Starlight in the Heavens - 28. Chapter 28

Part 28 - Josen

I hadn't seen the ones that had caused the devastation in the diner. I didn't know how many had caused it, nor did I know what the witch that had attacked and almost killed my lover looked like. But none of that stopped me from recognizing him when Brian stopped moving.

I thought it was odd that the man didn't look different from any other that you might pass on the street. He was a big man, I'd give him that, but what made him so special? What was it that gave him the power to disable someone like Brian, and with such a force as the green glow that had burned into Brian's chest?

TJ and Sean were still behind us, not yet into the room, whereas Saeldur and Samantha had gone in ahead of us. I waited at Brian's side, not sure whether he would continue into the space beyond the threshold or if he would instead choose to turn around.

While I stood, I took note of the ropes that bound the witch's arms to his sides. Nothing special there. He had tape over his mouth and I wondered why. The question must have been evident in my eyes because Samantha chose then to answer it.

"His voice can bend the will of those that have not been prepared."

I nodded. "And the ropes? Wouldn't it have been easier to just handcuff the bastard?"

"It was all we had available at the time," TJ said. He moved us further into the room and slid past Brian. "The deputies were warned against trying to remove them."

During this conversation, I kept my sight locked on the man at the far side of the room. There was a fire of anger in his green eyes when he looked at Brian and me. But I also noticed that when his gaze fell upon Samantha, the flame dulled and took on the look of cold fear.

From what I'd been told, this witch had a great deal of power. For him to fear Samantha as he did—a shiver went through my body as I thought about how close I'd been to her. Worse still was the intimacy of her touch on Brian's soul. I'd felt her fingers, icy yet hot, in the depths of his being.

A gentle touch from Sean, and my trepidation dissipated. Neither he nor TJ would have allowed us to be near someone that would cause us harm.

"Why are we here?"

I looked up into Brian's face not really knowing what emotion I would see. Anger, confusion, fear—these were things I would understand. But what I saw was cold calculation with an underlying pain. He was looking at the man like someone would look at a rabid dog that had bitten him, as though he was deciding the best way to stomp the life from the creature before it could harm another.

"Even better... why is he?"

I hoped to all that was sacred, the fury in my lover's voice would never be directed toward me. It chilled me to the marrow flowing through my bones.

Samantha stepped up to the man and ripped the tape from his mouth.

"To help you see what you guard against. To bring an understanding to those that would hunt you, that you are not alone."

The door behind us closed and Samantha cut the ropes that held the man still. He stood frozen in her gaze, staring down into her eyes.

"We are few now, but we grow into many. What you have done in trying to take the boy has only increased his survival. The fire you thought to consume his protector has instead been consumed and changed. Can you see it now? Shining out from his face?"

I watched her hands as they lifted and grasped his head, forcing him to turn toward us. Green flame licked at her fingertips, searing the flesh where her fingers touched. He didn't flinch. He didn't cry out. Nothing. The flames moved up to his eyes and I watched morbidly as his eyes turned black.

With a shudder, I turned away. It was all too much. I'd been in battle long ago, but that was before the mingling of witches and elves. Before the power of witch-fire. The killing I'd done had been with arrow and spear. This was something new to my eyes. It was something that I knew, deep down, didn't really belong in the world. But it was necessary, like chemotherapy was for cancer. A long time ago, a cancer started growing in people and now it had to be treated before all of us—human, elf, shifter, witch—all that held a soul were destroyed. I knew it deep inside, but still, it didn't belong.

I clung to Brian's arm with my eyes closed tight as he stood staring back at the man. I couldn't bring myself to even glance up into his face. I didn't want to see his eyes go black too. Turned out I didn't have to.

I took a deep breath when I felt a hand rest on my cheek and opened my eyes to see midnight blue looking back at me. Sean was no more than six inches from my face. It was his hand that warmed my skin and I felt a peace like nothing I'd ever felt before cascade over me. Not only did it fall over me, but through me and into Brian. I could feel both of us release all the tension that had built since walking into the room.

"Better?"

Sean's voice was soft and soothing. I nodded and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as I relaxed.

"Too much thought into what is happening isn't a good thing for you. I know you've seen a lot in your lifetime, and the need to compare now to then seems important in your mind, but don't let that need take precedence over what is necessary. Don't let it overwhelm your spirit."

He gently caressed my cheek before looking past me.

"He made a big mistake when he used witch-fire. He should have been paying attention to who he was in battle with."

"What do you mean?"

Sean flicked his gaze to me and back to the other side of the room.

"Watch... and listen."

I turned around.

The eyes of the witch were still black. Samantha's fingers were still on his chin, but I didn't see the burned flesh that I had expected. They were surrounded in a swirl of dark green smoke. At least, that is what it looked like. There wasn't any smell, though, so I doubted that it was really smoke. He was staring at Brian with absolutely no expression. It was almost as though he wasn't alive, like he wasn’t a real person at all, more like a manikin standing in a store window. It was bizarre, the way he stood, so still, alive... but dead.

I didn't really want to, but I suddenly felt that I had to look up into Brian's face. I had to see that he was still him, and not some black eyed zombie himself. My head felt as though it weighed a hundred pounds but I slowly lifted it to look at my newly found love.

His eyes were still the beautiful chocolate brown with those amazing glitters that I'd dreamt of for so long. His cheeks were ruddy with life and his hair just as dark and full as I remembered. I blushed with heat as I realized his eyes were on me—not on the man at the end of the room. There was questioning in his eyes and I answered him with a smile.

Brian turned his attention back to the man with black eyes and cocked his head. He looked at Samantha, then Saeldur. He looked down at me then turned to first Sean and then TJ.

"You see it, don't you?" Samantha said.

Brian nodded and his gaze went back to her. "I see it in you and Sean. I think I saw it in Adrian, too."

Samantha nodded and turned the man's head to look at her. "The fire meant to consume his soul has awakened it instead. Do you understand what this means? He will see you coming long before you get anywhere near the boy."

I didn't see any recognition in the man's face that he was being spoken to. He just stood there like an automaton. I began to wonder if he was still alive, or just an empty husk. That thought dispelled when his face twisted in fear and agony at her next words.

"He will see you all."