Magic Children

Chapter 44 Lyons, Colorado- Vali

Angel and I are both bleeding from every part of our faces. But unfortunately we're both still up and kicking. Now quite literally. Any sort of telekinesis is too much effort, so we've resorted to punching one another. I have a huge rock and before I bleed out here, I would like to put it through Angel's face. Also he has set me on fire multiple times.

"He can't hold on forever," Angel gasps.

"You never know," I spit blood at him, before just giving up saving my own skin and using telekinesis to send him skidding of couple of blocks down the street.

I look behind us. Arthur is on his knees in the street. Blood pooling from. Fuck. Pooling from his his hands now. His blood vessels are bursting.  He can't keep going.

A ball of flame nearly knocks me to the ground. But arms grab me, pulling me down and out of the way of it seconds before it incinerates me. Aurora pulls us both to the ground, hitting the pavement painfully.

"What is Arthur doing?" she asks.

"He's controlling Angel's mind---somehow he locked off Angel's ability to get energy from the flame," I explain, "But it's killing him."

"If he lets Angel go—" Aurora realizes.

"It's worse than last time, he's stronger now---go get the kids, there are like five sorry not sorry the more aggressive ones I understand are yours," I say, climbing to my feet and helping her up by a bruised elbow.

"Brigit is here?"

"Yeah, I left her by the bus---don't know if she stayed, she doesn't strictly listen-----it's that way, back just past the police line," I say, coughing in the thick black smoke, "Go, stay with them. I think you understand I need to kill him now."

"Just stop him—" her voice breaks. So she still loves the boy with the black eyes who promised her forever.

"If I stop him, he's gonna come back, and Arthur can't do this forever," I say, "Look at me, go protect your kids, all right?"

"Angel might listen to me," she says.

"He also might kill you if he even thinks you're against him---get out of here, go be with your kids; they don't need to lose both parents today," I say, "All right?"

"Okay," she says, and then as she realizes this will probably be the last time she sees me alive she kisses my ashy cheek, so quickly, before turning and running into the smoke.

I turn back around, to watch as Angel's fiery figure emerge from the black clouds of smoke. He's bleeding yes but only from the nose. His eyes aren't weeping yet like mine. And if I spend all my energy protecting myself from the fire with force-fields, I can't defeat him. And if I take everything I have and let myself burn, while attacking, he may not still die. This was all Arthur could give me. But it's still not enough.

And Arthur is going to die. If his blood vessels burst he may already be dead. I need ten more minutes and he doesn't have it to give to me. He was too weak to begin with. 

So we all die. But in what order?