Revelations (Bloodline Series) (31 page)

“You
have no objections?” he asked, squinting slightly.

“If
it means we’ll be safe and nobody will find us, do what you can. But if you
hurt me I’ll kick your ass.”

He
laughed out loud.

“Oh,
and if this is a test of loyalty, you’re an idiot...and I’ll kick your ass
again.”

“Get
some rest Keira. I’ll wake you when you’re needed.”

“Yeah,
okay.” I smiled, trying to put a brave face on things.

I
followed Harry while he showed me where I would be staying. As soon as he left
me panic kicked in. I knew I would end up facing my friends and I honestly didn’t
know how I would react. There were only two things I knew for certain; one, I
wouldn’t kill any of them, and two, there was no way I was going to get any
sleep.

Chapter 38

Nerves

Jake’s
Story

It
was almost as if time had stood still, or no longer existed. None of us even
knew what day of the week it was anymore. People hardly spoke, ate, or slept.
We were like mindless zombies, walking around aimlessly, just waiting for the
order from a higher being telling us to attack. My Lily looked like death
warmed up, pale with dark circles under her eyes. I tried to spend as much time
with her as possible to keep my eye on her, but she rarely spoke to me. Tyler,
Lucian, Beth, and Marley had been awake over thirty-six hours. Marley had been
trying her damnedest to get a fix on Keira again, but every attempt she’d made
had failed. Still she continued to try…her determination was admirable.

Olivia
and her brothers didn’t really seem to be affected by anything and spent most
of their time together. They didn’t want to bother anyone, and they knew
nothing they could say or do would make anything easier. They hadn’t known
Keira as long as we had, and they didn’t have a bond with her. In a way I
envied them; I wished I wasn’t so affected.

Danny
and Hecate were trying to take care of Eligos. He was a broken man. When he
wasn’t trying to keep himself busy in Hell with his army, he was sitting on
Keira’s swing in silence, in a world of his own.

I
was making my way outside to speak with Eligos; I didn’t have a question or a
problem, I just wanted him to talk. I sat on the swing next to him. He didn’t
say a word or even look at me.

“Eligos,
everyone is really worried about you,” I eventually said. “I know you must be
hurting terribly and—”

“You
know what hurts the most? Knowing that the person you love, who only a couple
of days ago claimed to love you, to want to spend eternity with you, to want to
marry you, no longer cares. It makes you wonder if they ever really did. I
mean, how can you just leave someone you’re supposed to love? She made me feel
so special, something I’d never felt before. Now I just feel rejected,
unwanted, and unloved.”

“I
wish I had an answer for you.”

“You’d
think after spending thousands of years alone by your own choice that it wouldn’t
hurt. But I’ve had a taste of love and happiness, and now...I can’t bear the
thought of being without it. I don’t know how I lived without her before, and I
don’t know what I’m going to do now.”

“Keep
fighting; release your anger when the time comes on those who deserve it.”

“I
agree,” Lily said, joining us. “Eligos, I believe Keira still loves you, and I
know for a fact she always has. That is something you must remember. I know
that you’re hurting right now, and you don’t know how to carry on, but Jake’s
right; take your anger out on the vile, corrupt things that are coming. Once
this is over, you can decide what you’re going to do.”

“She’s
right,” Hecate said, walking over with Danny and Lucian.

“Lucian,
has Marley had any luck?” I asked.

“Sadly,
no.”

“And
I take it Lucifer has no news for us?”

“Not
yet,” Hecate answered.

“Eligos,
you need to try and put your feelings to the back of your mind and concentrate
on what’s going to happen,” Danny said.

“You
want me to forget?”

“I
didn’t say that…I meant—”

“How
the hell are you supposed to forget the person you love? It’s like trying to
recall a memory of something that’s never happened. It’s not possible.”

“He
didn’t mean forget, Eligos,” Hecate jumped in. “He simply meant, try and
concentrate on something else.”

He
shook his head and walked over to the rose bushes.

“It’s
getting dark; we should head inside,” Lily said.

“It’s
not dark…the sun’s only just setting,” Lucian frowned.

“It’s
not safe.”

“Nowhere
is
safe
.”

“Then
you
stay out.”

As
she was about to walk inside, Hecate grabbed her arm. “Wait,” she said, before
going through REM.

I
turned to look at Eligos. He was doing the same thing. We all waited in silence
and prayed for good news. We should have known by now that good things rarely
happened.

“It’s
started,” Eligos said as he opened his eyes.

“What?”
Lily gasped.

“They’re
attacking. There are two groups; one in Edinburgh, Scotland, and the other in
Cleveland, Ohio, near Burke Lakefront Airport.”

Everyone
started to look scared. “Is Keira with them?” I asked.

“She’s
in Ohio,” Hecate replied. “We’re going.”

“I’ll
meet you there; I need to get Brad and some of the others,” Eligos said before
disappearing.

“Oh
God, this is really happening, isn’t it?” Lucian looked around at each of us.

“You
knew it would,” Danny said. “We all did. I’ll go and get the others. You go; we’ll
be there in a matter of minutes.”

I
stood speechless and shaking from head to toe as he ran inside. Hecate spoke a
few words in a language I didn’t understand. The next thing we knew, we were
standing in front of the Cleveland Browns Stadium, our backs to Lake Erie. I
instantly started coughing; the smoke from the burning buildings was
overwhelming.

“My
God, has Keira done this?” I choked.

“Is
she
really
capable of this?” Lily gasped.

“Some
of it,” Hecate plainly replied. She was too busy looking around her and getting
rather upset and uncomfortable to pay much attention to what we were saying.

“I
don’t—” I was interrupted by an explosive sound. Dust and other debris started
falling all around us.

