be good enough for the both of them to survive.
Another shot came, this time leaving a trail behind so hot that she felt it on her face several seconds after it had passed. Shutting her mind down, numb to fear and the pain in her legs and feet, Jamie got to her feet and aimed the gun with a steady hand.
The figure appeared in front of her vision, still inside of the hole. Why was it hiding?
“Do not shoot me, darling. I’m only here to help.” The voice was deep, soft. Beautiful and ethereal. The gun lowered slightly, but Jamie shook herself out of it and pressed forward.
“What the hell did you do to him?” Jamie hissed, taking a step forward.
“I did nothing, it was the fall that took him out. Come here, darling. I want to see the woman that everyone is making such a fuss about.”
Jamie paused, but after a short second, listened. Her feet made soft scraping sounds as she crossed the rubble, but that was the only thing to be heard. The city seemed to have died down, and even the men behind her were quiet.
Through the smoke, she made out a pale haired woman with a long slender neck and chillingly calm eyes. Her hands were folded in front of long white robes, and her feet were barely visible. She was barefoot, also. An aura surrounded her, and it shocked Jamie that it was visible. A low, glittering white light was surrounding the woman.
Jamie could only imagine how she looked. The woman, with eyes as dark as the midnight sky, gave no outward judgment. Instead, her thin eyebrows lifted and a small lifted her lips. “Ah, so this is the heir to the throne. How beautiful, indeed...”
She ignored the throne comment, choosing to use all of her strength to stare the woman in the eyes. It was hard, but she managed. Ice coursed through her veins, chilling her to the bone, as those inhuman eyes took in her appearance.
“I understand why Chris was so admitted to keep you by his side, now,” she commented absently, lifting a white-as-snow hand to touch Jamie’s cheek. The contact made her feel as if someone had pressed ice to her face.
She froze, mouth opening on a soft gasp. Chris...
“Yes, it is a shock,” she said quietly, nodding her head. “I came to him in his dark hours of sleep, and... Did you know that he is such a broken man that he has latched onto you to survive? It was quite moving, what I found in his mind. He believed the only way to keep you was to abuse you. He felt as if he were going insane, you see.”
Jamie’s head started to shake back and forth, but the woman’s hand on her face stopped her.
“Do not worry. With such a poor, tormented man, I have taken it into my hands to give him solace.”
She felt her heart stop, disgust and fear colliding into her mind as one. “And that would be?” she asked in nothing but a breath of air.
The woman, with her perfect lips and perfect teeth, smiled. “Why, eternal peace with the one he longs for, of course.”
Jamie felt the earth sway under her feet, and she listened with growing terror as the woman continued to speak. The way she spoke, the images she put into Jamie’s head, was going to kill her. God, she made it sound as if Jamie and Chris were meant to be together. As if Jamie was meant to live a life of pain. And without Talon...
“No!” she cried out, jerking away from the woman’s touch. “I won’t go back to that thing. You can’t take me away from Talon like this -- he’ll kill you.”
So convicted with what she was saying, she didn’t notice another dark figure walking behind the tall woman. “I won’t have to take you from anything, darling. See, I brought him to you. And once Talon is awake, he will get to see the woman he loves more than anything in this world and the next, die. At the hands of her previous lover.” For the first time, the woman showed emotion other than a calm knowingness. Her hands clapped together and she smiled with giddiness. “Oh, this is better than those human TV shows!”
“Wake up, Talon.”
The calling reached him deep. It was like a floating note around his head, like magic and beauty all wrapped in one. His eyes opened on their own. The first