there,” Virgil replied as he and Gemma walked out of the warehouse.
Memphis couldn’t believe it was that easy, but then she felt a huge searing pain in her head. It was so great that she fell to her knees. So did the others. What is going on?
“What is going on? Why, it’s a family reunion. You really didn’t think it would be that easy, did you?” Cairo said to her aloud.
Memphis heard a woman’s voice. “Why did you let the whore go? And we need her brother.”
“Virgil is his brother, too,” Sarai spat.
“Shut up.” The woman came up to Sarai and slapped her. “You’re just like your mother—think you know everything. You know nothing and neither did she. She was a thief. She stole my babies.”
“They were not your babies. She gave birth to Memphis and Cairo. You gave birth to nothing, because you are nothing. You aren’t even worth star dust.”
Keturah looked as if she was going to strike Sarai again. The others were still doubled over in pain; Cairo had them under psionic lock. They could not move or think through the pain.
Instead, Keturah began to choke Sarai. Lawrence attempted to use his own cerebral power to fight Cairo. He managed to rise, but Cairo strengthened his mental grip and Lawrence fell back down to his knees.
“It must be the blood from the human sacrifices giving him such brain power,” Memphis thought.
She heard Cairo in her mind. “Human sacrifices? What are you talking about?”
“Um, duh. That’s why you’re so strong. You’re all juiced up from the Third-Eye blood energy from the chicks you killed.”
“No, I’m stronger than you because of my faith—because of the power of Seth. There were no human sacrifices,” he sneered.
“Dude, were you too busy stealing my boyfriend—who is dead by the way—to read a freaking paper?”
“Jonathan was your boyfriend?” Lawrence asked. He must have tapped in.
“Jonathan is dead?” Cairo asked. He felt guilty. He had led them to him, but he just wanted to taunt Memphis with the fact that he stole her human.
“Okay, so Jonathan was my ex-boyfriend, who is now dead because his head exploded.”
“Did you kill him?” Cairo asked. He increased the pain.
“No!” she screamed mentally. “Keturah and The Seventy-Two did. They have also been killing innocent women by stabbing into their skulls so you could get some brain juice.”
“I don’t believe you. I don’t know you. Why should I believe you over my mother?”
“Because I’m your sister and she is not our mother. She killed our real mother. She blew her up like she was a science experiment.”
“You’re a liar.” He increased the pain. Gabriella passed out.
Keturah had Sarai on the ground. Suddenly Lawrence got up and rushed toward her. He made contact. She fell back, hit her head on the side of a tractor and was rendered unconscious.
Cairo called out to her, screamed in anguish and rushed over to see if she was still alive.
Memphis crawled over to Lawrence and Sarai. Sarai was so still.
“Is she…?” Memphis was afraid to finish the question.
“No, she is still breathing.”
“All of you are dead, starting with you!”
He mentally gripped Lawrence. This time he seemed to be cutting off his breathing. Lawrence gripped his throat and gasped for air.
“You killed my mother.”
“Once again, she is not your mother!” Memphis yelled at him.
“I am his mother—his true mother!” Keturah shouted. “With my help he will become the most powerful being in this world.” Keturah was up and lucid, well as lucid as someone who was criminally insane could possibly be.
“Mother! You’re not dead!” Cairo ran to her side.
“Yes, unfortunately,” Lawrence wheezed. Distracted by Keturah, Cairo had released him and he was able to breath.
“Really, Lawrence? This is not a good time to bait the crazy dude,” Memphis transmitted to him.
“I am not crazy,” Cairo replied.
“Kill them all,” Keturah said as she got up. “Starting with him.” She pointed at Lawrence as she rubbed the bump on her head.
Memphis was startled by a hand on her arm. It was Sarai; she and Gabriella had regained consciousness. They all crawled over to Lawrence and formed a huddle.
“We have to kill him,” Sarai whispered to them.
“How?” Lawrence and Gabriella asked.
“No, we can’t—he’s our brother. He’s been brainwashed; he didn’t even know that the women were being killed.” Memphis pleaded.
Cairo had Lawrence in his grip again; he slowly choked off his oxygen and Lawrence gasped for air.
“We have to burn him out—burn out his light. There is a spell. Repeat after me: Noor Idrukni.” Sarai instructed.
Sarai and Gabriella