were frozen by my sides. He put his
mouth to my ear. “Forgive me,” I faintly heard him say, and then....

Chapter 37

A
Close Call

Keira

I
woke up lying in the grass under a large tree. When I sat up I saw Ballantine a
few feet away from me.

“What
happened?” I asked.

“What
do you remember?”

“Seeing
my friends, family, Eligos...then burning, lava...that’s it.”

“So
you aren’t suffering any memory loss, that’s a good thing. I had to render you
unconscious; it was the only way to calm you down and get you to stop.”

“I’m
sorry for what happened. I couldn’t control myself.”

“It’s
okay, but that’s something we definitely need to work on. We’ll practice again
soon.”

“Do
you really think that’s wise after what happened?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“To
be truthful with you, I expected something to go wrong. I knew your head was in
pieces and that you would have a hard time concentrating on anything. It served
its purpose though; at least now you have had a taste of what you are capable
of, and that was the whole point. Next time you will be more in control, I can
assure you.”

“Ballantine,
please don’t tell me to think with my heart again, or merge it with my
imagination. My heart knows what it wants, and it makes my mind play wicked
tricks on me.”

“I
apologize for that, and I give you my word, I will think before I speak next
time I’m trying to teach you anything.”

“I
think that—”

Before
I could finish my sentence Ballantine covered my mouth with his hand. His eyes
went wide, and he put his finger to his lips. I listened carefully. I could
hear voices in the distance; I looked at Ballantine and nodded. Everyone who
was originally staying there had left. So who did the voices belong to? He
moved silently, peering behind the tree I was leaning against.

“They’re
here,” he whispered at an almost inaudible level.

“Who?”

“Lucifer’s
demons. Your friend Marley must have seen enough to give a good description of where
we are.”

“Shit.”

“Come
on.”

He
took my hand, and we moved quickly and silently deeper into the woods. I asked
him why we didn’t just leave, but he wanted to test them, to see if the demons
would be able to track or sense us. When we were at a safe enough distance to
keep them in view but not for them to hear us, he spoke.

“Keira,
it is almost impossible for anyone to track an archangel, but you’re still part
demon, and I honestly don’t know if that means they would be able to track you.
This is what I want to put to the test. If they can, we’re all in danger if you’re
with us. Do you understand?”

I
nodded and remained silent. This would be interesting. We watched as around a
dozen demons trudged through the trees, each of them armed with numerous
weapons. They came closer to us, and for a moment I thought they had sensed me,
but then they changed direction and continued walking until they were
completely out of sight.

“Well,”
Ballantine smirked. “They say you learn something new every day. The angel side
of you must keep you hidden from them. That is good...very good.”

“Thank
God for that. I really wasn’t in the mood for a scrap tonight.”

“Come,
we’re leaving. I’m afraid the next world we’re going to is far from beautiful.
I’d take one last look around if I were you.”

“Where
are we going?”

“To
a planet called Libido.”

I
couldn’t take him seriously, and I had to fight with myself, so I didn’t burst
out laughing. “Seriously? We’re going to a planet called
Libido
?” I
grinned.

“Think
about what I just said, Keira.”

“No,
you
really
don’t want me to think about it anymore,” I giggled.

“You
humans,” he sighed; however, he couldn’t stop himself from smirking. “Libido isn’t
just linked to your sex talk, Keira. In Latin there are several different
meanings for the word. The planet is known as Libido, meaning ‘violent desire’.”

“Oh.
Why?”

“The
planet is full of active volcanoes, and storms rage lasting years at a time.
Wind speeds are so high that if you tried to build anything on the surface it
would be destroyed in seconds.”

“Wow,”
I gasped, the smile now leaving my face. “Why the hell are we going there then?”

“Not
many dare venture there. We’ll be very safe.”

“I
beg to differ if what you’ve just said is true.”

“We’ll
be underground. Besides, we’re powerful; we’ll be fine.” He winked.

He
took my hand and in the time it took me to blink we were teleported to what
looked like a large cave. It was so dark that I could barely see my hand in
front of my face. Ballantine produced an orb to light our way, and I took a
minute to look at my surroundings. It was a definitely a cave of some sort.
Water trickled down its stone walls, causing large muddy puddles on the ground.
I wasn’t very impressed with that since my shoes were proving not to be
waterproof. The water was freezing and gave me goosebumps. I shivered and began
to follow Ballantine. We reached a large opening; three people were standing
there talking. When we approached they became silent. I noticed one of them was
Tina.

