Reckless

Chapter 6 Part 1

Present Day

Character POV: Ariadne

Orders given, Zebulun reads through the plan that I have written out for him of how these next few weeks are going to progress. As he's doing that, I find my mind beginning to wander back to the last time that I saw "Roxy" prior to today. How different she was then. The smell of alcohol didn't taint her breath. That rage that keeps bubbling up to the surface, the grief for all of the things she's lost, wasn't ever-present. I almost hiss in annoyance at all the progress that has been lost. I'd like to know what has her so knotted up within herself all over again, what compromises with her soul she's made that's getting her sick. But if this plan is to work, then getting side-tracked won't help.

Memories pull at me to the point where I have to focus on them.

All around me in this empty field are the screams and shouts of the wounded, the victorious, and the dying. Flashes of fire, of ice, of light fly past me, lighting up the fog as dogs, bats, and humanisic vampires disappear and reappear in front of witches. I try scanning the crowd for Elizabeth, but I can't find her anywhere. Anger builds inside of me that things came to this, all because Analize couldn't let go of the past and accept that the two species could co-exist. Her insistence that we all die so that she can lord over the magic in the world. . . Was I just supposed to silently and passively agree to the annihilation of me and all of my kind? No, I don't think so. I think that I'd rather go down in a blaze of glory, covered in the blood of both the innocent and the guilty, a smile on my face, than as ash on the wind on some dull, sunny morning.

I catch a flash of red hair ahead of me, and I hone in on that, directing all of my hatred and anger onto that one fucking bitch at the head of it all. She extends a hand out, her magic blasting a tree into a thousand individual stakes that spear through the hearts of vampires as they attempt to charge her, knocking them all to the ground as they burst into flames and turn to ash.

Someone tugs on my sleeve, and I whirl, about to slash someone's throat open with my long nails, but I stop when it registers that it is Elizabeth standing in front of me, her long blonde hair hanging loose, disheveled, some tips of it stained a reddish black from the blood of her witch sisters and vampires alike. Tears cascade down her cheeks as she holds onto my arm and pleads, "Don't do this. Get yourself out of here. You can end this by pulling your people back. But do not go up there, do not confront Analize."

Anger flares up inside of me at the realization that she thinks that this is my fault. That all of our time together has done nothing to stop her being blind to the villainous paths that Analize will take to make sure she remains on top. "Why do I always have to be the better person?" I hiss at her, ripping my arm out of her grip. I point a bloodstained finger in the direction of the leader of witches as a snarl rips from me, "If she wants to go to war, then by my gods, I'll give her one. I'll rip her heart out with my bare hands if I have to. And you will step out of my way."

Roxy screams after me as I shift, racing my way towards Analize. The witch queen seems to notice my presence and turns towards me, her eyes gleaming with an unnatural light as lightning crackles along her arms and twines between her fingers. I shift back into my humanistic form, fangs out as I smile at her. "Looks like it's just the two of us, Analize. Bet you never thought that you would see me again, did you?" I wink, knowing it will get her so riled up that she won't be able to think straight, and it might just give me an edge. Plus, it feels damn good to get her so angry.

Her lips curl like an animal snarling as she spits, "You are impulsive, reckless. Such recklessness is suited to mortals. You should have died a long time ago, accepted your nature-ordained fate. Instead you broke the very rules that bind our world together just so that you could continue to carve your way through the world. And had that been your only sin, I might have tolerated your presence more. But then you took countless others down the wrong road with you." She waves wide around us at the carnage, the vampires fighting her witches. "She then points behind me, to where I know Elizabeth is rapidly approaching. Her eyes harden then, becoming like stone, as hatred pulses to the surface of her features like fresh lava through craggy rock, hot enough that I can feel it from where I stand now, smirking. "Your perversions know no end, Ariadne, extending perhaps most egregiously to my second in command. And they must end."