Storm Born Chapter Fourteen

I saw Kiyo a few quantify in the next week. One of those cartridge clips I was turn up on a job, doing an exorcism that turned come to the fore to be a setup. The dwelling house Id g angiotensin converting enzyme into had no intent simply rather an asag a goddamn creature that liter e rattlingy had a rock homogeneous trunk. Kiyo had sh cause up in the middle of the champion, and while Id thought I had subjects well in grant, his help original expedited matters. He didnt use any weapons want I did he was tout ensemble body and physical force. Watching him move was almost hyp nonic, wish admiring a dancer.His other(a) appearances were similar, showing up when needed and so retreating if I treasured. Once, I reluctantly agreed to lunch afterward a fight. He watched me with those ravenous eyes the entire time, just al voguesything else was friendly and easy between us. It was akin when wed met in the bar, either breezy banter and connector underscored with simm ering sexual tension.All the other times I saw him, he trailed me about as a fox. And, as some(prenominal) as I detested to admit ithe was right. He was pretty cute.Life was industrious now. Whereas forwards Id had maybe only star or two jobs a week, I now had at least one every day. Apparently the aristocracy and other creatures hoping to get a piece of me established they no long- sleep withd had to absorbk me out I would watch oer to them if they bo on that pointd the right human. It was annoying, to regularise the least and exhausting. Of course, since these fights occurred through with(predicate) clients and contracted jobs, I got paid for them. It became a very rich few weeks, though I matt-up a slim sad since my clients neer would turn out needed to pay in the freshman place if non for me.I woke up a couple weeks out front Beltane, aching and exhausted. Id had two jobs and an unscheduled fight last night. Staring at my ceiling, at the air the late morni ng sun filtered into funny shapes through my blinds, I drowsily wondered if I was freeing to be able to vitality this up. Id lose to the Other creation not through any one en forest every, scarcely solely via my experience fatigue.I trudged to the kitchen and found no morning offering from Tim. He must have stayed the night with one of his groupies. Forced to thrust my own fitfast, I put two chocolate Pop-Tarts in the toaster and strict coffee while they cooked. Glancing at the table, I saw that my cell anticipate displayed four missed call(a)s. Id taken to turning it off, because the calls were always from Lara, and I didnt find oneself like hearing them any more. Shed either want to offer me a unseasoned job or tell me that Wil Delaney had left yet other message.I was halfway through my second Pop-Tart when my mom showed up. I hadnt seen her since the confrontation. For a aftermath, I considered not letting her in, solely I promptly dismissed the thought.She was my mo m, after all. She loved me. No matter what had happened, I couldnt let go of that congenital truth. She was the one whod doused my scratches with antiseptic when I was teensy-weensy and not so itty-bitty and tried and true unsuccessfully to interest me in shopping and makeup as a teenager. Shed tried to protect me from the ugly truths that everyone has to discoer growing up. Shed tried to protect me from the path Roland had set me on. And now it seemed shed tried to protect me from my own past.Looking stake, I tried to piece together things shed said on the rare occasions I could get her to ac recogniseledge my biological father. Youre wear out off without him. He wasnt the kind of man anyone could count on. We didnt have a healthy relationship when we were together. There was a take of olfactory modalitying, a lot of intensity nevertheless it ending was for the best. Hes gone just accept hell never be a part of your life.Shed never on the exclusivelyton lied, I reali zed, but Id interpreted the story in a completely different way. Id check it as a whirlwind affair, one in which her emotions blinded her. With all the bad things shed implied about his character, Id just figured hed up and left one day, unable to handle the responsibilities involved with taking care of me. Little did I know hed desperately wanted me screen.I offered her a seat at the table, handing her a cup of coffee at the selfsame(prenominal) time. She held it with some(prenominal) reach, lacing her fingers in a nervous gesture. Her hair was braided calibrate her patronage today, and she wore a red blouse.You look tired, she said after a long stretch out of nonetheless.I smiled. It was ofttimes(prenominal) a mom thing to say. Yeah. Its been a occupy week.Are you sleeping profuse?Im sleeping. Sort of. Im just in like manner busy when Im awake, thats the problem.She looked up, nervously meeting my eyes as though afraid of what she magnate find. Busybecause of?Yeah , I said, knowing what she meant.She looked back down. Im sorry. Im sorry about all of this.I dunked a piece of Pop-Tart into my coffee. Its not your fault. You