“Nice
to have you back. We thought you would have been gone longer.” She smiled at us.

Ballantine
briefly explained what had happened with the hunter demons, and thankfully left
out the part where I lost control. She was about to speak when a deafening
sound erupted through the cave.

“What
the hell was that?” I asked, looking around me.

“Relax;
it seems we’re about to have the pleasure of hearing one of this world’s storms,”
Tina smiled. “Oh Keira, they are amazing.”

“I
thought the storms we had in Hell were awesome until I witnessed one of these,”
one of the men spoke. “Keira, my name is Harry; I’ve not had the pleasure of
meeting you yet. I wasn’t at Decorus with you.” He shook my hand and smiled at
me. “Would you like to see this storm instead of only hearing it?”

“I
would love to.”

“Have
fun,” Ballantine said as he walked away from us.

“There
is a spell on the entrance to the cave to prevent anything harmful coming
inside. It’s also helped to reduce the noise. The thunder is still deafening
with the spell activated, and while we’re underground, so can you imagine how
loud it would be if we were outside.”

“Wow.”

“Come
on, follow me.”

I
followed him back down the cold, narrow, and muddy tunnel until we reached the
entrance. The view had the same effect on me as Eligos did the first time I
looked at him…it took my breath away. I couldn’t talk, I didn’t blink; I could
only glare outside.

This
place wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t green with little flowers or trees decorating
its surface. This world was menacing, brutal, but magnificently beautiful. In
the distance I could see a large volcano erupting, the ash cloud appearing in a
mushroom shape just like the one caused by the atomic bomb. Fierce lightning
flashed in various colors through the cloud, blinding whites and brilliant
shades of pink.

The
landscape was barren, dead, just miles of lava fields and volcanic mountains.
The rain thrashed down, bouncing up off the ground again about three or four
inches. Every few minutes a strong gust of wind would cause the rain to turn
horizontal. It was frightening, possibly similar to some people’s depictions of
Hell. This was something I would never forget.

“Amazing,
isn’t it?” Harry said, looking out in the direction of the volcano. “I’ve never
seen anything like this, and we’ve travelled around a lot. This planet
definitely lives up to its name.”

“Yeah,
it seems this planet has a violent desire to destroy everything it can... maybe
even itself.”

“Breathtaking.”

We
remained by the entrance, protected by the magical barrier, for quite a while.
I was so busy watching everything that I lost track of time. Eventually we knew
we had to head back; besides, I hadn’t even seen where I’d be staying.

When
we reached the opening he led me down another tunnel and through a stone door.
Inside, instead of just damp rock walls there was a well-constructed dwelling.

“How
many people are here?” I asked.

“On
this planet, or in this cave?”

“Both.”

“Around
seven thousand split between caves all over this rock. In here there are about
twenty of us. This is one of the smaller caves. Ballantine doesn’t like being
overcrowded; it tends to put him in a bad mood.”

He
led me into a large room with only rocks for use as tables and seats.
Ballantine sat waiting, staring at me.

“Keira,
I’ve been thinking and talking with some of my leaders. I think you should get
some sleep; tomorrow, we’re going back to
your
world. It’s good timing; while
legions are out searching the realms, we’ll—
you’ll—
be on earth,” he told
me.

“Me?”

“Yes,
you.”

“Do
I have to kill people?”

“You
have to oversee everything. If you do not wish to kill anyone I understand, but
they need your presence. No doubt Lucifer will have eyes everywhere waiting for
us, and there is a possibility you will be... interrupted.”

“Oh.”
I didn’t know what else to say. This was the part I’d been dreading. “Where are
we going?”

“I
haven’t decided yet…I’m torn between two cities. Hmm. Actually, I suppose we
could take them both. I can send out two teams at the same time. If they are
busy trying to stop one team, the other can continue on without interruption.”

“Like
a decoy, you mean?”

“That’s
exactly what I mean, but they can still take as many people as possible.”

“Where
are we going?”

“I’ll
tell you just before you leave, just in case your friend Marley finds a way to
get in your head again. She shouldn’t, but just in case.”

“Are
you doubting your magic?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

“No,
I’m just wondering if I should cast more spells on you to be on the safe side.”

“That’s
up to you; do whatever you think is necessary.”