Author's Note: Hey all, I don't know if anyone else is reading this here, but if you are please review! If you don't I will stop posting it because I don't want to be putting it here if no one is reading it…if you review, I'll give you a cookie and get the next part out faster!!! I promise!!! Please review, though…
Part Nine
"Kali? Kali!" a voice interrupted her.
"Five more minutes…" she mumbled. "I'll be up soon…"
"No, Kali, you have to wake up!" the voice said, urgently. "Tantalus will be awake soon and he's gonna be pissed!"
Kalika's eyes flew open. "Wait, what?" She jumped up, swaying a bit on her feet.
"Your magic, or whatever it is," she looked to see Raven holding her up. "You were able to knock him out, quite a feat, trust me! But he will wake up soon and when he does, he's gonna go crazy."
Kalika looked up at him, curiously. "What did I do?"
"I so don't know the answer to that, no one does," Rave began to pull her away from the house. "Even Phyre isn't quite sure what you did to Tantalus, all we know is that there was a HUGE blue flash that knocked out the power in half the town and then Phyre showed up at the house with your sister and your little bro. He's on his way back, he had to hide them."
Kalika steadied herself against the car and shook her head slowly, attempting to get herself pulled together. "What do you mean, now?"
"Honey, you are totally awesome, I have never seen anything do something like that! You completely knocked out the First; no one has ever been able to do that before. The First is like totally invincible, and you almost killed him!"
"Okay and why can't I go kill him now?" she asked.
"Because—"
"Because I am awake now, my dear," she heard a voice behind her. She tensed up, shaking slightly from anger.
Turning around, she confidently said, "What's wrong Tantalus? Don't like being treated like that?"
A low growl escaped Tantalus' throat, and his expression changed to one of complete anger.
"Now, now," she said, lifting her chin. "Anger management!"
Kalika couldn't help smiling innocently at his expression. He seemed to be growing angrier by the second.
"You, my dear, are quite sassy for one who doesn't have power unless her soul mate is around…and he isn't…" Tantalus took a menacing step towards her. "So now, it's your turn…you get a choice now, and you'd better make it good. You may either come with me, or you may be killed."
"Umm…neither," Kalika said, grinning sarcastically. "You have no power over me, Tantalus," she continued as he attempted to force his will on her.
Tantalus scowled at her, his anger evident. "You will be mine, Kalika," he said, obviously trying to calm himself down.
"Um, no I won't," she said, crossing her arms. "If you think that you can tell me what to do, you so have another thing coming to you. No one tells me what to do! I do what I want, when I want, whether you like it or not, so get over it. I don't care if you're the First; you're a dickhead who needs to learn that you are so not as hot as you think you are."
Tantalus blinked a few times, trying to make sense of what was going on. Kalika suddenly felt another presence, Phyre, creeping up behind Tantalus, so she continued on to distract him. "Tantalus, for some reason you think you can do whatever the hell you want and everyone must bow down to you, well newsflash dumb shit, you are not all-powerful. I pretty much proved that a little bit ago and we're gonna prove it to you now!"
At that, Phyre jumped on Tantalus' back and, snarling, ferociously bit his neck. Before Tantalus could do anything, Kalika and Raven were on him as well. Kalika drank for a moment then jumped back, pulling Raven with her. "Phyre," she said, "enough, he's weakened."
Phyre let go and allowed Tantalus to fall to his knees, walking over to Kalika and smiling down at her. "That was beautiful, love," he said, kissing her.
Kalika smiled back at him before walking over to Tantalus, glaring at the elder. Something else took over her, a deeper creature that she had never felt before. Kalika suddenly had no control over herself or her actions. "Tantalus, there are many things that bother me, but you go beyond that. You take lives with no mercy, you destroy with no need. For the First Vampire, you aren't very wise." She stopped in front of him, looking down at him with pure hatred flaring in her eyes. "Now, it is time for all of your sins to come back on you." She suddenly launched her hands at his head, gripping it between her them, beginning to chant. Dark energies ripped through her, making their way to her source of power. Tantalus was attempting to fight her with his own darkness, failing horribly as she tore his magicks out of him and willed them to join with her own.