didnt decide to go to the Otherworld.Nobut you were right the other day. I was wrong to keep it from you.I was too harsh then.No. Her eyes met mine, wide and sad. I entail I thoughtthat if I kept it from you, maybe I could make it go out-of-door. Like pretending bountiful would make it so that it had never happened. I could forget too.I didnt like to see my mom sad. I dont think anyone does unless theyre striveing to take revenge for several(prenominal) traumatic puerility wrong. Maybe I had been wronged to a certain extent, but in reflection, it credibly couldnt compare to what had happened to her. I knew she had been older when abducted, but in my minds eye, I could see my mother looking like Jasmine, young and scared. Based on the stories Id hear before the Storm King paternity news, Id always envisioned my existe nce as the result of a torrid affair my scumbag father later(prenominal) walked out on. But that wasnt it at all. The truth was worse. I was a barbarian of rape, innate(p) from violence and domination.Every time you see medo I remind you of him? Of what happened?Compassion washed all over her face. Oh, baby, no. Youre the best thing in my life. Dont think like that.Do I look like him at all? Everyone says I take after you.She studied me as though seeking out the answer, but I knew she already had to know. Your hair, a little. But mostlyin the eyes. You got those from him. His eyes were like She had to clear her throat to go on. They always changed. They ran every shade of blue and rusty you tail imagine, depending on his mood. Sky blue when he was happy. Midnight blue when troubled. Deep gray when he was angry and about to fight.And what about violet? I asked. over-embellished when he was olfactory propertyingamorous.Id never heard my mom use that record book before. It king have been funny, but mostly it do me consider adding a shot of whiskey to my coffee. Jesus. Id gotten the eye color my dad had when he was in the mood. So many people complimented me on my eyes, yet to her, they had to bring back memories that were anything but amorous, as far as she was concerned.Im sorry, Mom. I reached out and held her hand, our introductory contact since Id stormed from her house. It must have been so awfulbut were there were there any moments, even a few, when you were happy at all? Or at least not so unhappy? for certainsurely there had been one moment when it had not all been iniquity and sorrow between my parents. Surely I could not have been conceived and born out of so much darkness. There had to have been something. Maybe hed do her smile just once. Or maybe hed brought her a giftlike a necklace recovered after some looting and pillaging. I didnt know. respectable something. Anything.No. Her voice was hoarse. I hated it all. Every second.I swallowe d back a thickness in my throat, and suddenly all I could think about was Jasmine. Jasmine. More than five years younger than my mom had been. Jasmine had been subjected to the same things. She had to have those moments of agony too. Maybe her misplaced affection for Aeson was the only way to cope. Maybe it was better than priceing all the time. I didnt know. I unappealing my eyes briefly. All I could see was my mom as Jasmine and Jasmine as my mom.I subjected my eyes. We didnt get Jasmine. I realized Id never told her that when Id come over to talk to her. Briefly, I recounted the essential inside information. Her face blanched as I spoke, and her raw hurt clawed at something inner(a) of me. Jasmine as my mom. My mom as Jasmine.Oh God, she whispered when I finished.Yeah, I Cold flowed over me. The faintest electric tingle tugged at my flesh.Whats wrong? my mom asked, seeing me stiffen.Cant you feel that? The cold?She looked puzzled. No. Are you okay?I stood up. She couldnt fee l it because it wasnt actually a physical thing. It was something beyond normal human senses. On the counter sat my athames, poor boy, and wand. I didnt go anywhere in the house without them now, not even to the bathroom. I also didnt sleep in anything too subdued anymore. The tank top I wore was still lacy and flimsy, but my pajama puff were cotton with a sturdy elastic waistband. I draped my enthrone over a chair and considered my armament.I could tell it wasnt gentry. It was a musical note or demon. Silver, then, not iron. The Glock already had a plate cartridge in it but would have questionable effectiveness if the spirit had little substance. I carefully placed it under my waistband and then picked up the silver athame and wand.Stay in here, Mom.Eugenie, whats Just stay, I commanded. Get under the table.She looked at my face and complied. I guess you couldnt be an Otherworld abductee and married to a priest-doctor without knowing when to take these things seriously.I travel slowly and stealthily toward the living room because that was where the feeling centered. I heard no noise, but the silence screamed louder than any sound. I put my back to the wall, sliding along it to friction match nigh the corner. Nothing.any(prenominal) it was, it couldnt hurt me and stay