Fated Omen (Bennett Bound Sequel)

Chapter 12

Hey loves, it's been quite a while. I have been dealing with a lot of family and health related issues, but I'm starting to feel a little better and honestly my stories have been neglected long enough, so I'm back to writing part-time.

Side-note: if you know of any independent or unlabeled musicians/music artists (or if you are one), send me a dm. A close friend of mine is founding a new business geared towards leveling the playing field of the music industry and giving unsigned artists a real chance to be seen and heard by fans all over the word.

Now, back to the good stuff 😉

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"Okay, so I'm not exactly a time-traveling expert, or anything, but this all just kinda feels..." Kai's voice drifted out, struggling to find the right word. It sliced through the echoing silence of an oddly dark open expanse that seemed to have no end.

"Wrong?" Damon finished Kai's sentence. 

"No points for originality, but yeah, wrong," Kai retorted. 

"Where are we?" Elijah's voice added to the echoes.

I wished I could say I didn't know, but there was something uncannily familiar about this wide-open darkness. The slight smell of smoke and burning oak drifted quietly along beneath the burnt fragrance of brimstone, ash and black salt. I had been here before, but the entirety of that experience had been locked away in an effort for my mind to protect itself. What could be so traumatic - compared to the traumas dancing front and center in my mind - that I couldn't recall anything other than a smell? Before I could follow that thought train, another budded onto my mind's tracks. Where the hell were my sisters?

"Bonnie? Rebekah?" I called out, taking a cautious step forward through the darkness. I blinked, willing some form or figure of my surroundings to meet my eyes, but the inky openness was darker than having my eyes closed beneath the stars at midnight. 

"Perhaps a more subtle approach would be best," Elijah whispered from my right. "We've no idea where we are or who might be watching; and we certainly have plenty of enemies."

I swallowed my next words, ready to yell out for my sisters again. He was right to a certain extent. But with every second that passed, my shoulders ached under the increasing heaviness of familiarity this place had on me. My control was slipping again, cracking under the pressure of dangerous memories. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes as power strummed to life beneath my skin. I strained my ears to hear past the slight movements of my mates around me. It all felt so...empty. Save for one thing. A shielded presence. 

"Someone else is here," I whispered, pooling a flare of magic to my palm until a small pale blue flame erupted. Cold, milky light echoed in waves from the tiny fire, illuminating a foggy open space that seemed to go on forever in all directions. A second energy radiated from a spot about twenty feet ahead of us. The magic shielding it was strong, too strong to go unnoticed. Wisps of fog danced around the full radius of the shield, revealing a clear sphere right in the middle of this emptiness we were stuck in. "There," I nodded. 

I went to step forward, but Kai quickly grabbed my arm and pulled me to a stop. I glanced at him with a lifted eyebrow and he winked at me before nodding to Damon and Elijah and whispering a spell. In a split second, the shield evaporated and Damon and Elijah flanked either side of it, ready to attack whatever lied beneath. 

Nothing could have prepared me for the creature that sat on the ground between two of my mates. A sickly shiver pummeled down my spine and nausea slithered into the pit of my stomach. My heart sank with so many emotions, I nearly crumbled and the only thing I could do was wish we'd never removed the shield. I stumbled backwards as the creature stood to its full height, my steps only stopping when I backed into Kai.