Another set of hands, those of Phyre, joined hers, and she stepped back to allow him to finish the job, continuing her chant with his voice joining hers. She could see Tantalus' magick flowing into Phyre, making him stronger than Tantalus could ever hoped to have been. Phyre closed his eyes and tilted his head up towards the sky as the powers flowed into him, smiling slightly. Kalika could feel the force of Phyre's own darkness begin to grow, and she stepped back. It was surprising to feel that, a dark premonition tearing through her soul as she watched the scene before her unfold.
This shouldn't be happening, she thought. Something about this isn't right…
Images flickered within her mind, causing her to drop to the ground. She wasn't able to make sense of all of the images; they were just coming too fast. Taking deep breaths, she stood back up and watched Phyre's core gain power and strengthen as Tantalus' weakened. A glow appeared around them as Phyre slowly killed The First, gaining all of his power and might. Kalika blinked a few times, trying to put the images out of her head, but they wouldn't go away, nor would they allow her to push them aside for the moment.
Suddenly, she fell to her knees again, dropping her own head into her hands. Phyre was floating now, Tantalus beneath him. Phyre's hands were no longer on Tantalus' head, but the power was still flowing through the channel between the two of them. That was her last view of Phyre as the vision over took her.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Kalika opened her eyes and blinked several times, confused. Her vision was blurred for a moment, but when it cleared, she saw a field. There was something familiar about the field, as if she had been there before. Still trying to figure out exactly where she was and what was going on, she slowly turned around to take in her surroundings. The field was more of a clearing in the middle of trees. Perhaps a forest? she thought, still trying to concentrate on what was familiar.
The snap of a twig in the trees behind her caught her attention and she whirled around, crouching down instinctively. She peered into the tree line, her eyes flicking around quickly, trying to narrow down where the noise had come from. An ominous feeling overtook her, causing her to almost fall over in surprise. Damn feelings, she though trying to figure out exactly what was occurring at that point in time that had brought her there. She was about to stand up when a battle cry arose in the area she was looking at, then a return cry came from behind her.
A cold feeling came over Kalika as she realized, I'm in the middle of a war…She jumped up to attempt to run away when both sides charged each other, coming right at her. She stopped in her tracks when she realized what was so strange about this picture. The side in front of her was human and the side coming behind her was demonic. She felt frozen in her spot, unable to move in complete fear of what she was seeing. It's a last stand, she thought, and her jaw dropped. There were so few humans, perhaps a hundred or so, running towards the thousands of demons with fear in their eyes, knowing that they had no chance against the demonic power approaching them. Yet they continued towards the army of evil, knowing it was their only chance for freedom, as little a chance as it was.
The thoughts of the humans attacked her mind, fears of death, for their families, for a life of slavery…there was no hope in the thoughts, not one of the humans rushing the demons believed that they were going to make it through this fight alive. Several were thinking of how much better off they would be dead rather than live in the servitude of the creatures of the underworld, who were rising up to take power of the world they had once lived in.
Suddenly, within the blink of an eye, Kalika was back, viewing the clash of the two sides as they reached each other. A tear rolled down her cheek as she watched the humans try to fight a losing battle. Another source of power was felt by Kalika, though, something hidden in the wooded area that the humans had come from. Hope filled her for a moment as she realized that it was witches, vampires, werewolves, all coming to fight for the humans. The supporters of a peaceful realm where all lived in harmony, a group she had once read about in mythology that she had never thought could exist but did. As the new group reached the humans with divine speed, Kalika knew that it wasn't enough. There were far too many of the demons against them for the humans to win, even with the help of the other creatures.