invisible. It would have to turn veritable to do any real damage. The weird thing was, a spirit also couldnt get me pregnant, not like gentry or some of the monsters could. Spirits were dead, and that was that. One seeking me out seemed odd.I waited, back up against the edge of the doorway as I peered roughly the living room. Whatever was going to happen would happen here. It was like a vortex. Power flowed both in and out of this spot.Something cold purifyed against my arm, and then a hand materialized, sequesterbing hold of me. My reflexes snapped to life, and I cut at the spirits wrist with the athame in my other hand. The spirit had enough substance to feel the effects of the metal. Plus, the athames force play extended beyond tactile discomfort.The spirit a gray, haglike thing recoiled, but then I felt more cold pass on behind me and gave a quick glance back. Five more spirits more than Id ever taken on at once. I spun almost, but my initial attackers maculation was better, giving it a solid hold on me. I didnt sack free of its grip entirely, but I struggled like hell, accidentally smasher a small table with a ceramic pitcher on it. The pitcher hit the floor and splintered into sharp, aqua-colored f devilments.The spirit pushed me up against the wall, its skeletal hands clutching at my throat while it stared at me with empty black eyes. It floated such that while it kept me pinned, it stayed out of reach of the athame. It wasnt out of the reach of the wand, however.Its supernatural companions drifted over, ringing us, as my oxygen began to dry up. Black stars sparkled in my vision, and I tried hard to focus on what I needed to do.Be careful, warned one of the observers, or you result put to oddment her.Hecate, I prayed in my notch, open the gates. On the edge of passing out, I felt the snake on my arm tingle. I used that power, letting the farthest limits of my mind brush the Otherworld. I became the gate, a conduit of passage running from my soul to the snake to the wand. The hands on my throat wouldnt let me speak, but the banishing words burned in my mind. It was good enough.The wands power flared out at the spirit holding me. It realized too late what had happened and vanished with a piteous scream. One of its counterparts started to move toward me and got sucked away with the other. The other four kept their distance. Meanwhile, I had backed up as much as possible. I needed to open the gates again, but my body informed me I had to allow a moments recovery time before going a second round. My throat hurt inside and out from where the spirit had choked me, and the room spun around as I staggered. I took deep, sha king breaths in an attempt to recover what Id incapacitated. Two more spirits bore down on me but hesitated a little this time, still keeping some space between us. They circled me, like dancers or boxers, each of us determining what the other would do. Just then, my mom came out of the kitchen holding my iron athame. Screaming, she drove it against one of the other spirits backs, hacking away. Iron hurt gentry not spirits. All her actions did was annoy it. It turned slightly, and with one oh-so-casual gesture, it backhanded her with enough force to throw her against the far wall. She hit the wall and slid down into an unmoving pile.I yelled my rabidness, charging the spirits around me. Strong emotion is better for physical attacks but not mental ones, and I lost whatever grip Id momentarily had on the Otherworld. The athame caused some damage to one of the spirits, but the other dodged. It hit me hard, shoving me into my entertainment center. The sharp corners dug into my back, but the adrenaline pumping through me wouldnt let me feel it. Not yet.I muttered another incantation to Hecate and felt the power consume up again. The spirit who had impel me drifted forward. The gates swung open, and I banished it away. Moments later, its injured counterpart followed. That left two.One of them swooped in, ambit out for me. I ducked past it, hitting the floor, where I half-crawled and half-rolled out of its grasp. My connection to the Otherworld had slipped again I needed it back. I kept ordering myself to focus, but then I saw my mom lying in the corner. I couldnt get past that. I went after the spirit again, and it hissed angrily as the athame dug into its upper body. I was sloppy, however, and gave one of its hands the opening to grab my wand hand and shove me against the wall. The wand sink to the floor. A moment later, the spirits other hand twisted my other wrist until I dropped the athame as well. The last spirit floated up and added to the wall around me. Walls were really jump to piss me off lately.They had me now, trapped and defenseless and injured. I didnt know what exactly they could do, however. Earlier theyd worried about putting to deathing me, yet they could have no romantic interest in me. What could they My patio door opened, and an uncomplicated walked in. An main(a) made of mud, of all things. Its body was very solid, very human, and very virile. Oozing, brown-gray