Chapter 27

27

"I asked you a question, Halo! Why are you here?" Khort got louder. Vega could barely comprehend what was happening, her vision not fully back yet after blacking out—she relied on her hearing to piece together the world around her.

This was the first time she hadn't seen anything when blacking out—had it been the witch who'd caused it?

"I wanted to make sure you guys were safe. That no one in Fraus had stopped you." This was his homeland—he knew it better than any of them, but his words and tone faltered.

Vega's perception started to blur back into focus, the ring of black pushing out to the corner of her eyesight.

Khort's nostrils flared when he was within reach of the blond boy. "You liar," Khort said on an inhale. "I can smell him on you. Bridger." A dragon with heightened senses—there wasn't much you could get past him.

"No," the boy said, taking a step back and putting his hands up. "I wouldn't—I didn't," he sputtered, trying to backtrack.

Vega's world came into full focus, but the pain never completely subsided. A dull ache pounded at the base of her skull, and her eyes burned like she'd opened them underwater. Her back rested against the wall behind her, but Flavia's arms slid under her arms, hoisting her up.

"Come along, girl."

Vega shook her head, still unsure if she was able to speak.

"Fine," the witch sneered.

A surge of Vega's power shot through her body by no control of her own. She screamed, but nothing came out. She was frozen in shock from her lightning working against her. This witch is going to kill me.

The rest of the group was focused on Halo and the betrayal unraveling.

"My payday will be much better from Marlena anyway." Flavia's voice came out like a snake ready to strike her in the jugular. The old woman pinned Vega inside herself, her body fighting for release from the hold on her power.

No, no, no. I'm not giving up. I'm not dying again. Fight, Vega! Flavia's power continued to strain her own, turning the static of her veins into a current of energy Vega couldn't harvest. Focus.

Flavia dragged her backward, her hands still beneath Vega's underarms. Vega's heels dragged on the ground. "Walk."

Vega wanted to scream for help, for anyone to turn around and save her from the havoc being wreaked on her body and mind. Arlet. Where is Arlet?

Everything moved in slow motion. "Walk or I'll kill you." Those words jarred something inside of Vega.

I am not the weak girl I used to be. Anger fizzled inside of her, and Vega could feel her lightning come back to her core. The scream finally came, ripping through her vocal cords. Her vision darkened again, but this time she felt the spark of her power—her power in her control.

Vega dug her nails into the witch's thighs, surely drawing blood as the lightning zapped through her fingertips. There was nowhere for the blue lightning to go other than straight into Flavia.

The only noise the woman made was the sound of her body hitting the rickety cabin floor. Her body convulsed, cracking against the plank flooring again and again until eventually she went limp. The whites of her eyes were visible through the slits of her eyelids.

"No." The word slipped off of her lips in a whisper. "No, no."

Arlet came rushing into the cabin, the front door crashing against the wall. Vega couldn't remember her going outside.

"Shit." Arlet rushed over to Vega. "Oh gods. What happened?"

Vega fell to her knees, taking Flavia by the shoulders. "No, no," she repeated. "I killed her. Oh my god. I killed her." Vega gasped, on the verge of hyperventilating as she held the dead woman's body.

Arlet's hands gripped her shoulders gently. "She's gone."

Vega recoiled. "Stop it! Don't touch me!" She scrambled, pushing herself farther from Arlet and pulling the woman's lifeless form into her lap. "She can't be dead. I can't have killed her. Someone do something! I didn't mean to. I just—I wanted to get her off me." Her eyes were wild with fear, as wide as a deer in the path of an oncoming car.

"Fucking shit!" Khort's voice roared over her own pleading. "Vega!" He crossed the room in large strides. "What did you do?"

"She was going to take me to Marlena. She said…" Tears streamed down Vega's face. "She said she could get a better payday by giving me to her."

"We don't kill innocents!" His eyes clouded as he lost his temper.

"Did you not hear her? The bitch was going to turn her over to the enemy . She wasn't an innocent!" Arlet stood in between Vega and Khort.

"I killed her," Vega repeated. She'd taken someone's life. It wasn't the first she'd killed, but it was the only one she could remember.

"Do you know how long it took me to find her? To find someone with her kind of power who would work with us?" Khort's voice wasn't kind anymore—the friendly edge that made her melt into their kiss the night before gone. "Years! I risked everything to get her memories back!"

"We'll find another way!" Arlet reached out and shoved Khort back. "We always find another way. She was going to kill Vega, or worse, turn her over to Marlena, Khort! Marlena! Bury that nasty pride of yours and open your fucking eyes."

Vega quivered as she sobbed, shaking Flavia's body. She was about to turn Vega over to the enemy, maybe kill her, but she still cried for the woman—for the life she'd taken.

Khort turned his anger to the traveler still standing on the opposite side of the room, frozen in fear. "Halo, you piece of shit! Get over here!" Khort wasn't worried about Vega's current state. "You're working with them," he growled like the angry beast he could shift into.

"No! No! I came here to warn you. They're here." Khort lunged for him, but Halo was gone in a cloud of dark smoke.

"Fuck!" Khort screamed. throwing his arms in the air, storming back to Vega. "Get up. We have to go." He reached out for her, but she twisted away from his touch.

"Don't touch me!" Vega screamed again. "I killed her! I killed her, and I don't know how I did it. She had a hold on my power. She was using it against me. I killed her. I stole it back and killed her." She sounded like a broken record, but it was the only way she could process what she'd done.

"We have to do things we don't like sometimes. You did what you needed to do to keep yourself alive, to protect yourself." Arlet knelt, and Vega allowed her to get close but not to touch her. Her skin blazed with heat from her lightning flickering, and she wasn't sure she knew how to turn it off.

A rumble of thunder sounded outside. Arlet glanced at the window as the wind whistled through the cracks of the home. "You have to calm down," she told Vega. The guards moved inside, standing by the front door. One looked out of the door's tiny window for movement. "You don't have control over your storms yet." The house rattled.

"We're supposed to be the good guys, right? We are supposed to protect these people! Not go around killing them." A bolt of lightning cracked outside, making the old home shudder.

"We are the good guys. We are. We have to protect ourselves too. Even if that means doing something we don't want to do." Her head shot to the window as it rattled again. "Vega, please. We can't let all of Tolevarre know we're here," she begged, the sound of panic distorting her usually melodic tone.

Vega didn't know how much time had passed when she finally let Arlet grab her by the shoulders. Her touch made Vega jump, still worried she would zap anyone who came in contact with her.

"I didn't mean to," she gasped, swiping at her face with her palms as her storm outside began to calm.

"I know you didn't. I know that. You were protecting yourself." Arlet sat on the floor, wrapping her arms around Vega. She smoothed her hair away from her face, soothing the sobs wracking Vega's body as she lost herself in the distress of taking a life.