The slaughter went quickly, though some would say that it was quite a fight for the humans. While they fell fast, they held up longer than any had ever thought they would. Kalika watched, unable to help she knew. Somehow, she knew that she was there as an observer only, that none could see her or hear her, that there was no chance of her saving these brave men and women who tried to save the world as they knew it.
Within seconds, they were all on the ground, the Earth stained with the blood of the innocent, and the few that had survived were being taken for slavery. Many vampires were feeding on the dead or those who were almost dead, the psychic vampires attacking the few remaining humans before they were chained up. Several females were being raped by other demonic creatures, others being tortured to give up information about any free humans that were still in hiding.
"The humans no longer rule!" a voice rose up, above the noise of the war. "They shall no longer destroy our Earth; no longer take up the beautiful resources. They will be our slaves, our food, as they should be! The Gods no longer may interfere with us or this world, they have left, withdrawn from this world and given it to us! We shall destroy all human built objects, and let our earth grow back as it should have been!"
The skies above darkened as voice spoke, magicks flying free as Kalika knew they had once been. The magicks of the old were awakening, reclaiming the world. Darkness surrounded all of the creatures below, who were crying out in victory, slashing throats of humans and mercilessly massacring them.
Kalika closed her eyes, trying to hold back the tears from what she had just seen. When she opened them, she was in a city. She could not tell what city it was, for it was in ruins. No building still stood, the demons were destroying everything in sight. Cries from children rang through the air as they were captured and thrown into carts to be carried to some place, probably to be bred and sold to slavery. Kalika looked around, the tears flowing down her face. A part of her sympathized with the humans.
"It's not supposed to be like this," she whispered, leaning down to gently touch the face of a child who had been killed. The child's face was clean, but suddenly, her hands were a deep crimson, she knew it was the blood of the innocent who had been killed in this short war. The blood of the innocent was on her hands.
"Why?" she screamed at the sky, standing up. "Why have You chosen me?"
The Gods would not answer her; they had left as the voice had said earlier. They no longer protected this world form the evils that were in it, they had abandoned their creations forever. They no longer heard the cries that ascended from this planet.
Kalika stared down at her hands, falling to her knees. She slowly rocked herself back and forth, unable to look anywhere but her hands, knowing she had caused this scene, until finally, she closed her eyes.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Kalika opened her eyes to see Phyre before her, slowly lowering to the ground. Tantalus was gone; she had no clue where he was. She assumed he was destroyed for good, no longer a threat to them. She forced herself to stand, shaking from the visions that were still attacking her.
As Phyre landed, he turned and strode to her, a powerful aura emanating from him. Kalika stared into his eyes, not seeing him but seeing someone else. His eyes were different, pure black as the power rested itself within him. When he reached her, he pulled her to him and kissed her roughly, and she kissed back, still shaking.
"What's wrong?" he asked as he pulled back. His eyes searched hers, back to normal. Maybe it was a trick of light, she thought, trying to calm her soul. Something still seemed wrong, though.
"Nothing," she finally answered, looking deeply into his eyes. She didn't want to believe what she had just seen; she didn't want to think that it would happen, that it would be because of the two of them. "Is he gone?"
"Yes," Phyre smiled, darkly. "He will no longer be able to touch us. I have drained him of his powers, of his life. He is gone."
Kalika nodded slowly, then said, "We should go."
Phyre agreed, gently taking her hand and leading her towards the car where Raven and Nikolas stood. Nikolas was smiling disturbingly.
"Let's go," Phyre commanded, and the two jumped and opened the door, climbing in back quickly. They obviously could feel the power emanating off of Phyre, not wanting to feel the full effects of it. Phyre climbed into the passenger seat and drove them home, silently.
"They are fine," he said before she could even ask about her family. "Rafe is taking them somewhere safe."
A chill went down Kalika's spine at his emphasis on the word safe. He must know about Rafe…she thought. She knew that as much as he was trying, he was unable to read her mind. She strengthened her walls a little more, knowing that as powerful as he had just become, he wouldn't be able to enter her mind until she allowed it. She looked out the window, staring at the city around her, the vision flashing in her head. She didn't know what she was going to do, but she knew that she needed to talk to Rafe.
