Raven of Water

Chapter 21: Bondage

"What do you mean it's a leash?"

"I mean it's going to keep you here while I find the gate which needs to be open to let destruction enter this world. It's going to restrain your magic and keep you docile while we wait. And, it's going to bind you to the whims of your grandfather."

I was bawling now, my magic trying to lash out but feeling strangely muted... broken somehow, and that brokenness in me had me panicking.

The sensation of not touching my power was familiar. I'd felt it before when the old ones from the past had stolen my powers and murdered me. I wanted to re-forget it all, didn't want to think about the agonizing death they'd caused me, but the lack of feeling I was experiencing now took me back there.

Took me back to the past where I died.

I was once more drowning, clawing, trying to reach for my magic I knew was inside me but couldn't feel. It felt like I was missing a limb, missing an organ. Magic. I needed it. I couldn't breathe, couldn't think.

Wet. Dark. Terrified.

Noises from underwater.

"Calm down, Lex."

I could barely make out Kai's words, and when the demon placed his hand on my shoulder, I flinched and pulled back to stare at him, my magic from that well of burning and powerful rage sweeping to the surface like a flash flood of violence.

I could feel my powers. I was no longer drowning. I knew what I needed to do.

I didn't care if I loved him. I didn't care what the fuck he thought he was doing, whether he thought he was perversely saving me or was genuinely seeking revenge on me for causing our deaths all those years ago.

It didn't matter if he loved me or he didn't.

I would not allow any man to make me feel so fucking powerless.

Never again.

Snarling, I leaned into that trickle of power from the well, embracing it, ignoring the painful rending inside of me as my magic fought to break through the seals of the item on my wrist. It was agony, and as I fought, I stared at the demon, daring him to try and stop what was happening. As I cried out in pain, Kai simply stared at me with a slowly-dawning realization

Maybe he hadn't intended to hurt me, or maybe he had. The power inside of me didn't care one way or another.

The anger didn't care.

With a scream and a flash of violet energy, the item exploded from my wrist, shattering, sending shards flying like bullets all around the room, grazing both my flesh and Kai's as part of my mind realized there were people down the hallway rushing, trying to get into the sitting room.

Let them. None of them mattered.

Growling, I raised my flattened palm and let the violet light from the well of power envelop me, directing that immense power at the demon whose expression was a mixture of wonder and fear. When I released that energy in a riot of iridescence, the violet smacked Kai in the chest. The impact sent the demon flying where he landed hard and painfully against the wall, sending up a cloud of plaster and dust. Shock waves blew the windows out and snuffed out the massive fire in the fireplace. Vines and plants, both potted and inside the room and creeping in through the ruined windows, surrounded Kai, coiling menacingly around him.

The foliage restrained him as I stalked closer.

The sounds of people trying to break down the door reached my awareness, and I smiled sinisterly when I realized that it wasn't my magic holding the door closed, but Kai's. Vines nearly completely covered him now, though his face was exposed. That dark wonder and fear still colored his expression.

Then he laughed, actually laughed, in surprised delight.

My anger at the sound had a vine cording around his neck and squeezing.

"Why are you blocking the door?"

My voice was rough, frightening as it reverberated with power from that well. When faced with my voice, all Kai did was chuckle before that sound was cut off by the vine tightening and robbing him of all air. When I realized he couldn't speak, that I really was choking him, I loosened my magical grip, and he sucked in a great, greedy breath before speaking.

"You should take it easy, darling. You're using too much too fast. Your body isn't used to this."

"I know what my body is and isn't fucking used to, Kai. You have no right to tell me what the fuck I should do." I snarled, surprised by the depth of my anger and sense of betrayal. I'd never felt rage like this.

Or power.

Kai sighed, though the sound was cut short when the vines tightened around his torso like a constrictor crushing its prey. Oddly, he hadn't resisted me at all. He had powers, too, and for some unfathomable reason, he wasn't using them.

"Why aren't you fighting back?"

He smiled a little sadly and gave me a knowing wink that made me falter. That expression of his had my rage slipping just a bit. That was Kai. The look he'd just given me was a look that belonged to the lover I knew, that mix of sweet arrogance and kindness that I'd fallen in love with.

Suddenly, I gasped, feeling my magic guttering as my body grew indescribably drained. "What are you doing to me?"

Gone was the reverberating power in my voice. Instead, my words came out as a squeak.

"I'm not doing anything, darling. You used too much too fast. I told you."

"I..." My words trailed off as I regarded Kai through blurred vision.

That flash flood of power and rage inside me retreated, leaving me to pull back whatever magic remained outside of my body as I simply focused all my efforts on staying awake. I heard the rustle of leaves as Kai freed himself from the vines and plants now that my magic was no longer controlling them.

When he took a step toward me, I snarled before my legs gave out, sending me crashing to the ornate rug on the floor beneath me. With blurry eyes, I watched Kai stare at me for a moment, his expression unrecognizable through the haze of my vision. It wasn't just Kai that was blurry. It was everything. I was so tired that I couldn't move, but I had to fight it. I had to stay awake because I had no idea what they were going to do to me. Kai and my coven were up to something, and their plans involved me.

With me lying on the floor, Kai dropped his magic and allowed the door to open. My grandfather and Jackson came charging in.

"She was holding the door closed," Kai growled out an explanation. His voice was hoarse, and even through my fading eyesight, I could see the bruises forming on the already dark skin of his neck.

Had I hurt him that badly?

"We need to drug her. She's dangerous now. She could fuck it all up." Jackson said, approaching me with a needle, though I was too out of it to wonder where it had come from or to even feel fear at the sight of such a hateful man coming at me with a needle raised.

"No," Kai shook his head, turning to the two other men and grabbing Jackson's forearm as the man approached me.

The world around me was growing black, but I had enough awareness to hear Kai when explained. "She over-exerted herself. She'll be out for some time. There's no need for sedatives."

Whatever else they were talking about was lost on me as I slipped into oblivion where I dreamed about Kai making me sandwiches in a cozy kitchen, but the dreams swiftly turned to nightmares where I was forced to fight a demon only to realize after killing him that the demon I had been fighting was Kai.