Vindicate (Insight #5)(70)

Something was wrong. I felt ice pouring through me. Frantically I looked to my side and saw Bianca. Her arm was literally inside of me. An evil smirk was plastered on her face. “Gotcha.” She whispered as my knees gave way. She held on to me, ensuring that the agony of her arm inside of me would continue its torment.

This was it. I’d failed. I knew what death felt like. And I knew this time there was no one to bring me back.

I saw a mix of dark and light energy snaking out of me and absorbing into Bianca . She was taking my soul. I had an awful fear that if she did – t hat if she took enough of my energy that my family would never know that I was gone. She would take my place. They would not die as quickly as I did, but suffer forever more. My actions before this moment would have given them every reason to believ e that I could become malevolent .

I struggled to fight back. At best I was only proving to be difficult, not deadly , to her.

All at once the earth rumbled and a hum th at was so high pitch that it painfully stabbed my eardrums filled the room . I squinted my eyes unable to handle the agon y. I felt Bianca release me. I fell to my knees.

I’m not sure when silence came s imply because my ears were ringing. Moment s later the heavy sent of peppermint made me question my surroundings. I breathed in deeply feeling an awesome cleansing sensation rush over me.

When I opened my eyes I saw an empty white marble room, elegant marble stairs leading to higher levels in this enormous room . Shimmering white doves circled the floor I was on, staring into me. The bodies of Landen and Drake were gone. The images of me were gone. The pool of water was gone.

What the hell just happened?

Slowly I let my eyes rise. A few feet before me was a boy my age. His hair was dark, to o long to be considered short, and to o short to be cons idered long. His eyes were gray, yet they looked like diamonds. Shards of light rippled through his stare. His skin was tan, shoulders broad. Tall. Lean. The heavy aroma of peppermint belonged to him. The scent complemented the essence of his energy. Powerful. Pure. Cleansing. Everlasting.

An insane amount of power was pouring o ff of him. The room was literally vibrating because of it. Or maybe I was vibrating. I didn’t know anymore.

Bianca was suspended in thin air, turning slowly. Her eyes were vacant. I wasn’t sure she if she was even alive.

“Who are you?” I said in the most powerful voice I could manage.

A ghostly smile echoed on the edges of his divine lips . This guy was near angelic. Was he even real?

Carefully he reached his long arm down to help me up. I hesitated, but took his hand anyway. I was in pain. Wiped out.

The second his flesh touched mine I felt a jolt of energy. An electric shock that returned everything Bianca had taken from me, and then some. I felt like I had just awakened from a night of being surrounded by Landen’s energy.

I held in the sigh that wanted to escape as I stood. He was taller than I thought. Maybe even taller than Landen. Now that I felt whole I tried to use my insights to judg e him, but I could n’t feel anything. He was vacant, yet consuming at the same time.

“Vade.”

“Excuse me?” I muttered . His voice. Oh my , that voice. It was deep, powerful, entrancing .

“Vade. That is my name, ” he stated as his eyes ventured over every part of me.

I could not stop staring at him. It was like his essence demanded attention. “What team are you playing for, Vade?” I asked with all the courage I c ould muster. If it wasn’t mine I was already a gon er. I’d never felt this much energy coming from one source before. I was sure of it. This guy not only had power, but he had control of it. Deadly.

A small voice in my head told me not to care if he was deadly. That more than likely I’d already passed death ’s threshold.

“Survival. Equality.” He said as hi s ghostly smile turned sardonic, and his diamond eyes drank every part of me in.

“Kinda on the same team.” I glanced at the floating body of Bianca. “Or I was until she killed me.”

His diamond eyes sparkled. “You’re not dead.”

“Right.” I said glancing around the room. There was no way out. And it didn’t matter what thought to manifest I could not move from this marble room. “Well, I was in the middle of saving a few people. I kinda need to get back to that.”

He crossed his arms over his broad chest. “I’m afraid you are to o late.” He glanced at Bianca. “It appears she had allies. Inside secrets. She’s taken too much from the souls you are seeking. You would have to find and restore over a million images to come close to finding the adored you seek.”

I felt my insides collapse. I didn’t want to hear that truth.

Vade began to move closer to me, still taking in ever y inch of me. I felt like a foreign species or something . I had no gauge on him. No idea if I saw lust, hunger, mercy, or compassion in that diamond stare of his. “Can I assume that does not bode well for you?” he mused.

“Don’t play with me.” I glanced at the doves. The broken promise they now represented. I would not be there to vow for Draven or anyone else for that matter. “If that is true you should not have stopped her from killing me. I need to move on so I can come back again .” My tone was so reasonable that you would have thought that I was changing dinner plans. Not planning my funeral.

Vade glanced at the doves as well. “Another ride on the merry go -round eh, that is what you seek.” He said as his stare returned to me. It was like he wanted me to say why the loss of my life would damage so many.