Part Nine
"Kali? Kali!" a voice interrupted her.
"Five more minutes…" she mumbled. "I'll be up soon…"
"No, Kali, you have to wake up!" the voice said, urgently. "Tantalus will be awake soon and he's gonna be pissed!"
Kalika's eyes flew open. "Wait, what?" She jumped up, swaying a bit on her feet.
"Your magic, or whatever it is," she looked to see Raven holding her up. "You were able to knock him out, quite a feat, trust me! But he will wake up soon and when he does, he's gonna go crazy."
Kalika looked up at him, curiously. "What did I do?"
"I so don't know the answer to that, no one does," Rave began to pull her away from the house. "Even Phyre isn't quite sure what you did to Tantalus, all we know is that there was a HUGE blue flash that knocked out the power in half the town and then Phyre showed up at the house with your sister and your little bro. He's on his way back, he had to hide them."
Kalika steadied herself against the car and shook her head slowly, attempting to get herself pulled together. "What do you mean, now?"
"Honey, you are totally awesome, I have never seen anything do something like that! You completely knocked out the First; no one has ever been able to do that before. The First is like totally invincible, and you almost killed him!"
"Okay and why can't I go kill him now?" she asked.
"Because—"
"Because I am awake now, my dear," she heard a voice behind her. She tensed up, shaking slightly from anger.
Turning around, she confidently said, "What's wrong Tantalus? Don't like being treated like that?"
A low growl escaped Tantalus' throat, and his expression changed to one of complete anger.
"Now, now," she said, lifting her chin. "Anger management!"
Kalika couldn't help smiling innocently at his expression. He seemed to be growing angrier by the second.
"You, my dear, are quite sassy for one who doesn't have power unless her soul mate is around…and he isn't…" Tantalus took a menacing step towards her. "So now, it's your turn…you get a choice now, and you'd better make it good. You may either come with me, or you may be killed."
"Umm…neither," Kalika said, grinning sarcastically. "You have no power over me, Tantalus," she continued as he attempted to force his will on her.
Tantalus scowled at her, his anger evident. "You will be mine, Kalika," he said, obviously trying to calm himself down.
"Um, no I won't," she said, crossing her arms. "If you think that you can tell me what to do, you so have another thing coming to you. No one tells me what to do! I do what I want, when I want, whether you like it or not, so get over it. I don't care if you're the First; you're a dickhead who needs to learn that you are so not as hot as you think you are."
Tantalus blinked a few times, trying to make sense of what was going on. Kalika suddenly felt another presence, Phyre, creeping up behind Tantalus, so she continued on to distract him. "Tantalus, for some reason you think you can do whatever the hell you want and everyone must bow down to you, well newsflash dumb shit, you are not all-powerful. I pretty much proved that a little bit ago and we're gonna prove it to you now!"
At that, Phyre jumped on Tantalus' back and, snarling, ferociously bit his neck. Before Tantalus could do anything, Kalika and Raven were on him as well. Kalika drank for a moment then jumped back, pulling Raven with her. "Phyre," she said, "enough, he's weakened."
Phyre let go and allowed Tantalus to fall to his knees, walking over to Kalika and smiling down at her. "That was beautiful, love," he said, kissing her.
Kalika smiled back at him before walking over to Tantalus, glaring at the elder. Something else took over her, a deeper creature that she had never felt before. Kalika suddenly had no control over herself or her actions. "Tantalus, there are many things that bother me, but you go beyond that. You take lives with no mercy, you destroy with no need. For the First Vampire, you aren't very wise." She stopped in front of him, looking down at him with pure hatred flaring in her eyes. "Now, it is time for all of your sins to come back on you." She suddenly launched her hands at his head, gripping it between her them, beginning to chant. Dark energies ripped through her, making their way to her source of power. Tantalus was attempting to fight her with his own darkness, failing horribly as she tore his magicks out of him and willed them to join with her own.