“Run!”
Lily screamed, grabbing my arm.

I
turned to see what we were running from. The land and buildings were coming
straight for us. The ground moved like a tidal wave, lifting and sending the
buildings crashing down around us. Just when escape looked impossible, and
death seemed imminent, Hecate caught up and teleported us all to safety a few
blocks away. We could hear people screaming in terror, car and house alarms
sounding loudly, the crackling of fire, and numerous explosions. The whole city
was almost in darkness. The smoke and ash from the fires filled the sky,
blocking out most of the sunlight.

We
were about to start looking for Keira when Eligos appeared in front of us. The
look on his face was a mixture of emotions…sadness, worry, heartache, and
nervousness. He knew what was coming…he knew he would have to face Keira. I
couldn’t even imagine how he must have been feeling. I watched in silence as
hundreds—no, thousands—of demons appeared around us. They were Eligos’s army,
quickly followed by Danny and the rest of our group. None of them spoke. Marley
and Beth looked around them in horror and disbelief. I don’t think any of us
wanted to believe that our friend was behind all this.

“We
need to find her,” Danny said, walking closer with another very tall man beside
him. “Brad and I will head north—”

“I
already know where she is,” Eligos interrupted. “I can feel her.”

He
began walking further into the town. His army scattered around, and the rest of
us reluctantly followed him. The closer to the center we got, the louder it
became. I expected to see a lot of bodies lying around, and yet I didn’t see a
single one.

We
were about to turn down another road when several people, all with glowing
green eyes, appeared in front of us. I readied myself for an easy take down…we
easily outnumbered them. However, dozens more appeared all around us, each of
them grinning. I quickly noticed that not all of them were possessed human
beings; they were definitely demonic, most likely from some other realm. Some
of them were huge and disgusting to look at, others were just plain scary,
easily the creatures of nightmares.

“Now
would be a good time to put all your training to the test,” Eligos spoke,
before his sword appeared in his hand. As soon as he stepped forward, our
enemies attacked.

Chapter 39

Confrontation

Jake’s
Story

Eligos
began slicing and dicing his way through the first wave of assailants; it
looked almost effortless for him. Danny and Hecate were close behind him, and
it didn’t take long for the rest of us to be attacked. We fought with all our
strength and complete determination—these things were
not
going to stop
us from reaching Keira. Come hell or high water, we would find her.

The
attackers seemed surprised at how strong we all were. I guess they didn’t realize
that after all our training and our increase of power, we had become a force to
be reckoned with and weren’t to be taken lightly. We stuck close together,
fighting our enemies and protecting one another. Energy balls were shooting all
around us, the clashes of swords and other weaponry was almost deafening, and I
briefly wondered why the swords didn’t break. Lily cast spells suspending some
of the creatures in midair while Olivia blasted them with plasma balls and electricity
and Jared burned them to a crisp. I even saw some of the souls of the possessed
bodies rise and disappear.

Just
as we thought we had them beaten down, another wave ran from around one of the
street corners.

“This
is going to be endless; how are we supposed to find her while we’re constantly
being attacked? We’re all going to die!” Olivia shouted.

“This
is nothing; if you can’t handle
this
you won’t stand a chance when all
this finally comes to a head,” Eligos shot. I was really shocked at the
attitude he had taken with her. “Time to toughen up, girl.”

Olivia
looked upset at his tone. Hecate placed her hand on her shoulder to try and
show support, but it was short lived. Once again we were fighting for survival,
struggling to keep up with the endless stream of assailants intent on killing
us. I was using every bit of strength I could muster, but I could feel myself
tiring. It seemed I wasn’t the only one, either. Jared was sweating terribly;
Lucian was struggling to catch his breath between attacks. Fighting both
physically and magically was draining us fast. The only ones who didn’t seem to
be affected were Eligos, Hecate, and Danny.

Just
when I thought defeat was going to be unavoidable, thousands of demons appeared
around us. They were Eligos’s army, quickly followed by Vetis and Oroan. Seeing
them gave us strength; knowing we had support made us realize we
could
get through these creatures and find Keira.

The
scene now playing out in front of us reminded me of something you could expect
to see in an epic fantasy movie. Creatures, not of this earth locked in battle,
magic flying around, spells being cast, and weapons clashing together with unbelievable
force. I could still hear people screaming in terror, cars and buildings were
exploding and collapsing around us, and the air was now so thick with smoke
that it was becoming hard to see or even breathe.

After
rather swiftly dealing with two possessed bodies, I turned to see Eligos
standing beside me.

“We
need to push through and find Keira. My guys will deal with these atrocities
and follow behind us. We need to get our priorities straight here,” he told me.

“Do
you think we’ll be able to save any of these people?”

“No,
try not to think about it. I know it’s hard, but try to concentrate on Keira.
She
is our focus.”

I
nodded and fought my way through to the others to let them know we were moving
forward. The members of Eligos’s army lunged at the creatures in front of us,
trying to clear us a path as best they could. It took us a while but eventually
we were able to run closer to the city center.

Just
when I thought I couldn’t witness anything more horrific than I already had, I
was proven wrong. Dead bodies lined the streets. I watched in disgust as a
glowing light entered one of them. The body began to move in a rather sickening
and abnormal way, almost as though it was a marionette, having its strings
pulled awkwardly by an untrained hand. I cringed; if I had been in closer
proximity, I was certain I would have heard its joints cracking. It then rose
to its feet and opened its eyes…they were now glowing green. I’d just witnessed
one of Ballantine’s spirits possessing a corpse. Eligos shot forward and
decapitated it in one swift blow. I knew it would be hard to get that vision
out of my head.