Reckless

Chapter 16 Part 3

Surprise of all surprises, Drusilla just watches me advance towards her, crossing her arms over her frame as she arches a manicured brow at me as her face contorts with disgust. The fallen leaves on the ground crunch underneath my boots as I make my way towards my former leader in relative silence. It's the calm before the storm, before the lightning comes and kills us all or the rain floods us and we drown.

I come to a stop about ten feet away from Drusilla, just out of her reach, but not the reach of her magic. I don't try to curb my tongue or dance around things for fear of offending her this time. I allow my magic to flare, the wind picking up, which makes her look around and then drag her gaze back to me with wider eyes as I snarl, "You're the reason my sister and my niece are dead. You had them attacked and hoped they'd be killed because of their attachment to me and how you could not control them. Boudicca dared to tell you no, and you couldn't abide that." There's a boom of thunder, but I don't even look up as I continue, "You knew that I was the witch who was supposed to lead the witches, and you tried to have me killed in the witch trials to remove me as a threat. You have been killing the witches rather than have them bow to someone else, absorbing their magic like an energy vampire, and killing the mythical creatures that we were supposed to take care of."

"The gloves are off then, the masks finally removed," she muses, not denying a single thing. If I had had any doubts, that would have extinguished them. She smiles in time with a flash of lightning, and my nerves falter at the sight of the true Drusilla, a cruel and sadistic power-hungry killer. "I prefer it this way anyway," she remarks, as if she's relieved that she can just be herself at last-- the self that Boudicca saw all those centuries ago even though the act. Her voice rises to a cruel octave as she points at the sky as if to some heavenly realm and says, "I can't be blamed for others' stupidity. The witches were all fools," she blurts, spit flying from her lips like a rabid animal. "They were ripe for the taking. And your precious Ariadne gave me exactly what I needed: someone else to pin blame on for all of their woes and disappearances. I just had to step in and give them someone else to hate, and Ariadne gave me plenty to work with." She smiles even bigger at that, and I feel the energy in the air spike dramatically. She is rallying her magic, so I start to do the same thing.

"Then I can't be blamed for spotting your blindspot," I reply evenly, a smirk playing on my own lips as the wind picks up, swirling leaves and litter around us, lightning striking in the not-too-distant area. She arches a brow in challenge, as if to say 'And what is that?' I laugh a litlte as I express to her, "You couldn't see that love could unite more than hate could ever divide."

It happens then, so quickly that if I hadn't fought so many battles, I might have been taken down. A clap of thunder sounds, the flash of lightning, and then Drusilla is throwing her hands out in front of her, the white hot lightning shooting in my direction. But two can play at this game, I throw my hand up in front of me, and instead of redirecting the lightning, I absorb it.

For a long moment, she keeps firing at me, but I keep sucking the energy from the lightning, taking a page out of her own book. She can find a way to absorb the magic of all of my fallen sisters, then I can find a way to suck as much of that magic and energy back from her. She stumbles back, her first attack exhausted as I close my eyes and breathe in the last fumes of it. When I open my eyes, electricity is crackling between my fingers, my arms are alight with a white glow. Slowly, I drag my gaze back to hers, and I see a flicker in their black depths, the smallest hint of fear, that makes me stop being so afraid of her. The veneer has cracked, I can see through to who she is inside. All that comprises Drusilla is fear and hate. All of those, though strong, will not last anyone, especially in battle.