Another set of hands, those of Phyre, joined hers, and she stepped back to allow him to finish the job, continuing her chant with his voice joining hers. She could see Tantalus' magick flowing into Phyre, making him stronger than Tantalus could ever hoped to have been. Phyre closed his eyes and tilted his head up towards the sky as the powers flowed into him, smiling slightly. Kalika could feel the force of Phyre's own darkness begin to grow, and she stepped back. It was surprising to feel that, a dark premonition tearing through her soul as she watched the scene before her unfold.
This shouldn't be happening, she thought. Something about this isn't right…
Images flickered within her mind, causing her to drop to the ground. She wasn't able to make sense of all of the images; they were just coming too fast. Taking deep breaths, she stood back up and watched Phyre's core gain power and strengthen as Tantalus' weakened. A glow appeared around them as Phyre slowly killed The First, gaining all of his power and might. Kalika blinked a few times, trying to put the images out of her head, but they wouldn't go away, nor would they allow her to push them aside for the moment.
Suddenly, she fell to her knees again, dropping her own head into her hands. Phyre was floating now, Tantalus beneath him. Phyre's hands were no longer on Tantalus' head, but the power was still flowing through the channel between the two of them. That was her last view of Phyre as the vision over took her.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Kalika opened her eyes and blinked several times, confused. Her vision was blurred for a moment, but when it cleared, she saw a field. There was something familiar about the field, as if she had been there before. Still trying to figure out exactly where she was and what was going on, she slowly turned around to take in her surroundings. The field was more of a clearing in the middle of trees. Perhaps a forest? she thought, still trying to concentrate on what was familiar.
The snap of a twig in the trees behind her caught her attention and she whirled around, crouching down instinctively. She peered into the tree line, her eyes flicking around quickly, trying to narrow down where the noise had come from. An ominous feeling overtook her, causing her to almost fall over in surprise. Damn feelings, she though trying to figure out exactly what was occurring at that point in time that had brought her there. She was about to stand up when a battle cry arose in the area she was looking at, then a return cry came from behind her.
A cold feeling came over Kalika as she realized, I'm in the middle of a war…She jumped up to attempt to run away when both sides charged each other, coming right at her. She stopped in her tracks when she realized what was so strange about this picture. The side in front of her was human and the side coming behind her was demonic. She felt frozen in her spot, unable to move in complete fear of what she was seeing. It's a last stand, she thought, and her jaw dropped. There were so few humans, perhaps a hundred or so, running towards the thousands of demons with fear in their eyes, knowing that they had no chance against the demonic power approaching them. Yet they continued towards the army of evil, knowing it was their only chance for freedom, as little a chance as it was.
The thoughts of the humans attacked her mind, fears of death, for their families, for a life of slavery…there was no hope in the thoughts, not one of the humans rushing the demons believed that they were going to make it through this fight alive. Several were thinking of how much better off they would be dead rather than live in the servitude of the creatures of the underworld, who were rising up to take power of the world they had once lived in.
Suddenly, within the blink of an eye, Kalika was back, viewing the clash of the two sides as they reached each other. A tear rolled down her cheek as she watched the humans try to fight a losing battle. Another source of power was felt by Kalika, though, something hidden in the wooded area that the humans had come from. Hope filled her for a moment as she realized that it was witches, vampires, werewolves, all coming to fight for the humans. The supporters of a peaceful realm where all lived in harmony, a group she had once read about in mythology that she had never thought could exist but did. As the new group reached the humans with divine speed, Kalika knew that it wasn't enough. There were far too many of the demons against them for the humans to win, even with the help of the other creatures.
The slaughter went quickly, though some would say that it was quite a fight for the humans. While they fell fast, they held up longer than any had ever thought they would. Kalika watched, unable to help she knew. Somehow, she knew that she was there as an observer only, that none could see her or hear her, that there was no chance of her saving these brave men and women who tried to save the world as they knew it.