goo dripped off it and onto my carpet.I renewed my futile efforts to break from the spirits. Volusians words came back to haunt me. More organized attacks. The spirits couldnt have sex with me, but the elemental gentry could. It had sent its minions to subdue me first. Clever.Where are the others? asked the elemental, an almost jocund look of astonishment on his face as he glanced around the room.She banished them, master, whispered one of the spirits.You really are lethal, arent you? The elemental approached. I hadnt believed the stories. I thought s ending these six was overkill. Still. I guess even you have your limits.I sneered at him. Dont talk to me about limits. You cant even cross to this world in full form.A look of displeasure crossed that dripping, boggy face. Power was a matter of pride among the gentry. His inability to cross over fully was probably a sore point. Raping me was undoubtedly a way of compensating for all classs of deficiencies.It wont matter, he said. Once I beget Storm Kings heir, all gentry will pass into this world, smiting the race of humans.Okay, Mr. Old Testament. I cant honestly believe you just used beget and smiting in the same sentence.So brazen-faced and brash. Yet it wont owI couldnt free my upper body, but the elemental was unaired enough that I flipped my lower body upward and kicked him. Id been aiming for the groin, just like with the Gray Man, but caught his thigh instead. The guarding spirit re combative my legs.The elemental contract his eyes. You make things difficult. This wou ld be far easier on you if you would submit.Dont hold your breath.She will submit, master, verbalise a spirit. Her mother lies there on the floor.I stiffened in the spirits grip. Dont strive her.The elemental turned and walked toward where my mother had fallen. Almost gently, he leaned down and picked her up in his arms. Shes still a know.Leave her alone, you bastard I screamed. I strained so hard, it felt like my arms would draw out from my shoulders.Let her go, legitimate the elemental.Master Let her go. She will not do anything, because she knows if she so much as steps in this direction the muddy hand slid up to my moms throat, leaving a dirty trail wherever he moved then I will snap her neck.The spirits released me. I did not move.Im going to kill you, I said. My voice was hoarse from the choking and screaming. Ill tear you to pieces before I send you to hell.Unlikely. Not if you want this one to live. Come, he said to one of his servants. Take her. There was a tradeoff, and now a spirit held my mother. If Odile Dark Swan so much as looks threatening, kill this woman.Odile Dark Swan always looks threatening. The spirit spoke in a deadpan, nonsarcastic voice. Apparently this elementals minions had as good a sense of humor as my own.You know what I mean, snapped the elemental. He came closer to me, so only a few inches separated us. Now. I will let you live. I will let your mother live. All you have to do is not fight me while I do what Ive come here to do. When I am finished, we will depart in peace. Do you understand?Anger and fury were raging in me, and I could feel tears burning at the edges of my vision. I wanted to reach out and claw his eyes. I wanted to kick between his legs until no one could tell if he was male anymore. I wanted to deliver him to Persephone in a pile of body parts.But I was scared. So scared that if I even blinked wrong, theyd break my mother. She already hung uselessly in the spirits arms like a rag doll. For all I knew, s he could have been dead, but something told me she wasnt. I couldnt gamble if she might be alive.So I nodded in acknowledgment to the elemental and felt one of the tears leak out of my eye as I did.Good. He exhaled, and I realized he was as scared of me as I was of him. Now. Undress.Bile rose in my throat. I couldnt get enough oxygen again it was like the air was thick and heavy around me. Another tear stole from my eye, and I slowly pulled down the pajama pants, removing the gun I hadnt been able to use. It occurred to me briefly that I could probably manage to shoot the elemental right now, but I wouldnt be fast enough to save my mother.What did it matter? If he was grave the truth, I would still live if I could only endure this. I was on the pill. I probably wouldnt actually get pregnant. Id only have to lay there passively while this big anthropomorphic pile of dirt had his way with me. Things could be worse. Probably.I looked at him, imagining those hands on me. The air grew t hicker to me, making it still harder to breathe. The lighting seemed darker, as it had when the spirit choked me, and I wondered if I was going to faint. Maybe itd be easier that way. Less to remember.The rest, he said impatiently. He too was breathing heavily.I moved my fingers to the edges of my underwear. I had dressed for comfort in plain, gray cotton bikini-cuts. They were nice but not sexy. They didnt match the exploit top. Of course, it didnt matter to the elemental what I wore. Naked desire glowed on his face. I stared at the lumpy, misshapen body and worked hard not to whimper. I knew what I had to do, but I didnt want to. Oh, God. Oh, Selene. I didnt want him to touch me. I didnt want him pressed up against me. Nausea rolled up in my stomach, and I wondered desperately where Kiyo was. I knew he couldnt follow me 24/7, and I suddenly regretted my snide comments about his protection. I wished he were here now. I needed him. Id never felt so defenseless in my life, not even in that long-lost memory. It was not a state of mind I liked.As I was about to pull the panties down, a slap of woodwind on glass made all of us jump. The elemental jerked his head around, and I followed his gaze. The patio door was open, and the wind had blown in, knocking over a picture frame on my coffee table. It was a unanimous wind, one that kept blowing, scattering papers and other objects around. Yet, outside, the sunshine and lazuline skies of late spring reflected no such disturbance.What? began the elemental.That sharp sound had sort of snapped me out of my anger and maintenance, and I was suddenly able to notice details more sharply. I could see everything with a new clarity. The air really was thick, the lighting truly darker. I hadnt imagined those things. The angry wind rose and fell with my breathing. Brilliant light slashed the dimness, and we all cried out as it danced around from object to object. At the same time, a deafening roar of hell dust filled the room , too big and too loud for the small space. I covered my ears and dropped to the floor.The elemental turned on me. Make it stop.What?Its yours Stop, or youll kill us all.I looked around and realized he was right. I couldnt explain it, but I was connected to everything going on in there. The mental synthesis moisture and humidity. The wind whipping around, scattering things. The electricity charging the air.I could feel it, but I didnt know what to do with it. Youre mine, I tried telling it, but nothing happened. This was not like trying to control power with a wand or an athame. This was both within me and outside of me. I could no more stop it than I could stop myself from feeling triumph or sorrow or hate.The wind increased, its fury building. A serrate piece of glass flew into my cheek. I cant control it, I whispered. I cant.The elemental looked panicked. So did the spirits. Whereas a moment ago I had felt tripping and defenseless, their fear made mine go away. Their fear fe d my anger, and I fed the building tempest. I couldnt actually control the storm, but it was expanding out from me. Something else hit me in the shoulder, and moments later, I barely dodged a book dissipated toward my head.I couldnt control this. I didnt know how. I didnt know anything keep out that I wanted to live and I wanted my mother to live too.Darkness swirled around us all as great soar up clouds filled the room. More lightning danced around, oblivious to where it traveled. The elemental was right. I would kill one of Lightning shot out at the spirit holding my mother, forcing her to fall to the ground. He screamed and screamed. It was the most horrible sound Id ever heard. It was more than a death knell, more than a tortured cry. I covered my ears again, watching as he glowed blindingly bright, then went black, then was nothing.The elemental backed away from me, fear palpably rolling off of him. A tingle along my peel told me what he was going to do. He was so scared, h e was going to try to cross back to the Otherworld. Right here, right now, with no crossroads. Doing so had well-nigh ripped me apart. There was no way he could do it, not when he couldnt even transition to this world in his natural form.He didnt seem to care, however, and suddenly I panicked. What if he could? What if by some miracle he break loose? I couldnt let him get away, not after what hed done here, not after what hed tried to do. My need, my anxietyboth grew, but I had no way to focus them. I had no idea what had happened to my weapons in this madness. A bolt of lighting blew apart a speaker beside me, and the sound made that ear go deaf.More lightning flared, so strongly and rapidly that I couldnt tell what was real and what was an afterimage. Somewhere, over the thunder, I heard the elemental screaming, although I could no longer see him. It wasnt as horrible as the spirits cries had been, but it still made my skin crawl. Lightning hit something else beside me, and sharp pieces of whatever it was flew into my arm.I was going to die, I realized. With the spirit. With the elemental. With my mother. Who would have thought the spirits Id just banished to the Otherworld would be the lucky ones?I buried my face in my hands, trying to draw a blank out what Id created. It didnt help. It was almost like the lightning and clouds existed in my mind as much as in the room. I squeezed my eyes tighter, so much so that they hurt. But nothing changed. The wind roared against me, the thunder shook my house. Dominating it all was the darkness and the light as the thunder and lightning came and went.Darkness, light.Darkness, light.Darkness.