Within seconds, they were all on the ground, the Earth stained with the blood of the innocent, and the few that had survived were being taken for slavery. Many vampires were feeding on the dead or those who were almost dead, the psychic vampires attacking the few remaining humans before they were chained up. Several females were being raped by other demonic creatures, others being tortured to give up information about any free humans that were still in hiding.
"The humans no longer rule!" a voice rose up, above the noise of the war. "They shall no longer destroy our Earth; no longer take up the beautiful resources. They will be our slaves, our food, as they should be! The Gods no longer may interfere with us or this world, they have left, withdrawn from this world and given it to us! We shall destroy all human built objects, and let our earth grow back as it should have been!"
The skies above darkened as voice spoke, magicks flying free as Kalika knew they had once been. The magicks of the old were awakening, reclaiming the world. Darkness surrounded all of the creatures below, who were crying out in victory, slashing throats of humans and mercilessly massacring them.
Kalika closed her eyes, trying to hold back the tears from what she had just seen. When she opened them, she was in a city. She could not tell what city it was, for it was in ruins. No building still stood, the demons were destroying everything in sight. Cries from children rang through the air as they were captured and thrown into carts to be carried to some place, probably to be bred and sold to slavery. Kalika looked around, the tears flowing down her face. A part of her sympathized with the humans.
"It's not supposed to be like this," she whispered, leaning down to gently touch the face of a child who had been killed. The child's face was clean, but suddenly, her hands were a deep crimson, she knew it was the blood of the innocent who had been killed in this short war. The blood of the innocent was on her hands.
"Why?" she screamed at the sky, standing up. "Why have You chosen me?"
The Gods would not answer her; they had left as the voice had said earlier. They no longer protected this world form the evils that were in it, they had abandoned their creations forever. They no longer heard the cries that ascended from this planet.
Kalika stared down at her hands, falling to her knees. She slowly rocked herself back and forth, unable to look anywhere but her hands, knowing she had caused this scene, until finally, she closed her eyes.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Kalika opened her eyes to see Phyre before her, slowly lowering to the ground. Tantalus was gone; she had no clue where he was. She assumed he was destroyed for good, no longer a threat to them. She forced herself to stand, shaking from the visions that were still attacking her.
As Phyre landed, he turned and strode to her, a powerful aura emanating from him. Kalika stared into his eyes, not seeing him but seeing someone else. His eyes were different, pure black as the power rested itself within him. When he reached her, he pulled her to him and kissed her roughly, and she kissed back, still shaking.
"What's wrong?" he asked as he pulled back. His eyes searched hers, back to normal. Maybe it was a trick of light, she thought, trying to calm her soul. Something still seemed wrong, though.
"Nothing," she finally answered, looking deeply into his eyes. She didn't want to believe what she had just seen; she didn't want to think that it would happen, that it would be because of the two of them. "Is he gone?"
"Yes," Phyre smiled, darkly. "He will no longer be able to touch us. I have drained him of his powers, of his life. He is gone."
Kalika nodded slowly, then said, "We should go."
Phyre agreed, gently taking her hand and leading her towards the car where Raven and Nikolas stood. Nikolas was smiling disturbingly.
"Let's go," Phyre commanded, and the two jumped and opened the door, climbing in back quickly. They obviously could feel the power emanating off of Phyre, not wanting to feel the full effects of it. Phyre climbed into the passenger seat and drove them home, silently.
"They are fine," he said before she could even ask about her family. "Rafe is taking them somewhere safe."
A chill went down Kalika's spine at his emphasis on the word safe. He must know about Rafe…she thought. She knew that as much as he was trying, he was unable to read her mind. She strengthened her walls a little more, knowing that as powerful as he had just become, he wouldn't be able to enter her mind until she allowed it. She looked out the window, staring at the city around her, the vision flashing in her head. She didn't know what she was going to do, but she knew that she needed to talk to Rafe.